A/N- I don't, I suddenly felt an urge to write this. I don't if this will be a series or a simple One-Shot. –Taps Chin- I guess I'll let you all decide on that. I'm not even sure what to title this to be perfectly honest.

Beautiful Dark

Nibelheim had both been physically exhausting and an emotional rollercoaster. To see the town that should have been nothing more than a ruined and burned down buildings to being something thriving with life. It was just the way she had remembered it yet tainted in some way. Something was inexplicably wrong about her hometown. It was obvious that ShinRa had rebuilt the town after the incident and based on how everyone was claiming to have been there all their lives; it had been filled with people under some strange orders to pretend like they were always there. The only building in Nibelheim that hadn't needed to be rebuilt was the ShinRa Mansion and that was because it hadn't been touched by Sephiroth's fury all those years ago.

The martial artist found herself sighing by the firelight at camp. Wine colored eyes shifted to look toward the group of tents that were gathered around with her companions all tucked away. She was on watch duty for the next few hours until someone else relieved her. She had taken the first shift because she knew that she wouldn't be able to find rest too easily after the trialing events of the day. The stranger thing upon coming upon her hometown intact had to be the newest addition to their group: Vincent Valentine.

He was quiet, reserved, and only seemed to speak when he felt it was necessary. The only bit they managed to get from the enigma known as Vincent was that he was a victim of Hojo's experiment had had been locked away for the last thirty years in a coffin. He was also once was a Turk but no more. He wanted to find Hojo; likely for revenge on what was done to him and by Sephiroth's true mother Lucrecia. While he was as wronged by ShinRa as much as the rest of the group, she felt there was a certain tension in the group when the mysterious gunman was near. Everyone half expected him to turn on them.

Still, none of them could deny there seemed something…supernatural about his abilities. When they headed toward Mt. Nibel he had ventured ahead and practically glided about – jumping from point to point. The first fight they came across had been against a large Zuu that came at them from above. It had flown directly toward the group but a loud shot from just outside of their group had echoed in the mountain top before the large bird of prey had spiraled in the air off course and dropped down the mountainside – a single bullet having been shot through the monster's eye and saving them the trouble of having to fight against it.

Cloud had decided to call camp after that encounter. They should have stayed in Nibelheim for the evening instead of trying to trek across the mountains but Tifa suspected that the town made Cloud feel just as uneasy as it did her. Everyone had settled into their tents not too long ago and now she found herself huddled at the fire and lost in the flames as they triggered memories she didn't want to recall. She tightened her arms around her knees before her forehead came to rest down upon the top of them. She released another sigh.

'What am I doing?' She thought to herself, 'There's something wrong with Cloud and all I'm doing it letting him believe that everything is alright with him. How does he even know what happened? I keep telling myself that everything will be okay…' In truth it had troubled her since they were back in Kalm but every time she thought about speaking to him about it, she froze up. She was honestly afraid something might happen to him if she mentioned it to him…if she tried to set his story straight. When she found him in Midgar he wasn't all that well put together as though he were sick.

She lifted her head up from her knees before she nearly felt her bones jump out of her skin at the sight of Vincent standing just on the other side of the fire. "Vincent, you scared me." She half whispered and half shouted in her moment of irritation. Her adrenaline spiked up from the fright and woke her up once more.

"…My apologies."

Tifa shook her head before she offered him a quick smile, "No, I'm sorry. I guess I should have been paying attention to my surroundings." His response was silence and a simple stare. She suddenly felt she was being scrutinized but shook it off, "I know, I'm not doing a great job." She rubbed her face and her fists settled at her hips, "It won't happen again though. You can go back to sleep." He gave a slow blink at her. It reminded her much like that curious cat that used to hang outside of the bar. It would stare at her for long moments and occasional blink slowly at her when she did something that piqued it's curiosity. "…You were sleeping, weren't you?"

"…No."

"Don't you need to sleep?" In the dark it was hard to tell but she got the distinct impression that behind the long dark unruly hair that threatened to break the hold of the bandana and behind the cloak that obscured the sight of the lower half of his face, that he was smirking at her for asking such a thing. "I guess… you've probably slept enough." They had just woken him up right before they headed for Mt. Nibel. "What have you been doing if not sleeping all this time?"

Crimson hues drifted to the darkness the spanned just outside of the campfire's light. "…Keeping a perimeter." She flushed slightly in embarrassment. It was supposed to be her job to keep watch over the camp at the moment. He wasn't supposed to be out there in the dark, alone, keeping all manner of creatures away from them all. "…I have a question."

"Yes?" Her embarrassment dissipated as Vincent seemed in need of something. The man had pretty much excluded himself from their traveling party in favor of keeping a distance and working alone. She remained rooted to her spot and watched as the enigma walked around the campfire to meet her. His right hand dug into one of the hidden pockets. His stride looked… awkward, not the bit of grace he seemed to have when he was jumping about while scouting ahead. It was almost like he was baby chocobo who learned to walk recently. He was able to do so but it was as though a step required conscious thought and effort as though he didn't know how to naturally do it. Or he'd been injured recently and was doing his best to hide the fact.

Tifa felt herself grow nervous as he came closer. None of them had really been up close to the man before. Yuffie, in her infinite wisdom, had dubbed him the 'Dark Dork Lord' or 'freaky grandpa vampire man'. The light of the fire glimmered off the metal gauntlet on his left hand and drew her gaze to the appendage. She wondered if it came off or if it was a part of him. It was hard to tell even up close. Something was forcibly thrust in her line of sight and it took the martial artist a moment to realize that it was a red summon stone held in Vincent's hand.

"Oh," Tifa commented, voice edged with curiosity, "Did Cloud give you a summoning material?"

"Summoning?" Apparently that was a new concept for Vincent by the sounds of it, "It was with me in the coffin."

"Oh." Tifa didn't think they actually gave Vincent any materia yet. He never asked for supplies and…well, she was certain everyone didn't quite trust him enough to hand over their materia. They were on a limited budget which meant the stones were hard to come by. She nodded her head, "They're powerful magic. Aerith claims they are sentient creatures locked in the stones who will only come out if they agree to work with the wielder. She claims she can hear them speaking sometimes…" Tifa smiled lightly for a moment, "On one or two occasions I thought I heard mine speak to me but I could have just been imagining it."

"So, it's possible that it communicates."

Tifa nodded once before she reached the bangle on her right arm to dislodge her own summoning, "I've learned that mine is named: Shiva. She wields the power of ice. Cloud had found it and tried using it but she wouldn't summon. Somehow I managed to do it just fine. When someone finally is able to use that one's power, we'll know what it is."

"Odin."

Tifa glanced up from his hand and locked gaze with him. Her eyes drifted off slightly from direct eyesight as she tried to see what little of his face she could now that they were standing close to one another. From what she could make out from around his eyes and his the top of his cheeks she felt like he didn't appear to be a wrinkly grandpa like Yuffie theorized. She blinked lightly and returned her focus to his eyes when she realized she had been starring, "Odin?" She questioned.

"His name."

"Oh, how do you know?"

The materia disappeared into the confines of his cloak and his response was a low rumble in his chest. The words were hard to make out but Tifa thought he said something along the lines of 'just another voice'. He turned away form her and moved back to the other side of the fire to give her space back. Tifa placed her summon back into her bangle before she turned her attention to the fire and subsequently to the man on the other side of it. He was turned off to the side and keeping his gaze to the darkness outside of the camp. "Vincent?" His response was to turn slightly, just enough to look in her general direction. "…are you alright?" His head inclined questionably a fraction. Tifa actually found it odd that she was able to pick up on the meaning behind his mannerisms so easily. She didn't even know him. "I mean…are you hurt? When you walk…" Her hands folded in front of herself nervously. She wasn't sure if she was crossing a line or anything. She didn't really know what the line with Vincent was yet.

"There's no need for you to concern yourself with my well being."

"Well that just makes me more concerned." Tifa stated as she suddenly felt concerned.

"….."

"Vincent…" Now she felt slightly annoyed as she moved toward her. "You're part of our team now. We look after one another. So if you're hurt, we can help you."

"…It's nothing."

He tried turning away from her but she reached out and grabbed his arm- He flinched back so suddenly from the touch that Tifa could almost believe that she had burned him. "Sorry" She said quickly as her hand hovered where it was. The gunman simply lowered his gaze to the ground and Tifa could only hazard a guess that he was embarrassed for reacting the way he did.

"…I twisted my ankle when I got out of my coffin." He mumbled lowly.

"But…then why have you been jumping around?"

"So I would walk on it less."

"But wouldn't it hurt to land on it?"

"I land on my other foot."

Tifa stared at him for a moment before she covered her mouth to laugh lightly. That was probably the most absurd thing she could have heard anyone say, much less someone like Vincent Valentine. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh but…Today had been so stressful, I needed that." She shook her head lightly as she calmed down but the grin on her lips just wouldn't be wiped away, "Why didn't you just use a cure to fix it?"

"I don't have any other materia."

"Oh." She forgot they never gave him anything. Then she felt guilty because he likely was in pain the entire day without any relief; especially since they were trekking up a mountainside. She reached for the Restore materia on her glove and popped it off before holding it out, "Here, take mine." He shook his head in response. She quirked an eyebrow at him, "Well, you could either take it or I could use it on you but for that to work I'm going to need to touch you…" She tilted her head slightly and eyed him further; as though waiting for him to counter the argument somehow.

There was a flash of hesitation behind his eyes as they glanced down to the materia she held out back up to her face then down to her hand once again. He relented and held his hand out to her and she dropped it into his hand without touching him. He tucked it into his cloak with the likely intention of using it later when he had some privacy. "…I'm going to check the perimeter." He stated before he turned away and started to move away once more. It would seem that he had his fill of socializing for one evening.

"Vincent?" The gunman paused once more but didn't turn back around, "It's nice to have you a part of the team." He glanced over his shoulder and eyed her for a moment as though trying to find a trace of a lie that came from him. He seemed satisfied for a moment and simply nodded his response before he turned away once more.

"Oh!" He stopped again. "Do you know what kind of power Odin wields?" His response wasn't immediate and he started walking away before he answered – likely due to the fact he was tired of having to wait for her to let him go. His response did flow out from the darkness, a deep voice uttering one word in the darkness that made Tifa feel even more grateful for the fire when the chill that would move down her spine from his response.

"Death."