Disclaimer: FFVII and all its
characters are the property of Squaresoft.
Path of Seduction
Chapter Eight
Gold Saucer was a riot of
color. The walls bore murals that would have been perfect for a nursery school,
the shapes large, vivid and bold. Bright balloons bobbed their way up to the
ceiling in a steady stream, seeming to almost move in time to the cheerful
theme park music blaring out from hidden speakers. Even the welcoming committee
was colorful.
“Welcome to Gold Saucer!” the
giant ‘chocobo’ flapped his wings for effect. Cloud did not know what to make
of him. Waddling around in a heavy costume did not strike him as a great way to
make a living, but people did what they had to do and he was hardly one to
judge. He ducked out of the way and headed straight to the main door. The
blonde ticket seller seemed to be assessing him from a distance in a way he did
not like. Did everybody really know what a dirt-poor bunch they were right off
the bat? It was almost embarrassing.
The sound of a yelp and a wark
and a scuffle made him look back. Tifa and Aeris were tugging on Yuffie’s arm,
trying to keep her from swiping at the mascot with her shuriken while Barret
and Red wisely kept their distance.
“That’ll teach you! ‘Just
being friendly’, my ass!” the girl was shrieking. Cloud didn’t even want
to know. He caught the look in the ticket-seller’s eyes and inwardly sighed.
The commotion behind him was hardly helping matters. And the chirpy music was
really starting to get to him.
“How much?” he asked and
forced himself to listen to the spiel about prices, all the while silently
cursing a certain insane former-General for being the vilest type of sadist as
well.
__________________________
“Man, this place looks expensive,”
Cloud mumbled as he stared at the map on the station wall. It was a flashy
affair, lighting up to show the various dome-covered ‘saucers’ that gave the
amusement park its name. He supposed the giant tree structure was sensible for
something built in the middle of an ocean of sand, but why they had built it
there in the first place, he had no idea.
Aeris tiptoed to peek over his
shoulder, her eyes wide and childlike with delight despite the previous night’s
misgivings. Gold Saucer was the stuff of legend and she had waited so long.
“Oh, let’s have some fun!” She bounced on the tips of her toes as she tried to
contain the burning energy within. Barret’s angry grunt made her turn. She
studied him for a short while, assessing him with her innate Ancient’s
intuition. He was still so full of guilt, would have been raking himself over
the coals if he was not covering it with rage. She calmed down a bit. “I know
this isn’t the right time for this,” she muttered quietly, but made a beeline
for him anyway, schooling her face to her sweetest expression.
“Hey,” she called to him,
“Cheer up, Barret!” The large man pounded the wall behind him with his fist.
“I ain’t in no cheery mood so
just leave me alone!”
“You sure? That’s too bad!”
She forced herself to keep smiling through the reaction she was getting.
Barret’s anger was shifting from himself, to her, then to Cloud and finally
dispersed to a general sense of everything, the way it usually was.
“You kids do whatever the hell
you want! Don’t forget we’re supposed to be going after Sephiroth!” He stormed
past the rest of them and hopped into a little doorway, one marked ‘
“I think he’s mad,” she said
with a nearly mocking sweetness.
“Ya think?” Yuffie snapped
with hardly any fire.
Aeris smiled and for a split
second the wicked, wild glint of mischief shone through her eyes for any who
knew to look for it. Tifa smiled with her though her eyes lacked the light of
knowledge. she did not know half of what had transpired right in front of
her.
“He’ll probably be okay now.”
Cloud ignored the turmoil
behind him, frowning. He still had no idea where he should go. What kind of
game was Sephiroth playing, running through a place like this? It hardly fit
what Cloud remembered of the man. Did the dark SOLDIER suddenly feel the need
to take a break from the killing to bet on chocobo races? Or play in a video
arcade?
The man must have been looking
for something. No other explanation would make much sense. There was hardly
anyone worth assassinating in the park right now other than Avalanche, and if
Sephiroth had wanted them dead Cloud knew he would have seen to it already.
What puzzled him now was what the madman could possibly want, because he knew
it would not be good, and where in this aggravatingly happy place it was to be
found. The map was no help, but then he supposed there would hardly be a sign
saying, “Mad SOLDIERS’s Trinkets Sold Here!”
He sighed. There was nothing
left to do but search and he hoped his group would not attract too much
attention to themselves in the process. He turned around to see Red chewing a
snarl out of his shoulder while his ears moved in time to the music and three
female posteriors sticking out of the tunnel doorways.
“Do we just hop down and
slide, or what?” Yuffie’s voice echoed with a metallic ring.
“I suppose. I can’t see the
end though,” Aeris said in the same tone. “It’s pretty dark in here.”
Cloud sighed again. Was there
something in the air here, perhaps some subliminal line in the music, that just
turned people into children?
Tifa piped up, “I think I can
see a light in this one. Maybe if I just got a little further!” Cloud watched
with a guilty fascination as she wriggled around in the attempt. He supposed it
could be worse. At least the view was interesting.
“Come on,” he called out and
watched the girls’ pop out of the tunnels like bright-eyed rabbits. “Let’s try
this one first.”
___________________________
“Hmm, could have sworn Barret
came through this one,” the blond took in the scene around him. There were
families and couples and more chocobo mascots parading around under the lights
that boldly proclaimed that particular section of the park to be the ‘
Yuffie said his thoughts for
him. “What the hell is that thing? And why is it coming this way?”
“Hey, you!” The thing on the
moogle’s head actually spoke as it approached, “Why so glum?” Cloud realized it
was a cat, dressed in a cape and crown. “The name’s Cait Sith! You can call me
Cait but don’t call me Caity!” Cloud only grew more confused at the way the
moogle beneath the little metal cat gestured.
“Come on, buddy! I’ve got just
the thing to cheer you up! I’m a genuine fortune telling toysaurus. How about
it? Want me to read your fortune? A bright future! A happy future!”
Tifa smiled. “How ‘bout it,
Cloud? Sounds like fun!”
The toysaurus bounced. “One
for the pretty lady!” It did a move between a jiggle and a dance, spit out a
slip of paper and handed it to her. Aeris and Yuffie crowded around her in
excitement.
“What’s it say, Tifa?”
The former barmaid’s brow
furrowed in confusion. “Give into the good will of others and something big
will happen by summer. What does that mean?”
Cait Sith bounced again,
“Sorry, let me try again!” Cloud took the next one.
“Be careful of forgetfulness.
Your lucky color is . . . blue?” he shook his head. “That’s really no help to
us here. What we need is someone who can tell us where Sephiroth is.”
Cait Sit apparently was not
going to be discouraged. “Hey, I can find missing things, missing people,
anything, if you would quit poking me for a second, kid!” The last part was
aimed at Yuffie, who was busy conducting an investigation of her own.
“I just want to know what that
big zipper is for?” she yelped in defense as he swung his little megaphone at
her.
He readied himself, shaking
and bouncing like a terrier and produced one more slip of paper. Cloud looked
it over and could not explain the dread he felt growing in him. “What’s this
supposed to mean?” he demanded, voice shaky and quiet.
Aeris tried to look over his
shoulder, “What is it?” Cloud held the paper out for all to see.
You will find what you seek, but you will lose something dear.
“Oh,” Tifa’s eyes widened.
“That doesn’t sound too good. But don’t worry about it Cloud. These things are
all just games.”
Cait looked interested
himself, “First time I’ve ever gotten something like that! Now I’ve just got to
come along with you guys to see what happens!” He spun around and swung the
megaphone in a downward arc. Yuffie shrieked again as it connected with her
head. The little cat shook his fist, “Look, kid, leave the zipper alone, okay?”
The toysaurus bounced back,
bumped into something behind it and wobbled precariously, with both the
moogle’s and the cat’s arms flailing around before a helpful nudge at the back
straightened him. Red walked around from behind, peering up at the cat with his
one eye.
Cait bounced again, “What’s
this thing doing, eh?”
Red sat down to scratch his
ear, “You smell funny. More metal than stuffing.”
The little toy eyes widened in
surprise. “You mean the big cat talks?”
“Why not?” Red asked. “The
little one does.” The toy emitted a rasp that served for laughter.
“Well, why not? Let’s get
moving!” He looked up to see the blond and the two long haired women heading
through one of the exits. “Hey, guys, wait a minute!”
“Ah, forget it!” Yuffie picked
herself off the floor. “We can find the old folks later. Let’s hit the arcade!”
__________________________
“Speed Square? Is it some kind
of ride?” Tifa asked. Aeris hardly heard the question. She was too busy looking
around and was the first to spot the muscle-bound man in the shamefully tiny
briefs staring intently at them. For a moment she was afraid that he was
looking directly at her. She glanced away as quickly as she could, not wanting
that kind of attention, but he had already started walking towards them.
Fortunately it was Cloud he addressed first.
“Hey, boy! You with the blond
spikes!”
Cloud spun around. “Boy?”
The man grinned, “How’s it
going so far, boy? Having fun?” He seemed to notice the two pairs of female
eyes, deep emerald and crimson, peering around the blond’s shoulders. “Ah, you are
having fun. Well good, good for you, boy.”
Cloud felt his patience
growing thin. Bad enough he had a madman to stop, that most of his team was
wandering around in various stages of idiocy and that the music was driving him
nuts. Now this huge, severely underdressed man was calling him ‘boy’.
“My name’s Cloud!” He just
barely kept himself from snapping. “Who do you think you are, calling me
‘boy’!”
“Me?” The man did not seem
insulted. “I’m the owner of Gold Saucer. The name’s Dio and you can feel free
to call me that.” The blond did not say a word. Dio wondered if this was the
right one. “Say, boy, do you know what a Black Materia is?” This only got a
confused stare out of the blond and an indecipherable look from the green-eyed
girl behind him.
“Why do you ask me?”
Dio stretched as he answered.
“Well, a while back a boy about your age, maybe a little older, came in and
asked me if I had a ‘Black Materia’ and I don’t even know what that is. I
thought that since you boys are the same age and both carrying big swords
around you might know what it is, or at least know who he was.”
This got the group’s
attention, the blond boy’s especially. “Was he wearing a black coat?”
“Actually, he was!” They were
getting somewhere now. “He had a tattoo of a number one on the back of his hand
too. That the guy you had in mind, boy?”
Cloud did not even notice the
title now. “Do you know where he went?” Dio laughed.
“Not a clue, boy, but drop by
the Battle Arena sometime! You’ll probably like it and all my collections from
battles and travels are there too. I might not have a Black Materia, but I’ve
got stuff that’s probably even better.” He laughed again and this time looked
right past Cloud to address Aeris. “Might be something of special interest to
you too, little lady.” He winked and grinned as he walked away, leaving her
more than a little nervous and slowly turning the color of her dress. Tifa
frowned at his retreating form.
“Muscle-heads! Hm! They’re the
same wherever you go! Don’t let it get to you, Aeris.”
__________________________
Aeris the pair alone at the
chocobo races, hoping that they could resolve some small bit of what hung so
thick and heavy between them or at least enjoy each other’s company. She could
see, anyone could, the quiet hope in Tifa’s eyes whenever they turned to their
blond leader, but what Cloud himself felt was a mystery even to her.
His eyes shifted like sands.
The threads of emotion rolling off him twined and tangled till she could not tell
which was the true line. It was all so twisted. Sometimes Aeris swore he could
match Tifa for shy, distant longing. More often, though, there was something
frightfully familiar, something she had not seen in anyone for a long time, a
drive and a passion, single-mindedness and wicked playfulness that for some
reason did not quite fit with a head of bright yellow.
Or perhaps it was just wishful
thinking on her part, the long-stifled yearning to have what she had once known
return to her, that made shadows gain substance. She sighed as she stepped
around laughing children, slowly making her way towards the doors. It was not
in her power to unravel the coils of spirit. She could only see the snarl and
point the way.
The last thread deep within
the coil that was Cloud disturbed her most of all, that intense, fiery,
familiar stare that seemed to stare right through her. It showed itself only
rarely, when the blond was shrouded in eerie silence, when glowing blue swirled
and seemed to hold something of the green sea instead of the sky above it.
He had turned that look on her
just a short while ago, when her eyes had been trained on the coursing birds.
She had felt it on her like a slowly rising wave of warmth, had met it full on
with her own gaze for a heartbeat. “The Battle Arena,” he said, before that
fire was replaced by shadowy emptiness. She would not permit herself to ponder
where such a gaze had come from, or why it came and went as it did. Some things
were too frightening for thought.
She stepped out of the tunnel,
blinking under the bright lights of the Battle Arena. The staircase to the
fighting ring towered so high above her that she had to draw breath for the
wonder of it. The warmth in her blood, stirred slowly awake by a distant stare
and a quiet suggestion drew her gently onwards. There was something of special
interest to her there.
She politely declined several
invitations to watch a match as she made her way upwards, citing interest in
the exhibits and too little time for even that. She paused at the entrance,
both the get her bearings and catch her breath. The floor was full of young
fighters stretching and throwing practice kicks. It took a while for her to
spot the exhibition hall and make her way in.
There was nothing of immediate
interest. Only a few archaic weapons, old hunting masks, some ancient tome on
the art of war lay well-cushioned within display cases lined up neatly behind
velvet rope. There were smaller items, newer ones, Dio’s tribute to himself,
the little trophies he had won as a fighter. Aeris had to shake her head at the
evidence of his ego. There was nothing in there that she could find
particularly interesting and she found herself wondering what trick of fate had
led her to this place, if what had convinced her to come here had been all in
her head. Perhaps it was best to leave before Dio should show up.
She completed a brisk circuit
of the room and turned to leave. A light flutter made her turn to see a piece
of paper, crisp and white and neatly folded, fluttering to the floor, blown off
its resting place by the gust of her spinning. It slid right to her feet when
it hit the floor just the right way up for her to see the large letter ‘A’
written on it. Was this what she was meant to see? She glanced around to be
sure the room was still empty before reaching out. She unfolded the page. The
script inside was neat, bold and somewhat stark, a very masculine hand. It was his note for her, it had to be.
Angel,
I long for you.
I wait for you.
S.
She pressed the paper to her
heart, smiling as a flush colored her face. What a silly, boyish thing for him
to do, to go through all that trouble to get such brief words to her. It was
almost ridiculous and still so flattering. She giggled, almost beside herself
with giddiness. She read the note again, soaking in the quiet reassurance that
she did not stand alone with this irrational burning in her soul, that he would
see her again and not leave her alone. Last night’s solitude had almost been
too much, but she could bear such loneliness again if she had this small
promise to hold close to her fluttering heart.
A loud racket from the Arena
broke her out of her musing. Was that gunfire? It sounded much closer than the
other sounds from the Arena had. It was so close it almost hurt to hear it.
When screams joined the noise it turned her heart’s fluttering to a pounding.
Something was very, very wrong. She took one step forward in curiosity just as
the glass display case next to her shattered. She stifled a terrified shriek as
she crouched to the floor, the shards raining all around her. It did not take
much to know that something was terribly wrong. Someone was out there wielding
rage and a gun.
If her friends were here, they
could do something, but she was one person, hiding behind a display case with
her hands over her ears in a futile attempt to block out the sound of the shots
and the screams. She could no more silence that she could the agony of the
guards and fighters as their souls were forced from their bodies. Those screams
that human ears would never hear tore brutally through her.
Instinctively, her mind
wrapped around itself for protection, blocking out fear and death as it tuned
its focus to the immediate problem. Slowly, without Aeris’ even knowing it, her
thoughts reached out as one small tendril from within the barricaded psyche,
carrying the words she was not even aware she was frantically whispering. Stop it, please, stop it. You don’t have to
do this. The thread reached a mass of burning rage. She felt it and
flinched.
Then all was still. The shots
stopped as quickly as they had begun and there were no more sounds other than
her pained, terrified gasping that turned into deep sobs. She stooped in the
pool of shards, the note crumpled, torn and forgotten in her hand. It was over
now and there was nothing she could do but pull herself together with the
knowledge that those spirits so tormented in their last moments were in a
better place now.
She heard footsteps coming up
the stairs. They stopped abruptly at the entrance to the lobby. “What . . .
what happened here?” The voice was familiar. She sprang from her position and
flew out of the exhibit hall, ignoring the bodies she knew were lying there,
people she had seen alive just a few minutes ago.
“Cloud! Cloud!” She caught on
to his arm, reassuring herself that he was solid and unhurt. He shook her off
and ran ahead to inspect the bodies, leaving her with the others behind him.
Barret was missing. “Cloud, where are you going?”
Yuffie stared at her with wide
eyes. “Did you see it happen?”
Aeris shook her head. “No. I
only heard it. I didn’t see anything.”
“Did Sephiroth do this?” Cloud
threw the question out to no one in particular. He toed the body of a young
man, seeking out the wound beneath the dark red stain. It was not the long
slash he had expected. “No,” he whispered, “It’s not him . . .they’re all shot.
Sephiroth would never use a gun.” A slight movement in the corner of the room
caught his eye. Someone was still alive. Cloud rushed over. “What happened?” he
barked, “Tell me what happened here! Who was it?”
“A man . . . he had a gun . .
. on his arm,” the young man wheezed.
Aeris stepped forward, in
alarm. “It couldn’t be . . .” The loud tramp of boots up the stairs made them
all turn. Dio stood at the entrance, flanked by two guards.
“Did you all do this?” he
roared. Cloud hesitated in his answer, shocked at the question.
“N . . . no, it wasn’t us.”
Cait Sith saw the look in
Dio’s eyes and backed up towards the fighting ring. “Better move, guys,” he
whispered, “Things are going to get ugly.” He bounded awkwardly up to the door
with the rest of Avalanche close behind him. Dio’s orders to the guards echoed
around them as they flooded into the arena.
It was a dead end. They were
soon surrounded. Dio stepped in, angry and menacing. “That’s as far as you go!”
Cloud stepped out in front of
him. “Listen to me! We didn’t . . .” Dio cut him off.
“There’s only one way we deal
with criminals around here! You’re going down below!”
The guards closed in. Aeris
tried to break free but it was useless. They grabbed her arms, hoisted her
straight off the floor and carried her over to a gaping hole that she had not noticed
before. She struggled harder, heard Yuffie cursing behind her, screaming that
it was all a mistake. The guards held her over the hole, awaiting further
orders. “No, don’t!” she cried, but the guards paid no mind. At a sign
from Dio that she did not see, they released her. She fell hard and fast into
the darkness. She would remember the terror of that first lurch, but she would
not remember landing.
__________________________
She stood quietly by some
hours later, inside the run-down living room that had once been part of a house
in the original Corel. When Barret had said his home town had been buried, she
had not thought it had been like this. Her mind still hurt from the story he
had told and her head still hurt from the blow it had taken. She was only glad
to be in a shelter, surrounded by friends.
This desert prison was a
dangerous place. It had taken mere minutes for that to become apparent. If the
inmates did not kill them, the heat would. There was only one way out, that
strange man had said, and for that they needed the Boss’ permission. Exactly
who the Boss was, she had no idea, but the others were intent on helping Barret
resolve his problem first. She had been so glad to learn that the slaughter in
the Battle Arena had not been his doing.
“Look, it’s something I have
to do by myself,” he was saying. “I don’t want none of you getting hurt because
of this. It’s between me and Dyne. I got to apologize to him before I can rest
in peace.” Aeris could feel the waves of guilt resurfacing from him and deep
inside, she understood.
Cloud disagreed, “Do whatever
you want to do. Is that what you want to hear from me? Well that’s no good. I
can’t let you go alone. If you die on me I’m going to have nightmares.”
Aeris spoke up softly from her
corner, “This can’t be the end, Barret. Weren’t you going to save the Planet?”
Barret did not look outwardly happy at the support he was getting, but he was
warming up to the idea inside.
“We’re not going to let you go
alone, Barret,” Tifa said.
Aeris watched quietly as
the rest of the group pledged their support, assuring the gunman that they were
all in it together. She leaned against the arm of the couch as she tried to
soothe her mind. Too much had flown through her today. The waves of emotion had
gone from one extreme to another too rapidly and the bump on her head was not
helping matters. She had a headache and it was rapidly growing worse. She
needed some time alone to center her own thoughts, to filter out the strands
that were not hers, but she did not dare take a walk alone in this place. It
was too hot, too dangerous, but she needed the silence. The pain was not
letting up. There were dark spots before her eyes.
“Hey!” Someone cried out.
Aeris felt a strong grip on her arm but it was not enough to keep her from
swaying. For a moment she saw nothing, felt nothing, knew nothing but the need
to draw a deep breath. Slowly, the darkness faded and she found herself lying
on the couch with everyone looking down at her. Red nuzzled her face as he
tried to wake her.
“I’m okay,” she assured them.
“I just got dizzy for a moment there.” Her statement drew frowns from all
around.
“Are you sure?” Tifa felt her
forehead and Aeris had to smile at the gesture. “It’s not the heat?” Aeris
shook her head.
“Maybe you hit your head
harder than you thought,” Yuffie remarked wryly. Cloud stepped out of sight.
“Give her some breathing room,
people.” Aeris murmured her thanks. Even well-intentioned concern was proving
too much for her. All she wanted was quiet rest, sleep if she could have it,
but mostly just some time away from the crowd.
She pressed one hand across
her eyes. “Sorry.” The voices continued, not directed at her, but they seemed
to be discussing something important. She could hardly put in the effort to
make sense of the words. A wet nose against her chin roused her. She opened one
eye lazily to find Red watching her.
“They went with Barret,” he
told her, his voice almost a deep purr. “Cait Sith and I stayed to watch you.”
Aeris smiled gratefully and petted his nose, laughing inside at the way he
tried to dodge it before sliding back into the easy comfort of a quiet room.
She sunk deep within herself and reached for the thread that tied her to the
Planet, felt it reach back to her and cradle her in a small pocket of its
being. She let its slow humming wash over her like a lullaby till she was only
vaguely aware of her surroundings.
The couch she lay on faded
from her mind. Every emotion that was not hers was left behind the deeper she
went, until she floated in a place that was hers alone. She would stay here as
long as she could to let her defenses rebuild themselves. And it would be good
to simply rest and perhaps dream in this peaceful plane. Time was meaningless
here. She lost track of it.
She had no idea how long she
had drifted within her own mind when she first felt the intruder, the
unmistakable presence of another at the gates of her being. Inside, she jumped
awake, fully prepared to assess that presence. There were very few others who
could reach out with their own minds the way she could, and none who should
have been able to brush so closely against hers. The long peace she had
experienced prevented serious alarm. Instead, what she felt bordered on a wary
curiosity.
The dark presence did not push
any further, nor did it move away. It stayed there, almost as if waiting for
acknowledgment, just outside of what she had thought to be her own hidden
space. None could ever enter here. None should have ever been able to find it
and know it for what it truly was and yet this strange one did. She carefully
reached towards it, seeking some reason for this impossibility. What she found
flooded her with joy.
“Are you alright?” he asked. “Does it hurt badly?” The words were a soundless
impression through the barrier that separated her mind from his, but she needed
no voice to see his concern and bask in it.
“I am fine. I was only tired.” She pressed herself as close to him as she could, longing
for an embrace, but in a place where they had no bodies, such things were
impossible. It was not important. He had found her and that was enough. What
did it matter if the walls of their minds stood between them? She could feel
his warmth as surely as she had felt his arms around her despite the barrier.
“I’ve missed you,” she confessed and felt the same sentiment emanating from him, the
flow of it softened somewhat by the wall that stood between them. Even in this
place of rest, the burning he caused in her took hold, all the more powerful
for having him so close and still out of reach. If she could have torn down
those walls, both his and hers, and mingled their thoughts, their souls, she
would have done it in an instant. She strained at the very borders of her
being, trying to feel more of him brushing against her no matter how lightly it
did so. The walls were cruelly thick.
“I will see you soon,” the silent promise came and she felt his frustration, only a mere
glimmer of it but enough to convince her that it matched her own. Deep in his
mind where he could not lie, he felt the strange ties between them as strongly
as she did and like her, he did not know why. The quiet revelation soothed her.
She would see him soon. He would wait for her. She settled against the edge of
her mind’s own space, trying to be as close to him as she could and returned to
her state of rest, cushioned by the presence of the dark one.
__________________________
Red rolled onto his back and
wriggled on the rough floor boards in an attempt to reach an itch on his back.
He did not often get an opportunity to do these uniquely animal things when the
group was on the move. The house was almost empty. The little robot was dormant
at the door and Aeris was asleep so he indulged, never removing his eye from
her for a second. He had been given a duty to watch her and he was determined
not to fail in it. He rolled back onto his stomach and lay very still. Aeris
murmured something and seemed about to wake, but she soon quieted and her
breathing remained steady and slow.
Red’s ears twitched. Something
was making his fur rise. He sprang up, ready to pounce, but there was nothing
there. He sniffed the air and detected no odd scent. Still, he could not shake
the feeling that there was something there that did not belong.
Aeris murmured again, her
words too soft even for his ears. She reached up with one arm as if to caress
something in her sleep. Red watched, curious and slightly alarmed. The girl did
not wake, but only turned in her sleep to pillow her head on her hands. The
strange prickle along Red’s spine refused to leave. He froze in position, ready
for action. If there was a threat he would not meet it lying down. Aeris slept
on unperturbed.
Red watched. He waited. The
square of light from the little window slid slowly across the floor, growing
dimmer all the while. There was a sharp rap at the door and Cloud’s voice came
through the wood. “It’s us! We’re coming in.” The presence slid away and Red
immediately felt his fur flatten. The strange thing was gone.
Yuffie burst in through the
door. “We’re getting out of here! And guess what? We got a buggy? Now we don’t
have to walk!” She ran over to the couch. “Hey, Aeris! Wake up!”
The flower girl’s eyes opened
slowly. Yuffie bounced in excitement, “Gawd, girl, you sure sleep long! Did you
hear? Cloud won us out of here and we got a buggy!”
Red studied the rest of
Avalanche as they filed in, all in various stages of weariness and relief. If
there had been danger here as he had feared, it was gone now. There was no
point in needlessly worrying them.
Amidst the excited chatter,
Aeris pressed her hand to her chest, where a small, crumpled scrap of paper lay
hidden, and smiled.
__________________________
The swordsman sat under a
tree, slowly returning to himself and considering how typically reckless it was
of the blond puppet to find himself in such a situation. There were no straight
roads for that one, it seemed. And the boy had managed to get the green-eyed
one hurt as well, though not seriously. That alone had kept the silver-haired
one from retracing his steps to skewer the boy where he stood.
He leaned his head back and
felt it thud against the rough bark as he sighed, resigned. He had actually
found her, felt her with his mind, though she lacked the signs in her body that
drew him to the blond and the others like him. Her essence shone out like a
beacon in the dark, so different from his own. He had brushed his mind against
her own, but he could not enter. She was not like his pawns. They could only
draw what power he let them, only be his tools to use. She was a power in her
own right and he could not get past the barriers that had separated them.
If only he could have reached
out and actually touched her. Everything she was, the bare core of her being
had been there, flickering like a torch with her every thought. It drew him in
with its heat, setting his desire for her body, her soul, for all of her
blazing like the desert sun, only to leave him tormented at a gate neither of
them could cross. He almost cursed the darkness in him, the thing that set him
apart from humans, made him better. There was no room for shadows in that airy
space of hers, no opening for him.
Drifting close by was the best
he could have and even that had been dangerous. Animals, even sentient ones it
seemed, were acutely aware of the unseen. There was nothing he could do but
stay very still, make no sudden shifts of the mind. He never would have hurt
her. The cloud of his mind was dark, but there had never been any threat. He
had longed to wrap his consciousness around his lady’s as much as he could, but
caution demanded that with an audience, even one with no true sight, he maintain as unthreatening an
appearance as possible.
He hung his head forward in
despair as the moon rose high above the trees and slivers of light filtered
through the leaves to light him up, a figure of black and white on the deep
green. He sighed. He needed her so much, longed to wrap his arms around her and
see the laughter in emerald eyes as he had that one precious night on distant
sands. He wanted to feel her beneath him again, to know those soft curves more
intimately. He feared he was forgetting the scent of her skin, longed to bury
his face in her chest and so burn the fragrance into his memory.
She would be coming soon and
he would wait for her here. Her own innocent desire would bring her to him. The
half-dreamed meeting had drawn the threads between them. When she came he would
fasten it tight and soon, he promised himself, soon, he would pull the strings.
**************************