Chapter Two:

Pasty Faced Obsession

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'A demon on board?' Cloud frowned, scratching at his head. 'Are you sure, Cid? We've combed the ship.'

'I know what I saw, kid.' the pilot said, grinding the cigarette butt between his teeth in agitation. 'And it was definitely a demon, and a fuckin' big one!'

'How big is "big"? Yuffie asked, peering nervously around Cloud. ' 'Cause last I checked, big means mean, which usually means I get my ass chased while Choco-Head chases it down with his big sword, and I haven't gotten my stretches in so you might want to find ano-'

'Yuffie.' Cloud broke in, his serious voice cutting the rambling short.

'Shutting up.' the Ninja said, and withdrew her head from the conversation.

'It's been days since any sightings. Why one now?' Barret grunted, frowning. 'How did it get on board if we're up in the air?'

Cid threw his hands up in exasperation. 'It had wings!'

'So what? A demon just flies on board the ship to chase you down a hallway before vanishing?' Barrett snorted. 'I think a little someone put something in your tea. There ain't no demon on board the ship. We'd know, right Spikey?'

Cid scowled when Cloud nodded in agreement.

'Nobody else has seen one, Cid, and you are pretty tense.'

'So I was seein' things, huh?' Cid scoffed and shook his head. 'I'm tellin' ya there was a big damned monster on my ship! I ain't makin' shit up, and I ain't seeing shit! I know what I saw! Now I want you lot to find the damned thing before it makes mincemeat of my crew and tears up my ship again.' He glowered and after several moments, Cloud sighed.

'Fine.' he said. 'We'll look around. What does it look like?'

'What?' Barrett said. 'For real?'

'You can't be serious!' Yuffie whined. 'I was in the middle of a bath! Clooouuuuddd!'

'It's the only way to know for sure.' Cloud said with a shrug of his shoulders. 'Cid?'

'It was big, black with wings, talons and glowing yellow eyes. Had bone an' shit like armor. Ghost faced.' Cid described. 'It ran on two legs.'

'Ghost faced?' Barrett raised an eyebrow.

'I don' know, 'kay?!' Cid snapped. 'It's face was fuckin' pasty!'

'It had a face?' Cloud frowned.

'Yeah. A pasty one.' Cid nodded.

'Wait…' Yuffie risked peeking around Cloud again. 'Like a vampire with gold glowy eyeballs?'

'Yeah, kinda'. Cid shrugged. 'Didn't look like any vampire I've seen before though.'

'Was it like a… Vinny Vampire?' Yuffie asked hopefully. 'Kind of? Maybe? Even a little?'

Cid rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head.

'Look.' He said uncomfortably. 'I don't know. It's been a while since I saw any of Vincent's forms.'

'Ooh! I've got a picture!' Yuffie exclaimed excitedly. 'I'll go get it! Then you can tell us for sure if it was him!'

Without a further word, the Wutai Ninja sped out of the room leaving her friends speechless and more than a little confused.

'She has a picture of Vincent's forms?' Barrett asked in the silence left by her exit.

'Brat's fuckin' obsessed with that man.' Cid muttered and lit another cigarette.

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Lucrecia carefully crawled into the dark space. It was barely big enough for her to crawl through, and certainly not big enough to defend herself should something attack her. She didn't doubt it would, especially if whatever was in the vents was what she thought it was.

So we did invite you back. She thought, carefully shining her light when she came to a split. Three directions to choose from.

'Shit.' She whispered. There was no way she could know which way it had- she paused, shining the light down the rightmost passage. A dark smear on the top. She wriggled closer and felt her excitement rise. Blood.

'So. That's why you are hiding.' She murmured, touching the freshly-smeared patch and examining the blood on her fingers. It had always been a marvel how closely some demon blood resembled that of a humans.

'Show me where you've been, Chaos.' Lucrecia said softly, shining the light further down the vent. Clumsily, she reached to her belt and pulled the pistol from the holster. She flipped the chamber open, emptying the deadly rounds and shoved them into her pocket and exchanging them for small vials with long needles. Careful not to prick herself on the tip, she loaded the tranquilizers into the chamber. Snapping it into place, she flipped the safety on and smiled a little. Fieldwork had never held appeal to her before, until someone had introduced her to its dirtier works. The hunts had been difficult, frustrating even, but the satisfaction of having caught the specimen was more exciting than hearing of its successful capture.

With a sigh and a shake of her dark head, Lucrecia crawled on through the vents, feeling the adrenaline rising steadily like a fire slowly heating in her veins. Chaos was out there. And she was coming for him.

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*SMACK*

The demon stopped, mouth still open, and stared at the girl. Did the little bug really just hit him across the face? She wasn't smiling anymore, nor did she look scared or frightened. On the contrary, she looked angry.

'No!' she said, so firmly that the demon actually felt a flicker of uncertainty.

'Put me down!'

Chaos felt his wings twitch with confusion. The little bug was giving him a command, her voice holding as much authority as his own. At his hesitance, the girl huffed and lifted her finger, wagging it at him. Chaos decided he did not like the look of the finger. Normally, they weren't so dangerous, but he had certainly never had a weak human behave as this one. The little ones were usually so easy to pick off.

'I said: put me down!'

His wings twitched again, but Chaos slowly set the girl down and took two steps backwards, watching her cautiously. He expected her to cast a spell or suddenly produce an army of tiny demonic beings,, but she did neither. She only smoothed out her dress and planted her hands on her hips, raising one hand to shake that dangerous finger at his face.

'You shouldn't go eating little kids!' she berated him. 'Papa would be very mad if you ate me, and he's very big and very strong, so you don't want him to be mad at you. If you are that hungry, then you should have said something. If you had asked nicely, I would have shared my lunch with you.'

She gestured to the side, where a small sandwich sat on a plate, several halves set neatly on plates, each of which were placed before a stuffed doll or animal. Chaos inwardly wished himself back up in the vent and being chased by the humans with guns. That danger he understood, but this…

'Here, since you are so hungry, you can have mine!' The girl picked up the largest sandwich and held it out. Chaos couldn't help but flinch. He wasn't certain he wanted a meal from a little bug that could boss him around. Of course, it would have been so much easier if she had just let him eat her.