I intend to make this actually… longish. And have a plot thing. And stuff.

But I might give up or something. Although it does feel nice to write about something no one has ever written about before. Like I can do anything with it and it'll be original, just because.

It's a good feeling.

--

I'm dying.

I know they try to avoid telling me, but I am.

The mako treatments have stopped, and I'm withering away. My body has gotten used to mako too much.

I bet Shalua would have known how to cure me…

"Y'know, I bet we can bring Shalua back to life."

I turned towards the girl who had spoken. She had been here a while. Reeve called us for a mission and she had sat down because he was taking a long time.

He looks really sad lately.

"Why do you say that?" I ask. My heart beat seems to go a little faster.

"Well, I don't think she's entirely dead. She's just in a coma, y'know? I bet she can awaken. We just need to figure out…" She looked deep in thought; her eyebrows were brought together in intense concentration.

I smile. She really is trying to help me. She probably knows Shalua would be useful in finding out how to keep me alive. But she was also friends with Shalua. I guess she'd be killing two birds with one stone in this situation.

"I agree." I wish I knew how though. I wish I could bring my sister back to life…

"Vwah, really?! Ah, huh…" She reddened a bit, embarrassed by… my comment? I have no clue, but it seems she is. She does get easily flustered… She seems to get nervous when she receives thanks and compliments from people she never gets them from.

The other day Vincent Valentine had told her that he liked the food she had cooked for the bar one evening and her face flushed red. When Cid had told her the same thing, she told him he couldn't be able to tell because he didn't have any taste buds left because of the cigarettes and hit him over the head with the frying pan.

I wondered if she would have reddened up had I complimented her too, but I wasn't feeling particularly well that day and had refrained from eating, lest I throw it back up. I would rather not eat her food at all, then eat it and vomit it on the floor. It would be… rude.

"Hello, welcome you two." Reeve Tuesti entered the room, smiling at us as he placed the folders he had brought in on his desk, not taking a seat.

"I want to let you know… We think we might have found a way to bring Shalua…" He seemed withdrawn, as if he was unsure if we would be glad about this. He didn't seem very confident in himself either. I suppose, this is the drawback of Reeve, he doesn't have much courage in himself and sometimes not even in others.

"What?! REALLY?! That's great Reeve! Oh my god!" She seems really happy. She jumped out of her seat, and over his desk to tackle him into the floor, crushing him in a bear-like hug.

"Augh! Yuffie! Let go please!" I winced a little. Ouch, that looks like it hurts. Although I wouldn't mind if she held me like that, even if it was painful…

"Sorry Reeve! How'd you find out anyways? Huh? Huh?" She stood up and offered him a hand, which he gratefully took. Ouch again, I heard a crack. Yuffie probably heard it too, because she suddenly looked worried.

"Yowch, Reeve, you okay…?" she asked nervously, helping him into his chair.

"It seems I must remind you how old I am Yuffie," he laughed, waving her off. She still looked guilty however. She'd probably repay him back by cooking him dinner. She never did it often and when she did…

It was like being in heaven. Cid said it was "like sex on a plate", but I don't intend to imagine what eating that might taste like.

"Well, enough about that. My situation is not as important," he said, turning towards me. For a while it was quiet. I wondered if I should say something.

"What did you find out?" Her serious voice. She sure knew how to make people comfortable. Even if I knew what to say most of the time, I still had my faults, sometimes I didn't know what to say.

"It's actually very simple… There is ancient materia we have located that seem to have hidden energies," at this, Reeve took out a folder and showed us images of various things and essays containing information on the pictures. "It seems to have been able to cure countless things and in a writing said 'brings the dead back to life'. I do not think it was dead people it brought back to life, but those who could not wake up…"

Reeve looked at both of us and smiled.

"You are following me?"

"Those in a deep sleep…"

"Those in comatose."

Don't think I didn't see that glimmer in your eyes. I know how you get around materia and when there is a scent of adventure in the air.

"Of course, we could keep treating Shalua with the drugs that we are now in hopes that she will awaken sometime in the future, but…" Reeve glanced at me and promptly locked eyes with the images on his desk.

But me. Shalua could be awakened in a few months, maybe, by the physical and drug therapy she is going through, but me. I'm the cause for this.

I suppose it's not a bad thing. I mean, I don't have anything to loose…

"The problem is… We couldn't find the materia anywhere in the ruins… It seems that it has been removed…" Reeve grimaced and looked through his papers for something. "But we found a map. As if they hid it on purpose, this ancient civilization…"

I suddenly had this feeling of being in lukewarm water. I looked around and it seemed time had stopped. Or it was going very very slow, for I could still see Reeve move a bit.

A sing song voice seemed to echo across the room, but when I looked around there was nobody to be found.

Oh those Cetra, they sure don't know how to make jokes.

A giggle from nowhere from a voice I've never heard before.

It was odd, but I felt at home, as if…

"Mom…?" I asked in a questioning tone, hearing a huff from the voice.


Oh, you too? I was hoping no one would call me that anymore, it makes me feel old.

Another giggle.

Oh great.

Another voice in my head.