Yeah, I know. I'm a horrible person for going this long between updates.

Still own nothing.

Chapter Seven

Make Things Better

Buffy's Point of Veiw

"Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery."

~Malcolm X

I dreamt of a deep-voiced angel and floating. It was almost like Heaven, but different. I felt more at peace than I ever remembered being.

I woke slowly and found myself not only warm, but also comfortable. That I hadn't been expecting. Even as a Slayer, there's just no way to sleep on a metal floor and wake up without a backache. I gingerly opened an eye to see an expanse of white pillow laid out before me. I had no other choice at that point. I lifted my head and glanced around the room, blinking my bleary eyes. It was a bunker like in any other airship I had been within. Metal floors. Metal riveted walls. But there was one glaring difference that set this one apart. On the other bunk, long limbs stretched out and casually cleaning his gun, was Vincent Valentine.

I sat up fully and scrubbed a hand over the side of my face. "Thought there weren't any spare beds," I joked, drawing the gunman's gaze to me for the first time.

He looked almost panicked, only visible in the slight widening of his eyes. I wondered distractedly if he had slept in the cape. "I…I assumed you would be more comfortable in a bed," he mumbled. "If you would prefer not to share a room with me…"

"Vincent," I interrupted.

He blinked at me, but said absolutely nothing.

"Thank you," I said quietly. "I think everyone else is too scared to share a room with me. Nice to know I'm not half as intimidating as the others think I am."

I stretched and stood up, watching with amusement as Vincent Valentine raised an eyebrow at my attire. I had pilfered a wife beater from Dean Winchester while I was helping him and his brother and I wore it often to sleep in along with the flannel pants that Rikku had given me two years ago for my birthday. They were yellow and had bright green cartoon cactuars on them. Yep, they fit so well with my badass image.

I dressed quickly in a white tank top, a tight black shirt over the top, black cargo pants, and my leather boots. Valentine had kindly turned his back, continuing to clean his gun. Of course, I noted that he didn't bother to leave the room, but after so long living and traveling with complete strangers, my modesty had practically become non-existent. Not that I flaunted myself or anything, I just wasn't overly concerned about who watched me dress.

As was apparently the custom, the entire team met on the bridge. Yuffie scuttled around like a hyperactive cockroach giving out food rations, and I pocketed mine, deciding it would be smarter to wait until I was truly hungry to eat, just in case they threw me off the airship. And I was pretty sure I couldn't stare to death anyway. After the irritatingly chipper ninja finished handing out the small foil wrapped packets, she eyed me curiously.

"How come you're hanging out with him?" she asked through her full mouth, pointing at the quiet man standing next to me.

I glared at her hand until she retracted it. "Mr. Valentine was kind enough to offer me the spare bed in his room so I didn't have to sleep on the floor. Pretty awesome of him, right?" I asked with the slight narrowing of my eyes.

She looked over at the others and then back at me, the fear and suspicion clear in her eyes. She stepped close to me, as though we were about to share a secret. "You can't sleep in there!" she exclaimed in a mock whisper that every member of the team could hear. "He's a vampire!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Huge peals of laughter were ripped from me, bubbling up in Yuffie's face, causing her to back up quickly. A few minutes and many tears down my cheeks later, I finally got a hold of myself. "You think he's vampire?" I snorted. "When Whistler showed up, he didn't tell you what kind of warrior I was, did he?"

The blank looks I received were more than enough proof that the demon had said the same thing he always did.

"Okay," I said slowly, trying to decide exactly what to say. "Back in my dimension, I was a chosen warrior to rid the world of rather specific things. Demons and vampires. I'm a Vampire Slayer," I finished with a slight grin. "And Vincent isn't a vamp."

I watched with glee as Cid choked on his ration, causing Barrett to smack his back heartily. The rest were busy staring at me openmouthed.

"But we found him in a coffin!" Yuffie exclaimed.

Trying to hold in my snickers, I decided that the straightforward and upfront approach was the best way to go. "No vampire I have ever run across has ever slept in a coffin. Not one. Now, if Mr. Valentine would kindly oblige me, I can even prove he's not a blood sucking creature of the night." I turned and gave the man in question a lopsided grin.

"I care not what they think of me," Vincent said quietly.

"Well, blame it on my need to slay ignorance then, since it is my area of expertise," I said, rolling my eyes.

He regarded me for a moment and then nodded once. I could see he was just the slightest bit interested…or perhaps merely curious would be more accurate. I could tell that the others didn't like him and he didn't seem too fond of them either. But I'd be damned if I was going to let them harass the first person here that was kind to me. He had offered me a bed when the rest of them would have been completely content to let me sleep on the floor. No, this man was worth defending, even if he didn't seem to believe it.

"To begin with, Vincent is breathing. Vampires, for the most part, don't bother. Newly risen vamps sometimes do, but only through force of habit. Second," I said, placing my hand on the tall man's chest, "his heart's beating. You'll have to take my word for it, since I really doubt he's going to want all of you coming over here to grope him. If he were a vampire, he wouldn't have any body heat. He'd be room temperature and he's not."

I made so bold as to grab Vincent's right hand and to slowly pull off his leather glove, watching his face for any signs of discomfort or even panic. His eyes widened slightly, but he made no move to stop me. I tucked his glove into my pocket for a moment as I pulled the necklace from my neck. The two pieces of metal had been saved from the wreckage of Vegnagun and soldered together by Rikku. A cross. I placed the object in Vincent's outstretched palm.

"If he was a vampire, this would be cooking his skin. Clearly, it's not. We're standing in a patch of sunlight here and he's not going up in flames. Also a pretty good indicator. I can see his reflection in the window. Vamps don't have one. And have any of you actually seen him drink blood? Because he would have had to at some point."

They all looked at me sheepishly. It was almost like they had never actually considered the specifics, but instead found the most convenient label for the pale, thin man and run with it. That kind of bigotry was the most ridiculous thing I had ever witnessed.

"But…but we've seen him turn into a monster!" Yuffie exclaimed, looking to the rest of the team for support. "He's not human!"

I laughed a little grimly at that as I handed Vincent back his leather glove. "Neither is Red over there," I said, hooking a thumb at the lion. "And neither am I. So what?" I had no clue what she meant about him turning into a monster, but I knew I hadn't let that show. Of course, I had had a long time to practice my poker face. "If you need to call him a vampire for that, I can't wait to hear what you all come up with to call me."

The rest of the morning was spent in silence. Well, at least for me. I stood at the window with Vincent, surveying my new world. From the air, it almost looked like Earth, minus the roads and the big cities. A world like any other.

Really, sometimes I forgot things like that.

Cloud had Cid put the Highwind down. Then he turned and gave me a hard stare. Like I didn't know what was coming.

"Okay," he said wearily. "I think it's time to see what you can do." He glanced around the assembled group. "Tifa and…uh…Vincent. You guys come, too."

Interesting. I had noticed that Cloud usually only traveled with a group of three. That made sense. Few enough people fighting not to let chaos ensue or attract unwanted attention, but it was enough to take on most baddies without issue. So, adding me as a fourth meant one of two things. Either he expected me to suck at fighting, or he didn't trust me. But that was okay. Trust is earned, not given, and as for the fighting, well…he could see that for himself.

Cloud and Tifa were down the ramp in a hurry, chattering companionably, leaving me and Vincent to bring up the rear. We didn't speak, he wasn't big on the whole talking thing anyway, and I felt him tense beside me as he scanned the horizon for potential threats.

I extended my senses as Giles had taught me and felt two things. One was the mysterious man beside me. I wasn't sure why I could sense him yet, only that I had been able to since I had landed on the bridge.

The other thing was over to our right on the other side of a diminutive rise. "Uh, Cloud?" I ventured. "If you're looking for something to fight, there's something over there."

He followed the point of my finger with his eyes. "I don't see anything," he said in confusion.

And that was all he could say before three monsters crested the small hill and came barreling towards Vincent and me. I pulled my sword from my back and charged at them. They were bugs, like crosses between cockroaches and scorpions, and the size of large dogs.

Vincent had his gun drawn and was quickly firing at the one that had broken away from the group and was advancing on him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cloud hold Tifa back and I knew this was a test to see how well I would fair without their help.

The first bug lunged at me, its stinger dripping with a viscous fluid that I would have bet my eyeteeth was poisonous. I held it off with my sword and, with my left hand, drew the large curved Elvin dagger from my belt. As the second bug came in, thinking I was preoccupied, I stabbed the knife down hard in the middle of its back. I swung my entire body in a quick circle, slicing the first one in half with my sword and eviscerating the second with my dagger. Both carcasses fell to the ground in a trembling heap.

I turned back to check Vincent and, seeing he had successfully shot his insect attacker into Swiss cheese, I cleaned the bug blood off my knife and sword in the grass. I looked up to find Cloud and Tifa in front of me.

The young woman was grinning at me, but the blond man's expression was slightly more stoic.

"Let me guess," I said as I slid my knife back into its sheath. "That wasn't impressive enough and next you'd like to see me tear the baddies apart with my bare hands. I can do that, but it's going to be a lot messier."

He looked shocked and I smirked at him a bit as I rested my sword up on my shoulder.

"You haven't proved anything yet," he sneered as he strode away.

I sighed. It was going to be a long day.

We were just out of sight of the airship, when a voice called out to us.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!"

Yuffie came running up, badly out of breath.

"What happened?" Tifa asked.

"I know this area pretty well," she told us.

"So do I," I heard Vincent say quietly from beside me. I glanced over at him, but his attention was still fixed on Yuffie. I don't think he expected anyone to hear him, so I stared back ahead, pretending I hadn't.

"It get pretty tough past here. You better get ready," she told the others sweetly.

"Something's strange," Tifa mumbled. "Why do I get the feeling you're planning something?"

Yuffie waved her hands in front of her. "No, no! Honestly, it just gets rough, that's all."

And then from behind some bushes emerged two Shin-Ra soldiers with guns. "Freeze!"

I was shocked that neither Vincent nor I had noticed them, but in our defense, Yuffie had been prattling on.

"Shin-Ra!" Tifa cried.

"Yuffie!" Cloud roared.

"No, I swear, I had nothing to do with this one!" she yelled.

"This one? What do you mean 'this one'?" Tifa screamed at her.

The soldiers attacked, not exactly waiting for us to figure out who betrayed whom. We split instinctively, Tifa and Cloud going after one while Vincent and I went after the other.

As the armed soldier ran at us, Valentine and I struck out at the same time. We both punched, I with my fist, he with his gauntlet, and the startled man flew back twenty feet under our combined power.

I grinned at Vincent and, although no expression was discernable behind the cowl of his cape, I got the feeling he might be smiling too.

We ran at the bewildered soldier. He took aim at me and began shooting. I flipped into the air and landed in front of the stunned man, sliding my sword into his soft belly. The man's eyes flew wide as he looked up at me. Then his head jerked to the side, blood trickling down the side of his face from his temple.

Vincent stood next to me, the barrel of his gun smoking. "He didn't drop his weapon," he said by way of explanation.

I pulled my sword from the gullet of the soldier and turned to find Cloud finishing of the man they were fighting. Tifa was crouched down on the ground, a hand pressed to her left arm, a cheery red liquid seeping from beneath it.

The three of us were at her side within moments. Cloud was fingering a bangle on his arm and then rummaging in his pockets.

"Oh gods," he gasped. "My materia's missing."

"As is mine," Vincent said solemnly.

I looked back and forth between them. "Yeah, and so's Yuffie. No prizes for guessing what happened there. And why do I think neither of you know what to do for a wound without materia?"

Both of the men stared at me blankly.

"This is what comes from depending on magic too much," I said, rolling my eyes. I sat down in front of Tifa. "Can I have a look?"

She leaned back on her butt and crossed her legs, gingerly holding out her arm to me.

I had hoped it was a graze, but no such luck. I was looking at a dime-sized hole in the muscle of her bicep. I got to my knees and leaned over her to observe the back of her arm, expecting to see an exit wound. But instead of another hole, there was an angry bruise and a telling lump. I delicately felt her arm. It wasn't broken.

"Shit," I murmured. "It must have ricocheted of the bone." I stood and quickly took stock of the situation. The bullet would obviously have to come out so it wouldn't get infected.

"Cloud, I need you to make a fire," I ordered. "I assume you can do that without the aid of materia?"

He stared at me in complete bewilderment.

I sighed and pulled an old silver Zippo out of my pocket. I held it out and wordlessly showed him how to light it before tossing it to him. It took him a few tries to replicate my actions, but when he did, he looked up and nodded to me begrudgingly.

Then I unbuckled my belt, pulling it free of the loops, and sliding the sheath of my Elvin knife from it. I tossed the belt to Vincent. "Make a tourniquet above the wound, please," I asked.

While I watched the crimson clad man make short work of his task, I slipped off my sword holder and then my shirt, thankful I had picked up the habit of layering for reasons such as this. I took off my white tank top and then pulled my thin black t-shirt back on.

When I looked up, the fire was built, the tourniquet applied, and my three companions were staring at me. I considered cracking a joke about my green satin bra, but I held back.

"You have so many scars," Tifa breathed. She must not have meant to say anything out loud because she blushed bright red after uttering it.

I chuckled as I tore my tank to into four equal pieces. "Yeah," I agreed. "Fighting isn't exactly without its drawbacks. Of course, when I got dropped onto your ship, I was wearing less. You didn't notice them then?"

She shook her head. "I was kinda distracted by you killing that demon guy. Why…?" Tifa trailed off and I offered her a neutral look, hoping she would continue on her own. "Why don't you hide them?" she asked in a hurry, as if the speed would make the question slightly less rude.

I didn't mind at all, though. "The people I was going to visit had all seen them before. The perils of sharing a tent, I guess. And as for all the other people on Spira…well, I couldn't have cared less what they thought of me. There isn't one scar you'll find that I don't remember. But they're part of me." I glanced down at the 'P' burned into the skin of my forearm. "The experiences I had that got them have made me into who I am. I can't be ashamed of that. There is something beautiful about scars. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed…done with. Nothing but a memory. Just be thankful you didn't see my back," I muttered as I pulled two flasks from my pocket. My black cargo pants were handy as hell for things like this. I opened one, took a sniff and then a taste. I handed that one to Tifa. "Drink this," I ordered.

She looked at it curiously. "What is it?"

"Rum," I answered. "Unless one of you happens to be carrying a local anesthetic in your pockets?"

Silence.

"No? Back at the airship then?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"We've always had materia," Cloud justified lamely.

I moved to sit down behind Tifa, eyeing the place the bullet was lodged under her skin. I glanced over at Vincent, still hunkered down next to the wounded young woman. "Wanna be the nurse?" I asked with a half smile.

He blinked at me.

Well, he didn't say 'no,' so I handed him the four patches of white cloth and my second flask. I pulled out my knife and set it in my lap before handing the leather sheath to Tifa. "You're going to want to bite down on that here in a minute."

I grabbed part of my ruined tank top and the flask from Vincent. I opened it, spilling some of the whiskey onto the cloth, and used it to disinfect my dagger.

Tifa watched me over her shoulder. "I've never seen a knife like that before."

Okay, she wanted a distraction. I could do that. "And you never will again," I said, handing both the flask and the alcohol soaked cloth back to Vincent. I watched the girl take another gulp of rum from the flask I had given her and, at my nod, put the sheath between her teeth.

"Seventy years ago or so, I was in a world called Arda," I began as I made a half-inch incision on the back of Tifa's arm. "It was a land full of things you've only imagined in fairytales. There were crafty wizards, stouthearted dwarves, courageous kings, and beautiful elves. An amazing place. One of the best I've ever been to. And would go back to in a heartbeat if I had the choice."

The bullet was in a bit deeper than I had originally thought but with a final flick of the wrist, it was in my palm.

"We had just lost one of our group members, so we took refuge in the woods of Lórien, and went to the Elvin city of Caras Galadhon," I continued as I began to clean the wound, both sides, with a fresh cloth and more whiskey. "We stayed there for a week to recover. The marchwarden, an elf named Haldir, took it upon himself to teach me how to use a bow. And I sucked at it. I mean, I was really lousy. So, when he left a few hours later for a five day patrol of the forest, Legolas, the elf traveling in our group, decided to help me learn."

I rose and began heating my dagger over the fire. "Drink the rest of that rum, Tifa. Anyway, we practiced nonstop and by the time Haldir returned, I was pretty good. Almost as good as him, actually. Legolas was a good teacher, but he was almost three thousand years old…so I guess he kinda had the experience. Haldir was irritated I progressed so quickly under his tutelage, and Legolas was a tad smug about it and was teasing him a lot, and I laughed about it which, in retrospect, was a bad move because the guy totally lost his temper. The marchwarden spewed a long line of curses at us in elvish, ranging from how unnatural it was for a woman to have such skills to speculating about the nature of mine and Legolas's relationship, claiming it must be sexual and guessing about the frequency of said encounters. He really hadn't counted on one thing, though."

I got up and crouched before Tifa, the blade of my knife red-hot. She put the leather sheath back between her teeth and nodded. I pressed the searing blade to her skin and continued to talk over her stifled shrieks of pain. "For the three months I had been traveling, Legolas and Aragorn, a man raise by the elves, had been teaching me their language. So, I understood everything he said. And I didn't speak to HaldirHHHHSDG again before we left."

I removed the blade and inspected the wound. It had cauterized nicely, but poor Tifa was unsuccessfully blinking back tears. I started heating the knife for the back of her arm.

"It was about two months later that I saw him again. We were at a fort called Helm's Deep and were about to be under siege. There were a handful of warriors and the rest of the people fighting were old men or young boys…and then Haldir came, honoring an ancient alliance that existed between men and elves, but had been cast aside after a good thousand years of fighting and ignoring one another. He brought a small army of elves to help us fight our huge battle. That brought our odds up to two thousand verses the ten thousand that were marching down on us. I was stationed on the outer wall, bow and arrows in hand, and facing down probable death, when he sidled up next to me."

I stood again and moved to position myself over the small hole I had made extracting the bullet. She screamed as I pressed down, but then bit the leather again.

"He apologized, obviously figuring out that I knew what he had said. He told me he should have never spoken to a lady that way and that he was envious of the close relationship I had with Legolas and lashed out about it, and he hoped, in time, I would come to forgive him. Then, he gave me this," I said, removing the blade.

I took another clean cloth from Vincent and bandaged the wound.

"What happened then?" Cloud asked. I think I had forgotten he was there.

"Uh, about four hours later, when we were forced to retreat into the Citadel, uh…the middle of the fortress, I realized I hadn't gotten to tell him that I had forgiven him. I actually hadn't even given it a second thought since we had left Caras Galadhon and I really didn't want to die without telling him that it was okay. So I resolved to tell him the minute he and his troops fell back. And then I could die without that on my conscience."

I used the final cloth to clean the blood and singed skin from my knife and then threw the three soiled pieces of cloth onto the fire and watched them burn.

"The troops came, but no Haldir. Aragorn was the last one inside. As we braced the doors, he told me that Haldir had been stabbed and he was with him as he died."

I retrieved my belt, resheathed my knife, and finished off the last of the whiskey to avoid their shocked and somber gazes in response to what I had said.

"It seems like Yuffie headed north," Cloud said, trying to change the subject. "Teef, you wanna go back to the airship? Buffy could take you while Vincent and I go after Yuffie."

Tifa got to her feet, flexed her arm experimentally, and stuck her chin out defiantly. "I'm going. I may not be able to fight well, but Yuffie stole my materia, too. I'll be fine," she told him stubbornly.

"Vincent," I said quietly. "You mentioned you knew this area."

He looked at me, eyes unreadable as they always were.

"Is there a town or something close by that she probably headed to?"

Vincent nodded once. "Wutai. Up the coast. Fourteen miles," he informed us.

"Okay," Cloud said. "That's where we'll head. With any luck, that's where she'll be."

It was decided that Vincent and I would scout around, taking out monsters, leaving Cloud to protect Tifa if any got past us. When we could see the city in the distance, the fights thinned out and we all started walking together again.

"How's your arm?" I asked Tifa.

"It's not to bad," she answered with a grateful smile. "Why do I get the feeling you've done stuff like this a lot?"

I grinned at her. "Three years ago, right after Spira was saved from their first Big Bad, I moved to an desert island called Bikanel. A race of people called the Al Bhed lived there. My friend, Rikku, was the daughter of their leader. They had had a whole machine city there, but it had been completely destroyed, so we spent our days in the desert, digging up parts for salvage."

I grinned widely at the memories. "Rikku was a klutz. And it didn't matter that she was a graceful thief and a great fighter, when it came to normal things like…walking…she was the uber klutz. And we did everything together on Bikanel. We'd take a hover out in the morning and by the time we got back in the afternoon, she'd be injured. A cut. A bruise. Once, she even fell off the hover and broke her arm. So, yeah, I have a bit of experience."

By the time I finished my little story, we were in Wutai. It was gorgeous. Pagodas and a serene little river snaked through the center of town. I realized Wutai must be like Japan or China in my world. It had the whole oriental vibe going for it.

We decided to split up to search for the thieving ninja brat. Tifa and Cloud headed for the shops hoping to find her while Vincent and I headed toward the residential district. I was sensing a pattern.

"So, how do you know the area?" I asked when the silence became too oppressive. I figured he wouldn't answer, but it was worth a shot. The man was a mystery wrapped in an enigma, so when a full minute passed and he hadn't answered, I wasn't surprised.

"I am from Wutai," he finally said.

The PHS Cloud had given me, almost like a cell phone in function, rang and I put it to my ear in a hurry, thinking the other group may have found our wayward thief. "Summers," I answered.

"Buffy," Cloud said curtly. "Be advised, the Turks are here in town."

I stopped short, a jolt of undeniable excitement running through me. The Turks? Well, I had been waiting for a good fight. The monsters I had encountered that morning had been mediocre at best, posing no challenge at all, and I was itching for one. "Turks, huh? Where are you? We'll come help," I said and Vincent nodded.

"Well, Reno's saying they're on vacation so they won't fight us. Tifa just wanted you two to be aware in case," Cloud said.

"That's right," came a voice, farther away but clearly in the same room. "Don't want our vacation ruined by your spiky ass."

I blinked for a moment. "Cloud? Are you actually standing by them right now?" I asked incredulously.

"Uh…" He cleared his throat and changed the subject. "Have you seen Yuffie yet?"

"Nope. You?"

"We saw her for a minute, but then we lost track of her," he answered sheepishly.

"Call you if we find anything," I said and snapped the phone shut.

Suddenly, Vincent's head snapped up and he took off running. I caught the tiniest glimpse of a girl in a green shirt darting into a house and I prayed that the man was right and we weren't about to barge into someone's dwelling without a reason. But somehow, I knew that Vincent wouldn't be that careless, so in we went.

A man was sitting at the kitchen table. He looked up at us in alarm and I realized that Vincent and I probably looked pretty intimidating. Both of us in black, red, and leather. Valentine with his gun and I with my huge sword. The man probably thought we were there to rob or kill him. So we did the only thing we could do. Completely ignored his presence.

Vincent went to the right and I went to the left, hugging the walls and searching for potential hiding places.

There was a silk screen set out about a foot away from my wall. It was the only place I could see in the room that could hide a whole teenage girl. I pushed it aside and there she was, crouched down and staring at me.

"Yuffie," I said softly, not really wanting a shuriken in the face for my efforts. I held out my hands, showing I was unarmed. "We just want the…"

She kicked me hard in the knees. I hadn't been expecting it and I stumbled backwards into Vincent. He locked his arm around my waist, obviously mindful of the talons on his gauntlet, and kept us upright. But Yuffie had already seized her opportunity by running out the front door.

"Damn," I muttered. "I didn't actually expect her to kick me."

We were out the door within seconds, but there was no sign of the little double crosser anywhere. We walked around for a few more minutes, but it was pretty clear we had missed our shot.

But then the PHS rang. "Yeah?" I answered irritably.

"We think we've found her," came Tifa's voice.

She gave us the directions and we were there in less than a minute. In hushed tones, Cloud told us he was almost positive she was hiding in a huge ceramic pot outside of the bar, Turtle's Paradise, we were standing in front of. It gave her two avenues of escape: the bridge leading back to the entrance of town and another bridge leading towards the mountains.

Vincent stood on the first while Tifa and I took up positions on the second. Cloud tiptoed over to the pot and unceremoniously punched it three times.

Yuffie leapt out, flipping over his head, and ran for the first bridge. Spotting Vincent there, gun drawn but held loosely at his side, she whirled and headed toward Tifa and me instead. We stepped forward, as did Cloud and the gunslinger, and she found herself trapped.

"You can't get away, Yuffie," Cloud informed her.

She looked back and forth between the four of us, searching for an escape. Then her shoulders slumped. "O…Okay. I know…I was wrong. You win. I'll give you back your materia."

While Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent escorted her back to her house, I stepped in to Turtle's Paradise to have my flasks refilled. I sat down at the bar while I waited.

At the center table of the room sat three of the Turks. I grinned to myself. Rude, Elena, and Reno. And they had no clue who I was.

Two Shin-Ra soldiers burst in and ran over to their table. "So our reports were right," one of them said. "He IS here on vacation."

My ears perked up. Who was? Evidently not Sephiroth. He didn't strike me as the vacationing type.

"We've finally found him," the other soldier said. "We need the Turks as backup."

I watched Reno throw back a shot. "What a drag."

"What was that?" the first soldier asked him, apparently not having heard.

The redheaded Turk glared at him. "Right now, we're off duty and can't run off to save your butts."

The bartender brought me my flasks and I ordered a shot just to have an excuse to eavesdrop a bit longer.

"We knew you were off duty…" one of the commandos was saying.

"If you knew that, then don't bother us. Looking at you is making me sober," Reno growled.

I stifled a chuckle and smiled gratefully at the bartender as he plunked the tiny glass down on the bar in front of me before moving on to some other customers.

"But you have orders from headquarters to look for him too!" one of the soldiers said indignantly.

Reno and Rude both ignored them, slamming back shots like it was going out of style.

I drank mine and signaled for one more.

"Alright, that's it! We'll get him without any help from the Turks. Just you wait! And don't think headquarters isn't going to hear about this," the soldiers threatened before running out of the bar.

Elena looked between her two male companions worriedly. "Reno, do you think that was such a good idea? I mean, is that the way a professional Turk would act?"

Reno put down his drink and turned in his seat to face her. "Elena, don't misunderstand. A pro isn't someone who sacrifices himself for the job. That's just a fool."

This time, I couldn't stifle my chuckle. "God, that is so true," I said under my breath as I downed my second shot. And then I noticed it was silent. I looked back at the Turks to find them staring at me.

Reno stood and took a few steps towards me. "You got somethin' to say?" he growled at me.

I stood as well, tossing the gil Vincent had leant me on the counter and pocketing the two flasks. "Nope, I already said it," I replied. "I just agreed with the statement."

I watched him eye the hilt of the sword over my shoulder. "Who are you?" he sneered.

I considered what to tell him. "No one you need to be worried about while you're on vacation?" I ventured.

He watched me carefully for another moment. But apparently, my answer was deemed good enough because he nodded and sat back down.

Elena looked dumbfounded. "Rude…?" she asked and I wasn't entirely sure whether or not she was asking him about me or whoever the soldiers had been talking about. When he didn't answer her at all, she glared at them both and then stormed out just ahead of me.

I left the bar and started following the directions Yuffie had given me. And lo and behold, I got halfway there and was completely lost! I couldn't remember if I was supposed to take a left or a right at the pagoda with the green roof. I sighed in absolute frustration because I had the feeling that it wouldn't have mattered I did remember. What were the odds she had told me the truth anyway? But there was no way in hell I was going to use the PHS to call and get the directions again! Cloud already seemed to dislike me and I really didn't want to feed more fuel into that fire.

But then I had a brilliant plan, if I do say so myself. It was going to come in handy that I happened to be hyper aware of one of the members of the group. I closed my eyes and stretched my senses to seek out Vincent. After a moment, I centered on him and followed the tugging at the back off my mind all the way to a small house. I knocked and Tifa let me in.

"Aww man! How'd you even get here?" Yuffie whined as I walked into the living room. "I didn't even give you the right directions."

I raised an eyebrow at her. Suspicions confirmed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," I said wryly.

"Quit stalling!" Cloud ordered the teen.

"I know…the materia, right? I have it stored in a safe place. Follow me," the ninja said quietly. She led us downstairs into what was obviously her training room. There were shurikens embedded everywhere, a purple rug on the floor embroidered with oriental looking symbols, and some levers on the far wall. It wasn't exactly my style, but it was functional and had me missing the Magic Box back room more than I had in years.

"I've been hearing that before I was born, Wutai was a lot more crowded and more important." She walked away from the four of us in the center of the room to stand facing the corner. "You saw what it looks like now, right? Just a resort town."

Where the hell was this going? And more importantly, why did we care and why did this give her the right to steal from Cloud and the others? I exchanged a glance with Vincent, who slightly shrugged.

"After we lost the war," Yuffie was saying, "we got peace, but with that, we lost something else. Now look at Wutai."

She moved to stand in the doorway, leaving us in the room. "That's why…if I had a lot of materia, I could…"

"Listen, Yuffie. I don't care about the history of Wutai or your feelings," Cloud growled. "You've got our materia and I want it back…now! You know one of those soldiers shot Tifa and we couldn't Cure her! If it hadn't been for Buffy, she could still be bleeding to death."

Well, that wasn't true. Bleeding to death? Nah. And anyway, I'm sure they would have figured it out eventually. But I kept my face blank. Something didn't feel quite right here…

"I know," Yuffie sniffed. "And I'm sorry. That switch…the one on the left. Materia's in there."

Cloud looked at the levers for a moment.

"Uh, Cloud?" I began just as Vincent said, "I do not think…"

But he pulled the lever and stepped back.

A giant steel cage fell through a trap door in the ceiling, confining the four of us inside. The blond swordsman reached for the lever again, but now that he was restrained, it hovered just out of reach.

"Well, that was completely expected," I deadpanned.

"You want your materia?" Yuffie taunted from the doorway. "Find it yourself!" And then, giggling, she took off up the stairs.

I looked at the bars of the cage with a veteran eye. Oh yeah, this wasn't exactly my first rodeo. I'd been locked up quite a few times in my life. I grabbed one of the bars with both hands and pulled. It moved fractionally, so I braced my foot against the bar next to it and pulled it sideways again. In no time, the opening was large enough for me to slip through. I did so and sauntered my way over to the lever. "What would you guys do without me?" I said with a wink as I pushed it back up to it's starting position. The cage rose back up through the trapdoor in the ceiling.

"Why does she even have something like that," I heard Tifa mutter as the four of us sheepishly trekked back up to the ground floor.

I don't know about everyone else, but I was feeling damn chagrinned about being outsmarted by the pint-sized ninja. It was bad enough she was convinced Vincent was a vampire and harassed him mercilessly, a fact that irritated me beyond belief, but no one kicks me in the shins and then drops a cage on me and gets away with it. Or something. Actually, I don't think those two circumstances had ever coincided before.

We split up again to look for Yuffie, this time Cloud and Tifa searching the residential district and Vincent and I looking in the shops.

"So, how is it the ninja girl is from Wutai and her name is Yuffie Kisaragi and you ended up with the name Vincent Valentine?" I asked as we followed a trail from behind the materia shop. It led us to yet another district. This looked like the upscale part of town. There was a huge pagoda, a few opulent houses, and a weird little building with a gong on a platform and a door in the side. I called Cloud on the PHS and we decided the four of us would search for her there.

"My father was from Midgar. A scientist from Shin-Ra. He came here on vacation and met my mother. A week later, he left and nine months later, I was born," he said finally. "He was the reason I went to Midgar and joined the Turks. I wanted to meet him. But by the time I was old enough to go, he was already dead. Lab accident."

Color me shocked. It was the most I had ever heard him speak. I got the impression that he never talked about himself to anyone else. Actually, he didn't seem to talk about anything to anyone. But since the whole team seemed to be afraid of him or think he was a bit of a joke, I could see why he would clam up around them. And I made it my mission to get him to open up…and to see his whole face…before we went after Sephiroth and faced death.

Anything else he might have said was lost when our teammates came racing up.

Cloud gestured to the building with the gong on it. He shrugged. "Wanna start there?"

I was surprised to look up and find him staring at me. "Uh…you're the leader."

He looked startled. "Right," he said sheepishly and he charged through the door in the side of the structure directly down some stairs.

"Let go! I said let go!" came a panicked and girly voice.

The four of us ran into the basement room to see Yuffie being held, struggling, by some thug in black. But it was the tubby blond man in the center of the room that held everyone's attention. His maroon robe gaped open, revealing his pudgy stomach and his tight lavender pants. Ew. It was Don Corneo; the man Cloud had rescued Tifa from all that time ago, near the very beginning of my freaky Vision Quest.

"Corneo?" Cloud choked out, as if the memory of dressing in drag to sneak into the man's house were coming back to haunt him.

"I've got a new chicky!" the Don exclaimed.

"Doesn't it strike you as uber disturbing that you have to resort to kidnapping to get a date?" I snarked. "And I do mean kidnapping, man, because that girl is sixteen."

"Oh, feisty," Corneo crowed. "I like that. But since I already have two women, you'll have to wait."

"Two?" Cloud asked in alarm.

"Hey! Let go of me! You're going to regret this!"

Another thug stood at the back of the room, stepping forward from the shadows that had concealed him. He held a pretty blonde woman captive. A woman in a blue suit. Elena of the Turks.

The three men took the two hostages and ran up a wooden staircase that the dim lighting of the room had previously hidden from my eyes. It took us maybe five seconds to cross the room, but by the time we had, they had disappeared to the ground floor.

Fortunately for us, Don Corneo was blocked in his getaway as three Shin-Ra soldiers burst in through the front door. The ruffians and the girls were nowhere to be seen.

"There he is! It's Corneo! Don't let him get away!" one of the commandos cried.

The pudgy man tried to run back down the stairs, but we were there, cutting of his only avenue of escape.

The soldiers ran in to grab him, but the clever bastard sidestepped them, causing the three off them to run headlong into the four of us, knocking us all to the ground. By the time we had awkwardly untangled ourselves, the Don had escaped out the front door. We ran out into the street, spinning and trying unsuccessfully to catch a glimpse of the man.

"God, that fat bastard can run," I growled.

I couldn't see Corneo, but I could see someone else. Two someones, actually. Reno and Rude were sprinting back towards the main district of town. They must have been searching for Elena, I decided. I pointed to them and looked sharply at Cloud. I was hoping he would take my hint of a truce until the kidnapped girls had been recovered safely.

He looked reluctant, but finally he nodded and I tore off after the Turks. I could hear Vincent close at my heels, his brass-plated boots making a distinct clicking noise even on the hard packed dirt we ran on. We caught up with the two men quickly.

"Wait!" I called out to them.

They stopped and turned around as Vincent and I skidded to a halt in front of them. He made it look graceful, his cloak billowing around him dramatically. I, on the other hand, made it look pretty damn awkward. As my chunky heeled boots skittered across the gravel, I felt like I was losing balance. My hand shot out reflexively and I grabbed on to Vincent's right arm. The one encased in a black leather glove. He allowed me to steady myself and then I let go with a sheepish smile in his direction.

"You're the chick from the bar," Reno said in confusion, clearly wondering why we had chased them halfway through town.

"Wow, that sounds all dirty and suggestive," I laughed. "But yeah, that's me. And you are Reno and Rude of the Turks."

The redhead nodded and then his eyes fell on my companion. "Holy shit! You're Vincent Valentine," Reno gushed. "Fuck, man, you're the reason I became a Turk! You're a legend and the story of what happened to ya? The whole Hojo thing? Cautionary tale for fledgling Turks, yo!"

I didn't have a clue what he was talking about but I knew it would be a bad time to ask. "Check it out, Valentine!" I said, winking at the stoic man. "You have a fanboy! Congrats!"

Cloud and Tifa finally caught up, both leaning over, hands braced on their thighs, breathing hard.

"Oh, so you're one of Spike's followers, eh? Didn't know there were any new additions to the team," Reno said, smirking at me.

I flinched at his nickname for Cloud. Stupid guy with his stupid spiky hair. And of course, now my mind was filled with thoughts of a peroxided vampire. I pushed those away and concentrated on answering.

"Cloud's follower? Uh…no. Part of the team? Well, that really remains to be seen," I said cockily.

"Elena," Rude said sharply, reminding us of what we were doing there in the first place.

"Yeah," Reno said, shaking his head. "That Corneo guy is good at escaping." He looked at his partner. "Let's go, Rude. We'll give them a taste of what the Turks can do. But if Elena's in his hands, that's going to make things a little difficult and...uh…" he trailed off, unsure.

I caught Cloud's eye and raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking that he look past the blue suit and try to see a potential ally.

The blond swordsman bit his lip for a moment. "Okay," he said finally. "Corneo took Yuffie from us. And without her, there's no way to get our materia back."

Way to tell the enemy about your shortcomings, genius boy! But…the Turks were on vacation after all…

"Don't misunderstand," Reno said coolly. "We have no intention of joining you. But for now, we'll agree not to bother each other. That's all."

Cloud scowled petulantly at him. "That's fine. We have absolutely no intention of cooperating with the Turks either."

Reno gave Vincent a pointed look. I glanced at the gunslinger as well, but with a half smile and a wink. I was shocked as hell when he winked back at me, hidden from the others by his silky curtain of ebony hair. I think I might have been grinning like a fool before I turned back to the conversation.

"Did you see which way Corneo went?" Tifa asked anxiously.

"The place that stands out the most," the Turk replied cryptically before he and his silent partner took off again.

I turned in a slow circle, my eyes scanning over the town. Stands out the most? It was a town full of pagodas! To me, it all pretty much stood out.

"Look higher," a deep voice rumbled in my ear.

I glanced over my shoulder at Vincent, who was standing a hairsbreadth behind me, and followed the line of his eyes, very conscious of how close the tall man was to me. I could feel the heat from his body and I was fighting the urge to step forward and away or to close the distance. But what I saw drove both thoughts from my mind.

"Holy shit," I gasped in surprise. "How did I miss that?"

Just beyond the town was a mountain. But this was no ordinary mountain. It had been carved all Mount Rushmore style into a mass of arms and heads very liken to what I had always associated with Hinduism, Shiva, and those types of things.

I pointed at it. "Cloud? Vincent and I think we should check there."