Turning




"Will he be all right?"

Vincent slowly became conscious of his surroundings. He was lying on his back on what seemed to be a cot. Someone was speaking outside. He lacked his shirt, and a bandage was wound around his left shoulder. Once he thought of his injury, it started to hurt. A lot. Vincent bit back a yelp as he attempted to move his metal arm and was rewarded by a reawakening of the hurt. He slowly opened his eyes.

He was in a dim room. The ceiling, which sloped up to an angle right above him, seemed to be glowing. All around him he could hear the clanking of machinery. He raised himself to a sitting position as someone pushed the door open.

Sunlight came pouring in and Vincent realized he lay in a tent. Vincent squinted his eyes as someone, bent over slightly to pass though the flap, walked in. She was illuminated from behind as she straightened, and Vincent was struck by how beautiful she was, with her golden hair illuminated into a halo of platinum light. Then the flap fell back into place, and he saw it was only Elena.

He attempted to speak, cleared his throat, and tried again. "Where are we? How did we get here?" he rasped.

"We're in North Corel," she answered. Her brow furrowed. "People seemed very friendly when they saw me dragging you in here. They seemed to know you."

Vincent smiled wanly. "I helped to save this town. The train that would have crashed into it - my friends and I stopped it."

Elena shrugged. "Oh. And, as to how we got here, you're lucky the halls interconnect. I heard the gunshot and tried to reach you via your PHS, but, naturally, you didn't answer. I started looking for you, and it was only by luck I stumbled over you. Almost literally. I dragged you out, no easy task, and then on to the chocobo. Fortunately, Corel was nearby, and everyone was eager to help."

Vincent closed his eyes as he remembered what had happened. Lucrecia...What happened to you? Why do you hate me now? Could it always have been that way? Was I really only a tool to you...?

"When will we be leaving to go back there?" he asked.

"Not anytime soon. You aren't in any condition to leave. But what happened back there?" Elena asked. "Did you run into guards or something?"

"No..." Vincent whispered. He spoke up. "No. I ran into someone I thought I knew."

"And he shot you?"

"No, she didn't shoot me in of herself. It was another, from behind me." Vincent shook his head, then muttered softly to himself, "Perhaps it would have been better had I died..."

"That bad?" Elena smiled gently as Vincent looked up in surprise, not expecting her to have heard. "I...I have been betrayed in the past. I know your pain. You aren't alone."

Vincent stared at her, shocked by her kind and knowing words. He had always known she was intelligent, but had never thought she was so empathetic. He drew in a breath and started to speak when he was cut off by the loud retort of gunfire.

Elena jumped up, upsetting a table in the process, and ran outside. She came back in a moment later, a confused look on her face.

"Shinra troops...They're attacking Corel! I thought Shinra was being run by that ninja girl at the moment. Why are they attacking innocent people?"

Vincent shook his head. "I have no idea...Yuffie may be a bit excitable at times, but she would certainly never attack a town, particularly one that her friends have such connections to! Shinra must have been taken over."



"What do you mean she's not dead?" asked Cristofer Toranir softly, but with steel in his voice. "There was enough venom in that food to fell a horse! How could one tired sixteen-year-old survive it?"

A general of the recently reinstated army wrung his hands together. "I don't know, sir. She must not have eaten very much. Currently she's being monitored carefully alongside President Tsor by people who believe she fell sick. Unfortunately, sir, Yuffie and Reeve's supporters are in the vast majority. But we few who support you are worth an army, sir!"

Cristofer began pacing, not listening to his henchman's hollow reassurances. "Damn...She might recover, as might that man. Then she could point me out...Damn! Are the troops still listening to that 'Corel causing a rebellion' thing?"

"Yes, sir. They should capture North Corel soon. They're miners, sir, so they won't put up much resistance. Nibelheim, on the other side, it a ghost town, thanks to that sickness we brought in. More troops are taking that. And so, when the two of them stop searching for the child and come out of the Falls, plenty of troops will be waiting to arrest them."

"Glad there's some good news...The Professor will be pleased. Excellent. Any word of that so-called 'murder' in that town?"

"The two former Turks were accused, as expected, sir. But unfortunately, one of the remaining members of Avalanche, who's one of the ones still on the loose, managed to postpone the trial until he and the other Turk get back."

"The last Turk...He wasn't arrested, as well?"

"She, sir. The townspeople didn't suspect her. She always had a reputation for being kind, she wasn't near the site of the 'murder', and besides, who would suspect a woman?"

Cristofer nodded slowly. "She was a Turk, though. We shouldn't underestimate her. But that might be hard to do, heh?"

Someone knocked on the door of the room they had commandeered to talk to each other privately. "Come in," said the general. The door flew open.

"Sir," the man carrying the message gasped. "The two you were seeking - Vincent Valentine and Elena Gaciam - they're here! One of them got injured and so they stopped here to recuperate. But they seem to be packing up to leave on a golden chocobo. If we're going to make a move, we'd best do it now."

Cristofer closed his eyes, thinking for a moment, then nodded. "Very well. Both of you come with me." He grabbed his rifle from where it rested and marched outside, the other two following in his wake.



"Can you ride?" Elena asked, concern in her eyes. "If you can't, I may be able to make some sort of carry harness. It would take a while, though."

After being reassured by the population of Corel that the people could fend for themselves, they had travel out to about halfway between the old reactor and the town. There, they were preparing to ride somewhere safe.

Vincent considered. "I can ride," he decided after a pause. "But - get down!"

They hurled themselves to the ground seconds before a bullet intended for Elena's back soared over them. The chocobo, frightened by the noise, screamed and took off flying over the mountains.

Elena helped Vincent to a shelter behind an outcropping of rocks. "Do you have any idea who those people are?" she asked.

He shook his head. "None."

A loud voice called out, "Surrender and we won't kill you."

"Oh, thank you," called Elena dryly back. "That's so...trite."

Vincent closed his eyes. "I've heard that voice before. But where...?" he muttered.

"A lot of talk, but no skill to support it, Miss Gaciam," called the voice back mockingly. "You should really stop raising yourself to others' levels."

"That's...that's the man that was controlling Cait Sith when Reeve was shot," Vincent gasped. Elena looked at him.

"How on the Planet do you have such a good memory?" She shook her head. "Do you have any idea how to get us out of this mess?"

Vincent shrugged. "I'm thinking."

"I'm waiting," Cristofer yelled.

"So are we! However, we're waiting for you to do things other than yell and make potshots." Elena grimaced. "Damn! If only I hadn't left my grenades with the chocobo, and I only have one clip in my gun."

Vincent nodded. "I have the Death Penalty with me, but I only have a few rounds. We won't be able to fight our way out. We might as well try to run," he said. "We might be able to make it over the mountains."

Elena unholstered her gun, then got up into a crouch. Vincent did the same, noting that his arm might give him trouble, but he could probably make it through. He tensed, then at her nod, sprinted headlong towards the peaks.



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