Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Where Have All the Angels Gone? ❯ Concerning Reality's Bane ( Chapter 6 )

Concerning Reality's Bane

Some questions are better off unanswered.

"Why are you still doing this? Why are you still working for them?"

Vincent noticed that he had returned to the sixth-seventh floor of Shinra Mansion, a place which it had been years since he previously attended. Surprisingly he was still dressed in his blue uniform of the Turks, and was even the clean-shaven, tidy gentleman that he was identified by those many years before.

Just as he had told Aeris in their conversation at Rocket Town, Ifalna was sitting inside a plastic prison, wearing an entirely white jumpsuit that made her magnificent green eyes more prevalent against the charcoal-grey background of Hojo's laboratory. Vincent had prepared himself for a long and difficult conversation, since he seated himself upon a stack of supplies the Professor had sent away for. He was going to need to be comfortable throughout the duration of this.

There was no dignified answer to Ifalna's inquiry, but Vincent was forced to respond, in spite of the diffidence in his voice.

"Well, working for Shinra puts money on the table. This corporation runs nearly all energy on the Planet, so it would not be sensible for me to work anywhere else. Here is where the money lies and I can support myself along with traveling around the world."

Ifalna brushed her stringy brown hair back from her aging face, allowing her eyes to get a full view into her company's soul.

"But you did not come here today to inform me of your job description, did you, Mr. Valentine? Science experiments have never been your area of expertise."

Vincent felt little need to respond to that question with words, so he merely shook his head side to side. The lights surrounding Ifalna's chamber faded, and soon the two characters were perhaps the most visible objects in the entire laboratory.

When the time finally did come for words, Vincent spoke amiably, with kindness unheard of by a member of the Shinra.

"You're right; I am here to talk to you about your daughter. I found her, or should I say she found me in Nibelhelm a few days ago, and you should be happy to know that she's become a wonderful young lady."

Ifalna would have likely been elated to hear of Aeris's whereabouts from anyone other than the Shinra. However, in hearing these words echo from this man's mouth she threw herself onto the floor of her tiny chamber, crying and weeping.

"Please! I asked and begged Shinra to leave my daughter alone! You have me, what else do you need?" For a moment her tears ceased, and she pressed her face close to the plastic barrier separating her from the Turk. She looked utterly despondent; her dejected visage in undeniable pain.

"Please, I plead of you to let her go."

"It's okay," Vincent replied comfortingly, placing his bony hand against the plastic barrier. "Aeris is still free. You cannot always judge someone by who they're affiliated with; just because I work for Shinra does not mean I desire her to be harmed."

The tears did not ceased completely, and Ifalna scooted back in her prison while wiping the tears from her face with the torn sleeves of her white shirt.

"I'm sorry; it's just that when you exist in a place like this, a place so full of hate and cruelty, you never expect to see any decency from anyone. I know the Turks were after my daughter for such a long time, but it relieves me to know that she is safe. Yet if your supervisors find out you have let her free, will you not lose your job and face punishment?"

"More than likely," Vincent replied with a soft voice. "Then again it was never my plan to be employed with Shinra for as long as I have. I certainly have no intention of staying here much longer." There were traces of precipitation on his forehead, for he realized that he must now arrive at the point of his conversation; the reason he even came to visit Ifalna.

"In all honesty I do quite the opposite of what Shinra instructs me to; it is my duty to protect Aeris. We travel together as part of a quest to save the Planet from this vile corporation. However, as we have ventured forward we have met an unexpected obstacle."

"And what is that?" Ifalna asked with anxious eyes, eager to know if she could help out in any way possible.

Vincent smiled lightly in response, somewhat out of fear more than pride over what he had done.

"Aeris and I have fallen in love with one another. Your daughter is the most amazing and beautiful woman I have ever met. Whenever this mess with the planet is over, we are going to run away together and get married. We have not talked about it much as of yet, but I am sure it is to be; I can feel it within the depths of my soul. I know that we were meant to be, even if both of our backgrounds are troubled."

Ifalna looked neither joyous nor depressed after hearing Vincent' confession; she merely nodded her head and smiled politely.

"I see. Aeris always was a lovely little child." She now took a moment to adjust her posture by sitting upright and opening her eyes more to the blue-suited man standing before him. It may have been a subtle trick of the laboratory's lights, but Vincent could almost see an aura of dim light surrounding Ifalna as she rose to her feet and stared forward.

"Thank you for watching over my daughter. It seems that in all things Hojo did to you he did not touch your heart."

Vincent was perplexed by this peculiar proclamation, and he edged in closer to the plastic barrier.

"I don't understand…how do you know?"

It would be impossible not to.

The strange tension in the laboratory was broken instantaneously by a loud thumping coming from outside, and as Vincent opened his eyes he heard a panicked voice coming from outside.

"Hey Turk; get your ass outa bed! We got an emergency situation!"

Recognizing the state of urgency in Barret's voice, he rose to a sitting position in his bed to be greeted by soft hands and a brief kiss. Vincent looked over at the clock in the room, which it showed the time to be four-thirty in the morning. Aeris was not planning on sneaking back to her room until five o'clock, so the couple now found themselves in a slight state of panic. In many instances it was a major disappointment, since the most spectacular night of his life would be cut short.

Aeris also rose to a sitting position, wrapping a bedsheet around her garmentless torso and allowing Vincent to gentry stroke the soft skin of her back. He pulled on his undergarments from under the blankets, and soon leaped up from the bed entirely to dress himself. They were still worried about the boisterous commotion in the hallway, so neither Aeris nor Vincent desired to talk in anything above a whisper.

"At least we were wise enough to lock the door before we went to sleep," Vincent said while slipping on his ragged black pants. Aeris was already buttoning up her pink dress, and she nodded her head in agreement.

"What we'll have to do is exit the room at different times. You can leave a few minutes earlier than me and lure them elsewhere, like tell them I went to the Event Square to see if there was anything going on. I'll meet you guys down in that area and act like I was wandering around for a few hours and couldn't sleep."

While the carpet was soft and comfortable against Vincent's feet, he was forced to lace up his boots after throwing on his shirt and cape. He had yet to cover up his face, so that his deep voice was not muffled or hindered.

"That sounds like an acceptable plan. I would just feel terrible about leaving you."

"Oh, but you're not leaving me in any sense of the word," Aeris replied while sliding on her sandals. "Trust me; if there was any other way to do this we would be doing it. I love you very much, but it's better if nobody else sees us together until the time has come." Now fully dressed for the day, she stepped over to Vincent and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"Just be strong for me, and everything will be better before you know it."

"All right," Vincent acquiesced while kissing the beautiful woman back. He then proceeded to wave farewell to her, and exited out the door while covering the bottom part of his face with the mask.

Upon entering the hallway of the Ghost Hotel Vincent immediately spotted Red dashing across the hallway in panic.

"Red, what's wrong?" Vincent inquired with concerned eyes.

"I cannot seem to find either Tifa or Aeris, and the rest of the group is already waiting down by the Ropeway Station. Have you seen them?"

"Well, I have not heard from Tifa recently," he replied scratching his head. "Aeris stopped by my room half and hour ago to tell me she was walking down to the Event Square to…take a look around."

"Then that is where we shall head," Red stated, never once doubting the former Turk's fidelity to the group. The twosome exited the hotel in haste, and was soon searching through a collection of tombstones, desiring a suitable exit route..

"Okay, Cloud told me the only way out of this place is to find the tombstone that corresponds to your destination and stand in front of it. We are looking for one to the Event Square, so it should have that written on it."

Each of them hunted ravenously for the correct tombstone, but the marker for the Event Square could be nowhere to be found. Vincent did come across a tombstone reading "Ropeway", however, and instructed his friend to just take that transporter and head to the Event Square from that convenient point. The two of them stood in front of the darkly-covered grave, and within a few fleeting seconds they landed on soft padding in the grand lobby of Gold Saucer. In honesty Vincent had spotted the warp to the Event Square, but he was attempting to allow Aeris some time before arriving there.

Unfortunately there was no halting Red as he leaped into the tube for the Event Square before Vincent could even utter a word of protest.

The ride to the Event Square was much less exhilarating than the ones Vincent had been on previously, but they soon found themselves in the stone grey walls of the open-seated theatre. Being as it was extremely early in the morning, the burgundy curtains were closed and the vast majority of the seats were empty, except for the occasional wayward traveler awaiting something exciting to happen. Aeris was still nowhere to be found, so Red climbed onto one of the stone pews in anticipation.

"So what has happened? The only notice I was given was a thumping on my door from Barret," Vincent asked mainly to occupy the time so that Red would not be inclined to leave the area.

"It turns out that Cait Sith has been working with the Shinra this entire time, and stole the Keystone out of Cloud's room to give to the Turks." Red must have been expected a look of complete and total flabbergast, for he was equally surprise to see no emotion in Vincent's dark eyes.

"I cannot say I am altogether surprised, especially when he identified me yesterday with an old nickname from the Turks. He claimed that Aeris told him about it, but I believe she typically avoids speaking about the past of others."

"Anyway, it puts us in a rather difficult situation," Red stated matter-of-factly while scratching his left ear with a paw. "Cait Sith insists on staying with our party in spite of sabotaging us. He has Barret's adopted daughter hostage along with an Elmyra woman that used to take care of Aeris."

It was now the Vincent commenced to feel dumbfounded, for the feeling of helplessness that had overwhelmed him so many times in his quest had returned.

"I know who he is, but at the same time I do not. It will be my top priority, though, to squeeze it out of him." Thankfully he could now see Aeris hurrying across the massive theater, so he motioned for Red to leap off of the pew and prepare to depart.

"There you are," Vincent stated with an unusual amount of quirk and volume in his voice. "Red and I were wondering where you ran off to."

"Sorry; I had headed over to the Chocobo Races for a few minutes to look around. Is everyone else down at the Ropeway already?" Aeris was undoubtedly a better actor than Vincent, for she seemed as calm and collective as always while he was somewhat antsy, scratching his head and breathing irregularly through his words.

"Everyone except Tifa," Red replied knowledgably, "but she may very well be there now. Cloud said that was where she was meeting everyone, so we have no better place to venture towards than there." The trio walked back into the garish main lobby of Gold Saucer, hastily but yet still in a casual manner to not appear extraordinary. Aeris exchanged glances with Vincent along the way, smiling brightly while still making their way to the exit.

The Kalm native could not help but feel animosity upon exiting Gold Saucer without reuniting with one of the only remnants of his long-forgotten past. He wondered if he had done the acceptable thing in allowing her to live her life, but there was part of him that felt like talking to her would have been the amicable thing to do in such circumstances. As the bright lights and series of tubes dissipated into the background, however, Vincent did his best to dismiss these feelings from his mind. There would be a chance to return to Gold Saucer someday, and maybe then he could catch up with Ester. For now there were much more critical matters at hand, and I would be bets to focus on them for the time being.

Sure enough Tifa was waiting outside with the rest of the group, and they now entered the newly-repaired Ropeway with an atypical amount of acrimony between one another. It seemed as if Cait Sith was the only one who had been honest in the past twenty-four hours, and he was the most abhorred for it. The party was suspiciously silent the entire journey to Corel, no one altogether anxious as to learn anything else concerning the mission to Temple of the Ancients or even about one another's personal lives. The traitor seemed to be the happiest of the bunch, obviously excited about the level of control he had taken over everyone else.

It was on the grassland-bound journey back to the Tiny Bronco that Vincent finally took the initiative and confronted the malicious conspirator. Even though the conversation was rather ominous the low level of dialogue between the others seemed to make it increasingly audible. He was never certain if anyone overheard, for he never had the initiative to ask.

Crossing through a small series of trees, Vincent was able to shove the large Mog body up against a tree, keeping the cat at gunpoint with his revolver. The traitor, however, did not seem to be intimidated, but rather was mocking the aggressor for him impudence.

"Now look," he whispered harshly, "either you admit to us who you are and why you've been assigned to deal with us or I'll blow your body into so many pieces that Hojo won't even be able to rebuild you."

"Oh, they won't need to rebuild me," Cait Sith replied with an arrogant grin. "This body is simply mechanical and can always be replaced." Vincent now backed away from the creature slightly, since there was obviously little violence would do to make this confrontation any more advantageous.

"You know, I'm not very inclined to reveal myself to you after being threatened in such a way, but I suppose you have known who I was all along somehow or another." The cat crossed its bony arms on top of the Mog, and seemed to be laughing down at the man so much more diminutive in size.

"It's Reeve, one of the members of the Shinra Executive Committee; I am sure you remember me perfectly. In some avid discussion, some fellow board members and I had decided that after Cloud sabotaged our operation in Junon the best way to achieve revenge would be to have someone sneak into his little rebel group. Being the master of manipulation that I am, I happily volunteered."

"But what is going to happen to Elmyra and Barret's daughter? Are you going to kill them?"

"Of course not," Reeve replied with a cackle. "I'm not evil; don't get me wrong."

"You are in Shinra; that is proof enough to contradict what you say," Vincent retorted coldly while finally making the decision to abandon the conversation. The rest of the party had continued onward and were a good distance now from the two. He continued to talk, but had simply proceeded to walk away.

"I know precisely what will happen to your two hostages. Of course you will not kill them immediately; you will just simply torture them into getting what you want. Then eventually you will kill them anyway, just to make the laymen afraid of you. You are not just a corporation based off of fear; you are a corporation based on lies!"

"Hey it works, doesn't it?" Reeve now dodged Vincent's frustrated fists with his Mog body and commenced to hop away.

"Now if you will excuse me, I must continue to do my job. You guys have no choice but to do what I say."

"By the way, I'll be sure to tell Hojo you're still alive. It really was his intention to be rotting by now." The cat-like monstrosity marched forward, and Vincent was forced to hurry to arrive at the Tiny Bronco at any reasonable time. He considering pressing the villain for more information concerning Lucrecia and his past, but there was nothing Reeve could say to earn his trust. There was only one person in Shinra with integrity, and it was likely Vincent would never be allowed to speak with him. This person contradicted Shinra's beliefs, so eventually they may have performed the same sadistic ritual upon him.

*-*

The waters of the ocean were surprisingly calm, and the Tiny Bronco was able to advance itself to the Temple of the Ancients without much tribulation. The only true turbulence of the afternoon came from outside the ocean, from the members of the party. The eerie silence from earlier in that day had continued onward to the afternoon, and no one truly had a desire to speak about anything. They were trapped in a difficult and inescapable situation; no matter where they could turn Shinra would have the upper hand.

The Temple was located on a lush, tropical island southwest of Midgar, a place that seemed to be untouched by civilization for hundreds of years. In many ways it reminded Vincent of the natural atmosphere of Wutai, except this time there was no abundance of people or even advanced architecture. The monument itself was located behind an immense forest, but the top of its sun-dried brick structure could be visible above the treetops. Cid drove the Bronco as close to the temple as possible, and Cloud finally broke the uncomfortable silence aboard the ship by standing up and grasping the sword off of his back..

"All right you guys; this place is likely to be pretty dangerous so it'll be best if only three of us enter the temple at one time. We'll keep a PHS with us in case there's any trouble, but do not come in unless we tell you to. We don't want to lose everyone in case something deadly is hiding in there. I will volunteer to lead the group inside, because I have a good feeling Sepiroth is in there and I want to settle the score. Any other volunteers?"

Aeris immediately raised her hand, which brought up a level of concern among many of her companions.

"I need to go in there," she urged them desperately in response. "I have…questions that I want answered. After all, it has to be called Temple of the Ancients for a reason." Aeris slid gracefully off of the Tiny Bronco, moving her wooden staff back and forth with her hips as she walked. For a girl as endangered as she was, she ultimately showed no signs of fear. In some ways similar to the situation with Cait Sith, the young woman had made her decision and there was little anyone could do to change it.

Cloud watched Aeris approach him carefully, and he placed his gloved hands behind his back as he continued to talk.

"Okay, now we just need one more person to come…"

"Hey Vincent, why don't you come along with us?" Aeris interjected with a sly smile upon her face. "Sepiroth may be able to answer some of your questions about Lucrecia if we force him to."

The former Turk shrugged his shoulders and agreed to the munificent suggestion. Even if the task was potentially dangerous, any moment he could spend with the woman he loved took precedence over tribulations.

Now assembled into a smaller assemblage, the three of them wished their companions farewell as they marched forward into the woods. Both Cloud and Vincent had their weapons drawn, but it was unnecessary since no monsters blocked or even threatened the path to the sacred temple. Nobody truly knew what to expect, but in a few minutes they reached the end of the forest and approached a wooden plank bridge over the moat. The temple loomed on the other side of the crossing, made of layers upon layers of golden bricks. In a world of machinery and Mako energy, such a magnificent building seemed like an anachronism; as they stepped cautiously over the bridge, it felt as if they were leaving the Planet and entering a new and enigmatic world full of questions without answers. It was almost a portal to eons away.

Aeris was the first to step off of the bridge and onto the rocky ground of the temple's entryway, and immediately her head was thrust forward uncontrollably towards the ground. Both Cloud and Vincent rushed forward to lift her up to her feet, but their strength was seemingly useless as Aeris remained stationary in her awkward position. She did not seem hurt, but was rather listening to something unknown to the two gentlemen. After a moment or two of this suspicious activity, she finally rose to her feet by her own initiative.

Of course, after seeing such an appalling display both Vincent and Cloud wrapped themselves around the flower girl in a huddle, deeply concerned as to her safety.

"I'm fine," Aeris told her suitors calmly, allowing the two of them to step backwards on the rough and rocky ground so that she could breathe.

"I was suddenly drawn to the voices of the Temple…the spirits of the Ancients are still inside."

"Well what are they saying?" Cloud asked impulsively, never one to contain great amounts of patience or respect.

"I'm...I'm not sure," Aeris replied hesitantly. "There are so many of them and everything seems to be distorted." She allowed her head to float upwards to the clouds for a few moments, and then lowered her magnificent eyes back to her companions.

"Let's move forward; I'm sure things will make more sense once we get inside."

The journey ahead actually seemed to further complicate matters, as the group moved cautiously into a dimly-lit chamber decorated with ornate carvings on the walls. There were narrow pillars on each side of the sanctum, with an altar placed in front of an enormous entryway where a seemingly indomitable stone door had been pushed open.

"Looks like Shinra has already used the Keystone," Cloud muttered regrettably as he led the way into the chamber, only to stop again upon seeing splatters of blood upon the otherwise brightly-colored ground. The group took small steps forward to find a desperate, trembling body lying against the left side of the altar, still alive but severely wounded so that his shirt was ripped in two to make an enormous gash evident in his chest.

The man appeared to be in his mid-forties, with a narrow face and lengthy black hair that had commenced to show patches of grey. Vincent may have not recognized him after so many years, had it not been for the blue suit coat crumpled on the ground with a Shinra badge attached.

The wounded character proved to be none other than Tseng; the only individual in Shinra to ever show Vincent any compassion; the only man that he had formed any sort of a friendship with. More than likely Tseng even figured him to be deceased like the other members of the Turks, but the long-removed gentleman was now standing before his former employer, imaginably moments away from his death. His dress shirt had been literally ripped in two by a strong weapon, and blood was dripping profusely from the enormous gash wound in the middle of his chest. Tseng did not seem to exhibit any signs of pain, however; the only expression he made was of surprise to see the eyes of Vincent Valentine staring down at him.

"So you've been alive this entire time," Tseng stuttered breathlessly, his mouth cringing with pain in every word he spoke. "Hojo will be most disappointed."

Vincent did not seem altogether sympathetic (especially since he had heard those words much too frequently lately), but he lightly patted the shoulder of his old friend before speaking.

"I encountered my old associates Reno and Rude in Wutai earlier this week, but I suppose they were too intoxicated to remember to tell you of our meeting." Tseng did not answer with words, but chuckled roughly as he seemingly looked onward into an empty void.

"Listen," Vincent stated in a much more serious and sympathetic tone, "I have some friends with me that have situated a boat a short distance from here. I can try to get you to a doctor."

Tseng used his arm to motion not to leave, and he rocked his flimsy head back against the side of the wooden altar.

"Don't waste your time on it. It is almost a strange phenomenon but you seem to have a certain feeling in you when you realize it is time for you to die; it is almost as if the Lifestream is calling out for you to return to the Planet. I realize now I have nothing left to accomplish here, so I suppose I have reached my time."

Vincent looked back to see Cloud and Aeris standing a few yards back, their faces unmoving but still concerned. This was a critical mission, and they could not waste any further time dealing with the fallen. There was nothing to do but make a critical decision.

"I am staying back. There are some questions that hopefully Tseng can help me answer. The answers for the two of you lie inside the temple, but they only way I can discover who I am is by searching through who I was, not trying to accomplish the present." The two hesitated in their tracks for a moment, but Cloud eventually used his PHS to ask Cait Sith to come along. He had forced them into their present predicament, so it seemed only fitting that he faced the imminent danger inside of the temple with them. Vincent's hasty decision was not second-guessed, but Aeris did gently touch his shoulder as she walked past into the main hall of the Temple. In truth it was better he did not face the danger with his friends, for he could only imagine what kind of horrific beast he could transform into upon encountering turmoil.

The body of Cait Sith waddled to catch up to Cloud and Aeris, but he merely scoffed at his fellow employee in his grim and destitute state instead of showing any admiration.

"I suppose it makes perfect since; the one nice guy in an angry mob is always the one to be punished."

Vincent turned back around to Tseng, who now seemed to be stretched out more towards the ground, and was breathing heavily simply to keep himself from perishing too painfully. He knew it was improper of him to disturb a dying man with thorny inquiries at such a time, but he was inclined to do so in order to end his own horrific suffering.

"What happened to Lucrecia, Tseng? Reno and Rude mentioned that she left the company shortly after I did."

There were grand pauses between words at this point, but Tseng surprisingly continued to speak in spite of the obvious pain of conversation. Blood was dripping onto Vincent's shoes, but he chose to ignore it to find out whatever information he could concerning his past.

"Lucrecia…did not want Sepiroth to be destroyed, so Hojo made sure she was…done away with. Everyone pretended to forget, and over time we really did forget. About Lucrecia…about both of you. I considered stopping Hojo at first…but I had to do my job. Of course it turns out that the same Sepiroth would also bring the death of me…" Vincent attempted to ask about his own disappearance, but Tseng was growing increasingly incoherent now, and he grasped out at Vincent's cloak with one of his wavering hands, pulling him closer to his wavering voice.

"Vincent, there were two sides to this battle since the very beginning; your side and mine. This is where mine has brought me."

The former employee shook his head in disagreement. "It was not truly your fault; you had to have some way to keep your life going."

"There was always another way, Vincent...I was just…too afraid to look for it. All I have left to do now is applaud you before I go."

"Why is that?"

"For picking the better side; the right side. I wish you well in your endeavors." Vincent placed a pale hand upon his shoulder, and Tseng closed his dark brown eyes and drifted off into another world, a world of aptly more pleasant reveries and fantasies.

There were no tears spent on this tragic occasion, but there was no need for them considering the shattering of Vincent's own spirit inside. It seemed now as if he was truly separated from the world he once knew, for the only one who had befriended him in Shinra was lying against the altar, cold and breathless.

It was rather extraordinary that Vincent found himself lifting Tseng's body off of the frigid ground, blood still lightly dripping onto his clothes. He had never performed such an exhibition before, but he could not abandon the body of someone he was once close to. The temple and the surroundings seemed suddenly trivial, and a different scene was plastered into his mind as he carried the body back out across the rickety bridge. In fact, it seemed almost as if Vincent was not carrying anyone at all, but rather wandering methodically through the hallways of Shinra Headquarters, much like he did so many years ago. Tseng was walking alongside of him, younger and healthier than he had ever been. Vincent was about to depart for his recruiting mission in Kalm, and his employer was seeing him to the elevator.

Vincent had pressed the button to summon the transport, and had turned to face the fascinating gentleman, who was straight-faced and professional as always.

"Tseng, why is that you never participate in any of the field missions yourself? Do you not get tired of life in Midgar?"

Tseng did not scowl at the inquiry, but merely looked down towards the linoleum floor.

"My friend, I have seen all of the world that I ever wish to see. Midgar is my home now."

"But what about your family and friends; you have never desired to see them?"

"My wife Lena was murdered a few months before I enlisted in the Turks," Tseng replied demurely. "I had left our home in Gongaga one afternoon and when I returned…I found her body lying in her bed, motionless and with multiple stab wounds. That is why I joined the Turks; I wanted to find out who was responsible for her death."

"Then why not search for the murderers yourself?"

In hearing this, Tseng finally raised his head to eye level and placed his hands into his coat pockets.

"If I was ever to find the killers, I am afraid of what I might do. The criminals will receive their punishment one way or another, but it would do me no good to murder others. I have never killed a soul, even though it is my job to."

"I joined the Turks because I felt like I could stop other people from facing the same miserable fate that I did. I do not ever want to make anyone else have to live life without the one they loved. Shinra may not be what I expected in some ways," Tseng exclaimed with some level of uncertainty, "but I still do the best job I can."

It was at this time the resonated chiming of the elevator could be heard, and the doors opened for Vincent to climb into.

"I will keep my eyes open, Tseng," Vincent stated defiantly while bowing politely to his employer and taking his place in the elevator to begin his journey down.

It was awfully impetuous for Vincent to make that sort of a commitment to Tseng at the time, especially without any knowledge of his wife or even the mysterious town of Gongaga. Yet now as he approached the southern sea with the man he so deeply respected in his arms (who was in fact forced to take this field mission), it seemed like a promise that would be blasphemy not to keep. Tseng had given him his freedom from Kalm, and now it was Vincent's turn to do the same. A life could be avenged, and two souls could finally rest in peace.

Even with so many questions unanswered, Vincent continued onward into the lukewarm water of the ocean until he could barely keep Tseng's body afloat. He finally then placed it down into the water, allowing the body to sink down into the sand until it would eventually drift elsewhere.

Looking out into the horizon, he took last look down onto the sinking face of his former associate.

"May you find the Lifestream quickly, my friend. I am certain Lena is waiting for you."

Vincent placed his own hands down into the water, allowing the blood staining his skin to be washed away and pervade into the body of the sea. He was perspiring and sore, and it took nearly the entirety of his energy to make it back to shore. The remaining members of the party had constructed tents for the evening (one for the ladies and one for the gentlemen), and even though there was some difficulty deciphering which tent belonged to whom, he was ultimately able to detect snoring in the tent furthest to the right. Typically Tifa and Yuffie were not known to be of the clamorous type, so he was able to unzip the black canvas to find Barret rolled up into a ball sound asleep. Cid and Red were pressed up against one end of the tent, almost as if they were protecting themselves from some unknown evil. In all actuality Barret had been tossing and turning in his sleep, so they were simply attempting to salvage their meek and broken bodies against the girth of the burly rebel.

Cid was not one to speak in muffled voice, so he raised his hand upon Vincent's entrance and spoke loudly in spite of Barret's present undertaking.

"Hey there, Vinny! I'm glad to see you decided to ditch the others so that damn cat could take your place. That's the last kind of person I want to sleep in a tent with, some lying-ass Shinra crook."

"I did not leave because I was frightened," Vincent replied in a frustrated manner. He did not climb into the tent, but instead attempted to shake off the layers of salty water from his clothes.

"I left Cloud and Aeris to care for my old friend Tseng. Sepiroth murdered him and left the body at the front of the temple, only breathing for a few more moments."

"I remember that man from Shinra Headquarters when they had me in quarantine with Aeris," Red added thoughtfully while scratching his head with his paw (which in some senses made it rather ironic).

"He seemed like a fairly decent gentleman; I didn't understand why he couldn't find work elsewhere."

"He probably could, but Tseng had his reasons like anyone else." Vincent thought about mentioning Lena to his peculiar companions, but quickly shunned the idea as it was ultimately irrelevant.

"Anyway, Tseng has perished, so the reasoning just seems meaningless now."

"Yeah, but we all have to die sometime," Cid replied with a cackling voice. "That's kind of the crappy part about life; dying, that is."

Vincent had no reply to Cid's theory, as he had seen and heard enough about death and suffering to sicken him to no end. He had already assumed both Gast and Ifalna to be dead, and Lucrecia was thought to be the same. Tseng was truly the only one he had any respect for from his past (other than Ester, who now he may never be able to establish a bond with again), and now he had witnessed his tragic passing from the world.

So feeling as if the Planet could not be any more unjust, Vincent rested his head back against the side of the tent and closed his swollen eyes. It was shocking how he could be so disdainful, after such a wonderful night and morning with the beautiful flower girl. Yet he had witnessed enough of tragedy and death, and he envisioned a sinking feeling that things would only progress for the worst.

But tomorrow will always come around to be better, right? He thought to himself as he started to drift off into sleep. It was only the mid-afternoon, and yet he was exhausted beyond belief, possibly due to his desire for change.

Yet you have to be the one to change things.

"What?"

You have to be the one to change things…

It may have been just due to incredible exhaustion, but strangely the second voice sounded remarkably like his beloved Aeris; his angel in a world of hate.