Chapter Twenty-Six

"Cid!" Vincent screamed out across the clearing as he saw the pilot downed by a large limb that had followed the devastating lightning bolt. The pilot did not respond. Vincent cursed vehemently as he ran across the clearing to Cid's still form. He had only managed a few steps when he caught the movement of something large at the edge of his vision. Pivoting, he turned to face their attacker, which had finally appeared.

It wasn't Sephiroth. At least, if this creature was associated with Sephiroth, the man himself was not choosing to make an appearance with it. It was a storm dweller, a creature who lived in the hearts of great storms and devastated as much as it could during the life of the storm. They were exceedingly rare and extraordinarily powerful. Very little was know about successfully combating one, as most who encountered these creatures counted themselves lucky if they escaped with their lives. It was known that wind, ice, water, and lightning magics were all at the call of the storm dwellers. And no magic was particularly effective against them. The storm dwellers always appeared in the form of a massive wolf, as tall as a man at the shoulder.

Nanaki roared fiercely as he lunged at the storm dweller's leg, savaging at it with claws and teeth. The storm dweller snapped its fangs into Nanaki, lifting him easily off the ground. With a flick of its head, it threw the cat across the clearing. Nanaki's scream of rage and pain was cut off abruptly as his flight ended with a solid contact against a tree. Vincent's eyes tracked the body as it slumped to the ground and remained still.

"Damn you!" Vincent shouted, turning his attention back to the storm-dweller. It turned to face him, now the only remaining creature left standing against it. Vincent raised his gun and fired several times in rapid succession and the monster, causing it to flinch back with each hit, brilliant blue blood erupting from its wounds and staining its fur. It did not seem to be weakened by the attack, however, as it gathered itself and jumped at Vincent. He dodged easily out of the way, firing off several more rounds into the storm dweller's body as he did. The storm dweller turned to face him the moment it landed, ready for another attack. Vincent readied his gun, knowing he would need to reload after only two more shots.

If only I can get a moment to cast a cure spell on one of them, he thought desperately. If a cure spell would work. He had no idea how seriously injured they were. He didn't want to waste the cure spell if he needed a stronger revive spell to bring them back into the battle. He didn't have any more time to ponder the spells as he had to leap away again, dodging an ice spear attack launch by the monster. He fired off the last two rounds, ejecting the clip and quickly shoving another in one smooth movement as he readied himself for the next attack.

Damn, damn, and DAMN, Vincent thought fiercely,this isn't going to work.

"Did you hear that?" Jyleth asked, stopping suddenly and shifting slightly to attempt to determine the direction of the sound. She looked at Sephiroth, who did not seem surprised at her question.

"It came from that direction," he said, nodding pointing off to their right. "It was a gunshot."

"A gunshot." She looked in the direction he was pointing.

"We should probably keep moving," he said. The rain had started falling some time ago, and while their cloaks had protected them somewhat, it was a short matter of time before they became totally soaked. Sephiroth felt a very strong need to get Jyleth out of the rain before she became too chilled. However, he was wise enough to not mention this to her.

"How many people do you think actually fight with guns these days?" She asked pointedly, taking a step in the direction of the sound. "And how many would be likely to be following us into this forest?"

"Which would be exactly the reason why we should move," Sephiroth answered, feeling he had an idea where her thoughts were going. "Jyleth, they do not need our help. They would probably turn on us the moment we appeared." He stopped as several more gunshots could be heard over the rain.

"We'll just go look," Jyleth answered, moving toward the gunshots. "They'll never see us if we don’t want them to." She looked back at Sephiroth, seeing that he was not pleased with her choice of action, she sighed and turned briefly back to him. "Well, I will go look, then. Wait for me at the shack." She turned and ran toward the battle, as more gunshots could be heard over the din of the storm. Sephiroth appeared at her side, a moment later, sprinting easily beside her. He didn't say anything, but he clearly was not happy.

It wasn't long before they came upon the clearing where the fight was occurring. Jyleth skittered to a stop before actually entering the clearing, with Sephiroth stopping himself far more gracefully and quietly beside her.

"They'll never see us," he said softly as they crouched down, "but they certainly might hear us." Jyleth scowled. His attempts at humor, if they were even that, were rarely funny to her.

A massive wolven creature stood in the middle of the clearing, facing off with a cloaked figure aiming a gun at it. As they watched, a massive bolt of lightning shot from the creature's mouth and hurled at the figure. The man made a tired dodge to avoid the bolt, but clearly, he had sapped most of his strength, as he slipped in the mud and fell directly into the path of the bolt. He sailed about 10 feet, then lay utterly still.

Jyleth was running into the clearing, drawing her swords, before she realized she had gotten up. She heard Sephiroth cursing behind her and he ran into the clearing after her. The monster, having started to move toward the man it had just felled, immediately turned and fired off twin bolts of lightning at them. Jyleth leapt aside, barely avoiding the bolt. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Sephiroth easily dodge the attack and continue his movement toward the monster. The Masamune was a silver blur as it flashed toward the monster's neck, slicing with deadly accuracy. Amazingly, the wolven creature threw back its head and dodged the attack. It snapped at Sephiroth as he pulled away from his attacking leap, narrowly missing him. Jyleth leapt in at the opening the monster left in its attack, slashing in with both blades at the monsters exposed shoulder. Faster than she expected, the wolven jowls came snapping at her. She lunged to the side, lost her footing and fell heavily to the ground in the churned up mud. Instinctively, she rolled to her right, avoiding the snapping teeth by a few inches. She scrambled to her feet, still retreating from the monster.

This thing is fast, she mused, wondering how exactly to attack it. It sent another forked bolt of lightning at her. This time, she could not dodge quite quickly enough and received a very painful singing on her arm.

A deafening roar escaped the monster as Sephiroth's next attack struck deeply into its side. Jyleth used the opportunity to cast an intense fire spell, engulfing the creature in a brief, fiery inferno before the rain quickly doused the flames. It roared again, and the clearing was filled with the stench of burned fur and flesh. It retreated a few steps from them both. Lowering its head. Jyleth prepared for another attack, but instead, a deep green glow briefly flared from the creature's body. When the glow disappeared, most of the creature's wounds had healed.

"That's just not fair," Jyleth mumbled.

"Keep doing that," Sephiroth called to her, not having heard her comment. He matched his movement with that of the monster, not letting it get out of range for his physical attacks. Jyleth nodded her acknowledgment, quickly preparing and launching another fire attack. This time, she launched a fireball at it. Sephiroth attacked furiously with the Masamune when the monster was still burning, narrowly missing the flames and the jaws of the creature as he did so. The blood from the monster sizzled as it flowed out on the ground, still burning. Jyleth did not let it stop burning this time, carefully firing another fireball at it, conscious of Sephiroth's location so that she did not also hit him with the flames.

Jyleth flinched and stifled a cry as Sephiroth was not so lucky on his next attack. One of the monster's claws caught his arm, shredding both cloth and skin. Sephiroth ignored the wound, resuming his attack with even more ferocity. This time, the monster fell back, howled once more, then dissolved into a mass of gil. Sephiroth stepped back, turning his attention to the rest of the clearing, scanning it for more enemies. Jyleth ran to his side, touching his arm gingerly. She quickly cast a cure spell, healing what she could of the damaged tissue. His fingers touched the burned flesh of her own wound, his own cure spell settling over her before she could say anything.

Sephiroth’s eyes met hers though the wet fall of his hair. She could see he was angry, probably at her, for running into the clearing as she had. A growl to their right drew their attention immediately. A large, red, and very wet feline struggled to escape from beneath a large, fallen tree limb. The mud and continuing rain were hindering its process. They both took an involuntary step back, moving away from the creature.

“Oh,” Jyleth exclaimed, suddenly recognizing the beast as the Avalanche member Nanaki. She quickly sheathed her swords and ran over to him, grabbing the tree limb and pulling it off him.

“Jyleth, wait,” Sephiroth called out, rushing forward a few steps, his eyes intently watching the red beast, not trusting him at all. The feline beast growled again and swept a massive paw in the general direction of Jyleth. She jumped away in surprise, slipping on the wet ground and dropping the branch back on the injured beast. Nanaki cried out as the limb struck across his back, then collapsed limp under it. Sephiroth moved forward, raising the Masamune to finish the red cat off.

“No!” Jyleth leapt at Sephiroth, grabbing his arm fiercely and yanking him back. “He didn’t know,” she exclaimed, having to nearly shout to be heard over the noise of the storm. Sephiroth gave her a very doubtful look.

“It would better to just leave them,” he replied, also having to raise his voice.

“So they can die?” She looked around the clearing, taking in the other two forms lying still twenty feet away.

“They will try to kill us the moment they are aware,” he answered.

“This is our chance,” she said, moving back to Nanaki and carefully kneeling beside him. She lifted his head out of the mud and rested it across her knees. Sephiroth had to move closer to hear what she was saying. “…maybe we can get through to them.” She looked up a Sephiroth. “I mean, think about it. Surely they can’t think we are evil after saving them?”

“I think you will be surprised by what these people can and cannot think,” he answered, still not pleased. He realized that Jyleth had the right of the situation, but still… After what he had learned about Jyleth’s condition, he felt he wasn’t willing to take any chances with her. But, as he watched her close her eyes and concentrate on healing Nanaki, he knew he could hardly dictate what danger she chose to take. He could on be there to protect her… and their unborn child.

“Sephiroth,” she said, not opening her eyes, “I can’t finish the healing until the branch is off him.” Sephiroth shifted the Masamune to one hand, hesitating only a moment before he grasped the tree branch and moved it aside. The green glow emanating from Jyleth’s hands grew stronger for a moment, then faded away. The red creature stirred, waking slowly.

“Nanaki,” Jyleth said, leaning close to a furry ear and speaking softly. “You are safe now. We are going to help you and your friends.” Nanaki’s eyes opened slowly. The eyes focused on Jyleth, narrowing with suspicion when he recognized her.

“You attacked us,” he growled at her, raising his head off her knees.

“The storm dweller attacked you,” she replied evenly, not making an effort to move away from him.

“Then you drove it toward us,” Nanaki countered.

“Look, do you think that we would do that and then risk ourselves to kill it? Why wouldn’t we have just let it finish the job?” Jyleth was growing annoyed. How could these people be so unreasonable?

“So you think I will trust you based off one act?” He tried to get to his feet, still sliding a little in the mud. Jyleth rocked back to her feet, standing up and facing Sephiroth.

“Fine, then, we’ll go,” she said, turning to leave the clearing. “And you can take care of your friends over there all by your fine furry self.” Nanaki’s attention was drawn to where she was looking – at Sephiroth.

“You!” He lunged at Sephiroth, but stopped almost immediately when Jyleth jumped in front of him.

“Stop, you idiot,” she shouted at him, barely stopping herself from slapping his nose like she might a misbehaving pet. She glanced over to see Sephiroth in battle position, ready to strike as well. “And you, too.” She shoved Sephiroth back with one hand.

“Get out of my way,” Nanaki said, every hair on his body seemingly standing out. “I have no particular quarrel with you…yet.”

“Well, you do now, because I won’t move,” she answered. “This is really stupid. Another storm dweller could be coming. Can we just call a temporary truce until the storm is over?”

Nanaki was silent, considering her option. He glanced around her, presumably to determine what Sephiroth was doing. Or maybe to look at his injured companions that lay beyond Sephiroth. Jyleth didn’t turn around to see, because she was too concerned what watching Nanaki himself.

“Until the storm is over, then,” he finally agreed.

“Good,” she said, relieved. She turned around to Sephiroth, finding he was still prepared to fight, although he had remained the distance she had shoved him back. “That goes for you, too,” she said, indicating to the Masamune. “Put that away before it rusts.” She walked past him, heading toward the fallen Avalanche members with Nanaki at her heels.

Jyleth knelt beside Cid first, examining him carefully. He was propped against a tree where he had been apparently thrown by the storm dweller. His worst injury seemed to the bleeding gash in the back of his head.

“I don’t have enough magic to do any more healing,” she said, glancing at Nanaki. Sephiroth strode up, glancing down.

“I will carry him,” Sephiroth said shortly. “It will take too much time to heal him enough for him to walk.”

“Where are we going?” Nanaki asked, glancing at them both.

“We were headed toward a uh… cabin,” Jyleth explained, "to seek shelter ourselves when we heard this battle. It's the only shelter I can think of." She looked at Sephiroth, but his eyes were not on her. His gaze was fixed on Cid, perhaps contemplating how he could be carry the pilot.

“Not much choice,” Sephiroth said after a moment. Jyleth nodded, then moved to the other body, that of the Avalanche member Vincent. She hesitated for a moment, remembering her first, unpleasant encounter with this particular member of Avalanche. He lay sprawled on his side, one outstretched hand still holding his gun. She reached for the gun, intending to safely disarm him before attempting to access his injuries. The next moment, Jyleth found herself tumbling through the air, stopping abruptly against the muddy ground, pinned there by a heavy weight across her hips and a sharp claw tightening around her neck. Glaring, furious, red eyes and rain-swept, raven-black hair filled her vision as she gasped for air. Suddenly a bright silver blade came into view, sliding to rest across her attacker’s throat.

“Move away,” said Sephiroth hissed, anger seething in his voice, “Or you are dead.” The red eyes seem to glow even more intensely. Jyleth’s world was dimming to those red eyes, the sound of the storm fading into a quiet rustling.

“Vincent!” Nanaki’s voice, very near. “STOP! We have to get away from here!” Nanaki’s head came into view. The cat bumped his nose against Vincent’s head. The red eyes turned away from Jyleth. “We have made a truce with them. For now.” Slowly, she felt the claw loosen and release as Vincent sat up and moved off her. Sephiroth kept the Masamune hovering protectively over Jyleth, as if he was expecting Vincent would still attack her. Jyleth breath came in gasps, and the sounds of the storm came roaring back to her.

“Okay, then,” she said, trying to get her breathing back to normal as she sat up and pushed the Masamune out of her way. “I told you to put that away before it rusts,” she said, letting her irritation flash for just a moment as she directed her attention to Sephiroth. His face darkened momentarily as he watched her stand, then disappeared as he sheathed the Masamune and turned back to Cid.

Jyleth looked at Vincent. He had not yet gotten to his feet. Dark blood stained his hand where he held it to his leg.

“Can you walk?” Vincent glanced at her, looking at her intently, almost… hungrily. Jyleth involuntarily took a step back from him, shrinking back from that gaze. He quickly looked away, swallowing harshly. Carefully, he tried to stand, but when he shifted his weight to his injured leg, he grimaced and quickly put his weight back on the other leg. Jyleth hesitated a moment, the stepped up to him, slipping her arm around his waist. He tensed immediately, but did not pull away.

“Come on,” she said, “we have to get moving.” After a moment, he moved his arm over her shoulder, shifting some of his weight as he leaned into her. Jyleth was intently aware of how close his face was to her. When she had seen him before, always the red scarf had covered the lower half of his face, but during the course of the battle, it had been ripped away from his face. In the flashes the lightning, she caught the image of chiseled, handsome features. She quickly changed her attention to moving forward, pushing other thoughts aside. Sephiroth was watching them, whatever he was thinking Jyleth could not guess. His eyes glowed fiercely, but whatever emotion might have been showing on his face was obscured by the storm's darkness. He turned away from her again, picking up the unconscious pilot. Jyleth sighed, very much not looking forward to the conversation they would no doubt have when they were alone again.