Softening of Stone

"How the fuck did he come back?" Cid's hoarse voice sounded. Cloud had called AVALANCHE to discuss Yuffie's discovery. They were now sitting in the unopened bar, and Cloud was telling them of the past week's events. They each sat in chairs that were pulled around in a circle. Nearest to the window sat Cid, an unlit cigarette in his mouth. Besides him sat Shera. And the spot next to her held Barret, who was sitting with the back of his chair facing the center of the circle. The next spot was occupied by Cloud who had Tifa to the right of him. Next to Tifa was Yuffie. Yuffie was enjoying her place that had Vincent next to her. Reeve sat on Vincent's other side.

"That's what we'd like to know." Reeve said. His face held a grimace.

Cid rolled his eyes before going to light his cigarette. "Not in here, Cid." Tifa ordered. "Smoke outside." Cid grumbled a little before standing up and walking out the door.

"Yuffie, do you have any recollection of how you came to be taken by Hojo?" The question was asked by Reeve.

Yuffie tensed visibly. She hestitated.

"You don't have to say it if your uncomfortable remembering it..." Vincent reasurred her.

She looked at him and smiled a small, sad smile. "It's fine, Vinnie..." She swallowed, took a deep breath, and started her story.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry. I'll visit." Yuffie talked nonchalant into the phone. "I have to visit the closest thing I have to a sister!" She was talking to Tifa on the phone. "I told you, I'll only be gone for a few weeks. Three months tops. I NEED more materia. Haven't gone hunting for it in forever."

Yuffie had admitted to being a kleptomaniac often. She was proud of it. But Tifawas unsure where it would get her friend in time. Yuffie had decided she wanted to on a little trip.

"Promise to call every once in a while. It sucks you can't be here to help with the bar." Tifa complained into the mouthpiece.

"I promise. Don't worry so much." Yuffie laughed into the phone.

"I can't help it! You're my best friend! And your leaving me here with Cloud as my best company. I may love him, but he can get a little dramatic."

Yuffie laughed again at her friends joke. "I'll call. Now I gotta go. Bye."

"Bye." They both hung up.

Yuffie slid her phone into her pocket and sighed. It felt like it had been quite a while since she'd been away from Seventh Heaven and her friends. It was an odd feeling that paraded around her after the phone was flipped off. It wasn't very pleasent.

As Yuffie walked away, she was aware of a presence behind her. She whipped around, a shuriken suddenly in her hand. She pressed it against the throat of her follower. "Why are you following me?" She growled, teeth clenched.

"Easy, stranger." The man was cloaked and Yuffie could barely see his face. His accent was unfamiliar to her. He pronounced his "R's" as "H-es" "I can see you like materia." He gestured towards the bracelet on her wrist that glowed with materia.

"That's none of your buisness, now is it?" Yuffie's voice was tight, emmited between the clenched teeth of a malicious smile. Her hand was turning slightly paler as she squeezed the shuriken in her hand.

"Ahh, but I can help you get some more. Quite a bit more. Have you heard of the Feilds of Red?" The man asked.

Yuffie shook her head slightly, not taking her eyes off the man before her.

"So you do not know that there is a legend that huge amounts of materia if stored somewhere there?"

Yuffie's eyes held a uncharicteristic, hard, questioning stare. She wasn't about to take any crap from this man.

"Here's a map to the Fields of Red, stanger." Yuffie removed the shuriken from the man's throat and took the map. She looked down at the map briefly. When she looked back up the man was gone.

"It had to be about two weeks until I actually looked at the map again." Yuffie explained to the group. She shivered as she thought of it. She was staring at a small mark on the wood floor, avoiding eye contact with everyone. She felt vulnerable and weak explaining these things. She pulled her knees up on to her chair and rested her chin on them. "I should've known it was a trap..."

Yuffie glanced at the map to double check if she was on the right path. She sighed in frustration and turned around and marched back up the little road. Turning the correct way, she continued to go down this much smaller path. The undergrowth scraped at her legs, irritating her skin. She bent down for a moment and rubbed at her legs. As she did this, her phone rang in her pocket.

Pulling it out, she saw she had a message from Vincent.

Tifa wants you to call her.
For some reason, her phone isn't working.
We all want you to come back soon.
Or at least visit.

~Vincent

Yuffie smiled and typed a quick reply.

Okay!~ I'll come back a little sooner,
seeing as your bugging me to come back too.
Things must be really quiet without me there, huh!
See you in... two days?

She hit send and slid the phone back into her pocket. She felt a little happier but that odd, unpleasant feeling was still there and seemed to grow stonger. It tore her inside and a shiver went up her back when she thought of it.

Pushing the feeling to the back of her mind, she continued to walk down the path. She gasped when she reached the end. The was a field dyed red before her. Long grasses of scarlet color filled the field from where Yuffie stood far to the other side of the valley.

"Whoa..." Yuffie gazed out with wide eyes over the plant ocean of red. She spotted a small shed like object with a crude fence around it.

She walked up to the fence's gate. It had a wellbuilt lock on it that held it shut. Yuffie took only a moment to pick the lock and pull open the large gate. It let out a high creeeek. The shed's door wasn't locked so she was able to walk right in. As soon as she did, a large Chimera appeared with a Dual horn.

"Shit..." Yuffie muttered to herself, she pulled out her conformer that was strapped to her back. "Bring it!" She hurled the conformer at the large of the two monsters. The chimera dodged and swung its massive claw at her. She jumped back and caught her weapon. The Dual Horn screamed in rage as it started it's charge. Yuffie held her weapon out so it charged into the weapons deadly point.

The conformer cut into its head, killing the Dual Horn. Yuffie smiled but the next second she was holding her side in pain. The Chimera had hit her while she wasn't paying attention. She pulled out her highest materia, a Fire3. Holding it in her hand she yelled out "Fire3!" The Chimera tryed to evade again but couldn't. The fire crashed into the monster and it screamed in agony. It tryed to attack her again but she landed a hit on it instead.

Yuffie could see it was near death. She hurled the conformer and it smashed into the Chimera. Mako hovered in the air as it's body disappeared.

"Haha! Yes!" Yuffie did a quick fist pump.

She didn't see what happened next. A hand crashed into her neck. She fell to the floor and her cellphone skidded out of her pocket. All she could see was the screen of her phone. She could here footsteps coming closer to her.

Yuffie focused her eyes on her phone. There was tears streaming from her eyes, so her vision was blurry. She could just barely read the flashing screen.

One new message. From- Vincent

It has gotten quite quiet here.
I hope you will sit on the roof with me once you return.
It's lonely up there by myself.

Yuffie's eyes closed as the tears fell from them onto the floor. She couldn't move. Her last conscious thought was the realization what the feeling she had felt since she left.

Loneliness.

Vincent's eyes were full of mixed feelings as he gazed at the slim woman he cared so much about. She was wiping the newly fallen tears from her cheeks. The others of the circle were completely quiet. Yuffie closed her eyes as the tears ran from them, falling down her cheeks. She took a deep breath and said "Does..." She took another breath, "...Does that help?"

I was actually making pancakes while righting this. I can't beleive how long I was able to make this chapter. I usually try to get at least 1,000 words in but now I have like 1,740.

R&R