Your tired eyes fluttered opened to the dim light of your bedroom. The door was wide open and exposed the hallway light, as well as light rustling in the small hallway from the bathroom. You groaned and closed your eyes for a brief moment before sitting up on your mattress, leaning against the wall. Or, attempting to anyway.

You winced with a small scoff of pain and put a hand on your side, panting. Looking at it, you noticed the wound had been dressed. Only a bit of blood had soaked through the gauze. You heard rushed footsteps coming down the hall, somehow cautious and quiet.

"Lay down," Biggs insisted. "You're pushing yourself already. Lay down," he repeated. His hair was wet and he was shirtless. There was a first-aid kit in one hand and a cup in the other as he sat down next to your mattress.
You watched tiredly as he opened the kit. "Oh, here," he said, handing you the glass. You shakily took it, bringing it up to your lips, suppressing another cry of pain.

After you took a drink, you nodded at him with a weak smile. "Guess you got to shower first after all," you said, trying to brighten the mood. He gave a soft smile in an attempt to comply.

"Guess so," he replied, looking at a bowl of water on the floor. There was a wash rag in it and a damp towel next to it. "I cleaned off all the dirt and blood I could without... Y'know... Removing anything. Figured you'd be more comfortable when you woke up."

You handed him the half-drank glass and laid back down carefully. You were smiling mentally, a slight fluttering in your stomach. You were able to take comfort in the fact that he knew you so well. More than anyone ever did, even to the point he paid attention to the little things that caused you discomfort. "Thanks a lot," you said. "Can you turn off the hallway light, please... My head sort of hurts."

He got up and did so, closing the door as well. "Is that better?"

"Yes, thank you," you repeated, closing your eyes.

He nodded in response, still smiling. "You're welcome." He looked back down at your wound, sighing a little. "How exactly did you get that gash? Did you get into a fight or something?" He asked. 

Your memory was still hazy as to what transpired that night. You winced as the sensation of the flames and smoke invading your eyes and nose came back to you. It was all coming back now. 
"It was Sephiroth, he..." you broke into a small fit of coughs, startling him. He offered you the water, but you shook your head and waved your hand dismissively as the coughing died down. 
"Sorry..."

"You were saying something about Sephiroth?" he said. 

"Right... I thought I saw a citizen in the fire, so I went to help them... When I reached them, I realized it was Sephiroth..." You took a second to breathe. Your hand was rubbing and applying pressure to your already dressed wound. It was painful, but the pressure was somehow comforting. "He told me I was in the way. Of destiny or something like that..."

"'In the way of destiny'? What was that supposed to mean...?" Biggs asked, mainly to himself. He leaned against the wall and gazed into the dimness of the room. You watched him, feeling a little concerned. You didn't want to cause him anymore stress than you already had. He looked back over at you. "Was that all?"

You shook your head: "I heard you call for me. If I hadn't turned around to look, he might've inflicted more damage... He was trying to kill me." The words seemed to catch in your throat. The fact Sephiroth was trying to kill you was somewhat obvious, but the idea of death frightened you. Especially since the uncertainty remained that you would survive this wound alone. You were still disoriented, and that familiar tiredness of when you passed out from blood loss still lingered. 

You felt tears start to form in your eyes but you quickly wiped them away. That couldn't be said for the burning lump in your throat of course. He noticed your struggle to formulate an explanation and took your hand as if to say, "It's okay, he's not here anymore. It's just me."

Your voice cracked occasionally as you spoke; "I was trying to make it to you, over a hill of fallen debris, but some kind of force pushed me back on the ground." The more words left your mouth, the more it sounded foolish, like a dream. Maybe it was some kind of hallucination induced by pain.

"'Attacked by an invisible enemy...'," Biggs muttered under his breath. He was still holding your hand, rubbing it with his thumb in a comforting way.  You looked over at him.
"What was that?" you asked.

"Something Cloud asked us about on the train earlier... He told us specters wearing robes attacked him. Something about a girl grabbing him or something..." He went quiet after that, not sure if you cared too much about what Cloud had to say. 

"Oh," you sniveled. "I'm not crazy then," you said with a weak laugh. "Or that just means I am, and Cloud is too..."

Biggs shook his head, not all that amused by your joke. "Why would I think you're crazy, [F/N]? Last night... It was rough. Confusing, even. I wouldn't be too surprised if something like that had happened. I'd never seen you look so penitent before. It's not like you." 

You tilted your head a little. Your eyes were half-lidded now, but your expression still managed to show concern. "Are you okay?" you asked him.

"You know this isn't about me," Biggs said. "There's hardly a scratch on my body."

"That's not what I meant..." you said. He looked away, tightening his grip on your hand. You looked up at him. He was trying to hide how upset he really was. "Are you okay?" 

"I should have never asked you to do that," he finally said. His voice wasn't breaking or anything, but he sounded ashamed of himself. Upset with himself. 

"Don't start with that," you told him. "You were being thoughtful, because you know I wanted to go... I wouldn't have gone if I truly didn't want to. You know this." He just nodded. "Besides... no one knew that there was a possibility of Sephiroth and some weird ghosts showing up."

He just gave a weak smile, still not facing you. You raised a brow. "Now stop worrying about me and get some rest..." 

"I'm gonna stay over here for tonight," he said and let go of your hand, standing up. 

"Are you that worried?" you asked. "You're literally across the room from me."

"Yeah," he said. "I know." He walked to the other side of the room and slid his mattress the few feet it was from yours. You had tried talking him into getting a bed, since you had the money for it, but there wouldn't be enough room for two. And he wasn't gonna ask you to share. You gave a small sigh, shaking your head. 

"You know, a mattress isn't gonna suffice after a job like that," you said. 

"Here we go again," Biggs replied, sitting down. 
"You could just get a bed," you continued. "And I could put my mattress underneath it and get it out every night."

"You're not sleeping on a mattress on the floor if I'm not," Biggs said. "End of conversation."

"'End of conversation'," you mocked. "You sound like my dad." 

"Your dad?" Biggs laid down, facing the ceiling. He looked over at you with a confused look. "Where's he?"

You shrugged in response. You'd never mentioned your family, obviously, or a fake one. Coming up with a fake identity for yourself was hard enough to maintain in itself. Much less coming up with a whole fake family. What if he wanted to meet them? 
"He's gone," you finally said. "My family fled Midgar after I was arrested." 

"Seriously? They didn't try to help you?" he asked.

"I told them to leave," you lied. "They wouldn't have found a way to help me out anyway. They're not like Avalanche. They didn't have the strength or the gall."

"Right," Biggs said. "Sorry for asking."

"It's all right. It's not something that keeps me up at night or anything like that." It was. Your real family kept you up at night. Thinking about them kept you up at night. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight..." Biggs said through a yawn. "Wake me up if you need anything, will you?"

"Will do," you replied before letting the heavy feeling in your eyelids take over. You fell asleep almost immediately. 

*
*
*

"Avalanche!!" the group cheered, raising their bottles. You heard them conversing as you came up from the basement. Barret asked for you at the bar before they would celebrate.  You were having some luck walking today, so you decided to comply. After all, you wanted to go to Sector 5 later, so you might as well have gotten out of bed.

Earlier, in Seventh Heaven Basement...

"Y'all are dismissed. Get up there and celebrate," Barret said enthusiastically. You had a feeling he didn't require you to join them, but he hadn't addressed anything to you in the meeting. You carefully stood up, getting ready to follow Biggs and the others out. "Except you," you heard Barret growl. You stopped and turned towards him. The others didn't notice and proceeded up to the lobby without you.

"What?" you asked. He had a dubious look on his face, hostile even. 

"I wanna know why that Scorpion Sentinel wouldn't attack you at the reactor yesterday, and why you decided to tag along," his voice was low and almost threatening. "You a spy?" he asked.

You shook your head. "Sir, I don't know why the sentinel wouldn't attack me. You saw me provoking it. Plus, I decided to tag along because Biggs asked me to. Well... he knew I wanted to, so that's why he asked me, but yeah. That's why I joined you. I'm not a spy. I've been friends with Biggs for years. I'm only here because he is."

"Are you really Biggs's friend, or is he [Y/N] ShinRa's refuge?" You felt yourself tense up. His sentence was delivered with such confidence that you knew he was sure of it. How would an anti-ShinRa cynic not know what the president's family was like. You were more upset about the suggestion he made about your friendship than the fact he knew your identity. 

"Don't you dare suggest I would take advantage of him like that!" you spat. "He saved me years ago. If I wanted refuge, I wouldn't go on a suicide mission with some maniac like yourself to a reactor where ShinRa focuses most of their security!" He might've been right though. Were you really just taking advantage of Biggs like that? Was he an outlet for you? Your mind became more attuned to that theory, and you actually had begun to believe it.

Barret didn't look as upset as you expected him to after you yelled at him like that. You swallowed a lump in your throat and stood still. "That's all I needed to hear. If you ask me, having one of ShinRa's own on our side is thrilling. I ain't mad at ya. Just couldn't let my guard down. For Avalanche's sake."

"Biggs can't know I'm [Y/N]..." you finally said, letting out a shaky sigh. "He'll think the same thing you did... It'll be like meeting him for the first time and starting all over again."

"I ain't saying anything," Barret reassured you. "It's not that big a deal." You let out a sigh of relief, putting a hand on your racing heart.

"Thank you," you said. He nodded and dismissed you. 

Present, Seventh Heaven Lobby...

"[F/N], where are you going?" Wedge asked from his seat. The three of them looked over at you. 

"Sector 5," Biggs said. "She doesn't wanna celebrate here with us today. Said she's not really in the group."

"To the Leaf House, then?" Jessie asked. You nodded in response. 

"I haven't visited them in a hot minute," you explained.

"Are you sure you'll be fine on your own?" Biggs asked.

You nodded in response. "I'll be fine," you insisted. The two of you had already talked this over that morning. "After all, you need to spend time with these guys. I'll be back by tonight, since I'm taking a chocobo." 

"Tonight?" Biggs repeated. "Let's have a drink when you get back then, how does that sound? Just us." 

You nodded with a small smile.
"Sure," you replied. "Later." He and the others nodded at you as you left the bar and made off for the Leaf House. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

2124 words

That should make up for last chapters missing 59

I did this on my laptop, so it might look bad, but I'll edit it on my phone later.