Disclaimer: I don't own any of the FF characters, they belong to Square Enix. (Though I do have Cloud tied up in my closet. Heh heh)
Author's note: Alright, here I am prepared to answer a couple of the questions that I have been asked frequently.
No, this will not be a Vincent/Sephiroth slash. I have seen too many of those.
I do realize that I have made Vincent and Seph more or less the same age. That will be explained in due time.
Kioko and Kai were not in the game. Duh
Chapter 6: Lost and Found Again
The pounding in the back of his head was ghastly familiar. Seph didn't know how many times that spell had been used on him; it was one of Erika's favorites. Cast it on the victim and they would follow you willingly with no later memory of the journey at all. (And no memory of whether or not they had been treated humanly) They could be miles from Kalm village by now.
He had come to lying on the lumpy ground, staring at the blank canvas of a tent. There weren't any visible restraints holding him down, but Seph knew he might as well have been chained to a post. There were tons of ways to keep someone from moving, magic being only one of them. Erika knew were you could get Novocain cheap.
Seph lay there, thinking really hard. The last thing he remembered was waking up to Reno's leering face. He hated that kid, and if he ever was in the same room with his hands free…Well, he would let Reno go if it meant getting Erika. What he felt for her was beyond hate, it was pure loathing. And she had caught him. Again.
Seph grimaced stiffly. It had been his own fault. What had he been thinking, sleeping out in the open like that? He should have run for the coast while he still had the chance. Spending the night in Kalm had been stupid, but there had been those kids…They had been nice, hadn't hit him or thrown things at him or done anything else that people usually did when they found him on their land. Vincent, the dark-haired one, he had actually let Seph come inside…
Why couldn't I be like them? He thought despairingly, why couldn't I just be happy, instead of some freak...
The wind suddenly picked up, snapping the canvas back and forth. When it died down, Seph thought he could make out the sounds of a camp. That meant his senses were returning; it always took a little while after waking up from that spell.
A cold, familiar voice could suddenly be heard above the wind.
"So, how far behind is our Mr. Valentine anyway?"
Seph turned his head so as to hear better. Who was Mr. Valentine? Was it just another of those scientists the clinic was always hiring, or could it be someone trying to rescue him? Erika didn't sound unduly worried, and it wouldn't be worth it to hope. If he was going to escape, he would need to do it on his own.
And, judging from the skill of his hunters, Seph would be running until he was dead.
"Are you alright?"
Vincent had stopped in his tracks. He felt like a trapped animal being honed in on by a predator. Here he was, smack dab in the middle of a den of thieves. He had been an idiot not to realize it before. Where else would Kai have gotten all that jewelry and nice clothes? And she and Kioko had been constantly talking about money and things being 'worth it'.
"W-What?" he stammered. His dad had always told him stories about bandits and the raiders that lived in the southern hills of the continent. They were supposed to be harsh, merciless, cold killers. So why wasn't he dead?
He turned back to his new, so-called friends. Kai looked slightly confused, but Kioko just looked pissed.
"Oops, bad move, Kai." The normal, lighthearted tone Vincent had come to associate with him was gone.
Kai glanced at her brother. Kioko smiled wryly, continuing, "It seems that young Vincent has put three and three together."
Kai winced. "Crap. I thought maybe we could explain it before he figured it out."
Vincent turned back to them. "You're bandits," he said, his voice shaking slightly. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Hmmm…" Kioko said, feigning confusion, "Maybe it's because, uh, you'd freak out if we told you. Everybody does."
Vincent didn't answer, just ran. Past Kioko and Kai, back into the tunnels. He didn't have a clue where he was going, or where he was running to, he just wanted to get out of the Mithril Mines as quickly as was humanly possible.
"I-have-the-worst-luck," he gasped as he ran.
"I'll say."
Vincent skidded to a halt. Somehow, Kioko had managed to beat him to the exit. It wasn't surprising, as he must have spent all of his life in the caves and Vincent had been there less than a day. In just a few strides, he was blocking Vincent's way forward. His expression was everything but friendly.
"Where are you going?" he asked, his voice emotionless.
"Away," Vincent spat.
"Without even a thank you? My sister helped you, she saved your life. She didn't have to, you're worthless to her." He smirked. "Well, maybe worth one good fling, but apart from that…"
Whatever shreds of respect Vincent still retained for Kioko and his sister evaporated. Who were they to tell him he was worthless? They were the one's that raided towns and killed innocent people. They were bandits, not exactly honorable people.
'Get out of my way," Vincent demanded, his voice shaking with anger. There was no way anyone was keeping him here. He had to get out and find Erika and save Seph.
Kioko didn't move.
Vincent took a deep breath, and charged straight for him, hopping Kioko wouldn't stand his ground. But before he could push him out of the way, his shoulder exploded with pain. He yelled and tripped forward, his momentum carrying him crashing into the cave wall. He rolled over, his vision wavering. Kai was standing over him, her hand still raised. Somehow, she had managed to dislocate his shoulder as he ran by.
"Don't touch my brother," she said, her voice cold. She lowered her arm and her tone changed. "I'm sorry, Vince, but I can't just let you go. The Overworld, it's a fucking dangerous place."
Vincent thought that it was a bit stupid of her, worrying about him getting hurt when she had just incapacitated him herself. But something in her eyes told him that she was dead serious. Kai really did care if he lived or died. It was strange, and it was also a little too much for Vincent's pain-laden mind to deal with at the moment.
"Hey, Kai," Kioko called, from over near the tunnel exit, "I'm gonna go see what's for dinner. Can you handle things here?"
"I got it," Kai answered, not taking her eyes off Vincent's face.
Kioko left, his footsteps echoing loudly against the stone walls. Vincent was having a whole lot of trouble staying conscious. He found that the only way to stop himself from slipping away into the dark see that was lapping at his mind, was keeping contact with Kai's bright green eyes.
"Ouch," he gasped, "Do you think you c-could teach me how to d-do that?"
Kai laughed. "'Course, but first I got to fix you. Can you sit up?"
Vincent tried to comply, at the same time marveling at how Kai's mood had changed in just a minute. Was she bipolar or something? Just a moment ago it had seemed like she was going to kill him, and now she was going to heal the wound she had inflicted.
He finally managed to pull himself into a resting position against the stone wall, almost fainting in the process. Kai sat down beside him. A knife had suddenly appeared in her hand. Vincent winced, but all she did was cut a slit down his shirt, reducing it to tatters. She could now reach his shoulder to heal it.
"Damn," she said, her breath coming in a sharp hiss, "I really did a good job this time." She put two fingers on the joint between Vincent's shoulder and upper arm. He yelled and tried to push her off with his other hand.
"Stop that," Kai snapped, slapping his hand away. An apologetic tone came into her voice. "Uh, I think I my have torn your muscle too…"
Vincent groaned. "Perfect, great, just fix it!"
"Okay, okay, hold your Chocobos."
Vincent screwed up his eyes. He had no idea what she was going to do, but he imagined that it was going to hurt a lot. Bracing himself, he waited. But all he felt was a sort of cool breeze ripple across the bruised skin. He opened his eyes.
Kai was kneeling beside him, her face fierce with concentration. Her fingers rested on his shoulder, but they didn't hurt like they had a moment ago. A very slight blue glow was seeping from her hand into his skin. Vincent could actually feel it mending the torn muscle. It wasn't a very pleasant sensation, but it wasn't unbearable. Suddenly, his whole right side jumped as the shoulder popped back into its socket. Kai dropped her hands, the blue light weakening and finally dying.
"There you go, good as new."
"Thanks," Vincent said, barely able to believe it. He had never seen magic ever preformed that cavalierly.
"I thought you said you didn't use Materia."
"I don't, I did that on my own," Kai explained, hoisting Vincent to his feet. "Not everyone needs Materia, it's just something some assholes came up with to give everyone the chance to do everything. It pisses me off."
"Why?" Vincent asked.
They set off down the same tunnel Kioko had taken. Vincent's shoulder was still a bit sore, but other than that he felt better than he had in a long time.
"Oh, you know," Kai said, evidently searching for the right words, "Everyone has something they can do better than other people, right? Some people are smarter, some people are stronger, and some people can channel magic. Materia gets rid of all that. With Materia, what is there to separate me from the next idiot that bumbles along?"
Vincent didn't have an answer for that. Kai seemed quite bitter on the subject of Materia. Either he was wrong, or there were some sour grapes involved. Maybe she had tried to be fitted for materia and her body had rejected it. He had heard that could sometimes happen.
"Hey, I'm sorry I freaked out like that," he said, staring at the rocky floor.
"Yeah, that was kind of fucking rude," Kai said, making Vincent feel even worse. She must have seen his face, because she sighed. "But really, I don't blame you."
Vincent looked up. "You don't?"
Kai shook her head. "No. It's understandable, considering."
Vincent was flooded with relief. Kai wasn't mad at him, so she most likely wouldn't be dislocating any more of his limbs. At the same time, a voice spoke in his ear. It was the small, infinitely annoying voice that tends to speak up at the most inopportune times .
She's a bandit. Why do you give a crap what she thinks?
It was a good question, Vincent would give the little voice that much. Now that his shoulder was healed, he should be making all speed in the direction of the exit, not going off to dinner. He probably would have eaten already if he had been home…
And suddenly, it happened. He didn't know why he hadn't felt it before; maybe it had been the shock, or perhaps the fact that he had a goal in mind. He was going to find Erika and kill her. But now that that goal had been interrupted and placed on the sidelines for a moment, everything hit Vincent like a dead weight. His father and Gon were dead. His town was destroyed. Scarlet had betrayed him.
Vincent collapsed on the tunnel floor, shaking. He shouldn't be able to move, he shouldn't be able to breath. His whole world had been killed back there in Kalm. Why wasn't he dead as well? All the grief that his subconscious had been holding back for the past thirty-six hours had suddenly enveloped him. He was only vaguely aware of Kai kneeling beside him, calling his name and cursing, calling for help.
"God dammit, Vincent, what's your problem?" she demanded, shaking him. "What the crap is wrong with you? You're a frigging high maintenance dude, you know that?"
Vincent didn't respond. He heard Kai, but it didn't seem worth answering her. Besides, it felt like, if he opened his throat, he would choke on the tears that threatened to overflow.
Good God, he thought, I'm acting like a little girl.
He felt something weird just then. It was a bit like the healing spell Kai had used on him earlier, but heavier; honey instead of water. Evidently, it was some kind of charm, for Vincent found himself sitting on the edge of the bed in the small cave with no recollection of having got there. Kai was sitting on a stool across from him.
"Welcome back to the land of the sane," she said, a small frown curling her lips down.
Vincent turned away.He felt like an idiot. How could he have gone to pieces like that, and in front of Kai, no less. What she must think of him now…She was used to big, tough bandits, not little crybaby farm boys.
What had he done wrong? He was a good kid. He helped his parents at home, he wasn't a mako addict, and he got good grades in school. And now, one of his parents was dead, his town had been destroyed, and his best friend had betrayed him and killed his other friend.
Needless to say, it had been the worst weekend in a long time.
He could feel Kai's eyes boring into his back like a laser. He wished she would just say something, or make of fun of him, get it all over with. Anything would be better than this amazingly oppressive silence.
"So what, are you gonna tell me what the hell is going on?"
Vincent hadn't been expecting that. "What?" he asked, turning around slightly.
Kai crossed her arms. "Well, you're treating me like an annoyance, while I'm the one who saved you from the Overworld, gave you clothing, somewhere to sleep, and I healed your shoulder."
"You're the one who tore it in the first place!"
"That's beside the point," Kai said, waving her hand in a dismissive gesture.
"But you…we…it…." Vincent groaned. The words weren't coming to him. "Ugghh, you know what I mean."
Kai grinned a bit. "It's really weird, I think I actually do." Her smile grew wider. "You kinda made an ass of yourself back there."
"Thanks," Vincent said.
"No problem."
Vincent laughed. It sounded strange coming from his own mouth. A few minutes (or hours, he didn't really know how long it had been) ago, the world had seemed so black that he didn't think he would ever laugh again. But now he realized something. He wasn't beaten yet. He would get his revenge.
Of course, he should probably wait until he could walk a few feet without getting dizzy before pursuing that goal. But then there was the problem of Erika and her entourage getting too far ahead…
"Crap," he muttered.
Kai wrinkled her forehead. "Crap? What's crappy?"
Vincent shrugged. "It's nothing, not really."
"Liar."
"I'm not…it's not really that interesting." Vincent wished she would just leave him alone.
Kai, on the other hand, felt like talking. She crossed her arms and made a face. "Fine, well at least you can give me a reason you were lying half-dead on the Overworld."
"That would involve me telling you the uninteresting thing too, then," Vincent said, a bit spitefully.
"I've got nowhere to be."
So he told her. Everything. About the Turks, Seph, and about Scarlet. She stayed quiet for most of the tale, though she did look like she wanted to say something when he mentioned Erika. When Vincent got to the part where he had fainted on the Overworld, he lapsed into silence. Kai seemed at a loss for words, which, as Vincent was beginning to realize, was rare.
"Vince, I'm sorry," she gasped, the horror of what she had heard still on her face.
"It's 'Vincent'," Vincent told her, "Not Vince." Gon and Scarlet had called him Vince. His mother and father had called him Vince. Vince was gone now.
"Alright, whatever," Kai agreed. She stood up and stretched. "Uhhgg. I haven't done anything all day. I got tons 'a energy. You wanna go for a walk?"
Vincent was tempted to say "what, tearing my shoulder not strenuous enough for you?" but it would probably be better just to leave things as they were. A walk didn't sound like a bad idea. He was used to getting a great deal of exercise on a regular basis. Working on a farm everyday was no mean feat. Sitting around for any long period of time had a tendency to get Vincent a little antsy.
"Sure," he said lightly, as though he could convince himself he was happy if he tried hard enough.
He followed Kai from the cave-room. She had started in the opposite direction that Kioko had taken to the cavern. These tunnels didn't look much different from the other ones, except for the fact that they seemed to be much lighter. He wondered if they were closer to the surface.
Eventually, they reached another cavern. This one was just as wide as the main one, but it was much lower and completely empty. Here and there, there were large holes and fissures in the ceiling, letting in light that made glowing patterns on the cave floor. Kai started for the far wall. At the very edge of the cave there was a particularly large hole in the ceiling. This one had a rope trailing down from it.
"Can you climb?" Kai asked. There was not much hope in her tone.
Vincent grinned inwardly. Time to prove her wrong. With one small bound he grabbed the rope, making it almost halfway up from one single jump. He instantly regretted showing off as his shoulder twinged. For a second he thought he had caused some serious damage, but it seemed Kai's spell had done a good job. He scaled the length of the rope easily.
He emerged onto something truly incredible. The rope had led up to a sort of bowl formed by the mountains rearing up on all four sides. It was barely four yards in diameter, and at the far end was a flight of crudely chiseled steps, curving up the side of mountain. There seemed to be some time of watchtower at the end of them. But the real thing of interest out here was the sky. The sun had begun to set, turning the sky into a palette of colors. Blue, purple, red, orange. Vincent didn't think he'd ever seen such an amazing sunset.
"Pretty, huh?" Kai asked, emerging at his shoulder. Vincent nodded wordlessly.
"Come on," Kai said, putting a foot on the first stone step. Vincent followed. It was very difficult to continue to look at the sky, as it took all of his concentration to avoid from seriously injuring himself on the crumbling staircase. Kai herself seemed to know the path like the back of her hand, and could actively avoid all of the traps, but Vincent found himself tripping, sliding down one step for every three he took.
Kai reached the watchtower well before he did. Turning around, she sat on the edge, grinning at him. Vincent didn't see what was so funny. His shins hurt and his shoulder was beginning to throb again.
"Doing okay?" Kai asked, as he pulled himself up the last few steps.
"Absolutely fantastic," he panted in response, giving her a look that was meant to portray his annoyance, but all it did was make her laugh.
"You're frigging funny when you're pissed, Vince." It seemed Kai had ignored his request to be called by his full name and insisted upon using "Vince." It didn't bother him as much as he would have expected it to.
He sat down beside her. They now had an even better view of the sunset, which had merged from pastels to deep, rich color. From up on the watchtower, Vincent felt like he could see the whole world. There were the rolling hills of the Overworld, and there was Kalm village. It seemed he had traveled a lot farther in a day than he had thought.
Turning slightly to the west, he could make out a haze of smoke in the distance. That must have been Midgar City, with its infinite factories and reactors sullying the sky. Once upon a time, it had been a place he longed to go, but now, it seemed like all his hopes and dreams had been wiped clean, to leave him with nothing with harsh, brutal reality.
Kai tapped him on the shoulder and pointed farther to the west. Vincent followed her gaze. Some huge, bizarrely shaped structure stood against the horizon. Behind it, miles and miles away, the sea sparkled in the waning light.
"That's Fort Condor," Kai informed him.
Vincent squinted. He couldn't exactly make out the tower; it was blocked by the glare of the setting sun. Fort Condor: The place Erika and the Turks were making for.
"How far away is it?" he asked. Something like hope was beginning to stir in his stomach. Maybe he really could make it all the way to the fort and save Seph.
"About two days, less if you had some kind of vehicle."
Vincent nodded. It felt good to suddenly have a goal in sight, a destination. He had a sudden urge to leave, just get on his way. He wished he could sprout wings and leap from the mountain top, covering the distance between them and the fort in a matter of minutes.
As his wing-sprouting skills were a little less than was to be desired, he resisted that urge. Instead he began to get up.
"I have to get going, I need to-,"
Kai put a hand on his arm, her grip surprisingly strong for a girl of her size. "Don't be an idiot," she said dryly, as though she knew it couldn't be helped, "You're tired out, you haven't eaten anything in a long time, and you have absolutely no plan."
"Plan, what do you mean plan?" Vincent asked sheepishly. He hadn't thought things through and they both knew it.
Kai rolled her eyes. "What, were you expecting to just run in there, guns a'blazing? You'll get your ass kicked in a millisecond." She dropped his wrist. "You need some sort of strategy."
Vincent sighed and sat back down. She was right. It would be no good to just barge into the fort and get killed; that would do no good to anyone.
"Are there a whole lot of troops in Fort Condor?" he inquired, trying to sound as though he knew about this planning stuff.
Kai shook her head, earrings jingling. "That's just it; 'fort' is a misnomer. It's really just a little town, kind of pathetic really, not anything to steal at all." She gave Vincent an apologetic look. "Sorry, that's probably not what you want to here. Anyway, it doesn't really make sense that Erika and co. are going to Condor. Only people who go there are traders and stuff like that."
"Well, that's what I heard her say," Vincent assured Kai, "Could she have been lying?"
"Probably not," Kai answered promptly, "There wouldn't really be any point, would there? You were lying on the ground half unconscious, and she wouldn't expect you to come after her."
"Why not?" Vincent asked, surprised.
"You don't understand how these people's minds work, Vincent." Kai played aimlessly with her bangles as she spoke. "They see themselves as the elite, the few humans in the world who are good for anything. Everyone else means absolutely nothing to them. Killing someone is no big deal, because it doesn't touch them, it's just another body in the masses. Scum like Erika can't comprehend that they're halfway decent people like you in the world who are willing to do anything for what they know is right."
Vincent was silent while he listened. Kai spoke clearly and confidently, without the usual cursing and joking around that seemed to accompany most of her dialogue. He was beginning to get a good understanding of what this girl was all about.
"Is that what I am?" he pondered aloud, "Someone willing to do anything for what I know is right?"
"I guess so," Kai said, dropping back into her normal, lazy tone, "I guess we'll have to wait and see."
"Hold on, we?" Vincent was suddenly on his feet. "You are definitely not coming with me!"
Kai stood up herself, a spark coming to her vivid green eyes. "Oh, I so am, buddy. You wouldn't last a goddamn day without me. Farm boy," she added obnoxiously.
"B-But it's gonna be really bad, it's gonna be…" Vincent searched for words. "Not fun."
Kai had begun to climb back down the crumbling steps. "Hey, sounds like a lot more fun than I'm likely to get around here. When do we leave?" she called back.
Vincent turned back to the sunset, which was almost non-existent by that time. "First light," he answered.