A/N: I'm back people and here's the forth chapter for you guys. I'm really hoping I can finish this fanfiction before next year March lest I leave it incomplete. And please review, I would love to hear your opinions on this story. And I've got one request to you all readers; could you guys help like my LoL clan page on FB? My brother's been bugging me none stop about it. Here's the link: deltaxquadgaminglol You don't have to like it if you don't want to. Anyway thanks for taking your time to read this boring note.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. If I did, Vincent would not have had such a tragic past.
Warning: The Italic writing is actually flashback. And whatever info about Cetra's is based on the Final Fantasy wikia and partly my own assumption.
Chapter 4
It was late at night and everyone was asleep at the WRO encampment site. Silence embraced the atmosphere like lovers as nothing moved. Dreams were the only thing in everyone's mind. Everyone save but one person; Samantha.
Her thoughts were troubled with the events that had taken place earlier. The scene kept replaying in her mind and she couldn't sleep for the first time in her life.
"Experiments? Ho- What do you mean?" Samantha blurted out. "Nineteen years of my life I've been living like any normal teenager. How does that make me an experiment?"
Vincent and Chaos now looked at each other in confusion. The gunner then turned to look at the woman they had brought back and said, "I'm afraid the world you had been living in up until now has been merely an illusion."
"You have been physically living inside a tube for your entire life," Chaos added. "What you have experienced in your life is not real."
"How is that possible?" the young woman asked. Confusion and slight panic etched on her expression.
"Based on the reports we found it would seem they have been keeping you as an experiment since birth though I can't be sure about the details as I only looked through a few of them briefly," Vincent explained slowly.
"Was it… Was it Prof. Hojo…?" Yuffie said with much hesitation. The name itself held many unwanted memories that just thinking of it made everyone shudder.
"No. The experiment was conducted by an unknown scientist. There was no name in the reports found in that lab," Vincent said monotonously. "I have yet to look through the entire report."
"But why a kid?" the old pilot said from a corner of the tent. He was resting on a wooden crate.
"For the same reason as why they wanted your friend Aerith; she is an Ancient," Chaos replied.
All AVALANCHE members now turned to look at the demon in shock.
"But that's impossible. Aerith was the last Cetra, even she said it herself," Tifa said.
"A clone then? Those Shinra dogs always had a sick way with their experiments," Barret sneered.
"Vincent, is this true?" Cloud asked in a calm tone despite the evident hate in his expression.
"She is a Cetra but she is not a clone," the gunner answered.
"I don't get it, what exactly is a… Cetra?" Samantha asked. Everyone in the tent turned to look at her.
"You don't know what a Cetra is?" Yuffie blurted out. She had recovered from her earlier trauma and now she was back to her chipper self. "Where on Gaia have you be- Oh… sorry I forgot. You've been stuck in some test tube for your whole life."
"Um… So, explanations please…?" Samantha asked again, ignoring Yuffie's last comment.
"A Cetra… is a lost race from long ago. They are a part of the Planet," Chaos began slowly. "They were the first race that lived on the Planet later followed by humans. Their role is to cultivate the Planet into a habitable one. They were eventually wiped out by 'The Calamity from the Sky' which the humans later call it 'Jenova'."
"So… you're saying I'm one of this lost race's?" the young woman asked. "But how would you know if I am a Cetra or not?"
"Your eyes, they are the colour of the Lifestream," Chaos answered. "That and I can sense the Planet's power in you."
"The Planet's… power? Do you mean my ability to occasionally hear voices? It's unrecognisable but I've been hearing it since young," the woman inquired. When the demon nodded in confirmation, she sat at her spot in silence trying to contemplate the meaning of the new found truth.
There was a pregnant pause in the air until Yuffie yawned. It reminded the AVALANCHE members why they had entered the tent to begin with.
"I'm beat…" Yuffie said. The ninja plopped down on the nearest bed and in seconds was asleep. Cid scratched the back of his head and sat on the nearest bed before laying down on it to sleep.
"I'ma hittin' the sack. If you wipper snappers wanna continue this talk, do it outside," the old pilot said.
Barret got on a bed, grumbling about something before sleeping immediately. Cloud let out a deep sigh before climbing in a bed himself, followed by Tifa.
"You should rest for the night. We'll explain everything to you once we understand it ourselves," Vincent said and he too lay down on a bed. Only Chaos remained unmoving from his spot.
"You aren't sleeping?" Samantha inquired the demon in front of her.
"Unlike you humans, I do not need to sleep much," the demon replied. He got up from his spot on the bed and left the tent.
Samantha shifted on her bed restlessly for countless times that night. She couldn't sleep for she felt very wide awake. Figures. She thought to herself. If what they had told me was true then that means I've been asleep for nineteen years now. As if I can sleep anymore for today.
Silently, she got up from her bed and looked around the tent. Everyone was asleep as expected so she tiptoed out of the tent quietly. When she got out of the tent, she did not realize she had been holding her breath as she heaved out a deep sigh of relieve.
"Can't sleep?" came a deep voice from behind her.
"Ahh!" the young woman exclaimed. She turned around to face the direction of the voice and she saw Chaos leaning on stacks of crates with his arms folded across his chest. "Oh, it's you. You nearly freaked the daylight out of me for a minute there."
"Hmph… most people would have screamed and ran from the moment they see me," the demon stated. "So I'm curious, how is it that you are so calm when you first saw me?"
"Well, my friends had always said that I'm an unusually calm person," Samantha replied. She tilted her head slightly to the right and shifted her weight from one leg to another before continuing, "I guess it didn't occur to me to run since you hadn't made any intention of harming me."
The demon chuckled a little and said, "And what if I had intended to harm you?"
"Then it would be either I wouldn't be standing here right now or you lying flat with your face down to the ground," the young woman answered bluntly as she rolled her green eyes.
"Hahaha! You are one amusing person. There is hardly anyone here who'd dare to speak to me without feeling intimidated," Chaos said. He straightened himself and strode towards the woman standing in front of him. Golden eyes stared into emerald ones as he looks at her with a smirk on his face. As Samantha stared back, she found herself admiring the glow in his eyes.
They stood there, staring at each other in silence for some moments, neither making a move on the other. The silence broke like a spell when the sound of someone clearing their throat was heard. It had caught the both of them off guard.
"I hope I'm not intruding on the both of you," Vincent said with a hint of amusement sparkling in his crimson eyes. If observed clearly, one could see a small grin creeping its way to the gunslinger's pale lips.
"Vincent… I did not hear you approaching," Chaos said with a hint of a low growl in his voice. He turned to fully face the gunner and asked, "How long exactly have you been standing there?"
"Hn, it was not my intention to eavesdrop but it was long enough to hear something interesting," the gunner replied. His eyes glowed mischievously.
"Right… while you guys continue with your teasing, I'll just head back to the tent. Good night," Samantha said, silently hoping her voice had not cracked as she quickly walked away.
When her retreating figure had disappeared into the tent, Chaos floated away from his spot saying, "I'm going to get some fresh air."
Vincent stood still, watching the demon that used to be a part of his conscious, disappear around the corner and shook his head. The ex-Turk then walked back into the tent and saw Samantha sitting upright on her bed.
"Not going to sleep?" he asked as he walked over to his bed which was next to hers and sat on it with his legs and arms crossed.
"I have been pretty much asleep for my entire life you know," the woman replied. She turned on her bed to look at the man beside her.
Pale complexion, lean and tall figure, raven long unkempt hair, red tattered cloak, black shirt and slacks, golden gauntlet and boots; all in all a perfect living model, one everyone envied. His calm and stoic demeanour was something she admired and a silent thought crossed her mind, How can he be so perfect?
"Hn. So it would seem," the man said. He lay down on the bed and said, "Good night."
"Night," Samantha said. Then she too lay on her bed and shut her eyes, hoping she would at least fall into a light nap. What would tomorrow bring? She hoped she would have the energy to face a day full of weirdness and possibly the truth about her identity.
As she finally drifted off to sleep once more, she dreamt of a voice calling out to her in the darkness and she saw a certain redhead and a demon fighting each other. The world around her shook with great tremor with each clash of weapon and blast.
A/N: What will tomorrow bring for our main character, Samantha? What does the dream actually mean? The next chapter will be based on Chaos' POV and the unknown researcher's report. Hope you guys liked it and don't forget to review.