Sephiroth? Sephiroth who? Since when was that name mentioned at any time in this fic?
-angelic smile-
Just kidding! Fwahaha. Either the dude in the previous chapter was Sephy, or I pulled off a really lame ripoff ^^
And yes, yes, I included a third person narrative in this chapter. Because I can and because I've planned out that scene so long in my head it would be a pity not to have it in this fic simply because I'm stuck on my first person.
YUFFIE AND THE BEAST
Chapter 11 in which we get a third person narrative for the first time in this fic!
"So," I say, when the silence gets unbearable. I've mentioned before that I really don't like these long uncomfortable periods right? "Anyone know any good jokes?"
Silence. Talkative bunch, this lot.
"Right. Ugh. Never mind." I think for a while, and thankfully, something comes to mind, providing me with a perfect escape plan. "Are there any good weapon shops around here?"
"Yes," Nanaki answers as everyone else ignores me. "Do you require anything?"
"Well, I'm assuming now that you have my information, we're free to go? I want to get some decent arms for Vince, restock on Potions and stuff, look at materia..." Of course materia isn't the most important thing! I said it last, didn't I?!
"I will lead you there," Nanaki offers, getting up.
"Thanks, Red," I say, grateful to be out of this room, at least for a while.
We do not speak as we leave 7th Heaven, but as we leave the bar behind, Nanaki clears his throat and begins, "It is rather unfortunate that you witnessed a rather unbecoming side of our leader today. Internal conflict within any group is not only discomfiting, it is eventually self destructive. AVALANCHE is hitting a particularly low point at the moment. With hope, he will see the wisdom of letting go of his prejudice and jealousy," Nanaki says, his voice a low rumble. I can see Vince following silently a little behind us but he doesn't seem inclined to speak. As usual.
"Love. Makes all men go mad, hey. That Aerith chick is cute, though."
"I am told she is, and more, by your human standards."
"So what's up with her and that silver haired dude? That's obviously what's eating Cloud up."
"I do not know," he says, hesitates and continues, "But as you can see, Cloud is greatly affected by it."
"He's blind. There's Tifa right? She's as hot, or maybe hotter than Aerith. Can't he just see she's nuts for him?"
"Cloud has always been rather oblivious to matters of the heart. And it is also part of the nature of humans to strive for what they do not have, and ignore what is easily within reach."
"Bummer." I love that word. I could say it all day sometimes.
"Would you mind staying a little longer with us, Yuffie? I believe that you do have important information somehow, and if this wasn't happening, we would have been able to carry out the questioning regarding Hojo more efficiently."
"Sure," I say. "Just because it's you who asked." As we walk on, suddenly some of the things AVALANCHE had been saying catch up with me. "Vince!" I say, pausing, almost causing him to walk into me.
"Yes Yuffie?"
I really wish he wasn't so tall. I'm going to get a neck crick, having to look so high up to see his face. If he is still going to grow, I'm going to have height insecurity issues soon. "Was that silver haired guy really your brother?"
"…Yes," Vince answers, a bit slowly, in Wutaian. He lapses into it once in a while. It's really cute.
"Aren't you sure about it?"
"I never did see him much."
"When did you last see him?"
"A little over a year ago."
"Why did he say such strange words when he saw you?"
"I do not know."
"What do you call him again?"
"Sephiroth-aniue."
Aniue? Interesting. Sephiroth? Somehow that sounds rather familiar…
"Sephiroth has never mentioned you, at least never directly," Nanaki adds. "He is a deep man, one with many hidden facets and secrets. It is understandable that we are wary of him, but not for the wrong reasons." He frowns a little.
A little bell starts ringing in my head, triggering a whole alarm system. "Sephiroth? The Sephiroth? The greatest leader of SOLDIER that Shinra ever had? The greatest warrior of our time? That Sephiroth?!" My voice is rising in an excited squeak. "VINCE!" I say, grabbing him.
"Yes, Yuffie?" he asks, looking down at me, puzzled.
"I WANT AN AUTOGRAPH! Why didn't you tell me that he was your brother?!"
"I…did not know it mattered."
"He's a legend you know!"
"I see we may have to restrain you later if he's in the same room," Nanaki says, his tone amused.
"No way!" I exclaim, sticking my tongue out. "Anyway, what is the glorious leader of SOLDIER doing among your motley crew, no offense intended."
"None taken. He turned up some time ago, and we thought he had been sent to eliminate us, but instead, he asked to be allowed to join us instead. As you can see, he has yet to gain the trust of our leader, but that is tempered by Cloud's jealousy."
"What about you, Nanaki? What do you think of him?"
"I do not know. However, Aerith trusts him, and she is seldom, if ever, wrong. She claims that his support of our cause is genuine, and he does want to see the end of Shinra's regime."
"Well, if he is so powerful, why didn't he do it on his own?"
"Although he is strong, Sephiroth is but one man, Yuffie. Even he cannot stand against the combined might of Shinra, or so he says."
"A lot to think about and digest here," I say, forgetting I'm not alone. Seeing Nanaki and Vince glance at me, I make a face. "Sheesh, I need to stop thinking out loud."
..interlude..
"...Must human hearts blossom in spring, like all other flowers?
And of even this bright flame of love, shall there be only ashes?"
Li Shanyin, To One Unnamed II
She knew better than to call his name just then. Caught up in the grip of emotion, of self loathing, of anger; he would lash out at her, she would retaliate and they would both end up hating themselves afterward.
He did not move although he knew she stood there watching him, guilt rushing through him as he remembered, a sick sensation burning in his stomach.
Not wanting to intrude onto his thoughts, but desiring that her presence be made known to him, she placed a hand on his shoulder, a bit timidly, for she could never know how he would react to her actions.
"What have I done?" he asked aloud quietly, more to himself than to her, though he could feel her love and sympathy flowing into him through that smallest of contacts, intangible and yet the only things that kept him anchored to sanity.
She would forgive him. She always forgave him, no matter what darkness he revealed to her, no matter what ugliness had been drawn out of him, no matter how the emptiness that he was left with inside threatened to engulf her light and destroy them both.
He didn't know what he had ever done to deserve her presence by his side, even after all the times he had hurt her. He had no right to hold her, although right now, he ached just for the reassurance to be embraced by another living being.
She was losing the ability to distinguish between what she ought to do, and what she wanted to do. Duty and obligation crossed lines haphazardly with her desires and wants.
It was not her face that constantly engaged his thoughts, it was not her name that he cried out in the dark when the nightmares encroached.
As she stood there, watching him as he struggled, she fought fiercely to keep her tears from falling. He did not need her crying on him now.
He tried to turn to speak to her, to apologise, but he could not move - it was as if his body was controlled by another, and the words remained as they always had, pent up within him.
..end interlude..
"This shop… is not very impressive." I barely bother to lower my voice, bending down so I am speaking right into Nanaki's ear.
"Midgar slums are hardly the best place for what you seem to wish for -" he rumbles back.
"Come on, Red! Where are the real dealers? The stuff here would break with a gust of wind, let alone stand real combat! Money isn't an issue.."
His tail starts lashing around in a certain pattern, which tells me he is thinking hard. "If I recall, Barret did mention an establishment that helps him with that gun arm of his. The legitimacy of that shop is rather questionable though..."
"Basically he doesn't pay taxes to Shinra? Sounds good, let's go there instead!" I drag both Vince and Nanaki out of the store, where Nanaki navigates through a couple more dark alleyways where we then stand at a rather dubious door, covered with graffiti and Leviathan-knows what else.
"There's some sort of password involved if I remember correctly..."
"OPEN UP THIS DOOR, THERE'S A FIRE!" I yell, banging loudly. I'm not lying! If he doesn't open his door, well, the handy Mastered Fire materia that I have solves little problems like this...
I hear pounding footsteps and leap backwards just in time as the door flies open, a man in what looks like his nightgown running out. His hands are filled with stacks and stacks of messy looking documents. He looks around for the fire, dropping more paper as he turns.
Of course, by this time, I am already inside, grinning at him.
"$^#$%, the old fire ploy," he says, sighing ruefully. "It gets me every time, but I can never be too sure."
"Sorry about that. We just need weapons, and good ones, not like that poor excuse of a weapons shop we just went to back there with knifes that you can't even use to cut butter…"
"The stuff I have doesn't come cheap..."
"...but I'm willing to pay whatever's necessary," I finish for him, cutting right to the point.
"Good." I follow him in, beckoning the slightly incredulous and disapproving Vince and Nanaki.
"So what're you after?"
"Firearms, materia and some standard healing stuff."
A glint comes into the trader's eye, and I can almost see him rubbing his hands together gleefully in his mind.
"I do know quality goods when I see them, so don't even think of pawning off some low grade Mithril junk," I warn him. He looks a little less pleased, but covers it up well.
He stops us in a room and disappears through another door, where I hear some clinks and whirrs before he reappears and motions for us to enter.
I let out a low whistle as I walk into the room – this guy really has some good stuff.
Nanaki seem to help himself, and he trots off to look at some of the shining materia that is on display. I'm tempted to do so too, but I have other things in mind.
"Let's see, priority number one. I want a gun." Vincent, standing silently beside me, gives me a strange look. He knows that's one of the weapons I never use, although I have taught him about them, as I have for almost every available form of weaponry on Gaea that I would get my hands on while in Nibelheim.
"For yourself?"
"Nopes."
"Hmm...can you give me any idea what you're looking for?"
"It has to be cool."
There is a pained look on his face. "Miss, that is seldom a requirement when you come to this sort of store – our customers look for quality rather than aesthetics."
"See, the whole reason why I come to this sort of store in the first place is because I know you have good quality stuff, and since it's going to cost a bomb anyway, it might as well look good, right? From experience, good weaponry, because their makers take pride in what they produce, tends to look fantastic anyway."
A smile forms on his face, seemingly almost against his will. "If you put it that way, something just came in recently, that take your fancy. Wait here."
He disappears into some mysterious passageway, and I turn to Vince. "Vince, I have a mission for you. Go pick out two knives from the array there, and bring them to me. One will be for you and the other for me. Match the knives to our heights and weights, make sure the materials are suitable." He nods and walks away, and I watch him, smiling inwardly. This is a sort of test too, as are many of the things I ask him to do. I am confident that he will succeed though.
"This is it." The owner of the shop returns, bearing a leather case reverently in his arms. He opens it with a flourish, to reveal a work of art. Beautiful yet deadly, a triple barreled revolver, complete with intricate engravings, based on the theme of a three headed dog. A chain is attached to the end of its grip, and I am happy to see slots for Materia on it.
Gently, I pick it up, feeling the smooth wood, the cold metal, it is a little too big for my hands to grasp comfortably, but it isn't meant for me anyway.
I ask for the price and he names it, a princely sum but not above what I had in mind anyway. For the sake of appearances, I bargain, and the deal is sealed before Vince returns. The shopkeeper whisks the box away at my instructions and I turn to smile at my charge.
"Let's see what you have," I say, lifting the knives from his grasp. I may have said it before, but I have taught him well, as proven by his choices.
We finally leave the store, with Vince carrying most of the things, but I choose to carry the precious black case, ignoring Vince's curious looks – he tries not to show it but I can still sense the small glances he throws at me. I think I may need to train him a little more in that area. Red has found several items for himself, and he is in a good mood, though still not particularly chatty. In this manner, we make our way back to the AVALANCHE headquarters, little knowing what had been brewing in our absence.
AN: Aniue is a rather formal and archaic way to call your elder sibling (generally more used to refer to other people's elder siblings if ever used). But I'm you otakus already knew that :P . And yes, Vince calls Lucrecia Crecia-neechan. Go figure :P
Interlude is just a short vignette that I really wanted in this fic. I'm not going to say who the 'she/he' are, but 'she' could be more than one character at time (with different people thinking), same thing goes for 'he'. :D
.always-kh: Cloud's tendency to be emo all the time and his woe-is-me attitude (don'tkillmeCloudfans) irritates me (okies, I admit, he emos the most in fanfics, rather than in canon). And about his memories; Cloud was experimented on by Hojo and made his great escape (which we may or may not go into for this fic) but since no Jenova, so there was no memory imprinting, so he never thought he was Zack etc etc. So yes, he knows that he never made it to Soldier, and that could possibly be why he's a bit more bitter and less self-assured in this fic (self-inadequacy plus unrequited love plus a predilection to being all dark and depressed combo here). How/why did Cloud get taken and experimented on? That is something I will not reveal for the moment ;D
This chapter was very hard for me to write for some reason... but the next one gets better, I promise!