4

Lucrecia… I never got a chance to say this while you were alive, so now I suppose would be the right time. When we are trained as Turks we go through a rigorous mental conditioning program. We have to be able to steel ourselves in case there is an order that we must carry out but find difficult. Or impossible. An order is an order. And we don't just lose our jobs if we're insubordinate. It is a Turk's duty to find and kill any member who runs away… but that's not why I did what I did, I guess. I guess I did it because… I liked being a Turk. I liked following orders. Well… I don't know, it makes no sense now. I don't really know why I did what I did. Maybe it was to show Gast we aren't are actions… I don't know.

But of the two things I truly regret in my life, that was one.

The troops were dismissed, and all of the shifting of equipment from the lawn to the secret basement was done by the six people who were aware of its existence, though mainly the Turks manually moved things while the scientists directed where things ought to go and connected equipment together once it was down at the room at the end of the passageway.

When it was all finished, the doorway at the end of the hall led to a laboratory, now, with an operating table, two large tanks, and other assorted scientific equipment. There was a short hallway between the laboratory and a private office, and both the office and the hallway's walls were lined with bookshelves, filled with books, for that is what much of the cargo had been (though the bigger items were pieces of equipment which had to be assembled in the laboratory itself.) And, the Turks having outlived their main usefulness, they were sent to do random odd jobs for Professor Gast, most of which required some strange experiments in the Mako reactor up in Mount Nibel.

Vincent, despite the flagrant misuse of his and his Turks' talents, was glad to be in Nibelheim, where he could be near to Lucrecia. Every night he slept in the mansion he woke out of a dead sleep, always at twelve fifty seven, and walked out one of the back doors, to sit in the grove of trees in the moonlight, and wait for Lucrecia. Though they had agreed on the time she had to sneak by both Professor Gast and Hojo, which the creaky floorboards made difficult. But the sparseness of her visits, which were no more than once every few weeks, made them all the more precious to Vincent. To hear her naked feet brushing against the unkempt grass. To feel her footsteps in the soft earth behind him. This is what he lived for. The moments in between the mundaneness of the day and the restlessness of the nights. Only an hour or two every few weeks, but at least that.

When they met they would talk, not about her work, since she was not at liberty to tell him and he knew better to ask or even care for that matter. Instead they discussed what they would do when they got away, how they would settle in the little town like Nibelheim where the community was so close and comforting. Or how they would honeymoon in somewhere exotic or somewhat dangerous, so that, she said, she would have her Vincent protect her. They mused like this, while the moon beamed on them, even though they knew their lives were owned by Shinra and they knew too much to ever be let go on their own outside the confines of Shinra. But that didn't matter, not in those late night conversations with each other. They were happy, and thought nothing could change that.

***

It was one forty five when Vincent rose from where he had been sitting, thinking that Lucrecia had not been able to sneak past her "guards." However, turning back to the house, he saw her, and she ran towards him, and held him tightly, her face stained with tears. Vincent held her and spoke softly, his voice softer than even normal times when he spoke to her, which was softened quite a bit anyway.

"Shhshhshhh," he began, as if she was a little girl with a nightmare, "what's wrong, my love?"

She wept even harder, squeezing him tighter, as if she were to release him he would turn to ash and blow away. Vincent listened hard through the sobbing and sniffling, finally discerning the words "you're… you're leaving me…"

She must have had a nightmare… "I could never do such a thing. I will never leave you Lucrecia, I love you," he whispered. Again, the same result, as she began to weep with more fervor.

"Y-y-you don't," she sniffled, "understand. Y-y-you are going to leave me. You have to."

"I would rather die."

She looked at him, lower lip trembling, but her sobbing silent. She took in his eyes before she spoke again. "You will if you don't go,"  her sobbing began anew.

Professor Gast… "Then he'll have to kill me. Lucrecia I'm not going to leave you. He can't make me."

She squeezed him tighter as she wept. "He knows that…" she sniffled, "which is why I'm making you."

"What?"

She looked up into his eyes now, and he looked into hers, red and puffy and full of tears. "I… I can't let you die Vincent. I can't… just go… please… for me… so you'll be safe."

Will you be happier if I'm gone? No of course you wouldn't… would you? "What did he tell you? When he caught you, I mean? What is he threatening you with?" She wouldn't do this if it was just about me… we'd run off together… or something…

"It doesn't matter Vincent…." She sniffled, "it doesn't matter…"

He took her by the shoulders and stared at her eyes, which were now darting around through the haze of tears. "What did he threaten you with?" he said, his voice not so soft nor quiet as it normally was at this time of night.

"He didn't… he said… that you were using me… to get to my father… he… showed me pictures… of you with other women… he… told me the most awful things."

"And you believed him? They're fucking lies!" Vincent roared, furious.

She whimpered, trembling under the power he projected. "b-b-but the pictures…."

"Can be falsified! I have never loved another woman nor have thought of Doctor Nunya as anything besides than my future stepfather…" Vincent trailed off, as Lucrecia continued to tremble. He stared at her, her beautiful face, high cheekbones, normally perfect eyes, though they lost little of their perfection even in the torrent of tears, her hair which looked black in the pale moonlight behind her back… and his anger vanished. His face became infinitely calm, which was more terrifying than when he had been angry. It was the look of a man who had accepted his own death, and felt no pain because of it. "I have always loved you Lucrecia. I will always love you. When I am dust I will love you. But you have never loved me, if you could do this." Vincent said that as valediction and walked past her, towards the mansion.

"Vincent wait, you know that's not true… Vincent…. VincentVincent!" she screamed, as he opened the door to go inside. He turned to look at her, her body a mere silhouette in the dark… she looked like a wraith. "I love you Vincent," she said.

"Indeed," he replied, all too calmly, and went inside.

***

Vincent spent the night staring at the wall as he sat on his bed in the Shinra mansion. The sun rose, the light filtered into his room through he latticework on the windowpanes, but he noticed no change. Breakfast was made, most likely by Tsang, who, surprisingly enough, knew how to cook. The smells wafted up into his room, the airborne dust visible in the rays of sunlight, the sounds of silverware clattering and scraping against plates; he was oblivious to it all. His mind was immersed in what was to happen, and he waited calmly until breakfast was finished.

He was still in the same blue suit he had worn for the past day, the other six of which were hanging in the closet, when he came downstairs and saw Rachael and Lucrecia doing dishes, Rachael wearing only her blue pants and white dress shirt, sleeves rolled up past her elbows, singing "if I have to do one more menial thing like dishes again I will scream," which had no melody or rhythm whatsoever, causing both herself and Lucrecia to giggle, the latter more on a pretense though.

Rachael had her arms deep in the soapy water while Lucrecia dried a plate when Vincent spoke. "Lucrecia we can leave together right now. Shinra can't try to catch us forever…"

She placed the plate down with elaborate slowness, and set the towel on top of it. Rachael turned to look at Vincent, albeit quixotically. "Vincent I can't come with you," Lucrecia said, not turning around.

Vincent was taken aback. He didn't know what to do now, for the past seven hours had been composed of the decision to do what he did, and hope that she would run into his arms and they would go off together and… But that's foolishness… I have to go now… Vincent turned to leave.

"And you're wrong, Vincent. Tsang and I can't be given any new orders 'till we capture you or your head, technically," Rachael mused, though Vincent was unaware of the humor. He spun on his heels and grabbed the front of her shirt.

"Then take it!" he roared, and Rachael's jaw dropped. "I don't need this… goodbye Rachael. Tell Tsang you're head of the Turks now, I'd hate to think what he'd do to you if he was," and Vincent left.

***

Vincent had not been in the fields to the south of Nibelheim for twenty minutes before Tsang and Rachael caught up with him, both exhausted from running. Vincent spun on his heels while pulling his rifle from its holster and fired special shotgun shells he had loaded it with earlier. Immediately Tsang and Rachael's breathing, already ragged, was slowed immensely. All their functions were slowed, in fact, and Vincent merely smiled.

"Slow petrifaction," he said, walking around them both. "You know the fun thing about it is I could sit down right here," he said, sitting down so that he was completely behind them, "in the time it would take you to turn completely around, draw your guns, and aim, you turn to stone right before you pulled the trigger." Vincent smiled. "So what brings you here, and let us hope it's not just to kill me, because you did a piss poor job of that."

"Gast….." Rachael managed to say, the word long and drawn out.

"Yeah, what about him?"

"Wants you….." she finished.

"Esuna," Vincent murmured, waving his right hand at Rachael. Her slowness left her, and the onset of the stiffening of her entire body left as well, which meant that all of a sudden her muscles needed to be used, and unprepared for this, she tumbled to the ground.

"Damnit Vincent!" she shouted, pulling a package from her suit jacket and throwing it at his head. "From the Professor, those are your orders. Our orders."

Vincent picked up the package and threw it back at Rachael. "I'm AWOL. I cannot take orders."

She threw them back at him. "Like hell you can't."

"Help…" she heard Tsang mutter before he became a statue completely. Rachael burst into laughter, and Vincent chuckled as well.

"I think it's an improvement, don't you?" she grinned at Vincent, but the grin quickly faded. "Look Vince you can't deny them from me. If you're going about it that way you have to shove them in Gast's face, not mine. And Lucrecia… well…"

Vincent's face went from calm to enraged in an instant. "Talk ill about the woman I love and you will find I have real bullets that I can use as well." Rachael nodded, not afraid, just acknowledging. Vincent respected that and stood, healing Tsang, who collapsed as Vincent turned back to Nibelheim. "Come. I need to deliver my rejection now."

***

Vincent, followed by the other Turks, walked back into town, and noticed two people in white lab coats . Lucrecia had his arms around Professor Gast's neck, weeping into his shoulder.

Vincent was taken aback, but immediately told himself what he thought he should feel. As long as she's happy, then I don't care…

"Vincent Valentine," Professor Gast shouted, angry. "within the package Rachael gave you are all the papers releasing the Turks. The headquarters, however, allowed me to send you on a final mission, and if you accept it, I never want to see your face again, nor do I ever want to hear of you being around this woman. If you do not accept the mission, then you can die right now."

I'd rather die than see what I'm seeing… no… no that's not right… she's happier… she must be… "I accept the mission," Vincent said, having not yet opened the package.

"But Vincent you haven't…" Rachael began.

"It's done, let's go."

"Yes sir," Tsang said.

"Yes sir," Rachael repeated, which was one of the first times she said so without a hint of sarcasm.

They walked in silence, and at noon Vincent sat down, with the illusion that they could rest, while he was actually opening the package. Indeed, there was the proper paperwork to release the Turks from Gast's command. There were also four syringes filled with a red-orange liquid, and underneath those, was a picture and details concerning how the murder of doctor Jeryl Nunya was supposed to take place. Vincent used his cell phone to have a helicopter pick the Turks up so they could go to Junon as he inwardly searched for the remnants of who he used to be.