Thank you to all who have reviewed! I'm so happy! Lol. One of the reviewers asked if theyll get to Canada soon, but they'll only arrive at Ellie's house on her birthday as planned, which is in March, and it's "currently" December. Close to Christmas, I'm still thinking about what they should do ... should Ellie bring Vincent out to see the sights? -cackles- there's a chance for everyone who knows to GLOMP Vincent.. lol.

Chapter 12 : Lost and Found

"Ackk! This guy's strong!" exclaimed Ellie, watching Barret on screen getting his ass whooped pretty badly.

"Or maybe, Barret's just weak because you did not train him well enough," said Vincent.

"He IS weak! He's so weak compared to Cloud!" Somewhere in Corel the "real" Barret sneezed, although they did not know that.Vincent thought otherwise. It was after all just a game, and they had started at low levels, Vincent knew he was right but didn't want to say so. Barret was strong, as strong as any of them. All of us ... in AVALANCHE. We're all strong. We went through everything ... or mostly everything together, thought Vincent.

"Luckily I put him in the back row, if not he'd get hell a lot more damage than this," said Ellie.

"I think your best chance is to use Barret's limit. You should be able to that frequently enough; his attacks are eating into you alot. Heal him as effectively as you can," suggested Vincent.

"I should have equipped Ifrit on him, he'd probably die straightaway," said Ellie ruefully. Vincent decided not to point out that the only summon worth summoning is the Knights of the Rounds. Even Chaos could beat Ifrit senseless. Actually that wasn't fair, maybe a mastered Ifrit might put up a good fight.

Finally Ellie managed to defeat Dyne, leaving Barret almost at KO stage. Dyne had thrown a Molotov Cocktail as his final attack, causing about 200 hp damage to Barret. Vincent still couldn't get used to the idea of life being counted in numbers. How high is MY own HP now? Surely not 500 or 600? What level am I at now? Did someone TRAIN me using a controller? thought Vincent frantically. Valentine, you're losing it, AGAIN. Vincent shook those thoughts and Chaos out of his head and concentrated on the game.

Dyne: Back! …it wasn't just my arm……back then……I lost something irreplaceable. I don't know where I went wrong…
Barret: Dyne… I don't know either, man. Is this the only way…we can resolve this?
Dyne: I told you… I… I want to destroy everything… Everything… This crazy world… Even me…
Barret: An' what 'bout Marlene? What's gonna happen to her?
Dyne: …Think about it… Barret… How old was Marlene back then…? Even if I did go to her now…she wouldn't even know me… And what's more…Barret… These hands are a little too stained to carry Marlene anymore…
Barret: ……
Dyne: Barret… Give that pendant to Marlene… It was… Eleanor's…my wife's memento…
Dyne tossed a pendant to Barret.
Barret: All right…
Dyne: …wow… Marlene's…already…… four.…… Barret… Don't……make…… Don't ever make Marlene…… cry…
Barret: Dyne? Dyne!
Dyne approaches the cliff and intentionally falls into the chasm.
Barret: Dy-----ne! …Dyne. Me an' you were the same… My hands ain't any cleaner…… I shouldn't be able to carry… Marlene either… Uuuurrrrrrgghh!

And again, Vincent couldn't help but wonder ... does Marlene know? How does she feel? Barret loves her alot ... surely she wouldn't mind ... right? Though Vincent considered it pretty obvious that Marlene was not Barret's daughter, as none of them looked alike, he couldn't help wondering how nobody ever noticed. Or maybe, they did, and it's just me being cold and aloof. But I care just like everyone else ... Suddenly, Vincent's thoughts were interrupted by a tinny sound coming from somewhere near his midriff. His phone was ringing, he'd almost forgotten he had it with him.

"Excuse me while I take this call, Ellie," said Vincent and got up from the couch.

"Shall I stop?"

"No, just continue without me for awhile."

He pressed the button and held the phone to his ear, quite aware of Fluffy still tailing behind him playing with his tattered crimson cloak.

"Hello?"

"Vinnie!" yelled the voice from the other end. For a moment Vincent thought it was Ellie, but then he realised there was also one other person who called him that. Vincent could roughly hear Cid's ridiculously colourful language on the other side.

"Yuffie."

"Gawd, you're as monotonous as ever ..."

"And you've learnt a new word. A long one."

"Vinnie made a JOKE! Oh my GAWD, guys, Vinnie seriously made a JOKE! It's TRUE!" At every exclamation Yuffie made Vincent cringed twice.

"Learn to differentiate joke from insult, Yuffie. Now why did you call?"

"I'm here with the other guys, and I know you're at that crazy place wherever you are, but it's gonna be our anniversary party soon, you know, the day we defeat Sephiroth? Yeah so we were wondering if you could make it back or something and let us know what's been goin' on over there ... Also... I'm sure..." Yuffie's voice trailed away, and Vincent could feel the silence hanging in the air on the other side.

"You're sure of what?"

"I'm sure Aeris would want ALL of us to be there," said Yuffie in a tiny voice. Of course, Vincent thought. It's almost three years ... how could he forget? They would get together again and go to Aeris's watery grave and spend the night there... But could Vincent even go back? Was the portal still there?

"When are we going to visit Aeris?" asked Vincent.

"Umm... yo Cloud! When are we gonna visit Aeris again? Next week? Next week, Vinnie. SO can you make it?"

"Please pass the phone to Cid, Yuffie." There was a shuffling sound and a muffled yell of "Vinnie wants to talk to ya, Gramps! CAAATCCCHHH!" and "Yuffie, NO! MY PHONE!" and "Watch it, ya fucking BRAT!" and a loud crash and "DON'T CALL ME BRAT!" and "DON'T FUCKING CALL ME GRAMPS!" and a lot more muffled shouting. Vincent sighed and waited.

"S'up Vamp?" said Cid, finally.

"Did something break?" asked Vincent casually.

"Yeah, I fell over the coffee table trying to catch the phone the brat threw .. so what?"

"I will come to visit Aeris but I'm afraid I can't stay the night there with you guys. The Sierra should be able to drop me back in an instant, correct?"

"Yeah, but that means you ain't gonna party with us?"

"No, I can't leave Ellie by herself without an adult near her, the most I can spare is only a day. Give the rest my apologies, but I'll be there to visit Aeris, for sure."

"Right, Vamp, we'll come pick you up on the day itself. We'll send ya back by nightfall. Nibelheim?"

"Yes, the portal is there. Thank you."

Vincent picked Fluffy up and went back to the living room, settling comfortably on the sofa. Ellie, it seemed, had gotten tangled up in chocobo racing, when she should be escaping from there.

"Care to enlighten me, Ellie?"

"Oh right, the only way to escape is if Cloud wins the chocobo race. This is my third time racing, I can't seem to get the hang of it. It's so different than Chocobo Racing, another game by itself."

"There's a game called Chocobo Racing?"

"Yeah. You can take a look at it over there," said Ellie, pointing to a folder of games beside the machine.

Vincent picked it up and scanned the cover of the game, and there was a cute yellow chocobo with rollerskates and a Moogle and othe characters he did not recognise.

"I don't even know why I bought it, I don't have anybody to race against with," said Ellie. Then suddenly Ellie turned to face Vincent with a grin.

"Saaay..."

"No, Ellie. I can't play with you. My claw will only damage your machine."

"We'll see about that!"

"Dinnertime!" said Vincent, getting up abruptly from the sofa, getting away just in time.

What do you think? Lol. Should Vincent play? Yes he should, yes he should! Wait till he finds out that Cloud is also in Chocobo Racing!