( None of these belong to me. They are owned by Squaresoft/enix so I would greatly appreciate it if you don't sue me please thanks) This is my second time writing a fic so bear with me, there's prolly a lot of mistakes in here. Lol no flames please. This is a Vincent/Aeris fic. This is a great fic for all you Vincent or Aeris fans out there... ' oh and another thing.. I know that I'm kinda rushing things and I'm telling the story really fast, but bear with me... I swear, I'll go more into depth and the later chapters will get better! ' I hope... this is a pretty short chapter. Any more critiques or anything could really help me improve my writings.. thanks oh... and song to listen to while listening? Ah...lessee.... Ah hah... here..

Red Death's Love

-LMG-

[Music: Weston/Smail/Freund]

[Lyrics: Smail]This is called Penance, by Penance/ Dedicated to Vincent

Sit and watch the world, I contemplate

Existence ill legitimate, a quirk of fate

Is man of God or just Nature's folly

Still with intelligence, we all are crawling

One step forward and two steps back

Bring man's destined descent into black

What does existence hold for me

A mutation of what man conceives

Did you ever step back and look at yourself

You might not like what you see

And with each dawn that brings a new day's breath

For most it means life, but for me it means death

Man is a paradox drowning in irony

The world is chained to man's reality

Can't you see

It wasn't meant to be

Not you or me

Humanity......You're killing me

/

Thinking about Cloud made Vincent think about Aeris. He wanted to go visit her watery grave. After 3 days of traveling on the back of his Gold chocobo, Vincent found himself at the edge of the sleeping forest.

It was getting dark. He remembered that the ancient city lay past the sleeping forest. Alright, I guess we can stay there for the night.. It was better than rooming with the crazed miners at Bone village. Vincent got off of his chocobo. He'd have to wait until morning to continue his travels.

Vincent entered the forest and was unaffected by the magic of the trees. His bird however, warked nervously and even tried to pull away from him several times upon entering the forest. I'm sorry, I don't want to do this either, but it's better than staying out in the open area, where we can be easily attacked. Vincent apologized to the bird telepathically.

The bird warked in cooperation and began to follow Vincent uneasily through the forest. Vincent quickly made his way through to the other side without incident. The chocobo seemed more at ease, now that they were out of the sleeping forest.

Vincent took a long look around the ancient city. This was the second time he's been here. Things still looked the same when he last left the city. The streets were still littered with overgrown weeds and roots. It has been years since anyone lived here. There was no one here to take care of the city. It was no surprise to Vincent that things looked they way they were.

There were stacks of homes on top of each other. Some of the buildings were in bad shape, but most of them were fine, with the exception of the tree roots. The first time he came here, was when Aeris passed away. At the time of her death, Vincent had been too engrossed in his pain to care about the tragic events that took place, but afterwords, he felt a pang of guilt when looking down upon her corpse. It had been Sephiroth's doing and in a way, Vincent felt as if Aeris's death was his fault as well. Which was why he wanted to see her and pay his respects. If he had gotten here in time, and told Sephiroth the truth about Lucrecia... maybe none of this would've happened.

Well there was nothing he could do now, Sephiroth was dead. HE had kept his promise to Lucrecia. Vincent trudged through the ruined city in search for a suitable home for him and his chocobo. The chocobo followed obediently behind. There were overgrown trees inside the buildings and piles of rubble along the stone path.

Vincent didn't have to look far. Although the city had been abandoned for years, the homes were built with extreme care. The walls were thick and the foundation stable. Ofcourse when you have mythrill support beams in your homes, it's quite impossible for the house to crumble. He stopped near a row of one story homes to his right. He tied the chocobo's reins to a tree branch protruding out of the musty window. The chocobo stamped it's left foot in anticipation for its meal and rest. Vincent stroked the bird's beak and the back of his head. The bird chirped softly and seemed to almost smile at this gesture.

Vincent eyed the silent city cautiously. His chocobo had been running on two days without real rest. Vincent knew the limitations of his faithful bird. They stopped at an inn for a day, so the chocobo could rest, but that was two days ago and the poor thing had been over due for sleep.

"I'm sorry, you'll get to rest soon enough". He told the bird.

He cautiously pulled out his Winchester from his bag and cocked it back. You can never be too sure about how safe your environment is. Vincent opened the front door while the chocobo looked on.

The first thing Vincent noticed was the tree which grew from the floor and through the ceiling. An overturned stone table was lying on the marble floor near the wall opposite of him. There were broken slabs of what seemed to be stone chairs strewn across the pale marble floor. There was a small fireplace on the other side of the tree. It hadn't been used for decades, not even a trace of ash could be found in it. The house seemed completely deserted. Nevertheless, Vincent wasn't satisfied until he checked the front and back of the house. He picked up broken pieces of the leftover chairs and scooped them over to the corner on his far right. He didn't want the bird to injure itself on the sharp broken objects. When he was done, he brought in the chocobo, tied the bird up next to the tree.

After he fed the chocobo, Vincent lit a fire. He broke off branches from the tree, fed it to the flames and spread his crimson cloak on the floor. When he was done tending the fire, he went over to his pack (which he had propped up against the tree trunk) and pulled out his favorite weapon the Outsider. He laid it down next to him. The feathered creature was huddled against the thick of the tree, and quietly slumbering away.

Vincent lied down and found himself gazing up at the stars through the broken ceiling. His hands folded over his abdomen. The sky looked so beautiful. Lucrecia used to look up at the stars with him, which was exactly how he met her. Vincent closed his eyes and allowed his mind to travel back to that day... The day he met Lucrecia.

-End-