Disclaimer – Prologue.

I actually have no commentary for this chapter. Figure that.

Let That be Enough by Switchfoot
Wish I had what I needed
To be on my own
'Cause I feel so defeated
And I'm feeling alone

Chapter 5 – Boxed Inside Hazy Memories

She slowly allowed her eyelids to flutter open, and she instantly winced as the pain crashed against her like a violent tidal wave, why did her head hurt so much? Better question, why was it so dark? Was she dead? Maybe the snow killed them all as she thought it would. Maybe her body had finally given into the dreadful cold, and it froze over, her heart slowing, her breathing coming to a stop. She was too damned young to die, in fact if she was dead, as she assumed she was, she was going to find that damned grim reaper and kick his ass. Dumb bastard, how dare he?

Actually, she was quite comfy. Something soft was under her, and covers snuggled around her tiny form, giving her warmth. Maybe she wasn't dead after all. What luck.

Yuffie rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and she sat up. Her vision was blurry, like she had been sleeping for a decade and was relearning how to see again. What an unpleasant though, who would want to sleep for a decade? She looked over to the bed next to her, and there was Mr. Happy, still unconscious on the bed.

Oh.

She pushed herself off the bed and tried to stand. Her legs hurt more than she cared to think about, and she almost regretted moving at all. She wasn't liking the side effects to that shitty tranquilizer they gave her. They. Who were they?

"Stupid creeps, if I ever see them again, I'll beat them down so hard that they'll never be able to—hey, where's my materia? My weapons? Wait, screw it all, what about my clothes?" she muttered to herself, looking down at the white dress that ended a little before her feet. It was sleeveless and goose bumps paraded along her exposed arms.

She made a sound that sounded a bit like a growl, and walked over to Vincent's bed. She leaned over enough to jab the man roughly in the chest, expecting an immediate response. The man didn't so much as flinch, and he was as stiff as a board.

"Vincent, this is no time for napping. Haven't you napped enough? You've already slept most of your life away, wake up!" she said loudly, and flicked him in the nose. Nothing.

"For god's sake, there's no way you're this deep of a sleeper. You're breathing, so you're not dead. How much of that stuff did they pump you with? You know what? I don't care. Wake up now. Wake up or else…" she said, and crossed her cool arms across her chest.

"Oh, I know, you're testing me. Doing this just to bother me. Getting revenge on poor old me, all because I told you to carry me. Not like I was that much of a burden anyway. I'm a skinny little thing, as light as a feather, give me a break," she snapped, and smacked him in the arm. Nothing again.

"Ok Vincent, this is starting to get a bit annoying. God. Don't make me slap you. I'll do it, I swear," she growled, and waited a few moments to see if he'd give up his supposed little game of 'Torment the Yuffie'. When he didn't open his eyes, she snapped. "Fine, fine! You asked for it."

Just as she went to slap him, his eyelids jolted open, and he caught her wrist with his human hand. He glared up at her, and continued to hold tightly onto her tiny wrist, despite her struggles to get him to release it.

"What do you think you are doing?" he asked her, annoyance tinting his voice.

"You wouldn't wake up, and it was beginning to make me mad. I gave you fair warning. Not my fault at all," she retorted, and he released her wrist, shaking his head, as if he couldn't believe what she had just told him.

"Where's Red?" he asked, looking around the dimly lit room, and Yuffie shrugged her bony shoulders.

"How am I supposed to know? I was too busy trying to wake you up to go and find him," she replied, and he just shook his head once more.

He pushed himself out of the bed, rolled his neck and shoulders to get the kinks out of them, and then made his way across the room towards the door. Yuffie followed him, and just noticed that his usual black clothes with his overdramatic crimson cape and golden shoes had disappeared as well. Not to mention his crimson headband, which kept the hair from falling out of his face most of the time.

Seeing Vincent without his headband made her realise that she was missing hers. Now that was just going way too far. When she met these people, she was going to have to break out a can of whoop ass. Oh yeah. They'd quiver under the wrath of the great and powerful Yuffie.

The new clothes he got were rather different from what he usually wore. A white button-up shirt, accompanied with a pair of matching pants, which must have been two sizes too large, for they were barely clinging onto his bony hips. He was actually looking pretty normal, well, aside from the nifty golden claw, and the garnet eyes.

"Hey, Vinnie, nice new clothes," she said, and he paused before looking down at himself, apparently not noticing his new wardrobe until that second.

"Hmm. Interesting selection," he muttered coldly, clearly as annoyed as she was that his usual clothes selection had gone astray.

"Why'd you get pants, and I get jipped off with this stupid dress?" she muttered, looking down at the clothing with complete disgust.

"Hmm," was all he replied with, and he looked at her for a moment, just realising that she indeed was wearing a dress. Interesting sight.

He twisted at the door knob, to find it unlocked, and easily pulled the door open. Opening the door let in a cool draft, and it weaved around Yuffie's bare skin, causing her to involuntarily shiver. Stupid cold, why was it always cold?

As she stepped outside the room, she realised that they had exited into a hallway, one as dimly lit as the room they had just left behind. The air was chilly, bordering on sheer coldness, and she missed the warmth of Vincent's garnet cloak that had been draped around her shoulders not all that long ago.

"Vincent, where're we going?" she asked, and Vincent twisted around, and put a finger to his lips.

She sighed, but didn't say any more, though curiosity ran through her in sudden jolts, like tiny thunderbolts coursing through her veins. She looked around, her large stormy eyes taking in every detail, almost imprinting it into her memory, despite how she saw so little credits to the poor lighting of the room.

They came to a door, the only one they'd seen down the long corridor. Vincent cautiously put his hand on the cooled door handle, as if expecting it to spontaneously combust at contact. He slowly twisted the knob, and opened the door.

Light poured into the corridor, and Vincent walked into the new room, Yuffie trailing closely behind him like his shadow. The room was also empty, but it was spotless, no cobwebs or dust at any edge of the room, and a faint scent of vanilla hovered at Yuffie's nose. It made her aware that the room had not, by any means, been abandoned. Someone had cared enough to clean the room, make sure that every inch was spotless, and not to mention that it smelled fairly nice.

Every inch of the walls were occupied by windows, excluding the two portions that had doors, the one they had just walked through, and the one directly across the room from them. The ninja crept closer to the series of windows to her left, and she gazed out of them with curiosity, the man watching her with mild interest.

Her stormy eyes scanned outside, and her voice caught in her throat. She then twisted around, and walked over to the series of windows on the opposite side. They were in the centre of… a village of sorts, one that she had never in her lifetime seen, even on her journey with AVALANCHE. There were some people walking around on the ground, and everyone wore white, nothing but white, as if they had never discovered the wonders of colour dye. Speaking of white, the town was surrounded by ice and snow, but the town itself didn't have an inch of it, none on the rooftops, nor down in the streets.

"What the hell is up with this?" she muttered, her voice a little above a whisper.

Vincent watched her as her face entertained a wide array of emotions, ranging from confusion, to annoyance, back to confusion, and to amazement. She was like an open book and it was impossible not to notice everything she felt. It couldn't have been more obvious had she been holding a neon pink sign that described every emotion she felt at any given moment.

"What is this place?" she asked, her tone filled with complete and utter amazement. Her eyes met Vincent's face, and the look in them was asking—no, demanding answers.

"I wouldn't know. I've never seen such a thing," he said, bloodstained eyes breaking away from her face and looking out the window. "It's a very odd sight indeed. Look how the snow seems to coil around the town, but never once enter it. Very… strange."

"You can say that again," she muttered, walking closer to the glass. From a certain angle, she probably would have looked like she was pressing her face against it, like an eager child.

He looked over at her once more, and just realised how much older she was from how he remembered her. She was going to be eighteen in a few months. Eighteen already. Soon the two year mark since Sephiroth would come to pass. Has it been so long already? My, how time flies by when you're drowning in your self pity.

She seemed the same, aside from those surges of sudden maturity that always seems to shock everyone. Physically she looked more mature, the dress seemed to fit her nicely, as he assumed her regular clothes did. She was much prettier, in fact, perhaps even beautiful. He had never thought her to be ugly, she looked fine before, albeit a bit awkward, but nothing compared to how she looked now, merely a late bloomer. My, how much a year could change someone.

She was still a hyperactive pest that ate away at the control of his temper, and maybe she'd always be like that. She angered him so frequently, but he still liked her to a certain extent, everyone in their little group did, for one reason or another.

She looked at him, eyebrow cocked. "What? Something in my hair?" and asked, and as she asked that question, she ran a hand through her raven hair. He hadn't realised that he'd been staring.

He didn't answer, just looked back out the window, and delved his hand into his pant pocket, letting his claw hang at his side, almost lifelessly. He was beginning to miss his old clothes, particularly his cape.

They both heard the door open, and turned towards it in unison. Inside stepped a young woman, probably only a year or two younger than Yuffie. They both watched her with blank faces, and the ninja resisted the urge to cock her eyebrow at the girl, who looked surprised to see them standing there.

"Oh, you're up, we didn't know—well, we thought you'd be out for a little longer," she said, trying very hard to smile, though the effort looked obviously forced, and as fake and plastic-like as could be.

The girl was very plain, light brown hair, fair skin, soft features, and would have been extremely boring looking, had she not had those almond shaped eyes, with striking green irises. Without those fascinating eyes, she would have been someone who could have easily faded into the crowd, and been forgotten.

"That's just great, who the hell are you, and where are we? Wait, wait, better question, why did you idiots knock us out? Could have just asked us to come along, and we would have, but noooo," growled Yuffie, words flying out of her mouth before she even got a chance to think about them.

"Calm down Yuffie, you're just scaring her," said Vincent, voice lowered to a whisper, and he gripped her arm loosely, as a gesture that he hoped would aid in calming her.

She froze, feeling Vincent touch her in any way was a complete shock, almost a miracle in her point of view. He was against touching in every way, and avoided it at all cost. Maybe this meant they were becoming better friends, or maybe he knew that her shock would shut her up. Either way, it worked as he'd wanted it to.

"Anyhow, where is our other companion? Red XIII is his name, he looks like a large red cat with a flame on his tail. He's rather noticeable," asked Vincent, and the girl just stared at him with wide eyes.

She didn't answer for a few minutes, and the ninja was beginning to get a little irritated, and just as she opened her mouth to tell her to spit it out, the girl spoke.

"I believe he's already up and about, though I don't really know exactly where he is. You two have to come with me. My name is Bella," she said, her words cautious, and she looked wary of the two companions.

"Why should we? What're you going to do if we don't?" asked Yuffie, crossing her arms arrogantly.

Bella froze, that response clearly unexpected. Vincent felt the urge to rub his temples as he felt a headache plough through him. It was most certainly not the best time to be starting a fight with some random citizen from a town that they hadn't even known existed.

"Well, you don't exactly have much of a choice. You don't know where you're going, and if you want to know why you're here, you'll come with me," she stated logically, and shrugged her shoulders, though there was a gleam in her eye of annoyance that was as plain as the light of day.

Yuffie sighed, and rolled her eyes, annoyed that she didn't get the response she'd expected, and wanted. However, she was even more annoyed that that the girl was looking at her like that. Who did she think she was?

"Whatever, let's go," said Yuffie, sending a cool glare to Bella, and the girl twisted around and walked out, the two companions following her.

Vincent released her arm, but remained walking at her side, crimson eyes fixed intently on the girl. He was wary about her, but she was right, they had no choice. So he'd be on his guard, well, more so than usual, and he'd be sure that nothing happened to them.

They turned and walked through numerous rooms, walked down a set of stairs, and continued to walk until they entered a room that was painted a deep emerald, with black marble floors. Would you know it, colour.

In the room there was a middle aged woman, her hair tied back into a tight ponytail, silvery blond strands that were too short to be tied back falling into her face. Her eyes were a deep brown, and her skin was as pale as the girls, although it held an olive tone to it, which suggested that she was merely sun deprived, and that her skin wasn't naturally that light.

Before the woman was Red, his fiery fur clashing with the black and emerald green of the room. The minute he realised their presence, he spun around, golden eyes flying from the gunslinger's face, to the ninja's, and back again.

"Vincent. Yuffie," was his greeting, and it was accompanied with a nod.

"Ah, good, you're awake," she said, the smile on her face slowly fading away. "You're probably wondering what you're doing here."

"Nice guess," muttered Yuffie sarcastically, looking at the woman with enough resentment that the woman looked taken aback for a moment or so.

"Now, now, no need to get angry-"

"I think we have every right to be angry, we were randomly shot in the neck with tranquilizers, and then we were taken here, and you asshats stripped us bare and put on these shit clothes instead. You took away our weapons, and even more importantly, you took my damned mastered materia. Oh yeah, I'm mad," she said, her voice reaching the point where she was shouting, and for an instant, Vincent felt amused. Although his flicker of amusement was quickly squashed as his headache became increasingly painful, and the amusement was replaced by severe annoyance.

The woman looked over at him. "Could you please calm her?"

"Afraid not, I agree with everything she just…yelled," he said, and for the second time that day, he resisted the urge to rub his temples.

She sighed. "Well all that was for logical reasons. We feared you'd resist us if we just nicely asked, which you probably would have. It was just quicker to knock you out. Your clothes were soaked, and you would have gotten hypothermia had we not changed them. We took your weapons and materia in fear that you'd go on a rampage and start harming people who got in your path."

"Whatever," growled Yuffie, more resentment for the woman filling her eyes.

"Who are you? Why bring us here?" asked Red, ignoring Yuffie's distaste for her.

"My name is Mara, and we're here because we were told to bring you here," she said simply, her words accompanied with a shrug.

"By who?" he asked, and Mara didn't answer for a long while.

"I…don't know her name. She never told it to me. She wanted to talk to…well, to you," she said, looking directly at Yuffie, who just blinked at her, taking a few minutes to register what she'd just said.

"Some freak told you guys to come get us, just so she could talk to me? Why me, and about what?" asked Yuffie, putting her hands on her hips.

"I don't know, and I wouldn't know. I never asked, and she never told."

"Well, I shouldn't disappoint her, where is she?" asked Yuffie, arrogant smile seeping onto her tanned face.

"Through the door behind me," she said, jerking her head around, and Yuffie looked over her shoulder to see an ivory door implanted into the wall, just waiting to be opened.

Yuffie went to make her way towards the door, her head cocked high, no fear or even cautiousness flying across her face. She was far too arrogant and confident for her own good. Vincent grabbed her arm, and she looked appalled, two touches in one day. There really was a god.

"Just Yuffie?" he asked, looking at the brown eyed woman, and she nodded her head robotically.

"Will she be safe? She has no weapons or materia," he asked, and Mara nodded her head with that same robotic type motion.

"Of course, there's nothing that could remotely harm her inside there."

"For your sake, you'd better hope not," he said, distrust glowing in his crimson eyes, like two well lit flames.

"Oh god, no worries Vinnie, I can take care of myself. Anything comes near me and I'll give them the old 'Hi-ya!'," she replied, with martial art movements to accompany the words as they fled her mouth.

He sighed, her words providing little comfort. For that matter, they probably made him feel more anxious. He released her arm, and she made her way across the room. She gave Red a nice pat on the head, as you would a dog, as she passed by, earning a growl of annoyance from him.

She twisted the doorknob, and walked inside, closing the door behind her. The room was black, there was no light at all, and she stood there feeling instantly irritated. This must have been some kind of a joke, there was no one here, it was dark, and it was cold. Curse them.

Just as she turned to leave and expose their joke, she saw something. A glimmer of emerald light created from nothing. It lit the room faintly, and she watched the tiny light. It resembled a firefly, albeit a tiny one. The firefly-like substance began to expand, and took a human-like shape. The human face it created began to carve out features, and the body began to develop curves.

Then it lastly developed colour other than emerald, and finally it was finished. What Yuffie saw, the creation her eyes were fixated on, shocked her. She had to close her eyes, shake her head, and look back to make sure that she wasn't dreaming. Those eyes, that face, she knew it so well.

"Aeris, what… how? Is it really… could it be?" her words were caught in her throat, and she didn't know what to say, or rather, where to start, because she had too many things she wanted to say.

The woman smiled that same smile the ninja had come to know so well, that calming, gentle smile. She nodded her head, and for a second, there were no words, they only stared at each other.

"It's been a long time Yuffie, I'm glad to see you. You've grown since…then," she said pleasantly.

"But how, how can you talk to me? You're… you're dead," asked Yuffie, struggling to get the words to escape her mouth, not a problem she had commonly had.

"This is a sacred place, these people are as pure as you get. They're unexposed to the corruption of the world. They're, hmm, how do I explain? They're almost like our helpers. This place, it's protected, the Lifestream protects them from the elements, and from outsiders in exchange for them doing their best to help us when we need it. Others can't see this town. Oh, it's difficult to explain. Do you at least somewhat understand what I'm trying to say?"

"Yeah… yeah. This is a pure place, so this is where you teleport, or whatever it is, if you have to, and we've never seen this place because it's shielded. Is that about it in a nutshell?"

"Close enough, I guess."

"I can't believe it. I've—we've missed you so much Aeris, and here you are. God… but anyway, you didn't want to talk to me just for some friendly chit-chat, right?" she asked, getting more relaxed, and she crossed her arms, a half-smile slowly forming on her lips. Aeris nodded.

"I need to give you something, and you have to have it to destroy that man. The one that's the cause of all this. You should know, he's nothing more than a poisoned soul, but when you kill someone, you only kill the body, not the soul. The body is only a host for the soul. No tool of this world can kill a it, aside from maybe Vincent's Chaos, since he's not exactly from this world, but let's not go into that," she explained, her tone wary.

"So you're going to give me some supernatural weapon that's going to look incredibly awesome, and make other people go 'Wow!'?" she asked, eyes already glowing with sudden desire.

"Not quite. Rather, I'm going to… lend you some abilities. After he's gone, they'll fade away as if you'd never had them," she explained, and Yuffie frowned, suddenly disappointed for a moment or so.

"Oh, alright, I suppose that could be cool too," she said with a sigh.

"Yuffie… I'm sorry. I didn't want to get you involved, but it couldn't be anyone else. You were the only one close enough to get to within a fair amount of time, and one of the few I trust. You should know that neither Nanaki or Vincent could be used. Vincent has Chaos, and that just won't work, and Nanaki isn't human. I'm sorry," she said, slight sadness tinged her voice.

"Sorry? Why are you sorry? All you're doing is lending me some nifty powers," said Yuffie, bewildered.

Then came the answer to her questions as Aeris touched her cheek. Pain engulfed her, and it was like being set on fire, being electrocuted, and then being doused with acid all at once. The pain filled her insides up the rim, and poured over onto her flesh. Her body was tingling with such sudden pain, and for a moment, her screams were caught in her throat. Her eyes were what looked to be impossibly wide, and they showed with nothing but sheer, intolerable pain.

"I'm sorry Yuffie, I'm so sorry," said Aeris, and it was filled with such sincerity that no one could have stayed mad at her. Not that the extreme pain ever gave the ninja a chance to even begin to become angry with her.

Finally, the scream broke loose, and it was so loud that the people in the Kalm must have heard it. The sound echoed through the building, and she continued to scream that ear-shattering sound. It hurt so bad, and she couldn't think, couldn't move, couldn't even breathe.

Vincent instantly became infuriated, concerned, and perplexed all at once, and sent a look of death towards Mara, who looked completely shocked at the new sound. It sounded like something was killing her. If that was the case, someone was surely going to pay, and It would not be a pretty sight.

Vincent bolted passed Mara, Red trailing closely behind him, and they opened the door, then darted inside with what would seem to be an impossible speed. Just as they entered, Aeris faded away, and mouthed one last apology to the ninja, though she knew that the ninja never caught it.

The sounds came to a stop when she ran out of air, and tried to breathe, though found that it hurt unimaginably. Her breaths were quick and shallow, and found that it didn't provide her with nearly enough oxygen, and her stormy eyes, glazed over with pain, rolled to the back of her head, and she began to fall.

She never hit the floor, for two arms caught her at the last instant.

Vincent held her unconscious form, and watched as her breathing instantly began to deepen, as she wasn't there to experience the pain any longer, and he was grateful for that. His dark ebon locks fell into his pale face as anxiousness ate at him. She was alive, there was no blood, and yet she screamed like someone was mutilating her. What had happened?

Red padded over to the pair, and nuzzled Yuffie's hand, which was limply hanging above him. The young woman didn't so much as twitch. He hesitated before talking, and looked over at Vincent who was staring at her, worry pinned against his face. Considering that Vincent never let his emotions become exposed, this was an odd sight indeed.

"Will she be ok?" he asked, and Vincent broke his gaze on the ninja's face to look at the crimson beast.

"I do not know. She doesn't look hurt, but by the way she was screaming…" he replied, emotionless façade flying back up almost immediately.

"She's unconscious?" asked a voice from the doorway, and Vincent's eyes flew to the source like an infuriated rabid dog.

Mara was standing there, aware of Vincent's wrath, but didn't run away like a coward. She'd said that the ninja wouldn't be hurt. Clearly she'd been wrong, and that would have been perceived as lying, and she deserved whatever she had coming to her.

"You said she wouldn't be hurt, you ignorant bitch, look what you've done," said Vincent, his voice low and dangerous.

Red watching the man curiously, Vincent rarely cursed, although his cursing was indeed justified. Even he felt the need to douse the woman in curse words, and the only thing that stopped him was the fact that Vincent was doing it in his place. His companion had been screaming bloody murder, and she was now unconscious. Yes, it was justified, although, it was hardly the woman's fault that it had happened. She had no idea what was going on, and she wasn't the one who caused it. Logic was a pain.

"I didn't know that she'd be hurt. It wasn't supposed to be that way," she said, her voice barely audible.

"I don't particularly care," he growled, and he began to make his way out of the room, but paused a few feet away from her.

"You're not to come within ten feet of her ever again, I don't care that you didn't directly cause this, I really don't. If you ever so much as touch her, I will personally see that you will regret it," those words were like ice, and she knew that he meant every word, and she backed away from the doorway.

They walked out of the room, and Vincent caught sight of Bella standing across the emerald room. She looked at him, terrified of his fury, as she must have heard his venomous words. He looked at her, bloodstained eyes still filled with ruthless anger, and she seemed to shrink under his cold, unwavering gaze.

"Show me where the closest bedrooms are," he ordered, and the moment the command left his lips, she was off, and they followed.

The closest room with a bed happened to be out the doors behind the girl, and down the corridor all the way until the end, through a pair of double doors. They entered a room that was painted cerulean, with hardwood floors. There was a single king sized bed with matching covers, and Vincent walked over to it. The moment they were in the room, the girl fled quickly.

He somehow managed to pull back the covers, without putting down Yuffie, and then place her on the bed, pulling the deep blue covers up to her chin. Red laid himself down on the floor, and watched Yuffie's unconscious form as if his life depended on it.

Vincent finally rubbed his temples, his headache breaking out into a full out migraine, and he couldn't remember the last time he'd been so stressed. He sat at the edge of the bed, and looked around the room. A window, though it was covered by matching blinds, a dresser, a nightstand next to the bed, with a lamp on it, and another door that led who-knows-where. It wasn't very… appealing.

There was a knock on the open door, and the pair looked over at it. There was Bella, all their clothes and weapons held in her arms. She didn't dare look at any of them. She kept her eyes downward, put the items on the bed, and hurried out.

He reached over the bed to his pants, and pulled out the PHS, which he immediately flipped open, and tested for the signal. It was there. He dialled in the number for Cloud's PHS, and listened to the ringing before the blond man answered.

"Yeah?" said an exhausted voice.

"We have something that you'd probably like to know."

"Oh? What?"

"Victor Morales, we believe he's the cause to all this. We found a journal at the mansion, and Hojo mentioned him, as well as his supposedly impossible plans and ideas for the Lifestream. He didn't expand on them, but it is pretty well the only thing we found that was even remotely similar to what's occurring."

"Ok, we'll ask around when we get to Icicle Inn, maybe we can get some information from the Turks. Their data banks on their computers should have something that deals with him," stated Cloud, his words accompanied with a sigh.

"There's something else that you should know-" static began to crackle in, "-Cloud, can you hear me? We were taken somewhere, a place I have never before seen in all my life, and-" cut off. The connection was broken.

He sighed, and closed the PHS, and returned it to his pants pocket.

Red looked up at him, golden eye filled with curiosity, though he didn't speak. He immediately came to the conclusion that something had interfered with the connection, and he put his head back down.

Vincent looked over at Yuffie, the ninja's face was blank, almost as if she was numbed. It seemed strange not to see something crossing over Yuffie's face, an emotion of sorts. Even while she slept, she had emotions flying over her face. Not anymore.

Cloud gripped onto the phone tightly with his free hand, Vincent's call just being cut off, and curiosity tore at his mind. What had he been saying? Where were they? Was something wrong? Questions flew through his head at a million miles a minute, and he felt an array of emotions bound together so tightly that he couldn't even begin to tell them apart.

Snow flew into his face, and he closed his eyes tightly as they began to burn. The cold felt like acid against his flesh, but he had no choice but to ignore it. The chocobo was having a hell of a time running across the icy ground, but still somehow managed. There was snow caught in between and over its feathers, and it was beginning to compile, so that it looked like the start of a very interesting snowman…or snow-bird, if you will.

He opened his azure eyes, and they trailed to his companion's face, and she looked to be having about as fun of a time as he was. Her eyes were closed so tightly that it looked painful, and she clutched the reins firmly, and he imagined her knuckles would have been a striking white, although the gloves prohibited him from seeing himself.

He tucked the cell phone into his pocket, and grasped onto the chocobo reins as tightly as she was. Heaven forbid they should be bucked off the golden beasts, and go spilling out onto the snow kissed ground. That would be a horrid thing indeed.

In the distance, peaking through breaks between the snowflakes, he saw Icicle Inn in the distance, its shape blurry, almost too blurry to make out, but he hoped that's what it was, he refused to believe otherwise. Hope made you feel and believe many things, for better or for worst. It fed you lies, knowing you'd believe them willingly, but anything, even believing that false hope that was riddled with lies, was better than just giving up. Anything was better than just giving up.

The chocobos neared the town, and he heard Tifa sigh loudly in relief, and looked over to the brunette once again. She looked more relaxed, her eyelids opening to a thin slit, so that she could see a fair amount, and her hands were loosely holding onto the reins. She looked over at him, feeling his gaze trail along her face. She smiled faintly, looking almost pleased to finally come to the town.

The two golden birds trotted into the town, and their masters soon brought them to a halt. Both Cloud and Tifa slid off the beasts in unison, the blond man grabbing the duffle bag attached to the saddle before stepping back a few paces to look at the birds, and he slightly tilted his head.

"Both of you go find shelter somewhere, we might be a long while. You don't want to turn into bird-sicles, eh?" said Cloud grinning, and the birds looked as if they understood every word he'd said, and they trotted off into the town.

Tifa looked amused and amazed all at once. Every time she saw it happen, she just couldn't believe it. It looked as if chocobos really weren't as idiotic as they had first appeared to be. A shocking realisation indeed.

"Where are we going to go?" asking Tifa, and Cloud was silent for a few moments, as if pondering her question thoroughly.

"We'd better check into the Inn, maybe the clerk'll tell us if they've seen the Turks roaming about," said Cloud with a shrug, and Tifa nodded her head in agreement.

They walked through the town, and Tifa pulled her winter jacket tighter around her, trying to drive away the cold, although the attempt was futile. The cold would never go away, never leave. It wasn't just physically either, she was cold… everywhere. Her mind was frozen and numbed from so many horrid memories. There was death… so much death… unrequited emotions… so much more death. Why did her memories feel so jumbled?

She shook her head so hard that had Cloud been looking at her, he might have been worried about her getting whiplash. She didn't want to think of her past, not now. She'd have to come to terms with it, she knew that, but… but, not now.

She was so lost in her thoughts, she had succumbed to her memories, despite her desperateness to avoid them at all costs for the time being, and her eyes became glazed over. She was oblivious to everything around her, and ignored it as the pin needles of cold on hovered along her exposed flesh, as her watered down hair beginning to freeze over into tiny icicles, and hung in her pale face.

She hit ice, and she slipped forward, coming back to herself instantly, and temporarily forgetting her thoughts. She then grabbed onto the nearest things so not to fall flat on her behind. Her right hand caught Cloud's shoulder, while the other gripped onto the wall. She panted, the surprise catching the breath right out of her, and she closed her eyes, concentrating on calming herself, and her heartbeat, which was going a million miles a minute. Cloud watched the woman inquisitively, but said nothing.

Tifa opened her russet eyes once more, and looked into his bewildered face. She turned away, releasing her tight grip on his shoulder, and letting both of her hands fall back limply to her side. She looked back up at him again, trying to keep her face neutral and emotionless, though that trait was not something she had mastered in the least. Memories came back to her, things about Cloud, and... not her. The feelings that she kept locked inside broke free, and there she was, vulnerable and pained. She looked to the ground, refusing to let him see, but he did, though it wasn't a good enough look for him understand what he'd seen. He didn't comprehend that what he saw was everything she was, everything that she felt, and everything she tried to hide.

"Hey, Tifa, everything ok?" he asked, his voice soft, gentle, and she nodded her head robotically, but didn't dare look at him. She couldn't, she couldn't let him see. She wasn't ready yet.

"I'm fine, let's go," she said, her voice cold and hard as she forced back everything, and forced herself to remain neutral, forbidding herself to do anything else.

She began to walk forward, arms crossing against her chest in a motion that was more for protection than for warmth. The vulnerability was still there, she was defenceless, and being vulnerable made her feel weak. If anything, she wasn't weak, she refused to be weak. Never again.

Cloud may act like a dunderhead from time to time, and can be oblivious to most things around him even more often, but he knew that something was wrong with his comrade, and he couldn't help but be anxious for her. The way she suddenly became cold, and that odd look filled with things he never got a chance to read. It bothered him, but he dared not pursue the subject, the last thing he needed was an argument with her. This wasn't the best of days to be arguing.

He dug his hands into his pockets, feeling the PHS' form through his leather gloves, and he began to trail behind her, watching her as she walked before him. He could have easily quickened the pace and closed the gap between him, but he didn't. She looked like she needed a little time to herself, and he could at least give her that much.

Tifa ignored the plaguing thoughts that returned to her as soon as she had walked off, her neutral façade crumbling in little time. She refused to think about it again, but ignoring them was just as bad as actually listening to the persistent thoughts. She felt… exhausted, despite how most of their journey had been via chocobo, but it wasn't a physical type of exhaustion, it was emotionally. She had forgotten how draining those types of memories and thoughts could be. She hadn't recently had much time to think about much of anything, they'd been busy as can be, but now…

She shook her head hard again, and set her mind on finding the Inn. If she concentrated on something else, she could ignore them. Maybe that would be the best thing to do.

She looked around the town, which was pretty well decorated in white, until she caught sight of a huge sign that stood out among the sheer whiteness of the snow. It read 'Inn' and her insides did a back flip of happiness. The Inn was bound to be warm, and that's just what she wanted, warmth.

She walked inside the building, and was instantly bombarded with the warmth she'd wanted. She paused, feeling it as it chased away all the cold, or at least, the cold that she felt physically. Cloud walked in behind her, and moved to her side, and the pair made their way up to the desk. There a teenage boy sat reading a book intently, glasses fallen to the tip of his nose.

Cloud made a sound at the back of his throat to grab the boy's attention, and he looked up instantly, surprised by their presence. He turned to book over, and set it down gently so not to lose his page. Cloud cared to notice that wore a golden name tag, and the name indented into it was Eric.

"Sorry. Checking in? One room, one bed?" he asked, tapping his fingers impatiently on the counter, and Cloud blinked at him.

"One room, two beds," he stated, and the boy looked at Tifa for a second or two, as if sizing her up, and then looked back at Cloud, his hazel eyes blank.

"Alright then," Eric said with a shrug, then turned around and grabbed a key off the hook, and handed it to the blond man, who then handed him a pile of gil in turn.

"Pleasure doing business with you," muttered the boy unenthusiastically, flipping back over to book, and returning to his reading.

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Excuse me?"

"What?" said the boy, clearly irritated at having been interrupted once again.

"Have you seen a group of Turks around here recently? Maybe accompanied by a robotic cat?" asked Cloud, and the boy visibly twitched.

"Sadly, yes. They're not here right now, but they checked in a while ago. I don't know where they went, so don't bother asking," he said, his tone even more irritable, and Cloud resisted the urge to smack him upside the head.

Cloud didn't bother to say anything more, he just went upstairs, tossed the duffle bag into their room, barely giving it a glance, and returned back to the lobby where his companion waited. Cloud sent the boy a deadly look, before he exited the Inn, Tifa trailing closely behind him as his second shadow.

If he were a Turk, where would he be? Certainly not here, stupid question. If he were Reno, where would he be? Any local bar. Cloud tried to think of any other place where the redhead might reside for a few hours, but no other place could come to mind.

He looked down the street, where, if his memory served him right, a bar would be. He walked down the streets, occasionally looking over at his shoulder at the silent femme fighter, who was doing all she could to avoid his gaze. He sighed, rubbed the back of his neck, but didn't dare break the veil of silence that had fallen upon them.

He stopped as he found what he was looking for, the sign was frozen over with a thick sheet of ice, but he knew that this was the place, or it had better be.

"I'm getting tired of going into bars," muttered Tifa, shattering the silence with ease.

"What about yours?" he asked, faint grin coming upon his face.

"It doesn't apply," she retorted, and he held back a laugh of faint amusement.

He hadn't laughed out of sheer amusement in what felt to be forever, it seemed that there just wasn't much to laugh about anymore. Happiness was a rare thing now-a-days, and when you had it, you had to grip onto it, and hold it as tightly as you could, because once it leaves, it's very hard to get it to return.

I think this is one of my longer chapters so far. I preferred the first part, with Vincent and Yuffie, far more than the one with Cloud and Tifa.

As per usual, I must give thanks to all who reviewed that last chapter, because it's really awesome.

I also think everyone should know that I don't particularly like the ruler break... thing, but my '-' thingamabobber doesn't seem to work any longer. Saddening. Maybe I'm just doing something wrong ;.; Hmn, who'd have known.

And, I mustn't forget to mention that constructive criticism is always appreciated (which I must thank Mistress Delavaire for, hehe)