Lost in the Shadows
Chapter 14 - Tension Prt. 2
Diclaimer: I do not own FF7 and its characters, settings or the like. These words, however, are mine.
Yuffie and Vincent had traveled for one whole day. No stops, no resting, no nothing. Yuffie was officially tired. The scenery was enough to drive her crazy as it all looked the same. The weather hadn't been too forgivable either. Since the moment she and Vincent had started walking, it had been raining. Soaked to the bone and annoyed beyond words, Yuffie stopped just in front of Vincent. Unprepared for such a sudden stop, Vincent managed to throw Yuffie off her feet and onto the ground.
"That's IT!" Yuffie screeched, clothes now not only wet but muddy. Vincent found himself taking a wary step backwards. Yuffie's mood had deteriorated far too much to be normal.
"Yuffie..." Vincent tried, but to no avail.
"$$&( &&((!" Yuffie spewed forth every swear word Cid had ever managed to mutter and Vincent shook his head. Cid wasn't really the greatest role model, it seemed. And to think he had a child on the way!
"Yuffie." He said a little firmer this time but again, he gained no response other then to have Yuffie start gnawing on his leg.
He stood there with wide eyes, trying to comprehend everything.
"Yuffie!" Vincent said, shrugging her off his leg. She looked up at him, tears brimming her eyes.
"I'm so tired and hungry and wet and covered in mud and --"
"Yuffie," Vincent began, hand covering her mouth. "If you would kindly look in front of you."
Yuffie turned her head and to her extreme liking, there sat the Sierra. What luck she had! Truly, Leviathan was finally taking pity on her. Hey, wait a second...
Yuffie looked up only to have a hard, miniscule white ball fall right into her eye. She brushed angrily at her eyes as more pelted her entire body. Standing up quickly, she ran as fast as she could towards the Sierra. Knowing her 'great' luck, the Sierra would take off any moment and she and Vincent would be left to stand here and mope.
She slowed to a walk when the unusual and unexpected bout of hail passed and she'd made it a safe distance near the airship. She stopped and turned to face Vincent, who was walking slowly behind her. Obviously, he knew that airship couldn't possibly fly in such conditions -- even if the greatest pilot was steering.
"Damn Vinnie, never thought I'd want on this bucket of bolts so bad." Yuffie said, waving her hand in the air and jumping.
"Yes, Yuffie." Vincent said, looking rather exasperated. With her or the bad weather, their luck or the fact that he was about to be surrounded by crazed people who were going to ask millions of questions, Yuffie couldn't decipher.
"Don't look so down, Vinnie! It's dry in there! Dry and warm!" Yuffie chirped, flashing him a grin.
When Vincent was slightly closer to both Yuffie and the airship, she began to walk again. Eventually, Vincent caught up with her and they were walking together at an amazing pace, both wanting to reach the shelter of the 'beloved' machinery.
Yuffie was the first to reach the ramp of the Sierra and she ran excitedly to the door. She tried to open the door but found the mud on her hands seemed to complicate things. She stomped her foot and waited for Vincent to get over here.
"Any day now, monster man!" Yuffie chided, stomping her foot once more for some kind of emphasis.
Vincent let out a sigh and walked up the ramp and over to her. He too tried to open the door, but found that it wouldn't budge. Except it was for an entirely different reason then that of which Yuffie experienced. The door was locked. He groaned slightly at the prospect of enlightening Yuffie and finding some way to get inside.
"What's wrong, damn it? Open the door!"
"Yuffie, the door is locked." Vincent said, looking over at her carefully. He really was afraid of her, for once in his life. She really did look like she would explode any second now.
"Can't you fly or something." A flood of relief flew through Vincent at how calm her voice sounded, though he wasn't entirely sure about what she was getting at now. "I mean, we could get on deck then and like, everyone could be all happy and stuff."
"Yuffie? What's wrong?" Vincent asked, noting how put out she sounded.
"We have really bad luck, Vin Vin. I think all that moping around you do is starting to wear off on me and if I'm not happy, nobody's happy and if nobody's happy, everyone's luck goes BOOM and dies." Yuffie said half-heartedly.
Vincent walked down the ramp and looked at the distance between the ground and the railing. He could surely make it but he wasn't sure if Yuffie's added weight would cause him to fall just short of making it over the edge. It was worth a shot though. They had to get inside somehow and this was currently the only way they could think of.
"Yuffie, come here." Vincent sounded, trying to find some kind of leverage to made the distance completely jumpable.
"Can you do it, can you do it?" Yuffie's cheerful voice caused Vincent to falter. And if he couldn't? What if he didn't make it? If anything, this just motivated him even more to make the jump a successful one.
"I think so." Vincent nodded.
"You think so? Ah well, better then nothin!" Yuffie jumped around excitedly, pumping her fists into the air.
Vincent motioned for her to come over to him and she did so without complaint. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.
"Tuck your head in. We're going to flip over the edge." He said. He felt Yuffie nod and he jumped, confused at feeling an extra force propel him farther at the last moment. When Yuffie thought he would smash right into the railing, he performed an impressive flip, managing to manoeuver their weight to land successfully on the deck, crouching on their feet. Yuffie inwardly soared with joy.
"Are you alright?" Vincent's deep voice cut through the silence.
Yuffie murmured her assent and accepted his offered hand, feeling herself being pulled up.
"Ah, let's go! Warm, dry, happy!" Yuffie danced over to the stairs that lead to their freedom. Vincent couldn't stop the small smile that managed to find it's way onto his face; she was so carefree and happy. At the moment, he could say he was rather happy as well.
-Finally... Some peace...-
'Quiet, heathen. This concerns you not.'
-Mmph...-
Vincent walked over and through the now open door that Yuffie had pranced through. If Vincent knew his friends like he thought he did, they were in for one hell of a ride.
"You know, $$&& machinery like this shouldn't $&$ be on this $$&$ ship! $&$!" Cid swore mercilessly, kicking the entirety of the radar. It had stopped working after Cait had jumped on top of it, pressing buttons that even Cid had never tried out before.
"#$&# cat, I'll #$& kill ya!" Cid yelled, turning to chase after the tiny animal when he caught sight of two people standing in the doorway.
"Hey old fart!" Yuffie squeaked gleefully, running up to Cid and catching him in a fierce hug.
Cid stood there gaping first at Yuffie and then Vincent. They were absolutely filthy, covered in mud and it looked like they'd been travelling in the rain for days. There were black circles underneath Yuffie's eyes and Cid instantly felt a small knot a worry form in his stomach.
"$&$ brat! You're soaking me to the && bone!" Cid said, not really annoyed but relieved to see the both of them. He returned the hug before pushing her away, hands on her shoulders and looking intently at her eyes. "What the &$ happened to you guys? $$!"
When Yuffie didn't answer, Cid looked to Vincent. Vincent sighed and walked over to where Cid and Yuffie stood.
"I believe Yuffie and I should get ourselves showered and decent. We'll meet you in the meeting room? I'm sure there's much to discuss, both ways." Vincent said. Cid nodded his affirmation and ruffled Yuffie's hair.
"Hey..." Yuffie began.
"Yuffie. Let's go."
Yuffie looked over at Vincent and frowned. "Always ruining my fun, Vinnie."
Cait suddenly walked into the room but stopped at seeing the two muddy figures standing with Cid.
"Yuffie! You're back!" Cait said, jumping up and down. He then proceeded to run out of the room, more then likely to tell everyone about the return of their very missed friends. "Yuffie's back, Yuffie's back, Yuffie is back!" They heard.
Cid laughed and cautioned them; everyone had been so tense and worried about them.
"Run and hurry. The whole crew should be out here any moment."
"So they look alright? Yuffie seems fine? Like her usual self? And what about --"
"Yo, Tif, stop with the $&$ questions!" Cid said. Her glare silenced any further words to come out of Cid's mouth.
"Everyone just calm down." Cloud's voice sounded as he walked into the room. Everyone was there, save for Red, the Turks and Aerith and Sephiroth. Barret was there, Cloud noticed, but he sat away from the group rather then being the source of the major noise.
"Where's Aerith and Sephiroth?" Cloud asked.
Everyone went silence and glanced around the table. Nobody really knew what they were doing. Nobody had seen Sephiroth since the night before, nor did they know how Aerith was doing.
"I'll go check. They both need to be here and hear this. Aerith needs to tell us a few things, too." Tifa said, standing up.
"I'll come!" Cait said. "There guys are boring anyways." Snickering, he left the room before Tifa. Tifa sent them a look and left, leaving everyone in silence.
"Well..."
When Tifa walked into Aerith's room, she was shocked at what she saw. She quickly shut the door and locked it, knowing that Cait Sith couldn't very well reach the handle. She walked across the room to peer over Aerith, who was laying on her side. Sephiroth slept there, looking at peace for once, his hand encircled by and encircling Aerith's. Tifa would have squealed in delight had she known Sephiroth wouldn't wake up, but she knew better then that.
She tiptoed around the side of the bed and stood behind Sephiroth.
"Sephiroth...?" Tifa whispered.
Sephiroth stirred only slightly before he feel back into the sea of dreams. Tifa frowned and poked him. "Sephiroth!" A frown was found on his face as he turned over to face Tifa.
"If you are someone other then Aerith and --"
"It's me Sephiroth! Tifa! My goodness." Tifa sighed. "It never used to be this hard to wake you." Tifa said, remembering the days at Nibelheim. They had been up bright and early to traverse into and up those mountains.
"Hey! Hey, Tifa! Lemme in!" Cait's muffled voice came through the door and into the room, followed by several knocks.
"Who's that?" Sephiroth asked Tifa.
Tifa sighed and shook her head. "Cait..." Sephiroth nodded in understanding before sending her a questioning glance.
"What?"
"Why are you here again?"
"Oh."
"Yes, oh."
"Stop it. I'm here because Yuffie and Vincent are back." Tifa nodded at his surprised look. "You need to come to the meeting room now -- we're going to discuss everything. And I do mean everything Sephiroth. You need to tell us what you and Aerith know."
Tifa looked over at the aforementioned, her hand still grasping Sephiroth's.
"How is she?" Tifa queried, walking over to crouch bythe sleeping form'shead on the other side of the bed. She brushed a few stray strands of hairout of her face before standing again.
"I wouldn't know. I've been asleep." Sephiroth said, looking rather uncomfortable.
"Remember, Sephiroth. Tell us everything."
Sephiroth and Tifa had entered the room together, splitting up once they met the table. Tifa went to take her seat beside Cloud while Sephiroth went off to the farther side of the room where he could find a single chair. He felt much more comfortable being here with Aerith -- but for now, he would have to settle for being alone; alone and on the other side of the room.
Not long after, both Vincent and Yuffie walked into the room. Yuffie looked a little apprehensive but other then that, Avalanche was relieved to see their friends in top condition. Cloud, for one, felt like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He'd been so worried! It had been his fault, after all. He should've thought everything over before actual initiation. He sighed and slouched in his seat.
Tifa was of course, relieved beyond words. Maternal instincts kicked in andshe ran up to Yuffie and Vincent, checking for injuries and making sure they were completely fine.
Barret seemed a little disinterested, though anyone who knew him could tell that he was silently very happy. This was a great turn of events. They now had only one more member of the team to worry about, save for Aerith. This, to Barret, was the best thing that could have happened.
Cid and Cait had already seen them but both were anxiously awaiting the explanation and revealing of everything that had happened. Sephiroth of course, was made to look disinterested.
"Yuffie, oh goodness, you're alright!" Tifa smiled and started squeezing the air out of Yuffie with a gigantic hug, soon after moving onto the awkward Vincent. Yuffie laughed at how uncomfortable he looked before going over to Sephiroth.
"Hey, Sephiroth..." Yuffie knew he could be trusted. Hell, he and Aerith were proof enough that he'd changed for the better. Still... It was kind of wierd to be hanging around the man who had killed her people... Her mother. She knew she couldn't really blame him but... The anger still surged from time to time.
Sephiroth nodded to indicate he was listening.
'Woah... Talk about a Vincent moment.' Yuffie thought.
"Where's Aerith?" Yuffie chirped, sitting down on the floor beside him. Something inside her was telling her something was wrong but she refused to acknowledge it until Sephiroth said something.
"She's... asleep. In her room." Sephiroth said, looking over at the teenager. He was, to say the least, most uncomfortable around Yuffie. Aerith had told him many stories of her frequent mood swings and stealing escapades. Not that he wouldn't be able to catch her, by god he would. But... An emotional teenager was not his idea of 'fun', as Aerith seemed to call their time together.
"Why? Shouldn't she be here, it is a meeting, you know?"
"She asks questions like this and that. Pointless most of the time, but she really means no harm. And she really is interested. She hates to be ignored too!" Aerith laughed, telling Sephiroth of her friends. They had talked about all of them except for Yuffie.
"Sounds like Godo really isn't made to be a father." Sephiroth smirked.
"She really does mean no harm, Sephiroth. She tries, so hard, to fit in with us adults." Aerith said. "I think you can relate in some way, right? I mean... You try and fit in too, don't you?"
Aerith's ability to depict his feelings and thoughts, everything, truly amazed him.
"No, Yuffie. Something happened. But I'm goingtotalk about that with everyone at the same time." Sephiroth answered.
Yuffie stood there in shock. Even she acknowledged what she was like but how did Sephiroth know that she had a thing for knowing ideas and plans and stuff before everyone else? Aerith. Damn.
"Oh well! We'll just have to start the meeting then, right!" Yuffie jumped up and skipped over to Cloud.
"CLOUD. Start the meeting!" Yuffie screamed in a sing-song voice right into his ear. He swatted her away and sent her an annoyed glance which Yuffie promptly returned with a rude gesture.
"Damn it, Yuffie! $$! Don't do that!" Cid said, hitting her head lightly. Yuffie scowled and went to sit down.
"If I may ask, where is Red?" Vincent asked. Everyone in the room went silent and Yuffie looked around to make sure Vincent wasn't just losing his ultimate eyesight. She frowned when she couldn't find him.
"Hey, yeah. Where is he? And Aerith, too! What's wrong with her?"
Cloud cleared his throat. "Yuffie, Vincent. Red is gone. He was bitten by a fiend the day we all set out for two weeks, or were supposed to anyways. He was unconscious for a day or two and then he tried to attack both Tifa and Aerith." Yuffie gawked at Tifa, a silent plea for a shake of her pretty brown head. Unfortunately, she nodded in confirmation. "He jumped off the airship."
"WHAT?" Yuffie squealed, jumping up. "It would have killed him! The fall alone would have killed him!"
Cloud shook his head. "We searched for him, all we found were paw prints. Red's paw prints, Yuffie."
"So he's still alive, then?" Vincent asked.
"As far as we know." Cid nodded.
"Oh my gawd." Yuffie groaned, falling backwards into her chair. A few of her teammates started, thinking she'd fall over completely, taking the chair down with her, but nothing of the sort happened.
"What's up with Aerith then?" Yuffie asked.
"Well... You'll have to ask Sephiroth yourself. He happens to know a few things we don't." Cloud said, glaring at Sephiroth for a fraction of a second. Sephiroth sent him a pointed look and Tifa stared daggers at the both of them.
"Sephiroth?"
Sephiroth looked over at Vincent for a moment before speaking.
"This all begins that day we had the meeting here and Aerith looked pale. Tifa said something about it, as I recall." Everyone nodded their understanding. They were with him so far. "She lied when she said nothing was wrong. Her head felt like it was going to explode, I believe she told me one day. Either way, she told me that she had something important to say." Sephiroth hesitated for a moment, not wanting to say anything. There was already enough havoc around here. He knew, though, it couldn't exactly be avoided and they would maybe have a better chance at causing it to not happen.
"One of us isn't going to make it out of this alive." Sephiroth saw the shocked look and everyone's faces.
"Someone unexpected or someone familiar?" Cloud asked after hearing what Aerith had told Sephiroth.
"That is what I believe I said, Strife." Sephiroth said, taunting him. Cloud obviously, had risen to his leader role respectivly and chose not to say anything although a twitch of the eye was painfully noticable.
Everyone was silent for a long time. Yuffie ended up breaking the silence after a few minutes. A few minutes of silence was simply too much for the young girl to take.
"So... Not Sephiroth, Cloud or Tif. It could be any one of us, then." Yuffie said, suddenly a little frightened.
"But, the question is then. Someone who has already died or someone who is familiar to... what? The concept of death?" Vincent said, his velvety voice calming Yuffie somewhat. He always seemed to have that affect on her.
"I do not know, though I asked her the same question. She said that depending on our actions, our choices, the person would change."
"Wait a second." Tifa interrupted, panic seeping through her voice. "It could be Aerith then! What if what she's experiencing is a sign or something?"
"No. It isn't." Sephiroth said.
"How do you know? What else has been going on?" Barret finally spoke up. True he was not a fan of Sephiroth's but he was willing to put it aside; for Aerith's sake.
"That same night she told me, she asked me, if we could go to the Ancient City. She needed the White Materia." Sephiroth paused, thinking about what to say. "When we got there, her head had started to hurt even more, actually. Either way, we got the White Materia but at first she was scared to touch it."
"What happened?" Tifa asked.
"She touched it and it entered her body, her stomach, where the... er... wound had been. It's gone now." Sephiroth said, feeling slightly sickened talking about the flesh wound he had inflicted upon her.
"It... it entered her stomach... but why?" Yuffie said, a little disgusted by this.
"The Planet is using it to speak through her. The Planet first spoke through her last night. I believe that is why Aerith is so tired and she fainted. It takes a lot out of her."
Everyone digested everything that had been revealed so far. Yuffie and Vincent were at a total loss, not having known about both Red and Aerith. However, Sephiroth had known everything and everyone else had known only about Nanaki. This was obviously a big issue between everyone that they needed to overcome.
There couldn't be anymore secrets. Not anymore.
"No more, you guys. No more secrets." Yuffie whispered. Everyone looked at her, confused, for a moment. "We can't have anymore secrets flying around! We all need to know everything that is going on! We're better off if we work as a team. Even I know that, a seventeen year old!" Yuffie's face contorted to that of anger. "Damn it, you all say I'm young and immature! Yet I'm telling you this." Everyone, Cloud and Cid especially, were indeed surprised at how mature she sounded.
"She's right." Sephiroth said.
Everyone nodded their acknowledgement.
"So, what else do we uh, need to know?" Yuffie asked.
"Barret and Reno got into a fight." Cloud offered.
"Are you serious? Who won, who won?" Yuffie chanted.
Everyone looked at her. So much for mature. Yuffie turned slightly red and sat down. "Er... Not a good thing? Actually... Now that you mention it, that bubbly blonde isn't here..." Yuffie said, and the only 'bubbly' blonde they knew -- well, kind of -- was Elena.
"Yes, well. Reno felt it best he $$ run after Barret tried to $&#$ behead him." Cid said, taking an intake of cigarette smoke.
"Cid..." Tifa scolded.
"It's true, though!"
"Look. Nobody really blames Barret." Tifa said, glaring at Cid. "We were and are all stressed and tense. Things were a little out of order. We can't blame him. I say we put this all behind us." Tifa said.
Everyone nodded their affirmation.
Aerith awoke from a frightening dream with a start. She hid her face in her hands for a moment and found her forehead to be covered in sweat. He hair was mussed, she knew, but it didn't matter. She needed to find him. Them. They needed to know, they needed to move.
She stood and felt like she would collapse. Her body was so weak. The Planet was taking a toll on her body. So weak...
So weak...
"Get out of my head!" Aerith screamed.
Aerith put a hand to her head and tears started to fall freely, her head pounding. She had to find them...
Before it was too late.
"So. What do you think we should do next Sephiroth?" Tifa asked, sitting in front of him, Vincent and Yuffie on their left. Cloud and Cid could be found on the other side of the room, talking quietly. Barret was entertaining Cait. His mood had lightened considerably when everyone had said they would put the whole incident regarding Reno behind them.
"I am unsure." Sephiroth answered. Truth be told, 85 percent of that statement was true. He honestly didn't know.
"Hmm... You know, Tif, Vincent... I want your hair." Yuffie said, flicking a strand of Tifa's hair and a strand of Vincent's hair together.
"We know, Yuffie..." Tifa and Vincent answered together. Yuffie's eyes widened and Sephiroth smirked. How comical...
"Well..." Tifa said, recovering fromthe fit of giggles Yuffie had just put her into, "I think we should wait until Aerith wakes up, really. She has the Planet with her and... We need some answers about these Mako fiends."
"HEY! Vinnie, we forgot to tell them about the Mako pool!" Yuffie said. Vincent wasn't listening though, rather, he looked to be on alert. "Vinnie...?" Yuffie looked over at Sephiroth to find him getting up from his chair.
"Hey, what's going on?" Yuffie said, loud enough for everyone to hear. Cid and Cloud looked over at Sephiroth and Vincent, confused. Barret just listened.
"Was that... Aerith, Sephiroth?" Vincent asked him, looking at the silver haired warrior's face intently. Another sound caught Vincent's ears though and he stood quickly, following Sephiroth out the now open door. He motioned for everyone to follow.
Aerith sat on the floor clutching her head.
You'll never get there in time... It will be too late... He'll die... It'll be your fault...
Aerith screamed and shook her head. She bit her lip, tasting her blood after a few minutes. It was all in vain. Why did she even get up? The pain was worse now... She'd never make it.
She heard footsteps coming closer... And voices. She dearly hoped her friends were coming in her direction.
Her hopes were confirmed, granted, when she heard Sephiroth's voice. She felt him take hold of her arms. Her vision swam in front of her for a minute before she could focus properly. When she looked up she saw Sephiroth kneeling on the ground beside her, concern etched clearly on his handsome features. Yuffie and Vincent stood behind him, Tifa was kneeling beside him. Everyone was there.
Aerith lifted her hand to his cheek and let it come down to his arm. "Sephiroth... He... We... He's in trouble..." Aerith whispered, clutching desperately to him. She flinched when a major wave of pain assaulted her senses. Sephiroth squeezed her arms and she looked at him.
"Who, Aerith? And what's wrong?" He spoke so calmly... so soothingly...
Aerith moved forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, burrowing her face into the crook of his neck. He stiffened for a moment before relaxing into the embrace, not caring about anyone around him. Around them.
"He... He'll die if we don't hurry. The Turks... They're in trouble..."