The Song of Eternity

Canto 5 : Darkness

Verse 1

He awakes to a familiar face,

Only to wish he stayed asleep.

            Vincent opened his eyes to see nothing but blurred areas of darkness and light.  He listened closely to his surroundings, hearing the breathing of someone else in the room.  He blinked as the black outline of a human form appeared in his blurred world.  "What is going on?" he asked as he tried to remember why he was in suspended animation again.

            "You've been out a while, 'bout half a million years to be exact," the blur said as it help Vincent to sit up.  "Your memory should come back soon, no way to know exactly when considering you're the only nut who puts himself into suspended animation indefinitely," the voice joked as Vincent rubbed his temples.

            "Half a million years?"  Half a million…  Vincent ignored Chaos in his head as his vision finally cleared.  He gazed over to the one who had awoken him, seeing the man dressed all in black with a black trench coat.  Vincent's eyes glanced at the man's silver metal arm before he remembered a name.  "Keep?"

            "Been a while since I heard that one," the man joked.  "Just call me Travis, or Starmore, whatever suits you best.  C'mon, let's get outta this dump," he said as he exited through a hole in the wall.  It was actually a tunnel leading through rock to the surface of the planet.  "Feels good to be out of the box, doesn't it?"

            "Yes…  Why did I go to sleep again?"  Vincent asked the man while he tried to regain his memory.

            "No idea.  Ask the demon, maybe he remembers," Starmore asked, somewhat surprising Vincent that he knew about Chaos.

            You could not control me.  That is why you slept, to keep me from killing people.  "Chaos grew too strong, I could not contain him.  I slept to protect the world from his destruction," Vincent explained to Starmore.

            "Why bother?" Starmore whispered so quietly that Vincent missed it.  "Here, I know a good bar with good food near here, let's go," Starmore said suddenly as he grabbed Vincent and they both disappeared in a puff of smoke.  "Here we are," Starmore said as he opened a door and they entered the restaurant.

            After they were seated by a scared waitress, Vincent spoke to Starmore.  "Why did you wake me?  To have dinner?  I'm remembering some things about you, but they don't make much sense.  Why did you wake me?" Vincent asked as he stared at Starmore.

            "Getting anxious, aren't we?"  Starmore said with a bit of annoyance.  "Fine, you want to know what is going on?  I'll tell you," he said as they disappeared and reappeared floating in the air above a city.  "As you may be remembering, I am a person of great power, much more than you know actually.  This world is corrupted.  Every human being is infected and controlled by something creating a hive-mind consciousness.  My enemies sent one of their WEAPONs here, it merged with what was left of your Jenova and infected and took control of everyone on this planet.  They know us, the WEAPON knows me and Jenova knows you.  They would have eventually found and killed you.  Now, go away while I show you what we must do," Starmore ordered as Vincent was transported to a hill outside the city.

            Vincent watched in confusion as a figure, Starmore, shone bright like a star.  Small lights appeared around the perimeter of the city and changed into huge fires.  The fires grew, reaching high into the sky, filling it with flames and smoke.  "He cannot be serious…"  Vincent whispered to himself as he heard people scream as they were cooked alive.  The flames ballooned outwards as something in the center of the city exploded. 

            Starmore appeared next to Vincent shortly afterwards, staring at the destroyed and burning city.  "They were my enemy," he said calmly.

            "You killed an entire city of innocent people," Vincent commented.  Easy Valentine, he may kill you as well if you anger him.

            "They were corrupted.  They were being used by Garland.  They were my enemies and yours," Starmore said to Vincent.

            "What do you plan to do?"  Valentine, choose your words carefully.  You can tell it can't you?  The eyes, the dead eyes, he is focused on death only.  He is insane.

            "I've identified all the souls on this planet that are tainted.  I will kill them all.  And anyone that gets in my way," Starmore said as he glanced at Vincent.  "You need to control Chaos better.  Let him out, together the three of us will cleanse this world of the evil."

            Excellent…  "You both are mad," Vincent replied. 

            "You will cooperate, whether you like it or not," Starmore said as he waved his hand and an envelope of energy surrounded Vincent.  "Let us begin," he said as the envelope faded and Vincent was transformed into Chaos.  "I'll find them for us, then we kill them all, understood?  They'll know we are coming from here on out and will try to escape."

            "They will not escape me," Chaos grinned as he thought of the prospect of killing humans once again.