It was about one now, still raining, and Joe was still stuck wandering aimlessly through Tia's castle.. "Why is it always me that gets stuck in these situations!?" He grabbed the handle of another door and pushed it open when a response echoed from behind him..

"You're her favorite?"

"And let me tell you just what that means to me, Phil:" He walked on through the door and began to look around the room, it was cluttered with books (mostly those of which Tia had "borrowed" from him.), "I've been wandering around this damned place for an hour now, I'm hungry, tired, and..--" He paused for a moment, looking for an answer for what he just realized, "and.. where in the hell did you come from?"

"Don't ask me bro.." Joe looked back in time to see him shrug as he walked out the door, "I think I saw her walking this way earlier though.." With that he turned the corner; Joe walked out to the doorway to find an empty hallway..

"I loathe this place..." He turned quickly, kicking one of the books across the room and against the wall, slipping in the progress..
And so again he found himself flat on his bum.. "I truly loathe this place.."
..

It was about thirty more minutes and 20 more rooms before he found anything worth mentioning.. And on the 21st door:..

As he approached the next door, the first thing noticed was that the door was made of steel.. "Do Not Enter.." He stared at the crudely drawn sign, he couldn't help but wonder if it was a warning for or -by- Frederick... "I know I'm going to regret this but.." He pushed on the door, and rather unexpectedly, it slowly swung open.. The room was dark, the only lighting, was that of a small light in another room, as seen through a large glass window..
There was a table in the middle of the room that he could see as well, as he got closer, he could make out the form of several small marble-ish objects.. Small, yellow, orbs.. "Materia.."
Not just any materia, Manipulate Materia...
He suddenly thought about the vampire's habbits and shuddered slightly as he looked over at the glass window.. "..Don't look... Don't look..." Against his own advice, and better judgement, he walked closer to the window.. There was a switch by the window, and also against the same judgement he flipped the switch..
And there... in the other room..
Scarred? Yeah, probably for life.
In the center of the other room, tied together by ropes, were Sephiroth and Vincent.
He quickly switched the light back off, and left the room, slamming the door shut..

"..Could have done without that.."

Episode Three
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