Shadows Of A Lonely Man: Chapter 3 - Assignment

Just as vincent stopped talking the tape clicked and stopped, Ceilia reaching over pressed the button to eject the tape and turned it over then pushed it back down and pressed the button for record. She watched Vincent as he stared out of the window, not once had he moved say for that of his head as he talked and even that wasn't much. She couldn't tell if he moved or not infact she wasn't even sure he was breathing though these kinds of things were no concerns of hers. Just when she thought he wasn't going to move Vincent turned from the window and let his hands drop to his sides, he walked over to the table and pulled out the other chair then sat down. He unbuttoned the top of his coat so that the collar flopped and his face could be seen. It was strange to Ceilia, it wasn't what she had expected. She had thought of some hideous scars for him to hide his face but was surprised to see nothing but what she saw was still not what she expected from any "normal" man. His dark hair seemed to hide his face anyway but his eyes were fierce, unnatural their red peircing her as he looked into her eyes. His skin was white, pale like a vampire but she knew that such things did not exist.

"Its funny" he said suddenly

"What is?" she replied

"That was all the help I got from the higher ups..i was assigned a partner later that week and then sent to work."

" A partner?"

"Yes..Edward Van Stevens.."



"This is your partner Mr. Valentine" the man said as he turned towards another man "His name is Edward, Edward Van Stevens"

Vincent looked at the man he indicated, he was tall and kind of gangly, his face seemed a liuttle stretched and his blue eyes gleamed in the sight. He smiled at Vincent as he walked over and held his hand out to him.

"Hey there!" he said in a friendly manner

Vincent looked back reached out and took Edwards outstretched hand, he shook it once and then let go letting his hand drop to his side by his blue trousers. He smiled a little at him as his lips parted as he said something.

"Hello Edward.."

Without another word the other man left the two alone and went off and about his business. Vincent and Edward decided to get aqquainted and have a chat, or at least Edward did. He talked constantly and tried Vincents patience to its limits, however in time Vincent learned to tollerate the man and come to actually like him a little. They spent a lot of time together on missions talking about what they would do had they the time or money, most of Edwards fantasies included going off to desert ilands with women were Vincent tended to keep his thoughts to himself and throw Edward off with some feeble lie, Edward however wasn't dumb and new he wasn't telling the truth but laughed anyway.

Early one morning just as spring was brekaing out the two were called in Lawrences office to disscuss a new assignment. The stood at attention as they watched him and when he finally told them "At ease" they placed their hands behind their backs and waiting for the instructions.

"You two will go to Nibelhiem" Said the head as he stood from behind his desk and started walking around them

"There you will meet up with Professor Hojo and his assistants. He has a project that needs to be protected, we don't expect anything to go wrong but he has asked that we send some protection none the less."

He walked around the two a little more and then stopped before them, he looked them up and down then looked at their shoes then slowly moved his gaze up to their faces. His lips parted as his face turned to them both.

"Another thing, your moral and ethical opinions do not mean anything to this man, he is scum, the lowest form of scum known to man. He does not care about what you think do not.I repeat DO NOT toy with him, simply do your job and come home am I clear?"

"yes sir" they chimed in unisen

"AM I CLEAR?"

"YES SIR!!" they chimed again

"Good.."

They watched as he straightened his tie turned and walked back to his desk. He pulled his comfy looking chair out and sat down on it placing his hands together and his elbows on the table then resting his chin upon his hands smiled.

"This project is very important to ShinRa, when you come back we can all celebrate, youre both dissmissed"

The two turned and Vincent pulled the door open and Edward walked out then Vincent followed. He shut the door as he left and Edward drew in a large gasp of air and spoke.

"Hoowee! That was weird, it sounded like we were in trouble but we weren't damn he gives me the creeps."

Vincent remained silent, he wasn't sure what to think, this man this hojo sounded allmost crazy, and from the way Lawrence acted he thought he was going crazy too. "I don't know" he thought "we'll have to wait and see"

"So what happened?" Asked Ceilia

"We shipped out for Nibelhiem the very next day" Vincent Replied

He looked up at her his eyes icy cold, they stared through her again and caused Ceilia to shivver a little. She looked past him at the window were he had stood and noticed that the shadows had gone, it was like the moved just for him. She looked back at him and was about to say something when he started first.

"But.." he continued "What happened while we were there would stay with me for the rest of my life.."