Author's note: You wouldn't believe how long it took me to write this! But just to warn you, it's depressing…

A lone figure stood on the deck of the Highwind, the breeze lifting his hair from the scarlet cape. Silently, he watched the last glimmers of sunlight leave the sky and shadows crawled across the land, far below. He sighed with relief. After the years he had spent in the cellar of the Shinra mansion in Nibelheim, he was more comfortable in darkness. Things were easier. For a while, he could forget what he was, what Hojo had made him.

It was over. The last traces of the Lifestream had dissipated back into the planet, leaving the land whole and new, as if Shinra, the meteor and Sephiroth had never existed.

Sephiroth… Lucrecia's child was dead and Vincent was one of the group who had killed him. It had to be done. It was a necessity. Sephiroth could not be allowed to sacrifice so many lives for power. The only way Vincent believed he could atone for not being able to stop the experiment that produced Sephiroth was to help Cloud and his friends find and kill him.

Where was Lucrecia? Had she felt her child die? She had once told Vincent that she wanted to die, but the Jenova cells in her body wouldn't let her. The hold those cells had on life was too powerful for her to overcome. Perhaps now Jenova was dead, Lucrecia would also be able to find peace.

"Lucrecia…" he whispered. "I'm sorry, forgive me."

Cloud stood alone in Tifa's kitchen. The whole gang had split up. It felt strange after being together for so long and after all they had been through that they should now be separated.

Not all of them had left, but Cloud knew it was probably only a matter of time. Barrett was in Kalm with Marlene, and Cait Sith was taking care of the people of Midgar. Yuffie had taken her share of the materia back to Wutai, sulking, after finding that no one else was willing to give her their share as well. Vincent, as far as Cloud knew, was around here someplace and what he would do now was something of a mystery.

Cid and Red were still around for a few more days. Cid needed to fix up the Highwind before he flew back to Rocket Town and Red was catching a lift back to Cosmo Canyon. Shera was due to arrive any day with the spare parts Cid needed. After that, they would all be gone. Not that Cloud wanted them to leave, it was just that Tifa and him really needed to talk and somehow, with the others around, they never quite got the chance.

He walked back through to the living room and sat at a desk in the corner. He still had this letter to finish and it was the hardest thing he'd ever done. Letter writing wasn't really his style but it seemed like the right thing to do.

Cid leaned against the wall, not far from the wrought iron gates of the Mansion, entirely at peace with the world. Everything was perfect. He pulled the cigarette from his mouth, reflecting on that thought. At least, everything would be perfect when that dumb mechanic finally got here. I want to fly the damned Highwind! Why does Shera have to ruin everything? Remembering the episode in space when Shera had managed to save his life, Cid tried to be a little more charitable in his thoughts about her and failed miserably.

Red XIII appeared from nowhere, startling the wits out of Cid.

"Cid…" Red began carefully, once the pilot had finished going through the list of every curse he knew. "Don't move too much and try to act casual. Look around at the top window of the Shinra Mansion. The second window along from the right."

Doing his best to follow Red's instructions, Cid twisted his head to the side and saw the silhouette of a woman framed against the light. "Who?" He asked.

Red shook his head and watched as the long-haired figure seemed to vanish from sight. Like a ghost… He thought. I'm not superstitious but I've seen more than the elders back home have been able to explain. A ghost…

Cid looked up at the old house, thoughtfully. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

Being as I'm not thinking about the Highwind, probably not. Red smiled to himself before answering Cid out loud. "Could it be… her?"

He didn't know how long he sat there, trying to write, before Tifa walked in.

"Hey Cloud." She wandered over to the desk. "What are you doing?"

"I'm writing to Elmyra. Trying to tell her what happened." He paused and stood up. "She should know what Aeris did for us all."

"You don't need to do this." Tifa said softly. "You don't need to tell her. Barrett probably already did that."

"She deserves to hear it from me. I'm the one who was supposed to be protecting Aeris. Besides, I just don't trust Barrett to do it right."

Tifa laughed. "Nothing's changed there, then. But, seriously Cloud, you do know why Aeris did what she did, don't you?"

A grave statement crossed his face as he thought again about what had occurred in the depths of the City of the Ancients. Again he saw the smile on her face, even as she fell to the floor. "She thought it was wrong for Sephiroth to sacrifice the planet and all the lives on it. She didn't want people to die."

"No. She didn't want you to die. She did it for everyone, but especially for you."

Cloud hadn't thought of it that way before, and fell silent. Tifa suddenly pointed to the desk and laughed. "You really haven't written anything yet, have you? It's just blank paper!"

"I lacked inspiration." Cloud said dryly. "Glad you find it funny."

"The only ink I see, is on your cheek, here." Tifa smiled, and standing on tiptoe she reached up and rubbed the ink smudge off his face.

"Tifa…" Cloud began, slightly dizzy at her proximity, but he was quickly interrupted by a snigger. The pair spun around, like guilty schoolchildren, to see Cid and Red hovering just outside the doorway.

"We have some important news for you." Red informed them politely, entering the room fully as he spoke.

"If you ain't too busy…" Cid sniggered again.

"Well?" Cloud asked, slightly put out that they had interrupted at that particular moment.

"We were passing by the Shinra Mansion. We saw a silhouette in one of the windows." Red paused, almost hoping that Cid would butt in and save him the awkwardness. "It was a young woman, and she almost seemed to disappear before our eyes. No one goes in that place except for Vincent. There was something about that figure… Something didn't seem… normal. There was something…"

"What are you trying to say, Red?" Cloud asked wearily.

"We think it might've been Aeris." Red finally got to the point and the colour drained from Cloud's face. A faint hope began to shine in his eyes.

"Let's go check it out." He decided immediately and walked out, followed closely by the pilot and Red.

Tifa hung back for a while. Aeris? Alive or a ghost? She remembered that hope in Cloud's eyes and wished with all her heart that it was Aeris in that place. If it wasn't, then Cloud was building up all that hope for nothing and he had been hurt enough already.

"Tifa? Are you coming with us?" Cloud stuck his head back around the doorframe and the light that filled his face nearly broke her heart.

"Yeah. I'll be out in a sec." She collected herself and shut her eyes for an instant. Whatever happens… If he needs me, I'll be around, just like I've always been. If he doesn't, I'll just lurk in the shadows until he does.

Vincent sat alone on a ledge, high in the mountains that towered over the tiny village. He didn't feel much like returning there, yet. He hated the quaint little houses and the single, unpaved street. He hated the way the sun made the stones look golden early in the morning. He used to love the atmosphere of the place, but that was a long time ago. Now, he hated the small town with a passion. It reminded him of the past… of the time he'd been a Turk who fell in love with one of the leading scientists on the Jenova project. It didn't matter where he went in Nibelheim or what he did, he saw Lucrecia everywhere. He connected everything with a memory associated with her and there was nothing that could quell that.

She was there every time he looked around and it cut him deeply, but he welcomed it. He stayed in Nibelheim to remind himself of what he had done. He had let Lucrecia marry Hojo and he had done nothing to prevent the dreadful experiment that resulted in Sephiroth.

Inside, he didn't feel he deserved the peace that forgetting could bring.

Despite Lucrecia's intelligence, she had still been blissfully unaware of how Hojo's mind worked. She had no idea how ruthless he could be and Vincent had simply not thought to warn her. She had still been a naïve young girl, who had risen too quickly through the ranks of her fellow scientists to be one of the best.

Vincent relived his idiotic mistakes over and over. Whenever he slept, all those moments ran constantly through his mind, a bittersweet taste of the past and a reminder of all that he had lost.

Now, more than ever, he dwelt on Lucrecia's fate. Where was she? There had been no sign of her at the waterfall cave she had made into her home. He had hoped to find her there, perhaps simply because they were the only two left from the Jenova project, they were the only Jenova infused beings left.

Vincent's forehead crinkled as he thought about that. It was entirely possible that Cloud also contained Jenova cells, but Vincent really wasn't sure what had happened to Cloud anymore.

His thoughts returned to quickly to Lucrecia, just as they always did. He tried to suppress the gleeful voice inside that yelled his reason for wanting to find her. She was the only one whose opinion truly mattered to him, and, if she could somehow forgive all the dreadful mistakes he had made, perhaps he could find it in his soul to forgive himself.

He had wallowed in his misery and regret for many years now. He was drowning in it. But it was Lucrecia and only her that could throw him a lifeline. There was no one else.

Maybe she would want him to die, once she found out that he'd helped to kill her son. In his morbid frame of mind, that thought struck Vincent as a happy one. Whatever Lucrecia wanted from him, he would be more than happy to oblige.

Having renewed his resolve, Vincent stood, driven far more by his obsessive all-consuming love for the scientist than any of his nicely thought-out reasons. He would find Lucrecia.

Turning from the ledge to walk away, he felt the rocks crumble under his feet and a sick feeling of dread rose up in his stomach. With nothing to grab hold of but the air that rushed past him, Vincent closed his eyes peaceably and pictured a face. A face with childish features and brown hair pinned high away from her face. But her eyes… Enormous brown eyes, so dark they were almost black… and then Vincent saw only the blackness.

Cloud faced the mysterious figure with a sense of deep disappointment. He hadn't really expected it to be Aeris, but he had hoped.

Tifa dipped her head while her grief for Aeris fought with her own love for Cloud.

"Lucrecia?" Cloud asked eventually, remembering where he had seen her before.

Looking around her, the woman didn't seem to hear Cloud at all. In fact, she hadn't even noticed their presence yet. "I used to sit in this room…" She mused to herself. "I sat in that chair and sang lullabies to my son. He was so small…" She wandered around the room as if she were lost in a dream.

"Cid." Cloud turned to the pilot with a worried look on his face. "Get Vincent. He should be here."

"Well, yeah, I'll do that… Just as soon as you tell me where the &%$£ he is!" Cid retorted.

"Try the mountains." Tifa suggested. "He walks up there a lot."

"The mountains…" Cid muttered to himself, disgusted, as he left. "It would be the $&*%(& mountains."

Looking back to Lucrecia, Cloud saw that she had stopped flitting around the room and was stood motionless, staring at him.

"Vincent?" She asked, having heard Cloud say the name. "Where's Vincent? He was with you when I saw you before."

"He'll be here soon." Tifa tried to soothe the woman, but her face changed quickly from slightly dazed to show an overwhelming anger.

"You left me! Vincent, I hate you! Don't let him near me!" She implored the confused Tifa. "He left me because he was jealous and spiteful. He left me with the monster that called himself Hojo, even though he knew what Hojo was like. He knew what Hojo would do! I didn't have a clue," She continued bitterly. "But he did and he left!"

"Sephiroth…" She murmured, her face regaining some of its softness. "I can't regret you. No matter what they tell me about you. I didn't get to see him grow up, you know." She turned her face back to Tifa, tears in her eyes. "Hojo stole him from me as soon as it was practical to do so and returned with him to Midgar. I was left here, stranded."

Tifa looked up at Cloud, who shrugged helplessly. This wasn't their story, they didn't know what to do or say.

At that moment, Cid cursed his way back through the door, carrying what could only be Vincent. Dumping his burden carefully to the floor, Cid sighed. "Stupid $^%£&! Looks like he fell from one of the ledges up there."

Cloud looked down at the twisted, bruised form of his friend. He was not in a good way, but he was alive.

"Are you sure he fell?" Cloud asked Cid slowly. Tifa looked quickly at him in surprise and frowned at the question.

"He was at the bottom of a £$%^& crevice! Of course he…" realisation of what Cloud was asking dawned. "Stupid son of a –"

"He wouldn't do something like that, Cloud. I don't believe he would." Tifa told him firmly, flipping her hair back over her shoulder.

Lucrecia, who had started at the initial sight of Vincent, edged closer and peered cautiously at the ex-Turk. "Is he dead?" She asked, half-hopeful.

"No." Cloud replied, cross at her almost cheerful tone of voice.

"He should be!" She turned angrily and walked to the other side of the room, as far from the unconscious Vincent as possible.

"We have to get help for Vincent quickly." Tifa said quietly, reminding Cloud of his priorities. She looked up at him for guidance. "What can we do?"

"I don't know where to take him, Tifa. There isn't anyone medically qualified in Nibelheim and we can't get him to another town fast enough now that the Highwind is out of action. Apart from that, what doctor will treat him? He… he isn't even entirely human…" His voice trailed off helplessly as he knelt at Vincent's side. "I don't know what to do."

As Cloud looked up, his eyes fell on Lucrecia. "You're a scientist. You must know enough to help Vincent!" He stepped quickly over to the woman as a scornful smile twisted her face.

"You think I'm mad? There is nothing you can do to make me help that traitor! He left me at Hojo's mercy, whether I knew it or not at the time. And because of him, my only child lies dead."

"How do you know he helped us kill Sephiroth? We never told you! How the £$%^& could you know that?" Cid burst out, unable to contain his curiosity.

"Everyone on the planet has been talking about it, that's how."

Cid opened his mouth to speak again, but closed it quickly when Cloud glared at him.

"I have absolutely no idea what went on between you two. I don't know what happened back then, but Vincent is my friend and I don't want him to die. Please help us." Cloud pleaded gently with the angry scientist. I've seen one friend die, and one is already too many. Don't make me live through another death that I cannot prevent.

"He deserves to die! He left me alone!" Lucrecia was nearly in tears at the remembered pain of that desertion. Even if she had not wanted Vincent to love her, the sudden departure had cut her.

"But he didn't leave you." Tifa put in, remembering what Vincent had told them of his past. "Didn't you realise? He told us the story when we found him here. He found out about the experiment and fought with Hojo to try and stop it, but Hojo pulled Vincent's own gun on him. Hojo shot him, then experimented on him, leaving him locked up in the cellar of this house. That's why you didn't see him again. He didn't leave you, not of his own will."

Lucrecia stared blankly at Tifa, not comprehending what she had been told for a long while. Slowly, very slowly, Tifa's words sunk in and began to make sense. They fitted perfectly to what had happened and Lucrecia began to tremble. She knew the account was true.

"What have I done…?" She whispered, horrified, her dark brown eyes wide as she stared down at Vincent's unconscious form. "Oh no… Vincent, I never… What have I done?"

"You've done nothing that can't be fixed." Cloud sighed, impatiently. "Now help him! Please!"

Lost in the terror provoked by what she now perceived as her wrongful judgement of Vincent, Lucrecia didn't even hear Cloud.

"Vincent, Vincent, I'm sorry!" She fell to her knees besides him, hands clutching at him in despair. "I didn't know… You idiot! Trying to confront Hojo! You knew how utterly insane he'd become, why did you…?" Lucrecia wept into her hands, realising the answer. Because of her. Because Vincent couldn't stand by and do nothing while Lucrecia and her child were turned into Hojo's latest lab project. It simply wasn't in him to stand helplessly and observe.

"Table." She looked up suddenly. "I need a table or a desk, some flat surface or other."

"Cid?" Cloud looked questioningly at the pilot who had stood silently observing with Red.

"Yeah, I know." Cid started to check the other doors of the large mansion, muttering to himself. "How come I have to do everything? Red just £^*%$ sits there, but me? Noooo. It's "Cid do this", "Cid do that" all the – Here's one." He called back to the others.

"Is it OK for us to move him again?" Cloud asked.

Lucrecia nodded. "He's Jenova infused, like me. It takes a lot to kill us."

"We know that from first hand experience." Red muttered, thinking of Sephiroth, but the comment went unnoticed.

Having cleared the desk Cid had found and carried Vincent to it, Cloud and the rest of the group were about to leave Lucrecia to her work, but she called out. "Tifa, is it? Could you stay? I'll need a hand."

Tifa nodded and Red gave her the medical equipment he'd found in the basement. She watched as the woman fussed frantically over Vincent, trying to find what was wrong.

"Will he be OK? Do you know what's the matter with him?"

"I have an idea, but I don't know if I'm right, yet." Lucrecia pulled a small syringe out from the kit the Red had found and bent to take a blood sample.

"He's… a bit pale. Should you do that?" Tifa asked, shifting nervously from foot to foot, feeling useless.

"He's always been pale." Lucrecia gave the girl a wan smile. "This won't do him any harm." She paused for a while, thinking to herself. "Hojo should've had a microscope in the basement somewhere."

"I'll ask if they can find it." Tifa peered out the door and asked Cid to look for a microscope in the basement. Cid didn't even bother to frame a reply, he simply glared. She turned to Cloud instead.

"I'll find it, Tifa. Don't worry."

When Cloud returned, Tifa took the small microscope in to Lucrecia who spent some time adjusting it.

She peered down at the blood sample she'd taken from Vincent and gasped in disbelief.

"What is it?" Tifa responded instantly, worried.

"Hojo… didn't just inject Jenova cells into Vincent. There are… things in here that I didn't know we had in the lab. I didn't even know they existed! I don't know what they are!" She left the microscope and walked back to Vincent, still lying on the desk they had commandeered. He looked like he was sleeping, just a little bruised, the cuts had been cleaned now and he didn't look such a mess. She ran a hand softly down the side of his face and shook her head. "What did he do to you?"

"You know what's wrong? Why he won't wake up?" Tifa pulled a chair out and sat, patiently waiting.

"Yes, I know." Lucrecia nodded gravely.

"Can you fix it?"

"Yes, but I don't know if I should." Seeing the confused look on Tifa's face, the woman started to explain. "Vincent doesn't have such a high proportion of Jenova cells in his body as I have, or as Seph…" Her voice stopped, her face filled with an inconsolable grief but she shook herself and continued.

"Vincent has enough Jenova within that it prevents him from dying from this, but not enough to heal him and pull him back. He's in limbo right now. I could help him quite easily by injecting more Jenova." She held up her own arm and looked at it with a curious statement on her features. "There's enough Jenova in me to pull Vincent back. A small blood transfusion would be adequate – he's lucky we're the same blood type – but I don't know if I should do that." She paused. "To inject more Jenova… he would probably never be able to end it… He'd never have the freedom to make that choice for himself. He might even live until the end of the world, like me… I don't know if I should take that bit of mortality away."

"It's selfish." She sighed. "I don't want him to die because then I'd be alone. I'd be the only one left from that time, the only one who knows what it's like to live under this sentence. I don't think I could stand that."

"If Vincent was awake now, and you gave him the choice, he would choose to stay with you. I know he would." Tifa said softly, earnestly, flipping her long hair back over her shoulder from where it had fallen forwards.

Lucrecia looked down at the pale face for a long while, the battle she was fighting inside showing plainly on her features. She nodded slowly. "I think you're right. But I'm going to need your help."