Spente le Stelle

~Now tell me that wasn’t wonderful!~

‘That was completely inappropriate!’ Vincent hissed back at the demon.

~Oh come now. I know for a fact that I didn’t do everything.~ The demon was purring in dark laughter. The worst part was knowing that he was right. Chaos hadn’t done more than instigate the encounter, and her dream had already begun when they entered. She was already talking with him and wrapped up in his cloak.

~Do you know what I think? I think that you were her knight in that tea party dream.~

‘We shouldn’t even be in her dreams’ Vincent said with finality.

~Don’t be stupid!~ Chaos punctuated this with a sharp pain to Vincent’s temples. ~She loved it and you did too!~

“Hello!” Vincent looked up to see Aeris smiling down at him.

“…”

“Right,” Aeris laughed before sitting beside them. “If that’s the reaction I get to a simple hello then I doubt you’ll answer any of my questions.”

And she was quite right.

“But I’m still going to ask them, to give you something to think about.”

“…Really?”

“Oh! You made a noise!” Aeris exclaimed. He had vocal chords didn’t he? “Either way I wanted to let you know, last night I was talking with her and you came up.”

~This is getting interesting~

‘Shut up!’

“Tifa just couldn’t talk about you though, she kept blushing and getting tongue tied.”

“Is there a point to your incessant speaking?” Chaos was bad enough, but the flower girl was telling him some rather upsetting things.

“Of course there is!” Aeris exclaimed. “My point is that you should think about being a bit more romantic with Tifa. She hasn’t really said it yet, but I think she likes you.”

Aeris stood up then to go find Cloud and speak with him. Vincent knew last night that Tifa lusted after him, but liked him? This wasn’t good. She’d end up like Lucrecia, or worse, she’d run in fear once she saw the other demons his body housed. Galian Beast was, in her own words, creepily cute.

How she saw that he didn’t know.

She was walking around camp now, with a blush on her cheeks as she attempted not to look at him. At the moment she was packing up their things, shaking them out and watching for holes or bugs or anything inside the objects. She was obsessing again, and it seemed to be taking her mind off of things.

It wasn’t taking her mind off things. The idea of idle hands and busy minds wasn’t true by a long shot with Tifa. Because as she fell into pattern her mind fell into thought. What had happened last night? Well, she knew what happened, but why did it happen? She…loved Cloud, and he was pining over his lost love. The fact that he was taken should have been enough to dissuade her. The fact that he’d been a Turk and worked for Shinra should have been a sure warning bell. But the siren seemed to be on mute and warning sign was knocked down.

In the back of her head, Tifa knew she was in for heartbreak. She knew that he was probably in love with that woman Lucrecia, or falling in love with Aeris. Just like everyone did. Or…what if he was feeling something for Yuffie? Not a single one of those ideas sat well with her. She glanced over at the man she was thinking about as she rolled up her sleeping bag. Yuffie’s was next and Aeris’ had already been taken care of. And neither girl was helping Tifa, in fact, Yuffie was attempting to go through everyone’s bags. Aeris was of course packing up their pots and pans and instant food.

Vincent didn’t have anything to pack though. She didn’t even know if he slept at night, she’d have to ask him about that when they got on board their boat-plane. Assuming of course she was sitting next to him, or she could take sitting next to him after last nights dream.

The last time Tifa had a dream like that had been after meeting Reno the first time. She was most certainly not going to deny the man was hot in his own scruffy way. Just like his partner was cute in his very own bald way.

‘It’s gotta be the uniform,’ Tifa sighed as Cloud and the other men tied things down. “I’m a sucker for a man in uniform. Simple as that.’

“What’s simple?” Yuffie asked.

“Oh! Nothing really, just some thoughts,” Tifa smiled. She gave the younger girl a shove towards the plane before heading that way herself.

The trip to Wutai wasn’t too long now that they were going by sea instead of land. The scenery got old very quickly though, nothing but blue for miles and miles. And once they hit the isle of Wutai, nothing but rocky cliffs for miles and miles. Rocky cliffs and dirt and sand. Any plants were scrubby little bushes clinging desperately to life, trees were nonexistent and the thought of grass was laughable.

“Wutai…was not like this,” Vincent spoke beside her. It was the first time he’d done so today.

“You’ve been here before then?” Tifa asked.

“Many years ago,” Vincent replied. “It was much greener, but as you know, ShinRa has done many terrible things.”

“Yeah,” Tifa nodded. “I know that well enough.” She looked at him, tired of the everlasting brown scenery they walked along. “Vincent, What do you suppose love feels like? Real love?”

Vincent did not answer her. Instead, They were cornered and attacked by ShinRa soldiers. However, it seemed they weren’t actually the ones they were looking for. Barret did of course accuse Yuffie of plotting to turn them in.

“””I didn’t know!” Yuffie shouted. “I had absolutely nothing to do with this one!” She threw her shuriken at one of the men in blue.

“This one! This ONE!” Barret argued back, firing off a few shots.

It wasn’t until much later, after the battle that is, that everyone noticed their lack of Materia. And so, after much yelling and cursing the troupe was heading north to Wutai. They’d been heading that way already, so it wasn’t any real problem. Vincent still hadn’t answered Tifa; he hadn’t talked to her or even done anything to let her know he acknowledged her presence. It was like he was deliberately ignoring her.

Of course, he wasn’t. He was having trouble telling her what love was. Chaos couldn’t be counted on for help, and his experiences in the past were less than wonderful. A few weeklong girlfriends, an overnight lay here and there, a threesome every once in awhile. But none of these could be considered an actual relationship. And if they were, there was absolutely no love save the love of sex.

Lucrecia had been…his failing. And something of an enigma, an utter problem from the beginning. It hadn’t been the first time a married woman had appealed to him. But it was the first time one had turned him down. And that made him want her all the more, it made him learn her habits and preferences, her dislikes and likes. All in an effort to get her in the sack, but somewhere along the way, it became more than that for him.

He began falling in what he assumed may have been love. He cared for her safety to the point of madness; he offered her a place to go during Hojo’s fits of rage. He began taking interest in her family and taking her out to lunch and making sure she ate and slept.

He would admit now that his father had warned him about her. About her ideas and goals in life being the prime directive. And after one night with an angel, he came face to face with the devil. Vincent Valentine in turn became such a devil because of that angel.

But ‘Love’ was still evading him. He knew he lusted after Tifa; their shared dream was proof enough of that. He knew there were things about her that he’d never felt with Lucrecia, pride for one. He was proud to stand beside such a confident young woman, such a strong fighter. Certainly, she was’t in his class, defiantly not in Cloud’s class, but she could take down several ShinRa soldiers at once. He’d seen her do it. He also felt a strange sort of comfort. He could simply sit with her and she would talk, sometimes he would talk, and all was well. There was no prying into the past or open flirtation or disgust. There was a simple easiness to them.

She was more than a friend, less than a lover. But both could change in the near future if she ever decided, if he ever decided. They were both stuck on people who could never return their feelings. His Lucrecia was dead, and Cloud was a dunderhead. Vincent was indebted to Lucrecia, for not being able to stop the experiments, Tifa may have been indebted to Cloud in some way, but it was more likely that she was just incredibly loyal.

Perhaps, things would change during this journey, in more ways than one. He looked over to Tifa as they entered Wutai and debated answering her. He hadn’t spoken to her in hours, leaving her to the mercy of Aeris and the others. She was talking to Nanaki now however, about existentialism, he listened for two sentence’s and found it to be rather dull. However, Tifa was rather taken with listening to it and asking a good deal of questions.

They were in Wutai now and splitting into teams to search for the missing teen. As Nanaki was being handed over to Cait, Vincent placed his hand on Tifa’s lower back and guided her through town.

“What are you doing?” Tifa hissed as they passed an old couple. “First you ignore me all day and now we’re suddenly touchy?”

“I was pondering your question,” He stated, pulling her closer as some young teens eyed the woman beside him.

“Oh,” Tifa mumbled. “Well you still have some nerve.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I had to listen to quack theory and man mumbo jumbo and stupid graden conversations all day!”

Vincent smirked, though Tifa couldn’t see it hiding behind his collar. She stopped in front of him then. She crossed her arms and tapped a foot, staring up at him with a smile. She wanted her answer darn it!

“I do not know what love is,” he answered simply.

Tifa stared at him. Was he serious? She’d been blown off all day for that! Hours of listening to nonsense to find out…

“I cannot believe you,” Tifa shook her head. “You have to know what love is!”

“I’m afraid I don’t.”

“But what about Lucrecia?” Tifa asked. Hadn’t he been in love with her?

“Lucrecia was…” Vincent glared at a Wutai teen that had been about to give out a catcall for Tifa. Vincent pulled her closer to him possessively. “She was something I’d never had before. I was a Turk if you remember, no time for an actual relationship.”

“That’s very sad,” Tifa said. “But why was Lucrecia different?”

“She was taken,” Vincent asked. “No…she didn’t want me.”

Tifa smiled sadly. “You always want what you can’t have, right?”

The two of them continued to walk through Wutai, eventually coming to a stop at the Genbu Tavern. The people they saw inside made them stop in their tracks. It was the Turks, Reno and Rude…along with a blonde Turk Tifa had never seen before.

“Hey!” Reno cried out jovially, raising his glass. “How’s it goin Lockheart?”

“Lockheart? You mean like the girl who kicked Rude’s butt?” The blonde asked. “She doesn’t look like a lesbo, unless that’s not a man in the cape. Must be pretty butch. Although it looks like a man to me…does that mean she’s bi?”

Tifa could only blink as the newest edition to the Turks blathered on.

“And the Turks have fallen,” Vincent mumbled.

“Oi!” Reno yelled back. “Get your asses over here yo. I’m off duty so it’s all cool. And Elena’s dumb, so just ignore it.”

“She calls me a lesbian and he wants me to ignore it?!” Tifa hissed at the man beside her. His arm was still wrapped around her.

“Whoa ho ho! If I’d known you like Turks,” Reno trailed off suggestively.

“How did you know?” Tifa asked.

“Who doesn’t know about the Bloody Valentine?” Reno exclaimed. “He’s right up there with Legend!”

“Rookie,” Vincent spoke. “I do believe that information is classified.”

“Bah!” Reno waved it off. “According to ShinRa you’re dead, file is public domain. Besides, Lockheart here should know, being your retirement and all.”

Otuside, Cloud’s voice was heard, along with a…something, being kicked and Yuffie’s yells. Barret was yelling and Cid was cursing and the whole time everyone inside the bar was hoping the others stayed outside. Reno wasn’t hoping this of course, if Lockheart was seen with Turks in the company of a former Turk by her friends, they’d cast her out and he’d never have to fight her again!

Vincent had ordered a drink while she wasn’t looking, either that or one of his ‘collegues’ had ordered one for him. She took a small sniff at it and identified it as a scotch, a fairly reasonable year, she knew this because she had several bottles of the stuff back at her old bar. Well, she did have a few bottles before the redhead across from her pulled the release over the city.

Vincent frowned when the woman beside them downed his drink and ordered him something different and infinitesimally better. His favorite drink to be exact, yes it was scotch (of a better year no less), but this time it was over ice and combined with soda and a twist of lemon. Reno complained about it being girly, Elena argued that it was sweet and Tifa explained she knew people and what they drank.

“That guy over there,” Tifa said, pointing at a man playing pachinko, “He drinks sake around his friends and family, but when he’s alone he likes his vodka, iced over in the freezer.”

Sure enough, the man glanced around before withdrawing a glass with clear liquid in it.

“Whoa!”

“Oh! Oh me next!” Elena said. Vincent smiled behind his collar as Tifa explained the blonde’s enjoyment of fruity drinks. He admired the way she could just know people. He’d said it before, she’d have made a fine Turk. If she’d been alive ll those years ago, he’d be an old man now, sitting with a grandchild on his knee and wondering where the hell had that thought come from.

~Don’t think at me~

‘I can’t believe this is happening,’ Vincent thought.

~Why the hell not?~ Chaos demanded. ~You’re craving a mate just as much as I am. The only difference between us is that you care about how she feels, and I care about how she feels around me.~

‘You’re a pig,’ Vincent thought at the demon. Tifa wasn’t speaking any longer, in fact she was now sipping at something while listening to Reno’s drunken apologies. There were cherries in it, lime pieces in it and it was incredibly bubbly.

Conversation was stopped when Tifa’s PHS began to jingle out an opera song. She excused herself for a moment saying she needed to answer it.

“So…” Reno began rubbing his hands together. “Should we put in an order to ShinRa to start on the widow’s benefits?”

Vincent raised a brow. He was about to reply when Tifa came over, slightly peeved and fairly huffy.

“That idiot fell into one of Yuffie’s traps, now he’s stuck in a steel cage.” Tifa pinched the bridge of her nose as she drank ther rest of her drink. Vincent followed her example and stood nodding to the men and woman in blue. As he exited, he could hear the blonde wondering about a wedding.

Tifa was still annoyed, this time talking on the cell phone as she got directions from the three people in the cage. She glanced over at Vincent and mouthed for him to kill her. She smiled when he rose a brow.

“Listen, I can’t listen to all of you at once,” Tifa said. “Is Aeris there?…well how about Nanaki?”

Tifa closed her phone on them then. “Vincent, you’ve been here before right?” She saw him nod. “Is there any chance you know where ‘Godo’s’ house is? Apparently they all got locked up in Yuffie’s father’s basement.”