Copyright infringement not intended. T for language and violence.
I am currently writing the prequel to this. It'll only be a few oneshots loosely tied together, and it'll be set between the prologue and first chapter.
And by currently, I mean I'll write it as soon as I can.

Here we go, numero trois! Hope you enjoyy! XD

Three; Fight.

xlx

So hard to make it through
That past always catches up with you
So afraid of what you'll do.

xlx

Kat was thankful that she had brought her jackets.

The leather of her trench kept the cold away from her torso, though her bare legs had gone numb a long time ago.

She wished the sun would set so she could do her job.

At least Genesis wasn't with them, she thought happily. If he was she and Zack would be subjected to a torture of the cruelest kind. Listening to him talk about LOVELESS.

She wanted to die just thinking about the damned book.

"It's fucking freezing." Zack chattered from her side and she didn't bother to scold him for the foul language. It wasn't like she was an angel or something, she swore more than what was likely healthy.

So, Kat nodded instead, because it was freezing. She hated Gongaga. She hated her family. She hated Lazard, and, most importantly, she hated Genesis.

She had decided at some point on the trekk to the camp site that it was all his fault. Everything that had gone wrong in her life since she met him was his fault.

Her family had be torn apart.

Her life was be in ruins.

And she liked him when she was fifteen.

It made her stomach churn sickly at the thought.

"Where do you think Genesis is?"

She looked up, grinding her teeth together to keep her jaw from dropping in shock. The question had caught her off guard, something she hated being.

Where did Kat think her old mentor was?

Likely screwing her sister or skulking around their campsite.

"I'd say stalking us," she decided, tossing a dark look to the forest that surrounded them. Zack chuckled and didn't speak again. The campsite lapsed back into silence and Kat returned to her thoughts.

Lyndsay had taken the incident worse than any of the siblings. She had thrown herself at men, seducing them at all hours of the day and night. Sex was her outlet just like fighting - verbally and physically - was Kat's.

She couldn't explain the feeling she had gotten when her sister had set her sights on Genesis. It was disgust, yes, and embarrassment that she would make a move on her mentor, but there had been something else.. Something just out of reach yet still was able to make her feel queasy.

Kat shook the thought out of her head. It had been the disgust of seeing her sister do such a thing and, probably, uneasiness of being around her `family´ that made her feel queasy and sick.

Nothing else.

"Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return."

She swore loudly, looking up to the leather-clad man with narrowed eyes and getting to her feet. "Tired of Lyndsay already?" She asked, her tone sharper and colder than neccessary though it didn't seem to bother him.

He simply blinked at her before joining Zack by the fire.

Kat scowled at the fluttery feeling in her gut and the redhead man.

He annoyed her to no end and she had no idea why.

"I like your sister, Katelyn," he called suddenly after the campsite had lapsed into comfortable silence.

Kat's jaw dropped in outrage, eyes dark with accusations.

Someone would have to be insane to like her sister, to like Lyndsay. She was the total opposite of how the men Kat knew thought she was.

Not innocent and naÏve, no. Lyndsay knew what she was doing and who she was doing.

It was one of the reasons why Kat had left Gongaga as quickly as she could.

Something stirred in her chest, tightening like anaconda around her chest. It was that same feeling she had had while watching Lyndsay make moves on him. The same queasiness and choking feeling.

It couldn't be connected. It just couldn't.

"I heard that one before." Kat shouted back, sauntering over to the man and boy, glaring down at her former mentor. "What did she do to put you in such a good mood?"

She scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest before settling down beside Zack. He grinned, she could tell from the way his back straightened and cheeks puffed, and tried to wrap an arm around her shoulders.

Kat shot him a look, resisting at first. She wasn't going to get attached to the kid. Not when he could possibly die tonight.

She was strong, she could handle death - most of the time - but here, in Gongaga, a year after the incident that destroyed her family?

She wasn't that strong.

But, then he just had to give her puppy eyes and pout at her adorably. "Please, Kat? I'm cold and you're probably hotter than all of us." He pleaded, eyes wide and watery.

Kat's eyes widened and her heart rate quickened, face flushing with heat. Distantly, she could hear Genesis begin to laugh and could see Zack's face go bright red when he processed the words he had spoken.

"No! Not like that! I mean, you are, but I didn't mean it like that, I swear!"

She giggled and shook her head, allowing herself to be dragged into his side, face still flaming.

It was so hard not to get attached to him. He was just so damn cute.

xlx

"Kat."

She groaned, trying in earnest to get away from the voice and shaking.

She wanted to sleep. Did they not understand how deprived of it she was?

"Katelyn Nia Harmon, I suggest you wake up. Now." A voice hissed her in ear, breath tickling the back of her neck. Kat's eyes flew open, barely awake and alert when she was hauled to her feet.

It was dark. That was the first thing she noticed and it made her wake quicker, becoming more in tune with her surroundings.

The next thing that she noticed was that it was cold and eerily quiet, even with three people in the middle of a campsite.

She shook off the grip on her arm, straightening her messy appearance while eyeing her two companions. The red glow of Genesis' rapier lit his face, giving him a menacing look.

Kat sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, arching a brow. "So, what's the plan? Are we gonna use bait or are we just gonna trek up the mountain more to our certain death?" She questioned, glancing from Zack to her former mentor.

Zack looked up at bait, a worried look on his face. She had forgotten that he was still young and wasn't used to her ways. Genesis nodded at her, gaining her attention. "Bait. You're up, Kat." He answered with a knowing smirk.

Her face split into a wide grin, attitude becoming cheery and bright, inappropriate for a fight though she didn't care. As long as they thought she was fine, that her stomach was tied in knots at the thought of leaving the Third with her mentor.

She was sure he would look after Zack. But, he was less patient than she and if he got too involved in a fight..

It would turn into chaos very quickly and easily.

"Naturally, I'm the one that has to go and risk her life. Naturally." She shook her head mournfully and stepped backward, toward the cold fire pit. "I can tell when I'm not wanted."

Zack gave her an odd look but allowed himself to be ushered away by the auburn haired man, who hesitated a few feet away from. Something akin to concern contorted his slightly handsome features, eyes swivveling from the Third to Kat.

She chuckled, motioning for him to follow, and scowled when he didn't.

Of course he wouldn't. He never listened to her, not when she was his protégé begging for the training session to go on or when she was his equal forcing him into a fight.

Never. Not once.

"I'm fine. I've done this before, remember?" She informed him, crossing her legs at her ankles and arching a brow at him. He still didn't look convinced. Kat sighed and shook her head, wondering if she should be thrilled he was worried about her..

Or pissed because he didn't believe her abilities and skills of taking care of herself should she get in a fight.

Yeah.

She was going to go with being pissed. It was a lot stronger and spiked about her defenses more than being happy about something so trivial.

"Seriously. I'll be fine. I mean, I am Kat Harmon, SOLDIER First Class," she winked at him, trying not to show her anger, because then he'd egg her on..

And, suffice to say, she'd forget all about the damned monster.

Genesis gave her a final silent, disbelieving look before catching up with Zack. When both were out of sight and hearing range, Kat slouched, biting her lip anxiously. She could pretend all she wanted around Zack and Genesis and every other SOLDIER she came in contact with that she didn't care, that she didn't fear her friend's lives..

But, when she was alone?

There was no fooling herself.

Her life was replaceable. They'd move on, forget about the determined and beautiful - or so she'd like to think - woman that had tried to so hard to fit into their world.

Theirs, however, were not.

She had only known the boy for a few hours, but he was so adorable and so happy and energetic, she had never met anyone like him in all of her seventeen years. She'd die before he did, and that thought scared her.

Meanwhile, Kat had never known who was so obsessed with anything more than Genesis and LOVELESS. It was insane how much he loved that damned book. And, as much as he annoyed her and got under her skin all the time - this she would never admit, dead or alive - she'd be very upset if anything happened to him.

Not that she'd tell anyone that. Ever. Not even to save her life.

Moving her thoughts away from death and people she cared about dying, Kat unsheathed her katanas, ripping a part of her shirt off with the edge of one. It was not the proper material, nor did she have any polish, but it would have to do.

Soaking the cloth in her mouth*, she ran it over the already speck-less silver blade and slightly ruddied white blade. When she was done with them, counting on the monster not showing up for a few hours, they'd be as good as new.

Newer, perhaps.

Kat grinned at the thought, bringing the cloth back to her mouth.

xlx

Her legs were asleep.

Her feet were asleep.

She was nearly asleep, again, glaring groggily at the blurred forest. For the millionth time since she'd agreed - forced into - this assignment, she wondered why she was there.

It wasn't like she had a shirt that declared her love for Gongaga.

So, why the hell was she here, sitting on a tree stump in the middle of Gongaga's forest with not a soul nearby, waiting for a monster that may or may not come?

It made no sense.

Kat groaned sleepily, rubbing her forehead with an aching hand. Why had she agreed to being bait? Was it because she knew Genesis would take all the glory and kill the beast by himself, as stupid as it was, or that she was afraid he'd push Zack into it?

Either way, she had been stupid and selfless. Always trying to protect everyone, trying to be the `hero´ or so Genesis and Angeal had informed her every time she offered to bait the monster or enemy into a fight.

She wasn't trying to be the hero. She had no real desire to.

That was Sephiroth and Genesis' thing, being the hero. Not her. She wanted to be normal. She wanted to forget about her past.

That was all.

A crack a few yards away from her startled her into a more alert and awake state, scrambling to her prickling feet dangerously fast, her eyes sweeping along the forest's edge.

Something moved in the shadows, something large and dark and ominous.

Something that was heading her way quickly.

It was obviously heavy as twigs snapped and leaves rustled in it's wake.

Her breath caught, hitching in her throat and nearly suffocating her, as the creature sprung out from the forest, launching itself at her.

Kat swallowed the scream that bubbled up in her and dodged the claws, springing lightly and agilely out of the way, opening her mouth to call the others and -

She swore, most likely too loud and too violently, leaning back as the beast's jaws closed around where her arm had previously been.

Damn.

She couldn't remember what the sign was, the noise that would alert Genesis and Zack and most likely everyone in Gongaga that she was in trouble and needed help. This fight, that had been looking good at first, had just took a nasty turn.

Damn. Again.

Her katanas and dagger were six feet from where she'd been sitting. She hadn't believed that the monster actually existed, not after when she checked her cell phone's clock and saw that it was going onto three in the morning.

But, here it was. Trying to kill her.

And nearly succeeding.

Arching backward, foolishly exposing her unprotected stomach and nearly falling when the claws sliced her abdomen, she flipped backward several times, wincing as the muscles in her stomach were worked vigorouslousy. That had been a stupid thing to do.

Just to get near her blades.

As if that would give her a better chance of surviving. It would just look pitiful once they found her body in the morning or whenever Zack and Genesis came back.

She swore, again, just as loudly, and dropped to the ground in a crouch, collecting the pure white katana. The beast - a hellhound - watched her curiously for a moment before snarling and lunging at her, again.

Kat rolled out of the way, kicking at it's neck forcefully as she swung her blade up and down. It sliced through the skin, like a knife through butter..

For about a millisecond.

The hound cried out in pain, turning angered and hating eyes on her. Swearing without a care in the world, she pulled viciously at her blade, bracing her feet against it's side, but out of reach of it's mouth or tail or claws.

After two minutes of yanking at her katana, she huffed in defeat. It was stuck. Great. Probably lodged in a bone, getting all bloody and disgusting. Right after she cleaned it. Great.

All too suddenly, the hound dropped to the ground in a somewhat intelligent manner, pinning her legs beneath it's body and lodging the katana further. She didn't understand what it was doing, not at all.

But, she did understand that it would likely end up being bad for her and most likely life threatening.

Damn.

Why did she have to be so cocky and sure of herself? It would literally be the death of her. If she had asked Genesis to stay, or even Zack, they would've and she wouldn't be in this position.

"Get off me, you pain in the ass!" Kat growled, struggling under it's hold until something cold and incredibly sharp slice against her calf. The katana.

Pain rippled through her and she pressed her quivering lips together to keep from making a noise. She was stupid and cocky. It was going to look up at her any second now and she'd be as dead as doornail.

Because she wanted to prove a point.

Gaia, was she stupid!

As it was, it did turn it's head, glaring at her with wild eyes. Slowly, the hound drew itself up, jaws snapping at her warningly. Her world spun and her stomach rolled sickly, tank top clinging to her slick with blood skin. In the back of her mind, she knew she had lost too much blood.

But, now, in the present, the only thing she cared about was coming out of this fight alive. She'd do it if it was the last thing she ever did, and it looked like it would be.

The hound crept up to her, foul breath blowing into her face. She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to look her death in the face.

Powerful jaws clamped down on her right shoulder and shook painfully, muscles ripping and pulling as they worked to keep her in one fluid, living piece.

She didn't have the strength to hold in the scream nor the will power to stay conscious.

Her entire world went black and senseless as her blood-curdling scream pierced the still night air.

xlx

The choice has been made,
So sit back and fucking pray.

xlx

So...? (:
School tomorrow. Disgusting.
But, fortunately (or is it unfortunately..?) it's a heat wave where I live, before we get our ass kicked by a hurricane (EARL! D:) and yeah.. School's an iffy subject still...
Anyway, either way, I'll hopefully have an update by tomorrow night at the LATEST.
Have faithh!

Revieww! Please, it cools the nights down. (:
Until next time,

xWhiteRainx