Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 7 characters and stuff belong to Squaresoft. The original stuff belongs to me. The basic idea of Vincent's story goes to Squaresoft, but I tweaked it quite a bit. So, now his explanation is mostly my idea.
A/N: Well, I guess I have to update this for people to see it ^_^() In our last chapter, Daigus harassed Rhiannon, Vincent scared Rhiannon, and our poor girl still doesn't understand much. She did some work with her new friends using knowledge she didn't know she had. Let's find out what Vincent and Rhiannon talk about. This shall be quite interesting. Please Enjoy and review!
* * * * * * * * * *
Rhiannon stared up in silence at the dilapidated mansion with it's peeling paint, creaky door, and loose shingles, but when they walked in the mansion, the girl had to gasp at the inside, which was fixed up and clean. Her guide walked upstairs and to the right, leading the girl to a room where part of the wall was stone. She watched in slight awe as he pushed in one of the stones and part of the wall slid out of sight. Vincent disappeared down the winding staircase and Rhiannon followed, looking around in amazement, having never seen such a sight. At the bottom of the stairs, Rhiannon's eyes widened as she saw the dark, dank passage that stretched out in front of her. Vincent walked down towards a door at the end and the amazed girl soon followed, speechless as she gazed at the architecture.
A movement in the shadows caught the girl's eye, making her stop and gaze at the spot in profound curiosity before moving a little closer. Two faces seemed to loom in and out of view, one smiling and one frowning. Suddenly, a decrepid-looking hand shot out from the darkness straight at the girl, who drew back with a yelp of fright. A humanoid creature with two lolling heads slunk out from the shadows reaching out with its pallid hands, trying to grab on Rhiannon. Her yelp had alerted Vincent, who was now half way down the hall, and he turned just as the creature got hold of Rhiannon's arm with its clammy hand, getting ready to throttle her. Whipping out his gun, Vincent carefully aimed and then fired two shots at the monster, hitting it in both heads.
"You have to be careful," said Vincent as the creature collapsed in a dead heap, "There are still a few creatures that I haven't cleared out."
Rhiannon nodded and ran over to him in fear of getting attacked by another creature. "What... What was that?"
"A Ying / Yang," replied Vincent as they continued down the passage, "You're lucky it didn't just throw a Bolt 2 or Ice 2 spell at you."
They reached the end of the hall and Vincent pushed open the door to reveal a room full of shelves of books. Rhiannon gazed around the room drinking in the scene before her and noticed a few pieces of old lab equipment that seemed out of place. Vincent sat down in a chair that he had put there for when he read the books and saw the girl looking around, the glow of her eyes was accented by the fact that the room was very dim. He gestured for her to sit in a chair near him and she did so with an expression of someone trying hard to remember something, but couldn't.
"Would you care to explain first?" asked Vincent, causing Rhiannon to snap out of her daze and look at him, "How do you know Daigus?"
"I only know what I remember," replied Rhiannon, sighing and looking at the floor, "He's the one who woke me up... I came from his lab because he 'revived' me or something. He said he needed some items and I'm just on a mission to find them. I don't know what he wants with them and I have no idea why you hate him so much. Or why he hates you, Cloud, and Tifa."
"Don't you know who or what he is?" asked Vincent, giving her an intense stare, but he only found question in her eyes.
"No," replied Rhiannon, raising her head to look at him, "I only remember things from when I woke up in his lab. All I remember before that is being stuck in darkness with something cold around me, like a liquid and images flashing through my head."
"Anything before that?" asked Vincent, his red eyes not leaving hers.
"No," answered Rhiannon, sighing, "I don't know anything. What's your story? How do you know Daigus?"
"I don't necessarily need to start at the beginning, but I've known about Daigus since I was a member of the Turks," replied Vincent, resigning to the fact that he wouldn't find anything out from her, "Daigus was the assistant to Hojo, a sick and twisted man who believed he was a real scientist."
"Hojo...." whispered Rhiannon, her eyes becoming unfocused and slipping back into a daze, "The scientist... Hojo..."
Vincent stared at the girl in front of him as she gazed at the wall with a blank and glassy look in her eyes. Observing her closely, he said her name loudly and even got up to place a hand on her shoulder, but she gave no response to his touch our voice. What is going on? thought Vincent as he shook her lightly, What's wrong with her? His shaking did the trick and Rhiannon snapped out of her trance, shaking her head with a hand on one side. She still looked dazed, but she blinked a bunch of times and looked at the man as he sat down.
"What was that all about?" asked Vincent, giving her an intense stare with a slight trace of concern in his eyes.
"That name..." said Rhiannon, putting a hand to her head again, "It sounds so familiar, but I have no idea where I've heard it before." She shook her head again and sighed. "Anyway, continue your story."
"Fine," said Vincent, sitting back down in his chair, "I'll just tell you my whole story, so you understand all the events that have happened in the past."
"I'm fine with that," said Rhiannon, "It might do me some good to know the past events."
"I was a Turk when I met Lucrecia and her husband, Hojo," explained Vincent, "They were working together and I spent time with Lucrecia during her work. We became lovers, but Hojo had come up with the idea for his newest experiment with Jenova cells. He approached his own wife with a proposal to have a child for the experiment. I implored her not to go along with it, but her mind was made up and while she was pregnant with her child, Hojo was injecting her and her unborn baby with Jenova cells."
"What a horrible man," muttered Rhiannon, shaking her head, "That poor woman and kid."
"A few months later, Lucrecia came to me with some concerns," continued Vincent, "She told me that her pregnancy didn't feel right and she feared for her life and her baby's life. We made a plan to run away together, but Hojo caught on and stopped us. Lucrecia was locked up and only let out for the injections. After nine months of this torture, she finally gave birth to a baby boy, but she never got to hold him. Hojo had the baby taken away and Lucrecia died calling out to hold her son."
"That's terrible!" exclaimed Rhiannon, looking absolutely horrified, "What an evil man! What happened to her son?"
"I spent several years looking after the boy, but then I decided to take him away," replied Vincent, "But Hojo caught me before I could get away and when I tried to attack, he shot me. I woke up a while later and he turned me into this." He stared at the floor. "I slept in a coffin for years and dreamt of the horrors that I could have saved Lucrecia and her child from. Cloud and his group came and found me. I joined them and helped them defeat all the enemies they faced during their mission. Unfortunately, we had to fight Lucrecia's son, but he was finally put to rest and could find peace. Yet, I still feel guilty." Rhiannon could see that he wasn't telling her everything, but she decided not to push him.
"You shouldn't feel guilty," said Rhiannon, looking at Vincent's sorrowful eyes, "You did what you could and her son has finally found peace."
"You have no idea what it feels like to fail the person you loved," said Vincent shortly, his gaze turned cold and he glared at Rhiannon, "You can't understand the feeling."
"Did the boy have any friends other than you?" asked Rhiannon in a meek voice, trying to amend her mistake.
"I do remember that he became friends with a girl that Hojo captured and experimented on," replied Vincent with a far off look, "She stayed in the cell next to his and had several permanent scars on her body."
"What was the boy's name?" asked Rhiannon, looking him directly in the eyes.
"His name was Sephiroth," replied Vincent, noticing that when he said that name Rhiannon's eyes widened and were starting to become glassy and blank again.
"Sephiroth..." said Rhiannon, falling back into a daze, "I've heard that name... I know I have and I didn't hear it from Daigus." Her mouth was slightly open, but then she spoke in a flat voice. "Sephiroth... Someone from the past..." Her expression became a frown. "From... My past..."
Vincent stared at the girl in total shock after she spoke those words and noticed that once again she didn't respond to any of his words or touch. What's going on? thought Vincent, staring at her, Did my story trigger some sort of memory? He moved forwards to shake her like he did the last time as her head drooped, so her gaze was at the floor, but her hands flew to her head as he got closer. Vincent started and moved back as Rhiannon tumbled out of the chair on to her knees with a cry of pain and her eyes squeezed shut.
"Rhiannon," said Vincent, watching the girl in front of him whimper, "What's wrong?" He was surprised that Rhiannon responded to his question.
"Pain," muttered Rhiannon in a hushed voice, "It hurts... Why does it hurt when I try to remember..." She started to shake. "What the hell is going on?" The black haired man before her took a step back as a static feeling filled the air.
"I'll go get Tifa," breathed Vincent, turning and starting to rush to the door, but he froze when he heard Rhiannon's next words echo from the darkness.
"Meteor..." said Rhiannon, the pain could be heard in her voice, "Sephiroth... Summoned Meteor with the black materia... It hurts..." Her hands moved to the middle of her chest and she cringed.
"What..." whispered Vincent, turning to look back at the girl and was surprised to see her looking at him with deep, unseeing eyes that seemed like a window to her very soul. He saw pain, fear, and guilt. "Who are you?"
"I am the lost soul who was forced back to life," hissed Rhiannon in reply with a voice quite unlike her own, "So much pain this soul remembers, but a force keeps them back... So many people died by the soul's sword, but at the same time, the soul died at the hands of her lover." A strange glow seemed to emit from the girl's person. "The Dark Angel has awakened from her sleep..."
"Dark Angel?" breathed Vincent, his eyes widening with something that had never been there before, fear.
"The pain and guilt still torments the soul," said Rhiannon in the same strange voice, "Chained by the man called Daigus... She will continue to feel pain as she tries to remember... Her freedom will never be won so long as the dark master still keeps her in shackles..."
Rhiannon's head suddenly snapped up and she let loose a scream full of pain and anguish. Vincent fell backwards over a pile of books, startled by the words she spoke and the scream, but immediately got back up. The girl's eyes seemed to roll back in her head and she fell sideways, losing consciousness and her scream stopped. Vincent swiftly walked over and checked on her, seeing sweat trickling down the girl's fairly pale face. In one fluid motion, he picked the limp girl up and walked out of the library to take her back to the house. He silently moved through the shadows to where the girl had been staying and found the door unlocked.
"She should consider locking this when she's out," murmured Vincent as he set Rhiannon in the bed and pulled the covers over her. He looked at her silently before deciding to settle down in a corner of the one room house and fell asleep.
* * * * * * * * * *
The next morning, Rhiannon woke up in a small panic, falling out of the bed with a crash.What the hell...she thought, sitting up to look around, How'd I get back here? She saw Vincent still asleep in the corner and smiled. Hmm... I guess underneath all those hard layers, he isn't such a bad guy, but what happened last night... I remember Vincent's story... After he mentioned a name... I don't remember much after that... She glanced at the sleeping man again. I should leave before I cause any more problems. Quietly, Rhiannon collected her things, wrote a note, and crept out of the house with an unusual amount of stealth. Once she was outside, running up the path, the girl thought she was on her way when a voice made her stop.
"Where are you going?" Was the question that froze Rhiannon in her tracks.
The girl turned around to see Vincent standing there, looking at her. "Vincent... I have to go..."
"Why?" asked Vincent, giving her one of his nonchalant stares.
"I have to..." replied Rhiannon, looking away, "I can't stay here anymore... People might get hurt if Daigus came back to fetch me..." She turned and started walking away. "Good-bye Vincent."
"Why do you put up with him?" came another question that made the girl stop, "You don't have to fear him."
Rhiannon moved her head to look at Vincent, "He's the only one who knows why I'm in pain like this... He can fix it... And I don't want people getting hurt on my account..." She turned away again. "Just let me go... And... And don't follow me..." Before the man behind her could speak, the girl sprinted down the path and out of sight behind some trees.
"I hope you know what you're doing," whispered Vincent, turning to walk back to the girl's house to read her note.
Rhiannon continued running down the path, following the directions on the map, with one thought in her mind.
Here I come City of the Ancients...
* * * * * * * * * *
Whoo. *wipes brow* bit of a shocker there, aye? I guess there's more to Rhiannon than we all thought o.o() The girl that Sephiroth befriended when he was little is a creation by me. They never said that he didn't have any friends when he was little, so I took the idea and ran with it ^_^() Hope you liked this one. Please review!
SNEAK PEEK!:
** Intermission! Let's see what the other lost soul is doing!
** Oooo!!!! Pretty place! ^_^ We are introduced to Medius aka Limbo aka Purgatory! You decide!
** Guess who else is in Medius! But for a different reason! ^_^
A/N: Well, I guess I have to update this for people to see it ^_^() In our last chapter, Daigus harassed Rhiannon, Vincent scared Rhiannon, and our poor girl still doesn't understand much. She did some work with her new friends using knowledge she didn't know she had. Let's find out what Vincent and Rhiannon talk about. This shall be quite interesting. Please Enjoy and review!
* * * * * * * * * *
Rhiannon stared up in silence at the dilapidated mansion with it's peeling paint, creaky door, and loose shingles, but when they walked in the mansion, the girl had to gasp at the inside, which was fixed up and clean. Her guide walked upstairs and to the right, leading the girl to a room where part of the wall was stone. She watched in slight awe as he pushed in one of the stones and part of the wall slid out of sight. Vincent disappeared down the winding staircase and Rhiannon followed, looking around in amazement, having never seen such a sight. At the bottom of the stairs, Rhiannon's eyes widened as she saw the dark, dank passage that stretched out in front of her. Vincent walked down towards a door at the end and the amazed girl soon followed, speechless as she gazed at the architecture.
A movement in the shadows caught the girl's eye, making her stop and gaze at the spot in profound curiosity before moving a little closer. Two faces seemed to loom in and out of view, one smiling and one frowning. Suddenly, a decrepid-looking hand shot out from the darkness straight at the girl, who drew back with a yelp of fright. A humanoid creature with two lolling heads slunk out from the shadows reaching out with its pallid hands, trying to grab on Rhiannon. Her yelp had alerted Vincent, who was now half way down the hall, and he turned just as the creature got hold of Rhiannon's arm with its clammy hand, getting ready to throttle her. Whipping out his gun, Vincent carefully aimed and then fired two shots at the monster, hitting it in both heads.
"You have to be careful," said Vincent as the creature collapsed in a dead heap, "There are still a few creatures that I haven't cleared out."
Rhiannon nodded and ran over to him in fear of getting attacked by another creature. "What... What was that?"
"A Ying / Yang," replied Vincent as they continued down the passage, "You're lucky it didn't just throw a Bolt 2 or Ice 2 spell at you."
They reached the end of the hall and Vincent pushed open the door to reveal a room full of shelves of books. Rhiannon gazed around the room drinking in the scene before her and noticed a few pieces of old lab equipment that seemed out of place. Vincent sat down in a chair that he had put there for when he read the books and saw the girl looking around, the glow of her eyes was accented by the fact that the room was very dim. He gestured for her to sit in a chair near him and she did so with an expression of someone trying hard to remember something, but couldn't.
"Would you care to explain first?" asked Vincent, causing Rhiannon to snap out of her daze and look at him, "How do you know Daigus?"
"I only know what I remember," replied Rhiannon, sighing and looking at the floor, "He's the one who woke me up... I came from his lab because he 'revived' me or something. He said he needed some items and I'm just on a mission to find them. I don't know what he wants with them and I have no idea why you hate him so much. Or why he hates you, Cloud, and Tifa."
"Don't you know who or what he is?" asked Vincent, giving her an intense stare, but he only found question in her eyes.
"No," replied Rhiannon, raising her head to look at him, "I only remember things from when I woke up in his lab. All I remember before that is being stuck in darkness with something cold around me, like a liquid and images flashing through my head."
"Anything before that?" asked Vincent, his red eyes not leaving hers.
"No," answered Rhiannon, sighing, "I don't know anything. What's your story? How do you know Daigus?"
"I don't necessarily need to start at the beginning, but I've known about Daigus since I was a member of the Turks," replied Vincent, resigning to the fact that he wouldn't find anything out from her, "Daigus was the assistant to Hojo, a sick and twisted man who believed he was a real scientist."
"Hojo...." whispered Rhiannon, her eyes becoming unfocused and slipping back into a daze, "The scientist... Hojo..."
Vincent stared at the girl in front of him as she gazed at the wall with a blank and glassy look in her eyes. Observing her closely, he said her name loudly and even got up to place a hand on her shoulder, but she gave no response to his touch our voice. What is going on? thought Vincent as he shook her lightly, What's wrong with her? His shaking did the trick and Rhiannon snapped out of her trance, shaking her head with a hand on one side. She still looked dazed, but she blinked a bunch of times and looked at the man as he sat down.
"What was that all about?" asked Vincent, giving her an intense stare with a slight trace of concern in his eyes.
"That name..." said Rhiannon, putting a hand to her head again, "It sounds so familiar, but I have no idea where I've heard it before." She shook her head again and sighed. "Anyway, continue your story."
"Fine," said Vincent, sitting back down in his chair, "I'll just tell you my whole story, so you understand all the events that have happened in the past."
"I'm fine with that," said Rhiannon, "It might do me some good to know the past events."
"I was a Turk when I met Lucrecia and her husband, Hojo," explained Vincent, "They were working together and I spent time with Lucrecia during her work. We became lovers, but Hojo had come up with the idea for his newest experiment with Jenova cells. He approached his own wife with a proposal to have a child for the experiment. I implored her not to go along with it, but her mind was made up and while she was pregnant with her child, Hojo was injecting her and her unborn baby with Jenova cells."
"What a horrible man," muttered Rhiannon, shaking her head, "That poor woman and kid."
"A few months later, Lucrecia came to me with some concerns," continued Vincent, "She told me that her pregnancy didn't feel right and she feared for her life and her baby's life. We made a plan to run away together, but Hojo caught on and stopped us. Lucrecia was locked up and only let out for the injections. After nine months of this torture, she finally gave birth to a baby boy, but she never got to hold him. Hojo had the baby taken away and Lucrecia died calling out to hold her son."
"That's terrible!" exclaimed Rhiannon, looking absolutely horrified, "What an evil man! What happened to her son?"
"I spent several years looking after the boy, but then I decided to take him away," replied Vincent, "But Hojo caught me before I could get away and when I tried to attack, he shot me. I woke up a while later and he turned me into this." He stared at the floor. "I slept in a coffin for years and dreamt of the horrors that I could have saved Lucrecia and her child from. Cloud and his group came and found me. I joined them and helped them defeat all the enemies they faced during their mission. Unfortunately, we had to fight Lucrecia's son, but he was finally put to rest and could find peace. Yet, I still feel guilty." Rhiannon could see that he wasn't telling her everything, but she decided not to push him.
"You shouldn't feel guilty," said Rhiannon, looking at Vincent's sorrowful eyes, "You did what you could and her son has finally found peace."
"You have no idea what it feels like to fail the person you loved," said Vincent shortly, his gaze turned cold and he glared at Rhiannon, "You can't understand the feeling."
"Did the boy have any friends other than you?" asked Rhiannon in a meek voice, trying to amend her mistake.
"I do remember that he became friends with a girl that Hojo captured and experimented on," replied Vincent with a far off look, "She stayed in the cell next to his and had several permanent scars on her body."
"What was the boy's name?" asked Rhiannon, looking him directly in the eyes.
"His name was Sephiroth," replied Vincent, noticing that when he said that name Rhiannon's eyes widened and were starting to become glassy and blank again.
"Sephiroth..." said Rhiannon, falling back into a daze, "I've heard that name... I know I have and I didn't hear it from Daigus." Her mouth was slightly open, but then she spoke in a flat voice. "Sephiroth... Someone from the past..." Her expression became a frown. "From... My past..."
Vincent stared at the girl in total shock after she spoke those words and noticed that once again she didn't respond to any of his words or touch. What's going on? thought Vincent, staring at her, Did my story trigger some sort of memory? He moved forwards to shake her like he did the last time as her head drooped, so her gaze was at the floor, but her hands flew to her head as he got closer. Vincent started and moved back as Rhiannon tumbled out of the chair on to her knees with a cry of pain and her eyes squeezed shut.
"Rhiannon," said Vincent, watching the girl in front of him whimper, "What's wrong?" He was surprised that Rhiannon responded to his question.
"Pain," muttered Rhiannon in a hushed voice, "It hurts... Why does it hurt when I try to remember..." She started to shake. "What the hell is going on?" The black haired man before her took a step back as a static feeling filled the air.
"I'll go get Tifa," breathed Vincent, turning and starting to rush to the door, but he froze when he heard Rhiannon's next words echo from the darkness.
"Meteor..." said Rhiannon, the pain could be heard in her voice, "Sephiroth... Summoned Meteor with the black materia... It hurts..." Her hands moved to the middle of her chest and she cringed.
"What..." whispered Vincent, turning to look back at the girl and was surprised to see her looking at him with deep, unseeing eyes that seemed like a window to her very soul. He saw pain, fear, and guilt. "Who are you?"
"I am the lost soul who was forced back to life," hissed Rhiannon in reply with a voice quite unlike her own, "So much pain this soul remembers, but a force keeps them back... So many people died by the soul's sword, but at the same time, the soul died at the hands of her lover." A strange glow seemed to emit from the girl's person. "The Dark Angel has awakened from her sleep..."
"Dark Angel?" breathed Vincent, his eyes widening with something that had never been there before, fear.
"The pain and guilt still torments the soul," said Rhiannon in the same strange voice, "Chained by the man called Daigus... She will continue to feel pain as she tries to remember... Her freedom will never be won so long as the dark master still keeps her in shackles..."
Rhiannon's head suddenly snapped up and she let loose a scream full of pain and anguish. Vincent fell backwards over a pile of books, startled by the words she spoke and the scream, but immediately got back up. The girl's eyes seemed to roll back in her head and she fell sideways, losing consciousness and her scream stopped. Vincent swiftly walked over and checked on her, seeing sweat trickling down the girl's fairly pale face. In one fluid motion, he picked the limp girl up and walked out of the library to take her back to the house. He silently moved through the shadows to where the girl had been staying and found the door unlocked.
"She should consider locking this when she's out," murmured Vincent as he set Rhiannon in the bed and pulled the covers over her. He looked at her silently before deciding to settle down in a corner of the one room house and fell asleep.
* * * * * * * * * *
The next morning, Rhiannon woke up in a small panic, falling out of the bed with a crash.What the hell...she thought, sitting up to look around, How'd I get back here? She saw Vincent still asleep in the corner and smiled. Hmm... I guess underneath all those hard layers, he isn't such a bad guy, but what happened last night... I remember Vincent's story... After he mentioned a name... I don't remember much after that... She glanced at the sleeping man again. I should leave before I cause any more problems. Quietly, Rhiannon collected her things, wrote a note, and crept out of the house with an unusual amount of stealth. Once she was outside, running up the path, the girl thought she was on her way when a voice made her stop.
"Where are you going?" Was the question that froze Rhiannon in her tracks.
The girl turned around to see Vincent standing there, looking at her. "Vincent... I have to go..."
"Why?" asked Vincent, giving her one of his nonchalant stares.
"I have to..." replied Rhiannon, looking away, "I can't stay here anymore... People might get hurt if Daigus came back to fetch me..." She turned and started walking away. "Good-bye Vincent."
"Why do you put up with him?" came another question that made the girl stop, "You don't have to fear him."
Rhiannon moved her head to look at Vincent, "He's the only one who knows why I'm in pain like this... He can fix it... And I don't want people getting hurt on my account..." She turned away again. "Just let me go... And... And don't follow me..." Before the man behind her could speak, the girl sprinted down the path and out of sight behind some trees.
"I hope you know what you're doing," whispered Vincent, turning to walk back to the girl's house to read her note.
Rhiannon continued running down the path, following the directions on the map, with one thought in her mind.
Here I come City of the Ancients...
* * * * * * * * * *
Whoo. *wipes brow* bit of a shocker there, aye? I guess there's more to Rhiannon than we all thought o.o() The girl that Sephiroth befriended when he was little is a creation by me. They never said that he didn't have any friends when he was little, so I took the idea and ran with it ^_^() Hope you liked this one. Please review!
SNEAK PEEK!:
** Intermission! Let's see what the other lost soul is doing!
** Oooo!!!! Pretty place! ^_^ We are introduced to Medius aka Limbo aka Purgatory! You decide!
** Guess who else is in Medius! But for a different reason! ^_^