Beyond Paradise
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or anything that's in it. Squaresoft/enix is the owner and whatnot. Lucky bastards. I'll find a way, I swear to it!
Author's Note: ::hugs Moira plushie:: :3 Next chapter is gonna be fun to write. ::sends Yuffie to rip Chaos open and pull Moira out of its stomach:: Yuffie's had a near death experience! Read on, enjoy!
There is a voice inside of you
That whispers all day long,
"I feel that this is right for me,
I feel that this is wrong."
No teacher, preacher, parent, friend
Or wise man can decide
What's right for you—just listen to
The voice that speaks inside.
The Voice
-- Shel Silverstein
- Chapter 6: Everyone is Sad in a Land of Smiles
"Yuffie!"
The little ninja opened her eyes reluctantly. There was a bright light in her face. She rolled over and slowly sat up, a hand unconsciously moving to touch her forehead. Her skin was cold.
"Yuffie!"
There it was again. Ugh... Shut up... she thought as she put her hands over her ears. Her entire body felt cold to the touch. Where the hell am I? She looked over her surroundings, then up to what she supposed was the sky. Such a bright light in the sky, but everything else was dark.
A jingle of bells came from her left and she immediately turned. Who's there..?
"Little lady of Wutai... We want to play! We're so lonely... here in the dark..."
Yuffie slowly stood up, one hand still resting on her head as if she had a headache. Who's there? This place is so strange...
"Yuffie!"
That same voice from before. What do you want..? So many voices began talking at once, some moaning about darkness and others calling her name. Stop it! She couldn't scream. She couldn't make any kind of sound.
Everything went quiet and a little girl stepped towards her. Blonde curls held up in pigtails, tiny body dressed in pink and blue frills. The girl looked up, dull blue eyes flashing a deep emerald.
"Yuffie... Wake up... Our friends are worried about you."
Aerith!?
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"She's waking up! Cloud, quick, get her some water!" Tifa shouted out. Yuffie stirred again, fingers twitching to grasp onto something. A hand took hers and stormy hues slowly opened to look into the wine-colored orbs of Tifa.
"How are you feeling?" She asked softly, using her free hand to brush rogue strands of Yuffie's hair away from the younger girls face.
Yuffie smiled up at her. "Fine, mommy. What about you?" she giggled weakly and glanced around the room to see most of AVALANCHE sitting restlessly, eyes trained on her. Cloud came rushing in with a glass of water.
"Drink this," Tifa ordered as Cloud handed the water to Yuffie. The ninja took little sips, watching as Cid shoved Tifa out of the way.
"Damn, girl! You had us scared shitless!" He put a hand to her forehead, checking for a fever. "Stupid brat, take better care o' yerself!" he barked down to her.
"Gawd, I hope you don't end up treating your kids this way," she grumbled as she sat up, shifting to lean against the headboard of the bed.
Barret headed towards the door, Nanaki following behind him. "Now that yer doin' fine, I'm gonna call Marlene."
Shera tugged Cid away, giving Tifa room to squeeze back over to Yuffie. Soon, the room emptied, leaving the two women alone. Tifa took the glass of water from Yuffie and set it down on the nightstand before sitting down at the edge of the bed.
"You know, you really gave us a scare, Yuffie."
The little ninja tilted her head to the side. "I really have no idea what happened..."
"No one would have noticed if Vincent hadn't made so much of a ruckus trying to wake you up in the first place. You know you've lived when you hear Barret telling Vincent to 'shut the hell up,'" Tifa remarked, laughing softly at the idea.
Yuffie laughed at the image that ran through her mind. "Hey, where is Vinnie, anyhow?"
Tifa blinked a few times, then looked towards the doorway. "Well, he was right over there... He might be in his room, now. Yuffie," Tifa looked back to the girl, "we don't want you trying to find that girl anymore. She's obviously dangerous."
"Don't I know it..."
"Yuffie," Tifa smiled to her, "Vincent asked Cloud if we could go to Wutai. Was this your doing?"
Yuffie felt her cheeks heat up and she immediately pulled the covers up to her nose. "I didn't think he'd actually do it!"
The older woman laughed and patted the top of Yuffie's head. "When morning comes, we're going to head off to Wutai." Then, Tifa did the worst possible thing she could do to the poor ninja girl. "Do you think maybe... Vincent might like you?"
"Tifa!!!!"
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Vincent glanced to his locked door at the sound of Yuffie screaming at Tifa. Frowning, he tried to block her voice out and focused on the town that lay outside of his window. The night sky stained the town with shadows, where anything could be lurking, and this made Vincent uncomfortable.
'Chaos... Why did you save her?' he thought to the demon. Earlier, no body could hear anything. It had been dead silent, but while Vincent was getting ready to fall into his nightmares, Chaos had begun thrashing, throwing images of Yuffie and that clown girl around in his mind. Vincent frowned as he remembered doubting the demon, but going to check on the little ninja anyway. Then the sight of that strange girl, Yuffie's apparent fear as she fell into a dreamlike state. He hadn't hesitated to shoot the clown in the head.
"You can't have her!"
Vincent shook his head and leaned back in his chair. There was a gentle knocking on his door and he stood up, walking over and opening it only to look down at Yuffie. She smiled up at him, hands behind her back.
"Hey, Vinnie... Wanna go feed the chocobo's or something with me?"
"...No." He started to close the door, but she quickly stuck her foot out and caught it.
"Please, Vinnie? I'll feed the chocobo's, and you can just stand there and look pretty or something," she pleaded with him. Vincent let out a sigh and stepped out of his room, starting down the stairs towards the paddock.
The two stood quietly by the fence, Yuffie's arms folded on top of it while she watched Valentine peck at Bronco.
"Yuffie, I thought you were going to feed the chocobo's."
She smiled and stepped back, turning to look up at Vincent. "I lied. I wanted to see if Levia came back... and I wanted to say thanks, to you." She shrugged and turned back to the chocobo's. "But Levia isn't back yet, so she's probably in Wutai. Tifa said you asked Cloud about it," she continued.
"Tifa tells you everything she hears?" he asked, genuinely curious.
"Pretty much. We are the only two girls in this thing, y'know." Yuffie watched him from the corner of her eye as he nodded, copying her position by leaning against the fence, arms folded on top.
"Vinnie? Do you like me?" she asked quietly. Vincent took in a sharp breath before looking down to her. After a moment of deliberation, he chose the suitable words.
"Yes, Yuffie. I like all of you."
"Ah, that's good. I always thought you didn't like any of us," Yuffie replied. Dammit, Tifa! Look what you did to me... I told you not to do that! She made a mental note to refuse to give Tifa a place to sleep when they got to Wutai.
Two pairs of eyes watched the little ninja and the gunslinger from the kitchen.
"Aw, aren't they adorable?"
"Tifa..? What are you talking about? It's Yuffie and Vincent... Nothing adorable about it."
"Oh, shush. I think it's cute."
"You think a lot of things are cute..." Cloud responded dully.
"And you don't think anything is cute."
"Guys aren't supposed to do cute..."
"Well, they should. It makes them more likeable."
"Are you saying I'm not likeable?"
"Of course you're likeable. I like you, don't I?"
"Does that make me cute?"
Tifa stared at Cloud as he pointed a finger to himself.
Yuffie watched through the window, back leaning against the fence. "Aren't they cute?"
Vincent looked over his shoulder to see what she was talking about. "Yes, Yuffie," he replied carelessly.
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With the help of Cid's Highwind crew and the beloved PHS, AVALANCHE was at the gates of Wutai in close to half an hour. Yuffie dropped from the ladder and the first to meet her was Levia. The chocobo cooed over Yuffie's head as the young girl hugged the bird around the neck. Unfortunately, the next person to meet AVALANCHE at the gates was Lord Godo.
"Yuffie! You left without a word! And you knew that I didn't want you going anywhere!" he boomed out over to his daughter. Yuffie rolled her eyes, patting Levia's wing before hopping up onto her back. Valentine had been too tall for her to just hop up onto. She hugged Levia around the neck, leaning down on her back as Levia trotted past the fuming Godo.
"Yeah, yeah. Going to my house. C'mon guys! Avoid the foaming old dog at the gate. No feeding it, it might bite!" she called back to the rest of AVALANCHE. Her friends were wise enough not to laugh and just followed quietly.
It was when all of AVALANCHE plus the green chocobo tried to squeeze into her house that Yuffie realized they weren't going to fit. Not comfortably at least. So she ushered them all downstairs into her basement where the steel cage hung ominously over their heads.
"Alright! Everyone comfy? You guys stay down here for a bit, 'kay? I'll be back soon," she assured them by leaving Levia with them before going back upstairs.
"Nobody go near the levers," Tifa warned, eyeing the contraption warily.
Yuffie shut the door behind herself and looked to her doorway just as Godo came stalking in, arms crossed over his chest stubbornly. "Yuffie, you will do what you've been raised to do! You will become our princess and heir to the throne," he growled.
"Alright."
"I thought you'd say that, so I brought Staniv and Gorki to— Alright?" he blinked in surprise at his daughter as she shifted nervously in her place. She looked up to him then put her hands on her hips.
"Yeah! I'll do it just so that when I do become the leader of Wutai, I'll be sure to do a better job than you and fix this place up!"
Godo grinned proudly. "Now that's the daughter I raised!"
"Pfft, you raised? I raised myself, old man."
Tifa winced as she heard something crash upstairs. She heard Godo yell something, then there was another crash. Yuffie told him to get out, there was one last crash, then the door opened and Yuffie came downstairs, a smile on her face.
"Do you think we can stay here for a couple days?"
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"We want our revenge on AVALANCHE!" a young man shouted, palms slamming down on the desk. Zeb folded his hands over his lap as he looked over the small group gathered to take a stand. "We've been doing nothing but standing by, letting our anger build up! We want to make 'em see what we have to go through now!"
Jethro stood silently at Zeb's side, arms crossed over his stomach as his blue eyes glared into the wall ahead. "There's no need to shout," he spoke into the air.
"Calm yourselves, men. You will have your revenge soon enough, don't worry. Now, leave. We have personal matters to attend to," Zeb ordered calmly, gesturing with a nod to the doorway. The man who had been arguing with him in the first place spit a curse at their leader and turned on his heel, herding the others out the door.
Once the door was closed, Zeb put his elbows up on the desk and buried his face in his hands. Silver strands fell into his eyes as he looked up to Jethro whom remained at his side. "Jethro... My right hand man... My friend... I would like to see my daughter again." Zeb appeared to be vulnerable at the moment, open to anything.
Jethro looked down to the weakened man at his side, then to the jester puppet attached to his belt. With a nod, he removed the puppet and sat it down on the desk. "Moira, our friend here would like to see his daughter again."
The bells on the doll began to ring and she began to grow in size. Soon, she was sitting like a normal human on the desk, ankles crossed while her legs swung back and forth. "Hi, daddy!" she smiled to Zeb.
The young man reached out, gently pulling the clown girl into his arms. She hugged him around the neck, smiling happily. "How are you doing, my dear?"
She nodded and pulled back, sitting herself down comfortably in his lap. "Mommy says she's never been happier, here in Paradise. The other kids here are real nice, too," she said with a smile.
Zeb smiled sadly in return, gently brushing his fingers through her blue hair. "Alison, my dear... Daddy will be with you soon. My friend here and I... we're going to find Paradise, and then I'll get to be there with you forever," he said dazedly.
Jethro put a hand to Zeb's shoulder. "That will still take some time... Moira can't hold the soul forever. Say goodbye."
The young leader of the rebels nodded and gave the clown girl one last hug. "Tell your mother that I say hi, and that I love you both very much. Soon, Alison... Very soon..." he whispered into the puppets ear as it shrank back down in size. Jethro picked the puppet up and reattached it to his belt.
Zeb let out a sigh and slowly stood up. "I'm going for a walk. Watch the people, I believe they're becoming restless," he said as he walked out of the room. Jethro looked down at the puppet and grinned.
"Moira, are you alright?"
In the darkness, the young girl looked up at the only stream of light. "His daughter is such a sad girl. They are all sad, in Paradise..." she murmured, stroking the blue hair of the puppet in her hands.
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AVALANCHE slept easily that night. Cait Sith was curled up by Reeve in the room they shared with Barret while Cid and Shera slept in the room next door. Across from them was the room Cloud shared with Tifa and Nanaki since Yuffie had told Tifa she wasn't giving her a room to sleep in, and the room by the goldfish pond was to be Vincent's.
But the latter of the group was not in his room. He sat on the steps of the Pagoda, staring down the road in thought. Yuffie watched him from her perch on a building roof and smiled to herself. I wonder if I'll be able to scare him...
She started to creep around on the roof, trying to find the best way to scare the living daylights out of someone who scared everyone else by just looking at them.
"Yuffie, if you keep that up, you'll fall," he said calmly. Yuffie squeaked in surprise and slid off the rooftop and onto the gravel.
"Ouch, Vinnie! You weren't supposed to know I was there, you big oaf!" She growled and stood up, rubbing her backside. With a frown, she stomped over and plopped down next to him, elbows resting on her knees and her palms under her chin. "Vinnie."
He watched her from the corner of his eye.
"You're a butt."
"That is what my demons tend to think of me," he responded casually.
Yuffie's jaw dropped as she stared at him. The silence droned on as she fixed her composure and stared sullenly towards Da Chao. Cautiously, she leaned to the side, resting lightly against Vincent. She could feel him stiffen beneath the layers of clothing and smiled. "Your demon's rock, Vincent."
The older man didn't know how to react. He chose to ignore the heat emanating from the younger girls body. "They are reminders of my sins, Yuffie. They do not 'rock.'"
With a shrug, she stood up and stepped away from him. Vincent hesitated to notice the sudden loss of warmth. "Whatever. Hey, you're gonna stick around tomorrow right? You won't leave?"
"AVALANCHE wouldn't leave you behind without telling you," he replied.
"I'm not asking about AVALANCHE. I know they wouldn't. But you would. Don't leave, okay? I'm doing something tomorrow that I want everyone to be there for." She smiled, proud of herself, and turned her back to him. "So don't leave. I want you to be there." Then she walked off, back to her own house.
Chaos shifted in Vincent's mind, snarling against the walls that cut the demon off from Vincent's most personal and secret thoughts and feelings. "Yuffie is... none of your concern, demon," he spoke aloud to it. He slowly got to his feet and made his way back to the room Yuffie had given him.
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Tifa stirred in her sleep, eyes opening slowly to stare into the darkness. She let out a sigh and sat up, brushing her hair back from her face. To her left, she saw Nanaki sleeping peacefully, and to her right was Cloud.
Timidly, she crawled over to Cloud's futon, hesitantly poking him in the shoulder. "Cloud?" she whispered. He mumbled something about chocobo's and turned over, back facing Tifa. With a slight frown, she poked at him again, this time a little harder. "Cloud, wake up."
The man's eyes opened, heavy lidded from exhaustion. "What, what is it? We didn't miss any, I swear..." he groaned. Tifa smiled down at him and sat back. "Oh, Tifa... What's wrong?" he asked, concern clear in his voice.
"I know it sounds a little childish but... I had a nightmare... Do you mind?" she gave him a shy smile, head dipped low so her bangs covered one eye. Her restless sleep had wrinkled her oversized shirt and the rest of her long hair was a mess. To Cloud, she was beautiful.
"Yeah," he murmured, scooting over so she could lie down next to him. Tifa let out a content sigh as his arm unconsciously draped over her waist.
"Cloud..?" she whispered to him. He seemed to realize the position and began to move his arm.
"Oh, sorry Ti—"
"No, no... It's okay. I just..." she could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest. Looking up, she found herself getting lost in his mako eyes. "I... thanks... For not laughing at me. It's a little embarrassing telling someone you just had a nightmare," she willed her heart to calm and smiled up at him.
His arm fell over her again and he held her close as she fell asleep in his arms. He glanced over her shoulder to see Nanaki laying there, one eye open and watching them with amusement.
"You should tell her how you feel, you know. You'd be surprised with the results," Nanaki spoke quietly before turning to go back to sleep. Cloud mentally shrugged and placed his chin on the top of her head, falling asleep soon after with the flowery scent of her shampoo invading his senses and following him into his dreams.
A/N: It was about time I got to the CloTi-ness. Oh, don't worry, Aerith won't be coming back in this fic. She just makes cameo appearances an' stuff. Nothing big. My favorite part of this fic was when Tifa and Cloud were spying on Yuffie and Vincent. XD Anyhow, let me know what you think of this chapter and review! Thank you.