Chapter VII
Fire
Disclaimer—(Man I really hate these!) F.F. 7 isn't mine…yada yada!
Note—I really messed up this whole thing, so sorry it took me forever to update and all that jazz. Uhm…here is the original note : "This chapter wasn't supposed to happen, so it'll take me a while to work through to the next chapter because I've made mega changes plus buckled down on a paper for school. Oh Yeah! I'm working up some ideas for another story…hehe, that one'll be funny, if I ever get to it. Review please!" Well, that paper, all I have to do now is edit and re-write it, and that doesn't take much effort. And that other story, well, I plan on doing it, but I don't know if I'll get around to it. I wanna finish this one first. Hope you all liked the filler "Cactar"! Now, same as up there…Review Please!
It seemed like an entire lifetime passed when finally Marleen came ask me to go to the Gold Saucer with everyone. "Sorry, Marleen, But I don't feel good to-night," I said.
"Papa says you're lying. Are you?"
I was shocked by her accusation. "No way! I have a very smart cold holding me back! Do you think I'd pass up playing with you?"
She beamed up at me. "I knew you weren't lying!" she said, and scampered out the door.
What a thing for him to think, I thought as I draped a heavy robe over my shoulders to shield me from the biting winter chill. Somehow it'd found its way into the house.
I crossed the hall to the bathroom and turned on the heater. Shrugging of the robe and shivering in my shorts and tank top, I looked to the mirror.
A certain dullness had crept into my eyes and face. Probably 'cause of this stupid cold. Hmpf, not only that but the stupid… I wouldn't let myself think about Sephiroth—it would only make me sicker. "Oi."
I was just about to start filling the bathtub when there was a knock on the door.
Ack. "Who is it?" I asked over the heater's hum.
Some sort of reply came distortedly through the door, so I opened it.
"What?"
Cloud stood in front of me. "I…uhh…just wanted you to know that you really CAN come with us," he said sincerely.
Vincent passed behind him and shot me one of two looks : (1) Utter sympathy for my current condition, or (2) Utter hatred for me and my lineage. I unknowingly decided it was the last one. Why's he gotta be like that? It's not my f--
"Harper?"
I gave a little shake of my head and banished depressing thoughts. "Huh?"
"Are you coming?"
"Naw," I stopped to cough though it was partly for emphasis. "Sorry. Naw, I don't think I'm going. Still sick."
"I, uhm, see that. It's been what? almost three weeks that you've been sick. Think you need to go to a doctor?"
"Nuh uh. I'll get over it eventually…" he nodded as I clapped my right hand on his shoulder, "You guys go, have fun, let me take care of myself." I pushed him out of the doorway and closed the door, then proceeded in taking a long, hot bath.
Cid rapped on the door once and announced, "Yo! We're heading out! Don't wait up!"
--u
When I finally dragged myself out of the tub (because the water was getting cold), everyone else was gone.
"Yay!" I mock-cheered as I plopped lengthways on the couch. "An entire, cold house all to myself!" The flannel pants and long-sleeved shirt I had on didn't help much. "Oh, a fireplace…" I mused as I looked to the unused fireplace.
I got up and started walking towards the back door and turned into my room on the way to grab my special accessory: a slotted necklace which held my own crop of specially grown materia. The only difference between regular materia and mine was that mine was smaller. It was smaller because I wanted it to seem like rhinestones in the slots so I could have materia with me and not be wearing an armlet or carrying a weapon. Escape being all conspicuous, you know.
But anyway, I left my room and got around to going get wood and using the escape spell to get back to the living room. I LOVE overusing materia when I get the chance. Then I used the fire spell to get my blaze going, while I grabbed a blanket, wrapped it around me, and sat in front of the fire.
The burning wood smelled nice, though the ashes that somehow got out made me cough. It wasn't a big deal though. I closed the screen so sparks wouldn't pop out, and laid my head on my arms against the ledge of the fireplace. But just as I was falling asleep, there was a knock at the front door. "What was that?" I thought as I dismissed it. But whoever-it-was persisted so I got up and answered the door.
The white-haired man from the store a while ago stood in front of me. "Oh, you don't look well, I'll come back some other time," he said, and turned to leave.
"Oh no! I'm fine, just a touch of something nasty," I lied. "Come on in. Come out of the cold," and I held the door open a bit more.
We pulled up two arm chairs by the fire and began our conversation. "So, you never told me your name the other day…" I prodded.
"Oh, so sorry about that. My name is Kadaj," the man, now known as Kadaj, said.
"And I'm Harper…how, how did you know where I lived?"
"I asked one of your friends, Red XIII, and he told me to come here. I'm happy to see that he didn't lie."
"Red? He takes safety seriously, how'd you get him to tell you?" He seemed more and more and more odd by the second.
"I said that I was an old friend of yours from your Shinra days," he stated bluntly.
"…That should have made him more cautious…" Just why was he here?
"Well, he was infinitely stubborn, but Cloud convinced him that it would do you good to see an old friend."
"But…oh never mind. What do you need? Materia? MegaElixer? We even sell weapons."
"Oh, actually I'm not shopping. I have a proposal for you."
I cocked my head to one side, my brows furrowing. "What….sort of…proposal?" "'Will you marry me?'" I thought.
"I've heard that, excuse me for bringing this up, but I've heard that you are Sephiroth's daughter. Are you not?"
Well, I certainly wasn't expecting that. "I am. What do you want?" I felt that in any other case, I should be afraid for my life. Strangely, I was at an enormous ease with this Kadaj.
"My friends and I, we admired Sephiroth in his glory days as head of SOLDIER and it would be an honor for us to house his daughter."
"In English please."
"We would like for you to move away from all this, this…rejection… and come stay with us."
Was it dangerous to refuse that? I kept switching between trust and wariness. Then I thought about Vincent, and Barret if he were to find out. Everything felt good then, with Kadaj's plan. "Where would I go?"
"Our end destination…sadly I cannot tell you. As with Red XIII, security is a very big deal. Our first stop though, will be Costa del Sol," he said warmly.
I gave way to a mental image of him wearing swim-shorts at the beach. For me, it really was a funny site, and I was unable to hold back a small giggle.
That was enough to spark his interest. "What's so funny?" he asked innocently.
"Nothing. Sure, I'll go with you. I've got nothing else to do. How long till you need to leave?"
"Take as long as you like!" he whipped out a cell-phone and punched in some numbers. As the other end rang he turned to face the fire. Then it seemed someone picked up.
"Hello?" a hard, phone-muted voice addressed.
"It's Kadaj—"
"Is she coming?"
"Yes."
"Good, when will you be here?"
"I'm not sure: she has to pack. Just wait for us," Kadaj instructed the other.
"Do you want us to book a ship?"
"No, don't book anything. Let me talk to Yazoo."
"Fine. Here."
The voice changed incredibly. It got softer: a natural purr. "Yes?"
"I need you to do a bit of shopping," Kadaj told Yazoo.
"Ah, then…What color?"
My eyebrows knitted together instantly.
"Hold on," Kadaj laid a hand over the microphone. "Black or silver, which one do you like more?" He asked me.
"Uhm…what am I choosing for?" I asked.
"It's a surprise. Just pick."
"OK…Silver then."
He uncovered the phone. "Silver," he said, then waited for a second as Yazoo said something I didn't quite catch. Kadaj relayed what he said, though, "Dull or shiny?"
"Shiny," I said, still wondering what this thing was.
"Shiny," Kadaj told the other.
"All right then. I'll go do that soon. Anything more?"
"No. That'll do it. We'll be there soon," he said that, and ended the call.
We were both silent for a minute, then he asked me, "How long do you think it'll take you to get your things together?"
I stifled a cough and answered, "Not long, I just have to get to doing it first."
At that he smiled a bit and stared off into the flames. Very soon after that I got up and went to my room.
I really didn't have that much to pack. My furniture all belonged to the store to begin with, so, I packed the clothes I wore the most, and a separate pare of shoes. Why only the clothes I wore the most? …they were the only ones I liked. Of course, I couldn't forget my weapons. Those were a few of the essentials. The rest was all the little stuff like toothbrush, hair brush. Somehow I fit all of that into a backpack.
When I came out into the living room again, Kadaj wasn't in there. I went to the kitchen. There I found him squatting down and looking through the cereal cabinets. "Kadaj?"
He swiveled his head and looked at me, "Yes?"
"You just reminded me of something," I said, completely forgetting whatever I was originally going to tell him.
"I did?"
"Yep," I walked over to stand beside him and reached up to the top cabinet. Who built this house? Giants? I thought as I reached what felt like the very tip of my toes. Finally I had rummaged around enough with my fingers and got a hold on a plastic bag. "Ah ha!" I said triumphantly, but my triumph then turned to a squeak. My feet—or rather, my toes—slipped out from under me. Again, I never hit the floor.
Kadaj had caught me the exact same way Vincent had when I slipped in the hall. Had he moved? I hadn't seen him, but, oh well. "Well, you shouldn't go slipping all over the place," He said in a good natured way. "What were you after?" He asked while helping me to my feet.
"These," I held out a brownish bag.
"Milk chocolate chocolate chips?"
"Yep, never leave home without them. Like Cid and his cigarettes."
There, that's the entire chapter. Sorry about the touch of insanity last time, but hey, got to so what I got to do, right? So, now that you've read, please review!