Author: LunarBlade Valentine
Description: A story about the Vincent of Advent Children. Why did he and Marlene seem to be good friends? That surprised me. How did his cape get so tattered in two years? And why, oh why are his feet so damn HUGE? I actually thought it was kinda cute that he could still move so fast with those gargantuan things... Poor Vince. ; Don't get me squealing on how cool he was when he made an entrance...
Genre: Drama with a touch of humor. Vince seems to have a good undertone of wit about him in the movie... In the two lines he talks about something other than Geostigma.
Spoilers: None, really. Vince is cool in the movie, in case you haven't seen it yet.
Notes: This is the first fanfic I wrote in, like, two years. I think I lost my writing style, and I need to find it again. Please help by reviewing intelligently!
Oh, I also gave Vincent Cerberus, the three-barreled shotgun/rifle thing he has in Dirge of Cerberus and AC. Dunno where he got it from. I can't wait for DoC!
...Why are his feet so big?
Dark Outside
It didn't take much, in the days after Meteor, to distract me. I knew that the world is different than the one I grew up in. I was a dinosaur. Obsolete and out of place. It would never be my world. It would never be home.
At the end of it all, when the celebrations on the Highwind had ebbed and everyone went their own way, I will be alone. It is what I wanted, though. There was nothing about solitude that scared me, but the thought of a tight, closed coffin. I fear I have become something of a claustrophobic. No matter.
A part of me hungered for something that no food could satisfy, and I knew that I could probably go a lifetime before I figured it out. Has it always been there? Where have I lost that drive I had a year and a half ago? A year and a half that are a generation away. A sleep that took away my generation, my purpose, my place in this world.
Had I ever a place in this world? Maybe not. I made my place with the corpses of men. Cozy and warm in the thought that I was doing something with my life. Warm blood of others to satiate a cold heart. Maybe what I was looking for was-
A tug on my cloak, and I turn. Maybe my expression showed something of my dislike of interruptions, because poor Marlene shrinks away before remembering why she drew my attention.
"Tifa said to tell you they want you to go in and have fun with them."
I don't need to explain myself to them. Especially if they could not even bother themselves and sent this 6 year old child. I look back at the waving trees. Dusk was painting them in marvelous dark inks, but I could still see details; the fading leaves of early Autumn, a pair of birds, hiding from the wind by the bark. Shadows stretching. Winter isn't far, and animals are trying to find food... May I should start finding something to hold me through winter. I don't even have a place to stay.
I'm surprised how much I don't care.
They will offer me places, and I will refuse, and they will feel that they have fulfilled their social obligation and their guilt will be put to res-
"Um."
I look. She's still there.
"I'm bored." She says.
Did they tell her she couldn't come back until she got me? That won't work. I have no responsibility for this child. If she catches a cold out here I would not loose sleep. Up here the air is crisp. I forgot how the chill bites your cheeks; I forgot how a lung full of it can make you feel like you can take on the world. Well, I'll be the last one fooled by the false promise of an empty breeze. I'll be the last to-
"Aren't you their friend?"
I sigh to myself. Silent reveries are difficult with children around.
"Aren't you happy that we won?"
We? She's six, or five, or something. What does she know of our victory? It was hollow, and the people of the world are the real winners. We have sacrificed much. We are scarred now, not only by the blows delivered to us, but by the knowledge of how this world is marred. We will never be able to simply let go, forget our sins and our pains.
"Aren't you bored?"
No. I'm not.
"Are you moping?" She asks.
"Moping?" My voice conveys some of the incredulity I felt. Insolent girl. Instead of feeling ashamed of her rudeness she merely nods and says, "I think you're moping. You're a big frowney-face."
With that my indignance disappears. It turns into mild amusement that irritates something in my stomach. I was being called a 'frowney-face'. That hasn't happened since... Well, ever. A year and a half ago I was a Turk. A blue suit that meant I could kill and get away with it in a world of budding technology. Now I'm a freak and a castaway in a world where technology is dying. The most I used to plan to be by this time is dead.
"I'm cold." She says, hugging herself for warmth.
"Go in." I say, trying to chill her further with my tone.
"I don't wanna." She answers with eloquence, "I wanna be here with you."
If I cared enough I would have raised a brow at this, but I don't. I just turn back to the view. She can freeze, if she wants.
"I'm cold." she says again. What does she want me to do about it? I have my cape and cowl and she has a pink little dress. She seemed to figure that out, too, because what she does next almost surprises me off the side of the Highwind. She lifts a corner of my cape, ducks under it and stands close enough to be touching my leg, using my cape as a blanket.
I stared at her, but her face was hidden by the red cloth. What was she thinking she was doing? She felt warm against my leg, and the contrast sent a shiver up my spine. I blink a few times to clear my confusion and sigh. Kids. What did I know about them? If she was happy there I didn't mind. She could jump off the airship for all I cared.
After a long stretch of uninterrupted thought, Barret came out from the party to the deck where we were.
"Have you seen Marlene?" He demands. I feel her clutch my cape tighter in an attempt to disappear from view. I nod and lift it, revealing her. She gives a cry of disappointment and I have to repress a smile as Barret scoops her up in his big arms. She looks at me like I was a traitor. Vincent, you're a jerk. I give up and smile behind my cowl, making sure Barret doesn't see. He, on the other hand, gives me a mean glare for hiding her. I internally shrug. He can think what he wants.
With a "Come, Marlene." They were back in the party, and I stay behind. But it is colder now, and I feel a shiver start in my legs where warmth is gone, so I go back through a small doorway, trying to slink away from the hubbub.
Somehow the rest of Avalanche decided that it is in their best interest to fly around together some more. They wanted to fly from city to city and help people starting in Midgar. Since we spent weeks in the sunken submarine, trying to get rid of all the monsters, we ended up with quite an impressive financial situation. They planned on using that Gil to help rebuilt the world, and the lives of the needee. I could care less what they do. I have no claim on this money. I had joined half-way through their cause, as it were. I tell them that I will come as well. It would give me a chance to see more of the world, and decide where I want to go after this is over. I wholeheartedly deny the feeling that I was trying to delay the inevitability of parting.
By denying it, of course, admitting it.
Later that night something stupid happened. To this day I don't understand how I could have done something like that.
Cloud is with Marlene on the deck. I am by the railing, as usual, trying to stay away from any excessive attention. I played a minuscule part in saving the world. I will leave the 'heroes' to their cheering.
It was a combination of things, really, that caused the accident: It was the fact that Cloud lifted Marlene up in his arms and tossed her in the air playfully. It was the fact that it was autumn and the wind was strong. It was also the fact that Cid decided to start flying at that moment exactly. The result was Marlene flying off. Or maybe she stayed where she was in mid-air and we displaced. Either way, there she is, plummeting down to an inky black forest.
And, of course, here I am, plummeting after her. Why? Because of the wind. And the ship. And my damned sense of I-Don't-Know-What that makes me do these things and then find excuses for why I did them. Maybe I know I can take the landing, maybe a part of me hopes I don't. I don't know what I'm planning. Maybe transforming after I had her? That would probably cause Chaos to eat her.
I catch her arm, almost at the tree-line, and fling her up towards the ship with all my might. I'm a good aim, and I manage to hit Cloud with her. Forehead to forehead. Serves him right, leaning over the railing while I'm falling. The last thing I see of them before I hit the branches is Cloud and her safely knocked back onboard. I hope it hurt, Cloud.
It hurts. The throw had twisted my body, so that my back is the one meeting the branches, and not my face. They tare at my cape and my back and my head and I hear something crack when I finally hit the ground.
Hi! Haven't posted anything in, like, forever! I lost all confidence in my writing in the last year- year and a half. Dunno why. Well, the best way to get over all that is to write and write and see what comes out! Here's my latest work. It has a continuation, or at least, I'm working on it. Let me know if it's something you'd like to see more of and what you might think of this style.
Please?
Thanks!