This is a songfic to "Chop Suey" by System of a Down. enjoy!
Death of an Angel
by hanyou-samurai
Vincent Valentine woke up; soaked in cold sweat, fear still coursing through him like poison. His painfully beating heart was the only way that Vincent knew he was still alive.
Vincent stood up from his curled up position on the hard ground, at the back of the cave he slept in. It was not his "home." He had not had a home for what seemed like eons.
Vincent stretched, working out the kinks in his back that he had gotten from sleeping in the curled up position all night. But, it wasn't anything new to him. He suffered from nightmares every night, and awoke the same way every morning. But all through the night, he suffered in silence… all alone.
After the kinks were out, Vincent walked over to the beautifully carved stone coffin. The lid was made of glass, revealing the perfectly preserved body of the source of his pain and fear.
She looked like an angel, with shoulder length dark silver hair, and skin as pale as moonlight. Her eyes, if they were open, were as gold as the sun. Her name was Akemi, and she was his dead lover.
Vincent felt his heart wrench and twist, as it always did whenever he looked at her, or even thought about her. Steeling himself, Vincent turned away from his angel, and walked towards his cape and gun. Picking up his burgundy cape, he put it on, securing it the same way he always did, with a pin that Akemi had given him. It was a silver serpent, with the Ancient's runes for protection, happiness, and love engraved on it. After staring at the pin for a few seconds, Vincent put his gun in its holster on, and slipped his hands into their gloves. He then ran his fingers through his black hair, straightening it.
Wake upGrab a brush and put a little makeup
Grab a brush and put a little,
He put his boots on, then walked to the front of the cave, the cold winter air instantly numbing his exposed face. But it didn't matter to him. His heart and soul were colder. He took a deep breath, putting his emotionless mask back on. He couldn't let others see his emotions. It might be perceived as a weakness, and Vincent couldn't stand being thought of as weak. The others had all seen his moment of weakness, when Akemi had died. But he would show them no more fear, no more sadness, no more pain. If he had to show them an emotion, it would be the barest hint of anger.
Hide the scars to fade away the shakeupHide the scars to fade away the,
Why'd you leave the keys upon the table?
Here you go create another fableVincent walked out of the cave, boots crunching the thin layer of snow on the ground. He met up with the group in the village a few miles from his cave.
"How are you doing?" asked Tifa when she saw him. She had noticed that he was a bit later than usual.
Vincent gave her an ice-cold glare that told her in such an obvious way she couldn't ignore it, Leave me alone.
"Are we all here?" asked Cloud, the blonde with a slight case of split personalities, but that wasn't his fault. Cloud looked at Vincent, who was staring off into the snowy wilderness. "Vincent." Vincent looked at Cloud, the emotionless mask on as usual. But Cloud had caught the slight look of longing that Vincent had as he watched the few snowflakes drift down to the earth, and get swallowed up by the never ending pool of already fallen snow. Cloud knew that Vincent had been thinking about Akemi. Akemi had loved the snow, and had always watched it, whenever she had the chance. They were all sad about losing her, but now was not the time to die because they were battling emotions!
"Vincent, are you all right? Because if you are still grieving her, you can stay behind on this mission." Vincent's eyes grew livid. He walked up to Cloud and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and placed his face scant inches from Cloud's.
"I will never stop grieving her," he hissed. "And don't even try to stop me from going on this mission. I will kill her murderer, not you! I will kill Sephiroth!"
"Because of him, my best friend and another really good friend are dead, and so are the dreams that I used to have! Yeah, so, he killed your friend. But not your best friend. My need to kill him is more important than yours."
Vincent was absolutely livid at Cloud's conceited and condescending way of thinking. Vincent threw Cloud down onto the cold ground, and stood over him, eyes blazing. "We weren't friends!" he spat. "We were lovers!" Everybody's eyes widened at this revelation. They had all guessed that something had been going on between those two, after they had started living together, but nobody had ever come right out and said it before.
"Lo… lovers?" Cloud stuttered. Even though he had guessed it already, hearing Vincent –cold, creepy, antisocial Vincent- admit it was shocking.
"Yes, lovers. I had the ring. I was going to propose to her that night. And then she was killed. And you're telling me to let you kill him! You have greatly underestimated me, you schizophrenic brat! And at your own expense."
Cloud got to his feet and opened his mouth to retaliate, but Tifa stepped between them, arms outstretched. "Let's just drop this little discussion. We have to go. And we won't be able to win if our emotions are clouding our judgment!"
Cloud brushed himself off. "I'm not the one having trouble with my emotions. The vampire is."
"He's not a vampire. You should stop calling him that."
"He's still having problems with his emotions. He just hides it from us so we will let him go on missions. But I can see what he's doing."
"Do not even pretend t that you understand what I feel, or how I think. Do not assume that I am having problems with my emotions. I have not felt a thing since Akemi died."
"Oh don't lie!" scoffed Cloud. "Anybody can see that you hide your emotions, and that you have scars on your heart."
You wanted to,
Grab a brush and put a little makeup,
You wanted to,
Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup,
You wanted to,
Why'd you leave the keys upon the table?
You wanted to,
"No… not scars… gaping holes. Holes that cannot be sealed, because the only one who can seal them… is gone." Tifa cut in, with a rare moment of wisdom, deadly accurate wisdom.
Vincent turned to the snowy landscape again. "Are we leaving now?" he asked, not addressing the question to anyone.
"Yeah, lets go," said Yuffie. Vincent took the lead, not speaking to anyone.
"I didn't realize that you were in such a hurry to die," remarked the still angry Cloud snidely. Vincent paused, and looked back at Cloud. Their eyes met, and for one instant Cloud almost saw the torrent of emotions. Then, they were gone, and Vincent turned back.
Before continuing, he asked, "Do you trust me?" Everybody opened their mouths to assure him that he was trusted, but Cloud raised his hand, signaling them to stop.
"You are still too much of an enigma for us to trust."
Vincent nodded. Then he asked, "So does that mean that you have no expectations for me?" Cloud nodded. "Then that means that I can betray you at any time and you wouldn't be angry or surprised since you didn't trust me in the first place."
"No it doesn't!" yelled Cloud. "We need your help to kill Sephiroth and bring Shinra down!"
"So, you don't trust me, but you still need the vampire's help?"
"That's right."
I don't think you trust,
In, my, self righteous suicide,
"Very well then. Let us continue."
When they had reached Shinra, they huddled outside to make plans. Vincent stood on the very edges of the circle, and promptly stopped listening, preferring to watch the snow fall.
"So, Vincent, you're going to the library." Tifa looked at him.
"What?"
The library. That's where you're going."
"Right. And why am I going there again?"
Tifa sighed in exasperation. "You are going there to look for enemies. Once all the enemies in the library and surrounding the library are gone, you can leave and go hunt for Sephiroth or do whatever it is that you do once you've done your job."
"Ok. Let's go." And so, they all headed out, all of them feeling and thinking something different.
As Vincent waited in the library, he thought about his conversation with Cloud. He decided that he shouldn't be surprised that Cloud harbored these feelings against him. Even Vincent harbored feelings against himself. But it was still an eye opener, realizing that what he had come to think of as his friends didn't trust him. They were probably all on edge whenever he fought, thinking that he would turn against them at any time. But that didn't bother him as much as it had. He had never exactly gotten along with them, or even liked them. They were acquaintances, to be used to kill Sephiroth and destroy Shinra.
But Akemi… Akemi had liked them. She had thought of them as her friends. But, then again, Akemi thought of practically everyone as her friend. But Vincent admired her for that. He admired her in millions of ways. He loved every inch of her, from the way she talked to the way she laughed. He loved making her laugh. And that was quite easy. She laughed all the time. Even when she had died, taking a swords stroke for him. Who knows how Sephiroth got close enough to cut him, but he did. Maybe it was because Vincent had been distracted? But Sephiroth had gotten close enough to kill Vincent, but Akemi leaped in front of him and took the stroke for him. As she had lain, dying, in his arms, that last laugh, that last smile, and her quiet "I love you Vincent. Be well," had been haunting him, for what seemed like an eternity.
I, cry, when angels deserve to die, Die
You hide your emotions! Akemi had said almost the exact same thing to him, when they had first met. He was walking her home after a battle, since at that time he lived near her. They had been talking, and he had made her angry, because of his lack of emotions, enthusiasm, and passion. "You just hide your emotions!" she had yelled in a rage, and then she walked into her house, slamming the door, hair glowing slightly under the moonlight. As the door slammed, he felt something around his heart crack. And with that feeling came another feeling, a feeling so foreign, so alien, that he was almost scared of it. It was only later that he realized that it was love.
The next morning, Vincent had prepared himself for what he thought was going to be a very unpleasant conversation.
Wake upGrab a brush and put a little makeup,
Grab a brush and put a little,
The next morning, as he was walking past her house, Akemi ran out of the door, a silver key in her hand. "Hey Vincent!" she had yelled. Vincent stopped and looked at her, bombarded with the same emotion he had felt the night before.
"This is for you," she said, presenting him with the key. He took it and looked at it.
"What's this for?" he asked, genuinely confused.
Akemi laughed. "My house of course."
"What-"
"I followed you to your home last night."
Vincent became paler, if that was even possible. He didn't want her to see where he lived. It was a tiny, broken, abandoned church. No heating, and a lot of snow, rain, and wind got in. He opened his mouth to make some sort of excuse.
Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup,Hide the scars to fade away the,
She shook her head. "Don't speak. Hear me out. I followed you home last night. Do you know how dangerous that church is? Do you even know why it was abandoned?"
Vincent shook his head.
"The roof is falling apart. All the elements can get in. Also, all the water that comes into that church has excessive amounts of lead. That's why you've been feeling sick lately."
"How did you know that I've been feeling sick? I didn't tell anybody."
"I noticed. You hid it well, just like you hide your emotions, but I saw it. So, I packed you lunch."
"You what?"
"I packed you lunch." Akemi produced a sack. Vincent took it and looked inside. "You have a sandwich, juice, cookies, and an orange. The orange is to counteract your lead poisoning. Oh, also, the little vial has pills to make the lead count in your body go down, and make you feel better. All of that had better be eaten by you when you get home tonight.'
"This is like a little kids' lunch," said Vincent, surprised.
"So?"
"Why are you doing all of this for me? Letting me stay in your house, making me food? Why? Why would you do this for somebody, especially me?"
Why'd you leave the keys upon the table?"Why do you find it so hard to believe that somebody can show kindness to someone else without an ulterior motive? Why do you find it even harder to believe that somebody would be kind to you without trying to gain something?"
"You mean, this isn't all a dream?" whispered Vincent, gripping the sack and the key tightly.
Here you go create another fableAkemi looked deep into his eyes, gently probing his soul. He let her do it, without putting his guard up. Akemi smiled slightly, and stopped looking into his soul. "No. It's not a dream."
"Why?" asked Vincent, scarcely daring to hope that it might be because she felt the same way about him as he did about her. For he now recognized the feeling that had scared him. It was love.
"Because you're my team mate, and my friend."
Vincent felt his heart plummet. "Really? That's… that's it?"
Akemi, who had turned around, looked back at him and smiled. "No."
"Then what else-"
"I'm not telling."
"Why not?"
"I'm not telling you that either. You'll find out soon enough."
Akemi laughed and turned back around, walking towards her work. They had no missions planned, so she was working as an herbal healer. Vincent was gathering information as usual. When they parted, Akemi called out to him, "See you later!"
As Vincent walked towards her house at the end of the day, he thought about the note that he had found in his lunch that day.
It had read:
If your reading this, it means that you're eating the lunch! Good! I'll see you at home!
Vincent walked up the steps to her house. He hesitated outside the door. He had a key, but should he just walk in? Or should he knock? After debating for a few seconds, he just walked in.
He was greeted with a wonderful smell. Noticing Akemi's shoes by the door, he took his off and placed them neatly beside hers. Carrying his bag, he walked towards the wonderful smell.
Akemi was in the kitchen, chopping up some vegetables. He now recognized the smell. It was steak. He loved steak. Vincent wondered how Akemi knew that.
"Hey."
Akemi turned around. "Hey. I didn't hear you come in. Did you eat the lunch?"
"Yes. It was delicious. And you're right. I do feel better."
"I'm an herbalist. I'm always right when it comes to stuff about the body. While dinner's cooking, I'll show you around."
"I've been here before."
"Yeah, but only downstairs."
Why am I here? Vincent wondered as they walked upstairs. Why is she doing this for me? Especially with all the things that I've done. All the things that can never be erased from my soul.
You wanted toGrab a brush and put a little makeup,
You wanted to,
Hide the scars to fade away the shakeup,
You wanted to,
Why'd you leave the keys upon the table?
You wanted to
"Here's your room. My room's over here. Here's your bathroom, there's an office over here, and these two doors are closets." Akemi took him around the upstairs. When she was done showing him around, she opened the door to his room. "You can put your stuff away, I'll call you when dinner's ready." Akemi walked downstairs.
Vincent looked around his new room. It was decorated in darker colors, exactly how he liked it.
From that point on, Vincent's life turned around. He began to enjoy just living. Akemi's happiness was catching, and Vincent began to smile. After they had become lovers, sometimes Vincent would lie awake at night and just watch his beautiful angel sleep.
Vincent snapped out of his memories as he felt his enemy's presence.
Sephiroth! He thought, heading out the library door, not caring about anything anymore except avenging Akemi's murder.
Vincent ran down several flights of stairs, shooting his gun with reckless abandon at any enemies that got in his way. He didn't care anymore. He just didn't care.
I don't think you trust,
In, my, self righteous suicideHe reached a large, round room. Sephiroth was standing in it. Sephiroth was facing the other way, waiting for Cloud. Vincent didn't bother walking all the way into the room before he started firing his gun.
He got Sephiroth twice in the back and once in the shoulder before Sephiroth turned around and slashed at him with the Masamune.
Vincent jumped out of the way, still firing his gun. This pattern continued for a while, until they both stopped to take a slight breather.
"I'm not waiting for you. I'm waiting for Cloud," said Sephiroth, breathing heavily.
"Just because you have a homosexual crush on that schizophrenic pretty boy doesn't mean that you can just blow me off and not atone for your sins."
Sephiroth sprang forward with an inhuman scream of fury. Vincent felt cold pleasure in getting Sephiroth angry enough to actually fight him.
"What did I ever do to you?" screamed Sephiroth as he slashed at Vincent with his sword.
"You killed Akemi!" Vincent screamed back.
Sephiroth stopped, and got hit with a bullet in his leg. "Akemi?" he asked, trying to remember.
"Yes! Akemi!"
"Oh. Her. So?"
I, cry, when angels deserve to dieIn, my, self righteous suicide,
I, cry, when angels deserve to die"You… you…" Vincent couldn't find words to convey his fury, so he attacked.
"Oh, what's wrong?" taunted Sephiroth. "Did you like her? Did you love her?" Sephiroth laughed hollowly. "Love doesn't exist you idiot."
The rest of the group suddenly appeared through the doorway that Sephiroth had been watching. Cloud saw Sephiroth and started moving forward to attack, but Tifa stopped him.
"What are you doing? Let me go!"
Tifa shook her head. "No. Vincent needs to do this. Or else he will never be able to heal."
"What about me?" yelled Cloud. "I hope he dies!"
Vincent only heard the last part of Cloud's comment.
Father, Father, Father, Father,
Father,
Into you hands I commend my spirit,
Father into your hands
Why have you forsaken me?
In your eyes forsaken me,
In you thought forsaken me,
In your heart forsaken me, ohSephiroth heard Cloud, and turned around. Vincent took advantage of Sephiroth's distraction and fired. His bullet severed the cluster of nerves at the base of Sephiroth's neck. Sephiroth, a look of surprise on his face, fell to the ground. Vincent walked towards him. As soon as he reached him, Sephiroth started laughing.
"I never thought I would be killed by anyone other than Cloud," he mused. "You know, she never did love you. How could anyone love someone whose hand's are stained black with blood?"
Vincent pointed his gun at Sephiroth's head, and fired. He used up all of his bullets but one. Sephiroth died laughing.
Cloud and his friends started walking towards him. Cloud looked furious.
"You did love me, right?" asked Vincent quietly, to the air. He was asking Akemi's spirit. "I know you did. But now, you're gone, and Sephiroth is dead. I have nothing left to live for." Vincent raised his gun to his head.
His friends saw what was happening and ran forward.
Trust in my self righteous suicideVincent saw Akemi's spirit coming towards him. Tears streamed down his face.
I, cry, when angels deserve to die"Come," Akemi whispered quietly to him. "I missed you."
Through his tears, Vincent smiled, and pulled the trigger.
"No!" screamed Tifa and Yuffie.
In, my, self righteous suicideAs Vincent's bloody body lay on the cold stone floor, his soul was reunited with Akemi's. She smiled her gentle smile at him, taking his hand. She kissed him gently. He met her kiss with one of his own.
"Come," she said. "We're going to Aerith and Zack."
"Weren't you there before?" asked Vincent, face wet with tears. Akemi placed a hand on his wet cheek.
"I wanted to wait for you, my love."
As they were leaving to go to Aerith and Zack, they stopped and looked back at their friends. Tifa and Yuffie were crying over his body. The rest of his friends looked sad, even Cloud. Suddenly, they all looked up. All their faces lit up, and Vincent knew that they could see him and Akemi. He had his arm around Akemi, and she was leaning against him. All his friends smiled, and he now saw that they actually thought of him as a friend, just as he thought of them as friends. He also knew that they would all be happy again.
Vincent and Akemi smiled and waved. Their friends waved back, and Vincent and Akemi left.
As they were leaving, one last tear leaked out of Vincent's eye. Akemi wiped it away with her soft, warm hand.
I, cry, when angels deserve to dieVincent looked at her, his love, his other half, his angel, and smiled. As they soared up into the sky, they began their blissful eternity… together.
All I have to say is... I believe in happy endings! Not only do I beleive in them, I like them! Review, review, review! Sorry, review please.