Final Fantasy 7. Into the valley of dying stars.
Not entirely accurate to Dirge of Cerberus, but that's because I don't remember exactly what it revealed about Vincent's past. Can I use the prettiness of the game distracting me as an alibi?
Taking a page out of Twig's notebook with this Twig, for your information, is the master behind the work of genius that is A Long, Hard Road.
On what would probably be the last night of their lives, Vincent Valentine decided against sleeping not because he could not sleep, but because in actuality he did not need it. Being out of the casket had not changed the fact that closing his eyes brought the nightmares back, the tortured visions of his time under Hojo's scalpel and the light refracted in the tears in her eyes as she told him to leave her alone. For that reason he almost always took up the duty of night watch, and no one in the party contested it.
Here they were, a rag-tag team of adventurers and revolutionaries, out to save a world that hadn't been entirely fair to any of them to begin with from a madman who fancied himself a god. That madman had been Lucrecia and Hojo's son, but the fact that he looked nothing like his father had not escaped Vincent's notice. He looked towards his gun and counted the bullets, knowing that now, one of them might land a killing blow on a son that could be his own. He told no one of this private struggle — each of them had their own demons to deal with, and that much had been obvious in some of the conversations he had picked up wind of earlier that day, at sunset. Now, they and the crew of the Highwind were all asleep, and he was left to look towards the stone falling from the sky and remember.
"You should rest, Vincent. Things are only going to get harder from here on."
"I have no need of sleep."
Cloud Strife had managed to sneak up on him and while Vincent knew that by then he shouldn't have been surprised, that did not mean he was not discomforted by it. Recent events had revealed just how much there was behind the ex-SOLDIER, uncovering the secrets behind the superhuman strength in arms that most would think were too small for the burden of carrying the fate of the Planet. Vincent watched the young man now, as the blond moved past him and the campfire to stand at the edge of the ridge.
"We're finally here, to end things."
"Yes."
A pause. "I loved him, you know. I loved him the moment I saw him. I wanted to be Zack so that I could have a piece of him, and share in his memory."
The admission did not surprise him. Vincent only turned towards the young leader of their party and waited on the words that were to come. Against the horizon of the Northern Crater, Cloud's back looked hunched and small.
"I think I'm going to end him because I love him. Does that make it wrong?"
"No, it doesn't." Lucrecia's face came to mind. This time, it was her smile. "I don't see how you can afford to go about it any other way."
Cloud laughed; he did not say another word. They remained silent until dawn, when the two of them and the rest of AVALANCHE stepped forward to save the Planet.