Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ I Know What Lies Beneath the Snowfields ❯ Chapter 44 ( Chapter 44 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

"I Know What's Beneath the Snow Fields"
Chapter 44

Darkness spread it's horrible wings across the vast sky, proving itself
still ruler of the night. The pearly moon and a bright sea of diamond
stars all swirled into this black void. Against such a dark canvas, they
tried in vain to light the haunted, grim land below.

The city of Midgar remained silently humble under such a majestic
canopy. Not a light flickered through any window; not a soul stirred
anywhere. Emptiness re-echoed through the streets. Every shop lingered
in bleak shadow. Darkness and tranquility, always the best of friends,
wandered the city hand in hand.

The old bridge just beyond the city centre hung in desolate shadow too,
even though the glass lanterns on opposite ends fought to light it up. A
plain, stony structure, it overlooked an open train-tunnel down below.
The stiff iron tracks ran under this bridge and straight through the
open tunnel, where they then disappeared underground again. A huge
signal ganrty arched high over the tracks. Black cables and three orange
lights, all dead, festooned this metal framework. Everything was quiet.

When all his strength had crumbled again, and most of the fury calmed
once more, Vincent came, or rather staggered to a halt over this bridge.
He tiredly slipped Aeris off his shoulder, then slumped back against the
stone parapet.

That frenzic rush half-way across the sector had wrecked him. He had
spent the last fifteen minutes racing like a madman through deserted
streets, at the same time carrying Aeris, and wrestling his wretched
illness.

Many times he had nearly stumbled over, or sometimes lunged into alleys
he did not know, yet rushed on all the same. Finally, when he believed
they had escaped far enough, he had decided to pause a minute on this
bridge, if only to catch his breath.

Once Vincent had stopped, the exhasutiion crushed him to the point of
total unconsciousness. His body writhed against the stone parapet. He
covered his mouth with his trembling hand, desperately hoping to control
the coughing bout. Fit and fever revelled the delicious flavour of his
pain. The poor man could not dispell this sickly giddiness from his
head.

Needless to say, Aeris was by his side in a second. She rubbed his
heaving chest to ease his breathing, or patted his hot cheeks to keep
him awake. He couldn't lose conscious; not now, not when they seemed so
close to safety.

The torture continued a few more minutes.

Dizziness had so entangled his battered senses, Vincent's wobbly legs
suddenly failed him. The distraught man almost collapsed under his own
weight, but luckily, Aeris caught his arm in time. She frantically tried
to steady him again.

Yet much to her shock, Vincent angirly shoved her away, then turned his
back in cutting resentment. A cold wall of silence immediately sprang up
between them.

Aeris gaped blankly at him, bewildered to confusion by that hostile
repulsion: he had pushed her away as if loathing her very touch!

Vincent struggled to regain balance by himself, while poor Aeris
watched on without a word. He heavily leaned his side against the
parapet, but still remained aloof to the anxious girl behind him.

Time dragged by. At last, the fit quenched its vovacious thirst for
blood, and slowly receded to a dull pain again. Vincent eagerly smuggled
a few breaths through his gasps, which soon died away with the
trembling. His heavy head, bowed down up to now, gradually lifted itself
up. Sweat poured down his face; blood dripped off his battered arm onto
the cobble-stone pavement.

The violent storm had passed. Feeling a bit of strength trickle back
into his sore muscles, Vincent finally steadied himself again. Though he
stood on both feet now, his claw held onto the parapet for support.
Indeed, he still felt slightly dizzy from the hellish fever (not to
mention that bloody fight).

He did not turn around, not even a glance to ease the girl's anxiety.
The unnatural silence stretched into a long, agonising minute.

"Why didn't you escape like I told you?"the man asked dryly at last.

Aeris cast her guilty green eyes down. She said nothing.

"Aeris, when I ordered you to run away, why didn't you obey?" he
repeated sternly.

More hesitation without a reply.

"Answer me!"

"..I..I c-couldn't..," she faltered,startled by his sharp tone.

There was another awkward pause. Both remained silent, one struggling
against a turmoil of emotions, the other coldly detached.

"Do you want to go back to that laboratory?" Vincent asked bluntly all
of a sudden.

Aeris started at the strange question, more at the vexed tensness of
his cool voice. She funbled nervously.

"Do you want to go back to the Professor?"

"..n-no...I...."

"Then why did you come back?" he interrupted coldly, the irritation
suddenly turning to restrained vehemence, "He almost had you, Aeris. He
was going to return you to the laboratory...right back to the
Professor."

"..but he..," she protested meekly, "..he promised not to kill you
if..if I..."

"And you *actually* trusted his word?!" Vincent retorted aloud. Without
warning, he swund around, and glared at the frightened girl straight in
the eye.

Poor Aeris shrunk a step away, torn by grief and shame. She found his
face unnatuarally cold, especially in this bleak shadow: his eyes
flashed like rubies under knit brows. An ominous scowl darkened his
haggard face. Vincent towered over the guilty girl, his anger drilling
right into her shaking heart. In return, Aeris hung her head without a
word.

"There was no room for compromise..none!" Vincent scolded quite
severely, "He would have killed me in either case, whether you
surrendered or not. He'd never spare my life. He wants me dead, and ONLY
dead!"

Aeris couldn't defend herself against this bitter rebuke, nor would the
anxious tears stop from flooding her eyes. So many emotions tumbled
inside of her, yet failed to turn to words.

"I told you to run away," Vincent insisted, "I said I couldn't protect
you anymore. I left you back there, all that time sure you've escaped.
But then not only do you return, you give yourself over to him! Why did
you come back?"

Though his voice was neither loud nor wild, the girl could not bear his
resentful tone any longer.

"Because I didn't want to see you die!!" she cried as she burried her
misery into both shaking hands. Aeris turned slightly away, then sobbed
out, "When...when Davoren said he'd spare your life...I didn't really
believe him. I saw the lie on his face. But..inside of me, I hoped he'd
keep his word. I'd have done anything he asked....I..
I just didn't..."

Rage seethed inside of Vincent as he listened to this woeful outpouring
of tenderness. Without heed or pity, he cut her short by grabbing her
arm, the roughly yanked her towards him, where only a few inches of air
separated their faces. Aeris blinked confusedly back at him, her wild
distress growing all the more obvious. Her arm trembled non-stop in his
tight grip.

"You've certainly got nerve, little girl," Vincent murmured in such a
low, cold voice as he studied her face, "You spend your nights crying in
bed about how much you never want to go back...how badly you want to
feel safe. And then, when you get the chance, you rush straight back to
get captured."

"I DON'T CARE!!!!" she angirly screamed back.

A surprised silence followed.

She stood in his tight grip, breathless with her own passionate
outburst. Vincent withdrew his face an inch away, then silently watched
her fight a futile battle against tears. In truth, the violence in her
voice had somewhat surprised him.

"..y-you had no right to push me away like that..," Aeris reproached
him bitterly, feeling the misery pour from her bosom,
"..back there in the forest..you had no right to shout in my face, and
tell me to leave, when you knew I wanted to stay."

Vincent only loosened his grip on her arm as a response.

Aeris swallowed a heartful of sobs before continuing in a soft,
quivering voice, "I..tried to run away like you ordered me..I really
did.... but there were all these gunshots in the air..they were all so
loud. And..and all I could see was Davoren murdering you...ripping you
to pieces, with those horrible pink eyes of his just laughing at you.."

The vivid picture redoubled her wretched ordeal. Aeris suddenly looked
up at the man, her whole face contorted with pain.

"That's all I saw...and I couldn't run anymore!!" She cried in anguish,
"You were asking too much of me, Vincent! I had to come back!!"

Vincent said nothing. His expression was perfectly stoic, betraying not
a twinge of emotion. However, his thoughful eyes dwelled very keenly on
the girl's miserable face.

"I don't want to go back to the Professor....I never want to go back
there ever again," Aeris whimpered to herself softly, "But Vincent, I'd
rather go back there than lose you.......you mean much more to me
than...than anything else I...."

He did not let her finish. Vincent gently drew her closer, and embraced
her all to himself. Aeris burried her face into his chest without any
resistance. She immediately dissolved into hot tears.

Both Vincent's arm and claw pressed her dearly, with his head bowed
down against her shaking shoulder. The more distraught she became, the
more protectively he hugged her, until he could feel her pitiful heart
pound against his. He even began to cradle her in hopes of soothing her
tearful agitation.

"Shh...it doesn't matter anymore, Aeris," he whispered as he stroked
her hair, "It doesn't matter. He's dead. he's dead."

Yes, Davoren was dead. It meant she could rest a bit easier now,
knowing no white-haired monster would ever hunt her down again. It
meant, at least for now, no one would try to drag her away. Davoren was
dead, himself alive, and the girl here and safe.

Yet at the same time, some vague, troublesome feeling pestered Vincent
as he beheld Aeris weep in his arms. His fingers paused midway through
her hair; his eyes became engrossed in some obscure, gloomy
contemplation. However, he soon shoved this ominous thought far away
from his weary mind. They were safe now; nothing else mattered.

Though surrounded all around by ghostly darkness and death-like
silence, the two lingered a long time on this lonely bridge. At last,
when Aeris had calmed down again, Vincent slowly released her. The
mollified girl rubbed her tearful, downcast eyes with many soft
sniffles. She was exhausted, but nevertheless soothed after her cry.

Vincent checked her another moment just to make sure she was alright,
then tiredly slumped sideways against the parapet again. He too felt
wretchedly drained and tired.

"Let's go home," he suggested gently.

Aeris glanced up at him, then smiled in consent. She helped steady
Vincent back onto his feet, who now found it painfully impossible to
walk without her support. When ready, they turned around to finish the
long journey homeward.

No sooner had they turned than they both froze solid, as if struck by
lightning.

No words could describe Vincent's blank shock or Aeris' dumbfounded
horror. there they stood rooted to the spot, gaping back at a vicious
pair of pink eyes.

Not an illusion, not a ghost. Davoren stood at the very head of the
bridge, only a short distance infront of them.