Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy.
A/N: Thanks to the reviewers as always, keep up the good work guys. Thanks for the support Ialara B, I'm glad you like my ideas.
Sorry that this fic isn't to you're taste The Infamous Fwah Faeries.
X
Yuffie sat on the sofa in the living room.
7.30 am was an unusual time for the young ninja to be up, she loved sleeping in until at least 11, a tradition had been interrupted by the heavily falling rain.
Yuffie was slightly worried about the fact that Elena's make shift bed was empty.
At first Yuffie worried that the charismatic blonde had been kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend. She decided that this was unlikely, Rude probably wouldn't do that and there was no damage to the house, no forced entries or signs of struggle.
Elena was probably with Reno.
Her grey eyes glanced out of the window, the rain was unbelievable as the weather had been quite mild in the week.
"You're up early, can't you sleep?" Vincent interrupted her observation. He had gotten up to fetch a glass of water.
"Its nice to be up this early, just listen to that rain." Yuffie exclaimed, she sounded slightly subdued.
Vincent smiled and poured himself a drink, he joined Yuffie on the sofa.
They sat silently for a while and listened to the rain.
"What are you going to do Vincent?" Yuffie asked.
"Hmm, I don't understand what you mean?"
"We can't stay here forever, what are you going to do when we all part ways?" Yuffie explained. She had been wondering what the future held for each of them since she awoke.
Vincent was dumbstruck, he hadn't thought about that at all. The thought of waking up and not seeing everyone, one person in particular, deeply saddened him.
"I don't know." he murmured eventually.
"Me either, its scary isn't it, so much has happened to me since I joined AVALANCHE, I thought our adventures would never end........" Yuffie reflected.
"I can't think about it, its too sad." Vincent sighed, Yuffie sensed a touch of desperation in the gunman's voice.
Yuffie laughed slightly, "We've changed a lot, you and I."
Vincent nodded in agreement, it wasn't long ago that he was locked away repenting for his sins, he thought he'd never smile or laugh again.
It was about the same amount of time ago when Yuffie was a backstabbing, thieving, little brat.
Now Vincent was beginning to open up and express his feelings again and Yuffie was beginning to understand friendship and trust, something she thought she would lose after the abuse she received from Reno, in fact it resulted in quite the opposite.
Yuffie saw past the nasty, ruined, mess of a man to see the scared little boy he really was inside. Her simple idea had saved his life and helped him change things around.
"Maybe we should ask Cait Sith what the future holds for us." Yuffie joked, lightening the mood.
Vincent laughed softly.
"Yuffie....I don't want to be forgotten or locked away again."
"I could never forget you! and I won't let anyone lock you away!" She exclaimed as she shifted closer to him.
"We're friends, Vincent, and friends don't forget each other." Yuffie assured him.
Vincent hugged her tightly, it had been a long time since Vincent had depended on someone like this.
"We could always go out places together or just hang around......." She went on.
Vincent stopped her and kissed her lips. Yuffie was shocked.
"I'm sorry." Vincent apologized as he pulled away.
"Don't be sorry! that was nice of you." Yuffie said softly, she placed her hand on his cheek.
Yuffie kissed him back.
"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't think anyone would be up so early!" Tifa gasped as she walked into the living room.
Vincent and Yuffie pulled away from each other.
"It's not how it looks, we were just, um.." Yuffie tried to explain.
"Tifa, why do you have you're suitcase?" Vincent asked changing the subject. Tifa was wearing her jacket and boots, she was also carrying her suitcase.
"I was going to take off for a while, that's all." she said blushing, Tifa had planned on just sneaking out and explaining later.
"That's all!!! No! please Tifa don't leave." Yuffie ran over to Tifa and hugged her, Tifa hugged her back.
"I think its for the best." Tifa sighed.
"Tifa, I don't think that we are ready to part ways yet." Vincent said speaking for the whole group
"What is going on, I heard Yuffie shouting." Cloud asked as he and Aeris joined the commotion.
"Tifa was going to leave!" Yuffie said sadly.
Cloud and Aeris began to protest and joined Yuffie in hugging Tifa. Marlene had overheard everything and began to cry.
Reno and Elena sleepily immerged from Reno's room. Elena ran over to Marlene and knelt down so she was at the same height as the little girl.
"Oh hey, hey, hey, don't cry honey, what's wrong?" Elena asked as she lifted Marlene up and held her tightly.
"Aunty Tifa said she was going to leave." Marlene wept.
Elena comforted her, while Reno inquired with Tifa.
"Is this true? It isn't because of me is it?"
Tifa stood still in bewilderment, Cloud, Aeris and Yuffie were hugging her tightly.
Tears weld up in her eyes, she didn't need a man to feel loved. She felt just about as loved as a person could about now.
Elena handed Marlene over to Tifa.
"No, I'm not going to leave." she assured Marlene, she rested her head against Tifa's shoulder and stopped crying.
"Ya have to promise." Marlene murmured.
"I promise, I was just being silly." Tifa said as she wiped Marlene's tears away.
No one could sleep after the mornings events so they ate breakfast quietly and quickly.
It was now about 9.30. Aeris thought this would be a good time to go shopping for Elena and Reno's clothes.
The three of them ran into the local shops of Corel. The rain was still pouring down, It was drenching the trio.
Elena shook her head vigorously, this action caused water to flick around the shop that they had just entered.
Reno grabbed any old thing to wear, he really could not be arsed to fuss over clothes. He grabbed a suit to wear at the memorial and paid.
Elena chose a skirt suit and some other outfits, her heart wasn't really in shopping either. Elena purchased her items and changed, Reno had done the same.
"We should go and find Aeris, she went to get flowers." Elena advised.
Reno nodded in agreement.
They joined the Cetra, she had bought a nice selection of flowers. The ex-Turks trusted her with this task, considering her former job.
Aeris and Reno walked ahead towards the memorial, Elena tagged behind.
The blonde checked that no one was looking and loaded her gun, she wanted to be prepared just in-case any mourning Shinra employee's wanted any trouble.
Elena had noticed that Reno was totally weapon less, his electro rod must have been confiscated by Vincent when they allowed him to stay with them.
The memorial was a marble statue of the Shinra building, there was a plaque with all of the people that who had died name's inscribed on it.
A blonde woman with a pram traced, her hand over the indented letter's.
"T....S....E....N.....G" it spelt out as she moved her finger along.
Reno glanced at the woman's face.
With her hair down and no make up it was almost impossible to recognise the former head of Shinra weapons department.
Tears mixed with the rain ran down her face.
"Scarlet." Reno whispered.
Scarlet ignored him, she took her pram and exited the memorial.
Elena shrugged, "She sure is different." Elena remembered her as the office slut with the eccentric "Kya ha ha" laugh.
Aeris had noticed the baby, he had Tseng's eyes. She realized what must have happened, a rush of sadness filled her body. Aeris repeated Scarlet's actions and ran her finger over Tseng's name.
Elena and Reno stood in an almost militarized fashion. Aeris concluded that It was probably a characteristic they had picked up from being a Turk or from being in SOLDIER or something like that.
Neither of them shed any tears, Elena put the flowers down in front of the memorial.
She stood back and grasped Reno's hand.
Aeris experienced a feeling of impending trouble, coming back from the dead had helped increase her senses.
Her green eyes looked out over the field that the memorial was situated in.
She noticed a group of people approaching them. Rude and Rufus emerged through the rain, they were accompanied by the gang that Reno had been with on the night he raped Yuffie.
At first they ignored each other and paid attention to the memorial. Rude put down the flowers that they had bought.
Rufus noticed his fathers name inscribed and his own name. For a short while everyone believed that he had died as well.
Rude's eyes locked on Elena and Reno's joined hands. Rude snatched her away from Reno, he accidentally knocked her down to the ground, her face smacked against the ground causing her nose to bleed.
Rude gasped and went to help her up, "Elena I'm so sorry, are you alright!"
She quickly kicked his shins knocking him down as well. "No, I'm not, You idiot!" She shouted as she desperately tried to stop the bleeding.
He grabbed Elena by her arms and shook her, "I said I was sorry!"
"Get off, you're hurting her." Reno shouted as he pushed Rude back.
Rufus's words rang in Rude's head, "He's probably going to bone your girlfriend."
Rude dropped Elena and turned his attention to Reno, she got to her feet and dusted herself off.
"I saw you and Him, holding hands, how could you do that to me." Rude shrieked at them, "How could you? he's a waste of space."
Aeris could see a fight breaking out any minute.
"I bet you slept with him, didn't you?!" Rude had totally lost it, he grasped Elena's neck, squeezing it tightly; he lifted her whole body off of the ground.
Elena gasped for air
"Fuck you! Yeah I did sleep with him and he was great, much better than you!" Elena choked up a lie,
she hadn't slept with Reno, but wanted to get back at Rude. Rude looked into her brown eyes and squeezed her neck tighter, she felt rain pouring down her face and dribbling into her mouth as she frantically tried to breathe.
Elena's feet dangled down, she lifted her leg and kicked Rude in the ribs. He didn't react, He kept his stance, almost like a robot.
Reno grabbed Elena's gun and aimed at Rude.
Rufus ran towards Reno and slashed him across the side of his chest, the gun fell from his left hand into the mud. Blood ran from Reno's body, the red-head fell backwards and hit the hard ground. Aeris screamed and ran to his side.
Rufus advanced towards Reno to finish him off once and for all. Aeris blocked him off.
Rufus went to stab the ancient in the stomach, flash backs of her murder rang in her head. Aeris used her enhanced strength to knock Rufus off of her, he fell into the dirt.
"Dispose of that Bitch." Rufus ordered the gang.
Elena made one last attempt to save herself by smashing her knee into Rude's face, he dropped her down, she rolled when she hit the ground and picked up her gun.
Elena accurately shot each of the mystery men, killing them instantly.
Rufus climbed to his feet and stared at the bodies.
"This isn't what we wanted....... everything has gone so wrong." Rufus whimpered.
Elena noticed that Reno was not moving. Her rage took control, she shot Rude in the leg causing him to collapse.
"Bastard! Why couldn't you trust me!" Elena shrieked as she kicked him in the ribs. The pain Rude was experiencing was shocking.
"Elena, Reno would have just committed more crimes, how many more girls do you think he would have raped?" Rufus asked, trying to justify their actions.
Lightening crashed in the sky, the rain had turned to a vicious storm. Elena's hair was drenched and matted down, her face smothered in her blood and her shoes covered in Rude's blood.
"You don't know him, you traitor, you scum, you are dead man." She shouted through gritted teeth.
She pushed her gun firmly against his forehead and placed her finger on the trigger.
"Elena, don't do it, You'll regret it. Let me take care of this." A familiar voice called.
"Reeve? what are you doing here?" Aeris asked.
"I came to mourn Tseng, What the hell do'ya think he'd say if he could see this mess!" Reeve breathed.
Elena shoved the gun harder against his head.
Reeve pulled her back, "Elena stop this now!"
Elena noticed Reno's deteriorating condition, she needed to give him immediate medical attention. She put her gun away.
Reeve lifted the injured Rude of the ground and dragged the terrified Rufus away from the battle scene. Leaving the dead gang members where they lye.
"We'll talk about this later." Reeve said bitterly.
Elena joined Aeris by Reno's side.
She tore open his shirt to inspect his wound. Elena used the ripped shirt to mop up his blood.
"He's unconscious, and if we don't get him inside soon he'll catch pneumonia." Aeris said sadly. Elena was surprisingly calm, she tore her own shirt and bandaged him up.
She lifted the unusual light man up of the ground and ran in the direction of the house.
Aeris took one last look at the memorial. "Everything is always so tragic" she mused.
Lightening struck again, Aeris chased after Elena.
Elena kicked at the door, Yuffie opened it.
"Oh my! what on earth happened!"
"Move out of my fucking way!" Elena shoved past Yuffie.
Yuffie had not witnessed this Elena, the angry Elena.
She jumped out of the way.
Elena put Reno down on the couch and undid the improvised bandage.
Yuffie handed her the first aid kit that she had fetched from the bathroom.
Elena could now clearly see the damage done to him, it wasn't as bad as she had feared. She was, on the other hand, extremely worried about how much blood he was losing. Elena ran her hand through her hair and thought hard. She searched through the box and found sterilized needles, her time in the Turks had taught her how to deal with situations like this and it wasn't the first time she had had to give Reno stitches.
Elena managed to stitch his wound, this successfully stopped the bleeding.
Aeris had returned home and had told Tifa about what had happened.
The two woman joined Elena and Yuffie in the living room.
Elena was gently wiping the blood off of Reno's skin. He felt cold and his lips were blue.
Yuffie handed Elena a blanket for Reno, she placed it over him and brushed his hair out of his face.
"Don't die Reno." Elena pleaded.
"He's going to be okay, I know it." Tifa assured her.
Yuffie was petrified that he wouldn't pull through, it was so weird a few days ago she was wishing he would die.
Aeris felt her stomach, Rufus had scratched her deeply when he attacked her.
"Oww, ohhh." She gasped
Tifa bandaged her up, she couldn't help but notice the scar on Aeris's small stomach and back. It was the Masamune scar that had killed her.
"Will Rude be okay?" Aeris asked as Tifa saw to her wounds.
"He'll be fine..... but I don't care about him." Elena murmured, she didn't take her dark eyes off of Reno.
"What happened to Rude?" Tifa whispered.
"Rude and Elena had a serious fight and she was going to kill Rufus." Aeris whispered discreetly.
Tifa's mouth dropped open, Elena was a complete mess, she looked terrifying. Not like the sweet girl she had appeared to be a few hours ago.
Aeris noticed Tifa's shock, "I would have done the same if someone tried to hurt Cloud."
Tifa nodded, she knew that was true.
"Love can bring out the best and the absolute worst in you." Aeris concluded.
"Ele.......Ele......na." Reno's lips moved as he faintly called her name.
"Its alright, I'm here." Elena held his hand in hers.
"Are...... you alright." He said trying to open his eyes.
"Ssssshh, I'm fine, you need to get some rest, you got stabbed." Elena spoke gently to him.
"Well, no shit." he joked. "D'you kill em?"
"No, Reeve stopped me, but I came close and I would have done it."
Reno turned his head to look at her, The blood on her face worried him.
"Its nothing, It just looks messy."
Tifa got a wet cloth for Elena to wash her face with.
Elena had calmed down now, she thanked Tifa and cleaned herself up.
"Reeve wants to talk to us later, we have to sort everything out." Elena told him, she sighed.
"I'm sorry I got you into this Elena, Just don't leave me now, please?" Reno begged.
Elena kissed his lips, he was beginning to warm up again. "Don't act so weak Reno." She mocked as she broke away.
Reno smiled, "Thank's Elena, thanks......." with that he passed out again.
A/N: I wanted to leave this chapter hanging open, I need to think of some Yuffie/Vincent stuff to put in the next one.