well, i seriously considered letting the suspense go for another day, but i decided that i'd been evil enough. that and the next couple of chapters are done already anyway. so, i present to you chapter 9. Read and enjoy and review! i was so happy that this last set of reviews made this fic pass Stories in reviews. and dude, the hit counter! people like me! they really like me! blushes
eerian

DISCLAIMER: not mine. i own the idea only for this fic. my characters haven't popped up yet. when they do, i own those too. that's it.


Chapter 9

Vincent was awakened by the fact that he no longer hurt. In fact, he felt better than he had in several decades.

He opened his eyes and sat up to get a good look at his surroundings, and was a bit intimidated by what he saw. He was sitting on an island made of stone. From what he could tell, it was floating in absolute nothingness; except for the island, everything was shrouded in blackness. No other features were apparent.

"Good morning, Vincent." The voice was naggingly familiar, and Vincent whirled around to see the speaker.

Directly behind him was a motley assortment of monsters. One looked like a miniature, bipedal behemoth. Another looked like a mad scientists construction of bolts and body parts, something straight from a horror novel. The third looked human, if a little deformed, until it rotated its head three hundred sixty degrees. The fourth--and final—was a large, winged, black…demon.

From Chaos' descriptions, he tentatively identified the first three as some of the monsters that lived inside him—specifically the Galian Beast, Death Gigas, and Hellmasker. Logically, that made the fourth,

"Chaos?"

"Indeed." The demon smirked, something that was a little unsettling coming from someone so obviously non-human. "I'm touched that you recognized me, since you've never actually seen me."

"Must be the distinctive company you keep." Vincent picked himself up from the ground. "What happened? How did all of you get…free?"

"I don't know. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. But I would like to know, myself." Chaos walked over to stand next to Vincent. "The drawbacks of being unconscious, I suppose."

"I suppose," the gunman replied. "How do you think we get out of here?"

"Worried about your girl?"

Actually, he hadn't been. He hadn't even thought about her until Chaos brought her up. And the, since it had been brought up, Vincent was worried about Yuffie. We were together. Why isn't she here too? Did we die after all? Is she out there, alone and unarmed in the crater? Oh, God…

"A bit," he replied. "But I think we need to be more concerned with getting out of this place first. We can't help her from here."

"Good point." Absently, Chaos reached down to scratch the head of the Galian Beast, who had wandered over next to them. "Perhaps we should start with that trail over there."

"What trail?" Vincent followed the demon's pointing finger to see a trail leading away from the island. "That was not there earlier."

"No, it wasn't. But are you going to look a gift trail in the mouth?"

"You come up with strange analogies, Chaos. But no, I'm not. Let's go."

The former Turk started down the trail, the demon not half a step behind. And following them like some huge, deformed dog, came the Galian Beast. Hellmasker and Death Gigas didn't attempt to follow. Vincent and Chaos left them behind without a second thought.


Yuffie woke to gentle hands pulling her out of something warm and wet. Her first thought was of Vincent, and she opened her eyes to look for him.

"Ah, you're awake." Her rescuer was a dark haired man with a well trimmed goatee. "I was afraid you wouldn't wake up, since we pulled you out of the Lifestream."

"I was with a man in red. Is he here?" She had to know what had happened to Vincent.

"I'm sorry, Yuffie. Vincent's not here."

"Huh?" She struggled out of the stranger's arms. "How did you know our names?"

"Sorry. I've been working here with Cloud and Tifa for so long that I forgot we hadn't met in person." He extended a hand to her. "I'm Reeve."

She shook his hand, but eyed his slacks and white t-shirt warily. "You don't look much like a Shinra exec."

"Well, there isn't much of a Shinra corporation anymore, so it works out nicely." Reeve smiled at her. "C'mon. let's get you dried off and changed and you can tell us what happened to you."

"Okay." She didn't look forward to telling everyone that Vincent was probably—almost definately—dead.

Reeve led her through a sea of people who were digging through the rubble of a city. It looked a lot like what was left of Midgar…but she couldn't be that far south, could she?

"Hey, Reeve?"

"Yeah?"

"Where are we? This looks like Midgar."

"It is. What's left of it, anyway." Reeve looked over at her. "We're digging people out of the rubble. Holy and Lifestream did a number on what WEAPON left behind."

"…Holy?"

"Oh, you didn't know?" He stopped in front of a large tent and pulled the flap back. "I'm sure everyone will be glad to fill you in. After you."

She stepped inside and stopped a few feet in, so that her eyes could adjust to the dimmed light. Reeve stepped inside behind her and let the tent flap fall closed. As he did so, Yuffie found herself crushed in the enthusiastic embrace of a very strong woman.

"Yuffie, I'm so glad you're all right!"

"Um, Tifa, I really can't breathe," Yuffie choked out.

"Oh, sorry." Tifa released the embrace, but held the ninja out at arm's length. "When we realized you and Vincent weren't on the Highwind, we got so worried. I'm glad you made it out all right."

Yuffie looked down at the floor, tears in her eyes. She might be all right, but Vincent wasn't. he was gone, and he'd left nothing but memories behind.

"Yuffie, what's wrong?" Tifa asked worriedly. When the ninja didn't answer right away, the martial artist looked to Reeve.

The former executive shook his head and mouthed, "Vincent."

"Yuffie?" Tifa used one hand to tip the younger girl's face back up. "What happened?"

Yuffie gathered up what shreds of strength she had left. She was going to have to tell them eventually, anyway. Best to get it out now.

"When we were running back to the Highwind, part of the cliff gave way." She looked back down at the floor. "I fell. Vincent—and Chaos—came after me."

The ninja was sobbing now, the words becoming harder and harder to say. She just wanted to curl up in a corner somewhere and die, too.

But somehow, she managed to go on. "A boulder fell on us as we were flying. When I woke up…"

Tears were streaming down her face as Yuffie looked back up a Tifa.

"Tifa, Vincent's dead!" The ninja collapsed into Tifa's stunned embrace.

"I'll call Cloud back in," Reeve said gravely.


Yuffie sat numbly in a camp chair tucked into a corner of the tent. Tifa had set her there after her crying spell, and from what she and Reeve could tell, the ninja hadn't even blinked.

"How is she?" Cloud asked as he entered the tent.

"Not good," Tifa replied. "She hasn't moved since I put her there."

Cloud shook his head. "C'mon. Let's go outside to talk."

Tifa nodded and followed Cloud out into the fading sunlight. After she'd secured the tent flap, she asked, "Did you find anything?"

"Not really." He sighed. "What's left of the crater was flooded by Lifestream. Barret and Nanaki are still up there searching the rim, but I don't think they'll find anything else."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah." Wearily, he handed her a battered but recognizable rifle.

"Death Penalty!" She turned the gun over in her hands, examining it, as if it held the secret to Vincent's location. "Where did you find it?"

"Hanging from a tree near the center of the crater. They didn't make it far at all." Cloud shook his head. "If Vincent's still there, he's under so much Lifestream that no one would survive getting his body."

Tifa looked back toward the tent. "Poor Yuffie."


"So, where do you think the trail leads?"

"I don't know. Have you come up with any ideas as to where we are?"

"None."

Vincent sighed. "We're getting nowhere but further down a road in a foreign place. We have no food, no weapons and no real destination. We are, to quote Cid, completely fucked. Do you have any suggestions, aside from 'keep walking'?"

"I pick you up and we fly on ahead?" The demon answered cheekily. "Granted, the Galian Beast won't be able to keep up, but we'll make good time."

"If I had known I was going to get a wise-assed answer, I wouldn't have asked. Be serious for once."

"Why? You're being serious enough for twelve people. It isn't easy trying to counter that much angst."

"Hmph." Vincent turned away from his personal demon and started walking again. "Its not angst. You wouldn't understand."

"Really? What makes you think that?" When Vincent didn't answer, Chaos strode forward and grabbed Vincent's shoulder, spinning him around. "Do you think that because I'm a demon, I can't understand higher emotions like frustration or fear or love?"

"I think that because you aren't me!" Vincent wrenched his shoulder out of Chaos' grasp. "We may have shared a body for thirty years, but you aren't me. And you don't know everything that goes on inside my head."

The sharp-shooter stormed off down the trail and this time, the demon let him go. He wasn't stung by the human's outburst. Surprised, but not hurt.

He also knew that Vincent was really worrying about Yuffie. He wouldn't care what happened to himself, as long as he knew she was safe. Chaos could relate to that.

He'd felt that way about someone once, long before cities like Midgar were even daydreams in the thoughts of madmen.

With a resigned sigh, he gestured to the Galian Beast. "Come, beast. We'll never get out of this place if we don't stay together."