Decoherence

Vincent Valentine knew that, sooner or later, the Turks were going to draw certain conclusions from the fact that the Valentine family money was no longer quietly gathering interest in a number of banks and stagnating in outdated investments. They would definitely have noticed by now and would be investigating who, exactly, was doing the spending since the family was supposed to be defunct, her half-uncle Codex having died in an 'accident' over a decade ago. When Veld, her former partner and the current head of the Turks, was eventually called to comment on the state of affairs he would look into it at once and in depth, which she had to be prepared for; she didn't want to have to dodge Turks around Midgar while The Plan was still in motion.

Part of the problem was that Turks didn't get to retire; Vincent wasn't dead, so she was still a Turk and that was the end of it. A rogue Turk since she wasn't toeing the company line, but still a Turk. Which meant she needed to set up a new identity to operate under that wasn't a Turk.

She had decided several years ago to set up an alternative identity for herself as her own daughter; no disguise would be needed and the many years' absence would have dulled people's memory as to her appearance. Lillith Valentine was twenty-four years old, setting her conception and birth during the eighteen months before the Nibelhiem assignment. In that time Vincent had been 'undercover' as a woman and not recognised by a single Turk while setting up a series of extremely unpleasant industrial accidents for the owners of the last few companies who opposed the ShinRa monopoly. That period had provided both the time and the opportunity for her to have conceived, given birth and hidden the child away with the Valentine family housekeeper to be raised in secret.

Her alter ego, whom Chaos had nicknamed 'Draculina', was a gymnast and exhibition shooter: Vincent had been setting her up for quite some time now and there was a credible paper trail. In the past years on the road Vincent had attended competitions as Lillith, done business as her and partied as her, creating the persona of a fiercely independent woman who lived for thrills and action but was still sufficiently business-savvy to keep herself in money indefinitely. The staff of the Valentine Mansion -other than the housekeeper- had been hired by stoic 'Mr Valentine' and had encountered the vivacious 'Draculina' separately, leading them to believe they were two different people who both travelled independently and met up at the mansion from time to time. Judicious usage of a mastered Confuse Materia had given every last servant various memories of father and daughter hunting and sparring together for if the Turks ever decided to investigate that far.

Lillith Valentine had acquired the nickname of Draculina because Chaos had been amused by Cloud's breathless query on first laying eyes on the former Turk and remembered it; when Vincent started setting up her alter ego the herald of OMEGA insisted Lillith have fangs. Thus as a compromise her younger self had only three thick gold bracelets on her left arm in the place of the clawed gauntlet, but instead had rather long, faintly curved and wickedly sharp canines in her upper jaw. The result was that whenever she smiled she flashed a little fang, which for some inexplicable reason men seemed to find attractive.

Lillith's clothing had also been a hard-fought compromise; red silk corsets that were both armoured and figure-hugging combined with either leather trousers or very short and gathered skirts for ease of movement, all in black or a shade of blood red that matched her eyes. Considering that Chaos always topped off the look with shoulder-length black gloves, tight black high-heeled boots that reached almost to mid-thigh and pigtails she looked both extremely vampiric and -if she happened to widen her eyes and pout- appallingly cute. That last quality she blamed on the high pigtails and spiky bangs that framed her face and hung over her eyebrows: it was almost impossible not to look cute in pigtails.

Chaos had laughed like a drain at her protests that the new look wasn't quite her and just told her to get out there and cut loose a bit. "You work all the time, little paradox," he'd informed her with insufferable smugness. "Go live a little and re-accustom yourself to being a beautiful and desirable woman. If you are to act the part your performance must be flawless."

The grumbling avatar had reluctantly done so and rediscovered and old passion she'd all but forgotten: dancing.

Vincent loved to dance; it was like battle without the mess, risk and horror. Cutting a swath through dance clubs on two continents and acclimatising herself to the freestyle movements and harsh, vibrant music that had become popular during her time in the coffin had been both exhilarating and liberating: she had soon started experimenting, incorporating both combat moves and gymnastics into traditional dance moves. Some of those nights out had led to one-night stands; others had wound up with her coming to herself in an alleyway covered in blood while Chaos hummed cheerfully in the back of her mind.

This passion for dancing had let her to start exploring Midgar's dance scene as Lillith after coming back from the camping trip with Sephiroth, sticking to those above the Plate: under the Plate it was all brothels, bars or underground fighting rings. This had led her to being approached by the manager of the only club that offered SOLDIER-level alcoholic drinks, who offered her a free pass to the VIP lounge upstairs, free drinks for her and her guests and a small premium if she agreed to only patronise his club in future. Vincent had read the contract, smiled and signed it as Lillith Valentine, then asked the man to call her Draculina. She knew why the offer had been made: Her dark, wild appearance was attracting a lot of attention -mainly from SOLDIERs- and the manager wanted to improve attendance and enlarge his clientèle. Her presence on the dance floor did that and the man was eager to offer her a chance to dance in one of the club's cages, if she wanted to.

And she did want to. Dancing was one of the few ways she could have fun, real fun. It also silenced the angry whispers in her mind and put Chaos in a good mood for hours afterwards. Besides, if -as Chaos had intimated- she was going to be twenty-seven for the rest of her unnatural life, she wanted to be able to wind down and fit in with the rest of her age bracket.


Chaos liked it when his vessel went dancing, but his motives for finding the activity a pleasure were rather different. Rather than being intoxicated by the sheer joy of movement, the herald of OMEGA entertained himself by observing the reactions of those around his little paradox. Men walked into things, spilt their drinks and stared like fools, all but drooling while women either glared and tried to ignore her -futile and pathetic- or stared lustfully with their male counterparts. Even men attending whichever club she had chosen to patronise with their male lover were not immune to the sheer magnetism of his avatar when she lost herself to the beat.

SOLDIER reactions were by far the best, though. There were -almost to a man- utterly captivated by her aura of strength and danger. No amount of cosmetic alterations could prevent her from registering as a powerful predator to Mako-attuned senses and she was quite possibly the only female any of them had ever met to do so. There were no women in SOLDIER and the only other Mako-enhanced woman Chaos was aware of was Genesis' genetic daughter Rosso in Deepground. In the scant week she'd been attending the club called 'The Underground' she had become the focus of a low-key yet very intense competition for her attentions. Chaos knew that in a few more days every last SOLDIER in the company would have heard of her and then the race really would be on: All those Mako-blooded alpha males were not just going to stand back and let her ignore them.

Chaos considered himself male, but that was purely out of practicality: his personality-type and thought-processes followed a structure was most commonly found in males of all species. Physically the quasi-summon could become whatever gender or combination thereof suited him at the time. The WEAPON had a rather limited experience of sex -he'd never been consciously aware of it before being implanted in Vincent and the former Turk rarely cut loose enough to indulge herself- but knew that he liked it. Had enjoyed it enough to have experimented himself a few times after getting out with a variety of partners, though not one of those unfortunate enough to catch his eye had survived the experience. He had however determined that his little avatar needed to find herself a mate. Humans seemed to work better once they were paired off and it would be easier to explore options and preferences with a long-term partner rather than a one-night stand.

The herald of OMEGA had also discovered -to his own bemusement- that he wanted children. He could vaguely remember having some in a previous incarnation -it had been Cloud who first pinged his parental instincts and for that the blond had cemented himself a place in the enigmatic being's heart forever- and determined that he wanted to repeat the experience.

Contrary to his vessel's deeply-held belief, Chaos' presence in her body had not rendered her infertile: the quasi-summon had simply adjusted her rather inefficient biology so that her fertile cycle would only kick in after a certain amount of regular sex from a partner she was emotionally attached to. That way a child would only be conceived when she was likely to want one and her body's limited resources would not be wasted.

Of course, his little paradox didn't know that and Chaos had no intention of telling her. There was no way she'd plan to have a child in the next decade or agree to settle down with a male who would share but a fraction of her lifespan.


Everyone needs to relax a bit and Vincent is no exception. Chaos is incredibly manipulative, isn't he?