Fairy Tales
Chapter Four: Lost
Hearts
This town didn't look nearly as well kept as the other one. Almost as if a storm or two had blown through it and no efforts had been made to repair it. Vincent scowled and shook his head slightly. Rubbing at his temples, he took a deep breath and waited for Veld to start walking.
Veld was leading again and despite having had years experience doing so, he felt out of place. That coupled with the eerie sort of deserted feeling to the town... it almost made him nervous. Fearful, nervous, these were things he'd left behind.
Low, feral and completely inhuman, a growl crept up from beside Veld. He knew Vincent's growl by now, it had never sounded exactly human. Veld peered ahead and down the docks to see what his mentor was snarling at.
A blue suit. Veld hadn't expected any of his kids; they'd gone to blue suits last he remembered. But it seemed that death and time had been mixed up beyond all repair.
The blue suited figure spoke up then. "I was wondering how long it would take you to get here. I've been here for months." Veld fully registered the person now and he smiled. It was an old favorite of his. His hair was up, though he had a fleeting memory of it down at some point. He looked stern.
"Seems like I'm running into old friends all over the place. Good to see you, Tseng." Not the best fighter he'd ever commanded, but this kid was loyal. Intensely.
For some reason, however, Vincent was not relaxing.
"So what are you doing, Sir? Tracking down your... kids, as you used to say?" Tseng's voice had a slight edge to it. It was distinctly off in a way that wasn't definable.
"Oh, just looking for an old friend... didn't realize that anyone else would end up here. Ran across Vincent completely by chance." Veld motioned to his companion.
Tseng's eyes flicked over to the dark man briefly before settling back on Veld.
Some things were not as they should have been, as hearts had been turned for jealousy or ambition or something even less worthy.
"Vincent…" Tseng turned then, looking at the tall man.
For his own part, Vincent was as still as death itself.
"Who are you looking for, Veld?" That tone still crept about his words, something like a tightrope walker.
Veld pretended to not notice. "You remember Ifalna, right? I guess you were a bit young then. She was the one that splinted up your arm that time you fell and sprained it."
Tseng had started early in the Turks as well, but under slightly more cheery circumstances than his own. He'd been part of a pact with Wutai, an attempt to smooth things over after the war. He'd always been a little serious, but there were few Wutains that Veld had known that weren't. "I haven't seen anyone since we all died, Veld."
It seemed like everyone had died. "Oh. Sorry to hear that. I hope that they'll be doing better than... you wouldn't happen to have known anyone that might have seen her pass through here?" He didn't mean to sound so one track, but it was clear as day in his mind, she'd told him to go looking for her, and he'd said and done enough bad things that he just wanted to do something... right.
There was a tense, emotional pause. "Can I speak with you… alone, Veld?" He didn't glance at Vincent but it was obvious what was making him nervous.
"Alone? That's hardly necessary and we are in a hurry, Se." He reverted easily to his "leader" tone around his kids. They needed it, Veld realized. Vincent did not.
"You told me we were important, prove it." Tseng's voice hitched then. "That you'd always be there."
Vincent snorted at the comment. No, he'd never been like that, Veld was a different leader.
He didn't like being put on the spot like that. He sideglanced at Vincent, who probably thought Veld was too soft. Constant fighting had worked for Vincent when he trained Veld, but not everyone was Fadeyka Veld. "I guess Vincent looks a little imposing... not far, alright?" He didn't want to admit it, but Veld was almost afraid that the man would run off.
"Veld." Vincent said and that was all. It was all he needed to say. He did not want Veld going with Tseng.
Vincent Valentine was brutal, but the corporal definition of trustworthy and honesty. "No, if you wish to speak with me, you will speak with him present."
"He's not sane." Tseng said. "Didn't you tell us horror stories about him?"
He hadn't meant for the stories to sound that way. Tseng was twisting his words. "We're all a little less than sane, Tseng. It comes with the territory." Veld felt the need to speak up for Vincent. It wasn't that the gesture was needed, but Vincent never trash talked.
"He's a monster; you're going to trust him over me? You're scarred up because of him." Had he said all of that? He couldn't have. "Veld, we need you." Tseng's voice sped up, lifting in pitch.
Veld tried to overtake that tone with a calm, authoritative one. "Monster or not, this man deserves your respect, kid." He had taken on the disciplinarian edge it used to. He was hardly the type of leader that Vincent was, but he was just as intolerant of failure.
Vincent had yet to move, he glared in that way that Veld had seen illicit confessions from grown men. Coupled with knowing that Vincent was not one to take any form of insolence lightly it was a tad confusing why he hadn't moved at all.
"Veld, stop chasing a married woman around! What about me?!" Tseng yelled suddenly.
Veld glared. "It isn't like that, what are you yelling about?" Iffy wasn't married when he met her, and he really just wanted to apologize. Veld had been a first rate jackass when he'd found out she was getting married, and he'd regretted it ever since.
"You... you ignore what's in front of your face... you left us." Tseng's hand went slowly to the back of his pants. "You wanted her instead. You left me..."
Tseng drew the weapon then, but a silenced shot rang out and Tseng dropped it. Tseng cursed cupping his hand and the barrel of Vincent's gun smoked over Veld's shoulder.
"Bastard! I'm not going to let you take him from me! NO ONE is taking him from me! THEY ARE MINE!" Tseng yelled, he lost all composure and stood straight. Voice cracking and fists clenched at his side. "NO ONE!"
Then the floodlights came on. They worked in the opposite way of the ones from Hollow's End. The entire town was covered in a thick blanket of blackness. Even Vincent's red eyes lost their glow.
"When visibility is low, you have to remember your other senses. Or you're dead."
The claw dug into Veld's collar, he was being pulled. Turks had night-vision as an added bonus to their mako enhancement, but Vincent wasn't waiting for Veld to adjust. Two more gunshots went off, Tseng yelped, Vincent had fired, why was he running?
Looking back he watched as Tseng started sitting up, even with a bullet hole between his eyes.
"Holy fuck," he muttered without thinking, suddenly aware that whatever that was, it wasn't quite the Tseng he was used to.
"Veld." Vincent hissed, already near the alley. Veld's eyes adjusted then, he blinked a few times, and then the city was lined with mako green, every detail lighting up with his night vision. It was strangely familiar.
"YOU AREN'T LEAVING ME AGAIN!" Tseng yelled; that in and of itself was amazing considering the other bullet hole in his throat.
A whooping call echoed then, something like a bird. Vincent froze again, red eyes darting around.
"There are others." Veld said quietly, reverting back again to the Turk he used to be. At least he hoped he was.
Vincent's human hand gripped Veld's shoulder again, yanking him off his feet as if he'd been fifteen again. He fired three more shots and those green orbs splashed about again. The whooping sound started up again and now Veld focused.
It looked like a cat, an immensely large, flat headed cat. Huge paws and thin legs, it swayed slowly, tilting its head back and whooping.
"Bring him here!" Tseng ordered.
"You… what are we doing?"
"Running, brat,
what's it look like."
"I didn't think you were a cowar-
OUCH"
"Say something stupid again and I'll leave you to
your brave death."
It made sense now, when he thought about it, Vincent led and Veld followed, both of them running, not pausing when they took shots at the new heartless.
These creatures were faster than the jumping monsters, sleeker, and their claws made sparks on the alleys. "Did you see that?" Veld asked, he pointed up, and though it was gone now, he knew he saw a window lit up.
"Yeah." Vincent changed direction; both of them sprinted across the street.
Because there had been a light.
