The bullet screamed, tearing through flesh, tissue, and muscle. Red. Grey. Colors flashed through his mind wildly as his body hit the floor.

Oh, how he wished for the sweet, sweet embrace of death, as his body ached against the cold steel. The crazed scientist murmured to himself as pain enveloped Vincent's system. A pair of red-shoed feet blurred into his tired sight. How he wished to feel her soft, warm skin. To warm his cold body.

"Lu-lucrecia..." he stuttered quietly, words forming into a jumble inside his scattered and panicked mind. Suddenly, black filled his mind. The pain stopped. Was this death? Was this small bit of painless time death? No, it was the beginning of torture. Pain and hideous faces bore into him. Semblances of his different missions with the other Turks. Different things he'd experienced.

Hojo spoke. Talking of failures. Drowned out by Vincent's own subconcious, only a few words were heard beneath the mask of red that now enveloped his vision.

Why? Why was he not allowed to enter the sweet sleep of eternity? Why was this forbidden? As cold steel pressed against him, his open ear heard footsteps, exiting. Lucrecia. the woman he loved..

Her sobs were heard, but were lost in his own thoughts. Nothing. He could do nothing but lie in the pain of the bullet, still imbedded into his chest. Would he finally die? His vision clouded with black, creating a vortex in which the woman's delicate hand was.

"It's okay.. Vincent.." was all she said before his thin frame was pulled from the ground and pulled to rest over her own thin shoulder. through the last bits of the vortex, he could see the large structure that had sat pristeenly in the middle of the room.

After that, it was all black.

Every little while -hours... days... weeks...- conciousness would return to him for slightest of moments. And water, so much water, clouded his tired vision. But past the liquid, there stood a woman. Her brown hair falling over her shoulder as she peered over the different clamps that held the tub in which he was placed. But that was all he could see for now. Save for machinery and screens of multiple colors. Red, green, and whatever color his mind mustered to put there...

"...cent..? incent...? Vincent?"

Her voice penetrated through his tired thoughts as his eyes opened, immediately seeing her emerald green ones. He gasped and jumped a bit to sit up, making sure to avoid her head as he did so.

"Fall asleep here, and you might catch a cold..." she smiled, looking at him as he just stared, unable to say anything. "Why are you surprised? Is my face that hideous?" she asked, suddenly, looking up.

Vincent tried to regain himself, looking at her quickly. "No. I didn't... I'm sorry."

Lucrecia looked at him with her all-knowing, yet gentle smile. She didn't seem mad, flustered, or anything of the sort. Simply... happy. "And how are you supposed to be my bodyguad if you're up here sleeping?" she suddenly asked him, giving a slightly inquisitive look.

Vincent, once again tried to compose himself and stared at her. "The warm breeze... I was only going to rest my eyes for a minute."

At this, Lucrecia seemed to recede. "Well, I have to admit, the breeze is quite comfortable," she stated, looking to him now. "However... I think you're in my seat." she chuckled lightly as Vincent gave a small sound akin to a "Huh?". After a moment, she pulled a wickerbasket from behind her back. Small, and it seemed to be rather full.

"Care to join me?"

Once again, conciousness returned for a few fleeting moments, the soft face, crinkled with worry, and those eyes... Emerald green eyes stared at him through the glass as she stepped forward, peering at him.

"Vincent.. Just a little longer... Then I can let you out."

Lucrecia turned towards her computer, but suddenly dropped out of his cloudy vision. Now he could only hear bits and pieces of what she was saying, as his mind threatened to collapse again.

"Whats... with me lately..? Maybe... working... hard..."

Another figure stepped into the lab, and, though Vincent couldn't see who it was, he knew it was that man. The man who had denied him death, and who had made his life hell in water. Still, why did Lucrecia torture him with keeping him alive? He was decaying. Slowly, but surely, his body was giving way to the pain.

Amidst his blurred thoughts, he hadn't noticed the two had escalated in volume. he only caught bits and piece,still, but... Hojo's voice was heard.

"I see... experiment..? You're using... specimen... your thesis, aren't...?"

"No! You're..!"

"Am I? Once a... always... I must... How happy... must be... Helping his... after he's begun..." Hojo's laughter pieced together in his mind, echoing, taunting, reverberating across his very being.

"No! This... Experiment..."

Vincent's world once again faded to black.

In his subconcious, Vincent felt alone, but he knew he wasn't. Every once in a while, Lucrecia would talk to him, though it only sounded like a blurry murmur. Just a fragment of her voice.

Why? Why did she torure him to the brink of insanity by simply letting him live? Pain enveloped his being every moment, and he could do nothing to quell the rage that burned against the two ShinRa scientists. He wanted it all to go away. To die. But he was not granted that opportunity. Most would have died by now, but Vincent... Vincent lived on. Only a shell of himself though. A shadow to himself.

A small bit of conciousness bloomed into the space of sleep and awake and he felt his body mind begin to work. His senses toyed with him, his hearing returning but, he couldn't see a thing. He could feel the cold wetness, but-although luckily- he could not taste anything.

"No. It's still not enough. I have to hurry, or the tissue will continue to decay..."

Hojo entered again, chuckling. "I see... Another experiment?" he said something, but Lucrecia cut him off quickly.

"No! You're wrong! You're wrong! You're wrong! I...! Experiment?" She gasped and Vincent's world reeled into more fits of unconsciousness.

Vincent Valentine looked at the floor tiredly. his body was so heavy, but he did not lie down.

"Hello, Vincent," Lucrecia's voice penetrated his thoughts. "Something's wrong...You see, this is me, but only in a sense. It is merely a reflection created from my remaining data. The real me crumbled away long ago." she seemed all too happy about this, but Vincent listened nonetheless.

"Vincent... Do you rememeber our place? Under that tree? The warm breeze on our skin... I know that place no longer exists. Things fade with time, as do many things in this world. But there are some things we cannot let dissapear.

"I finally... I finally realized my true feelings. Even if you may never understand them. Not that I mind though. But... This isn't how it was supposed to be.." her voice choked with tears, unseen as his face was still cast downwards. "I've made too many mistakes. And I've hurt you so, so much. Why did I do what I did? I'm so sorry."

"But I'm so happy... you survived.."

Vincent found himself standing, emotions running through his body.

"Lucrecia!!"

His wings beat intensely as Chaos kept control, diving downwards and into a large opening in the ground.

A minute or so later, Vincent put Shelke onthe ground, sighing.

"You're late." Shelke stated.

"Sorry about that." Vincent's voice was there, but echoed a deep, nasal growl that belonged to his beast.

"Not that I mind, though.." Shelke gave a mischievous smile.

"She... She was always like that. Only believing what she wanted to."

Shelke sighed. "So Vincent, Why don't you try telling her that yourself?"

Vincent allowed a bemused chuckled, holding out his right arm. There, Death Penalty, Chaos' gun appeared. "Maybe I will, but before that... I have a story to end."