Part Five--A Little Down Time

"WHAT?!" Kat screeched.

Lucas repeated himself, looking down and mumbling sheepishly. Kat stared, incredulous, at him. "Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this right. You, instead of asking Tifa for help in breaking into the Shinra security system, asked her for a map?! A stinkin’ map of the bloody Nibelheim Mountains?! You freaking idiot! What did you do that for?"

Lucas muttered something softly. "What? You what?" Kat prodded him, poking him in the arm.

"I chickened out, all right?" Lucas yelled.

"Chickened out? Chickened out?! What do you mean, you chickened out?!" Kat yelled back.

"I hardly know the girl and I’m going to tell her all about my happy, happy past and my mistakes?! I don’t think so!" he retaliated.

Kat sighed and rolling her eyes, grinding her teeth together in exasperation. "Lu-cas! She’s one of my closest friends! You can trust her! Besides, how else do you propose going about getting the information that was on those files?"

That got him. "We-ell…I don’t know. I guess I was just hoping…maybe I’ll take a little down time, you know, just to chill or whatever…" he shrugged helplessly, looking for all the world more like a lost teenager then the 23-year-old he was.

Softening, Kat gave him a one armed hug. "C’mon. It’ll be alright, even if you don’t find her. There’re other things in this world. I miss her too, you know that. She was like my own younger sister. But sometimes we just have to give up."

Lucas rubbed his eyes. "I know. But I’m not giving up. I can’t. I guess I’m just going to…reacquaint myself with some of those things. I’d better, before I forget about them altogether." he gave a faint, sad smile. "Those first few months after I left, I almost forgot that anyone else existed."

"You’re a good guy, Luke. There’s a reason that you’re my best friend. Now get out of here before we both start getting mushy."

As Lucas turned to leave, Kat called out to him. "By the way…what’d you tell Tifa you needed the map for?"

Lucas flushed then, turning a bright scarlet, which gave Kat a sinking feeling. Lucas never turned that color unless he did something really, really stupid. "Luuuucaasss?" she said in a low, warning tone.

He yelled something, running all the words together, as he ran out the door.

Narrowing her eyes, Kat eyed the spot where Lucas had stood and shot a suspicious glare out the door after him. Yes, she had a very, very bad feeling about this.

****

Shaking her head and chuckling, Tifa retrieved the screwdriver she’d chucked across the room earlier. After about ten minutes, the phone rang, and she rose from her spot on the floor to pick it up. Turning it on and tucking it between her shoulder and her ear, she resumed working. "Hello?" she spoke into the receiver.

It was Kat. "Oh, hey. You know, Lucas was just over here. Yeah."

"I didn’t know you had it in you, Kat."

Apparently, she had no idea what Tifa was talking about. "Well, Lucas told me that when you guys were younger, you had a pet mouse…Hamster, whatever…You still don’t know what I’m talking about? He said that you named it Squeaky and…hang on, let me finish, when he died you bugged your mom for three days straight to take you to the Nibelheim mountains so you could bury him."

Kat was flabbergasted. She said as much. "You know what else? He asked me for a map because he said that you wanted to visit Squeaky’s grave?"

He was nuts. Good ol’ Lucas. He finally snapped. "What do you mean, that’s absurd. I think it’s cute."

She would. "HEY! What do you mean by that?! Alright, so sometimes I get a little emotional…I AM NOT!!! Psh, whatever."

Covering the receiver with one hand, Tifa growled softly and smacked one of her fists solidly into the side of a part of one of the consoles she was constructing. There was a rattle and the metallic clank of something settling into place.

"What? Do I want to come over? And do what? I mean, your place isn’t exactly the Gold Saucer…"

"NO! I don’t want to go to the Gold Saucer…No, I…Look, I’m busy…Ka-at!! C’mon! I don’t want to go!"

To make a long story short, that was how Tifa found herself with Kat, looking for Lucas so she could drag him to the Gold Saucer.

****

"I STILL don’t see why you had to drag ME along!" Lucas complained.

Tifa had found him wandering around in the Nibelheim forest, getting into random fights with the monsters there. At the time, she had not been aware of his skill and was fascinated by his fighting style, so she kept throwing him into fights. Never one to pass up a chance to show off his fighting ability, he eagerly cooperated. That went on for quite some time, until Kat showed and dragged them both off.

For some reason unknown to Tifa, Lucas jumped about three feet straight into the air when Kat showed up. Even now, with the three of them standing in front of the Gold Saucer, he was throwing nervous glances in her direction while muttering complaints under his breath and looked as if he wanted to turn around and run the other way. Tifa would have noticed his discomfort if she herself wasn’t so busy whining about she could be doing. Finally, Kat snapped. "WILL! YOU! JUST! SHUT! UP!"

They shut up. Heaving, she snarled, "Well, then, what do YOU want to do?!"

Looking at each other Lucas and Tifa grinned. Turning to Kat, Lucas was about to speak when Tifa clapped her hand over his mouth. Glancing at her in surprise, he was stunned into silence. Tifa was warmly smiling at Kat, the smile lighting up her entire disposition. "Kat!" she exclaimed. "C’mon! Let us plan a surprise for you!"

That caught her off guard. "W-what?"

Tifa continued to smile. "I mean, it’s been awhile since you two have seen each other, much less gone out and had a lot of fun, right? So let Lucas and I plan a little outing for tomorrow!"

Now Lucas could see the truth in what newspapers and magazines had said about Tifa. "Not only is Ms. Lockheart revered as one of the most beautiful women in the world, she’s known to be extremely sweet, caring, and optimistic. But don’t be fooled by her sweet disposition, Ms. Lockheart knows what she wants and how to get it."

But her manipulation wasn’t really manipulation it just seem like she was asking you to do a favor…and there were few people who could resist her. When she asked you to do something, as a favor or the like, you felt obliged to obey, just because it was Tifa asking.

Snapping out of his appraisal of Tifa’s personality, Lucas zoned back in onto Kat and Tifa’s discussion.

"Alright, alright. You guys get to take me to do whatever as a surprise, but you two gotta come with me to the Gold Saucer tonight. And that’s that."

Blinking, Lucas argued. "But I don’t WANT to go to the Gold Saucer!"

Both Tifa and Kat turned to face him. They spoke at the same time. "Lucas. In. Now." and "C’mon, Lucas! It’ll be fun!"

He went.

Leaning over the railing, Lucas came very close to spewing. Surrounded by the bright lights and happy music of the Gold Saucer, he felt like screaming for them all to shut up, then laughing like a maniac while running out through the exit. God, the torture he’d had to endure, the suffering… All those things he’d been forced to do, those horrible, horrible deeds. Everything was blurring together, spinning around. "Uhhhh…" He moaned.

"Gee, do you think poor little Lucas has had enough?" That voice! He knew it from somewhere…from before. His old life, so long ago…

"I think he had enough after we made him play Mog House, Kat."

Kat nudged Lucas with her foot. "C’mon, ya wimp! Get up!"

Tifa laughed at his expression. "You’d think we made you do something horrible, Lucas! How was I supposed to know that you got motion sickness."

He glared up at her from his position, slumped against the rail. "That’s roller coaster sickness to you! I’m fine on the ground, in the air, on the sea, wherever, I just can’t take roller coasters."

She laughed again. "Roller coaster sickness, whatever. How was I supposed to know?"

Lucas groaned and pushed himself up to a sitting position. He stared incredulously up at Tifa. "Maybe by the way I was screaming ‘I’m gonna die I’m gonna die I’m gonna die let me off let me off help me help me oh god oh god I’m gonna spew I’m gonna puke I think I’m going to have a heart attaaaaaaaack!’ ?!"

Both Kat and Tifa laughed at the memory, while Lucas grumbled up at them from the ground. "Oh, sure, laugh at my misery. Stand and laugh while I’m living my last moments on this earth. Just giggle away at my death."

That made them laugh even harder, so Lucas decided to shut up. Finally, Tifa reached down and grabbed Lucas’ arm, hauling him to his feet. Kat grabbed his other arm, and the two of them began dragging him off in one direction. "You’re gonna like this next place." Kat informed him.

"Where’re we going?" Lucas asked hopefully.

Tifa replied, "Battle Square."

Lucas took off like a shot.

Panting, Tifa and Kat arrived in Battle Square, with Lucas nowhere to be found. Trotting up to the counter, Kat asked the lady, "Have you seen a guy run in here? Almost six foot, kinda brownish blondish hair?"

"You mean the guy who came running in here like a maniac?"

Tifa and Kat exchanged glances. "Er, yeah, that’s him."

She pointed to the door. "He’s inside right now. He’ll probably be out soon, the guy didn’t look too tough."

Kat shook her head. "I wouldn’t hold my breath. You’d be surprised at his skill."

Sure enough, twenty minutes later, Lucas still hadn’t emerged. The woman behind the counter glanced at the line, then started tapping her foot as she glared at the doors to the Battle Square, as if it was their fault that Lucas hadn’t emerged from them yet.

Finally, Lucas came tumbling out, head over heels. The doors slammed shut again, and the people in line began to talk amongst themselves as the line finally started to move. Shaking off his slightly dazed look, Lucas trotted over to Kat and Tifa, oblivious to the glares he was getting from the people lined up. Grinning, he leaned back against the wall, panting from exertion. Looking up and pushing his hair out of his eyes, he said, "That was the only part of tonight that I enjoyed…can I go again? Pleeeeaaaase? Pretty please with a cherry on top?!" He pouted up at them, giving Kat the puppy dog look.

Kat scowled, glancing at the line. "Well, MISTER Cabral--" she started.

Lucas interrupted her. "Don’t do that, it reminds me of Mr. Harriman."

Kat stared at him. "Who?"

"Don’t you remember? Freshmen year? ‘Mister Cabral! What do you think you’re doing?’ ‘Uh…nothing.’ ‘I don’t believe that rigging the PA system is nothing, Mister Cabral.’" Lucas glared are Kat. "That was your fault. Weren’t you supposed to be standing guard?"

Kat snickered. "Oh yeah, I remember…I got distracted when this teacher walked by, and when I turned back around, there he was…The look on your face was priceless!"

Tifa broke in. "Well, all this reminiscing is nice, but we have to head back, ya know."

Kat grinned. "Eh, you’re just grumpy ‘cause you grew up in a nonexistent mountain town, where there weren’t any PA speakers, much less high schools."

"Yeah, but that nonexistent mountain town is where you now live." Tifa pointed out.

Kat considered that. "Touche." She then reached out a hand and caught Lucas by the back of his shirt, as he’d been sneaking off to get into line for Battle Square.

"Awww, Kat! I did all that crap you guys wanted me to, can’t I have a little fun!?" Lucas whined.

She checked her watch. "Actually, Tifa’s right. We should be heading back around now."

"Besides, WE have a surprise to plan, right?" Tifa reminded him.

He nodded grudgingly. "Alright, let’s go."

The trio made their way to the exit, Lucas grumbling all the way. He shut up when Kat smacked him in the head, only to start up again two minutes later. Finally, he shut up for good when both girls turned and smacked him in the head. After one more grumble about brain damage, he quieted himself.

As they exited Corel on their chocobos, there was the roar of a motorcycle revving, a flash of black hair and the twinkle of purple eyes as the vehicle and its rider sped out of town.

****

When they reached Nibelheim, Tifa and Lucas split off to plan the next day, and Kat went home to go to sleep and wonder what was in store for her.

None of them were aware of the man that slipped in and out of the shadows, a walkie-talkie held near his face.

Far up north, Cloud stiffened and whirled around, his senses screaming. Glaring around through Mako blue eyes, he didn’t see anything out of place. After one last agitated glance, he turned back around and began trudging forward.

He didn’t see the black figure emerge from the snow.

Deep in the Junon slums, a small girl with curly red hair turned over in her sleep, her brow furrowed. Images flitted through her head, and she sat up with a gasp. As she rose to stare out the window, she whispered something. It might have been a comforting word, or it might have been a name. It was carried away into the night.

In a long-abandoned house in that same city, a man went insane.

And-don’t you all love these cliff-hangers? Next part-Snow Day. Find out what Lucas and Tifa have planned for Kat, and WHAT is Cloud doing?! ^~ Later!