That Fateful Moment: The Reason
Who Boy, yah, I know this chapter took quite awhile to write...:S Sorry... but its finally up, I hope you like it since it has been a while and
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I opened the door to the small inn and walked inside. Warmth washed over me as I shut the door behind me and began to move inside further inside.
"... Vincent!?" I was stopped in my tracks as my breath caught in my chest. I looked up to find Aeris standing there looking at me. I hadn't expected to run into her first thing. I found myself struggling to find the words that would fit in with the situation. What the hell was wrong with me? This had never happened before... even with... her. I felt like a little school girl! I'm a grown man of 27! I could take on anything that came to me, why was it that she was having such an effect on me? Finally some form of English found its way to my mouth.
"Umm... I... I... the offer... take up... yah." I blushed a bit as she giggled. The room seemed to have gotten brighter as her eyes lit up and a giant smile formed on her face.
"Really? You want to come with us?" I was only able to nod. "That's great! Wait here and I'll go and get the others!" I stood in the foyer, I was slightly shaking... I felt as if I couldn't move even if I tried. Aeris disappeared into what apparently was a bar. I looked around at the foyer, there was a fire going over one the other side, and if you listened closely enough, you could hear the small hissing of raindrops falling on it. There were small paintings on the wall of mountains, and some of sunsets.
"Ahem!" I turned to find the owner standing behind the counter looking quite annoyed. "Can I help you sir?" I shook my head.
"No I'm waiting for someone." She pursed her lips as she nodded.
"Mmmhmm. Well in that case, and I don't mean to be rude, could you please wipe your shoes off on the mat over by the door, because there's mud all over the floor, and go and hang your cloak over by the fire to dry, because you're dripping water all over the place." I looked down at the floor to find that I had tracked mud from the door to where I was standing. And a small puddle of water had formed around my feet. I said my apology to the woman as I walked over to the floor mat and wiped my shoes clean. I took of my cloak and hung it over by the fire. Aeris walked out of the bar followed by Barret and a red tiger-like creature.
"Alright, so this is Barret as you already know, and that there is Red XIII, But we call him Red. Umm, I think the others are upstairs." She glanced over at the owner wiping the floor clean. "Oh, excuse me but do you have another room?" The woman looked up at Aeris.
"I think we have one more miss."
"Great, we'll take that room too." The clerk got up and walked behind the counter and picked up the last key from the board behind her. "That'll be 100 gil." I looked towards Aeris for a moment.
"No, it's alright; I'll go stay in the mansion for tonight." Aeris gave me a stern look.
"Vincent, you are with us now, and as such, I won't have you staying in that mansion all by yourself." She turned her gaze to the clerk. "Just a sec." She began to rummage through her pockets in her jacket looking for the correct change. I wouldn't have her pay for me. I walked over to the clerk and took out my wallet from my bag. It still looked brand new seeing as how I hadn't used it in such a long time. I paid the clerk and she handed me the key.
"Great! Thank you sir, room 305. Have a nice stay." Aeris smiled at me and I felt that warm feeling come over me yet again.
"Alright, so there are still more of us... umm I think they are upstairs, so I'll be back in a second, you can talk with Barret and Red if you wish." Aeris began to run up the stairs when she tripped. "Ouch..." I felt another new feeling come over me; I think this is what people called concern. She blushed, laughed and brushed it aside. "No worries, I'm just a bit clumsy tonight I guess." She turned and disappeared up the stairs. Talk to Barret... and Red? How was I supposed to talk to re-
"Sooo... you must be Vincent. Pleased to meet you, as you know I'm Red." I jumped back in surprise as red had actually spoken to me.
"You... You can talk!?" Barret Laughed hysterically.
"Yah, Red has that effect on people." I took me a minute to digest the fact that red could talk. I had a feeling there would be a lot of getting used to with this group.
"Umm... Sorry, I didn't mean to react like that. It's just that..." Red gave me what looked like a smile.
"That's completely fine. These people had the same reaction when I first spoke to them. But now they find it perfectly normal." Aeris came running down the stairs with a group of other following behind her. When they were all standing in the foyer Cloud looked towards me and laughed.
"So! Decided to take my offer after all Vince? I figured as much." It failed to surprise me that Cloud was just as arrogant as the last time. I raised my eyebrow
"Well, I'm standing before you aren't I?" Cloud obviously didn't appreciate me speaking to him in the way I did. I could see his jaw lock and his eyes glare at me. Aeris, once again, seen conflict arising between Cloud and myself, and quickly changed the topic.
"SO! Now that everyone is here I think we should introduce them all." She walked over to a young girl. "This here is Yuffie," She moved over to this Robotic Cat. "And this is Cait Sith. You've met Cloud, Barret, Red, and me," she walked over to a young woman standing next to Cloud. "And last but not least, this here is Tifa." Tifa grabbed onto Cloud as Aeris walked by. Cloud smiled and hooked his arm around Tifa as she gave Aeris a Crude smirk. I saw that Aeris frowned a little but then chose to brush it off. "And that's the group" I nodded, acknowledging each as their names were said, however being reluctant to do so to Tifa. Yuffie walked up close to me and started to walk around me, inspecting me in a way.
"What's with the claw? And the dark clothing? Are you like some kinda Goth or something?" I found her to be quite annoying as she tugged at my shirt. I looked towards Aeris and gave her a meek smile. She laughed and turned to Yuffie who was now picking at my claw.
"Yuffie, why don't you leave Vincent be? We don't need you setting off another temper tonight." Yuffie looked at Aeris innocently.
"I don't set people off... Red was just grumpy from being tired...weren't you Red?" I looked from Aeris, to Red, to Yuffie completely confused. Aeris had seen my expression and laughed.
"Oh, you weren't here. Yuffie came into the bar, and was poking red's tattoos, asking a bunch of questions, petting red, and pulling on his tail, and then red snapped." Barret laughed hysterically.
"Oh ya, that was a sight, Red knocking Yuffie across the bar. Ha, ha, ha" Aeris let out a little laugh herself as Yuffie began fuming.
"Oh you have to admit it was funny Yuffie, you flying through the bar." I couldn't help but smile at the thought of Yuffie flying across the bar. Yuffie stormed off up the stairs as everyone began to laugh.
"You're all against me I swear!" when the laughter had calmed down Red was the first to look towards the clock.
"Well, I'd hate to rain on the parade but its beginning to get late, and we're heading through Mount Nibel tomorrow. And for that journey we're all gonna need a goodnights rest. So I highly recommend that we head to bed. Everyone agreed, said their goodnights and disappeared up the stairs. I was left alone with Aeris in the foyer. She sighed and looked at me for a bit before finally speaking.
"Come on, I'll show you to your room, my rooms 304 so it's no problem." I nodded my approval. She began to walk up the stairs. She stopped to look at me still standing in the middle of the room. I was still awestruck at the sight of her beauty. She giggled and waited patiently for me to follow.
"Well? Are you going to come, or stay down here by yourself?" I felt the blood rush to my face when I realized that I hadn't moved and walked to where Aeris stood. She turned and began to walk further up the stairs, motioning me with her hand to follow. "So...Vincent? Why did you decide to come along with us, whereas before you were keener on staying in the mansion?" I looked towards Aeris and Blushed so much that I swear my face looked as if I had just pulled it out of scolding hot water. I couldn't tell her the actual reason why I came along, that would be disturbing for Aeris to know and embarrassing on my part. But I couldn't lie to her. I had to find a way of going around the truth.
"You're right. I was keen on staying in the mansion. But then, there was always something pushing me to leave that mansion, but I always brushed it aside. Then you, Cloud, and Barret walked into my room, and honestly, I was incredibly shocked. For one, I never ever had any visitors, and for another, my room was locked. The only other key to it was hidden in a safe on the other side of the mansion. Not to mention it was guarded by one of Hojo's ghastly old experiments." She laughed and nodded.
"Yah, you never made it easy to get to you." We turned and walked down the hallway on the third floor. "I'm actually really glad that Cloud and Barret were with me. I wouldn't have been able to handle that thing on my own." I was shocked to hear what she had just said. Did she want to come into that mansion alone? She looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to continue with my answer.
"Well, seeing as how three people had made such an effort to try to come and figure out what was in a locked room down in the basement of a mansion, it raised a curiosity inside me. Then on top of that, you are all after Sephiroth, and Sephiroth is indeed tied in with Hojo. I have an old score to settle with Hojo, so I figured what could it hurt to go with you all." Aeris tried her best to suppress a smile but failed to as we stopped at the end of the hall by our rooms.
"Well I'm really glad you came with us Vincent. I feel better knowing that you're not wasting away in a mansion when you don't deserve it. Anyway I hope you get goodnights sleep and we'll be on our way tomorrow. Night Vincent." She opened her door and walked into her room. She gave me one last smile as she closed her door. I took a deep breath and sighed. Thank God I never gave anything away. I walked into my room and shut the door behind me. The room was warm and cozy. There was a bed in the corner of the right wall and on the left there was a small desk. In the back of the room there was a bathroom with a shower. It gave off a much friendly atmosphere than the old mansion did. I walked over to the bed and laid down in the bed. It was quite comfortable. I began to relax and closed my eyes. Visions of Aeris and her smile washed over me and I smiled to myself as I gently feel into a deep sleep.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had just bid Vincent goodnight and shut the door to my room. My heart leapt as I went over the events of the day. Vincent had said that he would not come, and then all of a sudden changed his mind. I found myself practically jumping towards my bed. I had no idea what had come over me. I had never felt such happiness roused inside me before. Not even when I thought about being with Cloud. There was something more with Vincent... I felt drawn to him. I lay down in my bed as I think about how Vincent had walked into the inn, and how he had blushed just a little bit when he had seen me. Normally thoughts of Cloud would flood my head as I would think of me being with him, and living my life with him. But tonight, once again my thoughts were flooded with Vincent. How good he looked in those black clothes. How sexy those crimson eyes were. I sat up straight in my bed. Could I really be falling for Vincent? I couldn't be falling for him. I mean, I had obsessed over cloud for so long now, and then I meet Vincent and I was forgetting about Cloud? No, I couldn't be falling for him. It must be just pure lust since Cloud was going for Tifa at the moment. But regardless of what I told myself, Vincent's face kept on pouring over all other thoughts, and I soon fell asleep dreaming of him and his oh so sexy crimson eyes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And theres the fifth Chapter! Finally up I know I know, I'll do my best to get the sixth one up as soon as possible!