What seemed to be a lifetime later, still didn't seem to be long enough to the aching heart of Vincent Valentine. He found himself aroused by the peculiar sound of voices within the lonesome depths of the basement.
His eyes widened as he realized that the voices were becoming closer and closer to the occupied casket. For an unknown reason, he thrusted the casket lid open as he had done several years earlier. It was a shock to both Vincent and the entering party.
A young man stood to his left. He was a small, yet powerful looking young man with blue eyes that shined radiantly with glow of mako energy. Next to the young man, was a woman in a pink dress that seemed to bring a calming essence with every step she took. The last member of the party was a baffling site. A fire red lion with tattoos laced around his legs and shoulders was peering curiously at Vincent, and for once in his life, Vincent didn't mind being stared at.
"Who are you?!" Vincent asked angrily as he arose from his casket.
"We're Avalanche." He said sternly. "I am Cloud and this is Aeris and Red." The red lion seemed to watch him puzzledly, but Aeris seemed to almost peer into his guilt-ridden soul. That insight made Vincent extremely nervous. " But I think we have better question for you." Cloud's mako eyes glared down upon him." Why are you locked down here in the Shin-Ra Mansion?"
"Leave me alone and let me sleep." Vincent mumbled harshly as he laid back down in his casket, folding his arms with his claw cupped over his normal hand in a ritualistic funeral position.
Red looked up Cloud curiously, his wide lion eyes looking innocent as they gazed up the group's leader. "Maybe he would like to join us?"
Vincent stared back up at the stone ceiling, his eyes never leaving molding crack
in the stone ceiling. "Join you in what?" He asked in half curiosity, but yet partially out of habit.
Cloud shot Red a fearsome glance as Red's eyes quickly fell to the floor. But a small smiled appeared on his face as he looked down upon the red lion and the beautiful girl beside him. "We are trying to stop a threat from destroying the planet."
" I deserve to die."Vincent whispered as he slowly closed his eyes. "Leave me be."
Aeris's eyebrows furrowed as she studied Vincent carefully.Cloud only gave him a menacing glare. "I can't judge you, but I can honestly say that I'm shocked to see that you're callused enough to let the world die."
Vincent grimaced at Cloud's attack on his morality,but the rest of his body remained rigid inside the coffin as it slowly settled into the velvet cushions within it. "I have nothing more to say to you." He sighed in a monotone voice.
"If you won't do this for yourself, won't you do it for someone else?" Aeris whispered softly. "I'm sure you must love or must have loved someone out there."
"Love." The word echoed through Vincent's mind as his eyes suddenly flickered opened once more. The pain was all so very real and it's guilt was worse than a thousand flaming knives stabbing him through the heart. No, he did not deserve her love, nor did he deserve his company's sympathy. He deserved no more than what he condemned himself to. Death was the suitable punishment for such a condemnable crime.
Cloud pivoted on his left foot as he began to exit the room, his footsteps eerily echoing through out the skeleton scattered room."Come on, guys. If this guy doesn't want to help us stop Sephiroth, that's his problem."
Vincent suddenly bolted upright in his coffin. His heart was pounding as he heard the name of Lucrecia's unborn son. "Sephiroth?!" The knife of guilt plunged into his heart again, but the blood of his metaphysical knife began to spout the emotions that had been locked within the casket with him for 27 years.
Both Red and Aeris jumped back in shock from Vincent's sudden movement. Cloud spun back around as he quickly unsheathed his sword. Vincent feared Cloud's sword little as he approached them.
Vincent placed his good hand on the coffin's edge and vaulted himself over the side with amazing agility. "What about Sephiroth?!" His eyes narrowed upon the blunt, young man who seemed to fidget under Vincent's icy glare.
" He's trying to destroy the world!" Red said with burst of urgency. Cloud gave Red another dirty look as he began to exit the death stenched room.
"I'm coming with you." Vincent said sharply as he grasped his gun off of one of the many empty coffins that surrounded the room's walls.
"You're what?!" Cloud exclaimed, nearly dropping his sword.
Vincent looked up at Cloud, and Cloud felt a spine-tingling chill run down his back as Vincent's red eyes pierced his own. " I believe you heard me."
Cloud turned away from Vincent. "Fine." He grumbled angrily, unable to admit to himself that the man was a bit frightening to him. "Just don't get us killed on your account."
"Cloud!" Aeris threw her arms up into the air disgustedly. "I'm sure that Mr..uh...he can take care of himself!"
Vincent glanced back at Aeris as the group began to slowly exit the room.
"Vincent." Vincent said harshly before he turned to Cloud." And I don't believe that you
will need to worry about that," Vincent mumbled as he slid a few bullets into the chamber of his gun , "I can fend for myself. But unless I can speak to Sephiroth, I might as well be dead. He is my one hope for redemption."
"Your...redemption." Cloud sighed as he rolled his eyes. "Nothing good can come from that man. He killed my Mother. I assure you, no redemption of any kind can come from him except the redemption of death."
"Maybe that is what I wish." Vincent snapped the chamber shut by a flick of his
wrist as he finished the rest his sentence. Cloud only looked at him momentarily before they began their assention of the stairs.
"You don't mean that, Vincent, do you?" Aeris asked him as she slowly tested the creaky stairs that were set before her.
Vincent stopped and turned to look into Aeris's green eyes. " I.....he is the only way I can redeem myself in the eyes of the woman I loved." His expression remained unchanged, and yet his heart seemed to reconsider every breath he took.
Aeris nodded with a sense of fullfillment, Cloud's expression told otherwise. "We're not here so you can impress some girl friend of your's. This is for the planet."
Vincent placed his hand upon Cloud's shoulders as he passed him on the creaky stairs. "Was."
"Was?!" Red asked curiously with almost no sense of tact.
"She...is dead." Vincent replied as he waited for the others to exit the hidden entrance.
"How did she die?" Cloud's voice had softened.
"I killed her."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He knelt down beside the puddle, and examined his own reflection amongst the crimson color. Crimson. The color of redemption. Why did it only serve to condemn him more? He reached down and touched the puddle, causing it to ripple out to the puddle's outer edges.
The reflection cleared itself of the ripple and was replaced by the eerie imagine of the lock on the door that had kept him in bonds for so long...
The ties that bind us. He thought as he rose from his knees, and placed his eyes upon
the old rusted lock that had remained untouched since he was freed from his penance to save his love's only son.
He grasped the lock in his good hand and stared at it momentarily. The things we must leave behind to proceed on with our lives...or was this a better example of the hindrances that seem to forever hold us to the memories that haunt us.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It couldn't have been more than a lifetime later, that he found himself face to face with Lucrecia's only child, Sephiroth. He was a strong, handsome man with his mother's eyes and his father's thoughtful look. But at this point, this look was not natural my any means.
He found himself pressed against the wall, gasping for air as Sephiroth continued to press harder on his deflated chest. He could feel his ribs about to give way as Sephiroth grinned cruelly. Was this really Lucrecia's son?!
Sephiroth shoved him roughly, releasing his grip on the older man, causing him to tumble to the floor. The other members of Avalanche watched in horror as Vincent reclaimed his breath.
Sephiroth picked up the black-haired Tifa Lockheart and grasped his black gloved hand tight around her neck.The blood vessels in her temples began to bulge as Sephiroth began to squeeze harder.
"Stop this instant!" Vincent said with such boldness that he almost didn't recognize his own voice.
Sephiroth turned and gave the dark man an amused look as he cast Tifa aside."Your boldness intrigues me, stranger." Sephiroth smiled. "Unfortunately, I do not have time for such nonsense."
The sound of Sephiroth unsheathing his sword sent chills up Vincent's spine. The reflection of the torches off of the masume almost gave it a tint of crimson as Sephiroth sliced the air in front of him, merely inches from Vincent's neck.
"Are you prepared to die?" Sephiroth asked him with a small smirk.
"I am." Vincent whispered harshly,never removing his eyes from Sephiroth's, as Sephiroth raised his sword to eye level.
"SEPHIROTH NO!" Aeris screamed.
A soft look suddenly grew across Vincent's face, and Sephiroth hesitated for one moment. " I am willing to die, if it means that I died trying to fulfill a promise to your mother."
Sephiroth lunged with his masume, but sighed in defeat as he crashed against the stone wall slightly above Vincent's right shoulder. "What do you know about my mother?!" Sephiroth shouted as he withdrew his masume and resumed it in it's previous stabbing position.
"Apparently something you don't." Vincent said flatly as he looked down the point of Sephiroth's sword into soul of Sephiroth's green eyes. He knew there wasn't an evil inside those eyes. They were Lucrecia's eyes. They were perfect.
"Quit speaking in riddles! I grow tired of this!" Sephiroth mumbled angrily as his eyes zeroed in on Vincent's larynx.
Vincent suddenly stiffened as he looked Sephiroth in the eyes. "You feel alone,don't you?" Vincent sighed, never letting his eyes drop from Sephiroth's. "You feel abandoned...hurt...you..."
"What do you know about how I feel?!" Sephiroth growled as cast his sword away,
clenching his fists as if he planned to finish off Vincent with his fists.
"I know..."Vincent paused, finally taking his eyes off of Sephiroth,"because I have been in your position."Vincent sighed. "You try to fool yourself into thinking that you are more than human because you posses something that most of us do not, but you are wrong,Sephiroth. Dead wrong."
Vincent saw a small glint of puzzledness in Sephiroth's eyes before he took one step toward him. The haze of hate was slowly beginning to fill his eyes once more, and Vincent knew that he must act quickly.
Vincent with held his golden claw up and extended it towards Sephiroth's angered face. "Do you see this?!" Vincent's voice began to rise." This. THIS is the claw of something that is inhuman."
"You're hindrances have no effect on me." Sephiroth sneered as he took one step forward. "I have no pity for you."
"You're not listening." Vincent said sharply, never letting his gaze fall. " I don't deserve you pity nor am I here to beg for it. Look!" Vincent shouted extending his clawed arm at Sephiroth. "Tell me what you see in your reflection."
"I grow weary of..."
"STOP." Vincent's eyes narrowed down upon Sephiroth. "This claw is of the same father as your own. One of torment, guilt, and confusion. I watched as your Mother was lead to her death. I saw another man die before me before I,myself, was turned into this hideous creature that stands before you. Kill me. Then you will be no better than the humans you are so desperate to kill. Humans that may seem weak and inferior to you, but
my death will only be looked upon as a human act. Kill me so you may achieve a human fault. Not the fault of a God. Of a HUMAN!"
Sephiroth stood and watched Vincent in puzzledly. No man had dared speak to him in such a manner before.
" Gods with such magnificent powers have no need to kill those who are lesser than they are because they know deep within their souls that they ARE better. Can you honestly look within yourself and tell me you have that sense of honor? Or are you just a glorified human, seeking revenge on those who hurt you? Answer me, son of Lucrecia. WHO ARE YOU?!"
Sephiroth's eyes also narrowed, and within a second, the masume was within his grasp. Vincent only found mere seconds to spring from his current position as Sephiroth's sword crashed into the stone where Vincent's heart once was. His Chaos limit break was forming within him, ready to be released at any moment.
Sephiroth turned to face Vincent once more."You strike me because you know that you have been wrong."
Sephiroth thrusted his sword sideways. "No, I strike because I am the son of a Cetra!"
"LISTEN TO ME!" Vincent shouted. "What you are makes no difference. It is who you are. You will still be an heir to the planet whether you kill or not. You are not a monster because you were born from Jenova cells. You are a being because you were born of my lovely Lucrecia and of Dr. Hojo. Conceived under scientific circumstances. You feel hurt and alone. You feel as though you are a monster because of what you are. Well, I am here to show you a monster, Sephiroth. Not only a monster of mere appearances, but one that used to be of heart as well. My heart healed by my speaking to you out of my love for her."
There, before Avalanche and Sephiroth's eyes, Vincent Valentine grimaced as two purple wings began to emerge from his back. His eyes began to glow a deep red crimson as they began to slant inward. His hands and feet grew into long, slender talons as the rest of his skin turned a deep shade of purple. Finally his ears began point and face was no longer recognizable. There before them, stood the figure of a gargoyle like monster.And just as Vincent had hoped, Aeris Gainsboro stepped into the battle.
Her soft appearance seemed to soothe Sephiroth as she approached him. "Sephiroth,
I am the last remaining Cetra. My name is Aeris."
"You lie..."Sephiroth mumbled, still watching the monster that stood before him.
"Then why do you hesitate to kill us?" Aeris asked calmly.
Sephiroth stared at her for moment as if contemplating her words. In the meantime,
Vincent had slowly regressed back to his human form. He threw down his sword like a child in an angry tirade. Traces of doubt flooded his eyes and Aeris stood beside Vincent.
"I know that you are lonely because you long for you mother." Aeris said softly. "If you were a Cetra, wouldn't she have reached you through the life stream instead of mysteriously calling you? Wouldn't you have heard others as well if you were a Cetra?"
" I....I don't know." Sephiroth said, finally reaching the point of breaking.
"You are human." Vincent finally spoke. " You may not consist of every human part as I do not, but you are human none the less by your emotions, your hopes, and your fears. Come with us, Sephiroth and prove your birthright of a living being. Not as a human, a monster, or a cetra.But as Sephiroth."
Sephiroth collapsed on his knees. "Mother, tell me. What should I do?"
And for the first time in 5 years, Sephiroth did not receive an answer. Not from his Mother or the Lifestream. Instead, he found the empty husk of what was once a human man. One that he wished to return to. One he longed to be a part of once more.
"Tell me, how can I return to a world that I have so unjustly wronged?" Sephiroth asked as though a child were asking a simple question.
" Prove to them that you are truly sorry for you actions." The RedXIII finally spoke."Prove to us all that you are more than a madman. That you were only a man wronged by the Shin-Ra."
"These people have offered me the chance to redeem myself and to redeem others from the Shin-Ra. Perhaps they will do the same for you." Vincent sighed as he turned to Avalanche. "They would except you for who you are. Not who you were."
Sephiroth turned to Vincent angrily. "They cannot forgive me...I ..."He paused. "cannot...even forgive myself."
" Healing is a slow process, Sephiroth." Aeris said quietly. "Like all things among the planet, this too takes time. Vincent and I will be there to help and assure you every step of the way."
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Steps...increments that life slowly measured itself by. Vincent slowly turned the key in the rusted lock, causing it to moan in agony as the gears slowly turned, separating the bar from the lock itself. Tseng...He survived...only by Hojo's hand. The creator merely created more pain in another creation. And thus the pain continued through the Valentine bloodlines as brother was plotted against brother...and friend against friend.
His eyes widened as he realized that the voices were becoming closer and closer to the occupied casket. For an unknown reason, he thrusted the casket lid open as he had done several years earlier. It was a shock to both Vincent and the entering party.
A young man stood to his left. He was a small, yet powerful looking young man with blue eyes that shined radiantly with glow of mako energy. Next to the young man, was a woman in a pink dress that seemed to bring a calming essence with every step she took. The last member of the party was a baffling site. A fire red lion with tattoos laced around his legs and shoulders was peering curiously at Vincent, and for once in his life, Vincent didn't mind being stared at.
"Who are you?!" Vincent asked angrily as he arose from his casket.
"We're Avalanche." He said sternly. "I am Cloud and this is Aeris and Red." The red lion seemed to watch him puzzledly, but Aeris seemed to almost peer into his guilt-ridden soul. That insight made Vincent extremely nervous. " But I think we have better question for you." Cloud's mako eyes glared down upon him." Why are you locked down here in the Shin-Ra Mansion?"
"Leave me alone and let me sleep." Vincent mumbled harshly as he laid back down in his casket, folding his arms with his claw cupped over his normal hand in a ritualistic funeral position.
Red looked up Cloud curiously, his wide lion eyes looking innocent as they gazed up the group's leader. "Maybe he would like to join us?"
Vincent stared back up at the stone ceiling, his eyes never leaving molding crack
in the stone ceiling. "Join you in what?" He asked in half curiosity, but yet partially out of habit.
Cloud shot Red a fearsome glance as Red's eyes quickly fell to the floor. But a small smiled appeared on his face as he looked down upon the red lion and the beautiful girl beside him. "We are trying to stop a threat from destroying the planet."
" I deserve to die."Vincent whispered as he slowly closed his eyes. "Leave me be."
Aeris's eyebrows furrowed as she studied Vincent carefully.Cloud only gave him a menacing glare. "I can't judge you, but I can honestly say that I'm shocked to see that you're callused enough to let the world die."
Vincent grimaced at Cloud's attack on his morality,but the rest of his body remained rigid inside the coffin as it slowly settled into the velvet cushions within it. "I have nothing more to say to you." He sighed in a monotone voice.
"If you won't do this for yourself, won't you do it for someone else?" Aeris whispered softly. "I'm sure you must love or must have loved someone out there."
"Love." The word echoed through Vincent's mind as his eyes suddenly flickered opened once more. The pain was all so very real and it's guilt was worse than a thousand flaming knives stabbing him through the heart. No, he did not deserve her love, nor did he deserve his company's sympathy. He deserved no more than what he condemned himself to. Death was the suitable punishment for such a condemnable crime.
Cloud pivoted on his left foot as he began to exit the room, his footsteps eerily echoing through out the skeleton scattered room."Come on, guys. If this guy doesn't want to help us stop Sephiroth, that's his problem."
Vincent suddenly bolted upright in his coffin. His heart was pounding as he heard the name of Lucrecia's unborn son. "Sephiroth?!" The knife of guilt plunged into his heart again, but the blood of his metaphysical knife began to spout the emotions that had been locked within the casket with him for 27 years.
Both Red and Aeris jumped back in shock from Vincent's sudden movement. Cloud spun back around as he quickly unsheathed his sword. Vincent feared Cloud's sword little as he approached them.
Vincent placed his good hand on the coffin's edge and vaulted himself over the side with amazing agility. "What about Sephiroth?!" His eyes narrowed upon the blunt, young man who seemed to fidget under Vincent's icy glare.
" He's trying to destroy the world!" Red said with burst of urgency. Cloud gave Red another dirty look as he began to exit the death stenched room.
"I'm coming with you." Vincent said sharply as he grasped his gun off of one of the many empty coffins that surrounded the room's walls.
"You're what?!" Cloud exclaimed, nearly dropping his sword.
Vincent looked up at Cloud, and Cloud felt a spine-tingling chill run down his back as Vincent's red eyes pierced his own. " I believe you heard me."
Cloud turned away from Vincent. "Fine." He grumbled angrily, unable to admit to himself that the man was a bit frightening to him. "Just don't get us killed on your account."
"Cloud!" Aeris threw her arms up into the air disgustedly. "I'm sure that Mr..uh...he can take care of himself!"
Vincent glanced back at Aeris as the group began to slowly exit the room.
"Vincent." Vincent said harshly before he turned to Cloud." And I don't believe that you
will need to worry about that," Vincent mumbled as he slid a few bullets into the chamber of his gun , "I can fend for myself. But unless I can speak to Sephiroth, I might as well be dead. He is my one hope for redemption."
"Your...redemption." Cloud sighed as he rolled his eyes. "Nothing good can come from that man. He killed my Mother. I assure you, no redemption of any kind can come from him except the redemption of death."
"Maybe that is what I wish." Vincent snapped the chamber shut by a flick of his
wrist as he finished the rest his sentence. Cloud only looked at him momentarily before they began their assention of the stairs.
"You don't mean that, Vincent, do you?" Aeris asked him as she slowly tested the creaky stairs that were set before her.
Vincent stopped and turned to look into Aeris's green eyes. " I.....he is the only way I can redeem myself in the eyes of the woman I loved." His expression remained unchanged, and yet his heart seemed to reconsider every breath he took.
Aeris nodded with a sense of fullfillment, Cloud's expression told otherwise. "We're not here so you can impress some girl friend of your's. This is for the planet."
Vincent placed his hand upon Cloud's shoulders as he passed him on the creaky stairs. "Was."
"Was?!" Red asked curiously with almost no sense of tact.
"She...is dead." Vincent replied as he waited for the others to exit the hidden entrance.
"How did she die?" Cloud's voice had softened.
"I killed her."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He knelt down beside the puddle, and examined his own reflection amongst the crimson color. Crimson. The color of redemption. Why did it only serve to condemn him more? He reached down and touched the puddle, causing it to ripple out to the puddle's outer edges.
The reflection cleared itself of the ripple and was replaced by the eerie imagine of the lock on the door that had kept him in bonds for so long...
The ties that bind us. He thought as he rose from his knees, and placed his eyes upon
the old rusted lock that had remained untouched since he was freed from his penance to save his love's only son.
He grasped the lock in his good hand and stared at it momentarily. The things we must leave behind to proceed on with our lives...or was this a better example of the hindrances that seem to forever hold us to the memories that haunt us.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It couldn't have been more than a lifetime later, that he found himself face to face with Lucrecia's only child, Sephiroth. He was a strong, handsome man with his mother's eyes and his father's thoughtful look. But at this point, this look was not natural my any means.
He found himself pressed against the wall, gasping for air as Sephiroth continued to press harder on his deflated chest. He could feel his ribs about to give way as Sephiroth grinned cruelly. Was this really Lucrecia's son?!
Sephiroth shoved him roughly, releasing his grip on the older man, causing him to tumble to the floor. The other members of Avalanche watched in horror as Vincent reclaimed his breath.
Sephiroth picked up the black-haired Tifa Lockheart and grasped his black gloved hand tight around her neck.The blood vessels in her temples began to bulge as Sephiroth began to squeeze harder.
"Stop this instant!" Vincent said with such boldness that he almost didn't recognize his own voice.
Sephiroth turned and gave the dark man an amused look as he cast Tifa aside."Your boldness intrigues me, stranger." Sephiroth smiled. "Unfortunately, I do not have time for such nonsense."
The sound of Sephiroth unsheathing his sword sent chills up Vincent's spine. The reflection of the torches off of the masume almost gave it a tint of crimson as Sephiroth sliced the air in front of him, merely inches from Vincent's neck.
"Are you prepared to die?" Sephiroth asked him with a small smirk.
"I am." Vincent whispered harshly,never removing his eyes from Sephiroth's, as Sephiroth raised his sword to eye level.
"SEPHIROTH NO!" Aeris screamed.
A soft look suddenly grew across Vincent's face, and Sephiroth hesitated for one moment. " I am willing to die, if it means that I died trying to fulfill a promise to your mother."
Sephiroth lunged with his masume, but sighed in defeat as he crashed against the stone wall slightly above Vincent's right shoulder. "What do you know about my mother?!" Sephiroth shouted as he withdrew his masume and resumed it in it's previous stabbing position.
"Apparently something you don't." Vincent said flatly as he looked down the point of Sephiroth's sword into soul of Sephiroth's green eyes. He knew there wasn't an evil inside those eyes. They were Lucrecia's eyes. They were perfect.
"Quit speaking in riddles! I grow tired of this!" Sephiroth mumbled angrily as his eyes zeroed in on Vincent's larynx.
Vincent suddenly stiffened as he looked Sephiroth in the eyes. "You feel alone,don't you?" Vincent sighed, never letting his eyes drop from Sephiroth's. "You feel abandoned...hurt...you..."
"What do you know about how I feel?!" Sephiroth growled as cast his sword away,
clenching his fists as if he planned to finish off Vincent with his fists.
"I know..."Vincent paused, finally taking his eyes off of Sephiroth,"because I have been in your position."Vincent sighed. "You try to fool yourself into thinking that you are more than human because you posses something that most of us do not, but you are wrong,Sephiroth. Dead wrong."
Vincent saw a small glint of puzzledness in Sephiroth's eyes before he took one step toward him. The haze of hate was slowly beginning to fill his eyes once more, and Vincent knew that he must act quickly.
Vincent with held his golden claw up and extended it towards Sephiroth's angered face. "Do you see this?!" Vincent's voice began to rise." This. THIS is the claw of something that is inhuman."
"You're hindrances have no effect on me." Sephiroth sneered as he took one step forward. "I have no pity for you."
"You're not listening." Vincent said sharply, never letting his gaze fall. " I don't deserve you pity nor am I here to beg for it. Look!" Vincent shouted extending his clawed arm at Sephiroth. "Tell me what you see in your reflection."
"I grow weary of..."
"STOP." Vincent's eyes narrowed down upon Sephiroth. "This claw is of the same father as your own. One of torment, guilt, and confusion. I watched as your Mother was lead to her death. I saw another man die before me before I,myself, was turned into this hideous creature that stands before you. Kill me. Then you will be no better than the humans you are so desperate to kill. Humans that may seem weak and inferior to you, but
my death will only be looked upon as a human act. Kill me so you may achieve a human fault. Not the fault of a God. Of a HUMAN!"
Sephiroth stood and watched Vincent in puzzledly. No man had dared speak to him in such a manner before.
" Gods with such magnificent powers have no need to kill those who are lesser than they are because they know deep within their souls that they ARE better. Can you honestly look within yourself and tell me you have that sense of honor? Or are you just a glorified human, seeking revenge on those who hurt you? Answer me, son of Lucrecia. WHO ARE YOU?!"
Sephiroth's eyes also narrowed, and within a second, the masume was within his grasp. Vincent only found mere seconds to spring from his current position as Sephiroth's sword crashed into the stone where Vincent's heart once was. His Chaos limit break was forming within him, ready to be released at any moment.
Sephiroth turned to face Vincent once more."You strike me because you know that you have been wrong."
Sephiroth thrusted his sword sideways. "No, I strike because I am the son of a Cetra!"
"LISTEN TO ME!" Vincent shouted. "What you are makes no difference. It is who you are. You will still be an heir to the planet whether you kill or not. You are not a monster because you were born from Jenova cells. You are a being because you were born of my lovely Lucrecia and of Dr. Hojo. Conceived under scientific circumstances. You feel hurt and alone. You feel as though you are a monster because of what you are. Well, I am here to show you a monster, Sephiroth. Not only a monster of mere appearances, but one that used to be of heart as well. My heart healed by my speaking to you out of my love for her."
There, before Avalanche and Sephiroth's eyes, Vincent Valentine grimaced as two purple wings began to emerge from his back. His eyes began to glow a deep red crimson as they began to slant inward. His hands and feet grew into long, slender talons as the rest of his skin turned a deep shade of purple. Finally his ears began point and face was no longer recognizable. There before them, stood the figure of a gargoyle like monster.And just as Vincent had hoped, Aeris Gainsboro stepped into the battle.
Her soft appearance seemed to soothe Sephiroth as she approached him. "Sephiroth,
I am the last remaining Cetra. My name is Aeris."
"You lie..."Sephiroth mumbled, still watching the monster that stood before him.
"Then why do you hesitate to kill us?" Aeris asked calmly.
Sephiroth stared at her for moment as if contemplating her words. In the meantime,
Vincent had slowly regressed back to his human form. He threw down his sword like a child in an angry tirade. Traces of doubt flooded his eyes and Aeris stood beside Vincent.
"I know that you are lonely because you long for you mother." Aeris said softly. "If you were a Cetra, wouldn't she have reached you through the life stream instead of mysteriously calling you? Wouldn't you have heard others as well if you were a Cetra?"
" I....I don't know." Sephiroth said, finally reaching the point of breaking.
"You are human." Vincent finally spoke. " You may not consist of every human part as I do not, but you are human none the less by your emotions, your hopes, and your fears. Come with us, Sephiroth and prove your birthright of a living being. Not as a human, a monster, or a cetra.But as Sephiroth."
Sephiroth collapsed on his knees. "Mother, tell me. What should I do?"
And for the first time in 5 years, Sephiroth did not receive an answer. Not from his Mother or the Lifestream. Instead, he found the empty husk of what was once a human man. One that he wished to return to. One he longed to be a part of once more.
"Tell me, how can I return to a world that I have so unjustly wronged?" Sephiroth asked as though a child were asking a simple question.
" Prove to them that you are truly sorry for you actions." The RedXIII finally spoke."Prove to us all that you are more than a madman. That you were only a man wronged by the Shin-Ra."
"These people have offered me the chance to redeem myself and to redeem others from the Shin-Ra. Perhaps they will do the same for you." Vincent sighed as he turned to Avalanche. "They would except you for who you are. Not who you were."
Sephiroth turned to Vincent angrily. "They cannot forgive me...I ..."He paused. "cannot...even forgive myself."
" Healing is a slow process, Sephiroth." Aeris said quietly. "Like all things among the planet, this too takes time. Vincent and I will be there to help and assure you every step of the way."
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Steps...increments that life slowly measured itself by. Vincent slowly turned the key in the rusted lock, causing it to moan in agony as the gears slowly turned, separating the bar from the lock itself. Tseng...He survived...only by Hojo's hand. The creator merely created more pain in another creation. And thus the pain continued through the Valentine bloodlines as brother was plotted against brother...and friend against friend.
