Awakening

Author's Note: Yo. Two and a half months. That's not too bad. Like summer break all over again, huh? Hm. Maybe that should be my steady pace. Anyway, thanks to everyone who's decided to read. I've noticed that over the past couple of months, I've been getting various favorite notices and alert notices. I really appreciate it that you all haven't given up. 3

I'm also working on my own fiction novel, Aquamarine, which features a girl named Maria who has some special insight. In a way, she reminds me of Yuffie, but also of myself. It reminds a few others of the Twilight series, but I assure you, this is not a rip-off. I'll post a few chapters on LiveJournal and MySpace sometime; come check it out, okay? I'd appreciate it.

Summary: Is it ever okay to give up?

Disclaimer: You know how it is; I don't own any characters, places, scenarios, whatever. All I own is the plot. Square-Enix has the rest.

A few days have passed, and I cannot forgive myself for my transgression. I allowed myself to divulge in my desires, to fulfill the others' fantasies, and meanwhile hurt the ones I care about. It isn't acceptable. I have thus withdrawn myself from the party, but for the most part, Yuffie. I cannot look at her the same way. The vision repeats itself over and over, and each time I feel more pathetic. Now more than ever do I skip out on interaction, on activity, even obtaining energy. So much that I'm harming myself.

I would rather sleep in my coffin than be constantly reminded of what I've done. I've certainly isolated my sleeping quarters to make that appearance as well. I sleep leaning on a wall, for even lying down reminds me of the incident. The demons have even quieted; perhaps they realize how much the situation has truly haunted me. But then again, everyone's quieted. Even Tifa has, who's instigated it.

No doubt it's because of what happened. I don't believe anyone anticipated Cait Sith to trick us like that. Even I was fooled. Now we are one less step to unlocking the secret, to finding the Temple of the Ancients. How inadequate.

And so, I found myself in a place that couldn't be worse. Yuffie is still technically in my care, and I am responsible for informing her of our current situation. She has no idea what has happened, and she still believes that we have the Keystone. I am not quite certain on how I shall relay this information to her, or how she will react, but it will have to be told in the near future. Cloud is still quite antsy, and it's not the best situation that we could be in. I would suggest that we get another leader, but my opinion would immediately be shot down. I am quite sure of this.

After letting my eyes open for a while, I scanned my surroundings. It seemed that the coast was clear. My room was still empty, and no one has tried to intrude. I wandered down the long halls of the Hotel, and exit, finding myself in the forest of the Ghost Square. It was quite eerie how no one was around, but I didn't mind. I let the wind surround me, and it blew through my hair, and engulfed me. Usually wind doesn't really act this way. Perhaps it, too, seemed quite preoccupied. It started to catch up, and the gusts start going out of control. I still didn't understand what was happening, but at this point, my mind was trying to figure out any and all possibilities.

I felt as if I was going to levitate; to blow away. Grasping onto a nearby gravestone, I realized what was happening.

Someone cast an Aero spell on me.

Reaching down into my pocket, I pulled out my PHS, and immediately pressed speed dial. I'm not sure of who or what I'd just called, but hopefully they could help. I mentally hit myself; this must've been a bad week. I'd left my materia in the room.

I could only look for the worst.

Not again~! I can't stand these nonsensical dreams. I mean, they make no sense! And they all started at the Round Square.

I see a desert. There's nothing on this desert but sand. I know it's not the Gold Saucer, 'cause it's just some mushroom-looking building on top of quicksand. I wish there were something else but the golden sand.

I look around, searching for an exit out of this illusion. The more I walk, the more it seems to be really boring. My feet start stinging after about five minutes have passed. But for some strange reason, they don't burn. It's a different stinging, a familiar stinging. I just can't put my finger on it.

What is this stinging?

I ignore it the best I can and keep looking for something, anything. I considered looking for a pyramid, until I realized that it was in the forest. Right. So I suppose I should be looking for an igloo or something. It'll be the tundra before I know it.

And right when I say that, everything flashes around me. I shield my eyes and cower; this is some powerful stuff. I liked it better back when I thought it was Heaven; now it's just kinda irritating.

And I'm sure God heard me when I said that, because then everything started to hurt. I was in so much pain, I couldn't handle it! Pain smacked me around everywhere, and immediately I fell to my knees. I started crying, and I moved my hands from my eyes to hug myself; how depressing was this? The Great Ninja Yuffie was becoming victim to…nothing! Just little stabbing pains attacked my arms, my legs, my neck.

I'd rather die than feel this pain.

Suddenly, I found myself in some ice town, snow covering the ground. It was really confusing. But it explained some things. The temperature around here had to be below zero, and the wind was blowing madly. I glanced down; there had to be at least three inches of snow I was kneeling in.

My teeth were chattering; who in the world would want to live here? They must all look like polar bears! And I'd look like them, too. I was positive my hair was frozen; if I touched it, it'd probably break off. My fingers were already starting to turn blue. The stinging still continued, and it reminded me of when I was drowning.

Except this time, I wasn't alone.

I sensed a presence above me, and my first instinct was to look up. This person, of whom I could see a silhouette, seemed to be crowding over me. Maybe they wanted to help me! To get me warm, and in a warm bed. Or out of this illusion. Either would've been fine.

I smiled; I hadn't grinned like this in days. Raising my head, I gave him a signature Yuffie grin, until I realized who it was. My body started to go numb, and not from the cold. I could feel heat escaping and entering me at the same time. I couldn't breathe; my lungs were going to explode. My eyes grew wide at the silver.

Sephiroth was there, a smirk on his face, a hand on his sword. He was ready to kill me.

Right before Sephiroth was going to kill me, I heard this loud beep. I screamed out loud, and shot up out of bed. The PHS was ringing so damn loud, louder than usual I thought, so I swiped it in an angry ninja way, and pressed the green button. Whoever this was, they'd get it. I'd be thankful to them for waking me up, but still angry. This phone was not supposed to be this loud.

"Who is this, and what do you want!?" I shouted, but then I immediately shut up. I heard lots of wind, and it was breaking up the voice.

Vinny's voice.

I couldn't hear much, but one thing silenced me before the other line disconnected.

Help.

I leaped out of bed, practically, and wiped the sweat off my forehead with a washcloth before I grabbed my things and left out the door. My materia was still in my shuriken and armor, and all my bangles were already on me. I could waste no time with this.

I slammed the door open and jumped off the balcony. I landed on my feet gracefully, like a cat, but I was a bit woozy. I had just leaped three stories. It didn't take long before I got my bearings and started running. I wasn't sure where I was running, but I knew that Vinny had to be near.

Sooner or later, I ran across of punks. I was suddenly angered when I saw what they were doing; one was using Aero 3 to keep a strong gust of wind going, while two others were taking Vincent. Scanning around, I noticed another one by the tree, a rope in his hands. They were going to try and HANG him!

This wasn't going to happen.

I took my shuriken off my back and with my eyes, aimed for the target. With my other hand, I grabbed for a flash bomb. I had to be perfect for this to work. Otherwise, Vinny was screwed.

I silently prayed to Leviathan, and taking a few breaths in, I hurled. Crystal Cross sliced its way through the materia-using punk, and the flash bomb blinded the other three, making them unawares. It wasn't long before they too died. It made its way back to me, and I grabbed it gracefully, putting it back on my back. I could clean it later; what mattered was Vinny.

Running up to the gravestone where the two jerks were trying to kidnap him, I let out a breath. He was okay, for the most part. There were a few tears here and there, but he was fine for the most part. His clothes would survive. I could see confusion in his expression; mainly "how could I let this happen" going on.

But it didn't matter. I wrapped my frail, frost-bitten arms around him, and I could let out a genuine tear-fest. He didn't seem to shift, and it bothered me a bit, but not much. He'd been like this since the event a couple of days ago.

"You 'tard."

I felt guiltier about this. I wasn't sure whether I should embrace her back, or just leave. True enough, she'd just risked her life to save me, but I didn't deserve it. I still should've been keeping my distance, but instead I brought her closer.

How ironic.

Knowing that Yuffie would feel just as bad as I did if I didn't do something, I allowed my arms to wrap around her, and I embraced her. She adjusted herself into a nook, and I cradled her there for a while. It seemed like forever in one part of my mind, and I didn't want to leave. It was the same part of my mind that wanted me to kiss her that night, to tell her everything. My body agreed with it; things would be so much easier.

But there was still that other part, the part that knew this was all wrong. I was only a guardian; I was only in the party to find Sephiroth and Hojo. I owed that much to Lucrecia, did I not? Besides, Yuffie was so young, and…

I couldn't think more about it when I felt tears running down my chest. Why was she crying? I didn't understand. Everything was my fault, after all. This sympathy was not necessary. I then started to assume that she was mourning herself. For what, I did not know. I still did not know what the first dream was about.

Why don't you just give it up? You know you agree with us.

I…don't know.

Wouldn't you like to end all her sorrows, her pains?

It's not that easy.

How would you know? All you do is cause more. Stop running away.

At that time Yuffie called me a peon, and I had to laugh out loud. I truly was one, wasn't I? I'd agree with Chaos this time, but only this time. She deserved the truth, did she not?

I dropped my grip to her hips, where I held her against me, and hopped toward the open window. Once we entered the room, I told her everything. I didn't really recognize the words coming out of my mouth, or even the voice, but I knew I was catching her up on everything. Ever so often I would see her mouth gape, or a nod, but mostly she sat there quietly. She wasn't that bad of a listener, when you had her attention.

When at last I finished, she handed me a bottle of water, which I drank from viciously. I couldn't remember the last time I felt this parched; she continued to give me more water, and in the end, I finished about a gallon.

"Jeez, Vinny! You drink a lot!" All I could do was smile.

A familiar tap echoed off my door, and the young girl ran to it, opening it up. It was no other than Cloud, who mirrored my smile. I stopped at that time. "Good to see you back to yourselves. We're going to look for the Temple of the Ancients. Cait Sith doesn't know anything other than it's in a forest. In the middle of nowhere."

The Wutaian princess beamed, and Strife raised an eyebrow. I glanced at her in a curious interest. Did she know something I didn't? Perhaps she'd learned something while she was hiding in her hometown.

Then, she'd started talking about a dream she'd had. The dream I'd woken her from. Some things didn't make any sense, like floating lights, but Cloud and I went on with us. He handed me a map, and with the things Yuffie had remembered, we were able to pinpoint the exact location. This was something ShinRa had always tried to keep secret. Now Rufus was after it. No doubt he'd bring Tseng. Cloud pulled out his PHS and invited the rest of the party to my room, informing him of our plans. He'd thought of something while we were listening, trying to fill in blanks Yuffie was giving us.

Of course, Yuffie happened to leave the room during our scheming. Cid ordered me to follow after her, and so I did. Tifa and Aeris grinned widely; it still sickened me to look at them.

"Yuffie, how did you know?" I said, entering her room. The door was wide open, and I realized I was only speaking to myself. I didn't see her in the bedroom; slowly did I approach the bathroom, whose door was cracked. I could hear gasping noises, and I was tempted to check. Though it was her privacy, I still was concerned about her.

So I slid open the door, just to witness that her hands were around her throat. She couldn't breathe. Her eyes tried to tell me not to help, that she was okay, but her colour didn't agree. No doubt she was embarrassed; she'd slipped out of her clothes and into a bath robe; but, regardless of how she felt, this was my duty. I slithered behind her, and my arms wrapped around her yet again. Counting to three, giving her time to react, I pressed. After the third compression, something popped out of her mouth, I wasn't sure what, and I could hear her inhaling what air she could. I decided not to see what it was; instead, I just left the room, which was what she probably wanted.

My question could wait for a later time.

Yey. 3 This took forever to write. And I went from second person to third person somehow; now I'm debating on whether I should make this into a different point of view.

Anyway; this has probably been my longest chapter of the story, and I'm proud. Long chapters are the best. I began to think that I was dragging it out too long, and that I was rambling too much, but I still wanted to put some type of Yuffietine feeling in here. Influential Chaos makes a return. I think he'll just disappear for a while after this; we still want an emo-esque Vincent, don't we?

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