I'm sorry that the other chapter and this one took so long to get up. My computer has been being iffy. It refuses to cooperate with me! My grandmother is in from Romania for a while which is great, but she's watching a bunch of things from Romania on here(like TV) and it's really slowing down my baby. :'(

I no own ffvii


It was a while before I gathered enough energy to regain consciousness. When I became drowsily aware of everything again, I was very displeased to find that my head still had only me in it. I mentally snarled. What? Shouldn't the others have woken Yuffie by now? With me being that drained, there was no way that I had only been out for a few hours. I didn't want to know how many days I'd been gone from the world. Not moving, I took in my surroundings. It was the room Vinnie and had used. Sniffing slightly, I frowned at the fact that Vinnie's scent was old, as if he hadn't been here for a while. With a small growl I pushed the thoughts from my head. Well, let's see what's up with everyone. I cocked an ear and listened closely.

A ringing telephone was the first thing that caught my attention. I heard heavy footsteps move over to pick it up. By the thick sounding soles and heavy weight of the one walking, I guessed it to be Cloud. My suspicions were confirmed when the ex-SOLDIER spoke.

"Strife here."

The voice on the other end was slightly muffled, but still easy for me to hear. "Cloud, it's Reeve. Any news?" Both of them sounded stressed.

"No, she still hasn't woken."

"Maybe you should try going to a hospital. They could help her."

"No, I don't think it would be smart. Out of all the things she could have said, Mia specifically said no hospitals."

"Are you sure about this though?"

"Yeah, she seems to be doing fine. What about Vince? Have you found him?"

"I'm afraid not. We scoured the ShinRa Manor, the cave, heck pretty much all of the Niebelheim mountains, and just about all of the cities in the world. Including Wutai."

"Any traces at all?"

"Again, no. I'm sorry, Cloud."

"Well, then keep me updated if you find anything."

"Yes, same here. Call if Yuffie shows any change."

"Understood. Bye Reeve."

"Tuesti out."

I mentally frowned. What? Vinnie was missing? Fuck. No wonder Yuffie was still gone. She loved Cloud and Tifa, the two of them were like her siblings, but there was no way that they were close enough to Us to pull Yuffie out of her funk. Vinnie needed to be the one to wake her. And soon, hopefully.

Once again, I listened closely to what was going on around the bar. I checked the kid's room, hearing nothing. Either they were at school or playing out somewhere. School probably.

Focusing my hearing further down, I listened in to Tifa wondering around the kitchen, making something. I sniffed at the air, picking up the smell of eggs and bacon. Yum! Opening my eyes, I did a little sweep of my body, noting how much power I had. Damn, it still wasn't a whole ton. I would only be able to move around for a little bit, as my energy levels hadn't gone back up. I gave myself roughly half an hour. With a sigh, I closed my eyes, deciding to wait until Boobs or Chocobutt came up to check on me. I could have some patience. Some. Just a little. If they took too long, I'd make a bang or something to draw their attention.

Thankfully, my efforts paid off. Not even five minutes later, Cloud came into the room, striding over to my bed. I heard him sigh and when I opened my eyes, he was running a hand through his hair, his eyes closed. My lips twitched, as his spikes had not at all been diminished.

"When are you going ot wake up?"

"Well, I've been awake for a good ten minutes or so, actually." Cloud's eyes flashed open, training themselves on me, a smile of relief spreading across his face.

"Yuffie! Thank the gods." Then he took a closer look at me and frowned in confusion. "Wait, Mia?"

"Hey, we have a winner!"

"Where's Yuffie? I mean, why are you talking instead of her?" Could grabbed a chair and sat down next to the bed.

"That's kinda the problem. She had a bit of a meltdown and withdrew." The blonde frowned above me. "I... Cloud, I can't feel her. Like, at all. She's just... gone." His attention snapped to me.

"What?" His eyes narrowed at me. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Yuffie's not here at the moment! She's gone AWOL. What do you think that means?" I glared at him. Maybe he did have the brain of a chocobo. I wanted to insult him, but the thought of Yuffie gone sent a pang of pain through me. He was about to say something, but I cut him off.

"Cloud." His gaze focused on me, a bit of a glare in his eyes. "I... I'm scared. That... it's not right." I felt tears come to my eyes and I scowled, raising my hand to scrub at them, growling at the thought that not only was I crying, but in front of someone. "She... She should be here! I can't... I don't know what'll happen to me, if she doesn't come back."

"Wait, why is she gone?" Cloud's anger had evaporated, concern flooding his expression.

"S-she had a mental breakdown. Well, we both did, but I have a really strong survival instinct. My pride is too strong to just run away. To... give up and die. But it was close. I almost did, you know." A low whine came from my throat. I tried to cut it off, but I couldn't.

"So, wait, she... What?" Cloud was confused, with a bit of panic in his eyes.

I sniffled, giving up on trying to stop crying. "Just get Teef up here, and I'll tell the both of you. Oh, and have her bring up some bacon. Some eggs too. But definately some bacon." He blinked. "Well? Are you going to go? Go ahead and take your time. I can be patient. And I'm not going anywhere, I don't have the energy." I lifted my hand and gave him a shooing motion.

Cloud rolled his eyes, but none the less scurried off to go find Tifa. I took the time while he was gone to compose myself. I freaking hate crying! Three minutes later, they barged into the room, Tifa with a large plate of eggs, bacon, and some toast.

I glared at them. "Sheesh, what too you guys so long? Whatever, just gimme that food." I sniffled once more. my eye twitching at the obvious weakness I was showing. With a grunt of pain, I sat up, my head spinning. Oh yeah, definitely not recovered. I scooted back so I could lean against the wall. Rubbing my forehead with one hand, I held the other out for the food. Tifa handed it to me then sat down in the chair Cloud brought over for her.

Without wasn't any time, I wolfed down the food, and it took no time for me to finish it, Cloud and Tifa watching me, slightly wary. when I was done I held the plate out to Tifa, who took it and set it elsewhere, then let my head drop back against the wall with a thud.

"Okay Mia. Could you explain exactly what happened?" Cloud asked. I grunted in affirmation.

"We were talking to Vinnie."

"We?"

"Yuffie and I. Anywho, he was pulling one of his riddiculous guilt-sprees and we were bitching him out a bit, you know, telling him it wasn't his fault. But he..." I bit back more tears and another wimper. "He called us a... a monster." I paused, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath to try and steady myself. Tifa and Cloud gasped quietly. After a moment I went on.

"Yuffie took off. He... He didn't mean it, I don't think. That's what he said right after, and he tried to talk to us, but Yuffie wouldn't listen. She... she ran. And by ran, I mean sprinted. She was going far to fast for him to keep up, cause I know he tried to follow, but we lost him. We... Yuffie deals with things by not dealing with them, you know? She blocks out her emotions, focuses on other things and just kinda bottles it up. Forces herself to stay perky. Well, one of her main distractions is running. She'll run until she throws up, most times. Tiring herself out so she doesn't have to deal with anything for a while.

"But we don't tire. We're a shadow demon. We could sprint all the way around the world and not be tired, so it didn't work. I tired to calm her down, but she wouldn't listen to me. She totally blocked me out. Then the next thing I knew, all sorts of other things, memories came to her mind, other things she'd repressed and she snaped. Of course, her freaking out had me freaking out. I was in a blood frenzy, and I wanted out for a bit like I usually do. When she let me out, I didn't question it, she didn't put up a fight at all. I didn't... I didn't realize she was gone until after I'd come to, out of my frenzy. That's how we shadow demons deal with things. We let out our emotions by slaughtering things. It's a demon thing. So I went for a hike up and over the mountains, cause I didn't want to hurt anybody. I cut up this huge snake in the marsh on the other side, the Midgar Zolom, you know the one? Yeah, after that I came to. And she was gone. I couldn't feel her at all, and I freaked out, cause I used up far too much energy and I wouldn't be able to move for too much longer.

"I headed back here, and just barely was able to come in. See, cause I'm only Yuffie's inner demon, unless I'm fueled by some serious bloodlust and I consume the energy of all of the things I'm killing, there's no way I can stay out for an extended period of time. Which is why it's such a problem that Yuffie's gone. That and... this is our body. The both of us. It... it feels... wrong to be in here alone. I don't... I don't even know if I'll be able to go on for much longer. I may fade, I'm not sure. Anyways, I need your help to get Yuffie back. Better yet, Vinnie... But he's gone, right?"

Cloud and Tifa exchanged looks. "How do you know that?" Cloud asked.

"I heard your conversation with Reeve earlier. Demon senses. They're epic. I could probably be able to tell you what the kids are talking about at school if you wanted."

Tifa's eyes widened. "They're that good? Wow. But, what do you mean by 'fade'?"

"I think the terms you humans use is die. I'm not sure. I may just enter a comatose-like state, which is what I think Yuffie's in right now. She's holed herself up somewhere in our head and refuses to come out."

Both of the former AVALANCHE members frowned deeply. "You say you can't be out for a long while. Then what happens when you aren't out?" Tifa asked me.

"You tell me. What happened to me since passed out after coming through your door? Sorry about that by the way. How long has it been, anyways?"

"Oh, it's fine. Um, two days? And you looked like you were sleeping."

"Two days?! Oh hell, I must've used up even more energy than I thought to come here." I frowned. That wasn't good. I wasn't regaining my energy fast enough.

"Listen, guys, I'm going to go back within again. If it took me two days to just get to this level of energy, then I really don't want to drain it all again. I'll try and stay fairly conscious, so if you need to talk to me, I should hear you and respond. In the meanwhile, I'll search for Yuffie, see if I can pull her out. You two try to think of ways to pull her out as well, and keep trying to find Vinnie. Is that okay with you all? I think I'll also try to get in contact with Lori. She might know something useful."

Cloud blinked, then nodded, his face holding an expression of determination and a bit of worry. Tifa nodded as well, worry painted clearly across her features. I sighed, laying back down, trying not to groan at the ache in my boody, and let myself slip away from the controls, our body shutting itself down, as if going to sleep. Tifa and Cloud exited, talking lowly to each other. I didn't bother to pay attention to that, instead turning and examining my mind. There were a lot of places Yuffie could be hiding, so I dove forward, determined to find her.


What do you think of the chapter? What do you think is going to happen? what do you want to happen? leave review and tell me!