Vincent waited for the Titan to fade away, then started down the newly-cleared tunnel. He should have known he'd be the one sent to fetch Yuffie. After all, everyone else wanted to see what happened with Meteor and Holy, while he, being essentially dead already, didn't really care. And more importantly, he could fly, or at least levitate for a while, which meant that being shoved out of the Highwind hadn't been fatal.
Amazingly enough, this time the girl hadn't taken all of her companions' materia with her this time. Which made the situation even worse. At least back in Wutai it had been a fairly simple situation--find Yuffie and take the materia back. Here, though, no one was sure what she was planning. And of course she had to be planning something. This was, after all, Yuffie.
Eventually, they'd figured out that the last time anyone had seen her had been at the North Crater, just before they'd fought Sephiroth. And decided that someone had to be sent to go find her before she could do any damage. And someone had volunteered Vincent, and the rest of them had shoved him out of the Highwind, and so here he was, spending his time clearing out caved-in passageways instead of finding out whether or not the world was about to end.
It figured.
Finally, Vincent caught sight of something green flashing around the bend. ~Materia,~ he thought to himself. ~That will be where Yuffie is, then.~ With a sigh, and one hand on his gun, he headed towards the green light. And stared at the pair on the floor.
Yuffie turned and looked up at him. "Oh. Hi, Vincent. What're you doing down here?"
Trapped underneath the ninja girl, Sephiroth glared at him. "Whoever you are, get over here and GET THIS GIRL OFF OF ME!"
Sephiroth had *not* been having a very good day. Jenova had been killed; that was okay, the woman was starting to creep him out, anyway. He hadn't become one with the Planet. That was a bit of a disappointment. Cloud & co. had gotten in his way *again*, although he was starting to get used to that; the little idiots seemed to be following him everywhere he went these days. His favorite clone, the one with all the wings, had been destroyed. At that point, he'd really started getting pissed off. But now, to top it off, he was mobbed by this little teenage girl who'd appeared out of nowhere.
And it had all started out so well, too.
The man in the red cape--the girl had called him Vincent--was still just staring at them. Slowly, he turned to look at the teenage girl.
"Yuffie. You do realize that you are sitting on *Sephiroth*, don't you?" The girl frowned, a puzzled look on her face. Then slowly realization dawned. "OHHHH! I thought he looked familiar!" She frowned at Sephiroth for a moment. "What happened to all the wings and things?"
"Get. Off."
Yuffie stared at him for another moment, then grinned. "You know, your eyes are *exactly* the same shade as green materia? They glow, too! That's so cool!"
"Cloud's eyes glow too, Yuffie." This was from the man in the cape.
"Yeah, but Sephiroth's are prettier. Besides, I don't need to torture Cloud about his eyes."
"Yes, you torture him about everything else."
"Hey! ...true, but hey!"
"Get. Off. Me. NOW!"
Yuffie, a moment later, was surprised to find herself suddenly on the ceiling. And very shortly after that, the floor again. "Ow..." She started to rub the back of her head--which was really taking a beating today--then froze when she noticed the tip of the really, really long sword at her throat. "Um. Um. Vinnie? A little help here?"
Vincent stared at her. "'Vinnie'?" he echoed. Somehow, from the tone of his voice, she got the idea he wasn't gonna be much help. Whoops.
Sephiroth, keeping the Masamune at her throat, turned to face Vincent. "I take it you know her?"
"We've been travelling together for a while now."
Sephiroth frowned at him, then looked at Yuffie, then sighed. "You were here a few minutes ago with Cloud, weren't you?"
"Yes."
"I wasn't! I just happened to arrive here at the same time as them. Just a coincidence. I didn't want to fight you. They don't even like me! I stole their materia and led them into traps and stuff! Just ask Vinnie here! So, you don't need to kill me. Really."
The blade twitched a little closer to her throat. "Shut up."
"Shutting up now, sir."
Sephiroth glanced at Vincent. "Well?"
Vincent shrugged. "What she said about stealing materia and setting traps was true. But she's been travelling with us for a long time now. She's been a real nuisance."
"Hey! ...true again, but hey!"
"I thought I told you to shut up?"
"Whoops."
Sephiroth looked back at Vincent again. "You seem a little more sane than the rest of them."
"Oh, like you're one to talk about sanity! ...did I say that out loud?"
Sephiroth ignored her. "So, is there any reason you can think of for me not to kill her?"
"Kill me?!"
Vincent frowned, considering. After a moment, he shrugged. "No, not really."
"WHAT?!?"