I am still amused about how this chapter turned out. I have never been good at fighting scenes...and something tells me that I never will, but I can always try. Enjoy, and remember, every good artist tries to improve their writing for every chapter. (I do at least...even though Midori says I have been a bit lazy...)
Anyway, this chapter contains BLOOD, and this is one of the chapters that is the reason why I needed to M-rate this story. Not because the story itself is bloody(laughs, I am such a bad liar), but because that the fighting scenes is bloody as hell, (I have this thing with bullets tearing the body apart or something)
Disclaimer: I don't own Sephiroth or the universe for that matter (I could if I married tetsuya, but that is kindda gross)
Enjoy! and remember, I love reviews, if you feel that it is nessesary to flame me then do so.
Sephiroth saw the gaping wound in the head of the woman behind him; a groan escaped her lips once in a while as he tried to find a way out through the train wreck. The dust began to lessen and he could see their surroundings a bit clearer. He bent his brows sharply as he heard voices and footsteps inside the train. No one would be able to be up so quickly after that blow; even Sephiroth needed to sit down and shake the blow off him.
Ningit groaned once more and Sephiroth had to make a quick decision whether or not it was to his advantages to have her unconscious during their escape now. He would have to keep an eye on her all the time if they ran through the train. He had had training in this; normally it would be best when they had woken up, but—for gods sake—this was a woman, not a soldier.
Slowly she opened her eyes softly and tried to focus on the swirling surroundings. Maybe a chocobo would have been better after all she thought. "Hn…" she whimpered as she felt the pain in her head again. Sephiroth narrowed his eyes and quickly searched for any materia within his pocket. He could feel the different shapes of the orbs and was about to pull a cure materia out when he felt her hand on his wrist.
He stared at the older woman's face that was a mixture between intensive pain and dizziness. Slowly she whispered carefully, "Someone is coming…"
True to her word, the voices seemed to draw nearer and nearer for every second that passed. Biting down in his thin lip he picked her up, much to her surprise and began to walk out the train slowly. When he couldn't see any way out, he pressed himself against the wall, while Ningit seemed to drift in and out of consciousness. "Don't fall asleep…" he said strictly and she didn't answer, mostly because she would puke if she did so.
"… They should be around… here…"
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes and tried to listen better to what they said.
"What? They are gone? How is the possible…" a female voice called; a slapping noise was heard and a whine from the girl. "Get a grip! Godamnit you will make sure that they know where we are! Stupid woman…"
"Hey! I am the sister of Godo Kisaragi so keep your mouth shut, stupid man!"
Sephiroth rolled his eyes and searched the remains of the train from any sign of exit. It gave him a slight difficulty that Ningit clung to his leg as she tried to steady herself so that she wouldn't fall asleep. He knew very well that if he didn't treat her wound soon it would become fatal and he simply didn't have the resources to treat anything at that kind right now.
"Sir…" she muttered softly as her head slammed into his coat and she lost her grip and fell towards the ground painfully. Sephiroth bent down quickly and pressed two fingers on her throat to feel her pulse. It was weak but not weak enough to let her fall unconscious so easily.
He frowned as he dug into his bag and searched after the green healing orb. Her eyes fluttered slightly and she bit down in her lip as the pain grew heavier in back of her head. He noticed that and put the shinning orb within his sword and pointed the edge close to her neck. She gasped as she felt the familiar sensation of when he last attacked her, and began to whimper without herself knowing.
He stopped touching her for a second and stared at her. Somehow he felt a slight regret that he had such a bad effect on her during their fight. He shook the thought away and whispered quietly, "Cure2…" and a green light embraced her small form and her harsh breath slowed down and her eyes fluttered open. He nodded half-heartedly and pulled her to her feet, "be quiet and follow my lead, we need to get out of here…"
She stumbled on her feet once more, but to her surprise Sephiroth caught her quickly and knotted his brows. Her eyes widened a bit, and she pushed herself away from him. Her face lowered slowly and she stared at the ground. "Give me a minute and I'll be fine…"
"We don't have a minute…" he hissed and dragged her along with him, when she tried to walk as well as she could.
Sephiroth bent down onto his knees, still holding Ningit firmly. She raised an eyebrow at his hand that squeezed all life out of her defenceless hand. "Um… Sir, do you mind letting go of my hand…" Instead of completely letting go, he just lessened his grip a little and continued to search the area.
Damn, we are trapped… Only one thing to do… We got to fight our way out.
As if she could hear his thoughts she sighed in regret and pulled out her gun, checking it quickly to see if it was loaded and ready for action. Sephiroth vaguely wondered if she was even capable of using it since he had never seen her use it. Well, she had fired at him, and hit him but those shots were pathetically weak compared to all the other things he had witnessed.
"You know what? I would die to become a part of the upcoming Wutai War… Godo has always been stupid at making deals, and with a company like Shinra no wonder it have turned into a war…" the female voice spoke; the other one seemed annoyed by the fact that she was clearly making it easy for Sephiroth and Ningit to hear them.
However, Sephiroth knew about the Wutai War, and Shinra was ready to invade the country in less then three months, but why did she know about that? He frowned deeply and made a sign to his companion to be quiet while he slowly sneaked through the dark corners of the damaged train.
Ningit sat up straight against the wall and made sure that if she depended on something it would be her skills as a listener. A mistake people often made was to depend on their sight. Sometimes sight just isn't enough when you can't see where they are; therefore to listen was clearly her best solution.
Sephiroth knew that those two must have entered the train somehow, so that meant there had to be an opening somewhere. He checked the corners by looking into the reflection of his sword and noticed the girl poking at pile of dust.
"Do you think they are dead?"
"Most likely not. Sephiroth would protect the girl against any damage. So no, that is my answer…"
She pouted her cheeks and ripped a whole seat of the ground to reveal a very damaged corpse. "They know how to hide; I can say that much…"
"Well, they would have to meet us sooner or later. There is no exit at the other end, and if they decide to make an exit themselves, Strife would be after them in less than a second…"
"Why does he always get the easy jobs?"
Sephiroth gripped the sword tighter and raised his upper body. So that was their plan. If they were to exit, they would have to go out the way the two strangers had entered. He smirked a bit, and with amazing speed he swung his sword hard against the girl, there was no way she would be able to deflect or avoid it.
That was what he thought when the girl suddenly jumped over the sword, and threw several shrunken which he barely managed to avoid. What? How?
She giggled a bit and landed gracefully behind him. "Oh! If it isn't little baby general Sephiroth?" she said laughing and received a tired sigh from her partner. "Do you think you can get away from us so quickly? What a shame… I wanted to play!" "That is some sick twisted joke…" he answered back and smirked a bit before swinging his sword a bit harder this time, only to have her avoiding it again. It repeated like that for a good amount of time. Him swinging, her avoiding, and once in a while she would try to land a punch on him, which he had difficulties in reflecting.
She hasn't attacked yet… Why? He wondered as his sword connected with air once more.
She must rely on her speed in stead of attacking; that way she will be able to surprise attack one… That must be it.
"This is enough! I am tired of you!" she complained and clenched her fist. He barely avoided the blow, but managed to cut her arm deeply. She hissed and cursed when her hand hit the chairs on the opposite side that blew into a thousand pieces. Sephiroth's eyes widened when he realised that she didn't rely on speed, because she had strength to match. She is fucking playing with me!
He jumped backwards and swung his sword one more time which she of course avoided, but to her surprise he quickened his speed and made his sword swing several times before she hit the ground. She barely managed to block some of the blows with her shrunken and received a cut across her chest.
She was panting hard and tried to stop the bleeding wound, but he didn't have time for that and charged her again. Olette threw herself at the ground and swung her feet around, and connected with Sephiroth's legs. He gasped slightly in surprise and jumped into the air landing swiftly on his feet.
"This is getting serious you little scumbag!" she yelled and unsheathed her sword. Smirking shortly she steadied herself in a charging position. Sephiroth frowned and readied himself despite that fact that he had been hit by several of her shrunken. Her smiled widened several degrees and she made the sword twist around one time before it connected with Sephiroth's.
Slash, duck, slam, slam, hit, duck, jump… He avoided her blows with ease, but her speed was outmatched so he depended on his strength.
"Hi-yah!" she cried as she ducked her sword into his right arm. Sephiroth screamed in agony and sliced the girl across the chest again. She gasped as she felt the wound clearly and her blouse opened, the blood soaking it. Ethan stepped in front of her feeling that it was getting too dangerous.
"Olette! Get the girl now! We are leaving…" he said sternly, holding Sephiroth back. The silver-haired teenager was panting hard. Olette nodded shortly and used her speed to run through the train. Sephiroth's eyes widened and he tried to follow her but was stopped by Ethan as he threw a chair at the general. Sephiroth sliced it in half and ran after the girl again when he noticed the surroundings had become black.
"W-what is this?"
"It is darkness…" the male spoke and hid his hands within his coat. "You can call me Ethan or Nero; it is up to you…" The dark-haired man's smirk widened and he stood calmly while waiting for Olette to finish her job. "Why aren't you attacking?" Sephiroth asked annoyed and tried to search for any way out.
"There is no need for me to attack… I just need to make sure that the girl is captured and brought away safely without you interrupting…"
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes and clutched his sword tighter, "Let me guess… Hojo…"
Nero flinched by the name and his body shook lightly in dismay, his dark eyes turned darker and his black hair blew as a sudden wind came. "I despise Hojo, and I despise you too…" Sephiroth snickered softly, "You don't hate Shinra? That is a new thing…"
"I hate you because you are…" Nero's speech was cut short and he stared at the wound in his chest. H-how is that possible? Sephiroth was surprised too as he felt something rush past his ear. There was no sound but it had to be a bullet, the rushing sensation had to be it. Nero narrowed his eyes and made the darkness disappear. Sephiroth's eyes widened once more.
"I can handle this too…" Ningit said as she pointed the gun at Nero once more. Her face was stern and traces of anger trailed down her cheeks. Sephiroth noticed that she was bleeding hard from her left hand and that her dizziness had gotten worse because she stumbled a bit, even when she stood still. Her breath was harsh and her shoulder was in bad shape.
Sephiroth suddenly became mad. She fought the other girl! I told her to keep quiet!
She stumbled shortly and tried to look through her hazy vision. All the voices, the warmth around her, it was so strange… because all that was at her side was dead people. Hissing a bit, she spoke softly, "Let us go…"
Nero smirked a bit and waved his hand, "… Or what?"
Ningit moved the gun with ease and pointed it towards her temple. "… Or I'll shoot myself…" She frowned a bit when she felt the cool metal and her finger pressed against the trigger.
Olette who now stood by his side widened her eyes, "You… You wouldn't?" she cried while Nero clenched his fist in anger. "You wouldn't…" he said mockingly and smiled a toothy grin. "You wouldn't want to go back on your's and Sephiroth's little promise would you? I have seen people do that trick many times, young woman, and none of them had the potential to do it…"
She was silent and closed her eyes softly. "It is just a silly promise…" Sephiroth felt his veins turn cold by the cool tone of her voice. She was goddamn serious! He narrowed his eyes and looked at Nero who seemed to have noticed the same thing. Ironically, he could have stood in her place and said the same things, but he seriously doubted if he was capable of actually shooting himself. Damnit…
A slight click from her gun made all three people freeze and the tension seemed to rise every minute that passed.
Sephiroth desired nothing more than to stop her foolish action, and kill the two other people because he was really pissed right now. Nero clutched the wound in his stomach and was afraid that he wouldn't have much time left if he continued to stand there without treatment. Olette seemed to have noticed that too and was ready to make an exit if they needed to get away quickly.
Ningit chuckled a bit and repeated her words once more, "A silly… silly promise…"
Right then and there Sephiroth ran towards her, he didn't care about his injuries or Olette throwing her shrunken at him, because this situation was insane enough as it was. He could feel Ningit's surprised heartbeat as he threw her on the ground, clutching her tightly as the attacks, meant for her, hit him. The bullets and the ninja stars tore through his body. His breath was cut short when he felt one of the bullets hit his right lung.
The woman beneath him stared terrified at him as his mouth was filled with blood. Unable to resist the urge to keep it in his spat it out, some of it hitting her pale skin. Her emerald eyes were wide in fear and she felt herself tense at the sound of more gunshots filling the air. She couldn't prevent the tears streaming down her cheeks washing some of the blood away.
As Sephiroth felt himself get weaker for every second, she suddenly pushed him away and flipped the gun, shooting both people in the arms and one time in the leg. Olette screamed out in pain and needed to steady herself against Nero, who was too surprised to notice Ningit lift Sephiroth and walk as fast as she could out of the exit.
"Ethan! Are you okay!" She yelled and shook his shoulders hard which only made him groan louder. "Let go, Olette! "His eyes scanned the room, no one was there. "Godamnit! They got away!"
Ningit fought tears as she literally dragged Sephiroth inside the woods. It didn't help that she continued to stumble, because she had lost a good amount of blood herself. Her feet had gone numb, her sight was hazy, and her right shoulder was bloody.
Sephiroth had become unconscious and it didn't soothe her well that his breath was harsh and unstable. Readjusting him on her shoulder she wandered further into the woods where she was sure she had gotten lost in. She stood still for a moment and stared at the dark clearing in front of her… She had passed that twice now. "DAMNIT! DAMNIT! DAMNIT! DAMNIT!" she screamed as she let herself fall to the ground.
Drying her tears, she muttered softly, "This wasn't supposed to happen… We were supposed to go to Kalm… Everything was supposed to be fine…"
Her emerald eyes stared at the grass underneath her. Even though she could hardly make out the shapes any more, she still enjoyed the dark green colour. "So many people have just died because of me…" Placing Sephiroth gently on the ground, she hugged herself and buried her head in her knees. "… I don't think I am able to handle that burden…"
She stared at the flesh on her knees, and the tears that trailed down the dirt. Her mouth tasted like blood and she hated that metallic taste. "I don't think I can handle that you die too, Sephiroth…"
She sighed shortly and whispered to no one specific. "… I am sorry…"
"What are you sorry for?" his deep, weak voice asked. She stopped crying and looked at him sadly. Ningit closed her eyes softly and dried her remaining tears as she bent over him to examine his body. "I am sorry that I dragged you into this…" she muttered and touched the sharp edges of the shruriken. He flinched when she ripped the shruriken out of his back. "I dragged myself into this…" he said tiredly.
"But we should have taken the chocobos…"
"And then they would have attacked us on the chocobos? That would have been more dangerous…" he muttered. His lung hurt so badly, it was a surprise that he actually breathed as well as he did right now. "But look at you, look at me… There is no way we can come to Kalm and still be alive…"
Sephiroth groaned, "Would you mind shutting up?"
She sighed and asked him if it was okay she removed his jacket, he grunted a reply that sounded like a 'no.' Carefully she removed the big piece of leather and examined his bloody back; maybe it wasn't as bad as she had predicted. "All the bullets seem to have passed through you so I don't have to pull them out of you…"
Sephiroth nodded tiredly, "I have a cure materia in my pocket somewhere… Use it so we can get out of here…"
"…"
He furrowed his brows at her silence and gave her a questioning look. She looked defeated and seemed to be in deep sorrow as she carefully took out the materia. "I am sorry…"
He groaned once more, "For what…?"
"… I…"
Her breath was shallow and she stumbled a bit at her own blood loss. Suddenly she began to cough hardly and shielded her mouth with her hand. She coughed for a good amount of time and when she was done she stared terrified at her bloody hand. Breaking into a sniffle, she sobbed, "I… I can't use materia…"
a thousand thank you's to Sora's saviour, eyeofthetigerkissofthedragon- And lastly, a huge sign of graditude for my beta-reader Midori Tsuki.