~Vincent's POV~
"It's my fault," Yuffie cries into her hands.
"It is not your fault," I say, sitting beside her.
"I should've stopped him or something."
"You couldn't have, he would've hurt Cloud," I say, giving Tifa a 'help?' look. She rolls her eyes and sits by her.
"Yuffie, look at me."
"No."
"Yuffie," she snaps, hasher this time.
"What?" she looks up, her face stained around her eyes.
"It was not your fault."
"But I..."
"You nothing. You did what you could and you saved Cloud's life by doing that. Denzel's too," she states, looking back at the terrified boy the Cid is trying to calm down.
"No I didn't! He's probably getting killed right now!"
"Shh!" I hush her as Denzel's eyes get huge.
"I'm sorry, I just..."
"Remember when I blamed myself the first time we lost him?" Tifa asks. Yuffie nods in response. "It was a stupid thing to do. It made me weaker and I was crying over something I couldn't have helped. I couldn't have grabbed him or saved him from insanity when he did that, just like you couldn't have saved him from getting hurt by Sephiroth. He's fine."
"But.."
"No buts, we need to try to find him," I say, standing. If he's in the hands of a vengeful Sephiroth, he won't make it long. I mean, mind wise, anyway. It doesn't take much to make him forget everything.
"I have something that might help, actually," Yuffie sniffles and walks ahead of me.
"Well, it might do the opposite, but I need to show you guys anyway."
"What's up?" Barret looks at us.
"You need to come too," she nods for him to follow. We wait patiently as she moves about the clinic, looking for something until she holds up a jar.
"Found it."
"What?" Barret raises an eyebrow.
"I found this microchip in the back of Cloud's head the other day," she frowns, handing it to him. He groans.
"That was supposed to help us track him if he ever got lost again," he shakes his head and Yuffie sighs.
"I knew I messed that up. How are we supposed to find him now?"
"Wait, is he missing?"
"Sephiroth took him," Denzel says.
"On board?!"
"Downstairs," Yuffie nods. "Said he would kill Cloud right then and there if we didn't give him what he wanted. Stabbed him a little bit and then left with him. Cloud didn't even put up a fight."
"You're kidding me," The big man shakes his head. "We can't be safe anywhere. We just got back on board today too. Good thing we made sure he got two, huh Tifa?" he grins.
"Two?" Yuffie says, relieved.
"In between his shoulders," Tifa shrugs. "That's why he has that scar there," She wonders out loud.
"You'd probably have to hack into it though," Barret sighs, scratching the back of his neck. "I forgot all the access information. They do it differently it Kalm."
"I can't believe you guys tagged my boyfriend like a dog," Yuffie shakes her head and slides over to her computer. "Just help me locate it and then leave the hacking to the master."
"You're the hacking master?" I raise an eyebrow.
"Heck yeah," she grins.
"You haven't seen how much info we've uncovered from her hacking every system on the planet?" Tifa laughs.
"Apparently not."
After an hour of trying, Yuffie makes it through and a big map shows up with a red dot.
"There he is," she says excitedly.
"That doesn't seem right. It says they're in the middle of the ocean," Barret shakes his head.
"Hang on," she bites her lip. "Oops, we hacked into Scarlet's..."
"Isn't she dead?" Denzel raises an eyebrow.
"Yup." Then Yuffie rolls her eyes. "Cloud's name was right here for me to click on the whole time."
I face palm and Barret stares at her with disbelief. Denzel just laughs.
"Hack master, huh?"
"Hey, I located a dead body. Don't judge," Yuffie shoots me a playfully grin and goes back to locating him."Thankfully, it didn't get harmed when Sephiroth stabbed him... There."
"Mt. Nibel, eh?" Tifa frowns. "We'll have to hike from the bottom of the mountains."
"It might take a couple days," Yuffie groans.
"This would be a time when we need Chaos," I grumble to myself. We could just fly. The Highwind can't make it over because it won't go high enough and the point tips could do some damage.
"Let's get going, a small team," Barret insists.
"Just us four."
"We've gotta go pack the bags and Cid won't be too happy about the short notice, but with what could be happening to Cloud... Let's go," Yuffie stands and rushes out her door, turning for the bunk room to grab a bag to stuff food and medical supplies in, two of some of the most important things in the world to her.
"Cmon," Tifa nods for me to follow her downstairs and we load up on weapons, me grabbing extra bullets and a couple different guns I've had over the years, and Tifa collecting an assortment of gloves.
"Cid'll do it," Barret says, appearing at the bottom of the stairs. "Y'all almost ready?"
"What about dropping Marlene off?" Tifa frowns.
"They'll do it for me, I've already said goodbye."
"Barret..."
"We're goin, Tifa," he calls back as he ignores her plea and walks away. I chuckle as she irritably sighs and follows him up.
"I packed your stuff," Yuffie hands me and Tifa small backpacks.
"Thanks," I say and Tifa in turn hands her a handful of throwing knives, which I see the younger girl discreetly put in the flower pot beside her. "I only roll with three weapons at a time. The knives in my hair, and my shuriken," she told me once.
"Here you go," the door opens and the ladder drops as Barret climbs down.
"Good luck findin' Cloud!" Cid calls from the cockpit.
"Thanks," Tifa calls back. I rush her forward and she climbs down, followed by Yuffie. followed by me.
"Ready to go?" Barret looks back at me as I peer up the treacherous peaks.
"I was a tour guide up these mountains once," Tifa says quietly. "Then I got hurt and Cloud blamed himself. I wasn't allowed to help for a long time after that."
"Let's go," Yuffie says, tugging Tifa ahead. "Since you know the trail so well."
"It's been years," she shakes her head but walks in front anyway. "At least this time I'm not talking the whole way."
"Hopefully," Barret grumbles and I laugh. We're off to save Cloud. Again. This kid gets in so much trouble, I'm telling you.
It takes us hours just to get halfway up the tugged rocky trails, until sweat soaked and thirsty, we stop for the night as the last of today's light slips under the horizon. Tifa gets to work helping Barret divide the food into even parts between us, saving enough for up to three days if we're careful. I don't have to eat much to keep me going. Not even one meal a day has kept me going for years. But now that I'm fully human again, I can feel myself tiring sooner and wanting more to eat. It's a weird feeling for me, I haven't had to eat to live for a very long time. No wonder I always thought these guys would get fat for having three meals a day. I didn't have to run off anything but they had to keep eating. It's a strange feeling to be the only one doing something sometimes.
"We're done for the night then, I guess," Yuffie sighs unhappily.
"Let's just make sure that some one keeps watch," Barret yawns, leaning against the rock wall we're using as shelter.
"I'll do it," me and Yuffie volunteer at the same time.
"I'll go first, I won't be able to sleep tonight anyway," she avoids looking at anyone as she plops down on the dark ridge a few feet away. I sigh and shake my head.
"She's being ridiculous," I shake my head and sit by Tifa, who's trying to start a fire.
"She just lost the person she cares most about in the world, be a little less insensitive."
"I'm not being insensitive," I shrug. "She still can't shut down on us."
"She's not. She's just.... thinking through what she would do without him. It's hard when you lose someone like that. You don't know if they're dead or alive, and it's just hard."
"You don't think I know that?" I glare at her and she freezes. "I went through this, okay? I know what it's like. I don't need to be lectured."
With that, I stand up and move to a more solitary place on the side of the mountain, a ledge right above where Barret and Tifa are, where I can perch and just look around me. This is reminding me of how I felt when Lucrecia just disappeared. I didn't know where she was, I thought she was dead, I couldn't help that. I thought it was my fault, I thought Sephiroth was my fault, I blamed everything on me. Even though it wasn't. It was Hojo's. It was Shinra's. It was Sephiroth's. I can't take all the blame anymore. It's crushing and it tries to kill you. It takes away the ones you love. It makes you hurt them, crush them, makes them suffer. And that's what I love about the hurting feeling. It makes them hurt to. It makes them feel your pain. It makes them want to die, just like I do.
SORRY IT'S SO SHORT, BUT I HAVE A NEW STORY COMING OUT SOON, SO GO CHECK IT OUT WHEN I PUBLISH IT :D IT'S CALLED JUST BLACK AND WHITE AND IT'S A CLOUD FAN FICTION, BUT OBVIOUSLY BEING ME, THE OTHERS WITH BE IN IT TOO. I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT DOING THIS STORY FOR A WHILE NOW SO YEAH. AND WE'RE NEARING THE END OF THIS STORY! EVEN IF THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL, I DON'T WANT IT TO DIE! HOLD ME!
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