Vincent's head snapped in the direction of the sound behind him. The old, abandoned Shinra mansion was eerie enough to begin with; he despised coming here with a passion, favoring much more lively locations at which he could keep to himself.
There had even been rumors circulating that the mansion was haunted with vengeful spirits, shrieking with anger and fear in the middle of the night, waking Nibelheim's inhabitants. In fact, it had even become a target for games of chicken between some of the more rowdy teenagers, where whoever staying in the longest and going to the most horrific places without running out and pissing their pants wins. It all seemed like a big joke to Vincent, Rufus Shinra and anyone else with a bit of common sense, until a young man was killed and found on the outside steps the next day.
Rufus had a bad habit for paranoia, needing to get the whole mess cleaned up fast in order to keep himself from receiving any more smudges on his record. That was fine with Vincent, but it pissed him off when he was volunteered for the job without his consent. You'd think that Rufus would call on someone a little more willing - like Yuffie.
Vincent was sure Yuffie could handle any sort of job like this, and it would kill any time set away for boredom she could have had. But no; it had to be Vincent, and when he asked why, their excuse was, 'We trust you, and you've got the most free time on your hands.'
As much as Vincent hated to admit it, it was true. He really didn't have anything better to do. He supposed that was why he let himself be suckered into it in the first place, and now he hated himself for it. He didn't like the situation at all, and what was worse was that he kept hearing and feeling things, sensing presences that made it hair-raisingly clear that he might not be the only one in the house after-all.
He walked up to a wall, placing his ear upon the material and tapping away at it with a metal fingertip. It may have appeared odd to a mind unfamiliar with Shinra's scientists and their eccentric ways, but Vincent knew that there were all sorts of trap doors, secret passageways, and booby traps set about, just waiting for someone cunning enough to use them to their advantage. Even for something as trivial as frightening a few superstitious civilians.
The sound that reverberated back to his ears was nothing but ordinary, although he could have sworn that the sound he heard came from there. He shrugged wearily to himself. Maybe Rufus's paranoia was beginning to rub off.
Taking out his cellular phone and flipping it open, Vincent strode leisurely forward, passing a few harmlessly open doors, too wrapped up in checking his messages to notice movement behind one of them. Pressing the device to his ear, he sighed as Barrett's obnoxious, ridiculing voice roared itself into his hearing canals.
"Hey, Vinnie Vidi Vici! Heard you got stuck on ghost watch from Rufus!" He innately rolled his eyes at Barrett's laughter. "Well, after ya finish up there, you know who you gonna call! Haha… Try not to get yourself eaten, ya hear?"
Flipping the phone off again, that was when Vincent noticed the unsettling sensation of a living, breathing body behind him. Turning sharply, Vincent was unable to make out his ambusher before he suffered an impressive blow to the head, and his consciousness faded black.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
When he came to, blurry vision and a headache were there to meet him, unrelenting as ever. He groaned, becoming acutely aware of a strange, technological beep that would erratically sound as he tried regaining his senses. Eyes roaming around him, his vision grew slowly clearer as he looked up at a cold, metallic ceiling. The surface he was lying upon was cold and metallic as well, and that was when it dawned on him that he was in one of the old, unused laboratories.
Rolling his neck about and trying to stretch his muscles a tad, Vincent caught out of the corner of his eye, a figure, sitting in one of the unmetallic chairs. He was in a very casual seated position, with one of his legs draped over the chair's arm, his long silver hair billowing into his lap. His head was tilted downward, his luminous green eyes focused on the little thing that he held in both of his hands, his fingers randomly pressing at it and causing those beeps that Vincent had distinguished earlier.
Vincent's eyes widened; Sephiroth was playing with his phone. He stared for quite awhile, speechless in shock, when Sephiroth glanced into his eyes, then back at the phone, then did a double take. Then he grinned, flipping the phone closed and captivating Vincent with his eyes. Those terrific, horrific, beautiful, gruesome green eyes.
"Hello, Vincent," he said sultrily, his deep voice sliding like silk along Vincent's skin. Vincent bolted upright then, grabbing his skull in pain the moment he was in a sitting position. Sephiroth didn't flinch – he didn't even blink. "Have a headache?" Then he chuckled superciliously. "Getting knocked out can be a real pain."
Vincent eyed him with unhidden disgust. "So you're the Shinra ghost that's been terrifying the townsfolk?"
The long-since-pronounced-dead SOLDIER licked his lips and resumed his infamous smile. "Why not? If I needed some place to hide and regain strength for awhile, I needed a way to keep most people away from it. So I intimidated a few stupid teenagers, and let the rumors spiral out of control from there."
Vincent sneered at the man that the whole world despised. They had all felt so relieved when they thought he was gone for good. "What are you doing here, Sephiroth? Why are you alive?"
Sephiroth unconsciously flipped the phone still in his hand open and closed a few times. "You would not believe how boring being dead is. I can't believe I was so driven to get there in the first place. 'The Promised Land' is less than disappointing, I'm afraid." Then he tossed the phone into Vincent's lap. "Quite an annoying little thing. I am proud to say that I beat your high score on Snakes, though."
Vincent picked the phone up and examined it as if it was some unidentifiable alien thing, then shook his head a little to make sure he wasn't still hallucinating from the pain. The absurdity of it all almost blindsided him. Maybe Sephiroth gave him a concussion. "Fine, Sephiroth. I guess I can deal with the fact that you came back from the dead in order to have a new, un-Jenova-influenced life, but what has that have to do with me?"
He shrugged nonchalantly. "I suppose it wouldn't have had anything to do with you, if it weren't for Rufus's ego problem. I'm surprised you went along with it. I thought you were better than that." Vincent growled under his breath. Was everyone going to give him a hard time about his recent lack of backbone? "But now that you're here, and you know I'm here, I can't very well let you go, can I?" Sephiroth mused, blinking slowly in order to emphasize how humorous he thought the situation was.
Amazing how that cold stare could so easily heat up Vincent's cheeks. "You can't keep me here," he warned. Although the confidence behind that statement was somewhat feigned; he may have been strong, much more powerful than your average man, but it was a well known fact that Sephiroth could easily take down just about anyone. He might be the only one strong enough to turn Vincent into a helpless rag doll.
Sephiroth's smirk widened – he could tell Vincent was bluffing, and it made Vincent nervous. "Can't I?" he whispered. Then he stood on his feet, sweeping his hair back to rest behind him. Vincent inadvertently swallowed a small lump that had formed in his throat. He forgot how large Sephiroth really was, and with him being on the floor in such an impotent display, the man at 6'1" towered over him with even more superiority than before, if that were possible.
Sephiroth gestured to the room around them. "I know this old house better than anyone, Vincent. And until I can think of a proper way to keep you from spilling the beans to Strife that I'm here, you and I will be spending quite a bit of time together." Then his voice gained a new quality in tone, one that made Vincent's flesh crawl. Could it be defined as lusty? Probably. "And besides – I've been awfully lonely lately, and I don't think a bit of company could do you any harm either."
Vincent leapt to his feet, on guard and ready for war. Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at him, placing his hand on his hip in a gesture of mockery. "You're awfully jumpy, Vincent," he mumbled maliciously, taking a step forward. Vincent took a step back. "It's almost as if you think I'd do something awful to you…"
He advanced on Vincent, and when Vincent turned to run, he was grabbed roughly around the waist, flipped and rammed against a laboratory wall. He winced, the breath being forcefully knocked out of him. He knew he'd be bruised badly later. He opened his eyes to meet Sephiroth's, a new fire having appeared in those endless green depths. "Running away already?" he breathed into Vincent's ear, his lips grazing the skin. Vincent shuddered, involuntarily taking in the smell of Sephiroth's clothing, hair and skin. His scent was indescribable, and, amazingly – sweet.
"I wouldn't make assumptions if I were you, Vincent," Sephiroth began, ignoring the metal claw digging into his arm at Vincent's futile escape attempt. "My intentions had been totally harmless. But now…" His tongue tickled Vincent's ear's contours, and Vincent involuntarily whimpered at the strange intimate feeling. He struggled, but Sephiroth had the upper hand, and Vincent stayed subdued.
Sephiroth kissed lines up and down Vincent's neck, and all Vincent could do was quiver and whisper, "Bastard."
Sephiroth looked Vincent in the eyes then. "Hmm… I might have to prove you right about that…" He brushed Vincent's hair away from his forehead, kissing the bit of skin just above his eyes that wasn't covered by the bandana. "But for now… make sure your sex-deprived notions have nothing to do with me, alright?" Then he released his hold on Vincent, and Vincent stumbled to regain his footing as Sephiroth moved toward the door.
Looking up, all Vincent really saw was Sephiroth's blood-covered arm that he himself personally shredded until Sephiroth closed the laboratory door, quarantining Vincent in. Vincent sighed despairingly, realizing that he really had no choice but to wait and see what the maniac would do. Ghosts would have been so much easier to handle than this.
This is the only disclaimer the authoress will make on this story, because she thinks they're a silly waste of time and text. Everyone knows that she does not own anything important in the content, such as characters, song and movie titles, pop culture references, etc.
And also, even though posting new chapters is my main concern, I'm always editing previous chapters as well, so don't hesitate to ask me to change any mistakes you notice. I'd be more than willing, as long as you're nice.