Chapter 25: Ladies' Night (www . youtube . com/watch?v=qKuXPakcNiw)

Memo: Well, this is the calm chapter. Get ready for some sheer awesomeness ahead. Prepare yourself. :D Consider this chapter the comic relief portion...the last one you'll ever get in this story. Everything after this is intense and emotional, so I'm warning you now. Not that there won't be funny stuff later, lol. XP

*~*~*

"Nexus, come on," Sora pleaded for the fifth time. Nexus groaned.

"Five more minutes," she replied, her voice muffled due to her pillow being shoved in her face.

"I already gave you fifteen more minutes. Now get up."

Sighing heavily, Nexus turned over, her hair tangling in her face.

"Where are we going?" she asked, her eyes half shut.

"Hollow Bastion," Sora responded, standing up straight.

"Oh boy. Hollow Bastard, my faaaaavorite place."

Sora shot her a "WTF?" look.

"Did you seriously just call it 'Hollow Bastard'?" he asked, laughing.

"Maybe."

Stretching like a cat, Nexus started to get up, but instead flopped back into bed, shutting her eyes and covering her head with her pillow. Sora sighed, frustrated.

"Don't make me rip the covers off of you again," he threatened.

Bolting upright, Nexus nearly smacked the back of her head on the bottom of Donald's bunk above her.

Well, that worked, Sora thought, smirking and walking away.

.........

Looking around the marketplace area of Hollow Bastion, Sora and the others were surprised to see Heartless running amock.

"Wait a sec...I thought everything was supposed to be under control here!" Sora cried as the Heartless disappeared.

"Hey, look!" Donald shouted, pointing at the town's defense system. It was running as usual...but something about it was different. Instead of blue, it was red.

"Must be Organization XIII again," Sora decided. "We better go see Leon."

So the four quickly headed out to Merlin's house, knowing that would be the first place to find any of the Restoration Committee members. But when they got there, they were surprised once again to see Heartless. This time, though, they were not the usual species found in Hollow Bastion.

"Those were Tron's Heartless," Sora said quietly, his keyblade vanishing after they defeated the lot.

"Tron has Heartless?" Nexus asked.

"No, I mean, from that world."

"But why would they be here?" Nexus shook her head. "I don't think the Organization had anything to do with this one, Sora."

"Maybe you're right..."

Suddenly the door to Merlin's house cracked open, and Yuffie poked her head out of the door.

"Come on in!" she said, walking outside once she knew the coast was clear.

"Wait just a second..." Sora told her. "What happened to this place?"

"Didn't that Heartless look like the ones from Tron's world?" Goofy asked her.

"C'mon, just get inside!" Yuffie urged them, disappearing behind the door again.

Exchanging frustrated looks, the party walked in behind her to find Cid and Merlin there...but no Leon or Aerith.

Nexus' PoV

"Hurry up, Cid!" Yuffie snapped at Cid, who was typing on a big, old-fashioned computer. Data was flying in front of his face at a million miles per minute.

"Give me a second!" Cid snapped back.

"Confound it! Hurry!" Merlin cried.

"Why, you...!" Cid growled at the wizard, obviously at the end of his rope.

"What's going on?" Sora finally asked, and the three whipped around to look at him.

"Talk about yer good timin'!" Cid exclaimed, neglecting the computer for a moment. The others didn't really seem to care too much.

"The MCP is wreaking havoc inside the computer," Yuffie said.

"Not again!" Donald quacked. I shrugged. Less work for me, am I right? (;3)

"Accordin' to Leon, anyway..." Cid explained. "He went on over to Ansem's study to find out what all the ruckus was about. Turns out the MCP is using the data in that computer to crank out Heartless. The MCP's been messin' around with the town's control system, too."

Pouting, Yuffie turned to Cid and said, "That MCP sure doesn't know when to quit, does it?"

"That's a computer program for ya."

"How's Tron doing?" Sora asked.

"We can't reach him," Yuffie replied. "We figure he must have been forced onto the game grid."

Game grid? Sounded fun to me.

"And it don't sound like a particularly fun game, either," Cid added.

Donald frowned. "Awww..."

"We'll go check on Tron," Sora offered. I was okay with that, too. I mean, that meant I could take a break, and at that point, I really needed one...

"Thanks, kid. We're puttin' together an MCP Eradication program," Cid said, gesturing to the computer. "I got a hunch it's almost finished, too."

"Well, I hope your hunch is right for once!" Merlin exclaimed, causing Cid to give him a dirty look.

"Listen, we're gonna need Tron's help when that Eradicator's completed..." Yuffie began hesitantly.

"Don't sweat it." Yuffie's face brightened at Sora's response. "We'll make sure to tell Tron!"

"Remember, boys--we're counting on you," Merling said as we walked outside.

"Roger!" Sora called back.

.........

We had just reached the postern when we saw more familiar faces. It looked like the three little fairy chicks were there, but they didn't look as happy to see us as usual. The brunette flew over, followed by the other two, in a rage.

"Liars!" she shouted.

"Wha--?" Sora stammered.

"Leon doesn't have any treasure!" the blonde chirped, flushing with anger.

"And we fought for you guys," the silver-haired fairy muttered, shaking her head.

"Donald...?" Goofy said, turning to the duck.

"Yeah, this is all your fault!" I snapped, turning to him as well.

"Well, I had to tell them something!" Donald cried.

"I don't see how we're gonna work this out," the brunette said, heaving a sigh of frustration.

"So what should we do?" Sora asked.

None of them answered; instead they turned to one another and began to chatter amongst themselves. I could only pick out bits and pieces of the conversation, but whatever the result was going to be wasn't going to be good for us.

Finally, the brunette turned around and pointed at us.

"We're just going to take YOUR treasure," she said with a gleam in her eyes, which I just then noticed were two different colors.

"But we don't have anything!" Sora cried, his voice cracking.

"You sure?" the silver-haired one asked, raising an eyebrow as the blonde one floated over to Sora, circling around him.

"Hmm...let's take a look!" she giggled, looking at me next. Well, I didn't feel too bad. All I had was ammo and my gun, and that was about it. "Mm-hmm..." She looked at Donald, who tapped his foot angrily. He had no reason to be mad; this was his fault. "Oooh!" she squealed as looked at Goofy. Then she hurried over to the brunette.

"Hey, Yunie," she said. "Yunie"? What kind of name is that? "I took a look, and sure enough..."

She whispered something into Yunie's ear, and then the brunette smiled.

"Okay, we've decided!" she exclaimed. "The Gullwings are taking all your items!"

"You gotta be kidding me!" Sora cried, looking like he wanted to kill himself.

"Oh, foofie," Yunie said, putting her fists on her hips.

"This stinks!" the blonde added.

"So not cool..." Paine agreed.

"Look, sorry we tricked you, but..." Sora began, but the silver-haired fairy shook her head, smirking.

"Forget about it," she said. "Leon told us the whole story. He said your journey's been pretty rough."

"So it wouldn't really be right if we took your things," Yunie said.

"We'll root for you," the blonde assured us. "Here, this is from us."

"Bye!" Yunie said. "Good luck on your journey!"

The three little fairies posed and disappeared, leaving behind a treasure chest.

"Open it!" Donald urged him.

Inside was nothing but a keychain in the design of a wing. But when Sora picked it up, it turned into a keyblade.

"The Gullwings, huh?" I murmured. I had never heard of them before, but I had a feeling that wouldn't be the last I'd hear of them.

*~*~*

Leon whipped himself around, gunblade in hand, when he heard a noise from behind him. The paranoia was starting to really get to him.

"Gawrsh, it's only us!" Goofy said, walking in. Leon slowly lowered his sword as Sora, Nexus, Donald, and Goofy walked in.

"You can't talk to Tron if this room gets taken over," Aerith told them, glancing at the computer nervously. She had been helping Leon the whole time.

"Did you check in with Cid?" Leon asked.

"Uh-huh," Sora replied, nodding once.

"And the Eradicator?"

"It's almost done," Donald said.

"Great!" Aerith exclaimed. She then turned to Leon, smiling. "Say, Leon, why don't you go work with Cid? I have this place under control."

"Are you sure?" Leon asked, not buying it. "All by yourself...?"

Aerith didn't reply with words, but with an expression so angry that Leon had no choice but to let her have her way.

"...Er, sorry," he mumbled. "It's all yours."

"How's Tron?" Sora asked.

"We still can't get in touch with him," Leon said with a sigh. "Maybe you guys should give it a shot."

"No, we'll go talk to him in person."

"Then I have a favor to ask. When you find Tron, could you tell him to come to the I/O tower? That's where we'll upload the MCP Eradication program."

"The I/O tower," Goofy repeated. "Got it!"

"Thanks. And watch your backs."

Leon walked out of the room as Sora approached the computer screen. There was a threatening message on the screen; apparently it had been there for some time.

"We'll be there soon, Tron," Sora murmured, turning on the terminal. Nexus, watching what he was doing, walked over to Aerith and smiled.

"Are you not going with them?" the brunette asked, surprised.

"Nope. I didn't go the first time, so I'd rather not meddle if I don't need to," Nexus replied, watching as Sora and the others disappeared.

"I understand."

Aerith walked over to the computer and leaned against the counter. Nexus went to the opposite side of the screen and climbed onto the counter, her legs dangling off the side.

"So what do we do now?" Nexus asked, sighing.

"We have to wait for someone to come back with the eradication program," Aerith replied, also sighing. "But who knows how long that will take."

"When we stopped by, they were almost done with it."

"Really?"

"Yup!"

"That's good." Aerith smiled.

Nexus' PoV

It was just me and Aerith for a while until Leon finally came back with the program. He messed with the computer for a few minutes, but it just kept repeating back the same message.

"Warning. User control is terminated indefinitely," it said for the fourteenth time. I was counting.

"No good!" Leon growled, pounding his fists on the keyboard.

"Leon, let me try," Aerith offered. Again, Leon gave her the hesitant look--couldn't really blame him--but he handed her the disk, and she nodded.

"This is your final warning. Stop at once."

Aerith ignored the computer and stuck the disk into the disk drive.

"Bon appetit!" she said with a smirk as the hard drive began to load the program. "Don't talk with your mouth full."

"What...what are you loading?" the computer asked. Aerith silently cheered as Leon crossed his arms in disbelief.

"Leeeeeee-oooooooooooon!"

That cat howl could've only come from one person.

Yuffie came stomping into the room, scowling.

"Leon, go take care of Cid and Merlin, pleeease!?" she cried, her face contorted. "They've been fighting about NOTHING, and it's soooo annoying! They won't stop! They won't listen to me!"

"Wonder why," Leon muttered sarcastically. Yuffie heard him.

"Shut up, Squall," she snapped, punching Leon in the gut. "Just go take care of them. I'll take your place here."

Leon/Squall looked at the three of us suspiciously. He obviously didn't like the idea of leaving three girls in charge. Did he think we would get distracted? He wasn't far off the mark.

"Fine," he said at last, leaving. Sighing, Yuffie plopped down in a swiveling chair and scooted herself over to us.

"It doesn't help I ran into my faaaavorite people on the way here, if you can call them that," Yuffie whined.

"Who?" Aerith asked.

"The Gullwings, who else?! They're worthless! All they do is cause trouble and make me mad!" Yuffie scowled again. "Especially Rikku."

"You know their names?" I asked, cocking my head.

"Yeah. Yuna, Rikku, and Paine. Paine is the only one I can stand. She can actually do stuff. The other two just annoy me!"

"They helped us out earlier," I said, pulling my legs up under me so I was sitting cross-legged. "But they managed to cause trouble before they did."

"See what I mean!?" Yuffie cried, falling back into the chair. She groaned, her high-pitched voice muffled by her hand. Suddenly I thought of something. Maybe these two knew...

"Hey, have you heard of someone named E?" I asked.

"E?" Aerith and Yuffie said in unison.

"Yeah. I mean, that's just her nickname, but I don't know her real name."

"Who is she?" Aerith said. "I've never heard of her."

"Apparently she's Riku's girlfriend. She reminds me of Yuffie...at least, the way she talks. But I've never seen her face." I pouted. "She was wearing an Organization cloak at the time, like Riku."

"Riku..." Yuffie muttered. She stood up quickly, nearly falling over. "He is number one on my list of people I'm gonna whoop when I see them again! All he does is make people worry! Ooo, I'm gonna kick his ass if and when I see him again!"

Aerith and I laughed, but Yuffie interrupted.

"Aerith, Cloud is number two!" Aerith's face fell.

"I can't help but agree," she said quietly.

"All he wants to do is make us worry. Then he says he'll come back, and maybe he will, or maybe he'll avoid us for another few months!" Yuffie cried, falling back into her chair. "Next time he comes back, you two need to get married so he'll have to settle down."

Aerith blushed. "I don't even know if that's what he wants," she murmured.

"Who cares?! He's gotten his way for years! Lay down the law, sister!"

"I concur," I said. "If he really loves you, he'll listen to you."

"Yeah! And then you guys need to have a kid, so he has to stay home!" Yuffie giggled as Aerith blushed again. "First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage!" she sang, clapping her hands in delight. "Then he'll have to stay with you."

"She does this to me all the time," Aerith whispered as Yuffie chattered on.

"Isn't there anyone she likes?" I asked. "You could throw that back in her face."

Aerith thought for a moment, then smirked.

"Yuffie, I'll tell Cloud everything you told me if you admit to Leon that you adore him," Aerith said, finally baring her fangs. Yuffie nearly turned purple.

"Th-that's not even fair!" she cried, standing up again. "He has someone else. And there's nothing I can do about it." Defeated, she sat back down, then glanced at me. "You haven't talked yet. Who's your fella? I know you have one. I know it."

"You don't know that," Aerith and I said in unison. Yuffie grinned.

"No," she admitted, "but I wanna know."

"Well, for the record, I do love someone," I said, sighing. "But it doesn't matter, because it's literally impossible for him to love me back." They didn't look like they were catching on at all. " I mean, he's a Nobody."

"Ah! Really?" Yuffie cried, shocked. "That's so sad!"

"Tell me about it," I muttered.

"Surely there's some way," Aerith said, and I shook my head.

"Things don't look too great the way they are now. I don't think there's any chance."

It was quiet, and I laughed to clear the air.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be so serious!"

"It's okay!" Yuffie said, grinning again.

I smiled back, then suddenly my eye caught the door on the opposite wall. It was open. I don't know how it happened, but it was. Not too far past that door was a hovercraft, and then...well, a place I didn't really feel like messing with at the moment.

"You really should have kids, Aeri," Yuffie was saying when I snapped out of it. "You'd be a fabulous mommy!"

Aerith didn't look convinced.

"Yeah, and then Yuffie and I could babysit them!" I cried.

"Yeah!" Yuffie cheered, scooting her chair over to me and giving me a hi-five.

"See, I think you would be a good mother," Aerith said, nodding at me. I blushed.

"Why do you say that?" I asked, embarrassed.

"Because you're super loyal!" Yuffie answered for her. "And protective, but not overly protective. Like...you value individual freedom, which is good because then you won't be clingy to kids like my mom was!" Yuffie shuddered. "Glad I'm rid of her!"

"Was that how your mother was?" Aerith asked me. I shrugged.

"I don't remember. I didn't grow up with my parents," I replied. "I haven't seen them since I was six."

"Wha?!" Yuffie squealed. "Then who raised you?"

"Ansem the Wise," I said after hesitating. They both looked skeptical, and I couldn't blame them. "No, I'm serious. I was raised in this very building. Past that door, mostly," I added, nodding to the open door on the side of the room.

"Ooo!" Yuffie stood up, kicking the chair to the far wall. "We should go check it out!"

I cringed, wishing I had lied.

"I don't know if the way back there is still open," I told her. She shrugged, pulling me off of the counter.

"Who cares? We should at least try."

"It would be nice to see more of Ansem's things," Aerith agreed. "It might help us figure things out for later."

"That's what I'm thinkin'!" Yuffie cheered.

I paused, staring at the door. At some point or another, I knew I would have to face my past. I would just have to press on and not be afraid. Now I was at that point, and I knew I had to just let my fear go.

"Okay, let's go," I finally said, leading the way through the door. "But if I say I want to leave, we're leaving."

"Agreed!" Yuffie cried, skipping after me.

"Thanks," Aerith said.

Yeah, you won't be thinking that later, I thought, sighing.