Disclaimer: I do not own Yuffie and Godo Kisaragi, Vincent Valentine, AVALANCHE, all characters and concepts related to AVALANCHE, or, in fact, anything that is from Final Fantasy VII (that honour goes to the wonderful bunch at Square-Enix).
Claimer: I DO, however, own the concept of this story, the name Phe Tsen Shu, the rest of the Shu family, the concept of North Wutai and South Wutai being separate countries, the concept of materia beading, the city of Le Phe Tan, the bastardization of the name Leviathan into Le Phe Tan, the bastardization of Da Chao into Da Cha O, the Lady Cho Lin Chang, and other things not found in FF7. Feel free to use my ideas and original characters, but please give me credit. If you don't give me credit, Tsen Li will turn into a Gary Stu, ruin your story, and then eat your liver.
And When that Day Comes
Dig my head down deep so I can't hear the cars
Outside on the street, and the stars are laughing
They get a kick out of my misery.
I've tried everything short of Aristotle,
Dramamine, and the whiskey bottle,
I pray for the day when my ship comes in
And I can sleep the sleep of the just again
—Insomniac, Straight No Chaser
Chapter Eight
Summer, Year of the Star that Did Not Fall
Island of Wu Tai --- City of Wutai (formerly Da Cha O)
"Are you sure you're Wutaian?" The guard watched him warily.
"My name is Phe Tsen. I'm from Le Phe Tan," Vincent assured him. He didn't say, I would think that's something you have to know, like your name.
Speaking Wutaian flawlessly certainly helped convince the guard. The man let him pass through with minimal inspection. He didn't even make any remarks about Vincent's claw, or red eyes.
Vincent noticed the man signalling someone as he walked away. He made sure not to make the small mirror in his left hand obvious. Such tricks were useful. It would be a shame if he alerted a city full of potential enemies to them.
He continued to watch the spaces behind him with the mirror as he headed towards the business district.
Three faces behind him did not change. Their distances changed. Sometimes they were a little farther away, sometimes they were very close. But they themselves continued to follow him.
They were all of them children.
They had children tailing him. Vincent wasn't sure if this was an act of genius or desperation. Few people would suspect children of ill intent... But children were also clumsier and more likely to be found.
He began to detour onto random side streets. He stopped caring which direction he turned, where he was going, so long as he was moving in the direction of sparsely populated areas.
He got his wish. His random turns had taken him to a tiny alley, a dead end.
"I know you're there," he told them calmly.
The one who spoke was a mere boy, perhaps fifteen, if Vincent wanted to deceive himself. "You knew we were here, so you got yourself lost where no-one's going to miss you?"
"I'm not lost." Geographically confused, perhaps.
The next one to speak was a girl. "That's right. You're not lost; you're just temporarily misplaced on the Planet."
"They just don't raise women the way they used to, do they? You have terrible manners. You shouldn't speak in such a fashion to your elders."
"Shut up!"
"Humph. None of my female cousins ever said shut up. My uncle would have slapped them if they had."
"I'm not a bad person!"
"I never said you were a bad person. I said you had no manners."
"Whatever."
Yet another thing none of the women in his time would have ever said. Just how much had Wutai changed? Or was this one of the fundamental differences between northern and southern Wutai?
"What do you want of me?"
"We're just keeping an eye on you. Sho Tzu says he thinks you're some kinda threat. Mao Li wants to see if you're really who he thinks you are. And Future-Lady Kisaragi says to make sure you don't go near the palace."
Vincent said nothing. Instead he looked at the mouth of the alley. It would be a simple task to move past them. He could easily disable them if they attempted to stop him.
And then he would find Yuffie. He needed to hear her reasoning behind this. Not wanted to hear it.
Needed.
The children were indeed easy to move past. None of them were ready for him, when he moved. As he ran, his mind flashed towards the information they had just given him. Three children, three people watching him. Why were the children working together? Were they, in fact, working together?
Who was Sho Tzu?
He had too many questions and answers for none of them. This did not make a pretty picture for him.
He reached the palace with little trouble. His unnatural speed made it impossible for the children to keep up.
Had they not threatened him, he would have felt sorry for them.
The palace stretched up before him, six tiers of the Kisaragi colours, shadowy against the sunset. The three children, he knew, would be three quarters of the way between here and the alley by now.
Well. He would just have to make this visit a swift one, wouldn't he? Yes. He needed to be quick about this.
So why was it that it wasn't until the sun fell beneath the horizon that he approached the palace?