Vincent's Last Birthday Escapade

By Darknightdestiny

(A/N): I planned on writing a lovely one-shot for Vincent's birthday, and posting it on October 13th, because it is the oh so wonderful day. However, I got through parts of this story and realized I didn't like it. And there wasn't enough time to finish it, and get it up on the right day! Now…I like quality work. But it just wouldn't be the same if I changed the day, so I came up with a solution. Chapters…yes, chapters. There will probably be two or three parts. I don't know how this will turn out, so I apologize in advance. ::Sigh:: This is…Vincent Valentine's Birthday gift from me.

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Cloud held the small black object high above his head, his arm stretched way up, beyond the poor ninja's reach.

"Hey, no fair!"

"What do you mean, 'no fair'? You know that's a bad idea. You really must be grab-happy today, to go and pull something like that."

"I just wanna seeeeee!"

"Yuff, he'd eat you alive," Barrett spoke up from the far side of the room.

"Ha! He would not. I've never even seen him eat anything at all, actually…"

"Oh, I'm sure he would," Cid exclaimed, "if the stupid shit din' have so much self control!"

Yuffie's eyes went wide. "You…don't really think so, do you?"

Tifa looked over at the ninja. "I really don't think that's a good idea, no. I agree with Cloud. I mean that's Vincent's personal stuff…isn't it? Where did you find that anyway?"

"Weeeell…behind the desk in the library."

Tifa shuddered. "Definitely not. Cloud, I'm right, aren't I?"

"I think so," he replied. "Besides, Yuffie, do you really want to find out what's on here?" He brought the videotape down to his chin level and gazed at it with a detached curiosity as he contemplated an idea. "For all we know, this could be surveillance."

"Pffft. Why would Vinnie need surveillance?"

"Not Vincent, Yuffie. This could be old stuff. Maybe even a visual record of his torture. Why else would it be here in the mansion with all the old stuff from the lab? Do you really want to see that?"

Yuffie paled. "On second thought, not really…heh…heh."

"Oh, Cloud!" Tifa exclaimed, horrified, "do you think that awful man would have left that behind on purpose? Do you think he wanted him to find it?"

"It's possible. That seems like the worst kind of punishment to me. I know if I were him, curiosity would have won. I can't imagine having to watch that kind of event again."

At this, they all looked solemnly at the floor, each contemplating the matter in their own minds. Vincent himself was upstairs, sleeping in one of the beds. He had had a rough night; the previous day they had traveled to Lucrecia's cavern, and he hadn't been able to sleep until early that morning after. Also, he had drunk some strange formula while he had been there, and he had seemed withdrawn to his thoughts- even more so than usual- and a bit dazed even. The others had agreed to leave him be.

"The hell!! Gimme that!"

Yuffie yelped as an arm shot past her head and yanked the tape right out of Cloud's hand.

"Cid! What are you doing?!" Tifa exclaimed, a whispered shout. Cloud was just staring at his empty hand as if he expected the tape to reappear in his grasp once more.

"I'm gonna see what all this damn commotion's all about."

"Cid! We can't do that…it's not right!" Tifa didn't even want to think about what might happen if Vincent came downstairs.

"Do you think Vincent knows of it?" questioned Nanaki.

"Ah, who knows?" said Cid. "But listen up. I'm not squeamish, and I'm not scared of some stupid tape. It might not be what you all think it is."

"But Cid…" Tifa protested.

"Damn it! Lemme finish!" Cid tried to calm himself down. "Look. That freak is always mopin' about the place, makin' everyone else feel like shit, not tellin' any one of us why the hell he does it. Now, Vince is our friend, right? I ain't gonna let this thing go if I can figure out why the hell he's so damn miserable. We owe it to the guy to at least be able to sympathize with him!"

Tifa stared blankly at the old pilot. It wasn't every day Cid tried to do something nice for somebody.

"Cid," Cloud cut in, "I don't think he wants our sympathy. I don't think he wants anybody to know about it-"

"Fuck that!!"

Yuffie squirmed at Cid's tone, even though his shouts were whispered as well. She also had an unnerving feeling that Vincent was going to wake up.

"You know what?" Cid asked. "I don't care- damn it, I don't give one shit about what you people think! I'm taking this to the Highwind, and I'm gonna watch it. Anyone who wants to watch with me, you can follow if you want." And with that, he walked out of the mansion.

The rest of the group just exchanged glances back and forth.

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"I still say this is wrong," said Tifa, when everyone was crowded around the television in the crew's quarters. She kept giving nervous glances over her shoulder, afraid that Vincent would walk in at any moment.

"Yo, Tif, it'll be a'ight," said Barrett.

"Yeah," chimed Cait, "and will you stop that? You're makin' me nervous just lookin' at you."

Cid popped the tape into the VCR and leaned back in the fold-out chair, taking a long drag from his cigarette. Yuffie squirmed on the floor and placed both of her hands over her eyes.

"Just tell me when I can look."

Everyone quieted down. Tifa and Red winced in expectation, Cid and Barrett watched intently while Cloud focused his vision on the bottom right corner of the screen. Reeve sat behind his monitor, looking off to the side, waiting for some tell-tale sign that he could look at the feed.

The film started, a simple view of a couch in a well-lit living space. Then, all of a sudden, a scruffy looking brunette walked in front of the lens and bent down to look at it.

"This thing on?" he asked aloud.

"The hell?!" exclaimed Cid. By now, everyone else was paying attention.

"Yeah man, I think it is," came a voice from the background. The brunette's face broke into a silly grin.

"Good," he said. He then walked over to the couch and sat down, facing the camera. "Hey, Johnny! Get your ass over here!"

"Coming! Geez, relax!" said the voice from before. A blonde man walked in from the left side of the camera and sat next to the other on the couch. They were both wearing blue suits. "Rolling?"

"Yep."

"Great."

"Now," the first man started, looking straight into the camera and still smiling, but with a mock air of professionalism about him, "today is October the Thirteenth. Now Johnny, what does this mean?" he feigned ignorance, turning towards his friend.

"It means, Ken," started the other while imitating the first man's smug smile, "that today is Vincent's birthday."

"That's right!" said Ken, and they both turned back to the camera. "Today is Vincent's twenty-seventh birthday."

"Oh, wow…" said Tifa, mostly to herself because everyone else was already engrossed in the film.

"Now, Vincent is such a tight-ass…"

"Such a tight-ass," repeated Johnny, a heavy emphasis on the first word.

"…That he'd never let us do anything special for him if he knew about it."

"But since he's not expecting it…"

They both looked at each other and snickered.

Ken continued. "We're going to surprise him and take him out to have some fun. And…"

"We're gonna tape it."

"Yep. Proof that he's not a total machine, haha."

"This should be interesting, to say the least."

"I don't know man, he might take a while to loosen up."

Johnny turned to Ken. "You think we can get him to do anything stupid? Like, to shove in his face later?" He got a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"Vincent? I dunno. Why, you got an idea?"

Johnny leaned over and whispered something into Ken's ear and Ken began laughing.

"We'll see if we can do it. Johnny- man, that's just too damn good. Hah…haha."

"…You ready?"

"Yeah. Let's go get 'im."

Johnny walked off in the direction he had come from, and Ken walked up to the camera and lifted it up. The room swirled as the device was jostled, and then the screen went black.

Wen the screen was light again, AVALANCHE saw Johnny standing in front of a door, dressed casually. He was inside a living space, much like the one they had been in before. The camera zoomed out for a bit, surveying the area, then came back to Johnny.

"What are you waiting for? Go ahead and knock," came the voice from behind the camera. It was Ken.

Johny was about to do just that when the door opened on its own, and a tall, shirtless man with hair the color of gunmetal strode out past him, a white dress shirt flung over his shoulder. The man stopped abruptly and turned to face Johnny, dumbfounded by his presence. He then noticed the camera that was trained on him and looked straight into it, giving off the impression of a lost kid.

Yuffie threw herself forward, towards the TV. "Oh, Gaw-"

"Shaddap," warned Cid.

"Is that Vinnie?!" she shrieked.

Cid pulled the girl back forcefully by her shoulder. "No talking during the film! If ya don't shut yer mouth, I'll kick yer ass offa the ship!"

Needless to say, Yuffie shut her mouth.

Tifa finally took a seat next to Cid, dropping slowly into it as she was now completely lost in the vision before her. "…Is that really…?"

It was Vincent. He was still pale, but not deathly so. His chin was visible, and he had a thin and angular jaw line, and finely chiseled features. Big, dark brown eyes peered into the camera in shock, and they glowed a natural glow.

"Your fault," Ken said to Vincent, "you're a Turk, you should have seen it coming!"

Vincent recoiled in surprise, his mouth slightly parted.

"Haha! Look at you!" Vincent turned his head to look at Johnny, who was sputtering at his reaction. "So…" he started, once he had settled down, "you ready to go and have some fun?"

Vincent's eyes stayed on Johnny's, then moved back to Ken's…then to Johnny's, then to Ken's, back to Johnny's…finally resting on Ken's. He hung his head low and rubbed both his temples with his left- hand- and sighed. Finally, he spoke in a smooth, soft voice. "Fine. What do you have planned?"