Experiment 15 Ch 2: Death List

Minutes later, or what I think is minutes, I cough slightly. Jeez I feel like hell. You'd be amazed how much dying really messes with ya.
Then, just as I'm beginning to wake up, I hear someone walk towards me. They must be pretty skinny. I can barely feel the vibrations from their footsteps. Then, whoever it is, lifts the sheet off my face and I opened one eye to look at them. Wouldn't ya know it. It's the ninja girl.
"Hi." I say casually. Apparently she wasn't expecting that since she screamed and jumped about 10 feet. Unfortunately, when she jumped, she dropped the sheet back onto my face.
"Thank you." I mutter sarcastically as push the sheet aside. "What? Haven't you ever seen a corpse before?"
I look around them and see nothing but looks of shock.
Then Blond Boy (aka Cloud) speaks up. "Yes. But the ones we normally see don't talk." I look at them surprised.
“Really? Well what the hell kinda corpses do you see?”
“Dead ones.” Cid muttered, his mouth slightly open. I don't see how that cig can possibly stay in his mouth with that expression but damn I'm good! I just put Cid Highwind into shock. Fear my terrifying wrath! Hahaha!! Okay I'm over it. And yes, I enjoy scaring him. It's fun. Evil snicker.
“Well the ones I normally see…” I effortlessly throw the blanket off my extremely bloody body, “can hold a conversation.” I try to get up but unfortunately, I'm stopped by that giant sword in my stomach. Weird. Normally something like this wouldn't stop me. Unless…
“What the…? Oh they didn't.” I feel underneath me and feel that the sword has gone straight through me and into the ground underneath me. “They did. Shit…Hey can someone get this thing outta me?” Or at least attempt to get this thing outta me. I was kinda expecting Blond Boy to pull it out but to my remote surprise, Vince walks up and pulls the sword out with a loud SQUISH. Disgusting isn't it?
Well after Red Eyes (Vincent) pulls the sword out, I roll onto my side, holding my stomach, or rather, what was my stomach and look up at him. “Thanks.” I mutter before getting up and brushing off my jeans like I had just tripped or fallen or…whatever, now ignoring the fact that there's a huge hole in my stomach that you can see straight through. For me, that's normal. For others…probably not so much. Oh well.
“I hate stomach wounds. Such a pain in the ass.” I mumble as I look at my shirt. “Ah shit! As if this shirt didn't have enough holes in it already.” Then I look at my extremely bloody jeans. “And I just washed these. Oh come on!” Well, seeing as just standing here, dripping blood and having ShinRa weaponry sticking outta me isn't gonna help my situation, I start pulling out all of the ShinRa crap, cursing the entire time.
”Shit, shit, shit, shit…” Then I pull out the rather large blade out of my left leg, “Shit!” and toss it into the pile. Yes, I have a pile of things that were used to try to kill me.
I sigh heavily and look at the pile. "Okay, let's take count: 4 knives, 3 shuriken, 9 lines, 5 Makos, 7 lethals, 8 restraints, 1 sword and...and...Shit. I'm missing a bullet. Where the hell did it go this time?" And as usual, I start looking for it. Ya know, it's kinda hard looking for a tiny piece of metal when you're covered in blood. But apparently it's not hard for Vincent. He soundlessly walks up behind me and places his hand on my bleeding shoulder.
"Here."
"What...Ow! Dammit!" He uses that gauntlet of his to pull the bullet right out of my shoulder. Ya know what? That thing's sharp! I mean hell! What’s he do, file that thing?! Shit!
I turn around to glare at him and he casually drops the bullet into my hand.
"Six.”
"Oh. Thanks." I smile at him instead and drop the bullet onto the pile with the rest of them. "And six bullets. Well, that looks like all of it. Am I missing anything?" I look over my body then at Vince and see him shake his head. I smile at him once more then look at my pile o' weaponry again.
"Damn. Looks like they actually tried to kill me this time. Talk about overkill...Well, not really." Once I'm sure that's all of it, I casually grab my bag and head towards that woods/forest place I was at before all this hell broke loose. “Alright. Well, I checkin' out for the day. See ya.” And with that, I start to walk away like nothing had just happened. Okay, well in my book nothing did happen.
“But…you can't leave.” I look over my shoulder to find a very shocked Reeve Tuesti. Actually, I see a very shocked everybody. Okay, not Vince as much but hey, he's giving his poor excuse at shock so I just that counts for something. Right? Okay, maybe not.
Vincent Valentine, former Turk, bodyguard...…gotta stop doing that. Anyway, I stare at them in confusion. "Why not?" Then Vincent walks up to me, still wearing his rather poor excuse at shock.
"They're not used to seeing a corpse get up and begin talking." He states in that calm, cool voice of his. I mean, he's got a cool voice...or at least in my opinion……Gotta focus.
"Really? Well where the hell have they been? That's the only kinda corpse I see." I glance at everyone again. Yup, still shocked. Jeez. Good thing I'm leaving soon.
Then I hear Vincey sigh. Granted, it was a soft/insanely quiet sign but it still counts...kinda.
"Reeve is right. You can't leave yet." I look at him again.
"Oh yeah? And why not?" Vincey looks at me calmly and raises his left arm.
"For starters..." Then he stuck his gauntleted (if that's even a word) arm through the hole in my stomach. I look down at his arm then glance over my shoulder to see the rest of his arm sticking out the other side, perfectly clean. Yay! A perfect hole for once. Finally.
Then I look back at him again, having absolutely no idea what the problem is.
"What? That thing? Well I know it's a royal pain, but it's nothing to worry about. Just a minor injury." I state just as calmly with a slight shrug, like it was absolutely nothing. Okay, for me, it is nothing. Yes, I know I’m weird. Grin.
"Minor injury?! He just put his arm through your stomach!" I look to see Tifa. Her name's Tifa Lockheart, right? Think it is. Pretty sure it is. Anyways, she's totally freaking out. Apparently she's not used to seeing something like that. Hmm. Weird. Oh well.
I shrug casually as Vincent removes his arm. "So? Happens all the time. No big."
"You're bleeding." Reeve again, and judging by his voice, he's still in shock. Shocking, isn't it? (Sorry, bad joke. Hehe)
"When am I not?" I ask as I gather up my things again.
"You have a hole in your stomach." It's Blond Boy this time and he too, is in shock.
"I know." I respond, in my usual "your point is" voice. Jeez, what's with these people? It's only a hole in the stomach. It's not like I'm gonna die from it or anything. Okay well...maybe be unconscious for a little bit. Maybe.
So anyway, once I have all my stuff, I hear that oh-so familiar voice of a certain gunny.
"You can't be walking around like that." Then I feel something warm and heavy wrapped around me. I look up to see what the hell Vincey just put on me and see that it was his cloak. Cool. Wait...I've got Vincent Valentine's cloak! Yes! And right now I'm so glad I have a sense of self control cause if I didn't, I'd go fangirl right now. Ahem. Calm down. Must focus. Right. Deep breath. Okay, well I look at him and shrug slightly (is it just me or do I seem to be doing that a lot lately?)
"True, I can't." Then I zip up my jacket so no one can see the gaping hole in what was formerly known as my stomach. "There. Now I can. No one can see it so no problems." I smile warmly at them, hoping that that will get them off my case.
Will someone please tell me why I even bother hoping anymore. Reeve takes a cautious step towards me, looking like he's dealing with an extremely dangerous...something. Which he kinda is at the moment, but only if he ticks me off. And at the paces this is going, he probably will...along with everyone else. Oh joy.
"But that doesn't eliminate the threat of you bleeding to death."
"So? Not like it really matters. If I do die, then all I have to do is find somewhere quiet for about ten minutes and I'll be conscious again.” But not too happy about bleeding all over the place. “Besides, if I bleed to death again, then I can put it on my list." I inwardly kick myself. Why do I have the feeling this is gonna turn into one of those "oh crap" situations?
"Again?" Reeve's mouth drops open.
"List?" And now Tifa's does too. Ya know, sometimes I really hate being right. Oh crap. I knew I should've kept my big mouth shut. Oh well. Too late now. Damn.
"Uh-huh. Oh, and speaking of list..." I take out a small notebook/ notepad (whatever you wanna call it) and update the tally. Then I look up at the others when I feel them staring at me. "What? Did you honestly think that this was my first time dying?" I see more mouths drop and I sigh. I really gotta learn to keep my mouth shut.
"So you mean you're keeping a list of how many times you've died?!" Jeez she's loud. I thought ninjas were supposed to be quiet. Guess not.
Well anyways, I nod casually. "Well yeah. We all do." Crap! I just did it again. Now I really can't avoid 20 questions (not like I could before. Sigh).
"We?" I still don't see how Cid can keep that cig in his mouth and wear that expression on his face at the same time. Jeez. Oh well, time to play 20 questions.
"The other experiments. There's eight of us in all, including myself. We all have notebooks were we record how many times and in what ways we've died."
"Why the hell would ya do something like that?!" Barret right? Yeah that's Barret. Planet I need to reread those files. Anyway, I answer his question as politely as I can.
"Because, you try sitting in a steel box for three years with nothing else to do but wait to be killed again. See what you end up doing." I practically hiss. Well, there's my attempt at "polite." Close enough…for me at least. Gotta work on my people skills. I’ll put that on my list just after staying alive, getting Cerberus bullets and a whole lot of other stuff. So that’ll put “people skills” at about….20 millionth on my list. Hehe. In other words, not gonna happen.
"I think I'd kill myself." Yuffie mutters. My God, she does possess the ability to be quiet...or at least remotely quiet.
"Tried it. Didn't work. Besides, not all of us are killed in the same ways at the same time. So instead, we tell each other so we can prepare ourselves. And then, after a while, we just got bored and started keeping track." I looked at them and see that they're still in shock. Jeez people, it's not that shocking…Well, maybe it is…for a normal person at least. Grin. "Hey, it gave us something to do, other than try to kill ourselves." Then I see a little flicker in Yuffie's eyes. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
"So...what's your death count?" Okay, remotely good thing.
"Yuffie!" Or at least I thought it was. I glance over at Tifa to see that she's in slight shock. Probably 'cause Yuffie just asked me that. Oh well.
"I've died over 100 times and in over 20 different ways." I answer casually again. I see looks of shock (figures) and one of shock and amazement. Guess who.
"Wow, really? So how have you died?" You got it. The hyperactive ninja girl herself. I'm sure that's such a surprise (not). Hehe.
"YUFFIE!" I bite back a laugh at the look on Tifa's face. She looks terrified and annoyed at the same time. Hehehe. Now that’s talent.
"It's alright. I don't mind being asked." I give them a cheery smile to A: further confuse them and B: 'cause I honestly don't care. Then right as I'm going to answer Yuffie's question, Reeve chimes in.
"Well if we're going to continue this conversation, then we should go inside. It's getting cold out here." Yes! Now's my chance. Just gotta play my cards right. But wouldn't ya know, just as I get my bag again (yes I dropped it a while ago), I feel a certain someone tug on the cloak slightly.
"Come on." Damn him. I mean, I know he's a great hero and all but damn! I swear he can read my mind. Which is not a good thing for me.
So instead of being obedient and following Red Eyes, I easily slip out of the cloak. "It's alright. I should probably get going anyways." Then Reeve again. No wonder he's an organization leader. He likes to talk.
"But you'll get cold. And with those injuries..."
"Don't worry about it. The only times I get cold is when it's 30 degrees outside and snowing. Besides, I don't want to cause you any more trouble. So...see ya." I turn and start heading...somewhere away from here. Don't know where exactly but just somewhere away from here. And once again, I'm stopped. Okay well, it's more like Cid asks me a question and I stop to answer it.
"Is that what yer fuckin' worried about? Causin' use some fucking trouble?" Don't turn around, don't turn around...So what do I do? I turn around. Hell.
"Well yeah. She almost got shot because of me." I indicate to Yuffie. "And if I stay here then those morons’ll come back and that would mean me putting all of you in danger. And that's something I can't do." I turn back towards the woods and start walking when I hear Red Eyes comment.
"They won't come back." Yup, that's Red Eyes alright. Figures he'd say something like that.
I turn and look at him, mildly amused. Seeing this, Cloud explains.
"Vincent's an ex-Turk. He knows the procedures."
"Yeah I know. We all do." I turn my attention back to Vincey, making sure my face shows no emotion. I have an idea and if I do this right, then I'll be able to get out of here and soon…I think. "But there's one thing you don't know Mr. Valentine." I see his eyes focus on me, so I continue. "Procedures change. Especially after 30 years of being locked away in a coffin." I start to walk away when I feel him grab my shoulder.
"How did you know that?" Good, he took the bait. Got him. Although it's faint, I can still hear the mild fear in his voice. Check mate. If I can make him "scared" enough, he'll leave me alone...in theory. Well, let's test that theory.
I get an amused look on my face (ya know, the same kind of look you get when you've just won a game and you know it before your opponent does) and smile politely at him. "Mr. Valentine, I know everything about you. I know that you were in love with Dr. Lucrecia Cresent. I know that Hojo shot and killed you and that Lucrecia you were brought back but with Chaos. I know that Hojo experimented on you for seven years until locking you in that coffin in the ShinRa Mansion basement. I know that 30 years later, they came and woke you and that you helped in the defeat of Sephiroth and Deepground." Then I lean in close, switching into demon scary mode. "And I know things that you don't...Dare I continue?" I inwardly smirk. Perfect. Now he's scared...okay probably more like in shock by the fact that I know all this but hey, I like scared better. Makes me happy. Oh well. Time to finish up the job. My pride will have to wait. "I thought not. Now...Let. Me. Go. Besides, I'm sure you can understand the concept of not wanting someone else's coffin resting on your conscious." And with that, he let go. Yay! Now all I have to do is make sure I have everything and get the hell out of here.
So I casually do that and turn to leave...again. "Those hunters are going to come back. I'd be careful if I were you. Just because I'm gone, doesn't mean they won't switch their objectives and come after you two. Wait about two or three days until you guys start roaming around again." And by “two” I mean Cloud and Vince. After all, the three of us are all ShinRa experiments here.