The Aftermath

A Final Fantasy VII Fanfic

By Susycreamcheese

The game of Final Fantasy VII is owned by SquareSoft.

Rated R

Chapter Two

Vincent attempted to ignore Cid's inappropriate vocal outburst by scowling at him and then striding by him.

"Hey, wait a minute, Valentine!" Cid protested. "Aren't you at least gonna say hello? I knew you were cold, but this is ridiculous."

Vincent gazed at him with a look that had been known to paralyze lesser creatures and people of low I.Q. "What do you want?" he demanded in a low, but hostile sounding tone.

"I want you to say hello," explained the pilot.

"Hello," the cloaked man retorted flatly, attempting to walk past Cid again. The blond-haired man placed his strong hand on Vincent's shoulder halting his forward  progress. Vincent scowled at the former Shin-Ra pilot.

"Oh, knock it off, Valentine! You don't scare me with that bullshit."

The dark-haired man allowed some of the tension to flow from his body and he almost smiled for a second.

"Now, that's better," Cid praised. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"It's really not any of your business, but I'll tell you anyway," the man with the red cloak half snarled. "I'm just drifting, looking for work. Can I go now?"

"Not so fast," the blond pilot complained. "Now you're supposed to ask me what I'm doing here."

"But I don't care what you're doing here."

"Fake it," suggested Cid.

"Okay," Vincent spoke in a resigned voice. "What are you doing here?"

"I've met up with Red and we're searching for Cloud and Tifa."

"Tifa and Cloud are missing?" Vincent asked, greatly shocked.

"That's what I just said, or are you growing deaf in your old age?" the Captain grinned at Vincent.

"When did they go missing?" the dark-haired man demanded.

"Come on, we're in the tavern. I'll tell ya all about it after I get a drink in my hand."

As Vincent strided beside Cid as they crossed the town square, his mind was awhirl. He never had cared much for the blond warrior, but his favorite among his comrades had always been Tifa and Vincent was frightened for her. He feared the long arm of Shin-Ra would never be cut off.

Cid threw open the tavern door and Vincent immediately observed Nanaki sitting in the back. It always seemed passing strange to him to see what others thought of as a wild beast sitting in front of a table in a bar. Approaching the table, Vincent slightly bowed to his old friend. "Nanaki," he spoke acknowledging the fire cat.

"Vincent, how have you been, since last we met?" Nanaki asked, growling in his gravely voice.

"Fine," he answered tersely.

Bustling up to the table with two drinks in his hands, Cid exclaimed, "Sit down! You're attracting attention."

Vincent realized that Cid himself and certainly Nanaki being present in a tavern attracted more attention than he did, but he bit his tongue in hopes of shortening this entire conversation, so he could be on his way. There was obviously nothing here in terms of his search for Lucrecia. Vincent seated himself and Cid passed over his drink while sitting also.

"Cheers," Cid declared, while holding his drink up to Vincent.  Vincent just stared at him flatly.

"Still Mr. Personality, huh Vincent?" Cid inquired sarcastically.

"Just get on with it, or is that too much to ask?"

Nanaki spoke quickly hoping to forestall any further difficulties between the pilot and the cloaked man. He realized what they could be like when they became angry with each other. The big cat had witnessed some ugly scenes between the two men previously.

"Cloud and Tifa are missing."

"They're missing? What do you mean they're missing?" questioned Vincent in an incredulous tone.

"They're not where they're supposed to be, cloak boy," Cid sneered. "That's why we said they're missing."

Vincent totally ignored Cid and turned his attention to Nanaki. "How did you find this out?" he asked the large cat.

"As you know, Tifa insisted they settle back in the Midgar slums in order to help rebuild them. I was in Midgar in order to visit Aeris's shrine at the church and decided to drop in on them."

"Oh," Vincent breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought something had happened. They probably just went somewhere on a trip."

"Oh sure, cloak boy, they went to spend a week vacationing at Wutai," Cid suggested sarcastically.

"Quit calling me that," Vincent snarled.

"Oh ok, sorry," the pilot muttered, which was as much as an apology that one would ever receive from Cid.

Nanaki attempted to break the tension. "No one in the neighborhood knew anything of any plans they might have had to go anywhere and usually if they did go away for a day or so, Tifa would leave someone in charge of the bar. They really couldn't afford to have it closed, even for one day."

"Well, what's our plan?" inquired Vincent.

"Our?" Cid echoed. "Don't tell me you give a shit?"

Vincent managed to appear indignant. "I've always considered them my friends."

"You mean Tifa, don't you?" asked Cid, while raising an eyebrow.

Before Vincent could respond in quite possibly an angry manner, Nanaki explained, "We came here first, because this is their home town and we thought if they went anywhere to visit, it might be here. But we've been here over a day and nobody has seen or heard from them. So we've decided to go back to Midgar and look more closely in the other sectors."

"Okay," Vincent agreed. "When do we leave?"

"As soon as possible," Cid answered tersely for once.