Alrighty, next chapter! Same disclaimers apply, blah blah blah. I hope you all enjoy it; it's rather sappy I know… oh well! Let's all welcome Vince back to the land of the living!
Chapter 9: The Return To Chaos
Nine minutes after Vincent's death…
The entire lab was completely silent, staring at the motionless figure in the tube. They were starting to enter the place of no return. If Vincent didn't revive in two more minutes, then there would be no hope for him. Yuffie was standing against the mako chamber, her hand resting on the glass. A bloody handprint marked her silent vigil, her lips forming careful prayers to Leviathan. She wouldn't believe that he wasn't coming back; it was just a matter of faith. He would wake up, and sure he'd be weak for a while, and she'd have to care for him, but the ninja was fine with that.
"One minute," Shelke's voice had returned to normal, she couldn't call forth the scientist now, and she wasn't sure why. It didn't matter, she had the knowledge, but she still wasn't sure if Vincent was going to be happy about being cursed again. "Thirty seconds…"
Reeve moved over to Yuffie, prepared to pull the woman away from their friend's body. There was no telling what she would do, but most of all, the commissioner didn't want Yuffie hurting herself. He'd taken the opportunity to call Cloud and the others during the time Shelke had been preparing Vincent's body, he knew they were trying to get here as fast as possible.
"Fifteen seconds… Yuffie this is not working." She shut up at the look the ninja queen gave her, and her eyes were right back to the gunman floating in the water.
"I have faith in you Vinnie," she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut, several fat tears slipping down her cheeks. She heard one of the monitor's beep, and her gray orbs flew open, it was the heartbeat monitor, she cried out for joy when there was another beep. "Come on Vince, you can do it…"
"His vitals are all coming back, he is breathing on his own, and there is no sign of forced transformation." Shelke looked to Reeve, who was grinning from ear to ear, and the ex-Tsviet found she was sharing that smile.
Vincent's eyes came open; they weren't really focusing on anything, until they came to a bloody handprint next to the most beautiful face he'd ever seen. He seemed to focus in on her, and his lips moved, forming a voiceless call of her name. His hand moved, buoyed up by the mako surrounding him, and pressed against the glass, matching up with hers. Yuffie grinned at him, letting out a little laugh that came out more like a hiccup. "That's right Vince… it's alright, just regain your strength."
The ninja was starting to feel her own injuries now, since trying to revive Vincent had been the only thing on her mind. She watched as his eyes slipped closed again, and she started to sway. She'd lost blood, been shot and had her arm dislocated, and her adrenaline was starting to wear off. Reeve was close luckily, and he caught her as she started to fall, scooping her up with a suppressed sigh. "Shelke, watch after Vincent, I'm going to go tend to Yuffie, and go retrieve their daughter. She's probably scared to death. We also need to figure out what to do with Yuffie's husband. Watch after him, I'll be back as soon as I can." Shelke nodded and went back to the computer, checking on his progress, and the commissioner moved to take the exhausted woman upstairs.
.:xXx:.
Six Days later...
It took a week for Vincent to regain consciousness again, and nearly that long to Yuffie too. They hadn't known at the time, but when her husband had thrown her across the room, it had given her a concussion. The doctors had guaranteed that she'd wake up, that the damage wasn't bad; it was just a matter of when. Cloud and Tifa were there with their son and daughter, watching over Yuki and giving her someone to play with. The little girl was scared, it was easy to tell, but she had obviously grown up being able to take some stress.
The night of the sixth day, Yuffie woke up to her empty room. It startled her a bit, to see all the red surrounding her, since she'd expected to see Vincent's room. She hadn't spent much time in her assigned room, and even now didn't feel comfortable. She sat up, her head swam a bit and she blinked, noticing most of her wounds were on their way to scars, but something was still wrong. She got up and wrapped her black robe around her, before opening the door.
The ninja was surprised to see Cloud sitting out in front of her door, reading a book… it wasn't so much the presence of her friend that shocked her, but the fact he was reading. He looked up at her and his eyes widened a bit. "Yuffie, take it easy, you've been out for six days!" He stood, placing the owners manual for his bike on the chair. Ten years had been kind to Cloud, he had a bit of gray coming in, but other then that he looked nearly the same. He was wearing a black shirt and blue jeans, with no shoes on but it was nighttime, he'd gotten stuck with guard duty.
"Six days… where's Vincent? Where's Yuki?" She stepped forward on her bad leg and started forward, only to be caught by the strong arms of the sword-wielding leader. "Where's Vincent," she asked again as Cloud sat her back on her feet.
"He's in his room, he still hasn't woken up. Tifa is taking care of Yuki, she's upset but fine. Take it slow Yuffie; you'll just hurt yourself." He looked down into her sad, gray eyes and he sighed a bit. The husband and father lifted the ninja up, without much in the way of complaint from her. He toed the door to Vincent's room open, showing the man sleeping away in his inky black room. The queen was sat on her feet, and then the swordsman stepped back. "Shelke said he should wake up soon, and he seems fine, but there is no way to know for sure. I'll give you some time." The blond closed the door behind him, moving his chair to stand guard over the new room.
Yuffie carefully made her way to the bed, holding onto one of the posts at the end that held up the canopy and gazed at him through the gauzy curtains. She just watched him for a few moments, the rise and fall of his chest the most interesting of all. She stepped forward, carefully crawling up next to him, resting her head on his chest, right over his heart. The sound calmed her considerably, and she got under the covers, curling around his body. She wasn't ready to leave his side, even if he never woke up, she'd be right there with him. She fell asleep again to the gentle thumping in his chest.
.:xXx:.
The next morning...
Vincent was quite content in the black void of his mind, his body was healed but he seemed reluctant to awaken. He existed, but he couldn't remember how, or why, he was there. There was a mocking laugh in his head a lot, and he was remiss to be pulled out of his black cocoon of thought by a rather unwelcome voice.
"Valentine, wake up, I'm back," the taunting started, but the gunman's tired mind didn't want to fight. "Come on Vincent, you know you want too… find out who cursed you again!"
Who cursed him? The fighter didn't remember, maybe he didn't want to remember.
It won't be a curse this time Vincent…
The feminine voice in the back of his memory tugged at his consciousness. "Lucrecia… why?"
You know why Vincent, wake up and you'll see…
Chaos snorted, "oh no you don't bitch, I'm not giving him up so easily. Come on Vince, stay here with me and wallow in what you couldn't do! Lucrecia died, Sephiroth was your fault… Yuffie was abused for so long, it's your entire fault. Stay here, and I'll torture you for another thirty years."
"Yuffie…" he fragile mind fought to remember something, grasping for a hand, a tender kiss, the way she gasped his name when he took her…
That's it Vincent, you're remembering why you're here, open your eyes… those beautiful eyes…
The gunman grunted a bit, trying to pull away from the voices and back into his darkness.
Remember… Vincent I know you can. She's with you, she loves you, and you couldn't leave her before.
The presence he felt, the light sensation of a woman's body, she was shaking. That pulled him farther out of the muck he was caught in, and he took in a deep breath. He could feel something splash on his chest, the warmth of the sun on his face. His lips parted and immediately his mouth was filled with a gentle taste he almost lost. A small moan broke free and his arm moved to wrap loosely around the woman kissing him.
Vincent's eyes came open and he was looking into the half lidded, gray orbs of his little ninja. She pulled back a bit, more tears slipping down her cheeks, but in his foggy brain he couldn't tell if they were sad or happy. When her face broke into a grin, then he figured she was just happy. The woman he loved was happy to see him, accepting him back into her arms, kissing him like he was glass.
"Oh gawd Vince, can you hear me?"
He nodded a bit; his throat was so dry he couldn't respond. It was like he hadn't made saliva for days, and Yuffie grabbed the bottle of water from the nightstand and lifted him up, helping him drink small mouthfuls until his mouth was wet again. "Yuffie," he managed to whisper and more tears slipped down her cheeks.
"Vincent, I have to tell you, you died… I made Shelke curse you again. I couldn't let you go, not without telling you I love you too. I always have, I know you know that already, but gawd Vince, I didn't know how much until you died for me. Don't do that again! I'm so sorry…" Now he was pretty sure she was crying from sadness, and he shook his head a bit, letting his arm move out from under his black sheet to rest on the one she had on his chest.
"Living is not a curse…" he managed to whisper to her, his eyes going to hers. "I am just thankful you are well."
Yuffie laughed a bit, but it turned into more of a hiccup and she laid back down, nestling her body close to his. "You big jerk, you know I couldn't let you off the hook so easily."
"And Yuki… she is alright?"
Yuffie nodded, "she's fine, she wasn't hurt, she's just been worried about you. I guess Lucrecia ended up saving you again… huh?"
Vincent wasn't so sure about that, while her science certainly had, Lucrecia was dead; he vaguely remembered some things from the Lifestream… "No, it was you… I came for my family."
The ninja lifted her head and looked at him, a look of astonishment on her face. "You told me you couldn't give me what I wanted."
The ex-Turk looked her straight in the eyes again, "I did, but now I can. I want to have a family with you."
Yuffie looked rather sad for a moment and glanced away. "I can't give you more of a family Vincent. I can't have babies, now I have to say no."
"No, you and Yuki are all I need." He closed his eyes, "it just took loosing my life again to really know what I wanted." His claret gaze came back to her, and she nearly pounced him, wrapping her arms tightly around him.
"That's all I need too Vinnie, that's all I've ever needed." She pulled away and kissed him again, this time with all the love and devotion she was feeling at the moment. When she finally pulled away again, she brushed some of his hair from his eyes and memorized his little smile.
Vincent pulled her to him, it luckily didn't take much strength, and he held her again. "I'm yours Yuffie, now and forever."
