Joey – By Crimson Sun

Two

The city of Nibelheim was a vastly changed place. First of all, it was no longer called Nibelheim, but Cloudtown, as the birthplace of the most famous hero of all time, who, eons ago, single-handedly defeated the evil totalitarian government, discovered fossil fuels, restored harmony on earth, and planted a sapling for every soul lost in the great war so they formed a peace sign on the New Continent when seen from altitudes of 300 miles and above. Coincidentally, Vincent's rubble of a mansion was located on the third Strife Street in the city, where it had been holding up constructions of a fourth. The residents decided that the mansion had long ago lost its value, even as a tourist attraction and a great architectural beauty and puzzle of its time, and that it did more harm than good as a spawning site for monsters and ghouls. Everything of value had been stored in the great Meteor Museum anyway, including the books and furniture, so there was no great loss at all.

Vincent, who had escaped miraculously unharmed, found himself again plunged unwillingly into a world where he was isolated and misunderstood. He wondered what year it was, how long since he first laid head on the smooth, velvet inbuilt pillow of his coffin, how long since the most disastrous crisis on earth came to an end, how long since he last had a shower. All these questions, colliding painfully with the sides of his skull, was giving him a massive headache, so that it was all he could do to wake from sleep the next morning.

Having regained a bit of his old sense and having cleared a few yarns of cobwebs out of his mind from the day before, Vincent was immediately able to pick up on several problems that faced his current situation.

One. Shinra Mansion was GONE. His last sanctuary, his place of vampire safety, if you will, had been DESTROYED. Without it, he would either have to wonder the world once more for a decent job (which he hadn't needed to do in... Fifty odd years), or rescue his coffin from the debris, find some space below the floorboards of an abandoned church somewhere, and sleep away another few decades.

Two. Despite having been one of the richest people in the world back in the days, he could hardly sustain himself for much longer on his share of the fortune in this new and hostile world. The stay at Nibel Inn used to cost 200 gil. Now it was 1500. Though this deflated both his spirit and his wallet, Vincent was able to gather from the price that he had slept for a long, LONG time indeed for inflation to have had such a devastating effect.

Three. Ah, probably the most important of all is: what the fuck was Aeris on about, if that really WAS Aeris back there? Maybe the accumulation of dust in his lungs had made him suffer some strange form of delirium. She had told him that 'the past was unfinished', whatever that meant. If this was supposed to be a sign for him to go on another world-saving adventure, she could just shove the offer right up her a - ah, neck. He was too old for that, despite his heavenly exterior, ho hum.

Vincent scowled at the highly decorated ceiling of Nibel Inn (so that's what they've been spending their money on) and plotted his next evasive action. He couldn't live much longer on the money he had, and he wasn't about to work for it like a common mule. He was Vincent Valentine, ex-Turk, skilled in romance and the deadly arts, damnit, not an unemployed teen begging in the streets. Nothing could reduce him to abandon his pride. NOTHING.

Then, he decided, floating beautifully from his bed using an ancient magic aura Chaos possessed and narrowly missing the chandelier, there was only one more thing to do.

The world's favourite hero beamed from the television set as Vincent packed his very meager belongings and his remaining money. The blonde on the screen held an expensive-looking PHS to his long lashes, smiled brilliantly, and preached how important it was for one to keep in touch with one's friends and to do it with style. Vincent smirked. Well, here was one sign he couldn't misread.

Next stop, Costel Del Sol, Cloud's Heavenly Villa.

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AN: Ironically, Cloud really IS doing an ad for an expensive-looking mobile phone. Ho hum.