Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy VII: Awakening ❯ Turk Versus Turk Elite (Part Three) Here Comes The Flood ( Chapter 4 )

"I've tried to set Vince up with everyone under the sun." Cid beamed, "I try to let people know that he's a little different. Vince, you just have to liven up a little."

"BAH." Vincent spat as he got up and stormed out of the inn.

Leira watched him leave and looked at Cid. "You're his friend shouldn't you..."

"It's okay. It's not the first time this has happened. He'll be okay." Cid reassured her. "I’ll tell you what; I'm going to head back to the house. Why don't you spend some time with him and catch up on some old times?"

"What 'old times'?! I wasn't even born when he was a Turk! There's nothing really we can catch up on." She shook her head.

"Well, you two have fun." Cid said as he lit one of his cigarettes. He leaned over and kissed Lieandra on the cheek. "You're a beautiful girl,” he whispered into her ear, “I think you’re just what he needs.” Cid Highwind gave her a small wave than started out the door.

Leira just stood there. She was in this to find Sephiroth. Why was everybody out to set up a love connection for her?

She shook her head and followed after Cid. She had guessed that Cid would be heading back to the house. She would catch up with him later.

As she made her way through Rocket Town, she could not help but wonder where Vincent went.

"Miss Thompson." Came a voice from somewhere above her.

Leira stopped in her tracks. She threw her head back as she began to realize where the voice was coming from.

"AAAAGGGGHhhhh!" she screamed as Vincent's upside down features swung into view.

Vincent's eyes opened wide in surprise as she screamed in his face. The shock was so great; he almost released his ankles from the tree branch he was hanging from.

A couple seconds passed as the two began to settle down. Vincent gathered his dangling long black hair into his hands after almost choking on the strands that covered his face. "I'm sorry,” he said at last. "I didn't mean to frighten you."

Leira began to recover some of her composure. "That's okay." she chuckled. "That was pretty sad. A big bad Turk Elite like me screaming at the slightest little surprise." She held her hands to her chest. "God, you'd think I was a little girl visiting the Haunted Hotel at the Golden Saucer for the first time."

The ex-Turk gave her a wide smile. "I personally didn't find it to be scary." He said as he reached out with his clawed left hand. "Unlike me, you're only human."

Leira looked at the claw and looked into his red eyes as they hung just inches from her face. She shook her head and took his arm.

"Here we go." Vincent pulled them both up to the tree branch.

She could not believe how strong he was. Such a frail looking man, he was. She began to wonder if he had as much power as Sephiroth was said to have had.

Silence seemed to overtake the two as they sat and stared out over the small town. It was a beautiful starry evening. All of Rocket Town was lit up. It was such a tiny cozy little town.

Leira looked over at Vincent. She could not help but sense a strange sadness that seemed to radiate from him. He was very handsome. His wild black hair did nothing to subtract from his looks either. She noticed that his skin was almost a deathly white and found herself wondering if there was any truth to what both men had said about him being the walking dead. Maybe it was some kind of a strange skin condition.

"So, uh, you come here often?" Leira said trying to break the silence. Usually, she did not mind silence. Back in her days with the Turks, Rude, Reno and Tseng would always drink and be rowdy on their slow days. Leira had to admit; she was the same way, too, at times. There were some occasions when the guys would just get out of hand. Those were the days when she would find comfort in silence.

He titled his head to the side. "You might say that."

"So what brought you out to Rocket Town?" she asked.

He gazed at her thoughtfully, "I'm here because of Cid. After Sephiroth and Meteor were taken care of, there really wasn't any place for me to go."

"I'm sorry." Leira apologized.

"No, don't apologize. I spent a lot of time in Nibelheim. Even after my death." Vincent eyed her for a couple seconds than looked back towards the town. "I was experimented on and left to sleep and atone for my sins. I would have slept longer had it not been for Cloud, Nanaki, Yuffie, Aeris, Tifa, and Cait Sith."

In truth Leira was dumbfounded. She did not have prior experience with talking to the undead. She pulled herself away from the strange man, visibly shaken. "Why didn't you go back to Nibelheim?"

"I could have," he answered with a slight smile, sensing her fear. "Truth be told, I was thinking about going back. Cid said he thought it would be better if I stayed with him."

"He must be a good friend."

Vincent paused and looked at his knees. The liquor must have been affecting him. It was not often he found himself talking so much and to a total stranger-let alone a female stranger. "He gave me a job here in this town." He slowly nodded. "We're putting the Highwind back together.”

"The big airship that sat on the landing strip in Junon?! That Highwind?"

Vincent studied the puzzlement on her face. "The very same. We have been working on it for two years, now. We've been running back and forth to Midgar taking some of the metal that can be salvaged and using it to repair the airship. Cid and the others planned to build a statue dedicated to Aeris on the airstrip back in Junon."

Leira began to wonder about this girl named Aeris. The last she had heard about the girl was that she was the child of one of Shinra's top scientists, Professor Gast. She also remembered hearing something about the professor turning up dead. She had never actually met the girl or Gast for that matter. There was a rumor at one point, Leira recalled, about Hojo finding her after a few years and wanting to do some tests on her.

Leira felt silly that she was unaware of so much that had happened around her. "Aeris was the carrier of the Holy Materia wasn't she?"

"Did you ever meet her?" Vincent asked.

"Not personally. No. I think Tseng brought her into Midgar for Hojo. I wasn't assigned to that mission. I was on my way there at that time with Rufus, the President's son. Word was going around that she was from a long extinct race called the Cetra. I never bought into all those fairy tails about the Promised Land and all the Mako energy that was supposed to be contained in it. It surprised me that Rufus did."

"Where were you stationed?" Vincent heard himself ask.

"I was in Midgar back in my army days. A short while later I was moved to Junon as a Turk. I stayed there for the rest of my regular Turk days. On vacations and company trips, I would go to Wutai, the Gold Saucer and Costa del Sol, with them. When I was assigned to baby-sit Rufus, after my promotion to Elite status, I was over in Costa del Sol. I had to take him to Midgar by helicopter when the call came in that the Cetra girl had been found." Leira stretched her arms out above her head. "That was the first time I had been to Midgar in years."

"Cloud told me that you're originally from Junon."

Leira smiled to herself. "Yep, I was born there."

"Any family?"

Leira frowned. This was another reason why she hated the past. "Mom and dad were both part of the Shinra army. Shinra sent them out to be on the front lines during their campaign against Wutai. I stayed with Uncle Reeve after they left for Wutai."

Vincent was shocked. "Reeve's your uncle!" he blurted out.

Leira's frown deepened. "What's wrong with that?"

"I'm sorry." Vincent bit his lip. "I didn't think he had any family, for some strange reason."

Leira eyed him coldly, "How do you think I got into the Shinra army? I could have gotten in on my own but Reeve thought it would be easier if he helped. My parents wanted me to join but he wasn’t sure I had a future there. With a little arm twisting they got him to go along."

Leira shivered. It had to be past midnight by now. A cool breeze was starting to blow through the trees. The blue dress uniform was supposed to protect its wearer's upper body from certain elements but it left the legs exposed. Because of the open sides, the Shinra would wear black stretch pants when they worked. When she was off duty Leira would just leave her legs bare. Even though she wore those stretch pants now, and her knee-high boots, she could still feel the chilly air.

"It's starting to get cooler.” Vincent said as he noticed her shivering. "Maybe, we can talk a little more later."

Leira looked into his crimson eyes. She had drawn a lot of attention from men before. She remembered a time when she was drunk and posed naked for a Shinra calendar. After she finally sobered up she did not regret what she had done, until her uncle was shipped a copy. Leira remembered Reeve being more embarrassed about it than she was. She could see his usually stern features strain as he tried to tell her to keep her clothes on.

When Reeve tried to scold her he had to do it between frequent interruptions from the men of the Shinra army, the Turks, and her fellow Elites all looking to get their copies autographed.

She dated Reno for almost a year before the calendar photos were taken. Reno did not mind at all. He had told her that he was one of her biggest fans, anyway. He also mentioned that he was man enough to trust her judgment even when she was drunk. Leira had just laughed about what he had said. Reno knew she was not modest to begin with so of course he had to let her be herself.

"Do you need help getting down?" he asked with a hint of concern in voice.

Leira shot him a glance of annoyance and pushed herself off the branch. "Guess not." Vincent said stupidly before dropping from the tree himself. The two landed on their feet, both of them eyeing each other.

CRASH

One of the branches from their hiding place broke. The branch was than followed by a body.

"Cloud?!" shrieked Leira.

The limp body of the boy was battered and bleeding. "Run...run...get help..." the boy whispered as he tried to wave them away.

Leira started to run to him, tears streaming from her eyes. "Cloud!"

"No." Vincent said grabbing her by the arms. "There's something more to this."

Cloud managed to mutter out a name before finally collapsing from his injuries. The name made Leira's blood run cold. "Sep...Sephi...Sephiroth."

"Guys, guys, Cloud saw...oh..." Cid shouted as Yuffie and Shera followed him closely.

"Sephiroth's...oh, shit." Yuffie started.

"Sephiroth's what?!" came a familiar sounding voice from above the party. "He's here?" the voice said mockingly.

Leira looked around. 'What a wonderful time to be missing her weapon' she thought. She wrenched her arm out of Vincent's grip and ran out to her "son". "Cloud." she cried as she tried to feel for a pulse.

"I can assure you, he is not dead." The trees rustled some more and another figure fell to the ground. The figure that stood before them was dressed in the same black cloak, with long white hair, that Leira had seen in her dream back in Kalm. This was the man that everyone hoped they never would see again. The man that they hoped had not survived the combined onslaught of Meteor and Holy. "He is very much alive. Just as I, too, am very much alive." Sephiroth's aquamarine eyes seemed to glow brighter as he stood before them.

He had landed just inches from Leira and Cloud. Leira looked up from her position on the ground by the boy’s side. "What do you want?"

"Back off!" Cid warned.

"Shouldn't you be six feet under?! *ahem* Uh, sorry, Vince." Yuffie said.

"Sephiroth leave the boy alone." Vincent said ignoring the young girl.

"I have plans for this boy, Turk. I have plans for the Shinra woman as well, but the boy is more important." Sephiroth raised his left hand high into the air. As he did this, Cloud's lifeless body raised also.

This was the first time that Leira had witnessed anything like that. She was undecided if she should be awestruck or terrified at Sephiroth's strange powers. "When you've gathered your forces you may want to visit Nibelheim. There is something that I would very much like to show you." With that, Sephiroth reached out with both of his arms to Cloud. The unconscious boy seemed to fly into his waiting arms. "Until then." Sephiroth said and vanished into thin air with Cloud before the grouping.

Leira collapsed to the ground. She started pounding the ground and began to curse Sephiroth.

"What just happened?" Shera asked as she moved her way around Cid.

"I thought he was supposed to be dead." Yuffie told Vincent in puzzlement.

Vincent walked over to Leira. He placed his claw on her back and looked at her.

It was quite embarrassing to Leira, the state she was in. She had tears streaming down her face. Her dress uniform covered in thick wet mud. "What?! What do we do now?" she managed to hiss.

Cid looked at Vincent and shook his head. Yuffie approached Vincent and Leira. "I guess this is it then.” she muttered. "I guess this is where we gather up the forces again."