Alright!!! Another Suku17 original! This was made for mostly VINCENT FANGIRLS. I'm just naming the reader, (You) Ryu. You're a woman, about 24 years old. In this, you were shot by Hojo. Vincent, your lover, believes you're dead forever and is in great distress. Cloud, your best friend, is trying to comfort Vincent in this time of grieving, but misses you so much that he finds it impossible to sound cheerful. Aeris is trying to contact them to tell them a very important message, but their sorrow is blocking her out. Vincent loved you more than life itself and will attempt anything to bring you back. What will become of this story? Read to find out...

The night you were shot, Vincent slept in his coffin again for the first time in three years. He turned restlessly in his sleep as his nightmares played back the scene he had witnessed as you were shot.
"No! Hojo please! Don't do this... he's only human!" Ryu yelled, her voice cracking. She stood in front of Vincent, blocking Hojo from cutting the raven-haired man's skin more. The red streaks across his chest leaked blood onto the floor in steady drops, landing like crimson rain in slowly forming puddles.

"Step aside, Ryu. This is for the sake of science. It won't hurt him. I promise." Hojo's face was creased with an unimaginablely twisted smile. He was going to attempt to cut out his vampire-human experiment's heart. Vincent's heart. Ryu, his assitant had fallen in love with this human experiment and was now refusing to let him harm it. "Him." Hojo corrected himself in his thoughts. "It is a vampiric male creature."

"You promised you would stop experimenting in him!" Ryu screamed, tears began filling her eyes.

"Stand down, woman!" Hojo yelled. He was beginning to get fed up with this. "Stand down or your friend here will pay for your ignorance!" Hojo pointed a gun at Clouds head. The forenamed was on his knees on the floor of the room, clutching his stomach with a look of pure loathing for Hojo on his face.

"I-I-... I cannot allow you to do this Hojo." Ryu blinked back her tears. A spark of doubt entering her mind.

"It is final then." Hojo pointed the gun at her. "You were a wonderful assistant, Ryu. Tis a shame." He grinned evilly and pulled the trigger.

Vincent screamed as Hojo shot her 1...2...3...4, times. There was a gush of blood and Ryu fell to the floor... her body ridgid and still, her eyes clouding over...

"NO!!" Vincent cried out in his sleep. He flew into a sitting position in his open coffin. The raven-haired man breathed heavily. He was in a cold sweat and trembling terribly. Vincent reached to touch a very small, slightly ropy scar that stretched from his collarbone to the far right of his shoulder. He stroked this spot gently as the room began to blur as the hot tears streamed down his face.

He had removed his armor before he layed down earlier that evening, but the dead weight that sat on his chest hurt. Vincent layed down in the coffin, crying gently as he curled up.A soft knock on the door to the gloomy chamber stirred him from this position.

Vincent wiped his eyes hurridly and walked to the door. He opened it a crack. Outside stood a blonde SOLDIER with blue-green mako eyes. Cloud Strife. Vincent looked out of the door, only one eye visible through the open crack of the door.

" What do you want, Cloud?" Vincent's voice was cold and harsh. He hadn't meant it to sound that way, but in trying to supress the distress had resorted to his common tone. "What do you want?" He repeated, purposely making himself sound irritated.

"Er..." Cloud looked surprised at Vincent's tone" I just wanted to see if you needed company... you know... since..." He broke off, tears beginning to form in his electric blue eyes. He blinked. "Vincent... please let me in... I can't get through tonight without company... c'mon." Cloud looked at Vincent, pain reverberating in his eyes.

"..." Vincent looked at Cloud, realizing he was hurting too and unlocked the door softly. "Come in. Please." He opened the door, allowing Cloud into his dismal quarters. Torches faltered in the stone-walled room, casting eerie shadows across the surface of Vincent's coffin/bed. Vincent stroked the lid of the coffin with one golden claw.

"Vincent..." Cloud walked to Vincent and layed a gloved hand on his shoulder. "It... it's okay to hurt. To cry..." Cloud looked down. IN saying this, he had caused his own tears. Hot streams slowly made their way down his cheeks.

Vincent looked at Cloud. He realized Cloud was right. He had to move on... but no. that wasn't right. In moving on, he would be defeating his own cause. "No. I won't give up..." Vincent whispered under his breath, tears gently flowing down his face too. He set a hand on the coffin and stared at his golden claws. "Cloud. We have to do something." Vincent looked up, a spark of something strong lighting a flame in his chest. Passion. "Ryu would KILL us if we ever gave up on her like this."

"But Vincent... what can we do? I mean... we saw him kill her..." Cloud drifted off.

"We go to Hojo. If we can get the body... and a pheonix down!!! Please Cloud! Neither of us can live without Ryu..." Vincent held Cloud in front of him by his shoulders. He waited for an answer.

"But Pheonix Down nowadays is like... 1,000,000,000,000 Gil!!!!" Cloud looked at Vincent like he was a madman.

"Actually only 2500..." Vincent drifted off, trying to decide if he should laugh at Cloud's retarded exaggeration or realize that was what it seemed like. "Umm... How much you got on you?"

"ERm..." Cloud dug a hand into his pocket. "15 Gil. You?"

"Umm..." Vincent gestured to himself. (He's not wearing his cape or armor. Just pants. Remember?) "No pockets... I'm broke." He smiled, a little embarrased. Psh. And people WONDER why he slept in an unheated, windowless room in a coffin!

There was a long silence. "Okay. We'll do it." Cloud extended a hand to Vincent. "For Ryu?"

Vincent smiled. "For Ryu!"

To be continued in chapter 2