A/N: Sorry about the fic delay, I'm trying to get this thing updated on a schedule. XD This is obviously not working, but then again, neither was my internet since the last update, so yeah. Dawn, sorry about getting Serenity's personality wrong, but unfortunatelly, that's the way she's gonna stay. So, yeah, thanks for reading up to this point, people, and I hope you like the rest of the fic. R&R pleeeeeaaaaaaaassssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeee!


Riku counted off the number of steps it took for him to cross the room and back for the eigth time. Cloud looked up at him and sighed.

"Stop worrying," he said as patiently as he could, "Mizu knows what she's doing. She grew up doing this kind of stuff anyway, so there's nothing to be worried about. Now stop pacing and sit down, you're giving me a headache."

"Sorry," Riku muttered, plopping down on a seat accross the table from him. "I just can't help it, though."

"She has Bahamut looking after her," Cloud reminded him. "I've never seen a tighter bond between a caster and a Summon than those two have. If she gets in to more than she can handle, Bahamut will get her out of there."

The door to the inn opened up and Serenity walked in, shaking her rain-drenched hair out of her face.

"It's pourin' out there!" she exclaimed, running her fingers through her hair now to help get the water out. "A couple of the streets have flooded over, but it's not deep enough to cause too much damage. A few of the goods in the market got wet, too. No one's been reported hurt, so stop biting your lip, Riku."

Riku sighed and clenched his teeth, wiping a little blood from where he had almost bitten through his lip.

"Great," he muttered, looking at the blood on his hand.

"Riku," Cloud said, less patience in his voice than last time, "do you really think I'd send Mizu out to do anything if I didn't think she could handle it?"

"I'm sorry," Riku said again, "but I'm just so--"

"Used to her needing you protecting her?" Serenity asked.

"No," Riku protested, though only half-heartedly. "I guess I'm just not used to the idea of her being out there where she could get hurt. Kairi'd bite my head off if she got into trouble and I wasn't there to protect her."

"No offence, Riku," Cloud said, "but she doesn't need your protection. Not that that's ever stopped me from trying, but you have to let her go do what she thinks she has to or she'll fret herself to death."

"She used to say that her amnesia was driving her insane, because she knew that she was needed somewhere and she was needed right now, but she could never remember why."

"She has a very strong sense of duty," Cloud pointed out. "She'll do what she thinks is right without barely pausing to think about it, no matter what it takes." Cloud paused, but Riku didn't think he was done, and so kept his mouth shut while Cloud searched for the words for his next statement. "If she thought she had to... she'd sacrifice all of us for the greater good. It would tear her up inside, but she'd do it. I don't know how many times I've had to stop her from throwing her own life away, either."

Riku turned away and contemplated the wall for a long moment mulling over what Cloud had said in his mind. Riku had noticed something similar back on the islands, but it had never even hinted at the kind of behavior Cloud had just mentioned. She was stubborn, and always put others before herself, but she had never, ever disregarded others in what she did.

"I think she might have changed a little," Riku said after a moment. "After all, it's been nine years since you'd seen her last. She could have changed."

"It's possible," Cloud admitted. "I honestly haven't been with her long enough to know for sure. But I remember what she was like."

"Okay, this talk is getting depressing!" Serenity said, startling Riku and Cloud. "Let's talk about something else!"

"No, I think I'll go up to my room," Riku said, getting to his feet. "At least there I can worry in peace."

"Isn't that an oxymoron?" he heard Serenity ask Cloud, and caught the older man shrugging out of the corner of his eye. When Riku had locked the door behind him, remembering some advice Mizu and Cloud had given him, he flopped down on his bed with a sigh and closed his eyes. Before long, he was asleep.


The inn door opened again several hours later, and Mizu, soaking wet and covered in mud, walked in. She looked drained, and sat next to Cloud almost dejectedly with a loud sigh.

"No luck there, either," she announced, pushing her mud-sodden hair out of her face. "No one had heard a thing about Kairi. But there were some rumors about a blue man in a black toga, with pointed yellow teeth and hair that looked like blue fire. Sound familiar?"

"Hades," Cloud snarled. "So he didn't go slithering back after all. Looks like we should have left while we had the chance."

"Yeah, maybe," Mizu conceded, then lifted her head up and looked around. "Where's Riku?"

"He went off to your room a couple hours ago," Serenity said. "Why?"

"Some of the rumors had Hades hanging around here at about that time," Mizu said dismissively, putting her head back in her hands, then jerking upright. "Fuck!" She swung her legs over the bench and was already halfway up the stairs before Cloud and Serenity understood what she had said, but when it hit them, they caught up to her fairly quickly. Mizu tried to open the door, but it was bolted shut.

"Fuck, Riku, what a time to start taking my advice," she growled, trying the door again. She ran in to Cloud and Serenity's room, threw open the window, and climbed out, slipping onto the outer sill with practiced ease. She noticed, to her horror, that the window to her and Riku's room was open, and leapt up to grab the lip of the roof. She planted her feet on the wall and began half walking, half climbing her way over to the open window, then swinging herself in, landing cat-like between the beds with both knives drawn.

Her abrupt entry caught the creature waiting for her by surprise, but not for long. It lunged at her a brief second after she recognized it as an enemy, but that was a second too long. Halfway through it's leap, there was a flash of steel as her knife burried itself to the hilt in the creature's stomach. It went down in a heap, clawing at the dagger, and Mizu kicked it in the head, snapping it's neck. The creature died almost instantly from the kick, and began disintegrating.

"Mizu!" Cloud called, having heard the snap of breaking bones and worrying about her. She ran to the door and threw the bolt back, opening it for him. He was about to say something, but the look on her face stopped him cold.

"I warned him," she growled, her green eyes seething with anger. "He is going to pay."


A/N: XD Hades is in trouble! Don't piss off Mizu, she has a bad habit of, um... Let's just say, I hope Hades wasn't planning on reproducing...