Same old stuff... FF7 is not mine, I'm just borrowing the characters. This chappie ended up being alot longer then I thought it was going to be, and the stuff about everything in his live being about love is actually true, Nomura named him Valentine for a reason LOL. I made up a summon, I hope it's not cheesy, but it seemed to make some sense. I liked how this chapter turned out, lemme know what you think!

"Yuffie," Vincent reached up and started to run his human hand through her hair, holding her close. The ninja closed her eyes and sighed a bit, she could tell that she was slipping into unconsciousness; she had that floating feeling again. "Vincent, no matter what happens, I want you to know these last two days with you have been the worst, and best days of my life."

His crimson orbs went down to her soft face and he trailed his finger down her cheek. It was a strange thing to say, but he understood what she meant. "I know," he whispered softly, moving to kiss her forehead. She smiled, and then slumped in his arms. "Yuffie?" He shook her softly, then when she didn't respond, he shook her harder, "Yuffie!" He pounded on the wall of the truck and the window slid open, Tifa's head came through the opening. "What's wrong?"

Vincent looked to the martial artist, panic and sorrow in his eyes. "Cloud has to hurry, we're loosing her." Her mahogany eyes widened and she slipped her head back through the hole, only to come back through a moment later. "We're almost there, one more block." She'd never seen Vincent show anything then mild worry and annoyance in his eyes… and his ever brooding sadness. His current state pulled at her heart, she loved all her friends and hated to see them upset. They were supposed to be at the huge wedding ceremony right now, celebrating her and Cloud's union, but instead of tears of joy, she was shedding tears of sorrow. She reached through the window and wrapped an arm around Vincent for comfort and urged Cloud to go faster. It surprised her when the gunman leaned into her arm, still clutching at Yuffie's unconscious form. And for the third time in the span of 48 hours, Vincent shed a tear of his own. "Please stay with me... My Yuffie..." he whispered to the ninja girl.

28 hours earlier…

Vincent didn't know how long he'd been staring at the tiny ninja snuggled up to his chest, but it had been awhile. The girl had been exhausted, and he knew he had to wake her relatively soon, the sun would be rising soon, and they needed to make better time if they were going to meet the Shera on schedule. Another couple of hours won't hurt, there doesn't seem to be any monsters lurking at the moment, and she's hurt and exhausted. I don't really need sleep, but she does. He ran his human hand over her hair in a soothing manor, using his cursed one as a pillow. The gunslinger didn't really want to touch her with it, like the curse would spread to her if he did. He knew he shouldn't be holding the shinobi like this either, but she was dealing with a mild case of hypothermia and that worried him greatly. If she suffered because of his insecurities, then there was truly no hope for him. The gunman reached back and pulled the pack over, tucking it under his head to free his arm from pillow duty. He felt Yuffie stir a bit as he moved, and she nuzzled his chest lightly and she snuggled closer to him, sighing softly in her sleep.

The glint of glowing red caught his eye, and he reached down and carefully removed the new materia from the ninja's hand. He held it up and turned it in his hand, normally one could tell which materia he held, but this one really was unlike any he'd seen. The center of it was a soft pink, containing a feathered wing. As far as the gunman knew, that didn't associate with any known materia.

We'll have to talk to Nanaki when we get there, he reads a lot, and he might know what it is. We haven't found a new materia in along time; I can kind of see why Yuffie enjoys materia hunting so much. He noticed that the orb was starting to glow brighter, like it was being activated, but Vincent certainly hadn't done it. The gunman was too smart to use a materia before they'd researched it a bit. There was a flash of light and he blinked, finding himself standing on a free floating rock in the middle of a white expanse. He knew where he was, over the last few years, when he was trying to rediscover himself, he'd come here and be bombarded with memories he only half remembered, so he could learn what Lucrecia and Hojo had done to him… and why. But that was all in the past, he remembered now, or so he thought. He was weaponless and in his underwear, and not at all happy with this situation. Vincent heard something flap and he spun around, only to give the strange being a surprised look.

The person standing before him couldn't really be called a man or a woman, it was both. It had no genitalia, and the only reason the gunman knew this was because it was naked, yet its body seemed firm like a man's, yet curvy like a woman's. Its face was beautiful, and seemed to have features of all the different sorts of humans on Gaea. It shouldn't have been as lovely as it was, but there was no denying it. This was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen, and it was only topped by the huge, feathered wings that came from its back, the purest white Vincent had ever seen. The angelic being smiled softly and looked him up and down, before approaching, "Are you going to shoot me, Vincent Valentine?" The gunman didn't even realize his hand had gone to where he normally had Cerberus holstered, and he moved his hand. "How do you know me?"

The angel smiled, pulling its snow white hair over its shoulder, letting the spun silk fall to the floor. "Why? Because you were my greatest creation, I am Eros, and I am the god that guards over love." Vincent frowned then remembered the glowing orb, "The summon materia… what do you mean I'm your greatest creation?"

Eros smiled and reached over, gently running its fingers over his cheek, and he blinked and tried to pull away from the intimate touch, but he couldn't. It would be like denying love itself, and even though he was at the moment, it wasn't because of the absence of it, but rather its presence. He loved Yuffie so much; he wanted to protect her from everything, even himself. The angel smiled softly, "You don't think just one being here takes care of creating all the people, do you? You were one of mine, and I gave you deep love and beauty, passion and strength. You are my greatest creation, just as Yuffie is Leviathian's, and Cloud is Bahamut's…"

Vincent gave him a look like he was mad, "If I was anyone's greatest creation, then my soul is fit for Hades…. certainly not yours. I've never even heard about you."

"Of course you haven't, this is a loveless world now, run by power and greed… power and greed is what caused you to loose your supreme faith in love."

The gunman frowned, "you are trying to tell me that you, personally, created me… and the other gods created my comrades?"

Eros nodded, "Yes, you were each created to embody the gods' strengths. I created you to embody love, Leviatian created Yuffie to embody tradition and change; Bahamut created Cloud to embody strength, Alexander made Aerith to hold all that was holy. All of the saviors of the planet were created to do just that. It was fated; we knew the planet was in trouble."

"I still do not see how you could have made me, look at me, I'm possessed by demons. I'm a monster and there is nothing anyone can do about it."

Eros nodded, "True, you are possessed by demons, however you are the only person that matters, that thinks you are a monster. Reflect on everything that has happened to you, what was your main driving force?"

"Revenge," he said, still not believing the androgynous being.

"No, Vincent, it was love… this has all been for love. Why did you join the Turks?"

"So my father would be proud of me," the gunslinger said without a pause, "He was too engrossed in his work, I wanted him to notice me."

"You wanted him to love you, or at least show it, right?"

Vincent nodded slightly, averting his gaze. Eros smiled a bit, "And you got sent to Lucrecia… who you loved with your entire soul." The raven haired man nodded, letting out a breath. "But she didn't love me back, how can I be your ultimate expression of love is no one loves me back?"

The god shook his head, "Let's reflect on why you have those demons, especially Chaos. Lucrecia pulled away from you, and you let her go. 'As long as she was happy, I didn't mind… I just wanted to see her smiling face before me.'" Vincent narrowed his eyes at the fact his own words were now being used against him. "Yes, if Hojo made her happy, then that was all I cared about."

Eros smiled, "the ultimate expression of love, self sacrifice. You loved her so much, you let her go. Only, Hojo didn't make her happy, he hurt her, didn't he? And because of that love, you died… And because of the love that Lucrecia had for you, she did the only thing she knew how to do. She infused Chaos within you, so you would continue to live. She had to give you that chance. Don't you see, love made you, love drove you forward, love killed you… and love brought you back."

Vincent couldn't really refute his words, "that was a lifetime ago, how can I even be expected to be the same person as I was back then. Those events changed me." The other person nodded, looking back at him with strange, rainbow colored eyes, "You were put in that box, locked up to brood over everything that happened. You were shattered, into a million pieces, but what did you do? You gathered all the tiny pieces up, and you built a strong wall, then you hid inside and thought of what? What did you think about when you were in there?"

"My sins, the sins against Lucrecia… what else would I have thought about?" The cool gunman was starting to get rather annoyed, he'd already been through all this, and let Lucrecia go. Eros nodded, "And what were those sins against? Why was the fact you couldn't save her such a sin?"

Vincent parted his lips to form a retort, but the bitter words died there. Love… my sin was against our love. I couldn't protect it, I couldn't hold it… I wasn't worthy of it. Eros smiled a bit, "Love, Valentine, even your name is linked to love. You were alone for so long, even though you pretended that you didn't care for your friends, you did. You loved every one of them, and you loved the planet, and you loved the son that should have been yours, but wasn't… and you wanted to release him from that horrible fate. Even now, why did you leave the cave, when love kept you in there?"

The gunslinger shook his head, "You make it seem as though I'm in love with everyone, and that is not true."

"No, you love them, but you are only in love with one person, and you know who she is. She's the sun to your moon, the day to your night, the white to your black. I ask again, why did you leave the cave when there were three people you loved buried there?"

Vincent looked down, his black hair falling in a curtain over his shamed face, "because Yuffie asked me too."

"My Son, everything that has happened in your life, is leading up to one thing, the realization of the purest love you could ever experience. Don't fight it anymore. Once you compared yourself to flotsam being swept around by currents of destiny, which is truer then you know. You can be so much more Vincent, and so much less. Trust in that heart I gave you, even if it's just for Yuffie. Give that materia to Yuffie, now that it's finally been discovered, and check in the small cave to the east, there is something for her there as well. Make that materia grow and spawn… the world could use a little more love."

"What is in there?" The bewildered Vincent looked to Eros and the god smiled knowingly. "A weapon I forged just for your beloved. Let your love protect her…"

All of the sudden Vincent's eyes flew open and he realized he was back in the cave; the glow from the materia was fading. He rubbed his eyes and looked back down at the tiny, slumbering ninja. "He's asking me to change the world again, I don't think I can do that… not even for you. I don't have the strength." His voice was little more then a whisper and Yuffie sighed softly at the sound of his voice, not waking from her deep sleep. "I love you Vinny…" she mumbled softly, a small smile on her face. Vincent's heart constricted in his chest at those words and his leaned down, kissing her forehead in a soft way, "I love you too… my Yuffie. Please forgive me." He laid her down carefully and slipped out from under the blankets, rekindled the fire and moved to dress. A few moments later, a fully dressed and equipped Vincent Valentine slipped out of the cave, his passage only marked by a sad 'wark' from Yuffie's Kokoro, the Eros Summon was placed carefully in her hand.