The guard who had taken Vincent's prone body from the throne room was slowly beginning to question his sanity. He knew the man had been dosed with a sedative powerful enough to take down a Behemoth for at least a short amount of time, so he shouldn't have felt so afraid of him, but… Something about the gunman had him extremely unnerved. It was only a feeling, a sensation of being watched or led into some kind of trap, but he still felt it nonetheless. Every shadow he passed in the long hallway nearly made him jump in fright, and he had to grip Vincent's limp form tighter to keep from dropping him every time he did. As he passed another shadowy corridor he suddenly gasped and froze, staring at the ebony-haired man's face for a long moment; had that been a smirk he just saw? No, he must be imagining things…

By the time he reached the room where Vincent was to be held, he was shaking terribly and wanted nothing more than to leave the gunman there and never see him again. There was something almost inhuman about him, and it was beginning to make him paranoid. He laid the red-cloaked man down on a small cot and turned around, prepared to lock the door and begin his shift guarding this frighteningly vampire-esque prisoner he had somehow been saddled with.

A fraction of a second later, a soft sound like a flapping flag reached his ears, and he suddenly found himself pulled against the body of the tall gunman with a metal hand clamped over his mouth and the barrel of a gun pressed to his head.

"Scream and it will be the last thing you ever do," Vincent hissed, pressing the tri-barreled Cerberus harder against the man's temple to add emphasis to the statement.

"Mm wmm't (I won't)," the man muttered behind Vincent's gauntlet. The gunman slowly pulled his hand away from the other man's mouth, but kept Cerberus exactly where it was. "How are you awake?!" the man whispered, curiosity and awe overcoming his fear for an instant.

"You people need to do more research. Did you honestly think an ex-Turk wouldn't recognize a drug with such a distinct odor, even if it was hidden in strong tea?" The man's eyes widened, and he stared incredulously at Vincent.

"You mean you didn't drink any of it?" Vincent chuckled mirthlessly.

"Do you think I would I be conscious right now if I had?" The man gulped, realizing he had been badly tricked.

"A-are you going to kill me?"

"Not if you tell me what I want to know." The man gulped again and nodded. "Where are they taking Yuffie?"

"T-to Xi'an."

"Where is that?"

"About fifty miles north of here, and a little to the west once you get close to it."

"Why are they taking her there?"

"I-it is a holy site, blessed by Leviathan. It's where all royal marriages are held." Vincent forgot how to breathe for a moment when he realized what Godo was up to. He had no time to lose. He shifted Cerberus to get a better grip; before the man could ask what he was doing, he had pulled the trigger. By the time other guards heard the sound and came to see what had happened, Vincent Valentine was long gone, leaving not a single sign that he had ever been there.

When Yuffie finally awoke, she found herself in a strange room, on a bed she had never seen before. Her vision swam for several minutes, making her dizzy and nauseous, and she felt terribly weak and exhausted. When her eyes finally cleared, she carefully sat up and looked around for Vincent, alarmed when she didn't see him anywhere. Where could he – She suddenly remembered what had happened at the palace, and her heart raced in panic as she remembered how weak and limp Vincent had been. Was he even still alive? No, she couldn't think like that. He most definitely was; he was much too strong to be done in by something like that. He had to be.

Blinking away tears, she stood and raced to the only window in the room, dismayed when she realized she was nearly ten stories up and the window was barred. It was still dark outside, but the sun had begun to glow just below the horizon, casting the area in a strange mix of shadows. Most of what she could see was a thick bamboo forest, but in the distance she could make out the shape of what looked like a large temple, complete with a great statue of Leviathan, the god most worshipped in Wutai. This time, though, the image of her deity offered her no comfort, and she turned away from the window as tears rose again in her eyes. She hurriedly tried the door to the room, not surprised when she found it locked.

"Vincent, where are you?" she whispered, sitting back down on the bed and holding her head in her hands.

A moment later the door swung open and Koichi stepped inside, swiftly locking it behind him and smiling smugly as he looked at Yuffie.

"Are you enjoying your new quarters, Princess?" he asked in a mockingly sweet voice, sitting beside her on the bed. She growled and moved away from him. "Oh, come now, do try to cheer up. It took a lot of effort to get you here, you know. And I even got you that pretty new kimono…" Yuffie looked down at herself, noticing for the first time that she had been dressed in an expensive-looking green silk kimono with a gold obi. Had he undressed her? Her blood ran cold as she thought of it, and she suddenly felt very dirty. She had been drugged, so she hadn't even noticed when someone had removed her clothes. What if he had…

"Don't worry, I had one of my maids dress you," he said, as if reading her thoughts. She almost felt grateful until he smirked and leaned closer to her to whisper his next words into her ear. "When I make a woman out of you, I want you to be able to remember it." Yuffie stood in fury, her eyes flashing and her teeth bared in a snarl.

"You'll never have me, Koichi! I belong to Vincent, in body and soul! You're nothing but a manipulative coward who has to resort to filthy tricks because you're too weak to win me honestly! You're not even half the man he is!"

In a split second, she had been knocked to the floor, her cheek stinging where Koichi had slapped her. She sat up and stared at him in disbelief. He was standing above her, his mouth twisted into a sickening sneer, and his fists were clenched at his sides as he contemplated striking her again.

"You had better learn to show me a little more respect, my dear," he growled as she stood shakily to glare at him again. "You will become my wife tonight at sunset, and I will own everything about you," he said, grabbing the front of her kimono in one fist and lifting her off the floor as he moved his face right next to hers. "And don't think I have any qualms about teaching a rebellious woman her place."

Yuffie paused for a moment, her eyes blazing with hatred. A second later she drew back and spat in his face; he gasped and let go of her before backhanding her hard across the face. She fell to her knees in a daze as blood dripped from her nose, but she still somehow managed to look up and give him a defiant glare.

"You would do well to prepare yourself for tonight, Yuffie," he whispered murderously. "I have waited a long time for my chance to lay claim to the princess of Wutai, and I will not have you deny me my prize." He held up a clear crystal that she instantly recognized as the Teleport Materia she had used to get to Kalm six months ago; when had he stolen it from her? "Thanks to you, we're far enough away from Wuxi that your precious Vincent couldn't catch up to us if he wanted to. So it would be best if you just forgot he ever existed, because you'll never see him again." She said nothing as he strode out of the room and slammed the door behind him; there was nothing worth saying. It wasn't long before the image of the red-eyed gunman came to her again, making fresh tears of fear and loneliness rise in her eyes. She buried her face in her hands, holding back sobs as the blood continued to weave between her fingers.

"Vincent, wherever you are, you'd better be okay..."