(...happy thoughts...)
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Of Yuffie-birds and Flying
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The cops called it suicide, but those who had been close to her knew otherwise.
He'd been the one to find her small, mangled body twisted up in impossibly unnatural ways with a grin on her face to rival the Cheshire Cat's. She looked so amazingly content that it took a few moments for him to realize that she was dead. It took another few moments of emotionless staring to realize that he should probably tell someone. He walked towards the nearest building and silently opened the door, the people inside looked unnerved by his sudden appearance, but he paid them no mind. Slowly he dialed the numbers on an old, black telephone and told the operator in a very Squall-monotone way that Yuffie Kisaragi had just jumped off the Bell Tower and was very much dead and could they please send someone to fetch her.
He decided it would probably be wise to tell Aerith (she immediately broke out into loud, hysterical sobs of disbelief and anguish) and Cid (who'd called him a &#$ing #$er and told him to stop lying, because it wasn't goddamn funny). After that he'd stuck his hands in his pockets and walked out, leaving the two to comfort each other or something. He didn't have any words to soothe Aerith's sobs and he knew that Cid would be drunk soon enough and Squall was not in the mood to deal with either of them.
So he walked down the Traverse Town streets, taking out the few heartless that dared get in his way. Slowly he made his towards the gizmo shop. He scowled upwards.
"Idiot."
With an annoyed sigh he wrenched open the door and stepped inside. A soldier materialized and was struck down before it could even get its bearings. After that it was quiet, only the whir of machines and his own labored breathing to keep him company. The stillness angered him. Traverse town was never still. There were heartless and screaming people and when he'd finally managed to fend off the worst of the shadows, there'd been a humming Aerith and a cursing Cid and a...
A bouncing, bubbling, half-insane ninja girl.
A Yuffie.
And then he was running, tearing through the gizmo shop and flinging open the door. He let out a lion's roar and began climbing up the ladder.
When he reached the top he moved right to the edge (she'd been standing there right before - standing right there right before and so he was now and he'd never followed her if he could help it).
"Idiot."
Again and again. Because she was stupid. Absolutely, raving MAD. She waits for god-fuck ever and smiles for even longer and he thought that they'd be okay, because Sora was there and Sora was good and Sora could fix everything, but nothing ever changes in the life of Squall Leonhart and everything he touches DIES (a reverse midas touch that he hates and never asked for, but exists without reason or purpose or care).
And he wished to the high heavens that it could have been suicide. He would have accepted suicide. He'd thought about it himself after all. Giving up because the battle was too much and there was no real strength left sounded good to him. Giving in to the darkness. Comforting.
But Yuffie was nothing like him.
He was a lion and Yuffie was a bird (loud and chirping and ANNOYING). He roared and she darted about his head, just out of reach. He'd lash out, but she'd still flutter nearby and he'd give in eventually and allow the bird (the Yuffie-bird) to rest on him, because the extra warmth was nice after all.
Suicide would have never crossed her mind.
When she stood here (how long ago was it anyway?) death would have been the last thing on her mind. When she'd stood here she must have seen the sky, not the ground. It was so Yuffie. So very Yuffie.
And she would have jumped on purpose (which is why they said it was suicide). The girl jumped on her own and fell through the sky (shot down by some hunter and the Yuffie-bird sings no more) and hit the ground (a grin to rival the cheshire cat on her bratty Yuffie-bird face). It wasn't an accident. She wasn't pushed.
She just jumped.
But not to die.
Not Yuffie, never Yuffie.
Because she was nothing like him.
She hadn't longed for death.
She'd simply tried to fly.
And that's why she's the idiot. Because she was a ninja, but she wasn't a god and she wasn't Sora (who can fix everything) and she wasn't really a bird (what Yuffie-bird hated the most was how grounded she felt sometimes). But she jumped anyway, because she was Yuffie and she didn't doublethink and she had always wondered what wings would feel like and she was nothing like him.
And he had never loved anyone as much as he had loved her.
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a/n: this is definitely AU and takes place sometime during the first Kingdom Hearts game. This things been sitting in my folder for awhile and I finally managed to finish it. I am so proud.