Chapter 5

"O.K. Please don't yell in-"

"Tell me." Vincent's eyes began to glow fiery red, Sephira started to tremble, her heart pounding against his chest.

"Alright. I don't know."

"Liar."

"I am not. I swear to you."

"How could you not know?"

"Hojo never told me," Sephira grew angry again at being accused of being a liar. "I don't lie... all the time."

"Sephira, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Sephira-" Vincent began again, "Tell me the truth."

"I have been this whole time. Loosen your grip please." He unwillingly loosened the extreme pressure in his grip, respecting her wishes in hopes of Hojo's plans. Vincent closed his eyes when weight of a headache interrupted his thoughts. "Stop… just tell me the truth."

"Alright. Hojo never told me about anything. Not lying. Maybe someday he'll tell me. Uhn…you still don't believe me, do you?"

"Would you, believe you?"

"…No…not really. You know I only get like this when I'm tired, and I'm tired, so please excuse my behavior." Sephira began to sink down in Vincent's arms, falling asleep on the spot. Why am I so tired, I guess I must have used all my energy on finding the little brats. How am I going to get away from this guy? Sephira bit her lip in frustration. "She belongs to Hojo. You're stealing if you take her away."

"Hojo doesn't own her. He never will."

"He brought her to life. Without Hojo doing that, she wouldn't be here now."

"No. The materia brought her to life."

"Yes, that too. We brought her to life with a stolen soul from the past."

"What?"

"I'm saying that the soul we took out of the life stream was thirty years or older."

"You brought her to life with a stolen soul?"

"Yes."

Vincent cocked his head to the left, squinting his eyes in concentration.

"Something just dawned on me. I never told you that we brought her to life with a materia. I'm really tired, so I'm really slow at getting things. Anyways, you must have been the one that Zack had sensed in the trees, that night."

"Yes, I was there."

"…You're good." Sephira quickly, without warning, shot up and kissed him. Vincent fell back in alarm as Sephira jotted forward and kicked him in the side with all her weight, making him curl up in pain as he fell to the ground. Then she quickly hopped over to his bent figure and threw him onto his back in the freezing snow. The brunette wasted no time, thrusting a knife up to Vincent's neck as she sat down on his chest. When his breathing slowed down, Sephira began to speak, rolling her head back, "Ewe…how the tables have turned." All of a sudden Vincent shot up and violently forced her onto her back. Sephira laid there breathlessly on the snow, as Vincent rose to his feet with his gun pointing eagerly at her chest

"Tell me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you," Vincent spat in detestation.

"Because, some day…I might know Hojo's plan in relation to Aeris. You can beat it out of me when I do." Sephira said, forcing a smile, "because I'll never tell you willingly."

"No? Then I want you to tell Hojo that he will have to get the girl from me himself."

"He won't go out in public, because he's so ugly. He fed off of the life of small animals and stuff like that for a year which distorted his body terribly." Vincent leaned forward, listening carefully. "He did this for about a year, until he was able to suck the life out of bigger and more powerful things. Now he can take over living forms."

"Like?"

"Humans, elephants, you, Aeris, me even; things like that. Uh…why am I even telling you this? I think you have those kinds of eyes that hypnotize people; then again I am so tiered. I could fall into a deep sleep. Such a sleep that if my dream guy were to come up to me and kiss me on the cheek and say, "Sephira, wake up now, and I'll marry you." I wouldn't wake. I would just keep on sleeping. Who knows, it probably already did happen, but I was asleep through it all…"

Vincent cocked his head to the side in annoyance, and spoke saying, "You need more than just sleep. You need some mental help."

Sephira burst out laughing as though it was the funniest thing she had ever heard. "Look who's talking. I bet people ran in horror every day at the sight of that thing," Sephira said, referring to his claw.

Vincent gave her a look of vexation, "Go tell Hojo what I said."

"And what was that?" Vincent had had enough. He used his patients to the max, and now that was it. He shot her in the shoulder blade, at just the right spot, making her whole arm go limp.

"Go." Vincent commanded.

Sephira stood up and walked up to Vincent with a dagger that she had taken out of her other shoe. She ran at him, but again Vincent over-powered her, shoving her against the wall, furiously. He knew that when he had shot her, that she had no more energy to fight against his weakest moves. She winced in pain when the impact of Vincent actions had finally taken it's toll. He ripped the dagger out of her hand and threw it onto the ground with his eyes on hers at all times. "I want you to," he said, speaking calmly, "Go tell Hojo, that if he wants the girl, he'll have to come for her himself."

Sephira looked down at her lifeless right arm, as it swelled with an unbearable ache. She started to whimper softly to herself, her eyes filling with tears of mental hurt and frustration. "You had a way better chance of winning than I ever could have had, in so many ways. You were stronger, you hadn't spent your whole day -"

"Sephira. It's over."

"I HATE YOU!!!' Sephira screamed, spitting on Vincent's face. Vincent turned to the side, and wiped her spit off with her shirt. The exasperated man slowly grabbed her chin with his claw and brought her trembling face to his attention. He looked at her with fury, so much as she had never before seen in a man.

"Tell Hojo what I said," Vincent commanded roughly thrusting her to the grown only to force her to her hands and knees, making her look much more pathetic and little then ever.

The pathetic wild-up woman got to her feet slowly, making her way to her bike. With much difficulty she got onto the bike, then feebly said a couple of words of no importance, "I will tell him. You'll regret it more than anything else in your whole entire life." As she drove off, those simple words still rang through her head; Sephira, it's over, hurting her still, even more now, than then.

Vincent watched to see if she had really left, then ran over to Aeris, whom was half asleep, shivering to death on the snow-covered ground. She jerked awake suddenly when Vincent placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Are you injured?"

"No... The dagger..." She said sleepily with much difficulty, "It just grazed past my shirt, cutting it." Aeris put her small hand to her lips as she yawned delicately. The tall masculine man sympathetically helped Aeris to her feet, being careful not to hurt her.

"Oh!!!" Aeris gasped, snapping wide awake. She had never before seen a claw so hideous looking. Vincent ignored her, bringing her up to her feet while Aeris was trying to get as far away from "the thing" as possible. "AHHHH!!!" The small distraught girl cried out in unexpected pain, grabbing onto Vincent's clawed arm. "My ankle-" Aeris clicked, sliding down Vincent's claw, unto the floor.

Vincent knelt down to look at fragile ankle, noticing that it was twisted badly. "Come on. I'll carry you." He carefully picked her up, being as careful as he could with somebody so tiny and delicate. Aeris wrapped her arms around his neck, falling back into total comfort. Her fair silken skin looked white against Vincent's, who's skin felt like sandpaper rubbing against her arms. Aeris's eyes snapped opened wide in alarm, when she took sight of Vincent's arm, "You're bleeding!"

But how? Sephira never cut me. Vincent thought to himself as he put Aeris down on the floor to examine his wound.

Aeris looked up at Vincent's puzzled gaze, "Where's your wound?" She put her hands up to tear away more of his shirt; her eyes not leaving his face. Vincent suddenly snatched her wrist away, and pulled it up toward the light to examine. Her whole arm was drenched in blood! Aeris froze at the sight of her horrible wound, not knowing how or when she acquired it.

"What did you do?" He asked sensitively, with a hint of amazement.

"I…don't know!" she said, dazed at the sight of so much of her blood flowing down her arm.

Vincent thought hard to himself, when finally it came to him. When Aeris had felt the pain in her ankle, she slid down Vincent's claw cutting herself on accident. The pain had been so great and terrible in her ankle, that she did not feel her wrist slit open.

Vincent looked down at her drowsy eyes and felt compassion on her. He tore his shirt off, which left his undershirt on only to cover him in the cold wintry weather, and then wrapped it gently around Aeris's slender wrist. She just stood there, like an icicle, as she watched him work at her wrist. After he had finished, he helped her up to her feet once again. She didn't through her arms around Vincent, but instead she just leaned against his chest, in a hugging fashion.

"Sir," she began weakly, "Thank you for protecting me."

"My name is Vincent. Do you not remember me Aeris?"

"No... How is it…that you know me; but I don't know you?"

"I don't know."

"Vincent…Everything is spinning around me. Uh…I feel so sick…Uhn…" Aeris eyes rolled back, her body falling in exhaustion with no will to move on, as everything around her became blurry; then dark.

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