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). Also, I do not own anything to do with Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino owns that awesome film. So please, don't sue.

Chapter 25

She wasn't sure what had made her wake up, but as the first signs of light began to reach through the window her eyes had flickered open. Stretching out her body right to the tips of her toes and yawning, Anya began to settle back comfortably into the mattress. This was no first class hotel, but after sleeping out on the ground it was heavenly to actually be in a bed again. Falling asleep in Kadaj's arms was like a gift from heaven. There she had felt safe, content, happy…

Cocking her head to the side, she could not see him with her peripherals. So she leaned up onto one elbow and turned her upper body so that she could see properly behind her. There was no silver angel lying beside her. The room seemed too quiet to be natural.

"Kadaj?" She called out worryingly, wrapping the sheet around herself as she stood up from the bed.

Plodding along to the bathroom, it lay slightly ajar. With a gentle push it was revealed that he was not there either. A knot wound itself in her stomach. Returning with a sense of panic to each step she took, she looked around the room for any signs that there had been a forced entry.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god," she repeated over and over, starting off quietly then rising in volume as she sifted through things in the room. Kadaj had left everything, no bag had been taken, and the keys for the motorbike were still there too. That was when she noticed it, propped up near the key was a piece of folded paper. Her name was scrolled messily on the front.

A strangled gasp left her as her shaking fingers awkwardly unfolded the paper. It was a note, she knew that at least - it was obvious. But what was not obvious, was why he'd left a note for her. If he had time to write her a note, he had not been dragged out kicking and screaming. Such a ruckus would have awoken her anyway, she had no doubt. It all became clear as she read over the note, over and over again. Although she didn't want the words to kick in, the reality of it was too harsh.

'Dear Anya,

I'm sorry that I didn't say goodbye, but he found us. He came to our room and gave me a proposition that I couldn't refuse. After all you've been through, because of me, it would only be right for me to go. I've left everything we brought with us, as well as the keys for the bike so you can continue on. Live on Anya, that is the last thing I will ever ask of you.

You may not be the same girl that I asked to the prom that day, but my view of you never changed. I'm sorry for ruining your life, I hope you can forgive me.

I never got the chance to say in person, but I love you.

Goodbye, K.'

It was so difficult to read the words as it got nearer the end. Apart from the words progressively getting worse as it went on, the tears filling up her eyes didn't help matters either. Things couldn't end this way. It was always all or nothing with her. A life with him, or death with him. An eternity without him would be fruitless, barren of any happiness. A part of her was desperate to hear him say those three little words, that meant so much to her. She refused to accept his declaration, until she heard it in person. Otherwise she thought, her heart might actually break.

Scrunching up the letter in her hands she chucked it angrily across the room and yelled from the pits of her heart. She had little care as to whether anyone heard her, whether they'd come banging at the door. She would explode if she didn't get the pain out now, it was all consuming - too terrible.

Haphazardly she rummaged through the bag until she found a fresh pair of clothes. A simple white tee and denim jeans, though she could find no socks. Uncaring she yanked her shoes on, nearly stubbing her big toe on the end of the boot as she pulled them on so hard. Such insignificant, stupid things like this didn't matter. Not when she had little time to get out of here. Anya didn't even know if she actually had any time left. For all she knew it could be too late. However she could not lose hope, otherwise she might go mad.

She went to the cupboard on the opposite side of the room, where the weapons were. Kadaj's was gone, but hers were still there. She dared to wish that he had taken his weapon to fight - anything to give her more time to help him. She strapped the revolver to her right thigh and the sword to her waist. The gun dug into her leg, but again there was no time to make herself comfy.

If she hesitated once, she might end up being too late. It would be game over. What she really wanted was victory. A grand task to achieve, but she felt like she was due a miracle. If she could save Kadaj and kill Sephiroth, well…that would be one hell of a miracle.

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A few hours earlier…

"Sephiroth!" Kadaj sprung up, jolting Anya in the process. Surprisingly this did not stir her, she merely fell back into the pillows.

"Shh…" Sephiroth smiled malevolently with a finger up to his mouth, his eyes going to the girl, "We wouldn't want to wake 'Sleeping Beauty' now, would we?" His tone was borderline sarcastic, a joyful lilt to his voice. Lowering his finger and stretching both arms out into something that resembled a nonchalant shrug he added, "There is no need to involve her now, is there?"

Suspicious Kadaj stayed on the bed, an arm reached out to cover Anya's sleeping form, "Stop messing with me, I'm not an idiot!" He hissed under his breath, the hand leaning against the mattress gripping the duvet in a rigid fist.

"And here I thought you would want to have me spare her. But if you insist on speaking to me in such an insolent tone I will not hesitate to kill you both right now." The sound of him losing the cool tone to his voice frightened Kadaj.

Kadaj knew that Sephiroth was more than capable of killing them both, so he thought it wise to at least listen. To see what the cruel immortal wanted, for when it came to Sephiroth - everything had a price.

The tall man chuckled, "Very good, clearly I have underestimated your level of intelligence. When did you stop being so hot headed Kadaj?"

The younger immortal just grit his teeth, doing his best to ignore the insult being thrown his way. It was like he was being thrown a bone, and he was supposed to bite down. There was no way he'd ever be Sephiroth's bitch again.

Still standing by the open window, his hair being pulled here and there by the breeze, Sephiroth leaned against the small desk behind him, "I have a proposition to make." Leaning his head back, revealing the pale strip of neck he continued, "I will spare the girl, but only on the condition that you meet with me after dawn." Smiling as if there were a joke in his word, he added, "You may bring your weapon, and I shall give you a fair fight. If you win, well you may both go free. If you lose…well your elongated life shall be cut short."

Kadaj had always known that if it came down to it, a fight with Sephiroth would mean a duel to the death. He realised that the chances of him winning were slim, so there was only one thing he wanted to settle, "You promise, you give me your word that you will leave Anya be? You will not kill her?"

"On our Mother's grave, I promise that I will not kill her," 'Not until I've tortured her brutally anyway' He added in his mind, but could not hide the smirk this brought.

Looking back at her still sound asleep, he knew his mind had been made up a long time ago. If there was any chance of here survival, he would take it. Even if it meant he would lose his life in return.

"Alright…where do we meet?"

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It was far too early to be waking up the owners of the garage. From what she could tell it was around five in the morning. Being awake and in a hurry at such an hour would arouse suspicion. That left Anya with only one option, and that was to break into the garage. Doing so made her feel awfully guilty for ruining the padlock, which she ruined in one powerful pull. It was times like these she was grateful to be immortal. Never in a million years could she have imagined having even a pinch of the strength she had now. But would it be enough in the end?

Deciding that if she managed to survive somehow, she'd pay the owners back. She'd make some excuse about there being an emergency and she couldn't wait, although that was the absolute truth. Still if she went into more detail about what the emergency was, or how she managed to break the lock, she was sure there would be only more trouble. So minimal information but lots of grovelling would be in order.

This was the first time she had ever actually used a motorcycle. She knew that if she had tried to hold the weight of the bike when she was mortal, she would've buckled underneath it. Lucky for her though her new strength made manoeuvring the bike outside a mediocre task. She decided to push the bike out of town. No need to wake everyone by firing up the engine. Again the less people who had seen her leave, the more it ensured their own safety. Sephiroth would no doubt come back if he'd thought that anyone had seen anything that could lead trouble his way. So witnesses were a huge no-no.

Briskly jogging out of town, she soon realised that she had no idea in hell where she would find Kadaj. No clue of his location had been left anywhere, so there was no way she could track him…or could she?

Anya had remembered that Sephiroth had mastered the art of sensing people's energy, their essence. It had made finding anybody a walk in the park for him. That must have been the technique he had used to track Kadaj and herself down. Was it possible that she could use that same technique? It was worth a try at least.

Unsure of how to start, she settled the bike onto it's side stand before closing her eyes. It was difficult, but she tried to relax and remember how to go within herself, as Yazoo had taught her. That would at least be a starting point if she could find some inner peace.

It was a bit of a struggle, but eventually she managed to relax enough to slip into the psychic part of her mind. Yazoo had told her during one of his lessons that everyone had this within themselves. It was just that most humans wanted to ignore that side of their psyche, as it was a bit too abnormal for them to accept. The upside of immortality was that for some reason spiritual power and energy was amplified many times greater than the average human. Which in turn meant that there was very little that they could not achieve using only mental powers.

It was amazing all the different energies she could feel. Each had a 'taste' to them. It was as if she could taste each personality on her tongue. Some were bitter, rotten like a bad apple, while others had the warmth of a home cooked Sunday dinner. However she could not sense herself. It made her wonder what she 'tasted' like.

As much as it fascinated her she knew time was of the essence, and she had to hurry if she was going to even attempt to save Kadaj. She figured they would not be too far away, so reached out her mind outward, like fingers stretching across the plains around the town. Somewhere to the west she found two very strong essences, both were very different however. One tasted like poison itself, burning acid against her tongue. The other was like drinking upon cool water from a stream. However the stream had been tainted by some bad energy…was that fear?

She gasped as all of a sudden she saw sudden flashes of images. Kadaj with his sword drawn, walking up a hill; a grave marking of a cross sat at the top; Sephiroth smirking, his arms folded across his chest; she was behind Kadaj, who suddenly turns around - it's as if he can see her standing there.

Opening her eyes she brings the engine to life. Anya wasn't one-hundred percent sure where they were, but she would bet on her life that there weren't many hills with a grave on top. At least she knew that she needed to travel west. They were there somewhere. If she was fast enough, perhaps Kadaj would not be too badly injured.

She was caught by surprise as the bike jolted forward suddenly as she turned the throttle, causing her to fall. The bike crushed her left leg, making her cry out in pain. It made her wish that immortality included the ability to feel no pain. She felt lucky that at least whatever injury she had given herself, it would probably heal as soon as she was up again.

Her heart beated angrily in her chest, as she lifted the bike up enough to slide her leg free. There was no time to be incompetent. She needed to bounce back on that motorbike and ride as fast as she could. No more falling off, no crashing into anything as she went. Mistakes could mean the end of everything.

"Oh God, please help me get through this."

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"So she's coming. Perhaps it's a good thing I will be ending her life soon. Such a fool should not be allowed to live." Sephiroth thought to himself, watching Kadaj's approach with sickening glee. Things were going to get very interesting indeed.

Kadaj had felt as if someone had been standing right behind him just a moment ago. However no one had been there, so he put it down to one of Sephiroth's mind tricks. From here on he would have to be on guard, knowing how Sephiroth would and could do anything to distract him. He ground his teeth together, hand clenching around Souba even tighter. If he lost his sword in this battle, that would be the end of it. Although his end would be inevitable anyway. Maybe he should just fight for a short while - enough to satisfy his warrior pride. Then he would give up quickly so his death would be swift. No, there was no way he could just give up to that son of a bitch.

"You came. I'm surprised you didn't run." Sephiroth teased.

"You and I both know that it wouldn't be long before you caught up," Kadaj reached the top of the hill, stopping a good distance away from Sephiroth.

"Ah very good. I always gave you a hard time Kadaj, because I knew that you were intelligent," Drawing out Masamune, he holds it's intimidating length out toward his opponent, "You just decided to act like a stupid, little human. It pains me to think I created such a pathetic creature."

"SHUT UP!" Shaking the blinding anger from his mind, Kadaj readied his double-edged sword. Sephiroth knew how volatile his emotions were, so he would try to use them against him. He could not let his words affect him like this again, otherwise the game would be over quickly, "You were human once too. So don't act all high and mighty when you were a puny little man once."

Fiery rage built up behind Sephiroth's burning, green eyes, "You will regret those words, boy."

"You gonna bark all day little doggie, or are you gonna bite?" Kadaj quipped with a smirk, prepared for the onslaught that would surely follow.

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AN: Eeep, so exciting! The final showdown between Kadaj and Sephiroth! Will Anya make it there in time, or will Sephiroth kill them both? Find out in the grand finale, next chapter. (Sorry for the Resevoir Dogs quote at the end, at the time I could just imagine Kadaj saying that. So yeah, Tarantino owns it not me!).