Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Fragments ❯ Chapter Six ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
//I'M SORRY!!!! I'm sooo sorry I took so long writing this dang chapter! Curse my writer's block!//

Chapter 6



Blurry faces.

That was all she could make out as she lay on something soft. Yes, a bed. Hushed voices surrounded her, speaking to each other as the blurs shifted and became clearer. She saw a young man with spiky blonde hair that jutted toward the ceiling. A pretty young woman with chocolate hair and shining burgundy eyes. A tall blad man with sunglasses and a goatee. A blonde woman with eyes that looked like two fudge truffles. A dishevelled young man with wild red hair and two symmetrical scars on his cheeks. And finally, a young, thin blonde man with sad blue eyes. He was kneeling by her bed, his frail hand on hers.

"Rufus?"

His face lit up. "Yuffie, how are you feeling?"

She blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision as much as she could. "I'm hot..."

"Reno!" he shouted.

"W-what?" stuttered the Turk, sitting up straight in his chair. "Yes, Mr., I mean, Rufus?"

"See if the air conditioner is on," said the young man. "If it is, turn it up more."

Elena frowned. "But it's freezing in here already!"

"Just go, Reno."

He sighed. "Yes, sir."

Yuffie tried to prop herself up further, but Rufus pushed her gently back down. "What do you need, Yuff?"

"I have to get these frickin' blankets off," she said irritably. "They're scratchy."

"Oh, all right," he said, smiling. Even when she was sick, she informed everyone of her discomfort. "Let me."

He pulled the heavy wool blanket down to her knees, exposing her mint green pajamas. Her eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Why am I in my pajamas? What's wrong with me?"

"We think you have pneumonia, honey," said Tifa quietly. "It must be an unusual strain, because you passed out very quickly."

Reno came back and sat down in his chair again. He looked Yuffie's blanket with wide aquamarine eyes. "Hey, is she using that?"

Cloud shook his head absently, and Reno snatched the blanket off the bed, throwing it around itself. Elena smacked his arm. "It has germs on it, stupid! Do you want to get pneumonia too?"

"Don't call me stupid!" said Reno angrily. "I'm your leader, you know." He turned to the thin man by the bed. "Is there anything else I can do?" he asked seriously, causing Cloud and Tifa to turn to each other slowly.

Rufus looked at Yuffie. "What else do you need?" he asked softly.

"I..." she trailed off, looking around in confusion. "Where's Vincent?"

"*What?*" blurted Elena.

"He's not here, Yuffie," said Rufus slowly, feeling strange. *The delirium must be kicking in,* he thought. "He's gone, remember?"

She sighed, curling up in her bed. "Oh yeah." She closed her eyes in defeat. "Is there any juice?"

Reno jumped up quickly. "I'll go check," he said, dashing out the door. Rude stood up silently and followed him out, and Elena grabbed the blanket off Reno's chair, wrapping herself in it.



"What are you doing?" asked Rude as he watched Reno open the refrigerator.

The Turk looked up at his friend in confusion. "What does it look like I'm doin'? I'm looking for the juice."

"No," said Rude, shaking his head. "Listen. Over the years, I've known you to do some pretty unexpected things, and I've always obeyed your orders, no matter how strange. But now you're waiting hand and foot on one of our enemies," he said, forming what was practically a speech by Rude standards. "What's with you?"

"Are you nuts!?" exclaimed Reno, pulling the orange juice out of the refrigerator and slamming it loudly. "In case you've forgotten, that's Rufus Shin-ra upstairs. He may have been bawling his eyes out when we were dragging that Wutainese chick all the way here. He may be so completely gone from amnesia that he'll never remember how powerful and unstoppable he was, but he's *still* Rufus Shin-ra. And we still have a loyalty to him, and I don't know about you or 'Lena, but I'm going to *respect* that loyalty. Even if it means 'waiting hand and foot on one of our enemies'."

Rude stared steadily at him through his sunglasses. "Finished?"

Reno took a deep breath, pushing his own shades further up on his forehead. "Yeah."

The tall Turk pulled a glass out of the cupboard and set it on the countertop. When his flame-haired leader looked up at him questioningly, he raised the corner of his mouth in a Rude smile. "Hurry it up with that juice. We mustn't keep Miss Kisaragi waiting."



Elena pulled the blanket tighter around her slender shoulders. "Is Yuffie delirious or something?" she asked jokingly. "Because I *thought*-- this may sound crazy-- that she said something about Valentine." She laughed. "Yeah, that does sound crazy," she added, answering her own question.

Tifa blinked at her is if she must be insane. Elena was starting to agree, until the dark-haired young woman spoke, and the Turk realized she was scrutinizing her for an entirely different reason. "Of course she was talking about Vincent," she said, surprised by Elena's doubt. "He disappeared over four months ago, and we can't understand why."

"I *know* he disappeared," Elena snapped, trying to make Tifa look like the imbecile. "Nobody's heard about him since he was supposedly here, at your place. It's just like he vanished into thin air." She snorted. "Though I doubt there could be that many places he'd probably go."

Rufus' head shot up. He had been barely listening until now. "What do you mean?"

"You guys do know Valentine, don't you?" she asked in disbelief. "There aren't too many places he could be. I'm surprised you haven't looked for him. He's your friend, right?"

"Of course he's our friend," Cloud replied indignantly. "If you're saying--"

"I'm not saying anything." Elena lifted her nose primly. "Except if you really cared about one of your comrades, you wouldn't be hanging around here, sitting on your--"

"Stop!!"

Yuffie had pulled herself to a sitting position, sagging against her pillow. "I don't care if you guys argue till Second Meteor! I just want to know where you think Vinnie is!"

"Yuffie, please," Rufus said soothingly, trying to ease her back down.

The ailing ninja would have none of that. "Knock it off, Rufus," she said harshly, causing Rufus to sink back into his chair with a hurt puppy look in his eyes.

"Well?"

Elena studied the girl's impatient features, then sighed. "Look, I wouldn't say I'm the most reliable source when it comes to Vincent Valentine, but--"

"What about Valentine?"

Everyone in the room looked up to see Reno easing his lanky frame in his chair, the hulking mass of Rude following suit behind him. The flame-haired Turk placed a glass of orange juice on the bedside table. "Hey 'Lena, what's this about Vampire Boy?" he repeated.

"I was *going* to say," she said slowly, irritated, "That there aren't many places he could be."

"Oh yeah, not too many," Reno said thoughtfully, almost to himself. "Seeing as how he's in Nibelheim."

"*What*?!?" was the simultaneous response around the room.

"I saw him at the general store in Nibelheim a week ago, when I was visiting my gramma," he said, ignoring their looks at his use of the word 'gramma'. "I didn't say anything, 'cause he scares the bejesus out of me."

Elena clenched her small fists in anger. "Why didn't you say anything?!"

He shrugged. "I dunno. I thought we were still on juice...."

"Oh, Vincent," Yuffie groaned, sliding back onto the bed.

Rufus put his frail arm around her comfortingly. "It's okay, Yuff. We know where he is now." He raised his head slowly. "I can find him and bring him back to you."

A stunned silence enveloped the small bedroom. Finally Cloud ventured to ask, "Hey, kiddo? Do you know what you just said?"

"Of course I do," the boy replied firmly. "If I hadn't, I wouldn't have said it. I'm going to find Vincent."

"Mr. President," said Rude, too flustered to drop the formality. "You're not exactly in top physical condition. ...You're not... going alone, are you?"

Rufus dropped his head to his chest. "I have to," he said softly. "I have this weird feeling that... he won't listen to anyone but me."

Tifa came forward and took his fragile hand in her strong ones. "We've known you long enough to know that we can't stop you, sweetie," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "But are you sure you want to do this? You might not come back."

"I know, Teef," he whispered sadly. "But--" He leaned closer to her-- "I also know that Yuffie needs to be with the person she loves." A strange sound that could have been a laugh or a sob escaped his lips. "And God knows it's not me."

Tifa glimped an odd pain in his eyes, but before she could question him, he straightened himself and stood. "I have no choice. I'm the one that has to go. I'm sorry."

Reno smiled sadly, the glow in his aquamarine eyes dimming for a brief moment. "For a minute there, I thought I saw the old Rufus Shin-ra stubbornness breaking through."

The blonde boy turned to him. "If I don't come back, promise me one thing."

"Anything," Reno replied, his loyalty unwavering.

Rufus bit his lip. "Please take good care of Yuffie."

The Turk closed his eyes and nodded.

"Rufie, you don't have to do this," said Yuffie, swinging her legs over the side of the bed and standing up straight in an inexplicable burst of energy. "Please stay, *please*."

"No, Yuffie." He shook his head. "Don't make this any harder." He slowly reached up and stroked her feverish cheek. "Whatever happens to me, just remember all the great times we had together."

"Don't go, Rufus, listen to me!" she cried, anger, fear, and sadness mixing together in her voice. "I already lost Vincent. I don't want to lose you, too!" She threw her arms around his slender neck, sobbing into his shoulder.

Rufus buried his fingers in her hair. "I promise I'll bring him back to you," he whispered, wiping a tear indiscriminately from his cheek. "Even if I don't come back, you *will* see Vincent again." He pulled away from her and strode toward the door.

As he turned back to face her, for what might be the last time, he mouthed three words that everyone in the room could easily see:

*I love you.*