Maybe some of you noticed, but I forgot to put my disclaimer in the first chapter, so let me tell you…I own nothing

I know it's been a long time since I've updated, but my last laptop committed computercide and I thought everything would be totally lost! I had to start trying to recreate my entire story, but in the end, I got my hard drive copied and then had to marry the new stuff I had written to the stuff I had written before. It took longer than I thought! But I'm back and I hope it never takes me this long to get a new chapter up again!

Chapter Six

Bloodshot Eyes

Vincent's Point of View

"If you look for the bad in mankind expecting to find it, you surely will."

Abraham Lincoln

I must say, I didn't know what they were arguing about. A fighter was dropped into their laps and they were debating on whether or not she should be allowed to help? That seemed so futile to me. At this point, I had believed they would use any means to defeat Shin-Ra and Sephiroth. And I would use any means to send Hojo straight to Hell.

I was surprised to hear Cid come down on the side of the girl. He never seemed to like anyone, but her cocky attitude must have called to him, although hers was nowhere near as grating as his was. Or perhaps he only wanted to ask her about her former airship. There might be a camaraderie there I did not grasp.

I listened with mild interest as Nanaki agreed with Cid while Cloud argued that he didn't trust her. That was slightly entertaining considering how lax he had been with people joining his crusade previously. But, since Cait Sith had been outed as a traitor, he couldn't afford to be too careful. Took long enough for him to realize.

I'm sure that Cloud's attitude toward her came solely from her treatment of Aerith. I could see the girl's point, far more than the others it seemed. I had seen Aerith's blatant disregard for Tifa's feelings when it came to Cloud. I had seen the way she manipulated to get what she wanted. But most importantly, I knew what it was like to have your body and mind invaded by someone or something that had no business being there. One might say I could relate. The girl was taking it better than most might. Better than I had, when I had been in her position. Empty threats and hard glares. Not much could be done about an incorporeal being. Ordinarily, I would find someone that resorted to such a thing entirely idiotic. But not her. Somehow, she was different, and I found myself incapable of thinking of her as such. There was something about this girl…

I couldn't really explain it. There was something about her that called to me. Something that resonated within my very being. I was hyper aware when she was in the room and it had been so since she had first appeared. It was odd, and something I planned on covertly examining in her time with us, be that two days or until the end.

I listened to the group and wondered if they had even realized they were calling her "that girl." It seemed so impersonal to be deciding her fate when we had nothing to call her.

Silence descended and I found that they were looking at me. And of course, I hadn't been paying attention.

"So what do you think, Vincent?" Tifa asked, more than likely repeating Cloud's question.

Why were they asking me? They hardly ever even spoke to me. What use was my opinion? And then I saw it. I was the tiebreaker. Barret, Cloud, and Tifa thought she wasn't to be trusted, although I was sure the woman would have voted differently if the object of her affection had as well. Yuffie, Cid, and Nanaki believed she should be given a chance. Cait Sith's opinion, although he was all for trusting her, no longer counted since he was a traitor, regardless of what he had done at the Temple of the Ancients. So it was up to me.

"I think we should find out her name and what she is capable of before a definitive decision is made," I said calmly.

Most of the members of the group nodded in agreement and then looked at Cloud as if for permission. What made him qualified to be a leader? He seemed to be a tad awkward and disorganized to be viewed as such. Not that I was interested in the position, mind you, merely being observant.

Cloud scratched the back of his head slowly, looking back and forth between the two groups and lingering on the one showing support for not dropping the girl from the airship. He still looked unconvinced, but finally shrugged and led the way off the bridge and into the hall.

Nanaki took a deep breath and nodded down the hallway. I could smell her as well, a citrusy and spicy scent, but that was an aspect of myself that I was not ready to reveal. The group knew I could transform into no less than three demons, but I wasn't about to inform them that that my senses were heightened at all times. They barely tolerated my presence as it was, some of them with far less grace than others.

We found her in the Engine Room.

"What the hell is she doin' in there?" Cid growled as he flung open the door.

And there was the girl. She was doing a handstand in the center of the room, her face toward us. The few of the blue beads braided into her hair were standing out considerably lying gently on the polished metal floor. I hadn't realized how long her golden hair was until that moment. She had one of her arms extended out to the side and was balancing on the other. Her eyes were closed and she looked serene in her meditation.

The girl, although I knew even calling her that in my mind was incorrect, because she was far older than anyone on the airship, sighed softly and slowly opened her green eyes. She didn't appear at all surprised to see all of us gathered about the room, although she had made no movement when we had entered. She blinked at us for a moment before bending her legs down until her feet touched the ground behind her head and then in one fluid motion, she stood, her back to us. She turned around, eyeing Cloud carefully, waiting patiently for him to pronounce her sentence.

"Cloud Strife," the swordsman said stoically.

The girl grinned brightly at him with relief. "Buffy Summers," she said, holding out her hand. They shook.

"Tifa Lockhart."

"Yuffie Kisaragi."

"Barret Wallace."

"Cait Sith."

"Cid Highwind."

"Nanaki."

So it went down the line, the merry band of misfits and outcasts introducing themselves to the immortal. And at last, she stood before me and gave the same small smile she had given me on the bridge. "I'm Buffy," she said softly.

"Vincent Valentine."

Her eyes narrowed the smallest fraction as she looked at me. "Romantic name for such a sad man," she breathed. Her voice was so soft, I was sure no one else had heard it.

A sad man with a romantic name? I suppose it could be construed as such. Ironic that my name is Valentine, a word associated with love and flowers, when I spent six years of my life as an assassin. Underneath all that however, I had been somewhat of a hopeless romantic in my youth. I had believed I would meet a beautiful young woman, court her with flowers and poetry, ask her father for her hand in marriage, and make love to her on our wedding night. But that was never to be. I was a monster now and I had left my youth far behind me.

"So, that's it?" the girl…no, Buffy…was asking Cloud. "I gotta say, I was expecting you to come in here with your huge ass sword and challenge me."

Cloud merely blinked at her.

"Uh…has that happened a lot?" Tifa asked curiously.
Buffy stared at her. "Well, yeah," she said incredulously. "Is there a better way of assessing someone's skill with a weapon? Hell, the last guy that challenged me ended up being one of the best friends I've ever had, in a gruff and broody kinda way. He said he couldn't help but like the second person in almost twenty years to take his weapon during combat and the only one to ever try to use it against him."

"And you were the Captain of an airship?" Highwind asked in disbelief, although I'm not sure why. It isn't as if lying about something so trivial would be at all advantageous. He had probably been waiting to ask that since she had first mentioned it to the demon she killed.

Buffy got a faraway look in her eyes. "Yeah. The Celsius. My home for two years. God, I miss it already."

The glazed expression passed after a moment. "But I won't bore you with my past exploits. I doubt that's why you're here. This is probably the part where you tell me that you're going to find out what I'm capable of before you decide to let me help you. And since none of you seem keen on fighting me yourselves, it pretty much goes without saying that your plan is to land this bird and have me fight whatever nasties are around."

Obviously another tactic that had been used before. Was it difficult for her, to travel to all these places and have to prove her intentions time and time again? I would think it would be maddening for her. But what did I know? Perhaps she didn't mind, or perhaps it was that after so many people and places, she was used to it. To live with that kind of constant suspicion…well, I was beginning to understand what that was like.

Between Cid and Yuffie, I had acquired a plethora of brand new derogatory nicknames. Sunshine, Vampy, Melanin challenged, just to name a few. They mocked me, no one in the group really trusted me, both because of my previous employment and the nature of my resting place before they had found me, and they had made to clear, more often than not that the only reason I was accompanying them was because of my knowledge of the past and the fact that I could use a gun. If I wasn't only using them to further my own goals, I might have been offended. But I couldn't be. They were only a means to an end, after all.

I had lost the thread of conversation while preoccupied with my inner musings, but it seemed that everyone was retreating from the room. I stayed a moment after the others had left, watching the slight woman pull a ridiculous fuzzy red and orange blanket from her trunk along with some other cloth items.

She seemed to sense me standing behind her then, although I am not foolish enough to believe that she was previously unaware, and she looked over her shoulder at me, raising an eyebrow. I gave her a stiff but courteous bow and took my leave, heading up to the deck of the airship.

I wasn't there long when I heard the engines, and thus the power, shut off. Cid had told us that if we weren't traveling for any length of time, it would be advantageous to both the machinery and our gil situation if the airship wasn't left to idle. I didn't know whether or not I agreed with his logic, but it would be dreadfully cold if he continued this course of action at the Northern Continent. We would all freeze in our beds. Mores the pity.

I stared off into the inky darkness for another hour or more before retreating back into the ship. My room was the very last in the long line of the hallway. I passed Cid and Barrett's room, the symphonic range or their snoring permeating the air. Cloud and Nanaki's room, silence from within. Yuffie's private room, as no one wanted to share a room with her and run the risk of having all their belongings stolen. I passed Tifa's room with the empty bed dedicated to Aerith's memory. And finally came to my room.

Each space had two single beds, a porthole type window, and a few metal shelves riveted to the walls. Mine also boasted a few ammunition charts for the multitude of guns I used and a stack of books that I had finished reading cluttering up a corner. I picked up a book as often as we entered a town, but unfortunately, I read much too fast and finished all my books before I had a chance to buy more.

I sat down on the edge of my bed and looked over at its empty mate. It was no surprise that no one had offered it. Who, after all, would want to share a room with a demon? I couldn't help but wonder, however, whether or not she was sleeping on the cold metal floor with nothing but that blanket. Wouldn't sharing a room with me and having a real bed be preferable to an engine room?

Decision made, I stood and made my way back to her makeshift quarters. I listened carefully at the door and, hearing no sound from within, eased it open, and I found her curled up and shivering under her blanket. I considered waking her up and extending my invitation, but decided against it when I saw her peaceful face. I had noticed the slight dark circles under her eyes when she arrived, signifying a lack of sleep. It would be cruel to wake her if it wasn't strictly necessary.

I knelt by her small form and picked her up, blanket and all. She struggled for a moment, eyelids fluttering. "Be at peace," I whispered. "I mean you no harm."

She stilled at the first sound of my voice, then calmed completely. I stood and made my way quietly back to my room, taking care that my footfalls were silent, in spite of the brass plated coverings of my boots. I shifted the girl's light body to one arm so I could open the door and then gently laid her on the unclaimed bed. I carefully pulled the blankets over her and watched with detached amusement as the highly dangerous woman turned to cuddle up with the pillow.

Appearances are deceiving, after all.

I went back to the engine room and retrieved the trunk and the sword. I had to call on the strength of those who dwell within me to pick them up and found myself even more impressed with this…immortal than I had been previously. I maneuvered the large objects back to the room and carefully deposited them both at the end of Buffy's new bed. Presumptuous of me, I knew, but I told myself I was merely making things easier on the girl when she awoke.

Unbuckling my cape, I slid into my own bed. I wasn't really one for sleep anymore. I attribute that to thirty years spent in a coffin. And, as a complete change of pace, I wasn't feeling up to indulging in self-reflection and the constant tallying of my sins. Instead, I lay on my side watching the sleeping countenance of my new roommate.