Walking Out on Destiny

Warning: This chapter contains intense character death. There is blood, gore, and other disturbing images and descriptions. If that sort of thing freaks you out, you are free to skip over it.

l

Walking Out On Destiny

Episode 11: Mad World

Vincent opened his eyes quickly at the cocking of a gun. He didn't think. He didn't hesitate. He simply reacted. The gun came out of its holster and planted a steel slug directly into the head of the bartender who had a .45 ready to shoot him. The man fell over dead without so much as a blink and Vincent breathed out slowly. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins as he suddenly became aware of the bodies moving about the bar in offensive positions. His comrades were awake and aware instantly.

Nobel's gun was already in her hand, shooting the first crouched gunner. Kid ducked behind the bar and slid across the floor snatching the dead tender's rifle. He stood and blasted the hidden gunner near the edge of the bar. The man's head was blown off. Melitta ran through the sea of gunfire, taking a large bowie knife from her wrist and gracefully slicing the closest enemy across the face. Vincent covered her as she weaved and bobbed through the barrage of armed men, slicing throats, faces, and torsos. She even cut off one of their noses. Nobel took down one that was trying to sneak up on them from the side and wrapped wire around his throat and yanked. A well of blood leaked from it and she left him there in shock. Vincent stopped to reload; he let the clip fall and hit the closest person in the face with the butt of it. He kicked another him the knee hard enough to break his knee. As the man went down, he slid his gun up his side forcing the clip he had there to slide into place. He yanked it free in time to shoot another in the head.

Gun smoke and blood filled up the bar and suddenly Melitta's cry of pain caused Vincent to zero in on her position. She was being held down and a beer bottle had been stabbed into her side. She kicked at the man but he was much bigger than her. Vincent was beat to the punch when Kid unloaded the shotgun into the man and continued until his front was a mess of blood and holes. Melitta slipped off the counter and onto the floor, weary and faint from blood loss. Nobel went to her and cringed at the broken glass lodged deeply in her side while Kid and Vincent cleared the area. No one else even dared to come out.

"Shit," Vincent growled. "We need to get rid of all this, all evidence that we were here. Whoever sent them will be pissed when they realized they failed and the company needn't be blamed for this disturbance. We need to make it look clean."

Melitta panted and gestured to her bag. "There's few pounds of C-4 in my bag. Light this bitch up and burn it down. With a lil' fabrication, they'll think it was a just fire."

"Right, Kid, start getting all of the guns and throwing them in my car. Nobel get Melitta into the back seat, I'll rig the explosives. Move!"

"Yes, sir."

Dante jumped when his phone vibrated. He heard hysterical cries in the background and cursing before he heard Vincent's voice. The reception was bad and he began to walk a bit away from the house trying to hear better.

"Where the hell is Veld? Why the fuck isn't he answering his phone?"

"He's inside with Lady ShinRa. Why? What going on?"

"We got ambushed at the bar. Melitta was stabbed and we're getting her back to the ShinRa building right now!"

"What? I thought Tsuki was watching over you guys!"

"She left at some point. I'll need to check on her. Let Veld know that something happened and that we're alright."

"Fuck if you guys aren't alright. That's my sister you're carrying, make sure she makes it to the hospital!"

"Don't question me, Dante."

Dante grit his teeth. "Yes, sir! Is Nobel alright?"

"A little bloody but she's fine."

"Okay, I'll let Veld kn-"

Vincent paused when he heard a hard thump on the other end. "Dante? Dante Respond! That's an order Turk!"

Nobel looked at him from the side seat. "What's happened?"

"Something's happened, Dante's line went dead."

Nobel fell silent and looked at her lap, lost in her own fears. Vincent continued to drive, ignoring the cries of Melitta when Kid ripped the glass out of her side.

They stood with Lady ShinRa that following morning, looking down at Dante's body. A clean shot straight to his heart had pierced the bulletproof vest they all wore as standard issue with their uniform. Nobel held a haunted gaze at the sight of her friend lying there while Kid did what he was supposed to do. Melitta turned away and buried her face in Veld's shoulder. She couldn't help it; Dante was her brother by experience and by blood. He had been so worried about her that he had been distracted on the phone. Kid dug out the bullet with Vincent's aid. Where everyone else flinched when the bullet was wrenched from his heart, Vincent and Lady ShinRa held fast. Kid took the bullet between his fingers and handed it to Vincent for examination. It was small, but pointed sharp at the end. The tip held small barbs that had apparently lodged into the heart when it had reached its target. armor piercing, but unlike anything he had ever encountered or made anymore. No, that was a lie. He and the Elites had encountered these once before. It was the reason for keeping such a tight leash on the Costa de Sol gunrunners. Vincent gave it to Elloria with angry eyes.

"This…was not an attempt on your life, Lady," Vincent said solemnly.

"Turk Killers…they're after all of you," Lady ShinRa gritted her teeth angrily. "It is one thing to attack me, but to attack the people that matter most in my world? I want them found, and I want them hanged! Vincent, Veld, you will protect your fellow Turks and I demand that they be publicly executed! I will not have this go unpunished!"

"One thing, ma'am," Kid held his hand up timidly. "They knew where we were, knew what time to get to us, and knew which Turk was taking patrol…they knew."

Vincent narrowed his eyes, the words falling off of his tongue like venom. "We have a traitor among us."

Elloria slammed her fist on the arm of the wheelchair and looked each and every one of her Turks in the eye, her bi-colored eyes almost peering into their souls. "…if there is a traitor among us, standing here now, you don't know what kind of hell you've brought yourself."

None of them said anything because none of them had a guilty conscious. Vincent refused to believe it was one of the inner circle, still if Elloria had a feeling, he trusted it.

The funeral for Dante was quick and private. He had been cremated and Lady ShinRa was given the ashes while Melitta kept his uniform. Only the Turks attended and Melitta, being his only family, received all that he owned. He had been saving a lot for when he was able to get out of this life and evidence of it had been found in building plans that would take him, Melitta, and to everyone's surprise, Nobel out to the Grasslands. He had been in talks with Nobel's family ranch about buying Chocobos. No one had ever known, but Dante had been ready to leave this life behind once things were at peace again.

Melitta looked at her photo's of her brother and downed a bottle of de Sol Rum. She hadn't been to work in a week and her co-workers were worried about her just as they had been Nobel. In fact it was Nobel herself that had decided to come and check on her. When she did, the door had been unlocked and she simply went in. Melitta had a knife to her throat soon as she stepped foot. Nobel could smell the alcohol heavily on her breath, but she knew for a fact that Melitta was not as drunk as the scent said she was.

"Oh, it's you," Melitta said bitterly. "You're the last person I wanted to see."

"Now, why is that?" she said gently, closing the door behind her. "You're my friend."

"I ain't ya friend girl!" Melitta snapped, her de Sol accent showing through with her anger. "Ya know what? It's just as much ya fault as anybody that he died!"

"How the hell is it my fault Dante is dead?"

"Because you made him weak!" she shouted throwing the bottle at the wall, pictures of Dante and her trembling from the impact. "He did everything he could to get close to you! He followed ya into Turk, knowing that he could've walked away in the beginning. When your bitch of a husband decided to divorce ya, he volunteered to watch over you, tried to be your friend all this time, and all you could do was shoot him down!"

"It wasn't my fault that I didn't love him! If he would've just left me alone then he wouldn't have gotten weak. We can't afford to be weak in Turk! He should've gotten out when he could!"

Melitta screamed in frustration. "You fuckin' hypocrite! If that were the case then you should've left Turk while ya could instead of letting it ruin your 'happy marriage!' but no! You stayed and we all know why!"

"I stayed because I loved Lady ShinRa!"

"You stayed because Vincent loved Lady ShinRa! You stayed because Vincent refused to leave! You stayed because you hoped that after Vincent had his run he would settle down with homely ass you! You led my brother on by sleeping with him after your husband left you and just kept him as a placeholder for fucking Vincent Valentine! My brother was too damn good to be your goddamn rebound but you did it anyway!"

"Melitta…I…"

"What? Nothing to say! Good, cause I ain't through. You ain't like us Helena! You ain't a killer like us; you ain't got baggage like us! You never did. We picked you up when your family damn near went bankrupt trying to make good on a loan from ShinRa. You got indebted to ShinRa and instead of putting you in jail like we fucking should've, Lady ShinRa offered you the chance to be what you wanted to be, a ShinRa scientist. The only reason you even stuck with Turk was because Vincent stuck with it. Then you couldn't leave it alone when you guys broke up!" Melitta growled. "Even after you got married you still couldn't fucking let go! Vincent don't want you! My brother did, you just had your head so far up your ass that you couldn't see how much he fucking loved you!"

"Melitta-"

"Save it! My brother had plans for when we got the new generation of Elites. He was going to get out of here and ask you to go with him. He wanted a life, Helena; a life with you…a life without having to worry whether the next bullet came from a stranger or your best friend." Melitta sobbed and slid to the floor. "Dante wanted a life for us, his two girls. Now he has nothing, I have nothing, and you're still chasing Vincent's ghost."

The woman fell silent and Nobel wiped the tears away. She went to the door shaking her head knowing no words would make up for any of it. She paused and looked back at the broken Melitta. "You were wrong about one thing, Melitta…"

Melitta looked at her with swollen red eyes. "Oh yeah? And what the hell was that?"

"I..I loved Dante…that's why I couldn't stand to be with him." She left Melitta to her grief and went to wallow in her own.

l

l

Sephiroth and Tseng stood on either side of the patio doorway. They looked at Vincent with worried, saddened eyes; both of them knew what had happened and knew that Vincent had not been sleeping once again. Sephiroth looked down at Tseng and mouthed a please to him, knowing that Tseng could understand what was happening with their surrogate father. Tseng closed his eyes for a moment before sliding the door open and going outside. He stepped onto the patio bare footed and approached Vincent quietly. Sephiroth padded closely behind.

"Vincent?" Tseng called gently.

Vincent turned to look at him slowly, a cigarette dangling between his lips. His usually vibrant crimson eyes were dull, almost brown. He glanced between Sephiroth and Tseng and snatched them both. He tugged them to him and hugged them close to his body, feeling the warmth of them against his chilled skin. Sephiroth's eyes were wide and he looked at Tseng who had the same expression. They were both frightened by the desperate hug that Vincent was giving them; even more so when Vincent's back began to shake. Tseng trembled in that grasp but didn't pull away. Sephiroth placed a hand on Vincent's back and Tseng mimicked the movement.

"It…it was my fault..." Vincent whispered brokenly. "I shouldn't have called him."

Sephiroth bit his lip, fighting back tears and hearing Vincent so sad. Tseng shook his head and laid it against Vincent's shoulder.

"Zhè bùshì nǐ de cuò," Tseng whispered soothingly. It's not your fault…

"If only I hadn't called. I should've known. I'm a commander, I should've known!"

"No one blames you, Vince. Nobody," Sephiroth said into his other ear. "We love you Vincent. We know that you'll make it right."

Vincent pulled away from both of them, looking into their eyes. "Make it right…yes. Its time you started learning to defend yourself. I have too many people to protect…you both need to learn to rely on yourselves."

l

l

It was two months after Dante's death and the Turks were exhausted. Melitta was a train wreck. The only time she was sober was when she was guarding Lady ShinRa. When on her own, she didn't give a damn about her life anymore. Nobel had distanced herself from her Turk brethren, choosing to only guard Elloria and Rufus and then disappearing on solo missions often. Vincent spent more time taking Sephiroth and Tseng into the Turk training areas and letting them wrestle with real Turks. Tseng had become an excellent shot mirroring Vincent's talent, while Sephiroth became much more adept to hand to hand combat. Veld had gotten use to seeing them around the Turk floor and even Genesis popped in sometime when he was visiting Angeal at work. He'd try to interact with them as much as he could but he were tired. President ShinRa kept them on their toes as much as possible until finally, they took to disappearing when the president called for them. When they started doing so, Heidegger himself took to the halls to locate at least one Turk he could exploit.

"Hojo!"

Hojo arched his brow when the burly idiot came barging into his office. "To what do I owe this unwelcomed surprise?"

"I know that you and Valentine have been getting along a little bit as of late, so I'm sure you know where they might be! Tell me where the Turks are?"

"Have you talked to the newly appointed Captain Highwind? I assure you, he is closer to Valentine than I have ever been."

Heidegger nodded. "I'll check Fleet then."

He turned and left with heavy stomps and Hojo watched him go. Once his door was slammed, Hojo got up and opened up his closet door. Vincent sat comfortably with his knees drawn up and gun held loosely in his hand. His head rested against one of Hojo's coats as he slept peacefully in the enclosed space. Hojo nodded to himself, gently closing the door so as not to disturb him.

Scarlet leaned against the doorway of her bathroom after President ShinRa had trudged through. She smiled and took off her red coat and laid it over Kid who slept peacefully in her office shower. He huffed in his sleep and turned over, snuggling into the coat and breathing in the sweet perfume. She refused to allow her prodigy to be dead on his feet and offered him rest while she could.

Heidegger never located the other Turks that day. They all had found ways to make themselves scarce so that they could rest. However, it didn't stop the influx of petty missions that kept coming in. Eventually, though, that didn't stop it from happening.

Vincent had been in Cid's cabin on the newly inspected Highwind. The Captain had allowed him to hide there so that he could claim some rest with Sephiroth and Tseng curled into his side. The two boys had been sticking closer to him but August was fast approaching and soon Sephiroth would be in boot camp and Tseng would enter the AR training program in order to become a Turk. The boy wanted to stay at Vincent's side no matter what he had to do. It was here that he had gotten the call that had shaken his conscious and everything he had built.

Tseng groaned when he heard the cell phone vibrate. He'd picked it up and answered it formally. He passed it to Sephiroth who asked who was calling. Realizing it was Veld, he shook Vincent awake and pressed the phone to his ear.

"Valentine."

"Vincent, you have to get up. You have to come now, something's happened!"

Vincent didn't ask questions, he simply jumped up. His heart beat a million miles a second when he drove to the location. It was a frightening to know that the location was in the ShinRa building that he was going to. He ended up at the Department of Weapons Development where he found Scarlet sitting with her eyes staring blankly at the wall. Her ruby lips were set in a thin line and only one tear had fallen down the ice queen's cheek. He paused and knelt in front of her. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped away the tear, careful not to smear her make-up.

"I," she said hoarsely. She cleared her throat. "I told him, come to my office any time to rest. He could hide there and rest, just make sure I was there first. I told him to just make sure I was there first. He didn't listen to me. Why do you never listen to a woman?"

Vincent stood leaving Scarlet to her soft wanderings. He took a deep breath, trying to prepare himself for what he was to see. Melitta was in the corner, her hand covering her mouth as she fought the bile rising in it. Nobel sobbed, her hands covering her eyes. Veld only stood in the bathroom doorway, his eyes holding a frightening light. Vincent could tell that he was sad and angry but which he was more of was what he couldn't figure out. Vincent licked his lips and stepped into the executive bathroom seeing Tsuki sitting haphazardly on the tile, her eyes staring straight ahead with no discernible emotion. It was like she was dead, a corpse. Vincent already felt emotion getting to him as he turned to look at the damage done. When his eyes met icy blue dead ones, he immediately turned away and covered his mouth, the bile feeling up his mouth. He pressed his head against the tiles, reveling in the cool sensation. He tried to slow his breathing but the smell of entrails and dead flesh assaulted his nose. Still, he needed to look. His comrade deserved the respect. He needed to look at him, to see. He turned again, trying to keep his composure.

Kid hung from the shower head, filament cutting into his throat. His blood drained down his neck and chest towards the gaping hole in his gut. His entrails hung out through his torn Turk uniform. He was roughed up and had several tears in random spots on his uniform. Vincent knew he had put up a hell of a fight. He swallowed, trying to keep himself under control and went closer to the body. He noticed something glimmering in the boys hand and carefully lifted the limb. He pulled a strand of beautifully healthy chestnut brown hair. Startled, he examined the hair then looked up into those dead icy blue eyes, his shocked mind seeing the reflection of the culprit in his eyes even though he knew nothing but death was in Kid's eyes.

"L-Lucrecia…" he looked down at the hair in his hand. "Why…?"

l

That same night Elloria sat in bed wearily, Melitta at her side. They shared a fine bottle of scotch together and looked through a photo book that had been found in Kid's apartment. It chronicled their season as the Elite Turks. Melitta smiled at a final picture they had taken. It had been done about four years ago, when the Turk uniform was decided as black. An eleven year old Kid stood their innocently among the adults, looking sharp in his crisp black suits. His icy blue eyes were still wide and full of life rather than the cold calculation they had developed over the years. Melitta traced her brother's outline in the picture while Elloria smiled grimly.

"We was beautiful, wasn't we Lady?"

"Yes, black and white, by the book. We were beautiful," Elloria whispered softly.

l

Later that week, Vincent and Veld took hard punches to the face from Kid's father. The big burly man was a mythril miner who had never forgiven them for recruiting his son, even though in reality Kid had run away from Kalm with them because of abuse. They had not known that Kid had kept in contact with his family until his small apartment had been gone through and cleaned out for any evidence of someone following him. They had found recent pictures of the boy's family and that his father had been begging him to come home. His mother, a spitting image of Kid just silently looked at the corpse on the morgue slab. She gently kissed cold skin with tears running down her face, her expression telling that she didn't know what to feel. She didn't even try to calm her husband as he yelled and tore into the two Turks. The man held Vincent by his collar and nearly cracked his jaw, but the gunman did not fight back. Instead he took the licks because they were nothing compared to the trauma endured by he and his team. Kid's death had sent Tsuki into shock and she'd been forced to take leave of them in Cosmo Canyon so that she could grieve in peace. It left Nobel, Veld, Melitta, and Vincent to pick up the slack.

"You son of bitches, you let a fifteen year old do all those horrible things and he ends up like this! I bet you don't even care!"

"We did care about kid, sir. We all did," Veld murmured.

Vincent flinched when the fist came across Veld's face.

"You didn't care enough to know his real name?"

Veld was about to answer when Vincent's voice echoed in the room. "Nathaniel Hathaway AKA Kid, age 15, blood type O-positive. Favorite color was indigo and his hobbies were guns and cars. He designed the majority of our weapons and some of our cars too. He loved Midgar because of all the technology here that he could get hold to." Vincent laughed sadly. "Kid used to love to go out to the Slums during the after-hours though. He said it was the best place to find scrap metal and computer chips for his inventions, even though Scarlet provided him with whatever he wanted. His favorite food was the Nacho Grande at the bar we used to haunt." The gunman shook his head and looked at the mythril miner. "How dare you say we didn't care about Kid? If you wanted him to stay home…you should've kept your hands of him. We protected Kid more than his own family did and we hurt just as badly. Who are you to say we didn't care."

With that Vincent left Veld to deal with them and slammed the door behind them. Kid was someone's baby…he was their baby and now…

l

After the close-casket wake and the cremation, Vincent went home. Sephiroth was out with his friends leaving Tseng to greet him at the door.

"Welcome home, Vincent," he said as usual, his accent getting much less apparent. Vincent leaned against the door, his gaze never shifting from Tseng's face. For an instant, his mind played an awfully dirty trick on him. For an instant, he saw Tseng hanging there, his beautiful gray eyes dead and his gut torn open.

Vincent's eyes welled with tears and he suddenly collapsed to his knees. Before Tseng could react, the boy was pulled off his feet into Vincent's arms. By reaction, Tseng bent his knees so that he was comfortably supported in Vincent's lap as the man hugged him. One hand was on his back and the other was pressed to the back of his head so that he was forced to lay his head on Vincent's shoulder. The grown man squeezed him tight and buried his face in Tseng's smaller shoulder. With no one to see, no one to impress, no one to stand strong for, Vincent openly sobbed. He thought of Kid's abrupt end, thought of the unknown child Lucrecia had carried for him and allowed to die, and then realized that there was a very real possibility that Tseng, the one who was most like him, could die because of him. He clung and rocked the boy in his arms, hugging him, forcing himself to come back to reality and to know that Tseng was alive. Tseng's heartbeat against his, Tseng's breath was in his hair, and Tseng's body was warm. Tseng's soft voice was whispering soothing words in their native tongue past his ear. Small hands were running through his hair, caressing his scalp in attempts to calm him. They remained like that, Vincent not willing to let the boy go for fear he would see that image again and Tseng not wishing to be released for fear that the man would break.

l

Veld ended that month with a knock on Vincent's door, only to have Sephiroth answer. He halfway smiled at the teen who nodded to him and let him in.

"Vince is in his room, try to be quick. He…hasn't been himself," Sephiroth muttered.

"You ready to start boot camp?"

"No…not really. I mean I'm not scared I just…" He looked towards Vincent's room. "I don't want to leave him when he needs me…needs us."

"Sephiroth, Vincent will have you regardless and he will have Tseng and he will have me," he assured him.

"Yeah," was all Sephiroth said before returning to his room. Veld watched the boy's door close and made his way to Vincent's room. He found the gunman sitting up in bed smoking one of those Wutain cigarettes he'd become so fond of. He glanced around wondering where Tseng was.

"He's outside exercising," Vincent said suddenly. "Tseng, I mean."

"Ah," Veld sat next to him on the bed and laid back comfortably. "I wanted to talk but you're not as easy to get a hold to these days."

"Well, when I want to be left alone," Vincent muttered.

"Yeah, I get it," Veld sighed. "I never realized it before, but our two teammates had a lot they were keeping from us. I thought we all had no secrets."

"That's naïve of you, Veld. Of course we all have secrets; it keeps us from getting lost in the work."

"What secret are you keeping from me, Vincent?"

Vincent actually smirked, a piece of his old self showing through. "I'm fucking Cid behind your back."

"Ah hell, that's not a secret," Veld groaned but a smile spread on his face. "I meant about your past."

Vincent visibly flinched as the image of Kid's body came back to haunt him. He ran his hand through his hair and shook his head.

"You alright, Vincent?" Veld asked, reaching out for Vincent.

"I had a child."

The statement was so abrupt, Veld froze. Vincent shook his head and leaned back against his pillows. "I don't know any of the details about it…but Lucrecia was apparently pregnant when she chose Hojo over me. Our affair had produced a child, but, she supposedly allowed Hojo to experiment on it. I want to know what happened but at the same time, I feel I can do without the knowledge. It didn't survive so I never knew. I don't even have the desire to confront Hojo about it."

Veld's mouth moved but he couldn't think of a sufficient response. "I-I'm sorry."

"It's not as if I ever got to hold it. I didn't even find out about it until recently."

Veld accepted this, but he pulled Vincent into his arms. "Did I ever tell you about my wife?"

"The one you married a year after I left for Nibelhiem?"

He nodded. "And I told you she died…but I didn't say how."

"Yeah, I remember."

"Well before I was big bad Veld the chief and you and I were just partners in Turk, I had finally been given my own team. I believe I had been married for three years and you had started telling me about Sephiroth." He smiled a bit. "I was made the commander of that group to handle a disturbance in Kalm," Veld lowered his head. "There was anti-ShinRa faction there that showed up during some sort of festival. I didn't know that they were there; they blended in with the crowd. There was no evidence, no history of them; they just seemed like normal people when we caught them afterwards. My Turks were tired of hanging around Kalm and I decided that the mission was a bust because we'd hung around for a month with nothing. I put them off duty and allowed them all to have a good time. That was when…"

"The day Kalm went up in flames…"

"Yeah, what I didn't know was that my wife and my toddler, Felicia, they had gone there. She had wanted to show Felicia her home town and..." he sighed. "When they attacked, they blew Kalm halfway to hell. Their bodies were never found. I lost everything I thought that made me human that day and from there, I couldn't bear to even look at another woman. Then you came back."

Vincent shook his head. "Veld, I'm not replacement for a woman you love and a child."

"You could never replace them. I'm not saying that you could, but, I do have a secret that no one realized. I…I…"

"What?"

Veld bit his tongue and lifted a case on the bed. "I…I have something for you. With Kid's help I had been working on it for years and I had been hiding it there in his place finished. We were the only ones who knew and he wanted to give it to you on your birthday. I thought it was more than overdo that you get it now."

Vincent squint his eyes when Veld opened the case. The shining metal glared at him even in the dim candlelit room. He gazed at the three black barrels in awe and gently picked up the masterpiece. He passed his fingertips on the mythril handle and got a feel for the weight of it. It felt powerful in his hand, more so than anything.

"What is this?" Vincent asked with a fascinated smile.

"A gun suited for Vengeance," Veld said softly. "It's something only you can pull the trigger on. I named it for you."

"For me? What is its name?"

"The Cerberus…"

l

l

Sephiroth sighed and looked up at Vincent who stood with a soft smile on his face. On the drive over he had looked at their slowly disappearing house with an almost lost expression; he wasn't sure if he had made the right choice. It would be five months before he could even visit his home and a year before he could return permanently. He looked between Vincent and Tseng, his makeshift family. Vincent touched his shoulder reassuringly.

"This is what you wanted," he said.

"Yeah, this is what I wanted."

"And you should never?"

"I should never let anything get in the way of what I want for myself."

"Exactly," Vincent leaned down a bit to hug him. "No matter where you go, or where you're sent, you are my family, Sephiroth. You are my family and you will be fine. We worked our asses off for this, don't let me get in the way of you taking it."

Sephiroth nodded before giving him a hopeful yet tragic expression. "You're proud of me, right?"

Vincent looked down at him in surprise and then a softer smile than he had ever seen on the man's face came slowly. "Sephiroth, I'm more than proud of you. Everything you've done to get here has made me proud. Every step you've taken away from the man you could've been makes me all the more proud. Most of all, I love you and no one can make me change that."

Sephiroth tried to fight the joyful feeling welling up inside him that threaten to spill over as tears. It wasn't manly to cry like that, but when Vincent drew him into his chest where no one could see his face, he let them fall. He looked up at Vincent, smiling when he realized how much taller the man still was compared to him.

"Vincent…are you my dad?" he asked playfully.

Vincent smiled; remembering the first time the boy had asked him that. "Yeah…I guess I am now."

"Good," Sephiroth said wiping his face. "You make a lousy uncle."

Vincent shoved him a bit making him laugh. Genesis ran up with his own duffle bag on his shoulder and tackled Vincent knocking him off balance.

"Dammit, Genesis!" he grunted.

"I don't want to leave you, Daddy Vincent! We have yet to do the sex alphabet and you promised you'd tie me up again and-whoa!"

Sephiroth yanked the hyperactive Genesis off of Vincent. "Enough of that. You're creeping me out!"

"As if you haven't thought it about! Incest only counts if it's by blood!"

Sephiroth blushed and dropped the redhead. "Jeez!"

Genesis beamed and snuggled on Sephiroth. "Oh you know I wouldn't abandon you, Sephy! I hope we get to room together. If we do, I'm totally sleepin in your bed!"

"You woulda did that regardless!"

"I'm just sealing the deal. Hope your roommates like their room smelling like apple and cinnamon! Oh look, there's our ride!"

The train pulled in that would take them to Sector Five, the SOLDIER sector where all the soldiers gathered. There he would go to the training academy and began his path as a real SOLDIER. He took a deep breath when the train came to a stop and other hopefuls boarded it. He turned to Vincent who also took a deep breath, staring at the train distantly.

"Vincent?"

"Hmm?"

"This is it," he said. "I'm…I'm going now. You'll be alright, right?"

Vincent laughed. "The day I need you to take care of me will be a cold day in hell."

"Better watch what you say old man. You ain't so young anymore!" Sephiroth laughed and looked down at Tseng who had been strangely quiet during their wait. He knelt down so that he could be somewhat eyelevel with the preteen. "You'll look after him, won't you?"

Tseng looked at him, his eyes holding an almost sadness. "Yes, I swear I will look after him."

Sephiroth nodded and pulled Tseng into a hug, crushing his smaller body into his. "You're my brother, Tseng. Take care of yourself too. I want you to try and make friends and be a kid just like me okay."

Tseng 's bewildered expression didn't change when Sephiroth pulled away but the older boy knew what was on his mind. Tseng had yet to understand how express himself in words. The translator piece secretly hidden in his ear did nothing to help him understand the emotion being expressed between the three of them. Tseng only knew how to be the adult, the protector, the caretaker. He didn't know how to be the child and Sephiroth hoped it wasn't too late for him to learn. Sephiroth took of his satchel and dug around in it pulling out Tonny, his old Tonberry plush. He held it up to Tseng moving the arm of it so that it looked like it was waving its little butcher knife.

"This is Tonny. He's a lot like you, small but dangerous. He waves a lantern to light the way for those he cares about to be near him and waves a knife to make sure no one else harms those he loves. He's protected me for years so I think he would do a good job at protecting you."

Tseng picked up the plush careful to mind the worn stitching. He examined it and waved the little knife with a smile. He looked up at Sephiroth. He licked his lips and tilted his head trying as if struggling with something. Finally he opened his mouth to speak each word coming out carefully.

"We're brothers and we always will be. Thank you for everything," he said perfectly, not a single word accented or skipped over.

Sephiroth nodded and was about to say "you're welcome" when Genesis picked Tseng off his feet and hugged him like a teddy bear. Tseng was back to normal, cursing in Wutain and beating the redhead with Tonny.

"You're so damn cute! Oh scarecrow, I'll miss you most of all!" Genesis cooed.

"Let. Me. GO!" Tseng kicked him and was dropped. He ran behind Vincent who was laughing at the entire scene.

Genesis sighed. "You just wait, when I come back big and strong you're gonna totally love my flowery ass!"

Tseng simply glared at him and shooed at him.

"You'll both miss your train. Go on."

Genesis nodded and took Sephiroth's hand. "Come on," he said, his voice very soft. "Together, right?"

Sephiroth looked back at his family, his father and his brother, before nodding and getting on the train. He looked over his shoulder at them before the train door closed. "Goodbye" he mouthed.

The two watched as Sephiroth disappeared and the train pulled off. They stayed there for long after the train had gone out of sight. Vincent squeezed Tseng's hand to break the spell that had fallen over them. He looked down at the boy with gentle red eyes.

"Let's go home."

Tseng blinked up at him, the gray slivers in his eyes shining in the setting sun. "It's just us now?"

"Yes, for now. Don't worry, we'll be fine. You'll be heading to Turk Academy as well soon."

Tseng nodded his head and held Vincent's hand. He hugged Tonny close despite feeling childish doing so. He paused and looked at it in confusion. Vincent looked down at him worriedly.

"What's wrong?"

Tseng laughed a little. "It smells like Sephiroth."

Vincent only smiled.

l

l

A/N: I know I said this would be the last one before the time skip…so I lied! XD I can't help how much comes out with this story. They pretty much tell ME what to do, not vice versa. So ONE more chapter before we meet Cloud. Thank you for the patience. Next chapter will be called "Say Uncle..." named after a song by the wonderful Vienna Teng. That is the song I had on repeat when I wrote that particular part. Please continue to read and review as we enter the last piece of Part One. You want the most gut wrenching out of that chapter, listen to that song.