Author: BeruthielsCat/Vinvalen
Pairing: Technically Valenwind (and Chaos)
Rating: R
The usual disclaimers apply: All these lovely characters belong to Square Enix.
Summary: Chaos remembers…
Over time, reaching across and finding Vincent's place in their bed empty had faded from being a cause for alarm to one of simple acceptance. It was just something Vincent did from time to time when his restlessness built beyond endurance. Cid sighed quietly into the darkness, certain in his knowledge of where the gunman would be found. A night like this would call to those the gunman harbored within; a night of late summer fading to autumn when the wind whirled around the house, whispering of change and old memories caught among scudding clouds racing across the face of a crescent moon.
A few years previously, Cid had added what he called 'the observation deck'; a large, open expanse accessed by a spiral staircase leading to the roof of the house they'd built together. Reminiscent of the forward deck of the Highwind, it became Vincent's special retreat; especially during nights when thoughts of the past bound him within their grasp and made sleep impossible.
Cid rose, not bothering with clothing before he made his way upward upon stairs which culminated at a glass door opening outward. The wind, though soon to turn chill with the fading year, was welcome; his eyes followed the path of a leaf past the door before it danced beyond his view. Falling into welcome illusion as he stepped out, he could almost believe himself upon the old airship once more; facing into wherever the night would bring. All that was missing was the familiar hum of well-tended engines throttled down at mooring.
Vincent, as bare as Cid himself, leaned against that swirling wind a few paces away; tendrils of his hair caught up as if dark flames dancing from an inner fire. The pilot leaned against the doorframe admiring the sight of his mate, one more dear to his pilot's heart than the view of the sky beyond.
The tilt of that beloved head and the intensity of Vincent's expression seemed to portray a yearning beyond the mere act of listening.
Fixing his own focus to whatever it was that had so captured his lover's attention he caught a sound cradled within those capricious currents. Echoing from the north, a subsonic vibration not heard so much as felt upon the skin raised the fine hairs along the pilot's body. Vincent's attention focused there, eyes closed; seeking the source of that keening from the faraway mountains. Rising and falling, deep, brassy roars interspersed with higher, almost flutelike notes; weaving a primal song.
"Do you hear them?" came the quiet question after a time, the deeper echo of Chaos beneath the familiar timbre of Vincent's voice speaking of a distant longing; lost to the mists of time. Gold-glowing eyes opened, glancing to him before facing northward once more.
"The Nibel dragons? Yeah…I haven't heard 'em since I was a kid, though. Not like this."
Cid crossed the deck and settled himself to hear whatever Chaos would say. The demon seldom spoke of his own concerns and whenever he did, it was always something profound; something the pilot knew he would ponder long afterward. It had taken a long while before Cid began to grasp the depth of the peculiar symbiosis between Vincent and those who lived within him; even longer before the pilot began to understand how truly ancient Chaos was.
The bare facts he knew; the demon's race had once shared the planet with not only the Ancients, but with many others lost to the slow passing of the ages. To be Chaos, with only Vincent and the others who shared his soul for company, was to be truly alone. Cid's temper flared anew at what Lucrecia Crescent had done; even given the knowledge of the reasoning behind it. He tried, when the anger rose, to remind himself there would be no Vincent if not for what she had done to save his life. His musings were interrupted when Chaos spoke again.
"They did not always live here. There was a time when they were sentient; the honored guardians of the City of the Ancients and both races benefited, sharing wisdom. My own people were welcome there, for we and the dragons were closely related."
Several moments of silence passed between them as Cid tried to imagine the city and its people when such remarkable beings shared what was now a shell of its former glory; fallen to bitter loneliness and ghosts. "I wondered about that, what it musta been like…" Cid replied quietly. "Such a beautiful place, ta be so empty now."
The keening from the north rose in volume; a sustained note which seemed to echo the wail of the wind itself. Vincent blinked once, slowly, a fleeting expression of profound sadness crossing his features before Chaos spoke again.
"We were many, then. We lived in peace with one another, and went where we would."
"What happened?" Cid asked, though he was certain he already knew the answer.
iJenova./i
"We began to die…all of us," Chaos replied, refusing to speak that hated name. "The Ancients, the Dragons, my own people. The Cetra begged us to leave, to flee and spare ourselves the final diminishment and despair of a battle we could not win." Chaos paused for several long moments, his sorrow reflected within Vincent's frame as he wrapped arms around himself; now shivering before the wind he had welcomed only a short while before. "Only one Dragon matriarch remained, a being ancient and wise, but doomed by the deadly virus that left nothing untouched. She fled with a bare handful of young barely old enough to fly, tainted by the virus, but not unto death. They came here. The old matriarch held on, greatly weakened, teaching the young ones everything she could of survival; but she passed too quickly. So very much of her wisdom lost…and time became the enemy. Time and those who knew them not. They were hunted. Always hunted…because there were none left to remember. None but myself and a few surviving Ancients; all of us worn by what we had suffered. To speak of it was beyond endurance, and I locked myself away."
Cid moved quickly to stand behind Vincent, gathering the gunman in his arms to share his body heat against chilled skin. It was a clear indication of Chaos' distress that there was no flinching away from the pilot's embrace. If anything, he leaned more closely into Cid's comforting arms.
"I can't even imagine bein' so young an' alone," Cid replied close to Vincent's ear, the only sympathy he knew how to offer. How must Chaos have longed for one of his own kind, through those long, lonely years? For Lucrecia to have pulled him from the fragile peace of his self-imposed stasis was to Cid, the ultimate cruelty. The pilot felt guilty for every dragon who had met its end at his hands, even though the circumstances at the time made had made such things inevitable. "An' it's sad, to think of them fallin' so far from what they once was."
"Jenova's plan worked all to well," Chaos replied. "Now, only their song remains of all they once were." Somewhere within, Chaos still walked among memories; memories which were being dragged painfully to the fore by the wailing song from the distant peaks, a dirge of glory crumbled to dust. "They mate for life. If one is fortunate to witness a mating flight, it is a sight never forgotten, for it is magnificent, a thing which sometimes occurs only once in the lifetime of a man, if at all. What you hear now is a courtship….a private, sacred song voiced only once in a generation. From it will come a single egg…an egg closely guarded and nurtured, for it is their future. One egg…where once there would have been many." Vincent drew a deep, shuddering breath, as if the knowledge of what Chaos spoke was almost too much to bear. Cid held him closer still, a shield within that silence.
"Within each song is spoken their hope; what each will give of themselves to be passed to their children…when the song of intent and promise reaches its crescendo, they will take to the sky…flying as high as they possibly can. With their final notes, they join, locking talons and cartwheeling through the sky, freefalling; parting only a bodylength above the ground before they soar together once more. The glory of their bond, the strength of their joining determines the path of the child who will come after."
And all at once, Cid understood Chaos' terrible despair. The dragons were all that remained of any he could call family, but they would never be enough. For Chaos, there would be no song; no courtship…
iSoul wrought of Terra corrupt/i…
How could they have misunderstood so badly? The answer was clear to Cid…because no one had ever known to ask, or taken the time to understand.
He turned the gunman gently in his arms. As golden eyes met his own, a single tear fell; caught in Cid's fingers as he brushed them against the chill of Vincent's cheek.
For the demon to have shared something so terribly sorrowful, so intimate, was the final statement of both Vincent and Chaos' trust in him. From the beginning, Cid had never backed away from Chaos, never feared him, earning at first a grudging tolerance, then respect, and finally, acceptance. Only now did Cid realize what honor had been bestowed upon him.
"Vincent?"
The golden eyes fluttered shut; opening again a long moment later to reveal the familiar jeweled gaze which meant Vincent was fully aware of his surroundings. Cid knew he had heard everything which had passed between the pilot and his…Cid could no longer bring himself to think of Chaos as a idemon,/i and even though Vincent met his gaze with calm trust, Cid felt the need to speak his thoughts aloud.
"Ya know I've always loved everythin' ya are, Vin…but I gotta ask, all th' same. Can we give him this?"
In answer, the jeweled eyes slid closed once more, and a shudder swept through the gunman's frame. Just as Cid thought he had trespassed beyond forgiveness, great leathern wings sprang into being from Vincent's back. He pressed close, bringing his lips to Cid's in a deep kiss which spoke all they were to one another. Chaos/Vincent then turned his mate in his embrace, locking strong arms around him before stepping gracefully from the edge of the roof. With a great downsweep of wings, they were aloft; circling ever higher. Before the face of a watching moon, the first notes of Chaos' song echoed upon ancient winds.