Chaotic Roses

by Vandanalia Heartloca

Our FFVII's heroes finally settle after Vincent saves the world. Now 2 months have passed. New bonds were made and many people have worked hard doing repairs and building new homes. But of course, that doesn't mean that life is at peace. Who would guess that the mission Vincent and Yuffie undergo would lead to a whole new journey of war and bonds that would change life forever?

10. Chapter 10

A/N:

As promised, here's the next chapter. I start college today and my first class is in a few hours. So I'll be getting busy from this day forward. But I will do my best to submit more chapters as soon as I get free time. Thank you for taking the time to read as always and I hope you'll still support me! ^-^

Chapter 10:

With Lucrecia, Red XIII, and Cait Sith left in Edge, Cid pilots the team on the Shera back over to Schwartz's last sighting. Cid calculated it would take them a couple hours to get there. But as the hour goes by, Yuffie begins feeling worse and worse. It wasn't even nighttime yet, and it wasn't motion sickness. Yuffie holds her stomach in pain and her head begins to hurt. She also starts to feel dizzy and almost topples over, but stops herself by planting her hand on the counter. Tifa saw her in the reflection of the window and turned around. "Yuffie?" Tifa called to her, catching everyone's attention. All eyes were on Yuffie as she slowly took wobbly steps. Then before you knew it, she fell on the floor. "Yuffie!" Tifa rushed over her with the gang right behind. Blood started seeping out of Yuffie's mouth. Tifa checks her pulse. "Whoa! What's wrong with her? Is she dyin'!?" said Barret. "I..I don't know. I can feel her pulse but it's very faint and she's extremely cold," said Tifa. "I can't tell what's wrong with her. She's been like this ever since we got her back. Only this time...she didn't vomit blood and this didn't happen at night," she added. Vincent walked over to her while Cid and Barret exchanged a look. "Why didn't you tell us about this before?" asked Cloud.

"Because Yuffie was only trying to be considerate. She asked us to keep this a secret because she didn't want this situation to happen," said Vincent as he kneeled next to Yuffie on one knee. "And it looks like it happened anyway...she couldn't fight it much longer," said Tifa. "Fight what exactly? We don't even know what's causing it," said Barret. "Well, we don't have a doctor on the ship with us, and I don't think there's any nearby towns with one either," said Cid. Tifa then looked as if she was reminded of something. "Actually," she said as she stood and turned to Cid. "We do," she said. "Who?" Cid asked. "Lucrecia," said Tifa.

...

"So the plan is, we split up into two teams. Team 1, consisting of Vincent, Barret, and Cid, will take Yuffie to Lucrecia for help. While Team 2, consisting of me, Cloud, and Shelke, who will infiltrate Schwartz's base. Once Cid drops off Team 2, he'll take Team 1 back to Edge. Team 2 won't take action until we get a call from team 1 letting us know that made it back safely. Any questions?" said Tifa. They shook their heads. "None," said Cid. "Good. Let's get going then," said Tifa. Cid starts up the Shera and begins piloting her to Schwartz's secondary base. Tifa had Yuffie lying on her lap, brushing over her hair softly. "Just hang in there," Tifa whispers to her. It turns out they weren't too far away from the base. Cid lands the Shera a bit far from the base so that they would wouldn't be noticed. Tifa has Yuffie laid on the bed and has Vincent keep an eye on her. Team 2 gets off the Shera and goes into hiding. "Let's roll!" says Cid as he starts up the Shera again, and turns it around to head back to Edge.

A couple hours go by and Team 1 manages to make it back with no disruptions. Cid lands the Shera near 7th Heaven to save some time. Vincent picks up Yuffie bridal style and Team 1 gets off the Shera. Lucrecia is spotted holding a box of medical equipment with Denzel and Marlene tagging behind her, making their way towards 7th Heaven. "Lucrecia!" Cid hollers, getting her attention. "We need help!" he said as Team 1 walks over to her. "Bring her inside," Lucrecia nods and walks inside with the kids and Team 1 following behind. Red XIII and Cait Sith see them rushing in with an unconscious Yuffie in Vincent's arms. "Hey hey hey, what's going on!?" Cait Sith asks as he and Red XIII follow them. Lucrecia takes them to her room and sets the box down on the dresser. "Put her there," she orders, pointing at the bed as she digs around in the box for the Stethoscope. Vincent does as he is told and Lucrecia makes her way over to Yuffie. She checks her heart rate and presses her hand on Yuffie's face, feeling her coldness. "Poor Yuffie...," Cait Sith says in sadness. "She's getting worse by the minute. What happened to her?" she asks. "Not exactly sure. She's been like this since we got her back from Schwartz main base," said Vincent. Lucrecia slams her hand on the bed. "No! I need a proper analysis. What happened before you got her back?" Lucrecia asked, worried she may be too late. Vincent recalled the events prior to him finding Yuffie. "It would be easier to explain if Yuffie was up. But, if I remember correctly, she said Schwartz injected her with something that put her to sleep," said Vincent. "What for?" Lucrecia asked. "To use her to resurrect you. Since she was blacked out, we don't know what he did to make it happen," said Vincent.

"And the first thing I remember when I woke up was seeing his face. It's faint but..I think I remember seeing her inside some sort of capsule," said Lucrecia. Vincent was silent. "Ugh! I need more clues!" Lucrecia banged her fist on the bed. "Are you sure she didn't come in contact with anything else? It doesn't have to be physically either," said Lucrecia. "Besides the ZICON, nothing," said Vincent. "ZICON..," Lucrecia looked deep in thought. She looks at Yuffie as if scanning her with her eyes. "At what rate has she been acting up?" she asks. "Nightly," Vincent answered. "Nightly? Is it that or just simply in the dark?" Lucrecia asked. "I believe so," said Vincent. "I wonder...," Lucrecia looks deep in thought once more. She tries to connect the possibility of Yuffie having the ZICON symptoms and Schwartz injecting her with something. "I don't think whatever Schwartz injected her with, simply put her to sleep. I think he had something else in it that started doing something to her body on the side. But to be sure, I need the DNA of a ZICON to compare," said Lucrecia. "You want a body part of a ZICON?" Vincent asked. "Yes. Even just a tiny piece will do. But I don't have the equipment on me to perform the proper tests for this," said Lucrecia. "Well, since I doubt Schwartz is gonna return to his main base, you can use that place to do your job," said Cid. "Yes! Thank you for reminding me! Let's do it," said Lucrecia, feeling grateful for the idea. "I'll go hunt down a ZICON and bring you the DNA," said Vincent. "I'm coming with," said Barret. "Thank you. Meet us in Schwartz's base," said Lucrecia.

So Vincent and Barret go off to hunt ZICON and Cid drives everyone else over to Schwartz's main base. Red XIII and Cait Sith decided to tag along, and Lucrecia had Denzel and Marlene stay home. Once they arrive, they rush Yuffie into the lab room and Lucrecia has Cid lay her in the Healing Tube. Lucrecia begins grabbing tools to use for the testing and starts running the computer and scanner. It didn't take too long for Vincent and Barret to find any ZICON. Especially since they had already killed enough as it is. but they managed to successfully complete their task and quickly make their way over to Schwartz's base. Lucrecia completes test after test on Yuffie's DNA and all of her symptoms. "We're back. We've got the DNA," says Barret as he and Vincent stride in. "Perfect timing!" Lucrecia says as she gets up and takes the container with the piece of a dead ZICON's body away from Vincent. She takes it out and begins running tests on it, and making comparisons with the results of Yuffie's tests. "How's it lookin'?" Cid asks. Lucrecia looks back and forth between the results, making note of the similarities. "From the looks of it, the results are starting to look the same," said Lucrecia. This was a shock to the boys' ears. "You mean...she's turning into a..ZICON!?" said Barret. "Ohh noo!" Cait Sith begins crying. "But...there's a couple things I don't understand about this," said Lucrecia. "What do you mean?" Vincent asked. "According to my analysis, Schwartz did indeed inject her with something other than what put her to sleep. But I can't identify what it is. I've never seen this virus before. On top of that, according to the tests I ran, the virus immediately takes effect and spreads extremely fast. Which means she should've became a ZICON within a day. Something in her is managing to resist the virus, but I can't find anything in her that's doing it," said Lucrecia.

Vincent frowns in thought at what she said. Then looks at Yuffie and begins to wonder. "Maybe..it's her powers," he said. "Powers?" Lucrecia asked, then looked thoughtful. "It could be possible but, we can't be too sure. We don't have the evidence to prove that. But either way, it looks like it can't resist the virus forever. I don't know how much longer it will be able to fight it. We need to find out what this virus is that's spreading through her so I can try to make the antidote," said Lucrecia. "And the only person who knows is Schwartz," said Cid. "Oh shit! We forgot to call them!" said Barret. "Well, do it now! And have them interrogate Schwartz while you're at it. Fill 'em in on what we found out," said Cid. Barret quickly pulls out his phone and dials Tifa's cell, which she immediately picks up. "Barret! Are you guys alright?" she asked. "Yeah, we're fine. Sorry about that. Listen. We found out Yuffie is infected with whatever makes ZICON become...well..ZICON," said Barret. "You mean she's turning into one!?" Tifa asks. "Apparently, but she's somehow managing to resist it. Lucrecia needs to know what the virus is so she can make a cure," said Barret. "Which I'm sure only Schwartz knows, since he's the one who created the ZICON," Tifa concluded. "Exactly," said Barret. "Alright! We'll get moving and let you know what he tells us," said Tifa. "Right!" Barret nods, and they hang up. "Now..we wait," said Barret.

"So Schwartz planned on killing her by turning her into a ZICON as a fail-safe," said Shelke. "It doesn't matter now. We just need to get the answer out of Schwartz before it's too late," said Tifa. "Let's go make this quick," said Cloud. Schwartz happened to be pacing around outside the base, most likely in the process of planning something new. Cloud and Tifa manage to sneak up on him, with Tifa managing to give him a good kick in the head. "What the hell!?" Schwartz yells as he tries to get up off the ground, but Cloud holds his sword close to his neck, preventing him from moving anything further. "What did you infect Yuffie with?" Shelke asked. "Heh! Isn't it obvious?" said Schwartz. Tifa kicks him the the stomach. "We're not here to play! Just tell us what it is!" Tifa demanded. Schwartz grunted from the impact and coughed. "It's Nighthowler Venom," he confessed. Shelke quickly pulls out her phone and dials Vincent. Vincent quickly picks up and puts her on speaker. "What is it?" he asks. "It's Nighthowler Venom," said Shelke, leaving shocked looks on everyone's faces. "Now it all makes sense. The acronym! Why didn't I see this before!? It was right under my nose this entire time!" Lucrecia yells furiously. "I had only heard rumors of it but I never actually got to see it," she added. "So can you make the antidote?" asked Red XIII. "Yes! I can. I'll get started on it right away," said Lucrecia.

While Tifa, Cloud and Shelke were distracted by Lucrecia, Schwartz calls on his ZICON and once agains uses them as a distraction and makes his escape. "Damn it! We could have finished him off!" Tifa cursed after they kill off the ZICON. "Forget about it. Let's hurry back," said Cloud. Within 10 minutes, Lucrecia successfully manages to create the antidote to cure Yuffie. She fills up a needle with it, then injects it inside Yuffie on her arm. "Let's hope it works," said Lucrecia as she reaches up to grab the glass lid and closes it down on Yuffie, then activates the Healing Tube. Cid went off to pick up Team 2, while everyone else stayed with Lucrecia and Yuffie. Cid eventually makes it back with Team 2 and Tifa and Shelke rush in to see Yuffie. "Will she be okay?" Tifa asked. "I hope so. I've given her the antidote so we just have to wait and see how well it works," said Lucrecia. "Did you guys get rid of Schwartz?" Barret asked. "No...he escaped," said Shelke. "Damn.. Who knows where he's run off to now," said Barret. "Nevermind that! Our top priority is to make sure Yuffie is alright," said Cait Sith.

Lucrecia and Vincent watch over Yuffie for a whole day while everyone else headed back to Edge and made preparations. They discussed plans on what to do with Schwartz, and Gerald decides to join in on the discussion.

A/N:

I will upload the next chapter when I next become available. Hopefully tonight! So keep a lookout! Cx