Kairi laughed so hard she almost fell out of her saddle. Sora, on the other hand, did fall out of his saddle. But he sure wasn't laughing.
"This isn't funny, Kairi," Sora grumbled, pulling himself to his feet. Kairi giggled again.
"Yes it is," she said, putting a hand over her mouth to hide her smile. She looked at the scene around her, and couldn't help but to laugh again. "I didn't think anyone could be so bad at riding horses!"
They were hopeless. The captains of the army had said that they needed to learn to ride a horse, if they were going to fight they were going to need to learn how. They had the advantage if they were on a mount. But the group still had a long way to go. Even Leon and Cloud were struggling.
Cloud sat on his horse, staring down at it with a dark scowl on his face. The steed had already thrown him off twice and swore at him once, causing Cloud to fall off again at the shock of a horse talking. Leon was now able to ride the horse without toppling off when it was charging, but it had taken a while. Everyone else had caught on fast, although Sora would have the occasional fall.
"I don't see why we have to use horses," Sora complained. "I'm better on foot."
"Didn't you need Pegasus to defeat the Hydra?"
"Yeah, but…. That was different," Sora grumbled, his bottom lip sticking out slightly in a pout.
Just then Cloud fell again, causing more laughter from the others.
"Forget this," Cloud muttered through gritted teeth, spitting dirt out of his mouth as he pushed himself upright. "Where's my sword?"
"Settle down, Cloud," Leon said as Cloud's horse reared up in alarm to his threat, running off. "We just need to stay on these until the battle starts. Then we'll ditch the horses and fight on our own."
"Excuse me?" Leon's horse raised an eyebrow, looking back at him. "Ditch us? You act as if we're nothing but pack horses."
"Sorry, Chestnut," Leon said, patting the horse on the head. Chestnut snorted, dropping the conversation. Yuffie laughed, fingered jabbed at Leon.
"You're apologizing to a horse!" she said between laughter. "And you called it Chestnut! I never thought I'd see that!" Her laughter stopped abruptly as she hit the ground, her own horse knocking her off in annoyance. Leon raised an eyebrow.
"I still don't see why we can't just leave," Cloud muttered, ignoring Yuffie completely, brushing dirt off of his clothes. "They're army is big enough. Why do we all have to play hero?"
"Because their army is not big enough," Sora replied. "Have you seen the White Witch's army?"
"No, have you?" Cloud asked, shooting him a glance. Sora pressed his lips together in annoyance.
"No," he said grudgingly. "I didn't mean it literately, I just meant that these people need all the help they can get."
"Besides," Aerith cut in, riding up beside Cloud. "I know you want to help, just like you wanted to help Midgar. The old Cloud is in there somewhere."
Before things got too sappy, Kairi cut in. "Guys, it looks like they're getting armor and weapons. We should probably grab something before it's all gone."
"Oh yeah, you don't have a weapon, do you?" Sora said, dropping clumsily off of the saddle. "C'mon, we'll get you a bow or something."
Kairi nodded, landing softly on the ground and following him. Butterflies were racing in her chest. Her first fight, and it was a battle from the books she used to read. Magic, monsters…. Was she ready for this?
Yuri sat at the edge of the cliff, staring down at the clear water below him. The waterfall raged beside him, mist spraying in his face. He squeezed his eyes shut in annoyance and ran his fingers through his silvery-blonde hair, brushing it down. It was getting wet from all the water in the air.
Cloud had let him come, but told him he should leave before they headed for the crater. They couldn't guarantee his safety once they were there. Yuri stared at the water in thought. Should he go? He didn't want to throw his life away, but…. They were all trying to protect their planet. He couldn't just sit back and watch, even if he wasn't from here. He had to do something to help.
Besides…. His gaze turned up towards the horizon. What was he living for? To protect himself. Watch out for himself, and himself only. Compared to protecting an entire planet, he couldn't help but to feel a pang of guilt. He couldn't just walk off now, knowing he'd left them to fight Sephiroth alone.
Vincent had left for the cave behind him hours ago, and they hadn't heard anything of him since. What was he doing in there? Cloud said something about him behind here before, something about a "Lucrecia". Who was that? His wife or something? Maybe girlfriend. Even if he acted like it, he didn't look that old. And what was she doing in a cave like that?
Yuri sighed, laying on his back and staring up at the sky, his hands behind his head like a pillow. Riku still hadn't woken up. They had left him back at the port with Red XII, Tifa and the others. Only Vincent, Cloud, Yuffie and he had come to the cave, and Yuri had only come because he was bored. But it was even more boring here. He sighed, closing his eyes. The sun beat down on his bare chest while cold mist sprinkled and pricked at his skin. He sighed, finally drifting into sleep.
"Hey, Yuri!"
Yuri jerked awake with a yell, almost slipping and falling down the cliff. He looked up with a start, right into the bright, energetic eyes of Yuffie.
"C'mon, we're leaving!" she said. "Cloud said he saw Vincent coming out!"
Yuri sighed, pushing himself to his feet. He straightened his white jacket, brushing off as much dirt as he could. He looked down at it with distaste. There were countless enemies here. It seemed that every step you took lead you right into another battle. And, due to the endless beasts and battles, his jacket was looking more brown than white. He would have to clean it soon, or it'd drive him nuts.
Vincent stepped from the shadows of the cave, breathing heavily. He staggered slightly, clutching his arm. Cloud blinked, stepping forwards to help him, but Vincent shrugged him off. Yuri frowned, wondering what had happened in there. His cloak hid all of his body, and his hair fell in front of his face to shield his eyes. But as he walked forwards and his cape billowed in the wind, he caught a glimpse of the arm Vincent was favoring.
Clawed. Radiating with darkness. Evil.
Yuri started, taking a step back. Vincent had always seemed strange, but…. Was he not human?
"Come on, we have to get to the submarine," Cloud said, leading them down towards the water. "Now that we're all ready, we can finally make it to the crater."
Yuffie groaned, but the others ignored her and her complaints of going back into the submarine.
They all clambered inside, Vincent and Cloud taking the controls. They sank below the surface, steering through the narrow caves and caverns that got them to the hidden waterfall.
They had just reached the main ocean when Yuffie saw something on the radar.
"Guys? What's that?" she said, pointing to the screen. Then she instantly fell back, clutching her stomach with a groan as Vincent took a sharp turn.
"Something we should avoid," Vincent said, steering them far away from the shape. But Cloud shook his head.
"Vincent, it's a WEAPON. What else could be that big?"
Vincent glanced at the screen again.
"We have to take it out. Who knows what damage it could cause before we find it again?"
Vincent was silent, staring at the screen and the shape swimming in circles a distance away. Then, still silent, he steered the submarine towards the WEAPON. Cloud rose from his seat, reaching for the equiptment. He took something out of a small drawer.
"These can give us air for up to thirty minutes," he said, holding up a small mouthpiece. "That should be more than enough to take out the WEAPON. But we only have three."
"You, me, and Yuri will go," Vincent said, not looking away from the radar. Yuffie put her hands on her hips indignantly.
"What about me? I'm not strong enough?" she said angrily.
"Yes," he said bluntly. Yuffie turned red and whirled so she was facing the wall, arms crossed in aggitation.
"Okay," Cloud said, taking the mouthpieces out of the drawer. He turned to Yuri. "You're alright with fighting his thing, right? You should be able to take it."
Yuri nodded. Yuffie had given him one of her ninja stars to try, and he was longing to use it.
The three put the mouthpieces into their mouths, stepping through the hatch and into the water. Below them Yuffie continued to steer the submarine, following them from behind. They swam through the dark water and the cold water made Yuri shuddered, making him wish he had worn more clothing. It wasn't until they were a few feet away that they could see what they were up against.
A deep green, the WEAPON had flat feet and hands, both so large it was half the size of itself. It was enormous, so large even Vincent stood below its knees. Its limbs looked fit to pound anything into the dirt like a sludge hammer. The WEAPON saw them coming, and turned to them with a howl that echod through the water.
Cloud brandished his large sword, charging through the water for the first attack. He cut against the WEAPON's armored leg, but seemed to do more damage to his weapon than the the beast's foot. Vincent twirled his gun, aimed breifly, and shot the WEAPON in the head as Yuri threw Yuffie's ninja star at its chest. Both seemed to do nothing.
Then the WEAPON moved. Gliding through the water, smoothly despite its size, it headed straight for Cloud. Cloud braced, holding up his sword to defend himself.
The attack happened in less than an instant. WEAPON's armored fist clashed straight through his block, pounding him into the ground with such force it threw Vincent and Yuri to the side. They tumbled a few yards through the water, sprawled head over heels.
Yuri shouted in terror through his mouthpeice as WEAPON moved back again, leaving a large crater in the earth and a motionless Cloud in the middle.
"Oh dear Shiva...," Vincent murmured, staring at something above him.
Yuri looked up as two shadows fell upon them, to see WEAPON right above him and Vincent, its feet directly above their heads.
"Holy-" he started, but was cut off as WEAPON came crashing down upon them.
They stood before the White Witch's army, their horses snorting and shuffling in anticipation. The ten heroes stood in a line before the rest of their army, weapons gripped tightly in their hands and mounted upon their steeds. Sora glanced at the four kids to their left.
"Hey," he whispered to Kairi. "Why does he get the unicorn?"
Everyone turned to face Sora, the tensity leaving the air.
"Excuse me?" Leon asked, eyebrows raised.
"No, I didn't mean…! I just meat that…. He gets a better horse than we do! I didn't mean I wanted to ride a unicorn, I just-" Sora stammered repeatedly, turning bright red.
"Of course that's what you meant," Kairi said, turning back to the army forming before them. She was tense and testy. A war…. She had to fight in a war. The most she had ever done was attack a few heartless. But a real war? And as a leader?
Aerith saw the look in her eyes and smiled softly. "Don't worry, you'll be alright. Just like I have Cloud and Leon, you have Sora and Roxas. Right?"
Kairi met her gaze and smiled in return. "Right," she said, gathering a little more courage. But still butterflies danced in her chest.
Beside them, Peter gave them a glance. Leon nodded.
"Okay, here we go. Ready?"
The group nodded. "Ready."
Peter reared his unicorn up onto its hind legs, its hooves beating at the air. He raised his sword with a shout and charged down the battlefield, his army right behind him.
