Eternal Fall

Final Fantasy and its characters are the property of Square Enix.
Warning: Sexual situations… and once again, probably way too long XD


Eternal Fall: part XX: Study

"General?" Zack called to him from the other side of the door.

But the young general refused to answer. He was lying on his back in bed, still in his black uniform. He stared up at the ceiling like a corpse. But then, the demon woman spoke to him again, and he cringed. He held his head in groaned softly.

"Stop it," he whispered. "Shut up..."

He tried to block her out again and again. He tried to build up his strength. But the more he tried, the harder she hurt him.

"General... please, open the door!" Zack knocked again. “Don’t make me break it down!”

Finally Sephiroth pulled himself out of bed. He staggered towards the door, wanting to see Zack's friendly face, wanting to feel Cloud's hand on his shoulder. But he froze in place and sank to his knees. It's not that he wanted to. But he felt as though he was no longer in control of his own movements. The door to the room seemed so far away now.

She called to him again, her threatening voice booming in his head. The young general looked to the window, thinking of freedom and release. He knew that if he wanted to save himself, he'd have to know the full truth about his past. He'd have to know everything about what Hojo did to him.

The mansion... whispered the woman's voice in his head.

Suddenly Sephiroth grasped his head and collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain as she sent the past flooding back to him. She only sent enough for him to remember small details. He remembered the mansion not far from this inn. He lived there for a time! And... Hojo was there!

He found he could move again, and he bolted toward the window. With the grace of a cat he jumped outside of the second story window, landing cleanly and lightly on the ground below. With a speed only he could manage, he ran towards the mansion. It was dark out, but he would make them grant his entry if he had to.

But that wasn't needed.

"General Sephiroth!" gasped the attendant at the door. "I knew you were in the area but I never thought I'd see you here!"

"I need to come inside and look around," Sephiroth said, almost coldly.

"Of course, General! Don't mind the people around here. We're just here to make sure the place stays clean! We'll be gone soon, but you can stay as long as you please!"

Sephiroth nodded in thanks and started to roam the mansion. He found his old room... which was still a plain and sterile white. He gently touched the windowsill, a faint memory of falling from it coming back to him.

He kept exploring, finding grand rooms, odd rooms, pointless rooms, conference rooms, and strange notes in Hojo's handwriting. Hojo must have been here recently to check on his experiments. Sephiroth felt a twinge of anger burning inside, and he shook his head solemnly.

His journey through the mansion continued until he found the room with the false wall. He knew it immediately. He remembered going down the steps behind the wall as a child. He remembered the darkness at the bottom.

Sephiroth quickly found the switch and headed to the dark corridor below. The place smelled musty, and the familiar smell brought back memories. But rather that moving on timidly as he would have when he was a child, he charged right in. The path didn't seem to long now. He found the metal door quickly, and much to his surprise, the combination was the same as it was when he was a child. The young general burst through the door as though he expected to see Hojo standing behind it. But no one was there. He was alone.

He sighed and turned on some suitable lights. When he looked up, he saw the large library of books against the walls in a small hallway that connected one room in the lab to another. There were also some sound recordings and video recordings. Hojo's notes were everywhere. Sephiroth blinked, and realized just what he had stumbled on to. No one could stop him from finding out everything he could. And so... he started reading.

**********

He rubbed his temples after hours of reading. He sat at the dirty old desk in the tiny room down the hall from the lab. He wasn't getting anywhere fast just yet. He was only confirming what he had already figured out on his own. The entire SOLDIER division was backed by the desire to create the ultimate soldiers that would pave the way for ShinRa to rule the world. It was interesting, but at the same time, it didn't define enough about his own existence.

He went upstairs for a while and got something to eat. But he eagerly returned to his studies. He didn't know where to start up once he returned to the lab. He sighed in frustration and knocked a stack of books off of one of the lab tables. Immediately he regretted it, not being one to let his emotions get the best of him. He slowly bent over to pick up the books when his sparkling green eyes caught a stack of shiny silver disks. They had fallen out of one of the books, which were really cleverly disguised boxes for the information-filled disks. Inside of the boxes there were notes detailing what was on each disk... except for one particular black box. Of course, this was the first box that Sephiroth took interest in. He careful slid the disks out of their paper holders and inserted the first one into the video player. The equipment was a bit outdated, but it did its job.

Sephiroth frowned when he saw Hojo appear on the screen. But according to the date, Sephiroth hadn't even been born yet. The young general thought about turning the disk off and moving on to another one, but then, Hojo got a little more interesting.

"The subject is in his late twenties, in good health with no previous medical problems. He is hereby known as project 'Chaos.'"

Sephiroth lowered his hand from the button panel and continued to watch as Hojo spoke about this project of his. He thought it might have something to do with the SOLDIER program.

"The subject will undergo genetic manipulation of the sort used in Wutai. If we can control him, he'll be a more than perfect addition to the military."

Sephiroth blinked at the mention of genetic manipulation. He also had to wonder why Wutai was mentioned. He couldn't think of anything in the SOLDIER project being related to Wutai. Hojo was being more than careless leaving this information around. It's true that no one else had been able to find this lab, but Sephiroth didn't have any trouble whatsoever getting in. Hojo was probably getting sloppy in his arrogance and madness.

Hojo continued to give more stats about the subjects health. But Sephiroth's keen ability to read people gave him the advantage of noticing something about Hojo's behavior. Hojo hated this test subject. It was more than simple dislike. Sephiroth studied the video further. Behind Hojo there was someone on a lab table. The person was obviously struggling to get away which made the young general fear for him. But Sephiroth could only see a dark silhouette. Not that it would help him to know who the person was.

There was also a camera in the background that appeared to use outdated digital cassettes. Sephiroth glanced towards the shelves that held the cassettes. Most of them were well marked except for a select few that appeared to have been watched recently. They weren’t pushed all the way in on the shelf as if Hojo preferred to have easy access to them. Sephiroth waited for the first disk to finish before standing to pull out the first cassette. He popped it into the monitor and waited for the video to begin.

And even with all he knew about Hojo, he did not expect what was coming....

When the video came on, a young man was shown in perfect focus. His cold stare was enough to rival Sephiroth's on a bad day. He had dark, raven black hair... and piercing red eyes. His clothes were torn to shreds, as if they had been cut away with a knife.

"They'll be looking for me," the young man said. "You should know that if I don't report back every so often they--"

"They'll do nothing," Hojo's voice boomed from somewhere off camera. "I've already taken care of it."

"Where is she?!" the young man growled. "What have you done with her?!"

"She is no longer your concern, Vincent. You'll never see her again. No one will."

VINCENT?! Sephiroth rewound the cassette and watched the recording from the beginning. There were many men named Vincent in the world, but this was too much of a coincidence. It all started to come back to him. That deep voice, those sad, cold red eyes.... This was the man Sephiroth met when he was a child!

Sephiroth walked to the shelves once more and examined the stacks of tapes in the cabinet. There were unmarked tapes scattered throughout the shelves. There was enough recording information here for years... and this wasn't including the disks, which could hold much more data.

Sephiroth randomly selected a cassette from what he guessed would be a much later date. He popped it into the monitor and watched. In this recording, Vincent was covered with his own vomit, and his hair was falling out all over the lab table. The young general knew the symptoms of mako radiation when he saw them. Vincent was out cold, which was probably for the best.

Sephiroth realized he didn't have time to watch too much. There were too many recordings about Vincent. He stopped the current recording and tried to find something near the end of the experiment. He wanted to know what happened to Vincent. His gloved hand swiftly grabbed a disk further back on the shelf. He quickly turned it on.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Vincent's scream broke the silence of the lab room.

"Aren't you Turks supposed to learn to suppress your pain a little better than that, Vincent?" Hojo laughed. "Although, I suppose the medication isn't helping...."

Sephiroth averted his eyes from the monitor. Vincent was on the lab table again. But this time, he was on his knees, his wrists secured and chained above his head. The young general glanced towards the ceiling to see that the chains still remained, but for now they were wound up against the ceiling. Sephiroth felt something in the pit of his stomach when Vincent screamed again. And then his screams were muffled by Hojo's hand. Sephiroth reached for another cassette, not wanting to watch the gruesome scene of Vincent being raped and tortured by Hojo.

"It feels good to fuck the unwilling. It feels good to take control. Isn't that what you wanted as a member of the Turks? Control? You thought it was alright to pick and choose who would die and who would suffer at that person’s loss. So tell me, why is it so wrong for me to make YOU bleed."

Sephiroth froze, finally registering what he was hearing. Vincent... a member of the Turks. They said that earlier, but he was more interested in what he was seeing than what he was hearing. It might be easier for Sephiroth to track Vincent than he previously thought. The ShinRa couldn't hide information from the young general. He could crack any system they could come up with.

"You know you are never to come here!!" he heard Hojo yell in the recording. "Children as stupid as you will suffer their whole lives!"

Sephiroth quickly looked up at the recording, and his glowing green eyes grew wide at what he saw.

"If you say anything about what you see in here," Hojo said, "I'll have you beaten to death in the street!!"

The young general rewound the recording just to confirm what he saw. And it was true. It was him. He was the child Hojo was yelling at. He watched as his younger self tumbled into the lab, causing Hojo to briefly pause Vincent's violation. But it wasn't long before little Sephiroth was shut out of the lab, and Vincent's torture began again.

"That was him... wasn't it?!" Vincent yelled after the door was shut.

"Yes," Hojo smirked. "The little failure looks just like his mother, doesn’t he? Perhaps I should set up the cameras so you can watch him around the mansion from here? I'm sure you'd be happy to see his progress as my test subject. His mother would have been so proud."

"How could you do this to--"

"Don't act like you care about him. I saw the look in your eyes when he came here. You want him dead don't you? Tell me why. Is it envy?"

Hojo laughed as he climbed onto the table again.

"No," Vincent groaned, gritting his teach. And then the recording was over.

Sephiroth's hands clenched in anger. He felt a pang of guilt for not telling anyone. He felt guilt for not doing anything. He knew that there would have been little he could do. He might have died. But Vincent would have had a chance.

Sephiroth decided to look at a disk next, since the cassettes seemed to be more about Vincent's torture than anything else. He choose the last disk in the stack and watched.

"I have been ordered to dispose of project 'Chaos' due to the fact that he is no longer needed. The SOLDIER project is going better than expected. However, the data gathered from the experiment is not a loss. We will apply it in the future to healthier test subjects if needed."

Hojo turned the camera off, but the recording soon resumed in another room. Vincent was lying in a coffin, and Sephiroth looked with disbelieving eyes at his pale, malnourished, tortured figure. But to his surprise, Vincent's eyes opened. His pain-filled red eyes slowly shifted to Hojo.

"You're too valuable to me to just kill, Vincent," Hojo smirked. "But you seem to agree with this. I am curious as to why, however."

Vincent just shook his head and turned his gaze away from Hojo.

"I suppose it doesn't matter," Hojo grinned. "I had fun all these years, Vincent. Perhaps I'll resurrect you if I feel the need to torture you every so often. Now, sleep and dream of hell. Oh, and one more thing."

Vincent seemed not to care as he lay there in the coffin, but Hojo spoke anyway.

"I'm not exactly sure whose son he is, you know," Hojo laughed cruelly.

Sephiroth watched as a bit of life seemed to return to Vincent. But only enough life sparked in him for him to take some interest in what Hojo was saying.

"You see," Hojo continued, "I knew you were fucking her. And you know I raped her. Now, who do you suppose got there first?"

Vincent looked at Hojo, disbelief growing on his face.

"Well," Hojo shrugged mockingly. "I guess we'll never know, now will we?"

He quickly shut the coffin before Vincent could speak. But Sephiroth could tell he wanted to say something. Did Vincent have a son? The young general pondered it for a while.

Don't you remember? the demonic woman whispered in the back of his mind. Do you remember what Vincent called you when you begged him to take your life?

Sephiroth held his head as the pain tore through him. Vincent's words echoed in his mind... rushing to him from his buried memories of the past.... "I have been watching you... son of Hojo..." Vincent said, reaching through the bars of his cage. "Through those cameras, I have seen you... through those speakers, I have heard you... and through my dreams, I have felt my hands take your life...."

"No..." Sephiroth said. He backed away from the disks as the cassettes. "No...."

Son of Hojo....

"It can't be!" Sephiroth said, his gloved hands digging into his silver hair. He ran to one of the shelves in the small room down the hall from the lab and started tearing through them. Papers flew through the air as he tossed the files around. He found files of many early members of the SOLDIER branch, and he reached further and further back through the drawers and the shelves.

"It can't be," he growled, his green eyes glowing fiercely. "It's not true. He said so many things.... He said my father left. He said he died. He said my father hated me. And all of that is more bearable than--"

The silver file rested in his hand, and his name was on the tab. Sephiroth felt his rage building as he opened his own file. His eyes quickly read through the earliest notes, and then, he saw it....

Sephiroth lifted Hojo's picture out of his file, and soon it caught fire. Sephiroth's anger was at full force now. The image burned up in his hand until it was no more. Hojo, the man who had tortured him, lied to him, hated him, and cursed him was... his father.

Now do you see why you had no choice, the demonic woman laughed. You had no chance in life because this is all you were created for. You were created to be a monster. Hojo fathered you only so you could be a puppet.

Sephiroth needed to get his anger out. He needed to do something. He headed for the exit to the lab, and rushed through the cave and up the winding stairs. He burst through the door at the top and rushed through the mansion, wanting to escape it for a while. But then he stopped before opening the door. He remembered what it meant to leave. He would have to face Zack and Cloud. He couldn't do that now. He was too angry and hurt. He didn't want their comfort now. He wanted his emotions, his pain. They were driving him to continue his search for knowledge.

**********

Sephiroth woke up the next morning with a headache… again. Ever since his childhood, he swore he'd never study so much again. He rolled out of the bed, which was far to small for him, but it served it's purpose. It was the same bed he used as a child. He had hoped sleeping in this room would stir up memories somehow.

The young general ate a large breakfast and then set out to fill his head with more knowledge. On his way to the lab, he passed a door in the cave just before the metal lab entrance. He blinked, realizing that he never bothered to find out what was on the other side. It might have been more files. He grew curious and approached, only to find that he needed a key. Fortunately, he had gathered most of the keys from the lab, many of which were hidden in books. Vincent's Chaos project files contained one key, which was probably one of many copies.

Sephiroth had nothing to fear. He put the key in the door and opened it. But instead of finding a closet, as he had expected, he found a rather large room. Inside was a coffin. Sephiroth blinked and walked over to it. It had many buttons, a few screens, and... human vital stats. It wasn't a coffin at all. Sephiroth had stumbled onto one of Hojo's human preservation capsules. Sometimes it froze the subjects, and sometimes it just sent them into a hibernation while still filtering nutrients into their bodies and ridding them of waste.

The young general dreaded what might be inside. The monitors were broken, so he'd have to open it if he really wanted to know. And he did....

He sighed and used all of his computer knowledge and findings from the lab or unlock the coffin. Taking a deep breath, he slowly opened it, bracing for the smell of death and rotten flesh.

He nearly fell backwards when he saw what was inside. A frail, thin, malnourished man lie there. His skin was almost bluish, and his lips were taking on a deep blue color. He had dark circles forming around his eyes, and his ribs and hip bones were far too visible. The coffin had thankfully been maintained, and the man's waste was properly being filtered out, probably so Hojo didn't have to put up with the smell. Sephiroth shook his head and let his eyes fall on the man's face once more. It took him a moment before he registered the long, dark hair. Finally, he remembered where he got the key to the door.

"Vincent..." Sephiroth whispered.

He gently opened the man's eyelids and barely caught a glimpse of red before letting them close again.

"Vincent, I'm so sorry," Sephiroth murmured.

He quickly moved to the panels to see the current readings. He wanted to know when Vincent had died.

"No," he almost gasped, his emerald eyes widening. "Vincent, you're still alive...?" he blinked, looking at the dates on the panel screen.

He looked down at the still figure once more.

"You may hate me for it," Sephiroth said softly, "But it's time to wake up."

The coffin, or rather, the preservation device, was in desperate need of repairs and adjustments. Sephiroth couldn't simply unhook Vincent, because it would almost surely kill him. Instead, the young general went to work, adjusting the nutritional supplements entering Vincent's blood so that the man's body would show some improvement. He also adjusted the temperature. There was no need for Vincent to be so cold, even if he couldn't feel it. He made sure the water was clean and that all of the machines would be maintained well.

Upon further examination, Sephiroth could tell that Vincent would have died long ago if it weren't for an unusual healing ability that he had. It was much like the healing ability Sephiroth possessed. Sadly, this ability was only serving to keep Vincent alive and suffering at the moment. Sephiroth slid the glove off of his hand and took Vincent's hand in his. He gently let his healing power flow through him. He was sure to use materia rather than his own power, simply because he wanted to be sure that the healing energy was focused , and his own power might be affected by his shaky emotions. The most Sephiroth could do was heal internal bleeding and ruptures and focus energy to get fluids flowing smoothly. He couldn't undo damage that had been done long ago.

And the most damage seemed to have been done to one of Vincent's arms. It was gone. In it's place was a golden metal arm that went from shoulder to fingertip. Fortunately, it was in good condition and wouldn't damage the skin that connected to it.

When Sephiroth looked at Vincent's face again, he was shocked to find that Vincent's troubled expression had changed. Instead of pain, he seemed to be in a more relaxed sleep for the time being. Sephiroth allowed himself a small smile, and continued sending his energy to the fragile man.

**********

Days passed like nothing to the silver-haired young man. He forgot what day it was, what time it was, or what he should be doing. The thought passed that the ShinRa would want him back, but he didn't care. He often sat reading next to Vincent's coffin, doing whatever he could to improve the man's condition. One day Vincent's eyes fluttered, as though he might wake up. Or maybe he was finally having a pleasant dream. Sephiroth was amazed at how strong Vincent was. His will was helping to keep him alive somehow. Even with all of his pain, Vincent wanted to live deep down. Although it pleased him, Sephiroth had to wonder why.

Sephiroth finished up his book and went back into the lab. He walked down the narrow hallway and picked up the next book. It was about the very beginning of the Jenova project. It took him for ever to find it. He started to read it right there, wanting to know that it wasn't just meaningless statistics about the project. But to his surprise, this book wasn't typed by Hojo and the notes weren't in his handwriting. Instead, it was signed by...

"...Professor Gast..." Sephiroth said softly, saying the name that was buried in his mind. The young general sighed softly. "Things would have been different if you had been around. Hojo told me you died years ago, but that you were alive long enough to forget I existed. But... do I believe him?" Sephiroth rested his head against the wall of books, his thoughts swirling in his head. "Why did you have to die...?"

Sephiroth stood there a long time, his eyes closed. His sensitive hearing picked up footsteps. His body felt the pressure change in the narrow hall between the study room and the lab as the metal door to the lab was opened (he had left it unlocked and open just a bit.) His sensitive nose even picked up a familiar cologne, like the scent of an evergreen pine. But although his senses picked up all of these things, his mind didn't register them. His eyes snapped open in surprise when a hand gripped his shoulder.

"Hey..." Zack said softly.

Sephiroth turned his head just enough to see Zack's worried face. Zack's presence brought a certain warmth into the room. His pure nature wasn't suited for this place of corruption.

"Seph, we've been looking for you. We were assigned to more missions, but the squads that went ahead finished them in record time. So... you don't have to rush with whatever you're doing."

The young general was surprised. Zack didn't come here to convince him to stop. Zack trusted his judgement.

"So... whatcha reading?" Zack asked softly.

Sephiroth gently placed his book back on the shelf and faced his friend. "I... I'm glad to..."

"I missed you," Zack said with a smile, not forcing Sephiroth to say it. "And Cloud is sexually frustrated. But I found you first, so he's out of luck."

Sephiroth allowed himself a small smile. "How did you find me?"

"I used my super tracking skills," Zack grinned.

“No, really… how?”

"Hey! I said I used my super tracking skills! ...And you left the door upstairs open...."

"I see," Sephiroth smiled.

"You look more pale than usual," Zack said, placing a hand on his friend's forehead. "Good thing I brought you some food."

"I'm sorry for not telling you where I was."

"I trust you," Zack smiled. "And I'm going to leave you alone now, because Cloud is upstairs, and he'll probably want to talk to you alone."

"Zack..." Sephiroth began, wanting to say more to thank his friend for being there.

"Your brother is watching out for you," Zack smiled, and then he left.

Sephiroth stood there, almost frozen. Zack brought a certain light wherever he went. Or maybe this is what everyone felt when they had someone who cared about them. It wasn't long before another source of light entered the room... in some form or another.

"You scared the shit out of me!" Cloud yelled. "We didn't know what happened to you. It's not like you to take off like that!"

Sephiroth walked over to Cloud as the young blonde entered the lab. "Cloud..."

"I looked all over for you," Cloud said softly. "I never thought you'd be so close."

"Forgive me."

"I thought something bad happened to you.... I didn't know what happened in that reactor."

"I know, I should have told you, but you would have worried more."

Cloud walked around him to see the piles of books everywhere. He walked into the hallway that had the books along each wall. "Sephiroth..." he began, turning to look at the silver-haired young man, only to find that he appeared in front of him almost instantly and without a sound. Sephiroth backed Cloud against the wall of books and placed his hands on either side of his head.

"I need to keep searching for something down here, Cloud. I need to find out some things about myself. And when I'm done, I might know too much. I wouldn't be surprised if I died for it. I would have to leave for a very long time to avoid death, but eventually, they would find me."

Cloud shook his head. "No.... Zack and I... we'll find a way to hide you. Zack already thought of a way a long time ago. We didn't want you to be with the military forever."

"If I find a way to leave," he whispered in Cloud's ear, "There is something I want from you."

"Anything."

"Good," Sephiroth said, bringing his head down to gently bite Cloud on the neck. "Because it will take a lot of patience on your part... helping me to feel."

~~~~~~~~~~

There was a knock at the young woman's door. She blinked, not knowing who would want to visit her at this time of night. But she was bored in this mansion, so she gladly opened the door.

"Vincent?!" she exclaimed. Of all the people here, he was the one she wanted to see the most. But she never expected to see him. The man was a like a shadow, hardly seen when he wasn't on duty.

"Am I bothering you?" he asked, standing tall with his cold expression.

"No, of course not!" she smiled. "I'm actually very glad to see you. I haven't been able to talk to you for a while. I was afraid that you were annoyed with me for talking to you while you were on duty."

"In all the time I have been watching over you, never once have you annoyed me," he said, stepping inside and closing the door behind him. "I needed to see you."

"Oh? Why is that?"

He walked over and put his hands on her shoulders. "I think I need to be reassigned."

"But... why? You're doing a great job! You've fixed everything, no one has bothered us all this time!"

"It is because of you."

"Me?! What did I do?"

He gazed down into her eyes. "You are a bit of a distraction," he said.

"I don't mean to be!" she said, clutching his jacket.

"You misunderstand," he said softly. He slowly let his fingertips brush against the sides of her neck. "I do not want to leave you. And that is the problem. I keep getting too close."

"Vincent... I want you close," she said, throwing her arms around him.

"Trust me when I say that I am bad for you. I cannot be around anyone for long for fear that something will happen to them."

Lucrecia searched for a reason, any reason to keep him there. But because no words would come, she suddenly kissed him. Vincent red eyes closed for a moment before he gently pushed her away.

"I am not to get involved with my clients," he said firmly.

"Then fine!" she said. "Then you're fired! Just don't push me away and try to forget me!"

He stepped closer to her, his red eyes cold enough to freeze the sun. "We are friends, nothing more. It is enough that I even invite friends into my life! I will not have you interfering with my job."

"Bullshit! That's a lie Vincent! You just don't want to get close to anyone! You're just afraid and you don't want to admit it!"

"You think I have something to fear from you?"

"You're afraid of getting hurt, but I'm not."

"And what makes you think I feel anything more than lust for you?"

Lucrecia's eyes held more pain that she could express. "Act on it then," she said softly.

"Never."

"Why not? You don't care, right? And it isn't as though I'll tell anyone. It isn't your reputation you're worried about, is it?"

Vincent suddenly grabbed her and pushed her on the bed. "Is that what you want?" he said, frustration in his voice. "To be treated as an object? Lucrecia, I am possibly the most dangerous person you know."

"Then put me in danger. Hurt me. Do whatever you please. Just don't go away."

Vincent closed his eyes and put his hand over his face. "You stubborn woman...."

Lucrecia sat up on the bed and took Vincent's hand in hers as he stood there in frustration. To her surprise, he didn't draw his hand away. She stood slowly and let go of his hand. After a few moments of silence, she slid the straps of her gown away from her shoulders. When Vincent brought his hand down from his face he saw her standing there, clad only in her white underwear. Her soft curves were perfect, and her long brown hair fell around her body and over her ample breasts.

Part of Vincent told him to walk away. But when her image hit his eyes, with her fragile form standing in the cold room, he lost himself. He pulled her against his body with his strong arms and kissed her deeply. There was a fire in his kiss that she hadn't expected, but she didn't protest as his tongue entered her mouth. She reached up and slowly undid the buttons to his blue jacket. As soon as she was done he took it off, throwing it to the floor without breaking the kiss. Next came his shirt. To Lucrecia's surprise, he wasn't armed at all. She didn't feel the slightest chill of metal as she helped him take his remaining clothes off.

Vincent's perfectly muscled body pressed against her, only her thin underwear keeping part of him away. Lucrecia kissed him just as deeply as he kissed her, her fingertips running through his dark hair. He backed her against the bed and had her lie down. He lowered himself with her, and rested his weight on her body. He only stopped kissing her to slowly pull her underwear down her smooth legs before dropping it to the floor. When he rested his weight on her again, he gently bit her ear, then her neck, all the way down to her collarbone. Lucrecia gasped as he fondled her gently and sucked one of her nipples into her mouth. As he kissed her breasts, his hands continued down her body.

"Vincent," she gasped, "Please...."

Vincent moved a hand between her legs slowly, causing her to squirm underneath him. Finding her ready, he slowly slid his member against her clit without entering her.

"Is this what you really want?" he said softly, his red eyes focused on her jade orbs.

"Yes," she murmured. "Do as you please to me."

Vincent kept his eyes on hers as he positioned himself there between her soft thighs. She gasped as he parted her and slid deep inside. Her hands grasped his back as she let out a small moan. She never imagined he would feel this good.

She thought that any moment he would use her roughly, but instead his strokes were deep and slow. He lowered his head and kissed her forehead, then her cheek, and then her soft lips. His hands caressed her gently, as one would touch something precious.

Vincent groaned softly, his deep voice echoing in his throat. His hands settled on her soft breasts as he started to thrust deeper and deeper. Lucrecia's back arched off of the bed as he made love to her passionately. He positioned himself carefully, making sure that her clit was being massaged properly by his body as he trust into her.

His stamina worked to his advantage, or perhaps it was Lucrecia's excitement. But soon she was moaning loudly and bucking beneath him. She tried to meet his every stroke but found that she could no longer contain herself. Making love to Vincent Valentine wasn't something to take lightly. And when he came, he tilted his head back and enjoyed every second of what he was feeling before bringing his lips down her hers.

"Stay inside me," she whispered.

He obeyed, but didn't respond. He kissed her forehead once more, then her eyelids.

"All of that passion was hidden inside of you," she said softly. "You hide it so well."

"It was not lust that did that. That passion was from my heart."

"But... I thought..."

"I lied," he said. "You were correct. I was afraid."

"...Vincent?"

"Yes?"

"Smile for me."

Vincent tilted his head and studied her with his blood red eyes.

"Smile and I'll let you do this again."

"Bribery?" Vincent asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Did it work?"

Vincent lowered his eyes. When he looked back up at her, there was a smile on his face that melted through the cold. "It did."

It did....
Lucrecia....
I will only smile this way for you....
But where are you now?
No... no... this is a dream.
You... you are really... really...
No! NO!

"LUCRECIA NOOOO!!!!!!!"

His vision was blurred, and his eyes shot open. His wonderful dream of Lucrecia made it so much harder to be awake right now. He couldn't tell if his final scream of realization was real or not. He was so groggy and weak, but he couldn't close his eyes again. He wondered how long he had been asleep.

It took him a moment to realize that his "coffin" had been opened. He realized that Hojo was probably around. The lights were also on. He tried to clear his vision, but there was nothing he could do. He shifted, realizing that he wasn't as cold as he was when he first rested in the coffin. In fact, someone had clothed him in a warm, black outfit. He was also resting on a red cape, which was also draped over him.

Soon someone hovered over him.

"...cent?" a deep voice asked, as the person waved a hand in front of Vincent's tired red eyes. "...stand....me? Aw...ke?"

The ex-Turk couldn't understand, so he simply shook his head just slightly.

"..rry I... wake... up. Try... upset...me," the person continued as he sat down and placed a hand on Vincent's.

The person was too tall and upright to be Hojo. And there was an odd halo of silver surrounding the man. It followed his every movement, and finally Vincent realized it was the man's hair. And one eerie thing that actually came into focus was the man's brilliant green eyes.

"You heal quickly," the man said.

Vincent turned his head to the man slightly, his hearing returning to a somewhat normal state. The ex-Turk had no idea what Hojo was planning with him now. He wondered if Hojo would be along any minute to humiliate him even more than he already had. After that dream with Lucrecia, he certainly couldn't let Hojo touch him. He wanted the lingering feeling of her touch that the dream left.

Making up his mind, Vincent's golden claw grabbed the edge of the coffin, and he made a feeble attempt to sit up. Hojo would have to fight for his body today. But much to his surprise, the man sitting next to the coffin helped him until Vincent was sitting up, fully supported by the man's arm.

"Slowly, Vincent," the man said softly.

Vincent turned to the man and tired to focus on his face again. Finally the man understood.

"Hojo isn't here. I'm trying to heal you so you can leave this place."

Vincent, in no place to argue, nodded to show he understood.

"Good. With the progress your body made with the artificial sunlight, added warmth, and nutritional supplements, you've made amazing progress."

Vincent nodded again.

"I had to use what I could find around here to clothe you. Are you uncomfortable?"

Vincent shook his head. This person was too good to be true. But his instincts told him not to let his guard down. He was very aware of the man's movements as he felt himself being examined gently.

"I can't believe it. In only a few weeks you've managed to heal this much. Now most of the damage is because of years of malnutrition and lack of rest and exercise. With that being said, I'm going to get you some soup. Alright?"

Vincent nodded, and expected the person to leave. But instead, the man walked over to the table and emptied a thermos into a bowl. After helping Vincent to sit upright on his own, supported by a large pillow, the man started to feed him.

"My friend made it. He surprised me with how good it is," the man commented as he slowly rose a spoon to the ex-Turk's lips.

Vincent didn't like being treated as though he was helpless. But after so much humiliation over the years, he stopped caring.

"Your body might reject this, so we'll go slow," the man said.

But Vincent's body didn't reject it. In fact, the ex-Turk felt strength returning. What had this man done to him to heal him this much in so short a time?

After the food was done, Vincent reached up and tapped the man's military dog tag, much to the man's surprise.

"My name?" the man asked.

Vincent nodded.

"Sephiroth. I don't expect you to remember me, but we met when I was--"

Vincent suddenly turned to him with wide red eyes. His mouth repeated the name, though no sound came out. He slowly reached up and fingered the long silver hair and looked into the green eyes.

"You do remember me?" Sephiroth asked. "But you are confused, aren't you? Vincent... You've been asleep for over two decades now."

Vincent shook his head, though he clearly believed him. A pain seemed to grip him as he held Sephiroth's dog tag in his hand once more.

Sephiroth tilted his head curiously and put a hand on Vincent's shoulder. "I'll take care of you. I'll save you as you once saved me."

Vincent blinked at Sephiroth and placed his hand on the top of the young general‘s head. The little boy, little Sephy, was no more. Now there was a man, and the only surviving part of Lucrecia.

"You..." Vincent said, very softly. "You have... her... eyes."

Sephiroth opened his mouth to speak, but soon sleep claimed Vincent once more.


~*~*~*To Be Continued*~*~*~

(Once again, I’m sorry this took so long. ^_^ I’m also preparing to start another story. Thank you for all of your comments! My email has been out of control for months, so if I haven‘t responded to you, I probably accidentally deleted it. There is just so much spam in there that it’s hard to keep track! =( )