Chapter 12: Recovering

The conversation with Drace was the longest I would have with anybody for the next seven days. My wounds left me weak, and in some pain.

Despite the pain and the almost constant sleeping, I was happy that I got to be left alone for the next week. Or at least I think I was left alone. Most of it was spent unconscious.

But, alas, all good things come to an end. Before I knew it, I wasn't sleeping as much, and my magic was restoring itself. The nurses came in every so often. I celebrated the day they took that needle out of my arm. That thing hurt, especially when I shifted in my sleep. Gabranth came and visited; so did Zack and Drace. The other judge magisters and Dr. Cid stayed away, along with everyone else.

Drace had brought my stuff back, as promised. I spent a good forty minutes checking it, making sure everything was in there. Everything was. I cooed happily and opened my book as Drace shook her head. "You can be such a child."

I shrugged my shoulders. Vi's book was back. I didn't really care how much I cooed over it and the rest of my stuff. I didn't even hear Drace leave.

By two weeks, with a little help from my magicks, I was well enough to walk on my own. Not that the nurses noticed. They insisted that I couldn't cast cure as I didn't have a restore materia. I had blinked several times but let it pass. Let them suffer their delusions. It meant more freedom for me.

And I blatantly took adavantage of the situation. During the night, I would wander the place like a ghost. I was now sneaking along a hallway. It was after hours for the hospital wing of this place… so nobody was really around. The nurses were all in their stations, which were ever so easy to avoid, and all guests were at home, visiting hours having ended. I was taking full advantage of these facts, and was trying to figure out where everything was located around here.

Which was why the conversation drew me. It was happening nowhere near a nurse's station, and it was happening in one of the group rooms. One of the nurse's had told me about them. The group rooms I mean. She had also said that once I could walk, I could go into those rooms as much as I liked, to converse with the other sick people. Yeah, right. I've had enough sick people in my life. And dead people.

I digress. The conversation was interesting and as I was very bored, I followed it to the source. The conversation itself sounded like a group of people arguing.

I was led to a pair of double doors, beyond which lay the origin of the conversation. It was a little muffled so I looked around for a glass cup. Luckily, I found one. A shot glass. I briefly wondered why there was a shot glass in a hospital, but I soon moved on. I placed the lip of the glass against the crack in the doors and pressed my ear against the bottom of the glass. It was an old trick, but it worked. The conversation filtered through to me. Indecipherable words were now clear.

"… Deepground Soldiers are not listening, the leadership has changed," one voice stated. "Cloud is pressuring us to reveal the secrets and without control of the company, we don't have the power to resist for very long."

"What about those Judge Magisters? Where do they stand?"

"They side with either. Frankly, I believe they are just trying to stay out of jail," a woman interjected.

"And the girl?"

"Still hospitalized. I heard she's conscious now though. Your son isn't allowing anyone to see her besides those judges." a man complained.

"What's so special about the girl anyways tra la la?" I groaned inwardly. That was the little fat man I had met in the Shinra Tower… what was his name again? Palmer? Yeah, I think that's right.

The woman sniffed. "Hojo thinks she's important. He mentioned something about Occuria and something that the other Doctor had informed him about."

The conversation continued for several minutes, with most of the talking concentrating on how they could retake power in the Shinra Corporation. I really had no clue what they were talking about, something told me that this would make great blackmail someday. Thought the Occuria comment unsettle me. I didn't like any mention of them, especially not with me included as part of the statement.

I was so busy listening that I never heard the man approach. Which really isn't good for a thief. So when the greasy black haired man tapped my shoulder, I must've jumped five feet into the air, biting my lip to keep from screaming.

The man looked at me oddly, before pushing past me to enter the door. I blinked, and began to move away. I could walk, but I couldn't run, so I made my retreat as fast as possible.

I managed to get back to my room before I was caught again. In the safety of my room, as I got into nightgown, I I cursed at myself for a: letting someone see me and b: letting myself get distracted.

I went to sleep. There wasn't much else I could do. Besides yell at myself, and that wasn't any fun.

The Next Day

I awoke to somebody shaking me awake. It was Drace. I groaned, pushing my face into the pillow and pulling my covers over my head. "Go 'way. I wanna sleep!" I whined.

I heard Drace moving, and suddenly my covers were gone. I squealed, flinging my hands over my eyes. "The light!! The light!! It buuuuuuuurns!!"

Drace just heaved me out of bed. My unbound hair floated everywhere as I fell to the floor. "Hey, have mercy on the injured one." I pleaded, a pouting look crossing my face.

"You're being interviewed today." Drace informed me.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?" I shrieked. "Why wasn't I informed?" I shot to my feet and moved around trying to find my clothes. I snatched my pants from the back of a chair and began to pull them on, jumping a little to help pull them up. I shucked off my nightgown, slipping my breast band and wiggled into my sleeveless top, throwing on a coat to complete the ensemble. It was getting colder, so I assumed it was becoming fall. As such, the weather was becoming harsher. Or at least to me. Being raised in desert country does have its drawbacks. Mainly the fact that I got cold really easily.

Drace shrugged at my inquiry. "To keep you off guard I suspect. Tis a common practice," she informed me. "You should've expected it."

I threw her a dirty look. "ya, but there's always that one chance…" I mumbled, moving over to the bathroom, flicking on the lights. I had taken a shower the night before, prior to my little trip, thank Faram. I staggered to the mirror, and sat on the counter containing a sink that stood before the mirror. I grasped for a brush, feeling weak. I shouldn't push myself so hard… if I had known what was going today, I wouldn't have gone on my little escapade last night.

I attacked my hair with the brush, attempting to tame the wild mane. A plate of food was shoved in front of me. "Eat," Drace advised, snatching the brush from my hands. "You'll need your strength."

I mumbled something under my breath about her, but I picked up the fork and began to eat the food before me, while Drace combed out my hair. "What'll they ask me about?" I wondered aloud.

"Your past… Ivalice… the Espers definitely… I'm not really sure," Drace admitted.

"What did they ask you?" I inquired, hissing when the brush caught on a knot.

"Sorry," Drace apologized, untangling the knot as gently as she could. "I was asked about my past… why I was helping the others… my relations to the other… and so on and so forth…"

I gulped. "This is going to be a pain," I complained.

"You'll survive," Drace said drolly, beginning to pull my hair back to braid.

"Wait," I cautioned, pulling the hair closet to my face forward. "Braid what you have, then I'll braid these two little pieces here."

Drace nodded and began to braid it. I finished the remains of my breakfast, and braided the remnants of my hair. I peered in the mirror. "That'll do." I nodded in satisfaction. "Thank you. When do I have to be there?"

Drace looked for a clock, examined it, and replied. "You have fifteen minutes."

I nodded in affirmation. "Let's mosey."

Disclaimer: I own Nothing. Except Cressida and Vi. Otherwise, they belong to Square Enix.

Moonshine: Eh, sorry for taking so long. I had finals and stuff… and I got a new laptop, so I was trying to figure out how to use it without blowing anything up. Which generally a good idea.

Cressida: In other words, she was being a lazy a-

Moonshine: Hey, you got out of the story again!!

Cressida: It's not like you lock me in there. And all those other authors let their characters come out…

Moonshine: I'm not other authors… I can't make these exchanges funny.

Cressida: Whatever. By the way, this chapter is dedicated to Cyrus2007. He finally convinced her to type this chapter up… even though it makes me look all weak…

Moonshine: You're recovering. But anyways, thanks Cyrus. This chapter is dedicated to you!

Cressida: Oh yes, quite an honor.(sarcasm) What did you promise the reviewers this time?

Moonshine: …Tseng or Elena Plushies. So thanks to all my reviewers: Cyrus2007, Proud Bishonen Whore, and Las-Plagas- Diablo. Plushies for all of you.

Cressida: I still can't believe you're bribing reviewers with plushies. Does that even work?

Moonshine: Shush! Now I have two important questions. The first is… who would you like to be the interrogator? It's has to be one of the following: Tseng, Elena, Reno with Rude, just Reno, just Rude, or Rufus.

Cressida: ……This is going to be torture isn't it?

Moonshine: Nooo! Maybe. I dunno. It depends on who's chosen. But onto the next question: Pairings!! I had some in mind, but I don't know if I want to add them in. For example Cressida was going to end up with somebody…

Cressida: I was?!?!

Moonshine: Yes. Now I just want to know your opinions on who should end up with who. No yaoi pairing though. Now anyone who reviews this time will recieve……… um…… a Drace plushie!! And if anyone can guess the man who caught Cressida, they'll recieve a 'special' plushie!! Thank you!!