Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII

So, just to clarify - this is an AU, based on the idea that Vincent was never recruited/discovered by the main party! And honestly, in light of whether or not he and Yuffie will be mandatory characters in the next instalment of the remake, it's something I've been pondering lately!

Enjoy!

079. Voodoo

Yuffie checked her phone for what must've been the twentieth time in two minutes. Great - still nothing. She rolled her eyes, there goes another relationship.

"Still not heard from Mark?"

"Nope, not a peep since yesterday. I guess he meant it when he said he just wanted to be friends - you know, the way boys mean it." I couldn't help but roll my eyes at that. Mark had to have been what - the fifth? Sixth? Man to have ended things with the 'I'd rather just be friends!' Line by now.

Tifa sighed sympathetically. "You know, if I've said it once I've said it a thousand times - he's the idiot."

"I know, I know. Thanks, Teefs."

"Anytime," she said, hefting herself away from the empty bar I was sitting at, turning her attention to all the prep she had for tonight sitting behind her. She started talking away about something Cloud had said - about how 'men were just scared of facing commitment'. Something she'd told me about five times, already. But I didn't mind. Honestly, it was quite nice hearing it again - because each time I broke up with someone, it stung a little less, and I knew I'd heard the same level of concern in Tifa's voice.

I checked my phone again. Nope, still nothing there. I lay my head down on the bar and looked around the place. It was a far-shot from how Barrett had described her bar in Midgar: this bar was spacious, well furnished, clean, always busy at nights, and not a lick of grey paint in sight. Cloud emerged from down the stairs that lead to their flat above the bar, where he, Denzel, their children, and sometimes Marlene lived.

"Morning Yuffie. Anything from Mark?"

I shook my head again, and he clicked his tongue. "There are other guys out there."

"Exactly what I was saying!" Chimed Tifa, looking up from the lemons she was slicing. "Besides - the last one you were with —"

"Chris?"

"Yeah, he was much hotter."

"Oh really?" Cloud hummed, getting himself a glass of water. They chatted on for a while about who was hotter - the obvious answer was Mark - as I check my phone, again.

"Oh!" I squeaked, making a strange sound even for me.

"What is it?"

"Is it him?"

Cloud and Tifa turned in unison, but watched as my shoulders deflated to find their answer.

"Nope - just Reeve saying they have something at the WRO to look at. Oh, Teefs, Cloud, he says you guys should come too, if you can."

It felt just like the old days. Tifa and Cloud hadn't been out together to the WRO for as long as I can remember; not after they had their kids and had committed to a quieter life. Funnily enough, it'd been Cloud to suggest they settled down, not Tifa like we all thought it had been. I watched them discuss if they could trust Denzel, the sixteen-year-old to look after a seven and 4-year-old for a few hours (like duh, of course), and was green with envy. Truth is, I'd been so bitter when they settled down almost immediately after we properly bashed up Sephiroth. They'd grown so close after Aerith died, and naturally fell into each other's arms. Tifa had been the only one there to understand Cloud's grief, so it had made sense - but that's the kind of thing I'd wanted. To fall into someone's arms, to have someone be unconditionally there for me. But time after time I dated me who saw the pictures of me in the press and wanted that fantasy, not me. With Mark making it sixteen men in the past four years, I was starting to get a bit jaded.

"Alright, you go and tell Denzel and I'll get my clothes on, okay? Tifa said, as she and Cloud disappeared hastily upstairs, calling their apologies over her shoulder to me.

I checked my phone again, idly. Nothing, but ooh— there's a sale on a Wall-Kart. That could be fun, and hey, maybe there'd be a cute guy there!

"Okay, we have three hours! Let's go."

"Wow, parenting really puts you on a tight schedule, huh?" I remarked dazedly as we left to get into the car.

"Well, you know. Clara seems to have picked up the energy levels of both of us since she turned four." Tifa sighed. Well hey, maybe I found the one thing I wasn't jealous of!

. . . . .

"So Reeve, you gonna push us through that door and let us fight some fish-demons to death?"

"Still no reply from Mark?"

I rolled my eyes as Tifa and Cloud shook their heads and Red, Cid, and Reeve all let out a sympathetic sigh.

"Hey- Woah! I can be jaded for more reasons than some idiot not being able to pick up his phone!"

"It's alright Yuffie, I can drop him a 'pleasant surprise' from the ship on the way home if you like." Cid offered, stubbing out his cigarette on the wall, much to Reeve's dismay.

"Aw, thanks, ya old man!"

"Right. Anyway," Reeve continued, still staring at the slightly smouldering cigarette in Cid's hand, who sarcastically offered it to him. "In this room is a man who was recently discovered by a WRO team in Nibleheim. He was found in the basement of the mansion there - you know it?" He asked, to Cloud and Tifa's somewhat horrified glances.

"Well, yes - we used to live in the town; play in the grounds. We even visited when we went there a few years ago. You mean to say there was a man in the basement the whole time?"

"Yikers that'll give you the heebie-jeebies." Yuffie gave an involuntary shiver.

"Well- it's a bit stranger than that. He was found sleeping in a coffin."

"So you want us to go in there and fight some vampire?" Cid asked, half in disbelief, half pure curiosity.

"No, not fight - question. He appears to know some very privileged information. As some of the most privileged members of the WRO, we want you to question him. I hope that your combined knowledge will be enough to straighten out this bizarre happening."

"Why not just cast cure on him until he disappears away?" Yuffie asked, only half interested. Her mind was on the phone she'd been forced to lock in her locker, several floors up.

"We did - and he just got better."

"Oh, so he's conceptually a vampire but not in practice?" Red asked, his voice a deep purr.

"Well— I'm not sure the vampire idea is too helpful. Look, just go in there and try and work out what he knows and how, please."

Yuffie looked around. None looked too impressed. Tifa and Cloud looked fairly horrified; Cid was still fiddling with the cigarette in his hands, and Red was looking around as Yuffie was. "Well?"

Tifa and Cloud looked between each other, before he said a slow "okay…" and they cautiously entered.

Cid shrugged, flicked the cigarette butt to the ground and followed them, with Red filing in after him.

"Please, Yuffie? There's some thought he could be Wutaian, and you would be helpful."

I took a deep breath. I hated it when Reeve got all imploring like this - it made me feel bad when I'd said no!

"Okay then - but if I get a missed called from Mark who tells me that actually he's deeply in love with me and I've missed it because of this," I gesticulated widely to the heavy metal door the other four had gone through, "then I'll hold you personally responsible."

He gave a half-smile, "I'd expect no less."

I pressed that door open with my back, pointing two fingers between my eyes and his direction, before twisting lazily into the 'interrogation room' and—

Oh my.

Oh. My.

That wasn't a vampire. That was some form of a fallen angel, or forsaken god. That man was-

"Perfect."

"Sorry?"

Oh god, even his voice is sexy and beautiful; smooth and rich like classy red wine or something. Oh god, my brain was reverting to fifteen-year-old Yuffie. I had to force myself to think, think!

"Nothing. So, what's this?"

"Uh, this is Vincent Valentine."

"Right. And the… straight-jacket?"

"My initial reaction to being awoken was not quite so ah- how to say? Pleasant. But I have had time to adjust to this world by now."

I eyed him warily. "Okie dokie then." But I kept to my spot near the door. Hot or not - a straight-jacket was never a good sign.

"And you said you were a former TURK, who did security for Professor Hojo's lab in the Nibelheim manor?" Cloud asked, his voice stripped of emotions in a weird throwback to six years ago.

"Correct. I lived and worked on-sight."

I frowned. "But that lab— that was like over fifty years ago? And Mr Lucifer over here doesn't look a day over..." Oh, a good excuse to eye him. Very pale, but pretty nice skin. A strong bone structure so he looked over twenty-five but hard to tell. No real creasing around the eye, and his lips- oh, they still looked nice and soft... "like what, twenty-seven at most?"

"That's very kind. I was twenty-five when I died. But, from what I can ascertain, I continued to age at a very slow rate as I slept. I would put my age at somewhere around 29-31."

"Huh..."

"Wait— you said you died?" Cloys said, picking up on probably the second most important thing in the room, after his general hotness.

"Yes. As I recall it, I was fatally shot by Hojo once I confronted him about the Jenova Project. I remember little - but I was strapped to a table, and some occult experiments were conducted on me. I wasn't conscious for much of this, but I awoke some time later to a number of voices in my head, and barely alive. I scarcely had enough energy to crawl my way down to the cellar and get into the coffin."

"And... coffin was the best place you could think of to sleep in?"

He looked annoyed at my comment. But he was very sexy when he glowered so I'll give him this one. "Yes. I wanted to be hidden, in case Hojo returned. And... it was on the recommendation of one of the voices."

"Alright…" I watched Cid in the dying, fluorescent lights. He stood to the far side of the couch Cloud and Tifa were sitting on, across the from strapped-up Vampire. "Look, I've got a wife and kids to worry about, I'm out. Nice to meet you Vampy but I know nothing about Hojo or Nibelheim, and I'm not as good at fighting as I used to be in case one of those demon friends comes to play. I'll tell Reeve what we know until now." Cid nodded to us on our way out, clapping me on the shoulder with a wink as he left. "Just your type, eh?" His mumbled floated past me before the door swung shut heavily behind him. I still kept to my position near the door - just in case a creepy friend of hot-Satan got annoyed with the questioning.

"You said voices - what are they?" Red asked, lying on the floor to make himself more comfortable. But the flicking of his tail Yuffie knew meant that he was anything but that.

"I do not know who they are in detail, but I can ascertain that at least one is a demon named 'Choas'. He is the most... verbose of the voices."

"And they came from the experiments?" Tifa asked.

"Yes. I remember hearing them quibbling about where they were as Hojo was experimenting. It was..." he looked away, "rather excruciating."

"I can relate," Cloud muttered, crossing his arms sternly. Tifa put a hand on his arm, consciously or not. It made my stomach twinge involuntarily.

"And — you'd be happy to speak more with members of the WRO about this? You have no agenda?" Tifa reconfirmed.

"None. From all I have learnt - on the news, in books - all those that I would seek to destroy have already been eliminated. There is nothing for me to hate on this earth anymore, thanks to you, I gather. But, I would prefer to speak with you, if I could. Cloud, Red: I sense we all have a kindred tie to Hojo."

Cloud and Red looked between each other.

"I see no problem with this," Red said, and his tail, I noticed, had stopped flicking so much.

"Me neither." Cloud agreed.

"Well, then we should leave. We don't want to keep the kids waiting." Tifa said, preparing herself to leave.

"You said there was a Wutaian member here - I would like to speak with them if I may." The man asked.

Tifa nodded to me, and patted Cloud on the shoulder to indicate it was their time to leave; Red field passed me too not long after.

"Yeah - a crown princess, actually."

"A crown princess? Things have certainly changed. The Emperor was just a boy when I died."

Yuffie gave a snort, and came to sit on the chair facing the man. Vincent. "Yeah, not so much a boy anymore!"

"Sorry, what is your name?"

I could feel the age in his speech patterns in that phrase more than ever. "Everyone just calls me Yuffie."

"A pleasure to meet you, Princess Yuffie."

"Seriously - just Yuffie. I ran away from the castle to join Cloud and everyone. Yeah, that was a fun time."

"I see."

I felt myself halting; grasping at straws for where to guide the conversation. It felt like the weirdest, most intense first date I've ever had. "So... are you Wutanese?"

And he kept me in conversation for hours. It felt like talking to an old friend, but better - a sexy old friend. I wondered what may have happened had we checked the basement of the Shinra Mansion when we were there; if he would've been so calm had he known Hojo and his monstrous creations were still alive and kickin'.

"Yuffie - do you think I'll ever be released from this room?"

It wasn't my answer to give, but something about Vincent made me want to fight for him. It felt like we might be two sides of the same coin at heart, in some weird and fortunate way. A very, very hot coin. "I'll see what I can do."

If only because I wanted that sexy man candy on my arm.

"Thank you Yuffie."

My soul felt like it was being massaged and given multiple orgasms all at once. Oh yeah, that felt good.

I nodded, and got up, making sure my sashay away looked enticing from behind. It was dark outside when I left the room, and Reeve was no longer there. Just how late was it? I wondered, making my way up the stairs to his office. I pushed the door open without a knock, not really expecting him to be there.

"Y-Yuffie?" Reeve mumbled; clearly I'd just woken him up, "Mark called—"

"Who?" Reeve looked at me in disbelief for a moment, before I clucked my tongue, "Oh, yeah, him." I shrugged.

"So… the Subject?"

"Oh yeah, Vincent? He's a straight-up hottie, and is it okay for me to bang subjects in holding cells?"

"Not… recommended?" Reeve was now looking more confused than he was concerned. "Did you learn anything?"

"Yeah - loads. He's like really interesting, and has some pretty interesting things to say about Wutai, and Hojo and - get this - Sephiroth's mom. Yeah, he's pretty cool, and totally not a threat unless you call releasing a man that gorgeous into society a danger. Which, yeah, I guess it kinda is, but—"

"'You'd be willing to take one for the team and take care of him here and now?' Well, Yuffie, I don't ever think I've seen you fall for someone this fast."

"Well Reeve, when we're talkin' dead-sexy-vampires, there are no limits on how fast I can fall."

He chuckled, and got up from his chair, rubbing his eyes, to come and lean on my side of his desk with me. "So, not a danger then?"

"Nope." I turned to look at him, "Seriously - I think he's fine. I just get this feeling from him… I think he's one of us."

"Fit to join the WRO?"

I nodded, looking out of his windows over the glowing city of Edge. "Yeah… I think he's gonna fit right in. I think it's gonna feel like he was always at our side."

Thanks for reading! Please review if you've got time and follow for more!