Still the same, pursuing pain, is it worth all I have gained?
We both know how this will end...
-The Fight Inside, Red.
"In this way, Miss - you said it was Lucy, right?"
"Right," Tifa said through gritted teeth, trying not to be bothered by how the man's eyes lingered on her. If this works, it should be worth getting leered at a bit. Nevertheless, she wished Cissnei had come. It would have been a lot easier if she had someone experienced with her. Somehow she doubted Cissnei would be fighting back a blush in this kind of situation. The girl was too... seasoned for that.
"You're quite a pretty one. I imagine the Don will want to have a look at you," the man said with a wink and Tifa forcibly repressed the urge to shiver. Okay, so this was what she wanted, but... ugh. Could he at least have the decency to look at her face when he talked to her? "He's in the basement. Follow me."
Tifa followed, feeling more and more uneasy about her 'plan' as the night progressed. There were so many ways it could go wrong. What if the Don didn't pick her? What if he did, and she wasn't able to fight him off...? This entire place made her skin crawl. The sooner she was out of there - preferably having obtained some answers - the better. "Right! Now, you wait here until I find to more ladies to join you. The Don Corneo likes to take his pick."
Tifa nodded silently, wishing the man would just leave. When he did, her sigh of relief was audible. Gaia help me, what was I thinking? Coming here was a bad idea. I should have waited for Cissnei.
Too late for second thoughts now. The door opened again and a pair of young, giggly girls burst in. They were both reasonably pretty. If she was to be perfectly honest she didn't know what she wished for more: that Don Corneo would pick her, or that he wouldn't.
The door opened again and Don Corneo walked in. Tifa cut her thoughts off before her tongue could slip out some profanity. She wanted answers, yes, but she did not want to get anywhere near that guy, let alone... ugh. Just... just ugh
"Hmmmm..." Don Corneo paced slowly up and down the room, apparently taking some sadistic enjoyment in making Tifa simmer. If he'd just make up his mind she'd adjust her plans to the situation, but goddamn it, how hard was it for him to just choose? "Well..." His eyes lingered over Tifa and she forced a bright, winning smile onto her face. She hoped it didn't look more like a grimace. It certainly felt more like one. "...This one is pretty. Very pretty. What's you're name, miss?"
"Lucy," Tifa almost spat. There was no real reason for her to go by a fake name, but she certainly felt far more comfortable doing so.
"Ah... let us go, then, shall we, Lucy?" He turned to his two lackeys. "You can have the other ones!"
Don Corneo beckoned Tifa forwards, and she swallowed hard. Be brave. If Cloud and AVALANCHE can regularly put their lives out on the line, you can make yourself stomach this man for long enough to get the information Barret needs. "This way, sweetie."
"Yes, Don."
Don Corneo walked took her into yet another room, where he sat on the bed and flashed her a smile he probably meant to be seductive. "Come a little closer, Lucy."
So... I've got him alone, now. Drop the act now, or keep playing along to lull him into a false sense of security?
Don Corneo had spotted her hesitation. "Don't be shy, now."
I'm not being shy, I'm just imagining what it would be like to gouge your eyes out. Tifa took a very reluctant step forwards.
"Ah, there we go. Good girl. Now..." His hand reached up to stroke her upper arm and Tifa jerked away.
"Wait! I-I-"
Don Corneo grabbed her again and Tifa panicked. Her arm reached out and a punch caught him hard in the nose. "Ow! What do you think you're -"
What the hell am I doing? I was supposed to wait - ! Don Corneo tried to grab her again to pin her down, but she was kicking out violently, more concerned with keeping him at bay than where her kicks landed. "GUARDS!"
Oh crap. She tried to put a hand over his mouth to muffle his voice, but it was too late. Footsteps were coming up to the door. I'm in trouble. What have I gotten myself into? Another kick sent Don Corneo sprawling, but he wasn't what she was really worried about.
"Hands in the air!"
Tifa spun around and slowly lifted her arms. If I take down the one closest to me... I can...
Something collided with Tifa's stomach and she crumpled to the ground. No. No no no...
"Under ShinRa's official authority, you are currently under arrest. Understood?"
"...Barret? You there?"
"Huh? Who's makin' a racket - oh. Yer alive? Well that's good. Welcome back, Spiky."
Cloud rolled his eyes. Had it not been an emergency, he would have shown Barret exactly what he thought of being called Spiky, but as it was there was no time for him to go picking fights. "No, I'm dead. What does it look like? The Turks are going to drop the Plate. Cissnei's fighting them."
"They're gonna - WHAT? How d'you know all this?"
Cloud sighed, wishing Barret would just shut up and evacuate already. They were wasting precious time. "I told you, I'll explain later. All I know is that Cissnei is at the Pillar fighting the Turks, but she's outnumbered and they're going to drop the Plate."
"Woah - hold it a minute. You still haven't told me where you got all this from."
"Cissnei messaged me, okay?"
Barret nodded numbly, stepping back. Probably trying to figure out what to do. Cloud understood that well enough.
You have to save them, Cloud...
Great. So now the voices in his head thought he needed instructions on how to be a decent person. Yeah, that wasn't screwed up at all.
At this moment, the fact that I may or may not be going crazy is the least of my worries. He had to make sure Tifa - and, preferably, the rest of AVALANCHE as well - got to safety. If he could, he had to stop the Pillar from falling. And finally, he had to at least try to help Cissnei.
"Right. We've gotta go fight them. C'mon!"
"Barret, where's Tifa?"
"She left earlier. She's fine, Cloud. Damn!"
Cloud jumped at Barret's sudden anger. "What?"
"Marlene. We need to get her outta here. Spiky, can you take her to safety?"
Cloud narrowed his eyes. He couldn't not go fight. He had no idea why, but he had to be there. "Can't you get someone else to do that? I'm the ex-SOLDIER. You need me fighting."
"Now, look here, you cocky little bastard -"
"Hey! Calm down, both of you, please."
Cloud stopped, but the effect the voice had on him was anything but calming. Goddamn it, she shouldn't be here. "Aerith, I thought I told you to stay away."
Aerith ignored him. "Whoever Marlene is, I could take her to safety for you. I'm tougher than I look, I'd be able to protect her."
If nothing else, taking care of Marlene should keep Aerith out of trouble. And it would certainly be helpful... "...All right. Thank you, Aerith. Take care, okay?"
"What 'bout the rest of us?"
"If anyone else wants to evacuate, they're free to, but as for me, I'm going to help Cissnei."
Stay calm. Don't panic.
She couldn't breath. Her position was too awkward for her to try shooting at Rude, or hitting him or really harming him in any way. She opened up her left hand and her gun clattered to the floor. It was useless to her and if she were to escape Rude's hold she'd need both hands free. Not that I have much of a chance anyways. Black spots danced around the edge of her vision and she couldn't breath, Rude's grip was too tight, she was going to pass out soon and then they'd kill her. She didn't want to die. Did she? All her instincts were screaming at her to fight to stay alive. Stay alive...
Cissnei sucked in as much air as she could and kicked backwards against Rude's kneecap. She had nowhere near enough strength to actually hurt him like that, but for a fraction of a second his grip loosened and she took advantage of the moment. Letting out all the air that was left in her lungs, she allowed herself to drop to the ground, slipping out of Rude's arms. Thank the Goddess.
Cissnei gasped in as much air as she could. She was still in a vulnerable position. If Rude...
A leg snaked around hers and she was sent sprawling. Up, Cissnei! You need to get on your feet again. Cissnei scrambled backwards. I'm cornered. I need to fight back...
A hand grabbed her elbow and Cissnei turned to face Rude. He looked down at her, hard and immoveable. I can't fight him.
You have to...
A soft click caught her attention and Cissnei's heart dropped out of her chest. Tseng's here too. And he's pointing a gun at me. Cissnei knew that Tseng of all people would not hesitate to kill a former comrade if forced. For a fraction of a second her eyes met his, and then she looked away. She had to. There was no way she could bear the cold, unfeeling blackness of them. She'd thought, in Tseng's office, that she had seen compassion in him. Understanding. She'd hoped against hope that he might take her side - but of course, it wasn't like that. Tseng might show compassion or remorse after a job, when he could afford it, but never when it got in the way of his orders.
And I wanted to be like him?
Cissnei thought she saw a hint of hesitation as his fingers tightened, but it could have been her imagination. Must have been. Tseng, don't -
Something slammed into her and she heard a resounding bang.
Cissnei was on the floor. It was cold and hard and hitting it had been painful, but it was only mild pain. She was alive. She wasn't dying, either. But Tseng didn't miss. Ever.
A pressure she hadn't even realised was on her chest eased off it and a figure came into view. Shock of red hair. EMR stick...
Reno? He must have pulled her to the ground. Why bother saving me? They'll kill me anyways, later. No way ShinRa will let me live. And no way the Turks would disobey their orders. Well, she had. On multiple occasions. But never enough to make a difference.
"Reno! Why did you intervene?"
Reno shrugged. "I dunno. This was my mission, guess I wanted to deal with her myself. Sorry, Tseng. I should've just let you deal with things."
There was a long silence. Cissnei recognised it as the kind of dangerous silence that meant Tseng was considering something. Usually, those silences ended with Tseng giving... less than pleasant orders. "All right, Reno. You deal with her. I'm heading off to find the Ancient. Don't mess this up."
"Gotcha, sir."
There were footsteps leading away. Cissnei guessed Tseng must have left. Left me here. He hadn't killed her, but what difference did that make? There was no question of how Reno was meant to 'deal' with her.
"Right, well. I bet you can guess what orders I have... so that means I ain't just lettin' you go. I'm a professional."
Of course you are.
Reno slammed his stick down into her chest and Cissnei tried to contain her scream of pain, but it escaped her none the less. When the pain began to ease, the first thing to come into focus was Reno's eyes. They blazed bright green, but Cissnei couldn't tell with what.
What a vicious circle. ShinRa screws up and tries to cover their tracks, so Zack gets sent after his fellow SOLDIER Firsts. Then they screw up again, and this time Zack is the evidence of their mess so I get sent to erase him, and I decided that something's wrong so now the Turks are being sent to get rid of me. Along with an entire sector, just for good measure. Does ShinRa really think they can keep this up forever?
They probably could, as a matter of fact. The world tended to work that way.
Reno struck again. More pain. Her world was going black. Pain, pain, pain. Why does he keep hitting me? Can't he just finish it quickly?
There was more screaming. Probably from her. She was slipping out of conciousness. Reno...
Stop, please...
This chapter was annoyingly hard to write. It was almost finished when I posted the previous chapter, but it just didn't feel right so I went back and tried to fix it. That took... pretty much forever. At any rate, I'm reasonably happy with it now and I bet you're all tired of waiting for me to post.
So... wow. I am absolutely thrilled with the amount (and quality) of feedback that I got on the last chapter. Thank you! Feedback is always amazing, and the tips you gave were great. I hope I've fixed a lot of the problems you pointed out.
SomebodyLost: Thank you. I hope I did things better in this chapter. I'm really glad you told me what you think, it's the only way I can improve :).
qwq qweqq: I've already replied to your pm, but I just wanted to say thanks again. It's great to have readers who put this much effort into helping me with my writing.
Irish-Brigid: I agree with you completely - but I think Aerith just prefers to pretend that everything's all right than to admit that she's still not completely over Zack. Your comments on her are really helpful, by the way - anything that helps me understand characters so I can write them better is great.
Ardwynna Morrigu - hmm. Yes, we'll get to that. And I certainly hope it will be interesting.
BurntMyChocolate - I'm really, really glad you think I got Cloud right. Writing about a character with a fake persona that he himself believes in is... tricky, to say the least. The advice on Aerith was great! Thank you for that.
Tayashia - Yep... Cissnei's in pretty big trouble here :).