A.N. Geez, OhmyGod, I'm so SORRY FOR NOT WRITING AND POSTING SOONER! I REALLY DIDN'T MEAN TO, I JUST LOST MOMENTUM AND COULDN'T THINK OF WHAT TO WRITE, BUT I FINALLY GOT IT BACK AND WROTE ALL OF THIS IN ONE HOUR PLEASE DON'T KILL MEEE! (At least, not until I finish the damn story. Then you can. I'd prefer that you didn't, but whatever. I deserve it this time. It's been, like, what….two weeks? Jesus, it has….)
Je t'aime.
Chris
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Riku shook his head, chasing away the blood that was running into his eyes. His lips were drawn back in a feral, blood-streaked snarl, icy and menacing. He lunged, snapping, and felt his fangs sink into fur and flesh. The metallic taste of blood rushed down his throat, nearly making him gag at the sharp, acrid tang of the crimson liquid.
His opponent, the new, mysterious wold that had appeared out of nowhere, was giving as good as he got, fang for fang and blood for blood. The majority of both of their wounds were superficial, excluding a few that poured red from their silver fur, but even those they ignored.
'Shit…' Riku thought, ducking as ivory fangs snapped at his face, hearing them click over his head. 'I need to go all out…I need to aim to kill…dammit!' He was a bit unnerved of it, actually trying to kill a real person/wolf/werewolf/whatever. Sure, he had killed plenty of Heartless, and the Nobodies, but they didn't really count…did they? But then, wasn't Roxas—
Blood flew from his side, adding to the umber of deep injuries that he was accumulating quickly, and he immediately snapped back into reality. 'Well…' he reasoned. 'This guy's an asshole, and aiming for 'mortal injury' has failed miserably, so…' he drove forward, a whirlwind of steely silver fury and resolve, determination gleaming in his cerulean eyes.
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Sora whirled as the branches rustled, and he barely got Oathkeeper up in time before the sleek silver bullet slammed into him, ivory fans halting not six inches in front of his face. Sora shoved forward with all his strength, sending the sterling wolf stumbling backwards.
Instead of landing gracefully, as he had before, the wolf tumbled hard onto the ground, whining in pain as he tried to stagger to his feet, more red than silver now. His injuries finally took their staggering effect on his broken body, and the greenish-blue eyes rolled up in his head, and the wolf crumpled to the ground, pain and blood loss overcoming him.
The only two left conscious were tense, listening and watching warily for any sign of movement or attack. None came. Slowly, Sora lowered Oathkeeper, letting the bloodstained tip of he Keyblade rest against the damp soil.
"Jesus," Sora breathed. "That bastard took so fucking long to bite it, it's not even funny."
"I find it amazing that it's still alive," Tifa said, equally amazed. Sora edged forward, shuffling over the ground, poking the wolf carefully, tensed and prepared to fight, with the hued Keyblade. Once he determined that it was genuinely out cold, he turned to Tifa, a grin spreading across his face.
"How much can you carry?" he asked slyly.
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Cloud swung his sword viciously, forcing Sephiroth to back off, snarling and incredibly pissed off.
"Why the hell did you have to come right back into my life?" he yelled, furious, as he looked for an opportunity to cut this damn lupine in half. "Why can't you ever just stay dead?"
'Dammit, Cloud,' Riku thought, busy with his own opponent, but still able to hear the blonde. 'Can't you ever just shut your mouth and focus on killing these bastards?' He snapped, and was rewarded by a snarled whimper of pain and a short spray of blood painting the floor of the forest.
Cloud, however, could not hear him, as he was busy as well. He drove forward with the sword, swearing as it only managed to clip the huge silver wolf on the side, blocking as the wolf leaped at him.
'And I have to be careful,' he thought, trying to keep his head. 'I let him get near me with those teeth, and I'll be turned into one of these furry bastards, too.' He shuddered, unable to think about it for too long. For one, it was an unpleasant thought, and it was also distracting him.
A new distraction came, however, in the form of yet another silver wolf that stumbled into the clearing.
"Shit!" Cloud yelled. "How many of you bastards are there?"
'Well,' Riku thought, 'I can't blame him for that one, at any rate.'
The new wolf was bleeding heavily from the head, but he seemed to ignore it as he looked at Riku's opponent with utter despair written across his features. He whined at the silver wolf, motioning with his head.
The wolf that Riku had been fighting snarled, disappearing into the forest as the other three looked on, following the newcomer into the dark woods.
Sephiroth barked at them, what sounded like an order, but they didn't return, and he turned away from Cloud, seemingly to chase after them. He didn't finish, though, as he was tackled by Riku, who had no intention of letting anyone get away right now. Sephiroth retaliated, slashing, and Riku danced back, shooting a glance at Cloud. The blonde immediately caught the gist of the look.
'I'm not letting this one get away,' it said. 'You make sure that the other one doesn't, either.'
In a rush of black cloth, Cloud was gone, after the pair like a shadow. Albeit, a shadow with a sword and a fury that had just grown with the night's events.
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Sora swung as the wolf burst from the trees, barely having time to recognize it as the one that Roxas had been biting, before it was upon him, snapping its fangs around Oathkeeper, trying to pull it from his grasp. Sora went with the force, whirling and sending the wolf flying. It landed on its feet, much to his dismay.
Tifa yelled, and Sora caught, out of the corner of his eye, another one leaping at her, and that the two wolves that she had been carrying had been disposed of on the ground, silver, ruby, and gold crumpled on the soil in a heap.
"Tifa!" he yelled, before a snarl took his attention away, and he blocked his wolf's attack as it leaped at him again. It had barely reached him when Tifa came from its flank, boot smashing into its side. Sora could swear that he heard cracks before the wolf reeled away, wheezing.
"Tifa…?" he asked, confused. Tifa jerked her head, and he turned to see Cloud hacking away at the wolf, who was trying to avoid the blonde.
"Looks like someone's got it for me," she said, eyeing the man. "And that someone is pissed off," she added. Sora nodded.
The silver wolf that was facing them was snarling, still, and they focused on it, glaring. It showed hesitation, knowing that it was probably going to lose this fight, but still, it leaped at them once more.
It never stood a chance. Both Tifa's fist and Sora's Keyblade hit it at the same time, and it crumpled to the ground without another sound, blood flowing from its wounds liberally.
Sora watched over it to make sure that it wasn't going to attack anyone, and Tifa looked towards Cloud, who was still engaged with the silver wolf.
He caught her eye, yelling, "Go, Tifa! Get to the airship with them, I'll be finished with this…thing shortly, and the sun's coming up." Indeed, the horizon was looking distinctly pinkish around the edges, and they all glanced at it. With a look at the other two, the silver wolf snarled in obvious displeasure, disappearing into the forest. Cloud swore, taking off after it. Tifa thought about chasing the two of them, but decided that it probably wasn't worth it. Besides, there was no way that Sora could carry those three, or even two (maybe one, he was pretty scrawny) of the wolves on his own.
So, with a sigh, she turned back to the Keyblade Master and the three unconscious werewolves. 'Wonderful, Cloud,' she thought. 'Go have some fun while I clean the mess. Asshole.'
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Cloud focused on the wolf running below him as he raced above through the trees, judging the moment to be right, and leaped down, sending the wolf flying, tumbling into the ground, as his black boot hit it on the side hard.
And it was just at that moment that the sun broke over the horizon, bathing the woods in sunlight.
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Sephiroth stood over the silver-haired teen, malice shining in his blue-green gaze. Riku, barely able to stand, staggered to his feet, the new injuries from the silver-haired werewolf showing red on his crimson skin.
"Did you really think that you could stop me?" Sephiroth said, voice smooth and laden with amusement.
Riku laughed painfully. "Nah, not really," he said, voice raspy. Sephiroth quirked an eyebrow. "Then why try?"
Riku shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I didn't feel like running after that one any more, so fighting you here seemed like a better idea." He grinned, hand over the deep gash over his chest. "Guess that wasn't a good idea after all, but you know what? I don't care. I tried."
"Very noble," the One-Winged Angel said, shaking his head sadly. "But you're still just a dog."
Riku bristled. "What was that?" he said defensively, glaring.
Sephiroth laughed at his reaction. "What, surprised? Well, it's true. Look at you. Running around after us, when really you should be with us, fighting against the humans." He spat out the word like it tasted bad.
"And why's that?" Riku challenged, but was unable to say any more as a hand closed over his throat, cutting off his air.
"Because," Sephiroth hissed. "We can make you strong. We can teach you to forget about your pathetic emotions, and become the powerful being that you've always wished that you could be."
Riku stiffened, and Sephiroth laughed coldly. "How do I know about that? Well, it's obvious. You look exactly like us, brat. Power-hungry and willing to do anything to get it. You didn't fight me because you didn't want to run any more, you fought me because you wanted to see if you could beat me."
"Don't…flatter…yourself," Riku rasped, fighting against the hand circling his throat like a vise. "There's…no…way that…I would…ever…join…you."
Sephiroth looked at him, what almost looked like sorrow flashing across his face. "Pity," he muttered.
There was a jerk, and Riku's eyes widened. His mouth opened, blood pouring from between his lips in a flood, running down his pale body like a crimson waterfall. Sephiroth let him go, and he crumpled to the ground, blood puddling around him. The silver-haired man looked down on him contemptuously, the bloodstained sword in his hand, the end of it still buried in Riku's stomach. He yanked it out viciously, turning away from the silverhair, who lay on the ground in a pool of his own blood, cerulean eyes half-shut and slowly clouding over as his breath lengthened in his chest.
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Cloud stared at the silver-haired man in front of him, who glared back with an all-too-familiar blue-green gaze.
"Kadaj…" he breathed. Kadaj took advantage of his surprise, slamming a fist straight into the blonde's nose and running for it. Cloud shook his head, wondering if he should try and find the silver-haired man. And although he wanted to, he decided against it. The silverhair was fast, and, although he wouldn't admit it, Cloud was tired from the constant running and fighting and losing blood.
"Shit," he muttered, turning his back, but a thought struck him, and he looked back through the trees.
'What happened to Riku?' he thought, curiosity and worry creeping, unwanted and unappreciated, into his psyche. 'I hope he's all right…'
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A.N. Yeah, sorry to leave it like that. And I don't know if Riku's dead or not…eh heh heh…you'll just have to wait until next time to find THAT out. Bwahahahahaaaa. And I wasn't really meaning to put CloudXRiku in here, but if you found it, good for you. If you don't like it, then I apologize, 'cuz I didn't actually see it until I read it again. And yes, Cloud is worried about Riku. The damn bastard saved his life/humanity. He owes him something, right?
Je'mme s'rtai mentaai shii mo onne mistinh gwah min tovrah.
I really do love you all, because you're there and reading this and criticizing and I love you for it. I really do. Love. Seriously.
Chris