Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Lunatic Pandora ❯ Crash Landing in Hell ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter One: Crash Landing in Hell

 

One-Winged Angel: Damn… This is the first fiction I have the guts to post. ::Scratches head and looks around vast, empty room:: Hopefully it's pretty good. Hahaha, this is actually the repost. Explanations down there, at the ending notes. I don't feel like it right now. Meh, laziness rocks.

Cloud: We own nothing. One-Winged Angel doesn't own me, nor Vincent, nor Cid. Just this shitty computer right here.

One-Winged Angel: On with the fic!

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Cid Highwind was pissed. Very pissed. Beyond pissed, he was completely outraged, fuming, ready to tear the `damned brat' that insisted that they take a lovely little detour into Nowheresville into tiny pieces with his bare hands. Now was one of those times when the rest of the group sincerely wished that they could crawl off and die right there and then, thus avoiding the pilot's little tirade all together. However, seeing has how they had nowhere to crawl off to and half of the small cluster seemed impervious to death, the modest notion of fleeing from the raging beast seemed like a distant fantasy. So the only other available option? Compromise. With that. And again, more than half of the party seemed to favor the idea of death under some far-away rock than to be dismembered by the crazed lunatic stomping angrily up and down the length of the smoking Highwind, the once proud airship now reduced to a pitiful steaming form in the center of the icy mountains of nowhere. Things were not looking good for them today.

“LOOK AT HER! LOOK! LOOK AT WHAT YOUR GODDAMNED DETOUR TO THE GODDAMNED MIDDLE OF NOWHERE LED US!!” The voice splitting the icy atmosphere seemed enough to make the two that were approaching the man with the futile thought of an agreement turn around and head back to hide with the rest, no matter how determined they appeared about the effort. The staccato rhythm of metal and leather hitting against the thick sheet of ice beneath them did not fade, regardless of the threatening shout of disapproval shot their way.

“Cid, listen, I know you're mad at-”

“DAMN RIGHT I AM!”

“-Cloud and Tifa right now but-”

“IT'S THEIR FUCKIN' FAULT WE'RE HERE!”

“-that gives you no reason to try to kill them both.”

“IT SURE AS HELL SHOULD! LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO MY BABY GODDAMMIT!” A sigh of utter defeat slipped past the thin lips of the man standing before him, a mane of midnight black hair being pushed back over slender shoulders, the strands blending in almost perfectly with the blood red cape hanging down his form. Pale features were set in a grimace at the constant screams and yells of protest erupting from the form of his companion, a small shake of his head and another groan signaling his surrender and tagging off the next poor soul to attempt at calming the rampant fire that was Cid Highwind.

“Dammit Cid, it's only a scratch! It's not like a wing broke off or something, you can manage.”

 

“I can manage!?!? HOW THE HELL CAN I MANAGE WITH A BUSTED GAS TANK YA DAMNED BRAT!” Blazing azure orbs glared daggers into the cool, mako colored cerulean eyes of the other, blonde bangs shaking from side to side as the twenty-one year old shrugged, hand placed on his hip, eyes closing in an uncaring manner. The familiar `Cloud Strife doesn't give a damn about your troubles' look.

“Not my problem; you're the mechanic here, not me.” Brown leather boots dug a shallow hole in the crisp white snow as the man turned on his heel, pacing over to the side of the fallen vessel, curiously poking and prodding at different parts of the torn metal, eyebrows raised into thin, golden arcs.

“Cloud, I think Cid may have a point here. What are we going to do with no mode of transportation?” Pulling his attention away from the ship - which he had cared little to really examine - he turned to face the black-haired shape, another nonchalant shrug causing well-built shoulders to arch in a graceful, fluid like manner. Pacing over towards him Cloud let his gloved hand clap down on his friend's arm, eyes lit with a childlike curiosity and look of adventure that slightly frightened the one glimpsing straight into their depths.

“Cid is a master at any form of flying vehicle, right?”

“Yes, but-”

“And he's fixed up things in worse condition than this before, correct?” The blonde voiced, cutting of the soft-spoken words of the demon creation, smooth skin set into the peaceful, all-knowing look of a leader.

“Yes, but this is-”

“Then he can fix this,” he gestured around wildly, what appeared to be a mix between a smirk and a beam crossing his lips now, “in no time.” A smug look of victory spread over his smooth, tanned face, ruby pools watching in captivated awe as Cloud turned away from the man, muscles stretching under the soft violet fabric, the ex-member of Shinra making his way towards the rest of the small group huddled against the tail of the airship. Angry, hissing mumbles cut through the air, causing another diminutive, suppressed laugh to slip past the demon's thin lips as he paced over the snow towards his companion, the white crystals crunching lightly under his step.

“He really does amaze me.” Sky blue eyes rained an almost flaming gaze upon him, the lingering resentment towards the `leader' of their little caravan clearly evident on the pilot's gruff features. Mumbling mainly to himself he turned back towards the heap of steaming metal and let a low whistle slide from between his teeth, his eyes narrowed into thin slits in his obvious frustration.

“… Kid pisses me off.” A small grin crept over Vincent's features as he took another step closer to the mechanic, placing himself inches away from the elder man, hair blowing like a black veil over his pale features. It was quite odd, realizing the fact that he was, in essence, the elder of the two, having lived twice as long as he looked. Shrugging off the sudden notion he turned his body to face the other, eyes reflecting the disappearing rays of light and gleaming pools of spilt crimson, signaling the look of death-like seriousness now overcoming him.

“What are you planning on doing Cid? We cannot stay out here for the rest of the night, not in this weather. If the blizzard starts up again-”

“Ya fuckin' think I don't know this? Go talk to your goddamned leader, he's the one that made us go this way, he's the one that'll get us outta this mess!” An effortless, deep sigh left his chest, a sound of defeat and minor annoyance, the cloaked form shifting his body to come even nearer to the other. The feeling of leather touching the man's cheek brought him out of his pouting fit, the pilot allowing his face to turn in the direction it was being pulled to, eyelids have closed over hazy pools of azure from exhaustion and frustration.

“Cid… It is important that you at least attempt at coming to terms with him.” The words drifted over the man like a minute breeze, their context lost in the thin, icy air to the warm feeling spreading throughout his form at the touch on his face, the clouds of ice crystals pressing heat against his face at the closeness between the two. The sudden desire to reach up to the smooth, oh so close form overcame him, his hand twitching at his side in anticipation, seeming to gain a mind of its own as it moved up the other's back without his brain's consent.

A sharp inhalation of breath shattered Cid's daze in a heartbeat and his hand snapped away from the man's thin lower back, a look of shame overtaking him as he turned away from the other. Muttering something inaudible beneath his breath Vincent stepped away from him as well, scarlet orbs holding the same look of embarrassment that his friend's did, his face twisted into an appearance that showed every sign of an inner conflict waging in his mind.

 

“Hey Cid! Why dontcha come over here an' try to fix this damned thing!? Looks like there's more ta it than ya thought!” Rather or not Barret sensed the gathering tension between the two or if he really wanted to get the pilot's attention was unknown to Cid as he turned away from the subject of his mortification, a breath that he didn't know he had been containing sliding freely from his full lips to entice a haze of frozen particles into dancing and marking his path forward. Hesitating for a moment he peered over his shoulder, glancing over the thin fabric of his vest to stare in an apologetic manner at Vincent, the latter having diverted his attention to the sky, face upturned to gaze in thought at the spiraling stars of pure white.

“Hey, Vincent…” The gentle sound of ruffling cloth let him know the man had heard him, although no other sign of acknowledgement was given. Taking that as enough, however, he inhaled deeply, eyes shielded from the sight of what he had caused by thin eyelids. “… Sorry.” Faltering for another moment he listened to the answering breeze, an empty wind carrying only silence from the person he had addressed and the furious whispers of the others before he turned back to face the rest of the assembly, feet sinking up to his ankles in the frozen liquid as he paced forward without a glance back. “Yeah, yeah, I'm comin'. You're gonna pay for these damages kid, ya know that!?” Forcing the regret from his previous action out of his train of thought seemed to be the best choice to him as he came to a halt before the two girls of the group. The sudden consideration that maybe they had watched, had seen him lose control of himself for that split second crossed his mind, a panic bubbling up from his stomach to his chest. Dammit… Why'd I have to go and act like that for… and all I could say to him was `Sorry,' like some damned idiot…!

“Old man, this thing really looks like a mess, ya know that?” A sharp glare in the direction of the short-haired girl put an end to any other comments the young teen may have had planned, her bottom lip curling in her characteristic manner to show her disapproval of being silenced. “Fine then geezer, don't listen to my advice.”

“I don't need it anyway, probably just more complainin' about bein' stuck here in the cold. You ain't dressed for it anyway, it's your own fault.” Brushing past the two ebony haired women he came to a stop before the towering form of Barret, mind whirling with further possibilities of the damage to his precious Highwind, face contorted into a look of utter rage at the mere notion of even more destruction caused to his ship. “What is it?” The piloted hissed, voice more demanding and angry than he had intended it to be.

“Damn, you don't have to sound so rough about it Cid. You're always so uptight-”

“Shut the hell up Cloud, I wasn't talkin' to you anyway!” A deep snigger filtered through the thin air as the spiky mass of blond backed away from the other, hands held up in a mock defensive position, face lit with amusement and a playful tone. “Well?”

“… It looks bad. What do you think Cid?” A voice, more like a growl caught his attention, the engineer tilting his head ever so slightly to peer down at the wolf-like form near his ankles, the creation padding his way gracefully over the snow and raising his muzzle to the laceration in the side of the titanium ship.

“I think I'm gonna kill our fuckin' leader.”

* * *

The stinging cold tore through the layers of cloth draped about the form, the wind hissing and biting like a ravenous animal in torrents of thick white, the man unable to even see the onyx leather glove he had raised before his face. Dropping his arm back to his side Vincent turned, ruby eyes squinting against the blizzard, clumps of the frozen diamonds sticking here and there to cling desperately to his chest and shoulders and hair. A lone flare of light stood out in the distance, shadows springing up around it in a semi-circle; a clear sign that the others had surrendered to the storm and resorted to packing themselves tightly together around a pitiful fire under the wing of the once functional ship, the minute flame sputtering and twitching in its futile attempt to grow in the harsh weather.

Once more he faced the stark white abyss of the mountains only to stare blankly at the towering forms, transfixed by the dark gloom that seemed to hang menacingly over the undersized party. The stubborn breeze threatened to knock him back, the tendrils of the blizzard almost taunting him to step into their depths so they could encase him in their trap, ensnare him and never release him. Blinking rapidly he snapped himself out of the trance that the blizzard had placed upon him, dragging himself back to reality in time to hear his name being called, barely audible, over the howling winds. Retreating away from the storm he moved back towards the pathetic shelter they had erected, ducking underneath the metal faction.

“Good to see you didn't get swallowed by the storm Vincent; I was starting to seriously worry about you.” Without an answer he moved towards the source of the words, tresses of black hair becoming a matted mess of melting snow and knots as he placed himself beside the one that had summoned him back.

“I have a feeling that this isn't going to let up any time soon Cloud. We can't stay here much longer.” The growl that served as an answer hinted that the man had already been thinking the same subject through; a similar appearance of complete frustration and confusion that had once plagued the eldest man's face now creasing the smooth, beautiful features of the leader.

“Yeah, I know this. But without the Highwind up and running there isn't much we can do but sit here.”

“And freeze to death!? Cloud, you have to think it through! Sitting here in this cold, even with a fire twice as large as the one we have would be suicide!” Mako blue eyes snapped penetratingly over at the woman that had spoken, chestnut orbs locking in the same determined manner with their depths. A deadly silence overcame them both as they sat there, gazes never leaving one another, a mental debate seeming to wage within both of their minds.

“… What the hell do you want to do about it then?” Falling back into the snow Cloud broke the stare, arms folding behind the mane of sunlight as he glanced absently up at the temporary roof of metal, taking in every detail of the welded iron. “There's no way for Cid to fix this damned beast without the right supplies, and we very well don't have those with us. Plus, there's no where for us to go get them, unless we head over the mountains to Rocket Town…”

“There is somewhere else Cloud.” A visible flinch caused the man to falter at Yuffie's words, the ex-member of Shinra propping himself up on his elbow and turning away from the others to stare blankly off into the distance, mind racing with countless memories and thoughts.

“No… We should go to Rocket Town, if we wait until the storm dies down we can make it over the mountains easy.”

“Are ya crazy!? Even if we did wait till it stopped, there's no way ta tell if it'll jes' start right back up again! Not ta mention the fact that we don't know how long it's gonna take for the damned thing to stop in the first place, we don't got enough food ta last us that long.” Several nods accompanied Barret's statement, the man leaning closer to the fire to stare blankly at the dancing pits of orange and yellow, “I got no intention of dyin' out here before I get ta see Marlene again.”

“We have plenty! It won't take us long to get there, the mountains are easy to get through if you know where to go. I think we should-”

“Cloud, I believe Barret may be right. There is no telling what may happen, I think it's best to head to Ni-”

“SHUT UP!” Flinging himself up into a sitting position once more he broke through the rest of Red XIII's declaration, eyes bright with anger and disagreement, breath coming in short, raspy breathes. Turning his attention upon the shrinking fire before them he frowned deeply, a shudder running down his spine not caused by the bitter air, but rather by the thought of returning there. Unable to watch the dancing flames he tore his vision away from it, letting his eyes fall upon the others. “No. We are not going back.”

“Cloud, I know what happened to you, I went through the same thing. I lost people-”

“You don't, Tifa! You have no idea what I went through there, what I did!” Inhaling the bitter air sharply Cloud tried to calm himself once more, finding his efforts in vain as the resentment grew inside of him, blazing brightly without a stop. The feeling was new, like he was consumed in it, like it was controlling him, bending him to its will and demanding him to do as it told. A pain like liquid fire throbbed dully in every vein in his body, his arms and legs and torso numb with the stinging feeling that tormented them. Another wave of the heat swept the soreness into the center of his chest, the excruciating ache feeling as though his skin were splitting in two, cracking through his ribs and sternum in the process. A familiar feeling, resurrecting old memories, nearly forgotten memories.

“Cloud…?” The voice seemed distant and muffled as he fell, hunched over his knees, eyes closed tightly with his breath coming in quick pants. “Cloud, are you alright?”

“`Are you alright?' You were always like this, lettin' the little things hurt you. Hahaha, you never could have made it in, you know that? It's just the way things were.”

“Fine.” Shaking his head to free his consciousness of the ringing, mocking voice he turned to face Vincent, a weak grin slipping onto his full, supple lips, “I'm fine.” Forcing himself into an upright position he faced the rest of the group again, taking in their stares and glances of either concern or confusion, he couldn't quite tell and, actually, didn't care to. “I just need some rest. Let me think on it…” He let himself fall back upon the snow, more in a method to hide from their accusing stares and prying eyes than to try to sleep, arms once more crossing back behind the mane of sunlight and giving him a little cushion against the frozen ground. Distantly he could make out the sounds of the others moving to more comfortable positions, apparently agreeing with his decision.

“Getting a good night's sleep is probably what you need.”

Cloud gave a nod, accustomed to the partnership of the voice from the past, Yeah, you're right… Stifling a yawn he flipped over, coming to a rest on his side, hands folded underneath his temple neatly, the warmth from his breath taking some of the numb chill from their tips.

“Hopefully you don't have any nightmares.” His face twisted into a grimace of disapproval at the notion, a soft hiss slipping past his lips at the bitter reminder of the dreams he had been witnessing recently, merely days before their unsuspected landing in the mountains.

Yeah, yeah… He didn't expect a reply, but somehow the lack of one caused him to give a tiny groan.

“Are you sure you are alright with this Cloud?” The blonde jumped at the closeness of the new voice, the feeling of the person's breathing on his arm startling him maybe even more than the actual words themselves. Tilting his head back he peered into the deep pools of crimson, watching their center momentarily as if he expected something more from them, some sign of condolence or responsiveness. He frowned in a disappointed manner when no such sign came to their lifeless stare. Just as lifeless as always, as if the very will to live had been drained from them years before and nothing could bring back the gleam of simply existing. It was sad, really, now that he thought about it.

“What does it matter to you? Just go back to that damned hell hole…”

“Cloud…” The elderly man reached out to his companion, the cold metal of his left arm brushing absently against Cloud's cheek, running down the soft curves and leaving an icy tingling sensation in it's wake. A shudder ran down the blonde's backbone at the feeling, azure orbs sliding shut just for a moment, taking in the peace of the night air, the feeling of the breath on his limbs. One side of his body ice cold, the other possessing the normal warmth of every other being. Like a double-bladed sword, Cloud thought absently, his cheek leaning into the touch ever so slightly for some sign of reassuring. “Here. You aren't going to get much sleep if you are that cold.” The voice snapped him out of his short sanctuary, his gaze turning once more to Vincent as the man unclipped his cape, letting the scarlet cloth fall about him, his face unmasked for all to see for the first time since they met. Cloud thought carelessly that it was a good thing the others were asleep, his glance scanning over the pale curves of his jaw, the simple idea that no one else deserved to see his face creeping into his mind.

“You sure? Won't you get cold without it?” Striking the conversation up as a method to distract himself he allowed the demon being to drop the cape over his thin form, covering him completely from the chill wind that seemed to somehow break through the metal of the ship. Vincent shrugged, his slender form now also revealed as he climbed once more to his feet, stalking off slowly closer to the dancing flames of the fire. Faltering for a moment Cloud waved a hand, sitting upright.

“Hey!” Turning around the older of the two glanced back at him, acknowledging his call. “Uh… thanks, I guess.” Again he arched his shoulders in the oh so familiar manner, the blonde biting back a small laugh as the man placed himself adjacent to Cid by the flame, the two almost instantly starting up a very silent, and, by the looks of things private, conversation. He really has changed since when we first met him…

Tugging the new covering up to his chin he laid down once more, eyes closing in his exhaustion, the yawn he had held back before now coming back in full force. Pleased with the warmth that lingered in the cloth from its owner's body Cloud found himself drifting into slumber faster than usually, the dull crackling of the fire obsolete by the gentle whispers of Vincent and Cid only steps away from him.

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One-Winged Angel: Alright… There's the new and improved first chapter. Before someone tells me that it's the same as before, all I did was cut the original chapter one in half, split it into two, and renamed them both. I made a few minor changes here and there, but it remains the same overall. I had so many people - including my friends - telling me that the chapters were way too long, so I sympathized with you guys and made them a bit shorter. It's hard to split these things in half… I couldn't find a good spot to do it! Anyway, reviews will help with my writer's block, so… ^^ You know the drill.