By Kristen Gupton-Williams

Hi there, sorry about the long delay between chapters, but life has been a little demanding as of late. Even though I do sometimes take forever to get new stuff up, have faith that I will finish this story J

Tseng maintained his aim at the beast. Chaos stood his ground, panting as he debated what to do. Tifa lay on the ground, observing the situation silently though teary eyes, not willing to break the uneasy balance that had settled over the scene. Then in a flash, Chaos lunged toward Tseng.

Waiting until the last possible moment, Tseng fired two shots in quick succession at his attacker. Chaos was unfazed by the bullets, as they didn’t penetrate far into his tough reptilian skin. He was able to momentarily ignore the two flesh wounds sustained to his chest and thrust out with his right arm, throwing Tseng into a wall a few yards off. The demon didn’t slow in the least and charged forward past where Tifa lay helpless until he had gathered up enough speed to leap up into the air and take off into the night.

"Vincent!" She cried after him, but to no avail. Aware that there was nothing that she could do in the way of Chaos at the moment, she turned her attention to Tseng. Tifa dragged herself to where he had fallen and was still heaped, motionless.

Tseng had come to rest on his side, wedged between a dumpster and the wall he had struck. When Tifa got to him, she pushed back the dumpster as best she could to expose him. Disregarding the searing pain in her leg for the time being, she examined her brother in law. As Tseng had hit the wall, a sickening crack had echoed through the alley and Tifa now saw the source of that sound. His right arm was lying back behind his body, bent at an unnatural angle at the elbow and if he hadn’t been wearing his suit coat, she would have seen the bones of his lower arm protruding through the skin. She pushed him onto his back and attempted to straighten out his mangled arm as best she could.

He didn’t respond in the least. Tifa could discern from his breathing that he was still alive, but that was about all. His breaths were jagged and irregular and she could only imagine the damage that had been done inside his body from the force of the impact.

Tifa heard a noise behind her and looked over her shoulder, fearful that Chaos may have returned but was relieved to see Dr. Arlin and several ASRIO agents coming down the alley.

Dr. Arlin fell to her knees at Tseng’s side and looked to Tifa for answers. "What the Hell happened?"

"He had Chaos cornered," Tifa’s voice was harsh from her exertion and pain, "I tried to keep him from shooting Vincent so he had no choice but to fire on me. Then Chaos attacked Tseng… threw him into the wall."

The doctor listened as she got to the task of examining Tseng. After just a few seconds, she waived over the two male medics that had accompanied her. "We need to get him into the infirmary now or he will die!"

Tifa gasped, not entirely aware that Tseng’s condition had been this serious. "No…"

Hurriedly, they got Tseng loaded into the car they had arrived in. Dr. Arlin assisted Tifa into the car, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to make it on her own.

***

Reno and Angel were quickly informed by radio about the situation. Angel clung to Reno for reassurance after hearing of Tseng’s dire situation. As the helicopter turned in the sky to head back toward the base, Reno noticed something in the sky. "What the fuck?"

He could just make out Chaos flying in the night sky toward the ocean. The demon wasn’t alone in the air however, as Reno soon caught sight of some flashing lights in the air. It didn’t take him long to realize that Chaos was on a collision course with the source of those lights.

***

Chaos was doing his best to maintain altitude as he soared over the town looking for a suitable hiding place. His ability to hold control over Vincent’s body was failing as he had already spent himself during his initial escape from the base.

Suddenly, he heard the unmistakable drone of a prop plane coming toward him. In his weakened state his reflexes were slow and as he attempted to dive out of the way of the coming plane, his right wing was clipped and immediately vaporized by the propeller. A lupine scream escaped him as he fell downward, completely unable to control his descent.

Cid hardly saw what he had hit while circling Costa del Sol to line up for the airfield. There was a gray flash outside his window before the plane started rocking wildly. Whatever he had hit had disabled one of the plane’s two propellers and the controls bucked madly. Immediate panic settled into him, not because he was going to have to make a difficult landing, but rather because his newborn infant was sleeping in the passenger seat beside him.

"Shit! What the fuck was that?" He said to no one as he wrestled to maintain control over his airplane. The engine powering the destroyed propeller attempted to continue running but with the damage it had sustained it briefly burst into flame before going dead.

Pulling hard to try and bring the plane back in line with the distant airfield, Cid knew he was fighting a losing battle. There was no way that with the plane’s current rate of descent he was going to make it to his destination. He was going to have to bring the craft down on a city street if he was to have any chance of surviving this at all.

***

From their vantagepoint in the helicopter, Angel and Reno watched on in disbelief. They saw Chaos’ limp body plummet toward the ground below after the impact and the terribly damaged aircraft continue on but losing altitude.

Angel ripped off her seat belt and made her way up to the pilot of the chopper. "Hurry! Get us on the ground!"

Brad nodded and complied at once, moving the helicopter over to where Chaos may have landed. Knowing that Angel had the authority to order him around, he wasn’t about to argue, even if his first instinct as a pilot was to follow the plane and see to its landing.

As soon as the helicopter set down in a shopping center parking lot, Angel sprung out desperate to find her father. She scanned the darkness for any sign of movement knowing that he had to have fallen somewhere near by.

Reno got out and followed Angel; more worried about her safety near the demon rather that Vincent’s well being. "Where the Hell is he?"

Angel was frantic and screamed out into the night. "Hello?!"

There was no response. Several minutes went by as they stood there debating where to go next. Then they heard something coming from a parking lot across the street. Angel and Reno ran toward the source of the sound, unable to see much on the unlit side of the street. It wasn’t until Reno slipped and fell that their search came to an end.

Reno cursed as he struggled to get to his feet after hitting the asphalt but it wasn’t easy as the ground was covered in some slick fluid. Just a few feet away from him he soon saw what was left of Vincent. "Oh shit."

Angel spun from where she was standing when she heard Reno’s comment. When she saw what he was looking at she quickly got to his side.

The impact with the plane had ripped Chaos apart, forcing him to give Vincent back his own body with which to survive the fall. His cybernetic body had crumpled from the force of the fall and hydraulic fluid was pouring from him. As circuits shorted and failed in his body the remnants of his limbs twitched uncontrollably, causing the sound that had drawn their attention in the first place.

Angel fell to her knees and reached out a shaking hand to touch the side of Vincent’s face, searching for any sign of life. "Come on…"

Seeing the condition that Vincent was in, Reno felt his stomach knot. "Here, let me get him back to the helicopter… maybe they can do something for him back at the base."

Nearly paralyzed with fear, Angel didn’t move. Vincent’s skin was ghastly white and cold to the touch. After all her work in the infirmary with injured and dying men, there was only one explanation for his appearance. "He’s dead…"

"Let’s get him home." Reno said quietly.

"What’s the point?" Angel had lost all hope. "He’s gone, there’s nothing anyone can do!"

Reno couldn’t bear to see Angel like this, and his refusal to accept the situation flared. Maybe she had way more medical knowledge than he did but for this once, he was going to argue with his wife. "No, we’re taking him back! Now move and get back to the chopper. Have Brad radio Dr. Arlin and the base. This isn’t how it’s going to end!"

Hearing the demanding tone in her husband’s voice triggered something in Angel. She got to her feet quickly and complied, while Reno bent down and scooped up her father’s broken body.