THE NORTHERN CRATER
1.
The snowstorm had further toned down as the fleet of WRO helicopters approached the Galea's Cliff, a rising crown of steep peaks that acted as the natural boundary of the Northern Crater. The area was affected just by a mild snowfall and the pilots sighed in relief as visibility was good enough to land without much effort and without the harassment of crosswinds, at last.
Nevertheless, it was far from being the best welcoming place on Gaia. Temperatures were far below the average that day, so the door servant on the chopper was quickly ordered to shut the side door of the craft, in order to spare the passengers from freezing to death even before landing. Engine overheating was not a problem anymore, after all.
Besides, an eerie sight greeted the oncoming visitors. A pillar of grey clouds rose from the basin where the crater stood, abruptly terminating where the surrounding cliff rose and skyrocketing up to the utmost layers of the atmosphere, in a replica of a greyish, dull mushroom cloud. The murk was slowly but evidently twisting on itself as the winds and currents were sucked into and dived into the crater only to be spun around and blown on the outside with much more power and violence. Thunder and lightning adorned the column, and the white streaks of electricity became longer, more powerful and more menacing as the fleet of helicopters slowly manoeuvred closer to the edge of the cliff, searching for the landing area.
"Damn, that is some thunderstorm…" the pilot dropped his jaw, eyes stuck at the menacing manifestation of nature before him "Thank the Maker we are not supposed to fly into that thing!"
"How could we?" the co-pilot told him "I bet the instruments would go fritz right at the moment we dare to poke our nose into that mess…"
"Hey, you two! When we will be told to fly into that thing I'll be sure to tell you in advance!" Cade shouted right behind them "Now please, think about not thrashing this bird on landing, won't you!"
"Sure thing, Sir!" the pilot replied, feeling reprimanded
"Did you just scared him off?" Yuffie asked, looking at him sideways
"At all" Cade raised his hands "I was just helping him setting his priorities straight"
"Oh, I see" Yuffie answered, turning his head to look outside the window.
"Basically, the extraction team is supposed to go down there…" she mused, trying to take a look past the tip of the mountains
"They are…" Cade confirmed
"There's a huge amount of live Mako down there" Yuffie noted "Won't it be dangerous?"
Cade puffed, trying to recall what he had learned about the feature of the crater "Apparently" he began "the Mako in the crater is so condensed that it doesn't emit much radiation. In that sense, it's less harmful than a microwave oven"
Yuffie whistled "Wow" she exclaimed "I never thought microwaves could be so dangerous!"
"Ever had one?"
"We are not that primitive in Wutai, Mister Captain Tuesti!" the ninja countered, pretending to be offended by the pun
Cade laughed.
The pilot applied a slight correction to the route, following the leader of the pack. The vessels now flew parallel to the cliff. All of a sudden it was heavily shaken by a fierce crosswind. Soon it became the most urging concern of the pilots, who now had to negotiate the gusts rocking their crafts
"It's going to be a rocky landing, Sir!" the pilot warned Cade through the headset "Better tell your man to strap into!"
"Roger that!" Cade replied, as he was trying himself not to get trashed on the passengers' compartment floor. He managed to fast his seatbelt. He gave a quick look at his right where Yuffie sat, already strapped to the seat and stiffly adherent to her place
"Doing fine?" he asked her
"Like a ride on a rollercoaster" she smiled
"Good…"
"Except I hate rollercoasters!" she added
"Maybe you'll get to like them after we will land safely" Cade told her
"Let's see…" she concluded
"I'm going to take you to the Golden Saucer, if you manage not to throw up. What do you say?" he offered
"I thought you had other plans for the future, dating-wise…" Yuffie made him notice
"Come on" Cade waived his hand "It's for the sake of our newly established friendship"
"Well, then maybe…" Yuffie conceded
"How about a foursome" he added "When you'll meet your own half…"
A powerful jolt nearly made him bite a chunk of his tongue away.
Cade turned to the men of his platoon, which had already secured themselves "Don't worry about a thing!" he shouted "If there's one thing that I've learned, is that hard landings make the pilots pull off their best. Just mind not to bang your heads while we land…"
He was interrupted by a sudden jolt when the helicopter was caught in a turbulence. Beside him, Yuffie visibly fought against a dry heave
"Hey" Cade remarked "Don't do that. Not while we're still onboard. Remember the ride…!"
"Jeez" Yuffie moaned "That's why I hate flying…"
"If that consoles you, I'm not doing that much good myself"
"I appreciate your humanity" Yuffie replied, as she let her head shake around while her body stood still. Thankfully soon the craft flew past the turbulence and the cruise resumed as smoothly as it could be.
"Hawk Leader to all Hawk helicopters" a broadcast came in. Cade recognized that voice. It was Brad
"All right" Cade exulted "Enters the Monster!"
"We have spotted the landing zone!" Brad continued, via radio "Proceed to perform the landing sequence. Hawk 1 will be first, touching ground on the northern corner of the plateau. Hawk 2, 3 and 4 will land at the eastern, southern and western corner respectively…"
"Hawk 3, roger!" the pilot chimed. Cade could hear him both on the headset and right behind his own back
"So we are number three, then…" Yuffie murmured, as the vessel gently turned toward a wide opening right on the edge of the cliff
"Is it important?" Cade enquired
"No, not at all" Yuffie denied "Even better than being number four…"
"So you are superstitious!" Cade poked her
"Me? Just a bit" she conceded "Just to enjoy the funniest part of it. Not an inch more than what is necessary"
"I admit I find it amusing at times" Cade laughed "You know, once a sergeant confided me that he had never washed his jockstrap because he thought ticks brought good luck"
Yuffie made a disgusted grimace "That's not superstition" she complained "that's plain gross!"
A yellow, rotating light went off in the compartment
"All right everyone" Cade stood up, unfastening himself "That's the signal. Once we disembark create a tight perimeter around the helicopter!"
A chorus of 'Yessir!' erupted from the troop. Meanwhile the helicopter was levelling and slowing down
"Look!" Yuffie noted, observing the landscape from the porthole "There's high ground around the landing zone. We'd better send someone on the lookout…"
Cade brushed her hair "There is my second in command!" he proudly declared
"Idiot!" Yuffie smiled as she put away her headset and readied her equipment
"As my second in command brought up to my attention" Cade added "the presence of high ground around the landing zone will bring a slight modification to the plan Who's the chief of the machine gun crew?"
"It's me, Sir!" a soldier raised his hand. He was adjusting a bulky ammo pack to his tactical vest. Two chevrons on his vest denoted him as a corporal
"Good!" Cade exclaimed "Corporal, I need you to take point and find a suitable place to set an observation point over the higher ground behind our landing zone. Can you do that?"
"Of course, Sir!" the corporal enthusiastically replied
"Terrific!" Cade gave a thumb up "Get three men with you. I'll be on the radio!"
"Everyone else" he continued "Stay at a convenient distance from the helicopter. Don't loose sight of your comrades. Visibility is good but better be cautious!"
"What about me?" Yuffie asked, pulling his vest
"You stick to me!" he said "As I told you!"
"Good" Yuffie replied
"Hawk 1, we are on the ground!" a broadcast spoke
"Infantry units" Brad came in "You are cleared to disembark and switch to defensive formation once on the ground. Wait for our crew to mark the landing points!"
Cade turned to the cockpit. Through the windshield he could se the other two helicopters still afloat and the other one on the ground., barely noticeable against the white backdrop. There was snow everywhere, save for the spots where rocks protruded from the ground. His tactical mind was already laying out a convenient array of defensive position.
Suddenly an orange flare went off on the ground, emitting a plume of the same colour over the sky.
"That's our in" the pilot commented "The flare down there!"
"I'll get the crew ready" Cade said
"We're descending now. Should be easy" the co-pilot told him "No more damned cross-winds at last. They piped down!"
"That's a good news!" Cade concluded
The door servant unlocked the hatch. As the helicopter began his descent the soldiers stood up, in full battle dress. A freezing stream of air and snow particles again flooded the compartment. Yuffie thanked her uniform for providing even the slightest amount of heath to prevent her from drowning in that invisible yet tangible sea of ice and cold air.
"Logistic crews, unload the materiel and gather them at the centre of the landing zone. Proceed as instructed, letter by letter!" Brad ordered via radio
"Listen to that" Cade gaily commented "Sounds like someone who actually knows what is he doing!"
The helicopter touched ground, snow cracking under the landing gears and swept away by the vortex created by the rotating blades. The yellow light turned read and steady. An alarm rang and, as the door servant firmly pulled it by the handles, the hatch was fully disclosed
"I'll take point. Follow instructions and this will be over sooner that you think" Cade shouted "Now… GO!"
As the platoon made a perimeter around the helicopter, Cade noted that a further chopper was descending right in the middle of the opening
"That is our catering service" he explained to Yuffie, who was running beside him towards a point in the centre of the yet makeshift defensive perimeter. Temperature was still below average and descending again, now that the day had gone past its warmest part.
Soon all the other platoons followed suit around their respective crafts.
2.
The landing zone, a circular, levelled, snow-clad meadow in the middle of a forge between two steep hills, was bustling with activities: soldiers were running to the positions their officers where assigning them, trying to shape off a suitable defensive perimeter. The logistic crew were witnessing the landing of a further freight helicopter and were amassing materiel, containers and vehicles in the middle of the plain. Aircrews were busy wrapping their crafts into thermally-insulated tents in order to prevent the cold from knocking them out.
Cade stared at the orange-painted snowcats being unloaded. Something seemed strange to him. He did not remember any mention about the use of vehicles on the operational theatre, apart from the helicopters. It was meant to be a foot-and-air affair only
"Vehicles?" he muttered to himself
Yuffie caught wind of him being surprised
"Something wrong?" she asked
"Nothing, it's just…" he paused, trying to concentrate both on the snowcats and trying to keep an eye on the barely noticeable grey-dressed soldiers scattered around the field
He voiced his concern "I did not remember anyone saying anything about deploying vehicles"
"Maybe it's a last-minute change of plans" the ninja guessed
"Maybe you are right…" Cade pondered, eyes fixed on the business of personnel roaming around the huddle of containers and boxes
"Or maybe they mentioned it and you were asleep…" she joked
Cade gave her a crooked look
"Sorry!" Yuffie calmly apologized "I was just trying to ease your stress!"
"Ah" Cade changed expression "Well, then thank you"
A voice cracked through the radio
"All platoon leaders, regroup next to the materiel collection point to receive further instructions"
"Jeez" Cade complained "Brad is an endless sequence of briefings!"
"Are you going, then?" Yuffie asked
"Of course" he answered "You take command of the platoon!"
"And what should I do?" Yuffie frantically asked again, feeling all of a sudden the weight of the responsibility
"It's easy!" Cade assured her "If someone pops up, they will ask for permission to open fire. Judge if it is the case and tell them to fire"
"You make it look to damn easy!" Yuffie protested
"Don't worry, I'll be away for less than a minute"
Cade threw a device at Yuffie "I already got a radio" she pointed out
"This one is set on a ghost frequency" he explained "I'd better keep a secret channel with you. We're here for a reason, after all…"
"That's very wise of you" Yuffie marvelled
"Use that one to contact me for… private conversations!" Cade winked, as he turned to reach Brad next to the peck of boxes and containers.
Yuffie stood there for a while, the secondary radio in her hand. She looked around her. The landscape was ghastly: white everywhere, and the soldiers barely visible.
Besides, she remembered, the MPM could pop up and turn a difficult excursion into the wilderness into a hellish fire fight. Her skin grew goose-bumps as the thought of having to fend off enemies in that circumstance crossed her mind
'Yuffie Kissaragi, get your shit back together. You are the princess of Wutai, white rose, champion of blah blah blah' she thought, as she regained her composure and started carefully scanning the horizon looking for anything that looked misplaced.
She knelt and gave a friendly pat at her shuriken on her back, as if it was a puppy, rather than a deadly craft of steel.
Reassured by the integrity of her equipment and by the self-awareness of her fighting prowess, she patiently waited for the turn of events
'If only Godo could see me here…' she thought, amused.
Cade adjusted his pace to the thick layer of snow on the ground and quickly reached the place where Brad, his second in command, four other officers and the ten members of the scientific team were waiting the major to brief them.
"All right everyone!" Brad erupted, not even minding Cade "As you have already been told, platoon A and B will descend with the scientific team. You will provide cover and help transport the Mako up here with the winch the logistic team is installing"
"Platoon C and D will continue to stand on guard up here!" he continued "If there are no questions, I'll appoint Captain Cavers here as interim commander of the force here in the landing zone!"
"I have a question, actually…" Cade raised his hand. Brad Clawbourne apparently got rid of his bullish manner but Cade feared that every chance was good to bullshit him in front of the entire troop. He could only hope that his question would not cause a general laughter.
Apparently Brad stood in silence waiting for the question. Cade took his silence as a tacit permission
"What's the reason for those vehicles there?" he made a gesture toward the snowcats
After a brief pause, Brad answered. As the major moved his lips Cade braced for the impact with a wall of derision. It never came, though
"The headquarter earmarked a couple of vehicles as a last resort measure, if the prompt evacuation of the theatre is requested"
That was his answer. Clear, clean and cut. The bliss of command had surely altered his personality
"Anyway, Captain Tuesti" Brad bitterly added "Next time wait for your superior's permission to speak, before speaking yourself!"
Someone chuckled. It was still Brad, after all. Cade didn't know if being even more frightened or rejoice upon that
"No more questions? Good, get your platoons to follow me!" Brad ordered, as the designated officer began walking towards the place were the engineers had set up a scaffolding where to board the winch. The scientific team, recognizable by being the only ones with orange overalls on their uniform trailed after them.
Cade stopped a figure by pulling her arm
"Get your ponytail inside the hood or it will tangle up in the pulley!"
Kayla smiled behind her scarf and the goggles. She briefly caressed Cade's hand as she departed.
Caver's voice shook him from his momentarily stasis
"Platoon leaders, back to your positions. Double time!"
He turned toward the place were Yuffie was standing low in the snow
"Thank the Maker you are here!" she sighed in relief as he appeared next to her
"How was your first experience of command?" he asked
"Brief but intense"
"Something did show up?"
"Nothing at all.."
Cade quickly scoped the surroundings. Not a thing was moving on the horizon, except for the flapping, brightly coloured tents and some soldier adjusting his position. He embraced his rifle.
It was mostly calm now. The wind was slowly calming down but its whistle still chilled the both of them. It was the only sound they could hear.
No wonder they were quite startled when a voice came in Cade's radio
"Captain, this is Corporal Gaines, over"
"Fuck!" Yuffie exclaimed, jumping
"Why so jumpy?" Cade mocked her, although he got pretty scared as well. There was tension in the air.
"You are not the embodiment of calm so shut up!" she replied, visibly shook up
Cade shook his head as he reached for the radio "Captain Tuesti, come in Gaines, over!"
"We have set up the observation point, over!"
"Roger that. Your position, over?"
"South, southwest of yours, over"
Yuffie passed him the binoculars. Cade pointed them in the direction Gaines told him. After focusing the lenses, he could now spot a figure in the distance waiving at him. Gaines and his team were perched on a bump on a hill at the feet of the mountain rising at the western flank of the landing zone and had burrowed in a dugout.
Back at the centre, the logistic crew was deploying tarpaulins to shelter themselves beside the containers.
"All platoons report in" Cavers ordered by radio
"Platoon C" Cade answered back "Situation nominal!"
"Platoon D" the commander of the formation echoed "Situation nominal here too!"
Cade switched frequency "Gaines, report!" he ordered
"Gaines here, Sir. Nothing to report!"
"Roger" Cade replied "Keep your eyes peeled!"
After he closed the communication, the area fell into its characteristic eerie silence again. Windmills of snow danced over the ground every now and then, accompanied by the howls of the wind
"No wonder people get mad in this kind of place…" Yuffie considered
"Am I wrong or is it the second time, at least, that you visited this place?" Cade enquired
"You're not wrong at all" Yuffie proudly answered "That's my second time here. Spot on!"
"Not enough to get used to it, I guess"
"It would take a lifetime to get used to this place" Yuffie said, turning his head to the giant cloud formation where the extraction team and its escort had disappeared into "but I doubt it would be worth the while!" she continued
"You know, on the way to the Galea's Cliff there's a man, an elderly who was an avid climber when he was a couple of springs younger…" Cade told her
"You mean Mr. Holzoff?" Yuffie asked
"Don't tell me you know him as well…"
"Of course I do" she told him "We even stopped by his cabin on our way here…"
"So much for having a conversation" he scoffed
"Were you trying to have a conversation? For real?" she marvelled
"I suppose so"
"Well, there are a million other things to talk about…"
"Then pick one" he invited her
Yuffie thought upon which topic bring to the discussion. Obviously there was only one thing she meant to ask him. She tried her luck
"Cade" she tentatively asked "Why do you hate this place?"
Cade sighed and closed his eyes. Obviously Yuffie could not ask but one thing, on second thoughts. He tried to come up with a decent excuse to swerve that question once again but he failed to conjure up something decent.
Eventually, he gave up hiding what he had meant to tell her later on, anyway
"First of all, I don't hate this place" he began, eyes staring in front of him "I love it, to be honest. I like this cold, this blistering, chilling cold. And I love these mountains. I love the perilous paths winding between the vales, and the frozen lakes and streams running at the bottom of the glens. The mountain is a place no one can fully understand but the chosen few are bound to… fall in love with it"
Yuffie gazed in awe as Cade had pulled out that piece of amateurish yet touching poetry
"Sounds like you are one of these chosen ones" she commented
"Well" he replied "it's kind of easier to be one of them if you were born and raised here…!"
Yuffie tried to sound surprised at the best of her acting potential. Which was not very high, but she had to conceal the fact that she already knew whatever Cade was about to disclose
"You mean… that you were born…"
"I was born in Icicle Inn, yes" Cade finished her sentence "Quite a harsh place to grow up but eventually it teaches you a lot of things. Of course" he laughed "I went to school like more or less everyone else!"
"And why were you so… distressed by the idea of coming back here?"
"I lost my parents" Cade sharply told her. No metaphors, no figures of speech nor convoluted sentences. Plain and simple talk. He felt like a block of concrete had been lifted from his stomach. He realized that it was somehow all part of the process of opening up, of becoming someone better than he was the day before, as Reeve liked to express it. Someone who had the temper and the maturity of being more open to the people around him. It was a small step in the eye of a random therapist but for Cade, it was a giant leap: it was the first time in years that he talked about his past with someone.
And that someone was a small, feisty, Wutaian princess with whom he had been on a collision course since the day he met her.
Life was indeed strangely and oddly beautiful
"I see" Yuffie lowered her eyes. Instead of showing surprise, she felt a sense of sadness as she recalled the images which had rose in her mind as Reeve had told her the entire story
"Don't worry, it was a long time ago…" Cade assured her
"Who cares" Yuffie replied "It must have been hard anyhow. I mean both of them…"
"Yep" Cade nodded, his face for the first time devoid of its usual joviality. The joviality that Yuffie had come to appreciate, finally "It was a damned accident" he added
'Shinra cold-bloodedly murders you parent and razes your house to the ground and you call it an accident? That's some forgiveness you have, dear boy' she thought. Of course, Yuffie knew that probably she was reaching a point were she could not progress. Cade had somehow set a limit on the amount of information he could give away for today
"You know" Yuffie continued "I can relate, at least to some extent…"
"Uh?"
"I lost my mom, too. When I was little…"
"I'm sorry…" Cade consoled her
"Never mind" the ninja slightly smiled at him
"Do you remember her?" he asked, after a brief hiatus in the conversation
"Surprisingly well, for being a seven-year-old kid back then" Yuffie recalled the image of her mom, probably the most beautiful human being on the face of Gaia
'Evenly paired with you, Aerith. Of course…'
And the days when they would sod the entire kitchen and get busy preparing the water-cakes for the Da Chao matsuri.
Or the days when her mother would take her for a stroll down the avenues of Wutai during springtime, with the cherry trees blossoming and paving the street wit their pink fallen petals.
And ultimately, the days when her mom ceased all of this and stayed secluded in the wing of the pagoda where the illness slowly chewed her life away.
And the day, the only day when he saw her father crying.
A small tear ran on her cheek. She whiskered it away, not without a sigh
Cade, without uttering a word, passed his arm around her shoulders, getting her closer to him. A symbolic hug between two people who had lost something significant in her life
"Sorry" she apologized sighing "I can't help it…"
"It's all right" he cut her short
After a while, Yuffie chased the blues away. She regained her smile while Cade reported twice that nothing strange or peculiar had been sighted or was happening
"And what do you remember about your parents?" she dared to ask as she felt like a key barrier had been torn down. Cade in fact seemed quite content to give her an answer
"Oh, nothing much" he responded, with a smile growing on his face "You know in Icicle Inn you either work your ass trying to grow potatoes in the snow or you build a snowman if you grow bored of hunting. I guess they fit the stereotype pretty much…"
It was far from being an award-winning joke but Yuffie burst out laughing. Thank the Maker a gust of wind muffled her cry otherwise she would have alerted a nervous infantryman in the vicinity, eager to get a kill. Cade followed suit, amused by Yuffie's reaction.
"Sorry, I really can't help myself…" Yuffie said, her laughter fading and wiping away tears of joy from her eyes
"Don't worry, again" Cade replied
Their eyes met. His green eyes static upon her brown ones, gleaming with tears. Contemplating her young, fresh and blissful visage. Something beautiful both when she was smiling both when she was crying. He felt a fire within
'Oh, no!' he thought 'I've stayed a bachelor for a thousand of years and then all of a sudden I'm having it both ways…'
On her side, Yuffie thought pretty much the same. She had taken her time to admire a strong, resolute and relentless man but with a humanity stemming from a past of pain and suffering which, instead of turning him a monster, made him become a gentle, caring and lovable spirit
'Damn it' she pondered 'He is cute and fun and all… but I would never take him away from Kayla. Not after I met her. If only I had met you before…'
Bang!
A shot echoed in the air.
They reached for their weapon as they rolled on their belly and as they tried to locate where it came from. The echo of the bang made the entire process difficult
"Do you see anything?" he asked
"Not a damn thing!" she replied
"Cavers here!" Brad's deputy shouted on the radio "What happened? Platoon leaders report in!"
"It came from Tuesti's side, Sir" the platoon D commander radioed in
"Oh, listen that smart dumbass" Cade grinned "Why don't you tell us how many loop-de-loops that fucking bullet made in the air, uh?"
"Tuesti, give me a sit-rep!" Cavers ordered
"No joy, Sir" Cade replied "I have negative contact. I'll try to reach out for whomever might have shoot!"
He promptly switched frequency. Beside him, Yuffie's pupils were nearly as wide as her eyes as her heart ran a race to beat the record of its peak frequency
"Gaines, please tell me who did shoot to what!" Cade said, with a voice loaded to the brink with apprehension
"Errm… it was a mistake, Sir" Gaines nervously replied on the radio "Our gunner must have mistake a hare for an enemy unit, Sir!"
'Holy Fucking Gaia!' Cade swore in his head. Yuffie nearly collapsed upon hearing those words.
Cade fought against the instinct of unleashing a stream of bullets in the direction of Gaines, with the hope of at least wounding him. He cooled down after a few intense second of self-crafted meditation
"It's all right Gaines" he finally said "Just ease off that happy-go-round trigger finger, won't you?"
"Yes Sir, I'm sorry Sir. Out!" the corporal concluded
"Did you hear, Sir?" Cade asked Cavers, after shifting frequency again
"Understood" cavers replied "To all unit, false alarm. Mistaken identity. Return to previous battle condition. Over!"
Cade sit back. Yuffie brushed the snow off her uniform
"Damn kids and their over-sized toys…" he complained
"Come on" she countered him "You must have made a blunder yourself some time…"
"Not while I was on a mission to save the world…" he pointed out, as his gaze wandered throughout the entire landing zone, as a habit. His eyes got stuck on a strange scene, taking place next to the makeshift hut were the materiel had been gathered.
He tapped Yuffie on the shoulder. The ninja turned towards where Cade's eyes where pointing at.
Two men were dragging a box out under the tarpaulin. Soon they were joined by two other man. The crate was opened.
One of them started handing the content to each of his comrades.
They were dark, smooth elongated pipes.
He turned towards Yuffie.
Yuffie nodded, in a painful slow motion.
Her face was just as astonished as his.
Cade could not decide what to grab first.
The radio or the rifle.
It was too late, eventually.
3.
In a matter of seconds even, the last helicopter was turned into a fireball that quickly dissolved, scattering pieces of flaming steel all around. Whoever stood still inside the crafts was killed instantly.
It all started when one of the man emerging from the tent aimed at one of the helicopter with his rocket launcher: the projectile streaked across the air leaving a plum of smoke behind it.
The sound of the explosion pierced the relatively quiet landscape of the Galea's Cliff. Soon the other soldiers who were handed the other piece of weaponry did the same and wiped out the other choppers too.
Cade first thought went to Reeve and the WRO headquarters. They had to be alerted that the MPM had struck. He quickly ran through the files in his brain looking for a way to contact at least the outpost at Icicle Inn.
He needed a long distance radio.
One was in the hands of Brad Clawbourne, which was down in the crater…
"Cade!" Yuffie shouted, interrupting his train of thoughts "Get the radio and warn whoever might be listening to us down there!"
Good idea. Why he did not think of that before? He'd better be doing that himself rather than wait for Cavers to wake up and message Brad.
But first he needed to take cover, as many other soldiers where coming from the containers, this time armed with assault rifles.
Cade acted way faster this time. He held his rifle and took aim. A double tap knocked the one trying to get rid of his launcher
"Run behind the wreckage!" he ordered her "And take the radio with you, I'll have you covered!"
Around the encampment at the centre of the landing zone, puffs of snow were lifted in the air as bullets started raining. Cade's platoon had begun to return fire.
Yuffie jumped in his feet and took the radio from Cade's belt, as he jumped behind a heap of snow. The ninja made a dash towards the wreckage. She strafed with her submachine gun, forcing a couple of soldier to desist form firing form an uncovered position. Cade leant on the heap of snow and started picking whomever was sticking his head out. A soldier was killed as a salvo hit him right in the chest, another one was wounded in his leg and limped back behind the tarpaulin.
Cade looked behind him. Muzzle flashes were erupting as the platoon fired on the turncoat soldiers. They enjoyed the advantage of higher ground. They were the least of their concern
"Cade!" Yuffie shouted on the ghost frequency. Cade nearly forgot he had that device "Run! They are reloading!"
He jumped up and ran as fast as he could towards the totalled helicopter. Clouds of snow erupted between his feet. He felt grateful for the horrible aim those soldiers had.
The cracks of the rifles became more intense as the whole party joined the one soldier who was firing at Cade.
'Damn! What if he doesn't make it?' Yuffie though. She threw away the empty clip of her submachine gun and swiftly replaced with a new one. She decided to play the surprise effect card.
She grabbed an arm of her shuriken and years and years of intense training came to their fruition as she instinctively spun on herself hurling the four-pointed blade in the air.
The powerful throw sent the shuriken gliding. The spinning motion made it take a gentle turn rightward. For a moment, it seemed as if Yuffie had overshot her target. The MPM soldier, initially fazed by the appearance of that object over their heads, resumed firing at Cade.
Then physic or magic, or a convenient combination of the twos made the impossible happen: the shuriken reached the apex of its trajectory, then it descended gaining even more speed and energy than before. Four soldiers had came off their shelter to gun Cade down. They turned towards the descending blade as it came down on them.
Three of them ducked just in time.
The fourth was nearly decapitated when the blades hit him right at the root of the neck. He was thrown on the grown in the middle of a rapidly expanding stain of bright, red blood.
And finally the shuriken headed right towards the burning skeleton of the helicopter, landing right behind it in the steadfast catch of the Great Ninja of Wutai.
Meanwhile Cade had closed the gap between him and the cover.
He slid next to Yuffie
"If I had not seen it with my eyes" he commented "I'd say that that stuff must be powered or what!"
"One hundred and ten percent Wutaian expertise!" Yuffie winked
"Have you contacted Brad?"
"All channels are nothing but static…" she shook her head
It was true, all frequencies were broadcasting nothing but white noise. The MPM had more than a trick upon its sleeve
"Their aim sucks but surely they know how to make up for it" he commented, shaking the radio
"What do we do know?" Yuffie asked
Cade took a peek. Apparently the band of MPM soldiers that had emerged from the makeshift logistic encampment had been pinned down by the suppressing fire from the platoon Cade led
"Maybe if it's just those punks, we could outflank them! Our platoon is doing a decent job pinning them down…" Yuffie pondered
"I'm afraid it's not just them…!" Cade warned her.
Right now a sudden realization struck him. In the heath of the confrontation he had not realized that platoon D had not fired a single shot. What was holding them?
It couldn't be more cleared than that.
He swore, punching the frame of the helicopter.
"What's happening?" Yuffie asked
"Fucking platoon D is on their payroll as well!"
"What do you mean?" Yuffie asked, face aghast. Unnecessary question. She perfectly knew what he meant.
"So what do we do know?" Yuffie asked again
For the first time in his life as a WRO officer, Cade found himself against a wall. It was indeed a tight spot. His mind was frantically trying to recall a similar situation he had gone trough in his operational history but he was in uncharted territory.
Isolated, betrayed and with no means of communication. And with a reserved seat in death row.
Come on, there had to be an escape.
"Look!" Yuffie exclaimed relieved "Platoon D is closing in!"
Cade curiously but carefully popped his head out to observe the situation. Apparently, platoon D was descending upon the centre of the meadow. Some of his elements were lagging behind providing cover fire for the remainder soldiers closing in on the container huddle in a crescent-like formation.
"Did we just had luck on our side today?" Cade let these words escape his mouth.
Yuffie did not reply. She watched as, unbelievably given the way events had just unfolded up to seconds ago, soldiers of platoon D were ordered to cease fire. In a matter of seconds the MPM party was completely surrounded.
Cavers walked through the line of WRO soldiers, his weapon hoisted
"Drop your guns!" he shouted "Come out, hands where we can see them!"
The rest of the platoon C was quickly descending to join the capture of the saboteurs. Yuffie made a gesture to Cade as if to invite him to come out of the shelter and reunite with the rest of the platoon.
The moment they were both clearly visible, the events took another unexpected turn.
This time for the worst.
4.
Bullets ricocheted on the wreckage of the helicopter as Cade and Yuffie again took shelter behind it.
The platoon led by Cavers had aimed their guns at them the moment they made the mistake of emerging from their cover .
By then, they should have realized that the plot was bigger than they could expect. But, of course, now they had hindsight.
They stood crouched on the melted, dirt snow next to the burning steel phantom of the helicopter as Cavers had just instructed his men to wipe out the remainder of platoon C, which had came out thinking that all the saboteurs had been finally rounded up by their counterparts. No one of the soldiers who had shared the ride on the chopper with Yuffie and Cade made it out alive from that unexpected barrage of bullets.
Paranoia was never an effective ally of a soldier on a battlefield. But this time it could have helped.
"Damn it!" Yuffie cried "Treacherous bastards…" In the distance the moaning of the slain WRO soldiers faded out in the mild blizzard. Right! To make matters worst, Cade could tell that the weather was worsening.
"We've been screwed…" Cade shook his head
"You two!" Cavers erupted "Get out of there. It's all over now!"
'Not in a million years' Yuffie thought
"Cavers!" Cade shouted "You bastard son of a bitch! How will you explain all this?"
Cavers grinned "I'm not obliged to explain a damn thing, Tuesti!" he shouted "I'm simply being ordered to apprehend you! If you comply, you'll be able to see the grand design behind all this"
'And what about Yuffie?' Cade thought. Did they plan to simply kill her and let live just himself for whatever purpose they had in mind?
"I'll be alright… in one way or another" she gently murmured, as she could read his mind.
Cade shook his head. Sure thing, he was not letting anyone else be killed by some crooked terrorist today. Seeing his platoon being annihilated by a backstabber and a gang of turncoats was enough a dent on his pride as soldier and officer
Yuffie grew a surprised look "Do you have something in mind?" she asked
"Of course I do. I bet my ass that there's fuel among the stuff down there" he explained his plan, pointing at the stack of containers "If only we could ignite that combustible, the explosion could distract them enough for us to get to a more convenient spot… Or maybe even knocking them down, if the Gods are smiling upon us!"
"Good. So where do you plan to run after they'll have turned their heads?" the ninja enquired
Cade looked around. The barren landscape offered few hideouts. Then the winch caught his attention
"Why not that stuff?" he offered
Yuffie took a look at the winch. Of course if the only option was going down, let it be
"Will it bear the two of us?" she questioned
"It's our only chance" Cade sighed "At least we will have a chance to get down and warn the others…"
"Provided they don't have betrayed us too…"
"All of them?"
"Not all of them, of course…"
Cade knew that Yuffie was right. If an entire platoon had gone rogue up here, no wonder what could have happened in the crater. He could only hope that someone had fled the scene and took a good cover if something similar had unfolded at the bottom of the cliff too.
He could only hope that Kayla was safe…
Kayla!
His eyes widened as a thousand alarms rang in unison.
Despite the cold, sweat began spurting from every pore of his skin. His head was about to spin out of control. A wave of fear surged in his body and made him temporarily lost the sensibility of his limbs. Cade seldom lost control of his instincts but when it happened, it was like a dam failing to contain a reservoir
"Hey, don't panic now. I need you sane!" Yuffie urged him, shaking him by the shoulders
"All right!" Cavers shouted, angrily "Ten seconds from now. After that we will simply blow this place out!"
"Ten!" he began counting down
"Kayla is down there…" Cade whispered
"Damn it!" Yuffie swore. The realization struck her almost as fiercely as it had hit Cade. How could she forgot that?
"Nine!"
"We have to move fast!" Cade told her
"Are you sure your plan will work?" she asked him
"Eight!"
"You just think about hitting that huddle with the rifle…" he said, passing her his assault rifle
"Seven!"
"I've got something more effective…" Yuffie grinned
"What?"
"Six!"
Yuffie reached for a leather pocket on her belt. Cade had never noticed that pouch. As Yuffie removed the flap, a small glow emerged from that hoist
"Materia!" she explained, holding a small, bright, reddish goblet "Fire Materia, to be precise…"
"I confide in you!" Cade told her
"Five!"
Yuffie placed that goblet over a set of smaller shurikens she held in the palm of her hand. The materia sunk in the blades, as they turned red. They must have been hot like thousands of degrees, judging by the glow. Yuffie showed no distress as she kept holding them, though
"Four!"
"So I just have to hit the stuff over there…" she asked, peeping amidst the beams of the fuselage
"Right!" Cade nodded "I'll try to take them as close as I can to the explosion"
"Three"
"Hey!" Yuffie caught Cade attention as he prepared to emerge "She's all right…" she simply said, caressing his arm. Cade nodded.
There was nothing else he could wish for
"Two!" Cavers made a gesture to a man holding a rocket launcher. The man aimed at the wreckage
"One!" Cavers grinned triumphantly. Even if Tuesti was eventually killed, his apprehension rather than assassination was merely a bonus. The plan had succeeded, eventually. And Cavers was secretly glad he did not have to deal with babysitting someone so hideous and unbearable such as Director Tuesti's nephew
"All right! I surrender.." Cade shouted, emerging
"You TWO surrender!" Cavers corrected him "Take the ninja with you!"
"What are you going to do? Kill her?"
"Why do you care?"
"His father is pretty vengeful, you know…" he said, with perfect aplomb
Cavers grinned. Behind the wreckage, Yuffie couldn't help but smile at his unwavering sense of humour. It was truly something uplifting, even in the direst of the situations
"Don't make me change my mind over your fate, Cade!" Cavers angrily threatened him "You two, get him!" he ordered
"Get ready behind there!" he shouted as he started running towards the centre of the opening. Some soldiers opened fire, missing him
"Don't shoot if you didn't aim first, fuckheads!" Cavers shouted, as a couple of soldiers had to get on the ground to avoid the volley of bullets and being caught in the crossfire
"Try not to kill him! I want that asshole alive!" he added. It had become a matter of principles now. On second thought, death would have been too merciful an act for someone like him. Torture was way better off.
Cade ran across the field, looking over his shoulder making sure that the bulk of the enemy platoon followed him, dragging them close to the materiel stack. The soldiers made some steps in his direction, beginning to fall in his trap. He raised his arm
"Now! Do it now!" he shouted
"Do what?" Cavers wondered, as he momentarily put his weapon down, puzzled by Cade's order.
From behind the wreckage, Yuffie leapt into the air, springing on the remains of the chopper. She unleashed the Fire Materia-soaked shurikens in mid air
"It's that pesty ninja again!" Cavers grunted
As she touched ground, she capered in the air yet again to dodge the bullets. Upon touching ground for the second time, the shurikens hit their target.
They were powerful enough to penetrate the aluminium sheet of a container which contained barrels of fuel for the snowcats, as they had correctly guessed. The Fire Materia ignited as it came into contact with the fuel. The luckiest shot in her entire life, as she came to consider beholding the fireball that ensued a split second later.
The entire huddle was engulfed by the explosion. Debris and flaming pieces of steel and aluminium were thrown all around at nearly supersonic speed. The Fire Materia had also a secondary effect, which surprised even Yuffie: upon igniting with the aluminium it encountered along the way it produced a massive and blinding bowl of light. Thankfully she was both sheltered by the deadly rain of metal shards, which had been absorbed by one of the snowcats that stood on the way, and by the blinding flash as she was lying prone on the ground.
Most of the soldiers, instead, had been either knocked out by the flash, by the shockwave or both. A good number of them, besides, found themselves with chunks of metal inside their bodies, only to collapse and slowly being led to death upon discovering it. The speed and momentum of the shards was too much even for their tactical vest to bear. It ripped apart their uniforms like butter.
To his shock and disgust, Cavers witnessed his weapon fall to the ground with his hand still on the stock. The gruesome sight left him speechless. He joined his men lying on the ground, while the snow was becoming red tainted with their blood.
The thunderous explosion waned, restoring the place to its silence. The oncoming blizzard filled the air as the latter regained his spot after being thrust away by the explosion.
Yuffie raised her head. The place had finally turned into a battlefield, as Reeve feared. And probably no one had yet alerted the HQ back in Edge.
She quickly stood up, running in the direction were she had last seen Cade. Soon she spotted him, sprawled on the ground, his helmet being knocked off the head.
As she got closer, she opened her mouth in shock as she noticed a sizeable pool of blood next to him
"Cade!" she shook him "Wake up! Please!"
She took a closer look at the wound. Apparently a chunk of metal had flown though his arm, leaving a gushing wound which was already closing, surprisingly. Nevertheless he had lost quite an amount of blood.
"Cade!" she shouted, hoping that the wound she saw was the only one. She could see spots on the back of his vest, were bullets had hit but had stopped on the outer layer of his bulletproof suit.
As she could not get an answer, she reached for her pouch again, looking for a Heal Materia. As she dipped his hand, Cade regained consciousness (wherever he had lost it) and grabbed her arm
"Save your Materia for later…" he said, sputtering the snow that got in his mouth. His face twisted as, along the senses, pain came kicking in again
"You got nearly maimed by a shard! Let me take care of it…" Yuffie offered
"No!" he fend her off swinging his arm. He got up, trying to counter the piercing sensation coming from the stressed arm. He finally managed to raise , knees on the ground. He let out a cry of pain as he squeezed his wound
"Damn it, Cade!" Yuffie angrily protested "Let me take care of it! There's no need to play the hero now!"
"Who cares about a shallow cut!" he told her. He scooped a handful of snow and poured on the wound
"That's not going to work and you know it…" Yuffie scolded him
"Again, who cares?" he replied as he finally managed to stand up. He collected his weapon from the ground and took a quick look around. The destroyed helicopters were still burning. The centre of what it was the landing zone was occupied by a giant pyre of fire, slightly sunk in a shallow crater. Bodies were scattered around everywhere.
How it could be?
An entire platoon, and maybe even more than that, who had turned to the enemy? Who else was about to betray them?
"Come on" he said, walking towards the edge of the cliff "Let's make that thing work!" pointing at the winch.
Yuffie followed him, as behind them clouds were covering the sky once again and the wind howled and howled louder and more menacingly.
5.
Thankfully, the winch was still operational. Nobody had tampered with the machinery so at least they still had a mean to return upstairs if they had to. And if they could.
The descent was slow and painfully long. Fear had caught them in a firm yet subtle pinch. Fear of what could happen next. Fear of what they could find.
And as Cade was concerned, fear that Kayla was in danger.
As the platform slowly descended, the Northern Crater revealed its fierce nature even more blatantly. The wind grew more intense and noisy and it dangerously shook the large platform, nearly sending it crashing against the sharp and acuminate rocky spurs of the cliff. The grey, fat cloud was concealing shades of green erupting from the bottom of the basin, due to the high concentration of Mako at the bottom of the pit. Electricity filled the air, as it felt like every droplet of water suspended in the atmosphere could ignite a spark
"So Mako won't be an issue, you say…" Yuffie asked
"At all" Cade replied "Even if so, it would be the last of our concerns"
"Watch out!" Yuffie screamed, as a sudden shear hit the platform, nearly making them loose balance.
As Yuffie and Cade held fast to whatever handhold they could find, they closed the distance between them and the bottom of that hellish pit. Soon they found themselves immersed in a scattered yet thick fog which, at times, made visibility drop to zero.
The rush of the battle had disappeared. They had not uttered a word since pulling the lever that activated the engine of the pulley. They shared pretty much the same feelings, which were crossing their mind like meteors, one sensation after the other one: fear, despair, impatience, apprehension.
Yuffie felt the urge of regaining some humanity after the endless stream of violence that had just occurred on surface. She reached for a handkerchief inside one of her pockets and without even probing for his consent, she tied it around the wound on his arm.
Cade stood still as a statue even while Yuffie symbolically tended to his ailment. Only when the handkerchief was firmly around his bicep, he caressed the place where the dressing had been applied and gave Yuffie a grateful yet faint smile.
Cade's eyes were gleaming, as Yuffie managed to notice even in the dim environment of the crater. He was probably already coming to term that he would have had to see something terrible once at destination. Yuffie had no hope of finding everyone safe and sound either, but her optimistic nature forced her to cultivate and shelter a flicker of hope. At least enough to give her the will to soldier on.
The platform reached the end of the run. The bang it made against the rock awoke them from their mental and physical torpor
"Come on" Cade whispered, hoisting his rifle "Let's search for someone…"
Yuffie nodded and proceeded after him, carefully tying not to lose contact with him. Everything was grey around them, the soil, the rock, their uniform. Even the sky was grey too, although it was higher than ever there.
The only noise was the sound of their footsteps and the explosion when a lightning struck meters away from them, briefly illuminating the scene. Thanks to that, Cade spotted something in the distance. He ran towards it
"Cade, wait!" Yuffie pled, catching up with him.
He knelt next to a body. A body wearing a WRO uniform soaked in blood. It was riddled with bullets and holes on the vest. Yuffie stood silent contemplating the macabre scene unfolding before her eyes.
A plethora of WRO soldiers was scattered on the ground in front of them. Cade, like a scavenging bird, began checking the ones with the orange overalls, leaping from one corpse to another, prey to a frantic urge. Again, Yuffie tried to stick to him, slipping on the spent bullets strewn like corianders across the ground.
Then it happened. Cade stopped by a figure on the ground far away from the rest of the dead WRO personnel. A figure that was clad in orange overalls and that still wore the helmet.
As she came closer herself, Yuffie noted that the figure on the ground had a blonde ponytail slipping from the grip of the helmet.
There her heart shattered into a million pieces. Her legs sprinted enough to join Cade, whose motionless and expressionless face had turned pale like the one of a drowned man. She ungraciously fell next to the young girl laying on the ground.
Cade was staring at Kayla's face. The young scientist seemed like she was peacefully asleep. Her face was angelic and beautiful like any other day, save for the streamlet of blood coming from her mouth.
Cade was holding her body in his arms. His hands had turned plain red as Yuffie noticed that she had been badly pounded by a volley of bullets to her chest.
For some kind of reason, both Cade and Yuffie did not burst into tears.
With an afflatus of life, Kayla opened her blue eyes. She smiled
"Cade…" she murmured, in a low and raspy voice, reaching for his face with her left hand
"You came to save me... eventually!" she managed to whisper. Yuffie could not think that despite being torn up by bullets and being on the verge of life, Kayla was still the embodiment of a sort of angelic being, smiling like a girl beholding a stack of presents the morning on Christmas Day
"Shhh!" Cade pressed a finger on her lips "It's all right. Save your forces. We are taking you somewhere safe!" he added, his words trying to put hope before despair
"I don't think… I don't think I'm going to make it…" Kayla said, closing her eyes as a bout of pain made her grew a grimace on her face
"Kayla, dear!" Yuffie opened his mouth for the first time, tears slowly seeping out of her eyes "Please hold on! Just let me do something…" she offered, reaching for her brown leather pouch.
Kayla laughed, her laughter being interrupted by a fit of cough. She stained Cade's uniform as blood was ejected as she coughed
"I… thank you for… coming" she managed to tell them "I tried to do my best…" she said faintly raising a pistol in her left arm "But I think my best was not enough…"
"You didn't tell me you knew how to shoot…" Cade smiled, for an instant sincerely marvelled by the discovery. His smile hurt Yuffie even more. The effort of a man who was trying to keep grief at bay to summon the strength to carry on.
Like he had done his entire life.
There was so much pain concentrated in such a small pace that, eventually, Yuffie found herself unable to bear it. She burst into tears
"Yuffie, love… please don't…cry!" Kayla comforted her, her hand combing trough the raven hair of the Wutaian ninja "I know… I really wish I… could have known you… better myself!"
Cade's hold of Kayla in his arm became stronger "It's my fault Kay. All of it…" he said, reverting to a nickname he had not used in a while
"I love you" he managed to say, his voice trembling "I always did. But I did not want it to end like this! I did not want to lose you too!"
"Me neither…" she replied, while Yuffie was resting her body on hers, caressing her back while crying "…but life is… strange. And un…predictable!"
"I love you, Cade" she finally said, using her last amount of strength to reciprocate Cade's embrace "Wherever… I shall go I'll keep an eye on you" she declared "and you too… Yuffie. I'll be with you two… always!"
"Now please…" she turned to Cade again "…go and kick that bastard's ass for me too… ok?"
"Sure thing I'll do!" he said, kissing her on the cheek and keeping his mouth pressed on her cold skin as long as he could
"Don't loose faith in yourself…Cade" she whispered, as life slowly but inevitably soared away from her, reaching her loved one with her hand for the last time "You have a great… future before you. Your past… only makes you stronger!"
She closed her eyes and Kayla finally took her path to a long, endless rest.
Cade burst into tears as well, curling on Kayla's lifeless body as if to protect her with his own during her passage to the hereafter, where her soul would have finally met the world such a gentle, kind and selfless being deserved
"I pray that you will have the blessing of being consoled…" Yuffie murmured, joining her hands, as she recalled the words the monks from the Da Chao temple had taught her when her own mother had passed away "May you know in your soul that there is no need to be afraid…"
She raised he head to meet Cade's reddish eyes, filled with tears
"I'm sorry" she whispered
Cade slowly shook his head "She had resisted way past what a human being is allowed to withstand" he said, proudly staring at Kayla and at the gun she had dropped next to her. Her face was again peaceful and dreamy "There was nothing that could have been done…"
Echoing step came from way down the crater. Someone, escorted by a staff or people still wearing WRO uniforms, emerged from the thick fog
"That was something I did not want to miss, for sure!" the man grinned.
Yuffie turned towards the man. She instinctively grabbed Kayla's handgun and aimed at Brad Clawbourne. He was standing there, bloated and with a satisfied look on his face. Beside him, his praetorian guard kept their rifle aimed at Cade and Yuffie. They cocked their weapon as Yuffie hoisted the pistol towards Brad
"Brad Clawbourne" the ninja shouted "I've know you for so little yet you are already the man I hate the most on this fucking planet!"
"So it was you all along, Brad" Cade commented, standing up and calmly revealing himself "I can't say I'm entirely sorry…"
"Why not?" Brad grinned again
"You gave me finally a good reason to kill you…" Cade spat
Brad laughed "The revenge you were looking for, for the entirety of your pitiful life…" Yuffie could not notice that Brad had really turned into the villain of the situation. It was not the bully, obnoxious, jock-like figure he had been so far. He was still obnoxious of course, but his aura was malignant just as the one of a typecast movie villain
"Well" Brad continued "Then why don't you tell your little friend over there to do that on your behalf…"
Cade stood silent, waiting for Yuffie's reaction. It was a very twisted Mexican-standoff: if Yuffie shot Brad, the soldiers would have killed them instantly. If they passed, maybe Brad would have killed them in turn. Or maybe not
"Yuffie" Cade pleaded "Put that thing down. We'd better give up!"
Somehow he felt that being killed was not actually on Brad's schedule. Better safe as prisoner than free spirits in a coffin. At least they still could do something while alive
"Shut up, Cade!" Yuffie countered "It's us or them!"
Brad shook his head "Surprisingly, I'd say I appreciate Cade's line of negotiation. Also because what good is a dead Cade, when I can turn his life into a living hell?"
Cade gave him a suspicious look. Yuffie grew surprised too. Brad stepped aside.
A soldier took his place.
His gun was lifted and he shot.
The flash of the muzzle alarmed Cade. The dimension and the shape of the flash told him that the rifle had been loaded with high-velocity ammo, the ones designed to penetrate materiel and… tactical vest.
The way the rifle was aimed horrified him. The soldier did not aimed at him. He had aimed at Yuffie.
The bullet left the muzzle at nearly supersonic speed, its aerodynamic design piercing through the thin air of the Northern Crater.
It hit Yuffie right at the centre of her chest. The impact, partially absorbed by the vest, made her slightly falter backwards.
The ninja stood for a second with her gaze down her handgun's eyesight. She finally looked down.
A red stain was slowly appearing around a black hole on her bulletproof vest. Unfortunately the Kevlar-made fabric could not stand a chance against the specially designed bullet, which lodged somewhere in her stomach.
She touched her wound and she stared with disbelief at the blood on her hand, starkly contrasting with her skin, now turning almost as white as the snow.
She fell to her knees.
Cade again died a million more times, watching her companion laying on the ground and slowly convulsing because of the pain she felt in her abdomen.
He wanted to shout, or better to die trying to at least bringing Brad with him. He couldn't. Something was restraining him, forcing him to witness that horrendous scene
"History repeats itself, right Tuesti?" Brad mocked him "Twice in a day. That's a personal best I'd say…"
"Fuck you" he quietly replied, a tear forming in his right eye as he could not look away from the Wutaian ninja, twisting her body as the acid juices of her stomach were flooding her abdomen, sending shards of pain after shards of pain. She finally belted out a shriek of pain that hurt Cade just like a katana impaling him
"All right everyone!" Brad sternly addressed his men, walking towards the lift "Enough for today. Let's get out of here and plan a way out…"
As Brad and his party disappeared in the fog, Cade finally rushed towards Yuffie, the ninja crying out loud as she tried not to lose consciousness
"Cade!" she screamed, reaching for his arm and dragging him over her in a fit of strength stemming from her desperation
"I'm here Yuffie" he comforted her, reaching for a space in his vest where he could find the stuff he needed
"Cade, leave me here…" Yuffie pleaded "… get somewhere and tell everyone what happened… you have to stop them" she was interrupted by a fit of pain. She screamed again, bursting into tears as the pain came to be ultimately unbearable.
Cade wanted to cry as well, but he knew he had to be strong for the both of them
"I'll do" he assured her "And you'll be by my side, as you did today!"
Yuffie managed to smile between a grimace and the next one
"Cade…" she said
"Sorry Yuffie" he stopped her, producing a small leather case "I'm too busy trying not to kill you now" He opened it revealing a set of vials and the necessary tools for an IV. He quickly set up the syringe and sucked a few decilitres of adrenaline
"I… always hated… needles" Yuffie confessed
"Don't worry" he assured her "You won't feel a thing!"
In fact, Yuffie did not even flinch while the needle punctured her arm as Cade pressed the content of the syringe into her blood vessels. As the medication quickly kicked in Yuffie began rushing and breathing wildly, as she was feeling air being sucked out of her lungs
"Yuffie don't pass out on me!" he urged her as he lined next to her a set of forceps "Tell me anything!" he invited her
"If I die…" she told him, almost breathless "… tell my father I hated him… And tell him to bury next to my mom…" she cried again out loud. The waves of pain, numbed by the flow of adrenaline, were coming in again relentlessly
"…Oh, I miss her" she began cackling "…really really miss her!"
Yuffie's antics did not impress Cade, as he sweat trying to at least take the bullet out of her body
"Now Yuffie!" he instructed "Get a hold of me… right like that" Yuffie almost hugged him "This will be painful!" he warned
"Go on… I'm immune to pain…" she hysterically laughed
'She is beginning to enter shock' he thought,.
He examined the wound. He opened up her vest and lifter the fleece sweater. The bullet had torn through her clothes which were now soaked in blood
"Hey, are you trying to undress me? Cool?" Yuffie erupted, giggling "No foreplay, huh? Cade Tuesti, the man who does not need to ask…"
Unbelievably Cade started smiling at Yuffie's delirium. At least it was a way to break the tension. He finally reached for Yuffie's brown leathered pouch
"Hey!" she faintly protested "I'm the one who steals Materia!"
"Yuffie! Which one is the Heal Materia?" he asked
"The green one, idiot" she screamed "Wops! I called you idiot!" she swung from anger to despair. After that, she began kicking again to cope with the pain
"All right!" Cade exclaimed "Brace Yuffie! This is going to be bad…"
'Please, don't make me kill her…' he thought, before diving the forceps in the wound.
Yuffie scream was so strong and chilling that even the clouds seemed to open before it.
The princess of Wutai was all messed up with sweat, tears and blood. Cade could not feel the mass of the bullet, so he had to twist the steel tools, causing Yuffie to scream again
"Gawd! Why can't I die?" she protested. Cade shivered at the thought that Yuffie could die there in his arms, just like Kayla had done moments ago
"Because…" Cade patiently explained, as he finally and gratefully felt the forceps closing around the bullet. He began carefully pulling it outside "Because your dad would kill me. I'm not already welcomed in your land, that would be the final straw…"
"That fucking moron" Yuffie grinned, as the bullet emerged from the wound. The hygiene of that would-be theatre was a concern Cade had put aside from the beginning "I hate him" Yuffie continued slurring "I hate him, he is a pompous motherfucker, a control-freak. I wish I could give him the most painful delusion of all his life, because… I'm failed as a daughter" she finally cried
"Yuffie!" Cade told her as he lifted her vest to place the green, bright goblet of Heal Materia over her chest. The sphere slowly disappeared into her wrecked body with a glow
"You are the most courageous, bold, daring and caring human being on Gaia" he continued, as the Heal Materia was slowly making its way into her chest "You are too much of a brat sometimes but… nobody's perfect, right?"
Soon Yuffie's chest was engulfed by an expanding flash of light that grew to engulf Cade as well, forcing in to momentarily let loose of Yuffie's arm to shelter his eyes. Then it disappeared.
Yuffie's chest was anew again. Sure it was bloated and irritated but it seemed that the Materia had worked. Cade sighed and breathed out in relief.
Yuffie lazily opened back her eyes. She stared right into Cade's own. He could read all the distress, the suffering and the fatigue the poor ninja had gone through in the last few minutes
"Cade…" she murmured "Who the fuck did you call a 'brat'?"
Then her head leant back as she gradually passed out.
Cade quickly checked her vitals. After a few seconds he felt relief again as Yuffie had simply slipped out of consciousness. It could have been to the stress of having a bullet extracted from the belly in an environment which was nowhere as near as a field hospital.
He fell on his back next to Yuffie. The princess of Wutai was lying there, amidst the windmills of snow which were beginning to form at the bottom of the crater as well. That meant that the snowstorm up there was rolling out in full force.
He quickly made a resume of the situation: half of the task force deployed to the Northern Crater had gone rogue, half was dead. Yuffie needed proper medical treatment as soon as possible but there was no transportation around. Besides, given the recent events, who knew who he could trust now?
'And nobody knows what happened here' he realized 'We could land in Edge and be executed or arrested upon touching ground. Who knows…'
He took his PHS. It was useless there, as the mobile network was non existent there. He decided to use its special feature for the first time, entering a special code on the keyboard and activating a broadcasting distress beacon towards the Shera. If Cid had turned to the enemy, well then it was all over, for real.
He stared for a while upon Yuffie. Her pale skin was beginning to regain a more healthy-like hue of pink.
With more thoughtlessness than reason in his mind, he took off his vest and put it on Yuffie
"There you go" he said "I thought you could use a bit more warmth…"
Then he loaded Yuffie on her shoulder and made his way towards the winch with nothing on himself apart from a fleece sweater and the heavy duty trousers. He threw a last glance at were Kayla's body was resting. He shook his head. Then he started wondering if the lift was still serviceable.
It would have been quite a walk to reach Mr. Holzoff's cabin.