Bonded For Life
Chapter One: Survey
Aubre Naluri:
I looked out the raindrop stained window of my small cottage. There were too many people. The streets of Nibelheim were never this crowded. I noticed there seemed to be many men in blue suits. My parents warned me of such men. They were called Turks. The first of these Turks that I noticed was a red headed one. I could hear his loud drunken laughter from inside my cottage. He stood in a circle of these Turk men. The rain intensified and the circle instantly broke as the men scattered. I gasped as a dark haired Turk ran towards my cottage. There was a knock at my door but I dared not answer. I was home alone now. My father was at work and my mother was out on errands. It was just my eleven year old sister, Jadine, and I home. I am seventeen and will be eighteen in a few short months.
I heard the floor boards creak as my sister left her room. "Bre, someone's at the door." She stood in my wooden doorway. She still had her headphones on her ears and I could hear the music blasting out of them. Our parents were sure getting lenient with her choice of outfit. It was summer time now and even though it doesn't get that hot up here in the mountains, my sister had on the shortest pair of jean shorts an the tightest pink tank top on. Turk boy outside would probably rape her. Turks have been notorious for breaking into to houses and raping women or young girls. We both turned our heads in the direction of the continuous knocking. Jadine's long red ponytail flicked as she did so. "Are you going to answer it or what?"
"Jay, there's Turks outside." Upon hearing this she snatched her headphones off her head and jumped on my bed with me and looked out my window. We could both see the tall man with choppy, neck length, black hair standing outside the door. He was carrying a black folder with papers sticking out of it. No doubt they were here to recruit new members. They try to tie you into their business by offering to pay for your schooling and send massive amounts of money to your families as you work. They fail to mention what your job as a Turk includes. My father got himself tied into that business when he was young, but somehow sealed a deal with the President and was released. Therefore, I know a lot about these Turk men and many of their secrets.
Suddenly both Jadine and I gasped loudly upon seeing the Turk man quickly turn around and catch both of our glances. We both screamed and I quickly snatched my curtain across the window. I jumped back away from the bed upon seeing his silhouette outside of my window.
"I promise you I come in peace." The man said. I had forgotten the window was cracked so he had probably heard Jadine and I when we screamed. I moved to pull the curtain back, but Jadine grabbed my arm.
"Bre no!" she squealed. Her skinny little knees were practically knocking. Father had told us many horrifying stories of these Turks.
"It's ok." I said softly to her. At least at that time it seemed ok…
Vincent Valentine :
Knocking seemed no use. Maybe there was no one home. I saw slight movement out of the corner of my eye and turned sharply to catch two young girls looking at me from a window. I took a good look at the older one. Yes, she was definitely eighteen. The job today, however odd it sounds, was to survey at least five women at the age of eighteen or older. A team of twenty Turks or so including myself were now under the command of the scientist Hojo. Upon meeting him I found him to be a queer man. Thus explaining this queer assignment. However, his terms were quite extreme. If any of us were to not complete a single assignment or mission, it's our life. Not only will he take our lives, but will use our bodies for an upcoming experiment. Therefore, I was doing everything I could to persuade these women to take this survey. So far I had four women surveyed. I just needed this one more.
As soon as the older girl's eyes met mine I heard them both scream and a dark blue curtain shot over the window. I walked through the flower garden they had under the window. I instantly regretted this situation as I started to sink in the mud. I stood in front of the window trying to peer through the curtain but could see nothing. I heard what sounded like running so I spoke.
"I promise I come in peace." I used the most trusting voice I could muster. I personally wanted nothing more than to just break the window and shove this survey in her face so I could return to my quarters and be left alone. I heard the girls arguing over whether to let me in or not. I noticed the window was cracked. I slipped my fingers under the wooden trim of the window and pushed it open. I ripped the curtain off the rod and looked at the two girls that seemed to be frozen with fear. The older one seemed to stand about 5'5. She had long fiery red hair that hung in waves down her back. Her bangs were cut in a straight line across her forehead just above her thin eyebrows. Both girls had big, round, emerald green eyes.Their dark golden colored skin informed me they probably hadn't been born in Nibelheim as the natives here were as pale as I.
"Go call father." The older girl whispered as if she thought I couldn't hear her. I pride myself upon having very good hearing as well as perfect vision. The younger girl took off with almost animal like quickness.
"Miss, I would only like you to fill out this survey. That is all I need from you. I need five and I have only four." I reached into my pocket for any spare gil. I happened to have 150 so I held it out to her. "I'll even pay you." Being such a small town, 150 gil could take an eighteen year old a long way. Her green eyes did seem to twinkle slightly at the sight of money. I watched as she turned away and hurried towards the doorway.
"Jadine! Don't call father! It's ok." I gave a relieved sigh and handed over the folder with the survey in it. I pulled my pen out of my shirt pocket and handed it to her. She sat down on the bed that was placed right up against the wall this window was in.
Aubrie Naluri:
Have you or have you not had your first intercourse?
What the hell?!
Have you or have you not been pregnant?
Huh?!
If your answer to the previous question was yes, was the birth successful?
If your answer to the previous question was no, are you capable of pregnancy?
There were nearly twenty very personal questions on this thing! I cleared my throat and looked up at the man standing casually in my window. He had a content look on his face versus the troubled look I had first saw. The oddest thing about him was the color of his eyes. They were the color of blood with tiny specks of a lighter red. He raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner.
"Nothing, it's just these questions are rather personal. May I ask what this is for?" The man motioned for me to show him the survey. I handed it to him and his eyes scanned over the information. I watched them widen slightly. He quickly handed the paper back to me while shrugging.
"I was not informed the purpose of these surveys." He frowned a little and adjusted the collar of his shirt. His entire suit was covered by little droplets of water from the rain. Parts of his damp hair were stuck to his forehead and the side of his face. I finished the disturbingly personal survey and took the 150 gil from him. He bowed his head as he thanked me politely and was gone within a few seconds.
If only I had known what I was getting myself into…
Vincent Valentine:
A cold chill shook my body as I passed through the gates of Shinra Mansion. There was definitely something about this place. Complete silence engulfed the halls of the mansion. None of the maintenance people spoke a word as they carried on with their work. The female maids would even lower their heads and refuse to make eye contact with anyone. It was if they knew something, but couldn't tell, yet they wanted to tell. I sighed loudly. I couldn't wait to return to Midgar.
I entered the library where Hojo could normally be found or at least his assistant which was also his wife Lucrecia. Yes indeed there she was bent over putting away a book on the bottom shelf. I approached her slowly.
"Um…" I started.
She shot into an upright standing position. "Oh my! You startled me." She brought a hand to her chest and laughed softly.
How such a strange man like Hojo received such a beautiful woman such as Lucrecia, I will never know. Seeing her smile nearly made me forget what I had come here to tell her. "The surveys…"
"I am not allowed to see those. Hojo is in the master bedroom. I'll fetch him for you." She always seemed a bit nervous. Her words were usually jumbled together. I bet that man scared her into marrying him. She began to walk passed me when I reached out and touched her shoulder. I wanted so badly to move my hand over just a few inches and touch her lovely brown hair.
"Wait. What are these for?" I asked her. She stared at me dumbfounded for a moment before quickly formulating an answer.
"Vincent…can I trust you?" She… She remembered my first name. I nodded quickly. Of course she could trust me.
"Hojo and I want to have a baby, but I…my body cannot handle childbirth due to some of the experiments I've let him conduct on me. So we want a woman to bear a child for us to use as a form of research." Her eyes darted around everywhere but on mine. I just wanted to take her into my arms and calm her nerves.
"Wait…so you want to have a baby so you can experiment on it?" My question sounded rather blunt, but I only wanted to make sure I heard correctly. And so this basically means we were out searching for women for Hojo to impregnate.
Lucrecia nodded. "Certainly not to the point of death or anything. Hojo and I are scientist and we know what we are doing. Uh…let me go get him." She quickly left the room. I listened to the soft click of her heels as she walked away from me leaving her sweet scent behind her.
I waited alone in the library for at least thirty minutes before I heard the door open again.
"Valentine! You've finished your surveys already, have you?" Hojo pushed back the sleeve of his white lab coat and looked down at his watch. "Why, it's only a little after four o'clock. Good work boy!" he slapped my shoulder with one hand and took the black folder from me with his other hand. "Lucy told me she informed you of our situation."
I nodded. I hated the way he shortened her beautiful name. "Did she mention that we've chosen you as the male component?"
My jaw hit the ground. He could not be serious. Hojo let out his manic laughter. "Ah…my boy. Nervous are we? The worst part will be caring for the female while she carries the child." His manic laughter rung in my ears again.
"Why me?" Was all I could ask.
"I know your father. We were great buddies back in the day. Not to mention you have great genetics." I wanted to roll my eyes at this. What did genetics matter? This child would only be an experiment.
Hojo continued to laugh as he left me standing in the library again. Why me? Why this? If it were to come to this how come it couldn't have been with Lucrecia? I would have gladly produced a child with her. It then occurred to me why he may have chosen me. He might have noticed my infatuation for his wife. I could not hide it very well.
That night after the news of what was to happen spread I was harassed by many of the other Turks. Especially by the most annoying that also happened to be my roommate in the mansion. I was lucky enough to only have one roommate, but of course he had to be the most annoying of the bunch. I was grateful enough that he spent most of his time sneaking out to drink at the club down the street.
"You suck yo! Major ass!" Reno informed me. We were both lying on our twin sized beds staring up at the ceiling. I was trying to get to sleep as soon as possible before he started his monstrous snoring.
"Fill free to approach Hojo and ask him to take my spot." I said emotionlessly.
"You don't wanna get to screw a hot chick? I heard him say he wanted a young fresh one too." I rolled my eyes at these lewd comments. I was not that type of guy. When I didn't say anything else Reno continued on. "You must be gay or something. Yeah definitely I always knew there was something strange about you."
I turned my head sharply and glared at him. I then began to wonder if I shot him would I be penalized in any way. Even so, it would probably be worth it.
Aubre Naluri:
Dinner with my family was disturbingly quiet. I was worried that Jadine would try to tell my parents what I had done that day. They would both have a cow if they even thought I had exchanged words with a Turk. Suddenly my father spoke.
"Natalie, were you aware that Turks were raiding the town for young women today?" His booming voice startled me almost enough to choke on the pork chop I was chewing.
"No, I wasn't. I would not have left the girls home alone had I been aware." She bowed her head apologetically. My father was never physically abusive, but he could leave mental bruises from all the verbal abuse he used. He began to scold her for being so stupid.
"You girls didn't answer the door to any of 'em did you?" He pointed his fork at Jadine then at me, then back at Jay. He rested his eyes on me, narrowing them suspiciously in the look that would always catch a liar. I looked down at my plate.
"No father we did not." I said politely. I felt his eyes burning holes into the top of my head as I kept it bowed. Finally the burning sensation left and I rose my head to see that he was no longer staring at me, but at Jay. She was easy to break. I silently prayed that she would keep her mouth shut.
She shifted uncomfortably as she tried not to look our father in his eyes.
"Oh hell! What did those Turks do to you!?" My father stabbed the pork chop with his fork and stood up. Steam might as well have been rolling out of his ears and nose.
"They just wanted me to fill out a survey. He even paid me 150 gil!" I held out the money and showed my father. He brought a hand to his head and took a few breaths before yelling.
"Aubre Janelle Naluri!! Now they've got you in their system! You might as well join the damn Turks and become an outlaw! Have I not taught you two better than this?!" he stormed off knocking his wooden chair over. I flinched as it clunked loudly on the wood floors of our kitchen.
"Please tell me you didn't." My mother said softly. She already had tears in her eyes. What could a little survey do? They didn't even ask for my name or address. How could they even find me? I nodded solemnly. Yes I had…
Jadine sent me a look of apathy. I snapped my eyes at her. If she had just of kept herself under control I wouldn't have gotten in trouble. I can pretty much forget about the party this weekend at the lake. The three of us at the table flinched as we heard my father breaking things in the bedroom.
Author's notes: Assume that Reno and Rude were Turks back when Vincent was.