Heads turned upwards again, this time as the harmless wind that had brought them to a dull battle died away.
"He becomes predictable," Barrett said.
"He wishes to be known as such," Black Valentine corrected.
"Death grants you two see beyond walls now?" Rufus said, startling them all as he strode from behind the walls of the shack that held the stairs to the cabins. "If you can see so far so well, then what be your next orders?"
"You be too young," Black Valentine replied. "All with the shark tooth spear, hold stances here. All with me, back to the ship.
"Wrong!" Rufus said, and at his words, one of Vincent's numbers was felled.
"There be the witchery!" Cid said, as Tseng slid off Sephiroth’s sword.
"I move with the wind," Sephiroth stated, answering the unspoken question. "As shall children of my own!"
"Be slow wind!" Yuffie said, the butt of her stolen machete connecting with Cloud’s skull. "He be more than rabid!"
Rufus drew his own sword and the three charged straight into the brawl.
Vincent went to the floor.
"Tseng!" he whispered, pressing his face close. Lips brushed lips, and Vincent closed his eyes. "Would that it were not too late I would give you what tortures me. You would put the creature to shame that way you would have taken and used such."
"They board us!" Elena yelled, and ran after the others to chase someone errant. As much as Vincent and his brethren loved blood as it spill on their swords, this fight now was not for them. Not yet.
"I did not expect him to think so fast!" Vincent said, and was off.
Tifa and Nanaki returned to join as Vincent and his crew left to follow Rufus.
……………………………………………………………………………………….
"You’re so transparent," Rufus said, holding a dagger to Reeve’s head. Reeve had already earned him self a large bruise from struggling and Rude a large gash on his bald head for being fast enough to try and rescue him. "I hired the Turks and you think you can outsmart me with them? Too easy. Too close, back!" he ordered, grinning as they all obeyed him. "The last place they’d look. The last person who’d ever have it. You are so predictable. I know your little siren would give it to someone else, and I knew she could. Sephiroth is quite talkative when one asks the right questions—back!" Rufus kept backing away, holding Reeve’s arm behind his back and threatening to twist it in half while holding the knife to his throat. "But I’m smarter than that. You haven’t hidden it at all. You planned a chase all over your ship, all over your crew. When you kept it all along, oh, I’m not stupid and I hope you pay dearly for thinking so, catch!" Rufus jammed the sword into Reeve’s back, holding the hilt as he shoved Reeve into the crowd. Thirsting for blood as they were, it was a pitiful site to see the infamous bounty hunters fall in hopes to heal a wound.
Rude left the bleeding man to the others to shred the shirt into bandages and rammed the door with his shoulder without success. The knife was already serving a new purpose and jammed the door to the frame.
Rude backed away once more, bent one smashing the knife and freeing the door. As he took the last step and prepared to lunge, the door exploded, splinters flying in Rude’s face.
Rude was on his knees, covering his injured face.
Rufus stepped over what was left of the door and tossed a pistol away and retrieved another from a pocket and held it to the locked box taken from him. "Back!"
The Turks backed away; they leaned Reeve to bandage himself against the nearest wall.
"Not you, Valentine," Rufus said. "This pistol be cocked and ready. You value this with your life. The lock keeps me from knowing the extent of the secret, but I believe I know enough. On your knees."
Vincent refused to obey, yet he still held Elena back from rushing Rufus.
"This is not trick, Valentine," Rufus said. "Comply and consent, and your keep whatever filthy thing be in here. On your knees."
Vincent sneered, turning to a low growl of a large savage beast, but nonetheless, slowly sank to his knees on the deck.
"Hands behind you neck," Rufus ordered. "Undo the clasp. Now hand the necklace to the woman."
Vincent brought his hands from around his neck, a golden chain following them. Slowly, Elena bent down and took the gossamer chain and stood, pulling the rest of the chain, along with the precious pendant out of Vincent’s shirt.
"Valentine stays where he is," Rufus said. "The wench brings the jewelry here."
Elena collected the fatal necklace in her fist and slowly walked forward. "I buy wenches, I be not one myself!" she said, thrusting her fist in his face.
"Then you’ve seen your last brothel!" Rufus yelled, dropping the box, and taking Elena captive as he had done Reeve.
"Damned be such unity among you," Rufus said, backing away with Elena, who calmly followed as he pulled her. "The wolves of the ocean are mere sheep when a single one meets a trap. What more to be expected from a bunch of curs raised by a rotting corpse? And what does the man who stitched together with old, putrid string do to save a poor, helpless little slattern--?"
Rufus’s speech was cut short by Elena’s elbow hitting his gut, breaking a rib. "Slattern this!" she yelled, apparently bored with his rantings.
"Elena!" Vincent yelled, throwing his sword.
Unable to catch the spinning blade, Elena ducked, surprised when she heard it hit flesh, not wood of the ship.
"thank you, but I have my own," Sephiroth said, taking the sword from his chest and tossing it away.
Spinning around to keep him in her sight, Elena put her back to Rufus, who immediately took the opportunity to hold a knife to her neck, again. "Back on your knees, Valentine!"
"Where is the pendant?" Sephiroth demanded. "Have they it or not?"
"In good time. Indeed they have your little prize," Rufus answered. "First, I want to see payment for mutiny against me. I want to see Valentine beg. I want to see him beg for this precious little tart of his."
In hide pride, Rufus never saw and never felt Elena’s hand sneaking towards his gun. As he faced Vincent, still on his knees from Rufus’s threats, he never looked to see the pistol. He never noticed, for once she fired, he was fated to never rise again after falling. "You talk to much!"
"And you bore me," Sephiroth exclaimed, slicing with his sword towards Elena, who managed to back away in time to realize she had never been the target. At her feet she had dropped the pendant in exchange for the pistol, which now cost too much time to reload and she lacked a cartridge. The sword hit squarely, shattering the pendant in half, silencing the piercing wail.
At the fray on the other ship, Cloud froze, dropping to his knees from Tifa’s punch. No longer useful as a puppet, he crawled through to others, too distracted by the abrupt silence to the edge of the ship and started to retch violently.
"Behold: my mother!"