A/N: Oddly enough, it took me three tries to get this chapter right. :/ And it would have been up DAYS ago, if my account here didn't have an error. -_-

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK: Silver Tears 11; AnimeRANDOMNESS; Kibasgirltsumi; & Spiritwinned...twice. XD

I hope you all enjoy the randomness of this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. (There is only one character I own in this entire chapter actually.)

Chapter Thirteen

The first thing Yazoo was aware of was a throbbing pain in the side of his head. It made him wince and groan softly as he turned over, trying to get into a more comfortable position. He opened his eyes, his headache flaring before he was forced to close them again. He heard high-pitched laughter - a sound that wasn't making his head ache any better.

"Hey, look!" a voice broke through his thoughts. It accompanied the sound of the crackling fire, and the disorderly shuffling of feet. He turned over, forcing his eyes open once more, despite the pain. Before his eyes adjusted, all he saw was the color blue.

It wasn't long before he realized the blue mass was actually a woman. She was leaning over him, a pleased smile on her young face. Long blue hair hung over her right shoulder, the scar over her left eye not diminishing the joyous glint in her bright blue irises.

Yazoo quickly tried moving, and soon found that it was very difficult, considering his arms were bound behind his back. His instincts quickly took over, looking for a way out of his situation while simultaneously trying to figure out how he had gotten into it. He took in everything very quickly - the clearing in the trees, the strange woman before him, and the other three people behind her, his bike across from him, the fire between, and his young companion only a few feet away, arms and legs thoroughly bound.

He remembered the pain in his head, and figured out what had happened.

He maneuvered himself into a sitting position, the blue-haired girl taking a step back from him as he did so. Her smile never left, only turned to the other woman sitting only a few feet away.

"Shelke?" he asked softly.

"I'm fine," she replied simply, her eyes glowing orange as she stared at the blue woman, her gaze threatening murder.

"Shelke," the woman repeated the name.

One of the other three people who joined them in the clearing came forward - a blonde woman wearing red and black leather. Her dark blue eyes looked at Yazoo closely, as she swung her arm over the other woman's shoulder. She kept a small chuckle subdued behind her closed lips, an interest in her eyes that Yazoo wasn't quite sure he wanted to understand.

"What are we gonna do with him?" the blonde asked.

"We have to wait for Ivan," the blue-haired one replied.

"Oh, we all know what Ivan'll wanna do with him," she replied flatly.

The other woman smacked her playfully on the stomach, before the blonde removed herself from her, walking back over to her previous spot on the other side of Shelke. She sat herself down on her pile of books, shaking her head at their inside joke.

Yazoo's eyes went from her, back to the blue woman standing guard over him. Her arms were crossed, her Mako-colored eyes still boring into him.

He turned away, instead meeting Shelke's gaze.

"They're thieves," his companion explained, "They want your bike."

Yazoo sighed heavily, frustrated. He looked over to the motorcycle directly across from him. It looked untouched for now, but he couldn't stand the thought of any of these people touching it.

"We'd take more, but you two have nothing on you besides the clothes on your back, and few gil," his guard informed.

"Unbind me," he firmly ordered. He wouldn't bother himself by asking who these people were or what they intended to do with him.

His guard chuckled, shaking her head. "You're not really in any position to make demands."

A young boy approached his guard, wrapping his arms around her from behind and staring at the silver-haired male with suspicious eyes. He looked to be about twelve years old, with long sandy hair. He had a freckled face, and a mischievous grin that was just waiting to surface.

The blue haired woman put her arm around him as he used her body to hide himself from their catch.

"It's okay, Jaika," he said, patting him affectionately on the top of the head.

"I like him," the boy said, a toothy grin coming to his face.

"Why would you like him? He hasn't done anything, barely even said a word."

"I don't know. He's funny."

Yazoo raised a brow. Funny?

The blue-haired woman patted him on the head again, in a less-affectionate way. "Whatever, just don't get too close, and we'll all be okay. Now go see if you can't find Ivan."

"But Hail, I don't wanna. Send Lyra!"

"I'm not gonna go. It's not my fault the man is late," the blonde woman said, pulling a book from her pile and flipping through it.

The last of the small group rose from her place by the fire, lifting a long silver scythe from the ground and carrying it with her. Her long white hair swayed against her back as she made her way passed them, staring at them dully as she went through the path cut through the clearing. Yazoo only watched her for a brief second, before looking back at the other two.

They watched her leave without a word, Hail shaking her head and her vibrant locks.

Yazoo turned from them to Shelke. The girl's eyes were still glowing orange, only now their venom was directed toward him. "I can't believe you didn't see that rock coming toward your head."

He did his own version of a scowl, before turning away from her blame. As reluctant as he was to admit it, she was right. How could he have not seen or heard that?

"That was my handy work, by the way," Hail said with a cocky smile.

"Really?" Yazoo asked, his scowl now facing her. "Then I'll kill you first."

Her brows rose with interest, and the boy cowering behind her took a cautious step back. "This aughta be interesting," she commented.

The sounds of shuffling feet and moving underbrush made them all look to the path the white-haired woman went to. She emerged once again, saying nothing and walking straight back to her previous spot. Following behind her were two men. Both looked to be in their mid-twenties, with lean muscular bodies. The first had straight brown hair, and dark shades that covered his eyes entirely. A red sword was held in his left hand, but he re-sheathed it as he went to the fire and took a seat beside the white-haired woman. He paid little attention to their bounty, unlike the other man.

The black-haired male first looked to the bike, then his eyes slowly went to Yazoo and Shelke. A sly grin covered his face as he approached them, the chains on his belt jingling and swaying as he walked. Hail turned to him, Jaika still under her arm. She gestured to the two, the cocky grin once again on her face.

"What can I say? I'm good," she commented.

He turned to her, some kind of faked-affection in his eyes. "I love you. Marry me, Ms. Darvey."

Disgust covered her face, and she took a few steps back from him. "Not in a million years."

Her response only made him smile. Hail took Jaika with her as she stepped back, making way for the dark haired male as he stood before Yazoo and Shelke.

The both of them met his gaze with flat, venomous eyes. He looked unaffected, that sly smile still on his angular face. His green eyes looked them over long and hard, before he finally spoke.

"So...What's two travelers like yourselves doing all the way out here?"

"Traveling," Shelke answered simply.

This only elicited a chuckle from him. He crouched down so that he was more with their level. "It's dangerous out in the wild. I would have thought you'd at least be armed."

"I don't need a weapon," Yazoo replied calmly.

"Says the man who couldn't dodge a rock thrown by that woman." He pointed to Hail with his gloved thumb.

"Hey!" she snapped.

"Who are you?" Shelke asked, "And what do you want with us?"

"The name's Ivan. You've met Hail here, and Jaika," he gestured to the two, Jaika lifting his hand and waving. "The blonde is Lyra, and that's Artemis and Luke by the fire. As a whole, you can call us Enfys.

"As for what we want...We want the bike. I'm sure we'd be able to get a pretty penny out of it. If you had anything else on you, we'd take that, too."

"But we don't have anything, and you have your bike. So why do you still have us?"

The look of Ivan's smile changed. He brought his gloved hand up to his chin, where he thoughtfully tapped himself on the lips. "I don't know yet. I'm still thinking there might be something I can use you two for."

"And what would that be?" Yazoo questioned.

Ivan rose fluidly back to his full height, gazing down at him, his head tilted to the side. "You'd be surprised, kitten."

"'Kitten?'" Shelke repeated, confused and a bit horrified.

Yazoo slumped against a tree. "Ugh...not again."

A/N: Ivan is sort of an inside joke for me. He's gotten himself in four totally unrelated stories now, and that failure of a manga I tried drawing. :/ He was first a suave teenager, then a twenty-something soldier, a bored teenager, then an ex-druggie teenager. Now he's a leader of a band of thieves. Haha, can't wait to see where he ends up next.

Anyhoo...

Please review. :)