Holding out his arm, Vincent Valentine pulled out a small army knife and held it to a vein that was clearly visible through the pallid layer of skin on his lower arm that concealed it. Slowly he cut into the flesh, and sighed as he opened and closed his other hand into a tight fist to make more blood come out. He looked at his other scars, some right by his wrist, and other near to where he was cutting now. That's when he stopped. He could remember his past obsession with cutting, and how it had almost killed him had it not been for a complete stranger who made him realize that life could be so much better. She took him into her home and showed him a pleasure almost unimaginable to his mind. But she kicked him out almost immediately after she had taken what she wanted from him. Now he was homeless again, and the soft, white flakes of snow that fell surrounded his decrepit body in the dark alley as he resumed drawing blood as well as pain from his arm. Then he felt a small tap on his right shoulder, causing him to look up, only to find a small boy standing over him.
Vincent quickly covered his arm from the innocent eyes of the boy. "Sir, why are you sitting out here in to cold snow all alone?" he asked with a small voice. Vincent gazed at the boy's young brown eyes with his own, seemingly unfeeling crimson ones. "Well, I just wanted to be alone." Vincent replied hesitantly. "Do you want to come to my house and play?" asked the boy, holding out his hand for Vincent's. "I don't think your mother would want a strange man coming into your house," said Vincent. "No, my mommy invited you." The pit of Vincent's stomach felt as if someone was going wild inside him. His vision got blurry, and his mind started to feel unusually light. Then Vincent remembered his bleeding arm. He held it out in front of him, and could hear the little boy's sharp intake of breath. Suddenly, Vincent collapsed.
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The sky turned orange, then to a deeper shade of blue as the sun slowly sank into the horizon. Vincent was still unconscious in the alleyway, but the boy had left quite a while ago. Only one thing had been disturbed. The unconscious man's arm had been bandaged and his army knife stolen. Little did Vincent know, but the boy had also left a little note. It read:
Dear Mister,
I am Orion, the little boy that confronted you not too long ago. By the time you come to, I will be gone. But I need your help, as you are the only one who can at this point. Please meet me at the Arsenal Bar at midnight tomorrow. Thank you.
Orion
It was folded neatly and carefully pinned to Vincent's blood red trench coat. Two hours later, he finally did awaken. Blinking his eyes, his vision gradually became less and less blurry. Then Vincent remembered his arm. He looked down, expecting to see a large, blood covered mess, but was shocked to see that the whole thing was bandaged carefully. Quite perplexed as to who did this, he tried to pull himself up into a sitting position. He failed and fell onto the cold ground, almost spraining the wrist on his previously slit arm. Vincent tried again and again to get himself off the ground, each time injuring himself more. Finally, when he was sprawled on the ground, clutching his wrist and gasping for breath, he noticed the letter. Warily, he unpinned it, unfolded it, and gazed upon the scribbled note.
Vincent frowned, then felt a sudden urge to cut himself. His eyes darted around the alleyway, and his eyes rested upon a mangled beer can. Struggling to reach it proved very difficult indeed, and he kept falling. Yet again, he was gasping for breath, this time clutching his stomach. Resisting the urge the try for the metal, Vincent forced a mental block in his head, then curled up into a ball and fell asleep, worn from his struggles and pondering Orion's business.
He slept for a day, as though he were dead. By the time he woke up, the streets were flooding with people. Some rushing to get to their daily jobs, others doing chores, and still others, just shopping around. Then Vincent remembered the note. Again, he tried to pull himself up, and this time, he was able to. It felt weird standing again. Being as he had slept on his side, the whole left half of his body ached. Pushing the pain to the side, Vincent limped out of the alleyway. Rude looks and comments were given as he proceeded across the street to a café. When inside, he went straight to the counter and ordered some coffee with a poppy seed muffin. Food and drink in hand, Vincent made his way to the backmost booth, avoiding the eyes of the few businessmen that occupied the area. His coffee was hot but felt good to have something within his growling stomach. The muffin was gone in a matter of minutes as well. Vincent's eyes remained on the door, though, as if he were a zombie. Then they traveled up to the counter, then to the door behind his booth. There was a little sign above it. Barely visible, it read: Arsenal Bar, open at 10:00 pm. A sweet feeling of relief swept over Vincent's body and he was finally able to relax a bit.
Relax, that it, until someone disturbed him. "Excuse me sir." A masculine voice said right above him. Vincent slowly looked up to see two men in crisp, dark gray business suits. The one who had just spoken was fairly tall, even taller than Vincent, and bald, and the second one was a tad shorter, with flaming red hair and his shirt un-tucked. Something about them seemed oddly familiar, and made Vincent want to get up and run away to a place they couldn't find him. But somehow, he remained calm, and replied. "Yes?" he said, straightening up, a wave of tension flooding into him. "Do you know anyone by the name of Orion?" the same man asked. "No, I don't." Vincent answered hesitantly. "Ok, well if you meet anyone by that name, give us a call." the second man spoke up, holding out a small white business card. Then the two walked away. Vincent heard the café owner mumbling something about 'rude manners' and 'the likes of them waking in here like that', but was too engrossed in the card. Suddenly he realized why he felt strangely around them.
Before he could react, screams sounded from outside. Vincent jumped to his feet and rushed outside. There stood the two men, each with their handguns drawn, and directly across from them there was a little boy. This particular boy had an intricate design running down his bare back and a couple of earrings on his left ear. Nestled in his outstretched hands was a small handgun. The boy obviously didn't see Vincent, for he shot it directly at his forehead. The last thing Vincent saw was the two men towering over him, smiling for some reason.
Suddenly Vincent was overcome with rage. He sprang up and grabbed the shorter man by his un-tucked shirt and lifted him high into the air. The man put up a decent struggle but was no match for this newly enraged adversary. He took punch after punch, until blood began to show at the corners of his mouth and he hung limp from Vincent's recently strengthened arms. Vincent's lunatic eyes seemed to pierce right through the victim's own. "Vincent, drop Reno." said the other man, holding his own gun to the back of Vincent's neck. Just then, the little boy ran up to Vincent and jumped on his back. "Drop the man and run." he whispered into the furious man's ear. A strange feeling swept over Vincent. He could feel himself letting go of the Reno, then sprinting down the street as fast as he can.
He couldn't remember much of what happened, except that he had ran as far as 4 miles, the blurred scenery unrecognizable. Somehow, he ended up back at the café. Sitting across form him was the boy. Not knowing where to start, Vincent waited for the boy to speak up. Finally he couldn't bear it any longer. "Who are you?" he asked. "I am Orion." the boy answered too engrossed with his gun to take notice of Vincent. "Um… ok. Why are you so interested in me?" Vincent tried again. "Who said I was interested in you? What I want is your help." "Help with what?" "Getting me out of this body." Orion answered looking up into Vincent's now confused eyes.
He sighed heavily, and then placed his gun down. "It is too complicated. I just need your cooperation. When I get back into my body, I will tell you the whole story. For now you need to be wary of the TURKS. Especially Reno and Rude. Ever since Rufus and Tseng went away, they are on an ego trip." explained Orion impatiently. "Oh. You know, I used to be a TURK. That was a long time ago. I couldn't remember them until now." Vincent mused to no one in particular. "Yes I know all about you Vincent. That's how I know you can help. Tell me, do you know anything about tormenting dreams?" asked Orion. He knew he had struck a chord when Vincent's eyes widened, then shut tightly. Vincent stayed this way as memories of his long days spent pining for Lucrecia in his coffin, while dreams of torture caused by Hojo havocked in his weary head, pooled through his mind. Orion smiled then shut his eyes as well.
In Vincent's head, a dark shadowy figure appeared. It was tall, and for a second it reminded him of the figure of Hojo that had previously tormented him, but his fear subsided as he realized this figure was far too muscular. "Vincent." the figure said slowly. Vincent nodded, still clueless as to whom the figure was. "This is me. Orion. Well at least, how I used to be." he explained. Vincent was suddenly realized that the man was talking to him inside his own head. Quickly, he opened his eyes, and was shocked at what he saw.
On the floor, the young body of Orion shook violently. Unsure of what to do, Vincent picked up the convulsing boy, and turned to the café owner. The owner nodded, grabbed his keys, and led Vincent up the stairs to an empty room. "I don't usually let my rooms out. But in his case," the other man said, pointing at the trembling Orion, "I will let you guys stay a while. But never in the world would I let those TURKS stay here. They are so…" The man kept on talking. Though the boy was very small and light compared to Vincent, he found trouble climbing the stairs and kept stumbling down in the hallway. Finally, the café owner, who had just introduced himself as Cloud, grabbed Vincent by the arm just before he stumbled again. "Thanks." muttered Vincent.
When finally in the room, Vincent bid Cloud farewell, though something seemed overly familiar, then sat down. The convulsions had stopped, but Orion was still trembling uncontrollably. On no sudden whim, Vincent leapt up from the chair, and frantically searched the room for something sharp. Just as his wild eyes rested upon a letter opener, he felt a tap on his shoulder. "You really need to learn to stop trying to kill yourself." Orion said, laughing. "I'm not killing myself, I do it for the pain." Vincent retorted. "Well, you need to learn to control your urges. I mean, how bad can your past have been?" replied Orion, still laughing. Vincent spun around and grabbed the boy's shirt. Pulling him closer, he snarled, "You have no clue about the things I go through. Not one solitary clue. So just shut your mouth about my problems and let me deal with them how I wish to deal with them." Orion nodded feverishly, then plopped into the armchair, brown eyes looking very scared.
Vincent, realizing what he had just done, stuck his face into his hands and lay on the bed. Seizing the opportunity, Orion jumped from the chair, grabbed some spare pillowcases and tied Vincent's arms and legs to the bedposts. Then he smiled. "Now you can control yourself." Orion said, smirking. Quite suddenly, Cloud burst into the room. "Orion, Vincent! The TURKS!! They are downstairs. With Tseng and Rufus." warned Cloud, just before he collapsed. Orion turned around and started to untie Vincent as fast as his 7-year-old hands would let him. Somehow, as time seemed to be gone, Vincent leapt from the bed, grabbed Orion's gun, and shot at the door.
The bullet just missed Reno's head. Falling back, Reno landed on Rude. Then Rufus appeared in the doorway. "Why, hello Orion. Who's that? Oh I know. It's Vincent." he said, sneering at their very names. "What do you want Rufus?" demanded Vincent, pointing the gun straight at his head. "We want the little boy. And of course, you," he answered, "Now be a good boy and drop your gun, because I know it isn't loaded." Vincent decided to bluff. "This gun is damn well loaded." he snapped. Then he felt cold metal against the back of his neck. "No it isn't." Tseng said behind him. Then he shot Vincent's leg. With Vincent down, it was fairly easy to obtain Orion, and when they had securely tied him down alongside Vincent, they carried them away.
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Vincent woke up to find Tseng wrapping his leg up. Orion lay on a spare couch, seemingly lifeless. Unaware as to how he got here, Vincent looked around and saw Reno, Rude, and Rufus through a glass wall to another room. They looked as if they were arguing. Confirming Vincent's suspicions, Reno lunged at Rufus, but was pulled back by Rude, who was glaring with all his might at Rufus. Rufus just stood there, a broad smile on his face. Then he looked over at Vincent. "Tseng, are you almost done?" he called over to his comrade. "Yea, I just got to pin this damn thing." Tseng answered. "Well hurry before the boy wakes. We don't want trouble with the professor." Rufus urged.
Tseng quickly finished bandaging Vincent's leg, then left with Rufus. Rude stepped into the room. "Vincent. How nice to see you again." he said. "What the hell was that back there?!" Vincent exclaimed, standing up, only to be pushed back onto the chair by Rude. "Well, we were originally going to give you to the professor like he asked us to. Apparently, he doesn't feel we were up to it, so he sent Rufus and Tseng instead. Damn them." Rude explained. "So… now Rufus and Tseng control the boy and I?" asked Vincent. "Well, no." Reno sounded as he came into the room with four cups of steaming cocoa. "Well then what the hell are we doing here with Rufus and Tseng!!" yelled Vincent, waking Orion up. "We don't want Rufus and Tseng to get all the glory yet again, so we are going to help you instead." Rude stated. "Help us?" questioned Orion, who was now sitting up on the couch, cradling a mug that Reno had just handed to him. "Yes, we can get you away from them, along with ourselves." Reno answered, passing out the rest of the cups. "But we have to move quickly, because they will be back within the hour." Rude clarified. Vincent sat there, looking deep in thought. His look clearly expressed what was swimming in is mind. "Well we can't just walk out of here in broad daylight. Rufus surely has guards everywhere!" Orion stated the obvious. "Well, yes. But there are other ways. You just have to look." Rude laughed. "Rude and I aren't stupid you know." Reno snapped, with a very annoyed etched on his face.
Silence settled itself upon the room while Rude and Reno busied themselves gathering ammo. Vincent had established himself into a deep trance, chin resting in his hands, and cocoa mug emptied of it's contents. Orion still looked thunderstruck at what he had just heard. Just then, Reno passed a gun to Vincent, breaking his line of thought. He took it thankfully, checking to make sure it was fully loaded. Rude then collected the cups and took them to the other room. He returned in a flash with a worried look on his face. "They're coming." he whispered. "Let's go." Reno instructed. Orion stood up and walked over to Vincent, who had also stood up. They followed Reno and Rude through a door they hadn't even noticed before. Just as they closed the door, Tseng had walked into the room. They heard footsteps, then a voice. "They're gone." Tseng was telling Rufus.
Quite hurriedly, the four escapees made their way through a dark corridor, dim lights shining through cracks in the ceiling. Then they heard the echoing of footsteps coming from the original passage entrance. Reno ran ahead and pulled open another hidden door. "Rufus doesn't know about this one," muttered Rude as they entered through it, "Reno designed it himself." After a seemingly long, uphill climb through a pitch black hall, they reached a trapdoor on the ceiling. "Leads right outside, this one does." Reno said smugly. Rude pushed on the door with all his might, opening it. Light flooded the passageway. Vincent had to lift Orion up in order for him to properly reach the opening. Rude was the last one to exit. Closing the trapdoor carefully, they all ran for an inn not to far from where they were.
It just so happened that the secret hallway led straight to Cloud's café. With an almost apprehensive look on his face, and after a long debate, Cloud finally agreed to let them a room. Again, muttering to himself about 'the likes of the them to barge in here like that again' he lead them up to the same room as before. Vincent sat on the bed and fell into another trance. "Thank you guys for your help. We really appreciate it." Orion thanked the two TURKS, attempting to shoo them out of the room. Reno smiled. "We aren't going anywhere." Rude said, a little confused. Vincent's eyes looked up at Rude with question. "Didn't we say we were going to help you?" Rude retorted. Orion got a very irritated look on his face. "You did help us." he said, trying to remain calm. "By help, we meant to get rid of Rufus and Tseng." Reno had to explain. Once again, Vincent's eyes showed question. "But we didn't want to get rid of Rufus." Orion tried explaining. Reno wouldn't have it. "Well then I guess you are helping us get rid of them. And we aren't leaving until they are both gone." Rude spoke up.
Vincent closed his eyes, but almost wished he hadn't. Orion, seizing the opportunity, closed his as well. Yet again, his older figure appeared in Vincent's head, this time much closer than before. He was very muscular, with the same pattern running down his back. Only his eyes weren't brown. They glowed a very bright green. Confused, Vincent peered more closely at the man. "Vincent, they are not to be trusted." the much older Orion stated. "But they seem so, … so passionate about killing the other two." Vincent argued. "Do you know who did this to me?" Orion said, pointing to his tattoo. Vincent shook his head. "You've got another thing coming." Orion said, looking worried. Something about his clear, green eyes and strong build reminded him strangely of someone he knew he had met before. He just couldn't place a finger on it. Having enough of the strange, yet familiar man, Vincent opened his eyes.
Yet again, Orion was having convulsions on the floor. Vincent heaved himself off of the bed and settled the boy there instead. This particular seizure lasted for much longer than the last. Reno was staring incredulously at Orion, and Rude just sat there, no saying a word, looking at the floor like it was suddenly the most wonderful thing in the world. "Why are you after Orion and me?" Vincent asked suddenly, breaking Reno's trance. "Long story." he muttered. "Well you know as well as I that we have plenty of time." Vincent persisted. "No we don't. The first place they will look is here." Reno replied. "Nice try, Vincent." chuckled Rude, attempting humor in the dismal situation. It didn't work, for Reno gave him a look that could easily be defined as that of a maniac, and Vincent focused his attention on the letter opener.
Making a mad dash at the dresser, Vincent grabbed the sharp office tool and held it to his wrist. Before the two other men could react, he had cut himself so suddenly, so deeply that he felt pain that was indescribable. It felt as if someone had taken a gun and shot a bullet through his arm more than once. A steady tingling feeling traveled up his arm and covered his whole body in a matter of seconds. Just before Vincent's eyes rolled back in his head and he took his last desperate breath of air, Rude inserted a needle in Vincent's arm and pushed a dark, yellow liquid into him.
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