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Cid woke when he felt sharp movement near him. Confused, he turned and found Vincent jerking spasmodically, his face tightly clenched in what seemed to be pain. Concern and fright filled him at once and he turned quickly, gripping the demon by the shoulders and lifting him upwards, shaking him.
"Vin, wake up! Vin, are you okay? Wake up!"
Vincent's eyes eventually fluttered open, and they were beginning to tinge a red color, a sign he was near tears. "Highwind...?"
"Are you alright?" Cid looked at him with concern, sighing in relief. "#$^@, you had me scared there for a bit."
"I'm..." Vincent shook for a moment, his eyes turning a deeper red color, but he seemed to be trying to stop the blood droplets from falling. He shook his head and closed his eyes, failing in his efforts as small tricklets of blood began to seep from underneath black eyelashes. He covered his face with his claws. "I'll be okay...just give me a..a few minutes..."
Cid looked at Vincent sternly as he pulled the demon's claws away from his face, staring him directly in the eyes.
"The #$^# you're okay."
Vincent couldn't stand up to that and he looked down, his black hair hiding his face from view as small blood droplets began to drop onto the covers below them. Cid gently reached a claw underneath his hair, taking ahold of Vincent's face and turning it upwards to face him.
"Tell me what's wrong..."
Vincent's face was clenched in terrible pain, but it was not because of the dragon's touch. The emotional anguish on his face was terrible to see, and Cid felt his heart beat along the same rhythms, and the same sad song rising within himself. Another small droplet rolled down Vincent's cheek at an exaggeratedly slow pace. His fangs showed as he spoke again, his words clear but pained.
"Highwind, I had a nightmare..."
Cid brushed some of Vincent's loose hair away from his face, not held back by the bandana the demon once loved to wear. "What was it about...?"
Vincent sighed deeply, and Cid could feel him moving underneath his claws, shifting. It was almost as if something had been lifted off him, only to come back once again. His voice and his manner all seemed to tell of some terrible weight resting on his shoulders. Vincent kept his scarlet eyes locked with Cid's sky-blue ones, struggling to blink away tears.
"It's...a very long...a very long story..." Vincent's voice halted as he took a deep and quick breath between words, almost against his will. Cid settled back, folding his wings against his back, the spikes on his tail lowering slightly as the percieved threat had vanished, and he nodded.
"Take as long as y'like. Anythin' if it'll help..." He noticed Vincent's tail wrapped around his own in a deathgrip.
Vincent placed his claws on Cid's shoulders for a moment, almost as if for support, and looked down, breathing deeply for a few moments before speaking, brushing his black skin against his white to try and clear away his blood. It left dark red smears across his cheeks, but he continued to rub while he was talking, clearing it away slowly. "I wasn't always a demon..."
Cid nodded as Vincent replaced his claws on his shoulders, not because he was afraid he would run away, but almost as if he had no other support. He remembered Vincent mentioning this before, but decided not to speak in fear of scaring the demon back into silence.
"I used to be an angel..."
Cid stared at him in incomprehension for several seconds, while Vincent let go of his shoulders to take hold of his own, black and gold against such pale skin. "An angel..."
Cid was extremely confused, but he waited for him to continue, not wanting to interrupt the painful narrative. Vincent forced his wings away from his body, which they desperately and instinctivly wanted to cover from view.
"I was...one of them for a long time..." Vincent's words were halting and painful. Cid curled his tail, if at all possible, more around Vincent's own as a reminder that he was there, something the demon desperately needed. "And then...then I met her..."
Cid shook his head slowly, anger rising in his body for someone he didn't even know. There was only one way for this kind of story to end, and fury rose in him at the thought of the inevitable conclusion. How dare someone do that to him, how dare someone treat him that way...only the mention of someone else, of someone else that could have done this to him, was enough to make him angry, not from jealousy, but from the fierce protectiveness he felt towards the demon. Vincent seemed to notice the flame building in Cid's eyes, and seemed to take comfort in his anger, still struggling to continue speaking.
"Her name...her name was Lucrecia...she was...beautiful...and she was feline...and...I loved her..."
Cid continued to remain silent, not sure of how to respond or whether he even should. Vincent had his claws buried in his hair, shaking his head back and forth slowly as if trying to control the raging tide of memory.
"I don't know why...I think about it now...I don't know if she loved me...I don't know anything...maybe she was using me...just like she used the other angel before me, and how he died a twisted, broken monster...I knew she had a bad reputation....I heard from so many others how many lives she had broken...but...but I couldn't help it...she had me...so easily..."
Vincent's eyes moved upwards to meet with Cid's, almost as if expecting to see hatred or displeasure, but Cid's eyes only radiated concern and sympathy. "...our relationship...I...I don't know if...I think he's still alive...but I should finish..."
Cid cocked his head slightly, his blue eyes staring into Vincent's own. He waited, and it took several minutes for the demon to work up the apparent courage or strength to speak again.
"She...she told me she was...she was pregnant..."
Cid felt a moment of shock, but it quickly passed, concern for Vincent, how he would have dealt with it, how he would have felt, what he did, what had happened, taking its place.
"I didn't know what to do...I just...I just froze...what was I supposed to say?" Vincent pulled his claws from his hair for a moment and looked at Cid with pained, but dry eyes. Cid continued to remain silent as Vincent continued to speak, his sentences broken, evidence of thoughts running together and being released. "She...she went to the other angels about me...the other angels...I think she got tired of me...but unlike Hojo...I actually got her pregnant...but like him, I was to suffer for her treachery..."
Vincent dragged his metal claw down his face, not deep enough to wound, but to feel the cold of it against his skin. Cid watched his motion, not moving to stop it, knowing that the demon was not intending on injuring himself in such a display. He could feel his inner flame rising at the thought of someone doing this to Vincent, to anyone. He hated betrayal, it was one of the things he could never tolerate. He could feel the difference in the temperature of his skin and Vincent's, and tried to keep his fury inside. Vincent continued to speak, not noticing or not wanting to comment.
"I never even knew him, Highwind...I never knew Hojo...never saw him before...but I knew what happened to him." The empty look in Vincent's eyes was frightening, as if he had leeched all emotion to be able to speak the next words in the story. "I knew what they did to him, after they found out that he had fallen in love...fallen in love with someone they didn't approve of..."
Cid wanted to say something, but could think of nothing. What could he say? He twisted his tail again, and he felt the demons tail respond in kind, which helped relieve the feelings of uselessnes he was having at the inability to say anything.
"The angels...ha..." Vincent laughed humorlessly, a sick, sad sound. "Angels...Hojo's only crime was his love for her...and they tore him apart." Vincent's tone on his last few words was frightening and frightened. "They turned him into some horrible monster...something terrible...and sent...sent the other species to kill him...he wanted to die...everyone knew that...that was their gift of mercy..."
Cid dug through his memory, and remembered a vague story that dragons had passed down, that there had been some monstrosity that they had killed out of pity, and it had died with a smile on its face...he had never believed the story, much as he had never believed many of the dragon legends, but now he began to wonder whether or not that monster was who Vincent was speaking about.
"I knew about this!" Vincent's voice rose for a moment. "I knew what she had done to him! How she traded him in to save herself! And yet I fell for her anyway...I fell for her. I didn't head Hojo's warnings even in death...I never even met him...Lucrecia...she denied anything linking her to how he got caught...I don't know whether to trust her or not...I never should have trusted her...I should have trusted myself...trusted everyone else..."
Cid put a hand on Vincent's shoulder, finding the flesh trembling underneath his claws. The burning inside his chest was continuing to increase as he heard more of the story, and the angrier he got at the demon's ill treatment.
"She turned me in as well...and her son...and...and the angels..."
Vincent shivered violently, his wings shuddering behind him. "The angels had something different in store for me...worse then what they did to Hojo...for so long I envied his quick death...but they wanted something different from me...they wanted to know...to know how far they could go..."
Cid's face narrowed in an expression of anger, his eyes glowing brightly with his barely controlled inner fire at what had happened. He didn't say anything, his tail simply twisting tighter around the demon's own. He tried to control his tensed muscles which shook with the effort.
Vincent continued, apparently not able to stop. He held up his metal arm, his voice cold. "They tried to turn me into a demon...but they didn't know how. Their first attempt mutilated my arm...they gave me this one instead..."
Vincent shivered violently again, his body quaking. Cid could feel the vibrations through his entire body. "They spent...I don't know how long they spent on me...working to get me just right...I don't know how many demons they killed to get the information they needed to make me into this...to make me into some kind of...psuedo-demon...I'm not even real to them!" Vincent's outburst was pained and emotional, and his eyes began turning red again. "The demons even know I'm fake! What was the point of it all? Why try and pass me off as one of them? ...I know...it's so I could never be happy again...they knew it too..."
Vincent shivered and almost fell forward, and Cid gladly took him in his arms, letting him shake within them. Cid held him as he shook, struggling again not to cry as Cid rubbed his back softly. He could feel the soft strands of his hair brushing against his chin, and underneath his claws he could feel slight raised lines, scars that he now knew the source of.
"Lucrecia...she died...died in childbirth I think it said...they told me she was calling for Hojo at the time...they may have been lying to me, but with her I'm not so sure...my son...I didn't even know...I didn't think it was possible...he lived...he escaped...and...and his name was Sephiroth...and I don't even know where that name came from..."
Cid smiled for a moment, and his voice came softly. "We've met..."
Apparently the first spoken words from Cid struck a chord in Vincent. "Oh Highwind, I'm sorry!" He clutched at him frantically, clinging to the back of his shirt and burying his face in his chest, shivering. "I'm going to kill you, just like I did her! I can't do this, I don't want you to die..."
"Vin, Vin..." Cid tightened his grip around the demon in a quiet hug, waiting for a few moments until the shaking subsided. "Vin, calm down, alright?"
Cid waited until Vincent looked at him. "You knew as well as I did we were @#%@ed the moment we talked. Don't blame yourself for it, it isn't your fault. I know what's goin' to happen, and I'm not goin' to back down. I'm goin' to stand up for you, even if I die doin' it, 'cause this glow..." Cid gestured to the soft glow that was now blending with Vincents. "This glow means we got somethin' that most people never ever even get close to. And I ain't goin' to give that up just 'cause I'm goin' to die."
"I don't want you to die..." Vincent's voice was shaky, and Cid's response matched him.
"I don't want you to die either...but there's nothin' we can do..."
"But don't you care? About what happened?" Vincent stared at him. "I used to be an angel! I have a son! A son, doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"Vin." Cid touched his cheek softly, a slight tinge of the demon's blood coming off on his claws. Vincent stared at him with bewildered, confused eyes, the dragons reaction being the last thing he had expected. "Vin, look. It don't matter to me whether your wings are black or white, or who else is walkin' around with your name. All I care about is what's right in front of me right now, alright? It'll be okay in th' end, you'll see."
Vincent collapsed against him, breathing raggedly, but not crying. Cid held him as he calmed down, finding the aura around them glowing stronger then it had before.
"Don't worry, Vin. I'll be there for you...I won't ever let 'em do that t'you again..." The tone in Cid's voice was dead serious.
The demon's claws clutched at him tighter, with a sense of desperation, and the dragon held onto him with just the same tenseness in his claws.
How long would he be able to do this? How long was his life going to last? He had to enjoy this while he could, he had to hang on as long as possible...
The two of them sat on the bed, holding onto eachother as if afraid they'd be ripped apart at any moment, and were silent, as the quiet of the darkness outside their window was the only thing there with them.
They fell asleep clutching one another, afraid and frightened. The aura prevented this from doing any kind of damage, and the two of them held on until the light began to awaken them, and they both shook themselves awake.
"You 'kay?"
Vincent nodded, his face again having gained its normal emotionless demeanor, the blood on his cheeks having flaked off during the night, leaving only a slight red tinge where it had been shed. The two of them walked into the main room cautiously.
"She prob'ly won't come around today..." Cid shrugged as he walked toward the kitchen. "So we should be alright..."
Vincent nodded, his hair falling over his eyes. He brushed it back with a slight tinge of annoyance as he followed Cid into the kitchen. There he found the dragon with a pair of scissors, cutting at the edge of his shirt.
"Highwind, what are you doing...?"
Cid ripped the last part free and handed it to Vincent with a soft smile. "Here you go, Vin. This should keep your hair out of your eyes."
Vincent took the strip of blue fabric gratefully, tying his hair back with familiar grace. As he expected, a few strands escaped, as he thought they would, and lingered around his face, although they weren't unduly annoying. He had almost gotten used to them, and had long ago given up on getting them under control.
"Want somethin' to eat...?" Cid turned to the fridge near the corner, glancing at Vincent who sat down at one of the tables nearby, looking lighter. The talk they had last night must have really taken a lot off his mind...Cid thought to himself. He even looks happier.
"I don't know...what do you have...?" Vincent's voice was soft, as usual. Cid looked at him for a second, then snapped his claws.
"Oh yeah, you don't eat much...let me think of something..."
The dragon turned back to the fridge, his tail twitching back and forth distractedly. Vincent noted the aura around him somewhat gravitating towards Cid's, as if reaching for it. It didn't surprise him in the least.
Cid pulled several small containers out of the fridge, then shrugged in a way. "Time to improvise!"
Vincent watched as the dragon took down a large pot from one of the cupboards and put the contents of every container into it. After doing this, he held the pot up by the handle, took a deep breath, and exhaled a strong stream of flames at the pot, heating it up at an astronomical rate.
Vincent noticed with some interest that while he had been afraid of dragon fire for a great deal of time, watching Cid breathe fire had somehow lost it's danger. It must have been the aura's affect on him.
Cid set the pot on the table, smiling as he also produced two bowls and began to pour the strange concoction into both. He smiled at Vincent for a moment. "Dragon secret, honest."
Vincent smiled and leaned his head on the back of his hands. "Uh huh."
"Anyway..." Cid put the pot to one side, sitting with his bowl in front of him, sliding a fork over in Vincent's direction. "I actually HAVE had this kind of #$^# before, not bad really. Whenever I get hungry I jus' throw everythin' together and..." Cid shrugged. "Live with what I got."
Vincent nodded, taking the fork and studying it for a few moments. He waited and watched Cid eat for a few seconds before remembering what he had to do, taking several bites of the mixture. Compared to what the demon had been forced to eat for countless years, it tasted fantastic.
"This is very good." Vincent smiled at Cid, who seemed pleased at the praise.
"Ah, it's not that great..."
The two of them finished their meal and moved back into the living room, where Vincent sat on the couch, his wings folded safely against his back. "What am I going to do?"
Cid looked at him in confusion as he doublechecked the blinds and drapes over the windows. He had pulled them long ago, but the two of them did not want to take any chances. "Hmm?"
"I mean...when you go out..." Vincent looked off to one side. "You have things you need to do, I know you do...what should I do...?"
Cid went and sat down next to him, leaning back on the couch easily, trying to look confident, but he was having trouble. "I don't have to go out much, 'cept for food and #$^#...I'll be here a lot...but when I'm not, y'better hide somewhere safe until I come back..."
Vincent nodded.
"Oh, and no matter what, don't let that #$&#$ Shera in. Don't even let her know you're here, if that's okay."
Vincent nodded again. "I don't want to meet her..."
Cid smiled in a strange way. "Got that right."
Vincent leaned back for a moment, stretching his arms above his head. "But despite everything, I am glad to be here...with you..."
Cid smiled at the demon, hugging him for a moment. "Wouldn't be anywhere else in the world..."
Thankfully, the two managed to get some days alone before everything was ruined. They spent these days as any couple would, sleeping, talking, eating together. They did almost everything together, talked about everything that had ever bothered them, and spent a great deal of time just enjoying eachother. They knew their time was limited, and they wanted to make as much use of it as possible. They spent each night and lived each day as if they had only seconds left to live, and that made the days all the more fulfilling. If anything, the few happy days they had strengthened their bond and made their love stronger. The aura remained at the strange fluctuating intensity it had before, but their devotion for eachother burned brighter with every moment they were together.
Some days Cid did have to leave and get food or other things, and those times Vincent felt very frightened and alone as he hid in the closet, hiding underneath piles of clothing. Because they were spending so much time together, any kind of separation became that more painful. When they were together, they were almost always touching in some way, and to even be separated from physical contact almost caused them pain.
Sometimes Shera would knock or shout at the house, which Cid and Vincent would both ignore, but it was not as often as she usually did, or at least, that was what Cid said. That meant she had something else to spend her time on, and this wasn't good. It worried them both.
Days had gone by, and they almost wished that they could believe, even for a moment, that this would last forever. They wished that the world around them would disappear, leaving them only eachother. Even in an empty vortex, if they had eachother, they'd be happy. They wished that the world would just disappear, or time would freeze, so that they might enjoy their momentary happiness for a little longer. They didn't want their time, their lives, their world to end. But they knew it would, and it was only a matter of time before things fell apart.
That morning was much like the rest that had preceded it, the two naked and sleeping entertwined after a long active night. Because of all the contact they had had over the few days, their systems had begun to acclimate to eachother, and they began to follow the same patterns. They woke up at the same time, and slept at the same time, so the two woke again, lingering for just a moment underneath the welcome heat of the covers, and with the loving touch of their bodies. As with every morning that had passed happily in the dragon's house, they simply stared at one another for a few moments, overwhelmed with what they had. At these moments, death was worth what they saw in front of them.
They eventually did rise and begin to get dressed, wondering whether this would be the day when it would end, if this would the last time they'd ever see eachother, or ever see anything again, as they also did every morning.
This morning, unlike the others, Vincent walked into the kitchen holding a slip of paper in his claws, frightened and shaky. He was wearing the same pair of black pants he had worn when they had first met, his favorite piece of clothing. Cid asked him why he never wore a shirt, and the demon rubbed his shoulders for a moment.
"Too much pain..." he had mumbled, and Cid had nodded. He never asked him about it, so Vincent continued to wear his black pants, which he kept fastidiously clean. Cid, as it was, was dressed in his normal attire of green and blue, his favorite colors, on their final day.
Vincent stumbled as he walked, his tail providing him the extra balance he needed. It looked as if his world had been destroyed, and with a sick, sinking feeling, Cid knew what the note had to say.
"Vin, what's wrong?" Cid rose and went to meet him, taking the paper from the shaking claws carefully. The taller demon clung to him tightly, trying to regain his balance, as Cid's eyes scanned over the sheet of paper, scrawled with sharp black letters.
"They know you are here. They know who you are. They're coming for you. You must run."
"No signature..." Cid ignored the sick feeling in his stomach as he turned the slip of paper around before turning it back to face him. He glanced over at Vincent, who continued to hold onto him tightly. When the demon spoke, his voice was frightened and quiet.
"Highwind, what should we do...?
Cid crumpled the paper in anger, fire rising within him because he knew everything was ending, one way or another. "#$^#...we don't know who that's from...could be a trap..."
A sharp knock at the door caused the dragon and demon to jump, backing away quickly.
"Highwind, what if..." Vincent's voice was a whisper, strained and shaky. "What if that's them, what if they found me? They'll...Highwind, what do we do?"
Cid looked to one side, clenching a fist, blue and green marbled scales shining in the light as he cursed, a slight flicker of flame visible in his breath. "#$^#..."
He turned and took Vincent's arm, leading him off. "Nothin' for it now...time to start runnin'..."
Cid led Vincent down a passageway that he had not been down before. It wasn't unusual, considering that Vincent spent little time moving around when Cid wasn't there, and Cid had no reason to go down this passageway, which he found led them to a door.
Cid opened the door quietly and slowly and looked around the edge. He didn't see any threats, thankfully, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He pulled Vincent away from the house, noting the demon staring at it sadly. Cid whispered to him quickly.
"I'll miss it too. C'mon..."
It made sense that the dragon would have an emergency exit to his house, one that would lead far away from the main entrance. The doorway had led them to the very edge of the city, near where the woods began, and the two began to run, weaving and ducking behind and around trees in hopes of losing their pursuers, which they were sure were right behind them.
Meanwhile, on the front step of Cid's house, the silver feline known as Sephiroth sat, smiling as he stood, tail swaying and twitching with a mind of its own.
"Too predictable..." His silken voice breathed from his furry throat, and then to almost anyone who was watching the feline, he raised a paw and then seemed to simply disappear, leaving nothing behind him except a piece of thin charcoal. "Simply too predictable..."
"Highwind, where should we go?" Vincent's voice was a mixture of emotion and nonemotion. Over the past few days with Cid at his house, Vincent had come out of his emotionless shell and stopped trying to hide how he felt, and Cid felt very close to him at these times. But he also knew Vincent well enough to know that the demon hid his emotions when he was upset, and he knew he was trying to keep calm. Cid could feel his inner fire rising, and he knew that he was just as upset as his demon companion. "What are we going to do...?"
"We got t'hide somewhere..." Cid pushed a branch to one side angrily, his scales protecting him from any damage it could have inflicted. They weren't stupid enough to risk flight, so they wandered on foot. "Somewhere they won't find us..."
He felt a tingle through his body, and an image flashed into his head, an outcropping of rocks, tinged with the darkness of night. He turned towards Vincent to find his face completely impassive, but the demon nodded slowly, confirming what Cid had suspected about the source of the mental message. The dragon matched his action, continuing to push his way through the brush.
"#$^#, wish I brought my god#$^# spear..."
"There..." The demon's whisper was barely caught by him, and he nodded again. The two of them knelt in the brush, struggling to keep their bodies out of sight as they surveyed the area around the rock outcropping, not sure of what to expect. The sun had almost set, and the area seemed to be abandoned, but something seemed wrong. Something seemed unnatural, and the two of them were understandably paranoid, not sure of whether or not the bushes in front of them could be hiding potential pursuers. The feeling in the night was heavy and oppressive, and they knew something was going to happen, whether or not it being good or bad was still unknown.
"Right...let's go!"
Cid darted from the brush quickly, Vincent following closely behind them, and the two of them rushed into the small cavern where they had met what seemed so long ago. Hoping they hadn't been seen, they tried to muffle their breathing, hugging the walls, heading for the farthest corner away from the entrance. They waited, and Vincent began to speak softly, his voice filled with pain.
"Highwind, I hope...please don't let them have seen us...please don't let them be out there..."
Cid waited as tensely as the demon did, waiting, waiting for something to come, to give them some kind of conclusion one way or the other.
They waited, and Vincent closed his eyes, shaking fitfully. Cid moved forward, taking the demons claws in his own. The demon opened his eyes, meeting with Cid's, and he took a deep breath before he could control his emotions again.
The wind rushed across the hole that hid their hiding place, again causing the low tone that they knew, and they stiffened at this, sure that it would give them away, although it was a natural phenomenon.
Finally it ended, and the two could see the darkness outside that was all-pervading. Fortunately there was little illumination from the night sky, and the two of them cowered in the corner of the cave, tightly entertwined, hoping that nothing would find them in what they believed to be their sanctuary.
They rested for a few tense minutes, waiting, and finally they were rewarded with the sound of flapping wings.
Breathing got quicker, more ragged, and they clung to eachother stronger then they had before. If the aura had not been protecting them, they surely would have broken skin. But they held onto eachother, and both of them could feel the fear rising within them. Their tails wrapped tightly, shaking.
Wings. Lots of wings beating. Maybe they were passing by, there was no way that anyone would know where they were...it had to be a mistake...it had to be...
More wings...
"Take your position over there, make sure to cover the escape routes..." A voice came to them from above, and Vincent hid his face with his claws, a soft sob escaping him despite his best efforts. Cid tightened his hold on him, knowing that there was no hope for them now. They had no use in pretending not to be there...Cid could feel hot tears rising in his own eyes, along with his inner fury, and he could feel his body temperature rising.
The sound of more wingbeats continued, and the sound of many creatures moving in different directions to different places. All too close for comfort, and Cid waited, waited for the inevitable...
"Attention, beings hidden within the cave."
Vincent opened his eyes, blood running down his face as he stared at Cid with hurt desperation in his eyes. Cid stared back at him, finally feeling a small drop of liquid escape his own eyes, and the two reached out for eachother, scales brushing against skin as they kissed softly and quickly, one last moment...
"We have you completely surrounded. Please come peacefully."
Cid and Vincent stared at eachother again, pain flowing between the two evenly, and finally Cid decided to speak, his voice angry and rough.
"Where'd we be goin'?"
Whoever was speaking replied almost automatically. "It has been decided with great deliberation about your case that there shall be a Grand Judgement. Your presence is required, and we have the force to remove you if the need be. Make this easy on yourself and us and come out peacefully."
"Highwind, what do we do? What do we do?" Vincent whispered quickly. "They know about us, they know who we are! What are we going to do?"
Cid thought and finally shook his head. "I don't know..."
"Come out quickly."
Cid brushed himself off and stood within the small cave, slightly stooped. "Can't do anythin' in here..."
He held a claw out to Vincent, who paused, confused, but took it, droplets of blood still running down his face.
Cid emerged first, keeping his claws meshed with Vincents. He glanced around quickly, not surprised at what he saw. It was mainly a contingent of angels, all of them armed, some with long range weapons, with a few dragons interspersed among them. When Vincent finally came into view, the gasp from the crowd was audible, and someone within the ranks struggled to rush towards him, snarling.
"It's a demon! A demon! Kill it! Quickly!"
The enraged dragon was restrained, but Vincent kept an emotionless demeanor, his eyes becoming clear, as he stood beside Cid, his partner. He kept a tight hold of his claws, refusing to show any emotion as the lead speaker for the angels, who looked vaguely familiar to Cid, continued to speak, distaste in his voice evident as he stared at the demon.
"We need to restrain you properly. Please do not resist."
"The $^#@ you will." Cid snarled deeply, fire hissing between his fangs. He crouched, flaring his wings out angrily. The aura around him began to glow brighter, merging with Vincent who took a matching pose, black and green and blue wings standing brightly against the dark sky. "The #$^# you will."
The aura glowed brightly as it was seen by those around, and more gasps came from the crowd. More then one person tried to rush forward this time, but they were again restrained. The speaker continued.
"You are surrounded by impossible odds. Save yourselves the trouble and surrender."
Cid hissed and took a tight hold of Vincent's claw, bracing himself and leaping upwards, flapping his wings furiously. Vincent mirrored his action completely, the same thought going through both their minds, as the contingent of angels and dragons that had been sent to fetch them rose to the air as well, intent on chasing down their prey.
The two of them flew as high as they could, fully aware of the mob that was chasing them, closing in with every moment.
Both of them folded their wings towards their bodies at the same time, allowing themselves to fall, slicing through the ranks that were attempting to follow them, going at far too fast a speed to be caught. Leveling out near the ground, they began to fly as fast as possible, wings beating at astronomical rates in order to try and outrun their pursuers.
"Highwind..." Vincent's voice was emotionless, and Cid could tell from the moment the demon had emerged from the cave that he had succeeded in locking his emotions behind a perfect shell. "What do we do?"
"Fly faster, Vin, that's $^#@in' what." Cid managed to pant, his breath coming in quickly and heavily. "That way-"
Vincent screamed, a horrific pained sound that stopped Cid and nearly stopped his heart, a sharp twinge of pain flooding his body. He turned towards the demon, who had his back arched, eyes closed as his muscles slowly relexed, the demon falling from the sky like a black rag, dragging the dragon down with him, who refused to let go of him.
The collision with the ground was not too painful, considering they weren't that high above it, but Cid was far more concerned with the demon and what had happened to him.
"Vin? Vin!"
He rolled the demon over, finding a broken shaft having imbedded itself in his shoulderblade, dark, thick blood swelling from the wound. No wonder he hadn't been able to continue flying. Cid paused, staring at the demons blood as it escaped from his body, barely able to detect the rise and fall of his chest.
White hot fury filled him, and he snarled deep in his throat, flames flicking from between his teeth as he stood over the wounded demons body, one footclaw on either side flaring his wings, his tail lashing back and forth quickly.
Vincent stirred, trying to communicate but only able to make a small pained noise. This only helped to fuel Cid's anger. The enfuriated dragon looked upwards at those who were following him, his claws scraping against his scales as he clenched his fists.
"C'mon you bird#$^#ers!" Cid shouted at his pursuers, already spinning towards the ground, towards him. Flame roared from his mouth, lighting the night. "C'mon! I don't #$^#in' care, jus' try an' touch him! Jus' try it, bird#$^#ers! I'll kill you all!"
The raging dragon was quite a sight to behold as the angels sought to control him, struggling to avoid getting burned or set on fire, or slashed by the dragons claws and tail spikes. Cid fought as only one impassioned with the thought of protection can. The demon underneath him gave him strength, and he never ventured from his body, refusing to abandon it for even one moment.
Flames roared from his mouth, burning and setting garments aflame. His tail whipped around him, slashing and tripping. All through it the dragon roared, a deep, angry sound that spoke of unknown pain.
Many angels were severely injured, but it was the dragons that finally turned out to be Cid's downfall.
The lead angel had not been bluffing when they said that they were outnumbered, and in the end Cid fell to his own kind, his flame and spikes useless against the scales of other dragons.
He fell into unconsciousness, slumped over the body of his demon. The last thing he remembered seeing was a flash of white and black, and a sharp pain, and then he was gone.