Before I Wake To Find You Gone

By: General Quistis (samaralockheartshinra@yahoo.com) and Zhakeena (zhakeena@yahoo.com)

Disclaimer: We don't own anything but the story plot. Gyah! Any resemblance to any other plots is purely coincidental…

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            Vincent looked up at the stars, remembering what Rufus and Cloud had explained to him.

"She might die… I don't want to lose her again…" he thought silently. It had been three weeks but the transfusion hasn't started yet.

They need to prepare Aerith first.

"Vincent?"

He turned and saw the owner of the voice: Lucrecia. "Lucrecia… it's late. You're not supposed to be up, you know?"

Lucrecia shrugged. "I felt like waking up… what are you doing up?" she asked.

He moved over a bit so she could have room to look out the window, too. "Just watching the stars. I've just realized that I never give myself time to look at them…"

Lucrecia sat beside him. "Yes… you're right…" she said before looking up at the stars herself. There were so many of them… like they say, a myriad, so one can't really tell the difference. But one star caught Lucrecia's eye, and the instant she was aware of it, it blinked out of existence.

Then, more silence.

Lucrecia bit her lower lip when she remembered her previous thoughts about everything that's going on… "Vincent? Is it all right if I tell you something?" she asked.

Vincent looked at her curiously. "Of course… you could tell me anything…"

"But don't say anything, all right? I just want you to listen…"

Vincent nodded, and Lucrecia took a deep breath before starting. "I don't think this blood transfusion project is a good idea… I don't want Aerith to risk her life just for this… in fact, I don't even think that it's going to be effective…"

Vincent frowned and embraced her. "Lucrecia," he began.

"Yes, Vincent?" she asked, looking up at her.

"Do you want to continue with this?" he asked.

She frowned and shook her head. "I don't want to because it's going to be very dangerous, not only for me but also for Aerith." She said. "I don't want to make the same mistake ever again… I've placed my own life in danger before when I agreed to be a test subject for Hojo… and I also placed Sephiroth's life in danger by doing so… I don't want to endanger Aerith's life…" she continued with a trembling voice.

He turned to the door. "Follow me," he said.

"What?" she asked.

He took her hand and led the way to the door. "We're getting out of here." He said.

Her eyes grew wide in surprise. "But…but where are we going?" she asked.

"Anywhere but here… far away from here… in Nibelheim. In the ShinRa Mansion… we'll hide there and nobody will find us there," he told her with a reassuring smile.

She looked up at him in disbelief. "But… but… what if they find us? They might force us apart!" she said with a worried look on her face.

He shook his head. "I won't let that happen anymore, Lucrecia." He said as he opened the door. "I've spoken to Rufus about how I don't really want the transfusion to continue, but he wouldn't listen to me. This is the only thing that I could think of. I have to protect you from him… and from ShinRa, Lucrecia."

Lucrecia looked up at his red eyes. "Thank you, Vincent…" she said with a tired, but grateful smile. "But, is this really a good idea?…" she thought to himself.

**

"Ah… ah… CHOO!" Yuffie sneezed.

"FOO! Watch where you'z sneezin', why dontcha?!?!" Barret screamed as bits of the sandwich Yuffie was eating pelted him at the face.

Yuffie rubbed her nose, which was turning redder by the second. "Sorry 'bout that, Barret…" she said sheepishly.

"$#%@… Somebody must have thought of you, brat," Cid said, looking up from the TV.

"No, usually, when I sneeze, something big is happening that I don't know of…" Yuffie explained, shrugging. "Now, where's Tifa? She should know where the tissues are…"

"I don't think she's home yet…" Red XIII said. "Come to think of it, I don't think Aerith or Cloud had come home yet…"

"Hey! The wedding thing, right? How come they haven't told us anything else about it?" Yuffie asked.

Barret rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Dunno… Seems kinda sudden, though… Like Aerith just said it out of the blue, or something…"

He was interrupted by the slamming of the front door. Seconds later, Tifa, Aerith and Cloud entered the room. Since it was almost midnight, they stopped at their tracks and looked at them in dismay.

"Oh, there ya three &^%%*$' bozos are! What are you three doing out at this late hour?" Cid asked.

"Yeah, like you've been doin' for the past three weeks?" Barret asked with narrowed eyes.

"Uh… how about you people? What are doing up?" Tifa asked slowly.

"Oh… just havin' a midnight snack!" Yuffie said.

"Watchin' the late show with this ^%#&(…" Cid said, pointing to Barret.

"And waiting for you three," Red XIII said, walking up to them.

Aerith and Cloud took a few steps backward before Red XIII could even sniff them.

Tifa looked down at Red XIII with a threatening look on her face. "Don't sniff me." She warned.

"Why?" Red XIII asked.

"I… I just smell like… like I didn't take a bath for 3 days, okay? Now if you'll excuse me…" she rushed to the stairs.

"Actually, she smells like Rufus ShinRa," Red XIII announced which made Tifa slip and fall down the stairs.

Aerith and Cloud were wide-eyed as they watched Tifa fall down the stairs. They looked at one another with a worried look.

"Wha? Rufus ShinRa?" Barret asked.

"The @#$% are you talkin' 'bout?!" Cid demanded with an enraged look on his face.

"Oh, what Red meant is… uhm… Tifa has been using the same perfume that Rufus uses! Heehee!" Aerith said as she approached Tifa to help her up.

"Ow… my butt hurts…" Tifa muttered as she got up.

"Men's perfume?" Yuffie asked.

"It's unisex. It's Eau de ShinRa. You know, that new scent?" Cloud asked with a weak smile on his face.

"Hey, he's smiling. There must be something fishy," Yuffie thought silently as she approached Cloud and examined his face closely.

"Haven't heard of such a thing…" Cid muttered as he eyed the three suspiciously.

"It's nothing, okay? Just leave us alone!" Tifa snapped before rushing up the stairs again.

Red XIII started to sniff Aerith's dress and he looked up at Cloud, giving him a look that seems to be telling him "You guys went to ShinRa? What did you do there?"

Cloud frowned at Red XIII and Yuffie. "Darn…" he thought before going up the stairs with Aerith.

Silence followed for a few seconds before Yuffie turned to Red XIII with a frown on her face. "What did you smell?" she asked.

"I don't think they'd want me to reveal to these guys where they've been so I'll just say…" Red XIII thought silently as he looked up at Yuffie. "They just had a fight with the Turks that's why they smell like ShinRa." He fibbed.

"Yer tail's waggin', you're lyin'!" Barret snapped.

Red's good eye widened in shock. "What?!" he thought in alarm.

With that, Barret, Cid and Yuffie marched upstairs. "You force the truth out of Tifa; Cid and I will go bother Cloud & Aerith," Barret commanded Yuffie.

"Got it, man!" Yuffie said with a stern expression on her face.

***

            Rufus had awoken to the sound of someone knocking hysterically on his bedroom door. "What the hell…" he muttered miserably before rushing to the door, surprising Dark Nation.

He opened the door and frowned upon seeing Scarlet just wearing a bathrobe. "The hell with you?! Why are you still up at this unholy hour… wearing that?!" he demanded in disgust.

"Kyah! Forget that, President Rufus! It's Vincent & Lucrecia! They've escaped!"

"How could they have escaped if they weren't even imprisoned in the first place?" Rufus demanded.

"Kyah! I don't know what's going on in their minds, sir, but they're gone anyway! Usually when Vincent would take her out for a walk, he'd tell me or Reeve! But tonight he didn't!" she explained.

Rufus smirked impishly at her. "Hmm… and what if you and Reeve were together and Vincent knew so he just told Reno or anyone else including me?" he mocked.

"Kyah! Stop that, President Rufus! We've got a major problem here!" Scarlet said frantically.

"Alright, alright! Fine! Get Reeve… and by the way, how did you know that they're not here in ShinRa anymore?" he asked.

"A Soldier reported to me that he saw Vincent carrying Lucrecia and he climbed over the high gate because it was locked… that Soldier's been watching the surveillance monitors and he even saw them ride the elevator looking so suspicious." She explained.

Rufus frowned as he rushed back inside his room and grabbed his blue robe, car keys and mobile phone; passed by the mirror and ran his fingers through his hair three times before running out of his room. "Go and alert the others!" he commanded Scarlet as he sped up, leaving her standing there.

***

            "Tifa, open the door! Are you aware that this is also my room?!" Yuffie called out from outside.

Marlene stared up at Tifa. "Miss Tifa, why won't you let Miss Yuffie enter?" she asked.

Tifa pushed another cabinet in front of the door. "Because she's a mean little ninja and she eats girls with dark hair!" she said with a scary look on her face which made Marlene cringe.

"Really?" Marlene asked in awe.

"Yes," Tifa replied with a weak smile on her face before rushing to the window and opened it, letting the cool night air in.

"Tifa, if you don't open the door, I'll tell Barret!" Yuffie screamed.

"Go ahead and tell him! I don't care! Even if you make him crush that goddamn door, you cannot force me to tell you the truth!" Tifa screamed back.

"How did Tifa know that Barret told me to force the truth out of her?" Yuffie asked softly.

"Obviously, I heard it," Tifa muttered glumly. She heard her after all.

Silence filled the whole room and Tifa was already panting. She was so tired, she wanted to sleep, but she still has to ward off the snoops. "I think I'd better go out for a while," she told Marlene softly as she began to climb through the window.

She landed on the roof of the neighbor's house, and as she did so, she winked at Marlene who was looking at her curiously.

"Where am I going to go?" Tifa thought silently.

Then,  she was surprised when  she saw a shiny white expensive-looking car stop by their house. "What the…" she stopped in her tracks when the window to the driver's seat rolled down and there was Rufus inside the vehicle with a stern look on his face as he looked up at Tifa. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"I… I gotta get out of there… I… it's a long story, okay?" Tifa asked as she climbed down from the pipe and rushed to his car. "Look, can you take me away from here? I'll explain to you what happened during the ride," she said with a pleading look on her face as she opened the door to the front passenger seat and got in.

Rufus's eyes were wide as he stared at her unbelievably, but he shook his head to snap himself out of his "trance", "Where are Cloud and Aerith?" he asked.

"I don't know… but Barret and the others have found out where we've been going… and they're trying to force the truth out of us. We still can't tell them about Vincent and Lucrecia," Tifa said as she shut the door and put on her seatbelt.

Rufus stepped on the accelerator to start the vehicle going even without Cloud and Aerith. "That's just too bad…" he said with a deep frown on his face.

Tifa stared at him with curious eyes because of his pajamas.

He noticed her staring at him so he smiled weakly while still keeping his eyes on the road. "I was in a hurry to go here because I'm afraid Vincent and Lucrecia ran away," he said.

"What? They ran away?" Tifa asked.

"That's what Scarlet was trying to say… but it sounded to me like the two just eloped." Rufus said as he flipped his hair.

Tifa blinked. "Eloped? Well… I guess we should have seen that coming… do you have any idea where they went, Rufus?"

He shook his head. "I'm afraid not…"

"Well…" Tifa began. "Do you have any intention of stopping them?"

"I'm afraid so… even though I have nothing against them being together… they can't have a child together…" Rufus said, not taking his eyes off the road.

"…. You're right…" Tifa said after some moments of silence.

It could result into another Sephiroth… Another Sephiroth could be dangerous. She didn't want to risk any more lives because of Sephiroth killing more people, but she also didn't want to burden Lucrecia. Rufus knew that too, but he just decided to keep quiet about it in front of Cloud and Aerith, but eventually told Tifa one day.

He kept his eyes on the road with a solemn look on his face. "Tomorrow is supposed to be the date of the transfusion, but due to the sudden turn of events… I guess I'll just have to cancel it." He thought silently. "I've already sent out a search for them." He began aloud.

Tifa looked down and sighed heavily. "Rufus," she said.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Well… I think with the right parents, Sephiroth wouldn't be that bad…" she explained.

The traffic light turned red so he stopped before turning to Tifa. "What are you getting at?" he asked.

"Well… Aerith and I had discussed this… we think that maybe if Hojo raised Sephiroth properly and did not treat him like a guinea pig or something, I guess he wouldn't end up like that insane fool that he had turned out to be. After all, don't you think that a person's development would first depend on how his parents had treated him?" she asked with a gentle smile on her face.

He gazed at her, remembering his own childhood in the hands of his father. His gaze slowly traveled down to her hands as he smiled slowly. "I'll keep that in mind, Tifa," he said softly.

***

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General Quistis's Note: The next chapter will be like 7 years later…. Gyah… prepare for insanity… :-) in the meantime, please read and review. Don't flame us anymore because I know how much this story sucks in your eyes… or you'll die in 7 days… *j/k* gyah… X_X