Aurenare, were you expecting a sultry shower scene? ;9

Edit. I'm joking! I didn't mean it that way. ;o;

Mimi, since you're so curious. I am eighteen.

Edit. Yaasss, Mimi be my bae.

I.

A damp, twitching nose and tense muzzle crinkled upward to reveal long, glistening teeth stained with blood. The flat, pink tongue between sharp fangs curled with the rumble of an intimidating growl. A massive, ambiguously canine body prowled at the center of everyone's alarm. Enormous, hand-like paws made deep impressions in the ground below, and long claws displaced gashes of dirt when it dodged Barret's blitz of bullets. It was hefty, but swift on its feet.

"Yuffie! Yuffie, are you okay?!" Tifa dashed to their youngest member's side and scooped her up from the tree line before the beast could lunge again. The-would-have-been-prey was in agony nursing the gruesome puncture wounds in her thigh. The creature's cyan eyes illuminated the tapering pattern of thick, two-toned fur covering its face. The eerie orbs were still focused on who it had bit. It appeared to be completely agitated with missing its opportunity to make off with the smallest target available.

The brute's broad chest heaved with its thick breathing. Acute, ears flicked back against the top of its head as it roared again. It retaliated and twisted backward into whipping a stiff, unnaturally long tail into Barret's side. The blue pilot light at the very tip singed a gaping hole through the fabric of his jacket and seared his torso. When Barret groaned out in pain was when Shera lost focus of what was going on. She was still winded from dismounting a spear, stuffing on her boots, and running as fast as she could to take Cid's place. No one had any idea where he was, and the possibility he'd been attacked first made Shera nauseous. She was half way toward terrified, and fully panicking, but she was going to try her best.

Brightened by the light of the moon, the creature looked everything, and absolutely nothing like Nanaki. But, Shera knew for a definite fact that it wasn't the canyon beast. He was alert and snarling in defense right next to her. Not totally sure what she could do, she watched with burning lungs as Cloud darted forward and slashed. She anticipated the ex-Soilder landing a fatal blow, but shrieked and ducked before she could become the victim of a mid-air guillotine. It clamped several tons of bite pressure down on the blunt end of Cloud's sword, ripped it from his grip, and flung it clear across the field.

Several more rounds of bullets filled the night. She braced her hands over her ears with everyone else when Cait Sith wailed something into his megaphone. The amplifier awkwardly shifted pitch and screeched. In the next instant, the creature was too irritated and sensitive in the ears to stick around.

"Don't let it run off!" Tifa swung Yuffie over her back and yelled. This might have been their only chance to get rid of it.

Not having another split second to think. Shera properly positioned herself like she'd been taught in the past, and threw all of her force into flinging the spear forward. Just barely, she could see the sharp end sink into the back of the brute's thigh as it fled. It almost stopped in its tracks; pausing just briefly to whip its head around and glare Shera down. Time froze before speeding up again. More gun shots. Not a yard or two more into the cover of the woods, it darted again and was obscured from vision.

"We'll let them go after it." Nanaki ran in the way of the path he was sure Shera was going to take. She almost tripped over him.

"We have to find Cid! What if he's hurt?!" No, no, no, no. There was a jitter in her fingers and a nervous chill that settled over her heart beat. Cold sweat beaded on Shera's forehead.

"Give me something and I'll track him. We have to move quickly."

"I don't have anything anymore!" Shera rasped; moving when Red did. It was hard to keep up with him.

"Then either we search without a scent, or look for the weapon you had. There's no time to run back to your home." Nanaki was tired and short of breath himself, but he pressed on.

II.

AVALANCHE's split teams had searched until the bright crown of the sun beamed over the horizon. They found a fresh trail of blood that crossed a large portion of the woods, but at the very end was nothing but the spear Shera had used hours before.

"Here's another." Shera's sigh was labored. The field she had found the Captain in last night was hushed and twinkling with dew. Birds chirped and awoke along with the songs of crickets. Crisp orange hues outlined the town's signature monument and quivering stalks of weeds.

Wiping dampness from her nose, she kneeled down and brushed grass and burrs from a second spear. The polished metal was cold and covered in little pebbles of moisture. She strained into standing up straight, and nudged shredded fabric with the toe of her boot. Remnants of what were probably Cid's clothes; it was scattered all around her. Shera could almost make out boot prints marred and messied by animal tracks. Grass crunching under Nanaki's paws drew her attention. He came to a stop and sank down onto his stomach. He was gently panting; exhausted.

"They haven't found anything." He licked dryness from his jaws and spoke. "Not that abomination." Red had clearly noted the creature's appearance. "Not your partner, either."

Shera didn't know how to respond. Her shoulders were shaking. "How…how is Yuffie?"

"In pain, and complaining, but she'll be fine. Cloud wanted to continue searching for the Captain, but I believe you have company."

"Company?" Oh no…

III.

Ross looked from face to face. The table was divided, with most of AVALANCHE on one end, and Shera trapped with having to sit next to the committee member on the other. Yuffie was also locked there by default. Shera was doing what she could to tend to the ninja's wounds.

"Must have been quite the…eventful night." Ross unfolded her hands under her chin. Fatigue was written all over their faces. "Myself, and other board members received quite a few unnecessary calls about the racket. I take it that menace finally reared its head. Just in time, too." Ross nibbled on a vanilla biscuit. She dabbed it in a cup of freshly brewed tea before continuing. "I was already going to come by today to ask about it. I hope you all have some time to recover. Or not." She watched Shera dab dried blood from Yuffie's leg and pull out disinfectant from the house first aid kit.

"Ow ow ow ow owww!" Yuffie fidgeted in her chair. Both the disinfectant and alcohol stung like hell. She probably needed stitches more than anything. Her puncture wounds had dangerous diameters.

"I'm sorry. I can't make it hurt any less. At least not yet." Shera snapped the top back on a bottle and tossed bloodied cotton balls in a pail on the floor below her. Her tired eyes looked away from Yuffie's eyes and met Ross' for a moment. "We probably woke everyone up last night. It came, and we almost had it."

"It went after Yuffie. We wouldn't have known it was in the area until she screamed." Tifa sat with her legs crisscrossed in the chair. She was heavily laid against Barret's un-injured side. He had been patched up and given something to numb the sting before the conversation at the table started.

"Almost had it? So, it's yet again at hand." Ross snapped her tea biscuit between her teeth. She was more than displeased. "So the nuisance is peskier than you anticipated. I'm starting to think Captain Highwind isn't very well at keeping his promises. I think it's time I—"

"We've been doing the very best we can." Shera pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and side-eyed Ross. She handed Yuffie a roll of gauze. She held one end while Shera began to carefully wrap it around. "Look, we're all tired. It didn't get to eat anything last night, so it will be back." It was logical to assume." We'll think of something less straight forward."

"Not so." Ross pursed her lips and brushed crumbs from her fingers. "Mr. Tesult is now completely chocobo-less. The other one is gone now. Look," she held out her hand "I'm not blaming any of you, but I do agree we need to shift up our methods. If there isn't anything effective you can do to protect the people here, I will have to pull a few strings myself. We're lucky to have no human victims. I don't want it to progress that far." Her snake like eyes narrowed beyond the faces in front of her. "Where is Captain Highwind?"

A stale silence followed her question. Shera's mouth snapped closed. She couldn't answer. Knowing that the only answer was 'I don't know' made her throat sting.

"He disappeared last night." Cloud responded. "We were going to continue looking for him when you…" He wasn't able to finish his sentence.

Attention snapped to the door when it was flung open. Barret shot up from his seat. "Cid, what the hell happened to ya last night?!"

Pissed off as usual, Cid lumbered through; holding a hand to a splotch of blood on the back of his thigh. He was covered in grass and burs from head to toe, barefoot, and wearing a pair of pants he had snatched from the clothes line over the yard. Cid didn't even bother to answer Barret's question. He was livid. "WHERE THE FUCK IS MY SPEAR?!"

IV.

All of Cid's furious fussing ended in groaning. An awful lot of groaning. Barret, Yuffie, and Nanaki weren't the only ones suffering from a bit of damage. It took almost an hour to get Ross to leave so the group could rest in peace. They had a full day before they'd have to be on watch again. The older woman would only give them a few more days to rid of the nightly terror. After that, she warned she would be taking matters into her own hands.

"Ugh…what a bitch." Yuffie clasped her tea cup in her hands and poised herself on the couch were her bandages wouldn't brush the scratchy cushions. Cait Sith was stuffed under her other arm. His megaphone was thrown somewhere he couldn't reach it. "Snappy lady! We're doing this for free!"

"Yes, Ross can be a bitch, but she's just doing her job." Shera briefly removed her glasses to rub the bags under her eyes. She was so very tired, but there was much she had to do before she could rest herself.

"Whatever you say. Is it okay if I take…um, use this blanket?" Yuffie asked.

"Yes, just pull it down from the back there." She waited for her mind to buffer to figure out what else she needed to do. Let's see…She called a doctor about stitches. Nanaki had already taken his medicine (he was so far in sleep, his snore rivaled Barret's). Now, she just needed to climb the stairs and see about Cid again. These few weeks have been a wild ride, and Shera knew it was probably far from over.

Upstairs, Cid was sprawled, stomach up on his bed. Shera cracked open the door and quietly slipped inside. She gently bumped the door closed with her bottom and placed a tray atop an old crate in the corner of his room. She nudged items on the floor aside with her foot, puffed out her cheeks, and combed back stray strands of her hair with her shaking fingers.

"When are you gonna sit your ass down?" Cid's face was tense in immense discomfort. One moment he was cussing up a storm, and in the next, throwing up an alarming amount of blood in the downstairs bathroom. Cloud was worried about internal bleeding. Shera was mentally going off the deep end and thinking something else…

"I'll lie down as soon as I know everyone is taken care of." Shera stuck a thermometer in his mouth. She crawled up on the bed and gingerly maneuvered his head into her lap. Leaning over, she felt over Cid's scratchy cheeks. He was hot enough to burn, and he stunk, but thank god. He was relatively okay. Nothing could explain the relief she felt when he showed up through the back door. She would kiss him if he weren't in need of a good shower.

"You've been runnin' with yer head chopped off since yesterday morning. I'm fine, Shera. I just let my fuckin' guard down for one sec and it got me." He grumbled. Cid had the worst stomach (and head) ache in history, and he was angry at himself for getting caught up. He must have been knocked clean out. All he remembered was making it through the door not too long ago.

"Head chopped off…funny." Shera non-ironically rolled her eyes. "I'm going to rest, Captain. Don't worry." She plucked the thermometer from his mouth after it beeped and read the numbers along the screen.

"What are we lookin' at?" Cid tilted his head upward. Her thighs were soft under him. All he could see was the underside of her bust, chin, and nose.

"…One…one hundred two." Shera lied. Cid's temperature was a ridiculous one hundred and five degrees. Her fears were going to that crazy little place again. Nothing had made sense a day or two ago, and now all the pieces were coming together to paint an absurd picture.

"Shit. Caught a cold in that dew, too? I'm so pissed." His shoulders slumped. The Captain raised his forearm and laid it over his bare chest. He thought he felt bad before. This was a whole new level of total bullshit. There was a long gap. He was waiting for her to respond. "Hey? Ground't Shera? Do you copy?"

"...I copy." She placed the thermometer aside on the tray after clicking it off. Shera deeply sighed and absentmindedly ran her fingers through Cid's hair. They caught and plucked out stray pieces of grass. "If you think you can handle something in your stomach, there's a packet of dissolving tablets and a cup of water there on the tray." She smoothed his hairline back from his forehead and debated asking him more about what happened last night. Shera kept squinting, but wasn't fully sure why.

"I'm serious, Shera. Come over here n' lie down. You gonna fill me in on what I missed, or clock out?"

"Alright, Captain." She gave in. Shera untucked her sweater from her high waisted pants. She just about melted into the mattress the moment her head hit a pillow. Hand still in Cid's hair; she relaxed the rigidness from her spine. Her glasses were crooked, but she didn't feel like fixing them.

Over occasionally allowing him to dart off to the bathroom to somewhat empty his stomach, Shera was able to tell Cid about all the commotion that occurred last night, and what the status quo was now. She edged at trying to gently pry for his side of the situation, but he could never tell her anything that was helpful, or made any sense. To summarize, he awake, and then, nothing. Suspicious. Shera was refusing to ignore it this time.

He always seemed to be gone when the monster was present. All the hair in the house. His jacket out in the woods. His sleepwalking. The state of his physical condition. Hell, the condition Cid was in now. She saw the way he limped in; the splotches of blood that soaked through the fabric on the back of his right thigh. She deeply regretted hurling that spear. If she would have been connecting the dots then…

"Hello in there? Shera? Keep talkin', or go to sleep, babe."

"Oh, ah, I was saying that four members are down, so I volunteered to be medic if we're out watching tonight. Cloud and Ms. Lockhart left to purchase some things at the corner store. Potions and supplies for the trap we're going to rig."

"A trap, eh?" Cid chewed on the inside of his cheek. "Trap it, and then what?"

"I don't know." She brushed her fingers over his head again. Oh, heaven above, she didn't know. Shera finally noticed what she was squinting at. The hue of Cid's hair was odd. She didn't remember him being a strawberry blonde? Upon further inspection, the roots of Cid's hair were growing red. No further convincing needed.

How in the world did this happen, and why?! Was she going crazy? If she wasn't crazy, was Cid aware? Was anyone aware? What was she supposed to do, if Cid really, really was this creature? The goddamn objective was to kill him. How was she supposed to explain all of this? She had a hard enough time trying to get herself to accept the conclusion. Everything has been absolutely bizarre and it was making her dizzy on top of the lethargy she already felt. Her headache was coming back and the bridge of Shera's nose immediately tensed. She snapped back to reality when Cid pinched the scrunched skin between his knuckles.

"Hey." He didn't know what she was inwardly yapping over. Probably worry in general. Shera tended to do that. A bit oblivious to the turmoil, Cid replaced his knuckles with his lips. A hand on the back of her head brought her closer and tucked near his chest. "You do too much. I ain't dyin' alright? You know me, I'm fine. I uh…I'm really sorry if I scared ya, Shera. I picked a bad night to be piss poor." He mumbled and felt the muscles slowly ease. "You mad at me?" He promised he wouldn't do this kind of stuff to her.

"I'm not mad at you, Captain. Not at all." But damn sure, there was someone to be mad at. She was going to figure this out. With the solid hunch she had, everything was different now.