Voice of Reason

Her words echoed round his head like it was empty. They made no sense in any way he looked at them and they were so typically Yuffie that Vincent had a hard time believing she'd been missing at all. It wasn't until his ears caught the sound of Cloud rushing out of the room and yelling for Reeve that he even had enough sense to contemplate a reply.

"You were crowned over sixth months ago..." His words sounded automatic even to his own ears. He was just too awed to think logically. After all Yuffie was awake long before she should be and she had no sense of her missing months; even the usually static Vincent was confused by this. Nevertheless he found the worst part was his mind was more relived she still acted the same than focusing on figuring the mess of a situation out.

His thoughts lasted barely a moment and he caught himself getting ready for the verbal explosion that was about to follow. Unfortunately for Vincent's already addled mind he was greeted with twinkling giggles and his eyes widened slightly in shock. She was laughing at being missing? He buried his frown into the rim of his cloak and refused to say anything else. His silence being a sure sign to Yuffie someone was wrong, he would at least normally explain his jokes when she inevitably failed to grasp them.

"You're not joking are you Vince?" her voice sounded timid now, the playfulness buried under layers of worries and the giggles long forgotten. Vincent however only felt a slither of compassion, most of his emotion was pushed into anger; of course he wasn't joking! All the worry over the months boiled into a hot angry point and he found himself yanking Yuffie's hand from the bed and placing her arm in her line of sight. The yellowing horrid bruises now visible to her, that is assuming she couldn't feel them.

"You have been missing for six months Yuffie." His tone was short and sharp, anger hidden under velvet. He watched with some amount of self hate as Yuffie shivered at the tone before snatching her arm away from his grasp and closer to her face. He watched her mako silver eyes widen in contemplation before without warning she suddenly began undoing the belt of her dress.

Vincent had enough common sense to turn around as soon as she began to move but he couldn't help but hear the rustle of clothing, something which did not sit well with the inner voices of his mind. Vincent found himself torn between turning back around to look or to warn her the window was uncovered; Thankfully for his self preservation he did neither, besides Yuffie appeared to be on such a mission to examine her body he doubted she would listen. He waited for what felt like hours but must have only been a few moments before he could hear movement no more. A slight reluctance marred his steps as he turned around, waiting for Yuffie to scream stop because she wasn't covered.

However no shout greeted him as he finished his turn, in fact Yuffie was completely silent. Her eyes were sharply examining the length of her hair and although her dress was now un belted she was covered once more. It took a moment for Vincent to realise her eyes were not glowing brighter but were instead brimming with unshed tears. Before he could even move to speak she had sprung forward to the end of the bed, wrapping her arms around Vincent's middle, around the cloak and seeking comfort. Without hesitation he found himself placing a hand on the small of Yuffie's back and ignoring how he found himself suddenly cursing his lack of normal human interaction skills.

"I'm not…I'm…I'm wrong, Vincent! There's something wrong with me!" her words were harsh and angry but laden with silent sobs. And Vincent couldn't think of a damn thing to say 'You're possibly mako poisoned and therefore mutated' did not sound like the best reply mentally never mind verbally.

With a practised ease he kept silent, not moving except to breathe. He kept his human hand on the small of her back as Yuffie work out her aggressions, going one moment from hugging him to clenching her fist into his shirt out of anger. He was half tempted to brace for the punch that was sure to follow but instead Yuffie decided to calm down rapidly, her voice breaking the tears.

"Tell me what's happened…No get Reeve if I've really been gone for so long I need to contact the Pagoda." He realised as she spoke that she sounded by no means less angry but perhaps decided. In fact Vincent was so caught up on this rapid change that he hadn't realised he'd vocalised his disapproval of her decisions until he heard his own voice echo off the walls.

"You should worry about your own health, empress Kisaragi." His tone was as sharp as before and the word Empress was almost used like an insult.

Yuffie quite rightly shoved away from him in response, quite harshly in fact and Vincent felt his stomach bruising from where she pushed. It was far too strong of a move for her even at the top of her game and Vincent was about to tell her to be careful throwing her mako weight around when Reeve cautiously stepped through the door; the expression on his face an unreadable blank.

"Hello Yuffie. Cloud said you were awake. How are you feeling?" Reeve's tone was unusually cautious and Vincent realised Reeve had no idea how to help Yuffie either, despite all his Shinra related past.

There was something wrong with her and she hadn't even noticed, her mind stuck on the high of being coroneted the day before. Well supposedly months before. Yuffie couldn't comprehend how she'd over looked the obvious wrongness of her body, it felt foreign, unsure, new. Nothing like her normal bouncy self. How had it taken Vincent's harsh words to make her notice? Shouldn't she have known before?

She soon found angry hot tears burning in her eyes and she felt the entire wrongness of her body seep through her mind. Without thinking about it she pounced on the newly turned round Vincent and threw her arms around his middle, finding comfort in someone who'd always been static and unchanging. A familiar stillness is this new swirling world. She vented her emotions virtually silently as her arms clung round Vincent, her sobs barely making a sound. Only the rustle of clothing alerted Yuffie to the fact she was angrily clenching her fists, and each time she would forcefully return herself to hugging only to find her fists automatically clenching once more, she wouldn't allow herself to punch him though, no matter how righteous her anger it was Vincent's fault…

With a small hiccup she finally turned her forceful hug into a light one. Setting her mind easily to a new task, she was still Yuffie and she was still act like Yuffie. Which meant now was not the time for self pity, she would pick up the pieces as always and move on with a determination that was damn scary when attached to a thief. "Tell me what's happened…No get Reeve if I've really been gone for so long I need to contact the Pagoda." It was a simple decision to her; she was older and wiser now, besides her health would regenerate, well she hoped, but her country would not if left to fall into disrepair.

"You should worry about your own health, empress Kisaragi." The tone of Vincent's reply caught Yuffie completely off guard and without warning her previous anger welled back into her chest. She didn't bother to dignify his words with a response so instead she fisted her hands and shoved sharply away from his form, hoping she left a bruise at the very least; the bloody asshole. Her temper was not improved by Reeve's entrance or his almost hopeless words.

In a move characteristically Yuffie she folded her arms and levelled a glare at both men. "How do you think I'm feeling, Tuseti? I wake up to Mr. Let's-be-an-giant-fucking-asshole over there telling me non so politely I've lost six months of my life and then you follow it up with a healthy dose of your fucking doomed." Despite insulting Vincent with her words and clearly gesturing to him it was obvious Reeve was also getting the brunt of her anger.

"Oh and whilst we're asking stupid questions why hasn't anyone gotten me a line to the Pagoda? Missing Empress here and I quite liked my country in one piece!" her tone was no less harsh and her hands were gesturing wildly as she spoke, despite the wince movement sometimes brought to her eyes.

Had she been paying attention she might of noticed Reeve's reactionary gesture to Vincent, telling him to back off before the yelling got worse but she wasn't paying attention and instead she was only drawn out of her anger by Reeve speaking. His tone soft despite her annoyance. "Empress, your cousin has been running the country in your stead. Wutai is fine, that I can promise…Yuffie being fine on the other hand I cannot promise. Vincent was right you have been gone for 6 months now; you, Tifa and Marlene have been gone, missing..."

He'd phrased his words in a manner meant to hit home and Yuffie had vaguely noted for the second time in the past hour someone had used Empress as an insult before the rest of the words sunk in. Her pout turned into a worried frown and with no words she turned in the bed and swung her legs over the side facing Reeve, attempting without thought to stand. The attempt landed her quite painfully on the floor as her wobbling legs gave in from disuse. Yuffie yelped and winced before she set her glare at the floor, then her legs as if the limbs had betrayed her.

She was about to sacrifice her dignity, what little was left, and ask for help when a black gloved hand pushed into her vision. Yuffie took Vincent's hand without comment and with very little force in her grip; her mind felt too drained with confusion and worry to be angry at him now. In fact her thoughts were currently flittering around and bouncing harshly off the insides of her skull. Forcing some clarity into her mind Yuffie set her jaw into a firm line as Vincent softly pulled her to her feet, his clawed hand resting lightly on her back in case she was to fall again, although with some effort she remained standing this time.

"I want to see Teefs …This was all probably my fault anyway right? Typical Yuffs getting into trouble…" her tone was painfully forced, the sunshine usually there now clearly false as Yuffie attempted to lighten the situation with sarcasm; her anger having burnt out. She was greeted with no response as the men exchanged a glace, silently deciding what to do. It was Vincent however her broke the news this time.

"Tifa is, unconscious. As you should be. I do not think it would be wise for you to see her. Perhaps you should be treated first?"

The unmistakable glare and narrowed eyes he received for his trouble was nearly enough to cause Vincent to flinch, but the man was an Ex Turk and as volatile as the younger girl could be he knew she would never truly harm her friends. Besides Vincent didn't do fear, it wasn't something that was allowed to be associated with him. Worry from his comrades however was more than acceptable.

"Treated for what exactly? I feel a little odd sure and I'm a tab bruised but I'm sure it's nothing a cure and some food wouldn't fix. Heck I can see my own ribs after all! I haven't got anything serious enough to stop me from seeing my sick friends…" The incessant babbling of her voice stopped and reality once again reared its ugly head in her face. "Wait…Hang on, you must have another lovely piece of news to gift to me? Please Gentlemen, go head." Apparently anger was a good enough emotion to put her thoughts into some semblance of order. Enough to let Yuffie lace out sarcastic and venomous words, her temper showing its rarer vicious side in tone.

It was times like these Reeve was forced to remember she ruled a country now and was no longer the 16 year old ninja thief he was used to, yes she was just a older wiser version but still damn ass scary when she used the "I am a leader and you will do as your told" voice. He coughed lightly to hide his discomfort and bring his diplomatic side to the forefront of his mind, deciding being blunt was likely to save his man hood.

"Alright then… You can't see Tifa because you have high level Mako poisoning, you should be dead Yuffie and we have no idea what's keeping you alive and so we'd rather not push your luck." His voice was calm, blunt and made to hit home and that it did.

Yuffie's legs gave away once more, almost immediately after his words sunk in. Her mind unable to keep her focus on her jelly limbs as well as that bit of fatal information. If it hadn't been for Vincent's quick reflexes, grabbing her body and sinking to the floor with her, she probably would have hit her head on the tiles and ended up out cold. Instead she ended up knelt on the floor, body leaning flush against Vincent's also kneeling form as he cradled her head to his chest, his arms having instinctively ended up there after their fall/slide. It wasn't intended at all but the pair almost resembled some sort of grieving family, and Reeve would later that day reflect that 'Grieving' wasn't a far wrong assumption…

"Well holy fucking Leviathan." Her voice was muffled by Vincent's chest but her tone was something both men were familiar with. It was pure shock, something so missed and familiar it almost made Reeve chuckle despite the serious situation. Instead he merely squashed a grin, gesturing for Vincent to pick Yuffie up, giving the girl no verbal warning of what to come so hopefully squashing her protests before it even happened.

"Yuffie I'd like to put you in a Healing Tank, just one with a basic cure formula so we can scan your body at the same time. " Reeve's tone was as set as stone and it was clear she wasn't getting an option; as Yuffie made to stand with a sigh of agreement she felt one cold and one warm arm sweep under the back of her legs. Lifting her form from the kneeling position and into being carried by the once Kneeling figure behind her.

"You understand that If I didn't have Jell-O limbs right now I would kick your ass?" she couldn't help a small ironic laugh as Vincent began to follow Reeve out of the door, her tone slightly more playful than anything else she'd said since awakening. It seemed brushing things under the rug was something Yuffie was well versed in…Vincent however rather than dignify her words and her attitude with a response, simply just nodded his head and continued to walk.

"Alright Vincent just put her down in the centre of the Pad and I'll seal the outer tube. Now remember to put on the breathing mask Yuffie." Reeve was trying hard to sound Casual, the conversation from Yuffie's room to the Healing tanks had been light but fleeting. Darting around the metaphorical elephant that was following the three down the hallway.

After the basics of everyone else being fine had been established the conversation had run dry and the three had been left to their own personal worries. Worries only increased when Yuffie unsteadily stood on top of the healing tubes base, her feet right in the centre of the pad. She smiled lightly and since no one had told her otherwise she was still assuming that both herself and Tifa had natural mako poisoning, the curable kind. Even leading herself to hope for the best and assume she'd fallen into a Wutai Mako pool and dragged Tifa with her by accident. Wutai already had cures for all their natural pools after all.

She winked at Vincent as he passed her the breathing mask, attaching it too her mouth silently and praying the tube closed fast before she fell over again from unused limbs. For the first time since he got here Vincent left the immediate two feet distance from Yuffie's figure and stood close to the edge of the pad, watching in silence as the tube began to descend from the healing tanks top, effectively starting to seal Yuffie inside. Everyone's thoughts we're clearly elsewhere and it wasn't until the tell tale 'Click' of the tube locking into place, fully closed, that anyone felt the need to pay attention.

Reeve now back in the real world entered the combination on the control pad for a healing fluid to fill the tank; the fluid that would eventually surround Yuffie and be used to scan the extent of her damage. He gave the now sealed in woman a thumbs up for warning as the vaguely green water like substance began to trickle into the tube; barely even a centimetre thick right now.

Vincent's attention was firmly on the base of the pad, well the little hole that let the fluid trickle in precisely, he was watching it with a sense of old nostalgia. He'd spent a lot of time in healing tanks after all, sometimes hoping he could escape down that little drain and other times hoping it would hurry the hell up so he could heal and leave. He'd never liked the Tanks since he was subject to Hojo using them against him and right now he liked them even less. The sense of forbidding since he'd placed Yuffie on the pad was only continuing to grow. With what suddenly appeared to be good reason…

The moment the fluid got to about an inch thick Yuffie felt something in her mind stir, a painful flash of memory. Just a flash of her form hitting the ground tubes being pulled from her body in a throbbing blur. Everything was a gray shapes and soundless but she knew the thought panicked her immensely, down to her bones and enough for her heart to try and pound out of her chest; an annoying almost humming bird beeping alerting the men to the same fact. Yuffie tried to take deep breaths and calm down, pushing the image out of her mind but as the cold fluid began to crawl up her ankles all her effort was put to waste. With little warning she dropped down to her knees pulling at the tube her breathing mask was attached to whilst taking large gasping breaths. Her heartbeat now practically humming. She was clearly having a breakdown of sorts, a panic attack, and several blurry gray images flashed through her mind casing her to lash about with everyone single one that assaulted her.

On the outside the display was most worrying, Vincent had dashed to the side of the tube the moment she fell to her knees. Assuming she still felt weak from before however when she began to attack her breathing tube and thrash about her knew something else was wrong, it was about this point that her realised the constant humming noise he'd tuned out earlier was in fact the machine registering Yuffie's heartbeat. With the realisation that his friend was panicking Vincent did what he was best at; with a scary glare plastered on his face her turned from the tube momentarily to fix Reeve with a look of absolute severity.

"Open the Tube now Reeve."

"I'm trying, the machines on Auto! Distract her! She'll drown if she pulls that loose and I don't get it open in time."

With the smallest of nods Vincent turned back to the healing tube watching as the distraught girl thrashed in the now knee deep fluid. Unsure of how to grab her attention Vincent tapped on the surface knowing the sound would echo loudly and hoping it would draw her attention to the outside world. It didn't work of course the only reaction being Yuffie's heartbeat noticeably pausing before beating as wildly as before. However it seemed that moment of clarity gave her all the cognitive thought she needed as she soon pulled the mask over her head realising it wasn't in fact grafted to her skin.

The reaction was not what Vincent was after and noticing the fluid level rising dangerously over her chest and towards her now uncovered mouth he did the only sensible thing there was to do, after all she didn't have enough spare air in there to float above the fluid and breathe for another few seconds.

"Time's up Reeve." Vincent swung his gauntleted arm back and smashed it fruitlessly against the glass, with a small growl he repeated the gesture flawlessly a tiny spider crack appearing a second time before the whole tube splintered and smashed the third. He barely registered the shredded glass floating about in the now everywhere green liquid but what he did register was Yuffie sinking to her knees once more, free from the buoyancy of the fluid, and crying something terrible. Great rolling tears and hiccupping sobs as she clawed at her arms and anywhere else she could reach.

"Yuffie." He was tentative to approach, knowing attacks like these were hard to break through even when the danger passed. However she began to move around a bit more furiously and risked impaling herself on the bigger chunks of glass tube left about Vincent ended up touching her small figure, holding her shoulders still as he could without being oppressing.

The reaction was instantaneous and Reeve barely had a chance to recover from the shocked of the smashed tube before he found himself hiding behind the console and a piece of glass wedged in the wall were his head used to be. Vincent however was landed promptly on his ass as the smaller, feral Yuffie shoved hard and flung everything within her reach away from here, glass, goo, breathing tube and Vincent included. Her eyes were pure silver, the pupil missing and her expression one of barely concealed bloodlust. She didn't speak but growled, a low brutal sound that shook from her chest before her whole frame seemed to vibrate, like her bones were trying to get free from her skin.

Vincent only had to take one look at her form to decided the best course of action. Before anything else could happen, and with a great deal of severity, he smashed the base of Cerberus into the side of her skull heavily. Effectively knocking Yuffie out cold in one move and stilling her tremors almost simultaneously. As her small form crumpled into a heap on the base of the stasis chamber he found himself tilting Yuffie's head up so she didn't inhale the dregs of goo lingering about before checking the damage his attack had caused to her head. The already purple bump was beginning to colour spreading through the healing process in no time what so ever. He wagered she'd be awake in minutes and he really didn't want her waking up anywhere near the stasis pad.

With a sigh Vincent looked towards the recently recovered from shock Reeve before gesturing to Yuffie's prone form.

"We need to move her, before she sees the Stasis Chamber again." His tone was emotionless despite the small margin of guilt in his eyes for hitting her so hard. "She is not right Reeve but this test will only make the situation worse."

"Oh um yea of course, I'll get someone to clean this mess and you should take her back to the room. We'll have to consider other forms of diagnostics I think…" his tone was light and leader like but it was clear Reeve was at a loss, even he hadn't expected things to go so overwhelmingly badly…

Authors Notes:
Okay so I vanished off the face of the planet but truly I couldn't think of where I was going with this, I lost my planning file and I sort of stumbled about in the dark with continuing. I've made my mind up a little and I apologise for the disjointed chapter (it's been wrote in so many tiny parts over so long the writing style doesn't match very well) but rather than spend ages tearing it apart and trying very hard not to write the same thing again I offer you chapter 3 as it is and promise to get the next one out much sooner.

Sorry for the wait, those who were waiting and if you here on a first visit please take a look and review with helpful suggestions and criticisms. Oh and please no pointless rants, I'd rather constructive comments or none at all. Thanks guys!

P.s. Once again not Beta-d I have no beta so try the best to do it myself! Oh and add usual disclaimers here!