Vincent Valentine’s Love
By: Meka
Yes its me, the author that’s isn’t very good (run for your lives!!). I’ve been reading other peoples fics and decided I needed to try harder on my fics. I hope this one is better than the last one. The main reason I wrote this is to explain what happened to Vincent after Tifa told him that he needed to be with his love, Lucrecia (this happened in my other fic, Aeris. After Tifa had told him that, he "mysteriously" disappeared). This is also how I think Vincent and Lucrecia actually met, I don’t really believe that line that everyone tells me, that they met in Niblehiem (and I really don’t feel like playing the game all over again just so I can see if I catch anything about where they met (since I’ve beat it 3 times, and I’m busy on FF8 anyways ^^) …hey, its hard to remember every little detail of ALL the games I’ve played ^^. ANYWAYS, I think that it probably could have happened like this and it makes a good story anyways (I HOPE! ^^). And you might think that my story has nothing to do with what really happened, and well, I don’t care! This is something I stirred up out of my imagination, so live with it. Also I wrote this fic as a tribute to Vincent, whose birthday was October the 13th which was about a month ago (I begin writing this 11/6/99) so happy birthday Vincent, this is my gift to you. (And yes I am crazy, but I know that Vincent does not really exist, but I still tribute this fic to him, so live with it). (And I know I suck at titles for fics…leave me alone ^^) (And yes I know I ramble too much ^^) On with the fic!
Prologue
Vincent couldn’t sleep that night. He had been thinking about what Tifa had told him. He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes trying to block out the thought. He knew where Lucrecia was. She was still under the waterfall mourning the loss of her son, Sephiroth. Vincent had felt extremely guilty when he had first visited the waterfall with Cloud and the others, for had lied to her and told her that her son was dead. He believed it was better than telling her that he was on a mad rampage and had summoned a meteor to destroy the planet. Vincent’s mouth turned upwards slightly at that thought, but then it returned to its former somber expression. Lucrecia was now there, at the waterfall, mourning the loss of a son that had never even known that she was his real mother, and probably wouldn’t have cared. Vincent did not know what to do. Lucrecia had gone mad with the loss of her son and he didn’t know how to help her. Vincent felt completely helpless, and not for the first time in his life had he felt this way. Vincent got up from the bed and headed towards the chair where his clothes lay. He pulled his black shirt and pants on and then he whirled the cape onto his shoulders and fastened the snaps that held it in place. He picked up his red sweatband and placed it on his head, brushing his bangs from his eyes. He briefly looked into the mirror, saw his blood red eyes, and quickly turned away. Those eyes always made him remember. He went to the window and opened it. There was a storm in the distance. Lighting repeatedly struck, lighting up the sky. Vincent went out the window and perched himself on the edge of the roof. He crouched down, looking at the storm and began remembering a time long ago…
Chapter 1. The Past
"What are you doing here Vincent? My lab is restricted!" shouted Hojo angrily. Vincent coolly looked at Hojo, his black eyes boring deep into his. "President Shinra sent me. He’s had reports of you doing illegal experiments. Here is my permission to inspect your lab." Vincent pulled out a folded document out of his front suit pocket. Hojo snatched it out of his hand and opened it. He ran his eyes over it and frowned when he saw that it was indeed authentic. Hojo then put the document into his coat pocket; while at the same time he pressed a remote hidden in there. He then stepped aside and let Vincent pass by him. Vincent went down the hallway that Hojo had been blocking off. He began to walk down the corridor and he noticed that every so often there would be doors on both sides of the hallway. He would stop and look in, and he usually saw an empty room with a few empty cages or a table in it. As Vincent continued his search, he thought of Hojo. Hojo was quite an unpleasant little man, and had a horrible temper. And with his dark black hair tucked into a ponytail with stray hairs falling into his face, and that little upturned nose of his, he looked almost female. Vincent sniggered a bit at that thought. Hojo always had those glasses on as well, Vincent wondered if they were glued to his face. His pasty white skin made him look dead, and always wearing that lab coat didn’t help him either. Vincent was broken out of his thoughts when he saw a door labeled Experiments. He reached out and grabbed the doorknob and slowly turned it. Before he walked in, he turned back to look for Hojo, and was mildly surprised that the man had disappeared. Oh well, so much the better, he thought.
He entered the room and looked around. It had a table in the middle and had six cages in it, which were all empty. The cages were set in two rows in the middle of the room, with enough space for a man to walk in between them. All the cages were large enough to hold a chocobo, or maybe a man. Vincent frowned slightly at this thought and then his attention turned to a door at the other side of the room, which had just begun to open. He then saw a woman enter. Vincent’s eyes widened slightly as he got a better look at the lady whom had just entered. Vincent believed she had to be the most beautiful woman he had seen for quite a while. Her hair was a rich dark brown, and was put up into a bun, her eyes were the same color as her hair and they shined briefly as she stepped into the light. She had a white T-shirt on, and she had black pants on; her arms and face were very pale as if she had never seen the sun. She looked at Vincent, smiled and said "I’m sorry but this is a restricted area, did you get lost?" Vincent had never seen a more beautiful smile in his life.
Lucrecia looked at the man that stood before her. He was quite handsome. He had long black hair that hung loosely around his face, a few strands fell into his face making him look even cuter (^_^). He was dressed in a black business suit, with a tie just as black as his suit. His suit front was open and Lucrecia saw he had a holster at his belt, which held a 77-protri gun. Lucrecia was familiar with it; she had invented it a year ago. He looked at her and seemed to briefly lose his composure, so she smiled at him and said "I’m sorry but this is a restricted area, did you get lost?"
Vincent regained his composure (heh ^^) and said, "Hello, I am Vincent Valentine. I am here to inspect the labs experiments for any foul play" The woman looked at him for a moment and went to a rack where a coat hung. She picked it up and put it on and buttoned up the front. It was a normal lab coat that all Scientists had. On the right side above a pocket hung a nametag that read: Lucrecia Van Houten: Assistant Scientist. She then said, "come this way" And turned around and opened the door she came in from. As Vincent followed her, he knew that he had to ask this woman out.
They entered a room that was white tiled like all the other rooms in the building. It had several computers, different types of machinery, and wires all over the right side of the room, with several things beeping and whirring. (I’m not going to get technical here, just imagine a bunch of machiney-type things, ok?) In the middle of the room was a small type of compartment, oval in shape, and it had a small window on the front of it. Lucrecia turned to him and said, "This is our current experiment, Jenova. She is what we call a Ancient" Vincent nodded. He had heard about the Ancients and he knew about President Shinra’s search for the Promised Land. "Step up to the window and take a look" Vincent nodded and stepped up to the window and peered inside. He saw what looked like a monster from a movie. It was a creature that had a face that was human-like, but the rest of its body was not. It had breasts but there where no nipples. Its whole body was light blue, and streaks of a darker blue were on the breasts. The creature had no arms, but it had what seemed to be purple wings, jutting out from its back. Its had what also seemed like red ropes coming out from its sides hooking up to what looked like a heart, but was unnaturally large. It was pulsing slowly, in a steady beat.
Vincent backed up horrified. He had heard stories about Jenova but none summed up to what he had seen just now. "Jesus Christ! It’s a fucking monster!" yelled Vincent. He backed up until he hit Lucrecia. He turned to her and said, "what the hell is that?" Lucrecia smiled at him and said, "that’s the Ancient Jenova. Of course she didn’t look like that from the start. Hojo…" she spat out the last word "mutilated her with his experiments." Vincent looked at her horrified "you help that monster do things like that to other creatures?" Lucrecia looked sad for a moment and began to lose her composure as she said, "I have no choice! I don’t enjoy doing things like that but I have a reason…" "what reason could be enough to do things like that to other creatures!?." Vincent did a double take and said "do you do this to humans as well" Vincent saw the look on her face and continued "This thing, Jenova…it used to be human didn’t it?" Lucrecia looked at him and for a second he thought she was going to answer him. Her sad, forlorn face was replaced with a mask of business. "I’m sorry Mr. Valentine, I’m going to ask you to leave, you’ve inspected this part of the lab and have found nothing that the President would not approve of. You can ask him about Jenova, he knows of what we’ve done to her, its was by his order. I’m sure you have the rest of the lab to inspect. The exit is the door you came through. Good day Mr. Valentine" She then finished and strode to a wall on the other side of the room and opened a door Vincent had not seen before and disappeared into it. Vincent looked after her for a moment and then looked at the Jenova specimen again. He thought about how Hojo might do this to other creatures as well. He went back the way he came and inspected the rest of the lab. He found nothing of interest; he did not see any other experiments either. That’s strange, he thought. There should be more experiments going on in such a big lab…I wonder what Hojo’s hiding…He checked his watch and all other thoughts vanished. His work shift was over and he had to go report back to Shinra. And I don’t get paid overtime either, he thought. ::sigh::
Hojo looked at the screen and watched Vincent enter the car that he had come to the lab with. He grinned as he saw him drive away. He reached into his pocket and once again pushed the button there. He then looked over to other screens as he watched the elevators in the cages rise up each bringing a different creatures with it. He turned the volume up and savored their screams of anger and agony. Yes, today is a good day indeed, he thought with a chuckle.
Hojo walked down the corridor and opened a door. He entered a room that held several creatures in cages. As he passed a few cages, he stopped at a cage. The creature in it resembled a chocobo but instead of wings it had horribly disfigured arms ands its face was vaguely human, but with a beak instead of a nose. Instead of claws it had toes, and its feathers were all a mottled brownish color. It looked up at Hojo with pure hatred in its eyes. Hojo picked up a form that hung on a hook in front of the bars and looked it over. It read "Daven Strife: He was a First Class Solider but rebelled against Shinra. Injected with genes of a chocobo, and Jenova cells, results unsatisfactory. Will be disintegrated into food for other experiments at 1600 on the 25th. Hojo nodded and moved on. He stopped at a wall and tapped it twice. It opened to reveal a hidden room.
He stepped in and found Lucrecia sitting at a table in the middle of the room, reading a document. The room had a screen in the far wall, and a keyboard and other devices were set into the wall beneath it. Lucrecia looked up as Hojo walked in. "You did just fine my dear, he found nothing except what we wanted him to find I presume?" he asked of her. She nodded. "Very well, come here my dear." Lucrecia came and Hojo pointed to the screen. It showed the room that the chocobo experiment, Jake Black, was located in. "I want that failure to be nullified sooner, and this one also". He tapped a keyboard and a picture came up that showed a small child that was horribly mutilated in the face and had a sick looking leg growing from its side. It was crying and screaming "Ma! Ma!" over and over in the saddest voice Lucrecia had ever heard. It took all the will power that Lucrecia had to keep from hitting Hojo. She nodded and said "I will get right to it, Sir". She turned to leave the room but Hojo grabbed her wrist and said "Wait I still have another service I need you to do". Lucrecia was suddenly filled with dread. Hojo pulled Lucrecia close to him and kissed her roughly, and with what soon followed after that, Lucrecia tried not scream in disgust.
Lucrecia stood in the lab’s showers, scrubbing her body furiously. I’ll never be able to take his touch away from me she thought. After she had scrubbed herself so hard that even her hair hurt she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. She looked at herself in the mirror and touched a long cut that was above her eyebrow. She touched it softly and winced. She could cover it with her bangs to hide it. Hojo was very violent while making...not she couldn’t call it love, Hojo was violent when he used her. She had to let him. It was the only way she could keep on with her job to save all those poor creatures Hojo had mutilated. She only had one thing in her life that really mattered, and that was helping the poor people that Hojo experimented on. She stepped up to the locker and pulled out her clothes and donned them. Now that Hojo had gone off to a deep dark part of his laboratory she could work in secret. Hojo never thought that the meek Lucrecia did not do as he ordered and kill the failed experiments. She secretly took them to another part of the laboratory that Hojo did not even know existed. She had had it built a year after she had started working for Hojo. She had a team of scientists in that secret laboratory working on ways to turn Hojo’s experiments back into normal human beings. They had been successful in changing a few back, but most were not as lucky. One day they would be able to stop Hojo completely. They had also tried several times to assassinate him. All attempts had failed. Lucrecia knew that soon the time came when she would have to try even though it might get her killed or put away in prison. It would be worth it if she could just stop his madness. She drew her coat on and left the locker room.
She went to the cage that held the chocobo mutation. She went up to it and it looked up at her with sad eyes. She looked at it and said "don’t you worry Daven we are going to help you." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a walkie-talkie. She pressed the button and spoke to it "Free Bird to Lighting, Free Bird to Lighting come in Lightning. Over." She lifted her thumb from the button and heard the walkie-talkie crackle to life "Lightning here Free Bird. What are your orders? Over" Lucrecia spoke to it saying "Two specimens in need of saving level 3, room 8, cage 4. Level 2, room 15, cage 1.Over" She let up on the button and heard the response "Roger. Sending the teams through the secret passages now. Over and out." Lucrecia put the walkie-talkie away. They were special equipment, she designed them herself. They used a frequency no other radio, satellite, and no other walkie-talkie could pick up. She looked at the chocobo and smiled at it. She then left the room. She went to the room that held all the camera equipment and watched her teams go in and rescue the creatures. She then erased the videotapes. It was easy enough to have her team creeping around the compounds. Hojo refused to have any other scientists on his team, and no one but him and her were allowed in the lab. And those passage ways meant for Hojo’s quick escape in the case of an emergency also helped. And he was always off in the lower levels of the lab doing god-knows-what. Lucrecia then looked at her watch and saw it was 9:00 PM. She decided she would go home that night instead of heading to the laboratory to see to the mutilated child and chocobo. She had the next day off. She would go out to the library, her favorite place out of the whole Midagar. She then would go to the secret laboratory and help the newest creatures they had saved. When she reached her house she took a shower, she still felt dirty where Hojo had touched her. She went to bed and tried to sleep all her worries away. But they would be back the next morning.
Vincent had finally gotten a day off. He never seemed to get days off anymore, ever since he had become a Turk. He had reported to President Shinra after he had visited the laboratory, Shinra did not say anything when Vincent told him of the Jenova specimen, but became interested when Vincent went on to detail the weapons he had seen there. Shinra then said "Good, write it all down and file it. There were reports of seeing strange creatures and hearing agonizing screams around the laboratory but it seems there was nothing out of the ordinary. It must have been drunks hanging around in the alley ways" He then dismissed Vincent and gave him the next day off. Vincent grumbled a bit. He didn’t know why Shinra didn’t just send some flunky to the lab instead of him, I mean for Christ Sakes! He was part of the elite force, the Turks! But now it seemed worth it, he had gotten a day off and had met the beautiful, if strange woman. He decided he would spend the morning of his day off doing his favorite hobby, reading. He would go to the library and maybe check out a few books. Then he would do his second favorite hobby; he would go out some bar and pick up some girl, who would fall for his good looks. (Hey, when you’re young your conceited ^^).
Lucrecia walked through the aisles of shelves looking for the mystery novels. She turned a corner a collided with another person. *oof* Lucrecia looked down and started picking up books and papers that had been thrown to the floor in the collision. She heard a familiar voice say "let me help you with that, it was my fault" She looked up and saw Vincent.
Vincent was quite embarrassed, he should have been watching were he was going. He saw the girl he had collided with was leaning down picking up her books. He began to stoop down and said "Let me help you with that, it was my fault" and then the girl looked up. It was Lucrecia. He hair tumbled down her face now that it wasn’t in a bun and Vincent thought he had died and gone to heaven. He put on his best smile and leaned down and began to help her pick up books, he eyed one of the books she had dropped. It was titled The Escape, he had read it before, it was one of his favorite books. "Do you like mystery books too? I’ve read this book before, its really great!" said Vincent. Lucrecia smiled and suddenly what had happened the day before vanished from her mind. "Its one of my favorites, I’ve read it several times" she replied. Vincent then said "It seems we have something in common, Mrs. Van Houten" Lucrecia then smiled again and said "Ms. Van Houten and please, call me Lucrecia" Vincent returned her smile and said, "call me Vincent. Oh, and would you join me in a coffee?" Lucrecia nodded and said, "I’d be delighted". Vincent decided then that life was good.
Later they sat in a little cafe, sipping coffee. They found they had many things in common besides both loving mystery books, they both loved traveling, and each shared their stories of places they had been to. Lucrecia thought that she had actually found someone interesting, while Vincent believed he had fallen in love. As they were going to part each other’s company Vincent asked for a date with her and she accepted. Vincent went home that night very happy, he would soon have to ask for another day off and that would be deducted from his pay, but it was worth it. He was so engrossed at the prospect of date with her, that he forgot all about going to a bar to seduce a girl.
Lucrecia sat on her chair next to her bed reading a book that she was almost finished with. She shut the book and climbed into her bed, turning off her light. As she lay in the dark she began to think of Vincent. She had gone on many dates with Vincent and she found she liked him very much. Was it love? Lucrecia did not know, she had never experienced this emotion before. A week had passed since she had first met Vincent and she found that he was very charming besides being cute. She also found that he did not like the idea of destroying the habitat and he tried to help whenever he could. He was disgusted at the idea of messing with other creature’s DNA to transform them into different creatures. So she had told him of her plans and what she had been doing. She hadn’t meant to say it, because if any word were to get to Hojo, she would be finished. But to her surprise Vincent had helped her however he could; he even donated money to help pay for the expenses of coming up for new equipment to help the people that Hojo had mutilated. He had been horrified at the fact that she let Hojo have his way with her body and made her swear not to ever let him do that again. He said he would kill Hojo personally. It had horribly hard to convince Vincent not to confront Hojo about that, but she did not want him hurt. Lucrecia smiled. She had never confided in someone so much. It must be love, she felt as if all her problems went away just when they kissed …well, anyways, they had set another date for tomorrow night, when they would plan Hojo’s assassination.
Vincent rang Lucrecia’s doorbell and waited patiently. He looked at his clothes for a moment, he was wearing a tuxedo, he felt quite stuffy in it, but he had to wear it as they were going to a fancy restaurant. He then flicked his bangs out of his face, which being stubborn, fell right back in front of his eyes, making him look so darn cute I just wanna cuddle him and smother him in kisses, and take care of him forever… (Uh… right! back to the story...^^). He held a dozen roses behind his back that he had bought for Lucrecia. He thought about how this was all costing him a bundle, but Lucrecia was worth it. Lucrecia then opened the door a smiled at him. She was lovely. Her hair was put up into a bun again, and she wore a black dress that shimmered as she shifted her weight. It reached down to her ankles but had a slit in the side of the dress that started at the lower part of her thigh. She then said, "come on in". When she turned and went back into the house, he saw the dress was cut low in the back. She turned back towards him and he produced the roses from behind his back and gave them to her. She smiled and smelled them. "Thank you Vincent, there very beautiful" She said. Vincent blushed a bit and said "well, beautiful flowers, for a beautiful lady" Lucrecia smiled and motioned Vincent to sit on a sofa. She then put the roses in a vase with water in it, placed it on the table in the kitchen and walked back to him. She sat on a sofa that was across from the one he sat on, and began to speak
"Any ideas about, how to…. Kill Hojo?" It felt wrong to talking about killing another human being as if it were a trivial matter and not a serious crime. But Lucrecia did not think of him as a human being, he was a monster. Vincent’s smile disappeared as he said "I figured we could send a team in at night to attack him". Lucrecia shook her head "That been tried before so many times, there is no way to get past the security at his house or the laboratory, all the teams failed and became experiments for that monster". Vincent looked thoughtful for a moment he then said, "well, lets give it some though later after we go to the restaurant." Lucrecia nodded her agreement and they left.
The evening passed uneventfully and they went back to her house (with Vincent’s wallet lighter, but he didn’t mind). They spoke a bit more, but could find no other solutions to Hojo’s demise beside Lucrecia killing him. "He would never expect it," said Lucrecia. "NO! I won’t let you do that! You could be thrown in jail! And if you fail Hojo will kill you!" cried Vincent. Lucrecia looked at him thoughtfully and asked, "why do you worry so much about me? If I can kill Hojo, it will be worth it to be thrown in jail or killed by guards. I will have done the world a favor even if I do die in the process" Vincent shook his head and walked up to her. He then looked her deep in the eyes and replied "because I care about you". He hesitated and then continued "No, I love you" Lucrecia sighed and let her head fall against his shoulder, and she wrapped her arms about him. "I love you too". Lucrecia had not spoken those words for such a long time, ever since she was a child. It felt strange to say them once more, but they felt right. She felt Vincent go ridged for a moment, and then she felt him wrap his arms about her. The stayed like that for a while, afraid to let go. Lucrecia then tilted her head up and kissed him. He kissed her in return, with a mixture of emotions coursing through him. He had never loved. This girl made him feel as he never had before, and he knew she was very special to him, and compared to her, all those other girls who had fallen for his good looks and Turk uniform meant nothing at all to him. For once in his life, Vincent felt like he belonged. Vincent and Lucrecia retired to the bedroom, and for the first time in a long time, Lucrecia felt love without pain, and Vincent truly loved.
Hojo looked at the screen and frowned. He had been right in his suspicions and was glad he had installed a camera in Lucrecia’s home. Not only was she cheating on him, she was planning to assassinate him! And that, that, bastard! He never did like Vincent; he had opposed Shinra’s choice to place him the leader of the Turks. But that fat ass Shinra wouldn’t listen to him. He would have to take care of Vincent, but then what would he do to Lucrecia? Even though, she had plotted against him and cheated on him, he still loved her. I will keep her, but I will have to keep her more docile and under control. Just stamp out her little hideout and keep her in the lab. He would take care of Vincent though. Yes he would take care of him. He smiled and began to make plans.
Vincent woke up and turned to his side. Lucrecia was gone. He jumped up quickly and looked around. He sighed with relief as he saw a note from her on the bedpost. He picked it up and read it "Vincent I had to go to work early, I will see you later." Hmm, that was odd, it didn’t seem like Lucrecia would just leave like that. Vincent was knocked out of his thoughts when he heard his cell phone go off. He ran to where his pants where and pulled out the phone and opened it. "Vincent speaking" he said. "Vincent, I need you to go down to the lab, Hojo needs your assistance." Vincent did a double take when he heard Shinra’s voice. Shinra never called anyone; his flunkies always did that for him. Vincent smelled a rat. "Vincent? Did you hear me? I want you to report there at 10 hundred hours" went on Shinra. "Yes sir" replied Vincent, and he hung up. He put his pants and shirt on and glanced at the clock. Hmm, 9:00 he had enough time to get there. Something very strange was going on…
Shinra put the phone down on its hook. He felt a bit sad about losing such a good solider. I wonder what Vincent did to make Hojo so mad? Oh well, he would never see the young Turk again but that was all right, he had another man that could take Vincent’s place. But it still made Shinra shiver when he thought about what Hojo might do to the boy. He only sent Vincent there the first time to appeal to the press. Have a man that most people knew and trusted somewhat, have him say nothings strange about the lab and have him visit it just in case reporters are snooping out. Shinra stopped thinking about such things and called his secretary on the intercom. "Jean, I want you to stop giving pay to Mr. Vincent Valentine and label his file as deceased, also I want you to hire a certain man named Tseng who works on the 21st floor to take Vincent’s place" he said. "Yes sir, I’ll do it right away". Shinra then looked back to his paperwork.
Vincent reached the lab and parked his car in the lot behind the lab. He showed his badge to the guard at the gate, who let him pass by without comment. He reached the front office and saw a secretary seated behind a desk. She looked up and saw him and motioned to a door on the far side of the room saying, "Dr. Hojo has been expecting you". Vincent walked through the door, ready for anything. He half expected for someone to jump on him but he was in the room alone. He turned around and tried to pull open the door to return to the lobby but it was locked. Vincent looked at the door and knew he couldn’t break it down or shoot it open, it was metal. Vincent then turned back to the room and looked around. The room was white like all the others and had a surgery table in the middle. Off in the corner where one of those machines where they put bodies which were dying into freeze till they could fix the person up. What was the name of those things? Ah yes I remember now, rehabators. Far up on the wall there was a large window. He did a double take as he saw Lucrecia behind it, frantically beating at the glass. Vincent had a sudden chill and began to pull out his gun. He heard a door open behind him and he spun about, with one hand still on his gun to find Hojo with a gun leveled at him. Vincent slowly lowered his arm and his eyes darted to the left and right and he judged where he could roll if Hojo shot at him. Hojo smiled at him and said, "This is for stealing my love" Vincent saw him slowly squeeze the trigger and time stood still. Vincent dodged to his right but the bullet still hit him. The bullet that was aiming for his heart hit his left arm and blew it to pieces.
As Vincent hit the floor, with the stump where his arm used to be spurting blood, he thought of the gun Hojo had used. It was an FTR-3 One bullet inside your chest would blow you to bloody chunks. Then he began to lose consciousness, yet he managed to say "Lucrecia…."
Lucrecia screamed when she saw Vincent enter the room. She screamed and banged on the window telling him it was a trap. But it was no use, this was a sound proof booth with bulletproof glass she could not break the window no matter how she tried. She saw Hojo enter the room with a gun leveled on him. She began to hit the glass more violently when she saw Hojo pull the trigger. "Vincent!" she cried as she saw him fall to the ground with his arm blown away. She saw Hojo look up at the window where she was, and when she saw the look of utter delight on his face she felt nothing but anger and disgust.
Hojo frowned and looked at the gun. That man Vincent was fast. He looked up to the window where he had locked Lucrecia and saw her looking down at him with pure hatred in her eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks. She then turned away from the window till Hojo could not see her anymore. Hojo felt victory at destroying this man, but then a new thought entered his head. He would not just kill the man, no that was punishment enough. He would toy a bit with his body and turn him into a pet. Yes that would be satisfactory. Hojo dragged the body to the rehabator in the corner and placed Vincent inside. There, that will keep him alive until I figure out just what I want to do with him. As for Lucrecia I’ll let her wallow in pity and grief for a while. Hojo left the room in high spirits, ideas on how to change Vincent running through his mind. He chuckled as walked down the hallway, content with himself.
Hojo was worried a bit. He knew Lucrecia carried a child within her womb, even though she knew not. She hadn’t been eating. He had to make her eat. He needed his son to experiment on. But she just would not eat. He would soon have to force feed her. But no matter, if he had to he would, maybe he could just tranquilizer her and hook her up to some feeding tubes. Yes that would be the best choice. As Hojo walked down the hallway, he never even thought about the possibility that the child was not his.
Hojo exited the room he held Lucrecia in. A week had passed that he had been tranquilizing her. He now went down to the lab, to see how Vincent had turned out. Hojo entered the room in which Vincent was. Hojo walked up to the rehabator and looked inside. He had fixed up Vincent’s arm, it was now a mechanical claw, and he had also injected Vincent with the cells of a monster called Chaos. It was a rare creature, and very dangerous. Vincent would morph into the form of Chaos, and if the experiment proved successful, he would then alter Vincent’s mind to make him docile. Yes if this experiment was a success then President Shinra would have a whole new line of soldiers! Hojo checked the panel next to the rehabator. Hmm, he won’t be quite ready for the operation for another few months, oh well as soon as Lucrecia has our son; I will get back to Vincent.
Hojo walked down the hallway carrying a case with him, several men in white jackets were behind him. Hojo had decided to enlist some help after the incident with Lucrecia’s betrayal. He stopped at the cell that held Lucrecia and placed his thumb upon the keypad. "You men wait out here. I’ll tell you when to take her out." The door swished opened silently. Hojo entered and the door closed behind him. He saw Lucrecia on the pallet asleep. Good, she won’t even know that I was here. Hojo opened the case and pulled out a needle. He cleaned Lucrecia’s neck with an alcohol and then jabbed her in the vein with the needle. Lucrecia let out a little gasp then fell silent. Hojo tossed the needle back into the case and closed it. He opened the door and allowed the men to take Lucrecia downstairs. He then headed after him.
Hojo thought that the operation had gone wonderfully. It was a stroke of genius of him to inject his unborn son with Jenova’s cells. Now the child could be an Ancient, and find the Promised Land for Hojo! He would now have no use of Lucrecia after she gave birth to his son; he would have to do something with her...
Lucrecia woke out of her stupor, and saw the now familiar walls of the cell. He had drugged her again, she was sure of that. She looked down to her stomach; it was getting larger as the weeks passed. Oh Vincent! This is all I have left of you! And I’ll be damned if I let that bastard have our child!
Hojo rushed down to room where Lucrecia had been moved. It was almost time! He would have a child, a child with the powers of an Ancient! He would have to wait a few years to see if the child would not become a failure, and if it succeeded he would be able to find the Promised Land! Hojo entered the room where Lucrecia was and watched as the doctors delivered his child. He had a son! Wonderful, the tinkering he had done to Lucrecia’s embryo had worked! Another success!
Vincent opened his eyes. He felt very strange, everything was very foggy. He tried to remember where he was. Then all in a moment it came back to him. He remember the gun, his arm blown away and…Lucrecia! What had happened to her? If Hojo has hurt her…Vincent felt a rage from deep within rising…and with it, Vincent felt his body begin to change…
"Oh my dear god! It’s a fucking Chaos!!!" Screamed Gar, Hojo’s assistant. The man was in the glass window at the top of the room where Vincent had been held, and saw the Chaos breaking out of the rehabator. It came out slowly, its black wings flapping momentarily it then turned and looked directly at Gar. "Oh fuck" whispered Gar. Gar raced across the room and hit a button situated on the wall, he turned back just in time to see the Chaos break through the glass.
Hojo looked up from his paperwork quickly. The code red had just been initiated…something had escaped. Hojo quickly got up from his chair and went to the wall, touching a panel located on it. A hidden door swished open and he walked into it.
"Lets go Lets go Lets go!!" yelled the Guard. Six soldiers raced into the hallway near the room that the alarm had been activated in. "Oh shit" whispered a younger solider. They saw a Chaos come out of a doorway, holding a scientists head. There was blood all over the creature and it was chewing on what seemed to be the leftovers of an upper torso. None of the guards could move, they stared, spell bound by fear. The Chaos fixed its eyes on them. It swallowed and dropped the head it was holding, and its gargoyle face twisted into chilling smile. Then it charged them. "Retreat!" yelled the first guard, and that was his last words, for moments after the Chaos thrust his claws into his throat and yanked out the mans spinal cord. The other men barely had time to react when the Chaos leaped onto the next solider ripped his head off with one clawed hand, even before the others could blink. "That things too fucking fast!" yelled a third solider. The remaining men began to run, but they didn’t realize just how fast a Chaos is.
"SHIT! SHIT!SHIT!SHIT!" Screamed Hojo as he watched the screen. He was located in a passageway, which had two monitors in it. This is wrong, he thought, why the hell did he transform into Chaos? He wasn’t supposed to wake up! I must get out of the compound, but first I must get Sephiroth…
Vincent watched all of what he was doing. He was trapped in his own mind…he couldn’t control his body! What the hell am I doing? he thought. Why am I doing this? Vincent watched, helpless, as he tore through the guards. He couldn’t close his eyes or shut away what was happening. Vincent had killed before, but never like this…it was too much for him to handle. Something triggered in his mind, and he shut himself away from what was happening, and hid in a corner of his mind, letting the beast have total control of his body…and what happened to the remaining guards was truly terrifying.
Lucrecia sat in he room, or jail, as it seemed. She had given birth just days before, and barely remembered it, because she had been fully drugged. But she did remember one thing…it was boy…And it was Vincent’s son, so she had to find a way to get him back. Lucrecia looked up quickly as she heard the alarm go off. Code Red! She thought. I wonder what’s happening? After a few minutes, her door opened and Hojo walked in, with anger…no…with fear in his eyes! He was holding an FTR-3, and a little baby wrapped in a blanket, was in the crook of his left arm. "My baby!" Lucrecia cried, and she rushed forward. Hojo waved the gun in her face and said, "don’t touch him. Yes this is your son Sephiroth. But you can get aquatinted with him later; we have to go now! Get out into the hallway!" Lucrecia obeyed meekly, her eyes never leaving her son. Hojo pushed her out in the hallway and told her "ok, get moving" and he pushed in the back with the gun. She began to move, and when they were halfway down the hallway a terrible roar erupted from behind them, they both whirled too see a Chaos lurching after them. Hojo quickly whirled behind Lucrecia and put the gun to her head.
"Ok Vincent!" he shouted, "if you don’t stop I’ll kill her". Vincent? Lucrecia wondered. The Chaos kept lurching towards them and brought up a claw to slash at Lucrecia. Lucrecia then screamed "Vincent NO!" she then saw it hesitate.
Lucrecia? Vincent slowly regained consciousness, and stared out from blood red eyes at her. Lucrecia! Vincent once again felt his body began to change.
Lucrecia and Hojo watched as the Chaos slowly reverted back into Vincent. Vincent kneeled down on one knee just as the wings disappeared into his back. He looked up seemingly dazed, and Lucrecia saw that his eyes were still blood red. Vincent then stood up and reached out to her (hey did I mention that he’s naked? No? Well he is…due to the fact he was being experimented on, they had removed his clothes...^^) "Ah ah ah my boy! Don’t come any closer or I blow her brains all over the wall" Hojo menaced. Vincent looked at him then her. His arm fell to his side, and he looked at them helplessly. Hojo then began to back up, with Lucrecia in tow and they both disappeared around a corner. Vincent sighed and lapsed into unconsciousness.
"Hey! Hello! Are you alright?" Vincent faded into consciousness and saw a slightly chubby man leaning over him. The man was around forty, and had balding white hair. Vincent sat up and looked around. He was in a hospital room it seemed with one bed across from him a widow to the left, and door to the right. He then refocused his attention on the man and said, "Who are you?" The man smiled and replied "I’m Helix! Lucrecia’s main man!" "Helix…?" Vincent mumbled. He then remembered. Helix had been the one in charge of Lucrecia’s rescue missions for the experiments. He then remembered what had happened. He grabbed the man by his front shirt and demanded "where’s Lucrecia?" He then looked at his hand…it wasn’t a hand it was a claw. He let go of the man, staring at his claw, dumbfounded. Helix nodded sadly "yeah, Hojo got you and Lucrecia. He wiped our operation out too. He got to all our people, that is except a few others and me, we managed to escape" He got a forlorn look and then continued. "Yep, he got you and experimented on you…and our guys as well. After our operation had been crushed, I got a job as a scientist for Hojo, and tried to find ways to free Lucrecia and you." Vincent looked up from his claw and asked "What did he do to me?". Helix looked a little nervous and then said "well, he managed to get Chaos DNA in you, and was planning to make you an ultimate solider, uh, minus your brain of course…he wanted to make you docile." Helix changed the subject and said "well, after you had passed out, I found you and stole you away. You were as naked as the day you were born" Helix smiled at that, and then he frowned. "Here I think you should see this" Helix walked over to a corner of the room where a TV a VCR were situated. He took a videotape that was on top of the TV and put it into the VCR. He looked back at Vincent and said "well, this is a tape of the security cameras for that night, which I cut and edited just so you see what exactly happened". He looked a little uncomfortable, but he pressed play anyways.
Vincent sat back horrified. It all came back to him now. He remembered what he had done, and he felt sick. He brushed that aside and turned to where Helix stood. "Do you know where Lucrecia is?" Helix once again looked sad. "Vincent, I’m sorry, but we believe she’s dead." Vincent sat still unmoving. Helix watched his expressionless face for a moment, and then he left the room and closed the door behind him. Vincent then felt the despair fall over him. He then curled into a ball and cried.
After an hour Helix walked back in with clothes in his hands. He laid them down next to Vincent and said, "here these are for you. Sorry if they’re a bit small, but it’s all I could do on short notice. Vincent looked down and saw black pants, and a black shirt. He said nothing as he put them on. Helix handed him some pointy boots and when Vincent look at them questionably, Helix shrugged and repeated "short notice". Vincent pulled them on without further comment. He then stood up and walked to the door. Helix called out ""Hey! Where are you going?". Vincent did not look back as he said, "to atone for my sins" and he then walked out the door.
Vincent walked down the street and passed a clothing store, he paused as he saw a red cape with sweatband on display. He felt cold, not just in mind, but his body had demands too, so he walked over and picked up the cape, fastening it in place. He then picked up the sweatband and placed it on his head. Red, he thought, red like blood… He then turned and walked away. He heard a man shout angrily "hey! You have to pay for that!!" Vincent turned around and faced the man. The man saw Vincent’s blood red eyes filled with something unmistakable…it was madness. The man backed off and let Vincent walk away.
Vincent walked into the Shinra Mansion’s basement. He had locked the door to the room where he would stay, and he had wedged a rock under the door so it would not close while he hid the key safely away. It was in the safe on the upper floors, for even though madness had claimed Vincent, there was a part that still wanted to be saved, and this was a hope that maybe someone would set him free. He walked into the basement room and kicked the rock away, and sighed when the door slammed. He lay down inside the coffin, and closed the cover slowly. When he was wrapped in blackness, and felt its soothing caress, he began to atone for his sins.
Chapter 2. Death
It was time to confront Lucrecia. Vincent jumped off the roof and landed nimbly on his feet, his knees bending slightly. He decided he would see her tonight and there was only one way to do that. Vincent relaxed his whole body and let the change come over him. It had not always been so easy to transform, at first only anger would trigger it, but he could control it now. And not ever since that first time had Vincent lost control of his mind when morphed. He did not want a repeat of the carnage that had ensued after that first time. He was fully changed and his began to flap his wings and then rose quickly, and raced to the waterfall.
Lucrecia knew he was coming, and she knew he would try to make her believe she could live without Sephiroth. And he would make her come with him. She could not let that be. Lucrecia tilted the vial to her lips and drank it. She would be dead within the hour. Lucrecia smiled at this…she would finally join her son.
Vincent touched down outside the opening to the cave. He changed to normal, and entered the cave.
Vincent saw Lucrecia standing in the middle of the room, seemingly waiting for him. "Lucrecia" his voice faltered for a moment and he struggled with what to say. Lucrecia held a hand up, and told him "I will tell you some things you need to know" She took a deep breath and began
Chapter 3. The Truth
"I will tell you all of what happened me starting with the moment you were shot. After some months, I gave birth to Sephiroth. Vincent, Sephiroth is your son" Vincent reeled back in shock and began to speak but was cut short by Lucrecia "Vincent. Listen to me. Whenever Hojo used my body, I immediately injected myself with embryo killers afterwards. I did not want his child. That one night with you I did not inject myself. He is your son" Vincent nodded, several things had fallen into place with those four simple words. Lucrecia lost her composure then, and she sobbed "and you helped kill him!" She looked up at him anger in her eyes "Hojo injected my embryo with Jenova cells to make him an ancient. After you had changed into Chaos and we had escaped, he took me back to the lab and did something to my mind. I was his complete servant for many years. I was also presumed dead. I escaped one year, after Helix discovered me and my condition, and he cured me. I escaped and came here. But there where side affects to what Hojo had done to me. His experiments had made me semi-psychic. I can predict certain things. Vincent, I saw you flying here, and I know your intentions to take me back with you. I drank a poison, which will kill me soon. I do not want to live. I can’t, not without Sephiroth."
Vincent felt numb. He walked over to Lucrecia and wrapped his arms around her. She then broke down sobbing. They both lowered down to the floor, and Vincent cradled her to his breast. He held her like this till she drew her last breath and died. Vincent kissed her lips and (Thus, with a kiss I die…Shakespeare anyone?) slowly stood up and walked out of the cave, and came to he edge of the lake. He lowered her into the water and watched her sink slowly. For a moment he was reminded of Cloud and Aeris. Vincent stood at the lake till sunrise, thinking lost thoughts.
Lucrecia felt herself floating. She looked around and saw green lights about her. The lifestream, she thought. She felt herself being drawn somewhere, and she found herself facing her son. "Sephiroth" she cried, "My son!" Sephiroth slowly turned to her, his eyes fixed on hers, and she saw a deep hatred in there, and a madness that sent chills down her spine. Sephiroth then said, in a cold emotionless voice "You are not my mother" Sephiroth then faded into nothingness. And for the first time ever, Lucrecia realized that that was not her son, she had lost her son the moment the cells had been injected into him. And then Lucrecia felt an utter and total despair at what she had done to Vincent, and her eternal torment began.
Vincent lay back into his coffin and thought of his love Lucrecia. He had loved her truly and Hojo has just wanted her out of lust and greed. He now knew that Sephiroth was not Hojo’s son, he was Vincent’s son. When Vincent thought of how he had helped kill Sephiroth it did not cause him grief, what he truly hated was that he had helped kill someone that Lucrecia loved and held dear. He now has many more years to atone for helping kill his child, and all that time he would think of only one thing. Lucrecia.
Meka
OK THAT’S THE END! Yeah, I know what you’re thinking: What? No happy ending? What happens to Vincent? You mean THAT’S it? What a Crock!!…Well, maybe I’ll write another fic about that later…but right now its 4:26 in the morning (I took a caffeine pill so I could stay up to watch a movie, but I guess I shouldn’t have cuz now I can’t sleep! Oh well, at least I finished the story then. Hey can you believe I started this fic 11/6/99 and finished it 8/2/2000? I’m lazy! No, the real reason is because I believe that my writing isn’t all that good, so I got all depressed and stuff at how I suck at writing. But I have just moved from Florida, USA, to England, Peterborough. And I don’t have the net OR my playstation yet (but I do have cable…^^) so I got bored, and I was hacking through my comp when I came across this story, and I decided to finish it! So, tell me what you think! Tell me if I suck, and that I should stick my finger in an electrical socket everytime I get the urge to write, or tell me to keep at it! Hey if you have any good ideas about stories, feel free to let me know! I’ll give you credit for the idea (I’m not like some people…(gives her bro an evil look) ^^). And sides’ I’m fresh out of ideas. I’m thinking it would be interesting writing a story about the story about Daven Strife (remember the mutilated chocobo-person from the beginning?), how he got to become a experiment, and what happened after he was snuck out of the lab. Tell me what you think about that idea (hey, didja see Daven’s last name? Maybe it’ll be Cloud’s father…Bwahahaha!! ^^) Oh yeah! If you find some mistakes (whether related to the game (i.e. clothes, looks, names, typos, whatever) feel free to email me ‘bout it. Here is my addy! Meka@shinra.org
p.s. to find out the main inspiration for this story came from a paragraph from my other fic, Aeris. To get a better view on why Vincent decided to look for Lucrecia, here is an excerpt from Aeris:
Tifa then went back to where everyone was seated and said, "You all don’t have to stay with us. We’ve saved the planet for Christ Sakes! That’s enough for you to all do! You all can go on to live your own lives now!" Everyone began to loudly object saying that they needed to stick together and such. "Shut up!" Tifa yelled. When everyone had quieted down she continued "Barret have you forgotten about Marlene?" she said indicating the small figure sitting next to Barret holding onto his good arm. "You need to stay with her and take care of her! You should get a job and a house somewhere so she can grow up normally and go to school, she is your first priority now Barret." Barret looked at Marlene who smiled at him and nodded in agreement. Tifa turned to Cid and said, "Have you forgotten about Shera? She saved your life twice, and she loves you! And I know you love her too!" "Is it that obvious?" said Cid looking sheepish. Tifa nodded then continued "She needs you and you need her, you should stay with her Cid" Cid scratched his head and nodded. Tifa then went on "Red, I know it’s hard for you since your grandfather died but his death also affected the people of your village as well. And the death of Bugenhagen was even harder on them. They trust you the most. You should go home and take care of your people. Red nodded and let himself get a scratch behind the ear from Marlene. She then turned to Vincent. "Vincent, you do love Lucrecia with all your soul don’t you?" Vincent nodded "Well, we all know that she loved Sephiroth, her son, very much, even though he was evil. She needs you now that he is dead, she still loves you but her grief has overcome all other emotions." Vincent leaned back against the wall and fell into deep thought. Tifa turned back to Cid and Barret and continued "(In this spot was a S P O I L E R so I edited it…read my other story to find out what happened..^^)". They moved on and so should all of you". Barret looked up at Tifa and said "but what about you?" "My place is with Cloud" she replied. She looked into everyone’s eyes for a moment then went down the stairs.
Ok that’s it! Stop reading now!!!
Hey! What are you doing all the way down here? Get back up there, write down my email and drop me a line telling me what you thought of everything! Now!!