Fallen to the Earth

Chapter 5: Strike One

Morning came. It had been ten days now since the second Jenova was found, the morning following the day that Reeve had fired a few odd doctors. If Vincent had to guess, Reeve was already in his office, trying to begin his morning with a warm cup of coffee. The sun's rays softly penetrated the glass windows and gave warmth to the clerks and workers around. It seemed Vincent's less-than-cheerful appearance didn't affect them at all, since they greeted him good morning as usual when they passed by. One woman had offered to get him a cup of coffee, but the warrior respectfully declined; in his wake, the secretary blushed madly and went off to do whatever she was previously occupied with. Yes, perhaps Vincent was spending too much time in the WRO headquarters.

As he boarded an empty elevator and was skimming the many floors for the right one, he came across the medical floor- the one housing the new global threat. Vincent replayed last night's events in his mind, and remembered that the girl's show hand had not been restrained when they left. How careless of them to forget! But with the high emotions that night, it was obvious why such a small detailed was overlooked. 'And perhaps to allow quicker healing for her hand,' he reasoned, 'Besides, she is too weak right now to escape.' Vincent could feel the lack of life in her, as was reinforced from her lack of viciousness.

Just in case he was wrong though, Vincent pressed the button to the medical floor of WRO. If nothing else, it would settle his mind.

Once the doors retreated, the floor proved to be quite silent. Very few people were quarantined to this floor, as no major battle was being fought; the rogue even doubted that anyone else but the threat was residing on this floor. He approached the main desk to find the guard asleep with his head on the desk, and no official medical staff had checked in quite yet. Vincent ignored the sleeping mass and walked down the hall to Than's special room.

Upon opening the door, he was a little surprised to find Than not in her bed, but upon the floor. She was a jumbled mess of limbs just laying on the cool tile. So she escaped her restraints; just as Vincent had assumed, was too weak to actually escape. He smirked a little to himself as he slowly approached her. Than was laying on her side, half curled, as if sleeping, her chest barely moving to breathe. The inside of her elbow was bleeding slightly from yanking out the IV. 'She must have tried to escape within the past hour or two,' Vincent managed to deduce.

Deciding that she was no serious threat, the marksman cautiously bent down behind Than to pick her up. His hand slowly snaked its way under her legs while his claws maneuvered to hold up her back; she even felt weak in his arms. Just as he was beginning to stand, Than's once limp arms shot up at him with great speed and took a firm hold on either side of his face. Vincent quickly began to feel the effects of her power- a draining sensation, all of his energy and life leaving his body, as if his blood was being poured out of one single, deep wound. It was quick, and soon Vincent didn't have the strength to hold her. He tried to drop her in hopes she'd let go, but she held on, and her weight crashed them both to the ground. He was so close; his fingers brushed against Death Penalty, but he lacked the strength to aim.

All he could do was stare at Than as she stared back at him. Her light eyes were wide and her breathing was heavy, just like his. He wasn't really looking at her though; instead, his life seemed to play out in his mind's eye. He was reliving his days as a Turk, his adventures saving the Planet. He recalled many battles and meeting so many people. He remembered meeting everyone of the Tsviets and being awoke by Verdot, disturbed briefly by a dark, spiky haired man, and then finally by Cloud. He remembered waking up and first finding out what Hojo had done to him. He remembered fighting Sephiroth and discussing his future before he was even born. And of course, his thoughts were dominated by Lucrecia. Her face appeared so many times and it was finally the last thing he saw before everything went dark and quiet.

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Than waited a little while before letting go of Vincent, making sure he was completely drained of all energy and life. Slowly she stood up and stretched, reveling in her new strength. She looked down at her hands and saw her right covered with a black glove and her arm covered in dark leather, and her left wrapped up within a golden claw. She smiled, examining herself some more. Her feet were encased in pointy shoes, the dark, tattered crimson cape swirled around her; and a high collar hid the lower half of her face. Her transformation was a success.

She gazed upon the original laying unconscious on the floor. She knew she hadn't killed him. His memories and thoughts confessed his immortal life, and a simple act such as her life draining wouldn't kill him. She could even see him breathing still.

"You have such a sad life," She mused to herself, replaying the scenes over in her head. He voice was the same as his, deep and heavy. She stooped down on one knee to his side, pushing back his collar with her claws to see his whole face. "But an amazing gift." She brushed a few stray strands of raven hair away. "The Planet wont let me infect you. All those experiments protect you from me and from Jenova. Have a nice nap." Noticing the gun at his thigh, Than took a quick interest in it. She wasn't able to copy that; she wasn't experienced enough. So she stripped the gunslinger of his holster and weapon, securing it to her own right thigh. Than quickly got up and left the sleeping Vincent where he lay, heading for the exit of her prison. If life worked out in her favor, she would be long gone from there.

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It wasn't even an hour later when the first nurse arrived to start her shift. She scolded the night guard for sleeping while on duty, and went to perform her first duties- making sure the girl was still in her bed. Very few nurses were allowed to take care for the feisty little thing. She she peeked through the door, she nearly jumped out of her skin to find a large mass of red and black laying on the floor. She yelled down the hall for the guard to get help and call the doctors to arrive immediately.

She rushed into the room and tried to rouse the man from his sleep. "Mr. Valentine! Mr. Valentine!" She called his name but she was met with little action. She checked his pulse and felt his forehead; everything seemed fine with him. It was as if he was suddenly struck into a coma.

It wasn't long before a the whole room was full of people, and the doctor who opened a vial of smelling salts rest under his nose was the first to get a response out of Vincent. He inhaled deeply, coughed, and tried to fight his way out of everyone's arms, trying to communicate that their patient had escaped.

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Reeve's office door opened slowly and without a sound, revealing Vincent to be his visitor for the morning.

"Good morning, Vincent," He replied in a nonchalant fashion, hardly looking away from his computer.

"Morning," was his friend's only reply, as usual. He slightly pushed the door behind him, but didn't give enough force to close it properly. Reeve stared at his comrade for a moment and watched as he took his normal spot looking out the window, standing very still and very quietly.

"I hope that you had a good night's rest. I'm afraid that mine wasn't so well." He tried to strike up a conversation, turning his attention to a drawer with some papers in it, shuffling them around before returning back to his work. He began reading and correcting some paperwork, keeping one hand in his lap. "Had a nightmare about being cut open alive." Reeve gave a chuckle. "I think I'm getting too close to Than's case."

"Hm," was Vincent's only reply. Reeve glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, he was still standing and gazing out the window. He turned his back to inspect his computer again, closing and opening some new files.

"Not talkative this morning, as usual." He typed in some new additions, trying to figure out what was on Vincent's mind. "Have you been to Lucrecia's Cave recently?" He heard the gunman's footsteps as they approached behind him, one slow click at a time.

Reeve quickly spun around in his chair and fired off two pistol shots at Vincent. The gunman had Death Penalty whipped out and was aimed at the inventor's head, but the shots hit him in his right shoulder and through his chest, causing him to howl in pain and drop Death Penalty. Vincent collapsed onto the ground, his screams still ringing in the room, as Reeve's office phone rang. He answered it.

"Mr. Tuesti!" A nurse franticly began, "We just found Mr. Valentine in Than's room, he's unresponsive, and Than's disappeared!"

"It's okay, ma'am," Her boss began, relaxing in his chair and looking over to where Than had replaced the impostor Vincent, bleeding all over his clean floor. "I've found her." He hung up, and stared down at the strange young thing on his floor; Reeve moved only to take the stolen weapon and set it on his desk, out of her reach. He would have been willing to help Than if she wasn't growling and scowling in his direction.

"I think I've kept you confined to one room long enough, don't you think?" The girl's only response was a hateful glare and the hissing noises she made, trying to ignore her crippling pain.

"Now don't be that way," He cooed at her, kneeling down over her from a safe distance, "Just because I shot you doesn't mean we can't be friends."