~Ch. 03: Remembrance~

… Aerith and Zack appeared in Kalm, in an alleyway. Zack stumbled as soon as they arrived, and Aerith tried to hold him up. She chuckled.

"W-Whoa… " Zack held his head and blinked. "… How DO you do that? I'm dizzy. AGH… "

Aerith laughed. "It takes some getting used to. My golly, you've been stuck in the Lifestream for so long that you didn't know what you could do? Tsk, tsk. Puppy needs some lessons to learn."

Zack pouted as she began walking. He shook his head as his shoulders slumped. "Don't call me that."

… Aerith hummed as she looked for Vincent's home. Apparently he had been living here for the past few months now, after the ordeal with Omega. She smiled when she found his home, Zack tagging along behind her. She led Zack with her to the alley right behind his home, and settled with standing by a nearby window. Beckoning Zack quietly, she pointed at the window, showing Vincent to Zack. "That's him," she said. "That's Vincent Valentine."

Zack blinked. The red cape and the stark black hair were striking. He smiled as he recognized that this was one of Cloud's friends, but realized plainly that this was actually someone he had seen before!

"… HOLY-… GAEA. I KNOW HIM!"

"Shh!" She laughed softly, trying to get him quiet as she covered his mouth. "You know, some people have third eyes and they can sense AND hear ghosts," she whispered. "Vincent's one of them."

Inside, Vincent blinked.

And outside, Aerith blinked, realizing what Zack had just said. "Wait, what?"

Zack took Aerith's hand off his mouth, and held it in between his two. "I know him!" Zack beamed. "I've seen him before!-… I THINK."

"… You think? How do you think you know someone?… " The flower girl realized she was only going to confuse herself. "Anyway. What do you mean?"

"See, when I was in the Nibelheim Shinra Mansion, I was able to get to the basement. You know… where the library was at." Zack nodded. "There was a room there with coffins. Around… 3? 5, I think? I don't remember, but there was one particular coffin I think I checked, and it THUMPED. INSIIIIDE."

Aerith began to smile. She looked at Vincent through the window again. "He's a sleeper, alright…" she chuckled. "I'll have to introduce you to him, and you can talk."

Zack shuddered. "… Hojo… "

"Oh, come on. The story's not THAT bad." Aerith smirked. "And besides. I don't think anyone could ever stand him, in fact I think anyone would want to kill him as soon as they'd see his face… " She paused. "Then again… we don't want blood now, do we?… "

Zack snickered. "Heh-heh… WELL. I'd be glad to."

Aerith punched his shoulder. "No more wars."

"OW." Zack pouted. "HE HURT YOU, YOU KNOW. He deserves an ass-whooping."

"What are you doing?"

Aerith felt her heart jump in surprise from a voice coming from the rooftop, and when she and Zack looked up, Vincent was there, perched quietly and watching them. "VINNIE!" Aerith waved happily, giggling. "Hi. We just thought we'd drop by."

"… Hm." Vincent nodded. "I thought it was Yuffie."

Zack looked at Aerith. "Yuffie?"

Aerith smiled. "That's another person I'll introduce you to." She nodded. "But that's another story."

"Whoa. You've got lots of friends! I see you really enjoyed your time when you were alive." Zack grinned.

"Not all the time, but I tried… " Aerith tried her hardest not to recall the times when she needed Zack the most, and decided to treasure their moments now. "Anyway!" She looked up at Vincent. "… Can we come in? If you prefer to stargaze up there, though, we can join you! By the way, this is Zack. I know you've seen him when Midgar was saved from the Remnants, when we were all at the church by the healing water… but I never really was able to introduce him to you."

Zack gave a wave. "Hi there!" he said, with a grin. "Zack Fair, SOLDIER 1st Class."

"… You treasure your legacy, I see."

"Oh, of course!" Zack snickered. "I do. Very much. That's what you get for being in SOLDIER!" He nodded promptly.

Vincent eyes the spikey-haired ghost. He figured Zack was Aerith's boyfriend, or ex-boyfriend, but he didn't really know. Instead he dismissed the pondering and smiled softly. He leaned down and offered his human hand, but pulled back when he realized something.

Aerith was about to take it, but- … "Hm?"

"… I realized… You can fly."

"Oh, more than that!"

Vincent blinked. In an instant, Aerith, holding Zack's hand, poofed up to the rooftop. The flower girl grinned as she took a seat next to Vincent with Zack, and gazed up - the sky was filled with stars. Aerith had never seen such a sight. Both she and Zack wowed at the imagery.

"You stay up here often, don't you?" Zack leaned back to look at Vincent, giving a gentle smile. "I could understand why."

Of course, Vincent never said his reasons. Especially a certain memory.

Aerith pulled her knees up and scooted backward just a little, slightly up the reclining roof. "Stars are friends," she replied. "They remind me of candy sometimes, though."

Vincent chuckled. "Candy?"

"YUSS." Aerith nodded, laughing. "Candy dots, they are. … So, Vinnie… I was just in Icicle Inn earlier with Zack… I showed him the video of my dad and mom… "

Vincent looked at Zack. On the SOLDIER's face was a hint of sadness, and a bit of frustration. Vincent nodded. "So you know now," he told him, "what she had to go through when she was younger."

"I'm just upset about Hojo. Everything is his fault." He scowled. "He hurt Aerith, he hurt Cloud's friends, he made a monster out of Sephiroth and Jenova-"

"-And did the same thing again." Vincent looked at the stars. "… He won't stop."

Zack blinked. "Did something happen?"

Aerith preferred to stay quiet, letting the two talk, or at least letting Vincent explain first-hand.

"… I was a Turk, before," Vincent began," and I was assigned to watch over a scientist. Doctor Lucrecia Crescent."

Zack didn't know who she was, but the next line Aerith said clarified everything.

"Sephiroth's mother," she said.

Zack's eyes widened.

"… It was spring, then. She and my father, Grimoire… they were colleagues. Lucrecia had a thesis about Omega and Chaos, stored them in diskettes… they're with Reeve now, for safekeeping and reference." Vincent lay down against the cold roof, eyes closing as he continued to explain. "… My father died due to an accident. Let's just say, fast-forward to years later, Hojo eventually found a host body - one of the Tsviets, an elite group from Deepground… the host body was Weiss the Immaculate."

"Tsviets?… "

Vincent was surprised. Considering Zack was a phantom now too, he reckoned he'd seen what happened from up there in his point of view. "… You don't know anything?… "

Aerith looked at Zack. "… Shin-Ra," she hinted, but Zack really didn't know. He only shrugged and rose a brow in confusion. "… Zack… "

"What is it? Am I missing something here?" Zack turned in his seat and sat cross-legged, legs folded as he hunched over, looking at the two.

"Mm… a lot." Vincent nodded. "It's unknown for how long Shin-Ra has kept it secret, but Deepground is an underground facility. Apparently, Shin-Ra was busy engineering super soldiers underneath what people usually saw."

"… W-What?… Super.. soldiers?"

"Killing machines." Vincent looked away, and up at the stars again.

… Zack pondered for a moment on what it meant to be in SOLDIER. What purpose did Shin-Ra establish SOLDIER for?… To just do the dirty work? To kill innocent lives?… That wasn't right.

As he looked at Aerith for a moment, who only gave him an assuring smile as she curled an arm around his and leaned against him, Zack wondered what Aerith honestly thought of him. She'd already said that she didn't think he was a monster, but the whole idea of Deepground being engineered secretly, the whole concept of harvesting mako, hurting the planet, Hojo, losing Angeal, realizing that the one SOLDIER he looked up to decided to break the world into pieces… and now this bastard of a scientist.

Zack wanted to curl up and just sleep it off.

Aerith looked up at him. She could sense he was feeling off about something, but she didn't want to suddenly burst into his thoughts. "… You alright?" she asked.

"… Mmm." Zack nodded slightly. "… And… what about Hojo?"

Vincent proceeded, as he sat up, "He scattered his data all over the worldwide network. That way, if he found a host body and uploaded himself onto that body, he would be whole again. He used Weiss to command the Tsviets and basically the whole of Deepground, and let out Omega." Vincent's mind was a scatter now. "… I'm sorry. There are just some things I'd rather not go back to."

Zack nodded. "We don't have to go through the whole story," he noted, "but I'm glad you shared this with me." He smiled wide. "Thanks, coffin man!"

Vincent looked at him and grinned. "That was me, yes."

"Man. Can you imagine? If I actually MET YOU that time… small world!" Zack snickered. "So... why were you in a coffin, then?"

"...Ah." Vincent nodded slightly. "I was... experimented on. To save my life, apparently. I can change into several forms, one of them being Chaos."

Zack blinked. "Wow. You can shapeshift?" He began to smile. "Can I see?"

Aerith's eyes widened, and she laughed. "Hey, maybe another time! Not now, Vincent may have some stuff to do."

While Zack pouted and went "Awww...", Vincent chuckled and stood.

"It's okay, Aerith. Just for 2 minutes." He nodded. "I have the Protomateria with me now, so... it's a bit easier for me to control him."

Aerith frowned. "Don't destroy anything, okay?"

"I won't."

Zack watched like a little schoolboy as Vincent changed form - as a blanket of soft, velvet-like violet light embraced Vincent, sharp edges - like what seemed to be armor - began to show. Vincent's eyes became white and he was donned in red, had claws for hands and his hair was replaced by a horned-like helmet. Zack's eyes widened and he scooted backward.

"R..Really? This is you?"

Vincent nodded. "I can change into Galian, too."

"Galian?" Zack and Aerith stood. The SOLDIER cadet raised a brow. "...Who's Galian?"

Vincent smiled slightly again and willed his body to change, that violet light happening again. In an instant, what was once red was now purple, and he had silvery-white hair for a mane. Zack laughed heartily. "Awesome!"

Now as Galian, on all fours he padded to Aerith, who only petted his head. The flower girl smiled down at him. "Good boy," she joked. She heard what seemed to be a disagreeing groan from him, and she laughed. "I'm just glad you're not hurting anyone."

Zack squatted down and reached out to the purple beast, who kindly padded to him and nuzzled his head against his hand. Zack had a huge smile on his face as he ruffled Galian's mane, and the beast leaned up to lick at his hand.

"This is insanely COOL..."

Aerith grinned. "Oi. Don't even think about having him for a pet!" she laughed.

Galian groaned again and walked off, changing into Vincent welcomingly. As soon as Vincent retained his form, he shook his head at the flower girl. "...Expect a random visit from either Chaos OR Galian," he remarked, smiling. "Well. There's another, but I'm afraid we'll hold that off for next time."

"No problem!" Zack put his hands on his hips and grinned. "Man... that was really cool, I must say!" He laughed. "Thanks... that lightened me up!"

Aerith gave Vincent a warm smile. "I'm glad you opened up, Vincent. You don't usually do that, I know."

Vincent nodded. "It's alright. Let's say I... learned that sometimes it's nice to." He let out his human hand, eyeing Zack. "I know you're a ghost and all, but thank you. It was nice to meet you."

Zack took his hand as if they had been friends for many years, a wide smile on his face. He shook it heartily. "You're welcome! It was nice to meet YOU. I'm so glad I met you!"

Aerith smiled. "Well... time to go, Zacky! I'll introduce you to another."

"Oh? Who?"

"…Yuffie! Now's as good a time as any!"

Vincent only smiled, quietly disappearing as the two conversed as they left.