Winding Memories
Valerie V.
Authors Notes: First of all, this is an AU. For those of you who do not know, an AU means Alternate Universe, which means I use the idea of the story, but I add my own things. I tried to write this as close to the original story line so everything I write about ties back into Final Fantasy VII and Advent Children as best as it can. This story is set in pre-Advent children and pre-Dirge of Cerberus. I also wrote this BEFORE Dirge of Cerberus was released in America, so keep that in mind please.I would also like to add that the Journal entries are written differently in Destiny's head than what is on paper for those who wonder who writes journals in a story format. The diary entrees are just in story format for your benefit…because I doubt you all want to read collected thoughts. The basic format of this story is written in an odd way, to where you have flash back and present day stories .Also note that some dialog is in Japanese. I did this for its affect and no other purpose really. It just seemed more dramatic in some situations to use Japanese instead of English. I ask that if you do not like this story to respect it and go on your merry way. I can understand your respective criticisms, but please do not go out of your way to be mean. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this little AU. Also for legal purposes the only character I own is Destiny (literally, I copy righted her), all other characters and original story line of Final Fantasy VII, (including Advent Children) are trademarks of SquareEnix Inc (HOORAY FOR SQUARE ENIX :D).
I also want to thank my good friend Bobby, without him some of the parts in my story would not be here. Thanks so much for your support and hours of RP. You sent me in the right direction!
Destiny walked in the old Shin-ra mansion. No matter how many times she begged him, Vincent always refused to move. He said it had been his home for so long he couldn't imagine anywhere else to live. So instead of leaving, she fixed the place up in her spare time. Nothing painted, nothing changed, she simply threw out trash, swept and mopped, and from time to time she polished the old wood. All in all she and Vincent had made it a reasonable home to live in, and for two years now, it had been their home. She always liked coming home to him at the end of the day, regardless of what it was he was doing. Seeing Vincent Valentine's face was like taking in air. Everything about him made life easier to her. She put her black bag down on the nearby sofa, and looked for any sign of him, overall doubting his presence; she called for him, her sweet voice echoing into the old room.
"Vincent?" She called, her head still turning around searching for him. Silence returned her answer, and she figured that he wasn't home yet. So instead of waiting for a delayed answer, she walked up the new set of stairs that Vincent had put there in the place of the old ones, and made her way down the circling spiral stairs that led her to the old library. For her health, Vincent had taken out all of the books that had to do with Sephiroth and his chronicles, so Destiny walked into an empty library with bare shelves and little stacks of paper and small books nearby.
"Vincent?" She called again, hoping he would be there, but again silence returned her answer.
Shrugging, Destiny grabbed the small, brown leather book from the desk at the end of the book shelves and began writing in it. Hopefully Vincent would be home soon to tell her any news he had received from Cloud and the gang. She opened her journal as she sat down, and began writing as she did every night she came home to an empty house. The diary's contents were never of what happened that day, but rather what happened the few months after Sephiroth's supposed death. She wanted to remember everything, incase someone else needed to know their story.
Journal Entry 1
It was dark and rainy, as the perfect setting for danger always was, or so Destiny thought, who had always read stories that started like this. She could feel the cold wind as it and the freezing rain threw itself against her back as she ran closer and closer to the old mansion coming into view. Her silver hair stuck to her thin neck and face, as rain drizzled from the ends of it trailing down her body. She clutched the white shirt around her pale body, as her vision was beginning to fade; her loss of blood was making her woozy. The mansion was only five feet from her, but to Destiny the door knob was a million miles away. Quicker than she imagined, her hand stretched out to meet the doorknob to the old Shin-ra mansion, and it turned with ease, the doors opening into its seemingly safe haven, and she came crashing to the dusty floor below, leaving her feet to kick the doors closed. She lay on the ground for quite some time, trying to catch her breath before a voice gave her recognition.
"Who are you?" A male voice spoke as his figure came into view. She could see his red cape sweeping the floor softly, stirring up the dust resting on it. His voice scared her with its rough, dark tone, and she scrambled to get away from him, leaving a smear of blood from her side behind on the floor. Better to answer him than be silent, so she responded the best she could without trying to sound scared.
"Dest-.." her voice was cut off by a loud pounding sound on the door, and shouts of men screaming various things, none of them audible, except the word "property".
"Never mind," He said to her, taking his gun from its holster at his side. With quick ease he pointed it at the door, waiting for the men to enter. "Are they after you?" He asked, not bothering to glance down to her.
"Yes." Destiny answered obviously tired. "I've been running from them for about three days."
"Who are they?" Vincent asked, focusing on the doors.
"Shin-ra scientists," Destiny answered softly.
"Oh well in that case let's welcome them, shall we?" Vincent answered, still giving her no attention with his eyes. Vincent detested Shin-ra, and if they were after her, that was enough reason for him to protect her. "Get away from the door." He commanded to her in a shout. Destiny might have been wounded, but she was quite fast, and pushed herself from the floor in front of the entree way, as the doors burst open slamming against the walls behind them.
"Get out of my house." Vincent said darkly, taking the safety off of his gun, firing a shot at the feet of the men.
"We will leave when we take our property back with us!" One of the men shouted from his left—there were three there, all wearing dirty lab coats and holding silver guns.
"What property? If you're talking about that girl, she isn't your property." Vincent responded.
"She is Shin-ra property!" The man argued again, his arms shaking so bad he couldn't hold the gun enough to aim properly.
"She is a human being and not property" Vincent said in a clam deadly tone, now rather annoyed at their persistence.
"Regardless of what you think property is, she belongs to us and we aren't leaving without her!" The man answered in response, frustration in his voice.
"Fine, have it your way, I'm going to start shooting now, because I'm not giving you back this girl." Vincent responded "You want a lab rat, use your employees." He said, firing a bullet at the scientist on the left, letting it barely graze the man's ear. The man let out a cry, and fell backwards, dropping his gun.
"Next time I won't miss." Vincent warned, aiming his gun again.
The scientist in the middle gulped hard, looking as though he was mulling things over in his head. Making up his mind, he charged full force at Vincent. It was apparent that the man was obviously more than just a scientist to be able to possess such skill.
Vincent didn't waste a second or a shot; he fired, hitting the man square in the chest, and the man's limp body crashed into Vincent's, knocking them both to the dusty floor.
The other two men seemed to gain some confidence from this little episode, and they too leapt at the chance to possibly injure Vincent. However, Destiny had seen this coming, and though weak from her injury, she jumped at one with a fierce force behind her frail frame, and knocked one of the men down in order to subdue him, as the other one raced towards a bullet that was ready for him. Vincent had fired before any of them had noticed, and the second scientist went down without another word or movement.
Vincent threw the first scientist off of him to aim properly, and while the third man was in the middle of attempting to pin Destiny down, a bullet pierced his arm, and he went down with a cry.
"Leave, and tell Rufus if he's still alive that your pursuit on this girl needs to end." Vincent demanded.
The man didn't have to be told twice, and he ran as fast as he could out the door giving Vincent and angry glare before he disappeared into the stormy night. Vincent sighed heavily as he placed his gun back at his side, he regretted having to kill more people, but between their life and this girl's, she took precedence. He had committed two new sins, and his conscience was starting to weigh heavily on him.
"Why are they chasing you?" Vincent asked, without looking at her as he moved the bodies of the scientists from the entrance out the door.
Destiny responded in silence, very much fearing this man, she had no idea who he was or why he was here, all she knew is that he had just saved her, and he had a gun.
"Don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you. If it makes you feel better, I'll put this down." He said, tossing the gun to the couch, where it landed with no sound. He locked the doors into the Shin-ra mansion before turning his attention to her. "Did you escape their lab?" Vincent asked, this time walking towards her to kneel to the floor where she laid on her side. Blood was collecting into a puddle on the old wood below the two of them.
She responded with a nod, clutching her wound in pain.
"You never told me your name." Vincent said, looking down to her.
"It's Destiny." She responded softly, her blue eyes gazing up to his red ones.
"Vincent." He said, pulling her up to him.
"Let me heal your wound…."He said, his hand moving towards her waist.
"NO!" she cried out, jerking away from him and moving backwards from where he stood. "Then you'll hurt me too." She said softly.
"I'm not going to hurt you. I myself was a Shin-ra experiment." Vincent responded, his arm once again extending to meet hers. She stayed in place and wondered if she could trust him. So far he had saved her, introduced himself, and offered to heal her. If he couldn't be trusted, what was worse than going back to Shin-ra?
"Let me see." Vincent said as he moved towards her attempting to allow his hand met her blood-stained shirt. When Destiny complied he lifted the white cloth a little, exposing her bullet wound and the words J.E.N.O.V.A. in big bold letters on her lower stomach. He pressed his hand over the wound firmly, and a green light emitted from his palm. Destiny felt a calming warm light cradle her side, and mere seconds later felt as though she had never been shot in the first place. Once he removed his hand, the wound was gone and only blood and the words J.E.N.O.V.A. sat proudly against her pale skin loud and clear once more.
"Thank you." Destiny said, looking towards the floor.
"You came from Shin-ra, right? What did they do to you there?" Vincent asked.
"Various things, most of the time it involved blood and test tubes filled with light, and sometimes they would inject me with things. I have been running and hiding from them since I escaped after the Sister Ray incident. The scientists caught up with me two days ago, and since then I have been running from them." She said with courage in her voice, but she was still very scared.
"Sounds like Shin-ra, never changing, still up to their slimy tricks." Vincent hissed. "Are you, a clone of Sephiroth too?" He asked.
"Who is Sephiroth?" Destiny asked, looking confused.
"You don't know about Sephiroth?" Vincent asked
"No." She answered
"What about Jenova?" Vincent asked
"I thought it was my name for the longest time. Other than that…" Destiny trailed off.
"You've never heard anything?" Vincent asked
"Nothing" She answered
"Materia or Life stream, mako… anything?" Vincent asked, now getting angry.
"No, I don't even know what that is." Destiny answered softly, now feeling threatened by his angry tone.
"Come with me, I think there are things you should read." He said almost darkly, turning towards the staircase that led them to the library below.
"You are an experiment; obviously you too are a clone of Sephiroth. Let me explain this best I can. Sephiroth was made from Jenova, who was speculated to be an ancient. Ancients once communicated with the earth and lived in harmony with it. A while back, they found Jenova preserved, and used her DNA to make Sephiroth. Sephiroth is the son of Hojo. He would have been a normal boy if it wasn't for his parents. Sephiroth tried to use the life's energy to destroy our planet until we stopped him. Life stream is what heals our earth, it is what makes it live. Materia, what I healed you with, is made from mako, which is concentrated life stream. Materia has special properties that give its user abilities, such as healing. Sephiroth was utilizing a special black materia to get to the life stream to destroy all life on earth. We killed him about a year ago, and now as a result people are infected with geostigma." Vincent explained, not even bothering to look at her the whole time he talked.
"So what am I, just a failed lab experiment…? Am I an ancient too?" Destiny asked, confused by his quick explanation.
"I'm afraid so, you too are another person ruined by Shin-ra. But don't worry; there are others like you who are also failed experiments. These experiments became good people who protect the planet with their gifts. Perhaps you should meet one of them, his name is Cloud Strife." Vincent said, sitting her down on a nearby chair.
"What am I, a monster?" Destiny asked, feeling her heart crush beneath her chest.
"Only if you allow yourself to be," Vincent answered.
"You aren't going to turn me back into Shin-ra are you?" Destiny asked
Vincent turned to face her, and lowered his eyed to hers again, his red ones piercing into her soft eyes of blue.
"I would never turn you back into that place. Besides, they haven't been around for a year. We destroyed the main lab a while ago. I know Rufus is around somewhere, but I don't know if they have secret facilities. In any case, I won't turn you in. You're welcome to stay with me, though I can't say I am going to be good company." Vincent offered
"I don't want to be a burden." Destiny said softly.
"I suggest you rest. There is a spare bed in the room upstairs just outside the door we came in. We'll talk more tomorrow, I'm sure what I have said wasn't too easy for you to take in." Vincent said, offering his hand to her again.
Destiny took his offer, and grasped his hand, feeling his cool skin against hers. A shiver ran up her spine as she touched him, and for the first time noticing his left arm was a claw, this took her by surprise and she gasped suddenly.
"What?" Vincent asked, following her eyes to his left arm. "Oh, that? That is my other half. I'm afraid it was a gift from Dr. Hojo a long time ago."
"Hojo did that to you?" Destiny responded, allowing her to be pulled up by him, as he led her to the long hallway.
"Don't worry about that for now. Just know that you can stay as long as you want, and I will protect you to the best of my ability." Vincent said, still steering her up the winding stairs, holding her hand to make sure she didn't fall.
"You don't have to, I won't bother you long." Destiny replied, now feeling sleepiness catch up with her.
"Well if you should decide to stay, you may." Vincent said, stopping at the top of the staircase in the doorway of her new room. "Goodnight, I'll be down there if you need me." Vincent added, his head motioning to the library from where they came.
Destiny sighed, her heart still feeling heavy from their previous conversation.
"Don't worry about what you learned earlier, Destiny. Just remember you have the power to do good things, you can be a beautiful butterfly instead of a monster." Vincent comforted, leading her to the old twin sized bed in the corner. She sat down onto the old, squeaky mattress, and she looked up to him with questioning eyes. "You'll be safe here." He reassured her once more, before turning around to face the cold stone that led to his coffin.
A brief interlude
Destiny had put her head down on the desk, feeling tired from her tedious writing, her short silver hair rested against her shoulders and desk below her. She could feel herself dozing off into a silent slumber as her eyes grew heavier by the second. Just as her eyes were closing, she felt a familiar warm hand on her back.
"Up late again I see." Vincent said softly, his finger tips brushing her back tenderly.
"You're home." She responded turning to grant him a smile.
"Sorry I'm late. I know I told you I'd be home hours ago. I got a call from Cloud about Barrett leaving to go find oil wells, so I went to bid him a farewell. The party lasted a little longer than I expected; II almost got killed by Yuffie, five of us had to stop her from strangling Cait Sith after she got drunk…" Vincent said, examining her with his eyes.
"It doesn't matter, I came home late too. I figured if it was an emergency you would have called, so I came down here." Destiny responded.
"You should stop doing that before you go crazy." Vincent said, down putting his right arm around her from behind the chair she sat in.
"You only go crazy down here if you're Sephiroth. You saved me from being a monster, and I don't think I could change at this point." Destiny yawned, stretching.
"I trust you will remain the same, but anyone can change on a whim, remember that." Vincent warned, his hand brushing her chin at the end of his words. "Come on, it's late, and from the looks of it, you've been writing for hours." Vincent added, removing his arms from her, and stepping back to wait for her. "You shouldn't be up this late. You know it hurts you when you exert yourself too far."
"I know." Destiny said, standing up from her chair, and closing the leather book in front of her, and then turning to Vincent so she could rest her head on his chest as she brought herself close to him for an embrace. "I'm glad you're back."
Vincent responded by enclosing one arm around her loosely. He could feel her warmth against him, bringing a calm serene feeling over him.