My View From the Window ~ Chapter Twelve
For an instant I must have relapsed into momentary unconsciousness
atop my feet, because my eyes
suddenly fluttered open and once again my actions appeared to be
under my control. A frigid sensation was still
coursing through my bloodstream and the feeling had yet to reenter
to my hands, but my vision had returned to my
eyes and now spread an expansive plain of blackness across the
floor before me.
Something was here......but what was it.....?
I progressed several steps forward into the depths of the
caliginous room, blinded to my surroundings and
now groping for the cross hanging at my side as I heard clawing
sounds emanating from somewhere in the
darkness before. My footsteps emitted dull clacks every time they
came in contact with the floor beneath me, and
faintly I could see a trail of prints in the layer of dust with
every stride. Gradually my eyes were beginning to
adjust to the intense blackness, and slowly I began to perceive
the form of checkered tile underneath my shoes.
“................................................Christ in
heaven...........” I breathed softly, shifting my feet aside to get a
clearer look at the floor below me.
“....................This..............this is..............I know
this..........”
This place.......I could recognize it now. The floor, the
expansive ceiling stretched over my head in an
elaborate dome shape, the tall pillars gradually coming into focus
about the room........I remembered it all now.
“........................It’s the dance hall from my dream......”
I whispered quietly, clasping my hands together.
“......It’s.....it’s the exact same place........but....but it’s
so much darker now......and I can sense the anger and
torment.....What happened here....?...”
I strutted several nervous steps towards the perimeter wall,
strewn with cobwebs like parasitic ivy.
“.......Here.........There were tables..........at least ten or
fifteen....” I shifted my gaze up towards the towering
column beside me, and faintly in my subconscious I could recall
the forms of scarlet chiffon etched majestically
between each one. “............And....and there was music.....Some
sort of haunting orchestra was playing in the
background........and the dancers........they were all over the
floor.....and then....there was....” Slowly my eyes fell
to the floor alongside me, positioned directly abreast of the far
wall. “....................Him......” I whispered quietly,
gradually shifting aside the dust caking the tile before me where
I could still picture him standing. “........That.....
that man......he....he was standing...right here....” My eyes
fluttered closed, reliving the reverie in my mind.
“.......I...I can still see him......but...he looked straight
through me.....He couldn’t notice my existence at all...”
I was silenced as a piercing noise, deafening in the intense
silence that submerged my body but muffled by
the distance between us, sounded out from somewhere across the
murky room. As the extensive seconds dragged
on, it slowly drifted further away, as if proceeding deeper into
the heart of the building. I strained my ears, forcing
myself to pick up any further sounds.
“.................Laughing.....” I murmured quietly, lifting my cross
to my chest.
“.........That..........Some.......someone was laughing......”
The crucifix vibrated with every pounding heartbeat.
For several moments I was frozen in petrified silence until my
senses gradually returned to me. I
suddenly became aware once more of my eerie surroundings -- the
darkness, the stench of death, the disappearing
sound of a voice laughing maniacally towards the back of the room
I stood in. Some sort of stabbing curiosity took
control of my body, and I abruptly became aware of my body slowly
progressing into the depths of the hall.
The sound continued fleeing from me at a leisurely pace, leading
me deeper into the darkness. The air at
the center of the ballroom was sickeningly thick, teeming with a
harrowing anguish that boiled and swam through
the gloom enclosing my body. A series thunderous pounding sounds
erupted from the walls and ceiling around
me, like enraged fists slamming angrily into the confines, and the
intense emotions of agony and fury enclosing my
body caused my stomach to churn with suppressed nausea.
Across the ballroom sat a curved hallway.
I froze for a moment at the entranceway, peering deeper into the
corridor. My surroundings had become
slightly clearer due to a sudden dim, flickering pale glow that
had been washed over the corroding pine walls of the
narrow corridor. It seemed to be emanating from further down the
passage.
The floorboards beneath my shoes emitted rotted squeals as my
weight slid shakily over each one, and my
form cast wavy shadows of my silhouette across the canvas of
wavering light on the walls. The glow grew
continuously stronger as I proceeded further. Faintly I could
still hear the laughing voice ringing out from
somewhere before me, but even though it was faded it sounded
immobile, as if it had finally ceased its recoiling.
I could see it now -- the end of the corridor.
I paused for a moment as the nausea grew stronger, leaning weakly
against the wall beside me as the room
writhed and twisted from the queasiness swimming within my skull,
then slowly forced my vision to focus. Before
me stretched a expansive room, glowing dimly with the murky light
I had been drawn to. Spread out in a vast
blanket of pale luminescence were thousands of lit candles,
burning hazily in the dense darkness that had settled
about the chamber. The thick odors of melting wax and smoke
blurred together with those of decay and expiration,
merging together into a sickening concoction of nausea and
light-headedness. Smeared messily on the wall behind
the burning candles were the words PRAYER ROOM -- APPEASE THE
SPIRITS WHO STILL WANDER HERE.
The flames wavered in an intangible breeze, sweeping by me without
ruffling my clothes or chilling my
skin with an inaudible whisper. The light projected on the walls
shivered and dimmed, causing my stationary
image cast on the opposite wall to flutter significantly. I wasn’t
quite sure what I felt -- some sort of stifled
emotion that coursed through the air around me of anguish and
fury, whipping ragingly about the wicks and
causing the blazes to shudder. The giggling I had heard earlier
had faded away into the angry snapping of the
burning candles.
I took several gradual steps into the room, bathed in the
flickering light and casting a long shadow out
across the floor behind me. My mind suddenly fell to the cross
digging into the palms of my hands, cold against
my numbed skin and glistening in the reflected light. I gazed down
at it for several seconds, then lifted my face to
the streaming rage lashing through the air. I’m not positive what
suddenly possessed my body, but after several
seconds of drunken hesitation I found myself gradually walking up
to the outermost semicircle of candles, falling
to my knees, lifting the cross to my face, and closing my eyes in
absorbing meditation.
Torment and anger still swirled about my crouching form on the
floor, howling inaudibly in unsatisfied
revenge and retribution and pleading for my mercy. A silent prayer
ran through my mind, imploring some
invisible power for compassion towards the roaming souls and
protection for myself as well, and I could feel the
heat of the candles brushing lightly against my skin.
A loud footstep sounded out from the corridor behind me.
With a petrified gasp my eyes snapped open, burning from the
sudden exposure to the light, and my head
whirled back around to face the entranceway. I felt the cross slip
from my hands and fall to the ground with a
deafening clatter, sliding several inches away from me across the
floorboards. I stared out towards the hallway,
cursing internally for its extending around the corner and out of
my field of view.
With a sudden hiss, the candles behind me all died simultaneously,
leaving behind only a thin silver mist
and the scent of fire. A terrified scream tore free of my throat,
echoing loudly off the walls about me, and as
another chain of footsteps rang out from somewhere in the darkness
before me I found my hand sliding blindly
across the floor, feeling for my cross.
The footsteps grew louder, continuing gradually down the corridor
towards me. My breaths had turned
ragged and quick, clogging my throat, tightening my chest.
.......Where is it..... My mind frantically followed my
hand running shakily over the floorboards,
completely oblivious to my surroundings due to the sudden rush of
blackness. ....Oh God, where the hell did it
go...?!
The footsteps halted.
I froze. My body had turned rigid in its immediate position,
leaning backwards out of a half-crouch with
one hand stretched out behind me. The approaching gait had stopped
directly after entering the chamber, and the
darkness about me had turned hazy with extinguished smoke and
prevented me from locating any figures in the
thick gloom. Someone was there -- I could sense a motionless
presence positioned near the entranceway, maybe
only a yard or two from before me. I could feel my heart thumping
rhythmically within my chest, and how the ice
had begun to surge frigidly through my veins. My legs had begun to
burn from the harsh position I had become
petrified in, but I could force myself to move.
Dense silence ensued. All that echoed in my ears was the deafening
hammering of my heart and my
ragged breaths escaping my lips in short, rapid gasps.
Suddenly a bright spark of fire snapped out from about five or so
feet before me, flickering with a
contrasting blaze in the darkness. A frightened gasp lashed
unexpectedly back into my lungs, and I watched as the
ember gradually rose until it revealed the murky portrait of a
man’s face standing maybe a yard and a half from my
location on the floor. He held the flame before his complexion for
several seconds, lighting a cigarette held
between his lips, and with a second sharp clicking noise the light
vanished as suddenly as it had appeared,
sweeping the impenetrable murkiness about me in a thick, confining
quilt once again.
I gaped blankly towards the darkness where I was certain the man
was still standing, my mouth hanging
halfway open and my chest now vibrating noticeably from every
pounding of my heart. The fallen cross had
completely fluttered from my mind, and for several seconds I think
I had fainted away into momentary shock.
A pause elapsed, followed by an amused snort from the doorway.
“......................Well, well...........Bet
you thought you had gotten away clean, eh....?”
.....................That.............that voice.....!!! I
regained my senses, my eyes blinking several times and my
mouth closing. “..............Y.........You.......” I stammered
blankly, slowly lifting a hand to my mouth. “......How.....
how did you.......................?”
H emitted another jeering laugh, then took several heavy steps
forward towards me. With a startled
inhalation of air my supporting hand gave out from beneath me,
sending my body collapsing awkwardly onto my
back onto the floor. Immediately I pushed myself up into a
panicked sitting position and shifted several alert feet
backwards, dragging a clumsy trail in the dust behind me.
“...........My dear, you hardly give me enough credit....”
he scoffed mockingly, and I could hear him exhale a cloud of smoke
from his cigarette. “You didn’t actually think
that I give up so easily, did you...? Well, that’s a true shame,
my dear! As a matter of fact, I’ve been hunting you
the whole time............but then again, I have a feeling you
already knew that....heheh....”
“...U...ughhh...” A sudden loud pounding noise succeeded by a
piercing screech of agony suddenly rang
out from somewhere behind me, causing a panting breath to get
caught in my throat and my body to turn tense.
My sudden hesitation gave the man a chance to lash forward and
seize hold of my wrist, grasping it in a
constricting grip and yanking me roughly towards him.
“.......A.....aahh--!!” I choked on a sudden gasp, then
pulled violently against him. “.....Let....let go of me, you son
of a bitch!! Help me!!! Is anyone there???!!!”
“.......Heheh...” An amused smirk slid up onto his face. “....No
one can hear you, little girl....and the only
ones that can I doubt will provide a great deal of assistance for
you...” He nonchalantly pointed upwards towards
the ceiling above him with his free hand, and seconds later I
could hear another howl and fist slamming
mercilessly against the wood sound out and echo in the darkness.
“....I’m afraid they truly do not feel too much
pity towards our sort....”
“...........Nnnnnn....” I gawked vacantly up towards the story
above my head, then wrenched my wrist
against him once more. “......I said let go of me!!!”
“.....I’ve searched too long and hard to find you to let you
escape so easily, my dear...” He kneeled down
beside me, and through the darkness I could see a pair of piercing
emerald eyes staring straight towards my face.
“I know everything about you, Allie, Eliza, whatever you’d like to
be known as, it really doesn’t matter, does it...?”
“Let go!!!!!” I snapped my arm backwards in an escape attempt, but
he had clamped his hold securely on
my wrist. “You’re insane!! Totally out of your mind, you bastard!!
I want you the hell away from me before I--”
“...Before you what, Allie?” he taunted. “C’mon, attack me. I know
you want to. See how far it will get
you.”
“...Ugh...” Something about his indifferent tone made my blood run
cold. “....You...you lousy son of a
bitch....”
He threw back his head and let out another derisive laugh.
“...What, is that it, Allie? Come now, you
think you can get away so simply? Haven’t I made a better
impression on you than that?”
“....I said let go!!” I purposely ignored his question, jerking
back against him once more. “...I....I don’t
know who you are or what you want from me, but --”
“..........How sad.” He leaned in towards me, revealing the
conniving smirk etched on his face in the
shadows. “...You must be awfully frightened, poor girl, nowhere to
go, nowhere to run....how gratifying.”
At that moment a scream of agony tore the silence above me, and
with a terrified gasp my head snapped
upwards towards the noise. The man gradually directed his vision
to the wooden planks overhead, then sneered.
“......Heheh....such anger is locked away in this place, eh...?”
“...Wh....what...?” I blinked several times, staring up towards
him. “What...what are you talking
about...?”
“..................................Can’t you feel it...?” The man
slowly fluttered his eyes closed, his lips twisting into
an amused grimace. “Can’t you sense the rage....the
pain....Haven’t you been overwhelmed by intense
lightheadedness the entire time you’ve been wandering around in
here...?”
I remained silent.
“...Heheh...that’s the feeling of death, my
dear....hundreds of untimely, brutal deaths, all trapped inside
this building. Their confinement within these walls has caused the
emotions of fury and agony to grow
increasingly stronger as the days pass, and the souls here have
all become restless and incensed at their lack of
recompense.........What a atrocious tragedy that was, atrocious
indeed....heheh......”
“....I....I don’t understand...” I stammered vacantly.
“.......Heheh....It was here......This is the fabled ‘Labyrinth of
Dissolution’, as it has been called, where....it
must be thirty years ago by now, eh...? ...at least two hundreds
of innocent people were standing within this exact
building when they all became subject to a spontaneous terrorist
ambush...”
“...N..nnnn...” As soon as these words had escaped his lips, an
icy rage streamed through the air, causing
the man’s amused chuckles to emerge as hazings of luminescent mint
in the darkness. “...A....a what...?”
“....A great deal of ShinRa employees were here, including that
elite assassin force known as the
Turks....” the man told me obscurely, fluttering his eyes shut in
distant meditation. “....None were expecting the
attack...and it came so suddenly....it was a wonder any managed to
escape at all. The radicals were all armed with
automatic machine guns and vials of some sort of noxious
gas....that when inhaled causes the victim’s blood to boil
and their nervous and circulatory systems to swiftly and painfully
shut down.........All the casualties here were
literally charred in their own innards....”
A nauseated jolt shocked through my body, and I lifted a hand to
my throat in disgust. “...U...ugh....What
are --”
“....The gas had been a recent development of the ShinRa company
itself for warfare known as the
T-584.” The man sneered, seemingly internally amused by some sort
of interior emotion. “The terrorists somehow
managed to get their hands on its blueprints and use it against
its master....Heheh...and ever since then, the spirits
of those victims have drifted aimlessly through these very
corridors, shrieking from the pain of their own boiling
blood....and the fury of their revenge remaining discontented...”
My overwrought panic had caused my throat to tighten and vaporous
breaths to quiver, and I forced
myself to swallow. “...........Are.....are you mad....?” I finally
impelled my lips to form the words. “....Why.....why
can I hear you laughing...?”
“....Because I find the situation incredibly entertaining...” He
sneered, then gradually opened his eyes and
gazed back down at my form at his feet.
“.....................Whether you comprehend it or not, my dear, this
all plays
in to my plans for you in the future..”
“....Wh...what...?!” I drew backwards but was immediately detained
by his hand still gripping my wrist.
“..You...you lunatic!! Don’t you touch me!! What the hell
do you think you’re babbling about?!! I’ll beat the crap
outta you --!”
I was silenced as a deafening pounding sound came from the main
chamber past the hallway, echoing
tumultuously in the darkness. I perceived the sound of at least
thirty footsteps marching into the ballroom,
followed by a dense, sickening silence that caused me to stifle an
unexpected impulse to vomit.
A piercing laugh echoed darkly down the hallway.
“..................................Come on out, Allie, or we’ll
come in lookin’ for ya.”
Oh my God.....That voice...!!! I clapped a hand over my
mouth. That’s....that’s that madman Reno!! The
one that attacked me in the alleyway and open fired on
Vincent...!!! I’d recognize his voice anywhere..!!
The man before me cast an aggravated glance out towards the voice,
then exhaled an irritated breath.
“...The ShinRa...” he huffed angrily. “...Damn....Have they
followed my trail so quickly...?”
“...C’mon, Allie, we know you’re in there.” Reno’s amused voice
ricocheted several times about the room.
“The ShinRa’s a little smarter than you give ’em credit for.....”
There was a brief pause, as if he were awaiting a
reaction. “......C’mon, babe, it’s cold and I’m sick ’a searchin’
for you all week. Get the hell out here and make it
easier on both of us.”
“.....Rrrrr....” The man emitted an aggravated snort and tossed a
lock of black hair over his shoulder.
“.......Well, no matter....seems we have to take our leave
slightly more prematurely than I had planned...”
“...W...wait a second...! ‘We’....? ‘Our’....?!” With a violent
jerk I tore my hand free of his grip and
staggered clumsily to my feet. “....You...you touch me and I kick
your slimy ass, you understand me....?!”
“...........You fool.....!!” The man whirled towards the doorway
as I could hear the sound of footsteps -- it
sounded like close to fifty now -- making their way across the
ballroom. “You naive little bitch!! They’ll follow the
sound of your voice, don’t you understand?! Do you have any idea
what they’re planning to do to you as soon as
they catch up to you...?!”
“......Get away from me!!” I ordered sharply, intentionally
disregarding the questions he continually shot
at me. “I want you to leave me alone, got it?! I swear to God I’ll
beat the --”
I was cut off as a pair of heavy boots stepped into the doorway,
and immediately I could sense the presence
of Reno behind me. “..........Well, well, the Prayer Room.....” he
scoffed tauntingly, directing his vision to the dark
room about him. “So this is it.....I’ve heard a great deal about
it from folklore, how if one that wanders in here
isn’t properly protected his soul can be possessed by a vengeful
spirit that will cause his blood to boil.......heheh,
quite a spot you’ve blundered into, my dear....”
“....U...ugh...” I clasped my hands across my chest.
“....How...how did you....”
Reno sneered. “......Find you? Simple, my dear.....How long were
you expecting it to take us to find your
little passageway behind the shelf...?” A sharp gasp escaped my
lips as I could hear the sound of a machine gun
being cocked in his hands. “.....It ends here, Allie.....We can’t
have you waltzing about and being a perfect target
to be found by --” He was silenced as the man before me suddenly
spun about, his movement finally making him
visible in the darkness, and immediately he stumbled several steps
backwards. “............R........Rael!!! He’s here!!”
“........R.....Rael....?...” I lifted my hands to my mouth.
That name.....Where...where have I heard it
before...?
Reno finally caught his balance once again and thrust one arm
forward. “......Don’t just stand there, you
idiots, kill him!! Don’t let him get away!!”
I emitted a terrified scream as in sickening mechanical
synchronization all the soldiers crouched to the
ground and thrust their firearms before them, and with the
nauseating snap of rebounding ammunition I was
surrounded by crackling embers of bullet shells. The murky shadow
of a deteriorating chandelier above my head
sparked dimly in the light of the recoiling shots.
The man emitted an irritated grunt and dove aside, rolling over
his right hip and landing protectively in
the shadows of the side wall. Fiery bullets still sparked in a
flaming trail of blazes over the dust settled on the
floorboards behind him. I took the moment of diverted attention to
retreat to the darkness of the opposite wall.
“Hold your fire!!” Reno suddenly ordered, thrusting his arm
out towards the attacking soldiers who
immediately complied, lowering their weapons towards the floor. A
pause fell upon the room, and then Reno
whirled his head towards the wall across from me, his panting
breaths clearly audible through the dense silence.
“.................All..............all right, Rael!! Enough’s
enough, you worthless son of a bitch!! It’s over, you hear me?!
You’ve lost, you bastard, we’ve beaten you! Give up, now!!”
There was another infection of silence in the air, and suddenly an
echoing laugh sounded out from
somewhere in the darkness, rebounding several times off the walls
around me. “.........My dear sir, I’m afraid it’s
only begun....” A series of racing footsteps sounded out from
somewhere across the room, and suddenly a
succession of sparking bullet shots snapped out from the shadows.
I covered my mouth in disgust as several
soldiers swayed painfully on their feet and collapsed rearward
onto their backs, revealing chains of circular,
bleeding wounds scattered across their torsos.
“Ugh...” Reno fell to his knees and threw his arms over his
head, defending himself against the angry
shells flaming about him, then turned back towards the conscious
recruits stooping about him. “You idiots!!! Get
up and kill him!! What the hell are you trying to prove, get to
your feet!!”
“....We...we can’t seem to locate his position, sir!” one soldier
at his side exclaimed, holding a
handkerchief against the bleeding injury on his shoulder. “...The
darkness is too thick, he could be anywhere...!!”
“.....Cowards...!” Reno exhaled an aggravated snort and shot his
hand into his jacket, pulling out a
compact handgun and jabbing his arm forward. He released a blind
fusillade of ammunition into the darkness,
revealing dusty, cobweb-strewn walls and extinguished candles in
every ember of contact. “.....Damn you, Rael!!”
he shouted furiously, climbing to his feet and continuing to fire
impetuously into the chamber about him. “Get out
here and fight like a man, you bastard!!”
The man’s retorting fire suddenly ceased, and with a startled
intake of breath Reno froze, then slowly
lowered his gun. Silence ensued. I then realized I was holding my
breath.
“................................Very well.........” I watched in
shock as I could hear the sound of gradual footsteps
from the far wall of the chamber, and I drew backwards with a gasp
as the man’s ominous form slowly emerged
from the shadows, his sharp emerald eyes directed downwards.
A quilt of intense tension fell over the room.
Reno regained his senses first, inhaling a sharp breath and
thrusting his weapon forward once again,
straight towards the man’s downcast face. “..........D....Dammit,
Rael!!” he exclaimed angrily, flipping his ponytail
back over his shoulder. “...You....you ain’t gonna make no jackass
outta me...!! There’s no way you’re gonna go
pullin’ none ’a those fuckin’ mind games on me, ya hear?! I’ll
kill you, you son of a bitch...!!”
I slowly lifted my head as a soft noise could be heard coming from
the silent, motionless form of the man
before me, and in the darkness it seemed that his shoulders were
quivering. What...what in the world....? I thought
shakily, brushing aside several sweaty locks of hair that hung
before my eyes. What....what’s he doing...? Is...is he
crying...?....Is he afraid...?
I caught a glimpse of his face. He was laughing.
He gradually lifted his vision from the floor, revealing his
piercing green eyes and an amused smirk
beneath his raven bangs. “.............Is that all, my dear
sir...? Heheh....the mighty ShinRa can do nothing but
threaten....”
“Shut the hell up, you fuckin’ psycho!!” Reno retorted, but I
could see his hand shaking against his gun.
“You’re a freak, you hear me?! Nothin’ but a goddam freak!!
You’re lucky you’ve escaped this long, ain’t no way
you’re makin’ no fool outta me -- !!”
“...Heheh...” The man stood straight upwards and tossed his head,
casting several strands of ebony hair
away from his face. “.........Play the fool, be the fool, isn’t
that how the saying goes...?”
With a sudden jolt I watched the man’s arm shoot forward, exposing
the form of his handgun, and release
a string of sickeningly accurate shots towards the frozen soldiers
at the doorway. I covered my eyes as many
recruits emitted panicked screams and fell backwards, spilling
tendrils of blood snaking across the floor. Reno let
out a anguished shout and grabbed at his hip, and I drew in a
terrified gasp as I noticed thick streams of blood
oozing through his fingers and seeping through his pantleg.
The man let out a series of amused laughs, nearly drowned out by
the shrill shrieks and sound of bullets
recoiling off wood. “You worthless bastards, you simply refuse to
understand!! I will not be stopped, especially not
by the likes of you!! It’s too late, don’t you comprehend --
!!”
My head suddenly snapped upwards as the earsplitting screech of an
anguished spirit pierced angrily
through the air, and with a spontaneous jolt the man’s shot a
glance above him in time to see the chandelier over
his head burst into a downpour of tinkling glass.
“....Dammit....” He shielded his head with his arm as crystal
hammered down about him, then slowly a sneer slid up onto his
face. “....Heheh.......so you remember me then,
you worthless bastards...?”
Some sort of intense fear possessed my body at that moment, and
before I realized I no longer had control
of my senses I had flung myself away from the wall and was now
dashing madly towards the doorway. My feet
pounded against the bare floor beneath me, leaving panicked,
smeared footsteps in the bloody dust sprawled across
the planking. “...Ugh...” I closed my eyes and continued forward
as I approached the army of motionless soldiers
strewn about the floor, the faces of many frozen in horror by
unexpected assaults of death. I finally cleared the
stagnant carcasses thrown about my feet and raced through the
doorway, into the dark corridor and at last out into
the main ballroom.
I heard the man draw in a shocked gasp behind me, then with the
sound of glass tinkling against the floor
as it fell from his clothes I could hear him sprinting after me.
The front door.......so close......!! I could see it -- the
refreshing spectacle of sunlight spilling a crooked
blanket of light across the floor, a dim glimpse of the
outside...!! The man’s panting breaths were so close to me
now, only inches behind my back.........and my heart was hammering
so mercilessly....!
There was a burning sensation in my eyes as I tore free into
daylight, staggering clumsily down the stairs,
regaining balance, and continuing to dash forward, towards the
large cemetery. I could still sense the man’s
presence behind me, and now faintly I could hear the sound of the
few surviving sentries gradually regaining
consciousness back within the building.
I slammed myself full-force into the gate, which let off a
confining squeal and hardly strained against its
hinges. “....Oh shit....” Clinging pathetically to the contorted
metal, I fumbled clumsily at the latch beside my face,
my hands trembling horribly, my breaths heaving loudly.
“.....Goddammit....oh God, why the hell won’t you
open...?!”
“You can’t escape me!!” A loud clicking noise came from behind me,
and I whirled around in time to
watch the man pull his revolver out from his jacket and aim it
straight at my shivering form against the fence.
“Don’t move, Allie! This little escapade has gone on far enough,
and I no longer have the time to play along! Now
you’re going to sit still and -- ”
He was silenced as he was spontaneously grabbed from behind, and
he cast an infuriated glare back over
his shoulder down at the panting figure of Reno. “...You...you son
of a bitch...!” Reno huffed. “....You...you can’t
get away from ShinRa that easily...!!”
“...Agghhh...!!” The man fought against Reno’s tight grip about
him, then shot his gaze back up towards
my panting figure ripping open the latch and dashing madly out
into the graveyard. “.......No --!!!” He tore one
arm free of Reno’s grasp, fumbling clumsily across the ground for
his fallen weapon. “You...you jackass!! She’ll
get away -- !!”
“Get up, you morons!!” Reno shouted at the groggy soldiers finally
coming to behind him. “Go get the
bitch, now!! Let’s get this over with before this bastard fucks up
anything else!!”
My heaving breaths left a fiery trail as they escaped my throat,
searing my lungs, stabbing at my heart. I
had made it a good thirty or so yards into the cemetery, but now I
could hear the shrill squeal of the gate being
thrown open and several soldiers sprinting after me.
“............Ahh -- !!” I emitted a startled gasp as I noticed
the
dim form of a dark silhouette positioned at least another seventy
or so meters from my current position, and,
squinting against the fatigue blazing in my eyes, finally
deciphered the image. “.....Vincent!!” I called happily.
“Vincent, it’s you!! You...you found me!!”
Vincent’s head snapped upwards at the sound of my voice. At first
I wasn’t sure if he actually noticed my
presence -- it seemed as if his vision was directed over my
shoulder beyond me.
“You will not escape me....!!!” The man’s infuriated scream
sounded out from behind me, and with an
ear-piercing shriek I heard the sound of a bullet whistling
through the air.
A gut-wrenching pain suddenly tore through my left thigh, and with
a terrified screech I collapsed
forward onto my stomach onto the ground. For a moment I was
petrified from fear and the unexpected agony
shredding at my leg, but with a strained moan I managed to turn
myself over onto my back and cast a startled
glance down at my side. “.....U....ugh....” I stared in horror
down at the dark scarlet beginning to seep through my
pantleg, gradually unfolding itself like an injurious eclipse. My
head gradually lifted to view the front step of the
dance hall several yards behind me, where I could now see that the
man was on his feet, still struggling against the
exhausted force Reno exerted about him, but holding his smoking
handgun in a tight fist before him.
“You idiots, what the hell are you waiting for?!” Reno huffed
angrily, pulling against the man’s furious
escape attempt. “Grab her and get it over with, you
bastards!!”
“...Nnnn...” I winced as the wound on my leg was set aflame with a
fiery burn, then emitted a gasp as the
pursuing soldiers finally reached my side. “.....Wh...what are you
doing?!” I shrieked in horror as several seized
me beneath the arms and dragged me roughly to my feet.
“.....I....I said let go of me!!!!” I frantically wrenched my
arm away from the sentry on my right, then shot my hand forward
and sent a hard blow into his nose with the heel
of my palm. He staggered backwards, holding one hand over his face
as blood dripped down his chin, then
grasped me roughly by the collar and yanked my face close to his.
“Listen to me, you stupid bitch!!” he hissed nastily through
clenched teeth, giving me a rough jerk. “I got
several options of a way ta kill you! Believe me, you wouldn’t
want me to choose the goddam -- ”
A loud shot rang out. The soldier collapsed clumsily face-first
onto my stomach.
For a moment I was paralyzed, frozen still by the heavy silence
that had suddenly dropped upon me like
an unexpected ambush. My breaths were heaving terribly, but I
forced my eyelids to flutter open and emitted a
startled cry as I spotted the dark form of a bleeding circular
wound the size of my fist imbedded cruelly into the
back of the man’s skull. I gawked vacantly down at him for several
seconds, then exhaled a choked moan and
shifted away from his carcass, sending it toppling awkwardly to
the snow and spilling blood across the frost. My
vision slowly climbed, until it caught sight of a dark silhouette
holding out a smoking revolver standing maybe
fifty feet or so from my position on the ground. The remaining
soldiers around me gaped blankly down at their
fallen general, then whirled around towards the ominous shadow.
“...I’m sorry to intrude, my dear sirs...” the monotonous,
nonchalant tone of voice I immediately
recognized as Vincent’s replied, “....but the young lady is coming
with me.”
The soldiers stared inanely out towards him, then watched as a
second soldier, possibly the
second-in-command, I suppose, took several menacing steps towards
the impending gunman. “....A smartass,
eh...?” he snarled angrily, pulling out his gun and cocking it
loudly. “...Well, we have ways of dealing with your
type...”
I let out a scream as the soldier thrust his arm forward,
releasing a barrage of six consecutive shots
towards Vincent. The latter, however, simply dodged to the side,
somersaulted, landed on one knee, and
immediately returned the fire, causing the attacking man to
stagger on his feet, then fall over backwards, revealing
the wide stabs of bullet holes pierced across his torso.
The remaining soldiers gaped down at their fallen companion, then
immediately rounded on Vincent with
the exception of two, who still stood at my sides. From the glance
I saw Vincent cast down at his gun, I could tell
that the cartridge was empty.
He glared coldly up towards the approaching soldiers, who had now
encircled him in a shrinking ring and
were snarling like a pack of wild animals, and thrust his empty
gun back into the holster on his hip. With
inhuman speed he ducked beneath an infuriated swipe of an
attacking recruit, then whirled around and
administered a powerful blow straight across the assailant’s face.
He instantly sensed an ambush attack from
behind him, and he abruptly thrust his right elbow backwards into
the soldier’s countenance, causing blood to
splatter into the air and the man to fall backwards onto the
ground.
I was awakened with a startled gasp as a hand violently seized
hold of my arm, and I whirled about in
time to see one of the remaining soldiers slam me roughly into the
ground, knocking the air out of me and causing
me to emit a startled cry. “Lousy little bitch!!” he snapped
angrily, furiously grabbing my throat. “Now you get
what you deserve!!”
“....Ugghh...!!” I stared in horror at the threatening soldier
through wide, tearing eyes, then clawed at his
hand blocking my throat. Nnnnn...can’t breathe...!! I
squeezed my eyes shut and emitted a choked, strangled
scream. ....Ughh..!! Let go of me....!!!!
An unearthly, piercing roar rang out from before me.
Immediately my eyes snapped open, and the two men guarding me
whirled about to face the graveyard.
Even the soldiers out amongst the gravestones before me had frozen
and staggered several feet backwards.
Vincent stood crookedly amidst the startled recruits, his head
directed downwards and his long black hair
spilling wildly over his face. He was panting raspily and
clutching his arms, and against the glaring sunlight I
could see his body quivering. He twisted painfully aside and
emitted a loud cry of agony, and I let out a frightened
gasp as I spotted his shoulder blades shaking with some unseen
torment. “....V....Vincent....?”
All of a sudden his head flew upwards, throwing his streaming hair
upwards and emitting another
thunderous shout, long and inhuman. His eyes had turned a dark
scarlet color, and a pair of fangs had appeared,
gleaming wickedly in the sunlight. He twisted again, sending
shreds of clothing whipping through the air like
leaves caught in a windstorm. I covered my mouth as a large pair
of dark wings forced their way through his back,
opening majestically behind him and sending large droplets of
blood splattering to the ground. He fell to his
knees, emitting loud cries of torment, tearing at his hair, as
dark blood streamed across the dirt.
“...Wh....what the hell??!” The guards stumbled several more yards
back as black, evil skin began to form
over Vincent’s arms and face, and beastlike talons tore against
the dirt. My breaths had turned significantly
ragged, and I pressed myself further back against the monument
behind me and refused to tear my eyes away.
There was a deathly silence that nearly choked all consciousness
from my lungs, and suddenly a dark,
ominous form reeled upwards from where Vincent’s body had
collapsed and thrust its wings outward, splattering
blood into the air. The encompassing soldiers, including the two
that still gripped my arms, let out shrieks of
horror as the gigantic winged demon came into view, its narrow
crimson eyes angrily scanning its surroundings. I
fell clumsily backwards against the monument, refusing to remove
my hands from my mouth. The soldiers
screamed in terror simultaneously, and the ones situated out in
the cemetery before me immediately spun around
and retreated in opposite directions. I shielded my eyes as the
demon opened its jaws and let out a tumultuous
screech, and with several rapid, almost invisible attacks, sent
the dead carcasses of the fleeing men collapsing
lifelessly to the ground.
The beast suddenly turned towards the soldiers standing before me,
who instantly let out squeals of horror
and recoiled to either side. However, both had died with a pair of
quick movements by the monster, one pelted into
the perimeter fence by a gigantic fireball and the other
disgustingly run through the stomach by the demon’s tail.
Their mangled corpses lay sprawled out before me.
“....Uhhh...uhhhhhhhh....” I stared down in disbelief at the
distorted carcasses at my feet, then
immediately drew in a sharp gasp as I watched the creature’s
piercing eyes gradually fall onto me. My breaths got
caught in my throat, and I felt a startled jolt as the monster
lifted its lip and let out a deep, throaty snarl.
A frightened cry sounded out from somewhere behind me as the man
whirled about and gave Reno a
sharp knee into the pit of his stomach, then leapt down the flight
of stairs and began to dash into the graveyard.
“Goddammit, Valentine!!” he shouted angrily. “I’ll blast your damn
brains out, you hear me?!”
The demon let out an infuriated screech and expanded its wings,
then lashed its tail out in a swift,
whiplike motion through a semicircle in the air before it. The man
immediately dove forward, somersaulting over
the snow, as the monster snapped its tail out over his head and
sliced the head of a marble angel clean off its neck.
“...Ughh...” The man climbed shakily to his feet, warily eyeing
the angel head that tumbled down beside
his feet. He cast an aggravated glare over towards me, then back
towards the monster. “...Bastard...” He wiped the
back of his mouth with his hand. “...Can’t have you interfering
with everything, can I...? You really are quite an
inconvenience, my dear sir...” With that, I watched in shock as he
whirled about and sprinted back the way he had
come, leaping easily over the perimeter fence and landing heavily
on one knee, then turn and run down back past
the dance hall eventually escaping my field of view. Reno, who had
finally recovered from his earlier blow, shook
his head, then emitted a loud gasp, sprang to his feet, and took
off after the man. “Rael!!! Dammit, Rael, get the
hell back here!! Rael!!!!!”
I choked on a sudden breath as the demon turned back towards me
and emitted another menacing growl.
“...................Oh....oh my God....” I stuttered hoarsely,
backing myself up against the statue behind me.
“.......pl...please don’t do this.....”
The monster opened its jaws and let out a blood-curdling screech,
then bounded forward towards me,
leaving a trail of four-toed tracks in the snow. I squeezed my
eyes shut, threw my arms over my head, and let out
an ear-piercing scream of terror, sending frightened tear droplets
streaming to the dirt. “No!!!” I sobbed loudly,
realizing that my fear and exhaustion pinned me to the monument.
“Oh God, please save me!!!”
The demon shrieked.
I froze, then after a moment’s hesitation lifted my head and
blinked, releasing more tears. The monster,
now maybe only five or so feet before me, reeled violently
upwards, lifting its hands to its head and releasing a
series of deafening screeches of agony. I drew backwards against
the stone, holding my quivering arms
protectively against me, and gaped in absolute shock at the
screaming beast. It gradually sank down to its knees,
and its amazing black wings began to shrivel and gradually slip
back into its shoulder blades. Evil black skin
slowly began to melt away, revealing significantly paler flesh
underneath. The shrieks began to sound more
human-like, and now soaked black hair rumbled down the newly
clothed shoulders of the shivering form.
There was a sickening pause, with the exception of the figure’s
heaving breaths, and I gradually lifted a
hand to my mouth.
“.......................V.............Vincent..........?”
~ End of Chapter Twelve ~
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