I hate writers block. I really do. I mean really. And, unfortunately, I have it now, but I'll break out the Writers Termites and try and cure it as I go, because you've been patient and I owe you this chapter. I'll make it as long as possible to make it up to you since you've been so nice about having to wait.
If you have not yet figured out this disclaimer, keep in mind that the only reason I have not committed homicide yet is because the penalty for doing so is death. *twitch*
~*~
The doors into Traverse Town opened, blowing a huge amount of rocks, metal fragments, glass shards, wood, and other unidentifiable matter into the streets. The wind that came with it was hard—enough so that it caused people to fall over, and a streetlamp fell down, bulb shattering on the stone.
Two limp-looking figures blew with it, getting blown into the side of a building and assaulted by the debris that was blown in. The larger of the two protected the smaller one, looming over it. Finally, the doors closed, stopping the wind and the debris.
The streets were a mess, littered with so much rubble that it was nearly impossible to get from one place to another. Cloud, wielding his sword, crept out of his hiding place behind some crates. He looked around cautiously for any sign of the Unknowns that he thought had blown in. To his relief, there were none.
"Cid, c'mon out here and take a look at this," he called. The pilot unfolded himself and stood, groaning from being cramped in a small hiding place for so long. Cloud had lowered his weapon, so he assumed that everything was safe—or relatively so.
"What is it?" He asked, looking where he did. He saw the two lumps starting to stir and took a step back. "I'm not goin' over there."
"Those aren't Unknowns. Whatever they are, they're definitely not dangerous—or, at least, if they are, they're too hurt to act like it." He made his way to the building that the figures had smashed into and had not moved from since. As he neared them, the smaller one turned in his direction, followed by the larger. They were saying something to one another, but he couldn't hear it.
The larger figure stood, or tried to, and leaned against the wall. There was a glint of metal as two familiar objects caught his eye—a silver pendant of a lion's head, and the Gunblade. Leon. He looked down at his companion, who still had not moved and nudged it. It didn't move.
"Squall?" Cloud asked, confused, as he got closer.
"Cloud, get some help, she's out cold," Leon said. He bent to lift Yuffie up, but almost stumbled and fell himself. Cloud now saw them both clearly—and they were both in bad shape.
"Cid! Aerith, get over here! I'm gonna need some help!" He rused over and picked Yuffie up. She was limp and still bleeding from many wounds. Cid ran over; hard on his heels, Aerith came and gasped upon seeing the sight. "Cid, Help Squall, he can hardly stand up. Lets get 'em both back to the hotel."
"I kin stand," Leon muttered, falling over as he said so. Cid draped one of his arms over his shoulder so he could have something to lean on. He still walked clumsily, barely keeping himself conscious.
"I'm sure you can," the older man said sarcastically. He nearly had to carry Leon all the way into the hotel. Once they had gotten into the Red Room, he plunked him down into a chair. He immediately struggled to his feet.
"I'm fine, I kin stand," he said again. He stayed silent and upright for a while, watching as Cloud put Yuffie gently down on the bed. He started teetering, and he held his arms out some to regain his balance. "Is she gonna be all right?"
"I think—but I have to deal with her first. She's in bad shape," Aerith said, inspecting the unconscious girl. She cleaned off her cuts and wounds, a few of which still bled.
"And he's not?" Cid spat, indicating Leon, who was still struggling with his balance.
"I'm fine," he tried to reassure them once again. He emphasized his point by immediately falling forward after he finished his sentence. Cloud hurled forward and caught him before he hit the ground. "Did that on purpose…" he murmured and he began to slip out of consciousness. Cloud slung his over his shoulder like a rug.
"I'll go put him in his room," he said. "Will he be all right, Aerith?"
She looked up from her work. "A Hi-Potion or two should hold him over until I can get to him. Yuffie's in worse shape than I thought. If she loses any more blood, we could be in real trouble, and some of these wounds aren't stopping bleeding." She sighed and looked down at her friend. "I hope it's not too late…"
"Ah, geez…" Cid muttered. "Anything I can do?"
"Yes, actually," Aerith said. "I need a lot of bandages and surgical tape, and also a pair of scissors and a really sharp knife—or else just the knife."
"A knife? What's that for?" He asked, confused. She showed him where the pendant had fused to her skin and would have to be cut off. Curgra would cover most of the wounds, but they were inflicted by Unknowns, and the wounds they gave rarely healed completely with just Curgra. Only the small ones did—and Yuffie's wounds were big, and still bleeding.
A muffled yell sounded from the Green Room, along with a string of colorful words.
"That hurt!"
"Well, you aren't really in the best of conditions! Now siddown and let me finish before those things kill you!"
"They won't kill me—you will!"
"Squall, sit back down and let me finish or else—" there was stomping, and the connecting door flew open. An enraged Cloud burst in. "You can do it yourself!" He called back before slamming the door. He turned to Aerith, who had paused her working to stare at him. "He's impossible."
"So I can hear," she said. She went back to work, cleaning the last of the blood and using Curgra on the worst of the injuries. They stopped bleeding, but Yuffie had lost much of her color. "Since you're in here, you can give me a hand." She was having trouble with the metal disc burned into her skin. She picked up the knife and sliced through the remaining leather strap.
"Ouch," Cloud winced. "What is that?" He went to pick it up off of her skin, but Aerith swatted his hand away.
"Don't. It's stuck to her." She adjusted her grip on the knife and swallowed. "But… pull it up so I can cut it out with as little skin as possible." She was starting to look a little green at the thought of doing it. Cloud took the disc and picked it up. Aerith was right—it was fused into Yuffie's skin. As carefully as possible, she sliced through the skin and cut the disc off.
Yuffie cried out in pain and tried to sit up, only to find herself feeling like lead. She twisted, having felt searing pain where the disc had once been. She opened her eyes. Aerith sat back, knocking Cloud over.
Yuffie groaned, head pounding. That sounded familiar…
"Yuffie?"
She knew now. "Aerith?" She struggled to sit up, wincing as she irritated her wounds. Memory returned in a rush. "Where are we? Where's Squall? Is he all right? Is he alive?" She tried to get up further, but she couldn't.
"Yuffie—calm down. Leon's here. He's in the other room," she reassured her friend. "Relax before you hurt yourself."
"Where is he?" She demanded. Two seconds after she spoke, her head lolled back and she was out again. Leon came charging to the door, stumbling into it as he opened it. He leaned in the doorframe for support.
"Is she awake?" He asked hopefully.
"You just missed 'er," Cloud said. "But I dun think you'd've wanted to see her. Her eyes are glazed. I don't think she can see."
"You thought right, Cloud," Leon said as he stumbled over the floorboards he tripped and caught himself on the table. "She's blind, but she still dun miss a thing." He poured a Hi-Potion down his throat and winced at its' taste. His wounds began cleaning themselves up, though not very well.
"When did it happen? How did it happen?" Aerith asked.
"I dunno," he said with a shrug. He began to fall forward again, but he grabbed the doorframe and kept himself from keeling over. "I don't think she does either."
"Great," she muttered. She turned to Cloud and Leon. "You guys turn away for a minute. I have to bandage her up, especially this big one," she pointed to the round, bloody spot left by the slave harness.
"Why—?" Leon began, but Aerith cut him off.
"Just do it."
With a shrug, Leon turned—or tried to. As soon as he was facing the other way, he fell backward. Cloud caught him again. "I coulda caught myself, you know…" he muttered.
"I'm sure," Cloud said, carrying him back to his own room.
Aerith peeled the shirt off of Yuffie and wrapped most of her torso tightly in thick bandages. She replaced her shirt and covered her with a blanket. She went to the Green Room door and peeked inside. Cloud was about to leave; Leon was asleep on his stomach on the bed.
"Is Yuffie all right?" Cloud whispered when he saw her. She nodded.
"I used Curgra on her eyes to see if maybe they'd get better—but I can't be sure since I don't know how or why or when it happened." She sighed. "C'mon. Lets leave them alone." They left the hotel together quietly and slipped into Cid's shop.
"How're they doin'?" He asked as they walked in.
"Asleep," Aerith told him. "Yuffie's better. Much better. Except—" she swallowed hard. "She's been blinded. And we don't know anything beyond that."
Cid thought for a minute. "Did you try asking Squall?"
"Yes. He said that he doesn't know how it happened. He also said that she doesn't know how it happened, either." She sighed. "Curgra doesn't work on it. I doubt it will even work once I've regained all of my magic. I only hope it's curable."
"It probably is," Cid mused. "There's a kind of optetoxin [A/N: Latin crossover of words. "Opto" meaning "eye" and "toxin" means "poison."] that blinds its' victims over a period of time… if it's untended for long enough, it becomes permanent, but it's curable otherwise…" he clicked his teeth.
"So yer saying that she has a chance?" Cloud asked.
"Yep." He scratched the back of his head. "Now—she's been gone, now, for about… five days, right?"
"I think so," Aerith said.
"That gives us 'bout thirty-six hours to find out if this is curable 'fore it's permanent. Yeesh. Not a lotta time."
"So let's go!" Aerith started marching out the door again. "Hold on. Cid, can you come with me? I have no idea what I'm doing."
"I don', either," he said as he followed her. Yuffie was sleeping peacefully in the Red Room, still. Her color was slowly coming back to her and her breathing was deeper than it had been. She was slowly recovering.
"Do you know where to start?" Aerith asked.
"No, not really," he whispered, looking down at the sleeping girl. "Take a little blood first just to see if it is an optetoxin, not something else. If it is, I can probably find an anti-toxin for it."
"How long'll that take?" Cloud asked.
"I dunno." He looked down at Yuffie and back up at Cloud and Aerith. "Hopefully not long. I don't know how much longer she has left." There was anxiety in his voice as he spoke—not a good thing, especially when coming from Cid.
"What'd'you mean by that?" Leon had dragged himself back into the connecting doorway. He was barely holding himself up and his legs trembled, about to give under him at any moment. "She'd better be all right." He threatened, sounding a great deal less than well himself.
"Leon, go back to bed!" Aerith yelled. It wasn't like her to raise her voice at anyone—let alone yell. Leon stumbled backward from the shock of her reaction.
"Why?" He asked, sounding like a toddler who was questioning everything everyone told him just out of spite. He stumbled into the room and collapsed into a chair, becoming more like a liquid than a solid. "I'm not movin'."
Cloud walked over to send him back into his own room when Cid interrupted. "If he keeps comin' back, then juss let 'im stay. He cares 'bout the girl, so it's only right. You'd wanna stay with Aerith if she was like this, right?" He asked Cloud. When the soldier didn't answer, he stood and left the room, saying, "I'll be right back."
"Where'z he think he's goin'?" Leon asked, watching Cid leave. He started sliding out of the chair and didn't bother pulling himself back up. Either he didn't have the strength to, or he was comfortable where he was, but in the position he was in, it was more likely that he didn't have the strength to do it. Cloud hoisted him up by his jacket and plunked him back in the chair. He promptly slid out again, boneless. This went on a few more times before Cloud set him on the floor. "Thankz a million," he slurred, head falling back onto the seat of the chair.
Cid returned, carrying a box under one arm. Without saying anything, he opened it and retrieved a syringe. Aerith winced. Cid drew only about a tablespoon of blood from Yuffie's arm, having found out that she had lost a lot of blood from her injuries already. Both Aerith and Cloud watched him curiously as he added something to the blood and shook it. In a matter of seconds, it began to shift colors. Then it settled staying green.
"Yuk," Cloud murmured when he saw it. Aerith tilted her head, unsure of what to think. Cid seemed relieved.
"Good. I think," he said. "This is the poison I thought it was, and we have just over twenty-four hours to find an anti-toxin for it." He sighed. "Now the question is how in hell we find an anti-toxin for it."
"Why not juss find her blood type an' hope that a healthy unit of blood knocks off the contaminated DNA?" [A/N: I'm not a doctor. Bear with me; it's the best I could come up with. I'm only in tenth grade, fer cryin' out loud.]
They looked at each other to see if one of them had spoken. The voice came from Leon's direction again.
"I said it. I'd look at ya, but I can't lift my head." He was still staring at the ceiling. "Kin ya still find 'er blood type even with that stuff in it?"
"Or we could check her medical files," Aerith said.
"They're in the box somewhere," Cid said. "Everyone's are."
She rifled through the box, looking for Yuffie's. Hers was at the bottom of the stack, thus the hardest to reach. "Of course…" she muttered. She pulled it out and flipped through the papers, scanning them until she found the needed information. Then she looked at everyone else's papers to see who's blood matched hers—if anyone's. When she saw, she winced.
"What is it?" Cloud asked. She showed him the papers she held. He looked at Leon, and back at the papers, and then back at Leon again. "You're sure?"
"Yes."
"Anyone match her?" Cid asked.
"Only Squall," Aerith said quietly.
"Shit. Well, is he out?"
"No, I'm not. I can hear everything yer sayin' 'bout me." Now he did lift his head. Cid found another syringe and walked over to the half-conscious man. Leon drew one arm out of his jacket. "Just do it," he murmured. He looked away as Cid drew blood. When he thought he was done, he looked back. He wasn't done. Leon fainted. [A/N: Yes, Leon/Squall can be nauseous around blood—or just his own. I'm just as bad with having blood drawn. I can deal with flesh wounds and severed limbs, but I can't see my own blood come out of my body through a syringe. It's not natural. I pass out.]
"Well, that was a success," he said, staring at the now completely unconscious man on the floor. He left him there, moving over to where Yuffie lay, also out cold. "Well, here goes."
Voices were murmuring, incoherent, having a conversation with one another. Her head pounded and she felt like a large truck had backed her over repeatedly. But on the whole, Yuffie would have said she felt fine—if she had the ability to speak. But as of then, she couldn't. Her throat hurt. But at least she knew where she was, and that Leon was alive and well. She fell back asleep again.
Later on, she was awakened by something falling over, but not hitting the ground. It sounded like wood. Someone walked around to her side—it sounded like someone very light. Obviously not Leon. She opened her eyes, only to slam them shut immediately.
"Aurg! Aerith, shut that light off!" She threw her arms over her face as she waited of the burning to stop. "Wait—light. Aerith?" She sat up, eyes closed, but head turned in the direction that the Flower Girl stood. "What's going on? Am I dreaming? Was I dreaming? Where's Squall? And whose room am I in?"
"One question at a time!" Aerith sat at the edge of the bed, one hand on Yuffie's forehead to check her temperature—normal. "Cid found a cure for the poison. Whatever it was had an anti-toxin—really it was just blood. You're not dreaming, you're awake. Leon is in the Waterway trying to swing that stupid weapon around again, and you're in your own room." She took a deep breath. "Satisfied?"
Yuffie shook her head. "What was the anti-toxin?"
"I said—it was blood. We found a donor."
"Who?"
"Leon."
Yuffie was silent for a long time. "When can I see him?"
Aerith sighed heavily. "All right, all right. I'll go find him." She stood, but Yuffie took hold of her sleeve. When she looked back, the ninja hugged her tightly.
"Thank you," she whispered. She released her and sat back, leaning on the pillows. She started falling asleep, realizing that she was half-listening for guards or Unknowns, and ready to spring and run at a moment's notice.
A door slammed outside; someone came stampeding down the hall, trying to stop, and tumbling to the ground. A familiar voice grumbled, "Ow," before there were more stampeding steps and the door flew open. Just as she thought: it was Leon.
"D'you run all the way here?" Yuffie asked, hearing him pant. She opened her eyes, and clenched them shut again. She rubbed them.
"Yea," he panted. "Aerith told me you wanted to see me…?" He asked, trailing off. She nodded, and he sat down next to her. She launched herself at him and hugged him, head against his chest.
"Thank you," she whispered. She made herself open her eyes and adjust to the light. It felt weird, being able to see again after having to adapt to life without her sight. Everything was a little fuzzy still, but she could see. She leaned back and tried to get a good view of Leon's face. He saw her before she got a clear view of him.
"Yuffie…" he stared down at her, looking into her eyes. "Can you see?"
She nodded. "A little blurry. But I can see." She brought herself close to him. "Better up closer," she whispered.
"Good," he whispered back. "The closer the better." He closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to hers. He pulled away and kissed down her neck, her shoulder… he tugged at the front of her shirt. She gasped and pushed away, left arm crossed over her chest. "I'm sorry," Leon said hastily. She shook her head.
"Scar," she choked out. It took a minute for him to figure out what she meant—the mark where the slave harness had been sliced off of her skin. "Damn," she hissed. He dragged his fingers across the bare skin of her stomach. She squeaked and wriggled away from it, but his arm kept her from going far.
"No you don't," he whispered. "You're not going far from me." He nuzzled her cheek.
"I'm not?"
"Nuh-uh."
"You won't let me?" She curled her arms around his neck.
"Nope."
She leaned forward and whispered, "Good."
A while later, Aerith entered the room, starting to ask, "Yuffie, is Leon in here with—" she saw Leon asleep, leaning on the wall, with Yuffie's head resting in his lap. One of his hands rested on her back; the other was twined with hers. Aerith suppressed a smile and backed out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her as she turned.
Inside, Yuffie opened one eye and looked around the room. Leon ran a hand through her hair.
"She gone?" He asked.
"Yup." She sat upright.
"Good." He slid his arms beneath her and laid her on her back. "Now where were we?…"
~*~
Some of us fall by the wayside,
And some of us fall through the stars;
And some of us sail through out troubles—
And some have to live with the scars.
—"The Circle of Life" sung by Elton John
~*~
El fin. The end. Not as fluffy as I would have liked it to be, even as the author, but I couldn't squeeze it in anywhere without doing something dumb. So I'm just leaving it like this. I hope you liked—please be nice and review!
Oh, by the way—check out my fic "Other Halves." And then keep checking back over the course of the next week or so, cuz I'm adding more to it. (An' you din' think that was possible, did you?)
—the VL