Chapter Eleven: The Journey Begins

Tifa was in a hurry to get back to the bar and "help" Cloud, and the three travelers were eager to begin their journey. Once they had checked out of their room, they headed as inconspicuously as possible to the chocobo stable. Someone had long since returned the borrowed chocobo from Cosmo Canyon, and three fresh mounts were saddled and ready when they arrived.

"Dibs on the white one!" Yuffie called when she spotted the three birds tied up along the fence. Vincent nodded to show he didn't have a preference. He approached the stable owner to pay for the chocobos while the girls went to meet the animals.

The man stared after Lulu and Yuffie for a moment while Vincent counted out his gil. "Nice lookin' ladies you've got with you, Sir," he chuckled. "Wouldn't mind takin' one or both of 'em for a ride myself."

Vincent eyed the man sharply, and the smug expression melted off his face. After paying for the chocobos, Vincent handed him another sum of gil, amounting to twice the cost of renting the three chocobos. "This is to ensure you won't tell anybody we were here."

The man's eyes doubled in size as he counted the gil a second time. "Bless you, Sir. You can rest easy knowing I wouldn't tell a soul you were here. It's awful good of you, times being what they are."

"Hmph. See that you don't." Vincent turned then and joined Lulu and Yuffie where the chocobos waited. They were both already mounted up and smiled strangely at him as he approached. Then he realized the joke. Yuffie had taken the white chocobo, and Lulu the green. The only bird left was bright pink.

He stopped then and took a moment to assess the situation. "You must be joking," he said.

The girls broke out in wild laughter as the pink chocobo eyed him knowingly.

Shaking his head, Vincent approached the pink chocobo and patted its neck lightly before climbing into the saddle. In the end, did it really matter what color chocobo he was riding? "Let's get moving," he said seriously, navigating Pinky – as the bird would later be dubbed by his female companions – away from the town of Edge.

The plan was to meet Cid somewhere remote. The exact location had not even been decided yet. They would simply ride until they found a suitable place, far enough away from anybody who might see them, and then call Cid and allow him to trace their coordinates.

They rode for nearly an hour without incident. Lulu had very little experience riding chocobos, and so there were a few minor issues when they ran the birds, but all in all things were proceeding as planned. Nobody had followed them; Vincent was certain of that. Even so, he could not help feel something was going to go wrong.

A strange little tune drifted to his ears and he halted his chocobo, reaching for Cerberus at the same time. He listened carefully as his eyes scanned the surrounding forest for the source of the music.

"Hey, Dad!" Yuffie exclaimed. Vincent circled his chocobo to find Yuffie with her phone pressed against her ear. It had only been her ring tone that had startled him. Ridiculous. He urged his chocobo to catch up to the other two and came up along Yuffie's right side. She did not look pleased, he noted.

"I'm not always gone," she argued with the voice on the phone. "Well, maybe if it wasn't so boring there, I'd be home more. So what does my age have to do with anything?"

She jerked on the reins then, halting the chocobo. Vincent and Lulu did the same, and watched her with curiosity. Her face was turning redder by the second.

"I can't believe you did that!" she shouted suddenly. "How could you? Without talking to me first!"

Vincent reached out and rubbed her shoulder supportively, though he was absolutely clueless as to what the problem was. He didn't like the way Yuffie turned to look at him suddenly. Her expression seemed regretful, if anything.

"You bet your fat, wrinkled ASS I'm coming home, old coot! And when I get there, you will feel my wrath!" She slammed her phone shut and chucked it as hard as she could into the forest. Vincent watcher her for a moment as she sat hunched forward in the saddle, face buried in her hands.

Then he slid off his chocobo and gently removed Yuffie from hers, cradling her gently in his arms. "What's the matter?" he whispered as she buried her face in his shoulder.

"Oh, Vincent!" she sobbed. "My dad is such an idiot."

"Tell me what has happened. Maybe there's something I can do to help."

"Not unless you're an expert at finding loopholes in thousand-year old traditions."

"Yuffie, I don't understand."

"He's… I'm… Oh damn him, the old fart!" She wiped her eyes frantically and took a deep breath. "You remember what I said before, about my dad trying to marry me off?"

Vincent felt his heart stop.

"Well, apparently I didn't make myself clear enough when I said NEVER!"

"Yuffie…"

"He's promised me to a man in town. Some shop owner's son. I don't even know who he's talking about. Oh, Vincent, it's not fair!"

"I'm confused," Vincent admitted. "Why not simply tell your father you're already seeing somebody?"

"I don't think that'll work," she moaned, clutching at him tightly. "There are pretty strict rules about who I can and cannot marry. And the law states my father has the right to choose a husband for me after I'm nineteen."

"Isn't there anything we can do?"

"I need to talk to him. In person."

"Of course," Vincent said, realizing this meeting would have to take place as soon as possible. He looked to Lulu who was wearing a look of great concern. Then he turned back to Yuffie. "Perhaps Cid won't mind making a detour before we head north."

"No," Yuffie said. "It's too risky to take Lulu to Wutai. Besides," she added, "this is between my and my father."

Vincent lifted her chin until she met his eyes. "On the contrary," he said, "this is as much my problem as it is yours. I don't intend to hand you over without a fight."

Yuffie's lips mashed into his then and her arms wound tightly around his neck. "You're the sweetest man in the world, Vincent Valentine."

"The most selfish is more accurate," he replied. "Which is exactly why I'm going to do everything in my power to keep you from marrying."

Yuffie smiled weakly at him then and nodded. "Alright. Let's go kick Godo's ass."

She mounted her chocobo with ease and then turned to Lulu. "Are you sure it's alright?" she asked.

Lulu nodded firmly. "Of course, Yuffie. This is important."

Yuffie wiped at her eyes and nodded. "Thanks, you guys. Both of you. This… means a lot to me."

Eventually they reached a wide clearing large enough for Cid to set the Shera down. When they had boarded, Lulu complained of feeling faint again and went to lie down in one of the cabins. Yuffie had long since decided the best place to avoid motion sickness was on the viewing deck, out in the fresh air.

She stood, hands gripping the railing tightly, wind whipping her short chocolate hair wildly. She had changed back into her regular clothes; it wouldn't do to face Godo while wearing a disguise, even if she did make a pretty hot red head. Evidently Vincent was of a similar mindset; he approached her slowly, the red tattered cape blowing wildly as he came. She managed a dim smile at the sight of him; this was the way she liked him best – as himself.

"Hello," he offered, joining her at the railing. "How are you feeling?"

"A little sick," she said. "But… mostly just worried."

"Yuffie, I want you to know… if it comes down to it, I'm willing to talk to your father and explain how I feel about you."

Yuffie's face turned serious. "We have to be careful, Vincent. Remember, I'm the only child Godo has. Eventually, I'll have to take over as the leader of Wutai."

"And is that what you want?"

"I don't know," she admitted sullenly. "I don't know if I'm cut out to be a leader."

"But what do you want, Yuffie?"

"I want… to be free to go where I wish. Not to be tied down and bound by traditions and responsibilities. Most of all, I want to keep you in my life. But that can't happen if I marry… and to be honest, it can't happen if I take over as the leader of Wutai when my father passes away."

Vincent was dumbstruck for a moment. Finally, he stammered, "But why? What if… what if we were to marry, eventually?"

Yuffie shook her head, her eyes pooling with tears. "You're not Wutainese."

The hurt was evident on his face. "I see…"

"Vincent… I'm sorry. I should have told you all of this before…"

"So why didn't you?" he asked shortly, his frame stiff.

"I don't know… I wasn't thinking. It's not like I planned to feel this way about you. And I definitely didn't expect you to like me back."

Vincent sighed deeply before turning to go. "You'll never know how deeply this hurts me, Yuffie."

She watched helplessly as he went back inside, then dropped to her knees and began crying. Her motion sickness was a mere afterthought when she thought of losing Vincent. After a long, hard cry-fest, Yuffie rose to her feet and stared down at the world passing by. It made her think back to her early days with Avalanche. When Meteor was heading toward the planet, Cloud had given everyone a day to find their reason to fight.

She had planned originally to return to Wutai and spend her final days with her people, doing what she could to comfort them and make the rest of their lives as peaceful as possible. Part way back, however, she had turned around and headed back toward the Highwind. Something had dawned on her then – something she hadn't considered for a long time until now.

This was a large planet, full of all kinds of people. But it could've been destroyed so easily. Millions of lives could have been ended in an instant, hers and Vincent's included. So much was sacrificed to save it all, and yet here she was worrying about the ancient traditions of her country.

"Screw this," she thought aloud, turning to follow Vincent. Once inside, she could feel her stomach turning in knots. She did her best to ignore the sickness and followed the arrows painted on the walls that lead toward the cabins.