I grab my quiver of arrows and strap my bow over my back before leaving the cave I've been staying in for the past week. Shadow rests in the back of my mind, content from the nightmare run I allowed her to have last night. It's time for me to move on to my next location, maybe Midgar or Rocket Town. The Nibelheim mountains are devoid of people and the town on the other side is less civilized... Both sound appealing to me. I sigh and silently leave the place I never knew as a home. No place has been home since the incident thirty years ago, but that's just the way things are now. But if I must live like this forever... Never knowing if Lucrecia is still alive, though what has become of her son is no secret. I wonder if Valentine ever managed to escape his deadly love for her and move on to a more professional Turk life.
Stepping out into the fresh air that surrounds the open plains, I inhale deeply and start toward Nibelheim. Maybe I should go around. The place seems to draw anyone who has been dragged under once back, their minds forcing them to relive memories that have been pushed down and hidden for years. I should know. I've passed through too many times to count, like metal drawn to magnet. There's something in that mansion, Shadow tries so hard make me see what it is. But everytime I pass the gate, I can't bring myself to step inside the source of my nightmares and torments. There's something in there though...
The low grumble of a vehicle catches my attention and I turn to see a red buggy heading in my direction. Go away. Then I just continue walking, pulling the hood of my black cloak further over my head. That is, until I feel the point of a sword in my back.
"Stop right there."
"Why should I?" I turn around, hands on my hips. "I haven't got all day."
"Whoops," a woman with long brunette hair says under her breath as a man with spiky blonde hair instantly puts his huge sword away.
"Sorry, you looked like a Sephiroth clone."
"Sephiroth clone?" I raise an eyebrow.
"Yeah. Hojo's creations," he nods with a bitter frown.
"Hojo," I say aloud to myself. "So you're still alive."
"What?" The blonde kid blinks.
"Nothing," I shake my head, turning to go. "Sorry to have disturbed you."
"You have a score to settle with him," he notes out loud. I pause and look down at my boots. Am I really that easy to read? "We're going after Sephiroth. We'll probably wind up meeting Hojo along the way." Can I risk it?
No guarantees that I'll behave.
Shut up.
"Then I'll go with you," I nod, looking past him at his clown crew. A big man with a gun arm, a girl in a pink dress, an animal with a flaming tail, a cat on a moogle, and a ninja to join the small two weirdos in front of me.
"Good," their leader smiles. "I'm Cloud. This is Tifa, that's Aeris, Barret, Cait Sith, Nanaki, and Yuffie.
"Quite ambitious, aren't you?" I cross my arms. "Where are you headed?"
"Over the Nibelheim mountains," he says proudly. Sighing, I nod and follow them into the small vehicle. It seems I just can't avoid Nibelheim and that cursed mansion. The ride isn't exactly comfortable with everyone staring at me and whispering, but it's better than the terrible old Shinra jeeps I had to ride back in the day when I had a life.
When we get to the town, I'm the first out of the cramped space and onto the dirt path and the last to follow in the cluster they walk in.
"Cloud, I thought you said Nibelheim burned down," Nanaki says. Okay... So the thing talks. What's new?
"You weren't lying to us, were you?" Yuffie gives him a accusing look, stretching up onto her tiptoes. Cloud shakes his head wildly.
"No, I'm not lying!"
"Hey, les' just keep movin'!" Barret yells.
"The mansion," Cloud mumbles, moving forward. Like metal to a magnet... "Let's go check it out."
"I don't like creepy mansions," Yuffie shakes her head, stepping backwards and right into me.
"I'll go!" Aeris offers cheerfully. "Are you coming, Tifa?"
"Yes," Tifa eyes her defiantly. Great, a love triangle. How much better can this get? Of course, this may be my first opportunity to really live since Hojo...
"Alright, the rest of you wait for us at the foot of the mountains," Cloud commands. "We'll be out shortly."
Just keep your head up and your posture straight. Make them fear you and maybe they won't get hurt by trying to get close.
"Guess what!?" Yuffie bounces around me. I dislike her already... "Barret thinks you're a witch!"
"No I don't!" He protests quickly. I merely raise an eyebrow at him before turning away to look up at the gray mountain trail.
I passed through these mountains so many times after I was set free, unsure of whether to wander or remain nearby. But nearby I could hear the screams of someone, it sounded like a man, haunting me while I tried to sleep, so eventually I lived by Rocket Town for a short while, long enough to see the failed rocket launch fail for a young man I'd watched grow up named Cid. He'd always be helping his father build a model plane or flying a real one himself. That, or dragging a girl with large glasses out by the name of Shera to show her random things he'd built, or even just to chat about math and such. Such a brilliant mind wasted by the clutches of Shinra yet again.
It seems like forever as I listen to Yuffie and Barret argue while Nanaki and Cait Sith rest in the shade. But finally I see the shape of spiky blonde hair, a pink dress, long dark hair, and a tall, thin figure behind them. Something bothers me about it... And when they get closer, I see why.
Red eyes, black hair, that ever observant look... The holster, the way his fingers twitch over the butt of his gun, and his all around deadly aura... Vincent Valentine, what happened to you? There's no way he could recognize me. The last time we saw each other was for years ago, and my hair was brunette back then. Dyed, but brunette. I was sort of chubby, not an unhealthy looking stick figure. I was shorter too... And twenty four. Would he even remember? Is he as haunted as I am? What did Hojo do..?
"You brought us a vampire too?" Barret scoffs. "Great. A witch and a vampire."
"I thought you denied the fact that you thought I was a witch?" I give the big man a challenging look, and surprisingly enough, he backs down, grumbling. Vincent refuses to meet anyone's eyes, any hope of recognition being forced on me acting.
"This is Vincent," Cloud says slowly, introducing us one by one. Except for when he gets to me.
"Violet," I mutter, looking back out at the mountains. Vincent doesn't even flinch, must less care about our names. So he doesn't remember.
"Good. Now that we're all done, we might want to get going," Cait announces, his mog hopping happily. Too cheerful. Annoying.
"Right. Come on." Cloud leads he way up the mountains, my boots repeatedly slipping on the rocks and threatening to twist my ankles, but no one bothers to help me as I awkwardly land again and cut my palms for the fifth time. Which way is he taking us? I've never fallen this much. Vincent simply passes by me, high collar concealing his face and cape fluttering out behind him. He smells like death.
"Where to now?" Tifa asks, looking around them. Cloud shakes his head.
"It's getting late. Let's try to start a fire. Aeris, help me set the tents up." The girl nods eagerly and gets to work while I silently watch Barret lumber off with Tifa to find firewood. They're going the wrong way. Shaking my head, I turn around and head in the other direction toward a cluster of dead trees. Breaking branches off is like snapping twigs with my enhanced strength, the boughs coming off quite easily.
Someone's watching you.
I whip my head around to see Vincent staring at me with his arms crossed. What did I do? He then turns away as if he wasn't just stalking me. Creep. After carrying the branches back, Cloud uses a fire materia to ignite them before sitting back and relaxing around he flames while the sun disappears. Me? I prefer to hang in the background, leaning against a boulder in the darkness. Vincent's alive... What about Lucretia?
"Hey," a sweet voice breaks me from my thoughts. I look up to see Aeris leaning over me with her hands clasped behind her back. My heart jumps as bad memories of someone else standing over me like that flood my mind.
"Please don't do that," I grit, turning my eyes to glare at the ground. Don't go strangling these people already, Shadow.
No promises.
"Oh, sorry," she apologizes, sitting beside me on the ground, but not too close. "Are you alright? You seem kinda.. Lost in thought maybe."
"Yeah."
"Okay. Say, that Vincent guy, do you know him? You looked at him like you did."
"That's none of your concern."
"Well," she sighs, standing. "If you do know him, it would be smart to say something to him at least."
I huff and ignore her as she leaves. Don't let them into the cold walls I've built around myself... They'll only want out of a fortress with no exit.
Perhaps it would be wise to say hello to Valentine. His nightmares feed my soul, Shadow snickers.
And that keeps you from breaking loose, I know.
Rolling my eyes, I stand and find my way to the cloaked man's lonely spot by the fire while everyone else chats. Scratch that, they all shut up when I sit beside Vincent, who shifts uncomfortably.
"So," I start, ignoring the fact that people at watching us. "You really are still alive."
"... As far as I know," he replies flatly. "Why does it concern you?"
"You really don't remember me then?" I tilt my head and give him the same teasing smile I used to give him around that stupid mansion.
"...Violet... Crescent."
"Yeah," my smile drops and I look into the fire again.
"Wait, so you know each other?" Cloud frowns.
There's something inhuman inside him.
I know. I can sense it, which means he can sense you too.
"Kinda," I shrug.
"An old Turk comrade?"
"No," I shake my head. "I was just the monster hunter."
"What did he..?" Vincent starts, his voice barely over a whisper. "What did he do to you?" I immediately turn to see him staring at me, eyes just a tiny bit bigger.
"I could ask you the same thing," I retort. "She's going insane." Whoops. Didn't mean to say that out loud... Cloud gives us a creeped out look while everyone else matches his face. Vincent doesn't seem to care either.
"So is he," he mutters under his breath, turning away. That's it then. First conversation in thirty years, officially over. "Yet another sin upon me..."
SO... SORRY IF THE CHAPTER SEEMS SHORT OR IF ANY DIALOGUE IS MISSING FROM THE GAME, I'M TRYING. OH, AND THE STORY WILL JUMP AROUND JUST A TEENY BIT. TEENY. LIKE, LEAVE OUT THE BORING AND USELESS CUTSCENES AND TRAVELING AND LEAVE IN THE IMPORTANT STUFF AND OF COURSE OUR VINNIExVIOLET. LUV Y'ALL!
