Aeris's Pointless Adventure

Part V : Aeris & Vincent

written by K-chan


After their satisfying meal, Aeris and Vincent left the eatery to realize sunlight was dwindling away... not only because the day was coming to a close, but it looked like the rain clouds were coming in. Because of that, it was decided they would stay the night in Nibelheim, more specifically in the spooky mansion (since it was free), and then leave on a plane to Junon.

Quick cut through all the mumbo-jumbo, so it was nighttime now, and poor Aeris was huddled in the middle of the gigantic bed in the gigantic room that any personnel of royalty could have owned, still scared being by herself. Every time she closed her eyes, they would pop right open because some sound would startle her. She finally got out of bed, taking a pillow and blanket with her, and went down to the basement where the only other known occupant of the mansion was.

The door was left open like usual, but Aeris peered into the room before knocking and saw that the coffin was left open and Vincent was lying in there with his eyes closed. She wasn't sure if he had been sleeping or not, but she entered quietly. "Vincent?" she whispered softly, hugging the pillow she held in her arms as she stood next to the coffin. She leaned close to him and called again, "Vincent?" When he opened his eyes to see her staring down at him, she continued, "Can I stay with you? I don't want to be alone in that big room."

He stared at her silently and then nodded, "All right." She smiled happily but then watched him move to the side of the coffin to make room for another. She blushed a deep red, and Vincent looked at her, waiting for her to get in next to him.

"NO!" she shouted and hit him with her pillow, "I didn't mean it THAT way!" And in a huff, she plopped on the floor, making a comfortable spot for her sleeping accommodations that night, leaving Vincent to blink dumbfoundly at what just happened. It only brought back memories of how Lucrecia did the same thing to him... hitting him quite a bit with random objects (from her sub-space storage, in her purse), but he could never blame her for such violence--blame it on Pavlov for his conditioning mumbo-jumbo.

Vincent continued to blink like the confused man that he was, but this time, he was lying down in the coffin with flashbacks of Lucrecia rampaging through the laboratory with a mallet in hand... that slightly overlapped an image of Aeris running happily through a field of flowers with a (mysterious) basket in hand. He just stared speechlessly as the green-eyed girl was making her way to him and... stood there, frowning at him... Her mouth opened wide, screaming...

"VINCENT!"

He automatically sat up at the call of his name and looked around. He leaned over to the side and saw Aeris pouting at him with crossed arms. After a few seconds of staring at his clueless face, she could no longer be mad at him for being silent for ten minutes when she was TRYING to talk to him. She sighed, "Nevermind."

He watched her roll onto her side, away from him, and let out another sigh before finally settling in for sleep. "Ano..." he said quietly, rubbing a finger against his cheek uncertainly, "good night?"

Aeris raised an eyebrow, rolling back towards him, and smiled warmly. "Well, I'm not really sleepy yet," she said, "How about you?" He shook his head and rested it on his arms. She giggled, "It's hard to believe your about auntie's age... but I guess some people are lucky to be different."

"It's not luck; it's a curse."

She sat up, sniffling and rubbing her nose at the sudden itchy feeling in her nose. "A curse?" she repeated, having a hard time with the anticipated sneeze that made Vincent go wide-eyed (that threaten to pop out of his head if he didn't stop it) at Aeris's dangerous gesture. "And I... wanted to ask..." she said in between the gasp of air, "your change... what word..."

To Vincent, it was like the mother of all sneezes was about to occur...

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

And it came so daintily...

"ACHOO!!"

Followed by a...

POOF!

Aeris sneezed a second time and rubbed her nose with a handkerchief (that originated from her sub-space storage). Her allergies to old, spooky mansions were acting up again, and unfortunately, she had used the last of her medication since the Halloween party last year. "So sorry, Vincent," she said, sounding dreadfully congested, "I just wanted to ask what the word that causes your transformation was..." She looked around and realized that Vincent was no where in sight, "Vincent?"

She stood up and saw that the coffin was closed and Vincent's red headband was lying on the floor, next to her bedding. She picked the item up and gasped at the realization, "Oh no, he transformed?! But... what did I say?!" Then her eyes roamed over to the coffin, and she unconsciously stumbled backwards, thinking that a transformed Vincent was hiding himself in there.

Her eyes began to water as a frightening image of monster was baking her into a cake flashed through her mind... and then another of her being roasted over an open fire... and another as she was being rolled into a riceball... and another of her drowning in yogurt, and she shuddered, "Eeewe, yogurt?!"

She shook all the yummy thoughts aside and stepped up bravely to the coffin. She had to face this obstacle if they were to both travel together. She had to trust Vincent completely. No, she trusted him completely, but this was the only way to let Vincent see that he could trust himself with her. His fear of his transformation hurting others prevented him from being around people and civilization... so it wasn't really the court restraint, Aeris thought.

Her hands grasped onto the edge of the coffin lid as she took a deep breath... She paused for quite a few seconds before exhaling and courageously lifting the top... and impulsively screamed as something flew out. She fell backwards, landing on the bedding, and quickly looked around for Vincent. She still didn't see him until a fluttering sound drew her attention. She gasped... and embraced the flying creature to her bosom...

"HOW CUTE!" she chirped, cradling the little, black bat that got a nosebleed. "You nearly scared me to death," she cooed, "flying out like that, but you're so adorable! So what were you doing in that dark coffin? I was expecting..." She stopped rocking the bat against her chest and tilted her head to the side, finishing her sentence, "Vincent..."

That's when a thought hit her, and she pulled the cute bat with the nosebleed back from her chest, rubbing her struck head. "VINCENT?!" she shouted, holding him in the air.

He nodded and sighed, "Yes, it's me..."

"And you can still talk!" she gasped and cuddled him against her cheek, "You're so cute!" A faint blush could be seen on his cute, little face as Aeris showered him with affection, but he could only think of the warm feeling against her chest. [SD-K-chan: Gaah, pervert! Gehehee.] "But what did I say to trigger the change?" she asked, "All I remember was... sneezing..." Then another thought hit her (but she dodged it) that the sneeze was the cause of it all, and she glared at him, "But it's NOT a word..."

"..."

"Anyway, how are we going to change you back (not that I want to change you back)?"

"Just say my name three times, but..."

"VINCENT, VINCENT, VINCENT!"

POOF!

A cloud of smoke appeared and covered them, but as soon as it came, it then cleared away, revealing Aeris rubbing her eyes for clarity to see... "IYAAAAA!" she screamed and turned away, covering her eyes... from Vincent, who was now in his human form but NAKED!

"But I have no clothes on," he sighed.


TO BE CONTINUED...