I have decided that I am never, ever getting in a vehicle that Gabranth is driving. For the rest of the trip, he sped through streets and alleyways, always weaving towards the center of the ruined city, to a dilapidated tower that seemed to govern it.
"What is this place?" I asked gripping my staff and holding on to Gabranth's waist like there was no tomorrow. I glanced quickly around before I shut my eyes again. I hated this motorcycle and I was beginning to regret making the deal with Gabranth. I knew we couldn't go any slower so that if the man on the black motorcycle decided to try to find us, he would be unable to catch up. But that didn't stop me from wanting to make Gabranth go slower.
"This is a city that was once called Midgar. It was the center for the Shinra Electric Power Company," Gabranth said, uninterested.
"How do you know this?" I asked.
Gabranth smirked. "You will see," he replied mysteriously. As we passed from the lower area into the upper one, I looked out. I saw the sun begin to lovingly touch the horizon, its rays caressing the clouds and turning them into fiery blazes of shades and hues that were indescribable. It was beautiful. I couldn't believe that this world had come so close to destruction. It reminded me so much of my own world, and yet they were so different.
I shook my head. "Are we almost there?" Gabranth nodded in response.
I slipped into my mind. This was a good time to investigate those masculine voices. I cleared my mind as if to summon something, but instead I went into the limbo where summons stay when they aren't being called out by me. I asked Famfrit to direct me to where the voices had come from. He pointed one of his arms to the right and mumbled something that ended in 'not worthy'. I felt quite sorry for him. From what the other espers had told me, even his creators had hated him. It's probably why he fell into Dr. Cid's clutches. The poor esper was depressed and thought himself unworthy of even the slightest nice action. I patted him on the shoulder and continued onward. I had tried to help with it, but I had only ended up depressed myself.
I entered a section of the limbo that I had never been in before. The first thing I noticed were the three men to whom the masculine voices belonged. They were clustered together, and they seemed to be brothers. The youngest looked to be in charge. He had silver hair that framed his face with several strands hanging in his face. One of the others was bulky and muscular with short silver hair. The third was taller with feminine shoulder length hair that had two locks that hung beside his face. All three of the men had jade green eyes from what I could tell. They seemed to be plotting something. The short one seemed determined to find their "mother". I slowly approached them.
The silent one noticed my presence first. "Kadaj," he stated. "We have company." He lapsed back into silence as the youngest twisted around to look at me. He drew his sword, a blade I recognized from one of the glyphs. So he was the one summoned by the glyph with the two-bladed sword.
"Nice sword," I said, trying to start a conversation. The man stood, I presumed shocked that a girl would stand up to him. "So, who're you?"
"Why should we tell you?" the man retorted. He seemed to have regained the use of his tongue.
"Because I asked," I replied sweetly.
The man stood silent, fuming for a second. The bulky man interjected, "You can't make us."
"What makes you think I can't?" I retorted, taking a few steps forward. I ruffled my bangs unconsciously with a wayward hand.
The silent man interrupted here. "If you could, you would have done so already," he said apathetically. I blinked several times at him. The man was smart. I couldn't technically force any summon to obey me. All of the summons that I had, I had found in Ivalice. We had defeated them in battle first and earned their respect. These summons that I had just gotten, I had not fought a battle with them; I had had no chance to earn their respect. I just hoped they wouldn't attack me. They would be in for a nasty surprise.
"Jeez you're clever," I said. "But I can do other things to make you want to tell me." D&#$ my arrogance. D&#$ it to hell. The men stood silent, looking at me. Probably to assess how much of a threat I truly was. My conclusion: my threat level equaled negative 110. The leader quickly realized that, and placed the sword blades against my neck.
The bulky man sniggered. "Oh shut up, you overgrown wyrm," I snarled at him. The man stared at me for a few seconds before he began to... cry? Oh Faram, and here I had been scared.
"Don't cry Loz," the quiet one said. The other one was steamed. "Loz, you stupid a$&#, why do you have to be such a baby?" he screeched, charging towards the poor man named Loz. As he continued with his screeching, I sidled over to the quiet man. "Are they always like this?" I asked him. He nodded an affirmative. We watched them for several minutes.
"Cressida," I introduced myself.
"Yazoo," he said, keeping his eyes on his brothers.
"It's nice to meet you," I said politely. "I know the large one is Loz, but who's fearless leader?"
Yazoo tweaked a smile at that. "That's Kadaj."
"Hmmmmmmmmmm, who's mother?" I asked. He never answered me, just stared out to the distance. "It was nice meeting you, sir. I'll be back." I began to walk away. "Oh, and I'm sorry that I got your brothers fighting. Good luck calming them down," I called over my shoulder as I returned to my own body.
Or least began to. I noticed another man. He wore a black trench coat and had long silver hair that I bet was super soft. Wait, why the hell was I thinking about some guy's hair? The man turned around and glared at me. He had these gorgeous green eyes, much better than the brothers. They were slit like a snake's. He seemed pretty pissed off though. "Who are you?" he snapped. I didn't answer.
I fled, my mind fleeing to my body.
I asked myself, as I was fleeing, how I could still think about a guy. I reminded myself what had happened last time. I wasn't going to let my heart even begin to get too attached to anybody. Not anymore. It just led to heartbreak.
As I reacquainted myself with my body, I noticed that the motorcycle was slowing down. We had arrived at the place. It was the tower that I had noticed earlier. "We're here," Gabranth said, bringing the motorcycle to a stop.
A/n: Splee!!!!!!!!!!! I have more reviewers. Thanks to:Lady Karai, Levuica, and DragonessWarrior My reviewers for last chapter!!!!!!!!!!! A Cloud on Fenrir plushie for all of you!!!!!!!!!! I would like to thank Lady Karai specifically, since it was she who gave me the idea to have Cressida meet and talk to the SHM. Thanks Karai!!!!!!!
I forgot to do this last chapter: I OWN NOTHING!!!! NOTHING I TELL YOU!!!! IF SOMEBODY TOLD YOU OTHERWISE, THEY ARE LYING!!!!!!!! ALL I CAN DO IS DREAM ABOUT OWNING IT!
Please review!!! If you do, you'll recieve a Kadaj plushie! Thanks!!!!!!!!