Chapter 35
Brad didn't know why he was being sent to Kalm to pick up Vincent and his family, but there he was. After getting the chopper on the ground, he exited it and walked toward the house, figuring that they would need a hand with all the things they were undoubtedly bringing.
When he was just a few yards short of the back door to the house, it opened and Vincent was standing there. He offered the pilot a weak smile. "Brad."
The pilot knit his brow. The last time he'd seen Vincent, the man had been nearly starved and at death's door. "How are you?"
"Fine." Vincent came down the few stairs there until he was on the ground before him. He studied Brad thoughtfully for a few moments before speaking. "You don't completely trust me."
"I ain't gonna lie to you." Brad crossed his arms over his chest. "I've got my reservations after that little matter of you shooting Reno in the face."
Vincent dropped his gaze to the ground. "It was the ferium. I never would have done that to him otherwise."
Brad shrugged. "I don't know…but if Reno trusts you, and he was the one you actually shot, hell, I guess I don't have a huge choice. Why am I taking you to the base anyway?"
"Because Cid asked if I would go there. He's going to the base to seek…help." Vincent took one more step closer to him.
He met Vincent's gaze and narrowed his eyes. "Help? What's wrong with him?"
"The cure that they gave him seems to be not entirely what we had all hoped." Vincent noticed the concern in the other man's expression.
"What do you mean?" Brad asked, letting his arms fall back to his sides.
"He believes that he's developing something along the lines of Chaos within him," Vincent replied quietly.
"Holy shit…" Brad shook his head, not sure how this was possible. "He's…damn it."
"I know." Vincent saw how upset Brad was beneath his usual strong facade. He remembered how Brad had shown the same disturbed reaction upon hearing of Cid's previous illness. He could appreciate the bond that was between the two pilots, and he wanted to ease Brad's worry. "Hopefully, if that's the case, they will be able to help him, as they have done for Aaron and I."
"Yeah, but you ain't cured, just…tamed for a while." Brad knew at least that much.
"True, however, I have no choice to put my faith in ASRIO's ability to find a cure." Vincent gave the faintest of smiles.
"I hope they don't let us down, then. Let's get your stuff on the bird." Brad walked past Vincent and toward the house. He wanted to get back to the base.
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Jaras was sitting behind the counter in his bookstore, flipping through one of the new techno-thillers that had come in. Knowing that his father had a like for this sort of book, he decided that he'd send a copy of it to Vincent's house. That had become a regular thing for him over the years, and his father always seemed grateful.
The door to the store opened up and Jeanine walked in, coming up to the counter. "Hey there."
He gave his wife a demure smile. "Good afternoon, Ma'am. Is there anything in particular you're looking for?"
She giggled and leaned against the counter. "I don't know, maybe just an incredibly sexy man with big, green eyes and silver hair. Do you have any such thing?"
Jaras cocked an eyebrow at her. "I do believe that I just might."
"Seriously, Jaras, my dad had me come to get you. He says he's ready for you to come by the clinic." Her expression lost its humor.
He got up and came around the counter, embracing her. "It will be fine, Jeanine. The little bit of Mako that he's going to put into me won't be anything compared to what I was exposed to back in the day."
"I know, but I can't help but worry, Jaras. I love you, and this baby…" Her words trailed off and she stepped back before placing her hands upon her still flat stomach.
Jaras smiled and placed his hands over hers. "Everything will be fine, Jeanine. I promise you it'll be fine."
Her smile finally returned. His confidence was unwavering in regards to his treatment. "Okay, well, let's go then. Dad's waiting."
"And Brandon doesn't like to be kept waiting," he laughed back. Jaras had come to appreciate over the years that the old man didn't like his patients to run late. He called his assistant from the back room, informing the younger man that he was going to be gone for the rest of the day before leaving.
They walked to Brandon's small clinic just a few blocks from the bookstore. They entered, finding Brandon finishing up with his last regular patient of the day.
Jeanine and Jaras waited for a few moments, before Brandon waved them over. "Jaras, how are you feeling today?"
He shrugged a little. "I'm fine."
"Good." Brandon motioned over toward one of the few beds placed within the clinic. "Go get comfortable."
Jaras nodded and headed over to one of the beds, sitting upon it. He sighed heavily and looked over at his wife as she sat in a chair close by. "I wonder how long this will take?"
"I don't know." Jeanine looked over to where her father was digging through a drawer. "I'd imagine it wouldn't be that long."
Brandon soon returned with a glass in his hands. It was filled with a viscous, glowing, green liquid-- Mako. "Jaras, are you ready?"
He nodded, but Jeanine expressed her concern. "Dad… are you sure this is safe?"
The old man gave his daughter a grin. "It's the same strength dose that SOLDIERs used to receive all the time. The risk of life threatening side effects from this amount is small, Jeanie."
"I'm sorry, I'm just scared." She looked away, ashamed to have such reservations, especially when this was the only way to cure her husband of the Jenova within him.
Jaras looked over at her. "It's okay. I appreciate it."
Brandon came over to Jaras' side. "Are you ready?"
To be faced with the glass containing the Mako that would begin to kill the Jenova within him suddenly made Jaras anxious. He found himself fighting the Jenova as it began to rear up, trying to preserve itself. Jaras felt a sweat break across his skin and the color drain from his face.
Brandon and Jeanine both noticed the change in him. The doctor stared into his eyes. "Jaras, are you all right?"
"Yeah," he sighed, "the Jenova…it wants to try and stop this."
Brandon instinctively took a step back.
Jaras met his gaze. "No, just give it to me. It's not strong enough to make me do anything at this point. Hurry."
Knowing that he had to do as Jaras asked, Brandon handed Jaras the glass and then crossed his arms over his chest, waiting.
Jaras took a deep breath and then closed his eyes, before bringing the glass up to his lips. He swallowed its burning contents in just a few large swallows. The taste was horrendous, instantly making him nauseous. Once he had it all down, Jaras dropped the glass and doubled over on the bed, wrapping his arms around himself in an attempt to quell his urge to vomit.
Jeanine shot to her feet, terrified over Jaras' reaction. "Are you okay?"
He raised up one hand as if to beg for silence as the sickness the Mako gave to him escalated. Jaras' breaths came in pained gasps and he fell to his side upon the bed, drawing his legs up until he was curled upon the gurney. "Oh God…"
Jeanine came to his side, and placed a hand upon his upper most arm. "Jaras?"
Everything, for the moment, was an insult to his senses. The whisper of his name resounded through his ears and head like a scream, and the gentle touch of her hand felt like a stinging blow. Even the sensation of his clothes upon his body burned like mad. Jaras pushed her hand away. "Please, no one touch me…be quiet…"
Brandon looked over at his daughter and waved her over to him. She quickly obeyed and then he led her several yards away from the bed Jaras was upon. He placed his hand upon her shoulder. "He's hyperaesthetic."
Having herself gone through medical school, she understood what the word meant. Her husband was presently overly sensitive to all stimulus. "How long will he be like that?"
"Probably an hour or two. He's also going to be very nauseous for the next twenty-four hours. Don't be surprised if he vomits, and in fact, I'll almost guarantee most of what he just drank will come up shortly." Brandon looked over just in time to see Jaras lean over the edge of the bed and purge his stomach upon the floor. "And there he goes."
Jeanine hurried back over to Jaras' side and looked down upon him, not knowing what to do. If everything she could say or do would hurt him for now, she was at a loss.
Jaras managed to flop over onto his back and look up at her. Seeing her expression let him know what was on her mind. There was only one thing he needed from her. "Just…be there."
She gave him a forced smile and nodded. If all he wanted was for her to be there, then that is what she would do.
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Half way through the flight back to the ASRIO base, Vincent sat bolt upright in his seat, startling Tifa who had been nestled against him.
She looked over at him. "Vincent? What's wrong?"
He had blanched to a sickly pallor, but tried to play it off. "Nothing…I just forgot something."
She hated it when he did things like that. "You're not acting like it was nothing, Vincent."
Tifa had him there, but he wasn't going to scare her. He was feeling fine and figured he would be able to make it to the base without any trouble. Once there, Vincent knew he'd be able to get more of the anti-Chaos drug, so the fact that he'd forgotten his second dose in the excitement of the day wasn't that big of a crisis. "Trust me, it's fine."
Although Tifa wanted to lay into him about hiding whatever it was from her, she glanced over at Aaron, seeing him sitting playing his game. Since pressing Vincent about whatever it was could possibly result in an argument, she opted to drop it. "Okay."
Vincent gave her a grateful smile and then put his arms around her shoulders. "Thanks."
She sighed heavily, giving in. "No problem."
He kissed her on the cheek and then spoke into her ear, so that Aaron couldn't hear him over the helicopter's noise. "You'll find out after we land, all right?"
Tifa turned to look into his eyes. "Okay."
Vincent pulled her close and then turned his attention to Charlotte as she slept in her carrier seat. "She's still out like a light."
Tifa smiled as she looked at her daughter. "I know, she's been such a good baby, Vincent. She's been sleeping most of the night and…"
He noticed the way her words trailed off. "Tifa?"
She turned her gaze to meet his once more. "Just the fact that you've been gone… I missed you so much."
Vincent gave her a brief smile. "I'm sorry, Tifa."
"No, I'm the one who owes you the apology. If I hadn't been so quick to turn to Cid…" Tears came to her eyes and she looked away.
Vincent tensed his jaw as he thought about it for a moment. Still, he was far enough out from the event he'd walked in on between Cid and Tifa as to not fly off the handle about it. He put a hand beneath her chin and made her look back at him. "Tifa, you alone don't bear the blame. We all do. Don't worry about it. It does no good to live in constant guilt. Trust me on that."
She nestled against him and closed her eyes. "Vincent…"
"We'll discuss it later. For now, just live in the moment, all right?" he said quietly, holding her tightly.
"Okay."
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Cid was sitting on the bed in his cell, staring at the wall opposite to him. His father had stepped out to get something to eat a while ago, leaving him alone with his thoughts. He wondered if Jin had found his note, and what her reaction had been. Part of him suspected that she would hop on a train and come out to see him. Then again, if something strange was going to happen to him, Cid didn't really want her to see it.
Quigley had come by a few hours before and had gotten a small blood sample from him in order to try and isolate the RNA sequence in him that may be present if he was truly doing what Vincent did.
The researcher had informed Cid that under the best of circumstances, it would be a day or two before the drug was ready. This had upset him, as being locked up and thus out of control of his own situation was one of his greatest fears. Cid wanted out of the damn cage, but knew that for now, it was the only option.
I can get you out of here, Cid, came the voice that had been plaguing him.
Cid closed his eyes and rested his head back against the bars. Fucking shut up already!
Give me a name, Cid.
Losing his desire to keep thinking his replies and too angry to care otherwise, Cid spoke aloud. "Stop asking! Do it one more time and I'm gonna fuckin' give you somethin' you'll regret, like Snowball or Mr. Snuggles."
Good enough. It's done. The name begets the form.
Cid suddenly had a very bad feeling. "Oh shit…"
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When the helicopter finally landed at the base, Vincent led his family to their room and got them settled in. Once Tifa was sitting on the couch, quietly nursing the baby, he went over to the door. "I'm going to go check in on Cid."
"All right." She gave him a smile. "Wait, you said I'd find out what you forgot once we got here."
Vincent looked away from her and knit his brow. Aaron was in the bathroom for the moment, so he could be honest. "Tifa, I was supposed to give myself my second dose of the anti-Chaos drug today. I forgot."
Remembering the horrible reactions that he'd had from that chemical seven years ago, she immediately felt uneasy. "You were going to give yourself those awful injections?"
He raised his hands, indicating that she should keep her voice down. "Yes, I thought that it was the only way for me to go home when I wanted to. Now that we're here, though, I can have the rest of my treatment given by Quigley and Janice…"
"Vincent? What is it?" She saw his expression change.
Vincent swallowed hard, remembering how he'd murdered the researcher's brother. "When I was on the ferium…I did some terrible things."
Tifa nodded. His intended betrayal of ASRIO and his shooting of Reno came to mind. "Yeah, you did, but it wasn't your fault."
"Perhaps." Vincent turned from her. He shook off the thought of Spencer's death for the time being and opened the door. "Anyway, I'm going to go see Cid. Please, Tifa, stay here until we know exactly what he's facing."
Tifa was going to say something and it was going to be honest. "I swear, Vincent, that I'll stay here until you say otherwise."
"All right. I may be gone for a long time, depending on how he's doing." He stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind him.
He headed toward the cellblock, but was halted when Reno appeared before him. Vincent's eyes went wide, as he was more than a little uncomfortable with facing this man, despite their talk when Reno had come to get him from the cave. "Hey, Reno."
Planting his cane on the floor before him and leaning upon it, Reno stared at Vincent. "Vinny, how the hell are you?"
"Actually, I need another dose of the anti-Chaos drug," Vincent replied quietly.
"Yeah, I heard you took all of it with you. You lose it?" Reno asked.
"I forgot it at home." Vincent took a few steps closer to his son-in-law.
"Dog ate it?"
"Reno, seriously, I need my second dose." Vincent wasn't really in the mood to deal with the man's idiocy.
"Then we need to go see the troops, come on." Reno spun around, a little quicker than he should have, immediately making himself dizzy as hell. He wavered and started to fall.
Vincent tried to rush forward to grab him, but in his own slightly uncoordinated state, did no more than land on top of Reno once he was on the floor. He found himself staring down into his son-in-law's face.
"Vinny…uh…get the fuck off me," Reno said as best he was able, the wind having been knocked out of him by the impact of the other man upon him.
Vincent rolled off and landed on his back on the floor beside Reno, staring up at the ceiling. "Sorry…I was trying to help you."
Although Vincent would have expected a torrent of obscenities or perhaps inappropriate comments regarding the situation, Reno did no such thing. Instead, he started laughing uncontrollably-- and it was infectious.
Vincent tried to not give in, but after a few seconds, he too was caught up in the giggles as they remained where they were on the ground.
"What in the world is going on here?"
They both looked up to see Porter standing above them with his hands on his hips.
Reno, still snickering, managed to sit up. "Hey, Port."
"Do I even want to know?" he asked, looking confused.
Vincent gathered his composure and stood up, then turning to help Reno. "We fell."
"I guessed as much." Porter shook his head, examining them as they got themselves back in order. "I was just coming to find you, Reno, to let you know that Quigley's already looking at the blood sample he took from Mr. Highwind this morning. It looks like there are some strange RNA sequences within him, so it looks promising that we will be able to make him something along the lines of what Vincent and Aaron received. It'll take a day or two, but it should work."
"Cool beans." Reno reached over and slapped Vincent in the shoulder. "And this loser here needs some more of the stuff you made for him, too. He's due for another dose, I guess, and the retard forgot it at home."
Porter locked gazes with Vincent and scowled. "You took the whole vial, Mr. Valentine. We will have to make some more, and with us working on getting Mr. Highwind set up, it's going to be a good day before we manage to get it done."
Vincent hung his head and sighed. He gave passing thought to flying back home and getting his fix, but to go there and back would take damn near an entire day and cost ASRIO the use of the chopper again. Any thought he had about doing so was quickly ended, though, when he felt Reno grab one of his wrists and start placing cuffs on him. "Hey…"
Reno shook his head as he got the restraints tightened. "Sorry, but I ain't risking it, Vinny. Besides, you and Cid will have a good old time down there together. You can get all like nostalgic and stuff."
Vincent hung his head and sighed. He knew that it was best for him to be confined in light of the circumstances, even if he didn't feel like Chaos was a threat for the time being. "All right."
Porter came forward and laced one of his arms through Vincent's, deciding that he would have an easier time of leading Vincent there than Reno. He wasn't necessarily gentle about it, either. The former Turk still held his reservations regarding Vincent and knew that he'd feel better when the man was under lock and key.
Reno remained in the hall, and watched them retreat. "See ya, Vinny."
Vincent was taken straight to the detention block and led to the cell next to Cid's. He looked over, seeing that the pilot was lying on his side on the bed in his cell, apparently asleep. There was an older man sitting outside the door to Cid's cell in a folding chair. Vincent couldn't help but stare at him as he was shoved into his own cell. He knew that this had to be Cid's father.
Porter slammed the cell door shut and Vincent, well versed on the procedure, backed up to the bars so that his restraints could be removed. Once that was done, he turned back to face Porter. "Tell Tifa what's going on, and that I still want her to remain in the room."
"Okay." Porter slipped the cuffs in his pocket and turned away. "I'm going back to the lab to help Quig."
Vincent said nothing further to him, knowing that Porter was far from pleased with him. Instead, he looked over, seeing that Cid had been awoken by the commotion. "Cid, how are you?"
His eyes lit up at seeing Vincent in the cell beside his. "Hey, Sue. Why'd they lock you up?"
Vincent went over and sat on his bed, putting him right beside the pilot. "I'm in need of more of the anti-Chaos drug and they didn't want to take any risks."
Cid nodded knowingly and gave him a sidelong glance. "I see."
Vincent turned to look Cid square on. The pilot's eyes had indeed changed and the sky blue they had once been was now a straw gold and there was another thing. Vincent noticed that Cid's pupils were no longer normal, but vertical slits, not unlike Jaras'. "You've got cat eyes."
Cid got up and went over to the small metal mirror hanging above the sink in his cell and examined his image for a few seconds. "Oh crap, they were just a different color this morning…now I got them crazy Sephiroth pupils going on, too."
Vincent shrugged. "Well, they'll figure it out and get us taken care of."
"I guess." Cid slogged back over to his bed and sat heavily.
Cid's father, not one to be ignored, cleared his throat loudly.
"Oh, yeah, that's my dad," Cid mumbled, pointing over at the old man.
Vincent got up from his bed and over toward the front of his cell. "Hello, I'm Vincent."
Cid Sr. got up from his chair and came over, extending his hand through the bars as he carefully scrutinized his son's friend.
Vincent accepted the handshake but looked away, not liking the way he was being examined.
Eventually, Cid Sr. stepped back and folded his arms across his chest. "Hey, Junior, you said this guy was in Nibelheim forty one years ago?"
"Yeah."
"You're a fuckin' liar, boy." The old man waved a hand at Vincent. "He ain't old enough."
"He's old enough, he's just…well…he didn't age for a good long time. Hell, he was asleep for thirty years of it or some shit like that." Cid looked over, seeing his father still staring at Vincent. "He don't like to be looked at like that, neither."
Cid Sr. huffed and went back over to his seat. "Junior said you knew his aunt Lucy."
Vincent wasn't quite tracking the conversation yet. "Lucy?"
Cid let his head fall back and hit the bars. "Fuckin' Lucrecia."
"Oh…" Vincent's mind raced, putting the information together. "Cid! You never said that--"
He sat back up straight and looked over at him. "I didn't honestly know that Aunt Lucy and you're damn girlfriend were the same person."
Vincent went over and landed back on the bed in his cell. "Cid…"
The old man spoke up. "He said you knew her and got her knocked up."
Now Vincent's eyes went wide and he glared at the pilot. "Cid!"
"What?" He lay back on his bed, putting his hands behind his head. "You did."
Vincent shook his head and sighed. "Wonderful."
"Hey, I wasn't all that thrilled to find out myself." The pilot gazed up at the ceiling. "The last thing I wanted was to know was that my family was involved in this whole fuckin' mess."
Vincent couldn't fault him there. Not having anything better to do, he also got onto his back on his bed, mimicking Cid's pose. "So, that makes you Jaras' first cousin."
Cid snorted. "Sure fuckin' does. That sucks."
"Yeah." Vincent felt the corners of his mouth curl up into a wicked grin. "You know what else?"
"What's that?"
"That sort of makes me your uncle."
Cid sighed deeply. "You didn't marry Lucy, you just boned her, so I don't think it counts."
"Be that way." Vincent couldn't help himself. "I wouldn't want to have to claim you as a nephew, anyway. Just be glad that you didn't find out you were related to Tifa instead of me."
Cid shuddered with the thought. Committing incest, intentional or not, wasn't on his list of things to do. "Yeah, thank God."
"Hey, Junior?" Cid's father got up from his seat again.
He lifted his head so he could see him. "Yeah?"
"They said I could have a room here somewhere, so I was thinkin' I'd go find it and maybe go lay down for a while." He was already walking out.
"Okay." Cid let his head fall back to his pillow again.
"So, why did you tell everyone that he was dead?" Vincent asked, once Cid's father was gone.
"He and I just didn't see eye to eye for a long time." He felt no need to get into the details of the situation with Vincent. "But…we've worked through some of that."
"Oh. He looks and sounds just like you…maybe more of a drawl to his voice, but otherwise…" Vincent closed his eyes, thinking.
"Yeah." Cid rested his hands upon his stomach. "I was pretty fuckin' shocked at the whole Lucrecia thing, though."
"That's strange." Vincent let his head fall to the side so he could see his companion. "So was she your mother's sister?"
"Yup."
"I see." Vincent tersed his lips for a moment, as certain memories played across his mind for a few seconds.
Cid looked over, seeing the expression Vincent wore. He reached through the bars and swatted him in the arm. "Don't be thinkin' about that kind of thing! She was my aunt for God's sake!"
Vincent broke into a smile. "This is hilarious."
"How so?" Cid asked, withdrawing his hand back through the bars.
"Everything. No matter how much you and I have…disliked one another throughout the years, fate seems determined to keep paralleling our lives and tying us together. Our experiences, our loves, or attempts at suicide, our demons, reunions with estranged relatives…now we find out that for better or worse, we're in the same family." Vincent's smile lingered. "We're doomed to be friends, whether we want it or not, Cid."
"Fuck fate." Cid turned his gaze back up to the ceiling again. "Hey, Sue?"
"What?"
"How bad is it? I mean, I've watched you and Aaron both change…and I was wondering what it felt like." Cid closed his eyes, dreading the answer.
Vincent fell silent for a moment, thinking about it. He wasn't going to lie to Cid. "It hurts like hell."
"What happens?"
"Well, it starts off with you losing control of your emotions for whatever reason. Usually, it's anger, but I've lost it at other times, too. Once that happens, you become basically just a passenger as the demon takes over. I don't always remember what happens once I lose control, but sometimes I do. The transformation of my body, though, that I generally do remember. There's a pain that runs through me…like all of my muscles tearing and even my bones seem to hurt. Then, there comes this pressure on my back, by my shoulder blades. That means that my wings are coming, and when they rip out…that's probably about the worst part. They ache and burn at first as they develop and unfurl." He stopped, deciding to leave it at that.
Cid's mind flashed with the image of his nightmare that he'd had the night after getting his injection. "I had a dream about you right after I got the stuff that did this to me, even though I didn't know then that it wasn't the cancer cure."
This caught Vincent's attention and he looked over at Cid again, propping himself up on an elbow. "Did you?"
He nodded, rolling onto his side to face Vincent. "Yeah. You were sittin' out back of my house and you had wings. You told me, 'It wasn't what they thought' and 'Now I'll know', or some shit like that. There was a pain in my back and I fell forward. That was about it. I think maybe my body was trying to tell me that I'd been given something else. I don't know."
Vincent was interested to hear this. "I remember when I first awoke from stasis and Chaos began talking to me. I thought I was insane for a while, and I didn't know what to do. The voice kept asking me to give it a name. That's all I kept hearing. 'Give me a name, give me a name.' I remembered Hojo calling what he was giving to me the Chaos drug, so naturally, I called it Chaos. Right after that, I changed for the first time."
Cid sat up and swallowed hard. "Fuck…"
"What is it?" Vincent sat up as well, not liking the expression overcoming the pilot.
"I think…I think I might have sort of…named it." His gold eyes burned with fear. "It was hounding me about it and I thought…"
Vincent reached up and grabbed the bars that separated them. "You thought what?"
"I just thought that if it didn't stop harassing me I was gonna name it something stupid just to spite it." Cid looked away from him. "And after I did that, the voice said the name begets the form or something."
Vincent then thought about it. His demon didn't manifest physically at first until after being named, and he'd been told that Aaron had named his demon, too, prior to changing. "Cid, that was a very bad thing to do. And dare I ask what you named it?"
He frowned and his shoulders slumped. There was no way he was going to tell Vincent that he'd accidentally named his demon either Snowball or Mr. Snuggles. "Nothin'."
Vincent wasn't going to let this slide. If there was a demon potentially going to come out of his friend, he needed to know what to call it. "Cid, tell me! I'm not going to make fun of you for it."
Cid flashed an annoyed glare over at Vincent. "I said I ain't tellin' you."
"Cid, don't be shy about it. I promise I won't make fun of you." Vincent leaned closer to the bars.
The pilot gnashed his teeth and growled through them. "I think…I think I named it Snowball or Mr. Snuggles."
Vincent tried him damnedest not to react, but a stifled snort came from him, soon followed by outright laughing. He leaned back and fell off the bed, hitting the concrete floor hard, but even this didn't deter his laughter. "Oh…my God…make it one name…Mr. Snowball Snuggles!"
Cid's fists clenched in his lap and he got up from his bed and glowered down where Vincent was lying on the floor. "You said you wouldn't make fun of me!"
"Yeah," Vincent managed between giggles, "but I didn't think it was going to be something that gay!"
"Shut up!" Cid grabbed the bars and rattled them, wanting Vincent to stop.
However, Vincent was honestly amused and couldn't help himself. He struggled up to his feet, but kept on laughing. "Mr. Snowball Snuggles…holy shit that's great…"
"I said shut up!" Cid was downright infuriated now, and began to shake. Being confined and made fun of was just too much for him to bear. "Shut the fuck up or I'll kick your ass!"
Vincent raised his hands, indicating that he was going to try and get himself under control. "Okay, just…wait a second."
Cid drew in a deep breath, knowing that he needed to calm himself, but it wasn't working. His grip upon the bars before him tightened painfully. The pilot's gold eyes locked on to Vincent, his fury clear within them.
Vincent caught this look and suddenly, his amusement faded. "Cid…it's okay, just relax, all right?"
"You promised you wouldn't make fun of me…" he growled back. Cid bared his teeth, showing Vincent his newly descended fangs. "You promised…"
Vincent's eyes went wide upon seeing the elongated canines being displayed to him. "Cid, seriously, you need to calm down, you're losing it."
Cid wasn't in control of his emotions any longer. His demon was ready. The pilot felt a pain in his hands and pulled them away from the bars and looked at them. Claws were emerging from his fingertips and he realized what was happening. "Vincent…"
The former Turk didn't know what to do. Cid wasn't going to be able to stop this and he knew it. Luckily, he felt that the bars that contained both he and the pilot would keep this from escalating.
Cid closed his eyes and fell to his knees, catching a scream in his throat as the muscles of his body all cramped and knotted as they began to expand considerably. The pain he was in was growing by the second and he wasn't sure he could bear it.
Vincent took a few steps forward, fascinated. He had never seen a transformation from the outside, and his morbid curiosity got the better of him. The agony his friend was in was clear, and Vincent could relate to it all too well. "Cid, the more you just relax the less it will hurt."
The pilot didn't hear any of this and groaned loudly. He was afraid to look anymore, not wanting to see what he was becoming.
But Vincent watched. He saw everything.
Cid's skin didn't turn into the dark, reptile-like hide that covered Chaos, instead, he seemed to be getting a layer of short, gold fur. His body grew to the point where his clothes ripped away, falling to the ground around him as his unnaturally muscled frame was exposed. Cid's face changed, too, developing a muzzle and his ears became pointed, moving closer to the top of his head. Soon, a long tail appeared behind him, flicking angrily from side to side as Cid was still caught up in his misery. The pilot then fell forward, as a new pain started in his back, culminating when wings, not unlike Chaos' tore from his body, unfolding awkwardly behind him. With that, left the remaining signs of Cid's consciousness.
The beast stood up, his wings grazing the ceiling of the cell. His eyes locked onto Vincent, the demon's unbridled hatred obvious and burning within.
Vincent stared in disbelief over what he'd seen. There before him, kept at bay by what now looked to be piteously thin bars was this massive, ferral looking beast. It's glaring feline qualities told Vincent that he was looking at some new, probably improved demon. "Oh fuck… you're a cat…"
The beast stooped forward and gave an ear-shattering roar, causing Vincent to bend over and press his hands to the sides of his head. And the sad thing is that Cid hates cats…
Cid, or what had been Cid, stepped forward to the bars and grabbed them. Vincent watched in amazement at the metal gave way under the beast's incredible strength, snapping one by one as it worked to get a large enough gap between them to fit through.
Vincent backed up to the far wall of his cell. There was no one present to help him escape before this monster got to him and he feared what was going to happen once Cid got through those bars, and that was going to be soon. "Nothing's ever simple…"