Saviour

Uncurling from the ball he had been in for hours Vincent flopped onto his back staring at the cobweb covered roof. Some one was coming he realized, that’s why he had come back to the real world. Some one was coming down the stairs towards where he had been hiding for the last few months. It had been the sound of the front door slamming shut on its old hinges that had woken him up. It’s the only thing he could think of since the clunk of boots on wooden floor boards had only vanished a few moments ago. Getting to his feet he turned around to face the door of the ancient library.

“Any one but Cloud” he muttered under his breath.


Cloud had let the old door slam on it’s hinges before crossing the house slowly. He wanted to let Vincent know he was coming not scare the genetic vampire half to death. Walking down the dark stair way to the library he gave a momentary pause before walking into the room.

Vincent stood towards the back of the room his cape shifting of its own accord around him the semi darkness hiding most of him from view. A weird look passed over the others face before he looked away walking through the piles of books.

“What do you want Cloud?” he asked simply watching the clone try and watch him.

“Is there any light down here I don’t see in the dark like you” he demanded not wanting to talk in the deep shadows that seemed to encompass the room.

“Fine” deadpanned Vincent before waving his hand and lighting more then eight dozen candles that were littered around the room in the simple motion.

“You scare the shit out of me some times you know that?”

“And you shouldn’t be here so why are you?” retorted Vincent watching Cloud carefully from the other side of the room.

Why did it have to be Cloud why did it always have to be Cloud? Of all the people to make his dreams so much more worse it had to be the Clone of the one in them. Cut Sephiroth’s hair and dye it blonde he would look exactly like the one standing in front of him. This was the torture he would have to live with even if he didn’t want to. This was the price he would pay because he betrayed the one person who understood him.

“Just came to see if you were still hiding in this place all by yourself. Have you even left down here since we defeated Sephiroth?” queried Cloud watching as Vincent selected a random book and folded himself into a chair opening it at an apparent random page.

“No I haven’t not for any amount of time any way” he muttered absently as he pretended to read. In truth he wasn’t that interested in the book at all since he couldn’t read a word it said being that it was in the same ancient text Sephiroth had been able to read. The only reason he continued the act was in the hope that Cloud would go away quicker and he could return to his self loathing. That and he didn’t want to look at the clone and be reminded of the man he was cloned after.

“This can’t be healthy”

“You forget I was down here for twenty odd years before you came and found me,” replied Vincent in simple defense never once looking up.

“Yea but you were in that coffin box thingy though” argued the clone.

“Ohh yes and that was so much healthier than sitting in the library all the time” Vincent replied sarcastically as he turned a page of the text he couldn’t read.

“That’s not what I meant” growled Cloud in frustration.

“Really? Then just what did you mean?” sighed Vincent closing the book he had been pretending interest in. It was more than obvious that it wasn’t going to make the clone go away any more than hiding down here was going to keep the rest of the world away.

“Ever since we beat Sephiroth all you do is sit down here in the dark, what the hell has gotten into you? Why have you changed so much? We were a team we killed the biggest menace this world knew and yet you continue to live in solitude when you’re a hero” exclaimed Cloud rather loudly due to his frustration.

His words may have been true and he may have meant nothing by them. In fact all things considered and as much as Cloud knew of Vincent they really shouldn’t have done anything but inspire the will to leave the manor. They did the opposite though; Vincent flinched noticeably before slowly getting to his feet never once taking his eyes off Cloud.

Walking forward slowly he wrapped his hand calmly around Cloud’s neck adding only slight pressure. The clone didn’t move he simply watched as Vincent’s eyes bled from their normal dark color into a deep kind of red.

“I will not be praised for something I was unwillingly forced to do all I want is to be left alone” he sneered viciously “Now get out” shoving Cloud backwards he doused the candle flames in one movement before slinking back into the darkness and seclusion of the library.

Cloud stood there for a moment before he felt the area around his neck where Vincent’s hand had been only moments before. Dropping it he fled, not the running kind of fled but a brisk walk that carried him quickly out of the house.

Deep in the shadows Vincent listened to him leave. Following the sound of his boots across the wooded floors above his head before the creak of the door and it slamming shut again meant he had left. Letting his legs sag beneath him he sunk to the floor before curling up on himself again. What had he been thinking he had been more than willing to fight Cloud for simple words. It was very unlike him and something he never thought he would ever do not for some one like Sephiroth. Not after everything Sephiroth had done in the past to him.

“Perhaps it was the memories doing this to me” he muttered to himself before letting his head drop to his bent knees.

Originally when he had first known Sephiroth as the elite S.O.L.D.I.E.R he had been he would have more than readily done anything for him. Sephiroth had become the only person who understood the only one who could ever understand what he himself had gone through at the hands of Hojo. It had seemed that everything the man had gone through as a child and as a teen hadn’t touched him in the slightest. Left him stronger than any normal human by far and affected his body in a lot of ways but some how his mind had remained untouched.

After all the months he had spent in the library though hunting for something Vincent couldn’t even guess at he had become something else completely. Become insane with the knowledge of what he was and what he could do and thus they had turned on him for that reason.