Hey everybody! Thank you for reviewing (I'm so close to 100)! I'm sorry I'm starting this chapter so late, I really didn't want to, but I've extremely busy these past weeks, so if I don't get chapters out in just one or two weeks, forgive me! I'm trying :)
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Tifa expertly dodged a punch thrown at her from the blonde assassin, and doubled over as he tried to roundhouse kick. She looked to her left, and gave a reassuring nod to her partner-in-crime, Cyrus.
"C'mon, bad boys," Tifa taunted, receiving an angry growl from the two men she was fighting. It was bad enough that they had to find Vincent missing while they were supposed to protect him, but to run into Aiden's assassins again? Not only that, but Kairi went missing too, no note or anything…just gone. Had she found Vincent? Was he hurt? Was she hurt?
These were the questions that perturbed Tifa as she went flying to the ground, blood oozing down her leg. Cursing, Tifa rendered herself up again, only to find a knife at her throat. One of Aiden's assassins had grabbed her arms, so she couldn't attack the other one that was threatening her with a weapon.
"Don't make a sound, or I'll slice you open," the blonde spat, the point of the blade coming dangerously close to her flesh. Fully agitated now, Tifa realized that they had forgotten she had legs, and smirking, she twisted up to boot the immobile dagger out of the assassin's hand. She managed to snake her arm out just in time to catch an incoming kick, but that didn't prevent the other man from using his palm to uppercut her chin.
Tifa stumbled crazily, attempting to break her fall by flipping backwards. However that only helped to her clumsiness attract to the ground, and as if a personal invitation to gravity, she was pulled down.
The assassins took this opportunity to jump on her once again, and Tifa came only half prepared to meet them with her dagger. Suddenly, as soon as her weapon went sailing out of her reach and the braided man with black hair had stuck her neck, a high pitched whistling sound came echoing to their ears and they quickly released their hold.
An unspoken agreement was made between her two enemies, and they soon were running away (to Tifa's sure amazement.)
Struggling to regain her composure, Tifa pushed on the ground as she slowly became erect again, sighing as she watched the men run away from her. It obviously wasn't because they were scared, but that weird squeal that they commonly heard every time they fought was some sort of call for them to draw back and…run?
"Tifa!" Cyrus called, jogging up to her. "You alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine…you?"
Cyrus nodded, although he couldn't help but notice the still trailing blood from Tifa's thigh.
"We should probably go find—" however Tifa was interrupted as she heard a noise that sounded like moving grass, and with stealth like speed she had already let loose a dagger. It was instantly knocked away, and Cyrus and Tifa both took up stances like hungry cats waiting to pounce on their prey.
"Don't attack me, I don't intend on fighting you," said a male voice…a young male voice. It was Aiden's assassin, the one that Kairi fought every time they met up. His spiky brown hair gave away his identity immediately.
"What do you want?" Cyrus asked curiously, but keeping his fists up reassuringly, as if saying silently, I'll listen, but if you try to do anything sneaky, I'll beat the shit out of you.
"Your friend needs you," he said calmly.
"What? What friend?" Tifa inquired, not trusting the boy one bit.
"That girl assassin…Kairi," he responded, his bottom lip trembling a little as he said her name.
"How do you know her? What type of sadistic joke are you trying to pull?" Shouted Tifa, losing it.
"I'm Sora! Of course I know her! We both go to the same school! I'm the one who beat her in the mile, the one who I'm sure Kairi's told you about!" Sora blurted out, not being able to contain it any longer.
Tifa took a step back, surprised. Yes, she did remember Kairi telling her about a guy named Sora with spiky brown hair, but she never in her wildest dreams imagined him as an assassin…working for their freaking ENEMY!
It was Cyrus who managed to sputter, "but aren't you working for Aiden? Weren't those guys who just attacked us your friends?"
Sora looked away.
"I guess you could call them that. But it was I who blew the whistle for them to come back."
"You mean that annoying high pitched…scream?"
Sora seemed to take that as an insult and he muttered a faint "yes."
"Sora, where is Kairi now?" Tifa requested, not caring about the whistle or Sora's identity anymore.
"She's at our…I mean Aiden's base. She's badly injured and she really needs your help." Sora replied, turning around briskly.
"Wait. If you're our enemy, why the hell are you telling us this stuff? Why would you even care?" Tifa demanded, leaning on Cyrus as her legs almost gave away.
Sora was silent for a while, not quite sure how to answer. How was he supposed to tell them that he…well, lets just say he had a slight crush on the girl, and to make a long story short, they had basically betrayed each other.
"Look. We don't have a lot of time. I'll explain everything later, but for now, Kairi needs us, and we can't waste our time with dumb questions that will only get you guys even more confused." Sora said sternly.
"Can we…trust you?" Tifa asked after a long pause. If it were any other assassin she would definitely not be willing to go anywhere with them, but since it was Sora…
"I guess you're going to have to." Sora said blankly, waiting impatiently for Kairi's friends to concur already.
Tifa looked regretfully at Cyrus, but he boosted her hopes up as he smiled. Somehow Cyrus always succeeded in making Tifa reassured about her decisions.
In a matter of seconds the three assassins were off, chasing Sora at a nice rate, not having a clue about where they were going, and only having a pale impression of what lay ahead of them. They still were clueless about Vincent, but if he was dead…Tifa shuddered, trying to think of only the positive.
Suddenly Sora stopped short, in front of a glowing miasma blob that loomed over them like a massive…looming…thing.
However as Sora approached it, Tifa backed away.
"No. No way in hell am I going in there." She refused, shaking her head madly.
"Yeah? Well how else are you going to get to Aiden's base?" he asked her, amused yet disconcerted at the same time. Once again they were just wasting precious time that could be used to save Kairi. But then again, Cyrus and Tifa didn't really know the whole story, so he couldn't completely blame them.
"This seems awfully odd, doesn't it? I mean you randomly know everything about Kairi, convince us to follow you, and now you want us to enter a portal thing that could lead to very likely trap of yours. Am I supposed to feel safe?" Tifa huffed angrily.
Sora sighed as he realized he would eventually have to face the inevitable, so he walked up to Tifa and pulled out a piece of red cape, torn and bloody.
"Does this look familiar? I believe it belongs to your boss."
Tifa stared at the cape with horror, and then snatched it away from Sora's grasp.
"Where did you get this?" Tifa stammered, because it definitely did belong to Vincent.
"It fell out of Kairi's pocket…I picked it up because I thought it would come in handy later on." Sora replied. Suddenly Tifa was right up in his face, pestering him with questions that he barely knew the answers to.
"Did you see him? Is Vincent…I mean my boss alright?"
Sora shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. He wasn't exactly sure how to answer without saying "he's dead" in the middle of the sentence.
"He…um…well he kind of…he died." Sora managed to mumble out the words.
"What?"
"Your boss…Aiden killed him." Sora repeated lamentably.
"No…" Cyrus whispered, his eyes widening to the shock. Tifa on the other hand, didn't believe a single word Sora said.
"Of course he didn't die Cyrus! He's just trying to play with our minds!" Tifa laughed, although she was choking back the idea herself.
"You think I'm lying? Well then, why don't you go there yourself to figure out the truth!" Sora yelled at her, ticked off that Tifa was always trying to argue with him when he was only trying to help.
"I think I will!"
"Good!"
Silence.
Tifa let out a puff of air, then sighed and ran at the portal, diving in with a neat and organized grace. Cyrus followed, then Sora third. As soon as Sora's head hit the misty fluid of the portal, waves of emotion filled his body, and he felt wet all over. He jumped through these portals often, but every time he did it was like a whole new experience.
Sora rolled out and stood up, finding himself next to Cyrus and Tifa who had exited before him. Cocking her head, Tifa indicated for Sora to lead the way and he ultimately obliged.
They ended up in a wooden mansion like building, with lots of rooms and hallways that they would've been totally lost in if it weren't for their guide, Sora.
Once again Sora stopped short in front of a metal door that had a bunch of small holes in it. It basically looked like a cell door, except it didn't consist of straight metal bars.
"She better be in here or else…" Tifa threatened, but Sora was too concerned already to even hear her.
"I hope we aren't too late…" Sora whispered, more to himself than to anybody else. However as he tried to open the heavy metal door, he found that it was bolted and locked tightly.
"That bastard!" Sora screamed, pounding on the door with bawled up fists.
"Open this goddamn door!"
Tifa pushed Sora out of the way, flustered and just about ready to explode. Running up to the door, she back flipped as her feet pounded on the lock, and a satisfied smirk fastened upon her face as she heard the all too clear 'click' sound resonate in the air.
Thanks Kai. It always works, Tifa thought, silently thanking Kairi for the incredible trick she had showed her. Returning back to her angry state, Tifa, Cyrus and Sora pushed open the door, finally ready to face the big shock ahead of them.
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Kairi rested her gaze upon the hazy picture that played before her eyes in a magnificent approach. If she wasn't mistaken (due to her poor vision at the time), Cyrus and Tifa were beating the crap out of Aiden's assassins, while a boy with spiky brown hair ran towards her…
"Sora?" Kairi announced, although since her gag prevented her from talking normally, it sounded more like "Mmmm?" Why on earth is he here? Kairi thought confounded at the idea of Sora coming to her rescue.
"Kai…" Sora breathed contently. Thank god she's all right…
However just as Sora was about to reach her, Aiden grabbed Kairi's hair and pulled her head back, relaxing a metal sword upon her neck once again. He laughed as Sora's face became distorted with anger, as he realized he couldn't get close enough to his former boss without Kairi getting hurt.
"I'm surprised you actually went through with it, my boy. I thought it was only a temporary argument, but you were serious weren't you? My my, I underestimated you…traitor" Aiden hissed, attempting to hide his anger behind his composed features and failing.
"Let go of her," Sora spat, and Kairi could almost see the heat rising out of him. Why was he so angry…with Aiden?
Aiden's only response was pulling Kairi's hair tighter and digging his sword in her neck, drawing a small line of blood.
"You will not touch her until she is dead," Aiden said, then added with a smile, "Which should be soon."
Kairi's heart raced as she apprehended the situation a little. It looked as if she still had a fragile hope of living with Sora at her aid, although why he was helping her and her gang was still a mystery. Suddenly, two circular balls were thrown in the air, releasing a gas that filled the room and evaporated most of the breathable air. Just then Kairi felt the blade on her neck loosen up, and she ducked down, realizing that she could escape from Aiden with the cover of the smoke. She fought her way through the gas screen by crawling on her hands and knees, and she knew she was getting away when she heard the faint yells of Aiden somewhere in the distance.
"Kai, I got you…just hold on." Kairi heard Sora say as her eyes became droopy and she found that it was getting very difficult to breathe. The last thing she felt was strong hands upon her shoulders, lifting her up and forcing her to walk, before she groggily passed out. It didn't matter, because she knew that wherever she was going, was always going to better than here.
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Okay, I have only one excuse to my laziness and my absence for updating…SCHOOL! No really, my teachers were laying on the homework and finals for the last weeks of school, and I seriously had no time to even get on the computer, let alone think up ideas for the story! So I'm TERRIBLY SORRY for the two-month waiting period!
However I'm so happy that I got so many reviews for my last chapter! I LOVE YOU, MY DEDICATED FANS! I finally pulled through due to your very motivating reviews! Please, don't stop! I'll try to get the next chapter out really, no…EXTREMELY soon! I LOVE YOU ALL! MUAH! lol