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Sifting Through The Pieces	By : KSipesh Category: Final Fantasy VII > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 678 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Sifting Through The Pieces

Chapter 1

Although it took more effort than he would have ever believed humanly possible, Vincent opened his eyes. His entire body was wracked with pain, and although his eyes were open, he couldn�t move to see anything else other than the shale covered ground and his destroyed left arm directly before him. Every breath made his chest feel like it was being crushed, and the feeling of drowning he suffered made him wonder if he was going to live much longer at all.

His cybernetic left arm had been hopelessly damaged after the blast that had blown him and everything else out of the interior of the crater and it rested on the ground extended before him, unmoving. There was a searing pain in his upper right leg and although he didn�t yet know it, his femur had been snapped during the impact that had placed him where he was.

Multiple tremors had shaken the ground as the Lifestream once more settled back into its norm beneath the ground of the crater and another soon happened. This one was a little stronger than the previous quakes, and it loosened the rocky hillside beneath him enough as to cause him to begin sliding downward.

Vincent was helpless to stop his descent and simply closed his eyes and held his breath, trying to maintain consciousness through the tremendous agony the motion was causing him. As he was dropped from the slope down a short cliff, then landing on a ledge a few feet below, the gunslinger couldn�t help himself from shrieking out in his pain. He opened his eyes once more, finding that he was now lying upon his back, staring up at the overcast sky. It was slightly easier to breathe in this new position, but the pain in his right leg was now ten times worse.

He had no idea how long it had been since the fight with Sephiroth-- nor did he have any idea whether or not the others had achieved their goal or survived. If he�d had the energy left, Vincent knew that Chaos would have seen to his survival and would have repaired his body, but the fact that such a thing wasn�t happening told him the cold, hard truth. If no one came for the gunman to take him away where he could get help, he was going to die. Not knowing if Cid was alive, he had no way of knowing if anyone even missed him.

Cid�God, please let him be alive�

The wind began to kick up, stinging his exposed skin-- his clothes having been lost when he�d become Chaos. Resolving that he had no choice but to await his fate, Vincent closed his eyes again and succumbed to unconsciousness.

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Cid sat on the edge of his bed, his head in his hands. He hadn�t moved for several hours, since retreating here. Eventually, he reached out and pulled open his nightstand drawer. Within was Vincent�s collar. The gunman had left it here prior to them going into the crater, for fear that during the fight he would transform into Chaos and therein lose it. Being his most prized possession, he hadn�t been willing to take that risk.

Now, Cid sat looking at the bit of leather in his hands, the tag glinting in the light coming through the window. The bittersweet thought that this might be all that was left of Vincent caused his remaining few tears to make their way down his cheeks.

Shortly thereafter, Cid felt the ship slowing, and he knew that they must have reached their destination. Wearily, he rose up, stuffing the collar into his jacket pocket and left his room.

After he got to the bridge, he went forward toward the view window. Looking out, he saw the dismal scene outside. The blast had caused all the snow and ice that had once covered the crater to vanish. Now, under the stormy skies, the slopes of the would-be mountain were as gray as the clouds above.

"Where would you like us to set down, Sir?" Morris asked behind him.

Cid cleared his throat, trying to mask the fact that he�d been crying for a while. "I dunno-- somewhere close to the top, I guess."

"Yes, Sir."

Cid felt his shoulders slouch and he sighed, shaking his head slightly. He felt like a fool for even bothering to bring the ship and his crew here again when there was nothing here for him to find. The pilot was grateful that if nothing else, no one on the crew seemed willing to question him as to what they were doing here.

A few minutes later, and the ship was safely down upon the rim of the cavern and Cid looked at his men. "I want everyone to stay on this ship in case there�s a problem. If anythin� weird happens out there, you have orders to get this thing back up in the air and safe. I�m not willin� to lose this ship."

"But what if you�re not back on, Sir?" asked one of the other men present.

If Vincent�s dead out there somewhere, then I don�t fuckin� care if I end up that way, too, Cid thought to himself for a moment. "Don�t worry about me. I�ll�I�ll be back in a little while. I just need to go check things out."

The men remained silent as their captain moved away from the window and departed the ship.

Cid exited and stepped out onto the unstable ground, immediately pulling his coat around himself tighter. It was bitterly cold and the reek of Mako still filled the air. He walked to the brim of the crater and looked down into the darkness within. The glow of the Lifestream was still present within and he couldn�t help but think sadly that if Vincent was anywhere, that he was just part of that glow now.

"God damn it, Vince." Cid reached up and pulled off his flight goggles, holding them over his heart. "Why couldn�t you of made it? Fuck�the only one�you were the only one who didn�t get back onboard. We even found God damned Yuffie hidin� in her cabin once we got back in the air and under control. At least�well, at least I guess I got to know you and have you for a while. That�s gotta count for somethin�, right?"

Truth was, though, that Cid didn�t feel like it accounted for enough. He gave passing thought to just taking two steps forward and falling down into the crater ending it all. He shook off that thought, however, knowing that if nothing else, Vincent never would have approved of such a pathetic act. Vincent would have wanted him to go on living, to try and make something of his life.

But to Cid, Vincent had been the best thing in his life, even if what they had only lasted for a short time.

It had been the best time of the pilot�s life.

Cid swallowed hard and turned from the crater, knowing that he needed to get away from the edge before he gave into his present state of mind and took a dive. He walked a short distance away and found a rock sticking out of the ground. After sitting down upon it, the blond pulled out a cigarette and lit up, resolving to just have the one smoke before getting back on the ship and heading home.

That one cigarette became two, and then three. After the seventh, he realized his pack was empty. Disappointed and having no other reason to remain on the mountainside, Cid grudgingly rose up and scanned the scene. "All right, I�m gonna go. I�I�m so fuckin� sorry, Vince. I wish it�d have been me instead."

He crushed the empty pack in his fist and then tossed it away. The small bit of trash was caught by the wind and skittered away along the rough ground. Cid watched it go. He figured it would vanish of the cliff not to far off but it caught up on something.

Something red.

Cid knit his brow and felt his heart rate pick up. He carefully made his way to the cliff edge and knelt down. There was a bit of red fabric showing through the rocky soil and debris that had slid down the slope during all of the tremors that had shaken the area since the blast. The pilot grabbed this one sign of color and pulled.

It wasn�t just a small fragment of cloth. The more he pulled, the more exposed itself from the gray earth until he was holding the tattered remnants of Vincent�s cloak in his hands.

Cid shifted it around in his grip, until he had the collar of it in his hands. All of the buckles were still upon it. He was surprised at how well it had survived, despite the ferocity of the explosion. But the pilot knew that Vincent wasn�t wearing the cloak at the end and a simple fabric item like this was a lot different than a human body-- or whatever body Vincent had possessed at the time.

"Fuck�" Cid pulled the cloak close to his chest and hung his head. "I just wish I knew. If I saw your body�then I�d know�but this�"

The pilot remained there for several minutes before rising unsteadily to his feet. The empty cigarette pack, no longer being caught up by the cloak was once more moved by the wind and it went forward a few more feet, before disappearing off of the cliff before him.

Cid decided to look and see what was below, merely out of curiosity. He took a few steps toward the edge, wondering if the unstable ground would hold or not. Bending forward slightly, he examined the scene below and then felt his blood run cold.

He�d found Vincent.
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Sifting Through The Pieces