This chapter kind of didn't go according to plan…. I've been editing it for a while now, but I still came to a story I didn't like…. Okay, anyways, here is chapter four. As I have said several times, this story is a work in progress, and I appreciate everyone who is even involved with this story. Thanks to all the quiet and sounding fans of my work. This one is for you.

Also, again should you disagree with something; I am open to good and bad reviews. However if you make a bad review be nice about it. I will also answer any and all questions you may have about this story. Lastly, there will be a chapter 5 to this story even though this looks like the end, it really isn't.

Journal Entry 4

By that evening they had reached the Gold Saucer. Destiny could hardly believe the colors and lights involved in it. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life. The entrance alone was something to be amazed with. Who thought of a giant cat to welcome customers? It was brilliant! Her whole life she had never seen anything that sparkled as much as the Gold Saucer did. All of those years being used as a pin cushion, and a lab rat, and the only thing she had ever seen that was even remotely near beautiful were test tubes filled with glittering liquids. This night had changed all the things she had seen now. What else was like this in the world? The only problem with the evening was that she was so tired she couldn't fully enjoy the surroundings.

Though he realized this, Vincent insisted she enjoy the evening, and so he persuaded her to take a ride on the carousel. Secretly he had wanted to take the ride himself, and couldn't leave her all alone. Her sleepiness left her once they sat across from each other while Destiny took in the explosion of gun powder that lit up like tiny, colored fireflies.

"What are you going to do after you get home?" Destiny asked, still watching the explosions of light.

"I'll stay there and read." Vincent answered "Wait for someone to need me."

Destiny frowned at his response, "That doesn't sound too great…"

"Well, there is only so much you can do by yourself." Vincent responded.

"Then why not live with a friend?" Destiny asked.

"I don't really live with people…." Vincent said lowly, trying to avoid this conversation.

"Do you mind me asking why?" Destiny asked.

"Let's just say I have trust issues." Vincent answered.

"Then why did you help me?" Destiny asked.

"Because I was once like you, I was once used for an experiment. I know your pain and want to help you before you lose yourself the way I did." Vincent answered

"But why exactly are you helping me?" Destiny asked

"I have sins to repay." Vincent answered.

Destiny had dropped the conversation after that, and instead asked about Midel. Which Vincent had told her was a very large place. He himself had only traveled half of what Midel really was. After she had changed their previous conversation, things had become brighter, and she enjoyed herself more with passing time.

Vincent had even shown her the arcade, and the fighting arena. He had taken her to see the show in the atrium, and introduced her to freedom. Vincent had done so much in only five days, but nothing had impacted her the way that tonight did. She could recall only how happy she was to see something without being in a prison cell. That night she realized that she was truly free from Shin-ra. As long as Vincent was around, she had no reason to fear. Vincent had smiled at her, and seemed to be enjoying the evening away from random encounters and walking.

"Do you remember me talking about Chocobo racing?" Vincent asked, causing Destiny to turn her attention away from the display of light on the stage.

"Yes, why do you ask?" Destiny responded.

"I want to take you to a race. Have you seen a chocobo before?" Vincent asked

"No, I've only heard of them, but I know they are big birds you can ride." Destiny said

Vincent was excited to show someone who knew nothing of life a thing or two, just as Cloud and the others had done for him, and it brought him some kind of happiness, even though he masked his excitement. He knew that on the inside his sins were lifting one by one.

He kept her close, incase Shin-ra had decided to pop out of nowhere. Though each time he had thought he had seen Shinra officials, he did not. His senses were confused through all the lights, colors and sounds, and even though he was joyful, his concerns for her took precedence.

Expecting a few people to be quite upset, he heard the shouts of men and women alike complaining about the Chocobo that broke its leg. All the insults and yelling threw someone very familiar into Vincent's mind. In fact, the sounds and yelling were all too familiar. There was only one man that could curse like a sailor and be elegant about it at the same time, and that man was Cid Highwind. He took Destiny by the hand and led her through the crowd to a blonde man shouting at the register.

"What do you mean I lost?" A man shouted.

"Sir, please calm down, it's only a race." A lady said back to him.

"This here ain't just a &$# race, girlie!" The man shouted back.

"Sir, please just calm down." The lady responded

"No! That race was fixed! F.I.X.E.D Can you spell? Do you understand?" The man shouted.

Vincent approached the voice, quite certain that the man shouting was his friend, Cid. The closer he got, the more he thought of Cid and how he looked up to him as a man and a friend. Cid was the only person who Vincent didn't talk riddles to. Cid was the only one had even tried to make decent conversations with him. Cid was also his role model in some situations. That old pilot was always getting into trouble somewhere. As he crossed the room, the closer he got the more he realized that he had really missed all those who had befriended him. There was always a good feeling he got when he was around all the friends who had help free him. Suddenly, the crowd became too much and his eyes had lost his target. Vincent looked a little perplexed and disappointed once the register came into view and Cid was not there.

"What's wrong Vincent?" Destiny asked when she saw his face

"Nothing," Vincent answered shortly.

"You're a damn liar, now aren't you?" Cid asked from behind him.

Vincent was surprised as ever when he heard Cid's voice, and he turned around. "I thought I sensed you somewhere old man." Vincent said.

"Old….#$ #$!" Cid exclaimed. Vincent let out a grin as a response.

Destiny had never seen Vincent this way before. Why was he acting so light hearted? Perhaps this place was a place that held memories? These were things she didn't understand. Where was the stone cold man who had told her to be on guard?

"Who's the pretty girl you got there?" Cid asked, poking his head past Vincent.

"This," Vincent started, and pulled Destiny to face Cid. "This is Destiny; she's a girl who escaped Shin-ra labs. I'm taking her to see Cloud. We can talk about that later though, when there aren't so many people around." Vincent said

"Well I'll be. You got yourself a girl there, didn't ya? You know, the whole time all of us thought you weren't into girls. Glad to see we were wrong after all." Cid laughed, causing Vincent to blush.

"What? You all thought that?" Vincent asked in disbelief.

"Actually, Yuffie came up with the idea. I mean a kid living in the basement of an old mansion and swearing off all kinds of affection from women, has to be a little bit into guys, you know?" Cid responded patting Vincent's back with a laugh.

"I didn't know I came across that way… that wasn't my intention at all," Vincent answered.

"Well gay or not I'm going to Midgar tomorrow; my airship is just outside if you want me to take you for a ride." Cid offered

Whoever this Cid person was, Destiny liked him a lot. Vincent seemed to be comfortable around him, he seemed very carefree. She wanted to know this Vincent just like everyone else did.

"I'll take you up on that offer. I don't think walking is sounding much fun to either of us." Vincent responded, and gave Destiny a look, before ushering her close to him. "We need to go now!" He suddenly muttered to Cid, his head motioning towards a dark skinned Turk making his way towards them. He was about 6 feet tall and could run pretty fast for wading through a crowd. He scowled at them as they ran from his swift movements.

"Awe , when did Shinra get back into the picture?" Cid asked.

"Since they lost an experiment, and gained two." Vincent answered, pulling Destiny behind him "Hold on, we're about to fly." Vincent warned Destiny as they approached a window.

"Say what?" Cid asked in disbelief.

"I'm rather confident I can pull it off…" Vincent answered

"The $& you are! Give me the girl, I promise I won't let ya down. I hate those &#$ Shinra too!" Cid demanded

"I'll meet you in the hotel…" Vincent said, before taking off like a bat out the window, his huge red cape making him look like a large winged creature.

"Let's go, girlie! You ever had a piggy-back ride?" Cid asked quickly, watching the Turk fire out the window, as he disappeared into the screaming crowd.

"What is that?" Destiny asked in confusion
"Hop on my back and hold on real tight now." Cid answered and kneeled down for her. After she jumped onto his back, and gripped her shoulders, he took off with amazing speed. She wasn't too sure how old Cid was, but he was definitely in shape.

"Don't let go for nothing'!" Cid yelled, as he took out a retractable spear.

By this time the Turk had seen Cid running around the corner, and saw Destiny on his back, and now he ran after them without giving Vincent another thought. His gun extended, he shot rapidly, hoping to get Cid in the leg or arm, but he missed several times.

Neither Cid nor the Turk could fight the crowd; the volume of people was astonishing. Their cries and hysterics weren't helping either party get to their goal. Cid and Vincent both threw themselves through tunnel after tunnel, hoping to get rid of the Turk, but the man proved to be good at following targets. The only way to get rid of him was to fight him. The only way to go was to re-group, and once at the hotel, all three of the party members faced the Turk for a fight.

It took Destiny a little time to get her staff to extend, but once she did she was prepared to fight for herself, even if the end result was death.

"Give up; I am required to shoot if you do not comply!" The man yelled with fire behind his voice. It was the same man who got away from the mansion earlier that week. Vincent had known the man possessed more than science skills alone.

"&$# you! If you want this girl you're going through both of us!" Cid yelled

"Don't take me lightly either." Destiny warned

"Very well then, you asked to be killed." The Turk responded

"Who do you think you are?" Cid asked, throwing himself with his lance at the Turk.

"I know who I am, and I am Cedric Hallows. Don't think I'm going to just allow you to get away with killing my two friends and stealing our experiment." Cedric retorted.

"Leave her alone!" Vincent shouted firing a shot that barely nicked Cedric in the arm, which caused Cedric to miss his shot at Cid.

"Convince me…" Cedric responded darkly, hitting Vincent's metallic claw.

"No need to, get out of our way!" Vincent shouted.

"Forget it!" Cedric yelled, and fired a shot at Destiny that she was too slow to dodge; luckily Cid had taken the hit in the arm for her, allowing her to stay in the fight.

"Thanks…" Destiny said softly. She would stay focused and use healing when told to do so. If she put her neck on the line, she was in trouble.

Cedric would attack her anyways; eventually Cid's cover materia would miss one of his hits.

"You know, there is a funny thing about cover materia." Cedric started

"What's that you #&#$ &#?" Cid asked

"You can only protect one person at a time…" Cedric answered with a wry smile, and he fired at Vincent rapidly, causing Cid to automatically be pulled to Vincent's front, having to take all the damage himself. This left Destiny open, and Cedric jumped at the chance to grab her and run off. He came around with his arm extended ready to scoop her up into his arms.

Destiny shouted, and knocked him in the cheek with the end of her staff before her could touch her.

Cedric scowled, and while at her feet took out his second weapon from his boot, and threw himself upwards so he could face her eye to eye before he attacked her. His movement had caught her off guard and before she realized it, the tip of his dagger cut her deep enough to give her a permanent scar. This attack caused Destiny to cry out, and she clenched her right arm in pain. Luckily, before Cedric could administer another attack Cid had come back just in time to smack him on the top of his black head. This blow was enough to cause the tall skinny Turk to fall to the floor in pain.

"Ouch Cid, that looked like it hurt." Vincent said from above Cedric who was still conscious.

"Good! I hope it hurt you piece of $&." Cid exclaimed, kicking Cedric's side.

Vincent put his metallic boot on Cedric's back and pushed down a bit harder than he intended. Then with a harsh and commanding tone he spoke to the boy below him. "Listen to me. Stop pursuing us."

Cedric said nothing in return, so Vincent pressed harder on his back, and caused Cedric to drop the dagger he was holding. Thinking it was safe when Cedric closed his eyes, Vincent let up on his hold. Not waiting a second, Cedric fled from their battle, leaving his dagger and a puddle of purple liquid behind.

"What the hell is that?" Cid asked, closing in on the puddle for closer inspection.

"It looks like some sort of poison or…" Vincent stopped and examined the knife. Apparently it had been soaking in the liquid; perhaps the remainder of the poison left in the dagger's holder had spilt out when Cedric had fallen.

"Clever." Vincent stated, before he questioned the blood.

"Vincent…" Cid's voice was trailing off. Destiny had no idea how long she had been lying on the floor before she started to feel numb, and then started loosing consciousness, but however long it was it was too long for her.

The next time she woke up, she saw an infirmary ward ceiling. Where was she? She was dazed and confused, and a numb. Was she in Shin-ra? Had Vincent and Cid lost after Cedric attacked her? Fear pushed her heart and soon it began beating against her chest. She hadn't felt the lack of undergarments as she sat up in the bed that held her. All she was left with wearing was the white shirt that Vincent had given her. She stood, the shirt stopping at her knees. What happened? She shuffled across the cold metal floor, looking like a drugged zombie.

Destiny grabbed a needle that was left at her bed side table to use as a weapon. If she was going to be in Shin-ra labs, she was going to wound anyone who tried to stop her from escaping. She exited the room into a large open metallic area. The large atrium sized place had spinning fans, cold floors, and noises that made her head pound in disorientation. She walked around a large metal bridge to a room with windows. All at once, her body had gone numb; she couldn't feel anything, not the floor below her, or the needle in her hands. She became dizzy almost instantly and fell to the floor, dropping the needle once she hit.

"Destiny what are you doing?" Vincent shouted in alarm as he raced behind her.

Destiny looked to him with her dazed and confused look, until it registered in her mind that it was Vincent.

"Vincent, you're alive!" Destiny shouted in excitement. "I'm not at Shin-ra!" She continued.

"You're half-way necked!" Vincent exclaimed, pulling her to him quickly to cover her. He was even embarrassed at the fact he had seen more than he expected to.

"What's with all the #$ yelling?" Cid asked in anger.

"Destiny is awake…" Vincent started.

"Oh, well that's good! How are you?" Cid asked, noticing that Vincent had been covering her up with his red cape. "What in the damn hell are you doing?" Cid asked, giving Vincent an odd look.

"She's not dressed." Vincent responded

"Well why the #$ is she not dressed? Wait a minute… Hey! If you're going to rock an airship, it better not be mine!" Cid exclaimed.

"Cid, calm down! She didn't know where she was, I found her like this." Vincent explained.

"I see. Well get her dressed. We'll be at Midgar shortly.

"What were you thinking?" Vincent asked a little annoyed.

"I thought I was back at Shin-ra, I was going to get out. I even brought this needle as a weapon." Destiny said, pointing to the object on the floor.

"I see." Vincent paused, and before consulting his next words he spoke without thought. "What did I tell you? I wasn't going to let anything happen to you. Listen, once we get to Midgar, I'll be taking you to Cloud and that is where we part ways." Vincent said, holding her in his cape as they walked back to the infirmary.

"Why are we parting ways?" Destiny asked

"Cloud will be able to help you much more than I could. He too has geostigma. He knows about Sephiroth, Shin-ra, and Jenova more than I do." Vincent said, giving her a reassuring look.

But Cloud did not help; in fact Cloud was the opposite of helpful. Perhaps maybe Vincent should have thought it through before he decided to bring Cloud a girl who looked like Sephiroth's twin sister. However, he wanted to help Destiny, and Cloud was the only one who truly understood Sephiroth.

A small pause for the ones we love

This is me, for forever… oh how I wish, for soothing rain. All I wish is to dream again, my heart is lost in the dark. For hope I'd give everything.

For hope she would give anything. Hope was something that she had once had when he was around. It had been so long since he had returned. Where was he now? Was he still in Midgar? Was he even alive? It had been three weeks since he had left. Would he ever come home? Why did he leave her in the first place? What was he doing?

Lately she had felt emptier than she had ever been before. Geostigma had taken away everything, her health, her feelings, her energy, and even Vincent. Vincent had left to find a cure. Vincent had left to save her. How could he save her when she didn't even feel alive anymore? She could feel Jenova pressing her for a reunion, and could feel Sephiroth deep inside her. After all she was his clone, and no other. It felt odd knowing that she was made for someone else. She came to grips with knowing she wasn't meant to have a life of her own. Even when she was free she felt trapped. She threw her journal in sudden anger, refusing to pick it up. When it landed, she put herself into a fetal position on the window seat and sat there in anger and grief.

The pages of her journal had been made into a stew on the ground, and luckily she had numbered each page. She didn't care about picking them up, or care about ever writing in it again. What would it matter?

"Destiny…" Vincent called softly from the doorway looking defeated.

Without a word she raced towards him, she had missed him so much. He had already expected the impact and opened his arms for her. When she reached him, she nearly fell in his arms.

"I'm sorry." He said softly, and gripped her against him before they paused in an embrace.

Entry Resumed

He stood outside the bar that Tifa and Barrett owned, and took a deep breath. All that walking had made him tired. Even though it was late afternoon and it was getting cooler thanks to the fall, he was still sweating a bit from his heavy cloak. Cid had told them to go ahead, and soon he would meet up with them.

"I'm, going to introduce you to Cloud, and Tifa. They are both friends of mine, and I'm sure that Cloud will have something to tell you. Cloud has geostigma too, and also shares a regrettable bond with Sephiroth." Vincent explained, putting a hand on the door to push it open.

He stepped inside the dim light that ran across the bar's floor. Tifa liked it dark, and Cloud couldn't complain. It was a bar, wasn't it supposed to be dark? Vincent could tell that business was doing as well as ever, and from the looks of it, Tifa had just got done pouring her own drink and hadn't seen Destiny, who was shadowed by the darkness and Vincent's overall height. With a less than surprised smile, she greeted her friend.

"Vincent, what brings you here? I haven't seen you in a long time." Tifa greeted, pulling out a glass from below the counter. "You want anything?" Tifa asked, as the glass made a slight clink.

"Maybe later, but right now I'm looking for Cloud." Vincent answered. Destiny noted that he was much different with Tifa than he was with Cid.

"Don't you ever come to say hi anymore?" Tifa said with her hands on her hips. "You seem to grace us less and less with your visits. We said you could come anytime, so why don't you?" Tifa asked

Suddenly, Cid's voice came from the doorway, as he spilt the evening sun into the room by opening the door. He gave Tifa a wide grin and Vincent a nod, interrupting what Vincent was about to say.

"Hey, what about your old captain, don't I matter?" Cid asked, causing Tifa to smile in response.

"Of course, you do! Where have you been all these months, Cid? What is this, a reunion?" Tifa asked

"It's a long trip to get here, Tifa. We've been walking for five days now." Vincent answered

"And I met them at the Gold Saucer! They probably wouldn't have been here so quick had I not run into them. I gave them a lift here to Midgar, and since I was here, I thought I'd check on you kids." Cid explained

"Who are they? Anyone else come with you two?" Tifa asked, now stepping from behind the bar.

"Forgive me. I didn't introduce you to her..."Vincent started, and pulled Destiny from behind him. "This is Destiny; I saved her from Shin-ra about five days ago." Vincent finished.

Destiny's appearance didn't exactly make Tifa smile. It actually did the opposite. Seeing Destiny's green eyes made her frown. She looked almost exactly like Sephiroth, and Tifa knew that it was probably a bad idea for her to meet Cloud. "Are you a clone too?" Tifa asked immediately.

"I am." Destiny answered with caution, stepping backwards, bumping into Cid. The more she saw people's expressions, the more she thought that these people were going to make her into an experiment just as Shin-ra did.

"Whoa, Tifa ain't gonna hurt you." Cid said, putting his hands on Destiny's shoulders.

"Is this why you came to see Cloud?" Tifa asked, giving them both a disapproving look.

"Yes." Vincent said and after noting the look in her eyes spoke again "Is there something wrong Tifa?" Vincent asked

"I don't know if he will be too happy with this, you know how he feels about Sephiroth." Tifa answered with a little more anger in her voice.

"She ain't Sephiroth! She's just a clone, and ain't that what Cloud is too?" Cid asked, now a bit irritated.

"Yes, but unfortunately, Cloud isn't here, and he can't help. He left yesterday, and I don't know when to expect him back." Tifa lied, she knew he was upstairs, he was always upstairs wallowing in his pity.

"I'll stay until he gets back if I have to. This girl has geostigma and I think she is going to need help before it gets worse." Vincent said, now sounding more pushy than normal.

"Vincent, I don't think that he is going to be able to help. Cloud doesn't know anymore about it than anyone else does. He's still coping with the fact that he has this disease too." Tifa was Cloud's unofficial protector. Her obsession and love for him caused her to be pushy and sometimes cold. She didn't mean to hurt Destiny's feelings, but she did intend to keep Cloud happy. After all, when Cloud was upset no one was happy.

"Cloud doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would care about that." Cid piped in, growling a bit.

"Well he might, I mean look at her she looks exactly like Sephiroth." Tifa insisted

"She might as well be him." Cloud said from the stairs, causing everyone to give him their attention.

"Cloud, I..." Tifa started

"Why did you bring her here?" Cloud asked coldly, he was still new to the fact that he had geostigma. He had a kid upstairs who had geostigma. His irritation with trying to find a cure was making him very irritable. Even now he had dreams about Sephiroth and his return, and looking at Destiny was not helping his anger.

"She has a severe case of Geostigma. I thought you might be able to help…." Vincent answered

"Well I can't help her. I can't help anyone." Cloud said angrily, frustrated at his struggle with the disease. Without a work he turned from them, attempting to go back upstairs.

"Listen, I'm sorry for whatever Sephiroth did, but I'm not him, and I don't want to be like him. I want to be a good person and help too." Destiny retorted, stepping towards Cloud.

Her words had caused him to turn around at her with anger apparent on his face. "You don't know what he did?" Cloud asked with a deadly cold tone.

"No, I wasn't told anything, I didn't even know who he was. I heard his name at Shin-ra, b-"She was cut off by Cloud before she could finish.

"He killed our friend Aeris while she was trying to save the planet! He put his sword right through her back and almost made ME kill her. Do you know what it's like losing someone you love? He controlled my body, made me give him the black materia, which helped him summon meteor to kill us all. To top it off, he gave us this…" Cloud spat, showing her his arm. "Tell me why I should help someone who looks exactly like him? How do I know you're not just here to hurt me too?" Cloud shouted as he ascended the stairs.

"What in the # is wrong with you? She didn't come to start anything!" Cid yelled as Cloud disappeared up the stairs.

"You should go. Forgive Cloud he's been like this since we've gotten back to Midgar." Tifa said sympathetically.

"I see that." Vincent responded shortly. "I didn't mean to anger him; I just thought he could help her." Vincent said, turning away from Tifa.

"I'm sorry; maybe when he gets better you can visit again." Tifa responded

Vincent didn't say a word as he exited the room, Cid giving her a look before he turned from her. "Tell Cloud we'll come and see him when he's found peace." This left Destiny by herself to look in Tifa's cold brown eyes.

She didn't know what to say, this hadn't gone anywhere according to her plan. She just wanted so badly not to be the monster that Cloud had just described. After a few minutes of looking defeated, and with the final glare from Tifa, she left the bar, hoping Vincent was waiting for her. However he wasn't there. How could he leave her here in this city when she knew nothing? Obviously she was lost, and confused. Where would se go? Why had Vincent left?

The only idea that seemed appealing to her was to walk around in the prime of the evening and try to find somewhere to stay. With Vincent and Cid gone, she would have to fend for herself. This feeling of loneliness had not shaken her, and in fact she welcomed the fact that no one had to worry about her. She walked towards the setting sun, hoping she would find something to do with her life.

Elsewhere however, there were two men who had just realized that their anger had lost something. How could they have forgotten about her? Vincent promised he would keep her safe. His mind was so heavy on the fact that Cloud had just been an ass that he had forgotten her out of anger. He swore he would never commit another sin and breaking a promise was a sin to him, and whatever he had to do he would get Destiny back.