Review Responses:
Kurogane7: I know, I spent so long thinking how this fight would go…I hope the end result turned out okay. Chocobo Confectionary: Hah, thanks. I figured I needed a bit of comedy in the middle of all this fighting. ken08002: Pray for Tifa. Poor woman. Hah. "Before Rufus psychologically murders her." Nice. Nineveh03: Really? Thanks! I love insane people, too, so no forgiveness required. Glad you like the epic—fighting in the dark is just more awesome, y' know? I know, I'm too much of a romance writer to be writing this much action. Gah. Also, you're too nice to my Rufus. I just like making him evil. NamioftheSea: Hooray for epic battles! Love, man. kerapal bubbles: I can't make promises about people not dying…don't kill me…! vLuna: Hah, yeah, I don't even know what he's doing over there. Creepy man. AvengedRomantic: I already responded to you, but I would feel bad if I left you out here, so I'll just say thank you for the awesome review once again, it blew my mind. Chibi Emo-Chan: HAH. Glad you liked it so much! riceball793: Yeah, bit of a close call there. Sheesh. I know, a bit of subtle Vincent/Yuffie fluff. And Sephiroth gets an epic, deep, creepy line. Hooray! kitsune13: I love that moment, too—*sticks with sword* Not dead yet, eh? *twists sword* Also, I loved your off-topic rant, just because I love talking about the obscure nuances of Cloud with anybody, and you're always the best for that type of thing. I'm glad you liked Vincent's response to Seph—I rolled around my room squeeing helplessly when I first thought of it. Thanks for the awesome review, Miss Tamlin. Leah Conner: That mental image is 100% correct. IT'S SO SCARY. Also, Spanish is also insufficient for love-of-Zack. I find Latin helps. Hah, I'm glad at least one person likes my cliffies—'cause I love them. And I do the exact same thing during Cloud units in science. Hooray for fangirl mindset! Darkhorse666: Calm, darling, calm. I know, Cloud is the smex and Shinra's surprisingly badass. Huzzah! Vanilla Raindrops: Damn, I'm losing! You just wait. Also, they're both insane, so just be scared of both and hide in a corner. I love writing dialogue for Reno and Rude, too—otherwise they're a pain, but their lines are lovely. Hah, and yes, I love my words of the day. They happen. A lot.
WELCOME TO FAIR HELP CENTER
Chapter Twenty-Five: Running
(I am SO TIRED of disclaimers. Bah. I don't own FFVII or any of the related characters or setting. There, lawyer-people, are you HAPPY?)
She was running in the dark, and she felt like she'd been running for forever and would keep running for the rest of eternity.
She was running to find Cloud, and maybe she'd been running to find Cloud for the last seven years, without even knowing whom she was running towards. Maybe she'd been running to find Cloud her whole life long.
There was no sound beyond the quiet squealing of her shoes on the tile and her own heartbeat, pounding inside her ears.
Where is he…?
…XxX…
Tifa.
"Vincent?" Zack asked as the two men ran through the halls of the Help Center.
"In the group room," Cloud responded curtly.
"And the girls?"
He swallowed quietly.
"With Vincent."
Zack turned to look for Cloud in the darkness.
"Is Vincent good enough to win…or to buy us enough time to get there?"
The only response was the hushed sound of Cloud's breathing and the near-imperceptible quickening of his footsteps on the floor.
"Not even that?"
Cloud grunted noncommittally in reply, lowered his head, and tried to run faster. The monster living inside of him growled furiously, its crimson presence pounding on the inside of his skull, demanding, promising. More speed, it swore, more strength. I can make you strong, strong enough to save her…
Gritting his teeth, he shoved the thought aside and concentrated on moving faster.
Tifa.
Tifa!
…XxX…
"A king and ten against a joker," Shinra mused quietly, resting his chin on the backs of his hands. "I wonder who will win…"
Aerith turned from staring at the screen to gape at him. "How are you doing this?"
Carefully rolling his head to the side, Rufus popped his neck and smiled at her. "Just how one always wins at cards. Educated guessing. A little luck. And a very, very carefully shuffled deck."
…XxX…
Sexists!
A bead of sweat condensed on Yuffie's temple, slowly slipping down a round cheek to follow the curve of her jaw, falling from the point of her chin to land soundlessly against the ground.
The stillness in the room was nigh unbreakable.
Sexist jerks!
She knew without having to move or speak that both Vincent and Sephiroth had counted her out of the equation. Amber was locked with green across the darkness of the room, and those connected eyes saw and knew nothing else, and neither moved.
Vincent has range on Sephiroth… Yuffie thought furiously, trying to figure out which way the duel would go once it began. But in a closed space, that's no use. Then again, Sephiroth won't be able to fully use the masamune in a room like this…
Stillness.
Sephiroth was smiling in the darkness.
Vincent's eyes were narrowed to slits, unblinking, waiting for movement to appear in his dimmed sight.
If Sephiroth attacks first, he'll have to be committed to the attack and won't be able to block Vincent's shots, she realized, finally understanding the general's hesitation. And if Vincent moves first, there's no way of knowing if Sephiroth is fast enough to stop him before he can fire. Closing the distance would make the masamune useless, but Sephiroth's too fast—he might win if it came to hand-to-hand. And even though Cerberus fires three bullets at once, Vincent can only fire six times before he runs out of ammo…If Sephiroth can dodge those initial six shots…
Vincent will lose…
No movement, not even blinking.
Tension.
Electricity.
There was no time. It would come down to an instant.
One split second.
Sexists.
Don't just count me out…!
Within the darkness of cloud cover, Yuffie was nearly blind.
I know he's too fast for me.
But I can make an opening for Vincent.
Even breathing went silent in the shadows.
Electricity crackled through the air.
I'm blind now.
But the next time lightning strikes…!
Atmospheric tension.
Vincent's eyes blazed like fire in the darkness.
Luminescence glinted off Sephiroth's teeth as he smiled.
The stillness was nigh unbreakable.
No movement, not even blinking.
Wait.
For the lightning.
For an opening.
Wait.
Wait.
And then—
Blaring white, just outside the window—
Near simultaneous, lightning and thunder ripped the earth to shreds—
And, for one split second, the whole room turned white and shadows in Yuffie's eyes—
"VINCENT!" She screamed, and then her shuriken was screaming through the air towards Sephiroth, and the general blinked once in surprise.
A howl in the silence, like the scream of a wolf.
"Yuffie, don't!"
The air parted with a shriek as the masamune swept out, and across, and up.
An explosion rent the room as Cerberus fired.
Steel crashed to the ground.
Yuffie screamed.
…
Tifa's head whipped around in the darkness.
Was that a scream?
She spun in the darkness, disoriented, searching for a wall or a person or anything to hold on to, to ground herself.
She'd been so focused on running after Cloud.
She'd forgotten where she stood.
…
Pale hands rose to knead at his brow as Shinra leaned forward onto the table, staring at his cards.
"Not even a king and a ten can stand against him?" He snarled, sweeping the papers to the side with his arm. "Not even then?"
Hesitantly, Aerith reached out across the table to touch the back of his hand with delicate fingers, careful, comforting. Shinra looked up, and the Mask was already back in place, and he smiled frostily at her and slipped his hands out from under hers and hid them neatly underneath the table.
"The round belongs entirely to you, Miss Gainsborough."
…
It hurts.
Oh Gaia it hurts it hurts it hurts…
Vincent—where's Vincent—
"It's useless to try and stand, little girl."
Even if she could have seen in the darkness, she couldn't have moved against the agony screaming through her, and her only response was a whimper into the tile against her face. She couldn't see and she couldn't think past the agony but she knew Sephiroth was smiling down at her, green eyes glowing with tender malice.
"I severed both of your rectus femoris, the muscles in the front of your thighs. You won't be able to bend your knee or move your hip until it's repaired—and the more you try to move now, the more you'll damage the muscle and make healing less likely. You should be grateful," Sephiroth cooed, reaching down to pat her head gently. "I didn't cut the femoral artery. If I had, you'd have bled out in less than ten seconds."
Turning away from Yuffie, Sephiroth went to stand over Vincent, who was grinding his teeth to hold back the whimpers of agony. Tilting his head, the general smiled down at the mercenary.
"I'm impressed, Valentine. You got a shot off before I killed you, and you managed to avoid the blow that should have cut you in half. Well, you didn't avoid it entirely, but you are commendable nonetheless. Shame about your left hand."
Releasing a small sound, Vincent twisted his head to stare at the bleeding stump that had used to be his left forearm.
Sephiroth clucked quietly. "You'll probably bleed to death before help comes for you." Shaking his head, the general turned to leave. "You're a fool, Valentine. If you'd only given me Cloud's woman, you would have lived."
A soft click was the only sound as Sephiroth slid the door closed behind him.
It hurts.
It hurts!
She trembled with the effort it took to merely move, but small fingers stretched out and seized the tattered fringes of Vincent's cape. Dragging herself forward on her elbows, her legs wailing protest every time torn flesh dragged over cold tile, she pulled herself, inch by agonizing inch, to Vincent's side.
With a quiet grunt, he rolled just enough to lift his right hand and cup her face.
"Yuffie," he groaned.
Biting back a wail of pain, she forced a smile and lightly kissed his cheek. Then she ripped a piece of Vincent's cloak free with her teeth, balancing on her elbows as she carefully tied the tourniquet around his bleeding arm. He grunted once before gritting his teeth and holding back the sounds of pain.
Shaking fingers securing the knot, she exhaled in a rush and rolled onto her side, whimpering gently.
If I never walk again, if I never run again…
At least I can do this.
At least I can save you.
…
"Vincent! Yuffie!"
What?
Sweet blackness had wrapped itself around his senses, a delightful dullness, dampening everything, drowning it in fog. It was cold in the fog, a cold that reminded him of Lucrecia, and perhaps she had finally come to collect the penitence he promised.
But even as Lucrecia's cool arms lulled him towards sleep…
Other voices, more real voices, called him to waking.
"Vincent! Vincent, Tifa's not here. Where's Tifa? Where is Tifa?"
"Strife," he grunted, finally recognizing the voice.
"Cloud, put him down, he's barely even alive! I need to bandage this wound before he bleeds to death!"
Blinking, Vincent struggled to focus through the black mist wrapped around his senses. There was Fair—and there was pain, and the sound of cloth tearing as Fair's shirt became bandages, wrapped roughly around his bleeding arm. And there was Strife, wide-eyed and wild, his eyes burning like torches of blue flame in the darkness, desperate, seeking. And there was one more—there should have been one more—
"Yuffie," he growled, struggling to sit up. "Where is Yuffie?"
"Unconscious," Zack grunted, tying a final knot on Vincent's bandage. "She probably passed out from the pain. I bandaged her cuts, so she's not going to die anytime soon."
"Vincent."
The mercenary turned to the voice and immediately wished he hadn't, when glazed amber met insane blue that burned with insanity and desperation. "Where is Tifa?"
"She went after you," he responded curtly. "Nothing would have stopped her from following you, Strife. Even into death."
The room was very quiet for a moment.
A shuddering breath rushed in and out of Cloud.
"Zack."
"Mm?"
"You get these two out. I'm going to find Sephiroth."
Blinking, Zack's mouth worked for a moment before he spluttered, "Cloud—look, it'll be faster if we both look for him—"
"No."
The word was flat, toneless, and final, like a slap in the face. Cloud looked down at Zack, his eyes unseeing. "You're hurt, and Vincent and Yuffie are on the verge of death. I can do this alone. It's better if I do this alone. This is my fight."
A heavy darkness settled in the room as Cloud waited impatiently for Zack's response.
The soldier swallowed and peered through the dark, looking for his friend. "Can you really fight him alone?"
Cloud sucked in a breath. It caught in his throat and choked him until he had to force out the answer:
"This is my fight."
Zack scratched the back of his neck and shook his head. "Tifa will cry if you die, Cloud."
The other man was already out the door and starting to run down the hall, his response whispered into the darkness, unheard.
"But only for a while…"
…XxX…
"Once more, Miss Gainsborough. This shall be the final round."
Aerith sighed and threw her cards against the side of the trailer. "This is insane, Shinra! Metaphor or whatever, I don't care—there are people dying in there, and I have to go help—"
Elena moved to block the door, but Shinra had already caught Aerith's wrist in a single bony hand, and he looked up at her with true, unmasked eyes, eyes that looked into her and ravaged all her mental defenses and saw straight through into the insides of her.
"What will you do, Aerith Gainsborough?" He growled, voice low and tense and knowing. "You're only a girl—a child, a human—and inside that building is an enemy that goes infinitely beyond human capability. So what could you do, a single little human woman, do against Sephiroth?"
She stared back at him, and the eyes that looked into her knew her, and her breath caught in terror, and Shinra smiled the pale-lipped smile of death.
"What use can a human woman be to the man she loves?" He whispered. Releasing her, he leaned back in his chair and placed one more card on the table. "I suppose we're about to find out," he mused, fingers tapping against his lips. "Queen against joker."
Aerith collapsed into her chair and buried her face in her hands. "She has no chance. She can't do anything. A human woman can't be of any use…"
Shinra smiled.
…XxX…
There was a change in the still darkness.
Her breath turned into ice inside her lungs, and she froze where she stood, and waited for the words she knew would be coming.
"Some part of me feels I should apologize to you."
She pulled one steeling breath in, straightened her shoulders, and turned to face the man who had carved her open seven years ago.
"But then I realized," Sephiroth mused, stepping closer. "That it really was your fault, not mine. See, if you had not loved Cloud, if you had not made Cloud love you in return—then I would never have needed to cause you this pain."
In the time between two breaths he closed the distance between them, and before she could even react he had caught her by the throat and pulled her in close, her back pressed to his chest and the masamune held carefully between them, a cold steel pressure against her skin.
"And now," he hissed in her ear, as she tossed her head, wriggling against his grip. "Now you are just a poor woman, in love with a monster that can never be human enough to love you or beast enough to protect you. Do you understand? You're going to die here, but you're going to endure unimaginable agony first, because it will cause him pain. He may not love you, but he certainly lusts for you, certainly cares for you, and to know that you died screaming and writhing at my feet—I fancy it will drive him quite mad."
"You're disgusting," she hissed, and the blade of the masamune pressed tighter to her back, as if to remind her that she was in no position to be throwing insults.
"I asked you," he cooed quietly. "If you understood. You have thrown away life and heart for this man—who will never love you in return. In exchange for all that you have given him, he will give absolutely nothing. Understand that, and answer me: do you regret it?"
Silence.
Then:
"Never."
A chuckle.
A silk and poison smile.
"Though warned otherwise
"We play with blue fire and burn.
"How regrettable."
Then she felt his arms constrict and the blade of the masamune against her back—
And then the world was lost in red and agony and the distant sound of her own voice screaming.
…XxX…
A/N
Sorry it's late. Don't kill me for the cliffie.