He Tells All

by: Bishojo Beauty

Chapter 13

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NOTE: The part in the italics are a flashback. Just telling ya now just so everything makes sense. Anyhow, ENJOY!

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With a skip in her step, Tifa walked back to the campsite. Perhaps Tifa had made more progress with Vincent than she had originally thought. Unless, he had faked it all and it was all a show. Tifa kept this possibility in the back of her mind where it would not be able to put a damper on her current mood. Upon reaching the campsite, she was greeted by an unpleasant sight. Vincent and Kael appeared to be in a heated discussion with each other. She couldn't make out the words just yet. She creeped closer and closer as quietly as possible. The tone that they were using seemed to not be very friendly to each other. Finally she was within hearing range.

"Don't do this to me again, Vincent," Kael warned, "You should know better than to do everything by yourself!" Vincent threw a scowl at this statement in Kael's direction over his shoulder as he had his back turned to his older brother.

"Don't tell me what to do. You have nothing over me," Vincent said in a deep and menacing voice that Tifa had never heard him use before. He began to walk away.

"Don't disregard me like that! I raised you!" Now Kael was shouting. He grabbed Vincent by the shoulder and spun him around to face him. Vincent looked like he wanted to say something back, but instead, he sighed in defeat, hanging his head low so his hair covered most of his face.

"Damnit, Vincent," Kael cursed under his breath. Tifa watched as Kael took a couple of deep breaths to calm the anger that boiled inside of him. It didn't seem that Vincent was going to say anything and Tifa found herself caught in an awkward situation. Should she pretend that she did not hear anything or did they already know that she was standing there behind the thick underbrush? The tension between the two seemed to grow thicker as Vincent continued to remain silent. Tifa then decided that she should break the growing tension between the two before it grew out of control. Rustling through the bushes loudly, she walked into view. The two brother turned to her with menacing glares making Tifa instantly regret her choice of action.

"Did I interrupt something?" Tifa said, feeling stupider and stupider by the moment. She had obviously did.

"No," Vincent was the one to speak as he brushed by his brother, taking the opportunity to escape his brother's questioning. He began to busy himself by packing up and getting ready for the rest of the trip to Cosmo Canyon where he planned to get a lot of questions answered. Tifa watched as Kael made his way over to Vincent and said something too low and too quickly for Tifa to hear. But whatever he said made Vincent stand straight up and rigid immediately. Kael began walking away from Vincent but stopped when Vincent called his name. He turned to him expectantly. Vincent sighed and began rolling up his sleeve just as he had earlier revealing the rather nasty bruise forming around the small puncture in his arm.

"Those darts," Vincent started, "I don't know what's in them. But they've been making me...slightly ill." Tifa's brows raised in surprise. Ill? What she saw was more than ill! Tifa had a feeling it had caused Chaos to take over. But she didn't voice her thoughts. Instead she remained silent and observing. Kael started to make his way to Vincent and raised a hand to feel his forehead. Vincent tired to pull out of his reach, but Kael was quick and pulled Vincent towards him rather forcefully.

"Gods, Vincent! When were you planning to tell me that?" Kael practically shouted when he touched Vincent forehead. From Kael's reaction she could tell that Vincent must be feeling rather hot to the touch. Tifa herself began to worry. It wasn't difficult to make the connection between the dart and Vincent's "illness". Something was definitely up.

Vincent didn't reply to Kael question, but followed his orders to rest. Once it appeared that Vincent was doing as he was told, Kael stormed off announcing that he had to cool off for a while. Tifa concluded that he had quite the temper. Or at least when it came to Vincent he did. Tifa walked slowly closer to Vincent's still form caution of his every move. Though he wasn't moving, she was expecting the unexpected now with him.

"Vincent, I think I know what's going on," Tifa started. She knew it was better to start off this way than asking what was wrong. She knew that she would never get a direct answer if she did. But what Vincent replied with shocked her even more.

"Don't tell him," There was a certain tone of pleading Tifa had never thought she's hear in his voice. There was definitely something between the two brother that Tifa clearly does not know about. It was as if there was this underlying grudge that was held by them both. It was as if they both wronged each other, and neither of them could forgive each other and yet they still cared about each other. Tifa never had another siblings so she figured that it would be difficult to imagine their situation.

"I won't," Tifa replied softly, looking directly into her eyes as if that somehow solidified her promise. He nodded in reply. He was now prodding gently at the dark blue, nearly purple skin on his arm.

"It seems familiar, but, I can't quite place it. I've felt it before," Vincent whispered. Almost as if he was speaking only to himself. For all Tifa knew, he could be. Once again drifting off to his own little world.

They sat quietly in each other's company. It was surprising to Tifa how their silence was actually comforting. She didn't feel the need to have to talk and break the silence. But then, silence sometimes meant that you were left to the thoughts of your subconscious. Sometimes they were good, but most of the time they were bad. Tifa turned to Vincent to see if he was perhaps drifting off to the part of his subconscious that Tifa had just pulled away from. Instead of a contemplating Vincent, she saw a sleeping Vincent. His head rested against a tree where he sat under. His hair was thrown back and his face was turned towards the sun. Tifa watched for a while before scolding herself and pulling her eyes off of his ethereal beauty. Tifa decided to busy herself by taking apart the tent they had set up. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Kael returning. He seemed to be calmer than when he left. Tifa signaled for him to be quiet as he came closer. He nodded in acknowledgment when his eyes fell upon the sleeping Vincent. Quietly, and quickly, the two began to pack.

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Not long after, they were done and ready to set off again. Both Tifa and Kael wanted to allow the sleeping Vincent to rest longer, but they had really needed to go. They had prolonged their leave long enough. Together they went over to wake him up.

First they tried to call his name. But he did not respond.

Then they tried to shake him. He still did not respond.

At this, panic rose quickly and they raced to find a pulse and check his breathing. To their relief they existed. But he seemed to not be waking up to their calls and shakes. They tried a little longer, but still there was no response. Something was definitely wrong now. Kael became a swearing mess and he continued to try to wake him. Tifa tried to think logically of what do to.

They tried everything. Slapping him gently on the face, splashing water on his face and even rolling him a couple of times on the ground, but nothing worked. He remained unconscious.

"What the hell's going on?" Kael shouted. Tifa wished that she knew the answer to that question. But she had a sure feeling it was all connected to whatever substance was injected in to Vincent when the darts pierced his skin.

"We should start heading to Cosmo Canyon. At least maybe there, he could get some medical attention," Kael suggested. Tifa became wary of his suggestion. She knew for a fact that Vincent would avoid the doctors as much as he could even in a life or death situation. But right now, it didn't seem like he was going to have a choice, so she agreed. At least for now, until they got him to Cosmo Canyon.

A look at Vincent's face concerned Tifa greatly. He seemed in an unrestful sleep. Unconsciously suffering from something that Tifa and Kael could not identify. He was suffering something that Tifa and Kael could not place because it was all in his head.

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There was an overwhelming amount of light shining down into his eyes. They were bright. So bright that everything else seemed black. He could only make out faint shapes as he attempted to look around the room. His head was heavy, and his mind was foggy. Struggling to get up, Vincent found himself unable to. He could feel something physically holding him down. He tried to remember what had happened before he ended up in this awkward position, but he could not. Everything of the past seemed nonexistent. It was too much of a blur to be able to identify anything.

There was a chuckle to his side. He looked and squinted his eyes in an attempt to identify its origins. He tried to form words and speak but nothing came out but sputtering and other strange noises that were anything but words.

"Don't worry, you won't feel anything after this," the man said, the white light reflecting off his circular glasses. This was all he saw before he felt a sharp pain in the crook of his arm. It was a blinding pain, which eventually caused him to completely black out.

Waking up once again. He found himself still lying down and unable to move once again. But there were no longer lights shining down on him from above. He tried to shake his head clear, but that only served to make the room begin to spin. He struggled to focus on an object. Something moved in the corner of his eye. He swung his head in that direction to identify the being, and he immediately regretted it as he became even dizzier and even sick to the stomach. He was surprised when he could actually talk.

"What did you do to me?" He asked the man in the shadows. He couldn't make out much of the man. Except those damn glasses.

"You'll soon see," the man replied sinisterly. Before Vincent blacked out again. He managed to catch a sight of his tormentor. What he saw made him scream. He couldn't distinguish whether he screamed mentally or outloud.

He saw Hojo.

Upon waking up for the third time, he found himself, this time, on the ground. Looking around, he took in his messy surroundings. Papers were scattered everywhere. Machines were torn, broken and emitting flashes of electricity. Chemicals stunk up the room as vials were broken. Vincent couldn't help but wonder what the hell happened. He heard that same voice now chuckling. He looked for the origin of this voice and found it. Right in front of him in plain sight. This made his blood boil. He began to be unable to think clearly and acted unrationally. He screamed and dove for the professor, one of the rulers of the hell he lived in. With his hands outstretched he aimed for the man's throat. But his movements were sluggish, and the professor easily dove out of his reach. Laughing louder this time, he taunted Vincent some more.

"Come on, Valentine."

"No wonder Lucrecia left you so easily for me."

"She bears MY child!" Hojo screamed in his face.

Unknowingly to Vincent, Hojo was trying to provoke something out of him. Vincent took his bait in his ignorance. He flew in blind rage once again at Hojo who did not budge from his spot. Soon, Vincent had his hands around his neck and he began to squeeze. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes as his emotions got the better of him. He tried to hold them back knowing that emotions were the ultimate weakness in a fight, but they came flooding. He couldn't control them. He had lost all control a long time ago and now it was proven at a critical moment. He tried to choke Hojo harder and harder to wipe the stupid smirk he had plastered on his face. But the professor seemed unharmed. Vincent finally then noticed that he had a rather large needle jutting out of his arm where he had been injected earlier. This new needle was quickly emptying his arm. For the first time he took notice of the rather large bruise that formed around the whole in which the last needle took its residence in. Vincent felt a horrible pain all over his body. A sharp ringing filled his ears momentarily. It caused him to left go of Hojo and grasp his head instead, placing his hands over his ears. He grunted in discomfort as the ringing grew louder. And then, as quickly as it came it was gone. It was replaced by a rush of triggers to his senses. He began to hear better, see better, smell better, and move faster. But his movements were halted by absolute pain. Vincent looked down as he noticed his arms began to turn a deep scaly purple. He couldn't comprehend what was happening to him. Mostly, his main focus was on exacting vengeance on the man in front of him. Smirking now, and standing above him, looking down on him.

"Success," was all Hojo said, and Vincent was engulfed in blinding pain.

He blacked out.

I must apologize that this is where I need to cut it off. I just haven't been able to put together anything good lately. This is basically as much as I've been able to produce? Hehe, I hope this chapter was okay. I'm unfortunately having a lot of difficulty. Help! TT

But just a question for all of you: Hojo or Vincent Sephiroth's father?

It doesn't really matter. I'm just curious. If there's anything funny about this chapter. Let me know ASAP so I can look into it and fix it! And thanks to all of you who've given me feedback. I really appreciate it all! More to come! I had three whole pages written, but it's all junk now...sadly. I'm stuck.