Ow
By Rhino7
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This one-shot is mine. So after playing through the game a few times, I came to the realization that none of the characters every really articulate pain. It's all grunts and non-committal noises. I ponder because if I stub my toe, I'm on a pain-induced string of obscenities for at least two minutes. So I decided to point this out through Cid's eyes…because the world is a lot funnier through Cid's eyes. It also doubles as more fun writing Leon and Tifa friendship. Tee hee!
..:--X--:..
No one ever just said 'ow' anymore.
Cid had concluded that four letter words were more satisfying for people when they were in pain.
Exhibit A. Yuffie was flung into the rock wall in Dark Depths. Medium grade concussion, bruised neck and a black eye. Crap.
Exhibit B. Cloud rolled that tank he calls a motorcycle by the old ruins. Dislocated knee, sprained ankle and a broken leg. Shit.
Exhibit C. Leon took a two-by-four to the small of the back outside the Great Maw, splintering the wood. Broke two ribs and left one Hell of a bruise. Damn.
Exhibit D. Aerith was bitch-slapped by a Dancer Nobody so hard she hit the floor of the Bailey and rolled five feet. Nasty bruise and three loose teeth. Fuck.
Yeah…that one shocked him too.
As for Cid, he had had a set of stairs collapse while he was climbing them on the outskirts of the old castle ruins. Broken foot, dislocated shoulder, and a twisted knee. He had invented a new word that forced Leon to leave the room to compose himself. Cid hadn't found it so amusing.
Now it was Tifa's turn.
Cid wished those nimrods would turn the friggin' sirens off. He knew they were there already, so they might as well shut it! He cast the ambulances and fire trucks and squad cars an annoyed look before glancing back down at the wreckage.
"Well?" He grunted.
"Too much fuel down here for a power saw." Leon reported from inside the disemboweled Gummi.
"Of course there is." Cid grumbled, watching Leon's flash light beam swish around in the dark cargo hold behind the cockpit. "That would be too easy."
"Her neck is okay, so we can move her." Leon said from below.
Cid squinted, unable to see anything in the dark. "Great, now how do we go about that?"
A grunt. "Seat's jammed. It won't move. She's stuck."
"She still breathing?" Cid called down.
"Yes, but the control panel is pushing into her ribs."
"Dammit." Cid sat up, pulling out his own flash light.
Tifa's Gummi had crashed just outside the Bailey half an hour ago: smoke, fire, the whole shebang at one in the morning. Cid and Leon had beaten the local authorities out there and taken up residence as the young woman's rescue team. The police had settled for blocking off the area. A few sharp words were keeping the firefighters from doing more than dousing the flames. The medics were just being pains in the ass. They were useless until he and Leon got Tifa out of the steel death-cage, but the cheeky bastards were overeager to get in there.
"Sir," one of them approached the twisted remains of the ship. "I know you're trying to help, but I need to get in there and assess the woman's injuries."
Cid gave the medic a flat look, "The engine and the hold are accordioned to crunch time, bucko. A third body ain't fittin' in there."
"Then tell your friend to evacuate so a medical professional can attend to her." The man replied.
Cid was about to tell him what he could do with his medical professionalism, but he was interrupted by a groaning of steel and a thud inside the cockpit.
"Leon?" Cid swung his flash light beam through the shredded hole in the top of the Gummi Ship.
He heard Leon grumbling and then his light caught the younger man, on his back on the floor of the Gummi. It looked like he'd pushed the wall of the cockpit off Tifa's seat by sheer force and ended up on the floor. He blinked up at Cid's light and wiped the deer in the headlights look off his face.
"You get it?" Cid asked.
"Yeah." Leon climbed to his feet, moving over to Tifa again.
Cid followed him with his flash light. Leon's body blocked most of her from view, but Cid caught enough half-sights of her to know it was bad. She was slumped forward in the pilot's seat, no longer pinned but alarmingly slack, her top half folded over the control panel, which had more than a few flecks of red staining it.
The medic behind Cid huffed and climbed up onto the Gummi. The wreckage shifted and groaned under the new weight. The man peered down the hole in the roof to Leon and Tifa below, ignoring Cid's indignant look.
"Is she bleeding?" He asked.
Leon had pulled a knife out and was sawing at the seatbelts tying Tifa to the seat. "Yeah."
The medic sighed at the vague answer. "Where?" He expounded condescendingly.
"Superficial laceration to the forehead. Mostly shallow cuts on her arms. Compound collar bone fracture. Looks like a dislocated shoulder. Left wrist is broken along with three fingers." Leon tallied off the injuries. "Her pulse is pretty strong, but her breathing is labored and shallow. No spinal injuries though."
The medic shifted in surprise and Cid snorted. "Oh, he's been through a war."
Changing tact, the medic cleared his throat. "Check for internal bleeding. Look to see if—"
"No skin discoloration or bruising." Leon cut him off. "She's going into shock."
"Is she free?" Cid called down.
Another grunt. "Yeah."
"Don't move her." The medic instructed. "We'll cut the wall away and get her out on a back brace."
"There're no spinal injuries and there's too much gas to use a saw. Were you not listening?" Cid groaned.
"Keep her airways clear." The medic instructed, then under his breath. "We need to get real medical attention in there."
Cid rolled his eyes but held his tongue. Getting pissy wasn't going to help matters.
There was a sudden choking noise and a cry of pain.
"Hey." Leon grunted.
Cid shone his flash light back in the hole, illuminating the scene as best he could.
Tifa had jerked back to awareness, jostling her wounds and sitting up against the seat in surprise. Leon slid her away from the control panel, reclining the seat to keep her from sliding around. Tifa yelped at the motion and stiffened.
"I said don't move her!" The medic barked.
"She couldn't breathe, dumbass." Leon hissed.
Cid snorted but immediately sobered. "Check her legs."
Leon knelt under Cid's flash light. "No breaks or dislocations. I don't think she can walk though."
"Ah…What—how did—" Tifa stammered, hissing in pain and breathing heavily.
"Take it easy." Cid called down. "You're all right. We're gonna get you out. Try not to move."
Tifa winced at the flash light and looked from Cid, to Leon, to her surroundings. Her eyes widened as she seemed to drink in the situation and Cid shifted.
"Talk her down, Leon." He barked. "She's freakin' out."
"What h-happened?" Tifa wheezed, gasping for air.
"You were in a Gummi crash." Leon explained slowly. "You're all right, but we need to get you out so the—"
Tifa groaned and turned her neck, lifting a hand to inspect the pain at her collar.
"No." Leon snatched her exploring arm, luckily the one without the broken bones. "Don't touch it."
"Ah—it hurts—" She said through clenched teeth.
Cid glanced over at the fire truck and the firefighters standing by, looking stir-crazy. "Hook that rig of yours up to the back of the ship and pull it away from the rocks. We need to bust the windshield out."
"We can't move it. Too much jostling could cause one of her ribs to pierce her lung." The medic countered.
"Got another plan, Mr. Professional?" Cid turned on him. "We'll get her out of there, then you do your job. Not the other way around, so back off."
The firefighters revved the engine to life and began to maneuver the big red truck toward the back of the wrecked Gummi. The nose of the Gummi had smashed into the rock wall of the outer Ravine Trail, the entire windshield blocked by the rock. Most of the cabin and cockpit had been compressed and smashed. Leon had only managed to wriggle into the cockpit area because of double jointed shoulders. And he'd still scraped up his neck pretty good in the process too.
Another medic jogged over. "Sir, I truly must advise against—"
"It's no use, Pam, he's incorrigible." The first medic said, climbing down off the wreckage.
Cid ignored them both, looking down into the cockpit. "Hey, they're pulling the ship away from the rocks. It's gonna be rough going."
Leon had snatched up a broken bit of steel pipe from the ceiling and was tying it around Tifa's broken wrist as a makeshift splint, using what looked like shoelaces. "All right." He grunted.
Cid slid off the craft and stepped a few paces away, standing over by where the Gummi was pushed up against the rock wall. The firefighters had tied their truck to the back of the Gummi with several lengths of cable. One of them gunned the engine and another called out a warning. Cid waved them on and the truck pulled forward slowly, drawing the cables taut.
The Gummi groaned as the truck pulled at its rear end. Cid broke away from the medics and headed to the area where the windshield was smashed against the rock wall. Shattered glass was clattering out of the hole and he heard Tifa cry out in surprise and pain.
"It's all right. Keep going." Leon immediately called out to the rescue workers.
Steam coiled out of the ruined engine of the ship and the rest of the busted windshield, held together only by the tempered film on both sides, collapsed over the smashed nose of the Gummi, folding like a cheap deck of cards. One of the firefighters called for a halt and Cid clamored over to the gaping hole in the front of the ship now.
Tifa was still slumped in the driver's seat, knuckles of her good hand white around the armrest. Leon was leaning over her, having braced himself over her to keep her from being jostled too much. It looked more like he was giving her a lap dance than anything. Cid decided to find the humor in that position later, instead focusing on getting Tifa out now.
"Okay?" He called toward them as the medics hurried over to the still Gummi.
The medics moved past him, carrying an emergency stretcher into the demolished cockpit. Leon ignored them and instead prized Tifa finally out of the pilot's seat, holding her wounded body gently so as not to aggravate her injuries further.
"Ease her down." Mr. Professional Medic instructed gruffly.
Cid grunted and climbed into the ship after them.
Leon obeyed, bending over to deposit Tifa on the proffered stretcher. Her hand was fisted in his jacket and she winced as she was lowered to the rigid gurney. The medics immediately set about strapping her down to it, rendering her spine immobile in a back brace and taking her vitals. They less than subtly removed her hand from Leon's sleeve and Cid made a mental note to talk to the head of the medical staff about the EMTs crappy in-field interaction…not before he let the EMTs know first.
"Can't you see she's freakin' out, you morons?" He snapped. "Give her something to hold on to so she can calm down."
Looking just as irritated, Leon lifted a hand to cut off Cid's ranting at the medics, followed closely after them as they carried Tifa out of the mangled body of the Gummi Ship and toward the waiting ambulance.
"At least turn off those damn sirens!" Cid hissed.
Leon dropped out of the broken windshield and walked with Cid to the ambulance, not speaking but letting the long length of his stride articulate his mood for him. The sirens were shut off and the head paramedic turned to the two men, lifting his hands.
"I'm sorry but—" He started.
Leon cut him off with an icy tone, "I'm going with her to the hospital."
His tone left no room for debate and Cid smirked as the medic shrunk.
"Fine, but you—" He pointed at Cid.
Cid lifted his hands, "I know, whatever." He clapped Leon on the shoulder, "I'm going to get this mess cleaned up and then get everybody else informed of what's going on."
Leon nodded vaguely and climbed up into the ambulance. A weird look crossed his face. "See if you can get a hold of Cloud. Tifa will want him close and in the know."
"All right." Cid took a step forward to get a good look at the young woman before they whisked her off to the hospital. "You gonna make it, soldier?" He said loudly.
Leon looked to Tifa on the stretcher and the medics shuffled past him into the deeper part of the ambulance. Tifa shifted, lifting her head to look at Cid and making a sarcastic face.
"Ow." She hissed, sinking back onto the stretcher with a groan.
Cid snorted at that. "Well, I'll be damned."
Leon lifted an eyebrow at him, but then the doors to the ambulance were swung closed and the vehicle pulled away to the main road. Cid remained where he was for a moment, hands on his hips, wry grin in place. Yeah, she was gonna be all right.
"Welcome to the Restoration Committee, lady." He said aloud.
He then turned to face the mutilated corpse of the Gummi Ship.
"Oh, baby, look what they did to you!" He lamented and pulled out his cell phone to make the necessary calls.