All But One
The Blindsight Materia
Edge Brewin' Coffee Shop. Their caramel macchiato was something Tifa needed to consider adding to her own menu. It was a beautiful Saturday morning, the stunning view of the entire Edge City skyline was especially lovely with the orange sun slowly rising over the horizon. Tifa sipped from her cup, gazing out the window from the thirty-second floor of the skyscraper. It was pretty ridiculous that the café was located on the top floor, but then again, the fresh scent of her macchiato and the gorgeous view was well worth it.
"I can't believe you don't like coffee," she said, tipping the cup over her lips.
Cloud shrugged. "Never had too much of it growing up." He was twirling his finger over the rising steam of his hot chocolate.
"Well, I think you'd like this. It's caramel…wanna try it?"
Cloud shook his head. "I'll stick with my cocoa."
Tifa giggled.
"So why'd you wanna come here if you don't even like coffee?" she asked, smiling.
Cloud shrugged again, still gazing down at his half-full cup.
"It's been a while since we spent some time together outside of the bar. Just thought this would be a nice place to chat."
"You've been here before?"
Cloud nodded. "They request a lot of deliveries."
"Oh…"
Tifa sipped again. "Denzel and Marlene start their break next week."
"Hmm. The year's gone by fast."
"Yeah, seriously."
"I can't believe it's already been four years," Cloud muttered, lifting his cup to his mouth.
Tifa glanced up at him. Was he thinking about her again?
"What's on your mind, Cloud?"
"Nothing. It's just…" he placed the cup down and met her eyes. "We've been living together for four years already. Time sure does fly, huh?"
Tifa smiled. "Yeah."
"Hey Tifa?"
"Yes?"
"This is kinda random, but it's something I've been thinking about for a long time…"
Tifa set her coffee down. "What is it?"
Cloud turned his gaze to the window, staring out into the vast metropolitan atmosphere. "Four years ago…remember when we all went to the Gold Saucer together?"
"Yeah, that was fun."
Cloud nodded.
"That night you and I spent together…"
Tifa giggled. "Don't think I still don't remember that play! Alfred!" she teased.
Cloud smiled, but he hadn't finished. "When we were on the gondola…"
Tifa looked up, the memories flashing into her mind.
"You were about to say something, but you never told me what it was."
This was a surprise. Cloud remembered that?!
It was true. Four years ago, she and Cloud had sneaked off together from the Ghost Square Hotel. She thought of it as their "first little date."
"Cloud, I…"
"I know it's sudden, but it's just something that's been bugging me for a while."
"I…" Tifa didn't know how to respond. Even though she and Cloud were now closer than ever, especially after the Geostigma Incident from two years ago, she had still never found the courage to express her feelings toward him.
"I'm not sure I remember what you're talking about."
Cloud frowned.
"Well I guess I'm gonna have to say this, then…" he said, his cheeks slowly reddening.
"The promise we made when we were young…I mean, not that we aren't young now, but—"
"Yeah, the promise. What about it?"
Cloud swallowed. "I promised you I'd be there for you, right?"
Tifa nodded.
"I want you to make that same promise for me."
Tifa's heart stopped.
Cloud got up from his seat, and knelt down, pulling out a small box from his pocket.
"Tifa Lockhart. Will you marry me?"
-xXx-
Vincent's gaze was fixed on the opened hatch. Even though he wouldn't show it, he was worried about Yuffie being down there alone. The group was still situated near the hatch, and nightfall had just begun to cast its darkness over the ruins of Sector Six.
Elena was asleep, her head resting on the folded cushion of Rude's jacket. Over half an hour had gone by since Yuffie entered the facility, but still there was no sign of her or the people inside. Vincent was getting impatient. He stood up, walking towards the hatch.
"I'm going in. This was a foolish idea."
Tseng got up and grabbed Vincent's wrist. "Have faith in your friend, Mr. Valentine. She won't let us down."
Vincent glared coldly at the Turk. "It's not faith I lack, Tseng. It's the acceptance of knowing something's not right."
"How do you know that?"
"You know as well as I do that she wouldn't take this long to contact us."
Vincent shook off Tseng's grasp, and approached the entrance to the darkness.
"I'm coming with you," Tifa said, brushing off the dust from her clothes.
"No."
Tifa glared at the cloaked man, her ruby eyes meeting his crimson ones. "Yes I am."
"Tifa, there's a strong possibility that I'm walking into an ambush. Yuffie's taking too long, and I want to know why. I can't allow you to come with me."
Tifa shoved past him, swinging her weight once before dropping down to the darkness below. Vincent sighed.
"I trust you'll stay here?" he asked, looking at Tseng.
Tseng smiled. "Someone's gotta stay behind to tell Cloud and Barret how their friends died."
Vincent grinned before descending into the abyss.
-xXx-
RATTATTATTA! The earsplitting roar of machine gunfire rattled through the walls of the lowest level, its heavy beating resembling the sound of a typewriter. Yuffie flipped herself back, somersaulting her way down the hall as Barret's gunfire flew past her agile body. She flung herself into the nearest door, darting past the lab tables and computers that were lined up. Barret chased after her frantically, his bullets shattering the flasks and glass containers, but unable to keep up with the swift shinobi. Yuffie whipped out three small shuriken in the direction of the enraged Barret, controlling her aim so that they would miss him, but buy her enough time to run away. Barret hissed as the ninja stars flew by, and let out a roar, unleashing another storm of bullets. Yuffie twirled in the air and dropped down behind a lab table, crawling her way through the room as the glass rained down onto her body. A large shard ripped through her shoulder, forcing her to grimace as blood began to trickle down.Yuffie knew that the cause of Barret's madness was the materia he was using, but right now, she had no time to think. A torrent of speeding bullets chased after her as she crisscrossed her way back to the door, slamming it shut behind her. She was now sprinting full speed back down the hall, but she felt her heart skip when four men appeared around the corner.
"What the hell?! It's them! They're here!"
The man raised his arm up, a blazing heat radiating from its length as a massive ball of fire flew through the air towards Yuffie. For the first time in her life, she was absolutely despising the existence of materia. Yuffie dodged it easily and flung her giant shuriken at the man, splitting his shoulder as it came soaring back to her grasp. The other men were now running towards her, each of their arms glowing brightly with materia. Yuffie remained still, waiting for them to get just a little closer before—
RATTATTATTA!
Yuffie dropped to the floor as Barret's bullets ripped through the startled men, killing them instantly. She hopped back up, running for her life as the enraged gunman chased after her with a yell. The injured man from earlier tried to shoot another blast of fire at her, but missed, and the last thing he ever saw was her enormous shuriken flying straight into his chest.
More men came sprinting down the stairs. Yuffie cursed, seeing no way to dodge them, but she knew she would much rather face a group of materia-wielding men, than a pissed off Barret. Yuffie pushed against the ground, soaring up the first flight of stairs to meet the eight men who were running down. She dropped low, swiping her leg and tripping the first man, but immediately thrust her fist forward into the next man's gut.
"Get her!"
She rammed her elbow against another jaw, and whipped her shuriken across the air, felling two men instantly. Smack! Yuffie grimaced, she hadn't seen the blow to her back. In retaliation, she grabbed the man's wrist and tugged forward, flipping him down the length of the stairs. She blocked another kick, but took a blow to her jaw, sending her crashing into the wall. Yuffie's eyes widened. Barret was closing in now, which definitely wasn't a good thing. She dodged a punch, and stabbed the man's back with her shuriken, hearing him grunt in shock. The blood was now seeping down from Yuffie's shoulder, and the fact that she was surrounded by these men wasn't helping.
"RRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" RATTATTATTA!
Barret let out another burst of bullets, but only succeeded in taking down another man. Yuffie rolled past the frightened men and flew up to the top of the stairs. She heard the sound of the typewriter rattling below her, but she had already made it to the next floor. Yuffie blinked. The hallway was lit. Didn't I take out the lights a while ago?
Her thoughts were interrupted by another roar, followed by more machine gunfire. Yuffie sprang through the corridor, too scared to look back. RATTATTATTA! She hissed as a bullet ripped through her right arm, but managed to hold on to her shuriken. God, I'm gonna kill Barret once this is all over! Biting her lip against the pain, she ran past the corner, only to find herself surrounded once again by materia men. The bulbs were still shattered at the ceilings, but the emergency lights had been turned on at the corners.
"Kill that girl!"
Yuffie dove to her left, barely missing the bolt of fire that obliterated the wall. She hissed, the bullet wound still burning in her shoulder. Eighteen, maybe twenty men were crowded around, slowly approaching her with grins on their faces. Yuffie swung her shuriken as hard as her wounded arm would allow, but it was easily deflected by the nearest enemy.
"Damn!" she cursed. It was over. There was no way out of this one. Barret would be stomping his ass up the stairs now, and even before he arrived, she'd probably be burnt to crisps by these bastards.
But she had to fight on.
She dodged the first strike easily, ducking low as the fist thrust into the wall behind her. She rammed her good shoulder into the man, sending him crashing back toward his friends. Yuffie caught a glimpse of the knife flying at her from the corner of her eye, tilting her head back as the blade whirled past. She flipped to the side, balancing her weight on one arm and swinging both legs at the man In front of her, but he blocked, and sent his fist crashing down to her stomach. Yuffie grunted, shoving the man off, and clutching her stomach tightly. She was losing.
RATTATTATTA!
Yuffie cursed, rolling to the right as the floor tore up behind her. She kicked off against the wall and spun through the air, the bullets zooming past only inches away. She landed feet flat, but lost her balance as a swift kick from below tripped her, sending her to the floor. She saw the man above her smirking as he gripped the knife. Dammit! She couldn't dodge in time, the man thrust forward, and Yuffie let out a cry…
…but she felt nothing.
She opened her eyes, gaping as the man was sent flying to the wall. An enormous creature, covered in bluish-purple fur and dripping saliva from its inch-long fangs, towered above her, sending its massive paw into the face of another enemy.
"Vincent!" Yuffie yelled, her eyes almost brimming with tears. "It's about time you showed up!"
The Galian beast merely let out a grunt before it threw its weight at the frightened crowd of men. Yuffie felt a hand press against her good shoulder, and turned to see another familiar face.
"Tifa?"
"Let's get out of here, Yuffie!"
"No, wait! Barret's here!"
Tifa's eyes widened. "Where?"
"He's not himself, Tifa! I think they put some kind of materia in him! He almost killed me!"
RATTATTATTA! Yuffie grimaced as the behemoth let out a painful roar, patches of red oozing from its fur.
"NO! VINCENT!" Yuffie screamed.
Tifa was quick to react. She flew across the room, smashing her fist into an unsuspecting man and sending his unconscious self to the floor. Barret quickly turned his gun-arm to her, his face still wearing a maniacal smile. He let out a roar of bullets, but Tifa had already jumped into the air, flipping over him and landing behind. Before Barret could turn to continue firing, Tifa had him in a powerful headlock, her free hand tightly gripping the gun attached to his arm.
"Yuffie!" she yelled, but the ninja had already begun tugging on his other arm, forcing the materia out one by one. Barret screamed violently, the machine gunfire puncturing holes all over the ceiling. Yuffie forced out the last materia, gasping at its blood-red color. With a last groan, Barret lost his consciousness and went limp, his body gently placed on the floor by Tifa.
Yuffie quickly ran over to her fallen comrade, who had now returned to his human form. A line of blood drooled down the corner of Vincent's mouth, his slightly opened eyes staring blankly at Yuffie.
He remained silent, but he was in great pain, grimacing at the sudden burns that tore at his chest. Yuffie held him tightly in her arms, her cheeks already soaking with tears.
Tifa grabbed one of the fallen men by the collar. "What did you do to Barret?!"
He coughed, groaning painfully at his wounds.
"Answer me!"
He groaned, squinting his eyes at the woman above him. "The……Blind…sight……materi…" his body went limp.
Tifa cursed, returning to her feet. She looked around the remnants of the dining hall. Blood was spattered all over the western wall, the ceiling crumbled up by Barret's gunfire. Bodies were piled up here and there, Yuffie was still clutching Vincent in her arms, and Barret lay unconscious next to her.
"Yuffie," she said, trying to sound as calm as she could. "What about Cloud and Rufus?"
Yuffie turned, revealing tearful eyes. "The-they…sniff…they aren't here…sniff sniff…"
Tifa clenched her fists, feeling the adrenaline pump through her veins. It was an anger she hadn't felt since Sephiroth had killed her father. Whoever did this to Barret…wherever they were…
…whoever took Cloud…whoever was responsible for all of this…
…she was going to make them pay.