Blood: 25

Trey Henson versus Vincent Valentine

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A soft touch on her shoulder woke Rose from her dreams. She yawned, taking a moment to clear her head before looking up. Evan stood over her, his hand still resting on her shoulder. He looked less tired than last she saw him, which must be a good thing. "Hello Evan."

"Rose. Sorry to wake you, but I thought you'd like to know there's someone here to see you."

She was surprised, and a little confused as she sat up, wrinkling her nose in thought. Her mouth fell open at the sight of Tessi leaning in the medical bay doorway. "Tess?"

He waved, forcing a smile. As Evan had predicted, he couldn't keep his eyes off her scar. Rose looked away from him, hastily covering her face with one hand. Tessi cleared his throat, looking up at the fluorescent ceiling lights. "I'm glad you're okay. I thought you and Evan had kicked it. Especially after I couldn't find you."

"We're lucky people." Rose answered bitterly, swinging her legs round to settle her feet on the floor and get up. Evan stuck his hands in his pockets, taking a step back. He knew she would only glare at him if he offered help. She stood shakily and flexed her injured foot a few times, dropping her hand away from her face. "Let's get it out in the open, Tess, so we don't have to address it again. I'm a mess at the moment. What we need is a materiologist, but we don't have one so I'm stuck healing naturally. I'm going to be messy until my body's done recovering, so get used to it. I have to. Whatever you want to say about it, say it now."

Tessi shook his head, turning in the doorway to lean his back against the door frame. Evan looked from one subordinate to the other. This would be tougher than he first thought. "Right," he began, "Now that the three of us are here, we can decide what to do next. I'm guessing that Reeve will want to get up on the roof and see to the mast. Honestly, I'm not looking forward to helping him, and if I'm wrong about his intentions, then we'll have to do it ourselves. We can't continue here without some variety of communication with the outside world." He looked at Tessi, "On top of that we have the problem of power. The generators haven't kicked in yet, or are broken. Tess, once we deal with that, I want you to get to work on the computer system. See if you can find anything on there that can help us with a more permanent power situation-"

"You know as well as I do that the first place to check is the underwater reactor." Tessi interrupted him, fixing him with a sharp look that made him shiver.

"I know. I meant after checking it out."

"It's also possible that someone back at Midgar instigated operation 'Clean Sweep'. There may be nothing on the system to find."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, Tess."

"God dammit Evan!" Tessi cried, unable to contain it any longer. "You think there's any point in any of this? The only reason I came here was to see if I could find you two."

"What do you suggest we do, Tessi?" Evan snarled back.

"Go home and sort ourselves out! What the hell are we doing here anyway? What are you trying to prove?" He looked around the medical bay, "Shinra's finished. We don't have jobs anymore, so there's no obligation to do anything here. I say we get out before we're in too deep with promises and trouble and make our own way in this mess." Taking a breath, he looked at Rose. "What do you say? We find somewhere, less troublesome to be."

Rose was silent, grounding her stare away from Tessi. She knew what she wanted to do. "Evan is our superior, he'll decide on the best course of action."

"That's right. I forgot you'd been with the Company so long you were brainwashed out of thinking for yourself. Guess you didn't pick up the military academy sense most of us did." Shaking his head, Tessi left the room.

"Little bastard." Evan murmured, looking at the ground. "Maybe he should just fuck off, do us all a favour."

"He just can't see the point in working for free." Rose said suddenly, walking across to pick up her holster from the empty examination table. "You know as well as I do he's never really grown up."

"It's about time he did. We can't go through life behaving like children. I – what are you doing?"

Rose halted at the doorway, looking over her shoulder in surprise. "I was going to have a look at the generators, like you said."

Evan shook his head, "I didn't mean you."

"Why not?"

"Because you're hurt."

Rose looked at him quizzically a second. She breathed a deep sigh and continued out the door. Evan frowned, looking at his hands, "Am I invisible or something?" He coughed. "I suppose I must be. No one takes any notice of me." Resigned, he swept out of the medical bay on a heading for the power room.

---------

All the way across the square she clung to Cid's jacket, peering back over her shoulder at Trey. He was tormenting her on purpose now, she could see it in his eyes. Yeah, he acted like she didn't matter right then, but behind that calm exterior worked the mind of a madman. Who knew what he was planning, or how she would match his machinations. The point remained that he was bad news, and was pressing her not to say anything to Cloud. Maybe if she told Cloud, he'd get Barret and the Old Man to beat his ass into the ground. THEN he'd leave her alone. She jumped, Trey looking straight at her suddenly.

'Why in the hell is she staring at me?' He wondered, taking a cigarette from his pocket and sticking it in his mouth. 'Could have something to do with wrecking her hand earlier, but she brought it on herself. Damn, my conscience is working over time. How much shaming does it take to get over it. Damn society and laws.'

Cloud had split everyone up into groups. Somehow, he had ended up with the pilot guy, obnoxious ninja brat and freaky sexual cape guy. 'Why do I get myself into these things? I should have volunteered to do this on my own.' After all, how hard was it to check the place out? Kalm wasn't that big; just a cute little mining town that made good beer etc. "If you guys don't mind, I'm going to check out that little tunnel over there."

Cid chuckled at that, prising Yuffie off his jacket and grinning round at Trey with such intensity the red head stopped in his tracks. "You beat me to it."

Trey sniffed, straightening his waistcoat in an attempt to appear nonchalant. "I don't know what you mean."

"C'mon. You know as well as I do that 'little tunnel' is a bar."

"People could be in trouble there! I'm thinking of no one but myself, and here you are insinuating that I'd leave people choking to death in rubble while I drink myself sick! I despair of people like you. They all disgust me."

"Yeah," Yuffie screeched, dashing round in front of Cid and pointing her finger in Trey's face, "You disgust me! Where do you get off lying like you do?" She glared over her shoulder at a sarcastic cough, pinpointing the source as Vincent, "and you can shut up too! I lie for a good cause." He didn't say anything to that, shaking his head and wandering off towards the bar.

Cid scratched his head, sighing as Yuffie retreated to safety behind him once again. "Looks like he's got the same idea as you." He murmured to Trey. "Get going then."

There was no need to tell him twice, Trey taking off at the jog-trot across the square. Yuffie immediately let go of Cid, brushing herself down as though ridding herself of dirt. "He's taking all of you for a ride." She hissed, putting on her most condescending frown.

"Oh yeah? And how would you know?" Cid demanded, smoothing the creases out of his jacket. Yuffie could feel her face turning red. Was she really about to say this?

"He threatened me. And broke my fingers too!" She squeaked in surprise, Cid snatching hold of her hand and wiggling each of her fingers in turn.

"Yup. They're smashed to smithereens."

"No!" She snatched her hand away from him, cradling it protectively against her chest. "He cast cure on me after," and glared across the square at Trey's back, narrowing her eyes into thin slits, "to cover up – so he could hide the evidence."

"You really are a poisonous little bitch, aren't ya?"

"What? No!" She grabbed Cid's jacket, shaking it violently. "I'm telling the truth!"

"Sure you are. Just like you were telling us the truth about that lever in your basement. I tell ya now that I didn't enjoy being caged, and Vincent's probably been locked up enough in his lifetime. Why should I believe a damn word you say?"

"Because I'm not lying!"

"Sure. Get the fuck outta my way, Princess." He barged past her and sauntered off towards a group of locals, leaving a trail of blue smoke in his wake. Yuffie stared after him, folding her arms around herself and hopping on the spot.

"You don't know." She said quietly to herself. "You all think Trey's great. He's some kind of saint or something. I'll show you. I'll show all of you." She narrowed her gaze on Cid's back, wishing she could burn a hole through him with red eye beams or something, "Especially you, Old Man. I'll show you the most!" Her heart leapt into her mouth suddenly as Cid turned round to face her,

"You say something, bitch?"

"Noughtta!" She called back cheerily, waving at him, still hopping on the spot.

Muttering under his breath, Cid spun on his heel and strode away. Yuffie glared after him, her mind escaping her as she spotted his Shiva materia in his Venus Gospel. Just for embarrassing her like that she'd take it when he wasn't looking, then deny all knowledge of it. He'd know she was behind its disappearance, but he couldn't prove it. Just his knowing she'd taken it would be enough of a laugh.

She shook her head clear, focusing back on the task at hand: how to discredit Trey and get him kicked out of the group...

---------

"Where are you going?"

Tessi halted, hissing a sigh through his teeth. "Away from here."

Reeve looked thoughtful, sitting on the floor against the wall under the stairs. "So you're not staying around to help me fix the mast?" He stroked his beard, looking up at the underside of the staircase. "Or to help me restore power to this town?"

Tessi breathed deep, resigning himself momentarily and wandering over to sit beside Reeve. "You've been talking to Evan."

"No."

"Then you have the same ideas as him buzzing round your skull."

"Great minds think alike."

Stretching one leg out straight along the floor, Tessi asked, "All right. What's your proposal?"

Reeve was alive suddenly sitting up and composing himself. "I want to get that dammed mast fixed. Then we can see about getting a team here from outside to fix the energy crisis that's brewing."

"I get what from this?"

"The satisfaction of knowing you've done a good deed. What's Evan's take on the situation?"

"To see what we can do about temporary power, then have me and you look for a real solution on the network."

"Unless Heidegger or Scarlet pressed delete." Reeve mused.

"You mean 'Clean Sweep'? I've already tackled that possibility."

"Oh? How?"

Tessi tapped his head, "In here. If some thoughtful individual has ensured there's nothing to find, we crack the secure network."

Now Reeve really took notice, a look of confusion crossing his face. "We can't do that. We need Rufus to succeed, let alone attempt it."

"I know that."

"Then why are you suggesting it?"

"Because it's a computer network. Even the most heavily defended have a way through. It's my job to find said way." Reeve's chuckle annoyed him, "What's so funny?"

"So, you're going to make yourself into Rufus?"

"As far as the network's concerned, yes."

"I'll believe it when I see it." Tessi's confidence completely destroyed, Reeve stood up. He hesitated a moment, offering his hand to the downhearted Turk. "Look. If anyone can do it, I'd put my money on you. God, I'll even help you to the best of my abilities. For the minute, let's just pray it doesn't come to that."

Tessi took his hand, and got to his feet. "As long as you'll help me if the avenue need be explored."

Reeve opened his mouth to answer, words failing him at a rumbling sound above. Tessi looked up, "What?"

---------

Trey faltered, glancing back down the tunnel to see rain splashing down onto the cobbled square. The drops were huge, already forming a small river in the gutter outside. "What the hell?" He shook his head. "Screwy weather. Dammed Meteor." A beer would chase away his woes.

Turning on one heel, he halted dead, his mouth hanging open in surprise to find himself face to face with Cid's creepy friend. The two of them were silent, neither man sure what to say. At last, Trey cleared his throat and spat on the floor to one side. "Weird weather, huh?"

Vincent nodded. "An after effect of Meteor and Holy."

"Yeah." Something snapped. "Say that again."

"What?"

"Anything."

"Excuse me?"

"That'll do."

Vincent scratched his head, knitting his brows into a deep frown. "You worry me sometimes."

Trey beckoned to him. "C'mere." A little apprehensive, Vincent obeyed.

To his surprise Trey grabbed his fringe and held it up. The red head took a deep breath. "Well God damn."

"Nice to see you again too." Vincent muttered, pulling his hair away and smoothing it. He ducked suddenly, Trey leaping at him, fists clenched. Without thinking, he fell on his back and stuck one foot in Trey's belly to throw him over onto the floor. Trey landed on his feet, already spinning round to go for his friend's throat.

"You have any idea what you put me through!?" He yelled, swinging for Vincent's cheek, yelping to find himself on his knees, one arm braced up behind his back. "What the hell? Since when could you out move me?"

"Unwanted ability." Vincent muttered, tightening his grip on Trey's arm. "If I let you up, will you try and tear my throat out again?"

"Not guaranteeing anything. Might bash your face in instead." He choked, the pressure on his arm increasing. "All right. I'll leave out the hurting."

Satisfied, Vincent let him up. Trey dusted himself down, searching for a fresh cigarette in his pocket. "Don't know what you were doing all this time. Haven't lost your touch."

"From what you said just now I thought I had improved."

"If that means you're better than me you can go fuck a tree. You caught me off guard. I have the age disadvantage. You beat me in any way and it's beating the aged. I got a pension from the Company before Rufus got his hands on it."

"You had a job."

"Never declared it to old man Shinra. Still got a quarter of my annual salary."

Vincent shook his head clear, taking hold of Trey's sleeve and pulling him over to one side of the tunnel. "Trey, what are you doing with Cloud and friends?"

"Dunno what you mean."

"You aren't exactly brimming with the milk of human kindness."

"I think my character just deformed."

"Trey. I know you, and I know when you're up to something. You didn't tell the others that you're an ex-Turk."

"And? Would you like me to show them my driver's license and birth certificate? Oh wait, I don't have one."

Though Trey kept his voice low and steady, it was obvious to Vincent that he was seething. "I can't let you mess with them, Trey. I won't let you."

"What are you going to do? Give Cloud a detailed description of what we used to do? I think he's well aware."

"Yuffie is already well on her way to devising some plan for ejecting you from the group, I'm certain of it."

Trey looked over his shoulder, then under one arm. "You know. I had a sudden pain in my back then. Felt something like a knife."

Vincent sighed, brushing his hair away from his eyes. "It's not like that."

"Then clarify for me. As far as I can see, you don't trust me anymore."

"Times have changed."

"Tell me about it." Sniffing, Trey looked away, cursing inwardly that Vincent may think he was crying. "I need a drink."

"I'll buy you one."

"Keep your backstabbery money! I'll buy one myself." Feeling betrayed, he pushed past Vincent and started down the tunnel towards the bar. He halted suddenly, turning to look at Vincent with a look of pure rage. "I've been keeping things for the past twenty-seven years. From now on, I'm keeping nothing and saying everything if someone asks."

Vincent frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about what's important in this life. More important than saving face. I did something nasty for you. Something I don't regret for a second, but it could have ruined a few lives. Lucky for you it didn't."

Trey had always been difficult to understand, but nowadays it seemed he had lost the plot completely. "You'll have to explain yourself." Vincent sighed, a little annoyed.

"You ever wondered where..." Trey trailed off, suddenly aware of the blank expression on his friend's face. "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what."

"I thought after everything, she'd have said something." Trey appeared to be talking to himself, leaving Vincent feeling a little spare. Almost as though he had forgotten Vincent was there, Trey took his phone from his pocket and flipped it open to check his messages.

"Earlier, back at Midgar," Vincent caught his attention, "You were looking for Reno, weren't you?"

Trey almost dropped his phone. "Why? You know something." and rushed down the tunnel to grab Vincent's cape and drag him almost up to eye-level.

"I saw him, and the other Turks in the train tunnels back at Midgar."

"When?"

"Before Meteor fell, when Hojo went insane on the Sister ray."

Trey was frantic, "How was he? Did he say anything?"

Vincent snatched his cape away from him and dusted down his chest. "Nothing that gave any indication of where he was going."

"Dammit." Trey turned away, scrolling through his messages again. Plenty from women he knew, and Brandy the HoneyBee, but nothing from Reno, or - "When you saw Reno, was there a girl Turk with him?"

"Elena?"

He slapped his head, suddenly irritable. "No, not Elena. A pretty girl, quite short, long black hair, green eyes, gunslinger?"

"Green eyes and black hair? Unusual combination."

"Why, you think it's pretty?" The tone of voice in which Trey asked that question caught Vincent off guard.

"Possibly."

"Uh huh. Did you see her?"

"No."

"Positive?"

"Absolutely."

"Dammit." Again Trey began looking through his messages, closing his phone and hurling it against the wall in a rage. Vincent didn't know what to say, deducing that his friend was looking for messages from Reno, and possibly this other girl. Upset, Trey hid his face in his hands and slid down to sit against the wall. "They could at least of called."

"This 'girl Turk', is she your..." Vincent trailed off, feeling a little stupid for even suggesting it, even more so at the croaky laugh from Trey.

"Vinny, when have you ever known me to have a steady girlfriend? Besides-" He took his hands away from his face and pushed himself into a more comfortable position against the tunnel wall, "If I even thought about it her dad would shoot me." He looked at his phone, laying open on its side next to the gutter and emitting a green glow onto the filthy water. "Just wish the little bastards would call."

Vincent stared at it, fascinated by the faint flickering on the rushing water. He snapped to attention, leaping backwards as Trey scrambled to his feet, swiping at his backside.

"Gah! I have a wet ass." The red head turned around, looking over his shoulder and sticking his backside out to see what the damage was. "Shit I didn't bring any spare underwear." He straightened up. "I didn't bring any spare anything."

Vincent chuckled. "The rest of us have learnt not to sit on wet ground by now."

"How're you getting by? It's sick wearing the same underwear everyday." The look on Vincent's face said it all, his pale cheeks flushing red. A broad grin broke out across Trey's face. "You go commando. I totally forgot about that!"

"It's not that important for you to have remembered it all these years."

"Not important? I hear while you were away in that stick town, the copy room girls were calling you Captain Valentine!"

"Not Vincent the Vindictive?"

"Nah. They though the idea of your naked butt much more of a laugh." Attempting a demure appearance, Trey stuck a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. Vincent was puzzled.

"How could they know I don't-" Trey's stifled sniggers answered his question for him. "I see."

"What? All those trips back to HQ as a civvie, I had to keep myself in laughs somehow. Even if you had pulled a disappearing act."

"You told the women in the copy room one of a dead man's most closely guarded secrets?"

"One... or two. Depending on how you look at it."

The sight of Trey breaking down in the tunnel was so familiar Vincent had to remind himself of how much time had passed, and how much had changed. He cleared his throat and stood straight, trying to look a little less embarrassed. "We have a job to do."

Trey composed himself a little, still holding back snickers. "Yeah." He glanced at Vincent and began smoothing his own fringe. "You might want to fix your hair there. It's messed up more than usual." He looked a little embarrassed, blushing. "Must have happened when I tried to strangulate you a bit ago. Sorry about that."

"You're emotional, Trey. It's part of your persona."

"Yah. Guess so. You know something? I'm really hungry." He received now answer to that, Vincent already walking off down the tunnel. "Hey!" He snatched his phone and ran after him. "That thing earlier about using mush head and the rocketts... It's nothing bad, okay. I have something I need to do in Junon."

"What?"

Trey opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut, shaking his head gently. "I can't say anything. It's kind of a favour for a friend, but in confidence, if you see what I mean."

"Not really. No."

"Vinny. You can't tell anyone about me. It doesn't matter what you say – if it's something about my past, they'll toss me outta the group before I can snap my fingers twice. If they knew who I am-"

"I understand. None of them have any particular love for Reno."

"After what he did, I'm not surprised."

Vincent raised an eyebrow. "You wouldn't have?"

"Dropped the plate? Yeah, but not without serious reservations."

"Reno had no qualms about it?"

"Of course he did. Nobody saw him the night before. No one knows where he went, but he turned up just in time and pressed that button." The look on Trey's face puzzled Vincent. Despite what he had just said, he looked angry. The reason why was suddenly clear. "I was waiting for him back at HQ, that overstuffed nonce Heidegger guffawing in my ear. Then they wheeled him in on a crash trolley, I thought 'oh shit he's gonna die'." Without warning he spun round and punched the wall, his knuckles cracking loudly against the stone. "Right then I coulda and woulda wrung Cloud's neck. I wanted to tear him apart with my own bare hands and sell the pieces for fertiliser." He drew his hand back and proceeded to massage his bleeding knuckles close to his chest, considerably calmer and more composed, "Then he stuck his finger in his mouth, sat up and stuck it in Evan's ear. I knew everything would be fine then. That relief is like getting caught in an undercurrent. First you're so scared you can't move, then as the minutes go by, and you're dragged further down, you feel calm, so calm that you stop struggling and let the current take you away. That's when the fear gives way to relief and you can breathe again. At that point you would drown, but forgetting the underwater thing, everything's fine and you're drunk on air."

"I think I understand."

"Roundabout way of explaining it, huh? Only way I could think of." He breathed deep, as though reliving that moment. "I kind of know how brat boy was feeling. You remember the worst thing you ever had to do? I certainly do. The funny thing is, at the moment I did it, I felt more alive than I ever did."

"What was it?"

"Before you joined up, the President paid me to do a little extra curricular activity. He had someone he wanted 'removed from play', and told me to use my imagination and make it as shiny as possible, ward other people off crossing him. So I stuck his head in a combine harvester. The thing that scares me is how much I enjoyed it. I was soaked in blood and other stuff that comes outta people, but I was laughing, because it felt good to know that I could do that to someone." His expression was unusually sullen; it forced a cold feeling in the pit of Vincent's stomach. He continued, "At the time it gave me a kick I never found anywhere else, but that night... things started to sink in. Like just what that guy must have felt when the header came down the first time, he felt it. The second one killed him, but that pain must have been... So I couldn't get it out of my head. I showered nine or ten times trying to get the feeling of blood off me, but it wouldn't go. It took months for me to get over it."

Vincent was silent. Trey would torture someone almost until the point of death, but would never finish them off himself. Interesting...

"I guess Reno felt the same way. He's a professional little turkey, but we all break sometimes." Trey said, taking his cigarette between two fingers and flicking it away into the gutter. "He got over it quick, but I think that scares me more than if he went nuts."

Sighing, Vincent continued on into the square. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, Trey, but no funny business."

"Roger. No mentalism."

"In agreement?"

"Si."

"Right then." Vincent composed himself. "Let's find Yuffie and Cid."

(Note: Long delay I know, but now my uni work is done and I'm free until February next year. So updates should be more regular than they have been. I know this is the one you guys were waiting for, so here it is at last: Trey and Vinny reunited. A mixed bag I would say – angry Trey versus modified Vinny etc, but he is a fiesty little red head who has PMS as far as I can see :d

Vincent may seem a little out of character here, but that's because he's surprised a lot of the time, so don't hate me runs away a little to avoid hittings

I love scheming Yuffie. In all the time I've been writing her, she's never changed. I have another fic salvaged from an ancient hard drive called 'Seven days'. It's one big drunken Turkfest and Yuffie versus Cid deathmatch. Once I've read over and edited it, I'll start posting it.

On another note, I have a new Deviant ID! It's me and Trey.)