Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Plunging Into a Dream ❯ Plunging Into a Dream ( Chapter 1 )

All right! This Fic is meant to be read while listening to, “On the Other Side of the Mountain” from the FFVII sound track, Disk 4. It was inspired by the song, and I listened to it all through writing it @_@.... Don't have it? Download a Midi XD! They're easily found. ^-^

 

 

 

“I've been hard on you, haven't I?”

 

Unnatural eyes slowly slid open, a blazing sunset enhancing the deep crimson color they held. These eyes were heavy with over thirty years of guilt-ridden memories that never ceased to be thought of. Over thirty years of being stuck in time; halted so that the prime of beauty in these man-made rubies had never dulled. Over those thirty years, however…their spirit had definitely paid the toll.

 

“Unbearably so…” The crimson-eyed man spoke slowly. Though he hadn't aged a day for years, he was a completely different man to look upon compared to the suit wearing Turk whom had served ShinRa Co. so well. The once spirited young man who had been desperately in love was now like a phantom of his former self; haunting his own grave.

 

Nowadays he wore a long red cloak that had been tattered from battle and succeeded in concealing the bottom half of his face with its high collar. Red bandages were wrapped around his forehead, which at first glance would make one believe that they were to hold back his long, unruly black hair. At a second glance, one would realize that the bandages actually encouraged his hair to come forward in front of his face a bit. It was a barrier to hide behind, as was his cloak.

 

The former Turk had many barriers, in fact. Thick barriers which had been built for a good reason. He had been the subject of grotesque experimentation at the hands of a mad scientist out for revenge, and spent thirty years locked away in a hidden underground room within an actual coffin. This environment, in which he laid frozen in time, dreaming a never ending nightmare, had reshaped this man into what he was now. He hardly spoke and when he did his words were wise, but cold. Cold as the false, clawed, metal limb that had been used to replace his left arm.

 

“I thought I knew you so well,” his voice almost faltered. Throughout his awakening into the world again, and his part in the expedition against the man who could have destroyed the world, this phantom had remained calm and fierce in his duty. But…this was where his impenetrable barriers began to crack.

 

Only a few yards ahead was the source of his strife. A woman in an old white lab coat standing near the edge a cliff where the water plummeted downward. Her back was to him, and she seemed to be thoughtfully looking down at the waterfall as if she had never seen one before.

 

“You were so blind, Vincent.”

 

Vincent felt a stab at his already tortured and aching body. Wounds that had never healed were being pecked at just from the sight of her, so why did she have to put salt on them? In an attempt to regain his faltering composure—to fix his malfunctioning barriers—Vincent looked past the woman before him and onto the sinking sun beyond that cut into the sky and dyed it shades of oranges and light red. He had never stood on this cliff before, watching from the peek of the waterfall as the stream plunged to its demise and became a large lake that, if one swam deep enough into, connected to the wide open seas.

 

“No, I'm sorry,” the woman folded her hands in front of herself gently, her head shaking ever so slightly as she corrected herself. “That was unfair of me to say. Your foresight was blinded only because of my deceiving ways.” She turned slowly, wavy dark brown hair spilling over her small shoulders in a motion more fluid than the stream. Her sad eyes matched Vincent's in fatigue and her once beautiful form was now dulled with strain, though also un-aged. “I deceived you.”

 

“Lucrecia…”

 

“I even deceived myself.” Lucrecia continued with a trembling lip. “I thought I could be happy with you. I thought you were the best thing that had ever happened to me. But I panicked… And instead of doing what my heart told me, I turned you away and half-heartedly accepted Hojo's proposal.”

 

Vincent inwardly cringed at the sound of that madman's name.

 

“You understand why I did it, right?” Lucrecia lifted a loose fist to her chest, desperate to try to defend herself for a moment. “I did it for the team…for our research. It sounded like such a wonderful idea…. Oh Gaia, I was so selfish!”

 

The barriers were broken.

 

Vincent took a hesitant step forward, but held back from reaching out to Lucrecia. It had always been a second nature to reach out to her and comfort her. He was always there to hold her and say it was going to be all right. However, towards the end all she would do was push him away. She had pushed him away so much during those crucial times when he actually needed her that it had embedded itself into his mind that he couldn't touch her. So, he wouldn't try anymore without her prior consent. Attempts were futile and he couldn't handle the thought of her yelling for him to stay back again.

 

Lucrecia's expression softened in almost a pitying way, “You know, Vincent,” she continued thoughtfully as she turned to look back out along the fiery horizon. “I thought I could change the world once.” She smiled a bit more and slid some of her silky hair behind her ear. “I thought we could make this world a safer place for everyone. Instead…” her smile faded, “I gave birth to a poor experimental child of science who was used and abused. I nearly destroyed the world instead of saving it.” A few tears now glistened in the corner of her eyes. “And even worse than that, I didn't get a chance to hold that child and let him know I loved him.” She was on the brink of sobbing.

 

“Nevertheless, I thought it would all get better. I was always looking to the mountain of problems I had to conquer. I was always thinking, `If I can just get over this little hill, everything will get better. Everything will become clear.' And…everything did become clear.

 

“As I reached that dreadful peek and stood on the edge of despair, I could see what was on the other side of that mountain. It was nothing but a long and steep drop down. There was no place to go except down...”

 

“I'm sorry, Lucrecia,” Vincent said softly. “I couldn't stop any of it.”

 

“Don't apologize,” she choked, shaking her head. “I was my own undoing and yours as well. It was my fault that I fell down the mountain and pulled you down with me. I should apologize.”

 

Lucrecia slowly looked back again, tears sliding down her cheeks in a much gentler waterfall than the one before the pair. “I'm sorry, Vincent. I'm sorry for how I've mistreated you. Abused you. And I'm sorry for leaving you at Hojo's mercy in the end.” She wiped a few tears away as she sobbed openly now. “I'm sorry for what he did to you; for what he did to us.”

 

“Please, stop…”

 

“No!” Lucrecia snapped. She then bit her lower lip and took a step back towards the edge, taking in a stabilizing breath of cool dusk air. “It's over now. I… I thank you for helping to clean up the mess I created.” She slowly reached a hand out towards Vincent, palm upward towards the darkening sky.

 

“Vincent… We're back on top of the mountain, standing on the edge of despair once more. This time, though, we're not alone. It's been such a long, long nightmare…but now it's finally come to an end.” She gave a small, hopeful smile with her pale lips. “The nightmare has ended and we can finally dream peacefully.”

 

A gentle breeze passed by the two so that Lucrecia's hair danced a slow alluring dance in the wind. Vincent's eyes were glued to her once again, but he slowly forced himself to look up. The stars were beginning to show, and he couldn't believe what an immense relief it was to look up at them without having to worry about them crashing down on top of him. With this bit of relief, he looked over at the ghostly Lucrecia again; her lab coat shifting as well with the wind.

 

“Won't you join me in a sweet and long overdue dream?” Lucrecia asked, taking a step back so that her heel slid off the ledge.

 

Vincent's crimson eyes carefully continued to watch this picture, absorbing every little detail of the scene that seemed too good to be true. For a moment, all he could hear was the roar of the great waterfall.

 

Falling.

 

Lucrecia's hand actually reaching out for him.

 

“Yes,” the vampire-like man came forward, taking his long lost love's hand one last time and swearing to himself that he would never let go again. “It's finally over.”