Woo! New chapter. This is mostly back story that is necessary for the doom that ensues in the near future. Soon, there shall be 3 pairings, including Cloud and Vincent's. Viva subplots. Enough of me rambling...

...Irrevocable...

Impossible to be retracted or recalled; unable to be repealed or annulled; unchangeable; irreversible; unalterable; as an irrevocable fate...

The lights were on at home. I thought it was late. It was only 9 p.m.

Vincent helped me out of the car and turned to Reno, "Are they coming?"

Reno sat quietly in the front street, typing frantically on something that appeared to be a cell phone. "No, not yet," his fingers kept moving. "If I leave now, I can make it back in time to delete the files."

I briefly turned my attention away from Vincent; it was a hard thing to do, but my Volvo was sitting in its rightful space in my driveway. I lifted my head to ask questions but Vincent shook his head.

He took my hand and motion Riku to follow with the other. Their movements were quick and I was standing on my back porch before I could stop to think. Vincent was fidgeting with something in his pocket. He pulled out a keychain. I smiled knowing he had kept the keys for so long. But as he was turning the deadbolt, another thought ran through my head.

My hand moved to his, stopping his action. "Vincent," his name rolled off my tongue. I had missed saying it. "Sora's in there, probably with Roxas. I think I should go in and explain. This will probably stop his heart."

He nodded, "But he all ready knows something is up. Axel's in there as well. He had to get Roxas here in case something happened."

I let Vincent's words roll over me. I knew he would explain when the time was right. "Still, I think it would be best if I knew before he did, so I, you know, edit. I don't want him scared." The thought of hurting my younger brother anymore made me cringe.

Vincent's hand appeared on my cheek. "Ok," he finally agreed. "But how do you intend in me getting in there without him seeing? I want to see him almost as much as I wanted to see you."

"And you will," I assured, moving my cheek deeper in to his hand. "Riku can come inside. I'll say he's Axel's friend. They can watch TV and you come through mine – I mean our – window."

"I still don't like keeping secrets from Sora," Vincent shook his head as his other hand fell from the doorknob.

"Soon," I said. "Whatever you have to say, I'm sure with be emotional enough for me. I can't comfort Sora while I'm a mess."

And his arms were around me, reminding me he was on my side all along. "OK, whatever will make this easier for the two of you," his eyes smiled. "Riku, follow Cloud. I'll be in in a second."

The silveret nodded as he turned to open the door. He was inside my kitchen when I turned to Vincent.

"I love you," my arms dove to his body. "I missed you so much."

Vincent's arms were unbelievably strong. He held me like I was about to fall off the earth. "I love you, too. Now go inside so we can be together again."

I nodded and let go, all ready feeling anxious. Not every day your dead fiance comes home.

I went inside and lead Riku to the living room. I honestly had no idea what to tell Sora. As soon as he saw me, he rushed to my side.

"Cloud!" panic was filling his voice. "Roxas came home with him," he point at Axel and scrunched his nose, "and said something was or might be wrong or something. And why didn't you call me and – " his rant was cut short once he had sight of the man beside me. I could tell by the look on Sora's face that Riku was going to be a problem.

"Sora, this is Axel's friend Riku. Riku, this is my brother, Sora," I explained with a sigh.

Riku took Sora's hand in his own and held it to his pale lips, kissing it softly. "Nice to meet you, Sora," his words were swift, seducing.

I shot Riku the darkest glare I could muster. I didn't even know Riku. I didn't know what Vincent was, but I was sure Riku was the same. Riku smirked at my reaction and let the hand fall.

"I'm OK, just a little trouble at work," I tried to sound convincing. "I need to go rest for a bit. I'll be back soon."

Sora finally turned from Riku's green eyes to mine. "Promise?" I could tell words were hard for him.

I nodded, "You'll hear the whole story."

That was my exit cue. I turned to head to the stairs, but not before glancing at the four in my living room. Riku had taken Sora's hand despite my warning and lead him to the loveseat. I didn't want to think about Sora's love interests. I had so many other things to worry about. Like if Vincent was even capable to fit through our window.

I jogged up the rest of the stairs and into my room. I opened the door and saw Vincent standing over our dresser. The lights still off. He had one of the drawers open.

"You kept everything the same," he said, pushing clothes around in the drawer. He looked up to me, "Why?"

I closed the door slowly and moved to the bed. I put my head in my hands, closing my eyes. "I..I didn't want to believe you were gone," the sudden shifting in weight told me Vincent was beside me. "I didn't get to see you body...I didn't have closure," I lifted my head to be met by Vincent's red eyes.

"So, you thought I would be coming home?" Vincent's arms pulled me down so I was laying beside him. His arms held onto me.

I placed my head against his chest. I could feel the cold emanating off of it. "I hoped you would be," I closed my eyes.

The room was quiet and cold. A late October day. The sun was setting earlier and the cold staying longer. I let the darkness take over the moment. The room was still. I listened closely. No sound. Nothing.

My head laid on his chest, over top his heart. I didn't say anything; I pushed my head closer. Still nothing. Vincent didn't have a heart beat.

Vincent's hand moved across my forehead. I adjusted myself so I could look at him.

"You. Your. Why don't you have a heart beat?" I thought I was crazy. Maybe I wasn't listening well enough.

Vincent chuckled. Not exactly the response I was expecting.

He moved me to lay beside him, propping himself up on one elbow. "I think I should tell you my story." His hand moved my head close to his. He gently kissed my lips. "Promise me you'll still love me when I'm finished."

I held my head up with my hand, mimicking his position. My other hand rested on his side. I made sure to always have contact with him. "There's nothing you could say that would change that."

He mumbled something under his breath and then began:

"You know I was working on a lot of experiments – most of which I couldn't talk to you about."

He didn't wait for understanding. His eyes were distant.

"There was this one. It was started before I was even a part of the team. Operation Night, they called it. There were rumors of a type of people outside the city who had heightened senses and could fight better at night than us. Lazard sent out operatives and captured a few of these...people."

His body shuddered at the word. I softly ran my hand up and down his side, knowing this was difficult for him.

"I was in charge of monitoring them. I was supposed to prod them and make them turn violent. I was supposed to make sure they wouldn't hurt each other on the field, only those who were against them. My friend was in charge of figuring out how to change our men into them.

"Everything was going fine. We figured out that all it took was one bite and the person infected would turn. Their heart would stop and they would cross over. They would become one of them – a vampire so to speak."

He paused and flashed his eyes to mine. The silence grew. Then it sunk in. I opened my mouth to ask him, but he silenced my words with a finger. His words continued, emotionless, monotone.

"The hard part was trying to figure out how to keep them fed, seeing as they only feasted on blood.

"Once we figured out they didn't quarrel with each other, I was sent to figure out how to keep them fed. I was also supposed to figure out if they needed to eat at all. This meant spending time talking to my experiments.

"I never talked to them before, only monitored. This is where I started talking to Reno, Axel and Riku. They had been on our hands for three years now, drinking the blood of fallen soldiers. They told me it took a lot to kill a vampire, more than just starvation.

"Me being the good scientist I was, delivered this news to Lazard. It spiked his curiosity. He wanted to know just what would kill a vampire. Our specimens wouldn't say. They insisted sunlight, stakes to the heart and garlic were only myths, but wouldn't tell us what wasn't. The vampires said telling me what would kill them would be an automatic death wish.

"Lazard grew aggravated by their lack of obedience. He ordered a few firsts to take out the oldest, Reno. "

I tried to imagine my fellow soldiers attempting to take out Reno. Sure, the guy didn't look tough, but there was something about him that freaked me out. I shuddered. Vincent pulled me into his chest.

"By this time, I had spent a few months with the three. They were real people, just a little different. I tried to tell Lazard to give me more time, but he insisted that he needed his answers.

"I talked to the firsts who were to do the job. I told them what they were up against – a 300-year-old vampire with excess amounts of strength and beyond heightened senses. I told them they would die. The three of them listened to me. They didn't want to seal their death wish.

"We worked out a plan: I would let them in the cell with Reno. They would all act like they were fighting, then one of the firsts would 'accidentally' push a button letting Riku and Axel out of their cells and into Reno's. By this time, the other firsts would be 'panicking' and open the cell and run out, leaving the door open for the three vampires to escape.

"To make the their escape more believable, I was going to stage another problem with a different experiment, so I wouldn't have to be monitoring this one so heavily.

"Everything was going to work, until Lazard added Genesis to the firsts' party the day of the fight. There wasn't time to brief. Genesis was brutal, to say the least. They weren't allowed weapons, but the force which Genesis hit – unfathomable.

"Reno had suffered many hits. He was going to be torn apart. I ran from my other experiment to help. I had to stop Genesis. I opened Riku and Axel's cells, hoping they could take Genesis.

"But Genesis snapped. The firsts tried to contain him, only to be killed in one fatal move."

He stopped speaking. I could feel his body tense. He still held me close to his chest. I longed to look into his eyes.

"I stepped in the cell, holding a powerful sedative. I just needed to inject it into Genesis' arm and he would be knocked out and not remember a thing when he came to.

"But Axel had other plans. He lunged full-force at Genesis, white teeth glistening, ready to feast. I couldn't let Genesis be killed...I just needed to inject his arm and everything would go back to normal.

"I lunged forward, hoping to at least push Genesis aside before Axel got to him. I had succeeded, to some point. I pushed Genesis out of the way and fell into Axel's teeth."

He gently pushed me off of his chest and lifted his shirt, revealing a crescent scar on his right side. My hand gravitated to the bite mark and my fingers touched the raised skin.

"The next few days were a blur. The pain...I had no idea. I never saw the changing process. Only the end result.

"I was told later by Reno that they took me out of the city. Axel started a fire and destroyed all evidence of that cell, including Genesis and the other firsts. Lazard thought we were all dead, but he still has trackers in the area using some weird detector of abnormal life. Reno's taking care of that as we speak."

The air was still. My eyes hadn't moved from the scar on Vincent's side. Slowly, my eyes made their way up Vincent's body and locked with his eyes. They were red, like usual, but they had changed. The red was more intense; it looked like blood. I gasped and pulled my hand away. My mouth stayed open and I made an attempt at forming a sentence, "You, them, you're..No." My final word was more stern than I thought my voice was capable of being at the time.

Vincent nodded. He covered my hand with his and tried to smile. "Yes, I am. Yes, they are."

Then tears formed in the corners of my eyes. I didn't know why I was crying. Technically, even if Vincent's story was true, Vincent appeared to be fine, and he was here. Both attributes were more than enough for me to not be crying, but still, the silent drops of water fell onto the mattress.

"It's going to be OK," his arms felt like rock against my own. "I'm here now. I'm never leaving again."

I nodded and gave in to his touch. We laid on my bed for what seemed like hours but I was almost positive it had only been a minute before something else hit me: "This happened two years ago...So, where have you been since then?"

It was selfish to think that way; I knew it, but I needed to know why, even if he was a blood-sucking creature of the night, he hadn't at least sent me an e-mail saying he was alive.

"Away," he pulled himself away from me. "You wouldn't have wanted me."

"Are you fucking serious?" my voice was harsh and louder than necessary. "All I want is you."

Vincent shook his head and put his ice cold hand to my cheek. "Not what I mean, love. I wasn't me until a few weeks ago."

"Oh..," I looked away.

He pulled me to a sitting position on his lap so I was facing him. "Cloud...Believe me, I wanted nothing more than to see you. To touch you. To know that you and Sora were OK...But I couldn't see you," he pulled me close so my head rested on his shoulder. "I could have, would have, hurt you."

"I don't believe that."

He suddenly pushed me away, eyes growing tense. "You have to believe me. I would have hurt you. We're not..stable for the first few years. We're growing into our strength, building our tolerance."

I remained silent, not believing he would hurt me, not believing anything, really.

His hands held my shoulders securely, his eyes locking on to mine. "I could hurt you even now. I have to watch my strength, my thirst, with every movement."

I backed away a little, a reaction to his statement not my wishes. Before I could move more than an inch, his arms stopped me.

"But I won't hurt you," Vincent's cold lips felt like fire as they kissed my cheek. "I could never hurt you."

And I melted into his arms. Two years being apart, thinking he would never come home, that I was alone.. I let my emotions take hold. My lips plunged into his has my hands strung through his long, black hair.

And he reacted the same way I had. Within two breaths he laid on top of me, holding himself up with his forearms while his hands gripped my hair. He opened my mouth with his tongue and kissed with the passion I had missed so much.

Who knows how long we stayed like that, trying to make up for the two years worth of affection we had missed. It wasn't until I heard a knock on the door that I realized I was even awake. Everything about this night was dreamlike.

"Cloud, Vincent, there's news from Reno," the voice was foreign to me.

"We'll be done in a minute, Axel," Vincent replied. I shot him a look of worry. Sora couldn't see Vincent yet. He had to know. "Um, well, Cloud will be down. When he does, you and Riku should come up and we'll discuss the situation," he amended, sensing my apprehension.

"Thank you," I said between breaths, kissing his cheek.

"Any time," he moved so he was sitting on the edge of the bed. "Things are about to real, if I read Axel's tone correctly. Go talk to Sora and let me know when I can come down."

He stood; I followed his lead. We reached the door and he hugged me tightly.

"I don't want to ever be away from you again," I stated as I clenched my hands into fists on his chest. "Whatever is going on, tell me I will never have to be away from you."

Vincent's hands appeared under my chin so that he could lift it and look into my eyes. "Every thing's going to be wonderful, in time, but I will never leave you for any reason ever again."

His words were filled with such certainty that I could find no hint of doubt in his voice. I reached up and kissed his lips one last time, "I should go talk to Sora."

"Yes," he kissed me again. "You should. I will see you soon, I promise."

I kissed him one last time before he opened the door. I looked down the hallway, Riku and Axel were waiting at the end. I tried to read their expressions. They both seemed emotionless. I took that as a bad sign. But yet, under all the confusion, uncertainty and despair, I felt calm. Vincent was home, for good. He was OK, to some extent. And he promised everything would be fine again in time. I nodded at the two as I headed down the stairs. I was greeted by Sora, who flung his arms around my chest. He looked worried and spatted off questions at a rapid speed. I didn't process any of them; I just held him close to my chest and stroked his hair.

"It's going to be OK, Sora," I said pulling him back and smiling into his eyes. "Vincent is home."