Life, or Something Like it…
Chapter 1: Life on the Eastside
She was the last one to fall asleep that night. Lately, she'd been almost afraid to close her eyes, for fear that she'd have "the dream" again. With each night the dream became clearer and more horrifying than ever. The yellow eyes sometimes even seemed to follow her during the day. So here she was, at two-thirty in the morning, trying to escape the sleep that was rapidly gaining on her. Unsuccessfully, she mentally added.
Her train of thought came to a halt as she heard footsteps. Yuffie slipped off her shoes and fell back onto her mattress, pretending to be asleep. The door flew open and a fourteen year-old girl stumbled in, strangled sobs racking her small, beaten frame--Ansem's latest punching bag. Yuffie watched Tidus comfort the crying Selphie and lead her over to his bed. He took her in his arms, minding the bruises and cuts, rocking her gently to and fro. Yuffie supposed she was lucky, in a bizarre way, that she escaped Ansem's wrath tonight.
But maybe she wasn't so lucky. She was nothing more than a orphaned pickpocket who worked for a deranged orphanage owner. Her home had been overthrown by a horde of horrible creatures, and that was all she could really remember. After the attack, she awoke days later to find herself in this orphanage in a place called New York.
Yuffie could make out Riku's glinting silver hair in the dark, and hear Sora's snoring. Tomorrow was her seventeenth birthday. Ten long years of her life had passed by in the blink of an eye. Ten years since her world was turned upside down. Ten years…
She sighed inaudibly and unnecessarily fluffed her pillows, snuggling deeper into the sheets. It grew awfully cold during the fall. She supposed that her home was a part of her past now, and New York was her present and, most likely, her future. Her eyes grew heavier with each blink, and eventually Yuffie drifted off into a gentle slumber, her thoughts melting away with the darkness.
A little girl of about seven years of age sprinted through the deathly still halls. If she didn't get home before dinner, her parents would kill her. So what, she'd snuck off into the castle when her parents clearly told her to stay in the yard. How could she stay in the boring old yard when there was a majestic castle that needed exploring?
The little girl frowned as an unknown apprehension settled itself in her stomach. Something felt wrong. The halls were never this quiet. Where is everybody? she wondered, running down a flight of stairs.
Minutes later she burst through the back door of her house. "Mommy, I'm home!" she called, walking into the kitchen. It was nearly dinner and she was starving. "Mommy?" the girl asked again when she didn't receive an answer. She skipped into the living room, expecting to see her mother.
Her breath hitched in her throat. The unmoving body of her mother was slumped in an armchair, her eyes open and staring blankly. A creature about two feet tall with antennas and a pair of haunting yellow eyes stood in front of the chair, pulling something out of her mother's chest. The creature slowly turned and fixed its gaze on her.
Not wasting a second, the little girl bolted for the dojo, where her father normally trained. "Daddy!" she cried, stumbling into the room. With horrified eyes, she watched her father fall onto his back to lay spread eagled. A creature like the one in the living room stood beside her fallen father.
They'd gotten her father too! Too terrified to let loose a long, loud shriek, she took off and found herself running back up to the castle. She was almost lost in the horde of confusion, people screaming, some crying, most of them running. The girl didn't know where she was going. All she knew was that she had to get away. What was going on? Why were people screaming? The little girl decided she didn't want to know the answers to those questions.
She came to a stop in the empty Chapel, breathing hard. She hunched forward and put her hands on her knees to catch her breath. She squeaked as she heard someone's footsteps coming down the hall. It was a boy, at least sixteen, with brown, shoulder-length hair, steely blue eyes, and a large sword that looked like a gun. His heavy boots thudded as he ran into the room, his chains and belts clinking. She caught his gaze. "Please, help me," she moaned tearfully.
The boy rushed forward to help the child, but a scream from behind him caused him to whip his head around. A female his age was cowering in a corner.
His gaze juggled back and forth between the younger girl and the older one. Making up his mind quickly, he instructed, "Run! I'll take care of the monster."
The little girl looked up at him through her tearful eyes. "I don't want to be alone again," she whispered.
"Go!" he insisted. "If you don't, they'll get you too. Head down to the Waterway. There are some Gummi ships waiting to take off. Hurry or they'll leave without you."
Gummi ships? The girl wondered. She opened her mouth to say something when the boy started over to fight off the monster. The little girl spared the brave boy one last look before taking his advice and setting off.
Out of nowhere, a large monster (that would've looked like a funny balloon if it wasn't for its eerie glowing eyes) materialized before her. She couldn't scream, couldn't breathe, as the Heartless slowly advanced on her.
The little girl backed away cautiously, looking for anywhere to hide. This monster was scarier than the one in her living room. It stepped closer and closer, and the girl scrambled away as fast as she could. She slipped on a small stone and tumbled down the set of stairs. Little stars exploded before her eyes, and she lay in a motionless heap at the bottom of the stairs as the darkness claimed her…
Yuffie shot straight up in bed, breathing heavily. The room was lit with rays of sun. She groaned in frustration and buried her face in her hands. This was why she avoided sleeping. Frankly, Yuffie was getting tired of waking up in a sweat. She was tired of Riku and Sora coming over and asking--
"Yuffie, are you okay?"
Right on cue, as always, she thought wryly. Sora asked, his ocean blue eyes full of concern. Clad in his usual attire of a pair of camouflage cargo shorts, gray t-shirt and a pair of beat up Vans, Sora awaited Yuffie's answer. He toyed with the golden key that he wore around his neck on a string. He was rarely seen without it. "Yeah," Yuffie replied, rubbing her eyes. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me."
Riku stood not far away, watching with his ever observant aquamarine eyes. He was a mysterious one, Yuffie had to admit. From his fine, silvery hair to his hypnotic gaze, Riku was hard to figure out. He wore a black shirt with the sleeves ripped off, a deep, jade sleeveless vest, dark, baggy trousers and a pair of scuffed boots. He always wore an ebony key that hung on a silver chain around his neck. Yuffie always wondered why both he and Sora would never take off their necklaces. The most she got out of them was that it reminded them of home.
"I'm fine," she insisted before Riku could ask again.
"The dream again?" Riku stated rather than asked.
Yuffie stiffened. "How do you-"
"You're not the only one who stays up late," Riku answered simply.
"This time, it was so real, though," Yuffie said vaguely. "It was like I could feel the panic taking over."
Sora and Riku exchanged glances.
"But it's just a dream," Yuffie continued, mostly to reassure herself.
"Right!" Sora agreed. Riku didn't reply.
"What do you want to do today?" Sora sat on Yuffie's bed and rested his elbows on his knees and face in his hands.
"Get as far from this place as possible," was Yuffie's answer.
"It's not that bad of a place you know," Sora said. "I mean, we could be out on the streets."
"Yeah…that would be the life, wouldn't it?" Riku sighed, folding his arms across his chest.
"Better than being here. Creaky old beds, expired food, ice cold showers, tons of screaming little infants and kids, busted TV, a psychotic nun who piles us with two hundred pounds of homework everyday…I'm glad today's Saturday. No pick pocketing, no school work. Just one more year till I get to leave all of this behind," Yuffie said firmly, swinging her legs out of bed.
"So you're glad to leave me and Riku behind?" Sora asked solemnly.
"No! Quit twisting my words around, would you? I said I'm glad I'm leaving this hell in another year."
"So what about us?"
Yuffie shrugged. "What about you guys?
"Aren't you going to miss us?"
Yuffie sighed. Sora could be such a baby sometimes when it came to goodbyes. Though she couldn't blame him. His parents had promised to come back for him before he lost his home like she had. They never even made it to where they were going. "Of course. I've known you both for eleven years. How can I not miss you?"
"Well, it all starts with his bad table manners, loud snoring…" Riku commented, counting off each on his fingers. "His clumsiness, his messy hair-"
"Okay, we get the point," Sora interrupted.
Yuffie laughed. She enjoyed Riku and Sora's early morning banter. "Come on. Let's hit the park or something."
"Let's go downtown," Riku suggested. "The park's getting kinda old."
"Late again!" a man with longish brown hair and captivating sapphire eyes cursed as he rushed about his apartment, getting ready for work. He pulled on an undershirt while hurriedly brushing his teeth. He spat in the sink and swished some water in his mouth.
Squall ran to his closet like a madman and grabbed the first thing his fingers brushed: a powder blue button down shirt and khaki pants. He quickly combed out the knots from his hair and looked at his reflection once more in the mirror. He looked decent enough. Not rushed, but cool, calm, collected. Just as he was supposed to look, being a doctor in the psychiatric ward down at the hospital in Manhattan.
People were often wary of him, thinking that he would deem them mentally unstable and stick them in a room of padded walls. It definitely made dating difficult. Although the way some people acted, they had a good reason to think that. Squall grabbed his cell phone, pager, beeper, and walkie-talkie and picked up his briefcase and duffel bag. He was supposed to meet up with Cloud and Aerith after work. Though it made him sick to his stomach watching a grown man make baby noises at his girlfriend, Squall decided it beat coming home to an apartment full of paperwork.
Squall slid into the driver's seat of his black Mercedes and turned on the ignition. He reversed so quickly his tires squealed and left skid marks. Some people looked out of their apartment windows to see what all the noise was. When they saw Squall's car pull out, they shook their heads and thought, "It's just Squall."
Sora pushed himself faster and faster. He cast a glance behind him. Yuffie and Riku could hardly keep up. He grinned and gained more speed. "Come on, slow pokes!" he taunted. "What, you can't keep up with me?"
Yuffie chuckled inwardly. She knew this was torture for Riku's ego. Being older than Sora, according to Riku, meant being faster, smarter, cooler, and better than Sora in everything.
Skateboarding included.
Though Yuffie had to admit, out of the three, Sora was the best on a board. Though it was one of the few things he could do better than Riku, it was his "thing". Yuffie didn't have the heart to take that away from him. But Riku…
…well, Riku was a different story.
"Can't catch me!" Sora's voice interrupted her thoughts.
Yuffie gathered as much speed as she could; the people walking along the sidewalks appeared to be a blur. Now this was the life. There's nothing like hanging with your two best buds, and not having to worry if you had a place to sleep at night. After a few seconds, she gained on Sora, and eventually passed him. She turned around and stuck out her tongue. "Nyah!"
Riku struggled to catch up the other two. He absolutely hated being last. His eyes widened as he heard screeching tires. In his peripheral vision, he saw a car careening towards Yuffie. "Yuffie, look out!"
Squall took one hand off the steering wheel and looked for a paper in his briefcase. "Come on, come on, where is it?" He shuffled through dozens of papers and folders. That report had to be around here somewhere. His career depended on it. "Aha!" Squall removed the folder from the briefcase and focused back on the road. He gasped, spun the wheel, and slammed his foot on the brakes…
"Yuffie, look out!" Riku yelled. She wouldn't be able to stop in time, he realized. Picking up any burst of speed she could find, Yuffie hurled herself towards the sidewalk, trying to get out of the way of the car. She landed hard and tried to roll away, but the screeching of the tires and Riku's screams pushed away any thought of escape…
TBC
A/N: Revised 4/11/05