Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII, Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus, Before Crisis, Crisis Core, or any of the rights to anything of the sort. They all belong to Square Enix, and I am simply borrowing them for use in this continuation of the story line. So kindly refrain from suing me.
Warning: This is probably the only chapter that doesn't deserve the rating the story has received thus far. So be warned, I also remove several people from their own element, so you'll just have to bear with me.
Several weeks later
"What… Where am I?" The blonde sat up and rubbed his head. It felt as though it was about to explode. "You're at home." Cloud looked around for the source of the voice, and found that he was in the upstairs guest room in Tifa's house in Nibelheim. "How did I get here?" The brunette looked back at her husband, and couldn't help but giggle. "You really don't know, do you?" When the blonde shook his head, she sat down on the bed next to him and told him everything about the fight and how he had gotten out.
Fading Light
By athrunzala
Formation 4:
Returns
In Healin, Reno was shocked when Vincent showed up at the door. "So what's going on?" The gunman looked at him and said, "I need to see the president." "Alright, but I'm not sure what he'll say about this one." Making a mental note to ponder what reasons Vincent might have for wanting see the president later, the red head led his companion to the room where Rufus was busying himself with paperwork and knocked on the door. Upon hearing the familiar "Enter" the Turk opened the door and showed Vincent inside.
"Mr. Valentine. What can I do for you?" "Cut the crap, Rufus." "Alright, I can see you mean business. What is it you need?" "A suit." The blonde was puzzled by this statement. "Why do you need a suit, Vincent?" "My suit. I want back in." The blonde scratched his head. "I'm sorry. Could you please tell me what you mean when you say "back in"?" "Look in your database. ID number GAI-106. You'll see what I mean." Not wanting to get shot, Rufus typed the number into the computer. Sure enough, it returned a hit. "So, you were once a Turk, eh?" The gunman nodded. "I was one of the best. It all ended when I was shot by Professor Hojo. He used me in his experiments while I was assigned to the protection of Doctor Lucrecia Crescent. I need my suit back. It'll help me to cope."
"So you want to re-join the Turks?" The gunman nodded. "Alright then. Your previous status is restored. You are now able to resume your duties. And, as soon as you are ready, I have a job for you. Perfect for somebody with your talents." The gunman nodded and walked out of the room to go and find Rude, who was waiting with the suit. After changing, Reno handed Vincent a folder. "This is the job the boss said he had for you. Be careful, Trigger." Vincent shot Reno a glare that could have killed him if the gunman's eyes had been gun barrels. "Alright, Vincent. I won't call you Trigger anymore!" and the red head backed off. "I'll be back later on. You can count on that."
On the southern most island, Barret Wallace was busy doing some surveying when something caught his eye. "Wonder what the hell that could be?" and he headed down to the shore to examine it closer. Upon his arrival, his expression turned from one of curiosity to one of panic. "Holy shit! I gotta' get to Spiky!"
Back on the main continent, Vincent was busy investigating Mako Reactor Zero. Even though Weiss was no longer around, there had been reports of activity in the region, and the president had wanted him, since he knew the layout, to investigate. Sure enough, upon his entry, he was ambushed by several units of Deep Ground Soldiers. Using the Cerberus, as he had done years before, he took them out quickly, and proceeded deeper into the structure.
When he came across a hole that hadn't been there when he took out Omega, he decided to investigate and jumped in. about three feet into his fall, he hit an opening in a pipe and was swept along its path. As far as how long he was in the dark, he couldn't have been sure, but upon his emergence, he was shocked at what he saw. The hole led right to where the real Weiss lay, his body broken and shattered, crushed beneath the rubble from where he and Vincent had fought years earlier. As for everything else, it appeared as though Deep Ground had attempted to rebuild, but abandoned the project. As the gunman left the room, he entered the lock code into the computer, sealing the room from any further entry.
No sooner had he left the old Shinra building when his phone rang. When he picked up, he was shocked to hear Cloud on the other end. "Cloud, what's going on? You never call." Back in Nibelheim, the blonde was shocked at his response. "What do you mean? I've called loads of times since Omega was destroyed." "But while I'm working?" "Oh. Sorry. In any case, just get back to Edge. Tifa just called. Barret found something that might be of interest to you." The gunman's eyes grew wide. "Of interest… to… me… I'll be there as soon as I can," was the last thing the blonde heard before the sound of an ended phone call.
"But why? Why can't I get up and walk around?" "Because you've got Mako Poisoning You washed up exactly where Cloud did while we were fighting Sephiroth." "Oh. But I wanna walk! I know I can!" the brunette looked at her friend, smiled and said, "Alright. But it's your funeral." As the woman got out of the bed, she began to stand and walk on wobbly legs. It was when she fell to the ground that she realized that perhaps standing, of all things, was not going to be amongst the accomplishable tasks for the next few days.
Outside of Edge, Vincent met up with Reeve, who promised to help Vincent out with a few problems that he had with Mako Reactor Zero. Upon entering Edge, the gunman headed straight to Tifa's bar.
Of all the people who you would never expect to show up wearing a suit, Tifa had never dreamed she'd see Vincent do just that, much less sport a Shin-Ra ID badge. "Vincent! How are you?" The gunman nodded and became his usual straight-forward self again. "What did you find?" the brunette reached under the counter, and pulled out Yuffie's headband. "Where did you find this?" "Barret found it near the ruins of Mideel. That's all he could tell me." "Right. Thank you Tifa. You guys did your best." And he turned and left. "Is he gone?" "Yes. He just left." The woman wiped her brow. "You have no clue how hard it is to hide from him." "Oh, I could imagine. Try finding Cloud." The two women laughed, and walked to the back of the bar, where they sat down to lunch.
Back in Lucrecia's cave, Vincent was sitting and reminiscing about the time he had spent with Yuffie. "Lucrecia, I failed her. I realize this now. I wasn't able to properly protect her, and now, now she's…" He choked up remembering how he had held her in his arms the night she had died. The look that she had given him still lingered through all of the time that had passed. Unable to stand it any longer, the Turk drew his gun and walked into the water in front of the massive crystalline formation. As he did so, he slowly raised it to his head. The moment he was in front of Lucrecia, he pulled the trigger, sending three bullets into his head, causing him to fall down, a look of remorse locked onto his now lifeless face.
Only a few miles away, the sight of several flocks of startled birds drove Cloud to investigate the source of the disturbance. Upon arriving at the cave, he entered, and discovered the sole occupant, his friend, lying face down in the water. The blonde ran over to his friend's motionless body when he didn't respond to his calls. "Damn you, Vincent. She's not even dead, and you go and shoot yourself to be with her. How fucking stupid are you?" And he picked him up and carried the gunman out of the cave to Fenrir.
Back in Edge, Tifa was frantically re-arranging the bar to be used as an emergency Operating Room. Despite the fact that she knew Vincent's body was damn near indestructible, she wasn't sure what a bullet to the head would do. "What's going on here?" The brunette looked at her friend. "Cloud found him! He's hurt bad, and I'm gonna get the bullet out."
Within minutes of her saying that, Cloud burst through the door, carrying an unconscious Vincent Valentine on his shoulders. Vincent regained consciousness momentarily when he was slammed on the table, and noticed the figure in the doorway. "Yuffie… You're… alive…" His eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out.
"Vincent!" Yuffie made a run at his body, which lay motionless on the bar. "If you want to save him, then you need to come with me and you have to relax." Yuffie thought she knew the voice, and turned to see who it came from. "Elena! But I thought that you and Tseng were…" The blonde Turk shook her head. "I'll admit, we have been busy, but that doesn't mean that we can't help our friends out every now and again."
"But… I failed them… Why… Why are they trying to help me?" And he passed out.
"Vincent."
"I completely failed at protecting her. Why would she even want to look at me again?"
"Vincent… You're in my spot."
The voice finally brought the Turk out of his thoughts. "Lucre… er… Dr. Crescent! What are you doing here? I thought that you were at your lab?"
"I was… but you're up here sleeping. How are you supposed to protect me if you are asleep?"
Vincent blushed slightly as he got up. "I only closed my eyes for a moment. The breeze…"
The brunette nodded and giggled. "Yes. I see what you mean. The warm breeze feels very good. But this is not the true reality. You have somebody waiting for you. Go back to her, Vincent."
"But… Yuffie…"
Go to her, Vincent. Keep my memory in your heart, but go to her. She needs you, Vincent." As the scientist said this, her image blurred and disappeared.
As he sat up, Vincent looked around him. The room was dark, so he was initially unsure of his location. However, as his eyes adjusted to the low light, things slowly came into focus. It slowly dawned on him that he was in the upper living area of Tifa's bar, and was in one of the beds.
As he got up from his reclined position, the door opened, and the person on the other side dropped the tray that they had been carrying. "You're alright! I was so worried!"
"Yuffie…" The gunman said while running a hand through the ninja's hair. "I… I'll never leave you again."
Fin
A.n./ - Well, this ended sooner than I thought that I would…. Oh well. I guess that I have to move on with my writing… not entirely sure though. To all of you who left me reviews and positive criticism, thank you very much. And as always, please go out and read other people's works. This makes them happy as well.
Shortly after writing this chapter, I decided that I was going to revisit the entire series, and create an unabridged version. This should be finished and available for download soon. I only have three additions to make to it. This means that there will be a grand total of three extra chapters that didn't make the cut for the original release of the story that will be added in to make things flow a little smoother.
I would also like to thank all of my pre-readers. These people pushed me to get off my lazy bum and finish these portions before allowing me to start on anything else. Thanks you guys!
Until the re-release, Ja ne!
- athrun
