Disclaimer: Don't own any characters from FFVII.

Lonely Miracle

Broken Roses

She had been walking, crying, for what seemed like hours. She couldn't stop. It was as though the sadness had settled permanently in her heart. She wasn't even crying for herself, which was the strangest thing. She was crying for Vincent.

"Please stop."

Yuffie looked up to see Vincent. Just the sight of him caused her tears to begin anew. What more had this man been through? "I- I can't."

"…I hear that sound in my nightmares." Vincent said, as though he hadn't heard her. "…here is where they truly began…" He raised his arms, and before them appeared Nibelheim. Its denizens peeked from doors and windows to glimpse the Shinra arriving in town. Yuffie wiped her eyes and hugged herself loosely to stifle further weeping.

"I thought you didn't want anyone to know your past." She said quietly. Vincent fixed her with an intense gaze.

"I won't have you trapped here on account of me."

He vanished.

Yuffie trailed after the Shinra scientists for a few steps through the town square and then turned at muttered cursing. Oh, no way is Cid here… She blinked at a quite frankly stunning man with messy-yet-neat black hair. His blue eyes were narrowed with annoyance as he juggled various no doubt fragile scientific instruments and a suitcase of his own. Yuffie almost laughed at Vincent Valentine, who looked so incredibly, amazingly different to how he did these days. She skipped around the unseeing Turk all the way up the incline to the Shinra mansion. The men at the gate saw Vincent through with amused looks and muffled sniggers behind his back. Yuffie rolled her eyes. Like Vinnie couldn't hear them a mile away! She waved her hands through their bodies to show her disdain. She followed Vincent to the door, almost wishing she was a real part of this memory, if only to save the poor guy the trouble of trying to knock on the door without dropping his load. She winced as he nearly dropped half of it, saving an important-looking machine only by slamming his shoulder and hip into the wall beside him. Vincent swore and settled for kicking at the door impatiently. This time, Yuffie did laugh.

"Whoa, Vinnie, you sure have changed." She said cheerfully to nothing at all, wondering if the present day Vincent was listening. The Turk kicked the door again.

It opened after a minute and Yuffie's eyes widened at a beautiful ashen-haired woman in a white lab coat. She was staring at Vincent as though mesmerised, her strange but beautiful violet eyes lost in his. Yuffie was seized by an urge to smash that beautiful face in. She knew what was coming, now.

The woman blinked and looked past Vincent, looking flustered. "Can I help you?" She inquired. Vincent shook his head to clear it, a slight blush coming to his cheeks.

"I'm Vincent… the Turk leader. I've been assigned to keep you safe in Nibelheim." He tried to extend a hand to her and nearly dropped everything again. He looked wretchedly embarrassed even as he struggled to cover it. "For the duration of the Jenova Project." He added.

"I am Lucrecia Hojo… Let me take those. You might break them." With a warm smile, she took them carefully from his arms. "Follow me."

The scene faded, but Vincent remained, his Turks suit bleeding into his normal clothing. "She was the most beautiful, perfect person I have ever known." He murmured softly. "At that time, I didn't know exactly what the Jenova Project consisted of… when I found out, I tried to stop her from going through with it, but I couldn't convince her."

"She… she was married when you met her? To Hojo?" Yuffie asked, disapproval making her voice harsher than it needed to be. Vincent stared at her.

"I never thought of you as having a keen sense of honour," He commented, not unkindly, but Yuffie's eyes narrowed. "She was. As a Turk, I was beyond caring about illicit activities. It was wrong, but…"

"But you hated Hojo, so it was all okay." Yuffie completed his sentence flatly. Vincent made a sound of protest.

"No." He said. "I loved her – that she was married meant nothing to my heart, for all that it discouraged my mind. I grew to hate Hojo, but…"

Yuffie was unconvinced. "Look, Vinnie, I've heard the rest of this story before, but… you never told us she was already married. She was already committed to the Jenova Project, and to Hojo, long before you came along. Just apart from you and her doing the wrong thing, she made those choices all by herself, so—"

"She chose me all by herself, too." Vincent's voice became flat and monotonous, and Yuffie realised she had hurt him. The thought surprised her so much that some of her anger faded. Unfortunately, Vincent, misunderstanding her intentions, began to fade as well.

"No! Wait!" The cry burst from her. "Please… stay, Vincent? It would… it would help." He stared at her as though she had said something alien and ludicrous. Yuffie blushed under his scrutiny, but was relieved to note that he had become clearer once again.

"You.. you know what happened here. It was through me that Lucrecia died." The images around them faded.

Yuffie held up her hands. "Whoa, whoa… Didn't you just say that she chose you all by herself? That makes it not your fault, Vinnie, especially if she was already part of the Jenova Project before you came to Nibelheim." She paused. "In fact, you must have influenced her a lot. She would have been so close to not going through with it because of you. I mean, that smile you had going? Come on. What woman could resist that?" He was staring at her again. Yuffie struggled onward.

"Anyway, my point is that she was already agreed to everything in the Jenova Project before you came along, and there was nothing you could have done to stop her. So why blame yourself? I mean, you got locked in a coffin, for Leviathan's sake!"

Vincent was cold. She saw by his face that he wasn't accepting it. He had spent so long thinking it was his fault that he probably couldn't think of it any other way, let alone accept it as truth.

"Let us move on." He said icily. Yuffie shrank from the harshness of his voice. The blackness started to whirl around them, taking shape and form again. Crazily, in the swirling colours, Yuffie thought she could hear carnival music…

~*~

A/N: Well, what do you think of this chapter? ^^ Please review and tell me! The next part is already written for your reading pleasure… but because I'm evil and have been feeling neglected of late, I'm not posting 'til I have some more reviews! ^^ Mucho gracias!

To InsanityLaughsAtYou… wow, you made your Chaos plushie?? The only thing I ever made was a pair of shorts that look more like a floral patterned sack. - -; I can cook, though! :)

To Wyrren… You can't hold my creativity hostage; it's holding me hostage. That's why all my assignments are currently on hiatus and I am typing this as fast as I possibly can, which doesn't hold a candle to your typing speed, but that's not the point.

Thanks to everyone else who reviewed! 3!!