Disclaimer: I do not own any of the final fantasy characters. If I did, I would tie them up and…wait, did I say that…? I, uh, meant that I would, uh…never mind.

Author's Note: Wow, people, I am really sorry about the massive delay. First it was the sudden onset of school and AP homework, and then my computer was completely raped by a virus.

Chapter 13

Staying Alive

Dear Mr. President;

I am pleased in inform you that subject 362 is performing exactly as we have predicted. I personally preformed the Materia procedure, and connected the Enhancer to his spinal cord. With your permission, I would like to take the experiment to its next stage as soon as possible.

As for subject #134, he has reached the critical stage. We will begin procedures immediately, and he will be ready for your inspection in two month's time. I know this is several weeks later than we initially agreed upon, but his behavior pattern has become erratic, and we wish to ensure your safety on your visit.

I look forward to seeing you in the near future.

With all due respect,

Dr. M. Hojo

Vincent unlocked his door with a swipe of the magnetized card. Slamming it shut behind him, he collapsed into his bed, almost falling asleep the moment his body touched the mattress. But he had to force himself to keep his eyes open. He had sworn to himself this morning that he would eat dinner with Lucrecia that night.

For the past week and a half, he had avoided her at all costs. It felt like he had used and exhausted every excuse known to mankind. He was sick, he was tired, he wasn't hungry, he had to have a check-up. He was sure Lucrecia had stopped believing him days ago. It was stupid, he had to admit, but he didn't want to have to face her. He didn't know what he'd say. And the worst part of it was that it wasn't her fault.

It was Erika's. Vincent had spent a good part of those nights alone plotting how he would get back at her. Because of her idiotic prank, he now couldn't spend time with the only friend he had at the Shinra Labs without feeling awkward. She had screwed up his life in every aspect, and she didn't seem about to stop now.

About a week ago, his so called agent-training had begun. To Vincent it didn't seem much like training, more like insane physical tests. Scientists watched and recorded how fast he could run a mile, how quickly he could scale a brick wall. They wanted to see how far he could jump. So far, there hadn't seemed to be any training of any kind.

But what really pissed him off was who had been put in charge to oversee it. Erika. She stood there, smirking, watching him jump, run, and climb at the beck and call of the scientists. He had complained to Hojo about it, but he had just insisted that since Erika was the leader of the Turks, she had to be there to check out her new agent.

Lying on his bed, Vincent mumbled something not even he could understand and rolled onto his back. The silence of the facility was pressing in on his eardrums. In the month (or months, he could never tell how long) he had spent here, he hadn't grown accustomed to the oppressive atmosphere. It was like the entire building was some giant monster, trying to smother him in its cold embrace, trying to squeeze the very life out of him. It was not a pleasant atmosphere in which to live.

"What time is it?" he asked the darkness, suddenly realizing he was too tired to sit up and look at the clock. A moment later, he realized he was too tired to do anything. Blackness was creeping up on the edges of his vision, dragging him down into the dark depths of sleep. But this didn't feel like sleep.

This-this-was artificial.

Vincent slipped into a foggy, dazed state halfway between wakefulness and oblivion. It was like he was watching himself from somewhere else. He was aware of the two scientists who came into his room and heaved him onto a gurney, but he was powerless to fight them. He watched through slitted eyes as he was wheeled down the white metal hallways into a part of the facility he had never been before.

He must have zoned out at that point, for the next thing he saw was a pair of glasses glinting in the bright Mako lights. The glasses were perched on the nose of a familiar face. Dr. Hojo was leaning over Vincent, a small smile curling his lips up.

"That's it, Mr. Valentine," he purred, "Just stay calm. We need you awake for this stage. The final stage, I might add."

Vincent moved his lips, trying to respond, but nothing came out. His body felt like it had been turned into rubber. Everything was unreal and, even as one of the scientists took a scalpel and began to make an incision in his chest, he still couldn't help feeling that this was nothing but a dream. He could feel the knife slicing him apart, and he knew it should be excruciating, but his brain didn't register the pain.

The doctor set down the scalpel. Then he slid his gloved hand into Vincent's chest. It was the most peculiar sensation, having someone reach into your body and pull something out. At first, he thought that man had pulled out his heart, but then he saw that what he had in his hand was much smaller than a heart, and glowing with a very faint blue light.

"Just as I suspected," he heard Hojo mutter, "It's almost completely taken root. Replace it."

Vincent could only watch, repulsed, as the doctor traded the blue gem (for that is what it looked like) for a much larger specimen, this one bright green. There was a loud squelching sound as the man thrust it into his chest.

Vincent fainted after that.

When he awoke in his bed, he could move again, which he did, immediately sitting up and examining his chest. There was a faint scar running the length of his heart to his navel. It looked months old, as though the operation had been done a long time ago, but it did rule out the whole thing having been a dream. He collapsed back onto his pillow. It was then that he became aware of someone else in the room with him.

"Don't move too much," said a familiar voice.

Vincent turned his head and nearly cried out in shock. Sitting on a chair beside his bed was a red-headed girl with fiery eyes.

"Kai!" he yelled, sitting up.

A worry line appeared between Kai's eyes. "Who?" she asked.

Vincent froze. Slowly, he rubbed his face with his hands. When he looked back, Kai was gone, replaced by Lucrecia.

"Hi," he muttered, falling back into bed.

Lucrecia put a hand on his forehead. "You poor thing. They've given you way too much of that drug."

"What drug?"

"It's an engineered substance that mixes with the bloodstream," Lucrecia explained, sadness in her eyes, "It calms the subject down, but it does more than that. You've probably felt strange for the past month, haven't you?"

Vincent nodded. Strange was an understatement.

"Well, it's because of the drug. Your friend Kai died, killed by Erika, but you've had contact with Erika here at the lab. The Shinra destroyed your home, but you've stayed here, going along with everything. You haven't caused any trouble."

"What are you getting at?" Vincent asked. Lucrecia was saying some weird things. Sure, all those things had happened, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. That was why he had been a good little boy for the past month…Even as his brain offered these explanations, something buried deeper disagreed. For a moment, it felt like his mind was being pulled in two directions, but then it passed.

"You'll understand in a minute," Lucrecia told him decidedly. She pulled something out of her lab coat, a syringe and a vial filled with a clear liquid. She filled the syringe and turned to him. Vincent instinctively shied away, but Lucrecia caught his wrist. "Stay still," she ordered, her eyes boring into his.

Vincent felt the bite of the needle as she slid it underneath his skin. For a moment, nothing happened.

And then something did.

Vincent couldn't find any way to describe it. The dams had burst in his brain, and thoughts he should have been having for the past month came swirling in. Kai was dead. He was being experimented on in a Shinra lab. He needed to find some way to escape!

He tried to rise, but Lucrecia pushed him back down resolutely.

"You have to stay still and think for awhile," she said, "All the thoughts Dr. Hojo didn't want you to have need to be processed. Did you ever wonder why you haven't cried for your friend, why you haven't killed everyone in this facility? It's because of the drug. It works better than any cage could."

Vincent nodded. And for the next half an hour, he did what he had been told. He thought.

It was incredible. He should have escaped a long time ago, or he should have at least asked some questions. He tried to think back to the last time when he had actually been bothered by thoughts of Kai and revenge. Well, all the time, actually. But he had never acted on them. He had been only part of himself, the rest of his mind locked away. The drug had tied his hands. He had drifted through a haze for the last month. And now he was awake.

He looked over at Lucrecia. She hadn't moved since she had explained what was going on. She was now simply looking at him, unabashedly. Not for the first time, she reminded Vincent of someone, though he couldn't place who. But the real question was, why was she helping him?

"Why did you give me an antidote?" he asked suddenly, "Don't you work for the Shinra too?"

"I do," Lucrecia agreed, a look of disgust rising on her face, "But not by choice. I couldn't let you keep being lied to."

Vincent looked at her sharply. "There never was any agent training, was there?"

Lucrecia shook her head. "No. Those were just physical tests to check your progress."

"My progress?"

Lucrecia sighed. "Well, I might as well tell you." She looked like she really didn't want to. "You are an experiment. Subject #362. Hojo is has been exposing your body to high levels of Mako Energy, in hopes to create…"

"To create what?" Vincent prodded, his eyes wide, "Tell me!"

Lucrecia didn't answer right away. She seemed to be considering if she'd gone too far.

"Please, Lucrecia," he begged, trying to look as helpless as possible, "Tell me." He grabbed her hand. She pulled it away, but she went on.

"Hojo is aiming to create…the ultimate life form. An 'Angel' he calls it."

Vincent's lips formed the words. Ultimate life form. It sounded impossible, science fiction. No one could create Angels.

"Are you serious?" he breathed, "Is it actually working?"

Lucrecia nodded gravelly. "Yeah, it seems to be."

"I-I'm subject 362? Does that mean 361 of them have failed?"

"No." Lucrecia hung her head. "360 have failed. There's one more. He's even farther along than you are."

"Who?" Vincent demanded.

Lucrecia opened her mouth to answer, but she was cut off by a sudden crackle of static. A voice had begun to issue from the intercom beside Vincent's door.

"That's quite enough, Lucrecia my dear." Hojo's words dripped poison. "Now, if you would be so kind as to escort our dear Mr. Valentine to my office?"

Vincent and Lucrecia shared a look.

"How did he..?" Vincent began.

Lucrecia stood up. "He always does."

Vincent knew they really had no choice but to go. Hojo reigned supreme over the facility; his word was law. But this time, Vincent's mind was clear. There was no drug in his system designed to talk him out of his revenge. And he would have it. Lucrecia didn't look anywhere near as confident as he felt. Her shoulders were hunched and her head was down. She seemed to be trying to make herself as small as possible.

When they reached Hojo's office, they both paused. Neither of them wanted to go in. But they had to. Vincent put out a hand and turned the knob. What he saw made him freeze on the doorstep. Hojo was seated behind his desk. In his hand was an electric- blue sphere of rolling energy. It crackled, filling the air around it with static, and causing Hojo's hair to stand ridiculously on end.

Vincent's eyes had only just taken all of this in, when Hojo lobbed it at him. It hit him full in the chest. The electricity covered his body, dropping him to the floor in an instant. Lucrecia screamed.

"Calm down," Hojo said, not moving from where he lounged behind his desk, "He's not dead, just stunned. Now, if you would be so kind as to drag him in here with you, we can have a little discussion."

Lucrecia didn't like the sound of that, but she did as she was bid, dragging Vincent after her by the armpits, trying to be as gentle as possible.

"Shut the door behind you."

Vincent's head was pounding violently. He tried to move, but he found himself bound tightly. He tried to yell, but his throat seemed to have stopped working. Suddenly, he realized his eyes were closed.

He opened them.

The last thing he remembered seeing was Hojo, throwing a ball of energy his way. It must have knocked him out, because he was now inside one of the training rings. One wall was designed for climbing, and a number of ropes hung from the ceiling. In the very center of the room was a wooden post, like a tether ball pole without the ball. It was this that he had been tied to.

It was the second time that day he had blacked out and then been tied up somewhere. But the thing that was really making his blood boil were the spectators. High up on the northern wall was a clear glass window, with a perfect view of the ring. Standing in it was Dr. Hojo, and lurking a little behind him was Lucrecia.

Vincent struggled against the ropes binding him to the post, but it was no use. Whoever had tied him up knew their stuff.

"There is no point in doing that, Mr. Valentine." Hojo's voice had rung out across the ring. Vincent could hear him just as well as if he had been standing right next to him and not behind a sheet of reinforced, bullet-proof glass.

"Let me go!" he snarled, letting himself hang limply in the ropes once again, "I know everything about what you're doing to me! You're turning me into some cyberly enhanced freak!"

"Oh, I wouldn't use those terms," Hojo said idelly, leaning against the glance, "I believe 'Genetically Altered' would be more appropriate to describe the transformations taking place inside your body."

"I don't care what you call it!" Vincent began to thrash against his bonds again. "I know you're so fucking insane you experiment on human beings. You're doing it me and…" Vincent trailed off, suddenly realizing something that had been eluding him for quite some time. "And you're doing it to Seph! That's why he tried to escape!"

A moment later, Vincent wished her hadn't said anything. A look of such intense pain filled Lucrecia's eyes, who until now had been hovering at Hojo's shoulder.

"No, you're…you're not like Sephiroth, Vincent," she stammered, "But you are…uh, special."

Vincent very much wanted to snort and roll his eyes, but Lucrecia's expression stopped him. He didn't want to make her look any more unhappy than she already did.

And besides, he had just been distracted by Hojo's next words.

"I am going to prove something to you, Mr. Valentine," he was saying, "You will witness the intense improvements these modifications have had on your physical being."

As he said this, a door opposite Vincent's post opened. Erika strode in. Her usual haughty manner dropped almost instantly when she saw him.

"What is this?" she demanded, "They told me Hojo wanted to see me!"

"I did, Erika."

Erika spun around. Hojo was smiling at her from behind the glass. It was a smile that could make the blood run cold.

"Yes, I did want to see you," Hojo went on, absently examining his fingernails as though this conversation was the least important thing on his agenda, "I want you to participate in a small experiment. It won't take up much of your valuable time."

Vincent could tell Erika had noticed the amused sarcasm in his voice. "What do you mean?" she asked, her tone wary.

Hojo, however, had slid his gaze form her to Vincent. "I'm sure you know Erika quite well by now, am I right?"

Vincent didn't even dignify this with a response.

"Yes," Hojo was nodding. "She destroyed your town, killed everyone you care about, and played an extremely tasteless and, forgive me, amusing, practical joke on you."

Vincent made a disgusted sound in his throat. He would hardly call what Erika had tried to pull to get in his pants a 'practical joke'. And how had Hojo found out? Did that mean Lucrecia knew as well? Heart in his throat, Vincent looked up at her. Her face was unreadable. If she did know, she was giving nothing away.

"Aren't you angry with Erika, Vincent?" Hojo was saying, "You came all this way to kill her, and you've had to see her face for the last month, powerless to do anything."

Now that Hojo mentioned it, Vincent was angry. His blood had begun to boil the moment Erika had walked through the door. Now suddenly it felt like the boiling

sensation was spreading through every other part of his body. His skin was hot, his bones ached, and there was an odd throbbing in his head. A funny mist had descended over his vision, and the only thing in that field of vision was Erika.

He wanted to see her dead, feel her blood on his hands. As this ran through his mind, the rolling in his stomach increased. His skin was bubbling, his head was going to explode…

Suddenly, everything stopped. His vision had clouded, but now it was quickly returning to normal, better than normal, even. He could see with a keenness he had never known before; the whole world was covered with new color. Smells he couldn't recognize were bombarding him, making it hard to breathe. And above it all, he could hear Hojo's voice.

"Erika is right there. Don't you want to make her suffer?"

Yes! Vincent wanted to yell it out loud, but all that escaped from his throat was a harsh growl. He struggled against the ropes binding him to the post and, to his surprise, they gave way as though they were made of paper.

Erika was still standing by the door, but Vincent had a hard time recognizing her for a second. The Erika he knew and hated would have been standing there, a cocky sneer on her face, not backed against the wall with fear in her eyes, like this one was. He took a step toward her and she screamed.

Vincent didn't stop to consider this odd turn of events. He could smell Erika's blood, he could almost taste it. Rotating his shoulder to work out the kinks being tied to a post can create, he began to stride toward her. His body felt strangely heavy, but other than that he felt brilliant. He felt like he could have run up a wall if he was so inclined.

Before he could reach her, Erika had drawn her gun and fired off two rounds.

Instinct took over then. Vincent felt himself spring to one side, the bullet rustling his hair. It had missed him by a quarter of an inch. Erika screamed again and began to empty her gun in his direction. It had absolutely no effect, as Vincent found some way to avoid every single one of them. He didn't know how he was doing it.

Reaching her, he swung an arm. It smashed into the side of Erika's face, sending her sprawling to the ground at his feet. Holding up the hand he had used to hit her, Vincent gasped. There was something wrong with it. The skin had turned black and the nails had become claws. His other arm was still a giant metal glove, but it was now attached to an elbow that most certainly wasn't his.

Erika moaned. She had risen to her feet, and she seemed to be putting forth every effort not to topple over again. Her eyes were out of focus and an angry red mark covered her left cheek. For a moment, she simply stared at him. Then, she turned and scampered unceremoniously back to the door. She opened the lock with her employee's card and ran through.

Vincent stared after her. Erika, run away from a fight? He wouldn't have thought it possible of her. She was a killer, and killers weren't afraid of anything. Were they? He looked up to Hojo, hoping for an explanation, but the head scientist was gone. The only person visible through the window was Lucrecia. She looked horrorstruck, as though she had just seen a ghost. She was yelling something at him, but he wasn't listening. He had already followed Erika through the door.

Vincent could see her; she had just whipped around the corner. He broke into a run, pursuing her along the long white corridor. It only took him a minute, however, to realize that there was no need to hurry. This strangely heightened new sense of smell was coming in handy. There wasn't anywhere in the building she could go where he couldn't find her.

He followed her scent down another hall, and then into a lab. It was large and brightly lit, and completely empty of people. It was a pity, Vincent would have liked to kill Erika in front of a few witnesses. She was now huddled between two large metal cabinets, as far from him as possible.

Vincent grinned. She wasn't even going to fight back? This was looking to be quite an easy feat. He paced toward her, a panther closing in on its prey. But before he could reach her, he was stopped short by the sight before him. The lab had several work tables, each of them spotlessly clean, their silver surfaces reflecting as well as any mirror. As he passed one, he realized why Erika had screamed.

Staring at him from the tabletop was a demon. Its skin was black and leathery, its hair long and tangled. Great feathery wings reared from its back. And it had Vincent's eyes.

He raised his hands. The demon copied him. He shook his head back and forth. The demon did the same.

Vincent could feel a shriek growing inside him, but when it burst out it sounded nothing like his voice. An unearthly screech filled the lab, resounding of the walls until it sounded like ten monsters instead of one.

What had happened to him? He had been perfectly normal a few minutes ago…hadn't he? Hojo had hit him with some sort of energy bomb. That could have changed him somehow. Had he been like this the whole time he had been talking to the scientist in the training ring?

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden pain in his shoulder. He turned, to find Erika standing there, brandishing a long knife. She hadn't been cowering in a corner, she had been waiting for him to approach. The look on her face was wild and desperate, as she drew her arm up and aimed the knife his way once again. Vincent caught the blade as it arched toward his head.

He could feel it biting into his palm, but he didn't let go. It didn't actually hurt that much, either that or he had come to perceive pain in a new way. He yanked the knife from Erika's grasp and backhanded her across the face. The force of the blow sent her smashing into one of the metal cabinets.

She lay there for a few moments, coughing. When she looked back up, Vincent could see the marks his talons had made in her pale, beautiful skin. She was rising unsteadily to her feet, but he didn't give her a chance to regain her balance. Something inside of him was telling him he had to kill. Now.

As he lunged forward, it occurred to him that he didn't know how to kill. That didn't seem to matter, however, a few seconds later. His new instincts seemed to take over once again.

Vincent forced Erika against him, pulling her into a crushing embrace. Her face was full of something he had never seen on it before. Blind fear. He could smell it; it was intoxicating. He could smell something else as well. Her blood. He could hear the vein in her neck pumping it through her body. It was something he wanted to feel, to taste.

He bit down into her neck.

Erika screamed and struggled, but it was like a raft trying to escape the grip of a river; fruitless. Her blood tasted like nothing else in the world, there was nothing he could compare it to. Sweet, like sugar, but tangy, like salt. It was hot, but at the same time it was refreshing. He could feel her life diminishing, even as she thrashed in his arms.

Suddenly, the thrashing stopped. The blood instantly turned sour, and Vincent spat out his last mouthful. He let Erika's corpse fall to the ground. It hit the tiles with a dull thud.

Vincent yelled. The bubbling sensation was back in his stomach, spreading down his legs and up his chest. It stopped a few seconds later, and he glanced down at the table. His reflection was his own again; a slender, ragged boy with pale skin. And a bloodstain around his mouth.

Lucrecia found him in the lab, standing beside the body. She practically had to carry him to his room, the whole time feeling the way he shook in her arms. He wasn't saying anything, but she could piece together what had happened.

The seed Hojo had planted inside his body had finally germinated, fed by his hate for Erika. The demon rage had taken over him then, and he had chased her down and killed her. Lucrecia shuddered. And it looked like he had drunk her blood, as well.

Vincent awoke in a cold sweat. He tried to sit up, but his muscles didn't seem to be working too well. It had been a rough night. He had shook with fever for hours, until finally he had fallen asleep.

He had thrown up the blood earlier that night, his human organs not able to handle it. The taste of it still polluted his mouth, regardless of the his efforts to wash it out.

A soft knock came on the door. Lucrecia entered before he could answer. She was carrying a clipboard, dressed in her usual lab coat.

"Gonna take a few notes?" Vincent asked gruffly, making his throat work as best as he could.

"Of course not," Lucrecia answered, tossing the clipboard aside and drawing a chair up to his bed, "I wanted to see how you're feeling."

"Dandy."

"That's what I expected," Lucrecia said, not meeting his eyes. She had something to do with all of this, Vincent knew it, but he was just too exhausted to care about anything right now. He wished he could just fall asleep again, block everything out. He had killed Erika finally, but he felt nothing. No triumph, no relief. Nothing.

"I was thinking you'd want something to eat," Lucrecia began, reaching into her bag.

"I don't think I'd be able to keep it down," Vincent answered quietly.

"It's just an energy drink. Here." She threw it at him. He didn't even have to think. His arm shot up and snatched the can out of the air. He might have changed back into his normal self, but he still had the reflexes of that beast.

"Please, Lucrecia," he said hoarsely, "Tell me what the hell they did to me."

He opened the can. It actually took a few attempts, as he was still shivering horribly. He didn't drink it though; he still felt nauseous.

"Next time you decide to drink your victim's blood, you shouldn't change back before you've digested it."

Vincent glanced up. He couldn't tell if Lucrecia was trying to make a joke, or if she was giving him a piece of serious advice.

"I'll keep that it mind," he answered.

Lucrecia smiled a bit. "I don't really know where to begin…"

"I do," Vincent told her earnestly, "Why is Hojo doing this?"

"It's called the 'Jenova Project'. It was licensed by the President of the Shinra. He wants Ultimate Beings."

"But why?" Vincent asked, pushing himself into a sitting position, "Doesn't he already rule the Planet?"

"Yes he does, but the only thing power does is make you want more. He's taken the power of the people, the power of Mako, the Planet's lifeblood, and now he wants the power of the Ancients."

"The Ancients?"

Lucrecia ran her fingers through her hair. It caught the light and shone like pewter. Where had Vincent seen that before?

"The Ancients were the creatures who first lived on the Planet. They possessed incredible power of every variety, and lent it to us humans whenever we needed it. But, as the story always goes, humans took too much. The Ancients left us, but not before someone had killed one of them. Well, not killed exactly, more like imprisoned in a stasis. That is who Jenova is, just an empty shell."

"Okay…" Vincent said, struggling to follow, "But what does that have to do with me?"

"The thing Dr. Hojo put inside you is a crystallized, concentrated form of Jenova's cells. In layman's terms, you are some kind of odd clone."

Vincent lay back down with a thump. He didn't want to hear this right now; he regretted ever asking Lucrecia anything. But there was just one other thing he needed to know…

"So what happens now?" he asked, his voice robbed of emotion.

Lucrecia's eyes lingered on his face. "Now…The president wants an 'Angel' heading all of Shinra's departments. The other…specimen…heads Soldier, and you…you're now the leader of the Turks."

"What?" Vincent demanded, "I'm what?"

"Erika's…uh…gone," Lucrecia continued, "And you are taking her place."

Vincent began to laugh, but stopped almost immediately. It hurt his throat too much. He settled for an extremely scornful smile. Lucrecia coughed into her hand. He could tell she was covering a snicker. The look on his face fell. Did he really look that goofy when he was scornful?

"That look doesn't suit you, Vincent," she said amusedly, "And don't worry about the Turks right now. We can deal with that later. You aren't in any shape to be concerned with anything besides resting." She made to get up, but Vincent held her back.

"Can you tell me one thing?" he asked.

"Sure."

"Am I a vampire?"

Lucrecia laughed outright at this. "What? Why do you ask that?"

"I drank Erika's blood!" he said earnestly, "Isn't that what…vampires are supposed to do?"

Lucrecia shrugged. "Yes, but you're not one of them. You're…" she had to stop to think for a moment. "You're like a combination of all things, good and evil. I believe the blood draining is just a side effect of the demonic rage."

"Great," Vincent mused in agitation, "Demonic rage. All I need."

Lucrecia turned, her hand on the panel that opened the sliding door. Her eyes were expressionless as she said, "But the anger helped you. You destroyed your worst enemy, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Vincent answered, shifting uncomfortably, "But I would have destroyed anyone who got in my way too."

Lucrecia smiled at him, though he could tell it was strained. She walked back to his bed, and bent down, kissing him lightly on the forehead.

"It's going to be alright, Vincent," she told him, and her voice was so full of certainty that for a moment, he almost believed her. He didn't want to think about his demon problems. What he did want was for her to kiss him again. But at that moment, her hair caught the light again, and Vincent realized who Lucrecia reminded him of.

He jerked back. "I'm tired," he muttered to the wall.

"Alright. Goodnight." He heard her leave, the door sliding shut behind her. He rolled back onto his back.

If he was right, and he was sure he was, things were about to get a lot more interesting than he had ever wanted them to be.