FF7 Heartstrings

FF7 Heartstrings

Vincent Unleashed

by TacomaSquall

Part 1:

Vincent Valentine strode furiously out of the Kalm Desert Rose Inn. He couldn't trust himself around the people celebrating here, including his friends. He had to leave.

Why does everyone expect so much from me? I was there to pass my best wishes on to Cloud and Tifa, upon the eve of their wedding, and Yuffie set out after me like a shark that had scented blood. She kept at me, asking me to dance, and talk with her, and walk with her in the Aeris Gainsborough Memorial Gardens. I want to scream at her that she is playing adolescent games with a monster that would rip her to shreds, given half a chance, that she was willingly putting her head in the monster's mouth and daring it to bite down. While the girl had grown older in the past year, and physically matured, she was still a girl, and I am not going to let her desire to play with fire get her killed.

He had left a note to the others, saying farewell, for he knew instinctively that the others would come looking for him. Cloud would be the first to try and find him, the man who browbeat Vincent out of his isolation back under the ShinRa Mansion in Nibelheim. He and his wife would try to reason with Vincent, try to make him see that he was a good, decent man. The rest of AVALANCHE would be right behind them.

None of them knew the terrible things he had done, the horrid things that had been done to him. The things that made him into something far less than a man. The things that made him something that should be put down like a rabid dog. The demonic side that he held in check by the force of his will, but sought always to reach out and destroy those around him. Vincent knew instinctively that he would kill everyone in AVALANCHE, if he let the dark half of him have sway.

As he walked rapidly to the outskirts of town, Vincent's mind continued its rite of self-despite. If it wasn't for your fear, Lucresia would have known sooner about your love, and would have made different choices. If it wasn't for your pride, you would have tried to understand when she came to you in tears and told you about the Project, and the very special way she was going to participate in it. If it hadn't been for your stupidity, you would have killed HoJo when you had the chance, as opposed to giving him a chance to wrest your handgun away from you. You wouldn't have killed her…

Chased by the ghosts of his past and by the demons of guilt he bore within himself, Vincent ran full-speed out of Kalm. Unbeknownst to him, two ebon eyes followed his progress. The eyes' owner smiled. Soon…

* * * * * *

Yuffie Kisaragi looked resplendent in a floor-length gown made of gossamer and lace. She had grown in the year since the quest to defeat Sephiroth. Taller now, as tall as Barret and Cloud, her dark hair tamed and braided lavishly down to the middle of her back, her coltish figure finally giving way to the softer contours of a woman, she was definitely the belle of the wedding ball. Dozens of men, ranging from crusty old Cid (earning a rare glance of anger from Shera) to Reeve (who looked so debonair in his tailored suit) to many of the young men around her age, all clamored to claim a dance with her.

She smiled at her suitors and coquettishly fluttered her eyelashes at one the handsome young man who had claimed the current dance. The number was a new piece from a new songwriter in Junon, and was a romantic song about a singer and the man who looks on at every night's performance. The song's lyrics (not being sung for this dance) told a tale of a woman who wants desperately for her admirer to gather the courage to actually confess his feelings for her, and discover that she is not just a singer on a stage.

It was a bittersweet song, and a fitting one for Yuffie's true mood. She was looking for Vincent, the man she really wanted to dance with. Earlier that day, after the wedding ceremony, she had caught Tifa's bouquet. And she had a burning question she wanted to ask the reclusive gunslinger.

Yuffie didn't understand why she was drawn to Vincent. There wasn't a man she knew who was more opposite to her. His aloof, morose manner went continuously at loggerheads with her devil-may-care, girls-just-wanna-have-fun attitude. But yet she constantly wanted to go and try and break through his silence, to get him to laugh, to smile, to enjoy life for a change. She wanted to see if he would, as she half suspected, die of mortification for allowing such a ray of sunshine break through the overcast of his mood.

Her mouth twisted into a quick moue of irritation. Where was that man?

* * * * * *

Vincent stood far outside the town, looking back at its lights. Every one of those lights is a life that is endangered every time I draw near. Maybe it would be better if I went away forever.

"Excuse me?"

Vincent whirled to face toward the ruins of Midgar. A stooped, balding man stood behind him. The man was clothed in a tattered ShinRa Company maintenance overall that had likely seen better decades. Vincent realized he hadn't heard the man walk up.

"What do you want, old man?" Vincent unholstered the Death Penalty and pointed at in the general direction of the stranger, but not at him. The first of rule of guns was to not point it at someone unless you intend to shoot them, and to not shoot them unless you intended to kill. However, Vincent knew he could have the man shot and killed in a split-second, should the need arise.

"I couldn't help but see you, and your look back at Kalm. You are Vincent Valentine, member of AVALANCHE, right?"

"Yes." Vincent was uneasy. He didn't trust this man. Surreptitiously, he eased the safety off on the Death Penalty. "What of it?"

"I heard that you were a man who has the terrifying power to transform into a monster, and that such power make you into a threat to all around you."

"Including you, old man," Vincent snarled.

The old man nodded. "Including me. As it happens, I found something very strange in the ruins of the ShinRa tower that might be of interest to you. I found a secret laboratory, created by the mad genius, HoJo."

Vincent went stiff with surprise. "A lab?"

"With hidden notes that detail a way to reverse the experiment that had been performed on you. HoJo foresaw the need to one day get rid of your powers, before you could use them against him."

Vincent smiled. "It's a little too late for HoJo to stop that now."

"Right. I believe that I can reverse the experiment upon you, freeing you of the literal demons that have been haunting you. Freeing you to finally feel safe with your friends."

To not be afraid of turning into Chaos? To not have to worry about becoming the Hellmasker at some inopportune moment? To be able to sleep, and find peace, and not worry that when he wakened, he'd find something destroyed by his hellish alter-egos? To not be afraid of letting a young woman love him…

The old man nodded, seeming to catch the tenor of Vincent's thoughts. "But I need you to come with me."

Vincent nodded and walked after the old man toward Midgar's ruins. Towards freedom.

* * * * * * *

Inside the shapeshifted shell of an old man, Lord Tenarrus smiled. Soon he would have his four horsemen, and Vincent Valentine as well…

End of Part One