Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Crimson Curse ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 7 )

 

Chapter 7

 

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Near Dawn…

 

 

 

 

`A half-hour left…', Vincent sighs in his head, sitting on the floor with his knees pressed-up against his chest as he stares out the window at the horizon, `Till this torment ends…', he thinks, as the thirst for blood claws at the inside of his brain.

 

“Ahhhhhh!”, he suddenly heard Karin scream from her room, causing him to bolt into her room.

 

“Karin?”, he worriedly shouts.

 

“No! Stay away from me!”, she screams out in her sleep, as she thrashes around in her bed.

 

He goes over to her bed-side; despite his better judgment, and grabs her by her shoulders and starts the gently shake her, “Karin, wake up… You're having a nightmare…”, he pleads.

 

Her fear-glazed golden-brown eyes fly open, “Get away from me, Vampire!”, she screams, slapping Vincent across the face. The force of the slap causes his face to turn and he cuts the inside of his top-lip on one of his fangs, causing blood to flow into his mouth.

 

“Vin…Vincent…?”, she whispers, as the fear leaves her eyes and she recognizes him.

 

“You all right?”, he worriedly asks, despite the fact that his cheek was turning red from the slap and stung like a bitch, and he was bleeding.

 

Tears begin to well-up in her eyes as she tangles her fingers into the material of his dark-grey shirt, “Vincent…”, she quietly says, burying her face into his chest, “I was so scared!”, she cries, as her tears begun to fall.

 

Vincent was stunned, the woman who was so fearless when fighting a horde of vampires, was fearfully crying into his chest from a nightmare, `What kind of nightmare could scare her so badly?', he wonders.

 

“Don't let him near me…”, she sobs into his chest.

 

“Don't let who near you?”

 

“The vampire who visits me through my dreams…”, she quietly replies.

 

“Vampire…? What does he look like?”

 

“There is a sketch of him in my journal, the night-stand drawer…”, she says, pointing to her night-stand.

 

He goes over to the night-stand, turning the lamp on as he opens the drawer, to find a red leather-bound journal with: Karin's Dream Diary, stitched on the front of it in silver-thread. He takes the book out and opens it, finding a hand-drawn picture inside, causing him to gasp when he saw the image.

 

“Are you sure this is the guy you keep seeing?”, he asks, staring in disbelief at the sketch.

 

“Yes…”, she answers, nodding, “Why?”

 

“Because this is Sephiroth…”, he says, turning the paper to show the image of the silver-haired and Emerald-green eyed Vampire-Lord.

 

“Sephiroth…”, she whispers, as the color drains from her face, “You sure…?”, she hesitantly asks.

 

“I'll never forget the face of the bastard who cursed me!”, Vincent spat.

 

“Which means he already knows who I am …”, she sobs, burying her face in her hands.

 

Vincent sits down on the edge of her bed, “Karin…”, he gently says, reaching out to touch her shoulder in a comforting fashion. Suddenly, Karin flings herself against his chest and starts crying into his shirt again, “Karin…?”, he gasps, a faint blush forming on his cheeks.

 

“Hold me, Vincent…”, she whispers, “Just hold me…”

 

“Okay…”, he replies, gently wrapping his arms around her body; afraid that if he held her too hard she would get crushed by the strength the curse granted his body, as he just let's her sob into his shirt.

 

The minutes tick by slowly as Karin's sobs slowly died down and her breathing started to even out, becoming more normal. While Vincent just sat there on her bed with a blush on his face and held her as she clung to his shirt, and watched the sun rise above the horizon.

 

`Finally…', he sighs in relief inside his head, as he felt his canines retract back to normal human-length and the voice crying for blood in the back of his mind fade to nothing, `I thought the night was never going to end…'

 

“Vincent…”, Karin whispers, her voice cracking from her sobbing.

 

“Yes…?”

 

“Why did I have to be the one born with the Banpaia Ten-Ki?”, she asks.

 

“I don't know…”, he answers.

 

Karin remains silent for a few moments, “You're probably wondering when Sephiroth started haunting my dreams?”

 

“To tell the truth, I am…”

 

“It was two years ago… When I was nineteen years old, he started visiting me in my dreams and he always would say that he was coming to find me and he would go after my friends to get to me, and that he won't stop until he did find me and drained me dry…”, she quietly says, then goes silent for another few moments, “It's kind of funny, you're the first person I've ever told this to…”

 

“Lucrecia, she… she had the same dreams as well…”, he replies, his sadness consuming his voice, “Did he go after your parents too?”

 

Karin tenses in his arms, “I don't know…I was ten years old at the time and living in Kyoto, my father worked in construction, my mother was a waitress…”, she began, “My father was working late and he was attack when he was coming home. My mother must have let the shell that was formerly my father in…”

 

“Why did she?”

 

“At the time none of us even knew about the existence of vampires, and as for my mother, my father would sometimes forget his keys and my mother would have to let him in the house… He attacked my mother and turned her into a vampire too, and then… then…”, she trails off, her voice beginning to crack again.

 

“Then what?”

 

“They came into my room and threw me out of my bed into a corner, and they started closing in on me… the vampire that was my mother, being the first to attack me… I simply put my arms up to shield myself… there was a flash of light and the next thing I knew, my mother's body was laying on the floor in front of me; completely lifeless…That was when my powers first developed…”, she says, tears pouring from her eyes, “The thing that was my father started backing away from me, whispering `Banpaia Ten-Ki', and then he ran… I haven't seen him since”.

 

“So you think he might have told his master?”

 

“I have no doubt about it, but why didn't the vampires come after me when I was still an amateur with my powers?”, she asks, “They could have easily killed me before I became a serious threat to them, why didn't they?”

 

“I'm afraid I don't have an answer for you”.

 

“I see…”

 

Ring! Ring!

 

“I'll be right back Vincent. I've got to answer my phone”, Karin says, pushing herself off of his chest and scrambles into her living-room to grab her phone, before the answering-machine picked-up.

 

Ring! Ring!

 

“I know! I'm coming!”, she mutters to the phone, before picking up, “Hello? Hitodama residence, Karin speaking…”, she says into the receiver.

 

(Hey Karin! It's me!), Tifa's voice rang out from the ear-piece.

 

“Oh it's you, Tifa! It is 6 in the morning…”, Karin yawns, “What is it? It has to be important if you're up this early…”

 

(Sherra just called me with some great news!)

 

“What's the great news?”

 

(The doctors just took Cloud out of the chemically-induced coma!), Tifa explains, (He's due to wake up any day now!)

 

“That's great Tifa!”, Karin exclaims, her excitement obvious in her voice.

 

(I'll call you as soon as Cloud wakes up! You still have your cell-phone, right?)

 

“Yeah, why?”

 

(Today's the anniversary…), Tifa's voice morbidly says.

 

“Huh…?”, she gasps, looking over at her calendar and sees today's date was circled in red marker, “Oh… I kind-of forgot…”

 

(It has been two years…)

 

“I know…”

 

(Say hi to your grandmother for me…)

 

“Where are you going?”

 

(Cloud is being allowed visitors and I want to stay with him all the time I can), Tifa replies.

 

“Okay, visit him for the both of us. Alright?”

 

(Sure! Well, I've got to go! Don't want to miss a precious moment with Cloud!)

 

“Bye!”

 

(Bye!), the line on the other end cuts off.

 

“Is your friend; Cloud, going to get better?”, Vincent's voice asks, from behind her.

 

“Vincent!”, she screams, spinning around and smacking him across the face, “I thought I told you not to suddenly appear behind me!”

 

His cheek was throbbing from the force of her slap, leaving a bright red hand-print on his flesh, “I simply walked from your room and stood behind you… You were too occupied to notice…”, he replies.

 

Karin's cheeks instantly flare-up in a blush, “…Sorry…”, she mutters, completely embarrassed.

 

“So Cloud…?”

 

“The doctors are taking him out of the coma, he's set for a full-recovery”, she says, smiling.

 

“And what of your grandmother?”

 

“I have to go visit her today…”, she replies, her golden-brown eyes drifting down to stare at the floor.

 

“Want me to come with you?”

 

“I wouldn't mind some company…”, she says, weakly smiling, “I better go get dressed…”, she quietly adds, heading into her room and closes the door behind herself.

 

“We have to stop off at my apartment first! I need to change my clothes!”

 

“Okay!”, came Karin's reply from the other side of the door, “Just choose something dark to wear!”

 

“Why?”

 

“You'll see! Just trust me!”

 

`Where does her grandmother live that requires you to wear dark-colored clothing?', he ponders.

 

 

 

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