Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters places things, because Square-Enix does. Thank you for patience, and for the reviews!
Cold Decency
Chapter Six:
Vincent did not set foot in the town again; instead he stayed at the Tiny Bronco. Everyone else just thought he was staying there to guard it. Yuffie knew why he stayed away however. The whole situation had rendered her quiet, but nobody noticed since there were bigger problems afoot.
"Come on team we are moving out!" shouted Cloud who had apparently just waken up.
"Cloud no, you still need more rest," said Tifa, with worry, trying to drag him back to bed.
"No, we cannot let Aeris face Sephiroth alone!" said Cloud as he walked towards the plane while putting on his armor, and his sword. Tifa gave up as the whole team followed Cloud out of town. Yuffie trailed behind contemplating Aeris and Vincent now. She was so worried about Aeris, but she was starting to wonder who Vincent was on the inside.
Vincent raised his head to see the crew following Cloud's hurried pace, and soon the Tiny Bronco was barreling towards the Bone Village.
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Cloud had shelled out a generous amount of gil to ensure the lunar harp was found quickly. The whole time he sat wide-awake with impatience. He had even offered to help dig. The rest of the team was of course worried, but could not keep up Cloud's relentless pace. Except for Vincent, he just calmly leaned against one of the ancient trees at the entrance of the forest.
Yuffie curled up in one of the dinosaur skeleton's eye sockets and tried to sleep. Shivering occasionally she had wished that her turtleneck covered more of her body. Or perhaps the foresight to bring pants the next time she goes on an adventure. Then again until she got caught up in Avalanche she had only planned to stay where it was warm. Trying to ignore the cold she looked over to Vincent. There he was arms crossed, and looking up intently into the sky as if waiting for oblivion. He scared her again, but not like he used to. Still she felt something in him draw her to her. Maybe it was because he seemed so hurt on the inside. She wanted to be the one to get him working on the inside again, like making him laugh. She began to wonder if she was confusing these feelings for affection. Of course Vincent had to ruin it all by being gallant.
He had been standing there placing everyone he could see, or hear. Yes, Vincent knew where everyone was and when they moved. Yuffie had been making a futile effort to maintain warmth in the skull, and looked at him frequently. The whole reactor incident had really affected her. She no longer talked to him, or tried to make conversation. It made him feel something close to sadness. Once again he was entirely alone. That comes with being a cold-blooded murderer though. She still looked at him though, and the weight of her eyes were unbearable on his soul. Now he could hear her body shiver as it cried for warmth. A couple of jumbled thoughts flew through his mind, but he pushed them all away, and walked towards Yuffie.
"Here take my cape Yuffie," said Vincent hesitantly even though he already had put it into her hands.
Yuffie looked at the warm cape in her hands and then back to Vincent. Slowly she wrapped it around herself feeling its shield of comfort. Vincent started to go back to his spot of contemplation, but Yuffie halted his progress.
"Hey Vincent," Yuffie started, "can you please stay here for a bit?"
He turned around and set his piercing red eyes into her large gray eyes. For a minute he just stood there looking. She didn't look away or blush, instead she just returned his level stare. Finally Vincent walked back towards her and jumped up onto the skull. Perched on its nose he leaned his back against the bridge of it and tilted his head up to the stars. Now she had his attention… and his cape… hooray. "Wait concentrate Yuffie," she mentally berated herself.
Vincent waited for a question to be asked. He had no intention on answering anything pertaining to his past, so he wondered why he stayed at the skull. He felt warm now though, that in a way she still accepted him. Then the silence had gotten even to him. Turning his head to the left to look at Yuffie he understood why she hadn't said anything. Clutching the warm cape snuggly to her chin she was snoring softly in a deep and necessary slumber. So Vincent looked back up to the sky and let his mind stray.
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The ancient city was now in sight as Avalanche precariously traveled into the valley. Few people tried to make light of anything, for Cloud was almost possessed as he moved onwards like he was being pulled. Vincent saw Tifa's concern as she walked directly behind Cloud trying to conceal her own exhaustion. Cid was far and away in last and Barret was the next who had a hard time squeezing the forest and mountains. Red had received a rather nasty gash in a battle and was limping. Cait Sith was never fast to begin with having to hop where ever he should go. Cloud took no notice of the team's slowing pace. Yuffie was behind Tifa slowing to an idling pace, and looked ready to collapse. Vincent calmly kept his wide strides behind Yuffie feeling an old obligation to take over the role of leader since Cloud obviously wasn't in a sensible state of mind. Somewhere in his head he mused that this was a similar situation before when he assumed leadership of the Turks. Not much to tell really, his team leader lost control of his mental state and Vincent prevented him from doing harm to his teammates by placing a bullet into his leader's confused mind. No guilt was felt; hell he was promoted for doing it. Life was so much easier before he had met Lucrecia.
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Avalanche looked on and beheld the sacred sight of Aeris praying at the altar. She didn't even raise her head as they all started to inch closer. Cloud obviously done with inching feverishly broke into a run jumping pedestals until he reached Aeris's. Her eyes were lightly shut as the light seemed to sway around her. Cloud's arms slowly began to stretch towards her as if he was going to hold something as delicate as porcelain vase.
Without warning his hands shot the hilt of his large sword strapped cumbersomely to his back. The team's eyes went wide with horror as he raised the blade above his head ready to cut the unmoving Aeris in two.
"Cloud no…" whispered Tifa with a growing agony in her voice.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YA' DOING SPIKE," screamed Cid.
Vincent however already factored this possibility during the trek here and steadily drew his gun and pointed it neatly at Clouds head. The rest of the team apparently was far to distracted to even notice. A split decision struck Vincent's mind as he corrected his aim slightly towards Cloud's wrist that were poised together holding the sword over his head. With that he began to squeeze the trigger.
"VINCENT NO!" shouted Yuffie as she literally jumped on Vincent's arm dragging his aim to the ground before he could finish pulling the trigger. With that a loud shot pierced the tension as the bullet harmlessly ricocheted off the floor into the water.
The gunshot was enough for Cloud to shake off his unseen demon as the sword fell with a loud clank to his side. Tears brimmed in his tortured eyes as he dropped to his knees in front of Aeris. The team looked at Vincent then Yuffie and back to Cloud.
Finally Aeris opened her eyes and smiled as she lightly placed her hand on Cloud's face. He looked at her for one second with his eyes glowing with more than just mako.
As Cloud was about to place his hand over hers a cold metal noise was heard and blood hit his legs. Aeris had been impaled through her chest, and standing triumphantly over her and Cloud stood none other than…
"SEPHIROTH!" yelled Cloud with a combination of indignation and shock.
The whole team watched with wide eyes as the cold mad laughed and floated away leaving his sword in Aeris's body, but not before dropping a chunk of flesh before Clouds feet. Soon enough Jenova emerged, and Cloud pulled his sword up from the ground as his eyes seemed to radiate hate.
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Jenova's body gave a final wheezing shudder as Avalanche began to recover from the fight and recognize the extent of their loss. Each of them cried, except for Vincent who stood behind the scene in a shadowed corner. Tifa once again was behind Cloud unnoticed as he held the dead flower girl sobbing into her shoulder. Barret stared into the reflective water letting his tears fall in silence. Cid propped his hand against the wall with his head down and his eyes tightly closed as he let out a string of inaudible curses. Cait Sith was frozen clutching his head, but sobs could be heard. Even though Red was a dog cat thing he could cry and he curled up and cried into himself. Yuffie had also curled up into a ball crying uncontrollably with each growing sob. Vincent felt anguish in his heart, perhaps even further than the realization he had failed to protect a fellow teammate. His face though was still frozen, and emotionless.
And for a long time nobody moved.
He everybody, wow, I am sorry. I started this chapter in November and thanks to a couple recent reviews remembered that I was writing a story. I am feeling the emotions that urge one to write, and I do know how I want this story to play out so you're guaranteed an ending to this. Pretty sweet huh? Heh, I am tired of spell checking and having almost all of the characters name's showing up.