Comforting Chaos
by Jess Angel
Tifa Lockheart looked around the Highwind's cockpit. All her fellow comrades stood in their designated places on the great airship. …Well, all except one, she noticed. He was the most isolated from the group by his own choice, but he usually remained in the same room with them, minus Yuffie, while on board.
She felt the light fingers of concern grip her heart. 'Where is he?'
Her mouth fell into a frown.
They had just come from Lucrecia's Cave and had met the haunting woman herself. Tifa was sure it hadn't been the most pleasant experience for the former Turk and her worry for him was starting to come to surface. From the encounter, Vincent had received the ultimate weapon Death Penalty, the terrifying Chaos limit break, and a case of very bad memories.
'It's not healthy for him to be by himself, especially after that,' she mentally argued. 'But what if…'
Tifa's thoughts launched into a short debate.
Maybe, he needed to be alone…. She shook her head silently to herself. Nobody truly wanted to be alone. And it was her job to keep everyone's spirits up. She was the strong one, the cheerful one - the understanding one. She was the distraction they needed.
With an easy step she began to walk out of the Highwind's control center.
"Hey Teef! Where you goin'?"
She gave Barret a quick wave of the hand. "Just taking a little walk and look around."
He looked at her back slightly puzzled.
They had been in the airship millions of times since acquiring it. Each of them had to know every nook and cranny by now. He shrugged it off. She probably needed to get some circulation back into her legs or something. A young person like her needed fresh air anyway.
Tifa saw Yuffie in the distance still hunched over in her usual spot. 'Poor girl.' She continued down the catwalk. "Are you feeling any better?" She stopped to check up on the ninja.
Yuffie gave her a look. "Do I look like I'm feeling any better?" The younger girl drawled. She then sighed, "Sorry, Tif. Not really… but thanks for asking, anyway."
The martial artist looked at her sympathetically. "It's fine, Yuffie. No harm done. Feeling sick doesn't exactly make a person feel like Miss Sunshine," Tifa grinned and began to scan around. "Have you seen Vincent anywhere?"
"Yeah, Coffin Boy passed by awhile ago. Disappeared somewhere up on deck, I think. Why?" She looked curiously at the martial artist.
"Oh well, you know. I just wanted to see if he was okay." She brushed imaginary lint off her skirt.
The young ninja stopped to think. "Oh. …Oh. …Oh!" Her eyes widened. "You have the hots for Basement Boy?!"
"What? What are you talking about…?" Tifa stopped and looked at her red and horrified. "No! No, Yuffie, you misunderstood. I just wanted to make sure… After Lucrecia's Cave," her gloved hands shook in the air for explanation.
"Ohh…" Yuffie rubbed the back of her head in understanding. "Heh. I thought… Well, try to have fun then. Y'know how he's as much fun as… er… ugh," the airsickness seemed to find her again.
Tifa just gave the girl a half-hearted smile and pat on the back before heading towards the stairs. Her shoes clunked against the metal planks as she made her way up. After the silver doors slid open, she slowly walked past them. The brunette paused.
Well, there he was.
Vincent Valentine stood on her left some distance away, both his human and claw hand resting on the railing. His inky black hair slowly whipped in the wind with a dark grace and the red cloak he wore rippled in a similar fashion.
Despite his sharp senses, she doubted he heard her. The wind's dull roar wasn't deafening, but it was enough to mute her footsteps and the door's opening swish. He seemed too engrossed in his own thoughts to notice anything either.
She commenced walking towards him, counting the steps as she went. There were twelve in all, from the spot where she stood behind him. She didn't know exactly what she was going to say to him, so Tifa remained there for some seconds, while her mind wracked for the right words.
'So, that's Sephiroth's real mother?'
'How are you taking it, seeing the ghost of the woman you loved?'
'You're not feeling depressed enough to kill yourself, are you?'
Wrong. Wrong. All wrong. There was nothing that she could say that sounded appropriate. Her thoughts came to a halt when she heard his voice. It was barely a whisper.
"Lucrecia."
The air seemed to carry it from his lips and place it lovingly near for her ears to hear. Swiftly the quiet words came to her. "She was very beautiful." Before she knew what happened, Tifa felt cold metal being pressed against her forehead.
Death Penalty was the source of pressure. Its powerful barrel rested uncomfortably on her skull.
"Vincent! It's only me, Tifa!" The words raced to reach him.
Then, the pressure was gone.
Her body's slight trembling began to diminish.
"Forgive me." His red eyes lowered.
"Don't worry about," she replied, her left hand rubbed her opposite shoulder nervously.
"…You shouldn't sneak up on me."
She just nodded in reply, and Vincent turned from her.
Tifa gathered her voice enough to add, "I really didn't mean to."
"Still," he quietly reprimanded.
She mimicked his stance and placed her gloved hands on the ship's railing. In silence, they continued to watch the azure sky and the stream of white clouds that flamed across it.
"She was."
Tifa glanced over at him, and then understood.
He was talking about Lucrecia.
But what was she suppose to say after that? Nothing at all? Her brow furrowed. 'Think, Tifa. Think,' her mind urged her. "You must have loved her very much…?" She didn't know whether it should come out as a statement or question. But she still waited patiently for his reply.
It seemed to take ages for him to answer.
"I cared for her… a great deal, yes."
The tightening of his jaw was nearly imperceptible but she caught it. It was time to change the subject. 'Hm. Topic… topic. Something Vincent… a guy thing… Of course.'
"May I see your gun?" Her eyes looked at him expectantly.
Though glad for the sudden shift, Vincent still hesitated before holding it out to her. She grasped it carefully with both hands and brought it closer for inspection. One hand glided over the smooth metal beginning at the end that had threatened her to the firearm's trigger. It was a magnificent weapon and aptly named for its owner. She offered it back to him, and he set it back in its place.
Her eyes returned to the moving sky in front of them. "Thanks for letting me see it, Vin." She started to lightly tap a drumming beat on the metal bar, her eyes still focused on nature's show. In the corner of her eye, she saw him glance at her.
Her drumming silenced.
A moment later, his voice "Vin?"
Tifa gave him an odd look.
She wasn't sure what he was asking. "Yeah. Vin… you know, like a nickname?"
He nodded in comprehension and seemed to retreat back into his thoughts. When it appeared he wasn't going to offer any more than that, Tifa mentally shrugged and began to hum a familiar tune. It seemed he didn't mind it as much so she continued.
The simple melody was one she had learned to play on the piano so many years ago. As a little girl, it had been comforting; even now it wove the same affect. "Vin…" She had forgotten what she was going to say. "The world looks so small from up here. Doesn't it?" she half-mused, half-questioned.
No answer.
She tried the nickname on her tongue a third time. "Vin, you could at least give me the bare minimum of an answer. Grunt or something?"
Nothing.
Did he not like the nickname?
She tried again. "Vin?"
After thirty years of sleep had he finally lost his hearing?
"Vincent!"
Then it was like some epiphany had dawned on him. "What happened to Vin?"
All her words were lost.
Tifa's face was a mixture of surprise and bewilderment. 'Like some gaping fish,' Vincent mused. He turned his face away from her.
The brunette's eyes narrowed. He didn't make a sound, but he was… moving?
Shaking was more like it.
"Vincent Valentine! Are you making fun of me?!"
His body shook a little harder.
Tifa's mouth opened in disbelief, and she gave him a forceful shove.
Then… any ill thoughts about a certain golden-clawed man vanished. Suddenly, she thought he looked like he had lost his balance and was leaning almost completely forward, ready to topple over the silver rail. She hadn't meant to push him that hard! "Vince!" Both her arms clasped around his frame willing to hold him down. Her eyes were shut tight in fear.
The body in her arms had quickly gone stiff. At that Tifa's arms retracted just as fast. He'd been fine after all. She backed away. "S-sorry about that. I thought… You looked…" she tried to explain, but then she had a telling thought. There was no way Vincent Valentine would've just fallen over a rail by her pushing. She wasn't weak. Vincent was just too in control. …He had been faking! "You did that on purpose… didn't you? Didn't you?!"
No reply.
"You-you big jerk!" She crossed her arms fuming.
Vincent felt guilt of a different kind worm its way into him. She had been worried - about him. It was a strange thing for him to realize, and he felt the peculiar desire to appease her anger, if only by some diversion. "So which is it?"
"Wha?" Her ruby eyes were glazed with confusion and the remnants of fury.
"Vin… Vince… or Vincent?"
"Ooh," she glowered at him. "I can't believe you're joking after that! Do you have to be so morbid?"
He took some seconds to ponder. "…What else is expected from one called 'Coffin Boy'?"
Tifa attempted to keep the smile from appearing, but she had no such luck. "It could be worse." Her smile curved into a grin.
Vincent arched an eyebrow.
"You could be called… Bandana Man. If you say that enough times and fast, it'd start sounding like Banana Man." She chuckled at the thought of Vincent in a banana suit getup. Wouldn't that be something? Suddenly, she couldn't get the ridiculous visual out of her head. More chuckles escaped her lips and soon Tifa's stomach was soon clenched in a fit of laughter. Tears even threatened to fall down her face.
Vincent just watched Tifa in vague amusement, clueless to the true cause of her mirth.
When her laughter had ceased she turned to face him. "Two jokes in one conversation, Vince? You must be on a roll."
The grin never left her face, but it seemed the moment had passed.
"Tif!" Cloud's voice called from the entrance.
"Yeah?" She looked to the voice's owner.
"We're nearing Rocket Town. Cid said something about wanting to stop for tea or something."
'More like he wants to check up on Shera's tea.' She smiled at the thought then nodded. "Okay."
"…Aren't you gonna come back in?" The blond asked when she failed to move.
"No, that's okay. I thought that I'd stay out here with Vince till we get there."
Cloud scratched the back of his spiky head and gave her an odd look that seemed to scream 'Why on earth would you want to do that?'
"All right then… Vincent." The swordsman finally acknowledged the other man.
Vincent just nodded back.
The two turned back to their sky gazing.
After a moment, she felt his eyes on her.
She didn't even need to look to know what they were saying. "It's really nice out here."
His eyes were back to the sky. "Yes… I suppose it is."
…Fin.
( Thanks to my cousin Lady Sanna for the "bandana" bit. )
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."
Matthew 5:4
Final Fantasy VII and its characters © Squaresoft, Inc. n.k.a. Square-Enix, Inc.