The story will start to run into Dirge of Cerberus now. Bear with me; it's been a long time since I've played the game, so I'm mostly relying on cutscenes if I need to remember something. Some scenes or dialogue may be changed for convenience but I'll try not to make it too obvious.

"Yuffie...it's Vincent. It's been a while...and I'm sorry I haven't contacted you sooner. Listen...I hear from Reeve there is a festival in Kalm in two weeks. He wishes me to be there...and if agreeable I wish to see you, and speak with you there. Please let me know how you feel about this. It...it would be good to see you again. I have missed you."

Yuffie's heart immediately began hammering at the sound of Vincent's smooth baritone emitting from her voicemail. She held a hand to her mouth, wondering if she might suddenly throw up from nerves. "Oh...Vince..." she murmured, eyes sliding warily to the right, where she heard the shower shut off, though the merry whistling continued.

She felt dizzy with the shock, and groped her way to the sofa, seating herself and rubbing her temples. She hadn't heard from him since he had attempted to contact her when he was in Corel; to pop up out of the woodwork now was surprising. She wasn't sure what to think.

Reno emerged from the bathroom, fully dressed, towelling off his mane of flaming hair. "You in here?" he asked, head covered by the towel.

"I'm here," she said, reaching out a hand and guiding him towards the sofa.

"Heh, cheers." He set the towel aside and combed through his hair with his fingers. "You look pale, little white rose. What's eatin' ya?"

She pointed to her voicemail machine. "Vincent...he left me a message late last night."

"He did?" Reno raised an eyebrow. "Must be nice to hear from him again."

"Well...I don't know, Reno. He can't just walk in and out of my life whenever he sees fit. He says he'll be in Kalm in a fortnight."

"Ah, yeah, the festival. Reeve mentioned." Reno leaned back, resting an arm over the back of the sofa, fingers brushing Yuffie's shoulder. "Shame we can't go, eh."

"We...can't?"

"Nope. Do you ever read anything Reeve gives you?" Yuffie blushed furiously, remembering the paperwork she was supposed to have read. "How did you get this job again?" he sighed.

"Shut it, ginger." She stuck her tongue out.

"I know how to quieten tongues like yours." Reno dragged Yuffie over his lap and nipped at her bottom lip. Yuffie shuddered as his hands slipped under her vest and lightly stroked her waist. "You wanna stick it out at me again?"

"You wish."

"Maybe I do."

Yuffie squirmed in his grasp. "Don't tease me. We have to leave for work in an hour."

"Maybe get changed out of your jammies then," he laughed, giving her a shove. "And read over your paperwork. We're on a mission in a fortnight, that's why we can't be in Kalm. Shame, but it can't be helped. I wanted an excuse to get plastered and chat up pretty women." Yuffie raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You think it's fair to talk about that sort of thing in front of me?"

"So?" Reno crossed the room and unhooked his suit jacket from a peg, shrugging it on. "We fuck occasionally, it doesn't mean we can't see other people."

She crossed her arms. "You're so vile."

"Get dressed, boss. I'll see you at the office." He winked and left Yuffie's flat.

What a dick, Yuffie thought, stomping into her room and throwing off her pyjamas. She dressed in her usual ensemble of shorts and tube top, and slipped her feet into her boots. Good thing he's a decent bed-warmer and nothing else. Ugh.

Before leaving the flat, she paused to look at her voicemail machine, debating whether to call Vincent back. He wouldn't recognise her new mobile, as a requirement of being part of the Espionage team was to never keep her mobile number longer than a few months. Hands shaking, she dialled his number on the landline.

It rung for a good while, and Yuffie became worried he was ignoring her. Then...

"...Yuffie. Good to hear from you."

"V-Vince!" she gasped. "I didn't think you would pick up."

"Apologies. I was sleeping and didn't hear my phone. How are you?"

Yuffie bit her lip, wondering whether to tell him about Wutai. But she figured he would have heard it by now. She ended up pouring her heart out to him down the phone, lasting a full ten minutes. As was usual, he was mostly silent and listened throughout, only occasionally murmuring a short response or noise of agreement.

When she finished, she could feel tears in her eyes. This was how it used to be, with him willingly listening to her, never interrupting. Reno always cut across her if she was speaking; it was so annoying. "...You still there?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, Yuffie...I'm still here." He paused a moment. "I never should have left you."

"This was beyond your control, Vince," she sighed.

"I suppose...but I should have been there for you. Will I see you in Kalm?"

"'Fraid not. I'm on a mi-" She clamped a hand over her mouth suddenly. "I, uh...I'm not able to go...sorry Vince. I've too much to do here."

"That is a shame. I can...maybe visit you in Edge, if you wish. I believe Tifa would be pleased to see me again, at any rate. But then I need to be in Kalm; Reeve wishes to speak to me during this festival."

Yuffie considered this. It would indeed be nice to see him and catch up. But she was tired of him up and disappearing, and if he was visiting, she expected him to at least settle down like she asked him to last time. She said this to him, and he replied with a small grunt that she knew in Vincent-speak meant, "Fine, if you wish." She smiled at this. "Listen...I should go now. Call me when you're coming to Edge."

"I will, I promise." She could practically hear him smiling. "Just...look after yourself, Yuffie. Okay?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"And tell Reno that if he ever steps out of line with you, it will be me who deals with him. Personally. I will speak with you soon, Yuffie. Goodbye." The phone clicked as he put it down, leaving Yuffie staring open-mouthed in shock. Oh man, my voicemail message...of course. She made a mental note to change it later as she grabbed a jacket and raced out the door to the WRO offices.

The minute Yuffie was through the door to her office, she busied herself with the paperwork Reeve had given her, detailing the mission she was to be going on. It was stamped with the words CONFIDENTIAL across the top, and she swore at realising she'd left top secret documents just lying on her desk. "Organisation...originally a medical division for wounded SOLDIER members...Deepground?" she murmured to herself, eyes darting across the papers. "How did Reeve access all this...?"

The answer was found further down, as copies from Shinra archives presented themselves to her as she leafed through them. Mouthing silently as she read, her eyes lingered on the three signatures at the bottom of one sheet. "Scarlet...Heidegger...Hojo." Her jaw clenched. "Those three never could do a shred of good in this world."

She turned to the last page, where it was personally written to her. In Reeve's graceful penmanship, it read,

"We have located signs of the activity of what we expect to be Deepground deep underneath the ruins of Shinra Headquarters. A door has been discovered that none had seen before, but I don't want you to enter through here. Rather, you and the Turks will go through the winding railway tunnels beneath Midgar and access the lower levels of the building from here.

It seems the press have the same idea. I have it on authority from Cloud, who they spoke to recently about what happened in there three years ago, that they mean to open this door and potentially discover many secrets. I want you to go in there and see what you can find, before the press do. Any information would be invaluable to us.

You leave in a week. We're counting on you, Yuffie."

She smirked. Finally, a real mission. Something to actually test me. Then her eyes fell on the date of the paperwork, and her face fell. So because I forgot to read this, we're actually going in two days. Well, dammit. I wonder how long we'll be in there. Must be for a good while if it means we can't be at Kalm in time for the festival. Damn...

Sighing, she began to read through the papers more thoroughly. She was going to have to swot up on this in case Reeve decided to quiz her on it.

Is this the place? It...could not be anywhere else, I'm sure...

Vincent held a hand to his head, trying to stave off the unsteady feeling of vertigo. Though he disliked transforming, he would do so if he needed to get from place to place quickly. And after the dreams he had had the previous night, he had felt a sense of urgency to move to the place he had seen. Images of Lucrecia, his lost unrequited love, and a shimmering waterfall with spiked mountains to the west that could only place its location as near Nibelheim, had interwoven with his usual nightmares, almost as if he was being called to visit it.

In the morning, after answering Yuffie's call, he had left the inn in Junon, and once outside the city, transformed into the swirling red mass that resembled his cloak, and taken off over the ocean.

He had landed some hours later. He immediately realised why he had never come across it before; it was surrounded by mountains and the only other way anyone would get here was via submarine or chocobo. The waterfall that appeared in his dreams sparkled in the bright sun, beckoning him. Is there something behind it...? He could see only blackness beyond its depths, but something told him to check it out himself.

Cautiously, he stepped through the waterfall, arms outstretched, ignoring the water soaking him to the skin, expecting his fingers to brush damp stone, but he kept going, until he had emerged on the other side, in a vast cavern seemingly cut out of crystal. He had to shield his eyes at the brightness, though he couldn't figure out where the light could possibly come from. Gradually adjusting, he stepped forward, slowly removing the hand over his eyes.

It was then that he saw her.

Vincent's words died in his mouth; he felt like he was choking, chest tight, eyes suddenly wet with tears. She was here...encased deep within a column of crystal surrounded by a shallow moat of water. She looked just as beautiful as the last time Vincent had laid eyes on her, when he had been half-dead and gasping for his last breaths. Hands clasped in front of her, clothed in a flowing white dress, she resembled the angel Vincent had always thought she was. Was she dead? Deep in sleep? Her eyes were closed and there was no sign of movement within.

Suddenly, nothing else mattered. Not Yuffie, not Reeve, not Reno. Just the angel before him. Splashing through the water, he reached the crystal, and lay a hand on it gently, feeling his heart squeeze painfully with love. "Lucrecia..." he whispered. "After all this time..."

Again, words began to fail him, and feeling weak, he sunk to his knees. The world seemed to tilt, and then turn black. In his shock, the gunman slumped at Lucrecia's feet, wondering whether he might pass out, throw up or sob uncontrollably.

Eventually, he recovered himself, and stood upright. Automatically his hands went out, as if to cup her cheeks. The crystal felt warm to the touch, surprising considering the coolness of the cavern. "Thirty-three years," he murmured, "and here you are...how long have you been here? What...what are you doing here?"

The air seemed to shimmer, odd sounds resonating, bouncing off the walls, echoing. Vincent thought someone might have been calling his name, and he frowned, eyes fixed upon Lucrecia's serene, pale face. Her lips did not move, but the sounds he heard were so similar to her voice...could she be projecting somehow? No, it must be my imagination...but she...she sounds so real...

"Did I ever tell you...just how much I loved you?" Previously suppressed thoughts, memories, all came flooding, and suddenly Vincent could not stop speaking, hoping she might be able to hear. "My admiration for you knew no bounds. Hojo, he...he did nothing but use you. All I wanted to do was protect you...and you could not listen out of dedication to your work. Oh...Lucrecia, my love..." He touched his cheeks, feeling the wetness there, and rubbed it away impatiently as he stepped away from the crystal to sit down heavily on the cold ground, extending one leg and leaning his arm on bent knee.

"So...we meet again."

Again, the strange resonating began to echo around the cavern, glancing off corners, seemingly never-ending. This time Vincent could decipher words; she could only be speaking to him.

"I'm so sorry."