We'd left the ShinRa office together, knowing exactly who would travel with who. Reno would go with Rude, (Of course…) and I would go with Tseng. Not that I was complaining, at all…anyway: I hadn't been completely filled in on what was going on, but the mission had something to do with some weird cave that had been discovered near Nibel that was supposedly the hideout for some anti-ShinRa group. "We ought to split up. Were anyone to see us, we would immediately seem suspicious. Four Turks walking through the fields isn't at all necessary anyway, is it…?" Tseng had suggested, and the three of us had agreed. My moronic yet somehow stupidly ingenious co-worker Reno had given a nod, and then turned and headed in the opposite direction. Rude had automatically followed after, which had just left Tseng and myself. How the heck was I supposed to know that things were gonna go so badly wrong in just a matter of minutes? The last thing I remember was entering a cave, and Tseng saying something like: "This is it…" a searing pain rushed through me, and then everything went black. Next thing I know, I'd woken up in some guys house. He was a nice enough man…He'd been in about his mid-thirties by the looks of things. The guy never told me his name, but he had told me that I'd apparently passed out in the plains just outside Nibel, and that he had brought me to his house in town so that I could rest. Well, I thanked him for the information, and then got out of there. It's just my luck that as I had got outside, it was raining real heavy. I figured that the decent thing to do would be to wait and see if any of the other Turks would turn up, and I checked around town, waiting for a while every day to see if any of the other Turks would turn up, but they didn't … and this was when I was reunited with Valentine, again. I'd be lying if I said that I had been ecstatic to see him…Kind of the opposite, actually. Sure, he'd saved us, but he'd been with AVALANCHE just like I had been with the Turks. Before I knew it, he was forcing me to follow him 'for the sake of my health', or whatever. Of course, I tried to refuse as I was still waiting for the others.

He brought me to his inn room. Nope, he hadn't persuaded me, he'd literally had to yank my arm as if I were some stubborn kid! Well, anyway. I ended up in his inn room, and he walked around…I just sat there, wanting to get out. I figured he'd ask me some questions, and then let me go. It looked like I couldn't have been any more wrong.

Eventually, he'd persuaded me to go to the bathroom and get changed into something of his (his shirt, to be more precise. I mean really…Eugh…He'd had to overpower me there, too, by saying something like if I didn't get changed I'd get sick and be there for longer. Naturally, I couldn't argue…I was still searching for Tseng and the others at the time). Well, the bathroom was my only real escape, I guess. It was a nice enough room…cream colored tiles, bath/shower combo to my left, a sink with a mirror above it to my right and a small, rectangular window in the wall directly in front of me. I'd considered trying to escape through it, but…well…I was too tired, and I figured that Valentine would catch up with me again. The guy's an ex-Turk…he was capable of it. Hiding out in the bathroom, he called me about fifteen minutes later to check up on me…and then ask me to come out and put my uniform on the radiator. He really seemed desperate to see me in that shirt…and I was honestly beginning to consider classing him as a pervert…

Even so, I had left the bathroom only to find him staring at me. Acting causal, I put my uniform on the radiator to the left of the bathroom's dark wooden door.

I had ended up standing over by the window, and just trying to pretend he wasn't there. I was totally mad at him by now. Not only had he insulted my intelligence ('what other uses can you think of for a shirt?' or something. Well, man…I'd told him exactly what else could be done with the shirt, and I think he got the message.) But as well as this, he'd treated me like some kinda retard by giving me this sympathetic look that you would give a kid or old person who was unfortunate enough to not understand the simplest of things that a more able adult could. Scarlet used to give me those looks, and man did I hate that 'horse-cackling' bitch! (The term 'horse-cackling' courtesy of President Rufus, of course…)…She dressed like a slut to try and get guys! Also, she tried (I could only assume) to get Rufus' attention for…well. Many reasons. Whatever. I'm getting off the point. Scarlet dead, end of story. Anyway, as I was saying: I hate people who give me the look that says: 'oh, my dear. Of course it's not your fault that you're a dumbass and a failure!' like Scarlet used to and Valentine had back then. Actually, a lot of people give me that look…Ah, whatever! Not my fault… just because I'm I'm a blonde girl from Midgar, people assume that I'm gonna be some cheap, dumb hooker like Scarlet... they judge me before they even get to know me…ugh… I digress… where was I…? Oh…right, I remember: It was then that Valentine had asked me the question that I'd been expecting:

He'd asked me if I'd recovered from after the events involving Kadaj and his gang. Actually, I never answered that one…huh…never mind! Whatever. Then he went on to ask: "What are you doing here in Nibel? And why are you all alone?" or something to that effect. Well, I told him that I wasn't alone. Well, it was true, I wasn't! The others had to be around here somewhere, but Valentine didn't believe me. He said something that sounded so harsh, even for a cold guy like him. Something like: "Oh? Well they're not here now, are they?" and it wasn't just what he said. It was the way he'd said it. I'd felt my eyes stinging, and I'll tell you now that it's really hard to make me cry. I'm not a wimp, ok? And I wasn't about to let him see that I was upset. I pretended to be angry and told him to mind his own, and then he shut up. But then…there was silence, and I'll admit that I didn't like it. I felt that it had been…my fault. I felt kinda mean, as he'd looked after me, and all…but I was kinda pissed off that he assumed that I needed rescuing all the time! I mean, that's just about as bad as telling me that I'm weak! Which, by the way…I'm not! But…he'd been nice to me. He'd been looking out for me, which I thought was…nice of him. Feeling sort of guilty about how I'd treated him, I ended up telling him the truth…well, he's a nice enough guy, but he creeps me out big time. Besides…He can sense a lie a mile off, and that I knew for sure...the tone of voice he'd used before made it clear that he hadn't believed me, anyway. So I told him all I could tell him. Well, as I said: he's a nice guy. He offered for me to sleep in the bed of his inn room…but he did it in the weirdest way. He got up, and…offered me his hand. This confused me a lot, as I had no idea why he was doing it. Suspicious, I put my hand in his and was taken over to the bed, where he left me and went to stand over by the window. Sure, it seems a little suspicious as I said, and I acted like I thought it was weird, but I had to admit: I was pretty tired…so I lie down and shut my eyes. I figured that the sooner I slept, the sooner I could leave. Not long after that, I fell asleep…but so much for 'sweet dreams', though.

A year or so on from the incident in North Crater, and the torture that Tseng and I went through still seems to be the perfect material for a recurring dream. The murky darkness of the North Crater…We were surrounded in mist so thick that we could just about see each others silhouettes, but that's all. A shot was fired. For some reason, I had assumed that Tseng had seen something and fired his gun. That is…until the shot pierced my skin. I'm not going to start to try and explain what happened back there, but all I'm going to say is: even in dreams, the agony of the torture is renewed. Vivid. Perfect to detail, right down to the stench of blood and burnt flesh…the struggle of holding back screams, and the desperation in the cries of concern that did manage to involuntarily escape us. Right at the worst part of the dream came the most confusing thing…I felt a sensation of comfort and protection that felt kind of like some sort of safety zone. It blocked out the horror, and made it all better. I didn't understand what it was…that is: until I woke up.

My eyes slowly opened, and that was when I realized that something felt different. I hadn't been sleeping in this position before…. I was half lying down and half sitting up. To be more precise, you could say that I was leaning back at a slight angle, with my head resting against something that was soft and yet firm at the same time. Blinking a couple of times in order to adjust to my surroundings, I had to do everything I could to stop myself from shouting in shock. It looked like I'd found my 'safety zone'…but man, was it a surprising one. Okay, when I'd gone to bed, I'd been lying down on the bed…And when I'd woken up, I'd been sitting on Valentine's lap, leaning back against his arm with my head against his chest and his arms around me. It looked like he'd tried to make me a bit more comfortable, as he'd made an attempt to wrap his cloak around me. In a way, it had worked, as it was pretty comfortable. It was sort of weird, though…I always had him pinned as a guy who hated contact. Guess I misjudged. Well, I looked at his face right away, only to find his crimson eyes already burning into me. I had no idea he'd been watching me…I just looked away from him, and tried to act casual, but for some reason: didn't try to move. Strange really. To wake up like that, though… Kind of surprising if it's unexpected… It raised an important question, actually, which I didn't hesitate to ask:

"How the hell did I get from there to here?"