Summary: Vincent and Yuffie begin a new life together.
Sequel to "Trainspotting" and "Slide".
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I so totally don't own FF7.
"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no
good thing ever dies."
-Tim Robbins, 'The Shawshank Redemption'
It was not a huge deal to move in together after
dating for two months. At least Yuffie didn't think so. Vincent, on the
other hand, was absolutely terrified. Never since Lucrecia had he been
so in love with a woman, but moving in together was a big deal. Especially
since Yuffie's godfather, Leaves, hated Vincent like a disease. In Leaves's
opinion, Vincent was stealing the little girl that was like a daughter
to him. from her destiny as Wutai's leader. Moving in together was
definitely not what Leaves wanted the relationship between his young goddaughter
and the mysterious ex-Turk to go.
"Yuffie, perhaps you should rethink this," Leaves
pleaded as his only godchild packed her belongings. She stopped and gave
her godfather a sharp look that made knots bunch inside his stomach. Not
since her father died had he been so close to her and he didn't want to
jeopardize that by forcing her away from Vincent. For one thing, he was
pretty sure Yuffie would choose Vincent over him, godfather or not. Leaves
would never again take the chance of loosing his one and only godchild
like that again. What could he possibly do to change her mind.
"Leaves, I love Vincent. Don't you get that,"
Yuffie said. Leaves bowed his head as though in prayer. He lifted it a
moment later to look his beloved goddaughter in the eyes. Her mother's
eyes.
"I don't want to loose the most important thing
in the world. I all ready did once," Leaves replied as Yuffie continued
to pack. She stopped for a moment to turn and give her him a deep hug.
She let go a moment later and gave him a small kiss on the cheek.
"You'll never loose me, Leaves. I promise," Yuffie
whispered as she smiled. A knock came to the door and Vincent stepped in.
He lightly smiled and nodded hello to Leaves . All Leaves did was glare
at the man who was stealing his goddaughter out from under him.
"Ready, baby," Vincent asked. Yuffie smiled and
grabbed her suitcases.
"As I'll ever be," She turned to her godfather
and hugged him one last time, "Good bye, Leaves."
"Good bye, Yuffie," Leaves turned his attention to Vincent,
"Valentine, you best take care of my Yuffie or I'll hunt you down and beat
you to a bloody pulp."
"Leaves!!" Yuffie yelled before Vincent could
reply. He grabbed one of the suitcases from her hand and went outside to
the awaiting Highwind. Yuffie waved to her godfather from the steps and
climbed aboard the Highwind. With no more than a whisper of the newly fixed
engine, courtesy of Cid Highwind himself, Leaves's one and only godchild
was gone. All that was left was an empty house and the inevitable wedding
invitation he would more than likely be getting soon.
The Shinra Mansion was in top condition since the
team had remodeled it. Outside the mansion hung a wood sign, carved upon
it were the words: FOR AERIS AND ZACK, OUR ANGELS. Nobody could really
believe the change in which the house had gone under; new shutters, new
roof, new stairs, new everything. The color of the house was now a passionate
sky blue with pale shutters and a black shingled roof. Inside awaited Avalanche,
sitting in varies areas, a bottle of wine ready for the arrival of the
mansions new occupants.
"Where the hell are they?" Reno asked in the silence.
Cloud glanced at the grandfather clock set in the far corner of the living
area, a quarter past three. They should have been there ten minutes ago.
However, Cloud did not bother to reply to Reno's question, he just continued
to read the Midgar Gazette.
Silence loomed over Avalanche and the Turks, as
it usually did. They had nothing to say to each other if it couldn't be
said in the form of an argument. They had argued most of the time fixing
up the mansion, especially when Yuffie had told them that Vincent had asked
her to move in with him. More than half of them thought she was too young
and the relationship too fresh, the other half thought it was a great idea.
Today, most kept their opinions to themselves. Who were they to say what
was right and what was wrong anyway?
"We're home!" Yuffie's voice echoed in from the
hall. Everyone jumped from their seats, more than a little startled. They
raced to the front door to see Vincent carrying Yuffie across the threshold.
Cid stumbled in past them, lighting a fresh cigarette.
"What the hell took you so long," Reno demanded.
He was one of those who did not approve of the relationship. And what came
out of Vincent's mouth next almost gave him a heart attack.
"We got married," the ex-Turk informed. To prove
such a thing could even happen, in unison Vincent and Yuffie raised
their hands. A gold wedding band adorned Yuffie's left ring finger and
a similar one had found its way to Vincent's right ring finger. Every single
jaw in the room hit the floor. For the first time in history, the members
of Avalanche were speechless. The Turks, having more composure, recovered
faster. Quickly Rude and Elena congratulated Yuffie and Vincent, Reno still
stood in basic dumb shock.
"Oh, my God! You got married," Tifa whisper/shouted
in disbelief, "and I didn't get to be your bridesmaid." Still the bartender
hugged her younger friend. She added, "Younger than me and yet married
before me. Yeah, that's nice."
Barret, Cloud, Red, Cait Sith, even Reno were
quick to say congratulations after Tifa was done. In the kitchen
the men were all ready beginning to plan a party for the happy couple.
Spirits were high and the guest were more or less designated, most would
be staying the night anyway and the others had not far to walk home. Tifa
had already managed to grab everyone's car keys and even Cid's keys to
the Highwind, something nobody even dare to do before.
Yuffie and Vincent, during the whole party, just
sat side by side and whispered conversation in each other's ears. Nobody
seemed to notice, being too busy getting drunk. If anyone besides Tifa
did notice than they didn't let on. Tifa just could not help but think
that she had not even had a relationship serious enough to produce an engagement.
The whole night she stared at them in contempt. It didn't quite seem fair
to her.
"Night, everyone," Yuffie said and began to climb
the stairs, Vincent in tow. The others looked up to them, too drunk to
realize how late it was.
"Guess the two of you gotta get a head start on
filling this place with babies," Reno joked. Yuffie smiled and winked at
him. That was enough to shut him up for the time being. The couple again
went up the stairs hand in hand. Tifa, basically the only sober one left
on the first floor, looked at the mantel clock above the fire. It read
2:07 am. No wonder Yuffie and Vincent had gone to bed.
Tifa supposed that maybe it was time that everyone
get going to bed. Of course when this idea escaped her lips and presented
itself to the others, they did not see eye to eye on her idea. In fact,
they actually booed her. She had never been booed before, and she did not
take it well.
"Everyone to bed, NOW!" She yelled at the top
of her lungs. Her voice echoed down the every hallway, she found herself
hoping that she had not woken up Vincent or Yuffie. However, her spout
of anger had brought the message across loud and clear. Everyone reluctantly
shuffled off to their own respective beds. Cloud stayed, waiting to escort
Tifa home. He smiled at her half drunkenly.
"You really know how to be a party pooper sometimes,
Tif," Cloud commented. She smiled back and hit him softly on the arm as
she passed him while going to the front door. He followed obediently behind
her, holding the door as she stepped across the threshold.
The morning came in a brisk wind as sun streamed
though the window, hitting Yuffie Valentine in the eye. She blinked her
eye even tighter shut and pulled the blankets over her head against the
new light. A whisper of wind blew across her feet and she quickly pulled
them underneath the blanket. She heard the faintest sigh and soon found
her nice warm blanket ripped off of her. She looked up in shock to see
Vincent Valentine standing over her, blanket in arms.
"Rise and shine," Vincent said casually as though
he had done nothing to warrant the look his young wife gave him. Yuffie
reached up for the blanket, but Vincent pulled it away quickly with a smirk.
"Vincent Jaye Valentine, you give me that back,"
she said and reached again only to have it pulled away again, "I'll divorce
you, I swear it on the grave of my mother."
"You should not say things you do not mean, especially
on your mother's grave," Vincent said with his usual monotone voice. With
the blanket he jumped off the bed and headed to prepare breakfeast. Yuffie
mumbled something about him seeing divorce papers on his desk by that afternoon.
She climbed out of bed, stretching for the first time in her new home.
She grabbed her yellow bathrobe and headed downstairs. The clock chimed
the time of eight in the morning as she walked past it to the kitchen.
"Morning, sunshine," Vincent greeted, handing
her a cup of coffee. She waved it away and settled for a cup of orange
juice instead. For a moment she just stood and watched him make a simple
breakfast of eggs and toast, very un-Vincent like. Usually he made her
a five course meal.
"I see," she voiced out loud, "Now that we're
married you're going to stop being so eloquent." Vincent smiled at her
and gave her a sweet kiss on the lips. She smiled back, but noticed how
he had avoided answering the question carefully. Yuffie sat down at the
end of the table in a high back choir that was usually reserved for no
one in particular. She could not shake the feeling that there was something
wrong going on. Either it was with Vincent or herself. Could she be having
second thoughts about the marriage?
"Eggs and toast!" Vincent yelled as he came through
the swinging doors with two plates. He set the one his claw down in front
of Yuffie and put the other one in a chair to the right of where she sat.
Gracefully, he sat down and took no notice to the look that Yuffie gave
him. It was more than likely nothing big anyway.
Suddenly Yuffie remembered that she had a surprise
for Vincent that she had asked Tifa to bring over. It was a black silk
case with red inner lining that the two had seen in Midgar a few days prior.
As soon as Yuffie had laid eyes on it she knew it would be perfect for
Vincent. She had just never thought she would be giving it to him as a
wedding gift. As if by cue, a knock came to the door. Vincent began to
stand up, but Yuffie, being more young and full of energy, easily out ran
him to the door.
"I'll get it!" She shouted while running past
him at a remarkable speed. The ninja threw open the door to see Tifa standing
there, shopping bag in hand. Yuffie quickly shuffled Tifa in and shut the
door.
"Who is it?" Vincent's voice came from the dining
room. Yuffie hesitated for a moment, not wanting Vincent to come out into
the living room before she could get the cape securely hidden.
"Cait Sith," Yuffie hollered back, knowing full
well how much Vincent detested the big mechanical moogle and the bouncy
little kitty. It ought to keep him from coming out and discovering his
gift. Tifa gave a questioning look as the girl rushed her up the stairs
and into one of the spare bedrooms that the team was rebuilding.
"What did you say that for?" asked Tifa. Yuffie
grabbed the bag and peeked in it. Sure enough the black and red cape lay
neatly folded inside. Yuffie hugged Tifa tightly.
"I don't want Vinny to know that I got it for
him. It's going to be a surprise," Yuffie whispered close to Tifa's ear.
It was amazing to the older women how paranoid Yuffie had gotten. Though
for a unforeseen gift for her husband, it was perfectly understandable.
Tifa had no doubt in her mind that even if Vincent for some odd reason
did not like the gift that his beloved wife had purchased for him, he would
not dare to say a word to her. He would probably rather smile and place
the cape around his shoulders then hurt little Yuffie's feelings.
"I'm sure he'll love it," Tifa summed up her feelings.
Yuffie placed the bag and its contents inside the top shelf of a bookshelf
where Vincent would hopefully not find it. After their little gift was
taken care of, the two went downstairs to see Vincent sitting on the bottom
step staring up at them.
"Cait Sith, huh?" Vincent questioned. Yuffie blushed
and tried to keep a guilty look from making its way to her face.
"Well, I thought it was Cait, but than I realized
it was only Tifa," Yuffie quickly explained and headed for the door, "We're
going shopping, I'll be back tonight. Love You!"
With that the two girls were gone on their
merrily way to wherever to have some fun. Vincent just shook his head in
wonderment as to why he had married such a strange girl. Contemplation,
however, would have to wait for later, he had work to do, after all. If
he wanted to surprise Yuffie with the present he had bought, he would have
to hurry.
Night came fast in the days winding down to winter,
and mixed with shopping it can go by even faster than normal. Yuffie stepped
into her new home, both arms filled with bags from the Midgar Shopping
Mall. She was more than a little surprised to see that Vincent was not
there. She called, but only echoes answered back. The lights in the house
flickered unstable as she decided to look for Vincent. In swift motion,
the lights failed and her fear rose.
"Vincent?" She called once again, just to be sure.
Down the long hallway leading to the family room, Yuffie saw the slightest
flicker of what seemed to be a candle. With no hesitation, but ninja skills
at high, she followed the light. A song she could barely hear played in
the distance. If memory served her correctly it was the song she and Vincent
had first danced to.
The single candle sat on an otherwise empty table
in the middle of the room. A sudden musical note rained in the room. Yuffie
spun fast to see Vincent at the piano, precariously playing the notes to
their song. She smiled despite the fact she was mad as hell at him for
scaring her so horribly. He sat up and walked to her, cape scraping the
ground. It was the cape she had bought him as a gift.
"I love the present," Vincent whispered. He leaned
down and grazed her lips with his own. From behind his back he pulled out
a wrapped box, about the size of Yuffie's palm. She opened it with pure
glee to reveal a necklace of solid gold. It was in the shape of a heart,
within the heart was a picture of Yuffie and Vincent from their wedding
day.
"Oh, Vince, it's beautiful," She barely whispered.
He bowed down closer to hear her more clearly, her taking the opportunity
to place a passionate kiss on his lips. Neither would ever admit it, but
in that one moment their future became as clear as ever. Their souls were
one and would always be. In that one moment the both were starting the
beginning of the rest of their lives.
The End
Author's Notes: That took a while longer than I thought
it would be. Anyway, stay tuned for more of my crazy adventures with other
stories. =w=