[003] - [dream + action] - it's no cause for concern
She had gone too long without sleep. Ever since she had received the call from Reeve and come over to keep an eye on Hojo, she'd remained awake, sustained by coffee and, she had to admit it, fear. She could take the dead coming back to life. After all, anything was possible with the Lifestream. The announcement by Weiss the Immaculate was a bit nerve-wracking, but she had just put it out of her mind in favor of accommodating the scientist in the apartment and doing some research for Lazard. Then insane laughter in her head like in the days before Meteorfall...really, that took the cake. She was wandering around like a zombie, long after Hojo and the cats had fallen asleep.
There would be nightmares, she knew. Considering what her unconscious mind could throw at her was almost enough to make her brew another cup of coffee, but she had to be alert to keep watch over Hojo. She dragged out the process of slipping into an old T-shirt and pants, then paused by the window to look out at the stars. After making sure the apartment was secure, she made her way to the sofa where the cats were sleeping, gently lifting them off her pillow and blanket before curling up, clutching the pillow as she fell asleep.
--- Stuck on the end of this ball and chain/And I'm on my way back down again ---
San had disappeared into the ruins of Midgar before her. She was weaponless, her old blades worn down by years of disuse; offensive materia filled the slots of the bracer strapped to her wrist. A WRO tech was fiddling with her phone, handing her a tiny earpiece. She slipped it into her ear, immediately speaking as she heard her husband running. “San?”
“Kira...” She heard the sound of his footsteps slowing. “I'm going to look around the Shinra Building. Are you...”
The tech handed her phone over, and she took off without a second thought. The hand that held her phone was shaking; she tried to fumble it into her pocket a few times without success. “I'm on my way,” she managed to say. Panic, nowhere near as sharp as it had been a few hours ago but still powerful, hampered her breathing as much as the scars across her chest. By the time she reached San, she was gasping for air, holding onto him for support briefly.
“We'll find her,” San was murmuring to her; his eyes were darting around and she could hear his heart beating as frantically as hers. “We'll find her, bring her back home...”
Without speaking, she headed forward again, moving toward the huge, ruined building that dominated the dead city.
In no time at all, they were standing frozen in front of a pile of rubble at the base of the tower. There was a small, white-clad shape lying there. White, like the sundress she had picked out for Amaya earlier that day...
A desperate scream wrenched itself from her throat as she stumbled forward across the broken ground. It couldn't be her Amaya...not her beautiful, bright eyed child...they wouldn't have killed her. They had been leaving people affected by Geostigma or Jenova cells alone; with two SOLDIER parents, she had to be excluded from their hunt. They would find her alive...
San was cradling the small, broken body in his arms, body shaking with silent tears. Amaya's eyes were partially open, the blue-green irises glazed over as the child stared lifelessly up at them.
The world was spinning away from her. Amaya's name was running through her mind, a crazed litany that barely let up as the first shots rang out. San fell beside her, blood running from his mouth as he choked, staining their daughter's dress. Before she could react, pain seared through her body as gunfire tore through her chest, sending her crashing to the ground beside her husband and child.
She struggled to turn over and face the approaching Deepground SOLDIERs. For a moment, the materia in her bracer flared (Firaga, Thunder, Blizzard, all useless...). There was a choking sound beside her; San was reaching out for his sword as blood bubbled in his chest. One of the approaching Deepgrounders put his gun to San's head - her husband's eyes widened briefly, sword arm rising, then slumped as another shot exploded through the night.
She couldn't scream, couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything but plead with her eyes as they turned to her. She could have destroyed them all, burned them slowly to death as she died herself, but the materia on her bracer stayed inert.
A hard gun barrel pressed against her forehead.
--- Stood on the edge, tied to the noose/And you came along and you... ---
A tear ran down Kira's sleeping face as she clutched at her pillow, hugging it close.
[ooc: please to 'scuse the song; it makes more sense to me this way... And I would like to blame Reeve and Coldplay for putting me in the sort of mood to write this XD Also posted it to my personal journal.]