Welcome back to my story, and welcome to chapter 2. There is A LOT of Lucrecia bashing in here, as I really dislike her, so if you're a fan of Lucrecia, don't read this. This one isn't terribly long, it's one of the shorter chapters. Enjoy!

Journal Entry 2

Destiny awoke to a cold hand touching her back, which made her jump at the feeling. She turned over to see Vincent there, with the same facial expression he wore for her last night.

"You've been sleeping far too long." Vincent said "How are you feeling?"

"I didn't sleep much last night." Destiny responded, pushing herself up from the mattress that had cradled her. She ran her right arm through her hair, moving back her silver strands, only for them to fall back into her face.

"Hmm," Vincent hummed monotonously, his eyes wandering over her slowly. "Give me your arm." He said, pointing to her right.

"Why?" She asked, while raising it slowly, until he took it, and looked over it. "Is something wrong?"

"You have geostigma too." He answered, his fingers dancing over the dark marks, causing her to wince a bit. "How long have you had this?" Vincent asked, still examining her arm.

"I don't know, I think about a year, maybe less." Destiny answered, pulling her arm from him softly.

"Do you have any other marks?" Vincent asked, looking concerned.

"Only a small patch on my side, it's not that bad." Destiny answered

"Its still geostigma, and it still hurts the same, it also spreads. I think we should go to Midgar, I know people there, and they might be able to help." Vincent said, walking to the door way of the room.

"Wait. What is geostigma, and why would we go back to Midgar, isn't that Shin-ra headquarters?" Destiny asked, now quite concerned.

"I'll explain geostigma later, and as I have said Shin-ra was shut down a while ago." Vincent responded.

"Isn't Midgar a long way off? And are you sure we can trust Shin-ra to be out of the picture?" Destiny

"I'm not exactly going to just shove you off by yourself, I'm going with you." Vincent explained

"Why are you doing this for me?" Destiny wondered out loud as her eyes darted towards the door.

"Self-redemption," Vincent answered shortly, turning his head from her as he walked down the stairs slowly. "Oh yeah" He called, stopping in mid step "I have some clothes for you on the chair. They aren't much, but you can get some that fit you later."

Destiny's eyes followed the floor to the chair where she saw a white shirt and a pair of black pants folded perfectly on the chair next to her bed. From the looks of it already, they were a little long for her, but she stood up to try them on anyways.

"You'll be down stairs in five minutes." Vincent responded, and his footsteps lost their sound a few moments later.

Destiny looked over the clothes, as she held them in front of her. The shirt would be okay, but the pants might pose a problem. She pushed her old white shirt off, blood now staining its once white face, as she examined it with a frown. She discarded it a moment later, and pulled the other shirt on, buttoning as far as it would go. She was well endowed, and so the buttoning thing didn't really work for her breasts, but she really didn't have any choice in what she could wear.

Destiny sighed, and discarded her old pants as well; pulling on the black ones he had given her. They were too long, but that was nothing the old fashioned rolling up trick wouldn't cure. All she had left were her black boots that she had stolen from Shin-ra, and with the rest of the outfit, it didn't look so bad. However, now wasn't the time to examine her clothes or even think about fashion (and its not like she cared anyways). Abandoning that thought, she left the small room, walking out the door and down the stairs where Vincent said he would be, and sure enough, there he was, loading his gun and holding what looked like a long staff in between his arm and chest.

Vincent didn't take his concentration away from his weapon, but he knew she was there, and after a moment he spoke. "This is yours." He said as he put the gun in the holster at his side, and then tossed the red staff at her, which she caught almost instantly.

"Do you know how to use that?" Vincent asked, turning his head to her.

"Not very well, I'm afraid." Destiny answered.

"Well, you're about to get better at it." Vincent informed.

"What do you mean?" Destiny asked.

"We have a long way to get to Midgar, and I am confident that you and I will encounter many battles. I can't fight them all off myself, so I could use your assistance in the matter." Vincent explained

"How far do we have to go exactly?" Destiny questioned

"If you want exact, I can't answer your question. I do know it will take us roughly six or seven days. We have to go around the mountains, across plains, and over the sea just to get to Midgar." Vincent answered. "Anymore questions?"

"No. Sorry, I didn't mean to ask so many." Destiny said softly.

"That's fine. Just stay on guard, we'll be sleeping under the stars." Vincent said while walking towards the front door. His right hand opened the door to the afternoon world, draped in the afternoon sun. "Oh. I almost forgot. When we get to town, we can get you some more suitable clothes, until then those will have to do." He added, stepping out the door, not even bothering to face her. Destiny followed, closing the old doors behind her, not even bothering to say 'bye' to wretched place.

A short interlude

Destiny stopped, holding her head wincing, it was acting up again, and the waves of pain were lasting longer, and becoming more intense.

"Are you down here again?" Vincent asked, interrupting her thoughts.

Destiny's head rose to give him eye contact, trying to force her lips to curve into smile. Vincent, not fooled by her attempt to mask her pain, frowned at her in disappointment.

"What did I tell you about over-exerting yourself?" Vincent warned, walking up to her, his frown growing ever longer.

"This is the first time it's acted up today, and I haven't been down here that long." Destiny argued.

"I don't care; it's Geostigma, not a cold. Geostigma doesn't just go away, Destiny. The only way you're going to get any better is if you rest, like I told you." Vincent retorted.

"I'm fine!" She yelled, rather surprised at her sudden out burst of anger.

"No you aren't." Vincent stated, looking down to her, standing next to the old rickety chair she sat in. Destiny didn't like it when he looked down to her, and knew he was angry when he did. "I told you to rest. I want you to do that." He added his frown now more of a glare.

"I'm sorry Vincent, I didn't mean to yell. Don't get upset. I'll rest now." Destiny whispered softly, her pain evident in her response. This brought Vincent down to one knee, and he put his hand on her arm.

"I wish you would listen to me about your condition, Dest." He sighed, his hand tightening on her arm slightly. Destiny lowered her head, as a tear escaped from her eye, and landed on her knee, now making him even more worried than before. "Come on, I'm going to put you to bed. You can always come back to write more after you sleep for a while." He said, pulling her to him, catching her in his arms as she fell from her chair.

Things weren't so bad in Destiny's mind, but Vincent always looked down on things, but that was just how Vincent was, that's how he had been since she met him.

Journal Entry resumed

Last she could remember they had only gotten as far as the edge of the mountains that surrounded Nibelheim as the moon rose over their steep tops. So far they had only encountered minimal enemies such as wolves and small goblins, and each time Vincent had been the victor and only participator in battle.

"You should learn to use that thing." Vincent said shortly, his back facing her. "The next time we fight, I'm not going to do anything unless you at least try." He added

Destiny gave him no answer, but caressed her arm where the Geostigma was living.

"Stop touching that." He grunted. Vincent was a little angry and on edge since they were so close to where Lucrecia's cave was. He hadn't been there in ten years. It used to be his favorite place in the world, but now he detested it, it made him bitter, as it brought back old emotions of lack of trust in human beings.

"I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be useless. I don't know much about my capabilities." Destiny answered

"You need to get in touch with that, before you turn into one of those monsters I told you about." Vincent huffed.

Destiny thought about his words, and her heart sank again. Would she really become a monster? Would she try to destroy the world too? Her thoughts were interrupted by Vincent's cold voice. "We're resting here."

"Are we going to take shifts in sleeping?" Destiny asked, not daring to look into his piercing red eyes.

"No. I don't require sleep to function." Vincent said. "Rest up; we have a long walk ahead of us."

She didn't understand what he meant by not needing sleep, but it chilled her heart, and thoughts to even go into it. How much did they experiment on him anyway, and why was he being colder than before? The thoughts turned in her head as she put the back of her head against the rock supporting her back. Her eyes closed, and even though she saw nothing, his red eyes continued to burn into her mind.

Short Interlude

Though it wasn't his place, his eyes scanned over the last few words, and he sighed, remembering that night that his heart had once again sunk, when Lucrecia's face had burned its image into his mind.

Vincent's Handwriting

Every time he had thought about her, anger rose in him. That anger was usually concentrated towards the human race and how he had never fully accepted its trust after the night he lost what made him human. His heart was still racing, he could still feel the throbbing pain from where the bullet had hit him, and somewhere there was lost anger which rose up and boiled over. He was torn between his unconditional love for Lucrecia, and his undying hate for her. His beloved woman, the thing he cared for most before Cloud had woken him up. Lucrecia, her hair, her eyes, the way she would smile at him. All these things caused him pain not only emotionally, but physically, as his heart pounded heavily against his cold chest. Why did it plague him? He wanted to at least pretend like he didn't care about her, or about anything. She had destroyed him, in his mind he knew that she was the reason he was a monster. She betrayed him, and so he was stuck a monster trying to redeem all the lives he took, all the innocent people he killed for revenge. He had never felt so hollow than at that moment, staring into what remained of Lucrecia. His left arm grasped the rock behind him, and it clutched around it, putting cracks into it. Perhaps he would come to grips with the fact that he did hate her. Or was there still something to love? No. He was ready to admit that she had betrayed him, and no amount of other fantasies in his mind would change that fact. His head lowered, and for the first time in years, Vincent Valentine had shed not one, but two tears for the betrayal that had caused him to shut off the rest of the world, and the trusts that it had to offer. It was time to fight the monster inside of him.

"Vincent." Destiny whispered, her hand reaching out for him.

He turned violently, anger evident in his face as his eyes glared deep into hers. "Why are you here?" He demanded, more embarrassed than angry.

"You were gone, I was worried." She answered quickly, taking a step back from him, her hand was still outstretched and she lowered it softly. "I didn't mean to bother you…"

Vincent had no response for the girl. He knew that she was only trying to help. This was the monster in him, the thing that betrayed all trust, all hope, and all light. He knew this, and maybe she did too from the soft look in her eyes. Her calm blue eased his violent ruby fury, as his expression calmed. She was only trying to help, he repeated in his mind. "I don't need you to worry about me." He said, now regretting those words. His response had come out colder than he wanted it too, and only in time did he realize how cold and callous they really were. What happened that day was what made him trust Destiny quicker than he had trusted anyone else. What she had said, not only made him think, it fought the monster in him for the first time.

"You worry about me, don't you? Can't I have some concern over you?" She asked, her hands clutching the white shirt.

He had no response, even if she had pushed back some of his anger, there was still pain there, and it was enough to still make him distant. She did have a point though, as much as he wanted to resist that fact.

When his answer came it was still much cooler that he wanted it to be. "I don't worry about you. You can take care of yourself, can you not? You did it this far."

"What has changed you all of the sudden?" Destiny asked "You were distant before, but this is ridiculous. What is it that bothers you at this moment that you feel so inclined to hurt me with your words?"

"Forgive me. I had some old memories that crawled on me." Vincent answered, walking past her, giving her no eye contact.

"You can't just apologize and not give me a reason!" Destiny shouted, she herself now angry at his "apology".

"It is none of your business why; they are my memories, are they not?" He growled, still walking away.

A brief Interlude

He put the pen down. He still hadn't told her why he had been so angry that night, and still hadn't mentioned a word about Lucrecia to her. He had never felt a reason to, and she had never asked again since that night. A small part of him felt guilty for never telling her, but the rest of him had advised that he keep it to himself, who knew what she would say or think is she knew about his dear betrayer, Lucrecia.