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Candy Wrapper	By : KSipesh Category: Final Fantasy VII > Het - Male/Female Views: 1100 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Pardon any typos�I�m really tired tonight and just wanted to get this up before bed. I�ll edit it better in the morning J

Chapter 4

I walked toward my room, keeping an eye out along the way to make sure that no one saw me going on my merry way with Vincent following me in silence. I literally felt the hair on the back of my neck rise when I passed Cloud�s door, knowing exactly what he�d say if he saw me escorting this other man to my room in the night, but mercifully, no one was up.

I opened the door to my room and motioned for Vincent to go inside, before going in myself and locking up. I went and sat on the edge of my bed, since it was really the only place to sit. Vincent went and landed on the end of what had been Aeris� bed, facing me. There was just the dim illumination of the night time emergency lights in the room, making it seem a little more pleasant than just the stripped down bunk room that it was.

In this darkness, I came to appreciate the faint glow of Vincent�s eyes. Obviously, Mako exposure had happened to him at some point. With my voice just a whisper, I finally asked. "So, what�s your story?"

He reached up and undid the buckles to his cloak and then let it slide off of his shoulders and onto the bed behind him. That done, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and locked into my gaze. Vincent had settled in for the long haul.

I was just relieved to see him without that damn cloak on. It was going to make it possible to actually gauge his emotions as he told me what he was about to.

"Twenty seven years ago, I was twenty seven years old." His voice was quiet, almost unwilling to relay his tale. "As you know, I was a Turk."

I nodded, this much I had figured out. "Yeah."

Vincent took a deep breath and cocked his head to the side slightly. "I�d been a Turk for a few years, and I was assigned to watch over the scientists in Nibelheim. One of whom was a woman named Lucrecia."

Finally, I was getting somewhere. It was clear by the way he closed his eyes upon saying her name that he had some deep emotional investment in her, or at least that he had at one time. I was frozen in place, afraid of doing anything that would make him stop.

"Even then, I was somewhat introverted, but she seemed willing to talk to me and we became friends after a time." An almost invisible smile passed over his lips. "We became�close."

I moved to lie down on my side, still facing him. Something told me this might take awhile. There was a delay of several seconds between each of his sentences. It was clear that he�d never talked of the past since his awakening.

"I began to think of her in terms beyond friendly." Now he frowned for a moment, letting his eyes narrow in a display of self-disappointment. "Not that she�d ever given me any manner of sign to indicate that she had any deep sentiments for me. Nonetheless, as time went on, I�"

After waiting for a few moments for him to finish this statement on his own, I realized that he�d hit some sort of roadblock in his mind. I decided to give him a little push. "As time went on you what?"

He closed his eyes, his frown returning. "I�fell in love with her."

Bingo! I thought to myself. I�d known his problems had all stemmed from some woman in his past, and now I had my first proof. I shouldn�t have smiled at that moment, but unconsciously, I did.

Vincent�s eyes opened and he caught my look. "Does it amuse you to hear me say that I was capable of loving someone at some point in my life?"

I realized my error and the smile faded. I shook my head. "No, that�s not it at all."

"Then what?"

I didn�t know what in the hell I was supposed to say to that. I had painted myself into a corner with a simple stupid smile. "I�I�m just happy that you�re telling me about yourself, that�s all. I�m not making fun of you or trying to annoy you in any way, Vincent."

It was clear that part of him was unwilling to accept this. He seemed to need more of that reassurance that he�d sought from me the night before. Vincent was honestly expecting me to make this all just some sort of cruel joke upon him.

I sighed heavily and moved from my bed, going and sitting right next to him. I was to his left. "Vincent, I really want to hear this. I�m not just messing with you."

He looked over at me for a moment, before dropping his gaze to the floor and sitting up straight. "So be it."

At a loss for what to do to show him that I wasn�t toying with him, I reached over and interlaced my fingers through the talons on his left hand and pulled it to my lap. I was going to hold on to Vincent, hoping that it would somehow ground him and keep him aware that I was sincere in my need to learn more about his past.

Vincent looked to where our hands joined, surprised that I�d touch this part of him, even though I�d done so the night before. He looked thoughtful for a second. "It doesn�t seem to put you off."

I shook my head, drawing my gaze up to his eyes. "Why would it? It�s just a hand, Vincent."

"It�s a piece of metal."

"That happens to be your hand." I gave him a faint grin, hoping that he�d take it in the spirit it was offered.

"If you say so." He looked at our hands for a moment longer and then gazed back down at the floor. "In any event, I continued to see Lucrecia outside of the lab as I escorted her around town. When we were together, she would talk to me and even hold my hand at times, seeming to be perfectly at ease in my presence. This did nothing to diminish my feelings toward her. She seemed so genuine in her interest in me, wanting to talk to me, learn about me. Although she was only doing this on the grounds of friendship, I suppose I read more into it."

I watched as he rubbed at his eyes for a moment with his right hand. I didn�t think he was crying, maybe he was just tired.

"Finally, after having been in her company for nearly a year, I got up the nerve to ask her if her feelings for me went beyond friendly." He scoffed quietly and shrugged. "She�she told me that although she had some deep regards for me, that she wasn�t in love with me because she�d fallen in love with someone else."

I heard his voice waver in his bitter resentment of those words. Vincent was miserable in the memory. I took my right hand out of his left one and draped my arm around his shoulders, then taking back up his left hand in my own. "That�s sad, Vincent."

"I know, and I should have handled it better than I did. When she told me that, I couldn�t help but question about who it was that she�d actually fallen in love with since she had never mentioned anyone to me." He shook his head. "At that point, she ran away from me and down the street. I never quite figured out what she�d thought at that moment. However, I followed her at a distance, and then I saw all that I needed to."

Once more, I gazed upon him as he paused. With my arm around him as it was, I felt his body begin to tremble slightly. My heart ached for him.

"She ran right to Professor Hojo and into his arms. Lucrecia had fallen in love with a man that I�d come to appreciate as a monster. I had seen his idea of scientific experimentation and I knew that he was above all else a sadist bent on harming others for his own gratification. Part of me, though, doubted that she did really love him. I think the truth of it was that she loved her job more than anything, and getting Hojo�s favors would allow her to advance her career. With this in mind, I faded into the shadows, still watching her, waiting for the moment when she would tell me that she had made a mistake. And wait I did. I didn�t hassle her, I rarely even spoke with her, not wishing to annoy her. I figured that as long as she carried on as though she was happy, that I would be happy myself." He stopped and turned his head to look at me.

I offered him a sympathetic nod. To hear how he�d just resolved to leave this woman to figure out her own fate while he suffered in silence wrenched something deep within me. It reminded me of how hurt I�d been when Cloud had fallen in love with Aeris, even though I�d been the one with him all of his life. I knew what it was like to be thrown to the side. It sucked.

Vincent hung his head, and his shaking seemed to get a little worse. "She married him."

This had my attention. "Hojo�s married?"

"Was."

I waited for his explanation.

"They got married and still I kept my silent vigil, thinking it not my place to intervene. Finally, one day, she went out and I was sent to escort her. As we walked along, she told me she was pregnant." Vincent reached up to his eyes again, and this time I realized that he was pushing back tears. It was clear by his voice. "That killed me to hear that. She then went on to tell me that Hojo was going to allow her to be a part of his Jenova project by injecting her with the cells from that�thing�in order to see their effect upon the baby."

I gasped in my horror. "Inject a pregnant woman with something like that for an experiment? That�s the most disgusting thing I�ve ever heard of! How could she let him do that to her?"

"Again, to Lucrecia, it was all a matter of doing what she felt she needed to in order to get recognized for her work for the company. Right then and there I should have killed Hojo and taken her away. Yet, I did nothing. I let events unfold as they did." He was down right shaking now, his composure cracking before me. "The Jenova began to poison her body and she fell ill. I watched her deteriorate as her pregnancy progressed. Only after things had gotten too far did I decide to act. Lucrecia went into labor and had the baby, but the stress of the Jenova along with what she�d gone through to have that infant proved too much. She died."

"Oh my God, Vincent, I�m so sorry!" I pulled him closer to me, wanting only to comfort him.

"Not as sorry as I was." He got up from the bed, pulling out of my reach. "I went into the lab where Hojo was, determined to kill him, but before I had a chance, I was shot and killed."

I had to question him on this. "Killed? Vincent, you�re alive."

"I am very much dead, Tifa." Vincent turned to face me and slowly began to unbutton his shirt. With the front of it opened, he came over and knelt before me, allowing the article of clothing to slip down his arms, exposing his torso to me.

Even in the dim light, I could appreciate what had been done. There was a long Y shaped scar running down his chest, and it was flanked over his heart by several bullet wounds that had long since healed, leaving just white starburst marks upon him. I could see that Vincent had been shot in the chest at least three times. Without giving it much thought, I reached out and ran my hand down his chest. I looked up at his face, seeing that his cheeks were marked with tears. "Good God, what did he do to you?"

He remained in place before me, gazing down to where my hand still rested against his body. "He cut me open, put me back together so that I would live for the purpose of more torture."

I shook my head. How someone could be this cruel to another human being was beyond me and my understanding at that young an age. "Torture?"

Vincent raised his left hand slowly. "So-called experiments. The first of which was his desire to see if he could hook cybernetic limbs onto humans in such a way that they�d have sensation and acceptable ranges of movement. Of course, I was not an amputee when he got a hold of me."

I understood well enough, and took his metal hand between my own once more. "He�he cut off your arm?"

"While I was awake."

I felt nauseous and turned away, not wanting to throw up on the guy if my stomach decided to turn.

"Tifa?"

I looked up at him after getting a grip again. "Yeah?"

"Do you want me to stop telling you?" His eyes were so mournful at that moment, dimmed with tears and the burden of his memories.

I knew that Vincent�s relating of this story to me was helping him in some way and I couldn�t let him stop now. I straightened back up and placed my right hand against his cheek, feeling the wetness of his silent tears. "No, I want to know all of it."

He reached up and covered my hand with his own, before turning his head slightly and kissing my palm. This sent shivers down my spine, even though I knew this was not the time to be getting turned on by him. After letting his lips linger against my hand for a few seconds, he pulled my hand down and placed it over his heart, where I could feel it beating frantically within his body. Vincent opened his eyes and looked into mine. "He did many, many terrible things to me, Tifa. I was cut open, injected, tortured, and�"

I saw more tears in his eyes and I leaned a little closer to him. "And?"

Vincent looked away from me. "Raped."

I stopped breathing for several seconds, not believing that Vincent had just revealed such a thing to me. I was horrified. "That bastard�"

"What he did to me personally wasn�t the worst of it, though." Vincent met my gaze again, his eyes showing me a depth of emotion that I�d never seen in another human being.

"How could anything be worse than all of that?" I asked, feeling tears in my own eyes.

"Lucrecia�s baby�" Vincent reached up and pulled the red strip of fabric from his hair, allowing it to fall loose. "He made me watch his experiments upon the baby."

"What? He experimented on his own child?" I placed my hands upon his shoulders, wanting to shield him from the misery he was in.

"Yes." Vincent shrugged weakly. "I have no idea how long I lived like that, strapped to a table, being tortured and watching him do the unspeakable to that baby. But one day, he seemed to lose his fascination with me and I was placed into that stasis box after being injected with one last chemical. I think that last drug was what put Chaos into me."

"Vincent�" I couldn�t resist and I pulled him forward and against me. We cried against each other for a little while, but once I got myself together, I asked, "But I don�t understand how any of that makes you responsible for what we�re going through now."

He pulled back a short distance and placed his right hand against my face, brushing away my tears. "Have you not figured it out?"

I was too upset at his tale to think very well at the time. I shook my head.

"Tifa," his voice was barely audible, "that baby�was Sephiroth."

I gasped again, but didn�t know what to say. Finally, I came up with the only thing I could manage. "That doesn�t make this your fault, Vincent."

Vincent shook his head. "Yes, it does. I could have prevented all of this if I�d taken Lucrecia away or if I�d killed Hojo. Countless lives could have been saved. I watched the woman I loved sacrifice her life to a madman and a job. How can I ever live with that? I am responsible for everything that has happened at Hojo�s and Sephiroth�s hands since that time."

"No, you�re not!" I hadn�t really intended to raise my voice at him, but the emotions in the air got the better of me. "You didn�t know. In fact, stepping aside and trying to let her find her own happiness�that just tells me how much you cared."

"I could have stopped her from dying, Tifa. I could have stopped Hojo from turning that baby into a monster. And I will live forever knowing that." Vincent closed his eyes, leaving his lips slightly parted as he continued to envision those past nightmares.

I didn�t know what else to do and I pulled him close again, allowing my lips to meet his.

Vincent gave in for a few seconds, but then got up and backed away. "Tifa�"

"What?" I stood up as well, clasping my hands before my chest.

"Don�t waste your affection upon me." His eyes narrowed, and a frown played across his lips. "I�m not worth it."

That was the farthest thing from the truth as far as I was concerned. He was worth my affection, and in fact, I wanted nothing more than to give it to him. If anyone deserved it, it was sure as hell him. I took a step closer to him and placed my arms around his waist. "Yes, you are."

"Why?"

His constant need for explanation was something I was having a hard time coping with. "Because I care for you, Vincent. This didn�t change that."

"Do you honestly or is it just pity?" he asked, paralleling the question he�d posed to me the night before.

"I�m not going to lie, I do feel sorry for you to some degree, but Vincent, I was attracted to you before hearing this. I�ve liked you all along." I rested my head against his bare chest, hearing his heart racing within. "How often am I going to have to say that?"

"You sincerely wish to be with me?" I felt him rest his cheek against the top of my head.

I loved the way he felt in my arms and against my body. "Vincent, I wouldn�t be here like this now with you if I didn�t."

He brought me out to arm�s length and gave me a faint smile. "Tomorrow night, come and find me again. You have another day to think it over."

I knew he was cutting me off for the night and that there was nothing I could do about it. But before he fled, I had one small request. "Can I at least have a kiss?"

Vincent reached up and placed his right hand behind my neck, pulling me to him. His lips met mine again, parting just momentarily so that his tongue could cross over just once before he pulled away.

After that, I wrapped my arms around myself and watched as he put his shirt back on properly before grabbing his cloak and the fabric strip for his hair. Vincent went over to the door and looked back over his shoulder at me. "Goodnight, Tifa."

I managed a smile through my disappointment. "Goodnight. Vincent?"

He looked at me, awaiting my continuation.

"Thanks, I know that wasn�t easy for you." God, I just wanted to hold him some more, but I knew that it wasn�t going to happen that night.

Vincent smiled that nearly invisible smile of his and met my gaze. "Thank you for letting me do so, Tifa. I honestly believe that you do care."

With that, he unlocked the door and left me for the night. It would be another day and another candy bar before I got any further.
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