I Have RE-EDITED this entire chapter and it is longer then before. I apologize for that other cheap piece of shit I wrote & I've been going through relocation, banks, and moving into a new home. Oh my fudging God...I'm a twenty one year old who should be much more maturely skilled in the literary arts...bah... Over 1600 hits. Now what am I to say to that? Hmm. Nothing. I'm rendered speechless. I just have to feed you another chapter for your wonderful reviews and motivation for me to continue. Thank you.

Chapter 10

Truth Be Told

"I found you." She frowned after the words escaped her lips. Shaking her head, she made her way toward the escalators and stepped upon one of the mobile steps while staring aimlessly at the metallic ridges. Why did Dad have to be in a coma? The world looked a lot more colder with him out of the picture;

She stepped off the escalator and headed to the south gate entrance of the mall back to the parking lot. A random man bumped into her and she looked up expecting an apology, but all her ears heard was a rude mumble beneath the mans breath. People seemed a lot more colder now...

A few minutes later she was behind the wheel mingling among traffic struggling to escape onto the highway back home. She kept looking into her drivers side mirror and glimpsing her reflection, her now brown tendrils escaping out the car window as the vehicle zoomed down the roads.

I found you...What did I find? What am I searching for?

Daemon sat outside, his steel eyes glued to the horizon of the street, waiting for his car to return home to him. He had gone outside to head over to his friends house only to find the garage and driveway devoid of his ride. The sun was setting, the clouds gently turning violet in the orange glow. The trees swayed gently in the cool breeze... Suddenly sounds of a motor met his ears and he growled as he watched his black lancer come flying down the street slowing down into the driveway.

He stood up ready to wring his sisters neck when he noticed that the woman who hesitantly exited out of his car did not look like Ashes. The brown hair lay flat with shine underneath the sun as she made her way over, the keys in her hand.

"Sorry that I took your car without permission. I needed to do a few things." she muttered and made her way over to the front door. Daemon sighed and looked back at Ashes's retreating form before he followed her back into the house.

Ashes walked into the kitchen, passing the living room where the girls were watching a movie they had rented out. Surprisingly Daemon followed and sat at the counter watching her, his mind trying to place his thoughts into words.

"Wish you could tell me what was bothering you...besides the fact that Dad is in the hospital." he said. His blue eyes almost begging her for an answer.

"I don't know." She placed the kettle upon the stove and brought out a gray mug, motioned a cup to Daemon who nodded while she returned to prepare the tea. he thought he wouldn't get any more words out of her but was surprised to hear her speak up.

"I don't know. I feel out of place. With Dad in the hospital...it's like my sense of belonging doesn't seem real anymore. I don't want to feel like a freak anymore...that's why..." she turned around her fingers grasping a piece of her brown hair, "that's why I dyed my hair. I wanted to look more like Mom..." she sighed.

Daemon sighed,

"I know it seems hard to be different but I think you should be proud of your attributes. You don't look like everybody else and you don't behave like them either. That's what I...appreciate about you."

Her red orbs glanced up on him, the silence prolonging awkwardly till the kettle began to whistle with protest. She turned around and fidgeted with the tea bags watching them sink into the hot steaming water unbeknownst that a presence stood behind her. The warmth of his arms around her left a vague hint of surprise in her mind as her throat constricted. A hug. A simple hug. He smelled like Dad. His hugs were almost the same...of course: he is his father's son. Ashes turned around and hugged her brother, letting the tears escape her tightly shut eyes.

The older brother stood stiff a bit as his sister returned the first hug he had ever given her. First in the twenty years that he had known her...it was a shame he hadn't experienced this earlier.

"Now hush...I told you that you can count on me." The girl nodded and pushed herself away, nodding her thanks to him.

"Oh My God!" a shout erupted from the living room. Both siblings looked down the corridor to see Samantha racing down it towards them,

"Ice City is on lock down!"

"What?" he asked.

"Ice city is on lock down because of a freak volcanic eruption from the Northern Crater!" She explained, "It's all over the news! Come on!"

They followed her back into the living room to find Aunt Marlene and Desiree glued to the screen. Ashes sat down while Daemon stood watching the screen as a new reporter was talking about recent activity.

"Many civilians have lost thier lives in the process of closing the city gates to block the volcanic magma that has been creeping towards the metropolis since this morning. MU's have been slaving away, exhausting thier materia against the slow onslaught and so far they have kept the rivers of molten fire at bay. As you can see the images we have managed to record..." the man said and pictures of the volcanic disaster exploded across the screen. Soldiers and civilians alike trying to keep order within the city as medical paramedics were tending the wounded.

"When did you dye your hair?" Desiree asked ripping Ashes away from the screen.

"Today."

"Why? So you can actually fit in?" her sister said sarcastically. Ashes only frowned and tried to watch the screen in hopes Desiree would quit. To her dismay it continued,

"I'm tired of keeping this in any more: Ashes you're not our sister." she exclaimed.

"Desiree!" Marlene quipped.

Ashes just sat there stunned at the claim,

"What do you mean?"

"You're not related to us you know. You were adopted. I overheard mom and dad talking about it a few years ago..." she whispered.

"I don't believe you!" Samantha declared, "You always had something against Ashes ever since you were little. So stop this now because this is ridiculous."

"It's true though. Mom and Dad said she looked just like her mother and father..." Desiree continued.

Ashes turned towards Marlene,

"You were there when it all began Aunt Marlene. Is what Desiree saying true?"

Marlene stood frozen to the spot, her mouth working several oh's before nodding in defeat,

"Yes it's true."

"I see." Ashes stood up,

"I'm going to my room." She looked to her side and briskly walked out leaving the rest of the family in silence.

The distance to her room seemed like an eternity but she paused before entering her room as the door to her "foster" parents room stared at her from across the corridor. She made her way over and grabbed the handle, gently pushing it down as she entered the room. Immediately her father's scent wafted up her nostrils with a mix of flowers that Aeris was known for, but what caught her eyes was the sun's rays across the great divan with the color blue for comforter neatly folded upon it.

She glanced around, hesitating with the sudden sense of alienation rising within her. Her eyes brought her to the images framed in oak upon the wall. Pictures of the infamous group...

There was the big buff Barrett standing proud below the big lit up golden sign that said Golden Saucer. Next to him stood a small woman with short cropped boyish hair; a shurikan at her side and two other women leaning against each other. The names: Yuffie, Barrett, Tifa, and Aerith was written upon the wooden surface. Aerith was one of them, with her luxurious golden brown hair and green eyes while the other woman...she had wine colored depth and dark brown locks shadowing her athletic figure. Her smile was genuine but her eyes seemed cold...

"Are you my mother?" She whispered and looked at a newspaper clipping with the headline declaring: "Planet's Heroes" She read of the names but one name wasn't there. Tifa Lockhart. Was this woman the one Aeris spoke of? The one who betrayed them in the end? Was she the daughter of a traitor? What happened?

Ashes made her way over to the desk with a sleek black lap top laying upon it. Next to it was a small planner in which she clearly recognized Aerith's handwriting. She flipped it open and went through the address's reading off names of people she had met before and people she had no recognition of. One address was located in Nibelhiem and the name was Tifa Lockhart...but the script was written a bit roughly. No doubt her father's...Cloud's handwriting. Could it be that her mother was alive?

With great hope she ripped out a loose leaf of paper adjacent to the planner and copied the address down. Swiftly she exited the room, closing the door quietly behind her while her eyes looked around her. Everyone seemed to be downstairs still as she passed the opening of the stairs down to the main floor. Ashes sat down on her bed, her legs curled underneath her as she stared at the folded paper on her night stand. Tomorrow. She would have to leave before the last class of the day to make it to the bus station a mile down from the school. From there she would be able to make it to the train stations and hopefully find a ride to Junon...maybe she could find an air ride across the ocean...maybe. With the last of her thoughts still tangled to her conscience she fell asleep. Tomorrow.

Daemon drove down the highway toward the Academy, Ashes sitting in the passenger seat quiet as always. He kept flicking his eyes back at her every once in a while, wondering what was going through the woman's mind. Curiosity was beginning to drive him to the point of no return as he parked in an empty spot. He got out of the car and looked for Ashes to find her already making her way up the stairs into the campus. Sighing he followed after but he went down a different hall and collided with his friends.

"Damn Daemon...you look as if you hadn't slept in days." Kyoko piped up.

"I feel like it too, but no. Family trouble."

"Your father?" Daniel asked as he closed his locker.

"No. Unfortunately he's still in a coma and mom is off at the very ruins that placed my Dad in the hospital in the first place. But no...It's Ashes." He explained.

"Is she okay? I haven't seen her this morning at all." Zephyrus asked.

"I don't think any of you will recognize her now." Daemon said with a smile,

"She dyed her hair dark brown."

"Are you serious?" Kyoko exclaimed. Daemon sighed,

"Yep. Come on, we'll be late for first hour."

Throughout the day Ashes wished to Odin that time would fly by faster, but once lunch hit she was already at the outside cafe with a latte and a notebook planning away trying to figure out what she would do. Her tote bag was already stuffed with clothes and her passport travel papers.

The sudden word of her name reached her ears as she heard several of her tormentors talking about her.

"She actually looks normal...is she trying to actually fit in?" The mockery in thier tone made Ashes wince on the inside. Sighing she ignored them and stared at the scribbles she had conspired earlier, going over them to boost her confidence up.

A whirring noise in the air caught her ears...honestly she knew the moment it was thrown her way...aimed at her. Not wanting to be soaked or bruised she moved calmly to the right as an apple bounced off the table of where she sat earlier.

"Damn I missed." a voice muttered.

"That's because your aims off bitch." Ashes replied as loudly as she could, which was quite easy. Ashes would have bit her tongue but she was sick and tired of just sitting and taking in this ridicule.

"Excuse me?"

"I said your aim was off...bitch." Ashes smiled as she stood up. Ahh...this was going to be exciting.

"How dare you!" the girl known as Atashi exclaimed. By this time Ashes had stood up, a good foot taller then the girl and she glared back,

"Oh I dare." her voice was steel.

"Do you think you can have everything you want princess just because you are the daughter of Cloud Strife? Let me tell you something. You should have never been born. No wonder you are different. It's a reminder to you and the entire world that your are nothing but a mistake." Atashi said with venom. By this time there was a crowd already watching the dramatic scene while Ashes let the statements sink into her mind.

"I am just like everyone else with rights to live and breathe just as much as you." Ashes said.

"No. Humans have a right, you,...you are nothing more then a freak of nature." Atashi said as she advanced.

"Let me ask you this: what have I ever done to you? Never once have I ruined your life nor have I done any wrong to you. What have I done to make you all hate me so..." Ashes asked and looked to the crowd then back at the blonde,

"Or is it purely that you fear me?"

Atashi hesitated, then glared her blue eyes,

"Afraid of you? No, in fact I challenge you to a duel right here and now. No weapons. Fist to fist. Magic is an option but seeing as we don't have any materia on us...you know the rules."

"Fine." Ashes replied coldly.

Kyoko yawned as he stepped out into the sunlight waiting on the rest of his buds to arrive. He began to head over to his regular table when he heard shouts and riles across the field to where a horde of students seemed to circle. A fight?

"Daemon, Daniel, Zephyrus!" He called out into the cafeteria doors,

"Come on there's a cat fight!"

Daemon and the others followed and when they arrived they found two girls, one holding the other by the throat in midair.

"Ashes!" Daemon yelled, his blue eyes wide in recognition. The sudden call of her name made her glance at him, her grin on her face was frozen and she went back to holding her grip on Atashi.

"Let her go! You'll kill her!" He yelled. The crowd was deathly silent as they watched the scene but Ashes only gripped harder making the girl cry out again for help.

"Let me go please." she managed to gasp out loud.

"Why?"

"Let her go Ashes." Daemon said as he walked closer to the two combatants; He placed his warm hand on her wrist that seemed to ripple with power and calm under his touch. Ashes slowly lowered Atashi down watching the woman's' body crumple to the ground.

Ashes squatted down and looked at the girl,

"For the future, just leave me alone. Okay?" Ashes stood up and sighed, her anger still rushing madly within her blood stream. A hand was pressed gently down upon her shoulder and she ripped herself away looking at Daemon.

"Don't."

The brunette watched Ashes walk away and sighed again and looked down when a hand tugged on his pant leg,

"Are...you going to let her do that to me?" She gasped as she was beginning to stand up. She flinched when he glared at her,

"I told you that if you ever touched her I would deal with you myself. Trust me, I don't care if you are a girl and I will damage you in every way possible. This is a military school after all."

Atashi stared incredulously at him as he walked away, his friends in tow. This was not what she had planned...

Better? I hope so. The other chapter I got carried away with what a little kid would write during that rebellious stage. I have to remember that that sort of behavior in a character has to be broken in gently. All right...review. Hehe.