Fate Chapter 8
Fading Into Darkness
By Tifa Gainsborough
Pain seemed to be the only thing that I could feel at the moment. Even breathing hurt at the moment. But was it really worth it? Hell yes! I must be insane to say that this was all worth it. But we had defeated five of those damn generals. Trista had informed us all that once we healed General Tifa would be next on the list. That was perfectly fine with me. I knew Trista was hurting; the death of Reno had struck her hard.
Damn, I swore pounding my fist into the bedspread. So many of our people were dying. Elena and Rude were killed gathering information. It just wasn’t fair I tell you, really not fair. But as Shera had sadly point out, life had to continue. Shera…I can’t think about her now.
Turning my head I could see that the clock read three in the afternoon. The next meeting wasn’t for three hours. Yawning, I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open.
A three-hour nap wasn’t sounding so bad right now.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The hallway was splashed with blood. The florescent lights caused the blood to glow a haunting red color. A deathly silence hung over the hallway, the only sound was the buzzing of the lights.
What the hell?
Walking farther into the hall my shoes made a squishing sound. Looking down my eyes widened with surprise. My shoes and the front of my pants were coated in red blood.
“Shit!”
Running became the top priority on my mind. Getting away from the blood, the silence, and the death. My feet carried me down the hall, down into the darkened end. A body was sprawled in the middle of the floor. Putting on the brakes my blood soaked shoes propelled me down the hallway.
“Fuck!” I could only swear as my feet kicked the body. The motion and sudden stop sent me flying, crashing to the ground with force. Pain shot up my legs and arms as they connected with the ground. Climbing, very slowly, back to my feet I went to investigate the body. I hadn’t even remembered waking up from my nap. Crouching beside the fallen individual I grabbed the person’s shoulder.
Turning them onto their back I was able to see the person’s blood stained chest. Shanna, with dead eyes, stared up at me. Her chest looked as thought somebody had tore it open. Gagging I turned away from Shanna’s limp body, but I couldn’t get her frightened face to stop dancing around my head. I wanted to say something, more to console myself than anything. But my lips wouldn’t move and my voice didn’t want to work.
So I simply continued on, coming across more bodies, more death. Farther down the hall I found Diallo. Or at least I found pieces of him. Body parts were strewn across the hallway, the walls coated with something my brain wasn’t willing to recognize. Diallo, Shanna…what happened to you?
At the end of the hallway I was presented with a closed door. Taking a deep breath was not the best idea I ever made. My nostrils were filled with the stench of blood and something worse. Gagging I pushed the door open, meeting much resistance. Leaning against the door was Mitsu. A slash that looked unmistakably like claw marks, was across his face. His chest had been ripped open like Shanna’s.
“Mitsu, what did this to you and the others?” I asked his cooling body. Mitsu didn’t answer me. If he had, I might have died from a heart attack.
What’s that noise, I wondered as something trickled down the hallway. Somebody farther up the hall was laughing. A chilling laugh that shook me to the core. The laughter was drown out by a piercing scream that was quickly silenced.
“Trista!”
Running towards an unknown fate I ran. Please be all right I pleaded as I rounded a corner. The hallway was dark except for a single light. Lying in the pool of light was a body. With jerky motions I walked up to the body. Leaning down I grasped one shoulder, preparing myself for what I would see.
The body wasn’t Trista. It was one of the guard’s assigned to watch the cells. The cells! The Generals!
Now I realized where I was. The laughter must have come from one of the generals. Most likely General Yuffie, it was a feminine sounding laugh. The sounds of footsteps echoed down the silent halls. Stepping out of the swath of light I waited. Waited for whatever fate was willing to throw at me. Fate. Why am I always thinking about it? The footsteps got closer and my mind was dragged away from those thoughts. I had neither a weapon nor materia, if whatever walked down the hall was unfriendly I was dead. If I died at least I would be in good company.
The footsteps died away and nobody appeared. I pushed ahead; apparently my stupid side was catching up with me. Retrieving my weapon would have been the smart thing to do. Whatever killed my friends was probably still here; I wasn’t going to let it get away. I had to move swiftly, to stop it from killing others
“Conlan,” somebody called to me. The voice was high and child-like. “Come, come, come to me… Hear me, see me.”
I wanted to cover my ears and muffle the voice. But I continued farther into the abyss, searching for the owner of that voice.
“Come little Conlan. Join me in the dark. Hear the words that I speak, see the actions that I take.”
Little? I resent that comment very much. My footsteps echoed in my ears as I walked farther. The voice giggled and sang, as I got closer.
“Do not be afraid, nothing shall become of you. With words of stolen dreams you come. Faster, faster, don’t keep the dreamer waiting,” the voice sang, growing louder.
Rounding a corner I froze. Standing in the middle of the hallways was a great beast. I recognized it instantly from the picture we had seen. It was the giant being known simply as Chaos. The wings were wrapped around the body and from inside a giggle emitted. I could only stare as those great wings opened to reveal bloody claws wrapped around Trista’s body. Blank eyes stared at me, a single streak of blood across her cheek.
“Wake little dreamer, don’t keep them waiting. Go to you date, fate is calling.”
The world crashed in on itself, Trista’s haunting laughter following me through the darkness.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
I bolted upright, ignoring the shooting pain through my back. I couldn’t get the sound of that laughter out of my head.
With blurry eyes I looked over at the clock. I’d been asleep for nearly three hours; funny part was I didn’t remember falling asleep. Yeah-real funny. Clenching my teeth from the pain I climbed out of bed. The meeting wasn’t for ten minutes but it would probably take me that long to actually get there. Stretching helped a lot more than I would have expected.
Opening my bedroom door led me into the hallway were I collided with Shanna.
“Hi,” we spoke in unison.
“How are you feeling?” Shanna asked with a smile.
“Like I was thrown against a wall,” I said with a smirk, causing Shanna to laugh.
“There is a reason for that,” she said.
“Right, being thrown into a wall usually causes one to think they were thrown into a wall,” I rambled off as we walked down the hall.
Suddenly the hall was bathed in red, alarms all across the hall were blaring loudly. Shanna and I froze, rooted to the ground.
“Attention! Attention!” The over com came to life. “Attack on lower level. Repeat, attack on lower level. All authorized personal please report immediately.”
There was a pause and the message repeated again. What the fuck?
“Shanna! Conlan!”
Sprinting down the hall was Diallo and Mitsu, each looked as though they had been running for quite some time.
“What the hell is going on?”
Diallo paused at his door momentarily. “General Vincent has escaped. He’s wrecking havoc on the lower floor in his Chaos form.”
The four of us exchanged glances and headed back to our rooms to grab out weapons. The adrenaline pumping through my veins kept my mind from the pain in my back. It wasn’t till we were sprinting down stairs that I realized I hadn’t seen Trista.
“Where is Trista?” Shanna asked reading my thoughts.
“She’s already down there. She was cleaning her weapon on the first floor when the chaos broke,” Mitsu said between breaths. “No pun intended.”
That brought a laugh despite the current situation. It was good to laugh in times like this, helped remind me that I was human. The main lobby was a wave of people fighting for higher ground. Some ran for doors while others raced to stairs. Keeping my sword down I charged into the people.
“Get out of the way,” Shanna yelled as we fought to gain distance.
The people parted like water as we forced our way through. The only empty area was the stairwell leading to the lower level. Guards stood at a distance making sure nobody went down and nothing came up.
“Trista already went down,” a female guard informed Shanna.
I whirled on Shanna before racing downstairs. “We’ll go first. Shanna you follow with the guards. If things get out of hand, shot to kill.”
Mitsu, Diallo, and myself hurried down the stairs. The corridors were bathed in light and I was instantly reminded of my dream. If I had premonitions none of us were leaving this hallway alive. I seriously did not like that idea.
“I can hear Trista,” Diallo commented as we raced ahead.
Straining my ears I could hear the sound of screams and weapons clashing. We rounded another corner and came face to face with a monster. Shaking my head I realized the monster was General Vincent in his Chaos form and the monster was currently engaged in battle. It looked exactly like it had in my dreams. Trista was pushed back against a wall, guarding a frightened looking woman. Chaos swung a massive claw and Trista ducked.
Mitsu palmed one of his knifes and threw it. The blade caught Chaos in the shoulder and with a deafening roar the great being turned on us.
“Guys!” Trista cried, shoving the woman farther down the hall.
“Kill them Vincent!” General Yuffie yelled from her cell, watching the action with bright eyes.
Diallo swung his swallow and attacked Chaos from the front. Trista charged back down the hall and attacked Chaos from behind. I wanted to attack but I was afraid of getting in one of their way.
“Take his right side, I’ll cover you,” Mitsu told me.
Nodding I charged forward and with a swing of my blade joined the battle. Every hit we inflicted only seemed to enrage him more. We circled Chaos trying to keep him from escaping farther. Hands grabbed at my jacket and I swore. It’s not a good idea to get too close to the cells.
I don’t really remember what happened next. I remember one minute charging forward with Trista and Mitsu, then flying backwards. The three of us crashed into a wall and ended up in a heap on the floor. Somebody’s arm was in my face blocking my view. A gut-wrenching scream filled the hallway and my blood ran cold. Shoving the arm out of my way I saw Diallo, clutching in one of Chaos’ giant claws. We could only watch as Chaos ripped at Diallo’s hanging form. His screams filled the hallway as blood splashed against the walls.
Trista was screaming as she tried to detangle herself from the heap. Diallo’s chest was a mass of blood as Chaos tossed him away.
“No!” Trista shrieked, finally getting free of us. Diallo landed a few feet in front of us, his blank eyes staring upward. Trista dropped to her knees next to him and clutched his body to her. “Diallo! Diallo! Don‘t die, Diallo!”
From around the corner appeared the best sight I had ever seen. Shanna, with a group of guards, each carried a gun. They formed a line and faced down Chaos. Trista and Mitsu worked frantically to save Diallo’s life.
“Trista?” Shanna called.
Trista didn’t answer her. She was pressing down on a wound in Diallo’s chest. Tears flowed freely as the blood pulsed over her hands.
“Kill it!”
I don’t remember who said it. I just remember dropping in front of Trista and Mitsu and using my body as a shield for them. Bullets flew overhead, many tearing into Chaos thick skin. As quickly as it began it ended. Chaos collapsed to the floor, slowly transforming back into General Vincent. We all watched with startled eyes as his skin began to rebuild itself. So it is true. He really can’t die, stuck like that for eternity. How horrible that must be for him. I shook my head angrily, realizing I just had sympathy for one of the generals.
I turned back to Trista as Shanna oversaw the returning of General Vincent to a new cell. Looking up at me I could see pain swimming through Trista’s eyes.
“He’s gone,” she whispered staring down at her blood stained hands. Reaching over she gently closed his eyes. “I’m sorry Diallo.”
All we could do was watch as Trista rose on shaky legs to her feet. She stumbled forwards, the front of her clothes stained in blood. She began to run and I chased after her. I don’t know what made me go, but I couldn’t let her run off alone. I followed her up to the first floor and to the staircase. People gasped as we ran past them, more from our blood soaked clothes than from anything else.
Up the stairs we ran, dodging people that stopped to stare. Finally she reached the sixth floor and stopped.
“Go away,” she whispered.
“Don’t blame yourself,” I told her.
"Why can't I," she screamed kicking around broken furniture. "I brought him here! He died because of me."
Grabbing her shoulder I forced her to look at me. "Diallo wasn't forced to fight. He had every opportunity to walk away from everything. But he didn't, he stayed."
“He was my friend,” she whispered. “I should have protected him.”
“You can’t protect everybody,” I said rubbing her shoulders.
“I have to do something. I should be doing something right now, not standing here,” she said in a hurried voice. “We need to get arraignments made, I’m sure he would have wanted to be laid to rest at his home.”
Raising my hand, I rested my forehead against it, deep in thought. Trista continued to talk, beginning to pace around the floor. I had never seen this side of her before. Never seen her lose it like this. Think of something you idiot.
“Trista calm down,” I pleaded.
“I have to get everything done. I can’t rely on anybody else to make the arraignments, Diallo wouldn’t want that,” she continued to speak, ignoring me completely.
“Diallo wouldn’t want you to act like this,” I told her, trying desperately to get through to her. “We have to worry about the Generals.”
“I don’t care about the Generals. This is what I have to do now,” she said, not looking at me. “I have to take care of everything here, I can’t worry about that anymore.”
Forgive me. I raised my hand and slapped her across the face. I was breathing deeply and her words stopped. Turning, her eyes met mine and I saw that familiar spark.
“What the hell was that for!” she screamed.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But you weren’t making any sense. I couldn’t figure out a better way to help you.”
“So you slapped me,” she raged, redness blossoming on her cheek. “I can’t believe you fucking…”
She trailed off, a look appeared in her eyes. The icy look slowly faded away and she bit her lower lip. I held my arms open and she slipped into them. Her arms tightened around my waist.
“Diallo is really dead,” she whispered. “He’s really gone.”
Suddenly reality came crashing in on me. One of our own was dead, we weren’t invincible as I had truly hoped we were.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The salty breeze tickled my nose. I was standing up to my knees in the cold water. Shanna stood to my right, Mitsu and Trista to my left. This had been Diallo’s wish, to have his ashes spread in the water. I had almost forgotten we had filled out a slip of paper that said what we wanted in the event that we died. I was hoping we would never have to see those papers again.
Tears slid freely down Shanna’s face as she titled the urn slightly. The wind caught the fine gray ashes and carried it into the sky, away from us.
The porcelain was cold against my hands as I took the urn from Shanna.
“Goodbye Diallo,” I whispered under my breath.
We each said our goodbyes and finally there was nothing left to say. The cold water splashed against my legs as we stood silently. I don’t know how long we stood there, watching the darkened sky, listening to the sound of the ocean.
The four of us stood side by side, neither making a move, as our fifth member slowly drifted away.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Authors Note: This chapter took 4 months to write. That’s why it came out to fast… hope you enjoyed.