N.B.: when I uploaded this on DA it seemed it was assumed that the story was simply about the dislike/trouble men seem to have in many storylines with hurting women, yet that never even crossed my mind when I wrote it, what I did think about was Cid's position in the group, and while not the only one untrained, he is the only one without any real personal qualm against the people they are fighting, and then in closer circles, he, out of Yuffie, Vincent and himself, is the only one not specifically trained in some form of self-defence or attack, Yuffie and Vincent probably have a stronger constitution against fighting and killing than he does, and to focus all his attention on one enemy, to get caught up in defeating them and even getting a mental image of them in his head, to discover anything to the contrary and to realise how intent he'd been in catching up to that person, would probably be a mental punch in the face, the fact that I chose a woman is simply explained, we don't see many female troops in the game so the characters would be expecting to fight men, if there was a third typical gender, I could just have easily used that. And I'm sure you can figure out why I mentioned ' pretty brown hair'…

Right?

The Killer In Me

The Bloodtaste and Guardhounds lay dead already, two men were prone near their trained beasts, one, the red clad leader, was backing away, any moment now he would turn on his heel and sprint towards the forest, Cid knew it, Vincent knew it, hell even Yuffie knew it. Behind him, to the left, Vincent shifted, his boot shifting sickly in the mud, fire light glinted of the barrel of the rifle, the barrel coming up, to point at the enemy, they shivered, Yuffie tensed, Cid's eyes gleamed…

The ShinRa guard shuddered, the three terrorists were blood smeared, gore ran off them in rivulets of blood and rain, the gunman's eyes burned in the light of the smouldering supply truck, the ninja's lithe form was as coiled as a snake, the pilot, standing ahead of the others, breathing heavily, sodden cigarette hanging limp from his parted lips. He shifted his grip and grinned, the gunman's arm was coming up…

The shot rung out, Yuffie squeaked, not expecting it, Cid flinched at the close proximity, but when Vincent's bullet went wide in the low visibility he took off after the guard, who clung to their wounded arm and ran for cover.
They dove into the woodland and underbrush, the guard stumbled and scuttled forwards on all fours, despite the pain, he screamed when the ground gave way under him and he found himself plunging into a shallow stream, the stones bruised him, and bruised him further when he slithered on the algae and water weeds and fell over. Lurching out of the water the hunted man rolled under a fallen, rotting, tree, and waited with bated breath. All was quiet but for the rain and the drip drip drip of water off leaves. There was a crack, the ShinRa trooper flinched back, and a hunched over figure, like a ground-hunting buzzard stalked up over the rise, it's talons… no… the spear head, bit into the ground, held it's welder fast at the slope top, above the stream, the hunter's bright eyes flicked around the area, the guard bit his lip, and the other's steely eyes widened when they focused on the man's pale face, he cried out and scampered forwards when the terrorist leapt up and towards the hiding place, "Damn it!" he heard the man spit, but he didn't stop.

Feeling more like a mouse every minute that passed the ShinRa Guard strove forwards, not daring to look back as he slithered and slipped over leaf litter, but knowing that death, or capture, was not far behind.

A sharp claw sliced into the red uniform and the flesh beneath, pushed forwards and Cid snarled as he threw the enemy to the ground, through the trees, lights glimmered, the ShinRa compound was close, "I won't let you fucker give us away!" Cid growled, and thrust his lance down, the ShinRa's eyes, locked with his, widened and found no mercy as the cold steel buried it's head into his stomach…

***

"Highwind? Cid, what happened?" Vincent turned as the pilot walked by him, trance like, Yuffie, hugging her knees, watched from the charred vehicle, but Cid did not stop until he'd reached the far side of the road, there he stood, staring down at his boots, spear falling, with a click of metal against stone, to the ground.

"Highwind, something has happened. Tell me?" Vincent took stand behind his friend, and reached out to touch his shoulder, "Cid?"
"…She was a woman…"
"Hmn?"
"She was a woman… I killed her… I killed her…" Cid turned, eyes haunted, "She had… Such pretty brown hair…" he took a step back from the gunman, "I didn't… I didn't want… I mean I… I've never seen a face… She was ShinRa but… Still… Oh Planet!" he buried his face in his hands and Vincent sighed, stepping after him to wrap his arms around Cid's shoulders, "Oh Cid, I know how feel—"

"How!! HOW!?"

"I've been there, it's… it's never easy, seeing the face of one you killed… Don't cry, please, please…"