Thanks to Nydiwiel for betaing

Cat and Mouse

Caught Out

Vincent entered the bar to find it as he expected, almost as he had always used to find it with it's one new addition. He made his way across to the bar disturbing the thin layer of dust that was settled on the floor. He was sure the only thing that prevented a heavier layer from settling was the constant movement across it.

The bar had an unusual shape, octagonal. Vincent was sure it was to create more corners for the patrons to hide in. Tables littered the floor between the entrance and the bar directly opposite it, each with two chairs. Vincent had always thought it pointless to have two since people only came here alone.

He got his drink and went to his usual seat at the corner booth closest to the bar on the left hand side. It was an unspoken rule that if he was in the bar he had that seat. Vincent wasn't sure how it started but he could only assume most people were intimidated enough by him to make sure he had something as simple as a seat.

The corner booths had the only comfortable seating in the bar but they were only comfortable by Marlboro standards. The burgundy velvet that covered the thin foam on the bench and broke up the wood panelling that ran the length of the bar on the bottom half to provide back support was ripped in places exposing the yellowing foam.

Damaged as the bench seats were they did at least match the upper half of the walls in colour. The walls at least looked presentable to most eyes or so Vincent assumed. Though his own eyes could see the faint liquid marks that had come from drunken fights with imaginary assailants or uncoordinated attempts at knocking back drinks that had both resulted in glasses being smashed against the walls.

The stranger was sat at one of the booths opposite his. That meant he had arrived early. With the exception of the one Vincent currently occupied the booths were fair game to any patron as long as they got to the bar early enough to claim one.

As Vincent watched the stranger he could feel the other man's eyes on him. It confirmed his suspicions that whatever this man wanted it clearly involved him. Vincent had made his move, now all he could do was get drunk as usual and see what move his opponent would make in this game they seemed to be playing.

--

Reno could not believe his luck that Vincent had turned up again so soon. Every account of Vincent's visits to The Marlboro made it clear that it was very rare for Vincent to turn up two nights in a row. It had happened before but it was a rare enough occurrence for Reno to be suspicious now.

Either Vincent was on a bender or he had grown suspicious about his presence. He had been in the place long enough to know that the presence of someone new, especially someone that stayed sober, was something that would draw attention. All he could do was drink his whisky slowly and see how events would unfold.

He watched Vincent over the next few hours while the bar was still open. All the gunman did was knock back one drink after another just as he had the other night. It carried on till closing time with only the occasional interruption to the routine when either one of them went to the toilet.

Come closing time they were all thrown out onto the streets. Reno watched as Vincent mounted his chocobo with the drunken grace he was sure only the ex-Turk could muster. This time he had Oola to help him follow and he hurried to his own mount.

As they left Edge Vincent's chocobo headed northwest making for the coast. Vincent was slumped forward over his chocobo. It looked like he might be drifting to sleep but it was hard to tell. Reno didn't think he looked to be slumped forward far enough to actually be asleep but it was possible he was just struggling to hold his body upright in his drunken state.

The chocobo Vincent rode was good. Whether Vincent was falling asleep or just too drunk to ride it didn't seem to be making any difference to the bird. Reno highly doubted Vincent was giving any direction to the chocobo yet it seemed to be making it's way along the route round the shallows on the small island between the east and north continents with experienced ease.

They left the shallows and returned to solid land once more. The chocobos made their way through the Sleeping Forest. Reno could only assume they were on their way to the City of the Ancients or the crater. Either seemed a likely place for Vincent to spend his time, they were both deserted and held important connections to what had happened.

He supposed the City of the Ancients made the most sense; it was the place of the two of them that was most liveable. Reno couldn't imagine someone staying at the crater but then he supposed that Vincent wasn't just someone. He had slept in a coffin for years, for all Reno knew the gunman could find the crater adequate for any of his needs.

The debate over where their final destination would be ended as Vincent dismounted on the outskirts of the City of the Ancients leaving his chocobo to roam and graze at its leisure. Reno tied Oola up away from where Vincent had dismounted. He didn't dare let her wander as Vincent had with his since his job could depend on the bird's well being. He made sure to tie her up near a plentiful supply of grass and left a few nuts behind

With Oola taken care of Reno crept into the City of the Ancients after Vincent.

--

They never stopped goading him. Galian Beast and Chaos were right about him never being able to drown them out by drowning his sorrows. He had to try though; he had to do something to at least try to drown out their voices or at least make them quieter.

The drinking had never managed to shut them up but he had come to need it nonetheless.

The trouble was they knew everything. They knew how he had failed Lucrecia and they knew that nothing he could do would make amends for it.

"You can never keep us quiet," Galian Beast goaded.

"He's right. We know it all and we'll never let you forget," Chaos continued.

"As if I could ever forget," Vincent said. Even though the voices were in his head and they would be able to hear him through his thoughts Vincent always spoke aloud to them. Somehow it made the situation seem almost normal even though it was anything but.

"We know but there's no harm in reminding you every now and then."

"Every now and then? You remind every opportunity you get and I don't need it."

"We know you don't but it's fun for us."

"She died because of you, because you couldn't do what you knew you should."

"A gunman without a gun. Who ever heard of anything so ridiculous?"

"You think I don't know I should have taken my gun."

"We know that. After all we know everything you know."

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!"

Vincent stumbled through the doorway to the spiral house with their laughter echoing in his head. It was dying out, telling him that he was falling asleep. He made it to the bed as his eyelids were drifting shut, finally silencing the laughter in his head.

--

Reno woke from where he had settled in behind the spiral house when he heard signs of movement. Peeking round the side of the house he saw Vincent leave. The gunman showed no signs of being hung over; he made no attempt to shield his eyes from the sunlight and walked with the confidence of a man that hadn't been trying to destroy his liver the night before.

He was one lucky bastard for that. It made Reno a little jealous but from what he had heard last night there were certainly things not to be jealous of. He was going to have to keep an eye on that, it certainly could turn out to be something worth reporting.

Reno had no idea what he had overheard the other night. Did Vincent have some underlying psychological problems as a result of being experimented on by Hojo or had it merely been drunken ramblings?

That was why he had decided it would be best to wait. Until he knew more about what he had heard there was really nothing to report. He had to have more information before he told Tseng anything. There was no point raising a false alarm, that would only make his boss think he was incompetent. He really didn't need that.

For now all he could do was follow Vincent and see if he could unearth any more information from his observations.

Reno waited out of sight as Vincent whistled at the outskirts of the city. Within a few minutes his well-trained chocobo came trotting up to him. When Vincent had moved off he went to retrieve Oola, giving the bird a few nuts before he mounted her and set off following the trail left by Vincent.

Once again they headed to the small island between the main continents. It certainly seemed to provide a good point to access the rest of Gaia from by chocobo, creating shallows that made it possible to traverse the world. Rather than heading to the east continent though they turned to the west one instead.

He could only assume they were on their way to Nieblheim. It was the place on the west continent that held the most connections for Vincent. He was surprised when Vincent stopped several miles short of Niebleheim.

There was nothing there as far as Reno could see. Mountains and a river, Reno could think of no reason why Vincent would want to come here. He held back just out of sight and watched as Vincent walked into the side of the mountain, a cave.

Reno looked all around him trying to find somewhere to leave Oola that wasn't too exposed. Unfortunately the area was too open, no vegetation grew on the sides of the mountains. The best he could hope for was a deep crag. He walked Oola quietly past Vincent's chocobo on the lookout for anywhere that might be able to hide the chocobo.

He was fortunate to find a crag not too far behind the cave but far enough that Vincent shouldn't notice unless Oola decided to start warbling. That would tip the ex-Turk off. Reno left some nuts with the bird hoping they would placate her enough that she wouldn't make a sound.

It was easy to climb out of the crag. It was fairly deep, deep enough to keep the chocobo well concealed but had more than enough hand and foot holds making it a simple and quick climb. Reno brushed himself off a little once he was out. He had never taken too much pride in his appearance, something Elena had reprimanded him for on several occasions so a bit of dust didn't bother him too much.

Once out and as cleaned off as he cared to be Reno settled above the entrance of the cave under the gaze of Vincent's chocobo. Crouched over the entrance Reno strained to hear anything that might be of importance.

--

Vincent sat in silence in the cave or as much in silence as he ever could get when Galian Beast and Chaos chose to taunt him, which was frequently. They often tried to get a rise out of him but only ever succeeded when he was drunk. That never stopped him from drinking and it never stopped them from trying.

He hated to hear them talking about Hojo and Sephiroth and despised them mentioning Lucrecia. But those three people and his involvement with them were their favourite topic of conversation.

They kept on about them for what felt like hours but he knew it was much less than that. Then they grew fed up. It always happened after he had been drunk and they had managed to achieve their aim. They lost their patience for keeping the taunts going much quicker, usually it would end with them shutting up sooner. This day was different though.

"I think the whole experience has made him rusty," Galian Beast commented trying to change tack but Vincent knew what he was getting at right away.

"More than rusty. Nobody ever managed to follow you successfully before?"

"And no one's managed it now. I was just thinking it might be time to greet my stalker and find out what he wants with me."

It shut them up. For all the access to his mind they had they never seemed to be interested in anything but his memories; anything that they could use against him. For once it had worked in his favour and he had actually managed to shut them up.

Vincent crept to the edge of the cave silently. Despite how clumsy his boots looked it was an easy task for Vincent to make no sound. He stepped out in one smooth stride and looked up to find the red-haired Turk, his mystery stalker.

"Reno isn't it?" Vincent questioned with a smirk to surprised expression of the red head.

This chapter was a nightmare to write since my laptop has decided to be temperamental and shut down whenever it feels like it. I'm not sure how much stuff got lost if word didn't recover it but I think it was quite a bit. It certainly drained me will to write and broke my concentration when I decided I needed to try saving after every couple of paragraphs. Got there in the end though.

I edited the previous chapter after I realised you can only get to Lucrecia's cave by gold chocobo. I haven't played the game in ages so have forgot some of the details but Oola and the other one are gold now.

As always reviews are very much appreciated and make me very happy.

I will write the next chapter...but will I really write the next chapter?