Wings of an Angel
By Henrika
Henrika- I have a job! Hurray for me! I will try my hardest to keep updates on time, though this one was almost late because I was too tired after work to write. No worries though, keeping the fans happy comes first! As for happy though, that may not be the case because I've left you with a double cliffhanger! Sorry? Thank you to all my loyal reviewers and whoever happens to be lurking out there. This has been extremely fun fic to write with at least a few more if not a good handful of chapters left. Enjoy and review!
Note- One of the websites I visited said the monsters that attacked Cloud in Advent Children were shadow creepers, so I used them again with that name.
Tifa sped through the desert, urging the bike even faster in a effort to get to Edge before…she didn't want to think what would happen if she didn't make it in time.
It was because of this, her thoughts racing between worst-case scenarios and ways she could call Holy that she failed to notice the three shadow creepers until they had already jumped. She was instantly grateful that she had on her gloves, spinning Fenrir around to face the monsters. The first one flew past her and a blow glanced off the second. But the third she caught head on, two hard strikes from her fists reducing the creature to dust.
She spun the bike again, a sick feeling of dread rising inside her when she spotted neither enemy.
"I think he's getting worse Marlene." Denzel said as he tried to keep a cool cloth on the forehead of Cloud's continuously tossing form.
"Tifa should be here soon. She'll know what to do." The words sounded uncertain even to Marlene.
"What's wrong with him?"
Cloud moaned, shaking violently as his skin went even whiter.
She cast an Ice3 spell, long experience having honed her senses enough that she picked out the monster to her left. Based on the shrieking howl, she had successfully eliminated the one she had wounded earlier. Which left her with one shadow creeper in perfect health that was very pissed off about its prey attacking back.
Tifa uneasily turned the bike back towards home.
Cloud was thrashing about now, the bandages that Tifa had replaced soaked through with the poison black of geostigma. Denzel grabbed his left arm and Marlene his right, and the children attempted to hold him down. He strained against them, easily breaking their feeble grips.
She turned the bike too hard, trying to escape the sudden whoosh of air she felt at her back. The tires skidded on the desert terrain before slipping and throwing both Tifa and Fenrir to the ground. The bike spun several times before it came to a stop, leaving Tifa with just enough strength to cast another Ice3, effectively stopping the jaws that had been just inches from closing around her.
She tried to move and screamed, pain crashing over her in a sick wave.
Her vision blurred, she managed to draw her leg out from where the motorcycle had it pinned. Deep red flooded her vision as she looked at the arm and leg that had ground so harshly into the earth.
Half the skin was gone. That alone sent her to retching into the pale dirt and sand. But it was the angle of her leg and the impossibly white shard of bone that threatened to have her evacuating the entire contents of her stomach. Her thoughts fuzzy, she tried to move far enough to grab the Cure materia from her pouch. She jostled her leg and for a moment her thoughts became sharply acute before the black overcame her and she fell unconscious on the dirt.
Cloud arched off the bed, his eyes wide and unseeing as his spine bent backwards. Marlene screamed, backing away from him.
It only lasted a moment before he was crashing back down onto the bed. Denzel was the only one close enough to hear the soft, whispered, "Tifa" that escaped the blonde's lips before he started choking.
"Marlene!" Denzel yelled, snapping the girl out of her terrified trance. "Help me get him on his side!" She rushed to comply and the two tugged on Cloud's arm together until his heavy, muscular form was on its side. Denzel grabbed Marlene's hand and they rushed to the other side of the bed so they could pound Cloud on the back, but the man vomited over the side of the bed before they could reach him, a viscous black liquid that continued to ooze from his lips.
"We need to get help." Marlene said, tears pooling in her eyes.
"No, Tifa will be here!" Denzel said.
"We can call my daddy!"
Denzel considered it for a moment, eyeing Cloud as he heaved again. "Okay. Hurry."
Marlene scurried out of the room, racing up the stairs to Cloud's office. She quickly dialed her father's cell phone number, hopping nervously on her feet as it rang.
"Yo, this is Barret."
"Daddy?"
"Marlene? Honey, what's wrong?" He asked, instantly knowing that his daughter was crying.
"Daddy, it's Cloud! He's sick and he's throwing up black stuff and he keeps tossing around and…"
"Marlene! He's got wings!" Denzel screamed up the stairs, loud enough that Barret heard it.
"What do I do?" Marlene panicked over the phone.
"Calm down Marlene. You know the chocobo I gave you? The stuffed one?" Barret asked.
Marlene nodded before realizing her dad couldn't see her. "Yes."
"You know the jewel around its neck? It's a time materia. Remember how Yuffie taught you to use materia?"
"Yeah."
Barret was suddenly extremely grateful that he had had the foresight to give her that materia in case anything happened and grateful for once that Yuffie had rubbed off on his daughter. "I want you to cast Stop Marlene." Barret paused for a moment. "Where's Tifa? Why isn't she with you?"
"She said she was going to find out what was wrong with Cloud. I called her and she said she was coming home"
"Okay. Marlene, do you think you can cast that spell? I'm sure Tifa will be back soon, but I think she needs to handle this right from the start."
The girl straightened up, her resolve firming as she quickly wiped away her tears. "Okay. I'll do it."
"All right. You call me right back if anything goes wrong. I'll get there as soon as I can."
"Okay."
Marlene hung up and raced down the stairs to where the chocobo toy sat on her bed. She grabbed the shimmering materia from its collar and ran back to Cloud's room.
"Denzel, I know what to do!" She shouted as she stepped through the doorframe, freezing beside Denzel, who was backed against the wall. She nearly dropped the materia in shock as she saw what Denzel had screamed about moments ago.
Sprouting from Cloud's back were two enormous feathery wings, one jet black and the other pure white, save for eight brightly colored feathers and one that was blindingly white.
Marlene gasped, backing up against the same wall as Denzel. "He…he has wings." She gasped.
"What do we do?" Denzel asked, snapping her out of her shock.
"I've got it. It will be all right." She said. She clutched at the materia in her hands, gathering the magic that Yuffie had showed her how to use and concentrating on the spell hidden within the crystallized mako. She had only used small healing spells before and it was harder than she thought to cast a bigger spell. The materia shown brightly as she put every ounce of effort she could into casting the spell. "STOP!"
"Where…where am I?"
"Hello Cloud."
"Sephiroth."
Henrika-What can I say? I'm a devious authoress. Reviews are prized and loved. And again, explanations will come in the next chapter.