Three things were wrong. It was too damn dark for starters. Second, he didn’t know where Vincent was; his arms were empty now and he had no idea how they got that way. Third, wherever he was, it creeped the fuck out of him.
"It wasn’t me…" That was Vincent’s voice.
Cid looked around, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from.
"It wasn’t me doing those things. I thought I was going insane."
"Where are you?" Cid yelled.
"I thought I was going insane. I wasn’t…"
"That’s great! Where the hell are ya?" Cid began walking, trying to follow Vincent’s voice.
"I’m already insane…"
"Vince? Hey, what the hell?" Cid couldn’t move his feet any farther. Up ahead a shape was coming into focus. It was about ten yards away. "Vincent? Is that you?"
As the shape came into focus, Cid realized it was three people—not just one—standing in an odd embrace. What worried him, was that he recognized all three.
Vincent stood in the middle, not moving. His wrists were held by Lucrecia, her arm wrapping around Vincent, seeking out the person behind him—Hojo. He and Lucrecia were leaning over Vincent’s shoulder to kiss each other.
"Hey! Get off him!" Cid yelled.
They broke the kiss, but they didn’t seem to notice Cid yet. Lucrecia giggled and dropped Vincent’s arms, which fell in front of him, bound at the wrists with a strip of cloth. She backed away a few steps, giving Cid a better view of Vincent.
He was dressed the same way as he always had, back during their quest. His headband wrapped around his forehead and went lower, covering his eyes. Hojo stayed behind him, pressing against him, his head nuzzling Vincent’s hair and his lips touching the edge of Vincent’s ear. Hojo had his arms around Vincent, his hands playing on the two belts and his thumbs sneaking down Vincent’s pants.
Lucrecia giggled again and Hojo chuckled to himself.
Vincent didn’t move. There was no expression on his face, as if he were still in a coma.
"What the fuck is going on here?" Cid demanded.
"Why, Mr. Highwind," Hojo said softly, seemingly more smug than ever. His lips parted slightly around Vincent’s ear as he smiled.
"We are the puppet masters," Lucrecia said. She gestured with her finger to Vincent, as if calling him to her.
Vincent turned his face to her, despite the fact that he couldn’t see her.
Lucrecia smiled and turned to Cid. "He’s ours."
"There’s no room in his mind for you," Hojo said.
"You can’t take him from us."
"You can’t get any closer to him."
Lucrecia turned back to Vincent. "I used to admire him for how carefree he always was."
Cid looked up as an image appeared in the blackness behind them.
Vincent, over thirty years ago, was sitting in a bar enjoying the beer in his head and the woman next to him. More images interposed over that one. Vincent, smiling and chatting up different people, leaning over and kissing them. More images mixed in, and all the people blurred together. Vincent deepened the kiss, the many kisses, with the strangers, the bar faded away, the beer was gone from his hand. There were bedsheets crumpling under him and the nameless, faceless person—people—he was with. Men, women, on bottom, on top, just people to enjoy for one night and to enjoy him; he’d be lucky to hear their goodbyes in the morning.
What pained Cid at watching all this were the memories of Vincent saying he could never do such things with him. The part of him that sought those things out was gone.
Vincent was aging slightly as the people blurred past; he had spent years finding people to share pure careless fun with. Cid felt a pain in his chest as he realized he had spent years trying to get Vincent to understand that it was meant to be careless fun, nothing else.
The image faded away and Hojo put a finger under Vincent’s chin, turning him back to face Cid but never see him. "And then you had to go and do something stupid," he whispered, his lips again just barely on Vincent’s ear.
"You had to fall in love…with me," Lucrecia said, leaning forward and getting her lips just as close as Hojo’s.
"Such a stupid, stupid thing to do, Vincent," Hojo said, putting his hand back on Vincent’s belts and his thumb back under the pants.
Another image appeared. It was again of over thirty years ago; Vincent stood at the shooting gallery, surrounded by co-workers. Vincent was paying much more attention to the beer he was drinking than the target he was shooting at, despite the fact that he never missed a shot, his aim didn’t even waver. Everyone stood around, either surprised, amazed, or mad as they counted some money.
Vincent stopped shooting, twirled his gun, and put it back in his holster as he finished his beer.
"I’d hate to face you sober," they all heard Hojo’s voice say.
Everyone spun around and saw Hojo standing a few feet away; most of them gave him a formal greeting, some even gave him a handshake.
Hojo smiled.
Vincent looked slightly annoyed.
"I just came to inform the Turks there will be a slight addition to their assignment. Lucrecia and I have scheduled a wedding for a month from now and I see no reason matrimony should require throwing safety to the wind. I trust you’ll all be there."
Vincent blinked. The other’s hooting a cheering almost drowned out his beer bottle slipping out of his hands and smashing on the floor.
Lucrecia giggled again as the image faded. "He never showed up at the wedding."
"He nearly lost his job," Hojo said.
"He followed me around and watched me like a puppy." She giggled again.
"Like a sick, sad, little puppy."
"He was so silly."
"And then he got annoying." Hojo’s voice was suddenly harsh and Cid didn’t like the idea of him being pissed while Vincent was in his arms, not fighting back.
"He put his nose where it didn’t belong." Lucrecia had changed from soft to annoyed as well.
"He kept PESTERING us," Hojo spat.
"He couldn’t take a stupid hint," Lucrecia said angrily.
"We didn’t care," they both said together.
"Eventually, he gave up trying to tell us what to do," Lucrecia said, her voice soft again.
"For a while."
"He shut up when he noticed I really was pregnant."
"He wanted to protect the baby." Hojo laughed.
Vincent did nothing.
"There was a bond between us I’d never notice," Lucrecia said, leaning forward. Her hands played with the cloth around Vincent’s wrists, untying them. Hojo leaned towards her and they kissed. Vincent never reacted. He never noticed.
"That bond was unbreakable," Hojo said, going back to his place with his lips on Vincent’s ear.
"Even in death." Lucrecia reached in her pocket and pulled something out. She placed it in Vincent’s mechanical hand.
"He wanted to be with her even then."
Another image appeared. Cid had heard about the incident so many times it almost felt familiar watching it.
Vincent burst through the laboratory door, screaming and almost crying.
Hojo looked up from what he was doing, a very angry look on his face.
Vincent didn’t stop screaming. He wasn’t about to attack Hojo, and he wasn’t expecting the other way around.
Cid winced at the sound of the gun going off.
A large, red stain bloomed on Vincent’s chest around the bullet wound. Vincent was cut off in mid sentence.
Vincent’s eyes rolled upwards. He wobbled on his feet. His lips turned upwards slightly as blood trickled from between them. He was smiling.
Then he hit the floor and the image was gone immediately.
"He was so happy to die," Hojo said, taking his gun out from his pocket. He handed it to Vincent.
It was a revolver. Cid suddenly thought he was going to be ill.
Vincent opened the chamber. He opened his hand, showing a single bullet Lucrecia had given him. He placed the bullet in the chamber, closed it, and gave it a twirl.
"But he didn’t."
"And then everything stopped making sense."
"Needles."
"Injections."
"IVs."
"Bandages."
"Tears."
"Broken limbs."
"Pain," they both said.
Vincent lifted the gun. There was still no expression on his face, but his blindfold was beginning to be wet under his eyes. He silently aimed the gun at his own head, not reacting when Cid screamed.
"I beat him until he did as he was told," Hojo said coldly.
"But that didn’t stop the pain," Lucrecia said into Vincent’s ear, just as coldly as Hojo.
It was a plain, lonely white room, connecting to a crude bathroom with no door. There was no furniture, save for the cabinets on one side of the room and they were all obviously locked. Vincent was curled up in another corner. He’d been crying for at least a few hours from the looks of him. It also looked like he hadn’t slept in days. His eyes were wide, watching the entire room for the slightest change.
One hand was in a brace and the other in a sling and splint.
There was another splint on his leg and his shirt was open, showing bandages.
He sniffled, hearing the door open, and tried to back away into the wall.
Vincent cocked the gun.
Hojo came into the room as casual as he would if he were just greeting a rack of test tubes.
"I wanna go home," Vincent said, slightly slurring—probably from drugs.
Hojo threw his head back and laughed. He kept laughing. He wouldn’t stop laughing.
Vincent curled up tighter and buried his head between his knees as Hojo grabbed his arm and jabbed a needle in, still laughing.
Vincent pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
"One…" Vincent said.
"But nothing made sense," Hojo said, removing a hand and tracing a finger over Vincent’s lower lip.
Vincent stood perfectly still, but still cried, and his mouth parted slightly at Hojo’s touched.
Vincent lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling. He could barely move. Beyond blinking and breathing, he was paralyzed.
The room had bloody streaks everywhere, and evidence of Vincent losing control of his bodily functions. He had blood smeared everywhere—on the room and on himself—the front of his pants had a large stain on them, there was vomit all over him and the floor.
One of the sleeves of his coat and shirt had been rolled up past his elbow and there was a thick bandage overflowing in blood.
He found his stomach wasn’t entirely paralyzed as he vomited all over himself, unable to turn his head enough to escape being covered in it.
He began to sob. He closed his eyes and cried, not noticing the door open.
Hands grabbed him under his arms and he tried to scream, only resulting in choking and some quiet exclamation. He started crying harder as Hojo propped him up against the wall.
Hojo dunked a rag in a bucket of water he had brought with him and touched the rag to Vincent’s face, who again gave a pathetic attempt at screaming and tried to jerk away.
He couldn’t though. He couldn’t move. All he could do was sob and vomit on himself once more as Hojo gently held his face and wiped the sweat and tears and vomit away, not saying anything when Vincent got himself dirty again.
Hojo never said much of anything. He changed the bandages once he had wiped most of the vomit off Vincent’s face, then returned to cleaning Vincent up more thoroughly.
He lightly brushed the hair from Vincent’s face and washed it without pulling.
"What happened?" Vincent sobbed.
Hojo said nothing and left the rag in the bucket and pulled a new one out of his pocket. He wiped the vomit off Vincent’s clothes as best he could and changed the bandages again.
The drug began wearing off and Vincent started to flinch and tried to draw away, but wasn’t quick enough.
"Shh," Hojo said, wiping under Vincent’s eyes with his finger.
Despite Hojo’s coaxing—the only time he ever talked to him that time—Vincent refused his attempts to help him blow his runny nose. Hojo calmly gave up and set some tissues by Vincent’s good hand. Hojo wasn’t angry with him. Still, Vincent shoved the tissues away and used his dirty sleeve.
Hojo cleaned the bile and bits of food from Vincent’s teeth and helped him wash his mouth out. Then he silently went to washing the blood and food and puke and filth off the floor.
Vincent just kept crying. He cried past running out of tears. He kept trying to cry when he got hiccups, inconveniencing Hojo as he changed the bandage yet again.
He kept crying until he passed out, watching Hojo scrub the floor of the huge mess he’d made.
Vincent cocked the gun. He pulled the trigger again.
Nothing.
"Two."
Hojo fastened the new bandage around Vincent’s limp arm.
Vincent watched, holding the arm as far as he could; he couldn’t move half of it. He was afraid of his own arm. He tried not to let Hojo know how much it hurt, and failed miserably.
"Hold still," Hojo said, softly. He stabbed a needle into Vincent’s arm, close to the wound and injected something.
He stood up and began to walk away, but stopped immediately when Vincent threw his good arm around Hojo’s leg.
"What do you want now? A bedtime story?" Hojo asked, bored but not angry.
"What happened?"
Hojo said nothing.
"What the hell happened?" Vincent screamed, about to cry. "I fell asleep in a corner and then… and then… I can’t move my arm. You—"
"It’s called a night terror," Hojo said softly, leaning down closer to Vincent. "There was no sleep paralysis that night. I came into the room to check on you and you had scratched the wall so much you left streaks of blood on it and your own arm was in your mouth. You were dribbling blood all over your face and I had to paralyze you before I even got it out of your mouth. You also got yourself quite dirty. Now let go, please."
Vincent let go and curled into the tightest ball he could with a half-useless arm as Hojo left.
"It was a dream," Lucrecia said.
"It was all a very, very painful dream," Hojo said, softly again, pulling Vincent’s shirt from his pants.
Vincent didn’t react.
"Hojo didn’t do it."
"He did it to himself."
"Hojo took the pain away."
"I tried to make it better," Hojo said, even softer. His lips brushed Vincent’s ear even more and Cid swore he saw Hojo’s tongue touch the ear for a split second.
"It wasn’t Hojo’s fault."
"It was all his." Hojo criss-crossed his arms around Vincent’s chest.
"Pain was his fault."
"It was his fault for yelling.
"His fault for not expecting the gun."
"He was so stupid to think he wouldn’t survive."
"All the pain was his fault."
"His fault," Hojo repeated.
"All pain is his fault."
"Everything is his fault."
Vincent lay in the floor, not caring what position he was in as long as he held the metal arm as far away from himself as he could and silently cried in the middle of the room. He didn’t move, he didn’t even blink as the door opened.
"Vincent…" Hojo whispered, bending down and propping Vincent up into a sitting position. "Vincent…" Hojo sat down behind Vincent and wrapped his hands around Vincent’s waist.
The tears stopped for a few seconds, he was so surprised. They began to flow again, but Vincent slowly reached his mechanical arm to Hojo’s. It shook violently as he placed it on Hojo’s hand.
"No," Vincent whispered. "No, please."
Hojo let go and stood up.
Vincent hugged himself with his metal arm.
Hojo carefully took off his labcoat and bent down, placing it on Vincent’s shoulders. He turned around and walked to the door, turning back to look at Vincent before he opened the door.
Vincent hugged the jacket closer, playing with the collar.
Hojo left.
"No more pain," Lucrecia said.
"No more monsters."
"No more," they both said. They leaned over Vincent and kissed again. "He wanted it all to stop, to go away."
"He wanted something nice," Lucrecia said.
"And that’s what I gave him." Hojo grabbed Vincent’s shoulders and spun him around, to face him. He kissed Vincent harshly and Vincent responded, mouthing him and oblivious to how hard the kiss was. Hojo slipped one hand up Vincent’s shirt and one down his pants.
Vincent lowered the gun.
Vincent had stopped crying and his confusion made him seem rather calm.
The door opened.
Vincent fidgeted with the coat, wanting to keep it, but wondering if he’d done something wrong with it at the same time.
Hojo knelt in front of him and Vincent just looked at him confused, silently pleading not to be hurt and to keep the coat a bit longer. Hojo touched his hand to Vincent’s face gently and ignored the coat. He wrapped his other arm around Vincent’s back.
Vincent tensed, his grip on the coat getting tighter.
Hojo brushed his thumb along Vincent’s cheek. He brushed away a stray piece of hair.
Vincent blinked, the hope that the soft touch would continue without pain evident in his glowing red eyes. He was asking to be touched again, more, to be reminded of what he’d forgotten.
Hojo leaned forward and tested Vincent’s reaction to a hot breath on his lips. Vincent’s lips parted slightly and Hojo pressed his lips against Vincent’s.
Vincent pressed his lips against Hojo’s, enjoying the kiss, willing to do anything to keep it real, to keep the pain away.
Hojo leaned back as the kiss deepened slightly. He pulled Vincent with him and their mouths separated. Vincent found Hojo’s ear and silently decided it was close enough.
Hojo’s hands were on the back of Vincent’s neck and he lead Vincent’s lips back to his. His hands left Vincent’s neck and started removing both of their shirts and Vincent’s coats. More and more skin was revealed, touched, pressed against the other’s.
"No…" Cid whispered. "No… please." He didn’t realize he just repeated Vincent in the flashback. He swallowed and it hurt. He always thought Vincent had blown everything out of proportion about doing it willingly. He thought maybe blackmail or a threat had been involved. He doubted the truth to Vincent telling him there was no force involved and it just happened. Vincent had told him the truth. The whole, brutal truth. He had just want something that wasn’t painful.
But it would be. Vincent would only realize how screwed—in more sense than one—he was later.
Cid wanted to look away, but somehow he couldn’t. He felt like he was betraying Vincent by trying to ignore it.
But it was painful. It was painful to watch Vincent being used. It was painful to watch Vincent, so hurt and neglected that he’d do anything to do this, to have it done to him. It was painful to watch because, as much as Vincent had been scared of almost everything afterwards, he was enjoying it now. He had enjoyed it then. Hojo, trick as it was, had made Vincent happy.
Vincent’s lips and tongue were on Hojo’s bare chest, who arched his back as much as he could manage. Vincent straddled his kneed as Hojo’s hands played over Vincent’s old pants, still dirty and now torn.
Cid felt like he was going to be sick.
Hojo’s hands left Vincent’s hips long enough to balance on one and used he other to pull his pants and briefs down for Vincent, whose mouth obligingly traveled lower.
Hojo’s hands returned to their post, going lower, speeding up, and pressing harder.
The two continued both in the image and in front of Cid.
Lucrecia seemed bored.
"Knock it off!" Cid yelled.
Lucrecia turned to him, shrugged, and went back to watching Vincent and Hojo.
Hojo gasped and fell on the floor, separating from Vincent.
Vincent spat to the side and then gasped himself, nearly losing his balance.
Vincent looked at Hojo, leading again, but this time something slightly different. He wanted it to be real. He wanted it not to be a joke. He just realized what he had done and was rightfully afraid.
Hojo smiled slightly, and reached up to Vincent. He curled his fingers over Vincent’s neck and pulled him down next to him on the floor.
Hojo kissed his forehead and stroked his tangled hair until Vincent passed out from exhaustion, which was quite soon.
Vincent cocked the gun and pulled the trigger again. Nothing.
"Three…"
Hojo stopped the kiss and took his hands away. He slapped Vincent as hard as he could, making Vincent take a few steps to regain his balance. Vincent stood upright and Hojo took his hand and drew him back to his original position. Vincent didn’t react as Hojo pulled him closer and put his hands on Vincent’s belts and thumbs down his pants again.
"How could you Vincent?" Lucrecia said, still bored.
"You loved her."
"Why were you with him?"
"So stupid," they both said.
"You paid for those mistakes of yours, didn’t you?" Hojo asked.
No reply.
Hojo and Lucrecia turned to Cid.
"What kind of gesture did you really think giving your body—taking his—could possibly mean?" Lucrecia asked.
"He told you; why were you so surprised when he screamed?"
This scene Cid remembered. He was there.
He heard the gun being cocked and swallowed in fear; it wouldn’t stop. None of this would stop.
He had asked Vincent to try an experiment: to take off his pants.
Cid had let Vincent keep his boxers on, but Vincent was still wary, in fact, more wary now that he was wearing less than he usually did to bed—even with Cid.
Cid was dressed in his briefs, partly because that was what he usually wore to bed, but mostly because he thought Vincent would be more comfortable with both of them in the same state of undress. He tentatively placed his bare hands on Vincent’s shoulders.
Vincent flinched at the touch on his left shoulder, but forced himself to stay put.
Cid’s fingers went down Vincent’s back, avoiding the brace, gently rubbing everywhere. Cid closed his eyes and concentrated. He listened and felt as he kept massaging Vincent’s back.
After a few short minutes, Vincent never stopped watching for something out of the ordinary to jump at. "Cid…?"
"Shhh."
Cid’s hands went lower, accidentally brushing the top of Vincent’s boxers.
Vincent leapt up off the bed, suddenly panting and Cid opened his eyes.
"What—" Cid started.
"This isn’t working," Vincent said, frantically gathering his clothes and trying to put them on at the same time.
"You wanna just give up then?"
"I want to go back to my own room." Vincent gave up trying to get dressed. His pants were barely zipped and none of the belts had been buckled. He dashed out of the room without another word, leaving Cid alone on the bed in his underwear.
The image faded away, only to be replaced by another. Vincent raised the gun back to his head.
It was of a few months ago. Vincent still didn’t feel right in pants without drawstrings thanks to the incisions from surgery, and was still getting used to the effects of the antidepressants.
He had left his shirt on the floor and was curled up and miserable on the bed.
The lights went out and Cid approached the bed.
Cid took off his shirt.
Vincent made a scared groan and Cid got in bed, putting the covers over Vincent.
"Vincent?" Cid whispered.
No answer.
"Vincent…" Cid spooned against Vincent and leaned forward, putting a kiss on his cheek.
Vincent tensed immediately and gave a short but loud scream.
Cid turned him around and held his shoulders, whispering assurances as Vincent cried and kicked, screaming he didn’t want to and that he was scared.
After he screamed his throat sore, he stared at Cid, extremely afraid,
Cid waited for Vincent to tell him what went wrong, but Vincent threw himself against Cid’s chest and started sobbing.
‘No wonder,’ Cid thought as the image changed again.
Another experiment during their stay on the Highwind. Vincent had worked up the bravery to have all his clothes off, though he kept his boxers within arm’s reach.
Cid still had his pants on, although the were unzipped and unbelted, and straddled Vincent. "Shh. Calm down. It’ll be okay. I’ll stop if you want me to; just tell me." They exchanged a long and very deep kiss before continuing. "Lie down."
Vincent lay down on the bed and took a deep breath. He let it out as he reached over to make sure his boxers were still where he left them.
Cid put his mouth on Vincent, going as slow and gently as he knew how.
Vincent gripped the sheets and tried to calm down. He panted against the conflicting emotions and sensations.
He clamped his eyes shut, trying not to freak.
Cid put his whole mouth around him and he couldn’t help it.
"No!" Vincent kicked violently, smacking Cid in the jaw as Cid let go. He grabbed the nearest object not bolted down and chucked it. It was the alarm clock.
Cid barely managed to duck.
Vincent opened his eyes as he pressed against the wall, his hands desperately trying to grab something as he kept trying to crawl backwards.
"Calm down," Cid said, placing a hand on Vincent’s chest, just above his heart. Cid kept repeating it, waiting to feel Vincent’s heartbeat and breathing slow.
Vincent wanted to apologize, but only managed to shake his head slightly.
"You’re fine. It’s all right. Clam down. Here." Cid handed Vincent his boxers.
Vincent took them and stood up. "Can I…" he said, as he put them on. He had to stop talking to sniffle and keep himself from crying. "Can I…still stay here tonight?"
"Sure."
Vincent put his pants on before crawling back on the bed.
Vincent pulled the trigger. Nothing.
"Four."
"Come on, Vincent, it’s over," Cid said, reaching with his hand. He still couldn’t move his feet.
"It’s not over," they both whispered in Vincent’s ear.
"It’ll never be over," Hojo said.
Cid sighed. Did he screw up somewhere in here by not talking enough, or were all lifestream dreams this fucking long? "Vincent, come on."
Vincent didn’t move.
"Would you two get off him?"
"You loved me, Vincent," Lucrecia whispered.
"You went through so much," Hojo whispered.
"And yet…" Lucrecia leaned a bit closer.
"It…" Closer.
"Was…" Closer.
"All…"
"A…"
"Lie," Lucrecia said right in Vincent’s ear, then kissed it.
"Knock it off, you’re makin’ him dizzy!"
Vincent didn’t react. Lucrecia and Hojo kept talking and attempting to bury him under them.
"You went through so much, Vincent," Hojo whispered.
"All for me."
"All because of her death."
"Which never happened."
"So much pain…"
"For something that never happened."
They both chuckled.
Lucrecia put her hands around Vincent’s face and turned his head to face her. "I turned your world upside-down and then inside out."
"And yet you’d do anything for her."
"Because…" she said, leaning close to his lips.
"You…"
"Still…"
"Loved…"
"Me…" She shoved his head back, as if she didn’t want to look at his face.
"No! Stay away from me!" Lucrecia cried. There was no image. Just the words echoing around in the infinite darkness. Those were the words she’d yelled in the cave when Vincent found out she was still alive.
"Why, though?" she asked as they both backed away to their original positions.
"Why did you do it?"
"Why did you lie to me?"
"You knew there was no way I’d ever let you near me."
"So why did you lie?"
"What did you want?"
Vincent opened his mouth. He sighed.
"Vincent you don’t have to answer them! Vincent! I’m right here!" Cid yelled.
"I wanted to protect you. I failed you once. I already let you die."
"But I didn’t die."
"Why, Vincent?"
"I failed you," he answered. "I wanted to make you happy. Just once. I failed again."
"Such a paradox you’ve become, Vincent," Hojo said.
"Ever since you left the coffin."
"Dreams were better than coming back to reality."
"Yet anything was less frightening than being alone with your own self."
"You’d shriek when someone touched you."
"And then you’d cry when they stopped."
"You didn’t want to be touched."
"It was pain."
"It was a lie."
"And yet you craved it so badly."
"You didn’t want any more dreams."
"Yet that was all that kept you going."
"You wanted to forget us."
"And yet you could never get us out of your head."
"You’re insane," they both said in his ears, touching them with their lips.
"The one thing that scares you the most," Lucrecia said.
"Is yourself."
The gun was cocked.
Cid swallowed.
"I never died," Lucrecia said.
"She should have."
"Oh, everything would be so much simpler then."
"Wouldn’t it?"
"Upside-down."
"Inside out."
"And now I turned your world backwards."
"You wouldn’t know which way’s up."
"And yet,"
"You couldn’t…"
"Resist me."
"You couldn’t…"
"Could you?"
‘Help me’ Lucrecia’s voice echoed. ‘It hurts’
"She just wanted to die."
"You couldn’t fail me."
"Yet…"
"You killed me."
"You gave her what she wanted."
"And you killed me."
Lucrecia, in a cave made of ice, was covered in Jenova growth. Her eye was scarred. She was missing a finger. There was debris all over her. Her clothes were torn.
‘Help me.’
A shot rang out. Her head was blasted of. Her head exploded.
"You had a dream and woke up in the snow."
"But you didn’t need a dream to kill me."
"You did that all by yourself."
"You killed me."
"You chose to kill her."
"You…"
"Killed…"
"Me…"
"All…"
"By…"
"Your…"
"Self."
She wasn’t dead.
She didn’t fall over.
Bone grew out of the air.
Organs bubbled and pulsed and spread.
Skin crept upwards and shaped itself.
‘Help me…Vincent.’
"How sweet," Hojo said.
"You didn’t really want me to die."
"You just wanted my pain to go away."
"How kind."
"Too bad I didn’t feel the same way."
Cid winced as Vincent pulled the trigger again.
Nothing.
Vincent cocked the gun.
"NO!" Cid screamed, struggling to move, almost falling over. Vincent had used up all his chances.
"Go on Vincent," Hojo said. He took his hands away for the last time and shoved Vincent forward, hand on the small of Vincent’s back.
"Tell him," Lucrecia said.
"Tell him what you want," they both said.
Vincent walked forward towards Cid.
Hojo and Lucrecia each crossed their arms and looked slightly proud; they stayed where they were.
Vincent stopped half way between them and Cid. He raised his gun, and pointed it at Cid.