Penance

©®™ Lt. Commander Richie

((Disclaimer:Welcome to the Fandom Parade. Some things in past chapters have recently been fixed, such as a few grammatical errors and some errors in canon. See, my copy of Advent Children isn't subtitled very well, and it said that Cid's ship was named the Sierra. I know now it's called the Shera, so that's been fixed. Also, I've finally started the weirdest costume ever to grace an eventual convention: Sailor Planet. No, this is not a cross between Captain Planet and Sailor Moon. This is Aerith Gainsborough as a Sailor Scout. Ancient Planet Ribbon Flower Attack!))

Yo! Monday was my birthday.

Chapter 21

The new day dawned rather darkly, blackened clouds hovering over Nibelheim's little valley. But they refused to spill their guts, the energy spent. The ground was muddy, and wood refused to light even under the careful coaxing of one of Cloud's Fire Three spells.

"I give up." The swordsman stowed his Materia away, getting to his feet and brushing his knees off. "It's all totally saturated."

"Well, why don't we go into town? Get breakfast at one of the restaurants and then come back and see if everything's dry." Tifa smiled, running a comb through her hair. Nanaki sat next to her on the ground, his paws on top of his head and flattening down his ears. A low whimper escaped him, and he sunk even lower into the cold mud. "Are you alright?" The martial artist asked, genuinely concerned. With her free hand she ran her fingers through the lion's spiky red mane entangled with feathers and beads.

"Something is making a very high-pitched and rather keening sound. It's hurting my ears." The lion growled, shaking off the worried touch. "It could be that something is wrong with one of the PHS units." Tifa fingered the unit pinned to Nanaki's mane, checking it for any cracks where water could get in. There wasn't anywhere, and she placed her ear up against it to see if she could hear anything.

"It's not yours, and I left mine at Seventh Heaven. Cloud? What about yours?" She asked, and the blond shrugged.

"It's flatlined; I'll have to get a new battery from Reeve later today. Maybe it's Cid's." Cloud said, still somewhat surly because of his futile efforts to get a fire going.

"I hear yehs talkin' 'bout me, stoppit n'less yer sayin' good stuff!" The pilot's gruff voice cut easily through the crisp and cold morning, cigarette smoke invading everyone's senses. "An' I already checked, 's not mine."

"The children don't have PHS units, it's either Yuffie's or Vincent's." Nanaki spoke up, raising his head. One of his ears popped out from under his paw, and he winced visibly before covering the ear again and sinking back into the mud. Cloud looked puzzled but Tifa nodded, getting up and walking away from the group.

"I'll take a look. Hey, Yuffie, Vincent, something's acting up in the PHS uni-" The martial artist paused in the middle of her sentence, crouched on her haunches and holding one of the tent flaps of the last tent open with one hand. A small smile graced her features as she saw the hodgepodge of limbs in the center of the tent, all draped across in open sleeping bags being used as blankets and the one large red cloak. "Units." She finished, her smile wider as she saw just what the problem was. Mira had sprawled herself across Vincent and Yuffie, her mouth open and a thin stream of drool trickling out. All of it had accumulated into one large wet puddle on one of the sleeping bags, and in the center of the puddle a black PHS had tumbled out of its owner's pocket at some point the night before. On the back of the cellular a silver design glinted dully in the light filtering from the dark clouds and through the tent walls. Tifa grabbed Vincent's PHS and removed the battery, a large spark arcing its way across the two wet connecting points. With hardly any noise she put the two pieces on one of the discarded blankets in the tent, closing the flap and standing. She brushed mud from the front pocket on her apron, returning to the meager pile of wood that everyone awake had gathered themselves around. Everyone's breath clouded into the air, Cid's moreso and followed by the stench of cigarette smoke.

"Thank you." Nanaki said, getting to his feet and leaving the circle before shaking all of the mud off of his fur. His stomach was still stained brown, though the dirt was gone. With a few loud yawns, Denzel and Marlene removed themselves from their tent. Marlene ran and hugged Tifa tightly, while Denzel sat quietly on a piece of broken stone and stared at the soggy logs in the fire ring.

"We're going to go down to Nibelheim for breakfast today." Tifa announced, and Marlene yelled excitedly and pumped a fist into the air.

"C'mon, Denzel! Let's wake everyone up!" The little girl said, and detached herself from Tifa's side before running towards the remaining tent. Denzel shook his head, screwing his pinkies into his ears and putting his head between his knees.

"It's too early..." He bemoaned, drowning out the sounds of Marlene banging excitedly with open hands on the side of Yuffie, Vincent and Mira's tent.

"That one looks like a Moogle!" Mira clung to Vincent's hair with one hand, pointing up into the sky with the other. The clouds were all swirled into a gray mass, every shape completely amorphous and holding a design for no longer than a few seconds.

"I don't see it." Vincent complied, both his gauntleted hand and his gloved hand holding on to Mira's legs to keep her from falling off of his shoulders. The seven-year-old waved her hand around in a vaguely-shaped outline, pointing to a misshapen block of cloud that was lighter in color than the rest.

"It's right... Aw, 's gone!" She bemoaned the loss of the Moogle shape only for a moment before she wrapped both of her skinny arms around Vincent's forehead and rested her chin on his head. "I had a dream last night." She suddenly said after a few moments of silence, in which she had watched as Yuffie tried to coerce Cid into letting her have a Chocobo-back ride.

"Really?" The gunslinger asked, stepping carefully around a large puddle of dirty water that was half-frozen and half-slushed. Mira's breath misted into the air as she gave a dramatic sigh, laying her cheek against the top of Vincent's head.

"Yeah." the seven-year-old nodded, mussing Vincent's hair even moreso than it had been before. "Mumma was in it. She gave me a big hug jus'like she use'ta when she got back from a real long trip, and then everythin' fell outta my pocket. But then I woked up, an' Yuffie was tellin' me it was time to go to Nib'l'eim."

For a moment, Vincent was tempted to tell her the truth; he was tempted to tell her that her mother had really come that night, holding her tightly and nearly bringing herself to tears before she had to set her daughter down and fade back into the Lifestream. But instead, he stayed quiet for that moment.

"Happy birthday, little one." He wished instead, a light smile pulling across his features as Mira began bouncing up and down on his shoulders, screaming that it was her birthday.

"So you don't know when he took off?" Cloud asked, looking around the somewhat familiar surroundings of Nibelheim. He had grown up there, and the houses were all the same, but the people were all strangers to the facade of normalcy.

"It could have been at any time during the ten minutes I was inside." Reeve said, watching as Mira wove in between Vincent, Cid and Yuffie in a goose-step as she flailed her arms about, all in a crazy dance she had concocted herself.

"It's my birthda-ay!" She chanted, grabbing one of Marlene's arms and hooking her elbow with the older girl's, dragging the dumbfounded girl into a spinning dance. "It's my birthda-ay!"

"We know, now shut up." Denzel muttered, his hands over his ears. Yuffie smacked him upside the head with one hand, sending the boy staggering forward with his arms flailing around to keep his balance.

"And you contacted the WRO, tried to get them to get a lock on his transmitter?" The blond asked, turning back to Reeve with a frown on his face.

"'Course he did, foo'! Tha's the first thing he did!" Barret interjected, from where he was leaning rather comfortably against the outside wall of the small diner everyone was assembled outside of.

"The weather is blocking almost all transmissions, too much electricity in the air. I would have to go down to the airstrip just to get half a bar of service." Reeve gave a small sigh, coupled with a half-smile. "Well, this will be a chance to see how well I can rebuild him."

The door of the diner opened with a chime, and Tifa walked out. She nodded once to Cloud, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb. "They just finished moving together a few tables for us, so we can come in now." Denzel was the first in the door, nearly falling on his face as the rubber mat on the floor bunched up under his feet as he ran. Mira and Marlene ran in next, followed closely by the ever-dutiful Barret. Reeve nodded to Tifa once as he passed her, Nanaki doing the same as he paused and straightened out the mat on the floor with his teeth. Denzel's damage taken care of, the lion continued on inside. Cloud snuck a small kiss from the martial artist before going inside.

"I'll save you a seat." He promised, picking Mira up and putting her on his shoulder, and herding Marlene away from the candy dish at the front podium. Tifa nodded once to Vincent before going inside herself, the door closing with a jingle. As the gunslinger went to open the door once more, Yuffie stopped him.

"Vincent?" She asked, her voice almost lost in the sound of the elements getting ready to once again pour down upon them. "Can I talk to you?"

"There's no point in my saying otherwise." Vincent nodded, leaning against the outside of the building much as Barret had. "I would listen even then."

"About yesterday... My waking you up." The Kunoichi began, but Vincent held up one hand.

"You were right." He admitted, his chin tucked into his collar not only from the cold, but to hide the small amount of color that had risen to his otherwise cold and blank face. "I had no business in that coffin."

"It's not that!" Yuffie yelled, her hands rubbing at her arms as she tried not to let her teeth chatter. The seasons were changing quickly and the storm was not helping the climate, making it even colder than the normal bite of the season. "What I did... I'm sorry." She quieted down, her breath misting in front of her face. Her eyes were downcast, which was why she jumped suddenly when a warm cloak enveloped her. Vincent, looking strange animated and without his cloak, stood away from her, silent. "I said that, actually. Right before I kissed you. I apologized in advance, because I had finally figured out what had driven you down there. So..."

"No." Vincent said shortly, fixing the Ninja with the coldest stare her could muster up. "I will not have you apologizing to me. Too many people apologize to me for things that do not need to be forgiven." The gaze softened, and Vincent looked away. He looked back, startled, when Yuffie began to laugh.

"When did all this happen?" She asked, looking up at the swirling gray sky and tracing shapes with her eyes. "When did I happen to fall helplessly in love with you?"

The question took Vincent by surprise, and he floundered mentally for a few moments as he searched for an answer. Over the years he had known her, he hadn't known there to be a time that they weren't lumped together. They were the optional characters, the stragglers that nobody really trusted, so they were put together with Cait Sith and sent on the dangerous missions that weren't so dangerous compared to the things everyone else was doing. Finally, he settled for simply gathering Yuffie into an embrace, a small smirk on his face as he looked down at her.

"Blame the coffin." He said, before gathering her up into a mind-blowingly passionate kiss. His gloved hand snaked around her waist, drawing her in closer as she threw her arms around his neck and held on for fear of falling over. His gauntleted hand found itself in her hair, the pointed ends puncturing soft skin to the tiniest degree. Yuffie threaded her fingers through Vincent's hair, taking a fistful and tugging on it the same way she was tugging on a fistful of his shirt. A small jingle sounded as the front door of the diner opened, Tifa coming outside.

"Vincent, Yuffie, the waitress is taking orders and-" She trailed off, turning from looking inside to looking out the door at the couple kissing. The Kunoichi opened one eye, then both, winking at her and popping one of her feet up like the heroine of a very old movie. The martial artist crossed her arms and raised one eyebrow, keeping the door open with her foot. "You're not getting any cake if you don't come in and order." She delivered her ultimatum with a straight and even tone, trying hard not to laugh. Yuffie was the first to draw from the kiss, Vincent's lower lip caught between her teeth for a moment before she let go.

"Fine." She sighed, letting go of the gunslinger's hair and attempting to disentangle herself from their mish-mash of limbs. Vincent refused to let go of her waist, pulling her in closer to his chest.

"The cloak." He muttered into her hair, and Yuffie promptly dropped to her knees and then rolled backwards, jumping back to her feet and leaving Vincent holding his cloak.

"How's that for fancy? C'mon, Vinnie, no cake or food if we don't get a move on!" Tifa was biting one of her knuckles, trying not to laugh at the somewhat-dejected look Vincent wore like the cloak he had pulled back over his head, his features drooping like a puppy with its toy taken away. Considering the Galian Beast for a moment, she realized that it wasn't very far from the truth. Yuffie led the way into the diner, nearly dragging Vincent along by his hand. The martial artist let the door shut with another jingle, before she finally began to laugh loud and hard.

Ever have one of those days when, all of a sudden, inspiration hits you and you just sit down and write something out? Yeah, that happened to me with this chapter. 'Cept inspiration hit me in the shower... With a shampoo bottle to the head.