Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews and encouragement, guys, it really does make me want to further this particular story. In general, I'll only start working on consecutive chapters only if reviews continue to come in. Writers are nourished by reader feedback, so please R&R.
Chapter Two
Shifting the cast iron frying pan slightly, Vincent Valentine carefully slid the pair of cooked eggs onto the pewter plate he had set beside the stove, nodding his head approvingly at how well this part of his breakfast had turned out. Lightly singed to a pleasant golden brown around the edges, the egg yolks had nevertheless retained their fluidity (and juiciness) and would go along very well with the last remaining slices of bread Vincent had in his possession.
In one fluid motion, the trained hands of the former Turk willed a small brown pepper shaker over the golden orbs of the sunny side-ups, depositing a tiny amount of black pepper on the eggs. Coupled with two slices of barley toast (fetched from a toaster several paces to Vincent's right side) and a sprig of parsley, the gunslinger's breakfast plate looked quite enticing indeed.
Yuffie would've been proud.
Three Weeks Ago..
"You're leaving, aren't you…" spoke Yuffie, breaking the long silence.
Vincent had been locked in this awkward position for quite some time now, and quite frankly had no idea of what to do. Yuffie's arms remained firmly clasped around his waist and showed no signs of relinquishing their position. Such displays of affection had long ceased to be familiar to the gunslinger, with no one ever entering his "personal sphere" in decades.
"Yes…" replied Vincent, shifting awkwardly at the sound of her accusing tone.
"Why?" questioned the young ninja, her voice trembling slightly with emotion, "Vinnie… For the first time in years, the Planet is at peace, Shinra's finished, and you've got good friends around who genuinely care about YOU.."
"The Planet may be at peace, Yuffie…" spoke Vincent, "But I'm no-"
"Goddamn it!" cursed Yuffie, suddenly releasing her embrace and shoving Vincent's body roughly against the wooden guardrail in a fit of rage. "You're such a jackass! Can't you fucking see that wallowing in your own guilt and past absolutely DOESN'T help?"
Vincent blinked.
"Sure, I know that it must be hard for you Vinnie…." continued Yuffie, her cheeks flushing beet red in anger, "I can't imagine what sort of things go on inside that head of yours, or what kind of hell you've been in…But for God's sake, Vincent… Don't pull a 'Cloud' on us, we all know how that turned out."
"……"
Sighing heavily in resignation, Yuffie hopped onto the guardrail of the balcony in a seating position, wrapping her arms around her legs tightly while allowing her chin to rest lightly on a pair of knees.
"You know, Vinnie…" quipped the young ninja softly, turning her gaze out to the stars, "You're my friend… and I… I mean… um.."
Yuffie fidgeted a bit uncomfortably on the guardrail, before continuing on.
"Well.."
Vincent eyed the girl carefully, loosening his grip on the rail to move a few paces closer to the ninja's frame.
"You're special to all of us…"
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A distant rumble quickly snapped Vincent Valentine back to reality, and forced him to temporarily discard all thoughts of breakfast for the flying speck of black he saw outside of his kitchen window. Vehicles, let alone aircraft, were absolutely never present around the mountainous region of the Temuge Highlands, and could only mean one thing:
Someone had found him.
The instinctive training of the Turks took over the mind of Vincent Valentine, prompting him to quickly leave the steaming plate of breakfast and hurry through the small hallway of his log cabin. Within a matter of seconds, the gunslinger arrived at a tiny little closet next to the backdoor entrance of his home. Flicking the closing latch of the closet with his left hand (which was currently lacking his trademark golden gauntlet for cooking reasons), Vincent opened the closet and carefully glanced over its contents.
Within the tiny room hung an impressive arsenal of firearms and mastered materia Vincent had acquired over his journeys throughout the whole of Gaia, coupled with boxes and boxes of ammunition. In a special glass case positioned purposely above the rest of the weapons hung the Death Penalty, the weapon given to him by Lucrecia during AVALANCHE's original foray against Meteor and Sephiroth. A monstrous rifle weighing more than twenty pounds, the Death Penalty was wickedly powerful rifle capable of blasting 12.7mm armor-piercing, high explosive rounds through multiple brick walls from hundreds of yards away.
Needless to say, one pitied the poor bastards on the receiving end of this barrel.
With one smooth motion, the gunslinger removed the rifle from its protective case, lifting the heavy weapon in one hand while snatching up a ten-round box of ammunition with another. Not pausing to close the closet door, Vincent flung himself out of the cabin (via back door) with superhuman speed, covering the thirty-two yards to a nearby wooden area in seconds.
Stooping low behind the cover of a large pine tree, Vincent's crimson eyes swiftly assessed the situation while his long, ungloved fingers shoved the massive cartridges into the loading gate of the massive weapon. One solitary helicopter hovered slowly over the log cabin for several moments before eventually descending onto a grassy knoll just in front of the structure.
With the last bullet loaded into the Death Penalty's tubular magazine, Vincent Valentine slowly cocked the semiautomatic action back and forth to send one of the 12.7mm rounds into the chamber of the weapon. Smoothly raising the stock of the rifle to his cheek, the former Turk focused all of his attention to the front sight of the weapon, taking care to slow both his breathing and heartbeat in order to maximize the potent device's accuracy.
From his position in the treeline, Vincent's enhanced vision could easily spot the helicopter's shiny black sliding door open slowly to allow a man in a crisp black business suit access to the ground.
Noting that the Death Penalty's sights were perfectly aligned with the head of this intruder, Vincent Valentine slowly began to depress the trigger of the enormous rifle, completely ready to scatter the man's brains into the wind, before stopping completely.
"Tseng?"
Note: The Death Penalty's appearance in this story remains the same as it was in the original game due to my general disdain of DoC.