Kamikaze Moogle
Disclaimer: Still not mine. I'll take Vinnie any day, though.
Chapter Two
Breakfast that morning was eaten mostly in silence, with all of the AVALANCHE members casting Thorn cold, wary looks. Thorn and Lily sat together on one side of the briefly renewed fire, with the four Square Enix characters spread across the other side. Finally Thorn couldn't take it anymore.
"Lil, those guys ain't sayin' anythin'. What the hell'd I do that's got 'em all, you know…like that." She had looked over at a certain blonde warrior just in time to catch an icy, calculating stare, which she returned with an annoyed widening of the eyes and a questioning swivel of the head.
"Well, you called Cloud a puppet, for one thing. What was up with that?"
"I called him a puppet? What the hell?" Thorn paused, thinking about when anger had flared in her chest, the words she had spat fiercely at Cloud. "All I said was 'I said, let me go…'"
"How do you not remember what you said, Chicken? And you said it weird; your voice got all low and, I dunno, evil-sounding. I could barely hear you. I mean, I didn't see your face when you said it, so I mean, maybe you just looked really scary, I dunno. But I bet Cloud didn't get any happy recollections out of being called a puppet."
"I don't understand… I don't remember saying anything like that at all." Thorn picked at her food uselessly, finding that even after not eating for a good while, she was not very hungry just now, not very hungry at all.
"Thorn, Lily! We're moving on; let's go." Yuffie looked the most amiable with regard to the two teenagers of the four Square Enix people, and it was she who called them to their feet. The two girls nodded and crossed the clearing, only now realizing the chill in the morning air. They both shivered lightly.
"Here, take these," said Tifa, her eyes glazing over in what looked like an attempt not to appear so cold. Out of a bag on her shoulder she drew two denim jackets, which she tossed to each of them. Both murmured their thanks as they pulled the thin articles of clothing over themselves. Thorn saw the look that went from Cloud to Tifa, who shrugged and kept walking.
"Thorn, Lily, you will be in the middle of all of us," Vincent said suddenly as they left the clearing into denser forest.
"How come?" asked Thorn, her eyebrows creasing into a slight frown.
"The idea is to put competent fighters at either end of the group so that defenses are high on both sides," he explained patiently. Shrugging, Thorn and Lily moved past Cloud and Tifa to the middle, so that they were between Vincent and Yuffie and Cloud and Tifa (Cloud and Tifa being at the front, Yuffie and Vincent at the back.) When all this was sorted, they moved on, making their way through the incredibly close-set trees in silence.
---
Vincent shook his head as he watched Thorn and Lily turn their backs on him to face the front and keep walking. What had happened back in that clearing had Cloud of definite edge, as well it should, which put Tifa on edge, and with two members of AVALANCHE on edge and he, Vincent, who did not show this fact about himself as openly as the former two, the general aura of on-edged-ness seemed to rub off on Yuffie, who was fiddling and fussing with her shuriken pouch as they went along in a frazzled manner, something Vincent was not used to seeing in the young shinobi.
The hours passed uneventfully, no one truly wanting to break the tense silence that had fallen among the six people. The sun moved slowly overhead, casting dappled bits of green light along the ground, interspersed with shadows and real sunlight. The minutes seemed to stretch ages, hours eons. Vincent did not know how this was affecting the others, but to him, it was only normal for time to stretch indefinitely like this, and it was only by accepting it and plowing on that one survived in the endless flow of time.
Around noon they all stopped to eat lunch, which Tifa took it upon herself to cook. Other than nods of thanks, the six travelers mostly ignored one another, not daring to break the inestimable quiet that was permeated only by the natural sounds of the forest. Then it was onward once more, walking all day until night fell over the unchanging landscape. This time Vincent decided to give Tifa a break and went about creating some version of a stew. Soon enough bowls were delivered wordlessly. When he gave Thorn hers, he watched her mahogany eyes as she looked at him for a moment that lasted several. Even Vincent could not guess what was in the child's stare as she nodded to him and watched him go back to his own food.
After he finished eating, Vincent stood, walking out of the firelight and retrieving a phone from one of the unfathomable pockets on his person. Flipping it open, his human hand dialed swiftly, lifting the phone to his ear under layers of long black hair. The sound of ringing reached his eardrums, until…
"'Lo?"
"Cid."
"Hey, Gloom-N-Doom! Whadoya want?"
"Complications have arisen. We need you to come here. Soon."
"Well, where the hell are ya?" Vincent ignored Cid's crude-sounding voice and replied.
"About twenty miles east of you."
"Still in that damned forest! Ya fuckin' vamp, how d'ya expect me ta come'n get ya if yer ass is still under all them trees?"
"You are the pilot, Highwind; be creative," Vincent said, again ignoring the needless cursing always involved in a conversation with Cid. "You know very well that I would not call you for no good reason. Make it happen." With that, Vincent hung up before Cid could argue any further, making his way back into the firelight and earshot of the others situated there. Cloud sent him a questioning look, which Vincent replied to by allowing a glimpse of his phone to be seen by the blonde as it disappeared back into the folds of his cloak. Cloud raised his eyebrows, then nodded in comprehension. He murmured something to Tifa and Yuffie.
---
Thorn awoke to the sound of whirring and running motors, to the feeling of Lily's hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently awake. She blinked in confusion, rubbing her eyes and standing up quickly.
"Whuzzgoinon?" she muttered, half-asleep for all she was on her feet. Her eyes caught a glimpse of a huge airship through the tops of the trees, and her eyes widened.
"They called Cid?" she said. Lily widened her eyes warningly as if to say 'shut up!' Vincent, who was somewhat nearby, seemed to catch part of what she said, but not all of it, because he asked, "What did you say?"
"I—nothing, I just said that thing's so big," Thorn replied quickly, eyes rising to the airship once more. Vincent watched her for a moment, then resumed watching Cid's airship hover over them. A long rope ladder descended, ending about four feet off the ground. High in the sky through a gap in the trees, Thorn could see faces, small from distance, looking out.
"Thorn, Lily, come on." Yuffie looked with an apprehensive expression at the waiting air born mode of transportation, and Thorn suddenly remembered that Yuffie was a person who suffered from motion sickness. Cloud and Tifa were already pulling themselves up the ladder, Cloud jumping the last several feet from the ladder and disappearing into the airship. Vincent didn't bother with the ladder but flew up, leaving Yuffie, Lily, and Thorn to climb the ladder quickly, dodging trees as the rope swung precariously. By the time they were all in the aircraft, the pilot had apparently lost patience and was flying away from the abandoned spot without waiting for the youngest new passengers to be all the way inside.
When Thorn looked around, she saw most of AVALANCHE that she could think of assembled. Nanaki (or Red XIII,) sat on his haunches next to Cait Sith, watching the new arrivals. Up at the controls, Thorn recognized Cid Highwind piloting the Shera. Her eyes roved over the various Square Enix characters, and she realized that one person was not here. Barret Wallace, original leader of AVALANCHE from way back when—was he perhaps with Marlene and Denzel? From what Thorn could tell so far, she and Lily had entered the timeline sometime after Advent Children and before Dirge of Cerberus.
"Who are you?" asked Nanaki, flaming tail flitting from side to side. The question was valid, though not harsh or suspicious, merely curious.
"That's Thorn," said Lily, "and I'm Lily."
"They were," Tifa paused for the merest of moments as she explained why Thorn and Lily were there, her wine-colored eyes trailing over the pair and lingering on Thorn, "stranded, so we brought them along."
Thorn saw the look that cut from Cid to Vincent, and Thorn knew that Tifa's words were not all that would be said on the matter. She almost did not hear Tifa when she said, "Yuffie, will you show Thorn and Lily to their rooms so they can get comfortable?" Surprised, Thorn looked at Yuffie, who seemed to realize that this was merely a way to clear both Thorn and Lily from the room the same way she had, and said, "Uh, sure, all right." Yuffie looked at the two teenagers.
"Come on," she said, "this way." Thorn spared a glance for the rest of AVALANCHE before following the cheerful ninja, wondering how many times before the shinobi had been falsely cheerful.
---
Once Yuffie, Thorn, and Lily had left the room, Cid broke his briefly tactful silence.
"All right, vamp. Out with it. Why'd you call, and what's with the kids?" Vincent turned to him, glancing over at Cloud before speaking.
"I called, you, Cid, because I decided that traveling twenty more miles in the company of those two in a forrested, remote area would put the safety of those involved in undue jeopardy."
"How'd ya figure that loadda shit?" Cid replied.
"They both have a strange feel about them," Nanaki said pensively, "as though they do not belong here, but they do not seem dangerous."
"This is true," said Vincent, "but there is a more pressing possible problem in the youngest of the two, Thorn."
"Yesterday morning, when Cloud was talking to Thorn, something happened," Tifa chimed in, concerned burgundy eyes resting resolutely on Cloud. "There was a moment when she wasn't really Thorn, if that makes sense." The meaning of Tifa's words was apparently lost on Cid.
"Na, it don't make n'damn sense. Hey, chocobo-boy! What happened?"
"Her eyes changed," said Cloud, refusing to look at anyone and speaking in a deadened tone of voice. "She called me puppet and her eyes changed…into his." When he said these words, Cloud's mouth tightened, and everyone could see his grip on the support rail in his hand tighten considerably.
"No fuckin' way! That's damn crazy talk right there," said Cid. "How in the hell—"
"We do not know," Vincent interrupted Cid. "But we must watch her carefully. She appears not to know what happened, and we have not informed her."
---
Thorn Crypte was a fan girl. A fan girl who scorned all boy-crazy/boy-worshipping behavior in real, flesh and blood life, but a fan girl nevertheless. As a straight fan girl, Thorn had memorized most of the common mannerisms and characteristics of nearly all Advent Children males, as well as whatever in-depth information was available on them. This was why it did not surprise her when one of her favorite bishis, Vincent Valentine, turned out to be a very impersonal, straightforward sort of person. Much as Thorn had fantasized about any alternate reality where she somehow ended up in the same universe as a living, breathing Vincent, and how she would probably die within minutes of entering that reality because she had actually so profaned as to hug Vincent, she knew she would never do it. Never even make an attempt.
Because it is much harder to be a fan girl of someone who you have been in the same room with, however much you adore their persona.
Vincent's behavior did not surprise her, but Cloud's did. At the end of Advent Children, it had seemed that Cloud's annoying Emo thing was over; geostigma was gone, his feelings of regret and guilt over Aerith mostly abated. Emoness aside, the fact that Cloud looked at her as though he wished her dead every time they shared a room, even for the shortest of moments, disturbed Thorn greatly. He had not spoken to her since the first morning of their acquaintance, and in all honesty, Thorn was rather afraid of what he would say if he did speak.
No one was telling her anything either, and so as Thorn looked out over the railing of the outside deck of the Shera, she turned over the events again and again in her mind, trying to understand why she had called Cloud a puppet and not remembered a thing about it.
Well, the last person who called him a puppet was Sephy, and he manipulated Cloud into giving him the black materia, Thorn thought. She could understand why Cloud was furious, but why was everyone looking at her with a frosty wariness, along with a flicker of fear? A word could not instill such fear on its own.
Everyone is talking, talking, but no one is talking to me Thorn thought angrily. The only exception to this rule was Lily, who was behaving normally around Thorn, if a little worried, but completely open. God damn it, don't I deserve to know why Cid keeps watching me like he's waiting for me to do something? Why Tifa seems like she's tiptoeing around Cloud and me? Don't I get a say?
And without warning, the injustice of it ignited a new flame of anger within Thorn, dangerous and more deadly than she had ever known. Pure, unadulterated fury flowed through her unexpectedly, so much that the thing that had angered her flew out of perspective.
Thorn's hands on the railing clenched over the carved wood, teeth gritting and breath catching in her throat. It took effort—too much effort—to breathe, hatred and wrath blocking her airway. Her eyes turned poisoned blue and green once more, cruel slits replacing her human pupils. Thorn's hands squeezed down on the railing so hard that she could feel it begin to crack and splinter beneath her gloved hands, exposed fingers refusing to release their vice grip.
"Thorn!" Her name was spoken sharply, distracting her for a split second from her rage. This split second was all her body needed, however, to calm the fierce anger within her, snuffing the fire back into dormant ashes. Thorn's restored brown eyes followed the voice, looking over her shoulder at the tall, cloaked frame of the man Thorn knew could only be Vincent. His eyes rested pointedly on her right hand, which was not hidden by Thorn's body like her left one. The wood under her fingers had not broken apart, but several long cracks ran from where she had clamped down on it. Thorn lifted her hands, which had not been cut, gazing at the leather palms of her fingerless gloves instead of at Vincent. This remained so even when she finally spoke to him.
"Vincent," she said, "why isn't anyone telling me?" When Vincent did not reply, Thorn turned, leaning back against the splintered railing and staring at the pale man.
"Why are all of you watching me, and not talking to me? I sleep in the blackness when I'm tired, but that doesn't mean I like to be left in the dark." Vincent did not answer her question, but he did speak, and even that was somewhat comforting to Thorn, that she had pulled him into talking to her.
"I can think of nothing worse to call Cloud Strife than 'puppet.' The reminder it poses is the surest way to instill anger in that man I know. I believe that there are two reasons why you are not feeling great pain at this moment at Cloud's hand: you are a child, as meager an incentive not to harm you as that may be, and that you shocked him so badly that his reasoning caught up with, and overpowered, his immediate desire to kill you." Vincent watched Thorn's inscrutable face acknowledge what he had said.
"I didn't mean to," Thorn said, "I don't even remember it." She noticed Vincent nod, seemingly deep in thought. Unable to bear this subject any longer, particularly if she was still getting neither relief nor answers, Thorn cast around for something else to say, knowing that conversation with this particular Square Enix character was always rather doomed anyway. Yet another reason fic writers across the world called him Gloom'n'Doom.
"So, where are we going, anyway?" she said, glancing out into the sky that surrounded them, then back at Vincent.
"Our objective in the forest was reached; Cid will take Cloud and Tifa back to their home, and, if their ever-persistant desire for house guests prevails, I imagine that a few others may join them. I will also be leaving the ship at the first opportunity, to save our pilot the trouble of flying where I must go—"
"Fine, where am I going, then?" Thorn interrupted. "Me and Lily. That's what I meant."
"That is yet to be seen."
"Well then. When the happy gang figures it out, you lemme know, mkay?" Thorn said, sarcasm lacing her words. She walked away, past Vincent and away from the deck, toward her room, getting the distinct impression that if Vincent were the type of person who actually laughed openly, he would have chuckled at her. The odd thing was that Thorn wasn't sure whether this irked her or made her feel lighter of heart.