Chapter 12

Let's See What Color Blood a Psycho Has.

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII, Tetris, Star Wars, or Band-Aid brand.

In English I tapped Lucrecia on the shoulder. "Oi, Lucca, you okay?"

"Oh? Yeah. Yes. Just tired."

"You look sick."

"No, I'm just a little worried."

"About…?"

"Uh… well… what Vincent did… yesterday… was too close for me."

I nodded seriously. "I get it. Any ideas?"

She sighed, looking disgruntledly at the worksheet on The Great Gatsby. "No, but I just wish there was a way to control the violence."

"We could always ask nicely…?"

She shook her head. "Very nicely… Don't worry about it, Nix. I'll… think of something eventually…"

I nodded hesitantly. "You sure?"

She gave me a silencing glance. "Did you talk to Tarq?"

I grimaced. "Eh… I knew I was forgetting something. Sorry, Lucca. He's just being childish, though. I think he can hold his own against Vincent, anyhow."

Lucrecia looked at me like I was insane.

"Okay, everyone," Mrs. Brown interrupted. "You want to watch this part of the movie for the rest of the period?"

"Yeah!" I cheered. "It's got my favorite scene!"

Mrs. Brown had someone turn the lights off for her.

"Why is that your favorite scene?" Lucrecia asked me, darkly.

"It's funny. Well, to me."

"Nix, he broke her nose, how do you find that funny!"

I rolled my eyes. "I find it wonderfully fitting given the overall themes of the book. Not to mention; there's blood. And shh, it's almost that part of the scene now. I wanna watch."

"Nix, you are so morbid. I bet you enjoyed watching Vincent slash up Jake's face."

"As a matter of fact, I did. But that's because I don't like Jake, not because I do like the violence. Now, SHH!"

There was blood onscreen from the character Myrtle's nose. The onscreen character of Tom watched coldly as his mistress fled. Nick looked surprised and unsure what to do. I giggled silently.

"See? Myrtle's connected with warmer, darker colors than the other characters—like red, for example—which has connotations of violence and—"

"Nix, shut up." She seemed a little more disturbed than the scene itself warranted, so I backed off as we finished the movie.

During the break period I went to Mrs. Barker's room to set up for the continuation of the Tetris tournament, as was becoming my routine. Jake was there.

"What are you doing here!" I asked him angrily.

He smiled coolly. "I'm here for the… Tetris thing."

I caught myself staring. Jake had grown up quite a bit since last year. His hair was slightly shorter, and he had grown at least six inches. Even his facial expressions seemed to have matured more than one summer ought to permit.

For some strange reason, though, he was still wearing pink.

I sneered. "Riiight, I guess Tarquin filled you in then, yes?"

He nodded, looking straight at my eyes with an almost creepy smile.

"Okay…" I looked down at the page of Tarquin's scrawl that I hadn't previously bothered to decipher.

"I'm playing against Sephiroth, right?" He said, interrupting my train of thought.

Oh. That squiggle was a "ph"? "…Yeah."

He scoffed, preening his ego. "No prob."

He was getting a little too arrogant for me to tolerate. "Only if you have a death wish."

He looked only slightly wary at this.

I smirked. "'Androids don't tear your arms out of your sockets when they lose,'" I quoted sinisterly.

Jake looked like he wasn't sure if he should be afraid. "Not… really, right? I mean, he's not really that…"

I chuckled and shrugged. "Remember what happened to Cloud—Lighting-rod-head—last year? And Cloud was burly. Tough, ya know? Stamina, good constitution. You…" I gave Jake an appraising glance. "Not so much."

He snarled at me as Sephiroth sauntered in, being pestered incessantly by Yuffie.

"Yeah, but what if she—"

"No."

"Yeah, but then you might—"

"Yuffie, shut up," He snapped at her irritably when he saw that Jake and I were in the room.

I raised an eyebrow at Yuffie, who shrugged.

Jake strode over to Sephiroth, hand outstretched amiably. Sephiroth glanced at the hand, then stared incredulously at Jake's face. "Let's get this over with, then." He said, obviously to me, though he didn't look in my direction.

"Right… I just have to… Finish setting this up… and… yeah." I started to set to work.

"Here, let me—"

I winced away as Jake took the wires out of my hands, almost grabbing my hand as he did so. I glanced at Sephiroth, who was glaring at Jake.

"You may as well," I said to Jake, trying to keep the dark note out of my voice. "You're probably tall enough to reach the projector, anyhow…" I turned to talk to Sephiroth and Yuffie.

"I'll hold him if Vincent wants to punch him again…" Sephiroth snarled quietly.

I laughed softly. "This is gonna be no problem. He's just an arrogant jerk."

"Why'd he decide to join this thing anyway?"

Sephiroth folded his arms and looked over our heads.

Yuffie and I glanced at each other. I almost wished Lucrecia was there. "Did you do something to piss him off, Sephiroth?"

"No, I—Well, not… Sort of." Sephiroth stiffened, but continued. "…Apparently he's been harassing m—Well, Lucrecia."

"Eh? Why didn't I know about this?"

"I don't even think Vincent knows... I dragged him off once. He's probably bitter."

"How'd you catch him?"

Sephiroth was silent.

"Oh, so he's in that class that you're in with Lucca and that you never go to?"

He glared, which I took as an affirmative.

Yuffie shook her head. "Text me if I'm needed, Nix. I'm not gonna waste my time here." I nodded, then turned to find that Jake had been watching the tail end of the exchange carefully.

"That should do it." Jake said with an obnoxiously self-satisfied look at Sephiroth.

Sephiroth and I glanced at each other for a split second before Sephiroth slunk up to the front of the room.

"I don't think…" I looked around as though expecting to see others. "…anyone else is coming…"

They had started, so I curled up in the back of the room, feeling lonely and very intimidated by the two very competitive young men I had somehow ended up trapped in the room with. I started doodling in my spiral notebook as though it might protect me from the quickly rising levels of testosterone in the room.

I wasn't watching, but it grew increasingly difficult to resist looking at the board. Finally my curiosity took over and I looked up to find that, surprisingly, Sephiroth was making obvious mistakes. He looked frustrated, but was concealing it fairly well. Jake wasn't doing particularly well, but was winning.

I was staring at the board in confusion and fascination. Sephiroth should not have lost. Especially not like that.

"That wasn't right. What… happened?" Sephiroth asked, brow somewhat furrowed.

"…Um, you lost is what happened." I said, sarcastically.

He glared at me.

"Sorry." I changed my attitude to try to comfort him. "Well, for one, you don't do this. Jake does. It's not your area, so, no disgrace."

He looked darkly at me. Apparently I wasn't helping.

I sighed. "Sephiroth, you're freaking Sephiroth! You're, like, one of the most talented people ever." I looked at him carefully, and continued, "If you were any more awesome than you already are, you'd be just freaking annoying."

He didn't visibly respond. Even his body-language was stiff and reserved.

I shook my head and didn't make eye-contact with him. "If it helps at all… I have lost no respect for you."

He looked at me with one of those subtly and annoyingly unfathomable expressions.

I rubbed my temple confusedly as he left to move to his corner of the room angrily. I went to the front of the room to try to figure out what to do next. "Hey, Mrs. Barker, what's the plan for today?"

"For class? Why do you always ask me that?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because having the information will enable me to take over the world. 'Cause I'm curious, what else?"

She shook her head, finding no excuse to not tell me. "We're doing the blood-typing lab. You're…" She glanced at her computer. "You're working with Daryl and Darek."

I stuck out my tongue disgustedly.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just, Daryl sucks, of course, and Darek doesn't like me."

"He feels that passionate?"

I rolled my eyes and went to sit down by Vincent and Lucrecia, opening my notebook and titling a page 'Suspects.' "Blood typing lab today—" I began.

Vincent immediately stood up, but Lucrecia grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

"…And I'm making a list of possible vampires based on who decides to ditch today…" I finished, sheepishly.

Vincent glared at me, then, less viciously, at Lucrecia. She stopped laughing and looked at him beseechingly. He sighed and obligingly put an arm around her shoulder.

"More blood today, Nix? I'm sure you're going to enjoy yourself," Lucrecia mocked.

I cringed slightly. "Actually… I just really hope Darek shows up. He and Hojo are my group."

"On second thought, that does not sound like fun."

"Well… looking at Darek's blood under the microscope will be, actually, and if I can pit them against each other it'll be a blast. I'll see what I can do…"

Lucrecia looked like she didn't know whether or not to be disapproving as the bell to officially start class rang.

Hojo glared at me. "Why does Barker always put us in the same group?"

"Because you actually died long ago, Barker is really the demon-prince of this circle of Hell and Vincent and I have been sent as your eternal punishment."

Hojo pondered this. "That would explain a lot."

Darek raised an eyebrow at both of us and I chuckled, turning to read the instructions we'd been provided.

"Looks like we're using… at least one person's blood. Not-it!"

Darek shook his head quickly and Hojo glared at me. I laughed at him.

"Looks like it's your turn to get experimented on," I taunted.

He snatched the instruction sheet from me and began to read it. I looked around to see who had been made the sacrificial lamb in other groups.

Vincent was reluctantly sanitizing his hand under Tarquin's supervision.

Sephiroth seemed to already be beginning to test his blood sample, thanks, in part, to the fact that one of his lab group was Lucrecia.

I happily held up the container with the sterile tool in it. "Do you want to stab yourself, or should I do a favor and do it for you?"

He snatched it from me again.

I rolled my eyes and set to work preparing the tests that we would put the blood through.

"You know," Darek said quietly, "you don't need to taunt him."

"Yes, actually, I do." I told him seriously. "See, it's a psychological condition. Ask your doctor friend."

Darek obviously got the joke, but did not think it was funny.

I turned again to find that Hojo was about to try to draw his own blood, and looked like he was mustering up focus to do so. He started to move the hand with the needle when I interrupted.

"Hey, why are you stabbing yourself!" I chirruped obnoxiously.

"Shut up, Nix."

"Hey, I was just sayin'…"

He glared.

"You know," I said musingly, "fingertips have some of the most sensitive and dense nerve-endings in the body. It's silly to stab yourself there; better to use another part of the body that's less sensitive."

Hojo was still glaring at me, but Darek nodded reluctantly. "You are right, but the prick, if done correctly, will heal quickly, which is the most important consideration."

I gave up on Darek playing along and turned to Hojo. "So, while you're stabbing yourself, what do you think? Is this Hell?"

He rolled his eyes. "No. But, assuming your statement to be true, how did Doctor Crescent end up here?"

For a split second I wondered at the motivation behind the statement, but stopped to make up a plausible excuse. "She's not here. She's an illusion formed to torment you." I paused as he gave an incredulous look. "I'm not real either. I'm just your worst nightmare."

"As you've mentioned." He said quietly. "So, assuming your theory to be true, I would assume that Valentine is similarly an illusion?"

I laughed. "Naw, Vincent's soul is fused with Satan-spawn. He comes and goes from here as he pleases."

Hojo had cleverly managed to distract me while he pricked his hand, drawing blood and setting the blood sample up to be tested.

I looked at the blood, then I looked at him seriously. "Do you need a band-aid now? I have some in my bag. They're Disney Princess themed."

He started to retort, but fell silent. I couldn't quite tell whether he was blushing or not.

I decided to rub dirt in the wound anyway. "I bet you'd want a Snow White band-aid. You know…" I glanced across him suspiciously. "Knowing you."

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Why do you have princess… anything, anyway?"

"'Cause princesses are awesome! Especially Belle. I mean, Snow doesn't have much to give, but…" I paused. "And… Just to see the word 'princess' come out of your mouth. That was pretty priceless."

He was obviously not listening to me at this point. He was looking surreptitiously across the room. Lucrecia looked like she was explaining something fairly technical concerning the lab to Sephiroth, and he looked like he was deliberately seeming uninterested in what she was saying.

I glared at Hojo. "Stop leering."

"What?"

I glared disapprovingly at him. "Lucrecia."

The gambit of expressions was fascinating, but may have been more intelligible if recorded on high-speed camera.

"You don't deserve her, jackass. She's beautiful and wonderful and you're an ass."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, don't you just seem smitten?"

I glared at him seriously, "Maybe I'll date her, then."

There was an odd pause.

"That is an illogical conclusion."

I looked up at Darek curiously before Hojo could speak again. "Why do you say that?"

"Becoming involved with someone solely to protect them from contact with another person is an inefficient use of energy. Not to mention unlikely to be effective."

I shrugged. "It'd certainly make my point, though… What's your opinion on how she's acting, anyhow, Darek?"

He paused calmly, as though preparing for a recitation. "I have been observing Lucrecia's behavior since the beginning of this year. Her stress levels seem to drastically increase and her mental capacity decreases when in contact with or anticipating contact with Daryl. Logically, she has two choices of action; limit her emotions or limit her contact with Daryl to the maximum degree permissible by obligation."

Hojo stared at Darek like a deer caught unaware in the headlights of an oncoming semi-truck. A very ugly deer.

"Yeah, the former's unlikely," I said darkly. "Thanks for the diagnosis, though, Darek." I then rounded on Hojo. "See? Even Wise Darek thinks you need to back the hell off. Take that!"

Darek folded his arms expressionlessly, as though secretly annoyed at how I had twisted his words.

Hojo's eyebrows dropped into a scowl and he turned away from me, focusing on the lab. "Let's just get this over with."

I shrugged at Darek.

After the blood had been exposed to several different chemicals and I had enthusiastically enumerated the perceived awesomeness of the word "flocculate," we had almost finished the required part of the lab. At that point, I remembered something and looked sidewise at Hojo. "Your Tetris battle is supposed to be today."

He rolled his eyes obviously trying to brush the fact off. "So?"

"So, why weren't you there during break?"

He made no response.

"You're not trying to shirk, are you? If you don't come during lunch, I'm sending Yuffie to go get you."

He glared.

I looked at the clock on my phone and sighed. "Yuffie…?"

"Gone, babe." She had left the room before I had registered the door opening.

Just before it closed again, Lucrecia caught it and looked around warily. "Just me," I assured her, slightly more darkly than I had intended.

She nodded. "Nix…"

"You probably shouldn't stay," I said. "Negative influence your psychological prognosis and all that, you know. You should talk to Darek. He's very insightful."

She glared slightly. "Just… make sure nothing bad happens…?"

"Well, it kinda depends on your definition of 'bad.' My money's on a very angry ninja."

Lucrecia looked like she wasn't sure what to think of this and left. The door clicked shut, as though to provide a sound effect for my light-bulb moment. I dashed to the door. "Hey, Lucca! I have an idea!"

"Time's about up. Send in the Dog." I typed into my phone. I looked up at the screen where Yuffie's bricks were suffering. I hit "send."

"." … "." … "." … "Sent!"

"Game Over." Flashed on Yuffie's side of the screen.

"What?" Yuffie looked furiously at Hojo, who looked at me in fear.

"Run." I said calmly. "Run away…"

To my surprise, he made it to the hallway outside the classroom before Yuffie caught up and grabbed him, smacking him against the locker.

"And never return…"

"You cheated!" She yelled. "C'mon, admit it, you didn't win!"

I looked at my phone's clock again. It had been two minutes since I had sent the text. I was getting a little worried.

"Hey! Yuffie?" Zack's furious voice rang through the corridor. "You are that skinny little monkey from Wutai! The one who kept emailing me!"

She rolled her eyes. "Took you long enough to notice, stupid, ugly SOLDIER dude!"

"Lucrecia told me!"

Yuffie abandoned Hojo as Zack lunged at her, apparently taking much less pity than he had when she was a child. "How did you get my mail address!"

Hojo raised an eyebrow at me.

I rolled my eyes. "I'd've left you." I informed him coldly, stalking out of the room to go find food and tell Lucrecia that the plan had worked as well as could have been hoped.

A/N: Special Happy Birthday shout-out to Cloud ("Lightning-rod-head") Strife and Ian McDiarmid! (And I know that Yuffie eventually does tell Zack how she got his mail address.)