Unconditional (Sephiroth x OC)

Chapter 11 - A Special Place, A New Clue

Mona poured another glass of water for Elmyra and watched her gulp it down hastily, a sigh escaping her lips after she finished the last drop.

"How do you feel? Better?"

"Yes. Thank you." The woman reassured her and clutched the now empty glass in her hands. "I must apologize. I usually don't break down easily. But after my husband's death, Aerith became my only family. The thought of losing her terrifies me- "

Mona shook her head. "No, please don't apologize. You are a mother who is concerned about her child's well-being – nobody can blame you for feeling the way you do right now." She put her hand on her arm in a comforting manner. "I am not asking you to hold back your emotions but perhaps we can try and walk through what happened the days before Aerith disappeared hm?"

Elmyra looked at her. "Before she disappeared?"

Mona nodded, smiling. "Yes. Can you remember her saying or doing something odd or unusual? Was there anything that caught your attention?"

The middle-aged woman leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, visibly trying to recall her memories of the last couple of days before Aertith's disappearance.

"I ... I did not notice anything strange about her." She paused. "But one day-"

"Yes?" Mona encouraged her.

"One day, Aerith came back from the slum market and was completely out of breath. She was panting and gasping for air. When I asked her about it, she waved it off and explained that she had been chased by stray dogs on her way home." Elmyra leaned back up from the chair with glassy eyes. "I did find it odd but did not press on the matter because she seemed completely normal again a few moments later. I should have-"

"It's okay, Elmyra. It's okay." Mona said and rubbed comforting circles on the woman's back. "We are getting somewhere! So we can assume that Aerith ran from something – or someone – that day. Which means she was scared. Could it be that this fear lingered on and caused her disappearance?"

"She has never been afraid of things people usually get scared of. You know, like bugs, the dark, height – things like that." Elmyra paused. "Except ... thunderstorms. When she was little, she used to hide in her closet and I would spend almost an hour trying to coax her out of it."

"She used to hide for a long time to avoid her fear." Mona repeated those words like a mantra in her head until she was certain that she was on the right track. "That's it. That must be it!"

"What is it?" The concerned mother asked hopefuly.

"Elmyra, I need to speak to Sephiroth. Something tells me that Aerith is close by. But we need to check a few spots to be sure." She hastily fished a crumpled piece of paper and a pen out of the pockets of her coat. "Can you name a few places she frequents a lot?"

After scribbling everything down, Mona nodded and gave Elmyra a last reassuring hug before stumbling her way outside where Sephiroth and the two Turks were waiting.

"Sephiroth, can we speak? I think there is a new clue!"

"See, Rude?" The red-haired Turk scoffed. "That is what happens when you lock two women together in a room for thirty minutes. Suddenly there is a new clue."

Mona was usually not the confrontational type. But after almost an hour of trying to comfort a terrified woman who had been left alone with all her worries and pain, Mona could not suppress the sudden anger that suddenly rose up in her.

"You are mistaken. That is what happens when you treat someone like a human being." She retorted. "If you had been decent enough to hand her a glass of water and a tissue while she was crying her eyes out inside, she might have opened up to you, too."