~Still Vincent's POV~
When we get back to the ship, Yuffie takes care of our injuries and I continue to puke up pieces of Sephiroth. Ugh... This is disgusting. I never meant to be a cannibal! Derek's avoided me since I transformed back into a human, probably terrified of me. Lots of people know I can transform, but not many are scared unless they see it themselves. This is probably one of those cases. That sucks...
"I'm so hungry," Cid says, looking at me when I finish being sick. I roll my eyes and go to the kitchen in search of anything to cook with. For someone who wants me to make them dinner so bad, he sure doesn't have any food for me to work with.
~|~|~|~|~
"Thanks for dinner, Vince," Shera smiles as she puts her plate in the sink. I nod and roll my sleeves up to my elbows, scrubbing the dirty dishes off.
"This was way better than whatever the heck Yuffie made us," Barret chuckles and she sends him a death glare.
"Says Mr. I-make-leather-out-of-steak!"
"Hey, I'm amazing and that's all there is to it," I smirk, taking the rest of the empty plates too.
"Geeze Vincent, were you a waiter or something?" Cloud teases and I shake my head.
"He can't stand having dirty dishes or laundry just laying around," Tifa sighs.
"You can't stand my cape," I counter.
"Hit the hay, all y'all youngins," Cid teases and stands. "I know I am."
"Hey Cid," Tifa calls after him. "Can you get at least me and Vince to Midgar tomorrow? We just have a few more things to do for the wedding."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll drop all the love birds off," he scoffs.
"Well," Cloud smirks. "That'd be almost all of us. You and Shera, Red and whoever the heck he's with, me and Yuffie, and Tifa and Vince."
"I'm forever alone," Cait sighs.
"Maybe if you'd stop obsessing over robots, you'd meet someone, Reeve," Yuffie rolls her eyes at the cat.
"Don't comment on my love life," he scoffs.
"What love life?" She shoots back. The robot gives an exasperated groan and plops down onto the floor.
"I'm only flyin ya over there, I ain't taking y'all on a date. Now get to bed, it's been a rough day," Cid yawns and leaves the room, Shera following with a sigh.
"The old man's right," Barret stretches. "Let's go."
"Okay," Derek says all to eagerly.
"Actually, why don't you stay behind and help Vincent?" Tifa suggests. No!
"Uh... Okay...."
"Good boy," she grins and turns to follow the flow of people exiting.
The tense, awkward silence between the two of us is thick enough to cut through with a knife. He puts away the left over and scrubs the counter while I keep washing the dishes. Finally I decide to speak up.
"Sorry if I scared you with the whole beast thing earlier."
"... You didn't. I just didn't expect it."
"You're pretty good with that boomerang," I turn and give him a small smile.
"Thanks," he returns it.
"Ever had to use it much?"
"Yeah. Escaping from Midgar and traveling here," he says quietly.
"Hmm."
"Did my mom... How did you know she wanted you to take care of me?"
"She told me before she died."
"You were there when she died?!"
"Yeah," I look down into the grayish dishwater. "I should've saved her life..."
"What happened?"
"Sephiroth," I say bitterly before scrubbing at a plate again.
The boy must sense my sudden hatred and silences himself, continuing his cleaning. I start up the dishwasher and dry my arms off with a sigh.
"Sorry, I just can't stand him. I've lost too many friends by his hand."
"It's fine."
"No, it's not," I shake my head. He frowns at me before shaking his head and throwing Hus used paper towel away.
"Goodnight, Mr. Valen..."
"Derek," I raise an eyebrow. "Just call me Vince. Okay?"
"... Okay," he nods. "Goodnight Vince."
"Night Derek," I smile and he's on his way. After wiping down the table, I head to the bunk room. Then I pull my headband off my forehead and yank my metal plated shoes off. Laying down next to Tifa, I yank the covers up over my shoulder and close my heavy eyelids. Today has been a rough day...
I kick down the door to the house of the man I'm supposed to be on a job for. Assassinations are just another job for the Turks. My hair is shorter than I remember, and I hold a silenced gun in my left hand, where my claw usually is.
"Margaret?" I hear a voice call from the living room. "Did you ever read that..." He stops in mid sentence when he sees the end of a barrel and feels the cool metal against his forehead. I pull the trigger without much emotion, a specialty of the Turks.
"Robert... Who are you?!" A woman shrieks behind me. I swivel around and point my gun at her. A witness. She drops to the floor in a pool of blood and brain matter. Then I turn to go, but another voice stops me.
"Momma?" A small girl with curly brown hair stands on the steps sleepily, hugging her stuffed chocobo by its long neck and rubbing one eye. Another witness. And just like that, I've created a new breed of chocobo. Blood red.
My body desperately wants to wake me from the torturous memories I've tried to forget for so long, but my brain forces my restless body to stay asleep as it brings another scene to view.
My normal Turk suit is replaced by light blue pants, the shirt matching and so does the strange thing over my hair. A white mask is looped over my ears and comes around over my mouth and nose, and rubber gloves cover my hands. I'm dressed as a surgeon, but there's no way I'm certified for this. No, I'm a certified cold blooded killer. And you don't need a certificate for that. A gun is easily hid under my clothing and I make my way toward my victim's door. Opening it, I step into the room and close the door behind me. The man in the hospital bed automatically knows I'm not on the hospital staff and reaches for the nurse help button, but I whip out my gun and shoot it before he can touch the device.
"So you're going to kill me then?" He looks up at me when I make no reply, just move closer. "I knew cheating Shinra would catch up to me one day. Oh well. Dying at seventy can't be too bad, right?"
I silently press the gun to his cranium before pull if the trigger. What makes me uneasy isn't that there is blood and brain matter dripping on the mattress, it's how peaceful he was, ready to accept his fate. How he didn't even fight back. It didn't seem right. My red eyes fly open, though I didn't realize they were shut. He must've changed the will.
A thin sweaty film has broken out on my skin by now, but I can't seem to wake up. My mind won't allow me. Instead, it tortures me with the past, makes me feel the guilt that I've tried to hide for years, and tears me apart. Somehow, I don't expect the next image.
"We found out who helped that old man change his will behind our backs," Veld looks deep into my eyes, but I return the look stoic and void of emotion. "It was your father. Been snooping around behind us for awhile now."
"So you're sending me?"
"Unless you don't want to, which I completely understand, Mr. Valen..."
"I'll do it," I say flatly.
With that, I stand and waste no time heading for the home I grew up in. I should've known they'd be at dinner. They I wouldn't have had to do what I did. I should've waited until he was alone, no witnesses to destroy. But there was a full table of Valentines. My father and mother, my two younger sisters, one sixteen and and other ten, and my cousin David, who had been staying with them until he could afford his own place.
Though my mother is confused, my father seems to know exactly why I'm here. And he grabs a pistol off the countertop, aiming it at me. But my bullet finds his head quickly and hmthen another takes down David, the look of shock on his face to remain forever. By this time, my mother had screamed, so I shoot her too. Down goes Abigail, the older sister. And now I'm down to tiny Hannah. She looks up at me, but there is no fear in her eyes. She instead gives me one of those pretty smiles that make her crimson eyes squint (it's a Valentine trademark).
"Why do you always got to be the bad guy, Vinnie?"
I clench my jaw and will myself to pull the trigger, but I can't. I don't understand. Turks are emotionless, stoic, strong. I should be able to do this. She's just another witness. I sigh and close my eyes momentarily, willing myself to take a deep breath before stepping forward and holding her tightly. I had always been the one to protect her from bullies and now she's going to be destroyed by me. Shows how far trust can get you, huh?
"I don't want to be." I find myself saying into her blonde hair.
"Then why?"
"Goodnight Hannah," I frown and pull away. She smiles.
"Night Vinnie."
And I shoot her, emotionless, stoic, and strong. My family's bodies litter the floor, but I merely step over the pools of blood and leave. Just another witness.
This time, I awaken, sitting straight up and panting, drenched in sweat and horrified at what I've done. Why couldn't I remember it all until now? Tifa stirs in her sleep, her eyes sliding open and frowning at me.
"Vincent?"
"Shh, I'm fine. Go back to sleep," I whisper, standing.
"Where are you going?"
"Just getting some water." She nods and lays back down, pulling the blankets back up around her.
As I said, I walk to the kitchen and grab a glass. But instead of water, I fill it up with whatever strange alcohol Cid has hidden in his cabinet. Probably some form of whiskey. Just to clear my mind. I swallow the drink and pout myself another. And another. After the third glass, I put my cup in the sink. It took awhile, but the alcohol is finally buzzing through my veins. At least I'm not completely drunk. Just a little tipsy. Then I wander back to the room, thoughts of my terrible murders pushed far away by the drink. But Tifa, not being asleep yet, has super woman senses and she faces me once I lay back down.
"So what was so terrible that you had to go get drunk about it?"
"I'm not drunk," I say in a slightly slurred tone and roll my eyes.
"Really?" She raises an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"
"Whatever," I scoff. She smiles and attaches her lips to mine. When she tries to pull away, I hold her there by the back of her head, wanting the perfect taste of her lips to last forever. But eventually I release her.
"You get into Cid's whiskey?" She smirks.
"Maybe," I grin.
"You're such a bad boy," she laughs. My smile falls. Why do you always got to be the bad guy, Vinnie? Tifa notices and laughs a little, cupping my cheek with one warm hand. "I was teasing, Vince. Don't take it so seriously."
But I look down at the sheets anyway, the words slipping out when I never intended them to.
"I killed my family."
Her smile immediately drops and she stiffens, unsure of what to say. She probably thinks I'm a sick, terrible person that needs metal help.
"When?" She finally asks.
"Back when I was a Turk," I frown. She releases a sigh.
"I thought you meant just the other day or something! And why are you getting upset over it now all of a sudden?"
"I forgot," I flip onto my back and look at the ceiling. "I lost a lot of memories after Hojo. And a bunch just came back while I was sleeping."
"Why did you kill them?" She asks quietly. Fear.
"There was a man that had been stealing money from Shinra for years, and he'd signed a will to give it all to his grandson or something. I killed him, as instructed, but he seemed too happy when he died. That's when I realized that he changed the will," I glare at the wall now, unable to look at her. "So Veld did some tracking and found out that my dad had helped him change it. He sent me out to kill my dad, but I was so mad at him for messing with the Turks... I left right away instead of waiting until everyone would've been gone and out of harm's way."
"What do you mean?" Her voiced wavers.
"I went when they all would've been eating dinner. They were witnesses, I... I had to kill them all. Mom, Dad, David, Abbey, and even Hannah. She was so young.. She didn't need to see any of that. But she just kept smiling at me, even though I had killed everyone in front of her," I shake my head when my voice cracks. Don't you dare do it, Valentine. "She told me that it was alright, and she asked why I wanted to be a bad guy. I said I didn't and she asked why I was. I just told her goodnight and she smiled again... And I shot her." Tifa bites her and looks down. "I don't get it... She was only ten. I must've been so twisted... No, I still am. I'm such a twisted, horrible person."
Tifa takes a deep, shaky breath and wraps her arms around me in a tight hug. I don't hesitate to hug her back, the warm comfort of her hold making me feel a little better.
"Why were you a bad guy?" She whispers by my ear and I think back to Hannah momentarily, always my favorite, always so sweet. She'd never hurt anyone and I'd hurt her anyway. I can still remember her smiling even as she played dead in the kitchen floor, blood draining from the hole in her forehead. And I can't help it. I end up releasing stupid, guilty tears that I've been holding for thirty plus years.
"Shh," she hushes me, stroking my hair soothinlgy. I expected her to want to leave, but here she is, comforting me. It's then that I finally realize it: she doesn't plan on going anywhere for a long time. Because what she needs is a twisted, horrible, impossible to fix man to work on, to mend and make better for the rest of her life. Thank Ramuh for Tifa.
SO THAT WAS KINDA SAD... EH, DON'T WORRY. I'LL HAVE TO THINK OF A FUNNY CHAPTER SOON... HOW DOES CHAPTER 40 SOUND? OKAY, LET'S DO IT! LOVE YOU GUYS, I HOPE YOU KNOW THAT!
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