A/N: War! Huh! Good god y'all! What is it good for? Apparently building Vincent's skills and character, as well as giving him a clear goal. But seriously, the next lyrics would be "Absolutely Nothing".

The first thing that Vincent did in the morning was to sneak a look into the mailbox—his letter should have come in by now. If all goes well, then not only will he be getting a dorm, but he will be able to continue his education, and he would be guaranteed a job in the future. Sure, with the job he'll be doing, he could very well die, but at least there are perks for surviving. Hopefully he would be able to scrounge up enough to pay not only for tuition, but for his own personal dorm—and hopefully Weiss would not catch on and torment him any further by enrolling into the same military academy as him.

His enrollment into the Wutainese Military Academy had been paid for with money he had pilfered from unsuspecting tourists and shoppers. So far, nobody has ever caught onto him stealing from them—Vincent was forever thankful that his father had taught him the virtue of subtlety from the day he could walk; and this was due to his tribe's dependence upon the hunt for survival. In any case, the second he is freed from Hojo, he swears to never take up upon stealing ever again…and to celebrate his last day of theft for the moment, he spotted one particular person walking by. Judging by the looks of him, he was biracial—part Wutainese, and part Westerner…he had the physique of a man born for war, but his striking features were his silver hair and green eyes. Perhaps this would be the challenge of a lifetime for him, and it would be a perfect final exam for his skill in theft. He simply started moving up to his target subtly, and then slowing down enough to have a bit of distance from him and have a brief look at what he could take…

That nodachi slung over his back was definitely a no-go…too noticeable to be taken due to its large size, although it would make for good pawning material judging by the quality of the blade. He then checked all the things he could take easily…hmm…that satchel at his side seems to be a good target…but he'll have to be extremely careful—a man such as that would not be easy to steal from. With his target set on mind, Vincent suddenly increased his pace until he was next to the man, and then made his move…only to have a tight grip around his wrist. "Nice try," whispered the soldier, "but you'll need to be better than that if you want to steal from me."

Vincent wasted no time; he threw a straight punch into his opponent's face, only to watch as the fist was caught in the hand of his target. Now there was definitely an opening, and so now he had to pull out his trump card. He closed in on his target, and quickly landed a successful knee to his opponent's family jewels, causing the soldier to loosen his hold before Vincent followed through with a stomp to his instep. Once the soldier let go, he started making a break for it. Another thing he was thankful to his father for; being trained from the day he could run to perform acrobatic feats and the graceful art of free-running.

He was well out of the crowd, and he found himself in an alley a good distance away so that he had lost the soldier—he'll have to make a break for home; it was the last place he wanted to be at, but it was at least a good hiding place. As he checked his surroundings, he made sure that the soldier was no longer tracking him, but instead, he found himself being tracked by a man with silver hair and a large gauntlet over his right arm. It wasn't until he heard the sound of a gun cocking behind his head that he realized that he had been found. Vincent quickly ducked, and tackled his pursuer to a wall before jumping onto the wall, kicking off it to jump onto the opposite wall, and then scale it before reaching the height of a roof and then launching himself onto it before running on the rooftop. He then noticed a man with a double-bladed katana facing him down and attempting a slash at him. Vincent barely sidestepped away from three cuts aimed at him before disabling his attacker with a knifehand strike behind his neck, and continued running until he streamlined his body as he jumped through an open window while cushioning his landing by rolling on the ground before he ran out of the inn with a naked and screaming woman accusing him of being a burglar.

Pausing for a second to catch his breath, Vincent checked to make sure nobody else was following him—good, and the apartment just so happened to be in front of him. His next priority was to run into apartment—it was a good thing that Hojo went to do god knows what at this hour…and so there'll be plenty of time to lay low for now…but in the meantime, he'll have to act inconspicuous and to go get those groceries before an even worse fate befalls him at the hands of his abominable foster father…

Unbeknownst to the target, one of his pursuers did manage to catch up. If Loz had not known any better, he would be calling this pickpocket a monkey by the way he seamlessly wove through obstacles in a graceful manner without wasting a single movement. For that, the little shit actually deserved some credit…but now he would have to move on in and… "Don't kill him," said Sephiroth over the Bluetooth, "we've found another candidate for the Turks."

"Brother, are you kidding? That kid tried to steal from you and not to mention he beat down three of us!"

"We can use that to bring him in. Emperor Godo has given us express permission to start this covert operations unit, and we will not disappoint him. We just need to train him proper, and then he could very well be an asset to the unit…that and I believe I know the proper incentive to get him to willingly work for us."

The market has always been hustling and bustling about—the perfect place to lay low. Combined with the fact that he was wearing a hoodie, Vincent practically melded into the crowd as he was placed on his daily routine of purchasing groceries for Hojo…in due time, he will get him back for those years of hell he had gone through…but first things first—war experience now, revenge later. However, as of now, he was still getting revenge…after all, how did Hojo expect him to go purchase his groceries without any money? The answer: Vincent stole from him and Weiss.

He then glanced through the shopping list, and browsed the stalls for his tonight's dinner…thankfully, the vegetable stall was his first stop—and a large burlap sack would do the job just fine. Tonight was going to be borscht and leg of lamb seasoned with rosemary and cilantro and marinated with honey, with a side of curried rice pilaf and mashed potato. This was not going to be a good night as Weiss likes his serving of borscht extra spicy with chili peppers in it…no doubt to torment Vincent by splashing the bowl full of soup onto him and letting the capsicum juice in the borscht burn him up in combination with the heat of the soup….that was where Weiss differed from his father. Where Hojo liked to cosh Vincent over the head with whatever blunt object was on hand (even if it were a fifteen-inch black rubber rod), Weiss enjoyed involving food in his torments as well as breaking every single one his valuable possessions right in front of his eyes. Vincent could not fight back against that spoiled bastard—he knew from experience that if he did, then Hojo would be in an even fouler mood and the bludgeoning would be even worse…running away would not do him any good either as Weiss seems to have eyes everywhere to foil his plans of escaping. But this plan for escape was under the nose of both Hojo and Weiss—and hopefully, he'll be at home before Hojo and Weiss so that he can intercept that message from the military academy and finally be free!

As he finally finished inspecting a potato, Vincent saw a hand covered in a form-fitting leather glove reach out and grab his wrist in order to make him drop the potato before putting it in his sack. When he looked up at the owner of the arm, he found, to his horror, that it was the soldier he had attempted to rob…he then found that his instincts were telling him that he was surrounded—once he looked around, he saw that the other three soldiers he had evaded were surrounding him...it would seem that he tried to rob their leader.

The look of triumph on the leader's face was very clear. "I was wondering if you and I could have a little chat."

Songs Played:

"Techock" by Waterflame—Vincent's escape; I figured that the Abandoned Mill stage in "Castle Crashers" seemed fitting at the moment.

Vocabulary:

Knifehand strike—this is popularly known as the karate chop; you open your hand such that your fingers are flat with your palm, and then strike with the bottom of your hand.