*sigh*
My name is What a Lovely Disaster, and I have a problem. I am a perfectionist. I went back (note to self: NEVER AGAIN!) and looked at the earlier chapters. Le gasp! It was horrifying- spelling mistakes, weird paragraphs, plot holes, crappy formatting, and a host of other problems. So, I decided to rewrite. Instead of just re-submitting the chapters, I have decided to keep the old one and update that, and then refine it and post it as Infinite: The Rewrite. Kind of a weird system, but exactly how I write non-fanfiction. If this bothers any of you, feel free to tell me. Just figured I'd tell you. Please don't forget to review. While really, I write for my own pleasure and entertainment, I go through the effort of uploading in hopes that someone else may enjoy it as well. So, your comments are welcome, and much appreciated. A special thanks goes out to the people who reviewed, author-alerted, or favorite'd. You rock my striped socks off!
3 W.A.L.D.
Do not own. Do not seek to own. Only borrow. Short time. Kthxbai.
XXX
Mako Reactor- Weiss's Domain
Leviathan, please, no. It's...it's too much. I can't take it... it hurts too much. Sofuckingmuch. So please, just...
Just let me die.
The pain was eating away at her insides, like swallowed fire. She convulsed in the dim, chaotic core of Oblivion; and in her agony, the girl forgot her name, and the dimensions of her body. She was nothing, everything; she was misery itself. It was worse than airships, worse than being your father's pawn, worse than thunderstorms when you're five years old and all alone.
XXX
It felt like it had been here forever. It waited in the darkness, colder than Shiva's breath, unable to perish, but no longer strong enough to escape. It had wandered into Oblivion, curious, looking for something, something it had not had in a long time. What was it looking for? It had been so long...
Something familiar assaulted its senses, instantly attracting its attention. The thing it was looking for! It was close! The aura grew stronger, and it followed it to the source. Something new was struggling in the darkness- it wanted to comfort the new thing- it was making noises, like it was in pain.
/It will be over soon/, it thought to the crying being. /Soon you will join the rest of us. Shh, now. It's not so bad./ The thing extended a tendril of energy to touch the New Thing. That was when It happened. One minute it had been hovering over the New Thing, and the next, it was nowhere. No, not nowhere, it was...Inside the New Thing, trapped in a pretty flesh cage. It tried to separate, to escape, but the last of its energy was used up.
/I should have learned the first time not to touch things I don't know anything about.../
It slid into unconsciousness.
XXX
If possible, the air in Oblivion became even more oppressive- it felt like she was lying in a pool of cement. The pressured feeling increased, reaching a peak, and then abruptly, it stopped. She almost blacked out for a moment, when the pain started again, coming back threefold. The edges of her vision went gray, and she could feel the numbness spread through her limbs. She waited for death, and its subsequent relief, letting her eyes close. I'm sorry, Vincent. I'm sorry that I never told you. I'm sorry that I will never raise Wutai from the ashes of the War. I'm sorry I couldn't see this last fight through. But it's better this way, I think. A ninja should die in battle; and I'll get to see Aerith and Mother-
Her morbid thoughts were cut off by the warm, strong, ALIVE arms that wrapped around her shoulders and curled under her knees. From her half-closed eyes, she registered red cloth and black leather- her demonic savior had come to rescue her- and not a moment too soon-she really had been ready to die. Her cheek was pressed against a metal buckle, but she couldn't summon the energy to move her cheek form the sharp surface. Safe. It was in these arms that she felt at home- the first home in a long time, since the silver-haired psychopath had slain her mother. By the time she felt the Mako light on her eyelids, she was out of the dreamlike state that Oblivion had induced. Dying? Here? The Great Ninja Yuffie never gives in! Hah!
Subconsciously, she had known who had rescued her- who else could it be?- but she still felt her cheeks warm when she saw the concerned, red gaze of her comrade.
Heh. Vincent Valentine. Looking studly as ever, I see. Here I am, drenched in a cold sweat, three seconds to VomitVille, and you don't even have the grace to look winded.
But that was Vincent for you. The man of many sins, many years. You could put him through hell, and he would come back, little worse for wear. Although he proclaimed guilt, most of it was not his to bear.
But that was Yuffie for you. The girl of many titles, of many faces. She was a skilled actor, layering personalities and faces and souls. Though she appeared innocent, she had more than a few sins to her name.
They made quite the pair.
"You alright?" he asked, kneeling, looking her up and down, checking for injury- the thing about Oblivion, though, was that it damaged your mind first, and then your internal organs, working up and out- and the memories, no, hallucinations, she had seen in Nero's darkness had shaken her badly. She could have been dying, and no one would have been able to tell at first glance.
"What the heck was that?" Yuffie cringed at the shrill, panicked tone of her voice. C'mon! Pull yourself together! You've faced worse! You're a ninja! Act like one, for Leviathan's sake!
Her mental pep talk was interrupted when Nero answered her question. "Oblivion, perhaps." Gawd, that guy has a creepy voice. You could almost imagine it drifting from the driver's seat of a windowless, white van, inviting innocent children to partake in a bit of candy. Eww. Yuffie wrinkled her nose at her own vile thoughts.
Nero's slimy voice continued to assault the ears of the general populace. "My darkness… can absorb as well as extract almost anything." His eyes narrowed slightly, the bright gold disks reflecting the Mako-blue glow. Eerie. "However, some things remain..." He extended a heavily tattooed arm, palm facing up. The same oily black stuff that made up oblivion appeared, pulsating gently. "…Things as black as the heart of a daemon…" He continued to stare pointedly at Vincent. The Tsviet's voice was soft and low, a sultry crooning that sent shivers of primal fear down her spine. "Ahh… the essence of death… its ululations are like a lullaby."
"How can you...!" She didn't know how to finish that sentence- it was all just really horrible. Vincent turns to face the Tsviet. "Yuffie. Stay here," he commanded in that whispery, gravelly voice that made her wish he talked more. A voice I could fall asleep to, fall in love with.
It's not like I can go anywhere, Vincent. Don't think I could even use my shuriken.
Nero deigns to speak again. "Ahh...yes, you were invulnerable to the darkness." He lifts his arms, and darkness billows out, a wave that wraps around the two men before receding, leaving empty space in its wake.
The ninja did the only thing she could do- she waited. She waited for him to return, which he did, along with a broken Nero. But, from here on, she couldn't protect him- the final part of this tale was his alone- and she hated it.
Time passed in a blur, and yet crawled past in agonizing slowness. Yuffie watched as Omega fell, and as Vincent disappeared in twisting, crimson light.
She waited for him to return, or for a body to show up.
She waited for a sign from fucking Leviathan.
Every day she searched the ruins of Midgar. The Lifestream had not yet returned to the planet, and corpses littered the battlefields, unable to decompose.
Three weeks later, it was in the maze-like interior of the old Plate, that she saw it- the silvery, three-headed beast dangling from an I-beam.
She sat there, cradling the Cerberus attachment in her hands; it was cold and heavy as the thoughts in her mind. Leviathan...he...he isn't coming back. He's just...gone. Nothing to bury, nothing to burn.
She felt the walls of her mind come crashing down around her. And that was when it started.
Impulses that weren't quite hers, thoughts that seemed like imperfect puzzle pieces- close enough to fit if forced, but wrong.
She left without warning, one night.
And simply ceased to be.