I've been writing this since March of this year, two thousand and seven. But I didn't post it here cos I couldn't think of a damn title.
Yes, I know in the actual FFVII game, you get Vincent first. But I attribute that difference and any other differences/inaccuracies to artistic license.
Yes, this story's all yaoi / slash / m/m / whatever you wanna call it. So just go ahead and skedaddle if you don't wanna deal with all that, cos I don't wanna hear about it.
(The characters. They belong to Squeeeeenix.)
(The thoughts. They look like this)
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01. Show Me The Things That I've Never Wanted Done.
(Narrator's POV)
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"I don't like it in here," Tifa stayed close to Cloud's side as they entered the recently unlocked basement room.
"At least these guys probably aren't gonna attack us," Cid nudged at a skeleton with his foot. The skull toppled off the shoulders and onto the floor. "Heh. Sorry."
"Look, this one's still closed," Cloud hurried over to an unopen coffin in the middle of the room.
"Should we open it?" Tifa peered from behind Cloud's shoulder.
"Why?" Cid asked. He couldn't imagine why they should defile the one remaining grave.
"Well, the key to this room was guarded so carefully, and there's nothing else in this room that could be worth hiding," Cloud reasoned. He leaned down to unlatch the lid and lifted it partly off of the casket.
They stared, unsure of what to do, or even say. It wasn't a corpse or materia or massive amounts of gil...but a living, breathing person.
He was sleeping, but shifting restlessly, looking troubled. Light shone on his face, bothering him in his sleep. He opened his eyes to see three shocked, unfamiliar faces. He kicked the lid fully off of his box and escaped from its confines in one fluid move, making the others jump back. He did his best to carefully hide his all-consuming fear.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded.
"I think you were having a nightmare," Cloud explained.
"Shit. He was locked in a fucken coffin, Spike. Unless he's a vampire, I'm sure I'd be havin' nightmares too," Cid muttered, making an effort to not bring it to attention that he thought Cloud was a dumbass.
"Hah. A nightmare..." the red cloaked man scoffed. "What is the date?"
Cloud told him, and the man was silent for a moment before continuing. "Has my long sleep given me enough time to atone?" he asked to no one in particular.
"What are you saying?" Cloud asked.
"I have nothing to say to you. Get out. This mansion is the beginning of your nightmare."
"You could say that again," Cid said sarcastically.
"And just what do you know about it?" the stranger snapped. Cid felt strangely guilty for upsetting him. He looked away to avoid the angered red eyes that glared at him through strands of long black hair.
Cloud started to talk about things that the stranger barely gave ear to. He had more important things to worry about. It had been thirty long years since he had been put to sleep. Had that been long enough to make amends? Perhaps he had been awakened because his sins had been forgiven. But one word immediately caught the man's attention.
"Sephiroth? You know Sephiroth?" he asked, making sure he'd heard correctly. Cloud explained recent events and reasons for their journey. The stranger listened intently, taking in every word. When the story finished, he remained silent.
"...Aaand...that's how it was. Now it's your turn." Cloud had expected some sort of response, and was slightly displeased that there was none.
"I'm sorry," the stranger said sadly. "I cannot speak."
Cloud couldn't believe what this guy said. "What?! How can you just--"
"Hearing your stories has added upon me another sin," the stranger interrupted, growing angry. "More nightmares shall come to me now. More than I previously had." He paused to compose himself, hoping the sorrowful look he briefly let slip to his face had gone unnoticed. He turned away from the small group. "Please leave."
"Come on," Tifa took Cloud's arm and led him out the door.
The sad expression stayed undetected by Cloud and Tifa. But the one who did happen to notice the one brief moment this stranger had let his guard down and let his emotions show was Cid. He didn't want to "please leave". He wanted to stay and listen. To sit close to the beautiful stranger and run his hands through the long dark hair, find out if it was as soft as it looked. To kiss away whatever troubles there were and take the stranger right there in the damn coffin.
He wouldn't, of course, but he didn't plan on leaving yet.
"You're still here," the man said after a moment, his back still turned toward the intruders.
Cid shrugged and leaned against the wall. "Well, who are you? Have a name, at least?" At this, Tifa and Cloud re-entered the room, curious to see if the question would be answered.
The stranger reluctantly faced the inquirer, not entirely sure where he should begin. "I was with...the Shinra Manufacturing Department in Administrative Research, otherwise known as...the Turks..." He stopped trying to stammer out explanations and sighed.
"Vincent. My name is Vincent."
--------------------------------------------------"So this Lucrecia chick," Cid paused to light a cigarette.
Vincent gave Cid a resentful glare. "Please don't refer to her as 'that Lucrecia chick'."
"Right, so...then this wonderful, beautiful Lucrecia stomped on your heart and left ya behind without another thought."
"I just wanted her to be happy, no matter what that meant for me. She did the right thing."
"Yeah, sure. She sounds like a real sweetheart."
"Leave her alone!" Vincent hissed. Resisting the urge to shove Cid into the campfire in front of them took quite a bit of will. He wanted to leave, but didn't want to feel lonely, and the flames he gazed into were almost hypnotic. It made him drowsy.
"Sorry..." Cid mumbled. He took a drag of his cigarette and let his eyelids droop. He kept quiet for a while, letting things calm down a bit. He'd never meant to make Vincent angry. He thought he was simply stating the obvious about the other's...girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend? Whatever it was, it didn't seem like Vincent deserved such a shitty relationship.
"You don't have to sit with me, Highwind," Vincent broke the silence between them.
"I know I don't," Cid glanced up at the stars, then over to his teammate. "You look like ya need a friend."
"There's no need for you to bother with it if you don't--"
"Hey, I'm not 'bothering'. If I didn't want to, then I wouldn't." Cid interrupted. "If you want me ta leave you alone though..."
"No," Vincent shook his head. There was another long stretch of quiet.
"Where're you from?" Cid asked.
"I come from Wutai," Vincent responded.
"Good," Cid grinned.
Vincent gave him a confused look. "Why 'good'?"
"Cos I was right. That's what I figured." Cid decided to leave out the part where he'd always been exceedingly attracted to pretty Wutaiian boys.
"I'm going to bed," Vincent said eventually. "You're sure you don't mind sharing your tent with me?"
"Course not, Vince. I'll be in soon," Cid lit up another cigarette, and hoped to hell that Vincent would loosen up and actually talk someday.
Cid continued to invite Vincent to share his tent; Partly because he was worried that nobody else would open their shelters to their new teammate, and mostly because he wanted any excuse to be close to the gunman. If any questions would arise, Cid figured he could always blame having his sleeping bag so near Vincent's on the small space and the cold night air.
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The team had stopped for an afternoon break. Vincent spotted Cid sitting on the bank of a small river, and headed towards him.
"Hey, Vinny!"
Yuffie.
Vincent groaned at her shrill voice. "My name is Vincent."
She ignored the correction. "Going to sit with Cid?"
Vincent quickened his pace. So Yuffie did too.
"Why do you always hang out with him?" she pestered.
"Because he's not bothersome and annoying."
"That's not nice!" Yuffie gasped, offended.
Vincent smiled to himself.
"So have you gotten any new materia, Vinny?" she recovered herself.
"My name is Vincent. Stop bouncing."
"Why are you such a bummer, Vinny?"
No response.
"Are you really a vampire?"
Vincent halted and looked at Yuffie. A split second later, Vincent grasped the neck of Yuffie's shirt in his right hand, and wrapped his left arm around her waist. "What are you doing, you freak?" she screamed. "Put me down! Put me down!"
"Siddown, and don't do a thing about it," Barrett said, before Cloud could utter a word. They laughed and watched as Vincent carried the brat to the edge of the water and tossed her in, skillfully moving out of way of any splashing water.
"You bitch!" Yuffie screeched, trying to keep her head above the water.
Cid fell backwards, howling in laughter. Satisfied, Vincent continued on his way to the pilot.
"That...was beautiful..." Cid tried to control his giggling.
"That actually made me feel pretty good," Vincent smiled a little bit and looked over to see that Yuffie had crawled out of the water and was stomping around, throwing a fit.
"She deserved it. You're welcome to do that again anytime, 's'long as I can see your pretty smile," Cid reached up to brush some of the black strands from Vincent's eyes. He hid his face in his cloak as Cid scooted closer.
"Y'know, I've been trying to flirt with you for a few weeks now."
"I...I wasn't sure," Vincent's face turned red. He tried to hide himself further. "I always had a difficult time figuring out if somebody was simply being nice to me, or if they were...uhm..."
"Well, I've definitely been 'uhm-ing'..." Cid gently touched the back of Vincent's hand.
The gunman stalled his response by making sure that Yuffie was far enough away for safety's sake. He turned his hand over to hold Cid's properly, fingers lacing together.
"If ya don't have anything to say, that's fine. Just lemme see your face at least," Cid tugged the bothersome collar down and brushed his thumb across Vincent's reddened cheek, warm and delicate, and over his soft, full lips. The pilot fought the urge to kiss them, afraid the other party members might see. It was simple enough to hide held hands, but a kiss...
"Cid, why?" Vincent murmured.
Cid was amazed that that was even a question. "You're beautiful, Vince."
The gunman smiled sadly and looked away toward the water.
"You can't possibly not know that," Cid lay on his back, still grasping his friend's warm hand.
"Highwind, please." Vincent appreciated the flattery, but couldn't quite understand it. He struggled for the right words. "I know that everything is over between Lucrecia and me. But I haven't had much time to consciously... be alright with it. All the time I was asleep, I only dreamed of sadness and tragedy, and I could only beg for her forgiveness. And before, when I was..."
"With Hojo," Cid finished the sentence.
Vincent winced at the name, and nodded. "Yes, with him. It was so hard to bring myself to believe she was actually..." He trailed off again.
"Vince," Cid didn't want him to be upset. "It's okay. I understand what you're sayin'."
"Just give me some time. We'll start out slow, maybe."
"Yeah, sure thing," Cid sat up again. "Is this arright for now?" he gave his friend's hand a comforting squeeze.
Vincent only nodded, but it was enough to make Cid happy. He would wait forever to get a chance to hold the beautiful gunman in his arms, to kiss him, and most importantly, keep the sadness away. Cid wanted, more than anything, to just give him a reason to smile.