Chapter Two: The Black Hat
Stepping out of the elevator, Vincent came to a rather spaced room with a rectangular table made of spring oak wood, where jockeys sat. Some held restlessness in their arms and legs as they shook them on and under the table. An ill-looking jockey in brown seemed the most nervous, staring at Vincent in fear. Others showed serenity as they waited for the Chocobo race to begin. A clown-like looking young woman approached him. Vincent would only look straight, highlighting his height superiority.
"Hello, sir. Do you come here to race in exchange for your freedom?"
Vincent heard something from Coates about a creepy little girl, and in the middle of his mumbling, he handed in an envelope, probably authorizing Vincent to step out with no hindering of any sort. It would probably run headstrong against the Golden Saucer Administration Policy, but Coates believed nothing should be mentioned to Dio. Vincent took the envelope from his pocket and handed it in. In such moment a voice invited the jockeys to head to the race track. One in brown showed a countenance of mixed sensations: fear, hatred and gore, staring at his eyes. The blonde, short girl stood right in front of Vincent, reading the letter, beforehe headed for the exit.
"Hold on! It says here you don't have to run the race, indeed. However I must make sure Dio hears nothing of this, meaning I would most probably have to check out on him. If you could just run the race, it would really make things much easier for both of us." She came closer to him as he soon saw a constant shake of his head.
"I am unable to comply with that." There was something about the phrase, and the way he said it, which instantly absolved him from any obligations his will disdained from. "I will make my exit stealth. Believe me: the Gondola manager will not feel my presence."
To such words a shrill came forth, as the quickest agony came in a flesh-breaching slash. The ground trembled finely, but constantly. Both the sound and the tremor came from the outside part of the Chocobo Square. Soon the oversized birds began their singular choir of despair, intensifying the terror in everyone around. More hollers came forth from outside as footsteps blended with the quake. Thumps were heard on the ground from time to time as inert bodies met with the glass-fiber floor tiles.
Vincent headed out as he ordered his companion to keep silent and steady. The door opened surreptitiously, as he pushed it, but it shut down again. In a strong attempt to reopen the door, it shed neon light on the floor before it shut once again. A growl came from the outside. A shot barrelled from Vincent's gun through the floor and out. A faint yet fey yell came as blood shed. For the third time Vincent attempted an opening, succeeding towards the surprise of yet more red. Walls were blasted, slashed and stained with it. Vincent's eyes sunk yet again over the lines and dashes of blood, as from the bodies it sprouted slowly yet abundantly. Once, again it all became dark in his mind, as it fainted, careless of the body which held itself in the midst of the room. Jockeys, gamblers, Saucer staff in their tight uniforms, even a black chocobo with a black hat besides it lied there, soaked. From behind the counter a green dash missed Vincent's face as heevaded it with a head stroke backwards. He fired back at what seemed like a man in a pitch black suit. A hole opened right above the bridge of hisnose as he fell back behind the counter.
Screams magnified in the background, seemingly from the other sections of the place; though the long stairs before the Chocobo stage was clear. Eyes widened when he approached the round, neon-lighted counter as he saw the assailer's countenance. Eyes fully black, as though his pupils had taken over them. But Vincent's eyes widened for a different reason: a tentacle replaced the corpse's left arm. Once again it assailed Vincent's face. In speed he backed off, as the golden claw squished the tentacle into green plasma-like mass on the floor. As the remains of the tentacle squirmed in a wincing pattern, Vincent soon related the color, present in the wounds back in Corel Prison. The scenery came back to his mind as though it hurt his thoughts and head. Lightning in his mind dashed his thought as the growl of Chaos hastened his heart. Only his will was to avail at such moment, as it had whenever Vincent had the chance to, whenever any of his demons came present, as he focused to keep his mind from being possessed, and his body from transforming.
"Is it safe now?" said the sweet voice from the Jockey's Stall Room.
Hearing no response, she came out. She stared the room as though she had hoped never to have seen anything such monstrous.
"Go home, young girl." Vincent said rapidly, as to dispatch her.
"No. Who are you? My name is Es-".
"I care not! Leave now!" Vincent growled. His face became dark for a second as it adopted a gargoyle-like expression, and flashed back to his vapid countenance. "Forgive me. This place has become dangerous now. I urge you to leave now." To this, the Chocobo Race manager known as Esther headed to the main square to head out to the gondola.
It mattered little now whether Vincent had raced in the chocobo tracks or not, so he headed to the Battle Square where Dio might have been. He hovered over the stairs of the chocobo square entrance.
A handful of things lay in Dio's showroom anew. A picture of Meteor in a golden frame besides Dio's gigantic portrait, and a chunk of hard, dark stone, seemingly a vestige of the apocalyptic figure where the Keystone once was located, beside other things. But there was no sight of Dio. Stepping beside the new relic in the showroom, right in the middle of the place, Vincent stood sternly.
"Dio, stand up."
Dio stared at such face and tried to sort it out as familiar. But his evident fear allowed no reasoning. "Don't bite my tongue please!" Eyes widened too fast in order for Dio to notice before they turned back to the deep cherry they seemed to always remain.
"Tell me what you saw." Vincent kneeled, figuring that Dio standing up was not a choice at the moment. It seemed the bulky man, with the rather confident appearance had lost all courage to even follow orders; most of his faculties had been narrowed to simply tremble his hands, which pointed at his closed, O-shaped mouth. His eyes seemed petrified and wide.
As soon as Vincent realized that there was no hope for any information from the man, Esther came into the arena.
"Why have you not left yet?" said an almost tempered Vincent.
"The Gondola section is invaded. I wondered if we could ask for a buggy and go back through the desert. I see we're going to have to take the buggy ourselves due to…" Esther took a prevented stare at Dio, who seemed to show no movement.
"Fine. Where should we head at?" Esther ran through the door, and gestured both men to follow her. Vincent once again drew his weapon, heading out to the arena gate room, and next on, towards the doors to access the Chocobo Square. Dio did his best to run, though his o-shaped expression seemed to show no threat of change. Esther kept up with them, wearily. Vincent kept his gun in alert. A growl came from a purpled eyed man, coming from the event square door, as he threw himself at the girl. Vincent shot his head, spraying greenish blood on the carpet. Dio stared widely, as he had before and then kept with the group.
A voice with a distinctive accent shrilled, coming from the pipe heading to the Wonder Square, from the Chocobo square stairs. Vincent turned his face in a dash, as he heard the name.
"Miss Yuffie, We must leave!" said a distinctive Wutaiense. Soon after the ninja girl sprung out of the pipe, rolled out into the ground. Standing up, she grabbed her flying shuriken, and turned to the red hue she had long missed.
"Vincent!" She shrilled in despair and overjoy.
"No time for reencounter hugs. We must go!" He replied in his cynical manner. From the same pipe Yuffie had rolled out, came three more dreadful creatures. Yuffie made perfect use of her weapon, fanning it off, as it crossed one's chest, and cut the other's neck. Vincent decimated the remaining one. As soon as Yuffie's shuriken was restored, they headed inside.
"Right!" Off we go!"
Thus the group of five (Yuffie and her servant came along) headed to the elevator. Esther headed to the Jockey's Stall Room and from a safe behind a loose wallpaper sheet she drew a key, apparently for a buggy. A deafening thump came from the door, almost knocking it down. They all rushed to the elevator, squeezing in an awkward manner. Vincent's claw remained outside as the elevator closed on him. The Stall Room's door was slammed open, and deep groans invaded the spacy, fancy room.
"What of the other people?" asked Dio, finally relieving Esther by muttering words.
"No time to worry for them," said the voice behind the crimson cloak. Vincent seemed to have not moved his mouth when he spoke. The elevator door closed while both sides slid in grey. Soon enough the metal whined as the elevator door above them was beginning to budge. The party of five then came out to a dusk-splashed sky, which hues reflected on the whispering sand.
A/N: If anyone's ever reading this, which I doubt, you might think this story has developped as an "added to the pile" Yuffentine. It might be, as it might not, though I'm trying my best to keep it original. And as a side note, I wouldn't need to write fanfics if I owned the characters of Final Fantasy.