Flirting with Death, Chapter 13:
Green Tea and Sympathy
By Darknightdestiny
It was rough, but somehow, Tifa managed to execute the landing safely with a little help from her co-pilot. She'd panicked, hadn't known what to do, and he'd simply stepped in and talked her through it. She had forgotten that the Turks were trained in all types of survival situations, and had already decided that they were goners.
"…Relax," he had said. "Breathe."
And she had thought, 'That's easy for you to say…you're not the one who wasn't thinking and got us into this mess! How am I ever going to get us out of here now?!'
But he had set up next to her, reached over and slipped his hands around hers, taking hold of the controls and steadying her shaking fingers. "We have enough time…there is plenty of fuel in the tanks. Now, keep moving in wide circles, and I want you to do everything that I tell you…"
His voice never wavered the entire time, and he had calmly told her exactly what he had wanted her to do, all the while telling her to relax, and reminding her again and again to breathe.
As soothing as his voice had seemed, Tifa hadn't let herself be held by it and though she was doing everything she could, inside she was still a wreck. Eventually they managed to bring the small plane down in a field near the Wutai village, and Tifa jerked the door open and hopped down to the ground where she fell to her knees, breathing heavily. Vincent followed suit out from the passenger side, and walked over to where she was crouched on the grass.
He watched for a while in silence while she shook and gasped. She'd been in shock; no matter how many times she'd fought for her life, she could still be taken in by something as simple as crashing a vehicle. After she was near done, he averted his eyes towards the village in the distance and opened his mouth.
"…Will you be alright?"
"...Yeah," she managed, her voice still a little shaky, "I think so…"
"Try to calm yourself, Tifa…you did just fine."
"…Thanks," she croaked.
Vincent looked back at her and shrugged. He held out his hand and helped her to her feet, and they both set their feet in the direction of Wutai. They walked with Vincent leading the way, and Tifa trailing behind him, feeling a bit dejected at her failure. Vincent only wondered to himself if he should tell her that she'd really done it all on her own; his hands had only been there in case she had done something completely out of line, but he had never needed to use them.
Tifa looked up at him from behind and ventured a question. "Vincent?"
"…" He kept his eyes forward.
"Vincent, how come when we got into the plane, you didn't ask me if I knew how to pilot it before? Why didn't you just assume the driver's seat?"
"…You just…looked so happy." He smiled to himself.
Tifa's expression turned to one of shock, then mock fury. "You think this is funny? We were almost killed! I don't understand what's with you, Vincent, honestly. You think the most morbid things are funny, but you could never even laugh at Yuffie's tricks!"
"Yuffie…" he stated, "was one of the most annoying children I have ever met."
"Well, then. I guess you'll get your chance to meet her again!" Then, as an afterthought she wondered, 'I hope he doesn't think I'm annoying…'
"…This should prove to be interesting."
"Be nice…"
"If I must..."
When they arrived in Wutai, they found themselves in the middle of an extremely busy town, not at all like the quiet, laidback tourist pit they had remembered. Vincent stalked off in the direction of the Turtle's Paradise, but Tifa reached out to stop him, hooking his metal arm with her fingers. He turned around and looked at her, no readable expression on his face. He couldn't raise an eyebrow at her, because he knew why she had stopped him, and what else did he ever do to show what he was feeling?
Tifa's arm shot back to her side, and she managed to smile at him, nervous as she was under his gaze. "I'm going to visit Yuffie. You don't have to come, but I'd really appreciate it if you did. And," this is where she would have nudged him, had he been someone else, "I'm sure she would be disappointed to hear that you'd rather sit in a stuffy bar, waiting to leave rather than visit her, when we all know you're not a big drinker."
Vincent turned his face, like his eye had caught the attention of something just over his left shoulder, and he let out a sigh. "…After you."
"You know," Tifa said as they began walking towards Lord Godo's complex, "I'll bet Yuffie will be happy to see you."
"…"
"After all, no one has heard anything from you in so long…"
"…"
"And you know what?"
"…I cannot begin to imagine, but I am sure you will tell me…"
"Oh, so then you don't want to hear then…" she trailed off, feigning disappointment. "Oh well," she smiled up at him playfully, "you were right. I am going to tell you."
"…"
"I can't help it, even though she might kill me later. You know, she had a crush on you for a while when we were in AVALANCHE."
Vincent made a face- Tifa didn't notice. Instead, she continued on about how Yuffie used to think Vincent was just the "cutest senior citizen ever," and such. According to Tifa, Yuffie used to go on and on about how nice Vincent looked, from whatever she could see of him. But she thought he was really mean and cold and had no personality, so she could never date him.
"…What a shame." Vincent's lament was a sarcastic overkill and Tifa burst out laughing. He raised an eyebrow at her and she just smiled back.
"Poor Yuffie. You really didn't like her either, did you?"
"…Either?"
"Ah…I didn't think you liked Cid…"
"…I told you before."
"Told me what?"
"It is not a matter of whether or not I like either of them. It is a matter of whether or not I can stand to be in an enclosed space with one of them for a lengthened period of time."
"Hmmm…what's wrong with Cid?"
"…Nothing is wrong with Cid. He is a good man."
She was about to ask him, "Then why didn't you want to go into his house?" but then she realized that she should have known why after her talk with Shera, and she just kept her mouth shut. She couldn't help wondering though, what he had meant when he had said that no one should be allowed to experience the kind of pain that he had. What kind of horrible pain must it have been?
She decided that now was not the time for that kind of talk; today was supposed to be a happy day. Yuffie was a hyper girl, she would no doubt be hyper today, and there would be no sense in going to a hyper girl's house if she started a conversation that would make her depressed or uncomfortable in the end.
"So…what's wrong with Yuffie?"
"…"
"Really, she's not that bad."
"…Are we still talking in terms of social interaction, or are we talking about this 'crush' ordeal?"
"Heh…ah, I was talking about just as friends. Though, if you want to tell me about anything else-"
"Yuffie is a child…there is nothing I have to say to her. Perhaps if she were of a higher maturity, I would be able to carry on a conversation with her, but as things are…"
"So no dating, huh?"
"I was talking about as friends…"
"Mmmhmmm, but still?"
"…Not a chance."
They approached the steps to Godo's house and Tifa didn't even wait for Vincent; she knew he preferred her to be the one to knock, even more so than at Cid's. Tifa rapped on the thin wall and waited for an answer. She looked over at Vincent, who was looking at the ground, obviously not in any hurry to enter the residence. When she looked back in the direction of the house, the door was sliding open to reveal the worn face of Chekov.
Tifa curtsied before the female warrior, and Vincent nodded his head, just happy that it was not the ninja girl jumping all over the two of them or snatching their valuables right off of them. He made a mental note to himself to always be aware of where that book was; he'd always been wary around strangers, and that wariness never wore off around Yuffie, because of her reputation as a thief- and Vincent didn't want Tifa to become embarrassed.
Tifa rose from her curtsy and Chekov gave a quick bow.
"I remember you. What brings you to Wutai?" she said breathlessly, as if she was in a hurry.
"Is Yuffie home?"
Chekov's eyes grew wide. "Oh, yes. You want to take her away? I'll let you if you want!"
Tifa was just about to ask what brought that comment on when she heard a loud voice shouting from down the hallway, "Come back here, you old hag!"
Chekov ran outside and grabbed Tifa, using her as a shield. "It's her training! She's so vicious! Take her back, take her back! Just don't tell her father!"
The sound of quickening footsteps across the hardwood floors inside increased, and another shout filled the air. "You're supposed to be training me! What are you, scared? I'll tear you limb from limb!"
Chekov grabbed Tifa's hips- hard- and braced herself for what she was sure would be her last moment. All three saw a shadow appear in front of the doorway and stretch forward, until the form of a young girl flew out from the darkness to claim it as she landed gracefully on her feet.
The girl slowly rose from her crouched position, a dangerous gleam in her eyes. "You…will be defeated…now! And- oh, heya, Tif!"
Yuffie completely forgot about her current lesson and ran over to give Tifa a giant hug, while Chekov snuck quietly over to the Pagoda. Vincent, as always, was the silent observer.
"Bounce-o-rama! How ya been? I missed you so much! There are no girls here, only Chekov and she's an old fart! Hey…where'd she go? Nooooooo! I'm supposed to beat her!"
"Chekov doesn't look that old to me."
"Oh, you know what I mean. Tifa, there's so much I have to talk to you about! They're going to make me leader of Wutai!"
"Yuffie, that's exciting! I'm so happy for you. Can we come to the ceremony?"
"Well…it won't happen until I turn eighteen, but…sure! Anyways, we have a lot of catching up to do! I really missed talking with you. Oooooh, I have to tell you about my new boyfriend!"
"Yuffie got a boyfriend, wow," Tifa said to herself aloud. "Did you hear that, Vincent?"
But Vincent was already walking away. Tifa called after him, "Hey, Vincent! Where are you going?"
"…I will be waiting at the Turtle's Paradise. Feel free to come by when you have finished your conversation."
Tifa lay on the soft cushions, her eyes starting to droop with exhaustion. She'd been through a lot that day, and it wasn't even noon yet! The warm tea wasn't helping her stay awake, either, and she'd been listening to Yuffie prattle on and on about how handsome and fun this new guy was; the whole thing was getting pretty repetitive- the ninja just kept on reiterating the same things, only in different words.
Just as Tifa thought she was going to doze off in the middle of the one-sided conversation, Yuffie interrupted her established flow.
"So, Bounce-o-rama…what's new with you?"
"Hm? Oh…well, there's a new bar…"
"You work it all by yourself?" Everyone that had been in contact with Cloud had known about his departure. Cloud had made Tifa promise to call each one of them after he had left, so that they would know, but also so that they would not be able to follow him. He had his own sequence of things to do and places to visit…and it was something he had wanted to do on his own. After that, they had all lost touch, more or less.
"Yeah…I mean, no. No, I have some help." She smiled one of her big, fake smiles at Yuffie. She sure felt like she was alone, whether she really was or not.
"That's great! So uh…what're you doing out here, then?"
She hesitated to answer. "…I think I just needed to get away, you know. Take a much needed vacation."
"Aw, I'm sorry. But if you ask me, you should've done that in the first place, before you had the bar!"
"…I guess. I just had to do something, though. All those people…and Midgar is my home."
"Yeah, I know. You've always been like that."
"Like what?" Tifa sat back up, curious as to what the younger girl had meant.
"You always…I dunno. Help people, I guess. It's your thing. You're Tifa, everyone's guardian angel- you make everyone happy when they're sad. And if you can't, it's like you've failed or something."
Tifa knew that was true, she did feel that way when she couldn't do anything for someone who was hurting.
"I bet you try and help your whiny customers with their problems."
Tifa had been known to do that on occasion.
"You know, Tif…you should try and be happy yourself for once."
"But I am happy. I've always been happy."
"Fine Tifa, if you say so, but you don't look like your usual cheery self. And that's sure not gonna get any better if you keep hangin' around Vinnie! Why are you two traveling around together anyways?"
Tifa thought hard for a while, trying to come up with an answer that might satisfy the curious girl, but she couldn't come up with one. She decided to just tell the truth. "I thought maybe I could help him…"
"Hoooo, boy. Nu-uh, no way. That's not gonna happen."
"Why not?"
"First of all, no one knows why he acts the way he does, except that it has to do with that freak in the white coat and the woman in the cave. Second, don't expect him to stop acting that way either. It's been thirty years, and nothing's changed, and even if he was gonna change, I sure wouldn't want to be the one to ask him what was going on."
"You know…to him, it might not have been thirty years. It may have only been a few months…"
"But he had all that time to think about it."
"But when you sleep, time is-"
"Not going to happen, Tif. Trust me, you don't wanna mess with Vinnie. Not even you, Tifa, and I know how much you like to help people."
Tifa sighed and looked down at the floor in front of her, past the mat with the teacups on it.
"I'm sorry, Tifa." Yuffie came and sat down beside her and gave her a hug. "You should probably go find somewhere to stay on your own, where it's quiet. There you can go and sort things out."
"Yuffie, I think you've grown up a bit."
"Really? Gee, thanks, Bounce-o-rama."
"Never mind, I think I take it back."
"Hey!"
(A/N): Okay…I snagged the title from Jars of Clay's song, "Tea and Sympathy," though I'm not quite sure that any of the song has anything to do at all with the story. The nickname "Bounce-o-rama" is something that came from a friend…used to call me that one year at camp…not that I'm bragging about anything…just saying that, uh, the name came from her. Samantha. Yes. There. So we're claiming it- I've never seen anyone else use it before, and so I'm claiming it as hers. No reproduction, heh, heh. I've got an original nickname in my story, go me!
One more odd thing. Since I'm still caught up in the whole birthday thing, let me say this. Exactly one month after mine, Vincent will have a birthday (and there was much rejoicing). Now…I was betting on this part from the moment I saw that it was October 13th, because let's face it, the whole thing couldn't be more perfect. FF7 was released in 1997…so I did some research. 30 years earlier (as Vincent was lowered into his coffin…DUN DUN DUN), October 13th, 1967, the date fell on a Friday the Thirteenth (and years later, there was much rejoicing at the movie theatres). But I knew that was going to be the case even before I looked it up, because it's just the way it has to be. Too, too perfect.
Anyone else going to see the new Chainsaw Massacre movie? Kind of reminds me of Hellmasker. Yes, I'm a weirdo. Poor Vincent would cringe in shame.
