Crimson Demons (FF7)

16) Near Death

SO I MADE SOME WEIRD TRIBUTE TRAILER THING FOR VS/CD, BUT IT DOESN'T PLAY OFF THE APP, SO SORRY ABOUT THAT :/ JUST MESSAGE ME IF YOU WANT THE LINK. DON'T WORRY, IT'S NOTHING TOO FABULOUS XD

ANYWAY, I WAS THINKING OF SKIPPING MOST OF THE MEMORY CHAPTERS FOR THIS STORY BECAUSE THE ONES IN VS WERE THERE TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND HOW COMPLICATED THE LAST THIRTY YEARS WERE FOR HER. ALL VINNIE DID WAS FORGET TO SET HIS ALARM.

"Get outta yer rooms, cuz we're almost to that dang canyon!" Cid's voice bursts into the room over the intercom. I tiredly look up at the crackling speaker and push off the wall I've been against for hours. The gun that I was cleaning to distract myself lays on the side table, where I pick it up and place it in its holster. Tifa hardly meets my gaze when I step into the hall, the dark marks under her eyes indicating that she hasn't slept. Violet crosses her arms as she comes to a stop in front of Cloud.

"Cid, we're only retrieving materia," our leader explains to Cid. The elder blonde scoffs.

"Fine, take yer crew and get out. I ain't waitin' all freaking day."

"Thanks," Cloud nods, turning to Violet. "Did you want to come?"

"Sure," she shrugs indifferently, her bow strapped over her back alongside her quiver of her arrows. Her eyes shift over to where Tifa and I walk into the room. Cloud looks between the two of us before deciding that Tifa looks too tired.

"Vincent?" I look over to meet his mako-eyed gaze and then glance over at Violet. She smirks and turns her eyes to the blonde at her side. "Are you coming?" I don't have anything better to do. I nod once and Cloud looks back at Cid.

"We'll be right back."

"Hurry up," Cid snaps.

We climb down the long ladder from the airship and walk into the red canyon village. Violet looks around at the familiar place silently, flickers of painful memories flashing through her eyes. We start our ascent up the stairs, Violet tripping repeatedly into Cloud's back. Our leader shoots her several annoyed looks and I roll my eyes at her clumsiness. To avoid getting knocked into, Cloud makes her go up the ladder to Bugenhagen's conservatory first. She gets up halfway with him behind before her boot slips and shoots straight into the younger blonde's face. He gets knocked off the ladder, falling onto me and knocking me to the hard ground.

"@-$-," Cloud huffs, getting back on after giving me a look.

"Ho ho hooo! I didn't think I'd be seeing you again so soon again!"

"We came for the materia," Cloud says shortly. Bugenhagen laughs again and leads us into a separate room, instructing us to stand on a circular platform before moving to pull a lever. Nanaki's grandfather tosses me and Violet a look over his shoulder.

"You two have never seen this, have you? Ho ho hooo! No matter, you will see the... Well, I don't really know what it's called! Let's just call it an illusion." Cloud and I step on without hesitation, Violet pausing and studying the platform doubtfully. Cloud raises an eyebrow.

"You coming?" She takes a deep breath and climbs on, her hands creeping over to clutch my arm as we go up. Sighing, I pull my appendage free, her face quickly turning away as she jerks her own arms away. The room lights up in a display of stars and planets, giant meteroids passing like speeding herds of chocobos. Violet wanders around, her eyes skipping to every detail, awe clearly printed on her face.

"It's so pretty up here." I look over at her, colorful reflections of light playing on her pale features. Then I look up to watch several small rocks get swallowed by the sun, Cloud charging straight for the Huge Materia.