Chaos Cursed

“Seraphina?” The voice came from behind the closed bathroom door, the worried tones of her elder brother. Sanura and Angeal, she knew, had gone out for a few hours, which left her practically alone in the apartment, as Sephiroth was working in the office. “Seraphina?!”

“I’m alright…just got out of the shower.” She told him, focusing all her strength into making her voice seem entirely normal. It worked, for the most part, but even she could hear the false normalcy in her tone.

“You turned off the shower half an hour ago, Seraphina.” She winced at the dry tone in her brother’s voice, closing her eyes and rising to her feet. She had gotten dressed as soon as she dried off, but between then and the sound of Sephiroth’s voice, there was nothing but pain. She was still hurting, quite a bit, but she pushed the pain away as she moved to unlock and open the bathroom door, her brother standing there with a scowl on his lips.

“See? I’m fine.” She informed him, moving to push past him only to blink as he grabbed her chin, slowly forcing her back into the bathroom to point at the mirror. Glancing over, she saw a darkening bruise on her jaw, where she must have hit it on the counter as she passed out.

“…really.”

“Yeah, really. I slipped and fell, okay? It’s no big deal.” Shoving him away from her, she stalked from the room, pulling her wet hair up into a ponytail as she slid into her shoes. Her gaze drifted to the large male following her as though torn between forcing her to go to bed, and throttling her, at which point she had to sigh. “Brother, you can’t follow me everywhere. Tseng offered to take me shopping, so unless you want to spend three to eight hours in a store, watching me spend your money-”

“…Genesis told me to give you this.” She blinked at the card he held up, head tilting to the side in a mixture of curiosity and confusion. It was shiny, which made her curious. But it looked a lot like a shopping card, which confused her. As he held it out to her, she took it, staring blankly at the realization that it was a shopping card. A shopping card to her favorite boutique in Junon City.

“…uh…how…what…the…hell?”

“He called while you were in bed this morning, but demanded I not wake you, and told me to pick this up for you.” At her utterly confused look, he laughed. “He said he had intended to take you shopping at this place himself…I did it over the systems, and they brought it over.”

“…oh…” She smiled a bit, blinking away a few tears, though she was torn between feeling incredibly loved and wanting to laugh. As Sephiroth noticed this, and looked to her in confusion, she shook her head, snickering a bit. “Never mind. Tseng’s downstairs waiting for me.”

“I’m coming with you.” The tone was not one to argue with, and she only struggled against laughter still more as her brother followed her out the door, locked it, then followed her down to the car against which a man in a crisp black suit leaned.

“Sera, right on time. It never fails.” Tseng chuckled, straightening to open the passenger side door, allowing her to slide in, before he arched a brow at Sephiroth. “I’m more than mildly surprised at your willingness to join us.”

“Yeah, well-” Before he could continue, a muffled screech from within the car was heard, and as Tseng jumped and turned to look, all he saw was a shiny card dropping into Seraphina’s lap, and the girl staring blankly ahead of her in shock.

“What the hell?!”

“She just saw how much Genesis put on that card.”

“…he’s spending money?” Tseng blinked over at Sephiroth, both men laughing as they got into the car, Seraphina still moderately catatonic. “Here I thought he was never going to bother spending money unless he was making money from it.”

“Apparently he’s decided to ease the drain on my wallet.” Sephiroth merely shrugged, Tseng laughing as he pulled into the street, glancing over to Seraphina.

“Where to?”

“Beautique.” As Tseng glanced back to Sephiroth in surprise, he realized Sephiroth had never heard of the place. Turning his gaze quickly back to the road, he knew this was going to be one incredibly interesting shopping expedition.

Walking through the doors, Sephiroth nodded faintly. Upscale, classy - his sister had good taste in clothing. It wasn’t until she made a beeline for the back room that he began to wonder, as Tseng started to look distinctly nervous.

“You have to start from the ground up! I need a good foundation!” She called over her shoulder, and as Sephiroth followed after her, he froze. Everything in the back was highly inappropriate for his sister to be wearing. Ever.

“What…the…h-” Tseng shook his head, moving to sit down as his sister calmly turned to one of the saleswomen and began discussing what shape the items would give her. Sephiroth was twitching as he watched his baby sister pick up at least three corset sets, and four pairs of panties. Only then did she turn to the lingerie section, at which point Tseng grabbed his arm to keep him from grabbing his sister and dragging her out of the shop.

“Calm down, Sephiroth.” He muttered. “Your sisters have been shopping here since they saw the display their second day in Junon.”

“What?” He started growling, turning to glare at Tseng, who merely arched a brow. “What do you mean this is where they have been shopping for the past two months?!”

“Alright! Now I’m ready!” A large smile to the men, and Seraphina lead the way to the clothing section, after carefully placing her planned purchases into Tseng’s outstretched arms. He sighed, following behind her calmly, his gaze snapping to one of the men staring through the window at Seraphina. Said male scampered away with a terrified look on his face, as though he knew Tseng would find him and brutally beat him if he did not get away immediately.

“How long will this take?”

“Here? Not too long. The next two or so hours, however, we’ll be spending in a bath store, then a perfume store. And after that, unless it’s Sanura’s turn to pick up groceries. Another hour in the grocery store.” As he noticed Sephiroth’s face paling, he laughed aloud. “I do this with her every week, Sephiroth. You don’t have it too bad…though I will say this is the most she’s ever gotten here.”

“She probably didn’t want to spend my money on so many clothes - but since Genesis specifically bought her a card for this store…” He scowled. “I am going to beat the hell out of him as soon as he gets back…”

“Why?” Tseng glanced over to him as the clothes piled up. “Because he knew how much she loved this store? And appreciated the fact that she wanted to look beautiful for him?”

“…stop trying to dissuade me. He’s a dead man.”

Some five hours later, the trunk full of groceries, the backseat with Seraphina’s little indulgences, the three returned to Junon city - having left for Tseng and Seraphina’s habitual visit to the cliff over the city, where she could see the stars better. Although she attempted to carry the bags up the stairs on her own, Sephiroth and Tseng ordered her up the stairs, getting them on their own.

“Sephiroth…what’s wrong with her?” Tseng’s voice was low, as he headed for the doors of the apartment building. “You can’t tell me “nothing,” I’ve seen how weak she’s gotten. What is going on?”

“She won’t tell anyone.” Sephiroth replied, and as the men staggered through the apartment door, the bags fell from their arms at the sight of the woman who stood before them. Far from the happy, contented, albeit weary look that had been on her face when she went to the apartment, she had gone completely pale, her eyes already appearing shadowed. Her arms hung limply at her sides, the phone held in one of them.

“Seraphina?!” Sephiroth rushed to her, barely reaching her in time to catch her as she collapsed, tears pouring from her eyes. “Seraphina, what happened?!”

“…it…can’t…it can’t be…” Was all she would say, over and over again, and as Tseng glanced to the phone, he took it from her to press redial. His voice was crisp, every inch the Turk, as he demanded information. When he finished, he hung up the phone, looking wearily to Sephiroth. Seraphina had fallen silent, simply huddling into her older brother. As the apartment door opened behind Tseng to allow Sanura and Angeal to enter, he spoke at last.

“…Genesis is gone.”