Crow (NoochZahHutt)

Part Twenty-One

"You don't need to bring his whole body, just his head," Vaq explained, as he ushered me down a flight of dark stairs. "That's what I bound his soul to."

"Okay, cool, I can do that," I told him, "but where are we going?"

"What, do you want to take the subway back to Genesis?" Vaq asked, and then, without even waiting for me to respond, continued. "I thought not. I've got a system of tunnels I've been working on that are much faster than conventional travel and, when they're finished, will go all over the country. I call it 'Crossroads'."

"Oh, okay," I said with a nod. We'd reached the bottom of the staircase and we were now in front of...something. "This doesn't look like a tunnel."

"That's because it's not," Vaq said. "It's a portal to another dimension. C'mon."

He shoved me towards it. It was purple, slightly transparent, and swirling like fog. It made sinister noises and I wasn't so sure I trusted it.

"Dude, it's perfectly safe, I've gone through it like a million times," Vaq tried to reassure me. I shrugged my shoulders and stepped into the portal.

~~~

Choco here. Choco the Chocobo. Petey wanted me to write this chapter, because apparently my experiences in jail are "significant for shipping purposes" or something like that, so here I am.

Oh. I should probably explain why I'm in jail. You see, the government invaded Balamb and well...I'm sure you understand. Thankfully, I was sharing a cell with Kenny, (and several other members of Crow but that didn't matter, Kenny was the only one who really mattered to me) and they hadn't taken away my hoodie.

I supposed they were just gonna kill us all anyway. So I had to get this over with.

I fished a piece of paper out of my pocket and looked it over. It was the fifth one or so I'd written. The handwriting was messier than most, but I hadn't crossed anything off. If I was going to do it how I'd planned, I'd have to use this one.

I sat on the cold wooden bench, tapping my fingers on my leg in a rhythmic pattern. The guards, who were sitting just outside our cell door and appeared to be slacking off, had turned on a radio and the music was impossibly catchy. Kenny was sitting on the floor, opposite of me. He was sharing thoughts with one of the other Crow members. They laughed at something. I tried not to yell something passive-agressive at them.

Essentially, what I'm trying to say here is that I'm a jealous type and he was talking and sitting next to someone who wasn't me.

The current song ended, and the next one came on. I recognized it instantly. Kenny seemed to as well, because his face lit up and he looked towards me with sparkling eyes.

"Hey!" He said, "It's your song!"

"Yep," I said, popping the "P". Sugar by Maroon 5. It came on the radio in our kitchen at Balamb a lot, and I tended to sing along absentmindedly. I didn't think I was horribly good at singing, but Kenny disagreed with me.

"You should sing it," Kenny said, slyly. He raised an eyebrow, knowing I'd refuse, and stood up.

"Nooooo," I whined, pulling my knees to my chest and burying my face in them.

"Alright," Kenny continued, walking towards me with an outstretched hand. I was confused for a moment, but then he explained. "If you're not gonna sing, then dance."

I looked up at him with big eyes. "Dance?"

"Yeah," he replied with a laugh. "Dance with me."

Is this a joke? I thought. But it couldn't be. Kenny wasn't the kind of person to joke about things like this; he actually wanted to dance with me, in a jail cell, to Sugar by Maroon 5. I lowered my legs, completely aware that my mouth was open slightly, and grabbed his hand.

He pulled me up rather suddenly, and I stumbled, leaving us both giggling. He gripped my hand rather tightly, and then rested his other hand on my hip. I tried to pretend I wasn't blushing. I failed.

"Relax, dude," Kenny said with a laugh. "It's just me. No need to be nervous."

"I-I'm not nervous," I stuttered. Kenny just smiled. Man he was gorgeous.

We started swaying gently to the beat of the music and I couldn't tear my eyes off his. He seemed to sense how flustered I was, and leaned away from me slightly, loosening his grip on my hand.

We started dancing faster, spinning around the cell and laughing like children. It was fun. I was able to forget where I was for a second. But then I noticed the guards looking at us sadly, and the butterflies flew out of my stomach as I was brought back to the cold reality of our situation.

I stopped, letting go of Kenny's hand and shoving him away from me. "Sorry," I said, "I just...remembered where we are, and it kind of killed the mood."

The guards turned off the radio.

"It's okay, I get it," Kenny sighed, running a hand through his hair. He seemed incredibly disappointed. "They're gonna kill us anyway, though, so why not have a little fun?"

"I guess you're right," I said, putting my hand in my pocket and grabbing the letter. "But...before...before anything...I need to tell you something."

Kenny looked at me worriedly. "What? What is it?"

"Well, I didn't wanna do it in front of all these people, but..." I began, pulling out the paper. However, at the last minute, I changed my mind. I threw the paper on the ground and rubbed my temples, looking at the ground. "I can't..."

Kenny put his hand on my shoulder. I snapped my head up. "You can't? You can't what?"

"I can't...tell you..." I said. Suddenly, I had an idea. "I'll show you instead."

I ignored all logic and let impulse take over as I grabbed his face and brought it close to mine. I started to have second thoughts when our lips were only a half an inch apart - but Kenny got the message and ended up being the one to press his lips to mine.

"FINALLY!" I heard someone yell. Jeez, were we really that obvious to everyone else?

I pulled away quickly and I was basically freaking out. "OhmygodIcan'tbelievewejustdidthat," I said quickly, grabbing my hair. Kenny smiled.

"I know, it's awesome, right?" Kenny said. He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into an embrace, his lips brushing against my ear. "I love you to death, dude."

"That's good, because we're probably about to die anyway," I mumbled. "I love you, too. MAN, I never thought I'd get to say that to you! I'm weirdly happy considering I'm in a jail cell."

He laughed, his lips still close to my ear, and I just about swooned. "Well, if we're gonna die anyway..." he said, pulling away and smirking, "I might as well."

He grabbed my wrists and pinned me to the cell wall, lowering his eyelids seductively. I was the first to lean in, but clearly Kenny was gonna be the dominant one in this relationship.

I won't describe it explicitly. I'm sure you can use your imagination.

Anyway, that's what Petey wanted me to add to this story. Do with this information what you will.

~~~

One time I was watching Choco do a livestream while he was building his farm in H2M and Sugar by Maroon 5 came on and he started singing and I just about melted. His voice is one to swoon over.

Also, that bit at the beginning is only there because it wasn't long enough to take up a whole chapter sooooo...

anyway ciao!