Hello…Here's chapter four as promised. Enjoy…
Disclaimer: I own all Final Fantasy characters…especially Vincent. looks over at group of lawyers Okay…I just own Vincent. Lawyers are still there Okay FINE! I don't own any of the Final Fantasy characters… Lawyers leave…I hate you...
"Oi...Kaori!" Dena called as she entered the reactor, Kaori looked up and blinked at her friend. Dena held up her laptop and smiled, Kaori's eyes went wide. "WAHH!" She screamed and ran toward Dena, "You found it! Wait! You went back there!" She said as she grabbed her laptop, her beloved Yuki... She hugged Yuki, letting out a muted squeal that was eerily close to Winry's whenever finding a piece of new technology, then looked back up at Dena, waiting for a reply.
Dena nodded. "Yep," she replied. "Couldn't find our clothes, though..." Everyone blinked, when the girls finally noticed their stares they shifted uncomfortably. "Hey...can I talk to you outside?" Dena whispered, Kaori picked up on the worry in Dena's voice. "Sure." She responded.
Kaori placed Yuki down on the ground next to Connor, "Don't let any body touch this...I just got it back..." She said, Connor nodded and smiled. "I'll protect it." He said smiling, Dena and Kaori left to go outside. Yuffie and Tifa blinked, "What do you think happened?" Yuffie asked, Vincent stared at where the girls had disappeared to.
Kaori and Dena found secluded tree from where they could talk privately, they sat with their backs against the tree trunk. "What do you want to talk about?" Kaori said, Dena sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.
"Something strange happened when I went to the mansion." Dena said, Kaori raised an eyebrow. "Parrot came back?" She asked, Dena shook her head no. She rubbed her hands together, feeling the heat gather in her hands from the friction.
Kaori stared at her for a moment, then made a little spinning gesture with her hand, motioning for her to continue. "..Go on..."
Dena paused for a moment, it was so hard to organize her thoughts; it was all so confusing. "Did you ever feel...like you really didn't belong...before we got transported here?" She asked, she had no other place to begin... "Like you were there by mistake?"
Kaori raised an eyebrow. "Every second of every day..." she replied.
Dena smiled, "Do you remember the first time we met?" She asked, her eyes glazed over as she remembered. How long had it been eight...nine years? "It felt right...it felt right that we knew each other. And now...I have that feeling but all over the place...Like I'm finally where I belong. Like I've found my own space that was made especially for me..." She trailed off, "I can't explain it..."
Kaori nodded. "Yeah, I gotta agree... I mean, I thought that it was just because this place reminds me of Washington, but... I dunno. The fact that you're sensing it, too, would be a pretty big coincidence..."
"But that's not all of it..." Dena said as she closed her eyes and drew her knees to her chest, "Have you ever seen any of your baby pictures at your house?" She asked, she felt like there was more to this story...and they were getting close.
Kaori shook her head. "Not many...and the ones that I have seen might have been Elena's. I know that there are toddler pictures, but..." "I haven't seen any of my baby pictures either...I don't think that they exist...not in the other world at least." Dena mumbled.
"Do you think we're really from here..?" Dena sighed, "I can't be sure...but it all can't be a coincidence. I had a memory, vision, or what ever you want to call it...earlier...after I saw a picture. I just don't know anymore." Dena said.
Kaori looked thoughtful. "That is suspicious... If we're not from this world originally, then the only other thing that I could really think of is reincarnation..."
"We can't be sure...but my 'vision' it was so real. I remember running and calling out to someone...she was in the picture. I think she was my aunt...or that's what I called her." Dena said, she rubbed her forehead; she could feel a headache developing. "This day has all gone to hell." She sighed. "I know we can't be imagining it..." She trailed off.
Kaori nodded. "Ya know, I think we should go on ahead and get some sleep for tonight. We haven't slept much in the past few days anyway, so it's almost a period of when we need it, now that we're more active. We can work this out with a clear head in the morning." She nodded.
Dena nodded, "Right..." She said, Kaori stood up and extended her hand toward her friend; Dena took her friends hand was hoisted to her feet. The two went back inside only to find the group mostly asleep, only Vincent was awake; he stared at the two as they walked it. Dena and Kaori nodded in his direction as a type of greeting and went over to one of the far walls; Dena grabbed a spare blanket and handed it to Kaori.
Dena grabbed one for her self; Kaori lay down with her back against the wall and closed her eyes. Dena sighed and wrapped the blanket around her body, she pulled her knees up to her chest, crossed her arms and placed them on the tops of her knees, she then rested her head on her arms; an awkward way to sleep but try sleeping in a test tube.
Dena only slept for two hours but her mind wouldn't let her sleep any more than that. She sat there for several more minutes before Vincent noticed her, "Why aren't you asleep?" He asked, she blinked and shrugged. "Not used to sleeping much...besides...my mind is too busy." She responded.
Vincent nodded with understanding. "I see..." he commented. "And I suppose that this place isn't very comfortable, either..." Dena smiled faintly, " At least I have room to move around." She said. Vincent nodded. "And the ability to walk around freely..." he agreed. "When did you get out?"
"Like I said when we first met...I've only been around for a few days…" She said, "I wasn't lying." Vincent nodded.
"I never said that you were..." he commented. "Though it is a bit of a surprise that we went and never noticed you there... I suppose that Hojo left you both in the lab while we were all worrying about Sephiroth..."
Dena blinked, "Hojo...was the scientist?" She asked, "Great...now I don't have to make up a name to call the sick bastard..." She said then frowned, "Who was Sephiroth?" It was about time she started getting some information about the place they were now living...
"Sephiroth was an experiment of Hojo's-a human with the cells of an alien fossil called Jenova injected into him before birth," Vincent explained. "Last year we had to kill him to keep him from destroying the planet..." Dena blinked, 'Last year?' She thought, "How did he almost destroy the planet?" She asked...
"He summoned a meteor to hit it," Vincent replied. "Though as you can see, it didn't cause too much damage..." "Would you say that it was pretty close to a year ago that he summoned the meteor?" She asked, she felt her insides shaking...there were so many possibilities... Vincent nodded. "Yes," he replied.
Dena felt her eyes widen and her breath catch in her throat, she brushed the hair back from her face. 'My god.' She thought, "What stopped the meteor?" She asked. "The planet, with the help of the lifestream and the last of the ancients, Aeris," Vincent replied.
Dena closed her eyes and rested her head on her knees. Her mind felt even more crowded with all this new information, it was almost too much to fast. "Today has been a seriously long day." Dena sighed as she stood up, the blanket falling away from her. She started walking toward the door, "I need some air."
"You sure you'll be fine on your own?" Vincent asked. "The boys requested that you come here with someone because it isn't safe to go wandering around at night. Many creatures lurk in the forest, after all." "Come if it will make you feel better." She said before disappearing though the door way. Vincent blinked, then stood and followed.
The man looked up, frowning slightly as he caught the hints of voices drifting on the chilly breeze, off in the direction of behind the reactor. "Hm..?" Dena looked up at Vincent. "What is it..?" she asked. Vincent nodded over toward the source of the voices, causing Dena's curiosity get the best of her and convincing her to creep over to listen.
A sudden sigh from behind the reactor, then a voice. Connor's voice. "No, I didn't..." he said. "But apparently she recognized me." Yukiro's voice, sounding concerned. "From where, though...?" Then, "You don't think..." "I do..." Connor cut off. "Where else could she have come from?"
"But how did he find us..?" Before Connor could answer, Yukiro's voice continued. "Damn it... We're definitely leaving this place. I'm not going to let them take you away again." Yukiro sighed. "In the meantime, we-" Suddenly, "Fire." A trail of flames suddenly raced at Dena, and then suddenly jerked sharply off to the side and into the forest at the last second.
Dena fell to the ground with a cry when she saw the fire coming right for her, the flames reflected in her eyes; the trail suddenly shifted course at the last second. Some of the flames still coming close enough to singe the hair on Dena's left arm. Dena sat there on the ground gripping her arm, she could still feel the heat of the flames. She sat there trembling slightly, she knew that Yukiro would never attack her but...it was still terrifying. What caused the flame in the first place?
Vincent ran over to her, then reached for his gun and stopped to see Yukiro, who looked just as ready for an attack. He blinked, and then let out a slight sigh. "Sorry about that. Thought you were another one of those people after Connor..." he muttered. He frowned. "Are you alright?"
Dena nodded slightly, "yea...you just really scared me." She said slowly, she rubbed her left arm; it tingled almost painfully, but what do you expect when you almost got burned.
Yukiro let out a slight sigh, smiling weakly. "This is the first time I think I'm grateful about my short attention span..." he said. He looked over to where the fire swerved, hoping that he hadn't caused a forest fire of any sort, and then seemed relieved that no real damage had been done. He looked over toward behind the reactor. "Connor, it's alright. It's just Dena and Vincent..." he said.
Connor walked around the side of the reactor, his face looked guilty; he had heard Dena cry out. "I'm sorry." He said and Dena smiled faintly. "It's alright." She said, she then looked at Yukiro. "But I heard ya'll talking...are you really leaving?" She asked as Vincent helped her up, he glanced at her arm to make sure she was okay.
Yukiro's expression became grim. "We're going to have to..." he replied. "Our worst enemy knows where we are now, and we honestly don't have very good means of defending ourselves in comparison."
"So...you've encountered them before." Vincent said as he placed his gun in his holster, he thought the boys were hiding something. "...Yes..." Yukiro replied quietly. "One could say that." Dena raised an eyebrow. "...Old friend, old rival..." she supplied, hoping to get more than that. "...Old father..." Yukiro said.
Dena sighed sadly, "So that's what Connor meant earlier about not wanting parents..." She said, "So you're just going to leave...no good byes...anything?" She asked. "You can come with us if you wish to..." Yukiro said. "Though I have to warn you that the living conditions may only end up becoming more difficult..."
Dena smiled slightly, "I wouldn't mind...and I'm sure Kaori wouldn't have a problem with it." She said, she then grew slightly serious. " But...how long do you think we have?" She asked. Yukiro blinked. "Before leaving..?" he asked, Dena nodded.
Yukiro frowned. "Well, to be honest, we'll have to leave as soon as we possibly can. Who knows when that woman will show up again, or someone or even some ones much worse?" Dena paused for a moment and looked at the two brothers, " I have a question and it would be best if you answered...Why does your father want you so badly?" She asked.
The two frowned, seeming to exchange glances. Yukiro then looked back at Dena as Connor's head lowered. "Our father...kidnapped Connor a few years ago," he said. "He was used in experiments and eventually gained the ability to manipulate nitrogen and freeze things on his own. I managed to get him out a couple of years back and we've been hiding here ever since."
Dena felt her heart go out for the two boys; she paused for a moment before slowly walking over to the two brothers. Yukiro flinched and closed his eyes, he was almost sure that she could yell at them for lying to her and her friend; he was caught completely off guard when he felt her slender arms wrap around him. "I'll do everything in my power to help." She said as she released Yukiro and hugged Connor whose eyes widened in surprise. "I promise." She said.
The brothers seemed relieved that their new friends wanted to help them out now. But they were concerned...they didn't want to put anyone else in danger because of them. Both seemed to have a question unspoken, until Connor finally decided to ask it. "...Are you sure...?" Dena playfully poked him on the forehead, "Of course I'm sure...I never go back on my word." She said.
Connor smiled faintly. "Alright, then... Be ready to leave by tomorrow night." He nodded. Dena turned her head toward the sky, it was still dark but she could feel morning was fast approaching. "Okay...so we have a little more than 12 hours to get ready...no problem. Kaori and I have something to check out as soon as it becomes light...Do you want us to meet up here once we're though getting ready?" She asked.
Yukiro paused in thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No..." he replied. "No, it's too dangerous to get here. Plus, it's in the opposite direction of where we're headed. Let's meet up at the edge of town." Dena nodded, "Sounds like a plan..." she said as she smiled, they all went back inside to get some more rest before the night was over.
Next Day- ShinRa Mansion
Kaori stretched and yawned, rubbing the sleep out of one of her eyes. "So...tell me again why we're here...? And so early in the morning..."
" I just have a feeling." Dena said as she pulled open the front door, she took Kaori over to the room where she had found the picture frame. "See...this was what I was looking at when I had that vision." she said as she gently picked up the broken picture frame being careful of the glass, she handed it to Kaori. "This is the lady I was calling out to..." She said pointing to the woman on the right.
Kaori raised an eyebrow, still looking a little sleepy. "Wow, looks a lot like you..." she commented.
"I know...That's why I think that there is something else here." Dena said as she was handed the picture frame back, she gently slid the old picture from its confines; she was going to keep it...she just felt that it was the right thing to do.
"Like what?" Kaori wondered, looking around. "I don't think I see anything that looks too relevant to...well, anything that's going on."
Dena sighed, obviously frustrated. 'I don't know...just pick a place and look!" She said, she growled and walked out of the room. "I'm going to check in the next room." She said, she walked to the next door down on the hallway. She grabbed the knob and went to turn it only to find that it was stuck fast, Dena blinked. "It's locked..." She said out loud. She stuck her head back in the room where Kaori was looking threw the dresser drawers. "Hey...this next room is locked. I need some help." She said.
Kaori blinked. "Okay." Kaori responded, she stood up and brushed the dirt off of her knees. Kaori tried jiggling the knob only to find that it was indeed locked, "That's strange..." Kaori said out loud, she looked around to see if there was anything she could use to pick the lock. She looked up at the top of the door frame, she saw something bronze peeking over the corner, 'It couldn't be that easy...' Kaori thought as she sweatdropped, "Hey, Dena...help me up." Kaori ordered, her friend blinked. Dena took a wide stance and laced her fingers together to form a foot hold, Kaori stepped into her friend's hands and reached up.
Dena sweatdropped as she felt the full weight of her friend, "Are...you sure...you lost...those thirteen pounds!" She ground out as her friend reached up and grabbed what ever was on the top of the door frame.
Her friend hit her over the head with her fist, "YES." She snapped, she brushed the thick dust off of the tiny object, it was indeed the key. "In fact, I lost over thirteen pounds..." Kaori shot back. "Started off at 158. Now I'm at what...127? Thirteen pounds is what I lost before all of this..." she said. "So that's not adding in the amount of time that passed of how long we went without food while in the test tubes..."
Dena stuck her tongue out at her friend, "Geeze...just kidding." She humphed as her friend handed her the key since she was closer to the door knob. It slid in easily enough and unlocked with a faint click, Dena paused for a moment before opening it. What she saw made her breath catch in her throat...
It was a medium sized room, larger than the one next door. On one side there was a bed and dresser, just like a normal room...but on the other side...there was a chest with toys littered around it. A small table sat beside the wall, on it sat a little box of crayons and pieces of paper.
Several drawn pictures hung from the wall, held on with thumb-tacks; the paper had turned yellow with age and the colors of the crayons had faded. Dena was drawn over to the table, she crouched down and picked up a piece of paper with a drawing only half finished...She blinked...
She gripped the crayon awkwardly in her tiny hands as she doodled; she was making a drawing for her mommy. The bright colors on the page jumped out at her, "You're weally going to wike it mama..." She said as she looked over at her mommy who was sitting on the edge of her bed, writing in her diary. "Of course I will...and then we can put it on the wall." Her mother said as she closed her diary and placed it in the top draw of the dresser.
Dena blinked, the vision gone. 'Why did I not finish it?' Dena asked herself, she saw Kaori over by the dresser looking at the dust covered photos. Remembering her mother's diary she walked over and opened the drawer from the memory; there it sat in its own layer of dust.
Kaori blinked, "What did you find?" She asked as she looked at her friend, Dena solemnly picked up the old diary; the cover was a hard back, it was tattered around the edges with age. Dena slowly opened the tiny book; on the first page it had the name Kori Crescent.
"My mother's diary..." Dena trailed off, she slowly turned the pages that were yellow with age; she stared at the beautiful flowing script. She skipped several large chunks of diary trying to get to the end, "I need to find out what happened..." Dena said as turned a page, something slipped from between two pages and fluttered to the floor. Kaori blinked and picked it up, it looked like a newspaper clipping; Kaori's face grew serious.
"This." She whispered as she handed it to Dena. She turned the news paper clipping over in her hands; in clear black letters it said 'Scientist Killed in Lab Accident, Child Missing.'
Kaori frowned slightly, then looked up and over at Dena. "So you're from this world...?" she asked. "Then...I wonder what the deal is with me..." Kaori glanced off to the side, and then looked up fully, a frown on her face. "We need to find a back door..."
Dena blinked, "What do you mean?" She asked before slipping the photo in the diary and placing them both in her pocket, "Why don't we leave the way we came?"
"Somebody's right outside the way we came, and it's nobody that we know..." Dena's face went grim, "Are you sure?" She asked. "Yeah. Saw them through the window," Kaori said, walking out of the room and stopping around the corner to peek out at the front door.
Dena peeked out around her friend, her eyes narrowed when she saw four men stepping inside the front foyer, they all wore a type of military type outfit; each had a handgun in their grasps or possession. "Do you think their looking for Connor and Yukiro?" Dena whispered.
"I doubt they'd be looking for us..." Kaori whispered back. "Either way, we can't get out of here while they're standing there with guns..." Kaori took a step down the hall when her eyes suddenly widened. "...Shit." There was a loud, splitting crack...and then... "AAAAHHH!" the two girls shouted as the fell through the rotted wood with a crash.
Dena coughed as the thick dust invaded her lungs; she could feel a body up under her. "Stupid." She groaned, she suddenly cried out as she felt someone roughly grab a handful of her hair and pulled her up. They also pulled Kaori up to her feet, both girls struggled "Let us go!" Dena said as she struggled, she suddenly relaxed; the man thinking that she had given up loosened his grip on her hair to get a better grip on her shoulder.
Dena snarled as she spun around as soon as she felt his grip loosen, she performed the first karate move that she had ever learned; Dena slammed the side of hand against the bridge of the man's nose, there was the sound of the brittle bones breaking. The man howled as his head snapped back from the blow, his cries halted when Dena's hand suddenly came up and hit the bottom of his nose; his eyes rolled back in to his head and he fell to the ground in a motionless heap. Dena saw Kaori performing her own grappling techniques, as soon as they felt no hands on them; the girls broke out in to a run toward the back of the mansion.
"Run like hellll!" Kaori shouted as they ran out of the mansion. They turned, running off into the woods. Dena sweatdropped. "So...why are we running /away/ from help..?"
"Because they're after help!" Kaori replied.
"...I would think so..."
"After /our/ help!"
"Ah."
Gunshots suddenly rang out through the silence of the valley; bullets breezed past the girls and buried themselves in to the trees ahead. Dena winced when she felt one glaze her left arm and right leg, her foot caught a rock and she fell crashing to the ground.
Kaori slid to a stop and ran back toward her friend to scrambled to regain her footing, she suddenly saw someone off to her left; she wasn't fast enough to stop a blow to her head with the butt of a gun. She fell to the ground with a crash and was almost instantly restrained along with Dena.
"Oi! Leggo!" Kaori shouted, squirming and struggling from the soldiers' grasp.
"Can't," said one of the soldiers.
"Why not!"
"...Because I don't have your Ego." (A/N: O.o ) (J/N: ; I had to )
Kaori stared at the soldier for a long moment. "...Okay...you're a moron...and I will smite you."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yes! Yes I will! So be ready to be smote...smitened...smited..." Kaori sweatdropped, looking over at Dena as she temporarily forgot that 'smite' was supposed to be 'smitten'. "Oi, Dena! What's the past-tense word for 'smite'?"
Dena blinked and was about to say something when someone stepped in to her line of vision, she looked up in to the face of a soldier; he was smiling, not in the reassuring way. "You're in a bit of trouble; you know...you just killed one of my comrades..." He said as he grabbed her roughly by her chin, she glared at him. "Stop glaring, bitch." He hissed as his fist connected with her jaw, her head snapped to the side.
She still stubbornly stared at him though the corner of her eye, "Smitten..." She said, "Is the word you were looking for, Kaori..." She said as she turned her head and spit the tiny amount of blood out of her mouth.
Kaori looked around, and then suddenly smirked slightly. "Yeah, about that... DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!" she shouted in a war cry, picking up a stick that she had found on the ground and poking the guy holding her hostage in the eye which left him screaming on the ground, then starting to bash the soldier that had Dena over the head.
Dena felt her captor's grip leave her as he fell to the ground in an unconscious heap, away the two girls were off again; one of the soldier's raised his gun toward the retreating backs of the girls, his finger began to pull the trigger. A hand suddenly appeared and stopped him, "No...Follow them. See where they lead..." Star said as she crossed her arms and watched as the girl's disappeared though the line of trees.
Okay...weird chapter. What will happen in the woods? What will Dena find out from her mother's diary later on? So many questions have yet to be answered...The randomness will continue in the next chapter...