Disclaimer: I do not own the ff7 characters, I believe you know the rest. I'm too tired to come up with anything witty.

Author's Note: So, Kai and Vincent have finally kissed. I've had a lot of people say "About time!" I guess I did kind of drag it out. Hey, they had other things on their minds, kay? They don't have their minds completely in the gutter (though their author does)

And sorry about how long this chapter took to come up. I had writer's block for quite awhile and then I went on a trip to Michigan and had a lot of fun. Yes, I know. Run on sentence, but shouldn't I write crappy in the author's note and well in the story?

Brace yourselves. Here comes the most riveting chapter yet!

Chapter 10

Broken

Hojo awoke to the sound of insistent ringing. It was dark in the office, but he managed to pull himself up into the leather chair. He groped around the desk, muttering something blearily. His hand closed around a small cellular phone.

"Yes?" he asked, hitting 'on'. He left the video feed off (he didn't look too hot when he woke up) but he could tell who it was from the voice. He was instantly alert.

"Hello, Sir?"

"Erika? Is that you, Miss Turk?"

"Yes Sir," came the answer. "Just reporting in. We've reached our destination of Costa del Sol. We'll be to the lab by this evening."

"Do tell me, Erika," Hojo said, holding the phone closer to his mouth so she could still hear, his voice having dropped to a whisper, "Why are late in contacting me?"

There was a slight pause. "It's Sephiroth, sir. He's been more of a…handful than usual on this mission. He seems to be beginning to fight the hypnosis."

"Well then, we'll just have to come up with something stronger, won't we?" Hojo answered her.

"Yes sir."

Hojo felt a thrill of excitement as he asked the question that had been nagging at him all night. "What of our Mr. Valentine?"

Erika chuckled maliciously. "Oh, well, he and his little whore thought they were being clever, catching a ride with that idiot pilot. But don't worry, we're way ahead of them. As always."

Hojo smiled. "Good, good, I await your return with anticipation. Oh, and Erika?"

"Yes sir?"

"You can kill his whore."

"Yes sir." The line went dead. Hojo smiled wider and dropped the phone back on his cluttered desk. Everything was going the way he had planned it. He liked it when things went the way he planned them. Erika was such a good candidate for leader of the Turks. She was strong, smart, and completely ruthless. Most importantly, she had no conscience. Stretching, he spun his chair back around.

"Did you hear that, my dear?"

"Yes," a quiet voice came from the darkness at his feet. Lucrecia sat up, a single band of moonlight leaking through the window's blind illuminating her dilated eyes and slightly tousled hair. "I'm guessing it's business as usual when they return."

"But of course, my dear." Hojo couldn't help grinning at the pained look on her face as he spoke. He had always thought Lucrecia looked beautiful when she was in pain.

"You'll see, everything will come out just fine," he said, sliding to the carpet beside her, a sudden desire to see her in pain again filling him. He knew she was only too obliged to give him what he wanted.

Vincent felt vaguely sick. He and Kai were crouched in the shadows of the dock. Since they had been there that afternoon, another ship had joined the ones already tied to the posts spaced along the long wooden platform. It was larger than all the others, and was clearly not a commercial vessel. It looked more like a cargo ship. This wasn't very surprising, as Vincent was sure the Turks wouldn't have any trouble getting aboard anything, whether it belonged to a pauper or a prince.

He rubbed his eyes, trying to make them focus. He was still feeling the effects of that damn alcohol he and Kai had drunk. How could they have been so careless? They just hadn't been thinking, that was all. It was beginning to wear off, but he still felt kind of loopy. As much as people seemed to like getting drunk, he decided he didn't. The fire running through his veins had the opposite effect of adrenaline. It made him feel slow and stupid, and all he wanted to do was curl up in a warm corner and go to sleep. He was sure Kai felt the same way.

He glanced over at her. Her face was dead set. She knew what they were jumping into, and she didn't look frightened at all. Vincent knew better. She was as breathless with fear as he was, she had told him so back on the beach. It felt like they had left a part of themselves back there, the part that wanted peace, the part that didn't want to risk death. Vincent was ignoring that part with ferocity.

"Last chance to just get a hotel room instead," Kai said, slipping him a grin.

"No, we're going," Vincent answered, not even acknowledging her joke. There would be plenty of time for that sort of thing later. He hoped.

Gesturing for her to follow, he began to climb the dock ladder. They emerged on the top, which was completely deserted. That was odd; the city was filled with night time revelers busy enjoying their vacations, it stood to reason that there would be at least a few people over by the ships. He couldn't help thinking that they had all been bribed away or possibly threatened, which was much more likely. But did that mean the Turks were waiting for them? Vincent's heart skipped as he realized it all could be a trap.

But that didn't make any sense. There was no way that the Turks could have known they had met up with Cid; for all they knew, Vincent and Kai were still chugging through the ocean on some tiny transport ship. Yes, that was it. They would take them completely unexpected.

Still nervous regardless of his mind trying to rationalize the situation, Vincent started for the cargo ship's ramp. There was no logical way he could have known, but something told him, made him believe utterly that Erika was on board. It was like a sixth sense tingling at the base of his skull. There was also another sense yelling at him to get the hell out of there while he still had the chance, but he wasn't listening. This was not the time for second thoughts.

The first thing he realized as he and Kai reached the top of the ramp was that there was someone else there. A watchman; standing back in the shadows of the mainsail. From the way he was standing, Vincent could tell he was holding a gun.

The watch's eyes flashed. With a gruff yell, he leapt at them. Vincent stumbled backwards, fumbling for his gun, but, as always, Kai was way ahead of him. Not even bothering to reach for her weapon, she delivered a quick snap-quick to the charging man's head. He crumpled to the ground immediately.

"Huh," Kai said, "Idiot, why didn't he just use his gun..?"

Vincent grinned at her fondly. Even at moments of highest stress, Kai didn't lose her composure. She never lost her composure. It was more than he could say for himself. He was just stumbling along, trying not to get killed. Of course, if his survival instincts were any good, they would have told him to stumble in the opposite direction.

"Where would the Turks be?" Kai asked as they started along the deck, heading for the stern.

"How would I know, I never even been on one of these dumps…Here, down here." A shadowy passage had opened up in the deck. A small staircase led down it.

Kai looked doubtful. "We shouldn't go down there, Vince. If they're up on the deck, they'll have us cornered."

Vincent hesitated. It was a good point, one that he hadn't considered. But regardless of that, the dark yawning entrance to the bowls of the ship enticed him.

"This is it, I know it is," he said firmly, "Someone is down here."

"Alright, if you say so." She looked at him quizzically. "Do you have a psychic connection to that Seph kid or something?"

Vincent groaned. "Dear God, I hope not. Now shut up, we have to be sneaky."

All that did was make Kai go into a fit of giggles, which she attempted to stave of by shoving her fist into her mouth. Vincent smiled. A little levity before a fight was always nice, but they had to keep serious.

"This is it," he said, keeping his voice steady, "No more letting them get away, no more false alarms. They're here, I can feel it. And we're going to get them."

Kai, who was done giggling, flashed him a sly smile. "You know we are."

She pushed past him, leading the way down the stairs. At the bottom, they paused for a few moments to let their eyes adjust. The interior was silent and smelled of something sharp and sweet, almost…cinnamon? That was an extremely ridiculous notion. Ships smelled of, well, shipy things; fish, salt, mildew. Not cooking spices.

The stairs had led to a wide hall. Once again, one of the last things Vincent would have expected to see in a ship. It seemed to take up the entire interior of the ship, and it was completely empty. It occurred to him that this could have been the cargo hold. But then where were all the sleeping quarters and the galley and everything else that was supposed to be on a ship? Vincent glanced at Kai, expecting her to be just as confused as he was, but her eyes were locked on something in the center of the hall, something he hadn't seen at first, though he wondered how he could have missed it.

In fact, it was more than one something. A circle shimmered on the wooden boards of the floor, looking like it had been drawn with silvery chalk. Inside the circle were two things. The first was a large, old-fashioned wooden chest, complete with a large metal lock. Beside it lay a body. Vincent gasped and ran forward.

It was Seph. He wasn't moving, he didn't even seem to be breathing. He was still wearing the same torn-up black garments he had had on when Vincent had found him in Scarlet's shed. His hair was dirty and strewn about; the exact same color as the circle on the floor.

Kai's eyes were wide. "Is that...?"

"Yeah. That's Seph." Vincent moved to check his pulse, but the moment his foot touched the edge of the circle, there was a crackle of energy, and he was thrown backwards. He hit the ground hard, his head snapping back against the boards. Blackness swirled at the edges of his vision, but he fought to remain conscious. Slowly, painfully, he sat up.

"What on the Planet was that?"

"A barrier," Kai answered, offering a hand to pull him up, "It looks like the Turks have gone fishing and left Seph and whatever the hell is in that chest protected. Really protected, I've never seen one so powerful that it could throw someone across a room."

"Right, great," Vincent said, rubbing his head gingerly, "And how do we take it down?"

Kai shrugged. "I have no clue. You'll have to ask Erika."

Vincent laughed humorlessly. That wasn't going to happen. They would have to find a way to get rid of the barrier on their own. And quickly; they didn't know when the Turks would be back. On a whim, he pulled out his gun and fired a couple shots towards the circle. The sound of the gun rang out, amplified by the size of the hall. Thick Cracks spider webbed themselves through thin air, as the bullets strove to penetrate the barrier, and for a moment Vincent thought it had worked. But then the air above the silver line glowed, and the bullets vanished in a flash of light.

"Damn it!" Vincent yelled. A blind fury was working itself through him, intensified no doubt by the alcohol.

"That won't work, Vince," Kai said gently, prying the gun from his fingers, "Force won't work, you're lucky the shots didn't ricochet of and hit you."

"How then?" Vincent demanded.

"I just told you, I don't know!" Kai snapped, her temper rising.

Vincent didn't respond to her. Instead, he approached the barrier, stopping inches away from the edge of the silver circle. Though he couldn't see anything, he could definitely feel it there; humming with some sort of suppressed intensity. He was sure it would come to life the second anything touched it. Regardless of this, he pressed a hand to it.

Vincent expected to be blasted off his feet again, but instead the energy that made up the barrier wavered. A second later, it dispersed into thin air. The circle at his feet disappeared. He had taken down the barrier. But how? Bullets hadn't been able to penetrate it and he had barely touched it. He glanced back at Kai. She looked as surprised as he was.

"What did you do?"

"I don't know," he answered, waving the question aside, "It doesn't matter anyway." He focused his attention on Seph, who was as motionless as he had been when they had come in. His pulse was strong and steady, but his eyes were closed tightly and he didn't respond when Vincent shook him by the shoulders. He was either unconscious or under some sort of spell. The latter seemed much more likely. He recalled back to when Seph had been abducted, the same night all hell had broken loose in Kalm. Reno had done something strange to him, something that made him follow compliantly. It would be just as easy to put him into some sort of magical sleep. Vincent didn't know much about that kind of stuff.

But Kai did. She pushed him aside. "Here, I'll do it." She bent down and put a hand to Seph's forehead. Then she pulled back his eyelids, like a doctor checking a patient for signs of life. Vincent tried to read her expression, but her face was blank.

"Well?" he prodded, "Can you wake him up?"

In answer, Kai placed her left hand on the top of Seph's head. She closed her eyes and a small blue glow seeped from her fingers, the same glow that had appeared when she had healed Vincent's torn muscle. Nothing happened.

Kai shook her head. "I've never seen anything like this before. He's not in there."

Vincent didn't understand. "What do you mean, 'not in there'?"

Kai hit the floor in frustration. "This doesn't make any sense! His body is completely fine, alive and everything, but he's…his spirit, or whatever the hell is inside us…He doesn't have one. Either that or it's been caged."

Vincent's eyes grew wide. "Can someone really do that?" he gasped, "Can you really cage someone's…soul?"

"I've heard of it done, but I've never met anyone who could. You have to have some fucking serious power going on to do this, Vince." Kai's eyes were afraid. "I think we may be in over our heads."

Vincent was about to argue this point, when he remembered the other thing that had been in the circle. He turned to the chest. "Do you think you can pick this lock?" he asked Kai, feeling the cool metal in his hands, "It doesn't look too-,"

There was a soft click and the lock sprang open. Vincent looked at it in bewilderment. He hadn't done anything at all. Hell, he couldn't do anything. But there was the lock, in his hands, open like magic.

"Well?" Kai said, "Don't sit there looking like a moron. Open it!"

Vincent obeyed. He didn't know what he was expecting to find inside, but what he did find was definitely not it. Light of every color of the rainbow spilled from the chest, illuminating the shadowy hall. The light was coming from little spheres, no bigger than marbles. Though Vincent had never seen it before, he knew exactly what it was.

"Materia," he breathed excitedly. He now knew where the strange cinnamony smell had come from. The tiny, portable creation of concentrated Mako energy that gave the wearer incredible strength, speed, endurance, inelegance, or anything else that you could desire. And it was said to smell of cooking spices. He had always just assumed that was a popular joke. It was very expensive and difficult to make. And here was tons of it, jumbled together in a chest in the empty hold of an old ship.

"Well I'll be downright damned," Kai laughed, leaning over his shoulder to see into the chest. "That's why there isn't a fricking thing in the entire place."

"Why not?" Vincent asked, glancing at her.

"Materia contaminates everything around it when it's not being worn. See the inside of the chest?" She pointed at the sides, which were coated in some kind of metal. "That's lead. It's stops a lot of it from getting out, but it can't stop all of it."

Vincent snapped the lid shut. "Do you think that's what happened to Seph? Will it happen to us?" He stood up and backed away from the chest.

Kai giggled. "Short-term exposure won't do anything, I'm sure. As for Seph…I have no idea what the repercussions of being so close to it might be. Depends on how long he's been here."

Vincent looked at her sharply. "I had no idea you were such a brain. "Repercussions' is a big word."

"Shut up," Kai ordered, punching him lightly on the arm, "I've got brains; I hide it well. Just don't tell anyone."

"Okay," Vincent grinned, "I guess we better get him out of here, huh?" He was trying to work out the best way to carry Seph off the ship, when Kai mentioned something he had forgotten about.

"What about Erika?"

Vincent didn't answer right away. Oh yeah. They had only found half of what they had came for. He still had to kill Erika. But looking now at the two people in the hold with him, Kai standing and Seph slumped on the ground, he wondered. Was it really that important? If they could just get away, so far that the Shinra would never find them, they would be safe. It would take a lot of effort, but eventually he would be able to…

"Forget Erika," Vincent said, hefting Seph onto his back in a fire-man's hold, "It doesn't matter, we can just-,"

"Aww, Vincent, that hurts."

Vincent felt ice gather in his stomach. His back was to the door. He turned.

There was Erika, standing on the threshold, in all her leather-clad Turk glory, looking immensely pleased with herself. Just behind her was Reno. They were both holding guns. Tseng and Scarlet were nowhere to be seen, but Vincent didn't think they could be very far away.

Life was so damn ironic. Just as he had decided to give up this suicidal chase, he turns around to find who? Erika, springing a trap, for he now knew that that's exactly what it had all been. Kai was right, the chest and Seph, they were both just bait to lure them into the hold from which there was no escape. They had walked right into it. Vincent slowly let Seph down to the ground. He was making his shoulders ache.

"Put your hands up and stand next to him." Erika pointed at the silver-haired boy with her gun. Vincent and Kai obeyed. "Bring Sephiroth here, Reno."

Reno slid his gun into its holster and walked over to where the circle had been. Heaving Seph unceremoniously off the ground, he dragged him back to Erika. At any moment, Vincent expected to be shot, but neither of them moved. The Turk leader probably wanted to gloat. That meant they had half a chance.

"Let's face it, Vinny," Erika laughed, "You're screwed."

"Uh huh," Vincent answered, barely paying attention. He had to think of a plan, but he also had to distract Erika from shooting. He looked up. "How do you know my name?" He failed to mention that he absolutely hated being called 'Vinny'.

Erika and Reno smirked. "Well, let's just say the boss has had his eye on you for quite some time now."

"The boss?" Kai repeated.

"Yes, the boss, little Bandit girl," Reno answered, sweeping his blazing red hair from his eyes, "And he's interested in Mr. Valentine, not you."

"He's interested in me?" Vincent asked.

"Your last name is Valentine?" Kai asked, something between shock and laughter hovering in her eyes, "Embarrassing."

Vincent gave her a look. "Not really, it's more like-,"

"Enough!" Erika was getting impatient. "This isn't a tea party, people. So shut up and listen." She turned to Vincent. "Come with us quietly, and we won't have to hurt anybody. Much." The last word she said while her eyes flicked to Kai.

"Don't go with them, Vince," Kai said, and he could tell she was fighting to stay calm, "Erika's lying. What could a Shinra boss want with you? They're here for Seph and the Materia."

Before Vincent could agree, several things happened in very rapid succession. Seph's eyes snapped open. He took one look around the room, then bit Reno's hand viciously. And Reno, who wasn't prepared for this, let go of him. At the same time, the boat keeled dangerously to one side and the sound of it hitting the dock was audible. This threw everyone of balance, and knocked Seph into a wall as he hastened to get up the steps.

But the only thing Vincent could see was that Erika was distracted. Yelling something incoherent, he leapt toward her, drawing his gun as he went. But all Erika had really done was take one glance at Seph, and she was facing him again in an instant. Her gun was in her hand, and she had been doing this a lot longer than he had. The last thing Vincent saw before the gun cracked was Erika's smirking face.

A moment later, he was lying on the wooden floor a few feet to the right of the bullet's path. He looked up, confused. How had he gotten here? What he saw made his blood run cold. Kai, kneeling on the ground, hands clutching at her stomach.

Erika put her gun up. "We'll meet you up on the deck then, boy. Come when she's bled dry. And don't worry about Sephiroth. He may have gotten away but I'm sure Tseng's got him up on the deck. Later."

Vincent hadn't heard any of that. He didn't even watch as the two Turks ascended the stairs. He was too busy looking at Kai. As he rushed to her side, she gave a little moan and slumped to the floor. Her body was shaking and her eyes were clouding over.

"Kai!" Vincent yelled, his voice close to hysterical, "Don't die, please don't die! We'll get you to a hospital, I swear. Just, don't…die."

Kai was trying to focus on his face. "No, it won't help. Don't interrupt me," she ordered, as he began to protest. "Everyone's life's gotta end, Vince, and I'll be damned if mine's gonna end in any other way than going down in the fight against the Shinra, and I have." She was forced to stop here and cough for a moment, the effort of speaking taking a toll on her. But watching her, Vincent realized there was no point in telling her to reserve her strength. Blood was seeping from the wound, spreading across her shirt. The bullet had done its job. He felt tears start in his eyes.

"No! There's no way I'm gonna just let you give up\," he yelled, regardless. Kai, the last person he had in the world was dying before his eyes. He couldn't take it.

Kai raised a hand and touched his face gently. "Shut up. You always did talk too much." A sob wracked Vincent's body as he grabbed the hand and squeezed it tightly. Kai's grip was much weaker than his.

Her bright green eyes were beginning to lose their brilliance. "I'm glad I got to help you, Vince, and I'm glad I got to kiss you." She buried her face in the front of his shirt as she spoke. He remained there, holding her, until her grip on his hand went limp. Vincent looked into her face, her eyes now no more than empty holes, and gave out a tortured, animal-like cry. He didn't care if the Turks heard it, they could all rot in hell.

Erika had taken everything away from him. His father, Gon, Scarlet, and now Kai. Now he knew, more than ever, that she had to die. He would kill her, and everyone else that worked for the Shinra Corporation.

Gently, he set Kai's body down on the floor. "I love you," he whispered, standing up. Why hadn't he told her that while she was still here? Hell, why hadn't he told her back at the dock?

I was too scared to, he thought in disgust, I'm nothing but a coward. But maybe I can do some good.

Pulling his gun out, he stood up and began to climb the stairs to the deck. A red mist was settling over his eyes, making him feel crazier than anything he had ever experienced. He felt dangerous, he felt insane. He needed to kill every last one of the Turks, and after that he had no idea what he would do. Maybe he would drown himself in the harbor, if it would kill the growing ache in his chest, if it would get Kai's face out of his mind.

Reaching the deck, he barely paused as he saw Tseng turn from where he had been looking out to sea. Without so much as a second glance, Vincent fired. Tseng screamed as the bullet ripped through his shoulder, sending him toppling off the ship into the clear waters of Costa del Sol. He didn't have time to worry about he; there was only one person he was concerned with at the moment, and she was standing at the stern. Beside her were Scarlet and Reno, who had one arm on Seph, which was once again in some sort of catatonic trance.

As Vincent approached, Erika smiled approvingly at him. "Very good, you're beginning to learn."

"Learn what?" Vincent couldn't help asking.

"Learning to do whatever you have to do to get what you want," she answered, indicating that Scarlet should go fish Tseng out of the water, "You want to kill me, right?" Her eyes narrowed. "What are you going to do about it?"

Vincent raised his gun, but before he could even put his finger on the trigger, a spot on the deck a foot to the left of him exploded in a flurry of splinters. Erika had shot so fast he hadn't even see her move.

"That'll never work, Vinny," she laughed, "You'll die before you can fire. But that wouldn't be any fun for me." She smirked and, to Vincent's surprise, put her gun away. Instead, she pulled out two long daggers from the back of her belt. Taking a few steps forward, she tossed one to Vincent, who caught it, narrowly missing slicing off a few of his fingers.

"What?" he asked blankly.

"I'm giving you an honest chance to kill me. Let's go."

She began to circle around towards him. Vincent, who had never used a dagger before in his life, copied her. He wouldn't really call this an 'honest' chance, more like a one-sided contest, but he wouldn't give up. As he understood it, you had to stab the person with the pointy end. How hard could it be?"

"I imagine you're feeling rather upset at the moment, aren't you, Vinny?" Erika asked in a voice full of false concern. She took a swipe at him, forcing him to take a rather undignified hop backwards.

"No worse than your gonna feel," he answered after he had got his footing. He tried a haphazard thrust with the knife, but didn't even come close to Erika. He doubted he could have hit her if she had been standing still.

"You really loved that little bandit whore, didn't you?" Erika asked, "Too bad she had to bleed to death. And you probably never got a chance to profess your true feelings?"

Vincent could feel his anger beginning to boil over. With a strangled cry, he leapt at the Turk leader, swinging the dagger like one of the axes he used to chop wood with back at home. Erika didn't move, and for a second he thought he had her. But a moment later, she stepped to one side, swinging her knife up in an arc. Vincent's own weapon clattered to the deck. He felt a sharp pain in his wrist. He glanced at his left arm. He didn't have a wrist left.

Lying on the deck beside the dagger was his hand, bleeding slowly.

Vincent screamed. He fell to his knees, cradling his bleeding stump of an arm. Now that he saw it, the pain came in full measure. He had never felt anything this horrible in his life. There was nothing he could compare it with.

"Well, that's done," Erika commented, sliding the bloody blade back into its scabbard. She leaned down until she and Vincent were face to face. "You've been beaten. Lucky for you the boss wants what's left of you. Come quietly, and we'll let you live, and we'll even give you a new hand. How does that sound?"

Vincent made a sound in his throat halfway between a growl and a sob.

Erika laughed quietly. "Oh, you'll say yes, because then you'll have another chance at killing me."

Blackness was beginning to ebb at the corners of Vincent's vision. He wouldn't last much longer with his arm bleeding so freely. Very slightly, so that Erika barely saw it, he nodded.

Lucrecia watched as they brought him in. A tan, muscular boy with dirty black hair and his arm wrapped in bandages. He was a lot younger than she had imagined. He looked so defenseless and innocent, lying there on the operating table surrounded by scientists and doctors.

Lucrecia knew that would all change.