Beyond Paradise
Disclaimer: I don't own Yuffie, Vincent, or anything else in this fic. It all belongs to Squaresoft/enix. Except for Jethro, Zeb, and Moira. They belong to me. The River Zolom halfway did, too, but it's dead.
Author's Note: O.O I really didn't expect to take this long to update. Seriously! I had planned on updating like, within the week... Not the next month. I'm so very, very sorry! Blame writer's block... Well, I promise to make no more cliffhangers like that one. Woo... Especially if I'm not sure if I'd be able to update the next day. Heh, well, enjoy!
P.S. For some reason unknown to me, I can't put my usual scene breaks in there, so I'll just have to put these long lines in. I'm not happy with having to do that, but it's the conclusion I've come to after trying to put my breaks into it over... and over... and over again. Enjoy.
Listen to the mustn'ts, child,
Listen to the don'ts
Listen to the shouldn'ts
The impossibles, the won'ts
Listen to the never haves
Then listen close to me—
Anything can happen, child,
Anything can be.
Listen to the Mustn'ts
-- Shel Silverstein
- Chapter 11: Insomniac By Choice
Yuffie stared in horror as the scene played out before her wide eyes. "Vincent? What are you doing!?"
The man ignored her question and pulled the trigger.
There was a loud crack, soon followed by a thud against the wall. Yuffie crumpled to her knees, ignoring the sting in her left arm. Somewhere in her mind, she registered the cut on her arm from the bullet grazing it and instead snapping the legs of a chair a few feet behind her and finally embedding itself into the dresser beyond the desk, but why this had happened was at a standstill.
The light from the hallway silhouetted the struggling figures of Jethro pinning Vincent to the wall, thus explaining the earlier thud. There was a groaning from the ninja's left, announcing Tifa's awakening. It seemed to take the older woman a few seconds to realize what was going on. "What are you doing? Yuffie, you're bleeding!" Tifa leapt out of the bed, staggering slightly and soon falling to Yuffie's side, hands wrapping around the arm with the cut.
Vincent kicked his boot into Jethro's abdomen, forcing the other man to slam back into the opposing wall. A look of pain flashed across Vincent's face and a ghastly mist seeped out of his chest, soon taking the solid form of none other than Moira.
The female jester lowered her head, body trembling as her pale hands balled into fists at her sides. "Why did you stop me?" she choked out, fighting the inky tears that marred the white paint on her face. "You want her, don't you?" she shouted out, angry blue eyes focusing on Jethro as he slowly straightened himself up. "I know all of your emotions. But she treats you... so horribly... Ignores you!" Those black tears continued to fall as she sucked in a deep breath. "And even in front of you... She runs to Chaos!" The anger faded and the trembling stopped. "I wanted to help..."
Jethro took a hesitant step forward. "Moira... You misunderstand."
"No!" Moira stepped back, bumping into the rock-solid form of Vincent. "If I could make him hurt her, she would want you, right? You would be happy..." Her voice took a darker tone as she continued in her rage. "But you fought me. None of you deserve even Paradise..." Purple lips turned up into a spiteful grin. "I'll take you all to Limbo! One by one!" With her last threat, she blinked out of the room and to only the Planet would know where.
The room went eerily silent as the four in the room slowly registered every word. Jethro remained silent as he stepped forward, fingers pressing to Vincent's neck and pinching the skin. Vincent's body jerked awkwardly and he swayed away from Jethro, claw pressing into the wall to steady himself. He quickly scanned his surroundings and was about to question as to why they were in the women's room when Cloud and Reeve came in, the former holding a pillow like a shield.
"What's going on in here?" Reeve asked innocently, sleep encrusted eyes surveying the room.
"Moira's gone mad," Jethro replied calmly, fingers running through his blonde hair only to have the rebellious bangs fall back into place.
Cloud loosened his grip on the pillow-shield and tilted his head to the side in question, brows furrowing together. "Moira?"
"Moira is the Weapon that Zeb and I wanted you to chase. It would have been a pointless waste of time in your case since she would go where I told her to go... But now, she listens to no one," Jethro responded quietly, gaze focused on the broken chair behind Tifa and Yuffie.
"Well, now it seems you have no choice but to explain everything to us," Cloud said in annoyance, weight leaning against the doorframe.
Reeve yawned and shook his head. "You guys can brief me with it in the morning. I'm going back to bed..." He said his goodnights and left the remaining members to learn the secrets of Moira.
Jethro gave the leader a nod. "Make yourselves comfortable, this may be a little long..."
Zeb looked up from his desk, silver eyes training onto the misted figure in the corner of his office. "What are you doing here?" He stood from his chair, fists crumpling the AVALANCHE reports in his hands. "You're supposed to be taking those ingrates down and out of my way!"
Blue eyes flashed up to glare at him, but quickly softened into a sickeningly fake smile. "Your friend has betrayed you, Zeb. I overheard him telling AVALANCHE the plans. Now they all know about your hopes of finding the Promised Land and bringing the Calamity from the Skies back... just so you can see your wife and daughter again." Moira laughed at the feeling of anger boiling in Zeb's heart. "Jethro said you were a selfish man, and that you didn't deserve the peace of your loved ones."
Zeb's fists slammed into the desk and the papers scattered. "How dare he... Such a traitor." His eyes narrowed and he took a deep breath, slowly allowing it to hiss through his gritted teeth. One hand slid over his hair, tucking it calmly behind his ears before settling himself back into his chair. "Get rid of him along with the rest of AVALANCHE. His usefulness has worn itself out..."
Moira bowed her head, hiding her smile as she slid into the wall with her remaining words. "You share the same fate..."
He chose to ignore her words and began to smooth out the crumples of the papers he'd been holding. Using a red marker, he crossed out the names of Barret and Nanaki. "Two down... It's not enough. She has to work faster."
"Zeb, sir?" A voice interrupted his thoughts and he glanced to his doorway to the timid man poking his head into the room. "The people would like to know whether you want to dispatch the first level..." he stammered.
"Not yet," Zeb replied. "They still have enough strength now that they've got Jethro on their side. But soon enough, we'll break them down."
The man in the doorway nodded and left Zeb to his thoughts of his traitorous friend.
"Zeb lost his wife and daughter to the Sector 7 incident and blamed it solely on AVALANCHE. After that, he was hell bent on revenge. He got into the ShinRa documents and gathered information on each member as your group grew in size," Jethro explained. "He became so immersed in his revenge that he lost sight of sanity. I've been by his side since we were children, but I lost true respect for the man when he started rambling about projects with Jenova and the Promised Land."
Tifa looked up momentarily from cleaning the cut on Yuffie's arm without the use of a Potion to question the man speaking. "He doesn't know that was ShinRa's fault?"
Jethro shook his head. "No. He believed the lies fed to him and, after Meteor, swore his revenge on AVALANCHE."
Cloud cleared his throat to interrupt, arms crossing over his chest. "We don't care about his or your sob story. I need to know everything about this Moira you created. What is she capable of doing, and what has she done to Cid, Barret, and Nanaki?"
"She's taken Barret and Nanaki to a dreamland. Think... Wonderland from that storybook. Everything's a little upside down. But they won't awaken, because the spirits of the dead they connect with are holding them there." Jethro nodded his head towards Vincent. "She would have taken you as well, and Yuffie would be in the same state as Cid. You see, Cid isn't in this so-called Wonderland. He has no dead connections to hold him into a comatose state, but Barret's attack hit him dead on."
"Barret? But Shera said Moira was attacking Cid," Cloud said amidst a yawn.
Jethro smiled sadly, rubbing at his eyes as he felt a wave of sleep hit him. "Moira took the form of Barret, much like she took Vincent's, and attacked Cid. The sound of their fight was what probably alerted Shera to the attack. My guess is that Moira dropped Barret's body and got rid of Cid so she could drag Barret into his coma before anyone was able to stop her."
During the explanation, Yuffie tuned him out and let her gaze travel to Vincent. By the looks of it, he wasn't paying attention either. She knew all too well what was going on in his mind and decided it was better not to interrupt the mental battle with his demons.
"...and she won't listen to me, either, so I don't believe any of us are safe," Jethro finished.
"What? Safe?" Yuffie asked as she caught the last sentence.
Cloud frowned to her, a silent look telling her to be quiet. "So, what you're saying is that if we go to sleep, we'll become vulnerable to her attack?"
Jethro nodded, hiding his disappointment that he was under the threat of the attacks as well now. "While you sleep, she'll send the dead souls that will hurt you most and tie you into her Limbo, and the only way to wake up again is to destroy her."
There was a pregnant pause as the same question rolled through the listeners' minds, finally tumbling out of Vincent's mouth. "How do we defeat her?"
The many answers were tossed around in Jethro's mind as he tried to pick out the right one. After a few seconds, he gave a shrug with a lopsided grin. "I'm not sure."
"So she gets us in our sleep..?" Yuffie spoke up, senses rising as a thought rampaged through her head. A confirming nod from Jethro was all she needed before she sprung to her feet, ignoring the surprised cry from Tifa. "Reeve! We have to check on Reeve!" The possible threat on the ex-ShinRa employee's waking life dawned on the members of AVALANCHE and the five of them rushed towards the room Cloud was to share with Reeve.
The door was shoved open and they stumbled in, the first to reach the sleeping man being Tifa. She gripped his shoulders tightly and began to shake him, hoping beyond all that was holy that the man would wake up and tell her to get the hell off of him. When no response came, she slowly pulled herself away from him, hands moving up to cover her mouth. "How'd she get him without us knowing?"
"He didn't put up a fight... He was asleep," Jethro murmured. Cloud glared towards Jethro, giving the man only a second to comprehend the pain he would feel in his cheekbone as Cloud's fist connected.
"Cloud!" Tifa rushed to the AVALANCHE leader and grabbed hold of his arm. "Stop it, Cloud. It isn't his fault! He doesn't have control over Moira." She felt his muscles relax beneath her hands and let out a slow breath before letting go. "Now... What do we do with Reeve? We can't just leave him here, but trying to take him back to Cosmo Canyon could be dangerous if we run into another one of those water Zolom's..."
Jethro rubbed a hand over his cheek where another bruise would form. "Makes me wonder why you need a sword..." he grumbled before cracking his neck.
Cloud ignored the man and turned to watch Reeve in his coma. "We'll have to trust Dio to take care of him and Cait Sith... Besides, we aren't going back to Cosmo Canyon." He caught the question before Tifa could open her mouth. "We're paying Zeb a little visit..."
Much to Cloud's discomfort, the little trip to Midgar was stretching into a much longer timeframe. The sun had long since risen once again and the humor in the smaller group leaving the Ghost Hotel the same night they checked in was lost to him. A quick glance over the shoulder gave him a head count of his remaining members of AVALANCHE, plus one too comfortable Jethro.
"Well, Miss Lockheart... Are you chained down to anyone?"
Tifa bit down on the inside of her cheek and continued forward, gaze locked on the growing buildings of Costa del Sol. Fifteen more minutes... Just fifteen more minutes, she continuously reminded herself. She would have to plead on her knees with Yuffie to never leave her with the man again.
While Tifa continued to ignore Jethro's teasing pick-up lines, said ninja was fast asleep in the arms of their resident monster. Jethro had assured them that Moira would come to the sleeping victim physically, and so with four others awake, the sleeper would be safe. Upon hearing this news, Yuffie had been the first to 'volunteer' ("I need it more than you guys! Vinnie, carry me.") for a nap.
Vincent, on the other hand, didn't seem quite as comfortable as the sleeping nymph in his arms. He shifted his claw beneath her knees awkwardly and pulled her closer, being as careful as possible not to scratch her bare legs with the sharpened digits of the golden appendage. Yuffie murmured something in annoyance and tried to turn onto her side, achieving nothing more than burying her face into Vincent's chest.
It had made him wonder why, even after the incident in the Ghost Hotel, she still wanted to be around him. Much less allow him, of all people, to carry her while she slept peacefully. His gaze dropped to her closed eyes, mind wandering to what could possibly lie beyond her obnoxious façade and happy-go-lucky exterior.
In her sleep, her foot twitched and a bruise began to form along her shin. This action went unnoticed by Vincent as a slap broke his thoughts. Blood reds looked up to watch as Jethro rubbed his reddening cheek, gaze following Tifa stomp up to walk beside Cloud.
"It was a compliment!" Jethro shouted after her.
Yuffie hovered a hand like a visor to shield her eyes from the brightening light in what she figured was the sky. She blinked a few times until her eyes adjusted to the darkness straight ahead and the brightness up above. Now where am I? Her thought echoed like speech around her, bouncing off imaginary walls.
A hand, cold as ice, slid along her shoulders and the Wutaian ninja twirled on her feet, eyes searching for the being. Who's there!? But, besides her own thoughts, all was silent. Another cold hand slid down her leg and Yuffie stumbled away. Stop it! Get away from me! The scent of dust and dried jasmines washed over her senses and she felt the same cold fingers on her cheek, tracing the 'sun' mark beneath her left eye.
The voices suddenly came at her in full force. So many, begging her for freedom, for peace and liberation of the darkness. Yuffie let out a shriek as the cold hand grabbed her ankle, pulling her down to drown into the inky water the floor beneath her had become. Hands were everywhere, grabbing at every bit of her and pulling her apart. She tried to scream, but she choked on the darkness instead.
That scent was back. The oh-so familiar scent she could remember in the back of her mind, and the hands were gone. Eyes she didn't know she closed slowly opened and she stared in wonder at a field of dead flowers. A figure rose from the dead plants and emerald eyes focused on the stunned ninja.
Aerith... again. This is the same place? Yuffie tried to make sense of it all. 'Aerith' sadly shook her head and turned away. Chestnut locks melted into a blue shade and her peach skin took a deathly pale hue. 'Aerith' turned back around, and she was no longer the flower girl Yuffie thought she was. Moira...
"Little princess... You've come to see my beautiful paradise? This is your pathetic 'Promised Land' everyone speaks so highly of. Did you really think it would be so beautiful?"
Yuffie glared angrily at the jester and took a threatening step forward, only to realize that she couldn't move. She was suddenly very aware of something rough, much like leather, spiraling up her legs. The vines tightened and thorns pushed into her skin, strangely enough not causing blood.
"Relax... You don't belong here yet. Go back to your sad excuse of a reality."
Moira! What have you done with my friends? Yuffie wasn't going to leave yet. She had questions that needed answering.
The jester canted her head slightly, rivulets of blue shifting along her bare shoulders. "Your friends? They sleep peacefully..." There was a pause as Moira slowly made her way towards the Wutaian girl. "You wonder about your Cetra, do you not? Don't worry your pretty little head over it. She's dead, just like the rest of them." The female jester cackled as she faded out of view.
The vines around Yuffie slid away and she was back in the darkness with the bright light above her. She brushed her fingers over the 'sun' symbol over her cheek and slowly closed her eyes.
After a full day of walking, the downsized group set up camp and built a small fire to sit around. Yuffie, whom had been silent for the long walk after waking up in a fit of tears, sat herself down closest to the fire, arms wrapping tightly around drawn up knees. Tifa, worried about the girl while they walked on in silence, sat beside the little ninja, one hand resting lightly on the Wutaian's arm.
"Yuffie, are you alright?" The older woman tried to smile, but it came out far too fake. "You can tell me, you know..." This she was sincere about, but she couldn't smile. Not truly.
Yuffie shook her head and shrugged, more to remove Tifa's hand from her arm than to respond to anything. The hint was taken and Tifa slowly got up and left her to her thoughts.
There was an awkward silence as the others began to settle themselves around the fire, each trying to start a conversation, sans Vincent, but not knowing how. Cloud cleared his throat uncomfortably, figuring that if anyone was going to say something, it would have to be him. He opened his mouth and...
"I think, since Yuffie's slept for most of the day, she and I should keep watch as the others sleep," Jethro spoke up, smile and intentions apparent in his eyes. A shiver ran down his spine as four pairs of eyes glared straight through him. "Well, it would make sense..."
"He has a point. Yuffie has slept through most of the day... so she and someone else will keep watch while the other three sleep," Cloud said, making a point that it wouldn't be Jethro alone with Yuffie.
The Wutaian snorted and stretched her legs out into a 'V', her torso falling between her legs and her arms stretching out in front of her, fingertips brushing the rocks around the small fire. "You talk like I'm not here, sheesh. Vinnie can stay up with me. At least I know he won't yammer my ear off." There was a pause as everyone seemed to attempt to register this joke. "Ugh, never mind! Go to sleep, Vincent and I will watch out for anything suspicious! ...like the tooth fairy."
Within a number of minutes, the three were asleep and all that remained was Yuffie, Vincent, and a dying fire.
"Sorry for forcing you into sentry duty again. You can go to sleep if you want," Yuffie said softly, gaze traveling to her silent companion.
Vincent didn't even look at her. "You didn't tell Tifa was what troubling you." It wasn't a question, but Vincent's statement did call for a response.
Yuffie shrugged and decided the fire was more interesting than a stone-still Vincent. "You eavesdrop on us?"
"It was so quiet that not listening is nearly impossible."
"Nearly, but can still be done. Never thought you had it in you, Mr. Big and Bad Valentine." She chuckled to herself and shook her head. "Nothing was or is wrong. I just had a bad dream."
"You woke up crying."
"Bad dream," Yuffie repeated, fighting not to glare at him. "It's over now. Let it go." A silence followed and Yuffie soon feared she had angered him. "Vinnie..?"
"What happened to your leg?" Vincent shifted slightly, but this movement managed to get him around the fire to sit beside the princess, human fingers pressing lightly on the bruise that had gone unseen until now.
Yuffie blinked down at the purple and black spot on her shin and, intelligently, poked her own finger into the center of it. "It doesn't hurt..." she said thoughtfully, poking at it again. Finally, she shrugged and stared back at the fire. "I probably got it from fighting that Zolom yesterday, in which you didn't help at all until the end," as if just the fact that he hadn't been there to help her out would jog his memory of the fight.
Vincent seemed to ignore this and turned watch the fire sizzle and die with its last breath. "It will be getting cold... You should go into the tent and sleep with the—"
"No!"
The outcry caught him by surprise and he shot her a quick glare.
A head popped out of the folds of the tent and Tifa stared tiredly at them. "Anything wrong?" she asked in the midst of a yawn. Both shook their heads and Tifa frowned slightly. "Then keep quiet..." And she was gone back into the tent.
Yuffie let out a heavy sigh and rubbed at the back of her head. "I guess this means no more talking, huh?" She looked up to Vincent and put up a lopsided grin. "That means shut up, Vinnie."
The caped man chose to make no comment and simply poked a stick into the embers of what was once a fire. Silence reigned and he could feel Yuffie shift uncomfortably beside him, fighting off the chills of the dark night. Soon, a smaller hand gently fell over the hand that held the stick and he stopped his attack on the embers. "Yuffie..."
"I thought I said shut up," she half-whispered as she pried his fingers from the stick. "Be a gentleman and don't let me freeze," she continued, forcing his arm to drape lazily over her small shoulders, thus bringing the cape around with it so only her head popped up beside him. If anyone were to look now, they would believe Vincent had two heads instead of one.
And if Barret or Cid were awake... they'd tell him he had five demons... Yuffie thought sadly to herself. "Tomorrow... we'll make Zeb pay for everything he's done," she murmured, taking in a deep breath to fight off the frustration Moira gave her in her dreams. Suddenly, the familiar scent from her dreams drowned her senses and her body stiffened. "Vincent!" she squirmed slightly beneath his arm and smiled up at him as he stared at her quizzically. "Thanks."
Vincent didn't know how to respond. The warmth from her body, the feeling of her heart beating, the scent that was only hers... It was confusing his demons and giving him a headache. He had to get her away from him. "Yuffie, I—"
"Vincent, stop talking. You'll wake everyone up," the Wutaian ninja said as she rested herself comfortably against him. "Oh, one more thing."
Vincent watched her from the corner of his eye, not wanting to be any closer than he already was. "Yes, Yuffie?"
"Protect me like Cloud does for Tifa..?" she knew it sounded stupid. Like it would come from a hopeless romantic. Well, Leviathan be damned if she wasn't one.
He found this to be strange, but no matter how much his mind screamed for him to avoid any and every subject that included the Wutaian princess, he found his voice breaking past his lips and speaking from what he had believed was a long-since dead emotion.
"Yes, Yuffie..."
A/N: Oh, yes... This chapter is done. I know now that it will be another long and agonizing month or so until I update again. Why? Because school is starting... ::dun dun dun:: Horrible, I know. Also, I need to end Beyond Paradise sometime soon. If I don't, it will never end and I will have no idea where it's going. O.o; So... yeah. Let me know what you think and the next chapter will come when I get a hit-like-a-brick of inspiration. Thank you.