A/N (4/10/13): And off we go to another edit. In case you didn't pick up from the Author's Note, I'm mainly doing this because I really enjoyed this story idea and it seemed like a shame to just let it sit and stagnate.
Heavy Edits Completed: August 16, 2013
Additional Polish: March 20, 2017
Final Fantasy VII – Remembrance
Chapter 3 – To Change the Future
"Okay, let's look for this 'code' then," a male said. "You never know… we might find something useful."
The small group crept cautiously around the rickety old mansion, their movements disrupting the dust that had accumulated across the floors throughout the years. Every once in a while, someone would call out when they found one of the numbers they were looking for. After about a half hour of searching, they regrouped in front of the massive safe that had garnered their attention.
"Come on! Let's open it up!" A robotic toy said excitedly, hopping up and down, his enthusiasm driving away the dreariness of the abandoned manor.
The leader inputted in the code and tugged hard on the rusted handle. The door screeched open, causing several members of the group to wince. The inside of the safe was pitch-black, visibility being even worse due to the dim sunlight filtering in through grimy windows. A small red orb gleamed innocently near the opening.
"Materia!" A young girl ran forward to grab the glittering orb.
However, the leader was more wary. The clues hadn't been that hard to find, nor did the size of the safe match the item stored inside.
"Wait!" He reached out and pulled the girl back by her collar.
The young girl turned to yell at the leader when a massive tentacle shot by, barely missing her face, and buried itself in the far wall. She let out a squawk of terror as she backpedalled away from the open safe. There was a low rumble as the tentacle gripped one edge of the safe as a large meaty hand gripped the other edge. A bizarre creature began to emerge, seeming to be comprise of two separate monsters split in two and joined down the middle. The side with the tentacle was red and rather hairy, energy sparking along its arm tentacle. The other was purple with leathery skin with its half of the shared face was pulled back in a vicious snarl.
"Back to the main hall! It's too crowded in here!" The leader shouted, waving his teammates through the door as the emerging beast let out a blood-curling shriek.
The beast lunged just after the young man sprinted out of the room. Its massive frame shattered the doorway as it gave chase down the narrow hall. The creature bellowed again as the purple side grabbed a table in the hallway and flung it at the group, causing them to duck as the projectile sailed overhead and smashed into splinters against the far wall. After a few harrowing seconds, they reached the spacious main hall and turned just as the beast landed with a shuddering thud. The entire mansion seemed to creak precariously but fortunately remained standing.
"Aerith! Scan for weak spots!" The leader yelled out as he dodged out of a wild charge by the monster.
One of the team members, a large fiery-red feline, let loose a blast of fire. The monster turned, letting the red side take the hit. The feline jumped out of range as the red side shrugged off the attack and countered with a blast of lightning. Conversely, when the leader charged in swinging his blade, the purple side batted his weapon aside as if it were a stick.
Behind the struggling group, a brown-haired girl in a light pink dress concentrated hard, focusing her energies on the Sense spell that would gather information of this unknown foe. A bright yellow light flashed and the creature glowed slightly, barely noticeable in the chaos. The girl's eyes widened in understanding.
"Its left side is weak to magic!" She called out. "Right side weak to physical attacks!"
The leader nodded gratefully, fully understanding the monster's strange appearance.
"Attack both sides at the same time!" He commanded as he charged in again.
Using the newfound weakness, the beast quickly folded under a relentless flurry of spells and attacks. A large, black man with a gun for a hand unloaded clip after clip into the purple side of the monster as the younger girl threw numerous sharp projectiles. The fighter rushed in an threw several punches between volleys. The feline, the toy, and the leader threw a variety of spells at the red side. Under the barrage of attacks, the creature could only scream in fury as it tried to defend itself. It finally let out a loud roar and began to shudder and shake.
"Look out! Something's happening!" A busty female fighter shouted as she herself skipped back a few paces out of range.
The red side of the beast was shrinking rapidly, leaving a purple-skinned monstrosity behind. The leader's eyes widened as he realized what had happened.
"Magic spells, now!" He called out throwing a sphere of flame.
Though hardy, the creature's innate weakness to magical energy eventually took its toll and it fell to its knees.
"Take this!" The girl in the pink dress had rejoined the fight and now finished the beast off with a high powered lightning spell.
With a final moan, the beast collapsed onto the dusty floors and lay still.
"Phew! That was tough!" The fighter said, wiping her brow.
"Let's go check the safe!" The smaller girl ran off back up the broken stairs, seemingly unfazed by the surprise attack from within the massive safe.
In addition to the Summon Materia, there was a small rusty key which didn't seem to open any doors in the mansion. It wasn't until the leader leaned against a wall and stumbled upon a secret passageway leading down that they finally found a rather inconspicuous door set in the side of the makeshift stone hallway. After a brief moment of hesitation, the leader inserted the key and opened the door. Inside they found several coffins, all covered with dust. The youngest girl gagged as the stale air inside spilled out, reeking of years of disuse and decay. Upon closer observation, the coffin in the center of the room appeared different than the others. Its lid was metallic, though in the darkness of the underground tunnels, it was hard to tell the difference without touching it.
"M-maybe we shouldn't open that," the younger girl said nervously.
"There might be something useful in there," the leader countered. "Barret, cover me just in case."
Wordlessly, the black man with a gun-arm aimed his weapon at the coffin. The younger girl tensed as well, several small knives clutched in her hands.
"Well, here goes nothing…" the leader said as he pushed the lid of the coffin in the middle of the room.
…
Vincent frowned as he felt the mix anesthetic gases and Hojo's unnatural preservatives drain out of the stasis pod. Groggily, he sat up. Head in a haze, he blinked blearily as his enhanced immune system worked to purge the chemicals out of his body.
"To wake me from a nightmare…" Vincent finally said as if he'd rehearsed it.
In reality, he had. While under stasis, his mind replayed those events from his dream over and over. Instead of agonizing over Lucrecia's death, he had relived the events of Meteor up until the final cave-in at North Crater. This was no different than the other sixty odd times he had recalled the same dream. Movement caught his eyes and he looked up. Once again, he saw those from his dream: Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Aerith, Nanaki, Cait Sith, and Yuffie. He shook his head tiredly.
"Leave me, you're not real," he mumbled, holding his head.
"Are… are you alright?" The spiky-haired blonde asked tentatively.
Vincent blinked.
The conversation had changed.
This worried Vincent quite a bit. Did he finally break under the prolonged suspension? Was this just his mind playing tricks on him? Or maybe, just maybe, his visions were finally coming true? He suppressed a shudder. If this dream was finally playing out, what in Gaia's name was he going to do?
"What's your name?" Cloud tried again.
Vincent groaned, still holding his head. This was all too confusing. Though they all didn't know him, he knew them all very, very well. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Cloud shrugged helplessly, glancing over at Tifa and Aerith for help.
"You were having a nightmare?" Tifa asked.
He stared up at her, her wine colored eyes locking onto his own blood red irises. It was all he could do not to recall the terrified look on her face as the earth collapsed around them.
"Yes…" Vincent muttered distractedly. "They always come… for every failure I am guilty of."
Emboldened by his apparently willingness to converse, the rest of the group began to speak as well. Cloud and the rest of the team explained that they were chasing Sephiroth, who was apparently looking for the Black Materia. They questioned him for anything he might know about Sephiroth, Shinra, and, eventually, Lucrecia. His responses sounded more monotonous than normal, but Vincent was barely paying attention, responding only by memory alone. Satisfied, the group left the room, leaving Vincent staring contemplatively at the wall.
Breaking out of his reverie, Vincent pinched himself.
'Is this a dream?' He pondered. 'Sure doesn't feel like it.'
'I sure hope this isn't a dream. Because if this is, you'd have one hell of a sadistic subconscious.' A familiar voice spoke up.
"Chaos…" Vincent muttered.
'That's me.' The demon said cheerfully. 'You're an interesting host you know, Vincent Valentine?'
Vincent shook his head.
"I take it you've seen my memories?" Vincent said quietly.
He got the impression of a mental shrug.
'Like I said, interesting. I don't believe in parapsychology, but I'd still call you precognizant if nothing else.' Chaos sighed in annoyance. 'Try not to die this time, yeah? I'd rather not lose my host.'
Vincent frowned at this.
"Might not have a choice," he said tiredly, rubbing his eyes. "The future could be set in stone. But I'm going to try my damndest to change it."
With that, he looked around the room and within his stasis coffin. He found nothing of importance.
'I wonder where Hojo hid that notebook?' Vincent pondered.
'Try the library, I suppose.' Chaos said. 'You know, we're pretty damn lucky that bastard of a scientist didn't actually read that notebook.'
He paused for a moment. He had forgotten the demon could easily hear his thoughts as if they were the demon's own.
'Granted you were pretty stupid to have written it down without hiding the damn thing. Especially if you knew what was coming.'
'I thought I was going crazy! What would you have had me do?' Vincent bit out, annoyed.
He closed his eyes, mind still trying to process everything that was happening.
'And besides, how do you know he didn't look at that notebook. For all we know, this task just got much harder.'
Chaos scoffed.
'Idiot. If he did, I doubt Cloud and his merry little party would have even arrived here. I doubt Hojo would have even bothered saving the man after he got stabbed by Sephiroth.'
The demon was silent for a moment. Then, he spoke again, this time more contemplatively.
'Do you even need it? This place is as good as abandoned. I assume no one found it since the world isn't in flames by now.' Chaos scoffed. 'It's not like it did that Lucrecia lady any favors. Might've made things more unbearable for her after her kid was taken.'
Vincent frowned as he sat back down on the edge of the coffin.
'I thought it was enough. To change the future, I mean.'
He considered the demon's words and found a frightening amount of truth in them. Had he condemned Lucrecia to even more suffering now that she knew what was to come and could do nothing to stop it? After a moment, he spoke to Chaos again.
'You're right, I guess…'
Another moment of silence passed between the demon and his host.
'Wonder if we can just talk to him… prevent all this from happening.' Vincent mused.
Chaos was silent for a long while.
'Impossible.' The demon finally stated
Vincent blinked, surprised.
'He's gotta be what? Thirty, now? After three decades of psychological abuse from both Hojo and Jenova, somehow I don't think it'll do to just tell him, 'It was all a lie by your shithead father and that alien scum; and your real mother's worried about you, so just stop all this and come home.' Wishful thinking, but impossible nevertheless.'
'I know,' Vincent thought sadly. 'It's just a shame. I wonder what kind of person he could've been.'
Chaos rumbled lowly.
'Save that kind of thinking for when you actually change something. No use getting your hopes up. Like you suspect, it might all be impossible to start with. We might as well roll with it until something changes. And go from there. You know the key events to try to change. So plan for them and hope for the best.'
Vincent rubbed his face again and finally stood up.
'I think we've dawdled long enough. I just heard Cloud's voice. It sounds like they're heading out.'
The demon chuckled darkly.
'Try not to look too desperate when asking to join them.'
Vincent rolled his eyes and proceeded to leave the room.
…
(Earlier)
Cloud groaned as he picked himself off the floor. The Materia Sephiroth had thrown at him had winded him, forcing him to his knees. In a burst of old, loose papers, Sephiroth had easily blown past the rest of them, leaving the group in the ruined library.
"You okay?" Tifa asked as she helped Cloud to his feet.
Cloud nodded shakily, still feeling a bit nauseous. He leaned against a nearby bookshelf, causing it to creak in protest. Several books tumbled to the ground, making the area even more cluttered.
"Why did he throw Materia at you, of all things?" Yuffie, the youngest girl with short brown hair, asked.
At the same time, she slipped the small orb into her pocket. Most of the others didn't notice, or didn't care, and didn't comment on her actions. Cloud sighed as he stood.
"Who knows what's going through his head. Maybe he wanted to give us a handicap. I don't really try to understand his motives anymore. He's way too unpredictable the way he is now," with a grunt, he stepped away from the wall. "Whatever his reasons may be, he's not here anymore. Let's head out. If he's going north, we'll need a way there."
"Ya thinkin' Rocket Town?" Barret asked.
Cloud nodded as he left the room.
"I heard there's a pilot there that owns his own plane. Maybe we can borrow it."
Tifa lingered behind as the others began trailing out of the room. Staring around, she took in the rotting bookshelves and the broken lab equipment. Books were scattered here and there, thrown by someone many years ago judging by the dust that layered the fallen tomes.
'So this is where Sephiroth went mad.' She ran a finger along one of the many experimental files that still lingered on the shelf. 'What kind of secrets would cause a man to change so much in a matter of days?'
As she stood there, time seemed to slow. She closed her eyes and, for just a moment, she could feel the hurt and betrayal that seemed to emanate from every corner of this underground room. It was almost too painful to bear.
'Is a man raised by a monster destined to become one, too?' She pondered.
It was too depressing a thought to consider.
"Tifa! What are you doing! Come on, we're heading out!" Clouds voice came through the still opened door.
Tifa jumped, started by the sudden noise as it broke her momentary reverie.
"Coming!" She shouted.
In her haste, she tripped over a stack of books, crashing heavily into the bookshelf with a yelp of surprise. There was the rush of footsteps as Cloud burst back into the room. He looked at his childhood friend, sitting on the ground, covered in dust and books.
"You alright?" He asked, reaching out to help her up.
"Yeah…" Tifa mumbled. "Just fell. Ugh. Now I want a shower."
"We can stop by the inn for the night. It's been a hectic day. I don't think it's a good idea to head into the mountains today."
Tifa nodded, pushing some of the books back onto the shelf in a half-hearted attempt to clear the walkway. Cloud turned and left. As she moved to follow, something caught her eye.
A dark, leather-bound notebook.
Stuffed in a corner, it seemed to have survived Sephiroth's frenzied research of the circumstances behind his own birth, and with good reason too. In the dim lighting the book was completely invisible where it had been pressed into the corner by the thicker files full of research notes and protocols. Her curiosity piqued, she gently lifted the thin book out from where it was wedged.
"Hm… Vincent Valentine?" She read off the inside cover.
'Is this his diary or something?' Tifa wondered as she flipped a page and glanced at the first entry.
'I think I'm going crazy. Lucrecia says I have a vivid imagination, but I'm convinced that no dream could be like the one I experienced. Whether it was truly a dream or something else, I am going to write it all here in this journal… if only so that I know it happened. I dreamt that I was asleep in a coffin for thirty years, put there by Hojo after he took my arm and destroyed who I am. I was finally found and woken by the leader of a resistance group.'
The next paragraph made Tifa freeze.
'His name was Cloud Strife. He was leading an anti-Shinra group called AVALANCHE. There were several others. An intelligent feline from Cosmo Canyon called Nanaki, or Red XIII, as Hojo had dubbed him. A man with a prosthetic gun for a hand named Barret Wallace, the former leader of AVALANCHE. A half-Cetra called Aerith Gainsborough. A young ninja princess from Wutai called Yuffie Kisaragi. A cat and mog robot controlled by one Reeve Tuesti of Shinra. And a young female fighter named Tifa, a childhood friend of Cloud's.'
Tifa closed her eyes feeling very disquieted. This was all very confusing. If this was a dream the man had… a dream from when? She flipped through, looking for the last entry. The journal continued for twenty pages, front and back, in Vincent's tiny scripture. At the end, she found a few lines scribbled at the top of a page.
'I don't know if this was some kind of premonition or what. Maybe Hojo's been spiking my drinks and I've developed precognition. Or maybe I'm simply losing my mind in this dreary place. But if these events do come to pass, I will have to be careful, lest I make things worse.
July 11, 1977'
Tifa stared at the date. It was thirty years ago.
'How…?' Tifa wondered as she noticed there was a bit more to the notebook.
She turn the page and gasped. She was staring at a perfect drawing of Cloud. Every line was exactly as it was on the real Cloud. On the next page, she found herself staring at a picture of her. Each member of AVALANCHE took a whole page in the journal. Everyone that was with AVALANCHE. Even Vincent himself.
"Seriously, Tifa. If you don't hurry it up, we'll leave you here." A mildly annoyed voice came from the doorway.
Tifa leapt up, hiding the book behind her like it was drug money. Cloud was leaning against the doorway, a perplexed look on his face.
"Sorry, Cloud. This place is just…" she tried to come up with a reasonable excuse.
The blonde-haired man shook his head.
"Sorry if I don't really share your enthusiasm. I'd rather never come back down here again." He said bitterly.
Tifa flushed.
"L-let's go… I'm done exploring now." She hastily changed the subject.
As Cloud left yet again, she brought the notebook back out and stared at it. This was something completely unbelievable. She'd need to find some way to talk to Vincent about it. Worriedly, she hoped the man hadn't gone back to sleep for another thirty years. She put the book in her backpack.
"Who are you, Vincent Valentine?" She wondered aloud.
She ran off to catch up to Cloud, finding the group already nearing the spiral staircase.
"Wait!" A voice called out as AVALANCHE began ascending the stairs back into the mansion.
"What is it?" Cloud asked, a single eyebrow raised.
Vincent hurried up to the group.
"Ah… If I follow you, will I meet Hojo?" Vincent asked.
Tifa noticed he sounded rather rehearsed, though it seemed no one else picked up on this.
"Probably. He's with Shinra." Cloud shrugged.
"Let me accompany you then. You may have use of my skills." Vincent offered.
Shrugging again, Cloud nodded.
"Sure thing. Welcome to the team Vincent." He turned and continued up the stairs, pace just barely faster than the others.
Tifa glanced at Vincent to find him shaking his head.
'He probably thinks this is another dream.' She thought sadly.
It was lucky he decided to come with them. She could now ask him later about the journal at her leisure.
Once she read a bit more of it, of course.
…
After an uneventful night at the inn, they headed into the Nibel Mountains. They had no trouble passing through the place since Vincent's presence seemed to scare off all life. This fortunately went unnoticed by the rest of the group as they chalked it up to good luck that none of the fiercer beasts were roaming the mountain paths. Eventually, they started to cross the narrow rope bridge that led deeper into the mountains.
'Hmm… this should be safe. Last time we crossed, all was well.' Vincent pondered as he looked at the aged roping.
He felt the bridge dip about half a meter as one of the wooden posts behind creaked ominously.
'Maybe not…'
"Get off the bridge!" He immediately commanded.
The others jumped at his voice, but complied. They hurried off the bridge. As they ran, the wooden post holding the ropes started to bend and crack due to the combined weight of all the members and their rapid movements. Then the ropes began to fray. Two loud snaps rent the still air as they ran feverishly to the other side. This ended with some running on limp lines and planks. Yuffie let out a shrill scream as she flung herself at the opposite side, tumbling in the dirt until she rolled to a stop. Nanaki, Tifa, and Vincent were less fortunate. They had been at the end of the line and still had about a quarter of the bridge to traverse when the ropes lost all grip on the poles. Nanaki nimbly leapt onto the falling planks, using them as steps, and gracefully landed on the other side. Tifa, however, fell due to a misstep on a plank and causing the bridge to flip. She cried out as the world inverted and her head was suddenly pointing at the ground, several hundred meters below in the mist. Though upside-down, Vincent remained calm and leapt after her falling form, catching her. However, when he reached out in an attempt to grab the rock wall with his claw, the metal points scrabbled uselessly against the unforgiving stone.
"Shit! Tifa!" Cloud yelled as they still continued to fall.
The man watched helplessly as the pair disappeared down into the darkness.
…
'Oh gods, we're gonna die!' Tifa's panicked thoughts ran wildly as the air screamed around her.
She felt Vincent's grip on her tighten as he shifted his body. She was suddenly held on top of Vincent.
"What are you doing?!" She cried.
'He intends to save me!' She thought frantically as realization dawned.
"Wait! Vincent!" She screamed out but her voice was lost in the wind.
But it was too late, they hit the ground below. Tifa heard bones snap as the air was forced from her lungs as the world went dark.
…
"Tifa!" Cloud shouted down into the misty chasm.
He fell to his knees, one fist slamming against the ground.
"Come on, Spike… I'm sure Vincent will take care of her… let's… let's go…" Barret said unconvincingly.
"I… we…" Cloud looked helplessly at the broken bridge.
"Cloud," Aerith placed a calming hand on the stunned man's shoulder. "They're still alive. I can feel them through the Planet."
Their leader's shoulders visibly relaxed as he looked up at her with a lost look on his face. Aerith helped him up.
"Come on. I'm sure they'll find their way through. We'll meet up with them once we get off this mountain." She said kindly.
"Aerith…" Cloud said with relief painted across his features. "Thanks."
The girl smiled and, humming to herself, wandered off down the path. Soon, the small group was on their way again through the Nibel Mountains.
…
Tifa awoke to a world of pain. The gravel beneath her did nothing to alleviate her discomfort.
"Ow…" she groaned as fire erupted across her back.
Moaning, she tried to move, but her muscles screamed in protest. Her head fell back down onto something soft and wet. Her eyes widened as she realized what, or precisely who, it was.
"Vincent! Are you…" her words died as she moved her head to look down at the man.
Vincent lay in a pool of his own blood; he didn't appear to be breathing. She could see the bones that had broken through the skin during the crash. Her stomach churned at the sight.
"Oh gods… Vincent… Vincent wake up…" she croaked out feebly.
Pressing her ear to his bloodied chest, she tried to determine if he was even alive, but she felt so weakened she wasn't sure if she was simply feeling her own trembling.
"Vincent…" she felt tears coming to her eyes.
Eventually, exhaustion robbed her of her consciousness once more.
…
Hours later, Vincent opened his eyes.
'You know, I never thought I'd actually be thankful for what Hojo did.'
'Ironic, huh? Welcome back to the world of the living.' Chaos snickered.
'Why couldn't I transform?' Vincent thought through a haze of pain.
'You just woke up yesterday,' Chaos sighed in exasperation. 'Of course you can't transform yet. Your body is still adjusting to being awake.'
Vincent groaned in annoyance. Then he tried to sit up but found that he couldn't. There was an unfamiliar weight on his chest. He looked to find Tifa there, quietly sleeping. He could see faint tear marks on her face.
'She was worried.' Vincent said, mildly confused.
'That much is obvious.' Chaos scoffed.
'But… we only met…' Vincent mused.
Chaos gave the equivalent of a mental shrug before retreating back into the confines of his mind. Sighing, Vincent gently shook the sleeping girl. After a few moments, her eyes fluttered open. A soft moan left her lips as she blinked blearily.
"V…Vincent…?" She asked, still shaking of the last vestiges of sleep.
Vincent barely had time to nod before she flung her arms around him.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" She cried. "I thought you died!"
"Tifa, I'm fine…" was all he managed before she cut him off.
"Fine?! You weren't breathing! And there was so much blood…"
She suddenly ran her hands over his chest.
"Tifa?" Vincent looked rather disturbed at her actions.
"Your ribs… how…?"
"A gift… from Hojo." Vincent said bitterly.
"Oh…" she stopped asking about his injuries and pulled back.
She sat their sniffling for a bit longer before wiping her eyes.
"Feel better?" He inquired.
"Yes… thanks for saving me…" Tifa couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze.
"Anyone would have," he dismissed.
"Any then we would've both died." Tifa countered.
"True…" Vincent mused.
Chuckling slightly, Tifa stood and stretched, wincing at the stiffness and lingering pain.
"We should head back to the others. They were heading to Rocket Town, so even if we don't see them again, we should be able to find them there."
Vincent nodded as he stood as well. It was a rather uneventful journey through the foggy mountainside. Once again, they found their route to be devoid of life. Vincent idly noted that they never encountered that Materia Keeper they fought in his dream progression. He shrugged it off, guessing that Cloud's group had already defeated it seeing as he and Tifa had both been unconscious for hours. As the sun set, they found a random crevice in the mountainside, grabbed some dead shrubbery for a fire, and settled down for the night. The two sat in silence for some time, Vincent glancing around, keeping watch, while Tifa sat and read near the fire.
"Huh. This wasn't supposed to happen," she muttered, more to herself than anything.
But Vincent, with his altered physique, heard it as if she was speaking directly at him. He looked over at her, or more specifically, at what she was reading. It didn't take him long to figure out who the leather-bound notebook belonged to. He was beside her in an instant.
"Where did you find this?" He snarled, snatching the book out of her hands.
Tifa looked taken aback and even slightly afraid at his reaction.
"I-in the library…" she said meekly.
Vincent continued to glare at her, but eventually the look of fear in her eyes calmed his temper. He sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
"This wasn't for you to read…"
Gathering her wits about her, Tifa confronted the main issue.
"Who are you Vincent Valentine? How do you know us?" She glared at him accusingly.
Vincent felt a twinge of guilt. He hated the tone Tifa was using.
"How much have you read?" He asked instead.
"Just up to this part in the mountains. And the pictures. They're really good." She said before her icy glare returned. "You didn't answer my question."
Vincent grimaced, took a breath, and tried to tailor the truth so he didn't give too much away.
"It's like I've written. I woke up from an incredibly vivid dream to find myself thirty-two years in the past. What this was caused by, I haven't a clue. But so far, it seems events have gone pretty much as I recalled."
Tifa stared at him for the longest time.
"Something bad happens?" She finally asked, quietly.
Vincent stared at her. She was always more perceptive than she let on.
"What makes you say that?" He asked carefully.
"Why else would you be so worried about me reading this?" She gestured at the book in his hands.
"To put it simply, yes. Please don't ask me anymore about this. I don't want to risk causing drastic changes that make this task even harder."
"So I can't help?" She said, a bit angrily. "I'm supposed to just sit back and watch as it happens?"
Vincent wanted to say yes, but something about the young fighter's determined look said that she wouldn't accept that answer. He thought about it for a moment before giving up.
"I don't suppose letting you look at this would hurt too much. I could use the help…" he said tentatively as he handed the notebook back.
"Thanks, Vince," Tifa said, perking up and reaching for the black, leather-bound notebook.
"But," Vincent interjected, drawing the book back slightly.
Tifa's smile faltered slightly.
"But?" She repeated.
"Don't read ahead. I'll let you know if there are events I'm trying to change, but honestly, it would be best if you just act normally for the time being. You don't need to know how minor interactions and events turn out. I've thought over the scenario many times in stasis and I think I know which points we need to change for sure."
"Okay…" Tifa said, looking less than happy with the stipulation.
"Promise me!" Vincent pressed again. "I can't let you rush off on your own agenda to try to fix things only to make things worse. Keeping things organized is the only way I'll have any control over events to come, especially since some events play off of others."
"Fine! I promise!" Tifa growled back.
Another moment passed. Wordlessly, and with some reluctance, Vincent returned the notebook to the girl's waiting hands. Tifa stared at the notebook for a while.
"So who's this Reeve guy that's controlling Cait Sith?"
Vincent winced. He had forgotten about writing that particular detail.
"He's in charge of Urban Development for Shinra. He's one of the few Shinra employees who truly cared about Midgar and the consequences of what they were doing."
"Oh… I'd like to meet him someday then," Tifa said quietly.
"You and me both. He was quite secretive. Let him do as he will, don't reveal his secrets. He'll reveal them himself soon enough."
Tifa sat in silence for a while, considering his words.
"Do… do we end up fighting Sephiroth?" She finally asked. "Is that why you didn't meet Reeve? Did we not survive?"
Vincent stared at her, internally cursing her observational skills.
"What if we did? What if we didn't? What if we don't and he was taken out by the Turks? What if the nations banded together to form one international strike team to take him down? Would that make you try any less?"
Tifa frowned at his deflection. Vincent sighed.
"See, this is what I meant. Just knowing of things to come will change your outlook, even if it is only slightly. I've learned that either you change events or you don't. The small alternations are meaningless if the final results are the same." Vincent explained bitterly, recalling the feeling as Hojo's bullet entered his chest. "I already failed once… after all, Sephiroth is an insane, heartless monster hell-bent on humanity's destruction."
"Sephiroth?" Tifa gasped.
Vincent nodded quietly. He looked so distraught that Tifa didn't have the heart to push any further.
"Fine…" Tifa sulked.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry I can't tell you more. I just don't want events to become even harder to change." Vincent said apologetically.
"Yeah, yeah," Tifa dismissed.
She lay down on her side, away from him as she perused the notebook and reread what had happened up until this point. True to her word though, she soon closed the notebook and went to sleep.
'Was that the right decision?' Vincent mused.
'We'll see…' was the only response he got from Chaos.
Vincent frowned and lay back, wondering what would happen now that someone knew his secret.
…
A/N: Well. That took a bit longer than I expected to fix up.
…
Omake 3:
"Wonder what else is down here…" Vincent muttered rummaging through his coffin.
Feeling something long, smooth and cool, he drew it out in the hopes that it was a weapon he could use.
It was the bones of an arm, strangely intact.
'Is that…' Chaos began.
A little box appeared above Vincent's head.
Found Vincent's Left Hand!
"What." Vincent deadpanned.
He stared at the old bones for a moment longer, feeling somewhat nostalgic at his missing limb. Shrugging, he tucked it into his belt and left the room to join Cloud's team.
Moments later a certain brown-haired ninja's screams reached the sleepy town of Nibelheim.