Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ A Fate Worse Than Death ❯ Chapter 5

Just so this is understood, I don't want reviews where people inform me of this, I know that these are all OOC. I planned them to be this way. It is only a distraction for when I need a break from `Shattered Ice'.

 

This story is supposed to be silly, fluffy, with occasional smut and most definitely OOC. I just wanted to make something that surprises you on every end to make up for the seriousness and angst in my other story.

 

So, the OOC stays. Don't like, don't read.

 

On a happier note, thanks to everyone who is reading and enjoys this story. I never actually thought anyone would like it. I am pleasantly surprised needless to say. THANKS to all!

 

Now Enjoy Chapter 5 and sorry it took awhile.

 

Chapter 5: Some things never change

 

It was a strangely subdued and odd acting group of saviors of the world that gathered in the cockpit of the airship Highwind. Once the emergency alarms went off all over the ship everyone was forced to come there to understand what the hell was going on. Unfortunately they also realized upon arriving that NO ONE knew anything.

 

Cid stormed into the cockpit, ready to tear the head off the first person who looked at him wrong.

 

“What the hell is the emergency??” he roared aloud, fixing a glare on all those present. Unfortunately, most of them weren't even conscious enough to realize it.

 

Reeve was leaning tiredly against a wall, heavy dark circles underneath his eyes. He yawned largely, not even bothering to cover his mouth. Poor man looked as if he had been running around all night despite the fact that Cid knew the ex-executive had slept in the pilot's room.

 

Nanaki had curled up on the floor and was snoring softly, fire on his tail flickering as he breathed out through his nose on the end of his tail as he curled around him.

 

Tifa was looking around blearily, hair wild as she rubbed into it, apparently not completely awake yet. It was obvious she had a hangover as she repeatedly licked her dry lips, cotton mouth being an unpleasant feeling. Her green chocobo cotton pajama's almost… (ALMOST I SAID)… made Cid want to burst out laughing.

 

But he was still furious from being interrupted when he was about to get it on with the vampire of his dreams… With angry and still-glaring blue eyes, Cid continued his sweep of the room as he moved to the control panel.

 

Barret was standing in front of the window, arms crossed over his burly chest. He had an almost pained look on his face, as he displayed both feelings of anger and sadness. He kept surreptitiously glancing over at Cloud before shaking his head and sighing loudly. Then he would glance out the window for a moment, only to return to staring at their blonde leader, repeating the process all over again.

 

Cloud, who was standing near the control panel, seemed jittery more than normal. He was chewing on his fingernails nervously, a nasty habit for sure, and kept glancing between Tifa and Barret as if he had spent the night running from both of them.

 

The Captain knew that Vincent had come in behind him, so there were no worries there. So… that was everyone except-

 

“Where the hell is Yuffie?” Cid demanded as his eyes swept over the control panel, eyeing the many displays and screens. To him, all appeared normal. The engine seemed to be running fine, they were not under any sort of attack, and he could not fathom a reason for the emergency alarms to go off. Unless, someone pulled the emergency cord or pushed the switch…

 

“I haven't seen her since last night…” Tifa yawned, still trying to pat her frizzled out locks into some semblance of normal.

 

“Tch! Figures!” the pilot cursed. “So what the hell happened?”

 

Everyone gave him a blank stare.

 

Suddenly the ship gave a violent rocking as a sound that was drastically similar to that of an explosion resonated through the air. All of the passengers fought to keep their feet. Unfortunately for Tifa, she failed miserably. She tripped over her own feet and slammed down on her ass rather hard.

 

“Captain, sir! The right engine just gave out! We have to make an emergency landing!” called out one of the crewmen.

 

“Fuck! Everyone hold on to your shorts and don't piss in `em!” called out the pilot as he quickly reached for some type of handhold. Seeing the alarmed look on his face, the members of AVALANCHE followed his example and settled down for the ride.

 

The airship rocked violently as it quickly sunk in the air heading in for a landing. It skidded, bounced a few times, then hit the ground, throwing most of the passengers against the floor not gently at all. The lights went to emergency and the cockpit was bathed in a reddish-orange glow.

 

“Ugh!! Slalwart! Stat!” the Captain ordered, putting himself in full pilot mode.

 

“We landed, sir!” came the quick response.

 

“Well if that wasn't obvious,” Nanaki remarked dryly.

 

“Roll call!” Cloud yelled, easily recalling his days as leader.

 

“I've got a splitting headache,” Tifa's muttered with a groan.

 

“Did you not cover landin' in yer pilot class, you dumbass?” Barret questioned.

 

“Reeve, here.”

 

“And I.”

 

“Who's `I'?” questioned Cloud.

 

“Don't be an idiot. Who else is left,” came the dry reply.

 

“Oh, Vincent,” the leader responded recognizing the deep voice and annoyed tone.

 

“Where is that fuckin' ninja?” Cid cursed. “And where the hell are we?”

 

“Wutai, sir. On the far southern shore,” a crewman responded checking their position on the map.

 

All members present struggled to their feet, some brushing dust off of their clothes and in the gunman's case, pulling dust bunnies out of his hair. The unfortunate side effect of having long hair, it tended to attract everything.

 

“Well, we are going to need repairs.” Cid sighed loudly. “And Wutai is the closest place. Who's with me?”

 

There was a distinct and empty silence that spread throughout the room. A pin dropping would have been deafening.

 

“Oh? No one wants to come?” the Captain questioned aloud. “Fine then. Walk home. Good luck to ya.”

 

Almost immediately everyone spoke at once.

 

“Fine!” Cloud shouted, over the clamor. “We will all go!”

 

* * *

 

Two hours later, after everyone had showered, changed and retrieved their weapons by the beautiful light of bright orangish-red. The group of heroes set off towards Wutai, a good days journey to the north. It was then that they remembered the events of a few years ago after the time they had first met Yuffie.

 

The crafty little ninja had stolen their materia, raced across the continent, hid from them, tricked them, got captured by Don Corneo, and then had to be rescued. She was more trouble than she was worth.

 

“Um… is anyone else worried by Yuffie's disappearance,” the lone female of the group asked.

 

Cid snorted. “Should I be? We were above Wutai when the explosion occurred. For all I know, the sneaky girl caused it. She IS after our materia after all.”

 

“But we still have all of it,” Nanaki commented, rubbing his chin with his foreleg.

The pilot scratched his head. “True… but still… I know she had something to do with this.”

 

The group continued on in silence, all pondering the events. Cid was still dealing with the erotic thoughts that were racing through his brain and snuck looks at the dark-haired gunman whenever he had a chance. And if he wasn't mistaken, the ex-Turk was sneaking a peek at him as well.

 

When he finally caught one crimson eye turned his way, Cid inclined his head only slightly, gesturing that he wanted to speak to the gunman. Vincent obliged, speeding up his step to sidle up next to the pilot.

 

“You wanted to speak to me?” Vincent's low voice was quiet, sending shivers up Cid's spine at the thought.

”I plan on continuing what was interrupted…” spoke Cid in a hushed voice. He leaned in closer, whispering in the gunman's ear. “I want to feel you from the inside.”

 

Vincent blushed furiously without intending to, visions unbidden coming to his mind at the pilot's words. Gods! Now he felt so hot he didn't know if he could stand the rest of the trip.

 

“Is… is that a promise?” asked the gunman, nearly stuttering his words.

 

Cid laughed. “Oh, yes it is.” He returned his attentions to the path ahead of them more than pleased to find that they had already arrived at the town of Wutai. Apparently it had expanded in the past few years, occupying more space.

 

“Wow!” Tifa exclaimed wide-eyed. “Wutai sure has grown. Hasn't it Cloud?” She smiled sweetly at the spiky-headed blond and threaded her arm through his.

 

“Yeah… sure has,” he answered her slowly, gently pulling his arm from her grasp. Tifa was like a leech - or maybe a tick described her better - sometimes it took fire to make her let go.

 

“Ah, the royal guests have arrived,” came a nasal and annoying voice. All those present looked ahead of them to see a Wutaiian official and several guards standing in their path.

 

“Royal guests?” the leader asked confused.

 

“And the royal suitor is here as well,” continued the wutaiian, completely ignoring Cloud's question. He centered his gaze on Vincent, dark eyes locking onto crimson ones. “Hmph. At least he looks Wutaiian.”

 

“R… royal suitor?” stammered Vincent, face paling if that was at all possible for someone of his complexion.

 

The guards surrounding the official moved to surround the friends. Two, however, separated from the group and headed straight for Vincent.

 

“Lord Godo would like to speak to you alone,” said one of the soldiers.

 

“But… but…” spluttered Vincent, unable to come up with anything more intelligent. He didn't want to fight back. That would be a bad thing. But there was no way in hell he was going to marry Yuffie either. He still hadn't got to screw Cid!!

 

As the soldiers led the dark-haired stammering gunman away, the distinct sound of Tifa's giggling could be heard as the Wutaian official led them through the streets towards the inn.

 

“That little thief!” Cid spluttered outrageously, “Taking my man like that!!”

 

Nanaki chuckled and swished his tail, almost setting Tifa on fire. “Some things never change.”

 

“And why the hell are you laughing?” demanded Cid.

 

“I never thought my plan would work so well,” Tifa said, giggling again. She felt like hugging herself.

 

“Your plan?” asked Barret confused.

 

“Aw, come on,” the martial artist said, waving her hand at them. “You guys are such stiff-necked creatures. We all thought Vin needed to loosen up right? I just gave them an extra push.” She tapped her chin. “Then again… it should have worn off twenty-four hours ago, about three hours after the party.”

 

“What should have worn off?” Cid growled dangerously.

 

Tifa gulped and blanched at the murderous glance in Cid's eyes, all giggles erased from her mind. “Um… the love potion…” Her eyes darted around wildly. “But… but Cloud gave it to me in the first place!!” she declared, pointing a finger at their illustrious leader.

 

“For use on Cid… not Yuffie!!” exclaimed Cloud aghast. Then his eyes widened as he realized the implications of what he had just said. A pair of hands clapped over his mouth, they belonged to Tifa.

 

“On… Cid?” Barret questioned looking strangely aghast.

 

“Love potion?” Reeve repeated as if shocked by what he heard. “Thank the gods! I wasn't sure how I was going to explain that to Elena?”

 

“Explain what, Reeve?” came a female voice sounding very angry. All eyes stopped in their tracks and turned to the side.

 

All of the Turks: Rude, Reno, and Elena - were standing outside of the Turtle's Paradise and staring down at the group of heroes. Elena had her hands on her hips and was frowning particularly at Reeve.

 

“Um. We'll catch up later, we know our way to the temple,” Cloud said to the officials. They looked as if they might protest but one glare from the spiky-headed blond, and a tap to a rather large sword, and they thought better of it.

 

“Oh… El-Bear… I thought you were all on vacation…” Reeve said, stammering a bit as he moved to speak to his girlfriend, who instantly latched on to him.

 

“You as well as anyone should know that the Turks prefer to spend their vacations at Wutai,” Elena answered, glaring at him. She hadn't forgotten what she had overheard but was waiting for the moment to bring it back up.

 

“Besides,” Reno piped up. “We were invited to Yuffie's wedding. Rufus said we had to come since Tseng couldn't.”

 

“Y… Yuffie's wedding?” the Captain questioned, turning his glare onto Tifa. She shrunk backwards and hid behind Cloud.

 

Aha! Finally, the Cid-famous glare was working!!

 

“Yeah.” Reno shrugged, lighting up a cigarette. “It's supposed to be tomorrow night or something like that… pity the poor sap though.” He actually winced at the thought of anyone liking the psychotic ninja, much less wanting to marry her.

 

“There's no way…” Tifa stammered. “I only gave it to her two days or so ago. They couldn't have planned a wedding like that this far in advance.”

 

“Then… it wasn't just the love potion…” Nanaki mused aloud. “She really DID want Vincent.” He fought the urge to shudder as an image of the two in very compromising position appeared in his poor, irreparably damaged mind

 

“Vincent?” questioned all three of the Turks looking completely surprised.

 

“Poor, poor man.” Reno sighed, shaking his head. He took a deep drag of the cigarette.

 

“We have to stop this wedding!” Rude exclaimed vehemently, speaking for the first time. It was the first time Barret ever actually heard him speak, so the dark-skinned man looked at him strangely.

 

All eyes turned to him in confusion. He paled as much as he was able and stammered out his next sentence, “Well… we can't leave Valentine to his fate… he was one of us wasn't he?”

 

“Damn right!” Cid exclaimed, startling them all with his vehemence. “I've got a score to settle and a settle to score!! Who's with me?”

 

There was a series of cheers and hollers. Apparently AVALANCHE, the terrorist group, was back in action.

 

Everyone began murmuring to each other, forming plans of action.

 

Elena moved to stand next to her boyfriend, clasping his hands in hers and smiling sweetly at him. “Now what weren't you going to explain?”

 

* * *

 

So, who's confused? Did this make anyone laugh? Leave a review if you don't mind, I'd sure like to know if anyone find's this at all amusing.