(Author's Note: Here is the next chapter!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy.)
Disclaimer: FF7 and Squaresoft are not mine. Cassandra is.
Chapter 9
Yes the battle raged on…and it didn't look like it would stop anytime soon. Cassandra swung her blade to the side. She danced on her feet to the left to dodge an attack. She caught a glimpse of the general as he looked away and went back to fighting.
Deep inside of her something told her to stop what she was doing and get out of there…but she could never do that. This was part of her duty. Her duty as a soldier…and not just any type of soldier…she was an elite.
The fighting continued for another 3 hours. The Wutain defense refused to even think of just giving up. The number of casualties on that side was almost more than double than that of the soldiers. Cassandra found herself back to back with the general as a swarm of enemy troops attacked him at once. Rockets began to explode close by…they knew now that they couldn't win and were trying to take out the main reason as to why they were losing. General Sephiroth.
This attack was stronger than any of the attacks she had fought against so far. It lasted for quite some time. A rocket exploded about 35 or so feet away. Debris flew up into the air and rained down upon the 2 fighters.
Something sharp struck her right side. She staggered back into Sephiroth causing him to stumble forward a step. He barely managed to pull back in time but still ended up with a very small cut across his cheek. He glared at that enemy soldier…who couldn't run fast enough.
"Watch what you're doing!" he snapped at the one behind him.
"Sorry sir!" she said glancing at him over her shoulder.
He met her gaze for a second. "I…know you," he said turning to continue fighting.
"Umm…yes sir…I'm a new SOLDIER…you told me that you would be keeping an eye on me when you made an inspection of the new recruits," she said just a hair worried about his sudden comment.
"No…I know you from somewhere else…don't I?"
"…no sir…"
"I think I do…but I can't place where," he said.
"You might be confused sir. I've never met you before until that day you inspected the new recruits," she said.
"I'm pretty sure I do."
"I'm sorry sir but you don't."
"Yes I do."
"No you don't."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes!"
"No!"
"YES!"
"NO!"
"YES!!"
"NO!!"
"YES!!!"
"NO!!!"
"…you're disagreeing with a higher ranking officer you know that right?" Sephiroth stated calmly.
"…grrrrrrrrrrrrr…you don't know me…" Cassandra said.
"Oh yes I do…a year ago you convinced me to leave Midgar…but…I think we were caught…? I can't really remember what all happened…" Sephiroth trailed off as he tried to remember.
Cassandra slowly looked around at their surroundings. They were still fighting while they talked but had failed to notice that they were completely surrounded by the enemy troops. As strange as it seemed some of what the general had been saying sounded…familiar…? But she didn't know him…did she? For a moment she searched her mind and seemed to find a wall blocking her thoughts. She couldn't really remember anything that led up to where that wall might have come from. But she did remember one…they had received their swords on the same day… It couldn't be…could it? That one memory leaked through the wall…but where had that wall come from?
"Hojo," she heard Sephiroth growl.
"Oh yes…him…" she replied in the same tone. Memories rushed back to her. But one question formed in her mind. "How did we recover our memories of each other?" she thought aloud.
"That's one question I'm not sure about…maybe our argument?" he said swinging his sword.
"That's a possibility," she said pulling her sword away from a soldier and blocking an attack from the next one.
"No more time to talk…we've been surrounded," he said,
"Oh! You're just now noticing that?" she said.
"Look at that. You're back to normal," he said.
"I thought you said no more talking."
He shook his head and they both fell silent. They began to fight harder. For a few minutes it seemed as if there was no end to the soldiers they fought but then after awhile their numbers began to dwindle.
"Finally!" she said.
"Don't relax yet. It isn't over," he said.
"Oh well," she mumbled and dodged a spell. She cast the same spell and sent it at the soldier who had just tried to hit her with it. After another hour of fighting had passed there were no more soldiers around them to fight. Except for 4 that were running at them. Sephiroth suddenly staggered back a few steps rubbing at his eyes angrily. The four men let out a victorious cry as he dropped masamune still rubbing his eyes. Cassandra spun on her heel and darted forward. They weren't expecting her.
"What's wrong Sephiroth?" she asked when all 4 had been dealt with.
"One of them threw dirt in my eyes before I could attack," he said. She shook her head. "There," he said when he stopped rubbing his eyes.
"Got all the dirt out?" she asked trying not to laugh.
"Yeah…looks like we're done here. Let's move to another place," he said bending to pick up his sword. A sudden pain went through her leaving her feeling dizzy and sick. "What's wrong?" he asked looking up at her and his hand just about to grasp the hilt of masamune.
"I…don't…"
"You're hurt!" Sephiroth braced her against him when she started to sink to the ground.
"I…didn't notice it before. I knew something had hit me but…" she said seeing the wound on her right side.
"How long have you had this?" he asked.
"Just…before we had our argument…yeah. I had hit you from behind," she said.
"You've had this wound for over an hour!" he said looking at it.
"It's just a scratch," she said pushing away from him.
"It's more than that. The bleeding mostly stopped by itself though…just let me look at it," he said.
"Fine," she said. He knelt in front of her as she turned to the side. He narrowed his eyes as he got a closer look at it.
"Sit down," he said.
"Why? I'm fine," she said.
"Oh sure. You've just fought for over an hour with a piece of metal from something embedded in your side. You're just fine," he said his voice dripping with sarcasm.
She rolled her eyes as he straightened. "Really it's numb anyway. I can't feel it," she said.
"I don't care. You're going back to the camp to get medical attention," he said.
"No."
"Cassandra…that's an order." His voice left no place for argument. She nodded and stepped away from him to start back to the camp. She had only taken a few steps with a victory cry for Shinra began to ring through the air. She turned around to see Sephiroth standing before 2 soldiers. These soldiers stood on either side of Godo…the ruler of Wutai.
"This is one fight that I cannot win…we have lost so many friends and family this night…there will be no more…you have won…general Sephiroth," Godo said with a bowed head.
Sephiroth nodded. "No more harm will come upon this town this night. You may return to your house Lord Godo," he said.
Godo turned and the 2 soldiers escorted him back to the town. The soldiers of Shinra began to gather around Sephiroth in a big circle. He walked over to where Cassandra stood.
"Well…now I can make sure you get back to camp," he said so only she heard.
"Oh goody," she grumbled. He shook his head and they took a step.
She sensed it before she realized it. Everything seemed to slow down…to go into slow motion. She saw the flash of fire before she heard the ringing sound of the gun going off. She shoved Sephiroth to the ground. The SOLDIERs around them let out angry yells and followed after the enemy sniper trying to stop him.
Cassandra staggered backwards a step. Her breath caught…it was hard to release it and take another. She never felt Sephiroth catch her as she fell and her consciousness slipped away…
****
