Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy VII; Second Generation ❯ Chapter 19 ( Chapter 19 )

 

 

 

 

 

 

-Outside the Cave-

 

 

 

 

“Now let's see where we are exactly”, Yoko whispers to herself, as she pulls out her cell-phone and clicks through the menu until she found the feature she was looking for, “Ah!”, she gasps.

 

“So, where are we?”

 

“About 100-miles South of Costa Del Sol”, she replies, “If we follow the beach North that way, we should reach Costa Del Sol in a day or so”, she adds, pointing.

 

Suddenly, the music of piano, violins and flutes fills the area, as her phone beings to ring.

 

“Huh…? I guess the phone portion still works as well…”, she mutters, before pressing talk, “Hello?”

 

(Oh Yoko, thank goodness you're still alive!), she heard Ruvie exclaim on the other end of the line, (An hour after you and Vincent fell over-broad, I tried calling your phone but all I got was “This number has been disconnected”)

 

“My cell had been turned off for the night”, the singer explains.

 

(Is Vincent there with you? If he is, are you and him alright?), the techie worriedly asks.

 

“We're fine, a little bruised and battered, but we'll live”

 

(Where are you?)

 

“About a 100-miles South of Costa Del Sol”, she informs, “If we start walking, Vincent and I should be there in a day or two”

 

(A 100-miles, huh?), she heard her mutters, followed be the sound of fingers tapping on the keys of a key-board, (According to records taken after Meteor-Fall, there is a flock of Chocobos that have settled in an area about 5-miles North of where you two are…)

 

“Thanks for the info, tell the others that we're fine and that we'll meet up with them at Costa Del Sol in a few days”

 

(Pixie is relaying the info now), Ruvie states, before hanging up.

 

“Looks like we have to do some Chocobo hunting”, Yoko says, as she flips her phone closed, “Let's get go…”, she suddenly trails off, as she stumbles.

 

“Whoa!”, Vincent gasps, as he quickly catches her while being wary of his still mending-ribs, “Are you alright, Yoko?”

 

“Y-yeah… I just got a little light-headed…”, she mutters, as she holds her head.

 

“You shouldn't push yourself so hard, take it easy”, he advises, as he continues to steady her.

 

“I will just as soon as we catch a couple Chocobos”

 

“In that case, give me the Materia and lean against me”, he orders, as he takes the Purple-orb from her hand, “I'll do all the work”

 

“But you're more beaten up than I am”, she protests.

 

“I'm not on the verge of passing out”, he points out.

 

“Bastard…”, she curses under her breath at him, knowing he was right as they hobble in the direction of Costa Del Sol.

 

 

 

 

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-An Hour Later-

 

 

 

 

Yoko sits with her back against the trunk of a tree resting in it's shade, watching Vincent attempting to capture a Chocobo, smirking at how badly he was failing.

 

“Not so easy to catch one like you thought it was, isn't?”, she taunts.

 

“Zip it! You're frightening the Chocobos away!”, he retorts, briefly taking his eyes off the giant-bird.

 

His frustration causes her to start laughing behind one of her hands, only for her to instantly stop to exclaim, “Watch out!”, in warning, as she saw the bird rear-back to deliver a powerful-kick to the Ex-Turk's body, causing her to flinch from the impact.

 

She closes her eyes with a sigh as she lifts her hand, while a green-Materia lights up from within her sliver-bracelet causing the Chocobo to freeze in mid-run.

 

“Seriously, I could've easily done this with my eyes closed… Oh wait, I did!”

 

“Enough gloating, I've got to get going”, he flatly says, grabbing hold of the bird and climbs onto it's back, riding over to her as she stood up with his hand out to her, lifting her onto the Chocobo's back; behind himself, “Now which way?”

 

“That way”, she instructs, pointing after she glances at a compass.

 

“Hang on tight!”, he warns, giving her time to tightly wrap her arms safely around his waist, before starting the Chocobo into a fast-trot.

 

 

 

 

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-Nightfall-

 

 

 

 

“We'll camp here for the night”, Vincent announces, dismounting from the Chocobo before turning to help his companion off.

 

“I'll start up a fire…”, she mutters, gathering up fallen branches off the ground surrounding the nearby tree, piling them together before using her Fire-Materia to ignite the timber and settles down on the ground; next to the tree, a few feet away.

 

“You really should treat that injury, it's starting to look bad”, he says, causing her to glance down at the claw-marks in her arm, “Why haven't you healed it yet?”

 

“I'm too low on energy to even use my powers”, she replies, covering the wounds with her other hand, “Besides, my power to heal only works on others, it doesn't work on me…”

 

Suddenly, she feels her body tingling and her wounds close underneath her fingers, causing her to gasp as she looks up, “Vincent?”

 

“It wouldn't be good for your health if those wounds became infected”, he states, as he lowers his still glowing Restore-Materia.

 

“Thank you…”, she whispers, looking down at her healed-arm, only to see it covered up by red-cloth as she feels Vincent drape his cloak over her shoulders.

 

“You look cold”, he says, without her having to say anything, watching as she draws it closer to her frame.

 

“Thank you”, she faintly repeats.

 

“Try to get some sleep, the more rest you have the quicker you'll recover”

 

“Good night, Vincent”, she nods, as she closes her eyes and leans back against the tree.

 

“Good night, Yoko”, he returns, as he settles down against a rock.

 

 

 

 

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-Hours Later-

 

 

 

 

A single reddish-brown eyes slowly peeks open, before their owner opens the other eye and silently raising to their feet, quietly stepping around the glowing fire and the sleeping man beside it as Yoko vanishes into the darkness with Vincent's cloak fluttering behind her.

 

It would have been a quiet escape, if the man she thought was asleep really was sleeping, as he gets to his feet to follow her to see where she was heading.

 

The first thing he finds is his cloak draped over a boulder and beyond the rocks he could smell the distinct scent of purely unrefined Mako, and upon looking past the stones he could see Yoko stumbling towards a glowing spring, her movements sluggish; like she was in a trance, with every step she took.

 

She stood on the edge and was looking down at it's surface, before stepping into the pool of Mako, and the instant she does, streams of the liquid raise from the spring and begins to swirl around her, closing her eyes as she hugs her shoulders with a smile on her lips; like she was content with it's unlimited-energy surrounding her, as her body began to glow the same bluish-green light as the Mako.

 

“Yoko?”, he questions.

 

Her eyes snap open and the instant they did, the streams of Mako splash back into the pool and her body stops glowing, she looks over her shoulder at him in alarm.

 

“Vincent…?”, she mutters, before looking away in embarrassment.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

“Do you remember what I had said at the Inn before we left for the docks?”

 

“Yeah, you said you were low on Mako and out of ethers, so?”

 

“That was only half of the truth…”, she replies, “The truth is, my powers aren't fueled by ethers, they're fueled by Mako itself”, she continues, looking at her hands, “Everybody has two streams of energy inside of them; one for life and the other to use magic. But I'm different, I have three inside me; one for life, one for magic, and a third for my powers. Health-potions & ethers work on the first two, but the third is only replenished by Mako from the planet itself”

 

She takes a moment to let him digest what she had said before continuing.

 

“Normally the Mako inside my body replenishes itself on it's own in a few days, so long as I don't use my powers so much, but recently I had to overuse them to heal some particularly serious injuries and my levels are to the point that if I tried using them, there would be dire-consequences for me, so I had to find a large source of Mako to quickly restore my levels to normal”

 

“So? Are your levels back to normal?”, he calmly asks, like nothing was abnormal about a young-woman bathing in a Mako-spring.

 

“Y-yes, they're completely refilled”, she nods.

 

“Then get out of that spring before you start to mutate”

 

She grins as she climbs out, only to find Vincent wrapping his cloak around her body again, “Thank you”

 

“Is there anyone else; besides myself, that knows this secret of your's?”

 

“Ruvie knows my secret, if you recall Pixie's comment at the Inn as well. As did Saiyuki…”

 

“I see…”, he says, “Let's get back to the camp-site, we're leaving early in the morning”

 

Yoko nods in agreement, before following after him, “And could you keep this a secret from the others? It's kind of embarrassing and I know Renji would make a scene if he knew”, she blushes.

 

“My lips are sealed…”

 

“Good…”, she smiles, “Now I want to hear about your adventures chasing after Sephiroth 20 years ago”

 

“Sure”, he agrees with a nod.

 

 

 

 

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