Thirty years... I spent that much time hidden away from the world. Thirty years in a coffin. Thirty years atoning for my sins. The only reason I left was because I had the chance to atone for another of my sins, the child who should have been mine. The child who grew up to be a monster.
A child named Sephiroth.
Even when he threatened to destroy the Planet, even as I had him staring down the barrel of my Death Penalty, I felt hesitant. Hesitant to destroy the last piece of my love left here on this earth. But I did, because he was beyond rescue. Beyond atonement, or salvation. Beyond help.
Which made me beg the question, am I too beyond help? After Sephiroth had been killed, I felt no reason to stay with the others. On our journey, I feel no shame in saying we had become more than acquaintances. Possibly even friends. But I did not want to put the others at risk because of my...condition.
So I left. I went back to the Mansion, to return to my slumber and atonement. But I was restless, unable to confine myself for unknown reasons. So instead, I took to repairing the mansion, using the money I had accrued in my travel. In less than a year, and a little under 20,000 gil, I had completely restored the mansion to a genuinely livable condition. I even had the piano restored and tuned, and had taken to playing it, to pass the nights by myself.
After not having any contact with any of the group since Sephiroth was killed, you can imagine my surprise when one showed up at my door. Add to that it was the least likely to do so, and one might even think I would have laughed at the situation.
I had just finished cleaning the kitchen when I heard the doorbell chime. I wasn't expecting anyone, so I grabbed one of the many hidden weapons I had stashed throughout the house as I made my way to the door. Looking through the peephole, I saw no one. Cautiously, I opened the door, and much to my chagrin, a seventeen year-old Wutain princess was bleeding on my doorstep.
Uhhhh, my head...
I tried to roll onto my side, and I felt sharp pains criss-crossing my entire body, and I squeaked in pain.
"Yuffie, are you in pain?"
I tried to open my eyes, but something, bandages likely, covered them. But that voice...
"V-Vincent?" What was Vincent doing here? In fact, where in Leviathan's name am I?
"Yes, Yuffie." Short and curt, like usual.
"Where am I?" My voice was barely a whisper. Partially hoarse, and partially terrified.
"The second floor guest room of my home." If I didn't feel like someone had stabbed my all across my body, I would have laughed.
"In Nibelheim? Wh-what happened?" I could hear his sigh. Not good.
"I was hoping you would have that answer. I simply found you injured on my doorstep." He sounded worried, and that's TOTALLY not good. "What's the last thing you remember?"
Hmmm. That materia heist! No, wait, that was last month. The boat? No... Wait. "The last thing I remember was leaving Rocket Town."
"Rocket Town?" His voice betrayed his curiosity.
"I was visiting the old fart and Shera, and I was on my way to Corel to see if Barret could help me find-" I coughed. "Could I have something to drink, my throat hurts."
"Of course." His footsteps left the room, and not even thirty second later, were back. I felt a hand slide under my neck and lift it slightly, and a glass pressed to my lips. I drank slowly, so as not to choke on the water, and before long, there was nothing left.
"So, what were you looking for?" Crap, he remembered that bit.
"Oh! I wasn't looking for anything." I tried to smile at him, but probably ended up grimacing instead. He chuckled.
"Fine then. Who were you looking for?" Holy Leviathan, is he psychic or something? Gawd, I can't lie to Vincent, especially when I can't even get out of bed.
I took a deep breath, let it go, and breathed again. "It's been a year Vincent, almost...exactly, since we fought Sephiroth, and nobody has heard from you at all.."
"You were looking for me?" His voice was small, but even with how quiet it was, I heard the shock in it.
"Yeah." I didn't have a lot to say now, I could feel my cheeks heat up.
It was silent for a few minutes, and it was Vincent who finally broke the silence. "Yuffie, we can discuss this and the others later. But you should know that when I found you, you had been injured severely-"
I cut him off, he oviously didn't know I was an expert ninja. "Vince, I'll be fine. I've had worse."
He sighed. "I know you have, I've seen you in worse condition. But I no longer have a Restore materia, and you had nothing but the cloth on your back when I found you, so I had to treat your wounds by hand. I had a proper field kit to close up most of the wounds, but one injury... Yuffie, I don't know how to say this..."
I was starting to get scared. "Just spit it out, Vince."
"Your eyes. I think...you might be blind."acquaintances