Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Final Fantasy VII or anything else for that matter.

DISTANT THOUGH WE ARE

Yuffie,

I should probably just get right into criticizing you for what you've done, yelling at you and telling you I hate you and that I didn't deserve this. But that wouldn't be right. Don't get me wrong, there's no way that I blame myself for losing you. I didn't deserve what you did to me, and I never have. I stayed with you because I love you, even though I've known for a while that you don't love me. Perhaps you never have.

I always knew, or a part of me did, for that matter. I knew it in the way you would never look me in the eye, never kiss me like you meant it. You kissed me like you had to; and that's nothing like being in love.

I've always known I was just your way of coping with what Cloud did, but I tried to push that to the back of my mind. I settled on your false love because I thought you were the only one that could love me for who I was, not what you wanted me to be. But I was horribly wrong. You wanted me to be Cloud, and I was blinded by my love for you so that I did not see that.

When I woke up this morning and didn't feel the warmth of your body next to me, I was not surprised. I had been expecting it, I suppose, since the day I knew what I was compensating for. I was sure that one day you would leave me, but it was sort of at the back of my mind, something I wanted to push out of my thoughts. I kept telling myself, Yuffie won't leave you. She loves you. Stop worrying But really, who was I kidding.

I didn't expect you to do it while you were pregnant though. That is the one thing that refuses to leave my mind. That is the one thing that angers me beyond belief. I am not angry that our love was a lie. I am not angry that for two years you used me to help you forget someone else. What angers me is that you were stupid enough to run off when you are five months pregnant.

You left a note by my pillow. Your last words, written sloppily on that small piece of paper, are still swimming through my head.

"I can't do this anymore, Vincent. I can't do this to you, I can't do this to myself, and I can't do this to our child. I'm going home.

I'm sorry.

-Yuffie "

Next to your name, you drew a little heart like we used to do in our notes in highschool. It used to mean nothing, just a mere detail of our friendship, and it disappeared as we got older. The notes you left me on the refrigerator after we moved in together lost that tiny little heart. I thought perhaps you had forgot about it.

But I woke up and there it was, next to your name, on your final note to me.

I noticed you didn't say, "I love you." I didn't expect you to. But it made everything seem all the more real. I think it means that you aren't coming back.

For a few hours this morning, I just walked around in circles in our bedroom, trying to think of what to do now. I searched through the closet, through all your clothes and belongings, but I don't really know what I was looking for. Maybe I just needed to see something of yours, catch your scent on something, to make sure that you had even existed at all.

For a few hours I was angry. I stomped everywhere, slammed doors…I almost even broke down once. I realized I hated you. I realized I couldn't stand you for one more second. I realized that if you came back I would slam your face into the wall.

But would that solve anything? Of course not. It wouldn't give me happiness. It wouldn't give me closure.

I think maybe I'm just better off alone. I always was strong enough by myself as it was. Sometimes all you need is love, and sometimes all you need is to get away from it. Love can make you, or it can break you into a thousand pieces and leave you broken for someone else to sweep up, repair, and break all over again.

I'm not really sure why I'm writing this, because I know you won't reply. You have no reason to reply. I am no longer a part of your life; you have made it that way. You have run from me to protect me from you, but I think you really just wanted to protect yourself from me and what my love could do.

You don't have to reply to this. You are a free woman now, you are no longer a part of me. I would like to think that this is not goodbye. I would like to think that you will care for our child, and even if we cannot be together, you will let me be there for that child, be a part of its life.

And if you go back to Cloud, and you want him to be the father…I will not lie to you, that will hurt be worse than anything else you could ever say or do. But it is your life, and you are carrying that baby, and though I feel it is a part of me as much as it is a part of you, I want you to do what makes you happy. No matter how much that might hurt me.

I will not chase after you, Yuffie. I will not run to you, I will not catch you and bring you home. You don't need me; that much is apparent. You are going home, to go back to your old memories, or go back into the arms of your past lover.

Perhaps that is what I need as well. I feel that I never quite faced my demons back in California either. There is much unsettled business that was left there when we moved here. But I do not know that I will be going back, but I think I am going to get back in touch with Aeris and maybe even Cloud. We went through so much with them that we ran away from.

Frankly, I'm tired of running away. But I see that you are just getting started.

-Vincent

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I've had a really bad case of writer's block lately. Let's hope this helps work out the kinks! Thank you to all my reviewers, I love you guys.

-Mel