Vincent Valentine stepped across the threshold of Shinra mansion's front entrance, his red cowl drifting behind him like a wraith. It was near pitch black, but his super human eyes could see as if it were high noon. As soon as he entered his inhumanly gifted nose sensed an anomaly in the air. The scent was very faint, but it defiantly was new. It seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite place it, it was too faded for that.
He followed the scent through the corridors and rooms of the expansive mansion. He entered the kitchen and found the smell to be much stronger, strong enough for him to place it. He groaned inwardly at the prospect of her being hear. She was the only one who had refused to leave him to his own machinations after the defeat of the mad Sephiroth. His mind went through all the reasons she could be hear, to deliver a message, but it was more likely she just popped in to annoy him. She seemed to get some twisted sadistic pleasure out of pestering him. HE melted into the shadows flawlessly, both a result of his training as a Turk and his physical augmentation at the hands of the evil Dr. Hojo.
He heard her footsteps long before she entered the kitchen, carrying a carton of eggs.
"What are you doing here Yuffie?" He demanded in an empty monotone, devoid of any emotion. She shrieked and fell backwards, the carton of eggs nearly coming down on her head had Vincent not caught it just before it could land in her dark hair.
"Damn Vinnie don't scare me like that."
"What are you doing here."
"Hehe…well its funny, see I was going to make you a special surprise for your birthday."
"My birthday?"
"OH GAWD VINNIE!!!!!! DON'T TELL ME YOU FORGOT YOUR OWN BIRTHDAY."
Vincent stood motionless for a moment, thinking in absolute silence…to the great ire of the hyperactive ninja, who was tapping her foot on the floor in an effort to relieve herself of some of her nervous energies.
"yes, it would appear that I had." Vincent calmly said to himself. The he returned his attention to Yuffie and said "the sentiment is appreciated, but your presence is not. Please leave".
Now Yuffie was angry. "What!? Vincent Valentine you jerk. What the hell is wrong with you, you always moping around all depressed like, crooning over some Lecresia or whoever and about how you've sinned and blablabla. Cloud loved Aeris with all of his heart, he was devastated when she died and he failed to protect her, the same "sin" that you claim to be repenting for, but he got over it with the help of his friends! Why can't you let us help you?!" Yuffie panted from her long rant and waited for the answer. She hadn't meant to say all those things, but now that she had, she found that she wanted an answer.
The one she got was unexpected, because the level headed Vincent Valentine never showed any emotion, and most certainly not anger, Most defiantly not the nuclear furnace of unadulterated rage that exploded from his voice to barrage her ears and make her cringe in fear.
"SHUT UP, YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING LITTLE CHILD, AND IF YOU THINK YOU DO, YOUR NOT AS SMART AS I ONCE THOUGHT."
At the sight of her fearful face Vincent's voice backed down, no longer was it filled with rage, but now it contained great sorrow and pain.
"You don' understand Yuffie. It's not just the death of Lucrecia… despite how many times I call myself an inhuman monster; some part of my heart must still be human. Otherwise this sadness wouldn't exist. You people constantly forget this, or were never aware of it. Despite how I may hide my emotions, they are still there… You are all my best friends, and I love every one of you, and I too was devastated by the loss of Aeris…but…" Vincent was speaking faster now, as if he was afraid some one was going to interrupt him, but Yuffie listened with rapt attention, her curiosity overcoming her fear.
"Originally, I stayed away from people because of what I had become. You've seen them before, the transformations, those terrible monsters that dwell in the darkest nether regions of my psyche…even now I can hear them calling, lusting for blood. That's why I locked myself in the coffin, to protect others from me…and myself from others."
"The seconded reason came to me when you awoke me from my 30 year slumber. When I looked at myself in the mirror…I had found that I was totally, unchanged I looked exactly the same as I had 30 years ago…"
Yuffie was confused, and, being Yuffie, decided to voice her mind immediately.
"So, I don't get it…the second part about not looking any different."
"I just understood right now too Yuffie. I know how much all your teammates mean to you. So answer me this, how would you feel if you had to watch them all die?"
Yuffie's mouth went agape with horror "Why I'd feel terrible of course, why would you even think that way?"
"Because Yuffie, that is what is going to happen to me. I'm immortal, you will all be leaving me, whether a bullet takes you away or time claims you. You will all meet up in the life stream…and leave me behind. So you see Yuffie? I have to estrange myself from people, if not… the pain would be too great. What's the point of making friends, if you must only watch them die? I know people say that you will always have memories, and that may work fine for a regular human lifetime…but in the wake of eternity…it would only bring more pain as the memories turn from melancholy memories of a time left behind, to bitter reminders of the faces who have left you alone to face the abyss of infinity forever."
Yuffie's mouth opened, she wanted to say something, to help him the way she'd begged him to let her do…but she could find no words of comfort, no viable argument against the cause of his misery. Funny how she'd always wanted him to open up to them so that they might help heal his heart. Now however, faced with the truth of his god-awful curse, she could do nothing but cry, for him and for the revelation of what would become of him.
Vincent simply turned and walked out of the room, leaving the girl kneeling on the floor with tear-drenched eyes. He just kept walking, and walking, and walking, without any thought but to get away, and when he finally came to, he found himself looking into the darkness of his coffin. Words were whispered in his ear as the full realization of the implications of his epiphany from moments before crashed down on him.
Alone, forever, without anyone, for all eternity, never aging, the one unmoving stone in the ever-flowing stream of time, watching all the little pebbles get swept away from him.
Something in him snapped a nerve crackled and blew out; a fiber was overwrought as the words spread through him. He felt unreal, like he was dreaming, the darkness was filling him, like a giddying wine, tickling his limbs as the words transverse his body.
Unaccompanied, alone, solitary, forever, for all eternity, unto infinity…facing the abyss of perpetuity…without anyone…
…and Vincent Valentine found that he could do not, but laugh...and laugh...and laugh.
And from somewhere within the bloody ocean of his eyes, the Devil grinned out….