New Ways

Chapter 3:

"Are You Alright?"

"We all here?" Cloud asked, doing a mental roll-call of his friends. They were gathered at the gates of Cosmo Canyon, planning on heading to Wutai to surprise Yuffie.

"Yeah," Cid grunted, "Now let's go."

The group nodded, and proceeded to Yuffie's house.

* * *

"Shit... I gotta get out of this hell-hole," Yuffie muttered to herself. She's been stuck in her trap for a day, not a minute more and not a minute less, and she was feeling very hungry. "Food... Water..."

Yuffie sighed, kneeling down, sitting on her ankles, and smoothening out her dress. "Oh, well," she uttered, "While I'm here, I might as well practice my posture and patience."

* * *

Cloud stepped up to the door of Yuffie's house and rapped quickly on it. It has been about three days since they left Cosmo Canyon, and now they were at Wutai. "Yuffie?" he called, after having no response.

"Dammit!" Barret yelled, "She knew we were comin', so she locked up the door and wants to screen us out!" He directed his voice to the inside of her house and yelled as loudly as possible, "Well, that ain't happening, you dumb slut!"

"Shh," Tifa hushed, "What if she's resting?"

"Resting?" Cid scoffed, "As long as she's Yuffie, rest would be the last thing on her mind. She's probably out there, stealing everyone's Materia."

Cloud frowned at all the bad-mouthing, then pounded on the door once more. "Yuffie, it's me. Open up!"

"She ain't comin'!" Barret said, "She's so goddamn scared of us."

"Shut up!" Cloud said, "Yuffie, open this door right now!" he yelled, and knocked on the door multiple times.

No response.

"No one could out-sleep that noise," Red XIII mumbled, and that's when the impossible hypothesis entered their minds.

* * *

"Yuffie?"

What?

"Yuffie, it's me. Open up!"

Why? It's not like you care, and same goes to me- I don't care who in hell you are.

"Yuffie, open this door right now!"

I don't want to. I can't. I'm trapped.

Yuffie had fainted a few hours ago from dehydration, or maybe it was just a few minutes passing by very slowly, although she wasn't entirely surprised. Crying, and lack of water for three days kind of does that to you. Voices revolved around in her head. She recognized the voices, too. The loudest was Cloud, and Barret, and somewhere in there, there was the hoarse whisper of Tifa, the harshness of Cid, and the logic of Red XIII. Just voices, she told herself, They wouldn't be here. They don't care about me. Not at all. It wasn't until the loud banging had opened her eyes that she realized that the voices were real.

"I'm in here," she yelled, but her voice got projected as a broken whisper. She cleared her throat, then tried again. "I'm in here! Help! I'm trapped!"

"Shut up, Barret! Listen!" came the muted voice of Cloud. His voice got louder, as she suspected he pressed his lips against the door, yelling, "Come again, Yuffie? I can't hear you!"

"I'm in the basement!" Yuffie yelled, enunciating every syllable, "Help! I need help!"

"How do we know you're not gonna con us?" Barret challenged.

"I won't! I promise!" Yuffie yelled once more. Everything was so embarrassing, and she knew her parents would be ashamed of her, but she didn't care. Maybe she would, after this is all over, but she wouldn't be able to do that if she died trapped.

"HOW... DO... WE... KNOW???" Barret yelled once more.

"Just trust me!" Yuffie yelled back, "And hurry!"

* * *

Cloud was more than surprised that Yuffie wanted their help. What's more, is that she was in her basement, and the only trap in there was her own. He didnt' believe her, but curiosity took him over and he ached to see what was really going on down there, so he rammed his body into the door in attempt to open it.

"What the hell are you doing?" Barret exclaimed, stunned.

"Move over, Cloud!" Tifa yelled at the same time, "This is a woman's job!" She backed up, and ran forward, shoulder-checking the door with her right side, and a blow winded her for a brief moment, but she kept on pushing.

"Hang in there, kid!" Cait Sith called with his mega-phone, as he commanded his white robot companion to throw himself into the door with Tifa and Cloud.

"Too bad we didn't come with our weapons," Red XIII mumbled.

"He did," Cid said, smirking a cocky smirk, tilting his head in a quick jolt in Barret's direction.

Barret stared at his gun-arm, and then said, "No way! That girl's probably getting what she deserves, and there ain't no way in hell I'm helping her."

"Barret..."

The masculin man turned around to the voice, and to his surprise, it was Vincent who persuasively prompted Barret to change his mind and help Yuffie by calling his name.

"Yo, what's it to you?" Barret smirked.

Vincent was silent. His blood-red eyes stabbed Barret deep with an ice-cold glare, telling him to help.

Barret snarled. "Fine. Back up, everyone, back up!!!" Barret fired his gun first at the door-knob, then when the door still didn't swing open, he fired at the hinges.

"Once more!" Cloud called after Barret stopped, and he watched Cait Sith's white friend push the door over. Cloud took the liberty of walking into the house first, and he headed to the basement.

Not only was the trap on Yuffie surprising, the pink-colored kimono with light purple flowered design on it also gave it a hint of humor. Cloud chuckled, then quickly covered his mouth with his hand, in attempt to give Yuffie a little bit of her dignity back, but she saw it already.

"Cloud, please." Yuffie's voice was soft and pleading, also physically weak-sounding.

"What happened here?" Tifa cried, seeing the ironic scene. Cloud walked over to the machine and fidgetted with the levers, leaving the scene to register in her mind.

"I knew it!" Barret exclaimed, "I knew you were lying just to not come to the party! Man, am I good or what?"

"I wasn't lying," Yuffie said in self-defense, but her voice was so weak-sounding, Barret only thought of it as a last-minute way to prove him wrong.

"Yuffie, this thing's broken," Cloud called.

"I know," she replied, "What do you think I did, flipped the lever then ran lightning-speed back to this place and managed to actually trap myself on purpose?"

"You're stupid enough," Cid smirked, walking down.

Yuffie gave Cid a sad stare, yet not a cute one. Just a plain, normal, depressed, hurt stare, yet... It looked like she accepted the fact, rather than keep it in denial. Cid winced slightly.

"Whoa! What in God's name happened down here?" Cait Sith called sarcastically, with a smile in his voice.

Yuffie sighed. "Laugh all you want. Not like it matters to me. I just wanna get out."

Red XIII walked down, then stared at the surroundings of this room. He approached the cage, and stuck his nose through the space in between the bars, and asked, "You're not hurt, are you?"

"No," Yuffie said, "Just hungry, thirsty, dizzy and nauseated. I've been stuck here for three days."

Red XIII stiffled a giggle, while Yuffie just sat there, accepting the fact that she's the laughing stock of the year.

Finally, the cage lifted up and Yuffie smiled, but the smile faded when she realizedd that she was free now, so she can go back to sulking and living her life in grief.

"Do you wanna tell us what happened?" Cait Sith said sarcastically and cruelly, with his voice in a baby-voice, as if talking to a blubbering kindergartener.

"Cait Sith, it's not funny," Yuffie mumbled under her breath, then added, "Go away."

"Suit yourself," he replied, then left the room.

"Same to you guys. Thanks for getting me out, but... Go away."

Yuffie buried her head in her knees and quietly sat there, depressed, as she listened to the quiet stampede of footsteps getting more and more silent. One, however, sounded different. It was the sound of metal against wood, instead of leather or plastic against wood. This footstep was getting louder, as well, and she sensed someone standing next to her after a while, someone watching her. A shiver ran up her spine as a cold and hard grip touched her shoulder. She lifted her head from her knees, and saw Vincent, squatting down to her eye-level.

Vincent... Of all people to come back. Wait... He never came in the first place.

Behind his long and dark bangs, and underneath his serious brows, there laid his face, rock-hard and stone-cold. His eyes were soft and full of sincerity, while his voice showed no concern as he asked the question, "Are you alright?"