Red Sky
Killer Puppy Dog Eyes
Wind swept through her hair and sent it streaming behind her. The chocobo devoured the land with great bouncing strides, leaping up the side of the mountain with barely even a check in pace. Its claws, longer and sharper than most chocobos, dug easily into the rock and enabled it to climb the impossibly sheer surfaces. Its glossy black feathers reminded her of oil, flickering constantly with green and blue highlights. Cloud had bred it, but given it to her after he'd managed the insanely beautiful and perfect Gold Chocobo.
He'd called it Black Thunder, but she'd renamed it Chief Runningham.
Cloud had easily outdistanced her on the Gold - which he'd named Kiniro, but she's always secretly thought of as Thirty-Two Carat - disappearing in a shiny cloud of dust and feathers with a shout of "see you there!"
Chief Runningham topped the Midgar Mountain and shot down the other side with a squawk of surprise. They picked up speed, Tifa shouting with exultation, the chocobo with its wings outspread and almost taking off.
She saw the figure emerge from the ground in front of her, but barely had time to blink before the chocobo collided with it, tumbling over in a crash of feathers and outraged cries. She threw herself sideways, away from the rolling body of the huge bird. The wild grasses cushioned her fall, and she bounced immediately back to her feet, assuming a wary half-crouch. When she saw the person she had run down, her eyes narrowed.
"Turk."
Rude picked his sunglasses up and cleaned them on his shirt, unflustered. Despite herself, Tifa tried to see directly into his face. She had never seen him without his blank mask that showed only reflections. He kept his head bent however, and she hadn't managed to see his eyes before he replaced the glasses and stood up.
"Tifa."
From the opening into the Mythrill Mines came Elena, pale and wan. She moved with a hunched cautiousness and her large eyes were stark and distant. If it hadn't been for the image of Sector Seven floating across her memory Tifa would have pitied them.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded.
"Running." Rude's voice was utterly flat, as always.
"Running? From what?"
"From starvation. Disease."
The minimum amount of words he could get away with, she thought. Simple and concise, but they brought back the faces of the refugees with startling clearness. The sallow flesh and pitiful looks in their eyes. And these two had chosen to run. A spurt of anger drove away all thoughts of sympathy.
"You chose to run rather than help?" Tifa tossed her head back, shaking her hair away from her face and clenched her fists. Her gloves were set with materia stones that lined her wrists with their hard sheen. Neither Turk took up a defensive stance. Elena gave a weary sigh and closed her eyes, deep furrows lining her brow. Rude merely stood there. She could see herself reflected in those dark glasses, her fists up, a furious expression on her face. Then she saw in those reflections one of the materia stones start to glow. Two shiny red marks, one in each lens. She gaped blankly, and then looked down at her wrists.
The Shiva materia she wore, set right against her pulse, glowed with energy. Red light shuddered frantically inside it, flickering and flaring in a panicky insistence.
"What...?"
The two Turks watched her. She felt suddenly disarmed. She knew she could deal with them both in a fight, but not if her materia suddenly started acting up.
"You depend too much on it," Elena observed suddenly. "Could you still fight if it wasn't enhancing you?"
"Of course I could," Tifa retorted angrily. "I never even saw materia until I met Barret the first time." She pulled off the gloves and tossed them over Chief Runningham's back. There the red light faded to a haphazard glimmer. Bare-fisted, Tifa resumed her fighters stance. She was surprised at how vulnerable she felt without the support materia boosting her energy and endurance.
Rude nodded, thoughtfully.
"A slightly more even fight," Elena leant back against the rocky wall, and crossed her arms. It was clear she did not intend to join in. Tifa allowed herself to focus entirely on Rude.
He had also brought his fists up, muscles bunching in his arms as he waited for her attack. He still wore the fingerless leather gloves of the Turks, though they were battered and dirty looking. She could read nothing of his emotions. Was he afraid or angry? Would he be more likely to concentrate on defending or attacking? Unconsciously she fell into the trancelike state Zangan had taught her. The whys of the battle fell away, and only the fight itself, pure and unfettered, existed.
He attacked fast and sudden, a low left jab towards her stomach. She twisted to the right and kicked out at his side. Her foot connected solidly, and she felt the thrill of scoring the first hit before he grabbed her ankle and threw her into the ground. She rolled away and up, blocking two punches and dodging a third. She missed the speed that a Haste materia could give her, was relying too much on waiting for a gap she could exploit. Driving into him, she dealt a quick succession of blows, most of them blocked but a couple breaking through. They did not do much damage, executed with speed rather than strength and Rude didn't appear to even notice them.
Back-flipping, she put a sizeable gap between them and they cautiously started circling each other. Elena watched with interest as they moved round and round, Tifa's eyes locked on her opponent. Elena would have had an easy opportunity to take out the woman, but she remained where she was.
Tifa broke the circling first, sweeping in low with her right fist and then smashing Rude's face with the left as he went to block. There was a crunch as glass shattered beneath the blow, and Tifa jumped back. Rude shook his head and the mangled sunglasses fell away. Elena cried out, and they all froze.
Then Rude loosed a punch so fast Elena didn't even see it. Tifa was laid flat, her nose a sudden fountain of blood. She was up immediately, making no move to stem the blood. Rude had dropped his fighting stance.
"Enough," he said in a voice like lead.
"No." Tifa spat back, with a viciousness that surprised Elena. "Craven scum like you doesn't deserve mercy or reprieve! We fight until I kill you!"
Rude spread his arms. "... then kill me..."
For a moment Tifa teetered, anger spasmodically working her face. Then she snorted and spun on her heel, striding over to the black chocobo and mounting it in one fluid motion. The bird must have sensed her fury, for it shot away even faster than it had arrived, leaving the two figures dwindling into the distance. The earlier jubilation of riding had been swept away in the tidal wave of resentment the Turk had brought. She tasted blood, and realised her nose was still bleeding. A quick swig from a potion healed the wound. The green liquid also calmed her thoughts somewhat, and she had a sudden memory of her spry grey haired tutor. The body and the mind are inextricably linked. Change one and you change the other.
She slowed the chocobos pace, and looked at the potion bottle. A cheap plastic thing. Different shops had different ways of storing the healing liquid, some prettier than others. This container was strictly utilitarian.
What was in it? What was in the different liquids she had got so quickly in the habit of using? They were sold everywhere, of course. And used by many to cure wounds and alleviate pain. If there was anything harmful in it, it would have shown up by now.
She frowned.
Of course, she reflected, she didn't really use simple potions for much anymore. The odd bruise, perhaps. Wounds she barely even noticed. The aptly named high-potions, x-potions and mega-potions were used far more often by their group. These were rarer, stronger versions of the healing drink. She often suspected that the reason potions were so cheap and plentiful was that they were merely watered down versions of their potent brothers.
Feeling vaguely disquieted, she tucked the empty bottle away and rode on towards Junon. The issue wasn't potions, it was the Turks. She couldn't explain the rush of emotions that had poured over her when she had smashed Rude's glasses. At first elation, a sense of triumph at breaking the mask. And then shock, as she had stared at him. And then anger.
She didn't know why the anger. They had been ordinary eyes. Ordinary brown eyes. Ordinary brown eyes, drowning in the shadows of pain and loss.
How dare he? How dare a killer like him have eyes like that?
Ahead of her, Junon suddenly came into view. Hidden away in a hollow of the land, built up against the cliff face, it was easy to miss its dull-brown, squatting shape. Without its canon, the whole fortress seemed to sink down into itself.
Chief Runningham slowed to a walk as they entered the decrepit fishing village that sat around and below the vast metal military base. He snuffed and squawked in annoyance as the smell of fresh and rotting fish, salt, oil and Mako smoke assailed his beak. Tifa patted the birds feathered neck comfortingly as she slipped off. The village was silent, not even a dog or cat running the streets. The only living creature in sight was Kiniro, tied up next to Priscilla's house-on-stilts. Tifa led Chief Runningham over to her, and they laid their heads together. Black over gold, chirping soft noises of encouragement to each other as they nuzzled. Tifa smiled at the image and then went in search of Cloud.
She found him outside the lift door, looking disgruntled. He didn't look as if he'd had much luck.
"The village is deserted," he announced. "There's no power in the lift - I can't even open the doors to this thing," he indicated the metal doors angrily. "Yet there's no real damage anywhere, just a few smashed windows and torn up fences - most likely from the storms. Where by Odin could they have gone?"
"Perhaps they fled to Costa del Sol?"
"Nobody would take a boat during that!" Cloud slammed his fist against the doors in frustration.
Tifa looked out at the sea. It was stony grey, flat and unyielding. The only froth lay still and dirty, like the left over suds in a washing-up bowl.
"The underwater reactor?"
There was a pause, and Cloud looked thoughtful.
"Yes... that might explain the power loss as well. We still need to get in though, and I don't think the dolphin's around."
"Hmm," Tifa studied the thick metal doors. "Maybe we could climb up?"
"I don't think so... nothing to hold onto."
"What about the chocobos?"
Cloud glanced at her, and then over to where the two birds petted each other. He studied them for a moment, and then the bronze walls next to him.
"It won't be easy but... how much harder than a mountain can it be?" He grinned at Tifa, "Good thinking!"
She smiled back, pleased. They mounted the chocobos, and pointed them towards the sheer hard slopes of the Junon fort. Kiniro threw back her head and made a noise that sounded a lot like laughter. Then they rode.
Kiniro hit the wall first, her massive clawed feet scrabbling to find purchase on the slick surface, before her talons sank into the metal. Her speed was enough to manage the rest; she hurtled up the wall scoring deep furrows as she went. Chief Runningham followed the trail, using the grooves Kiniro had created for his own footholds. They topped the wall and landed easily on the tarmac road the other side.
Tifa's eyes went wide.
"By Shiva..."
Dead Shinra Guards and Soldiers sprawled everywhere, hanging over the railings, slumped by walls. Blood splattered over everything, great brown tracks of it spread behind Guards who had obviously tried to crawl along the road before dying. Flies gorged themselves, swarming over wounds and faces. Tifa recalled another blood splattered massacre of Shinra Guards and shuddered. Sephiroth's attack on the Shinra Building had created devastation much like this.
"I... I guess the rebellion spread this far?"
Cloud knotted his brow, clearly puzzled. "I don't think so. These people don't look like they've been shot. And besides... if it had been a rebellion there would've been some survivors."
"Then... what?"
"I don't know."
They left the chocobos by the rail and explored further into the fort. Here there were the remains of what looked like a hurried defence by the Guards, a knot of men lying back-to-back, a few still clasping their weapons. For the most part though, it had been a stampede towards the exits, being cut down on the way.
"Caltrops," Cloud pointed to the spiky balls scattered across a hallway. "I guess that means it wasn't some monster."
Tifa didn't reply. She had just seen a smashed in shop door, with bodies lying amidst the wreckage beyond. Civilian shopkeepers, rather than Shinra Guards.
"Not just an enemy of Shinra." Cloud said quietly.
"What could have happened? Some effect of - of Meteor, Holy or the Lifestream perhaps?"
"Perhaps," Cloud didn't sound convinced. "Let's try the underwater reactor. Some might have fled there."
The corridor leading to the lift was thick with the dead. The sickly smell of blood and decay hung in the air, choking Tifa and making her eyes water. She wanted out of this death trap.
The lift door had half-closed on the operators body. She lay staring up at the ceiling, her face wracked with fear. Cloud moved her as gently as he could, but her limbs had stiffened and she twisted like a doll as he dragged her free of the door.
"This lift works from a separate power supply," Cloud told Tifa as they entered. "Everything else is run from the reactor, but if the reactor broke down this would be the only way down to repair it."
He pushed the button and there was a hum as the doors closed. A lurch, and then they descended.
Elena lifted the shattered sunglasses and gave Rude a helpless look. The lenses were smashed beyond repair, and the frame had twisted into a grotesque shape. Tifa's strength was phenomenal, considering she hadn't been boosted by any materia.
"I don't think I can fix them," she said apologetically. The other Turk shrugged, and took the remains from her, tucking them carefully into his shirt pocket.
"... never mind..." he said.
"Do we carry on to Junon?" Elena asked, "I think that's where Tifa was headed."
"... yes..." Rude fell into the ground devouring march he must have picked up in the Shinra Guards. Elena fell in beside him, hating the silence, but having lost any cheery conversation to fill it with. The empty plains drifted by, marred only by the dust of their march. She watched the cloud of silt rise up with each step of Rude's, and drift back down, only to be disturbed again when her foot hit it. Her trouser legs were stained with dirt and sweat.
When Junon appeared on the horizon, a dark dot in the bright noon sunshine, shadowed by cliffs, Elena sighed. She didn't want to deal with people. She didn't want to carry on walking either. She didn't want to do anything, except curl up in a corner somewhere, and nurse the tight knot of loss that cramped her stomach and constricted her throat and made the silence press down on her head like a vice.
Rude didn't even pause though, and she continued to follow him blankly. He was her last link, albeit an uncommunicative one, to the past.
The village was shadowy and abandoned. The lift doors were unmoveable, and as far as Elena could see there was no other way into the fortress. She had no energy to spare for making suggestions, or coming up with ideas. She just looked toward Rude.
"...we'll stay on the beach..." he said, his eyes turned away. She nodded.
The beach was grey, scalloped into soft curves by the tide. A few bits of seaweed poked up desultory heads here and there, but otherwise it was a featureless scene. Elena slid down to sit cross-legged on the sand, and stared out to sea. Her hair whipped across her face in the wind.
"..." Rude sat next to her, his large shape overshadowing her smaller form. There was a long silence.
Gradually, with nothing but the insistent sloshing of the sea to disturb her, all the thoughts Elena had been ignoring began to bubble up in her head. She tried to envision a future in a wild world. A world without Shinra. She imagined herself wandering from village to village, lacking any purpose or meaning except survival. Would she follow Rude forever, his silence becoming accepted, until they both moved without speaking? Mechanical people, doomed to appease nothing but their baser instincts, forgetting all the pleasures of conversation and communication?
She missed Reno desperately. His constant irreverent humour could be annoying, but she couldn't think of anything she wanted more right now than for his drawling tone to make some sarcastic witticism, or make some completely unneeded and pointless observation. She would even be over the moon to hear some nasty comment directed at her.
He had died to save them. She knew that, and she felt ashamed, guilty somehow. He had thought they were worth dying for, despite all his displays of not caring for anything other than himself. She didn't feel worth dying for. She felt stupid and hopeless, lost in a suddenly harsh and uncivilised planet.
"You really are useless, Elena," she whispered to herself, and felt tears sting the corners of her eyes.
"No." Rude's voice came, flat and distant. "You're not."
"I am... I should have been able to help him somehow! He died for Midgar, Rude! He died a hero, believing he was a villain! He didn't deserve that! Everything he did was Hojo's fault, not his! He shouldn't have died Rude! He shouldn't have!"
"... everybody dies." Rude turned his head away from her; all she could see was his broad, well-muscled back. "... everybody dies... he's part of the Lifestream now."
"Is that all you can say? He was your best friend Rude! He was too young to go to the Lifestream!" All of her loss sudden coalesced into searing anger. It was almost a relief; at least she could do something about anger. She leapt to her feet. "You don't care do you? You don't care about anything! Tseng is dead, Reno is dead, Shinra is gone and you just sit there like a goddamn robot! So what if 'everybody dies'? That doesn't make it right or fair when friends die before they're supposed to!" A shudder ran through her. "He didn't ever get to be happy! Growing up in the slums, poor and starving! Then immediately being brainwashed into a faithful Shinra assassin! And then being forced to live through every bit of guilt he never felt before! And then dying horribly by Meteor! And all you can say is 'everybody dies'? You heartless uncaring bastard!"
"... Elena ... don't..."
"Don't what? Don't you pretend to be hurt! I've had it with you and all your - your silences and monotonous statements!" Her voice broke up on the last words, as she spun on her heel and marched away. Sobs jerked from her, tearing through her body and convulsing it.
Rude watched her go, a dwindling point of blue against the sand. And then she was gone, vanished into the haze. He closed his eyes, feeling his jaw clench tightly.
"... that's not what I meant..." he muttered. "... by Odin, that's not what I meant at all... I was just trying to help Elena, I swear...that's not what I meant!"
Sandy stood in the tunnel, watching the fish swim past. Her eyes were red with exhaustion, and she felt like collapsing right there. But she clutched her gun and forced herself to watch the tunnel for intruders. The shadows of the flowing currents caused her to shiver in remembered dread. Shadows could hold anything. Flashing swords, cutting through her companions as though they weren't there. Long slivers of steel underfoot, tearing through boots and skin to send you staggering headlong into ambush. Her terror kept her awake, for now at least.
Not that she could do much if they came. It was pure luck that she had survived where others had fallen. One guard would be hopeless against that tide of deadly skill and confidence.
She wondered who they had been. The attackers had been clothed in black, even to the faces. If you got close enough to see their eyes you were already dead. She had a vague feeling they were quite small, short and lithe, but that may have been an illusion created by their uncanny camouflage skills. A brief thought of demons stirred unpleasantly in her mind and she squashed it instantly. You could go mad chasing thoughts like that.
Suddenly she became aware of footsteps approaching down the tunnel. They were muffled, a whisper of boot against floor just on the edge of hearing. Her back tensed, and sweat began slipping down her face. Her finger was sticky on the trigger.
Then he turned the corner, she caught a brief impression of spiky blond hair and bare arms but her finger had already clenched.
The stranger - familiar looking - had thrown himself to one side. The bullets ricocheted off the curve of the wall and grounded themselves in the floor. Sandy jerked the gun back to aim at the blond, but another figure leapt round the corner and bounced into a handspring that flipped her right over Sandy's head. Strong arms grasped her, and the gun clattered to the floor.
"Thanks Tifa," the blond strolled up to her and cocked his head, appraising her thoughtfully. Sandy found herself staring into two Mako-fired eyes, stormy bright blue pools. The pupils were rimmed with a dark halo of violet, the irises with diamond hard blue. She had seen such extreme mutation in only one other man. Sephiroth, elite warrior and merciless killer. She shuddered, but held on to her courage.
"You're... Avalanche, aren't you?" she said, with a calmness she didn't feel. The man raised an eyebrow, and gave a self-deprecating grin. It looked strange with those eyes.
"I'm Cloud. I'm with Avalanche, yeah. That's Tifa behind you, she's been with them longer than me." The grin faded and he looked more serious. "Are there many survivors?"
She shook her head, realising he must have walked through the aftermath of the slaughter. Did that mean the attackers had gone? She sincerely hoped so.
"Very few military personnel, mainly civilians. A few went on submarines to look for help. The rest are waiting at the docks. Have you come from Midgar?"
"Yes," Cloud replied. "And there's no good news from there, either. We came to ask for Junon's help. But... do you know who they were?"
"Not a clue," she replied bleakly. No reinforcements from Midgar. She hadn't contemplated that. She had thought it was a matter of holding out until help came. Now it appeared to be a matter of holding out indefinitely.
"Any news from across the sea? Costa del Sol, Cosmo Canyon...?"
A flash of anger came into her eyes. "They came from the sea. We saw their boats the morning before the attack, but they went down the coast. The boats were so old and rickety we thought they were refugees. Then that night they just... overwhelmed us. We've had double the guards on since Holy, and still they took us like we were nothing! The Junon fort was... broken. It protects the channel no longer."
"So these people could come across at any time? Or... they may still be on this continent?" Tifa asked. Sandy glanced at the woman. Brown haired, brown eyed. Pretty in an average, not particularly out standing way.
"They could be anywhere," she replied, shortly. And rubbed a gloved hand across her eyes. Adrenaline had died away and left her feeling more exhausted than ever before.
She felt the other two draw away and confer in in whispers. She didn't really care. The realisation that Midgar was gone was sinking into her. She had never been there, but she had always thought of it with pride. The capital of the world, the gem in Shinra's crown. Junon had existed to protect Midgar, and without it was useless. A scrap heap. And the guards who had existed only to protect Junon were also useless. More scrap. Her legs suddenly gave way, and she slid down the curved plastic wall of the tunnel. Outside the cold oceans shimmied in their endless tides, in a world where Shinra had risen and fallen like a single sunrise and sunset.
Blackness fell on her like a wave, and she gave herself up to oblivion.
Cloud glanced back to where the guard had crumpled to the floor, and groaned.
"We should go back to Midgar," Tifa said. "There's no help for us here."
"I don't know," Cloud replied. He felt there was something obvious he was missing. He stared at the clear plastic wall. Outside fish danced in multicoloured arrays. He remembered how sick he had felt when he had first climbed into a submarine, and grimaced. He sympathised with Yuffie's plight, but wished she hadn't grabbed the controls like. He could really have done with the Highwind.
"Cloud, these people are in worse shape than we are. If those attackers come back, then - "
"Fish... " Cloud stared at the water. Tifa gave him a blank look, and followed his gaze.
"Fish?" she said questioningly.
"Fish. And the shops must still be full. It's not food they're short of, it's people! And Odin knows we have more than enough people to go round."
"How are we going to get them here?" Tifa said sceptically. "Chocobo's can only carry three at most, and that won't make any sort of dent in the numbers we have. Walking would take far too long, especially without food..."
Cloud frowned. "There has to a way. If only we had the Highwind!"
"I wonder how long it takes to build another one..."
"Too long, I should think. But..." Cloud stared into the distance. "With Reeve and Cid together... surely they could figure out some sort of... system to get the Highwind out of the swamp?"
"What do you mean?"
"The swamps can't be that deep, and the Highwind is pretty damn big. I bet it isn't that far below the surface. There must be a way to get it back up!"
"It's worth a try I suppose," Tifa said. And glanced to where Sandy had fallen. "You head back. I'll wait until she wakes up, and explain what's going on."
"I'll see you later," Cloud agreed. Tifa watched him stride out of sight, and then went to sit by the guard with a sigh.
Vincent watched the three small elephants from the vantage point of the grassy knoll. They hadn't noticed him, content to rip swathes of grass from the ground and stuff it into their mouths. He had read in histories that elephants had once been massive beasts that travelled in herds that could easily eat paths through forests. With the "civilising" impact of man, the forests had long since gone and left plains in their wake. And the elephant had shrunk to the side of a large dog.
He drew his gun; even a tiny elephant would provide some meat. And three... he took careful aim.
"Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Yuffie leapt from nowhere into the centre of the group, her shuriken whizzing in a complicated pattern. One elephant fell to the ground with a trumpeting wail. The other two took off at speed. Vincent shot hastily, and one staggered but then resumed its run, trumpeting loudly as blood ran from its side.
He closed his eyes in frustration as Yuffie whooped excitedly over her kill.
"Look Vinny!" she shouted up to him. "I got one! Haha! And you missed!"
He holstered his gun, and glared at her. Any normal person would have wilted with those angry red eyes focused on them, but Yuffie was seemingly oblivious.
"I think you must be getting old, huh?" she grinned wickedly, her eyes sparkling. "Time to think about retiring, eh? Now your eyesight's going?"
He debated shooting her, but decided against it. Turning his back, he scanned the horizon, looking for tell tale dust clouds that might signify prey. The moon shed more than enough light for his super attenuated senses to use. His ears twitched, straining for noise. He thought he could hear the sea, far away.
"Hey Vinny? Will you take this back to Reeve for me?"
"No," he replied shortly. A breeze had caught at his cloak, rippling the heavy folds.
"Why not?" Yuffie asked, sounding injured. "I need to go hunt some more!"
"Take it back yourself," he replied. Was that an eddy of dust? He shaded his eyes.
"Aww, Vincent! Please? I hate carrying them back, it's boring!" Yuffie leant against the fallen beast. "Whatcha looking at? More of these things?"
"I don't know," he said, this time irritation creeping into his voice. He didn't understand how a so-called Ninja could be so loud.
"Can I catch 'em with you?" she climbed up beside him and frowned in the direction of his stare. "I don't see anything."
"It's coming this way."
They waited, Yuffie fidgeting impatiently. As the dust came closer, Vincent narrowed his eyes and made out a small blue shape, marching swiftly.
"I see it! I see it!" Yuffie yelped, and he hissed exasperatedly.
"Be quiet, or they will hear you."
She fell silent. As the figure came ever closer Vincent was able to make out more details. Blond hair, disarrayed by the wind. A rumpled and dirty navy suit, a slim female form and a very angry expression that seemed on the verge of collapsing into tears.
"It's Elena," he said quietly.
"Let's kill her," Yuffie suggested, just as quietly.
"Let's not."
"I think we should. She hit Cloud, and she was a Turk."
"That doesn't mean we should kill her."
"But !"
"Be quiet."
Elena was almost upon them before she raised her eyes. She blinked at the unexpected sight, and then a grim expression formed on her small face.
"Great. More Avalanche members," she said bitterly. "Your friend Tifa has already tried to kill Rude. Now I suppose you'll try and do the same to me."
"And we'll be much more likely to succeed!" Yuffie somersaulted in front of her and raised her arms ready for battle. "I could take ya with my arm tied to my leg!"
Suddenly the Leviathan materia slotted neatly into Yuffie's shuriken began to gleam. Yuffie blinked at it.
"Hey! I didn't summon you! How do you switch this thing off?" she smacked the small crystal hard. It flickered, and then regained strength. Yuffie was dyed a bloody shade of red in its light. "Hey! Vincent! What's happening?"
Vincent was already beside her, sliding the orb out of its slot and turning it over. He looked even more distorted in the glow, shadows forming around his high cheekbones and nose and making him look skeletal. Elena kept her distance, confused.
"I don't know," he said finally. "I've never seen anything like this before."
Yuffie snatched it from his hands, and shouted angrily. "Leviathan! What in the name of Holy do you -"
There was an ear splitting roar, and the materia seemed to explode with light. Yuffie screamed soundlessly, her voice lost in the earth racking noise, and dropped it. Her hands clamped across her eyes. Elena had jerked her face away, also shielding her eyes from the light. Only Vincent was left to stare, horrified, into the inferno. He saw the materia dissolve into shards of boiling light, brighter than bright, which danced and swirled into each other. To Vincent it seemed an eternity of watching the retina-burning image build up, but it must have been only seconds. For a moment a strange creature stared down at him, a dragon made of light. A thousand iridescent flashes of colours passed across that shining frame, and the eyes were deep, heavy with the knowledge of generations and fierce with contained power. It seemed to have sprung straight from some deep primal core inside Vincent's brain. It was the spirit of every dragon that had ever flown, across every planet and in every time.
And the wings spread, for a moment cloaking the night sky with their searing brightness. A gust of wind that knocked Vincent flying as they flapped once, and lifted the lithe lizards body into the air. A final shrieking cry that threatened to crack the very ground and then it shot straight up like a firework, leaving nothing but a white after image that slowly faded.
Yuffie uncurled from her ball, and peered wide eyed at the sprawled body of Vincent. She was somewhat startled to discover the usually calm, withdrawn man staring straight into the sky with a grimace of fear on his face. She had never seen Vincent look afraid, not even when they had faced down the One Winged Angel. Now he was terrified.
"What... what happened?" Elena was ashen faced.
Vincent sat up slowly, his face gradually regaining its normal expression. There was a haunted look in those red demon eyes though.
"Ryuu-hi," he said, so quietly Yuffie could barely make him out.
"Ryuu-hi?" she repeated. And the wind snatched the syllables from her mouth and sent them spinning towards the far away ocean.