Remember, I told you and promised you 2394873 times that I wouldn't give up on this fic. And I lied and I actually did. o.x;;;; Something was probably still alive inside me, but I really didn't feel like working on it. I lost all my will to write, actually. I feel like I can't really write any fanfics because I don't have the skill to describe what I'm imagining. I have 98465 ideas. But I can't put them into words. o.x That's why I didn't write. So this fic died. But then one day I accidentally found a site and I accidentally got inspired. And I accidentally drank 3 Cokes and began to type this chapter. XD
Advent Children. :D
I randomly found the Japanese Advent Children site [follow the link from sites like adventchildren.net] and saw the American trailer. It made me melt with happiness. LOOK TIFA IS IN IT!! o.o She's all ass-kickity! She looks so pretty in CG! So yes, the movie is the inspiration and stuff. Tifa actually. o.x But whatever. Advent Children will come out at the end of this year, I'm guessing. The fanfic won't be finished by then I think. XD But even when the Advent Children storyline is introduced, and we see the movie and how Final Fantasy VII really ended, I'll keep writing this fic. It's an ending to FFVII that I started before any news of AC, so that's all it's going to be. I won't alter this fic to fit the AC storyline. And what if the AC ending ends up sucking. What if Cloud and Tifa don't make out in a closet...! T.T That will be horrible!
After that jolt of happiness, I re-read this whole fanfic. It disgusted me. -.- This fanfic is crap. The best thing to do would have been to re-write it all. But that would take too long. I know I would lose my inspiration, because the beginning of the fic up til this point bores me. XD I don't want to spend all that time rewriting the fanfic again. This would make it my 4th time about, and it came out crappy those 4 times, so why go for a 5th? I just decided to start from chapter 17, this chapter, and see where it would lead me.
I started writing this right after seeing the trailer and did little by little every weekend and this is what came out. Obviously I've always written this fanfic on weekends because school sucks and my brother hates my files. But this is my last week of school :D The 10th is my last day, and on Friday, I'm beginning chapter 18. Who knows how long it will take to finish. I'm going to type on every night I can. No deadlines because they make the chapters suckier than they are anyway. x.x I hope this came out more decent than the crap that you guys put up with before. :O I tried. And I made this the longest chapter yet too, since ya know it's been a year and a half since I dropped this fic and wrote that last chapter. X.x
{ CHAPTER XVII - THE SCARS THAT DON'T FADE }
Another rainy, stormy afternoon. The bland shots of water streaked across the windows of the princess's home, rolling down and gathering on the window panes. Spring was arriving again, and with it came the breezy rains that would end up sculpting perfect flowers for summer. Yuffie and Vincent were locked up in the colorful cell for a few weeks. There was no release for Vincent because he was still overcoming the unbalance from the attack, and no release for Yuffie for the same reason. So they sat in the shelter of Yuffie's room and carved crane after crane.
But the situation wasn't nearly as horrible as it sounded. There was no way for Vincent to be unaffected by Yuffie's endless chattering, and Yuffie wasn't bothered by Vincent's gloomy silence as long as there were words being freed from her mouth. So the weaker gave in to the stronger. Vincent responded to Yuffie's random jokes and began to talk to her.
Once in a while, Staniv would pause by her room while walking down the halls. He would mutter his usual argument that Vincent was trash found in the fields and shouldn't be locked in the princess's room day after day, and sleeping among the stuffed animals near her bed every night. But he would continue on, reminding himself that the princess was already 18 and that was old enough to make her own decisions. Besides, it was simple. If Vincent helped Yuffie fold paper cranes til they reached 1000, then he would be allowed to stay in her house til he was healed.
Vincent had seemingly long forgotten the incident in which he revealed his favorite color. But that simple opinion was too important to Yuffie, and the scene that took place on the night that he arrived replayed over and over in her head every morning. Every time he picked out a gray square to fold, Yuffie would keep her eyes steady on him as he creased the paper with his clawed hand and expertly crafted the triangle base. She would look down again when his eyes wandered to hers, and she kept a mental record of how long she could gaze at him before looking away. But the foolish child never realized that he always noticed her staring, searching for something that was lost behind his blank expression.
That stormy afternoon, Yuffie and Vincent sat folding the hellish paper objects as usual when Yuffie requested an innocent favor.
"Vinny, could you count the cranes and see how many we have left to make?"
"Count...the cranes?" Vincent almost allowed a twitch. He raised his eyes up from the red half-folded foil that he held and glanced around the room.
Cranes were everywhere. Gathered up on the wooden shelves on the walls, overflowing on the bed, piled in corners, wedged up above window frames, stuffed into the compartments of Yuffie's desk, spilling from the opened closet, and invading every inch of walking space. Indeed, this was a colorful cell—cranes were even piled up against the door.
Vincent gave her a look, in a way asking her if she was joking. Yuffie looked up to the stony red eyes that looked nearly murderous because of what she just asked.
"Please?" She repeated it a couple of times and offered a pouty expression. Vincent would have lifted a pile of cranes and thrown it at her, forcing her to count them herself... But his favorite color shone with such luster that in an instant he was lost. He caught himself staring too directly and shook away. He would just have to leave the impression of that pure color to savor for later.
"Fine," Vincent muttered as he stood. He left his half-folded crane and made his way over to a corner, careful not to destroy any of the sculptures scattered on the floor. He sat down and began to count, throwing those already accounted for into a pile near Yuffie.
A bit of time had passed, and Vincent finally cleaned out that corner. A large mound of cranes was piled up behind him. He turned around and sighed as he was reminded of the heaps of cranes towering along the walls of the room.
"Four hundred and eighty-two," he proclaimed. "That corner alone."
"Uh-huh," Yuffie mumbled as she locked her eyes onto the crane she was currently crafting.
Suddenly, a thought struck Vincent. His face went pale. He glanced at the large pile that he gathered up next to Yuffie, then looked at the other equally large piles in the rest of the corners. He directed that cold, stiff look at her and froze.
Yuffie noticed it out of the corner of her eye. "What?" she asked, looking up.
"If there are almost five hundered in that pile alone..." Vincent began, "And there are three more piles like that, not to mention all the cranes in the closet, on the bed, in the desk, on the shelves..."
"...Then we made a few too many cranes," Yuffie finished. Her face became equally as pale.
Uneasy silence. The rain trickling in the background.
That was the only sound until Yuffie lowered her eyes and tore the crane she was currently finishing in half. She threw the scraps aside and looked up, once again frozen.
Vincent couldn't speak, but a thought kept repeating over in his mind. He had just spent weeks in Yuffie's house, recovering, and folding paper cranes. And he could have left already, but he stayed to accidentally fold around 2000 extra paper cranes.
Oh, and he hadn't bothered to see just how many cranes they had finished... Because he was too busy enjoying spending time with Yuffie.
A twitch came. It was slight, but another followed. Then another. Suddenly, Vincent shifted slightly. He didn't know what to attack—the thousands of horrid, malevolent things that he had just spent so much valuable time making, or the girl who made the mistake of assisting him in making them.
He chose the later—simply because she was frozen with shock and sitting right before him, while the cranes were all around him.
Vincent dove forward and tackled Yuffie into that pile of cranes that he counted and threw to the side. The ice shattered and she glanced around frantically, watching Vincent's claw pin her into the heap of paper. Her chest lowered as the pang of sharp pain attacked. Breathing heavily, she looked up, and froze once again. Vincent paused too. The only sound in the room was crinkling paper as he pushed Yuffie deeper into the pile of cranes, and Yuffie's low, rapid breathing.
And suddenly, he smiled. Vincent began to laugh. It was that rare, perfect laugh that Yuffie heard only once before, and was lucky enough to hear twice. He looked to the side and lifted several cranes, then placed them on Yuffie. Leaning back, he repeated the process.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Yuffie demanded, fighting to dig herself out of the light pile. That was an easy enough task, but Vincent was still pinning her down.
His laughter still resounding, Vincent collected as many cranes as possible around Yuffie. She gave him an unamused look as she stared up. Vincent grinned and leaned down, forward. Before she realized it, his lips were on hers.
Yuffie froze for the millionth time and her eyes widened. This definitely wasn't a 'Gold Saucer' type of kiss, when Vincent brushed past her and touched her cheek. Oh, no... She relaxed slightly, letting the somewhat comfortable paper cranes serve as a bed. Yuffie heard only the continuing patter of the raindrops against her window.
Vincent was in the same trance. But as he shifted, he felt the scar on her bottom lip. He faintly opened his eyes, then pulled away. He sat up and looked to the side. Yuffie's heart sank.
"That scar," Vincent said almost inaudibly. "Sorry..."
Yuffie gazed at him for a moment, then looked down. Suddenly, all the thoughts that she once had of that scar making her look pretty faded. She felt demented, messed up somehow, seeing Vincent retreat from her.
Vincent was locked in deep thought, not realizing that the soul across from him was aching for his approval. 'Ashi' had given her that scar. And he had that image of the bastard memorized perfectly. It was an image he had seen even before that encounter, and it couldn't leave his mind. If only the past had never happened, then he would never be bothered by these interruptions. If only he could was away those memories, then he wouldn't have to ruin the present with Yuffie.
He didn't even notice the perfect gray color fade from her eyes as tears emerged and rolled to the ground, where they dampened the abandoned paper cranes.
The problem with thoughts is that you can never truly show them to another person.
The ground was damp, soggy with the rainfall that had continued for the past hours. Yuffie looked up ahead at the serene town, bright with color, as if the rain never touched it. She muttered words of jealousy—Wutai had nearly overflown with the downpours.
She tightly gripped the large bag that she held and looked forward with determination. "Let's go!" she commanded, and began to march.
Vincent stifled a laugh as he watched Yuffie walk forward, and nearly collapse from the weight of the bag. He turned around. "Cid, can you fly us a little closer?"
From the balcony of the airship, Cid sighed. He lazily dragged himself over to the control panel. Yuffie called for him to wait, ran over, and heaved the bag back up as best as she could. She and Vincent hopped onto the ladder and grabbed hold of the rope as the airship began to whirr again.
The still damp after-rain breeze was relaxing as they neared Nibelheim. Yuffie was grinning, even though the situation was weary. After all, she wasted so much time making those cranes, and now they would become useless to her.
'Ah, who cares anyway?' she thought to herself, her grin spreading wider. 'Maybe I can steal some alcohol while Tifa isn't looking. Then again, now that I'm a little older, she should really give it to me without me begging or stealing...'
Lost in her dreams of the magical world of alcohol, Yuffie didn't notice that the airship landed. Cid ran back to the deck and threw the bags there overboard.
'I'm not taking you any further!' he called, carelessly starting up the airship again.
Yuffie muttered a few curses. The bag had narrowly missed her, and if it didn't miss, she'd be a Yuffie-sandwich by now.
"Bye-bye, Aunt Yuffie!" called a melodic, young voice. Sora, Cid's 2-year-old daughter, waved from the deck.
"Bye," Yuffie hissed. Thoughts of how annoying that little brat was ran through Yuffie's mind, despite the hypocritical undertones. She wound the ropes of the bag around her hand and began to pull forward, inching across the muddy field toward Nibelheim.
Tifa was just as happy as Yuffie previously was. A smile was locked on her face as she stared out her window. In the distance, the fading field spread out, a magnificent crimson sun falling beyond. Beneath the window were sprinkles of flowers, dotting the entire yard of the restaurant. They bloomed flawlessly, each completing a rainbow, hybrid to the end of the small garden. Every petal of every flower overflowed with more shine than the previous. No other colors in the entire town were so brilliant.
"Summer's almost here," she said to herself. "These rainfalls are almost over... Hope the poor flowers won't wilt."
Tifa turned away and grinned softly to herself. "After all, I'm going to need those flowers very soon..."
The Gold Saucer was full that one night weeks ago. Couples, families, children, everyone darting around to play another game or follow another chocobo race. The emptiest of all attractions was the gondola, as Cloud had hoped. From up there, you could look out and up and see nothing but the peaceful indigo sky. Looking down, of course, ruined the mood, but there was really no point in looking down or up when you had something incredibly beautiful right before you.
He almost changed his mind. His nerves were telling him to turn back, or even to jump out of the gondola to avoid this situation. But his heart was beating too rapidly, and he knew he couldn't bring himself to deny it. Cloud had one shaking, gloved hand wrapped around that box, playing at the edges, causing deep impressions in his trembling fingers. His lips were stained with blood inside, the blood leaking all over the wavering teeth that penetrated his lips in the first place. There was no way to turn around, because nothing was behind him. In front of him sat Tifa, and he would have to keep moving forward.
He had to remind himself why he was doing this again. 'Because it's all over,' his nervous mind repeated, 'And I have to grow up already. Who better to grow up with than the person I owe everything to...' His thoughts trailed off when Tifa gave him a heart-melting smile. Cloud's shaking voice interrupted her before she could comment on the moment.
He was so nervous, that it came by in a blur. Cloud had nothing but regrets for missing his own words. It was his fault too, because he hadn't calmed himself down. Even though he wasn't the type, his nerves leapt and shook his mind. One moment, he had kneeled to the dusty floor of the gondola. His subconscious mind went into play here, and only the random things made sense to him now. Meanwhile, his consciousness spewed phrases mememorized from nervous repetition.
'I shouldn't kneel like this. The floor is too dusty... What's that noise? Sounds like explosions. Hey, what is she doing...? Why is she hugging me?'
Tifa's arms were tightly wound around him, and he knew the answer. Unless she was actually attempting to strangle him, then she had said yes. Knowing that was enough. Cloud released the box that was stinging his fingers so painfully and all stiffness seemed to seep from his body. Feeling her, feeling the warm tears soaking into the shoulder of his clothes, feeling the unyielding grasp of her arms all dispersed the tense illusion. His subconscious mind sank back and he lifted his arms up too, returning the favor of security.
His voice muffled by her hair, he whispered stifled words. She heard them clearly and returned them. The explosions in the background were even more subdued, and it was as if the world was in peaceful silence. Outbursts of color shone down into the gondola, brightening the couple with red, green, and blue.
Tifa's nostalgic thoughts were interrupted by a harsh banging on the door. She started, paused for a moment, then stood and made her way over. She was half-scared that someone would point a knife at her as she opened the door, or stick a gun in her face...
Even worse. Little paper cranes came tumbling all over the floor, gathering around Tifa's feet. Yuffie came barging in, stepping over the hill. She dragged behind her a bag three times her size that she dumped in the kitchen. Vincent walked in behind her and placed a couple of equally large bags on the ground.
"Hi!" Yuffie gave Tifa a wide grin.
Tifa was speechless. She glanced at the pile of cranes sitting by her door, then at the three bags. She only hoped that they didn't contain what she thought they contained. Any instant, Tifa was ready to pounce on Yuffie and strangle her for this... Whatever she just did. Instead, she calmly blinked and asked for an explanation.
"My supposedly clever advisors told me that some bad stuff would happen," Yuffie said, plopping herself down in a fluffy chair and reaching for a pillow to make herself more comfortable. The sight made Tifa twitch. "They found Vinny half-dead in a field, and he helped me make a thousand paper cranes for good luck. Except...we kind of made too many..."
Tifa sighed. "And you're going to give them to me."
"That's right." Yuffie leaned back and closed her eyes. "Maybe something bad will happen to you and you'll need the luck."
"Sure," Tifa said, walking toward the door. She lifted an armful of cranes and threw them in the corner of the room. "Help me," she commanded to Yuffie.
Vincent was already gathering up cranes and helping Tifa. Yuffie stood and lazily dragged herself over to the bags of cranes. She stopped for a moment, then smiled to herself and began to unwind the rope on the bag. She laid it on its side and began to drag the bag across the restaurant...spreading cranes all over the floor.
"Yuffie..." Tifa's face went pale.
"I'm decorating the restaurant!" Yuffie threw the half-empty bag to the side and opened the other, beginning to drag it through the room as well. "This place is so bland, and you could really use..."
At that moment, Cloud walked into the house, carrying a boquet of white roses. He raised an eyebrow as he stepped over the pile of cranes at the door. Upon looking up and seeing the cranes all over the room, he raised the other eyebrow as well.
The only sound was the soft wisp as the roses hit the ground. Then, a muffled scream as Yuffie landed head-first in the cushions of a couch. She yelled complaints at Cloud as she tried to pull herself out. He angrily stifled her with a blanket.
'So that's how to get her to shut up.' Vincent made a mental note.
Tifa lifted the roses and smiled. "Okay, I think that's enough."
Cloud sighed inwardly as he stepped back and let Yuffie crawl out from under the blankets and pillows. She patted down her hair, which now had a style similar to Cloud's.
"Cloud is here? At your restaurant?" Yuffie asked Tifa, blinking. "Maybe we should make more cranes for luck."
Tifa and Vincent pulled Cloud back as he dove toward the grinning ninja.
"Okay, I'm leaving before Cloud strangles me." Yuffie stood and headed for the door.
"I apologize for the cranes," Vincent said, bowing to Tifa and Cloud. He walked after Yuffie, pushing several of the ornaments to the side as he walked out the door.
Tifa looked down at the flowers and place them on the table. "Are there any more white roses left?"
"We have to use substitutes." Cloud looked around the room. "But there's going to be enough white at the wedding, with all these things..." He sighed and Tifa laughed.
"Yuffie said they're for good luck."
Cloud shrugged and walked back outside to pick more flowers from the garden. Tifa followed. Their wedding was set to be as soon as possible, and the best date was in a month. In that time they would have to send invitations out, decorate the restaurant, and gather half the flowers in their garden.
The cranes wouldn't help them after all. Not even their white wings would ward off the dark shadow hanging over Nibelheim. In the end, you must have courage, because luck is useless.
Done. I have an idea of what I want to happen in the upcoming chapters. Will write whenever I have free time this summer. Tell me what you think and stuff. x]