A/N: OMG! This is really long! It's longer than the last three chapters combined! Oopse..okay, sorry it took so long to update! And sorry this is sooooooooooo long! I had a lot to fit into this chapter! Please don't get bored half way through...it gets really interesting in the end!

Special thanks to all my reviewers. (Yes, all four of you!) You guys rock!

Once agan, this has multipul people's views in it, and they have nice little headings to go with them to help with the confusion. Hope you enjoy! BTW: This is the scene that elaborates on Reeve's speach about Shera's past in Nobody's Listening Chapter 2.

I still don't own Square Enix...I'm trying though!

How to Be Human

Lesson Four: How to be Saved

Shera's View

I woke up quietly, looking at Miss Lilith with a smile. It had been a few days since she got here, but she remained optimistic. She kept saying something about Vincent always taking his time on things and Zel always causing trouble for everyone else.

I had to ask, who are Zel and Vincent? Her reply was simple.

"Brothers." It wasn't the answer I was looking for, but I settled for it, assuming they were one of these "Turks" Lilith had mentioned. So I dropped the conversation and decided to read my book instead. It kept my mind off of the fact that I was slowly loosing the little hope I had in being rescued.

Because, if Lilith was so important, why were these "Turks" taking so long to find her? And even if they did, would they even care about me? What if they didn't? Would they just leave me here? What if they were worse than Master? What if they were Lilith's masters?!

I shivered at the thought.

"Shera? Are you cold?" Lilith looked at me, worried. She was munching on a little piece of bread. Since the day she'd outright refused to eat any food Master brought, they'd stopped bringing her food. So I always gave her some of mine, even if she said she wasn't hungry.

Lilith was really thin anyway. When I asked if she normally got enough to eat, she said "When I actually remember to eat, then yes."

What's that mean? How can you forget to eat?

"No, I'm fine," I replied, smiling at her.

"Then why were you shivering?"

"Um, no reason…"

"Shera…" I knew it, she didn't believe me.

"Miss Lilith…if we get rescued…" I started. She cut me off.

"When, Shera. It's when we get rescued," she corrected. I nodded quickly and corrected myself.

"When we get saved, Miss Lilith…will…will you keep my name a secret?" Lilith stared at me, raising her eyebrow as if she were about to ask a question.

"Sure…is there any reason why?" she asked, smiling.

"No reason…I-I just want to keep it a secret…" I said uncomfortably.

"Then yes, I promise you I won't tell anyone your name." From the way she said it, I couldn't help but to believe her. Plus Lilith had yet to do anything that would make me loose my trust in her. She'd already saved me from having to face Master countless times in the past few days. This was good; I was sure Master would question me all about Lilith if I had to talk to him alone. And I didn't want to talk about her, not at all. She was nice, and I didn't want her to get hurt.

I did have a reason why I didn't want anyone to know my name. Because, if they new my name, they could own me, right? I really didn't want to be owned anymore. I wanted to be free…

How do you live free?

That was another thing I was afraid of. What if I could never actually be free?

Turk's View: Zel

"Are you sure this is the place?" Zel asked for the tenth time. All ten of the Turks on the Lilith-Rescue mission stood out in front of a stone warehouse-looking building. After River had found this place and gotten David to get them all directions, they were sure this was the place.

Zel still didn't believe it, though. It just looked…small to him.

"Yes, Zel, this is defiantly the place," River said, a hard edge in her voice. Zel winced. She was angry, he knew it. Of course, he was too. As soon as he'd been given the definition of "Pet," he'd flipped out and (after puking again) tried to bolt out of the building with two 14 oz jars of C4.

Because, what can't be solved with explosives?

Of course, Vincent had been right there to grab him by the collar and pull back, sending Zel flying into a pillar and leaving his precious explosives to be given to someone else. When Zel had complained, he'd gotten the glare-of-death from Vincent.

That had shut him up.

For all of three minutes.

So Vincent had settled with handing him a Rubiks Cube to shut him up. And Zel had handed it back to him, 30 seconds later, solved. Vincent had tried again to distract the very annoyed Zel with a variety of puzzles, riddles, and codes.

After Zel had solved each one in an inhuman amount of time, Vincent had admitted defeat and given the now very calm Zel back his explosives.

And now nine bored Turks stood in front of a very dull building wondering whether their VP was actually there or not while the last Turk was struggling to compose himself for the act he was about to pull.

The "last Turk" being Vincent, and the "act" was that he was going to be the guy doing recon.

Basically, Vincent was going to pretended to be a slaver interested in buying their VP.

Oh, the blackmail possibilities! Zel was going to love every minute of this. This is was a perfect way to avenge the embarrassment Vincent had put him through with the Wall Market mission. Zel had said goodbye to whatever moral he'd owned that day, and now Vincent was going to forever be branded as a pervert.

The very thought of it made him giddy with excitement. Thank Gia for sibling rivalries.

"Why do I have to be the pervert again?" Vincent asked Kyra.

"Because you lost the greatest challenge ever!" Kyra said, laughing.

"Rock-Paper-Scissors is hardly the greatest challenge ever."

"So says you! You're just a sore looser!"

"Hey, Vincent," David cut in, looking up from the PDA he carried with him everywhere. "You only lost because you always did 'Scissors'."

"That's because there are no guns in that stupid game. Plus, what can't be solved with sharp objects?" This very out of character reply from Vincent sent the Turks into fits of laughter. "Alright! Get to your scouting points…I'm leaving now!" Vincent then turned on his heel and headed towards the door, repeating to himself the information that Kilick, another Turk on this mission, had given him to help him infiltrate this place.

Zel lead the other Turks to a hidden grove that left them out of sight but in perfect firing range of the building. The Turks paired off-with the group of three consisting of Kilick, his partner Lin, and Verdot, who was tagging along to make sure there wasn't too much carnage. Zel watched as three other pairs of Turks (not counting himself and River) moved to hide throughout the grove. Kyra and David disappeared into the tree tops, no doubt getting a vantage point to scout out for Vincent. Legion and Rachel, both katana wielding Turks, were milling around in open air, looking like a couple on a picnic. Zel made a mental note to make fun of how natural they looked later. The last pair, Rito-a knife thrower, and his twin brother Tori, also a knife thrower, disappeared the minute Zel had given the order to split up.

That left River and him standing behind two trees, staring at the building. Zel didn't mean to, but he began to get bored. He was known to have a seemingly minute attention span. And when he was bored, his left hand began to twitch uncontrollably and he immediately complained about needing something to do. Like play a piano or put a gun together or solve a seemingly impossible puzzle.

Something complicated, to take his mind off of the nothingness.

Something besides thinking, that is.

Because thinking would led to memories.

Memories led to pain.

Pain led to insanity.

And insanity led to Zel waking up covered in someone else's blood, trying to remember what happened.

Zel shook his head, forcing himself out of the seemingly never ending circle of thoughts that always ended up in the same place: his past. He knew he couldn't out run it, but he was doing a damn good job trying.

Impulsively, Zel reached up to rub his neck, fingering a thick, gnarled scar that circled all the way around, leaving a fierce stain on his naturally pale skin.

"That settles it…" Zel was pulled out of his silent recollection by River's scowl.

"What?" he asked, turning slightly to face the female Turk. River looked at him and then pointed towards the door Vincent had just disappeared into. No, slightly above the door, at the masonry work.

"That sigil, above the door, doesn't it look familiar?" she asked. Zel moved to stand next to her so he could get a better look at it.

I've seen that before… Zel thought, squinting at it. "Yes," he answered.

"I thought you'd recognize it. It's the same sigil as the…" Zel didn't hear the rest of her sentence. He had realized where and when he'd seen that sigil before.

No…it can't be… Zel thought. He felt uncontrollable anger well up inside of him.

Then the blackout came.

Turk's View: River

"Zel? Zel, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that!" River whispered hoarsly. The second after she'd mentioned the sigil, she'd regretted it. She'd forgotten Vincent's one and only warning about Zel.

"Don't mention the past."

She cringed and looked over at Zel. He stared off into space, his hands clenched into tight fists. The look in his eyes, though distant, was absolutely murderous.

So this is "Dark Zel"…Man, I don't like this…River noted, biting her lip. She'd only seen Zel this way once before and…

Let's just say that dragon never stood a chance. Not to mention the army of like 45 trained assassins.

She looked back and caught the eyes of all the other Turks. They'd seen the change in Zel, she was sure of it. His normally calm stance was now ramrod straight and tense. She stared at Verdot, hoping for him to say something to bring the blonde haired Turk back to reality. When the man avoided her gaze, River took matters into her own hands.

"Zel?" she reached up and tapped his shoulder, dangerously close to Zel's neck. River knew that was the unspoken rule about Zel. Touch his neck and die.

"What?" he hissed, snapping his head around to glare at her. River glared back, forcing herself to hide her surprise at his harshness towards her. She slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out a little round cylander. Without a word, she shoved it into Zel's hand and looked away from him.

"When Vincent gives the order, wipe this place off the map." Zel looked at the denator she'd handed him and smiled. There was no mirth or joy in that smile, only cold wickedness that could have made even the most fearless of men run away in fear.

"Of course!" Zel said, voice thick with malice. "Who else would be fit to make the sky rain blood?!" River only looked at him, shock written all over her face.

Because normally, she could convincer herself that she liked her job as a Turk.

But Zel's comment reminded her of every reason why she hated it too.

Being a Turk is okay, I guess…If you can ignore the screaming…

Turk's View: Vincent

Vincent walked silently behind the two guards-er, escorts. He knew they were undercover guards, but he wasn't supposed to know that.

But then again, the two "escorts" didn't know he was field leader of the Turks, coming decimate the place after rescuing the kidnapped Vice President.

Good ol' Lilith, always getting into some kind of trouble. Worse than Zel… Vincent thought, smiling slightly. It was all he could do to keep his mind off of the desolate place he was in. He was being stared at by everyone he passed, both male and female. They all looked at him with different emotions: some with fear, others with hatred, and others with pure hopelessness. Some shied away from him as he walked past while others would scream profanity at him, condemning his freedom…among other things.

The guards led Vincent to a solid oak door. After knocking, they led him into a well lit room. Behind a desk directly ahead of Vincent was a man seated behind a big rosewood desk in a tall backed, imposing black chair.

This must be Kriev.

The guards left promptly, leaving Vincent alone in the room with Kriev. He looked up from his papers and smiled at Vincent.

"Hello. You must be…Isaac, was it?" he said, watching Vincent with an amused smile. Vincent glared back at him, slightly uncomfortable at how alike Kriev and President Akito ShinRa were. It made since, though. Both were slimy, perverted, sexist bastards. What made Vincent uncomfortable was that it seemed like Kriev was looking through him, his eyes picking at Vincent's brain.

Vincent was wearing a different outfit than his Turk uniform and was wearing brown-eyed contacts to hide his ever-famous red eyes, but it seemed to him that he would have had a better chance as a Turk than in disguise.

"Now, the woman who talked with me on the phone…" Kriev started.

"My secretary," Vincent said. Kriev gave him an all knowing look, making Vincent wonder what Kriev's definition of secretary was…and exactly how much time that "secretary" would spend clothed.

"Yes, your secretary. She said you had already made a choice?" the man prompted. Vincent nodded and handed Kriev a manila envelope with all the specs about Lilith they'd been able to find on the internet site associated with this "Pet Store."

"Ah, Miss Lilith…She's a feisty one, I think you should know…"

"I see," Vincent forced himself to grin. Kriev seemed to buy it.

"Come, why don't I show you your choice," the perverted man stood up and walked out of the office, Vincent trailing behind him. The guards trailed farther still behind Vincent, making the Turk extra weary of his footsteps.

Finally, after what Vincent was sure was an eternity of hallways and doors, they came upon a cell. Vincent instantly caught sight of Lilith, huddled against the back wall of the cell, clutching something small against her chest. He watched as she looked up, eyes locking onto his.

Her eyes lit up, a smile played on her lips. Vincent's temper calmed.

She's alright…

His eyes drifted downward, towards the bundle clutched to his superior's chest. His eyes widened. There she was, the nine year old girl.

That son of a bitch!

Vincent clutched his hands into fists, hiding them behind his back and smiling as his fingernails drew blood. It was all he could do to stop himself from ripping this man limb from limb.

I'm going to enjoy killing you.

Shera's View

I hid against Lilith, not wishing to be seen by Master or the Visitor. I knew that, though Master was bad, Visitors could be worse. Especially if they were here to buy someone.

Wait…was that man here to take Lilith away? No! She wasn't going anywhere! I don't want to be alone.

I looked up at Lilith, surprised to see her smiling.

"Miss Lilith? Wh-what's going on?" I whispered. She looked down at me and leaned in, whispering directly into my ear.

"I know that man. He's one of my knights…" She giggled. "That's Vincent."

My eyes went wide. Did that mean? He wasn't going to buy Lilith! He was going to save her!

Wasn't he?

I watched the man-Vincent- with curiosity. His eyes caught mine and I saw a glimmer of something?

What was it? He looked…sad? Regretful? Sympathetic?

I then strained to listen to what Master was saying.

"And of course, you'll have to sign some papers…"

"How much?" Vincent suddenly cut off Master. Master looked at him, confused.

"For Lilith, well, that's hard to say. I'm thinking it will be about…"

"For both." Master stopped and whipped around, facing Vincent with ferocity in his eyes.

"No." Vincent smirked, sending an involuntary shiver down my spine.

"What do you mean, 'no'?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I just mean…" Master said, composing himself, "that you wouldn't be able to pay the price."

"You'd be surprised what I could pay," Vincent countered. I buried my head into Lilith's chest, now very afraid. I didn't know why Lilith could trust this man. He was very scary.

"Would you now? And what price would that be?" Master retorted curtly.

"How much do you value your life?" My eyes widened. Lilith clutched me tighter, telling me that even she was surprised.

"Wha…"

"Those two for your life. Seems fair, doesn't it?" Vincent sneered. To my surprise, he pulled a gun from his coat and pointing it at Master. I gasped. "Actually, you're getting the better end of the deal."

Master backed up, looking at the gun with hatred. "Open the door…" he sneered. The two guards were quick to comply. One of the guards hurried in and undid Lilith's shackle. He then backed away, under the watchful eye of Vincent. Lilith stood up carefully, setting me carefully onto the ground. Vincent made Master back up farther before Lilith walked carefully out of the cage. I walked carefully behind her. Master watched me.

"Stop," he commanded. I did. It was a habit, something I knew I had to obey. Lilith turned and looked at Master, scowling. "What are you scowling for, Lilith? You belong to him now. You're his slave, and he's free to do whatever he wants to you." To my surprise, Lilith only smiled.

"I doubt it," she said strongly, shaking her head. "Isn't that right, Vincent?"

The look on Master's face scared me. At first, it was a look of pure horror. Then it changed to uncontained anger.

"WHAT?!" he shouted, taking a step forward. Without hesitation, Vincent shot at that foot, purposely missing…barely. Master jumped back, glaring.

"Vincent Valentine, Field Leader of the Turks," Vincent said, grinning. "And the last thing you'll ever see…" He raised his gun to Master's chest. I closed my eyes, awaiting the sound of a shot. None came.

"Coward!" Lilith shouted. I opened my eyes to see Master was gone. I guess he ran away. Vincent lowered his gun and smiled at Lilith.

"Hey," he said. She rolled her eyes at him and immediately began to yell at him for taking so long.

"I'm going to get some of my stuff, okay?" I asked. Lilith nodded quickly to me and then went back to yelling at Vincent. I smiled and slipped back into the cell, hurrying to pick up my few belongings: my hairbrush, a few hair ribbons, a necklace, and, of course, my book. But as I was reaching for the book, which I'd left in hidden in the darkest corner of the room, I heard something behind me. Thinking it was Lilith, I thought nothing of it, until…

"Oh, Shera. Why did I wait?!" My eyes widened. How could it be?!

Suddenly, Master's strong arms wrapped around my waist and he clasped one hand over my mouth, preventing me from screaming. I struggled against him, but he was two times by height. I squeaked, trying to get to Lilith, so close but so far away.

Then Master drug me into darkness, and I began to see that the hours left in my life could now be counted on one hand.

Lilith's View

Vincent practically dragged me outside. Upon Kriev's flight, the other nine Turks that had been assigned to this mission (Except Zel and River, I was told) had invaded the building, freeing all the other "Pets." I was so happy that, for once, the Turks could be seen as heroes. But in my contemplation that I didn't focus on my speed. So Vincent settled with picking me up and running me outside to meet up with River and an extremely impatient Zel.

No, I take that back. And extremely pissed Zel. Vincent stopped about five feet from Zel and looked at River for an explanation. I knew as well as he did that Zel, at this moment, was probably in "Blackout."

"What happened?" Vincent barked. I noticed the harshness in his voice, the tone always present whenever he found Zel like this.

"These people were the slavers who did the Dog Fights." My eyes widened and flicked to Zel, still standing silently, glaring at the building. In his hand I noticed there was a detonator. Briefly, a very calm and logical thought went through my head.

WHO GAVE ZEL THE EXPLOSIVES?!

"Zel!" Vincent yelled. The blonde didn't move. He continued to stare at the building.

"Zel, answer me!" Vincent ordered again. No response. I was about to tell Vincent to just give up and we'd ride out the storm when he yelled. "Zeliki Norumik St-"

"AH! NO! DON'T CALL ME BY MY REAL NAME! Zel screamed, tackling Vincent to the ground. River and I exchanged a glance. I couldn't help but laugh. I like the name Zeliki, but who gives their kid a middle name like "Norumik?" Maybe it meant something significant in Ancient? I'll have to ask Doctor Valentine…

Wait a minute, what's Zel's last name?

"Can I blow it up now?!" Zel asked. I looked to see him pinned against a tree by Vincent's foot. Poor Zel, even at his strongest, Vincent still overpowers him easily.

No, wait…Zel at his strongest is unstoppable…which means Zel is back to normal…phew.

"Yes, Zel, you can blow it up. Just make sure everyone's out of the way first…" Vincent moved his foot and Zel leaped up from the ground and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"CLEAR THE AREA! ZEL'S GONNA MAKE THIS PLACE GO BOOM!" The other seven Turks hurried to get everyone out of the way. Because when Zel said he was going to make something "go boom," then there were some serious pyrotechnics involved.

Once everyone was a safe distance away (Like, half a mile, I hoped), Zel looked at me and then at River and finally at Vincent. Then he grinned and held the detonator above his head and pushed the button.

I have to say, it never gets old seeing Zel's version of fireworks.

"Hey, what did you think of that, Shera?" I asked, smiling. Silence. My smile faded and I looked around. No one had heard me call for the girl, because the explosion had been so loud.

Where was Shera? She was right behind me, wasn't she? Right after she'd gone back to get her….

Oh…My…God…

"Vincent…did you see what happened to the little girl next to me?" I asked. Vincent turned and looked at me. I noticed he'd taken his contacts out and was now staring at me with his blood-red eyes that I found strangely comforting.

"No," he replied cautiously. Then realization slowly dawned on him. "Shit!"

"What?" River asked. The other Turks were hurrying over.

"The…the girl was still inside!" Vincent said. Zel spun around and looked at me. His eyes widened and he dropped the black cylinder.

"I-I…I…." he tried to say something, but nothing came out. I saw a white film cover his eyes briefly and then…

"VINCENT!" River shouted. My Turks and I all swung around to see Vincent Valentine racing towards the burning building, eyes burning with golden fire.

Turk's View: Vincent

Vincent bolted into the building, ignoring the heat that singed his hair and burned his skin.

He could kill thousands in a heartbeat. Assassinate important officials without a second thought. Follow orders to the letter, not questioning anything, ever.

But he would not-could not- stand to let a nine year old girl raised in slavery burn to death because of his lapse of judgment.

I have enough sins already. This is the last thing I need. And…if she's dead…Zel won't be able to take it. Damn it, when did I get so careless?!

He ran all the way back to the cell where he'd last seen the little girl, cursing when he found it empty. He looked at the ground. Ribbons, jewelry, and a hairbrush were scattered across the floor, as if dropped. Vincent cursed his Turk-like nature, because something didn't seem right here. Especially when he noticed a book, leaning against the wall. Normally, that wouldn't have fazed him, only the book was halfway through the wall.

Secret tunnel… Vincent thought. He picked the book up and pushed against the wall. It gave easily, and, as Vincent expected, opened up a tunnel. He heard a faint voice far along, unable to be understood but oh so recognizable. Vincent pulled out his gun silently and slid into the tunnel.

The girl wasn't dead yet, this Vincent knew, but he doubted she had much time left. Kriev was probably planning to take her life…

Well, not if he had anything to say with it!

Shera's View

"Master, please let me go!" I begged. But he was deaf to me now. He drug me through the tunnel that I'd never seen before, the one connected to my cell. He held me so tight that I could hardly breathe.

"Master, please!" I begged again. About five minutes ago, a loud noise had sounded and shook the tunnel, throwing the both of us to the ground. When the shacking had stopped, Master had gotten up and looked at me, as if I had caused it. He promptly bashed my head against the side of the tunnel. I was lucky; the side of the tunnel was soil, not stone.

"Shut up, Shera!" he ordered. I went silent, fear growing. He was going to kill me. But why was he waiting?

Suddenly, we were outside. I knew we were outside, because the whole world suddenly became brighter.

Too bright!

I closed my eyes, tears falling towards the ground. Master continued to drag me into the harsh light. I noticed we were going up, for he was breathing harder. I opened my eyes to see that we were on a cliff overlooking a valley. Across the valley, I saw everyone.

They were all free! I could have laughed. Ironic…they had never wished for freedom, and they'd gotten it, while I'd wished and prayed…

And am rewarded with death?

"LILITH! TURKS!" The valley went silent under Master's cries. Those he was calling for looked up, eyes catching sight of me and him, and widening to disbelief. I saw Lilith look at me and then began to shout orders.

"DROP YOUR WEAPONS!" Master shouted. All the Turks stopped moving, staring at him. I felt something cold press against the side of my head.

Oh no…

Master had a gun!

No one moved.

"DROP YOUR WEAPONS OR SHE DIES NOW!" In a flash of motion, all the Turks threw their weapons out in front of them, not even waiting for orders. Lilith just stared at me, tears betraying her calm look. I watched as even she pulled out a gun and set it in front of her, backing away from it. Master chuckled darkly.

"I want my payment," he said. It wasn't screamed, but somehow it resonated throughout the whole valley. "For all of them!" I couldn't watch Lilith anymore. So I moved my gaze to someone else.

Was it fate or chance that my gaze settled on the blonde haired Turk next to her? I'll never know. He stared at me, eyes full of loss.

What beautiful blue eyes he had…I could tell that, even from here…I wanted blue eyes like his…

I noticed he was mouthing something. It was like he was singing…

No…he was praying.

For me? He was praying for me...

I started crying harder, giving up. There was nothing left for me now. But I couldn't help but be comforted by the blonde Turk's unheard prayers. I smiled at him, wondering if he could tell that he was making my last pitiful moments bearable.

I decided that I'd watch over him from wherever dead people go. That would be what I could do to pay him back.

"No one's willing to pay?! FINE THEN! SHE DIES!" Master yelled. I lifted my hand and waved to the blonde Turk.

I'm going to watch over you now…You made me smile, it's the least I can do…

A gunshot rang out around the valley. I expected to feel pain, to feel death…to feel something. But I still felt normal. Then two strong arms grabbed me out of Master's grip. I yelped in surprise as I was pulled away and my eyes were covered.

How was I still alive?! I struggled against the grip, afraid.

"Shhh. It's okay, you're safe now," a deep voice told me. I recognized that voice. Lilith's Knight?

"M-Master?!" I asked, shacking. I tried to move the man's hands from my eyes.

"He…he's dead. You-you don't want to see this…"

"Master can't be dead! He just shot me!" I yelled, pulling the hands away from my eyes and swinging my head around to face where Master was standing.

Or should have been standing.

Instead, I saw a body, blood sprayed all over the cliff and still spewing from the giant void where Master's head used to be. I gagged, eyes wide in shock.

"Shotgun at pointblank range…" Vincent said, clutching me to his chest and away from the corpse. "Overkill, I know, but…it was you or him…" I started to shake. Master…Master was dead….dead! I…was I…free? Could I…?

I looked back at Vincent and held back a scream. His arms and face were singed, but that wasn't what scared me.

His eyes…

The looked like pools of blood! I shook violently, closing my eyes and trying to get the images of my dead Master out of my head. I was imagining this, that's it! Vincent had brown eyes.

I opened my eyes again and stared at Vincent.

Then the world went dark, the last thing I saw was his crimson eyes, staring at me.

A/N: Cookies, a pushie of your choice, and a special cameo appearence for anyone who can guess Zel's last name!

Please review, if you get a chance! Thank you for reading!