VINCENT VALENTINE

Hair: Black

Eyes: Red

DOB: October 13

Age: 27 at start of FFVII

History: Much of Vincent's early life is shrouded in mystery.
Because of the experiments that were performed on him,
even he does not rememeber where he was born or any of
his early childhood. His earlist memories are from when he
was a teenager, and even that was only just bits and pieces.
He recalled spending many nights out on the streets with his
friends, and it was in a large city, probably Midgar or
Junon, although he could not really be sure. He must have
been in some sort of gang, for he remembered numerous
fights and even an excursion or two in a stolen car. He also
knew that one of the friends he had been very close to had
been killed in a gunfight, but he could not for the life of him
remember the boy's name.

His first coherent memories began soon after he joined the
Turks. The street life he had led as a youth stood him in
good stead with this group, and he soon was a well
respected member, with a reputation of being able to get
the job done, now matter how dirty or difficult. He rose up
in the ranks and was soon working at the Turks main
headquarters in the Shirna building in Midgar.

Soon afterwards he was placed in charge of security for
Hojo's JENOVA project which was currently taking place
out at the Shinra mansion in Nibelheim.

Vincent didn't know or much care what Hojo was doing, all he knew was that security wise the project was pretty boring.
Most of his time was spent monitoring the building and wandering around looking for anything out of the ordinary. Quite a
change from his previous jobs, which had often entailed rather violent interactions with other people.

Vincent had not had much in the way of romance in his life. Most of his talking to this point had been done by his fists, and his
concern with staying alive and healthy had not left much time for women. But now that he had nothing else to do he found
himself eyeing one particular girl, a young lab assistant of Hojo's by the name of Lucrecia, with unusual interest.

At first he didn't know how to approach her, and mostly just kept an eye on her. He found himself spending more and more
time in the lab whenever she was there, looking for some sign that she had noticed him. They became friends after a while, but
she gave him no hint that there was anything more to it as far as she was concerned, and he said nothing, afraid she would only
rebuff him. For all his ferocity and ruthlessness when it came to dealing with other men, he found he could barely manage a
coherent sentence when he was in her presence.

Eventually, while patroling the halls one night, he quite suddenly decided that he was just being an idiot to not tell her how he
felt. Although it was late he thought it best to tell her immediately, before he had a chance to change his mind. He hurried to the
lab, for she was often there late into the night, but when he got there he was surprised to see her and Hojo in a passionate
embrace.

He turned and walked out without their noticing him. For a few days he walked around in a daze, not sure what to think or how
he felt. But eventually he decided that as long as she was happy, it was okay with him. He would be content as long as Hojo
treated her right.

Not long afterward Lucrecia told him she was pregnant. Vincent was surprised, for Hojo did not seem like a family man to him,
but Lucrecia was thrilled, so he just smiled and congratulated her.

But her happiness did not last. One night in her fourth month of pregnancy Vincent found her alone in the laboratory, crying.

When he questioned her she told him that Hojo wanted to use the child in the JENOVA project. He wanted to infuse Jenova
cells into the child while still in her womb. Hojo had had some significant failures in the project to date, and the technique was
not perfected. She was afraid of what would happen to her baby if she agreed, but she was also afraid of what Hojo would do
if she refused. He had become more and more obsessed with the project as time had passed, and now it seemed like the most
important thing in the world to him, even more important than their child. She didn't know what to do.

Vincent did. After all this time at the project site he couldn't help but have picked up some knowledge of what was going on,
and he knew that Hojo's plan was dangerous and foolhardy. He immediately went to Hojo's office to confront him.

Hojo seemed shocked when Vincent told him what Lucrecia had said. He assured Vincent that Lucrecia was wildly
exagerrating what he had said. He had only been theorizing when he had mentioned using an unborn child in the experiments,
and he had no intention of using his own child in such a manner.

But his words were just a ruse to buy some time. Even as he spoke he casually walked over to his desk and opened a draw.
Vicent had no time to react when he pulled out a gun and shot him in the chest.

The wound probably would have been fatal, but Hojo was too twisted to let him die so easily. He had seen the way Vincent
had looked at Lucrecia, and susspected there was an attraction. Now his suspicions were confirmed. He was not going to let
this man off so easily.

He saved Vincents life, but in doing so he performed experiments that in the end left Vincent something other than human.
Exactly what he did Vincent himself could not recall, but he remembered months and months of pain and suffering. He made
Vincent watch helplessly as he forcibely injected JENOVA cells into Lucrecia's unborn baby, and laughed while he did it. Then
he performed experiments on her, knowing that it would hurt Vincent to see that as much as it had to have things done to
himself. After the child was born Hojo discarded Lucrecia and told Vincent she had died in agony.

Vincent had no idea how long this went on, but it seemed to him to last many lifetimes, and more than once he wished for death
to take him, but Hojo was always careful never to push him beyond his limits. Eventually Vincent became resigned to his fate,
and retreated into a shell that left him numb to all contact with the outside world.

Eventually Hojo became bored with Vincent, and moved on to other things. But before he did he decided on one last
punishment. He locked Vincent up in a coffin in the basement of the mansion, still alive but in a suspended state, and left him
there when he moved the project to Midgar. In his typical sadistic manner, he denied to Vincent the one thing he had left to
look forward to, death.

How long he remained there, and how he managed to remain sane, he could not say. But one day the coffin was disturbed, and
he woke from a deep slumber to find himself face to face with Cloud Strife and the other members of AVALANCHE.