Surprise!

Rating: PG
Category: AU
Pairing(s): Cid/Vincent, Cloud/Reno, Zack/Sephiroth.
Warnings: None
Summary: Cid and Vincent have old business to settle
Notes: Now this is how Advent Children SHOULD have ended!

When Cid turned to look at Vincent, he was gone.

They had been standing in the old church where long ago this began; where Cloud met a strange girl with mysterious powers, who led them on an adventure that never quite ended. Now she was dead and Cloud was standing in a pond of Life Stream dunking orphans. Well it wasn’t one of the stranger things they had ended up doing. But enough about Little Mister Rain Cloud, there was an undead gunslinger here just a half a second ago and Cid intended to find him. He had something to say to Vincent, assuming he could catch him. Vincent had a remarkable ability to turn to smoke.

Cid jogged out of the ruined church and looked around, spying a glimpse of red and heading after it, following Vincent down the alley that led to the back of the church.

“Vincent! Wait up!”

Vincent stopped and looked over his shoulder at Cid, red eyes shaded demurely under long lashes, the high collar of his cloak hiding much of his face. The summer breeze toyed with his cape, pushing it aside, revealing the slight body beneath it.

Man had he always been that skinny?

Cid reached Vincent and stopped, suddenly self-conscious, stuffing his hands into his back pockets, a smouldering cigarette between his lips.

“Where ya going? We haven’t seen each other in two years, I was hoping we could… you know… catch up.”

“I don’t think so,” said Vincent in his low, soft voice. “I think we should just leave it at where we left off two years ago.”

Vincent turned and began walking away. Cid’s heart sank, then he felt a cold dot of panic in his heart as he noticed Vincent do that sort of little skip that preceded him breaking into a run or turning to mist. Either way he was about to be gone, and Cid might never get another chance to talk to him.

“Vincent!”

Vincent paused, looking over his shoulder at Cid.

“We’ve nothing to say to each other, Cid. Let’s just leave it lie and let it rot.”

Cid grimaced. “Well that’s a lovely image.” He walked up to Vincent, slowing to a halt as he drew near. He reached out a hand to touch him, but Vincent lowered his head and shied away like a beaten horse. Cid let his hand fall.

“Vincent I’m sorry.”

Vincent moved a little further away, agitated and looking for an escape route. Cid knew Vincent didn’t like letting his emotions out at the best of times, and certainly not in broad daylight in an alley where anyone could show up at anytime. Cid tried to head him off but he knew all Vincent had to do was let those massive wings out and there would be no stopping him.

“Vincent, please give me a chance.”

“NO!” he screamed, and Cid retreated several steps at the sound. He had never heard Vincent scream, never heard him raise his voice, so to have him do it now was nearly more than he could bear.

Meanwhile in the church, other ears had detected the strange hellish shriek as well. Cloud was standing waist deep in Life Stream, holding a five-year-old, as he glanced at his companions in confusion.

“Was that Vincent?” he asked.

Barret went over to the window that overlooked the alley, and grinned. “Oh yeah. Cid and Vincent Theatre is live and in progress.”

Cloud set the child aside and hopped out of the pool, and he along with the rest of his loyal companions stampeded over to the window, leaving the children to play. They gazed down at the two forms, Vincent clearly distraught and trying to flee, Cid gently blocking him off.

“Vincent… please….”

“No. I don’t want to speak to you.”

“Give me a chance. Please. Just hear me out.”

“NO!”

Vincent screamed again, and it wasn’t a pleasant sound, causing Cid and their uninvited audience to flinch. His speaking voice was low and soft with a smoky quality to it. His screaming sounded like a harpy suffering the agonies of the damned, with undertones of someone brutally murdering a panther. He clenched his fists, his slender body rigid with the force of his pain, and he screamed the next words so hard that no sound was able to escape his throat other than a strangled whisper.

“You laughed at me! It took me so long to work up the nerve to tell you and you laughed at me!”

“Whoops,” said Yuffie.

Cid stepped forward, and Vincent lashed out with his gauntlet, clearly upset to the point of being frantic. Barret sucked in a hiss of breath.

“Watch the claws, Highwind, watch the claws,” he warned quietly.

“Vincent won’t hurt him,” said Tifa.

“Yeah and five minutes ago we would have sworn he doesn’t scream at people either,” said Yuffie.

Tifa gave a little shrug of concession, and they continued to watch the pair in the alley. Vincent was clearly looking for an exit, and Cid kept gently heading him off.

“Vincent… I just wanna talk. Just five… HOLY FUCK!”

Cid managed to dodge as Vincent levelled a kick at him with the killing blades on his shoes. Cid danced back, avoiding the slashing brass claws, then dodged the gauntlet.

“Vin, now stop it. You know you don’t want to hurt me.” Cid’s eyes crossed as a gold talon neatly bisected the cigarette he was smoking. “Okay now that did hurt, I’m almost out. Look will you back down and let me explain?”

“Okay,” said Yuffie, “who besides me thinks this looks like a man trying to reason with a giant pissed-off rooster?”

Barret lightly smacked her upside the head. In the alley, Vincent lunged at Cid, trying to get him to back off.

“He’s bluffing,” said Cloud quietly. “If Vincent was going to hurt Cid he would have by now. This is just posturing.”

“Well he’s certainly upset,” said Tifa, her tone thoughtful. “You know that’s an awful lot of heat generated for two guys who are just friends. You don’t think they’re…?”

Barret rolled his eyes. “Oh here we go again. You know it is possible for two men to have a heated argument without being in each other’s pants.”

“I dunno,” said Yuffie. “Did you catch that line Vincent threw out? Something about how it took him so long to get up the nerve and Cid laughed?”

“You hens think everyone’s gay,” grumbled Barret. “Except for Spiky over there and a blind chipmunk could tell he’s light in the loafers.”

“Gee thanks,” said Cloud.

“I’m just saying they’re acting awful intense,” said Tifa.

“No way Highwind is gay,” said Barret. “Valentine either. No gay man locks himself in a coffin for thirty years over a woman.”

“Thirty gil says they’re hot for each other,” said Yuffie.

“Oh well why only thirty?” said Barret. “Let’s make it three hundred. Let’s throw in a chunk of master materia while we’re at it. Because whatever they are fighting about, sex ain’t part of it. I’m telling you, they are both absolutely straight. If they were gay we would know.”

“Who says they’re gay?” said Cloud. “Maybe they like both.”

“Either way,” said Barret. “That is not a lover’s spat.”

They continued to watch the pair in the alley from their lofty perch. Cid once more danced out of the way of Vincent’s claws.

“Look I’m sorry I laughed! I wasn’t laughing at you!”

“Then what?” Vincent snarled. “What was so damned funny?”

“Nothing, frankly,” said Cid. “Believe me that wasn’t humour. If anything it was the ‘I-can’t-believe-my-life-sucks-so-much-ass’ laugh. I wasn’t laughing at you, Vincent. Believe me. Please just listen! I mean we nearly got killed finishing off Sephiroth in the crater and then I had to drag my ass back to Rocket Town to find out my business is in the toilet and… then there was the whole thing with Shera…”

“You married her.”

“Yeah and I divorced her less than a year later.”

“You named your ship after her!”

“I had to! It was part of the divorce settlement. I told you the bitch is insane!”

“Then why did you marry her in the first place?”

It was Cid’s turn to shout now. “Because I didn’t think you were interested and I just got through proposing to her when you showed up and told me you were in love with me! That’s why I was laughing!

Barret’s jaw dropped as Yuffie began leaping like a fool in celebration.

“Pay up, Wallace!”

Barret just continued to stare. “I can’t bloody believe it! Vincent… and Cid…?”

“Shhhh!” said Tifa, waving for silence. “It’s just getting good!”

Barret made a strangled little ‘meep’ as down in the alley Vincent’s defences began to lower.

“You hurt me.”

“I know,” said Cid softly. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I wanted you to like me so much and I just didn’t think you were interested.”

“Why would you think I wasn’t interested?” Vincent asked in a small voice.

Cid began moving forward, slowly and cautiously, reaching out to gently touch his face. “Because every time I got close you vanished. I didn’t know what to do. I thought I was just bothering you. So I backed off.”

“I’m not very good with emotions,” Vincent admitted feebly.

“Now there’s an understatement,” Cid grumbled affectionately.

Vincent raised his claws as if he meant to swipe at Cid, but the gesture was a feint, nothing more. Cid caught the slender wrist and held it, stepping closer.

“I’m sorry. I looked for you. I looked everywhere.”

Vincent’s defences were lowering. He permitted Cid to step closer, still holding Vincent’s left wrist while Cid’s other hand crept around his waist. Vincent made no protest as he was drawn against a broad chest, lowering his head to his shoulder.

“I was in the Northern Crater,” said Vincent. “I needed to think. So much had happened over the past few years. And… I needed to be sure of my own path and where it was leading.”

Cid held Vincent close, pressing his face into the tangle of rough black hair, as he rubbed his back with one gloved hand. “And where was it leading?”

Vincent said nothing but he nuzzled closer to Cid, closing his eyes. Tifa and Yuffie each emitted a tiny little ‘awwwwwww’.

“So cute!” said Yuffie.

“No it ain’t cute!” complained Barret. “The bastards just cost me three hundred gil and a piece of master materia! HIGHWIND! Get up here so I can kick your ass!”

“I’d love to,” said Cid. “If I didn’t have something better to do. Besides you couldn’t kick the ass off a dead chocobo.”

“Who says you’re that tough?”

Cid stroked Vincent’s hair. “You’re just jealous because my man is prettier than yours.”

“I ain’t got a man!”

“Well with that attitude I’m not surprised.”

“Give him a kiss!” yelled Yuffie.

Vincent hid against Cid, which prompted more gushing from Tifa and Yuffie. Cid rolled his eyes.

“Can you people please go back to drowning orphans in the Life Stream?”

“Just pretend we’re not even here,” said Tifa.

Cid gave them a sour look, then turned his attention back to Vincent. “How about we go someplace private and talk about this?”

Vincent nodded, and the two began walking away, arms around each other. Barret just shook his head and sighed.

“Cid and Vincent. Well I’ll be damned.” He looked at his remaining companions as the children played in the water. “Any of the rest of you got any secrets you been sitting on?”

“Nope,” said Cloud, “not a one.” He smiled as Reno walked up to him and pressed into his embrace, kissing him. “What about you, babe? Got any secrets?”

“Tons. I’m a Turk. We have all the best secrets, yo. Want me to take you to my place and tell you all about them?”

Cloud grinned, then looked at Tifa. “I won’t be home for dinner.”

“I figured,” she said. “Go have fun.”

Cloud and Reno left together, getting on Cloud’s massive motorcycle and departing just as Rufus showed up, flanked by Rude, Elena and Tseng. Tifa, ever the peacemaker, walked over to Rufus and took his hand. Yuffie rolled her eyes.

“I swear Tifa would forgive the devil himself. And I think she just did. Well I’m out of here. Later Barret.”

“Later Yuffie,” he said, and walked over to Tifa. Barret noticed that Rufus Shinra seemed weak and shaky, but otherwise fine. While Nanaki and Cait frisked in the Life Stream with the children, Barret and Rufus eyed each other warily.

“All seems well for now,” Rufus said. He looked at Tseng, reaching up to touch his face. “Tseng be a dear and contact my minister of human welfare and see about making sure these children have a place to go to tonight with a warm bed and decent food.”

Tseng nodded and went off to do as he was bid. Barret just stared, then grinned.

“Well well well. Ain’t this day just full of surprises. Cid and Vincent have fallen in love and Rufus Shinra has a heart.”

Rufus tossed his head. “I just don’t want them cluttering up my streets.”

“Uh huh.”

Tifa smiled. “Well we should have one more surprise in store. They say things happen in threes, you know.”

No sooner had the words escaped her mouth than something emerged violently from the Life Stream with a loud gasp and the sodden fling of long white hair. The tall man coughed, spitting out fluid as from beside him emerged a second figure with black hair, also coughing. They both dripped and hacked, their clothing soaked. The tall man, clad in a long black leather coat, wrung out his hair, then splashed liquid at his companion.

“You and your bloody directions.”

The smaller man shoved his hair out of his face. “Look I said I would get you out of the Life Stream and I did, what’s the problem?” He looked around. “Hey this isn’t the reactor at Nibelheim. Where are we?”

“Zack?” said Tifa softly, amazed.

“Sephiroth?” said Rufus, equally astonished.

Sephiroth stepped out of the Life Stream and looked around, dripping and bedraggled. He quickly realized where he and Zack had emerged, turning on him, gesturing with his lengthy blade.

“You brought me to you ex-girlfriend’s place?! After seven years of being trapped in that mire you actually have the nerve to take me here? How could you? I’m going home to Mother!”

Sephiroth stormed out of the church, Zack scrambling after him. “Aw come on, baby, please! Don’t be that way! Honey? Sugar?”

Tifa, Barret, Elena, Rufus and Rude just stared as the pair left the church. After a moment Rufus cleared his throat.

“Right, who’s up for drinks at my place?”

“Count me in,” said Tifa.

“Me too,” said Elena.

“Make mine a double,” said Barret. “And lock the door when we get there. I ain’t got the strength for one more surprise!”