Have we changed too much? Have we changed at all?

[Masina]

Black flames subsided outside a large white door as Ayla appeared with Reno. She removed a strand of hair from her eyes as she knocked on the large white door in front of them. As the door opened, Elle appeared on the other side. She smiled at Rildax and sighed as she looked to Ayla, then her eyes widened as she saw Kara.
"Good evening." She said politely.
"Hey Elle." Ayla nodded to the woman.
"What happened?" Elle's green eyes drifted from Ayla to Kara as she stepped fully around the door. Her long blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail and she was wearing a long thin, black coat. It was a pretty stylish coat, though she only war it in the room she was in.
"Long story." Ayla told her. Elle nodded. She looked at Reno. "This is Reno by the way. That's Kara, my older sister. Reno, this is Elle." She told him.
Elle smiled politely, before looking into the room behind her.
"Medical room." She told Rildax and Reno. "There are a few extra beds, if you want to put her on one. From what I can tell she is just unconcious. She seems to be having a dream of some sort." Her eyes drifted to Ayla who nodded once. "Okay." Elle responded to an unspoken statement. "Anyway. I can keep an eye on her tonight."
"I thought it was my turn." Ayla said quickly. Obviously confused. "You need a break."
"Ave, you still need to rest. Don't think I can't sense your pain as well. You and me are the only people qualified enough with medicene to take care of the people here. I have no choice. Herutsu said he'll help out. So you need to rest." Elle told her firmly. It was rare to see Ayla except anyone talk to her like that. But it seemed that these two were pretty close, as Ayla didn't answer. Just turned her face away. "Come on, bring her inside." Elle told Rildax.
She walked inside the room. Ayla's hands were folded, resting on herbare stomach as she followed Elle. Ayla was supposed to be taking care of the people tonight. But she saw no way of changing Elle's mind. It was impossible to argue with Elle when she was like this.
The room was kind of a sky blue colour inside. Wounded men and women were lay on quite comfertable looking beds inside. Some sleeping, some refusing to. Some just lay there, reading or something as another person tended to their wounds. A couple looked up as Ayla entered, nodded to her, then carried on with whatever it was they were doing. Ayla rolled her eyes after everyone looked away from her, Elle noticed and laughed slightly. She called behind Ayla to Rildax and Reno.
"In case you haven't guessed, Ave is pretty respected, no matter how much she hates it" She smirked slightly as Ayla blew a strand of hair from in front of her eyes.

[Skarlia Kara Strife]

Rildax nodded to Elle and placed Kara down on a bed. She was still, as though she had passed away, but Rildax looked a little closer and noticed her chest faintly rising and falling.
Reno also nodded to Elle. "Nice to meet you," he said. He pushed some of his flaming red hair from his face before glancing at Kara. Why was it that as he looked at her now he was reminded of a time when they worked together? He'd hoped he'd pushed that memory from him mind, but the truth was he hadn't.
He closed his eyes for a moment to try and erase the memory before looking about the room.

[Masina]

The door opened again just after it had closed. Herutsu walked inside. His eyes looked at Kara, Reno then Rildax, before he leant on the wall and fixed his gaze on Ayla.
"Care to explain?" He asked sarcastically. The answer he expected was clear, and it was the answer he recieved.
"Not particularly." She shrugged. She looked down at her sister on the bed.
"Figures." He mumbled. "Elle, I'm helping out tonight right?" His attention turned to the doctor who had moved to another young man and was talking to him calmly as he fussed and paniked about something. She sighed and looked at Ayla who nodded. Elle then turned to Herutsu as Ayla walked over.
"Yes." She nodded. "After Ayla's done me this one favour, I will push her out of here if I have to." She laughed. Ayla rolled her eyes.
"Sure." Herutsu looked over at Reno and Rildax. "There are a couple of empty bedrooms next door if you two want to stay the night. It's pretty late and I don't think that Ayla would let you go back to Shinra when it is nearly midnight, Reno." He explained. His bronze eyes shifted to Ayla as she glowed slightly. Just after she did, so t=did the man. His eyes closed and his body fell limp.
"Thanks, Ayla." Elle said. Herutsu raised his eyebrow. "He was in a lot of pain, panicking, and annoying me slightly. Usually I have a lot of patience, but I wanted to end that pain as well. So I got her to knock him out." She shrugged, smiling. Ayla began to walk toward the door. "Where are you going?"
"Don't waste your energy pushing me out." She said dryly, her hand pushing her long dark hair back over her head. "If you even consider waking me up early because its my birthday, I will hurt you." She said sarcastically.
"The thought hadn't crossed my mind." Herutsu laughed.
"I read minds remember? I know it has. Goodnight." She shrugged before beginning to walk down the corridor.
"Wierd." Herutsu smirked.
"Don't knock it, thats the most she's spoken to us in ages." Elle laughed. She picked up some sort of chart from the man Ayla had knocked out's bed and started to reading it. "She won't go to sleep anyway. She has a headache and has way too ,much on her mind. I doubt with all of those thoughts, little could distract her from them." She glanced at Kara. "Both of them should be fine though." She smiled slightly before she carried on reading.

[Skarlia Kara Strife]

Rildax smiled. "Thank you," he said. "May I go now? There is little else for me to do, unless you want any help with anything."
Reno smiled simply at Herutsu and Elle, but seemed to make no attempt to leave. His gaze fell on Kara again.

Skarlia watched Axel for a moment, whose gaze remained focused on the clouds stretching out ahead of them. His emerald eyes seemed to blaze with ideas forming in his mind, burning through the cold intensity to reveal a far harsher, sinister glare.
"I'm sorry, by the way," Axel suddenly said. "I left in such a bad way. Did I actually kill the baby?"
The way he said it sent a chill down Skarlia's spine. Her gaze dropped and she nodded.
"I'm sorry," he repeated. "But look at me. Would I really make an ideal father?"
"You would have..." Skarlia mumbled. "Before all of this happened."
Axel glanced at Skarlia again. "Nah, I don't have that kind of responsibility, you know that. Neither did Demyx."
Skarlia hated the fact Axel had just reminded Skarlia of the thing she had been trying to push from her mind temporarily. The ones she cared for most. The ones gone, the ones still alive.
"So come on," Axel said softly, taking Skarlia's hand. "I'll show you what we've really been doing."
Skarlia hesitated, but nodded and walked along beside him.
As they walked along a corridor, talking about random topics, a boy walked quickly past them, his flaming red hair very much like Axel's. He was a little younger than Skarlia, but looked very powerful. His eyes, somewhere between blue and purple, gazed at the floor and did not look up as he passed.
But Skarlia did.
Time seemed to slow and Axel's speech seemed faded. Skarlia span her head to look at the boy, feeling suddenly drawn to him, as though they shared something in common, something big. Skarlia watched him turn the corner and disappear from view.
Axel noticed Skarlia watching him and answered her question before she asked.
"Number XIII, Lexu," Axel explained. "First to undergo our 'experiment'." He continued to walk and Skarlia, still holding Axel's hand, followed.

[Masina]

"Go ahead Rildax." Herutsu nodded, he smiled at Rildax slightly before his bronze eyes drifted to Reno. He walked over and put his hand on Reno's shoulder lightly. "She'll be alright Reno." Herutsu assured him.
"Ayla told me there was little to worry about." Elle said dryly. She had been wandering around checking on everyone, now she appeared to be pretty serious compared to how she was when Ayla was ill or when she met Rildax. "She wouldn't have left if there was anything serious. Kara used to have visions right? Well, Ayla said thats all it was. Just amplified a bit. You're probably better asking Ayla." Elle explained to Reno. She looked at Kara and then closed her eyes. She seemed to be concentrating on something. "She'll be fine." Elle smiled as she opened her eyes. She looked over at Rildax and nodded. "We can cope without you, I'm sure." She joked. She looked at her feet as another thought zipped through her mind. Hopefully they will both be fine.

[Skarlia Kara Strife]

Rildax walked from the room and towards his own room, his hand in his pocket, clutching something within it.
Reno hung around for a moment, his eyes switching to Elle. "Thank you," he said quietly before also leaving the room. He walked towards his own room, knowing he wouldn't be able to sleep. He knew Rildax wouldn't either, but for a completely different reason.
Kara twitched slightly in her sleep. Words were forming on her lips again, muttered at first and undecodable. However, she repeated it again, in a muffled whisper...
"Demyx... Reno... Skarlia..." Their was a long pause before the last name escaped her lips. "Elu..." Another pause. "Forgive me."

[Masina]

Ayla leant against a window, about halfway through the corridor. She stared out of it absently. Her mind elsewhere as Peter walked past.
"Everything okay miss?" Her asked her. Pausing and brushing his light brown hair from his eyes.
"Huh?" Ayla jumped slightly, that made Peter nervous, Ayla never jumped. "I'm fine Peter. Just a little out of it tonight, thats all." She told him calmly.
He knew that was the best answer he'd get. He nodded once. "Okay, goodnight, Ave." He then shoved his hands in his pockets before carrying on walking down the long corridor.

Ayla shrank down against the window. Her eyes were blue, but vacant. Her hand was on her head as her eyes closed. She held her knees against her chest as she laid her head on top of them silently.

"Huh?" Herutsu looked puzzled. Demyx, Reno, Skarlia. He knew those three, but had no idea of the last one. Also, what was she apologising for?

[Skarlia Kara Strife]

Reno collapsed on his bed, hands behind his head. He gazed vacantly at the ceiling, wandering where everyone was and if they were ok. He knew a lot of the people he had once been friends with here were dead. But there must still be a few alive... right?

Skarlia glanced at Axel as he indicated the door ahead. It was somewhat larger than the other usual doors and more silver than white.
"So you gonna show me what's in there?" Skarlia asked.
Axel laughed. "Impatience..." he approached the door and pulled it open. It swung outwards to reveal a dark room.
Axel glanced at Skarlia.
"After you," he said.
Skarlia walked in slowly, followed by Axel, who closed the door. The room fell into blackness before two lines of lights on either side of them flickered on, leading them up a somewhat narrow path, up some stairs to another much smaller door.
"It needs to remain dark in here," Axel explained and Skarlia began to walk towards the next door.

[Masina]

"Heurtsu." Elle said his name suddenly. She was examining the wounds on a middle-aged woman.
"Yeah?" Herutsu tore his eyes from Kara to look at Elle.
"Could you make sure Reno is okay? Ayla said he needs to be filled in on everything."
"Sure." He nodded and walked toward the door. After he got into the corridor, he walked toward the room Reno was in. He knocked twice on the door before he opened it. "Only me." He said to Reno.

Ayla looked blankly at the night sky before beginning to walk back toward the medical room.
She didn't go inside. Her eyes remained fixed on the floor as she leant against the wall opposite the door.
"Three years." She whispered to herself as tons of emotions that she had not felt in three years flowed through her. One that was brightest now was worry, the second was probably love. The third was one she felt regularly now, pain and loss.
She looked up from the floor, her eyes seemed to think about something. A thought scanning through her mind. She walked towards one of the rooms. She knocked on the door, and just like she did three years ago, the knock was quiet and was just three qquite rythmic beats.*
"Rildax?"

*Lol, she has a knock. XD

[Skarlia Kara Strife]

Reno looked up as Herutsu entered. "Oh, hi there," he said, sitting up. "I was just thinking about things..." Things? That's plural. Thing was more appropriate. It didn't take a genius to figure out he had been mainly thinking about his best friend.
Rildax sat up too, his voice breaking through the silence.
"Come in," he said. "I'm not doing anything."

[Masina]

"Kara will be fine." Herutsu told Reno. Closing the door behind him as he stepped fully into the room. "Everyone is a bit screwed up at the moment." He shrugged. Reffering to his own best friend. Ayla and Kara never were great at keeping out of trouble. That seemed like on of the very few things that hadn't changed.
"Kara and Ayla, you can tell they are sisters. One of the few things that hasn't changed. Both of them still run toward the trouble rather than avoiding it." He said sarcastically. He ran a hand through his short brown hair. "Shame so much has changed though." He sighed as his hand fell to his side again.

Ayla opened the door and walked into the room. She left it slightly open. She didn't plan on staying long. Either that, or she just felt awkward talking to some one at god knows what time. Probably the second one.
"Sorry." She said quietly. "My state of mind is not the correct one for sleeping at the moment." She looked at her feet. "Which I do actually sleep now by the way." She added in nearly a whisper.

[Skarlia Kara Strife]

"Oh really?" Rildax smiled. "Good for you." He looked towards the door and back. "So did you want to talk about anything in particular?"

Reno nodded. "I guess so..." he said. "Things have changed drastically. I think we have all changed, but for better or worse I don't know." His voice became quieter. "Though I know my Somebody definitely hasn't changed for the better..."

[Masina]

"Ayla definately changed. But there is something, she obviously seems colder than she was before. But she isn't. If anything, she is almost, more understanding of people than she used to be." Herutsu explained, his voice said that he was trying to figure something out. "She used to hate everything, before she joined up with all of us three years ago. But now, she can't even find it in herself to hate Axel." Though, somehow, I doubt she ever hated anything at all. Herutsu sighed. "Ayla explained in my mind what happened when she and Rildax left before. i didn't think Skarlia would do that. Though myself, and Ayla, both knew it was an option."

"Uh," Ayla's voice suddenly turned vervous, as did her expression. He held her hads together in front of her, her eyes locked on the ground. "My brother. Cloud, I wanted to know, if you had seen him. I wanted to know, if he is okay. I," she paused, as if not wanting to carry on. "I wanted to make sure that he wasn't gone as well." She said sadly. Her usually strong voice was quiet, shaking. This was the Ayla that no one saw. The one that hidden behind everything, cared just as much, and above all was just as scared. Though, her fear would be something that even now, in the state she was in, Ayla would never show.

[Skarlia Kara Strife]

"I guess that's right..." Reno said. "But what about Skarlia? Rildax only explained the basic things. Not much detail."

Rildax smiled and stood up. He approached Ayla with a soft expression.
"Well, perhaps we should go ask him?" He suggested gently. He held out a hand for her. "I'm sure he'd want to see you."

[Masina]

Ayla looked up at him slowly. Her eyes seemed a little sad, nearly afraid. She wanted to smile, but she couldn't bring herself to. Especially as she spoke the words she thought so often now. "I can't think of anyone who would want to see me now. Not after I've gone back to the way I was, the very person I promised I'd never be again." She sighed. Her eyes met Rildax's and she bit her lip. "But I do want to see him." She admitted. She slowly reached to take his hand. She paused as she always did before actually taking his hand. She aways did and always had done that. As though, she wasn't entirely sure whether to or not. Sometimes, people thought it was because she didn't trust them. Usually she doesn't though. She doesn't trust herself, how could she trust other people?


"Uh, I wasn't there, but I know what happened. Skarlia, well, she changed her mind." Herutsu sighed before continuing. "She changed from our side, to Axel's."