Disclaimer: FFVII belongs to Square-Enix.
Note: Well, here we go. The sequel starts here, because I don't want to post it as a new story. If I do I will get that "Aw, I finished a story!" satisfaction and run off to start another one. Not that I need to start anymore, I have several I still need to post… But anyway, The First Sight Curse one and two and going to be one story smashed together for convenience. Here begins the second part, essentially a whole new story than leans very heavily on the previous eleven chapters you've read (I hope…). If you really don't like this I can remove the new chapters and post them as a new story, it really isn't a problem, I'd just prefer not to. Also, you may or may not have noticed, but at this point it's almost painfully obvious that this story is taking place a long ass way into the future of FFVII. Just thought I'd point that out to avoid any further confusion, I'm trying to learn not to be so vague.
Edit- I got a review letting me know how much in this chapter didn't make sense, so I've fixed it and changed a little bit. It's better now. But the edit document page is being retarded, so if this whole thing turns out bold of underlined, it's totally not my fault.
Thank you, everyone who has reviewed! You know who you are, and may you now have that happy feeling of knowing that you made me happy by leaving your thoughts at the end of a chapter! Reviews these days seem to be lacking, which leads me to believe this story has started to suck… But I enjoy writing it so I will update for those of you who still read it!!
Part Two
.:The First Sight Curse and What It Brings:.
Chapter One
Even with his limited perception of female emotions, Vincent could tell she was less than ecstatic at being more or less forced into marriage at sixteen years old. So far, as a married couple, they had spent a week in the hospital and another week driving around in countryside neither of them knew very well. In fact, Vincent hadn't been so far east in a long time, several years at least.
Mostly, they had been through the desert. Yuffie had spent the past three days staring out at the sharp hills and mountains, with hardly any trees and the occasional wild animal running in the distance. He was thankful, at least, that a highway had been built recently. Otherwise it would have been interesting to see how well his car held up to rough country roads. Not many people drove all the way out here, especially this time of year. It was far from vacation season, and they had only passed a few dozen cars along the vast expanse of highway.
"Where exactly are we going?" Yuffie asked, straightening her shirt as she stepped from the car into the sunlight. It was clear blue skies for now, but it could become overcast at any minute. The weather around the tourist trap of Costa Del Sol was always unpredictable.
Vincent glanced over at her and looked back down at the map in his hand. He had an idea of where he wanted them to wind up, and he knew for a fact no one would ever expect to find them there. He might have tried to throw her off and get out of entertaining her for one afternoon if it hadn't been too cold to go swimming. The ocean was beautiful today, but there was a cold breeze still lingering in the air. He watched Yuffie carefully to try and determine her mood for the day, but she ignored him and tightened her coat around herself to ward off the ocean breeze.
"Let's get lunch." He said instead, that sense of guilt welling up in him again.
She shouldn't have been there with him. By all means, he should have turned Godo down and faced the government's punishment for him. She was too young for this, and it was obvious now more than ever. As much as she tried to act like an adult, that childish air about her always broke through. They were barely married. The government had been forced to recognize it, especially after Godo had all but beat the investigators away with their brand new marriage certificate, but he did not see her as being anything near a wife. Yuffie was simply a young girl that had made a mistake in her life, and now she had put her life in his hands to try and fix it. There was a very likely possibility that in a few years when she grew up she would want a divorce and he'd never see her again, and he pushed the thought from his mind as his chest began to tighten painfully.
He turned sharply, and Yuffie stared after him. She knew that look all too well now, he had been thinking about it again. Letting out a sigh, she walked around the side of the car and slipped her hand into his, pulling him forward towards the somewhat tacky restaurant at the end of the street. Humming cheerfully to herself, she dragged him down the street and into the restaurant, once again successfully distracting him from his rather dark and depressed thoughts.
x:X:x
"I thought you were kidding. I really hoped you were kidding, anyway…" Yuffie groaned, leaning her head against the railing of the ship. Her feet dangled over the edge and she didn't even care if she fell at this point. Her stomach lurched violently and anything that might have been left in her stomach was over the side of the ship in a matter of seconds.
"I'm sorry, Yuffie." Vincent said again sadly. He hadn't realized she was so prone to sea sickness, but there really wasn't any other option for crossing the ocean. Of course, if he told her that she would probably launch into another rant about wanting to know why the hell they were even going to another continent.
"We'll be there soon." He said reassuringly. Yuffie glared up at him and let her head fall back against the bar heavily.
He wasn't lying, however, as he gazed ahead of the ship to see the busy seaport spread out along the new continent rising up on the horizon.
"Why couldn't we just stay in Costa Del Sol?" Yuffie groaned, feeling her stomach flip again as she tried to lean over and look at their approaching destination.
"Because, we need a home, not a vacation. I'll take you on vacation later." He said tiredly. Leaning down before she could throw a fit, he gave her a kiss on the forehead.
"I have to go get everything ready, okay? Stay here so I can find you again." Vincent said quickly, ducking out of sight as Yuffie groaned over the side of the ship again.x:X:x
It had taken a bit more money than he would have liked, but Vincent had paid the captain to take his car along in the ship's hold. Having unloaded it carefully for him, the crew loaded their luggage into the back of the car again and he turned to see Yuffie leaning wearily against a wall nearby. People rushed back and forth across the dock, and employees of the ship they had just gotten off of were hastily unloading cargo. He beckoned to her and she pushed herself off the wall, walking dazedly toward him through the crowd.
Sighing in worry, he rushed forward and picked her up, carrying her the short distance to the passenger seat and setting her gently back on her feet.
"Will you tell me where we're going yet?" She asked miserably, still feeling severely sea sick. Vincent brushed his fingers across her cheek affectionately.
"Go to sleep, Yuffie, it won't be long now." He said gently, kissing her forehead again before standing up to move around the side of the car.
To be honest, he wasn't sure she would approve of where they were headed. He would have preferred to take her somewhere at least decent, maybe further west than they had been. However, Godo had insisted that Vincent find the most obscure, out of the way town he could and hide her there. Somewhere he was sure no one would think to look for them. At least until they figured out if anyone was even going to go after them for revenge now. After all, Elena was still missing, and she was well known as a professional grudge holder.
He ignored the strange looks he got from members of the crew and various people on board that had seen them together as he climbed into the driver's seat and prepared himself for the long drive to their new place of residence.
x:X:x
Well, it wasn't exactly the kind of place he remembered it to be, but it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, either. He had seen pictures of the city once, back in its prime. It had been magnificent, with a population creeping up on one million citizens. Those days were long gone now, as most of the city lay in rubble, slightly buried by the sands of time since it's near destruction during the threat of Meteor.
Midgar, hardly a city anymore, a place for people to go when they didn't have anywhere else, he supposed.
Tourists tended to avoid the city, despite the beautiful sight of the ancient Junon cannon's remains sitting in the middle of the city. The city itself had been consumed by the slums, once hidden under a thick metal plate to allow the city to hold a sort of double level. During it's final hours as a capital, most of the old mako reactors lining its walls had been destroyed, letting the slums spill out into the harsh world beyond. Dotting the landscape as a dying town, a few real buildings rose up from the barren countryside to point defiantly to the heavens.
Despite all of the city's hardships, it held on strong in what had appeared to be its final throes for over a hundred years. The faithful inhabitants refused to give up, and most of the work in the town now stemmed from restoration efforts. It wasn't an ugly place, in fact, it was quite beautiful. In the same way Gongaga held that natural beauty only a jungle can possess.
He looked over at the sleeping girl, curled up in the passenger seat with a blanket tucked carefully around her. If nothing else, Midgar offered her a chance at survival. Here, she would find herself in a crash-course on life, and would settle in to her own purpose or die. He was confident she would succeed incredibly, thus the choice to bring her to such a place.
The sound of a car door slamming jarred her from her sleep and Yuffie sat up with a jolt. Looking around in confusion, she noticed Vincent walking around the front of the car. It was a good three days after they had gotten off of that damn ship, and she was very ready for a night in a real bed again. Cringing slightly, she straightened her back and heard several popping noises. He opened her door and leaned down, taking her hand as she looked around, finally noticing the city looming not too far off in the distance.
Eyes shifting suspiciously from him to the town, she allowed him to help her from the car. They walked forward several paces and she held her breath at the beautiful sight that spread out before her eyes. The landscape was dotted with pathetic trees and large rocks, the dirt fine and sandy as far as the eye could see. It seemed to get slightly darker the closer to the city it got, and her eyes scanned the town itself. It wasn't much to look at, but it wasn't too bad. It certainly reminded her of something from an apocalypse movie, but the sun glinted off the bits of metal that made up most of the building materials. What really caught her eye was the distant outline of a very large cannon, sticking up along the horizon as a grim testament to a war that happened so long ago there were hardly records of it anymore.
"Oh, Vincent…" She breathed. "This is where you chose for us to live?"
She wasn't sure what she thought. She had really been expecting something more like Kalm, the fact that he had chosen Midgar of all places said a lot about him.
"It's certainly, different." She said quietly. It was practically barbaric, the city was so cut off from the rest of the planet she wouldn't be surprised if the inhabitants no longer knew what a computer was. Midgar had seen more technological days. Well, if anyone was following them, they'd have to be looking pretty damn hard to find them all the way out here.
"You'll like it here." He said simply. She could have hit him at that point. He was going to teach her about adulthood the hard way, and she knew it.
x:X:x
The moment they set foot in the Inn's lobby, Yuffie knew it was going to be difficult to fit in here. She had never spent a day 'out in the country', and she bit her tongue to keep from referring to the town's citizens as being 'rednecks'. The people here didn't seem to care much about the outside world, and she eyed a group of punky looking individuals lurking at the bar further into the Inn.
"Can I help you?" A curious woman asked from behind the counter. She glanced between the two for a moment before settling Vincent with a very protective glare.
"We'd like a room." Vincent said with an almost defensive tone. He had definitely noticed the strange looks the townspeople were giving him, and wasn't sure how well things would bode if they knew Yuffie's age.
"And you are…?" The woman asked, clicking something on a computer and tapping her fingernails against the countertop.
"Vincent Valentine." He said simply. the woman glanced from him to Yuffie and opened her mouth to protest.
"This is my wife, Yuffie." He said sharply. The woman fixed him with a disbelieving stare. She turned to look Yuffie up and down.
"You look awfully young to be following this guy around." The woman said flatly, not hiding her suspicion in the least.
Yuffie blushed, quickly thinking of a way to save the situation. Looking down at the ground, she flipped a hand through her hair coyly.
"Oh, well, thank you. I'm actually turning twenty this summer." She said shyly, grinning up at the woman with her most forced smile ever. Vincent nearly rolled his eyes at her performance, but exhaled in relief instead.
The woman seemed to buy it, though, and smiled down at Yuffie. "Well, ya never can be too careful these days. I'd hate to see such a pretty girl get hurt." She said sweetly, typing into the computer quickly. She took the money Vincent offered her and tossed them a room key.
"Have a good night! Breakfast is at nine!" She called after them as Vincent picked up their bags and started for the stairs with Yuffie trailing at his heels.
She snuck the key out of his grasp and unlocked the door, throwing it open and looking around at the tiny room. Bounding forward, she threw herself on the bed and stared up at the ceiling.
"Finally, a real bed!" She breathed, closing her eyes for a moment to enjoy the feel of the blankets under her back.
Vincent closed the door behind her and set the bags on the floor, straightening his back. He watched her for a moment and she rolled over onto her stomach, propping her chin on her hands and smiling.
"Aren't you going to come over here?" She asked sweetly.
He stared at her another moment before his eyes drifted down guiltily. He examined his new golden claw instead, flexing it several times before coming to a conclusion.
"I'll be back later." He said quietly. Yuffie watched in shock as he turned and slammed the door, leaving her alone in the small room.
x:X:x
Vincent didn't know what was wrong with him, but something between them had changed when Godo all but forced them to marry. She was just so young, he hadn't really had a problem with that before, but now it really seemed like he should have gone to prison and left her alone. Because of him, she was stuck out here in this fallen capital, scratching a life from the very dregs of society.
He knew exactly what she wanted right now, after all, they had missed that traditional wedding night together. He wasn't sure he could stomach himself if he slept with her now.
Not until he had made a life for them, he refused to accept her as his wife until he knew he could take care of her.
Needless to say, he got some very odd looks from the citizens of Midgar as he walked along. Red wasn't exactly a common eye color, either. No one tried to stop him, however, and he continued on toward the city center.
The town was made almost entirely out of metal salvaged from the old part of the city, down to the very ground he walked on. The new version of the city was trying desperately to imitate the old city, with a partially constructed wall around half of the city. The metal beneath his feet clicked loudly as he walked, and he looked up at the orange clouds hanging low in the sky. The sun was setting, and it cast strange colors through the pollution left over from centuries of misuse of mako in this area.
He found the large building in the center of town, and stepped inside. It was set up like a strip mall, but he recognized it as the sort of all purpose town hall. Whatever business you had in the town could generally be settled here, and he walked along through the thin crowd of people.
"Hey!" Someone shouted. Vincent looked up curiously, wondering if they were talking to him. A large, burly man with dark skin motioned to him and grinned.
"Yea, you!" He bellowed. Vincent walked leisurely over to him and the man held out his hand. Vincent couldn't help but notice that, like him, he seemed to be lacking a hand, though his was the right.
"What's yer name, kid?" The large man asked, shaking Vincent's hand enthusiastically.
"Vincent Valentine." He said flatly. The man eyed him curiously and grinned.
"Well then, Vincent, you can call me Barret." He said quickly.
He paused to look Vincent up and down, seeming to roll an idea over in his head as he scratched his chin.
"You're new here, aren't ya?" Barret asked.
"Yes, actually, I only arrived today." Vincent replied, trying to be friendly despite the suspicious nature of the man.
"An' I suppose you came here lookin' fer work?" He asked, a pleased look on his face. Vincent shifted slightly, but didn't answer.
"Quiet type, huh? I like that. Them damn kids they're hiring nowadays never shut the hell up and just work." Barret laughed loudly and Vincent wondered if it would be rude to simply back away.
"Anyway, enough beatin' round the bush. I like the looks of ya and I'd like to hire you on." Barret said seriously. Vincent stared at him for a moment.
"Excuse me?" He said quietly. Barret grinned again.
"I run a city restoration project here, an' I'd like to hire ya on." He said simply.
Vincent thought about it for a moment. He did need work rather badly at the moment…
"What would this job entail?" He asked, squaring his shoulders seriously as if dealing with an indignant customer. Barret grinned some more and leaned in close.
"Security."
End of Chapter One, Part Two.
