How Could He Refuse

Gabreilla Moushigo

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When they jumped out of the back of the truck, Reeve soundlessly went over to Vincent with something in his hands. Reeve supplied him some ammunition to his great surprise. "We've removed the vending machines." He explained. "Try to use your ammunition sparingly."

"I always do." Vincent took what he was offered.

"Tifa," Reeve looked at her. "Try to be careful now, I know you are very capable… but there are still more than a few soldiers hiding down there." He looked at Vincent meaningfully. "There are also quite a few snipers. It appears that they have been hiding out. We don't know all of the hidden passages yet.."

"When did you first notice a problem?" Tifa asked, wishing she hadn't.

"When our cleanup crews kept going missing." Reeve shook his head. "They tried to keep the bodies hidden but a few were found." He suppressed a shudder. "There are a few of those hounds left… they aren't exactly the smartest Deepground soldiers… so obviously they left us clues."

"I see." Vincent nodded, not wanting him to expound upon his findings. They had just gotten there, no need to get Tifa worked up. "Let us be on our way." He strode up to the passage way that led to Deepground, Tifa followed closely behind him.

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"I guess we weren't very thorough." Tifa frowned, they were both currently pinned at their current location. They crouched inside what must have been a house at one time. A few soldiers were pelting the structure with their firearms, wheedling away at the building material.

"It seems so." Vincent replied. He was crouched down next to the door picking off several with head shots. "How many are left?"

Tifa looked at the small device in her hand; it indicated to her that there were now three living beings outside hiding behind a few small structures. The thing that blew her mind was that there were only cardboard boxes outside and if they thought those flimsy things would save them they would be sadly mistake. "Three, they're hiding."

He gave her a looked that clearly said that she was kidding him and all she could do was shrug her shoulders helplessly. He then sighed, laying his Hydra against the floor and pulled out his Cerberus. He strode out confidently to the Deepground soldiers' amazement. That was their last mistake. Three shots fired out and it was over… for now.

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I cannot believe I am here again. He crouched in the very same spot he had when he called Tifa. He told her as much when she sat down next to him.

"Really?" She looked around a bit. "I never thought I would confess my love in an office setting before."

"It was quite unprofessional of you." He teased.

"What are you going to do boss?" She grinned. "Fire me?"

"Oh, I don't know." He sheathed his gun this time. He supposed he felt a little overconfident now that Tifa was here. "I guess as long as your interpersonal relationship is just with me than I wouldn't mind."

"That's just unethical." She admonished, waggling a finger at him.

"Do you want a raise or not?" That came out sounding just a little too lewd and she laughed as his face was on the verge of burning bright red. Apparently their minds were in the gutter today.

"I think I would." She kissed his cheek.

His smile was hidden in his cloak. She was kissing him again… surely that was a good sign. Maybe he hadn't ruined everything after all. He shook himself mentally; it would not be safe here for much longer. The Deepground soldiers should know where they were located. Vincent took a little too long shooting the solider with the radio just a moment ago. The officer requested backup before he let go of the walky-talky. Even now Vincent could hear a few hushed voices down the hall. He pulled out his weapon and sighed, wishing that he and Tifa could leave soon.

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"It's heavy!" She complained. "How do you hold this anyway?"

Vincent sighed, forgetting their obvious differences. Tifa might have been a fighter, but she did not possess the same supernatural strength that he did. "Here." He took the gun from her as if it were a feather. He attached a simple charm to the end of it and handed it back to her. "Better?" She looked surprised and nodded. "Good."

"How do I shoot this thing?" She said, getting to the opposite wall of him. There were even more soldiers outside than before. This was a horrible time for a firing lesson.

He was somewhat amused at this. "Pull the trigger."

"Oh." Tifa moved around the doorframe and let the gun do its thing; miraculously she managed to hit a few targets by judging the path that the spray of bullets formed. She wasn't the best shot in the world, half of the soldiers were still alive after she was finished riddling them with holes.

Vincent mercifully shot each of them between the eyes before realized she what she had done. It took him a moment to notice that she was still squeezing the trigger. "Tifa, you're wasting ammunition."

"Sorry." She apologized and the gun came to an abrupt half. "Oh no!" She shook the gun, unconsciously pointing it at Vincent. He nearly leapt out of his skin at her carelessness before she said. "I think I broke it!" She shook it again.

He never felt so conflicted in his life. Someone was pointing a gun at him and he couldn't shoot them back. "Tifa," He growled. "Lower the damn thing." She did so, embarrassed. "It's not broken," He explained in the darkness. Now that he didn't have the Griffin pointed at him his voice turned amused. "You're just out of ammunition. You need to reload it."

"I can't see in this dark." She complained, trying to figure out how to load it.

Thank God for that, or she might have been horrified at what she had done to those soldiers. She definitely didn't shoot to kill… quickly. "It's safe to come here now." He motioned her over and looked out the door again just to make sure what he said was true.

"That wasn't so bad." Tifa finally said, getting up from the wall to go to him. "Using this is a lot easier than the rest of your weapons."

She had no idea really, but he supposed that for her it might be true since she probably never fired a gun until now. Vincent wanted to roll his eyes in amusement. At least he finally found a use for his Griffin.

"Drop your weapon!" A voice commanded, one that gave Vincent a healthy surge of anger. He got up to look around at the person who dared to give him an order… only to realize he wasn't the one being the one addressed - for now. "Drop your weapon!" The voice repeated. Vincent had turned around to see a well armed solider pointing a gun to Tifa's head. She let the Griffin fall from her hands and it hit the floor with a clunk and a rattle. "Put your hands up!" She did.

Vincent only looked on at the lone man. He knew, perhaps too well that this soldier meant to use Tifa as leverage. He knew that the pathetic gun he had wouldn't take down Valentine… but Tifa didn't have the same healing capabilities that he had. She was going to die. Vincent absently remembered that Cerberus was still in his hand.

The solider finally acknowledged Vincent. "Put that weapon down."

Vincent's mouth formed into a tight line, said nothing. He knew what would happen if he did that. This man didn't care – the only reason Tifa was still alive right now, is because this solider would be dead without her. They both knew it. The solider finally grabbed at Tifa, desperate to have more power over the man. He hid himself behind her like a coward and repeated what he asked before.

"Put your weapon down!"

Vincent looked at Tifa. He couldn't tell if she was in shock, but she was giving him a particular look… one that hinted that she trusted him to do the right thing. How could he refuse? A wry smile formed on his lips and he raised his gun.

Clearly not expecting this, the man the man tried to make himself look as small as possible, but only offered himself up to Tifa, which elbowed him in the midsection. The man doubled over in enough time for Vincent to shot in the face. His body slumped to the floor and Tifa almost danced away from the corpse.

Vincent knew that look well enough to realize that Tifa was indeed, in shock. She wasn't thinking, and that was dangerous. He watched patiently as she rubbed the blood off her arm and midriff almost miserably. She began to skirt around the room cautiously, darting frightened glances at him here and there. She quickly went out the backdoor when she realized it was there, a place he knew she wouldn't be able to escape from. If his almost flawless memory was correct, out back there would be a fence that not even he dared to climb. She squeaked, jumping and almost clawing at him when he appeared. "Tifa," He said gently. She didn't respond. Her body just did what it wanted to do. "Tifa!" He grabbed her roughly and shook her a bit, but did not hurt her. "Wake up!"

Her eyes seemed to get back some of the depth they had previously. "S-sorry." She looked down, ashamed.

"You've nothing to be sorry for." He didn't put away his gun, couldn't. He used his left arm to pull her to him in an embrace. "It's natural to feel frightened after something like that."

"Oh," She blushed into his shoulder. "That's never happened before." They had been in danger many times – why now?

"You've never had a gun put to your head before either." He made sure to use the flat of his hand before placing it upon her head and pulled her ear against his heart. His heart was beating painfully fast. He had been afraid. "Do you understand?"

"Yes." She nodded.

"Good." He took a moment to kiss her forehead before releasing her. "Now look at that damn thing Reeve gave you and let's see if we are done yet."

Tifa pulled it out of her pocket. "There's nothing."

"Alight, let's make our way up then." Not trusting technology completely, he kept his hand on his gun… just in case. He could hear Tifa's footsteps behind him as they made their way out of the building they had been in. Vincent stepped on the body of the man who held Tifa at gun point while Tifa gave it a wide birth. "The last one." He shook his head incredulously. The last one almost got her.

"What?" Tifa asked.

"Nothing." He shook his head again, this time visibly enough for Tifa to see. He pulled out the replacement cell phone Tifa had gotten him earlier. He had the bastard on speed dial. "Reeve," He spoke concisely. "We're finished, pick us up."

"Ok Vincent." Was all Reeve could say, before he hung up on him.

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Author's Notes:

If you're a little confused about what the heck Tifa went through, it's just some sort of shock. I've never honestly went through something like that – so I cannot describe it as well as I liked. I remember that my uncle who fought in the Vietnam War had problems with sleeping. For whatever reason (he couldn't remember) he would just wake up in the middle of the night, running around the house and screamed until someone would turn on the lights or flash him in the face with a flashlight. I guess I was thinking of him when I wrote this.

I'm probably only going to look through this chapter once more before sending it to Fanfiction – since I'm getting a lot of inspiration to write other scenes now (yay) – still if you see anything mention it. I can always go back and edit it later. (smiles)

On to the Reviews:

Vinny The Vampire: I'm glad you liked the Nero/Weiss moment – I was worried it wasn't going to be well accepted because of who the characters were. They'll definitely be popping up shortly. Right now Weiss and Nero have no idea what's going on with Tifa and Vincent… but perhaps with a little snooping - hehe. This whole time Nero has been watching over Weiss so he hasn't been doing much else.

I'm glad you liked the fluffy chapter – I was worried it was too fluffy – but I'll admit that the Cait Sith moment was a lot of fun to write about. My brother has a kitty that looks a little like him (same markings) and he is just precious! I always had an affinity for cats – which is probably why I wanted to write about him.

In the original FF VII though… I completely hated to use Cait… because I was constantly unlucky if you know what I mean. He kept wiping out my party… stupid Limit Break. He was a lot more fun to play in Dirge… he was just so springy!

If you go get Tai – make sure you try the Green, Red or Yellow "My last name" (hint, hint). It's pretty good really - but my heart belongs to the Ginger Chicken… yummy! (I can't wait to go back soon).

Jen: The Nero's dead thing - Ha! Since you brought that up I've decided to write a chapter about it. I believe sometimes that I "think" scenarios up without actually writing them out – which is confusing.

I don't think they were biological brothers – or even talking about comrades. I think Nero might have called the other Sietz by a similar name if he had a family mentality. I think he might have been using it as a term of endearment. "I love you unconditionally" in a way. The only other person they refer to as their sibling was their "big brother" before they melded… It makes me wonder if there are some Jenova cells going around… Hojo did mention something to Nero… he might have them.

A couple stories -

It's a bit weird but I had a friend in high school that "liked me" and called me his "big sister" – before trying to grope me (he always gave me enough time to smack his hands away). That was the only time I had experience with such a thing – but I thought it was kind of funny.

I've called my husband "brother" before since we have the same colored eyes and hair. People mistake us for siblings all the time. Of course, he absolutely hates it… which is why I call him that all the time. I especially love saying it when he wants to get intimate. I guess I'm cruel in a way.

In my story at least, Nero and Weiss are not biological brothers… as for the game… you never know.

Jen: Yeah, I figured since I didn't use the Griffin much in the game – that I'd let Tifa have it. I had written before that he gave her a small handgun… but I thought it would be funny if he gave her something a little more… evil? Mwa ha ha ha!

Lady Shiva: Yeah, Vinnie is getting teased a bit right now, but things are looking up for him. Glad you liked it.

Daylo: Yeah, I'm really whipping the chapters out. I think I'm averaging in on one chapter a day at least. I hope I can keep this all up. I know I keep saying it's going to slow down at some point but I'm not seeing that quite yet.

I was thinking of Vincent shooting the Cait doll to scare Reeve up a bit – but that didn't seem very Vincenty to me. Thanks for catching the marshmallowy center thing – I'm going to have to go back at some point and fix all these mistakes.

Vincent will probably do whatever it takes for Tifa – even if he has to become submissive to help her out. He had to do it with Lucrecia after all. I'm not saying he will… not saying he won't either.

Eternal Star: They are speaking of their brother in Dirge – it was a special ending – I won't talk about it too much since I'll describe what he's going to do in the next chapter or so.

Eternal Star: Thanks! I will!