A New Name, for an Old Face

"'Azuril'...kinda a weird name." Zykan said as they walked away from the factory that had held quite a large part of history. Azuril gave him a sideways glance,

"I wouldn't know, it is my name after all." she said, still emotionless, even though the air around her seemed to hold a melancholy note to it. Zykan winced,

"sorry." he said, she had a gun, that had been pointed right at his face several times before they'd gotten out of the factory, he didn't like that fact much. Miko shook her head slowly, hiding her face behind her hands,

"what did I do to deserve him?" she moaned, Zykan catching her remark right away,

"hey, it's no picnic being around you either, sister!" he snapped, thus, an argument began, one that was ended by several shouted words from Damien. He turned to face forward again, Azuril came up next to him,

"tell me, what does this woman look like? And how old was she when she betrayed you?" she asked, Damien gave her an odd look, but answered nonetheless.

"Black hair, dark clothes all the time, though I can't really go for that as evil..she had dark eyes and pale skin. I never asked her how old she was, but she looked to be around your age somewhere. Why? What's that got to do with anything?" but his questions weren't heard or registered by his new female friend, she'd stopped walking and was now standing stalk still, eyes wide

"that can't be possible." she said, the color draining from her face, "she would have died, hundreds of years ago." she looked at Damien, "is that all true?" she asked, "is that description true?" now Damien felt put on the spot,

"yes. It's all true. Why would I lie about something that's as important to me as this is?" he said, she was shaking her head,

"that can't be true. That's how she looked when she did this to me." she said.

"Maybe she managed to put herself into a state of suspended animation, then someone woke her up, just like you." Bobby suggested. Azuril stole a glance over her shoulder to look at Bobby.

"I suppose it could that...but who would wake her?" now even her mental game guide was confused, Hojo never pulled any stunts like that. And who would wake him if he froze himself anyway? Unless you count, at a long shot, the Turks or Rufus Shinra...but, again, I highly doubt that's the case here. So what is it...?the only other thing I can think of is-holy shit no way. Please let me being going senile. At an even longer shot than the Turks and Rufus, Sephiroth might have found some kind of way, or purpose to bring Hojo out of the state of suspended animation...but this is all just goddam theorizing. That couldn't possible be the case here. No Sephrioths have popped up yet. Yet...I hate that word.

"Hey, Azuril? Azuril–are you ok? You spaced out and nearly walked straight into a tree." Damien said, he was standing between her and a rather large tree, they were still a good distance away from the tree, but he'd caught her right away. "What's up? You looked like your brain had left you somewhere along the line." he asked, leading the still dazed girl back over to the group.

"Nothing. It wasn't anything important." liar. she told herself automatically. Somehow, that led to a comment about her talking to herself in her own head, and that reminded her of something else... BD...Aken...they're gone. She took that part of me too. But, I wonder...if I'm Vincent, then does that mean that I can turn into the same creatures that he can? Is that why she took my two other selves away? Because one hazardous ability is bad enough to control, why leave me with three? Why take the two I know the best, and can work with the best? She had no right to take them. Or hide them. I will rescue them, or avenge them, when I find that woman. I swear it, I will.

Damien just watched the emotions finally break through for a second in her face, grieve, sorrow, mourning, some curiosity, anger, and finally determination, then they were hidden behind her emotionless facade again.

Ok, if she used my friends and cousin as the cast for this shit-stunt, then, she's Hojo. We have Cloud and company, but, no Shinra, no Turks, and most of all, no Sephiroth. Me thinks she be gettin lazy. Either that or the best is yet to come-there goes that word again...'yet'. Azuril thought as she toyed with her gun, she was thinking back to when Bobby had been playing with it back in the crypt, and how much it had looked exactly like Jessi. I just need to remember that these people aren't my friends. They're not my friends or family, they're all players in that bitch's game. Just like I am. They're not who they seem to be...just remember that... she snapped back to attention, nearly dropping her gun, when Skayr snapped her fingers in front of her face a couple times,

"wake up, Vampire Girl." she said in a voice that, though she hated to admit that she remembered this before anything else, reminded her of a character from a TV show that was most likely dead and gone by now,

she sounds like Hiei... Azuril thought as she looked around for a second, trying to figure out what Skayr had wanted her to see. Bobby put her hands on the other girl's shoulders and turned her to face where Damien stood,

"sorry if I broke a 'no touching' rule or something, but, we were getting worried after you just kind of froze and didn't move for a bit." she said, then she walked away from the stunned girl, Jessi used to do that same kind of thing in situations that were, in some way, similar to that. Were they trying to make her break down? Her brain was processing things differently now, she was looking at Damien, hearing the words he was saying, but trying with all her might to stop her mind from attempting to go into auto pilot.

"Azuril!" Zykan snapped loudly, said girl nearly jumped out of her skin from the sudden shock that gave her, "geez, woman, did we leave your brain in stasis back in that basement or something!" he said, then he faced front again. Every now and then, one, if not more, of her new travel companions, not friends, traveling companions, allies maybe, but not friends, never friends, she wouldn't allow that, would look back over their shoulder at her, as if they were making sure she hadn't bailed on them. She contemplated that one a bit, but, opted for staying with them for a while. If her mind couldn't stand it, she'd either shoot herself, or diaper. She was just about to engross herself in her own thoughts again when Bobby appeared next to her.

"Hey, you don't need to act so distant and melancholy all the time, you know that, right?" she said, Azuril only nodded, but she didn't truly listen to the words, no form of attachment meant no form of attachment, and ,to her, advice counted as getting involved in the group. she kept up being sad, mournful and vengeful. It was just who she was now. She realized that, with a slight ting of shock, she wasn't pretending to be Vincent for the sake of the play anymore, she was just acting as she felt she should, this new and sad way of thinking and acting was coming as a natural thing for her suddenly, and that frightened her.

There was a town near the factory they'd left behind, it was easy enough to get to, but now came the problem of finding some place to stay.

"Well, this'll be fun." Miko commented. Zykan opened his mouth to respond with a snide remark, but thought better of it and closed his mouth, taking a quick glance over his shoulder noting Damien watching the pair carefully, waiting to yell at them, the chance never came and he gave a relieved sigh.

"Ok, let's get this planned out and figured out." Damien said, everyone, now, even Azuril, was listening to him. He noted the fully awake look on Azuril's face and grinned inwardly at the fact that she wasn't spaced out or off on the other side of the town. "Ok, Miko, you, Annakhin and Zykan-"

"you hate me, don't you!" Zykan cried, "why her what did I do!"

"Cool your jets, Spaz-boy." Bobby said quickly, people were staring enough already, the last thing the miss-matched group needed was a fight to attract more spectators. Her mediating stopped when she felt something tugging at her boomerang, she turned around and found a few kids had been yanking at it, "beat it." she said, then she turned back around and tried to keep the peace while Skayr and Azuril wrestled Damien's katana away from him and held him back to the best of their abilities,

"don't kill them, they'll stop, Bobby can make them and you know it!" Annakhin said frantically, then a series of noises that they would never allow any of the trio engrossed in bickering and attempted mediating live down. Several loud strings of swear words were heard, then a few loud 'THWOK's followed by more curing, a few more good smacking noises, then Bobby screaming at a bunch of small children who were rubbing their heads where Bobby had hit them. shortly after the hold on Damien dropped and the group was yanking Bobby away from attempting to beat the children with her boomerang again once she'd finished an unwanted game of tug-of-war with the children.

"Bobby, they're children! They probably didn't know what they were doing! Come on, cool it!" Damien cried, yanking hard on Bobby's right arm, finally getting the boomerang away from her. The group realized something else was amiss when they found no children in front of them, Annakhin picked up the boomerang, already carrying Damien's katana, and pointed behind them, they turned around to see the children, plus several more, ages ranging from kindergarten to at least second grade areas, swarming around Zykan and Azuril. Azuril, though she still hated children, just as she had one thousand years ago, stood perfectly still allowing the children to tug and grab at her cape, mainly, they seemed to like trying to unintentionally choke her to death the most, and, though it was extremely difficult not to pull away and leave Zykan stranded, allowed some to poke at or just grab at, her left arm and hand, she pulled up a bit every time they pulled a little too much. Other wise, she stood perfectly still, chanting 'think happy thoughts' over and over again in her head. Zykan, on the other hand, was holding his scythe up above his head as though it might melt if the children touched it, for all he knew it might, he'd never dealt with children before, he looked from one child to the next repeatedly, not moving from his spot, this being the result of paranoia and nervousness, not toleration like Azuril, who was still being poked and prodded, though now she had her left arm up over her chest, away from the children.

"Poke someone, did we?" he teased, she shook her head,

"one more time pulling at this thing and I was afraid it might come off." she said, "that is something I would prefer not to deal with." she said, it still surprised him that, no matter what it would be, she stayed perfectly emotionless while saying it. Even now, when he knew she wanted nothing more than to shoot down all of the damn kids attacking them, she stood still and stoic as normal, tolerating it. He looked away from her when he felt one of the kids yanking at his long, slightly too big for him, black robe, the hood of which up over his head, the fact that his wardrobe consisted of boots, a black, sleeveless tunic that stopped at his knees, and a large variety of charms and tattoos, didn't help in trying to keep himself put together properly, while keeping his scythe away from the children. Finally, he yank his robe away from one of the children that had managed to pull it off of him, slinging it over his shoulders to cover his tattoos,

"what the hell do you want from me!" he cried, "Damien!" he cried frantically, "help!"

"Ah, shit!" Damien snapped, getting over to where the pair stood as quickly as he could. The rest of the group joined them in trying to shoo the children away from them. A strangled cry from Azuril followed by a gun shot snapped them away from the children. They all looked at each other,

"she didn't." Bobby said,

"she wouldn't." Annakhin added, the rest of the group turned around to see one of the older kids had finally found Azuril's gun, which he was holding limply staring ahead of him in shock.

"He's ok, what a relief." Miko said, kneeling down by the boy and slowly taking the gun from him, then she froze, "but, if she...Damien, where is she!" she cried, looking at the blond, who had already found the girl in question, Bobby was kneeling next to him.

"How bad is it?" Skayr asked as she, Annakhin and Zykan quickly joined the group, Zykan pulling himself back together, and hastily putting the robe on.

"Not too bad." Bobby said, "the kid must have gotten the gun, played with it a bit, then she must have noticed when she heard the safety. She went after him and he either got scared or tensed as a reflex. Either way, she rescued the kid, and I think all the others. I didn't know someone that had just found her way out of a millennium's worth of sleep and acted so detached could have a spirt of panic, for a kid she didn't know."

"So," Miko finally joined them, people were gathering as well, several ran off right away, the group hoped for a doctor. "The kid got her gun, played with it, accidently clicked the right things on it so that it'd go 'bang' if he pulled the trigger, the noises from that got her attention and she went after him, thus her getting shot with her own gun. Right?" she summed up, hoping she'd heard Bobby correctly. Bobby nodded, then stole a glance over at Damien,

"we're making it sound like she's dead. She'll be alright, her left arm'll just have a few more scars." she shook her head in exasperation when she heard him sigh in relief, "Zykan's right. You are too damned sentimental." she said, Zykan caught the remark and gave Damien and Miko, who stood behind Damien, a haughty grin, Miko flipped him off and Damien blew a raspberry. Skayr knelt down across from Bobby, looking down at Azuril, who was biting her bottom lip hard and gripping at her shoulder, and the fact that she was lying on her left side, facing Bobby, Miko and Damien must have added some extra pain. Bobby reached out to touch the other girl's shoulder, "roll over onto your back so I can see the wound, I at least want to know if the bullet's still lodged in there." Azuril shook her head,

"no. just–just wait for the doctor." she said. No sooner had she said that when several men ran over to them, one knelt down and looked at the injury from the lying down position Azuril seemed bent on keeping herself in. That was foiled when she was easily picked up off the ground and carried into the small 'hospital' the town had to offer, by Bobby of all people, who was mumbling incoherently to herself as she did so, then, the comment that made Miko smack Zykan over the head for saying it was made,

"Damn, I hadn't noticed how long her legs were til now." he said. Then Damien could be heard growling angrily at the entire situation and dragging Miko and Zykan into the hospital, leaving Skayr and Annakhin following somewhat nervously.

"What's up, doc?" Zykan asked Bobby, she was sitting in a chair outside of a closed off room, they'd dragged a half conscious Azuril in to the room, then closed the door.

"Hell, I don't know. They dragged her in and haven't dragged her out yet." the girl said, she'd found a pack of matches in her coat pocket and was lighting them, letting them burn down to near her fingers, then dropping them into a glass of water that sat on a table next to her. Said glass was already littered by matches.

"Pyro." Zykan said, Bobby would have responded, but the door to the room next to her opened instead. The doctor and several other men walked out, whose blood they were partly covered in was a mystery that would remain unsolved.

"She's...an interesting one." the doctor said, sounding completely spent, "she'll be fine. She just needs to take it easy for a while."

"Thanks, doc." Miko said, the party was crashed by Annakhin,

"how much do we owe you for this?" she asked. The doctor looked thoughtful, then he turned and looked back inside the room he'd just left, then he looked at the group again,

"nothing. Your friend made a huge sacrifice. That's more than enough." then he walked away from them, most likely to dress his own wounds. They watched him walk away, then went into the room where Azuril was supposed to be. Sure enough, there she was, out cold on a bed in a room on the other side of the operating room. Once they were at their friend's bedside, Damien looked at Azuril, apparently thinking on something, finally he spoke up,

"we'll stay here until she's strong enough to get around properly. Then we'll keep going."

"But, how do we care for the wound while traveling?" Skayr asked, Damien shrugged slightly,

"we buy supplies here, like we always do. And have a doctor check on it every time we hit a town." he said, then Bobby brought up another point,

"we still haven't figured out where we can stay over night in this place." she said, they were back to square one. Then, as if right on cue, a woman and the boy who had accidently shot Azuril walked in, Bobby went back through the operation room out to the front room of the hospital, she talked with the woman for a bit, then ran back over to her friends, "good news bad news time!" she said, the rest of the group just stared at her. "Ok, that woman that just walked in, she's the mother of the kid who got to the gun. She said we could stay in a guest house she had near her own house, free of charge." she said enthusiastically.

"And the bad news?" Annakhin asked, Bobby sagged visibly,

"we still have to buy all our own food and supplies and stuff. She said , if necessary, she'd try to help with any medical items, but she can't afford to feed both us and her family."

"We'll worry about the food when we get our appetites back. Until then, let's cart her over to that guest house." Damien said, pointing at Azuril as he said that last bit.

"Right." Miko said, she helped Damien pick the unconscious girl up off the bed, then left carrying her to Damien. "She's really, really light." Miko said, raising an eyebrow as she looked at Azuril, who was still blissfully out cold.

"She needs to eat more. A lot more." Bobby said with a 'huff'.

"whatever, ladies. Let's just get to that guest house before she does start to feel really heavy." Damien said, leading the way out of the hospital.

"Ring around the rosy..."

...what...?

"a pocket full of posies..."

what the hell...? what is that?

"ashes, ashes..."

Why do I hear that song? What is this!

"they all fall down..."

Azuril sat bolt upright with a cry of what was it? Surprise? Shock? Fear? Then pain stabbed her in the shoulder, she fell back down entirely, clutching her shoulder,

"what--what was that! That song..." her breaths were coming fast and short and a sick, cold feeling was starting from her shoulder and moving all through her body. She could distantly hear someone yelling, but she found herself some place out of reality. She knew right away where she was, some place that had been forced down so hard that it to all of her body's spirit to keep buried, that guard dropped when the pain hit. She could find this place again. And she never wanted to leave. Scenery like an intricate, and beautiful flower garden in a small courtyard, but no buildings anywhere in sight. Now, since she had eyes she hadn't before, she could see how vibrant and beautiful all of the colors were around her. Then she remembered why she'd come. She went off of memory and reached out in front of her, as though to grab something, which she seemed to. A door was heard opening as she moved her and in a charade of an opening door, then she walked forward and disappeared into the room behind the door. The stone corridor that awaited her was different than what she remembered it to be. Normally, at least, a few candles lit the hall, now there was no light. And the part that terrified her was what she saw next. Nothing. Nothing else lined the walls, no other doors, nothing, as thought someone had robbed her mind while she slept. "She really did take them. They're gone. They're..."

"Azuril!" a voice that was so far away she almost missed it called, she stopped her motions toward opening the door she'd come through and looked around.

"Who...?" she started, looking around a bit.

"Azuril!" the voice yelled again, louder this time, as though it was coming her way, the only problem was she was fading out of the corridor and back to reality,

"no...!" she cried as she finally lost sight of the corridor and the garden. When her vision focused again, she found herself staring up into a pair of concerned blue eyes, "what happened? Where am I?" she asked tiredly, sitting up, Annakhin backing away from the bed.

"You're in a guest house next to the home of the boy who got your gun. His mother said that letting us lodge here was part of her apology." she explained. Azuril looked at her with a certain degree of concern in her eyes.

"The boy, he wasn't hurt, was he?" she asked, Annakhin shook her head,

"no, he's fine, I think slightly mentally damaged but physically fine. A few other people came here to apologize for any damage done to you. The people in this town really are nice. They also brought some food and medical supplies, we brought some food in here for you, but we didn't know whether you'd want it when you woke up or not." she said, Azuril gave a detached nod, emotions dying from her features again.

"I'm not hungry, maybe I'll eat later." she said. She still had that song stuck in her head, why it was there, she didn't know.

"Alright. I'll leave you alone for now. Someone will come and check on you later." she said, then she left the room. Azuril watched the door close behind the other girl, then looked at the food that had been brought to her, then she laid back down, closing her eyes and humming the song she'd heard repeatedly.

Why am I so stuck on that song? What could possibly possess my mind to think of that song before anything else? "Ring around the rosy," she started to sing softly and sadly, making it sound more like a lullaby. "A pocket full of posies," Bobby was leaning again the door frame, arms folded over her chest and a half-smile on her face as she watched her stoic friend unwinding, "Ashes, ashes, they all fall down." Azuril finished, lying still for a second, then she sat up straight again, yelped and grabbed her shoulder then caught herself before she fell back down, and dawned a look of realization, "BD!" she cried, Bobby looked completely lost as she walked into the room, standing next to her friend's bed. "BD! The song! It's her!" finally, Bobby couldn't take it anymore,

"who's BD?" she asked. Azuril looked at her,

"a friend. That song was about her. It took me so long to realize that." she said, "then she must have been the one I heard singing it. She's alright! But, what about..." her joy faded, "what about him...?" Bobby was about to ask what she was talking about but Zykan cut her off,

"nutter. I told you that from the beginning, Damien, but, you said 'let's keep her' and dragged her ass outta that basement." the girls looked towards the door, Zykan was coached on the wall by the door, reminding both Azuril and Bobby of a reptile of some kind with his position, he glared at them, "what are you staring at, Vampire Girl!" he snapped. Azuril gave him a miffed glare, then looked calmly up at Bobby,

"where did you put my gun?" she asked casually, grinning inwardly when she heard Zykan swallow audibly and skitter higher up on the wall, away from her more. She could hear Bobby snickering, and finally, she set her eyes on the doorway, where Damien stood, arms folded over his chest and an amused smirk on his face, "how long have I been asleep?" she asked him, he shrugged.

"I dunno, I think around to or three hours max. nothing big." he said.

"Yeah, nothing like one thousand years or anything in that area." Zykan said with a smirk, then eh jumped up onto the ceiling to get away from a fork that was now lodged in the wall where he'd been sitting a second earlier, "dammit! You're scary!" he glared down at Azuril, who was looking up at him still void of an emotions, she was holding the knife that had been left next to her plate of food, the fork from it was already on hiatus.

"Calm down, you two. Azuril, quit throwing silverware, Zykan, quit being an ass. There. Now that that's all done and over with..." Damien said, yanking the fork out of the wall, and pausing once he'd the bedside table, setting it down on the untouched plate. Azuril set the knife down shortly after. "The doctor said it may be a few weeks before you can function properly with that injury still there. We're staying here for those several weeks. I'm begging you," he said, faking a pitiful face and tone, "please, just stay in that damned bed and don't sneak out at all. Please, for the love of God, please, just do me that one favor." Azuril nodded slowly after a second,

"fine, I will stay put. You already know me too well." she said, raising an eyebrow as she watched him, he looked around the room for a second, whether out of embarrassment of some kind when that last statement was made, or because he had nothing more to say but didn't feel like leaving yet. Azuril grinned at that notion, slightly amused by it. She'd done that a lot when she was still truly alive. That was another nasty habit she found herself forming, she'd started to think of herself as, in a way, undead. She'd died the moment she was first altered back in the time she'd come from, and she'd done so again upon leaving that crypt. She was silently wondering what horrible and sickening twist 'Dr. Hojo' had in store for her next. She was also silently fearing the fact that there might be an answer to her musings. Damien interrupted her thoughts,

"I only know you too well because, in a way, you're a lot like me." he said, sounding both serious and slightly nervous, Azuril was praying to every god she remembered the name of that it wasn't nervousness caused by infatuations, she'd climb right back into her coffin if it was an infatuation, the thought of someone who looked like a male version of one of her dearest friends having a crush on her almost made her pass out, it sounded weird just contemplating it. Damien must have either read her mind, picked up on something, or maybe she'd gone pale or something, because he stared wide eyed at her for a second, then started rapidly shaking his head and putting his hands up in either defense or a sign that he wasn't going to try to hit her,

"no, no, no, don't take it the wrong way or anything, I just-you act-geez!" he babbled, Bobby had lost it laughing a while ago and was now on the floor red in the face with a ting of blue there as well laughing so hard that she feared she'd never be able to breath properly again. There was a 'thump' like noise as Zykan fell off of the ceiling, landing on the foot of the bed first, then falling off of it onto the floor, also laughing his ass off. Azuril was looking from Zykan and Bobby back to a seething Damien, who was red in the face and yelling at his two friends to shut up, which only made them laugh harder. Now, Annakhin, Miko and Skayr were standing near the doorway watching Damien have a fit at Bobby and Zykan, who were both probably suffocating from all of their laughing.

"What happened?" Miko asked, staring wide eyed, Annakhin had an amused look on her face, Skayr just looked completely lost. The trio joined Azuril, Annakhin sitting on the bed, Miko standing at the head of the bed, arms folded over her chest, Skayr was crouched down on the ground like a cat, her head tilted to the side a bit. "I reiterate, what happened?" Miko repeated, stealing a glance at Azuril, who was watching the show with detached interest.

"Damien made a comment after I said something, then he panicked about it and started babbling and somewhat waving his arms and shaking his head, he didn't turn red until he watched Zykan fall off of the ceiling from laughing too hard, that's also when he noticed Bobby was laughing as well. Him telling them repeatedly to be quiet in the manner he is now is only instigating more trouble for him, though." Azuril recapped for them.

"Oh." Miko said, Annakhin was starting to laugh at Damien's growing frustration as well, Skayr was doing a pathetic job of trying to hide her laughter, Miko finally gave in and started laughing as well. Azuril was too busy looking around the room at all of them, she had to close her eyes for a second so she could calm herself, not from trying not to laugh, but from trying not to cry. Miko, Damien, Annakhin, Bobby, Skayr, Zykan...Lizz, Genevieve, Anna, Jessi, Lisa, Noah...why did this have to happen? What had she done to deserve this? Why was protecting someone she cared for so horrible it punishable by torment of this extreme kind? Angela would pay for this all very cruelly. Azuril's mind had already gone to work producing different ways she would exact her revenge.

you couldn't possibly hurt me anymore than you already have, you bitch. And so I will make you pay.

Later that night, when the three girls watching the fray had decided to break it up and leave Azuril to herself for a bit, she sat playing with her gun, with Miko had been forced to give back to her, mulling over things in her mind. ok, we'll go through our mental check-list again, the Nikki clone, a.k.a. Angela Seraf, a.k.a. Dr. Hojo played far too much Final Fantasy VII and was probably smoking a heavy load of something...whatever it is, I wish she'd shared...and turned me into Vincent, then she locked me in a box, I stayed in said box for one thousand years, and now the reincarnations or something of all of my friends found me and I'm traveling around with them so I can slowly, cruelly and grotesquely kill her. My friends are gone, my family's gone, my life is gone, even two thirds of what I am has been taken from me. What else is there...?...nothing...I have nothing left for her to take. Nothing at all. she closed her eyes and fought the urge to cry back down again, that realization would never be easy to accept and she knew it, "Alright, we will try something else, how does all of this match up with the game?" she said aloud, looking at her gun, which was still being pulled apart and put back together. "Genevieve has been turned into Cloud, Lizz has been turned into Tifa, though I'm sure there are no matters of the heart involved in this relationship, I hope..." she twitched involuntarily at that notion, it was right up there with the whole thing with Damien earlier, this just kept getting more and more interesting every second. "Jessi, can only assume, has been turned into Cid. Lisa has been turned into, we will say, for the sake of argument, Nanaki. Noah has taken the role of either Cait Sith or Yuffie, or, seemingly, a combination of the two. That theory may be tested later if anyone else joins our rag-tag team–" she stopped, "'Our rag-tag team'? I have no place here, save for my revenge on the woman who killed me. No other connections. Just her." she told herself firmly, thought she found herself believing that rule less and less by the minute. "What was I thinking? Back to business. We lack someone to play the role of Barret, and we lack someone to play the role of either Cait Sith or Yuffie...but Aeris..." she early managed to catch the strong feeling of despair as it threatened tears, she swallowed the lump in her throat, "Anna...Anna is Aeris..." she bowed her head, letting her hair drape around her like a curtain, also allowing herself to finally cry, silently, no one was to see her cry, and if they did, they would not hear a noise from her. "One of my closest friends is destined to sacrifice everything, and leave me completely, again... What am I going to do? How can I protect her if I couldn't protect Genevieve, couldn't protect Lizz, any of them...and even myself...how am I supposed to protect her if I can't even protect myself?" she said pitifully, "what do I do now...?"

Damien and Annakhin stood on either side of the doorway, right outside the bed room Azuril was in, they both leaned back against the wall looking at the doorway, finally, Damien looked at Annakhin,

"what do you think all that meant?" he said, Annakhin shrugged,

"I'm not sure, maybe they're people from her time. But she sounded so broken when she mentioned the names 'Anna' and 'Aeris'...who do you think they were that they would have her so upset about them?" she said curiously, it was Damien's turn to shrug,

"your guess is as good as mine." then he looked into the room again, "but they must be important, if they have her crying like that...the worst part is we can't help her." he looked away from the room, covering his face with his hands for a second, then giving a raged sigh and letting them drop and hang at his sides limply. "We can't help her with something we know nothing about, and we can't help her because this is something she has to deal with on her own...I hate to say all that, I really do...but, we need to let her alone on it..." he stood up fully and started to walk away from the room, "I at least wish I knew who all of those people were. Half of those names sound like characters from a game or movie or something." he said. Annakhin watched him go, then looked, sadly, into the room Azuril was in again, the girl had her good hand up covering her mouth, possibly to stifle the whimpers that might come with her crying, her hair still draped like a curtain.

"Azuril," she said softly, going against what Damien had said, walking into the room, "what's wrong?" she asked softly, now standing at the bedside. The girl being addressed froze, not answering for a moment, most likely to compose herself,

"nothing." she said tensely. The smaller girl was actually slightly frightened by just the tone of voice that was used, but she stood her ground.

"Then why were you crying?" she asked, Azuril's head snapped up and she stared at Annakhin with some nervousness on her face,

"why were you watching? What did you hear?" she said, the girl being addressed jumped back a bit.

"Damien and I, we were standing outside your doorway, we heard you mention a list of names, and they all seemed to make you more and more sad with every one said." Azuril's eyes were widening more and more with each word said to her. "And the two names that you mentioned that made you start crying, we heard those too." Azuril looked dizzy, Annakhin feared she might faint, "but we won't tell anyone! We both promise. Damien isn't here to say so, but I know he'll keep them a secret. I promise." she said frantically, hoping to help the girl ease herself up a bit. Once that was done with, the reference to a game that Azuril had mentioned was brought up, that conversation didn't go too far, it consisted of a question and ten minutes of complete silence before Annakhin gave up and excused herself from the room. Azuril wanted nothing more than to see whether or not shooting herself in the head would kill her or not. But she had to play this game up until the end, she needed to win this one. Then she'd see if shooting herself would either kill her, or just hurt like hell.

"At least there isn't any possible way that this could get worse..." she said, then, as if right on cue, the window slid up and something started to slowly climb through, whatever it was, it had a gun pointed at its face when it righted itself. "You have two seconds to save yourself from getting your head blown off, tell me who the hell you are, or what the hell you are, then leave." Azuril snapped coldly, emotion gone again, ability to kill back in place. This would be the first time she'd actually kill something besides bugs. She vaguely wondered if she'd care after she pulled the trigger or not, she decided to wait and find out. The thing seemed scared witless, rolling up into a tiny little black ball, a large envelope sat next to it. Azuril blinked a bit in confusion, bending down and picking up both the envelope and the little black ball, then she left the room. "Damien!" she called, he was sitting by the front door, said door was propped open so he could look outside. He looked up at her quickly, having been startled when she'd suddenly called his name. "You know they make windows for this kind of thing, do you not?" she added, looking outside, slightly wary of any movements that she saw. The blond stood up kicking the doorstop out of the way and letting the door swing closed, locking it once it had closed all the way, then he gave her a look and sat down on the couch adjacent to the door.

"You're a funny one. You shouldn't be moving around yet." he said, she shrugged it off, that motion surprising him, wasn't her injury on her left shoulder? "Hey, didn't that hurt?" he asked, pointing at her. She stared blankly at him, "you shrugged. Isn't your shoulder where you got shot?" again, she shrugged it off. He gave up on it. "Ok, why'd you come out here? It couldn't have been just to say hi." he asked, then stared oddly at a small black ball she presented to him.

"Hold that and make sure it doesn't decide to run away." Azuril said, ignoring the completely lost look on Damien's face as he examined the ball. she opened the envelope, finding just what she thought she would, a nice little note from Angela.

I hope you are enjoying the game thus far. I am aware of the fact that you are quite alone in mind, if it can be said that way. You must have noted the absence of your two little friends as well, they're not dead and gone, they are here with me. I'm sure they want you to finish the game just as much as I do.

You may also have noticed some twists in the game's play. I assure you, they are for the better. Have you noticed the lack of characters in the game? Well, I'm sure the one you noticed first was Sephiroth's absence. I assure you there is a Sephiroth. If you want him, I shall release him. This time, I control him. I'm sure you'll love meeting your 'Sephiroth', it'll be quite a shocker for you.

Give Damien a kiss for me.

Adieu, my 'Vincent'

Dr. Hojo

a low growl escaped the girl's throat as she crushed the paper when she clenched her fist tightly, she threw the paper aside and reigned in the urge to punch the wall out of fear she'd break it. Damien watched her for a second, rolling the ball around between his hands, until finally he spoke up,

"what did the note say? I think I can guess who it was from, so what did she say?" he asked, this time Azuril did hit the wall, it didn't break but cracked where she'd hit it. She hung there, fist still in the wall, head bowed, finally she spoke up,

"nothing that you would understand. Oh, she does send her love to you." she could sense his slight anger, can I blame him? He didn't quite lose as much as I did, but we're damned close. "Damien, I know that this will not change anything, but, I am sorry for your loses, and I hope you can find some peace after we've despatched this woman." the anger slowly died, nothing seemed to be there now. Did he leave, or was he just back to his normal calmer state?

"Thank you." he said quietly. Well, at least he hadn't left. She backed away from the wall and landed herself in a chair. She sighed heavily, then allowed herself to relax. Her friends and family, whatever had happened to them after she'd been locked away, were just as unreachable as Damien's friends, but she hoped they were all at peace. "What are you thinking about?" Damien asked suddenly. When she looked over at him he had his head tilted to the side sightly and a curious look in his eyes, "you looked completely gone for a second there and I was starting to get even more lost than I am now."

"How do you mean?" Azuril asked, raising an eyebrow curiously, slightly wary of him for reasons she figured she could pass of as instincts.

"Well, you always seem so distant from us all. And earlier, all of those names, and, just now, you looked like you were off in another world or something. I was just curious as to what it is you think about so much. Though that may sound kind of stupid, I guess." he said, still looking curious. She eyed him up one more time, then finally fully relaxed,

"my friends, my family, my time. I was just realizing some horrible similarities between you, my friends and another group of people that I know. I know I could, and probably should, tell you most of it, but I have a feeling that, if I do, she will change the game." she said tiredly, closing her eyes, "when I met you, back in that crypt, for the first time, I only saw the faces from my nightmares staring back at me-only saw the faces of my friends staring back at me..." she opened one eye the slightest bit, looking at him tiredly, "my friends and family, they all looked, somewhat, like you and your friends-" Damien cut her off, glaring at her the slightest bit, looking slightly offended.

"'my friends'? You do a good job of making it sound like you don't care jack about us." he said, she closed her eye again, turning her head away from him,

"and if it's not an act? Then what?" she asked, all he did was stare, how could she not care? They'd helped her, kept her with them, taken care of her, and now she was saying she didn't care about them at all.

"Then I'd say one of two things; one thing I could say would be 'then haul ass outta here', and another could be 'then start caring.'. and I'm torn between the two." he said, then blinked a bit in confusion when she held out her hand towards him.

"Give me the ball, then tell me where all of my possessions are. Once I have those few things, I will leave you to your own device." she said, sounding slightly cold. screw this damn game. I'm not going through the plot line. I didn't stay awake to play. I'll find her, without help if necessary, get back what's mine, take revenge, then sleep. At least I'll have company this time. she thought, avoiding looking at Damien, for fear of seeing a hurt or angry expression on a face that looked so much like her past friend's. she did look up though when he never gave her the ball, "give it to me, Damien. If you wish me gone, then don't make this harder than it already is." she said, why didn't he just give her the damn ball? It was hers first anyway!

"No." was all he said. She stared in shock for a second, then calmed herself with the realization that someone with a will like his would be stubborn. She was going to get her ball back though...stubborn or not, she had no problem in possibly threatening his life, just because he looked like Genevieve didn't mean she had to care. Her friend was gone, forever, and just because she'd found a familiar face in a stranger, didn't mean she had to treat him like she had her old friend.

"You said I should leave, if that is the only option I have, then I will do so, once you give me that ball. It was mine from the beginning." she said, though she'd decided to hurt him if necessary, she was getting pissed and contemplating hurting him anyway, necessary or not.

"No. I can't give it to you." he said firmly, then added, having noticed the irritated look on the girl's face, "if I do, you'll go and get yourself killed. I can't have that hanging over my head if I let you go. You don't know anything about the world you've been dragged into and I can't let you just go die. So if the ball's what's keeping you here, whatever the hell it is, then I'm keeping it." now she just looked shocked, he sighed heavily, "even if you don't like us, or don't care at all or whatever, I'd never get over throwing you out all alone in a time and place that you don't know a thing about. So, you're stuck here, with me, and my friends, until I get tired of you or you kill me and take this damn ball, or whatever. Got it?" he was one-hundred percent serious on this, which shock Azuril even more, why keep her around if he knew she didn't care a thing for any of them? Then again...he had a point, she had no real idea of what might be out there, she only hoped her new life somewhat followed her old knowledge.

"Fine. Keep me as you please. But, you may want to be careful with that ball. It looks normal, but it-" the ball started to wriggle in Damien's hands, shaping itself into a worm-like shape, squirming and wriggling until it got away from, a now completely shocked, Damien, he jumped back out of shock, staring at the black worm as it made a break for it. Its escape was foiled, very abruptly, when Azuril shot it. "...is the messenger that brought me that envelope." she finished her earlier statement, watching as the creature reformed itself, got the hint, and rolled back into a ball, just sitting there on the floor. Azuril picked it up and tossed it to Damien, who fumbled with it for a second, still slightly afraid that it might try to escape again, but finally got a good hold on it again. Then he stared at her oddly,

"please don't tell me you shoot everything that annoys you, or attempts escape." he said, she shook her head, "good."

"If I did, you'd be dead by now." She commented, settling back into the chair, trying not to grin at the pale shade of skin, and slightly frightened look, on Damien's face. He pulled himself together and then raised an eyebrow, confused at something,

"why did you give it back to me?" he asked, she was the one that was confused now, he elaborated, "this thing." He held the ball up so she could see it, "why give it back when you know I'll just keep it, thus keeping you here?"

"Maybe I've grown fond of forced imprisonment over these last one-thousand years." she suggested, sarcasm was clearly there with that comment, though, as usual, it was not in the tone of voice she used. The only things he'd ever truly seen resembling emotions from her were anger and sadness, nothing else. That saddened him deeply, knowing that those were the only emotions strong enough to overcome her barrier of indifference. He wanted so badly to know why she would only allow those emotions through, and to know what thoughts could bring such pain. But, at this point, he figured that the only way he'd get an answer out of her would be trying to read her mind, which wasn't happening any time soon. For now, he could live with not knowing. Their conversation, if it can be called that, was interrupted by Zykan scrambling into the room, and hiding behind Damien,

"Make her stop!" he cried, Damien took on his usual role again, the annoyance from that fact clear on his face. Bobby bolted into the room, holding a wrench and dawning an irrate look on her face,

"where is that little shit! He ran in here, I saw him. Give him, Damien!" she shrieked, making Damien cringe from both the extreme tone and the volume of her voice, mostly the latter.

"What did he do this time, Bobby?" Damien asked, trying to coax her into putting the wrench down, she was too angry to be holding something that dangerous. Azuril looked away as quickly as she could, the instant she caught the slightest glimpse of Bobby, she'd grown used to Damien's resemblances, but the others would take a while, especially Bobby...

"ask the fucking hover-board I was fixing for that gun happy kid-!" then she noticed Azuril, "oops." confusion set in when Azuril stayed perfectly still, looking away from them, well, her head was turned away, her eyes were closed. "What's with her?" she asked, pointing to the girl. Damien looked at Azuril, then caught on right away.

"Let's take this out into the hall, what's say, guys." he said, shoving both a confused Bobby, and a nervous Zykan out into the hall, then he turned to look back at Azuril, "we'll be done with this in a minute, you can relax, she's gone." he assured her. She relaxed almost immediately,.

"thank you, Damien." she said, just above a whisper. He grinned, then went back out into the hall to start a shouting match with Bobby. I won't be able to go anywhere near that girl, or the girl resembling Lisa for quite some time. They're too much for my mind to deal with. she looked at the doorway, partly waiting for Damien to get back, she found she liked his company. He was calmer than the others, the only other person that was easy to be around was the girl that looked like Anna. Anna had always been an easy person to get along with, and this girl she saw now was just as nice. Something clicked inside her head, she didn't know who half of these people were! Damien, Miko and Zykan were the only names she knew. The others hadn't introduced themselves at all. She'd ask Damien when he came back, hopefully without company, if anyone else were to come in, she'd rather it be the girl that looked like Anna, and possibly Zykan, though he was almost nothing like Noah, she knew he was this world's version of him, and he acted far too much like she used to, seeing herself and someone she knew was an old friend at the same time wasn't really a thrilling thought. The more she thought about it, the more she realized Zykan might be a lot like Noah in a certain sense. She'd seen him on walls and even the ceiling, he carted that scythe everywhere he went, and his physical features were, in some senses, not completely human, his eyes were a dead give away, but, she had a feeling there was more to him than just that...

"What the hell are you screaming about, you ingrates!" the girl that looked like Lisa had joined the party outside now... after several seconds, she could hear a scream from the hall, it sounded like the girl with the wrench, then there was a heavy thud, then Damien swearing a blue streak. Followed by several more swearing fits from the Lisa and Jessi clones, she wondered where Zykan had gotten off to-she found out when he dropped silently off the ceiling next to her,

"Damn, I thought I was a goner." he muttered.

"What did you do to upset her so?" Azuril asked, making him jump a bit, he hadn't noticed her...

"I bumped something, it started the thing she was working on and sent parts flying everywhere, then she got mad and tried to bludgeon me to death with a wrench." he explained, she raised an eyebrow, that sounded like Jessi well enough.

"Where is your scythe?" she asked, she'd never once seen him without it, it looked kind of weird to see him with it gone. Apparently, he thought so too, spazing completely, then he jumped back up onto the ceiling and high-tailed it, most likely to find where he'd left his scythe. odd boy, that. Then again, who am I to talk? I'm stuck in a video game that I can't turn off. she was beginning to call it a game again, giving up, slowly, on calling it her new life. Finally, the closing shouts to the argument could be heard and Damien stalked back into the room, taking his spot on the couch and brooding, dragging the little black ball out of his pocket to roll it around like a 'worry ball'.

"I swear to God, those guys never quit!" He complained, though he had a right to complain, he had to deal with them. Azuril gave him exasperated smile, on the inside, she truly did pity him. Attitudes and personalities had changed throughout time. Where as Jessi would be the level-headed one of the group, now she was just as sporadic as the others, all of them, save Damien and the girl that looked like Anna, were all just like teenagers, thought she had a feeling they weren't. If she'd managed to turn twenty-seven, through science, then she was pretty sure that the rules were followed to the letter on the others' ages as well. Damien should be twenty-one, Anna's copy should be twenty-two, etcetera, etcetera...she hated the thought of being, what she was now pegging as, old. Vincent being one of the older characters, being twenty-seven, in the group, way older if you add on his years in stasis, that would make him fifty-seven, she knew that feeling perfectly well now. But, shit happens. Another odd thought passed through her head, Jessi's age. Not counting his years in stasis, Vincent was younger than Cid, who was in his early thirties. She quickly beat down the thought of laughing at that.

"Damien," she spoke up, looking at said boy, who didn't look away from tossing the ball around, but gave her a noise of acknowledgment. "I don't know who half of you friends are." he stopped playing with the ball and blinked a bit,

"oh. Oops." then he got up and ran out of the room.

uh-oh, he's going to bring them in, isn't he? Well, bite your tongue and bear it. thankfully, he only dragged one person in at a time, the girl that looked like Anna walked in and sat down on the couch next to the spot Damien had been occupying earlier. "That's Annakhin Stesia." Damien said, once he noticed that the smaller girl had entered the room. Then he turned back to talking to Miko for a second. Azuril nearly grinned, Zykan crawled in quietly, up on the ceiling and away from Miko, who seemed to always be ready to tick him off, and the girl that looked like Jessi, who probably still wanted his head on a platter. This time, he brought his scythe. He dropped down next to her again, eyeing up Annakhin for a second, seemingly wary of her. Curious... Finally, Miko walked into the room and leaned against the door Damien had propped open earlier. Zykan seemed to be wary of her too, probably because he didn't want any attention drawn towards him, for fear of being beaten to death with a wrench. Damien sat back down on the couch and picked up the ball again, tossing it between his hands, he felt it start to move a bit, then grinned when it froze at the sound of a safety on a gun being 'clicked'. The gun was 'un-clicked' and put away. the first of the two remaining people she didn't know walked in, still pissy from the yelling match, Azuril cringed, as though someone had hit her, her best friend stood before her, scarred and tattooed in places, slightly tanned, and scowling, but otherwise, she was Lisa... "sorry, I know this must hurt, a lot." Damien said apologetically, but she shook her head, her voice betraying her sadness when she responded,

"no, it's fine. Continue." she said tensely, he still looked sorry, but he did as she asked,

"that's Skayr Dolton. She'll act tough and kind of scary, but you'll get used to it...in fact, I think she'll need to adjust to you." he teased the tanned version of Lisa, who growled and glared. He waved it off, "you can go now, Skayr. She just wanted to know who you were." the girl stalked out of the room, obviously ticked off that she had to walk into a room for about ten seconds, get teased, then sent away. "Who was she?" he asked suddenly, Azuril stared at him,

"Skayr, you said her name was?" she tried, he gave a quick nod, but then added to it.

"I mean to you. Who was she when you knew her?" he asked, contemplating regret ahead of time. She answered surprising quick, still sounding indifferent, thought everyone could see that she was on the verge of shoving Miko away from the door, opening said door, and bolting out of there.

"My best friend. Her name was Lisa." she said, Damien gave a slow nod of acknowledgment, then looked at the doorway where 'Jessi' stood, no longer holding a wrench, just a calm smile, as though trying to keep this as painless as possible,

"This is Bobby Mercer-" he started, but Zykan cut him off,

"she likes to burn things." he said, then he was up on the ceiling before she could get to him, leaving her standing under him screaming swear words at him.

"And her?" Damien said, Azuril knew what he meant,

"my..." she let down her mask so she could properly hold back her tears, "my cousin." she finished, no one moved after she said that, "we were like sisters."

"I'm sorry." Damien said, she shook her head,

"you couldn't have changed that, and you didn't know. Don't be sorry. You don't need to." then she looked at him, he flinched at the hollow look in her eyes, thinking that he like the indifference and uncaring look to her much more than this, sudden and frightening, hollow and broken look to her. "You all look like the faces I had nightmares about for one thousand years. Miko has my friend Lizz's face, Skayr has my best friend Lisa's face, she too was like a sister to me. Annakhin, you look like my friend Anna, you're also kind, and naturally pure as she was. Zykan, though not physically, and somewhat not in personality, you are my friend Noah's twin."

"What about Damien? Does he look like anyone you used to know? And please tell me for sure that Noah was a boy, because if I'm a girl's rep, I'll just feel really weirded out." Zykan said,

"Noah was a boy, you are safe, you also act much like I used to, I see not only Noah in you, but a small piece of what I once was."

"Wow, a double whammy...sorry." he said, she waved her hand dismissively,

"don't be, I don't need or want pity, sympathy or apologies from people, words can be hollow, as can apologies." she said, then she looked at Damien, "yes, Zykan, he does look like someone I once knew. He looks just like the reason I was imprisoned in this hellish and inhuman body." no one moved, only stared wide eyed at Damien, who looked like he was about to pass out. Skayr snuck back into the room, having been listening right outside the door, when she heard that, she two was stuck still, Zykan fell off of the ceiling after hearing that, he righted himself into a sitting position, then just stared.

"You mean," Annakhin spoke up, though it was quiet, "he looks just like the person that started all of this for you?" Azuril nodded.

"My friend, Genevieve, yes, a girl, my apologies, was the one I was trying to protect. Angela tricked me into meddling in her affairs, then changed my body, and left me to deal with the fact that I was no longer going to be able to see anyone at all, including the one I was trying to rescue...from herself. Angela had started her entire scheme one thousand years ago. She planned everything out, I think she even planned out all of you, playing you and using you in order to get you this far, and to gather you into a group in the first place, but I don't know that for sure. She had most, if not all, of her plans made and set out for her ready, but she needed someone to play my part, to play the part of a lone rag-doll of a living thing that lives only because the nightmares keep it going. She began searching for a player by trying to use me to take one of my friends in my stead. But, I cared for them too much to immerse myself too deeply into her plans. I stayed by them more than I did her and they unknowingly saved both me and themselves...for a short time. Since I was expendable at the time, she lost interest in me and went about trying to figure something else out, but I was to lose to her again when she finally came up with a new idea. She went after my friends, not me, only them, those people that look like all of you. She picked out the one out of all of them that was hurting the most, the one that needed something to cling to in a way. That person was my friend, Genevieve, you, Damien. She used my friend, pretending to care, pretending to understand, she played me at the same time. She knew I would react, try to save my friend. The fact that I had been in Genevieve's place at one time was part of the reason I wanted Angela gone, though she had a different name at the time. Her cover was a girl that had left years before this all happened, Nikki. I continually got in the way, I tried as much as possible to steer Genevieve away from that woman. But my attempts were my downfall. That was what she was looking for. She wanted, needed, someone who was in a melancholy, desperately concerned and worried state that was trying to save someone from themself. I played right into that category, she experimented on me, turned me into this...creature...then put me in that crypt. All because I wanted to rescue someone I cared for." she said, still looking at Damien. She'd regained most of her composure and was rebuilding her walls, draining the sadness from her features, slowly, but it was happening. "Genevieve has passed herself on, to you, Damien. You and her look the same." then, just as the last bit of her uncaring features was added and she looked completely and untouchably indifferent and uncaring, Damien passed out. The mask wavered for a second as a sudden look of panic swept over her features, then she caught herself and helped Skayr and Miko get Damien laid out on the couch, Annakhin standing up and running from the room,

"I'll get something for his head." she called back, "he'll probably be dizzy when he wakes up."

Azuril watched her leave, then looked at Damien,

oops... she thought, shit. I didn't mean to do that.

"didn't know you affected him that much, Azuril." Bobby commented, she too was looking at Damien, "I've never once seen him faint. Bravo." Miko and Zykan snickered at that, Skayr gave an irks 'humph'

"He should be able to pull himself together better than that." she said crossly, arms folded over her chest, no one missed the slight worry in her voice, and with the way her shoulders were set, drooped some more then set high like she normally looked, they knew she was still mentally reeling from Azuril's words.

"I had no intention towards that reaction." Azuril said, Bobby stifled a laugh,

"well, we all got to see him faint finally, let's put it that way, as opposed to dwelling on all that stuff we heard. Though, the thought of being a 'game-piece' does piss me off some."

"Yeah, I like that notion. I second it." Zykan said. Then he blinked a bit when Annakhin came back in the room with a bottle of pain killers, "uh, hey, Missy, just put a warm cloth on his head when he's out cold, works just as well as those, but, you don't have to wait for him to wake up and be in pain." he said, Annakhin looked thoughtful for a second, then gave a small nod and left again. One thing they'd all noticed, through their time with the pair, is that Zykan, in a way, does as told when told to do it when Annakhin says he should, and that he doesn't seem to enjoy her company much, whether it being the fact that she seems to be able to boss him around if ever she decides to, and that he seems to lag and defuse slightly around her, or more accurately, around the bracelet she wears, the other reason could be that she's pure and seemingly, in a way, divine, and he, bluntly put, is pretty well a demon, whether in personality or species, no one knew, but they figured both. The last thing they noticed was that Zykan calls Annakhin 'Missy'. Annakhin explained that he started saying it right after she met him, and found her bracelet, that was when he seemed forced to follow her around. They allow him to say it's because she feeds him as opposed to suggesting that he may be bound to her or something of that sort. Let him live in his disillusionment...

"Please help me 'cause I'm breaking down,

this pictures frozen and I cant get out
Please help me 'cause I'm breaking down,

this pictures frozen and I cant get out of here
Believe me, I'm just as lost as you

Believe me I'm just as lost as you

and every time I think I've finally made it
I learn I'm farther away than I have ever been before
I see the clock and its ticking away, and the hourglass empty
What the fuck do I have to say

Please help me 'cause I'm breaking down,

this pictures frozen and I cant get out
Please help me 'cause I'm breaking down,

this pictures frozen and I can't get out of hereBelieve me, I'm just as lost as you
Believe me, I'm just as lost as you

Keep it inside, the image portrayed
As if I couldn't stand losing as if I couldn't be saved, no way
A small confession I think I'm starting to lose it
I think I'm drifting away from the people I really need
A small reflection on when we were younger
We had it all figured out 'cause we had everything covered
Now were older its getting harder to see
What this future will hold for us, what the fuck are we going to be?

Please help me 'cause I'm breaking down,

this picture's frozen and I cant get out
Please help me 'cause I'm breaking down,

this picture's frozen and I cant get out of here
Believe me, I'm just as lost as you
Believe me, I'm just as lost as you


So lost, I'm just as lost as you
Oh well what am I going to do
I'm afraid I'm falling farther away

(from where I want to be)

Please help me 'cause I'm breaking down,

this pictures frozen and I cant get out
Please help me 'cause I'm breaking down,

this pictures frozen and I cant get out of here
Release me, I'm just as lost as you
Believe me, I'm just as lost as you"

---

Trapt; Still Frame; Trapt