The Crypt
by CuteChibiChocoCloud
Disclaimer: I own Sephiroth, Cloud and a Cloud Clone: in the form of action figures. The real Sephiroth and co. are being held hostage in the evil claws of Square-Enix. Let us band together and save them!…but I get first dibs on Seph, then we'll figure out a rota for taking turns. (Who can honestly look at this and think I own FF? – thought not)
Chapter 10
From within the smoke three figures emerged. Uncovering their mouths they came across their fourth and a stranger. Kadaj scowled as muscles tensed under his tight navy tee. A pair of eyes met his but quickly returned to the wild haired man dressed in a black suit, shirt hanging untidily from the waist of his pants.
"He can take care of…Reno, easily." Sephiroth spoke calmly, striding slowly away from the dining room in Yazoo's direction.
"Didn't even tell ya my name. You must be the 'great Sephiroth' I've heard so much about." the red head smirked, following up sarcastically, "I'm sooo honoured yo."
"A worm like you should be." he continued to pace toward Yazoo, stopping with his back turned to everyone, "Tis' a pity, that you won't live long enough to fully appreciate this encounter."
Spurting out a guffaw, Reno flailed his arms in the air, "Yeah, you wish. Think you're a 'big bad immortal' don't ya?"
The tall man merely grunted, then continued to ascend the stairs, "There are three other infiltrators, not including this one. Loz: our guest of honour will be in some need of assistance soon; she's in the first floor study. Kadaj: go to the basement, wait there."
Shouting Kadaj said, "Wait? We are under attack and-"
"I know." the man paused at the top step, turning his head slightly to acknowledge him, "But don't disobey me."
Growling under his breath the youngest could only watch as his superior vanished in a blur. Anya was going to get into trouble and he wasn't allowed to do anything about it. Loz - of all people - was going to help her? Of course, he held a high respect for his brother's skill in combat, but he felt obligated to help her himself. It was his fault that she had been invited to the house this evening; god how he wished he could have distanced himself before she'd gotten in too deep.
"Yo, are we gonna fight or what?" stretching his arms above his head, making sure his electric rod didn't electrocute him by accident, he yawned, "I'm tired, I'm hungry, and I really need another cigarette. 'Mon, lets do this."
Kadaj scoffed as he started toward the second hallway, where the stairs to the crypt were, "Yazoo, I don't think I even need to wish you luck."
"Hey! Just you wait till I get to ya. You're gonna-" Reno stomped.
"Excuse me, but aren't we supposed to be fighting, or are you just all talk?" Yazoo still in a perfect crouching stance, easy to switch to either offence or defence. "Bye Loz."
"Huh?" Reno looked to his left and jumped as he found the large man gone, nowhere to be found. "For a big guy, he moves pretty fast huh?" Unhappy with Yazoo's sense of humour, or lack of, he shrugged, "Geez, a buncha stiffs. Well lets go."
"Lets."
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Her arms looked like someone had attacked her with a red pen. If only it really was what it looked like. Alas she sat at the desk in what seemed like a study of sorts, picking tiny shards of glass out of her arms. With every pained moan came yet another piece of glass. The desk was now decorated with these clear shards along with speckles of blood. She felt blessed that she didn't get any anywhere else on her body.
"What the hell is happening?" she muttered under her breath, sweeping away some of the shards so she could lie her head on the table. Placing her head against the cool of the wood, she could hear as well as feel her head thumping angrily. She tried closing her eyes, but the heavy thudding banged away behind her eyelids, which made her feel nauseous. "Kadaj, Yazoo, Loz, Sephiroth…who are you?"
Gasping she fell to the floor and slid underneath the desk as the door room opened with an eerie creak. There were a couple of thuds of what could only be footsteps, then silence - nothing but the sound of her heavy breathing. Unable to see who was there, she just knew it wasn't one of the guys. A stranger; not to be trusted. She only hoped that he couldn't hear her breathing.
Those foreboding footsteps started up again, coming ever closer to the desk. The once light that peered through the crack of the desk was now drowned in shadow. He was standing - right there - on the other side of the desk. A familiar sound of clinking glass above her; a grunt; and another, more question sounding grunt. Wait did that mean that she'd been caught? More steps now, until a pair of smart looking trouser legs with black business shoes stopped on her side of the desk. They looked very similar to the ones that the Reno guy had been wearing. This couldn't be good.
"Oh shit!" she thought as those legs bent at the knee, a hand coming down to lean on the edge of the desk. A waistline; a torso; shoulders; neck; chin. This was it, she'd been found.
Most impeccably timed, the man seemed to look up and was sent flying backwards into the chair then tipped onto the floor. There was a crunch, then the bald man leaned up to find that he'd accidentally crushed his own sunglasses. He looked devastated, as sad as it was.
"Anya?" she heard boomed from above her.
"Loz!" she began crawling out from underneath the desk. Placing a hand on the desktop she squealed as she was lifted effortlessly into the air by the wrist. Landing carefully on the desk, she looked up at Loz' face. Amazing -even with the info that Reno had provided her with- that she trusted him completely, even felt safe in his arms.
"You okay." he asked, mainly looking at her scratched arms. She nodded, which please him enough, "You need to take the stairs down to the second hallway and go straight down to the crypt."
"But-" Anya began only to be lifted up again, by the shoulders this time, and placed on the floor nearer the door out.
"No, just get down there now!" It was the first time she'd heard him speak so forcefully - it frightened her.
Without a second glance she ran once again, this time heading for the second set of stairs that lead to the second hallway. Of course, she was sent this way because of that Reno guy, who was going to duke it out with Yazoo. She wondered if he was okay.
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Energy hung oppressively in the air, and both the men knew the source of this power. A deadly ice blue aura surrounded Yazoo's taut body, emitting from the core of his being. As menacing as the silver haired man appeared, Reno wasn't perturbed in the least. Yeah, this guy was a super charged, uber powerful immortal. But, as all Turks know, there is one way to kill these beings. Also, he was pretty powerful himself. Reno being Reno, was more than confident in his own prowess.
Since Yazoo wasn't making the first move, the red head decided to take the initiative. Lunging forward he propelled himself into the air, battle cry emanating from his lungs. Electric rod crackled with delight as it came into contact with…the floor?
"What the-?"
An undetectable smirk quirking his lips, Yazoo kicked the unsuspecting man in the lower back. Said man went face first into the floor with a pain stricken yell. Perhaps he should hold back a little, if only to get some enjoyment out of this rare opportunity for battle. The Turks only came around every forty to fifty years: each time with some new technology, weapons or strategies to try take the four down. Of course, they never worked.
Reno was now recovering, and slowly but surely getting up from the floor. A hand was rubbing where he had been hit. He heard a delicate chuckle from behind him. Oh, the big guy found this funny now did he? Well, he'd see who'd be laughing after he'd pulled out all the stops. All he needed was to distract the guy for a little bit.
"That hurt yo." he shook his shaggy hair, wiping down invisible dust from his jacket arms and trousers. "I won't forgive you so easily."
"Really?" Taking gradual steps toward him, Yazoo's thrill of this event was made evident through a now unleashed smirk, "I don't think I care."
"That's it." Shoving his hands into his pockets, he stood cockily with his trademark smile on show.
"What 'that's it'?" he enquired softly, now in close proximity to his foe.
"Dumbass. You've just walked into my trap." Yanking his hands back out of his pockets, he threw needles toward Yazoo. To try avoid the aerial attack he leapt into a neat back-flip which continued into a one handed cartwheel and finished with a double roll in the air before landing most gracefully. "Like I said, you've just ensured my victory."
"How so?" he stood with a sense of superiority.
"Your leg." was the simple reply.
"Huh?" looking down he saw one of the needles protruding from his left calve. Plucking it out he sniffed the tip to find no scent, no clue as to what had been shot into his skin. "What is this then?"
"You may be invulnerable in almost every way, but you aren't immune to sleep inducing drugs. Such a potent dose too." Pouting cheekily, he spoke with false sympathy, "Poor lil' Yazoo's gonna go shleepy."
"Bastard. I should have known you're the type to fight cheap." Already the stabbing need to close his eyes was beginning, "I'm just going to have to defeat you faster."
"Love to see you try."
Running - which was his equivalent of jogging - his body began to rebel against the harsh subjection to movement. His legs felt like tons of led had been tied to them, with each step a little more of his energy ebbed away. Reno was smiling now that he stood a chance against him, having the upper hand now in speed and agility. Yazoo's hits were still unnaturally strong, but the question was could he make a hit?
It was now Reno who seemed to be moving like a blur as Yazoo found it increasingly more difficult to counter his moves. Like a flurry of dancing flames Reno speedily attacked the man without mercy. There was a kick to the face; a punch to the midsection: is this what it felt like to be human again? To be so helpless and vulnerable pitted against another fellow mortal? If it was, then it didn't matter to Yazoo. He was still immortal - his powers were merely being smudged by this annoyance of sleep.
That's what he had been thinking anyway, until the red head landed a rather hard hit to his chest that sent him reeling backwards. One second he'd closed his eyes, the next he saw the grinning Turk towering above him, standing only a couple of feet away. If he didn't walk out of this battle as the victor, he'd chop his own head off.
"Yo, you look kinda tired. What-a-shame." he said unsympathetically, "Say you wouldn't happen to have anything long and sharp for me to borrow would ya? I can't finish you off until I have something see, and I want you to be awake for this."
Eyes drooping he hunched with defeat until a glimmer of bright light caught his eye. Casting his sight to the source of this glimmer, his mouth twitched at the corners. If this didn't work, he was dead - well, more dead than he already was.
Swinging his head from side to side the blue eyed Turk scanned the room for previously mentioned 'long and sharp' instrument. Letting out a long lasting sigh he looked back at the pathetic looking figure crouched on the floor. Was that…a smile?
"Yo, what are you smiling about?" he asked, grasping his electric rod more firmly in case the immortal had a surprise attack up his sleeve.
"Heh." his slit pupils still focused above Reno, "Don't look up."
Naturally he did look up to a sight that for a split moment surprised him. I say a split moment for that is all he had until a large chandelier came crashing down upon him. It wouldn't kill him, but it would hurt when he woke up in the middle of nowhere. Yazoo refused to kill humans, he'd only harm them in self defence situations such as this one.
"I'm glad I've been practised that." he commented in his head about his new found ability to move inanimate objects before sprawling out on the floor, exhausted for the first time since he became immortal.
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He now stood tall and seemingly unphased with a new pair of glasses propped on his nose. There was something reminiscent to a frown on his angular face. Loz didn't really care as he stood down from the table. He noticed that they were both roughly of the same height, himself only being marginally taller. Still it was enough of a difference to put a smile on his face. This only made the stranger's frown deepen as he rose his gloved fists in front of him in a boxer like stance. In turn his smile only widened - he had a passion for unarmed combat. He blamed it on the old days when it was normal to fight in such a manner.
"So, who're you?" he asked as he tested the flexibility of his own clothing - lucky for him they left him with free mobility.
"Rude…" the bald man stated simply, "…and you are?"
"I'm Loz. Now, lets play." he beamed.
The look of confusion on Rude's face was fleeting as Loz wasted no time in launching into attack. His huge fists flew in flocks, leaving the Turk with no way to defend or retreat. They hit him everywhere from his chest to his face; luckily missing his sunglasses. With every pummel of fist Rude took another step back, his arms held up in vain. It wasn't long before his back hit a wall.
In a moment of quick thinking Rude ducked as the next fist went flying, making Loz' hand go right through the wall as he took the opportunity to duck and roll out of the way. Coming out of his forward roll he remained lowered to the floor and clip kicked Loz on his Achilles tendons. Hand still stuck in the wall, Rude got up on his feet, took a handful of silver hair and slammed the man face first into the wall. Loz grunted with pain as he finally managed to yank his fist back out.
He felt something cold and wet trickle down past his lips. Raising a hand he wiped it off with a finger, examining the liquid against leather. Crimson: how long had it been since he last bled? These guys were getting better with every meeting. Still, they'd never be good enough.
Snarling he lurched toward the man in black, removing both feet from the ground and flying them right against his chest. There was a sickly crack as the Turk stumbled backwards, holding a hand to his chest. His once perfect suit was ruined with muck, blood and now the outline of two pairs of shoe soles as a souvenir courtesy of Loz himself.
In a clearly desperate attempt to turn the match back to his favour Rude ran over to the remnants of the chair, picked up the largest piece and whacked it over Loz' head. Both unamused and unaffected he grabbed the man by the shoulders, swinging him round a few times then let him soar through the air until he collided with the wall on the opposite side of the room. Lying in a crumpled heap on the floor, there was a final grunt before the Turk passed out. There was no more fight in him.
All of a sudden Loz heard a loud bang sound from somewhere in the house (similar to Yazoo earlier, he found the sound loud only due to his extra sensitive hearing). Ignoring the defeated Turk for now he disappeared from the room in a blur of electric blue.
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Nearly tripping over her own feet she tottered down the worn steps toward the crypt door. She whimpered as she found the door unlocked already, the darkness awaiting for her inside. Leaning against the damp, cool stone wall she slowly progressed down the next set of stairs. It felt disgusting, but it was better than fumbling her way through the dark without some form of guidance. Why again had Loz sent her down here?
Somewhere along the way she stumbled on a loose pebble, letting out a cry as her ankle twisted and she went hurtling forward. Expecting to either meet the ground or continue an unpleasant descent down more steps she brought her hands up instinctively. What she didn't expect was something firm, but not stone, greet her held up hands. Beginning to scream she started wriggling within the hold of this mystery person only to have a hand hinder her screams.
"Hush, it's only me, Kadaj." She ceased to squirm and relaxed into a pair of cold arms, "We don't want them finding us here now, do we?" He asked with a flair of cheekiness in his voice. Running fingers along her arm she hissed as he upset the various cuts on her arm, "Are you okay?"
She giggled half-heartedly, too in shock to respond any other way and assured, "I'm fine. Nothing a few band aids can't fix." Taking a breath in she felt calmer after smelling his wonderful warm scent that she adored - it reminded her of cinnamon candy canes at Christmas and freshly baked cookies. Realising that her mind was straying again she said, "Is there any chance that we can get some light in here?"
"You don't have to be afraid when I'm around." he took a strand of hair and rubbed it between his fingertips.
"Really?" she asked in an accusatory tone, "Knowing what you are, I think I should be afraid."
That stung, worse than he'd expected it to. Of course he hadn't expected for her to ever find out his secret. There were times that he wanted to be selfish and just blurt it out, offer her an eternity of companionship, but he had persevered. Immortality, as he knew all too well, wasn't as good as it was cracked up to be. Still feeling offended he left her sitting on the steps and easily found where he'd left the oil lamp.
As he set it alight she added, "Sorry, that came out all wrong." Noting the unnatural slouch of shoulders on Kadaj, she continued, "What I mean is, how can I trust you when you lied to me about who you really are?"
Scoffing to hide his hurt he retorted, "And here I thought we were talking about fear."
Pushing herself up from the stone steps she flinched as she put pressure on her right ankle - she must have sprained it when she fell, "Right now, trust and fear are one in the same for me right now. I don't care about what you are, or how long you've been alive for; what I care about is being able to trust you to tell me the truth." Being careful to keep most of her weight on her left foot she hobbled over to Kadaj now that she could see where she was going. He remained turned away from her, still as a statue as she placed a hand on his shoulder, "Kadaj…I'm scared." His body twitched as she began to tear up, "I'm scared of those Turks; scared of what they might do to your brothers; I'm scared…of you getting hurt."
Swivelling around he grabbed her shoulders roughly, digging his fingers into her skin just enough to hurt, "You're an idiot." he spoke lowly, angrily, "Who knows what will happen after tonight. Since you've seen so much I might have to kill you." Tightening his grip even further, as if to get his point across, he spoke vehemently, "I could even crush you now without any effort."
Wincing as those fingers began to hurt a tad too much, she shook her blonde hair and gazed through teary eyes to meet his unearthly green ones, "As long as you're safe, I don't care." Her voice did nothing to hide her fear, but she knew that she couldn't hide it from him anyway.
Like that, it hit him. The feeling stabbed through his heart like a hot blade coated with warm honey. Painful but wonderful at the same time; a series of contradicting sensations. This girl was afraid -no doubt about it- but she didn't care. He felt it for the first time in over one hundred years - acceptance.
Loosening his grip he pulled her up close and placed his head in the crook of her neck. Her eyes went wide in shock as she felt and heard him murmur into her shoulder, "Thank you."
A high pitched whirring in the air, Kadaj picked Anya up and leapt out of the way of the incoming weapon. They landed not too far from where they had originally stood. While she looked questioningly at him, he looked intensely at the man standing in the stairwell. He had long deep chestnut hair falling past his shoulders with equally deep brown eyes, near black. In his hand were three sharp prongs between the gaps of his fingers: shuriken.
"Another Turk?" he rhetorically asked, still holding the girl in case she needed defending again.
"Tseng. I'm sure I don't need to tell you why I'm here." This man was the complete opposite of Reno - from his language to his presentation, the man was very professional and business like. Kadaj remained silent, now gently pushing Anya onto the ground and out of harms way. "Huh, then shall we?" In his other hand -which up until now had been concealed- was a large fan, nasty looking points on the ends. "I usually like a fair fight, but seeing as how you have no access to a weapon, I guess it can't be helped."
Chuckling with a manic undertone, the silver haired one said, "Who says I don't have a weapon?"
Stepping up to the vault beside the one that sat the lamp, he effortlessly shoved the top slab to reveal the interior of the tomb. Rather than a foul corpse rotting away within it a long blade rested, waiting for it's master's call. Now was the time for the sword to rise once again.
Picking it out revealed that it was in fact a double blade, a blue tassel hung around the hilt, the faint breeze playing delicately with the ends. They say the more beautiful the blade, the more deadly it is. Well, if this sword was as deadly as it looked beautiful; god help the Turk that would have to face it.
Said Turk look unruffled on sight of the glorious piece of weaponry. Although -Anya thought- if this man even had the guts to threaten these men, there would be probably very little to be afraid of.
Twirling the metal with prestigious ease Kadaj was merely getting used to handling the blade once more. It felt comforting to have the weight of Souba in his hands again - it had been far too long.
Making his way down to even ground Tseng readied himself and his preferred weapon a couple of feet from Kadaj. The Souba was held with the point facing away from both himself and the Turk, the length of it stretching out behind him. It would be difficult to fight properly in such a small space, but he would manage.
The fight began with Tseng letting loose the remainder of shuriken in his hand. Twisting the sword in front of him several times Kadaj managed to deflect each of the projectile weapons. With impeccable speed the suited man went in for a head on assault, Kadaj bringing up his sword just in time to defend himself. Face completely neutral even as he was being forced into submission, the 'young' immortal's strength greatly overpowering his own, the brunet put all his weight into one push so he could retreat and switch to defence.
Gritting his teeth together into a scowl he did a spinning leap toward the suited man, his sword clashing noisily against the fan on impact. Unexpectedly Tseng spun on his heel, his fist flying around whilst keeping the sword occupied with his fan. On impulse Kadaj removed his weapon from Tseng's, slashing at the hand that dared try to hit him. Unfortunately, that had been Tseng's intention all along. As he spun clockwise to save his hand from decapitation he brought around the fan and sliced down the immortal's back.
He yelled out all his pain and anger, channelling it at the Turk. His back now stung terribly so, but he could still wipe the slate clean with this bastard!
In a surprise move Kadaj bent backward onto his hands. Lifting his legs up into a handstand he then let his legs fall until they met with Tseng's head. He hit hard enough that the man fell to the ground, clutching his now bleeding head. Using the momentum from the hit to propel himself back again, he stood up straight with Souba in hand. Turning he approached the infiltrator and lowered his sword to the man's throat, the tip threateningly pressed against the adams apple. Brown eyes looked upwards, an acknowledging nod of the head - he knew he had been bested. Squinting his eyes he lifted his blade into the air, ready for the finishing blow. He heard Anya call his name but paid her no heed, focused on finishing the job he started. In one swift movement he brought the sword down, hilt first, onto the man's skull. Tseng still drew steady breath, but wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.
"Kadaj!" she cried, unsteadily flinging herself into his arms. She heard his double bladed sword clang as it fell to the floor.
"Don't worry, I wasn't planning on killing him." His eyes filled with sorrow as he sensed great relief on her part, "You thought I was going to though? Didn't you?" She remained silent, only clinging tighter against his chest as her way of an apology, "It's okay, I understand. I'm sorry that I worried you."
She mumbled his name as she moved further up to lean her head on his shoulder. Careful as not to disturb his back injury further, she held him at the waist with care. Closing her eyes for a momentary squeeze of compassion she reopened them to the glint of something…
"No!" Kadaj didn't have enough time to react as Anya shoved him to the side, landing on the floor.
What in reality took a second, seemed to span over eternity.
There was a small click, then the roaring sound of thunder. Anya's body stood facing the exit again, prepared for what was coming. It gliding in a perfect line through the air, leaving only a trail of smoke trickling behind it, dissipating as it continued its flight. It struck home, penetrating her body, forcing it's way through flesh and bone. Jerking backward from the force, she staggered a few paces, hand held up to her left shoulder. Her sea eyes closed, then opened again - disbelieving even though she had willed this to happen. Lifting her hand now painted crimson she looked at it, a sad smile appearing on her rosebud lips. The same scarlet liquid that coated her hand and down her purple top dripped down those same petal lips. She went to cough but swallowed it back down, keeping that same lament expression on her face. Falling; falling; falling until her knees met with the tablet ground, the rest of her body following afterward.
Barrel of the gun now quivering the woman set her aim at Kadaj, "You hurt Tseng-sama! I was aiming for you! I-I'll kill you for hurting him! Damn I didn't mean to shoot her!" The blonde's rambling came to an abrupt end as she was hit harshly across the head.
Kadaj knelt to the floor, hands turning Anya onto her back. Her eyes remained open, body jittering slightly in his hold. She was still alive - but not for much longer. Head hanging like a rag dolls Kadaj held her tightly around her middle.
"You stupid-stupid girl!" he spat angrily, agony burning up in his chest, "I'm immortal remember? Bullets can't kill me!" The blood pouring from her shoulder was now smearing all over him, but he didn't care.
"Kadaj." said an unsympathetic baritone voice, "I can save her."
He held her closer, his bangs covering his eyes as he shook his head against her, "No, no, no!"
"You wish her to die then?" that same low voice asked, no care splicing into his words whatsoever.
"NO!" he yelled, his breaths coming out in heavy pants, "But, we can't-"
"I will. This is my choice, and you will follow that choice without further questioning. Are we clear?"
"You bastard." Kadaj lay her back on the ground, rising to stand up to the much taller man, "You're just thinking about yourself as usual. What if she doesn't want-"
"Are we clear?"
"Yes, Sephiroth…sir" he struggled to get out. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't defy Sephiroth. Whether or not her liked it, his master would do what he wanted when he wanted to.
"Good…If she survives the process, she will be worthy to join our 'family'." Pushing the younger out of the way he knelt and picked up the bundle off the floor. Cradling her in his arms, his bangs swaying across her stomach he said as he made his way toward the stairs, "Oh and Kadaj, it would be in your best interest if you abandoned your little fantasy world. You can't have what was never yours."
Watching the graceful figure ascend the stairs he clenched his hands into tense fists, nails digging into his palm. That is how Loz found him, silently furious, not speaking a word. It was only later that he found his other brother passed out in the hall, and the events that had taken place during his feud with Rude.
The following months were sombre for all of them...except one.
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AN: This chapter is still dedicated to two readers, LiLDraGoNs2er and The Psychotic One (who is now a dear friend of mine), these two reviewers were so supportive and I'll always be grateful to them for this. Of course, I'm grateful to all who have spared a moment to let me know how they found things. So who knew dinner could turn so grim, read on to find out the fate of Anya and the silver haired men.