fandom: Final Fantasy VII
title: Don't Tell
genre(s): General, or maybe some light angstrating: G
pairing(s): Vincent and Aerith. Not really a pairing, though.
summary: If only he didn't understand, he might have been able to persuade her too. Written for a friend for her birthday. (premiered 10/23/05 at 607am.)

Vincent was waiting outside Gongaga's inn when Aerith walked out.

"...How's he doing?" he asked out of general concern for Cloud, who, of course, had been screwed up mighty bad after the Temple incident, and was resting (had been for quite a while now, actually).

Aerith was actually quite surprised by his question, as Vincent had been relatively quiet and seemingly uncaring since he'd joined them. Nevertheless, she took to answering him. "He's... still asleep. I'm pretty worried about him. He's been sleeping for an entire day now."

Vincent nodded. "Don't worry. He'll wake up soon."

"Yeah..." She hesitated for awhile, trying to decide whether or not she should actually tell him what she wanted to say. It was probably best that she did, as he was the only one up and would surely notice that... well... "The thing is, Vincent... I'm not going to be here when he finally does." There. She said it.

"What?"

"I won't be here. I'm..." She looked at him, straight in the eye — something she was not at all afraid to do — and, clasping her hands behind her back, asked, "... Can you keep a secret, Vincent?" Of course he could, and she knew that. Out of everyone in the group, she felt that Vincent would be the best secret-keeper.

"Yes. What is it?"

Aerith started walking away from the inn, a slient invitation to Vincent that she didn't want to risk the others possibly hearing what she had to say. They were all asleep, save for Cid, who was to watch over Cloud for a few hours. Vincent never stayed in the inns with them, and usually went off during the night to be alone.

He followed her, and when she'd decided on a spot that was a safe distance away, he waited for her to go forth with telling him this secret of hers. She sat down, and he did the same. To be honest, he was pretty interested in whatever she had to say. Even being part of the team for only a short time, he found this young woman quite intriguing and, to a degree, mysterious.

"I'm the only one who can stop Meteor, and maybe Sephiroth, too," Aerith said solemnly, resting her chin on her knees. "The reason I won't be here is because I have to go to... the City of the Ancients. Alone. I'm not quite sure where it is, exactly, but I know I'll find it. It'll draw me there." She looked up at him and offered a weak smile.

"Because you're an Ancient," Vincent said, mostly to himself, as though to verify the reason.

Aerith nodded and dropped her head back to rest on her knees. "That's what I need you to keep secret. My leaving, I mean. I don't want the others to worry— well, I know they'll worry when they see I'm not here anymore, but... if they knew I was going, they'd be hurt more, and—"

"I understand," Vincent interrupted. There was no use for her to fight for words when he knew exactly what she meant. Her disappearing was for their own good, as well as hers. They might try and convince her to stay, saying that if they all went together they could defeat Sephiroth. "Are you frightened?"

"A little," she admitted, "but I know I need to do this. For the Planet, for Cloud, Tifa, little Marlene... everyone and everything."

"You're very brave."

"...Thank you." Again, she smiled, another attempt to hide the anxiety she was feeling.

They sat in silence for awhile, a silence that was remarkably comfortable considering the fact that neither of them knew a whole lot about the other. It put Aerith at ease, just a bit, especially knowing that her secret was safe with Vincent.

AN: I'm currently in the process of moving several of my stories from my personal writing journal on LiveJournal (607am) to here. I'm keeping them at the aforementioned journal, though ... just putting them on here as well. :)