Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7 or 8, nor any of it's characters. I do own Nakanai, Myrkash, etc. Mail me if you wish to use my characters, and if you don't ask, I will use yours back. Ha ha, not really. I will report you. I was semi-inspired by Rose Flame's Faith and Feather, but did not copy it. Read hers.

Authors note: Sorry it took so long for this chapter. News Flash; I will only post new chapters when I have fifteen reveiws for each chapter. They have to be from diff. people, not from the same person. Mail and tell how I do.

Chapter Two:

Stallion

Vincent opened his eyes.He was lying in a large feild of grass. That was it. Nothing around for miles but flat grassland. Vincent rose to his feet, not remembering being here. He remembered fighting Minotaur, but not much after that. Then he remembered. Minotaur had struck him, knocking him out. Vincent didn't know where he was, but he wasn't going to get anywhere if he just sat. He rose to his feet, then started of in a westerly direction. After about two hours of walking and running, Vincent reached a farm. It was different, though. Instead of having Chocobo's, these people had tall, four-legged animals with long faces. These animals had short, straight tails, and manes on their necks like Nanaki, though not as well taken care of as his. He put this thought aside for now. He walked over to the door. He almost knocked, but then decided that people would be scared around a man with a black claw. Vincent removed his Diablos-claw, revealing his prosthetic hand. He didn't like it as much as his claw, but dire situations call for dire measures. He wrapped up his claw in a pad, then placed it in one of the folds of his cloak. Again, he almost knocked on the door, but stopped. He looked at his large Death-Penalty, and decided that people wouldn't like that at all. He back-tracked until he reached a lare boulder he had passed earlier. He unloaded his gun, in case he needed it for his boot pistol. He set the Death-Penalty behind the boulder then walked back to the farm. He tightened his bandana, then knocked on the door. A voice from inside called out, "We don't want any." Vincent ignored this and replied, "You are mistaken, sir. I am a nomad, and I am seeking shelter for tonight." Vincent lied easily about the nomad part, seeing as he couldn't say 'Excuse me, I was in a fight with a Minotaur, was knocked out, and woke up here. I am tired and need a bed'. He could hear scuffling from inside, then the door opened. The man that had opened the door looked like he was about thirty-five. He had shaggy hair, bent nose, and a bulky build. The man wore long overalls, and carried around a large mallet. He looked Vincent up and down, then said, "You don't look like a Nomad, and you certainly don't talk like one. Besides, who ever heard of a Nomad in the Oregon Plains?" The man laughed at his joke, but Vincent kept his exppression blank. Vincent asked, "Sir, I am a weary traveller, and would much oblige if you were to give me a place to sleep tonight." The man stoped laughing, then looked at Vincent. He said, "Hmmmm...All right. I'll allow you in my home, but you have to do your fare share of work.", said the man,"Oh, and the name is John. John Smith.", then extended his hand to Vincent. Vincent looked at the hand breifly, then grasped it with his good hand. The man let go, then led Vincent into the house. He asked Vincent questions like, 'Where are you going?' and 'What's yer name?'. Vincent answered a few of these questions, carful not to contradict himself. Finally, John was silent.

Vincent and John were eating at John's dinner table. Vincent was ravenously hungry, but ate politely. When he was done, he looked at John, asking, "John, what are those...animals that are in your fence?" John stared at Vincent for a while and said, "Are you tellin' me you ain't never seen a horse? Son, the 'animals' are called horses. You ride them, and they take you places. They go fast." The farmer started speaking slowly after his first sentence, acting like Vincent was mentally challenged. Vincent was tempted to reply to this, but kept his mouth shut. He sat in silence for a few more minutes, then realized where he was. Minotaur must have transported him to another dimension when he was knocked out, or maybe the Essence the Planet had said moved through worlds did this. What was it's name? Doomtrain. That had to be it. Minotaur knocked him out and Doomtrain brought him here, in another dimension. Vincent new its was a different dimension because there was no such place as the 'Oregon Plains' or thing as 'horses' in his world. He guessed that they were similar to Chocobo's, only not birds. Vincent left the table, heading to the guest room the man had left him.

Vincent had guessed correctly in the thought that Chocobo's were like horses. The farmer had brought him outside the next day and showed Vincent how to ride them. Vincent did it so well that the man said, "Are you sure you haven't done this before?" Vincent only shrugged and said, "Something like it." As it turns out, Vincent rode better than John did, and John said this. He also said, "Vincent, I ain't never seen nottin' like you in my life. I assumed that you was leavin' today, so I made you a pack of food, and I'm givin' you my best horse." Vincent honored the man with one of his rare smiles and even more rare, a pat on the back. Vincent soon went back to no-emotions, but said, "Thank you, friend John. You have been most kind to me on my journey, and I thank you dearly." John laughed, saying, "Thar' ya' go agin', usin' all them fancy words." He walked in the house, then came back out holding the supply pack for Vincent. Vincent swung it over his shoulder, then followed John over to the stables. John led him to a proud black stallion. It had a neatly groomed mane and tail, along with one white stripe down it's nose. "His name's Jack, but you can call'im anythin' ya' want.", said John, leading the horse out of the stall. Vincent walked over to the horse, rubbing it's neck. "Stallion.", he said, "I will call him Stallion." John looked at him and said, "Kind o' blunt name, dontch' think? Anywho, He's already saddled up, so I guess this is goodby. For you, and Ja- I mean, 'Stallion'." Vincent looked at the man, and could make out the lightest hint of a tear in his eye. The big man turned away, blowing his nose. "Now git',",John said, "git on outta' here, and don't come...sniffle...back!" Vincent smiled, then climbed on Stallion and rode away saying, "I will not forget you, John. Goodbye, friend.", for they certainly had become friends. Vincent was surprised with himself. It wasn't every day that he met a friend.

Vincent rode to the boulder where he had left his Death-Penalty. He loaded it and holstered it at his side. He then removed his prosthetic hand, replacing it with his black Diablos-Gauntlet.'I bet you had fun, but it's time to get serious. How are we going to leave this place?', thought Diablos to Vincent. He was momentarily startled by the voice in his head, but recovered. 'If that 'Doomtrain' can move between worlds, then so can we. All we need to do is merge and teleport back.', thought Vincent. He had it all planned out. Diablos, being the old Essence of Death, could tear open the air, making a portal into the underworld for lost souls. If he could lead souls to the underworld, then they could make a portal back to their world. Vincent relayed the thoughts to Diablos, who agreed. Vincent told Diablos one more thing, 'Diablos, will we have enough energy to get my horse through?' Diablos answered,'I am not sure. We will see.'

Vincent rode Stallion for about a mile, then got off, positive there was no civilization around. Vincent set up camp using the things that John had packed him. He had packed a tent, some wood, a tinder-box, and some food. Vincent threw the tinder-box away, using his fire materia instead. He set up the tent, then at some of his food. When he was done, he washed his face with a canteen of water John had also packed, then sat down by the fire. He was making materia-slots in Stallion's reins to pass the time. He was thinking about getting back. Would he get back? Would he come back to the future, or the past? Would he be in the right demension? He drove these thoughts from his mind. Worrying is for the weak. When he was done with the materia slots he inserted various arrangements. A elemental-wind materia, a mastered fire materia, and sheild materia. He wasn't sure how this would affect the horse, but he wouldn't try right away. He would try it out tomorrow, before opening the portal. He had a thought of what might happen, and couldn't wait.

The next day Vincent awoke in front of a smoldering fire. He removed the logs and spread the ashes all over the plains, seeing as it was good for the soil. He salvaged any wood still burnable, and put it in his pack. He took down the tent and walked over to Stallion. He placed the bridle on the horse, who exepted it like it was jewelry. Vincent swung onto the saddle, digging his heels into Stallion. The horse shot off like an arrow, running at awesome speeds. Vincent gripped the reins tighter, then used the elemental-wind materia. Around them, the wind whistled. Softly, so softly that Vincent didn't even notice for a couple minutes, they lifted off the ground. They were flying. Vincent puled up on the reins, and they went higher. He manuevered around in this fashion for a while, testing out the functions. When they had finally landed, they stopped alltogether. Vincent rested awhile, figuring the other functions. If he used the fire+wind-elemental materia, Stallion would leave trails of fire while they flew, or just rode. Sheild wouldn't do anything special, just what it normally did. His thoughts were suddenly interupted by a voice in his head. 'Sorry to intrude, but there are important things to be done. SO GET OFF YOUR LAZY ASS AND GET TO WORK!', thought Diablos. Vincent was so startled by the feircness of the voice that he didn't make a remark. He got up, lifting his claw into the air. There was a flash of light, then...

Author's note:

Hope you like the second chapter. Sorry to leave you hanging like that, but I'm evil like that. MUAHAHAHAHA! Anyway, reveiw and tell me how I did. Tell other people about my work! Word of mouth or word of keyboard, I don't care. So long as People read this.Oh, sorry but this was short.