"We be right on top of him, Master Rufus!" Heidegger yelled. "We caught the bastard. You might want to get a sight of this, though!"
"What of?" Rufus yelled back from the other end of the ship.
"There be a one after his head after all!" Heidegger yelled.
"Which one? Hojo or the one with the sword?" Scarlet asked.
"Both. I wonder who they are," Heidegger said. "Looks like someone be taking his provisions. Who would try and rob poor Erik? Not a very expensive boat at that."
"What was so important—huh, who’s chasing Erik around the deck?"
"I have no idea," Heidegger answered.
"Well, we shall have to thank him for such a show," Rufus said. "Before we hang him for murder of a Shinra man, of course"
"He may save us the use of a gallows," Scarlet commented. "Or Erik might if he stops running."
"What of the pirates?"
"Leave them if they flee," Rufus said. "If they resist in any way, kill them. In the meantime, let us wait until the chase ends, I find it quite amusing. Tseng! Bring your people over here and have a look!"
"Yes?" Tseng asked.
"See that man after Erik?" Rufus asked, not noticing Tseng’s mouth drop open and his eyes going wide. "Kill him if he wins this chase. If he fails, kill Erik as I told you before."
"No," Tseng answered.
"What?" Rufus exclaimed.
Scarlet and Heidegger were equally astonished, but not enough to distract them from Rufus’s anger and they backed away.
"I hired you! I gave you gold! Up front! I paid you! I gave you liquor and clean clothes! I offered to have you educated! How can you refuse an order?"
"No gold in the world would get me to kill that man," Tseng answered. "Nor could it make any of my brethren kill him. He be Black Valentine, sacred to us, almost."
"Black Valentine?" Scarlet asked. "He died twenty years ago."
"We shall not kill his ghost or his living body," Tseng said. "Erik, is another matter entirely."
"No!" Rufus said. "I shall deal with him myself! You and your people are to stay below deck for the rest of the journey! You shall not enjoy a kill if you refuse me when I request one, you insolent jackal pride! Get the out of my bloody sight!"
"I recommend you not treat him roughly, Rufus. That is all else I can say on the matter."
…………………………………………………………………………………………….
Reeve had fled somewhere, smarter than he appeared. Erik would not have cared if he were still on the beam. He untied the and let the sail crash down in front of Vincent as ran after him like a rabid wolf, desperate for a victim to bite.
When it had finished falling, there was no one there.
Erik looked behind him. The ship was still empty.
Erik tentatively walked forward, hearing nothing but Yuffie yelling about looting his stores. He decided to deal with her personally, but later.
Erik looked down, noticing something moving under the sail and the beams. At first he was taken aback, but then he noticed it was a harmless piece of leather. Upon closer inspection it appeared to be Vincent’s left glove and he was not stupid enough to assume it had fallen by accident.
Events seemed to happen in the reverse of what should have happened. Erik swore something shot through his chest before he heard Vincent land behind him and only afterwards did he heard the rope slide from the top of the mast. Yuffie was yelling and pointing, having dropped a jar that shattered all over the deck, when it was all over.
"The last time I fell from a mast towards you I saved your life, remember that," Vincent said, pushing what had gone through Erik forward slightly.
Five sharp points hit Erik’s chest above his heart and suddenly Erik was truly terrified, nothing before compared to it. He did not need to look down. He knew what they were. They were fingers, bones, covered in gold and his own doing.
"I could squeeze right now. Just a few inches and you would be irrevocably dead," Vincent said, pushing his fingers in just enough to draw blood. "But that is not what I want and you know it."
Vincent withdrew his arm and tossed his sword away. Even with his wound, Erik was just as quick on his feet, though not as nimble with the downed sail wrapping around his legs.
He fell on the deck and kept fleeing away, crawling backwards until he met with a wall, and then tried to crawl up it all the while watching Vincent as he approached.
On their struggles and their chase, Vincent’s bandana had come undone and fluttered loosely in the wind with his hair, slipping a bit more each time the breeze moved it. As Vincent stopped in front of Erik, the bandana lost it’s grip and flew off, free in the wind to wave and twist as it pleased, revealing another open slice across his forehead, black stitches under his hair holding it closed.
"As you said, it is the heart that makes one such as us dead," Vincent said, aiming his pistol. "But I want you to live." Vincent pulled the trigger, splattering across the wall and spraying himself with bits of gunk that used to be Erik’s head. "Bastard."
Vincent turned away, ignoring the stares from the crew. He took a few steps forward, wiping thicker parts off his sleeve, when something grabbed his ankle and his face met with the wooden boards of the deck, the sound and surprise drowning out Yuffie’s cries.
He tried to roll over, but the something else held him down and grabbed his leg. He turned to look behind him. Erik, though headless, was crawling up his legs, throwing out an arm and grabbing about until it found his leg and pulled himself along Vincent’s body.
Vincent screamed and tried to kick the thing away, but it was undaunted and kept crawling.
"Back onna ship!" Yuffie yelled at him. "Shinra--!"
She was cut off by Barret picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. "No time. We best leave him to get out of this mess on his own or we’re all dead. I don’t have any doubts in him."
He jumped aboard and Nanaki went with them, leaving Vincent to wrestle with the corpse as it crawled over him towards his neck while dripping blood and gristle on him.
Vincent could hear heavy boots on the deck, several sets, but paid them no attention. He could hear people screaming in different languages and still didn’t care.
Vincent threw himself to the side and sent he and his headless attacker rolling. Erik was still unaffected and grabbed Vincent’s neck.
As determined as the thing was, it was truly blind and had no knowledge or sight of what Vincent intended until too late. Vincent grabbed the chain to the anchor and wrapped it around the thing, which refused to release his neck.
Vincent reached behind himself and found his sword, and awkwardly slashed off the thing’s wrists, then shoved it over the railing. He grabbed the anchor and shoved it overboard as well. The chain shot into the sea, taking Erik with it.
Vincent dashed across the deck to the room with the smashed door, ignoring the heavy sets of footsteps behind him.
He dove under the desk; frantically scrambling for the key he had seen Erik drop, exclaiming in joy and nearly hitting his head on the underside when he found it.
A heavy boot toe hit his head as he reached to the drawer, then landed atop his hand as the key fell out of it.
"Very good show, my man," the man said.
Vincent looked up and did not recognize the blonde man standing on his hand.
"However entertaining as it was, you were still foolish to cross Shinra. Bloody stupid."
"You be Shinra then?"
"You mock me as well, oh you are just dying to kiss that gallows, are you not? Yes, I be Rufus Shinra, and I be very dangerous when angered. Almost as dangerous as the sea herself."
Vincent could not help grin at the humor in Rufus’s boasting, earning himself a kick in the jaw, while Rufus pressed on his hand as he balanced on Vincent’s hand.
"What do you want done with him?" Heiegger interrupted, as he and Scarlet dragged a rather casual Reeve into the room. "He knocked a lantern over in the hold. The ship be soon in flames."
"Hola. Hablas espanol?" Reeve asked.
"Put them both in the jail. Leave the Spaniard at the next port if he complies. We shall hang him as well if he does not." Rufus then spied the key n the floor. "Hello, there you got yourself to." Rufus opened the drawer and took out the blood-covered box. "I think I shall see what this precious little treasure is later. Let us take our leave now. Scarlet, take the Spaniard, Heidegger, grab this sorry pirate." Rufus went out the door and Heidegger grabbed the bones of Vincent’s arm and dragged him off.
"I was so close…" Vincent muttered. "I did not even get to touch it."