Quick Note: I don't usually put up two chapters in a day, but I was so excited for this chapter that I just had to.
edit
i meant to warn you that theres mention of blood and possibly distubing context in the last few paragraphs. if that stuff makes your skin crawl then it would be best for you to skip over it. sorry to make the story turn graphic. i hate blood too but i think that the violence is necessary to convey the tone of the story. thank you for bearing with me.
Chapter Nine
"AAAAAHHHAAAAHHHHHH!"
Mom and dad came racing into my room, seconds after I'd let out the deafening scream. Dad was still in his work-clothes, soon to be heading back out again to attend a meeting with his boss. Mom was armed with a frying pan. She'd left my room only minutes earlier to go down and prepare omelet-rice for dinner, and now she had returned, frightened and confused.
"Winter! What in the sam-hell is happening here?!" Mom shrieked.
"It's Sumire-chan!" I shrieked, pointing at my computer screen. She's coming back to Japan tomorrow!"
Katakura Sumire and I had gone through the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth grade together practically joined at the hip. We were the troublesome kids that gave the kindergarden teachers headaches during our early days, until we'd gradually grown up into the class-president and vice-president material of the school.
By the end of the sixth grade, Sumire's father decided that he would be getting remarried to an Australian woman. She didn't know how to speak the language for the life of her, and Sumire had always wanted to travel, so Sumire's father decided to pack up and head to Australia. Now, in the seventh grade she would be coming back for a week while her father was here on a temporary business venture. She was only going to be in the Shibuya area for tomorrow, and she'd taken the times to send me an e-mail about it, and I just could not contain my excitement.
"Can I go see her tomorrow?!" I begged my parents.
Mom sighed and put her pan down. "You gave me a heart-attack just for that?!"
"Of course you can see her." Dad said. "But I have a meeting tomorrow, so I-"
"I know, I know." I interupted dad. "You can't drive me. I'll ask her to meet me at Noburi Park so I can take the bus, how's that sound?"
"...We'll have to discuss it." Dad said quietly.
XOXO
Mom put up a fight on my behalf to convince my dad that I was old enough to get on a bus on my own. The result? I was sitting on the bus the day day armed with my cell-phone and a "rape whistle", at the request of my father. If anyone suspicious approached me, I would have to blow the whistle and call the police immidiately. I thought the idea was kind of funny, so I didn't protest.
I stepped into Noburi Park at exactly 2:00 that Sunday. It was a frigid September afternoon. I was nestled into a cozy, mid-weight jacket, a skirt with thick, black leggings and comfortable boots, and a scarf. I had stayed up for hours last night tossing clothes around, trying to decide on an outfit. Everything had to be perfect for Sumire.
I walked across the park, passing the older couples and teenagers on my way to the meeting spot. Eventually, after nearly getting lost, I finally found the place. In a remote area of the park where people hardly seemed to come across, on top of a hill, near a huge willow tree. It was the last place we'd been together before she left last year, and it was only fitting that we meet here today.
I finally made it up the hill, breathless. When I got there, Sumire was waiting for me. Her raven baclk hair was longer now, and fell down past her shoulder blades. She was wearing jeans, a light coat, fingerless gloves and converse sneakers, on her face face she wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses. I was almost afraid to approach her for a minute. I was scared that this wasn't the Sumire I knew...that she had somehow changed. But her sweet brown eyes still had that familiar feel in them when she saw me coming and smiled. Before I could even reach the girl, she was running down the hill at breakneck speed-nearly breaking MY neck when she crashed into me with a hug and sent us both rolling down the hill.
XOXO
"So, how's school going for you?" I asked my friend as we sat comfortably underneath the willow tree. Sumire pushed her glasses up onto her nose and tilted her head in thought. "Pretty good. It's different there." She said. "Do you like your school?" I asked.
"Yeah...it's fun. I've made a few friends."
"Oh, that's good." I said happily. Deep down however, I felt a sting of jealousy and sadness.
"How's school going for you?" She asked me afterwards.
"Fine. I'm still the President. We're planning some activities to re-invigorate the school."
"That's great!"
"Yeah...Keiichi still misses you." I added.
"That boy was a clown. And a stalker."
The both of us burst into loud laughter. Here, we could laugh as loud as we wanted without being told that it wasn't proper. That's how it had always felt with Sumire. Even if we were in a library, being with her made me feel free. I didn't even realize how much I'd missed her being with me all the time until this very moment, when we were laughing with nobody else around.
When the laughing died down, Sumire spoke again. "...But to be totally honest, I don't like all of this change." She said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"...Well, Dad's remarried...I moved...I'm going to be 13 soon...everything's just changing so suddenly..."
I meditated on that for a bit, the both of us sitting in silence, acknowleging the truth of her words as we recalled the last few years of our short lives. Things were changing at a truly alarming pace. Even I would be moving to America soon...
"But, that's why I like you, Winter." Sumire finally said, penetrating the silence. "Because you never change."
"...Huh?"
"You've been the same way since I first met you in kindergarden." She smiled. "Still that quiet, careful girl you were..."
"And you're still the loud and blissfully carefree one that gets us into trouble." I grinned.
"Yep!" Sumire agreed. "And I'm not gonna change. I don't ever want to change."
"...I don't want you to change either."
"And I don't want YOU to change. We should just stay this way...so we can be friends no matter what happens."
"I won't change if you won't."
"Well I'm staying just the way I am."
"Good." I smiled. "Then I will too."
A ruby red pair of pumps clip-cloped their way down the metal mesh floors of a narrow hallway. Two armed SOLDIER guards with machine guns followed after these heels, as a puppy followed its master. A sinister smirk spread farther across her lips the closer she got to the door at the corridor's end. She happy today particularly, but then again, who wouldn't be? How many people were lucky enough to get a front seat to the watch the death of their most hated enemies everyday?
Oh, right! She was. And today was just another one of those days.
The soundproof room lie just ahead straight ahead, the room housing Midgar's most wanted. In only a few hours, they would all be a thing of the past. Just before placing her hand on the fingerprint scanner that would open the captive's door, she turned to the two young soldiers behind her with the same plastered smirk.
"Smile boys," She hissed. "Today is a wonderful day. Don't forget to wish our prisoners a pleasant trip to the lifestream."
The boys saluted the woman. "YES, GENERAL SELENIUM SIR!" They shouted.
Satisfied, the woman turned on her heel and put her hand on the DNA scanner. A miniscule light quickly processed her skin data, and within seconds, the door was open. She regally invited herself in, mentally reminding herself to maintain her poise and grace.
When she entered, all the eyes in the room turned towards her. Nobody jumpped, nobody breathed. They all knew why she was there.
A girl nestled in the corner of her cell with melon-colored hair gasped when she entered, and her fear spread across her face. Another girl in the cell across from hers' eyes grew wide. She glared at the woman then, just about ready to growl. The boy in the cell next to hers had on the same begrudged expression, with looks that could kill. Lying in a cage towards the back was a beast with abnormally colored fur. It raised its head when the woman entered, and lowered it back after seeing who it was, abhorred with the sight. A burly, dark-skinned man in the cell across from the beast glared at her as well, ready to spit out every foul word he could think of.
"Well, well, well." Selenium said as she strolled down the isle, the prisoners watching her every move, save for the beast who could not stand the sight of her. "Good afternoon my little misfits...my societal garbage...my...dead men walking..."She caught the eye of the melon haired girl and tilted her head with false remorse. "And women, excuse me." She corrected herself.
"GO AWAY!" The girl in the cell across from the pink-haired girl shouted out. "I HATE YOU!"
Selenium let out a genuine, hearty laugh at the blond girl's outburst. "My, How rude!" She exclaimed once her laughter had settled down. "I only came to wish my favorite prisoners and amiable farewell!" She wiped a tear from her eye and flicked the moisture onto the ground. "From me and all the staff at Shinra," Her eyes fell on the two captives in the back. "As well as the Sanctum." She said, turning to the melon-haired girl. She stared back at her with an undecipherable expression.
"They're coming." She said to Selenium. "You'll see."
"YEAH!" The blond girl chimed in. "Any minute now, Yunnie and Kimahri will BUST through this door and we're all gonna GET YOU!"
"And if they don't," The sandy-haired boy next to her added. "Then we'll bust outta here ourselves for sure!"
Selenium grinned and shook her head with amused disbelief.
"We know." She said. "And we'll be waiting, ready for them to come at any time-"
Suddenly, an ear-shattering alarm began blaring within the special holding cells and out in the hallway. An urgent-sounding voice blared from the intercom then, saying:
"RED ALERT! RED ALERT! THERE'S BEEN A PRISON BREACH. THIS IS NOT A DRILL, I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!"
The SOLDIER guards who were with Selenium looked around wildly, their guns ready. A look of anticipation spread across her face as she spun around and walked silently out of the room.
"Here to play, are they? And so soon too." She lashed out her assault weapon of choice: A long, General's baton, and tapped it lightly against her palm as she walked calmly down the now blaring red corridor.
"I can't wait to see you again, Lightning." She smirked.
Tap tap tap...
"Pssst. Winter. We're here."
My eyes opened against my will very slowly and I took in the ceiling lights from the train. When I came-to a couple seconds later, the first thing I noticed was that we weren't moving. Lightning as well as everyone else in the train was standing up now. The second thing I noticed was that I'd been sleeping the whole time...on Snow's arm!
I jumpped, totally embarassed.
"Sorry." I said shamefully, adding a bow.
"Nah, don't worry about it." He grinned.
I mentally kicked myself for not getting enough sleep the night before, and slid out of the booth.
The new train deck was much darker and less opulent than the one at New Midgar. In fact, in the corners and on the benches of this deck, homeless people slept, gambled, and stared at the passengers as they got off the train. The place smelled like feet and vomit, there was garbage everywhere, and somewhere further down the terminal I heard the sound of several men exploding into an argument.
That beautiful city I'd just seen a minute ago...were we still there?
The others followed the crowd out of the terminal and I quickly scurried out along with them.
When we emerged, from the trash dump of a station, the sight we saw before us was not beautiful in any sense of the word. In short, it looked like we had just entered an inner-city slum in the heart of the poorest third-world country.
"Where...are we...?" I asked nobody in particular, taking in as much of the disheveled city as my eyes would allow.
"Juno-Sankrea." Snow answered.
"Sector Zero is half prison, half residency." Lightning said. "It's not a pretty place. Has the highest number of domestic crime rates in the world."
"It's like the criminals live here themselves." I murmured.
"Because they do." Lightning said plainly. "Sector Zero Prison is full to bursting with society's garbage. So sometimes the people who aren't on death-row or are sentenced to 30 years jail-time or less get thrown out here. Keep your weapons close, don't let your money show, and don't look anyone in the eyes. The people here hate tourists especially because in the end, they get to leave this place. They don't."
Our group began walking away from the train station. I stayed extra close to Snow, however I couldn't help but glance occasionally at the tortured souls who were staring back at us. I patted my gun holster every now and then to make sure I had my pistol with me. Not that I knew how to use it.
"Vincent, what time is it?" Cloud asked Vincent.
Vincent took out a cell phone to my surprise and flipped it open. "3:30." He said.
"Oh my!" Yuna exclaimed.
"We're running out of time." Lightning said as she shoved past an angry looking, bedraggled man. "Where are your friends?"
"This way," Tifa beckoned, ducking into an alleyway.
After what seemed like hours of twists and turns through alleyways that all looked the same, scouring over piles of garbage, and a trip through several deserted buildings, Tifa and Cloud finally led us through a secret tunnel disguised as a manhole where we emerged in an unsightly landfill at the end. The group was led further into the pile of garbage and junk, until Tifa and Cloud stopped in the middle of a clearing. Cloud took Vincent's cell-phone, glared at the time, and began dialing a number.
"Yeah?!" A not-to-pleasant-sounding husky voice blared from the other end of the line.
"We're here." Cloud said.
"Well it took ya'll long enough!"
There was a beep on the other end, followed by a moment of awkward silence. Then, the ground began shaking. Lightning, Snow, Yuna, Kimahri and I panicked and stumbled forward in an attempt to maintain balance. While the other three were more collected about this, I was freaking out.
"What's happening?!" Yuna asked, alarm in her voice.
"EARTHQUAKE!" I screamed. "QUICK! DUCK IN COVER!"
"Don't worry!" Tifa laughed, placing an assuring hand on my arm. "It's just Cid!"
The enormous mountain of junk began to topple over from the top down. Two propellers spinning at max speed revealed themselves at the top, followed by the enormous, rising mass of black metal and steel. Lightning, Snow, Yuna, Kimahri and I stopped staggering, and now stood with our feet planted firmly on the ground. We gazed upon the mighty aircraft with awe as it made its slow and graceful ascension. Soon, hovering a few-hundred feet above our heads was an aircraft-miniscule in size comparison to the one I'd seen Arsenic in, and much more plain. Yet, it was still the most amazing compilation of nuts and bolts I'd ever seen.
"Well if it ain't Cloud!" The voice from the phone shouted out to us over the sound of the rotors. "Ya'll gonna get on up her' er what?!"
We climbed up into the air vehicle via rope ladder, which horrified me to an all new extent. Despite Snow's encouraging words, on the way up I'd been so terrified that I'd started crying. The ship was hovering at least 12 stories off of the ground, and on the way up I kept entertaining the thought that the rope would suddenly snap and I'd fall to my death. Cloud was the first in the aircraft, and he helped me onboard. When he saw my tear-stained cheeks he looked surprised and confused, but didn't say anything about them.
"Heights..." I mumbled stupidly.
"I see." Cloud said.
"Please don't tell Lightning. Or Snow. Or anyone." I begged.
The blond ex-SOLDIER grinned. "I won't."
Once everyone had safely gotten on board (it had been a struggle especially for Yuna because of her skirt), the man with the accent introduced himself as Cid Highwind, whilst leading us to the cockpit of the aircraft, and blabbing about how proud he was of the Shera all the way there.
"She's a real beauty ain't she?!" He said to Snow, who was admiring the airship's interior.
"She looks great!" Snow nodded.
"Damn right she does!" The man agreed.
"What's this thing called?" I asked.
Vincent, Cloud, Tifa and Cid gave me questioning looks.
"The hell you mean what's it called?!" Cid asked. "Shera's just a reg'lar airship!"
"Airship..." I repeated.
"She's not from around here." Snow said.
I mentally facepalmed after he said that, realizing how suspect I'd just made myself sound.
"Just about evry'where's got an airship! Yer tellin' me that you don't know what a gatdamn airship is? Did you hit yer head 'er somethin?!"
I wasn't entirely sure, but I think I'd offended Cid in some way.
"As a matter of fact, she did." Lightning said. "Kid doesn't remember anything except her name."
"That's a damn shame. A gatdamn shame." Cid said. "You seem like a good bunch so I'll let you off this time. But don't you ask me no more dumb questions."
"Like what?" I asked.
"Like THAT!" Cid shot back.
I raised and eyebrow at him and pouted. I didn't like this "Cid" person.
"Are these here good folks friends of yers Cloud?" He asked Cloud.
"You could say that." Cloud replied.
Our group entered into the cockpit of the airship finally. It looked a little bit like the inside of a flight simulator game I'd played at "Chuck E' Cheese." The control panel wrapped around the circumference of the cockpit. There was a chair in front of the division of the control panel where the navigation gears were. In the center of the area was what looked like a domed round table. When I peaked inside, there was a map of what I assumed to be The World.
Cid sat in the pilots seat and pushed a lever, making the airship shoot forwards with a supersonic BOOM! When it was safe to walk around again, Cloud led us over to the round table and pulled up a holographic map of the world. He pressed a few buttons until there was an image of a scary looking building that looked like a cross between a prison and a castle with a moat and storm clouds overhead. I admired the holograph with childish curiosity, tilting my head in wonder at the realistic-looking clouds and simulated lightning.
"Here's a map of Sector Zero exterior." Cloud began. There's barbed wire and electric fences all around the ground area, and the only other way in is by a military submarine through an underwater tunnel. There are guards stationed 24/7 around the vicinity at all times."
"The prison's broken up into three sections." Tifa continued. Sections one and two are for law criminals. Section one's prisoners are all serving life-sentences or are on death-row. This building in the middle here is the "Special Victims Unit", made specifically for rebels. The normal prisons are here on the first, and second floors. The "Most Wanted" rebels are up here on the third floor. Shrina's head of domestic and foreign police are up here on the top floor, and the one for the Sanctum is directly under it."
"So Vanille and the others are on the third floor." Snow stated more than asked.
"Correct." Tifa said.
"But we'll be under too much detection if we try to go in from any way other than through the top floor." Lightning said.
"Right, so we were thinking that we should freefall onto the roof." Cloud said.
My ears perked up then, and not in the good way. He couldn't possibly have meant freefall. Like...without a parachute?
"The storm clouds are a perfect cover for Shera, so we were thinking that when the ship passes over this point," Cloud pointed to an area that looked like a balcony. "We should jump then. We'll land here, and break through the window. It should be directly connected to a hallway that leads to an elevator."
"And I know the way to the Special Victim's Prison." Lightning said. "So I'll take it from there."
"Sounds like a plan." Snow agreed.
Yuna nodded.
"Our timing needs to be perfect though." Tifa added. "If we jump too early we'll miss our target and end up in the water. If we jump too late, we might have to turn around and fly back to try and land it again, but by then it'll be too late."
"So when we get there, just go for it." Snow said.
"That's right!" Tifa agreed.
"Um," I interupted bashfully. "...How far will the distance be from the ship to the ground?"
"Let's see...It should be about 150 to 200 meters*."
I couldn't see it, but judging by everyone else's amused expressions, I knew my own had to be priceless.
"Is there a problem?" Lightning asked, knowing darn well what the problem was.
"You're out of your damn mind if you think MY ass is gonna FREEFALL 200 meters to my death!" I wanted to scream.
Instead I said nervously: "That's a...long ways to freefall...!"
"No worries kiddo!" Snow chimed. "It'll be a piece a' cake!"
"So says the one with the transformer living in his arm." I mumbled.
"Hope ya'll 're ready!" Cid yelled. "Cuz we're going in!"
Cid jerked the lever backwards, causing the ship to dip slightly and quickly straighten back up.
"Come on!" Lightning ordered, racing out of the room and back towards the way we'd come.
I lagged behind like a condemned man on his way to the guillotine. I caught up with the group just as Lightning had slid open the door, revealing the clouds beneath our feet. Traces of pointed roofs peaked out of the clouds and loomed overhead. I braved myself to stand as close as I could to the door without getting too close to its edge. It was completely gray and the clouds were so thick that we couldn't see our landing point. My heart beat was beating so fast that I just knew the others could hear it. I stared in paralyzing fear at the open door, my body completely refusing to jump.
"NO!" My conscience screamed. "I WON'T DO IT! I WON'T!"
"When we jump, you'd better not scream." Lightning warned, turning towards me. I opened my mouth to object, but she quickly cut me off.
"No you can't stay on the ship." She said.
I opened my mouth again.
"You're jumpping and that's final."
"GET READY!" Cid's voice boomed from over an intercom. "YOU HIT THE TARGET IN FIVE..."
Lightning, Cloud, Tifa, Snow, Vincent, Kimahri, and Yuna tensed up and prepared to leap.
"FOUR..."
I took a step back from the door very quietly, my legs wobbling uncontrolably. So much, that I made a dipping motion towards the ground before collecting my balance.
"THREE..."
Lightning put her hand on her blade.
"TWO..."
I started to whimper and felt water involuntarily start to fill my tear ducts.
"JUMP!"
Lightning and Cloud jumpped directly on cue, followed by Tifa and Snow. Yuna and Kimahri went next. My legs wouldn't move. I just couldn't bring myself to join them as I watched everyone else leave the ship and meteor towards the ground. "I'll just wait here!" I thought to myself, taking a shy step away from the edge. "No problems! They're better off without me ya know?! I'll just be a burden to them anyway!"
Suddenly, I too was hurtling towards the Earth.
I had been pushed out of the plane without any warning. When I realized what was going on, I felt such a sudden rush of fear that the impulse to scream came quickly and involuntarily.
"aaaaAAAAHHH-"
My mouth was covered by a single, gloved hand, and through my peripheral vision I saw the graceful flutter of red fabric. The vampire had kicked me out of the airship! Literally!
We tore through the clouds, increasing in velocity the farther we fell. In the distance somewhere, thunder broke, followed by several streaks of lightning. The wind pressing against my chest made it hard for me to breath. For some reason, I kept my eyes open the entire time, although it was hard to see. Once we'd safely passed through the cloud barrier, the Sector Zero prison came into full view as well as our landing point.
Lightning reached out her hand and snapped her fingers. On the balcony, a forcefeild of gravity appeared. She and the others turned their bodies vertically then, preparing to land on their feet. All 8 of us landed in one of the forcefeilds, and came to a screeching halt-completely unharmed. Cloud hit the ground running, followed by the rest of us, me trailing behind because I was so traumatized, and with his giant sword he smashed through the two gothic-style stained glass windows overlooking the balcony. We leaped over the shattered glass and into a hallway, just as Cloud had predicted.
Several armed PSICOM guards were patrolling the area we'd crashed through and were shocked to see us enter in.
Tifa saw them up ahead and charged for them at full speed. When they started to shoot at her, she leaped into the air, and came down on one of the guards, punching him square in the face. It broke his visor and connected with his nose, causing him to fall back and writhe in pain. Lightning took this window of opportunity to shoot back at the guards with her gun-sword, joined by Vincent who began to spray them with revolver bullets. Snow ducked beneath the fire and charged towards the guards, ramming several of them against the wall, and making them drop their firearms. I watched the scene go on, unsure of what to do.
Guards from around the corner heard the commotion and came running over, opening fire as soon as they saw us.
"REFLECT!" Yuna yelled, putting her mage's staff forward. A honey-combed style sheild appeared in a burst of light, and all of the guards bullets ricocheted off of the sheild and went flying straight back towards them full force. Cloud and Kimarhi ducked around the sheild, and ran towards the remaining soldiers with their sword and lance.
The mini-battle was over in minutes, with several PSICOM and Blue-Clothed SOLDIER guards lying either dead, injured, or unconscious on the ground. I looked around, confused at how quickly it'd all ended, and guilty for not pitching in at all. The minute the heroes sheathed their weapons, an alarm broke our eardrums and blared loudly throughout the entire vicinity. I was terrified and confused, darting my head up and down the now blinking red hallway.
"RED ALERT! RED ALERT! THERE'S BEEN A PRISON BREACH. THIS IS NOT A DRILL, I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL!"
"We're screwed!" I yelled.
"Come on!" Lightning ordered, sprinting around the corner the latter PSICOM soldier group had appeared from. Everyone quickly ran after her, wasting no time, including me.
"I thought you said that balcony would be the place with the least detection!" Lightning yelled to Cloud over the noise.
"It is." Cloud replied. "They couldn't have spotted us so quickly. Someone beat us to it."
Lightning looked beyond confused.
"So what does that mean?!" Yuna asked.
"Our job just got a hell of a lot harder." The spikey-haired soldier said.
"ALL MILITARY PERSONNEL, THIS IS NOT A DRILL, I REPEAT: THIS IS NOT A DRILL."
We darted around a corner and came face to face with an entire blockade of armed guards. We saw them first, and stopped in our tracks.
"Shit!" Tifa cursed.
"We don't have time for this!" Lightning grunted impatiently, taking out her sword once more and sprinting ahead. She was joined by Cloud and Kimahri, who began taking out soldiers one by one, dodging bullets as they went. Vincent started shooting at them again, Tifa threw her herculean strength at them, Snow covered Yuna with a spell named "Steelguard" from stray bullets, and once again, I sat back confused, cowering behind Yuna unsure of what to do.
As soon as that group of guards had been disposed of, they were followed by another quickly approaching set of them.
Lightning sucked her teeth and sheathed her sword.
"We need to split up." She said.
"Right!" Snow agreed. "I'll hold the fort here and keep em busy."
"I'll stay with you!" Tifa offered.
"So will I!" said Yuna. So that automatically meant Kimahri was staying too.
Lightning nodded at Vincent and Cloud. "We'll all meet at the top floor." She said before the three of them turned and ran down another corridor. I instinctively dashed after them.
The four of us ran through a few more corridors and empty prison cells, and had run ins and many more fights with guards in which I remained useless, before we finally reached a freight elevator. Cloud wasted no time smashing the button and getting inside followed by Lightning, Vincent and I. The elevator went down two floors, and "dinged" on the third. The second the elevator door opened, we were met with a volley of bullets. I jerked backwards and flattened myself against the wall, terrified as I watched the wave of bullets just barely miss my face by mere inches.
Lightning and Vincent ducked, and began to shoot back. Cloud took the chance and dived out of the elevator, coming down on one of the closer soldiers with his sword, and ducking underneath another series of gunfire. He took out several more, slowing the bullets down so that Lightning and Vincent could run out of the elevator. They did, and I followed them.
Vincent sprayed bullets as we ducked through the soldiers until the gunfire ceased. We continued to run then, down another hallway and though a series of doors.
"Where's the prison they're keeping them in?!" Cloud yelled to Lightning.
"Just up ahead! We just go through that door-"
BOOOOOM!
The four of us closed our ears and shielded our eyes as a ton of debris from the floor above collapsed directly in front of us. It completely impeded the way to the prison. We were lucky however, that we had been as far away as we were because the steel mesh and jagged cement would have killed us all.
"What the hell is happening here?!" I shrieked, my voice shrill as if I was losing my mind.
"Those idiots!" Lightning yelled. "They're gonna blow the whole damn place to bits!"
"Forget that! The path's blocked!" Cloud yelled.
"There has to be some other way..." Vincent murmured.
"The only way I can think of is to go up a floor and try to get in through the ceiling." Lightning said.
"Then that's what we'll do. Let's go!" Cloud turned around immediately and ran back towards the elevator, only to be stopped abruptly by a mechanical, rather large and not-too-friendly-looking monster blocking the path. It had jets attached to all four of its feet and flared set of blades stringing down one of its arms. The other one was made to look like a shield.
"Orion!" Lightning blurted out.
The monster lunged at us with its sword arm and began to swing, and we instinctively dived out of its way. I moreso tripped out of the way however because my legs would not cooperate.
Cloud, Vincent and Lightning started to attack its armed exterior. Cloud brought his buster sword down on the machine's head, but it didn't seem to affect it. Vincent shot at it, but the Orion simply absorbed all of the shots with its sheild. Lightning scratched it's paint with her sword, but that didn't help much. I remained on the ground, trying to stand up, but my legs were so wobbly! I was so nervous, so scared, so confused and so unprepared for the pure chaos that this mission had proposed. I was armed with a sword that I didn't know how to effectively swing, and a pistol that I didn't even know how to hold the right way. What had Lightning and Snow been thinking?!
I used the wall as a support and tried to stand myself up.
"WINTER!" Lightning shouted at me. "DON'T JUST SIT THERE!"
I glared, silently cursing her name in my head for dragging me into this. My hand reached shakily for the pistol, and I tried to force it out of the holster, too panicked and distracted to concentrate.
Winter's shouting had triggered something in the Orion's data circuts, and it then turned it attention towards me. Without warning, it dashed at light speed away from its three attackers, headed towards me with its sword arm raised.
I had just gotten my gun out of the holster when I looked up and saw the Shadow of the Orion over my head. It raised its sword to strike, and in my discomposure, I dropped the pistol and covered my head.
Cloud sprang into action, dashing towards the Orion and shielding me from the impact just as it was bringing its sword down. It sliced Cloud's arm, and he recoiled from the pain, grabbing the afflicted area with his free hand.
"Ah!" My eyes shrank as I looked at Cloud's wound. I brought my hands up to my head slowly, unsure of what to say or do.
Cloud shook it off, grabbed his sword, and drove it through the center of the mechanical menace like a boss. He stood up and kicked the machine off of his sword with such force that it slammed into the nearby wall and dented it. To everyone's disappointment however, it got back up. Weaker now, but still not down for the count.
"You guys need to go find the others." Cloud said, referring to their imprisoned comrades.
"Right." Lightning nodded at him and took off running. I followed her, snatching up my pistol and taking one last look back at Cloud before I turned the corner and ran off. I would owe him for the rest of my life...
...Which I was worrying was going to be cut tragically short based on today's events.
"You IDIOT!" Lightning yelled at me once I'd caught up to her. We headed back to the elevator, and when we were in there she hauled up and slapped me.
Out of all the shocking things that had happened today, this one really took the cake for some reason.
I reached up and held my stinging cheeks, my eyes feeling as if they would overflow with tears at any moment.
"How many time are you going to screw things up for us! That guy got hurt because he had to cover for you!" She shouted at me.
I blinked at her, speechless, and very, very lost.
She shook her head in disbelief, and the elevator door opened up. She ran past me and down the narrow hallway at a faster pace than I could keep up with. She quickly pulled away from me, and I knew she was doing it on purpose. I didn't care at that point however, because in that moment I'd made up my mind that I hated this woman.
There were two ceiling to floor double doors up ahead. It looked as if they led to an important room. Lightning ran up to it and forced it open, and I ran into the room behind her.
The room was enormous and grand, almost like a ballroom. There were pillars holding the ceiling up, and gothic ceiling-to-floor windows arranged symmetrically along the sides of the wall. The light wasn't on, and the room was lit only by the outside, making the room gray and unpleasant. It was completely empty.
"Dammit!" Lightning growled. "Wrong hallway!"
She quickly turned the other way, just as another explosion went off somewhere in the building. When we both turned around however, there was someone standing in the doorway.
The woman was tall and fair, wearing high heels on her feet as well as a brown and white dress that looked like something someone in a well-respected position would wear. Her blond hair was long, extending all the way to her lower back in graceful, light waves. She wore glasses, and in her hands she was holding some kind of baton. She had on a deceptive smile, and her eyes were narrowed at the pink-haired soldier.
Lightning froze when she saw her, her eyes expanding.
"Well if it isn't our beloved first-class traitor." The woman said coldly.
"Nabaat..." Lightning whispered.
"It's Selenium to you now." The woman snapped. "General Selenium."
"Was she related to Arsenic in some way?!" I wondered as I watched the two women glare at each other with hateful eyes.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Lightning demanded, her tone grave.
"I could very well ask you the same thing, but I think we both know the answer to that." General Selenium began to walk towards us slowly, smacking the baton in her palm as she did so. She had on the same confident and aloof look that Lightning did, and that's how I knew automatically, aside from their earlier dialouge, that they had been close.
"However, there's no point. Today is the day they are to die, and I've been looking forward to it for quite a while now." She grinned maniacally "Unfortunately, thanks to your unwelcomed appearance, we've had to carry out the execution in a different manner."
Lightning's eyes flashed.
"...Carbon monoxide poisioning of course." She said, astified with the look on Lightning's face. The smug grimace Selenium had on quickly morphed into a straight, serious one.
"They're dead." She said. "You're too late."
"THAT'S BULLSHIT!" Lighting screamed, lunging at the woman with uncontrollable fury. I was shocked to see her so angry!
The two women engaged in a head to head battle, with Lightning fighting the woman off with her sword, and Nabaat fighting back with her baton.
"Winter!" Lightning yelled to me as the two struggled for power dominance. "Get to the prison NOW! Get them out of there and don't be slow!" She ordered.
As much as I wanted to ignore her, I knew that if those people were by some chance clinging to the threads between life and death at this very moment, then my bitchiness was irrelevant. Before she'd even finished her sentence, I was sprinting past Nabaat and headed towards the door.
The woman kicked Lightning onto the ground and then sprinted towards me.
"Oh NO YOU DON'T!" She yelled angrily, grabbing hold of my arm.
"AH!" I screamed and tried to pull myself free from her deathgrip.
Lightning quickly jumped onto her feet and started to shoot at the half-sane general. Nabaat let go of me to sheild herself, and I took the window to haul ass out of the room and sprint down the hallway, putting my legs to good use. The General realized her error and made a movement towards me, but Lightning lunged at her and tackled her, pinning the woman to the ground with her sword.
"JUST KEEP RUNNING!" Lightning yelled after me. I did as she said, and kept running straight down the hallway. There were still a couple of guards in the area, and when they saw me they started to shoot at me. I just kept running. Some of the guards even tried to follow me, but I didn't look back. I kept running with my head ducked down until I reached the point where the floor had collapsed. I took a quick peak down inside it, and recognized the area where the Orion had attacked us. Cloud and Vincent were nowhere to be found, although I saw the Orion lying in a junk heap on the floor.
The hole had to be at least six-feet wide. On the way here, I'd lost some guards somewhere along the path, but I heard them further down the hallway now, gaining on me.
I said a quick prayer and hoped to God that he show me a miracle. Stepping back a few feet, I sprinted towards the hole with a running start and leaped, summoning as much power in my legs as I could too carry me there.
I missed landing on the edge by a few inches, but I was able to grab it and save myself from being punctured by the bomb debris below me, however. Thinking fast, I took Lightning's sword out of my sheath and drove it into the wall. Since there was no traction on the walls, I used the sword as a foot-hold and managed to climb the rest of the way up. Then, I leaned over the edge and stretched my arms to their fullest length in order retrieve my sword and force it out of the wall. When the task was over, nothing had changed. My legs were still wobbling, I still wanted to cry, I was still shocked at the sudden warlike explosion of chaos, but after having to improvise to save myself, I felt like a boss while I ran down the hallway.
There was a vent in the floor that exposed the area underneath it. I peaked in and saw a single barred cell, with some kind of red-looking dog trapped in one of the cages. It was asleep on the floor of the cell from what it looked like. I was now standing directly over the room that the blocked door was supposed to lead to. So, I assumed that this was the holding cell that they were talking about. It took strength, but I was able to lift the vent out of its hole and throw it behind me. Without thinking, I jumped down below into the floor.
There were several people in the room, and when I dropped in, they all looked directly at me.
"It's another PSICOM soldier!" A blond girl in one cell said.
I blinked at her.
"What the hell do YOU want?!" A rather obnoxious sounding boy asked from the cell furthest away from where I was standing.
"Stop breathing!" I yelled, pulling out my gun.
The people stared at me with horror.
"It's over!" A girl in a cell at the end with an accent covered her eyes. "I can't watch!"
Starting with the cell closest to me, I shot the first lock off of the cell. The bullet's impact scared me, and I nearly misfired! The person in the cell was a huge, dark-skinned man with cornrows and a snazzy-looking outfit on.(1.) I couldn't help notice that he only had one hand, and half of his other arm was mechanical with what looked like a rotating machine gun barrel. He was glaring at me, but when I shot the lock open his look eased up.
"I don't know how to use this!" I cried to him.
"I know!" The man shouted, his voice deep. "You done nearly shot me!"
I bowed quickly and pointed the pistol at the next cage, holding the red dog. This time I really did misfire, and I mistakenly opened the cage of the prisoner next to him, which was the blond girl. She was wearing her hair in an eccentric ponytail style on her head, and when her door swung open she jumped for joy and gave me a hug.
"Thank you SOOOO much!" She squeaked.
"Stop breathing!" I shrieked. "The crazy lady put Carbon Monoxide gas in here!"
I continued to shoot the locks off, which ended up taking about 5 minutes of our time. The remaining prisoners were the red feline creature, the obnoxious blond guy wearing a ridiculous outfit, and a melon-headed girl with two pigtails.
"We're OUTTA HERE!" The dark-skinned man bellowed, charging for the door. "NO!" I yelled. "The door's blocked! That's why I came in through the ceiling!"
"Then we'll just have to unblock it!" He roared, kicking the door straight off its hinges with strength fueled by pure adrenaline. The rest of the captives in the room including myself followed him out. They had no weapons, but they stood battle ready as they flooded into the 3-way corridor.
Another bomb exploded somewhere in the distance, and our way forward was blocked.
"Where do we go now?!" The accented girl squeaked, looking both ways. "When in doubt go left!" The eccentric blond yelled, trucking it down the hallway. "Nice knowing ya!"
"Hey!" The obnoxious blond boy yelled, running after her. "Rikku! Don't just run off without me!"
"Wait for me!" The melon-haired girl yelled after them and took off running. The brown-skinned man exchanged glances with the dog, after which they both simultaneously ran after them. "W-wait!" I yelled to the runaway crowd. "Lightning and the others are looking for you!"
The melon haired girl stopped running and turned to face me.
"Did you say Lightning?!" She asked incredulously.
Suddenly, two Orions crashed through the ceiling of the holding room behind us, making me freeze. Without waiting for what would happen next, I shot down the corridor heading away from the group, running as fast as my legs would carry me.
The Orion was gaining speed at an inhuman pace, and any second now it would catch up. I struggled to loose its trail, changing directions and running through more mazes each time a new one popped up. Each time I thought I'd lost it however, it ended up getting closer to me. I finally found some saving grace in a room up ahead, that had one of its two double doors already open. I charged into the room without caring what lie ahead, turned around, and slammed it shut with adrenaline strength that I never knew I could summon.
On the other side of the door, I heard the sound of the Orion smashing into it and exploding on impact, which both relieved me and scared the daylights out of me with the noise. I fell back onto my rear end, and crawled away from the door until my arm hit something.
I screamed and whirled around, staring down at my obstacle. I screamed even louder when I looked down and saw the corpse of a PSICOM soldier, an open gash in his side that was leaking blood.
I jumpped to my feet and scurried away away from it, nearly tripping over another body as I did so.
Up until this point I had been handling this hell-hole well enough. But now, a single tear fell from my eyes and dropped onto the floor finally, as I officially could not take it anymore.
The room was similar to the one Lightning had been fighting Nabaat in, only this one had strange, colossal experiment tanks inside of it that spanned the length of the floor to the ceiling. In front of each of these tanks was a control panel. The sunlight took the shape of the windows in the room, creating an eerie feel as they lie undisturbed across the floor. I noticed that the entire room had dead PSICOM and SOLDIER guards scattered about the floor like some kind of macabre halloween decoration. Each one of them lie in a pool of their own blood with either a slash or stab wound somewhere on my body. My eyes shrank as I took it all in. So far this prison was nothing more than a house of horrors. Just to make sure I stayed within my right mind, I pretended that the corpses were just actors pretending to be dead for the shooting of a movie. That's when I saw it.
On his back there was but a single, black wing. The feathers of which were strewn about the floor. He was standing in the midst of the corpses, with the longest katana I had ever seen held firmly in his hand. When this person turned his head slowly towards me, his face was pristine and perfect, as if he had the face of an angel.
...A one-winged angel.
"...Why is an angel standing in the midst of the dead?..."
What happens now?
Find out in the next chapter of "White Snow Dimensia!"
Chapter Notes:
**(1.) Barret is wearing his outfit from Advent Children.
**(2.) 150 - 200 meters is about 492 - 659 feet.
From the Author:
**This is the longest chapter yet! Sorry for the people who don't like long chapters, and you're welcome for those that do! haha!
**Hooray for the one winged Angel! =D
**I personally feel as though Vanille's hair is more of a pink/melon to - light orange shade. It doesn't seem red to me. Anyone else agree?
**How's the story so far? R&R please. C=
-Kamikimmy13