Chapter Forty-Eight: Gratitude and Farewells
"Vincent?"
Aralyn walked further into the cave, her path lit by blue-green crystals. "Vincent!" she called again.
He gave no answer, but she could see him now.
He sat on the ground, facing a pillar of the crystals that served as a prison for a familiar woman. He didn't move, and Aralyn couldn't even tell he was breathing unless she looked very hard. There was a feeling in the air that made her regret coming, like she was intruding on a sacred moment meant only for the two of them.
"Vincent?" she called again.
He raised his head a little, but didn't face her. "Aralyn." It was an unintentionally cold and distant greeting. "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you," she said quietly. "You never come to the Seventh Heaven anymore."
He didn't reply, though she waited a long time for him to do so.
"I can come back later."
He seemed to sense that she felt unwelcome here. "You can stay. You have more right to be here than I."
Aralyn really wanted to protest that, but she scooted a few steps forward to oblige him.
"She's your mother-in-law," Vincent added.
Aralyn looked closer at the woman and admitted that she had never thought of it that way. The woman's eyes were closed, her hands folded over her heart. Her expression was anything but the calm that was said to accompany death; on the contrary, she looked mournful, as if she were besieged by nightmares.
"Why do you come here if it hurts you so much?" she asked.
Vincent gave a short, dry scoff. "For the same reason you still cling to Sephiroth, I suppose."
Aralyn winced, feeling as if a barb in her heart had been twisted. "I guess I can say I know how you feel, on some level. Loving someone…out of your reach. I want to see him too, even though-" she trailed off, looking to Vincent to finish for her.
"In that, we are very similar."
Aralyn wished she could do something about the pain in his eyes.
"Can I ask you something, Vincent?" she ventured carefully.
He nodded, his eyes not straying from Lucrecia.
"Why are you so protective of me?"
For the first time, his gaze turned away from the woman in crystal, and toward Aralyn. His single raised eyebrow asked her to elaborate.
"I mean, I'm so grateful to you…I've never had anyone do that for me since…" she choked for a moment, but managed to calm herself. Vincent's expression did not change. "Why? You're risking so much for a fight that's not yours."
Vincent turned back to Lucrecia. "Her," he whispered.
"I don't understand…"
"Sephiroth is her son, no matter how much he claims otherwise. It's my way of repenting for my failure to protect her, by protecting him. I made that vow when Cloud first found me, to be something of a godfather, that I'd do all I could but…you know as well as I, he wasn't going to change. So, I'm doing the next best thing."
Aralyn looked at him in confusion.
"I'm protecting the woman he holds most dear."
"I could protest that," she whispered. "He doesn't care. He sent Kadaj to kill me."
"There's a rift between the remnants," Vincent stated.
"What do you mean?"
"Kadaj was not acting under Sephiroth's orders when he hurt you."
Aralyn hesitated, mulling over this new thought. "But why? Kadaj is…his remnant. He was born from a part of him. All three of them were! It doesn't make sense! They should be acting in tandem!"
"And yet," Vincent said, "they clearly are not."
Aralyn hesitated, mulling over the new thought.
"Do you understand what that means, Aralyn?"
"I don't think-" But Vincent knew she did.
"If the dynamics between the remnants are changing, and they are reflections of him, would it be too much of a stretch to say that something is awakening within Sephiroth as well?"
"I don't believe it," Aralyn said plainly. "I can't. It's not…not-"
Vincent turned his gaze back to Lucrecia. "My apologies. I did not mean to upset you. Perhaps you are right. This is only my theory, after all."
Aralyn remained in silence for many long moments.
"It's not possible…is it, Vincent?"
The gunman shook his head. "It is not my place to answer either way. I'll only say that this wouldn't be the first time that Sephiroth has broken the laws of what is and isn't possible."
"Do you believe it, then?"
"It is irrelevant what I believe, Aralyn. What matters now is what you will do."
Aralyn moved closer to him, knelt at his side, and silently paid her respects to Lucrecia at Vincent's side. After a length of time, she wrapped her arms around him in a warm embrace. "Thank you, for being my friend. You've done so much for me."
Vincent froze in her grip, confused as to how to react. Aralyn held on for a little longer before releasing him.
"I'm sorry if I disturbed you."
With that, she gave Vincent one last melancholy smile, then stood and left the cave. There was resolve in her eyes, but also great sorrow. Though she had said no such thing, Vincent felt as if she had really come to say goodbye.
He began to worry about what she was up to, and why it could darken her eyes so deeply.