A sound like a million elephants marching outside the room woke Cloud from his sleep as well as Serah. The pair bolted upright and noticed a burning smell around them. Grabbing their clothes and quickly tossing them on they sprinted out of the room to see a large portion of the building destroyed. Looking across the large garden in front of the house they noticed men in black suits shooting creatures of all shapes and sizes, some winged monsters with snake bodies and feathered wings flew at the men and grabbed them. The red bodied beasts tossed their captured prey into the air before quickly snapping at them, their fangs sinking into the flesh drawing crimson red liquid from their wounds. The men tried to scream but it got stuck in their throats and silence came out instead. Serah shivered at the sight, trying to forget the image that had already seared itself into her mind. Cloud quickly wrapped his arms around her and led her away from the large hole in the wall. It dawned on Cloud that through the sight they saw they hadn't realized that alarms were blaring through the building, calling for emergency exits. They turned a corner and noticed the President limping towards them. The pair made their way over to him but before they could get close to him a portion of the ceiling above the President fell, crushing the leader under the debris. Serah stopped and gasped, the sight taking her by surprise. Cloud, on the other hand, sprinted towards the debris and began throwing bits off trying to get to the man underneath the pile.
"Mr. President!" screamed Cloud, trying his hardest to throw the debris away from the President who was now coughing heavily.
"Cloud…" gasped the President as Cloud lifted a part of the debris bringing the Presidents blood and dust covered face. His skin was pale and as Cloud put his hand to the man's cheek it felt cold, a sign the man underneath was slowly dying. The spiky blond suddenly went into overdirve, grabbing chunks of debris and throwing it over his shoulder to get to the President. Serah quickly ran up to Cloud and helped him lift the debris. The pair heaved a large piece off the pile, tossing it to the side of them. As it hit the ground a shockwave shook the building causing the pile to collapse more, covering the President up to his neck. He coughed up blood and groaned as his body began going numb and his vision fading.
"Cloud," wheezed the President, struggling to breathe with the weight on top of him.
"Sir," Cloud whispered, falling to his knees beside the rubble.
"Leave me…" he groaned, a sharp pain in his chest, "save… yourselves."
Tears began falling from Clouds' eyes, watching the President drawing his last breath. He closed the now-deceased Presidents' eyes and stood up tall. He wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand and looked down to Serah, her usually clear aqua eyes now clouded with tears. He put his hand on her shoulder and his free hand in hers, helping the pink-haired woman to her feet. Another shockwave rocked the building and Cloud heard a voice from the other side of the debris.
"Cloud, are you there!?" screamed the voice, familiar to the pair, "It's Kira!"
"Kira!" shouted Cloud, "are you okay?"
"I'm okay, how are you over there?" replied Kira, leading Cloud to breathe a sigh of relief. He didn't want any more people to die but he knew people would.
"We've lost the President and the front is being taken by monsters," said Cloud, his relief turning to despair in the situation.
"Cloud, we have to get to the gates," shouted Kira, drawing a gasp from Cloud. Was she really saying to go head first into that slaughter out there?
"Kira, we'll die out there!" shouted Cloud, his grip on Serah getting slightly tighter, fearing for their lives. An explosion shook the building, bringing Serah and Cloud to their knees.
"Meet Vincent and I there, we'll have weapons for you!" shouted Kira as she ran away from the debris. As the footsteps faded Cloud looked down to Serah who simply shrugged. The pair climbed to their feet and began running from the debris to the hole near their room. They turned a corner and quickly stopped themselves as they noticed a few, large, lava-like monsters standing in front of them. Cloud felt a familiar tingle in his fingers and flicked his hand through the air, causing the air to freeze, sending icicles through the creatures. Serah threw a few Thunder spells, paralyzing the creatures as they ran past them with ease.
They leapt through the hole in the building, landing on the grass. The stood upright and began sprinting towards the main gates, seeing Kira shooting some of the creatures with a handgun and holding a bow-like weapon in her free hand. Vincent followed her, shooting creatures with his triple-barrelled handgun named Cerberus. Cloud noticed the bulky sword trailing behind the red-cloaked man. The pair met up with the pair, Vincent looking unscathed while Kira had dirt and blood on her. She smiled at the pair and threw the bow to Serah, who flicked it into sword-mode quickly, noting how it resembled her previous weapon but with a more sleek design. Vincent handed Cloud the large sword and the blond gasped at how light it felt with him. He swung the blade over his head and smashed it into the ground beside him. The other three stared at him with surprise at how he could wield such a weapon for the first time with ease.
Cloud looked outside the gate, seeing the remaining few men in suits being forced back to the gate with the oncoming monster swarm.
"We're in a warzone, and I want to know why," stated Cloud bending his knees, ready to leap over the fence.
"Two Homunculi were spotted nearby," replied Vincent, "Sloth and Wrath, apparently."
"We're in trouble if there are two of them," shuddered Serah, her grip on her weapon tightening causing her knuckles to go white.
"There's four of us, split them up and it should make it easier," said Kira calmly.
"It's the best we can do," said Cloud leaping over the fence and bringing his blade down upon a large monster, cleaving it in half. Spinning on his heel he ripped through a few more monsters with his blade. Gunshots and arrows began firing around him, hitting any beast he missed. A few minutes past and the last monster fell to the ground. He urged the men in suits to get back into the White House and evacuate the remaining people. The men simply nodded, unsure of what to say to the man in front of them.
The rest of Cloud's group ran up to him and looked around, noticing the eerie quiet of the street, which was filled with the screams of monsters and men and the gunshots only moments ago. Cloud felt uneasy with the silence but motioned for the group to follow him down the street.
Minutes passed as the team ran down the street, which was deserted, with no noise from anywhere like the entire city had suddenly become quiet. Serah stopped and quickly looked around the nearby buildings, feeling something wasn't right. Looking up the top of one of the larger buildings stood a slender figure, with long flowing black hair. With the blink of an eye the figure was racing down the face of the building, heading towards Serah. The sound of Serah flicking her bow into sword mode caused Cloud to turn around only to see Serah taking an offensive stance, ready for an attack. He looked around and saw a cloud of dust rise quickly and he ran towards Serah. Out of nowhere Cloud felt a knee smashing into his gut winding him. He coughed as he fell to his knees and looked up to see a pretty woman with big eyes looking down at him. She smiled at Cloud before bringing her fist down on his face. His body crumpled under the unreal strength of the punch. Cloud groaned as he tried to pull himself up. The woman raised her fist for another attack but was stopped by a kick from Kira. The woman fell back into a back roll then used her hands to propel herself into the air. She landed gently a distance away from them.
Kira motioned to Vincent to help Serah, who was now blocking attacks from what Kira could only guess as a young boy wearing a black, skin-tight tube top and matching skin-tight shorts. She turned to the older woman who moved a lose strand of chocolate brown hair behind her ear, her hazel eyes locked on Kira. The woman wiped herself down, showing off a small red, heart-like symbol on her hand. Kira noticed the symbol and she frowned at the woman.
"Homunculus, right?" questioned Kira. The woman continued wiping down her knee-length olive skirt. "Answer me!"
"Yes, I am," smiled the woman, her soft, angelic voice flowing through the air, "my name is Pride."
"Pride," smirked Cloud, rising to his feet slowly, using his sword as a balance.
"Is my name funny to you?" growled the woman, her angelic voice suddenly shifting to a deep, demonic voice.
"Let's get this over with, Cloud," groaned Kira, aiming her handgun at Pride. Cloud nodded and rushed towards Pride.
Xxx
Serah blocked a kick from the boy who was smaller than her and younger. She forced his foot away from her, causing the young Homunculi to spin, briefly losing his balance. Serah took the opportunity to swipe at his feet. The boy suddenly flipped over her leg then kicked her chest, sending her flying backwards. Vincent leapt through the air, grabbing Serahs' hand and spinning her back towards the boy. The Homunculi smiled and readied himself for another attack. He brought his leg up as to kick Serah but he grabbed his leg, bringing him into her spin. She slammed him into the ground then flicked her bowsword into its bow mode and aimed a Thunder Arrow at the boy. Releasing the arrow a bolt of lightning followed it, piercing the Homunculi's chest. The lightning burnt the Homunculi to a crisp. Serah landed on the ground, sighing gently before a loud booming voice echoed through the city.
"WRATH!" it screamed. Serah and Vincent looked around to see a woman standing, screaming at the sky.
Cloud took the opportunity to slash at Pride. The Homunculi leapt over his blade, sending another kick to his gut, sending him flying into Kira. Vincent and Serah began firing at Pride, but she dodged each bullet. Landing on the ground Pride sprinted up the side of a building. Before she reached the top the Homunculi leapt off, sailing through the air over the group. A pair of black demon wings erupted from her back and her skin began peeling off, leaving a scaly, armour-like skin underneath. Her face contorted as it stretched out to form a large jaw. The skin from her head burst off as she opened her jaw, showing razor sharp teeth. Her body began convulsing causing her to double over. She stopped her movements in the air and hovered using her wings. She stretched her body out and the rest of her true body was shown. A large black, dragon-like beast hovered in the air above them. With a flap of her wings Pride sent the group tumbling back. Cloud slammed his sword into the ground, stopping his from going back any further and rose to his feet. Feeling sharp pain rush through his body he groaned. He shook his head, trying to forget about the pain. Cloud sprinted towards Pride, leaping into the air. He brought his sword up, cutting into Pride's chest. The dragon-Homunculi screamed in agony and brought a clawed hand down upon Cloud, who blocked it with his sword. Unlucky for Cloud, the sword only blocked the attack from hitting him but not the momentum of the attack, sending him flying into the ground beside Serah.
The pink-haired woman helped him to his feet and cast a Cure spell on him quickly.
"Cloud… Serah…" groaned Kira, who was lying on the ground, hurt from Pride throwing her back with the group, "connect… crystals."
"Connect crystals?" questioned Cloud and Serah together. Pride roared with laughter, the deep demonic voice booming through the empty streets.
"You have lost Warriors of Etro!" screeched Pride gleefully. Thoughts in Cloud's mind finally fit into place and he looked at Serah. Pointing to her chest he smiled.
"Vincent, hold her off for a few minutes until we get it ready?" asked Cloud, who now had his hand splayed out across Serahs' chest. Vincent nodded and began shooting at Pride in an effort to avert her attention. Serah stared at Cloud confused as he used his free hand to make Serah copy what he was doing. Letting go of her hand he closed his eyes.
"Focus on my crystal inside my heart, try and give me your power while I do the same to you," ordered Cloud. Serah nodded and closed her eyes, focusing on passing her power onto Cloud. She felt a slight tingling sensation that was becoming stronger and stronger. Soon, the pair felt brimming with power. They opened their eyes to see one another covered in a coloured aura – Cloud covered in a light blue aura and Serah covered and a baby pink aura. The smiled at one another and turned to face Pride. Serah pulled her bow string back as far as it could go as Cloud swirled his blade above his head, creating a slight vacuum. Serah released her bow string, sending a bright white arrow into Pride's chest. Cloud leapt into the air and threw his large sword after the arrow Serah had fired. The added force from the sword made both the arrow and the sword pierce through Pride and she fell from the air into the ground, creating a large crater in the middle of the road. Her body exploded, sending a large gust of air towards the group, as well as Cloud's sword. The blond grabbed the handle of the sword as it flew through the air then collapsed from exhaustion on the ground beside Serah who fell with him.
"Let's get these two safe, then find out where the next ones are," said Kira, feeling much better after Vincent threw a Potion over her. Vincent nodded and heaved Cloud onto his shoulder.
"I've called in for a heli-evac," said Kira putting her phone in her back pocket and lifting Serah onto her shoulder. They didn't wait long before a helicopter came for them and lifted the into the air, hopefully somewhere safer.