Sitting on the corner of the bed, it slowly came back to him, after the past three years with no transformations and time enough to figure out all of the new changes that came with the augmented body that Hojo had so, graciously, gifted him. He had walked and walked until he finally came to the conclusion that the monsters who had once shared the same body with him must have been removed with Chaos at the same time that he had returned to the planet. While this was fortuitous for the Gunslinger, he did miss the occasional conversations he had with Chaos, who, for a harbinger of death was rather well versed in many subjects.

Vincent shook his head, trying to stay focused, it was always difficult to stay focused after an injury as large as the one he had received earlier on. His body's healing factor combined with the lack of food made him feel sluggish, as if he were trying to do a hundred things at once. He looked over at the duffle and decided to clean himself up, so that he would be able to retrieve food without arousing too many curious eyes. Something about a bronze claw for a hand and red eyes always made him stand out more than he had ever wanted.

He scoffed, wondering if he had ever in his life wanted to stand out of a crowd, before the augmentation it was bad enough that he was 6'4" but now with his new features he stood out no matter where he went.

Vincent grabbed a clean white undershirt, a black button up, a clean pair of trousers, socks and his always reliable steel toe boots. Showering quickly, he lathered up with the hotel shampoo and soap which both smelled of citrus and thankfully not in an unpleasant way. After washing up and drying off, he got dressed quickly leaving the bandana in his pocket for when his hair finally dried. He walked down the stairs to the exit of the Inn, letting his noise and stomach decide where to go eat. With his unusual physiology he had begun to rely on his nose to tell him what was ok to eat and what would leave him heaving his guts out until the wee hours of the morning. He wandered down a few roads and back alleys until he found somewhere that smelt right, wandering in without bothering to check the name of the place, he found himself in a small bar with tables in the center, a bar top stretching across the back wall with six full shelves of liquor and a grinning Bartender. On the opposite side were a few booths that seemed reasonably quiet, the last thing he wanted to do was disturb others in their own worlds.

The bartender watched as the tall dark haired stranger looked around trying to decide where to sit.

After the stranger had wandered over to a booth and settled in, he walked over with a menu and said, "Hello Sir, my name is John, what can I get you to drink today?"

The stranger replied, "Just water please."

Nodding the bartender said, "You got it, be back with your water and to take your order."

Vincent sat there, looking over the menu trying to figure out what exactly he could eat. Looking up at the movement he caught out of the corner of his eye he saw a Brunette with medium length hair, just down past the shoulders tied back in a low pony tail. Even with his muddled senses and the gnawing reminder that he had last eaten a week ago, he recognized her immediately. It was Tifa Lockhart, he pulled the menu up slightly and made sure his left arm was tucked away hoping he could manage to sneak out quietly without being noticed. He knew that he had not come to Edge in search of old comrades, at least that's what his gut told him. He allowed himself a small hmph, he always did have the worst luck, especially when it came to avoiding trouble. Looking around from behind the menu he located the best avenue for escape, waiting for Tifa to turn her back on him long enough to slip away.

She walked the same route she always did to the bar, stopping along the way to say hello to the elderly couple, sitting on their porch enjoying the cool evening air, they had always needed help around springtime with their garden and she was always happy to help. She was glad that she had finally decided to move the bar out from under her home, they were finally making enough to afford to have a bar and living area separate. The walk from home always helped her put her game face on for work, with this being a busy Friday and having had one of the servers call out she decided to go in on an off day to help. Normally she only worked the slow parts of the day to lower cost and because it gave her something to do with Denzel at the WRO boarding school and Marlene was finally living with Barrett. She chuckled, that man had his hands full with the ten year old and soon enough she was sure that she would be becoming more and more trouble as time went on.

Finding herself at the bar, she walked in, looking around it didn't seem too busy but it was still early on Friday night. Only one booth had someone in it, the bar top was getting nicely crowded though and it was only a matter of time until the younger crowd came in. John nodded to her and they began talking about what was needed for the bar. She made a mental note to order the items needed and began talking to the regulars to see if they needed anything and to say hello. After that she headed to the back and said hello to Cookie, the monster of a man they had hired as a chef, who set the order out for service as they chatted about the day and what else needed to be ordered. On the way out of the kitchen she grabbed the food, checking the ticket, she walked it over to the couple sitting at one of the tables near the booths.

Vincent watched her walk into the kitchen, waited for a minute and began his tactical retreat out of the bar. Making it out quickly, he managed to escape without detection. Still hungry he looked around looking for anything else at all that was open for food, before he ended up having to head back out and hunt it down himself. He couldn't see much of anything nearby, feeling loath to venture any further into the city he started making his way around the bar to the other side to see what else might be there. Distracted and tired as he was he almost didn't hear the back door of the bar opening behind him, leaping up he landed on the roof without a sound and turned back around to see who it was. Of course, it was her, taking the trash out before starting her shift in earnest. He watched her move with a grace that told him she was keeping up with her training as much if not more than during the Jenova Wars, she never was a person who could slack off, after all.

Tifa tossed the garbage bag into the dumpster and looked around the backside of the bar, making sure that no vagrants or drunks had decided it was the spot for a nap. Seeing no one she stretched and started to walk back into the bar. Once back behind the bar she noticed John dumping a half full glass of water into the sink and putting a menu away. She shrugged and started to wipe down a part of the bar top while wondering what she was going to do with Denzel for his weekend, although knowing the young teen, he would likely want to spend time with friends and not her. The unfortunate realities of teenagedom she chuckled to herself.

Vincent visibly relaxed after she walked back into the bar, letting out a breath he hadn't even known he had been holding he leapt down and made his way back to the hotel. Stopping off at a convenience store on the way back to grab something he could eat, he decided that perhaps he should avoid most places in Edge to avoid running into people like that. Back tucked away in his room at the Inn he ate the few protein bars he had picked up and thought about what exactly he was doing in Edge in the first place. Monsters or not, he still was a danger to those around him.

Thankfully with food in his stomach he could finally think again, remembering his original goal on making it to Edge. With the way that the WRO was expanding and ID cards were once again becoming commonplace, he needed Reeve's help to make his own. He had thought about getting a forged ID but he could only imagine the problems he would have if it was ever discovered with the way that he looked. Being declared dead and looking the same as he did over 40 years ago was not conductive to him being able to get his own unfortunately. Digging through the duffel he found the PHS he had purchased and the charger, plugging it in he got ready for bed and went to sleep. His last thought being to visit Reeve as soon as possible, so that he could get back on the road and away from all this noise.

A/N:

Alright, I got an idea! So, we are gonna see what kind of trouble Vincent gets in so that he can avoid trouble later on!