I finally got over my writers block! I wrote all of this and partial fifth chapter in one night! Woot!
Anyway, This one turned out much longer that I had thought it would, but I think I'm quite happy with it over all. Action in this one this time, and a little warming up to Seph and some more of Genesis' personality too. I just adore Genesis, but I don't think I'm any good at portraying him, oh well. Here's to hoping that the fifth one will be as good!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, not even the Wutain or the horrible chapter title.
Chapter Four: Bad Omens?
This time, when Vincent became conscious, he was alone again in the odd room. Knowing his hearing like he did, Vincent was a bit surprised at the total silence in the entire building. Didn't Zack say someone would be inside at all times of the day or night?
Then, he heard it. Soft sounds coming from outside the unknown building he was in, seeming to almost float into his head. No matter how soft it was though, he would recognize that sound anywhere.
The ring of battle on a scale close to that of small armies clashing.
That would explain the quietness of the building if not for one thing: his hearing was so good that he should have been able to hear the inevitably loud fighting as if it was right in his ear. How ever, he did not panic- after all, the other occupants were SOLDIERs who had great hearing. They probably had it custom soundproofed so that they wouldn't go crazy from the sounds of the outside world.
Someone of lesser hearing ability wouldn't have heard the fight at all.
Gingerly sitting up, he tested out his body's reaction to movement.
Not too bad, considering, he thought with a slight wince of pain due to an all-over ache, pulling back the covers and looking for his effects. He could only hope that they had found his stuff before bringing him here.
He found them as he stood from the bed, in the corner between the closet and the red curtains on a chair. Cautiously, testing his leg muscles, he almost effortlessly walked quietly to the chair. He always had been a quick healer between what Hojo did to him and the demons.
Within minutes he had his black leather jacket, pants, glove, and sabatons on and was working on reattaching the holster for Cerberus onto his right leg.
Thankfully, they found and brought my cape too, he thought as he finished with the holster and was buckling up all the buckles on his high collared, torn, crimson cape. Last but not least, he pulled his long bangs out of his face with the red headband that completed his outfit.
Looking around the room, Vincent wondered how his stuff had managed to follow him into the alternate reality, but Cerberus' keychain was still missing…
Deciding that he would figure it out later, Vincent walked to the door wondering if they had locked him in. Just in case, he used his metal claw to twist the doorknob. It turned out to not be necessary, and he stepped out into the hall where the noises were arguably louder.
Trusting his sensitive ears and paying the place little attention beyond making sure to be quiet and not trip on stuff, he followed the rapidly increasing sound around twists and even down some stairs to what appeared to be the front doors. These he did pay attention to and even marvel at. They were expensive looking red oak, a rare thing these days. Or at least, in his reality it was.
Twisting the knob of the right door, he found that this door was locked and pulled out Cerberus. There was a war on the other side, he didn't think a little more noise would stop anything. Taking aim, he shot the tri-barreled pistol, taking out the lock and more besides - it was a big gun. Trying the knob this time gained better results and he opened the door - just in time to dodge a body flung his way. Looking at it, he came to the conclusion that it must be one of the enemy because it didn't even look remotely SOLDIER.
Taking stock of what was going on around him, he saw those he knew battling those he didn't. Genesis was fighting four at once and it seemed like the sword-mage was playing with them, wearing them down, then killing them when they could no longer keep up. Zack and Cloud -who were using broad swords a little shorter than the Buster- were fighting together against two or three at a time, back to back. It seemed like Cloud needed it more than Zack did. The triplets were slashing, pummeling, and shooting through enemies right and left, faster than the enemy could keep track. An older brunette SOLDIER, whom he assumed was Angeal, was using a broad sword in one hand and what Vincent recognized as the Buster Sword in another. It felt weird to see the blade in good condition and in use after the years it had sat vigilantly over Zack's death spot. Sephiroth was nowhere to be seen.
The enemies they were combating seemed to be a mix between ninjas and other Wutain fighters. Distantly, he wondered where they currently were and why the Wutain were here. Could SOLDIER have started a war like they had in his reality?
Glancing around the battlefield, he spotted a higher place he could jump to so he could see better. Perhaps Sephiroth was fighting further in the mass of Wutain?
Once in his vantage spot, he used his keen eyesight to look for signs of Sephiroth. Large slash marks, deep furrows in the ground, that sort of thing. Suddenly, he felt a presence at his back and whipped around, Cerberus raised.
Well, at least he knew where Sephiroth was now.
"What do you think you're doing up? And out here, no less." Sephiroth's quiet, steel like voice reprimanded, his normal pupil eyes narrowed. The worry he saw in those eyes unnerved him more than anything at this point, and he slowly lowered the gun.
Quietly, so quietly that Sephiroth could barely hear it over the racket down below, Vincent replied, "I heard fighting and came to investigate."
Eyes widened as shock replaced the worry. Vincent knew that he was wondering how Vincent could hear from the soundproofed house and how he managed to even stand after the Mako poisoning he'd had.
"You heard the fighting…," Sephiroth repeated, disbelief coloring his normally monotone voice.
Vincent nodded, knowing that it would take some time for him to get used to it. It had taken Cloud and the others a month to get over and get used to his super hearing.
"Sephiroth, what are you doing!" Genesis yelled, his voice drifting up the roof to them even over the clash of battle.
Momentarily ignoring him, Sephiroth asked, "Do you plan to help?"
"I do." Vincent nodded and turned back to the edge of the roof as Sephiroth gracefully hopped down to rejoin the battle.
"What took you so long?" Genesis huffed good naturedly as he joined him.
"Talking to our guest. Apparently he has decided that he is well enough to join in the battle."
Shocked, Genesis asked incredulously, "Is he okay enough for that?"
Smiling wryly, Sephiroth answered, "He was well enough to jump onto the roof in one jump, and he sensed me when I snuck up behind him. What does that tell you?"
Genesis gave a low whistle before being forced to give his concentration back on who he was fighting.
Turning his senses back to the rest of the area, Vincent observed who was winning. The SOLDIERs were, but there were just so many of the Wutain that he knew they were going to be over run soon.
Hoping that his body would hold, he holstered Cerberus and then concentrated. A black and crimson bubble of energy surrounded him and blew the wind into a mild gust in his immediate position. Popping the bubble, Chaos' wings spread causing the colored gust to flash outward, ripping up roof tiles. Chaos' roar as he did so caught everyone's attention and the fighting stopped as everyone turned to stare.
Seeing that everyone was paying him their undivided attention, Vincent quietly spoke using Chaos' multi-toned voice, "What is this about?"
When no one answered, he roared again, this time with wings spread out in a threat display, causing most to flinch and tremble at his fury. "Answer me!"
Bravely, a Wutain who had been fighting Cloud spoke up, "We are here for revenge. These SOLDIERs have stolen something from us."
Relaxing now that he was getting answers, Chaos asked, "And what is it that they stole?"
"You." came the quiet answer from his far left. Recognizing the voice as Sephiroth, Vincent recognized the truth in his voice.
"Me." he repeated softly, his glowing gold eyes flashing at the Wutain causing them to flinch again.
"We didn't have a demon!" the brave one from earlier frowned, clearly confused. "We had a Turk."
"Then that was me." Chaos almost whispered. Slowly, he lifted his right hand to the side and energy was concentrated in the palm of his hand. A gun materialized, dissipating the energy as it did so. "This gun is called the Death Penalty. Let's see what it decides."
Aiming at the Wutain who had spoken, Chaos grinned as he fired the powerful weapon. A beam of dark energy shot out of the gun, taking out a hundred Wutain behind his target and almost hitting Cloud. Vincent knew what he was doing, though, and knew he wouldn't have hit Cloud. He had been a friend once, and even Vincent didn't stoop that low without provocation.
Grin widening into madcap, Chaos grew just a bit louder as he purred, "Guilty."
Faced with a demon from their myths and its obvious pleasure in killing, the Wutain turned and ran. Well, the hundred or so that were left. Turning to Sephiroth, the only one besides Zack that he would acknowledge out loud, he said quietly again and with the grin magically gone, "That should halt that problem for now."
After a moment or two of silence, the shock wore off on the triplets. They began trembling and Kadaj practically screamed, "I told you his red eyes were a bad omen!"
A/N: I had to call Chaos' form Chaos when he did something, since it seemed lame to keep calling him "Chaos' form" you know?