Last Requests
---
". . . Yuffie."
Yuffie grinned. She liked to hear her name come from him, especially in that deep and alluring voice. She laughed, nodding her head as she dropped her hands. She clasped her hands behind her back, grinning up at him as he turned around to face her.
"So, how'd you know it was me?"
She looked up at him, bouncing on the balls on her feet. He laughed, his crimson eyes looking around the gloomy atmosphere. "We're the only one's here, Yuffie."
Yuffie laughed awkwardly with him, mentally cursing herself. She should have known that. "Okay . . . so, maybe you're right. But, you know, it's not fair that you can see in the dark, Vinny. I want to too!"
Vincent laughed, shaking his head. Yuffie would always be Yuffie.
"Yuffie."
Yuffie fought back a blush as she felt his hands fall onto her shoulder. She knew that she shouldn't be like this; they had been in these predicaments how many times? She thought she heard a small chuckle, no surprise though; Vincent could probably see her perfectly in the lighting. Yuffie tried to glare up at him, but it turned to a gasp as Vincent pulled her to him. Yuffie blinked . . . this was awkward; but she didn't mind. Biting her lip, she brought her hands up tentatively. His cloak rustled as she brought her hands around his torso, clasping them together behind him.
"Where'd everyone go?" Yuffie muttered, burying her head in his shirt.
"Yuffie . . . Yuffie!"
"Huh?"
Yuffie's head snapped up, her eyes trying to focus on the swaying room in front of her eyes. She brought her eyebrows together in confusion, blinking rapidly at the swaying room. Sitting up slowly, her white sheets ruffling to the ground at the movements, and she noticed that she was lying in her bed. How did she get here to the Highwind? Weren't they just in the submarine? Groaning, Yuffie brought a hand up to her head, rubbing her eyes.
"How are you feeling?"
Yuffie's hands dropped and her eyes shifted over to Aeris bed. Tifa smiled at her, waving her hand in a hello as she picked herself off the bed. Yuffie looked at the brunette in confusion as Tifa sat down on the edge of the bed, her eyes questioning Yuffie.
". . . I'm feeling alright? . . ."
"That's good," Tifa nodded, pushing Yuffie's bangs away. "We've been worried . . . especially Vincent. He doesn't want to show it, but I've seen him. He visits you at night . . ."
"What do you mean?" Yuffie asked, pushing Tifa's hand away roughly. Shaking her head, Yuffie shifted herself, standing up against Tifa's protests. "I'm fine, you don't have to be –"
"Yuffie!" Tifa saw the ninja wobble slightly, and grasping her arm, pulled her down. Yuffie landed heavily on the bed sheets, glaring daggers at Tifa, questions on the tip of her tongue. "Tell me, what do you remember?"
"I remember Vincent going weird and wanting to murder me."
Tifa shook her head, rolling her eyes. "I know, but that's beside the point; didn't he explain that to you? What else?"
"The Sunken Submarine . . . Cloud and you wanted to explore it . . . Reno and Rude were there . . . and then that Emerald Weapon was out there waiting for us."
Tifa nodded; her eyes somber as she looked intently at Yuffie. Slowly, the realization dawned on Yuffie, she remembered . . . that Emerald Weapon, it . . .
"Yuffie, come on!" Tifa called, hands on her hips.
". . . What about Sephorith? We have, what, four days? We shouldn't do this, what are we going to find in a sunken submarine?"
Tifa laughed, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "It sounds like you're scared, Yuffie . . ."
"I am NOT scared!" Yuffie whined, hands on her hips. "We're underwater; Meteor's above the damn planet! We have to go back."
"Yeah, but we really want to go there . . . it's our wish, my dying wish before we fight Sephorith. I really – really – want to see!"
"Tifa!" Yuffie whined, hands on her hips. "Don't do that, don't you use reverse psycho analysis on me! Especially not with something I said!"
"Then come," Tifa quipped, turning on her heel. "Or, you can stay here alone, on this ship. It'll be so quiet; it's like a ghost ship, what do you think?"
"Alone . . . here?"
Yuffie cast a glance around her. To save on Mako energy when they weren't there, Cid and Cloud had turned off all the lights, making it eerie looking. The corridor they were standing in was in pitch darkness, the only light being an eerie blue light that crept in through the windows. Hissing could be heard as the ship cooled and rumbled away as the water currents hit the small submarine. Yuffie sucked in a breath, this was kind of scary. Yuffie's head snapped up as she heard the distant clicking of feet on the metal rungs of the ladder.
"TIFA! Waiiittt!" Yuffie ran down the hall, her shoes echoing away; skidding to a stop at the bottom of the ladder. Tifa was leaning at the ladder's top, looking down at her. "I don't want to be here alone, but don't you dare tell the others!"
Tifa laughed, nodding her head. "Will do, now, come on!"
Yuffie grinned, starting up the ladder after Tifa.
---
Yuffie closed her eyes tight as she followed after the others, their voices echoing off the metal walls. She didn't want to admit it, but this was kind of scary. This looked the same as their submarine, but it wasn't the same. Their submarine had a cheerful atmosphere, at least when the lights were on. Here, the paint was chipped, the metal flooring and ceiling closing in on them and the carpet was so worn and torn that you couldn't tell what colour it was originally. The windows were caked with dirt, and spider webs crawled here and there. Yuffie forced down a shiver, she hadn't liked spiders since she was five.
"Yuffie?"
Yuffie opened her eyes slowly, her eyes falling down onto the cheerful Cait Sith. Yuffie kneeled down, her hands resting on the ground as she looked at the robotic cat. "What is it?"
"What's wrong with you? You're falling behind and walking with you eyes closed . . . you alright?"
Yuffie nodded, her eyes wandering around their surroundings. "I just think we shouldn't be here, you know. We have to beat Sephorith within the next four days and find Holy. We don't have time for this . . . what do you think?"
Cait Sith smiled, his moogle deflating as Cait fell onto it. "I just think you're scared," he smirked, his tail flicking his megaphone back and forth. "You want me to get Vincent for you? I bet you'll feel better then."
Yuffie's eyes narrowed as she stood upright, arms crossed over her chest. "Don't you dare!"
Cait Sith smirked, his hand going back to grab the megaphone hanging on his tail. "I will . . ."
"Where the hell did the brat go?"
"Yah, maybe something ate her."
"The robots missing too!"
"Yo, they probably stole our materia, fool! They're both working for ShinRa!"
"Calm down; both of you!" Tifa yelled, glaring at both Cid and Barret. "Yuffie's coming, right!"
"Coming," Yuffie called in a sing-song voice; she owed Tifa one for the save. "Cait Sith is just a little bit scared, aren't you cat?"
Cait Sith let out a cry of surprise, as Yuffie lunged at him, a glint in her eyes. She picked up Cait, holding him close to her, a grin on her face. Tifa's head appeared around the corner, laughing as Yuffie tried to carry the robotic cat. He looked heavier then she thought, she had to laugh at Yuffie's expression.
"Looks a little heavy for you."
"No problem . . . at all," Yuffie huffed, shifting Cait around. "He's light . . . as a feather."
Tifa nodded, her head disappearing around the corner. Yuffie grumbled after the brunette – she could hear a distant laugh – as she staggered after the rest of the group. "Why are you . . . so heavy!"
"Put me down," Cait commanded, his tail swishing back and forth. "I can sit on my moogle!" Cait looked dejectedly back at the pink moogle, bouncing slowly behind them.
"You heavy cat . . . carry yourself!" Yuffie said loudly, as they rounded the corner.
Seeing the others looking back at her, Yuffie grinned and dropped the cat. Metal falling on metal sounded as Cait hit the ground roughly. Picking himself up, Cait brushed himself off and ran at his moogle, swinging himself up onto it with his tail.
"You almost knocked my hardware system out!" Cait yelled, his moogle bouncing down the corridor. "Now, now, don't go and get all scared, Yuffie." He muttered in an undertone, making Yuffie glare at him.
"Hush Cait!"
Cait Sith just grinned, bounding past her and over to Tifa. Yuffie watched them with narrow eyes as they talked lowly to one another, shooting glances back at her every now and then. Shaking her head, Yuffie balled her hands up into fists and taking a deep breath, stormed ahead.
"Come on you guys! You're so slow!"
Tifa laughed, shaking her head. "You can go on ahead, Yuffie. You can scout it all out for us!"
". . . by myself?" Yuffie muttered, frowning.
"Do you see anyone else with ya?" Cid grumbled, rolling his eyes.
"Shut up old man! Ohh, I don't need any of you!"
Huffing, Yuffie turned on her heel and shoved at the door. She grunted as her shoulder hit the metal surface, it wasn't moving. Bracing herself against the door, she felt her feet slipping out from under her as the others approached her, waiting impatiently at the spectacle going on. She heard Tifa laugh while Cid and Barret made commentary at her actions. Pushing against the door once more, Yuffie's eyes widened as the door budged on its hinges, and she slipped backwards.
"Damn!" She cursed, closing her eyes.
"Huh?"
No painful thump came and opening her eyes slowly, Yuffie looked up. Holding on to her wrist, was Vincent's metal arm, his crimson eyes staring intently at her. Blinking rapidly, she vaguely heard Tifa and Cait Sith whispering to one another, Yuffie righted herself. Yuffie dropped her eyes to the ground, unsure what to say. She felt Vincent let go of her wrist, her arm falling to her side.
"Uh, thanks."
Keeping her eyes on the ground, Yuffie turned on her heel and started through the new entrance way. She heard footsteps coming up behind her, but paid it no heed.
"Yuffie," Tifa muttered, dropping her gloved hand on Yuffie's shoulder, spinning her around. "Come on, that was the perfect opportunity!"
Yuffie shook her head, brushing Tifa's hands off her. "Everyone was watching . . . but, it's too late anyways."
"Well, well, if it isn't Lockheart and Kisaragi . . . don't tell me Corneo got tired of you already."
Yuffie bristled, turning around, hands balled up into fists. Her eyes narrowed as she noticed Reno and Rude leaning over the control panel. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Reno shrugged. "We're digging up this old thing, what does it look like?"
"Ohh! Rufus sent you to your watery death . . . how tragic."
"What the hell?" Reno muttered, turning around to glare at the ninja. "Rufus is dead."
"So, why you digging this up then?" Yuffie chirped, grabbing her Conformer. "ShinRa's gone . . . so like you need me. We got all the Huge Materia anyways."
"You never shut up to you?"
"Nope," Yuffie shrugged. "Besides, this is my ship! Tifa got the last one."
Reno rolled his eyes, stepping his cigarette out. "Sorry Kisaragi, but this is ours. We were here first."
"Dammit!" Yuffie spit out, whirling her Conformer behind her.
"Heh," Reno smirked, looking back at Rude. "The little ninja thinks she'll beat us. How long are you going to give her . . .?"
"Five minutes?"
"You're being generous today Rude . . . I'd say three."
"Ass!"
Smirking, Yuffie brought back her hand and let her Conformer fly.
"We kicked their ass." Yuffie laughed, falling back on the bed.
Tifa nodded slowly, watching the ninja closely. "I suppose we did," Tifa shrugged, pushing her bangs out of her eyes. "But you! Augh, why do you always have to act so tough!"
"Huh?"
That was unexpected. Opening an eye, Yuffie stared at the brunette, eyebrows raised. Tifa just smiled her, looking worriedly at her. Sensing something was wrong, Yuffie sat up slowly, staring intently at Tifa. Yuffie winced – why, she didn't know – as she crossed her legs, arms on her legs, propping her head up. She waited for Tifa to say something, but Tifa remained silent, looking anywhere but at her.
Yuffie sighed. "Okay . . . what is it Tifa?"
"Reno did you in pretty good."
"What?"
"Augh," Tifa ran her hand down her face. "Well, Reno got a little – no, more like a lot – pissed off at you for the submarine comments, and thought he'd take it out on you."
Yuffie laughed awkwardly. "Oh . . . me and my big mouth, eh?"
Tifa nodded, laughing. "Yeah, that's what did it. He hit you with a few good Firaga attacks alongside a few good whacks with his baton."
"Oh . . ." Yuffie looked up at the ceiling. "What sort of damage did I do to him?"
Tifa bit her lip, looking at the ceiling as well. "Not much, he placed a real good slow spell on you. We tried to take it off, but Reno kept putting it back on. We eventually had to stop; our magic was getting really low. Vincent tried to take over for you, but you wouldn't let him. You said you could handle it, and that this was between Reno and you."
"And did he believe that?"
Tifa laughed, looking Yuffie straight in the eyes. "What do you think?"
"He wouldn't . . . he would force me out of the way, right?" Tifa nodded, grinning widely. "Reno and me, Vincent, Lucrecia and Hojo, we're always getting into each others business."
Tifa nodded. "You are, but I think this means you guys just care about each other more." Yuffie looked intently at Tifa, eyebrows raised. "If you two weren't so stubborn, you'd see it! If he didn't care what happened to you, he would have let Reno kill you! Geez, he already broke your rib."
"Huh? What?"
"You heard me," Tifa repeated. "Reno's baton broke your rib. Since you couldn't move as fast, you couldn't defend yourself. But, regardless of what we told you, you still stupidly fought. Geez, think of all that stress you put on yourself! Anyways, eventually we took down Reno and Rude, more or less, they escaped. Reno claimed the fight'd be put on hold till you were healed. He claimed he'd already shown you who was tougher."
"Ass." Yuffie bit out.
Tifa laughed. "Then Emerald Weapon appeared . . ."
"That thing, I bet Reno and Rude did that on purpose!"
Tifa shrugged her shoulders, she didn't know. "I don't know, but we had to fight that thing too."
"We? You mean me too?"
Tifa nodded, eyes worried. "You wanted too. You said you were okay. I thought otherwise, but you looked fine. I heard Cait Sith put you a Curaga spell on you, I thought you were fine. You're a good actor, you know?"
Yuffie smiled. "Should that be a compliment?"
"If you want it to be," Tifa shrugged, winking at her. "Vincent was really worried about you though."
"Vincent, worried? Why? Did he want to kill me off himself?"
Tifa groaned, burying her face her hands as she shook her head. "Yuffie, stop this nonsense! He doesn't want you dead! If he did, he wouldn't have done what he did!"
Yuffie remained silent, staring at the ground as she swayed her feet back and forth. ". . . What did he do?"
"Well, we all teamed up against the Emerald Weapon. Barret, Cloud and I were on one side, while Cid, Vincent and you were on the other side. Red and Cait said they'd be backup." Tifa shrugged, looking intently at Yuffie. "But, Vincent, like always, could see right through you. So, he went with you and Cid, he kept a pretty good eye on you. Unfortunately, Emerald Weapon seemed to notice a slight weakness in your defense . . . and well, it slammed right into you."
"Oh." Yuffie mumbled, a hand resting on her side.
"Yeah, it knocked you right out, you swallowed a lot of that water too. Cid figured he'd just leave you there, that a Phoenix Down could heal you, but he didn't want to waste what little supplies we had . . . I know, real cheap. Red and Cait took over for you though –"
"Why both of them?"
"Well, Vincent was really worried about you – you could tell, he kept looking back at you – so, he took you back to the submarine. He never left your side, you know?"
Tifa grinned, seeing Yuffie's face light up. "He did all that for me?"
Tifa nodded. "When we got back to Junon – despite what we told him, he wouldn't leave you – he commanded Cid to take him to Mideel. Cid made jokes saying we should just throw you into the Lifestream . . . but remember that doctor Cloud was at?"
Yuffie remembered, Mideel sunk right from under her. She had watched Tifa and Cloud disappear with more then half of the town's population sink into the Lifestream, she thought they were dead. But, Vincent was there for her, he had made her believe that everyone would be okay. And that . . . that was where she had first admitted she liked him.
"What about it? I thought that doctor went into the Lifestream too?"
Tifa shook her head. "No, him and the nurse got out. None of us knew that then, but Vincent seemed too. We arrived there in the middle of the night, most of us were asleep. Cid was still up, and I guess Vincent was too. He must have noticed the landing and took you out of there in the middle of the night. We were all worried in the morning when both of you were gone," Tifa smiled vaguely. "Cid believed Vincent threw you into the Lifestream and then disappeared himself."
Yuffie laughed. "He didn't come back? How did you find us?"
"I went for a walk around town, we needed supplies badly. The battle with Reno and then the Emerald Weapon really took a lot of our supplies. But, while I was in town, I ran into the nurse. I was really surprised that she had somehow survived. I spoke with her for a while and she told me that her and the Doctor had indeed survived – she was surprised I was still alive, especially Cloud, she thought we had perished in the Lifestream – and that they had their first patient in a long time. She told me it was a young girl with an older man and the girl seemed to have a broken rib. She wouldn't tell me your name though, patient confidentially."
"What did you do then?" Yuffie asked, catching the smirk of Tifa's face.
"I followed her to the Doctor's place. She went inside, and well, I snuck up and looked through the window. I couldn't see you, the Doctor and the nurse were in the way. Vincent was there though; he was sitting in the chair staring into space. So I went inside. Vincent told me everything. He told me you'd be fine, but you had cracked a few ribs. Er, he told the Doctor that you were going swimming and you went to dive off the rocks, but you misjudged and landed on some rocks."
Yuffie nodded. "That sounds painful, but why didn't he tell them the truth?"
"You were attacked my the Turks of ShinRa while you were exploring a haunted submarine off of the Golden Saucer before you tried to call Holy to destroy Meteor?"
"Sounds like a mouthful."
"It was," Tifa sighed. "Cloud called me on the PHS then. He said that Dyne had somehow managed to get in contact with him and there was another monster roaming around the desert of the Corel Prison. Vincent said he'd stay back – the Doctor wanted someone to stay behind as you're still underage – while we went on ahead. It turned out to be the Ruby Weapon. It was the exact same as the Emerald Weapon and just as hard to beat.
"We came back a few hours later; Vincent said that you were better. The Doctor was going to let you go in the morning. Vincent stayed there all night with you, watching over you. He came back to the Highwind early morning; we were actually just getting up. He was carrying you – in the bridal fashion, I might add – and, if I'm not mistaken, I think he looked kind of happy. All he said was that you needed some rest, and you'd be better in no time."
". . . he did all that for me?"
Tifa nodded, grinning widely. "He does like you, don't you dare think he doesn't. He's been here with you all along; he didn't want to leave your side. He gave up so much to watch over you."
Yuffie's eyebrows came together in confusion. "Gave up? What did he give up? His infinite time?"
"No," Tifa said, shaking her head. "We went back to the Northern Cavern, and followed Sephorith down into it –"
"Ahh! Did you beat Sephorith without me?"
Tifa shook her head, smiling. "No, but I'll tell you something, Vincent said someone needed to say here, and he wanted to do it. We went down and fought against Jenova.SYNTHESIS and took that down. It was really easy. We found where Sephorith is though; we were just planning to head back in. I was just coming in to see if you were okay, before I left. I'm glad you're awake, you should come with us. You seem better."
"I want to . . . where's Vincent?"
Tifa smiled. "He's in his room, I think. I told him to go and take a break, he's been watching over you for the past three days. He needed some sleep."
Yuffie nodded, bounding up from the bed. "Wait a minute, three days? You mean today the last day before Meteor crashes?"
Tifa nodded, closing her eyes. "It's almost blinding to look outside, it's so close. We have no more time. If you're going to be coming with us, please hurry?"
Yuffie nodded, and spinning on her heel, turned around and ran from the room. Tifa smiled, standing up and stretching. That was all Yuffie needed to snap her out of her thoughts, someone to show her that Vincent did indeed care about her.
Yuffie's boots clacked against the metal under her feet as she moved quickly, running across the room. She had to see Vincent. She was surprised that the corridors were so empty, but she supposed that everyone was out on the bridge waiting for Tifa to come back. Yuffie faltered to a stop at Vincent's door, and slowly she brought a hand out and knocked on the door.
Silence.
Then; "Come in."
Yuffie stepped forward, pushing the door open slightly. She poked her head in and saw Vincent lying on his bed. Blinking, she walked in, closing the door behind her. "Hey there."
"Glad to see you're awake and walking around."
Yuffie nodded, sitting down in the chair opposite his bed. "Tifa told me what you did for me . . . thank you."
Vincent nodded, sitting up slowly. "It was no problem, you were in trouble."
"I heard you stayed with me . . . you even gave up fighting Sephorith."
"We haven't beat him yet."
"I know," Yuffie nodded, looking at the floor again. "But you talked about it for so long, and to just give it all up for me . . . I'm speechless. Why did you do that for me?"
Vincent shrugged, silence ensuing between the two of them. "We're going to fight Sephorith now . . . Meteor is coming tomorrow."
Vincent nodded, briefly looking at her. "Will you fight?"
"I don't want to be the only one left out, I want to go too. Are you going too?"
Vincent nodded. "Since you're awake, I suppose I will."
"I want to say something, something I've been wanting to say," Yuffie took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she felt Vincent staring at her. "You know what I said at the Cosmo Canyon? That I didn't care?"
Vincent nodded, waiting for her to continue.
"Well, I suppose I didn't mean it. I was just mad . . . Cid and Barret and all their talk of Wutai . . . being left behind . . . my mom and Aeris . . . and you being there, and not caring at all. But, it's not true."
Yuffie sighed, opening her eyes and starring at the floor. Silence ensued in the room and Yuffie slowly brought her eyes up to meet Vincent's as she heard a shuffle. He sat no more then four feet in front of her at the end of his bed.
"I figured as much," He laughed as Yuffie's jaw dropped as she narrowed her eyes at him. "After all this time, you women are all easy to figure out."
Yuffie laughed awkwardly. "Do you think we'll survive this? What with both Sephorith and Meteor? What if we can't call Holy?"
Vincent shook his head. "We'll win, we're all stronger then what we started out as, correct?"
Yuffie nodded. "I suppose we are."
"What is it?" Vincent asked, seeing Yuffie bite her lip and look anywhere but at him.
"I have a favour . . ." Vincent raised an eyebrow to look at her, waiting for her to continue.
"Since we might not make it out alive . . ."
He glared at her. "Think like that and you will die."
Yuffie looked at him, before dropping her eyes to the floor. She couldn't believe she was actually going to say this.
"I want you . . . to kiss me goodbye."
A/N
Yay for Cliffhangers!
I got the last line from a song for Snakes on a Plane XD … Is that movie good?
Anyways, it just seemed to fit.
Next up; the fight with Sephorith!
Ohh, and Dirge of Cerberus is out! So, after I finish up what happens now through AC, we can move on to that! (:
