Chapter 40: Cell Break
(Same tags apply as in Chapter 1)
Elmyra's eyes felt dry and sore as she opened them in the chilly cell. She sat up, pulling the blanket up around her shoulders and giving the boy who sat against the wall quietly, a small smile tracing her lips before she turned to look over at the little ninja.
Green eyes widened when she saw the smile and wave of the fingers from Yuffie. "Hey Elmyra."
"Yuffie…" She mumbled as she rushed over to the younger woman's side, hugging her a bit awkwardly in the position Yuffie was in. "Are you okay dear?"
"Yeah. A bit sore but I'm fine." She said and looked over the older woman's shoulder to see the glowing violet eyes of the boy approaching. "Hey kid, you okay?" She asked, feeling a pang of guilt in her chest. The glow in his eyes reminded her of the gunman she had lied to and left behind.
"Yes, I'm fine." He said before moving closer and turning his back to the glass above them. "You're free, right?"
Yuffie grinned at the boy and pulled her wrist out of the greatly loosened but still clasped cuff before placing it on Elmyra's arm, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"How?" Elmyra asked and watched as Yuffie's cheek puffed slightly as she swept her tongue along it and pushed forth a piece of metal.
"We're getting out of here. Everyone else should be here soon but we're not gonna wait." She whispered as Yoshi moved to the foot of the bed and stood there for a moment.
"Miss Elmyra, please keep talking to her." He said and grabbed the chain of the cuffs around her ankles. He clasped his hands around the chain tightly and began to squeeze and pull. The lithe muscles in his arms contracted a bit before the center link snapped under the stress of the boy's strength.
He promptly covered her feet with the blanket once more before looking up to the wide, stormy gray eyes. A blush tinted his cheeks before he looked away. "So, how are you guys getting out of here?"
"You guys?" Elmyra questioned as she looked over to the boy. "Yoshi-"
"Hey Yoshi," Yuffie started with a confident grin. "If you think we're gonna leave you behind, think again kid. We're all getting out of here together."
The ninja looked around the room before her eyes landed on one of the other metal cots. "You think you can break the metal leg off that cot? The one against the wall beneath the glass preferably. Elmyra, I'll need you to act as a diversion."
"Of course. I'll do anything to go home." Elmyra said as Yoshi nodded and moved over to the other cot.
Elmyra looked down to the ninja and folded her hands in her lap. "Yuffie…why did you come alone? You could have been hurt more than you already are." She said and watched as Yuffie shifted and winced.
The older woman unfolded her hands and moved to the hem of the ninja's shirt. A gasped escaped her lips at the sight.
The skin the covered the ninja's rib cage was badly bruised. Blood from the injured tissues below the surface had made her skin swollen and there was a range of different colors ranging from red, to a sickly green-yellow and even black in some areas.
"Yuffie this looks horrible!" Elmyra whispered as tears stung her eyes.
"Really Elmyra, its not as bad as it looks." She said in a placating tone. In truth, breathing was starting to hurt a bit more, but it wasn't anything that a god elixir couldn't help with until her ribs fully healed. "Besides my only goal is to get out of here…all of us." She directed the last comment to the teen across the room.
A metallic snap was heard in the room, causing the women to turn to the teen. They watched as he stood and sat at the top of the bunk, waiting for them to finish their conversation, acting as a balance for the now three-legged cot.
"You still haven't answered my question, Yuffie Kisaragi."
'3:00 minutes remaining'Stormy gray eyes turned away to look at the boy as he began to work on the cot leg. "I had to come. I had to get you back because it was my fault that you got captured in the first place." The young woman told the older female of the guilt that she felt and the pain that Barret had been going through with her gone.
"Barret…" Elmyra said, her voice filled with pain. She had been wanting to ask Yuffie about him, but she wanted to hear the reason behind she came alone for herself. "He's okay?"
"Barret is okay, the bullet had some sort of paralyzing agent coated on it but when I pulled the bullet out, he got better quickly. He's extremely worried about you though." Yuffie said and smiled when she saw the older woman blush. She didn't want to tread on Barret's toes by telling the auburn haired woman how he really felt. "I know he'll be glad to have you back so he can take you home…" She paused for a minute and sighed. "That's why I had to come." She said and explained how she thought if she hadn't suggested recovering the white materia, none of what had happened, would have.
Elmyra shook her head and gave Yuffie's knee a gentle pat. "Yuffie, even if you hadn't brought it up, I would have still gone to the Forgotten City to visit my daughters resting place. I was considering asking Barret if he could take me and when the chance came up, I jumped at it.
"My dear, I knew the risks, especially since I was going to be traveling with you all while on a mission. I was prepared, but it didn't stop the fear that I felt when everything happened. It was strange; the anxiety and fear I felt, it wasn't for me. It was for Barret and the rest of you. As I lost consciousness, the fear for you all was nearly unbearable…I was almost glad when I lost consciousness.
"Everything that has happened has given me a small taste of what my little girl faced. It makes me appreciate what Tseng did for her..."
Yuffie's brow furrowed in confusion. "What Tseng did for her? What did he do?"
"Well, even though Tseng was technically suppose to be bringing her to Hojo, that man was actually protecting her. He and Reno would purposely avoid the places where she was know to be and when they did happen to see her, they never too her in. Tseng also was one who had gave her guard stick and had been teaching her how to use it in order to protect herself.
The ninja nodded slowly in understanding. A lot of what Elmyra had told her made sense. She had always wondered how the girl who was like a sister to her, had managed to be free for so long. Especially when Hojo was so desperate to find her. This information gave the Turks a newfound sense of respect in her eyes.
"Yuffie, you're not responsible for this at all. Don't punish yourself for something you have no fault in."
The gray-eyed ninja froze for a moment. Those words nearly mirrored what she had been telling her gunman.
'Is that really what I've been doing?' She asked herself. 'Leviathan, I'm such a hypocrite!' She said and wanted nothing more than to crawl into a ball.
She wasn't practicing what she preached to the raven haired man, that's for damn sure and the part that ate her up was that she hadn't even realized she was doing it. The pain that she felt in her chest for leaving him and lying to him, compounded, causing a few angry tears to escape her eyes.
Elmyra could tell that Yuffie was being tormented by her thoughts, but a voice whispering in the back of her mind, told her that the young woman needed to work whatever it was, out on her own. That didn't stop her from thanking the little ninja though.
"Yuffie dear, thank you for coming to rescue me." She leaned down and placed a motherly kiss on Yuffie's cheek.
.::-o-::.
Across the room, a shiver traced down his spine as the murmur in his mind began to grow in intensity. It had been increasing since he had begun to hear the screams of pain from the room above. The raven haired boy pulled his wrapped his arms around his knees, squeezing his eyes tightly. It was almost as if the voice was trying to make him give in to it, to submit fully and freely to its will.
But just as there was something trying to make him give in, something was telling him to fight; to be strong and it would all be over soon. That voice, it wasn't harsh and commanding, it was soothing and it made the fear he was beginning to feel subside. 'Please help me stay strong…' He said within his mind to the voice that calmed his fears.
Yoshi focused his mind back on the two women just as their conversation ended and stood. He walked over to the pair and crouched behind the door casually and gestured for them to be silent. They watched as he slid down the wall to sit near Yuffie's head, his eyes closed.
"It sounds like there are three, maybe four men in the hall." He said before opening his eyes and looking to the ninja. "What do you need us to do?"
The ninja looked at the awkwardly leaning cot and smirked. "Yoshi, can you grab that pipe and put it under the blanket." She gestured to the blanket that covered her with her chin and watched as he retrieved the pipe, hiding it from the view of window.
"Right or left hand?" He asked.
"Left, thanks." Yuffie said as he slid the bar under the blanket. "So Elmyra, what I need for you to do is try and get the guards attention. Tell him you're sick, then that is where we're going to get creative but you have to suffer a bit of pain."
"What do you need me to do?"
"Well if the edge is sharp enough, use the edge of the pipe and cut the palm of your hand. It will need to bleed pretty good but be careful not to do any permanent damage." She said and watched as the older woman nodded a bit grimly.
The older woman sat on the edge of the bed and took a deep breath as the edge of the pipe was produced. She looked at it ominously before quickly slicing the ragged metal across her palm. Her lower lip became trapped between her teeth, quieting the cry that whimper to slip from her lips.
The pipe was hidden beneath the blanket once more as Elmyra stood, her hands cupped to contain the blood as she moved and began to kick the door to their cell. "Please, I don't feel well…I think something is wrong!"
"Shut the hell up in there!" A voice traveled down the hallway from a short distance away.
Yuffie watched as Elmyra continued to call to the guards, telling them that one of Onika's tests had made her ill. She poured the blood that had formed in her cupped hands onto the concrete floor and fell to the floor, bringing her head to rest slightly in the puddle. Her hand was placed in an awkward position, allowing the blood still coming from her lacerated hand to slowly expand the puddle, yet concealing the real source of the bleeding. Her other bloody hand was tucked under her body to hide the red stains on her uninjured hand.
Yuffie took this as her queue and began to yell for the guards as Elmyra lie motionless on the floor. "Hey Dumb Asses, she's out cold! Get your asses in here and help her! She's bleeding, I can't tell if she's breathing."
She could hear the footsteps coming down the hall and allowed her voice to grow desperate. "Please hurry, she hit her head on the ground when she collapsed!"
Yoshi added to the show by acting as if he was getting up to help her as two of the guards peeked through the thick but small glass window.
"Kid, keep your ass on the cot and don't move!" One of the men commanded before turning to his partner. "Shit! She's one of Onika's new playthings. If anything happens to the bitch, its our asses!"
"Fuck!" The second man grumbled as he fumbled with the keys and began to open the door. "Kid, I swear, you move your ass, I'll shoot ya!" He said as the door opened.
"Watch the hall James!" The first man called to someone down the hall.
They both stormed into the room ignoring the bound ninja. The first man knelt next to the woman and shook her, trying to rouse her while the second had his gun trained on the teen boy. Yuffie silently pulled her hands from the loosened cuffs and took the pipe into her hand.
A smirk traced her lips as she moved from the bed. 'Damn, they're not to bright! Everyone knows not to turn your back on an enemy…even bound!'
The ninja moved and quickly brought the pipe-like leg up and with a powerful swing, sent it crashing against the armed mans head.
The first man stumbled to bring his weapon up, but before he could reach his feet, Elmyra had already crawled away and both the ninja and the Mako enhanced teen had him cornered.
Yuffie rammed the end of the pipe into his stomach. The teen took his chance and slammed his fist into the jaw of the guard, causing his head to snap to the right. With a grin and her adrenaline pumping, Yuffie slammed her foot into his face, causing him to crumble to the ground unconscious, however, she soon regretted her actions for two reasons.
One, the blows that she had dealt the to guards had jarred her injured ribs as Onika's words replayed in her mind: '…I've only healed you enough so that I could move you. For the safety of my newest specimen, when the paralysis wears of, try not to move too much. It'd be quite painful if you did.' The sharp pain in her side nearly caused her to cry out, but instead, she bit her lower lip, sending a wave of coppery liquid across her tongue.
Two, the heavy thuds of the two falling bodies, the sound of the broken chain around her ankles hitting the concrete floor and the tearing of fabric as Yoshiko ripped a sheet to bind Elmyra's hand, had caught the attention of the third guard.
"Mike! Davie! What the hell is happenin' in there?" The voice called and got no reply. The sound of rapid foot falls filled the corridor as Yuffie moved to untangle the gun from one of the unconscious guards body.
"Freeze!"
The ninja, teen and elder female all froze when the heard the weapon armed. Yuffie glared at the weapon she had been trying to grab, calculating her moves in her mind, trying to time how long it would take her to bring the weapon up and fire.
"Hey, I need some help down here! The prisoners-"
'0:00 minutes remaining'
He didn't get to finish his call for help. The sound of a massive explosions jarred the base, causing the guard to lose his footing slightly. His finger brushed against the trigger, sending a spray of hot lead into the cell.
The three occupants fell to the ground to avoid the deadly projectiles. The man cursed and out of the corner of his eye, caught a glimpse of a crimson and black blur.
Brown eyes widened and his mouth fell open as he stared into the claret eyes of what had to be a demon in human form. The hardened gaze, though only lasting a millisecond seemed to suck the soul from his very body. Warm liquid poured down his legs, soaking his pants as the demon brought something down. Something hard and unyielding impacted his skull, plunging him into darkness. His last conscious thoughts were to beg the planet for forgiveness and spare his life…
His prayers would never be answered. The blow that he had taken to his head caused his brain to bleed. He would never awaken.
.::-o-::.
Yuffie coughed, her eyes closing from the force of it and the pain caused by the normally simple action. When her eyes opened, she saw the speckles of blood that now covered the cement floor. She brought her fingers up and touched her lips, only to see that now stained them.
'Shit…' She thought as she looked to the door where the guard now lay on the ground. Alarms began to blare throughout the base. Suddenly, she felt her two companions pulling her to her feet.
"Yuffie, are you okay? Your lips are turning blue!" Elmyra asked as Yoshi adjusted the gun he had recovered.
I'm fine, lets get out of here!" She said as they moved to the door. All three froze when the warm sensation of a higher end cure spell.
Yuffie looked up and felt her guilt return ten fold as her pain eased a bit. Before her stood the man she was both grateful and had been dreading to see. She couldn't speak as her gray eyes met his crimson. The ninja could see the anger, hurt and a bit of relief in his eyes.
"Were any of you harmed by the gunfire?" He asked, his voice flat and quiet, sending a chill through the ninja's body.
"Vincent…"
"We must move." He said, taking his gaze from Yuffie's to look up to the glass, where Onika was glaring from the main lab.
"Right…" She said quietly as pain, not the physical pain she was feeling within her form, but the pain that she felt in her soul grew. It made her feel numb as she allowed them guide her out of the room, following after the gunman.
.::-o-::.
They made their way down the halls and as they approached the juncture ahead, Vincent motioned for them to stop. He signaled behind him that there were people approaching from the corridor to the left. He made sure to meet the glowing violet eyes of the boy. No words were exchanged but the message was clear. He would not use the weapon. The gunman wouldn't have allowed the boy to use the weapon even if he had been previously trained to use it.
Vincent readied his weapon and became still, blocking out the sound of the alarm and listening to the nearly silent footsteps of those approaching. A familiar hum reverberated within his body and behind him, Yoshi felt it too, causing him to shiver and bring his hand to his forehead. The gunman knew that the boy would need help once they were out of this place in order to learn to live a live with the foreign cells.
Suddenly, Vincent dropped his guard. "Cloud." He said and rounded the corner to be greeted by the blond. In the distance, they could hear the sound of gunfire.
"Barret and Cid's teams are taking out the rest of the guys who decided to put up a fight. Some of the soldiers are taking the men that you caught into custody." Cloud said as Tifa moved to the three former captives with Yuffie's pack and weapon, having taken it from the office where it had been stored after Zade had searched it.
The gunfire came to a stop and not long after Barret and Cid approached from long passageway to the right. Yuffie and Tifa were arguing in hushed tones before the fighter finally caved and reached into her pocket, handing the ninja a couple high potions. The men watched as the ninja downed liquid.
"You know that is not going to last long, Yuffie! You need to be properly treated." Tifa said with a sigh. The blue had faded a bit from the ninja's lips, but it was still there none the less.
"I know, but I'm not going back. I am going to help…I'm fine!" The ninja snapped. "If you're so intent on sending me back, you're going to have a problem. I'll stay in the back, but I'm not leaving. We need to get going. Who knows what Zade and Onika are doing in that lab."
"While I don't agree with Yuffie going, I do agree about the lab." Elmyra said softly. "Doesn't anyone else find it strange that no one has come out of it yet?"
"I heard the screams of at least three men along with the blond man and the professor. I know that they got the professors treatment…I can feel it." Yoshi said as he took off the gun and gave it to the gunman, who in turn, handed it to one of Dojima's Soldiers.
"Where's 'Mrya?!" Barret asked as he reached the group. The auburn haired woman immediately ran to him and was pulled into his arms.
"Barret! Oh gods, I'm so glad you're okay!" She cried as she was crushed to his chest. She quickly explained how Yuffie had gotten herself free and how the lured the men into the cell along with Vincent's appearance.
Cid scratched the stubble on his chin before gesturing to four of the Shinra guardsmen. "You guys take Elmyra and…hey kid, what's your name?"
"Yoshi."
Cid nodded and gestured to the two. "Take Yoshi and Myra to the staging area."
They watched as the brown-eyed man whispered something in Elmyra's ear, causing her to blush. He placed a kiss on the top of her head before she moved over to Yoshi's side and placed her hand on the young man's shoulder when his body suddenly went rigid.
"Yoshi!" Elmyra and Yuffie cried as the boy collapsed to the ground and began clawing at his neck. The ninja knelt at his side and pushed his hair away, spotting the white collar. She immediately tried to grab it and break of the boys neck, but a current that surged through her hand forced her to yank her hand back.
"Its Onika! He's doing this!" Elmyra cried as Vincent moved forward and knelt beside the boy.
The boy continued to shake and convulse as he wrapped his metallic hand around the white collar before bringing the other to join it. He could feel the painful jolts through his hand as he pulled, but shrugged it off until it snapped under his strength. He tossed the collar to the side with barely disguised anger as he reached up and opened the now unconscious boy's eye, checking his pupils.
Vincent lifted the boy into his arms as Elmyra cried softly in Tifa and Yuffie's embrace before gesturing to one of the larger soldiers. He settled the teen in the Soldier's arms and received a nod at the unspoken order.
"Elmyra, go with Yoshi an' watch over him." Barret said. "We'll get those bastards and he'll be able to get help from the medics once he's outside."
The older woman nodded and moved over to the Shinra guardsmen who were heading back. Yuffie pushed herself to her feet, her arm wrapped around her middle as she watched. "You might want to have them check you out too Elmyra." The older woman nodded and walked away with the men before the group turned to Yuffie who explained. "I'm not sure what was done, but one of the guards we knocked out said that Onika had experimented on her."
Barret paled and Vincent glared at the ground at this news. Yuffie equipped her ribbon, Minerva band and materia once more before she slipped her pack on. She ran her fingers across her neck, checking for the pendant and watched as Tifa held it out for her. Thanking her, Yuffie placed her birthday gift back around her neck and began moving towards in the direction of the lab with the rest of the group in tow.
Yuffie was soon joined by her gunman who walked at her side, but never once glanced down at her. The pain in her heart pulsed once more as they walked in silence. Yuffie knew that the first thing she needed to do once this was over was to pull raven haired man aside and have a talk with him once they had a chance to be alone.
Hopefully, he would be able to forgive her…
o-o-Authors Note-o-o
Hmm…Yoshi-kun is hearing voices…I'll prob explain that in the next chapter or so :-)
Long time no see, ne? Because this has taken me so long to do, I decided to do a two-for-one. I do apologize for the long breaks between the chapters for this story. I'm also sorry for any confusion caused by these two chapters. I couldn't help the scene changes in these parts, but I'm nearing the end of this part, fortunately.
I would like to thank each and every single one of you who have been reviewing. They have been absolutely wonderful as of late and it making me want to get these chapters out faster but unfortunately, the need to work and make money (even though I'm not liking my job at the moment) has made my time to write decrease greatly.
These two chapter turned out to be a total of forty pages handwritten and most of them were done while at work. That's a lot of writing, even though it doesn't come out as that much when typed. I don't know when the next chapter will be out, but I have already started it. I really want to get the next chapter for my Reno/Aeris out so I'm going to try and work on that too…
I got my copy of KH2 and my limited edition strat guide so I'm excited about that too! I'm on the 6th day right now but I've only been able to play a few hours at a time. All I have to say is…I'M LOVING IT SO FAR! I am in LOVE with axel and he has been added to my harem of bishis! Vincent is still the top dog though, but I love all by bishis the same.
–huggles Vincent who glares at the Sesshomaru plush in ezzy's lap-Come on Vince, you know that if I would have found one of you while I was at the mall, I would have gotten you too!
Vincent: … -searches the net for a Vincent plushie for Ezzy-
Well ladies and gents, thank you all again! You're all amazing :-)
See ya!
Ezzy
PS. I don't own final fantasy…if I did, Advent children would have been out in the US a year ago.
Also, I have expanded my horizons a bit. I now right in a few different fandoms now and also have a few shounen-ai/yaoi stories out. You can find my single stories on AFF under the name Ezri-Candy or my Co-authored works with my PIC, Ange, aka Shadowbeaw under the penname PyroAngelEz. I even have a Yuffentine lemon that I wrote for another of my best buds, Empress-Eerian Sadows' wonderful fics All She Couldn't Have and Everything He Wanted. There are two stories, told from the perspectives of Yuffie and Vincent. Check out her awesome stories and then you'll see where the lemon fits in. If you do get a chance to check out the fics of Eerian, Angel or myself, please review! If you go to the AFF site, you wont be able to review but our emails are listed in our profiles.
(Remove the spaces in the links below)
Empress-Eerian-Sadow
http / www. fanfiction. net/ u/ 570237 /
PyroAngelEz
http / www . adultfanfiction. Net / aff / authors .php ? no 26006
Shadowbeaw (Angey)
http / www . adultfanfiction . net / aff / authors . php ? no 23339
Ezzy
http // www . adultfanfiction. Net / aff / authors. php? No 1296778682
10/05/07
Edited because of change in formatting. Also re-numbering chapters. Minor content edits.