Chapter 36: Going Alone
(Same tags apply as in Chapter 1)
The gunman glared at the man that sat before him then glared at the blood that Weston had spit on his cloak. Despite the methods that he had used so far, he had only been able to extract a minimal amount of useful information and the man remained defiant. He knew that this was getting him nowhere and he would have to resort to more 'unique' tactics. If time had not been a factor, the gunman would have simply taken his time to get what he wanted.
Vincent sighed. He wanted nothing more than to be done with this whole affair and have the emerald-eyed woman back at home. It already seemed as if he had been away from the Nibelheim mansion he shared with his little ninja for far too long as it was, even though it had only been a few days.
This feeling was something he was use to, however. During his time with the Turks, the interrogations were the worst part. It always felt very draining on him, emotionally and physically.
Many would think that as a Turk, an assassin that worked exclusively doing the dirty work for Shinra, would have no problem with all the aspects of the job. However, there was a great difference between killing someone and torturing someone. Neither was something that he enjoyed, but it was something he was good at. If he had a choice, he'd rather simply kill the person and be done with them, but in his position, refusing orders was not an option. The simple fact that he could put on his emotionless mask and block out the reality of what he was doing to another living being, earned him the title of being one of the most ruthless and accomplished Turks of all time…but now, he wasn't the same person he was back then.
'Come on, Vincent! I can get the information!' Chaos said within the gunman's head. 'The sooner we get that information, we can get this over with.'
'Very well.' He stepped into the shadows and allowed his demon to transform his body. The familiar wash of disassociation clouded his mind as his consciousness was pushed aside. Skin rippled and turned ebony and what was one pale and smooth, turned leathery and tough. Wings unfolded and stretched as a wicked grin traced the lips of the demon know as Chaos.
.::-o-::.
"Son of a bitch…" Weston Martin mumbled as he blinked, trying to clear his vision of the blood that dripping into his eye from a cut on his forehead. The nearly undetectable sound of three footsteps caught his attention before everything but the sound of his breathing came to a halt in the room. The man who had just been standing before had melted into the shadows.
Despite his defiance, his heart was thumping wildly within his chest and the pain from the various wounds inflicted upon him as the crimson-eyed man questioned him, were throbbing painfully. 'This man is a ruthless bastard…' He though as he coughed as the coppery taste of blood filed his mouth once more and was promptly spit onto the concrete floor. As he was regaining his breath, a voice that seemed to be coming from everywhere at once sent an icy chill down his spine.
The voice wasn't the same one that had been questioning him only minutes before.
"Have you decided on if you're going to cooperate with me?"
"Fuck off…" The restrained man grunted as he tried to ease the pain in his aching ribs.
"Well since we've grown tired of this game," The voice said in a falsely causal tone. "I've decided that I will get the information."
"What are you, a damn schizo?!" Weston asked with a harsh bark of laughter.
Chaos' eyes flared within the darkness, catching the man's attention. "I'll let you decide that for yourself…" The demon growled before stepping forward, the sound of his long claws on his feet was heard on the tiled floor. He could feel the fear in the man before him grow ten fold and lethal fangs were exposed as a feral smirk traced his lips when he stepped into the light.
Weston's eyes widened and he struggled with renewed vigor when he saw the demon that stood before him. "What the hell?! By the gods, what in the fuck are you!?" He screamed as Chaos drew closer.
The demon said nothing, only lifted a single clawed fighter and let out a dark chuckle when the digit burst into flames. "You're going to tell me what I need to know. With each question you refuse to answer, you will suffer the consequences. Are we clear?"
The man continued to struggle but never answered the demon's question. Chaos reached forward and grasped Weston's arm in his vise like grip. At that same moment, he pushed the gunman's consciousness deeper within their shared mind and received no struggles from his host. The flame engulfed finger moved closer and closer to the man's arm before the sharp tip pierced the soft flesh, and was immediately removed.
Weston looked down to his arm with wide-eyed terror and began to scream as a burning sensation traveled along every vein and nerve within his body. The burning entered his chest and the air was knocked from his lungs as his heart also felt as if it had been run through by flaming needles.
Chaos watched as the man screamed in agony while the pinprick wound slowly increased in size and a smirk traced the demon's lips. After several long minutes, the man's screams died and his whole body sagged as ragged pants escaped his lips, but the hole within the mans arm remained, smoking lightly as if cauterized by intense heat.
"I told you that if you didn't answer my questions, the consequences would be severe. That was only a minute taste of the sulfur toxin that is released from my claws…if I give you a large enough dose, your whole body will be consumed but the very fires of hell itself. You will feel every cell in your body consumed before you miserable existence comes to an end." The demon snarled as the tears of pain rolled down the captive man's cheeks. "You've raped, killed and beat innocents…this is only a taste of the pain you caused them."
Chaos had seen the things that this man had been convicted and accused of, and it disgusted him. Yes, he was a demon and had done many things that humans' would consider horrible, but he would never have lowered himself to do half of the things that this man had.
"Now, lets see if we can get some of my questions answered, shall we?" The demon said, his tone returned to the causal one he had used before.
The man gasped and panted from the pain as he lifted his eyes to meet those of the demon. Hesitantly, he nodded. The pain from his wound and the stinging sensation in his body was still present, but nowhere near as painful as it was before.
Chaos gave a slight tilt of his head when the man nodded in response to his answer. Long clawed nails tapped on the floor as he approached the man and the demon grinned when he saw the man flinch in an attempt to get away, but no harm would come to him this time. The demon spit on the wound, causing it to foam over.
Weston opened his mouth to protest, but it was cut short when he felt a wave of relief wash through him. He slumped in the seat and stared at his arm. The foaming soon stopped and his eyes widened when he saw his arm. There was a horrible round scar where his wound once had been charred and weeping flesh.
"I can cause you pain, and I can stop your pain. It all depends on you. How many men were in the facility when you left?"
"…T-there…there were twenty men… not including Onika and…. Fraser. He had already…recruited more, but they hadn't been brought in yet..."
"There. That wasn't so bad…" The ebony skinned demon said, belittling the man before continuing his questioning.
"Where is the base?"
Weston looked up to Chaos with pleading eyes. "Please…I can't tell you that…"
"Sorry…wrong answer." Two sharp claws were inserted into the restrained man's flesh and dragged them neatly down, creating one-inch cuts.
.::-o-::.
Screams of agony reached the ears of the two guards at the end of the hall. One man shuddered as the other paled at the sheer intensity behind the cries. For a moment they felt sorry for the man who was being interrogated by the man known as Vincent Valentine, but any pity they felt quickly vanished. They too had read the wrap sheet of crimes that the man had committed.
.::-o-::.
Vincent adjusted his cloak and looked back at the man who was now unconscious and strapped to the chair. He held no sympathy for the man and would not allow himself to feel sorry for the torture he and his demon had just dealt upon the man. Unlike all of his previous interrogations, this one would not profit Shinra. This would save the life of one of his own.
He walked out of the door, leaving it open as he turned to the two guards that stood outside of his interrogation room. "I am finished with him. Take him to a cell in the medical wing and restrain him before he regains consciousness. Do not allow anyone to treat him unless he is restrained."
"Yes sir!" They said and saluted the man and moved quickly into the room. He started down the hallway just as Reno and Barret came from their own room where Dean Jeter's pitiful whimpers and moans of pain reached his ears.
"Did ya get somethin' on Myra?" Barret asked in a hopeful tone though the weariness and stress was still obvious by the look in his eyes and the lines that now were more pronounced on his face.
"Yes. We have much to discuss." The Turk and the gun-armed man nodded as Reno pulled out his PHS to inform Reeve while Vincent pulled out his own and dropped behind his two comrades.
Vincent pushed the green button on his communicator and waited the moment it took for the familiar voice to come on the line.
"Vinnie?" Yuffie's voice came over the line. "Did you find anything out?" She asked as the sound of rushing wind reached her ears.
"Yes. We are on our way back to the conference room. Where are you?" He asked, his eyes narrowing almost imperceptivity at the saddened tone of her voice.
There was a shuffling sound for a moment before the ninja was able to speak once more. "I was on the roof, but now I'm on my way back. I'll call Cloud and Teef. We'll meet you there."
"Very well. I will see you soon."
"Bye Vinnie."
.::-o-::.
Avalanche, the Turks and Amon Lindh and Jessu Dojima sat at a table headed by the Shinra President himself as Vincent relayed the information given to him by his prisoner. The interrogations that had been done by the Turks and Barret had given them valuable information concerning the security of the base, the names of some of the men who were in the facility, and the names of three more former Shinra employees whom, while their crimes against the company were not as serious as Dean Jeters', were promptly arrested by Amon's men as soon as they got the names.
Currently, all the attention in the room was focused on the claret-eyed former Turk.
"…Weston Martin has also given me information about one of Onika's prisoners and it is…disturbing to say the least." He said and though his tone and face remained relatively blank, Yuffie could see the anger in his eyes. "On their way back from a supply raid, they captured a young boy around the age of 12-14 and currently, he is being used as a guinea pig for Onika's Jenova and mako infusion."
Curses of anger and frustration were heard from the men in the room while the women wore looks of horror mixed with barely contained anger. Yuffie shook her head and clenched her fist. "No." She said firmly, gaining glances from everyone who sat at the table. "It wont happen again…" The Wutain's gray eyes flashed and she saw her stoic gunman nod in agreement before her eyes slipped closed. Memories of the look that Sephiroth had upon his death filtered into her mind.
Yuffie didn't want to see another person turned into what Sephiroth had become. She didn't want them to have to kill yet another person who had been wronged by madmen and this boy…he was too young to have to face the insanity, pain and horrors that would come with the full Jenova/Mako integration.
Though she could hear every word that Vincent was saying, her mind went to Elmyra's current situation. Was she okay? If Onika was doing those 'experiments' of his on a kid, what could he be doing to her? She remembered what Aeris had once told her about how Hojo tried to make her and Red mate and his twisted comments on the experiments he wanted to do to her made her ill.
She couldn't stand it…Her mind, heart and body were in conflict and she didn't know what to do. Yuffie felt a deep sense of guilt at even suggesting the trip to retrieve the material. It was necessary, but if she had kept her mouth shut, or maybe said something about the dangers that Elmyra would possibly face, the kind-hearted woman would still be safe.
Yuffie's thoughts came to a stop when the ringing of a PHS cut off Vincent's voice.
Reno reached into the pockets of his suit, searching for a moment before he pulled the device out. He looked at the id screen and quickly reached for a pen and paper. He remained silent, his lips holding a small smirk as he wrote down a series of numbers. Elena looked over at what he was writing and the tension of listening to what Vincent had to say, lessened a bit.
She hooked her laptop up to two cords coming from the center of the table and watches as a wall screen popped up with a map. Fingers danced across the keyboard fluidly and after a moment, coordinates on a map popped up, designated by three blue x's and a single red one.
"The tracking team is holding positions a few miles North of what appears to be Onika's base." Reno said, grabbing the laser pointer off of the table and pointing to the three blue marks. "They've been unable to get close enough to get into the base but the men they were tracking did indeed go into this location." He moved the laser to the red one
"So the general area that Weston gave was correct." Vincent stated, having previously thought that his prisoner had given him false information simply to make the pain stop.
"Yup, the base is located in the Mythril Mountain Range, not far from Fort Condor. We can make our move…"
That's what they had been waiting for. The commanders of the Shinra guard and Soldier immediately began making orders for their men to mobilize as Barret slumped in his chair in relief.
.::-o-::.
Vincent reclaimed his seat next to the young ninja and could feel the distress radiating off her in intense waves. A sense of déjà vu washed over him as he took in her posture. Her eyes were focused on her hand, which were folded on the tabletop, unseeing; exactly how he remembered her sitting in the boardroom of the Highwind as they made their way to Cosmo Canyon.
The room was buzzing with activity as plans were made and orders were given. The gunman knew that their presence at the moment wouldn't be missed, so he made his move.
Yuffie looked up with a curious look in her eyes as she felt a warm, gloved hand come to rest on her shoulder and give it a gentle squeeze. Claret eyes darted over to the door and Yuffie nodded in understanding before standing and taking paper that had been placed on the tabletop before her by one of the guards that had been helping with the image and coordinates on the screen. It was quickly folded and placed in her pocket before she followed the gunman out of the boardroom.
Vincent led her down the hall and into an empty and dimly lit boardroom. He moved over to the large window on the far end of the room and looked out at the sight. Unlike the other room, this one gave a view of the city of Junon instead of the harbor and small residential and fishing area of lower Junon.
"Tell me…" He said quietly.
Yuffie was quiet for a moment, then moved to the table and sat heavily in on of the chairs. Her arm became folded on the table and her head came to rest heavily on them.
"This is all my fault."
The gunman's head tilted curiously. "How so?"
"Don't you see?" Her voice continued quietly, but with no bitterness in her tone, only sadness. "If I had never brought up the white material, we would have never gone to the Forgotten City. We would have never been at Icicle inn when Fraser and his men raided the Gast home, and Elmyra would still be here with Barret and Marlene." She paused trying to clear her voice, which was becoming thick with emotion. "You…you wouldn't have had to interrogate anyone ever again if I hadn't brought any of this up…"
"Yuffie-"
"Wait…I'm not done yet." Pained gray eyes met his beautiful crimson. "I feel horrible for all of this! Elmyra is facing a madman…you…you have to go through all of this again. Its like I'm making you backslide into this life again...and I know that it's probably bringing less that pleasant memories of the past for you."
Even in the dimly it room, Vincent could see the tears sliding down her cheek and onto the tabletop below. His heart clenched in his chest as he moved over to her side and took the seat next to her. Mentally, he felt a wave of anxiety and nervousness wash over him, but he quickly pushed it aside as he reached over and pulled Yuffie's tiny form into his lap. His arms wrapped loosely around her waist as she wrapped her small arms around him and buried her face in his cloak. Silent tears dripped into the fabric of his cloak, causing him to hold her just a bit tighter.
"Yuffie…this isn't your fault. If you hadn't suggested that we find the material, we wouldn't have it in our possession and who knows what Onika and Fraser would try to do with it. They would have been able to continue the infusions unhindered and with that many Jenova enhanced criminals, the loss of innocent lives would have been great.
"From what I learned from Weston Martin, the infusion studies have been going on for months. It was only a matter of time that the experiments would have started anyway." He said in his quiet, soothing tenor.
"Yeah but now Elmyra…and the boy-" Her words were cut off when a finger was brought to her lips.
"Its not your fault. We will get Elmyra back and help this boy as well." He said in a firm, confident tone. He wouldn't allow another to suffer in the way that his former love's son had. "They'll both get any treatment they may need as soon as we get there."
Yuffie sniffled softly as her tears slowed, then finally ceased. She thought about what he said, but simply couldn't help the feeling of guilt that wouldn't leave her. As she sat in his arms for a few more moments, a plan formed in her mind.
"Thank you Vincent…" She said softly and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. She stood and looked down at him as he rose, not failing to notice the faint blush that stained his pale cheeks.
"None are needed." He brought his hand up and brushed it against her cheek, inwardly smiling at the blush on her cheeks that matched his own. "Are you ready to go back?"
"You go ahead…I'll meet you there in a little while. I just need a few minutes to think, 'kay Vinnie?" She asked sounding a little more like her usual self. The gunman nodded and left her in the room, closing the door softly behind him as he did so.
Once the door had closed and the sound of his footsteps faded, she turned back to the table. The little ninja reached into her pocket and pulled out the paper, unfolding it and laying on the table. She studied the map intently and grabbed a pen off the table, scribbling down notes swiftly. She then searched around the room and found a blank piece of paper.
She wrote a note to her friends, and folded it before writing 'from Yuffie' on the front. She placed it in the center of the table, where it wouldn't be missed before making her way from the room.
The gray-eyed ninja remained calm and seemingly relaxed as she made her way out of the Shinra building so that she wouldn't arouse any suspicion from the employees of the company. Once outside, she ran the distance to the Highwind and to her quarters.
Dark clothing was donned and a pack was filled with supplies before she checked her weapon. Materia was carefully noted both in her Minerva band and within the notches of the weapon she had been given on her birthday, the Masara. The necklace with the Leviathan materia that had been given to her by Cloud and Tifa was tucked into her shirt before she tied the black protective ribbon in her hair.
Yuffie took a moment to grab yet another sheet of paper and began writing. She was soon done, knowing that time was of the essence. The letter didn't say half the things she wanted to say, but it was an apology nonetheless.
She walked to Vincent's room and placed the note on his bed, taking a moment to glance around the spartan quarters. A soft smile graced her lips before she left the room and moved to the stables. A few minutes later, a blur of gold and black darted from the airship and out of the town towards Fort Condor. Yuffie reached into her pocket as her beautiful gold, Kira darted across the plains outside of Junon. She pulled out her PHS and turned the ringer off after a moment of hesitation and focused her attention on her goal.
Barret would soon be reunited with the woman who had come to feel at home at his side.
.::-o-::.
Vincent sat at the table in the boardroom and looked towards the door. It had been twenty minutes and still, no Yuffie. He was about to get up and go to her, when a woman came rushing into the room.
"Mr. President! A man named Zade Fraser is demanding to speak with you!" She said and watched as the normally gentle and kind president's face hardened.
"I'll take it."
Vincent gripped the armrest of his chair as Chaos' consciousness shifted within his mind.
'Something isn't right…' Chaos grumbled.
An ominous feeling was shared between the two beings, but it was unclear as to what exactly causing it. He had to stay for now, but as soon as the conversation with Fraser was over, he would seek out a certain Wutain princess that had yet to return.
o-o-Author's notes-o-o
No, sorry to disappoint you, but this story ain't dead. I've been working through a serious case of writers block, but I think I got a little flow back. Trying to come up with some sort of demon torture isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world either.
Chaos: -grins- but I still had fun…
Ez: I know, and they deserved it for working with those who took Elmyra!
Chaos: -nods happily before going off to torment Vincent-
I recently started a new job as well. It has not been easy because I've been exhausted. I have to get up between 3:30-4:00am in order to be at work a few minutes before five. The hours suck for right now, but when I'm done with my training, I can choose another shift (thank gods). I get off at 1:30 and come home…and usually crash, so though I think about this story and others at work, I'm just way too tired to do anything productive when I get home. Not to mention that my computer got another nasty virus and so after reinstalling windows and Norton antivirus SIX times, I finally said fuck it and did a hard drive self-destruct, reinstalled windows and this time I have McAfee antivirus… (cant wait until I get another computer…)
I have a pretty good thought of how the next few scenes will play out, so I'm writing those down as soon as I get done with this. I also have to do my updates for TCOD and ML. I know that I said it before, but I will NEVER abandon my stories.
I want to thank everyone for their support as of late, and sticks tongue out for those one or two flames I got in my email. I really only have one thing to say to flamers…
BITE ME.
I don't care what you think about my other stories or this one, I have people who actually enjoy reading my stories. I'm not going to bow to your bitching and moaning when I have the support of a group of people who are absolutely wonderful to me. I love them all for all of their support and its people like you who I BET give AWESOME reviews to these dumb ass 'RANDOMNESS' and 'INSANITY' stories that have been popping up on all of the fanfiction sites as of late.
Let me also say that Cloud would never…'mate' with a chocobo nor would Auron 'mate' with a fricken fiend. I'm pretty much open to any type of fics, I read darkfics, hentai stories and yaoi (hell, I write it with my angey and pypy), but stories that do pairings like this just to get a laugh because of their warped sense of humor/eroticism, simply piss me off.
-clears throat, grins and blushes- well, now that that's taken care of, thank you all for your patience and I really hope that I can get another chapter out soon.
Thank you to Pyrobaka, Pingy, and DFN (darkflowerneko) for reading over the first part of this chapter, it really helped me out a lot.
Also, Eternalstar, I'll try to get to you about the fanart sometime this week. I really apologize for not getting back to you about it and I hope the offer still stands. -Passes out yummy cookies to all the reviewers and hands plushies to Eternal star, pyro, pingy and dfn-
Love ya all!
Ezzy
-hugs sephy2021 tight- I missed ya man!
Ps. Oh yeah, if you want to check out some of the more…naughty stories that I collaborated with Shadowbeaw (and pyrobaka on one fic) with, go to aff and they're under the name Pyroangelez. Be warned that all of them are yaoi, but the ff8 story will have our cute little Selphie joining in on the action as well –gives a naughty grin-
The fandoms we write in on that site are, KH, FF7 & 8, Samurai Champloo, Peacemaker Kurogane…and coming soon will be fics from Fruits Basket, Fullmetal Alchemistand Inuyasha as well as a KH/FF7 crossover fic called Firemen and FF9/FF7/DNAngel Crossover fic that has yet to be named.
(There is a KH/FF7/Ocx2 fic that I wrote with Pyrobaka called 'Mermen' that is available upon request. It hasn't been posted yet, because we have yet to figure if we will change it to fit into a category on aff.)
Thanks again...I'm really going this time! –grabs Chaos and runs away-
10/04/07
Edited because of change in formatting. Also re-numbering chapters. Minor content edits.