Red Dawn

Red Dawn: chapter 7

Author: Sweetstarlights (sweetstarlights@hotmail.com)

Site: www.lonelykitten.cjb.net

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Author’s Note: God, the last chapter was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to write. I’ve read enough books with sex in them, but writing about it is another thing entirely. So I just wrote like it is in my George R. R. Martin books, not too descriptive but you know what’s going on. Though he uses weird names for it. Anyway, this chapter is going to be lots of fun! No one dies but there’s action to spare and..... DRAGONS!!!!! My favorite mythic beast!!! So get the barbeque ready cause flames will be flying!!!!

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Eve sat at the window overlooking the inn’s door. It had been a week since Sephiroth left, two more snow storms following him north. She was tired of waiting for Cloud to get there, sure sleeping was nice but she was getting really annoyed. She hoped that they got caught in one of the storms and froze to death. But then what fun would that be?

Okay, let’s think. There’s Cloud, Tifa, Cid, Yuffie, Cait Sith.... and Vincent left, she thought. Cloud always travels in a group of three, so it’ll be him.... probable Tifa.... and maybe Cait Sith. With Barret, Red XIII and Aeris all dead their numbers were low, but not low enough. There couldn’t be more than four people going to fight Sephiroth in the end, Eve knew who she was sending there the only thing was killing the other two. But that could wait until she tested her abilities. She sighed and looked out into the falling snow. Eve spied movement in the swirling snow and a blonde hair moving in the wind. Cloud... But it wasn’t just Cloud; it was all six of them. Eve muttered a few mild curses and closed the blinds on the window. Leaving the inn would be harder in the morning than she first thought. But then she wouldn’t have to stand out in the snow while she waited for them to come out if someone sees her. It wasn’t like the inn keeper was going to tell them she was there; Eve had paid him off well to keep his mouth shut. Not caring about the morning to come, Eve walked over and laid in the bed that she had shared with Sephiroth once, curling up to sleep once again.

***

At dawn Eve was up and getting dressed. There hadn’t been any problems with the ghost that haunted her since Sephiroth told it that he’s destroy it if he ever felt it in her body again. He shouldn’t have gone into her mind in the first place, but since she was so tired she couldn’t put up her normal barrier to keep him out. Oh well, at least now I have control of my body... Eve slipped on a long, sleeveless red coat that reached her ankles; she bought it because it looked like the one that Rinoa wore in Final Fantasy VIII only with fur lining the neck. There were even wings on the back, only they were grey and looked like they had been dripped in blood. She grabbed the pack that contained both the Black Materia and the White Materia and left the room.

Down stairs the inn keeper was already up and at the desk. He spotted Eve as she walked towards him and smiled. “So you’re leaving?”

“Yes. It’s time for me to head north. I hope I haven’t been any trouble...” Eve enjoyed playing the innocent woman; everyone was nice when she did.

“No trouble at all. Though that friend of yours that left a week ago was another thing. Why would a young woman like you be with a man like that?” There was true concern in his voice.

Eve gave the question a serious moment’s thought and answered, “Because he cared about me when no one else did.” Eve heard something move off to the side and looked. All she saw was shadows for a moment, but then in the morning light she saw something glitter in the shadow. Some was watching her, and she had a good idea who. Eve turned back to the inn keeper and paid the money she owed. As she walked through the doors she turned back, this time Vincent couldn’t hide in the dark. The sun shown on him completely. Eve smirked at him and turned out.

There was only one last thing for Eve’s plan to work, and today was her lucky day. One lone snowboarder stood in the sun drinking coffee. Not missing a heartbeat, Eve walked over to the ‘snow biff’ and clenched her fist. “Hey, can I barrow...” she threw her fist back and hit him in the face, “This?” The man laid unconscious at Eve’s feet as she bent down and picked up the board. “Thanks.” She walked to the top of the hill and looked down at the run below her. Eve sighed and slipped one boot into the foothold.

“STOP!” someone screamed behind her as she tried to fit her other foot in the strap. Eve turned at saw Cloud running towards her with his Buster Blade unsheathed.

“Well isn’t it the blonde crusader, here to stop the red sorceress from helping the silver knight destroy the world....” Eve slowly started pushing herself closer to the edge. Cloud raised his sword at Eve, “Oh no! don’t kill me, nineteen is too young to die!” Eve laughed hard as she pretended to act scared.

“Don’t move, we’ve got you surrounded!” This time Tifa was the one yelling. Eve could see the tears well in her eyes.

Eve laughed at the thought, “Silly woman.... what makes you think I’ll listen to you, when I don’t even listen to Sephiroth when he tell me to do something...? I’m a free bird that does as she wants, and no one can stop me...” Eve jumped off the ledge backwards and started sliding down the mountain at increasing speeds. She jammed her foot into place and spun around, only to rocket down the mountain faster. She let out a nervous laugh as she sped downwards. She turned around and saw that Cloud was following her, but going as fast as she was because she was much lighter than him. But there were those of Cloud’s friends that were lighter than him.... and they were starting to get closer to Eve. Oh well... time to stop playing around... Eve crouched down and started picking up more speed. Then she remembered that there was something missing. She reached into her pack and turned her CD player on. The song that played was most appropriate for the moment. ‘Like a shooting star across the midnight sky, where ever you are you’re gonna see me fly!’ Eve giggled and turned to see that she’d slowed down enough for Cloud to catch up. He unsheathed his sword again and started getting closer to her. Looking to her left she saw that Cloud thought she was trapped, a great wall of ice on one side and him coming towards her on the other. But he was wrong, as she came into striking distance Eve threw herself against the wall. The board beneath her slide up the ice. Time to fly... Eve held her pack close to her chest and flung herself into the air. Eve pulled her legs in and felt the shear weightlessness before crashing back down onto the snow. She threw the pack back over her shoulder, feeling the weight of the materia against her back. She could see the first turn coming up. Her mind raced as she tried to remember the way to go. Then it hit her as the turns came up, Eve swerved to the right at the last second.

The curve was so wide that Eve was able to lead out and feel the snow pass her by. The slope straightened, and then ended all together. Another moment of weightlessness and she was on the ground again, snow flying everywhere as she landed. She was confident that she had lost the pack of idiots, but then came that familiar ‘plop’ behind her. Eve turned around and saw that somehow they were able to keep up with her. Shit, shit, double shit! Great piles of snow appeared suddenly, Eve didn’t feel like jumping over them so she quickly swerved around them. Cloud yelled as he took one of the jumps with his sword in hand. He’s going to slice me in half! Eve couldn’t fight with her daggers while snowboarding, so she took the next jump and narrowly missed Cloud’s attack by a hair. In the distance she could see the next turn. Eve breathed in air until her lungs felt like they were going to bust and screamed as loud as she could, the noise coming out sounding like a great harpie [which sounds like a mix of feline and bird noises]. The sound echoed off the walls, barely hearing someone’s laughter behind her. She held her hand up and counted down until there was only her middle finger showing, which she held out for the people behind her to see. Then there was a rumbling throughout the snow covered valley. Eve sped up as the ice walls on the right side crumbed. As the turn came close, Eve spun around and face the horror struck faces as she disappeared behind a great wall of ice and snow, covering her exit for her attackers. She laughed loudly as she turned back around and continued downwards. She persisted to go down the mountain until the end came. She was going so fast that she vaulted into the sky, the board slipping off her feet and landing somewhere. Fearing that she may hit the ground face first, Eve swung her legs down and landed softly on her feet. Eve tried standing up, but blood rushed to her head and suddenly she was on her back staring up at the sky.

“That,” she breathed, “was the coolest thing I’ve ever done.” She slowly pushed herself up and looked around. “No wonder everyone skied or snowboarded, what a rush.”

Then came an earsplitting roar for behind her. Out of the trees came a huge two headed lizard, equally large teeth in their mouths. Music sooths the savage beast.... her thoughts rang as the monster got closer. Taking a nervous breathe, Eve began to sing the words to ‘Come Clean’ by some chick named Hilary Duff. The two-headed lizard stopped dead in its tracks and stared darkly at her. It sniffed at her, or at least one of the heads did, and looked at her with its beady black eyes. “Uhhhh... Schizo?” The monster looked at her with a sort of surprise for knowing its name. “You know the way through here, right?” It shook its heads in agreement. Two heads, one brain... “Can you take me up the Gaea Cliffs? If you do I promise you’ll get some nice human flesh. Not mine, but there’s six humans following me that are a lot bigger than me. What do you say?” She knew that Cloud would kill the beast, but she really couldn’t remember what way she was going or how to get there. The two heads grunted to each other for a moment. Then the great beast lowered itself to the ground so that Eve could ride on its back. Eve smiled and climbed the two-headed monster’s back.

***

The caves of Gaea Cliffs were beautiful to behold. Everything was ice that sparkled brightly, even without a lot of sunlight. To Eve’s surprise the monster had no trouble climbing up the shear cliff like it was nothing. But it was doing it for the human meat, nothing else. Even if the thing could only take one of Cloud’s friends down it’d be one less she had to deal with. The cave they were in was the one before the top and Eve had spied Cloud climbing up the Cliffside prior to walking in. They came upon a long line of black cape wearing people, the ones completely under Sephiroth's control. Eve jumped off Schizo and grabbed the very last one in the line.

“S-s-stop, m-m-must...” it stuttered.

“What’s that? You must become food? Sure thing!” She threw the person at Schizo who took it and started shaking it violently. Suddenly it dropped the dead follower and glared down the hall, drool coming from its mouths. Cloud and his friends stood at the end of the hall. Eve giggled insanely, “There you are Schizo! Payment for getting me up here, enjoy!” The two heads roared. Eve turned and walked out as the monster charged at them full of rage and hunger.

Outside was cold and bright, only a little of the cliff stood behind her now. Trying not to look down, she grabbed the first hand hold and pulled herself up. It was slow going, but she had enough time with the monster stalling Cloud. Finally she pulled herself over the top and stood up. The sight was amazing, Lifestream shooting out of the ground. Eve stared out at the landscape for a moment and jumped down onto the sloping crater. She didn’t even have to walk, she just slide down like she was boarding. At the bottom she looked around. There were monsters all around, but none of them moved to attack her. She snorted and continued on, hoping from one stone to the other. By the time Eve had gone through two of the three wind gates there finally came a sound of movement. She turned to see what it was, but she saw nothing. “You’ll find it quite hard to sneak up on me, Sephiroth.” She turned around and faced the silver haired man as he stood behind her.

“I’m hurt. But it seems you’ve been through a lot,” Sephiroth edged closer to Eve.

“Oh, I’ve had all kinds of fun. Chased down a mountain, nearly sliced in two.... and I wouldn’t come to much closer, they were right behind me a minute ago and the wind barrier can’t hold them back too long.” Sephiroth had moved himself inches from her, though she was unmoving.

“I could care less what anyone sees.” Sephiroth leaned close and kissed her passionately. He ran his hand through her fiery hair while he pulled her closer with the other. She wondered why he was touching her hair if he had gloves on, but the thought disappeared when he pulled away.

They’re behind me and they saw, didn’t they?

Yes, and most shocked.

I hate you, you did that on purpose.

Maybe.

Eve reached into her pack and pulled the large dark black and purple orb out and held it out to him. He took it silently from her, smiling all the while. You have my thanks for not switching side; I thought you’d truly do it after I got you into bed.

What, and let you kill me for turning? No I’d like to live a little while longer before you get to kill me.

You still think that?

There was silence for a moment before she answered, It never left my mind.

Sephiroth's face changed none, but Eve knew he didn’t like the answer. By now he should know she doesn’t lie to him because he could see into her mind. Sometimes I wish you would lie. Sephiroth pulled a materia from his cape. To her surprise it was red, a summon materia. Take this and bring forth a dragon that this planet has never seen before.

The whole conversation had only taken a few seconds but what Sephiroth said shock Eve so much that she asked, “Dragon?” out loud. Sephiroth didn’t answer, only smile as he turned away and started walking towards the center of the crater. He can’t mean.... how would he get a dragon from there? Eve sighed and spun around on her heel, stopping to face the fools behind her. “So, you’ve survived.... I was really hoping that the two-headed beast would kill one of you.” Cloud, Tifa and Cid stood before Eve, the shock on their faces almost made her laugh. “Geez, I’ve seen beached whales that look better than you people....” Eve held up the summon materia and continued, “Well... I’m not really in the mood right now for twenty questions.... so I’m gonna leave.” Then came a terrible roar, one worse than Schizo had with its two heads. It was the sound the Eve dreamed of her whole life. Cloud had no idea what she summoned when she held up the small gem, but he saw it up in the sky as it came towards them. A dragon. But not a dragon like Bahamut. It was one from her home world.

The great beast turned in the sky, a dragon of western mythology it was. It dove in the sky and landed with Eve between its massive legs. The size of the beast was scary to behold. The head alone was the size of a Hummer, she saw that when it lowered it down and growled. Smoke emitted from its nostrils. Eve could see the terror in their eyes, while she herself had never felt such joy. And Sephiroth had given it to her. She smiled and told herself to remember to thank him later as she walked out from beneath the dragon. “This it True Dragon, as you saw he was a gift for being.... a good girl. Now, if you want your questions answered all you need to do is find me, I shouldn’t be too hard to find with him.” None of them dared to move as Eve climbed up the dragon’s leg and sat down between one of the spines on its back. The dragon lifted its head up to the full height as Eve yelled, “True Dragon! Barbeque them!!!!!” The dragon threw it’s head back and breathed fire on the three of them. then the beast rose into the air with mighty wing beats. Suddenly they were like ants and she was up on the lip of the crater. Eve jumped down from the dragon and nearly started dancing. Instead she started laughing uncontrollably and sat down.

“What does one so fair find funny?” boomed a voice above Eve.

Eve looked up and saw the dragon’s head above her. “Oh god.... I’ve gone insane. The dragon is talking to me.”

“Oh course I am. All dragons from Earth can speak, and from what I can remember I was told you are from there too.”

“Told? Who told you?” she asked, but she knew who it was.

“The one with the silver hair, but you must forgive me for I have not told you my name. I am Asuel, but you may still call me True Dragon in battle,” the dragon bowed his head slightly.

“Eve, where did Sephiroth find you and how did you get here?”

“He found me in a cave of ice. I’m not sure how I got there or here, but all I know is he showed up and told me that I had two choices.”

“And they were?”

“To sit there and be killed by some man with spiky blonde hair or render part of my soul to a jewel so I could be called on in battle by you. He promised that you’d be fairer than all the maidens in the last hundred years, and he didn’t lie. Though women in the last hundred years have gone down hill and I don’t like living twigs,” Asuel jested. Eve laughed at the thought; women back home were crazy over being thin. “Now, what are we waiting for?”

“For a huge burst of light coming from the middle. Then.... then I’d like to go somewhere.... Asian.” Suddenly light shot up as Meteor was summoned and the Weapons awoke. The dragon laid his head on the ground so that Eve could sit between the two horns that sprouted from his head. Never go looking for trouble, she thought as the dragon soared through the sky, because trouble will always coming looking for you....

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Yeah! The end of chapter seven! See, to make everything better I gave Eve a dragon, so now everyone’s happy! And as always I balance out! Though, I think someone dies next chapter.... but I can’t remember who. Read and find out!