Unseen

Author's Note: It's probably needless to say that I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters (although I'd certainly love owning these people, all the things I could do with them...*evil laugh*.) However, the writing's all mine, and of course, hopefully, subject to improvement, which is why feedback of any kind is much appreciated. So let's get the story started...

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Prologue

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She had thought Wutai was boring. The picturesque houses were boring. The quietly flowing river was boring. Feeding her cats was boring. Heck, even climbing the dangerous Da-Chao mountains was boring after the hundredth time. But the most boring thing of all was her father.

'It's been one month again since your birthday,' he'd said.

'When will you finally grow up and behave like a woman?' he'd said.

'My worst nightmares would come true, were you to take over Wutai after me,' he'd said.

'Ungrateful brat.' he'd said.

Of course she had shot back that she didn't give a rat's ass and what a senile old geezer he was. No way she'd let him see how much their arguments tired her out lately. She just wanted to get away. Travel again, rob clueless people blind of their materia. She'd thought that it wasn't fair that a hero like her, who saved the world, was expected to settle down and live such a normal boring life. She had wanted action, adventures, feel the adrenaline fierce battles ignited in her, she wanted to feel alive again.

But now, as she looked up into the dark red sky which was obscured by thick black clouds of smoke, Yuffie Kisaragi regretted ever having these thoughts.

Because her Wutai was burning.

Another ear-deafening explosion ripped the top floor of the Pagoda apart before her very eyes. Instantly, the faces of the Five Mighty Gods flashed in her mind.

Gorki. Shake. Chekhov. Staniv…..Godo. GODO!

Without a second thought she sprinted into the crumbling building.

"Gorki! GORKI! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?"

She skidded to a stop on the smooth wooden ground in the middle of the perfectly clean room, frantically looking around. If it weren't for the dust and rubble raining from the ceiling, no one could have guessed that half the Pagoda was on fire.

No one answered Yuffie's shouts.

"Damnit," she mumbled, running to the stairs, taking three at a time.

Turning the corner on the next floor, she promptly collided with something. The impact made her flail and almost fall back down the steps she'd come. At the last moment, a slender hand grabbed her by the collar and hauled her forward.

"Yuffie! What are you doing here?"

It was Chekhov.

Yuffie took a second to gawk, before she recomposed herself.

"What I'm DOING here?! Kicking your sorry butts, so you old people will move it and get the HECK outta here!", she shouted over the crunching noise of a big chunk of ceiling crashing down onto the floor. The smell of smoke and burnt wood became more distinct by the second.

"We're alright! Staniv is at the top looking for Lord Godo and Gorki is helping Shake upstairs. Please don't endanger yourself, Yuffie, it's not necessa-"

"The hell it's not!" Yuffie cut her off, running straight past her and up the next flight of stairs.

High, scorching orange flames were scattered all across the room already. And they were spreading rapidly. Several pieces of floor and ceiling were missing and still coming off in a matter of instants. Huddled into a corner was a small, lumpy figure covered with soot.

Approaching it, while evading the fire as best she could, Yuffie recognized Shake. She kneeled beside him.

"Shake! You alright?"

Shake looked at her as derisively as always.

"Whaddaya think, brat? If I'd be alright, would I be sitting here in the middle of a frickin' fire?"

Yuffie growled, wondering why the hell she even put up with him.

"So what's your damn problem, then, midget?"

"….my leg won't move…."

"Jeez, you're such a wimp," she grit out through her teeth as she lifted him up by his upper arms and carry-dragged him to the stairs.

"CHEKHOV!"

"Yuffie?" replied a weak voice from downstairs.

"CATCH AND MAKE A RUN FOR IT! OUTTA HERE!" Yuffie hollered, hurling Shake down the stairs.

Shake's loud "AAAAHHH" was drowned out by a merrily burning, ancient dresser landing heavily on the floor, followed by a series of splintered wood.

"Holy Leviathan…" Yuffie whispered, before she continued to the fourth floor. Half way up the stairs, Gorki blocked her way.

"Lady Yuffie, I'm afraid I can't let anyone pass, especially not you. It's not safe."

"No kidding," Yuffie said dryly.

"I understand that you worry about your father's safety, but he has both Staniv and the foreigner with him. They are all exceptionally skilled men."

Yuffie frowned. "Foreigner? What foreigner?"

"A visitor from the East who had asked for an audience with Godo early this morning….Yuffie, this is not the time to be discussing –"

"Damn right, so let me through already!"

"I'm afraid I can't – "

Before Gorki had the chance to finish, Yuffie ducked and kicked his legs out from under him. As he went down with a startled shriek she jumped over him, spinning in mid-air and landing neatly on her feet before hopping up the last steps.

"Leave it to me and skedaddle, gramps!" she shouted over her shoulder, then choked and coughed violently. The smoke up here was so intense it was suffocating. The blazing flames were blinding and she almost ran straight onto a wide hole in the floor. Her eyes stung as she tried to make out any sign of Godo or Staniv. Blinking until tears formed at her eyes, she carefully made her way to the stairs once again. Fire and little mountains of rubble and unidentifiable objects turned this into a painfully difficult task. By the time she reached her destination, Yuffie was covered in ash and grime from head to toe and breathing raggedly. Just as she set her foot on the first step, a huge beam fell through the ceiling and pierced the floor barely an arm's length from her with a bone-shattering crack. She felt the ground underneath her give way and immediately acted on instinct. She bent her knees and jumped, just as the wooden planks under her feet plummeted downward. Grabbing onto the edge of the next piece of stairs she could get a hold of, she hung on with all her might, feeling sharp splinters drilling themselves through her gloves and into her palms.

With a grunt, she swung herself forcefully onto solid ground.

She would've run forward to look for Godo and Staniv, but there was almost nothing left to walk on. Her eyes grew wide as saucers as she came to a stop in front of a hole as big as half a soccer field…there was practically nothing left of the room, safe for small stripes of floor adjoining what was left of the walls. The roof was practically non-existent as well, only single beams and patches of it were left in the corners of the building. Yuffie felt like she was standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down into an endless ocean of fire and destruction.

That must be what hell is like, she thought and for the very first time in her life, she felt an incredibly icy sensation shoot throughout her body, closing her throat and tightening around her heart like a steel fist. The only time something had come even remotely close to making her feel like this was when she'd seen Sephiroth jump straight at Aeris, his sword glinting in the white light…

Stifling a shiver, she shook her head so hard that her raven-black hair flew in every direction, sending dust and dirt sailing all around her.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, now's not the time to start freakin' thinking.

Instead she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"DAD! CAN YOU HEAR ME? ARE YOU HERE? DAD? DAAAAAD! ANSWER ME, GODO, YOU OLD COOT!"

More smoke got into her lungs and she coughed again, doubling over from the stinging pain in her chest. As her coughing fit ebbed away, a solemn, quiet voice carried over to her. So quiet, in fact, that for a second she was sure she'd imagined it.

"Lady Yuffie….over here…"

She narrowed her eyes to slits, fighting to keep her vision from blurring, and stared hard into the thick smoke. Something resembling a faded blue yukata in the far corner caught her eye.

There.

Pressing herself close to the wall, Yuffie tiptoed carefully alongside the thin, brittle wood that was left of the ground. Every here and then she froze and held her breath when more burning pieces of roof rained down upon her, accompanied by clouds of dust that made her sneeze and cough. As soon as she reached a still intact platform that had about the size of a big bed, she jerked to a halt, going completely stiff. The blue yukata belonged to Staniv. He, too, was coughing hard and looked like he'd jumped right into a big, full urn. But Yuffie didn't even see him. What she saw, was a man lying on his back, and a large puddle of dark red blood that reflected the dancing flames in a way that seemed both uncanny and simply beautiful. Unable to control her body, Yuffie numbly registered that her legs were taking her to the fallen person's side on their own accord. Dropping to her knees, she stared at his face disbelievingly. His ghostly white, still, almost peaceful face.

He's asleep, she thought distantly.

"Dad," she whispered, her voice so hoarse and rough, she didn't recognize it as her own.

He's asleep.

She put a hand to his shoulder, shaking him slightly. "Dad, wake up."

He's asleep.

There was blood all over the left side of his chest, a hole in the mangled flesh where the heart should have been. "Wake up!" she demanded in a sharper tone, shaking him more forcefully.

He's just asleep.

"Yuffie…" She felt a firm hand on her own shoulder, trying to pull her back from her father's lifeless body. She saw that his throat was…open. Thick blood kept pouring out of it at an unnervingly slow pace. She put her other hand on his other shoulder, shaking him with all her might. "WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP, GODDAMMIT!"

He's just asleep….isn't he?

"YUFFIE, STOP IT!" Staniv whirled her around and before she knew what was going on, she fell back with a burning cheek. For a second she thought a piece of burning wood had hit her, before she realized what the position of Staniv's flat hand meant. He looked at her with a mix of compassion, sadness and utter despair.

Isn't he…?

The next thing she knew, Staniv's arms were around her and he pressed her head into his shoulder, hugging her tightly.

"I'm sorry, Yuffie…I'm so sorry."

She felt his tears run into her hair and closed her eyes, closed her mind, closed her heart. He was gone.

Yes, he's asleep…forever.