Ah, I needed that break. So sorry, all, that I took those days off, but I got stuff done while I was offline. But now I'm back!

It pains me, considering the success this story's had, to say that the end is in sight for me. But it's already started to wind down on its own, I think, and tossing in a huge plot twist would just mess me all up, make this story feel... kinda awkward. I'm not one for long, long, long stories. Then again, I like this story a fair bit, so I might do something like that... I'll think about it.

So, here's the next chapter for all of you! -Spiritslayer

Yuffie looked at Vincent with a smile. "I did."

"You're here, not there." He closed his eyes slowly.

"I know. Cloud called us all up and told us that he had talked to Tifa, and that she was staying at the Nibelheim Inn. Cid came to pick us up, and, well..." She sighed. "Here we are."

"You're all here?"

"Well, yeah. I think I'm the only one in the inn right now, but we're all in Nibelheim one way or another." He felt his bed's right corner drop slightly and opened his eyes. She was sitting on the corner of the bed. "So, how is she?"

"Fine. Probably trying to sleep right now." He uttered a low growl at her. "So am I, for that matter."

"Well, excuse me! It seemed to me like you were wide awake when you walked in!" she huffed.

"I was coming in to sleep." He closed his eyes again. "Leave me be."

"Hey, where's Tifa at?" she asked, standing quickly. "I won't pester her, I promise!"

"I somehow doubt that," he muttered. "We should let her sleep. I just finished checking on her, and she was fine."

"I'm not gonna bug her, I just want to see her! Please, Vinny? Tell me which room's hers."

"You know already. You must've figured out which room was mine by asking the desk clerk downstairs, so I'm sure you asked him about hers, too." He raised his right hand and waved her away. "Let me be."

"Aw, party pooper." She stuck her tongue out at him, forgetting his eyes were closed and cursing the fact in Wutainese. "Well, guess I'll leave you be for now. I'm gonna visit Tifa now." She opened the door and closed it once she had stepped outside. He faintly heard Tifa's door open and close and resigned himself to the fate that neither of them were likely going to get much sleep with a hyperactive ninja around. He decided to try all the same and gradually fell asleep.

When he next woke, he felt fully rested and wondered what time it was. He silently cursed the fact that he didn't wear a watch and set his feet on the floor. He listened to the sounds of the town outside the inn and deduced it was nighttime; there was nothing noteworthy happening outside, which meant it was rather quiet. He stood slowly, ears perking at the sound of footsteps outside his door. He gave a small smirk and walked silently as he could to the door. He silently grasped the doorknob and turned it slow as he dared, then threw the door open.

Yuffie stumbled into his room, landing on her side. "Ow," she groaned, sitting up slowly. "You punk. Why'd you go and do that?"

"Don't lean against doors like that. If the person in the room beyond wants to leave for some reason, you're in for a nasty shock," he said calmly, still smirking.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it now. Sheesh..." She stood up, frowning at him. "Ever heard of warning a girl?"

"And how was I supposed to know it was you outside the door?"

"Um..." She shook her head. "Nah, never mind. Well, good morning sleepyhead."

"Morning? What time is it?" he wondered aloud.

"I'm not telling you until you apologize for doing that to me," she said, tongue sticking out at him.

"Why should I have to apologize? I wasn't attempting to compromise the privacy of someone in their room," he said matter-of-factly. He brushed past her into the hallway. "And them more you stick your tongue out at me, the more of a child you make yourself seem."

He ignored her protests against what he said and paused outside Tifa's door. "Yuffie."

"What?!" she snapped.

"Is everyone else in their own room right now?" he asked, thinking he heard someone shuffling around in Tifa's room.

"Uh, a few of 'em," she said, joining him in the hallway. "The rest are in her room right now." She checked her watch. "And it's about 1:49 in the morning."

"Why're you still up?" he asked, knocking on Tifa's door.

"I was restless! Seeing Tifa asleep in the room earlier pretty much got me pumped! I waited for her to wake up, but it didn't happen."

They both watched as Cloud opened the door. He blinked at Vincent, then Yuffie. "Hey, Vincent. She's asleep right now."

"Has she woken yet?" he asked, cut off rudely by another of his friends.

"Vince! How ya been?" he heard someone exclaim. He felt a hand pull him roughly into the room and felt an arm clap around his shoulders. "Been ages, man!"

"Hello Cid," he said, looking the pilot over briefly. "You seem a bit slimmer."

"Well, worryin' about two of my friends can do that," he said, dropping his arm and sitting down. "Don't be a stranger, Vince! Sit down already! Tell us what's been goin' on with you for the last six months! Didn't catch either you or Tifa here at the get-together 'bout a month ago!"

Vincent was looking at Tifa's sleeping form as he wondered how to word what he had been doing since he had parted with them. "Traveling," he finally said, knowing it to be the rather blatant truth.

"Traveling, eh? Whereabouts?" Cid pressed, sitting casually in a chair near Vincent's. He sprawled his arms over the back of the chair, groaning slightly.

"Here and there," he replied, eyes still on Tifa. "She hasn't woken since you arrived?"

"Nope," Yuffie said. "I've been here since I saw you, and then Cloud joined me. I decided to try and get some sleep, but I couldn't. She's been asleep the whole time."

He was examining her carefully and realized that she was actually very-much-so awake, but she was masking it carefully. The only reason he figured it out was because of the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. Her breaths were too rapid for someone who was asleep. He acknowledged her wish to remain silent and played along. "I see. Well, she should be fine later."

"Later?" Cloud asked. "What's that mean?"

"Yuffie said it was 1:49 in the morning just a few minutes ago." He felt he didn't need to expand upon it any more.

Cid looked affronted. "Hey, you dodged my question!"

Vincent shook his head. "I said 'here and there'."

"What the hell kinda answer's that, eh?! Ya can't tell yer ol' drinkin' buddy where ya been all this time?!" Cid snapped. It was evident he was getting angry, and Vincent guessed he was drunk too. "I know ya been to Edge; Cloud mentioned that! But where else ya been?!"

"Cid, please." Cloud looked at him with pleading eyes. "You're shouting, and I'm afraid you'll wake Tifa."

Cid grumbled something about 'snot-nosed bastards' before shuffling out of the room, possibly to his own room. Cloud sighed as Cid almost slammed the door; Yuffie caught it before it had a chance to slam. She glared down the hall at Cid, and walked out of the room into the hallway, shouting at him in Wutainese as she closed the door.

"Distractions aside..." Cloud muttered, occupying Cid's chair. He looked to Tifa. "I was so relieved when she answered her phone. I had called her practically daily once we established she had gone missing, and while it rang, she didn't pick up once."

Vincent settled for silence.

"I was shocked and very much so relieved when she did answer, though. I rushed to call everyone else once I got off the phone with her. Told her that I had seen--"

"Turks, Shinra." Vincent nodded. "She mentioned that."

Cloud sighed. "Where exactly did you find her?"

"Shinra Manor. My old room. She was laying atop my old coffin."

He raised an eyebrow. "Any ideas why?"

"No. I've been more focused on her health. She said she had been without food for a few days straight when I found her."

"Why didn't she leave?!" Cloud asked incredulously.

"Until just yesterday night, there was a spirit keeping anyone who entered the manor from leaving. She was barred by it."

"You beat it down, though."

"Not me. The Galian."

Cloud gave a nod of understanding. "She's been here since?"

"Once we left the manor, yes."

Cloud let another sigh of relief escape him. "I don't know..." he began.

"..."

"I don't know what I would've done if she had..." He didn't want to say it. "She means too much to me, and I was afraid that I had lost her for good."

Vincent remained calm, but his mind was racing. Cloud loves her? He's never shown it before...

Cloud looked at Vincent. "I think it's safe to say we all know she has feelings for me. The way she acted around me in the past just didn't suggest otherwise. And until she went missing, I'll admit I took that for granted. I love her, but never exactly gave it thought until she disappeared." He looked back to Tifa. "At first, we all thought she had just gone on vacation somewhere. But when she didn't come back for the get-together, we started worrying. That's when I first called her to check on her, make sure she was fine. When she didn't answer, we all knew at that moment that something had happened. I... lost sleep waiting for her to call me back, to let me know she was alright." He chuckled, an obvious lump forming in his throat. "I started to think I had done something to make her angry at me, and that's why she wasn't answering."

Vincent's eyes went to Tifa and he saw tears brimming at her eyes. Further proof she's awake right now.

Cloud cleared his throat, standing. "Well, I still need some sleep. I've been awake for who knows how long now. And I know I can rest easily now, knowing she's fine and right here." He stepped toward Vincent and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, Vincent. Thanks for finding her, for saving her. I can't think of any way to repay this debt to you."

Vincent merely replied with a nod.

"Well then, I'm off to bed. Need to get some sleep," Cloud muttered, stifling a yawn as he opened the door.

Once Vincent confirmed the door was closed and Cloud was out of earshot, he turned back to Tifa. "Well, what do you think?"

She rose an arm to her eyes and wiped the tears away. "...Stupid..."

He chuckled, standing and sitting down on the bed next to her. "Him?"

Her eyes fluttered open and she nodded. "Just when... I work past my feelings for him, realize that I'm really in love with another man... He has to come out and confess that he loves me. Oh, not directly to me, of course," she added, not bothering to sit up. "To the man I love most now. It's almost like he knows I love you and he wants to tear that away from me." She sniffed, fighting back tears again. "He can be so inconsiderate sometimes..."

He rested his claw carefully on her shoulder, the tips of his claw barely grazing her skin as he stroked her shoulder. "I know. How do you think I felt hearing him say that? About the woman I love, no less?"

She looked up at him. She gazed into his eyes, wiping her own periodically to keep the tears from obstructing her vision. She rested her left hand on his golden forearm, a small smile coming to her face. "This makes telling them about us harder, doesn't it? He knows you know how he feels about me, and might think ill of you."

Vincent nodded slowly. "He sure knows how to complicate things for us. And here I thought the only thing that'd complicate our relationship was my past..."

She gave a small chuckle in response. "I had thought so too. I had thought that with that behind us, there'd be nothing to worry about."

Vincent looked at her carefully. "...You still have lingering feelings for him, don't you?" he finally asked, wanting to hear the answer to his greatest fear right now. And yet, at the same time, he didn't want to know...

She shook her head. "I don't know, Vince. I want to say no, that I'm over him and ready to move on, but..." She wiped her eyes a final time, eyes resting on the tears now on her finger. "If that were the case, would I be crying right now? I just don't know what to make of this right now..." She saw him look away and continued. "But, feelings for him or not, I'm not going to end a relationship with someone who cares as much as you do about me. If Cloud was really so worried, shouldn't he have stopped working to search for me? But you were the only one who cared enough to search. That makes all the difference in the world, Vince, and I'd never--"

"Leave me for anything." He looked back at her, eyes shimmering slightly. "You said that earlier. You'd never leave me for anything in the world."

Tifa's mouth was hanging open slightly. "Vince, are you...?" she began.

His right hand went to his own eyes. "Something's in my eye," he mumbled, cursing himself silently for using the famous cliche response.

She sat up and hugged him. "I think," she said softly, "that this is the first time I've ever seen you cry."

He hugged her in return, both of them silent with tears brimming at their eyes. Vincent had been so afraid of losing the woman he loved once again, and his eyes had begun to shed tears he didn't even think he was capable of shedding anymore. Tifa was almost so glad to learn that Vincent was still capable of extreme human emotions such as happiness, sadness and fear, tears of relative joy were leaking to her eyes. She had touched his human heart, the one that they had both thought was lost when Hojo had forever changed Vincent's life.

As they sat in silence, they heard the door fly open and heard Yuffie grumbling something about Cid as she walked in. "Hey Vinny, she awake--" she began, eyes at the chair he had been sitting in. Her eyes slowly traveled to the bed to see the two of them together. A look of shock overcame her, which was quickly replaced by childish glee. She silently closed the door and sat down in the chair Vincent had been sitting in. "So..." she began, grinning ear to ear. "You two done some bonding while we were gone, eh?"

Vincent sighed and Tifa giggled. They pulled away slowly and reluctantly, their eyes resting on Yuffie. "Well, you could say that," Tifa said, smiling.

"What's that supposed to mean? Either you have or you haven't!" she protested somewhat loudly. Both of them gave her a stern look and she dropped her voice. "Oh, so no one else knows yet? Man, do I feel special!" she said quietly, a tone of giddiness in her voice.

"We'd prefer it if this remained a secret," Vincent said. "At least until we both decide to tell them."

Yuffie mimicked zipping her lips closed. "Safe with me!" she murmured to them.

Tifa shook her head. "Not good enough. I know you, Yuffie. You can't stand to keep things quiet like that."

"How about this? If I tell anyone else before you two do, you two can beat me up."

They looked at her awkwardly. "You're our friend, Yuffie. We'd never dream of doing that to you!" Tifa said.

"I like it," Vincent responded. "It only means she's serious about it. She knows we'd never beat her up unless she broke a big secret like this."

Yuffie almost beamed. "Good enough for me. So, are you two, like, actually in love? Or are you two just really really close?"

They hesitated, and smiled at one another. "We're in love," Tifa said, looking to Yuffie. Vincent nodded in agreement.

"Wow, I never would've seen this coming. I mean, no offense and all, but it just seems like you two are opposites and all. If I hadn't seen you two like that when I came in, I would've compared it to Cid falling for me."

"And we all know he can barely stand you," Vincent pointed out.

"Exactly." She began wiping fake tears from her eyes and sniffed dramatically. "Aw, my big vampire's grown up so much..."

He smirked at her, giving her a light punch in the arm. "I'm not a vampire, and you know it."

She grinned. "So, when you two planning on telling everyone else?"

"Oh, we were thinking... shortly before heading home to Edge." Tifa looked at Vincent. "Wasn't that it, Vince?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Depending on how Tifa's feeling later, that could be later today."

Yuffie was positively beaming. "Oh, I can't wait to see how everyone else reacts! I really, really, really, really, really can't wait! I almost want to tell them now!"

"Yuffie..." they both warned her sternly.

"I know, I know. I won't tell them." She stood and walked to the door, winking over her shoulder at them. "Well, guess I should leave you two alone. And don't worry, it's safe with me." She opened the door and slipped outside, closing it quietly.

They sat in silence for a moment. "We both know she'll tell them anyway," Tifa sighed.

"Mm. It'll kill her otherwise." He frowned slightly. "I know everyone else will accept it really well, but what about Cloud?"

"He's the one I'm really worried about, too. Just minutes earlier, he was in here talking about how he feels about me. This might..." She bit her lip. "Well, we'll worry about that when the time comes." She looked at him.

"Tifa, I have a question."

"Mm?"

"Well, it's more or less Cloud's question, but why were you in Shinra Manor? And in my old room, no less?"

"I... well, I felt close to you when I entered the mansion. I knew it held a lot of memories for you, since it was where we found you. It's tough to explain, really. I did think about going to Lucrecia's cave at some point, but because of that spirit..."

He listened to her quietly.

"I decided to go to your old room because it was the room Cloud, Barret and Cait Sith -- or rather, Reeve -- found you in. I had never been in it before and wanted to see what it was like when they were standing in that room, talking to you for the first time. It wasn't a complete guess, but I had a pretty good idea how they must've felt." She smiled softly, almost amused. "It was also the only place that didn't smell of death. I felt like I was going to pass out until I reached your room and closed the door."

"Do you have any idea who that man in the study was?"

"You mean the corpse?" Vincent nodded, and Tifa lay down again. "I have no idea. Like I had said, he was dead when I got there, and I couldn't make out his features. I didn't particularly care to try, either; the sight creeped me out, and I thought... I had heard a whisper or something while I was in the study."

"Must've been his ghost." He stood slowly. "Should I leave you be?"

"It's up to you. I don't mind either way."

"I'll let you get some sleep, then. I need to sleep as well; I'm still somewhat exhausted." He bent over and kissed her softly. "Good night."

"Good night. I love you, Vince."

"I love you too." He straightened up and walked to the door quietly, opening it and stepping outside. He closed it and pondered the man who had been in the study. It... couldn't hurt to find out who he was...

You imbecile.

The Galian's voice startled Vincent, but he gathered himself quickly. Good to hear from you too. Now, why'm I an imbecile?

You've found someone who loves you more than her big infatuation. You'd really risk your life to discover who some cadaver is? You'd really endanger her feelings like that?

You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were my conscience. But regardless, I should find out what he was obsessed with in his final moments. If there are other spirits roaming the manor, I know who I can turn to in order to deal with them.

Hmph. I won't save you unless it looks like the spirit's about to take away my only chance of taking you over. You realize this, right?

Fine, then I won't depend on you. He walked slowly toward his room to fetch Cerberus. It's not like I can't hold my own against a ghost here or there anyway. It's just faster if you deal with them.

Minutes later, he was standing outside the gate to Shinra Manor. As far as he could tell, he was the only one outside. He rested his hand on the gate slowly, eyes narrowed. If I don't do this, it'll bug me to no end. I need to find out who he was and why he died down here.

I'm not stopping you, but I'm not going to help you either.

Noted. He leapt over the fence and walked to the doors to the manor. They were closed again. Huh. I left them open yesterday, mainly to air it out... He yanked the doors open and almost gagged as the smell of death swept over him again. He slowly stepped inside, taking care to leave the doors wide open.

At the time, he had no way of knowing what awaited him in the basement.

The next chapter's fun. Just pure and simple. Least, I think so. But, to keep you all in suspense, I'm not going to put it up until tomorrow. One a day has and still is my pattern.

Until tomorrow, then! -Spiritslayer