(Disclaimer: Plata-Azul Firebird does not own Final Fantasy 7 or the songs that are in this story, only her OCs… Otherwise, we might end up having a not-so-epic battle with the lawsuits.)
Altering Rhythm
Spelunking anyone?
Silver: Hi ho! Hi ho! Thru the mines we explore! Then after we meet the Turks! ... I'm not spoiling, READ!
Spelunking anyone?
Green eyes staring at the blue sky…
Sighs and Mira packs the tent, it's morning now and the party are going to head into the Mythril Mine.
"Is there something wrong?" the songstress turns and sees Aerith, her arms are full by her own tent.
"Nothing… I just miss my home." she replied.
"Oh… where is your home?" the flower girl asked out of curiosity.
"Banora." but in truth, she is starting to miss Earth and her family. Right now, she is wondering if their family are looking for them. Thoughts of their family hiring investigators and putting up missing posters, since their bodies are missing and alive in this incredible world. 'Or perhaps we're dead and then possessed a pair of traveler who looks exactly like us.' she chuckles at the thought as she hefts her keytar up. "But Riley and I can't go back."
"Hmmm…? Why?"
"Because Shinra destroyed it." and tells her a short description on how they survive and the start of being travelers.
Once everyone is ready, the songstress spots the same flock of chocobos they rode on, still there and grazing not far from them. She shoos them away, but they stare at her and give a few warks and kwehs before they race back to the grassland. After making sure they are gone, she returns her focus on the party.
Since the panic attack last night, Tifa, Aerith and Barret became a little wary on the blonde. Plus, he does not remember screaming that night, which Tifa decides to hide it and convinces the party not to tell. Thinking he is not ready to know and might separate from them if he does, which the bar maid does not want. The party silently agrees to it, while the two girls shakes their heads.
"If we get a chance, we should tell him…" the mime whispered to the songstress, who agrees to this as she takes back her Enemy Skill materia.
Seeing everyone pack and ready to go, the group heads to the cave. As they head there…
"Excuse me…" the red feline said as he trots to the two girls side. "I've heard that you've been at Cosmo Canyon before."
The songstress releases a mental alarm on this one, remembering that she told Kunsel that they were heading for Cosmo Canyon when they first met Zack. But the mime plays it cool and looks at him. "Yeah, but we couldn't enter because they were full in capacity. So we decided to head to the next town… which happens to be…" she then points at Cloud and Tifa.
"Oh… but have you seen my grandfather?" he asked.
"What does he looks like?" the mime asked as her best friend calms her racing heart. He is about to describe him, when they hear the group gasps and turns to see. "Aye Caramba…" she said without thinking.
Right in front of them, is the Zolom… stabbed on the head by a huge pike in a clearing and is left there to be seen. They are shock aside from Riley and Mira, who knows what's going on, and Cloud who've seen enough. He snaps the group out of the shock trance and warns them to be careful, agreeing to it, they walk around the morbid scene and it wasn't long to find the entrance to the mine. Both girls takes one more look on the stabbed Zolom, before following into the mine.
"See it?" the mime asked, as the group goes further a little.
"No… it's not there. Must have been the same Zolom I saw last night." the songstress shrugs as they catch up with the others.
:::^*^:::
Entering the mine, the two girls are awed on what the saw. For them, they are convince that Square Enix didn't do justice on the mine's design in the FFVII game. Since the mining stopped since the Midgar Zolom came, the walls of the mine are covered in metals that sparkles like stars in the night. They also spots some roots of trees wrapping around some of the metal, making it look like a glowing egg in a hollow tree. They even spot a few mining equipments, which were left behind my miners, probably to get away from the Zolom.
And Riley learns the hard way on finding out how old the equipment is, when she touch a pickaxe stuck on a wall… which fell off and stub her toe. "OW!" she yelps, holds her foot and begins hopping, as she gives the said equipment a death glare.
Yuffie laughs at that, Mira only snorts and shakes her head, Red's only reaction is the flick of his tail, Aerith giggles a bit and Tifa chuckles as she gives the mime a support.
"I have to say, this place is cool… if it weren't for the hazards outside." the songstress said, pointing with her thumb by the entrance.
"True…" Kunsel agrees, rubbing the back of his head as the scene of the Zolom throwing the tree at him replays in his mind. He quickly shakes it off and looks around, spotting a few shadows and faint growls. "Still we need to be careful, this place is crawling with monsters."
"Right, let's split up and find clues, same grouping arrangement: Kunsel go right, we'll go left." Cloud instructs, as Yuffie scoots to the mime's side and the songstress walks towards him and Tifa.
They then heads on their way.
:::^*^:::
"I miss the pencil and notebook…." the songstress whined a bit, causing the three to look at her as they climb the stone steps.
"Pencil and notebook?" the blonde asked, as Red finds a vial not far from the top of the steps.
"I used to have them for drawing… but I lost them after being attack by some monsters when we're visiting what's left of our hometown." she half-lied, as her right hand twitches and trudges on. 'Man, I want to draw again! I'm sure Riley feels the same way…'
"So… what do you draw?" Tifa asked, as Cloud opens the chest.
"Landscapes, animals and people." the songstress replied. "Sometimes I also draw stuffs that came from my imaginations, some of it are cute and some are dress designs."
"Wow, so you're an artist."
She shrugs a bit. "Kinda, I just miss holding the pencil and the images I drew on the papers."
"There's nothing here anymore, we should go back." both of them turns their attention back to the blonde as he zip his satchel shut.
'… He's going to miss the Long Range materia…' the songstress thought, as the head down. 'Better guide him again.' then she pretends to look over the ledge where the said materia is. Tip-toeing, stretching, even jumps it caught their attention as she pretends to look over the ledge.
"Mira, what are you doing?" Red asked and immediately she stops.
"I saw something shine over that ledge."
"That's just the Mythril." Cloud stated as if it's the obvious answer.
"Yeah, but Mythril don't shine purple." she points out and she hope he takes the bait, she mentally prays that there is no purple Mythril as the blonde looks at her.
"Purple?" and he looks up at the ledge.
'YES!' she thought as the blonde decides to investigate it and climbs up the ledge, using the roots. As Cloud reaches the top, he quickly spots the said purple thing… a materia and picks it up. Then he hears a scream and he runs to the edge to see the songstress is hit by the monster's Flamethrower. Tifa quickly comes to her side as Red barks and growls at the flying reptile as it hisses back, as the songstress frantically puts out the fire with Tifa's help. Then, as the bar maid is about to give her shaken friend a potion, they hear hisses and turns to see three Crawlers.
Taking out the Hardedge, he takes a leap and Red distracts the flying reptile as he bring down his blade on it. Due to the momentum and speed, he manages to cut the Arc Dragon in half and, on landing, he releases a bolt spell on one of the Crawlers. It caught it's attention and slithers towards the blonde as the others attacks the two. But they didn't get a bite on them as Cloud slices it's head off , Tifa effectively stomping it's head on the stone floor and Mira shocks hers with a Thundara then Red finishes it off.
As she breathes, a hand reaches out to her and looks up to meet Cloud.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Get this burning feeling off me." she weakly stated as Cloud helps her up and the bar maid gives her a potion. She downs the potion but she is still shaking.
"Mira, are you really okay?"
"I'm fine. I'm fine…" she quickly waves it off and takes deep breaths… 'Of all things to be hit with, it has to be fire.' she thought tiredly as she calms herself and wills herself to stop shaking.
It didn't take long to calm herself, but she a bit jumpy and still visibly shaken. But the three decides not to ask why and heads back to the entrance.
:::^*^:::
After beating some Castanets and Riley learning Flamethrower and Cold Breath, which weird her out again since Cold Breath is not an Enemy Skill. Yet, she manage to cast back the same thing to bugs much to her surprise. Also the mine has a lot of twist and turns, which made Kunsel's head spin. Also while exploring, they found a Mind Source which Riley drank half of it and left some for Mira. Strangely, it didn't taste horrible like how it was describe in fanfics. For her, it tastes like Adobo sauce and she wonders if fanfic writers compares the Sources to the saying about medicine in Earth… The nastier the medicine it taste, the quicker you get heal.
'Note: Different world, different concepts.' she thought as she stash the bottle in her pack and follows the group.
And then next thing they know, both parties meets again at the entrance and the mime notices something funny with her best friend.
"Hey, are you okay?" she asked, looking concern on her.
The songstress looks at her and then sighing. "…Got hit by a Flamethrower." she said tiredly and it did made the mime worry on her again. "It's okay, I drank a potion already." stating with a weak smile.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm fine, Riley." she said and walks away from her. The mime watches as she manages to get Kunsel to talk with her privately and sighs.
"Is she really okay?" the brunette turns around and saw Tifa is also concern.
"Mira actually have an issue with fire." Riley confessed, with a scratch on the back of her head. Barret begins checking if he still got enough ammo, Yuffie goes to where Cloud's group went in search for treasure and Red just sits and listens instead.
"She does?"
"Yeah… this is why she does not use fire-related spells or anything relating on fire." then she looks at Cloud and Aerith. "Hey Cloudy, Aerith, a favor please?"
"It's Cloud." once more he glares at the mime for his silly nickname as the two ladies merely smile at it. "And what is it?"
"Can you help me ease up Mira's fear on fire, please?" with both hands clap together and bowing her head down slightly. Aerith stares at her for a moment, for that gesture reminds her of…
"But why us?" the blonde asked.
"You're a veteran when it comes to materias." pointing it out and then looks at the flower girl. "She's the best caster we got aside from you and Mira herself." then she looks at her best friend still talking to Kunsel. "Anyway, her fear is not that severe, she can go near a fire with a little distance but she can't handle fire is the real issue."
"She can't handle fire?" Tifa asked.
"Yeah… you should've seen her react on a simple match lighting." then she stops as the two walks back to them. "Let's discuss it later okay?" she shush them and looks back at the songstress who is looking a bit better than last time. "Feeling better?"
"Yeah…" her best friend replied as her breathing is normal. Seeing this, also made the mime relax a bit.
:::^*^:::
Once they found a new path out of the confusing twist and turns, they are about to enter the new area.
"Hey." Riley calls out to Kunsel and she walks a steady pace with the Ex-Second. "What did you and Mira talked about?" she asked.
At first he looks at the party, Cloud is at the front with Aerith and Tifa just behind him, Barret is next along with the songstress and ninja who are chatting, and behind is Red who's making sure no monster is following behind. He then looks back at the mime. "She's actually asking on how both of you can get Cloud to talk with privately about last night." he said.
"Ah right, we do want to tell him about that, but…" the mime looks at the bar maid and mutters mother-hen.
"Is it okay? Telling him that he had a nightmare?" he looks skeptical on the songstress' idea.
"Yeah… it's better confronting it then hiding it."
"But what if he couldn't accept that and breaks down?"
"Duh? Therapy? What do you think it means?" Riley deadpans at the Ex-Second.
"But are you sure?"
"Yeah, we can handle it, no problem." she quips with a wave. "What we need is-"
"Hey, there's a bald guy in the way!" the mime is cut off by Yuffie and the group snap their heads to the said bald man. The said man is not amuse on the ninja's outburst but he never shows it. The two girls then looks up to see Elena, on her position on the ledge and is observing them.
As they are about to pass him. "Just a second!" the bald man shouts at them and they stop.
"Who are you?" Tifa demanded.
"Um, Tifa, the suit?" the songstress points out as she have her hand wraps around the keytar's handle. "It's frankly a giveaway."
"A Turk." Riley stated as she takes out her dagger. 'Man… I'm missing those tonfas.' she thought sourly as she keeps an eye on the bald Turk.
"Well if you know, then this won't take long. It's difficult to explain what the Turks do…" Rude stated as he push back his glasses.
"Kidnapping, right?" Cloud points out
"Let's not forget assassinating Shinra's rival in both politics and business, terrorizing, turning blind eyes on horrific experiments, covering Shinra's nasty faults and… oh this is new for your resume, PLATE droppers!" the mime exclaims as she points her dagger at him.
"To put it negatively…you could say that. …But, that's not all there is to it, anymore." Rude stops for a moment and on cue…
"Sir!" their attention then shifts to the blonde woman on the ledge a bit high from them. "It's all right, Rude! I know you don't like speeches, so don't force it!" she shouts, the group, aside from Mira and Riley, didn't notice there is another Turk there.
"…Then Elena, explain."
"I'm the newest member of the Turks, Elena."
"Well… welcome to the group of highly effective but stupid cleaners of Shinra Electric Power Company." The songstress stated loudly and sounding sarcastic, as she cross her arms. "Make sure you pick up your mop and toilet cleaners once you're done here!"
Both Yuffie and Barret burst out laughing as Riley snickers on that, Kunsel and Tifa couldn't help but to smile as Cloud and Red looks amuse on the songstress comeback. The blonde woman, however, is not amuse and looks peeve on the ravenette.
"Thanks to what you did to Reno, we're short of people." then she turns away but they can hear it clearly. "…Although, because of that, I got promoted from intern to the Turks…"
'She was an intern?' both girls thought as they try to remember and Mira realizes that Elena was not suppose to join the Turks till Cloud and the others beat Reno on the support pillar.
'Ah, that's right… that explains why she got an ID from Shinra, she was a Turk-in-training before we beat the crap out of that redhead. At least, that explains how she entered that crappy job.' the songstress thought.
"In any case." the girls attention turns back to her. "Our job is to find out where Sephiroth is headed. And to try and step you every step of the way. Wait a minute, it's the other way around…" Everyone seems to resist face palming on that, as some raises their brow on the slip-up.
" …Elena. You talk too much." a familiar voice said and the group turns to see Tseng, walking in from the entrance of the mine.
"Sorry…Tseng." she apologizes, as a pink dust creeps on her face. Both girls saw it before the blonde Turk turns away to hide it.
"No need to tell them about our orders. Now go. Don't forget to file your report."
"Oh! Right! Very well, Rude and I will go after Sephiroth, who's heading for Junon Harbor!"
Once more, she earns another brow raising on that slip-up again. " …Elena. You don't seem to understand."
"Oh! I'm, I'm sorry…"
"…Go. Don't let Sephiroth get away."
"Yes sir!" both Rude and Elena salutes and left the scene, but the bald Turk stops for a moment and looks back at the group.
"…Reno said he wanted to see you after the injuries you gave him healed. He wants to show his affection for you all…with a new weapon." the stated and then left before the girls could even make a comeback on that one. Slightly miff that they miss making a comeback, both looks at Tseng who's looking at Aerith.
"Long time no see." he said, then he explains about her escape from Shinra, thanks to Sephiroth's reappearance.
"So are you saying that I should be thankful to Sephiroth?" the flower girl commented as her voice have a bit of venom in it.
"I'm happy to inform you that the president has cancelled the search for you." her eyes widens slightly on hearing that.
"… Strange, hearing that from you."
"Another ploy?" Cloud demanded as he moves to Aerith's front and arm with his sword, just in case the Turk does something.
"No, he honestly called it off. You're a free person, Aerith." and then he turns to the mouth of the mine, without looking back. "Well then, stay out of Shinra's way." and walks out of the mine.
'I swear Leon Kennedy is MUCH more cooler than him!' Riley thought as Cloud motions the group to climb the root. Then she remembers the Elixir and Hi-Potion in the next room and dashes there to get it. Once she got both items, she runs back to the others, just in time to see Barret helping Red up. Once everyone is up, they head down the path Tseng took and find themselves outside. The only sign that they encounter the Turks, is the tiny image of the helicopter on the sky before disappearing completely from sight.
"Junon… we better get moving." the blonde said.
"Uh… Before that, we should head to Fort Condor…" Mira suggested as she sniffs the group and steps away. Yuffie notices this and decides to take a whiff herself, the reaction is a total recoil as she backs away and waves her arms at her front.
"Gross! You guys stinks!" the ninja girl yelps as she quickly goes to the songstress' side, who smell less from the others. "Not to mention dirty!" she adds.
The group stares at them before they smell themselves, the reaction is almost close to Yuffie. They do stink and they just notice the mud, dirt and some plants cake on their clothes. Kunsel got the most mess because of the mud he landed during the Zolom fight and Barret is the one who mostly stinks.
'He smells like a pig!' Riley thought as she looks at her leather jacket as she takes it off. 'Ugh, getting rid of the smell on this will take some work! I hope the fort have leather cleaner or something.'
'I'm surprise that my limit break didn't even clean their clothes.' the songstress thought, as Aerith waves her jacket to get rid of the dirt that dried there and Tifa wring out her hair which also smells.. "So… Fort Condor?" she asked.
"But-" the blonde is cut off by the mime.
"Honestly, I know we can reach Junon before sun down, but due to the fight with the Zolom yesterday and our situation. I would rather have clean clothes on, rather entering the place like this." she stated as she wrings her jacket and sniffs it again. "Dude! Blegh!" she yelps and covers her nose.
"But none of us got clothes to change into." Aerith said and the teenagers, two 19 and one 16, looks back at her.
"Are you serious?" the mime asked, as her mind wonders on how the heck the characters survive on the same clothes in the game. "Didn't any of you bought any clothes or at least buy some in Kalm?" remembering that due to running away from Shinra, neither of them have pack clothes. Plus neither of the girls saw any of them buying clothes in Kalm.
"Not at all, we mostly bought items that are needed in battle." Tifa replied.
"But not clothes?!" the ninja girl just gawks. Judging by her reaction, at least she have experience and common sense on travel necessities which both Earth girls can agree on.
"Then what about the dresses you got in the Wall Market?" the songstress asked, the blonde Ex-SOLDIER slightly cringes when she mentions that and memories of unwanted experience came back. The mime notices his reaction and couldn't help but to quirk her lips, as she takes off her scarf and wring it.
"We dump them away." the bar maid answered as the ravenette looks at her for a moment before face-palming.
"Ladies and gentlemen, common sense has left the building." the mime mutters, they look at her as she pack the scarf and puts her jacket back on.
"You know, it wouldn't hurt to head there." Kunsel pipes in, as he is uneasy on the fact that he slept on dirty clothes and still wearing it. "Fort Condor is right over there." he then points at site where a huge bird is sitting there and watching over her egg.
Judging by the distance, it wouldn't take long for the group to get there. The Ex-Second mentions that the is anti-Shinra because the people there are protecting the huge condor and her egg. For them, it is a safe place and Cloud is convince to head there, but they'll only get a day rest and restock. By tomorrow, it's off to Junon.
For now, they head for Fort Condor.
:::^*^:::
'Fort Condor is a lot more bigger than the one in the game…but I guess it is explainable, considering the characters were chibified in the game.' the mime thought.
Arriving there, they met the guard of the place. Mira and Riley decided to talk to him since both Kunsel and Cloud are still in their SOLDIER uniform, well the latter is a modified one. The two have a chat with the guard as he mentions that he and his companions have been protecting the place from Shinra. He then asked them if they could assist them in their battle. Both girls agrees to help them since they have an agenda with the said company. With the man happy to earn extra help, he guides them into the fort.
"I thought we're going to have a day off from fighting?" Barret asked, as Kunsel climbs up the rope followed by Cloud.
"I know, but it's the only way to enter this place." the mime quips with a shrug, then pats on the black man's back. "Look on the bright side, it wouldn't be to boring as we take a break." as Yuffie climbs up deftly on the rope.
Barret lugs Red on his back and climbs up, then Tifa and Aerith goes next as Riley looks at her best friend, who's once more staring at the rope. "You know, we'll be probably be doing this in Cosmo Canyon." she whisper on her best friend's ears, causing her to slump before she drags herself to the only entrance of the place.
'As much as I dislike the rope, we all need a bath… badly!' the songstress thought as she hefts herself up to the fort.
Arriving to the top, there is some difference between this and the game… for one, there are more people. Not just the guard or the shop keepers, there are also mercenaries and hired guns who were paid for defending the place. Also the place is more of a snake-and-ladder maze, plus there's an infirmary which is not shown in the game. For the two girls, the added infirmary makes sense since the fort is fighting against Shinra, which will involve casualties. The ladder for the Inn and rooms are on one side, going down, and the other is for the shops, which is a climb up.
The group is then given a pair of rooms, one for the men and one for the women. The two Earth girls asked when is the battle going to happen… and it turns out that it will happen in a few hours, as their scouts spotted the Shinra army marching to it. The group are surprise that they're going to fight first before getting some rest, or even a bath to get rid of the filth on them. At first, they seem to doubt on coming to this place as a rest stop, aside from the two girls. But on hearing, their reason why they fight, they decided to aid them in the way they can.
Of course, the girls have a debate with the blonde who just want to leave and reach Junon soon. In the end, the girls wins.
Before the hour of the fight arrives, both girls looks around the fort as the group heads to their rooms. Riley climbs up the ladder to the item shop, there she sees the place similar to the game only wider in space. And she nearly whoop when she saw one thing that is not in the game and an added bonus for them: a thrift store that sells second-hand clothes. Taking a good look on them, most of the clothes seems familiar…
'Wait… I remember these! This are the trooper uniforms from Shinra!' the mime thought, then she notices the patches and modification on the rest of the articles. '… So they take clothes from dead troopers and modifies them… quaint…' she thought as she even spots a modified trooper helm with brow raise. She remembers a movie about a haunted second-hand item, but she shakes it off and begins her search for clothes for the party. Getting clothes for Cloud and Kunsel is an easy task, but she kept debating on what size Barret is. Due to the man's muscle and width, she doubt some of these recycled clothes fits him. Eventually, she manages to find a large jumpers for the black man, but she couldn't find any underwear…
"I guess they'll be going commando for a while, unless I could find some underwear under this pile." muttering as she continues to look for the said article.
Finding none, she then begins to look for some clothes for Aerith and Tifa. And so far, she only finds small, men shirts that can be acceptable for the two. It should seem that they'll be lending some clothes to the two. 'Aye, thank the Planet it gifted us clothes!' she thought. 'And the fact that we don't have to find Yuffie in the woods… at least, we won't have a problem with her about clothes… just the materia and our items.'
Once paying for the clothes, she then heads to various item shops to sell some items that they don't need.
Meanwhile, Mira heads down to the Inn and checks their rooms. Their rooms got four beds and a couch each, there is also a vent for air and closet to place their packs in. She smiled on the sight of the restroom, but almost rejoices on functional waterworks. She expected barrels and buckets of water considering that they built their base within the ground of the reactor. So it is a surprise for her to see an actual bathtub, although it is a bit small and made of wood. The songstress then heads out of the room and looks around once more, she then meets a resident of the place and asked if there is a laundry room.
'If there's an infirmary, there's got to be a laundry room to clean these clothes off.' she thought and her eyes seems to twinkle when the man points her to the direction of the said room. She briskly heads to where he directed her to, and a smile grace on her face on finding the room. There she is welcomed by a pair of washing machines on one side, a pair of dryers and iron on the other and a shelf full of detergent. She mentally whoop and is thanking to the fact that the fort have the necessities they need.
Still the songstress wonders on why Square did not bother showing these in the game, though.
As she looks at the machines and thinking that it functions with the mako, an alarm blares to life. The songstress quickly dashes out of the room, getting a little lost on the way back to the party. Getting up from the hole, she then sees her best friend climbing down the ladder… with a huge package on her left arm.
"Mira! Riley! We better get ready!" Tifa calls the two as she comes in and then notices the package on the mimes arms. "What's that?"
"Clothes, but most of them are for the men. Mira and I will be lending you some clothes for now and get those wash." Riley explains, as she looks at the not-so white tank top of the bar maid.
Accepting the reason, the bar maid tells her to place the clothes in their rooms and hurry up. The brunette then dash down to their room as the ravenette follows Tifa to the top floor of the fort.
:::^*^:::
The fight is not that hard and it's not even sweat breaking, when the party have a status-effect caster which places the enemies to sleep and hasten allies. Cloud and Kunsel quickly slashed the beasts down, Barret and Riley takes down the wyverns, Tifa and Red brings back any injured allies, and Aerith and Mira are support and first aid. Yuffie, on the other hand, merely runs around, throwing her shiruken at nearby enemies to distract them and looting items with much glee.
'Yep… that's Yuffie for ya.' Riley thought with a shake from her head, as she drinks an ether and cast Mantra Magic.
It's a quick victory and the guard cheers at the easy win, but then he slumps when he learns that they'll be leaving for Junon tomorrow.
But the two girls pats his back and tells him that as they travel, they mess the damn company a little. That cheers him a bit as he heads down for a celebration booze.
Climbing down to their rooms, Yuffie quickly calls dibs on taking the first bath with the mime shouting to let the one who really stinks go first. It was too late, when they hear the bathroom door slams shuts and hears the water running. Sighing at this, the mime heads out to find something to clean her jacket as Mira takes out the shirts for Tifa and Aerith. Once she sorts out the clothes the girls will be wearing, she then picks up the rest and heads to the other room. Once she arrives, she knocks on the door and it wasn't long for Cloud to answer.
"Hey, got something to change after you guys clean up." the songstress stated as she gives the clothes to him. "Oh, and there's no underwear... sorry." with a shrug.
"… Thanks." he said but she didn't leave. She looks at him as if he's a puzzle she wants to solve. "Is there something wrong?" he asked as he notices something else… is her green eyes sparkling or something?
"Nothing, I'm just wondering if you're okay." she stated.
"… I'm fine." he said with a assuring tone.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Why do you asked?"
There is silence for a moment and they just stood there, both of them neither moving or uttering another sound. As time pass around them, both individuals notices something from one another. Mira looks at the blonde's blue eyes that still burns with Mako, thanks to a certain fruit-loop. She tries to look for any sign of his original personality in them, but came up blank… Then she caught a fleeting shine in his eyes and tries to find it again.
But it is gone for now. 'Could that be…?' she thought, as unknowingly Cloud is also looking at her.
The blonde sees the twinkles in her green eyes once more, but that's not all… Her eyes have wisdom and knowledge in them, along with secrets which he doubt she'll tell. Yet they also tell that she is honest and caring.
"Yo Spiky! Who's at the door!" Barret's shouts broke their trance, the blond looks back in the room as the songstress turns to hide the pink dust that have painted itself on her cheeks.
"Uh… right." the songstress coughs a bit and looks back at Cloud. "Once you finish taking a bath, please give your dirty clothes to me and Tifa to be wash, okay?"
"Sure…" he said, then returns into the room and shuts the door. Once the door is completely close, Mira just slap herself on the face and reacts like any teenager spazzing and scolding herself.
'Don't do a Fushigi Yuugi, Mira! DON'T DO IT!' she mentally berates her herself, as her mind does a headless chocobo race in her head. She quickly get rid of the blush and scrambles back to the girls' room.
The ninja girl is officially finish and plops down on her bed, her dirty clothes are dump in a basket and Aerith took her turn. Also she is chatting with Tifa, as Riley who's back spreads out her jacket on the couch. She then cleans it with a soft cloth, hand soap, a mix of water and vinegar and an extra rag with a leather cleaner and conditioner just beside her. The mime looks quite happy to find the latter pair of items from the shops. The brunette then looks up when her friend enters back into the room… and looks more disturb than the usual. Seeing that, she briskly wipe her jacket and hangs it to dry before applying the cleaner and conditioner. She reminds herself to do the gloves later as she walks to the songstress' side on her bed.
"Hey… what crawled on your back?" she asked and the songstress looks at her and then sighs. She takes a quick look on the other occupants of the room and motions the mime to come close. The brunette leans in to listen but her best friend recoils back on the smell, she gives her light hit on her shoulder on that. Once the songstress regains fresh air, she once more motions her best friend and explains what happen a moment ago.
… Only to realize that telling her is a bad idea.
The mime's mouth forms a silly grin the songstress knows too well.
"Riley, get that grin off your face… NOW!" Mira hissed.
"What grin?" the mime asked amusingly and giggles is starting to bubble in her.
"Riley…" but the brunette's grin didn't falter and the songstress quickly stands to get rid of it. However, the mime quickly sense it coming and have bolted to the other side of the room. "Damn it, get back here! You damn energizer bunny!"
"Make me, ya spoony bard!" the mime cheerfully stated and a chase ensues, both Tifa and Yuffie watches the two do the cat-and-mouse chase around the room. It wasn't long before the songstress caught her by jumping on her back. Due to the fact that Riley is the strongest from the two, all the ravenette can do is weight her down and mess up her hair. "Wah! She got me!"
"Riley!" then the two yelps when the mime lost her balance and both fell on a bed. The mime laughs at this as the songstress hits her shoulder, with a small smile.
"Ow! Oh come on!"
"Are you two… okay?" the bar maid asked as the two looks her and the mime tries to ease her laughing.
"Yeah, we're cool." the mime stated and ruffles her best friend's head. "Just messing around."
"Hey!" the songstress tries to swat her hand off, only to miss and presume messing her hair again. But, instead of aiming for the hand, she decided to push the mime off the bed and successfully does so.
"Ow! Man, you're mean!" And in response the songstress sticks out her tongue. "Aye! Yuffie, give me a hug to feel better!" Riley said childishly.
"Wha! Gross! No way! You haven't taken a bath yet!" the teenage ninja exclaims and backs away from her.
"Fine, I'll go hug Tifa then. At least we both stink." she then quickly hugs the bar maid before she could even say anything. Then she quickly let go and looks at her. "Dang it, why are yours boobs are HUGE? It makes mine inferior." as she pats her front, the bar maid's face lit up like a red lantern as the ninja girl can't help to laugh on that.
"That's it, I'm taking your snacks away." the songstress stated calmly, which the mime quickly turns back to her and pleads childishly not to take it away… and that's what Aerith saw after she came out clean and fresh from the bathroom.
:::^*^:::
Golden white, with hints of color spectrum is all in view.
The feeling is a bit familiar….
Sensing so many presence and seems to be united for one cause.
Many memories flows by… happy ones, sad ones… all of them flowing along the prism view.
Suddenly, something stops…
Looking around, wondering why it stop…
Then pain came…
Hearing moans and cries…
But couldn't bother on stopping the pain.
Instead, wonders why they're hurting the one who care for them…?
:::^*^:::
'What the heck was that?' she thought, as she rubs her head from the strange dream. Looking around, she sees the others fast asleep even her best friend next to her. Feeling that she needs air, she yanks her covers away, takes her newly washed gray hoodie and puts it on over her black shirt. She then carefully sneak out of the room and climbs up the ladder, she then heads to the entrance. She did not bother bringing the dagger since she got some Enemy Skills and miming abilities to scare off monsters, just in case.
Once her foot reaches the ground, she walks out and breathes the fresh air. Looking up the night sky, she wonders if their families are also looking at them…
'… this situation reminds me of Kingdom Hearts… one sky…' she thought, as she looks at the stars and tries to find something relating to Earth. She only remembers a pair of constellations back in Earth: Orion and Pleiades, but in Gaia… they don't exist at all.
She then sighs and looks down. 'I guess we're quite far from home…' she thought.
"Miss traveling?" a familiar voice asked.
Turning around, she saw the least person she expected…
The one she promised to herself to rescue…
"Sephiroth!"
And a smile forms on his face.
Silver: Le gasp! A wild Sephiroth appears! (runs away from being hit by a Masamune). Anyway, we learn something from Mira, the group needs hygiene since it's not a game anymore, Riley just like to mess around… and she dreams something weird… I am happy with this chapter, although some parts are not in the script, I'm still ha-pi... Don't forget my BREAD AND COFFEE! For those who don't know... Review please!