Chapter Fifty-One: Going Home

Aralyn was singing a slow, mournful lament as she locked the door to her apartment behind her. The stinging air hit her forcefully, tiny ice crystals battering at her relentlessly. She'd had enough sense to purchase a long, thick coat that covered her head with a hood and fell to her ankles beforehand. The pockets were deep, but she could not bring anything but what she held most dear.

Still singing, but more softly, she dropped both her only house key and the key to the Seventh Heaven on the mat of the door.

"Cloud, Tifa," she whispered, "forgive me…"

Cloud, Yuffie, and Tifa gathered around one side of the small tables, crammed against each other out of both lack of room and necessity of comfort. At the empty half stood Reno and Rude, Reno casually shouldering his baton and Rude displaying his typical stoic look.

"Aralyn did what?" Tifa asked, not for the first time after hearing the explanation.

Reno sighed and tilted his head back. "Left, Tifa. Disappeared. Vanished. She's unaccounted for."

"Where would she have gone?" Cloud was tense, his thoughts on the opportunity this provided for Kadaj. "And why?"

"Hey, come on guys, you're seriously under-reacting." Reno added. Rude smacked his comrade on the arm as a clear warning to stop there.

"Give us the story straight!" Yuffie yelled. "Stupid Turks! Do you have to complicate everything?"

"You want it straight?" Reno asked, challenging them. "Fine. Here it is. Aralyn's gone to Faramir."

Everyone was silent.

"Wow, you handled that really well," Reno commented, earning him another whack from his comrade, which he only narrowly managed to avoid.

"What is Faramir?" Yuffie asked.

Rude adjusted his dark glasses, seeming to be unsettled. "Vincent hasn't told you? We assumed you knew."

"Vincent!" Tifa called loudly to the man upstairs. "Get down here, now!"

Vincent took his sweet time, not aware of the turmoil downstairs. He met their accusing gazes with a level look, raising an eyebrow in a signal to explain.

"We're going after Aralyn," Yuffie concluded, skipping to the point immediately.

"Eh…not to discourage you or anything, but ah…how to put it?" Reno ventured carefully, "That wouldn't be…beneficial…to anyone. Least of all Aralyn."

"She's gone?" Vincent asked, for the first time showing emotion. Tifa was startled to realize that it was fear.

"Not for long!" Yuffie chirped. "The White Rose of Wutai is on the case!"

Reno scoffed loudly, looking at Yuffie as if she were simply incompetent of rational thought. "Vincent, will you back me up here? Tell them Aralyn's on a suicide mission anyway."

Vincent closed his eyes, his breath deepening significantly. "She went to Faramir?"

"Yeah."

"…Then yes," he said slowly, regretfully. "She would not go expecting to survive."

The empty, hollow feeling in the air was due to much more than the thick silence that followed.

Cloud broke the tension when he felt that in one more second, something would give. "What is Faramir, Vincent?"

"Faramir is…" He opened his eyes at last, and then looked down, his face still neutral. "The only real home she's ever really had."

"So what's the catch? Why is this a suicide mission?"

Rude spoke next. "Vincent, you can't hide this much longer."

Reno turned, gesturing for Rude to leave as well. "Your call, man. Good luck, you will need it."

Everyone turned to Vincent, looking at him intently, Yuffie with her hands on her hips. "Well tell us—"

"No."

"Vincent, we're trying to help!"

"You can't."

"You'd let her die?!"

"It's far too late." His voice was darker than usual, his eyes burning.

"Vincent, please…" Tifa pleaded.

But he didn't respond. Drawing Cerberus, he strode slowly and purposefully out the door.

"Where will you go?" Cloud asked.

Vincent stopped, holding the door open, but he hadn't yet crossed the threshold. "The Forgotten City. Then…Faramir."

"Let us come!"

"Do not follow," he said fiercely. It was a warning, threat, and command. "This is not your fight."

With that, he left, the door slammed shut behind him by the strong wind.

On her doorstep, Vincent found the keys Aralyn had left, along with a note, written in a sure and steady hand.

I've decided to believe it is possible. I have to try.