~ Okay, Dark Phoenix brought up a very important point (well, two of them,
but I explained one in the last chapter. When Ana was babbling she was
casting a sleep spell, which made Yuffie go night-night. I'll explain why
she faints around Vinnie later, as if you haven't figured it out yet!) But
her point was "Why the hell didn't Yuffie realize that Ana and Ciro were
the kidnappers!?" Good point, since Cloud described them. I'll try to clear
this up in this chapter, though it's probably gonna be a weak excuse. Gomen
na sai! Disclaimer: Why bother? You know I don't own these infinitely cool
FF characters ~
Ninja
~*~8~*~
Vincent aimed the Death Penalty threateningly at the man before him, daring him to make a move as he waited for Adriana to continue with her explanation. {So this is the man Yuffie's so upset with...}
*Didn't she say she thought he was cute?*
{Your point?}
*He looks a lot like you...*
Vincent glared back at the man, taking in every detail of his features. He did seem to bear a certain resemblance to himself, but Vincent didn't want to admit this. {He looks more like Sephiroth.}
*So you're saying Yuffie thinks Sephiroth was cute...?*
Vincent's conversation with Chaos was interrupted when the man-Vic- began to speak.
"Adriana," he said, his crimson eyes sliding from Vincent and back to the woman next to him, "what do you think you're doing?"
She scratched her chin as she glanced away, suddenly seeming to find a rock in the stone wall near the ceiling particularly interesting. "I, ah, well I, you see, Vic, it's like, ah..." She bit her thumb lightly before turning to glare at Vic. "What do you care!? Just move it, and maybe Vinnie here won't beat you up too very badly!"
Vincent couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her as he pondered her statement. She made him sound like her best buddy. He noticed that she'd managed to draw a similar reaction from Vic, who seemed about ready fall over before recovering himself.
Vic sighed. "Have you forgotten what will happen if you upset Cyrus?" A dark look settled over his face. "Or are you willing to endure the pain? If he escapes," he pointed at Vincent, "then you're not the only one who will suffer."
Adriana had gone white, and her aqua eyes widened in horror of some fate unknown to Vincent. He watched as one of her delicate hands-Lucrecia's hands- reached up to grasp at a silver choker fearfully.
Vic's face twisted into a grim sort of smirk as his free hand traced his own choker almost absently. "I see that you finally remembered. If you don't want to help, then stand back and let me take care of 'Vinnie'. I'll keep quiet about your temporary lapse of faithfulness to Cyrus." He readied himself to attack, his eyes locking back on Vincent's as Adriana sank back against the stone wall in obvious defeat.
The sound of the Death Penalty's blast rang through the hall, and Vincent watched as the bullet sped towards its target. A normal man, he knew, would not be able to dodge that shot, for the bullets of this gun were much faster than those of normal guns.
His eyes narrowed as the other man, with a speed and grace most humans did not possess, moved swiftly to the side and charged, his sickle glinting wickedly in the dim light. Vincent cursed, and prepared to counter the incoming man in close combat, knowing that the Death Penalty would be little help in this fight. He aimed the gun at his opponent once more and fired, hoping to throw Vic off-course and distract him. It worked-Vic looked away for a moment as he dodged the approaching bullet. Vincent didn't wait to see if his shot impacted with its target. He dropped the cumbersome weapon and rushed forward, forming his claw into a fist and thrusting at him.
Vic's eyes widened in surprise as Vincent's punch slammed into his cheek, missing his nose by mere centimeters. The other man was far from out, however, and proved this to the ex-Turk by swinging his sickle up in retaliation. The raven haired man barely had time to evade the deadly blade swinging up towards him, and had he been a second slower in moving, he would have had a very nasty gash up his stomach. The two men stood back from each other, each appraising the others moves. They both ran a single finger through their bangs at the same time and Vic smirked.
"Heh, not bad. I've been looking forward to a decent fight all day. Since someone ruined my last one." He threw an annoyed glance in Adriana's direction before focusing again on Vincent.
"I don't have time for this," Vincent sighed as he gazed dully at the man before him, "but I don't suppose I have a choice. Let's finish this quickly."
"Those are my lines..." Vic almost seemed to pout before the smirk reasserted itself on his face. "Alright, let's go." He charged forward as he said this, his weapon glinting wickedly in the light. Vincent prepared to meet him rather than sprinting forward again. He readied himself, recalling everything his training as a Turk had taught him about hand-to- hand fighting against an armed opponent. {Haven't had to use this for a while...}
*Getting rusty?*
"Hardly," he whispered aloud. He stood straight, and to anyone unfamiliar to the Turk's peculiar fighting stance it seemed that he was simply going to stand there and take the blow. It achieved the desired effect, as Vic seemed to hesitate for a split second, which was all the time Vincent needed to dart in and knock the sickle from the white haired man's hand and deliver a brutal punch towards his stomach.
The weapon went flying down the hall, much to Vincent's satisfaction, but Vic had managed to block the punch and deliver a counter strike of his own. Vincent winced slightly at the pain that shot through his shoulder. He hadn't expected this relatively small man's punches to hurt this much. He ignored the pain and reached up, grabbing Vic's arm and twisting. He watched his opponent drop before a sharp pain exploded onto his stomach. Vincent gasped and reeled back.
Vic was up in a flash and Vincent was too busy trying to regain his breath to fend off his approach. He saw little more than a flash of white before he felt himself being tackled. He twisted his body so that Vic smashed himself straight into his claw.
He heard a pained gasp from above him as the sharp metal tips tore through cloth and flesh. He couldn't help the small smirk that formed on his face as he felt the warm liquid flow freely down his arm. He pulled his claw back from his injured opponent and prepared to attack again...
When an explosion of pain shot through his head. He looked up in time to see a black mallet with pink hearts smash solidly into Vic's head as well, knocking the other man away. He could see little stars flying around his head as he sat up.
"A-Adriana, what the hell!?" Vic growled as he sat up, clutching angrily at both his side and his head.
She stood there, her face a mask of cool indifference. However, there was a hint of a very strong emotion in her voice when she spoke. "I couldn't allow you two to fight any longer! Vinnie and I are in a hurry, so if you'll just let us by, I won't have to do that again. Besides," she glanced sideways at Vic, "I know what you were planning. I won't allow you to hurt Vincent like that."
Vincent pondered over her words in confusion as he stood. He'd obviously had the upper hand-right? Then why was Adriana so concerned about him getting hurt? Vincent decided to ponder over the meaning of this matter later. Right now he was more concerned about finding Cyrus and getting some answers-and finding Yuffie, of course. He watched as Vic rose to his feet, having finished his healing spell.
"Che, I suppose you're going to ruin every good fight I get into this week, huh? Oh well..." He muttered something before running his hand through his hair once more and wincing as he came to the bump her mallet had given him. "Ow... Alright, look. I'll take you both to the girl. Cyrus has moved her to the lab, but I don't think he's started experimenting on her. Yet. Follow me."
Vincent paused briefly, stooping down to pick up his Death Penalty before silently following the pair. His expression darkened as he pondered Vic's statement. The thought of Yuffie becoming some experimental freak like himself or Adriana enraged him, and he could think of nothing better than finding that bastard Cyrus and carving both answers and revenge out of him bit by bit.
It was a long walk, and as hard as Vincent tried, even he couldn't memorize all the twists and turns the hallways took. He could sense that they were heading steadily down, though, and stored that information away for later use. He was mildly startled when Vic and Adriana stopped at what appeared to be a dead end.
"...Well?" he asked impatiently, half expecting this to be another trap. Vic scowled and bent down, messing with a nearly invisible latch on the floor.
"...Have a little patience." The other man grumbled as the trapdoor swung downwards. "We're going to get in a lot of trouble for this, you know. You're lucky I agreed to guide you."
Adriana giggled a bit and flipped her hair back as she descended the ladder. "You're such a sweet, caring person, Vic!" She laughed sarcastically as she disappeared into the darkness.
"...Whatever," he grumbled as he began to follow.
Vincent sighed as he followed the two people. He was a bit confused as to why they were helping him...and why he detected such fear from them. They were probably leading him into a trap, but this was the only clue he had to finding Cyrus, so he would follow and be prepared for any tricks.
They hadn't traveled far before they came to a rather unremarkable looking door. It seemed to be made of rusted steel, and blended so perfectly with the wall that even Vincent's sharp eyes could have missed it. Vic sighed and slowly opened it, peeking inside before swinging it open all the way. "I keep telling him to get a lock..." he grumbled as he entered almost sullenly.
Vincent followed Adriana into the room and waited for his eyes to adjust to the sudden onslaught of light. The room was large; a mix of steel and stone with incredibly bright lights scattered about. A snow-covered sunroof was in the middle of the ceiling high above, and yet Vincent felt they were too far underground for this to be possible. He looked closer, squinting into the light and saw it was all artificial, and the 'sun' was another spot light shining down dramatically on a lab table in the middle. On this table was a small figure. His eyes widened.
"Yuffie!" he leapt from the spiraled stairs and landed gracefully on the ground. He approached her cautiously, least this be another trap. When nothing happened, he began checking her for signs of life.
She was breathing and her pulse was strong, but she didn't seem to be waking up. "Yuffie? It is I, Vincent. It is time to awaken, Yuffie." He shook her roughly and turned towards Vic. "What's wrong with her?"
It was Adriana who answered. "Hm... Maybe you should try kissing her? That usually wakes a pretty young lady up."
Vincent stared at her blankly before a semi-distressed look crossed his face. "I really don't think that will work..."
"You never know until you try!" Adriana giggled mischievously before Vic smacked her on the head. "Ow! What was that for...?"
"Just undo the spell and quit wasting time," he replied irritably. "Now isn't the time for your sick sense of humor."
She pouted and stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh, you're no fun! Honestly, neither of you two can take a joke, can you? Oh well," She closed her eyes and whispered something Vincent couldn't quite make out and smiled. "There!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yuffie opened her eyes groggily and immediately closed them again. "Oh gawd that's bright..." she sat up and stretched before looking around the room, immediately coming face to face with Vincent Valentine. "Whoa!" she yelped, jumping backwards a bit and nearly toppling off of...whatever it was she was on. "Hey, where am I...? YOU!?" She yelled, pointing a finger at a slightly startled looking Vic. "What the hell did you do ta me? You dirty, rotten, cheating..."
"Yuffie..." Vincent started.
"...thieving, cowardly..."
"Yuffie...!"
"...^&$*ing platinum-haired PUNK! I'll."
"Yuffie!" He grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to look into his eyes. "Please listen when I'm speaking to you. We have no time for your petty feud at the moment. We must...Yuffie?"
"...Yes, Vincent...?" It was happening again. That damned red mist... His voice flowed through her like a gentle stream.
Her eye contact with him was broken as a pair of familiar golden eyes replaced his crimson ones. "Yuffie, dear! Snap out of it! And you!" The green haired woman turned to face Vincent angrily. "I don't know what you did to her just now, but stop it!"
Vincent seemed a bit taken aback but at that moment Yuffie quite agreed with her. "Anyways, what are you doing here, Ana?" she asked, turning to her friend. "And where is here? What exactly did that bastard do to me?" she asked, jerking a thumb angrily in Vic's direction.
She watched curiously as Ana began to fidget nervously with her necklace, avoiding eye contact. "Well... I, ah..."
"Yuffie," Vincent's voice cut in. She turned to face him before quickly moving her gaze to his shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"Describe the kidnappers."
"Huh? Okay..." she thought for a minute, slightly taken aback by his request. "Um... a man with blond hair and spectacles..." An image of Ciro flashed through her mind, "...a guy in a black cloak..." She glared at the white-haired punk, "And a woman...with long green..." She gulped and gazed at the embarrassed woman in front of her. "...I screwed up, huh?"
"Indeed," Vincent gazed at her angrily. "What were you thinking?"
"Well... ah..." Yuffie gulped. She hadn't been, really. All she'd really been focused on at the time was her anger at the jerk who'd stolen her stuff, her confusion about Vincent, her feelings for Cloud and how nice Ciro and Ana had been to help her find some clothes.
Ana coughed slightly. "I'm, ah, afraid that's partially my fault." Both Yuffie and Vincent turned to face her. "Another of my powers is temporary memory blocking. She wasn't suspicious because I pushed all thoughts of us even being remotely connected to kidnappings far away. Thus, Cyrus and I were able too talk freely with her."
"Cyrus!? You mean..." Yuffie gulped. "Ciro was..."
"Yes," a voice called out from the shadows. Yuffie turned to face the new voice and jumped off the table, lading next to Vincent. A tall man walked out, an amused expression on his face as he pushed his glasses up slightly. "You see my dear, 'Ciro' is a foreign variation of Cyrus, and thus a name I can use without calling attention to myself as a former ShinRa scientist."
Yuffie heard a small gasp from next to her and looked to see Ana whimpering in fear. She looked over at the thief and saw a slightly nervous expression on his face as well. She looked back up at Cyrus.
"I'm so glad you're finally awake, Miss Yuffie," he said, flashing her an almost charming smile. He then turned to the other two. "And you two... you should be ashamed! Leading the enemy down here..." his hand moved to grasp at one of the two keys around his neck-a black one with silver accents. "Vic, Vic, Vic..." He shook his head sadly. "How could you go against your own father?" He squeezed the key a bit and Yuffie heard a strangled gasp come from 'Vic'. She turned quickly to see him grasping frantically at the studded collar around his neck.
"P-please, stop this!" Ana begged, slumping to the ground. Cyrus turned to face her, his face cold.
"And you, Adriana..." he grasped the other key, pink and silver and pressed down. She screamed and began clawing at her choker. "You're usually so good..."
Yuffie growled angrily as she raced towards him. "STOP IT!" Her fist connected with the surprised Cyrus and he lost his grip on the keys. Yuffie could hear relieved gasps behind her as she continued to pummel him.
"Look out, Yuffie!" she heard 'Adriana' scream behind her. Yuffie's eyes widened as she tried to avoid her opponent's counterstrike, but she was too late. She screamed as she felt something sharp enter her arm and pulled away from her opponent to examine the damage.
The remains of a needle jutted out from her forearm and she gingerly tried to pull it out. Her arms wouldn't obey, and she noticed that she could barely feel them anymore. Before she knew what was happening, she felt someone lift her up and carry her away from Cyrus, who now had a small gun out and aimed at her. She moved her head slowly up towards her rescuer. "V- vinnie?"
He set her down and swiftly pulled the small slip of metal from her arm before turning to face the smug looking scientist. "What have you done to her?" He asked coldly.
"That? Oh, that's just a simple paralysis poison. It should wear off in a few hours. So you're subject V.V. hm...? You certainly have changed..."
Vincent stood up and glared at him. "What do you know of my condition?" He leveled the Death Penalty at the blond man and awaited an explanation. Yuffie could only watch in fascination, now unable to do much more than breathe.
"Well, I was professor Hojo's assistant. I know almost everything about your enhancements. And I must say, you seem to be a complete success so far. You haven't aged a bit in all these years." He gestured towards Yuffie with his gun. "And I took the liberty of examining the wounds she had. It appeared as if someone tried to bite her neck. Now, I'm almost certain Vic here didn't do that. Care to explain?"
Vincent took a step back and shook his head a bit. "What are you implying?"
"Oh come on! Professor Hojo and I locked you up in a coffin for a reason, you know." He smirked. "I'm assuming that your true powers are beginning to surface... as well as your new nature."
Vincent's eyes seemed to go hazy as he stared in what Yuffie could only assume was disbelief at Cyrus. "You... what manner of sick joke were you thinking? What did you hope to accomplish?"
"I-immortality..." Adriana's voice called weakly behind Yuffie. She sounded as if she been in unspeakable pain. "The same-the same reason he d-did this to me... To find immortality."
{Immortality!? What the hell kinda clichéd reason is that!?} Yuffie wanted to scream. {At least be (&^$%&ing original!}
"And what of Chaos and the other demons in my mind? Certainly they have no connection to this 'immortality'!" Vincent snarled, his finger seeming almost to twitch slightly at the trigger of the gun.
"Of course not," Cyrus shrugged offhandedly. "Those were Professor Hojo's brilliant ideas! I merely helped him, as I was asked to do. I must say, I certainly was curious as to how those experiments would work out. And they seem to have been a complete success! My idea was to combine your cells with those of the most feared and powerful creatures of all time-a vampire, in order to see the effects."
"And yet, I do not burn in the sunlight and I've no desire for blood. I would say that your experiment was a failure."
"You would... but it has merely taken a few years for your powers to manifest! After all," he smiled and pointed to towards the bruise on Yuffie's neck, "it appears as if you do have some desire to feed. You may suppress it, but it's still present. And surely you find yourself more energized at night. After all, the sun must irritate your sensitive skin. The reason you don't suffer the ill effects of your gift is because I took the liberty of engineering them out of you, despite the Professor's protests. You are ascending from humanity! One of my most perfect creations... Currently in the adolescent stage, your body is undertaking rapid changes..."
"Enough!" Vincent said as closely as Yuffie had ever heard him get to shouting. He fired the Death Penalty at Cyrus, the bullet speeding towards his chest. Yuffie would have gasped had she been able, when the bullet stopped a centimeter from his body and fell to the ground. {A barrier!}
"That certainly was rude, Mr. Valentine. But then, I suppose you were fairly trigger-happy when we met. I had hoped you'd gained better manners, though." He sighed and took a pen from behind his ear, clicking the end down.
"RUN!" Adriana screamed behind them. "Get Yuffie and get out of here, before 'They' come! I-EIYAI!!!!!" She fell back to the ground, pawing helplessly at her neck.
Yuffie felt herself being scooped into Vincent's arms yet again as he ran her towards the stairs. She felt something hard and heavy hit her stomach, and barely had time to glimpse Vic out of the corner of her eyes before she was raced past him. She strained to see what he'd thrown at her but eventually gave up, since her eyes were starting to hurt. She looked up into the face of the man carrying her since that was the easiest place to look.
Vincent's face held very little emotion perhaps annoyance, but his eyes... His crimson eyes practically glowed with anger, even in the darkness of this hall he was sprinting through. Yuffie gulped and closed her eyes to keep from witnessing such a frightening sight. In all the time she'd known Vincent, never had she seen this look in his eyes. Not even when confronting Hojo. But, if what Cyrus had said was the truth... She shuddered.
{No way! Vampires are myths, legends, OLD WIVES TALES! You tell that stuff to kids to make 'em behave, for cryin' out loud! It ain't possible! Vinnie...} She gulped. {Vinnie's a bit strange... but... No way! He can't be some sorta super-vamp! That's so not cool! Damn crazy ShinRa!}
The thing on her stomach flew up slightly and landed back down on her hard as Vincent made some sort of jump. She tried to wince and glared up at him. {Damn, Vinnie! At least be a little careful...Ow!} Her head jolted a bit and hit the edge of his metal arm. {Gawd DAMN IT that hurt!} She grumbled a string of curses at him in her mind as he continued down the hall, seemingly completely oblivious to her discomfort.
{Ooh...! And I never got to beat the stuffing out of that smug Vinnie-look- a-like, what's-his-name-Vic! I'll get him good, next time! And that cheating, underhanded bastard Cyrus! GAWD!} Yuffie began to fume silently, since she couldn't rant and yell like she wanted to. She began to make up painful, elaborate forms of torture for her targets of vengeance as Vincent continued to carry her silently through the night.
~*~End Chapter~*~
~Gawd! Finally finished! Sorry this took so long, guys. I'm not dead! Really! I had like a million ideas and couldn't make up my mind. Plus, I don't get much time to write during the summer, so... Anyways, thanks for being so patient! Remember, I'm always looking for ways to improve, since this IS my first fanfic, after all... Ja, ne!~
~Kai
Ninja
~*~8~*~
Vincent aimed the Death Penalty threateningly at the man before him, daring him to make a move as he waited for Adriana to continue with her explanation. {So this is the man Yuffie's so upset with...}
*Didn't she say she thought he was cute?*
{Your point?}
*He looks a lot like you...*
Vincent glared back at the man, taking in every detail of his features. He did seem to bear a certain resemblance to himself, but Vincent didn't want to admit this. {He looks more like Sephiroth.}
*So you're saying Yuffie thinks Sephiroth was cute...?*
Vincent's conversation with Chaos was interrupted when the man-Vic- began to speak.
"Adriana," he said, his crimson eyes sliding from Vincent and back to the woman next to him, "what do you think you're doing?"
She scratched her chin as she glanced away, suddenly seeming to find a rock in the stone wall near the ceiling particularly interesting. "I, ah, well I, you see, Vic, it's like, ah..." She bit her thumb lightly before turning to glare at Vic. "What do you care!? Just move it, and maybe Vinnie here won't beat you up too very badly!"
Vincent couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her as he pondered her statement. She made him sound like her best buddy. He noticed that she'd managed to draw a similar reaction from Vic, who seemed about ready fall over before recovering himself.
Vic sighed. "Have you forgotten what will happen if you upset Cyrus?" A dark look settled over his face. "Or are you willing to endure the pain? If he escapes," he pointed at Vincent, "then you're not the only one who will suffer."
Adriana had gone white, and her aqua eyes widened in horror of some fate unknown to Vincent. He watched as one of her delicate hands-Lucrecia's hands- reached up to grasp at a silver choker fearfully.
Vic's face twisted into a grim sort of smirk as his free hand traced his own choker almost absently. "I see that you finally remembered. If you don't want to help, then stand back and let me take care of 'Vinnie'. I'll keep quiet about your temporary lapse of faithfulness to Cyrus." He readied himself to attack, his eyes locking back on Vincent's as Adriana sank back against the stone wall in obvious defeat.
The sound of the Death Penalty's blast rang through the hall, and Vincent watched as the bullet sped towards its target. A normal man, he knew, would not be able to dodge that shot, for the bullets of this gun were much faster than those of normal guns.
His eyes narrowed as the other man, with a speed and grace most humans did not possess, moved swiftly to the side and charged, his sickle glinting wickedly in the dim light. Vincent cursed, and prepared to counter the incoming man in close combat, knowing that the Death Penalty would be little help in this fight. He aimed the gun at his opponent once more and fired, hoping to throw Vic off-course and distract him. It worked-Vic looked away for a moment as he dodged the approaching bullet. Vincent didn't wait to see if his shot impacted with its target. He dropped the cumbersome weapon and rushed forward, forming his claw into a fist and thrusting at him.
Vic's eyes widened in surprise as Vincent's punch slammed into his cheek, missing his nose by mere centimeters. The other man was far from out, however, and proved this to the ex-Turk by swinging his sickle up in retaliation. The raven haired man barely had time to evade the deadly blade swinging up towards him, and had he been a second slower in moving, he would have had a very nasty gash up his stomach. The two men stood back from each other, each appraising the others moves. They both ran a single finger through their bangs at the same time and Vic smirked.
"Heh, not bad. I've been looking forward to a decent fight all day. Since someone ruined my last one." He threw an annoyed glance in Adriana's direction before focusing again on Vincent.
"I don't have time for this," Vincent sighed as he gazed dully at the man before him, "but I don't suppose I have a choice. Let's finish this quickly."
"Those are my lines..." Vic almost seemed to pout before the smirk reasserted itself on his face. "Alright, let's go." He charged forward as he said this, his weapon glinting wickedly in the light. Vincent prepared to meet him rather than sprinting forward again. He readied himself, recalling everything his training as a Turk had taught him about hand-to- hand fighting against an armed opponent. {Haven't had to use this for a while...}
*Getting rusty?*
"Hardly," he whispered aloud. He stood straight, and to anyone unfamiliar to the Turk's peculiar fighting stance it seemed that he was simply going to stand there and take the blow. It achieved the desired effect, as Vic seemed to hesitate for a split second, which was all the time Vincent needed to dart in and knock the sickle from the white haired man's hand and deliver a brutal punch towards his stomach.
The weapon went flying down the hall, much to Vincent's satisfaction, but Vic had managed to block the punch and deliver a counter strike of his own. Vincent winced slightly at the pain that shot through his shoulder. He hadn't expected this relatively small man's punches to hurt this much. He ignored the pain and reached up, grabbing Vic's arm and twisting. He watched his opponent drop before a sharp pain exploded onto his stomach. Vincent gasped and reeled back.
Vic was up in a flash and Vincent was too busy trying to regain his breath to fend off his approach. He saw little more than a flash of white before he felt himself being tackled. He twisted his body so that Vic smashed himself straight into his claw.
He heard a pained gasp from above him as the sharp metal tips tore through cloth and flesh. He couldn't help the small smirk that formed on his face as he felt the warm liquid flow freely down his arm. He pulled his claw back from his injured opponent and prepared to attack again...
When an explosion of pain shot through his head. He looked up in time to see a black mallet with pink hearts smash solidly into Vic's head as well, knocking the other man away. He could see little stars flying around his head as he sat up.
"A-Adriana, what the hell!?" Vic growled as he sat up, clutching angrily at both his side and his head.
She stood there, her face a mask of cool indifference. However, there was a hint of a very strong emotion in her voice when she spoke. "I couldn't allow you two to fight any longer! Vinnie and I are in a hurry, so if you'll just let us by, I won't have to do that again. Besides," she glanced sideways at Vic, "I know what you were planning. I won't allow you to hurt Vincent like that."
Vincent pondered over her words in confusion as he stood. He'd obviously had the upper hand-right? Then why was Adriana so concerned about him getting hurt? Vincent decided to ponder over the meaning of this matter later. Right now he was more concerned about finding Cyrus and getting some answers-and finding Yuffie, of course. He watched as Vic rose to his feet, having finished his healing spell.
"Che, I suppose you're going to ruin every good fight I get into this week, huh? Oh well..." He muttered something before running his hand through his hair once more and wincing as he came to the bump her mallet had given him. "Ow... Alright, look. I'll take you both to the girl. Cyrus has moved her to the lab, but I don't think he's started experimenting on her. Yet. Follow me."
Vincent paused briefly, stooping down to pick up his Death Penalty before silently following the pair. His expression darkened as he pondered Vic's statement. The thought of Yuffie becoming some experimental freak like himself or Adriana enraged him, and he could think of nothing better than finding that bastard Cyrus and carving both answers and revenge out of him bit by bit.
It was a long walk, and as hard as Vincent tried, even he couldn't memorize all the twists and turns the hallways took. He could sense that they were heading steadily down, though, and stored that information away for later use. He was mildly startled when Vic and Adriana stopped at what appeared to be a dead end.
"...Well?" he asked impatiently, half expecting this to be another trap. Vic scowled and bent down, messing with a nearly invisible latch on the floor.
"...Have a little patience." The other man grumbled as the trapdoor swung downwards. "We're going to get in a lot of trouble for this, you know. You're lucky I agreed to guide you."
Adriana giggled a bit and flipped her hair back as she descended the ladder. "You're such a sweet, caring person, Vic!" She laughed sarcastically as she disappeared into the darkness.
"...Whatever," he grumbled as he began to follow.
Vincent sighed as he followed the two people. He was a bit confused as to why they were helping him...and why he detected such fear from them. They were probably leading him into a trap, but this was the only clue he had to finding Cyrus, so he would follow and be prepared for any tricks.
They hadn't traveled far before they came to a rather unremarkable looking door. It seemed to be made of rusted steel, and blended so perfectly with the wall that even Vincent's sharp eyes could have missed it. Vic sighed and slowly opened it, peeking inside before swinging it open all the way. "I keep telling him to get a lock..." he grumbled as he entered almost sullenly.
Vincent followed Adriana into the room and waited for his eyes to adjust to the sudden onslaught of light. The room was large; a mix of steel and stone with incredibly bright lights scattered about. A snow-covered sunroof was in the middle of the ceiling high above, and yet Vincent felt they were too far underground for this to be possible. He looked closer, squinting into the light and saw it was all artificial, and the 'sun' was another spot light shining down dramatically on a lab table in the middle. On this table was a small figure. His eyes widened.
"Yuffie!" he leapt from the spiraled stairs and landed gracefully on the ground. He approached her cautiously, least this be another trap. When nothing happened, he began checking her for signs of life.
She was breathing and her pulse was strong, but she didn't seem to be waking up. "Yuffie? It is I, Vincent. It is time to awaken, Yuffie." He shook her roughly and turned towards Vic. "What's wrong with her?"
It was Adriana who answered. "Hm... Maybe you should try kissing her? That usually wakes a pretty young lady up."
Vincent stared at her blankly before a semi-distressed look crossed his face. "I really don't think that will work..."
"You never know until you try!" Adriana giggled mischievously before Vic smacked her on the head. "Ow! What was that for...?"
"Just undo the spell and quit wasting time," he replied irritably. "Now isn't the time for your sick sense of humor."
She pouted and stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh, you're no fun! Honestly, neither of you two can take a joke, can you? Oh well," She closed her eyes and whispered something Vincent couldn't quite make out and smiled. "There!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yuffie opened her eyes groggily and immediately closed them again. "Oh gawd that's bright..." she sat up and stretched before looking around the room, immediately coming face to face with Vincent Valentine. "Whoa!" she yelped, jumping backwards a bit and nearly toppling off of...whatever it was she was on. "Hey, where am I...? YOU!?" She yelled, pointing a finger at a slightly startled looking Vic. "What the hell did you do ta me? You dirty, rotten, cheating..."
"Yuffie..." Vincent started.
"...thieving, cowardly..."
"Yuffie...!"
"...^&$*ing platinum-haired PUNK! I'll."
"Yuffie!" He grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to look into his eyes. "Please listen when I'm speaking to you. We have no time for your petty feud at the moment. We must...Yuffie?"
"...Yes, Vincent...?" It was happening again. That damned red mist... His voice flowed through her like a gentle stream.
Her eye contact with him was broken as a pair of familiar golden eyes replaced his crimson ones. "Yuffie, dear! Snap out of it! And you!" The green haired woman turned to face Vincent angrily. "I don't know what you did to her just now, but stop it!"
Vincent seemed a bit taken aback but at that moment Yuffie quite agreed with her. "Anyways, what are you doing here, Ana?" she asked, turning to her friend. "And where is here? What exactly did that bastard do to me?" she asked, jerking a thumb angrily in Vic's direction.
She watched curiously as Ana began to fidget nervously with her necklace, avoiding eye contact. "Well... I, ah..."
"Yuffie," Vincent's voice cut in. She turned to face him before quickly moving her gaze to his shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"Describe the kidnappers."
"Huh? Okay..." she thought for a minute, slightly taken aback by his request. "Um... a man with blond hair and spectacles..." An image of Ciro flashed through her mind, "...a guy in a black cloak..." She glared at the white-haired punk, "And a woman...with long green..." She gulped and gazed at the embarrassed woman in front of her. "...I screwed up, huh?"
"Indeed," Vincent gazed at her angrily. "What were you thinking?"
"Well... ah..." Yuffie gulped. She hadn't been, really. All she'd really been focused on at the time was her anger at the jerk who'd stolen her stuff, her confusion about Vincent, her feelings for Cloud and how nice Ciro and Ana had been to help her find some clothes.
Ana coughed slightly. "I'm, ah, afraid that's partially my fault." Both Yuffie and Vincent turned to face her. "Another of my powers is temporary memory blocking. She wasn't suspicious because I pushed all thoughts of us even being remotely connected to kidnappings far away. Thus, Cyrus and I were able too talk freely with her."
"Cyrus!? You mean..." Yuffie gulped. "Ciro was..."
"Yes," a voice called out from the shadows. Yuffie turned to face the new voice and jumped off the table, lading next to Vincent. A tall man walked out, an amused expression on his face as he pushed his glasses up slightly. "You see my dear, 'Ciro' is a foreign variation of Cyrus, and thus a name I can use without calling attention to myself as a former ShinRa scientist."
Yuffie heard a small gasp from next to her and looked to see Ana whimpering in fear. She looked over at the thief and saw a slightly nervous expression on his face as well. She looked back up at Cyrus.
"I'm so glad you're finally awake, Miss Yuffie," he said, flashing her an almost charming smile. He then turned to the other two. "And you two... you should be ashamed! Leading the enemy down here..." his hand moved to grasp at one of the two keys around his neck-a black one with silver accents. "Vic, Vic, Vic..." He shook his head sadly. "How could you go against your own father?" He squeezed the key a bit and Yuffie heard a strangled gasp come from 'Vic'. She turned quickly to see him grasping frantically at the studded collar around his neck.
"P-please, stop this!" Ana begged, slumping to the ground. Cyrus turned to face her, his face cold.
"And you, Adriana..." he grasped the other key, pink and silver and pressed down. She screamed and began clawing at her choker. "You're usually so good..."
Yuffie growled angrily as she raced towards him. "STOP IT!" Her fist connected with the surprised Cyrus and he lost his grip on the keys. Yuffie could hear relieved gasps behind her as she continued to pummel him.
"Look out, Yuffie!" she heard 'Adriana' scream behind her. Yuffie's eyes widened as she tried to avoid her opponent's counterstrike, but she was too late. She screamed as she felt something sharp enter her arm and pulled away from her opponent to examine the damage.
The remains of a needle jutted out from her forearm and she gingerly tried to pull it out. Her arms wouldn't obey, and she noticed that she could barely feel them anymore. Before she knew what was happening, she felt someone lift her up and carry her away from Cyrus, who now had a small gun out and aimed at her. She moved her head slowly up towards her rescuer. "V- vinnie?"
He set her down and swiftly pulled the small slip of metal from her arm before turning to face the smug looking scientist. "What have you done to her?" He asked coldly.
"That? Oh, that's just a simple paralysis poison. It should wear off in a few hours. So you're subject V.V. hm...? You certainly have changed..."
Vincent stood up and glared at him. "What do you know of my condition?" He leveled the Death Penalty at the blond man and awaited an explanation. Yuffie could only watch in fascination, now unable to do much more than breathe.
"Well, I was professor Hojo's assistant. I know almost everything about your enhancements. And I must say, you seem to be a complete success so far. You haven't aged a bit in all these years." He gestured towards Yuffie with his gun. "And I took the liberty of examining the wounds she had. It appeared as if someone tried to bite her neck. Now, I'm almost certain Vic here didn't do that. Care to explain?"
Vincent took a step back and shook his head a bit. "What are you implying?"
"Oh come on! Professor Hojo and I locked you up in a coffin for a reason, you know." He smirked. "I'm assuming that your true powers are beginning to surface... as well as your new nature."
Vincent's eyes seemed to go hazy as he stared in what Yuffie could only assume was disbelief at Cyrus. "You... what manner of sick joke were you thinking? What did you hope to accomplish?"
"I-immortality..." Adriana's voice called weakly behind Yuffie. She sounded as if she been in unspeakable pain. "The same-the same reason he d-did this to me... To find immortality."
{Immortality!? What the hell kinda clichéd reason is that!?} Yuffie wanted to scream. {At least be (&^$%&ing original!}
"And what of Chaos and the other demons in my mind? Certainly they have no connection to this 'immortality'!" Vincent snarled, his finger seeming almost to twitch slightly at the trigger of the gun.
"Of course not," Cyrus shrugged offhandedly. "Those were Professor Hojo's brilliant ideas! I merely helped him, as I was asked to do. I must say, I certainly was curious as to how those experiments would work out. And they seem to have been a complete success! My idea was to combine your cells with those of the most feared and powerful creatures of all time-a vampire, in order to see the effects."
"And yet, I do not burn in the sunlight and I've no desire for blood. I would say that your experiment was a failure."
"You would... but it has merely taken a few years for your powers to manifest! After all," he smiled and pointed to towards the bruise on Yuffie's neck, "it appears as if you do have some desire to feed. You may suppress it, but it's still present. And surely you find yourself more energized at night. After all, the sun must irritate your sensitive skin. The reason you don't suffer the ill effects of your gift is because I took the liberty of engineering them out of you, despite the Professor's protests. You are ascending from humanity! One of my most perfect creations... Currently in the adolescent stage, your body is undertaking rapid changes..."
"Enough!" Vincent said as closely as Yuffie had ever heard him get to shouting. He fired the Death Penalty at Cyrus, the bullet speeding towards his chest. Yuffie would have gasped had she been able, when the bullet stopped a centimeter from his body and fell to the ground. {A barrier!}
"That certainly was rude, Mr. Valentine. But then, I suppose you were fairly trigger-happy when we met. I had hoped you'd gained better manners, though." He sighed and took a pen from behind his ear, clicking the end down.
"RUN!" Adriana screamed behind them. "Get Yuffie and get out of here, before 'They' come! I-EIYAI!!!!!" She fell back to the ground, pawing helplessly at her neck.
Yuffie felt herself being scooped into Vincent's arms yet again as he ran her towards the stairs. She felt something hard and heavy hit her stomach, and barely had time to glimpse Vic out of the corner of her eyes before she was raced past him. She strained to see what he'd thrown at her but eventually gave up, since her eyes were starting to hurt. She looked up into the face of the man carrying her since that was the easiest place to look.
Vincent's face held very little emotion perhaps annoyance, but his eyes... His crimson eyes practically glowed with anger, even in the darkness of this hall he was sprinting through. Yuffie gulped and closed her eyes to keep from witnessing such a frightening sight. In all the time she'd known Vincent, never had she seen this look in his eyes. Not even when confronting Hojo. But, if what Cyrus had said was the truth... She shuddered.
{No way! Vampires are myths, legends, OLD WIVES TALES! You tell that stuff to kids to make 'em behave, for cryin' out loud! It ain't possible! Vinnie...} She gulped. {Vinnie's a bit strange... but... No way! He can't be some sorta super-vamp! That's so not cool! Damn crazy ShinRa!}
The thing on her stomach flew up slightly and landed back down on her hard as Vincent made some sort of jump. She tried to wince and glared up at him. {Damn, Vinnie! At least be a little careful...Ow!} Her head jolted a bit and hit the edge of his metal arm. {Gawd DAMN IT that hurt!} She grumbled a string of curses at him in her mind as he continued down the hall, seemingly completely oblivious to her discomfort.
{Ooh...! And I never got to beat the stuffing out of that smug Vinnie-look- a-like, what's-his-name-Vic! I'll get him good, next time! And that cheating, underhanded bastard Cyrus! GAWD!} Yuffie began to fume silently, since she couldn't rant and yell like she wanted to. She began to make up painful, elaborate forms of torture for her targets of vengeance as Vincent continued to carry her silently through the night.
~*~End Chapter~*~
~Gawd! Finally finished! Sorry this took so long, guys. I'm not dead! Really! I had like a million ideas and couldn't make up my mind. Plus, I don't get much time to write during the summer, so... Anyways, thanks for being so patient! Remember, I'm always looking for ways to improve, since this IS my first fanfic, after all... Ja, ne!~
~Kai
