I'll apologise in advance. I just feel so mean for writing this chapter the way I did, but...I had this all planned out in my head already, so...here goes! Don't hate me, ok?
I wrote this chapter to the song "My Immortal". I hope that this is a good one...
I might add one more chapter after this one, but we're getting close to the end now. I hope you've been enjoying the story!
I gazed up at her, feeling more love than I had ever felt before...yet I felt so nervous deep inside. Would she accept me? Or would she run away once more? She had seemed so shocked...I just pray that I had not frightened her...
It had seemed appropriate to ask her to marry me now...it would have been wrong not to, now that she was carrying my child. Perhaps I was just thinking too much ...perhaps I was moving too fast...now I will never know...for, in the time that I shared with Elena, nothing was ever able to go perfectly, and what happened next was an example of this. I am not blaming her...of course I'm not. She never did anything wrong...but still, everything seemed to get in the way of our happiness, no matter what. Nothing could ever be perfect. Nothing ever stayed just the way we wanted it to. Maybe the world was out to get us...
Maybe it was just never meant to be...
We were there, frozen and captured in eachother's gaze. It was pure perfection...I should have known that it would never go right, though. The flawless night...her beauty under the full moon...it wouldn't last. It would slip away from me in an instant as I watched...as I watched everything I held dear be stolen away from me. Were I stronger, perhaps I would have been able to do more to help...maybe, if that were so, things would be different, now. Perhaps I would be with her rather than sitting here in grief, telling my story to you...
"...please...marry me...?"
"Oh...I...I..." she stuttered, her honey coloured eyes wide, and I spotted tears glinting in the corners of them. I loved her so... "Vince, I...I...I-..."
The sound of guns being fired simultaneously shocked me, and the field filled with smoke...and the scent of gunfire, and blood.
Her blood.
I heard the lingering sound of screams of shock and pain fill the air.
Her scream as she collapsed in agony...and mine, too.
A loud cackle sounded from behind, teamed with the sound of a blade cutting through the air. He was here. Bernard Dylan, nemesis of ShinRa...he had come for her. I can only assume that the guns that had felled her had belonged to his men. I wouldn't give him --or anyone, for that matter-- the satisfaction of finishing her. I would save her...I wasn't certain of how I would do it, but damn it...I would save her, somehow! As the blade cut through the air and neared Elena's chest, I threw myself over her, my body a shield for hers. (This worked to only a minimal effect however, as the blade not only slid through my skin, but pierced hers also.) My scream shot through the air, as blood trickled from the corner of my mouth, dripping down on to Elena who lay below me. She gazed up, lying there...so pale...so weakened...but yet, she still smiled at me...she still reached up to wipe the blood from my chin.
"I'm sorry.." she mumbled weakly. "I...really...wanted to say...yes..."
"No! No...don't...don't say that..." I whispered to her, my voice trembling with fear, sadness and rage. "Hold on...please, Elena. Hold on for me! You...you still can say yes! We're going to get through this, Elena..I promise you! Just...hold on for a little longer...!" I pleaded, turning my head to the side in order to glance over my shoulder at the crazed face of the man standing over me. Ripping the sword from my chest, I clutched my wound as I forced myself to my feet. Stumbling somewhat, I grunted in pain as I heard the gunfire again, feeling the bullets rip through my body, impaling my flesh and splattering more of my blood to the ground.
"You see? I've won. I won...because I, Bernard Dylan always win! And I shall continue to win long after the two of you are dead!"
I loathed the man...he had dared to hurt Elena...and now he had the nerve to gloat? He would pay dearly for this...he would suffer...I would make sure of that...
Panting, I fell back, covered in both my own blood as well as Mr. Dylan's. It seemed that after observing the death of their master, the snipers had retreated. Lifting the bastard's sword up, I plunged it deep into his chest, through his heart, watching in mild, sadistic satisfaction as the blood flowed freely from his body. And then I remembered just why I loathed him so...
Turning, I rushed to Elena's side, gently lifting her up into my arms as I knelt down on the ground. As much as I hated to admit it, I had little strength to do much else...it was difficult enough to keep myself kneeling upright. "Someone...please...help us!" I heard my voice cry out as I continuously tried healing her with a Restore materia. Her wounds were much too serious, however...slowly but surely, she was slipping away from me. I knew already that it was far too late for our child, but if I could save Elena...if I could save her, then at least I would have accomplished something. I felt tears stinging in my eyes, slipping down my cheeks at the very thought of losing her... "Please...! Please, Elena!" I sobbed, holding her closer, refusing to let her go.
"Vin...cent..." It was the final word that she forced out...she had no more strength. We had been so close to living a normal life...so close...too close...but it had all been stolen away at the last second. I couldn't help but cry...cry like a child as those beautiful honey-coloured eyes slid closed for the final time...
"Why...? Why did it have to be you?!" I demanded."Please...open your eyes! I...I love you! Please!" I received no response...her eyes remained closed, her head tilted to one side as her white-blonde hair fell across her face. Blood trickled from between her lips, and seeped from her wounds..
Yes...it was as I had feared. She was dead...
There was no more I could do now...it was too late, and I...I was too weak. Too limited. All I could do, was cradle her ever closer. Not even the Lifestream would steal her away if I could help it...!
But of course, I couldn't help it. Because I couldn't help anything...not even my reason to live. She was long gone...and now, she was returning to the planet right before my eyes, taking the pieces of my heart with her. I loved her so dearly, and yet I had failed to protect her... I couldn't help but feel that this was all my fault. I had been the one to suggest that we go outside, and she had agreed, following me...trusting me...if only we had stayed inside, none of this would have happened. In my head, this had all seemed so perfect...I would propose, she would say yes...we would embrace, perhaps kiss, and return to the inn...we would marry, and raise the child...
But now it can never be more than a fantasy.
So...now you know.
Now you have heard.
So you see, as I watch her body return to the planet...as I watch her become blue beads of light and fade into the sky, I ask you again, just as I did at the beginning, which was truly the end...do not for one moment mistake me as the victim...for I was unable to save her. Here I remain, kneeling in the pool of my own blood as I gaze up at the full moon above. How could such a beautiful night be so...cruel? To slaughter such a fair maiden beneath its face? And then simply watch on...and remain in the sky as though nothing had happened? However, I suppose to the moon and the heavens above, it was just another murder...just another crime to add to humanity's list of sins...
..and to my own.
No doubt the sunrise to follow this fateful night would be the coldest yet...a sunrise I could never appreciate...nor could I ever admire it. Just as I shall never again see the true elegance of a full moon hanging in the sky...for what is elegant about murder? Bloodshed? The sounds of gunfire and screams?
"The killing moon has truly come...far...too soon..."