Fighting Sleep
A Final Fantasy VII One-Shot by ChronicLegCramp-Since'99
*Disclaimer: All characters and places belong to SquareEnix, respectively*
Vincent Valentine lay at the bottom of an oil-thick ocean, bound by invisible chains that bit into his flesh. His long, crow-black hair floated about his head like seaweed; his crimson eyes stung. As his lungs overflowed with the polluted water, still he went on living, made to endure the burning sensation of his oxygen-deprived body. Not that it wasn't by choice. No, this was Vincent's punishment; self-torture for the suffering he hadn't even tried to prevent. He'd abandoned the one he claimed to love, too blind to see that she was silently calling out to him. He only watched as she fell deep into the depths of despair, letting wonderful delusions cloud his mind, telling him she was happy. Her face flashed across his vision, all huge smiles and sad eyes. He writhed in agony, acid tearing through his veins. And then the dream was dissipating- he was waking up.
The heavy lid was pushed aside, exposing his coffin and him inside it. The sound of it connecting with the stone floor echoed off the walls. Vincent sat up and opened his weary, red eyes. Before him was a group of determined-looking people, varying in age. And heading them was a spiky-haired, blond boy whose large, blue eyes were lit with the alien gleam of mako.
"Who are you?"
"We could ask you the same thing," the blond returned with a knowing look. Perhaps it was time for Vincent to take fate into his own hands and finally, fulfil his goal of atonement. It would be so easy to stay asleep, reliving the past over and over again, instead of set things right, once and for all. But Vincent needed to settle this; for her and for himself. He took the proffered hand.