Disclaimer: Not mine! Not mine!
The characters aren't mine - Final Fantasy is Square's baby! I made no money – the free publicity other
wise know as fan fiction is just my sad obsession.
Reader Info: Just to alleviate
confusion -this story starts after you go to Rocket Town, but before Yuffie
steals your materia in Wutai.
SHADOW OF A RAVEN
By ½ of The Pink Apocalypse
Chapter One: Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don't
The raven haired man lay crumpled on the ground. Slowly, he raised his head to survey his
current situation. The harsh florescent
light from the over head fixture assaulted his red eyes as he opened them for
the first time since regaining consciousness.
The folds of his tattered crimson cloak hung heavily at his sides as he
tried to move. ::What happened he thought to himself?:: His mind flew back but,
a haze hung over his memory and a throbbing pain pierced his head. Gingerly, he raised his one human hand to
his head and felt a warm, sticky substance flowing across his face from under
the bandanna he wore.
"Ah, awake I see Vincent."
A sick sensation hit Vincent in the gut as he
recognized the voice.
"Hojo," he growled
and his head snapped upwards to stare the creator of his nightmares in the
eye. He was greeted with a sadistic
smile as Hojo looked down his nose at him and adjusted his glasses.
"It seems you are going to be helping me with another of my
experiments," Hojo held his sides as he was possessed by a fit of maniacal
laughter, "Do you remember how much fun it was last time?" Vincent felt the anger rise
inside him and the monster in the back of his mind stir, one
the horrors given to him the last time he and Hojo "worked together."
"You bastard," he
growled.
Hojo turned his back to him, continuing to talk, unaffected by his words. "It's all
in the name of science dear Vincent, Lucrecia knew that. I would have though
you too would have learned it by now,"
the scientist spun around
to watch the effect of his words. Vincent flinched, and the
pain and anger mounted in his eyes. A deep growl emanated from his throat as
the demon in him surged forward.
"I would not do that, Vincent," he hissed gesturing to the
cage Vincent had been deposited in, "It
will do you no good. And if iron bars
do not a prison make, I will still have your friend over there." Hojo's smile grew wider, "It would be a
pity, if you forced me to harm such a precious specimen."
Vincent forced the monster to settle back into his mind and
dread rose in his stomach as he turned to follow Hojo's gaze. "... Aeris," he
whispered as his intense eyes fixed on her limb body. Her pink dress was torn and blood was
matted in her long brown hair. She lie perfectly still except for the shallow rise and fall of
her chest.
"Could you stand taking the loss of her life on as another
sin?"
Vincent turned back to Hojo as his spirit settled in
defeat. No, he could not stand the
destruction of another person on his head, his hands where already too stained
with blood.
"What do you plan to
do with me?"
"I already told you.
You are to assist me with a little experiment. I had originally planed to use the Red XIII specimen, but now
that I have the Cetra back, I don't want to waste any time waiting for your
friends to come rescue you before getting on with my research. Besides," he paused and locked eyes with
Vincent, "Using you makes things much more interesting for, me old
friend." He threw his head back and his
sinister laughter echoed through the lab.
*****
The clash of battle had suddenly subsided, leaving the
scraggly, blond pilot standing in the middle of a ruined field, gasping for
breath and leaning on his spear for support.
The battle had ruffed him up to say the least. As he tried to place the
weight of his body on his left leg, pain shot up through his leg and, for a
moment, the world flashed red.
::@%#$ I must've %$#%$# injured it when I landed from my
last ^%$^% attack. $%#% that hurts.:: Cid thought as the pain subsided. He
reached up into his goggles, pulled out a cigarette and lit it with a match
from his pocket. Puffing on it, he adjusted himself to lessen the pain and then
hobbled over to check on the others. As he walked over to Cloud, who was
helping a blood-soaked Tifa to her feet, he panted, "Now why the hell did those
damn Turks run out of here like that!
Holy Shit, they where kicking our asses!"
"I don't know Cid,"
Cloud replied, his voice wavering slightly as the ache of battle entrenched
itself into his body, "But it doesn't matter now, as long as every one is all
right?"
"'All right,' is a relative term," a large, red cat called
from further down the field, as he rushed to aid his injured comrades.
"Red, you ok?" the woman muttered, biting her lip.
"Better than you,my
friend," Red XIII bowed his head and
yelled, "Cure!" A bright, green glow
emanated from his hair clip and the pained look in Tifa's face lessened as some
of her more minor injuries disappeared.
"I've never seen the Turks travel with so many troops
before, and then have them just run away like that...", Tifa trailed off.
"Tzeng was with them
too, he usually doesn't fight with the Turks in battle," Cloud said and turned
his head upward in thought. "Something
isn't right."
"Damn strait
something's not right!!" Cid yelled, "We look like ground Chocobo burger!!" A rustling noise from behind, caught Cid's
attention. He spun around as best he
could on his injured leg dropping the cigarette out of his mouth. As he turned,
the hard face of a large, mussely, black man with a gun on his right arm came
into view. "Shit, you scared me Barret!" He paused for a moment looking him
over. "You ok?" Cid asked, looking at
the charred flesh on Barret's face, where a Turk light had hit him.
"Still Breathin', no thanks ta those damn Shinra thou. Hey, where da others?"
"Hey guys," the high voice of Cait Sith squeaked. "Boy, that was one dosey of a fight," the
little black and white cat said while trying to stuff some of the cotton back
in the Mog he was riding. "They sure
did a number on me! I was like dice and
they where like wham!!"
"Hey," the short, brown haired ninja called running up on
the group. Yuffie stopped and bent over
for a minute holding her sides trying to catch her breath. "I guess we won... boy that was close... not
that anybody could ever
stand a chance against yours truly," she looked up to see how the others
were. Her mischievous brown eyes
sparked in concern "Hey... um where's Aeris... I mean, I saw her go down, but I
had my hands full with Elena... she kept chucking' these grenades at me... but
I thought Aeris got back up."
Cloud's head snapped up and he set Tifa down gently. "Aeris!,"
he yelled, "Aeris!! Can you hear me?!"
"Hey," Cid looked
around for his sullen friend, "Anybody seen Vincent?"
"No, not since he
tried to help me," Tifa moaned.
"OH SHIT! That's what they were @$#%#@ after!" Cid yelled.
"Oh no," the lion
sighed, lowering his large head to the ground in despair,
"We should have
watched Aeris closer... we knew they wanted her to find the Promised Land."
"I was watching
her," Yuffie sniffed as her eyes turned glossy.
"It's not you fault,
Yuffie," Red XIII said.
"But... Tzeng told
Aeris to stay out of Shinra's way... I thought... I mean... I didn't think they
would come after us like that..." Tifa said, trailing off.
"Hey! How come they didn't take Red? I thought they wanted Red for one of the mad
professors little experiments?" Cait replied bouncing up and down as another
wad of cotton worked its way out of the gash in his Mog.
"Why 'id dey take
Vincent?," Barret muttered, "It don' make no sense."
"Beat's the hell out
of me," Cid said, readjusting the weight on his leg. It hurt like hell, but he would worry about it in a minute.
"We have to do
something!" Cloud shouted, "I don't care why they ran off with them, but
whatever Shinra has in mind can't be good!" reaching for the Rune Blade he had
dropped on the ground when he had rushed to Tifa's aid. "We can't
waste anymore time!"
Authors Notes:
Well this is my first attempt at actually writing a serious
fic (not to mention a solo fic) and its just been sitting around since … well
forever! But I though why not Why the
hell not just post it! If ya like it or
hate it please give me a review. If I
don't get any reviews I'll just consider this a dead fic – no love lost, ya
know!
Suggestions would be great if you have any!
Thank ya!!!
