Tainted Souls

Chapter XVIII

Golden Saucer Nights

Insert I don't own disclaimer here, insert random funny comment about disclaimer here.

Few things, I know I changed some things from the original FF7 story line, major and minor details but if you no likey, you no ready. This is a fic, things can be changed around. This chapter's a little longer because I didn't really see Golden Saucer being anything but one chapter so I just combined two chapters into one long one. Enjoy.

"So Aeris, did you hear? Vincent and Paine!" Rikku said jumping up and down.

"Yeah, she told me first. You were too drunk to remember." Rikku looked away, too embarrassed to respond.

"Ahh, is little Rikku feeling left out?" Paine said walking into the room.

"No…just happy for you is all." she said looking at the floor.

"Come on Rikku, we all know you like Vincent, you can't hide a secret very well, you're a clinger." Yuna said teasing her cousin.

"60 respect points left, Yuna." Rikku said looking up from the floor. She looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"Hey, Rikku, I'm sorry, was it…"

"Shut up, Paine, Just shut up." Rikku said running from the room.

Yuna, Aeris, Paine and Red XIII looked at each other when they realized what they had done. It seemed impossible but they made the normally bubbly, happy Rikku…cry.

"Man, I haven't seen her like this since we found out that the final summon might kill Yuna." Paine looked at her companions, she looked disturbed.

"Hey, Paine, Look it's not your fault." Aeris said trying to comfort her.

Paine just looked away from them and started to walk towards the door.

"I'm going to bed." she walked through the door slamming it shut behind her.

"Okay, someone needs to talk to them." Aeris said, her and Yuna both looked down at Red XIII.

"Why are you looking at me!"

"You're the oldest one here, well besides Sesshomaru and Vincent but they doesn't count, you've got to know what to say to them, I'm sure of it. Come on I know you can do it." Aeris said patting him on the head.

"Yeah, come on Red. I believe in you, how about this, if you get do it and you make them feel better we'll all go out for a nice big dinner." Yuna said kneeling down so she was eye level with Red XIII.

"Fine, but Vincent's gonna help." he walked towards the door, stopping a few feet from it and whimpered realizing he couldn't open the door.

Yuna and Aeris laughed for a second before opening the door.

"Ha-ha, very funny, next time I'll just blow it off it's hinges."

Rikku walked up to the deck of the ship and walked to the edge of the bridge and looked at the moonlit landscape below her . It was raining. She looked up at the star filled sky, she reached up at the moon and moved her hand in front of it pretending to hold it in her hand. She thought about the life she'd had so far and what it meant to her. About how Vincent saved her and how she felt realizing he cared enough to kill those dinosaurs and help her, nurse her back to full health.

My life's been full of so much darkness…I mean what happened to my family…to Tidus…fighting Sin…Vincent going with Paine…lots of bad stuffs happened. But then again, there's been so many good things. Sphere hunting with Yuna and Paine, meeting Red XIII, Vincent and Aeris…and Sesshomaru…even if he never talks to me.

She let herself laugh, her arms fell to her side.

She slapped her arms to her side and turned around. Her foot slipped on the water covered surface. She slipped and skidded on the wet metal. She slid down the curved structure of the ship and fell of the side.

She gritted her teeth, ready to hit the ground. It was over.

A mouth bite down on her scarf, she stopped with a jerk and opened her eyes. She looked up and saw Red XIII, a red flam covered his entire body, holding the end of her scarf in his mouth. He quickly pulled her up onto the top of the ship. She lay on the ground gasping for air after what happened.

"Are you okay?" Red XIII asked walking over to her side.

"Oh, Red, I love you." she screamed throwing her arms around his neck, hugging him as hard as she could. "You saved my life. How can I ever repay you?"

"By letting up on the hugging, I can't breath." she let go and hugged him looser.

"Oh, how can I ever repay you?"

"By not going near the edge of the ship again." they both laughed.

Paine knocked on Vincent's door. He didn't answer. She pushed it open and walked inside. The room didn't look any different from when he first moved in, save for a few dog hairs here and there, and a gun that Paine thought was an AK-47.

Must be something from Vincent's bigger arsenal.

She picked up the gun and put the stock up to her shoulder, she looked down the barrel and lined up the iron sightsShe pretended she was on the battle field mowing down enemy troops. She set the gun down and saw a photo siting next to a black bag of oils and tools for Vincent's guns. It was a picture of a younger Vincent, not younger physically, and a woman. She had long brown hair and was wearing a lab coat. The two of them were smiling. It was funny seeing Vincent laughing. She looked closed at the picture and realized they were holding hands.

"That was Lucrecia." a voice said from nowhere.

"Vincent?"

"Part of the experiments gave me telekinesis. I'm sorry for invading your mind, but the thoughts are just thrown at me, it's not my intent."

"She's beautiful how long ago did you know her."

"Too long. Decades."

"What happened to her?"

"She was used for experimentation, she was pregnant, they did test with the fetus and injected it with Jenova cells. She gave birth to Sephiroth. I was the Father." Paine nearly fell over.

"Sephiroth's your…your…" Paine was speechless.

"Son, yes, I'm ashamed to admit it but he was my son. He is mostly Hojo's now. After Sephiroth was killed, he was cloned…by Hojo. It's all his fault what's happening is happening. Hojo did this to me, after I tried to stop his experiments on Lucrecia." Vincent's voice seemed to be getting closer.

"Have you ever stopped to think that maybe you're better off this way. Think about it, your immortal, you have been given the power to put an end to Sephiroth and Hojo. If it wasn't for those experiments on you, we would have never met."

Vincent appeared behind her, he seemed to faze into existence. Paine turned and stared at him with a new found respect.

"Your going to kill Sephiroth because you feel guilty. Guilty because he's your son and he's doing all these things."

"He's not my son anymore, he's a mindless child of JENOVA."

"Then why are you so effected by what he does, Host?" Chaos whispered inside Vincent's mind.

Silence, Parasite. Vincent snapped back.

Rikku bounced her way back to the bar, Red XIII at her side. She felt better now.

After all, who needs men anyways.

Rikku burst through the door, Red XIII following tightly behind her. She plopped down in a seat next to Paine and gave her a smile.

"What did you say to her?" Yuna whispered to Red XIII.

"Nothing."

"No, you said something, you don't get that," she pointed at the overly hyper Rikku who jumped around , "by saying nothing. Now what happened."

"She slipped on the deck and almost fell off, I ran as quick as I could and rescued her."

"Oh Red…That reminds me, how'd you do that glowy thingy?" Rikku asked cocking her head to one side.

"Ahh, It was a limit break." he said trying to find the words to explain limit breaks.

"It's like what we call overdrive." Paine finally said after a full minute of silence.

"Oh, I get it now." Rikku said sticking her tongue out and knocking on her head.

"So you saved her life, huh?" Paine said looking at Red XIII who had jumped up onto the seat net to Rikku.

"Yeah, cute, little Redie saved me." Rikku said wrapping her arms around him, rubbing her face in his warm red fur.

"I'm not so little you know." he said trying to breath as Rikku hugged him.

"Oh you'll always be my little buddy, right Red?" Rikku said letting go of him. "So when are we gonna be at Golden Saucer?"

"We're here now we're just waiting for Vincent and Sesshomaru, Aeris is still trying to convince them to come with us." Yuna said laughing. She could just imagine Aeris dragging Sesshomaru and Vincent down the hallway.

Almost as if she predicted it, Aeris and Sesshomaru walked though the door, Vincent following reluctantly behind them.

"We're ready," Aeris said taking a seat next to Paine, Aeris was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a black T-shirt with the kanji for love written in pink down the middle, her blue jacket was cut short and came down to the bottom of her chest her normally braided hair was hanging straight down, " It took me forever but I finally got Sesshomaru to wear something different for once. Vincent wouldn't change a thing, as usual." Sesshomaru was wearing a pair of black pants, he wore a white dress shirt under a long, black trench coat covered his arms and the rest of his body. Aeris thought he looked kind of like Sephiroth, Sesshomaru cringed at this thought. She had tried to put a hat over his head to hide his ears, but apparently he was straining enough to keep inside the clothes he was wearing now. The Tokijin was left in their room, Aeris thought the blade's aura might scare people. The Tensaiga was tucked under his belt, concealed under the coat.

Vincent hadn't changed at all, Aeris had insisted that he wear something a little less 'vampiric' were her words. She begged for him to at least take off the claw, but he insisted that anyone, save for Paine, see his hand, which up until now everyone thought was mechanical. She had asked that he at least let her braid his hair, as usual he disagreed.

Red XIII tried hard to not laugh at Sesshomaru who looked like an animal stuffed into a strange costume. He hopped off the seat and out of their view and began to snicker in a corner.

"Laugh while you can, Red XIII, Your next." Sesshomaru said menacingly. Red XII instantly stopped and wondered what might Aeris have in store for him and at the thought of her turning him into a poodle, ran for the door.

"Red, Where are you going?" Aeris demanded.

"To get some water." he said trying to escape.

"Not until I get you ready to go." Aeris whipped out a large brush from her pocket and walked towards Red XIII slowly, he ran away to the best of his abilities until Rikku jumped on top of him and pinned him to the ground. Aeris ran a brush through his mane and cleaned his Limited Moon clip. After several minutes of fighting, Rikku and Aeris got off of him, He instantly shook to mess his hair up a little.

Aeris just shrugged and put on her red lipstick, Yuna did the same. Rikku just laughed at how dolled up they looked.

Golden Saucer was packed as usual. Music blared from speakers all around the park. Rikku recognized one of the songs as 'Real Emotion' one of her and Yuna's favorite songs. The two of them immediately started dancing. Aeris joined in as Paine, Sesshomaru and Vincent looked away. Rikku grabbed Red XIII's front paws and made him dance with her.

They headed for the nearest club, which wasn't really packed, but wasn't exactly empty. Rikku immediately whipped her glow sticks from her bag and stuck smaller ones in her hair and showed of her version of the Al-Bhed rave. Paine laughed and eventually joined her. After a few more songs, the music slowed down.

"Hey, Sesshomaru, will you dance with me?" Aeris asked giving him 'the face'. He tried to resist but was dragged onto the dance floor by Aeris. She wrapped her arms around his neck and placed his hands on her hips. She moved to the music, instructing Sesshomaru as they went along.

"Hey, Vincent, do you want…to…dance with…umm…dance with me?" Paine stuttered, embarrassed to ask, afraid of his answer.

"Why are you so embarrassed about your emotions, of course." He got to his feet and joined Paine on the center dace floor.

"I'm sorry," Paine said as the two danced together, "I'm just afraid to get attached to anyone, what happened to my family, well…" her voice was masked by the sound of the music. She recognized the song as "Suteki Da Ne" a song that made Paine sad every time she heard it.

Well, at least I'm not crying, yet.

"Don't start crying" Vincent whispered into her mind.

"Stop doing that." she said firmly, making eye contact, to make sure he knew she was serious.

"Sesshomaru, I have a question for you." Aeris rested her head on the demon's chest as they rocked back and forth to the beat of the song.

"What is it?" he looked down at her.

"I've been thinking, every time I touch you, you act a little…well…strange. What's going on?" Aeris asked worried.

"I'm noticing how you've changed me. I used to despise mortals, save one, a young girl, you remind me of her, that's the real reason I saved you and let you follow me." Sesshomaru looked up as if trying to see the stars through the roof of the club. "I told her I'd be back soon, I promised her, so I have to go back you understand that, but I'm afraid that you might not come back with me."

"Is that all!" Aeris looked up at him. "I thought you were having second thoughts about our relationship, it happened about the time we met Rikku, I thought you were falling for her."

There was a moment of silence, they weren't sure if Rikku had somehow heard her. They were afraid of how she might feel after her Vincent incident. Rikku and Yuna were dancing together and laughing on the dance floor, they looked like they're normal happy selves.

"You know that's not true."

"I know…Fluffy!" She pinched his ears slightly and wiggled them around before bringing one down to her level and whispered into it. "Just wait 'til later."

The Battle Square was almost empty, Paine thought that with Meteor on the way that people would be flocking here, trying to get Meteor out of their mind. The group walked up to the desk and applied for the Battle Royal.

"Are you two going to be okay?" Yuna asked, concerned for her friends, "I mean those monsters look pretty angry."

"I'm sure Paine can handle them, and besides, you've never seen Sesshomaru fight have you." Aeris said bragging about Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru grabbed the jacket and shirt that Aeris had picked out for him and took them off, For him the jacket and shirt constricted him movements too much. Aeris took the clothes and held on to them. The door for the royal opened and Sesshomaru and Paine walked inside swords drawn. Aeris gave one last motivational cheer before the doors closed.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Sesshomaru asked readying Tensaiga.

"Just worry about yourself, ok." Paine smiled at Sesshomaru and readied her own sword.

The stadium was a large room cubical room. The white walls made it seem like the room went on forever. The doors on the other side of the stadium opened, it was dark on the other side, two red eyes appeared in the darkness. A large, reptilian foot came out of the room followed by the rest if the monsters horrifying body.

"What in hell?" Sesshomaru looked on as the creature looked around the room for it's opponents. It's glaring red eyes locking on Sesshomaru and Paine.

"I think that's a Behemoth." Paine said getting ready.

"So all we have to do is kill that and we get Omni-slash, Correct?"

"Yeah."

Paine charged at the monster, sword trailing behind her. The Behemoth lowered it's head and snapped at Paine. Before it was able to bite her, Paine leapt into the air and off of the creatures head, her sword cutting the monsters' eye as she dropped to the ground. Sesshomaru leapt forward, Tensaiga grasped firmly in his right hand. He charged full speed at the Behemoth. One of the creatures paws shot out at Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru thrust his sword forward, impaling the creature's paw with the Tensaiga. The long Katana sticking out the other side of the bleeding appendage. The creature writhed in pain as Sesshomaru pulled the sword from the creatures paw. Paine readied herself, her sword raised over her head, she brought the sword down on the creature Achilles tendon on it's front right leg, causing it to fall to the ground with a thud. She slashed at the creatures stomach several times before digging her blade into it's side. Sesshomaru brought his blade back and plunged it into the Behemoth's forehead, putting an end to the threat.

Aeris, Rikku, Yuna and Red XIII cheered when Sesshomaru and Paine emerged from the room victorious. They walked over to the desk at the front of the room to collect their prize, omni slash.

Aeris rested her head, on Sesshomaru's shoulder. The group had checked into the hotel in the park grounds. Sesshomaru and Aeris were lying in bed, Aeris was watching television, while Sesshomaru tried to figure out what the a television was. She grabbed the remote and turned off the set.

"So, we're alone…all by ourselves." she said looking up at Sesshomaru. "How's about you take me up on that offer I made earlier."

"Of course." he said getting closer to her, he began kissing her gently on the neck, moving his way up. Their lips made contact. Aeris pulled their mouths together so hard that it hurt. His tongue forced it's way past her lips and into her mouth. Aeris lay down on her back, Sesshomaru's hand found it's way under Aeris' panties and began caressing her, stroking the neatly trimmed, soft hairs. He inserted two fingers inside her pink folds. His pace quickened by the minute. Aeris groaned with pleasure, she dug her fingernails into Sesshomaru's back, screaming his name. after a few more minutes he withdrew his two fingers. Aeris gently stroked his length, getting him ready. She leaned over her lover and kissed his lips. He reached up and wrapped his arms around his lover's neck pulling her closer.

"I love you." Aeris said pulling away from the kiss.

"I love you too, my angel." Sesshomaru didn't think and seconds later realized how cheesy that sounded.

Aeris lay on top of her lover, she rocked back and forth, her hands planted on his chest. Sesshomaru groaned and massaged Aeris' breasts. The momentum of his fingers quickened as hers did. She leaned back, showing off her lean, perfect body. Sesshomaru reached out and grabbed Aeris' firm buttocks. She gasped and looked at her lover smiling. She began to bounce up and down, panting. She screamed Sesshomaru's name as the two of them climaxed together. Aeris slid off of Sesshomaru and lay down next to him.

"Once again, you were better then before." she smiled and patted his nose with her index finger. "I love you."