FN: Well congratulations even if I only got one review (thanks Reiko) you people still managed to break 400 hits. I hope you're proud of yourself since my 16 chapter long Suikoden Story only has 476 hits at the moment. Have more needless Kurt Vonnegut style mind fery before the actual story!

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"Catch!" The simple plastic disc wizzed through the air and Red J had to give his all in order to catch it. "His all" included a jump which climaxed with him throwing the disc back right back before he hit the ground. Unlike his "opponent's" throw, Red's J's sent the disc right back to the one who had thrown it, and White M easily snatched it out of the air.

"You should take more care of yourself." Red J slowly rose back to his feet shaking off a small cloud of dust. "I'm fine. I was built to be hardy, I was built to be a lot of things." White M lazily spun the frisbee about on a raised index finger. "You weren't 'built' Red, you were made." Red J held out his hands imploringly, waiting for White M to start their game again. "What's the difference?"

White M sighed as she looked to the left and right, though there was nothing around them but sand one way or another. "Bridges are built, people are made." Red J slowly scratched the back of his neck, as if feeling the small metal square beneath it. "Okay I was made, but still, I'm not like you, I know things."

White M increased the speed at which the disc spun. "Everyone knows things." Red J shook his head, and pressed both of his index fingers to his head. "No, I know things that I shouldn't, things that I can't know.

Like rain. I know what rain is M, little bitty drops of water falling from the sky, so how come I know what rain is if it never comes here? Have you ever seen it rain?" White M's left hand snatched the disc from the finger, smiling all the while. "Yeah. it used to rain quite a bit where I came from, it used to rain quite a bit everywhere else but here."

Red J looked accusingly into the cloudless sky. "Why doesn't it ever rain here? I'd like to know how it feels, to stand outside while water slowly splashes against me. I know about snow also, they say people hold out their tongues and catch snow flakes on their mouths, I'd be happy to stick mine out and catch a single droplet of water."

White M glared off in the direction she had come from. "It doesn't rain here because your mother doesn't want it to rain." Red J suddenly hunched over his shoulders as if trying to look as small as possible. "Why don't people get it? If they'd just stop fighting then Mommy would bring the rain back, wouldn't she?"

White M might be in her own words, a stone hearted bitch who enjoyed it when people screamed in pain, but even she couldn't bring herself to break a child's dreams, whatever she might do to its body. "I'm sure she will J, I'm sure she will." Then she gave an uncharacteristically unimpressive toss which Red J easily caught.

"Good. There's so much I know, and so much I haven't seen. When this is over will you help me see M?" White M, wasn't like Red J, she had a name, and she knew what the chances of her succeeding would be. But then those chances hadn't bothered her or Brown C, when they'd taken the job.

They had lived for this kind of thing, and they had died doing it, now they would probably die doing it again. "We'll see Red J, we will see. If Black M doesn't come back then it'll be my turn."

Red J held the frisbee he had caught over his heart. "If Black M doesn't come back, it'll be because he died, won't it?" White M nodded. Red J half tossed, half dropped the frisbee into the sand and then got down on his hands and knees and was violently ill. He wanted to purge himself of the cruelty of the world, but there was so much of it.

FN: And now the actual story, enjoy Vincent and Lucrecia getting to be the main focus once again.

The Immortal Gunman Chapter Eight: Remember how I found you there, alone in your electric chair? I told you dirty jokes untill you smiled.

There was only the sand around them, only the sand in front of them and only the sand behind them. Vincent with his guns, and Lucresia carrying a briefcase large enough to hold some automatic weaponry and a sizeable chunk of ammo.

"You sure you don't need my help with that?" Lucresia flashed him a confident smile as she increased her pace to match his own. "Thanks for the offer, but I can handle it just fine." Vincent's eyes widened sharply. "You've changed, forgive me for being a bit behind the times but I still remember the days when I had to have you lean on me on the way to our cave."

Lucresia just kept right on smiling. "Before I met you, you where feared as 'The Grim Valentine' weren't you? The love of a son and the passage of time can do a lot to change people." Vincent nodded "The Grim Valentine" was one of the many colorful phrases Vincent had accumulated over the years in what could only be called a "notorious career" of working for Shinra.

The ex-Turk's voice was more interested then accusing as he responded. "So in what ways have you changed?" Lucresia suddenly refused to meet his eyes. "There was a thirty year gap between my and Sephiroth's death. Thirty years of me surviving on out here on my own in a world that hated me with a vengeance. I was the first Non-Cetra, to ever enter the world.

It was thriving back then so there was plenty of available food for me to live off of, but I had to learn how. Fortunately my present condition gave me plenty of room for trail and error." "What do you mean by 'present condition' if you don't mind me asking?" Lucresia's head swung back and they once again locked eyes. "How would you define mako poisoning?"

Vincent sighed, he had plenty of time to study mako power, since he'd had nothing better to do with his time than help with the process of dismantling it. "After extensive research, mako poisoning is not a condition that comes about because mako has poisonous or corrosive qualities. It exists because exposure to mako can cause the human body's metabolism to increase.

If that metabolism starts running too fast the body can't possibly ingest enough food to sustain itself. That's why mako treatments generally should be accompanied by Jenova cells injections. Because Jenova cells are more efficient than human ones, so they decrease the amount of energy necessary for the body to sustain itself. Thus while third and second class SOLDIERS can get by without them, due to the much smaller amount of mako they get ,first class SOLDIERS always reserve Jenova cell enhancements because they received large amounts of mako into their bodies."

Lucresia nodded sadly. "Yes, first class SOLDIERS receive Jenova cells, for reasons that are abundantly clear with me as an example. The mako injected into my womb was enough for a first class SOLDIER, as were the Jenova cells. However, the mako got into my bloodstream and body, but the Jenova cells didn't. When I realised it was killing me, around eight months in, I did the only thing I could ethically as a doctor, I took out my own prescription.

When Hojo wasn't looking I started giving myself Jenova cell injections. But by then my body was already too weak to be saved. Still, they kept me alive long enough to give birth to Sephiroth, I hoped they would save both of us, but saving him was enough at the time.

In this world though, your body gets reconstructed from your own self image. I thought I should have had a lot of Jenova cells in my body, so this new one did. When I was reborn, my body was weak, but still functional, more importantly the Jenova cells had become fully integrated with my own.

Which means that my body was running so efficiently that I could get by on about one seventh as much food as most people. Eating regular meals helped me get my feet back under me and recoup what energy I had lost, though for the first few weeks I might not have made it on my own.

There was one Cetra who helped me through it though, and by the time the other's turned on her I was stronger then anyone realised. To sum it up in a couple words, I now have the mako and Jenova cell enhancements of a first class SOLDIER, if not slightly higher." Vincent tried hard not to let his eyes from going wide at that announcement, tried hard but failed.

First impressions where frequently what you based everything else you ever learned about a person on, and Vincent's first impression of Lucresia (at least when he had met her in their last lives) had been of a frightened girl in desperate need of any kind of assistance.

He could accept (and was actually quite fond of) thoughts that the girl was now able to take care of herself. However imagining that this girl now could fight as well as a first class SOLDIER was more then a bit of a shock. He did managed to avoid being caught completely lacking for words. "Well... how... nice... for you."

Lucresia fondly patted her metal case. "I know, it's a real step up in the world all things considered." Vincent nodded like a boxer reeling from a blow to the head, desperate to find anything else to talk about his eyes focused on Lucresia's suitcase. Gazing at it made him remembered the odd look Sephiroth had given her at her announcement to make one, and Aeris' one of barely restrained fright.

There was something in there, just like there was something in Sephiroth's cross, and his arm come to think of it. "So do you keep in there?" Lucresia gave the case a quick swing though there was nothing it could have possibly connected with. "Just a few toys, after I'd finished Sephiroth's cross I got rid of my last one since it was rather redundant.

Right now, however anything less than one of these things wouldn't be close to enough." Vincent nodded, even his two pistols hadn't been enough, but that was partly his fault. He had spent plenty of time training over the last forty years, but he hadn't spent much of that time fighting.

Vincent had made all kinds of mistakes during that gunfight, and not aiming for Dyne's head was only the most obvious of them. "If you would tell me the general kind of weaponry you have in there it might help me during the next fight we get in. Fr example, if you had told me about my arm cannon a few moments later that grenade would have blown me to bits." "Well a girl has to keep her secrets, so how about I tell you the story of what happened the last time I had to use something like this?"

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Aeris felt her entire life come crashing down around her. No, that had already happened, now her entire afterlife was crashing down around her. As she looked up at the crowd arrayed against her she saw no faces that could even be imagined as friendly. All she could see was faces filled with rage, telling her she didn't belong here, or even worse, that she had failed.

That she had sacrificed herself for nothing, that because she had given her life the way she had, that she had destroyed the entire planet. But why shouldn't they say that, she had known all along that Sephiroth's magic was stronger then her own. But even with that knowledge, she couldn't believe that Sephiroth and Jenova would be able to suppress Holy with such ease.

Perhaps worst of all, because she had died with no children, that meant the only people left on the planet where humans who would surely destroy it one way or another. Aeris didn't know if they would go so far as to kill her, at the moment she didn't care, couldn't have cared. It was too much, too soon, too unplanned for.

Then suddenly all the voices stoped yelling insults at her, and fell silent. Their eyes where instead focused on one incredible sight, and Aeris to was drawn to the one who had captured their attention. A pair of glowing green glowing eyes split the darkness as a women dressed in a white labcoat stepped forward.

She wore her silver hair loose, but it reminded her of someone closely enough to send shivers up Aeris' spine, and it apparently had the same effect on the crowd. However, at the same time a moment later they drew some strength from their numbers. The man who supposedly was in charge of the crowd (as much as any one can be in charge of a mob) worked up the courage to sneer at her. "What are you doing here Jenova witch? You are allowed to exist soley by the grace of the Cetra, you shouldn't push your luck by infringing on their affairs!"

Several crowd members echoed that sentiment. However they where silenced by a single "THUD" as the woman's hand opened. A metallic colored suitcase landed on the ground with an all but deafening impact. The woman's voice had far more confident than any member of the crowd.

"You're right, but who said you could turn this girl into a pariah. But seeing as you have, I'm going to take her off your hands." There was tranquillity, but clearly it would only last till the members of the crowd figured out what kind of magic they wanted to use. "Go ahead and try, we'll dispose of you and this failure at the same time!" The woman shrugged as she slowly helped Aeris up, as if wanting to make sure she still knew how to stand. Once she sure that Aeris could maintain her own balance (even if her legs where slightly unsteady) she looked calmly at a small swatch on her right wrist.

"That would be a very, very bad idea." She pressed a button on the watch and suddenly a small hatch popped open on the suitcase. She hit another button, and a moment later two disks went shooting out of the suitcase like clay pigeons. One landed to the right of where they stood, and one to the left.

Then she finally returned her gaze to the crowd. "I would suggest you rethink that statment. If you try to hurt us, you will all be dead before the first word of any incarnation leaves your mouths. These things are a little something I made, and if I press this button one more time they'll begin detecting heat sources. If I press it two times, they'll open up with a fifty round clips into everything with a temperature above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Or to simplify things, they'll turn all of you into piles of shrapnel shredded flesh."

Now that took some starch out of their shirts, every memeber of the crowd took a step back and then another. When one finally spoke it sounded practically like a plea. "Long have we known the powers of Jenova may look impressive, but are nothing but empty boasts!" The woman tapped her watch and a pair of turrets popped out of the black disks and swivelled to point themselves at the center of the crowd.

"Oh, I just felt a shive go my spine. The man I love is right, there's a certain perverse pleasure in killing people who deserve it. Now, make me press this button, and you won't live to regret it." No one dared make a move or even raise their voice against the woman. "Glad to see you're paying attention." With that she wrapped her arm around Aeris' shoulder, stopping only to pick her suitcase back up. then they walked away.

Aeris' head still swam with everything that had just happened, however she managed to force herself to ask one question. "Thanks... but I don't even know your name, or why your helping me." The women flashed Aeris a small confident smile. "My name is Lucresia Valentine, and I was just doing for you what someone should have done for me."

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"Should have done?" It might have been hard for an unbiased observer to know if Vincent meant the question in jest on in actual mocking. Lucresia however brushed it off effortlessly. "You had less to work with then I did, what you did for me Vincent was more important then what I did for her."

Vincent allowed himself a self satisfied smug smile. "Well I'm glad that story had a happy ending. I trust helping Sephiroth was a bit more difficult then offering a shoulder to lean on?" Lucresia looked Vincent right in the eyes. "I'm afraid that you'll have to find that one out later, most likely from your own son."

"If you could be a bit less cryptic Lucresia, my life would have been a lot less stressful." Vincent's next words came out deadly serious. "For example, if you had bothered to ask me for help, that time, none of this would have happened." No words where spoken between the two for a very long time after that pronouncement. But in the end Lucresia finally did respond. "Don't blame yourself for what happened, either to me or to Sephiroth.

We dug our own holes, made our own mistakes, and that means we have to work on climbing out of them by ourselves. Honestly, sometimes you're more concerned about other peoples problems than Aeris is." Stroked his holstered weapons. "It's only where family is concerned my dear, only where family is concerned."

Lucresia's smile would have erked him coming form any other women. "So Sephiroth was right, it must be in the wolf in you. I don't see any other possible reason for a man who would kill anyone for a few ten thousand kill bothering to bend down and pick up a women's purse and return it to her."

Vincent refused to meet Lucresia's eyes, (both of them had tucked away their glasses away while their was no one who could see them.) "Oh your going to bring that up again." "Well it was the way we met." Vincent felt a highly unprofessional mount of joviality running through them. "Yes, and when you wanted to shake hands I told that I was left handed.."

Lucresia nodded slowly but her question came with complete sincerity "Do you think Sephiroth is?" "With enough military training anyone becomes ambidextrous." "With weapons." Lucresia corrected him instantly, and Vincent nodded. "True enough, but unlike scientists the only things people in my profession had to document were expense reports."

"Let's forget about which hand we use Vincent, let's forget about what is behind us. For now, what are we gonna do about Jenova and Hojo?"

Vincent's smile was Turk through and through. "We track those two down, and we make them pay. We make what you went through seem like heaven, we make them beg us to kill them. Then we eradicate them and any of their warped creations from the face of the world."

"Well I hope we'll be able to make some real advancement in the field of us catching up on how we've missed each other for seventy years, in fact I know we will if we can make it to a town before nightfall." Vincent's pace suddenly increased drastically.