It was nearly morning before she fell asleep. She had stayed awake all night, unwillingly, letting the tears flow. She could barely hold the tears in when it first happened; once they were all asleep she peered out from underneath the meagre blankets and released her bottled emotions.
The little sleep she had was restless. Tossing and turning in the blackness. The few dream fragments she could put a name to were of the incidents in the previous hours. When she awoke, her face was damp, stained by fresh tears. She began to sob again, however she quickly stopped when she noticed a head turn in her direction. She slid herself under the covers on her bed, closed her eyes tight and held her breath.
Crap she thought, there goes my image...
She was just about to open her eyes again when she felt someone tug at the sheets. Deciding that it was best to play asleep, she released the sheets. The figure above her tucked the excess material into the side of the bed and ran their fingers though her hair; almost as if she was a small child. She heard a low sound that sounded like a growl. Soon she realized the figure was talking to her.
"Young Kisaragi, be at peace. The night will pass, and you will awake around those who care for you. Sleep peacefully and feel no regret. What has happened occurred for a reason. Aeris would want to see you smiling, not feeling sorry for her. It was her choice, you know that. She is watching you Yuffie. She will always be with you. No more tears."
Yuffie wanted to open her eyes and hug him. She had never heard such kind words from him before. In fact she had hardly heard more than "..." from him. Yet here he was, trying to soothe her while she was having 'a nightmare' or something. She couldn't believe it. He was trying to rationalize Aeris' death to make her feel better. Typical. Typical Vincent Valentine. Rationalizing everything. This time she wouldn't scoff at him. She wouldn't say anything either. This would wreck his 'image'; and she knew how important image was. She would continue to play the tough, wreck-less ninja, and he could go on being a stoic...
Woah...wait a second she thought. He isn't mad at me?
Last time they had spoken, Vincent was still quite bitter about her swiping his materia. He had lectured her throughly about the importance of trust and was the go-between between her and Cloud. Cloud was less then thrilled about the Wutai escapade and she had hardly gotten to go anywhere with the party. Until this trip. For some reason Cloud had selected her and Vincent. Call it intuition or something. She had become a third wheel to Vincent. Poor guy was stuck watching her 24/7. He would barley say two words to her during the few days they were around each other. And when he did talk it was either "Yuffie, go and fetch more firewood," "Yuffie, give me back the Fire materia, I shall start the fire," or "Now Yuffie..." which generally lead into one of his lectures. She was just annoying him, and she knew it. But now he was being gentle and understanding. Had she been reading him all wrong? She didn't know...but he was getting up to leave. She wanted to thank him, but couldn't just pop up from being 'asleep'...
She rolled over onto her other side and mumbled into her pillow, "Thanks Vinnie." She crossed her fingers hoping her sleep-talking act had worked...
- - -
He sighed as she mumbled in her sleep. The young ninja had been up all night crying, and even though she had attempted to hide it, few things slipped by him. That marked the third time he had gone to comfort her back to a peaceful rest. Cloud was moving out of the area in the early afternoon, which meant rock-climbing. Vincent knew Yuffie needed her rest because a full day of work was ahead of her. Poor girl...
Not as poor as Aeris, right Valentine?
He groaned a silent groan. The demons in his head. Silencing them had always been a horrendous task. However when he was around Aeris and Yuffie, they tended to fall silent. Perhaps that was why he didn't mind the spunky ninja's company. She could be a bit aggravating, but it seemed to make his inner demons 'shy'; if he could dare to put a human emotion to the devils. Aeris was a Cetra and her presence was something just short of Holy. Aeris...how brave she was. Here he was telling Yuffie not to dwell, and yet he was doing it himself.
You just stood there Valentine. You just watched her die...you LET her die...
Silence, you miserable monsters. I did nothing of the sort. There was nothing I could have done to intervene. Aeris chose her own path.
You could have done something about Sephiroth. You know it. You offer sympathy to Kisaragi, but none to Strife. You knew of his love for the Ancient.
This time the demon spoke truth. He could see the infatuation between Cloud and Aeris almost right after he had joined the group. Offering sympathy to Cloud would not be easy, Cloud was not one to accept sympathy very well. He was afraid of raising awkward feelings between the two of them. Cloud was a proud man and would not care to be nostalgic in this situation.
Fear has made you afraid Valentine...
You'll never be free from this suffering...
He tried to silence the demon again, but it seemed as if it has something to say.
This cycle will repeat itself over and over until there's no one left...
First you let Lucrecia die...
SILENCE DEMON!! he screamed at the devil. But the taunting continued.
Now you've let Aeris die...
Who will you fail to protect next Valentine?
Yuffie? Tifa? Cloud?
You are damned forever to this fate Valentine...
Every time you'll watch them die and every time you'll do nothing...
This is your punishment...
Quiet you monster, begone and leave me to my own thoughts...
You have no right to call me the monster Valentine...
You are the one WATCHING as all those you've cared about are murdered...
YOU are the monster Valentine, not me...
This IS YOUR punishment...
...monster...
Laughs of demons and the screams of a man filled Vincent's head. Swarming, attacking. Until it was too much for him to handle. Vincent Valentine collapsed onto the bed in the shell home in the Forgotten City. Vincent collapsed from a world where fate laughed at him and into a world that was against him.
With Aeris gone, only Yuffie stood between the demons and Vincent's sanity...
- - -
"Vinnie?" Yuffie was sure he had heard him gasping for air. She sat up in the bed and saw him sprawled out on his bed. She dismissed it as exhaustion and went back to sleep. Only now she dreamt of happiness and peace, unlike Vincent who now dreamt of death and Chaos.
~FIN~
A/N: Ya! Lookie, another spur of the moment story. My friend got FF7 recently and just today did she get to the end of disk one. I was on the phone with her when Sephiroth killed Aeris. I started bawling again. Geez, am I awful or what. Call this inspiration, call it madness, just don't call it copyright infringement. Cause if Squaresoft tries to sue me, they'll get a whole lotta action figures!! Ciao!