Title: Long Live Lucrecia
Author: Irreverent Escape
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Final Fantasy VII names/places/characters used in this work or any of the characters' in-game abilities/possessions.
Squaresoft© does.
Author's Comment(s): Yai! Finally… This is the second chapter of Long Live Lucrecia; I hope you enjoy it! Sure did take me long enough to finish…
PS Constructive criticism only. If you say "This sucks," I honestly won't care. edit Thank you! to fire-emblem-girl for helping me get this in chapter-by-chapter form. THANK YOU!
Chapter Two
In the morning Vincent laid awake in his bed. He stared up at the ceiling of his room with blank eyes, his face expressionless. He hadn't slept all night…every time he had begun to drift off, images of…her…kept plaguing his dreams. The dark circles under his eyes made him look more haunted than he already was, and that was haunted enough.
A knock at his room door made Vincent glance at it and he listened to the voice on the other side. "Vincent! Vincent, come on! Meeting at the bridge!" Yuffie's voice was unmistakable with that sneaky twang in it. Even when she was being serious she had it.
Vincent stood slowly, rubbing his eyes with his right index finger and thumb. He'd blind himself if he used his claw – he'd almost made that mistake once before. Never again, though. He didn't manage to wipe away the circles but he didn't much care, and he made his way to the door only to open it and stare at empty space. Yuffie was already halfway down the hall, but she'd heard his door open and spun around.
"Come ON! Hurry up!" With a chuckle she turned again and darted down the stairs, the squeak of her sneakers on the metal reverberating off the walls. Vincent winced, but followed slowly and silently.
She sure did move fast. Vincent was the last to enter the room where everyone was gathered and they all turned their heads to glance back at him. He stared blankly in return, then spoke calmly. "What?"
Everyone else murmured to themselves and shook their heads in reply, looking back up at Cloud who had placed himself in front of the window-wall. Vincent followed their gaze and found the spiky-haired blonde staring right back at him. Cloud then looked away and began the meeting.
"We're landing near Costa de Sol soon in preparation for this mission. Everybody can leave the Highwind and stock up on supplies or whatever, but I only wanna see Yuffie and Vincent on that submarine when we leave. Everybody else, wait in Costa de Sol or the Highwind. Got that?"
"Got it!" Yuffie, jumping up and waving her giant shuriken with a grin.
"Affirmative!" Cait Sith, bouncing energetically as he always did.
"Okay." Tifa, with a slight frown.
"Aight." Barret, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
Red XIII nodded, and Cid just grumbled. As long as he got to stay on the Highwind, he was content…but he always had liked an adventure.
"So it's settled, then!" Cloud smirked a little, proud of his plan and his comrades' reaction to it. "Yuffie and Vincent, we'll leave Costa de Sol after sunset. We can use all the daylight we've got to equip ourselves… You never know what we could run into."
Vincent smiled a little behind his cloak. He could think of plenty of things they could run into, but he had learned a long time ago to expect the unexpected. He avoided being surprised that way.
Yuffie shivered at Cloud's words, though, holding her shuriken close. "What could we bump into?" she asked. She may have been the heiress to Wutai, but she was a coward…most of the time.
The blonde's smirk grew as he began listing the various foes they could encounter. It was all Shinra's fault that the monsters existed in the first place… So many things were Shinra's fault. What had existed of Vincent's smile disappeared as he remembered this. He shook his head slightly and closed his eyes and upon reopening them realized Cloud was looking at him again.
"Something wrong, Vincent?" he asked, blinking those Mako-infused orbs of his. They really were creepy sometimes -- though not as creepy as Vincent's red ones. He shook his head and lowered it slightly while listening to what else Cloud had to say.
"Well, since nobody has any disagreements with my plan, let's move out!" He started away from the great window with the nonchalant sway of a cat and was the first to leave the bridge, passing Vincent on the way. The two shared a look, but it was gone as soon as it had been acknowledged. The dark-haired man in red took his time in about-facing and leaving with the small crowd heading up to the deck.
Vincent listened to the murmurs and whispers of his allies as they stepped into the wind, the town of Costa de Sol not far from the landed Highwind. He stood near the railing and placed his good hand on the metal, turning his eyes up to the main body of the great airship. It was a great improvement on the Tiny Bronco although that vessel had proved its worth many times.
"…Vincent? Vincent!"
Yuffie lightly smacked Vincent's shoulder with her oversized shuriken, making him blink and look down at her. She grinned cheesily up at him and jerked her thumb in the direction of the rope ladder that everyone else was moving down.
"Come on! We're leaving." The teenager took a few backwards steps before snickering and spinning around to hop over the railing. She no doubt made some dramatic show out of grabbing a hold of the ladder, but Vincent didn't see it since he took his time in getting off the Highwind. He seemed to be the last to do everything these days…and past ones.
He caught up to the rest of the group as they entered Costa de Sol from under the stone archway, scarlet women cooing to them from the windows of a building on the left. Barret glanced up at one of them and she laughed triumphantly before disappearing from the window. Vincent smiled secretly as Barret reddened and looked back down.
"Okay everyone. Take a look at what this place's got to offer and we'll go." Cloud stalked off in the direction of the weapons shop with Yuffie trailing close behind; who knew what kind of mischief she wanted to get into? Red XIII sauntered over to a shady spot where some children were playing ball, and Tifa headed up to the harbor. Barret disappeared into the inn looking rather sneaky, and Cid just turned and went back to the Highwind. Cait Sith immediately headed to the beach, whereas Vincent made his way to the bar.
The place was crowded with surfers – shirtless men with bodybuilder torsos and dark sunglasses. They seemed so generic, which made Vincent seem out of place even more, and he did indeed get a few odd glances as he sat at the counter. He ignored them, though – he was used to it. A barmaid in a skimpy bikini top and skirt approached him with a coy smile on her face, a small notepad in her hand.
"Just water, thanks," Vincent murmured to her before looking away in disinterest despite the female's indiscreet, silent flirting. When he simply dismissed her, however, she scoffed a bit to herself and spun around to storm away and get what he had asked for.
In the meantime Vincent's eyes wandered around the bar. Some of the beach bums were snickering at him and one had apparently gained the courage to walk up with his smirk in tow.
"Hey big shot, nice cape," the jock said with thick sarcasm. Vincent simply ignored the man, glancing away, and the latter didn't take this very well. "What, think you're too good to look at me, punk?" He shoved Vincent's shoulder roughly and continued, "Eh?—agh!"
Vincent glared up his own arm at the man to whose throat he held his LongBarrel gun. His ruby red eyes shone with irritation at the man's actions and he spoke in a deathly tone of voice. "Touch me again and you will have less of a head on your shoulders than you did before." The other man squinted some and Vincent's eyes narrowed, his finger tightening on the trigger. In fear of being decapitated, the nameless man quickly turned with a yell and ducked behind his buddies.
"Hey you, you can't do that in here!" said the barmaid who was holding Vincent's sweating glass of water. He glanced back at her as he hid his gun in his cloak once more and shrugged. "Fine." Taking the water from her he walked out of the bar while drinking it, observing his surroundings from the doorway.
The buildings were yellow with orange roofs, and it was very hot since it was around noontime, but Vincent didn't even consider removing his cloak. Glancing around, Vincent spotted Red XIII dozing in his spot, his tail idly whacking the soccer ball the children were playing with. The two former Shinra specimens met eyes and were silent, but the contact was lost as soon as it was made when Vincent turned away. The eyes were windows to the soul, and sometimes what you saw in them scared you… Vincent didn't want to scare Red XIII.
Now that he'd been thrown out of the bar which was the only place Vincent would have possibly been interested in at this time, he made his way to the inn. The dark circles weren't as noticeable in the bright sunlight of Costa de Sol; Vincent was still extremely tired from not having gotten any sleep the night before. He had a feeling he'd be needing rest for the next day. Vincent paid for a room and retreated to it, and surprisingly he fell asleep just as his head hit the pillow. Dreams of…her…would surely wrack his psyche, but at least he would be getting repose.
Vincent woke late in the afternoon to loud knocking at his door. A groan reverberated in his throat and he rolled over, glaring at the door with tired eyes. He felt a bit better, that he was able to admit, but he could stand – or lay, in this situation – for a little more sleep. He did have to answer the door, though. Standing up, he sauntered over to the wall and leaned against it with support from his elbow, sighing a bit. His hand rested on the knob and he opened the door.
"…Yes?" Vincent barely made out a blurry spiky blonde head of hair and purple mercenary clothes. "What do you want, Cloud?"
The other replied, rather chipper. "It's time to head out, Vincent. Come on, we're going to the submarine at the harbor."
It was sunset already? Damn… "Alright. Go on ahead, I'll catch up." Vincent closed the door on an open-mouthed Cloud and turned to gather his things and throw the blankets of his bed back into place. His room somewhat resembled the way it had been when he'd collapsed onto the bed, as far as he could remember. Vincent left the inn and stopped in front of it, glancing at the beach. The sky was painted a beautiful portrait of yellows and oranges and fiery reds, the colors reflecting in Vincent's eyes. A breeze pushed his long black hair away from his pale face, the dusky glow making him seem almost…alive. Behind his cloak he smiled faintly, then turned to head to the harbor and board the submarine.
The mission was beginning.