Portal to the Unknown

Portal to the Unknown
Chapter Six

"Now let me get this straight," Reno hissed in the darkness, "this . . . thing? . . . is Heidegger's present?" He raised a scarlet-tinted eyebrow at the blonde Turk.

"Yes . . . and we have to be careful with him." Elena was cradling Vivi in her arms with nearly the care of a mother--though maternal instinct was not her motive.

"And he's not a thing," Rude pointed out. "He's a boy." Frowning, he leaned closer to inspect Vivi's hat. " . . . There's something here . . . " He felt the side of the crimson band enwrapping the crown of the hat, searching for what he was certain he'd seen.

"What are you looking for?"

"I'm not sure." Rude's fingers closed over a round object, lifting it from the crown. "It's a pin . . . " Pulling it free, he set it gently into Reno's open palm. "A dressmaker's pin, if I'm correct . . . but from the length and angle it had to have been in his head." Touching the hat again, he squeezed the hempen material and frowned once more, deeper.

"What?" Reno inquired, scratching behind his ear with the end of the pin.

"There are more here." One by one, Rude extracted six more pins from Vivi's hat, each ending up in Reno's hand. As he finished, the hat slid easily from the mage's head and fell to the street with a soft clump. "Would you look at that . . . " Revealed by the hat's absence were long, neatly braided curls, nestled snugly against Vivi's round head. His face, however, seemed to be creased with pain even in sleep; it seemed he already knew of the Turks' plot for him.

His face was round, with a small, pointed chin; between his eyes, above his mouth was a perfect, miniscule nose with nostrils small as pinpricks. His lips were full and flushed, and appeared quite moist. Elena stroked her fingers along the side of his face, creamy white, and her hand tingled with the warmth. The heat of the mage's soft cheek was almost electric, as though he was feverish.

"Oh, Heidegger will love him," Elena sighed. "He'll just eat him up."

"Which may not be a good thing," a voice whispered from behind them.

"Tseng," Reno called boisterously. "We were wondering when you'd get here. It was kind of lonesome here, without you..." He moved close to the Wutaian Turk and pursed his lips.

"Shut up," Tseng said almost kindly. "So, Elena, this is the boy?"

"Yes."

"Well. He looks rather . . . healthy, shall we say?" What Tseng chose not to say--and thought it a well choice indeed--was that the boy also appeared utterly delicious. His small, rather delicate frame presented almost no challenge to any potential attacker, least of all a man of Heidegger's generous form. Their glorious leader had many faults, to be sure, but his lack of strength would not deter him in the least, for once. A fidgety itch rose behind Tseng's trousers, and he fought valiantly to stifle it; it would not do for his contemporaries to know of that particular weakness, after all . . .

Vivi stirred in his sleep, moving against Elena's arms. "Hmmmz. . . . Whatimizit?"

"Hush, little one," Tseng soothed, placing two fingers over Vivi's throat and firmly pressing down. "Hush."

"Waiiitttt . . . " Vivi's breath trailed off, leaving him once again unconscious with the Turks.

~

VVL 69: Unconscious with the Turks . . . sounds like a talk show. XD

~

Amarant leaned casually against the bar, surrounded by his two favorite things: beautiful women, and good booze. "So there I was," he boasted, reaching for a bottle of vodka, "cornered by these ENORMOUS motherfucking Armstrongs--"

"AMARANT!!" Zidane burst through the bar doors, plowing Quina over. The tubby Qu stared at him curiously as Zidane dashed to the bar and shoved girls aside. "We've got trouble!"

"What the hell?" Amarant snapped furiously. "Can't you see I'm busy?!"

"Amarant," Zidane panted, "Vivi's been kidnapped."

"Aw, shit," Amarant cursed. "Can't we go an hour without something happening to the little brat?" He rolled his eyes and spat into an ashtray sitting beside the piles of alcohol he’d been drinking.

"Vivi's important to this party, and I'm not leaving until we find him."

"Well, if he's been kidnapped, he obviously ain't here," Amarant growled, lifting a bottle of tequila to his lips. "Round up the rest of the group and we'll go."

"All right." Zidane's tail drooped with frustration.

"I say we should leave him," Eiko whined. "He's just an annoying little brat."

"And you're not?" Amarant retorted. "Much as I hate to say it, the monkey's right. We can't leave him." Finishing the bottle of tequila, he slammed it down on the bar, causing nearby women to jump. "Now where's Freya?"

“I go get her.” Quina nodded, and strode out in the direction of the ladies’ lounge. Zidane rolled his eyes at her disappearing form; a frog had jumped out of her pocket and was rib-rrib-ribbiting as it hopped around on the floor.

Eiko groaned. “Eww, frogs.” She caught it in one hand and stuffed it in the collar of her bodysuit, where it peeped beside Mog. Mog squirmed, fluting plaintively to be let out of Eiko’s clothes, and Eiko pulled open her collar to let the little moogle out. “Sorry, Mog,” Eiko offered. The little faerie didn’t like frogs any more than she did.

“Well . . . ” Amarant stretched and scratched. “Where could the little brat’ve gone?”

“Some weird lady took him off. I think she was the same one that was in the bar earlier.” Zidane drooped lower. He was worried about his friend, and didn’t know where Vivi would have been taken. “But we have to go look for him now, or there’ll be hell to pay when we finally do find him. I have a feeling that he’s in a lot of trouble . . . ”

~

Oh, if only Zidane knew! Vivi was indeed in a lot of trouble, but no one knew just how much.

No one, that is, except a certain Shin-Ra executive, who was sitting in his office with a dirty grin plastered to his face. He watched the security tapes with a smirk and laughed out loud, slapping his corpulent belly and drinking a Mt. Nibel Cold Draft. Elena and the Turks had been sighted escorting a small boy through the building, and the boy was quite feisty. Once or twice he had lashed out at his captors, and each time he’d been rewarded with the muzzle of a gun thrust in his face. If they actually shot him, Heidegger would have their heads.

You couldn’t get blown by a corpse.

~

“Let me go! Let me go right now, you bastards!”

SLAP!

“Shut up, kid,” Reno ordered, drawing back his hand. “You’ll be fine if you don’t do anything to make Heidegger mad.” He pulled Vivi by the shoulder and gave him a swift swat to the backside. “Now come on, you’ll be late for your meeting if you don’t hurry up.”

Vivi yelped and reached back to rub his bottom. “You’re m-mean.” He hiccupped breaths and looked down as he was led forward, little drops of moisture pattering to the carpet.

“Don’t cry,” Tseng soothed. “I am sure Heidegger will release you when he’s done with your meeting. All he wants to do is speak with you . . . interrogation, but still, all he wants to do is know where you came from and why you’re here.” He was a very good liar--Heidegger intended to do no such thing; as a matter of fact, the only talking he’d do would be to give orders to the poor boy . . . orders along the line of ‘Down on your knees’ and ‘Bend over’, or even worse, ‘Suck it’.

Vivi looked up at the Wutaian Turk; he wasn’t a fool by any means. He could see that Tseng’s face was oddly snakelike as he spoke, like the thieves Vivi had seen in Treno. “You’re lying.” He narrowed his eyes at Tseng.

“Yes, I’m afraid I am. But one thing is true . . . when Heidegger gets tired of you, he will let you go. However, you’ll probably have your tongue cut out, or you’ll be shot, or dumped below the Plate in the slums like the others.” Tseng laid a hand on Vivi’s shoulder and tried to pat it, but Vivi flinched away. “Now if you obey him and do everything he wants of you, he may give you to the Honeybee Inn. The girls will take good care of you in that case.”

They came to a long door, and Vivi looked up fearfully.

“We’re here.”

~

VVL69: And the award for suspenseful actor goes to . . . *Opens envelope* Oh, what a surprise. Vivi, this belongs to you. *Hands Vivi an award*
Vivi: I *hate* you.
VVL69: Ah, the perils of being an author. Come back soon!