Chapter 40
Return to Fort Dal'fa
Disclaimer: These things are getting boring…don't own don't sue; I'll kill if anyone takes my characters or the ones given to me by anyone else. Ask if you'd like to use them.
A/N: Hey all, I'm going to post that new story soon with a new chapter so it'll be like 20 or 21 chapters when it is posted. But till then, enjoy this one!
Return to Fort Dal'fa:
Sephiroth stopped the chocobo just beyond the cover of the woods. Both he and Daitona looked up at the fortress on top of the slope before them. There were bodies of Shinra SOLDIER's and cadets laying in the grass and more hung from the damaged walls around Dal'fa. Smoke rose from some area within the fort…there was more than just that though, there was obvious movement within the fort.
"It could be some of the soldiers…" Daitona suggested from where she rode behind Sephiroth.
"True…and it could also be enemy," Sephiroth replied and nudged the chocobo out of the cover of the woods.
The yellow bird warked softly as if knowing the cautious situation. It strides were slow as the giant bird wove through the bodies that littered the ground.
"There are Wutain's there…" Daitona noted looking at a few fallen enemy soldiers.
"How fresh do you suppose these kills are Daitona?" Sephiroth asked and steered the chocobo around a cluster of bodies.
"Hu-Wha…" Daitona frowned at his back then look down at the bloody ground beneath them. "I'd guess…from the lack of smell…that this all took place just a few hours ago. They probably got attacked in the early morning when the nights sky was still a cover."
"That's what I thought…be prepared to fight when we get up here. I have counted about five, maybe more, guns aimed at us now," Sephiroth whispered.
"Were?"
"Doesn't matter. We were ordered to protect this fort and now we have a little more work and not any more time. When I say so cast a barrier around the both of us while I use a transport spell to get us inside," Sephiroth stated.
Daitona wrinkled her nose. "I got a better idea…"
"And what's that?"
"Oh, you'll see…" Daitona smiled evilly and her eyes blazed to life…
****
"General Neka! There are two people, a man and a woman approaching our walls on chocobo," a soldier reported breathlessly; he had just run almost completely around the fortress looking for the general.
"Are they Shinra?" Neka growled.
"We don't know sir. They're not in uniform, so we can't tell if they are Shinra or not."
Neka smirked all the more. "Catch them. Put the man down in the prison cells with the rest of the Shinra scum and bring the woman to me."
"Is that wise sir?" an officer, who had remained silent up until then, asked skeptically. "I've heard that there is a girl among the Shinra ranks that travels with a man. He's said to be a great warrior and there really isn't that much information retaining to the girl. We don't even know if she fights or not! And, I also believe it was those two who led the troops against here last time…rumor has it that they have both been made general's recently, do I'd suspect that the girl has some great talent to put her in that rank."
This bit of new information made Naka leer all the more. "All the better. More of an embarrassment to Shinra; what were they thinking sending a girl to war? What did they really expect to happen when she was caught from battle? We'll show those idiots the mistake of their ways. You bring that girl to me when she's caught!"
****
Daitona yawned and her eyes slowly dimmed. Sephiroth felt her arms around him loosen and her head rested more firmly on his shoulder.
"Man…I guess I don't get enough sleep anymore," Daitona laughed tiredly. "And they don't either, it's pretty bad when a soldier sleeps at his post isn't it?"
"You put them to sleep didn't you?" Sephiroth asked looking back up at the quiet fort.
"Maybe, maybe not. I used a low level spell…I couldn't get anything better. So it could have missed or been blocked really easily…or been reflected…" Daitona sighed and slumped against his back.
Sephiroth groaned and turned around enough so that he could wrap an arm around her and pull her in front of him. He cast a dispel spell on her and successfully woke her up. Daitona sighed; she turned her head back towards the fort so that she could assess just how well her magic had worked.
"Well…what do you think?" she asked uncertainly.
"I think you just wasted a bunch of time and energy AND gave away our position. But that really doesn't matter now, now does it? Any particular plan of attack you suggest?" Sephiroth asked smartly.
"Ah, no." Daitona looked at him dully. "But mister boss man. You make the decision."
"Good. Then we'll do this the way we normally do…" he started.
Daitona rolled her eyes as he spoke then interrupted: "Except they're only two of us right?"
"Precisely. That's why you'll have to be on your highest guard and extra careful. We won't get a second chance. You'll draw on the guards attention; attack them if you like just don't get yourself caught." Daitona narrowed her eyes at Sephiroth who in turn smirked. "Then, when you have their full attention I'll attack from the back and hopefully catch a lot of them off guard. This will be harder now because we don't have anyone but each other to depend on until we can find the commander and the soldiers. That'll be your job. When I come in, I'll draw the attacking soldiers to me so that should give you a fairly clear path into the surrounding buildings. Commander Zante and the others are probably in some sort of prison so look for stairs leading down."
"Anything else?" Daitona asked in exasperation.
"Not that I can think of, but if you get in trouble don't forget you can tell me and I'll come." Daitona nodded and hugged him before jumping down off the chocobo's back.
"I guess I get to go first and second this time don't I? Hopefully this time my attack will be little more effective than my last one." She laughed then sprinted forward towards Dal'fa's walls.
Sephiroth watched from a safe distance taking care of any soldier that happened to come into his sights as Daitona neared the fort. Once there Sephiroth nodded to himself and turned the chocobo in the direction from which he was going to enter the fort.
Daitona made it to the wall and felt Sephiroth take his eyes off her. 'See ya soon…and don't be late!' She smirked then leaped up high to land soundlessly on top of the bordering wall.
She landed in a low crouch; successfully startling a few Wutain soldiers who were suppose to be on guard there. Before either of the two guards could utter a single cry of alarm they met the cold steal of Daitona's Excalibur's Moons.
Sephiroth rode the chocobo a short distance before dismounting and tying the bird to a tree. He fed it a few greens then headed for his target. His starting attack point was the same one Daitona had used the first time they had attacked the fort.
He easily scaled the wall and took out the few guards with ease. He sat there quietly for a long while to be certain that he had not alerted the other guards. After a good ten minutes the commotion started.
'How'd you stay quiet so long? You better not have been slacking off, because if I catch you…' Sephiroth warned silently.
'Oh be quiet and let me do my job!' Daitona's voice snapped back at him. 'And for your information I wasn't slacking off. I was taking out all these guys with long distance weapons. There's nothing worse than being attacked form behind by someone you can't automatically hit back.'
'True. I'll make my move in five more minutes. Take out as many of them as you can.' Sephiroth nodded then peeked his head over the cover of the wall to watch the confusion that lay just below him.
Many of the soldiers didn't know what was going on so they were running back and forth trying to find out. Some of the smarter ones knew and went to aid in taking out the enemy, which in all reality wasn't too smart either. Amongst all this chaos, there were still some guards who apparently didn't notice and stayed at their post; those were probably the smartest of them all.
Sephiroth, even as he watched, crept silently down the wall and into the surrounding shadows. He picked off the guards who still guarded their posts then went back into hiding until he found another target. Five minutes passed before Sephiroth found another target so he carefully made his way out of the shadows and cut off and advancing group of soldiers.
"Who are you?" the obvious leader of the group demanded pointing his short katana at the tall silver-haired man that had stopped them.
"Not Wutain," the stranger answered in a mellow voice before sweeping out his huge sword. In one swipe, three of the five soldiers in the group fell dead, the leader amongst them. "Oh darn I missed. Oh how I hate it when that happens…if you were to just run away right now I wouldn't hold it against you, and hey. I might even let you live so long as you don't cross me again. What do you say?"
The two wide-eyed Wutain boys nodded slowly then spun running for everything they were worth. Sephiroth shook his head in disgust. Though they were smart for running they were cowardly and had no real loyalty to their country.
"That wasn't very nice."
Sephiroth turned sharply ready to attack the owner of the voice but stopped at seeing Daitona sprinting towards him. She ran all the way to him then ducked behind him.
"Kill him, kill him!" She pointed vigorously at an advancing soldier. Sephiroth looked at the ground and found a shadow steadily growing larger until it loomed over him and Daitona. Only then did he look up at this soldier that had made Daitona run.
Sephiroth took a step back forcing Daitona back with him. The soldier before him was a giant. He'd never seen someone so big.
The Wutain, if he really was Wutain, laughed with a deep rumbling voice causing many things to shake. He stood at least eight to eight and a half feet and was none too skinny. His layers of fat made all his movements seem long and very sluggish. He was sweaty from the hot sun and what chasing he had to do in order to keep his eyes on Daitona.
"Ah-ha-ha-ha…" Sephiroth laughed nervously. "Hey Daitona, why didn't you take care of this guy?"
Daitona glared at him from behind and tightened her grip on his leather coat. "Because I though you would want in on some of the action," she stated sarcastically. "So I brought him to you. Now you can take care of him."
"Gee, thanks." Sephiroth locked his eyes on his new…and quite large target as he raised Masamune into a ready position. "Daitona, go do what I told you to do. I've already taken care of the guard at the entrance so that shouldn't be any trouble. Get Zante and the others out here to help."
"Ah, gotch ya!" Daitona let go of Sephiroth's coat and slowly backed away before spinning around and running towards the entrance of one of the buildings.
The giant swung a huge axe out straight pointing it at Daitona's departing back. "She will not get away boy! As soon as I kill you she'll be next."
Sephiroth's eyes went cold, as did his voice. "You won't touch her. If by some stroke of luck you do get by me you won't stand a chance against her. But right now, Daitona is the least of your worries."
The giant of a man laughed again. "You just sealed your fate little man. What little sympathy I had for you is now gone. You'll die here and now by my hands!"
"Get out of my way!" Daitona yelled and cut down several more soldiers that tried to stop her. "Damn!"
She spun on her heals and took out the Wutain who had ducked her last attack. She panted for breath as she sprinted down the narrow hall before more soldiers could get in her way. 'Nothing worse than a back stabber; I swear that if any of those idiots come up behind me I'm going to personally cut their head off their shoulders.'
'Now that's not very nice…but of course leaving me with this tub of lard wasn't very nice either,' Sephiroth commented.
'Quiet, less chat more running! Must run, must run! Gosh! How long are these stinking…!' Daitona's though stopped as quickly as she did…after have smashed into an unsuspecting soldier.
Daitona staggered back before falling on her butt. She rubbed her head then looked up at her new opponent and froze.
Sephiroth suddenly sensed Daitona's fear as clearly as if it had been his own. 'Daitona, what's wrong, what happened?!' Sephiroth narrowed his eyes and jumped back from the giant soldier, who was now gasping for breath after have so thoroughly worn himself out chasing after Sephiroth.
'HE…he's here! You JERK!' Daitona's mind yelled.
'What?! What did I do?' Sephiroth couldn't figure out for the life in him what was so wrong. She'd called him a jerk…
"Time to end this." Why hasn't she answered me back? "It seems that I'm needed elsewhere so I can't play here any longer." With that Sephiroth raised his hand high over his head and called on some of his inherited Divinian powers. (From Daitona. He absorbs the experience when he trained with Daitona…so now he's kind of Divinian himself.)
Sephiroth's body started to glow with a misty golden color that gradually started to spin around him. He lowered his head and locked his glowing aqua eyes with the dark eyes of the soldier.
"Dragon Lance!" The golden mist materialized in a flash and shot out completely piercing the giant's chest and heart.
He chocked and gasped a few times as blood spewed out of the mortal wound and over his lips. His eyes bulged at the sudden shock then ever so slowly the functions of his body stopped and he fell to the bloodied ground below his feet in a heap.
Sephiroth didn't give the fat man another thought. He turned his back, and putting a hand to his head set in search of finding out what was wrong with Daitona.
Daitona slowly backed away from the Wutain soldier shaking her head slowly. Her eyes were large as she struggled to figure out how he'd gotten there before her. Why would Sephiroth have let him go? Oh gods, is Sephiroth ok?
"H-how'd…how'd you get here so fast? This can't be right…there's no way you could have killed Sephiroth…and he wouldn't have let you go…would he?" Daitona was confused. This soldier looked exactly like the one she'd left Sephiroth to deal with…that monstrous soldier. How could he have possibly beaten her all the way down here? A secret passage perhaps but that still didn't explain what had happened to Sephiroth.
The soldier showed a toothy grin that was none to pleasant to look at, then stepped forward intending to intimidate the much smaller Shinra officer. It worked, she let out a startled high picked shriek at the same instant jumping back.
Daitona immediately kicked herself mentally for showing fear but that guy… "I guess size really does matter in battle. This guy could fall the wrong way and kill me. Damn it, why do you have to be so big?!"
"Scared are we? You give up now and I won't have to hurt you," the burly man laughed.
That same taunting laugh…Daitona made the mistake of taking her eyes off her enemy in favor of looking at her swords that were again sheathed at her sides. She was trying to make up her mind weather or not she should try at fight this guy of just run. Surly he was too big to keep up with her…but then I'll look like a coward. What's wrong with me?! Snap out of it Daitona and quit being an idiot! You've taken on way harder opponents than him and have always faced them with out fear! You've destroyed an entire fort while protecting a town with your own power! What's he compared to that?
Daitona growled at herself then suddenly realized the mistake of her ways. Her eyes snapped up in time for her foot to be grabbed out from under her. In one quick motion she found herself in a curious position that she never would have though she'd get into.
She dangled upside-down from her left foot, which was securely clamped in the large soldiers hand. She frowned and thought quickly of a way to escape this precarious situation.
"Put me down right now!" she demanded angrily; she received THAT annoying laugh again which only succeeded in making Daitona's temper flare even more. "PUT ME DOWN!!!"
She did the only thing she could from her position of being upside-down; she flung her arms at him and kicked at him with her free foot. The soldier laughed all the more and held her out away from him, though her attempt at hurting him failed miserably. He started walking…the commander wanted to see this one.
-End Chapter 40-
A/N: I am so sorry! I didn't think it would take me this long but I guess I kind of burnt myself out…I just couldn't bring myself to even look at this chapter. So after have enjoyed reading some good Aeris/Sephiroth stories…and others, I finally just sat down and wrote this up. If anyone has any ideas or request for events to happen tell me and I'll see what I can do. I can write faster when I have something to go on ya know? I'm going to post the first chapter up of that new story…I know some of you have already read it but let me know what I can do to improve upon it. Well, any help or suggestions on any of my stories are appreciated. Until next time!