Steal the Stars
Reach for the moon; even if you miss you'll land among the stars
Vincent didn't belong here
Vincent didn't belong here.
Well, technically, yes he did belong here. He was supposed to be here, outside under this large, large tent as his companions laughed and drank. He did belong here, with the only people he had cared about since Lucrecia. So he belonged in the room, and he belonged with his friends, but it was the particular person he was with that made him feel like he didn't belong.
Yuffie had dragged him off of the rocket stand when the festivities had begun. Then, when he had sat in a dark chair in the corner, she had dragged him out of that. Not to his pleasure at all – he considered it good enough just being there.
She had spotted him. He felt the glance that passed over him, and then felt the double take as her eyes landed. He could picture the frown on her face as she saw him nursing a glass of wine (even to Cid and Barret's objections of it being 'pussy-ass.) He saw as she made a beeline through the floor and walked over, a frown marring her youthful face.
Yuffie looked nice tonight. Mostly because Tifa had dragged her into a room and locked them in, telling Yuffie that she was not wearing that bandanna tonight. The dress she wore had a straight neckline, with spaghetti straps. The material was sheerlike, and had a tiny ruffle along the top. Darker burgundy sheer pulled around the dress just below the chest, making a sash. The rest of the skirt went down to her upper shin. A black headband rested in her hair. Tifa had a matching one – after all, they were the bridemaids.
She sat in a car across the table from him, which puzzled him, as normally the ninja would have sat next to him so she could poke him more easily. Instead, she rested her forearms on the table, hands clasped. Then she leaned forward, and met his eyes firmly. Instead of a tirade like he was expecting, he got a sentence. "Are you alive, Vincent?"
It took him aback. In a flash, he could see how Aeris had left her mark on Yuffie, and how Yuffie had learned something from example. Vincent met her intense grey eyes, and imagined green one were looking calmly at him from behind them. But this was Yuffie. Her grey eyes were tumultuous storms, and she was not going to wait patiently for an answer. "Well?"
"…I suppose…"
"Suppose?" She drew out the word as she said it.
"I suppose that depends entirely on what you consider 'alive.'"
Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Does your heart beat, Vin?"
"Yes."
"Does blood run through your veins, Vinnie?"
"Yes."
"Then you're alive. And live people don't sulk in corners with a wine glass."
In a breath, Yuffie snatched the wine glass from his hand, downed it, and licked her lips. Giggling, she yanked at his arm. "Come on, living dead man. Living people at least sit at tables with other living people, and living people dance occasionally."
"…"
"You haven't even congratulated Cid and Shera yet. I'm sure they are super offended. Better go do that now. Come one. You're one of the freaking best mans! But nooo, as soon as you could slip away from the Head Table you did, you stupid boy. Now go congratulate them." She had led them across to the happy couple, and she shoved him forward. "Go!"
Shera and Cid turned to look at him, and Shera flashed a smile that could light up the room.
"…I pass my congratulations onto you two." Vincent managed to get out.
Cid grinned. "Thanks Vin, means a lot coming from you." He gave the taller man a slap on the back. Shera moved forward and gave him a hug, which he just received. Shera didn't mind – she knew what he was like. But she smiled brightly. "Thank you Vincent."
As the two walked away to dance, Yuffie appeared at his side, and she was grinning. "See? Not so bad now."
"…"
So, from there, she had proceeded to torture him by tugging him along and introducing him to all sorts of people that he knew she had just met that night, but they already loved her. Finally, when she was done the tour, she turned on him and looked far too innocent.
"Vinnieeeeee," she had started.
He caught on quickly. "Yuffie," he said warningly.
"Vinnnieeeee,"
"Yuffie, no."
"Vin, pleaseeeeee?"
"…no."
"Please? Even Cloud is! You can enjoy it together. Come on!"
Thus, she had dragged him onto the dance floor, where he and Cloud had muttered about preferring torture to this cruelety. Then, they had started the 'traditional' dances. Which, apparently, Yuffie knew nothing about.
The music changed. Yuffie blinked, stopping her dancing. She looked utterly confused as people paired up, and it wasn't until the disc jockey announced that it was time for the waltz that she understood. She turned a light pink, and made to walk off the dance floor. Before realizing what he was doing, Vincent had automatically (for Turks were trained as deadly weapons and excellent dancers) taken her hand. Yuffie looked confused. "Vincent…I don't…"
"You don't know how to waltz?" he asked, looking surprised.
She hit him on the arm. "Don't sound like that! I mean…"
"I assumed Princesses were taught such things."
"Well, we're supposed ot be. But that was before we were on such bad terms with Shinra. Yea, they owned us, but my father was too proud. Didn't want me knowing 'their' type of dancing. Before we knew it to keep on good terms with other countries and continents. Now, we were isolated. I learned Wutain dances."
"…it is simple." Vincent said. "Place your arm here." He guided her arm to his bicep, and held her other arm out. He placed his other arm behind her back. She shivered slightly. "Three steps," he murmured. She was turning pink under the disbelieving stares. "One two three," Vincent muttered. She stumbled a bit. "One two three."
At last she got the hang of it, and let Vincent guide her along the floor (thank god men lead, right?) and endured the stares of Tifa over Cloud and Vincent's shoulder. She also ignored the wink she received as they waltzed past Reeve, and the mocking whistle Cid gave. Well, he gave before Shera hit him lightly on the arm. Barret, Tifa and Cloud merely gaped, as Reno sent a catcall over the prettiest girl in the room's (go figure) shoulder. Elena sputtered when she saw (before she couldn't see over Rude's shoulder) and Marlene giggled. Yuffie glared at them all.
The music ended and other sorts of 'traditional' music played, but Yuffie slipped off the dance floor.. Escaping before Tifa or Reeve could tease her, she went out to the rocket stand.
After ten minutes, she was joined.
"Think I could reach the moon, Vincent?"
Vincent was startled. He'd only just approached, and she was still looking ahead and at the sky, but she'd sensed him. Taken aback, he joined her by the railing. "…excuse me?"
"Think I could reach the stars?"
Vincent pondered as he looked up at the sky. Here, unlike Midgar, you could see the stars twinkling above, winking down on the party that became muffled in their ears. "Do you mean to say literally or figuratively?"
Yuffie didn't even scoff. "Well we've sorta done that literally, haven't we? Cid and the rocket and everything. Hm."
Vincent would not tell her that he did not think anyone could reach the stars. He had tried, eh had thought he was living on the moon, to come crashing down to earth so painfully. Maybe you could live in the stars, but only until reality came and devoured you again. But he would not tell Yuffie that he did not think you could live in the stars.
"…"
"I remember my father telling me a bedtime story when I was little, about five or six, a year or so after my mother was dead. He told me that the stars were millions of materia all trapped up in the sky, the materia Shinra had stolen from Wutai. He told me that one day I would go find these materia, find the stars and bring them back to Wutai. I told him that I didn't want to find materia for Wutai if it meant the stars couldn't shine in the sky anymore. He told me that we would not lose the stars, they would just shine brighter for Wutai. He said that the moon, sun and stars would all shine brighter when Wutai was free.
"So when I was twelve, I left to go pluck the stars from the sky." She chuckled weakly. "And it was you guys who had the most stars I'd ever seen in my life."
"So you left to steal the stars."
"Yes. I left to steal the stars from Shinra, who didn't deserve them. I wanted to make the stars shine bright for Wutai…"
Yuffie suddenly climbed up on the railing. Her feet rested on the lower railing, halfway up and the top of her shins pressed against the top ones. She looked up and stretched her arms, as though she was going to make herself a crown out of the stars in the bruised evening sky.
It was then Vincent realized he didn't belong.
He didn't belong in this world Yuffie lived in. He didn't belong in this bright shining place that Yuffie lived in, in this place where you danced because you were alive and where you could pick the stars out of the sky. He didn't belong in this place where you screamed because it was quiet and where you did cartwheels because you could.
Then he realized in the very story where she was reaching for the stars, her mother had died. In the very story where she was searching for the stars, she was stealing them from heaven.
So maybe Yuffie did live in a world where you blew fluff off of dandelions and laughed because you liked the sound. But she also lived in a world where mothers die before their children. She lived in a world where two people in her life had been martyred, and where her father had sent her away at only twelve years old. Maybe Yuffie lived in a world where you climbed trees and did the bunny hop, but she lived in a world where you lived alone for four years and tricked and deceived when you had company.
Yuffie wasn't innocent. In fact, she was something close to dangerous. But she lived in a world where you stole from your friends and you ran because it was fun.
Vincent lived in a world where lovers died and madmen burnt up cities. Vincent lived in a world where there were demons and one-winged angels, in a world where people got hurt by scientists and where the sky fell. A world where people order a plate to fall and crush hundreds of people, and he lived in a world where lust could feel like love.
Then, standing and reaching for the moon, Yuffie almost slipped. About to tumble off the stand onto the ground below, Vincent instinctively grabbed her by her sides, and held her up straight.
But Yuffie lived in this world too. The world where you reached for the sky, but stumbled time to time.
So maybe they did live in the same world, him and her.
They stood there, gazing at the sky above. Vincent didn't realize he hadn't let go of Yuffie as he stared at the mottled black and purple sky, and Yuffie was too busy aiming for the moon to notice.
"Yes Yuffie," he finally said, "I think you could reach the moon."
He didn't tell her that she was already stolen the stars.
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A/N: Horribly cheesy (Gag, puke - kidding) I know. This was not, in fact, inspired by the quote at the top. It was inspired by a single line in 'Girls In Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood' by Ann Brashares. The quote just seemed to fit. So I just started writing. What do you think? Yes? No? Love? Hate? Good? 'Are you on crack or something, person?'
Edit: There was a part where I must've accidently deleted a part so it didn't make sense and it really bugged me, so I fixed it! Yay!