Chapter 13—Cloud's P.o.v.
Note + Disclaimer—This game that the story's about does not belong to me. At all. Thank you and good night. This chapter's longer than the other ones, and I'm sorry about those. But school gets in the way, ya know? So, after like, working on this chapter for...ever, it's finally here. And SimsRulz...you gotta go to deviantart and search for these words specifically –" Revenge on the noogie" if something comes up, it should be by me—CryptGirl. Then click on my name...and nevermind, I'm getting online before I even post this.
My alarm went off at 5:30 Wednesday Morning. There was no way I could sleep late in the absence of work; it just wasn't natural. As I came out of the dream world I hoped no one else was up so I could have the couch to myself.
With that in mind I rolled out of bed into the cold air—that woke me up. The floor creaked a little under my weight. I started toward the door, which led to the living, where I could get to the couch and where sleep waited for me, and the floor creaked louder. I cringed and decided to tip-toe the rest of the way out.
I opened the door and, looking down the hall, noticed light spilling through Vincent's open door, so I went to check if he was in there, which he wasn't. Then I shuffled my way to the kitchen. The most awesome, heavenly smell and a sizzling noise was coming from there—scrambled eggs and ham.
After my meltdown, I walked into the kitchen and found Vincent manning the stove. 'he cooks?' I thought. 'man has he been lazy these past years.' "I didn't know you could cook, Vincent," I said. "What are you doing up this early?"
"Getting ready to leave for Costa del Sol."
"Ah. So you really mean to go after her?"
"I said I was going to, didn't I?"
"Yeah, you did, but—"
"I knew you were getting up early too, so I made you breakfast," he said dishing eggs and ham into two plates.
I took the change in subject as a sign that he didn't want to talk about it anymore. "Thanks," I told him.
He understood that I still wanted to ask questions, so, partly to break the silence, he started explaining his mission. "Mostly I want to know why she left. There is something more than what she told us going on."
"I got that feeling too, but you said 'mostly.' What other reasons do you have?"
He didn't answer, so I sat back and started eating. Vincent only pushed his food around with his fork. Then he said, hesitantly, "I think..." he met my haze before going on, "I think I love her."
I swallowed as he looked away and began eating. "M..." I trailed off at first, almost scared of what his reaction might be. When I was sire he wouldn't completely kill me, I finished the question, "More than you loved Lucrecia?"
His eyes met mine in an instant of dead seriousness. "More than Lucrecia," he assured me with an air of finality.
'I might have just crossed the line,' I thought. We finished eating in silence, and I washed dishes while Vincent finished packing. What took him so long, I'll never know. All he came out of his room with was a set of keys and what looked like a half-empty back pack. He'd added Cerberus and its holster to his belt also.
I walked through the door with him, but I wasn't going to walk him all the way to his bike, so I stopped him, "Vincent?"
He turned around, letting the breeze disturb wisps of hair, "Yes?"
"You're not mad at me, are you?" I asked.
"What for?"
I took a deep breath. Either he meant to torture me, or he really didn't know what I was asking. "For asking about Lucrecia and Harper," I explained.
He closed his eyes and, from what could be seen over the lip of his cape—he'd put it on earlier—he gave a smile and said, "No. I'm not mad. You really don't like the idea of hurting a person's feelings, do you?"
I laughed and gestured throwing the topic away. "Good luck; have a good a trip," I said.
"Let's hope so!" he replied, then he turned around and I went back inside.
Once there, I flopped onto the couch and immediately started falling asleep. But, right before I was completely gone, I heard and engine rev.
And it wasn't a motorcycles engine.
harpers pov
"Wednesday. I've always hated Wednesdays," I grumbled as I hugged my knees closer to my body. IT was colder in the Canyon that in Midgar, and the coldness wasn't helping my health at all.
"I was hoping for a little more action than this," Yazoo said, piddling with his gun while Loz put more wood on the fire the four of us were sitting around.
"We'll go further in tomorrow," Kadaj decided.
"Good. Firewood supply here is getting slim," Loz pointed out.
"Great," I moaned sarcastically as I pulled a blanket over me and laid down parallel to the flames.
"You're snappish...what's wrong?" Kadaj asked, slightly annoyed that I might give any kind of fuss at all.
"I'm sick," I said bluntly, propping myself up on an elbow. "I've been sick since before you came to Midgar, Kadaj."
"Oh."
"It's been almost two days with zero encounters," Yazoo pointed out.
"Yeah, that's kind of weird," Loz agreed.
The echoes of their voices were suddenly giving me a headache.
"It'd be nice if some people actually left more that what it takes to re-spawn in a year or two," Kadaj mused. He kept pushing on the hilt of his sword and pushing it back into its sheath, making it make a CLICK! every time.
Yazoo cocked his gun and un-cocked it. I think they were doing it just to annoy me. "Just Shut UP!" I half yelled. That alone made the headache worse, so I got up and went sit behind a big boulder, dragging my blanket with me like it was my best friend now. Sitting in the dark, away from everyone else made me feel better. More like myself. I'd never gone off on someone so completely before, that I could remember at least. I was just calming down, falling asleep almost, when Kadaj crept up on my side. "What?" I asked hoarsely, my voice escaping.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
'stupid question,' I thought. "I guess so. But my head really hurts. And it's REALLY cold in here."
"Hm..." he pulled a glove off of one hand and placed his palm to my head. Almost instantly he pulled it away. "By the Ancients you're burning up!" he exclaimed. "No wonder you're so cold. And it doesn't help if you sit here away from heat!" he scolded and grabbed my arm gently to pull me out from behind the rock. There was a thud and Yazoo's gun skittered our direction. Kadaj looked away from me quickly and in the direction the gun had come from. After a moments consideration he told me in an urgent tone of voice, "Stay here." Then he disappeared behind the opposite side of the rock.
There were a lot of noises, and the throwing of Yazoo and Loz against a far wall with Kadaj's sword following. It stuck in the wall I was facing—the one the other two had been thrown against. Kadaj was helpless, and I couldn't sit there, not when I could help.
I pulled together the rest of my strength and banished the headache and chill as I bolted around the edge of the boulder. Then, when I saw what was attacking, I cast haste on myself and Kadaj while dodging flames from the dragon. A dark-dragon. Like the ones from the crater. That was the first time that I wished Cloud was with me: he knew how to handle them.
I knew a few things about them, because some things are common to all dragons: Fire helps them—don't use it. Then it registered: Did Kadaj know? Did he even have materia? When he turned and dashed to get his weapon, I knew he didn't have any and that it was left up to me. I decided that the best combo. then was demi paired with the quadra materia. I didn't even give it a second thought, and I was glad of it when I realized that the dragon was preparing to breath fire again at the same time that I cast my spell. I was relieved when I saw how much it seemed to hurt it. But my relief didn't last as long as I would have liked as the monster countered with a tail blow that sent me to my knees once I recovered from the hit. Darky in front of me inhaled for a breath of blazing flame when suddenly Yazoo was there clamping a Fire Armlet around my wrist. I absorbed the fire as health when it hit me. I stood firmly and drew my gun, which I had just decided would be named Silence, and slotted the demi materia I'd found yesterday and had put in my pocket. Then, I shot. And it died.
I was extremely lucky that the quadra-demi couple had hurt it so much, or else it never would have died to that one shot. For extra emphasis, I walked up to it and kicked it in the knee. Then, my world went black.
Note—OK! Is that better a length? Will it suffice? R&R! please! Oh yeah, uhm. I'd like it If people could maybe remember my cousin in some prayers. I found out today that he had to go through a gas chamber thing for his Navy training...