If Misery Loves Company

Chapter 22

Fight

By Kristen Gupton-Williams

Off of the ship, we climbed to the rim of the crater. I was just finishing up a cigarette and flicked it down into the vast chasm beneath us. Already, we could hear the creatures within clawing their way up toward us. "Holy fuck… they're comin' out full force…"

And so we were thrown into the fray. I, with my spear, took the first part of the journey down into the darkness something like a hunting trip. Most of the creatures, though out to kill us, were relatively small and nothing we couldn't handle. Still, the sheer number of them, and the distance we were travelling downward, started to get to all of us.

Being as that we were underground after a while, we lost track of time. It felt like we'd been in there for days, even though it was probably more like… ten hours before we hit the bottom.

…and that's when we finally encountered Jenova.

That was a God awful time. It was dark and harder than hell to see. Jenova was this… sort of… gelatinous round mass with tentacles that whipped around like mad. One of them lashed me a good blow, cutting deep across my stomach and around my left side. Thank God for adrenaline and endorphins, other wise that wound alone may have laid me out.

We fought on, though, finally getting past her, and that's when the ground shook and gave out beneath us.

I'll admit that while falling I was scared. I thought that all we'd done had been in vain because here we were, now plummeting to certain death.

Then… we just… stopped. Suspended in this green haze that I can only assume was a force field or… or something. Below us, even further, was a brighter glow. It was Holy, it was Aeris… but it was being held down by whatever force we were then caught in.

I felt like my body was stuck in Jello… suspended without any means of really moving. Then… that sort of gave way, and we landed on these rock ledges, Sephiroth appearing.

Able to move again, we readied our attack. Sephiroth took on this monstrous form, absolutely unloading on us. We descended on him with all we had. I leapt and drove my spear into that fucker time and again, only to be thrown back to the rocks after each attack. Every time I'd hit the ground again, I could literally feel my ribs snapping, but I couldn't stop, none of us could stop. It seemed like hours went by… I hit Sephiroth one last time before being tossed away again, and that time I didn't just get back up.

However, Cloud made one more attack, and the monster that Sephiroth had become fell down into the depths. We all made a collective sigh of relief, but then…

Sephiroth came back up, in a new form. Flying before us, mocking us. I'm not sure where any of us found the strength to go on. All our potions and temporary means of boosting our abilities were gone. Still…

We attacked again and again. Each of our barrages swatted off. I was starting to really have trouble breathing, and I feared that one of the broken ribs I had was driving its way into my lungs. It was horrible, part of me thought I was going to die. Win or lose, I was too hurt to go on. I tried though… still keeping a hold of my spear and giving it whatever I had left. I had to if I ever wanted to see Shera again.

The pain and exhaustion were making me feel hopeless. Despite the odds, though… we did it. Sephiroth finally screamed, and this second incarnation of his vanished down into the depths.

I sat on the rocks, struggling to just breathe, looking around. Barrett and Red soon both climbed to where I was. They looked like shit too, but we were alive. Even with my troubles, I lit up one of my crushed and mangled cigarettes, and I think it was Red that spotted Yuffie and Vincent not too far off.

And then, several minutes later, we finally spotted Cloud and Tifa.

The Lifestream and Holy down below us started to churn. It was getting ready to boil out of that crater, and the ground started shaking terribly. We didn't know how we were going to get out in time. We couldn't die… we'd won…

I wanted to go home to Shera!

"Lady Luck… don't fail me now…" I said, half praying as I heard something from above us falling in our direction. "Shit! Get to cover!"

Everyone did as ordered, and thank God, because what had fallen was my precious ship. She got hung up in the rocks before us. Knowing damn good and well that there was nowhere to go in the crater, and that as least the ship would provide some protection, I ordered everyone on as quick as we could move.

I scrambled to get to the bridge, and just as I entered, the Lifestream finally blew.

If I'd thought being thrust up into the sky by the rocket had been powerful, the way the airship was cast up out of the crater and into the air was at least ten times worse. Everyone was thrown around like rag dolls, and it was only when we hit the peak of that flight and then started to free fall was I able to do anything.

"Shit!"

There was an emergency lever that would basically turn what was left of the ship into a jet, which would hopefully give us the power to fly and not just hit the ground. Despite my injuries, I literally climbed the floor of the ship to the controls. Straining my arm against the forces that were affecting us, I grabbed that mother fucker and pulled.

Sure enough, the ship instantly compensated, dropped the remaining prop engines, and blasted us away to a safer place.

Still clinging to the controls, I flew us toward Midgar, finally landing a good distance away from the city. Everyone scrambled to the window to watch as the Lifestream finally started to counter Meteor.

No one saw me collapse onto the floor.

"The Captain! Oh God, is he…? Is he dead?"

I opened my eyes to see Tifa standing over me. "I… I ain't… dead, girly…"

Barrett came closer. "Shit, man, we was watchin' Meteor gettin' destroyed… we didn't see you drop!"

Groaning, I sat up a little. "M…Meteor… it's gone?"

Cloud appeared in my line of sight. "Yes, it's gone. Midgar is trashed but, Meteor is gone."

I'd never been in so much pain in my life, but I nodded and gave a smile. "Good, that's… that's real good."

They all backed away a little as I pulled myself up to standing again. Instantly my head was spinning once more. "I… I wanna go home…"

Tifa came to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Captain… Cid… You're not in any condition right now to fly… Come on and rest for a little while at least."

I wanted to argue, I did, I wanted to go home so badly, but I couldn't. I nodded and soon felt Vincent on the other side of me, the two of them dragging me back to my room.

I must have lost consciousness again, because my next memory was lying on my bed, with Tifa and Vincent both still there. "Guys…"

Tifa sat on the edge of my bed, placing her hand against my cheek. "Cid… I'm really worried about you… I've never seen you this hurt."

"I'm fine, Tif… jus' a little banged up. I ain't any more hurt than any of the… rest of y'all…" I said, trying to push aside the pain.

"All our Cure Materia is burned up, and we have no potions," Vincent said quietly, remaining some distance away.

"I ain't… ever been one fer that… artificial healin' anyway… You watch, two days? I'll be good. But… I…" I stopped myself for a second, feeling like an ass. "I need everyone to leave the ship 'cept fer my crew… so I can… get to Rocket…"

Tifa shook her head and looked at Vincent. "We can't leave him like this."

Then Vincent did something I wouldn't have ever guessed he would do. "Tifa, I know that you and Cloud will want to go to help the people that survived in Midgar. In fact, I think Red, Barrett, and Yuffie would be of help as well. I have no place in particular to go. If the rest of you get off here, the crew can get the Captain home, and I will stay with him."I would have said something to that but, firstly, I was too hurt and tired and secondly, I didn't want to piss off Vincent after the whole smoking debacle.

Tifa leaned forward and kissed my cheek, sweet thing that she is. "Does that sound all right with you?"

Despite being on my back, I gave a nod. "Yes, ma'am…"

She stood up and gave me a smile that made me think of Shera, before she turned to Vincent. "You make sure he doesn't do anything to hurt himself any worse, okay?"

"I promise," Vincent said with a nod.

"Okay… Cid… I'll call your house in a few days, all right?" she asked, backing toward the door.

"Sounds good, Tif. Take care."

With that, she left.

The others filed in to say their goodbyes before they left the ship. Vincent went to give the crew their orders and soon I heard the ship's engines fire up and us lift from the ground.

When the former Turk did return to my room, he'd come back with two beers in his hands. He pulled a chair near my bed and sat, before offering me a bottle.

I struggled to get onto my side so I could take it and drink. It was damn good after all we'd been through. "Thanks… good to have a cold one."

Vincent didn't say anything in response, just sipping from his own.

I was still running on what was left of my adrenaline and felt the need to say something. I'd become a much humbler human for what we'd been through. "Vince… why'd… why'd you volunteer to watch me?"

That, he did seem to have an answer for. "Highwind… I know we had our differences but I have come to possess an honest respect for you. And in the battle, I saw a man fighting with all he had for something precious. I admire you. You fought, and you fought for your love… You are a far better man than I ever was."

I proceeded to down about half the bottle instantly, wanting the numbness of alcohol to take away the pain. Finally, I could reply. "Vince… That… that uh… really… means a lot… an' between you an' me? I was fightin' fer Shera…"

Never in my WILDEST imagination would I have figured that Vincent would be the one I got honest with about my inner workings. Maybe it was just all the stress.

"I knew you loved her, it may not have been obvious to some of the others, but… I knew." With that, Vincent smiled for the second time I'd ever seen him actually do such a thing.

At least this time you didn't even hafta kick him in the nuts!

Heh… nope.

"You were right… yer pretty observant," I said before finishing that beer and just letting the bottle drop beside the bed.

The room fell silent again and I tried to enjoy the ship's motions. Being quiet, though, made my mind start to fret over what the crew was doing without their captain, so I opted to talk a little more. "Hey, Vince?"

"Yes?" he asked, still sipping like a damn girl from his bottle.

"Ya know… I ain't really had… friends much… ya know like real friends…"

"We are friends, Highwind," he said as though it was the simplest thing in the world.

I couldn't help but smile. "Good deal."

"If I were to ever need anything, Highwind, I can say with fair certainty that you would be the one I would seek help from first." Vincent reached to set his bottle on my nightstand.

"Really?" I asked. I mean, I couldn't imagine what the son of a bitch could ever need or want from me, but it got my attention.

"Yes."

"Well, all right then…" I said with another smile, struggling to sit up.

"Lay."

"No, I gotta… you know them guys don't know how'ta handle my bird!" I shot back in protest.

Vincent narrowed his eyes a little at me before shaking his head. I guess he knew better than to argue with me when it came to this. He got up out of his seat and offered to help me up.

As embarrassing as it was, I took that help and honestly leaned on him pretty heavily to get back to the bridge.

My crew all seemed pretty damned shocked to have me back up there, but hey…

Once at the controls, I leaned on them and let Vincent go, though he stayed close. I checked everything and saw that with the jet power we were now flying with, Rocket wasn't long away at all. The sun had come up, and I got to stare at the prettiest damn sunrise there ever was on the flight home.

I was goin' home to Shera, finally.

((A/N- Looks like we're on the home stretch! Yee haw. Thanks for all the good reviews these last few chapters. Reviews make me write faaasssttterrr.))