Emerald Crisis--Final Fantasy VII--Disc One, Mission 7

Midgar Region: W.R.O. Hunter’s Lodge\

            Smoke lingered in the skies above the Lodge.  Around the facility, W.R.O. personnel worked through the night to quench the flames and restore power.  Wires had been cut and the facility left dark.  The back-up generators didn’t even last through the night.

            Reeve took charge after the battle and organized the Hunters again.  Extra soldiers were relocated and used to secure the facility.  Yuffie was returned to the infirmary, where she was checked over thoroughly by an overworked medic, who gave her a rushed go ahead and went on to the next body.

            The materia left behind was moved to the Edge branch of the W.R.O.  Reeve would follow it there a few hours later.  All of the passcodes at the Lodge were changed in short order.  The passcodes throughout the rest of the system were done the day before.  Specialists were brought in to seek out any lingering threats.

            Yuffie spent her time in the mess, watching the city in the distance.  The sky was bleak and grey, and by midday the smoke was finally starting to dissipate.  She could still smell burning wood and hot steel, but the salty sea air was mixing slowly into it.

            She was leaning against the guard rail when a deep voice came from behind her.  “How are you feeling?”  Yuffie turned to find Reeve standing there, clutching two cups of black coffee.  He offered her one, and she accepted it graciously and set it to the side with no intention of drinking it.  “We didn’t get our chance to talk after that first attack.”

            “No, we didn’t.”  She looked at him.  “You’re still busy as ever.  And tall, too. And is that grey in your beard?”

            Reeve laughed.  “Yes, on all three accounts.”  He blew on his coffee and then sipped it slowly.  “How are your injuries?”

            “You kidding?”  Yuffie punched the air.  “I’m the Great Ninja Yuffie.  Recovery is my middle name.  So long as you spell my name with materia.”

            “Hmm.  You always were full of energy.”  Reeve rested the cup on the guard rail and rested his hands around it.  He stared out at the barrens, toward Edge, and beyond it.  “Two attacks in under a week.  They’re becoming more aggressive.”

            “Yeah.  Did you guys have any idea that this would happen?”

            “If I had, do you think I would have let it happen.  It all makes sense in hindsight, however.  Reed was insistent on keeping Hollis here.  I should have noticed.”

            “Yeah, probably.”  Yuffie nudged Reeve, who laughed quietly.

            “I wanted to warn you, Yuffie.  It isn’t just Reed that was the problem.  He had authority, but not enough to do this alone.”

            Yuffie remembered Oliver.  Her levity died.  She took a deep breath and grabbed the guard rail.  “Yeah.”

            “We’ll be investigating everybody.”
            “Me?”

            Reeve laughed again and scratched his beard.  She could see the bags under his eyes and the sleepless nights that caused them.  Looking at him now, she could also see that he was losing weight.  His cheekbones were more pronounced.  “No, not you, at least not really.  We’ll ask questions, but everyone knows where your loyalties lie.”

            “Thanks for that, I guess.”

            Reeve hummed and drummed his fingers against his cup.  He took another sip.  “They took some experimental materia, powerful things we found in some old Shinra facilities.  Very dangerous, if it falls into the wrong hands.”

            “The Emerald Lotus is definitely the wrong hanss.”  She pushed off the rail, stood with her hands on her hips.  “When do I leave?”

            “Hm?”  Reeve looked at her.  “You don’t.  I want you here, back on your original mission.  With the Hunters down a director and a field agent, and the others here under scrutiny…”

            “Daisy is in no trouble, and she can do all the work alone.  Seriously, I think sometimes I just get in her way.”

            “She’s better at hoarding materia than you are? I find that hard to believe.”  He smiled his winning, politician’s smile, and it was hard for Yuffie to remember that it was fake.

            “Reeve, come on.  I can be of better use to the W.R.O. than this, and you know it.”

            “We’ve already got someone on it, someone good.”  She glared at him, and he sipped his coffee to keep from looking her in the eyes.  “Look, I appreciate it, but what we need right now is stability.  You’re good at your job, cleaned up Wutai in a matter of days.  And Junon? I still brag to my friends about how I knew you way back when over that.”

            She added a frown to the mix.  “You don’t have any friends.”

            “Now, Yuffie…”

            “No, I deserve better, and you know I do.”

            “You’re fine where you are.”  She scoffed, and he said, “I mean, you are needed where you are.  Please.”

            She sighed now.  “Once, you trusted me with your most important missions.  Remember Deep Ground?”

            “I still do, Yuffie.  This is important.”

            “To you, but not to me.”  She turned on heel and returned inside, leaving Reeve alone with both coffees.

-Disc One-

            Yuffie wandered the halls in a huff.  She found her way downstairs and gazed at the broken materia vault, now emptied of all of its contents.  The materia was moved immediately, but it was futile.  Everything worth taking was taken, and the W.R.O. had only leftovers and an empty vault.  She stood in the center of it, hugging herself, staring at her loss.

            That was how Daisy found her, seated in the center, arms around her knees.  She joined Yuffie there, and they were in silence for a few seconds before Daisy asked, “You okay?”  Yuffie nodded and left it at that.  “You know,” Daisy said while gazing around the room, “I don’t think I’ve ever been down here.  From the very start, Reed and Oliver insisted on doing the cataloging.  At the time, I always thought it was a relief.”  She sighed.  “I always hated the paperwork.”

            “We both did,” Yuffie said, sulking on her bent knees.  “We were idiots.”

            “Can’t argue with you there.”  Daisy gazed at the burns across the floor, the scratches made by the door as it was hurled across the room.  They spread like flower petals from the doorway.  Daisy traced them with her fingers.  “Still, it’s hard to believe that they would betray us.”

            “Harder to believe that they could pull it off.  No, actually, not hard to believe, just frustrating.”  Yuffie glanced at Daisy.  “You okay?”

            “I am,” Daisy sighed, “I am surviving it.  I went for a walk.  Oliver said—He told me I could use some fresh air.  I was at the beach when I heard the explosions and made it back just in time to see you tumbling down.”

            “Oh.”

            “Did he say anything to you?”

            “No.  The coward.”

            “He—He has his reasons.  He must.”

            “Daisy, don’t waste your time on it, and don’t give him the credit.”  Yuffie glared at the walls, at the empty shelves, at the fractured tiles of the floor.  “We doesn’t deserve it.”

            “I guess not.”

            Yuffie looked at Daisy, who stared at the floor now, and she hugged her.  They had worked together for years and, even with a blade sticking from her gut, Daisy has never looked so weak before.  Yuffie rubbed her back.  “Don’t listen to me.  I mean, he was always fussing at us.  Maybe, in a way, he was trying to warn us about what was coming.”  Yuffie took a deep breath as they parted.  “Maybe, I just need some of that fresh air you were talking about.”

            Daisy sniffled and nodded, and then she rubbed her eyes.  When Yuffie stood, Daisy stayed, staring at the wall.

            On the way out, Yuffie pulled up her phone and called Shelke.

-Disc One-

            When Shelke answered she told Yuffie where to meet her at the Lodge.  Reeve flew her in to look over encrypted files found on Reed’s person after the battle was over.  She was given use of Reed’s old office, which had been completely cleared out.  Everything that he bad touched was taken for investigation.

            Shelke had her massive computer network set up.  Monitors hung from the walls and lit the room with their blue-white glow.  She sat in the center, eyes shining orange, her fingers doing an intricate dance across cyberspace.  The room smelled faintly of hot steel and stale air.

            Yuffie was in there for a few minutes just watching her before Shelke even noticed.  Even then, her acknowledgement meant a slight, somewhat disinterested nod, but it was enough.  Yuffie paced the room and looked at the data scrolling rapidly across the screens.  It moved too fast for her to read any of it. “So, Reeve brought you in?”

            “The Director asked me to analyze data drives found on Reed’s person, as well as his personal data drives and communications logs.”

            “Oh, come on.  Reed was pretty dumb, but he wouldn’t just leave anything incriminating on him.  It’s all got to be wiped, right?”

            “Yes, but anything deleted can be found and reconstructed if you know where to look.  This is why Reed made efforts to hide the data drives on his person, because he knew about me.”

            “Too bad for him that he got caught.”

            “Yes,” Shelke said.  She spoke with the same absence, as if she wasn’t in the room.  From Yuffie’s understanding, the other woman probably wasn’t.  With how her abilities worked, she was a million places at once.  Her corporeal body didn’t matter; her reach was infinite.  “I have files for you, if you would like them.”

            Yuffie stopped and stared at Shelke.  “Reeve doesn’t want me on the case.”  Hurt bled into her words, more hurt than she intended to show.

            “I know that,” Shelke said, and she looked Yuffie in the eyes.  The glow of her eyes dimmed, and Yuffie could see their natural blue behind it.  It was strange seeing her like that.  She hadn’t grown an inch and never would.  Forever, she would be an adult woman trapped in a child’s body, never aging, never changing.  Shelke reached into her back pocket and produced a data drive, which she jammed into one of the many devices on her arms.  Her eyes glowed.  “I also know that you’re not one to listen.”

            “True but I’m not feeling so defiant anymore.”  Yuffie sighed.  “Maybe I’m getting older, or maybe it’s because its’s Reeve telling me to back down this time.  I mean, he’s a smart guy and is running the entire W.R.O.  If there’s anyone out there who knows better than me, it’s probably him.”

            “But that isn’t what you’re afraid of.”

            Yuffie’s knitted her brow.  “Uh, huh?”

            “You are not afraid of disobeying but of what will happen after.  You’re afraid that you will make it worse or, perhaps, that you may even find yourself questioning the W.R.O. and Reeve himself.”

            “Please.”  Yuffie scoffed, shook her head.  “Now, you’re just talking crazy.  I wouldn’t find anything.”

            “There are black boxes that even I can’t get into,” Shelke said, and her eyes glowed like twin stars in the near-darkness of the room.  She pulled the drive from her arm and held it out to Yuffie.  “Even among the W.R.O. files.”

            Yuffie stared at the drive.  “Shelke, I don’t know.”

            “Yuffie Kisaragi, you know very well what you want and what you are.”  Shelke stared at Yuffie now and through her.  Her face was expressionless, her tone was empty, but there was something in the glow of her eyes, something in the blue of them.  Yuffie couldn’t quite place it, but she imagined it was something like hope.  “You are the White Rose of Wutai, the Great Ninja, veteran of the Jenova War, and the Deep Ground Incident.  You are Yuffie Kisaragi, for all the good and bad that entails.”

            “Veteran,” Yuffie repeated solemnly.  “To be honest, that just makes me feel old and tired.”  Even as she said it, she took the drive from Shelke.  “What exactly is on this thing?”

            “Everything,” Shelke said.  “And you have it first.”

            Yuffie grinned.  “It’s always good to have a head start in a race.”  She pocketed the drive.  “I’ll look at it later, but I have to ask, Shelke, why are you helping me?”

            Shelke paused in speech only.  Her hands moved as she thought, moving files, closing pages, opening new ones, altering her programs.  She seemed hardly human.  Even when she spoke, it was somewhat mechanical.  “Yours is a unique perspective, and one worth supporting.  You have been there from the beginning, starting with the field reports of Soldier First Class Zack Fair during his missions hunting rare materia at Shinra’s command, to the war with Shinra and then with Jenova after, through the battle with Bahamut Sin and the Remnants, and even during Deep Ground.  You have saved the world countless times and always done your best.  And you have saved your friends, as well.”

            Yuffie laughed, and she smiled proudly.  “Well, I guess.”  She stretched her arms over head.  “And you know that off the top of your head?”

            “I know it all,” Shelke said.  “I can access the electromagnetic field that surrounds the planet and, through it, interact with any computer within the network within an instant.  Anything hidden from me is hidden for a reason.”

            “Ah, right, you’re omniscient.  You would think I would remember that, considering how often it saves my rear.”  Yuffie went to the door. “Reeve won’t be happy, you know.”

            “Irrelevant.  You have been there from the beginning.  It hardly seems appropriate to change that now.”

            Yuffie glanced over her shoulder, and she smiled.  “You know, sometimes, you make no sense.”  She plugged the drive into her bracer and pulled up a holographic interface on its surface to start sifting through the files.  “But, who knows, maybe if I act quick enough, he won’t have time to get mad.”

            “That seems unlikely,” Shelke said.

            “Yeah,” Yuffie said, just before she stepped into the hall.  She had the files up and was starting her search.  “But, it’s worth a try.”

-Disc One-

            Yuffie spent her time alone in the mess hall, looking through file after file.  Reeve avoided her after their conversation.  All of the W.R.O. workers at the base did, too, and, without them, there wasn’t much left of the Hunters to bother her.  Only she and Daisy worked in the field and, with things as they were, Yuffie doubted more agents would be assigned to bolster their ranks.

            The files Shelke gave her were more than fragmented data.  She had, to the best of her ability, reconstructed much of the corrupted files through use of her own information resources and sheer intellect.  The picture it painted was not one of comfort.  The Emerald Lotus was larger than anyone expected, and they were looking for more than simple materia.  What they took, and what they left behind, was proof of that.

            Reed spent a lot of his time researching Midgar and had, apparently, pushed for Edge for years.  There was something near thre the Lotus wanted, but they didn’t have the resources or the numbers at the time to get it.  Their plan was to use the W.R.O., particularly the Hunters, to seek it out.  That plan seemed to have changed once Yuffie got herself involved.

            Whatever they were looking for was underneath Midgar.  This came as no great surprise to Yuffie, who knew from experience of Shinra’s deepest, darkest secrets.  They buried many things beneath the city as they built it.  She could only imagine the sort of dangers that still waited there, and she went to her locker to grab her things and prepare for the worst.

            That is when Daisy met her on the surface, on the burned and blackened landing strip outside of the base.  For so long Yuffie had seen the Hunter’s Lodge as home base.  She didn’t visit often, but it felt safe enough.  The battle changed it for her, reminded her of her first reaction on the day of their arrival.  It looked like a Shinra military base again, and she didn’t like how that left her feeling.

            Daisy was dressed in a jacket and jeans.  She had a tie fastened around her neck underneath the jacket and a white shirt buttoned and tucked.  Her pistols were hidden beneath the jacket.  Her dark hair was up in a tight ponytail.  They stared into each other’s eyes.

            “You look like you’re in better health.”  Yuffie tried to smile but knew it didn’t fit.  She didn’t feel like smiling after everything that happened.  Like Daisy, she was fully dressed, wearing her bracer and having her shuriken strapped in.  All of her materia was allocated appropriately.  She had her phone fixed inside of the bracer and the holographic interface ready.  “Reeve got big plans for you?”

            “He hasn’t talked to me yet.”  Daisy flipped her hair and looked away.  She and Yuffie stared out at the wasteland together.  Everything between Midgar and the sea was dying.  The air still smelled vaguely of smoke.  “I’m feeling restless, though.  It feels like I haven’t done anything lately.”

            “I know what you mean.  Feels wrong waiting around in a bed while the world goes crazy around you.”

            “Exactly.”  She looked at Yuffie again and crossed her arms over her chest.  “I’ll be frank; you look like you have a lead.”

            “I have…something.”

            “Is it related to Oliver?”

            Yuffie went quiet but stared Daisy in the eyes.  She couldn’t bring herself to speak.  Reed was a jerk and he was on the wrong side, but that didn’t mean he was entirely wrong about her.  She could still see Daisy with a blade sticking from her stomach.  Yuffie took a deep breath.  “Shelke found some files and pieced them together.  They don’t tell me much, but they did give me a direction.”

            “And you’re going to follow it?”  Yuffie nodded, and Daisy repeated the gesture.  “I’m going, too.”

            “No, Daisy, just, no.  You’re still injured, and Reeve doesn’t even want me involved.  Don’t let me drag you down.”

            “You’re not,” Daisy said.  “This isn’t about you at all.  It’s about me, and it’s about the dangers that the Emerald Lotus pose to everyone.”  She scratched her nose, and then her eyes hardened.  “Besides, I have a few words for Oliver.”

            Yuffie watched Daisy stare ahead, firmly, resolved.  It wasn’t anger that drove her, and it wasn’t thoughtless ambition.  Daisy was certain, clear, and convicted.  It showed in the set of her shoulders, in the steadiness of her gaze.  Yuffie couldn’t drag her anywhere she didn’t want to go, and she also couldn’t keep her from following.

            Yuffie knew that sort of conviction, and she also knew better than to challenge it.  She sighed.  “We’re going to lose our jobs for this, you know?”

            “Maybe but we’re also going to save the world.”

            Yuffie grinned, and they locked hands.  “You know, I’m always getting you into the best trouble,” she said, and more softly, “You’re with me?”

            “Until the end.”

            They squeezed each other’s hands and then burst into laughter.  Yuffie lifted her left leg and rubbed her foot against the back of her right leg.  “Okay, enough of that,” she said, thumbs hooked in her pants.  She looked around the asphalt.  “Your car still good? We need to head to Midgar ASAP if we want to get there before the others do.”

Emerald Crisis--Final Fantasy VII--Disc One, Mission 6

Midgar Region: W.R.O. Hunter’s Lodge\

            Yuffie returned late in the evening, squinting as she approached.  The airfield surrounding the Lodge glowed in the twilight, pale ghostly bulbs that illuminated the stirring dust.  The rain had soaked her through and she shivered in her approach, feeling more sick and fatigued than she had been before she left.  More than that, she felt despondent, disconnected from the world and from herself.  Aside from the storm, she was accompanied only by silence.

            At her approach, she noticed something wrong.  There were black helicopters settled on the field and soldiers moving about.  In the distance, she saw them moving, precisely and strategically, in small squadrons.  She paused and kneeled down, watching their movements.  The rain had covered their approach.

            The lights dimmed and flickered before going out entirely.  In the distance, she heard an explosion and felt it rumble in the ground.  Yuffie cursed to herself and ducked down further, approaching carefully in the fading light.

            The Emerald Lotus had been quiet since the attacks.  The interrogation of Hollis hadn’t turned up much, from what she knew.  Files on him told of a North Corel survivor turned mercenary.  He had as much reason to hate Shinra as anyone else in the world, and he told them that the W.R.O. was nothing but history repeating itself.

            Lotus himself was a complete mystery.  Theories in the mess hall had said that his trail went cold in the old Midgar sewer system.  The attack itself had been planned for months before.  The threat wasn’t as new in the making as they thought.  It had been a wound festering for years.

            This new attack led Yuffie to know something else: the parade was a feint.  Edge was terrified, and the W.R.O. was just as shaken.  It all proved to Yuffie that the Emerald Lotus was on no one’s side, but they still seemed to be gaining support.  New people disappeared each day.

            She stopped behind a steel crate outside of the building and ducked beneath it.  She took the time to check her phone but found no signal.  The Emerald Lotus was being careful here, but this sort of interference wouldn’t be permanent.  They were moving quickly and striking quickly, and then they would be moving back out.  Inside, she spied the emergency lights coming on, their red glow appearing in flashes in through open doorways.

            She took a deep breath, and she charged the front door.

            Smoke filled the halls.  Gunfire echoed around her.  Yuffie could see only by the flashing of the emergency lights, which blurred everything into a haze.  She sprinted first toward the infirmary, to check on Daisy, but she found no one there.  The room was as empty as the halls were.

            She left the infirmary, going deeper into the facility.  The Lodge held only one thing of worth—the materia vault.  If the Emerald Lotus were attacking for any reason, it would be for that, she was sure.  She found the stairs and took them down.

            The first floor of the Hunter’s Lodge—basement 1—was the entrance.  It was a web-work of offices.  The second floor, deeper below, held the more secured parts of the base.  The prison was down there, and so was the vault.  Buried beneath concrete and steel, it was the safest place within miles of Edge or Midgar.

            She came to a stop, kneeling beside a stairway wall and peeked out.  The holding cells were one way and the vault the other.  Smoke and flames rolled away from the vault and poured down the hall, and she could see flashes of green uniforms moving among the chaos.

            Another deep breath.  Yuffie doubted Lotus would be there himself, but she knew Hollis would already be free.  The vault was under attack, too, which also meant he wouldn’t be alone.  It occurred to her for the first time in her life that she might want to wait, leave the trouble for someone else, but she didn’t like the thought.  She pushed it away, focused on the task at hand, and fingered the throwing knife in her belt as she turned the corner.

            Entering the vault, she stepped over two broken bodies of W.R.O. soldiers.  The smoke helped to hide her approach, made it easy for her to move.  The first Lotus soldier she struck didn’t have time to react.  Yuffie had their arm behind her back and their head against the wall in a matter of seconds.

            A second soldier nearby reacted to the subtle noise their partner made.  They had their rifle up as she approached, but Yuffie seized them, hands on the soldier’s shoulders, feet planted into the soldier’s chest, and flipped them overhead and into a nearby wall.  They landed heavily, unconscious.

            Yuffie adjusted her grip on her dagger before she rose.  Stopping beside the vault, she looked in and found Hollis inside, flanked by three Lotus soldiers.  Materia was scattered around them, glittering in the dim light.  Six more soldiers inside were, busy loading materia into large trunks they had brought with them..

            Hollis snorted a laugh and turned.  He had his big arms crossed over his chest.  There was a wild look in his eyes.  “Well, well, look who’s here.  Hey there, girly.  Thought you’d still be in intensive care.”

            Yuffie winced.  Seeing him made her body ache, her stomach tense, but she forced herself to stand straight.  “I was getting a good rest, but I heard all the fun down here and thought I’d join in,” she said, flashing her dagger as she entered the vault.  “Things are getting out of hand though, big man.  Get back in your cell.”

            “Ms. Kisaragi, I thought I told you to leave.”

            Yuffie went stiff, her throat tight.  Reed entered behind her, his suit jacket open, revealing a black vest beneath.  His neat hair was a mess, and there was blood splashed across his face.  An electric rod sparked in one hand.  A bracer of materia gleamed on his wrist.  “We’ve been compromised,” Reed said, looking past her.  “The W.R.O. will be here soon, and we’re not equipped for a full battle.  Take what we have and go.”

            “Wait,” Yuffie said, looking between them.  Her eyes fell on Oliver, waiting in the hall way, who stared fixedly back at her.  “Wait...”

            “I’ve waited so long for this,” Reed said.  Lotus soldiers filed past the two of them.  Hollis lingered in the hall, beside Oliver, staring back at her.  The two of them left then, while Reed undid the cuffs of his jacket and tossed it to the floor.  “I’ve always hated you.  Hated your impulsivity, your insubordination, and your insistence on getting mixed up in everything around you.”

            “Traitors.”  Yuffie breathed the word.

            “Pick yourself up, Kisaragi.  Now isn’t the time to cry,” he said.  “I want to break you—kill you at your best!”

            Yuffie’s disbelief turned to anger.  She glared.  “The only thing you’re going to break is your hip, old man.  Now, get out of my way.  Oliver has some answers to give.”

            Reed gave a sour smile.  The materia on his wrist glowed brightly.  “You always did have a smart mouth.”  The rod in his hand sparked again as he gripped it tight.  “Time to teach you some respect.”

            He struck first, swinging his rod swiftly, stabbing it forward.  Flashing arcs of light danced along the shaft.  Yuffie ducked under the rod and then rolled across the floor, evading a spreading tide of flame that followed her.  Heat washed over her back.

            She jabbed at Reed and swiped with her knife, hitting only the air.  He sidestepped and brought his rod around in return.  They danced together, stepping through flame and debris, narrowly missing with each strike.  He landed a punch on her cheek, and she kicked him hard in return.  They parted, smiling

            Yuffie felt her tender cheek and grinned.  Reed growled in response, hitting the floor and sending a sheet of white ice spreading across its surface.  Yuffie leapt over it, landing steadily as the flames were swallowed.  Steam and smoke choked the air.

            They met again.  Reed blocked two jabs and caught Yuffie in the stomach with his rod, sending a shock through just after she escaped. Before she could retreat completely, however, he caught her again in the stomach with a sharp kick that knocked her into the wall.

            She grabbed his ankle as he tried to retreat and pulled him back toward her, forcing her knife into his shin.  He screamed and as he was tipped back, falling flat on the ice with her landing on him, her knee in his stomach.

            Wheezing, he rolled away, leaving his shock rod and clutching his gut.

            “I’ve fought worse than you as a kid.”

            Another growl, and he pushed off the ice, swinging with a wide haymaker, his bracer sparking.  Yuffie pulled back, watching his fist glide by, and punched him again, this time in the nose.  She felt the cartilage give.  Warm blood spread across her knuckles.  Yuffie shook the blood from her fingers as he retreated to the wall.

            “You bitch,” Reed shouted.  “I will kill you!”  He reached for his bracer only to find it gone.  Yuffie smiled back at him, holding the bracer up for him to see.

            “Looking for this?  Geeze, seems like you’ve grown senile in your old age.”

            “You...”

            “Me,” she said.  “What, Reed, did you forget who you’re fighting?  Let me remind you.”  She dropped the bracer, stopped smiling, and stared him hard in the eyes.  “I am the single white rose of Wutai, the hero of the Jenvoa War, and I just kicked your ass.  I am the Great. Ninja. Yuffie.”

            Reed stared a moment, and then laughed.  He laughed so hard that his entire seized, and he held his stomach, laughing and laughing until he started to cry.  “You?  You’re nothing but a fool.  The biggest fool I’ve ever met!”  He scooped up a materia from the floor, smiling with blood in his teeth and dripping from his lips.

            The air went tense and smelled of tin.  Yuffie dipped down and sprinted across, her feet leaving prints in the melting ice.  Heat moved through her, as a tickle of energy moved up her arm in a flash of light.  She leapt through it, sailing through the air, and landing in his chest knee first.  Bone gave, and so did his body.

            The materia hit the floor and rolled to a stop at a far wall.  Yuffie held him, braced against the wall, wheezing and twitching as the electricity teased her nerves.  A deep breath, and she dropped him to the floor and kneeled down beside him.  He was unconscious, breathing shallowly, and he was broken, not her.

            He wheezed beside her, slow and steady, and she was glad for it.  She hated him, but she still wouldn’t have like to see him die. She stood, and grabbed his bracer on the way out, and she sprinted down the halls, to the stairs, and up toward the surface, where Oliver and Hollis were making their escape.

-Disc One-

            Towers of smoke suffused the air, the wind stirring them into a murky cocktail that darkened the sky.  Clouds parted to reveal a helicopter settled on the asphalt, Lotus soldiers hauling enormous trunks into the interior as well as bags from other soldiers that were working elsewhere.

            Yuffie ran as hard as she could, her lungs burning from the smoke.  She was halfway to the helicopter as it started to lift, smoke swirling around it, fire writhing and swelling.  The anti-air turrets burned like beacons in the darkness.  Two more helicopters, white in color, hummed in the distance, making their slow approach.

            Screaming, Yuffie touched one of the materia fixed to Reed’s bracer and drew power from it. She hurled a ball of flame high up and it broke harmlessly against the helicopter’s underbelly, causing it to sway in the air but doing little else.  She ran hard, bent her knees, and jumped, letting one of her own materia carry her through the air.

            The wind whipped at her hair and she landed in the open doorway of the helicopter.  Two soldiers drew guns on her, but she had her protection spell ready before landing.  She ducked around, kicking one out and disarming the other.  A safety cable caught the first, while the cold steel of the helicopter interior caught the other.

            The helicopter rocked as she fought, stirring her stomach.  The glow of her materia faded.  Hollis sat back, crouched in a seat, watching with a smile.  His big body took up more room than two people would, and when he did rise, she could feel the vibrations of each footfall passing through the steel.  “Knew we couldn’t trust Reed to finish you off.”

            Oliver caught Hollis by the shoulder and pulled him back.  “No.”

            Yuffie braced against the interior walls and tried not to vomit.  She watched the two of them, watched the joy drain from Hollis’ face, the anger and disappointment that took its place.  There was a brief disagreement, and Hollis backed down, letting Oliver step forward to meet her.

            He looked her in the eyes, appearing almost sorry, and then pushed her out with his foot.  His movements were gentle, tender, without hate or malice, but she didn’t have the strength to hold.  The movement of the helicopter had sapped everything from her.  She fell, limp, and watched the helicopter disappear into the darkness.

            Just before landing, she conjured her protection materia to soften the blow.  The pavement broke, but she held together.  Only the wind was knocked from her as she recovered.

            She laid there a moment, on the hot asphalt.  Fire and smoke rose and spiraled as she listened to the whipping of the Emerald Lotus’ helicopter disappear, replaced by the approach of the W.R.O.  Vaguely, Yuffie thought she could hear Daisy calling for her, but she didn’t have the strength to respond.

Emerald Crisis--Final Fantasy VII--Disc One, Mission 5

Midgar Region: W.R.O. Hunter’s Lodge\

            Yuffie woke again in the Lodge’s hospital.  A splash of pain followed her into reality, starting in her stomach and spreading out like a wave.  It hurt to open her eyes, and it hurt more to realize that she was back in the same bed as a week ago.  She hadn’t felt this low since the fight with Nero and Deepground.

            She stared at the ceiling, counting the tiles.  The light hurt still, but she kept her eyes open and breathed through the pain.  Each intake made her want to vomit.  Each exhale brought her a fit of coughs.  She took some comfort in knowing that it could be worse—she could have not woken up at all.

            A few minutes passed before Tifa entered the room.  She had been waiting there.  Knitted fabric was left in the seat where she had been.  She yawned as she approached, and she smiled when she saw Yuffie.  “Oh, you’re awake.  That’s good.”

            Yuffie turned to see Tifa.  Denzel and Marlene were trailing after, both looking tired, but they smiled at her, and Denzel ran over to see her while Marlene waited patiently.  Yuffie smiled back.  “I am awake,” she said, pushing herself to sitting with extreme effort.  Her entire body felt like pudding.  “Mind telling me exactly what happened?”

            “Of course not.”  Tifa pulled her chair over and folded the knitting on her lap.  “What do you remember?”

            “Cid’s airship exploding and a big guy with sideburns.”  She looked Tifa in the eyes.  “He hit me, didn’t he?”

            “He did,” Tifa said.  “Shelke called me after giving you the info, and I decided to go in as back-up.”

            “That little—still, I guess I owe her.”

            Tifa smiled.  “You do,” she said.  “I found you and Hollis.  Shortly after, Reeve showed up and searched the tunnels.”

            “Did he hit you?”

            “No,” Tifa said, sweeping her hair back.  Yuffie rolled her eyes.

            “Of course not,” she said, sighing.  “I mean, good job, I guess.  Was there anything in the tunnels?”

            “Nothing.”

            “Damn.”

            “That’s not all.  Apparently, the floats around town were rigged to blow, so as we were trying to figure it all out, the city was blowing to bits.  Right now, we’re trying to figure out where the floats came from, but no one is talking.  It seems like everyone is either too afraid or too loyal to say anything.”

            “Loyal?  To those guys?”  Yuffie shook her head.  “If that’s the case, then the world has gone nuts.”

            “Whatever it is, it’s working.  Reeve is getting nothing.”

            “Something will come up,” Yuffie said.  “They’re terrorists, after all.”

            “Regardless,” Tifa said, packing away her things.  She pointed at Yuffie, “For now, you need to worry about you and rest.  Everything else can be taken care of later.”

            “No.  No time for rest.”  Yuffie, groaning, forced herself to standing through sheer force of will.  It hurt, initially, but it was nothing she hadn’t dealt with before.  She braced against the bed until the pain eased.

            Tifa closed in.  “Yuffie.”

            “Anything else I need to know?”

            Tifa, rolling her eyes, shook her head.  “Well, apparently the Emerald Lotus has officially declared war on the W.R.O.  There will be more attacks, and they’ll be bigger next time.  He said that he wanted to show people how powerless the W.R.O. really is.”

            Yuffie scoffed and crossed her arms.  “The guy’s a lunatic.”

            “Maybe but we should be careful.”

            Disbelief turned to anger, and Yuffie scowled.  “Oh, trust me, I know.  I’ve had first-hand experience with him.”  Yuffie sat on the edge of the bed and held her side.  For the first time in her life, she felt tired.  Rest was the last thing she wanted but, with her mind so foggy and her head so hot, it felt like the only thing she needed.  She looked sternly into Tifa’s eyes.  “And Hollis? Who the hell is he?”

            Tifa shrugged.  “I don’t know much.  They’ve brought him in for questioning, and that’s all I’m allowed to know.”

            “Brought him here?”

            “Apparently,” Tifa said.  “I remember there being some heated arguments about it, but Reed insisted.”

            “Why?  Edge has its own holding cells, and its own security.  It’d be the best place to trust.”

            “I think Reed just wanted him out of town,” Tifa said.  “The city is tense right now, after everything happened.”

            “His good intentions don’t make it any less stupid.  This facility is too small to put up a proper defense and too localized to survive bombardment, and clearly the Emerald Lotus isn’t shy about collateral damage.”

            “Calm down,” Tifa said, squeezing Yuffie’s shoulder.  “Everyone is doing the best they can, and Reed is as scared as everyone else.  The peace we’ve all fought for is crumbling around our feet.”

            “Yeah, yeah.”  Yuffie sighed, breathing through her pain, her nausea, and her confusion.  Then, she laughed.  “Think this is how Shinra felt when everything was falling apart?”

            Tifa allowed a small laugh.  “Probably,” she said, “But this isn’t a permanent solution.  H.Q. will be in soon, and that will be the safest place for him.”

            Another deep breath, and the battle replayed in Yuffie’s head.  Hollis was a tank, an impenetrable shell housing explosive power.  With strength like his, she couldn’t imagine transporting him anywhere he didn’t want to go.  It reminded her of Deepground, of the attack on W.R.O. HQ, of Azul the Cerulean, and of all the carnage.

            Tifa was there with them, though, and Reeve would be there soon.  It felt good for Yuffie to have her friends around again.  With them there, she wouldn’t be kept on the sidelines anymore, and she could take the war to the Emerald Lotus without fear of being reprimanded.  They would remind everyone watching exactly how they beat Sephiroth and all of the fools who followed after him.

            Then, Yuffie thought, she would have the opportunity to personally rip the mask off of Lotus’ face and feed her fist to him in front of everyone.

-Disc One-

            Yuffie drifted off to sleep with Tifa watching.  When she woke, Tifa was gone and the children had left with her.  This left Yuffie alone in the hospital room, with only the gentle buzz and beep of machines to keep her company.  The lights were dimmed.  Shadows clung to the ceiling, staring back at Yuffie as she stared at them.

            She breathed and relived each punch as she exhaled.  Hollis was unstoppable, a force of nature in human flesh.  Her stomach ached.  Her chest rattled.  Her pride was hurt most of all.  She remembered her father saying once that her pride would get her into trouble.  Sometimes, she felt like trouble just followed her around, waiting to kick her down whenever she built herself up too high.

            Lotus followed her, too, in her dreams and in waking.  He hid behind his mask, even in her thoughts, stabbing at her with words that echoed endlessly inside of her.  Another lost battle, another night spent in a hospital room.  It was beginning to feel useless.  She was more than weak, being saved by everyone.  Tifa, Daisy, Vincent, Cloud, and everyone else, the only thing she consistently managed to do on her own was get in over her head.

            Her thoughts made her restless.  She stood, legs unsteady, stomach churning, and pulled the catheter from her arm.  Her clothes were in a nearby dresser.  They had been freshly washed and folded.  She removed her gown, felt at the tender bruises still lining her body, and then dressed.  On her way out, she checked the bed where Daisy had been.  It was empty.

            Outside, she found Reed waiting.  He had his head down, his hands folded neatly and put held up as if in prayer.  As she left the room, he opened his eyes and met her with a tired glare.  She returned it as best as she could.

            “Ms. Kisaragi,” he said, “Excuse me, but I don’t think you’ve been discharged yet.”

            “I have.”

            “By whom?”

            “By me,” she said.  “I gave myself a clean bill of health.”

            He had been leaning against the wall, but he pushed off to stand tall and block her path.  “Return to bed.  You need the rest.”

            “I know my body, Reed, and I’m fine.”

            “I wasn’t asking, Kisaragi.”  His glare sharpened and his body grew tense.  “I am telling you.  Get back to bed.  Now!”

            Yuffie, still shaken and still tired, had to lean against the door frame for support.  She swallowed a fit of coughs that were threatening to erupt.  Bracing against the doorway with one arm, she stretched herself to full height and stared up into his eyes.  “Make me.”

            “Always the petulant child, aren’t we? Rebelling against any authority you can find.”

            Reed approached her, seizing her tight by the arm and dragging her back into the room.  He threw her back down onto the bed and, when she tried to stand, struck her hard in the gut.  She curled up, coughing and holding herself, as he stood over her.

            “Well, if you insist on fighting me, then you had better be up to the challenge!”

            Writhing and wheezing against the bed frame, Yuffie said, “You’re a real bastard,” and then squealed as he lifted her and tossed her onto the bed proper.  Then, she watched him smooth back his hair before he dragged a chair over.  He sat calmly, folding his hands and sitting forward to stare her in the eyes.  Yuffie stared back, holding her gut, breathless.  “What do you want now?”

            “To talk,” he said, without humor.  “And, as always, you make it difficult for me.”

            “Stuff it,” she said, and she used the wall to push herself up.  It hurt to move as pain crawled up her spine and spread through her.  After the way he moved her, it hurt to even breathe.  “If you’re going to lecture me, then just stuff it, because I don’t care to listen.”

            Reed snorted, laughed, and then turned a sharp glare on her.  His tone was harsh, acerbic, but he smiled.  “Always the same.  You’ll never change, will you?”  He stood.  “Fine.  If you want it that way, then this is how you do it.”  He slid the chair back against the wall.  “You’ll be discharged tomorrow,” he said.

            There was a pause, pregnant with meaning, and then Yuffie said, “And?”

            He stopped at the door, his hand on the knob, and feigned surprise.  “Oh, now you want to talk?”

            “What are you doing to me?”

            “What I should have done long ago,” he said.  “You’re suspended.  Effectively immediately.  You will not be in contact with anyone from the Hunters...”

            “You have no right!”

            “I have every right,” he shouted.  “What were you even doing there, chasing down Lotus? I took you off duty, put you into forced leave!”

            “And I was there off duty,” she said in return, shouting back at him.  It hurt her stomach to do it, but she felt it was important to match him word for word, shout for shout.  “Someone had to protect the people!”

            “Is that what you call running, blind, into danger and nearly getting yourself killed?”  He laughed as he said it.

            “It’s what I call doing your job for you,” she said in retort, and she felt smug afterward.  That smugness didn’t last long.  A bitter laugh ended it quickly as Reed threw his head back gave an empty bark.

            “And a fantastic job you did, injuring everyone around you.”  He looked her in the eyes. “There are people—an entire military worth of people—who are already hunting Lotus for us, but you think you are the only one equipped to do it.  Except you’re not.  Hell, you weren’t even fit for duty, and all you managed to do is get in the way.”

            “I got us that Hollis guy.”

            “Tifa got us Hollis, and she saved you in the process.”

            Yuffie, angry and hurt, stepped from the bed.  She wasn’t sure what she was doing or why, but she took a swing at him, and she missed.  He knocked her hand away and struck her in return, once in the chest, before grabbing her around the throat and dragging her back to the bed.  Then, he stared her in the eyes.  He was close, so close that she could smell his cologne, thick and pungent.

            “Which is what you do best—act recklessly and expect other people to come in and clean up your messes.  You claim to be a hero of the Jenvoa War, but you nearly cost your allies everything when you took their materia, didn’t you?  You’re no hero, Yuffie Kisaragi.  You are a selfish little girl who takes whatever she wants and expects to walk away with the stories.”

            “I...”

            “And the W.R.O. has so many other things to worry about than satisfying your personal fictions.  It has cities to watch, nations to run.  We, the Hunters, have more to do.  Our job is to find materia and to control its distribution.  To keep it out of the hands of those who would use it for negative ends.  That it is.  That is all.  And while the Emerald Lotus may have their hands in some materia, I assure you, they are so much more, which makes them someone else’s problem.”

            “But if we all work together...”

            “We won’t have time to do our jobs properly,” Reed snapped, releasing her onto the bed.  “Maybe, if we unify, we can solve one problem—the Emerald Lotus—but at the cost of other problems cropping up.”  He took a deep breath and adjusted his jacket.  “And then who will fix that?  Do we solve each problem as it comes, one at a time, or do we do our jobs as they are assigned and trust others to do their own jobs on their own?”

            Yuffie slumped into the bed, staring silently ahead.  It hurt to breathe and, increasingly, to think.  She hated Reed, hated every hair on his head and every word from his mouth, but she didn’t have the energy to argue anymore.  It wasn’t that she thought he was right.  The problem was that she didn’t immediately think he was wrong.

            She turned her gaze downward and stared—glared—at her feet, and she tried hard not to cry.  It reminded her of childhood and of being scolded by her father.  “Well, they’re not doing enough,” she whispered.

            “We’re doing what we can,” he said calmly and without his previous venom.  “And they’re doing more than you ever could on your own.  Running ahead into danger may look heroic, but all it does is get you hurt.”

            “Whatever,” Yuffie breathed, and she curled up on the bed and hugged her knees tightly.

            Reed tugged at his cuffs.  “I expected as much.  And, for the record, you ARE suspended from service, for your safety and for the safety of others.  Should you continue on this path, then I will take matters up with the Director myself.  This is your last warning, Yuffie.  No contact, no service, not unless we contact you ourselves.”

            Reed left the room, calm and collected, and that hurt worse than if he had screamed at her again.  Alone, Yuffie pulled the blanket over her and turned her back to the door.  Her body hurt, but her broken bones would mend.  She wasn’t so sure about her broken spirit, however.  Unable to hold back, she cried like a child for the first time in years, and she kept crying until she fell asleep.

-Disc One-

            The next day, Yuffie wandered down to the cafeteria before she was dicharged.  Slumped down alone at one of the long, steel tables, she picked mindlessly at the mushy rice they had served her.  The damage done to her was primarily internal and the cure materia had done all it could for her.  Now, she would have to rely on her own faculties to recover.

            She hadn’t slept well.  The conversation with Reed was hurting her more than Hollis’ fists had.  She didn’t think of her betrayal of the team in Wutai often, keeping it in the same box she used for the battle with Nero and, more recently, Daisy and the Lotus rally.  Reed, however, had managed to pull it out and leave it open in her sight, and she wasn’t so sure that he was in the wrong anymore.  Half of what she did, she was realizing, was being saved by others.

            She closed her eyes and focused her breathing.  Her lungs felt bruised, but the pain was clarifying, and she used it to keep dark thoughts at bay.  When she was alone and on her back in the bed, sometimes, it felt like she was floating unsteadily on water, like she would drown in all of her reveries.

            “Yuffie?”

            A familiar voice pulled her back into reality, and she sat up and found Daisy wheeling toward her.  Daisy wasn’t in the gown anymore, instead wearing a black tee and a pair of green medical scrub pants.  Her long hair was back in a ponytail, and she greeted Yuffie with a tired smile.  Oliver walked beside Daisy, carrying two trays of mushy rice.  Once Daisy had pulled up, he set her tray on her lap.

            “Daisy?”

            “What’re you doing out?  I thought you were injured.”  Daisy knitted her brows.  “Actually, you okay?  You don’t look so well.”

            Yuffie scoffed.  “Like you have room to talk.”  She cast her gaze down and stabbed at her rice.

            “At least she’s taking the time to get better,” Oliver said, seating himself.  Yuffie blew him a raspberry.

            Daisy laughed.  “Honestly, just be careful, please.  Don’t push yourself too hard.”

            Yuffie waved them off and leaned back.  She stirred her food absently.  “So, Daze, how is your recovery coming along, anyway?”

            “The medics have done what they can,” Daisy said, and she raised her top enough to expose a large, clean bandage taped across her torso.  She gave a glowing smile as she lowered it.  “I should be fine and back to service in a few days, though.”

            Looking Daisy over, Yuffie frowned.  “Then what’s with the chair?”

            Daisy nodded toward Oliver, who gave his own frown in response.  “This one.  He also got me this.”  Daisy reached back into the satchel that hung over the back of the wheelchair and produced a box of chocolates.  Opening it, she let Yuffie pluck a few.

            “Well, isn’t that sweet of him.”  Yuffie smiled, toothily.  “And why, exactly, don’t I get chocolates, Oliver?”

            Oliver’s frown deepened.

            “So, you’ll be back on soon,” Yuffie asked, stealing a few more chocolates.

            Daisy leaned back in her chair, stretching.  “I. Can’t. Wait.  I’m going nuts hearing about everything that happened in Edge.”  She sat forward and looked Yuffie in the eyes.  “And what exactly DID happen there, anyway?  No one around here will tell me anything worth hearing.”

            “Just a lot of noise,” Yuffie said, slouching again.  She rested her head on her arms like an agitated child.  “Reed gave me a talking to, doesn’t want me involved.  So, he’ll probably put you on something else, I’m sure, while he sweeps everything else under the rug.  Or into someone else’s hands.”

            “He’s trying to keep us focused on our job,” Oliver said, and he earned a glare from Yuffie for it.  When he looked at Daisy and found her glaring, too, he sighed.  “I’m just saying, we’re here to deal with materia and materia smuggling, not counter-terrorism.  We’re not a military, and with two failed attempts to stop them, I feel like it’s pretty clear that we’re in over our heads.”

            “Maybe if we had more support, then we wouldn’t be,” Yuffie countered.

            Oliver rolled his eyes and looked to Daisy for support.  “Come on, you’re more level-headed than this.  You just got out of the infirmary.  Yuffie’s been there twice already.  They have numbers, and we’re just three people, fit for infiltration and subterfuge, not war.  Reed may come down on you hard, but he’s right this time.”

            Daisy frowned.  “Oliver.”

            He looked between them, stared at Daisy, and took a deep breath.  “I’m just worried about you two.”

            “We’re fine,” Daisy said, taking his hand and giving a squeeze.  She looked across the table at Yuffie and smiled imploringly.  “Right, Yuffie?”

            “Yup.”  Yuffie stood from the table and felt unsteady on her feet for a moment.  Even after all of her rest, her head still wasn’t on straight, but she wouldn’t admit that in front of them.  Instead, she took up her tray and said.  “Listen, I want to stretch my legs before I’m shipped out.  I’ll talk to you later, Daisy.”

            “Okay.  We should meet up and compare notes soon.”

            Yuffie nodded, waved, and left.  Normally, in this sort of mood, she would pick a direction and walk.  She spent most of her life never really knowing where she was going, just that she was going, but lately it didn’t seem like enough.  Lately, she wanted a destination, but everywhere she landed felt unstable, unsafe.  It was like she has nowhere stable to plant her feet, nowhere that she could truly call home.

            As she left the cafeteria, she thought of Edge, and of Wutai, and of all the people she knew and loved, and she thought of what they all, truly, meant to her.

-Disc One-

            Yuffie walked the halls absently for a moment and then soon left the building entirely.  She went beyond the front gate, into the grasslands between Midgar and the sea, and she came to rest in the warm sands beside the ocean.  Dark grass grew in patches nearby.  The pale sky drifted by, cloudless, but she could feel a charge on the air.  A storm was coming.

            She shivered.  It was warm, but she could feel a cool breeze stirring and it left her hairs on end. Alone, she thought about the recent battles in her life.  She thought of Lotus and of Hollis, and she thought of Reed and of her cold, lonely nights in the infirmary.

            After the attack on Edge, she knew that Reeve would take interest in the Emerald Lotus problem, but she wasn’t so sure that he still supported her.  He would call on those he really trusted, on Cloud, Barrett, and Vincent.  He would rely on them, like he always did.

            Normally, it would leave her angry.  She was a soldier, a great ninja from Wutai, but after her recent battles—her recent failures—she wasn’t so sure anymore.  It hurt to admit it, but the others were reliable, and she wasn’t anymore.  There was a certain veracity to what Reed had said: she never saved the day; she was just there when the day was saved.  Her fame was earned only through proximity.

            The W.R.O. had Hollis, and that meant answers about the Emerald Lotus, and despite all of her effort, she wasn’t the one who did it.  Though she was first on the scene, it was Tifa who won the day, Tifa who had traded her leather gloves for a wet rag and an apron.  Tifa, the team mother who never had a taste for combat to begin with.  And all Yuffie did—all Yuffie ever did—was get in the way until someone else could come in and win the fight.

            Her phone rang and pulled her from those thoughts.  Yuffie sat up slowly, her body cold and racked with shivers.  The light had faded from the sky without her notice, and the wind was whipping up the sand.  The air was thicker now, and she could smell the storm mixing with the salt in the air.  Another ring and she answered.  “Yeah?”

            “Yuffie Kisaragi.”

            Yuffie curled up for warmth.  She hugged her legs with her free arm.  “Who else would it be, Shelke?”

            “I am just being careful,” Shelke said in her empty tones.  “You do not sound well.”

            “I’m...”  Yuffie wiped her eyes.  She couldn’t remember crying, but her cheeks felt warm.  She sniffed and hoped Shelke couldn’t tell anything was wrong.  “What do you need?”

            “I have information for you.”

            “I thought I was suspended.”

            “You are,” Shelke said absently.  “I will forward you the files for you to read in full later, but there is something which you should know right now: the Emerald Lotus is preparing to make another move soon.”

            “Then tell Reed,” Yuffie said.  It felt wrong in her mouth, but she couldn’t think of anyone else to help.  “Listen, I’m not on the case anymore.  I’m kicked out of the Hunters if I try.”

            “I have already informed him, as well as others,” Shelke said.  “Regardless, take care, Yuffie Kisaragi.”

            The line went dead.  Yuffie, alone on the beach, shouted into her phone before slamming it shut and tossing it a few feet away.  The sky was going dark, the colors of the sky—a bloody red and bruised purple—fading into the approaching slate of the storm clouds.  She hugged herself tight to keep the cold away but found it ineffective.

            Closing her eyes, she thought about home.  She remembered the warm sea waters of Wutai, the way the water glittered from the mountains in the evening, the cool mist that rose in the mornings.  She remembered the pagoda towering in the distance, almost touching the sky.  No matter where she went when she was a kid, she could always see it and always find her way home.  When she was really young, she used to visit her father at the very top of the pagoda, and she never told anyone, but she also used to think that he was the one who held up the sky.

            Her wounds throbbed, but her reveries eased the pain.  Old memories kept her warm, even as the clouds swallowed the sky.  She met the rain alone, shivering in the dark, a distant childhood memory the only thing she had to comfort her.