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Vincent
Sitting on top of the old ShinRa mansion he saw Mym leave the inn and head off
towards the orchard. Turning his head back to look at the mountains in the distance, he
sighed. The lightning was illuminating the reactor and he knew that they’d be heading up
there during the day. Vincent just sat there and thought about the things that he’d heard.
“So, Hojo added transformations to my body...”he murmered quietly,”I wonder...”
Giving another deep sigh he jumped down from the roof and went back into the
old mansion. Encountering a few bats as he went down to the old basement he quickly
dispatched them. As Vincent passed by the door to the crypt he shook his head as a few
images of the last night he remembered flashed into his head.
Lucrecia cuddling up with him in the large rocking chair upstairs...
Her begging him not to go after Hojo when Vincent had found out that the
experiment was making her vomit blood...
His last promise to her that he’d come back and they’d leave, go somewhere safe...
together.
Entering the library he began to search the shelves for what he thought would be
there. Finding it and sitting in the large leather chair in the back he flipped through a copy
of Hojo’s journal.
They assigned three Turks to this mission, one of them being Valentine.
Lucrecia’s mind will not be on the experiment now. Blasted Turk, meddling in my affairs
by taking up Lucrecia’s time. . . he’s obviously infatuated with her. Bah.. Human
emotions are such a waste of energy and thought.
He shuddered as he read the first few sentances where Hojo described the night he
ran into Vincent first when they met in the President’s office.
*****************************Flashback**********************************
“Ahhh Vincent,” President ShinRa said as he relaxed in the large plush chair
behind his desk,a ring of smoke coming from his chubby mouth,”Please. Have a seat.”
“You wanted to speak with me sir, about a mission,”Vincent said as he took a
seat, smoothing his dark blue suit. Out of the corner of his eye noticing that the other
three occupants of the room that he’d noticed on entry consisted of two men and one
woman. The woman he knew was Lucrecia, Ghast’s new assistant. She had long brown
hair pulled back in a pony tail and small glasses perched on the end of her dainty nose, her
eyes were a dark brown and she wore an aqua dress underneath her lab coat, a pencil held
carefully behind her ear. Ghast himself was there in the seat nearest Vincent and at the
very end sat Professor Hojo. Focusing his eyes back on President ShinRa Vincent listened
to what the man had to say.
“Since you’re the leader of the Turks I thought it best to assign you to this mission
as well as the other two Turks you’ve been working with the longest. Vega and Andy has
fully recovered from that attack two weeks ago so he’ll be going along as well.
“You will be assigned to protect these three scientists, Professors Ghast and Hojo
and their assistant Lucrecia, to Nibelheim while they conduct some... business for me. I
expect nothing to go wrong on this mission and that if the scientists need help or supplies
you will be cooperative,”ShinRa explained.
“Yes sir,”Vincent replied calmly with no emotion in his voice,”I’ll inform Vega and
Andy once we’re through here sir.”
ShinRa guffawed loudly, blowing another few smoke rings into the air,”Good..”
He turned his back to the four of them and simply said,”You can go now.”
The three scientists stood and walked out of the room, Lucrecia going last. As
Vincent exited the room he found her lingering in the hallway just outside, waiting for him
with a warm, welcoming smile on her face.
“So we’re going to Nibelheim together,”she said as she played with the lapels of
his coat,”Closest we’ve ever been to your hometown.”
“Someday we can go to Wutai together,”he said a small smile on his face which
quickly disappeared as a shout came down the hall.
“LUCRECIA,” Hojo screamed his head peering around the corner and spotting
her,”You’re needed in the lab immediately.”
“Coming,”she responded and hurried off giving a small wave to Vincent as she
jogged down the hall. Hojo merely snorted in response, his head disappearing back
around the corner from which it came. As Lucrecia disappeared after Hojo down that hall
Vincent sighed and walked to the elevators, going down first to the Turk’s floor,
gathering Vega and Andy, then to the main entrance. After checking out for the day he
went home and the three Turks sat around Vincent’s living room talking.
Conversing about tomorrow’s mission and the like the conversation suddenly
quieted when Andy had wistfully asked,”Wonder how Mym would have handled this
whole thing...”
As the defening silence lasted for a total of 3 minutes, though it seemed like
eternity, Vincent finally spoke up.
“She’d have handled it with the finesse, skill, and efficiency she handled them all
with,”Vincent replied quietly, the other two nodding in agreement.
“She was one hell of a Turk,”Vega agreed taking a sip from his drink after saying
it,”It’s a shame that...”
He didn’t continue, he didn’t need to. The three of them knew well enough what
had happened, or at least what they’d been told. She’d died from that bullet wound,
something about poison on the bullet and it had raced through her system, killing her. Of
course at first they’d doubted it but when they saw the casket they were more assured of
her fate. The President and Hojo had said that due to the nature of the poison it had
disfigured her terribly so they’d honor her passing with a closed casket ceremony. All
three of the remaining Turks had donned black suits with a red rose for each. As the
casket was lowered into the ground they each threw their rose onto the lid of it, Vincent
going last as he was the one who now held her position. He also had been the one who
knew her the best.
The day after the funeral Vincent was formally bestowed the honor of leading the
Turks. He refused though to wear the silver pin signifying it. Part of him wanted to
believe that Mym was still alive and still incharge but his mind told him that was
impossible and that, it hadn’t worked, he should move on. But then his heart interjected
that he’d never tried and that left Vincent in a state where he did the jobs but didn’t even
care enough to go get drunk anymore. He didn’t pay attention to the excited mirth on
ShinRa’s face when Vincent had perfectly completed a mission. Andy and Vega had been
the same way, nothing really mattered when it came to the jobs. They completed them but
that was it. The next day, they set off for Nibelheim, a mission that would change many
things.
***************************End Flashback*********************************
Vincent continued to stare at the large journal, the storm moving directly overhead
as he realized suddenly that half the night was gone already. Shaking his head he willed to
not remember what had happened next but it came anyway, a flood of painful memories
that started on a turn for the worse once they’d set out for Nibelheim with Hojo and
Ghast.
********************************Flashback*******************************
“Bring that equipment carefully and tell those Turks to stop lolling around,”Hojo
ordered irritably and turned, walking into the ShinRa mansion. Vincent had overheard his
tirade and sighed inwardly, this would be a long mission. A very long mission that would
have a very bad course of events but Vincent didn’t know that, none of them did except
perhaps ShinRa himself and Hojo.
Hojo tromped back out of the mansion, glaring at the soldiers and then rushing to
go yell at them as they went to unload the last truck.
“No,”he interjected quickly,”That doesn’t get unpacked, I’m taking that up to the
reactor myself tomorrow.”
Shrugging and walking off, their job finished for now, the soldiers went to the pub
to relax and gorge themselves on alcohol. As Hojo wiped a few beads of sweat from his
brow he whispered to himself,”That was close, those idiots almost found out about that
Turk.”
Checking to make sure the crates with her and the equipment were secure and the
truck locked tightly Hojo then went into the ShinRa mansion and began setting up for the
Jenova Project.