Hey, guys! Not such a long span between updates, ya?
blauer Schmetterling: I have good news for you! More action here XD Yay. And it's mostly just classics that I've sung. You know, Schubert, Schumann and the like. Nothing recent by any means lol ;)
Evil StormSister: Hopefully this finds you after exams, and I hope they all went well! So glad you're still enjoying this fic! Hope that this chapter is alright in the fighting department lol. And I'm glad you like my portrayal of Lea. I get nervous when I write characters other than Squall and Cloud for some reason. I probably need to write from other character's POVs more often XD Enjoy your Christmas break!
Rikuobsession: You would not believe how ridiculously ecstatic I was when I opened my inbox and saw all of your lovely reviews! Such a wonderful surprise! Thank you for taking the time and effort :) Yeah, Cloud is losing his marbles. Hopefully he'l snap out of it soon XD
Axel'sChakrams8: I'm so glad you liked Lea! Like I said before, I get nervous writing for him. His character has such high expectations .-. Scares me lol XD The team part was from the Star Wars books (specifically the squadron series). And Sephiroth is powerful and scary. I'm scared of him o.o And doesn't school just ruin all of the fun things in life? Lol hope you're enjoying your Christmas break!
WARNING: This chapter is kind of . . .violent. And gory. If you're squeamish, uh, you've been warned.
Aside from that, enjoy! :D
"Wait." Vincent's command was sharp and hissed, ripping the silence.
No one wasted any time complying. Squall halted in his tracks and listened, his eyes staring hard into the dark.
The basements were a labyrinth, a dark maze of grotesque labs, a handful of offices and storage rooms packed with equipment and Heartless. He had long ago handed the lead to Lea, contenting himself with taking in his surroundings over figuring out where to go.
Squall struggled to hear what Vincent heard, and at first, he was about to dismiss the man's concerns as paranoia. All he could hear was the vacant sound of a hollow stone hallway, the quiet breathing of four human beings, the thump of his heart in his chest.
Then, he heard something so soft he almost missed it. A low hiss, a mere whisper traveling through the air with a sort of ebb and flow, like breathing. Beneath it was a low rumble. His pulse quickened.
"What do you think it is?" Squall asked quietly.
Vincent turned his red eyes to him. Squall had never noticed their unnatural glow until now, as they burned the dark away and illuminated the downward curve of his mouth. "I'm not sure. Something big."
Squall didn't stop to ponder the possibilities. He passed Lea and headed toward the noise.
"Wait!" Lea hissed, clapping a hand on Squall's shoulder. "What are you doing? You're supposed to go away from the creepy noise, not to it!"
"We need to assess any possible threat. I don't want whatever that is sneaking up behind us," he responded, waving Lea away and continuing. The hiss became easier and easier to discern the further in they went. Squall could tell they were very close, maybe just a few meters away from wherever it was.
That's when a door opened somewhere in the basement and their breathing stopped, along with the sound.
"Um, Squall?" Isa whispered. "We should go now."
"This is what we're here for," Vincent said brusquely, sliding past them on silent feet and on ahead, his gun held at the ready. "This way."
"Something big is going to eat us," Isa informed matter-of-factly.
"Stop whining," Lea said, following after Vincent.
A horrible shriek tore through the air, painfully reverberating off the walls and causing the four to crouch in surprise. The hairs on Squall's neck rose on end and a horrible feeling twisted his insides. The ground rumbled as something huge moved.
It was heading in their direction.
"Back to the last office," he ordered. "Now!"
They hurried back the way they had come, trading silence for speed. Their feet clapped on the ground, but it was masked by the rhythm of some larger creature's footfall.
It was moving faster than they were.
Squall found a doorway and threw himself inside. The others piled in behind him and he slammed the door shut, just in time to see a golden light flash underneath the door and the noise rumble past them.
Squall panted, trying to catch his breath from both the run and the fear that coursed in his veins. "Was that a Heartless?"
"Most likely," Lea supplied. "But I've never heard of one that . . . big."
"Did they let that thing loose?" Isa asked, his eyes wide.
"It's probably under their control," Vincent guessed, then he gave Squall a meaningful look. "And it's probably heading to defend the castle."
Squall felt his heart skip a beat.
That monster was heading to attack the other units . . .
His friends.
He cued his communicator. "Attention, all units!"
The scent of blood burned his Mako-enhanced nose, and panicked shouts of troops and the dull roar of fire assaulted his ears. Zack felt like the world was moving at a slower pace even as his body quickened with the flood of adrenaline.
The yard was shear chaos. It was obvious there was a lack of leadership among the men. Sephiroth was nowhere to be seen, and Zack could hear contradicting orders being shouted to confused cadets. It seemed that all the officers and veterans had been sent out to deal with the fire, leaving the young and inexperienced in charge. It really was a lucky break for the small band of rebels, for they wouldn't have stood a chance against this many were they experienced, organized and following clear orders. Fires still blazed on the other side of the compound, distracting many of the forces, but more and more troops were becoming aware of the breach they had entered through and they had at least three dozen men surrounding them already.
It wasn't too difficult a fight yet, really. Barret and Irvine were able to keep many of them at bay with their bullets while the more courageous or reckless drove forward, engaging the rest of them in close combat.
But when the other fire was out and they got the garrison's full attention . . . well, Cid had better get that ship out there quick.
The battle was, in a word, exhilarating. It was everything Zack had trained and worked for. It made his heart race with excitement and the familiar, cold fear of death only raised the stakes, adding to the thrill. Zack loved the brawl, the mental and physical battle, fighting for a cause and protecting those he loved.
And yet, this was very different from anything Zack had done before. This time, the cause and those he loved were not necessarily on the same side. Even now he stared down at the corpse of a boy, a boy that had once looked up to him and trusted him.
His insides twisted.
Zack raised his Buster sword from the fallen troop and stepped forward to engage his comrade. In Zack's mind, he was simply another soldier. Remembering his name would make it too personal, too treacherous for Zack to be able to stomach. As much as he tried to block it now, that boy's face would be burned forever in his memory, the guilt etched forever on his soul.
The new soldier, a boy whose name Zack struggled to forget, raised his own sword, eyes ablaze with wild fear. His weapon was much shorter and lighter than Zack's, and he drove the blade forward in a clumsy, desperate thrust.
Zack was at a distinct disadvantage in such close combat. His sword was much more cumbersome and it took longer to recoil from a strike than more common weapons. Not only that, but Zack's team was in the way. They were divided into two groups to better cover one another; Barret, Selphie and Tifa formed one group while he was teamed up with Yuffie. The ninja girl fought near behind him, and a broad swing of his sword risked taking her down as well.
But this was by no means Zack's first rodeo. He had long ago figured out ways to compensate. He kept his blade close and vertical, blocking the blow, then kicked out with his foot. The soldier went down to the ground hard, and Zack wasted no time in delivering a debilitating cut to the boy's hand, effectively sidelining him for the rest of the night. Possibly the rest of his life.
The boy cried out, clutching his mangled hand to his chest, his weapon abandoned in the grass. Zack stepped over him to engage the next cadet. He knew good and well that giving the soldiers such an opportunity was very risky, but there was nothing to be done. Zack simply couldn't kill them without giving them a chance, if he could help it. They were only following orders, doing what they were supposed to do. They shouldn't have to die for their ignorance.
He shouldn't have to kill them for it.
"Attention all units!" Squall's voice filtered through his ear piece. It distracted him so that he almost didn't see the soldier charging him before it was too late. He brought his sword up and spun lightly on one foot, deflecting the blow and using the soldier's momentum to send him sprawling to the ground before meeting the attack of another cadet right behind him. He tried to listen to what Squall was saying while fighting for his life. "There is a large Heartless headed your way. Repeat, a large Heartless headed your way."
Zack didn't like the tone of Squall's voice. And a large Heartless? Just the fact that it was Heartless was problem enough, but a large Heartless? What did that mean? One of the bigger ones they had encountered the other night? Or was this something else . . ?
"Cid, where's that ship?" Zack shouted into his device, parrying a blow and delivering a deep wound in his opponent's arm. The boy screamed and dropped his weapon.
"Working on it." The admiral sounded distracted. "This hasn't exactly been a cakewalk, so just calm down, General. I've been waiting on you people all night! The least you can do is give me-"
Zack tuned him out. He didn't have the mind power to waste on Cid's rambling. Five soldiers were advancing on him alone. He noticed that there were a lot more cadets around them now; at least fifty or more.
"Barret?" Zack called over the din to the larger man. He was less than five meters away, but Zack had to repeat himself before he glanced his way. "We should fall back!"
"I don't care how big that Heartless is!" he roared. "We're standing our ground!" His irritation was punctuated by the rattle of gunfire as he put several holes in advancing cadets. They howled and screamed and fell back, calling for reinforcements as they did.
Then, the ground started to shake. It was barely noticeable at first in all the commotion, but it came stronger and stronger until everyone paused. In a slow ripple effect, the grounds became still, the fire and intruders forgotten as one by one everyone turned to regard the castle. Aside from the low rumble, only the roar of the fire and labored breathing stirring the air.
The shaking stopped.
So did Zack's breathing.
The castle shuddered, a low pulse that made a shiver sweep down his spine. Rock cracked up the castle's walls, sharp fissures tearing towards the sky with loud pops and snaps, ripping through the night air like gunfire.
Seemingly as one, everyone in the yard took a step back.
The ground at the castle's base mounded and with a burst of rock and soil, a dark shape clawed itself free.
The creature was enormous, unlike like any Heartless Zack had ever seen. It was roughly the size of a house, with large tusks curving from powerful jaws and a single horn atop its broad head. The creature pulled itself free on all fours, each thick leg ending in sharp, split hooves. Its enormous body bulged with corded muscle and two soulless, golden eyes stared back at them.
It opened its jowls and let out a screeching roar that shook the ground they stood on. The soldiers that had been so intent on rending them to pieces fled, mindless terror seizing them as they dove for cover.
They were the smart ones.
Zack grabbed Yuffie by the forearm and dragged her closer to the other three. "We have to fall back, Barret! We can't fight this thing!"
Barret's lip curled and he let out a snarl. "We're not retreating to some oversized, deformed, half-"
"Zack's right!" Tifa said, panting and wiping a stream of blood from her lip. "There's no way we can take that on."
The monster lumbered forward, every footfall sending a tremor through the earth as it approached, golden eyes searching. A hapless cadet ran too close to the beast, and the Heartless lashed out. The attack was surprisingly graceful and swift. It swung its head to the side, impaling the boy on an ivory tusk with a sharp crack of breaking bone.
The boy's scream ended almost as soon as it began, eyes frozen in a horrified stare and a stream of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. A small pink heart left him, floating to the sky. He convulsed once, then slid from the tusk and dropped to a heap on the floor. Then his body shivered and folded in on itself, his skin blackening, his eyes glowing. Then the new shadow rose, antennae searching and scrabbling forward on clawed hands to search for fresh hearts.
The color drained from their faces.
"What . . ." Yuffie whispered. "What happened?"
It wasn't anything new to Zack, but he still had to swallow back the bile in his throat. "Barret, if we fight it here, we're going to get smashed," Zack insisted. "We need some room. If we lure it back into open ground, we'll at least stand a chance."
The monster was moving again, seemingly in no hurry. It was more or less focused on the cadets as they made their panicky dash to more defendable positions, but it would be on them soon. Two more cadets fell at the end of its tusks.
"Chance of what?" Selphie asked. "We can't beat that."
Barret gritted his jaw and wiped away a stream of sweat from his brow. "Alright, we'll lead it to open ground! Yuffie, call it in!" With that, he began to sprint forward, letting loose a salvo of bullets and a deranged war cry.
"Whoa, wait!" Zack yelped, quickly following after him. Squall had been right; Barret had no concept of tactics. He simply screamed and fired until he had the monster's attention.
The Heartless turned his head, bellowing in irritation. When it spotted its attackers, its bellow became a roar and it moved after them, much faster than before.
They ran for their lives.
Eww. Bloody. Hope that didn't scar anyone too much. I know I'm generally more family-friendly, but honestly, gore doesn't bother me much. Hope it didn't bother you guys much either.
Things are starting to get a little tense :o Where are all the bad guys? We'll find them later XD
Well, if you will, please review, and have an awesome week! Merry belated Christmas, and Happy New Year!
God Bless,
-RainFlame