≤◊≥ The Jewel of Chaos ≤◊≥ {Vincent Valentine love story}

<◊> Chapter 1 <◊>

On the far outscores of Midgar, a young girl wearing a navy blue mage cloak and her furry companion walk aimlessly in the middle of nowhere. The girl takes a map out from under her hooded cloak and looks over the paper, trying to find her way to a nearby town. "Are we there yet Esmee?" asked the furry creature. "I told you for the last fifteen minutes you asked. I'm not sure. I'm still trying to figure out this map." The girl said as she holds the make in front of her looking at it in different ways. "I can't even find one landmark that looks the same on the map." She said. "That's what you get for buying a map from some random guy from the street." The furry creature said. "Well you're the one who didn't want me to ask for direction." she said looking down at her friend. "Esmee can I have some more water? It's so hot."The furry creature sighs and says as he sways his tail to fan himself. "Sure Lazul I was getting thirsty myself." She said as she folds her map and takes out her water cantina. When she opens it she looks inside and sees that there isn't much left for both of them. She looks at the cantina sadly, which caused Lazul to look at her worriedly. "What's wrong Esmee?" he asks his dear friend. "Nothing, here you go Lazul. Drink up." She said smiling as she bends down and gives the water to him. "But, what about you?" he asks looking up at her. "Don't worry about me. We'll find a river soon." She says as she pours water into her hand so that he could drink it. He accepts his friend's kindness and drinks from her hands. While he's drinking he hears something in the distance. He lifts his head in the direction of the sound and sniffs the air. "What is it Lazul, do you hear something." She asks as she stands up as well. "Looks like you'll be refilling that cantina sooner than you think." He said then suddenly takes off running. "Huh, what do you mean? Lazul" she said as she takes off running after her him. She finally catches up with him when he stops at the edge of a cliff. She stares in awe as she gazes over the beautiful waterfalls. "How do feel about water from a waterfall?" he asks looking up to his friend. She smiles warmly and says, "That's fine with me." he nods his head then climbs up her arm and settles himself inside her hood around her neck. When she feels he's comfortable where he is. She begins her walk towards the falls and goes behind one to get shade from the sun. When they get there, Lazul jumped out from under her hood as she pulls her hood off her head. "What a beautiful place. I have never seen anything like this." She said. "I agree. There's nothing like this back home." Lazul said as he stretches out his limes. Esmee takes a deep breath of the smell of the freshwater and sighs. "Alright, time to filler up." Esmee says as she takes out her cantina and the pulled out a palm-sized brown bag and opened it. "Do you smell anybody coming?" she asks. Lazul lifts his head and sniffs the air for a moment; then spoke. "Nope, all clear." He said looking up at her as she nods her head. She digs through it until she pulls out a blue stone and puts her bag away. She holds the gem in her hand and closes her eyes. She opens her eyes and said, "Dana {Water}" as she does; her eyes begin to glow the same blue color as the stone. Then she moves her hand as the water from the fall flow towards her and into her cantina. "That should last us until we get to the next town." Lazul said as Esmee closes the bottle. As she prepares to stop her magic she suddenly hears something. "I'm so sorry," said a faint voice. She turns to face Lazul. "Are sure no one is near?" She asks looking down at him. "I am; why?" he asks looking at her wondering. "I thought I heard someone." She said as she looks around the side of the waterfall. "Maybe I was-" she started but she heard the voice again. "There it is again." She said as she turns around and sees a cave behind them. "It's coming from in there." She said as she begins to walk towards the entrance. "I wonder." She said. "Wait for Esmee, let me go first." Lazul said as he shapeshifts into a big tiger. "We don't know what may live in this cave. Stay close to me." Esmee nods her head showing that she understands and holds onto his fur, as they walk carefully inside. As they venture further inside the cave, they stare in wonder and enchantment at the sight of many beautiful glowing crystals. "What is this place?" Esmee said. "I don't know. I've never seen crystals like this before." Lazul said as he walks towards one of the crystals as Esmee does the same. Suddenly she hears the voice again. She turns her head and sees a larger crystal in the middle of a pond. Inside it a beautiful woman with long brown hair wearing a white dress slumber inside. "Lazul, look." Esmee said as she walks closer to the crystal to get a better look. "Wow," he said surprised as he joins her by her side. "She's so beautiful." Esmee said mesmerized by her beauty. "What do you think happened to her?" Lazul asked but Esmee wasn't paying attention when she heard the voice once more. "So, it's you." She said, never taking her eyes off of the beautiful woman. "What do you mean?" Lazul asks. "This is going to sound strange but I can hear her." She said as she digs in the same bag as before and pulls out the same jewel and walks on the water approaching the large crystal carefully. The woman inside didn't move, which is what she expected. "W-who are you?" She asked as she slowly reaches out a hand to touch the crystals, "What are you doing in here?" said a deep voice that causing her to stop. She and Lazul turn around and see a man standing at the entrance of the cave. He has long black hair dressed in a black and red cape with matching red eyes. "Who are you?" he asked as his eyes seemed to be scanning them carefully as if they were intruding. "I'm sorry we're just-." Esmee tried to explain but stopped when she suddenly sees Lazul charging towards the man. "No Lazul, stop." She cried out. The man reaches for his weapon but stopped when he hears the sound of metal hitting something. He looks and sees the girl in front of him with a longbow staff. "I said Stop!" She commanded as she stopped the beast by hitting him right on top of his head. The creature cries out in pain and jumps back away from Esmee and the strange man. "Are you alright? You're not hurt are you?" she asked the man. The man says nothing to her but shakes his head. "That's good; I'm glad you're not hurt." She sighs in relief. "I'm so sorry about this. He can be very harsh around strangers." She said bowing to him. He looks at her surprised that this girl was able to stop the beast, but his cap covers most of his face so she's not able to see it when she stands straight up. "We came upon this place by accident while seeking shelter from the sun. You see, we're trying to find the right way to Midgar." He nodded his head then turned as he head to look at Lazul. "Now; I'm not the only one that has to apologies." She said sternly as she turns her head and looks at Lazul. "Lazul; come here and apologies." She said as she pointed to where she stands. [Must you treat me like a common dog, punishing me like I just chew up your shoe?] He said into her thoughts. "Yes, now come here boy." as she said tapping her foot. [Bite me.] Lazul thought as he stomped his paw on the ground showing that he doesn't want to. "Lazul!" she scolded this time demanding him to come. He swallows his pride and walks to where they both stand. When he is right beside her, he looks up at the man and bows his head. "She wasn't that so hard was it." She said as she pets his head as a treat for saying sorry. He looks at them and sees that they mean no threat to him; he walks past them and sits down in front of the crystal, looking up at the woman inside. [I think he wants to be alone] Esmee said into Lazul's thoughts. [I agree.] He replied. "Well, we'll be taking our leave then. Once again, I'm sorry for intruding and Lazul's rudeness. I hope you have a nice day." She said bowing to him. As they leave, they didn't see the strange man looking back at her.