Yuffie was standing at the edge of town, the entryway to Nibelhiem. It looked slightly different than the town she had visited with Avalanche, but everything was basically the same. She and Vincent were standing in the shadow of one of the buildings, directly ahead of them facing out towards the grasslands was a lone figure dressed in khaki pants, and a lab coat. He had black hair and wire frame glasses. Hojo was waiting for the return of his fellow researchers.
In the distance they could see a vehicle moving in their direction; it was kicking up plenty of dirt in its wake. A minute later it was parked on the outskirts of the city. And out stepped six people. Lucrecia Mayer, John Edgar Gast, Vincent Horatio Valentine and three Shinra heavies. Lucrecia darted out of the vehicle and into Hojo's arms. Gast just elbowed Vincent as they eyed the couple.
"You ever hear anything about this Hojo guy?" Vincent whispered to Gast.
"Classic geeky indoor scientist stuff." He replied they both began to move forward to introduce themselves. "Pet rats, would have been albino if not for sunlamps. That sorta crap."
"Lucrecia seems to like him." Vincent said. Off the bat he did not want to dislike this man. After all, if someone as beautiful as Lucreica could love him, he had no doubt there was a good man inside.
As Vincent and Gast approached Lucrecia and Hojo broke off their embrace. Hojo held out his hand to Gast. "Professor Gast! I'm delighted to meet you. I've heard so much about you."
"The feeling is mutual." Gast gave him a hardy shake. "I've heard you've accomplished many great things out here."
"Indeed we have. After lunch why don't I show you?"
Vincent opened his mouth to introduce himself, but Hojo had already turned around to head towards the mansion. Lucrecia quickly glanced at Vincent and Gast before she gently grabbed Hojo's arm. "Hojo! Uhh... Let me introduce you to the bodyguard Shinra has assigned us. Hojo, Vincent Valentine. Vincent, Richard Hojo."
Hojo held out his hand. "It's a pleasure."
"Likewise." Vincent returned. Hojo turned around once again to leave, but Vincent stopped him. "Before you leave, maybe you should check over your equipment. It was a very bumpy ride from Cosmo Canyon, and if anything was damaged, we can go ahead and order a replacement while our ride is still here. Instead of waiting for the courier in three days."
"I don't think that's necessary. Everything looks well packed." Hojo gave Vincent an icy grin.
"Actually." Gast interrupted the conversation. "That's not a bad idea. From what I hear there are lots of amazing things going on here, I'd hate to be delayed because some equipment got damaged. Besides, this will only take a few minutes." Gast walked to the back of the vehicle where the heavies were unloading their equipment.
"I'll give you a hand." Hojo replied, and hurried over to help Gast.
"I'll take your personals to the mansion." Vincent called out. Vincent walked back to the vehicle and grabbed his own and Gast's duffle bags. He was reaching for Lucrecia's when she snatched it away from him.
"I'll carry my own stuff! Thank you." She called out in a cheery voice as she made her way ahead of Vincent. "Besides I have to check on something in the mansion. Come on! I'll show you the way!" She dashed off laughingly towards the mansion, with Vincent hot on her heels even while burdened with the extra weight.
"You two seem comfortable with each other." Yuffie commented as she and Vincent began making their way towards the mansion.
"She was an affectionate person. Loved physical contact, in fact… she loved everything. Rain, bugs, birds, dust even. Everything…"
When Yuffie walked into the Mansion she was expecting a dark dank unlivable place with monsters crawling all over. But… It was completely different. The entire mansion was well lit. No cobwebs or dust, the upholstery was still good. Vincent and Lucrecia had just entered. Vincent had dropped the bags in the small office by the doorway. Quietly from his own bag his removed a small pistol, which he placed in a holster at his ankle, and then he removed a larger revolver that he placed in the holster in the small of his back. Suddenly he heard a cry from the main room. In a quick movement he unholstered the revolver and dove head first into the reception hall. Lucrecia turned around to see what the noise was; tears were coming down her eyes.
"Whats that for?" She asked, she sounded somewhat angry.
Vincent tried to explain, "I thought I heard-"
"Put it away!" She turned back into the other direction. Vincent slipped his revolver back into its holster and walked up behind her. Her nose would come about up to his shoulder. He looked over her shoulder to get a glimpse at what she was staring at. It was a dead tree. A potted tree next to the stairway. Vincent looked around and noticed several more just like it. Some small plants and other slightly larger stunted trees. "He said he would take care of them while I was gone…"
Vincent reached over her shoulder and took a hold of one of the leaves. "It's not dead yet. It just badly needs some water." He gently placed his hands on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "I'm sure it's the same will all the plants."
"Thank god the atrium waters the plants automatically or we'd have to replace all those as well."
'We' thought Vincent to himself. 'I like the way that sounds… But she is with Hojo…' "Come on, Show me the kitchen and we'll start watering these plants."
About half an hour later Hojo, Gast and the three heavies showed up carrying various sized boxes into the living room. Lucrecia and Vincent had just finished watering all the plants on the second floor and came to greet them.
"All the equipment checks out?" Vincent queried.
"Some lenses were cracked." Gast replied.
"That's just about it." Hojo breathed out heavily. "Umm… You two come with me. We'll start moving this into the lab. Vincent would you help our remaining friend move the rest of the packages into the house?"
Vincent nodded and went back to the vehicle for the remaining supplies. The rest of the day was spent setting up the various instruments in the dungeon lab and touring the house.
Yuffie circled Vincent once. "What exactly did you duties here entail?"
"Basically, I am supposed to monitor them and do my best to protect them from all forms of bodily harm. There was no existent threat at the time, so I filled in the time gaps between patrols by providing them with everything they needed. I cooked meals, watched over the house, took care of Lucrecia's plants, and gathered specimens, mail, food, basic maintenance. There was not much else."
"Specimens?"
"Small creatures from the surrounding mountain range, which they performed experiments on with mako, and Jenova cells. Since I was Shinra at the time I was privy to the gory details of what happened in the lab."
"And Lucrecia?"
Vincent turned his head for a moment. "Our friendship developed."
The scene for a moment became very bright and Yuffie had to shield her eyes. When the light returned to normal they were in the kitchen. Yuffie glanced around the room; Vincent was working over the stove. She saw the clock over the entryway, it was 7 AM. Yuffie wasn't a morning person. She began to yawn at the thought of it being so early in the morning.
"Vincent?" A bleary eyed Lucrecia called out from the doorway. She was still dressed in a night gown and her hair was standing high enough to give Cloud a run for his money. "What are you doing up so early?"
Vincent reached over to the counter and began pouring two cups of coffee. "Breakfast. I'm a morning person. Obviously you're anything but."
"On the contrary, after cold shower I'm ready to take on the day. It's just that Gast is in my bathroom. I didn't want to use yours." She leaned closer and in a mock serious tone, "It's icky."
"I'll have to work on that." Vincent handed her a cup of coffee. She took it and sat down at the table. "Where is Hojo this lovely morning?"
"Hojo? Oh he doesn't get up till about nine or ten. He is a heavy sleeper. Every morning he sleeps through my alarm." She took a sip of her coffee.
Vincent wasn't sure what it was, but the thought of Lucrecia and Hojo sharing a bed just didn't… appeal to him. 'She deserves better.' He thought to himself. He hadn't known Hojo for long, but he had a general idea what type of person he was. Work-obsessed. If it didn't concern Mako or Jenova it didn't deserve his time. Like the plants. Hojo was elitist; he only respected the great minds driving science forward. One of them just happened to be professor Gast. He didn't even respect Lucrecia much. She was his fiancée, but he still ordered her around as if she were a mere servant. But she never seemed to mind, she took it all in stride. Lucrecia had and endless amount of patience for this man. Nevertheless Hojo was a brilliant man, Vincent just hated the way he treated people around him.
Vincent set a plate of pancakes in front of Lucrecia. She looked up at him helplessly waiting for syrup. He appeased her big blue eyes and poured the syrup then attempted to add some whipped cream. The spray can seemed to be stuck so he shook the can and banged it twice on the table before trying again. When he squeezed the nozzle a burst of whipped cream squirted out and sprayed all over Lucrecia. There was a thin layer cream on her face. When she wiped the whipped cream out from her eyes she saw Vincent still in front of her holding the whipped cream spray can. His mouth was forming a tight straight face, but she could tell from his expression that he was about to burst from the pent up laughter. "Rat Bastard" she said aloud, triggering some bellows of laughter from Vincent now unable to control himself. Quickly she looked around and saw on the table a squeeze bottle of ketchup. She grabbed at the ketchup, but Vincent had anticipated her move and backed up to the kitchen counter just out of her range, her ketchup attack just hit his shoes and the floor. Lucrecia began to step around the table and advance on Vincent. In an act of desperation Vincent grabbed an open bag of flour.
"Put it down Lucrecia! I won't hesitate to use this!" Vincent said as he held the bag of flour menacingly.
"Try me Turk!" She jumped forwards and squeezed the bottle with all her might. Vincent let the bag of flour fly. When the deed was done Vincent looked over himself. He would have to replace the shirt. Luckily his nice black jacket and pants were unstained and unharmed. Lucrecia on the other hand was white as a ghost.
"Its ahh… nice look on you…" Vincent said with a smile.
Lucrecia's eyes flashed open in narrow angry slits. "I'll nice look you…" she muttered. Then quickly dashed at Vincent who was taken completely by surprise.
"Not the jacket! Not the jacket!" Vincent yelled.
"Especially the jacket" she replied in a vengeful tone. She jumped up at him, and Vincent had little choice but to catch her. Acting quickly she wrapped her arms around his back and looped her legs around his. Then she began to wriggle and move her body in an attempt to rub all the flour onto Vincent. Both their breathing became slightly heavy. Lucrecia was using one arm to hang onto Vincent; with the other she was holding his head close to hers as she rubbed the side of face against him. As she changed sides for a brief moment their lips met, and for a second Vincent lost his balance and slipped completely in the puddle of ketchup he had been standing in. As he fell, Vincent managed to shift his position so Lucrecia landed on him, and so it happened in a mess of ketchup flour and whipped cream Lucreacia was laying on top of Vincent Valentine. There were only mere inches between their faces. They spent half a minute gazing into each other's eyes, then slowly Lucrecia's eyes began to close and her head tilt, slowly lowering towards him. Vincent followed suit and they met half way. For half a minute Lucrecia shared the most tender passionate kiss she had ever experienced up to that point in her life.
When it was over she raised her head again, and stared down at Vincent. He was there for her staring back. She couldn't stand his gaze. 'For gods sake I'm going to be married soon. I can't let this happen.' She thought to herself. In a matter of moments she was gone, running up the stairs to the now open bathroom. Vincent remained on the ground as Gast entered the room through the second entrance.
"Breakfast?" Vincent asked.
"… Sure…" Gast replied.
"How long were you there?"
"Since the whipped cream." Gast calmly replied.
"… Pancakes?" Vincent offered.
Gast thought to himself for a moment before replying, "I think I'll just help myself to some cereal, thanks though."
"Its amazing isn't it?" Vincent said.
"What the kiss? Ya! That looked pretty cool!" Yuffie responded.
"No… After Sera died, I thought my life was over. I never thought I could love again. Carla and Carter used to call me Mr. Serious because they said 'I was incapable of having fun.' Then suddenly one day, there it was standing inches from my face. Love. I became carefree and happy. I had fallen for this girl I barely knew. But I wanted to know her. I wanted 'us' to be." The scene they were in flashed once and was gone, now there was another scene. Vincent handing Lucrecia a cup of coffee, she smiled at him, he smiled back. Another flash, another thoughtful look passed between them. Another flash, they were sitting together in one of the bedrooms talking, the words were muted out. Another flash they were talking again in the atrium as Lucrecia pruned the flowers. Another, they were sitting together in the local restaurant. Another, and Vincent had taken her to the mountains on one of his specimen runs. Another flash, Vincent wearing his black suit buying a dozen red roses from a local vendor. Another, now they seemed to be at a town festival. Vincent was standing by the well, a dozen roses against his back, approaching him from ahead was a beautiful woman in a tantalizing yellow dress that went down to he r ankles. As she reached out to embrace him he pulled the flowers out from behind him and presented them to her. She tenderly kissed him on the cheek. Another flash, the same festival, they were sitting on the well now facing the mansion. Above it fireworks were going off. From behind Yuffie could make out their silhouettes against the bright fire works as they leaned towards each other and embraced in a passionate kiss. Another flash, but no scene followed.
"We didn't return to the mansion that night… We… We rented a room at the hotel. So long as she had that ring on her finger, we could never truly be together."
Yuffie nodded, and tried to forward the conversation, "And Hojo?"
"Ignorant bastard didn't even know. He knew that Lucrecia wasn't around as much as she used to be, but that's about it. He was always so excited over his work. Excited over Jenova and mako, and the 'countless possibilities.' No, he fell in love with his work, fell in love with Jenova. Completely forgot about her until the time he needed her, needed her to bring his new love's child into the world." Vincent's voice had changed into an angry sneer near the end, a seething hatred shone through him. I remember when Hojo had his brilliant idea… He asked me to help him make a romantic dinner for the two of them… He was completely oblivious to everything that had happened between me and Lucrecia."
There was another flash, and suddenly they were back in the kitchen. Vincent was at the counter, and Hojo was standing next to him trying to explain something.
"You have to help me!" Hojo cried out.
"What do you need this time? More specimens from the mountains? There are cages full in the dungeon. I caught some fresh ones just incase, I have plans for later tonight." Vincent proceeded to cut the crust from his sandwich.
"No, nothing as simple as that." Hojo looked down to floor. "I need you to help me cook dinner. I want to make something for a romantic evening between me and Lucrecia." Vincent seemed taken aback.
"You two are still together? I barely see you two around each other lately."
"Something I hope to rectify very soon."
On one hand, Vincent was in love with Lucreica, on the other hand, he couldn't just turn his back on Hojo, and he might suspect something. "I'll help you. On one condition…" Vincent put down his sandwich. "Tell me why the sudden interest? After all this time, why now?"
Hojo looked at him plainly. "II want to have a child with her."
'If he's lying.' Vincent thought to himself. 'He's covering it very well. Maybe… he is being honest. But then what do I do?' "I'm somewhat busy at the moment, so why don't you take her to that nice restaurant in town? I'll have something ready by oh say 7:30? And I'll send it there."
"Yes… get her out of the house… that's a good idea. We don't get out much anyways…"
'She dose, you moron. You'd notice that if you ever looked in her direction. Its you whose the shut in.' Vincent screamed out in his head.
"Thanks, I really appreciate this." With that Hojo exited.
'Ohhh I'll cook him a dinner, I'll cook him a dinner they'll never forget. Heh heh heh…' Vincent thought to himself as he prepared the fondue pot. And it was, Vincent prepared a magnificent dinner for Hojo's date, and Hojo would be extremely grateful.
Again the scene changed. Vincent was sitting across the square in the center of Nibelhiem on a bench. He was busy hiding/reading the newspaper. After every few seconds he would find some reason to lower the paper and stare across the square into the window of a restaurant, where Hojo and Lucrecia were indeed enjoying his wonderful fondue and soufflé. In reality Vincent wasn't reading the newspaper hidden on the inside of the newspaper were various memos and reports that had been delivered through a special courier. All these papers were what the Turks called 'shadow documents.' They were reports and summaries of every Turks activities. If an industrial spy in Junon came across plans for a new computer chip he or she would do their best to reproduce them in their report so that if any other Turk came across such technology, they would be prepared to deal with it as necessary. That's why Vincent always kept himself well informed about the experiments in the basement, if some other group was going over a similar project they wanted to keep a leg ahead.
Right now he was reading through a security report from the Space and Transportation base in the plains to the North. Apparently there was some anti-Shinra protesting. While the protesting had been broken up, they believed that some of the rowdier members of the protest had fled south. It was a warning. As Vincent looked up he saw three people approach from the mountain side. From the looks of it, it seemed like they had been traveling for some days. Inwardly Vincent decided to keep an eye on them in days to come. As they passed through the center of town Vincent lowered his paper to keep an eye on them from the corner of his eye.
One of the men stopped and grabbed the others by the shoulder then pointed to the restaurant. Vincent shifted position to get a better view at what he was pointing at. It was Hojo. 'Damn fool is still wearing his lab coat.' Vincent stood up for a moment, then sat down again. 'Maybe they're just going to the inn.' He thought to himself.
But they weren't. The three men stepped inside the inn/restaurant and went straight to Hojo's table. Vincent got up and quickly walked over to the restaurant. Things were already getting out of hand. One of the men had tossed Hojo aside like a rag doll and another had pulled a pistol out on Lucrecia. Things had become very complicated. If he risked taking a shot at them, he could hit someone else inside the building. If he missed any of them, who knows? Maybe they all were carrying weapons. Vincent reached at his side. And quickly pulled something out from a smooth sheath that ran down his side.
One minute Lucrecia was having a quiet conversation with Hojo at the restaurant. He was making a proposal to her. In her view it was absolutely ludicrous. He wanted to impregnate her and inject Jenova cells into the fetus. The remains of Jenova had been dated by them back nearly 900 years, and the cells were still alive. Hojo thought she was some lesser god, and that she was presently reconstructing herself. 'Her' Lucrecia thought to herself. 'How does he know it's a her?' In any case, he wanted to inject the Jenova cells into her fetus in an attempt to recreate a god. "Think of it." He said. "Our child could be the most powerful being… Ever…"
"I'll think about it." She replied as she stole a look outside. Vincent was out there, sitting on the bench pretending to read the newspaper. She smiled to herself… he was jealous, and unrightfully so. Hojo sat at the table picking at his fondue. She returned his warm smile as he looked up at her. 'I wish he would have worn a different coat.' She told herself. 'But he was in such a hurry he forgot.' Or at least that's what he told her. The bell at the front rang as three men entered. A view from the front would have shown you that the door was to the left of the restaurant's doorway, the table Lucrecia and Hojo were at were on the right side. They were sitting next to each other facing the opposite wall, so they both had a clear view of the three men's entrance. Lucrecia was sitting next to the window, Hojo to her right. These three men gave her a funny feeling.
They were standing in a row next to each other. The on the right, closest to the front was a smaller man, with a wide grin on his face and one hand stuffed in his pocket. The man on the left was medium build and height, like wise smiling but not as widely he hand his hands at his sides. The center man was enormous. A few inches taller than Vincent, he was covered in rippling muscles. Too many muscles for one man alone. He stepped forward and began to speak. "You wouldn't happen to work for Shinra, would you?"
Lucrecia was suddenly scared. Hojo looked up for a moment, and answered, "Why yes we do. We happen to be their best researchers." He put his arm around Lucrecia's waist and smiled up at the much larger man. Obviously he hadn't noticed their menacing tone or approach, because he was showing no fear.
"You are, are you?" The larger man quickly stepped forward and grabbed Hojo by his collar, and as if he were a rag doll tossed him off to the side. The other restaurant patrons began backing away and the waiter ran into the kitchen. "Then I guess it would set them back some if he killed their two best researchers. Jimbo what do you think.?" The man turned to his right. The smaller man began laughing some and pulled out a revolver from his pocket. He held both hands forward and aimed at Lucrecia. The larger burly man turned to face her once again.
Suddenly the doorbell rang again as a third party entered the restaurant. Lucrecia deeply inhaled. 'Vincent.'
His face was a mask of calm. He was holding something in his right hand, but keeping in stride switched it to his left. It looked like two thin long metal bars. He dropped one of them, except he didn't. In a quick elaborate hand movement he swung it back up again resting where it was a moment ago, except now there was a large seven inch blade attached to the end. It was a butterfly knife. Without losing a beat he walked up behind 'Jimbo.' With his right hand he quickly reached alongside Jimbo's gun hand and pulled his wrist up, ruining the shot he had at Lucrecia. Jimbo's back was touching Vincent's torso, with his left hand Vincent stabbed the long blade into Jimbo's chest via the small tender spot directly under his armpit. Jimbo was stunned for a moment, Vincent took advantage of this and quickly shook the pistol from his grip. Then with his left hand he pulled the knife out and reached further around Jimbo's torso using the knife to quickly slash his throat. Vincent let go of the body, and it fell forward, dead. The second medium sized man came out of his shock from his friend's death and threw a wide left hook at Vincent. He was able to easily duck under the punch and get in closer to the man. Switching knife hands he came up again almost as close as he was to the first man. With his left hand Vincent grabbed the man's face, and with the right he quickly slashed his throat. The second man's body fell off to the side. The entire process, from revealing the butterfly knife to the moment when the second man's body hit the floor had not taken more than five seconds.
Vincent turned to regard the last of the three. He turned and looked at Hojo for a moment. Hojo looked at him, then to Lucrecia, then back to Vincent before he called out, "Vincent! He's trying to kill us!"
The man growled at Hojo before he turned back to Vincent and began advancing. In half a second the man was almost right on top of Vincent as he threw a quick right hook. Vincent leaned back at a near impossible angle and in an extremely agile moment brought his right foot up and across the face of the man. The force of the kick knocked the man to the ground. To his left was the revolver of his first killed companion. With his right hand he reached over to grasp it. But Vincent was too fast for him. Vincent's extraordinary accuracy did him well in that moment, with his right hand he threw his knife into the man's right hand. It went straight through and was now stuck in the wooden floor. In a highly adept and well trained movement, Vincent reached behind his back and in a spinning movement brought out the quicksilver. After the familiar click of the hammer moving into place the man turned his head from his wounded hand to face Vincent. The pistol fired twice each bullet piercing through a different half of the man's brain.
It was over. Vincent pulled his knife out of the man's hand and cleaned it off on his shirt before putting it back in its case at his side. Lucrecia just stared at him for a moment as he did then looked over the dead bodies. She began to cry and ran around Vincent for the door, Vincent tried to say something but his throat had just gone completely dry. Hojo ran past him after Lucrecia calling out her name. Vincent turned back to the bodies and did all that he could in that moment. Helped the owner clear the bodies as the waiter ran out to fetch the town leader.
Vincent was not in trouble. The town leader had said that all his action were committed in defense of his friends who were in mortal danger. He had however expressed that he disliked Vincent's use of violence and hoped that if the unlucky situation were to happen again, Vincent would make an attempt to take prisoners instead of going straight for the kill. Gast had come to pick Vincent up from the Town leader's house.
As they walked back Vincent began their conversation, "How is she?" Vincent was staring at the ground.
"Lucrecia? Ohh she's still a little scared. Shocked more likely, and a little betrayed." Gast said plainly.
"Betrayed?" Vincent looked up at Gast.
"Ya… You really pulled a fast one on all of us. We knew you were a Turk, but none of us thought you were that dangerous. The way you've been preparing meals, and helping around the house, we thought of you more as a babysitter than a bodyguard. Then this popped up." Gast let out a heavy sigh. "None of us thought you were capable of killing…"
They continued walking for a moment in silence before Vincent asked, "What should I say to her?"
Gast stopped and looked at him for a moment before replying, "I don't know…"
They began to walk back to the mansion again. "The entire time that was happening, all I cold think of was a life without her. I couldn't stand it. Everything I did, I did because I love her. I was just so afraid that something might happen to her if I didn't act fast. I the one I loved once already, after her death I swore to myself that if I could I would never allow that to happen again."
They stopped in front of the double doors to the mansion. Gast stepped ahead of Vincent before he could open the door. "You say you couldn't stand the thought of life without her, right?" With a deeply saddened expression and voice he continued, "You may have to get used to it." Then he stepped out of the way and opened the door for Vincent. Vincent stepped through and looked around. In the small loveseat in the hall Lucrecia sat facing Hojo, their hands were joined. When she saw him enter he stood up. There was a look of pain and fear on her face as she faced him. Then she turned around and ran up the stairs. Gast closed the door behind them.
Hojo stood up and walked past Vincent to Gast. "I have some good news. Lucrecia has agreed to the project."
And so the darkness begins... Let me know what yall think. Its really interesting to get feedback.
Great... I'm gonna be gone for another three days. We're movign my sister to Dallas tomorrow. So we get to move all her furniture there in a uhaul and stay the night. I just wanna stay here. I'm too tired to go, and my sleep pattern is too messed up from the wedding.
Empress-Eerian-Sadow: Hopefully yall will like this one better. I liked this one for the more obviousl reasons. Keep readin!
Neko-Yuff16: I'm kinda back on a normal schedule, so i think i'll be able to go through the rest of this without any interuption in schedule.
Hotaru170: Thanks for hte compliment i appreciate it.
R&R
mattaraishu!