Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Where the lost ones go ❯ Trail of blood ( Chapter 13 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

13. Trail of Blood...

The smoke was rising towards the sky, thick and pitch black. The air was filled with screams and gun fire. The once so dry earth was soaked with blood.
And Vincent was unaware of all of this.
He was still kneeling in front of the ruins of what could have become his life, the remains of a house that had given him brief moments of peace with a dark haired woman and a child with his eyes.
Yes, Dawn had opened her eyes to reveal Vincent's humanity gazing back at him. Dark hazel eyes that had contained the innocence that had been torn from Vincent.
Now crimson eyes was staring into nothing, burning with dry tears that he was unable to shed. Pain was steadily growing inside him, and agony was numbing his senses. Silence was all that he heard despite the inferno happening around him, and memories were flashing in front of his eyes like lightning strikes.
And Chaos was laughing.
Vincent remembered clearly the last time he saw his daughter. Asleep in her crib, her trust in him absolute.
The former Turk drew a shivering breath, remembering Rain's smile as she told him to return as fast as he could. That she would be missing him.
Agony was steadily building inside Vincent, and he was trembling hard as he remembered how surprised he'd been at the sound when Rain had made him laugh for the first time in so many years. Agony was becoming unbearable as he remembered his puzzlement when Rain had decided to go and pick flowers in the moon light. Agony was tearing him apart as he remembered the feeling of falling asleep with Rain in his arms.
Vincent closed his eyes hard as he screamed.
A scream that turned into a howl as the Galiant Beast broke free, enraged by the strong feelings surging through it's host. Claws dug into the ground as the beast howled again, and small streams of smoke was rising from it's nostrils. It was ready for battle. It was ready for murder.
Bounding into battle, the beast was announcing it's arrival with huge balls of fire towards anything it saw moving. The Galiant Beast easily dodged the bullets that was shot towards it, and flew into the air with a strong leap, landing on the roof of what had been a restaurant.
The people of Wutai were trained warriors, but they were hopelessly outnumbered and gun fire were rapidly depleting their numbers.
The Galiant Beast gave a soft growl, it's eyes locked on it's next target. It waited just long enough for the helicopter to come within reach, and sent off a huge ball of fire to crash into it. Howling triumphantly as the air craft began spinning before crashing in a small house, the Galiant Beast then jumped down to deal with the soldier that came running. The beast sneered annoyed as the soldiers barely managed to fire a few shots before they fell victim to it's deadly claws, and it turned it's eyes towards the huge figure of one of the mutated monsters looming over the town.
Finally a challenge worthy of the Galiant Beast!
Howling, it crouched down as it got ready for a long jump, when suddenly a sound caught it's attention. Or rather, it caught Vincent's semi-conscious mind's attention.
A gun shot. A gun shot with the original sound of being fired with one of Vincent's guns. The Quicksilver.
The Galiant Beast swayed slightly, shaking it's head as it fought against Vincent's return. It wasn't ready! It still had enemies to kill! It wasn't over!
The Quicksilver fired again, and this time Vincent couldn't be held back but returned to his human form with a slight gasp. Stumbling a few steps, the former Turk gathered himself and set course for where the direction of the sound.
When he'd left that night, Vincent had placed the beloved Quicksilver in Rain's hands. Just for safety, he'd told her. And he'd already trained her in the use of fire arms, unlike the other warriors of Wutai who still preferred their ninja weapons.
Was it possible?
Vincent's heart began to race and he picked up the pace to a sprint towards where a third shot from the Quicksilver could be heard.

Sephiroth was half asleep again, slouching in the passenger seat, when suddenly his eyes shot open and he straightened abruptly. "Stop the truck!"
The driver jumped startled and stared wide eyed at him, "W-what?"
"Stop the damn truck NOW!" Sephiroth snapped, turning to open the window back to the small group of ShinRa soldiers drowsing the back that was rudely awakened by the sudden stop. "Everyone get out! GET OUT!"
The soldiers stared frightened at him, but made no sign to move. Like deers frozen in headlights.
Sephiroth kicked open his own door, watching as the driver fled before turning back to the numb soldiers. "I said: GET OUT! NOW!"
The doors were flung open and everyone scrambled outside, Sephiroth barely managing to hit the ground running as a huge paw smashed down on the truck and flattening it.
Turning to face it, Sephiroth slowly pulled out the Masamune while measuring the monster picking up the flattened truck to peer at it. Another one of these zombie-looking monsters. A heavy footstep caught his attention, and the general spun around to see two more a few meters away. Three of them?!
Sephiroth glanced over at the small group of horrified soldiers staring at the beings with disbelief. One monster they might have handled, but three?
It seemed like a tactical retreat was the best option, but there was the minor problem of a small group of humans running compared to huge monsters with strides that covered 20 meters a step and the fact that their truck was now two dimmensional.
Sephiroth swallowed hard, his mind working frantically to find the best solution, as the soldiers appeared too afraid to move at all. For once, their ability to freeze completely came in good use, as it seemed that the monster was more interested in the truck for the moment, and it's companions were bickering half-heartedly among themselves.
They needed a distraction, something to draw the monsters attention away from them as they made their escape.
But what? How did you distract a monster the size of the ShinRa tower and it's two friends without drawing their attention to yourself while doing so?
Suddenly a gun shot broke Sephiroth concentration and he gazed quickly over as the monster howled angrily and tossed the truck away to glare at the guilty soldier holding a trembling gun.
Idiot! Sephiroth drew a sharp breath as the howl attracted the other monsters attentions as well, and the two began dragging their oversized feet towards the small group of ShinRa soldiers. No more time to think, Sephiroth realised as he saw how the soldiers still weren't moving. "Go! Move your asses! Get out of there!" The silver haired man made a small prayer to the Masamune, before closing his eyes briefly in resignation as the soldiers were running straight towards him. Yes, thank you, bring the monster to me, don't let me get a sneak attack on them as that would take too much excitement out of the situation. That way I might have gotten in a hit before one of them eats me, and that wouldn't do, would it?
Sephiroth raised a hand and threw a Wall on the soldiers, hoping it would keep them alive at least. "Stay down, ok?" The silver haired man ordered the lieutenant, who gave a pale nod.
For some odd reason, as he was walking towards the three monsters, Sephiroth found himself thinking about Aeris. He wondered if she was angry with him for just leaving without saying a word. Right now he regretted bitterly doing so. Maybe they could have had a better parting than the last. Maybe she had apologized once more, and he would have forgiven her.
Any way, he would have had a better last memory of her than the pained look on her face as he roughly dismissed her and left her in a huff.
A monster howled at him, and Sephiroth got in a fighting stance, lifting the Masamune as his eyes narrowed in concentration.
At least now he had a reason to survive, didn't he? He had to return to Midgar and make things up with Aeris.
"Alright, let's go," Sephiroth declared smoothly, "Let's get this over with!"

Vincent came to a scudding halt, glancing around. Where? Where did that final shot come from?
A bullet gazed his shoulder, but the former Turk didn't notice.
The building collapsed beside him, the flames already devouring it rising even higher, but Vincent didn't notice that either.
His senses were locked on finding the location of the person wielding the Quicksilver, not daring to hope, but unable to dismiss the possibility that it could be Rain.
A new shot.
Vincent's gold hand curled into a fist and connected with the jaw of an unknown soldier that leaped out in his path and tried to stab him. No time for that. He had to find the person firing Quicksilver!
The shots were comming from the path leading to the mountains, and Vincent dodged several more bullets as he ran towards the path.
A helicopter was hovering over his destination and Vincent heard soldiers calling out orders to each other. There was something going on there. Something important.
That was when he heard her voice.
Heard Rain scream.
Starting violently, Vincent almost didn't manage to dodge a bullet flying pass him and was rewarded with a cut across his cheek, but it didn't matter.
They were alive!
Sprinting along the dirt path, Vincent pulled out Death Penalty and efficiently removed the soldiers that got in his way. His heart was hammering with hope and fear.
It wasn't too late!
Rounding a curve in the path, the former Turk came to a sudden halt as he found himself facing a large group of soldiers and the helicopter hovering just over their heads. Everyone was currently staring at him, but all Vincent saw was the woman restrained by three soldiers.
Rain was covered in soot and blood, but clearly alive and kicking. Literarily. But when her eyes landed on Vincent, she went calm and hope lit up in her eyes. "Vincent!"
Vincent took a step towards them, but halted as a gun was placed to Rain's temple. "Let her go, and I will give you all a merciful death."
The huge guns on the helicopter slowly turned with a whirring sound to aim at the gun man, and a high ranking soldier smirked triumphantly. "I think not, Mr Valentine. Make move and you both die! My man wont hesitate to blow her brains out, and the nice crew in the helicopter here wont hesitate to fill you full of lead!"
Vincent's crimson eyes narrowed slightly and he was already calculating the fastest way to take out the dangerous ones and get Rain to safety, ignoring the sound of one of the monsters wrecking a house near by.
Rain paled and tugged frantically to free herself, "Vincent, listen to me! You have to leave here!"
Frowning, Vincent shook his head briefly. He was NOT leaving her with these goons!
"Listen," Rain pleaded urgently, holding his eyes with an intense gaze. "I'm not important right now. You have to make sure this day ends and pray for dawn, ok?"
Vincent's frown deepened and he clutched Death Penalty harder. Those words made no sense! Dammit, why did everyone have to throw frigging riddles his way?
"Pray for dawn," Rain repeated in soft desperation, then kicked the soldier on her left.
Vincent's eyes widened slightly as he realised what she meant. Dawn. The child was nowhere to be seen! She'd managed to hide their daughter before getting captured. That was why she was way up here on this path, drawing them away from the location.
Pray for Dawn. The temple.
Taking a step back, Vincent swallowed hard. "I will come for you."
Rain nodded, smiling weakly. "I'll be waiting, Vincent. Now, hurry!"
This time Vincent glanced over as he heard the monster tear down another house, realising it was heading straight for the temples, before gazing a final time at Rain. "I'm sorry..." And turned to save their daughter, failing to protect Rain like he'd failed to protect Lucrecia.
"Valentine!" A voice called out after him, "You want to save this woman? In two days, you will bring Cid Highwind to Gongaga, or you will find pieces of her there!"
Vincent glanced back a final time, seeing the helicopter lift up in the sky, before focusing on the task in front of him.

The Masamune flashed like lightning as Sephiroth lashed out at the monster in front of him, quickly rolling to his left as the second monster rammed it's taloned tail in the ground where he'd been standing.
Two of the monsters were focusing on him, but the silver haired general could hear the gun fire that revealed the panicking ShinRa soldiers dealing with the third monstrosity. This wasn't going very well! Time was not on their side!
Sprinting towards the already injured monster, Sephiroth jumped up in the air to deliver another deep cut with the Masamune.
He knew the only way to immobilize these oversized creatures were to decapitate them, but it was no easy task! Their size and strength were the main obstacles, combined with the fact that to get close enough to chop their heads off, meaning you were close enough for them to reach you as well.
The cut delivered, Sephiroth kicked off from the monster's shoulder and flew towards the second one. Luckily these monsters were slow and stupid, but he had a bad feeling that these were sent out because they were expendable. What was being kept back as a trump card?
A second attack was delivered, and Sephiroth had barely landed before he was forced into another high leap as the first monster lunged after him.
It was no use! He couldn't deal with two monsters at once! It was impossible to immobilize one as long as the other were attacking as well!
And eventually, Sephiroth would get tired.
Lashing out, Sephiroth left a deep gash across one of the monster's chest and landed at a small distance from the two creatures. They were immune to magic he'd learned, and wounding them didn't even appear to slow them down. They would scream occasionally, or make sounds that sounded like screams, but he wasn't too sure if they felt pain. If they felt anything at all. There wasn't even anger in their small eyes. Just emptiness.
Suddenly one of the monsters drew a deep breath and sent a shower of pins the size of small spears towards Sephiroth, forcing him up in the air again and there it's tail greeted him.
Sephiroth managed to deflect the pins with the Masamune, but the tail was a different matter.
It hit hard, and Sephiroth felt his beloved sword fall from his hand as he was sent towards the ground at an alarming speed. Squirming, he tried to get his feet underneath himself and was already reaching out his hand to reclaim the Masamune mid-air, when the second shower of pins came at him.
Automatically raising his right arm to protect his face, Sephiroth landed hard and was physically unable to hold back the scream that broke free as he felt the bone in his left upper arm shatter at the impact with the hard ground. Pins cut through him, and blood was pooling beneath him within seconds.
Vision blurring, Sephiroth drew a shivering breath as he tried to gather himself. This was beyond not good. This was actually quite bad!
Trying to sit up ended in a pained cry and Sephiroth reaching over to clutch his broken arm and him panting hard as he tried to ignore the pain of the pins impaling him.
Game over, he thought numbly.
Then a huge ball of fire flew over him and rammed into the closest monster.
Only, the fire ball were making deep growls and left huge gashes where it attacked the howling creature.
Sephiroth frowned, then blinked hard and looked once more.
The cat beast! The one who had ordered him to leave Cosmo Canyon!
Suddenly a flicker of magic surrounded Sephiroth and he gave a silent groan of pain as a ShinRa soldier was kneeling beside him while tugging an arm around his shoulders. "Hang on, Mr General!"
Sephiroth gritted his teeth to endure the pain as he stood solely because of the soldier holding him up while a second was yanking out the pins still impaling Sephiroth.
What was the cat beast doing here? Why had it saved his life?
What was going on?

Vincent let Death Penalty roar twice before he took the chance of crossing the road and continue towards the temple. It was way more crowded here and most of the buildings were burning. The former Turk crouched down behind the remains of a tree while reloading his weapon and absently glanced over to see the temple almost within reach.
Soldiers and Wutai warriors were fighting in front of it, but it appeared relatively unharmed. At least it hadn't caught fire. Yet.
Getting up, he ran towards the building, only flinching when a bullet tore into his side. No time for that.
Vincent didn't stop until he had his back against the temple, breathing hard while pressing his golden claw against the bullet wound. So far, so good. Almost there.
Glancing over the fence, he slowly lifted Death Penalty and sent off a shot towards the gold plate that was the key to the secret entrance.
The sound drowned in the smoke and scream filled death of Wutai.
Vincent didn't turn around as the secret door slid open behind him, but warily backed inside and kept Death Penalty ready to fire until the door closed once again.
Holstering Death Penalty, Vincent finally turned to gaze around in the door. It was empty.
Fear struck him violently and the former Turk had to force himself calm, "Dawn...?"
The ground shook from some explosion close by and Vincent knew he had little time. Dawn HAD to be there!
"Dawn? Are you here?" He slowly walked into the room, gazing around and willed himself to keep his straining calm. Had he misunderstood Rain's words? "Dawn?"
Finally a sound caught his attention, and Vincent quickly peered under a table.
A pair of hazel eyes were watching him with fear and helplessness.
Relief rushed through Vincent and he closed his eyes briefly, then crouched down on the floor and reached out a hand. "Dawn! Come! We have to hurry!"
Baby Valentine made no sign to move, eyeing him anxiously.
Vincent hesitated, not wanting to just grab the child and possibly scare her even more by yanking her out from under there. "It's your father, Dawn. You can trust me. Come now."
Baby Valentine was not affected at all.
Barely over six months, Vincent realised she probably didn't understand what he was saying anyway. The destruction outside must have scare her beyond reason and the darkness seemed like a good hiding place from all the scary things. "Dawn, please..." Then he remembered Rain's words and tried a weak smile. "Dawn, it's ok. Daddy is here. I'm going to look after you now." Enough with formalities, Rain had said, you're her daddy! "Daddy is here..."
Hazel eyes watered with tears and Dawn reached out her tiny arms.
Vincent exhaled with painful relief and affection as he reached out and lifted up the small child, that quickly latched on to him for dear life.
For a few seconds, he merely held her close and savoured the feeling, then crimson eyes opened. They weren't safe yet.
Adjusting his daughter so he could hold her close with his golden arm, leaving his gun arm free, Vincent carefully moved his cloak to hide her underneath it. His gold arm would provide some armour for her, and keeping her under the red cloak would hopefully hide her from sight. "We have to leave now, Dawn..."
Baby Valentine whimpered silently, clutching a feverish hold of his black shirt.
Vincent swallowed hard as he gazed down at her pale and frightened face in the darkness of his cloak. "Everything is going to be alright, Dawn. Daddy is going to look after you, but you have to be quiet. Do you think you can do that?" He didn't really wait for an answer, merely placed a hasty kiss on the top of her head, then opened the door to cross the battlefield once again.

Sephiroth could not remember the last time he had fled from a fight.
In fact, he couldn't remember if he had EVER fled from a fight!
But then again, Sephiroth was no fool. When the cat beast had given them the opportunity, they had ran like hysterical chocobos with the aim of getting as much distance between them and the monsters as possible!
Sephiroth glanced over at the cat beast running beside him, unable to stop wondering even in the middle of their head over heels fleeing.
Why had the cat beast appeared? Why had it saved his life? It was the cat beast who had turned them away, why come after them?
"Why?" Sephiroth managed to ask, his legs protesting against the harsh treatment after the impaled by pins ordeal.
Seto glanced over at the silver haired man, yellow eyes holding no more benevolence than the last time they'd met. "I could smell those creatures approaching. They've been attacking Cosmo Canyon all week. But for now, Sir General, I suggest you conjure up a plan to get us out of here!"
Nodding, Sephiroth threw a quick glance back at the monsters stumbling after the small group running for their lives. "Yeah, guess I don't have much choice..."
Fumbling out his PHS, Sephiroth pressed the blue button and waited for a reply. "Come on... Come on, come on, come on!"

Aeris' feet dangled daintily from where she was sitting on the crate, "I don't see how you can do this for hours..."
Cid inched out from under the ShinRa plane he was working on, glaring at her with his oil covered face. "Yeah? Well, that girly flower decoration thing of yers seems dead boring t'me! Wouldn't have lasted five minutes!" He held out a demanding hand.
Sighing, Aeris gingerly lifted a greasy wrench and placed it carefully in his hand, but was unable to add a sweet flavoured comment; "I think you'd make a wonderful flower decoratist, Cid. It's nothing to be ashamed of."
Cid snorted like she'd just mortally offended him and inched under the plane again. "If I EVER start playing with flowers, I'm gonna shoot myself! Now, ya came here to help and not complain!"
Aeris gave a faint smile, glancing over at what she could see of the pilot. Truth be told, she came to see how he was doing. Aeris knew Cid was struggling to deal with everything that had happened, and wanted to show him that she was there for him. As well as the fact that she had to do something or she would go crazy from wondering about Sephiroth. How could he just leave like that? Ok, so he was angry, but just leave? Not a word. Nothing.
Rufus said he had asked Sephiroth to go, but Aeris knew the general had been more than happy to leave. Sephiroth wanted to get away from her.
That thought hurt more than anything she'd ever felt.
Then the sound of the PHS ringing tore her out of her thoughts, and Aeris tilted her head curiously as Cid inched himself from out under the plane again with colourful curses. Good thing that Aeris had learned to turn a deaf ear to that language.
"This'd better be damn important!" Cid declared as he answered the call, but then started. "Sephiroth? Is that you? The line is very bad... You sound weird, or should I say weirder?"
Aeris straightened abruptly, eyes locked on the pilot now absently drying his face with a cloth. Sephiroth was calling Cid?
Nodding, Cid got up. "Yeah, Rufus told me. What... Is something wrong? What the hell was that just now? Monsters? Where are you guys? Yeah, I know where that is... Yeah, ok, just... stay alive, ok?" The pilot gave a dry chuckle, "Don'tcha worry! My airship is the fastest ever built! Ya'll just keep running yer asses off and I'll be there to save the day!"
Aeris jumped to her feet as Cid hung up and ran over to take a hold of one of Cid's hands. "That was Sephiroth? Is something wrong? Is he hurt? Monsters? Where is he?"
"Whoa, girl!" Cid waved his free hand for her to calm down. "It's a bit of an emergency. Sephiroth was checking out Cosmo Canyon, yeah? But looks like some frigging monsters decided to take the trip as well! The big ass, merciless killing kind of monster that we've all learned to hate!"
Clutching his hand harder, Aeris stared intensely at him. "Then... Then we have to leave NOW! We have to hurry!"
Cid frowned, "Hey now, where did 'we' come in to this?"
Aeris released him to trot towards the airship, "I'm comming too! I want to help! And if you don't let me, I'll tell Rufus and he wont let you leave!"
Starting, Cid ran after her. "Hey, that's blackmail! Not very nice, you know! Nice girls don't do that!"
"When did I claim to be a nice girl?" Aeris asked with a faint smile, then began to climb up the ladder. "We don't have time to argue, Cid!"
Grumbling, the pilot had to admit that she was right and let the matter drop.
Now all they had to do was to get the Highwind airborne and reach Sephiroth's group in time!
Cid Highwind grinned slightly as he entered the airship again, feeling more awake than in a long time.
Finally he got to save the day!
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