Chapter 7

Guardian Angels

"Vincent, we have a problem!" Yuffie yelled over the roar of the bikes. Tifa, Marlene, and Nanaki were coming up fast.

"Rude! Give this to Kali!" Vincent called. He pulled Kali's gun out of her bag and tossed it to them. Rude caught it and laid it in Kali's hands. "Hold on to it tight!" Vincent cautioned.

"Split up!" Reno exclaimed. He and Vincent kept their path while Yuffie and Cid went to the right and Rude tore off to the left, Kali nearly falling off. He grabbed her just in time.

"I told you I won't let you fall," he reassured her. Kali hunched over and closed her eyes. A growl to her right made her open them and scream.

"I told Vincent that I would not tell Cloud and I kept that promise. I did not promise not to harm you should you harm one of us," Nanaki growled.

He bit at her, but only got a mouthful of her coat and bracer. She yelled and shakily fired the gun. It hit his ear, releasing a painful howl from the animal, but he still ran fast and nearly bit her hand off. Rude turned sharply, causing Nanaki to lose balance and fall over. As he turned, the rope's knot came loose and Kali fell to the ground.

"Rude, help!" she cried. She stood and began running after him, but Nanaki was too fast; he grabbed her coat and brought her down. He began scratching her to ribbons. "No!"

"Kali!" Rude yelled. He was coming back towards her and had a small pistol in his hand. He shot by Nanaki so he would let go. Rude came up next to them, pulled the bleeding girl up, and held her in front of him. Nanaki came tearing after them. Kali managed to shoot one or two more rounds before the gun clicked weakly.

"I'm out!"

"No, there's a bullet stuck," he said in her ear. Kali tried to get the bullet free, while Nanaki leapt in front of them. Rude swerved to avoid hitting him, but they hit a rock and both fell to the ground.

"Ouchies," Kali moaned. She tried to move her legs, but they were stuck under the cycle. She glanced over at Rude, who lay next to her with his gun in his hands. "You okay?"

"Fine, you?"

"Do I look okay?"

"RAR!" Nanaki was leaping upon them, claws out and teeth bared. Kali covered her head with her arm, but she knew that this was it. She was going to die, and there was nothing she could do…

"No!" Rude snapped, almost as if he was reading her mind. He pulled out his gun and shot Nanaki in the head. Kali screamed as she watched blood squirt from his temple. She could have sworn a piece of his brain was thrown from the head, as well. He landed on top of her, a furry, dead heap.

"Rude… Get. Him. Off!" she gasped. He threw Nanaki aside and pulled the cycle off of her while Kali turned away and violently threw up. He laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I won't tell anyone that you got sick."

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Rude and Kali rode peacefully for another six hours before they stopped by a river to calm Kali's stomach and eat. Neither of them spoke much. Rude did fix her gun, however. As they got ready to leave, they heard motorcycles approaching. With their weapons ready, they watched as two bikes came over the hill. Upon them were Yuffie, Cid, Vincent, and Reno. They stopped by Rude and Kali.

"Vincent," she sighed, wrapping her arms around him. She noticed Yuffie watching her. "What? Am I making you jealous?"

"No, not at all. You're hurt," she pointed out. Indeed, Kali was torn up pretty badly. She had cuts on her face and hands, and her clothes were torn, revealing deep gashes in her stomach and chest. Although it had been several hours, some places were still bleeding.

"I'll be fine," she insisted. She walked a few steps, but her injured legs gave out. Rude caught her as she fell.

"Why haven't you bound her wounds?" Vincent asked him.

"Reno has all of the first aid."

"Oh, right," Reno grinned embarrassedly.

"I think we should divvy up the first aid in case this happens again. As for you," Vincent began as he looked at Kali. "We're not going to do anymore traveling today. Tifa and Marlene aren't in any condition to fight, so we can spare a little time. We'll rest there," he pointed at a cave nearby.

"Nanaki isn't in fighting condition either," Kali added. "He's dead."

"Poor Nanaki," Yuffie gasped. "I suppose he was the one who did this to you, right?"

"Yes."

"I'll make sure there aren't any monsters in there so we can rest," Cid offered. Rude turned to him.

"I'll help," he said. The two of them went in and came out a few minutes later with news that the cave was all clear. They rolled the motorcycles into their temporary hideout and built a fire.

"Kali, come here so I can get you cleaned up," Vincent ordered. He turned to Cid. "Would you go to the river and get some water?"

"Sure. Be back in a flash."

"Come into here," Vincent said, turning to Kali. They went into a small part of the cave that was out of sight of their friends. "Take off your clothes."

"What?" she cried.

"At least I made you come where nobody's going to see you. Do you want your wounds bound or not?" he asked forcefully. She only stood there. He sighed, "Kali, I assure you, I'm not going to take advantage or anything. I spent the past fifteen years living with your mother and not once did I ever even think about taking advantage. Kali, you can trust me. You could die if you don't bandage your wounds immediately."

"Can't I just drink potions?"

"Your wounds are too deep. They won't heal with potion alone."

Kali thought a moment and began taking her clothes off. When Cid came with the water, she wrapped up in Vincent's coat to hide her nakedness. After he left, she laid on a rock while Vincent washed the blood away and cleaned the cuts with alcohol. He had to leave several times to regain control upon seeing the blood, but he slowly fixed her up. As he finished bandaging her wounds, she spoke quietly.

"Vincent, I think my daddy's visited me before."

"I am glad. Has he brought good news?" he asked, somewhat taken aback by this statement. She shook her head.

"No. He's never spoken. And he never took me to the Lifestream," she whispered. Vincent stopped and looked up at her slowly.

"Kali?"

"When I was a little girl, I used to wake up in the middle of the night whenever I had a nightmare. When I did, I would sit up and start crying. Every time, without fail, I would look towards my closet and there would be a man standing there. He wore black pants, no shirt, and a black coat and armor, both of which he took off once he got there, and had long silver hair and eyes like mine, except they were green instead of grey. I never knew who he was, he never told me his name, but any night I would have a bad dream, he walked… no," she corrected herself, "he sort of glided over to my bed and sat- no, hovered, next to me. Most nights, he would lie- er, float, by me and try to hold me.

"The first time I saw him, I was around three years old, and I was frightened. When he laid next to me and laid an arm over me, I reached my own hand out and touched his chest. My hand went through. I was afraid of ghosts back then, but I felt warm and comfortable around him. After a few minutes, I started to talk to him. 'Are you dead?' I asked. He nodded slowly. 'Are you a ghost?' He nodded, but then got one of those looks on his face like he was thinking and shook it. 'What are you?' I wondered. When I asked that, he stood, turned, and I could see two wings on his back. One was black and a bird's, but the other was white and a dragon's. 'Are you an angel? Are you my guardian angel?' When I said that, he hesitated a moment, smiled, and nodded. He pulled a pad of paper out of his pocket and wrote something. I told him it was no use; I couldn't read at the time. He looked sad when I said that. He tore off the paper and put it in one of my drawers. When I learned to read, I pulled it out. It said, 'I am neither an angel nor a demon. I am what I am: dead and gone. But I am always your father and will always watch over you.' When I read that, I thought it was a joke. My father was dead.

"A few nights after I read it, I woke up again. I had dreamed about my angel. He was right there with me when I awoke, as always. When I was trying to fall back to sleep, he laid a hand on me and showed me things."

"Like what?" Vincent inquired.

"Another world. One with monsters and a giant rock of fire that fell from the sky and nearly wiped all the people out. I watched my angel standing there, smiling and watching the rock, except he wasn't my angel. I held his hand tightly while the man who looked like him laughed. He was standing over a woman in a pink dress. She was bleeding badly. After that, he took me home and I went to sleep. He came back each night for years. I soon realized that it wasn't just when I had nightmares that he came. Some nights, I would wake up for no reason and he would be at the foot of my bed, watching. He never came before midnight and left just before dawn."

"How do you know when he came and left?"

"Once, I had a dream right after I went to bed and I woke up just before midnight. He wasn't there. I waited, crying the whole time, and as the clock struck midnight, I looked over at my closet just as he was walking through the doors. He saw that I was up and crying, so he came and wrapped an arm around me as usual. That same night, I only pretended to fall back to sleep. I laid there all night and we watched each other. As dawn came, I watched him come up, brush my hair out of my face, and kiss me on the forehead before he went back to the closet. When he was gone, I went in to find how he came and went, but found nothing except my clothes and toys. I did that a few other nights, and it was always the same: he came at midnight and left at dawn."

"I'm done binding your wounds. Does he still come to you?" he asked curiously as she sat up. Kali became a little teary-eyed and she looked at the ground.

"When I was about seven, maybe eight years old, I had a horrible dream. My angel was in trouble. He was fighting a demon or monster or something like that and he lost. I watched the creature tear off my angel's white wing. He started to bleed and scream. In his screams I heard him crying, 'No, I won't let you take her! You aren't going to harm my daughter! I won't let you, you fucking bitch!' He turned to me and told me to run, but I shook my head. 'Kali, please, run,' he pleaded over and over again. The monster came after him and called him the 'One-Winged Angel.' He yelled that he wasn't anymore, that that life was over. He told the monster that he loved his daughter and would do anything to protect her, that she would never lay a hand on Kali. The beast insisted that he was the One-Winged Angel, full of hate, anger and selfishness, and drove a sword through his chest. He fell back next to me and whispered, 'I'm sorry, Kali. I love you, my daughter.' I watched my angel die then. When I looked up, the monster came upon me with the weapon.

"I woke up before it hurt me and I started crying and shaking. I looked around but my angel wasn't there, even though it was around two in the morning. I got up and wandered the building, looking for him. When I didn't find him, I went into the sunroom and hid there. Madame Sharmila was in a panic. Nobody thought to look for me there. While I hid, I prayed that my guardian angel would find me, that whoever was meant to look after me would come," she said quietly. Her eyes widened slightly and a few tears dripped down her cheeks. "Devin was the only one who thought to look there. He wasn't even supposed to be looking, only the teenagers and Sharmila. When he found me, we hadn't known each other very well and weren't very close. When he came, I said, 'Devin, you came to my prayers! You're my guardian angel. You have to protect me through everything.' He was older than I, so now I think he was just trying to humor me, but he said he would. He and I became so close after that. God, I miss him," she sobbed. She wrapped her arms around Vincent and cried. He hesitated and began to pull back, as she was still only in her under clothes, but he gently wrapped his arms around her.

"So that's how you got the wings tattooed, right?"

"Yes. I remembered those wings and wanted them on me as a remembrance of my fallen angel. Now that I've seen what he looks like and who he is, I'm sure that angel was my father."

"Why didn't you say anything before?"

"I never thought about it much. After Devin became my replacement angel, I stopped believing in my old one. He never came back after that dream. I was so young when he visited; I'm amazed I remember at all. You're the only person I've ever told about my angel. Vincent, I want to go home."

"I know, Kal. I know, and I'm sorry I ever brought you here," he muttered. She had been leaning against him, but now she sat up.

"You called me 'Kal.'"

"You don't like that name?"

"I don't care if you call me that. It's just… Devin used that name a lot."

"I guess I won't call you that then."

"No, it's okay. I feel good thinking about him," she whispered.

"Vincent! Kali! Are you two hungry?" Yuffie yelled. She walked in a moment later but turned away when she saw that Kali wasn't dressed. "Sorry."

"Oh, I guess I need to put on my clothes, huh?" Kali apologized and got dressed.

"How long have we been in here?" Vincent asked. Yuffie thought.

"Five hours, give or take."

"That long? Wow," Vincent sighed.

"Well, you did have to leave several times to take control of your instincts," Yuffie reminded him. Kali approached them as she tied her bracers.

"I'm actually still hungry," she said. Yuffie smiled and told them to come and eat. Kali stopped Vincent. "Don't tell anyone, okay?"

"Your secret is safe with me."

"Thank you for everything," she whispered. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. She picked up her coat and carried it out to where the others were sitting. Vincent only stared after her and smiled.

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Reno woke up suddenly. He listened to the footsteps walking across the ground and rolled over to find Yuffie going into the room where Vincent had healed Kali. Looking around and rubbing his bare stomach, he saw that Vincent wasn't there, either. Reno stood silently, his jacket slipping down from around his chest, and approached the room. He pulled down the sleeves of his shirt; the cave was colder than he thought. He peered in to see the two of them arguing while Vincent packed up the first aid kit.

"Vincent, please don't go to Midgar," Yuffie begged. Reno could tell that she was crying.

"If I don't, the planet will surely die."

"How can you say that?" she cried. "Kali is Sephiroth's daughter! Don't tell me she doesn't have the same power as him. Surely she can get along without that sword."

"Yuffie, when I am gone, I want you to take care of her for as long as you can."

"No. You're not going to die, so I'm not going to have to."

"Yuffie-"

"No! I'm not just going to stand by and watch you get killed! I can't do that! I love you too damn much!" Yuffie snapped. Reno could see her tears clearly now. Vincent put down the kit and wrapped his arms around Yuffie. "Why do you want so badly for your life to end?"

"Calm down, just calm down," he whispered. She only sobbed into his coat. Vincent pushed her away a little and looked her in the eyes. "Yuffie, I love you. For the past fifteen years, my heart has ached with the knowledge that you were dead. Now that I know you are alive, I don't want to die. But you must understand, something is happening to our world. You are meant to see more of it than I, hopefully the outcome included. I am meant only to see Sephiroth's grave once more and provide a way for him to know when to send the sword to Kali. I cannot disrupt fate."

"No, there must be another way."

"Yuffie…" he sighed. "There is not. I'm so sorry." She only sobbed harder. "I love you," Vincent said again.

"And I love you," she replied. Reno watched Vincent hold her face in his hands and kiss her. Reno closed his eyes and went back to the camp when they began to take off each other's clothes.

"And I love you, Yuffie," he muttered, looking back towards where they were. He turned, stood by the dying fire, and surveyed those that remained asleep.

Cid was fast asleep in a sleeping bag, snoring loudly. Reno then realized that it was the noise that had woken him up. Rude was in another bag, sleeping just as soundly. Reno stared at him; it was odd for him to see Rude without his glasses on. They lie next to him while he slept. A movement a few feet away made him jump, but it was only Kali changing her position while she slept. Reno remembered Vincent telling him that Kali moved in her sleep a lot; he had been right. He walked over, knelt down, and gently picked up the necklace from around her neck. She opened her eyes as the chain's movement tickled her.

"Reno? What's wrong?" she muttered sleepily.

"Just admiring your necklace. Go to sleep. Good night," he said, letting it rest upon her chest again.

As she rolled onto her side to sleep, Reno went over and leaned against the entrance, staring out into the field. He lit a cigarette and stood silently. He yawned several times, eventually sitting on the floor. When his cigarette went out, he was dozing where he rested. He eventually fell over and woke up. Shaking his head and feeling stupid, he threw the butt outside and returned to his bag. He fell asleep uneasily, trying not to imagine what Vincent and Yuffie were doing now.

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"Rude, go as fast as you can," Vincent insisted. "When you get to Midgar, you must leave Kali at the grave alone. She'll be fine. I'll be along shortly. All of you meet up somewhere, probably near the ruins will be best. Wait until Tifa and Marlene are well out of sight. Then you all may come up."

"What do we do after your death?" Yuffie asked.

"Find Kadaj."

"How? I don't thin he's going to just be sitting there. He's probably going to keep moving since he most likely doesn't know Cloud is dead," Reno reminded them. Vincent thought a moment.

"There's still a train that runs through Midgar," Cid suggested. "We can find him faster if we take that. Then we can use the cycles if we have to."

"That will work. Everyone ready? You all know the paths you are to take?" Vincent asked. Everyone nodded. He turned to Kali. "Take care of yourself. We'll meet again soon."

"Yeah," she agreed. Deep down, she knew that the end was drawing ever closer for him. Kali got on the motorcycle with Rude and they began to drive away. She looked back at the other four and cried as they went out of her sight.

They rode through the country quickly. Kali found herself glad that there were no police here; she was sure that they would have been pulled over for speeding. By seven in the evening, they were at the coast. Rude quickly bought two tickets for them while Kali gazed about. Noticing a street performer that was performing fire tricks, she walked into the crowd.

"Kali?" Rude called over his shoulder. No answer. He began yelling her name, but received no reply. "Shit, I'm going to kill that girl one of these days."

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Kali gazed at the performer curiously. He was swallowing the flames, juggling torches, and walking on coal.

"Excuse me," said a quiet voice next to her. A man in a black cloak squeezed past her and watched the performer as he juggled, the shadow of his hood only allowing her to see from his nose down clearly. She looked up at him silently. After a moment, he noticed and glanced down at her himself. She turned away quickly, aware that he was watching. He gazed a moment longer before he began walking in the opposite direction.

"Kadaj…" she said under her breath. She watched her brother walk off into the crowd. She was tearing after him a moment later as a cry rang through the town.

"You! Kali! Get back here!" came Marlene's cry. Kali ran the way she came; the same way Kadaj had gone. Another cry filled the streets, although it was fainter than the first.

"That's Kadaj! Get him!" Tifa was screaming.

"Rude! Help!" Kali yelled. She glanced over her back to find Marlene, as did her brother to find Tifa. That was a mistake on both parts; they collided head-on and landed hard on their butts. "Ouchies!"

"Ouch!" yelled the man.

They sat rubbing their heads and bottoms for a second before looking up at each other. Kali was shaking. Kadaj's hood had slipped off his head partially, revealing silver hair that reached his shoulders and bright green eyes like those her angel had. He stared at her nervously and panted. He never noticed the necklace, for it the pendant had fallen under her collar as she ran and he was too occupied with the eyes. As Tifa came up behind him, he stood, stared for another second, replaced the hood, and took off through the people who were beginning to panic. Kali watched him run as Rude came up and grabbed her, making her jump.

"Don't ever run off like that again! You could have been hurt! I was worried sick! Let's go! The boat is leaving!" he yelled. Kali was taken aback; this was the most and the loudest he had ever spoken at one time during her time here. Something told her not to disobey, so she leapt up and ran with him to the ship.

They had just boarded, the gangplank having risen halfway, when Tifa and Marlene came up. The two groups shot death glares at each other. The two women turned and left as the ship went out of sight. Kali and Rude went to their rooms silently. She looked at Rude as they parted.

"Rude? Thank you, and I'm sorry I ran off. It won't happen again," she whispered. He smiled a little, another first for him around Kali, and nodded his 'you're welcome' and acceptance of the apology. He turned away and walked down the hall a moment later.

Kali turned to her room and took a glance down the opposite way. The black-cloaked man was there, going into another room. He saw her staring and both froze. Neither person moved. He finally closed his door and began walking quickly towards her. Panic seizing her, Kali ran into her room and locked the door. He knocked for several minutes, but she refused to open the door. He finally left, allowing Kali to peacefully sit on her bed, put on her headphones, and listen to Marilyn Manson's cussing through them. Kali finally turned it off and tried to sleep.

While she dozed peacefully, the moonlight shining through the porthole, a shadowy figure picked the lock and walked in. He sat on her bed and stared at her, just as it had done at Cloud's home. He laid a hand on her face again. This time, there was a tourniquet wrapped around his lower arm. He whispered her name before he leaned in to kiss Kali again. This time, it succeeded. As it kissed, Kali was dreaming that dream again, the one where she was sleeping soundly when Devin walked in and kissed her, thus waking her up. She didn't know that the dream was really happening, except it was a shadow kissing her instead of her friend and she wasn't waking up as quickly. Kali sighed as the shadow pulled away. She slowly opened her eyes while the person kissed her again. She stared at the hidden face in front of her for a moment, unsure of what to do. The person pulled away and they watched each other silently.

"You know what? I don't know who you are, but I know this has to be dream, so I'm just going to go with it, okay?" she whispered, a smile growing on the mouth of the 'dream'. She closed her eyes and fell back to sleep, shivering slightly as the person laid his hand on her breast. He kissed her passionately once again. He began to pull her pants off when another figure walked into the room. Rude stood in the doorway, shirt off and a frown on his face. He glared from her pants, now halfway down her rear, to the shadow. He pulled out his pistol and aimed at the intruder.

"Put her pants back where they should be and get out. If I find anything white on the sheets, you're dead," he said quietly. The hooded figure replaced her clothes, stood, and walked calmly past Rude. In a flash, he had two daggers out and stuck them into Rude's back. Kali woke up at his scream of pain while the shadow ran away to the deck.

"Rude? Oh, my fucking god," she said shakily when she saw him laying on the floor and groaning in pain. "Help! Someone, get a doctor!" she yelled into the hall. Kadaj heard the scream, looked out the door and saw Rude on the floor and heard the girl's panicking cries. He promptly picked up the phone in his room and dialed the doctor.

The medics were there within minutes. When Rude was on his way to the hospital wing, Kali locked her door, put a folding chair against the handle so nobody could enter, and laid back down, tears staining her face as she thought about the shadow and her guardian, now having the weapons surgically removed.

"That thing is what killed Cloud and it just tried to screw me," she muttered. She closed her eyes. "My father failed as my guardian angel. Devin is no longer here to protect me. Vincent will die within the next few days. Rude was my fourth and he's dying. Please, God, don't waste anymore of your angels on this poor girl. You don't need to lose every soul up there to her."

Kali fell asleep slowly and uneasily. As she slept, the shadow was standing on the deck of the ship right above her. His hood was back, allowing his brown hair to blow in the wind. He put it back and ran to the shadows as another figure cloaked in black took his place. This new one lowered the hood and stared at the moon silently, the light shining off of his silver hair. He whispered into the night, unheard by any but himself and the hiding shadow.

"Who is she? Why is she with Rude? And," he glanced at the waves, "why does she have my father's eyes?"

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NM: Wow, the longest chapter so far, and yet I wrote it in about five or six hours... Okay, about Rude: 1) He is not going to die; 2) Sorry if he's too chatty! But you have to admit, it would be a pretty boring story if there was no dialogue in the scenes with just those two. Also, the Shadow will be revealed after a few more chapters. I hope. Also (I need to stop using that word), Kadaj and Kali will finally have a proper introduction after the next chapter or two. No, the shadow and Kadaj aren't friends, although they will meet eventually. The angel thing was also a spur-of-the moment idea. Did you all like it? Reviews:

Merielle: Yep, Cloud's gone. Never to come back. And remember to stay quiet about you-know-what. Please?

NM: I say again… (I love sarcasm!) Oh, how hard I worked to answer those reviews… HINT! HINT!

REVIEW!

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