Chapter V: Growing Disturbances.
A shadow moved through the deep bowels of Vincent's scarred mind. Three other shadows followed it. The four beings had no mass here, merely minds. And only one used theirs to any long extent.
The first shadow stopped.
It sensed something wrong.
It sensed... Another.
There was something inside the mind of Vincent. The shadow probed the blackness in search of the new presence. An immense force pulled at the shadows attention. Finally a pair of pale green eyes came into focus from the darkness. The shadow peered curiously them. They certainly didn't look like his master's eyes, and the last time the shadow checked up on humans he found out that only one could occupy a mind at once. But Vincent was... special. The eyes stared at the shadow with great interest. A sound suddenly rang out from the depths of Vincent mind.
"I am coming for you!"
The eyes faded and the presence disappeared.
The shadow looked at the darkness that had once been occupied by the odd eyes.
"THIS IS NOT RIGHT, I COME FOR OTHERS, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!" The shadow said.
"WHO IS FOOLHARDY ENOUGH TO COME AFTER US?" One of the other shadows pondered.
"YOU SAW IT TOO?" The first shadow asked.
"YOU TEND TO NOTICE BIG PALE GREEN EYES THAT PULL YOU'RE ATTENTION AWAY FROM OTHER THINGS." It answered.
"HOW CAN THE MASTER HAVE OTHERS HERE?" The another said.
"THE ANSWER IS THAT THE MASTER DID NOT HAVE ANOTHER HERE." The last answered.
"SOMEONE KNOWS ABOUT US?" One of the others said. "KINSMEN?" He added hopefully.
The first shadow shuddered at the thought of another demon who actually knew about him.
"NO." It said. "THEY ARE ALL GONE. DEAD. WE REMAIN. WE LEFT THEM!"
The others considered for a moment what a fellow demon would do to them.
"WHAT WILL THE MASTER DO?" One said.
"THE MASTER OBVIOUSLY DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HAS HAPPENED." The first shadow stated.
"HOW DO YOU KNOW?" Another asked.
"FOR HE HAS NOT LOCKED HIMSELF IN A COFFIN."
A slight snigger came from the darkness.
"I WONDER, HAS IT LEFT?"
"WE MUST WARN THE MASTER."
"BUT HOW?"
"THE ONLY WAY WE CAN."
"WHICH IS...?"
"WE MUST DIVERT THE HATRED FROM HIMSELF AND US TO THIS ENTITY."
"AND THIS WARNS HIM HOW?"
"IT DOES NOT."
"THEN WHY DO WE BOTHER?"
"FOR IF THE MASTER TURNS HIS HATE AND FURY TO OTHER THINGS THAN HIMSELF, THEN HE WON'T NEED US TO CREATE A MONSTER OUT OF HIM, HE WILL DO IT HIMSELF. HE WOULD DO EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER TO DESTROY THIS UNKNOWN ENTITY. EVEN DESTROY THOSE HE WOULD CONSIDER "LOVED ONES". THEN WE WILL NOT NEED TO WARN HIM."
"THE MASTER HOLD ONLY MEMORIES DEAR. WE KNOW THIS. NOTHING WILL STOP HIM."
"IT IS THE MEMORIES WE MUST EXPLOIT TO MAKE HIM HATE." The last shadow said.
"LET US BEGIN."
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Tifa woke up early. She knew it was early because Cloud had just escaped from Cid and Berret and had flung himself down on the bed. He didn't take his clothes off, he just flopped down and fell asleep. She tried closing her eyes again.
Still awake.
She imagined standing in one of the ShinRa elevators with the elevator music on. THAT was usually enough to make her fall asleep.
Cloud started snoring.
"This is too much." She muttered and got out of bed. She grabbed her robe and put it on.
She pushed the door open and walked down the stairs. Cid lay on one of the couches with a bottle of beer still clutched in his hand. His light snore was barely audible over Barret's. Barret had not fared as well as Cid. He had passed out cold on floor.
"Damn." Tifa whispered.
Cid and Red were supposed to get their weapons back on the other continent. But there was Cid on the couch and Red had probably deemed it useless to try and wake him up and gone to bed in his room. It was certainly safer this way. Reeve would just have to wait.
She walked over to the bar and began making a pot of coffee. She sliced a few pieces of bread and began making breakfast for everyone.
At that exact moment a shrill scream rang throughout the bar.
Tifa dropped the knife and ran towards the source of the sound.
She ran (accidentally) over Beret's chest and up the stairs. When she got to the hallway Cloud opened the door from their room with his sword in hand. She past him and grabbed his shoulder. Cloud immediately began running behind her in stumbling way. As they neared the source of the noise Yuffie ran out of Vincent's room and slammed the door shut. Something slammed itself against the door. Small pieces of wood flew from door. She turned her head to Tifa and Cloud.
"Help?"
The thing on the other side slammed itself against the door and it exploded.
"Vincent!" Yuffie yelled.
A purple head popped out of the room and glanced at the terrified Yuffie. The head was long with two horn sticking out of its head. It opened its mouth to reveal a terrifying array of fangs. It began to walk out of Vincent's room. It had the form of a human with spider like qualities. It walked on all fours, crawling across the floor. Ebony wings Spread out as it crawled out of the room. In a way it resembled Chaos, but it was missing the essential demon like quality. It simply looked like Chaos had taken a dip into a mako reactor and survived. Tifa paused at the sight.
"Chaos?" She asked questionably.
The head turned quickly in her direction.
"Not Chaossss!" I howled. "Vinsssent!"
It began crawling towards Tifa. As it came closer Tifa noticed that it also had a vicious supply of long claws that it scratched into the floor.
"You all look at ussss with differently than the otherssss!" It hissed. "Now we shall look at you through different eyessss!"
It Jumped through the air as it finished. The claws pointed at Tifa in anticipation.
Cloud pushed Tifa to the side and swiped at the monster with his sword.
The monster took the blow directly across the face and fell on top of Cloud. For a moment it laid silently. Then it moved. It pushed itself upward and began to shake away the shock of the blow. It looked down at Cloud and a fiendish smile crept up its face.
"Now you die!"
It raised its hand and began too ready the finishing blow.
Tifa fist flew out and slammed into the beast before she knew what had happened. Its head dangled limply for a while then it raised again.
"Tifa? Cloud?"
It climbed off of cloud and turned.
"Yuffie?"
It clasped one hand to its head.
"No. Nononooo..." It turned towards Cloud and Tifa. "This wasn't supposed to happ-"
A change went over the face of the thing that had appeared to be Vincent. The face seemed to tremor slightly and the demonic eyes that Vincent always had when he morphed clouded over and changed. Instead of taking their normal color of red they turned into a inky black that gleamed in the light. It bared its fangs at Cloud and Tifa.
Then it stood rigid. The eyes clouded over again but didn't really take any color. Suddenly it jumped to its feet and screamed. Blood splattered on to the walls from the open wound across his face.
"Nooooooooooo..." And then collapsed in a heap on the floor.
Yuffie was the first to recover from the shock of what had happened. She stood up and dusted herself off. Then she ran over to where Vincent layed. She kneeled by his side and looked at him. She attentively touched his skin too see if he was alright.
As soon as she touched him his body under went the metamorphosis that always happens when Vincent morphs. The claws melted back into his hand and the wing folded into his spine. His skin changed from purple to ivory and the fangs shrank into normal teeth. The blood oozing down his face returned to its normal color.
He opened his eyes momentarily.
"I'm sorry." He whispered.
His amber eyes closed.
"Can somebody PLEASE tell what's going on here?" Cloud asked.
"Ask Red." Yuffie muttered as she began dragging Vincent into his room.
"Oh for the love of," Cloud said exasperatedly. He walked over to Vincent and picked him up. He walked into Vincent's room and slung him on the bed. "There." He said and stormed out of the room.
Yuffie walked into the room and sat down in the chair still was miraculously still in place.
Tifa stood in the doorway watching her.
"Are you sure you want to stay in here after that?" Tifa asked.
"He's out cold. Why?"
"But he was like that when we first put him in here. Maybe he'll do it again."
"He won't." A stern voice said from behind her.
Tifa jumped at the sound.
"Red." She gasped, still getting her breath that she had lost from the shock.
"Something has happened to Vincent that is concerning Chaos and the others."
"Wha?" Tifa and Yuffie said at the same time.
"Vincent and his "Friends", as Cid puts them, have made this entity out of necessity."
"Wha?" They repeated.
"Vincent can only do this once because it is very tiring to create a new being." Red said curtly.
"Ahh." Tifa said.
"I see..." Yuffie muttered, who really didn't see.
"The thing they made sleeps for now, but it will awaken sooner or later to do what it was made for."
This threw Tifa and Yuffie into confusion again. "Huh?" "What?"
Red sighed weakly.
"He's safe for now, but he might not always be that way."
He turned and walked back into the hall.
"That's some freaky shit." Yuffie muttered and turned her gaze to the sleeping Vincent. The wound on his face was still bleeding freely. She tore a long piece of cloth from Vincent's already tattered pants. She tied it loosely across the wound. As she looked at the sleeping man below her she could hardly believe that this person could be human one second, then a blood thirsty beast the next. She sat back down in the chair and watched him. Her eyes closed slowly and she fell asleep once more.
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"THIS WAS NOT THE WAY IT WAS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN." One of the shadows said angrily.
"WE DID NOT WANT THIS MONSTROSITY AMONG US!" Another said.
"We heeeeear you." The voice said. the words seemed to echo around the room.
"WHO ARE YOU?!" The biggest shadow called out into the darkness.
"We are Vinsssent!" It replied.
"WHY ARE YOU HERE?" The shadow persisted.
"You made usssss."
"WE DID?"
"We are the merging between you and Vinssssent. We have come to do what you cannot. Replassssse the massster!" It said sinisterly.
"WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS."
"Foolssss. We are you!"
A hissing laughter echoed around the darkness.
A shadow moved through the deep bowels of Vincent's scarred mind. Three other shadows followed it. The four beings had no mass here, merely minds. And only one used theirs to any long extent.
The first shadow stopped.
It sensed something wrong.
It sensed... Another.
There was something inside the mind of Vincent. The shadow probed the blackness in search of the new presence. An immense force pulled at the shadows attention. Finally a pair of pale green eyes came into focus from the darkness. The shadow peered curiously them. They certainly didn't look like his master's eyes, and the last time the shadow checked up on humans he found out that only one could occupy a mind at once. But Vincent was... special. The eyes stared at the shadow with great interest. A sound suddenly rang out from the depths of Vincent mind.
"I am coming for you!"
The eyes faded and the presence disappeared.
The shadow looked at the darkness that had once been occupied by the odd eyes.
"THIS IS NOT RIGHT, I COME FOR OTHERS, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!" The shadow said.
"WHO IS FOOLHARDY ENOUGH TO COME AFTER US?" One of the other shadows pondered.
"YOU SAW IT TOO?" The first shadow asked.
"YOU TEND TO NOTICE BIG PALE GREEN EYES THAT PULL YOU'RE ATTENTION AWAY FROM OTHER THINGS." It answered.
"HOW CAN THE MASTER HAVE OTHERS HERE?" The another said.
"THE ANSWER IS THAT THE MASTER DID NOT HAVE ANOTHER HERE." The last answered.
"SOMEONE KNOWS ABOUT US?" One of the others said. "KINSMEN?" He added hopefully.
The first shadow shuddered at the thought of another demon who actually knew about him.
"NO." It said. "THEY ARE ALL GONE. DEAD. WE REMAIN. WE LEFT THEM!"
The others considered for a moment what a fellow demon would do to them.
"WHAT WILL THE MASTER DO?" One said.
"THE MASTER OBVIOUSLY DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HAS HAPPENED." The first shadow stated.
"HOW DO YOU KNOW?" Another asked.
"FOR HE HAS NOT LOCKED HIMSELF IN A COFFIN."
A slight snigger came from the darkness.
"I WONDER, HAS IT LEFT?"
"WE MUST WARN THE MASTER."
"BUT HOW?"
"THE ONLY WAY WE CAN."
"WHICH IS...?"
"WE MUST DIVERT THE HATRED FROM HIMSELF AND US TO THIS ENTITY."
"AND THIS WARNS HIM HOW?"
"IT DOES NOT."
"THEN WHY DO WE BOTHER?"
"FOR IF THE MASTER TURNS HIS HATE AND FURY TO OTHER THINGS THAN HIMSELF, THEN HE WON'T NEED US TO CREATE A MONSTER OUT OF HIM, HE WILL DO IT HIMSELF. HE WOULD DO EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER TO DESTROY THIS UNKNOWN ENTITY. EVEN DESTROY THOSE HE WOULD CONSIDER "LOVED ONES". THEN WE WILL NOT NEED TO WARN HIM."
"THE MASTER HOLD ONLY MEMORIES DEAR. WE KNOW THIS. NOTHING WILL STOP HIM."
"IT IS THE MEMORIES WE MUST EXPLOIT TO MAKE HIM HATE." The last shadow said.
"LET US BEGIN."
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Tifa woke up early. She knew it was early because Cloud had just escaped from Cid and Berret and had flung himself down on the bed. He didn't take his clothes off, he just flopped down and fell asleep. She tried closing her eyes again.
Still awake.
She imagined standing in one of the ShinRa elevators with the elevator music on. THAT was usually enough to make her fall asleep.
Cloud started snoring.
"This is too much." She muttered and got out of bed. She grabbed her robe and put it on.
She pushed the door open and walked down the stairs. Cid lay on one of the couches with a bottle of beer still clutched in his hand. His light snore was barely audible over Barret's. Barret had not fared as well as Cid. He had passed out cold on floor.
"Damn." Tifa whispered.
Cid and Red were supposed to get their weapons back on the other continent. But there was Cid on the couch and Red had probably deemed it useless to try and wake him up and gone to bed in his room. It was certainly safer this way. Reeve would just have to wait.
She walked over to the bar and began making a pot of coffee. She sliced a few pieces of bread and began making breakfast for everyone.
At that exact moment a shrill scream rang throughout the bar.
Tifa dropped the knife and ran towards the source of the sound.
She ran (accidentally) over Beret's chest and up the stairs. When she got to the hallway Cloud opened the door from their room with his sword in hand. She past him and grabbed his shoulder. Cloud immediately began running behind her in stumbling way. As they neared the source of the noise Yuffie ran out of Vincent's room and slammed the door shut. Something slammed itself against the door. Small pieces of wood flew from door. She turned her head to Tifa and Cloud.
"Help?"
The thing on the other side slammed itself against the door and it exploded.
"Vincent!" Yuffie yelled.
A purple head popped out of the room and glanced at the terrified Yuffie. The head was long with two horn sticking out of its head. It opened its mouth to reveal a terrifying array of fangs. It began to walk out of Vincent's room. It had the form of a human with spider like qualities. It walked on all fours, crawling across the floor. Ebony wings Spread out as it crawled out of the room. In a way it resembled Chaos, but it was missing the essential demon like quality. It simply looked like Chaos had taken a dip into a mako reactor and survived. Tifa paused at the sight.
"Chaos?" She asked questionably.
The head turned quickly in her direction.
"Not Chaossss!" I howled. "Vinsssent!"
It began crawling towards Tifa. As it came closer Tifa noticed that it also had a vicious supply of long claws that it scratched into the floor.
"You all look at ussss with differently than the otherssss!" It hissed. "Now we shall look at you through different eyessss!"
It Jumped through the air as it finished. The claws pointed at Tifa in anticipation.
Cloud pushed Tifa to the side and swiped at the monster with his sword.
The monster took the blow directly across the face and fell on top of Cloud. For a moment it laid silently. Then it moved. It pushed itself upward and began to shake away the shock of the blow. It looked down at Cloud and a fiendish smile crept up its face.
"Now you die!"
It raised its hand and began too ready the finishing blow.
Tifa fist flew out and slammed into the beast before she knew what had happened. Its head dangled limply for a while then it raised again.
"Tifa? Cloud?"
It climbed off of cloud and turned.
"Yuffie?"
It clasped one hand to its head.
"No. Nononooo..." It turned towards Cloud and Tifa. "This wasn't supposed to happ-"
A change went over the face of the thing that had appeared to be Vincent. The face seemed to tremor slightly and the demonic eyes that Vincent always had when he morphed clouded over and changed. Instead of taking their normal color of red they turned into a inky black that gleamed in the light. It bared its fangs at Cloud and Tifa.
Then it stood rigid. The eyes clouded over again but didn't really take any color. Suddenly it jumped to its feet and screamed. Blood splattered on to the walls from the open wound across his face.
"Nooooooooooo..." And then collapsed in a heap on the floor.
Yuffie was the first to recover from the shock of what had happened. She stood up and dusted herself off. Then she ran over to where Vincent layed. She kneeled by his side and looked at him. She attentively touched his skin too see if he was alright.
As soon as she touched him his body under went the metamorphosis that always happens when Vincent morphs. The claws melted back into his hand and the wing folded into his spine. His skin changed from purple to ivory and the fangs shrank into normal teeth. The blood oozing down his face returned to its normal color.
He opened his eyes momentarily.
"I'm sorry." He whispered.
His amber eyes closed.
"Can somebody PLEASE tell what's going on here?" Cloud asked.
"Ask Red." Yuffie muttered as she began dragging Vincent into his room.
"Oh for the love of," Cloud said exasperatedly. He walked over to Vincent and picked him up. He walked into Vincent's room and slung him on the bed. "There." He said and stormed out of the room.
Yuffie walked into the room and sat down in the chair still was miraculously still in place.
Tifa stood in the doorway watching her.
"Are you sure you want to stay in here after that?" Tifa asked.
"He's out cold. Why?"
"But he was like that when we first put him in here. Maybe he'll do it again."
"He won't." A stern voice said from behind her.
Tifa jumped at the sound.
"Red." She gasped, still getting her breath that she had lost from the shock.
"Something has happened to Vincent that is concerning Chaos and the others."
"Wha?" Tifa and Yuffie said at the same time.
"Vincent and his "Friends", as Cid puts them, have made this entity out of necessity."
"Wha?" They repeated.
"Vincent can only do this once because it is very tiring to create a new being." Red said curtly.
"Ahh." Tifa said.
"I see..." Yuffie muttered, who really didn't see.
"The thing they made sleeps for now, but it will awaken sooner or later to do what it was made for."
This threw Tifa and Yuffie into confusion again. "Huh?" "What?"
Red sighed weakly.
"He's safe for now, but he might not always be that way."
He turned and walked back into the hall.
"That's some freaky shit." Yuffie muttered and turned her gaze to the sleeping Vincent. The wound on his face was still bleeding freely. She tore a long piece of cloth from Vincent's already tattered pants. She tied it loosely across the wound. As she looked at the sleeping man below her she could hardly believe that this person could be human one second, then a blood thirsty beast the next. She sat back down in the chair and watched him. Her eyes closed slowly and she fell asleep once more.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
"THIS WAS NOT THE WAY IT WAS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN." One of the shadows said angrily.
"WE DID NOT WANT THIS MONSTROSITY AMONG US!" Another said.
"We heeeeear you." The voice said. the words seemed to echo around the room.
"WHO ARE YOU?!" The biggest shadow called out into the darkness.
"We are Vinsssent!" It replied.
"WHY ARE YOU HERE?" The shadow persisted.
"You made usssss."
"WE DID?"
"We are the merging between you and Vinssssent. We have come to do what you cannot. Replassssse the massster!" It said sinisterly.
"WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS."
"Foolssss. We are you!"
A hissing laughter echoed around the darkness.