It never occurred to Vincent just how he got through each night. Things always seemed to pull through for him through thick and thin, he was always alone. From the time he could remember he had always been the lone wolf.

Just recently the thought had crossed his mind if what he felt for his beloved Lucrecia was indeed love, because is love really love if it is unrelinquished? He had known that she had cared for him in whatever way she chose. He was never really sure if it were love. Perhaps it was pity for him? It was no longer worth taking time to think about it, he would never know.

He paced casually outside the front door of the Highwind house. The dark sky's brief life would soon be over and still no answers came to him about what their next move would be. Tifa would undoubtfully need to decide what to do with Marlene, Cid and Shera would ask them to stay a few more days until at least the funeral and maybe the rest of the group could be reunited for it. He was interrupted from his thoughts by Tifa's sorrowful voice.

"I knew you'd be out here."

Vincent turned to her nodded solemnly. His eyes met hers and from deep within his heart he felt a pang of something unexplainable. His eyes went soft as he looked over her pale flawless face and haunting eyes. Without intended his hand reached up and held the spot over his heart. Tifa looked at him questionably and walked slowly over to him. He turned away from her swallowing hard, embarrassed by his show of weakness. "Weakness," he thought.

"How are you feeling?" he whispered to her.

"I've been better. I feel like in this past week alone I've cried enough for the whole world to be rid of their tears forever."

Vincent half-smiled at this and looked again at her, but when he saw her face again a frown quickly appeared. "Have you decided what to do about Marlene?"

"Not yet. I don't know what I'm going to do. Barret asked me to take care of her. It's true I've always thought of her like a daughter to me, but I can't raise her. Especially now," She felt her forehead and brushed away a strand of hair from over her eyes, "It was Barret's duty to take care of her and now he's made it mine."

"Have you thought about Cid and Shera?"

Another questioning look came across her face. No, she hadn't thought of that. But what right would it be to make them take care of this child? Cid didn't exactly seem like the fatherly type and Shera might want to have kids of her own and not be burdened with one that she hardly even knows. It was a dead end, she felt.

"I don‚t think I can do that. What if they don't want to take her in? It's not their problem."

"And it shouldn't be yours. Tifa, you know you can't take care of her. They are your only option. Somehow I don't think they'll object. You know what they've been thinking, right?"

She knew he would bring this up. It wasn't as though she wanted to listen in on their thoughts but like always, they poured in. Cid and Shera had been secretly engaged since before the fight with Sephiroth. It was under every intention that they wanted to have children as soon as possible. After months of trying, they still haven't found success.

"I just can't bare to ask them. What will Marlene think? And after this we can't come back to visit can we?" she hugged her bare arms and bowed her head.

Vincent nodded slightly knowing that this would be the last time she could ever speak to Marlene, Cid or Shera. After that they mustn't know that as time passed and they grew older, Tifa and himself eternally will stay as they are now. Tifa too nodded in silent understanding of his way of thinking.

"I'll never speak to Marlene again. She'll think I left her too."

"It's for the best, and you know that. You want what‚s best for her and this is it."

Tifa again nodded and stood up straight no longer leaning on the house. She took one last stare at the sky and looked at him.

"It's getting brighter out, you should come inside." She almost laughed at the irony of her own words.

"I'll be right in." he listened for her to step inside and close the door behind her.

"I wish I were better at consoling," he thought, "If only I were better at these things. Maybe I could cheer her up. Seeing her upset makes me feel," he hesitated to think further but the words just came to him, "it makes me feel horrible. Why did Cloud have to break her heart? She doesn't deserve this. She doesn't deserve to be left with these decisions. I wish... I wish I could understand what I'm feeling. I've never felt this way before." He continued to stare up at that sky with his arms folded in front of him.

"Neither have I." Tifa closed her eyes and stepped away from the window. She too paced around the room silently trying to understand her own thoughts. Before she knew it, she was crawling under the covers next to Marlene and falling fast asleep. Not long after Vincent joined Tifa and Marlene in the same room but sat across from them in a small chair. He lowered the blinds and drifted slowly off to sleep.

* * *

The next morning was an array of events. Marlene woke first and Vincent quickly went over to her and explained how Tifa needed to sleep some more. She should go tell Cid and Shera that they were going to rest a little longer. Marlene left the room dutifully and without the slightest protest. Vincent could tell she knew what had happened to Barret. The only fear in her mind was being left alone. As soon as she left the room, Vincent kneeled beside Tifa and gently shook her awake. She woke with a start but calmed once seeing his concerned face.

"We have to leave tonight. There is no other way. If we stay any longer we might gather suspicion."

Tifa did not answer him; she looked into his face without so much as an expression of consent or showing any kind of feeling. She wanted to be in his arms comforted by him as it was a few nights ago. She wanted to explore what she was feeling for him but didn't know how too.

Vincent stood up and sat back down in the chair opposite the bed. Tifa watched him carefully fascinated by his movements, his ever so calming presence. The first time she met him she felt fear and anxiety around him, she felt a lurking power within him. But that had completely changed over time.

"I don't want her to think I left her alone. I don't want her to remember me like that." She said sitting up. She opened the dresser drawer and fumbled around momentarily. She took out a small sheet of paper and pulled out a pen after it.

Vincent watched her scribble away on the paper for a long time. Finally she folded it over and wrote in big letters on it, 'Marlene' and a heart under it. He didn't ask her what she wrote in it and didn't object when she asked him to leave it somewhere on their way out.

When daylight ceased to show itself finally, Vincent and Tifa emerged from their room in a somber mood and joined Cid and Shera at the table.

Cid smiled nervously at Vincent then walked over to Tifa putting an arm around her. He explained that they took care of all the proper arrangements and the funeral would be tomorrow. Tifa tried to put on a smile for show but failed miserably. She decided that avoiding their eyes was the only way she could hide what she was thinking, as if they could tell anyway.

Marlene sat deathly still on the couch staring out the window. Such a small child knew such pain; Tifa was reminded of her own childhood. She sat down beside Marlene and held her hand, which still didn't get her attention. Vincent watched her through the corner of his eyes. That feeling of the unexplained swept over him again. He found himself thinking about Lucrecia.

Through stories he was told how when her baby was born, Hojo took the child straight from the out of the womb and purposely ignored her condition. They left her there to die, basically, with no medical help after childbirth. As long as the baby was delivered healthy, the mother was no longer needed. She never even got to hold her child, only saw a glimpse of him as they carried him out of the room. Too weak to scream or fight back she let them have their way and waited for the time she could seek revenge.

He remembered how the only one he loved, or thought he loved, he wasn't even granted the time to be with her. Everything he'd known to become attached to was never stable and ongoing. His parents, his job, his life. Everything had been taken away from him. He vowed that he would never become attached to anything because whatever it was with him, it was inevitably ruined.

"Everything I touch crumbles. Everything I love dies. Everyone I know leaves," He wondered, "I'm not letting that happen to me again."

"Vincent? You look like you're lost." Shera said softly trying to get him to look her in the eyes.

"No, I'm fine." He responded coldly. He walked away from her and into the spare bedroom. He shut the door behind him confusing the others in the house.

"He seemed fine a second ago," Cid scratched his head, "Weird."

Tifa looked hard at the floor still holding Marlene with one arm. Then looked over at the closed door feeling her mouth go dry.

The rest of the night was quietly spent over dinner until they best decided they should retire to bed. Tifa led Marlene back to the room and made the bed over for her. Vincent sat quietly in his chair watching them from in the dark shadows. He silently stalked out of the room and waited in the kitchen. Tifa tucked Marlene in and sat down beside her. Tifa whispered to her while she stroked her cheek and hair and Marlene listened tentatively though she pretended to be asleep.

"Darling, you know your papa will always be with you. He'll live in your heart forever if you let him," she felt her face contort as if she were about to cry, but she managed to keep on a slight smile, "And I'll always be here for you, if you let my memory live with you also." She kissed her forehead and stood up walking quickly to the front door.

Vincent met her there, the door already open and waiting for her to step outside. She paused in front of him and looked helplessly into his eyes.

"Have you said your goodbyes?" he questioned using his good arm to slowly push her out the door.

She followed his lead and walked out this time without stopping or waiting for him. She turned towards the exit of the town without so much as a hesitation. Vincent placed the note Tifa had written for Marlene on the kitchen table. He took one last look at the house and turned to catch up with Tifa.

They walked on and on which felt like an endless trail, all in silence until Tifa felt she couldn't take it anymore.

"Where are we going to go now?"

"I have another house further down this road. We can spend a few days there till we decide on where to go next." He answered bluntly and rather unkind.

"You have houses scattered all over this planet, it seems."

He didn't bother acknowledging her presence and kept at his steady walking pace. He felt a wave of anger pass through him coming from her. More of her thoughts came into his mind as he tried to keep them out but couldn't.

She was thinking about Cloud. His smile kept piercing through his mind like a knife and how he hated him for everything. He saw Cloud and Tifa the night before the final battle; he saw them as children, in the Lifestream, at the Mako reactor. He saw his face when he told Tifa that he no longer wanted her in his life. Each moment he hated him more and more.

Vincent hadn't noticed how far apart they were walking. He stopped and turned around waiting for her to catch up. As she got closer he felt her sense of hurt more and more and the details of her thoughts of Cloud stronger. He saw a picture in her mind now. Something she'd been trying to hold back for a long time.

Her and Cloud were on the Highwind sometime after the defeat of Sephiroth. They were alone on deck just seeing the last of their friends go off to bed. She was smiling and laughing as Cloud talked on about something mundane and the conversation was unclear to him. Except he said something that was very clear.

'Tifa, I don't know what I'd do without you, really.'

She smiled brightly and blushed, 'You'd probably be fine.'

It came as a surprise but Cloud moved in closer to her. 'No I wouldn't, you put me back together. Without you I would have been a dead man.' He leaned in even closer to her slowly slipping his arm around her waist.

She was breathing in heavily and cast her eyes on her feet. Vincent heard her thinking, 'I've waited so long for this, for you.' She looked up at him and he kissed her. It was all very passionate and moving, but even he could tell the love between them was not there.

As Tifa remembered these things she felt such agony in her heart, that she was driving herself crazy with these memories. She couldn't lie to herself that she missed Cloud, despite the horrible things he'd done and put her through. Even though he killed her friend, their friend, she felt that the love for him was not erasable.

But then something entered her mind. Nibelheim. But she didn't share this memory with Cloud; it was Vincent who was holding her amongst the broken window glass in the street, next to her well, through the destruction and despair. He was the one who watched over her and cared. She remembered how it felt to be in his arms and it was nothing like being in Cloud's. It felt real and not fake. It didn't feel staged. It felt wonderful.

She walked like a zombie until she nearly bumped into Vincent who stood painfully looking at her.

"Why have we stopped? Is something wrong?"

She had sensed his anger just then and didn't know how to react.

"Vincent, why are you acting like this to me? Why are you mad?" he continued walking away from her and she rushed after him, grabbing one of his arms to stop him. He pushed her off of him and kept walking on.

Something flashed in Vincent's mind. They were back in Nibelheim holding each other. They were leaning in to kiss.

"Vincent, stop," she screamed, "What is your problem?"

He stopped moving but couldn't stop his mind from racing. He closed his eyes and tried to block his thoughts off from her, "If- if I give in, I'll only lose her like I've lost everything else. If I bring her into my world I'll only make hers miserable. *I can't do that to her because I-" he couldn't think any further.

Another flashback, their lips were less than an inch a part. Vincent closed his eyes and felt his arms hold her tighter, closer to his aching heart.

"Tifa, you can't come with me anymore." He said angrily.

Her mouth opened in surprise and her eyes went wide. She tried mouthing words to him but was too shocked. She thought, "Why are you doing this..?"

"I can't take care of you anymore. You're holding me back," Vincent couldn't believe what was coming out of his mouth. That‚s not at all what he wanted to say but he couldn't stop himself. He tried to stop but couldn't, these lies were pouring out of his mouth because he was too afraid to tell Tifa how he felt, "You're making everything too complicated and maybe we should just go our separate ways." He turned away from her unable to look her in the face. His entire body felt tense and in pain. His thoughts again took over his mind, "Why do I feel like this? What is it that is making me feel so horrible? Before I met her nothing I said ever seemed so horrible. Now everything I saw causes one of us grief.

*Flash. He kissed her and he remembered how the world melted around him and it was only her. He remembered how everything faded away and she was the only one who remained. He remembered how he knew this was the only thing he'd ever want from 'life'.

Tifa continued to look at him through blurring vision. "It's all my fault everything's turned out like this," she thought, "All I do is make people unhappy. Just like he told me in my dream. Regrets are what will hold us back, and when I realize it'll be too late, for the both of us. And I screwed it up." Her heart was crumbling in her chest, sizzling away from his words.

He saw another memory, her eyes. They were the same as his. Except this time they seemed empty. The light in them had died and ceased to show what life it so proudly contained. That's when it hit him that this was not a memory. This was happening now. He knew he was the cause for that light's death.

She fled from him running away in the opposite direction as fast as she could, feeling like she was reliving a hellish nightmare. Everything was the same except this time it was worse.

Vincent watched her until he could stand it no more and turned away walking down the rest of the path towards his home. His steps were heavy and almost dragging. He plodded down the road for sometime until he realized what damage he'd done.

"What the hell am I doing? The one person I've ever cared about more than myself is leaving because of me. Because I'm too stupid to realize how much she means to me until she's gone. What the hell is wrong with me!" he said aloud. He pivoted around and stared out searching desperately for her. She was nowhere in site.

"I have to find her. I need her."

He ran after her.