A Moment in Time

The group wandered north through the mountainous terrain, hiking up on overgrown trails and stepping through large prairies. They eventually made their way into a large clearing on top of a plateau and what looked like a bridge in the distance.

“Can we take a break please?” Tifa exclaimed exhausted.

“Yeah, maybe we should.” Cloud replied. The entire group instantly stopped, stretching their arms, back, and legs, except for one.

“Aw c’mon guys!” Yuffie said walking on ahead. “It’s not too far now!”

“That’s a relief.” Barret mumbled and he and the rest of the group began walking again behind the ninja girl.

It only took a few seconds before something clicked in Cloud’s mind, which was a rare occurrence. Things usually took awhile to register in the blonde’s mind. “Wait a minute,” Cloud stopped, causing everyone else as well as Yuffie to stop once again. “You said before we wouldn’t know what’s out here if we didn’t venture out here. How do you know we don’t have far left to go?”

Yuffie’s face went blank, the color leaving her face. Oops. “A-Ahh wellll…” She stammered. “I-I mean it’s pretty tough to get through here! I’ve been in this area before and-”

“What are you up to Yuffie?” Nanaki questioned.

“I’m not doing anything! I’m just saying it gets tough!” Yuffie attempted to defend herself, but she was caught. The whole group had their eyes fixed at her, targeting her out like a duck among swans.

“There they are! Get’em!” Suddenly two Shinra soldiers came out of nowhere, nowhere being an understatement considering there was nothing to hide behind around them. The two soldiers raised their guns at the gang, who reacted by drawing their own weapons. “Wait a minute, these aren’t the ones from before! These are the other guys!” One of them said. “What should we do?” The other asked.

“Damn! Shinra soldiers? Here?” Cid exclaimed, wondering why these guys would be in such an out-of-the-way place.

Yuffie stepped back, shaking her head. “I don’t know! I had nothing to do with this one!”

“This one?” Vincent glanced at her, raising and eyebrow. “Did you have something else in mind then?”

“No…um…uh…” She stuttered, clutching her armguard as if to protect it.

“Let’s get ‘em! We ask questions later!” The two soldiers launched forward toward the group.

“Time to go~” Yuffie whispered to herself and ran off, grinning.

A few minutes later the two Shina soldiers were on the ground, knocked out. Tifa shook her head. “They didn’t even stand a chance. I don’t even know why they even tried.”

Aerith nodded in agreement. “Yeah I know. Hey, where’s Yuffie?” The group looked around but the little ninja was no longer in sight. It was quiet, save for the cliché whistling wind that blew through the area. All of them stood there in silence for a few minutes, staring into the distance before they realized what happened.

“Dammit! Damn fucking little ninja!” Cid swore, patting himself around his pockets in search of something. “My materia’s gone!”

Tifa looked around her person as well. “Hey! Mine too!”

“Mine’s gone too.” Cait seconded.

“Damn, mine too!”

“Same here.”

Again, the group stood there in silent disbelief. Finally Cid spoke up. “I knew somethin’ was up with that damn runt.”

“She wanted our materia huh?” Aerith stated and began walking forward. “I think she went north. Should we go after her?” She stopped and looked back towards the group.

“Hell yeah were goin’ after her!” Barrett yelled. “We can’t get no where without our materia!” He huffed and stomped off.

“Wait.” Tifa said. “What should we do with them?” She glanced over to the two still knocked out soldiers lying on the ground, one of them with drool coming out of the side of their mouth.

“Eh…just leave them.” Cloud smirked. “They’ll wake up eventually wondering who they are and how they got here.” He reached down, snagging one of the soldier’s wallet and taking the gil out of it.

“Cloud!”

“What? We won fair and square so it’s perfectly fine.” He said, throwing the wallet down on the ground and putting the gil in his pocket.

“He’s right.”

Tifa blinked and turned around to see Aerith doing the same thing.

Aerith giggled. “We’re turning into thieves ourselves!”

~~~~~

Hours after Yuffie’s little heist, the group finally made it to the base of the mountains. A vast area of grasslands was visible to the north. Assuming that their destination was close, the group decided to take a short break. Nap-time probably was a better term since most of the members of the group laid in the grass or on a bolder, curled up and shut their eyes. The only ones not resting were Cid, Vincent, and Nanaki.

The lion scouted around the area, Vincent did the same, or so the pilot thought. Cid lit up a cigarette, which he was unfortunately running out of, and wandered around the site in search of the gunman. Eventually after walking around in circles around the group, he stopped right in the middle of where all his comrades rested. He looked around as he stood there. The wind blowing through the mountains was all that he could hear. The black-haired man he searched for was no where to be found.

“JESUS!” Suddenly Cid jumped at a sudden sound that came from behind him, striking an awkward defensive pose. The short loud roar that startled him turned out to be Barrett snoring. Cid grumbled to himself and decided to head out of that area for some peace and quiet. He wandered into a slightly wooded area and took his position against a tree to enjoy his smoke. The pilot took a drag, blowing out the smoke between his parted lips. Nothing like a bit of nicotine couldn’t fix, for Cid at least.

“That isn’t a very healthy hobby.”

Cid nearly inhaled his cigarette, being startled for the second time in less than and hour. He jerked forward from leaning on the tree, nearly falling flat on this face if his hands didn’t meet the ground first. He quickly pushed himself up and back onto his two feet and twisted in the direction of the voice. To Cid’s surprise, no one was around him. “Huh?” He muttered to himself. He looked around until he saw a flash of red in the corner of his vision. He looked up in the tree he was leaning against to see the cape-wearing man he was searching for earlier, sitting on a tree branch and watching him.

“Smoking shortens your lifespan.” Vincent simply stated.

“What the hell are ya doin’ up there?!” The pilot’s eyes narrowed at the gunman. “Scared the shit outta me!”

Vincent raised his arm and pointed off into the distance. Cid blinked in confusion and stepped over a slight distance so he could see through a clearing. A small village could be seen on a peninsula north of their position. “I’m going to assume that is Wutai.”

“Wutai?” The pilot questioned. “Hey, isn’t that the town that was part of the war years ago?” The pilot rubbed the back of his head when the gunman looked at him. “Ah, that was after ya got in that coffin, right? My bad.”

“There was tension with Wutai during my time as well.” Vincent stated, shifting himself before jumping down from the tree branch he was sitting on, landing perfectly on the ground. “It wasn’t necessary for the Turks to go out there at that time though.”

“Ah.” Cid nodded, taking his finished cigarette from his mouth, throwing it on the ground and crushing it with his foot.

“Littering isn’t a very good hobby either.”

Cid’s head snapped in the direction of the gunman, who was calmly staring into the distance as he stood next to the pilot. “Who are ya to judge what I do?” He yelled, pointing a finger at Vincent. “Come ta think of it, since when do ya care about the rest of us ya cold, heartless bastard?!” At that second the pilot relented, seeing the gunman look at him. It wasn’t a menacing, cold look Vincent had given him before, but a calm, non-demanding one even with his red piercing eyes. Vincent’s change in demeanor took Cid by surprise. Why was the gunman suddenly acting so friendly? Maybe he was finally warming up to the group, or maybe just Cid. Whatever the case, Cid instantly felt a little silly.

Vincent watched the pilot closely, sensing a bit of distress coming from the pilot. “I apologize.” He said softly from behind his cloak.

“Eh?” Cid answered completely confused.

“Being asleep for so long seems to have hindered how I communicate with people. Plus I cannot help but be a bit distrustful of the rest of you considering I don’t know anything about any of you.” Vincent explained. “My harshness could also be a result of my pent up emotions from my past.”

Cid raised an eyebrow at the gunman. “Now yer just makin’ excuses. Then maybe you should talk with us more. I mean, hell…how are ya gonna learn anything ‘bout us if ya don’t even bother holding a conversation with us?!” Cid asked. “Yeah I suppose the both of us got off on the wrong direction, so how about we start over? Hi…I’m Cid.” The pilot smiled, offering a hand to the gunman.

The raven-haired man hesitated briefly before taking the pilots hand, giving it a slight shake. “…Vincent?” He said a bit awkwardly. This man was just a bit odd. But maybe the pilot was right. Maybe he was being a bit too cold to everyone, even if it wasn’t on purpose.

“There.” Cid grinned, placing his hands on his hips. “Problem solved. But we probably should get back to the group. Knowing Cloud he’ll have the rest of them all awake already and start shovin’ us out.”

~~~~~

Not too long after the group set out again, they reached the small, oriental town of Wutai. Unfortunately Yuffie was no where to be found. The group split up to search around the town and to question the townsfolk. The people residing in the town were less than helpful, many of them saying they knew no one by the name Yuffie or cutting the conversation short and saying they had things they needed to do. All of them seem to act oddly when the name “Yuffie” was spoken. Eventually everyone regrouped in front of the Turtle Paradise bar.

“Dammit. We’re never gonna find her!” Barret shook his fist.

“Maybe we should take a break huh?” Tifa proposed. “I need something to drink after that hike.”

The rest agreed and followed Tifa into the tavern. They only got in a few steps before something stopped them in their tracks.

“Y-You!” A woman with short blond hair sat at one of the tables with two other men, pointing a finger at the group. “How’d you get here?!” She jumped off her seat in preparation for a fight.

“Elena.”

“W-what?” Elena stopped, twisting around and eyeing one of the men.

“You talk too much.” The man with red hair turned to glare at Elena, a hint of intoxication in his speech. “Why do you think were all the way out here?”

“Duh Reno, were on vacation…” Elena answered. She blinked a few times. “Oh…right.”

“Now the booze tastes bad.” The other man said who turned out to be Rude.

Elena pouted at her two boozed up comrades. “Hmph.” She huffed and sat back down on her seat, hesitating for a moment before swinging around again towards AVALANCHE. “You guys just got lucky this time! Next time I won’t be so nice!” With that, she turned her back on the enemy and back to her own beverage.

The gang stood there perplexed, almost not knowing what hit them. Finally Cloud shrugged after a few moments. “Okay…” He turned to the rest of the group and nodded his head towards the door. Everyone nodded in silent agreement and quietly headed out. On the way out, something caught the eye of Vincent. He stopped with his head facing in the direction of a large container that was next to the building.

“What’s up Vincent?” Cait Sith asked, causing the rest of the group to pause.

It didn’t take long before the pot caught the attention of everyone else’s eyes. The pot shook slightly along with some soft clanking sounds coming from the inside. Something or someone was in it and the only reason a person would be in it is if they’re hiding from someone. The only person that had a reason to hide was Yuffie, unless it was some guy hiding from his psychotic, clingy girlfriend. Cloud motioned everyone to guard the exits to the area before stepping up to the pot and taking a swift kick to the side of it. Suddenly the lid flew off the top and out popped the container’s prize. The young ninja girl landed on the ground and took one look at the Chocobo-haired man before scattering away towards the south bridge. She skidded to a stop as Tifa and Cid blocked her first escape route. Yuffie quickly swung around and ran to the northern bridge where she was stopped again by Vincent, Nanaki, and Cait. Spinning around again she attempted to exit another way but the rest blocked and surrounded her.

“You can’t get away Yuffie.” Cloud said, crossing his arms.

“O-okay…I lost and I was wrong…” Yuffie hung her head in shame. “You win. I’ll give you guys your materia back.” She waved them on to follow her as she headed to the east side of town. She led them into a small house and into its basement, gathering everyone into the small room that seemed to modern for the rest of the village.

“Look at this town…” Yuffie began, standing in the middle of the room as the rest filed in. “It just a resort town now! After we lost the war, we got peace, but with that, we lost other things. I just thought if I could get enough materia I could… I could…” She sniffed, either putting on an act or showing it was the real deal. It was actually hard to tell.

“Listen, Yuffie. I don’t care about all this. We just want our materia back now.” Cloud said.

“Cloud! Do be that rude!” Aerith scolded him. “Look Yuffie. If you give us our materia we’ll drop the whole thing.”

Yuffie walked over the entrance of the basement room, still slightly saddened. “I know I know.” She pointed to a control panel towards the back of the room. “That switch. The materia’s… sniff… in there.”

Cloud rolled his eyes and headed over to the lever and quickly pulled it down. There was come clanking of metal before a giant cage came down and entrapped a few of the members of the group who were in the middle of the room.

“Guh! What the-?!” Cid yelped, luckily to be one of them to be on the outside of the cage. Cait, Tifa, Barret, Aerith, and Nanaki were the unlucky ones to be trapped inside.

“Dammit Yuffie!” Tifa yelled. Tifa showing that type of anger was a rarity all its own.

Yuffie laughed as she stepped back from the room. “Too bad! The materia’s mine suckers!” With that she ran up the stairs and into her room, quickly grabbing a few things around her room. “Hmm…do I need my small pocket knife for any reason?” She wondered to herself, eyeing her knife on a side table. “…Nah!” She threw some stuff into her pockets and ran out of the house.

“Fuck! It won’t budge!” Cid swore, trying to pull up the lever with Cloud. “Why’d you fall for that stupid shit ya dumbass?!”

“How the hell was I suppose to know that was going to happen?!” Cloud yelled back at the other blonde.

Vincent eyed the console. He took a few moments to study the switches and gadgets before realizing something. “There’s no power.” The two blondes blinked in surprise at the gunman. “She must have shut the power off. We won’t be able to get the cage up like this.”

“What?! Does that mean we gotta wait in here?! Get us the hell out!” Barret yelled.

“Look if we could we would!” Cloud said to the angry gun-armed man. “There’s nothing we can do if there’s no power!”

“Then find a way!”

“Will you two shut up?!” Tifa shouted at them. “Look, if they can’t get us out they can’t get us out. Unless you can lift a two-ton cage above your head Barret then be quiet! We’ll just have to wait.”

“Well be back soon I promise!” Cloud said as he ran out of the room with Cid and Vincent following behind.

“YOU DAMN WELL BETTER BE!!!” Barret’s loud voice echoed as Cloud and others distanced themselves from their trapped comrades. The trio was quickly out of the house and, again, Yuffie was out of sight. They vigorously scanned around the town from their position. There was no hint of Yuffie or where she might have gone.

“Damn little brat! She tricked us! AGAIN!” Cid spat. He glanced at Cloud. “Why’d you let that damn girl join your party in the first place?!”

Cloud shook his head. “Look, we had no clue she was going to do this! She seem harmless-”

“Yeah it’s the fucking harmless looking ones that are the most dangerous. Now Vince,” Cid pointed at the gunman, “he looks like a ferce guy with that claw and those red eyes but I’m sure he’s as gentle as a kitten.”

“You’d be surprised.” Cloud stated, which made Cid eye the gunman again curiously.

Vincent only stood there in response, shaking his head slightly. “Maybe instead of figuring out peoples hidden personalities, we should go search for Yuffie.”

“Exactly. C’mon Cid.” The blonde motioned to Cid before heading down the path into town.

Cid huffed as Vincent pasted him. “Ya, know, I can be a softy despite my looks.” He said, partly as a silent comeback to Cloud and partly to the gunman. The pilot sighed and followed his buddies into town.

The group decided to check back with who they presumed to be Yuffie’s father. They had run into him earlier when they were first chasing Yuffie, sulking on the floor of his room. Before they could enter the building however, the loud chime of the gong to the left startled them. As they looked at the object, they noticed a person dressed in black clothing rush into the platform of the gong. The trio rushed over but the trap door slammed shut in their faces. Typical scenario.

“Do ya think she’s in there?” Cid asked, tapping on wall gently.

“Only one way to find out.” Cloud replied and climbed up to the gong. He grabbed the gong’s mallet which was conveniently right next to it and took a wild swing at it. The ex-Soldier obviously swung as hard and as fast as he could since the gong’s loud sound vibrated throughout the whole city. For whatever reason, the blonde still had to show how strong he was, even without the presence of any women.

Cid was the only one to cover his ears however. “Fuck! Did ya have to ring that damn thing loud enough ta wake the dead?!”

The secret door in front of Cid and Vincent opened again and the two headed inside with Cloud following suit. The quickly headed down the stairs where they expected to find a hiding little ninja girl. That wasn’t the case however. What they did find made them stop in their tracks.

“You!” Cloud said in complete shock, stepping in front of Vincent and Cid.

A chubby man with a mohawk stood toward the back of the small room, along with two pairs of ninja’s, one pair holding Yuffie and the other holding Elena of all people. “Ho ho ho…” The fat man chuckled before twirling around and facing the three men. He plucked out his cigar and began doing a little disco dancing. “Woohoo! I gots me two more chickies to play with!”

“Dammit Don Corneo! Give us Yuffie!” Cloud yelled.

“Ho ho- Hey! You’re that man that dressed as a girl to trick me!” Corneo exclaimed, grinning. Cloud face turned from anger to embarrassed along with a blush.

The other blonde blinked in shock and stepped towards Cloud slowly and looked him right in the eye. “You did what?!” The pilot smirked, hardly being able to contain his fit of giggles.

“Look I- HEY!” Cloud yelled as the Don and his ninjas ran up the stairs. He ran after them with the gunman following him. Cid followed as best as he could while using all his air in his lungs to laugh as hard as he could. They continued following the kidnappers until they came out of the building opposite of the gong. Unfortunately the Don was gone. Instead the two male Turks were there, the look of annoyance on their faces.

Cloud and the two others ran up to them. “Where did he go?” The blonde asked.

“He’s a crafty one isn’t he?” Reno quirked an eyebrow as he gazed out towards the city. He eyed Cloud and his comrades who had come up beside him. “Well…”

“Look, he took Yuffie from us.” Cloud said.

“And he also has Elena.” Rude added.

Reno sighed. “This doesn’t mean were gonna be friends now.”

“Right. We want to affiliate with Shinra either. We’re just working together toward a common goal right now.”

“Just working together…” Rude repeated, causing the trio to look at him in question.

“Don’t mind Rude, he doesn’t get sober as quickly as I do.” Reno smirked at his bald friend.

“Yeah?” Cid began, slightly interested in Reno’s remedy to quick soberness. “And how do ya accomplish that?”

“A hard slap in the face by an angry but gorgeous Wutaian woman.”

“Ah.”

~~~~~

The five men made their way to the mountain carvings of Wutai. Thankfully the Turks had noticed Don’s gang head that way as they escaped from Cloud’s group. Luckily this was a place that only had one exit and entrance. The group wandered around the trails around the large statues, looking in every nook and cranny in search of the fat man and the kidnapped girls. At least everyone but Vincent was looking in every small hole that there was in the mountain since it was obvious to the gunman that an obese man like Corneo couldn’t fit in those places, unless he was an anorexic man in a fat body suit, but that was out of the question. Eventually the Cloud, Cid, and Vincent followed a trail they hadn’t yet and happened upon an unlikely scene. Yuffie and Elena hung high against a face of a statue while the Don danced around cheering himself on.

“I think I’ve found a new hobby! Hmm who shall it be?” He grinned walking up to Elena. “Should I go with her?” Elena gave him a face of disgust before he stepped over towards Yuffie. “Or her?”

“Oh my god! If I knew this was gonna happen to me this early in my life I would have taken those damn rope escaping lessons more seriously! Dammit I really should have brought my pocket knife with me!” Yuffie cringed at the sight of the roly-poly man eyeing her up. Looking to her right to avoid eye contact with the perverted man, she noticed Cloud and the other two men standing there. “Cloud!”

“Ah wah-?” The Don twisted around and jumped back as he noticed the men standing there. “You again! Stop ruining my little party. Shoo shoo!” He jokingly said as he tried whisking them away.

“Hell no!” Cloud shouted. “We want Yuffie back!”

Vincent rolled his eyes at the whole situation. “I don’t care what you’re doing, so much as the idiotic way you’re doing it.”

Cloud’s threatening voice didn’t seem to faze the fat man as he responded by goofing off even more. “Well why don’t you play with my new pet! Even though my little Aps was no challenge for you, Rapps should really be a problem for you!” Corneo turned, facing his back towards Cloud. “OH RAPPS! DADDY’S GOT YOU NEW CHEW TOYSSSS!!!”

Suddenly a large winged creature flew over the mountain, circled around and stopped in front of the statue were the rest of them were. The serpent hovered there, eyeing the heros menacingly before letting out a loud screech. It lurched its head forward towards Cloud and the others, who dodged out of the way of the attack. The creature’s long horn pierced into the rocks before jolting back to take another shot. Instead of aiming for the whole group, Rapps aimed for Cid this time, missing as the pilot when he ducked and rolled out of the way. Cid pulled out his lance and swung sharply at the winged creature, the metal of his weapon meeting its sharp teeth. The quick contact made sparks fly.

“Damn is this thing’s bones made out of iron?” Cid muttered to himself as he jumped out of the way of a second attack.

Rapps jaw slammed down at the pilot before it flapped its wings to push itself back from the cliff. Gunshots suddenly began echoing through the mountain as Vincent opened fire at the creature. The monster shrieked as bullets hit the side of its face, one piercing its left eye. It instantly swung its head around towards the gunman as he reloaded and let out a roar before diving towards Vincent. The gunman did a dodge-roll away from the creature as it attempted to land on top of him, quickly regaining composure and pointed his weapon at the monster. Rapps suddenly spun its head in an attempt to knock the gunman off the cliff, but before it could reach him its head snapped up, shrieking. Cloud grinned as he pushed his sword deeper into the creatures back leg, holding on even as the winged creature swung its leg around both in pain and to get the ex-Solider off. Cid followed suit, jumping towards Rapps and impaling his spear into the chest of the creature. The monster wailed, its body jolting frantically in an attempt to throw off its attackers. It successfully got Cid off after a few jerks of its body. Suddenly it flapped his wings, raising itself into the air which caused Cloud to drop down from its leg. It hovered briefly before its eyes began to glow and a glowing white ball appeared in front of its horn.

“SHIT! Look out!” Cloud yelled running to the side along with Cid.

Unfortunately Vincent was against the cliff. As the white ball exploded into an array of white beams, the gunman attempted to cross over to the side where Cloud and Cid headed. The attack was too fast for him however, and the monster’s aero attack struck the gunman, exploding against him and throwing him back against the ground. The winged serpent was quickly on top of the gunman, attempting to stab Vincent with its horn as well as bite him.

“VINCENT!” Cloud and Cid shouted, running toward the monster on their fallen comrade and striking it with their weapons.

“Vincent!” Yuffie yelled from her place against the statue, struggling against the ropes that tied her up.

“He should have used reflect or something to dodge that!” Elena spoke up, her cockiness showing.

“Shut up! They can’t help it I took their materia!” Yuffie scolded the female Turk.

“You did what?!” Elena glanced at her in surprise. “Aren’t they you’re friends?!” Yuffie gave her the evil eye before her attention was drawn to the battle in front of them.

Cloud and Cid were thrown back as Rapps tail struck them. Both of them quickly got to their feet, ready to attack again. Suddenly a bright, blinding light appeared where Vincent lie on the ground and the winged creature was thrown back, its wings fluttering to keep itself afloat. As the light diminished, a large, furry, dog looking creature stepped forward towards the monster. The purple colored monster snarled as it took its attack stance against the serpent.

To the pilot’s confusion, Vincent was gone. “What the hell happened?! Where’s Vince?!”

“His demons look as fierce as he does Cid.” Cloud responded quietly as he watched the beast charge towards Rapps, jumping onto the winged creature and digging its claws into it.

“Wait… don’t tell me…” Cid began. “That’s Vincent?!” He looked at the beast as it slashed the monsters face. No hint of the gunman was visible. All Cid could see was a large beast with purple and some red fur along with large horns and a tail. Could it really be Vincent? The pilot could only stare at the scene in awe.

“It’s his first limit break apparently. He calls it Galian Beast.”

The pilot couldn’t even respond, his attention completely on the large beast, who was tossed back by the large serpent. Galian didn’t hesitate and raised its head, opening its mouth and inhaling strongly. Before Rapps could react, Galian’s head snapped forward, unleashing a massive fireball which split into a number of smaller fire balls. They flew at the winged creature and exploded on contact. The monster was thrown back, hitting the ground before sliding back towards the edge of the cliff. It wailed a final time as it slid off the edge, falling to the ground below. The Galian Beast roared in victory before peering around for other possible enemies.

Cloud sighed, happy it was over. He glanced around, finding Corneo clutching onto a small rock pillar for dear life. The blonde knew he wasn’t going anywhere for now. But the real problem didn’t lie with Corneo.

The other blonde watched the raging beast, hesitated before he stepped towards it. “Vince?”

“Wait! Cid! Don’t!” Cloud yelled after the pilot.

As Cid got closer, Galian turned slowly towards the pilot, growling shallowly at the approaching man. Cid smiled, holding out his hand towards the beast as if wanting to touch it. “Thanks Vince! You saved our butts!” Galian’s eyes narrowed and snapped its arm up, its hand wrapping around the pilot’s neck and forcing him down. Cid grunted as he hit the ground, his focus quickly going to the beast that now stood above him. The monster increased the pressure against his neck, pushing the pilot against the ground harder. “V-vince…” Cid gasped, trying to loosen the beast’s grip around his neck. Galian growled in response, seemingly taking pleasure from strangling the pilot.

“Cid!” A voice almost sounded distant to the pilot, but right after he heard it, Galian jumped off the pilot, staggering back and growled even louder. Cid glanced up, seeing Cloud standing beside him.

“You okay?!” Cloud asked, offering a free hand to help the pilot up.

“Y-yeah.” Cid breathed, catching his breath. “What the hell…”

Galian abruptly sprinted toward the two men. Cloud winced and began charging his ice spell, the materia glowing in his sword. Right before Cloud unleashed his attack, Galian slowed its pace, its body dissolving and slowly revealing the gunman underneath. But it was too late. The ex-Soldier’s spell shot from his sword striking Vincent in the chest and throwing him back.

“Dammit! Vince!” Cid sprung forward with Cloud close behind him.

Vincent hit the ground hard, his vision fading as he looked towards the sky nearing twilight. His friends calling his name echoed distantly through his mind. It was the last thing he heard, as well as the blurred image of certain blonde-haired pilot that stood above him before he completely blacked out.