Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the idea
I ran down the stairs towards the bridge that extended to the raised platform, hoping that I was wrong about her location.
When I got to the bridge my heart dropped. There she was, her back to me, on her knees praying to the planet. I had to tell her, I had to warn her, I had to get her out of here.
When I got to the platform I started to reach for her but my hand was pushed back to my side. I tried to speak but my mouth felt like it was sewn shut. All I could do was watch as my body refused to do what I commanded. My gaze was forced upward as I saw him.
I was forced to watch as he came down sword in his hands aimed down in front of him. I was forced to watch, unblinking, as he landed and his silver blade entered her back. It quickly sliced through her and exited right below the spot where her ribs met.
When he pulled the blade free she slumped forward and the pink bow came undone. A small white orb bounced across the floor and into the water.
I could finally move again so I raced forward and grabbed her. I held her close as her blood ran through my fingers. I felt warm tears running down my face as she looked into my eyes and . . . smiled. I cried as she told me "It's okay Cloud. I will always be with you."
I let more tears pass as the life faded from her eyes. I looked up at the silver haired killer and he just smiled.
"Stop pretending to be sad. Puppets don't have emotions," He said, as if he was contemplating the weather.
"What the hell does that mean?" I almost screamed at him.
"You are my puppet and you will never be able to cut your strings unless I want you too."
Cloud bolted upright on his bedroll a cold sweat covering his forehead as he tried, but failed, to hold back the tears. He looked at the sleeping form of Tifa and tried to redirect his thoughts.
He hated how it was always THAT memory waking him at dawn. When he finished taking control of his emotions he grabbed his large leather belt, which was designed to protect the midriff of the SOLDIER members, and put it on.
He grabbed his sword off the ground and put it on his back. He saw that the others, except Vincent, had fallen asleep around the fire, which was dead, and Vincent was still standing in the spot he was last night.
Cloud gave a slight nod to Vincent, which he returned, before heading off to 'catch' breakfast.
When Tifa woke up she stood up and saw Vincent prepping some fire wood. Knowing this routine all to well she went into Clouds pack and retrieved the spices she forced Cloud to keep.
Lightning was awakened by the sound of a crackling fire and the sweet smell of well cooked meat. When she sat up and opened her eyes she saw everyone else was just waking up as well, with the exception of the three strangers and Fang.
Fang was ripping into a juicy looking steak; Vincent couldn't help but stare at Fang as she ate. Snow yawning broke his attention and he started thinking about the events leading up to yesterday.
"Smells good." Snow said while yawning.
"How would you like it?" Tifa asked politely to everyone that was waking up.
"Rare." Lightning answered as she looked around at everyone. Vincent still standing in his spot, Cloud was sitting cross legged with his sword on his lap as he wiped a cloth over the surface. The other l'Cie were trying to force themselves to wake up enough to eat. Then a thought dawned on Lightning Where the hell did Tifa get the grill? Lightning was glad to hear Vanille ask the question.
"Sorry for asking Tifa, but where do you keep the grill?"
"In Clouds pack." Tifa replied to Vanille as she used a knife, which had belonged to Yuffie, to get the meat off the steel grid and hand it to everyone.
"Wow! This food is amazing!" Snow almost shouted with his mouth full. Tifa just smiled at the compliment.
Lightning couldn't help but agree with Snow, something she did not do on a regular basis. Tifa's cooking was surprisingly better than Serah's, but Lightning would never tell that to anyone, to keep from hurting Serah's feelings.
Seeing that everyone was fed, Tifa used a stick to push the grill off the fire to cool.
When everyone was finished they packed up their bedrolls. Tifa cleaned the grill with a few water spells and stuffed it into Clouds pack. While Tifa was stuffing it into Clouds pack Lightning caught a glimpse of a small red orb, but decided it wasn't worth investigating.
On the great Plain
The l'Cie, except Lightning, had spent three hours talking about Ifrit, Hades and the Knights. What they might look like, what they might do and what their gestalt mode could be like. Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent just told them to be patient.
"Hey Cloud when are ya gonna show us the Knights?" Snow asked because he saw a Behemoth King wandering around in front of them.
"When there is a creature I deem worth it," Cloud replied coldly.
Almost on cue the Behemoth King started running at them and Cloud just classified the beast as 'practice.' Vincent felt he should show them Hades because he knew this beast wasn't worth Ifrit and definitely not worth the Knights in the slightest.
Without saying a word he walked to the front of the group and held out his left hand. A black candle flame appeared above his palm and he let it sit for a second. He wrapped his fist around the flame and then appeared to throw the flame but massive black flames erupted from the ground. When the flames cleared there was a large black cloaked figure with white skeletal hands. It then let out an ear splitting shriek to signal its need for combat.
After the Behemoth decided to transform Hope and Vanille were telling Vincent to use Hades' gestalt mode. Vincent followed their cheers and commanded Hades.
Hades grabbed his cloak and ripped it to shreds, which vanished, revealing a demonic looking skeletal giant complete with bone wings. The rib cage opened and Vincent went into the space. There was slight twitching as Vincent took control and a great scythe appeared in the hands of Hades. Vincent didn't want to waste time with any fancy moves; he went straight to his strongest attack. He took the scythe in his left hand, stood it up, and placed his right hand over the Behemoth and then some wind started. Everyone including Vincent stared in amazement as a white mist rose from the beast and went into Hades' hand. Hades/Vincent closed their hand around the white mist and then there was a noise like glass shattering as the beast just died.
Black flames engulfed Vincent/Hades and when the flames cleared it was only Vincent. Everyone stood frozen for a few seconds as Vincent started walking. The l'Cie wordlessly agreed that Vincent was not to be bothered unless it was important.
Authors Note: I didn't have to change that much with this chapter. If you see something I could improve let me know.
