Chapter 233

Without wasting any more time on more sleep I drove over to the WRO as soon as I got back, to welcome Vincent back. I left Ollie to his own devices, which turned out to mean grabbing a beer with the Turks in Edge to discuss his ambitions. Reno had been the one to invite him, and Ollie hadn't even hesitated. I still wasn't sure how I felt about him wanting to join them. If this was what he really wanted, then I would of course support him, but it also meant that he would be in more danger than ever before. On top of that –and I was aware that this was really selfish– I'd be alone again. Working with Cloud simply wasn't the same. I'd begun to appreciate him more as a person, but he was simply no fun at all. Ollie had been going through enough trouble lately, so sharing my feelings about it with him wasn't on the top of my do-to list. He was entitled to his own life and his own choices. He'd asked me to come along, but I really didn't feel like spending the evening with the Turks, more specifically, Reno. After tonight, I wanted to distance myself from him, at least for a while, until this morning's events had faded from my mind. As if they ever would.


It had already been dark when they'd dropped me off in Junon, and I asked myself when I had last seen actual sunshine. On my way over to the WRO, I once again fantasized about taking a long, hot bath, but instead the cold wind was making my muscles ache even more. At least my clothes were dry by the time I arrived.

As soon as I burst through the door, Vincent's reddish eyes caught mine, and a great sense of relief came over me. I'd known he was alive and all right, but it seemed I needed to see it with my own eyes to believe it. We stared at each other for a moment, and neither of us said anything, until I finally found the words.

"Do you have any clue how worried we were about you?" The words came out on a breath, almost desperate.

In response, a small smile played around his lips, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly. "You're not turning into Tifa now, are you?" he then said, almost making me drop my jaw. He'd just made a joke. An actual goddamn joke.

A grin spread on my face, and I hurried over to him. I'd said what I'd wanted to say, there was no need to scold him any further. Besides, that reaction had been enough for me to forgive him, and seeing he was all right was all that mattered. "Needed some time to think, did you?" Our experiences in Nibelheim had brought him back to the past, that much was obvious. If he had really loved Lucretia as much as I think he had, then being confronted with her like that must have been more than painful. Not to mention he had to find out what exactly had happened to him all those years ago. I looked at him for a moment longer while he remained silent. Then I sighed. "Can I at least give you a hug?"

"No," he simply replied, making me grin again.

"Okay, okay, you're fine, just had to check. So, tell me what happened."

Vincent was about to start talking when the door opened and Cloud strolled in, followed by Red, Shelke and Reeve, who welcomed me back to his base. He was also carrying white bags that looked suspiciously like take-out. Without consideration, he set them down on the console and told us to help ourselves, which I didn't need telling twice. After having had nothing but cookies and rain, I was starving.

"Recommendation from Tseng," Reeve smiled as I tore the bags apart with my bare hands. "He said it was excellent Wutaian food."

And it was. Even Cloud seemed to be enjoying the meal together, and he talked to Vincent about everything that had happened while he'd been away. We'd sat ourselves down on the ground in a circle. Shelke was closely inspecting a piece of meat on her fork, as if wondering whether it was really dead.

I'd piled Vincent a huge pile of delicious smelling food on one of the plastic plates Reeve had provided, but when I once again asked him about what happened after we split up, he found the perfect excuse to not touch it. Instead, he gave it to Red, who'd already gobbled up two helpings, without using his paws, I might add.

Still, I enjoyed my own pile of Wutai and listened to Vincent's deep voice. He told us how he'd descended further into Deepground and met Weiss and Nero, as I had already expected. What I hadn't expected however, was the mention of Hojo, who'd taken over Weiss' body and used it to carry out his wicked plan to destroy the Planet. Shelke broke in with a stoic explanation on how he'd tapped into the network and downloaded his life force into Weiss, who'd become nothing but a puppet on a string after that. It wasn't until Vincent continued his story that I finally noticed my mouth was hanging open and I was forgetting to eat. It was extremely hard to believe, and only because it was Vincent who told us, did I believe it. Scientific mumbo jumbo wasn't my thing, so who was I to judge on what was possible and what wasn't. I'd never believed people could be created out of alien cells and enhanced with condensed Lifestream, but there it was.

Hojo had attacked Nero first, followed by Vincent. In the end, Vincent had defeated him, with a little help from Nero, who used his freaky power to expel Hojo. After that, Omega had been awakened and Vincent had depended on Chaos to defeat him. So it had been Shelke we'd seen shoot across the sky, delivering the Protomateria back to him. The battle had been difficult, but he had prevailed.

Cloud informed him on how the fight had commenced outside the city, while I gave him a short account on what had happened inside the city. It seemed that now that we were all safe, details were of no more importance. We had defeated Deepground, and the Tsviets were dead. The whole underground ordeal was new to Vincent, and he apologized to Red for not being there when he needed him. The entire exchange almost made me emotional.

Once our stomachs were filled and our stories shared, it was getting late, and with a mixture of regret and joy, I gladly accepted Reeve's offer to spend the night in one of the rooms.

"I'm going to see my sister," Shelke informed us before quickly getting to her feet, leaving me to stare after her. To my own shame, I'd forgotten all about Shalua, even after the way she'd sacrificed herself.

"Shelke," I called after her. The girl halted by the door and turned to look at me. "Has there been any change?" Last time we were here, Shalua had been comatose, after being severely injured by Azul the Cerulean.

"Not yet," Shelke replied in her typical voice. "But thank you for your consideration, Eden Fox." With that, she opened the door and slipped from the room.

My eyes found Vincent again, who sat staring out the window. There was something troubling him, but I didn't want to press the matter, especially not with other people in the room. He might not feel comfortable talking about it. Cloud and Red had surely told him about our problems with the underworld and Corneo's return, and even though I was sure that he would want to help Red out, maybe it was better for him to take it easy for a while.

"I'm heading out." Cloud got up from the floor and patted himself down a little. "Tifa asked me to help her with… you know… stuff." His stoic face almost made me giggle. He was such a weirdo sometimes, though I knew he had a heart of gold. I was hoping for both their sake that "stuff" meant "private time". The Gods knew they were in need of it, now that Cloud had finally got his mind sorted. Tifa'd been waiting long enough for him to get his act together.

Vincent arched his eyebrow at me, making it even harder for me to hold my grin. Both of them were so awkward it was actually cute.

Reeve seemed to catch up with my reason for grinning, and cleared his throat. "Right," he said as he too stood up. "I'll see you out. Eden, Red, shall I escort you to your rooms?"

"I would like to stay a little longer, if you don't mind," Red said.

For a moment, I considered doing the same, so I could talk to Vincent and see what was going on, but as I looked at the two friends, I thought better of it. They probably had much to discuss and I wasn't Vincent's only friend.

"Talk to you tomorrow then," I promised Vincent with a small smile, before we left the room.

After we'd said goodbye to Cloud at the front entrance and Reeve had shown me to my room, I was out like a light, too exhausted to even think anymore.


The next day – which in my case was afternoon and not morning – I found myself something to munch on before going on the hunt for Vincent. The hunt didn't take long however, because by now I knew his favorite place to be, which was high and quiet. In this case, the rooftop, looking out over the mountains.

He was seated on the tiles, staring out into the distance. Without saying anything, I sat down beside him, legs swinging over the edge.

The sun was shining on my face pleasantly, and I made a mental note to go sunbathing sometime. Those were the kinds of things I barely ever got to enjoy, or rather let myself enjoy. The simple things in life. Normal, everyday things other people got to enjoy, like shopping and swimming. The only time I went shopping was when I was in need of ammo, and the only time I went swimming was when I was chasing someone. And sunbathing? Only when I needed to talk to a troubled friend.

"You okay?" I didn't know what else to say, so I cut right to the chase.

Vincent didn't answer right away, he simply stared at the shapely mountains. It was fine, I knew what he was like; he'd answer me when he had something to say.

Then finally, after at least a minute, he finally spoke. He kept his gaze averted, features passive. "Red and I have decided we will leave on a journey together."

This hadn't been exactly what I had expected him to say. "To where?" I asked him.

"Hmpf…" he shook his head ever so slightly. "Not sure. Wherever it will take us, I suppose. Red wishes to get closer to nature and his ancestry, and I…" he trailed off, but it made sense to me even without words. He needed to find himself again, recover a bit of that person he used to be, before all this happened to him. More than once I'd wondered what he'd been like all those years ago, but it was difficult to imagine him any other way. To me, he was Vincent, exactly the way he was.

"You need to get close to your past self." I filled the words in for him.

"I need to find peace. Make peace with the past. I've…" For a moment he seemed to be searching for the right words. "I've said my goodbyes to Lucretia. It is time for me to become whole again."

Telling me these things didn't come easy to him, I knew that, so it made me all the more proud of him. It seemed like he was already on the road to his old self. On a whim, I hooked an arm through his and pressed myself to his shoulder, wanting to hug him. He was never one to be comfortable around physical contact, but he didn't pull away. In fact, there was nothing more than a small suppressed gasp at my sudden act.

"I love you, Vincent, do you know that?" I hugged him tighter when another gasp of shock reached my ears, keeping him from escaping me. "Not like that!" he stilled and let me hold on, relaxing under my touch. "You guys go do your thing," I said before letting go of him and getting to my feet. "Don't worry, we'll take good care of Cosmo Canyon and the underworld." I moved back over to the window, but there was one more thing I needed him to know. "If you ever need me, no matter where you are, whatever the reason, all you have to do is call, all right?"

For the first time since I joined him outside, he looked at me, a soft smile of gratitude was trying to force its way onto his face. He seemed to be struggling for something to say. "I –"

"No need to say it!" I broke him off, thinking he was about to try and say 'I love you too'. That would be too much for me to handle.

Instead of speaking, he nodded, and I offered him a smile of goodbye before making my way back inside.


When I got home that evening, Ollie was still there, but he wasn't alone. Eva was there with him. As soon as I strolled into the living room, she shot up from the sofa, as if I'd caught her doing something she shouldn't be doing.

"Eva." I stopped in my tracks and stared at her while Ollie muttered an apology from the kitchen, apparently equally embarrassed about being caught together at my house. I could be foolish enough to think that all they had been doing was talk, but I knew what I'd be doing if I hadn't seen the love of my life for that long. If I ever got the chance, that is. The guilty look on Eva's face was enough to confirm my suspicions. She was the kind of girl who was all about proper behavior and manners, and rolling around on someone else's sofa was definitely labeled as bad manners. Depending on who you asked. I certainly didn't think so.

"Did you forget you have a pretty large bed upstairs?" I asked Ollie with a smirk, instantly making him go red in the face. It was a rare thing for him to be flustered, but his shade of red was nothing compared to Eva's, who's face all but caught fire.

"We weren't –" Eva started, unable to meet my eyes. "We were just talking." The way the top buttons of her top were undone told me otherwise., but I only looked at her bemusedly.

Who was I to deny these two their reunion? There was always time for talk later. They were in dire need of one though, preferably one that didn't end the way it usually did; in frustration and despair.

I'd told myself that if I got a chance to see her, I would tell her exactly what I thought about the way she kept Ollie from doing what he wanted to do, but when I saw her standing before me looking all innocent, I couldn't help but sigh and forget about my anger with her. She wasn't evil. She was simply too loving, too worried and a little too naive. Our way of life meant nothing to her but violence and crudeness, and other things she despised. It was impossible for her to imagine that we hungered for the adventure and the danger, the same we we had trouble imagining to hunger for normalcy. The very thought of having a white picket fence and a desk job made me shiver. What next, get a dog? Please.

"Eden," Ollie stepped into view and took my hands in his. I already knew he had something important to say, that much was clear in his blue eye, which was looking at me in a very serious way. I watched him curiously, though I already had a hunch what was going on. "While you were gone," he continued. "Eva and I, we talked. And… we both think it's time for me to go home." He looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to say something. The first thing that came to mind was that I would be left here all alone again, with no one to keep me company or comfort me, while everyone around me moved on with their lives. I instantly knew that it was a very selfish thing to think, especially about my best friend. He deserved all the happiness in the world, even if it meant I'd have to live alone for a thousand years. And yet, even though it shamed me, I couldn't help but experience a sudden sense of loss at his news. Did this mean that she had agreed to him becoming a Turk then? "Eden?" Ollie pressed when I didn't answer, clearly worried I was upset.

I didn't want him to worry, ever, about anything. So, I pushed my darkest emotions down, and put on a smile, hoping he couldn't see through the cracks. "You guys have worked it out?"

With a small shake of his head Ollie pulled me into an embrace. It seemed he knew me well enough to see through the cracks after all. "I'm not abandoning you, Eden," he whispered into my ear, almost making me sob. Lately I was a sap, getting emotional over everything, but I couldn't help it. Something had changed inside of me after hearing that Reader tell me about happiness, and now I was all shaken up, saying and doing things I normally never would have. Or maybe I'd been surrounded by so much of my own darkness for so long that I'd lost sight of who I really was, been so focused on getting through the next day that I had forgotten to simply be. Ollie let me go, and held me at arm's length. "We haven't completely worked it out… but we will. We just need each other, you know? No matter what."

No matter what. Was that really possible? No matter what, could things work out between people, even if something this big got in the way?

From the corner of my eye I saw Eva approach, and she stood next to Ollie, slipping an arm around his waist. He wrapped an arm around her in return and pressed a soft kiss to her temple, making her smile at him sweetly.

"Eden," she addressed me with the same smile. "Thank you for having him here. I know he can be more than a handful."

I snorted, agreeing with her on that. "It's no trouble. You're always welcome here if you need somewhere to go, both of you." It was strange, that I'd always been so fond of being alone, and yet now I was missing people around me. For a short period of time, the Turks had shared the house with me, and it had been only after returning to an empty house, that I had realized how lonely that really felt. Back when Deepground had appeared and everyone had used my house as a hotel I'd grumbled about it, but secretly I loved it when everyone got together, and we sat at the table sharing food and stupid stories. Or a cold one on the porch.

Eva nodded and smiled up at Ollie again. "I'll give you guys a moment, I'll be outside." Then she stepped away from Ollie and hugged me like a sister. This time I kept my emotions under control, though I was touched by her actions. "Thank you again." With that, she let go and left through the kitchen door.

Ollie moved over to the sofa and sat down, as if he were going nowhere at all. It almost seemed like nothing had changed and Eva had just stopped by for a visit. "So how's our vampire doing?" Ollie asked me while I sat down beside him.

"He's not a vampire," I told him for what felt like the hundredth time. We knew what he was now. "He's Chaos, which is even worse, actually." We both grinned at that. "He's alright," I continued and sank back into the pillows. "He's leaving on a trip with Red. Like a pilgrimage."

"Sounds spiritual," Ollie commented, and I grunted in reply. That would be right up their alley, I thought. Becoming one with yourself and finding peace. It was all a bit too hazy for me, which was why Vincent hadn't invited me, I knew that much. Besides, we got along fine, but I'd get bored after about a day. They were better off together. "Guess that leaves you, Cloud and the Turks to clear up this underworld problem, huh?" Ollie concluded.

A groan left me when I realized I'd forgotten all about that for a moment. They'd look into Corneo, that much was for sure. Especially since they expected that I'd be looking too. The last thing they wanted was for me to beat them to it, find the bastard and plant a bullet between his eyes before they got the chance to find out what he knew about their secret business. I'd promised Reno I wouldn't however, and I would keep my promise to him. It didn't matter that he'd told me he wouldn't be texting or calling me anymore, and wouldn't be doing me any more favors in the future. We'd work together if necessary, that's what he'd said. He'd also said that he wanted me. Bad. How the hell did he expect me to ignore that statement? Or the fact that he'd hung my bullet around his neck as a symbol of appreciation. I wouldn't break his trust in me, he was too precious to me for that. He'd see that I could be a good girl. If only Rufus wasn't in the way.

Ollie nudged me with his elbow, shaking me from my daze. "Hello? Anyone home?" He grinned as I shook my head to clear it. "You went all cross-eyed there."

"Oh yeah?" I shot back. "Maybe you should try it."

"Very funny," he grumbled, though I knew he was trying hard not to chortle with joy. "You gonna be okay?"

My first and usual reaction would be to firmly say yes, but right now I didn't feel much like hiding away behind a shield of indifference. "I'm not sure," I said instead, surprising my best friend with my sudden honesty. "Ollie…" I suddenly lowered my voice, slipping into a state of sadness. I'd felt secure enough around him before, and I'd told him about my feelings, I'd even broke down crying like a little girl. "I can't stop wanting him in my life." There was no need for me to say who I was talking about, Ollie knew exactly what the deal was between me and Reno. He'd been there almost every step of the way, knew of all the emotions I'd gone through with the Turk, was aware of the things that had happened between us. He'd more than vouched for us.

Ollie slipped his hand into mine and squeezed it gently, the single gesture assuring me that he was there for me when I needed him. "Eden…" He sat up a little straighter, watching me intently. I was afraid to look up at him from my slouched position, too afraid he'd tell me something I didn't want to hear. "Don't you see that he feels the same way? No matter how many times he tells you that you should keep it professional, he's incapable of doing just that. I think he's a pussy for letting Rufus decide his life like that."

"Excuse me?" I blinked up at Ollie in confusion. This was the first time I'd ever heard him talk about Reno like that, and it surprised me. Of course, there was a certain truth to it. "So you think that if it weren't for Rufus, he'd...? You know..." He'd do what, exactly? Have a relationship with me? Was he even capable of such a thing?

Ollie sighed and slapped his other hand down on our entwined ones. "I'm aware I'm not the best at reading people, but yeah, Eddy, duh." I ignored his abuse of my name and sat up, looking him in the eye and begging him for confirmation, anything at all that would give me hope. Even if it were inevitable that I'd get hurt in the end. "Don't give up," Ollie concluded. He got up from the sofa and pressed a kiss on my head when he saw the abashed look on my face. He laughed affectionately. "Stop sulking, we'll see each other soon! Just got some uh… things to catch up on with Eva."

I snorted at his hidden meaning and laughed even louder when I saw his dorky smile. With one final wave, he walked out the door. A few seconds later I heard a car door slam and by then I was standing by the window to watch the two of them drive down the hill with their little Strawberry.

And I was once again alone.