Chapter 13: Returns
(Same tags apply as in Chapter 1)
Vincent opened his eyes and stared at the wall. He didn't know what to think at the moment. 'That dream…' he trailed off in his mind.
This was the second time that he had the dream…but this time it was different...in this one, the people spoke.
Vincent's Dream
Vincent was walking on a plain of dry cracked soil while tumbleweeds blew in the distance. He wasn't quite sure of where he was, but felt compelled to keep walking.
After walking for what seemed like an eternity, the ground began to gradually slope higher and higher. He had seen no one so far while walking, and he felt an overbearing feeling of loneliness and despair growing deep in his chest, but continued to walk. When he had finally reached the top of the hill, lush green grass and flowering bushes thrived here the scent of wildflowers filled the air. Admiring the sheer, unscathed beauty of this place He had been climbing then came to a screeching halt and it felt as if his heart stopped beating.
Standing near the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean with her back to him stood Lucrecia, looking as beautiful as ever, in a white sundress and a yellow straw hat. She was having an animated conversation with a slender woman with brown hair down past her shoulders wearing a similar sundress, but in a light shade of yellow.
"Lucy, what are you doing here?"
Lucrecia turned from the edge of the cliff and smiled at him. "Hello Vincent. Your journey to this place alone has been a long one has it not? It has been full of pain and solitude." She stated simply.
He was confused but answered. "Yes."
"Think of that journey as your life…you have suffered needlessly for years. The pain you felt on your way to this point is actually the pain that you have been suppressing for the last thirty years. It doesn't have to be like that. You don't need to feel like that."
Lucrecia turned away from Vincent and walked towards the woman who was still looking at the blue waters below the cliff. "I told you that I wanted you to live. I want you to move on, and you have made a good start. You have someone who is willing to be there for you, who will stand by your side, who cares deeply for you." She reached down and took the brown haired woman's hand and gave her an encouraging nod. They both turned and Vincent blinked.
"Yuffie?" She looked so different. Her hair was a beautiful shade of chocolate brown; he had never seen it so long. Her eyes were bright with happiness and the sundress gave her the look of innocence.
The smile that was on her face grew. "Hi Vince!"
Lucrecia pulled Yuffie forward by her hand. "Vincent, she will be there for you, but you must continue to be there for her as you have been." She took Vincent's hand and joined it with Yuffie's.
Vincent gently squeezed Yuffie's hand and smiled at her. "I will always be there for her and she knows it."
"Good." Lucrecia walked to Vincent and gave him a peck on the cheek. "I must go now. Take care of her."
"I will."
End of Dream
He looked down at the young woman in his arms as she started to stir. She slowly opened her sleepy eyes and looked up at him. For a moment, confusion flashed across her gray orbs but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
"Morning Vince. What's going on?" She asked but made no move to leave his arms.
She saw a faint wave of red tint Vincent's cheeks. 'Aww, he's so cute when he blushes!' she thought.
"Last night, I heard you cry out. You were having a nightmare…a bad one by the look of it." He said, with his claw still wrapped around her waist. At that she looked confused for a moment, but as the dream returned, her eyes glazed over and she shuddered.
"You were talking in your sleep. I tried to wake you, but I couldn't so I sat with you until you calmed down. I didn't want to wake you after that and fell asleep here. I'm sorry if I have made you uncomfortable."
"Actually Vinnie, I am quite comfortable right now, so I don't think I'll be moving just yet." She said with a smile in her voice.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Actually yeah, I do. Who knows, it might help stop them."
'So she has had these sorts of nightmares before.' He thought to himself but made no mention of it.
"In my dream, Hojo was still alive and Avalanche was locked in a cell in his lab." She took a deep breath then continued. "I don't know why, but Hojo had me tied to a chair sayin' that I would have the pleasure of watching one of his experiments.
"He nodded to the guards as I screamed at him to stop and tried to break free, but he wouldn't. The guards came from the cell with you, and you were cuffed around your wrists and ankles and couldn't escape."
She closed her eyes as the tears began to flow. Vincent wrapped his arms tighter around her in support. After what happened in the horrible dream, she was very grateful at the contact.
"They strapped you to a table and started doing awful things to you. I tried so hard to get free, my wrists were bleeding from the ropes and somehow I had managed to get free. I went to attack him, but he just disappeared but you were still there, bleeding-" She took a deep breath but her voice was still choked. "Nothing I tried worked…and you…you were gonna-"
"Shh…its all right Yuffie. You don't have to continue.
"Its okay, I need to finish…it was weird ya know. One minute I was in the lab, then a feeling of calm washed over me and I was standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean. It was so peaceful, and I could have sworn I wasn't alone, but I don't remember anything after that.
His eyes widened for a moment. 'On some level, Yuffie was there with me on that cliff. I am not sure as to how, but on some level, she was there with me…Lucy was right.' He thought.
"Yuffie, I am fine and Hojo is dead. He can no longer hurt you, me or anyone else. And even if was still alive today; I wouldn't allow him to hurt you…ever. I would protect you with my life, my friend."
She buried he face deeper into his chest and a garbled "ank ou ncnet" (thank you Vincent) was heard. They sat like that for a few minutes both enjoying the closeness when Yuffie's stomach began to protest again.
Vincent chuckled. "Hungry?"
She laughed also, her eyes still a little red. "Vincent Valentine, you're awful! Laughing at a poor, starving girl."
"You mean poor, starving princess?" At this, she scoffed and playfully slapped his arm. "Do you mind if I make breakfast?"
"After last nights dinner, you're asking me if I mind your cooking?"
"I take that as a no?"
"Get in that kitchen man!"
She crawled of his lap and watched as he stood, saluted and marched into the kitchen. 'He is definitely loosening up…around me at least.' She laughed and glanced at the clock. '9:30, I guess I better grab a quick shower and get dressed.'
She pulled her aching, battered body off the futon and went into the unused bedroom, grabbed a pair of black shorts, a black top and her brace and hopped into the shower.
.::-o-::.
Vincent was putting the finishing touches on their breakfast of omelets filled with cheese, ham, and mushrooms; buttered toast and orange juice when Yuffie sat at the table and poured them each a glass of orange juice. He sat the plates on the table and watched as Yuffie dove into her omelet. "Mmm…I think I will keep you as my personal chef, Vinnie."
He smiled as he ate his own breakfast. "Tifa will be calling to let us know when they will arrive. My PHS is on the counter if she should call while I am in the shower."
She nodded. "Hey ya know, I kinda like that sound of that…Chef Vinnie…It has a nice ring to it dontcha think?"
He laughed and stood from the table and was about to wash his plate when Yuffie call out to him.
"Vinnie, don't worry about the dishes, I'll get them." He nodded his thanks, grabbed his clothes and went for the shower.
.::-o-::.
Halfway through washing the dishes, his PHS rang. "Shit!" Yuffie searched for a towel to wipe the soap off her hands as the phone continued ringing "Hold your horses, geez! Hello?" She answered with a hint on irritation.
Tifa's voice came through "Yuffie, you alright? I didn't wake you did I?"
"No, I was washing dishes, that's all. What's up?"
"We're about twenty minutes away, we'll meet you near the entrance of town."
"Okay, we'll be ready."
"Hey, so how did it go?"
"Mission accomplished. It was difficult but it's done."
"Listen to me…I don't even know what the heck you had to do." Tifa's amused voice came through the phone.
Yuffie laughed. "I'll tell you after we come back onboard but it stays between us."
"No problem. Well, I guess I better get going, I will see ya in a bit."
"Hey Tifa?"
"Yeah?"
"You do know that I am going to kill you for that note, right?"
Tifa let out an overly dramatic sigh along with a "Yes ma'am." Then laughed. "You know its true…"
Yuffie didn't answer. "SEE! You can't even answer me!"
"I swear Teef, if one word of this gets out, I am going to shove my Conformer so far up your-"
"Whoa, whoa! They won't hear anything from me I swear. I don't think having the Conformer shoved anywhere would be too comfortable."
"You think right. See ya."
"Bye."
Yuffie placed the PHS back on the counter and nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Vincent's voice.
"You know, you really should not threaten to impale your friends on your weapon." He said with an amused grin.
The ninja flushed bright red. "How…how long have you been there?"
"Don't worry, I only heard the part about your Conformer. So when will they be here?" He ran his hand through his damp mane as he leaned against the wall.
"Uh, the should be here in about 10-15 minutes…we have to meet them at the entrance." 'Gods, doesn't he know how good he looks when he does that.' She watched as he tied the scarlet fabric around his head and grabbed his cloak then began pulling the materia out of her weapon and bracelet.
She handed Vincent the small orbs and he was pleased to notice that she still had the Luck materia in her Minerva band.
He placed the materia in his pocket. "We should head out. Tiko and Kira need to be saddled again."
"OH, I forgot to feed them this morning!" She said feeling guilty.
"Don't worry, I fed them before I started breakfast." He picked up their bags and went to the door. "Shall we?"
She said as she step out the front door. "Vince, you don't have to carry my pack."
"I don't mind."
.::-o-::.
The sat on their Chocobos and watched the Highwind approach from the east and land a few hundred yards away from the town. The cargo doors opened to reveal Tifa and Cloud waiting for them.
They entered the belly of the Highwind and Vincent hopped off of Tiko and allowed a crewman to grab the reins. Tifa took Kira back to the stables behind the crewman. He walked over and helped a wincing Yuffie off of Kira careful of the razor sharp Conformer attached to her back as the blond and brunette approached them.
"Welcome back guys." Cloud greeted them.
"Thanks. I really appreciate you lettin' us go and all."
"No problem, Yuffs."
Vincent reached into his pocket and pulled out the orbs. "You can have these back. Thank you for allowing us to use them."
Cloud's eyes grew large to see that they now had two Bahamut Zero's, their enemy skill had learned the previously missing Trine spell, and they also had a new summon, Leviathan.
He held up the Leviathan materia to the light. "Wow, where did you get this from?"
"That was given to Yuffie for completing her task." Vincent said allowing pride to seep into his voice.
"Yuffie, are you sure you don't want to keep this?" He said with his eyebrow arched slightly. Tifa had walked back to the trio and was looking over Cloud's shoulder at the materia.
"You can keep it. All I ask is that I get the new Leviathan once this one is mastered."
"Thank you Yuffie, this will be useful in our arsenal."
They walked into the brightly lit briefing room where the materia was stored. Tifa glanced at Yuffie who was still relying on Vincent for some support. Her eyes widened when she saw the numerous bruises that marred the young ninjas flesh.
"YUFFIE! What in the hell happened to you?" Tifa said, gently grabbing her arm to inspect the bruises. Cloud stood at her sided as a shocked expression grew on his face.
"I didn't see those when we were in the hold. Were you both attacked?" He said grimacing at a particularly bad one on her upper arm.
Vincent reached over Tifa's head and into the materia cabinet grabbing the full cure. He placed his hand on her back and focused on the orb. "Full Cure."
Yuffie was surrounded in a bright green flash and felt most of the pain leave her body. She was still a little wobbly but a lot better than she was when they arrived.
"Thanks Vince." He nodded and she looked at Cloud. "I can't tell you much right now, but we expected that there would be injuries when we left, so we were prepared."
Cloud was confused by her cryptic reply but slowly nodded his head. "You're sure you're alright?"
"Yeah. I should be at a hundred percent tomorrow." She gave a look to Tifa that said she would talk to her later. Tifa mouthed, "okay" to Yuffie.
"We'll I think we should fill you both in on the weapon." Yuffie gave a slight sigh. "Don't worry, it wont take long. We also will get together at 4:30 to discuss what will happen at the crater."
Cloud said gesturing to the seats that surrounded the large table. "As Tif told you, the weapon has been destroyed. Barret was slightly injured but will be fine, he's resting in his quarters."
Tifa walked over to the weapons cabinet and opened it pulling out something metallic. "We found this after we defeated the weapon." She handed Yuffie another shuriken that had a small engraved picture of a sunrise.
"I've heard of this, it's called the Rising Sun…" She trailed off, deep in thought. "Thanks."
"No problem. We should be heading the peninsula north of Rocket Town now. Everyone who is on the Highwind needs to attend so we're setting down there. Till then, you can do whatever you need." Tifa said as she closed the cabinet.
Cloud stood from his seat and started for the maps and charts along the walls of the briefing room but paused before he reached them. "Yuffie?"
Yuffie tried to gather some of the energy she usually has and reflect it in her voice. "Yeah?"
"Thanks."
She gave cloud a crooked grin from her seat. "No problem Spike!"
Cloud nodded with a small smirk and walked over to a chart in the room.
Yuffie went to stand but let out a small grunt and sat back down heavily in her chair. "Yuffie, are you ready? I will help you back to your quarters."
"Just a sec. Tifa, if you still want to, you can stop by my quarters in about thirty minutes."
"I'll be there."
Yuffie nodded to Vincent as he helped her out of the room. A grin grew on Tifa's face as she noticed Yuffie's outfit. Her all-black outfit with her red Conformer went well with Vincent's attire. 'I bet they didn't even realize it.'
Her thoughts we broken by Cloud as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and let his chin rest on the top or her head.
She gave a fulfilled sigh and leaned into the embrace as he kissed the top of her head. Aeris was right. She should have told Cloud a long time ago.
o-o-Author's Notes-o-o
Ok, that was Chapter 11 and We are getting closer and closer to the Northern Crater. -Jumps to avoid eternal star's whip for not posting sooner- Geez, that was close ES! I got done sooner than I thought with chapter 23, but I might end up redoing it. I have the craziest idea for another story. I think it will be a Yuffie/Sephiroth -Cowers in the corner.- Please don't hurt me!
There's this story called "Deeper Into You" its rated NC-17 so I don't think there's a slight revised version on this site. It's a Yuffie/Seph and I hope the author finishes it soon. If you want to know where to find it, let me know but just remember, it's the more mature crowd.
Anyway, Vinnie can't come talk to you all today, he's a little…tied up -Wags eyebrows-, Reno is still mad at me and is over at Destiny's house, Tseng took that $750 check I got from the insurance company to the ATM -YAY!!!- cause these ghetto folks won't mess with a Turk, and Rude is still guarding my car. So I guess I'll have to pull someone else to do the disclaimer while I go visit my Vinnie Boy…
-Snaps fingers and Sephiroth appears as she walks out of the room.-
Seph: -Sighs- Let's just get this over with…
Ez: -Calls from the other room- Be nice Sephy, after you're done here, your going to visit Angel280 for a while…
Seph: -Grins- Can Cloud come with?
Ez: Yeah Sure!
Seph: Ezri doesn't own final fantasy or any of its characters, Square-Enix does. She would like to thank…Hey Ez, you forgot to give me the list!
Ez: Here -Snaps and a small list appears in his hand.-
Seph: Thanks…She would like to thank those of you who have reviewed the story thus far and especially thank the following people:
BlueEyedDemon10
Charles Xavier
Eternal Star
Lone Gunman
And last but not least…Angel280.
Ez is extremely excited to read your story for Me and Cloud -Seph winks at Angel280- and has read 'Savior' on and thought it was awesome. She had never read an original fic before and the similarity between it and some parts of 'Life Without You' is amazing. She also says thank you for the encouraging words, not to mention the big cookie and candy and wants to know where she can get a Vinnie wallpaper for her computer!
At the written request of Ezri, I am to bring you Chocolate Syrup and whip cream when I visit…she said you will know what to do with it. -Seph purrs at Angel-
Seph: Cloud you ready.
Cloud: Yep.
-Seph snaps his fingers and disappears with Cloud and appears on Angel's doorstep.-
Ez: -The crack of a whip is heard- Woo Hoo! I see why eternal star likes these! Til next time everyone! Ja Ne!!
7/19/07
Edited because of change in formatting. Also re-numbering chapters. Minor content edits.