Chapter 1: Hiding Out
(This section will focus on Yazoo as the speaker) I woke up, and found myself in a strangely familiar place. It was mysteriously bright, lit by the glow of countless white-blue trees all around. I felt really sad and scared but my expression wouldn’t tighten at all; I just blankly glanced around to see where I was. Before I woke up, I had a really bad dream. Me and two other boys who looked like me were fighting this man with blonde hair who had a big sword, and we tried to kill him, but we couldn’t; one of the boys who looked like me stood beside me, and we both fired two shots at the man who threatened our third look-alike, who tried to hit him with his souba, but like us, he was too weak to focus and missed. Our shots hit the man, but before we could see if he was dead, everything started going black. I desperately tried to hang on, but it didn’t work. That was when I woke up and realized my face was wet with tears. Even though it was a dream, it all felt so real… like it actually happened. But the area here clearly showed that it didn’t. I got up, wiped the tears from my face “Ungh… where am I?” I was just a kid, a boy of about 8 years of age, and there was no sign of anyone else being here. I studied the area one more time just to be sure, and then I saw another kid with slightly spiked, short silver hair, who also wore black leather clothing like me, but his outfit was little different. I hurried over to him and shook him, hoping he would wake up “Hey, come on! Wake up!” He mumbled something as though still asleep “Ungh… no, stop..! Get away from her, you big bully!” He started crying in his sleep, and started getting fussy, kicking as though trying to fight something off. I decided to slap him in the face to pull him out of whatever dream he was having. He woke instantly and cried “Oww! What the…?!” He gazed around as if in a panic, and his breathing was very heavy. He appeared to be on the verge of a panic attack, but he settled down before long and shook his head sadly “Mother…” I somehow knew who he was thinking of and asked “Hey, you know her too?” He nodded but didn’t speak. The boy seemed to be in too much shock to speak much. I tried to comfort him and sat next to him “Yeah, I know… I had a bad dream too. You and me were trying to kill this bad man, and then everything started going dark before I woke up. I tried to stop him, but I was too weak and I couldn’t do it… it was awful.” He asked “Hey, you… what’s your name? If you know Mother, you cant be bad…” I nodded in understanding “I’m not, don’t worry. I don’t know what happened, and I cant remember anything before I woke up here, but what matters is we’re both ok. I’m Yazoo. What about you?” He tried to keep from crying and answered “Loz… my name is Loz. Do know where Mother went?” I stood up, and helped Loz to his feet “No, but if we start looking, maybe we’ll find some clues about where she went or what happened. Just stay close, alright? We cant let anybody see us…” Loz looked at me and seemed calm “Why not?” I shook my head “I don’t know, but… I have a bad feeling about what would happen if people saw us. Just trust me on this, ok? Even if we don’t know each other that well, we’re both looking for the same thing.” He nodded and took my hand “Ok. But… how are we supposed to enter the city without being seen?” We began walking together, and I replied “I don’t know, but there must be a long way around that will keep us hidden, at least. And no matter what, Loz… don’t ever go upstairs. The people there… I just get a feeling they’re really, really bad. I don’t wanna get caught by them. We’ll have to cut through the bottom before we do anything else. No sudden moves, ok?” Loz nodded silently. We continued the rest of the trip towards the town in silence. When we arrived outside of a large city, I let go of Loz’s hand and turned to him “Alright, stay put. I gotta find a way down, ok? It’ll be quick.” He nodded, and I approached the large glass and peeked through it. I walked around a while to find an open entrance and sighed “Great… we have to smash our way in.” I felt a hand touch my shoulder, and noticed it was Loz. I kept my eyes on him, and he revealed a weapon attached to his arm that I somehow recognized. He clenched his fist, then jabbed the glass with it. It shattered, and we had a large opening to go through now. Loz turned my way and gestured for me to follow. I followed him, and we ran together, heading down a path that read ‘Sector 1’, as a loud alarm went off some ways behind us. I knew some kind of security system was triggered, and said “Good work, but we gotta get outta here! If anyone sees us, especially if they’re from upstairs, it’s gonna be bad. We need a place to hide!” Loz replied “Leave that to me. I’ve got this!” He grabbed me and held onto me, and I cried “Hey, what’re you doing?! Put me down!” He didn’t listen, but I decided it was best not to struggle free. He picked up speed, and before I knew it, we were inside of an alleyway across from a train station. I felt speechless, and said “Loz, how did you do that? That was amazing.” He covered my mouth, and I looked to the opening at the side, and saw several suspicious looking soldiers race across the outside, two of them stopping in my view to make sure no one was nearby. I felt tense and whispered “Ahh, shoot..!” Loz silenced me and whispered “Quiet!” I saw a logo on the back of their uniforms that read ‘Shinra’. I didn’t recognize the name, but at the same time I felt something familiar about it. And not in a good way. They took off sometime later, and didn’t notice us even after looking this way. It seemed this alley was too dark for them to see us since we were wearing black. Loz let me go and I shook my head, trying to shake away the shock “Oh man! That was too close. Loz, thanks… I never would’ve outraced them as easily as you did.” He smiled and held up his weapon “Hey, don’t mention it. It’s all good. But uh… how old are you?” I answered “I’m 8 years old. What about you?” Loz laughed “Hey, whoa! I’m the same age as you! We were born at the same time, huh?” I shrugged “I guess so. But now what? There’s no way we can go much further after setting off that alarm… we might have to stay here and just call it a day…” Loz shook his head “Aww, what? And after all of that talk about finding Mother so we can learn about what happened?” I sighed and sat beside him “Look, I know you’re really serious about this. But so am I. I don’t think finding Mother in one day will be possible… there’s too many bogies. Especially right now.” Loz seemed confused “Too many what? This isnt golf… uh, is it?” I sighed and tried to keep from laughing “No, silly Brother. I mean there are too many enemies. That’s what bogies are here. We don’t have time to lounge around, you know that. But we cant finish it all in one day, either. We need to take our time and figure this out carefully. If we get careless, we might fall in real life the way we did in those dreams. We cant risk that.” Loz seemed sad and confused “But why? Why are they after us? And what’s going on anyway? I don’t get it… any of it. And what happened to Mother, why are we away from her? It doesn’t make any sense… this isnt fair!” I put my hand on his arm “Slow down. I don’t have the answers either, but we wont learn anything by panicking. But if we find Mother, she might know something… even if we don’t. She probably has answers. Somehow, I don’t think the people outside will be very obliging… it’s probably best to stay low and take our time with this.” Loz nodded “Um, right… let’s go back to sleep. Maybe we’ll see Mother then…” I shook my head “Not like we have much choice. The people are probably on edge after us setting off the alarm like that. Not to mention that hole you made out there is big and impossible to miss. They probably know something very strong did that.” After that, we both laid down to go to sleep. I took my own spot on the other side, but Loz crawled over and laid down close to me. I realized he wanted to be close even during sleep, and I chose not to argue about it. We both had the same goals, and it was best not to make a big deal over this for the time being. I wondered how we were going to stand any chance, with only us two, and more enemies than I could begin to count. I couldn’t remember anything that happened before I woke up, and both me and Loz were already under attack on our first day together. We got away unscathed, but this was only the beginning of things. Somehow, I didn’t think hiding would be so easy once we both grew up and got strong. But I relaxed, thinking we might not have to hide when we grow up; that we could take them out with the trash and find Mother without any problems. At that thought, I drifted off to sleep.
To Be Continued…
(This section will focus on Yazoo as the speaker) I woke up, and found myself in a strangely familiar place. It was mysteriously bright, lit by the glow of countless white-blue trees all around. I felt really sad and scared but my expression wouldn’t tighten at all; I just blankly glanced around to see where I was. Before I woke up, I had a really bad dream. Me and two other boys who looked like me were fighting this man with blonde hair who had a big sword, and we tried to kill him, but we couldn’t; one of the boys who looked like me stood beside me, and we both fired two shots at the man who threatened our third look-alike, who tried to hit him with his souba, but like us, he was too weak to focus and missed. Our shots hit the man, but before we could see if he was dead, everything started going black. I desperately tried to hang on, but it didn’t work. That was when I woke up and realized my face was wet with tears. Even though it was a dream, it all felt so real… like it actually happened. But the area here clearly showed that it didn’t. I got up, wiped the tears from my face “Ungh… where am I?” I was just a kid, a boy of about 8 years of age, and there was no sign of anyone else being here. I studied the area one more time just to be sure, and then I saw another kid with slightly spiked, short silver hair, who also wore black leather clothing like me, but his outfit was little different. I hurried over to him and shook him, hoping he would wake up “Hey, come on! Wake up!” He mumbled something as though still asleep “Ungh… no, stop..! Get away from her, you big bully!” He started crying in his sleep, and started getting fussy, kicking as though trying to fight something off. I decided to slap him in the face to pull him out of whatever dream he was having. He woke instantly and cried “Oww! What the…?!” He gazed around as if in a panic, and his breathing was very heavy. He appeared to be on the verge of a panic attack, but he settled down before long and shook his head sadly “Mother…” I somehow knew who he was thinking of and asked “Hey, you know her too?” He nodded but didn’t speak. The boy seemed to be in too much shock to speak much. I tried to comfort him and sat next to him “Yeah, I know… I had a bad dream too. You and me were trying to kill this bad man, and then everything started going dark before I woke up. I tried to stop him, but I was too weak and I couldn’t do it… it was awful.” He asked “Hey, you… what’s your name? If you know Mother, you cant be bad…” I nodded in understanding “I’m not, don’t worry. I don’t know what happened, and I cant remember anything before I woke up here, but what matters is we’re both ok. I’m Yazoo. What about you?” He tried to keep from crying and answered “Loz… my name is Loz. Do know where Mother went?” I stood up, and helped Loz to his feet “No, but if we start looking, maybe we’ll find some clues about where she went or what happened. Just stay close, alright? We cant let anybody see us…” Loz looked at me and seemed calm “Why not?” I shook my head “I don’t know, but… I have a bad feeling about what would happen if people saw us. Just trust me on this, ok? Even if we don’t know each other that well, we’re both looking for the same thing.” He nodded and took my hand “Ok. But… how are we supposed to enter the city without being seen?” We began walking together, and I replied “I don’t know, but there must be a long way around that will keep us hidden, at least. And no matter what, Loz… don’t ever go upstairs. The people there… I just get a feeling they’re really, really bad. I don’t wanna get caught by them. We’ll have to cut through the bottom before we do anything else. No sudden moves, ok?” Loz nodded silently. We continued the rest of the trip towards the town in silence. When we arrived outside of a large city, I let go of Loz’s hand and turned to him “Alright, stay put. I gotta find a way down, ok? It’ll be quick.” He nodded, and I approached the large glass and peeked through it. I walked around a while to find an open entrance and sighed “Great… we have to smash our way in.” I felt a hand touch my shoulder, and noticed it was Loz. I kept my eyes on him, and he revealed a weapon attached to his arm that I somehow recognized. He clenched his fist, then jabbed the glass with it. It shattered, and we had a large opening to go through now. Loz turned my way and gestured for me to follow. I followed him, and we ran together, heading down a path that read ‘Sector 1’, as a loud alarm went off some ways behind us. I knew some kind of security system was triggered, and said “Good work, but we gotta get outta here! If anyone sees us, especially if they’re from upstairs, it’s gonna be bad. We need a place to hide!” Loz replied “Leave that to me. I’ve got this!” He grabbed me and held onto me, and I cried “Hey, what’re you doing?! Put me down!” He didn’t listen, but I decided it was best not to struggle free. He picked up speed, and before I knew it, we were inside of an alleyway across from a train station. I felt speechless, and said “Loz, how did you do that? That was amazing.” He covered my mouth, and I looked to the opening at the side, and saw several suspicious looking soldiers race across the outside, two of them stopping in my view to make sure no one was nearby. I felt tense and whispered “Ahh, shoot..!” Loz silenced me and whispered “Quiet!” I saw a logo on the back of their uniforms that read ‘Shinra’. I didn’t recognize the name, but at the same time I felt something familiar about it. And not in a good way. They took off sometime later, and didn’t notice us even after looking this way. It seemed this alley was too dark for them to see us since we were wearing black. Loz let me go and I shook my head, trying to shake away the shock “Oh man! That was too close. Loz, thanks… I never would’ve outraced them as easily as you did.” He smiled and held up his weapon “Hey, don’t mention it. It’s all good. But uh… how old are you?” I answered “I’m 8 years old. What about you?” Loz laughed “Hey, whoa! I’m the same age as you! We were born at the same time, huh?” I shrugged “I guess so. But now what? There’s no way we can go much further after setting off that alarm… we might have to stay here and just call it a day…” Loz shook his head “Aww, what? And after all of that talk about finding Mother so we can learn about what happened?” I sighed and sat beside him “Look, I know you’re really serious about this. But so am I. I don’t think finding Mother in one day will be possible… there’s too many bogies. Especially right now.” Loz seemed confused “Too many what? This isnt golf… uh, is it?” I sighed and tried to keep from laughing “No, silly Brother. I mean there are too many enemies. That’s what bogies are here. We don’t have time to lounge around, you know that. But we cant finish it all in one day, either. We need to take our time and figure this out carefully. If we get careless, we might fall in real life the way we did in those dreams. We cant risk that.” Loz seemed sad and confused “But why? Why are they after us? And what’s going on anyway? I don’t get it… any of it. And what happened to Mother, why are we away from her? It doesn’t make any sense… this isnt fair!” I put my hand on his arm “Slow down. I don’t have the answers either, but we wont learn anything by panicking. But if we find Mother, she might know something… even if we don’t. She probably has answers. Somehow, I don’t think the people outside will be very obliging… it’s probably best to stay low and take our time with this.” Loz nodded “Um, right… let’s go back to sleep. Maybe we’ll see Mother then…” I shook my head “Not like we have much choice. The people are probably on edge after us setting off the alarm like that. Not to mention that hole you made out there is big and impossible to miss. They probably know something very strong did that.” After that, we both laid down to go to sleep. I took my own spot on the other side, but Loz crawled over and laid down close to me. I realized he wanted to be close even during sleep, and I chose not to argue about it. We both had the same goals, and it was best not to make a big deal over this for the time being. I wondered how we were going to stand any chance, with only us two, and more enemies than I could begin to count. I couldn’t remember anything that happened before I woke up, and both me and Loz were already under attack on our first day together. We got away unscathed, but this was only the beginning of things. Somehow, I didn’t think hiding would be so easy once we both grew up and got strong. But I relaxed, thinking we might not have to hide when we grow up; that we could take them out with the trash and find Mother without any problems. At that thought, I drifted off to sleep.
To Be Continued…
