Well, chapter three, hopefully it'll be a bit more interesting than the previous two.
I'll be in spain from tomorow for a week so I wont be able to update in that time even if I did manage to get my lazy self to write a full chapter, however this doesn't mean that I won't be working on it, I have the faithful pen and paper to use while away. Hopefully that means that I'll have a chapter ready to update as soon as I get to an available computer then :3 The keyword though is 'hopefully' T_T
Well, on with it! *whispers* as you all know all I own is the oc's, though I wish the adorable Cloud from Crisis Core was mine ._.
Darkness. It was everywhere and yet nowhere. Where was she? Trying to look around was pointless but she tried it anyway. Moving also seemed to be out of the question so she resigned herself to simply laying there.
What felt like hours passed and there was no change in her surroundings but instead of lingering in silence there was now a faint scratching sound. She thought the sound was similar to someone using a nail file but far away. She tried to pinpoint where it was coming from but it seemed to surround her.
The scratching got closer until it seemed to be drilling into her head. She tried to writhe away from the sound but was still unable to move. She did manage to scream however, an inhuman scream that drowned out the painful scratching.
Silence reigned once again but it wasn't too long before the scratching began again and at a faster rate. Once again she screamed to fight back and again there was silence for a moment before the sound was back. Each time she used this method the less silence there was.
When she thought she couldn't take it anymore there was a change in the darkness above her. Slowly light began to seep into the abyss she'd been sleeping in. Unaware that her eyes were open she closed them as quickly as she could, the burning pain caused by the light breathing life into her natural reflexes.
Chittering sounds replaced the scratching and she felt more light touch her skin, an unwelcome heat. Forcing her eyes open slowly she saw the distorted shapes of what she assumed to be people. From one of these shapes a blur came towards her, making contact with her arm.
Sensations ran through her body from the originating point of contact. Some were pleasant, some felt like they were about to rip her piece from piece. The alternation between the two caused her to want to scream out once more, but she found she was unable, just like she was still unable to move. She begged for it to stop, to just be one of the two, she'd even endure endless pain if there wasn't the respite for her to recover before the next wave.
Through her thoughts she saw another one of the shapes extend a blurry appendage but thankfully blacked out before it could reach her, submitting herself to the final wave of pain.
Bolting upright Lena looked around her, finding herself still in her apartment. Placing her hand against the cool wall confirmed this and caused her to sigh in relief. Out of all the dreams she could ever recall having the one she just had wasn't the weirdest but it was the most vivid. Glancing down at her arm where she'd felt the clashing sensations the brunette nearly fell out of her bed in shock.
There on her arm was an angry, purple hand mark.
Lena stared for the longest time at the hand print marring her arm, not daring to blink. She couldn't remember being handled harshly by anyone so she couldn't think of any reason as to why the bruise was there. Her thoughts ran back to the dream and caused her to shake her head in disbelief, dreams couldn't hurt you, could they? Looking back at the blemish sight she found it gone. Prodding and looking all over her arm proved that the evidence of any bruise was gone. Maybe she'd just imagined it, conjured it up, she was still drowsy after all.
Slumping back against her headboard the teen glanced at her clock. It wasn't uncommon for her to wake up at a reasonable time due to a dream but the routine was for her to fall back asleep until a later time that suited her. Judging by the time she had to start work today she could afford to sleep a good few more hours before she'd bother Jaren, it wouldn't take her long to have her usual before moving onto her place of work. Nodding to herself she sank back into her mattress and buried herself under her covers, she needed more sleep.
Standing in the glass elevator Lena looked back on her instructions. She was to clean floors forty-one to forty-three, where a portion of the infantry stayed, or so she was told. Apparently they gave her these floors because those who used them should still be on duty so there would be no one to bother her, to help her settle in at her own pace. She'd scoffed at that. She was going to have to learn to settle in either way, she didn't care if she had to clean around a bunch of sweaty men to do it.
Stepping out of the elevator the brunette gaped, the corridor was huge! She'd wondered why she was assigned only three floors while the rest had five but now she saw why. She'd never be able to clean five floors if they were all like this which she assumed they were. It'd be ok if she was just mopping the floor but she had to clean every individual room too. The question however was if she could fill her quota before the residents came back.
Looking to the side she saw the small storage room that would have what she needed for her job. When Angela had told her that she would have to go to the sixty-third floor to get her stuff she found that was only if there was something missing from the storage room on that floor. She couldn't recall if it had actually been mentioned or not but she knew now at least.
Opening the door she stared at the trolley that greeted her, apart from that there was only a couple of boxes. Lena had expected something bigger but she couldn't complain, she didn't have to exert much effort looking for what she needed. Pulling the wheeled contraption from the small space she looked it over. There were a variety of sprays and some other items such as varnish, a bucket hung off a hook on the side with a mop and broom not too far away, a few different cloths sat inside the bucket and an expensive looking vacuum sat below all this on the lower compartment.
Heading for the first room, trolley being dragged behind her, Lena looked inside. The smell that hit her nose almost made her step further into the corridor but she steeled herself and ventured in. Looking around she could see why there was such a stink. Clothes lay carelessly around with what she could only guess was sweat marks on them; at least she hoped they were. There were at least four bunk beds which meant that if all the rooms were the same there would be eight sweaty men living in each room, the room wasn't big either so they were sleeping and relaxing relatively close to each other.
Pulling a face the teen picked up the closest piece of littered clothing and brought it close to her face for a closer inspection. The closer the garment got to her the more her expression deteriorated. She wanted to know how long the room had been in this state but at the same time she didn't, she knew she'd just end up frowning at the answer.
Dropping the clothing back onto the floor Lena glanced back at her trolley. It was time for her to roll up her sleeves and put her cleaning face on if she was to clean not only this room but many more that were more than likely in the same condition.
Grabbing the items she felt she needed she set to work, the quicker she worked the quicker she'd fill her quota.
Floor forty-one had been a cinch, since there was nobody on it to get in her way. That one floor had taken her a good hour at least to finish, including mopping the corridor afterwards, and floor forty-two was the same although there were some of the infantry around who were off-duty. Thankfully they didn't get in her way and left the room she was to clean when they were told.
Her impression of the infantry from living in Midgar were that they were brutes who did anything to follow orders but she learnt that they were just normal people who were indeed following orders but that was their job. The one who taught her that was a guy named Rior.
Rior seemed like a joker but there also seemed to be a serious, damper side to him too. She first saw this when she'd entered the room him and another roommate were in, he was staring into space with an expression she was all too familiar with.
Lena found herself followed by the male as she made her way to the elevator for her last floor. Time had seemed to pass by quicker as a couple more of those who were off-duty , following Rior's example and trying to strike up a conversation with the person they'd be entrusting their living space to. She'd admit that the time passed her by conversing with the infantrymen but when she was on her way to the next floor she finally took notice of the ache in her upper body. She knew that her laziness would come back to kick her in the bum someday.
Stepping into the elevator after storing away floor forty-two's trolley for the day the brunette was surprised to find Rior had followed her. Sure enough he'd followed her through most of the floor but she didn't expect him to follow her further, thinking he'd prefer to be with his friends.
"Why're you still following me?" Lena asked. She stared at Rior's faded pink hair, patches of platinum hair underneath showing that his hair was once either a dyed red or vibrant pink. Judging from the hair she guessed that he was around Faro's age if not older which explained why he had such an extreme hair colour. Noticing her gaze the male grinned.
"I just thought I'd keep you company, plus not all of these butt monkeys know how to treat a woman so I'll keep them from doing villainous crimes." The way Rior chose to describe his comrades made Lena laugh loudly. Butt monkeys was a new one, she'd have to remember it for future reference although she didn't know if she could even use it herself without laughing, it seemed to strike a chord in her that just brought forth the giggles in her.
"Very well then, I'm sure I could protect myself from these 'villainous crimes' but the company's welcome." Stepping out of the elevator after the bell chimed the brunette gathered her required tools as she had the previous two floors. She heard her new companion talking with someone behind her and shook her head. Although he seemed nice Rior also seemed to move from one thing to another too quickly for Lena.
Pulling the trolley behind her Lena burst out laughing again as it ran over Rior's foot, causing him to swear loudly and hop on one foot although he quickly lost his balance and fell to the floor. She thought it served him right to be wandering around without any footgear on even if he did live in the building. Forcing her amusement down the teen started for the first room.
Heading inside Lena assessed the room. It wasn't as bad as a couple of the rooms on the previous two floors but neither was it the best. Looking around she found that there was only one person occupying the room and they were presumably asleep. Making her way over she could feel sympathetic towards whoever she was going to wake up, she hated being woken up rather than being able to do so naturally no matter who or what did it.
As she neared the sleeping figure she was able to see their features. Blonde hair spiked irregularly at the front while the rest appeared to be short. His skin appeared to be smooth and unmarred which was welcome in her eyes. There weren't any other distinguishing features Lena could identify while the stranger was asleep but she could tell that she'd probably be nervous around him since she found him attractive. She was a sucker for blondes, especially so for those who had soft looking skin like his.
Staring for longer than she knew she should have Lena began to make a start on the room. She wouldn't wake the sole occupant since he was out of the way and she didn't have any more heart to wake him than she did when she first entered. She faintly heard the door opening behind her and looked up briefly from the floor to see Rior. She had the urge to throw her armful of dirty clothing at him when he immediately started to bother the sleeping blonde.
"Hey Cloud, rise and shine sunshine!" Rior's shout cut right through her. Looking toward the now awake blonde she found that he had the clearest blue eyes she'd even seen, she almost openly gawked but caught herself before she could embarrass herself.
"What..?" Cloud could only stare at his comrade as he began to fully wake, wiping whatever gunk might have collected in the corner of his eyes away. Glancing around as he woke fully Cloud spotted movement behind Rior. Leaning around his friend to take a closer look he saw Lena who was trying hard to hide and failing.
"You have to meet the new cleaning lady! You just can't not. Look, isn't she so fresh?" Fresh. That was a new description. She'd been called many things in her lifetime but never fresh. Lifting her gaze to the pink haired male Lena scowled; she wasn't sure how to react to such a comment and so just ran along with anger.
"If you're quite done bothering everyone I'd like to do my job." Rior took notice of the scowl and began to shuffle out of the room, dragging Cloud along by the arm none too gently. Lena thought she could hear him mumbling something about 'letting a woman fulfil her duty' before the door closed behind the two young men, she wasn't sure though.
Sighing heavily to herself the teen allowed herself to stare at the door. She wouldn't have minded if Rior had left Cloud behind, maybe then she might have been able to strike up a conversation with someone who she'd normally stay away from. She couldn't keep a conversation up with someone she thought attractive and she knew it, which made things even worse when she actually made an effort.
It wasn't long before Lena had finished her task in the room she'd encountered Cloud and had moved onto the next, slowly progressing down the corridor. Rior continued to follow her and eve dragged Cloud along with him even longer. She could tell he wanted to retreat from the pink haired male's arm wrapped around his shoulder and be elsewhere but didn't understand why he didn't do so.
A small game had started up between Rior and Lena as they neared the end of the corridor. The male would try to sneak into the room while she was working and he had to see if he could escape without being hit by anything she wielded. Of course this had begun when he was bored waiting outside for her which left Cloud to watch. Rior had tried to get the blonde to join in but after seeing a red mark on his face, caused by the paperweight Lena had been cleaning under moments before, he'd politely refused.
Despite the annoyance Rior had brought to her in the beginning Lena had found that he'd quickly grown on her. Through his joking around and forcing Cloud to stay Rior had managed to get the cleaner and soldier on at least friendly terms, something he'd be choosing specifically to tease his new friend with.
Time passed all too fast for the teen and before she knew it her task of cleaning the three floors was over. Lena would have loved to have stayed longer and gotten to know her new friends more, although she wasn't sure if her and Cloud were in the 'friends' category yet, but she could already feel the ache of manual labour seeping into her muscles. She believed Angela now when she said that she'd be glad just for the simple overcoat.
When she'd stated the fact that it was home time for her Rior had proceeded to act like a child and cling to her waist. Lena couldn't help but burst into hysterics, unable to keep the straight face that would ease the man's arms from her. She tried everything from bribing him to trying to forcefully push him away but nothing worked until the most obvious method seemed to pop into her head to save her.
"I'm working tomorrow so you'll be able to talk to me again soon, if you keep clinging to me though I might be too tired to come in and so you won't see me." Lena felt proud; she thought her reasoning was fool proof. Her pride grew as Rior looked up at her and loosened his grip on her waist.
"Okay..." Rior nodded, seeming to understand what the teen was saying. Seeing that she would be able to head home, rest her tired muscles and brag to Faro over the phone over how she hadn't died on her first day.
Lena took a few steps toward the elevator and her freedom before something wrapped around her leg and caused her to fall to her knees. Looking back she saw a head of pink hair and almost screamed. Rior was once again attached to her with twice the strength that he'd used on her waist. She knew she wouldn't be able to get away now if her previous reasoning was weak enough to be able to keep him away for only that long.
"If you stay here then we won't have to wait for you to come back tomorrow!" Rior's childish, hopeful grin was Lena's misery. Questions ran through her head as she contemplated possible escape routes: how old was he? Was she doomed? Would she even be able to get home tonight?
A muffled laugh dragged her attention away from the male on her leg, bringing her attention to Cloud who was standing not too far away. A scheming gleam shone in her eyes as she gazed upon the blonde, smirking in victory; she'd just found her scapegoat.
And there you have it. Rior should hopefully liven things up a bit for future chapters x3
Please take the time to review if you have a spare minute, even if it's to highlight any negative points. Much appreciated. :)