Of Thorns and Roses
By Lost Mercenary
*Note: I've hidden in an FF9 reference somewhere in this chapter. See if you can pick it out*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Aw, shit!" cursed Cid Highwind.
"What the hell's wrong?"
"We don't know Captain. The engine just won't start up." Said one of the Highwind engineers.
"Well I can see that. Isolate the problem and fucking sort it out!" Cid yelled.
The engineer nervously nodded and walked back to the engineering deck onboard the Highwind. After 5 long years, after 5 years of scrounging up materials and equipment and making enormous repairs and upgrades, Cid's old ship was almost back together in one piece. During the conflict between Meteor and Holy the airship had taken quite a beating, especially when Cid was forced to dump most of the major components with the emergency lever when Holy had awakened. All that was left after that was the bridge, the engineering deck and a back-up engine. But even after the final battle the Highwind had taken massive damage due to the resulting shockwave and debris from Meteor so they were forced to make an emergency landing. Thankfully everyone had survived, but the ship didn't.
But despite getting most of it up and running, it still refused to fly. There's always a malfunction or some other problem that needed fixing and it was going very slowly. Cid walked to an intercom panel and pressed the button indicating "Engine room".
"Shera!" Cid almost screamed so loud that he needn't use the intercom. He was frustrated with his ship's malfunctions and he knew who to blame it on.
"What the fuck is goin' on down there!?! Why won't this ship take off?"
A young female's voice came over the speaker.
"I'm sorry, captain. I had to take the engines offline. I noticed a small problem in the exhaust pipe and I wanted to correct it."
Cid became a bit calmer now that he knew it wasn't really a problem with his ship, just a person. But he had the feeling that it wasn't about to last after he asked his next question.
"What kind of problem?" spoke Cid.
"A 2 percent drop in power." replied Shera.
"YOU STUPID LITTLE SHIT!" Cid just lost it and blurted out with out even thinking. "2 PERCENT IS WELL WITHIN SAFETY LIMITS! NOW IF IT WAS 10 PERCENT THEN WE WOULD HAVE A "REAL" PROBLEM AND BE ROYALLY SCREWED, BUT NO, YOU HAD TO OVER ANALYSE AGAIN AND DELAY US EVEN MORE!"
There was a brief silence before Shera replied. She sounded even more nervous now thanks to Cid losing his cool with her yet again.
"I...I... I'm sorry. I'll sort it out right now." She stammered. Then she went off the intercom leaving Cid with his frustration.
"Stupid women." He muttered. Cid remembered that despite the general annoyance that she caused him, Shera was a good engineer and he wanted all the good engineers that he could get. If the Highwind was ever going to fly again he would need her where she was and he was just going to have to put up it for now. Although she had been right before (with the Shinra 26's air tanks) that had appeared to have been just a one off.
"I'd better check on the weapons". Cid said to himself. He went over to the new weapons console to run a few diagnostics.
The Highwind (or rather the new one) had been fitted out with new state-of- the-art weaponry that had been recovered from the Shinra army. Cid decided that after the Holy/Meteor war that he wasn't going to take any chances with the future. He remembered an old philosopher who said, "The only dependable thing about the future is uncertainty." And Cid agreed with this dead on and decided to be prepared for the future. The new Highwind carried several Gatling gun turrets, Mythril armour plating, and 32 missiles shared between 4 launchers. Whatever would happen in the future Cid was going to be prepared for it, no matter what.
* * *
Vincent stood in the brightly lit cave, the cave where he had last met the women he loved.
Lucrucia...
He just stood there, doing nothing. His dark clothes, red cape and metallic claw gave Vincent the appearance of a demon, but no ordinary one. He could perform massive acts of barbarity if he wanted to, just like a proper demon. But Vincent had a conscience. It was beaten, torn and tortured in so many ways but it was still there, surviving. This was a trait that none of the monsters could ever have, they were incapable of it.
Just gazing at the place where Lucrucia had last stood was enough to cause all sorts of pain in his heart. He had lost her not only once, but twice. The first time was unbearable, this time it was unliveable. If he could kill himself he would have done so long ago but Hojo had seen to it so that he couldn't. Vincent was no longer cursed with just his memories; he was cursed with his very life. His gaze remained focused on the stand where she had last been.
Is she still alive? Vincent thought to himself. He didn't know. He could never know and that was what hurt him the most.
He recalled his life memories. Almost everything he tried to do, he failed at. He had failed Lucrucia, he had failed Professor Gast and he had also failed himself. Vincent took out his Death Penalty and just stared at it with a narrow gaze. It had been a final gift from Lucrucia, before she had finally left to wherever she had gone.
Tears began to flow from his eyes.
He said to himself in a low voice, "Why must I always fail?"
Vincent then threw himself to the ground in a fit of rage.
"WHY MUST I ALWAYS FAIL!?!"
His cry echoed threw the cave into infinity with no one else to hear it but himself. Tears flowed from Vincent like a stream and each drop fell to the floor gracefully and all he could focus on was the pain he felt within his heart. Because of this he had failed to notice the small sound of breathing coming from behind him. It was a raspy, ugly sound that sounded like it belonged in hell.
But the second time, Vincent caught sound of it. He knew there was something behind him now, something not human. If it was a monster it would have attacked straight away and not wait to strike like what this thing was doing. He readied his Death Penalty and waited for the moment that he turn and confront the presence that was behind him. He waited like the hunter that likes to play dead so it can wait to strike at it's unsuspecting.
He waited no longer. He spun round with great speed and aimed his weapon, only to find...nothing.
"What the?" Said Vincent with some slight confusion in his tone.
Then he felt and saw something wet drip onto the barrel of his gun from above. He slowly looked above, fear now beginning to rise within his soul, and saw something crawling on the wall above him, a monster of some sorts but none like he had ever seen before. Before Vincent could even flinch the creature fell and attacked with amazing speed.
Vincent didn't get off a single shot when the creature begun to attack. Pain swept through Vincent's body and his screams echoed through the empty cave where no man could hear them.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
What happened to Vincent? Hey! I'm not gonna tell you now. You'll have to wait and see.
I hope you liked this chapter. Get ready for the next one!
Please R&R.
By Lost Mercenary
*Note: I've hidden in an FF9 reference somewhere in this chapter. See if you can pick it out*
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Aw, shit!" cursed Cid Highwind.
"What the hell's wrong?"
"We don't know Captain. The engine just won't start up." Said one of the Highwind engineers.
"Well I can see that. Isolate the problem and fucking sort it out!" Cid yelled.
The engineer nervously nodded and walked back to the engineering deck onboard the Highwind. After 5 long years, after 5 years of scrounging up materials and equipment and making enormous repairs and upgrades, Cid's old ship was almost back together in one piece. During the conflict between Meteor and Holy the airship had taken quite a beating, especially when Cid was forced to dump most of the major components with the emergency lever when Holy had awakened. All that was left after that was the bridge, the engineering deck and a back-up engine. But even after the final battle the Highwind had taken massive damage due to the resulting shockwave and debris from Meteor so they were forced to make an emergency landing. Thankfully everyone had survived, but the ship didn't.
But despite getting most of it up and running, it still refused to fly. There's always a malfunction or some other problem that needed fixing and it was going very slowly. Cid walked to an intercom panel and pressed the button indicating "Engine room".
"Shera!" Cid almost screamed so loud that he needn't use the intercom. He was frustrated with his ship's malfunctions and he knew who to blame it on.
"What the fuck is goin' on down there!?! Why won't this ship take off?"
A young female's voice came over the speaker.
"I'm sorry, captain. I had to take the engines offline. I noticed a small problem in the exhaust pipe and I wanted to correct it."
Cid became a bit calmer now that he knew it wasn't really a problem with his ship, just a person. But he had the feeling that it wasn't about to last after he asked his next question.
"What kind of problem?" spoke Cid.
"A 2 percent drop in power." replied Shera.
"YOU STUPID LITTLE SHIT!" Cid just lost it and blurted out with out even thinking. "2 PERCENT IS WELL WITHIN SAFETY LIMITS! NOW IF IT WAS 10 PERCENT THEN WE WOULD HAVE A "REAL" PROBLEM AND BE ROYALLY SCREWED, BUT NO, YOU HAD TO OVER ANALYSE AGAIN AND DELAY US EVEN MORE!"
There was a brief silence before Shera replied. She sounded even more nervous now thanks to Cid losing his cool with her yet again.
"I...I... I'm sorry. I'll sort it out right now." She stammered. Then she went off the intercom leaving Cid with his frustration.
"Stupid women." He muttered. Cid remembered that despite the general annoyance that she caused him, Shera was a good engineer and he wanted all the good engineers that he could get. If the Highwind was ever going to fly again he would need her where she was and he was just going to have to put up it for now. Although she had been right before (with the Shinra 26's air tanks) that had appeared to have been just a one off.
"I'd better check on the weapons". Cid said to himself. He went over to the new weapons console to run a few diagnostics.
The Highwind (or rather the new one) had been fitted out with new state-of- the-art weaponry that had been recovered from the Shinra army. Cid decided that after the Holy/Meteor war that he wasn't going to take any chances with the future. He remembered an old philosopher who said, "The only dependable thing about the future is uncertainty." And Cid agreed with this dead on and decided to be prepared for the future. The new Highwind carried several Gatling gun turrets, Mythril armour plating, and 32 missiles shared between 4 launchers. Whatever would happen in the future Cid was going to be prepared for it, no matter what.
* * *
Vincent stood in the brightly lit cave, the cave where he had last met the women he loved.
Lucrucia...
He just stood there, doing nothing. His dark clothes, red cape and metallic claw gave Vincent the appearance of a demon, but no ordinary one. He could perform massive acts of barbarity if he wanted to, just like a proper demon. But Vincent had a conscience. It was beaten, torn and tortured in so many ways but it was still there, surviving. This was a trait that none of the monsters could ever have, they were incapable of it.
Just gazing at the place where Lucrucia had last stood was enough to cause all sorts of pain in his heart. He had lost her not only once, but twice. The first time was unbearable, this time it was unliveable. If he could kill himself he would have done so long ago but Hojo had seen to it so that he couldn't. Vincent was no longer cursed with just his memories; he was cursed with his very life. His gaze remained focused on the stand where she had last been.
Is she still alive? Vincent thought to himself. He didn't know. He could never know and that was what hurt him the most.
He recalled his life memories. Almost everything he tried to do, he failed at. He had failed Lucrucia, he had failed Professor Gast and he had also failed himself. Vincent took out his Death Penalty and just stared at it with a narrow gaze. It had been a final gift from Lucrucia, before she had finally left to wherever she had gone.
Tears began to flow from his eyes.
He said to himself in a low voice, "Why must I always fail?"
Vincent then threw himself to the ground in a fit of rage.
"WHY MUST I ALWAYS FAIL!?!"
His cry echoed threw the cave into infinity with no one else to hear it but himself. Tears flowed from Vincent like a stream and each drop fell to the floor gracefully and all he could focus on was the pain he felt within his heart. Because of this he had failed to notice the small sound of breathing coming from behind him. It was a raspy, ugly sound that sounded like it belonged in hell.
But the second time, Vincent caught sound of it. He knew there was something behind him now, something not human. If it was a monster it would have attacked straight away and not wait to strike like what this thing was doing. He readied his Death Penalty and waited for the moment that he turn and confront the presence that was behind him. He waited like the hunter that likes to play dead so it can wait to strike at it's unsuspecting.
He waited no longer. He spun round with great speed and aimed his weapon, only to find...nothing.
"What the?" Said Vincent with some slight confusion in his tone.
Then he felt and saw something wet drip onto the barrel of his gun from above. He slowly looked above, fear now beginning to rise within his soul, and saw something crawling on the wall above him, a monster of some sorts but none like he had ever seen before. Before Vincent could even flinch the creature fell and attacked with amazing speed.
Vincent didn't get off a single shot when the creature begun to attack. Pain swept through Vincent's body and his screams echoed through the empty cave where no man could hear them.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
What happened to Vincent? Hey! I'm not gonna tell you now. You'll have to wait and see.
I hope you liked this chapter. Get ready for the next one!
Please R&R.