Welcome to Gaia! ::

Squall chuckled as Rinoa stood up and left. He was wondering where all the guards were at night, since it can be particularly dangerous, especially with all the homeless people around here. He observed that this place was probably very poor so they were unable to hire such people. Squall looked at Angelo while whistling and patting his leg as a way to bring him along. "Come on... We gotta get you to the Inn." He loved this particular dog of hers. It always made him feel soft-hearted even when he didn't feel like it. Squall caught up with Rinoa and saw the Inn they were heading to. He walked in as the man behind the register looked up at them and gave a loud grunt. "100 gil for a night... Or else you ain't getcha stay..." Squall reached into his pocket and paid the whole thing with shiny golden nuggets. The man grunted again and mumbled to himself. "What a show-off..." Squall could barely hear the audible sounds as it went through his ears but he shrugged it off, not wanting to start a fight. The old man searched the draws and went back to him, giving him a key. "Here you go. One room only. And take care of that dog will ya? He's scaring me!" Squall silently chuckled to himself as he looked at Rinoa with a smile. "You ready?"

Squall smiled at her while taking her by the waist, bringing her upstairs to the room they were in. He opened the door and let her in, but stopped for a moment noticing all the run-down furnace and messy walls, floor tiles, virtually everything. His mouth gapped in shock as his body shivered as the thought of sleeping on a worn out couch was untidy. Now he wasn't so sure if he wanted to stay in here or not... His gut was nagging at him not to stay in this room and instead ask the man at the register for a new one. "Rinoa... Do you want me to find another room for you? I'm not sure if I like this room so much..." Squall said as he held his nose, his voice muffling as he spoke.

The man sat down, sitting on a stool reading the local news until he was suddenly interrupted by that rude woman in blue, shouting demands at him. His irritable attitude was apparent as soon as she came barging in. "What do you want lady? I already gave you a room and that's all we have... We ain't got no cleaner rooms other than that lil ole room right there. It's the cleanest room in the whole house! Now if you don't like, I'm sorry lady, but look at the sign right here..." The unruly old man pointed at the small ugly run-over sign that said 'No Refunds!' next to the bell. "No refunds mean no cash back. Now, unless you want to stay in another place that's fine by me! But no refunds! Hrumph!" He folded his arms as Squall entered the registry. He glared at Squall as the SeeD mercenary approached them. "Now what do you want?" He growled silently in a rather annoyed tone in his voice. "I would like to change rooms please... Your room is filthy and we want it to be either cleaned up or moved." "Look kid... I don't have to do any favors for either of you. It's the best room in the house and perhaps the best Inn in the whole town. Be grateful with what you have or else I will kick you out of here, ya hear?"

The old rugged man took a look at room and blinked, shrugging his shoulders. "I see nothing wrong with this place young lady... It is perfectly fine..." The flies started buzzing around the couch and moving from place to place. "I don't think perfectly fine places have flies roaming around the room sir..." Squall pointed out to him. The old man got fit into a rage as he shouted at Squall once again. "Are you trying to destroy my business?!" He threated, making the SeeD mercenary annoyed. "No, I'm not trying to ruin your business but I am saying that if you don't clean up, you'll lose valuable customers..." His face started popping veins and became red as he raised his fists in the air. "OUT! OUT OUT OUT!!!!" He waved his hands to them once again. "GIT OUTTAH HERE AND NEVER COME BACK HERE AGAIN!" The old man pushed them out of the door and slammed it in front of them, locking it as they got kicked out.

Squall looked at Rinoa and blinked, wondering what his problem was. "Well.... Now what?"

Squall looked at Rinoa's micheviousness and chuckled. She sure knew how to get her way around things. Meanwhile, the angry fumed old man grunted as he walked back to the registry. Suddenly, he noticed the bag of Gil gone. He really started to get mad as he shouted and raised his fists in the air. "RRAAAAWWWRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!"

Squall's body jumped as he heard the loud screaming sound. "Maybe we should get out of here..." he noted as to not let the old scary man to come back out of the hotel and grab the Gil again. Squall picked up Rinoa and carried her along to the gates, passing by a church that they once recognized. "Hey wait a minute... I think I've seen this place before... Do you want to get in?" Squall stopped to take a look at the old run down building, while Angelo was not too far behind, pawing at his leg. "You want to go in there too Angelo?"

Squall nodded to Rinoa as he put her down, and then whistled to Angelo, pouring some of the water on his face. The dog shook its body as the water went spraying out. Whoa boy! Calm down... Squall thought as he covered his face, then stroking Angelo's, removing any residue. "There, clean." Angelo barked happily and wagged his tail and ran into the church with his tongue out of his mouth, panting along the way. Squall smiled and stood up, looking at Rinoa. "After you..." his arms spreading out as he opened the door.

Still with his cold lack of expression, Sephiroth left, leaving Gray and Lucrecia behind. Once outside, he took to the air, ignoring excited shouts and stares.

======================================

Shards looked out over the ruined city, calculating, plotting. Her short silver hair danced in the breeze, framing what could have been a sweet innocent face, if not for the mako slitted eyes that stared at the slowly rebuilding city. Though she had two wings of ebon feathers, they were on the same side, making a strange double wing.

She had to...You have to find-Stop that!

The voice again...it called itself her mother, told her to find someone. Shards found herself constantly resisting, but sometimes it was easier to listen. Stretching a little, with her chains jingling, she got ready to jump down from the destroyed building and head toward Edge. Find? Your brother...The response came.

With no further thoughts, Shards dove off her perch to plunge into the darkness of the ruins. She landed were some people had returned to the city, though the place was dingy and smelled of booze and garbage. Humans were disgusting...

A man spotted her, and suddenly she found herself surrounded by men, all pleading for her attention. Disgusting. She spent no time in slashing across the group with her chains, sending blood and meat flying, and the survivors running. Luckily she wasn't in the mood to chase, though she stepped out into the sickly pink light that was cast by a sign that advertised the Honey Bee Manor. The man at the door seemed to shrink back away from her, as if he expected her to attack, but Shards simply continued on her way...

It wouldn't be long until the news of a monster that looked like a cute woman started to spread, but Shards had already left the Wall Market in favor of cleaner air. She stopped when she reached a church, however, looking at it with strange memories that didn't seem to belong to her.

A winged wolf.

A man with black hair and a large sword.

A woman that grew flowers.

A wish.

She tilted her head with confusion, as this wasn't from 'mother', but from someone else. Then what should an angel fight for, Zack? Who is Zack? Intrigued, she started toward the church, but lingered in the doorway. Her eyes seemed drawn toward the rafters, where there was the memory of someone... Someone watching over a woman?

"Strange...."