Tainted Souls
Chapter IXX
Stranded, Enemy In The Darkness
My bad, this is another long one. I started writing and couldn't stop until I found a good place to stop.
Vincent felt different that morning, his chest felt heavy and warm. He looked down to see Paine's white haired head resting on his chest. She seemed to be curled around him, almost as if he was leaving and she didn't want him to go.
"Now, now, how you've changed. So what were you doing last night, I mean besides this girl apparently." Chaos invaded Vincent's mind, toying with him.
What now, Demon? Vincent became instantly irritated with Chaos' constant pestering about how he'd changed, apparently 'for the better'.
"Oh, nothing, just came to see how last night went, have to say you really picked a winner here, Partner."
Partner, he'd never called Vincent that before, what was with the sudden change all of a sudden, could it be that their emotions were linked, when one was happy so were the others.
Paine steered in her sleep, mumbling something about a den. She starting moaning an turning more violently.
"Hmm, a nightmare, care to take a look?"
Only to help her.
Vincent closed his eyes and let his mind shit down, he slowed his breathing and focused on Paine's mind.
Paine's dream was filled with pain, despair, agony. Vincent looked on as a man with a gun fired upon his comrades. A man with blond hair and an eye patch, who reminded Vincent of Rikku, fell to the ground from a bullet wound to the side. The gunner turned on the final member of the group, who had most of her body covered by her large sword. The man smirked and fired, bullets pinged of the blade, ricocheting in every which direction. The woman lost her balance and fell. Vincent stared on as the woman, now identified as Paine fell to her knees from the constant onslaught of bullets. The shooter approached her, reloading his weapon. He smiled as Paine got to her feet, getting ready to attack. She ran at him, sword ready to attack, the man rose his weapon. The attacker pulled the trigger, bullets exploded from the muzzle flash illuminating the dark cave.
Their was a sound of speeding lead tearing through flesh. Paine was thrown aside, she held her chest, blood oozed from the fresh wound. The attacker approached laughing at her attempt to attack him. He trained his weapon at her saddened face.
"Why, Commander? Why are you doing this?" He laughed in response.
He looked down at the girl in front of him, ready to pull the trigger. A hand grabbed the barrel of the gun at the instant he pulled the trigger. The heavy round tore through Vincent's hand and into his chest. Blood sprayed as he took the bullets for the fallen Paine.
She looked on in horror as her knight in shining armor was reduced to a pile of smoking flesh and bone. The attacker laughed and approached her, loading yet another clip into his fully automatic weapon.
"Guess this is the end." Paine murmured under her breath.
"No, it's not, not when I'm still alive anyway." said a voice emanating from Vincent's remains. His torso pulled itself from the ruins of his mangled body, his left arm and both legs severed along with several pieces of his chest.
The attacker once again laughed in response.
Vincent's body began reforming, transforming into something more demonic. Wings shot from his back, his skin darkened. Chaos took control of Vincent's body and he was pissed.
"It's trash like you that piss me off. You aren't even worthy of the deepest circles of Hell, you maggot. You're a festering parasite eating away at a rotting corpse. You should be happy to have the honor of dying by my hand. However, I wish their was somewhere appropriate to send you. Somewhere worse much worse then Hell." Chaos walked over to the man who had shot him Paine and Vincent. The attacker laughed more the closer Chaos got. Paine screamed in horror as she saw Chaos grab her former commander by the head.
"Let go of me." the man now screamed hysterically, now pleading for his life. "Please show mercy."
"You didn't show mercy to your team members why should I show mercy to you, after all I don't even know you." Chaos squeezed the man's right arm, the one holding the gun, and slowly pulled tore the arm away from the body. Screams from Paine and her former commander filled the pitch dark cave. The man screamed even louder as Chaos dangled the man's arm in front of him, mocking him with it. The look of horror on the man's face was priceless.
"Finish him already." Vincent commanded.
I need to make him pay first…no one hurts Paine, you'd do the same thing. Nowhere in the Seven Hells will he find more pain.
"Just hurry it up."
Chaos did as his master commanded, he pulled his right arm back getting it ready to attack, before deciding against it and placed the clawed hand on the man's stomach. He slowly pushed inwards, tearing into the man's abdomen. Warm blood washed over Chaos' hand as he slowly tore away at the organs in the man's body. Screams of pain and pleads for mercy went unheard. Chaos threw the dying man across the cavern, he hit the wall with a thud. Chaos raised his right hand at the man and concentrated his energy inside into his hand, forming a small fire ball. He shot the ball at the man setting him ablaze, leaving him to burn to ash.
Vincent took control of his body right as Paine woke up. She roller over, escaping from the horror of her nightmare. She rolled over an stared at Vincent, wondering about her dream and why he was in it. She explained everything, her fight with her old commander, Vincent saving her, his transformation, everything. She pondered over what it all meant, she gave up and wrapped her arms around Vincent, she breathed deeply. He smelt like roses, not something she expected him to smell like. She moved closer to him and place one hand behind his head, running her fingers through his long raven black hair. Their lips made contact, she pushed their faces together so hard it hurt. She began running her fingers down his chest when the door to their hotel room flung open. Rikku bounced through the door, Red XIII following closely behind her, Aeris and Yuna followed shortly after, all four of them stopped when they saw the two naked lovers intertwined.
"Oh, God…" Rikku gasped, blushing.
Aeris and Yuna just giggled, Red XIII turned around not sure what he should do.
Paine and Vincent just stared, unaware that they were still kissing.
"Well, it appears that Vinnie has a soft side after all!" Rikku said teasing.
"Get out!" Paine yanked the covers over the two of them, her face redder then her eyes. "Don't you know how to knock."
"We did knock, ten times." Yuna said still giggling.
"What the hell are you all still doing her. Get out!" Paine screamed at the top of her lungs. Throwing her boots at the group. Vincent was unsure about how to react. He just watched in confusion as Paine screamed at the intruders.
"Now this is entertainment!" Chaos laughed inside Vincent's mind.
This is not funny, Demon.
"Me and the others seem to think so."
"I'm sorry Vincent, I should have locked the door. I just can't believe them." She scowled as she pulled her on her leather top.
"It's alright, there is no reason for you to apologize. I should be the one apologizing."
"Why what's wrong?"
"Nothing, never mind."
"Moron, if she finds out we were inside her dreams she'll kill us ten times over!"
Why do you think I didn't tell her.
"Well, do you want to hang out at the park a little more before we go, Rikku said she wanted to race a Chocobo. Are you interested?" Paine asked, nervous of his response.
He thought about it for a minute before responding. "We'll go watch Rikku race."
Paine felt happy that Vincent was finally coming out of his shell, it would make things a lot easier between them. She didn't really picture him as a very social person.
Rikku walked up to the registration booth and signed a few weavers and other assorted papers before she were allowed to enter the Jockey's quarters.
The room was nearly empty save for a few jockey's, they seemed like the people that raced Chocobo's religiously. Everyone's eyes met on Rikku when she walked in and took a seat at the table in the middle of the room. The people sitting around the table stared at Rikku like she didn't belong there, finally one man stood up and walked over to her.
"I think you got lost, this room's for competitors only." the man said in a smug voice.
"I am a competitor. I have my own Chocobo and everything." everyone laughed at this. "Hey, what's so funny?"
"You a competitor." said one of the men, he had been sitting next to Rikku. She wanted to teach everyone of those racers a lesson, on and off the track. Her black Chocobo, Agahnim, might not be the fastest Chocobo around, but nothing could stop him, once he got going there was no stopping him.
"Hey, don't listen to them." a young girl said placing a hand on Rikku's shoulder. She looked much younger then Rikku, her short black hair barely reached her shoulders. She was wearing very short gray shorts that were unbuttoned at the top showing off a lot of skin, her dark green shirt left her arms and most of her stomach revealed as well, showing off her tone, athletic body. She wore a headband around her head, a thick piece of decorated metal covering her forehead. "Name's Yuffie, what's yours?"
"Uhh, Rikku." she shook the girls hand, she had a strong grip.
"So, are you new here?" The girl asked sitting down next to her.
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"I've never seen you here before, and I come her a lot."
"Are you a racer." Rikku asked suddenly.
"Yeah, and a pretty good one too. I've never been defeated. Are you gonna race today?"
"Yep, I'm up next." Rikku seemed overly proud of herself, something she did often. It was her firt time racing at the new track and she was kind of nervous. She tried never to show it, but instead cover it up with laughs an smiles.
"Heh, so am I good luck, trust me you'll need it." Yuffie said smiling.
"You too." they shook hands once more before leaving before heading out to the tracks.
Their Chocobo's were all lined up and ready for the race, one bird in particular seemed more active then the other. It thrashed around inside the cage that separated the Chocobo's from each other and the track.
"Hey, are you sure you're gonna be okay riding that thing? It looks kind of wild." Rikku asked the rider trying to tame the bird.
"Should be wild, I just caught the sucker. Looks like y'alls are in for one hell of a race." he seemed awfully confident in his riding abilities.
"Dyne, I don't think it's very smart to race a wild Chocobo." Yuffie protested.
"Hey, you mind 'ur bird and I'll mind mines." he sounded a little drunk, Rikku became a little nervous with this guy and his bird on the track.
The countdown started, the gates for the cages would open any second now, and then all Rikku had to worry about was staying in the lead.
I hope everyone's watching me. she looked around in the small crowd for her friends. She found then in the third row, cheering her on. Yuna, Paine, Aeris, Sesshomaru, Red XIII, even Vincent had managed to drag himself out seclusion to watch her race. Now she couldn't lose, wouldn't lose. The cheers of her friends got her adrenaline pumping. She reached down and patted Agahnim on the chest.
"Okay boy, let's win this one for Yunie and the other, ya' got me?" Agahnim nodded and chirped in agreement.
The lights turned green and the Chocobo bolted from their cages. Large clouds of dust were kicked up, blinding the losers. Rikku weaved Agahnim through turns, traps, and all sorts of obstacles. She and Yuffie had managed to keep neck and neck throughout the majority of the race. There was a squeaking sound and Rikku heard the sound of a fence smashing. She turned back just in time to see Dyne being thrown from his wild Chocobo. The wild Chocobo had apparently attacked the other racers, sending them crashing into trees, fences, anything. The wild Chocobo raced towards them. Rikku screamed trying to get Yuffie's attention, nothing worked, she was too far ahead. Rikku reached into her bag and pulled out a small metal ball. She flung it at Yuffie hitting her in between in the shoulder blades. Yuffie turned back and saw Rikku being chased by the savage Chocobo. She yelled at Rikku to pick up the pace, that maybe someone at the finish line would know what to do. Rikku kicked at Agahnim's sides, telling him to pick up the pace, before they became a certain Chocobo's lunch.
"Oh no, look." Aeris screamed as the berserk Chocobo began snapping at Agahnim's tail. "Can't you do something." she screamed at the receptionist.
"I'm sorry, even if we could catch up with the Chocobo, we wouldn't know what to do, and if we harmed it the rider would have our hides." the receptionist explained.
"Sesshomaru, Vincent, why don't you guys do something?" Yuna asked, obviously nervous for her cousin.
"We could do it, come on, Vincent." Chaos pleaded.
Fine, just stay out of it.
"Okay, Sesshomaru, you take care of the Chocobo and I'll cover Rikku and the other riders."
"Whatever works." Sesshomaru got up, removing his leather jacket and dress shirt, he drew the Tensaiga and together him and leapt from the stands and onto the track. Vincent wrapped his cloak around himself and vanished inside the material, which shot towards Rikku and Yuffie.
Sesshomaru finally caught up with the Chocobo, even in the constricting clothes Aeris had begged him to wear, he still found it quite easy to run. He ran a few paces in front of the Chocobo and grabbed hold of it by the neck. He squeezed to hold the creature, trying to calm it down. He looked the creature dead in the face, he seemed to look right through it's eyes and into it's soul. The creature instantly stopped trying to break free and relaxed, Sesshomaru loosened his grip on the white Chocobo. The creature stood obedient now, Sesshomaru let go of the creature's neck. The Chocobo gave a quick squeak and knelt down, making it so Sesshomaru could easily climb onto the mount's back.
He flung his leg over the Chocobo and grabbed hold of the reins. He didn't even have to direct the creature by the reins, the Chocobo went where ever he wanted at blinding speeds. In a matter of seconds they had caught up to Rikku and the others.
Vincent trained the Death Penalty on the cloud of dust heading towards them. He was hoping it was Sesshomaru and not the wild bird. What ever was kicking up the dust stopped, Vincent saw the Chocobo and readied his rifle, aiming for the legs. Sesshomaru moved in front of the creature in protest.
"It's okay?" Vincent asked, he looked back, Rikku and Yuffie had continued their race.
"Yes, it is under my care now. It will do as I say." the creature knelt down, allowing Sesshomaru to dismount. His black pants now grey from the amount of sand covering them. He and the Chocobo shook, dust flying from their bodies. The Chocobo cheerfully squeaked, and nudged Sesshomaru lovingly.
"I think he likes you."
"What…a tie!" Yuffie screamed, unable to believe someone could even get that close to beating her
"Told ya I was good?" Rikku teased.
"Well guess we'll just have to split the winnings, here." Yuffie handed Rikku a pile of gil.
"Where's that guy who was riding that white Chocobo…you know the cool guy with the white hair and that other guy, the one with the cloak and those really cool red eyes?" Yuffie looked around the room frantically for Sesshomaru and Vincent.
"Oh, they're with Aeris, she wanted to see the Chocobo." Rikku said, almost sounding jealous.
Yuffie sighed in response, disappointed and jealous. She placed her arms on her hips and stood there with Rikku for a while trying to think of something to talk about.
"So are you a thief or something?" Rikku finally asked.
"I'm not a thief," Yuffie answered quickly, "I'm a Ninja. Now, you on the other hand look like a thief." she said teasingly.
"Maybe it's because I am one." Rikku giggled. The two girls laughed together for a few minutes before walking off to meet Aeris and the others at the Celsius.
"Well, we just can't leave him nameless." Aeris explained. She had been desperately trying to come up with a name for Sesshomaru's new Chocobo. She racked her mind, thinking of a name that both Sesshomaru and the Chocobo would approve of. "How about Haku." she added,
"I think it fits." Sesshomaru said stroking Haku's snow white feather covered head.
"Alright then, Haku it is." Aeris said petting the overly playful Haku.