The Song of Eternity

Canto 9

Ronin

Verse 5

He's always been the strongest,

Fearing nothing,

Defeating all challengers,

How far has he fallen?

            Elena sighed as she turned off her computer.  "No news about Chaos or the others anywhere…perfect," she muttered sarcastically.  She had spent the last few days searching the internet for strange occurrences that might lead to Chaos, but had found nothing.  It had been easier than she thought it would be to tell Vincent to leave the young mutants at the mansion alone.  Too easy in fact, she thought as locked up the old office.  "He's been getting waaaay too, despondent, even for Vincent," she muttered to herself as she looked up at the sky.  "Night already," she whispered.

            She and Murphy had been leaving the mutants to their own devices over the last week or so, and so far no one had got killed or destroyed a large part of the city.  She spoke to Vincent rarely and saw him even less.  He sent Murphy to give her orders or called when Murphy was unavailable.  From what Murphy told her, he had been drinking more than usual.  What possibly disturbed her a little more was the situation with Cole.  According to Murphy, Cole had not slept since they all returned to Bayville.  She had seen him flying around at night a few times herself, but decided against doing something.  "He's got to work it out for himself," she said as she unlocked her car and got in. 

            She drove for a little over a mile until she pulled into a local bar.  "At least it's Friday," she sighed as she pushed open the door and went to her usual seat at the bar.

            "The usual 'Lena?" the bartender asked.

            "Yes Mike," she replied as he handed her an open beer.  "What's new?" she asked him.

            "Town's been pretty quiet, most of the people are starting to settle down again," he replied as he wiped down the bar.  "Any problems at your job?" he asked her.

            "Nope, all quiet on my front," she replied, both of them knowing full well what her 'job' was.  There had been a few patrons of the bar objecting to her drinking there when she first started going, but she dealt with them and things had been good since.

            "Got a new guy in tonight, been drinking that bottle of vodka for the past hour," he motioned at a figure in a dark corner.  "Seems like a lonely fellow."

            "Hmmm," she mumbled as she swiveled to get a good view.  Her eyes got wide as she recognized the clothes.  "Vincent?" she said quietly.  She got up from her seat and walked over to him.  "Vincent?"

            He looked up slowly, his eyes looking over her face for a minute before recognizing her.  "Hello Elena," he greeted her.  "What're you doing here?" he mumbled, obviously drunk.

            "I come here three of four times a week, and you?" she asked as she took the empty bottle from his hand.

            "They quit serving me at the other bar I usually go to," he explained.

            "What happened?"

            "Barfight."

            "Here, come to the bar with me, we need to sober you up a little," she said as she pulled on his arm, leading him to the bar.  "Mike, get him a coffee," she said as the barkeep went to get the drink.  "How much have you been drinking Vincent?"

            "A lot," he said as he supported himself on the bar.

            "Murphy says you have a problem," she said quietly.

            "Yes I do," he slurred.  "I am a failure, forced to battle and lose forever," he mumbled as he took the coffee and sipped it.

            "What have you failed at Vincent?" she asked him.

            "I failed Lucretia, failed Cloud, failed AVALANCHE, failed Xavier, failed everyone," he muttered angrily.  "Everyone dies but me.  That's the way it has been ever since Hojo got to me.  Death Gigas, Hellmasker, and the Galian Beast, they all died, but I lived.  Everyone on this planet died, but I lived on," he spoke.  "I'm just so tired of the killing….," he said as he grew silent.

            "Vincent, you are the strongest person I know.  You haven't failed anyone," she consoled him.

            "I failed Xavier!" he shouted and got up from the bar.  "I failed those kids!  I failed Starmore!  Don't tell me about myself, I know all about my sins," he said angrily before storming out of the bar.

            "What crawled up his ass?" Mike asked as Elena sighed.

            "About a million years of death and destruction," she said before taking another drink of her beer.