W00t for crappy chapter titles! lol I think I just put that because my brain was blank from just finishing the chapter along with a play on the word 'freefall'. But that'll make more sense on in the chapter. But it's chapter 5! My writing is an escape. But I tend to overdo it sometimes. But anyway, no weird parts this chapter, unless you consider really, really faint sappiness weird. Well, guess it is considering who they are. But I'm not gonna give it away. Hmm, still following the game so you'll probably recognize this stuff if you've played it. Anyway, go for it!
Chapter 5: Snowfall
Vincent laughed harshly. Feeling this tired and sore wasn't his thing. Unfortunately he had no control over it so yesterday's events left him emotionally and, more noticeably, physically drained. He had eventually fallen asleep in Tifa's arms and slept peacefully until morning. Cloud had woken him by shaking him gently.
The blinding light pierced his eyes and he raised a hand, covering them from the sun. It was hard to believe that a little less that twenty-four hours ago Tifa and Cloud had found his half-frozen body. The scuffled impression where he had lain was now erased by the scampering children of the village.
A chill ran through him and he shivered involuntarily, catching Cloud's attention. "Vincent, are you sure you're fine? We can always stay anot—"
"Enough Strife. I'm fine. Now please, stop asking." He glared at the younger man, his crimson eyes turning dark. He had already allowed Cloud to see one hidden side of him. The blonde didn't need to know more. He sent the message clearly with his steady gaze.
Turning with a slight uncomfortable feeling, Cloud left. He called over his shoulder that they were leaving in an hour. Vincent reached a hand below his cloak, ensuring that his supplies were ready and packed. The small collection of potions, his materia, his pistol; it was all there. As his fingers brushed the cold steel his mind flashed back to yesterday morning when he had held the gun pointed at Cid. He shook his head, black tresses falling over his shoulders.
He couldn't think of that now. He was about to go with Cloud to search for Sephiroth. And Cid was joining them. The important thing was to get rid of those thoughts, at least for right now. For if he didn't, he knew he wouldn't be able to look at the other man, a huge deal considering their teamwork would be completely shot. Bad word usage. It brought up the images of the gun in his hands, shaking as he aimed it at Cid.
He ran his right hand across his face. Looking up at a crunching in the snow, his gaze met with blue eyes. Regret, shame, pain: these were the emotions practically pouring out of Cid's face. Standing still, he watched the blonde approach him carefully. It was as if Cid was frightened that Vincent might take off running any second.
A stray wind whipped through the village, tearing Vincent's hair away from his face and flinging it behind him. He ducked into the high collar of his cloak, his crimson eyes regarding the pilot with slight unease.
Stopping a few feet from the gunner, Cid broke their eye contact, flicking his gaze to the ground. "Vincent, I—I'm really sorry. I—yesterday I thought about it all and I truly am sorry. You can't understand…" he looked again at the crimson eyes, his voice breaking, "how much I regret that."
Vincent stared, unsure whether he had in fact seen a crystal tear slide down the other man's cheek. "You—Vincent, you know I'd never hurt you on purpose. Damn! I wasn't acting of my own will! So please, could you ever forgive me?" He bowed his head, closing his blue eyes.
A whisper was Vincent's only response. "How can someone damned ever have the right to forgive?" He turned away and headed in the direction Cloud had gone. Then a lightness in his chest made him stop. "But if I could, I would Cid."
Cid raised his head quickly watching the gunman disappear behind the inn. Surprise filled his mind as he saw the flicker of red on white. He was willing to forgive me? After what I did? Unsure at Vincent's thoughts, he hurried to catch up with the other two, a small smile of relief hovering on his lips.
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"You know, I'm not so sure about this."
Cloud was standing at the edge of a steep slope at the end of Snowy Village. Eyeing the slipping drifts and slick spots of ice, he glanced back at the other two. They both held snowboards, ready to follow Cloud down the snowy mountain. He was sure neither of them had ever even touched a snowboard, let alone ridden one.
Cid stepped forward and pushed a bit on the younger man's back. "Are you plannin' on going or are we gonna stand around freezing our fuckin' asses off?" He rubbed his legs to accentuate the question. "What th' hell are you afraid of?"
Not quite ready to take the plunge into that white blur, he whipped around, clutching the snowboard to his side. Grabbing the pilot's arm, he pulled the older man directly beside him and jabbed downward with the snowboard. "You want to go first, Cid? Because I'm quite willing to let you."
"Holy—" The pilot stumbled backward and fell at Vincent's feet. "You mean we have t' go down that? We'll fuckin' kill ourselves!" He glared at the blonde boy then switched his blue gaze upward. "Vince, you've got some damned sense. Tell him he's crazy!"
The gunner simply brushed a flake of snow off of his nose and stepped up next to Cloud. He turned his crimson eyes on the man, nodding. "Cid may be right," he said quietly, earning a 'hell yeah!' from the pilot, "but, we have to do it."
"What!" There was a scuffling behind them and a snow-covered Cid appeared between the two. "Are you both out of your fuckin' minds?" He shook his arms quickly, ridding himself of the gathering snow. Sighing, he reached up, pulling his goggles down over his blue eyes. "Well, let's do this."
Cloud smiled wanly and placed his board on the powdery snow. Glancing at the others once more he slipped his boots into the straps and pushed off, the wind rushing past his ears.
Cid watched the boy disappear into the forming blizzard. He heard a swooshing sound beside him and looked over to see the empty spot where Vincent had stood. "Well, guess I have no choice," he mumbled to himself. Taking a deep breath, he shoved the board over the edge of the slope, unable to keep himself from shouting as he lost his balance, plummeting down the mountain.
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Bright light pounded on Cloud's face. Groaning, he rolled over, pressing his face into the covers of the bed. But…why was it so cold? "Mmm…Barret, close the damn window…" he mumbled. But instead of a response from the big man he got a mouthful of snow. Sitting up quickly, he gritted his teeth at the intense heat flaring through his numb legs and he pushed himself up, gasping at the pure whiteness around him.
Snow. It covered everything. Cloud sat still, trying to remember where and why he was here when he saw a snowboard laying a few feet from him. The bright colors shocked him back into reality and he stared at the expanse with wide eyes. He faintly recalled standing at the edge of the mountain, gazing down at the steep slope. Cid and Vincent had been there also, but…
Cid! Vincent! Cloud realized they were no where to be seen and clambered to his feet, ignoring the shooting pains running through his body. Scanning the newly fallen snow, he picked out a patch of blue. "Cid! Cid, are you all right? Answer me Cid!" He forced his way to the other man, the snow growing deeper by the second.
The blonde moaned and pushed himself up onto his elbows. "Damn, I'm getting too old for this shit," he muttered under his breath. A hand landed on his shoulder and he saw Cloud kneel down beside him.
"Hey, how're you doing?" he asked Cid softly. "Not hurt, are you?"
"Ah, this hurt me?" He jabbed a thumb back toward the mountain. "Hell. I've been beat up worse than this loads of times. Little mountain didn't do shit." He gave Cloud a bluish grin. Running a hand over his short hair, he stood and picked up his goggles from the snow. He grinned again, this time a little sourly. "Like I said, we'll kill ourselves."
"I don't believe those were your exact words, Highwind."
Both the men turned and stared at Vincent. He in turn glanced from one to the other and then shifted his attention to the snowy field before them. Red eyes watched the flying white flakes. "There's going to be a blizzard. Soon. We'd best find some shelter or we won't make it very far." There was almost a shade of worry in his voice.
Cloud looked at Cid, confused at yet another change in Vincent, before standing and pulling a rolled piece of paper out of his jacket. "Okay, let's get a look at the map. Maybe we can figure out where to go from there." Unrolling the paper, he spread it in front of them, pointing at a red x placed on the image. "I think that this is the mountain and we're here right now. So all we have to do…" he trailed a finger over the parchment, stopping at another mountain, "is get there."
"Yeah…but how do we get there?" Cid glanced up at Cloud, his voice carrying a worried tone.
"Simple." The boy crossed his arms and rubbed them momentarily, trying to bring back his warmth. "All we need to do is find this path. See? And that'll lead us straight to the glacier."
Vincent looked around skeptically. "There are no trails. Just a field." Another gaze confirmed a suspicion he'd had. "No landmarks either."
Cid stopped both by raising his hands. "Whoa. Wait a minute. We're going t' a glacier? What th' hell do we wanna go there for? And how th' hell are we supposed t' find a trail that isn't even here?" Swinging an arm around, he motioned to the growing snowstorm. "And we can't just sit around here chit-chatting all damned day either. So I suggest we just get up and go in th' general direction." Jabbing at the map in Cloud's hands he announced the way. "That way sound good with everyone else?"
Vincent's crimson eyes turned away from the pilot. Something always went wrong when Cid started making rash decisions like this. Besides, Cid had just pointed back at the mountain they'd just descended. He stood, realizing that Cid was getting no where. "Highwind, the idea might work, but not that way. That is, unless you want to climb back up the mountain."
Realizing his mistake, Cid whirled around, an embarrassed pink spreading across his cheeks. "Yeah, well, th' damned snow made it hard t' see. So, okay," he bent over the map again, rubbing his chin, "that way?" He motioned away from the slope, more or less to the area directly behind Vincent.
Cloud suddenly jumped up from his position of kneeling in the snow and rolled the map back up. After securing it tightly and ensuring that his sword was easily accessible, he clapped his hands together once as if to symbolize a decision has been reached. "Okay, that way," he said, agreeing on Cid's second choice. He gathered up his courage and headed into the whipping wind, the snow hitting him from all sides.
Cid felt the crimson gaze on him again. Instead of acknowledging it however, he stepped past Vincent and followed Cloud. He knew he wouldn't be able to say anything if he looked into those eyes. Listening carefully, he heard the shuffling of Vincent's body fighting its own way through the snow drifts. He focused forward and fell in line behind Cloud, trying to keep up with the ex-SOLDIER.
Vincent kept his eyes on the blonde head bobbing in front of him like a beacon. He was almost glad that Cid hadn't looked at him. He stared blankly ahead, trying to focus on just the trail he was following and not the person making it.
Cloud stopped after a while, glancing around to see if the surroundings had changed any. They hadn't. He tried to pull the map out again but it was in a small pouch, wedged between his body and his sword. The way the snow surrounded him kept the huge blade pressed against his back tightly so there was no freeing the pouch or its contents.
Shrugging, his continued forward until he finally became aware of a feeling that had been floating at the base of his mind all along. He was tired. Incredibly tired. He shook himself suddenly, fighting off the sensation, the urge to fall asleep. He knew that to do so would be potentially dangerous, maybe even lethal, but he felt so weak. His vision dimmed along with his hearing and he hardly noticed Cid coming up along side of him. Finally unable to keep fighting his own body, his legs buckled underneath him and he fell, the snow cushioning his fall.
Cid had just passed Cloud when he heard the muffled whoomph behind him. Turning slowly he saw Cloud, his eyes closed and breathing rather shallowly. Cid instantly became fully aware of the situation, yelling back to Vincent.
The raven-haired gunman looked up at Cid's voice. Something about Cloud. Cloud…passed out? He quickly rushed forward to see the boy in Cid's arms, his blue eyes shut. His cheeks were already gathering frost.
Cid looked anxiously at Vincent. "Is-is he…what happened?"
"I was just about to ask you the same."
Cloud, still able to hear his teammates tried to answer, tried to yell out that he just wanted to sleep, but no sound broke from his frozen lips. Slowly, ever so painstakingly slow, his vision gave out completely and he receded into the silent blackness.
Whew, that was actually a longer chapter. Or it seemed like it. But how's it going so far? I know the next part's pretty obvious if you go by the game, but who knows what I'll get inspired to throw in? I need to get back to the subject this whole thing started with. But I guess I'm just unconsciously building up to it. Who knows? Sorry if this seems a little blah compared to the rest, but I have had a lot of other stuff on my mind as well. So that's my lame excuse. And I'll still accept suggestions.
Reviews always welcome!