Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Where the lost ones go ❯ Cid's theme ( Chapter 35 )

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

35. Cid's theme

Cid Highwind was staring at the sky.
When he was a little boy, he'd been staring at the sky with the same fierce look. The look that told that he knew the sky would hold all the answers he was seeking. The sky would be the answer to everything, he'd always known that. By some accident, fate had made him human instead of a bird, but his soul knew where he belonged. If only he could get up to the freedom calling to him, then the young boy would understand why things were the way they were. Things would start to make sense! His heart had always told him he was different. He'd just never known how different he really was...
"Well, it's just materia, ain't it?" Barret scratched his neck nervously as he glanced over at the pilot. "Order the damn thing to work!"
Cid slowly raised a hand to his chest, feeling his heart thundering underneath it. "Like how, Barret? By saying 'abra kadabra'?" He closed his eyes and shook his head, cursing himself to hell and damnation for not knowing the answer himself.
The former leader of AVALANCHE snorted frustrated, waving his gun arm in angered helplessness. "All I know'bout damn materia is how to equip it in my weapons and whoop monster ass! A'ight? I ain't no damn magic expert!"
At that moment, they were both interrupted by the sound of a building collapsing in the outskirts of Midgar that was now engulfed in flames. It was a horrible sound, the screams of iron supporters giving in and walls collapsing. The flames grew higher, almost as if in some grotesque victory dance, before aiming to devour the entire city. The heat was forcing the battling soldiers and the roaring monsters closer to Midgar's center, towards the ShinRa tower and all the residents surrounding it.
"Man, time is running out, y'know?" Barret said in a clearly worried voice, his eyes locked on the inferno that was aiming to destroy them all.
The pilot tore of his flight goggles, tossed them away and ruffled his hair with frustrated hands. "Think, Highwind! Think, damn you!" Cid closed his eyes tightly, scanning his brain for any clues. Any at all. But it kept slipping out of his hands. Like trying to hold water. He lowered one hand to his chest again, almost desperate enough to tear the damn heart out!
That's it...
Cid's blue eyes opened with an anguished look, wondering how he could have been so stupid. That was it, wasn't it? There couldn't really be no other way...
Turning to face Barret, Cid let his hands fall to his sides and gave a harsh laugh. "You're right, Barret."
"Course I am, foo!" Barret snapped tersely, then frowned puzzled. "About what?"
"The materia. How to use it." Cid threw out his arms, giving a morbid smile. "You have to shoot me, Barret."
Barret started violently, taking a step away. "Now I KNOW the sun has melted yer brains! I ain't shooting shit, Cid! Shut yer face and get that materia working!" The calm look in the pilot's eyes were scaring him, and he really didn't need more problems to deal with now. The guy would just have to have a breakdown later!
Shaking his head, Cid marched over to place his hands on the other man's shoulders. "But don't you see? You were right! To use the materia, we have to equip it! And that ain't gonna happen as long as it stays where it is, is it?" He tightened his grip as Barret tried to tear free, forcing him to meet his gaze. "Think about it! You know I'm right!"
"Get yer hands off me," Barret sneered, staring wide eyed at Cid. Did the man honestly think he would shoot him, and then tear his frigging heart out of his chest? "You let me go this damn minute, Highwind!" The mere thought made him sick to his stomach, and everything in him raged against it. No damn way! Even if Cid was right, and that was the only way to make the materia work, then they'd just have to find another way to defeat Jinrei! "If you think I can do something like that to a friend, then you don't know me at all, ya bastard!"
Reluctantly letting go, Cid made a frustrated sound. "Damn you, Barret! Can't ya see I'm trying to make things right here? All of this here shit...!" He gesticulated towards the mayhem so dangerously close to them. "All that shit is because of me! People are dying because of me! And I can stop it!"
"Stop it how?" Barret yelled furiously, giving the pilot a hard shove to send him stumbling back a few steps. "By dying? All them people who died so you was to live, you wanna make everything in vain? Ya wanna piss on their graves by giving up the life they gave you? You selfish little shit!"
This time, Cid screamed in frustration. "I don't know what else to do, dammit! I know I can stop this by making the materia work, and if that includes me dying; I don't mind!"
Forcing himself calm, Barret walked over to place a soothing hand on Cid's shoulder. "Listen here, buddy. I know yer tired and freaked out, 'kay? But if that materia thang says we gotta tear it outta ya smoke-filled chest, then I say to hell with it! A'ight?"
Cid closed his eyes, but didn't reply.

It was too hot! Too damn hot!
Rufus quickly pushed locks of hair from his damp face, cursing angrily as he shoved more bullets into his shotgun. The sun was scorching them from it's high position on a blue sky, and the fires kept rising the temperature to the point of torture! The air was thick with heat, and each breath was a struggle. The brat prince was sweating like they would hand out an award for it, but a mere fast glance at Sephiroth told him that the other man was suffering just as much.
"I swear," Sephiroth grumbled as he blocked the sword of an enemy soldier, "when all of this is over, I'm going to run around in Icicle town in nothing but my underwear and a smile!"
Despite everything, Rufus couldn't hold back a light chuckle at the statement and he added a nod as he fired off several rounds at a monster. "Never thought I would miss a cold shower!" He absently wiped his face with the back of his hand while exhaling wearily. "And I never thought I would admit being tired, but I don't know how much longer I can keep this up..."
Sephiroth lashed out a finishing attack on the Jinrei soldier before cautiously moving over to Rufus, making the two standing back to back with weapons raised. "At least we're going down fighting..."
Rufus nodded, shifting his grin on the shotgun uneasily. "Going to take with us as many as we bloody well can!" Blue eyes were flickering on the increasing number of enemies coming closer, having circled the two completely. "And when you think about it, it could have been worse. I mean... I could be stuck out here with Strife!"
"Heavens forbid!" Sephiroth chuckled, feeling the Masamune humming with eagerness to drink more blood. "There is only one problem, Rufus..."
Glancing over his shoulder, Rufus raised an eyebrow as Sephiroth did the same to meet his gaze. "What?"
The silver haired man managed a faint smile, a strange look of pain in his eyes. "I don't want to die."
The simple words stunned Rufus, and his heart ached painfully at the truth in them. A few years ago, neither of them would have cared if they lived or perished, but they both had something to live for now. Something to fight for. Stay alive for. Returning the faint smile, Rufus swallowed hard. "Yeah, I know..." He returned to stare hatefully at the Jinrei soldiers. "I made a promise to Tifa...To stay alive... To return to her... And I want to keep that promise more than anything..."
Sephiroth rushed forward at the very moment Rufus fired his shotgun, and the two unleashed their remaining anger and frustration. Stubbornness being their only fuel now that their bodies were verging on collapsing. The silver haired man didn't dare to stray too far away from the ShinRa president, as Rufus was barely able to keep up with the high pace anymore. The pressure had been too much before, and yet it just seemed to increase. Attacks were coming from every side, and desperate lungs were unable to get the oxygen they so sorely needed. Screams and explosions never seemed to end, and the fire was forcing the monsters their way as well. A well aimed shot from the firey haired man saved Sephiroth from the fangs of a mutated creature, while the lash of Masamune saved Rufus from the sword of a Jinrei soldier. The first injury was a bullet to Rufus's thigh, and he screamed in agony as his leg collapsed to send him to the ground. The second injury came when Sephiroth was wrapping Rufus' arm around his neck, pulling the young man to his feet, as a grenade exploded beside them and sent a metal shard into Sephiroth' s back.
Forcing himself to ignore the pain, Sephiroth managed to keep his balance and not drop Rufus. He glanced over to see the young man pressing his free hand to his injured thigh, trying to stem the heavy bleeding. "Stay with me, ShinRa!"
Rufus barely lifted his face, peering under disarrayed bangs damp with sweat. He saw the enemy soldiers aiming their guns at them, waiting for some invisible order to end their misery. "It's over, Sephiroth..."
"You made a promise!" Sephiroth sneered, pained and weary to the brink of passing out. His mind did tell him it was all over, however his heart simply refused to accept it. But even a proud general's heart could not protect them as a building behind them exploded and came thundering down in a landslide of concrete and iron.
Three entire minutes would pass before there was movement again. A good radius of ten to fifteen meters were covered in debris, and dust was still dancing in the air when there was a weak cough heard.
Rufus had to blink several times to regain his sight, his eyes stinging from dust as well as blood running from a cut. When the world stopped spinning, he managed to barely raise his head and scanned his surroundings. Sephiroth was lying a small distance from him, blood stained and covered in dust, but Rufus could see him breathing. Good. Then Rufus passed out again.

Barret cursed fiercly as he saw another building collapse, this one only a few structures away from the ShinRa tower. Time was up. Either some miracle would save them now, or game over. He didn't gaze over at Cid, knowing he'd see his own fears mirrored in the other man's face. How did you convince someone that a mad man's ideas were killing people, not the one's who got caught up in the middle of it? Shaking his head, Barret closed his eyes briefly and almost didn't see the incoming danger.
An attack from one of Nanaki's ghost tribe sent the Summoning Odin careening towards the two, giving the two barely enough time to jump in opposite directions to avoid being crushed.
Hitting the ground hard, the former leader of AVALANCHE grunted with pain, but hardly waited until he came to a halt before quickly gazing up to scan for danger as well as Cid. There was a brief sense of relief when he saw the pilot stumbling to his feet some distance away by the edge of the building, then Barret's attention turned to the sight of Odin climbing back onto his eight-legged horse after it's encounter with the annex that contained the elevator. The impact had clearly thrown the Summoning off his unnatural companion, and left the annex with serious damage to it's wall. Normal weapons couldn't do any damage to the Summonings, but Summonings easily damaged anything they came across.
Regaining his balance, Cid absently brushed the dust off his pants before the sound of hoofs caught his attention and he glanced over to see Odin raising his sword to ready himself for battle once again. The blonde saw Barret staring at the same thing, and then briefly met the pilot's eyes. At that moment the idea came to them both, and Cid heard Barret call out his objection. Heard him call out for him to stop in vain.
Smiling faintly, Cid made a silent apology to everyone, then stepped towards Odin. "Hey, ugly! Yeah, over here, ya big lug!" He swallowed hard as the Summoning actually turned it's attention to him, empty eyes narrowing in on it's prey. "What are ya waiting for, stupid? You afraid, or something?" Those last words seemed to do the trick as the horse suddenly reared before charging towards him, and Cid had to use every ounce of his will to stay where he was. Everything in him screamed for him to move, avoid the attack, to stay alive, but he forced his instincts quiet. Forced himself to ignore Barret's voice yelling, and the sound of Midgar being torn to pieces.
There was a rush of air, and Cid started rigid as he felt Odin's sword ram into his chest. His mind exploded with pain. He was only vaguely aware of losing balance, and Cid's gaze drifted to the sky as he fell of the ShinRa tower, a spray of blood rising from his chest as Odin withdrew his sword without stopping on it's way towards a ghostly figure of Nanaki's tribe.
The sky was still so blue. Cid used to love it when the sky was so blue, as it seemed without limits. Then he learned that there was an entire universe behind that blue, and it seemed to beckon him. He always wanted to fly. Be weightless and free. Cid Highwind managed a faint smile, feeling the air rushing pass him as he kept falling faster and faster. For a moment, the pilot was allowed to fly without wings.
"Do you wish to die, you fool?"
Where did that voice come from? It was almost like someone was talking straight into his ear! Cid frowned annoyed and closed his eyes. "It's not like I have a damn choice..." His own voice sounded so weak and distant now. When he actually thought about it, everything seemed distant at the moment. Shouldn't he be afraid of dying? Shouldn't the image of him hitting the ground worry him?
"If you die, then everything has been in vain..."
That damn voice wasn't about to shut up, was it? Cid's frown deepened and he made a mental shrug. "It's pretty much nothing I can do about that now, is there? Now shut yer face, whoever the hell you are! Can't a man have a heroic death in peace? Dammit!"
"You don't have to die..."
"Is that right?" Cid grumbled, feeling himself having to fight to stay conscious. Shouldn't he have hit the ground by now? Why did ShinRa have to make so damn tall towers? "And how do you suggest I avoid that? Flap my arms?"
"Release me."
Cid snorted a laugh, too tired and weakened to really care that he was talking to his imagination. "Sure. I release ya, Mr Voice! Go ahed, save the day."
A bright ray of light shot out from the pilot's chest, accompanied with Cid's agonized scream, it continued until it pierced the sky. Leaving the blonde to hover mid-air, the light continued to shoot at the sky and seemed to burn a hole in the blue canvas. The hole slowly grew, darkness spreading, and a thundering sound emerged along with the clouds that seeped out to circle the hole. Soon lightning flashes was seen across the sky as clouds kept increasing and covered the sun. The sky was growing darker by the seconds, and finally the first rain drop fell.

Jinrei was staring up at the sky as the clouds were gathering, cursing violently. Cid Highwind had managed to activate the materia? How was that possible? This could ruin everything!
Snapping a few more orders to a messenger, the scientist absently touched his throat as he turned away while the unfortunate soldier ran off to deliver the new orders. Cid Highwind's materia was the only true Element Materia left. The three other materia had been destroyed in the battles between the tribes, but it had only been a challenge for someone like Jinrei to make duplicates. However, they only possessed one fifth of the strength of the true Element Materias. Highwind's materia would have the power over water, which explained the rain, while it took Jinrei the power of the three fakes combined to create the draught. Even his youth and regenerating powers stemmed from the materia he had created and then inserted into his very body.
Soldier Girl had been the last of many attempts he had to create a living materia. She was the ultimate weapon, a living materia! Who would need weapons when they were the very essence of magic themselves? With an army of Soldier Girls and Soldier Boys, Jinrei would be unchallenged in power! There was still the minor problem that the human body seemed unable to handle the increasing powers as they reached towards Mastered status, but the scientist hoped to overcome that obstacle in the future with more tests and test subjects!
A violent flash of lightning, followed by a deafening thunder roll, snapped Jinrei out of his thoughts and he gritted his teeth in anger. This was not a part of his plan! If the moron had managed to trigger the Water materia, then that could also mean he'd awakened the Water Guardian! The strongest Element Materia Jinrei had managed to make was the Fire Materia, which was currently safe within his throat, but even that had lost it's ability to summon the Fire Guardian. He had a theory that the other three guardians had died along with their materia, but that was not a comforting thought. Even so, all of this only confirmed what Jinrei had been thinking all along; Cid Highwind just had to die! Everything would be solved if only that happened!
Jinrei sneered furiously, turning just in time to see the figure leaping through the flames. He saw the crimson eyes locked on him, the fire nibbling at the edge of the red cape, and the light of an explosion nearby bounced off the weapon aimed at him. "Vincent Valentine..." Jinrei automatically pulled his own gun, armed with the single bullet he'd once received from the gunman landing in front of him. "Facing me alone? Brave, but also very foolish. Your bullet failed to kill me, as you can see."
"I am not the only fool here," Vincent replied calmly, holstering the Death Penalty without taking his gaze of his opponent.
The former Turk did not seem bothered by the fires, nor the rain that kept increasing to a heavy downpour. He seemed almost too calm!
Jinrei firmly lifted his gun to aim directly at the gunman's forhead. "Are you calling me a fool, Valentine? I don't take kindly to insults!" Why was the damn man so calm, and why had he put his weapon away? Did the man actually realise that trying to shoot Jinrei was in vain? Then why was he there, if not to end Jinrei's life? Vincent Valentine was many things, but he was not someone who did anything without his reasons. There were two things Jinrei could not stand. One was to feel that there was a point, and that he didn't get it. Second was to feel afraid. At the moment, the scientist was going through both of those feelings.
Lightning cut across the sky, and Vincent made no sign to move, only his cape seemed to be able to dance lightly in anticipation. "You think I came alone?"
Was there actually a smile on the pale man's face?
Jinrei swallowed hard and cocked the gun angrily, telling himself that he had nothing to fear. The materia in his body made him almost immortal!
There was no mistaking it this time, though it could hardly be called as anything remotely nice as Vincent smiled. "I'm never alone, Jinrei."
As the scientist opened his mouth to ask what the hell the other man was talking about, lightning cut across the sky again and Jinrei's eyes widened at the sight. Vincent hadn't moved. But his shadow had.
The piercing lightning lasted just long enough to reveal the most horrible sight. The shadow was of no man, despite being connected to Vincent, but moved like it had a life of it's own. Several lives. A clawed hand stretched out. Had he really seen horns? A shadow, looking like several creatures mutated together, and fighting to free themselves from each other. Wings? Another lightning. The shadow had grown? Was Vincent casting several shadows now?
Jinrei heaved for air, suddenly gazing up to see the former Turk's eyes were glowing bright red, and he stumbled backwards. Had the darkness behind Vincent become alive? Was there movement behind the deadly still man? It was only his imagination! But could his imagination really produce anything that screamed like that, or the sound of a chain saw? Did that sound like the growl of lion, along with claws digging into the ground? Was something towering in the darkness, electricity flickering around it? Jinrei made a low, protesting sound when he could have sworn he heard lazy, leathery wings, and he pulled the trigger as he panicked.

Sephiroth was in pain. No. Wait. Erase that from the record.
Sephiroth was in agony!
Still, something kept patting at his face. Something tiny, and yet annoying.
Frowning, the silver haired man slowly regained his wits and realised that it was in fact water that kept assaulting his face. Rain water, to be precise.
He vaguely remembered what had happened, and made a careful test of all his limbs before he dared to open his eyes. Injuries, yes, but nothing he couldn't deal with. Glancing around, he saw the enemy soldiers in simular states as himself. Most of them would never move again though. Sephiroth carefully pushed himself up in a sitting position, gritting his teeth against the urge to cry out at the pain in his dislocated shoulder. Still, his eyes kept roaming over the debris to find what kept worrying him.
There. Sephiroth narrowed his eyes, the heavy rain making it hard to see, but then he sighed relieved to find Rufus still breathing as well. The brat prince was half covered by wreckage, lying on his back with his face to his left, but mako enhanced eyes allowed the silver haired man to catch the tiny movements of breath in the other man. Now it was only a matter of getting up on his feet, and move over there.
For once, he'd been smart enough to leave Hojo's Cure materia in the Masamune, and it allowed Sephiroth to patch himself up to a state where he was able to move without passing out due to pain. Carefully making his way towards the brat prince, Sephiroth allowed himself a brief moment of wondering where the hell that rain had come from. The last thing he remembered was a clear, blue sky! But soon the unsteady ground he was wobbling over demanded all his attention and he only dared to exhale when he lowered himself down beside Rufus.
The rain was killing off the fires eating at Midgar, but it also created tiny rivers of mud due to the dust after all the destruction that was happening. The ground was too dry to deal with the water, and it was soon forming huge pools.
"Rufus?" Sephiroth took a hold of the unconscious man's shoulder and shook carefully. "Come on, wake up!" He cast a nervous glance at the iron pole and pieces of building that was weighing down on the brat prince. "I can see you're breathing, ShinRa, so don't give me this shit!"
A weak groan.
Smiling relieved, Sephiroth gave him another shake. "That's it. Wake your ass up, Rufus! We're not done! We got a way out now!" He bit his lower lip nervously before moving over to push away a piece of wall from the trapped Rufus. It was removed easily enough.
"Sephiroth...?" Rufus' voice was soaked with pain, and hard to hear through the fighting and heavy rain. "Sephiroth, I..."
Sephiroth tugged angrily at a resilient piece of debris, but finally it loosened as well and was tossed away. "Yeah, it's me. Don't worry, I'm going to get you out of here and..." His voice trailed off as his hands paused on their way to remove another lump of building, seeing the blood. Rufus' coat was stained with blood. Quickly gazing down, Sephiroth saw the blood seeping out from underneath the brat prince as well.
"I can't feel my legs, Sephiroth," Rufus choked out, shivering with cold and pain.
Staring for a few more seconds, Sephiroth then cleared his throat. "Don't worry about it..." He continued to clear away the debris, feeling his stomach sink when he saw the iron beam disappearing into the ShinRa president's stomach. "It's... It's going to be okay..." The silver haired man drew his hands through his hair in despair, pushing the wet locks away from his face. Okay, don't panic. Forcing himself calm, Sephiroth let his gaze follow the thick pole to where he discovered it was the only thing that held up a huge chunk of wall towering over them. Okay... Panicking seemed like a very tempting option right now...
Closing his eyes against the rain, Rufus shuddered with pain as he drew a breath. "That bad, huh...?"
"Stop being such a damn pessimist!" Sephiroth snapped, glaring over at Rufus' face and weighed his options. There was no way he was able to free Rufus on his own, but he was really reluctant to leave him defenseless as well. The only positive thing about all of it was that the iron beam most likely was also preventing Rufus from bleeding to death as well as nearly killing him. Lightning flashed and deafening thunder interrupted Sephiroth's thoughts.
Rufus shut his eyes tight and swallowed hard. "I never told anyone, but I really hate thunder and lightning... Ever since I was a kid. It scares the shit out of me..." He was a little surprised as he opened his eyes when hearing movement and found Sephiroth sitting down beside him, gazing down at him with a faint smile. And he was even a little tempted to believe the silver haired man when he said that everything 'would' be alright...

The Cetra had not been happy when Hojo had decided to stay by Aeris' side through her labour, instead of running up to keep an eye on Cid Highwind. In fact, the golden chain around his ankle had tightened hard enough to spill blood, but he'd firmly ignored it. He'd always been reluctant to take orders, but since his return to this world; Hojo seemed to get more and more rebellious. He refused to think where he could have gotten the inspiration from!
Still, that had been nothing against how angry they got when Cid did his little escape to the ceiling.
Withdrawing from the others, the dark haired man had suffered in silence. He did not want them to know. Did not want their gloating nor any sympathy. His choices left consequences in their wake, and they were his and his alone. It was nobody's business either way! However, his pain was quickly forgotten the second he'd seen Cid fall. Seen the crimson spray from the pilot's chest. And for a moment, Hojo was completely numb.
Then the light had exploded from Cid's wound, and the sky had turned dark. Heavy rain drops had followed, as well as thunder and lightning. The pilot hovered mid-air, held up by some invisible force, and just about everyone had stopped to stare at what was happening.
Shera screamed out Cid's name, and it was instinct that made Hojo stretch out an arm to prevent her from running straight through the broken window in mindless desire to be by the pilot's side. "Look," Hojo whispered in awe, ignoring how Shera tugged at his arm to release her so she could continue on her futile effort to reach her husband.
Struggling to her feet, and with her child safely in her arms, Aeris slowly made her way over to the window and green eyes widened at the sight that met her. "Dear Planet... What is happening to him?"
"The materia," Rain whispered, joining the small crowd as she left Dawn asleep on the sofa. "It must be the materia, right?"
The light seemed to grow in intensity, and Shera turned away to bury her face against Hojo's chest as she heard Cid scream. "Oh gods, he's dying...!"
Frowning, Hojo didn't take his eyes of what was happening. "I doubt that..." He tilted his head slightly, seeing the Summonings focusing on the light as well. "Materia rarely kills the one's controlling it. Jinrei got the Summonings under his control by tampering with the materia, infecting it, but Cid's materia has never been exposed to any external influence."
"Why is it hurting him?" Rain asked silently, wrapping her arms around herself.
Hojo shook his head, sighing. "I have no idea. Materia was never my specialty."
Aeris moved her gaze up to where the lightning was dancing across the sky. "Can't you all feel it?" She glanced at everyone in turn before returning her eyes to the heavens. "Something big is coming..."
The light seemed to grow even brighter, until it suddenly withdrew back to surround Cid's form completely. Once again it grew in intensity, pulsating with life, as Cid grew fainter to the point where the light engulfed him completely with a flash so bright it forced everyone to shield their eyes. A roar that shook the ground made them open their eyes again, and for a moment it could seem like everything had gone quiet.
Coiled up in a complicated pattern, a water dragon hovered majestically in the air, bigger than any Summon they'd ever seen. Though faintly resembling the Summoning Leviathan, this one was twice as big and radiating power. Deep blue scales covered it's entire body, spikes trailing along it's spine from head to the tip of it's tail, where something reminding of a blue flame danced without a sound. Sharp horns protruded from the back of it's head, razor sharp claws on it's legs, and even sharper teeth were seen between powerful jaws as it sneered. But it's eyes...
Fierce yellow eyes were filled with enough knowledge to rival the Cetra, and they seemed to be filled with some morbid laughter.
Hojo's own eye narrowed slightly as he tried to make out a detail that was bothering him. What was the dragon holding in it's right paw, securely inside the cage of it's claws? A blue orb? The materia.
"Where is Cid?" Shera asked in a faint voice, staring through tears at the monstrosity in the sky. "What happened to Cid...?"
No one could answer her, nor take their eyes of the dragon.
Then the dragon attacked.

Scarlet did not scare easily.
She was born and had grown up in the Midgar slums. It would take a lot to scare her.
And yet here she was, running across the remains of a street in sector 2 and her heart was thundering with fear.
The monster in the sky had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, swooped in to attack without no reason, and she couldn't find Rufus in all this mayhem! Scarlet knew her president could take care of himself, but she had to find him anyway. Maybe just to leech a little of his confidence while her own was shattered. How was one supposed to see the enormous head of the water dragon slide pass her while anything in it's way got shattered between teeth almost as big as Scarlet herself and not panic?
A familiar voice caught her attention, and Scarlet turned to dodge into the alley where it came from. It had been years since she'd been in actual battle, not since the war against Wutai when she'd been a mere soldier herself, but she'd remembered enough to avoid high heels on the battlefield. The ground was dangerously slippery, and despite trusty army boots instead of glamorous heels, she nearly lost balance when it shook from the force of the dragon's tail ramming into a building. Heaving for air, the blonde leaned against the wall for a few seconds, then continued into the darkness until she saw the people she was looking for. "Reno!"
The red head shouted something to the silent Turk, before turning to face her. He'd lost his sun glasses and his face was as dirty as Scarlet feared her own was. "Scarlet? What the hell are you doing here?"
"More or less my entire unit fell to those damn zombie creatures!" Scarlet exclaimed, trying to be heard over the dragon's roar. "We lost control over the security points. Had to withdraw, and... I think I'm the only one left..."
Cursing, Reno drew a nervous hand through his messy hair. "That thing in the sky... What the hell is it? Another one of that Jinrei's toys?"
"I don't know," Scarlet gazed up to see the creature rising into the sky, coil and turn in an almost hypnotic pattern, before stooping down again. "Have you seen Rufus? Where is the president?"
Reno shook his head, reloading his gun without taking his eyes off the sky. "Haven't seen him since we split up outside of the ShinRa tower." He cast a glance over at the chief of weapons development, seeing the usually so cold and arrogant glam queen reduced to an actual person. "Why you asking?"
They both fell silent for a moment, as the ground shook once again at the force of the dragon's attack, then Scarlet checked her assault rifle. "Maybe he knows what that thing up in the sky is...!"
"Reno, the enemy is withdrawing from this sector!" Elena's voice interrupted them, as the youngest Turk came running. "The fires are almost out too!"
Finally something went their way, Reno thought wearily as Rude joined them as well. "Our losses?"
"Bad, but theirs are worse!" Elena stated, then frowned as she recognized the other woman. "What are you doing here?"
Scarlet didn't bother to answer, keeping her eyes on Reno. "Has anyone seen Sephiroth?"
"I think someone saw him by the ShinRa tower, but I'm not sure." Reno hesitated briefly, then glanced over at Rude and Elena. "Looks like the party is moving over towards the tower, you guys. Ready?"
Rude slowly lifted his hand to adjust his glove. "Was getting bored here anyway."
Grinning, the red haired Turk slapped Rude's shoulder hard in a supposedly encouraging manner. "That's the true Turk attitude, Rude!" He then pulled out his nightstick, interrupting Elena's meek attempt to assure him that she was ready for battle as well, and the three was soon picking up the chase of the withdrawing Jinrei soldiers.
Shaking her head, Scarlet watched them take off and shifted uneasily. It really wasn't in her nature to seek out fights, preferring to stay in the back and mastermind it all. But she knew Rufus was depending on her to do her best as well... If only her best didn't involve her possible death...
"You ready too?" A voice suddenly squeaked beside her, and the blonde started violently before gazing down to see the energetic Cait Sith.
"Reeve? Aren't you supposed to keep an eye on the zombies inside the tower?" Scarlet snapped frostily, feeling almost like a fool for talking to a toy.
Cait made a little jump on the spot, clapping it's moogle hands. "Nah, the surveillance cameras is doing that job. Doesn't look like they're about to start making trouble any time soon. Just standing around like statues. Figured you guys out here could need the extra hand!"
Managing a faint smile, Scarlet lifted her assault rifle and checked it a final time. "My hero..." She then turned to gaze at the inferno that was waiting for them. "Alright... I'm ready..."