A/N: Okay, most chapters have been re-written. This chap is the only one I made major changes to though. Guess what? I re-played FFVII. I haven't actually played it for years, but it was good getting into it again and gave me inspiration. More game-world references now. Hope it's improved. Don't own Final Fantasy VII.

Chapter One: Not My Day

Yuffie

This is just not my day.

That was what Yuffie couldn't help but think; trudging across the darkening plains, the sack full of glowing orbs slung over one shoulder. It had been maybe one of the worst days she'd ever had.

The morning hadn't been awful – just a long walk from North Corel, past the Gold Saucer… Unfortunately, it was the little road trips off the main path that had gotten her into trouble this time… as usual.

She had a full bag of Materia – though, admittedly, it wasn't the biggest bag. And the Materia… only a couple of them were mastered and mostly just little things, like Fire and Chocobo Lure. There were a few Summons, and only one Restore that hadn't even worked when she tested it out. Really good Materia had become difficult to find after Meteor.

But still, with a little usage, she could make her findings worthwhile, so why look for more? Her trip across the continents had been pretty rewarding; and hopefully Wutai would one day be grateful for all the trouble she went through. Travelling without any useful Restore (and a dwindling supply of Potions) was taking its toll.

Godo would handle what she brought back, she knew – after making sure she kept a few orbs for her own personal use. He'd been totally pissed when she hadn't had the heart to steal the entire party's Materia again after Sephiroth's defeat... besides, Cloud was still hyper-vigilant about the prospect, so it would've been near impossible anyway.

She wondered sometimes if Materia was all it would take to restore Wutai to the grand place it had been – but that was for her father to figure out, after all. He was the official ruler. She was the official Materia hunter. Until Godo kicked the bucket, at least, but hopefully that was a long way in the future.

Like, a hell of a long way. Eighteen was too young to be leader of a whole country, she felt.

Yuffie had been preoccupied with her thoughts as she left Gongaga behind. It was sort of quiet and lonely. She had gotten so used to having someone around during the times before Meteor. Skipping around the grassland with a bunch of completely insane fighters who she considered friends.

Even if they weren't really friends – they were someone to talk to, or even just someone to be around so she wasn't technically talking to herself. Vince had been particularly good for that. Sigh.

Yuffie looked up, pulled out of her mental image of the good old days.

She was on the side of the river heading to Cosmo Canyon, near the cliffs. She looked ahead at the craggy half-formed tunnels in the ground. She couldn't help noticing that they looked like excellent hiding places for the thieves that had sprung up in recent times – corrupt individuals who decided that mugging bystanders who'd been injured during Meteor was a good way to get by. As if, you know, all the monsters out here weren't enough.

There were a lot of them, living in what were now the ruins of Midgar. About a month ago Yuffie had encountered them while exploring the ruins – they were surprisingly tough fighters. Several of them been deformed, or maybe damaged by Mako, from they way they had looked. Yuffie wondered if a few had possibly been SOLDIERS.

The thing about the thieves – as annoyingly strong as they were – was that any post-Meteor Materia that had been available, they'd have already gotten instead of her. Something about that idea just infuriated Yuffie to no end. Just because she was more refined in her methods of getting Materia, these downright criminals had to get the upper hand?

Bitterly, she paused on the edge of one of the Canyon's many crags. She knew she should really just carry on and head to the nearest inn, but… she was sure there were some thieves around. And if she could one-up them without their expecting it, well… and, maybe get some mastered Materia in the process!

Okay, maybe not mastered, but she might be able to find a decent Restore, at least. It was a tempting idea.

So, that was Yuffie's excuse for venturing into the rocky crevices, dropping down into the slanting passages and trying to be quiet, despite carrying the Materia (along with her Conformer). She thought about putting the bag down, but quickly decided it was too risky.

So it wasn't exactly with great stealth that the ninja slid through the walls of earth, trying to catch the scent of smoke or the mumble of voices that indicated a thieves' hideout. By the time she'd reached a dead end and turned back, she knew she was getting somewhat lost in the twisty passages of the Canyon.

Yuffie wasn't really known for her great on-the-spot navigation, even she acknowledged that (not out loud, though. A girl had to have her pride, if nothing else). She could find her way in a place she was familiar with, but it had been a while since she'd seen this part of the Planet.

When she'd asked Barret for directions once, he'd said that it was easy to map out anywhere from the view of the Highwind, and shouldn't she have memorised the entire Planet long ago? A question which prompted her to remark that she'd spent all of her time on that vile ship trying not to pass out from nausea, and didn't he even remember that?

But, no. It seemed Cloud was the only one who had ever noticed her presence on the Highwind. And that had only been a couple of times, anyway.

Whatever. Who needed those guys? When they weren't saving the planet, that is. As heroes they were pretty good, but as normal social-type people they kind of sucked.

So she carried on, getting less and less graceful as she slipped and fell into gravelly holes, scratching her arms and knees on protruding rocks, and managing to stab herself in the leg with her own shuriken. The perpetual sunset-darkness of the Canyon wasn't helping either.

She swore under her breath, seeing the small rivulet of blood the blade had caused. She wouldn't have time to get back through all those stony passages – not without actually running into thieves, probably.

And oddly enough, she didn't think she would be stealthy enough to sneak past them with the bag, shuriken, and bleeding leg. Not to mention the aching muscles from the rock-climbing. So with a sigh she turned to face the nearest wall – the burgundy color of the rocks making the light even dimmer.

Sighing, she tentatively tied the Materia bag to her belt – very, very tightly – and using her conformer as a mountaineer's axe – managed to climb up the rough wall, scratching her bare legs and arms over and over, and panting from the weight of the bag.

At last she heaved herself over the edge of the crag to find herself facing the enormous crater that Ultimate WEAPON had made when it fell to the ground. She grinned for a second, remembering how she had been there to see all those bastards fall. It was really awesome sometimes, being a hero.

On the other hand, being a hero had no use at the moment aside from making her feel smug, because after the glow had worn off she was left standing there, trying to see if the crater was still passable in the soft light.

With a fierce determination, she started plodding across the crater, unhooking the bag before it pulled her belt down, and carrying it again, still dead weight. Silently she wondered what she ought to do. I could try and make it to town… but… that's ages away. And more rock-climbing would have to be done, so… yeah, no.

She looked ahead, pausing in her tracks thoughtfully.

Hmmm. The Ancient Forest was very close by…

Yuffie only vaguely remembered the forest itself. It was mossy and dark and very complicated – they'd had to go through these sorts of maze places and do weird lever-pulling and jumping on flowers and things just to get some treasure.

But, technically speaking, she wouldn't need to go through the entire forest right now. It would be nicer to sleep in there instead of out in a crater, too. And she was getting seriously exhausted here, ninja skills or not.

So, with this new plan formed, she turned and headed directly for the Ancient Forest.

It was a little bit further along the crater (and sort of up the side of the mountains) than she'd anticipated, so she was even more tired by the time she reached the entrance.

Sighing and limping and pulling the bag along behind her now, she entered the forest. The sun had set officially now (since she was no longer in the Canyon of perpetual sunset) and she was definitely starting to feel creeped out. There weren't as many monsters here as she remembered, either. Oh, Leviathan, tell me there aren't thieves in here instead?!

Would thieves even know about this place?

She shivered and walked on, looking for a soft mossy spot to lie down. The flies and frogs around the entrance were not her idea of bed mates. Eugh.

Wait, since when do I have an idea of bed mates? Yuffie frowned. Guess it was just an expression… hmm. If I had to choose a bed mate – for sleeping on a forest floor with, anyway – who'd it be?

Well. Not many people who would be willing to sleep near me… even Teef. She always bunked up with Chocobo-head Strife when we had to use tents.

She walked further on, getting lost in her thoughts once more.

Yeah, so Teef and her emo boyfriend had a tent… Red went with Cait Sith, Cid and Barrett had their tent where they could swear and be all masculine together, and Aerith usually had her own tent because…well, probably 'cause she didn't want to intrude on Tifa's inevitable attempted seductions or something. Yuffie giggled to herself.

That's right; I always got stuck with Vinnie. Mwah. I'd forgotten that. More like he got stuck with me. And a good thing for him, too. He's always needed to chill out more. Maybe after I get outta here tomorrow, I can call him. Haven't done that in ages. I wonder how he is. I swear, if he's still hanging out around Nibelhiem being all depressed and flogging himself… ugh.

Yuffie paused in her train of thought. She'd never actually seen or heard of Vincent flogging himself, but she wasn't ruling it out. It sounded so very typical of him.

Maybe I can convince him to come Materia-hunting with me so he can take out the thieves? Yeah, he can do that easy, and I can just casually grab all their stuff, and he never needs to know how much of a percentage he's getting. Heh. Yeah, that'll be awesome.

She had been walking past all the traps and flower-trampolines when she saw a small light ahead, pulling her back to reality again. She instantly woke up to the fact that she was deep in the Ancient Forest - deeper than she'd meant to go - and alone.

Tentatively, she set the bag down against a nearby tree, and gripped Conformer tightly as she approached the light. Avoiding more frogs on the ground.

It was more of a glow, really… sort of blue-green… she strained her eyes to see what it was coming from. A few yards away, she could tell exactly… and was overjoyed.

Materia!

A BOX of Materia, specifically. Just sitting there, next to a tree.

Yuffie skipped towards it gleefully. What kind of idiot just leaves a bunch of Materia sitting around in a forest? (Completely forgetting that that was what she herself was doing, having left the bag behind.)

She saw the colors clearly as she approached and became even smugger. There was only a thin lid to the box, and it was easy to see the Materia through the top. She knelt down to glance through the orbs. Hahaha! Restore. Three, in fact. Jackpot.

There was also a handful of Summons, but none of them were pretty special. There were some Command, and a few Ice and Lightning. Well. All of it was for the taking, so who cared if there was nothing major in here?

She picked up a Restore, rolling it in the palm of her hand with a feeling of satisfaction. Still holding the orb, as she leaned back down to lift the entire box up, she heard something shift behind the tree. Yuffie suddenly felt her heart rise into her throat. There just had to be a catch.

The rustling noise came again from behind the tree, and she straightened up, trying to back away quietly, gripping Conformer more tightly. She'd dropped the Restore in surprise, but didn't have time to reach back for it as she heard the thing approaching.

Great, I didn't even think about instantly slotting it. I just had to savour the freaking moment.

Before she could even raise her shuriken, a black dog-like shadow leapt out from its hiding place and pounced on her, claws ripping at her skin and snarling in an unearthly way. It had the strange glow of… magic about it.

Yuffie kicked out violently, trying to buck the creature off, without success. She managed to roll over, keeping her head down and away from the massive claws, and with a burst of courage she stabbed Conformer into the creature's belly.

It let out a brief ghostly howl, and Yuffie took the opportunity to throw off its weight, kicking it into the air and hearing it land somewhere further away (probably crushing one of those gross frogs).

Gasping, she lunged for the Restore, quickly slipping it onto her arm bangle, and she turned and ran the way she had come (remembering to grab the Materia bag by her tree only at the last minute), flat-out sprinting until she was in an even deeper part of the forest, which she didn't recognise at all. It didn't even look like the Ancient Forest anymore…

What the hell was that thing?

She wheezed, leaning against a tree for support. I've never seen any monster like that before… it was like, a black dog or something. But made of smoke? It was also kind of… it looked like a magical thing. I dunno how. Like... maybe it was a Summon?

She'd never heard of a Summon made of smoke. No, it had been solid. But just… Shadowy. Ghostly, that was the word. Whatever it was, it had been vicious.

If only its claws had been made of smoke, Yuffie thought angrily, nursing the large gash on her upper arm, which was now bleeding quite a bit. But that was okay, because she'd found what she needed.

With a smirk, she glanced down at her arm bangle, her essence sending out the instruction to use the Restore slotted in there.

She waited for a second, expecting the warm tingly glow to cover her arm and heal it. But nothing happened.

Frowning, Yuffie tried the spell again.

Nothing.

Again...

Yeah, nothing.

"Son of a bitch!"

It was damaged, like the others. Had to be. She ripped the orb out of its slot, angrily inspecting the surface for any incriminating marks. There were none. It was simply… useless. Like the other Restores she'd found across the continent. It was very rare to find a working Restore these days.

She hadn't thought to ask Cloud lately if all that Materia that he had (unfairly) gotten to keep for himself was maybe not working as well as usual. The Lifestream had to be interfering somehow with the healing, or something, 'cause Restore was being the most affected.

Realising she was still in pain, Yuffie rummaged in her pockets for a small corked bottle. Her last Potion. She swallowed it whole, once again waiting for the magical effects to heal her arm. There was a vague warm glow, but it was very brief and her arm only barely stopped bleeding.

Frustrated, she ripped off her headband and tied it several times over her arm, until the wound was mostly covered and bound. That would have to do for now.

Freaking ghost-dog Summon thing. Freaking broken Materia. Freaking low-strength potion. This whole thing completely sucked.

Stumbling and panting, she walked on through the dense part of the forest, pretty sure she would never see the outside world for the rest of her days. She'd have to call for help if she didn't want to die… that dog might find her again. But she didn't want to do that. Whenever she got stuck or lost, and had to ask for help… it just seemed stupid. She was okay on her own, damnit! Lost or not, she could find her way out of a forest, at least.

Even if it was the never-fully-explored Ancient Forest, which she hadn't been in for over a year.

So with a determined effort, she managed to find her way to the less-tree-populated area, and from there she finally limped her way onto a dirt path, breathless and thankful and very proud of herself. See? That was no big deal. I can take care of myself fine. Now there's no reason to bother anyone else… and have them treat me like a kid.

Not that Tifa treated her like a kid… but if Tifa had to give her directions, or come find her, then everyone else would find out. And it was bad enough that Cid and Barrett already teased the hell out of her about those couple of times.

It had been when she'd first started her world expedition to find more Materia after helping up as best she could with Meteor. She'd gotten lost off near the Chocobo Ranch and had to call someone for directions after ages of wandering. To be fair, she had been under Confused at the time, but did that ever make it into the story later? Of course not.

And a few months later, she'd gotten lost on Mt. Nibel, trying to find that old Materia cave she'd always hoped to return to. Tifa hadn't minded helping her, and had believed her logical explanations for getting lost, although she had suggested buying a detailed map of some kind.

Which Yuffie had done, because it was a smart idea. But then it had gotten destroyed in a rainstorm, and she wasn't about to admit that because of course that would just make her look even more incompetent.

I don't need their help. I'm fine. I'm great.

She was finally free of the Ancient Forest – and had apparently come out the other side, still in a green forest area, on top of the cliffs of Cosmo Canyon, it seemed.

She hobbled slowly towards a series of small scattered buildings in the distance, where the trees thinned. It looked too small to be a town, just a couple of buildings. She would have thought they were abandoned if it wasn't for the soft orange lights hung around the outside.

As Yuffie approached, she could read the sign sitting next to the tallest building, some four or more stories. It was a hotel. Not even an inn - a hotel. Weird much?

Creepiest place to put a hotel ever. Don't they know what's in these woods out here?

Well, now was not the time to question, she figured. Be thankful for small mercies and carry on. At least she wouldn't have to sleep on the ground tonight.