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11. Yuffie
Yuffie balanced precariously on the toolbox, gesturing for the three teenagers to come inside quickly. "Hurry up!" she yelled, managing to put two syllables into 'up'. "Or they're gonna get you!"
"Yeah, because we didn't figure that out on our own," snapped the redhead boy. He leaped on board like a big orange cat. "Shut the door."
"No," she protested when he tried to shove her aside to press the button. "There's still ten minutes before the autopilot takes off. I'm not shutting this door until Mr. Cid comes back!"
"She's right, Lea," said the boy with blue hair. "We need him."
"Says who?"
"Says common sense. This is his ship. He'd be a better chance at survival right now than some autopilot."
The boy called Lea grumbled, but acquiesced. Yuffie breathed a sigh of relief – and another when the girl clambered on board, hoisting her robes over her knees and blowing bangs from her eyes. She looked around and headed straight for Yuffie's saviour without bothering to introduce herself.
"I'm a healer," she said as she knelt by his side. "My name's Aerith. Now hold still. This might tingle a bit."
Yuffie's saviour turned his head at the girl's voice and jumped when she took his hand, but he didn't try to lash out or scramble away. His seatbelt would have prevented that anyway. The cloth around his eyes was stained so red it was almost black. Yuffie's stomach rolled, but the healer girl just hung on and closed her eyes. A faint greenish glow manifested above her head. She scrunched up her face and it leeches down, through the crown of her skull, down her arms and into her hands. His hands started to glow too, mirroring hers as she transferred her magic into him. Slowly, it travelled up his arms, across his torso, and along the lines of his neck and jaw.
Suddenly the entire ship rocked. Yuffie squealed. The force of it flung her off her perch. She slammed into the blue-haired boy and they both went crashing into the healer girl. Her hand ripped free and the green glow died before it reached the Royal Cadet's eyes.
"What was that?" demanded Lea. "What the hell was that?"
A dark blue mouth pressed itself against the door, but the huge body to which it was attached prevented the gigantic Heartless from entering. It pulled back, revealing a black, spherical body streaked with dark blue like alien blood spatter. Its glowing yellow eyes were piggish and small, but the jagged, toothy mouth made up for its unfortunate appearance. Three thick tentacles with frayed pink tips sprouted out of its body and reached into the ship like a cat pawing at a mouse-hole. Yuffie tried to crawl away, but one tentacle wrapped around her ankle and dragged her towards the door.
"No!" she screamed. "Help! Help me, please!" As she went past the overturned toolbox, she snatched up a saw and chopped awkwardly at the horrid grasping thing. "Help meee!"
"Shit!" The redhead ran past her and jabbed wildly with his gunblade. The tip went straight into the Heartless's mouth. It looked surprised for a moment, then quivered and exploded into dust. He yanked Yuffie to her feet. "You owe me, kid."
"You can collect your reward if we survive," she replied. "And thank you."
He grumped, but his face quickly lost all expression. "Shiiiiit."
Yuffie followed his gaze. If her father had allowed cussing, she would have let loose her own. A dozen similar yellow-eyed spheres were headed their way, scudding across the ground like bombs looking for a target. The ship juddered, signaling another one on the roof. Yuffie refused to cry, but she was close. Fear made her tummy twisty and adrenaline made her head fell light, like she had been spinning too long on a merry-go-round.
"Mr. Cid," she murmured. "Where are you?"