Chapter 7
Not the Full Truth

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you." Vincent repeated as he coldly stared down the gun at Tifa Lockheart. Tifa's eyes moved up the gun barrel to look at the shooter. "V-vincent?" He continued to stare coldly at her, waiting for her to answer his question. 'I must look like hell' he silently mused. "You do" the voice added silently. 'Shut up.' Vincent mentally replied. Tifa shifted under his gaze. "Umm Vincent?" He returned his thoughts to the girl knelling before him. 'Why am I pointing a gun at her?' He silently asked himself. Slowly he lowered the gun and returned it to its holster. He stood there silently waiting for her to explain why she was here.

Tifa was shocked at how Vincent had changed. His eyes glowed a feverish red, like he was sick or something. His normally glossy hair hung limp and unmoving on his now extremely thin frame. His skin was deathly pale-more so then before, and sweat covered. He looked like he had been neglecting himself for a very long time. She recognized the awaiting stance he had and knew she was expected to explain herself. She stood up and brushed dirt off of her clothes before she looked at Vincent again.

"So...Vincent what have you been up to? We haven't heard anything from you since you left right after the planet was saved." His expression remained the same. Sighing, Tifa knew she would not get anything out of him until his question was answered. "After so long fighting monsters, it just didn't seem right sitting in a bar all day doing the same thing over and over again, so I decided to do a bit more traveling. Along the way I was asked to help in a research on the strange monster behaviors that have been going on, like the two ruby dragons that, I am guessing you shot, were terrorizing Coral. Stuff like that." Tifa shivered as a cold wind blew by.

Vincent studied her for a moment. 'The truth, but not all of it.' He turned and started walking away. "You look cold." He could hear Tifa quickly grab her things and start following him. They made good time. Neiblem loomed before them, dark and silent. The mansion was unearthly quiet. Not even a creak in the wind. Vincent walked with purpose towards the mansion. 'Could she help him, would she be able to help him rid himself of the-' 'I'd kill her first, anyone who gets in my way will die!' 'Shut up.' Vincent thought half-heartedly. 'There's nothing she can do to us.' Vincent led her into the mansion and motioned to the room on the left. "You can sleep there. The kitchen is upstairs and to the left as is the bathroom. You remember from the last time you were here. The basement is strictly Off Limits under All circumstances. Other then that, make yourself at home. I have other things to attend to." With that he walked upstairs turned right and was out of sight. Moments later Tifa heard the secret door open and close. She was left alone.

Tifa was amazed at the changes that had happened within the mansion. The walls and floor had been scrubbed clean of slime and mold, all the broken windows were fixed and the wall scones were replaced with electric lighting. There was little furniture but what there was of it was all new. She walked into the room that Vincent had told her was to be hers for the night. In the center of the room was a king sized four-poster bed complete with canopy. There was a desk and chair off to one side and the other held a large old-fashioned wardrobe. Everything was in red hues. 'This looks nice.' She silently thought as she went to explore the rest of the place. Almost all the furniture and appliances were new and everything had a thin layer of dust over it. "Maybe he was just coming back from a trip or something." She mused.
After a while Tifa got hungry so she went to the kitchen to nab some food. After a quick search she found the cupboards full of canned soup, the fridge held only some jam, butter and bottled water. The freezer held bread, meat, and frozen vegetables. Finding a pot and can opener, Tifa decided to make herself some soup. She also pulled some bread out of the freezer and set it by the burner to thaw. When the soup was ready, she put butter and the bread and filled up a bowl. She then sat down at the table and wondered what Vincent was up to.

Deep in the basement, behind locked doors, sharp claws clicked along blood stained stones. Pacing back and forth in the seemingly tiny room. Its half formed wings hung limp on its muscular frame, and its huge blue-purple skinned paws flexed the dagger-like claws. Every so often it would smash its great Ifrit-like horns into the old stonewall, chipping away the mortar. Its great saber teeth smashed into a pile of bones-both old and new-looking for something to maim. 'Let me out of here you insolent fool! Give me my freedom so that I may take my rightful place once again!' From the dark place Vincent's reply was full of cold contempt 'No.' The great beast let out a roar of frustration that echoed through the ancient stone.

Tifa nearly fell out of her seat when she heard the loud clasp of thunder. Sitting back up, she looked out the window at the starry sky, not a cloud in sight. "I wonder what that was then, if not thunder. Oh well, I'd better clean these dishes and get some rest. I wonder where Vincent is?" After the dishes were done, Tifa headed back to her room and got into her pj's and crawled into bed.

The next morning when Tifa went into the kitchen to grab some breakfast she found Vincent sitting at the table with a bunch of tools. His Metallic arm lay on the table, open. Vincent appeared to be lost in what ever he was doing as he used one tool after another to fiddle with the mechanics within the arm. Finally he sat back and stared at his arm, a frown crossed his face and he grabbed another tool and dove back into the mechanical device. She was glad to see that his hair and skin were clean. 'Maybe I did just catch him as he was coming back from a trip.' She silently mused. 'But his eyes are still, not right.' "Morning." Tifa said cheerfully as she got some bread from the freezer and put it into the toaster. "Hmmm." Was Vincent's reply as he sat back in the chair and studied his arm. One after another the digits began to move. With a look of satisfaction, Vincent closed his arm up and set aside the tools. "Sleep well?" He asked. "Yeah, the bed was nice. I like what you've done to the place. He looked around for a moment before he replied. "I had to do something. How else was I going to tell if I was still in my coffin or not?" Tifa bust into a fit of giggles. 'Vincent had actually made a joke.' "When your done laughing, your toast is ready and I am sure Hindi would love to see you again." Tifa called down. "Hindi? She's here, how?" "Green chocobos are pretty uncommon, especially ones that walk right up to you. I recognized her and brought her here. She's in the stables with Tain." Tain was Vincent's black chocobo. He was a mean bird and treated everyone but Vincent with distain, which is how he got his name.
After breakfast, Tifa and Vincent went out to the stables. Hindi had her head buried in a pile of greens when Tifa entered the barn, looking up, Hindi let out a happy wark. Tifa ran over to the green bird and threw her arms around her feathery neck. While Tifa and Hindi were saying their hellos, Vincent walked over to stand by Tain's stall. The black chocobo eyed Vincent, but made no move to come closer.

Later, back at the mansion, Tifa asked Vincent what he had been up to in the past couple years. Vincent sat down and the couch and stared into the fire. "I've been a mercenary. Hunting down and killing monsters that have been causing trouble for locals. I was coming back from a job last night when I saw you. There have been reports of thieves in the area. I am sorry for scaring you."
"That's ok, mistakes happen. I was surprised to see you though. I was hoping that I'd run into you when I was in this area, I just didn't expect it to be like that."
"So what exactly are you doing in this area?"
"Like I said, I am helping track and eliminate monsters that are not from these areas. There are some contact people in various towns that record the monster sightings. From those recordings, it seems that the monsters are heading to an area near here. I am trying to find out why."
Vincent was quiet for a while and Tifa knew better then to disturb his thoughts.
'She will continue her search until she finds answers' 'If she gets in my way, I will kill her.' "If we go with her, we could make sure that she doesn't. I can just make something up.' 'hmmm.'

Vincent turned to Tifa and spoke. "I have heard many stories along my travels over the years, one I think might help you."