Categories > Games > Final Fantasy 7 > Sable and ivory
Thanks to Novocain for beta-reading.
Chapter 9
Humidity in the air
The little girl is scared.
There is smoke and huge fuss outside her window. Some women cry, some men curse. The worst are the high-pitched screams that get cut off abruptly, signifying the descent of yet another victim into darkness. Her parents are out there; she knows they are fighting with their people, another straw to stand against the storm.
Wutai has been attacked by ShinRa.
There are guards in the entrance and the interior of the pagoda, and she has seen the five elite members of the imperial warden squad standing outside her door. She wraps the kimono tighter around her tiny torso and shuts her eyes. She covers her ears with rosy, soft palms in a vain attempt to lock outside the world she knows -and the ignominious the death of it.
Funny, really. She can't even spell 'ignominious' yet.
I-g-o-m-i-n-o-u-s.
'Mama, mama,' she keeps thinking. It is a mantra of sorts. A loud explosive sound, muffled but still loud for her young ears, startles her and makes her childish arms shake violently. Never in her five years of life had she known, or even suspected, that such a terrible noise could exist.
She notices a small, yellow insect flapping its wings near the expensive ceiling.
Trapped.
And the terrible reminder that it was springtime when the dark brown soil of Wutai got soaked in more than rain.
'Mama, where are you?' she whimpers to herself.
Hours pass, tears fall, eyes dull...
The door bursts open and there stands her father, striving to collect his breath. He is covered in glistering blots of blood and the unnervingly sweet scent of sweat fills the air, right after his arrival. She runs to him, wanting desperately to hug him and feel him real and solid under her insecure touch.
But no.
No hugs today for you, Yuffie Kisaragi.
He holds her at an arm's length and swallows the lump in his throat.
"Papa?" she asks innocently.
No replies for you either.
"Papa? Is Mama alright?" she insists, shaking him weakly.
He pulls away from her grasp abruptly and his breathing becomes strangely ragged. He looks away.
"W- what is happening? W-"
"She's gone," he whispers, before wiping angrily at his dark brown eyes -not gray; so unlike his wife's and his daughter's- and fleeing.
She backs away from the open door.
I-g-o-m-i-n-o-u-s.
Before, she was scared.
Now, the little girl is terrified.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------
Vincent often blamed irrelevant, trivial things for his swinging moods.
Today, the little culprits were his clocks. Both of them, the one in his kitchen and the other in his living room, just above his head.
Tick tock, tick tock.
A cacophony of ticking, echoing provocatively in the silent house.
Who wouldn't be annoyed?
Yuffie hadn't uttered a word ever since they arrived, a very uncharacteristic thing for her to do. In times like this, he understood why people were unnerved, even frightened, of his taciturnity. You had no idea what could be going on in the other's head, what sort of turmoil was disrupting his soul. Scary, indeed.
The girl had been clearly unprepared for this particular turn of events, as were all of them. However, Vincent used to be very involved with ShinRa and, back in those days, he was well aware of the machinations that propelled the corporation to become the colossus it once was.
And, now, in the most recent act of the youngest ShinRa president, Vincent smelled danger. Wherever there was power, there were always claims. And whenever there were claims, ShinRa was known for using any means available in order to win.
What was it he had said? 'Wutai is getting stronger...'
The gunman didn't like this one bit. For, if Wutai was gaining power, it would be a perfect place for ShinRa to be re-established. It would be solid ground, a base of sorts, especially needed after the huge blow the company had received two years ago.
The question was... why would her father, Lord Godo, agree?
If Wutai's economy was faring better, there would be no profit for him or the country by giving away their independence.
Wutai didn't need ShinRa. Lord Godo didn't need ShinRa.
'And Yuffie doesn't need a husband,' he thought gloomily.
There was, in fact, no reasonable explanation for the attitude of Yuffie's father, although he was rumored to be a strict man, one of those whose actions -unlike Vincent's- were governed by logic.
He had a bad feeling about this whole situation.
He sighed softly and set off for his room, where Yuffie had chosen to retreat to, numb and rigid, not an hour ago.
He wished Tifa and Cloud had stayed and regretted telling them that he could handle it. Perhaps Yuffie needed a woman to talk to, or a leader like Cloud to help her gather her courage.
Not his silence...
He didn't want to further upset her, and she didn't look like she wanted company. Tifa was a very frustrated by the fact that Yuffie wouldn't reply or even acknowledge their presence somehow. Cloud, on the other hand, knew there was nothing they could do from their position. He merely made Vincent promise to call, when the ninja had calmed down. They still had no idea what how they should handle this.
He stopped behind the door, hesitating. He feared that his presence would only make matters worse.
But, a strangled sob from the other side convinced him to throw caution to the wind, and simply enter, after knocking and waiting briefly for an answer that never came.
She was on the floor, her back against the dark wood of his bed and the ribbon she used for her hair a wrinkled mass on her hands.
He saw pain. It was reflected in the way she hid her face behind her knees when she heard him, and the choked breaths that interrupted the silence regularly. He felt a weight in the air, like thick humidity on a summer noon. He knelt before the young woman, letting his eyes hide behind bangs of hair, and not speaking. He didn't attempt to comfort her, or come any closer; he knew he had to wait until she sought him on her own.
A few minutes of immobility passed, when she suddenly jumped towards him, her round, youthful face dripping with tears. He caught her before they she made them tumble backwards, but he wasn't able to keep his balance. He lost his footing and fell on his back, wincing as he felt a vertebra or two protest. He got up quickly and rearranged his headband, which was quite the feat with Yuffie trying to strangle him with her hug. He sighed and rubbed his lower back, then hesitantly began stroking her short hair. She was a pleasant weight on his lap, not quite like a child he wanted to protect anymore, but more like a flower he didn't want to see get trampled on. Her sobs subsided, and her deft fingers became entangled with his shirt, where she played with the fabric absently, wreathing it around her pointer finger and then backwards again.
"I- I don't... understand... why..." she whispered, hoarsely from all the crying.
Neither did he, but he couldn't say that, could he?
"I'm scared... and he won't be there for me... again," she continued, a fresh set of tears running down her cheeks. He wiped them away before she could blink, unable to stop himself and unable to watch the normally cheery young woman, drown in tears.
He didn't question her last confession. Every family had deeply buried secrets, and the Kisaragi line was no exception.
"Your father must have had his reasons."
She hit him lightly in the chest, making a nasal nose that he thought was protest. She sat up and looked at him squarely in the face, not bothering to control the reflections of her fleeing emotions -or not succeeding in her attempt.
"Reasons? Reasons! These people killed my mother; these men destroyed his life and took away from me both my parents," she burst out.
"Godo is not your father?"
"Biologically, of course the old ape is my father! But was he my dad when I most needed him and he turned his back on me? Was he my dad when he sent me out to steal materia, endangering my LIFE? Was he- mfffgh."
He had put his finger on her lips, firmly keeping her mouth closed and successfully interrupting her rant.
She glowered at him, the effect stronger with her eyes red and swollen.
"I see," he said, retracting his hand. "Old ape?" he teased.
"Oh, come on! It was him I called that, not you! Even if he is... er... kinda... younger than you," she said lamely.
He pursed his lips, "I admit I find your reasoning rather... original," he said, faking bitterness.
She smacked him against the chest again.
"I must go to Wutai. I am SO not marrying that dude," she said defiantly, completely breaking the spell of sorrow that had befallen them.
Vincent nodded and got up, offering his hand to help her.
She sat on the edge of his bed, seemingly watching the design of her shoes, but in reality waiting for...
"...Do you want me to accompany you?" he asked, after a while.
'YES, YES, YES, YES, SWEET LEVIATHAN, YES!'
"Um... sure, why not?"
- --------------------------------
Please review. ;)
Chapter 9
Humidity in the air
The little girl is scared.
There is smoke and huge fuss outside her window. Some women cry, some men curse. The worst are the high-pitched screams that get cut off abruptly, signifying the descent of yet another victim into darkness. Her parents are out there; she knows they are fighting with their people, another straw to stand against the storm.
Wutai has been attacked by ShinRa.
There are guards in the entrance and the interior of the pagoda, and she has seen the five elite members of the imperial warden squad standing outside her door. She wraps the kimono tighter around her tiny torso and shuts her eyes. She covers her ears with rosy, soft palms in a vain attempt to lock outside the world she knows -and the ignominious the death of it.
Funny, really. She can't even spell 'ignominious' yet.
I-g-o-m-i-n-o-u-s.
'Mama, mama,' she keeps thinking. It is a mantra of sorts. A loud explosive sound, muffled but still loud for her young ears, startles her and makes her childish arms shake violently. Never in her five years of life had she known, or even suspected, that such a terrible noise could exist.
She notices a small, yellow insect flapping its wings near the expensive ceiling.
Trapped.
And the terrible reminder that it was springtime when the dark brown soil of Wutai got soaked in more than rain.
'Mama, where are you?' she whimpers to herself.
Hours pass, tears fall, eyes dull...
The door bursts open and there stands her father, striving to collect his breath. He is covered in glistering blots of blood and the unnervingly sweet scent of sweat fills the air, right after his arrival. She runs to him, wanting desperately to hug him and feel him real and solid under her insecure touch.
But no.
No hugs today for you, Yuffie Kisaragi.
He holds her at an arm's length and swallows the lump in his throat.
"Papa?" she asks innocently.
No replies for you either.
"Papa? Is Mama alright?" she insists, shaking him weakly.
He pulls away from her grasp abruptly and his breathing becomes strangely ragged. He looks away.
"W- what is happening? W-"
"She's gone," he whispers, before wiping angrily at his dark brown eyes -not gray; so unlike his wife's and his daughter's- and fleeing.
She backs away from the open door.
I-g-o-m-i-n-o-u-s.
Before, she was scared.
Now, the little girl is terrified.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------
Vincent often blamed irrelevant, trivial things for his swinging moods.
Today, the little culprits were his clocks. Both of them, the one in his kitchen and the other in his living room, just above his head.
Tick tock, tick tock.
A cacophony of ticking, echoing provocatively in the silent house.
Who wouldn't be annoyed?
Yuffie hadn't uttered a word ever since they arrived, a very uncharacteristic thing for her to do. In times like this, he understood why people were unnerved, even frightened, of his taciturnity. You had no idea what could be going on in the other's head, what sort of turmoil was disrupting his soul. Scary, indeed.
The girl had been clearly unprepared for this particular turn of events, as were all of them. However, Vincent used to be very involved with ShinRa and, back in those days, he was well aware of the machinations that propelled the corporation to become the colossus it once was.
And, now, in the most recent act of the youngest ShinRa president, Vincent smelled danger. Wherever there was power, there were always claims. And whenever there were claims, ShinRa was known for using any means available in order to win.
What was it he had said? 'Wutai is getting stronger...'
The gunman didn't like this one bit. For, if Wutai was gaining power, it would be a perfect place for ShinRa to be re-established. It would be solid ground, a base of sorts, especially needed after the huge blow the company had received two years ago.
The question was... why would her father, Lord Godo, agree?
If Wutai's economy was faring better, there would be no profit for him or the country by giving away their independence.
Wutai didn't need ShinRa. Lord Godo didn't need ShinRa.
'And Yuffie doesn't need a husband,' he thought gloomily.
There was, in fact, no reasonable explanation for the attitude of Yuffie's father, although he was rumored to be a strict man, one of those whose actions -unlike Vincent's- were governed by logic.
He had a bad feeling about this whole situation.
He sighed softly and set off for his room, where Yuffie had chosen to retreat to, numb and rigid, not an hour ago.
He wished Tifa and Cloud had stayed and regretted telling them that he could handle it. Perhaps Yuffie needed a woman to talk to, or a leader like Cloud to help her gather her courage.
Not his silence...
He didn't want to further upset her, and she didn't look like she wanted company. Tifa was a very frustrated by the fact that Yuffie wouldn't reply or even acknowledge their presence somehow. Cloud, on the other hand, knew there was nothing they could do from their position. He merely made Vincent promise to call, when the ninja had calmed down. They still had no idea what how they should handle this.
He stopped behind the door, hesitating. He feared that his presence would only make matters worse.
But, a strangled sob from the other side convinced him to throw caution to the wind, and simply enter, after knocking and waiting briefly for an answer that never came.
She was on the floor, her back against the dark wood of his bed and the ribbon she used for her hair a wrinkled mass on her hands.
He saw pain. It was reflected in the way she hid her face behind her knees when she heard him, and the choked breaths that interrupted the silence regularly. He felt a weight in the air, like thick humidity on a summer noon. He knelt before the young woman, letting his eyes hide behind bangs of hair, and not speaking. He didn't attempt to comfort her, or come any closer; he knew he had to wait until she sought him on her own.
A few minutes of immobility passed, when she suddenly jumped towards him, her round, youthful face dripping with tears. He caught her before they she made them tumble backwards, but he wasn't able to keep his balance. He lost his footing and fell on his back, wincing as he felt a vertebra or two protest. He got up quickly and rearranged his headband, which was quite the feat with Yuffie trying to strangle him with her hug. He sighed and rubbed his lower back, then hesitantly began stroking her short hair. She was a pleasant weight on his lap, not quite like a child he wanted to protect anymore, but more like a flower he didn't want to see get trampled on. Her sobs subsided, and her deft fingers became entangled with his shirt, where she played with the fabric absently, wreathing it around her pointer finger and then backwards again.
"I- I don't... understand... why..." she whispered, hoarsely from all the crying.
Neither did he, but he couldn't say that, could he?
"I'm scared... and he won't be there for me... again," she continued, a fresh set of tears running down her cheeks. He wiped them away before she could blink, unable to stop himself and unable to watch the normally cheery young woman, drown in tears.
He didn't question her last confession. Every family had deeply buried secrets, and the Kisaragi line was no exception.
"Your father must have had his reasons."
She hit him lightly in the chest, making a nasal nose that he thought was protest. She sat up and looked at him squarely in the face, not bothering to control the reflections of her fleeing emotions -or not succeeding in her attempt.
"Reasons? Reasons! These people killed my mother; these men destroyed his life and took away from me both my parents," she burst out.
"Godo is not your father?"
"Biologically, of course the old ape is my father! But was he my dad when I most needed him and he turned his back on me? Was he my dad when he sent me out to steal materia, endangering my LIFE? Was he- mfffgh."
He had put his finger on her lips, firmly keeping her mouth closed and successfully interrupting her rant.
She glowered at him, the effect stronger with her eyes red and swollen.
"I see," he said, retracting his hand. "Old ape?" he teased.
"Oh, come on! It was him I called that, not you! Even if he is... er... kinda... younger than you," she said lamely.
He pursed his lips, "I admit I find your reasoning rather... original," he said, faking bitterness.
She smacked him against the chest again.
"I must go to Wutai. I am SO not marrying that dude," she said defiantly, completely breaking the spell of sorrow that had befallen them.
Vincent nodded and got up, offering his hand to help her.
She sat on the edge of his bed, seemingly watching the design of her shoes, but in reality waiting for...
"...Do you want me to accompany you?" he asked, after a while.
'YES, YES, YES, YES, SWEET LEVIATHAN, YES!'
"Um... sure, why not?"
- --------------------------------
Please review. ;)
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