Title: Jar of Hearts

Genre: Romance, Drama, Horror/Gore, Angst, Hurt/Comfort.

Summary: Although the demons had the protomateria to keep them contained, they needed something else to keep themselves satiated. Vincent was willing to keep this a secret but certain events were making it more difficult than he had anticipated. Especially when a certain blonde pilot was trying to enlist his help but only ended up making things all the more complicated...

Warnings: Swearing, smut (gratuitous smut at that!), gore, blood, smoking, drugs, lewdness, emo-ness, OOC-ness, adult themes...

Disclaimer: Don't think I've ever seen a plot like this, so I guess I own it... But I highly doubt that as well...


The brunette gunner tore through the streets as fast as he could manage, working through what he believed to be his current location in his head and trying his best not to run face-first into any poles near the sidewalk, be they attached to a non-working lamp or a simple sign mattered not; they both hurt his face and his ego equally. Eventually, Vincent found himself stopping the middle of a current graveled road and staring at a looming building which should have been the hospital that he had earlier left. He could barely make out the massive shape of the tall building, hoping that he was right in his assumption of what the building was supposed to be. Rocket Town was more known for the small building that and shops that everyone lived in and, from what he could last recall, the hospital was the only building that was taller than Cid's formerly standing house. It was still far shorter than the looming rocket that the town was famed for, though.

The bright lights that he remembered seeing when he left were gone and the vibrant white faded in the shadows that seemed to swallow the small town whole. Frowning behind his cowl, the ex-Turk carefully pulled Cerberus out of his holster and stepped closer towards the building, his vibrantly saturated eyes taking in the broken glass panels on the doors as he pulled one open and stepped inside, tightening his grip on his gun at the darkness that filled the inside of the building as well. He was certain that when he had left the building was the only bright part in Rocket Town that did not fall to the unrelenting darkness that had swooped down and blanketed the entire town. Now it seemed as though that was no longer true and the hospital had become warped and disfigured in his leave, a discarded shell standing in its former location. In the dark recessed of his mind where his twisted pessimism thrived, he easily could jump to a conclusion at to what had created the change in the atmosphere but the gunner wanted to see the proof before he admitted it even to himself.

Stepping into the lobby as carefully as he could manage, Vincent narrowed his eyes as his boots crackled loudly against the tiles. Crouching down, the brunette narrowed his eyes and peered at the floor, taking in the sight of broken glass under the heel of his plated boot. He slowly exhaled as he rose to his feet, looking around carefully in case something was lurking in the darkness that had seeped into every aspect of the hospital and usually bright town. Carefully pulling Cerberus out of his thigh holster, the ex-Turk made his way through the room, keeping on the lookout for any sudden walls or open door, not wanting to get caught off-guard while trying to find Cid. He could only hope that Shera had left the hospital for the night and that the surly and blinded blonde was still safely tucked in his room.

The gunner walked down the hallways, ears pricked and listening for anything over the sound of his footsteps on the tiled floors. A sudden shriek pierced the air and the brunette barely had time to lift Cerberus before a solid weight crashed into him, knocking the surprised former-Turk off of his feet and to the ground. He could feel blunt fingernails clawing frantically at his chest, pulling at the leather as a distraught sound came from the creature. Determined not to end up on the bottom of the fight and spurred by a brief moment of panic, Vincent squeezed the trigger, a gurgled wail coming from the figure on top of him as a warmth spread over his midsection. Fluids splattered over the leather of his abdomen as the figure grew lax, the sound of its haggard breathing dying off and leaving the brunette to wonder exactly what it was that had attacked him. Blood sloshed to the floor as he moved slightly under the still warm figure. The gunner slipped Cerberus back into its holster before he pushed the body off of him, carefully rising to his feet and dropping to a kneel beside the prone figure. Leaning down beside the creature, he narrowed his eyes and glared down at the prone figure. While it was humanoid in shape, the body looked to be more emaciated than anyone he recalled in Rocket Town ever being. He bowed his body down even more in an attempt to look at the face without any use of lighting material lest he call attention to his position, not wanting to alert anything that was lurking in the darkness as to his whereabouts.

He could make out a shine of something liquid across the creature's face, but in the pitch darkness that had engulfed even the inner sections of the building, the brunette could not tell if the liquid was blood or not. There was definitely deep grooves along the creature's face; Vincent could make out jagged edges of flesh and something that was reflective with a liquid. Something else had to have attacked this creature before it ran straight into the ex-Turk. Something that was armed and felt no remorse about striking a frail-looking figure in its face. While the gunner felt no ill will towards the creature for attacking him, he also felt no remorse about putting it down.

There was a foul odor of decay in the air that call the gunner's mind to it as it was not previously there; the scent of sterilized rooms and rubbing alcohol had been replaced with an old scent. It almost reminded him of the odor that resided in the old ShinRa Manor in Nibelheim; rotting wood, dust, and decaying memories. There was a musk that lingered and the gunner could not tell whether or not it came from the body right next to him or from something else that lingered in the darkness. Vincent calmed his breathing as he made out the sharp angles that made up the creature's face, his line of sight moving down the steep and organic appearance of its body. It was once a human, that he was certain of, but something had befallen the poor soul and twisted it.

Rising back to his feet as fluidly as he could, Vincent made sure that Cerberus's safety was off as he stepped over the limp body, his boots clacking audibly against the hard tiles that made up the floor. The farther that he stepped into the hospital and walked down the hallway the more pronounced that the smell became. He only hoped that he was going in the right direction; he could not tell if the lights were still working and if the darkness was just that dense or if something had managed to cut the power to the hospital as well as the power from the generators. With every step that he took, though, the brunette could not help a sinister feeling that he was being watched. He slipped his finger around Cerberus's trigger just in case, making sure to listen to his surrounding's for another that made a sound in the hospital besides the overly loud footsteps of his that reverberated in his ears.

Lost in his thoughts and the pitch black that swallowed the town, Vincent misjudged the distance until the next opening and managed to walk into one of the walls. A humid and distinctly flesh-like substance hit his face, causing the ex-Turk to recoil vehemently and lash out with his left hand. Golden claws tore into the decaying material of the wall, raining dust and plaster to the ground in both large chunks and dust while the air around him shifted. Vincent tensed at the sudden dynamic change, the air around him becoming all the more suffocating as the building seemed to let out a sigh around him, the walls and floors trembling with a soft vibration. Wiping at his face after he turned on the safety and holstered his gun, the brunette sneered behind his cowl, grimacing as he could still feel the living and dead wall on his face in a phantom memory that was determined to haunt him.

He glared at the organic qualities of the wall, moving his face slightly closer as his narrowed eyes peered at the deep grooves that marred the now-mottled material. He had the distinct feeling that the building was breathing without having the capabilities to manage such an action. He could not shake the feeling that something was watching him in the dark confines of the hospital or if it were simply the building itself. He assumed that if the lights were not working in the building that the security cameras that were almost certainly placed throughout the building would be offline as well. Vincent wrinkled his nose in clear disgust as he looked onto the divots that his claws had created, his eyes widening when it looked like the rough and torn edges seemed to move slightly, a thin material shifting and looking to reconnect with the torn material above it.

Thinking that it was all in his head, the gunner held his breath, making sure not to breathe or move even slightly as he kept his eyes focused on the material. Sure enough, it began to move again and the gunner was proud of himself for restraining his urge to take a step back in surprise. Calmly sucking in a lungful of air, the brunette let it out in a collected and serene exhale before stepping away from the wall. He would have to have a word with Cid about what he had seen through the quaint town once he was able to locate the engineer. Surely he would be able to come up with some reasonable explanations for the twisted creatures; he had been living in Rocket Town far longer than anyone else as far as the ex-Turk knew.

He stepped away from the wall and noted which direction he had come from before turning to face away from it. Continuing to make his way down the dark and seemingly alive hallways, the brunette eventually turned into an empty room, frowning as he glared through the darkness just to see nothing. Stepping father into the room, Vincent carefully looked around for any sign of Cid or Shera, hoping against all odds that the mousy woman had been talked or yelled out of the room by the Captain and to the safety of her house before whatever had taken out the building had struck. He was not foolish enough to think that the recently blinded blonde had managed to escape, though. The spearman would have been confined to the room for the evening even if his disability was far less severe, both Miss Shera and himself would have made sure of that.

Then again, knowing the blonde as well as he did, he would not put it past the man to send him out after some greasy food and then bitch at Shera until he convinced her that going home for the night would work in her favor. Once the man was alone, Vincent had no doubt in his mind that the stocky man, blind or not, would have fled from the building as soon as he was sure that he would have been able to do so without running into someone that would stop him.

Shaking his head slightly, the gunslinger froze when something crunched audibly under his boot, stepping back before crouching down and his breath catching in his throat at the sight of cracked goggles, a dark smear across the glass that was far too thick and dark to be a fracture. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest as the demons he shared his body with stirred at the revelation, vying for control and wanting nothing more than to seek out Rosso and tear her to shreds.

Cid was gone.


Review for more.

Thanks for reviewing:

HeidiFox: She was! Ugh, I spent many hours cursing at her.

Inuobsessed004: Heh... Well, Vincent likes him.

ABNORMAL2110: Aww, thanks! It's usually like "Shit, I need two-Gs of words and I've only got five hundred. ...I'm just going to type whatever comes to mind!" Voila, chapter!

HappinessInYourPants: Well, I'm a very creepy sadist (towards certain characters). It's what I do on a good day. On bad days, they die. You can usually tell my moods by what I post.

Bathed In Darkness: Heh, Cid's an amusing character to write.

sadistic-neko: Ha, very good point!

ilovwinning: Aw, thanks!

Jennifer: (Chapter Two) Aww, thank you, my dear!

Jennifer: (Chapter Four) Heh, enjoy!

Jennifer: (Chapter Five) Indeed.

Jennifer: (Chapter Seven) Heh.

Jennifer: (Chapter Ten) Well, she's an evil broad.

Jennifer: (Chapter Eleven) I'm glad you liked it!