I know, I know, sorry for Part 1 being a little slow, I had to introduce the point of the story and the two other Turks- but that’s all done now so on to better things …like the JENOVA Project and the madness of Nibelheim. Well, as usual, send (almost) anything to: ghost_inthe_threads@hotmail.com I answer all, though it sometimes takes me awhile. And remember, FF7 is owned by Squaresoft- not me *sniffles*

The loud roar of the transport plane echoed through the small hamlet as it took off, heading back home to Junon. Vincent and the two other turks stood in the dusty gateway to the small town of Nibelheim as the sun beat down on them. Knox tried to stifle a snort in regards to its size.

"Not too impressing." Knox mumbled as he shoved forward, making his way to the two approaching scientists, practically dragging his bag as he did.

"I knew Nibelheim wasn’t a large town…but I never though it was a hole in the wall." Vincent muttered to Cal as he shifted his duffle bag to the other hand. She turned her head in his direction and raised an eyebrow.

"No? I thought you did. Believe it or not, it was even smaller before Shin-ra arrived with the reactor and built the mansion."

Vincent looked up towards the mansion to the north of the town. It loomed there in the distance, completely out of place and looking as though it fell straight from a horror novel.

"Come on Vincent, we better go meet the project director. I don’t think it’s a wise idea letting Knox do it by himself. Who knows how he could offend them."

Cal said as she adjusted her dark sunglasses and tightened her shirt collar and tie. Vincent followed her example in a similar fashion.

"I think his appearance in itself is offence enough." He added as he shifted his bag again while trailing Cal towards the two scientists that Knox had already greeted.

Cal stopped half a step forward of Knox, dropped her bag down on the dry ground, and thrust out her hand at the older scientist who she assumed was the director.

"Calyena K. Wattakkar." She said, shaking the man’s had firmly. "These are my two colleagues- Vincent Valentine and Knox Belchior; whom I assume you’ve already met."

"Yes." The man replied smiling. "I apologize about the location, but it’s not as though every town has a reactor near by."

"Oh, don’t worry about that. Believe me when I say we’ve all been stationed in more miserable circumstances. Besides, this is out job. It’s what we’re paid to do, Professor- …uh"

"Gast. Professor Gast. This is my partner Professor Hojo. Sorry about that, I’ve been here so long I’ve forgotten all my manners."

"No, no, don’t worry about that. It’s my fault; I’m supposed to know your names. That’s the least of my responsibility."

"I would hope your responsibility would be protecting us, but if memory work is all you do, I’m sure we could still put you somewhere…" The professor joked, smiling again. He stood at about 5’11" and had a stocky build. Gast had a weathered face with eyes the color of grass after a long rain. There were large bags under his eyes; it looked as though he hadn’t slept in days. His hair was short dark brown, and messily combed and parted. Although he looked in his late thirties, his hair had streaks of gray shooting through it already.

Hojo, on the other hand, looked in his mid twenties, about the same age as Vincent. He had long, stringy brown hair crudely pulled back. He had small dark brown eyes that were encircled by thin wire frame glasses. He was about the same height as Gast, but stood up straighter and held his head up high. His arms were clasped behind his back as he looked over the three new arrivals, assessing their strengths and weaknesses as if they were the result of an experiment.

Professor Gast sighed. "There’s no point standing around in this heat. Come on, follow me, we’ll go to the bar- well what would qualify as one here and go over the problems we’ve encountered, and the duties you’ll be required to do. Nothing too complex, don’t worry."

"Hojo," He continued. "I know you want to get back to work, but could you show one of them to their room in the hotel before you return to the mansion."

Hojo nodded. Both Cal and Knox looked at Vincent, and held their bags out to him. Vincent sighed.

"Alright, alright." He muttered, trying to balance the three bags. Hojo reached out and took one, easing his burden.

"Thanks." Vincent said as he began to walk away from the group with Hojo; who nodded in response.

"I doubt you’ll find your accommodations very enjoyable, but then again, I doubt you will be staying there very often, except to sleep." Hojo said as he pulled open the door for Vincent.

"I usually never expect too much comfort from work." Vincent replied. Then added, "Or from this town."

Hojo chuckled.

"Nobody ever does." He added.

After dropping the bags off in the second floor room, Vincent returned to the Mansion with Hojo at the request that he help him take some of his notes and files down into the basement where the lab was located. At first, Vincent took it as a cheap excuse for Hojo to get to know him, but soon realized the truth to the request after looking at two stacks of largely packed storage boxes with papers overflowing from the top and through the seams in the box.

"I never knew notes and research papers could be so heavy." Vincent grunted as he hefted another box into his hands.

"It’s the last one, stop complaining." Hojo said as he lifted another small package carefully into his arms.

"I know, but I don’t understand why I can’t take some of the smaller ones." Vincent muttered under his breath, although he understood why. At first, he thought Hojo might have been trying to get to know him; anyone would get lonely in this town after months of near isolation. But now, Vincent realized, for whatever reason, Hojo didn’t like him and wanted to create as much problems for him as possible.

Or maybe he was just testing him.

"Because these contain valuable items required for my experiments, and if you were to break them, you’d be paying for them for the next six years." Hojo replied quickly. Momentarily, Vincent felt embarrassed at the fact that Hojo had heard his comment, but it soon passed. What did Vincent care anyway, he would be gone in a year and a half and these scientists could return back to head quarters and return to their pampered solitude and science experiments.

"I don’t know how much manual labour my back can take."

"Turks aren’t meant to do grunt work I take it?"

"Hardly. It’s the last of our duties."

"Well, it’s the last box."

The two made their way down the hall and into the end room with the secret passage that leads to the basement. The twisting staircase was almost lost in darkness from the dull lights that dotted the wall every few flights. Vincent almost lost his balance a few times. The long corridor was dim and a few rats and insects scurried across every so often. The downstairs was so poorly renovated that Vincent wondered if Shin-Ra even officially knew about it. Hojo continued walking forward into the main lab to drop off whatever precious items he cradled in his arms. Vincent backed into the side door, still carrying his burden. Hojo and the other scientists seemed to use this room to keep old notes and experiments inside. So far it consisted of boxes stacked upon boxes with random files strewn about the place. The lighting in the room was much better compared with that to the hallway or staircase. Vincent dropped the box onto the ground and dusted off his hands. Hojo stuck his head back in through the door.

"I’m terribly sorry Mr. Valentine, but could you please stack the boxed you brought down for me. It would make all of our lives down here much easier. You can see what this room looks like."

Vincent sighed slowly and gave him a flat look, but then nodded.

"We all appreciate your efforts, so don’t think they go unnoticed."

Hojo pulled his head back out of the door. He could hear his voice talking to somebody, then his feet padding back down the hall as he returned to his room to get more laboratory apparatuses. Vincent ran his hand through his sweaty hair and sighed again. He pushed his falling sleeves back up past his elbows and knelt down to begin his work. After about the third box carried down, Vincent had abandoned his jacket and tie and rolled his sleeves up. The basement was unusually muggy and was tempted to just take his shirt of entirely. He gripped the corners of a box, pulled it up and stacked it as neatly as he could on top of another box as the door slowly opened and a scientist came in holding a clipboard. He didn’t get a good look as he bent down and reached for another box, moving to the back of the room next to the wall. He turned around, making his way back to the original pile but stopped. Taken aback by the woman who knelt on the ground, leafing through a box of file folders.

She had delicate features. Slim hands flipped through the papers. Her perfect, rosy lips were pursed in worry over the task at hand. Her eyes were a beautiful golden-hazel, and squinted in deep concentration over what she was reading. The woman had long, brown wavy hair. It was pulled back into a ponytail, but thin tendrils fell forward into her face and over her glasses. She had a slender frame, and long legs squatted beneath her.

Vincent breathed in deeply. He had never seen anyone like her.

He stood like that for a moment, just looking at her. Then his manners hit him.

"I can move that box on top of another." He said in a shaky voice as he fumbled towards her.

"Oh, that really not necessary." She said in a relaxed tone. She had a smooth, calming voice. The kind angels sang with. "I’ll be done in a moment."

"No. It’s really no trouble." Vincent continued, reaching for the box. "It’s not good to always be bending over rooting through stuff for hours. You guys should really hire a contractor to fix this place up." He added. He dumped the cardboard box on top of a crate of old books. Most probably never even used.

"Oh, thank you." She said smiling. "That was very kind of you. There’s nobody around here to ever do anything like this. The only kind are scientists, and we’re always too busy."

"It was really nothing." He mumbled straining to think of something to say to continue the conversation.

"My name is Vincent Valentine. I’m a member of the Turks." He said, holding out his hand to hers. The beautiful woman smiled again shaking it.

"My name is Lucretia. I’m assistant to Professor Gast and Hojo. I was supposed to meet with you in town, but I had to finish up some calculations." She said, beginning to root through the box again.

"Lucretia…" He said aloud, taking it in. "That’s an unusual name." Then added, "But a very pretty one."

Lucretia looked up for a moment and smiled again, but then returned to her work. Lucretia had a lovely smile. It was a soft one that brightened up her face, the kind that said she cared about what you were saying.

Vincent continued to watch her for a few more seconds before she grinned, pulling a tattered folder from the box.

"I found it." She declared, sticking it in her clipboard.

"You’re pretty lucky," Vincent said, leaning against the wall next to her. "There’s a sea of paper in here, it could take you years to find what you want."

"Then I guess I have a gift for things like this." She giggled almost silently. "Well, it was very nice meeting you Mr. Valentine, but I must get back to work, and so must you." She said, tapping him on the shoulder.

"It’s Vincent. You can call me Vincent."

"Alright Vincent." She replied.

"I’ll see you later then, Lucretia." He called back, as she left the room, door closing quietly behind her.

Vincent let out a sigh and sat down on a dusty crate. Suddenly, 18 months of babysitting and possible hard manual labour, if Hojo had anything to say about it didn’t seem like such a dreaded chore. He had never met anyone as beautiful as Lucretia…anyone as kind as Lucretia. It was as if she were a dream. He had only known her for mere moments, but he could already tell there was a greater person inside her. A kinder, sweeter person he wanted to get to know better.

Vincent breathed in deeply, running his hands over his face, listening to the pounding of his heart.

‘I’ve never felt this way before about anyone… why all of a sudden, her? …I don’t even know her, and already she’s on my mind; I can see her face when I close my eyes; I feel nervous at the thought of talking to her…’

"What’s wrong with me?" He whispered aloud.