iWe'd arrived at the Turks headquarters within about 4 hours, first hopping from rooftop to rooftop and then a long time standing in the train since all the other seats were occupied…../i
strongChapter 19- Awkward Train Ride/strong
Vincent stood not too far from me, the fingers of his golden claw encircling a handle to prevent himself from falling over.
NOT that I'd suspect a guy like him would be clumsy enough to do so…
His posture was quite natural and casual despite the gothic getup which stood out strongly from the others on the train.
A girl with a black hoodie stared warily at Vincent over her thick glasses, chewing the end of her pencil while she was scribbling something in a book-a journal perhaps?
Trying not to show the smile that was beginning to stretch out on my mouth, I turned to the side and pretended to yawn. Vincent, who was zoning out, became rapt with my movement.
Suddenly, he became aware of the girl and glanced at her face. She blushed, swiftly looking down to quickly write something into her book as Vincent began walking over to her. The minute she shut her book to conceal whatever she was doing, Vincent was in front of her, his hands on his hips. I tried imagining what expression must've been on his face-annoyance? Anger?
Instead, I got my answer as I heard him chuckle, then query in an amused voice
"Don't try to hide it. I know you were drawing me."
The girl cleared her throat and smiled nervously, revealing her thick silvery braces. "Um-I…Sir, your outfit is really interesting and original. And I didn't really have anything else to draw so-" She chewed her lip, the blush strong on her porcelain skin.
"Heh, it's fine. I get that a lot…Can I see it?"
The girl widened her eyes, then nervously began flipping through her book, finally stopping at a page and handing it to Vincent, digging her hands deep into the pockets of her hoodie. Vincent nodded his head, then ihmm/i-ed in approval.
The girl fidgeted with her pencil. "Urm sir…?"
"Its very good." He handed her the book back and bent over so he could be face-to-face with the teenage girl. He held out a hand, his gauntlet one. The girl squeezed her eyes shut, then reopened them in surprise as she felt Vincent's hand upon her hooded head, ruffling her short rugged haircut.
"You are a young one, yet a perfect artist. Never stop doing this stuff."
Her small face fell; she lowered her huge brown eyes "But…My parents-"
"I know what you mean….But the truth is that even though they may seem a bit hard on you right now, the truth is that they're always with you. And one day, they'll come to appreciate what you do."
I heard the weight of his old guilt in his voice as he said that, knowing that he was remembering Grimoire. Vincent rose slowly, then began to turn when the girl tugged at his cape. Vincent turned her once more. "Hn?"
"Uhm sir, what's your name?"
"…..It's Vincent….Vincent Valentine."
The girl's mouth popped open. "Th-THE Vincent Valentine? Like, FOR REAL?"
I heard him chuckle, then walked back to his place on the train, getting a hold of his handle.
iAvalanche must be a well-known group around here…Since almost everyone knows Vincent's name around here…Surprising though that they didn't recognize him the minute he'd stepped in the train…Oh well, I guess they were the lucky ones who weren't here to see the hell that shook up this place./i I though to myself.
The train screeched to a halt at the next stop. I released my hold on the handle and began to proceed towards the exit. "It's not ours." Vincent clarified. "Oh." I stepped back as a bunch of people began pouring out of the train cabins. By the time the doors of the train closed shut once more, our cabin was completely empty. Just me and Vincent…
Vincent let out a breath, then sat back in his seat, laying his head back and shutting his eyes. I sat down across from him, trying to refrain myself from staring at his fully-exposed face which, I know by now, is always covered by his long bangs and turtleneck mantle. He looked peaceful, his long lashes fringing his eyes half-closed…His hair floating in the breeze coming through the window….
How I longed to run my hands into the midnight of those silky, ebony tresses; get lost in the fire of his eyes…
How I wanted for him to press his lips just ONCE against mine…
I snapped back to attention, feeling more disgusted than ever with myself.
iSick idiot, you RUINED his life because of your clumsiness…you KILLED his happiness and his chance at living happily with his family 33 years ago….YOU don't deserve someone as wonderful as him…Stop longing for what will never be possible..
strongJUST STOP/strong…./i
To ease myself a bit on the inside, I decided to let lose some of my voice, asking him when we're going to arrive at our station.
"Just an hour and a half…That's about five more stops." He answered, his eyes still half-closed as he looked at me.
I nodded, then forced a smile. "Still a bit sleepy, aren't we?"
He smiled faintly, then sat back up, crossing his legs. "I kinda dosed in and out of sleep last night…Sleep doesn't come quickly to me.."
"I see…I guess that's what 30 years of hell can do to you." I joked, then immediately regretted what I'd just blurted out, and was about to apologize when Vincent replied scornfully "Yeah…30 years of Hell is definitely how'd you describe it…"
"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bring it up, I-"
"Hnn. No need to apologize. Those thoughts don't bother me anymore…By the way, I never asked you, but" He leaned forward so he can be face-to-face with me "How were you all these years? Did they…hurt you too much?"
I looked down at my lap and clasped my hands together. "No…just a friendly get-injected-all-over-and-placed-in-a-gigantor-test-tube thing." I lied, unable to bring the disgusting truth before him.
"I find that hard to believe, considering your wounds…"
Suddenly feeling insecure, I got up and walked over to the door leading to the next cabin. "I need to, ah, walk around a bit-" The train suddenly skidded to a stop. I lost my balance and began to fall when I felt Vincent quickly step behind me, placing his hands on my shoulders. "Careful there…You've been prone to losing your balance quickly since we reunited…"
"Yeah, well, I guess ShinRa was unable to get rid of that." I muttered, grabbing a hold of a handle. Vincent began to get back to his seat when the doors opened, bringing in a wave of new passengers. They poured into the cabin, pushing Vincent back to where he was.
I tried not to move a bit as I felt his leather leg brushing up against mine. He seemed just as uncomfortable and turned around so we were back-to-back.
Feeling relief flood over myself, I craned my neck over my shoulder to see how Vincent was faring. He was looking somewhere off to the side, a distant look in his eyes. I sighed and ignored the stiffness going up my arm as I stood longer and longer in that position.
After several more minutes of standing, my arm felt like it might fall off. The train screeched to a halt once more, the announcer droning out the name of our stop.
I nudged Vincent out of his train of thought (haha). "Vincent, we're here."
"Hmm? Oh yes." he swiftly turned around, and got bumped from behind by a man with too much luggage. "OUT OF THE WAY RED FREAK!"
"Uh-!" Vincent staggered forward towards me, putting his hands out on the wall behind me to regain his balance. I shut my eyes and held my breath, pressing myself against the wall.
The crowd inside began moving out very slowly, making every second seem like hours. I reopened my eyes and my gaze instantly got locked with Vincent's. He looked slightly taken aback, and I imagined myself the same. Feeling embarrassed, I turned my head away and lowered my gaze to look at my shoes (well, Vincent's shoes, actually..). I quickly glanced back at Vincent to see how he was faring and noticed that he hadn't averted his gaze. His face softened and while the passengers pushed past him, he began moving in closer. I quickly looked down again, clenching my fists as I restrained my inner desire to embrace him right there.
Several more minutes passed as the number of passengers decreased in the cabin, and yet, we stayed in the same position. I cleared my throat and motioned towards the door. Vincent exclaimed and moved away. "I'm…I'm sorry…Too many passengers.." He muttered, shaking his head as he exited the train. I walked out after him, keeping my head bowed….
strongChapter 20- Interrogation at ShinRa base and Getting hit on the $$ by StrawberryHead../strong
The interrogation went by smoothly. No one was really hard on me and took me seriously. I truthfully answered each question asked by leader of AVALANCHE, Cloud Strife, and head of Turks, Tseng, telling them everything I knew about the organization and how I was fooled by Genesis into working with him. There was only one fact I kept hidden, and that was about Vincent's teenage sister, Yuki. Sure, the news could've brought him great joy that he still had a family member alive, but he would've been devastated to know how much loyal she was to Genesis and the position he'd given her in his illicit group of REBELS…I decided to save that for later if we'll encounter her face-to-face…
Throughout the interrogation, I couldn't help but notice that the redheaded Turk, Reno, kept on ogling me. I felt scrutinized under the intense gaze of his sea blue eyes, constantly shifting my posture in my seat. After a final question about Genesis, the interrogators arose and dismissed me outside with their bodyguard Turk, Rude. I glanced nervously at Vincent, who nodded slightly in a reassuring manner before shutting the door.
After more waiting, the door finally opened, with Rufus ShinRa in the lead. He turned to me and declared "We've come to a decision: we believe whatever you say. And we won't put you under strict watch or in imprisonment."
Cloud stepped forward to finish. "We'll allow you to work with us to get rid of the REBELS, as long as you don't try to deceive us in the future. And also," he turned to Vincent "We've decided that she'll be staying under your wing throughout the battle. You'll be in charge of her, alright?"
Vincent merely nodded, his face inaudible from under his turtleneck.
"Oh yeah, and you'll also be accompanied by Reno. He needs a little work to do since he's always loitering around Midgar harassing Elena, Yuffie and the other girls…" Rufus added. Vincent rolled his eyes and sighed "Fine by me…I'm good with little children. Though, I might've lost my softness with naughty kids; it's been a while since I've babysat any-" Reno shot him a dirty look and crossed his arms "Hey, I can be pretty useful, yo."
"Whatever." Vincent dissed him and leaned against the wall, crossing his own arms.
Finally, after the others had walked out, I was left behind with Vincent and Reno by my side.
Reno flashed me a lazy smile, then took me by surprise as he smacked me on my behind with his rod.
Vincent ahem-ed with disapproval and began to say something when Reno interrupted him.
"Relax, yo! It's how us Turks welcome the sexy, new lady members!" he winked at me, then took my hand and shook it.
"Welcome to ShinRa, yo. We're gonna have pleasant times together.."
Already, I can tell that this is going to be rather unpleasant for me.
Especially when you're gonna be around a strawberry-headed pervert most of the time….