2

When I first woke here I tried to escape. I didn't even know where I was, just that it was small and dark. I had neither hunger, nor thirst, nor any other of the human needs that we take for granted. Except… the need to rest. Every moment I woke I struggled to maintain consciousness, for it always seemed to run from me like sand through an hourglass. But every second I was awake I thought of you. I longed for your lips again. To feel your cheek against my hand…. I'm so tired…

Please don't leave me again Lucrecia.

Rachael yawned sleepily. "Getting up this early sucks."

Vincent looked at her sternly, and through half closed eyes she realized and silenced her complaining. He looked over as Shinra troops were loading scientific instruments, as well as a very large assortment of books, into the Gelnika. The propellers blew Vincent's long black hair to his right, and turning, he saw three people emerge from the headquarters wearing white lab coats. One, rather thin and pale, emerged first, his black hair bound back in a ponytail. Another had short brown hair, in his early forty's and had a clipboard tucked under his arm.

And the third to emerge was Lucrecia. Hair blown back by the Gelnika's propellers, she didn't even struggle to tame it. Looks like smoke, Lucrecia. Like the incense in the pagoda in Wutai… you said you've never been happier than when you were in my arms and the incense flowed around us and up… I honestly don't think Professor Gast is going to let us off that easy…

The sun rose to shed light on those on top of the building, and Tsang looked at his watch. "Time to go, Vincent."

Vincent looked back at him and silently nodded. All three Turks donned identical sunglasses simultaneously and began to walk towards the Gelnika; the three sets of blue suits and sunglasses moving in unison looked very imposing, which was why the Turks were always supposed to look as identical as possible.

Rachael whispered into Vincent's ear as they neared the heli-plane. "Why are we going to Nibelheim anyway?"

Vincent did not break stride, nor did he turn to his right. He merely murmured. "It is not ours to question why. An order is an order."

Tsang looked to his right at Vincent, thinking he had just commented out of nowhere. Rachael made a noise distinctly resounding of annoyance, but Vincent ignored it.

I have more important things on my mind.

They entered the plane quietly, and found a comfortable room within it where the passengers were supposed to stay. Tsang, following Vincent's quick example, took a set next to his superior, while Rachael walked right past both of them and began to shadowbox, punching the air and dodging nonexistent attacks. Vincent spoke softly, but firmly.

"Sit down Rachael, the scientists will be here in a moment or two."

She shrugged her shoulders and continued to punch at the air.

Goddamnit Rachael I'm not in the mood for this. "Sit down Rachael."

She stopped and turned to him. "Why?"

"Because a certain degree of professionalism is expected of the Turks, of which you are now a part."

"Oh cut it Vincent." She turned back to face the wall and continued to shadowbox.

I really wish you'd listen to me Rachael. He grabbed the back of her blue suit coat and spoke while pulling her into the chair next to his own. "I said sit down."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Rachael shouted, both surprised and angry.

"I…" The door opened, and the three figures in lab coats entered the room. The Turks fell silent, but the scientists continued their discussion, not caring in the slightest whether or not the Turks heard. The discussion was far too specific for any of the Turks to understand anyway.

"Specimen 36 showed some minute promise."

"You're joking, I scrapped 36 last night, it was a complete failure."

"No no no Hojo you scraped Vat Seven. That was Specimen 43."

"But the chart said-"

"Chart was wrong, I moved 36 last week. And how many times must the Professor tell you to check first before assuming you do something with an experiment?"

"And how many times must I tell you, Lucrecia, to change the charts when you make a change," Professor Gast chimed in, sitting down.

"Sorry professor," Lucrecia replied, sitting down, stealing a quick glance at Vincent, who was directly across from her, and then averting her eyes to the ceiling, where they spent focused for most of the trip.

The Gelnika took off, and they began their five-hour flight to the mountain village of Nibelheim.  Behind his sunglasses Vincent gazed at Lucrecia, then at the Professor, and the back at Lucrecia again, his head completely motionless. Within five minutes Rachael had already fallen asleep, and Tsang was nodding off. Vincent felt amused for half a moment. I need to remember to never take these two out early. Ever.

Professor Gast, within another five minutes, began to settle in for a nap while the Gelnika flew. Leaving Lucrecia, Vincent, and Hojo the only people awake in the room. Hojo had this strange smile on his face, and was keeping an obscenely close watch on Vincent's movements, even though there were none. Hojo's hand lazily made it's way and deliberately placed itself on Lucrecia's leg, all the while staring at Vincent.

Restrain yourself, restrain yourself.

Lucrecia calmly removed Hojo's hand, thinking of it as some sort of strange comical gesture. Hojo began again, this time apparently planning to move his hand further up her leg, and seeing this, Vincent stood quickly, forgetting his reprimand to himself, ripping the sunglasses from his face and staring into Hojo's eyes, and the slim man softly chuckled.

"Something wrong, Vincent?" Professor Gast asked sleepily to the man who stood strangely in the center of the room.

Vincent turned his head. "No, nothing Professor. I just have to use the washroom." And he turned to leave.

"Alright then," Gast muttered before falling back asleep.

In the hallway Vincent paced for quite some time before he started wandering around the Gelnika. Hojo must know now too, I shouldn't have let him win like that but… damnit… scrawny little f***ing bastard…

Eventually Vincent made his way to the cargo hold, and made his way among the crates and boxes till he came to a small corner that was directly under the catwalk that he entered the room through and mostly surrounded by crates. It was a very cozy hiding spot, and contained a relatively small cardboard box, which had different books on materia, concerning how it was formed, how it's used, ect. Why the hell would they need stupid books like this?

Vincent dug deeper, until, at the bottom of the box, he found a notebook. He opened to the first page, heart pounding, and read: "Speculated Effects of the Introduction of Jenova Cells into a Mature Human Host."

A wave of horror crept over Vincent. I thought I was done with this Jenova stuff with those monsters… don't tell me we have to poison a human with this… but… What would happen? I mean… I wonder… And Vincent read on, feeling sick at the words: "…most likely there will be multiple life cycles, considering that research shows that Jenova cells continue to mutate long after the host has died."

Vincent continued to read the horrifying things that Professor Gast thought may happen when the Jenova cells were introduced into an adult human being. Then, about halfway through the notebook, the pages were blank for awhile, and then: "Speculated Effects of the Introduction of Jenova Cells into a Fetal Human Host" Vincent snapped the notebook shut and felt the strong urge to vomit. He knew of the grotesque things that Jenova cells did to monsters in the field, mutating them, giving them eyes and limbs in places where there was none. His spine shook. Doing that to a baby… how can he even think of something like that? It's disgusting… It wouldn't even have a chance to live some sort of a life…  His spine shuddered again.

Vincent closed his eyes, and methodically put the notebook back and covered it with the books it had been covered with before. He still felt sick to his stomach, but he had to get out of the cargo hold, lest someone think he was snooping.

He found another dark corner of the Gelnika and rested there, checking his watch and making an attempt to fall asleep. However, when he closed his eyes he kept envisioning a baby being born with five arms, half a dozen eyes, and a few of its organs on the outside of its body.

He was very tired by the time they reached Nibelheim.