Chapter 2

"I don't know what's going on with you, but you leave Tifa alone, you hear? Don't you dare touch her again! Or-"

"Or you'll what, Cloud Strife? What will you do to me, kill me? That would only help me on this quest."

"Help you?" Cloud asked perplexedly.

"Indeed. Then, I could control Life Stream and find the questions and answers."

He raised an eyebrow and spat, "Why are you searching for questions? That doesn't make sense!"

Vincent smiled and replied, "Life is simple. You have questions that you must answer. Without questions, there is no life. I'm saving life itself by destroying it. Why? So that questions can be asked and answers can be found. It's that simple."

"You're insane!"

"Maybe, Cloud Strife, but insanity is what gave us life. Look at Hojo. Without him, we'd have no life. We owe everything to him, you and I."

"I owe him nothing!"

"Oh, but you're wrong," he stated. "You will see, Cloud. You will see." Vincent frowned as he turned, the wet grass squeaking under his heels. He left without saying another word.

"Vincent!" Cloud yelled, "I'll get you for this. I don't know what has gotten into you, but I'll get you!" He ran back into his house, dropping the Ultimate weapon on the living room floor. "Tifa!" He jolted into his room where his wife was still lying on the floor.

"Cloud¼ did¼ you¼ ?"

"Yes, I found him. He didn't make any sense. I'm not sure what's up with him. He's not acting like himself."

Tifa smiled as her husband pulled out an X-potion from the dresser drawer and sprinkled it on her. "Let's call the others and tell them what happened. They won't be happy, but they need to know."

Cloud nodded and grabbed the PHS from his bedside table. He quickly called the others and notified them of Vincent's sudden burst of insanity. They agreed to meet in Costa Del Sol in the morning. "Alright, Tifa, let's get back to bed and try to sleep. We have to head out early tomorrow."

She nodded and climbed into bed beside him. "Goodnight, Cloud."

***

Cloud leaned against the wall and gazed out the window. He and Tifa had arrived at Costa Del Sol early that morning. It was now just after noon. No one else had shown up. He only hoped Vincent hadn't gotten to them first.

"What do you think cause him to do that?" Tifa asked.

"I'm not sure. For all we know he's being controlled by another mad scientist trying to exact revenge on us for killing Hojo."

She smiled and snickered, "You'd figure they'd be thanking us."

Cloud chuckled and continued to stare out the window. He tried to think of a reason why Vincent would do such a thing. He had helped them to save the world and seemed like an ally. Of course, he hadn't seen him since the defeat of Sephiroth. It was as though he disappeared. Why did he decide to come back now? Why did he attack Tifa? He couldn't think of a single plausible reason for it except that he had driven himself insane.

He raised his eyebrows as Yuffie passed under the bridge that led to the docks. She stopped and held her hand above her eyes as she looked around. Then, she bounced into the bar. Cloud waved slowly at her as she walked over.

"Hey, Cloud!" she said rather loudly. She turned to Tifa and gasped. "My¼ ! I didn't know it was that bad!" She looked upon Tifa's injured cheek with disgust. "Well, I guess he's finally lost it, eh? I knew there was something strange about him! I mean, you could just tell by looking at him!" She plopped down on a stool and ordered a drink. By now, Cloud had tuned her out. He had turned his attention back to the window.

No long afterward, everyone had arrived. Cloud and Tifa updated them on the episode that took place the previous night as they pondered Vincent's reasons for his aggressions.

"I don't know," Cid said. "Maybe the *&!# boy finally lost his mind."

Cloud shook his head and stated, "It's not that simple."

Barret growled and spat, "Let's just go kill 'im and get it over with. It's not like we were all buddy buddy with him."

Red glared at the gun-armed man. "No. That would solve nothing. We must find the answer to this if we want it to end."

"Look, this might sound stupid," Tifa suggested, "but let's travel together like we did back when we were in AVALANCHE, okay?"

Cloud closed his eyes and agreed. He knew better than to go against her when she got an idea.