Thanks for all the helpful reviewing! I really appreciate it!
Rjtheclown—thanks for the good advice! I'm going to explain Reeve in a
later chapter (kind of a review of stuff that happened in ff7). Angel of
the Fallen Shadows—I'm proud to be on your list! Thanks a lot! And to the
Highwaywoman, the first reviewer of this story—thanks for liking it! Okay,
anyway, I am going to do my best to finish this one. Just be patient, stick
with me, and I'll see it through! (oh, and continue to review and give good
advice, please! ;)
Chapter Two
For a moment, Maena just knelt by Vincent's still form, too in shock to do anything. Then she reached to touch his face, her fingertips lightly brushing his pale skin.
Vincent stirred softly and moaned.
Maena quickly drew back the folds of his cloak to examine his wounds. There were three. One bullet had only scratched his arm. Another had gone through his shoulder. The last one had entered his body under his left ribcage and was still there. Maena drew in a sharp breath. Could she with her magic heal him?
Cautiously, she set down her staff and placed her hands over his heart, willing the cure to come. Nothing happened. Maena choked down a sob of frustration. She would try again--she had to. So again she willed the cure to come. This time, the green curative light appeared, glowing softly over her hands and Vincent's body. Then, it was gone—before Maena wanted it to be. She quickly reexamined his wounds. The only one to be completely cured was the scratch on his arm. The shoulder wound was now half closed, and the wound to his body was not healed at all.
Maena felt like crying. She also felt like her magic was spent for the time being. She knew she had to get Vincent to a place where he could be tended to properly. But... where?
Maena again reached to touch his cheek. "Mr. Valentine?"
Vincent's burgundy eyes fluttered open. "Maena..." He smiled slowly. "You're safe." He suddenly felt very good about himself. Perhaps he had atoned now. Perhaps the good deed of saving her life was enough to make up for his life of darkness and coldness. Perhaps the kindness he had shown this sweet young girl could make up for all the unkindness and the depressing words he had dished out to everyone else.
"Vincent... Where can I take you where they will know how to help you?" Maena was shaking with worry, not even conscious that she had used his first name. This man had saved her life and it was going to be hard to save his.
Vincent lifted his head and Maena quickly slid her hand under it, her long, slender fingers enmeshed in his silky black hair. "Cid...Cid Highwind... the airship." Vincent paused to cough raggedly. "You have to signal him." He was rapidly losing consciousness, his breathing shallow and uneven.
Maena pulled him into her arms, drawing his head against her strong shoulder. "How, Vincent?" she whispered.
"Your... magic." He suddenly went limp in her arms.
Maena sat there for a moment, not really sure what to do. She finally resolved to get Vincent outside of Nibelheim and then try to signal this Cid person. She stood and gently took Vincent under the arms and began dragging him towards the stairwell, thankful that he was so thin, but wishing that he didn't have a golden claw. She began the painstaking process of dragging him up the old, decrepit wooden stairway. She tried her best to be gentle, but it was impossible to get him up the long, curved stairs without a few jolts. She winced at his every whimper of pain, feeling in her heart that this was all her fault.
Shinra had been after her, not him. Thorn had fired at her, not Vincent Valentine. Vincent had risked his life to save her, even in the form of the mad creature he had become. Maena frowned. It didn't seem real.
Finally, she reached the top of the stairs with Vincent in tow. She gently lifted him to his feet, propping him against her. "Wake up!" she whispered.
Vincent's eyes opened and he weakly held up his head. "Whaeesi?" he slurred drunkenly.
"We've made it to the second floor. Come on." She half dragged, half supported him to the top of the main staircase. "We have to get down there somehow."
Vincent suddenly shifted in her arms and the pull of his weight caused both of them to topple to the floor, her staff clanging loudly beside her. Maena hurriedly crawled to Vincent's side. He was doubling up in pain, fighting for breath. "Vincent..." She touched his shoulder. Suddenly, he fainted.
Maena felt confused. Had she put him to sleep with her touch, or had he just passed out from his wounds? Knowing that this was no time to stop and think, she stood and surveyed her position. How was she to get him down the steps and out of Nibelheim before someone saw them and reported to Thorn?
An idea suddenly came to her. She ran to a bedroom across the landing and began hauling the mattress off of the bed. She dragged the thing out of the bedroom and onto the landing. When she turned to face Vincent, she gasped.
A ghostly-looking fiend was hovering over him! It turned and saw her, it's shadowy eyes turning red with anger. As Maena looked more closely at the creature, she noticed that it was already wounded. It was tilting wildly in the air as it left Vincent and came for her. It swooped over her head. She struck at it with her fists and missed, then spun to face it.
The almost-transparent fiend leered at her. "The thin creature... is mine," it rasped, hate and anger infused in its voice.
An anger just as red-hot welled up in Maena. Fire shot from her hands and the fiend was consumed immediately.
The abruptness of the "battle" left Maena panting. Quickly, she regained her wits and pulled the mattress to Vincent's side. Then, she gently pulled him onto it, climbing beside of him and grabbing her staff. She lay down at his side and put an arm around him to stabilize him. Then, she pushed at the rail beside her, and the mattress went sliding down the stairs.
As soon as the mattress hit the floor below, ice whipped out from the staff Maena clutched, making a path through the door, through the center of town, and out into the plains. The mattress bearing Maena and Vincent slipped and slid down the icy path—all the way out of town, coming to a stop when the ice ended abruptly, a good two-hundred yards from Nibelheim.
For a moment, Maena just laid there, panting, staring at her arm, which rose and fell erratically with Vincent's breathing. Quickly, she sat up. Why did her magic do that? Why did it come impulsively and not when she wanted it to? She gently bent over Vincent. His wounds were bleeding badly now. She had to bind them. Quickly, she stripped off her wide leather belt and strapped it around the wound to his abdomen. The bleeding from his shoulder was not as bad, so it would have to wait for a bandage.
Maena stood, her silky blue dress billowing around her ankles in the cool wind. Now... how to signal this Cid person who had an airship? She looked at the slivery staff that she held in her hands. Was it at all possible for her to will magic? She would have to give it a try. She held the staff over her head and closed her eyes. A messenger... That was it. But how could she create a messenger that would find Cid Highwind and bring him back to her and Vincent? Flame... A ball of flame... She could create it to find Cid and lead him to Nibelheim...
Flames of magic, born of materia, born of the breath of the planet... Come forth and form a sphere of light... A beacon sent to Cid Highwind and his airship. Bring him back to me, flaming messenger of light!
Maena opened her eyes. At first, she thought nothing had happened. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a tiny, reddish sphere of light disappearing to the west. Her heart leapt for joy within her. There was hope.
So she stood there under a canopy of stars... waiting... And waiting... And waiting...
It was growing colder. The mountains behind Nibelheim blocked even the light of the moon from reaching Maena Moonglow.
She sat down on the mattress beside of Vincent Valentine. He was shivering violently. She bent over his unconscious form, held her staff above him, and closed her eyes. She willed the cure to come, willed it with all of her being, in the same way that she had willed the beacon of fire. She slowly opened her eyes. Nothing had happened.
Maena cried. She lay there on the mattress in the middle of a meadow and cried until no more tears would come. What would happen now? Surely Vincent would die... and then she, too, would join him, whether by freezing to death or by some other means, it seemed as if her time had also come. She sat up quietly, her breath soft and jerky, and took Vincent's hand in hers, rubbing it gently.
The wind began to blow, whipping her hair behind her like a banner of copper and gold.
Then, suddenly, she fell back onto the mattress, fainted from exhaustion.
When Maena awoke, it was just before dawn. The rising sun cast a strange purplish glow against one horizon. Maena sat up and brushed at her hair with her fingers, then suddenly remembered where she was and why. She hurriedly bent over Vincent. He was much the same as he had been when she had fallen asleep—no better, no worse.
Suddenly, there were lights in the sky above. Maena slid off the mattress and stood, peering up into the sky at the lights. They were attached to some sort of flying contraption. The airship! It had to be! "Cid! Cid!" Maena began to yell, waving her arms madly. "Down here!"
Suddenly, the lights trained down on Maena and Vincent.
A rough voice floated down from the sky as the airship began landing. "Hey! What the %# is going on down there!?"
"I sent that beacon after you!" Maena called loudly, trying to be heard over the noise of the flying contraption. "Vincent is hurt! He told me to find you!"
Suddenly, a man leaped from the deck of the airship, his movements fluid and strong. The airship landed gracefully behind him, his silhouette dark against the lights of the ship. Immediately, the man was at Maena's side. She quickly surmised that this was a man of action. He was of medium height and strongly built, probably in the prime of his life, with short blond hair and mischievous blue eyes.
"So where's Vincent?" Cid asked, looking behind her. He walked in large strides the mattress, his shoulders thrown back in an air of utter confidence in himself. Gracefully, he squatted down by his fallen friend. His tough demeanor immediately went soft. "Poor Valentine." He turned to look at Maena. "How'd this happen?"
"Shinra rogues. They were after me. He saved my life." She wrapped her arms around her cold body.
Cid cursed. "&$% Shinra. They couldn't do enough damage in politics, so they're gonna do their worst in terrorism." He shook his head, then with one fluid motion, swept Vincent into his strong arms and stood. "Miss, I suggest you tell me what's wrong with him on the way up."
Maena frowned. "Way up?"
Cid nodded and began walking towards his airship with Maena following closely behind. "Yeah," he said. "Got tired of rope ladders, so I had Shera (that's my wife) help me fix up a big basket as a sorta elevator. &% of a lot better than a ladder. Yes sir." He stopped before his mighty ship. "Shera!" he yelled. "Lower the basket!"
Immediately, a huge basket dropped to the ground in front of him.
Cid gave Maena a wink. "Usually, she's slow as heck. Got lucky this time." He gently placed Cid inside the basket/elevator and climbed in behind him, then he reached to pull Maena inside. "Now, girl, tell me what I need to know. This man here is my best friend, and a #%$ good man, so I suggest you tell me anything that would help me in helping him."
Maena took a deep breath as the basket began to slowly rise. "Well, my name is Maena Moonglow. I have magic inside me. I haven't told Vincent this, but I was born on Mount Nibel. My mother fell into a mako spring while giving birth to me, and I assume that accounts for my magic."
Cid raised an eyebrow. "And your shiny green eyes."
Maena nodded. "Shinra has hunted me all of my life—as a government and as a terrorist organization. Last place I hid was the old Shinra Mansion. Vincent found me there last night. And a Shinra materia hunter named Thorn attacked us. Vincent transformed into this... this creature. He protected me. And he was shot doing so. He saved my life..." Her throat tightened.
Cid gave her a wry stare. "How bad are his injuries?"
They were almost to the deck.
"Really bad," Maena replied, her voice shaky. "His shoulder was hit. That one's not so bad, but he was also shot right under his ribs, and that bullet is still in him. I-I couldn't heal him. I tried. Somehow, my magic doesn't come when I want it, but when it wants it."
"&%$." Cid shook his head. "Poor kids. Both of ya." He stood. "Here we are."
The basket was pulled over the railing by some kind of rope contraption. Cid instantly hopped out of the basket. "Shera! Yuffie!" he yelled in his scratchy voice. "Get up here! Vincent's hurt!" He turned and gave Maena a roguish smile. "Welcome to the Highwind, kid."
Chapter Two
For a moment, Maena just knelt by Vincent's still form, too in shock to do anything. Then she reached to touch his face, her fingertips lightly brushing his pale skin.
Vincent stirred softly and moaned.
Maena quickly drew back the folds of his cloak to examine his wounds. There were three. One bullet had only scratched his arm. Another had gone through his shoulder. The last one had entered his body under his left ribcage and was still there. Maena drew in a sharp breath. Could she with her magic heal him?
Cautiously, she set down her staff and placed her hands over his heart, willing the cure to come. Nothing happened. Maena choked down a sob of frustration. She would try again--she had to. So again she willed the cure to come. This time, the green curative light appeared, glowing softly over her hands and Vincent's body. Then, it was gone—before Maena wanted it to be. She quickly reexamined his wounds. The only one to be completely cured was the scratch on his arm. The shoulder wound was now half closed, and the wound to his body was not healed at all.
Maena felt like crying. She also felt like her magic was spent for the time being. She knew she had to get Vincent to a place where he could be tended to properly. But... where?
Maena again reached to touch his cheek. "Mr. Valentine?"
Vincent's burgundy eyes fluttered open. "Maena..." He smiled slowly. "You're safe." He suddenly felt very good about himself. Perhaps he had atoned now. Perhaps the good deed of saving her life was enough to make up for his life of darkness and coldness. Perhaps the kindness he had shown this sweet young girl could make up for all the unkindness and the depressing words he had dished out to everyone else.
"Vincent... Where can I take you where they will know how to help you?" Maena was shaking with worry, not even conscious that she had used his first name. This man had saved her life and it was going to be hard to save his.
Vincent lifted his head and Maena quickly slid her hand under it, her long, slender fingers enmeshed in his silky black hair. "Cid...Cid Highwind... the airship." Vincent paused to cough raggedly. "You have to signal him." He was rapidly losing consciousness, his breathing shallow and uneven.
Maena pulled him into her arms, drawing his head against her strong shoulder. "How, Vincent?" she whispered.
"Your... magic." He suddenly went limp in her arms.
Maena sat there for a moment, not really sure what to do. She finally resolved to get Vincent outside of Nibelheim and then try to signal this Cid person. She stood and gently took Vincent under the arms and began dragging him towards the stairwell, thankful that he was so thin, but wishing that he didn't have a golden claw. She began the painstaking process of dragging him up the old, decrepit wooden stairway. She tried her best to be gentle, but it was impossible to get him up the long, curved stairs without a few jolts. She winced at his every whimper of pain, feeling in her heart that this was all her fault.
Shinra had been after her, not him. Thorn had fired at her, not Vincent Valentine. Vincent had risked his life to save her, even in the form of the mad creature he had become. Maena frowned. It didn't seem real.
Finally, she reached the top of the stairs with Vincent in tow. She gently lifted him to his feet, propping him against her. "Wake up!" she whispered.
Vincent's eyes opened and he weakly held up his head. "Whaeesi?" he slurred drunkenly.
"We've made it to the second floor. Come on." She half dragged, half supported him to the top of the main staircase. "We have to get down there somehow."
Vincent suddenly shifted in her arms and the pull of his weight caused both of them to topple to the floor, her staff clanging loudly beside her. Maena hurriedly crawled to Vincent's side. He was doubling up in pain, fighting for breath. "Vincent..." She touched his shoulder. Suddenly, he fainted.
Maena felt confused. Had she put him to sleep with her touch, or had he just passed out from his wounds? Knowing that this was no time to stop and think, she stood and surveyed her position. How was she to get him down the steps and out of Nibelheim before someone saw them and reported to Thorn?
An idea suddenly came to her. She ran to a bedroom across the landing and began hauling the mattress off of the bed. She dragged the thing out of the bedroom and onto the landing. When she turned to face Vincent, she gasped.
A ghostly-looking fiend was hovering over him! It turned and saw her, it's shadowy eyes turning red with anger. As Maena looked more closely at the creature, she noticed that it was already wounded. It was tilting wildly in the air as it left Vincent and came for her. It swooped over her head. She struck at it with her fists and missed, then spun to face it.
The almost-transparent fiend leered at her. "The thin creature... is mine," it rasped, hate and anger infused in its voice.
An anger just as red-hot welled up in Maena. Fire shot from her hands and the fiend was consumed immediately.
The abruptness of the "battle" left Maena panting. Quickly, she regained her wits and pulled the mattress to Vincent's side. Then, she gently pulled him onto it, climbing beside of him and grabbing her staff. She lay down at his side and put an arm around him to stabilize him. Then, she pushed at the rail beside her, and the mattress went sliding down the stairs.
As soon as the mattress hit the floor below, ice whipped out from the staff Maena clutched, making a path through the door, through the center of town, and out into the plains. The mattress bearing Maena and Vincent slipped and slid down the icy path—all the way out of town, coming to a stop when the ice ended abruptly, a good two-hundred yards from Nibelheim.
For a moment, Maena just laid there, panting, staring at her arm, which rose and fell erratically with Vincent's breathing. Quickly, she sat up. Why did her magic do that? Why did it come impulsively and not when she wanted it to? She gently bent over Vincent. His wounds were bleeding badly now. She had to bind them. Quickly, she stripped off her wide leather belt and strapped it around the wound to his abdomen. The bleeding from his shoulder was not as bad, so it would have to wait for a bandage.
Maena stood, her silky blue dress billowing around her ankles in the cool wind. Now... how to signal this Cid person who had an airship? She looked at the slivery staff that she held in her hands. Was it at all possible for her to will magic? She would have to give it a try. She held the staff over her head and closed her eyes. A messenger... That was it. But how could she create a messenger that would find Cid Highwind and bring him back to her and Vincent? Flame... A ball of flame... She could create it to find Cid and lead him to Nibelheim...
Flames of magic, born of materia, born of the breath of the planet... Come forth and form a sphere of light... A beacon sent to Cid Highwind and his airship. Bring him back to me, flaming messenger of light!
Maena opened her eyes. At first, she thought nothing had happened. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a tiny, reddish sphere of light disappearing to the west. Her heart leapt for joy within her. There was hope.
So she stood there under a canopy of stars... waiting... And waiting... And waiting...
It was growing colder. The mountains behind Nibelheim blocked even the light of the moon from reaching Maena Moonglow.
She sat down on the mattress beside of Vincent Valentine. He was shivering violently. She bent over his unconscious form, held her staff above him, and closed her eyes. She willed the cure to come, willed it with all of her being, in the same way that she had willed the beacon of fire. She slowly opened her eyes. Nothing had happened.
Maena cried. She lay there on the mattress in the middle of a meadow and cried until no more tears would come. What would happen now? Surely Vincent would die... and then she, too, would join him, whether by freezing to death or by some other means, it seemed as if her time had also come. She sat up quietly, her breath soft and jerky, and took Vincent's hand in hers, rubbing it gently.
The wind began to blow, whipping her hair behind her like a banner of copper and gold.
Then, suddenly, she fell back onto the mattress, fainted from exhaustion.
When Maena awoke, it was just before dawn. The rising sun cast a strange purplish glow against one horizon. Maena sat up and brushed at her hair with her fingers, then suddenly remembered where she was and why. She hurriedly bent over Vincent. He was much the same as he had been when she had fallen asleep—no better, no worse.
Suddenly, there were lights in the sky above. Maena slid off the mattress and stood, peering up into the sky at the lights. They were attached to some sort of flying contraption. The airship! It had to be! "Cid! Cid!" Maena began to yell, waving her arms madly. "Down here!"
Suddenly, the lights trained down on Maena and Vincent.
A rough voice floated down from the sky as the airship began landing. "Hey! What the %# is going on down there!?"
"I sent that beacon after you!" Maena called loudly, trying to be heard over the noise of the flying contraption. "Vincent is hurt! He told me to find you!"
Suddenly, a man leaped from the deck of the airship, his movements fluid and strong. The airship landed gracefully behind him, his silhouette dark against the lights of the ship. Immediately, the man was at Maena's side. She quickly surmised that this was a man of action. He was of medium height and strongly built, probably in the prime of his life, with short blond hair and mischievous blue eyes.
"So where's Vincent?" Cid asked, looking behind her. He walked in large strides the mattress, his shoulders thrown back in an air of utter confidence in himself. Gracefully, he squatted down by his fallen friend. His tough demeanor immediately went soft. "Poor Valentine." He turned to look at Maena. "How'd this happen?"
"Shinra rogues. They were after me. He saved my life." She wrapped her arms around her cold body.
Cid cursed. "&$% Shinra. They couldn't do enough damage in politics, so they're gonna do their worst in terrorism." He shook his head, then with one fluid motion, swept Vincent into his strong arms and stood. "Miss, I suggest you tell me what's wrong with him on the way up."
Maena frowned. "Way up?"
Cid nodded and began walking towards his airship with Maena following closely behind. "Yeah," he said. "Got tired of rope ladders, so I had Shera (that's my wife) help me fix up a big basket as a sorta elevator. &% of a lot better than a ladder. Yes sir." He stopped before his mighty ship. "Shera!" he yelled. "Lower the basket!"
Immediately, a huge basket dropped to the ground in front of him.
Cid gave Maena a wink. "Usually, she's slow as heck. Got lucky this time." He gently placed Cid inside the basket/elevator and climbed in behind him, then he reached to pull Maena inside. "Now, girl, tell me what I need to know. This man here is my best friend, and a #%$ good man, so I suggest you tell me anything that would help me in helping him."
Maena took a deep breath as the basket began to slowly rise. "Well, my name is Maena Moonglow. I have magic inside me. I haven't told Vincent this, but I was born on Mount Nibel. My mother fell into a mako spring while giving birth to me, and I assume that accounts for my magic."
Cid raised an eyebrow. "And your shiny green eyes."
Maena nodded. "Shinra has hunted me all of my life—as a government and as a terrorist organization. Last place I hid was the old Shinra Mansion. Vincent found me there last night. And a Shinra materia hunter named Thorn attacked us. Vincent transformed into this... this creature. He protected me. And he was shot doing so. He saved my life..." Her throat tightened.
Cid gave her a wry stare. "How bad are his injuries?"
They were almost to the deck.
"Really bad," Maena replied, her voice shaky. "His shoulder was hit. That one's not so bad, but he was also shot right under his ribs, and that bullet is still in him. I-I couldn't heal him. I tried. Somehow, my magic doesn't come when I want it, but when it wants it."
"&%$." Cid shook his head. "Poor kids. Both of ya." He stood. "Here we are."
The basket was pulled over the railing by some kind of rope contraption. Cid instantly hopped out of the basket. "Shera! Yuffie!" he yelled in his scratchy voice. "Get up here! Vincent's hurt!" He turned and gave Maena a roguish smile. "Welcome to the Highwind, kid."