Disclaimer:I don't own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. This is only a fan story written by an adoring fan of the Vincent & Yuffie paring!

Vincent and Yuffie are OOC in this story, but I really wanted to have fun with this idea. I think it makes their tale a lot more interesting. The M rating is for the chapters after this one.

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Introduction

Vincent sat at the bar in Seventh Heaven and handed his most recent customer the metal case containing the gentleman's gun. He worked as a gunsmith these days since Avalanche was through with the heavy battles. Their world was remaining quiet and everyone did what they needed to do to get by in life. With his demons no longer yelling inside his body, he was able to grow a bit on his own. The past four years did add to his age and for the first time in a long time he felt as if he was finally as normal as could be. There would no longer be the moments of watching another grow and die while he remained the same. His life would be just as long as his friends'.

"Vincent, what are your plans for this weekend?" Cloud asked as he clicked off the open sign hanging behind the front window.

"Nothing too big," he said then finished off the rest of his beer. "I have a couple of projects to finish up for next week, but nothing more than that. What are you two up to?"

Tifa gave a small smile. "We're going to see Yuffie if you'd like to come along with us!"

"How's the girl doing?" Vincent asked thinking back in time. She teamed up alongside him when he was presented with the battle against Deepground. Her hard work saved him a lot of effort. He would never forget the way she stood next to him with such amazing support.

"Oh, that girl is about the same as ever when you think of her girl side," Cloud said starting with a smile only to have it fall with his ending words. Tifa's smile matched along with her love as she thought back to her words the last time they saw her.

"Tifa, I can't do this anymore," Yuffie said falling back onto the cushioned stool. It was the only open spot since Cloud and Tifa were sitting on her only couch. She was much too tired to drag a chair in from the kitchen. "What is the purpose? I get up, eat, maybe go out, come home, eat and go back to bed. I don't know why I am supposed to be here."

"She's depressed and we've been trying to fix it," Tifa said tossing a simple bottle of wine from the store's fridge into her bag.

Vincent looked at his friends with confusion all over his face. Their young Yuffie was always the one strong enough to pull Vincent out of his trips into the darkness. It didn't always completely cure his sickness, but she always did enough to keep him fighting. He said his goodbyes to Lucrecia and woke every day with a reason to keep going. The friends he saw every moment of his life pushed him to keep moving. Yuffie had…Now she had nothing. She removed herself from Godo's life and lived in a pathetic wooded area at the edge of North Corel away from any civilization.

"Shit," Vincent said and pinched his nose. How could he be so blind? While he was chasing after the positives, Yuffie was falling into the darkness he left behind.

"She's not completely gone yet," Tifa said with a motherly smile. "Why don't you come with us? There's a good chance you would only serve as a benefit for our ninja."

"Yes," Vincent said. "I'll follow on my bike. I have enough supplies to handle the trip."

"What about your work you wanted to do?" Cloud asked with a half-smile telling everyone he was teasing their old friend.

"You're telling me there's another side to Yuffie and expect me to miss this? Oh, I've gotten over my problems well enough to allow greed to kick back in," Vincent said with a smart smile almost scaring his two friends. "I think I want to see what I can do about this new Yuffie you speak of."