Disclaimer – Prologue

My, this was a difficult chapter to write. I'm still trying to get the hang of the fight scenes, heh. I haven't done too many of them, if you hadn't noticed XD. Please tell me if there's something that I could add or change that would increase the effectiveness of them.

Miracle – Vertical Horizon
Is there a trace,
Inside her face,
Of a lonely miracle?
And so you wait,
And lie awake,
For a lonely miracle

Chapter 7 – Through Frayed Pages

The trio quietly waltzed through the town, both Yuffie and Vincent holding the reins to their golden birds, Red trailing not far behind them. The ninja wore her olive and obsidian parka, as well as her other articles of winter clothing that they had graced her with. All of it fit her with a sheer perfection, as if it had been tailor made especially for her, clinging to her like a glove.

Red also wore his snow equipment, and the moment that Yuffie caught sight of it, she began to laugh hysterically, as if it were the funniest sight in the world. Well, if it wasn't the funniest, it sure ranked top ten, because seeing him pad around in a puffy, white jacket, with little matching mittens on his paws was something that would have looked entertaining to anyone.

Vincent, on the other hand, didn't even bother to put on his jacket, insisting that he wouldn't be cold, despite Yuffie's persistent badgering which were insisting the contrary. In the end, Vincent's stubbornness won over Yuffie's hassling, something of which the ninja was not at all pleased about. She'd get her revenge… one day. Oh yes.

The sight of the three beings was one that drew much attention, people stopped in the streets to see the ninja dressed in green with a giant weapon, the pale, dangerous looking man, and the red beast that followed closely. This sight was a change from their norm, for most of them looked similar, all dressed in white, and soft, innocent, almost childlike facial features, despite their varying ages. Seeing a trio that looked entirely different from them was indeed awe-inspiring.

They came to the borders of the town, causing the ninja to pause in her tracks, and glanced over her shoulder at the near silent town. The only sounds were the quiet voices of the towns people, conversing happily, and the winter breeze outside the borders. After she left, would she never see that place again? Would it be lost from her eyes once more? Would she forget about it, as if it had been erased from her memory?

She didn't want to leave, not that she would ever admit that. She would just snort to herself, and mutter good riddance… but it wasn't true. She would proclaim that she hated the place, that it was boring, too peaceful for her taste, but that also wasn't true. It wasn't true in the least. She liked its purity, its innocence, how everyone seemed to care about each other to a certain extent. Things weren't like that anymore. People killed each other just to get ahead, uncaring of all the lives they destroyed in the process.

What she liked most of all was that she might have been able to see Aeris again. She missed the damned flower girl, she'd been so kind, so gentle. Everything that Yuffie secretly admired, but knew she could never be. She was never the gentle kind. Rough and tumble was more appropriate for her. She was active, energetic, sarcastic, aggressive… nothing at all like a sweet, gentle, and compassionate flower girl, though sometimes she wished otherwise.

It's not so much that she disliked who she was… well, that's a lie, yes she did dislike who she was. Of course, she hid that under her arrogance and sarcasm, as she did most other things. If you made people believe that you believed you were the best, then they couldn't see the insecurity underneath. Insecurity was never something she felt comfortable showing. She knew from experience that people sought out insecurities, and they used them to torment you as best they could, just so they could get the sick pleasure of seeing you become pained. Arrogance usually saved you from that.

She looked back at Vincent and Red on their chocobo, both of which were watching her intently, but never bothered to say anything to jolt her out of her thoughts. She cleared her throat, and then raised herself onto the chocobo, giving it a little tap that told it to continue moving.

The chocobo paused as they reached the edge of the town, but Yuffie poked it in the back of the neck, ignoring the desire to give the town one final look of longing. The two birds walked out of the town, and began to work their way through the snowdrifts.

The ninja finally allowed herself to look over her shoulder, but she saw nothing. The town, the buildings, the people, they were gone, as if it had vanished in thin air. In its place was nothing but seemingly endless fields of snow. She felt surprised, although she had expected that it would happen, she was told it would. It was one thing being told it, and another actually seeing it.

She sighed, and then kicked the chocobo with the back of her heel, forcing it to break out into a run, although its speed was considerably slower than it usually was. That also was to be expected, the snow was too deep for anything to go at a decent pace. The two birds struggled through it, giving an occasionally wark every now and then, but their masters did nothing to stop their discomfort for they had no choice, they were in the middle of nowhere once again.

Yuffie sighed, her boredom suddenly forcing her to notice the invading power in her gut. She growled to herself, and considered punching herself, although she reasoned against it. Maybe if she found something to occupy her mind once more, she could ignore the plaguing feeling. At least it wasn't as bad as it had been at first, it seemed to have settled itself rather nicely, allowing her to remotely get used to it… sort of, although she still despised it, and wanted it out. Now. She'd have it out in time, though, eh? Patience was a virtue, right? Well, fuck that, that was one good quality she was severely lacking.

She then noticed the uncomfortable feeling of the journal still in the back pocket of her shorts, and placed her hands down the back of her puffy snow pants, to the shorts underneath, and pulled it out. She held it out before her, loosely holding the reins with one gloved hand.

She flipped through the book carelessly, watching to see if anything interesting would come up, like maybe something about Vincent or something. She quickly skimmed through numerous pages, and came to one conclusion; Hojo was a boring guy. He lived and breathed science, how frigin dull. No one cared, really.

Finally, she came to something that piqued her interest, Vincent's name catching her eye, as well as Lucrecia's not too far after. Her eyes started at the top of the page, and read each word slowly, as if memorizing it and imprinting it to the back of her mind. If this was blackmail, she would damn well be using it.

Of course I see the way he looks at her, Mister Vincent Valentine. He thinks I'm too wrapped up in my own work to notice such a thing, or that I'm just a complete, as well as oblivious, that moron. He's a fool if he truly thinks I don't notice. I could have been blind and a mile away, and I still would have noticed that look of… disgusting adoration on his face. I can't imagine why he adores her so much anyway, always fawning over her, trying to get close and such. I think it's foolish, she's not that appealing.

That's not saying that she's not a pretty woman, she is, but for god's sake… Oh well, no matter. He's an idiotic Turk if he ever thinks she'll ever return his feelings for her. Lucrecia was much too brilliant for the likes of him. She loves me after all. Although that in itself proves that she's also a foolish woman, thinking that I could ever truly love her. My work is more important to me than she will ever be. They're both a pair of fools. Maybe they should get together after all. Two oblivious twits sitting in a tree. Humorous, isn't it?

Or perhaps I can manipulate his adoration for her, and her adoration for me to work to my advantage. Manipulation is a fine tool, and I'll do it in such a manner that neither of them will think anything of it until the last moment. Oh, it will be brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Their both too blind with their emotions to notice anything anyway. Fools.

- Hojo

Yuffie suddenly clutched the book tightly, her eyes filled with an instant twisted sort of anger, temper flaring. How could someone do that to Vincent? How could someone manipulate someone else's feelings like that? That's… that's… pure evil.

In her anger, she flipped through a few more of the frayed pages, eyes skimming each one, and she stopped at a random spot.

…it was brilliant, the way everything worked out. Vincent Valentine was a perfect victim, I'm still trying to discover if everything worked out, as in if he was a failure, or a success. Thus why I'm waiting for him to awaken.

The demons were implanted into him, only one is currently awake, I assume the others will awake as he gets stronger, assuming he even lives. I also managed to attach a fully functional claw onto his left arm in the place of his human hand. There was a side effect to all of this, of course, his eyes bled into this deep garnet-like colour. That alongside his claw will make everyone who sees him fear him, think of him as nothing but a monster. A true Frankenstein.

Idiotic Turk, he pretty well sacrificed his humanity for Lucrecia. She's next on my experiment list anyway, well, the child is. She won't resist me, her adoration for me causes her to trust me wholeheartedly. Hmph, she's not as clever as I'd assumed she was, her emotions cloud her senses I suppose. She's a scientist as well anyway, even if she was in her right mind, she'd appreciate the work I'm doing. All for science, right? No matter, it all works out to my advantage, no use looking a gifted horse in the mouth.

Back to Mr. Valentine, I don't particularly like to admit it, but while I was experimenting on him, I enjoyed hearing his cries. This does make me sound like a monster I suppose, but it was so… fascinating. To hear as screams caught in his throat, and then broke free with such an agony that it was almost as if I were killing him. I mutilated him, but didn't kill him, although I'm sure he would have preferred death.

I also enjoyed watching as the blood poured from his wounds as I cut open his flesh. It was fascinating. His eyes were open so wide, eyes of, well, I suppose they could be described as azure. A deep blue. Experimentation is an amazing thing.

I know now that without a doubt, this man will be the one who will kill me, assuming he even lives through this. I believe he will, despite his idiocy, this man is a fairly strong one.

Oh, it seems our dear friend is awakening. Until later.

- Hojo

Yuffie's breath was caught in her throat, and she was suffocating in an intense emotion that was crossed somewhere between rage and depression. He tortured Vincent, and he liked it. He made the gunslinger scream until his throat was raw, and watched as blood poured out of him. He watched him suffer, and didn't feel anything but humour from it. He probably even laughed as Vincent screamed out in agony.

She could almost hear the satanic laughs of amusement echo through her head as Hojo sliced through Vincent's flesh, cut down into his arm with whatever he used. Sliced through the skin, the muscle, until he hit ivory bone. Then he probably sawed, cut through it without so much as a second thought, Vincent's screams echoing through the room, screams of a pain so deep that Yuffie could only compare to the pain she felt in that room. How the gunslinger didn't die of blood loss, she'd never know.

Lucrecia and that man, they betrayed him. Hojo mutilated him, and enjoyed every second of it. How could someone do that? How could you hurt someone like that? Especially someone like Vincent? Vincent didn't deserve that. He didn't deserve any of it.

The ninja wondered if Vincent remembered that night, if he remembered every second of pain that coursed through him, and the torture. Oh god, the torture. The utensils as they sliced mercilessly through his pale skin, as he screamed his throat out, and no one heard him. If they did hear him, they didn't care enough to help him. No one cared enough to help him. It sounded… horrific, so horrible.

She shut the journal slowly, not wanting to read anymore, and tucked it back into her shorts, her thoughts going over exactly what she had just read, like a broken record. She kept picturing it in her mind, his suffering, and she felt so… so angry. She wished that she'd known this before so she could have given Hojo more of the beating he deserved.

Vincent ended up being the one who dealt the finishing blow to the insane man, it was clean, and quick. He probably didn't even have to time feel any pain. He didn't deserve such mercy. He deserved to be tortured, much like Vincent had been. How could Vincent give him a quick death? How could he do that after all he'd been through?

Now she understood why he was the way he was, and she could no longer blame him for it. How could she after what she'd just read?

She felt the chocobo slow down, and come to a halt, and she growled loudly, poking the golden bird in the back of the head violently.

"What the hell do you think you're doing numb nuts? Keep going moron. God. This is no time to be stopping for a rest," she snapped, digging her finger into the back of the birds head.

The bird warked softly, and she looked up, eyebrow cocked with curiosity. There was a man, standing in the middle of the snow. His silver hair blew into the breeze, as did his obsidian coloured scarf, giving him the same overdramatic affect that Vincent's cape gave him.

His aqua eyes were centred on her face, watching her intently. There was a weapon in each of his hands, a pair of curved swords, just waiting to be used, to be stained with crimson blood. She watched him warily, and reached for her Conformer slowly, movements cautious, hoping that he didn't notice.

Vincent watched the man from his place on his own chocobo, something about the way he stood, the way he held his weapon was awfully familiar. Where had he seen something similar to that before?

"I suggest that you and the ninja come with me without any trouble. If you do, I'll spare the beast," he said, his voice quiet, death calm.

His gaze had gone to Vincent's face, and the gunslinger reached for Death Penalty, the man fully aware of that movement. Yuffie snorted, but the man didn't look at her.

"You know, I'm not liking that suggestion buddy," she stated, and she jumped off the chocobo, flinging her Conformer towards him powerfully, the weapon cutting through the cool air with a graceful sort of ease.

The man twisted just enough to barely miss it, and the weapon curved, returning to its master. She growled with annoyance, and prepared herself for another attempt.

"I will give you one more chance. Come now, and I will spare his life. Don't be fools," he said, his voice cooling a few degrees.

Vincent and Red slid off their chocobos in unison, and Vincent shot his weapon, the bullets whizzing passed the man as he twisted and turned in seemingly impossible ways to avoid them. Vincent watched him, stunned. It was rare that anyone could dodge his bullets, but it was never like that, with such… skill. The way he moved, god, where did he know it?

"Have it your way. You will regret that choice," he said, eyes flying over their faces.

"Yeah, yeah, shut up, and let's go," snapped Yuffie, and the man sent her the death look above all death looks, causing her to send back one of her own.

Yuffie threw her Conformer once more, and Vincent shot his bullets in numerous amounts. Red prowled around Taber, waiting for the right moment to strike, preferably at a moment where he wouldn't get shot or cut up.

The bullets nicked him, but didn't do all that much damage. The Conformer on the other hand ripped out a good chunk of his arm, but he didn't cry out, didn't even pay any attention to the deep gash. Blood began to poor out of it, but he paid it no never mind, as if it had never occurred.

Red pounced at him, and it looked as if he was going to get a good attack, until Taber spun around and knocked the beast to the side with his arm, as if he were nothing more than a fly. Red was sent flying into a snowdrift, the snow overcoming him without so much as a second thought.

Yuffie ran at the man, Conformer raised high, and she brought it down just as the man brought up one of his swords. There was the clashing of metal, the sound echoing through the snow plains. They grated and slid across each other, as if trying to meld together, and the gunslinger watched the duel, unable to do much of anything without risking hitting the ninja.

He felt Chaos stir in his mind, although he quickly pushed him away. The demon was too unpredictable, and he hated losing control to him. There was no telling what he would do, and it wasn't worth it. He heard the demon plead to be set free, even for just a few moments, but he quickly put up a mental shield to cut off the noises.

The man was too strong for the ninja, and he used all his force to send her tumbling back into the snow. He then looked to Vincent, and he raised his hand, chanting some sort of incantation that neither Vincent nor Yuffie could make out for the life of them.

Vincent was sent spiral backwards as some forced pushed against him aggressively, almost like a sort of telekinesis. He attempted to land on his feet, but found that he landed on a patch of ice, and he tripped backwards. There was the cracking of ice, and then the ground underneath him shattered. A yell was caught in his throat, and he automatically used his claw to grab onto anything within reach.

He somehow managed to cling onto the side of the pit that he had just discovered was there. He sighed, and felt his limbs slowly tire. He heard scuffling at the surface, and the constant clashing of metal, as well as grunts and yelps of straining. He hitched Death Penalty to his belt, and grasped the edge of the hole with his human hand, attempting to pull himself up. He then had the pleasure of clueing in that the ground was frozen over with a sheet of ice, causing it to be slippery, and his hand slid off.

"Vincent! Are you ok?" the ninja yelled as she quickly dodged Taber's weapons, wincing as the weapon slid so close to her ear that she heard it as it cut through air.

"Currently, yes, although I don't think I'll be able to hang on much longer," he said, making another unsuccessful attempt to pull himself up.

"Ok, hang on there Vinnie, just two minutes," she replied, and backed out of reach of Taber's swinging swords.

She looked at the materia she had equipped, a Time, a Restore, Comet, Shiva, and a few others, all mastered. She snorted and smacked herself in the face.

"Why'd I have to go and pick such shitty materia?" she asked herself, fingering the vibrant gems implanted into her weapon.

She backed away a few more paces, feet crunching atop the snow kissed ground as Taber began to get a little too close for comfort, his swords readied, and the look in his aqua eyes hazardous and enraged. The ninja glanced over at Red, who was still attempting to dig himself out of the snowdrift. Peachy.

Taber dove at her just as she brought up her Conformer, the one sword clashed with the weapon, while the other skimmed her forearm, cutting through the parka and her flesh, causing it to bleed almost instantly. She bit back a cry of pain, and pushed forward with all her might, causing him to stumble back a few paces.

He rapidly regained his posture, and lunged at her again. She quickly muttered an incantation, and the man froze in place, his weapon only a few inches above Yuffie's face. He watched her, his face twisted in some sort of vicious look, and she smirked.

"Oh yeah, that's 'Stop' for you buddy. Eat that. Can't get me now, can you? Can you? Oh wait, you can't talk. Well, I laugh at you. Ha, ha, ha," she mocked, hands on her waist, eyes filled with enough arrogance to choke someone.

"Yuffie. I would appreciate some aid about now," muttered Vincent dryly, and she spun around, suddenly remembering the gunslinger.

"Oops, sorry, forgot about you for a second there Vinnie-boy," she said, amusement waltzing through her voice.

Vincent didn't reply, and Yuffie walked up to him, before leaning over to lend him her non injured arm. He grasped onto it tightly, and she attempted to help him up, finding that he weighed much more than she had originally assumed.

"Whoa, holy crap, you're pretty heavy, you need to lose a few pounds, maybe you should go on weight watchers or something. I hear the Atkins diet is pretty good," she muttered, pulling him up with all her strength.

He grunted, and grasped onto the icy ground with his claw as she pulled him up high enough. He forced himself up onto the ledge, slender body rubbing against the cool ground, and Yuffie released his hand. Red had finally dug himself out from the snow, and was padding over to the pair, shaking the snow off his fiery red fur.

"Jeez, you're such a wuss Red, hiding in that snowdrift while I did all the dirty work of beating his behind. Thanks a bunch," she muttered, her voice filled with mock anger.

Red looked over at Taber, who was breaking against the stop, his movements sluggish, but quickly regaining their original stealth. Yuffie swung Conformer as Vincent unlatched Death Penalty, and the man parried her attack with his amazing amount of speed, finally breaking through the 'stop' that had been placed upon him.

Vincent shot his weapon, the man not moving quickly enough, and it grazed his cheek. Taber found himself boxed in, and moved back a few paces, finding that they closed the distance once more without a second through.

Red dove at him, his nails gripping into his thigh, and ripping Taber's flesh, and the man spun around immediately, knocking the beast in the back of his head with the hilt of his sword. Red fell to the ground, his body limp, almost lifeless, although his breathing gave away the illusion that he could have been dead.

Taber then lunged at Yuffie, bullets whizzing passed his head, and he collided with the ninja, who had also dove at him. His weight was too much for her, and she was sent flying backwards, landing on her feet just an inch away from the deep hole in the ground. The sheet ice was too much, too slippery for her balance, so she slipped, and she fell backwards into the pit.

Screams tore passed her lips, and Vincent spun around automatically, watching in shock as the ninja fell into the dark hole. He grunted, and twisted back around as the man darted towards him, using his weapon to parry the mans swords as they were brought towards him. He shoved the man back, and he lunged himself off the cliff after her.

He couldn't let her die, he refused to let that be another one of his sins.

Taber watched the dark gunslinger in sheer amazement, as well with a hint of entertainment. He was diving in after her. What an idiot. They would surely parish together on impact. What a sickeningly romantic death.

He sighed, and looked at the red beast, who was knocked out, considering whether killing him himself would be a good idea, or just to let the cold take him. He sighed to himself, and simply walked passed the creature, not even bothering to give him one last glance.

He continued to stride through the plains until both the fiery red beast, and the deep opening in the ground had disappeared in the distance behind him.

Cid and Barret sat in the kitchen, eating their food like a pair of ravenous wolves, very literally shovelling it in. Shera sat at the table, sipping her honey tinted tea every now and then, watching her husband with amusement. She had lost her appetite since the little incident with that man, and despite Cid's pestering, she decided against eating and settled for some tea.

Barret finished his dinner, and stared down at the plate, almost as if he were considering licking it spotless, but in his better mind, pushed it away from him. Cid allowed his utensils to clatter against the plate, announcing to both his comrades that he was finished.

"That was some good cookin' Shera," muttered Barret, rubbing his hand in a circular motion over his much-too-stuffed stomach.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," she said, standing up, grasping onto both his and Cid's plates, before walking leisurely over to the sink across the room. "Are you two almost done with the airship?"

"Yeah, it's coming along nicely, it should be finished in a few days if everything goes fine, but with our frigin luck, it probably won't," he muttered, and Shera paused, glancing over her shoulder to look at her fiancé.

"Don't be so cynical—" her phrase ended when the two plates went crashing into the sink, and the two men twisted around to look at her.

She was gripping the sink, leaning over it with her eyes shut tightly. There was a raw expression on her face, and Cid slowly got up, and walked over to her. He touched her shoulder, and her eyes jolted open. She smacked her head backwards, nailing him right in the nose, causing him to yelp, and recoil, releasing her.

"Holy fuck me. What the hell, Shera?" he snapped, his eyes filled with rage, despite how he knew it wasn't her fault. Something was happening to her again. No. NO!

He grasped onto her shivering form, and pulled her into his arms, his body curving around her in every possible way, as if he were acting as her shield. Barret stood up quickly enough that the chair was sent spiralling backwards onto the floor, and he moved next to the pair, looking around them for something, anything to tell him what was causing this.

She began to spasm in his grip, but he continued to hold onto her, his clutch on her tightening even more, trying as hard as he could to keep her still.

"Shera stop it, you're going to hurt yourself," he muttered, his face buried in her hair.

His voice seemed to calm her, though only slightly, for she kept twitching violently, almost as if she were having a seizure. Her knees gave way, and she let herself go, although Cid's hold on her kept her from falling to the kitchen floor. He held her fallen form easily, her spasming coming to a quits.

He picked her up bridal style, and stared down at her. She was pale, much too pale, and he hugged her body against him, head bowed as he felt a cry get caught in his throat. Her body was so hot, her warmth soaking in through his clothes, it was almost as if she were on fire, for that's sure what it felt like to the rugged blond man.

Her eyes were still open, and she watched him, her lips parted, her breathing deep and calm. He searched her face, watching her every movement, every faint emotion as it passed over her face. He could almost feel her weakness, she was getting sick, just like the rest of them had.

He didn't want to admit to that, admit to the fact that she could possibly be dying. He could let it happen, he refused to let her go away from him, he wasn't ready yet. He probably never would be, but if she left, if she died, he would truly be alone, childless, and loveless. He couldn't accept that.

Words of prayer slithered silently through his mind, words that he hadn't uttered in a long, long time. He prayed to himself, and hoped that someone, anyone would hear them, and help him. Maybe they'd give him a miracle, because that's what he needed. A miracle.

As per usual, I must give my thanks to all who reviewed my last chapter XD, I really appreciate it.

And again, I must mention that constructive criticism is always welcome, hehe.