Disclaimer – Prologue.

So many ISUs and FSEs. It's suffocating me. Stupid teachers.

Colour Blind – Counting Crows
I am colorblind,
Coffee black and egg white.
Pull me out from inside.

Chapter 8 – Relearning How to See

The blond man gazed around the mildly crowded bar, eyes flicking passed faces consistently, developing almost a sort of rhythm, trying to find his targets, the Turks. Tifa led him through the tavern, constantly pushing passed people as they stepped in her way. She felt completely and utterly exhausted and irritated, and she probably would have liked nothing more than to return to the Inn and take a nap or something of that manner. The femme fighter didn't particularly feel like dealing with the arrogant Turks, or for that matter, anyone else. She just… wanted to be alone to rethink some things. Things that she was shoving away at that very moment. She didn't need the distractions, but damn, were they ever persistent.

"Do you see them?" he asked, and she shook her head slowly. "Great."

A sound rang through the bar loudly, an obvious cheer of victory from the corner of the room. The voice triggered something in her head and brought up a picture of the source of the voice in her mind. She paused a moment, glancing over her shoulder at her blond comrade.

"Cait Sith," muttered Tifa, and she reached back automatically, before clasping the blond man's hand, sending a jolt of startling heat through him.

She thought nothing of the action, not as he apparently had, and she pulled him across the bar, closely following the elongated sounds of over dramatized cheering. She gripped onto his hand even tighter, using her other to push people roughly out of the way, irritation finally shattering the thin layer of patience she usually held, and getting the best of her.

He simply let her lead him, feeling the pressure of her fingers' warmth against his hand, and unbeknownst to anyone else in the room, including his female companion, emotions ploughed forcefully through him. Ones that still bewildered him after such time.

They came to a table where the Turks sat, coiled around it, cards splayed along the tabletop in front all three of them, and Cait Sith. He was grinning like a fiend, and was pulling in all the money that had compiled in the centre of the table.

Tifa finally released his hand as she came to stop, and he resisted the urge to frown in sudden discontentment. He missed the warmth of her hand against his, the feeling of comfort it provided him to feel her. He shook his head, as if shaking away any persistent displeasure evoked by her releasing his hand, he was being stupid, he knew that. This wasn't the time to be sulking over something so trivial.

"How? How did we lose to a robotic cat?" asked Elena, rubbing the back of her neck roughly as her eyes flicked from Reno's face to Rude's.

"Beats me, this is messed up. Stupid bucket of bolts, he probably cheated or something. There's no way we were fairly beat by a robot," snapped Reno, icy blue eyes fixated on the little robotic cat's arrogant face.

"Or maybe I'm just too smart for you guys. Yeah, that sounds more like it," he said, trying very hard to keep the smirk off his face.

Reno twitched, and he looked as if he were starting to find it very difficult to control his temper, while Elena was glaring at him with the utmost hatred. Rude just seemed to stare straight ahead, his sunglasses covering his eyes, and boxing in any emotions that may have glazed over them. Eyes whose colour was unknown to both Cloud and Tifa. Now that she dwelled upon it, she couldn't remember him ever taking off his sunglasses. Not that it really mattered.

"I can see you guys are working hard," muttered Cloud dryly, and they turned to look at him in a scary sort of unison, as if it had been choreographed beforehand.

"Hey, hey, it's Cloud and Tifa. How've you been guys? Long time no talk. You miss me? I'm sure you did. How's everyone else? Good? I sure hope so, and before you ask, I've been fine," said Cait, mouth running faster than most people's minds could follow.

"Shut up, Cait. Yeah, we figured you guys would find us eventually, and we decided it would be best if we didn't travel through the night, so here we are. Great place, great place," stated Reno grinning, gathering up the stray cards along the table, and forming them neatly into a deck.

"You knew we were looking for you?" asked Tifa, bewilderment breaking through the shield of neutralization that she had attempted to place up.

"Well, we hoped. We figured you'd need us sooner or later, since you'd want to know what we know about what's happening," stated Rude, turning his head too look at the brunette.

"Not that we actually know anything—" muttered Elena, although she was abruptly cut off by a suddenly disgruntled Reno.

"Dammit Elena, you always talk too much," snapped the redhead, and Elena sunk down into her chair, crossing her arms with annoyance, but she said nothing more.

"Great," growled Cloud, that single word oozing with so much sarcasm and disdain that the group around him almost choked on it.

"Well, since we're not doing anything tonight, why don't you sit down and play with us a nice rowdy game of poker?" asked Reno, leaning back in his chair, shuffling the cards rhythmically in his hands.

"No. We don't have time to be screwing around like this," snapped the spiky haired man, bright blue eyes glazing over with irritation.

Elena rolled her light brown eyes, almost the colour of glittering gold, and choked back a scoff. "Oh, and what should we be doing instead? It's not like we're really going anywhere today, we'll freeze to death when it gets dark. And to think, you're supposed to be the smartest one of the group."

Cloud shot her a cool glare, and her jaw snapped shut. His eyes travelled from Elena's face, to Reno's, and finally to Rude's, who was staring at him through his dark lenses of his thick sunglasses. Why the man wore sunglasses inside, he would never know. Odd quirk maybe.

"Do you have a working cell phone or something?" he asked, and Rude nodded his head, pulling it out of his pocket to show the man.

"Why?"

"We think we know who's the ringleader of this incident. His name is Victor Morales I think. He knew Hojo, maybe he was a scientist or something. He would have been in your data banks right?" he asked, and Rude hesitated for a minute, brain sorting through the information at the back of his mind.

"We have everyone in our data banks," answered Reno quickly before Rude could even begin to open his mouth, still shuffling the deck of cards consistently.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Call up whoever it is you call up, and make them search it or something," said Cloud, irritation breaking into his voice, eyes burning into Reno's face.

Elena growled, but didn't dare say anything, although she watched Cloud with enough irritation that it almost hurt for someone to catch sight of. Her eyes travelled to Rude, and watched as he tilted his head downwards, and began dialling in the numbers on the cell as they raised to the front of his memory. He raised the phone and looked up at the group of beings as they watched his every movement intently.

"Yeah, look up Victor Morales, call me back when you get the information," he said, then there was a long pause.

"No, I'll explain it later. Look him up and call me back."

He flipped the phone closed with that departing statement, and replaced it in his pocket. Cloud watched him, expecting something… anything, but the man just stared into his face, silent, as if he was expecting something as well.

"How long until they get his information?" he finally asked, and Rude shrugged his shoulders.

"The data bank is huge, searching through every single profile we have takes hours, despite how we have a searching tool. There's just too much information to sift through," he replied, slouching forward, his exhaustion becoming painfully evident.

"So, we have a few hours to kill, sit down you two, take a load off, play some poker. All we can do is wait," Reno said, beginning to pass out cards for everyone circled around the table.

Cloud sighed, and him and Tifa took a seat in between Reno and Rude. Tifa collected her cards, and fanned them out in her hand, holding them close enough so that no other wandering eyes could catch sight of them.

"So where are your other pals? Particularly the vamp," asked Reno, looking over at Tifa, a mischievous glint slipping through his intent gaze.

"Doing other things. Vincent happens to be with Red and Yuffie, they had been at the mansion, but we're not sure where they are now," said Tifa, toying with the cards in her grasp.

"So everyone's doing okay? Everyone's still alive? Didn't get slaughtered like Aeris? Lifestream rest her soul," said Cait Sith innocently, eyes flicking between the faces of Tifa and Cloud. "Speaking of Aeris, you get over her yet Cloud?"

Cloud's throat constricted, vines of sudden sorrow slipping around his throat, and tightening painfully slowly. Though he opened his mouth to speak, no words came out, they were tiny captive moths restrained to the flesh prison of his throat for that moment. The memory of the flower girl came tumbling back to him, although the pain was dulled from what it once had been. Just because it was dulled did it mean it had disappeared. It had by no means disappeared. He had cared for her, loved her in fact, but he'd known that he'd have to move on, so he was trying to deal with it. He would never forget her, but he couldn't live his life in his memories. Not anymore.

"What's it to you? It looks like you've turned into more of a jackass since the last time we talked" snapped Cloud, eyes narrowed on his face, the gaze filled with sudden disdain.

"Eh, I guess that's one of the effects of being reprogrammed," muttered Cait with a shrug, switching various cards.

There was no more conversation after that, even the Turks dared not speak. They just played their game of poker, and Cait won every round. Of course, it wasn't until later on that they discovered that he indeed had been cheating the whole time.

She felt the coolness seep into her winter garments, causing her fallen form to be attacked by a parade of goose bumps, dancing along her naturally tanned flesh. Her heart pounded in her chest, the constant thumping of an overwhelming sort of panic that she had just experienced from tumbling down the pit, feet away from her doom. Her chest rose and fell in a sort of constant rhythm, and she tried to calm her heart. So close, so close to death, had it not been for him.

Vincent had dove into the pit after her, and he had caught her around her waist, suspending her in midair for just a slight fraction of time. His claw had dug into the wall of the hole, and had slowed their fall enough so that they didn't get killed. He had saved her life, she would have been almost certainly a pancake had it not been for him. Damn him, now she owed him. What a hassle.

She rolled her head to the side where Vincent lay, staring upwards as she had been. His cape was bunched up around his lean body, and his chest was rising and falling as he breathed slowly, with a calmness that was currently foreign to her. She watched him, eyes trailing up from his chest, to his broad shoulders, up his neck, and to his porcelain face. He looked calm, almost peaceful. His lips were parted, his crimson eyes half open, giving him a sort of dreamy look, a strange description now that Yuffie dwelled upon it.

Then there was that sensation in her stomach. Probably indigestion… or something.

He sat up slowly, and looked over at her curiously. She blinked at him, and sat up as well, stretching her knotted muscles. Vincent stood up, and groaned as he moved his clawed arm the wrong way, finding that the shoulder, which was all flesh and bone, hurt like a mother.

"What's wrong? Hurt your claw? I didn't think you could feel it," said Yuffie, carelessly brushing off extra ice shards off her coal black pants.

"I can't, it's my shoulder. Driving my claw into the side of this pit, and then having both our weights hanging on it didn't have a pleasant effect on my shoulder. It's quite painful to move it," he explained, attempting to roll it, and wincing as the pain shot through his form.

"Did you pull it out of your socket or something?" she asked as she pushed herself up onto her feet, and the gunslinger shook his head in response.

"Clearly not, I can still move it," he retorted, still attempting to move it despite the constant flashes of throbbing pain that coursed through him in immediate jolts.

"Want me to use a cure?" she asked, and he immediately shook his head, glancing at her with his scarlet eyes.

"Don't bother, better to save your energy for emergencies. I'll be fine in a while," he said with a shrug.

"Fine, just let me see it then," she said quietly, and walked over to him.

She reached over and touched his shoulder with a maternal gentleness that she hadn't known she had in her, but he immediately stepped back from her reach out of habit. She frowned, and an offended look swept over her face, a feeling of rejection pouring through her like a bucket of near frozen water.

"Jeez, I'm not going to bite you or anything," she growled, brows furrowed.

"I apologize, I'm not… used to being touched by others. It's been a long time as you probably know, and I wasn't expecting it. I didn't mean to offend you," he said, tilting his head, as if attempting to look down at her better.

She sighed quietly, almost inaudibly, and stepped towards him once more, taking his words as permission to try again. She touched his hurt shoulder, and though he flinched from the physical contact from another being, as well as the sudden jolt of pain at contact, she continued to feel around it.

She could feel the warmth of his body radiating through the soft material of his shirt, running along her tiny hand as it pried along his joints, which were checking for cracks or remote displacement of any sort. His skin felt smooth under the shirt, smooth and so intoxicatingly warm.

"Probably just a sprain or something, it doesn't feel like you cracked anything," she said finally, and let her hands fall away, although she didn't back away.

"As I thought. If you don't mind me asking, how do you know anything about injuries?" he asked softly, and she grinned mischievously.

"Eh, lessons about physical repairs and patching yourself up if need be. One of the few classes I actually paid attention in. Figure that," she said, placing her hands on her hips, stormy hues staring up into his handsome face contently.

"Ah."

"So, what're we going to do now? We can't exactly climb up the icy walls," she muttered, looking around their iced up cage.

The walls had an almost blue tint to them, sheets of ice running along the walls, barely any snow gripping onto them for dear life. The breaks of sunlight from where the clouds didn't quite merge shone along the frozen walls, reflecting against it, and hitting the opposing wall, causing their cave to be fairly alit.

Vincent nodded his head towards the wall behind her, and she turned around to find that there was an opening to what looked to be an old mining tunnel. It was pitch black, a dark abyss waiting to swallow them up, and she sighed, knowing that they had no other choice.

"Well I can't exactly see in the dark, and it's not like I keep flashlight in my back pocket," she muttered dryly, and Vincent cocked an eyebrow.

"I can see perfectly well in the dark, hold onto my cape or something of that matter, and I'll lead you through it. Heaven forbid there's anything remotely dangerous in there," he said, watching her face attentively.

"Not like we have much of a choice. So, lead the way Vinnie boy," she said, with dramatic hand motions to accompany her exaggerated words.

He made his way passed her, and she caught the side of his cape as he walked by. She trailed closely behind him as he lead her into the darkness. They walked through the tunnel, and she glanced warily over her shoulder, giving the light one last look of longing, before it was overcome by the inky blackness of the dark.

She heard their footsteps crunch against the thin blanket of snow against the ground, their breathing, her own pounding, nervous heartbeat, but other than that, it was all silence. She sniffed the air, it was the stench of something immensely bitter that bombarded her nostrils, and she choked back an oncoming coughing fit. What a horrible smell.

She grasped onto Vincent's cape a bit tighter, and walked slightly faster, striding as close as possible without stepping on his heels. She was nervous, it's not like she didn't have her other senses, but this was almost like being blind, her vision stolen away with the sunlight. What a horrible fate, to end up blind.

They walked for a long while, and Yuffie's mind briefly began forming doubts at the front of her mind. What if this tunnel never ended? What if they ran into a dead end? What if it collapsed? What if something attacked them? What if Vincent and her managed to be separated? What if, what if, what if.

She growled softly, and tried to think about something else, although her mind kept trying to return to those ever cynical what if questions. This was no time to be depressed and pessimistic, life already had enough of that without her and her cynical mind to add to it. She had to be optimistic. Yes, optimistic… yes, it wasn't working.

She trusted Vincent, she trusted him with her life, trust he had clearly proven himself worthy of. He wouldn't lead them astray, he wouldn't let anything bad happen to them. She didn't need to be nervous, he would be there. Right? She immediately mentally bashed herself for depending on him. Stupid, stupid ninja. But still… it was a comforting thought to know she could trust him, and that he would protect her.

She continued to saunter behind Vincent, ignoring the plaguing feeling of discomfort that her legs were beginning to feel. Being as there was nothing to distract her from the new found dull ache, she couldn't do anything but think about it, and dwell on how the more she walked, the more cramped her legs seemed to get.

She found herself getting more and more irritated as time crept by, she couldn't see, couldn't hear much of anything, and she smelled bitter sour-milk-like-crap galore. Not to mention that she couldn't keep her mind off her legs. Yes, she was indeed a becoming little testy.

The ninja sighed, but continued to stare ahead, hoping that sunlight would break through the darkness at any moment. And after a while, it did, its light quite literally a saviour at the end of the tunnel. Vincent slowed before their forms broke out into the welcoming glow of the sunbeams attempting to break passed the thick clouds, but having little luck.

"Vinnie, what are you doing?" she snapped, irritated, as she released the tight hold on his crimson cape.

"Yes," was all he said, and she placed her hands on her hips, bewildered.

"Yeah, what? Vinnie, you've lost your mind haven't you? Finally went into the deep end, eh? Wouldn't surprise me, you've been acting funky lately. I guess it was only a matter of time…" she said, words partnered with an exaggerated sigh.

Had Vincent had it in him, he would have rolled his garnet eyes.

"No. You asked me if I would get rid of whatever's in you even if it meant we had to find another way to destroy his soul, and I replied to you," he explained, twisting his head to look over his shoulder at the ninja.

"Oh. Well, that's an answer I sure didn't expect. Now why would you do that?" she asked, tilting her head inquisitively.

"No one deserves to have anything remotely similar to Chaos in them, to go through that sort of torture. We'd find another way," he explained with a shrug, and began his way out the cave, not bothering to wait for the young woman's delayed response.

Yuffie blinked, eyes fixated on the back of Vincent's head as he finally stepped into the dim beams, letting the light slither around his rigid form. She didn't know what to think about that, what to feel, so maybe it was best if she didn't think or feel anything, let herself be numbed for a little while.

She trailed out behind him, feeling an automatic euphoria to be out of that depressing cave, as it was beginning to make her feel a little claustrophobic. The wind's icy whip thrashed against her flesh, and she groaned to herself, being instantly reminded just how harsh the winter weather was.

"Where's Red?" Yuffie asked, although it was almost as if she were speaking to herself, for Vincent never answered.

Her eyes snapped to Vincent's face, demanding an answer from the gunslinger, and she noticed he was staring at something, eyebrow raised, total puzzlement slung over his porcelain visage. She followed his gaze, and came to an interesting sight that even shut her up.

There were their two chocobos coiled around the giant cat, his head poking out though an opening, where the birds' feathered bodies didn't meet. Red breathed in deeply, and exhaled, a puff of air leaving his nostrils, revealing to the two companions that he was alive, most likely credits to the chocobos, who had been clever enough to have kept him warm. Surprising creatures they were.

"Would you look at that. God, sometimes they surprise me. Maybe I give them too little credit," said Yuffie, smile toying at her lips. She pondered upon the words that had left her mouth, and she shook her head. "Nah."

Vincent looked up at the cloud filled sky, noting that it looked to be nearing late afternoon. He heaved a sigh, knowing that he would have to modify their original plans, for it wasn't a wise idea to be travelling during the night.

"It appears as if we'll be going to Cid's after all," he muttered, drawing Yuffie's slate gaze onto his face, though she didn't respond to his statement.

He pulled out the PHS and flicked it open, automatically dialling in the numbers to the phone he'd already called numerous times over the course of their journey.

"What?" greeted Cloud, and there was the sound of snickering in the background, as well as the voice of the robotic cat, asking who it was.

"Don't leave Icicle Inn, we'll be joining you later tomorrow," said Vincent, tapping his metal claw on the back of the plastic phone, making an almost irritating clicking sound. And with that, he shut the phone, not even bothering to wait for a reply from the spiky-haired swordsman.

"Friendly as always," mumbled Yuffie, and the gunslinger shrugged his shoulders lamely, weariness finally catching up with him.

His rest had been little to nil since waking up from the temporary home of his coffin. His body, although it was more resistant to everything than a human's was, was still susceptible to exhaustion, and god, it was really coming down on him now. He mentally insulted himself for feeling so tired so suddenly, and proceeded in ignored it. He could sleep next month.

"So, what are we waiting for? Christmas? Let's go," said Yuffie, and stepped passed Vincent towards her chocobo.

At the sound of her footsteps coming near, Red's eyes opened dazedly, staring at her for a few seconds with puzzlement, as if he couldn't seem to remember who she was. Finally, memories came back to him in a swift rush, and he stood up, his sudden movements triggering the chocobos to stand as well, although with a wark of discontentment.

"Sleeping on the job, eh? Didn't even come find us when we were thrown off the cliff. I see how much you like us," muttered Yuffie with mock anger, and she crossed her arms.

"Hardly sleeping, I was knocked unconscious. It's quite a surprise he didn't bother to kill me," said Red, golden orb trailing over Yuffie's sceptical face.

"Yeah, yeah, make your excuses," she said sarcastically, eyes glittering with amusement.

No one bothered to comment anything more, they just set themselves comfortably onto their chocobos' saddles, and hurried them on. They seemed to tread through the snowdrifts more easily than they had once had, finally getting used to how to walk through the snow properly, and more time efficiently. One of the few pleasant realisations of the day.

Darkness had nearly completely blanketed over the land by the time the chocobos broke into Rocket Town, and they cooed their chocobos onward to the edge of the township. True to their memories, there was the house, a loner at the edge of the town. The airship rested behind it, looking about the same as they remembered it to be, although considerably more rusted.

Yuffie dismounted he chocobo, finding that her bottom had fallen asleep, and she needed a good stretch. She grabbed on loosely to the bird's reins, and walked ahead of Vincent and Red, who soon followed suit, and dismounted their own chocobo.

As she neared the house, the chocobo's footsteps became hesitant, and she soon came to a halt, watching the building warily. Yuffie gave the reins a pull, and got a wild wark in return. She pulled again, and the bird stepped back a few paces, much to Yuffie's discontentment.

"God, don't be an idiot, let's go. I'm tired, you're tired, we're all tired, and I'm not in the damned mood for this crap. Lets go!" she shrieked, smacking the bird lightly at the side of her beak, causing the bird to snap at her hand.

"OH! So, that's how it is? You know what? Fine, if you don't want to go into the stable, you can sit out here and freeze. I hope you like that. Jerk," she snapped, and released the reins, and stamped away from the bird angrily.

Vincent found his chocobo also refused to go any farther than Yuffie's had, and he simply let it go, not bothering to even try to force it to come. Attempting to force it would have been a useless attempt. Once a five-hundred pound anything decided not to budge, that was the end to that discussion.

Yuffie walked up to the door, but didn't knock. She grinned to herself, and decided that maybe a little peak through the window to the inside of their living room would be interesting, maybe she'd even be able to scare them out of their skin if they caught sight of her. Oh, what an absolutely grand idea, it was ingenious, if she said so herself. Absolutely brilliant, in fact.

She walked up to the window, preparing the most startling face she could muster, and peaked inside. Red and Vincent walked up behind her, curious as to what the mischievous young woman was planning. Yuffie pressed her face against the glass, and looked around the dimly lit room for anyone she happened to know.

Her startling face fell, and she gapped against the window, watching the sight with vast amounts of confusion. Cid was seated on an old and torn forest green couch, Shera laying sprawled out across his lap, her eyes blank, two glassy marbles staring onto the ceiling.

Barret was behind the couch, looking around the room warily, and then glancing down at the pair every now and then, as if checking to see if anything more was happening.

She felt it, the power, the something stir inside her, and her eyes flew to Shera once more, and she noticed that someone else, that man touching Shera. Why hadn't she noticed? Why couldn't she see him before?

There he was holding Shera's jaw with a single hand, her lips parted, and he stared down at her with amusement, and hunger. His skin was so white, a shade off the colour of snow, and it made Vincent's flesh look vastly tanned. His dirty blond hair fell into his ghostly white face, and the ninja noted that his clothes were black, black jeans, black t-shirt, nothing else. He seemed to be concentrating, eyes fixated on her face, and his lips moved so subtly that she almost hadn't noticed.

Of course, I must say thanks so much to those who reviewed XD. It's awesome. Awesome I say!

And of course, thanks for the constructive criticism, it's always welcome. 