Disclaimer: I do not own KH, it belongs to Square-Enix and Disney.
A/n: I have been so busy, I haven't had any time to write at all in at least two weeks. I'm sorry this took so long! And so you know, I really hate Rosso's stupid accent now.
Chapter Ten
The door burst open and Cloud leapt to his feet as Leon rushed into the bedroom. He barely had time to exchange a glance with the blonde before he turned to usher Sora inside. The young brunette hurried inside, taking one look at Tifa's unconscious form and cringing.
"That's him all right…" He muttered with a sickened look as he gazed down at the sleeping girl. Cloud glanced from Sora to Leon in confusion, which quickly melted away to worry as the keyblade master drew his famous weapon. Kairi, Riku, and Yuffie dashed into the room in a mixture of excitement and near panic, staring with wide eyes as Sora raised the keyblade over Tifa's gently rising and falling chest.
He gazed down at her as he focused, noting the arms only visible to him wound around her shoulders and waist, the creature's shadowed face resting beside Tifa's as its grip on her tightened. She began to whimper in her sleep, incoherent words escaping her as her peaceful expression quickly changed to fear.
He brought the keyblade down, arching beautifully as he cut the ties the creature held on her. This proved to be trickier than when he had freed Yuffie, the creature hissed in pain as he sliced through its limbs, only to move again and make it difficult to watch what he was doing. He gritted his teeth, finally managing to weaken the creature enough to plunge the keyblade into the girl's chest and let the keyblade cleanse her body of the parasitic heartless. She writhed in pain and let out a shriek, only to relax moments later as Sora put the keyblade away and Cloud rushed to her side. He stroked her hair gently and looked up at the boy, giving him a rare look of gratitude. The room fell silent and Sora looked around at them all.
"Now what?" He asked, glancing at his best friend and then to Leon.
"We need a plan, but we still don't know anything about the woman that attacked Tifa." He said somberly.
"What did she look like?" Everyone looked over to Yuffie as she spoke up. Leon stared at her for a moment before he could recall what he'd seen.
"She was pale, with red hair, red cape, pretty much red everything." Cloud replied, holding Tifa in his arms protectively. "You remember her, don't you?" Yuffie nodded in disgust.
"Yeah, I know who you're talking about. That mission you sent Tifa and me on a few months ago, to that planet we'd never seen before? She was there…" She stared at Leon, almost with a look of hatred, but it quickly faded and she looked around the room at her friends.
"She's a sick bitch, when I first saw her she had slaughtered around fifteen people and was sitting in the middle of the room, covered in blood and laughing." Yuffie shuddered at the memory and wrapped her arms around herself.
Everyone looked up when a horrified shriek echoed into the room from the slightly open window. Kairi reached out and grabbed Sora's arm, and Yuffie and Riku rushed to the front door. Grabbing the doorknob and yanking it open, Yuffie stared out into the street in front of the small house.
Blood soaked the cobblestone road, running along the cracks in thin streams, as if reaching out toward Yuffie as she stood frozen in the doorway. Riku appeared beside her and stared at the grinning woman in shock. She was holding a limp body in one hand, and smiled wickedly at Yuffie.
Bringing her arm back, she threw the body at the doorway and Riku yanked the young ninja back just in time as the harassed corpse hit the wood.
Yuffie hit the floor hard, catching herself and staring down at the carpet in horror. Riku fell to his knees beside her and wound his arms under her stomach, lifting her back up to her feet and shoving her towards the bedroom as something began to pound on the locked door.
"What's happening?" Kairi whimpered nervously as Yuffie stumbled into the room with wide eyes.
Her head began to spin and she gripped her dark hair as she tried to calm her breathing. She felt a hand resting on her back and looked up at Kairi.
"She killed those people…" She mumbled softly, suddenly aware of the tears running down her face. She hurriedly wiped them away and pushed herself back up to her feet and leaned against the wall.
Riku was pacing the room over by the bed, and she managed to wobble over to him. He wrapped his arms around her and looked up at Leon sharply.
"We've got to get the hell out of here, or she's just going to kill everyone in this city to get to us." He said in a hushed voice.
'Yuffie….'
Her back stiffened in fear as the voice whispered past her. The door behind them splintered and broke, and Leon ran to the bed where Tifa was still sleeping.
"Grab her, we have to move, now!" He said hurriedly, helping ease the woman's unconscious form over Cloud's shoulder.
Leon ran forward and kicked the window open, leaping out onto the street outside and glancing around. To his left he could see the blood spattered sidewalk, and he quickly turned around to help the others out of the window.
Yuffie's feet had just touched the sidewalk when screams erupted down the street. Her eyes shot over to the two terrified women who had just stumbled across the horrific scene splashed across the street.
"Come on, the only way to help is to run." She looked up into Riku's worried eyes and nodded, glancing over his shoulder as the bedroom door in the room behind them exploded. He turned and ran, clutching her hand tightly in his and not bothering to see exactly who might step through the door after them.
There was a loud cracking noise behind them and he threw Yuffie to the side as pieces of wood flew through the air and clattered along the road. He pulled her around the corner of another house and shielded her as the entire wall burst outward in a hail of brick and chunks of wood. They heard a shriek and Kairi fell against the wall beside them, staring around her in panic.
"Where'd everyone go?" Riku asked quickly, pulling her to her feet and herding the two girls down the alley.
"I don't know." Kairi said shakily, not daring to look back.
They raced down the alley and came out not far from the stairs leading to the Bailey. Kairi stumbled as they reached the bottom of the stairs, and Riku grabbed her arm protectively and pulled her up the stairs. They made it to the Bailey in record time and Riku glanced back to see if they were still being followed.
An unnaturally tall figure lurched after them, a wide grin splitting its face. No eyes were visible, and it's dark mottled skin gleamed in the sunlight. Riku's eyes widened and he cursed as the creature opened its mouth and hissed at him, rows of bloodstained teeth flashing threateningly. His keyblade appeared in his hand just as the creature lunged forward, long arms trailed behind as it bit at him viciously. The two girls cried out in fear and surprise as they watched him fly past, bracing the keyblade against the monster's massive jaws as it pushed him towards the edge of the Bailey. He clenched his teeth as his back hit the ground, sliding for several feet before the stone fell away beneath him.
He heard someone call his name and he looked up in time to see several shuriken hit the side of the creature's face, making it falter angrily. It began shaking its head and Riku's shoulder hit a ledge painfully. He used the ledge to flip over, landing shakily on his feet down below before leaping back up again as the monster turned its attention to Yuffie.
He landed smoothly on the edge of the Bailey, quickly looking up to see Yuffie dodging blows from the creature as she launched shuriken at it. Kairi was pressed up against the wall across from him, and he ran forward to help as Yuffie was thrown against the wall. He cried out at it and swung his keyblade, catching across the lower back and making is shriek in pain. It turned and growled at him, and he grabbed Yuffie's arm, pulling her towards the window of the Bailey. She stared at him in confusion as they ran forward and he pulled her up into his arms.
Yuffie squeezed her eyes shut as she felt him lunge forward and out the window, falling out into open air. She gritted her teeth and clutched him tightly as her stomach flipped dangerously. To her surprise, they landed softly on the ground, and he dumped her out of his arms as creature appeared in the sky above them. Kairi leaned out the window, mouth open in worry as she watched her two friends begin running across the plains.
Yuffie let out a scream as a claw wrapped around her thigh and she was lifted up into the air. Quickly grabbing a shuriken, she launched it at the creature's face, only succeeding in making it angry. It let out a screech and Riku spun around and raised his keyblade, running back towards it. He leapt into the air, bringing the keyblade down on the monster's arm.
Another loud screech filled the air around them as blood dripped down onto the pale dirt. Yuffie hit the ground as the creature lost its grip, and scrambled to her feet to join Riku again. He stepped in front of her as the creature advanced on them again, hatred evident on its face.
Riku's eyes widened in surprise as he noticed the shadowed figure leaping through the air, weapon raised in attack as the creature reached out for Yuffie once again. The silver weapon sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight as it arched overhead, coming down on the creature's back.
A loud scream erupted from the monster and it threw itself back, writhing in agony as the keyblade stuck out of its back. Sora landed gracefully next to his best friend, watching the monster seriously as Leon appeared over it with his Gunblade in hand. He brought the weapon down quickly, silencing the monsters shrieks.
Yuffie stared at the headless body before her in shock. It was over?
"Nice work." Riku said, patting the young brunette on the back as he flashed his friend that trademark grin. Leon walked around the massive creature, Cloud appearing by his side as he looked down at the monster distastefully.
"Are you alright?" He asked quietly once he reached Yuffie. He gazed down at her softly, his face blank as he tried to act like he didn't really care. She gave him a small smile and shrugged.
"'Course I'm fine, I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie!" She put her hands on her hips proudly and he frowned down at her affectionately.
The ground began to shake violently and Yuffie tripped, falling against Leon as he looked around in confusion. He gripped the girl's arms protectively as the sky above them began to darken.
"What's happening?" Sora asked worriedly as the ground around them began to take on a reddish tinge.
Yuffie squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to know what was about to happen. A thick fog began to roll in, obscuring the distance walls of the city from view. Loud footsteps echoed around them and Yuffie could sense the sudden tension between her friends. The footsteps drew closer and without warning, Yuffie was throw harshly to the side. Glancing up in shock, she saw Leon standing in front of her, blocking most of her view of the tall woman that was approaching. He held his Gunblade at his side tensely as the woman drew her own weapon and flashed him a malicious smile.
"Leon, don't! She doesn't care, she'll kill you anyway!" Yuffie cried out when she realized what he was doing. She was obviously after Yuffie, and he wasn't about to let her get at the young ninja. She leapt to her feet and summoned her Conformer, running at the woman before she could attack her friends.
"Rosso, you've taken this too far!" She growled, dodging to the side as Leon made a wild grab to stop her.
She threw herself into the air, aiming a kick for the woman's chest as she drew back her double ended sword and let out a giddy laugh. In a flash of red, she appeared several feet to the ninja's left, and she turned in midair to block a blow to her head before landing on all fours on the ground. The sword came down beside her as she rolled away, climbing to her feet again and lashing out at Rosso's face. She could hear the men behind them shouting out encouragement for the ninja, and she glanced over worriedly when she saw Cloud's sword slash out at the woman.
'Oh how noble, you don't vant anyone else to get hurt.' Rosso's voice grated in her ear, dripping with sweetness.
Her grey eyes widened with horror as Rosso flashed her a smirk and dashed towards Cloud, weapon raised behind her. He barely had time to react, blocking her attack with his giant sword as she darted in close. She landed a kick to his shoulder and he stepped back, scowling up at her darkly as she leapt around behind him.
She almost landed another blow with her sword, but Riku appeared beside her and stopped the attack. She stumbled slightly, giving him enough time to catch her in the side of the face with a hooked punch. Yuffie might have laughed if she hadn't been so terrified for her friends. Her body shook as she rushed to rejoin the fight, flinging her Conformer at the crimson woman's head as she leaped away from Riku and flashed him a sick smile.
She narrowly dodged the giant shuriken and spun around, making Yuffie skid to a stop and roll sideways to avoid her sword. She jumped on the ninja before she could recover, pinning her to the ground with a high heeled boot in her throat. She brought her sword down, narrowly missing Yuffie head as Leon yanked the woman off of her by her hair, throwing her to the side. She let out a shriek of anger, but before she could go after Leon, Sora caught her across the back with his keyblade. Another shriek and she vanished into the fog.
"You okay?" Riku asked, hauling Yuffie to her feet again as she held a hand over the gash on her shoulder.
"I guess it's better than a sword through my forehead." She grumbled, glancing around them warily as psychotic laugher echoed in the fog.
"What's she doing?" Sora asked, moving closer to the others with his weapon raised defensively.
As if answering his question, the body of the headless monster began to move. Yuffie looked over at it in horror as it began to twitch violently, jumping as if something was trying to escape from it. A long clawed hand burst out of the creature's back, and Yuffie let out a startled shriek and grabbed Riku's arm. The sky began to darken even more, making it difficult to see. There was a sickening ripping sound and the crunching of bones breaking, and Yuffie looked up just as another monster burst out of the headless corpse. The ground seemed to fall away and she called out to Riku as she fell.
She quickly looked around, trying to gather herself and figure out where her friends were. No one was in sight, and she strained to try and see what might be below her now. The air around her quickly grew colder, and she hugged herself as she waited for her latest nightmare to begin.
End of Chapter Ten
A/n: Sorry it was a short chapter, I wanted to update as soon as possible. Please review and I'll try to update much faster!