Summary: Laura was just your average woman, until a freak accident involving her television set, the Advent Children dvd, and lightning strike transported her to Gaia. And that's only the beginning of the story!

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own FFVII or Advent Children. Just a single copy of the movie. Now put the pitchforks and torches away.

Queen's Quornor: Back to the regularly-scheduled fic at hand. I think I'm going to be tag-teaming between this fic, my DMC fics, and "I Knew Him Before" until some more of them are done. But don't expect me to update too often. My computer, for some reason, decided to axe my Internet connection over spring break. So I have to use the school computers to do all my typing. This, as one might expect, completely sucks ass. I mean, I can't access my Youtube songs on my AOL Favorites list! Or all the fics I have saved to that instead of my Favorites List here on the site! So yeah, my life sucks at the moment. Just warning you before people start telling me I'm not updating fast enough. And please, don't take offense at this chapter. I did do some research, and was privileged (or not…) to have seen some people smoking angel dust before. They sounded exactly like Laura and her friends do here.

Dreams of the Trip

"Here, Lor. Try this shit. 's real good." Laura took the proffered PCP cigarette and took a long, long drag from it, blowing out the smoke in a slow, curling stream. After handing it back to Constanza, she leaned back against the peeling wall and waited for the trip to overtake her. Watching the faces of her friends and fellow addicts swirl around her like an insane merry-go-round, she felt a euphoric smile grow across her face.

"'s good shit, Mandy. Where'd ja find it?" she slurred. The colors were so pretty!

"My brother'z room. 's got more angel dust than he knowz what ta do with." The petite brunette rolled her head back on its shoulders, running her hands up and down the naked skin of her arms. "Skin feelz reeeaaal funny right now."

"Thaz angel duzt, baby." Andy rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. "Man, what a trip. Pot an' China white can' compare to thiz!"

"An we ain't even tried mainlining thiz stuff!" Joseph laughed.

"You crazy, Joe. My brother don't even mainline hiz angel duzt. Thatz craaazzzyyy, dude."

The friends sat around the room, passing their PCP cigarettes around and allowing the trip to overtake them in long, slow waves of bliss. Laura pondered the swirling rainbow that colored the walls and ceiling, the strange, smeary Picasso painting that had been her friends. Shit'z sooo gooooddd… Wonder what it'd be like if we hadn' waited to try it, if we'da had it with the hard stuff…

"Dude, thatz ma girlfriend!"

Laura looked over in the general direction of the voices, and saw that Richard was getting up from his space in the corner, an enraged look on his face. Squinting, she realized that Joseph had his arm around Constanza. Juz flirtin' with 'er, as usual.

But Richard didn't seem to think this was Joseph's usual playful teasing. He stood above them with fists clenched, teeth bared in an animalistic snarl. "Get yur mother-fuckin' handz off ma girl, bitch."

"Richard, whuz wrong with you?" The Spanish beauty smiled up at her steaming boyfriend, her dark eyes playful and teasing. "Joseph'z jus' playin', thatz all."

"He ain' playin' with you no more." Richard lunged for Joseph, pinning him to the floor and pounding away at him. Blood flew with each punch, but Laura and the others were too fascinated by the crimson sparkle of the macabre rain to help him. Constanza tried to break up the fight, and suddenly Richard turned his attention to her. While he beat on her, Joseph got up and attacked the murderous teen, punching him with almost inhuman strength. Suddenly all three of them were at it, fighting and screaming like wild animals, gutteral snarls punctuating each successful hit.

And none of the other drugged-out teenagers, friends to all three, would do anything about it. They just sat there and let the sights and sensations of their euphoria wash over them while their friends beat the shit out of each other. Laura even grinned while Richard smashed Joseph's head nearly through the concrete wall, blood and brains splattering out from their protective dome to paint the walls in gory perfection.

When they all finally came down from their trip to the clouds, they discovered that Joseph was dead.

And Laura screamed when she realized what her drug habits had done.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"Hey, wake up! Wake up, Laura, wake up!"

Laura heard someone calling her name and curled away from it, whimpering softly. It hurts…So bad…So sorry...Just let me die…

"You're going to wake up Yazoo with all the noise you're making. So wake up!" Someone shoved her hard, and Laura opened her eyes just in time to see the floor rushing up to meet her.

"Oooff!" Landing on her stomach forced all the air in her lungs out of her body, and she had to lay on the floor gasping for a moment before regaining control over her disobedient limbs. That done, she rolled over and sat up, looking at the malevolent creature that had so rudely shocked her from sleep.

Kadaj was kneeling on her bed, his silver fringe doing little to conceal the emerald glow of his intense stare. He offered her a hand. "You were having a nightmare, and screaming in your sleep. If I hadn't woken you up, Yazoo would have come in here. Believe me, he is an absolute bastard when he doesn't get his beauty sleep."

Laura considered allowing him to help her up, then weighed it against the needs of her dignity as an empowered, modern woman. The longer she looked at his ungloved hand – so he does wear something other than that leather one-piece! At least to sleep in, anyway – the narrower his eyes became. Screw dignity. She placed her hand in his, and he effortlessly pulled her back on the bed. Damn, he's stronger than he looks!

She settled back onto the bed, then looked at Kadaj again. Looks really cute in an oversized t-shirt and sleep pants. "Thank you," she said quietly.

He nodded, then spoke up. "What's heroin?"

Laura stiffened, instinctively hiding her right arm so he couldn't see the milky trails that long-term drug use had made of her veins. "Why do you ask?"

"It's one of the things you were yelling about before I woke you up. So what is it?"

She turned her head, unwilling to answer the question. How was she supposed to explain to Kadaj, who had obviously never heard of such a drug before, the ecstasy and agony that had been her addiction to heroin? How could she describe the sheer need of feeling the forbidden fluid flowing into her veins and stealing away all the cares and worries of her life, of experiencing the escape it provided? How could she talk about the heartache that had resulted from experimenting with other types of narcotics, other ways of getting them into their systems, and watching her friends slowly deteriorate and die from their addiction to Chinese white, laying in hospital beds or on the side of the road, pleading and screaming for their liquid salvation even while their organs shut down and their bodies were wracked with painful consequences?

Laura slowly shook her head. She couldn't.

Kadaj crawled around to sit in front of her, and applied gentle pressure to her chin with his fingers until her eyes met his. He searched her face for a moment, taking his time before speaking.

"You said that you want to help us. My brothers and I have decided to accept your offer instead of killing you, because we believe you are trust-worthy as well as useful. We could always beat any information out of you, after all."

The woman shivered. She was tough, as any kid from a rough neighborhood would be. But she wasn't Turk-tough.

"But we won't. There's something about you that just makes me want to trust you." He stroked some wayward hair away from her face, the gesture surprisingly soft and gentle. "But I can't trust you if you keep secrets from me. Understand?"

She nodded. He'll hate me when he finds out what I did, just like everybody else…

"Good. Now, what is heroin?"

Cross fingers, knock on wood. Laura took a deep breath, then launched into her story.