Failed Plans And Gold Fishes, chapter 7
Disclaimer & everything else in chapter 1.
Author's Note: Someone left me an amusingly threatening review for this one, so I decided to finish it. Isn't that strange? Anyway. This is different in style since it's been two years (!) since I last updated this fic, but I hope you like it despite that. It offers a conclusion. There will be no more. Sorry.
It took a few moments for Yuffie to speak.
"I'm leaving."
Nanaki said nothing, just nodded his head. She gazed at the village below them, small figures pacing the streets.
"Where are you going?" Nanaki asked.
"Wherever you're going," she replied.
Wutai. Strange how alien it had suddenly become. The people, holding onto their world's past glory, still hoping for something to come along, some new hope. She had tried to do everything she could for her country to regain its past state of wealth and abundance. She had taken action.
But she was only 16 years old. She couldn't perform miracles. She couldn't get Wutai everything that was needed.
Wutai was fading. Dying in the hands of its citizens who only had hope. It just wasn't enough. None of her efforts were.
The goldfish ceremony was one of the signs that while Wutai held onto old traditions, they didn't try to develop, move on, become something more than they were.
Yuffie had made her choice. Leaving, now, until it would be too late, until she would conform and become one of the Wutaians who didn't care to change for the better.
"You cannot be serious," Nanaki said. His voice was gruff, sort of an unbelieving growl.
"Never been more serious about anything in my life, Red," she said, a bit insulted by his tone.
"You wouldn't be happy elsewhere."
"I would only be miserable in Wutai. Can't be worse elsewhere."
"But you belong here. And I'm going back to the Canyon. You'd hate it here. You might not think so now but with time, you'd want to come back here. Live with your people."
Yuffie snorted. "My people? I have very little in common with them. They don't seem to understand me at all."
"That's just your father. And quite honestly, you two seem to disagree about a lot of things."
"I'm going with you. It's not up for discussion!" she exclaimed, annoyed at the conversation and Red's attitude. He took a few steps toward her.
"I'm not taking you with me, Yuffie."
Tears of frustration started to form in the corners of her eyes and she felt a huge lump in her throat. She couldn't understand why Nanaki was being this awful to her, his condescending attitude and everything. Did he not love her like he had told her?
"I don't care." She folded her arms in an immature manner, biting back the tears.
"Can't you just trust me that I know better? I want to be with you but this. This..." Nanaki trailed off, taking his eyes off her for a while. "This is difficult."
"But not impossible." She shook her head. "Definitely not impossible. I'm still coming with you."
"No, you're not."
And deep inside she knew she wasn't. It was because of that that she sunk to her knees, crying, tears trailing down her hands. Nanaki sat next to her, nudging her shoulder with his nose, and laying his head on her shoulder as she wrapped her hands around him, holding onto his fur.
It took two months for Yuffie to realize some stories didn't have a happy ending.
It took two years for her to realize that they maybe could. After all.
Ending note: Thank you all for reading. I do not consider this fic my best writing, but I am glad it got the positive response it did. And to clarify: The last line refers to Advent Children. No, I don't know what will happen in it. I don't think it'll include hints to this pairing or anything of that sort, but I just thought that maybe, if these two were to meet again, under those conditions, who knows. But I'm not writing it. You'll just have to imagine it.
Oh, and sorry it's not a happy ending. I'm sure some of you wanted that a lot.
