What Friends are For

'What Friends are For' Chapter 15: Rescue Me
In which bad things happen. [WAFF, H/C, Violence, Language, Yaoi]

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Two months later, things had mostly settled down. We'd found a routine; it was different from before, but comfortable in its familiarity. Everything was better than I'd ever expected, and considering I was pretty damn content before, that was really saying something.

Looking back, I could see how quickly things had moved, in such a short time. It amazed me, even after getting used to our relationship. We still had that 'newlywed' thing going on, but like I said, we'd been living together long enough that not much had changed.

I liked that.

So, it was our two month anniversary, and Vince and I were celebrating. Yeah, corny, I know - but, hell, why not? We were alive, we were together. Good enough, if you ask me. We'd gone back to the same plateau, and were having ourselves a little lunch - just the two of us. We were laughing about something - I can't remember what, some silly joke one of us told, probably. I couldn't remember every being so relaxed and... well.. happy. If that wasn't like a fuckin' fairy tale, I don't know what is.

I reached over and cupped my hand behind Vince's neck, and drew him over to stop both our laughter with a kiss; he made a surprised sound, and slipped his arm around my waist. It was the left one, and the lack of glove or gauntlet made me smile against his lips. I opened my eyes in time to see his own light up with a grin, and then he was pushing me back, moving to straddle my waist even as my back hit the blanket-covered grass beneath me. Somehow, he never let the kiss break, using my startlement to flick the tip of his tongue past my lips.

I slipped my arms around him, hands easing under his shirt to let my fingertips ghost over the skin of his back. It was warmed by the sun thanks to the black he still wore, the scars barely breaking the smoothness, somehow making it even better. Our hands moved in different directions then, his upward to tangle his fingers in my still-short hair, mine drifting under the waistband of his pants to cup his rear. We both tugged at the same time; his grip tilted my head back, baring my throat to him to bite and lick, growling together. Mine pulled at him, grinding us together slowly to encourage the arousal we could both feel growing between us.

I groaned, and he growled again. My eyes closed, but I could still see redness from the sunlight on my eyelids, and sparks from the blunted pleasure that came from my covered erection rubbing against his. He moved over me with a sensuous slowness that made me shiver, and always amazed me when I experienced it; Vince moved so fluidly, like a feline, or a snake - the single most erotic person I'd ever met, hands down. I felt like a damn teenager, about to come with just a bit of friction, so I tightened my hold, this time to try and get him to be still for a minute.

He growled again, and I could swear I felt it vibrate from head to toe, making me arch into him with a groan. "Fuck, Vince..."

"Not quite, manling," I heard murmured above me in a far too familiar voice. My eyes snapped open, and I literally froze in shock - the cold radiated from my chest, numbing my limbs. The demon's face was inches from my own; I could smell its rancid breath, and had its eerie, glowing golden eyes not kept mine, I would've been staring at those horribly sharp teeth that were way too close to my throat to be comfortable. It wasn't until then that I realized it was heavier than Vince had been - and my hands were still on its ass.

I yelped, and let my arms fall to the blanket, but couldn't quite bring myself to scramble away. It was as if everything but my pounding heart had just ceased working. And then, Chaos did something that made even that want to stop in terror - it grinned

"My apologies, manling, but this was the only way I could reach thee." It paused, and glanced around; the smirk it wore was disturbingly fitting. "I can see why thou wouldst dream of such a thing; mine Other found this to be a pleasant occasion as well. Little surprise thou art in agreement."

I just stared, mind caught in a panic; I couldn't figure out how the hell Vince had shifted into Chaos so quickly, without me noticing. And then, its words managed to penetrate my muddled brain. I glared up at it. "What the hell d'ya mean, 'dream'? Ya mean I'm dreaming this? Feels pretty fuckin' real to me."

It snorted, and shook its head, staring down at me unblinkingly. "Of course thou art. Doest thou truly believe mine Other would allow me to interrupt such intimacy? Nor would I, had this not been the direst of need. Mine other and I, we need thine assistance." The demon sat back, then stood, and held his hand out to help me up. I stared at the talons for a moment, then shrugged, and accepted the offer.

When we were both standing, I realized we weren't on the plateau anymore - we were in the clearing in the forest where Chaos hunted. The lake was a few feet away, and about a quarter of the way around, I could see something gold glinting from the corner of my eye.

I took a few steps in that direction, before I realized what it was. I felt that cold fear inside again, this time for someone else - my Vince. His gauntlet was there, laying in the grass, surrounded with something that looked disturbingly like blood. I looked at the demon, and knew the worry was all over my face.

"Aye, manling," it said quietly. "Mine other is alive, but has been taken. They knew of his habits, of the hunt; they knew to drug him before the change, when he was alone. Doest thou remember?"

And I did. Our impromptu anniversary was almost three weeks ago; that dream was more a memory, except the whole interruption part. Right then, I was aboard the Highwind, in bed alone. We'd let Vince out to go hunting solo, since I had a couple minor repairs to get done, and decided to catch some shuteye instead of waiting up for him. "Oh, shit, Vince," I whispered.

"They met him when he landed, before he caught his balance," Chaos murmured, stepping over to stare down at the metal glove. "He did not go easily, but the drugs prevented the change. He was... overwhelmed. They knew, manling, how to remove the claw. They thought him less dangerous without it." It paused again, waiting while I moved to stand beside it. Up close, the sense of dread was greater; the sight of Vincent's gauntlet in all that red was the most horrible thing I'd ever seen. "They were foolish, however, and defeated themselves. Without it, mine Other cannot summon me, and it is for the purpose of gaining control of me that he was captured."

"Where is he, Chaos?" I asked finally, glancing over at the demon.

"The place called Junon, where land, sea, and air meet," it replied. "They have taken him into the bowels of the city, where the one named Hojo kept records of his work. They wish to continue where he left off. What better place to start than with his favorite experiment?"

Oh fuck.

"Shit. I'll need to get help on this one. Will your damn gauntlet be okay where it is? I don't wanna waste time goin' to fetch it if I don't gotta. Unless..." I paused, wondering if that last thought was worth voicing. "Unless you think I'd be able to use it?

"It will be fine where it lies, manling," Chaos replied. "It would be best left there until mine Other is safe; thine limbs are larger than his, and the sealing mechanism would crush thine arm to a pulp shouldst thou try to wear it." Already it - and everything around us - was starting to fade; I was waking up.

"A'right," I sighed. "And when this is over, you an' me are gonna have a little talk."

I waited until the demon smiled, and nodded, then I let go and fell into wakefulness.

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I dressed as quickly as I could, and headed up to the cockpit, thinking of where to go. I didn't wanna waste time heading to Edge; Cloud and Tifa were the only ones there. Everyone else had scattered. My best bet was to head to Healin... To the Turks.

Time to call in that debt.

I called Cloud and Tifa to let them know what was going on. They weren't happy, but could understand my reasoning, and said they'd pass on the news to the others. I'd already be wasting time going to fetch the Turks, but there was no way I could storm the place on my own, and the Highwind was crewed by mechanics, not fighters.

Tseng was the one I caught on the phone. When I told him what I needed, he agreed instantly. I asked what he'd tell his boss - 'It doesn't matter,' he said. 'Once a Turk, always a Turk, and we take care of our own.'

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The four were ready when I got there, dressed in their suit / uniform, armed to the teeth and looking as grim as I felt. Rufus was there too, sitting in his wheelchair and shrouded up in white, with a couple of Healin's staff standing behind him. I wasn't too surprised to see him there; of course he'd want to see his four best employees off. What did surprise me were the two dozen armed and armored men standing nearby. Apparently, not all of the people at Healin were devoted only to medicine. Found out later that a lot of 'em were former SOLDIER; needless to say, I was damn glad to have 'em all along.

"I trust you will take good care of my men, Mister Highwind?" Rufus said, more than asked; even after all that'd happened, his voice still hadn't lost that autority.

"'Course," I replied, and shrugged. "Hope they'll take care of me, too."

"Of course," he echoed. His lips - all I could see of his face - quirked into a sombre smile. "Good luck to you all."

I nodded my thanks, and herded everyone onto my ship.

Next stop: Junon.

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Time wasn't the only reason to go for the Turks and ShinRa's help, instead of AVALANCHE. None of my old crew really KNEW Junon; none of us had been from there. It had, however, been one of ShinRa's main bases, especially in the fortress complex that extended underground. In the time that it'd taken me to fly from Vince's island to Healin, one of them had dug up the blueprints for the tunnels. With Chaos' help and the Turks' knowledge, we were able to pinpoint the general area where Vincent was being kept.

Fifteen minutes before our arrival, I left them all in the dining-hall-turned-war-room to go get ready. I grabbed my trusty Gospel, and the equipment I'd taken on that first hunt with Chaos, as well as every one since then. 'This is just another hunt,' I thought to myself. 'Except the prey is more dangerous... and there's a prize at the end. At lest I'll have backup.'

I took a moment to thumb on the intercom, told Junior to let me know when we were about to land, then went and sat on the bed. My head fell forward; I caught it in my hands, and had to prop my elbows on my knees to hold it up. It was so damn hard not to fall into depression and worry.

"How's he doing, Chaos?" I asked softly of the demon. Already, hours had passed - hours that left Vincent in the hands of a bunch of bastard scientists. I was really starting to hate scientists and doctors.

"Not well, manling," came the reply, echoing inside my head. "Thy mate... he despairs. Those who have taken him are most persistent. They do not know why he does not summon me, though they are quite... enthusiastic... in encouraging him to do so."

Forcing the change... Vince only changed when he hit his Limit Break, and that only happened with lots and lots of damage. The bastards were torturing my husband.

My Vincent.

"I'll fucking kill them all," I growled, clenching my hand around the Gospel's shaft so hard I felt my joints creak. I felt the demon's rumbling agreement, and stood. My free hand went to my throat, where the necklace Vince had given me rested; the weight of the materia was a warm comfort. "Tell 'im we're on our way. I won't let him stay there any longer than I gotta."

"I cannot, manling." It sounded apologetic, and if it were standing in front of me, I would've punched it for denying Vince that small comfort - demon, or no. "I am sorry. If he were to sense me within him, he would attempt to summon me out of sheer reflex, and it would drive him mad when he failed." It hesitated before speaking again. "It is only the lack of mine presence that is keeping mine Other sane - and his surety that thou will come to help him soon."

By the time Junior's voice announced our arrival in Junon, I was already at the bay doors, ready to disembark.

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Other than the brief stint as a prisoner during the Meteor thing, I hadn't been back to Junon since I was practically a kid. It held the only real airport; it's where my dad designed and worked on all of ShinRa's flying machines - the latter ones with my help, once I was old enough to work around the heavy machinery. A lot had changed in the past decade, but a lot was still the same. Still, I was glad to have ShinRa's lackeys along. A couple of the former SOLDIER had been stationed there; Tseng put them in charge of guiding everyone, and making sure nobody got lost in that damn labyrinth.

We'd landed a bit away from the city, after flying low to the ground. The bastards who took Vince knew too damn much; they'd definitely be watching the sky, and the landing pad, for the Highwind's arrival. The resident monsters left us alone; not even they were mad enough to mess with such a large group of humans. That meant we had to go in the back way, taking the elevator that opened onto Lower Junon.

It was thrilling to move as a group again. Hunting with the purple guy in a forest was one thing; moving with a well-trained near-army through the tunnels of a military complex was another. It'd been abandoned a short while after the Weapon's attack; there was just too damn much damage. It was easier to just move everyone to Edge or one of the other towns than to rebuild and repair. Whoever had moved in knew the tunnels, but not as well as my guys, and there weren't many of 'the other team.' A few we had to kill outright, but most were subdued and taken prisoner; I told Tseng I'd let him and his guys take care of 'em after we were done.

It's a good thing there were so few of the bastards. We found them in groups of two and three, occasionally a scant few more, though the frequency increased the closer we got to the center. I didn't know how long we'd been moving, but we were damn close to our goal before someone finally managed to hit the alarm.

It'd be nice to be dramatic, and say enemy troops poured out of the doors, and there was an intense firefight between our men and theirs... but there wasn't. Whoever these people were, most weren't fighters. To them, the alarm meant 'run and hide,' which made it a bit tougher in a way; we had to search each room we passed to make sure we caught them all. We were ambushed all of four times, but between the reflexes of my backup and my Restore, our damage was superficial.

Whoever built the core of that place had made Hojo's lab soundproof; the twisted fucks doing the dirty work didn't even know there was an emergency. They were a bit surprised when a flood of guys with lots of weapons flooded into the room, and said weapons were all pointed at them.

I didn't care; I only had eyes for the man on the surgical table. My vince, laid out like some autopsy victim, and looking just about as cut up. I barely heard the Turks and SOLDIER guys taking the 'doctors' captive, and someone else calling Junior to have the Highwind parked on the landing strip up above. There was a snarling demon inside my mind; it fed my rage, and I fed its own. We both snarled, and I could feel it fighting to break free - but without the gauntlet, it was stuck. Lucky for those twisted fuckers that called themselves doctors, otherwise they'd've ended up as a pretty red splatter over every surface of that godforsaken room.

Ignoring everything else, I moved to the table, and undid all the restraints. Vince just laid there, looking pale as death; if it wasn't for the slow, barely-visible movement of his chest as he breathed, I would've thought he was gone. I hit him with the Curaga, and again when that didn't fix everything. It's a good thing he was both unconscious and so damn resilient; using magic to fix that much damage tended to cause shock.

I motioned to the Turks, and Rude came forward to take the Gospel from me. Carefully, I wrapped Vince in a sheet and scooped him up to cradle him close; the big Turk helped me arrange Vince so he was dangling as little as possible. "I'm headin' back, gotta take care of him," I said quietly. My head jerked in the direction of the prisoners. "Do what ya want with 'em... But whatever ya do, make sure it fuckin' hurts."

He just nodded, and handed my spear to one of the guys who knew Junon's tunnels. That one led me out, with a half dozen others following behind, just in case. We were all silent, though I could hear the demon grumbling and growling in the back of my mind, as if just out of hearing. Of course, the trip out took less time than in, and we soon reached the Highwind. I left the SOLDIER guys at the boarding door, and headed for our cabin, where I laid Vince on the bed.

He was such a mess. It hurt just looking at him, all covered in blood. They'd apparently been making sure to keep him mostly clean, probably to see what they were doing under his skin, but the short time between getting them away from Vince and healing him up let the blood flow unstopped. I called over the intercom for one of the crew to bring me a bowl and a lot of towels; they were delivered in less than two minutes.

The cleaning took longer, and several bowls of warm water; I was very glad I designed an in-suite bathroom. Eventually I got Vince as clean as I could without dragging him into the shower. The towels were bundled into the sheet, and I threw the whole mass out the door and into the hallway. Another call on the intercom had the bundle on its way to the incinerator.

With a sigh, I decided it'd be best to get myself cleaned up, and stepped in for a quick shower. The door was left open, just in case, but the precaution was unnecessary; Vince never so much as twitched. I was as careful as I could be in shifting the blankets from under him, then crawled next to his motionless body. I covered us both and laid my head on his chest. The sound of Vincent's heartbeat was profoundly reassuring. I let it, and the steady motion of his chest, calm me into sleep.

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I don't know how long I slept. It was dark, so it had to have been night; I was out for several hours, at least. At first, I thought Vince still hadn't changed, but I was wrong; his arm was wrapped around me where I laid at his side. Couldn't help but smile a bit at that. Reluctantly, I managed to get out of bed, and took care of a bit of necessary business in the bathroom. There was a dim lamp over the table nearest the cabin door; I turned it on, to have enough light to dress by.

Only managed to slip into a pair of pants and one of my cleaner work shirts before I was back at Vince's side, sitting carefully on the edge of the bed. It was like that first time I had watched him sleep, in a way, yet different. Before, he was relaxed, and sometimes I even managed to catch a smile; this time, though, his features were creased in agitation. I felt my own facial muscles aching to draw together in the same expression, but instead sighed, and rubbed between his brows with the pad of my thumb.

"I do not need to tell thee mine Other's sleep is troubled," the demon murmured inside my skull.

"Nah," I whispered. "I can tell. Any idea when he'll wake up?"

"I am afraid not, manling. He is caught within memories and nightmares. His mind had not yet fully healed from Hojo's tender care; I fear the damage this... attack... has done to him."


That surprised me. Not the reasoning about Vince's mind, but the concern I could hear in Chaos' mental voice. "Y'know, I never would've thought
I'd hear you sounding so..." I stopped, not quite sure of the right word. "...Human, I guess."

"Shh, manling. Keep it a secret; there is a reputation I must maintain."

That made me snort a laugh. "Right. I'll do my best to protect your image of a big, vicious, heartless monster."


"I thank thee, manling. That would be most acceptable." I could hear the amusement in his tone, and just rolled my eyes.

"Yeah. Guess we're rubbing off on you, huh?" I sighed. "So... How the hell can you talk to me? I know for damn sure that sick bastard never touched me."

Chaos was quiet a moment, and I gave it a nudge - somehow. "I am... not entirely sure, manling. It may be little more than how close mine Other is with thee - perhaps it is I that is rubbing off on thee, as well."

That was food for thought. With a sigh, I stood, and leaned to kiss Vince's forehead. Much as I'd've liked to stay until he woke up, there were some things I needed to get done. I took the time to scribble a note and left it on the nightstand, propped up so that I'd hopefully be the first thing Vince saw when he woke.

A last look back at the man sleeping on my bed, and I left the room - very reluctantly.