Title: Savage Beast
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII (OGC)
Pairing: Vincent/Aeris
Rating: T
Length: 1664
Content notes: Violence
Challenge: Transformation
Summary: Vincent's first transformation after joining the others could have been a disaster, if not for Aeris. (Semi-sequel to Mere Kindness, which I wrote for another challenge a while back, but can stand alone.)
Badge Notes: Rare pairing, CK

He'd made a mistake.

Vincent staggered backwards, his head and ears ringing. The blow he'd taken from the spinning iron ball had only been a glancing one, and he could be grateful for that. He didn't want to think about what would've happened to his skull if it had hit him head-on.

His head hurt, and the snow glare wasn't helping. Vincent squinted against the glare as he looked back up. Aeris was all right - he saw her first, wrapped in green light as she focused on the Materia - and Cloud was leaping at the monster, his sword at the ready.

His head hurt, his arms and legs were heavy and sore. Blood was running sluggishly into one of his eyes. Those... those things... they'd shrugged off the bullets he'd fired into their chests with barely a missed step. He'd made a mistake; he wasn't ready for close combat, not like this.

Cloud struck the first of the twisted humanoid creatures, but it seemed to do little to hamper it, and he jumped back as the other started to shuffle back into the fray. He was visibly limping, trying to hide it and failing. It wasn't just him, Vincent realized, Cloud had underestimated these creatures as well -

The beast in his head growled, but Vincent gritted his teeth and mentally commanded it to stop. He wasn't in immediate danger. He could handle this without giving over control -

The green light around Aeris faded, replaced by a flash of orange as fire burst from the furthest of the creatures. It screamed, shrill and loud, a sound he hadn't heard the like of in years - and then turned on her, its weapon spinning faster.

"Aeris!" he heard Cloud shout. But he was busy with the other, and he couldn't help her. Vincent would have to do something. Aeris was standing with her staff held in front of her - and Vincent had seen her defend herself with it, he knew she was capable, but those things were strong. They could smash through her defenses like they were nothing -

The beast growled again, and he recognized its anger and its triumph - anger at being contained, and triumph, because it knew that it was stronger than Vincent, that it was faster, that its claws were fiercer. It wanted out. It wanted to pounce on the creature that was advancing on Aeris, wanted to rip its sagging throat from its pasty body.

He gritted his teeth, mentally judging the distance between them. All right, he thought. You're right. Do it!

The Beast roared - and so did he, and even the monsters turned to stare at him as his body began to shift. He felt the fur growing from his skin, the massive horns and claws bursting painfully from his head and hands. He felt the beast's simple mind overtaking his -

fight kill feed

- until it was difficult -

I strong

- to think.

I kill

---

Vincent's mind came back before his senses returned, the way it had the first time he'd let one of the Others take him over. It helped a bit, gave him time to think. His body was frozen, in a sense, like waking from a nightmare and finding one couldn't move. The feeling had terrified him at first, but now it was a welcome chance to collect his thoughts.

The Beast's memories were fragmented - he sifted through them with growing dread, watched him tear the monsters to shreds. One of them had struck him dead-on with its iron ball, but he had only roared triumphantly and bitten through the chain that had held it, before pouncing on the monster himself. He could feel a throbbing pain in his jaw, now that he'd remembered it... the Beast's teeth could cut through anything, but Vincent's weak human bones didn't always take well to what it did.

It had made quick work of the creatures, and had turned to find other prey -

Vincent jerked, tried to sit up but still couldn't, horrified as the memories unfolded.

The woman was the closest, her staff still held ready. The Beast had snarled, bared its fangs at her. Somewhere, in the back of its mind, Vincent must have been trying to hold the Beast at bay. It had growled at her, and she had looked up at him, afraid for a moment. "Vincent," she'd said. The Beast hadn't recognized his name, but Vincent did. "Vincent? Are you..."

"Get away from it, Aeris!" Cloud was saying from a distance, but all the Beast heard was the pain in his voice and the dragging of a wounded leg in the snow. Hurt, something in his instincts had said, and he'd turned to look at the man who held his sword ready. But it was shaking, he was tired from the fight and the long journey. Easy prey, the Beast had thought, overcoming Vincent's objections. Easy prey.

"He's not an it, Cloud," Aeris had said, no real fear in her voice anymore. "It's Vincent. I can feel that he's in there!"

"Aeris, please," Cloud answered, gritting his teeth through the pain. "Whatever he is, he's lost it -"

"No, he hasn't. Not yet. Let... let me try." She stepped forward. "Besides, I think I'm in better fighting shape than you are," she added, her voice somewhat lighter.

"Aeris, come on," Cloud had answered incredulously, still holding his sword ready.

The Beast had understood none of their conversation, although Vincent had felt it twitch at the name of its master/puppet?. It only knew that it had tasted blood and wanted more, and its muscles were tense and ready to pounce -

"Shhhh," Aeris had said behind it, very softly. "No. Hush, now." It had shaken its head, turned to look at Aeris, who was crouching next to him now - protected now by the yellow glow of magic, Vincent noted wryly, the woman was no fool. "You don't want to hurt us, do you? We're your friends."

The Beast had whimpered. Vincent could remember its confusion, now - had anyone ever spoken to it that way? It had still been tense, but he could feel it start to doubt its instincts, and for a moment it seemed to make some sort of connection with his own mind. packmate, it thought, and then a brief memory of Vincent's surfaced, Aeris gently pulling at the tangles in his hair. helped Us

"Yes," she'd continuted, soothing it. "You know us, don't you? We found you. We're your friends."

Friends was a foreign concept to the Beast. But packmate was something it understood, something that it could respect, and that was what it seized on. It approached her, bowed its head in submission. protect, it thought.

"Your head is bleeding," she'd noticed, looking up at its face. "Here. This should help." She'd poured a bit of a potion into the palm of her hand and dabbed a bit onto its head. The Beast had whined in pain, then relaxed as the numbing medicine did its work.

"That's better." Aeris had stepped away. "I have to help Cloud now. But you'll stay with us and make sure nobody else hurts us, right?"

The Beast had made a small sound, something like a growl. protect packmates it had thought, in its primitive way.

Vincent could feel something now, the chill of the wind against his flesh. His chest was still aching, but the pain in his head was less... he tried to blink his eyes, but still couldn't quite open them.

("Hey, Aeris! I think he's movin'!" He heard Barret speak as if from a great distance.)

help packmates

The Beast had followed Aeris then, saw Cloud as he lay on the ground, staring up at him with wide eyes. "This isn't good," Aeris had said. "Better keep an eye out while I patch him up!"

protect

yes

Vincent tried again, and opened his eyes to the white glare. He cursed and shut them for a moment before trying again, not opening them as widely that time.

"Hey," Aeris said above him. She looked relieved as she helped him sit up. They were not in the open anymore - someone had carried him to a hollow in the stones, away from the worst of the wind. He could see the others a short distance away, Barret and the machine both watching for other enemies while the others were gathered around Cloud.

"Aeris," he said. "Are you and Cloud all right?"

"We're fine. A little nervous for a bit, but it all worked out. The others are helping him with his leg right now."

"I know. I... I remember." He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to let that monster out. I should've told you."

She shook her head. "I think we would've had a harder time fighting those things if you hadn't." She smiled again, that same impish smile. "And I can't really be mad at you for keeping secrets."

He nodded. "I appreciate that, Aeris. Thank you again."

"Don't mention it. I wouldn't have let you hurt any of us anyway. Still, I'm glad I didn't have to set you on fire."

He snorted with laughter despite himself. "So am I."

She grinned for a moment, but the smile faded to puzzlement. "Vincent, was that actually you? Or was it really something else?"

"It's... complicated." He stood - his leg was better, although he still had the remnants of a headache. "Once we leave this mountain, I will tell you everything."

"I'll hold you to that, then!" She stood next to him, brushing off her tattered dress. "C'mon, let's see how Cloud is doing."

He nodded. He would owe him an apology later, as well. Thank goodness, he thought, that she had been there, or else he would've owed them all much more than that.