My View From the Window ~ Chapter Fourteen

“Tseng!!” Vincent’s aggravated voice rang out like a shot, echoing several times in the expansive space

around me. His body had turned tense against me, but subtly I thought I felt a inconspicuous trembling gradually

beginning to seep through his frame.

Tseng threw back his head and let out a triumphant laugh, crossing his arms firmly across his chest.

“Now, now, my dear Valentine, is that any way to treat an old friend such as myself?? I thought I’d never see you

again, you worthless bastard, how could you have survived this long?”

“Stay back.” Vincent’s raspy words hissed violently into my ear, and after a painful hesitation I

immediately found myself involuntarily drawing back behind him, partially out of view. I watched Tseng raise one

amused eyebrow.

“Where do you think you’re going, you stupid wench??” he taunted me mockingly, bending at the waist in

an attempt to see around Vincent’s body. “Get back out where I can see you.”

I could hear my heart thudding in my ears, and suddenly I inadvertently stared vacantly down at the

ground and clung pathetically to the back of Vincent’s cape. I couldn’t tell which one of us was quivering now.

“Didn’t you hear me??” Tseng’s voice remained amused, and I could feel it slithering derisively across the

snow. “Don’t play stupid, sweetie, I said to step out into the light! Let me see your pretty face, hmm...??”

“She has no business with you,” Vincent snapped viciously, and although he attempted to appear as a

ominous presence I could feel he was struggling to stay atop his feet. “Let her alone, she has done nothing. Your

bout is with me and none other, Tseng, you and the rest of your Shinra cronies.”

“...Aah, but that’s where you’re wrong, my dear sir,” Tseng scoffed, straightening himself and crossing

his arms. “For once you truly are not our target, and believe me, it is as uncomfortable to you as it is to me. We

have absolutely no reason to annihilate you at the moment, but that doesn’t mean that if you attempt to interfere we

will hesitate to do so...”

I snapped my eyes closed, adhering involuntarily to Vincent’s cloak and stifling a series of distressed

whimpers. Tseng and Vincent’s conversation continued, fading away into a muffled screams of distant beasts

tearing at each other’s throats. I could definitely sense his weakness now; the quivering had grown so severe that

I’m almost sure Tseng and his troops were also aware of it, and I could feel crystalline droplets of perspiration

occasionally falling from his face onto my hair.

“....Sh...ShinRa cannot win, dammit!!” I finally perceived Vincent’s inarticulate voice exclaiming, and I

felt his body take a single threatening step forward and immediately grapple with imbalance. “It fell at our own

hands...there’s no way in hell I’ll let myself be defeated by the likes of you dead bastards...!!”

Tseng remained motionless, staring expressionlessly down at us with his arms crossed. He slowly lifted

an eyebrow, and an amused grimace slithered to his lips. “................Vincent, are you planning on protecting

her....?”

I felt my body freeze inadvertently, and my eyes immediately shot open once again.

“.............V.......Vincent.......” I choked quietly, almost inaudibly, then fell quiet once more as he lifted his arm in

an understood gesture of silence.

“It is no business of yours, sir,” he replied clearly, although his voice quavered with fatigue. “I suggest

you leave before I lose what’s left of my patience...!!”

“.....Vincent...” I whispered raspily a second time, and even though I at first had my doubts that he had

heard me at all, the sudden stiffness that expeditiously coursed through his body beside me said otherwise.

“......Your gun, Vincent..........you have no bullets left........you can’t beat them, Vincent, please -- !!”

I was silenced as Tseng threw back his head and let out an ominous, jeering laugh, echoing about me and

snapping mercilessly into my stomach. “You always were a haughty one, Mr. Valentine!! Never could just

surrender without making a total ass of yourself, could you?? Well, well, all right then, my dear sir, we’ll play by

your rules!!” He shot a glance over his shoulder at the troops stationed behind him. “Get them!!”

There was no moment of hesitation separating his order from the soldiers’ sudden jerk into action, and I

emitted an inadvertent, raspy scream as they all slid viciously down the snow lining the hill, tearing up pale dust,

and the once silent air was now teeming with furious battle cries and commands. All at once I felt Vincent’s grip

wrap itself about my wrist, and with one violent tug I was sent staggering clumsily into a run after his body already

dashing its way across the snow. I felt several bullets whistle past my ear, and the bark on the tree beside me burst

into an explosion of splinters and sap. The wound on my flank was aflame with a gnawing sensation that now

seemed to be spreading up my side, and the fear that had once clogged my throat had dripped down into my lungs.

The snow beside me erupted with a spark of a reflected bullet, and I wavered significantly upon my feet

but managed to retain balance. “Vincent!!” I screamed desperately over the peal of shots howling through the air,

and though he was positioned only a foot or two from me and his hand still held my wrist he seemed to be

oblivious to my presence. “Vincent, where are you taking me!! Vincent!!”

Vaguely about me I could recognize the scenery of the central park, hardly distinguishable beneath the

blanket of undisturbed snow and oncoming darkness, and with a startled gasp I perceived the ghostly form of the

wide lake positioned in the median of the grove, glowing eerily in the moonlight due to the thick sheet of ice that

had spread its way across the surface. The lake was frozen over.

“Vincent??!” My surroundings had grown dark on account of the twilight and sudden appearance of

glittering trees, but I could still feel his hand on my skin and hear his panting, strained breaths. Beyond that the

muffled shouts of the soldiers at least 50 yards behind us snapped out viciously, like serpents from beneath a

shelter of mud. “Vincent, where are we going?? Vincent, you’ll hurt yourself!! They’ll find us, Vincent, they’ll

kill us both - !!”

I was sent collapsing awkwardly against him as he jolted to an abrupt stop and shot a weary glance over

his shoulder as the army of soldiers began to slowly bleed over the hilltop several hundred yards behind us. His

breaths were heaving horribly, and with a depleted exhalation of misty air he wrapped his arm hastily about my

back and began to drag me ineptly towards the lake.

The ice spread across the water was much thicker than it at first appeared, and it supported our weights

quite stablely as we reached its outer perimeter and continued inwards. My feet immediately slid out clumsily from

beneath me, causing me to emit a startled gasp and cling pathetically to Vincent’s cape to avoid foundering, but

with one simple sweep of the supporting hand beneath me he managed to pull me up against himself and continue

forward. By this time the soldiers had already started their way across the frozen lagoon, balancing themselves

quite effectually and scuffing their way towards us in rough-soled cleats.

We had only managed to flee maybe slightly more than halfway across the lake beneath the arching

branches of a frozen tree positioned over near the bank when Vincent drew to a spontaneous halt, sliding

gracefully around in a full semicircle and several involuntary feet backwards to face his opponents. I still hung

pitiably at his side, clasping tightly to his hip and now resting clumsily on my knees beside him, unable to fully

recover from my earlier stumble. I gaped in horror at the oncoming troops, approaching much swifter now due to

the unexpected assistance of the slick ice, then shot a glance up at Vincent’s face impartially watching the ominous

hordes and emitted a terrified cry. “...Are....are you out of your mind??!” I screamed viciously, shaking him

roughly with my grip on his side. “Vincent??! Can you hear me!! Vincent, they’ll kill us!! They’ll kill us,

goddammit, Vincent, what are you doing -??!!”

Vincent’s eyes remained locked on the impending regiment, keeping one arm around me and his other in

a tight fist beside him, then crouched down slightly lower to the ground. “.......Get ready.....” he whispered

vaguely, shooting one quick glance at the tree limb overhead before returning to the imminent troops.

“....Whatever you do, don’t let go of me.....Hang on to me.....”

“....V...Vincent??!” I cried confoundedly, gaping vacantly up at him. The squad roared forward, now

maybe only thirty or so feet from reaching us, and now the disturbed snow their boots tore from the ground lashed

about me in an ashy mist.

“......You can’t let go of me.....” Vincent continued obscurely, his voice drifting off into the thunder of the

army. “.....It’s a matter of life and death, my dear....”

“...........Vincent - !!” My vision was forced away from him and back towards the clamorous soldiers

pealing towards us, now only five or so yards from stretching out and overtaking me, and with a terrified squeal I

whipped my head aside against him and clung pathetically in a white-knuckled grip to his side. “...Vincent!!!!!!!”

“....Now!!!” With a sudden jolt I felt his arm about me snap me violently forward against him as he

spontaneously flung his body into the air, now several feet above the soldiers, who had finally reached our original

position and now gawked up at us in unmasked shock as they jarred to awkward halts. With an unearthly howl,

rather similar to the one I had heard when he had morphed into the demon in the graveyard, Vincent abruptly

threw both his legs together and fired himself back towards the ground beneath us, and an inadvertent scream

clawed its way from my throat as a deafening peal exploded through the still air and icy water erupted mercilessly

up in large arcs about us. The troops shrieked simultaneously as the spiderweb expanded rapidly through the ice

beneath their feet and ultimately collapsed loudly underneath them, emitting a thunderous snapping cacophony and

hurling shards of ice crystal into the air.

With one powerful leap Vincent used the recoil of his attack to fling himself upwards again, and although

my eyes had become riveted shut I could feel him come to a jerky, abrupt halt in midair as the cries of the regiment

echoed pitifully through the silence of the park. Their screams gradually seemed to dissolve into the sound of

rushing, frothing water and ice shattering, and as the noise gradually transmuted into stillness I became aware of

my panting, stuttering breaths.

I finally managed to tear my eyelids apart, gazing warily at the surroundings progressively coming into

focus about me, then slowly down at the ground beneath me. I had my arms wrapped firmly about Vincent’s waist,

who was clinging to the tree branch overhead, with my cheek pressed solidly against his hip, as the rest of my body

from the chest down hung defenselessly about four feet over the lake below. The ice positioned about a meter or

two beneath me had been crushed by a wide, gaping hole at least ten or so feet in diameter, revealing the murky

form of dark, seething water, still disturbed from its devouring of the soldiers. Disembodied ice floes wafted lazily

across the waves, painting them with broadening ripples and filling the frosty air with quiet splashes and the sound

of dripping water.

I stared emptily down at the lake beneath me, my breaths still ragged and painfully short, then slowly

buried my face back into Vincent’s hip and emitted a choked sob, spilling tears down my cheeks. Time drifted on

excruciatingly slow, while I remained weeping into Vincent’s side as we hovered motionlessly over the rippling

lake below us, and gradually the rising moon cast a shivering image across the quiet water.

~ End of Chapter Fourteen ~

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