Disclaimer: I do not own Squaresoft/ Squareenix or Final fantasy.

There is some harsh language from the good captain

Vincent's pov...

It was possibly our last night alive on this insane planet and somehow, I found myself in his company. It wasn't anything planned, I didn't have anywhere else to go and it seemed neither did he.

Any conversation that normally flowed so easily between us seemed to have stopped and we sat in silence. The patrons of the pub in the Costa del Sol gave us a wide...well, gave me the wide berth. That seemed to amuse my companion, he just looked at me and took a rather long swig of the vile concoction he had decided to drink for the evening. He sat across from me and his legs rested to my right on the seat cushions. I had noticed the sand on the dark boots he wore and for once, he was without his blue flight jacket. He still had his goggles though, the candle on the table barely making a reflection in the glass.

I knew that he would only regret the decision of drinking so heavily tonight in the morning but right now, it was possibly the last drink the guy would ever have so I allowed him to indulge. I gave myself the luxury of an old bottle wine, but in all honesty, how many of the other members of our little group would really stay sober this evening?

"...why aren't you heading to Rocket Town?" I asked after I had grown weary of the silence between us, the silences had became more frequent since he had been placed as our temporary leader those long weeks back.

Cid said nothing but gave me a slow one sided smile. His cigarette rested on the ashtray as it slowly burned itself away. Blue eyes watched the candle on the table flicker and blinked just as slowly as he had smiled. To those who didn't know him, they might have thought he was drunk or stoned out his mind but he just seemed...to me at least...tired. His eyes drifted to my claw and the look seemed to intensify to mild interest.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" though I didn't seem to feel as annoyed as I used to when people looked at it.

The damn smile was still there though, "The candlelight looks pretty cool on your hand..."

I hated it when he would use normal human terms for me. He never referred to my metal claw as what it was, it was always my hand. Didn't he realize that it wasn't a hand anymore? It was a mechanical device, a torture implement that Hojo had given me as part of my punishment for touching his Lucrecia.

"Any particular reason as to why the fucker took your left hand?" Cid asked one of his rare and direct questions about my past, he hadn't even inquired about it, even when it was obvious that Yuffie and Cait Sith were busting at the seams to tell him.

"...it's the hand where people have a wedding band," I found myself trying to think of the reason myself, "he didn't want me finding love."

I didn't really believe that myself but I didn't want the silence to fall back over us again so I had said the first thing that had popped into my head, whether it was true or not. I hated silence. I had enough of it over thirty years in that coffin, stuck in the basement of the mansion.

The former Shinra pilot looked at the metal claw I had and then back at me, "So if he wanted to affect your heart, the hell didn't he take it? Pretty hard to love someone if ya don't have one."

I laughed, it made no sense but I think it was the drink talking for his normally quite reasonable mind. If Hojo really didn't want me to be happy, then why did he let me live? Why put the creatures in my body in an attempt to destroy it only for them to heal me when they are called back?

"Damned if I know," I responded after a few moments, "why are you so interested in my past all of a sudden?"

That smile came back, "I ain't. Just wanna know what subjects I can talk about before you get in one of your broody moody sulks."

"One of my sulks?"

"Hmm," he nodded as he stood up to head to the bar, leaving me alone with my thoughts for a few moments.

I hated how he would do that when he was with another member of AVALANCHE, say something and then walk way from them. The looks of confusion and anger would stay on the faces as they were left. I had watched him do that to the woman he had lived with after we had returned to the planet from the launch of the rocket.

When would that woman finally snap and growl at the blonde pilot? What would be the result and who would be the one smarting from the attack? Cid though had been getting more subdued over the past few weeks, as though whatever energy he had had been drained.

It was understandable, I was tired. We all were but Cid hadn't really stopped commanding the team, even though Cloud has returned from his leave of absence. Our young and valiant leader seemed to lean on the older blonde for support for the first few days and even now, I doubt Cloud could do what he had planned if Cid isn't there.

I was about to say something in regards to the sulk comment but he interrupted me before I had the chance.

"You're awfully quiet..." Cid stated as he placed a beer in front of me, he sat closer than what he had done previously and I decided that I actually enjoyed the accidental sharing the body heat.

I leaned forward, my long hair finally coming in use as I kept my slight smile away from him. I gave him a sideways glance and shook my head. Didn't he realize by now that I am always quiet, that it was who I was.

"That's who I..." he interrupted me before I could finish.

"Fuck that, no it ain't. Stop being what Hojo wants you to be," he sounded annoyed as he took a sip of his drink and seemed to sulk for a few seconds.

Stop being what Hojo wanted me to be? I was a Turk a long time ago, I couldn't stop being one. Being quiet was part of me and I couldn't be loud if I tried. We had the silence drummed into us at training, if we were caught making a noise during our training, then we were heavily disciplined. In cold weather, my right shoulder would seize up due to some rather over zealous instructor dislocating it on three separate occasions.

"Why don't you just grab life by the damn crown jewels and take what you want," he piped up, "you deserve it. Hell, we might not be here at the end of the week."

The end of the week...seven days. It would take seven days for the destructive force of Meteor to blast the planet into bite size pieces and for Sephiroth to get his insane wish of wanting to become a god. Hojo had really out done himself on creating a real evil villain. All he needed was a theme tune and we'd have a soap opera in the making.

He told me to grab life and to take what I want, if I did that tonight, I doubted I would get to see the end of the week. I didn't even know why I but I had found myself attracted to the man next to me. I didn't understand it, I wasn't gay but there was something about my companion that entranced me.

"I'm not the one who's quiet. You haven't been yourself since Corel," I tried to turn the conversation back to him, I preferred talking about his own past rather than mine.

Not one of the group really knew anything about the blonde captain. Cait Sith shared no information with me and Shera refused to spill any secrets when we had stayed in the town. He would share only small snippets of his past but nothing concrete, he had told Cloud that he had fallen asleep during Loveless when he had first been interviewed for a pilot.

I felt him tense as soon as I mentioned Corel, that could have been a rather nasty affair if Lady Luck had bailed on us. Amazingly, Cid had stopped the train from crashing and save an entire town. What kind of response would I get if I mentioned Fort Condor? We had near enough the entire Shinra army knocking on the front door and we fought off every one of them. That was another close call.

Perhaps Fort Condor was the big neon sign that told the group that our leader of the moment was having trouble and that he wasn't his usual loud self? I wanted to tell him to relax and to chill out.

I thought we would have had that chance when he had suddenly announced that we going to check on Cloud and Tifa after Corel but as soon as we had got there, we had been plunged into battle with the huge form of Weapon. Cid had watched the destruction of the hot spring town and I had never seen our captain so lost and quiet.

"...does it matter now? Ain't tonight all about us thinking about our reasons for staying in on this crazy shit?" he muttered as he sipped his drink.

"So why are you drinking with me? Head home to Rocket Town," I stated as I leaned back, "Go and talk to Shera. She's mad about you."

I watched as he pulled his goggles down around his neck, giving him a chance to run both hands through his hair unhindered. He looked younger than he was, his bangs falling over his forehead and I found myself staring at him with something other than friendship.

The feeling I had though, I pushed down into the back of my mind. I didn't want to break this wondrous little friendship I had managed to salvage up, if I acted on impulse as I would have done in my early Turk days, I would have been drinking my meals through a straw for a couple of weeks.

"Shera...yeah...she is but," words had never seemed to fail the captain before but now, it was like he couldn't find any he wanted to use. He kept stopping and starting.

"Too much has happened...it just wouldn't work out," he managed, "I mean...I love 'er but I ain't in love with the damn girl."

"Is there anyone you would consider as special in your life?" I ran my right hand through my hair, unsure why I had just asked that. Well, I did, but I think I didn't want to readily admit it.

I kinda hoped there wasn't but life had never really been that nice to me, I almost hoped the next words out of his mouth would be 'well, actually, would you believe it if I said it was you,' but I told myself to get a steady grip on reality. It was never likely to happen this side of the millennium.

Blue eyes looked at me, losing that dreamlike state he had been in for the best part of the night. His lips quirked into a confused smile before settling into one that looked like he had seen a world of sadness and was seeing it happen for a second time.

"No...ain't anybody shown interest in me," he admitted slowly, "aint exactly what most good folks say as lovable."

Didn't he realize that he was lovable? He could be rough around the edges but it meant nothing to those who really cared about him. Shera would walk through hot coals for him and so would I. If he asked, I would gladly tell him that but it seemed that we weren't allowed to have that asked.

"TIME GENTLEMEN!" the barman called out to the patrons, it surely couldn't have been that late, was it?

Cid frowned as he stood up, "Come on. Let's hit another bar."

I copied the move but didn't frown. I was still querying the last statement he had said. Nobody had shown interest in him? Was he blind? I had seen Tifa flirt with him and various girls along our travels had pretty much sat in his lap and offered themselves without hesitation and he had turned them down.

He took hold of my metal wrist and began to lead me out of the bar, there wasn't anywhere else we could go to get a drink and the captain's personal moonshine stash was back on the airship. That stuff I swear was used to clean the engines of the rocket and the Highwind. I couldn't really be bothered making my way there but I simply allowed Cid to lead me to wherever he wanted.

"Where are we going?" I asked as he never let go of my wrist, "As much as I like blind dates, this is pretty weird."

Cid stopped suddenly, making me crash into him. He turned round and looked at me with a funny look. His blue eyes catching the moonlight and I found myself wanting to look into them for the rest of the night. I wanted to hear his voice the way it had been back before he had seen the horrors that AVALANCHE had been through.

"...well, isn't that part of this fucking job description?" the captain offered as he turned to head back round to where ever he was leading us.

One of the good things about being in the sun resort of Costa Del Sol was the beach was only a few feet away from the bar and it seemed that was to be our destination. He didn't say a word but he gave me a few sneaky glances when he thought I wasn't looking though if he was smiling or not, I missed it.

Cid stopped on the sand and let go of my wrist. He looked and pointed up to the stars and smiled, I should have looked up then but I was to busy trying to memorize his profile. It looked different without the goggles on his head. The stars could wait for one more night.

"Cid...why are we here?" I wrapped my cloak around my frame, the heat of the beach had long since left the area, "How bout we head back into the warmth and get some sleep."

"Is that really important right now? I mean...who the hell would care if we didn't do this? Can't we just get absolutely wrecked for the next seven days?" he asked as he sat down on the sand.

Of course it was important, we were going to save the planet. Complete the prayer that Aeris had started and that Sephiroth was stopping. The people of the planet would care, the rest of AVALANCHE would and I sure as hell care.

I sat down beside him and placed an arm around him, surprised at my own actions but I became more so when Cid leaned into me. I put it down to him being cold but was it something else? Did he feel the same way as I did or was this far more innocent than I wanted it to be?

"You know," I whispered, enjoying hearing him breath and not ask questions for a few moments, "people are interested in you."

His laugh sounded so hollow, "Hmm...interested in fitting me with a damn toe tag."

"When you don't smoke or swear at something," my heart rate must have doubled and how Cid couldn't hear or feel it by then was beyond me, "you are...kinda...cute."

"Cute? Are you calling me cute?" the blonde in my arms right now sounded like he didn't know if he wanted to be angry or confused or flattered by my comment but I had a nervous laugh and a crude joke waiting if he took it the wrong way.

The wrong way being a rejection of my affection towards him and that this peaceful bubble that had covered us tonight would burst and we would be back to where we were a few weeks back. I didn't want that.

"Yeah...I guess I am," I held my breath, waiting for him to strike at me.

He pulled himself away, looking directly into my face. His blue eyes looking everywhere but at my red eyes. Shyness was a suddenly new little quirk that had managed to creep his way into his personality and he looked unsure of himself.

"but...but you're a guy," Cid shook his head, "why...no...I mean...what?"

I shrugged a little, this wasn't going down the way I had planned. Every passing second threatened me with a blow but none came. He simply looked at me with those eyes he had and that unsure look. Did he even realize that he was attractive to other people other than Shera?

"Does it matter? You're cute," I repeated as I stood up, I couldn't force him into doing anything he didn't want to.

I began to make my way back to the hotel we were staying in, I had to stop myself from looking back where I had left him. The statement had been said and I just hoped that he decided to come back to the room with me.

Something in me made me turn round and walk back to the blonde pilot. I knelt down and ever so gently placed a hand on his face, making him look at me. It was rare to see him without a cigarette clenched tightly between his teeth. All Cid did was look at me with confusion and kept his hands to himself.

The line that had been drawn without permission, I decided, would be stepped over. Still didn't stop me from being nervous as hell though as I leaned closer towards him. Our first kiss was rather awkward, of course it was one sided and poor Cid was already confused about the cute comment.

Before I knew it though, it was over and I was pushed roughly onto the sand. Cid was quickly getting to his feet, his face red with either anger or embarrassment, I couldn't tell.

"The hell...? What the fuck?" he sounded breathless, he took a few steps backwards.

The pilot of the Highwind looked at me with betrayal and it hurt. We had been through so much and now I had ruined it by taking something that I wanted. I didn't know how to answer him, all that was left was for me was to go back to the room and lick my wounds in private.

I had been given his answer and I had to respect it, no matter how much I wanted to show him that he was more than cute. Well, to me at least. Handsome, intelligent, one amazing personality that was hard to bury under the mountain of crap that had been thrown at him.

Shakily, I got to my feet and kept my distance from him. If I went closer, he might have struck me on the false assumption that I wanted to kiss him again...though I did. All I wanted tonight was to get what I wanted and to give Cid something I felt he wanted as well. Did it really matter that it was with another man?

"Who the hell gave you the damn right to do that?" he hissed, he made a strangled hissing noise out of frustration as if he was still trying to fight an internal battle that he was losing.

"Are you cracked?" Cid shook his head, running his hand through his hair.

"No. Nobody gave me the right but..." I shrugged, "but didn't you tell me that I should take what I want?"

A dangerous growl came from him, "Take that again and I'll rip your fucking lungs out with a rusty spoon. Why did you kiss me?"

I kissed him because I wanted to. There was no other answer to it, I fancied him. Why did he find that so damn hard to believe?

"Because I'm interested in you. God...I sound like a five year old," I smiled weakly, "I like you, alot. If I could get away with it, I would have jumped your bones every time we shared a room."

Cid said nothing but he walked away from me. The lapping ocean covering his words if he said anything. All I could do was watch as his footprints were quickly eaten by the waves. Had I just blown my friendship with the one man who looked at me as human?

Cid's pov of that night..

Our last night alive and I was sitting with the quietest member of our mental ward rejects. Hadn't really decided that I was going to come to the Costa Del Sol bar but I hadn't wanted to go back to my home in Rocket Town and Vincent, it seemed, hadn't wanted to go visiting any relations himself.

The stuff we usually talked about seemed to be pointless and really meaningless so silence seemed to be a good idea. The bums in this place seemed to avoid us like the plague but I knew that Vincent would be thinking it was him they were hiding from. I smirked as I tried to down my drink in one go. My eyes watered slightly but the smokiness of the room seemed to hide it.

Sitting across from Vincent allowed me to monitor his drinking and plus, I liked being able to put my feet up on the comfy seats in the booth we were sitting at. My drink was making me feel sick and I knew that in the morning, Yuffie and Barret best stay out of my way. A hangover on this stuff was certain. What bugged me though was how Vincent had decided just to stick with some fancy ass bottle of wine.

"...why aren't you heading to Rocket Town?" he asked me.

I knew he would have asked that question at some point tonight but I didn't want to answer. I just wanted to sit in silence and get drunk. Not to bother with those annoying and probing thoughts that Cloud wanted us to have right now. I gave him a slow one sided smile, not wanting to admit that the other half of my face still smarted from the kicking that Hojo had given us back in the city.

The painkillers I had taken were slowly making their way through my system and drinking this hellish combination of booze seemed to make the room more fuzzy and warm. How or why the bar staff was still willing to serve me was beyond me, I must have looked stoned.

I was sick of thinking, that's all I had done since I joined this little outfit. I had to think more when I had been placed in temporary command and I hadn't stopped since. The smoke I had lighted no longer held any interest to me so I rested it in the ashtray and for a few seconds, I watched it burn.

The smoke started to irritate my eyes so I decided to look at the flame that was burning on the candle, old social lessons bounced back into mind and Cosmo Canyon sprang into my numbing brain. If the flame went out, then it was bad news for the tribe. The flame was still burning brightly last time I had been there a little over a week ago and maybe, it knew something the rest of us didn't.

Watching the flame got boring after a few seconds so I moved my gaze onto the next shiny object which just happened to Vincent's metal appendage. I caught my own reflection on it and I couldn't help but look more closely.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he didn't seem to be too bothered about it. I was honoured, he usually went into a strop about it.

I found myself still smiling at him, "The candlelight looks pretty cool on your hand..."

Admitting that I was looking at myself and wondering how the hell I had managed to turn into him wasn't something I could readily do in a hurry. Anyhow, I knew how much it bugged him when I called the metal limb his hand but I knew it was. So what if it look different from mine or the rest of the human race. I didn't care, he was Vincent to me and he would always be Vincent.

I decided to pry a little into his past, something that I rarely did. I wasn't really much of a nosy git but I had to admit that he was kind of an interesting guy. He didn't go around blaring his past around and he seemed sometimes to go to great lengths to try and hide it.

"Any reason as to why the fucker took your left hand?"

He answered after a couple of long moments, "...it's the hand where people have a wedding band. He didn't want me finding love."

I looked at the claw again and then back into his red eyes, "So if he wanted to affect your heart, the hell didn't he take it? Pretty hard to love someone if ya don't have one."

He took me by surprise for a couple of seconds as he laughed. I didn't know if I should be offended or enjoy the moment. He hardly ever laughed in public and he covered his mouth. Very much like the way Sephiroth had done when he had scared the shit out of me, Tifa and Cloud back in the burning of Nibelhiem, right before Cloud went loco on us.

After his little laugh, he responded, "Damned if I know. Why are you so interested in my past all of a sudden?"

Why was I interested in his past or was it because that right now, he was my only companion for the night and it would be pretty weird if somebody didn't say something. He was the only member of the group that I really got along with and who seemed willing to put up with my snoring when we were shoved into the same bed.

I smiled at him again, "I ain't. Just wanna know what subjects I can talk about before you get in one of your broody moody sulks."

"One of my sulks?" he asked.

"Hmm," I nodded. I stood up to head to the bar to get more drink.

Something was happening between us and I couldn't figure out what. Was I still supposed to be playing team leader right now or was it something else? If anything, I was so tired and I couldn't be bothered playing guessing games or making Vincent feel better about himself tonight. Cloud had told us to go and find out our reasons.

I couldn't think of why I wanted to fight but I just knew that I had to. If Cloud lost his fragile grip then who would be there to lead the way, to take command and ensure victory? Our little brave leader seemed to need more assurance than what he had done before he lost Aeris and even just before he ended up in the funny farm.

When I returned, he was still staring into his wine glass. He was being more tight lipped than he normally was and it was getting a little creepy. At first, I liked the silence, gave me a little time to figure out why I was doing this crackerjack mission and why I even allowed Vincent to share in my self reproaching.

"You're awfully quiet..." I interupted just as he opened his mouth to say something.

Returning back to my original seat seemed to be to much hassle so I settled myself a little too closely to my drinking partner for the night but I ignored the weird feeling and placed a beer in front of him. I would make him drink at least one manly drink.

Vincent leaned forward, now he wanted to pretend he was shyer than he looked. I caught the look he gave me and the shake of his head. Strange little action for him, was he tipsy or did he just enjoy confusing everybody with him?

"That's who I..."

He wasn't going to pull this crap now was he? It bugged the hell outta me when he did that. He didn't seem to be the kind of guy who was quiet, I'd been out drinking with Turks and they were anything but quiet.

"Fuck that, no it ain't. Stop being what Hojo wants you to be," keeping annoyance out of my voice was hard but I knew that I couldn't sit by and let him continue on with his self hatred and suppressing his personality.

"Why don't you grab life by the damn crown jewels and take what you want. You deserve it. Hell, we might not even be here at the end of the week," saying might was easier than the alternative. 'Yeah...we might be here or we might not but I sure as hell ain't going to say that we won't be. I'm sure we'll pull something out of the bag before the end.'

The arrogant little bastard now decided to turn the tables on me, "I'm not the one who's quiet. You haven't been yourself since Corel."

I couldn't help but tense at the mention of that dusty little town we had been to a little over a month weeks. I had nearly caused the destruction of it and I still hadn't really came to terms with it yet. I had jumped off a speeding train right onto another, fought a couple of heart stopping battles and then I had the fun job of trying to stop the train we were on.

Fort Condor was another event I was unwilling to talk or even think about. My brain at the time had been so fried from Corel that I had left wide open spaces in our defence and the enemy had made their merry little way right through them. It had been so fucking embarrassing but luckily for me, I got to work out my frustrations on the stupid bastards who crossed my path.

I knew that Fort Condor had been my breaking point in the group and a deaf and blind mute could have picked up on my sudden tiredness but I'd snapped at the doc in Mideel for even suggesting that I take a break. I had been planning on that but low and behold, fucking Weapon had to show his butt ugly face.

There had been bog all I could do as I told the others to leg it out of the crumbling town. Something that I wasn't very proud of, I had to leave Tifa and Cloud behind in the clinic while we ran to the airship. All I could do was watch from the safety of the Highwind to see the town sink into the lifestream and it tore my heart.

"...does it matter now? Ain't tonight all about is thinking about our reasons for staying in on this crazy shit," I muttered mainly to myself as I took a sip of my beer.

Vincent leaned back, "So why are you drinking with me? Go and talk to Shera. She's mad about you."

My head started to pound and it felt like my goggles were threatening to squeeze my skull in two. I pulled them down to my neck and used my hands to rub my scalp quickly. Vincent looked at me with a look that I'd seen Cloud had gave Aeris a couple of times when our blonde idiot leader had thought she wasn't looking.

Anyhow, why did he have to bring her up anyway? I was happy to just forget about her and just get mind numbingly pissed. I knew not to talk about the little wench Lucrecia and how she fucked his life up more than Hojo could ever do.

I knew I had to answer him but how was the difficult part. I wanted to hit him for that, for convincing me to stay with AVALANCHE for as long as I had, for everything that I had been through but it wasn't his fault.

"Shera...yeah...she is but," people who knew me would be wondering how the hell I had managed to lose my amazing grasp on the English language, "too much has happened...it wouldn't work out."

Vincent probably wasn't looking for an answer but I felt I had to give him one, "I mean...I love 'er but I ain't in love with the damn girl."

"Is there anyone you would consider as special in your life?" he ran his flesh hand through his long dark hair.

Somebody special? Not that I could think of. I looked at him, suddenly sobering. Depression decided at that point to hit me like a ton of bricks and I must of lost my stoned expression at that point as I saw his eyes look away. I had to make sure that he didn't think I was some sad loner but the smile I managed to conjure up didn't feel right.

The smile I wanted to give him had been lost right after the death of Aeris and after everything we had been through. I was kinda tempted to start sobbing but I'm a grown man for crying out loud, I just gave him a sad smile.

"No...aint nobody shown interest in me," I said slowly, "aint exactly what most good folks say as lovable."

It was the truth though. I'd been a monster to Shera and most of the people in Rocket Town for over five years. No girl in her right mind would ever wanna date me, my first love was flying. Lady Luck had decided that I was no longer worthy of her graces.

Though it seemed like she was going to give me one last roll as the barman seemed to save my bacon from anymore of Vincent's personal questions. I could have kissed the guy but Bubba was sitting at the bar. Cloud had told me the rather strange stories about that guy from the city...

Still couldn't believe it was that late though, "TIME GENTLEMEN!"

I frowned as I stood up but it was more in pain, "Come on. Let's hit another bar."

He got up and I noticed just how close we had been sitting together. Vincent was just a couple more inches taller than me but he looked taller because of he was so damn skinny. Had the man ever heard of eating?

I grabbed his wrist, making it a point to hold onto the metal one. I don't know why though, didn't know where I was going with him but all the bars had closed for night. Heading back to the room seemed to be a wasted exercise if this was our last night of freedom. Worst case scenario, we head back to the airship and attack the moonshine that I swear I had used to clean the Tiny Bronco's engine with at some point.

"Where are we going?" Vincent asked, "As much as I like blind dates, this is pretty weird."

That made me stop, Vincent bumped into me from behind. Blind date? Is this what he thought this was? I was trying to seduce him? Hell no! I turned round and looked at him as though he had grown two heads and decided to wear a wedding dress. I had to get rid of this creepy feeling.

"...well, aint that part of this fucking job description?" keeping my mind on the destination seemed to be prudent.

I was glad that the beach wasn't that far as the fresh sea air had made the booze and painkiller concoction go straight to my head. I kept my hand on his wrist as a kinda human anchor to this land. I kept giving Vincent looks as he walked silently behind me.

When I decided that we had walked enough, I stopped. Just far enough away from the tide that was totally thrown out of wack due to the gravitational pull of Meteor. I pointed to the stars and smiled, they were the only thing I could really depend on but even now...they weren't going to save me now.

It was cold and I didn't even realise it until Vincent wrapped his red cloak around his far too slender frame, "Cid...why are we here? How bout we head back into the warmth and get some sleep."

I sat down on the cool sand, "Is that really important right now? I mean...who the hell would care if we didn't do this? Can't we just get absolutely wrecked for the next seven days?"

Vincent's mind would probably think over the questions that had thrown out, like the good little former Turk he was. The man was always thinking but he didn't voice any of his questions. He would always over think things and I guess that was part of his problem. I was the opposite...or I had been.

Now I tend to think about things and what I say now, it's flipping frustrating. I just wanna go back to having to worry about what time I hauled my ass back to the rocket but that question. Who the hell would care if we didn't do this, I didn't need him to answer that for me.

The answer was simple. I cared or else I wouldn't even be thinking about it. The rest of AVALANCHE cared, Cloud was doing this for his own personal vendetta against Sephiroth and because he wanted to make sure that Aeris's gift to us didn't go to waste.

Silence fell back between us and I shivered, he must have sensed it as he placed an arm around me. The painkillers I'd taken still made themselves felt and my balance was off. I just went with it and leaned more into him.

Not many of our group knew that Vincent always seemed to smell of spices, how that was, I didn't know. We'd traipsed through cold and wet snow, the desert and the sewers of Midgar and he always came up smelling of spices. It was something that I guess I had came to rely on never changing during our weird relationship.

Even first thing in the morning when we woke up from sleeping on the cold and damp ground, he had that damn spice smell. I would always wake up to him cuddling me or...was it the other way around? I could never be sure but if it made him feel human, then, I couldn't really deny him that.

"You know," he spoke softly, "people are interested in you."

The only people who were interested in me was the damn reaper, "Hmm...fitting me with a damn toe tag."

I probably was one of the few people on this planet that had ever heard Vincent's heart beat so damn fast, it had gotten progressively so over the past couple of minutes. Why was he acting so weird with me?

"When you don't smoke or swear at something," I thought his heart was going to explode out of his chest, "you're...kinda...cute."

My first reaction at that was to pull myself away from him and smack him one but it was just to damn warm. He was calling me cute? Did he even realise who he was talking too? I just placed it down to the fact that the booze he had drank had went to his head.

"Cute? Are you calling me cute?" I didn't understand why he had said that.

"Yeah...I guess I am," he held his breath.

At that, I had to pull myself away from him, wanting to make sure that he wasn't pulling my damn leg. I couldn't cope with that tonight, not that I would be able to do it had it been any other night. Where had he been when I really needed someone to boost my confidence back at Mideel or Corel or Fort Condor? His eyes tried to find mine but I settled on looking at his face.

"But...but you're a guy," he had really confused the hell outta me now, "why...no...I mean...what?"

He shrugged slightly, I almost missed the action but I caught it. I wanted to hit him for this, I wasn't cute. I couldn't be cute even if I tried, I smoked, swore and said some pretty nasty things about people who really didn't deserve it.

"Does it matter? You're cute," he stated again as he stood up, for that I was relieved.

He began to make his way back up the beach, leaving me alone to digest this particular flash he had given me. Vincent was now leaving me alone with my thoughts and I wasn't sure as to why he was doing all this. All I wanted right now was a cigarette before I kicked his ass and showed him how damn cute I could be. How dare he call me cute.

Vincent decided that he was going to try my temper and he retraced his steps back to me. He knelt down in front of me and placed his human hand on my face. I hadn't realised that I hadn't smoked since we had left the bar, at that point, I desperately sought one. My hands rested between my knees and I couldn't shake off that confused look I probably had.

My eyes widened as Vincent closed the distance between us and captured my lips in kiss. My heart stopped and I didn't know why he had just done that, I wasn't sure why I was allowing him but it wasn't something I wasn't going to tolerate for much longer.

I pushed him roughly away from me and got to my feet. I had never been so embarrassment, that confirmed it. Why had he kissed me? Was he mentally cracked our something? Did he really wanna die tonight from a severe kicking from a team mate?

Stepping away from him seemed like a good idea, "The hell...? What the fuck?"

Our friendship had just been blown clean out of the water, he wanted more from me and I wasn't sure I could give him that. All I knew was that he better keep his distance from me if he wanted to keep all his teeth in his jaw. Thankfully, he did that.

"Who the hell gave you the damn right to do that?" I hissed, a frustrated noise escaped from me, had I been leading him on? No...but...sharing beds, that close moment just a few minutes back when he had his arm around me.

I shook my head, running my hand through my hair, "Are you cracked?"

The comment was directed more at myself than Vincent but I still wanted him to explain himself for kissing me.

"No. Nobody gave me the right," at least he was honest, "but didn't you tell me that I should take what I want?"

Smart bastard was turning my words against me but it wasn't something I was going to let him get away with, "Take that again and I'll rip your fucking lungs out with a rusty spoon. Why did you kiss me?"

He smiled weakly, "Because I'm interested in you. God...I should like a five year old. I like you, alot. If I could get away with it, I would have jumped your bones every time we shared a room."

Saying something right now would be rather fatal to our friendship, I had to walk away before I did something wrong.