Short of Eternity

by Kinneas

He stood by the window in the dead of night, solemnly, alone. As he had been for years. Loneliness. Solitude. Seclusion. Isolation. The only feelings he felt anymore. Besides anger. Anger dominated his very being, purging his soul, his essence. Or what was left of it. His crimson eyes' gaze washed across the surface of the earth, no longer barren, but beautiful. The Planet had long since healed itself.

He shut his eyes, breathing ragged. Why? Why was he damned like this? The stoic man stood silently, and then crumpled to the floor. "NO!" he shouted, slamming his fist into the ground. He wanted to cry, he really did, but that was impossible. It had been two hundred thirty years since he last cried....

The door, mere feet away, burst open. The silhouette of a large cat-like figure gracefully glided in. "Reflecting again, Vincent?" he said in a low growl.

Vincent stood up, trying to regain his composure. "Yes..." he muttered. "Red, in all of the years we have..." he hesitated, "been on this planet without the others, have you ever felt remorse or regret?"

Red looked solemnly at the man. Something was troubling him yet again. With every passing year, Vincent became more and more removed. "Sir, I do not trouble myself with the past. This is the way I was meant to be."

"That is what I was afraid of. Ever since... she left..." he stopped mid-sentence, his breathing becoming ragged once more. The anger coursed through his veins, like fire riveting through his soul. The only thing he had ever loved was gone. The only friends he had ever had were long gone, save Nanaki. A growing sense of dread consumed him as he realized that Red would die as well. But Vincent was destined to stay forever.

Cloud, Tifa and the others were together. They were one with the Planet. As he could never be. When Cid died, much mourning ensued, but Vincent knew... he knew that they would all be together again. Someday. Cloud and Tifa's deaths soon followed, as did Barret, Reeve, and finally Yuffie. Only Red and himself still remained... "Red, I... I can't go on like this. One day you shall perish as well. But I shall survive once more. I must spend eternity condemned to atone for my crimes. My sins have damned me to this fate. I know I must accept it, but I cannot."

"Vincent, you were not predestined for this. You should be in the Lifestream now. Not stuck here on the planet, halfway between life and death."

"Well," the stoic man said, deadpanned, "I don't exactly have a choice."

"Vincent, you cannot go on like this."

"Why are you stating the obvious? Eternity is quite a long time, Red."

"Exactly."

Silence hung in the air, filling the room with an eerie atmosphere. Finally, Red spoke up. "I will leave you here to think, if you wish."

"Thank you, Red."

"It is no burden to me. I will see you later, my friend." And with that he skulked out of the silent room, leaving the eerie room to send shivers down Vincent's spine. "Friend?" he wondered. A friend was someone who would never leave. Someone who did not abandon one in one's times of great need. Vincent had never felt this friendship before. All of his former "friends" were decaying beneath the earth, and their souls lived in eternal happiness.

But now... now, trapped forever in this endless void, Vincent felt truly alone. A beautiful raven with no purpose, and no hope. No salvation awaited him in the Promised Land, if such a thing even existed...

Vincent flung himself into a chair, replaying each of his friend's deaths in his mind, from Cid's lung disease to Barret Wallace getting struck by lightning. After seeing Yuffie lie in her deathbed one last time, he brushed some stray ebony hairs out of his pale face. His old comrades had left him... just as she had. She... the only one he had ever truly loved. She had left him as well.

Vincent felt weak, having not fed in ages. The craving, no, thirst for blood was overwhelming, but he wouldn't give in. He wanted to die. To be with her. Two centuries of reflecting upon every single one of his past sins had taken its toll. Death would be a salvation...

Memories of... her... streamed into his ever-brooding mind. Standing silently on the streets of Nibelheim, her white Shinra lab coat and long russet hair fluttering in the cool mountain winds. The face of an angel, and that she was. Perched on the tip of a stalagmite deep in a cave, her translucent body as beautiful as ever. "Lucrecia...." he moaned. "Why did you leave me?"

He leaned back in the chair and rested his head against the wall, remembering everyone and everything that had been ripped from his cold heart. Cold? It was not cold, but rather aching. Aching with a burning desire to reunite with his old self. Over a century ago, his only friends were taken, and fifty years later his love, Lucrecia, returned to the Lifestream. Lifestream...yet another thing Vincent would never be.

He stood up again and stumbled to the window. Vincent's eyes burned with newfound hatred for his damned life. His stomach gave a lurch as a group of chattering teenagers walked past. Senses overwhelming him, he almost lost control of his lust for life. He shook his head and attempted to walk back to his chair, but to no avail. Vincent's knees gave way beneath him and crumpled to the ground, breathing forced.

Lucrecia had once told him that if he were to die, he would not return to Lifestream, but merely cease to exist. Gone. Maybe at one time, that meant something, but no more. Death was a salvation....

Raising his golden claw, he clutched his hair and pulled, trying to dull the pain his body felt. Pain shot through his arm and legs. White-hot daggers seemed to pierce every inch of his skin, slowly twisting and sending more spasms of agony through the dark man. He clutched his red cape, fingernails digging into his skin, trying not to scream in anguish. "No..." He slowly forced himself to his feet, every step torturous.

His head spinning, Vincent hobbled to the door. He grasped the brass knob of the oak door, and fell once more. Everything began to fade out. "Is this what death feels like?" he said, the words weakening him further. Everything was fading, fast. He was spinning into oblivion, with no way to stop it. Not that he wanted to. Vincent would endure this pain, simply because minutes later, he would be unable to feel anything.

But... not feeling anything? Was that really what he wanted? He fell once more to the ground, and the as his last breath escaped his lips, an image of his beloved Lucrecia flashed through his mind.

Black. Black? Yes, he was sure of it. But why? Why was everything black? Vincent floated in seemingly endless black. He put his arm to his face, quickly realizing that his eyes were closed. He slowly opened his scarlet eyes, and saw...green. Everything. Green.

He slowly turned, but saw only the green around him. But wasn't he supposed to...die? If this was where his eternity was to be spent, Vincent surely would go insane. But before another thought could cross his melancholy mind, he felt a twinge in his left arm... that was something it had not felt for two hundred thirty years.

Within seconds, the claw fell to the ground, in its place... his real arm! He flexed his fingers, feeling a rare moment of joy. As a slight pain tingled in his mouth he jerked back into reality. A look of confusion crossed his face. With his new hand, he felt his teeth, but where he expected to feel the sharp pain of his fangs, but now all he felt was a straight line of pearl-white teeth. His fangs, and all of their vampirism and thirst for blood, were gone.

Vincent could no longer contain his happiness. The joy burst through his cool exterior as he gave a shout of surprise. He shed his cape, which, like him, floated freely in the emerald void. Suddenly the feeling that someone was watching him took hold. "Hello? Show yourself!" he demanded.

Seven figures began to materialize slowly. They stood, unmoving and impressive. Vincent's eyes grew wide as he recognized each of them immediately. "C-Cloud?!" he choked.

"Vincent, so you finally made it," the silhouette said. "I know you are confused. Do not worry. You're safe."

Vincent stared blankly at the seven before him, unable to believe what his ruby eyes were seeing. He was supposed to be gone! His soul lost forever! Completely perished from the universe. Apparently... that had not happened. Now all of his past friends were here. Every one of them. The confusion mounted as he gazed upon all of them.

"Vincent, we've been waiting for you for quite a long time. I know that you are troubled. Do not be," came the gentle, soothing voice of Aeris Gainsborough.

"Nothing will calm your fears, will it?" questioned Yuffie's form. She made a quick gesture, and the seven parted, revealing a woman's shaded figure. He watched as she looked up at him, her deep blue eyes visible through the green vastness.

"Vincent..."

"Lucrecia..."

-fin

a/n: Yeah, yeah I know. Weird. Review, if ya don't mind!

a/n '04: I refuse to acknowledge that this thing exists.