Author's Note: Ok, so the last chapter was like… wow… huge, and this one isn't going to be nearly as big. But yeah, to explain a bit. The Dr. pointed out that, while I included Vincent and Yuffie in what transpired at the end of the last chapter, when Sephiroth summoned Meteor, neither were actually there. So I took a little creative liberty and… photo chopped them in… ok no, not really. But this is what I think would've happened when Barret took off away from the others… It never actually tells you what happens to anyone else, you know?
As you can tell, this chapter (Escape from Junon Harbor) has been split in two parts, one giving a general over view about what the others were doing in preparation for the rescue, and the second being the actual rescue and beginning of their search for Cloud.
Also, my updating patterns may become increasingly erratic as my schoolwork load has increased greatly, and so has the stress level. Leviathan so help me, I will try to continue updating frequently.
"…"-normal speech and stuff
"…" Gallian
"…" death Gigas
"…" Hellmasker
Reviewer Comments:
Lady Sonora the Black-Rose: O.O Breathe woman… Here's the next chapter, just… no hyperventilating
Sorceress Fujin: (insert salute here) Yes Ma'am, here's that chapter you wanted… heh, thanks.
The Dr.: Welpers, If I recall my friend beat the entire game without either character, and I know the very last scene in the whole game doesn't involve them at all, which gave rise to rumors that there was an alternate ending. So I doubt this scene would include them either, but I also think that everyone NEEDED to see what happened with Sephiroth up in Northern Crater. So even if Vincent and all them weren't there, as far as I'm concerned, they are now and always should have been… and I couldn't have beaten the game with out Yuffie and Vincent, those two, Cloud and Cid, were the only characters who didn't annoy me… so I wouldn't have beaten it without them, but I think the game would lose a lot of its luster without Yuffie as comic relief, also I think that without Vincent there would be no solid link to Lucrecia, which would remove the fact that Sephiroth's mother was a normal human. I think that when Yuffie, Vincent and Cloud encounter Lucrecia, Yuffie'll be so attached that his former attachment to Lucrecia would be painful… Vincent, yeah… I wanted to make sure he had a more… personable side… But thanks for the nice long review… it made me happy.
A Lonely Heart Breaker: Thank you, and I'll try to update frequently.
The Hot Mage Aeris: Yay Yuffentines are fun!
Keyo-Red Angel of Hope: Hey thanks! I like strength, and I think I'll work on making them more true to their physical forms. In fact I'll start now!
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy Seven… I don't own it… any dialogue used from the game is taken from an extensive chronicle of the scripting stuff from Don't sue me, I'm poor.
A Door Beyond Absolution
Chapter Six: Escape From Junon Harbor (Part One: Refuse)
The airship was a fairly large place, although the Chocobo hold in which Rufus had shoved the members of Avalanche, with the exception of Tifa, Cait Sith and Barret, was not. Yuffie and Red were sitting on a large pile of hay that had been hastily thrown in a huge mass on the floor, and Cid and Vincent were leaning on the wall across from them. Yuffie seemed to have recovered magnificently from her tearful breakdown in Vincent's arms, and a day had passed since the incident. After they had escaped the fleeing weapons, and distanced themselves from Northern Crater, Rufus had thrown nearly everyone in the Chocobo hold. He told them that their destination was Junon, so they could repair the damage Weapon had inflicted upon the engine systems, but it would take two days to reach the harbor. Vincent had willingly carried Yuffie, who had still been severely shaken up, and laid her down on the hay where she still sat. She had awoken several hours ago, unwilling to address what had happened, and eager to amuse her hold mates… Unfortunately, she merely came off as annoying to Cid.
Vincent and Yuffie now sat staring at one another, Vincent for lack of a better place to stare, and Yuffie with the belief they were having a staring contest.
In all reality Vincent was speaking with his inner demons on the plane of his mind, all three of them. Gallian, having begun to act more animalistic than Vincent recalled, had been eyeing Yuffie through Vincent's eyes, making subtle comments about desiring warm flesh, and taking a bedmate; which was more than enough to draw Vincent inward. He there fore sought the vast, hazy, darkness of the plane in which he and his demons thrived. As he made the in depth attachment to his mental being, a voice taunted him from the mist.
"Well she is simply… breath taking…" It said to him, a raspy voice, tinged with a kind of cruelty he hadn't heard since Hojo.
'Who are you?' Vincent replied gruffly, the voice chuckled, a sinister sound that forced Vincent to repress a shudder.
"Can you imagine her screaming in agony, blood trickling down her arms and legs, us poised above her, blood drenching our hands, our…" It said to him, flashing revolting images of Yuffie, exposed and bloody, screaming for him to stop flashed in the hazy darkness. Vincent growled at the creature, his own mental being finding a foothold to rage at the new demon.
'You even think of it and I will…' Vincent never finished the threat, for the voice emerged from the haze, a white mask, deadened features, long tangled black hair, carrying a blood soaked chainsaw.
"I am Hellmasker, and you are host." It told him, mockery evident in his tone. "I am controlled so long as you are, but I warn you. Let your guard down when I am near her and these visions shall come to pass."
'What is the matter with you all?' Vincent asked suddenly, his mental being turning it's focus to Gallian and Death Gigas. 'Since when do you act like a hormonal teenage boy?'
"Gallian has evolved into his true nature, a more primal force, desiring basic needs. The urge to feed, reproduce and destroy." Hellmasker replied, his image appearing beside Vincent's own.
'And Gigas, what of him?' Vincent growled, Gigas stared at him, a miniscule amount of drool trickling from his lopsided mouth.
"In his truest form he is not all there. A mixture of basic understandings and death, his basic composition is that of death reversed, he has little more intelligence than the creatures you do battle with." Hellmasker looked to his hosts mental projection, "oh certainly he'll speak, though I doubt he'll ever say anything of consequence."
'You brought this,' Vincent stated, glaring at Hellmasker, who laughed.
"My presence merely forced the parts of you that clung to their being out, to be sure I had a sufficient amount of intelligence to manipulate and contort to my own being." Hellmasker replied, gazing at his comrades.
'How many more?' Vincent growled at him, 'how many others will share my body!'
"Relax host, we are the only ones Hojo fused into your being." At least there was that.
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"I wonder what's takin' Barret so fuckin' long," Cid said suddenly, causing Yuffie to blink out of the silent staring contest, in which Vincent had been unknowingly participating.
"Damnit Cid," Yuffie snapped. "You made me blink!"
"You were not supposed to?" Vincent asked, detaching himself from his mind and raising an eyebrow.
"No! we were having a staring contest!" She told him, rubbing the bridge of her nose in irritation.
"I thought perhaps you were in a trance," Vincent replied. Yuffie slammed her hand in the hay beside her, causing some of it to roll down the pile and onto the floor.
"I'm surrounded by morons!" she declared, flopping back in the hay.
"Heh, you moron." Death Gigas piped up, Vincent wondered if the demon had a brain at all.
"Yuffie," Red said firmly, "this isn't the time for games."
"It would be an ideal chance to reproduce with the females of the group. If all these… guys… weren't running around." Gallian said suddenly, Vincent's eye twitched a bit, and he dimly recalled a time when he was the only voice in his head.
"Fine," Yuffie snapped, sitting up. "Then perhaps we should bust out of this room and go find Tifa and Barret."
" And then we can kill the crew and march through the nearest town with our arms soaked up to the elbows in blood!" Hellmasker seemed wholly delighted with the idea, Vincent felt slightly ill and forced all his brain power into rebuilding his mental walls.
"No need ta' look fer me," Barret said as he was shoved roughly into the room, a grim look on his usually hardened features.
"What is it?" Vincent asked, finally managing to silence the demons and reading into Barret's solemn look, Barret looked down.
"I'm sorry I got ya'll inta this…" he muttered, rubbing his arm slightly. "They're gonna execute all members of Avalanche…"
No one spoke, everyone stared at Barret, not comprehending what he'd said. Vincent was, again, the first to reply.
"Why?" He asked simply, voicing the question only he was thinking.
"B'fore I met ya's, I was leadin' Avalanche in the destruction of reactors." Barret explained, only Vincent seemed to take this news as a shock.
"But why?" Vincent asked, Barret looked at him and scratched his chin.
"Tha's right," he muttered, "y'dunno how much they been hurtin' the planet…"
"So they want us all dead because you destroyed a reactor?" Vincent asked, Yuffie shook her head.
"Avalanche was accused of destroying the Sector Seven slums in Midgar," she whispered.
"Then ya do know…" Barret mumbled, Yuffie stood up quickly, her eyes resolved.
"I knew what I was getting into when I joined up," she declared stoically. "And I know Cid and Red did as well…"
"She ain't lyin," Cid muttered.
"She is correct," Red agreed.
"Only Vincent didn't know…" She said, turning her eyes to him as she spoke. "I think we should escape, first chance we get, to go find Cloud."
"One problem," Barret grumbled, Yuffie looked at him.
"What?" she asked.
"They still got Tifa," Barret told her, she kicked the wall.
"Crap!" She said, running a hand through her messy black hair.
"What if we were to return for her?" Vincent suggested, Barret shook his head.
"No fuckin' way," he said. "Rufus ain't trustworthy, specially not with her."
"Then you could stay with her!" Yuffie declared, clapping her hands together as her plan formed. "You two stay, let them think the rest of us fled. But we'll be staked out nearby!"
"And when they decide to execute you, we'll come in to save the day." Red said, standing up and trotting over to stand beside Yuffie.
"Then we can steal a ship… or… somethin'…." Cid said, kicking off the wall.
"We'll rescue you guys and make Shinra look like a bunch of morons," Yuffie said. Vincent tilted his head to the side in thought, pondering Yuffie's slightly suicidal plan.
"It may work," he decided finally. "When they go to remove us from the ship we can escape, find places in Junon to lay low…"
"And wait for them to be dumb enough to try and kill the two of you…" Red continued, Barret appeared to be seriously considering this.
"Are ya' sure we can do it?" he asked finally, Yuffie nodded enthusiastically.
"Just leave it to us!" She declared, lifting her left foot off the ground and tapping her chest with her right hand. "We can do it!"
"One of ya'll needs t' take charge," he said finally. Yuffie turned to Cid, but everyone else looked at her.
"Why're you staring at me like that?" she asked nervously.
"This ain't my fuckin' plan," Cid rumbled with a low laugh, Vincent looked at her for a few long moments, analyzing her.
"Allow Yuffie the honor," he said finally, Yuffie stared at him.
"But I'm just a kid…" she began, and then she stopped staring at the floor. "I'll do it."
"Why the sudden confidence in yourself?" Red inquired, Yuffie looked at him.
"If the only thing I get out of this adventure is a sense of leadership and your…m…" she hesitated suddenly, "friendship, then it hasn't been a total waste."
No one decided to question her, no one asked about her hesitation, if truth be told, no one even thought about it… Except for Vincent… if you asked him later what he thought she was going to say, or why she hesitated, he would've told you that her mouth had formed the 'm' consonant before she said friendship. But because no one else seemed confused by it, Vincent logged it away as nothing, and focused on what lay ahead.
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It was the last day on the airship, and Yuffie was free to wander around the airship at her leisure. A few minutes after Barret left the day before, Yuffie had begun to feel horribly sick. It had been tolerable for a while but when Heidegger had brought them food, it had become over whelming. Yuffie pushed past him, into the hall, raced up to the deck, and vomited spectacularly over the railing. No one had known that youngest member of the "terrorist" had such horrible motion sickness, and Rufus had 'felt terribly' about locking her up. When Yuffie played it up and gave him a sickly, weak smile, he had decided to allow this 'poor, sick, teenager' to wander the airship, so she wouldn't end up poisoning the other members of Avalanche. This had worked to her advantage, because she managed to steal a number of useful things, like the keycard to the lock that had been placed on the Chocobo hold.
It was on this day that they finally reached Junon, and Yuffie snuck over to the Chocobo hold and released her friends with ease. They made a quite a show of using ropes to descend from the airship and vanish into the small city below Junon. Little did Shinra know that those same ropes were then used to climb the electrical tower in the bay, and that three members of Avalanche were posing as useful members of society in the upper city, and staying in the Shinra hotel located there. Red, having no way to disguise himself, was staying with Priscilla, and would ascend to the city in the chaos that Vincent, Yuffie, and Cid intended to create on the day of the execution.
Yuffie managed to get a job almost instantly, as a reporter for a broadcasting company called 'Saucer Vision,' which was sponsored by the Golden Saucer. Apparently she was very good at her job, reporting on the Weapon and Meteor Crises from Junon Harbor, because every night for three day's she returned to the suite around eleven o'clock at night, much to both Cid and Vincent's displeasure. The first night it happened, both Cid and Vincent were awake and glaring at her when she walked in the door. She set down the water bottle she'd been drinking from and stared at them in the dimly lit common room.
"What?" she said wearily, running her fingers through her hair.
"Why're you so fuckin' late?" Cid growled at her, Yuffie sighed and sat on the edge of the table.
"Weapon attacked over near Gongaga, I had to report on the damage as it happened, there's now a huge crater on the beach near there," she explained. "I only just finished."
The second day was much the same, only the attack had been near Rocket Town, much to Cid's alarm, but in both cases there was no reported casualties, just nearby land forms destroyed. The third night, only Vincent waited for Yuffie to walk in, and she did. Crying quietly to herself. This time the attack was Costa del Sol, Weapon had approached and a tidal wave had crashed down upon the sandy shores. No one died, save a little boy that they found washed ashore, drowned to death, in the wake of the wave. Vincent did his best to sooth her, and then sent her to bed. But that night he himself dreamt of the little boy, bit the moment he saw the body, with blue lips and glassed over eyes, it changed into two women, both lying cold and broken on the sand. One with long brown hair, and the other with short black, Vincent awoke with a start, grasping a cursing Cid's forearm in his claw.
The fourth day Yuffie finally managed to come home around four in the afternoon, carrying three large boxes and a bag as she walked into the hotel suite.
"I'm back," she stated as she dropped the boxes on the table. Cid came wandering out of his bedroom (there were two separate bedrooms in the suite, one in which Cid and Vincent slept, and one for Yuffie) growling slightly.
"Vincent can sleep in yer room t'night!" Cid snapped at her, Yuffie turned from the packages to stare at him.
"What happened?" she asked, looking him over for injuries.
"He had a fuckin' nightmare!" Cid growled, Yuffie tilted her head to the side.
"So?" she stated blandly, Cid growled again.
"I woke up with him clingin' to my fuckin' arm with his damn claw!" he shouted at her, Yuffie took a step back, both from Cid's screaming and this explanation.
"So you want to put me in that position!" She growled back, Cid laughed.
"As if he'd ever think of you like that," Cid laughing was cut off when Yuffie flinched visibly and looked at the floor. "Oh, fuck Yuffie, I didn't mean… I didn't kno…"
"Forget it," she choked out, wondering when her throat got so dry that she couldn't speak. "You're right at any rate, he can stay with me tonight…"
At this moment, Vincent came wandering out of the bathroom, with his hair sopping wet and hanging down limply over his bandana.
"You are home early," he observed, Yuffie nodded softly.
"Uh yeah… they didn't need me tonight… said I was overworking myself… I brought back dinner… if you're hungry…" She said, distracted and unable to focus on anything. "The boxes are some weapons I found for you two, and myself, I think they're pretty good… Cid'll have to assemble his and so'll you…" She wandered out of the room, still mumbling incoherently as she locked the bathroom door behind her.
"You're stayin' in her room tonight," Cid said simply as he grabbed a some paper plates out of one of the bags and taking the Chinese food out of it as well.
"Is that wise?" Vincent replied before he thought about it, Cid looked up, startled, before his eyes narrowed to dangerous slits.
"Yeah," he replied dangerously, "because if you even fuckin' think 'bout touchin' her I'll shove my spear up your fuckin ass so fuckin' hard that fuckin' Sephiroth'll scream in pain."
Vincent stared at the man, wondering where this threat derived from.
"She's like a fuckin' daughter to me," Cid explained sharply, "you hurt her, I'll fuckin' rip you apart."
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Author's Note: OK, yes I know that eventually Cid and Barret don't trust or like her. But I think that's because her betrayal broke their hearts… I think they both considered her like their daughter, cause I just think that way… so yeah, just wanted to say that. On with the chapter…
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Yuffie stood in the shower, rubbing the skin of her arms with a soapy cloth till the skin was red and irritated. She stopped for a moment, breathing heavily, trying to arrange her randomized thoughts into something coherent. Her mind had been buzzing all day, looking forward to coming home before eleven, actually enjoying what she did for the first time in ages. She hated being a materia thief, she hated the repercussions of it, she hated that she couldn't change it, because her father ordered it. She knew that she would eventually steal all of her friend's materia, and she dreaded that day because, loathe as she was to admit it, she felt like she belonged here.
No one avoided her, no one really ever scolded her, no one made her feel… no one made her feel so used… Sure, she loved her father, but how much longer could she do something she knew was wrong because she loved him? And what if there was something she loved more?
She didn't want to admit it, but she had never been happier, living with Cid and Vincent was like a dream. Cid was the father that could actually look at her, smile at her, act like she always thought a father should! And Vincent… Leviathan, what could she say about him? Everyday since they escaped the airship she'd come home late, and every night he'd been up waiting for her, asking her about her day, informing her of the dangers of a Shinra base at night, cradling her when she sobbingly told him about the little boy who died the night before, drowned by Weapon's tidal wave. She didn't want to admit it, but every moment she spent with the dark man, she fell a little more into the crush she developed for him. And the prospect of having him in her room for one night both thrilled and terrified her so much that the headache she'd been fighting all day became nearly unbearable.
She finally managed to calm herself, and her racing mind, down enough to finish her shower and get dressed in some of the clothes she'd bought for the three of them, and even the rest of the group, with the gil she'd earned. When she left the bathroom, wearing a black tank top and a pair of baggy pajama pants, she joined Vincent and Cid at the table to eat the Chinese food she'd picked up before coming home. She dug in rapidly, shoveling the food in her mouth with a rapidity that surprised Cid and Vincent, when she downed her drink at the same pace Cid decided to ask.
"I ain't never seen you eat like that," Cid stated. Yuffie swallowed her mouthful of food and looked up at him with a nervous look on her face.
"I-err… I haven't eaten in three days…" She managed to choke out, Cid's face went from stunned to furious in two seconds flat.
"Why the fuck not?" he growled, Yuffie sat as far back in her chair as she could.
"I haven't had time!" She said, throwing up her hands defensively. "I get up late every morning, and I don't get lunch breaks, and I haven't been getting home till… eleven at night…"
Cid sighed and grabbed the rice container, shoveling more of it onto her plate.
"Then you're gonna start makin' up for it right now," he grumbled. Yuffie relaxed and resumed her hurried eating. When she finally shoved her plate away, it was only six o'clock, and she decided that she would play around with her shuriken while Vincent and Cid assembled their weapons. She shoved the furniture out of the center of the room and retrieved her new shuriken from the box still sitting on the table. She walked into the cleared space she'd mad and held her weapon in her right hand, holding it out in front of her, parallel to her body.
Yuffie took a deep breath and closed her eyes before shifting her right arm so the shuriken was parallel to the floor, she swept the four pronged weapon out in front of her, before spinning in place, her elbow locked at her side. She kicked at the shadow she could see in her mind, she'd been pretending it was Cait Sith lately, and swept the blade down in a follow up. Her left hand struck out and she spun around, baring her back to shadow Cait Sith, and dragged the shuriken in a complete circle, imagining it dragging through the invisible stuffed cat's side. She flipped it into the air, doing a back-flip, landing in the splits, and grabbing the weapon, without cutting her hand, before it sliced anything in twain. She placed both hands flat on the floor, Shuriken still clutched in her left hand, and lifted her body onto her palms, and managed to, somehow, flip both legs above her head in a perfect handstand. She released her shuriken, and rotated her palms so they were facing each other, while spreading her legs out to either side, perfectly parallel to the floor. She began to spin, her fingers, palms and the heal of her hand helping her to do so. Her legs made three perfect circles before she sprang back to her feet, snatching up her shuriken as she did so.
Her eyes still shut tightly, Yuffie once again spun towards her invisible enemy, unaware of the two men gaping at her flawless performance.
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Cid's eyes were wide, and his cigarette had long since fallen out of his gaping mouth and into his lap. Vincent's mouth was also agape, though hidden by his collar, his eyes followed her every movement, he noted every flexing muscle, every tensing motion, every swift spin, kick and flip. His eyes had widened when she did the headstand, and nearly exploded from his skull when she's spread her legs in mid air. He had tried to force his crimson gaze away from her, but found himself unable to do so. She completed the move easily, resuming her place on her feet and finishing with a series of kicks, slashes and punches, before lowering herself into a crouch, her shuriken extended out to her left like a part of her arm.
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Yuffie took a shuddering breath as she got to her feet and opened her stormy grey eyes. She turned to put her shuriken back in the box, only to find Cid and Vincent staring at her. Cid snapped out of his daze to applaud the performance, but Vincent still seemed completely entranced, though she couldn't tell behind the high collar.
"Umm…" she stuttered, a bit embarrassed. "Tada?"
"That was fuckin' excellent!" Cid declared, slapping his palm on the table, and consequently snapping Vincent out of his daze. "You should show that t' Tiff, she's good but, shit, she ain't never been able to do anythin' like that!"
Yuffie blushed and smiled, scratching her head a little bit.
"The best ninja's know how to use fire spells while doing stuff like that," she said sheepishly. "But I'm not that skilled yet."
"You could do it," Vincent whispered, finally joining the conversation. Yuffie's heart nearly exploded right out of her chest.
"Y-" she took a deep breath so she wouldn't squeak, "you think so?"
"Definitely," both men replied. Yuffie seized Cid in a fierce hug before doing the same to Vincent.
"Oooh, when we get out of this, I'm gonna try it!" she squealed before bolting out of the room, and into hers. Cid, finally realizing his lit cigarette was burning a neat little hole in the crotch of his pants, let out a haggard cry and leapt to his feet, beating out the small rim of ashy flame around the afore mentioned hole. He bent to retrieve the still lit cigarette from the floor before turning to the slightly flushed Vincent.
"Good luck sleepin' tonight," Cid said with a growl. "She's gonna chat yer fuckin' ears off."
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It had been about three hours since her little performance in the living room, and Yuffie was still beaming about it. Even when she was stretching herself out on the floor to prepare for sleep. Vincent came waltzing in (not literally of course, only Yuffie and Cloud really waltz anywhere), wearing black silk pajama pants and a baggy red silk pajama shirt, as she settled herself on the floor. He froze, staring down at her as she grinned up at him, no longer shocked by his appearance without his cloak.
"Yuffie," he began, "what are you doing?"
"Giving you the bed," she replied, Vincent sighed.
"You are the one waking up for work tomorrow, you are also the one with the job that will get us inside information on when to execute our rescue plan, I insist that you take the bed." Vincent said, careful to maintain his monotone, Yuffie frowned at him.
"Really I'm used to sleeping on the floor," she told him sitting up and draping an arm over her knee. "And I'm not letting you sleep on the floor, it makes you grumpier than normal."
"Yuffie, please I insist," Vincent began, but Yuffie face broke into a grin.
"The bed is huge! We'll just make a pillow barrier!" she declared, snatching up her blankets and pillows and pouncing onto the bed. Vincent hesitated as she rolled towards the window and began her construction of the pillow barrier.
"Yuffie this is not…" Yuffie threw a pillow at him.
"If I you won't let me sleep on the floor, and I don't want you to be grumpy than we'll share the bed." With that Yuffie lay down on her side of the pillow barrier, a blanket wrapped around her.
"Cid will…" Vincent was cut off by Yuffie's despondent groan.
"Vincent please," she said, sitting up. "Just do this my way, for once."
And for some reason, maybe it was the way her grey eyes stared at him with that soft look, or the way her lips seemed to pout out when she frowned at him, Vincent sat down on the closest side of the bed; swearing up and down that he would never give into that face again. But the best laid plans of mice and men are nothing to the powers that be. Yuffie lay facing him, her eyes peering over the barrier as he lay down, facing her.
"Hey Vinnie," Yuffie whispered, Vincent gave her a look.
"I thought that was a slip of the tongue," he replied, she smiled.
"The first time it was," she said before her face got serious. "Do you snore?"
"No ones been in the position to find out for a very long time," he replied softly. Yuffie's eyes drifted shut, and a sad smile formed on her lips.
"Like thirty years long ti…" Yuffie's mouth closed before she finished her sentence, and as her breathing evened out, Vincent was left in silence. Normally, Vincent would sleep with one eyes open, flat on his back, one hand on his weapon and his claw resting on his chest to suffer innumerable nightmares. But tonight Vincent slept on his side, his claw arm beneath his pillow, his human arm lying on the pillow barrier. And even more strangely, tonight Vincent would dream.
---------- Vincent's Dream ----------
He could feel the wind on his face, the gentle breeze ruffling his hair, and for the first time in years, he didn't feel another force bearing on his mind. He touched his left arm, it was still the metal it had been for the past thirty years, but now there was no war raging within his head, he was at peace.
Someone was coming, and he forced his eyes away from the sunrise over the ocean, only to find Yuffie approaching him, wearing a long baby blue dress.
"The sunrise the day my mother was found dead, with me crying beside her," she said, the dress billowing about her as she drew level with him. "It looked like this, a red sun, golden clouds, ruby red waters… kind of like you…"
"Like me?" he repeated, Yuffie turned to him, her hair framing her face.
"Yes," she replied, stepping closer. "Crimson eyes, a golden claw, blood red cloak, how could I not think of you?"
"You remember your mothers death and you think of me?" He asked, Yuffie looked away, her grey eyes locking on the water.
"Not always," she told him, stepping nearer to the edge of the ridge. "Sometimes I think of flying off Dao Chao, pursuing Sephiroth on red wings, but I don't fly Vinnie…" She turned back to him, reaching out to him with her left hand. He didn't understand why, but he reached out for hers with his human hand. She swatted it away and grasped his claw firmly in her small hand, rubbing her thumb over the strangely warm metal.
"Yuffie…" he said, she smiled and pulled him into an embrace.
"Make me fly," she whispered before she leaned back, taking him with her as she fell over the ledge. Everything faded into black so rapidly that Vincent was only dimly aware of the warmth in his arms.
---------- Reality----------
Vincent's eyes snapped open to find the pillow barrier had somehow ended up on the floor on either side of the bed, and Yuffie was pressed up against him, still sleeping, with tears coursing down her cheeks. His brows furrowed together, unsure of what had happened, but still dimly aware that his arm was draped over her slumbering form. Her hands gripped his silk shirt tightly, clenching and unclenching as she winced and let tears course silently down her face.
"Yuffie," he whispered, glancing at the clock and noting it was only ten p.m. She didn't stir, she whimpered and held tighter to his shirt, her body shaking relentlessly.
"Momma," she whispered softly. Vincent managed to snake his claw arm out from beneath the pillow, the motion jostled Yuffie enough to jolt her out her unpleasant dream. For a moment she didn't seem to know what was going on or where she was, then, looking at Vincent, it all came bubbling back, and Yuffie jerked away from him sharply, tears still coursing down her face.
"I'm sorry!" she squeaked, her eyes red from her tears, Vincent reached out his hand, hesitantly, and rested it on her shoulder.
"Yuffie," he whispered, his heart pounding in his chest. "Yuffie, I am not angry with you."
"Vinnie," she uttered before she threw her arms around him and broke down crying. "Oh Vinnie, I saw her, I see her everyday, lying there bleeding and I can't help her! I just want to help her! Something! Anything!"
Vincent was taken aback, unsure of what to do or say, so he merely placed his human hand on her back and began to rub it soothingly. Yuffie seemed to calm a little as he did this, much to his secret relief.
"You will get your vengeance," he whispered, but Yuffie shook her head slowly.
"But it won't bring her back," she told him, her voice cracking. "I've always wondered if I'd be here if my mother'd lived that day, if I'd done something, anything to save her."
Vincent stared at her, for a moment glimpsing someone so unlike the young ninja, for a moment her saw himself. Hair tousled everywhere, blaming himself for every injustice done to someone he loved, and for the first time in thirty years, Vincent knew what to say.
"Do you think your mother would have wanted you to be sitting here, crying your eyes out, years after her passing?" He asked, Yuffie looked up at him and shook her head. "Remember her, but do not spend the entirety of your life lamenting what you could not have helped. I am certain if she could see you now, she would be proud."
For some reason these words didn't console Yuffie, rather it seemed to rip her apart internally. She began sobbing twice as hard as before, releasing Vincent and rolling onto her side, not facing him. Vincent opened his mouth to say something else, but something in his mind stopped him. A demon named Hellmasker.
"Well isn't she just the most charming little thing in existance?" He asked mockingly, Vincent repressed the groan he could feel rising in his throat.
'What Do You Want?' he growled mentally, Hellmasker chuckled.
"I run this mental playing field, Vinnie, so lets not be so grumpy, hmm?" he chimed, Vincent clenched his fists.
'If all you came for was to make this situation ten times worse…' Vincent grumbled, Hellmasker laughed.
"Oh if I wanted to make it any worse, I'd take over your mind and keep your body unchanged, that way she could watch you as you ravaged and killed her." Vincent went a few more shades of white, "but I merely wished to visit you and tell you how simply charming it is to listen to your pitiful attempts to console this… rather fetching child, when you cannot even come to terms with your own sins."
"Yuffie," Vincent said, now forcibly ignoring the invading voice in his mind. "I am sorry I did not mean…"
"No," she said, "it isn't that, really! I'm just… so … happy…"
'Guilty,' she thought to herself.
"Then why are you crying?" he asked, reaching out his claw hand to touch her arm.
"Because I'm lucky enough to have friends like you," she replied.
'I'm sorry I'm going to steal from you,' she amended in her mind.
"Yuffie," Vincent began again, finding it more difficult to ignore Hellmasker as the demon started barraging his mind with images of blood and gore at it's leisure.
"I'm sleepy Vinnie," she said finally, staying right where she was.
"…" these mood swings were ridiculous.
"Let's go to sleep," she said, her voice already fading. Vincent didn't reply, finding it easier to lie down. "Vinnie?"
He suppressed an agitated groan when Hellmasker mimicked her voice.
"Yes?" he replied through clenched teeth. She rolled over and scooted close to him.
"Keep the nightmares away," she pleaded, "just till I'm asleep."
And by all the powers that be, he couldn't refuse her to save his life.
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Author's note: Wellpers, theres another one down. Enjoy and don't flame me for the complete sappiness at the end!