The man stood on the small rocky outcrop, his cape billowing out behind him in the breeze. On his left hand, a golden claw glinted in the moonlight, and in his right there was an elegant pistol. In the valley he could see the lights of the town of Nibelheim. That was where this whole fiasco had begun all those years ago. The torment he was put through still haunted Vincent's nightmares, even now, after all the hardship he had endured since.
"Better get this over with then" he whispered to the night wind. He leapt down to the ledge below and continued his journey into the valley. Unseen behind him, two figures slunk from behind a rock and monitored his progress. One figure grunted to another and they too slowly moved down the pathway, following the man they had silently pursued for the last week.
Vincent awoke the next morning, unable to move. His head was throbbing, and his body ached with fatigue. He tried to organise his thoughts of the night before, but couldn't remember a thing before camping at the top of Mt. Nibelheim. He lay for a while, resting. After some time he realised that he was strapped to a table in what appeared to be a cell. His initial reaction was fear. He had visited this place in his nightmares for years, but he knew he was wide-awake. 'OK Vincent', he thought to himself 'You can get yourself out of this, you have the skills'. He realised that the chain on his left wrist was looser than the one on his right.
"You can use me", said a familiar voice.
'Never' replied Vincent, defiantly. 'I'm not going to let you loose'.
"Oh, come on. You love to relinquish the control to me. Don't deny your inner self".
'You're not a part of me'.
There was no reply. This was another part of his life that Vincent had become accustomed to since the experiments.
After he had won the mental battle, he tried freeing his left hand from the shackles that bound him. As the chains began to loosen, Vincent noticed something move in the shadows.
"Who's there?" he demanded. "Show yourself you damn coward!" Silence. Vincent could feel his anger building- he hated being ignored. "Come forward now and face me like a man!"
"Yes, good. Lose control and free me"
The something in the shadow was now joined by another. There were mutterings between the two. It seemed they were debating what to do with their catch.
"Feel me Vincent? Let me out. I can get you out"
"No. Never again."
One of the figures stepped forward. "What's that you say?" it asked. It was wearing a black robe with the hood pulled right over its head.
'Oh god, not this again" Vincent thought. He was sick of these amateurs trying to be the next Sephiroth.
"Yeah, you don't like this do you?" said the voice in Vincent's head.
"Shut up", he muttered back.
The two figures began to talk in some strange language. It rang a bell to Vincent, but he couldn't quite put a finger on it.
"You talking to yourself there?" asked the first caped figure. Vincent didn't bother replying to this. No one understood what he had gone through, what he still went through. "Not a talker then? It's OK. We'll get what we want from you."
"Yeah, even if you don't talk, your friend will." Scorned the second. This caught Vincent's attention, and it must have shown in his expression. "Ah. Hello there. Yes, you aren't the only one we have. Cloud held out for a long time, but a bit of shock therapy worked."
"And Tifa cracked the second we told her we had Cloud". This was the final straw for Vincent. He could feel his blood begin boil. 'OK. Just this once.'
"Good. Let me out. Free me." Vincent felt the control over his body slip, and the inner creature came forward. His body began to shake uncontrollably, and his form began to change. His skin changed to a sickly shade of grey, and his muscles grew 3-fold. This caused the shackles that bound him to snap, and Vincent fell to the floor. He began to shake violently now.
"What the hell's going on?" yelled one of the caped men.
"Ha ha…………. this." Vincent managed. Wings began to sprout from Vincent's back, and his consciousness slipped to the back of his mind. This was the part that made Vincent feel good. He had no control, and no matter how much he denied to the inner creature, he did enjoy losing control. It was as if he was watching the actions through another's eyes. He saw the two caped men cower away in fear as Vincent's hidden wrath came out. He saw claws slash away, and he saw blood leave arteries like a fountain. Then he was flying down corridors, through doors and finally up into the cool night sky. He hung there in the sky, looking down on the ruined reactor in the middle of the forest, and at the hole he had left in the roof of the house nearby. The Vincent inside him wanted to go back and see if anyone was hurt, but Chaos was in control now, and would be for a long time. With a final glance at Gongaga, he flew off to the South.
For the second time in as many days, Vincent awoke in pain. But this was different; he could remember what had happened, and where he had flown. He knew he was lying on a peninsula near Wutai. He also knew that he had to get there somehow. He had a feeling that Yuffie was in danger, and he had to see if she was OK. Getting down from the peninsula was easy, but would it be as easy getting into Wutai? As Chaos massacred the two men, he remembered one of them saying about 'the others', and something about Wutai. Whether this meant there were some more of this mysterious group, or whether the Barret and the others were in Wutai, he wasn't sure. He seriously doubted the latter though.
When he arrived at the nice little town, there was a strange aura about the place. There wasn't the usual hustle and bustle of a Sunday morning as people hurried about the market, while shop keepers advertised their wares. It was deadly quiet. Experience had taught Vincent that rushing into a situation like this tended to lead to difficulty. He decided to stay outside the town, and phone Yuffie. After a few rings, a recorded message played. 'You've reached Yuffie, but I'm not here right now, so leave a message and I'll get back to you'. Vincent cursed under his breath. It wasn't like Yuffie not answer a call. She was always talkative. Sometimes a little too talkative. Her mouth often got her into trouble. Vincent now faced a dilemma; go into Wutai and find Yuffie, or get to Gongaga and try to uncover some more of this mystery.
He finally decided to find Yuffie, seeing as there would be few ships running to Rocket Town's harbour on a Sunday, and he doubted Cid would fly out here just to give him a lift.
As he entered the main square, Vincent tried Yuffie again. And as he heard it ring, so did a phone nearby. After locating it, he began to flick through Yuffie's phone to see if there was any hint as to what was happening. He noticed that there was an audio file named 'Help Vincent'. He pressed the play button and Yuffie's voice began to play out, sounding scared and desperate.
'Vincent, we need your help. A group of black-robed men have come to Wutai, and are asking a lot of questions about all of us. I heard them say that they had Cloud and Tifa, and now they wanted The Ex-Turk and The Materia Hunter. They've taken the whole town hostage at the Dachao statues. I'm going to rescue them, and I'll need your help. Come as quick as you can Vincent, I don't think I do it alone.' This disturbed Vincent as Yuffie was always confident in her fighting ability. These caped men must be powerful to scare Yuffie, and capture both Cloud and Tifa. But he knew what needed to be done. He had to go to the Dachao statues and help Yuffie. But then he saw the date that the file was created. It was 3 days before he was captured. He cursed again. What would he do now? He was stuck here until tomorrow. He decided it would be best to go up to the Dachao statues anyway.
The statues weren't far from Wutai, and when Vincent arrived, he was surprised to see the entire population of Wutai congregated there, all crouched or sitting on the floor. Yuffie was there too, gagged and bound. Every one of them looked terrified, and it was obvious that some of them had been crying. And 3 more of the caped men. These were different though. They wore their hoods down, and bore some sort of symbolic chain around their necks.
"Ah. Welcome", said the nearest of the men, noticing Vincent. He had short black hair and cold eyes. In his both hand she carried a shorter version of Sephiroth's Masamune. At the sight of him, Yuffie began to struggle against the ropes that bound her. "It's Vincent isn't it?" continued the man, ignoring Yuffie's muffled cries.
"Who are you?" was the first thing Vincent said
"My name is Haluda" the man replied. "And my two comrades are Stal, and Roden." He indicted to the other two strangers in turn
"What do you want with me?" Vincent asked.
"We need something from you" replied Haluda
"Don't start this. Just tell me plainly. What do you want with me?"
"You are not to know yet. But the time will come." Vincent could feel Chaos stirring as his anger built.
"Let these people go. You have no business with them."
"We will not negotiate terms with you Vincent. You will come with us either by your own free will, or we will force you to come." Vincent loosened Cerberus in its holster.
"You'll let them go. Of your own free will, or I will force you to let them go." mocked Vincent. At this, Roden stepped forward. He was the bigger of the three, and wore fighting gloves that reminded Vincent of Tifa's, but with short, nasty looking spikes protruding from each knuckle.
"Eh? You looking for some trouble?" Haluda held out his arm to stop Roden.
"Don't. He's strong. I can feel it." he said. This just raised more questions for Vincent. How could he feel Vincent's power? And who were these people? Just how powerful were they? A movement in the corner of his eye caught Vincent's attention. It seemed that the Five Strong were among the crowd, and their leader, Godoo was sneaking through the huddled bodies of the people of Wutai, up behind Stal.
But amazingly, Stal spun around and caught Godoo by the throat and lifted him off his feet.
"Do not try anything. Did we not explain the rules clearly?" he spat. How could these people do this? It was incomprehensible to Vincent. Stal threw Godoo to the edge of the ledge on which the Dachao statues were located. There were some cries of "NO!" as Godoo slid right to the brink. Stal walked over to Godoo, and kicked him. "DO-NOT-BREAK-THE-RULES!" he yelled between kicks.
"Let me out Vincent. I can take care of this. You know I can."
'No. I have to handle this alone.'
Stal looked over at Vincent. He had wild eyes, and long black hair. He was the tallest of the three men.
"It's true. Gast did conduct the experiments on you!" he said to Vincent, with excitement in his voice. "You have the internal creature."
"I think I've been rumbled Vincent."
"What? How do you know about these experiments?" Vincent asked. Stal just smiled and walked over to Yuffie, and grabbed her by the hair.
"Knowledge is a fickle thing Vincent. True, knowledge brings power, but power with too much knowledge can be dangerous. Power with too little knowledge can be dangerous too. If I told you the truth, you would become angry. And we don't want that do we?" Vincent began to feel frustrated.
"I've had enough of this!" he yelled, drawing Cerberus and firing a single shot at Stal.
His bullet would've found it's mark right between Stal's eyes, but it stopped dead several inches from him. Stal laughed.
"Ah Vincent, you're so naїve. You think that no one is as powerful or skilled as you."
"Ahhhhh. Let me out Vincent. Let me take care of him. Leave it all to me."
Vincent ignored Chaos, and instead concentrated on Stal. Roden and Haluda had joined him now.
"We all have the power to defeat you Vincent, so come with us or things will get ugly" threatened Roden.
"Make me." Vincent leapt at Haluda and swung his left hand at his head. Stal had clearly not anticipated this. Haluda was sprawled to the ground, but Vincent didn't stop. He leapt over to Yuffie, and in one swift movement, slashed the ropes that were around her wrists. She quickly removed the gag from her mouth and shouted "Duck!" Vincent dodged to right just in time as one of Haluda's short Masamune's swung down where his left arm had been. Vincent began to stare down Haluda.
"Take the girl. I'll handle this", he said to Stal and Roden. At first, it seemed that they were ignoring him, or hadn't heard, but then a huge shadow passed over them all. A large creature set down on a ledge higher up. There were screams from the people of Wutai. "Now leave us" ordered Haluda. As Stal advanced on Yuffie, she tried to run, but before she had gone 4 paces, her body locked together, and she fell to the ground. Stal picked her up, and he and Roden walked up to the creature, mounted it and it kicked off from the ground. Vincent had been stock still as soon as it had landed. It was impossible. All the WEAPONs were defeated. And even if there was still one, why would it obey a human? "You like our little pet do you?" asked Haluda, bringing Vincent out of his reverie. "I know that you must be thinking how have they got a WEAPON under their control? Does that not hint at our power now?" Vincent was speechless. WEAPONS succumbed to no one's command. Even Sephiroth couldn't control them. He doubted that even Jenova would be able to. He looked Haluda in the eye.
"You know I'm going to kill you now" he said to Haluda. "I've already killed two of your kind." Haluda waved this away.
"They were expendable fools. We three are the power. We are the three who will bring chaos to this planet."
"Chaos is already here. And there's only room for me."
"You don't belong here. I'll give you one last chance to surrender before I kill you." Haluda's only reaction was to jump at Vincent, swinging his swords in a complicated combination. Vincent had superior agility though, and easily dodged the attacks. It amused him when it came down to fighting sword users, as they always believed that, in close quarters, their blades were mightier than his bullets. This didn't seem to be the extent of Haluda's power though, and a rap on the clawed gauntlet on his left hand reminded him that swords were still dangerous if you were on the wrong end of one. Vincent was suddenly aware that they were in a group of innocent civilians, and decided that the battle must move away from them. The ledge where WEAPON had landed seemed like a suitable place to move to. He leapt up onto it, and turned, expecting to see Haluda following. But there was no sign of his foe.
"You can run Valentine, but I'll find you", came a voice from below. Vincent walked to the edge, and looked down. He just managed raise his left hand to deflect the short Masamune into a rock before it lodged into his chest. Haluda jumped up after his sword and swung his fist into Vincent's face.
"Come on. I need out. Let me out. He'll be a piece of cake for me. Why make this longer than it has to be?"
Vincent quickly fired a shot at Haluda before he could gather himself properly, but a flick of the wrist deflected the bullet. He now began firing off multiple shots at Haluda, in totally random places, but Haluda managed to block every one of them. Vincent cracked a small smile, and decided it was time to show Haluda exactly how painful an adamantine claw can be. He jumped straight for him, and as his claw connected with the blade, a shower of gold sparks sprayed from them. This seemed to infuriate Haluda, as he started a new wave of more furious attacks. Vincent dodged them all, and tried to get a few strikes in himself, but this man was a true expert with swords. They fought like this for several more minutes until Haluda dodged a particularly fierce strike from Vincent, and stumbled over his discarded sword, and fell to the ground. Upon noticing what had caused him to fall, Haluda smiled and reached for his second sword. But Vincent was too quick for him. Cerberus was already pointing at the man's heart. Haluda seemed amused by his defeat, and began to chuckle.
"Do you think you'll finish me off now Vincent, or were you planning on interrogating me first?" Vincent kicked both blades out of their owner's reach.
"Interrogation, but I really wasn't expecting you to talk" he replied. Haluda began to chuckle again, and it turned to a wild laugh.
"Ah, Vincent. You appear to be learning at last." He pulled himself to his feet, and strode over to the end of the ledge. "If I choose to tell you our plan, will you promise not interfere? Of course not. It's in your nature to stop something like this, even before you see the true nature of it."
"People like you only ever bring evilness to the world. You're all crazy." Vincent growled.
"You mean those amateurs Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz? They were foolish, and hadn't thought their plan through properly. We on the other hand, know exactly how each stage should be carried out, and what to do in the event something goes wrong."
"Spare me your world domination plan. Just tell me who you are."
"Well, I suppose a little information won't hurt now will it? We are Lěng Rěs Su Shāda, and we will destroy this planet and take it to a new, happier, more prosperous age. But you may call us The Shāda", began Haluda.
"So you're Sephiroth rejects?" said Vincent.
"Oh no. We follow some of the same basic principles as the great Sephiroth, but we are something entirely different."
"What do you mean by 'principles'?" asked Vincent.
"Lěng Rěs Su Shāda, know that Sephiroth was searching for The Promised Land. Sephiroth did not know where it was however, but we do."
"And where is it?"
"You cannot know, but I'll suffice to say that you have been there before. And we need you and your friends to open the seal around The Promised Land. Actually, it is not you we need, but the power you all have inside you."
"Power?" Vincent was becoming more and more confused. Wasn't The Promised Land just a rumour? And if it wasn't, didn't Sephiroth need an enormous amount of spirit energy?
"Yes. You see, you and some of your friends have all been exposed to a large dose a Mako. More than most. This has produced great power in you. And we need this power in order to break the seal." Vincent now understood what his captors had been talking about. They had extracted this power from Cloud and Tifa, and Vincent and Yuffie were next on the list.
"Where are Cloud and Tifa?" he demanded.
"Again, you cannot know this Vincent" answered Haluda. Vincent was getting tired of him now. He felt Cerberus crying out to be fired once more, right into the back of Haluda's head. But Vincent was not one to kill a man while his back was turned. But he couldn't stop his arm raising. He couldn't stop himself taking aim at the back of his opponent. Then everything seemed to slow down. He saw Godoo run across his line of sight, and jump on top of Haluda, bringing him to the ground. Then he felt his arm swing back, as the recoil from Cerberus kicked in. Then Godoo was thrown into the air, and over the end of the ledge to the one below.
Vincent rushed over to the edge and watched as his friend's father fell down. As soon as his body crumpled on the ground below, he knew it was fatal. He could feel tears in his eyes as he turned to face Godoo's killer. He began to shake as he submitted to Chaos' control. He felt the familiar feeling of his consciousness slipping to the back of his mind, as Chaos' took over. However, Haluda didn't flinch away as Chaos rose up. He actually came forward to Chaos, like a master controlling a particularly vicious dog. But Chaos was more than a vicious dog. As Haluda reached out a hand, Chaos grabbed it and rose up into the air with Haluda dragging behind like a rag. As Chaos stopped rising, it dragged Haluda up with its other arm, to look the man in his eye. A snarl escaped from its mouth before letting go of the now limp figure.
As Haluda plummeted towards the ground, his life flashed before him. Waking up in the dark, feeling alone. Finding to other boys on the tables next to him strapped just like him. Then there were the painful experiments by Professor Gast.
And then Haluda was no more than a memory in those he had terrorised.
Vincent was struggling with his inner self, trying to regain control of his body again.
"You can't just toss me aside like this Vincent. I'm a part of you."
'You aren't part of me!' he replied defiantly.
"Don't struggle against me Vincent. If you want me to let you have control again, just ask."
Vincent knew he could control the beast. He'd managed it before. He just had to relieve himself of all other stresses. As he felt all of his other troubles melt away, so did the presence of Chaos, and Vincent could move the way he wanted. It felt so good to be flying again. He had forgotten how good it felt. There was no time for it now though. He had to find Cloud, Tifa and Yuffie.
As he landed back on the ledge where the people of Wutai were surrounding Godoo, the second in command of the Five Strong, Sutanifu, hurried over to meet him. Vincent began the process of reverting back to his human self.
He felt drained afterwards, but he walked over to Godoo's body to pay his respects.
"Will you stay for the service?" asked a voice behind him. Vincent turned to face Sutanifu.
"As much as I'd love to I can't. I have to pursue those men" he replied.
"I understand perfectly. When will you depart?"
"As soon as the next ship to Rocket Town goes. Do you know when that will be?"
"There should be one leaving in about 2 hours" replied Goorikii, walking over. "So you'll be leaving now I assume?"
"Yes" replied Vincent.
"Then, please hurry and save Yuffie" said Sheiku joining the conversation.
"And give her this letter" said Chehofu, handing over a slip of paper. "It is a letter informing her of her father's passing, and of her ascending the pinnacle of the Five Strong." Vincent stored the letter in the pocket in the inside of his cloak.
"I will."
And with that, he turned his back and strode down the hill from the Dachao statues with his mind firmly set on the task of finding his friends.