Chapter Twenty-Three: The Man Dressed in Red
"YOU MONSTER! THEY WERE ONLY CHILDREN!" Tifa screamed with anger.
"Please, save me the tears," Sephiroth laughed. "If it's any consolation, all of you fools will be joining them really soon,"
"Not if we have anything to do with it!" Barret shouted, aiming his gun arm at Sephiroth.
"Please, do you honestly believe that the six of you can defeat me?"
Before anyone got a chance to answer, the air was filled with the sound of shotgun fire. Following the barrage of gunfire was the sound of screaming from Sephiroth. He was clamping his arm in pain.
"Nice shots, Barret!" Cait Sith applauded.
"I didn't fire any shots," Barret replied, confused.
"Then who did?" Red XIII questioned.
Before that question could be answered, the air was filled with the sound of screaming. It started in faint, but grew louder with each passing second. Suddenly, the screaming was replaced with a thud as Sephiroth was knocked to the ground.
"What the hell just happened?" Barret demanded, shocked by what had just taken place. "What were those two things that knocked Sephiroth to the ground?"
"Forget that," Tifa said. "Who fired those shots at Sephiroth?"
"Look!" Aeris shouted, pointing towards the burning mansion.
Aeris had spotted a man dressed in red with long, black, greasy hair, holding a pistol that had been aimed and fired at Sephiroth.
"I don't know what business Sephiroth has with the likes of you people, but it would be wise if you didn't fight him right now," the man said.
"Who…who are you?" Aeris whispered, amazed at this man's strength.
"It has been many years since anyone has called me by a name," the man said in a lonely tone. "But I do remember people calling me by…Vincent Valentine"
"Vincent…not that we aren't grateful for your help, but why would you open fire on Sephiroth? His battle is with us, not you," Aeris questioned.
"This battle is as much mine as it is yours," Vincent assured her. "This man intends to destroy the town I rest in…I cannot allow that if I an to rest in peace."
At that moment, Sephiroth flew into the air, still clenching the arm that Vincent had shot. His evil, blue eyes were glaring at Vincent with pure hatred.
"I don't know who you are, but I don't care! I am going to kill you!"
"You intend to fight me with one arm wounded?"
"Don't be so hasty, my half-dead friend," Sephiroth chuckled. "I'll admit, you've got strength beyond what these fools have. In fact, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to retreat for now. But don't you worry, when I've regained my health, I'm going to kill you." Sephiroth then turned to Cloud and the others. "As for you, don't think this is the last you've seen of me, because I will have my revenge on all of you…especially you, Cloud!"
Still clenching his arm, Sephiroth flew up into the sky and out of sight within a matter of seconds.
"GOOD RIDDANCE, YA BASTARD! Barret hollered after Sephiroth. "NEXT TIME, WE'LL BE READY FER YA!"
"Barret, don't provoke him!" Tifa exclaimed, putting her hand over Barrett's mouth.
"Are the lot of you all right?" Vincent asked as he approached them.
"Yeah…thanks to you," Aeris said with a small blush.
Vincent looked at Aeris with a small puzzled look as she blushed. Not thinking anything of it, he observed the rest of them: Cait Sith, Barret, Tifa, Red XIII, and…
"…you…you're Cloud, right?"
"…yeah…how did you know my name?"
"You fit the description that the two in the mansion gave to me."
"Two in the mansion?" Red XIII asked. "You mean Calvin and Hobbes?"
"The boy and tiger? Yes. Are they out here?"
"…no…" Tifa whispered. "…they died in the explosion."
"Impossible! I threw them out through the roof before the explosion!"
"Say what!" Barret demanded. "You mean to tell me that they're alive?"
It was at that moment that there were small groans heard from the area that Sephiroth had been knocked to the ground. They rushed over to see…
"CALVIN! HOBBES!"
"…next time…I'd prefer to be escorted to the door…" Calvin groaned.
"…next time…I won't have lunch before doing something like that…" Hobbes moaned.
Aeris ran to Calvin and Hobbes and hugged both of them, grateful they were alive. The others followed her example and gathered around the boy and tiger.
"OW! Not so hard!" Hobbes grunted in pain.
"EW! Not the girls!" Calvin grunted in disgust.
"But…I don't' get it," Red XIII said. "How did you survive the explosion?"
"I helped them," Vincent replied.
"Yeah…now I remember," Hobbes said.
"WE'RE DOOMED, HOBBES!"
"I KNOW!"
Calvin and Hobbes were desperately trying to make their way past the monsters before the fire reached the stacks of gunpowder, but the monsters would not let them through.
Suddenly, Calvin and Hobbes felt somebody from the other side grab their arms and pulled them through the herd of monsters. They looked up to see the man from the coffin downstairs, Vincent, shut the door behind the monsters and locking them in the room.
"Hurry…there is no time to waste," he said.
"What are you going to do?" Hobbes asked.
"Don't worry, I'll see to it you get out alive. Just prepare yourselves to fly."
"What do you mean by…"
"FLY!" Vincent shouted as he lunged Calvin and Hobbes towards the sky. Calvin and Hobbes both saw the man disappear into his cape in a vampire-like manner and flee the building just before they broke through the roof. They made it through just as the gunpowder had ignited.
"OH MY GOSH!" Calvin laughed. "WE WERE ALMOST KILLED! THAT ZOMBIE SAVED US!"
"I wouldn't celebrate just yet," Hobbes replied.
"Why?"
"How are we going to get down?"
It was as Hobbes said this that Calvin and Hobbes began to feel the effects of gravity as it pulled them rapidly towards the ground in a freefall manner.
"WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Calvin and Hobbes shouted together, hanging on to one another.
They both looked down just in time to see that they were going to land on Sephiroth.
"…and that's the last thing we remember," Hobbes explained.
"…so Vincent saved ya, eh? Well, Vincent, guess we owe ya a favor fer saving the kids…not to mention us" Barret said.
"Barret has a point," Tifa agreed. "If you hadn't thrown Calvin and Hobbes through the roof, not only would they have died in the explosion, but Sephiroth might have killed us all as well."
"Hey! Don't I get any credit?" Calvin demanded. "After all, we're the ones who landed on Sephiroth! We had a role in it, too! Plus, we're the ones who found Vincent in the coffin in the basement of that mansion!"
"Shut up, kid," Barret muttered.
"Is there anyway we can repay you for your troubles?" Cloud asked.
"Tell me…you are going after Sephiroth, right?"
"That's the plan," Cloud assured.
"Then answer me this: Are you going to be meeting a man named Hojo during your searches?"
"More than likely," Aeris whispered in a depressed tone.
Vincent remained silent for a minute in deep thought.
"Lucrecia…" he finally whispered.
"Lucrecia? Who's Lucrecia?" Calvin asked.
"All right," Vincent continued, ignoring Calvin's question. "If you want to repay me, allow me to accompany you in your search for Sephiroth."
"Are you nuts?" Calvin asked in shock. "You can get anything you want from these guys and you ask to join us in our search for a psycho maniac?! What about money?! Riches?! Cars!! BABES!!!"
"That's enough out of you!" Tifa snapped, smacking Calvin across the back of his head.
"Believe me," Vincent assured. "If I run into Hojo…that will be worth more than the materials this planet possesses."
"All right then," Cloud decided. "If you want to come with us, so be it. Besides, we could use your skills in battle in the future."
"Well then, welcome to the club Vincent!" Cait Sith said enthusiastically.
"Yes…welcome," Aeris smiled.
"Yeah…the more the merrier," Hobbes said.
"I don't mind," Calvin added. "Just…shower before getting in my buggy. Being in that coffin for that long can't be good for your hygiene."
"Buggy? I hate to tell you, but if we're going to go north, we're going to have to go on foot…no vehicles can make it through the Neibelheim mountain path."
"WHAT!" Calvin shouted in outrage.
"Oh yeah…I remember that path being a rough one. The buggy doesn't have the horse power to make the climb."
"Aw man," Calvin groaned. "I don't want to walk."
"Too bad," Tifa replied. "We don't have a choice."
Helicopters could be heard in the distance. Everyone looked to the sky to where the helicopters could be heard. On those helicopters was the Shinra logo.
"The Shinra? What are they doing here?" Aeris asked.
"They're obviously here to check into the mayhem that just happened here," Cloud answered. "If we don't get out of here, there's going to be more trouble. We need to go to the mountains ahead now."
No one, not even Calvin, argued with this decision. They quickly gathered their belongings, hid the buggy, and headed for the Neibelheim Mountains.