Huh, this one happens to be just a little longer than the previous one. Let me know how it's going now that the writer's block's gone again!

Chapter Seven: Another Short Irony

Turns out that the maniac had though him a Chocobo thief and was trying to scare him away from the stable. All that based on his dark outfit, sheesh. Vincent found himself with a lot more attitude than he usually had. Luckily, it was still containable, and he had been positively polite to the lady who owned the Chocobo stables. He couldn't say the same of her, but what could he say? Country women had more attitude than Reno on drugs and alcohol mixed. Or at least, that was his experience.

Then again, Tifa had been a country girl…Nope, previous theory still stands.

Aaaaand back to the outside world, where the crazy lady was handing over a beautiful Gold Chocobo for a hefty sum. Seriously, 51,000 gil was too much for any Chocobo, let alone one that was bred by a viscous old lady. Good thing he had enough…from killing all those Wutain. They were surprisingly wealthy for soldiers and ninjas. Maybe they were from some Wutain Noble's private army?

Eh, none of his business in any case. Being around no one but himself would appear to be making his mind wander a bit much. Time to get back into character.

Mumbling a thank you to the evil lady, Vincent hopped into the saddle and started the big bird off into a northern direction. It was too warm here to be more North than Nibelheim, so going in that direction there was a good bet that he'd run into somewhere he recognized eventually. And even if he didn't, he wasn't averse to asking for directions- unlike a certain AVALANCHE leader who shall not be named.

~*0*~

Approximately three days later had Vincent riding into Nibelheim with some new knowledge about this Planet. Amazingly, it wasn't even called Gaia, it was called Gia and it was just as unfair and Mako-happy as Gaia had been. Unsurprisingly, it even had an evil dictator who ran the world through a mix of fear and money. His name was Hojo, and that did surprise Vincent. A lot. In fact, Vincent had been tempted to destroy the terminal he'd gotten the information from. Not that it would have done him any good, but it would have made him feel better for the short term.

He'd also confirmed that everything he'd told the SOLDIERs had been correct, plus some. Like the fact that Hojo had sent out his pet Jenova to find and return them. Yeah, he was still getting used to the fact that this Hojo controlled Jenova, and not the other way around.

He wanted a way off this world, and he wanted it now. He much preferred his to this messed up one. At least Lucrecia's cave was still here, he noticed as he walked up the path to its entrance. Perhaps she could give him some insight into the craziness this world seem to revolve around.

And then again, she could be part of it. And the dictator's wife. And Sephiroth's mom, all in one. And so totally NOT IN THE F****ING CAVE!

Perhaps he should learn to expect the randomness in the future