Don't Let Go
frickload of skipped lines - scene switch
----- - flashback
-----------------------------
This time I awoke well before the sun was even up - that's what you get for falling alseep so early.
My hand automatically went for a cigarette on the beside table, but came up with nothing. Which reminded me, I hadn't had a real smoke since... God knows when. Often, I had been to distracted looking for any anomalicies to smoke, and I ended up setting a rug on fire earlier. I never liked that fucking ugly thing, anyway.
I mentally tallied up what I had found so far: muddy print on aformentioned carpet - Vin was clean, almost obsessively so... - several books re-arranged on his shelf, and one was missing, though I couldn't put my finger on which - again with the neatness; though I sure as hell couldn't figure out his system - and... nothing. Useless clues. Maybe he didn't like the carpet either. The books? ... Probably a new version of his insane way of classifying things. Or the murderer didn't like it. Both equally likely.
Every time I looked over things, it just got me more and more frustrated. I usually need to remind myself that, 'no, that is not the result of a suspicious someone else bumping into that pot, that was me kicking it over,' or something similar several times. No matter how I looked at any clue I found the evidence usually proved too thin to support a theory. Hey look, a footstep in the secret passageway near his room. Oh yeah, that's mine. Cough.
There's still one place I haven't checked. The basement. I don't know /why/ but I had this horrible feeling about it, as if something would happen if I went down there. I could find the answer, but what if it isn't the one I want? That's impossible, moron. He wouldn't... no, didn't. And damn the others for even bringing it up.
If I don't go, I'll never find out. But I might not want to. Fuck, circular logic.
Strange, how the door slid open smoothly. Either it was designed well, or it had been taken care of. I hadn't even realized Vin ever went down there.
The ramp leading to the ground still creaked under my weight, just like it did the first time. I swear it's muscle. All of it.
More ominous creaking. Hey, if it breaks I'll get to the bottom faster. Also I would be dead. But I wouldn't have to tiptoe down the path... Wait, more circular logic. What the hell.
Halfway down, I started to see some black thing at the bottom. /Of course/ I disobeyed the cardinal rule of walking on old, weak, high-up pieces of wood - don't look down. Who really listens to that rule, anyway?
As I approached it, what it was became clear. The Death Penalty. I practically tripped over my feet as I hurried down to the basement, cursing the spiral path the entire way.
With several feet left, I decided to jump the rest of the way. I'm a dragoon. I have priviledges normal people will never enjoy. Thus is my life.
His rifle glinted in the shaft of light creeping down from the still-open door. So maybe it doesn't work as well as I thought. I looked down the path to the lab - no sign of those zombie things or bats.
I realized as I held the Death Penalty that I had never touched it before. Vin had been obsessive in the way he kept it next to him, never letting it out of his sight. Why would it be down here, yet he had d-
The hallway down to the lab seemed more tempting by the minute, yet I wondered if I really wanted to go down there. He and I had reached an unspoken agreement over the lab. He disappeared in it occasionally, and I didn't bother him. It worked out fine. Even now, I didn't want to go in. I told myself it wasn't only because I didn't want to know what I'd find down there.
With a sigh, I climbed the rickety path out of the basement, Vin's prized gun in my hands.
-----------------------------
I never let it collect dust.
A few days after I found it, the Death Penalty started to attract the specks that seemed to gather in the mansion as if it were a big dust magnet. It was propped up in a corner of his old bedroom - next to the brown furry thing I had found - the room that lead to the basement. I hadn't been in there except to clean it.
I knew I'd have to go down there eventually. Looking around Nibelheim and the mansion, I had the feeling I would find something down there. Still, I looked through everywhere, top to bottom. Which took me to the old sheet of hints to find the numbers to the safe.
I wonder how I hadn't noticed before. Two words were added onto the sheet.
'In the room short of tea and ray.' That clue had driven Cloud, Red, and me insane. Tacked on to the end were the words 'and me.' I didn't recognize the handwriting. Of course, I headed for the room with the piano right away, it being the first real lead I'd had in a long time.
-----------------------------
Last time, the clue had been in the piano itself; the strings for the 'ti' and 're' notes had been cut. Now, the 'mi' string was missing as well.
What the hell did it mean? Was the murderer trying to trick me? It was a cruel joke, if so.
Maybe there was something else in this room. I searched everywhere, yet nothing was out of place. The bookshelf was just as he left it - wait, how many of those did we have, anyway? - the curtains still hung slightly open, the chair was sitting where he had been in it last, though a fine sheet of dust had collected. On the table was a bookmark.
Normally, this wouldn't have bothered me, but it was the last straw. I knew where I had to go. Whoever did this was playing a game with me, and I wanted it over.
-----------------------------
I hadn't been in the basement library since we first found Vincent. Cloud had wandered down there with an odd expression, and we had no choice but to follow. It hadn't changed much. More neat, certainly - Sephiroth had left a mess of the books while hunting for information on the Jenova project. I noted those books seemed to have disappeared. Wait. So had my books on mechanics!
Little angsty bastard, I thought. Maybe he just moved them somewhere...
I began to search in earnest this time. A distraction might be nice, and I might even find my way down to Rocket Town sometime and tune up the Highwind... If I could only find my damn books!
I looked at where they were originally, and found one book out of place. I looked at the spine and read the title.
'Tam Lin.'
A bookmark marked a page. I slowly opened it, wondering if it were just a coincidence or if this was his doing.
Which 'his,' I wondered before reading the first line.
'If I had known but yesterday what I know today, I'd have taken out your two grey eyes and put in eyes of clay. And had I known but yesterday what I know today, I'd have taken out your heart of flesh and put in one of stone.'
I remembered suddenly what Vin had said about these two sentences.
-----
"So this... elf queen wants to blind the dude, then kill him? Cruelty."
"It's not meant to be threatening, Highwind."
"How so?" Seemed like she was angry to /me/. Vin wouldn't know angry if it bit him on the ass.
"The queen is loosing her knight. She didn't want him to see the fair woman, nor fall in love. It is her way of mourning." As if that explained anything. He overestimated my intelligence.
"Huh?" Yeah, that'll prove it.
He sighed. "'Eyes of clay' - so he didn't see the woman come to rescue him. 'Heart of stone' - so he didn't fall in love with said woman."
"I get it..." This was better than teasing, he was actually talking, and more than one word at a time.
"You think."
"Exactly. You know me too well."
-----
It all made sense now, in a bizarre way. Why, and how.
Vincent had killed himself.
-----------------------------
The final chapter, which is the prologue, is almost done. Don't worry, there won't be an insane wait this time.
Sorry it ended so quickly. I had so much more I wanted to do, but... I'll probably do a companion to this, like random scenes up until this story. The final chapter will be separate. It ran too far away to fit now, and it has a beginning, followed by a middle, and happens to be almost completed by an end.
I'm sorry it took so long. Jesus, I haven't updated since November? Wow. This chapter hated me.
Thanks for all the reviews so far. Look out for the two companion fics for this - most likely to be called 'Snapshot' and 'Farewell to Tears.'
frickload of skipped lines - scene switch
----- - flashback
-----------------------------
This time I awoke well before the sun was even up - that's what you get for falling alseep so early.
My hand automatically went for a cigarette on the beside table, but came up with nothing. Which reminded me, I hadn't had a real smoke since... God knows when. Often, I had been to distracted looking for any anomalicies to smoke, and I ended up setting a rug on fire earlier. I never liked that fucking ugly thing, anyway.
I mentally tallied up what I had found so far: muddy print on aformentioned carpet - Vin was clean, almost obsessively so... - several books re-arranged on his shelf, and one was missing, though I couldn't put my finger on which - again with the neatness; though I sure as hell couldn't figure out his system - and... nothing. Useless clues. Maybe he didn't like the carpet either. The books? ... Probably a new version of his insane way of classifying things. Or the murderer didn't like it. Both equally likely.
Every time I looked over things, it just got me more and more frustrated. I usually need to remind myself that, 'no, that is not the result of a suspicious someone else bumping into that pot, that was me kicking it over,' or something similar several times. No matter how I looked at any clue I found the evidence usually proved too thin to support a theory. Hey look, a footstep in the secret passageway near his room. Oh yeah, that's mine. Cough.
There's still one place I haven't checked. The basement. I don't know /why/ but I had this horrible feeling about it, as if something would happen if I went down there. I could find the answer, but what if it isn't the one I want? That's impossible, moron. He wouldn't... no, didn't. And damn the others for even bringing it up.
If I don't go, I'll never find out. But I might not want to. Fuck, circular logic.
Strange, how the door slid open smoothly. Either it was designed well, or it had been taken care of. I hadn't even realized Vin ever went down there.
The ramp leading to the ground still creaked under my weight, just like it did the first time. I swear it's muscle. All of it.
More ominous creaking. Hey, if it breaks I'll get to the bottom faster. Also I would be dead. But I wouldn't have to tiptoe down the path... Wait, more circular logic. What the hell.
Halfway down, I started to see some black thing at the bottom. /Of course/ I disobeyed the cardinal rule of walking on old, weak, high-up pieces of wood - don't look down. Who really listens to that rule, anyway?
As I approached it, what it was became clear. The Death Penalty. I practically tripped over my feet as I hurried down to the basement, cursing the spiral path the entire way.
With several feet left, I decided to jump the rest of the way. I'm a dragoon. I have priviledges normal people will never enjoy. Thus is my life.
His rifle glinted in the shaft of light creeping down from the still-open door. So maybe it doesn't work as well as I thought. I looked down the path to the lab - no sign of those zombie things or bats.
I realized as I held the Death Penalty that I had never touched it before. Vin had been obsessive in the way he kept it next to him, never letting it out of his sight. Why would it be down here, yet he had d-
The hallway down to the lab seemed more tempting by the minute, yet I wondered if I really wanted to go down there. He and I had reached an unspoken agreement over the lab. He disappeared in it occasionally, and I didn't bother him. It worked out fine. Even now, I didn't want to go in. I told myself it wasn't only because I didn't want to know what I'd find down there.
With a sigh, I climbed the rickety path out of the basement, Vin's prized gun in my hands.
-----------------------------
I never let it collect dust.
A few days after I found it, the Death Penalty started to attract the specks that seemed to gather in the mansion as if it were a big dust magnet. It was propped up in a corner of his old bedroom - next to the brown furry thing I had found - the room that lead to the basement. I hadn't been in there except to clean it.
I knew I'd have to go down there eventually. Looking around Nibelheim and the mansion, I had the feeling I would find something down there. Still, I looked through everywhere, top to bottom. Which took me to the old sheet of hints to find the numbers to the safe.
I wonder how I hadn't noticed before. Two words were added onto the sheet.
'In the room short of tea and ray.' That clue had driven Cloud, Red, and me insane. Tacked on to the end were the words 'and me.' I didn't recognize the handwriting. Of course, I headed for the room with the piano right away, it being the first real lead I'd had in a long time.
-----------------------------
Last time, the clue had been in the piano itself; the strings for the 'ti' and 're' notes had been cut. Now, the 'mi' string was missing as well.
What the hell did it mean? Was the murderer trying to trick me? It was a cruel joke, if so.
Maybe there was something else in this room. I searched everywhere, yet nothing was out of place. The bookshelf was just as he left it - wait, how many of those did we have, anyway? - the curtains still hung slightly open, the chair was sitting where he had been in it last, though a fine sheet of dust had collected. On the table was a bookmark.
Normally, this wouldn't have bothered me, but it was the last straw. I knew where I had to go. Whoever did this was playing a game with me, and I wanted it over.
-----------------------------
I hadn't been in the basement library since we first found Vincent. Cloud had wandered down there with an odd expression, and we had no choice but to follow. It hadn't changed much. More neat, certainly - Sephiroth had left a mess of the books while hunting for information on the Jenova project. I noted those books seemed to have disappeared. Wait. So had my books on mechanics!
Little angsty bastard, I thought. Maybe he just moved them somewhere...
I began to search in earnest this time. A distraction might be nice, and I might even find my way down to Rocket Town sometime and tune up the Highwind... If I could only find my damn books!
I looked at where they were originally, and found one book out of place. I looked at the spine and read the title.
'Tam Lin.'
A bookmark marked a page. I slowly opened it, wondering if it were just a coincidence or if this was his doing.
Which 'his,' I wondered before reading the first line.
'If I had known but yesterday what I know today, I'd have taken out your two grey eyes and put in eyes of clay. And had I known but yesterday what I know today, I'd have taken out your heart of flesh and put in one of stone.'
I remembered suddenly what Vin had said about these two sentences.
-----
"So this... elf queen wants to blind the dude, then kill him? Cruelty."
"It's not meant to be threatening, Highwind."
"How so?" Seemed like she was angry to /me/. Vin wouldn't know angry if it bit him on the ass.
"The queen is loosing her knight. She didn't want him to see the fair woman, nor fall in love. It is her way of mourning." As if that explained anything. He overestimated my intelligence.
"Huh?" Yeah, that'll prove it.
He sighed. "'Eyes of clay' - so he didn't see the woman come to rescue him. 'Heart of stone' - so he didn't fall in love with said woman."
"I get it..." This was better than teasing, he was actually talking, and more than one word at a time.
"You think."
"Exactly. You know me too well."
-----
It all made sense now, in a bizarre way. Why, and how.
Vincent had killed himself.
-----------------------------
The final chapter, which is the prologue, is almost done. Don't worry, there won't be an insane wait this time.
Sorry it ended so quickly. I had so much more I wanted to do, but... I'll probably do a companion to this, like random scenes up until this story. The final chapter will be separate. It ran too far away to fit now, and it has a beginning, followed by a middle, and happens to be almost completed by an end.
I'm sorry it took so long. Jesus, I haven't updated since November? Wow. This chapter hated me.
Thanks for all the reviews so far. Look out for the two companion fics for this - most likely to be called 'Snapshot' and 'Farewell to Tears.'