Insurrection

Nanaki dragged Vincent from Shinra mansion of Nibelheim and checked in to the inn. Though a little reluctant to do so, Vincent decided to clean himself up as his companion had suggested. He saw himself in the mirror. His face was the same but blanketed with a layer of dust. His hair was spangled with old dead leaves and tiny insects. He resembled a wraith risen from the forest floor, forced to haunt the earth once again.

Vincent went into the bathroom and switched on the light. It possessed all the basic necessities for human hygiene and cleanliness, necessities he'd been away from for a hundred years. He studied his clothes for a moment. He was a little less than surprised to see how well they held up for so long a time. They were made for durability, after all. The moss and mold could be scraped off easily and…

He sighed and started the water in the shower. He unraveled the lengthy ribbon of red cloth from round his head and unfastened the cape from round his shoulders. He stopped and stared at the tiled floor. "…hmm…"

After a few minutes of standing as still as a statue, Vincent unhurriedly resumed taking off his clothes, leaving them piled on the floor and stepping into the shower. Once in, he only stood there and let the hot water rain down upon him. Having spent days upon months upon years in his coffin in the basement of Shinra mansion, where it was cold and dark and damp, he welcomed the soothing heat of the shower. He came near to shivering as the last of the cold was driven from his body. But he knew that this little instant of bliss had short wings and a short life.

"Ah…" Vincent slumped down in the shower, drew up his legs and closed his eyes. He took time to reflect on current matters. A century of uninterrupted slumber. Sure, there have been a few to venture into the vicinity of Shinra mansion from time to time, some he had known straightaway to be his friends, their kind voices like capricious butterflies flitting by his ear on their way to oblivion. His friends. Friends… All gone save for Nanaki. Friends that he never said goodbye to, that perhaps would've done the same before he died, which was very unlikely to ever happen anytime soon. Damned cells of Jenova, making him a monster so that he had to cut himself from the life he could not enjoy as everyone else did.

Vincent lifted his face to the running water, felt the drops pelt his lids. When it hit his lips, it almost tasted…salty. He held his claw over his face and opened his eyes.

"Ahh!" He fell back. The shower rained scarlet upon him. Blood. He soon found his entire body drenched in it. He hurriedly scrambled out of the shower, grappled tight to the curtain, breathless.

There was a knock at the door.

"Vincent? Are you alright? I heard a bump," Nanaki said.

Vincent briefly glanced at the bathroom door then back at the shower. He gasped silently. The water was…water again. There was no blood, only water. He looked down at his hand.

No blood.

There was no blood.

He sighed with his claw to his chest. He was glad that, with his claw, he could feel nothing. Not the scars on his chest from past musings of suicide, nothing. "…wasn't real… It wasn't…"

--

"Alright, now don't you feel better?" Nanaki asked lightheartedly. Vincent glared from his spot near the window then away. Nanaki cleared his throat. "Um, right… So, on to what I wanted to talk about. Well, I've been traveling around for a while now and I've noticed something strange near all the places I've gone to. Ever since that day…"

"…what is this strange thing you noticed?" Vincent queried.

"I… The Lifestream," the other answered. Vincent folded his arms in each other, but not without due interest. "It's like in Mideel. The Lifestream is coming up to the surface in plenty of places now. Even Midgar. You know, I think Midgar is sinking, too. It's odd."

"Have you drawn some sort of conclusion from this?"

"Mmm, nothing concrete. The Lifestream might be just acting up, overflowing, drying up, any number of things. There's probably no real reason to worry about it but, I dunno, it just scares me a little. Anything's possible."

Vincent nodded near invisibly and went back to gazing out the window. From where he stood, he could view the jagged peaks of the Nibel mountain range, and just beyond he could discern a swirling green streak of light reaching towards the sky.

"…The Lifestream rises up from the ground?" he said.

"Yes, like spiraling towers. There's a humongous jet of Lifestream right now in Cosmo Canyon. At night, there's a green glow over everything. Well, it's there in the daytime for that matter, as well, but it's more noticeable at night."

"Hmm…"

"Sometimes I wish Grandpa were still alive. He'd have some answers to what's going on…"