Guys, I am pleased to say that this is my best chapter in a very long time. (: I think you'll all enjoy it very much. And even if you don't, review! Constructive criticism rocks.

But I am also very busy with school right now, so I can't promise when the next chapter will come. :/ Hopefully in about a month. Until then, enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 21: Fire

"Vincent, are you ready?" Cloud said into his cell phone, speaking to the man who was hidden in the woods. He himself was standing by his motorcycle, about half a mile off the side of the road that led through the Gongaga woods.

"Ready."

"Do it as soon as you see the van," he ordered then, his eyes glaring at the ground when he spoke.

"I will."

Cloud snapped the phone shut, stuffing it in his pocket without giving Vincent an actual farewell. This was a serious situation, but he finally felt as if he would get Tifa back. When he had arrived and found Nanaki wounded, he was greatly concerned (though he felt guilty that most of his concern was for Tifa). But when he heard what happened, his concern bubbled into rage against Rude. He never gave up, did he?

But Cloud wasn't giving up either. Rude was fighting for his own selfish reasons, and, as weird as it may have felt, Cloud was fighting selfishly as well. Tifa's heart was his, and he was going to win her back. He would save her from the villain, just like he had always desired to do deep inside his heart.

Of course, his selfish motives were backed by righteous reasons-Tifa was the person that he loved, the only person he wanted to spend his life with. And if he wasn't mistaken, she felt the same way about it. It was time that she returned home so that they could really start together, like they should have done a long, long time ago.

The sound of a gunshot rang out, making Cloud snap out of his thoughts. Vincent had followed through on his part of the plan; now it was time for everyone else to move in.

Cloud left his bike where is was and started running, knowing that his bike couldn't work its way through all the trees. Besides, all his allies were on their feet and running for the same destination: Rude's van. Vincent had just blown out one of his tires, so there was absolutely no way that the Turk could escape. He was only concerned that once Rude realized that his tire was shot out and didn't just go flat, he would take drastic action.

That thought made Cloud pick up his pace, about a minute away from the broken-down van. As soon as he and his friends got there, he was going after Tifa. The rest of them could restrain Rude until Cloud had time to deal with him and teach him a lesson. But for now, Tifa came first.

"Cloud!" Yuffie said, meeting up with him as they both kept going forward. Several feet away, Vincent was hopping through the trees, that man having enough agility and balance to launch himself more quickly than he could run.

"There it is!" Vincent called down to them, Rude's van in his vision.

Cloud was the second person to reach the scene, seeing Nanaki already there and sniffing around. "She's in the back!" he reported to Cloud, having caught onto Tifa's scent.

"I got Rude!" Barret said, opening the driver's door and pulling the man out before he could protest. Cloud turned his attention to that and saw that he was unconscious. It was then that Cloud noticed something else important: the van had rammed a tree, and it was badly damaged. Worse than that, though, was the fact that the vehicle was dispelling black smoke.

"What're you waiting for, Cloud? Get her out of there!" Yuffie said, having seen the smoke as well.

Cloud grunted at the remark, taking a step forward before he gripped the handles and turned them, pulling the doors open. Light poured into the vehicle now, revealing what the back of the van looked like. It wasn't empty; there was somebody in there. It was the somebody that he had been longing to hold for ages, but she wouldn't be returning the embrace right now.

"Tifa?" he said, swallowing back his emotion at the sight of her. She was unconscious. It was only unconsciousness, right? Not…? Cloud leaned in, two of his fingers finding the underneath of Tifa's neck. He exhaled a silent breath in relief, feeling her heart beating. She was alive. She was going to be alright.

"Cloud!" Yuffie said again.

Cloud snapped out of his thoughts, slipping one arm behind Tifa's shoulders while the other went under her knees. When he had a secure hold on her, he brought her closer to him, pressing her close against his chest as he backed away from the van that was still releasing black smoke. But now it was releasing something more: fire.

The blond-haired-man backed away with Tifa in his arms, seeing Yuffie, Cid, and Reeve casting Ice spells on the van to dispel the fire. But instead of going down, it grew, starting to consume the rest of the van.

"!*#$," Cid exclaimed a curse, the man backing away from the van a step as he casted another spell. "When that fire reaches the fuel tank, the whole thing is gonna explode!"

"I'm out of magic!" Reeve reported frantically.

Cid let out another curse, no more ice forming when he called upon the spell. "Me too!"

"We've all got to get out of here!" Nananki said anxiously, backing away a few steps as well.

Cloud's eyes widened faintly, the man agreeing. But the fire was spreading so quickly; if it hit the fuel tank while they were still in range of it, then they could all be seriously hurt. At the thought, he looked down at the unconscious girl he loved in his arms. He couldn't let anything happen to her…

"You all go," Yuffie said, casting another Ice spell on the van. "I'll hold it off so it doesn't explode." Even if she couldn't make it out in the end, all of her friends could.

"Good luck," Cloud said to her with a firm nod, receiving one from her in return. Cloud turned and started running in the direction of his motorcycle, all but Yuffie and Vincent following him in that direction since the ship was near there as well.

Yuffie focused on casting another spell to hinder the fire, but then she noticed a presence still near her even when everybody else left. She turned to her left and looked, seeing Vincent standing there and actually looking a bit worried. "Vincent, go!" she said, locking her jaw as she turned to face the burning vehicle again.

"But-"

"Don't argue!" Yuffie snapped, tears appearing in her eyes as she casted Ice again. It wasn't working…"Just go!"

Vincent stood still at his position, making Yuffie both angry and frustrated. She took two steps over and stood on her toes near him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Go," she whispered, shaking her head in sadness. She knew what she had to do, and that was saving her friends. And to think she had only joined them years ago to steal Materia…and now she was saving them.

When Vincent hesitated, Yuffie yelled at him again before she casted her magic on the vehicle again. "Go!"

Vincent grunted, whirling around and running off in the direction that everybody else had gone in. And Yuffie was glad.

The heat of the raging fire made her feel like her skin was burning, but her eyes were watery for more reasons than just the smoke that was threatening to suffocate her. When the fire hit the gas tank, the whole thing would explode. And she would be consumed by it.

I'll go out with a bang, Yuffie thought sadly, the humor not impressing her right now. There was so much she hadn't done, so many things that she hadn't set right. She couldn't say goodbye to her family and friends in Wutai. She couldn't see Tifa again after all the hard work she went through trying to help rescue her. And she couldn't make Vincent laugh or smile anymore. It was over.

The ninja gasped softly, the fire making a loud cackle when another Ice spell failed to dispel the fire. She had enough magic left to cast just one more spell. After that, it was over. All that she could hope was that her friends got away quickly enough.

The fire finally reached the fuel tank, igniting the whole van in a burst of flames. Not only did it ignite the vehicle, though; it burst into a fiery flame ball, impacting the whole area around it in an explosion.

The only thing that Yuffie was aware of when the van exploded was the fire impacting her and sending her back into a tree, the girl landing on her stomach when she was unable to save herself. Body aching terribly with the pain, she opened her eyes a crack to see the fire engulfing the whole area around her before she shut them again, breathing her last breath.

A young woman awoke in a dark room, the area only lit by a faint light that crept in through the window. She dared to move her fingers lightly against the bed that she was laid on, a light sheet laid over her body. She didn't bother looking around, knowing that the room was too dark for her to see anything clearly enough for her to recognize where she was.

So familiar, she thought, gripping the blankets lightly as she rolled over onto her side. But then she groaned, her body aching. So stiff…

She reached up and tucked back some of her black hair, her senses starting to become more keen as she snapped out of the daze that the period of unconsciousness had caused. "What happened?" she murmured, sitting up in bed and folding her arms over her stomach. She was so sore, but why?

Her eyes found the door, and she immediately realized that she should go out and see what was going on. There was no point making her head hurt worse than it already was just wondering about things that she couldn't answer.

At that thought, she sighed, pushing herself up off the bed and stretching a little bit. She was stiff alright, but the pain wasn't as bad as she had feared it would be. The girl walked for the door, pushing it open softly and being greeted by the light of the ship around her. She was in the Shera? At that realization, she made a left, knowing the hall well. She blinked at the brightness of a larger room, seeing her friends gathered in that area.

"Yuffie!"

Yuffie Kisaragi nodded faintly, looking over the group in the room. "Hey everyone," she said softly, her voice a little hoarse. She noticed practically the whole gang sitting around on the furniture, Cid, Reeve, Nanaki, Vincent, and Barret. She noticed Cloud and Tifa were missing, but she had so many questions that any concerning them were lost in the back of her mind.

"You okay?" somebody asked.

"…What happened?" Yuffie asked instead, leaning her shoulder against the wall beside her as she waited for an answer.

"The whole thing exploded," Barret said. "You got knocked out."

It's more than that, she instantly thought. "…I was dead," she said with certainty. She remembered losing her grip on her life and accepting death, and yet she was still alive. How…?

"Yeah, you were," Cid said with a grunt, agreeing. "But Vampire-Boy gave ya mouth-to-mouth. That probably scared ya back to life."

Yuffie ignored Cid's second remark, her eyes finding the man who looked like he was trying not to blush. "Vincent?"Did he really do that? He really saved her life?

"…."

"Can we talk?" Yuffie asked, making her tone light so that he wouldn't feel intimidated by her. When he nodded and rose to his feet, she was glad, and a weak smile appeared on her lips before she turned around and started walking in the direction she came from. The room behind her was quiet except for Vincent's footsteps, the man following and trailing her by only a few steps.

Even after Vincent caught up to her, Yuffie kept walking for a little bit, stopping when she felt like they would have enough privacy. She turned around to face him, seeing an expression on his face that she couldn't read. Instead of allowing things to remain awkward, she broke the silence.

"…You saved me."

"Yes, I did," Vincent said with confidence, acting the opposite of how shy he had been earlier in front of everyone.

"How?" Yuffie inquired, wonder in her voice. He had run off when she told him to; he hadn't been there when she was knocked back by the explosion.

"I didn't really leave," Vincent confessed then, his red eyes staring into Yuffie's. "I was lucky enough to find shelter from the blast, and when I came back for you, you were already…" Already dead, Yuffie thought, finishing what he didn't say.

"…I got your heart started again, like Cid said," Vincent confessed after a few moments. "Then I brought you back to the ship and you've been in recovery since then."

"How long ago…?"

"Eighteen hours."

"Wow," Yuffie breathed without thought. She had been unconscious for eighteen hours?

"I was worried," Vincent confessed, though his tone was as dull as ever when he said it. Yuffie, though, paid no mind to that, her eyes going up to Vincent's at his simple words. If he was worried, that meant that he cared, didn't it?

"Sorry about that," Yuffie apologized, though she wasn't sure if she had any real reason to say sorry; she hadn't been able to help it after all. She had thought she would die, but here she was, alive. And she had given Vincent a kiss before everything happened. "Aw, crap."

"What?"

"Nothing," Yuffie said, shaking her head as she blushed.

"Liar."

"….."

"…."

"Where does this put us?" she finally asked, referring to both Vincent saving her and the kiss she had given him.

"…I don't know."

"Do you….?"

"…Yes…?"

Yuffie swallowed, forcing herself to speak. "Do you regret anything that happened?"

"…No."

"Me neither," Yuffie said, a smile starting to appear on her lips. Her smile widened even further when Vincent opened his arms a little bit, inviting her to come to him. She stifled a giggle and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around the man she had loved from afar for so long. She leaned her head on his shoulder, her eyes shutting in the comfort of his warm embrace.

"Yuffie."

The girl tensed, pulling back a little bit. "What?" she asked. Had she misinterpreted what Vincent wanted?

"…You're standing on my foot."

Yuffie laughed, relieved that he hadn't said something else. She moved her foot onto the ground, then pulling herself closer to him again. This moment…it just felt right. And she didn't want it to end anytime soon, even though she knew that it wouldn't last forever. There were still problems they were facing: she didn't know how Tifa was doing, and Rude was probably in custody and waiting for a trial. There were so many issues that were unaddressed , and she couldn't help but wonder one thing…

What came next?