Flirting With Death, Chapter Eight:
Deadly Silence with a Gun
By Darknightdestiny
The sky had turned from black, to a deep blue, and then to a light orange. A golden sheen was glimmering over the mountains and the earth was awakening once again with the sounds of life. Morning had come and the new day held a new meaning for all who rose to meet it.
Vincent watched all of this silently from a window in the safe-room. He knew the sight well, and he consciously knew of its beauty and significance, yet something inside him would not allow him to appreciate it for all that it was. He had been depressed for decades, knowing that he had become detached from his ability to identify with the simple joys of life through familiar tortures that he no longer wished to remember, yet could not help dwelling upon. He reasoned that it was just as well, because someone such as himself did not deserve to enjoy such things.
Vincent walked quietly across the hallway and opened the door as slowly as he could without making a sound. He stared at the familiar bundle lying across the room, all tangled in the sheets, with a slight curiosity. Her hair was spilled all over the bed, mixed in with the coverings surrounding her form, blanketing her shoulders and trailing off the side to the floor. She stirred, and as she did, he knocked softly on the wooden doorframe.
Tifa slowly opened her eyes and looked around, trying to disentangle herself from the silken sheets that clung to her body. Her eyes met Vincent's, and then quickly shifted to the spacious wooden floor that lay to the left of her. He watched her in all her awkwardness, feeling a bit sorry for her as he realized that she was uncomfortable because of her hasty exit on the previous night, and then he spoke.
"I decided it would be best to wake you now…"
"Yeah, that's okay."
"If we want to make it to Rocket Town by late afternoon, we should get going early." Tifa finally looked up at Vincent, understanding that he was probably just as uncomfortable with the situation as she was, and that meandering around it was going to make no difference. She should just act like nothing happened at all. She smiled wide for him.
"Alright, that's a good idea, Vincent. I'll just pull on my boots and then I'll follow you on out."
"…You may eat something, if you like…" he said, the sentence becoming softer as he turned around and walked away.
Tifa did not realize that to Vincent, is really was as if nothing had happened. He was uncomfortable when people tried to get close to him, and especially when they touched him, but it was something he had come to expect when spending time in the company of others, and he had grown accustomed to guarding himself against it. He hadn't been quick enough the night before, but he did not blame Tifa for treating him the same as she would have treated any other of her friends. It was not her fault that he thought himself unfit to be touched by her hands.
Vincent approached the safe once again, and opened it effortlessly. From it, he drew his rifle, Death Penalty, and a sufficient amount of money. If he decided to accompany Tifa on her travels then it would be of use, and if not, then he would just use it to get a room at the Rocket Town Inn, as he sometimes did before traveling back to Nibelheim. Other times he would continue on through the night…
He stopped outside the room where Tifa was waiting for him, staring oddly at the ceiling as if she was in the middle of a daydream. As soon as she saw him, however, she snapped right back to reality and moved to the side to let him pass through. As he was passing by, he said almost inaudibly, "Were you going to eat something?"
"Nah, I'm not really hungry right now," she replied, "but I would like to fill up my water bottle. Do you know if that stream at the base of the slopes is still um…safe? To drink from?"
"It is."
"Good, I'll just take care of it when we get there then. I'm ready when you are!"
Vincent walked down the hallway and descended the stairs before exiting the lobby. Tifa followed, humming to herself once they reached the sunlight, breathing the fresh air in and taking in everything around her. She hadn't been too pleased with the dismal state the town was in when she arrived, but she was glad to get out of the stuffy mansion; she couldn't spend all day in Vincent's room, no matter how nice it seemed. She could get bored so easily in that place! He led her out to the back yard where the stables were. Inside, they readied their chocobos, and then they were off.
Vincent rode swiftly up the path, stopping as it branched off into two sections, a trail leading off into the forest, and a trail leading up the mountain slopes. Tifa hopped off of Mayonee and pulled her water bottle from her saddle pack. She filled it to the rim with cool water from the stream, which was running around the rocks beneath the stone pathway, and then capped it off. She splashed some of the cold water on her face, which served to better wake her and refresh her spirits. She looked up at Vincent, but he was staring up the path that they were going to take up into the mountains.
"I need a bath. You think Cid would let me use his shower?"
"There is another water source nearby…" He said, not moving his eyes from the cliffs.
Tifa began to blush profusely. "That's alright…I guess it can wait." She grinned. "I'm ready to go now."
Vincent let Tifa lead the way through the mountains, knowing that he could see far ahead of her and still get a good shot at anything that might sneak up from behind. She hummed to herself again, trying to keep herself amused; at the moment they had reached the pathway leading up the rocky surface, he had ceased talking. She grew edgy at the eerie silence behind her; Dante was just as silent as his master, and she could no longer tell that he was even there anymore. Fearing that something would attack and he wouldn't be there, she looked over her shoulder to check; Vincent was still there.
Vincent locked eyes with her as she looked back over her shoulder. She kept doing this periodically; this was beginning to amuse him. She was quite capable of handling herself, as long as they weren't outnumbered, yet she still kept on making sure that he hadn't disappeared. Why would someone as strong-willed as Tifa be afraid to find herself alone? He wondered if maybe it had something to do with the place they were in. Maybe she was unsettled because it seemed nothing good ever came from being in those mountains. Then again, she had always traveled them as a little girl and knew her way through by heart. But that was back when the monsters had just begun to appear…
Vincent was pulled from his thought as he detected a soft and quick sound, like a skittering of feet. He drew his weapon and stopped Dante, then dismounted in order to get a better look around. Tifa did not even notice this, but he swiftly glided over and stilled Mayonee by her reins. He received a questioning glance from Tifa; then she noticed he had his weapon drawn. He put one finger up to his covered mouth and motioned for her to get down. The footsteps were getting closer, and now Tifa began to hear them as well.
They sounded like the oncoming of thousands of crawling insects…
Tifa readied herself and got into a fighting stance. Vincent stood slightly ahead of her and to her right and facing forward and a bit to the left of her, where the sound was coming from; he gave her a quick peek over his shoulder to make sure she was ready and then told her softly, "Send Mayonee home." He gave Dante a sharp but muffled strike to the hindquarters, and the black chocobo raced off into the distance, back to the Shin-Ra Mansion. Tifa realized that if they were going to be in for a long battle, it was best to do so. She grabbed her pack; then she pulled Mayonee's head down to hers and whispered a command in her ear, and Vincent watched the bird speed away.
As soon as the birds had left their sight, which was not long, the enemies filed in from the left, and moved around the two, forming a circle. Vincent and Tifa were now surrounded by seven kyuvilduns'. The giant bug-like creatures were making strange sounds as they moved, like crickets at night; to Tifa, it sounded like jeering. She backed up against Vincent, and they faced the circle back-to-back, waiting for one of the enemies to jump in and attack. It would be much easier if one of them would make the first move, Tifa thought; if one were to leave the center of the ring, it would put the other in a tighter ring, all by themselves.
She had momentarily forgotten that Vincent was carrying a gun.
Vincent raised Death Penalty and shot one of the kyuvilduns' in-between the eyes. At that, four of the creatures started to jump in their direction, trying to latch onto them and attack with their sharp mandibles while the other three moved about, not quite circling, but staying nearby in the event they were needed. The two humans kept dodging the onslaught, trying to keep from losing as much blood as possible. 'Quite intelligent after all,' Vincent mused to himself. He leaned back into Tifa's ear and simply stated, "Cover me," and she got his meaning; she lashed out at the two attacking creatures from her side, trying to keep them off his back while he took out the other two advancing on him with his rifle.
Tifa snapped the outer shell of one of the creatures with a hard kick to its side. The shell's cracked surface had shifted, cutting the back of the animal. She then flipped it over so that it would not be able to move, and left it to bleed to death while she rushed over to the other one; it was headed towards Vincent, who was busy making a gooey paste out of the by-standing arthropods with his sharp-shooting. She lunged forward onto her hands and launched herself over the kyuvildun, placing herself in its way. It jumped at her, expecting her to dodge it and let it pull Vincent down; instead, as soon as it was close enough, her leg shot out and hit it in the gut, sending it sprawling backwards. Just as it had gotten to its feet, it fell again in cue with the shot of Vincent's gun, and she stepped back, exhausted…and right into something firm and warm.
She froze and looked up. Vincent was staring down into her face, with a funny glint in his eyes. She shifted uncomfortably at this, wondering what he was up to.
"…Are you tired already?"
She hesitated to answer. Had it been that obvious? "No," she said, "I think I'll be just fine. We should keep on going."
He nodded and turned away, towards the bridge. He was interested now; Tifa had always been a good fighter, but he could still hear her labored breathing from several yards ahead of her. She must have had no practice in her time since Meteor, staying in…Midgar? He noticed for the first time that Tifa had told him enough about what she was doing, but nothing about what her life had been like in the past five months, even though she had been curious about his. She probably thought that he didn't care; he made a mental note to ask her sometime. Though he did not ask personal questions much, he did get some amusement at least, if not any enjoyment, out of surprising people once in a while.
He slowed his pace so that Tifa could catch up, and they continued across the bridge to the cave awaiting them at the other side. As soon as they reached the end of the bridge, Tifa looked back around, seeing how far they'd come already. That is when she heard two shots fire out, and then there was a loud rush of wind beside her right ear. Looking over the bridge, she saw a sonic speed falling to its death, its left wing in a tattered mess. She whirled back around to see Vincent holstering his rifle, his back turned to her. She had heard the shot before she had even detected the enemy! But of course, this was Vincent, and she had come to expect over the time she had spent with him previously, that she would always be a bit behind when it came to his skill. Everyone had a nickname for Vincent; she thought she might just start calling him "Deadly Silence with a Gun." Then again, she knew that he had distaste for all of his nicknames, even though she thought this one was pretty cool.
Once they had gotten into the cave, Vincent made his way over to the farthest side of the mess of tubes, to the very first one, and motioned for Tifa to follow. He decided to go first, just in case there was something waiting for them down below, though from what he could see, there was nothing there. Tifa did not hesitate to follow as quickly as she could, giving him only a few seconds before her. When she landed below, she flew forward, but Vincent caught her above her wrists and pulled her back up, steadying her on the uneven rocks. He listened intently for anything that might be amiss, but he caught nothing. They exited the cave with Tifa close on Vincent's heels, and together, they set off for Rocket Town.
(A/N): Sorry I took so long to do this chapter! Lately I've had a LOT of course work, but also I've been doing art again, which I let go for a couple months or so. But I finished a cool Vincent sketch! (Yay!) If you want to see it, go to my Web link in my profile page. It should be posted up in my fanart section sometime between 1:45 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Sunday..uh…August 31. So whenever this site updates, you'll see this, and maybe you'll want to check it out. This is one of the few pieces I'm actually proud of and it would make me feel good 'cause no one ever visits my site! ^^;
Anyways, like always, let me know what you did or didn't like or if you've given up on it because I took a whole week or so to update ("ack"). Also let me know what you thought of the fight scene…I've never written romance OR action before, so I'm not sure if it was okay. I had to go and reference my game for the names of the monsters, 'cause I didn't know 'em, and I felt bad for chapter 3 (post 4) where I had called the monsters in the battle arena "smaller dragons," just because their attack was "dragon's breath".
