Word of Mouth,
By Ealinesse
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing of the Final Fantasy series - characters, items, ideas, nothing. I do not claim to. The only characters I do own, are Carlos and his cronies… Ugh, lucky me.
Summary: Three years after the fall of Sephiroth, Yuffie receives a cryptic letter from home that tells her all is not well in Wutai... But what does a certain Turk have to do with anything?
Warnings: Just a little angst, drama…
Category: action/adventure, slight humour?
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Chapter Sixteen: In Love And War...
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Making her way down the alleys had seemed but a blur of time, a matter of minutes condensed into a summary of seconds. She had no idea how long it had all taken her, but as she stood at the entrance of the large building, the omen of danger now seemed very real. The large steel door glistened in the twilight, a mere barrier between her and her father. A cold shiver ran down her spine.
She had been there for only a moment, she was sure, but as she watched, and as if by magic, two men melted out from the darkness, and she shuffled involuntarily back. Whatever force had led her here still remained, but her fear was a constant presence. That such people could sneak up on her so unsuspecting made her feel no better. Filtering her senses throughout the alley, she finally realized they were the only ones there.
The taller of the two, a lanky man with limp, ashen hair, stepped boldly forward. She flinched, but he made no move to attack her, and instead donned an amused expression. A scar ran the length of his jawline, another across his eyebrow and into his hairline. In the dim lighting, she could just make out an eye that was badly disfigured, thin lips but a blemish on a hideously angular countenance. A scowl flickered across the pockmarked face.
"Who are you?"
She was in no mood for questions, and she hadn't recognized the rage pent up inside of her until that moment. She took an equally confident footstep forward. "You know who I am." She flashed her emblazoned shuriken in the man's face.
He blanched, then moved forward to search her. After she had had enough of being pushed around by one of the ugliest men she had ever seen in her life, and when the man moved too close to the item she'd concealed inside her top, she stepped disgustedly away.
"Are you quite done?"
The man looked as if Christmas had been cancelled, while the shorter one held back a lofty grin.
"All right," his gravelly voice snapped. "Go in."
There was something off in the man's expression as the door creaked open and she was led inside, but whatever it was, she ignored it. She paid no attention to what was going on, and again, the corridors blurred one into the other. They were of no concern to her right now.
In what she deemed was all too soon, she was led into a large, open area. She hid her shock at the furnishings in the room, which were not what she'd been expecting. What she had anticipated to be but a cardboard box in the ground was in fact a fully-furnished lounge. There were rugs, carpets, draperies, couches, and even electronic equipment she couldn't fully recognize. She had no doubt that most of it was stolen, but she kept it to herself as the room suddenly filled with men; criminals, she ascertained. The ones who had helped kidnapped her father.
Her expression hardened as she recognized a painfully familiar face in the crowd.
"I see you turned up, leader."
She tried to remain calm, but the temperature was rising, and it seemed as if everyone but her were comfortably at ease. "Of course I did."
"You don't think that was perhaps a bit foolish?"
Yuffie shrugged, and folded her arms across her chest in what she hoped was an assured expression of arrogance. "It doesn't matter."
"It will soon."
"And why is that?"
Carlos smirked in an expression that made her wince and take a step back – right into someone else. The man who she had inadvertently crashed into made a lame grasp her for, but she danced out of his reach, only now realizing that she had, in her intense, angry focus on Carlos, been surrounded in a circle of hideous, leering men.
"What'sa matter, sugar?" one said. "Don't want to be here?"
She held back a wince, and refocused herself instead, on Carlos. "Where's my father? What have you done with Reno?"
"Ah, so that was the redhead's name." Carlos seemed to ponder this for a second, and picked idly at his dark, torn vest. Then he shrugged, looking her directly in the eye. "Never mind. I don't suppose it matters now, anyway, I've already disclosed to you both of their fates." Carlos gestured carelessly to one of the couches, where an indistinct blob of fabric lay.
Yuffie glared at Carlos, who motioned her to take a look. Strangely enough, she complied, and made her way through the group of men to the couch. Immediately she identified the first object - the green one: her father's over-tunic. It was disgustingly dirty and covered in filth. There was another item, though, a vague mess of torn white and ruby cloth. 'No,' she realized, immediately correcting herself. 'Blood, not material.'
She was about to claim no knowledge of the bloodstained white object, but then a very familiar starched collar peeked out from among the heap. She picked it up, horrified to notice that the shirt was none other than Reno's - unfixable, useless and caked in dried blood. She dropped the item as if burnt and tore her eyes from the Turk's discarded shirt, moving her uneasy gaze on to her father's. There was no less of the life-sustaining fluid on his, either.
Yuffie spun, her eyes flashing in anger as she spotted the gaping tears and wounds in the sides of both items. Her hazel eyes burned with fresh tears, but she ignored them. There would be time for that later. "You didn't have to… you didn't-"
"Now, now, leader. You didn't really think I was going to lie to you again, did you? Now enough of the small talk, it's time to solve this!"
And as Carlos fixed her with a dark grin, she couldn't find anything of worth to say, the image of Reno's and her father's crimson clothes rooted too firmly in her mind.
* * * * *
Even though he knew where he was going, it took what felt like forever for him to get there. The streets were again quiet, and every now and again he would pass the occasional drunk, mindless piles of various men who were too intoxicated to find any other place to rest their weary heads. It was one such man he accidentally stumbled blindly over. He turned to bumble a brief apology…
But that was before he noticed the pool of growing blood under the unrecognizable body.
"Oi, you okay?" The answer would have been obvious had the man the ability to speak. Reno took a wary step forward, cautious of any traps that may had been laid for one such as him. After receiving no word of warning, or any such sound he could define as human, he crouched quickly and pulled back the hood of the man's cloak.
"Shit," he groaned, immediately distinguishing the once-frightened features of the man he had encountered two days previous. He checked the man's pulse, and upon finding no result, pulled away from the body. He was long-since dead. Not wasting time on surmising how he had been killed, Reno instead continued running, hoping like hell he wasn't too late. He already knew who had done this, and right at this moment in time, the how didn't matter.
It were the other deaths he had to prevent.
* * * * *
As Carlos took a step toward her, Yuffie scowled. "Why did you call me here? To brag?"
Carlos sneered. "Isn't the answer to that just a trifle obvious?"
Her look of discontent deepened. This man was only trying to mess with her, and that was something she was not going to allow. Her eyes narrowed, and she glared wholeheartedly at Carlos. This small talk was giving her all the more reason to hate him. Her fists clenched. She didn't care what happened to the others, as long as Carlos went down. And didn't get up.
Carlos seemed to ignore her inner conflict, instead offering but an amused smirk. "Not going to answer?" he asked coyly, his voice mocking. "Don't tell me you're going to walk out on me already."
Again, she didn't reply. She bit the inside of her cheek to guise any cutting remarks.
"Not even going to set the terms?" Carlos continued, slipping a knife from his pocket and spinning it in his fingers. Suddenly, he threw the item by the blade into the air, where it spun wildly for a second, before gravity pulled it back down. The man caught it without so much as the slightest hesitation and continued to idly twirl it in his grasp. He snickered.
"Very well, then." He ordered the others to step back, and they did so instantly, instead forming a loose arena around the duo. Carlos carelessly chucked the weapon to the floor, where it embedded in the hardwood ground. "Hand to hand. No weapons, no magic." He cocked his head. "Deal?"
"Deal." Despite how fast it was all moving, Yuffie took a confident step forward. She raised her chin, sizing up the man who had not so much as a regret to killing another. Yuffie smothered a scowl. She was going to make him regret something, alright, and that was the fact that he was going to regret never dealing with her when he'd got the chance.
She hoped her sudden assuredness lasted, though, but she hadn't time to make so much as a second accompanying thought to that. As soon as she'd discarded her weapons to the sofa, Carlos lunged forward with a speed borne more commonly of others much smaller than he, and it was all she could do to get out of the way in time. She staggered quickly back, deciding upon the defensive to take the first few seconds of the fight to figure out just how the hell she was going to win this one.
And as she dodged another blow, and spun under yet another to give herself more room in the circle, she realized that she didn't have long to figure that out.
* * * * *
"I'm sorry, sir. There's no match for the area."
Staniv sighed. They had been at the local Police Station for close to fifteen minutes and had found out nothing of use. They had tried searching the local database for anything under the name 'Carlos'. It had been a broad search, but nothing had turned up in the area of Wutai. They had already searched the Junon one. Nothing. Not even so much as a mismatch.
The old aide ran a tired hand over his face, thinking hard. "I think Reno mentioned something to do with Midgar. Try that."
Even as he watched, four matches turned up, and he wondered why he hadn't thought of it earlier. The first file was hopeless, but the second turned up a personnel file from the old Shinra databases, which had been modified over the years to become none other than a Corrections Department file. He skimmed the file quickly. From the way Reno had been talking, this was their man.
"Print it. Find out all you can. Print a mug shot, too. We need to find him. "
As the printer spat out the photo, Staniv snatched it up and couldn't help but frown. This was the first real glimpse he had had of the mind behind all of this business, and he was not liking what he saw. And from looking at his credentials, Staniv could tell that this man, this Carlos Ilantra, was one very dangerous man.
He prayed harder for Reno's success in bringing his charge home.
* * * * *
Yuffie ducked under the blow and hastily wiped at the sweat that was beginning to drip into her eyes. The crowd of men around her leered, but otherwise stayed out of the fight as she ducked and rolled around the makeshift ring. She bit back a wince. She knew that she was certainly not unfit, especially with all the hours she spent in their dojo, but Carlos was no slacker either. She dodged again, biding her time, hoping he was going to tire soon.
So far she'd been caught unaware at least twice, catching the tough end of the blows. Moments later it was no different. While she was spinning away to avoid one fist, another seemed to come up out of nowhere, and she reeled backward as pain blossomed across her face, her vision momentarily nothing but stars.
She recovered quickly, but kept her silence after the shot; no words had been exchanged the whole time, but right now though, she could tell Carlos was only playing with her. He was definitely capable of hitting a lot harder than that.
But then again, so was she.
She aimed a kick at the man's chest even as he spun out of the way from her previous deflecting shot. She felt the satisfaction of the blow hitting solid flesh. The man stumbled back, and she continued with her momentum, landing a back-turning side-kick at the same spot. While he was still recovering, Yuffie landed a follow-up jolt to Carlos's kneecap. She heard Carlos's breath wheeze in his throat as he slid back into the crowd from the impact. Some of his men caught him, but he was back on his feet seconds later, albeit a little unbalanced. There were definite advantages to being made of nothing but solid muscle.
"Not bad," said Carlos wryly, holding his palm up to stop any further blows, his dark eyes glittering in amusement. She watched him wipe invisible dust off his crumpled vest as she sucked air in deeply to regain her breath.
"But can you dodge this?"
This time she could see he wasn't messing around. Somehow he moved faster - a lot faster. Yuffie felt the impact from several shots even before she could gather her wits about her and duck to avoid having her neck broken. She scowled and pushed herself harder, allowing herself a calming breath before launching into a barrage of kicks. She had to rely on her speed, not her anger to get her through this, and right now it wasn't working. She just had to focus.
"Come on, leader," taunted one of the crowd seconds later. "Can't you do any better than that?"
Yuffie leapt aside to avoid a sweep of the man's foot, and ducked under a consecutive punch, offering a sweeping kick of her own while she was down. Off balance and too focussed on her face to notice the movement, Carlos tipped suddenly backward from the unexpected shot. He landed on the ground with a solid thump, falling back into the crowd for a second time in under a minute with a muffled curse. Everyone went silent as he got up… again.
She hadn't seen him gather the discarded knife from the floor in the commotion, but she certainly saw it now. As Carlos stepped menacingly forward, she scowled.
"Cheat."
The man sneered. "I'm disappointed in you, Yuffie. You should know me better than to hold such a promise by now."
If she thought the odds had been tipped in Carlos's favour before, then she was wrong. It was all she could do not to have her throat cut as she dodged a backhanded swipe, swinging her arm up and dodging out of the way as fast as she could. It wasn't fast enough. Instead she felt the sharp, searing pain of the blade slicing down her forearm as she hastened to move out of the way. She gasped in pain and stumbled back, but Carlos continued his assault, not allowing her any time to register the damage done to her arm.
Unable to grant herself the luxury of supporting the injury in her grasp, Yuffie held the wound tightly against her side, breathing sharply as she struggled to see through the sweat pouring into her eyes. She sidestepped another couple of slashes, but imminently realized that her only chance was going to be in getting a hold of the knife. With one arm weakened and bloodied, she knew her chances, and knew that she had to do it soon.
In pain and desperation, she lunged at Carlos even as he brought his arm down in a deadly and vicious ark. Yuffie stepped into the blow, leaning into the man and finally finding purchase on his arm mid-strike. She fought the pain as her injured arm was jostled with the movement, and struggled to hold onto the thick wrist as he tried to wrestle it from her grip. She held on fiercely with a vengeance, knowing she had a lot to prove, and when she realized Carlos wasn't going to give the blade up without a fight, she aimed a vicious kick at his shins.
The blow was enough.
Instead of letting go from the pain the large man hopped around on one foot, but still held onto the weapon. Uncaring, she reached up with her injured arm as well, even as Carlos tried to use his height to his advantage. She pulled all her weight down on the weapon, and Carlos, who was still cursing in pain from her earlier ploy, tipped forward, off balance.
They both tumbled to the ground, and in the scuffle the knife scattered away. The crowd, unsure of the latest developments, washed backward like a temperamental tide, away from the knife and the wrestling duo.
Somehow - and hell it she knew how - Yuffie ended up the better off from the fall. She landed on her good side and rolled away from Carlos, moving fast for possession of the knife, knowing that she was no match for him in a brawl borne out of brute strength. With her good arm outstretched, reaching just inches from the bloody blade, Yuffie swore when she felt a hand close around her ankle and drag her easily back. Her hands clawed at the rugs covering the floors, but she felt her heart sink as she did nothing but tow them up with her. Yelling in defiance, she could do little as she was eventually grabbed by her injured arm and pulled to her knees. She writhed in the grip, but realized right now there was little she could do to gain the upper hand.
Even so, as Carlos leapt for the knife, she dived for it as well, catching a fierce fist in the sternum as he grabbed for the weapon. Unprepared for such a distracted blow, she was suddenly cast onto her side on the floor. Her hands flew to her chest as she gasped for breath, winded. She stared through wide eyes as she watched Carlos get slowly to his feet, his breath coming no more freely than hers.
"Nice… try," he muttered, once again twirling the blade at his fingertips.
She hated the look of satisfied triumph in his eyes, but she could see it was there, just under the surface. Victory, he thought, was his. Sucking in air but unable to breathe any of it, Yuffie realized just how hopeless and weak she looked; so injured and alone. She clutched at her shirt and ducked her head, unwilling to accept that she had lost any hope of avenging those lost, when she felt something warm and comforting throb just under the fabric of her shirt.
And that's when she remembered. Her eyes widened, and she was glad her downcast eyes hid this. She felt the beginnings of a smile forming on her lips, and wondered how she'd forgotten something she'd planned so meticulously.
Making a show of nursing her injured arm and breathing heavily, she made sure her hands disguised the movement, and just as Carlos was about to bring the knife down on her - and she finished recovering from the blow - she reached quickly into her shirt for the item she had concealed there earlier; that the men hadn't even noticed under her shirt.
"For father," she whispered under her breath as she called upon Reno's spell in her mind. A sudden bright burst of orange and red flame instantly lit up the otherwise obscurely dull room, and the moment before the whirl of fire descended on him, Yuffie delighted in the expression of defeat and innermost torture on Carlos's face.
"All's fair in love and war," she whispered as her father's killer was engulfed in the flames of the mastered Fire2 spell. A terrified, pained scream bit through the air, and didn't die until the flaming man fell to the ground.
Yuffie sank back at the huge wave of heat, relieved and drained, but realizing it hadn't finished yet. She still had to get out of here. She turned to the others, watching silently as they eyed their dead leader in shock, then turned to her, their faces malicious and cruel.
'…Which may be easier said than done.'
"Get her!" one screamed as the room filled with the smell of smoke and disgustedly charred flesh. Yuffie could only watch as other items in the room slowly began to catch fire as well. She saw the blame in their eyes as their hard-earned fortunes went up in smoke.
It wasn't long after that when all hell broke loose.
She was only glad that she at least had a knife this time, though how well that would serve her under the current odds and circumstances was uncertain.
* * * * *
Reno stumbled to a stop outside the building, mentally calming himself as his breath burned in his throat, even as the cold night air continued to assert its presence. As he stopped, he stared down the men he had detected in the alleyway coldly in the eyes, and reached hastily into the pocket of his jacket even as the two others did the same.
"What do you want?" asked the larger of the two as he stepped forward from in front of the huge metal door. He was still in deep shadow, but the black steel of his large shotgun glinted darkly as the man slung it almost casually over his shoulder. The calm movement was a fake, though – even in the darkness, Reno could make out the rigid tenseness in his shoulders.
"Good evening, gentlemen," Reno grinned, marking the two men; the shorter of the two especially, who looked caught out, ready to bolt for some reason or another. It was obvious who was the more afraid. "I'll ask you to drop your weapon, if I may."
The men were baffled with his language.
"I'll ask you again. What the hell do you want!"
Reno squinted hard as the larger man took an immense step forward. As he moved from the building's shadows, pale moonlight filtered onto the hideously disfigured face, but it was more the build, the size, and the clothing that was now ringing a very distinct bell with Reno. Somehow this guy was familiar to him, which didn't make much sense at all. He had no prior knowledge of these men; indeed, he had yet to gain the file that had been missing. So why was he – 'Of course!'
Reno bowed, smirking, never taking his eyes of the duo. "It's good to see you two again. I trust you had an enjoyable visit to my room? See anything you liked?"
"We don't know who you… " It took a few seconds for the testy, lanky man to connect with his words. In mere moments Reno watched the warring expressions tread all over the man's face, followed by the look of barely-concealed fright on the other's.
The short, pudgy one stepped forward, his lips scantily forming an argument even as the other one growled, "You're that one that the boss sent us after!"
"You can't go in there, he'll – he, he'll realize-"
"I'm sorry, but we can't allow you to go in there."
Reno heard the distinct click of the large man's shotgun and acted quickly, darting out of the way and sliding into a cold brick wall even as a shot rang desperately throughout the night. He scowled as his still-tender shoulder protested the rough contact, and decided there was now no way he was giving that guy a second chance. He rashly clicked the safety off of his own weapon and readied the shot, smoothly aiming and pulling the trigger all in one swift motion. The man was down for the count without so much as another intake of breath.
"Are you going to question me, too, buddy?" Reno said, walking forward and stepping over the second dead body to litter the same alley in one night. Just as Reno reached out to grab the other man, however, he began to bolt. Instead of wasting precious energy on chasing him, the Turk instead carelessly aimed, and shot.
He watched as the remaining man slid slowly down the grimy wall, shaking his head in panic, his hand gripping the back of his bloody leg tightly in a weakening effort to staunch the blood flow. After the initial clamor of the gunshot, there was a short scream of pain, followed by the sound of hollow, breathless gasping, which made Reno wince at the intrusion of the previously blissful silence. He gazed onward as the man struggled futily to escape, then gave up when the effort became too much.
For the second time, Reno made his way over to the man's side, and it wasn't until then that Reno noticed the two hefty bags by his side. The wounded man made no other attempts to escape.
"What are those?"
"They – they're… "
Waiting was not an option. "Is that the money that was paid as a ransom? Are you running off with some of the cut?"
The man nodded emphatically, stuttering either from the cold, the fear, or the pain, Reno couldn't tell.
"Why?" Short, protesting gasps of pain were his only reply. Reno scowled. "I won't warn you a second time, you know."
The pug man eyed the dead body at his feet, paling and gulping. After a moment, he seemed to recover himself, but only after Reno shoved the body aside and readied his gun again. The Turk held the weapon casually as he crouched, leaving it in plain sight so as to show the man the possible consequences of him retaining his imminent silence.
"I – we. You see-"
Reno's hand steadily raised the gun even as his gloved finger closed over the trigger. He lowered his voice. "I can't wait all day, you know."
"No! I'll talk! I'll… it's just… "
"It's just… what? Talk, or I'll finish what I started."
He didn't know whether it were the casual way in which he said it, or the dejected way the other broken body lay so forgotten on the dingy paving, but either way, it worked. The man sighed and slumped down even further, his breath ragged, his expression lost. His eyes were wide, and it was after a short moment, he answered, his voice low. "We… we never meant for it to go this far."
"Who didn't?"
A gesture to the discarded body on the ground said it all. "Me and him. We wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, we were leaving just now. We'd had enough. You see, Carlos signed us on to the job with good intentions. At first it were just a few random jobs… well, at first that's what we thought it was. We were good at that, you see, all of us. He collected us together with our, uh, talents in mind, and sent us out to do small jobs."
"Small jobs?"
"At least… that's what we thought they were. Turned out everything had a purpose. The murders, the petty theft, it all amounted to something. I did mostly surveillance, my buddy here did the dirty work. I'm sure you know about everything, though… He played around with our weaknesses, our… our families, our lives… " The man's voice broke off as he drew in a sharp breath. His hands tightened on the wound. "We never knew it was going to come to this. Not to taking the leader, or his daughter!"
"Why were you both in my room? What were you after?"
"You."
Reno frowned. "I know that, but why did you ransack my room? You didn't take anything relevant."
"On the… contrary. By then the two of us had had enough. Despite how my friend looked, he wasn't the dumbest of thugs. We knew Carlos sent us after you, and when we couldn't find you… well, we decided… we decided we knew what the consequences were going to be if we didn't." The man shook his head, clenching his teeth. "Carlos's lost it. He doesn't care what happens to us anymore, as long as he gets revenge for what happened to his family… to him. We know that now… but we just, we… "
"So what did you take from my room?"
"Evidence."
"Of what?"
"Of your death."
Reno blinked. "My death?"
"We took some bloody shirts of yours, figured maybe if Carlos saw the supposed evidence that you were dead and out of the way-"
"So the note Staniv received… "
A nod. "Carlos believed us. We just wanted to get out of here without a trace, we didn't know that he had made a deal that if you were saved Godo would live. We found out later on... that Carlos'd… that he'd… It… Carlos wouldn't have known different. That's the only reason my friend took a shot at you. I'll bet he's sorry now, though, seeing that you're here to stop everything. Heh… he may have been smart, but he was brash."
Reno smirked. "So am I." He whipped the same handcuffs he'd used on Yuffie earlier out of his jacket pocket to fasten the man to an old fire-exit ladder beside him. As the metal closed around his wrists before he could so much as blink, the man blanched, and stuttered excuses left and right.
"Oh shut up already," Reno snapped. "You're lucky I let you live."
"I won't be soon if you don't get me some help. I'll bleed to death!"
Reno rolled his aqua eyes and shook his head. "Don't try that with me. That wound is superficial, buddy, which means you're staying right there."
"B-but I gave you the information that-"
"Oh, Christ, do you know how many times I've heard that excuse? Big deal, so you stole some shredded shirts and robbed a few people. I'm a Turk, okay? That's the icing on the cake. I'm telling you, that wound you've got there is the best of the lot." He paused, contemplating the weapon still in his hand thoughtfully. "Unless, of course… you'd rather I finished the job?"
Reno watched with mild amusement as the man shuddered, shaking his head wildly. "No?"
"N-no."
"No, didn't think so." Reno picked up his bag which he'd dumped silently at the entrance to the 12th back-alley only minutes before, and made his way to the door. He pushed at the handle, more than a little confused as to why it wouldn't open. Then he eyed the handle, and blanched when his eye caught on the chunky lock. No curtain bracket was going to undo that.
He turned to the pale criminal, who was trying desperately to look unhurriedly the other way while struggling against his bonds.
"All right. Where is it?"
"Where's what?"
Reno scowled. "The key."
"What key?"
He aimed his gun at the man. "You're pushing it, buddy."
"I-I… okay. It's in my friend's vest pocket. Th-the left one."
"Now we're talking."
It wasn't much longer before Reno found himself through the door, and into the building, chucking the key back out the door before he went. "Don't wait up for me, honey," he called quietly out the door with a smirk as the other man looked helplessly on from his position on the cold, paved ground.
Reno laughed quietly to himself at how much the man reminded him of Palmer, but sobered instantly upon hearing a distinctly feminine voice. It was also then when he smelt the smoke. Instead of lingering on the past, he picked up his pace. If Carlos wasn't expecting anybody, then so be it…
* * * * *
A knife against eight men was little use, Yuffie soon decided. She had tried everything, but there was simply too many of them, and with her arm as useless as it now was, the odds were even worse. She had obstructed them every way she could, but her ploys were no longer working. Now, instead of one man at a time, there were three or four after her, the remaining two or three blocking her exit.
From somewhere one of them had procured another knife, and that one had taken the main front, attacking ruthlessly with the weapon. Fortunately – though she wasn't sure how much it was going to help her – this one was a great deal slower than Carlos, and it wasn't hard for her to leap over the occasional couch or table to dodge an attack.
But still, she was fast tiring and in pain. She had been fighting prior to this, and the other men had come in fresh, and with the knowledge that they could win this if they so wanted. She simply couldn't keep running around forever.
As the armed man came around the couch for the thousandth time, Yuffie spun around his thrust and, in what she could guess what was no more than mere luck, drew blood with an offhanded swipe. The armed man cowered back, though this was of little consolation. It simply came down to the fact that another man picked up the knife and continued where he had left off. The other men pooled around the wounded man, neglecting her for just a second.
In the lapse that made up the exchange of the weapon, Yuffie took one look at the smoke barreling up the walls and across the roof, and decided if she was going to leave, then it would have to be now. The air was fast growing hot, and the smoke was making it hard to breathe. It wouldn't be long before the fumes began to smother them, and even less time in which they wouldn't be able to see anything at all.
Hurriedly, she spotted an opening at one of the doors and dodged one man's punch, ducked another, and made a valiant leap for the exit not three metres away.
It turned out it was three metres too far.
As she was in mid stride and nearly free of the men who had moved to aid the wounded one, she felt something quite solid connect with her cheekbone. A sharp pain spread across her face and blurred her vision as a sick feeling pooled in the bottom of her gut. She hazily realized, in her hurry, that she'd failed to account for a man left at the door. She had been careless, and now she would never get out of here.
Unable to stand from the sudden force of the blow, Yuffie slipped to her knees, dropping the knife from numb fingers, and feeling the heat of the scorching fire burn at her back. When she managed to look up through tear-stricken eyes she saw her offender smirk, then say something to the others, and in seconds she was surrounded again. The next thing she noticed was the knife, held firmly once again in the injured man's grip.
"You're going to pay for that, girl."
Still reeling from the blow, she barely registered the fact that the knife was descending down upon her in a move that would certainly kill her. Her head pounded, her vision threatening to fade out on her altogether into a welcome darkness. Her heart didn't even have time to sink, and she was only able to close her eyes against the oncoming attack, failure ringing through her mind.
The blow never came.
Feeling the roar of the flames against her back and hearing nothing but a sudden silence, Yuffie warily opened one eye, greeted immediately with the chilly sight of the knife held inches from her throat. She shuffled backward, unnerved, and was met with not resistance. Immediate confusion struck her harder than any impact might have. She looked up into the eyes of the man who moments before would have killed her without thought; he stood stock still without so much as an expression on his face. He wasn't the only one.
Sensing no danger, Yuffie frowned and stood slowly, feeling her muscles protest at the minute movement.
"How the… "
Yuffie waved an arm in front of the armed man's face, then pushed aside the knife. There was no reaction. Bemused, she gave the man a shove, and was met with no resistance. To her shock, even the slightest push sent the man sprawling bonelessly backward into the others. Like domino they collapsed to the ground, knocking one another over until there were none left standing.
Except one.
"Well that was mean."
She jumped at the voice, ready to fight anyone else who would prevent her from leaving the building. She turned to the source of the sound, and instantly did a double take.
"R-reno?" she stuttered, sure she was seeing things.
"What's the matter, Yuff," the Turk said, leaning casually against the doorframe, despite the circumstances looking quite relaxed, "not happy to see me?"
tbc…
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Another chapter finished, but it ain't over yet…
Be sure to tell me what you think! I'm not all that good at writing action scenes, in case you can't tell! Hope you all liked this chapter. The next one will be out soon.