"Get that damned dragon!"
"No friggin' way! I'm not getting fried!"
The sound of screams. Pounding footfalls on stone. A whoosh of
scalding air. Fewer screams and footfalls. A dragon whelp
standing in the cave, facing several members of SOLDIER. Its
mouth opens, and the scalding hot, pungent air--
McCaila screamed and bolted upright out of the dream. Her
shriek alerted Sephiroth, who'd been sound asleep. "McCaila?
What is wrong?"
She covered her face with her hands. She sook head head, then
replied, "Nothing, General. It was just a dream." Her
hands muffled the words. Oh, Gods!! Why do I keep seeing that?
Sephiroth, not quite knowing what to say, simply replied, "All
right." McCaila uncovered her face and gave him a tremulous
smile. He took it to mean that she would be fine, and lay back
down in the tent. She sat for a few moments, until she heard
Sephiroth's breathing even into slumber. Then she slipped
silently out of the tent and stood a moment, looking at the stars,
thinking about what was going on.
McCaila was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't hear the
soft growling until the wolf was upon her. It snarled, and she
jerked her head to see where the sound was coming from. McCaila
gasped, standing rooted to the spot in fear. Dear Gods,
General Sephiroth, she thought wildly, please help me.
The wolf leaped at her, and she screamed in terror.
Her scream jolted Sephiroth out of his sleep again. Another
nightmare? That is certainly not normal, he thought. He
looked around the tent. McCaila was nowhere to be seen. Then he
heard the growling. He scrambled out of the tent, unsheathing his
weapon and flinging the scabbard aside. The scene before him
would have frozen him in his tracks if he'd not been trained to
deal with similar emergencies. He didn't think, simply acted. In
the time it took for McCaila to call out to him, he'd already
leapt at the wolf, slicing it neatly with the Masamune.
When the wolf lay dead on the ground, Sephiroth picked McCaila up
from where the wolf had knocked her down. She was shaking with
panic, but seemed to be otherwise unhurt. "Are you all right?"
he inquired, emerald-green eyes sparkling with their exquisite
Mako colouring.
She threw her arms around his shoulders, holding him tightly, her
body trembling. Sephiroth started a moment, surprised by her
volatile reaction. He realized that she was sobbing in terror and
relief, and for some reason, felt an urge to return her embrace.
The feeling struck him as alien and somewhat frightening. She
raised her head, and he saw tears streaming down her face. She
hugged him again, and he heard her whisper, "Thank you . . .
General Sephiroth. You saved my life."
Feeling her tears on his shoulder as she held him made his
heartbeat race all over again. I feel so strange. Is this
normal?
McCaila, meanwhile, was puzzling over her own strange feelings. He
makes me feel so . . . odd. But I feel safe with him. Why would I
feel that way?
Sephiroth set her down. "I suggest you get some sleep,"
he instructed. "Tomorrow we will set off for Midgar."
"Where's Midgar?" McCaila asked.
"Midgar is . . . very far away," he said, settling on a
vague response, as he figured that she probably wouldn't know
anyway. "I will stop somewhere along the way and purchase
some clothing for you. And perhaps a weapon. You may need it."
McCaila was about to speak again, when another wolf, probably the
mate of the first, pounced on Sephiroth from behind, knocking his
weapon away from his hands and out of his reach. She gasped in
horror as he struggled with the wild animal with only his hands
and wits to aid him. That wolf is going to tear him apart if
I don't do something. I have to help him, she thought, but
how?
The wolf took a firm grip on Sephiroth's arm, and McCaila saw him
grit his teeth with the pain. He needs help now! No
time to worry about the repercussions! McCaila let Sephiroth's
coat drop to the ground, gathered her energy, and released it
slowly, feeling its familiar warmth flow through her body as it
changed her. When next Sephiroth was able to look, there stood
the dragon that he'd supposedly killed in the mine. The dragon
reared up and let out a scorching blast of air. Sephiroth closed
his eyes, thinking his end had come.
But when he opened them, the wolf was gone, a charred skeleton at
his side all that remained of the beast. He rolled forward,
taking up his weapon and facing the dragon. Perhaps dragons
actually can fly with those inept-looking wings that all seem to
have. That is the only way it could have followed us out of the
mine without my knowledge. . . but wait. Where is McCaila?
He looked and saw his coat lying on the ground beside the dragon
and naturally assumed the worst. He felt sad at the loss of the
gentle girl. Oh, Gods. McCaila. His sadness turned to
anger. "You . . ." he growled at the dragon, which had
its head down and did not move to avoid or attack him.
As he ran towards the beast, he watched as its form blurred, then
disappeared. He stopped, dumbfounded, as the dragon reappeared as
McCaila. She fell to her knees, exhausted and ashamed, not
looking at his face.
"McCaila," Sephiroth inquired quietly, "you are .
. . that beast? You were the dragon in the mine? You killed all
those miners and the fighters from . . . ."
He never got to finish, because she looked up, fire in her ice-blue
eyes, and blurted, "Yes, I am! I'm sorry! I don't have
complete control over myself in that form! That's why I'm
exhaused now! It takes all I've got just to retain control of my
own petty powers!" She stopped and hung her head. More
quietly, she continued, "That's why you didn't find any more
dragons in the mine. I . . . killed my people."
"You . . . what?" Sephiroth whispered, the shock of
what she'd just said hitting him full force. "How?"
She faltered for a moment. Should I tell him? Yes, she
decided, he deserves to know. "Well, the Guardians,
loyal servants of the reputed goddess Myria, tried to destroy my
race, the Brood. Under her orders, of course. They were going to
kill us all. i'd been entrusted by our Elder, Jono, with the
power of 'Infinity,' and . . ."
"'Infinity'?" Sephiroth questioned, wrapping the coat
around her again.
"It unleashes the full power of the Brood." When he
nodded his understanding, she went on, "I called on it and
attained human form. That's called 'Accession.' Normally, we don't
'Accede' unless our dragon forms are killed . . ."
"Which explains why I found you nude in the mine,"
Sephiroth broke in.
"Yes, that's right," McCaila replied, "Only
normally, we don't have the same injuries in human form that
force us to change forms. Anyway, when I called 'Infinity,' I 'Acceded.'
I never once thought about what that might mean for me.
"Kaiser is the most powerful dragon in the world. He can be
summoned using the power of 'Infinity,' but he's hard to control."
She hung her head. "I . . . summoned Kaiser, and I couldn't
control his power. A couple of the Guardians didn't get out,
either, so I guess it's not all bad. Kaiser breathes explosive
fire, and it hit the ground like a bomb. Everyone died . . . ."
"Except you?" Sephiroth queried. "How did you
manage to survive?"
"Kaiser took his energy from me, and I ended up fused within
his energy, and that protected me from the fire."
After all that had happened on the trip, especially after finding
out that McCaila was the dragon, he did not doubt her story. Only
yesterday, had someone told me the story she just did, I would
have been impugning his sanity, he thought humorously. He
nodded. "Then President Shin-Ra must know about this so that
. . . ."
"No!" McCaila protested. "You can't tell them
about me. They'll kill me!"
Sephiroth was surprised by her explosive protest. "But the
mines must be sealed."
"Why? There are no more Brood. I am the last one. Please, I
beg you, don't let anyone know about this," she entreated,
her ice-blue eyes burning into him, making him feel yet again as
if she could see his soul.
Sephiroth had to look away. He began, "It is my duty to . .
."
McCaila cut him off, "Duty?! It's your duty to condemn me to
either die or live in a test tube my entire life?! You know that's
what will happen! If they don't kill me, they'll make me wish I
was dead, keeping me locked in a glass bubble while 'studying' me!
I don't want to go through that again."
What do you mean, 'again'?" Sephiroth asked suspiciously.
She turned her back towards him. "More than fifty of your
years ago, we Brood were hated and feared. We were driven to
those abandoned cave by humans, who hated us because of our
powers. Then they got the stupid idea that they could gain our
powers someway. They began a series of cruel, inhumane
experiments on some of my people to try to find the cause of our
powers? Why couldn't they believe it was birthright?" She
turned back around to face him. "Men are crueller now than
they ever were. I saw it in the eyes of those fighters. Please,"
she entreated again, "you can't let them know. I'm not a
threat to President Shin-Ra."
Sephiroth considered her point of view. He wasn't sure men were
crueler than they used to be. Maybe they were. He also considered
that living in a test tube would be a horrible way for McCaila to
live. Sephiroth realized that, though he was honor-bound to serve
Shin-Ra, the results of anyone other than the two of them knowing
of the situation would be terrible. For some reason, he felt that
he sympathized with her, probably because he'd discovered in
early childhood that people could be extraordinarily cruel.
"I suppose you are right, McCaila. All right, then, I will
not tell them about you."
She walked to him and hugged him, "Thank you again, General."
Ultimately catching the hang of it, he hugged her back, feeling
better, apparently because she was pressed against him. He wasn't
sure why that would cause such a reaction in him, but he finally
realized that she was the reason his heartbeat had been running
away with him lately, and that it had nothing to do with
exhaustion. He also took notice of other odd things going on with
his body that her closeness triggered. No time to worry about
them now, he thought. We will deal with them in Midgar.
she pulled away. "I guess we should get some sleep if you
intend to take us to this 'Midgar' place." McCaila stifled a
yawn. "I'm a little tired after tonight's ordeal anyway."
Sephiroth nodded. "As am I." He took her arm, looked
her in the face, and said, "Thank you . . . for stopping
that wolf."
McCaila smiled at him. "I was just returning the favor.
After all, you saved my life. Twice. I couldn't let you die.
Besides, I don't want to be lost out here by myself. You know the
way; I don't." She giggled.
One corner of his mouth turned up in a small smile. "Yes, I
understand." He motioned towards the tent. "We should
both get some sleep now. It will be better for us when we begin
to travel if we are fully rested."
McCaila walked toward the tent. "Yes, you're right."
She stopped in front of him. "Do you mind if I leave off the
'General' from your name. You know, just call you by your first
name? Only while we're travelling, of course. When we get to any
town, I'll call you General."
He thought a moment. "Yes, I suppose that will be all right,"
he replied.
"Thank you . . . Sephiroth," she said. She smiled a shy
smile, then got into the tent. He entered after she did, and they
both lay down as they had before the wolf's interruption. McCaila
curled closer to him, and placed one arm around his waist. He
raised an eyebrow and and she said in reply to the gesture,
"You don't mind, do you? I can move my arm if you want."
He regarded her with interest for a moment, considering her
question. Did he want her to move away from him? No, he realized
with some surprise, he wanted to be near her. "You may stay
where you are," he finally replied. To emphasize his words,
he imitated her gesture, hesitantly placing one of his own arms
around her waist. She smiled, then curled closer, for warmth, she
told herself. But she knew the real reason why. She wanted to be
near him. Even though he did strange things to her pulse and made
her legs feel like putty, she wanted to be close to him.
Sephiroth allowed her to scoot closer, realizing that, again, his
heart began racing. He attempted to alayze his feelings,
something he had never been good at. "Sephiroth?"
McCaila queried, looking up at him from her lesser height, "is
something the matter?" She'd noticed his tenseness. "If
you want me to move . . ."
He shook his head. "No, that is not what is wrong. I am
still trying to think of some way to account for your presence,"
he replied. Actually, he was, but his mind was only half on it.
To show that he spoke the truth, he tightened his grip on her
waist. She smiled, then laid her head back down. "Forgive me
if I seem . . . tense. I am not used to this sort of contact. No
one else has the courage to try," he concluded.
"It does take a little getting used to," she replied,
giggling. "As a matter of fact, I think you already have."
she looked at the way his arm encircled her waist, and giggled
again. He began to remove his arm, thinking that he might have
offended her, and she took hold of his wrist to prevent any
movement.
"No, no, that's all right. I don't mind that." McCaila
leaned up a little bit and brushed a chaste kiss on his lips. He
started, and she wondered where he'd been living, never to have
been kissed by a girl before. Slightly embarrassed by what she'd
done, she laid her head back down. I shouldn't have done that.
He was surprised by it. I hope he doesn't dislike me now.
She needn't have worried. Sephiroth took his arm from around her
waist and raised her face to look at him. He must have noticed
her reddening skin, for he replied, "There is nothing for
you to be embarrassed about. I am the one who should be
embarrassed. I should not have reacted the way I did." He
gingerly brushed his lips against hers, emulating her earlier
gesture, lingering moment as she softly returned the caress. When
the kiss ended, they were both blushing. McCaila giggled. Still a
little red in the face, Sephiroth said, "Midgar is a long
way from here, and we will start our journey in the morning."
McCaila nodded. "All right. I'll try not to distract you too
much," she replied wryly. Her joke was lost on Sephiroth for
a moment. Then he understood. The corners of his mouth turned up
in a small smile, and he shook his head.
"Good night, McCaila," he said, not knowing what else
to say.
"Good night, Sephiroth," she replied, snuggling against
him.
Sephiroth listened to her breathing in sleep and realized that
the human touch wasn't as frightening as he had originally
thought. He always dreaded having to be near people, but he
realized that he wasn't repulsed by her. True, she was not truly,
human, she was Brood, but still . . . .
He puzzled over his feelings again as she squirmed, trying to get
closer to his warmth. He pulled her closer with the arm he
realised was still around her waist. she smiled in her sleep.
After a moment, he let his guard down and and closed his eyes to
get the sleep that he knew they both needed. Midgar would be
later. Right now, he would do as others did and enjoy another's
company with no thought of what the next day would bring. So,
this is what people like so much about the company of others,
he thought as he drifted off to sleep. I quite see why it is
such a popular pasttime.
Fin
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