R&R longer note at the end

I don't remember much of my past since the day I was taken, it's almost like my memories of those days where stripped from me like my freedom, my humanity. To this day I ask myself why I was chosen, I'm sure there were many other people, many other science labs these mercenaries could have chosen yet it just happened to be the one I was working in.

My time there was not pleasant the daily torture and experimentation, I found it weird that all the time they tortured me they never seemed to ask any questions, it was almost like they were doing it for some sick pleasure or amusement. After a few weeks of this constant hellish lifestyle I had accepted my fate and was ready for my inevitable death.

Something tells me that was the state they wanted me in, all the willpower to survive needed to be gone, the fire of fight back needed to be extinguished, it was then that the experiments began. When they took place I had believed it to be some kind of new torture strategy they had cooked up, I felt my body change turning me into what I am today.

There was a lot of things I never told Tifa the day I'd recovered, I never told her what had made me escape that place, she was kind and caring something in me told me not to say it or I would have scared off this caring woman in front of me.

I never planned on sticking with her so long, after I recovered I was ready to leave the Sector Seven slums, leave the city if I had to, anything to escape those people but something about her made me stay.

XXX

I often find myself thinking back on the day they came looking, if I had been there then things would have been different, she wouldn't have gotten hurt or lost her way of living. I was thankful that her friend Wymer found me, I had almost forgotten Tifa had introduced me to him, after following him I was greeted by the horrible sight of her injured because of me.

I'm not sure why she would protect me, a man she barely knew but I was thankful, it was at that moment I realised I'd over stayed my welcome, that was why I decided to leave but then she grabbed my hand, gave me that glowing smile and told me she would come with me. This woman gave up everything she had to protect me, got injured and yet was still refused to abandon me, I just don't get it.

As we travelled together I couldn't help finding myself more curious to learn about her, to figure out why she would go this far for a stranger, our arrival at the place known as wall market was the first time I had seen a different side to her. The smile returned as I brought us something to eat, at least the experiments hadn't taken away my sense of taste, I have to admit the scenery was difficult to handle with the neon lights and large groups of people but at least the food was satisfactory.

After our meal we made our way to the mansion of someone who called themselves Don, Tifa seemed rather unhappy about visiting them but she had explained It was our only chance. Reaching the gates of the place I could tell that this person was living happily while the rest seemed to struggle to get by, it was one of many reasons I didn't trust the place, being told only one of us could enter raised my dislike of this person I had never met.

Trusting the woman who had saved me I held myself back waiting outside for her to return, I was thankful when she returned but the look in her eyes was different, no longer the caring calm woman I had grown to know, there was a new fire behind them an anger I didn't think she could even reach, I saw first-hand as she broke the pillar on the bridge what that anger could do, it was that moment I had made a very important choice.

Do not anger this woman.

XXX

I had decided to stay at the hotel one day when Tifa said she needed some air, I figured it better to keep a low profile, after a while she came back a confident grin on her beautiful features, she told me of a new stress relief she wanted to try out which led us to the underground coliseum.

It was a nice moment for me, getting to stretch my legs and see her fighting abilities first hand, I can't explain why or how we were able to work so well together, it felt natural like I had fought alongside her in the past but that couldn't be possible, I'd never met her before until the night she saved me.

After a hard fought battle with the Behemoth it should have been over, we had won but this person, this Don had other ideas one of her subordinates who I recognised from the gate entered the waiting room we were residing in he informed us of another fight, a bonus match it seemed then the weird moment happened. He handed us gas masks, I couldn't tell why and when asked he merely smiled and left, I was suspicious of what it meant clearly he had known more than he was willing to tell us but Tifa seemed to trust him.

After the announcement we made our way back to the arena for this bonus match, we didn't have to wait long before our opponents arrived, two men and a woman who seemed to know Tifa very well, she mentioned something about a rematch it was then I was able to determine how they knew her, these three where the ones responsible for the attack at the bar.

Before we could get any form of revenge on this woman and her two lap dogs a voice rang out talking about making a bang and stealing from the Don, unable to locate the source of the voice I looked around as small balls had landed, it was almost an instinct that made me pull Tifa back to safety.

The bombs exploded causing a smoke screen, it soon became apparent why we had been given gas masks almost like the man knew something was going to happen, I'm still not convinced the smoke screen was designed for us to escape or just to cause panic while the group who we now stay with did their thing.

XXX

The group seemed more than happy to take us in, the two men who brought us to their safe zone seemed eager for us to join, then she came along. The overly excited and ego driven girl who seemed to be named Yuffie, after her rather unrequired over the top introduction we made ours I didn't say much as my suspicions where high being given the nickname beast by this child was not something I enjoyed but for the sake of keeping up appearances I decided not to say anything.

After a while we left with the group entering their underground hideout, I was still unsure of these people seeing some of the areas of their hideout made me even more convinced these people couldn't be trusted. The cages, the tanks, then there was him, the one they call professor.

I could tell I wasn't going to like him from the beginning, something about him seemed to rub me the wrong way, his assistant entered making excuses for his behaviour, I don't understand why someone who seemed to be less erratic would even consider working for someone like him.

It happened again maybe it was my dislike of this man or just my instinct to defend the person who I had failed before but I had moved without thinking, my three barrelled gun pressed against this greasy haired old man, if it hadn't been for the many guns pointed at us or perhaps the thought of Tifa's opinion of me changing I would have pulled the trigger.

XXX

The results of my actions had landed us both in a cage, I kept my mouth shut not wanting to speak a word, the memories of my time with the mercenary group came flooding back, knowing there was someone else there kept them slightly at bay the feeling I would have broken out and caused more trouble never surfaced as strongly as I had expected, after the time passed the assistant returned to us thankfully removing us from the cage meeting with the director.

The director, where do I begin to explain this man? His entire attitude and look didn't match this man didn't make sense after hearing Tifa's questions I could tell she felt the same way as I did, returning our weapons was one thing but saying he wouldn't kick us out despite my actions. Nothing he did or said made sense, then he offered to fight us, I don't know why we accepted but we did entering that virtual space I felt like we had stepped outside, the realism of the whole experience was a lot to take in.

Then the fight began, in his office he seemed calm and collected but on the battlefield it was like he had flipped a switch, his movements where erratic and hard to follow, one moment he was focusing me the next his attention had switched to Tifa back and forth it went until he had taken Tifa out.

I watched in horror as she fell to his feet, my anger getting the better of me I wasn't about to let this man off easy, I launched an all-out assault but it was useless against him, his overly long sword and difficult to break defence proved more than even I could match as he took me down moments later.

I'd woken in a hospital bed a few hours after, the assistant of the professor had come to check on me informing me of Tifa's condition, since then I haven't left her side, waiting and hoping she would recover soon. It had taken me this long to realise it but I was starting to see a future with her, I had resigned myself to leaving her behind after I was healed but now I couldn't imagine ever leaving her.

It's hard to want someone this badly, I mentioned earlier there was something I hadn't told her at the start, it was the reason I was so determined to leave her, to leave this whole city behind.

I trust and hope she will never find out but if I were to stay with her, to build a future with her then it was only fitting I throw away the fear and tell her, tell her the real story of why I escaped.

It had happened when they had deemed the experiments a success, assuming I was unconscious they checked my vitals and compatibility, the doctors had tried to hide it but I was awake long enough to hear them say it, the truth about it all. The experiment was a partial success but the truth was.

In a few years-time, my body would slowly fight off the enhancements they had made, the end result of this would only lead to one undeniable conclusion.

I was going to die.

Since we had Tifa's feelings and heard from her point of view I felt it was only right to hear from Vincent's point of view so here it is, I didn't go through the adding of much from the previous chapters for him because it felt like a lot of it would have been to samey from what we got with Tifa however a few points need to be made

1. I was considering giving more to the backstory of the experiments for Vincent but I felt like chapter three covered a lot of the important points and there was a point I needed to add at the end

2. The comments Vincent made about Yuffie was just for a bit of humour from our very brooding and serious man, almost like a throw back to how he might have been

3. The ending line, it feels to me like it was obvious that all the torture and experiments he went through would eventually kill him but something tells me that the flame of strength and the will power he thought had vanished may just reappear with Tifa by his side but I'll leave that up to your imagination because even I don't know what will happen next until I write it

Anyway hope you all enjoyed and thank you once again for reading