Fly into the Night

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"Dammit!" Yuffie cursed, clutching her broken PHS in her hand. Whirling around to face her stotic companion, she silently cursed in her head, did he even care? She doubted it; he always acted so cold towards everything and anything. "It's still broken Vinny, what now?" She asked, running to keep up with him, and he had continued to move forward as Yuffie rechecked the PHS for at least the tenth time.

Not moving his crimson eyes from the dirt road they were currently traveling on, Vincent quickly had an answer for the over-active ninja-thief. "We'll keep moving for Midgar, we have no idea what will happen to Tifa and Barret. Without the PHS to contact the others, moving forward is or best bet."

Yuffie stopped in her tracks gaping at the gunslinger; that had to have been the most words he'd ever said in a sentence to her. "You mean we're going to keep going even through the night?" She shrieked, looking up at the darkening sky.

Although she knew the answer that was coming, she didn't want to know. "Yes. We can't afford to waste time with lives on the line." Came his short reply.

Yuffie agreed with that, Tifa and Barret had been captured by Rufus and Shin-Ra at least four days ago up at the Northern Crater, when that big explosion had happened. Yuffie had no idea what had befallen the two AVALANCE members, as even when her PHS was working, Tifa and Barrets' PHS kept picking up static. What worried her; was that she didn't think they would be getting to Midgar anytime soon… they had only just past the Icicle Inn, and they still had to get to the Bone Village and cross the ocean to Midgar. Somehow, Yuffie doubted that she and Vincent could swim that distance. She had originally thought of them taking the Tiny Bronco, but when the Black Materia was given to Barret to hold on to, Cid, Cait Sith and Red had made their way back down the mountain to wait on the Tiny Bronco. However, when that 'Ultimate Weapon' monster was released… the wind it created… she wouldn't have been surprised if the waves had carried the Tiny Bronco far away or even sunk it into the watery depths.

Yuffie looked up at the darkening sky. "I think it's going to snow again."

"That's all the more reason to hurry."

"Vinny!" Yuffie screeched, running up to him and grabbing onto his real hand. "How can you say that?"

Vincent sighed, stopping in his tracks and fixing his crimson eyes on the ninja as she clung to his arm. "It's simple Yuffie, we're on a snow covered mountain and you think that more snow will fall, all the more reason to get off of this mountain."

"But, we're lost! Don't deny it; you don't know where we are either! We've been wandering around Icicle area for ages, and yet we still can't find our way back to the Forgotten Capital… and I swear I've seen that tree before!" Yuffie said, pointing to an evergreen tree.

"We've seen thousands of trees, Yuffie." He calmly replied.

"Yeah, well…. Can't we at least rest for one night? We've hardly rested and I'm dead on my feet." Yuffie said, her hand still clutching onto his lower arm.

Yuffie, intent on finding a place to sleep for the night, she didn't seem to notice that her hands were still clutching onto Vincent's lower arm. With Yuffie's hand still clamed around his arm, he could feel the coldness seeping from her fingertips and into his arm. His crimson eyes flickered to her outfit, if her fingertips were cold, what about the rest of her body? Half of her body was bare. Through their trek through the Icicle Area – they had ran into a problem in the forest regarding some Shin-Ra soldiers left behind to catch the rest of the AVALANCE members – and had to take a detour down an icy hill covered with evergreens. Through their quick decent down the hill, all Vincent had ripped was his red cloak, but Yuffie had obviously fared worse due to her size. The white pads on her legs were muddy and slipping down, the black straps on her one leg were gone; her arm guards shredded from the tree branches and her shirt and shorts were stuck to her body.

"Vinny, I know you must like what you see… but can you at lease do it when we're somewhere warm?" Yuffie asked, aware of his eyes, and the now falling snow, on her.

He turned away from her stare. "I would, if only you would let go of my arm."

Yuffie, he noticed, blushed at the comment, before taking her hands off his arm. "It just had to start snowing, didn't it?" She moaned, brushing the white flakes from her hair. "I wish we were back at Icicle Inn… hell, I'd even take Rufus' airship." Yuffie muttered darkly to herself; running her hands across her arms in hopes of keeping her fading body temperature inside herself, while she stomped in what she thought was the right direction. The snow had fallen quite quickly turning everything into a pure white out, the only thing she could see was the dark shape of Vincent a couple feet in front of her.

"How can you not be cold Vinny?" She asked, her hands still moving rapidly over her arms, attempting to keep the warmth inside.

"After thirty years of sleeping, you become immune to some things." He said, nonchalant.

Yuffie, however, wasn't satisified with the answer. "You make yourself sound like a monster, you know." She said, lightly.

Vincent was silent for a moment. "…I am a monster."

Yuffie stopped in her tracks, arms crossed, but not facing him. "You mean that Hojo guy? I heard he tried some things on Aeris and Red too…"

"Yeah him." Vincent said; voice muffled.

Before Yuffie could ask him why he sounded muffled, she felt something drape over herself. All she could see was red material – Vincent's cloak! She looked up at the gunslinger, wonder in her eyes. The red material, since Vincent was quite a bit taller then she was, the material pooled around her feet. She looked at him standing there in his black shirt and pants and realized that he looked different without the red material draped around his frame.

"Vincent… what?" Yuffie asked, confused.

As always, he never looked at her. "You were indecent."

"Indecent?" Yuffie asked, even more confused then before. "What are you talking about?"

Of course, Yuffie wouldn't make this easy, that was something Yuffie was incapable of doing. "The longer that we stand here and debate this; the more snow covered we will become."

Yuffie grumbled, but pulled the cloak over her head and over her frame before trudging after Vincent's black form against the white backdrop. "We're going to keep going?" Yuffie called through the sheet of darkness.

The dark figure of Vincent stopped, obviously waiting for Yuffie to catch up with him. "We're going up there."

Yuffie followed to where Vincent's claw was pointing too. "We're going to climb up a mountain? Why!" She shrieked.

"There's a cave entrance up there, we'll stay there for the night. With this white out, even I can hardly see anything."

Yuffie nodded, not really seeing the cave that Vincent was pointing too, but with his enhanced eyesight, it was no surprise. "OK then, let's get going." She said, striding off in the direction he was pointing in.

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Yuffie was huddled around the fire she and Vincent had created, staring into the crackling flames as Vincent kept watch at the caves' entrance for signs of life or danger. She sighed as she watched the light from the flames play across his black hair. "Vinny, why don't you come sit down? No one will be out at this time or night – or in these conditions!"

Vincent turned and looked at her. "And when the monsters' – or Sephorith – come down from that Crater and see that light of fire, we'll defend ourselves, how?"

Yuffie was silent, she had her Conformer, which she could use at long range, but being a ninja, she could also do a close range battle as well. As for Vincent and his gun, he could only do long range. Yuffie shrugged the thought off, they could worry about that when the time came, and padded at the ground beside her. "Come and sit down Vinny, you'll tire yourself out."

Vincent said nothing but came away from the caves' entrance and sat down beside Yuffie. Yuffie inwardly grinned, she hadn't expected the gunslinger to come and sit down beside her, she had figured with his issue of getting close to people, he'd have sat down on the other side of the fire. Not that she was complaining that he had actually sat down beside her, just surprised. "Vincent, I want to ask you something." She said, twisting around, her body vanishing in the folds of his cloak. He didn't say anything, just looked intently into the fire, but Yuffie knew that he was listening to her. "What did you mean by indecent!" Inwardly, she added that she liked wearing his cloak, no matter for how short a time frame it would be for.

"What do you mean, Yuffie?" He asked, throwing his crimson eyes in her direction.

"Back when you gave me your cloak out there," She said, looking at him and throwing her arm in the direction of the way outside. "You said that I was indecent and I want to know what you meant."

Vincent shuffled awkwardly. "Well, considering what we went through down that icy hill trying to escape those Shin-Ra's, the extent of your ripped clothing, the cold wind and the upcoming white out, you were indecent."

If it had been under different circumstances, Yuffie would have laughed at him and his apparent awkwardness. Inwardly, she smiled at him, he didn't look so menacing without his red cloak; actually he looked rather good in her opinion.

"So… you were checking me out?" Yuffie asked at length.

Vincent, if it could be possible, looked even more awkward then he had before. "From the grip you had on my arm, I could feel the coldness from your hand. With your…ah… lack of clothing, I figured how could the rest of you not be?"

Yuffie grinned devilishly, scuttling closer to the gunslinger. "Awe Vinny, you were worried about me!"

"The well being of all my teammates are of importance."

"Oh Vinny," Yuffie sighed, falling back to rest on her palms. "Don't be so uptight."

Vincent didn't reply, but stared into the fire in front of him again. Yuffie sighed, figuring that Vincent was done talking, blowing a piece of hair out of her eyes, she too stared out into the fire. Silence filed the gap between the two of them, only the howl of wind breaking through the silence in the cave. After a long bout of silence, Yuffie; fed up with the silence, sighed loudly, flopping back onto the ground.

"Why do you call yourself a monster, Vincent?" She asked, looking over at him. Vincent didn't make eye contact with her, just stared into the fire. Yuffie wondered if he had even heard her, he had a habit of zoning people out when he wanted to. "Was it because of what that Hojo guy did?" She asked, trying again.

Yet again, Vincent didn't say anything. Yuffie sighed; he was ignoring her again… wasn't he? "…You could say that." He said at length.

Yuffie nodded. "Is it because of your limit breaks?" Vincent remained silent. "I'll take that as a 'yes'," Yuffie concluded. "How'd it happen, Vinny? I doubt you signed up for that freaky stuff!" Yuffie looked over at Vincent waiting for a response. "You don't have to say."

"I was shot."

"By Hojo?" Vincent nodded. "Then he did all that freaky stuff to you?"

"Yes according to Luce… ah, someone, he killed me when he shot me. At their request, he brought me back… while testing out his own experiments out."

Yuffie remained silent, not knowing what to say. Shifting around on the ground to face the gunslinger, she wrapped her arms around his real arm – as that was the only part she could reach without choking herself on the cloak around her. "You're not a monster, you know?" Yuffie said, quietly. "It's him that's the monster for trying out all that stuff on you."

Vincent looked over at Yuffie, his crimson eyes fixed on her. "Why do you care so much?"

Yuffie blinked at him then smirked. "I care about the well being of all my teammates. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

Vincent smirked at that. "You sound like me."

Yuffie grinned at him. "Don't worry; I won't get all morbid and brooding like you."

"I see."

"Don't you care?" Yuffie asked, looking up at him, bringing her feet under her body.

"Not really," Vincent shrugged. "When you'll live forever like me, it doesn't really matter as they won't be around as long."

"You see Vinny, that's why I think you're so morbid and brooding! It's the way you talk, so detached from everything!" Yuffie huffed, but instead it came out as a yawn. "I hope that Tifa and Barret are OK…"

Vincent nodded in agreement. "They'll be alright Yuffie, their tough people. Just get some sleep, I'll keep watch."

"You'll wake me when it's my turn to keep watch, right?" Vincent nodded in agreement, but had no real intention of waking the sleeping ninja up.

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Yuffie came to when she heard the sound of an engine running and warmth around her body. The warmth that was around her felt more then just Vincent's cloak, although she could still feel the material rubbing against the face as she moved. Her eyes flickered as her mind came too, a bright light hitting her eyes upon opening them.

"Hmm?" She said, bringing a hand up to her eyes to shield them from the light. "Damn Vinny, why didn't you wake me when we left the cave?"

"Valentine told us not too."

Yuffie's eyebrows came together, who was that? Although she could see Vincent shooting anyone who pissed him off, she wondered who the heck it could be. It was just her and Vincent last night in that cave. Her stormy grey eyes blinked a few times before her eyes focused in on her surroundings as she turned her around to look at everything. All she could see was machinery and more machinery. Hell, it even felt like she was lying on metal! She blinked a few more times and her eyes focused in on those around her instead of the surroundings.

"Cid Highwind!" Yuffie screeched, sitting up. "I hope Vinny shot you!"

Cid smirked, gripping his Venus Gospel and looking like he had been debating whether or not to poke her with the end of it.

"Don't you dare," She said, jumping up and getting into a ninja stance. However, that quickly vanished as her eyes caught sight of those looming behind Cid; Red and Vincent. "Hey, where's Cloud?"

"His PHS ain't workin' either." Cid grumbled.

"Is it possible that he fell into the Lifestream or got devoured by that monster?" Red asked, looking out the window of the airship.

Yuffie nodded, it was quiet possible that that had happened to Cloud… no one knew what happened to him. That, and there was that barrier around the Northern Crater now… anything could have happened to Cloud. That weapon seemed to have disappeared as fast as it had appeared… maybe it only came up to eat every once and a while. Her mother used to tell her a story about a sandworm who only came up and ate till it was full and then vanished till the next blue moon. She had never believed the story – she just believed that it was a fairy tale – but now with that monster… maybe it wasn't a fairy tale after all. Yuffie looked around, trying to find a possible way to find her mothers' fairy tale false, but couldn't come up with anything.

"Wait a minute… where's Cait Sith?" There was no way he, whichever Shin-Ra he was, would have left them now. He was just too fun of a guy, always joking around with her and helping her tease and annoy Red.

"Shin-Ra."

"I know that!" Yuffie yelled. "But where is he?"

"When the whole thing went down at the Northern Crater, we ended up in Midgar. Cait Si-"

"How'd you end up in Midgar?" Yuffie butted in, eyebrows drawn together.

"When that Diamond Weapon showed up, it caused a tidal wave and we ended up in Midgar." Red informed Yuffie from his position on the ground.

"Damn thing sank the Tiny Bronco!" Cid cursed, slamming the end of the Venus Gospel into the ground.

"How'd you know it was called Diamond Weapon?" Yuffie asked, ignoring Cid and training all her attention onto the silent Red.

"Cait Sith's manipulator looked it up. They also found that that thing is set on destroying Midgar… currently it's underneath Bone Village waiting for a time to strike. It'll decimate Midgar and Sephiroth and Meteor will destroy the rest of the world."

Yuffie nodded. "I see, thanks for informing me Red," She cast a smile in Red's direction, before turning sardonically back to Cid. "Now, what was it you were saying Cid?"

Cid huffed, lighting up his cigarette. "Never you mind, brat. It's too complicated for your tiny brain to understand."

"WHAT!" Yuffie shouted, balling her hands into fists. "Dammit, tell me where the hell Cait Sith is! If YOU hadn't left out the detail of how you ended up in Midgar, I wouldn't have interrupted you."

Vincent sighed from where he was leaning on the control panel. "Just tell her Cid, and then she'll leave you alone."

Cid muttered something incoherently, before looking down at the ninja impatiently tapping her foot. "Cut that out."

"I will when you tell me." Yuffie retorted.

"The Shin-Ra went back to Midgar to try and find out where Tifa and Barret are. The cat still had his PHS on him so we can still keep track of the spy and make sure that he doesn't double cross us… again," Cid ground his Venus Gospel into the ground a little more. "Still hasn't found anything out though… that Heidegger and Scarlet are in control of it, something called the 'Sister Ray'." Cid shrugged.

Yuffie nodded, looking around. "So… where'd this thing come from?"

"Highwind!" Cid barked. "That's her name, stole her from Junon!"

"Highwind? That's what you called it? Geez… kind of big of you, isn't it? Naming an airship after yourself?" Yuffie said arms crossed over her chest. "Wait a minute, Junon? I thought you said you landed in Midgar."

"That's where the Diamond Weapon put us," Cid said slowly, trying to get under Yuffie's skin. "Tiny Bronco sunk and we had to walk all the way to Junon."

Yuffie laughed, the image of Cid trying to keep up to the four legged Red was an interesting sight, that man was anything but athletic. "How'd you steal it?"

"I built it!"

A crackling sound came through the system of the airship. "Guys, where are you? Tifa's awake and she and Barret are off to the public execution. Tifa's goi-"

"Public Execution!" Yuffie yelled, looking up at the sound system where Cait Sith's voice was coming from. "Lowly bastard Shin-Ra!"

"Yuffie's back?" Cait Sith's voice sounded surprised. "Didn't you catch her up to speed?"

"Brat's mouths' been going a mile a minute, hasn't shut up yet." Cid replied dryly, as Yuffie glared at him and stomped on his foot.

"Explain it to her later, I don't have much time. Tifa's going first, Scarlet's going to get rid of Tifa first… she's headed right for the gas chambers. She won't last long in there, if I know Scarlet; she'll set the release pressure quite high."

"WHAT!" Yuffie yelled again, jumping into the conversation again. First Aeris had been killed by Sephiroth and now Tifa and Barret were going to be killed by the Shin-Ra's. "I'll go. I hate heights!"

"Hey little lady, you can't just walk in there! They'll kill you too; they want to get rid of all AVALANCE members."

"I'll pose as something… a reporter! Yes, I'll be a reporter out on the docks!"

Cait Sith nodded although they couldn't see it. "I'll be on the lookout for you then." The crackling through the airships' sound system went dead, meaning that Cait Sith had disconnected himself to them.

Yuffie turned back around to face Cid, her arms on her hips. "You heard me, old man! To the docks!"

Cid glared at her, puffing out a stream of smoke. "Who are you to tell me where to fly my airship?"

"Damn it, you can be a control freak later, Tifa's going to die if we don't hurry!"

Cid grumbled some more, but yelled at the pilot to head to the Junon dock area.

"Thanks Cid," Yuffie chirped, heading out of the bridge, happy as can be. "After this is all over, we'll have to go and find Cloud!" The metal door slamming shut behind her as she moved out of the motion sensors' vision.

The bridge went instantly quiet with the energetic ninja gone. "You know Valentine," Cid said, finally. "The brats' still wearing that cloak of yours. You look weird without it."

"I have to agree with Cid on this, it's just not you." Red replied.

Vincent nodded his head, but said nothing as he stopping leaning on the control panel and made his way across the bridge, the metal door slamming shut behind him. Cid and Red stared at each other, no what how much space they gave Vincent, he was always just the same: cold.

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Yuffie looked down at the moving ocean that was laid out underneath the airship, it figures Cid would have to fly it over the ocean. We're they even close to Junon? She hoped they were, she couldn't stand looking down at the moving ocean for much longer. God! She hated heights so much, much longer and she might just lose her lunch… and probably wreck Vincent's cloak in the meantime. Boy, would he hate her for that! She shook her head though, it figures that she wouldn't have thought to ask Cid where they were when she left the bridge… but she was just to lazy to walk all the way back to the bridge. They were probably still near the Northern Crater, it could take them hours to get to Junon! Tifa could be dead by then!

"We're nearing Junon."

Yuffie whirled around, surprised. There standing at the door leading to the inside of the airship, was Vincent Valentine, looking calmly at her.

"You scared me! Don't come up behind me like that, Vinny!" He just stared at her passively as Yuffie claimed he had scared her. As much as she liked him, she wasn't in the mood for his mysterious, dark, brooding mood. "Did you just come up here to watch me jump off the ship?"

"No," He said at length. "I came up here for my cloak, if you jump with that on; no doubt you'll strange yourself."

Yuffie looked down at the outfit, Vincent was right; she was still wearing his cloak. She had gotten used to the smell of him of it and thinking to herself 'yeah, that's right, I'm wearing Vincent Valentine's cloak', she had forgotten it was still physically on her. "Gawd! Vinny, why didn't you tell me! Cid's going to think we did something in that cave!"

Vincent smirked at Yuffie, always jumping to conclusions. "Nothing of the sort, if I remember correctly, Cid said something around the lines of 'how could you stand spending a night with her, I wouldn't have given her my jacket, a night of freezing might have shut her up'."

Yuffie shrugged. "Cid's heartless anyways, he only cares about Shera." Yuffie said, her voice muffled as she pulled Vincent's cloak over the top of her head and pushed it back at him. Vincent took it back wordlessly.

The airship was started to slow down and Yuffie stumbled slightly and Vincent grabbed her arm to steady her.

"Be careful, down there." He said, slipping the cloak on.

Yuffie grinned up at him, as the airship came to a halt. "I'll be careful, Vincent," She said, the first time in a long time she hadn't called him Vinny. Yuffie pulled her arm out of his lax grasp, before walking over to the edge of the airship. "Don't get in any action with the Shin-Ra without me! That's just cruel."

"We'll try not too; we only stole Rufus' airship." He said, in a dry tone.

Yuffie grinned. "Life's never boring around here, is it?" She vaulted herself onto the railing, her knuckles turning white from her tight grasp on the railing. "… here I go." Closing her eyes tightly, Yuffie let her grasp on the railing go lax as her feet slipped on the railing and her body fell forward.

Vincent had to clench his hands into a fist to resist the urge of shooting his arm out and grabbing Yuffie before she connected with the ground some fifty feet below. Only when she was out of his range of grasp, which wasn't large with the railing in place, did he let his hands relax out of there tight grasp. He watched as Yuffie prepared herself for the quick jolt as her feet came quickly into contact with the ground fifty feet below. With his enhanced eyesight, she smiled cheekily up at him and threw her hand up in a wave before she turned on her heel and ran off up the street, to where a big crowd of Shin-Ra soldiers were headed.

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Yuffie sighed, turning on her heel to follow the Shin-Ra soldiers at a distance. She had wished that Cid and Red hadn't come to look for them in the Northern Crater when they had; she had been enjoying her time alone with Vincent. Hell, he had even let her where his cloak… hardly anyone ever saw him without that piece of clothing. She wished that she could have told him what she had felt about him… but with Cid's big ears and mouth around, that was something probably better left a secret for the time being.

Maybe one day she'd tell him what she left… but not right now. For now that would be a secret…

… At least for a little while longer…

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A/N: Yeah, so that turned out pretty good if you ask me! Vincent's character's kind of hard to write for, what with him being so silent and all. I think his character turned out alright, what does everyone else think? Hah, I loved the bit between Cid and Yuffie… their always at each others' throats! Anyways R&R!