A/N: A word of warning. I've officially decided to tone down the grandeur and physics-defying madness of the SOLDIERs' fighting styles. It's not that it isn't cool but it won't mesh with what I'm going for here, and you can't very well have biotics when gravity only works some days anyway. I'm not completely undercutting them, they're still awesome bastions of overkill, but we must at least pretend there are rules. Dreadfully sorry.
Chapter 12
The malboro was a towering mess of slimy sinew that looked more plant like then animal, but its head was composed almost solely of a giant mouth, filled with rows of razor sharp teeth. Its numerous eyes, faintly glowing from mako exposure, were on the end of stalks that swung around the bulbous head. It stood taller than the helicopter with a wealth of lashing misshapen tentacles that couldn't quite reach across the entire clearing but came pretty damn close.
A tentacle lashed out and Shepard dodged one way, Cissnei and Sephiroth the other. Sephiroth turned and slashed at with his sword. One of the tentacles fell, sliced clean through. That only left about fifty.
The other tentacles lashed at him; he dodged the first and the second but not the third which sent him flying back into the treeline.
Standing at such close range Shepard aimed at centre mass, uncertain what would cause the most damage. She fired her rifle but its only reaction was to swing around and focus on her. It surged towards her, tentacles grasping. With a flash her Omni-blade was out and she sliced through the limbs grabbing at her and then followed it up with a biotic push.
It barely stumbled back and Cissnei threw her shuriken. Her aim was true and the throwing star landed with a squelch in the green flesh just beneath its head. Instead of a burst of blood, the shuriken sank into the slimy muscle and lodged there. The monster barely noticed and bore down on Shepard again, moving with remarkable speed for such a large creature.
She rolled out of the way and then dodged a succession of lashing tentacles. Seeing her chance she threw an incendiary burst before taking cover behind a fallen log. The monster roared at the burning plasma, its slick skin drying and crackling under the heat. Sephiroth attacked it from behind, halving its reach with a single slice. Shepard sprung from her cover and threw a biotic warp. From this angle she could see that the thick gelatinous hide functioned as bizarre natural armour, with the consistency of drying concrete. On a creature so large her warp didn't have the full impact she'd hoped for. Stasis and singularity would be equally ineffective. She reloaded her widow.
Sephiroth meanwhile was slicing through tentacles at impressive speeds. One managed to wrap around his leg but he carved through it before it could haul him off his feet. Given the way it uprooted a tree and hurled it at him, getting caught wasn't an option. Cissnei was at the opposite side of the clearing and peppering it with bullets from her pistols, 'killing it with bug bites' as Kal'Regar had once said.
They hadn't faced much combat together during this mission but they had fallen into a reliable pattern. Cissnei dealt reliable if small damage with every shot. Sephiroth drew its focus and sliced through the defences while she kept him covered and dealt catastrophic damage with each slow but well aimed attack. He moved with speeds she could barely keep track off, her rifle was powerful but with huge kick and a slow reload, she had to make each shot count.
She took careful aim and fired, one of its beady eyes in her sights. The stalk the eyeball stood on exploded.
The malboro gurgled with pain. Its other eyes swivelled around looking for the culprit but not finding one its rage was taken out on Sephiroth. It charged him, its maw gaping open and he sprung back. His lightning fast reflexes were barely enough to save him from the wave of poisonous breathe the monster spewed at him. Green fumes poured out from its maw and the air turned deadly. Sephiroth coughed and staggered out of the way, dodging the tentacles that lashed after him. His barrier materia sprung to life, barely keeping the fumes at bay.
Shepard took aim again and second eyeball exploded. Sephiroth, keeping his distance, turned to materia and threw a ball of fire at the roaring monster. The outside of its hide crackled and blistered under the heat and it lashed out all the more furiously, being baited across the clearing.
Shepard reloaded and it lost another eye.
It spewed another wave of poison and the other eyes all swung around and found her. It had finally made the connection between the deafening bang of the rifle and the pain of a lost eye and it ground its massive teeth at her before charging. Shepard activated her tactical cloak and sprinted to another tree while it smashed through the log she'd been using for cover. The poison in the air made her mind foggy and her limbs sluggish. She pushed through it anyway. Sephiroth had sprung forward in the monster's moment of distraction and swung for the main bulk of it. His sword sliced through its hide but lodged in the sinewy muscle. Shepard shot out another eye. With a frustrated grunt Sephiroth yanked back his blade and slashed again. Yellow ooze poured out through the wounds it was collecting and its attacks were becoming much more erratic in fury and desperation.
Another of its eyeballs exploded. Sephiroth's blade kept it from retaliating. Cissnei's bullets drilled into its sides. Two more eyeballs fell. Sephiroth leapt closer with acrobatic fluidity to slice off several more tentacles and then dancing out of range of the poisonous breathe that it spat at him. The creature swung around wildly in pain, its last eye searching for its enemy as it staggered and coughed out its poison. Cissnei approached, reloading for what was surely the end of the fight.
By now the clearing was littered with amputated green limbs, all twitching and blinking sporadically. Sephiroth's blade glinted in the late afternoon sun. In that moment the malboro saw Cissnei with its last remaining eye.
With a burst of energy it shoved Sephiroth back while one of its last few tentacles wrapped around Cissnei's leg. Before she could react it lifted her up and sent her hurtling her through the air. Shepard threw a light biotic lift at her to soften the fall but she still crashed into the side of the helicopter with enough force to dent the side of the cockpit and break off one of the rotors. Red stained the glass and polished metal.
The creature roared at the sight. Sephiroth practically flew towards it and stabbed straight through its head, his blade protruding out through its mouth. Its last couple of tentacles writhed ineffectually against the blade. He pulled the blade back out and it swung around, rearing up drunkenly. Shepard took a last shot straight into its open mouth. It stumbled, its oozing blood gushing through its mouth. With a sickening gurgle it toppled and was finally still.
The forest had fallen quiet. The only sounds were that of dripping blood and engine oil.
Shepard sprinted to where Cissnei lay. The Turk hadn't moved yet, she was still lying partially inside the torn door of the helicopter. Sephiroth drew out his cure materia.
Shepard leaned over her and took her wrist. Still no movement but there was the faintest pulse. She swiftly activated her Omni-tool and scanned the unconscious Turk. The display showed two badly broken ribs, and a punctured lung, alongside a wealth of lacerations and bruises and a broken leg. She angled the display for Sephiroth to see.
He studied it in silence then his materia began to glow and he held his hand over the worst of the cuts. As Shepard watched through the Omni-tool's display, the lacerations and bruises faded away.
The glow subsided and he returned the materia to his bracer.
"What about her lung and ribs?" she asked, looking to him in confusion. He had patched up her superficial wounds but the internal damage was as they'd found it. Her lung would collapse if they didn't do something soon, and if the ribs were jostled too much she would drown in her own blood.
"Cure materia can't move broken bones; it only knits flesh back together." Sephiroth said. "If you try to heal someone without resetting the bones…" He didn't elaborate. She understood the gruesome implications.
She helped move her out of the smashed side of the helicopter, Sephiroth bending the dented metal out of the way. It was dangerous to jostle her, especially given her ribs, but she'd run the risk of bleeding out if they didn't move her. Broken glass tinkled as they moved her from the wreck.
"What's the nearest village?" Shepard asked, looking at the sky. The helicopter was trashed and the sun would set in less than an hour. They couldn't call for medical-evac; they were too far off the phone grid. Time was of the essence.
"Banora. Seven hours north of here." He said, retrieving a pack of emergency supplies from the helicopter's exposed interior.
"As the crow flies?" She asked doubtfully. They were surrounded by cliffs and gullies that would slow them drastically. She crossed the clearing to collect the cooling heat sinks.
"As the SOLDIER marches." He replied. When she returned he handed her the pack and she slung it onto her back.
Sephiroth knelt and picked Cissnei up as gently as possible, holding her bridal style. A fireman's carry would have been easier but would have risked driving her rib even further into her lungs. She gave a laboured, watery sounding breathe at the movement but did not wake.
"Take point, Shepard." He said with a nod.
She drew her rifle and led the way back into the forest.
On the edge of Banora there was a stately manor house. It had acres of land around it covered with strange curved apple trees and slow turning windmills.
Shepard slammed open the first door she found. She was met with a long corridor. At the end was a dining room.
Immediately moving to the long table she threw aside the centre piece and cleared everything but the table cloth.
A door opposite her banged open and two people peeked in, a man and a woman looking terrified.
The woman stood behind him, a red materia in her hand, while the man held a fire poker like it was a club.
"What's the meaning of this?" he exclaimed, holding his improvised weapon out with a shaking hand. His eyes darted to the crossed swords above the mantel piece next to her but she didn't have time for any of this.
"Get a doctor." Shepard ordered.
"Who are you? What are you doing? You can't just-"
Sephiroth finally came rushing through the door, still carrying the comatose Cissnei.
The two people froze at the sight of him.
"Oh, goddess." The woman said.
"Go and get a Doctor." Sephiroth said as he lay Cissnei down on the table. The two people remained frozen.
"Now!" Shepard snapped. That shook the man out of his stupor and he rushed out of the room.
Cissnei groaned and then gave a great wracking cough. Her breathing had grown louder and more ragged the further the night wore on. Her suit was stained with drying blood from wounds now healed, the real damage was internal. Sephiroth had had to risk permanent injury by using his cure materia on her a second time. It was either that or let her die before they arrived. Hopefully surgery would be able to save her and the lung partially healed around a misaligned rib. Her laboured breathes echoed in the small room.
"The Doctor shouldn't be far away." The woman offered after a few moments of tense silence.
"We've done all we can." Sephiroth said. Finally without his burden he stretched out his arms, stiff from having held her up for almost seven hours.
Shepard belatedly noticed the woman nervously eyeing the rifle in her hands. She absently compacted the widow and returned it to its place on her back.
The two SOLDIERs were both covered in filth from their march. The trip had been swift and tense, there hadn't been time to stop or go around anything in their path. So they had crossed rivers, cliffs, and valleys with unerring focus and barely a word swapped between them. No matter what they thought of each other this wasn't the time for games or politics. They were soldiers and they had a job. Shepard set the course and shot anything that tried to get in their way. Sephiroth held Cissnei and scaled any landscape in the way as though he wasn't carrying anything at all.
Fortunately they hadn't come across any monsters as mutated as the malboro. Apparently Sephiroth could take out the normal malboro's without any trouble, the mako mutations made all the difference. It hardly mattered now.
Shepard ran another scan on her Omni-tool. They had made very good time but Cissnei wouldn't last much longer. Her fist clenched. The gurgling sound of collapsing lungs desperately trying to drag in oxygen haunted a dark part of Shepard's mind.
All they could do now was wait.
The woman from the house hovered nervously.
Sephiroth stood by the door they'd burst in through, looking out into the night. Shepard took a seat and watched the dying Turk.
This should not have happened. But it did, and now she would see it through.
The doctor soon arrived. It wasn't until the sun had risen when he declared he had done everything he could.
"You saved her life with that materia." He said, packing his gear back into his bag. "I can't say if she'll ever make a full recovery though, not with her lung malformed like that. Your Midgar doctors may be able to conjure up a miracle but I wouldn't bet on it."
It was disheartening, but at least she wasn't dead. Shepard held on to that. Cissnei might spend the rest of her days confined to a desk, but at least she would have further days. It had been far too close though. It only took a second for something to go wrong but Shepard had higher standards than this. She did everything she could to bring her people home but dammit, it wasn't always enough. The memorial wall on the Normandy was testament to that.
Sephiroth had called for medical-evac. Soon enough a Shinra helicopter would be there to take them back to Midgar.
She stood outside the house, breathing in the cool morning air. As it turned out the house they had broken into belonged to Genesis of all people, and it was his parent's they bossed around in the early hours of the day.
They were still inside now, talking to Sephiroth who when last she checked was not enjoying the attention. When the two Rhapsodoses had finally stopped panicking over who was sitting in their dining room they had proven themselves incredibly self-important and ostentatious. So much so, that they made Genesis look meek in comparison. Sephiroth obviously had no idea how to talk to civilians, not even those who were trying to pay him compliments.
He'd given her a look that she was pretty sure had an order for backup in it somewhere, but she'd promptly abandoned him to deal with it. He could get himself out of that mess.
She set out towards the village. It wasn't far, the little paved path leading towards a small collection of cottages. Genesis' house was by far the largest and the nicest, although the smaller dwellings had their own simple charm. There was a fountain in the centre of the village where she stopped and sat of the stone rim. The air smelt of apples and wood. It was so unlike Midgar that it was impressive Angeal and Genesis had integrated so well.
"Excuse me," A voice interrupted her musings. She turned to see a little old lady wearing a brown skirt and a simple green shawl. An old man was behind her, his black hair shot with grey and leaning heavily on a cane. Something about them was ever so slightly familiar. "Are you one of the SOLDIERs staying at the Rhapsodos house?" the woman asked. It seemed news travelled quickly.
"I am." Shepard said, rising and giving them a smile. "What can I do for you?"
The old man cleared his throat. "Forgive us for asking, but our son is a SOLDIER as well." He said, standing up as straight as he could. "We were wondering if maybe you knew him."
"Ah, you must be Mr and Mrs Hewley." Shepard said, feeling silly for not realising sooner. "I do know Angeal, he's a friend. I'm Shepard by the way." They shook hands.
"It's an honour to meet you Shepard." Mrs Hewley said. Mr Hewley smiled at the introduction but then he coughed into his hand. He turned away, still coughing painfully. His wife patted him on the back, old and well-worn concern on her face. Shepard tried to keep her emotions from leaking into her eyes at the sight.
"Forgive me." He said when he had recovered himself. "How is Angeal? Is he well?"
"He doesn't write nearly as much as he said he would." Mrs Hewley added, as they all pretended his episode hadn't just happened.
"He's doing very well, as far as I know. I haven't know him all that long but he's a good soldier." Shepard said. Angeal was a decent guy. By the looks of it his parents were good people as well. "You should be very proud."
"I knew he would. He's always been such a good boy." Mrs Hewley said with a nostalgic smile.
Shepard gave a small smile in reply. She got the distinct impression that Angeal would be mortified to hear about this, so she'd have to remember to mention it to him.
"Thank you for telling us." Mr Hewley said, "It's so hard to get news out here."
A faint whirring noise began somewhere and Shepard looked around for the source. It took her a moment to place it as the sound of a helicopter.
"It was nice meeting you but I should go. I'll tell him you said hi." She said as the Shinra helicopter come into view.
"Tell him to write more often!" Mrs Hewley replied.
Shepard turned away and made for the pick-up point.
A/N: This chapter was hell to write, sorry if it shows. Thanks for reading anyway! Leave a review and I'll love you forever.
Next Time: SOLDIER hopefuls