Costa Town

[Steve Harmer]

[shadow=red,left,300]Come here for all your general Costa Town roleplays.[/shadow]

[Amnesty Lazuli]

The airship landed at the airport some hours later.

Ami wheeled her cycle out of the cargo bay, still as stone-faced as before. She looked around-- in all her travels, she'd never been to this part of the Western Continent before. Always before, she'd had the Ragnorak or the Sierra to fly in, without all the go-betweens of mass transport.

No such luck this time. Even if Squall were still around, the Ragnorak had been sold for junk. And Cid hadn't been long before refusing to work with them any longer. Where he went, the Sierra did, too.

Their troubles are over. And after all that... I'm back where I started... a traveler in a strange land, alone. And Vincent... ha... he's not exactly what I call good company. He's barely spoken thirty words since the trip began. Geez, why did I consent to this insane odyssey...

He emerged from the ship behind her. She gazed at him dully. "Where to now, kommandant?"

He stared at her darkly. "Nowhere until you tell me what happened last night."

The sudden inquiry stunned her. "What did you say--?"

"You heard me, Ami. Squall came to you last night. When you left with him, you were smiling. When you came back, you were crying. What happened?"

She turned away. "It's not your business."

"I'm making it my business. Tell me what happened. Tell me now."

Ami could tell by the look in his eyes that he meant it. Her gaze dropped. "He told me..."

"Told you what?"

She forced herself to look up. She made herself meet his eyes. "Out of absolutely nowhere, he just up and told me he didn't love me. That we had nothing in common, and he was tired of me needing him, and..." There was more, but her throat closed up. Her eyes were wet, but she would NOT let the tears fall. She turned away and got onto her bike. "It doesn't matter," she forced herself to say. "I have more important things to worry about, anyway."

"Such as?"

She blinked, hard and fast. "Helping my brothers. My adopted family. My friends."

"What if they don't need your help?"

"Then my life is pointless! Is that what you want me to say?!" Ami finally snapped.

Vincent fell silent. "I only wondered... what kept you from fighting for him."

She glared for a moment before putting on her helmet. "I've had more than enough fighting," she replied. She started the ignition. "Tell me where we're going or take me home."

Vincent paused. Suddenly, neither alternative presented itself as palatable.

She half-turned in her seat to face him. "Well?"

He climbed aboard behind her. "Nibelheim town."

She cranked the gas and off they went.

((To Nibelheim Town))

[mistervillainman]

Sephiroth rolled into Costa Town aboard the bike, Ami laying across the back unconscious. People looked on curiously at the sight, but he could have cared less. He parked the bike in front of an inn and lifted Ami off onto his shoulder. A man watching Sephiroth pass didnt know any better and stepped in front of the abombination.

"Excuse me, but what are you doing with that girl?"

Sephiroth barely even slowed his pace as his sword slew from its sheath and it dashed through the air, Sephiroth walked past the man, who had frozen in place... Until his head toppled from its shoulders that is.

Sephiroth grinned, he hadnt killed anyone in quite some time, perhaps he needed to "stretch his legs" so to speak...

-------------------------

2 Hours later...

Ami woke to find herself someplace very damp and smelly... her mind was more than a little foggy...

That lasted for about a split second. Her mind suddenly cleared, and the confrontation seared itself once more across her mind.

All around her lay corpses, sliced and scorched to death... smoke rose from somewhere... She could hear quiet waves...

"The dock," she whispered to herself.

She tried to move, only to realize she'd been tied to a forklift. "Sephiroth?"

He sat crouched in a corner, covered in crimson and surrounded by corpses, his silver hair was all that stood out in the darkness made all the more disturbing by the blood around him.

Sephiroth's eyes slowly lifted to look at Ami. "Still here dear sister... Dont worry."

Ami squinted into the shadows. "You've been a busy boy. At least come into the light where I can see you. I'm curious about something."

He stepped forward, letting his blade scrape across the floor behind him, leaving a trail of white through the dark red pool around him.

Ami let her eyes adjust, ignoring with all her strength the horrors spread out before her. Slowly, she nodded. "I thought so. I just wasn't sure I remembered right..."

"Oh? And what would that be?" He asked, circling her like the predator he was.

She wrenched her neck around, trying vainly to keep him in sight. "You look just like her. Especially around the eyes."

He suddenly appeared at her side, his blood-drenched blade coming up to her throat. "Oh you think so... Well dear sister, you have betrayed our mother, so you are in no position to even SPEAK of her anymore. I should kill you right now..."

"Not THAT mother." Ami's eyes were cold and resolute. "The other one." She shot a glare dead into his face. "The one who sacrificed her life to save yours."

"She is no mother of mine..."

Ami spat in his face. "She could have let you die. Aborted the experiment to save her own life. But she didn't. And now you're standing here accusing ME of betraying our mother--"

"You betrayed our TRUE mother!" He pressed the blade hard against her throat angrily.

Ami felt the edge cutting her skin, but she would not stop. "Jenova nearly killed us all. Even you. And she claimed we should thank her for it! Lucrezia gave us life, and begged for forgiveness. You tell me which one sounds more like a real mother."

"Jenova was absolutely right. This world deserves to die, if we die with it, then SO BE IT!"

Ami was shaking. A trickle of blood ran down her neck. "She told me not to hate you." She turned her head to glare at him. "But I hate you anyway."

A streak of red energy licked its way up the length of Sephiroth's blade-- the pain she had absorbed from others. Just as before, in the battle with the demons of Hidden Island, it blasted into her enemy with the terrible force of a bolt of lightning.

Sephiroth was knocked away from her by the force of the blast and cried out angrily, he didnt care if he had to kill Vincent to get the supressant, he was going to slit her throat right now... He was on her in a moment, the blade of his sword digging into her throat once more, just a whisper and it would slice her neck wide open and probably remove ten pounds from atop the neck. He just barely managed to control himself. "No... Your time will come... Not now though, when Vincent comes back he will WATCH you die..."

Her wrists writhed, and she felt metal scrape metal... Her gauntlets! Vincent's gift to her... How had she forgotten them? She lurched back against the forklift and they popped open, slicing through the ropes-- as well as her jacket sleeves.
She aimed both arms at her enemy, the gauntlet blades pressing into his abdomen. "Sephiroth... back off. Or we'll both die right now. And wherever it is you go between lives, I'll be right there to keep you from coming back."

He glanced down at the gauntlet blades and smiled, easing the blade from her throat. "Dont worry sister... You would be dead already if I'd intended you to be. And thank you by the way..." He said, backing away.

She moved away from the forklift, watching him like a hawk as she moved towards the nearest exit. "What for?"

"For giving away your hidden weapons..." He suddenly zoomed forward, slamming his blade into her's, knocking them to the side and landing a powerful punch to her sternum, knocking the wind out of her.

She coughed, knocked almost double. She straightened and swiped fiercely, but her sudden lack of oxygen disoriented her and she missed his neck by miles. However, she did manage to clip his wrist.

He didnt even flinch from the hit, he simply shifted away from her strike and drove his elbow into the shoulder of her outstretched arm, a popping sound was heard as she toppled to her knees. "I was hoping for something like this..."

Ami almost screamed in pain. Only pride kept her mouth shut. The gauntlet blades sliced the skin on her knuckles as she caught herself, her hands going to the cement floor. She pushed herself back up with a small, involuntary yelp.

"Hah, foolish hope. I practically FEED on it."

She growled and lunged, blood flying from her knuckles as she barreled single-mindedly at the column of hate before her.

He side-stepped her charge and swept his leg into the back of her knees. "Your rage makes you uncoordinated... You dont know how to control it!" He said with glee.

She dropped and skidded to a stop on the cold floor. She could barely raise her head... but when she did, she saw something that electrified her. The door, with nothing between her and it... but if she went for it now, Sephiroth would surely catch her. But maybe...

She dragged herself to her feet, lunging at him from a slightly different angle, focused on guarding herself.

Sephiroth easily blocked her attack by side-stepping and swinging to hit her in the head with the side of his blade.

She ducked, stumbling and nearly losing her footing. He was toying with her... She could see it in his careless attacks, in the way he smirked at her. Her eyes narrowed. One more... She slung a gauntlet at his unguarded shoulder.

He stood still, allowing her blade to hit him in the shoulder, it sliced his skin, but his bone stopped it short. He grinned, staring right into her eyes.

She angled the blade slightly and yanked forward with all her might, pulling Sephiroth towards her... her injured arm rached past the pain to hook into his d**nably long hair...
She toppled him forward, vaulting over him for the dock's front door.

His hand snaked out and grabbed her foot and he swung her hard to the left, slamming her into the wall.

With a gasp of pain, she slid to the floor in a crumpled heap.

Still holding her foot, he whipped her the opposite direction and threw her across the room back into the forklift.

She instinctively turned in midair to catch herself, shooting out her limbs. They landed against the vehicle's lifting bars, absorbing the impact, but even so the hit stung like an SOB. Dazed, she dropped to the floor... but was quickly seized by yet another idea, fading through the haze in her mind.

She painfully rose, edging her way around the vehicle, climbing up its side towards the driver's seat.

He sighed and stalked over towards the forklift, he knew exactly what she was plotting and would have none of it. "Stop being so childish..."

She saw him coming and dragged herself even faster for the door, scrambling for footholds. She tumbled in, landing on her disjointed socket with a scream. Her foot dangled out the window, and she moved to yank it in too late...

He snatched her foot and ripped her bodily from the cab of the forklift, flinging her to the floor.

Her battered body didn't want to cooperate as she struggled to rise. She got to her feet and looked up to find him hanging onto the side of the forklift, prepared to pounce...

She decided to go for broke. She took advantage of the moment she had bought herself and ran for the door.

He shook his head, sighing. "This is more fun than I thought it would be." He said, following her slowly.

She strained to see as she burst into the light. The docks hung over the water ahead of her. The warehouses stretched along the waterfront on either side of her. There was nowhere left to go.

Except...

Sephiroth stalked out of the building after Ami as she rushed onto the dock, flipping his sword around as he approached. "Brilliant escape plan, sister..."

She gritted her teeth. "I'm a lousy swimmer."

Before he could catch the non-sequitur, she toppled off the dock into the water, disappearing under the surface.

Sephiroth stopped and tilted his head, chuckling. "Aww..."

****

Ami's lungs felt like they were going to explode. But she hung on, digging her hands and feet into the muck under the gentle swells. She moved slowly away from the docks where he'd found her. She couldn't swim... but she could crawl.

After an eternity, she came up for air and whipped her head around desperately for any sign of her tormentor.

He was gone.

She dragged herself back up to the docks, flopping to the wooden planks of a small pier, broken and tired.

Now what... now what... The words cycled through her mind.

An airship floated across her line of sight as she gazed upward blankly. Vincent... if he comes back for me... Oh, G**.

She began to stumble. On and on, not thinking, just moving.

She found herself in a cargo bay. The roar of airship engines filled her ears. It was so warm in there... so dark... so quiet...

Her body finally gave up. She collapsed.

((To Wutai Town))

[Kidd Strife]

"Im ready!" Kidd held out both his hands as his keyblades appeared. He spun them around doing a little sword play excersice and got inot his battle stance. "I smell Sephiroth."

[Sin]

Sin opened the door of the ship and hung out looking as they approached the town. He had his claw dug into the ship to make sure he didn't fall.

"So... Vincent is here...."

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Ami groaned, slugging Samson in the shoulder, as the airship made its decent towards the Costa Town docks. "D**n it... Just when I'm starting to settle down..." She sat bolt upright, banging heads with him. She rubbed her forehead painfully and squinted at him. "Are we there already?"

She didn't bother waiting for an answer. She scrambled out of the bed and stuck her face up to the porthole, staring down on the city below. Instantly, she paled. "Oh, G**...

****

Vincent walked the deserted streets, carrying his cargo-- the drug that would help his most hated enemy stay alive.

The town had, since Sephiroth's arrival, come to clearly carry his stamp. The air was filled with thinning smoke. Almost the entire district surrounding the docks had been razed to the ground. Dead, unidentifiable remains lay everywhere. Only the dock warehouses themselves still stood.

Only one warehouse in the row stood out from the others.

It had Ami's motorcycle parked outside it.

He quickened his pace, almost imperceptibly, tightening his grip on the parcels.

Carefully, he set them down by the front gate. No one in this g**forsaken place could or indeed would steal them.

The heavy gates swung open.

"Sephiroth. Bring me Ami."

****

"Hurry!" Ami insisted, brushing past the others on her way to the ship's hatch. "The five hours are almost up!"

[Kidd Strife]

As soon as they were even near the landing zone Kidd jumped out sliding down a rope. "We don't have time to spare, let's move!" He descened nimbly down the rope and landed neatly. He began to take off towards Vincent then stopped. Sephiroth... where is he? Kidd began to back up realizing the probablility that it was all a trap. Why, since when do I back down like this.

[Sin]

Sin went to jump but stopped, running back to grab his other sword as well.
"Now, time to meet Vincent."

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Ami climbed down the rope after him. Her body was restored by the potions she'd forced herself to gag down, but it could still remember the beating he'd dealt her.

"He could be anywhere," she mused to herself worriedly.

She spotted Vincent on his way through the gate and broke into a run. "Vincent, stop!"

She was too far away to be heard. He paused halfway through, but after a moment of hesitation, entered the warehouse.

Too late! "Guys! Come on!"

[Kidd Strife]

Kidd beside Ami ran in after him. He looked back for a split second to yell at them. "We have to hold him for five hours! Let's move it before he gets the packages!" He combined his keyblade and ran into the warehouse leaving a trail of dust.

[mistervillainman]

Sephiroth watched from the shadows of the dock house as Ami and the others bared down on his position and grinned. His bargaining chip was coming right back to him...

[Sin]

Sin caught up to Kidd.
"So, Vincent and Sephiroth will be here?"
He sheathed his buster sword on his back and took out his smaller sword.

[Kidd Strife]

"We just saw Vincent enter this warehouse. Sephiroth should be waiting somewhere for us. So be on your guard. Everyone ready for on hellava ride?" Kidd continued looked forward as he ran to catch up with Vincent.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Ami snagged Sin's sleeve as she ran full tilt into the warehouse's interior.

She gaped. The place looked deserted.

"With me," she whispered, creeping around the warehouse's edges in search of her protector. "Vincent?" She sank into the shadows, knowing she would find him there.

****

Ami... you're safe.

Vincent's eyes turned cold.

Now, Sephiroth... there is nothing that prevents me from killing you for what you've done.

He moved along the walls, piercing the darkness silently.

[Sin]

"Of course! So, what is Vincent anyway? I know he was a Turk and did work with Shinra's scientists but that is it. I know a little more about Cloud, but not much on either of them."
Sin started to outdistance Kidd, so he slowed down a tiny bit.