Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy VII: Awakening ❯ Arrival ( Chapter 32 )

Twenty-Nine C felt something tap him on the back just below his shoulders. He coughed and vomited up some blood before turning to find out who prodded him.

"Mister, mister-you okay?!" a little boy urged.

The clone sat up and rubbed his chin. "Just fine." He said in the country's language.

"Most peeps don't live long after hanging over a rock with their head in the river like that."

The boy was right; he must have passed out from the overexertion back at the Highwind. It was already night time out and he had done nothing to prepare for the arrival of his brothers and sisters. "God-damn!” he bellowed in basic.

"How far do you have to go, sir?" The little boy was clearly concerned for his well-being.

The Timal clone stood up and patted the child on his head. "Not far. Right over there, actually. I'm staying with the kind ladies at the materia shop." From above the boy, the clone took note of the flashy robe the kid adorned and the symbol emblazoned on it.

"You need an escort there? Ya look like you've had a hell of a fight."

"So you're the keeper of speed for this place, huh?" Twenty-Nine C began to walk away.

"Yep. Name's Shake." The boy chimed in.

"Take my advice. Be careful when offering others help." The clone left the youth behind to ponder his words.

"Well, isn't that something. Save 'em and they ditch you. Gratitude, I tell ya." Shake huffed and returned to his walk.

The clone's legs felt heavy from his exit. It wasn't normal for him to travel so much by foot; especially after a good fight."

He felt relieved to see his temporary residence draw near. The women did not bother him so much, even though he would have preferred a room where he could be alone day and night. A remedy to that situation planned in his heartless being.

After leaning on the door to the shop, he banged on the wood in hopes of drawing the attention of the women.

"We're closed." A voice called from the inside.

"It's me." The man choked. "I need help."

Soon, the door opened and Eylie stood before him. She blushed when she noticed his eyes studying her white satin kimono. "Come in! You look awful! What happened?"

She dragged him in and led him to a washroom.

"I was attacked by monsters after the scene in the woods. I barely made it out with my skin. Where's Niera-is she alright?"

"She's fine. She went back to her husband. Actually, since it's so early in the morning-she should be due in a couple hours to help me reopen. Why?"

Twenty-Nine C offered a look of confusion as he tried to construct a plan. "I just wanted to know how long I would have you alone is all. To repay you for your kindness. Such a beautiful young woman." he said huskily as he ran his fingers along her bare collarbones.

The shopkeeper giggled at his smooth touch. She moved to soak a washcloth in which to cleanse the dried blood from his face. "I can't believe that damn little twit, Shake, didn't meet you. I've seen him take walks out there in the dark. Thinks he's so big because he's the god of speed. More like demon-I'd say." The cloth was wrung out and applied to the clone’s lower lip.

He laughed at her comments and lifted a thumb to her lips. "Thank you."

"It's nothing. Now, let's get a look at all those scratches." Eylie pushed the bloodied jacket off his shoulders. "I never thought about this before-but you remind me of someone."

"An ex-husband, maybe."

"HA! Don't make me laugh! We were lovers for a long time-to him, he treated it as if it were only a minute. He ran off with some other guy. It was humiliating. You look just like him, though." She paused as she studied the man before her. "He was almost as sweet and kind as you but-I…"

"Yes."

"It was more an act-now that I think about it." She wiped at her eyes. "I'm sorry. It just feels the same with you…I feel like I could tell you anything-just like I could him."

"I should apologize-not you. I'm new here, so, I don't know anyone."

"That's alright. I didn't think about the resemblance, until I noticed your tattoo. He came back here a few years ago. Just said 'hi' to me. He was here with that blasted Reno jerk and a couple other real winners…all of them blasted Shinra. He had a tattoo of that same number."

“Interesting.” The clone thought to himself. "So, his name was Timal-now."

"Well, yes. That's what the Shinra called him." Eylie slowly began to sink into shock. How could this man know someone so close to her heart?

"What if I told you this skin is his? The blood from these lips-" he opened up a small cut in his lip with a fingernail and touched her cheek with the blood it loosed. "Is his."

"What are you saying?" She backed away and watched the half-naked man stand.

"Your Timal is here. All of him-only, now, he's so much more." The clone's voice darkened.

With each movement the girl made, the stranger stalked her. She backed into a wall and searched for something to defend herself with, not knowing if he would truly attack her.

"What are you?"

"I'm the perfect version of your ex-lover. You won't ever understand." He crouched low and smiled in her face.

Eylie felt him grab her long black hair and yank her to her feet. "Let me go!” She twisted around and kicked him in the stomach.

"Uh-uh-uh." With his free hand, he broke her ankle before she ever got a chance to withdraw her kick. "Now I know my mission here is a success. The spirit of your former love looks down upon me and smiles; just as mother must be."

Like an unfeeling machine, he dropped her hair and watched her try again to defend herself.

Eylie tried to think to herself about how this situation had gone so wrong for her. She found a long needle by the sink and thought about using it for a weapon. It was a struggle to pull herself to feet but she managed succeed and hop along on one foot; all the while trying to block out the pain of her damaged ankle.

Her attacker jumped into the air and slammed her into the wall with a powerful kick. He had no clue about the location of the needle or her intent to fight him.

Eylie fell against the sink and swiped up the tool could very well save her life.

The tiny device was only three inches long but had a sharp point. She did not use it so much for knitting cloth as she did for keeping her hair in place.

"Here, take this!” she tried to jab at his throat but missed only to be met with a swift defensive punch.

"Why do you try to fight one that loves you so much?" the murderous clone mocked.

"You're not him!” she shrieked.

Twenty-Nine C pushed her harder into the wall with his own body. For an instant, the terrified woman thought that he would rape her.

"Are you scared, Eylie?" His cold blue eyes gazed out through emotionless sockets. "Fear has always been an amazing reaction. You don't know what I'm going to do-so you're scared." He pushed her just to see her body bounce off the wall.

"You're a sick-o," she sobbed as she remembered the needle in her grasp. "Just kill me or do whatever! Leave me alone."

This was music to the clone's ears. "Niera will look for you tomorrow. She won't find you-but she will in death." He brought two fingers up to his face and let out a cold bloody grin. "Your shop will be closed and will help house me and my brethren. We're going to take back the little girl and the woman."

"What woman-the one in the forest?! What-" Eylie’s last thought was disallowed. The self-proclaimed champion of Jenova sent his fingers right through the girl's skull; killing her in an instant.

The body twitched gurgled as he removed his hand and let it slump to the floor. "Thank you. I will make sure your friend has a swift death as well."

Twenty-Nine C ran some water from the sink and began to clean himself off. He let the rest of his torn wardrobe fall. If his "family" was going to arrive, he would need to outfit them as well inform. The cloaks that his masters provided would certainly be nothing short of a dead giveaway, especially if Sephiroth were to stumble onto them.

"Nothing better than Wutai in the evening, sir." The pilot told a sleeping Elena.

Her robotic companion nudged her.

"We're right over the island, now. I can see the running lights of the Highwind right below us." The pilot continued oblivious to the fact that his query had been napping.

"That's great." she yawned. "So we'll be landing, then."

"Well-yeah. Something like that."

Elena stretched out her arms. "Guess this means we'll be strapping on parachutes."

"Yep." replied the navigator. "You ready for your drop?"

"Guess so."

The mechanical Cait Sith twitched his ears. He could not have been hearing the conversation correctly. "You mean there's no return trip?" He pulled his crown down over his black and white face.

"Nope, sorry. What are you worried about? If you crash-the company'll just re-download your programming. All you'll remember is a nasty leafy crash." Elena snapped.

"Yo, Elena. You got to look out for that clone. That's what Tate's expecting! Good luck and happy landings."

Elena flipped off the pilot and navigator, knowing full well that neither of them would be able to see her due to the steel wall placed between them. She strapped on her parachute and did not even bother to make sure her special delivery had done the same.

A long portion of the war bird's hull collapsed on itself, revealing the cool nighttime Wutai air.

"I can see the airship, now. I'm ready to jump." Elena informed the crew as she took one last look at the Gelnika's sterile interior. "You coming, cat?"

Without waiting for a response she dove from the craft and felt the hard winds of gravity pull her closer to the land below.

Minutes had passed since the jump was supposed to have happened and something seemed amiss. "Say, is that frigging contraption still here?" The captain asked.

"The door's still open-I think the weight sensors would have tripped if the projected weight had gone back to zero." The navigator answered as his eyes swooped over the instrument panel before him.

"Damn it, cat-get going!” shouted the pilot.

The frightened mechanical mog and cat team fidgeted from the shock of the nothingness around the large gray and black propeller driven craft. "We didn't even get an in-flight meal," he whimpered as he tried to make light of the situation.

"I'll get him," said the navigator as he got up from his post and entered the plane's hold.

The cat whirled around as he began to understand what the man was going to do to him. "You don't need to push me…really…" The mog began to back away, without the cat atop its shoulders awareness.

The pissed off navigator continued to approach, not for once believing the cat.

Suddenly the mog ran out of ground. The two constructs toppled backwards out of the craft and began their long fall to the ground.

"That was easy." The navigator clapped his hands together and pushed the button for the doors to return to their closed position.

"Want me to send word to the general?" he asked his partner.

"Got it taken care of."

The silk of Elena's chute opened and began to pull her upwards briefly. She watched the amber, blue and white lights of the Gelnika flicker off into the night. Her eyes did their best to focus in the darkness. It had been years since she had seen Wutai. After being abducted on that island, she lost any desire to visit that place again. If her former coworkers had not saved her she would have ended up as one of two-

"Squashed tomatoes!” She bellowed as an updraft snagged her chute and carried her off course. "SHIT!”

From somewhere in the night air another voice caught up in almost the same type of agony.

"Shit, yo! If we don't end up dead-I'm goin' solo!” Cait Sith beat his companion with the megaphone held tightly in one paw and hung onto his perch with another. Together, they both toppled end over end.

They were falling straight for Elena. It would be mere seconds before the three collided. She tugged at the cords that controlled the direction of her parachute in the false hope that the wind was not as strong as she thought.

"Can't you fall somewhere else?" she shook a fist and quickly covered her eyes as the mog and cat drew closer.

The impact was definitely going to hurt.

Sure enough, as the mechanical duo flew by, they tangled in Elena’s lifeline and dragged her along with them in a downward spiral.

This is how she was going to die. Squashed in the prime of her life. Single and unimportant. "Tseng, I'm coming." She was ready to let the world go.

"Oh, that's comforting!" The cat coughed in anguish. "Don't look now-HERE COMES THE GROUND!”

Elena shut her eyes and crossed her fingers. She could tell that the end of her life would be painful.

CRASH

The three slammed through the woods just beyond the Highwind. The woman could feel tree braches slam across her chest and tear into her face. She felt a touch of giddiness when she realized her hat was still clinging to her head.

"This isn't a time to laugh! Whoa!” The cat tore away from his fellow machination and flattened against the trunk of a sturdy tree.

The mog impacted against the ground and bounced along like a beach ball, while Elena hit hard against the dirt.

Three new figures traveled through the woods, close to the crash site.

"Is this where they were supposed to have landed?"

"Yeah, the nav guy said the construct didn't have a chute."

"So?"

"Come on, guys, shut up! They should be around here somewhere…or at least their bodies."

Reeve had sent the three to intercept the woman and his Cait Sith model after the Gelnika crew had reported them being on their way.

"I can't believe they sent Elena of all people!" one of the team members shuddered.

The nearby brush shuddered and drew the attention of the small troupe.

"Hey, what's that?"

Elena pushed through, just as Reeve's men grabbed their weapons.

"Special delivery." the blonde girl quipped before blacking out.

"You think she's alive?"

One of the men scanned the area with his flashlight. "I see the Cait Sith unit, too. The cat's in that tree and the mog is down that way," he pointed out with a gloved hand and the beam from the light.

"Well, I guess we should drag them all back to the base, huh?"

"I still can't believe they sent Elena."