Apologies for the long wait!
…
Denial
…
Tifa didn't know whether to wake them up for breakfast or not. They both just looked adorable! Cloud hadn't thought so, but that hadn't stopped him from removing his phone and snapping a few pictures for later blackmail material.
"We should let them sleep. The last few days have been difficult for them both," said Tifa quietly, pushing Cloud out the door.
"They do seem pretty cozy now…"
"Shush, Cloud," Tifa hissed, shoving him out the rest of the way.
"Tifa."
The quiet voice made her freeze and turn back to look at the gunman sharing the bed with the ninja. "Vincent?"
"Tell Cloud that I expect him to destroy those pictures."
"Oh, okay. I'll tell him," Tifa said with a smile before skipping out.
Vincent paused for a moment to consider his position and realized why Tifa and Cloud had been so interested. He was… spooning Yuffie, one arm curled right under hers, his nose pressed to her sweet smelling hair. It was an intimate pose, one that left him quite aware as to the fact that Yuffie had indeed grown up in the last few years, and that also let him know that his body didn't mind the position at all…
Pulling back slightly, he sighed to himself and stared out of the window, even as Yuffie cuddled into his arm. The sun had risen brightly, which meant he had overslept by a few hours, but he had to admit that he hadn't slept that well in years. Even Yuffie's small whimpers when another nightmare had caught her hadn't been a problem. That had been when he had spooned her, he remembered.
He should've been more scandalized… more… worried that he was doing something wrong. But truth was, he wasn't. It didn't feel wrong and things going right in his life had not been a common occurrence. Still, he had to remind himself that Yuffie wasn't herself at the moment and that the last thing on her mind would be any advances on his part.
Vincent stared at the back of her neck, at the t-shirt that had been pulled askew by her movements and the pale and exposed skin of her shoulder. He was treading on dangerous waters… Sighing to himself, he watched as his breath fanned away some of her fine hair at the base of her neck and her skin broke into goose bumps. What was he doing?
"You didn't have to stay the entire night," she muttered, voice thick with sleep. "I'm not exactly prone to sharing the blanket."
Vincent smirked to himself, having already found that out himself. "I know. You kick, too."
Yuffie felt her eyebrow twitch but didn't think she had the courage to turn and look at him yet, especially when she was still clutching his arm to her chest. And she probably had morning breath. And bed-hair. "Why did you stay?" she asked quietly.
"I—" He paused. "I felt like you needed me."
She did, but she didn't want to say it to his face… Vincent seemed to have some issues about intimacy. "So you felt obligated to stay?" she asked in a small voice.
Vincent frowned, wondering where this was coming from. Instead of answering, he ignored her question. "Will you be coming outside today?"
Yuffie narrowed her eyes at his change of subject. "Go away now, Vincent." She'd never liked the feeling of being pushed. Or ignored.
"Is that such a hard question to answer?" he needled without raising his voice or showing his irritation at having been kicked out.
Yuffie huffed and pulled the pile of blankets over her head, ignoring him completely. She knew that she was being unreasonable, and acting like the sixteen year old kid who'd wanted nothing more than to be taken seriously back then, but she couldn't help it. She didn't know why she couldn't push herself out of the funk she was in, and Vincent was only trying to help. "Go back to the WRO, Vincent. They need you more than I do," she muttered, wondering if he had already left.
I somehow doubt that,thought Vincent wryly. He needed to do something drastic to snap Yuffie out of the depression she was losing herself in, but he wasn't exactly sure of what. He'd never been big at talking or expressing feelings, but one thing he had learned, had been to be a better friend.
…
"Any luck?"
Vincent glanced at Tifa and shook his head as he sat at the bar counter, having just vacated the shower.
Dressed in a pair of dark slacks and a black cotton shirt he looked even lankier than he usually did; it was just too bad that Yuffie wasn't around to appreciate it, thought Tifa. "She needs a reason to pull herself out of this funk," she commented idly.
"She should rise for her own sake. She cannot expect to waste away between those sheets," he murmured darkly.
"Maybe she needs help to see that."
"I already tried and she refused."
"Are you giving up, Vincent Valentine?" Tifa huffed, annoyed.
He sighed, long and moody. "What more can I do? Short of dragging her out by the scruff of her shirt…"
The brunette gave him a pointed look and smiled as one of his eyebrows rose.
"I think you know already what you can do for her."
He merely grunted in acknowledgement and accepted the glass of water she offered.
…
She really was trying her best to appear unaffected by Vincent's absence from Seventh Heaven once more, but Yuffie had to admit that it hurt more than she let on. She missed hearing the heavy clomping of his annoying boots, and the over dramatic swish of his cloak, but most of all… she missed him. Everything that made up Vincent Valentine.
And it hurt all the more to know that she had been the one to drive him away. She couldn't be angry at the fact that he had done as she wished and had left her alone. Sighing to herself as she sat in Cloud's favorite chair, complete with worn leather and overly stuffed, she rubbed her thumb over the smoothness of the summon materia in her hand, just brooding as had become the norm for her.
"You're not supposed to have Materia," said Marlene's matter-of-fact voice.
Yuffie glanced at her and smiled half-heartedly. "Don't worry about me, Marley. It's not like I'll summon anything in the house. Can you imagine Tifa's reaction at having Leviathan in the living room?"
The girl giggled and pranced over to slip under the blanket Yuffie had been wrapped in, both comfortably cocooned and cuddling. "Why are you still sad?" Marlene asked, hugging Yuffie around the middle.
"I'm not sure, Marlene," Yuffie admitted with a sigh.
"I don't like seeing you sad. No one does," the girl muttered. "You always bring out the best in everyone!"
Yuffie grinned weakly. "Oh yeah? How do you figure that?"
Marlene giggled. "Well… Tifa needs someone to tell all her secrets to… and Uncle Cid sees you as a daughter even though he won't admit it. Uncle Reeve would be forever working in his office if you weren't there to tease him into seeing that he needs to have fun. Papa would probably forget that he's not as old as he feels, and even Uncle Vincent…"
"What about him?" Yuffie asked when the girl paused.
"Well… before you were hurt, we only saw him once every few months! Now he's here all the time, watching over you. And now he stays because he wants to know that you're safe."
Yuffie felt her heart stutter in her chest at Marlene's words. Could it be true? Could she trust the words of the precocious nine year old? Marlene had always been smart and far too observant for her age… but she supposed that she had to have been when living with people like Cloud and Barret.
Yuffie gave her a tight squeeze until she giggled and gasped for breath. "Aunt Yuffie, I can't breathe!"
"Well, I feel like smothering you in kisses," said the ninja, feeling her chest lighten briefly after her conversation with girl.
"You can't do that because then Papa Barret would be angry."
"True, and between you and me, that gun arm of his is crazy scary."
Marlene snickered and stood. "Tifa promised she would make cookies today, so I have to go and remind her. Will you be okay, aunt Yuffie?"
Yuffie nodded and offered the girl a smile. "I'll be fine, Marlene. Just do me a favor, yeah?" The girl nodded enthusiastically. "If you see that gunslinging hobo, will you tell him we need to talk?"
Marlene grinned and nodded. "Should I say that you called him a hobo?"
The ninja remained silent for a moment. "No, better not. I don't want him to leave again."
"Are you in love with Uncle Vincent, aunt Yuffie? Because sometimes you have this look on your face that I've seen on Tifa before when she looks at Cloud and she thinks no one else can see her…"
"Of course not," said Yuffie, hoping that her cheeks weren't blushing and giving her away. "I just miss him as a friend."
Marlene smiled secretively and nodded before she gave her another hug and then ran off.
Yuffie sighed quietly and snuggled into the blanket as she let her thoughts loose. She'd always harbored a crush on Vincent, but could her feelings have possibly changed in such a short space of time? Her heart had stuttered in her chest at the sight of him, though she had only acted as her usual self.
The last thing Vincent would ever need was the awkwardness that came with knowing that she was attracted to him. Knowing Valentine the way she did, she wondered if he would just keep his distance from her until her infatuationfaded away.
She would definitely miss him, but no one else needed to really know that. Sighing to herself, Yuffie closed her eyes and willed her mind to stop running in circles. It was too exhausting.
…
The next few days passed by in a blur of the last of her meds, Tifa's encouraging conversations and Marlene and Denzel's company. Yuffie had visited the doctor for the removal of the stitches and to make sure that the burns were healing. The doc was still worried about her exposure to mako and had given her an earful after Tifa had told him about the materia episode.
According to the doc, they needed to run a few tests to make sure that the level of mako in her body had either lowered to an acceptable level or stayed as it was. If it turned out that the mako had begun to overpower her blood then that would mean mako poisoning and serious trouble. Some people were able to absorb much easier than others, and Yuffie wondered if those would've been perfect candidates for the SOLDIER program years back.
So far she hadn't felt all too sick, though the tell-tale signs of the mako in her blood was present in the slight glow of her eyes in the dark. She hadn't seen much change in herself, though she would admit to no one that seeing in the dark had become easier.
Making her way out of her room and down to the bar wearing a fresh outfit, she found Tifa filling out order forms for next month's alcohol inventory. The brunette looked up and smiled at her, surprised to see her dressed and ready to leave the house voluntarily.
"Where are you off to?" Tifa asked, hiding her surprise lest Yuffie decide to head back upstairs and back to bed.
"I'm going to HQ," said Yuffie, pulling her precious moogle cloak around herself.
"This is quite surprising," the brunette commented.
"I know… I'm just going crazy now that I'm not doped up on painkillers and antibiotics. I was starting to feel a little claustrophobic."
"Well… let me finish and I'll go with you, okay? I want to get some training done now that the kids are out for the day with Cloud," Tifa said, sorting a few sheets of paper and then pressing them into a neat pile.
Yuffie had been tempted to decline, but she did need a ride and rather than walk and take the train, she accepted, glancing toward the windows of the bar. The sun was hidden behind dark clouds, which meant a chillier day and possible rain.
As Tifa drove she chatted lightly about random things, hoping to keep Yuffie from staying silent and morose.
"Has Vincent contacted you at all?" Yuffie asked during a short silence as Tifa took the highway.
Her friend shook her head. "No. But I think Reeve must've sent him on some special op, otherwise he would've visited by now. He's been really worried about you since he got the call of the explosion."
Yuffie glanced over at her with a questioning look.
"Do you remember anything else from when you were taken to the hospital?" Tifa asked.
The ninja shook her head. "Just darkness, frantic voices, and snippets of conversation."
"Well, I have it from a good source that Vincent was there when you arrived and that he remained outside of the trauma room until he knew you were alive and stable."
Yuffie mulled over Tifa's words with her heart doing that funny little dance it had started to do at the mention of the gunman recently. Had he really done that? Of course he had… he had been there watching over her from the moment she had woken up and had been released from the hospital. And all she had done was be an annoyance for him…
Well, that needed to change.
"You're special to him," Tifa added quietly.
A nervous giggle escaped her lips. "How can you possibly know that? Vincent is… Vincent. He doesn't feel affection openly for anyone."
"He does for you. Stop being so stubborn and open your eyes. All of the proof is staring you in the face. Now… I know you're still healing, mentally and emotionally, but you can't let yourself ignore this. Vincent… is a different breed of man, and if he slips through your fingers, I don't think you'll ever have a chance again."
"A chance to what?" Yuffie asked, frowning at the road ahead of them. It's not like affection would translate to desire… or even love. Tifa was being delusional.
"A chance to see if he's the one meant to make you happy," Tifa said quietly.
Yuffie sighed and stared out of the window the rest of the way, mulling over her friend's words. There had been a time when she would've jumped for joy at hearing Tifa's advice. But her recent accident had taught her to be cautious the hard way. And while Yuffie herself was still young, she wasn't a teenager anymore. Those girly dreams she had once harbored in her heart had begun to fade away. Or so she decided to tell herself…
Thankfully, they arrived at the WRO headquarters before Tifa could keep pressing her, and after both receiving their clearance passes, split up to use two different training rooms. Tifa would do some light boxing and Yuffie… still hadn't decided what she would do. Though maybe she could give the simulator a try. She needed to know how rusty her skills had turned.
On her way to the simulators, she passed various soldiers who saluted and greeted her, though she noticed that they looked cautious when talking to her. It annoyed her, but she could understand why they were being that way. She had a suspicion that the fact that she hadn't left the bar in weeks had already reached them and they probably thought she was a nutcase.
Luckily for her, she didn't encounter Reeve and while it made her feel guilty, she knew that she wasn't ready to face the questions about her return to work. And maybe she was avoiding him so that he didn't insist on the shrink. Seeing a professional would happen when she decided, because she knew she would resist if Reeve pushed her to it.
Happy to see that the simulator was empty, Yuffie walked over to the computer and typed in the settings of the training exercise. While the technology had evolved from what it had been during ShinRa's reign, it still functioned along the same lines. She had to wear the special goggles that would gather information on the fight and her techniques, and the data would be stored in the computer in order to adapt her training to become more challenging.
Reeve had also been working hard on designing simulations that didn't cause damage to the user, but so far he had only made it possible to not be killedduring an exercise… Yuffie shook her head and crammed her phone and her cloak into the space under the computer. Choosing the landscape of the barren outsides of Midgar on a medium setting of difficulty, she paused at seeing the question blinking on the screen.
Use of materia?
Yuffie bit her lip and then typed her answer… only as a last resort type of thing, she assured herself.
Removing Conformer from her back and preparing her weapon to accept the materia the simulator offered, she moved to stand in the middle of the room, eyes adjusting to the sudden brightness of the scenery. The wind blowing across her skin felt so real, as did the ground underneath her boots. The sun offered her body warmth and strangely she coughed as a cloud of dust blew under her nose.
The first creature jumped at her back, forcing her into a roll as she let loose a hidden kunai. It struck the shadow creeper in the neck and it disintegrated. Getting quickly to her feet, she slashed forward with Conformer as another materialized right in front of her, close to her right side.
The next three went down hard, and she realized that she was taking out all of her frustrations on the fake creatures. Weeks of helplessness and pain, of guilt, of feeling like a burden to her friends. To Tifa… and especially Vincent.
One slash. Two. Three.
The creatures started to come at her in threes and fours as the difficulty of the exercise adjusted to her display of skill. Her knees and knuckles had become scraped in the grapples, but she had worked up a healthy sweat as her training came back to her. One monster nicked her shoulder and stomach, but she saw the wounds as mere scratches. Nothing to worry about.
Gasping out in surprise at the sound of distant howling, she looked up and saw a large cloud of dust a distance away, signaling something big and dangerous approaching. What the hell? She didn't remember having chosen any large monsters when the computer had asked her monster choice…
Driving a ninja star into the eye of a new creeper, she managed to destroy the remaining ones right before she caught sight of the Dual Horn barreling right for her. What the hell?! Nowhere in the computer had it said that a Dual Horn would show up!
Even in the simulator, those kinds of monsters were hard to kill and were often taken care of by pairs or small groups of soldiers. And while she was confident in her skills now that she knew she wasn't too rusty, she would need the help of materia to bring the thing down.
Or at least using materia had been her plan until she saw the size of the monster… it could easily tower over her and splatter her all over the ground. Who the hell had invented simulators in which you could still take damage?!
She'd have to get on Reeve's ass for a new program… Yuffie wondered if any of the rookie cadets had been killed yet… The distance was beginning to decrease and it seemed to be the size of a Shadowfox… maybe even bigger.
"Shit," Yuffie gasped, turning and running for the rock formations behind her as the thing gained speed. What the hell was going on with the simulator's programming?
She leapt up and ran vertically just as she felt the monster's breath on the back of her neck, narrowly avoiding being scored by the horns. Her ribs protested the pull as she pushed away from the wall and flipped backward.
Yuffie landed right behind the Dual Horn and felt her eyes widen as she easily ran under the beast, head not even skimming its belly. Still, now was not the time to stand there gawking like an idiot. Handling Conformer with both hands, she used it to slice her opponent's belly, muscles pulling with the forced needed to cleave through the rough skin. And even then the monster roared and reared up on two legs, ready to trample her.
Rolling away with a curse, Yuffie blinked and felt her eyes widened as the landscape suddenly morphed right before her eyes. The Dual Horn was still there with her, but now… now she stood before the reactor she and her squad had been investigating right before the explosion…
Her breathing caught in her throat as she was thrown back to that day… to the pain, the guilt, the death of her comrades…
"No!" she wailed when she heard the reactor explode, the sound deafening.
But it wasn't real… it was just an illusion projected in the simulator.
And damn it, the monster was charging at her again and it was too late for her to do anything else but block.
Raising her arms to protect her middle, the glint of the materia caught her eye and she gasped out right before she activated it. For a few long seconds she remained blinded by the brightness of the spell—never had her thunder been so strong—and she could feel it draining her alarmingly quickly. The resulting crackle of thunder tore through the simulated monster, destroying it and the computer along with it.
Fuck damn it… at least I didn't get gored by a fake monster… was her last thought before she fell back, unconscious. That and, Vincent and Reeve are going to be so pissed.
…
"Her vitals are fine. She has no broken bones and just a few scratches as a result of the training. No concussion or internal bleeding. All in all she appears to be in good condition."
"And the reason why she remains unconscious?"
Uh-oh, that sounded like Vincent.
"She was warned against using materia for this specific reason. It will not truly harm her anymore, but since she was submerged in mako and her body has begun to adapt to it, use of materia can be… volatile. Attacks that in the past may have been average have been augmented."
"Would it be a good idea to continue prohibiting the use of materia?"asked Reeve's voice.
"I believe that with today's demonstration, she can begin practicing with its use if necessary. Materia has been nearly banded around the world after we learned of what it does to the lifestream, but in the case of those of you who fight to protect us, it seems necessary. She needs to learn to control how much she pulls from within herself in order to not be drained so quickly."
"Thank you, Doctor,"said Reeve, effectively dismissing the other man in the room.
There was shuffling and the sound of the door closing before Yuffie sighed and rolled onto her back from where she had been on her side.
"What the hell happened?" she muttered, prodding at her aching temple.
Reeve stepped over to her and handed her a small paper cup holding two pills and a cup of water.
Yuffie sat up slowly and avoided meeting anyone's eyes as she took the painkillers and stared at her feet.
"You don't remember?" Vincent rumbled, clearly sounding severe.
"Yeah, I remember how I got here. What happened after I passed out?" Yuffie asked, looking up and at Reeve.
The commissioner frowned and looked worried. "You fried all the computers and the simulator itself," he said casually.
Yuffie's eyes widened at his words and she looked toward Vincent, who was standing by the window, gazing out of it.
"You're kidding, right?" she muttered. Though now that he mentioned it, her thunder spell had been brighter than she had ever remembered seeing… "Shit, Reeve, I'm sorry."
"Yuffie, I thought it had been made clear that you were not to use materia."
"I know, Reeve, but—"
"There is no excuse for that kind of irresponsibility," said Vincent from the window.
Yuffie winced, seeing right through his passive tone. "There was something wrong with the computer. I was training with shadow creepers specifically, because I didn't know just how bad my fighting skills had become. But right in the middle of fighting, I noticed that there was something bigger coming at me. The crazy thing is that… it was a Dual Horn."
"Maybe you set off an option when imputing the information into the simulator," said Reeve, eyebrows scrunched in confusion.
"I deliberately set the difficulty setting to medium. As far as I know, nothing but the shadow creepers should've shown up. Right?" Yuffie asked, beginning to feel upset that he was doubting her word.
Reeve nodded. "Maybe it was a glitch. I could've checked the logs had you not fried it beyond use. But I might be able to salvage something anyway."
"That's not all," Yuffie muttered. And with the next part of the story, she couldn't help but wonder if they would take her as some kind of crazy person for real… "Something else happened."
"Go on," said the commissioner.
"Right before the Dual Horn attacked… the scenery of the battle changed. It morphed into Midgar and a reactor. The same reactor that blew," she said in a low voice.
"That's… that seems highly unlikely, Yuffie."
"So you're saying you don't believe me?" she scowled.
The older man sighed and paced. "You've been under a lot of stress lately, Yuffie. It could've just been your brain telling you that it wasn't ready to get back to fighting or overexerting itself."
"Look, the reason why I resorted to the materia was because I was thrown by the change of scenery in the simulator and the fucking Dual Horn was about ready to gore me. I had already weakened it and I would've finished it off but then I was thrown back to that day!" Yuffie hissed, standing as her anger grew. "Now please tell me, Reeve, am I crazy or is it possible for the computer to do something like this on its own?"
Vincent stepped away from the window and moved into her line of sight, his heart beating oddly at seeing her eyes shimmering. "Reeve… would someone be able to access the computer from outside and change the settings of the simulator?"
Reeve thought about it for a moment and then nodded. "If they were computer savvy, yes, it would be possible. They could've patched in through a computer from the WRO or using a signal from outside. I think I need to go and investigate this further. If someone did this to torment you, Yuffie, believe me when I say that I will find them."
Yuffie nodded and sat back down onto the bed, the tears slipping from her eyes against her will. She kept her face averted from Vincent and Reeve cleared his throat.
"I'm glad to see that you're okay, Yuffie. I'll be heading to my office and we will get to the bottom of this. Meanwhile, I think it would be best for someone to train with you… for your own safety."
Vincent glanced over at Reeve and noted the glint in the other man's eyes, which nearly caused him to roll his own. "I will take over Yuffie's training from now on. We will be using the outskirts of the city so that the materia use does not get out of hand."
Yuffie's eyes snapped to his incredulously and she started to shake her head. "Vincent, you don't have to do that. I can train by myself—"
"Clearly, you cannot," Vincent interrupted and watched as Yuffie's cheeks colored a bright red in her anger.
"Don't you dare treat me like a child, Vincent Valentine!" she huffed, jumping to her feet.
Reeve sighed and began to back away toward the door. "Yuffie, I'm going to see if anything was salvaged from the simulator that can help us answer questions. In the meantime, go home and get some rest."
With those parting words, the commissioner made a hasty retreat. Yuffie stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut, hoping that Vincent would be gone be the time she went back outside. But it was wishful thinking… Vincent had stayed put.
"It's not my intention to treat you like a child."
"And yet you keep doing it. If I wanted a father, Vincent, I would go back home," Yuffie said, picking up the prescriptions the doctor had left for her on the table near the bed.
"I don't want you to see me as your father," he murmured.
Yuffie froze at his quiet words and slowly turned to look at him. A pleasant chill raced through her body when she saw his eyes on hers, crimson clear of his old demons. "Then how should I see you?" she asked, voice just as quiet as his. Her heart thundered in her chest as she watched his lips part…
But they were interrupted by a knock on the door before it opened to reveal Tifa.
"Yuffie! I'm so glad you're okay! I never should've left you alone," Tifa gasped out, rushing to her. Satisfied to see nothing more than a few scratches and bandages, she stepped back and looked over at Vincent. "Hi, Vincent. I didn't see you there."
"Tifa," the gunman greeted, his eyes sliding from her to Yuffie.
Yuffie held her breath as their eyes met and held once more. What did this mean? Was he interested in being something more to her? Maybe she was the delusional one. She put on a forced smile and turned to Tifa. "Can we go home?"
The brunette nodded and watched her walk out the door before she turned to look at Vincent. "Will you be coming with us?"
Vincent looked away from the door and shook his head. "I will help Reeve investigate what went on in the simulator. Then I will return to your home, if that's okay."
"That's fine. Hopefully you can make it for dinner," she said with a bright smile. "I'm sure Yuffie will be more than happy to have you around again."
Vincent let out a small breath after the woman had left the room before following her. He caught sight of Yuffie signing off on some papers at the nurse station and he scowled at the pale tinge to her face. He would be returning to Seventh Heaven, if only to make sure that she was following the doctor's orders for more rest.
Her eyes fell on him and he had to admit that even with the cuts and scrapes, the too pale skin, and the strained look in her eyes, she was beautiful. Her beauty so different from Lucrecia's, but none the less just as eye catching.
The ninja offered him a bittersweet smile as she stepped past him, but before she could move away completely, he caught her wrist. He didn't know how or why, but he knew he needed to say something to her in that moment.
"Vincent?" she asked, eyes searching his face after his abrupt action.
His fingers slid from her wrist to her own digits, her hand warm in his. "We will… finish our conversation later."
Her lips parted in surprise before he turned and walked away, heading toward the main building of the WRO.
Her cheeks flushed at Tifa's knowing look and she turned and walked away. Leviathan, what the hell did he mean?
…
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Yay! I'm so sorry that I've been gone for so long, but the muse has been a fickle thing these last few months. But I'm slowly getting back into the swing of writing and I'm hoping that I still have readers with me. I know this story has been moving a bit slow but from this chapter on, we'll see some progress between Yuffie and Vincent. Not many chapters are left anyway, so I'll do my best to get the rest out soon. Hope everyone is having a great new year!
Oh, and I will put up a poll later to see what stories readers would like to see updated next.