Monday 22nd October,
10:53a.m. Kalm Town Near the Outskirts
Vincent lifted himself up of the pavement were he had slept the night
before, slung his bag over his shoulder and began to walk again. So far
he had no evidence or idea where Yuffie had gone, as far as he could work
out she had almost twenty-four hours on him now. She could be as far as
the Mythril Mines by now for all he knew.
No one in the entire City had seen her; the City went on until all
hours, throughout the night and no one has seen her. It’s as Vincent thought
before; the people in this town can only think of themselves.
The only hope Vincent had was the word of two police officers that
abused the English language to an extent that he only understood every
other word. “F***” this and “F***” that. As far as Vincent could understand
the two Policemen had heard something in the early hours of yesterday in
an alleyway near the outside of the City, but the dozy idiots had ignored
it and walked away. This could mean one of two things: Yuffie was in the
alleyway, which means she has almost certainly left Kalm by now. The other
possibility is that it wasn’t Yuffie; and Vincent had wasted all of yesterday
searching for her.
Either way Vincent was behind her, way behind and this hadn’t put Vincent
in the best of moods.
His once smart and respected blue Turk’s uniform had now become muddied
and creased were he had lain in the street last night. It no longer was
something he was proud of, it meant nothing to him.
As he walked through the City streets he felt everyone was watching
him, they all knew who he was; he was Vincent; proud saviour of the planet,
but that wasn’t how they saw him now. They knew Lucrecia was dead, murdered,
it was all over the papers. And they knew who he was after; he wouldn’t
be surprised if everyone in the whole city knew.
He decided to ignore the onlookers; he wouldn’t be able to get his
job done if he paid attention to them.
Vincent needed to get out of this place and fast, he expected the Turks
to be on his trail in a few hours or so, if not quicker, and there was
one last place he had to visit before leaving.
11:03 a.m. Tifa and Cloud’s House
There was a knock on the door and Cloud rose from his chair; picking
Cherrie up from his knee and placing her on the floor.
“ I’ll finish the story later ok?” Asked Cloud as he walked to the
door.
“ Ok.” Replied Cherrie.
Cloud opened the door to find Vincent, standing, waiting, staring.
“ Hello Cloud.” He said.
“ Vince!” Cried Cloud grabbing his old friend and hugging him. “ What
is it?”
“ I think you know.” He replied bluntly.
“ Yuffie?” Asked Cloud
“ Yuffie.”
“ I think we need to discuss this together, come in.” Responded Cloud.
“Tifa, it’s Vincent.”
11:05 a.m. Kalm Town, Turk Headquarters
“ I don’t see why we have to wear all this heavy military gear, it’s
not like Vincent’s really going to shoot us.” Complained Reno as he strapped
on his bullet-proof vest.
“ Oh come on Reno, you look cute in it!” Giggled Elena.
“ Thanks for the complement Elena, but I wish I could say the same
for you; makes you look a bit fat if you ask me.” Reno smiled almost apologetically
and Elena scowled back at him, he replied with a laugh.
“ We need to wear the military stuff for one reason, Vincent’s got
some heavy gun-power with him, we could be out for the count very quickly
without these. And yes, I do think Vincent will shoot on us, he didn’t
fail to retaliate earlier did he?” Said Elena knowingly.
“ For god’s sake!” Shouted Reno. “ He was mad. His wife had just been
murdered; I’d be fucking mad if my wife died!”
“ Exactly.” Smiled Elena. “ He’s mad, he’s not acting rationally, we
don’t know what the hell he’s going to do next. Which is why we need these
smart vests.”
Reno gave up. He couldn’t see himself winning this argument.
“ Okay.” He started. “ I give up. I accept I may be wrong, but that
still doesn’t mean I am proud to, nor want to; wear this stuff!”
The three Turks shared a short laugh before stopping, turning around
and getting back to business; strapping on the vests and preparing ammunition
and guns. However Reno tried, he couldn’t stop feeling there was a certain
amount of tension between the three of them.
11:10 a.m. Tifa and Cloud’s House
After a few minutes of hugs and kisses and Tifa preparing the dining
table for them to all sit around Vincent began to talk.
“ Lucrecia’s dead.”
“ We know,” Replied Tifa. “ It’s all over the papers.”
“ Yuffie killed her.”
“ Hold on a minute Vince, you don’t know that for sure.” Started Cloud,
he could feel the anger inside his friend, it was hidden, but that was
what Vincent was always good at, keeping his emotions inside. “ For what
reason would Yuffie want to kill her for?”
“ I don’t know, that’s why I’m after her.”
“ What’s with the weaponry then?” Asked Cloud.
“ I do not wish anyone to stop me, these are merely precautions.” He
replied, clutching the bag beside him.
“ But what do you think you are doing chasing her? Do you really think
she killed Lucrecia? Do you really think chasing her is going to help the
situation?”
“ I don’t know what to think anymore.” Replied Vincent, softly. “ The
only person I have ever loved has died. Not only did she die, but she was
murdered. Do you know what that must feel like?”
“ Yes, I do. I know what you must be feeling like, but I don’t think
chasing Yuffie will help you.”
“ The what will Cloud?” Shouted Vincent. “ What will?”
Vincent jumped out of his seat and began to walk away; he almost left
the house before Cloud grabbed his arm.
“ I’d be careful if I were you.” Whispered Cloud into his friends left
ear. “ Yuffie’s got a Leviathan materia on
her. It’s mastered too.”
Vincent stood silent for a while as the tension increased. “ You what?”
Cloud sighed, “ We gave her the mastered Leviathan materia we kept
after meteor hit. It’s hers anyway Vince.”
Again the silence began. “ I once thought you a level-headed, born
leader Cloud.” Vincent began. “ But to give a murderer a mastered summon
materia,,, Jesus! Do you know what the hell she could do with that?”
Cloud stayed silent.
“ I said what the Hell do you think she could do with that!”
“ A whole lot of damage.” Replied Cloud softly.
“ Damn straight!”
Vincent strode outside of the house leaving his cape blowing behind
him.
“ We did it to help her out Vince! She needed our help!” Screamed Cloud.
“ Bull Shit!” Shouted Vincent back. “ You gave her the materia to piss
me off! You didn’t want me to kill her! Well, do you know what? I will.
I damn well will Cloud!”
Cloud went to reply but was answered with Vincent’s back and a calm
reassuring arm of Tifa to hold him back. He realised it was hopeless now;
Vincent had truly lost it.
4.00 p.m. East of Kalm Town
Vincent brushed his long, black hair out of his eyes and continued
to walk on. After leaving Cloud’s house he pretty much figured that Yuffie
must have travelled east, perhaps to Chocobo Ranch and then onto the Mythril
Mines. Besides, it was unlikely she had gone west to the ruins of Midgar;
the ruins had become saturated with monsters since the meteor destroyed
the city. There was no way she had gone there, even with a mastered summon
she wouldn’t stand much chance.
The path to Chocobo Ranch was a dangerous one; the wind was reaching
speeds rivalling those in the Northern Continent. Vincent found himself
hugging onto the mountainside rocks to keep himself from falling. That
was another problem that the Meteor had caused; the whole area around Midgar
had become a weather war zone, Kalm Town had built huge walls around the
whole village to stop the winds from crushing it.
Vincent was thinking this was a lost cause, he couldn’t see himself
getting to the Ranch soon, not in this weather, not ever. He stopped for
a second and held onto the rock and wiped his forehead and looked to the
sky. A rumble of thunder echoed against the walls of the mountain rock.
This was not good.
As the first drops of rain fell onto Vincent’s long, black hair he
began to run against the harsh winds, it wasn’t long before his feet slipped
on his long cloak and he fell to the floor, smashing his head on a hard,
cold rock.
As Vincent slowly slipped into unconsciousness, he could only picture
one thing, one last thing he could always rely on. For his last moments
of consciousness he pictured Lucrecia. But a second later, he realised
he could no longer rely on anyone, no one at all.
When? Where?
It was dark; Vincent could only make out the image of the door that
led to his conservatory, he fiddled with the handle but he was met with
a clinking sound. It was locked. Kicking the door open, he walked into
the house and surveyed the room; no one was here. He exited through the
front door and re-loaded his pistol. There was a sound of someone falling
over onto the pavement and screaming, then the footsteps picking up again.
Under the light of the street lamppost he saw the faint image of a middle-aged
woman running.
Intrigued, Vincent followed. The woman had run into a neighbouring
house, Vincent following into a bedroom where the woman stood, in total
panic and oblivion. Vincent raised his silenced pistol and unloaded a clip
into the woman’s chest, blood sprayed around the room and there was no
more screaming, no more fighting, just silence.
Vincent looked to the mirror beside the bed and saw the blood covering
his clothes and face. The dark, red blood soaked his clothes and some trickled
down his throat, he had swallowed the blood of the woman he had just killed.
The blood of Lucrecia, the blood of his wife, the blood of his everything.
He grabbed his face by his hands and pulled them down his face and
screamed a single, deep, eternal scream as he turned into Chaos.
Tuesday 23rd October,
6.37 p.m. ?
Vincent jumped up from his sleep and wiped the sweat away from his
eyes, was it true, had he truly killed Lucrecia? Or was it just a dream?
“ Don’t worry.” Spoke a voice so soft; the sound of a pin drop would
drown it. “ You’ve had the bad dream again.”
“ What?” Asked Vincent drearily as she placed a cold towel on his forehead.
“ I see you have forgotten again.” Laughed the young girl.
“ Who are you?” Asked Vincent suddenly noticing his state of undress
and blushing.
“ I’m Cynthia.” She replied giggling. “ Although I don’t know why I’m
telling you that. I could swear I told you yesterday.”
The girl had her blonde hair long and she wore a red bandana on her
head. She looked around seventeen and had a slight build, her face was
slightly muddied from perhaps work in fields of some kind and her jeans
were stained green from the grass. From the look of the cabin he was in,
Vincent could tell he had probably reached Chocobo Ranch, although not
necessarily by himself.
“ How did I get here?” He asked, placing his clothes back on while
Cynthia turned her head.
“ We found you while searching the area for abandoned Chocobos, we
saw you knocked out on the floor, we picked you up and took you back here.”
“ And you took my clothes off?” He inquired.
“ Well, I only helped. We couldn’t let you sleep in your clothes, they
were sodden in the rain.”
Vincent stroked the back of his hair and stood up from the bed.
“ What were you dreaming about?” Cynthia questioned.
“ It, It was nothing, I, I can’t remember.” He stammered
“ It must have been pretty bad, you keep shouting in you sleep.”
“ I told you, it was nothing.” He replied, slightly annoyed. “ How
long have I slept for?”
“ I guess about twenty four hours, give or take a few-”
That was bad, real bad. He had let Yuffie get further away from him
and let the Turks creep up on himself.
“ Then where is my bag? I need to get out of here as quickly as possible.”
“ It’s in the barn. We were all pretty worried about the stuff in the
bag, it seemed pretty dangerous, there were guns and materia. Are you in
some sort of trouble?”
“ You could say that.” He replied. “ Or you could say I’m just very
cautious.”
Vincent left the cabin without saying goodbye, he planned to collect
his bag and then ride a chocobo to the mines nearby, he needed to catch
up.
The barn was quiet except for the sound of the chocobos settling down
for the night, by the side of the pens was his bag. He picked it
up and turned to leave, he was met by three blue suits.
“ Well hello Vince.” Smiled Elena pulling a gun to his head. “ What
are you doing ‘round these parts?”
Silence.
“ C’mon Vince, aren’t you pleased to see us?”
“ I told you not to follow me. I told you not to p me off.”
“ Now Vince, that isn’t very nice.” Smiled Elena. “ We can’t let you
kill Yuffie could we?”
“ Then what do you want me to do?”
“ We need you to come home. We can’t let you do something you’ll regret,
we can’t let that happen.”
“ Why the hell do you care about Yuffie? And why do you care so much
about me?”
“ Because believe it or not, we see you as a friend. If you kill Yuffie,
we’ll have lost our friend.”
“ Just leave me alone.” Shouted Vincent.
“ I don’t think you understand Vincent. We want you to come home. We
have a gun pointed to your head, not the other way ‘round.”
“ To hell with that!” Shouted Vincent. In a smooth motion, he flipped
backwards and pulled his Death Penalty from his bag, aiming it at the three
Turks.
“ Looks like we have a stand-off then!” Said Elena, surprised.
“ Not quite!” Laughed Vincent. He aimed the gun at Elena and shot.
The spread of bullets meant all three of them were hit; they hit the ground
screaming.
Vincent turned quickly and mounted the strongest looking chocobo in
the barn. He needed to be quick, if the Turks were wearing bulletproof
vests, only the power of the bullets would have knocked them out, they
could only be out for a couple of minutes.