Final Fantasy VII: Timeless Sonata

Well, welcome to my newest brain child, Timeless Sonata. There will be many themes having to do with music, you'll see what I mean as time goes on. I'm marking it Mature because it's a bit violent, and more then likely Lemon will show up at some point, just because of the nature of the story. I'm not sure how long it will be, but this idea has been stuck in my head for so long, I've decided to just get it out there! This is a time travel story, at least for the first half, and I know it's been done, but please bare with me… it's a much different concept. I've been missing Yuffentine lately, so hopefully this will also fuel my creative fires for Adventures in Living. Anyway, please enjoy! This is going to be a romance between Vincent and Yuffie, so if you don't like it, please don't comment about that, you've been warned! Oh "Right Here Waiting" is by Richard Marx, and I don't own anything! If I did, Vincent wouldn't wear so much damn clothing!

Now, without further ado, Timeless Sonata!

Chapter 1: Right Here Waiting

Wherever you go
What ever you do
I will be right here waiting for you
Whatever it takes
Or how my heart breaks
I will be right here waiting for you

Vincent frowned as Yuffie skipped along a glowing pool of water, much too recklessly for his taste. What if she was to fall into such a Mako drenched pond, he was sure she wouldn't be better off for the wear. He let out a sigh, once that the ninja heard and she stopped, still perched much too precariously, but at least she wasn't jumping any longer.

"Hey Vince, why do you sigh all the time. You could just tell me to get down you know. This passive-aggressive thing isn't good for either of us." She put a hand on her hip, and cocked her head, reminding him again of a girl he'd known in his youth. He'd always been a bit… protective… of the ninja, even though he played it off, and it was because she reminded him of someone he'd known, and loved, the year before he met Lucrecia. Yuki had been the last, good thing to happen to him, and he figured that his old feelings helped in some ways. His hand went to his pocket, where he always had the one memento he'd manage to keep of the illusive girl, a comb that had fallen from her hair the night she'd disappeared. They'd never found her, and he hoped the girl had just returned to Wutai. One night they'd been out, and he'd left just for a moment and she was gone. Yuffie bore such a resemblance to Yuki that he wondered if she was related, perhaps she'd really been a princess, and that was why she'd fought so hard to get away from whomever it was she was running from.

The gunman walked over and put his hand out, and the ninja wasted no time taking it, so he could help her down. "Why did Reeve send us to the crater anyway? It's only monsters and more monsters, what did he think we'd find anyway?" Yuffie looked up at Vincent with an annoyed look, but the gunman could tell that it wasn't directed at him, but at Reeve for sending them to the dangerous and eerie place.

"He's received reports of energy spikes, and with Cloud and Tifa's wedding impending, we were the only two he could send that were already in Edge." Vincent frowned at Yuffie when she made her way back toward the slippery rock wall, to play on it again. This little, bored ninja was going to be the death of him; he was convinced of that. He came up to her quickly and reached out, taking her upper arm gently in his claw, to try and guide her away. Most normal girls would have shied away from the weapon, but the kunoichi took it as help, and hopped right back up where she was. He let out another sigh, carefully letting her go in order to get a better grip when the unthinkable happened. The tunnel around them erupted, mako spewed past them, clear up to Vincent's knees, and he tried to grab Yuffie before she fell back into the water, but the current was fast. She was knocked back into the larger pool, and before he could dive in after her, there was a bright, green flash… and she was gone.

.:xXx:.

Yuffie found herself in a dark place, a spot of light was far in the distance, but for some reason, when she thought about wanting to be there, she found herself surrounded by light and the sweet smell of lilies.

"Aerith?" She said softly, though her voice seemed obscenely loud to her own ears, and she had no idea what was going on. She tried to look around, but a gentle touch to her shoulder stopped the frantic looking.

"You have to save him Yuffie… you have to save them all. Only you can do it."

"It is you!" She exclaimed, wanting to hug the flower girl, but also not wanting her to disappear. "What do you mean?" She said softly after that, not wanting to understand, but the worry was too overwhelming. "Who, who is 'he.'"

"You know, in your heart, deep down, you know all too well whom I mean. Something is about to happen, something only you can stop… You alone have to power Yuffie."

"I don't have power to save people, I have power to mess things up, and steal materia…"

"That's not true, and through this whole ordeal, you will learn something very important about yourself, something that may impact the whole world."

The ninja girl spun around, only to find flowers, then the scene started to fade, and she felt like she was falling. Yuffie called out in alarm, and her dead friend smiled at the important name that was the first to come from her lips.

.:xXx:.

"Vincent!"

The young ninja bolted up, only to find herself rather dirty, and laying in a dark place that smelled like dog urine and trash. It was a stark contrast to the white expanses and fragrant flowers she'd just seen in the Lifestream. Her clothes were wet, which was probably why the filth of the alley was sticking to her so badly. "Oh grossness," she muttered, looking around to try and figure out where she was. Her eyes traveled up, to an immense… something… that was blotting out the light.

"Midgar?" She whispered, it seemed that was where she was, the slums under the Midgar plates. But here, there were no holes, no devastation… just a busy, meager existence from what she could hear on the streets outside the alley. The tiny ninja was pretty darn sure she was in the slums, but how she got there, she had no idea. Yuffie was about to get up off the dirty floor when a huge man came around the corner, with an evil glint in his eyes.

The ninja girl tried to scramble away, but her foot got caught on some sort of metal and she just ended up back on her butt.

"Where ya going girlie? I want to have some fun with you." Yuffie squeaked as she tried to get her foot uncaught, though she paused when she saw something strange happen to his eyes. It was almost as black smoke was trailing across them, from inside the eye socket! She knew that was totally impossible, but there wasn't any other way to describe it.

"Leave me alone, I'm a ninja, I'll totally kick your ass!" She tried to kick him in the crotch, but the plan backfired. She was twisted at a weird angle, and couldn't put any force behind it. The nasty guy managed to pin her, and because her foot was stuck, her legs were easily open, and by the time she realized what he was going to do, it was to late for her to do much about it.

This guy was scary strong, we're talking Cloud strong, like she half expected him to pull out a huge sword rather then a little knife. "Help!" She screamed once before he pressed the blade to her neck, and he started to try and get her pants off. It was a good thing she'd been at the crater and wasn't wearing her normal attire, or he would have had much less of a problem with her garments. Her mind was racing, and she searched for something, anything she could bash into his head, jab into his gut. But with the knife to her throat, there wasn't much she could do.

Tears started to leak from her eyes, as a very scared, very sad name came from her lips, one she didn't even really realize she was saying. Back where she belonged, she knew Vincent was probably frantically searching for her, and she would never come back. The crimson gunman had always blamed himself for women who die under his care, and she was just going end up being guilt to him. A little part of her that still believed in Santa and Unicorns had always hoped she'd be more… special… to him.

A gunshot rang out, and Yuffie squeezed her eyes shut, feeling something hot and sticky on her clothes and upper arms. For a moment, there was all of a sudden a huge weight on her, so much so she couldn't even breathe, then it was gone.

"Are you alright?" came a deep voice, and her heart leapt into her throat, and her eyes came open, and she blinked. It was Vincent all right, she couldn't mistake his eyes, but it wasn't her Vincent. Was she in the past? Because looking back at her was a rather tanned, shorthaired man, in a blue suit. Wait a minute; Aerith said I had to help him. The "him" in question, must be Vincent. But what am I supposed to do? I can't stop Lucrecia, I can't stop what happens to him, or the whole future will be changed. Even if bad things happened, the Planet was saved. If not for that, then Shinra may never have changed their ways. Besides, if I tell him, Vincent will be an old man when I'm a little girl… but don't I owe him that, a happy life, free of sin?

Vincent was looking at her expectantly, and she wiped the blood and tears from her face. "I think so, I'm sorry… I've… um… you look familiar, I was startled a bit."

"Well, after what was about to happen to you, I can understand that. I'm Vincent, Vincent Valentine, can I help you somewhere?"

Yuffie blinked, a small blush coming to her cheeks. This Vincent was so much different then the broken man she'd come to care for. He was, nice and had an easy air about him. Sure, he still moved like an assassin, but he didn't act like one. "Actually, I'm sort of lost. I was, taken from my home, and kind of dropped here. This is Midgar, right? I don't have anywhere to stay, and I don't really know what to do. I have some Materia, but I don't really want to sell it…"

The Turk raised his eyebrows, a small smirk coming to his face. "You must be a Princess from Wutai. Only a high-class girl would have Materia on her. I don't even have any. It's rare, and very hard to come by."

"Maybe, how do you know I'm from Wutai?"

"I was raised there. My father was originally from Corel, but my mother was from Wutai. In fact, you resemble a playmate I had in my youth… a girl named Mitime. You wouldn't happen to be related to her, would you?"

This was bad, she should have known that Vincent would be able to put two and two together without much information, she'd have to be more careful, not to mention he was friends with her mother! Damn, I'm scared, and happy at the same time, I'm learning stuff about him already, and it's only been a few minutes. She smiled, "yeah I know Mitime. So you know then, why I don't want to part with my materia if I can help it. I'm Yuki, I'm pleased to meet a friend to Mitime."

The handsome man smiled a bit, and then moved to help her free her foot. Neither of them had expected what happened next, but the corpse of the man Vincent had shot moved. We aren't talking death spasms; the thing sat up, and swung at her friend, slashing his back with the knife still gripped in his hand. The dead man's face was still twisted in some, grotesque cross between lust and surprise, but the murkiness in his eyes was now completely taking it over, and the whole eyeball looked like ink. "Vincent! Oh my gawd, he's still alive! Grossness!" How was that possible, with all the blood, and the hole in the guy's side, there was no way!

Vincent moved to cover Yuffie, pushing the undead thing back and grabbing out his gun, pressing the barrel to the thing's forehead and he fired. The force of the gun took most of his head off, and the corpse fell away again. A black mist rose from the man like the Lifestream rose from wounds to the planet, and disappeared.

The ninja turned to her Turk friend and gasped a bit, his shoulder was bleeding badly, and his suit was cut nearly to his hip. His left arm hung there, since his shoulder was injured the worst, and his breathing was a bit labored. Oh gawd, that's right, he doesn't have his demons yet. And no matter how much he cursed them, they could always keep him alive.

She moved, since her foot was free, and wrapped her arms around him, to keep him up. His good hand still held his firearm, which she help him put back in his holster. "Are you alright?"

"I've been worse," he said softly, letting Yuffie help him to his feet. She was covered in muck and blood, he was injured… she needed to get somewhere to clean them both up.

"My apartment isn't too far from the station once we get to the plate. You don't have anywhere else to go, right? You can stay with me a few days, until we can figure out how to help you. That is… if you aren't worried about staying with a strange man."

"I trust you, you work for Shinra right?" She couldn't believe she was saying that, but what choice did she have? She needed Vincent to think she was just trusting, even though she already knew him so well and she'd lay down her life for him if it was needed. "Besides, any friend of Mitime is a friend of mine." She moved to help him if he needed it, staying on his good side. She blinked, and then pulled her backpack off her back, remembering that she had the first aide supplies for their little trip to the crater. She pulled out the kit, "I always keep one with me, let me at least stop the bleeding."

Vincent nodded, and once they were out of the alleyway, he sat down on the rusted tailgate of an old truck and pulled his jacket and shirt off with her help. Yuffie made a face, the wound was deep and not very clean, and so she grabbed out some antiseptic wipes and bit her lip. "This will probably sting, so be ready." She started to dab the area, trying not to be fascinated with how his muscles clenched when she touched him. Sure, she was hurting him, she knew this already, but she rarely got to see Vincent half naked… in fact she was pretty sure she'd never seen it, so it was a rare opportunity. A pale blush crept up on her cheeks, and she was surprised to hear a deep chuckle coming out of the gunslinger.

"What?" She said, a bit annoyed, which just caused more laughter to come out of him.

"You've never seen a man's chest before?"

"No, I have, plenty of times…" After all, Barret never even wore a shirt, but she'd never touched one before.

"Hm, you're pretty young, aren't you?" She frowned at the glint she saw in his eyes, and decided that, even if Grumpy Vincent was going to be cross with her later, she couldn't turn up the opportunity to flirt unabashed with the hottest guy she'd ever seen.

"Listen you, I'm 21! I can drink anywhere I want, and I have battle scars! I won't forgive you if you treat me like a baby."

"I didn't say you were a baby, it's just cute the way you keep sneaking glances at my chest."

The ninja's mouth fell open and she looked to the Turk, who had that maddening smirk on his face again. Was he trying to be sexy? Was he trying to give her a bloody nose!? This was crazy, but if she didn't know better, Vincent Valentine was flirting with her! "What makes you think I haven't seen and touched a lot of bare male chests, and I'm just blushing because yours is the best I've seen so far?"

His smirk grew into a smile, and he laughed a bit again, "Well, I've always had a weakness for pretty girls. It'll be my downfall, I'm sure."

Yuffie felt a knot forming in her chest, and before she knew it, she was fighting tears that wanted to fill her eyes. What was wrong with her? Was it that he could so freely laugh and smile, or was it that a pretty woman was in fact, his downfall. She must have looked bad because instantly his expression changed, and his good hand came up and wiped a tear that had gotten away from her, much to her horror.

"Did I say something to upset you?"

"No!" She shook her head, the sorrow in her gut wouldn't go away, but she was the master of sunshine and blowing smoke, so she put a shy smile on her face. "No one has ever called me pretty before. I was just surprised and happy. Sorry to worry you." She went back to her work, but she could tell he knew she was just trying to be cheerful to hide her real feelings. She bandaged the worst part of the wound before moving to bandage the shallower wound on his back, which meant she had to wrap her arms around him to get it closed.

Yuffie was glad he didn't tense up when she did put her arms around him, but he did look over his shoulder at her, a worried look on his face. It caught her off guard, since the only time he'd ever given her that look was when he'd pulled her out of Nero's prison, it took near death situations for him to even pretend to have feelings for her. "Yuki, you seem to have been through a lot. I'll help you, but you have to tell me the truth. Men haven't been nice to you, have they? You were almost raped, it's okay to be angry and sad."

She swallowed, and wrapped her arms around his middle, laying her head against his uninjured shoulder. To him, she'd be a lost girl, but to her, he was a cherished friend, that she rarely got to be so open with. "I ran away. My father was trying to make me marry an abusive man. I knew if I didn't run away, that I'd die. I didn't mean to come here, to Midgar, but that's what fate had in store for me." It was the truth, she just couldn't tell him that his older, more jaded self had been the one to save her, and that they'd been partners for the last year with the WRO, and he'd been the one to help take care of her. She also couldn't tell him that she was in love with the longhaired version of Vincent, and had been for years.

More tears leaked out when she felt his hand settle over hers, and she could feel his deep voice from where she was as well as hear him. "I won't let anything happen to you. I promise you that, I'll protect you, and you can come stay with me as long as you want."

Yuffie sniffed and nodded a bit, finishing up the bandaging before helping him get his shirt back on. "Thank you Vincent, you really are a nice guy."

"I'm not a saint, but I try to help when I can."

Yuffie moved out of the truck bed and hopped to the ground, helping him up again. "Alright, so which way? I know nothing about this city!" Her chipper self seemed to come back, for real this time, and she smiled at him when he smiled down at her. He used his good arm to point in the direction of the train platform, and she started out that way. Her mind kept going back to her Vincent in the crater. Maybe she could figure out a way to help him, maybe, just maybe, she could see him smile like this Vincent did. Perhaps he would laugh and smirk and be more like he used to, tempered with his life experiences. She'd save him, like Aerith had asked. She'd come up with a plan; she knew she could do it. She was, after all, the Great Ninja Yuffie!