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Chapter 21:

"This is not good at all," mumbled an elder, standing over Vincent. Her hands outstretched pinching and prodding random parts of Vincent's body. He winced on occasion, and seemed to calm when the elder rested her old hands on the side of his head.

"Can't we do anything to heal him?" Yuffie asked, "Materia is not helping, I tried curing, healing. I've tried everything." She stood about ten feet away, with her dad and a couple other officials of the village.

"It is difficult to say," the elder started with a troubled look, "for starters his body is irregular. The blood flow is different, his chakra is both pulsating and restricting itself, and he seems to have other spirits embodied within him."

"Then he is a man possessed," Yuffie's dad said. He reached toward a sword, "It is best we expunge the demons by disposing of their vessel."

"No, we can't kill him!" Yuffie cried out, jumping in front of her father's advance.

"Possession is dangerous, not since many years have the Wutai dealt with it. There is no guarantee that one of the demons will not take control and cause horrible damage." The elder shook her head as she said it. "Catastrophe from a similar problem was halted only by interference from Leviathan himself when I was but a child."

"You don't know Vincent like I do," pleaded Yuffie. "He can contain and overcome ten times what he has him in now."

"Have you ever seen him transform?" questioned her dad sharply. Yuffie blanched at the question, the memories of Hellmasker's rampage too close. "So that is his control, huh?" He began to take a striking position on Vincent.

"I vouch for him, and I challenge the pagoda for his life," Yuffie blurted out. The room stopped, her father frozen with the sword a foot away from Vincent's sweat strained face.

"You are bringing ruin to yourself, and if what I sense is true you are disgracing your Wutian blood by being attached to this foreigner." Her dad exited with light, but angry steps, leaving Yuffie, Vincent, and the elder tending to him.

The elder spoke, "Oh Yuffie, forgive him, ever since the war he has grown more narrow-minded to anything outside of Wutai. What he says is true though, this man is very dangerous, whether he intends to be or not."

"Isn't there anything you can do for him, what is the point of studying all those boring scrolls if they can't help anyone?" Yuffie moped, as her life became suddenly much more complicated.

"I am jealous of your youthful impatience," the elder chuckled, "I have already begun helping his strange chakra flow strengthen his own soul, but in the end it is really up to his willpower."

"That will not be a problem," the velvet voice of Vincent said without moving or opening his eyes. His voice sounded almost bored, even though the two ladies in the room were startled.

"How long have you been awake?" asked the elder, shocked.

"A couple hours now," Vincent answered monotonously and honestly. "I have had great practice at concentrating like this."

"Hope your practice included this, you silent jerk!" raged Yuffie as she threw a tea cup at Vincent's forehead. It shattered, and the broken cup looked like a spray of brain matter around his head. "You could have told us you weren't dying, or helped out with my psycho dad, and why the hell didn't you catch that teacup before it hit you?" Yuffie had tears in her eyes, but relief had flooded her system. She ran up and hugged him around the neck.

Vincent winced, and tried not to move.

"Yuffie, please he is in great struggle," urged the elder, "Right now he must concentrate on what is inside of him, any physical distractions could destroy his chances to overpower whatever he is fighting. You should be resting yourself, if you really intend to climb the pagoda."

"Whatever, my old man doesn't stand a chance against me," Yuffie said jabbing at the air.

Vincent looked at her, brimming with confidence and fire. He was envious, as it seemed every cell in his body was agonizing for darkness. Whatever Lucrecia had put in him, it was ferocious. The other demons had even gone further into submission, in fear of this new presence. "She is right Yuffie, get some rest. I am certain hauling me across the land was no easy task."

"Whatevs." Yuffie said. "I guess I could check up on my place. Just get better soon, we have to meet up with Tifa and Cloud eventually."

"Indeed."

Yuffie woke up with a slight trepidation in her bosom. She checked her gear and materia equip twice. Her confidence for the first few floors of the pagoda were solid, but the last floor did pose a threat. She tried to push Vincent to a corner of her mind so she could concentrate, but his pale, still, and struggling body kept popping up. She would be strong for him this time. He had protected her so many times. The walk through Wutai was actually very calming. The villagers nodded at her return, and then continued about their tasks with earnest, a pleasant change from the slums of Midgar. The sound of the stream that ran through the town filled the air with a gentle rhythm. Hers was becoming a clear tranquil.

The doors of the Pagoda were opened, and on the first floor stood Gorki. "Ah, the young princess has returned. I will show you the folly of bringing in foreign interests, by bringing back down to earth. All pun intended."

"You are incredibly lame," said Yuffie, finishing him with Greased Lightening. The victory was instantaneous. Gorki collapsed onto the floor in udder shock.

"Well done," Vincent said from a corner in the room.

Yuffie wheeled around in shock, her composure completely blown. "What the hell are you doing out of bed?"

"I feel much better." Vincent said, showing no trace of the ailment he had earlier. "I came to support you."

Yuffie blushed furiously. "This is kind of embarrassing."

"Oh?"

"I am kinda doing this protect you, so it is weird having you watch."

Vincent's eyes sparkled when she said that. "I need to watch."

Yuffie was even more surprised at this. "Why?"

"You are a source of inspiration. Your spirit gives me courage to battle my problems. To believe in things, not orders." Vincent said, monotonously. He swayed a bit, and started to collapse.

Yuffie ran to catch him before he fell, barely able to withstand his weight. She could swear she saw a black mist start to form around Vincent, but he suddenly straightened up.

"I am sorry, I did come here in somewhat less than pristine condition."

"It's fine, lets go Vincent," Yuffie said, grabbing his hand. They walked up to the next floor.

Shake stood ready for battle, and he managed to last about as long as Gorki. "I figured the daughter of the leader had to be some kind of decent fighter. Go on ahead."

Chekov proved to be only so much better, his paralyzing rush gave him an opening for a couple shots. Vincent's eyes seemed to flare, but died back down as Yuffie overcame without any significant damage. Chekov laughed, "I always kind of wished you would've stuck around Yuffie. The town was more fun with you around." He awkwardly tossed her an ice ring. "I was saving that for your return."

"Thanks Chekov," Yuffie said. Vincent did seem suspicious by the small display of affection, but shook it off. As they walked up the stairs together, Vincent began to slow down. "Are you okay?" He just nodded and kept going.

Staniv did not even have the decency to talk before attacking, but easy come easy go. Yuffie dusted herself off, and Vincent silently cast Cure 3 on her. "Now that the loser squad is behind me, it is time to fight the old man."

Before they made it up the last stretch of stairs Vincent weakly grasped Yuffie from behind. He intended it to be a warm hug, but it was now doubling as support for his ponderous bulk. A dark fire burned his moving limbs, and licked his resting ones. Begging for him to give in. "I believe in you," he started, "I appreciate you." Each breath sent the muck in his lungs spasming, urging him to relinquish control. She turned around, slender and capable in is arms, softly squeezing is waist to give him more support. His now fever stricken forehead glossy with sweat felt the light touch of her lips. A rare moment, but her silence made her more elegant. A calmy presence began to emenate from her, a light blue river flowing through his veins. It cleared the purple turmoil in him, and gave tranquil breath to his lungs. He relaxed and he was able to give the full hug he intended.

As the couple stepped up to the uppermost room of the chamber Godo sat back with fingers tented at his face, and a gleaming katana across his lap. "I am surprised you made it this far Yuffie, perhaps traveling the foreign lands have taught you more discipline than I realized."

"I doubt that, but I learned a lot more about the world, and how there is no supreme culture," Yuffie countered. A dangerous glint in both of their eyes. It was clear Vincent was the reason she was here now, but this was years in the making. Emotional baggage started perhaps even before the loss of his wife, her mother.

Sword clashed with gargantuan shuriken, in a blaze of blue arc trails. A dance of steel, and thunder as Trine suddenly shot forth and encased Yuffie. Vincent winced at the scope of the spell, but Yuffie seemed to shrug it off. Godo hesitated in shock that it did not bring her to her knees, and that was all the lithe young ninja needed to get past his blade. She moved directly next to him and forced both of her palms into his chest pushing upward in a ferocious display of launching strength. He sailed into the wall, and collapsed gasping for breath, his eyes meeting the end of his own katana. It pointed menacingly to the bare patch of skin between his eyes, held steady by Yuffie, and he laughed.

Yuffie laughed, "Oh old man, you really spend too much time up here." She dropped the katana, and collapsed herself taking in the fresh sweet air. They just both sat there laughing between breaths.

Vincent was thoroughly confused. He had never laughed about fighting, and potentially the death of others. Here this family had come to terms by mortal combat. Maybe this is why Yuffie is so unpredictable he mused, which is probably why he was so drawn to her. Where her clear tranquil had subdued his inner demon, a warm glow from his own heart began to emanate as he watched father and daughter. He had found more than rigid self discipline to tame his corruption.

"Okay Yuffie, I guess you made your point," Godo chuckled, "All pun intended."

"Gawds, you are sooo lame," Yuffie laughed.

"I thought I had you with Trine."

"Not like I never saw you use it," Yuffie explained, "So before the battle I equipped an elemental with lightening on my armor."

"Clever girl, just like your mother," Godo said, some of the laughter dying away. "I trust you to make the right choices, and spare... Vincent... the mercy of a death."

"That might be closer to self preservation dad," Yuffie said calming down at the mention of her mom.

"In honor of your accomplishments, and from what I hear you will be fighting to end the ill omen in the sky, I present you with these."

The gifts were of great importance Vincent saw. That night they stayed in Yuffie's house, and she spent all night pouring over an ancient technique scroll she said basically translated to 'All Creation', and the other half of the gifts was a materia orb that contained the god of Wutai 'Leviathan'. As she read the scroll with concentration he had never seen, he left her to look at the night sky. Leaning his back against a pillar, legs stretched out Vincent looked at the stars. On the opposite side of the sky, behind the house, is where meteor hung ominously, but on his side it was a deep inky blue with an ocean of stars. With the chaos in his body finally quelled he fell asleep.

When he awoke Yuffie was nestled up next to him, under his cape, as the sun came up. Sensing him shifting Yuffie woke up too.

"It is time to go."

Hey all. 'sup? Been sitting on the majority of this chapter for years. Thank you all for the occasional messages, reviews and likes. Each one has added a part to this chapter. The story still isn't done, but I hope to finish it sooner than later at this point.