Chapter 14: Joyful Reunion

"It should be just around the corner now…"

Vince drew the corner tightly, firearm raised in case of a sudden attack. He paused, waiting for movement before signaling that a-okay to the others behind him, "All clear."

Yuffie and Red stormed forward, keeping close as they turned the corner and entered the room Vince had checked. Vince came in right behind.

They checked the room, taking the time and the clear space as a short reprieve. The monsters had grown in number as they drew closer to the portal, obviously trying to guard something they feared would be used against them. Vince rummaged through the files and shelves in the room, the room appearing to be a waiting hall to the office or lab just beyond the sealed tight doors. Smiling he placed the round of clips he found into a pocket in his pants.

With the numerous attacks they had faced on the way there, Vince's supply on bullets was dwindling, Yuffie's blade was growing dull and Red was tiring. They were all tiring.

"Find anything, Mini-Vamp?" he twitched at the nickname, something both heartwarming and ceaselessly annoying. He didn't know if he wanted to smile at the ninja or strangle her. Maybe he could do both?

"Found some clips for my gun, nothing useful besides that."

Nanaki let out a rough sigh, "I was hoping we would find a few Potions or something helpful. Lets pray to the Planet that there aren't any more creatures waiting behind that door to protect the portal…" he left things unsaid but everyone knew what was on his mind.

They were going to open that door and one of two options was going to happen.

A, they would open the door and would be greeted by an empty room ready to help them in their quest to get their friends from the Life Stream or…

B, they would open the door, find a huge monster, fight the monster and probably die from the effort.

They were tired, there was no if ands or buts.

"Guess we can't dance around the issue any longer. I'll open the door and check to see if the coast is clear. If it isn't then I want you two to get back and run to go get Cloud and the others to help out later, I'll hold them off," Vince said, his voice and mind now completely locked in mission mode. His team came first back in the Turks and he certainly hadn't changed.

"What are you thinking?! You die and the whole time line might get screwed to hell! If you weren't a good soldier I would say that Cloud and Vincent were idiotic to take the risk and bring you! You go in there and face whatever is there alone and you will die and then what will happen, hmm? I'll go, that's that," Yuffie screeched, crossing her arms at the end for good measure.

"But-"

"-Yuffie has a good point, Vince. However, I can't let you do this, either of you. I'll fight, it's my duty to protect the Planet."

Vince groaned and put his tired head in his hands, tugging at the bangs of his hair in frustration before sighing, "Fine, we all go or we don't go at all."

The fire cat and young girl looked at each other uneasily before nodding, "Fine."

They prepared to infiltrate the room that might be the last room they ever step into again.

He closed his eyes.

Breathe in…breathe out…

Cid looked back to his partner for the umpteenth time since they had gotten rid of Yazoo. He was worried. If Yazoo had been able to hold long enough to attack Cloud again after he should've died, wouldn't he do the same now? He repressed a shudder and looked to Vincent.

Vincent had more silent then usual, to the point that he hadn't said a single thing when he shot a clip right past Cid's ear to kill a monster…without any warning. Cid had nearly had a heart attack. After a few choice words he had given up getting the gunsmith to talk for a while. But that while was over. According to the information given to them in the briefing, they should be close to their 'checkpoint' of sorts.

"Yo, Vince. What's buggin' you so badly?" Cid asked gruffly, his breath hanging like a cloud in front of his face. The air had become incredibly cold since the battle. He rubbed his arms to get the seemingly frozen blood moving.

"…"

"Seriously, Vince, I'm being to think that if we were ever in one of them games back home, you would have those idiotic 'dot dot dot' lines, ya know? Nobody enjoys wasting time reading 'dot dot dots'…you even listening to me?" Cid barked.

"…"

"Vincent…"

"Would please silence yourself, Highwind? I hear something and you're making it near impossible to catch."

"Hey!" everything Vincent had said then caught up and he stiffened, Yazoo…

Vincent stopped for a moment his body tense and alert. Cid looked to him and felt not just a little intimidated. Sometimes he had to remind himself that Vincent was still Vincent. Sure, Vincent had been tall before but at least he had been…well…he looked like a good breeze would snap him in half. If not for the cloak, Cid would've thought that the man never ate, let alone had muscles. Vincent had proved otherwise later but now? The man was taller than ever and had an inhuman power residing in his muscles.

…So why is he so freaked?

"Vincent…you okay?"

His eyes looked absolutely livid, blazing with a nearly yellow fire, "I said to-" he was cut off by a blur of silver and thrown into the wall. At the contact and pressure the wall crumbled into a blaze of smoke and dust, sending Vincent tumbling through.

Cid stood there with wide eyes for a moment, taking in the scene and the completely unscathed Yazoo standing before him until his voice finally caught up with him, "Vincent!"

…Nothing. No response…

Cid was about to rush to the room when he felt the back of a hand rush to greet his jaw. The force behind the blow was unbelievable and it sent his head rocking on his neck almost to a fatal point. He crashed down into the floor with a deadly speed, unconscious before the floor could truly greet him.

Vincent…don't you dare die you stupid Vampire.

The three stumbled in quickly, each on the ready to let loose whatever attacks their mangled bodies could provide now. All three slowly took in the glowing room, the swirling portal, and the two figures working on the control panel.

A woman with long brown hair tied bang in a long spiraling tail turned when she heard them enter, surprised at first and then beaming with a beautiful smile, "Red! Yuffie! Vince! We've been waiting for you!"

"…"

"Gods! Aeris, you scared us! We were afraid you would be another monster! Not like it matters, of course, 'cause I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie!" Yuffie said, trying to put on her normal greeting parade but fatigue left her a bit halfhearted.

Aeris giggled, "Sorry guys. We were working on shutting this down for you. Did you get anywhere, Zack?"

That's when the other finally noticed the other standing before them. A man with dark brownish gray spiked locks, kind of like an exaggerated style of Cloud's haircut, just longer and droopy. His grayish purple eyes were warm and just like Aeris; the feeling that came off him was happy and warm.

"Naw, didn't get anywhere yet but I'm close. The portal'll be closed soon."

Yuffie nodded and rightfully plopped down where she stood, exhausted and ready to take a break. Likewise, Nanaki did the same. Aeris smiled and walked up to the two, kneeling before them individually and healing them. When she was down she turned to look at Vince, "Hey, do you want me to heal your wounds too…Vince?"

He didn't hear her. Lost in the beauty of the portal Vince could hear nothing else but he Life Stream's song. It caressed his cheek with an alluring effect. Beyond the portal was something that looked much like an ocean, the middle ground between the Life Stream and the living realm.

"Close your eyes, Vinny…don't worry, I'm here. I won't let that monster get you…" "Do you know what a monster is, Vince?"

"If anything, Vincent…you should pity monsters."

He began to step forward when he felt a hand at his shoulder, snapping him out of his reverie.

"Whoa, I know its tempting, Man, but you die and we all die," the man, Zack, said softly, looking intently into his eyes with his soft purple orbs, "You should rest, you're safe now…

"…No monsters here, man. You're safe."

"No monsters here, Vinny. You're safe."

His red and exhausted eyes rolled back behind closed lids, he was faintly aware of being caught and lowered down gently.

"Vince!"

Vincent groaned as he tried to regain some sort of consciousness. His form was pressed deep into a wall, smashed in deep and confined into motionlessness. He could feel the power lent to him by Chaos stitching his wounds, both external and internal, back together. Blood dripped down from his messy black hair, trailing down his face and into his eye. He blinked, trying to stop the stinging.

"Vincent!" Cid shouted from the hallway. He may have been out of sight but the loud sound that followed was all he needed to know that Cid had been knocked out by Yazoo, hopefully nothing more than that…

He heard Yazoo turn on heal to face the large hole in the hallway, stepping through and getting closer to the indent on the far wall that Vincent was lodged into.

"Did you honestly think you could defeat me? Mother would never allow it," Yazoo said calmly, his voice touched with amusement and malice.

Yazoo stopped when he was right next to the crumpled form of the Ex-Turk. Kneeling down he reached with one gloved hand, clenching mercilessly when those long fingers curled into Vincent's deep black locks. Tugging none too gently, Yazoo forced the dazed man to look at him. It looked as though those green Mako eyes were searching for something but for what, Vincent didn't know.

"I don't know why Mother wants you so badly, Demon…she wants you to become our Father… I wonder why she thinks that you are worthy…" Yazoo said just under his breath, giving Vincent's hair another good tug for measure before throwing his head down.

"You're weak. You're not worthy of her love! You fight her love, so why? Why? Why?" Yazoo asked aloud, pacing the room, "Do you have the answers, Demon? Does anyone?"

"Why don't you ask her?" Vincent finally managed to snarl, his eyes flashing.

Yazoo stopped to glare at him, considering what he said and formulating what he should do. A moment passed and the flicker of a grin brushed over his expression, "Shall we go and ask together, Father?"

"Don't call me your Father –argh!" Vincent let loose a howl of anguish as a new sensation crept into his mind. It was as though fingers, thousands upon thousands of fingers, were combing through his mind, his very soul…searching…searching…searching…

His lurched up, his spine arching and his eyes wide, seeing something else besides his surroundings. His mouth made the formation to scream but nothing came, just an expression of soundless agony as he suffered through the moment.

"Do you want to be a Father, Vincent?"

Vincent found himself being hurled into the days of long ago.

"Hmm?" He responded, looking away from the window he was gazing through to set his sights upon a beautiful woman in a lab coat.

"Daydreaming again? You're supposed to be on guard at all times, right Turk?" She scolded him, a smile pressing her face, unable to conceal her sarcastic joke. A smooth chuckle escape from his throat.

"Seems that you've caught me," he said, his voice smooth and sly, "I am at your mercy."

The woman smiled at that, her eyebrows raised in amusement and curiosity, "Completely at my mercy? Whatever shall I do with you then, hmm?" she edged closer, bringing her lips just a breath away from his.

His eyes connected with her, garnet and caramel. That was all they needed. Just that moment, being together. He caught her by the hand and drew her closer, connecting their lips. Soft petals, her lips reminded him of soft petals. The curtains, thin and nearly a translucent white, fluttered in the breeze, grazing over them like a blanket. For a moment they weren't in the stuffy ShinRa manor but in another place altogether.

They breathed into each other, sharing each other's life for a moment. They were one…for a moment.

Finally they broke apart and she melded her form to his, leaned gently against him and resting her head on his chest. Both looked out into the window, looking down at the courtyard slowly being covered by the fall of cherry blossoms and other freshly bloomed leaves, blowing away in a dance caused by the upcoming storm.

She never looked at him, nor did he glance to her when she finally spoke once more, "Do you want to be a Father, Vincent?"

His hand curled into hers and his voice rumbled softly in his chest, causing her heart to flutter, "Yes, I do want to be a Father. I wish I could the child's Father…"

Her heart ached as he pressed his free hand to the soft skin of her stomach, "I wish you were the child's Father too…maybe you still could be?"

Vincent finally looked down at her to find her face tilted up to see him as well. Her eyes were warm and hopeful, searching, reaching for him so that maybe, together, they could escape the hell they had been ensnared in.

"Run away with me, Vincent."

His scream finally connected with his expression as his soul suddenly was thrown back into the pain of his body. Tears rimmed his crimson eyes as he let lose a howl so sorrowful and filled with pain and anger that it might've been classified as animalistic. The rawest of a human's screams, instinctive and true.

"Didn't like that too much, did you, Father? You know, Mother took on that woman's form just for you? So that you would be comfortable with the role you are destined to play."

"I didn't ask for this."

"Regardless it is the role you shall play!" Yazoo yelled and sent his power surging at Vincent once more, clawing deeper into his mind for the memories that might give him the time he needed to get Vincent to Mother.

Vincent felt another onslaught of fingers attack his memories, painfully throwing him back into the past once more.

"Do you remember him, Vincent? This used to be your partner…"

No! Not that Memory!

Plit. Plit. Plit.

"Well? Answer me, Turk. Do you remember him?" Hojo asked with his hawkish voice, annoying and chilling. Utterly insane…he was utterly insane!

Plit. Plit. Plit.

Oh how he tried to block out the image above him! Oh how he triedto close his eyes and forget about the man he knew. Above him was his partner, chained a few feet above, dangling by a network of chains and bleeding freely. Right underneath the body, just a few feet down, was a operation table drilled into the floor. Vincent lay on this table, shivering despite his white blouse and navy blue pants, shoes, gloves and jacket gone. He tried to get off the table but thick leather straps keep more than just in place, it kept him from moving.

Plit. Plit. Plit.

Blood dripped with an irritating and random pattern onto his forehead, his right cheek, his collarbone, right hand, left thigh, stomach and just above his heart. Each drop made him flinch, made his mind scream from his body to brush it away and yet he could not. His skin crawled as the thick crimson fluid of his partner trickled so horribly slow, down, down, and down. Tracing patterns on his skin that he couldn't wash away. He had been sitting here for hours it felt like, maybe days. The reek of the dead body above him made him sick, his empty stomach clenched and unclenched systematically.

"They sent your partner a few days ago when your reports stopped coming in. Honestly, I had forgotten about that. It was easy enough to trick him though. Turks aren't all that bright…never were," Hojo babbled as he paced around the table, circling Vincent, tampering with machines here and there, tracing cutting tools with slim bony fingers and finally settling on a syringe. He brought it up to eyelevel.

"I simply had him look out of a window for just a moment and "bam!" I jabbed him with a syringe filled with a potent sedative. From there experimentation was easy. Don't worry; I'll be handling the reports for both of you. I'm just about to file you both MIA."

Vincent finally croaked out to him, angered and not just a little peeved by the man, "MIA? Missing in Action? What could possibly happen down here that they would actually believe other than you went out of your f-ing mind, Hojo? They won't be fooled. They'll come."

"Such an optimist, I never would've guessed. Thought you are so happy-go-lucky now that you have Lucrecia…well…had Lucrecia. She changed you and now it will be all the more fun to throw you back down to the level you deserve to be on. No one loves you. You're a monster."

Vincent didn't respond, deciding to ignore him.

Hojo grabbed him angrily by the jaw by this, shaking him roughly and causing him to look at his comrade above him. Those wide unseeing eyes…that horrified face…my fault…

"You are a monster. My monster."

"No!" Vincent screamed, his eyes glazing over slowly as he finally grasped onto reality once more. His throat ached with a vengeance but he barely noticed. He faintly noticed he was wet. Looking down he caught sight of the blood soaking his clothing, clotting and staining the floor in a huge puddle of scarlet.

"Look, you've dirtied the floor. Mother will be none too pleased," Yazoo laughed, taking in red liquid dripping along his knife.

"What—what are you doing to me?" Vincent growled, unable to get past a gruff whisper.

Yazoo sighed and flicked his blade, "Another round, shall we?"

Vincent's scream, if possible, was louder than ever before. The scream of a dying man.

Vince writhed on the floor, dreaming of a woman and dreaming of a comrade he knew. Oh Gods! What is wrong with me?

He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe and he couldn't escape the dreams that he was ensnared in. Is this what Vincent was talking about? Is this my future?

He was in pleasant darkness for the moment, floating among nothingness as he awaited the next memory to plague him. Or was this all just a dream of his own craft?

Darkness…so much darkness.

What now?

He lifted one hand up slowly, his limbs numb with the passing effects of a powerful sedative. His hand instantly brushed against something solid and unyielding. Wood.

Panic seized his heart in moments. The organ struggled to keep up as his blood raced, panic and fear driving the sedative out of his system and forcing his limbs into movement. Over and over and over he pounded upon his prison. Pressing upon the wooden thing above him and pressing to his sides as he tried to wiggle free.

"What is this? Oh Gods! No!" Vincent panicked, pressing, thrashing, doing anything he could and failing to get free.

"Where am I?!"

You are in a coffin deep below the ShinRa Manor. Surely you must now this, Vincent.

Vincent froze, "Who's there?"

Another voice, deeper and gruffer than the last, spoke, a hint of insanity behind it, giving him the feeling it would be something from his nightmares, Many, Valentine. Many.

Somewhere in the back of his head a howl and a gruff grunt resounded, deeper in the confines in his mind, almost none existent.

Suddenly Hojo's word sprung into mind.

Galian Beast. The creature howling deep within his mind…

Panic gripped his heart with an iron fist.

Death Gigas. A grunt, somewhat further back than the howl.

His heart thumped loudly in his breast.

Hellmasker. The nightmarish voice, mocking, snide and filled with insanity.

He couldn't breathe! A coffin? Voices? He. Could. Not. Breathe!

Chaos…

The voice that sounded just like his own. The voice that whispered as though it was right by his ear, chuckling, mocking, taking amusement in his suffering. His punishment.

The scream he issued was almost as if all of the beasts had balled up within his chest and let loose a roar along with him, causing the very wood foundations of the coffin to rumble with its intensity.

Yes, scream, Vincent. Welcome to everyday of the rest of you long immortal life. I told you, didn't I?

The memory flooded into him suddenly. A monster in his room…yellow eyes…Chaos.

"One day you, a man among dogs, shall find me, a demon among men. Gaze into the Abyss…Fore I shall look back unto you."

His scream felt as though it would never end.

"Zack! Grab his shoulders! Cid, grab his feet! Yuffie, hold his hands down!" Aeris knelt by his head and placed one hand one either side of his face. Closing her eyes she began to mutter under her breath. Sending her soul out to Vince she tried to calm him but was instantly struck by into her body by a familiar foe. JENOVA…Yazoo…

Oh Gods! Vince, Vincent, hold on just a bit longer!

She healed his wounds and helped the others hold him, waiting out the storm of memories attacking the boy from the inside out.

The gruff pilot before him mumbled something about needing coffee as he was slowly stirred awake. Nero rolled his eyes and allowed his shadows to harmlessly run over the man again to wake him up. Placing one tendril over his mouth before hand, Nero waited as the pilot fully awoke and screamed into the tendril just after blinking like a dumb fool.

Nero glared at him and linked to Cid's thoughts using his shadows.

I will help your friend, Pilot, but I want something in return.

Cid glared at him, his version of, 'well, spit it out already.'

I will tell Vincent afterwards, I just need your word that you'll make sure Vincent will take an audience with me.

Cid lunged forward, hearing the cries of his comrade, and yelled into the tendril. The sound didn't come out but Nero heard it clear enough "Help him already you stupid ass!"

Nero grinned and left some shadows behind to heal the pilots wounds as he disappeared into darkness, melding into the shadows of the room, determined to save the only man who could possibly help him with his goal.

Hold on just a little longer, Weiss. I will free you from this hell and that madman's grasp.

SORRY FOR THE DELAY!!!

I've been taking a class outside of school to get my Water Safety Instructor training. It was a two weeklong course with hours from anywhere from 4 hours to 9 hours. I passed though!

Anyways, this isn't spell checked, like usual. Its short 'cause I wanted to get an update up and this felt like a good place to stop for now. I'm already working on the next chapter and I have the outline for the rest of the story done.

One good news, I know people are reading this. I've gotten 3509 hits and the first chapter broke 1000. I'm hoping that all ya'll people that read and don't review will at least leave a comment at the end of this…

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTS ME! Love you lots!

-Spazzy