In Midgar, a couple of weeks before February 14

Reno was strolling the streets of Midgar. He was off-duty, and bored. He looked around but saw nothing interesting. It's so boring to be off-duty without Rude, he thought and sighed. Could go home, then. Reno turned around, but froze still as he heard two chicks talking to each other.

"Oh heeey, Liza!" a female voice cooed.
"Hi, Jess!" another chirped.
"So what're you gonna do on Valentine's Day?" Jess asked.
"Oh, you know, I'm gonna ask him out!" Liza giggled.
"Oh, wow, really?"
"Yes! Do you think he'll come?"

At that point, Reno was no longer listening. He stood there, with his right leg up in the air as if he was going to take his next step, and his thoughts were racing. Valentine, Valentine... He had seen that name before, or heard it before. Reno gasped and sprang forward. The two chicks behind him watched in awe as the young, red-haired man ran as if a monster was right behind him. Had he listened a bit further, he wouldn't have made his mistake.

Shin-Ra HQ, the same day

"Rude", Tseng said, "could you please go to the library and find this book for me?" He offered the bald-headed man a small piece of paper, and Rude straightened his sunglasses before taking it. He looked at the paper and nodded.

Rude proceeded to the library, and while in the elevator all by himself, he begun humming to a tune. He never hummed when others were around... not even with Reno. Jingle bells, jingle bells... he sang in his mind. "Such a happy song", he said quietly to himself. Then he reached the right floor and fell in supposed-to-be-threatening silence again.

He was surprised to see his red-haired partner in the library, his head bowing over a huge book. "Partner?" Rude called. "You're off-duty. Get your ass outta here."

"Rude!" Reno jumped up and Rude had to take a step aback because of Reno's beaming face. "I knew I had seen that name somewhere!"

"..Hm?"

"See, I heard these two chicks - not bad-looking, by the way - talking about the Valentine's Day, and I just knew I had seen that name before. And I was right!" He poked the book with his finger. "Vincent Valentine", he said in a theatrical voice, "was once one of us, the Turks. He was in love with this Doctor Lucrecia Crescent, but Lucrecia was married to Professor Hojo."

Hojo has had lovelife? Amusing. Need to remember this later. "..So?"

"So I found out why we're celebrating the Valentine's Day! We're celebrating it because of Vincent's long lost love for Lucrecia!"

Should've known it would come to this... "....If you say so, partner", Rude said, having a hard time to keep his face stern.

Reno was lost in his thoughts again. Then he clapped his hands together. "We should let him know that we know! And since Lucrecia seems to be.. umm.. dead, she and him can't go out...." He thought again for a while, and then remembered something. "Oh yeah! I know! He has a fan already!"

Oh, no. "Reno--"

But it was too late. Reno had rushed out of the library, and was probably going out of the HQ building already. Rude sighed, and remembered Tseng's task fo him. He decided it was much safer to proceed with that task than follow Reno. He'll get his daily portion of bullets because of this, I'm sure.

ShinRa Mansion in Nibelheim, February 14

"This is a scary place", Liza whispered, holding her bunch of roses very tightly in her hands. "Are you sure he's here?"

"Sure thing, isn't he always?"

If just possible, Liza went even more pale from her face. But Reno pulled her through the gates and led towards the gloomy, long abandoned building. They walked through the hallways, and Reno noticed all the monsters were gone. Someone had been cleaning the place. They got upstairs and headed to the room that led down to the cellars.

"This is too scary, I don't want to go", Liza whispered again, sweat running down her back. She was wearing a pink, very tight dress, and felt herself very uneasy.

"Ohh c'mon, not much left", Reno said and opened the secret door. Liza almost started screaming as she saw the circular, wooden stairs. But she followed that young man, because she believed she was going to see her lover soon. They got down to the cellar, and Reno kept on pulling her forward, since her legs seemed unable to function properly. "Let's see... oh yes, here it is!" He stood in front of the secret door that led to the secret chamber. He beamed as he thought about all the pretty Valentine- themed decorations he had bought to decorate that chamber. It's a love chamber, yo! He knocked on the door, which immediately swung open.

Liza screamed as she saw the tall, long-haired man, and the claws, and she ran for her life. Vincent Valentine blinked, but made his conclusions as he saw Reno. "You", he said.

"Damn her", Reno muttered, "why'd she run like that-- huh?"

A golden glove with claws grabbed his shoulder, and he looked up to see a furious man indeed.

ShinRa Mansion in Nibelheim, February 15

"Vinceeeent", Yuffie Kisaragi cooed from the doorway and waved her hand. "Man, what're you doing? Moving out, huh?" She said, her hands on her hips. There were coffins all around the chamber, and Vincent was writing something on them with a black permanent marker.

"No", he answered and finished the last letter. "Did you come with Cid? I'd like these to be returned to Midgar, and quick." He nodded towards the coffins. Yuffie came closer and read the text.

"What's in?"

"Boxes... I think the delivery man brought them here by mistake."

"Reaaally? Oh, I'll call Cid then."

Vincent closed his eyes and sighed. In the coffins were all the decorations that had been sent from Midgar, without the sender's name. He had been very confused about the boxes, and had thought of it a very bad joke - up until he had seen Reno and that woman. Who had she been, by the way? He had forgotten to ask Reno about her.

"Cid's gonna help us to pick these up", Yuffie said. Vincent nodded, and his lips turned into a smile. Shin-Ra HQ would receive a happy surprise indeed...

The secret cave by a lake, February 16

"I'm sorry", Vincent said, "I know I've cursed it so many times, that I was trapped into a small box like that coffin... and I know I then swore - in front of you, too - I'd never punish anyone with that sort of punishment... But you know, it was so stupid from him and -- I just couldn't help myself. Will you forgive me for breaking my promise to you - Lucrecia?"

He looked up to the woman, trapped in her icy grave. She was so beautiful it hurt his heart. He listened for a while. No answer, as usual. But he had finally made his confession, and stood up. But then Vincent blinked. Could it be...? Was Lucrecia really smiling? He shook his head, thinking he was soon going to be as crazy as Reno, and turned around to leave. Vincent stood there for a while, and then he said: "Well... I must admit.. it was fun too, throwing him in that coffin and put all those stuffed animals there with him... It was kind of ..... cute."