Beyond Paradise

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or anything inside of the game. Squaresoft/enix does. Wish them luck as I plot to own Yuffie and Vincent.

Author's Note: I had the sudden idea for the start of this one while I was entering the fourth chapter, so it's a little strange. This has been done, I understand this, but that doesn't take the humor from it.

Noriko: I've had that teasing-liking someone thing happen to me, too. XD Doesn't it suck? Oh, and it's alright to like the villains. Just wait. There's gonna be more. :3

Read on, enjoy!



I went to find the pot of gold
That's waiting where the rainbow ends.
I searched and searched and searched and searched
And searched and searched, and then—
There it was, deep in the grass,
Under an old and twisty bough.
It's mine, it's mine, it's mine at last....
What do I search for now?

The Search
-- Shel Silverstein

- Chapter 5: A Pack of Jokers

"Ugh, Vinnie, either it's too small or you're too big. Get out real quick," Yuffie grunted.

"Sorry, Yuffie," he apologized quickly as he slid out.

"Agh! Too fast! Watch out for Red, he's still right there, you know."

Vincent apologized again.

"Gawd, and Cloud made it seem so easy when I did it with him..."

"You did it with Cloud?"

"Yeah. He was helping me out 'cause I'd never done it before."

"But I thought you..." Nanaki spoke up.

"Yeah, well, now you know. Alright, Vinnie, go back in."

"But Yuffie..."

There was some shuffling, and then "Shut up and just try again. Harder this time, 'kay?"

"Yes, Yuffie."

The sound of pounding echoed over the plains, then a relieved sigh.

Yuffie let go of the side of the tent and plopped down on the grass, wiping the back of her hand over her forehead. "Y'know, they could've made this so much easier if the stupid things were manufactured to pop into the shape it was needed to be in by the pull of a string," she grumbled to herself and the setting sun.

"Find the manufacturers and let them know," Nanaki said as he curled up next to her.

"I'll do just that," Yuffie muttered as she fell back, arms stretched out at her sides. "When I have the time. I'm feeling rushed right now."

Vincent quietly came out and sat down beside her, right leg bent at the knee with his arm draped over it. "Who is going to take the first watch?"

Yuffie glared at him before flinging an arm over to cover her eyes. "You."

"I will take the second watch. Yuffie, you'll take the last," Nanaki finished.

Yuffie frowned from beneath her arm. "Nah, Vinnie can take the third watch after you. I need my beauty sleep."

"But Yuffie, that wouldn't give him much time to sleep," Nanaki argued with her.

"It's alright," Vincent interrupted, holding his hand up to quiet them both. "I don't need the sleep."

There was no argument. Yuffie cooked up a small dinner for the three, then she and Nanaki crawled off into the tent and went to sleep.

--------------------

Yuffie had no idea what time it was, only that it was still night. Glancing off to the side, she noticed Nanaki was either still asleep, or just asleep after his watch. She quietly crawled out of her sleeping bag and out of the tent, closing it up behind her.

The fire had long since died out, and the night wasn't warm like Cosmo Canyon had been. Yuffie unconsciously shivered and wrapped her arms around herself as her gaze fell on Vincent. "Vinnie?"

No reply.

"Vincent?" she tried again, taking a hesitant step towards him.

The gunslinger couldn't hear her, though. All his concentration was focused on the demons that resided in his darkest thoughts.

'Chaos, what did she mean about the nightlife's sun?' he questioned the demon. Chaos ignored his question and played with a pack of cards, all of which were nothing but jokers. Death Gigas took his hand and crushed them in his fist, angered at the fool's hand.

Hellmasker laughed, its head twisting around while Galian Beast snarled at it, snapping its jaws at the chainsaw.

'Chaos!' Vincent demanded for its attention.

Empty eyes of black mists turned up to face the mental vision of Vincent. All four demons suddenly turned, facing a shadow. Thin strings glinted off what little light was in Vincent's mind.

"Vincent..." he heard it faintly. 'What's there, Chaos..?'

"Vincent..!" it was getting louder. A female voice, so soft.

"Vincent! Open your eyes!"

Scarlet eyes snapped open to stare into the frantic eyes of... "Yuffie?"

The little ninja let out a relieved sigh and collapsed against him. "Gawd, Vinnie... You scared me," she said. She quickly removed herself from him before he had the chance to push her off. "You make a sucky sentry, Vinnie," she grumbled.

"I'm sorry, Yuffie. I was..." What, trying to talk with Chaos? That would give Yuffie a field day. "Thinking," he finished.

"Of course you were thinking. It's about all you do," she commented, gaze focused on Valentine sleeping by a tree. She hugged her knees to her chest and placed her chin on top of them, eyes closing halfway. "Has Red been up for his watch yet?"

Vincent nodded, following her gaze to watch Valentine as well. "He went back to sleep maybe half an hour ago."

"Did you go to sleep at all?"

He didn't answer.

Yuffie let out a sigh. "You should really try and go to sleep. Now that I'm awake, I could take up sentry duty until we leave."

"You don't have to," he started.

"You're right. I don't. But I am. It's what friends do," she cut him off.

It fell silent, neither one moving.

After five minutes passed, Yuffie decided that the silence should be shattered, swept up, and stuffed into a chest which would then be thrown into the depths of the ocean never to be seen again. "Let's go back to Wutai."

"Wutai?" Vincent turned to give her a questioning glance.

"Yeah... All of us. Just for a little while, at least."

He shook his head then leaned back against the grass to gaze up at the starry sky. "We can't just drop what we're doing and go to Wutai, Yuffie."

"But why not? When they find Reeve, we can all just go to Wutai. They can figure their stuff out while I..." she paused in thought. "Well, I left without really saying anything, so we need to go back just so I can make sure Godo didn't have a hernia or anything."

"You'll have to take this up with Cloud," Vincent remarked.

"...Could you?" Yuffie hesitated, then quickly went to explain. "Cloud's already a bit peeved with me for wanting to look for the weird girl, and if you talked to him about going to Wutai, I'm positive he'd say it was okay!"

"Yuffie..." but before he could refuse her, she was down on her stomach, lying beside him with her hands clasped together in front of her face.

"Please, Vinnie? Vincent? Please?" she begged.

The two stared at each other for what felt like forever before Vincent let out a sigh. "Alright. When we meet up with Cloud and the others, I will propose the idea to him."

Yuffie smiled happily and inched towards him like a worm, hugging him tightly once she was close enough. "Thank you so much! You are my most favorite guy in the world right now."

Vincent struggled in her grip, then gave up and remained still, gaze focused on the stars above while Yuffie clung to him till she fell asleep.

--------------------

"Do you think they're doing alright?" Tifa asked as the four members of AVALANCHE walked into the ruins of Midgar.

"I'm sure they're fine," Cloud assured her, placing a hand to her shoulder. "All three of them are incredible fighters, and they can easily take care of themselves."

"I guess so, but Yuffie..." she trailed off in thought of their talk in the bar.

The black cat of Cait Sith leapt up onto her shoulders and nuzzled her cheek lightly. "I'm sure Cloud'll let you call 'er up after we find Reeve," he piped up.

"Speakin' of Reeve. Where'dya think he is?" Barret grabbed the cat by the scruff of the neck and lifted it up to his eye level.

Cait Sith squeaked and started flailing its arms around. "Put me down, you brute!" Barret dropped it on top of the fat moogle. It started to brush itself off before responding to the question. "Probably where Sector Five was."

Suddenly the cat stiffened, its hairs standing up on end.

"Cait Sith? Are you alright?" Tifa asked worriedly, reaching out to touch it. Cloud caught her hand and pulled it away.

"Don't touch him. It might be some sort of electrical surge..." he warned. She nodded and held her hands away.

Cait Sith shook its head and began hopping up and down. "I know where he is! Follow me!" and with that, he dashed off, leaving the three and the fat moogle to follow after him.

--------------------

"AVALANCHE is to blame for this!"

"Yeah, they shouldn't be able to live freely!"

The people were arguing with Reeve as the man stood up on a makeshift stage. "Please, please, calm yourselves! AVALANCHE saved your lives and you believe they must be punished?"

"AVALANCHE is the reason my husband is dead!" a young woman shouted out.

"It's because of them that these children have no home," an older man yelled.

Reeve began to rub at the bridge of his nose. These people were becoming increasingly difficult. Suddenly, there was a familiar voice.

"Reeve! Reeve, it's us!" Tifa called from the crowd. The few members of AVALANCHE had to literally shove through the crowd to get up onto the stage. "Reeve!" Tifa smiled and threw her arms around the man in a hug.

Cait Sith leapt into his arms as Tifa and Cloud turned to face the angry crowd.

"Because of you, we have no where to live!" one old woman shouted.

"You're the cause of all of this! If it weren't for you, we'd all still be happy!" another added.

Tifa frowned, hands balling into fists. "It wasn't our fault! ShinRa was the reason for any of the deaths that occurred!" she cried out.

"Was it ShinRa who made the Sector Seven pillar fall?" Came a rather calm voice from the crowd.

"Yes!" Cloud shouted out, arms folding over his chest.

"Was it ShinRa who summoned Meteor to fall on us?" it questioned them again.

"Well, no... but that wasn't us either! That was Sephiroth," Cloud argued.

"Ah, I see... And were ShinRa or Sephiroth the only ones that ran around killing anyone who stood in their way?"

Tifa opened her mouth to argue, but found that she couldn't. AVALANCHE had run around, killing men who stood in their way. She knew she had killed, and she knew she had wanted to kill at one point of her life. No one could argue.

Barret growled and waved his gun arm in the air. "Who 'da hell do ya' think you are!?"

A man, maybe in his late twenties, stepped through the parting crowd, a grin on his face as his cold grey eyes focused on the four AVALANCHE members on the stage. "I am the leader of this rebel group. Zeb Mahonney."

--------------------

Yuffie leapt off of Valentine and dashed into the Weapon Seller's home. The older man blinked in surprise as she came skidding to a stop in front of him. "Uh... can I help you?"

"Yeah! Do you know anything about a clown type of person?" she asked, hands folding behind her back while she put on her most innocent facial expression.

"A clown type..? Ah! I remember making something like that," he smiled down to her. "Would you like one, too?"

"Making one? What are you talking about?" Nanaki asked as he walked in, followed by Vincent.

"Well, some strange man came in asking me to make him a puppet with some mythril. Now, you know very well that you can't make a puppet out of mythril, and I argued with him about it, but he said that it didn't matter as long as the mythril was in it, so I made him a jester puppet. It was a real cute thing, too," The weapon seller explained.

"Did you catch his name?" Vincent asked.

"Um... Let's see now... It was something really weird, I know that." He rubbed at his chin in deep thought, then gave them a helpless shrug. "I'm sorry, I can't remember for the life of me. But he had these really bright blue eyes."

"Think harder you old coot!" Yuffie shouted in impatience. Vincent's hand fell onto her shoulder and she looked up to him.

"That is alright. Thank you for your time," and he led her out of the house and back to Valentine.

A few minutes later, Nanaki came out as well. "It makes sense now. The smell of paint and wood, and then the mythril. The girl you encountered was a live puppet. Should we call Cloud?"

Ring. Ring.

Yuffie blinked and looked down at her pocket.

Ring. Ring.

She grabbed the PHS and lifted it to her ear. "Yeah?"

"Yuffie? We found Reeve..." Tifa responded.

"Speak of the devil," Yuffie smiled. "Good. We got some kind of information about that girl and—"

"Yuffie... We ran into some trouble... We found Zeb, as well," the older woman interrupted.

"Well, kick his ass!" she countered.

"Cloud wants us all to talk, him with all of AVALANCHE."

Yuffie remained silent for a few seconds. Then, "Alright. We'll see you guys soon," and she hung up.

Vincent and Nanaki watched her expectantly as she put the PHS away. She smiled up at them, hands moving to rest on her hips. "Alright guys. Valentine's about to get crowded!"

--------------------

It had taken a little more than half the day, but by nine at night all of AVALANCHE was together in Kalm. Zeb sat across the table from Cloud, and thus the chaos ensued.

Barret and Cid were spouting insults left and right against Zeb while the young man sat calmly in the chair, hands folded in front of him. Ten minutes of this passed when Cloud finally slammed a fist into the table. "Quiet!"

Shera gently took hold of Cid's arm and led him back to sit in a chair. "Please, calm down, Cid."

Barret grumbled a few choice words while sitting down, Tifa patting his arm gently to calm him down.

"Why are you building a rebel against AVALANCHE? We've done nothing to harm you, not intentionally at least," Cloud started, mako eyes glaring into the steel grey.

"Because of you, the people of today can't live happily. Many loved ones have been lost,"

Yuffie frowned, arms crossing over her chest. "We've lost people that we cared about, too, you know!" she spit out at him. Vincent placed a hand to her shoulder to calm her, and she effectively shut up.

Zeb continued. "Many people have had to find a new home because you did not defeat Sephiroth sooner,"

Yuffie bit down on her tongue to keep from interrupting again. I'm sorry we're not fast enough, fucker... she grumbled in her mind. From the look Barret and Cid had, they were thinking along the same lines.

"And, because of you, ShinRa, our greatest government in history, is no longer existent."

This time, Yuffie didn't hold back. "Hah! You should be kissing our feet for that! ShinRa's done nothing but bring unhappiness!"

"You know nothing," Zeb responded.

"Nothing? I know that ShinRa was the reason to Wutai's shame and the reason the Planet was dying!"

Zeb glanced over to her, then stood up and began to approach her. Suddenly, Vincent was between them. Zeb stopped and glared at him before glancing down to see Yuffie peeking around him.

Then, he smiled. It wasn't a nice smile, either. Yuffie felt a shiver run down her spine as she unconsciously gripped Vincent's cape.

"Your country brought the shame upon itself, and you know this to be true..." he spoke softly before turning on his metal heel and leaving the house. Yuffie felt her anger rise and she stomped past Vincent.

Tifa ran over and grabbed Yuffie before she could jump the opposing man. Zeb glanced over his shoulder and smirked before leaving. Another man joined him from the side of the fence. He looked over to Yuffie, then turned to follow Zeb.

All Yuffie could catch were a pair of bright blue eyes. She immediately calmed down and Tifa loosened her grip on the small girl.

--------------------

"Was it wise to rile her up like that, Zeb?" the blue eyed man asked as he mounted his black chocobo.

"She's harmless. Are you worried?" He replied, pulling his own black chocobo around and hauling himself up onto it.

"No. But Moira seems to like her."

"Jethro... Just because Moira likes someone doesn't mean we can't pull their strings a little..." Zeb said darkly before spurring his chocobo forward.

The blue eyed man, Jethro, glanced down at the jester puppet attached to his belt and smiled. "Did you hear that, Moira?"

In a place of darkness, a light spilled over a small girl, holding her puppet. "He's being mean," she whimpered softly.

"Don't cry. Find that girl. You want to be friends with her, do you not?"

The little girl grinned sadistically into the shadows and held her jester up to eye level. "We want to play!"

--------------------

"Yuffie?" Tifa called for the young girl. The little ninja sat quietly on the rug in front of the fireplace, watching the flames lick at the chimney walls. "Sweetie, are you alright?"

Yuffie's head tilted just enough to let Tifa know she was listening. "I'm fine. Just a little annoyed..." Then she put on a smile and turned around to look up at Tifa. "Hey, do you think Cloud would let us all go back to Wutai for a bit?"

Tifa blinked down at her, then smiled. "I guess so... You need to go fight with Godo again?" she teased.

Yuffie shrugged and turned to look back to the fire. "Something like that, yeah." She slowly staggered to her feet and began to walk past Tifa. "I'm gonna head off to bed. G'night, Tifa," she called back as she went up the stairs.

The martial artist let out a sigh and doused the fire out before moving to clean the kitchen counter. She had far too much on her mind to be able to sleep now.

Yuffie stopped by her room, listening to the snores vibrate through the walls. Back to square one, she thought to herself before entered her room and closing the door behind herself.

"Hello, Yuffie!" a cheery voice said from her window. Yuffie squeaked in surprise and looked to see the clown girl from the Gold Saucer.

"You!" She pointed to her and backed up against her wall. "What do you want?"

The jester giggled. "I'm not a 'you.' I'm a Moira," then her blue eyes focused on Yuffie. "I want to play. I'm so lonely here in the dark," she said as she seemingly floated over to the little ninja. Pale hands took hold of hers and she began to spin around in a dance.

She let go of Yuffie and the little ninja stumbled back into her bed. "Agh! What are you talking about?"

Moira was in front of her, blue eyes twinkling down into storms. "You aren't a princess yet, little lady. Don't take it. Stay with me forever!" she smiled and leaned down, purple lips placing a light kiss to Yuffie's forehead.

Yuffie felt her breath catch in her throat and her body temperature began to drop drastically. Suddenly, there was a crack in the air and a hole in Moira's head. Vincent stood in the doorway, Death Penalty aimed and ready to shoot again.

Moira shrieked and jumped back. "She's my friend! You can't have her, Chaos!" she screamed out before blinking out of existence.

--------------------

The small girl began to scream with her sobs as the white paint on the puppet's face cracked. "She's supposed to be my friend! Mine!"

"Calm yourself, Moira."

Immediately, the blonde girl sat down, all traces of unhappiness gone. She began to cradle the jester puppet to her chest, gently brushing back the blue hair. "I'm sorry. I wanted a friend. Moira will be nice. I promise," she said quietly.

"That's a good girl..."

The light faded away and the jingle of bells echoed through the everlasting darkness. "Shh, child. You won't be alone..." the voice said softly.

A/N: Finally. Both sides of this battle are now introduced. How do you like them? I think I'm falling in love with my own bad guys. Damn. Well, let me know what you thought. It's a little confusing, I know. Review with your thoughts, please. Thank you.