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Here is the third chapter. Hope you like it…
Stupid Disclaimer: FF game and characters…not ours…..other characters – ours.
All review are welcome.
Next Day
Dena smiled as she took the customer's orders, "Okay...It will be a few moments." She said as she put away her pad and pen, she went over to the bar and placed the order on the rack for the cook. She sighed as she took a rag and started wiping the crud off of the bar counter, people could be so nasty. The bell at the door jingled as the door was opened, Dena looked up automatically; she saw Kaori, Yukiro, and Connor in the door way. "Hi guys." She greeted.
Yukiro blinked, looking a little surprised. "Here before me...?" he asked. "Yea...the boss asked me to come early so he could show me the works." Dena said as she dumped the crumbs in the trash, she tossed the dirty rag in to the sink. Yukiro nodded. "Ah... I just came from my last job, so I normally don't get here too early..." he explained, going into the back to start getting to work.
Kaori turned to Dena, "So...how's work?" She asked, Dena sweatdropped. "Like work..." She replied, Connor smiled. "Let's go sit down..." Connor said, Dena nodded and started walking over to an empty table; Connor followed the sound of her footsteps. "Gah... I'm gonna have to get to work in about an hour. I'm just gonna stay here and do homework until then," Kaori said, setting her math book down on the table.
Dena smiled at her friends, the door jingled again; she turned to greet the new customers. "Oh! It's Dena." Came a voice from none other than Yuffie, behind her was a group of people; she recognized Cid from before and the blonde haired boy. "Didn't know that kids like you worked in the bar... They just keep getting younger and younger, huh?" Cid said, raising an eyebrow.
Dena sweatdropped, " I'm not a kid." She said smiling, although her lip was twitching lightly, "Where would you like it sit?" She asked as she looked at the group. It consisted of five people; Yuffie, Cid, the blonde boy, a tall girl with big breasts, and another man. The other man struck her as strange, he had a metal arm and blood red eyes; that and he seemed to look at her strangely. "Can I help you?" She asked, the man blinked.
The man blinked again, eyes widening for a moment. "Lucrecia..!" he murmured. Dena's face twisted in confusion, she brushed a piece of hair behind her right ear. "I'm sorry...My name is Dena." She said, she hated telling him that he was confusing her with someone else. "But..." The man frowned, confused. 'Could she be related somehow..?'
Vincent shook his head, deciding to just let it go...for right now, anyway. "Sorry..." he muttered. He glanced back at the others. "Well...you guys can decide on where we sit." He shrugged.
Dena shook her head, "I've only been here for a few days..." She said, 'Not including the time in the test tube...' She though as she sweatdropped. Vincent shook his head, deciding to just let it go...for right now, anyway. "Sorry..." he muttered. He glanced back at the others. "Well...you guys can decide on where we sit." He shrugged.
The others nodded, taking their seats. Kaori meanwhile, stood. "Should probably just go on ahead and get started for work..." she muttered, partially to procrastinate from doing homework.
"Oh Dena..." Yuffie said as she suddenly remembered something, "I never introduced you to everyone." She said, "This is Cid, you saw him in the store." Cid gave a slightly wave. " This is Tifa, " She said motioning to the other girl, "Cloud." Blonde hair boy from yesterday, "And this is Vincent." Dena smiled.
"Its nice to meet everyone." Dena said slightly bowing her head. She looked over to see her boss slightly pissed, "Back to work." Dena said as she walked off, she walked past Yuffie's table and had to squeeze past this one sleazy old man who stared at her but like a starved dog...oh god. Kaori glanced back at Dena, catching the scene and sweatdropping. "Three...two..."
She looked from the dirty old man to her boss then back to the old man. She had half a mind to knock the guy in to next week but...she steadied herself and walked over to the kitchen where a table's food now sat, ready to be delivered. She delivered the food to its table and went to take Yuffie and the other's orders. She placed the pad on the table and started writing down the orders, she was in the middle of writing down Tifa's order when Dena's mind went blank, her jaw dangled open slightly; the old man was standing behind her with a look of victorious conquest as he gripped her left butt cheek.
Kaori looked up and sweatdropped, unsure what all to do at this point. To drag Dena into the back, to beat up the guy herself, or to start going 'Out! Everybody out!' to everyone in the vicinity like the donut ladies in Brian Regan standup.
Dena saw Kaori move to stop her but it was too late, she felt the satisfying crunch of the old man's nose breaking against her fist. The old man's face quickly went from glee to pain, he howled as he gripped his face. Dena was stopped by Yuffie, Tifa, and Kaori as she tried to pound the little guy farther in to the dirt. "Sleaze bag!" She shouted as Cloud moved over to then man, the man howled as Cloud snapped his nose back in to place. Out of the corner of Dena's eye she saw the boss coming over, he knocked back Cloud's group "Morala." He hissed and grabbed Dena roughly by the arm. He lead her out through the back door, he roughly pushed her out. "You're fired." He said before slamming the door.
Kaori sweatdropped, then looked over at Yukiro. She then let out a sigh, turning to the manager. "Fuck this game..." she said. She pointed to him. "It's four in the morning, grandpa-you win! ...And I should cut your head off with this little doggie..." She looked down at the bottle in her hand. "Er...bottle. Bye!" she said, waving and walking out, following Dena.
Kaori then turned to Dena. "Alrighty. Let's head home," she said. "We'll have to figure out some sort of way to earn cash tomorrow. One that doesn't involve old perverts. And Monopoly."
Dena smiled faintly, "Yea..." She said, she stopped over by a small barrel of water that sat below a drain pipe. She took a moment to wash the old man blood off her fist, "Hey...aren't you going to work at the bar?" She asked.
"Meh...not if it involves getting groped and not being allowed to fight back..." Kaori replied. "Besides, I think gramps is going to get a restraining order on me...and doggies."
Meanwhile
Connor picked up around their little 'house'. It was really the least that he could do-the others were all working, and so he had to do something to help out. He had left the bar a little while ago and had finished up his homework, so now he was sort of cleaning the best he could. Finally letting out a soft sigh as he set the blanket that went to the couch down, he lifted his head upwards, then suddenly frowned and lifted a hand to lightly touch his forehead.
"What on earth..." he murmured, turning to the curtain and pushing it back to walk out of the alleyway and into the mostly-empty street of Nibelheim. He looked out towards the sea again, a confused frown on his face. After several moments, he let out another sigh, shaking his head. "..That's the /second/ time I've started to hear things today..." he murmured, turning to go back into the alleyway. Little did he know… a shadow sat up on top of the water tower, watching him.
The shadowy figure smirked, and then climbed to its feet. The noise caused Connor to freeze with surprise. "Well, well..." rang out a voice. A woman jumped off the edge and landed on the ground. She was tall and slender, wearing black hakama and light blue gi with long, almost spiky silver hair pulled back into a ponytail. "It seems it is true..." Connor frowned, taking a couple of steps back as he heard the sandaled footsteps approaching. "You can hear our mother. You really are Ice..."
Connor frowned, taking a couple of steps back, staff ready for more than simply guidance. "Who are you?" he demanded. "I am Serenity..." she said, blue-green eyes looking amused. "But I'm also known as Star, for that's what I am. Just as you are our Ice... We've been looking for you, you know. Mother would love to meet you..." Star said, taking a few more steps toward Connor.
Connor frowned. "Stay back..!" he ordered, glaring slightly. Star seemed to smile, "Why...what ever for...All I want to do is take you to Mother." She said, her voice coated in fake hurt.
"My mother disappeared a long time ago. And after meeting my father, well...I have no real desire to see any more possible relatives," he shot back, a faint bit of sarcasm lacing his voice. "Now just let me be. I am a blind, homeless boy that lives with his own scarred mind, his brother, and his two friends. I have nothing that you could ever possibly want," Connor said, heading back over toward the alleyway.
"You truly have no idea...do you?" Star asked. "I might, though I don't want to. Either way, whatever you have planned...I want no part in it." "I don't believe you have a choice. " She said as she smiled, a shadow passed over her face giving her a sinister look.
Connor stopped for a moment, then sighed. "...Do not think that you can attack me and be confident that victory is assured. I am not entirely helpless." The woman smirked, taking out several needles. "Well then, we'll just see about that..." she said.
Connor took a couple of steps back, towards the alleyway, then broke into a run, heading down the street instead…
As Connor ran by, Kaori looked up, blinking. "Hey...is that Connor?" Dena blinked, "I think it was..." A girl suddenly ran past them, their eyes locked for a moment; a sinister smirk formed on her lips before she looked ahead and continued to follow Connor. "He's in trouble..." Dena said as she grabbed her friends hand and they both ran after the two.
"What the- But who would be after Connor?" Kaori wondered as they ran. "I mean...I know he gets picked on by some jerks at school sometimes, but...I've never seen this girl before..." "Do you remember what happened earlier yesterday?" Dena asked as she ran, "I think it might have something to do with it." She said, she could feel her legs strain as she took a corner sharply. She grabbed the light post to help turn, the friction from the metal burned her hand.
"You really think so..?" Kaori asked. "You mean that whole stopping in the middle of the street thing, right? I dunno-I mean, he did say that he heard somebody, but that should be perfectly natural in a tiny town like this..." "I don't know...but what else can we do?" Dena said.
Connor panted as he ran, how long had it been since he had run…from anything? If his memory was right then he should be close where the bar was, there his brother was working; his sanctuary...He suddenly heard the sound of somebody jumping and landing on their feet in front of him. He skidded to a stop.
His head snapped up as the footsteps approached him quicker now, backing him into a wall and then suddenly stopping. Was she going to let him run free...? ...No...instead, he was startled to hear something being thrown at him, highly accurate, amazingly quick. ...And then he was pinned to the wall by his clothes... "Let me go!" he shouted, hoping that someone, anyone would hear-anyone on his side, of course.
The woman stopped in front of him, smirking and raising a needle. "I don't think so..." she said. "Time to go night night..." She heard a shout and turned her head to see what caused it, her head snapped to the side as a punch fell against her cheek. She stumbled back several steps, Dena stood there in front of Connor clenching and unclenching her fists; Kaori was busy pulling Connor off the wall.
Dena smirked, "I thought we could join then fun." She said, she resisted the urge to rub her fist that she had punched with; her hand was almost completely numb. Connor turned sightless eyes toward Kaori, then over toward Dena. "Th...thank you..." he muttered.
Star smirked, "So...you're the 'friends' that Ice was talking about. It's so nice of you to join us...now he can hear your screams as I kill you both...Friends are so...so expendable." She chuckled. His eyes widened though when he heard what Star had said. "No!" he exclaimed. "Please...don't kill them..."
Dena relaxed her hands and raised them up to her chest, one farther forward than the other; she took a step forward and settled in to a stance. "Well, Kaori...looks like we get to see how much we've forgotten." Dena smirked, they had both taken karate when they were younger. But it was several years ago...hopefully the basics weren't totally trashed...then they might have a chance.
"Probably less than you," Kaori said, having been in classes a year before back home. "Think we stand very much of a chance against needles? I mean, if this is like Naruto at all..."
Dena kind of laughed, "Just some advice...don't die." She said, Kaori shook her head. "If you die before me...than I'm dragging you back from hell and kill you myself." Kaori said as she pulled the last of the needles out of Connor's clothing, he fell to the ground in an ungraceful heap.
"Don't fight..." He begged. "I don't want my new friends to die." He said, Kaori pushed him toward the direction of the bar. "Go..." She said, Star smirked. "I won't let you have the chance." She laughed as she threw needles at Kaori and Dena.
Dena dove to the side, she landed on her hands and used them to propel her away. She winced when she felt something pull in her shoulder, a burning sensation quickly followed. 'Okay...haven't done that in a really.../really/ long time.' She thought.
Kaori dodged to the other side, using the clock drills that she had learned in karate rather than doing full-blown dives. Seeing more needles come, she jumped nimbly back diagonally, remaining on the balls of her feet. Huh...not too much different from class changes in the hall, and with about the same amount of deadliness: you fall in the hall, you get trampled. You get hit here, you get stabbed. School really is deadly...
Connor slowly climbed to his feet to head off to the bar when Star glanced back at him. "You will not get away!" she shouted, throwing one of her needles at him. The boy was hit, eyes widening as he tripped, landing on the ground hard and not moving.
Star turned, starting toward him, hands full of needles and senses spread out should she need to whip around and stab anyone attempting to attack her from behind. "I told you..." she said. "I told you not to run, but you did it anyway..."
Dena's eyes widened as her friend struck the ground, she stared at his unmoving body; her breathing became in shallow gasps, her body trembled. She had just seen one of her new friends die, a sudden rage unlike any she had ever felt boiled to the surface. That girl had killed him and she couldn't do anything.
"Damn you to hell." She screamed, as she rushed Star. The girl smirked as she heard the girl coming toward her, ' So predictable.' She thought as she spun around to impale Dena as she charged her.
Star smirked, but even she looked surprised when a gunshot rang out and the needle was suddenly shot from her hand. She yelped, then remembered that there was still a girl charging at her and jumped out of the way, tossing some needles in seemingly-random circles, but with enough precision to pin the two girls to the wall and up at the source of the gunshot. As she turned her back to the girls to look up at these new attackers, she murmured, "So many interruptions..." She then added in a louder voice, "Oh, and don't be /too/ ticked off. He's not dead, just unconscious. I wouldn't be able to bring him with me while he's kicking and screaming like a little child..."
Star narrowed her eyes at the new intruders that stood in-between her and her target, "This will not do..." She sighed, "Later." She laughed as she disappeared in to the shadows.
Dena snarled as she strained against the needles hold, her shirt sleeve ripped and she managed to get one arm free and start freeing the rest of her. She didn't really notice Vincent walking toward her, his gun smoking.
"Are you alright?" He asked as she pulled the last of the needles out of her shirt, they fell to the ground with a ping. "Just great." She said, she looked over at where Connor was being revived. The area where the needles had pierced him were stained red, "I thought we had lost him..." she said to no one unparticular. She walked over to where Kaori was still stuck to the wall, "What fun..." Kaori said as she pulled away from the wall when all the needles were gone.
Dena sat down on the ground and pulled the scrunche out of her hair, allowing it to fall free; she placed the little item on her right wrist. Her anger had diminished and her head was clearing, she looked over to where Vincent stood. She vaguely remember hearing a gun shot and seeing that he was the only one with a gun..."Thank you." She said, Vincent's head snapped up.
Vincent paused for a long moment, then regained his calm composure. "No problem..." he said. He looked up at the roof, watching as another figure dropped down. Cloud walked over, looking from one person to the next. "You didn't get the person?" the blonde asked. Vincent shook his head. "No...only one of the weapons," he replied.
Dena felt her heart sink, he was busy saving her hind end then stopping Star. "Heh...damn..." She whispered, she chuckled which earned a stare from both Cloud and Vincent. She suddenly stood up and brushed the dirt off of her skirt, 'Damn...I really really hate skirts.' She thought, she walked over to where Connor was now sitting; his face was twisted in slight pain. The needles had been removed and his brother was fussing over him like a protective mother hen. "Will you be alright?" She asked.
Connor nodded, rubbing the sore spot on the back of his neck where he had been struck, and smiled weakly. "Heh... Yes, I'll be fine. I've had worse..." he replied.
Dena smiled, "You had me seriously worried..." She said as she gently patted him on his right knee, "Yukiro...have anything under control?" She asked as she looked up at Connor's brother, he nodded. "Yea...We're probably going to stay somewhere else tonight." He said as he rubbed the back of his head. Dena nodded, "Alright...I'll see you tomorrow." She said, Kaori blinked. "Where are you going?" She asked, Dena turned to look at her friend. "To think." She said.
Kaori sweatdropped. "Well follow us so that you know where we're going. Whether or not you go off to think, I'm not gonna let you stay outdoors all night and catch a cold," she pointed out. Dena rolled her eyes. Kaori stuck her tongue out at Dena. "That's right. I'm an author, so I've made a bunch of kids. I know how to be motherly.". "Yes/mother/..." she said. Dena couldn't help but roll her eyes again. "This is real life..." She turned to Yukiro, " Can't you just give me directions?" She asked.
Yukiro paused for a moment to think, then nodded. "We're going to be staying in former mako reactor tonight... I don't think it's still in use, so it should be okay. There's a path that leads through the woods and through a couple of the mountains. It might be best to take someone with you, though..." Dena blinked, 'Mako reactor?' she thought, there were so many things that were unfamiliar to her. "I'll be alright...I won't go far." She said as she stood up.
Dena walked off, she could feel several pairs of eyes follow her until she turned a corner and left their line of vision. She barely registered where she was going, she was just walking but she suddenly found herself somewhere she never thought she would visit; the gates of ShinRa Mansion. It had been a week since the boys had removed them from the test tubes, and a week since their new life had begun. Dena stood there a moment at the gates before taking a hand and opening them, they let out a loud groan as they swung open.
She didn't notice the shadow staring down at her from a near by tree, she walked up the mansion's front doors; she grabbed the ring on one of the doors and pulled. Dust and dirt fell from the door but it creaked open, inside the moon shown through the shattered stain glass window. The floor was broken in places and had begun to grow grass in the cracks, pieces of ceiling also littered the ground. Dena found it hard to believe that this place was once beautiful, even if it was the home of a mad man.
Dena looked around for a moment, she quickly walked past the door way that led to the underground where they had been kept; she somehow found herself in the bedroom from before. The chest was still open from when Yukiro had gotten clothes for her, the room was messy but was somehow still intact for the most part. There was a bed and dresser, both covered in a thick film of dust; something on the dresser caught her eye.
It was a picture frame and the only one there, Dena walked over and gently picked it up. She took her thumb and delicately brushed away some of the dust, it reveled a part of the picture; a beautiful woman stared at her, she brushed away more until the entire picture was revealed. In the picture was two beautiful women and a small girl that looked to be only two years old, they sat in beautiful field of flowers with two trees side by side.
The two women looked a lot a like, close enough in fact to be cousins or even sisters. One woman wore the clothes that Dena had on now. 'This must have been her room...' Dena thought, she felt something prodding in the back of her mind; did she recognize these people? Dena stared at the photo, in her mind's eye...she saw something...
The picture frame crashed to the floor...
Tiny, bare feet slapped grass filled ground. Laughter filtered past her lips, "Auntie Lu! Auntie Lu!" A voice said as a woman came in to view...the same woman from the picture. Tiny arms wrapped around the woman's legs.
Dena held the side of her head which was throbbing almost painfully, 'What was that?' She thought, she had fallen to her knees beside the dresser; one hand gripped the edge so hard that her knuckles had turned white.
Footsteps were heard crossing the creaking floorboards as hands reached down to help her up. "..Are you alright..?" Vincent's voice could be heard asking behind her. "You should be careful..." he nodded down at the shattered glass of the picture frame. "You'll end up hurting yourself..."
"I don't know what happened...I was just looking at the picture and...I remembered something, I think...It doesn't make any sense." Dena said as she continued to hold her head, nothing like that had ever happened before. She had grown up in the other world...right? If she did...then was it someone else's memories she was seeing?
Vincent frowned, then shook his head. "You're probably tired..." he said. "Come on-you can sort it all out when we arrive at the reactor." Dena shook her head, "No...I'm not tired." She straightened up, her head starting to stop its throbbing. "Besides...I want to see something..." She said, Vincent blinked. She lid past Vincent to get to the door, he followed her; obviously curious.
As they headed down the stairway, Vincent couldn't help but wonder how she knew about the old lab-it /was/ in a secret passageway, after all. When they made their way down the hall, he paused for a moment to glance into his old 'room', then shook his head and followed again, curious to see what she was up to.
Dena reached the room, behind the door was the lab that they had spent an entire year in...it was creepy; she never thought that she would be willing to enter it under her own will. The lab door swung open easily enough, they made their way down to the lab; the smell of the test tube liquid still hung in the air, it was not all that pleasant. "Bleh...Nasty stuff." Dena said to herself, Vincent blinked at her comment. She walked across the lab to where the scientist had been sitting when they had first woken up, hell...even the nail still sat on the desk from when he put it down after he had gotten it away from Kaori.
Dena looked at the mess of papers on the desk, it was all written in what looked like complete chicken scratch; completely illegible. "Figures...the guy sounded like a parrot...it makes sense that he would like a bird..." She said as she shoved the papers of the desk, she still hated the perverted bastard.
Vincent raised an eyebrow. Now he had two questions in mind. First off, what was this girl searching for? And second, how did she know Hojo..? "What are you searching for..?" Vincent finally asked, red eyes idly reading over the...interesting and one-sided conversation written on the glass of one of the test tubes.
"Our stuff." Came Dena's muffled reply, Vincent turned to look where Dena dug through one of the desk drawers. She obviously didn't find what she was looking for because she slammed the drawer shut and moved on to the next one.
So, she and her friend (or friends?) had been here for a while... "How long were you here?"
Dena sighed as she looked through the last drawer and came up empty. "I think...maybe a year. It was hard to tell since the stupid bastard didn't put a clock in this stupid lab." She said as she stood up, she glanced at the test tube that Kaori had been in; she smirked at the inscription that she had scratched in to the glass when she had first gotten a hold of the nail.
"Huh...then what you're searching for /might/ still be here... But that's a very big might. Hojo or somebody else could've taken your things already..." He pulled something thin and black and fairly familiar-looking out from underneath a desk. "Could this be one of those things..?"
Dena smiled and took it from him, "Thanks...it's Kaori's laptop." Dena said as she opened it up and pressed the power button, nothing happened. "It just might be out of power." Dena concluded as she closed it and placed it in the crook of her arm. "Let's go...I don't want to spend anymore time in here than I have to." Dena said as she moved toward the door. Vincent pulled a black cord with a black box attached to it, raising an eyebrow before shrugging and nodding as he pocketed it and followed.
Review please….Next chapter will be posted tomorrow.