well, compared to the novels that the last few chapters have been, this one is really short. but dragging it out would have been pointless.

WARNING: this chapter contains a main character attempting suicide. if this bothers you, skip the first two thirds of it. just go streight down to the little divider bar.

DISCLAIMER: i've had nine chapters of disclaimer already. if you guys don't know that i'm not taking credit for owning the characters by now, you should be shot. and i'm tired of trying to think of new ways to say it. FF7, ITS CHARACTERS OR ITS PLACES ARE NOT MINE. i think this is the last disclaimer i'll do for this fic.

eerian


Chapter 10

Yuffie was only marginally aware of Reeve dropping tiredly onto the cot in the command center tent. She was still on her camp stool in the corner, too wrapped up in her grief to notice anyone or anything, really.

Why'd you have to go, Vincent? We were just getting started… Her hands tightened reflexively on Death Penalty.

Tifa had given her the rifle when she and Cloud had told her the results of the search at the North Crater. Tears had been coursing down the martial artist's face and Cloud had looked saddened.

Cid had come in while they were talking. He'd said nothing, just put an arm around the ninja and hugged her to his side. She'd cried into the oil-stained denim of his jacket while he held her. When she had stopped crying, he'd surprised everyone by kissing her on the forehead and saying, "You need to do that again, you call me."

Yuffie had nodded and almost smiled. "Thanks, old geezer."

"Fuck that! I ain't old!" But he didn't leave. He'd stayed, one arm wrapped around her, until Barret called him to come pick them up at the crater.

Now, she contemplated the rifle in her hands. It wouldn't be that hard to use it on herself. Awkward, but not impossible. And the pain, this awful drowning despair, would be gone.

She turned Death Penalty so that the barrel was pointing at her. Carefully, she searched for the proper angle so that she could pull the trigger and still hit herself.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Reeve asked, placing a hand over her own on the barrel of the gun.

"Why not? What's left here but pain and agony?" she looked at Reeve with sorrowful, pleading eyes. "Give me a reason to stay."

"Vincent gave his life to save you. He risked himself to be certain that you would live." He looked at her solemnly. "Suicide would make his sacrifice meaningless—and dishonor his memory."

"So? Its not like he's here to care." Yuffie knew she was just stalling—keeping Reeve talking so that she wouldn't stay lost in her own thoughts.

The fact that he'd cared enough to stop her was all she needed. To be reminded that she was still wanted, even if the man she loved was dead. The pain was still there, but she could bear it. She wouldn't carry her suicide attempt out now; or try again.

"All right, you have a point there." Reeve gave her a tired smile, feeling her grip on the rifle loosening. "Try this one on for size: We're your family. Dysfunctional and foul-mouthed as some of us are, we all love you and would be crushed if you left us too."

"I know. I just needed the reminder." She pushed Death Penalty toward him. "I think maybe you should keep this safe for awhile. Just in case, you know?"

Reeve nodded and took the weapon. "Let me know when you're ready to take it back."

"I will." She surprised him by throwing her arms around him in a hug, smashing Vincent's rifle into his chest. "Thanks, Reeve."

She smiled then, with some of her normal humor. "You big stuffed kitty-cat moogle thingy."

Reeve laughed, relieved at this small recovery of herself. "I'm tired, Yuffs. I've been digging people and bodies out of the ruins all day. I'm going to bed."

"'Kay. G'nite, Reeve."

She knew he was right. Vincent had died saving her. Even though she wasn't really worth it—just a scrawny little materia-hunter-female-ninja-thief who'd nearly gotten her entire extended family killed once.

The least I can do is live for him. She rose from her camp stool in the corner and went to the tent flap to look outside at the ruined city. And if I washed this far south, maybe he did too.


"So, Vincent, what do you think the others are doing?"

"What others, Chaos? There's no one here but us."

"Death Gigas and Hellmasker. We didn't even try to bring them with us."

Vincent stopped walking and turned to regard his demon counterpart. "I don't know, and I don't care. We're well rid of those monstrosities. Creatures like that were never meant to be."

"There was a time when you would have said that about me."

"I know. And then I discovered that you were really a person inside, and just as much a victim of Hojo's as I was. So was he." The gunslinger indicated the Galian Beast.

"So were they. He just built them; the Beast and I were summoned from somewhere else."

"And if I had the ability to send you back, I would. You know that. And if I could have dismantled or killed them back there I would have.

"No one should live the way we had to for three decades."

"I agree wholeheartedly."

"I'm glad to hear that," A third voice—a female voice—chimed in.

Vincent turned. "Aeris?"