New Days Dawn

Fandom:: FFVII
Pairs: Cid/Vincent, Reno/Kadaj, Reno/Rude, Rufus/Reeve, Yazoo/Loz, Cloud/Tifa, Implied Sephiroth/Zack
Summary: After the fall of the Remnants a cataclysmic meteor shower has destroyed civilization upon Gaia. With the planet in ruins there is still no rest for the wicked as old demons come back to haunt them.


Armies have conquered
And fallen in the end
Kingdoms have risen
Then buried by sand


Dust. Thick in the air. Suffocating. Looming ruins shadowing roads standing guard over the land they once dominated. Debris cluttered the road, rumbles of some far off landslide scattering clouds across the dry earth. The world around is vacant. There is no life to be seen, to be felt. A crater stands in the center at the foot of Shinra's remains, a testimony to the obliteration. Hungry flames raging through the city engulfing the living and burning them away to ash. Heat of flames choking and slaughtering, celestial arson leveling the once proud empire.

Time stood still now. Pebbles dared to defy tumbling down slopes of broken highway. His fingers scraped across the concrete digging deep into the rubble searching for supplies. Sometimes one could find things buried in the destruction. There was nothing here, time to move on. It was amazing to think how easily it was all destroyed. How the fabric of their world fell apart. The entire planet leveled in a single night. Cities fell to ruins, villages burned off the pages of history. Only the clever, the lucky, and the fortunate enough to take shelter in the underground bomb bunkers survived.

They had been searching for days but found few signs of life. They were not alone, they knew, far off shouting could be heard from across the ruins. Plumes of smoke trailed up to the endless sky calling to any others who may have survived. Small troupes of individuals raiding and ransacking mangled houses for any sliver of food or tools, anything to utilize. It was a dog-eat-dog world and Vincent had seen this taken literal. It was not unusual for the demon master to discover corpses stained with fresh blood, chunks of flesh torn away by knives and teeth desperate for nourishment. It was a sad, sad world.

Tremors ripped through the ground, thundering beneath his feet. He had to get back to the bunker. Now. From rooftop to rooftop, blindly following the trail through the ruins. His foot gave on loose shingles, breaking the fall on a stack of boxes. He had to push forward. There was no time to waste. Ducking under the highway, through twisted steel and across what may have once been cars. Another tremor, stronger this time. Dammit. Down a slope, around the curve. Faster, up and over the rickety fences. He was way too old for an obstacle course. The rumbles approached faster, rattling through his feet up aching legs into the core. Vincent raced foreshocks coming faster and faster. The earth would not hold much longer.

Raging booms, gaseous plumes of smog and smoke shooting up into the sky. Smog thickened the air turning midday to midnight. Vincent shielded his nose gagging on dangerous toxins. Sunlight creeped away from Midgar replaced by ash and dust and cinder. Breath came fast and hard, stumbling along through the ruins as toxic gases sprayed from deep within the planet coating everything in invisible poison. Bile spilled from his mouth, releasing the contents of the morning's pititful breakfast to the side of the road. Toxin burned down his throat, ripping his insides. Hot pain blurred his vision, he was almost there.

The bunker door was just ahead. He threw himself at it and banged frantically, aftershocks preluding massive eruptions across the ruins. The planet was still severely damaged after Sephiroth, the Remnants, and now this strange meteor shower. She must have been in so much pain and now all those that brought this destruction upon her would suffer. He could not lift his fist anymore drained of strength. The metal door creaked open and Tifa tugged the demon master inside. The bartender gagged and coughed, yanking hard on the latch until the door slammed shut with a boom.

"Vincent! Are you okay?" Cloud brought over a glass of water. The gunner downed it quickly, slumping down to the floor. Even his demons could not protect him from Gaia's wrath. He nodded, choked by the remains of the gas disappating into sweet oxygen. It was not fresh but he could breathe. Fresh air did not exist anymore.

Cloud helped Vincent into the bunker depositing the man on a couch. Cid appeared at his lover's side, coiling arms tight around the half-dead gunner. He frowned, flicking Vincent's nose in punishment.

"Dammit dumbass! I told you ya should've let me come with ya! But no, ya wanna go out by yer fuckin' self and fuckin' get killed." he coiled tighter around Vincent. "Fucking dumbass..."

"Sorry Chief.." Vincent pet the blonde's hair. A foul mouth was Cid's tactless way of being concerned. His sight still had not fully returned, mobile enough to trail his human hand along the blonde's strong back. Cid eased into his touch, still sore but thankful to have Vincent home alive.

Across the room Rufus Shinra sat with his Turks and Reeve, the gangly group as dirty and malnourished as the rest of them. The President's soft hair hung limp, once powerful eyes hung dull having seen far too much in too short a time. Stress and pain worked at his face, he looked almost too old for his years. The young man's health had steeply declined after the apocalyptic disaster. His immune system was in shreds from his bout with Geostigma leaving the young man susceptible to the abundant toxins ripe in the air. Sheer willpower kept Rufus Shinra from collapsing over dead.

"No signs of life?" his voice was weak.

The demon master shook his head. "No." None of the group assembled at the table looked very healthy. He wondered what kept Rufus alive.

"I see." he coughed, Reeve instantly at his side. He clung to the dark haired man hacking and coughing into his shirt. Reeve held him close, solemn pain writ in the chocolate orbs. It hurt him, it hurt all of them, to see their beloved President suffer.

Cloud leaned against the doorframe eyeing his pitiful brood. They were broken, weak, tired. Their entire world was suddenly destroyed and there was nothing they could do about it. They cowered in a bunker for life, packed into the few bedrooms there were at night. There was little food to be found unless they searched beyond the wastelands. Poison storms killed anything that had a chance of blooming in the desert. An old generator clanked loudly in another room lending them basic electricity to keep fresh the food they could find but seismic activity often knocked the power out. It could take days to get the machine back online leaving them without power or warmth. The walls of the bunker shuddered under the force of another eruption. He sighed, shaking his head. He didn't know what to do.

Rude and Cid handed out cups of tea, consoling the sick and wrapping up the wounded. It was amazing to see how close they had become, sworn enemies bonded into the best of friends. In times like these it was the only way to ensure survival. Divided they would fall. Chatting in tense whispers over tea. They needed each other for warmth, for protection.

"The storm is not going to let up anytime soon." Cloud stepped away from the wall. "We should try and get some sleep, all of us. I'll take a few out in the morning to search for supplies and food."

Silently they rose and departed to their resceptive rooms. Rufus stubbornly pushed forward on his own two feet. He was too proud to accept aid, even from his Turks. The guard dogs kept close to their master refusing to part until they saw him safely to his room. Cid wrapped Vincent's cloak around him and held the raven haired man as he slept. He shivered beneath the heavy fabric, snuggling closer for any shred of heat. Huge leather wings rose from Vincent's back and wrapped around them, Chaos heating the pilot and master as best as he could. That almost disturbed Cloud more, seeing Chaos be helpful.

"Cloud..." Tifa nudged the ex-SOLDIER towards the sleeping hall. "You should go too."

"I will." Cloud leaned back against the wall. He closed his eyes listening to the old generator clank and rattle away. So many nights the ancient machine had lulled him to sleep. Tifa buried her nose in Cloud's neck, wrapping herself tight around the other.

"Do you think we'll make it, Cloud?"

"Somehow..." he gripped her shoulders tight. "We will.. somehow. We always do."

"That's true.." she closed her eyes. "We always do..."

"Come on..." he gently tugged her down the hall into the room they shared. They lay together upon the single bed, staring up at the ceiling. Cloud lay awake for what seemed like hours, thinking and planning and worrying. Tifa's breath was slow and deep in slumber. Good. Let her rest. He would worry about what to do. Outside the storm persisted violently shaking the walls. He might as well try and sleep. There was no point in being awake.

All he could do for now was close his eyes and hope.