How long had it been? Walking through the dusty halls it was hard not to feel a sense of forlorn. Vincent swore he would never walk the halls that were once his prison. Looking about the manner he would note how much objects had lost their luster either from exposure from the sun or just from time. Passing the old piano, Vincent would press a few random keys. He didn’t know how to play. And yet a tune would come to mind. A memory of Lucrecia playing surfaced. He could recall standing in the doorway and watched her quietly. It always felt like he was intruding on her if he tried to step anywhere closer.
Turning away from the old room Vincent started to make his way toward the stairs. Vincent would look up and to his surprise saw his beloved standing there dressed just as he remembered. “Lucrecia,” he murmured as if afraid that if he spoke any louder it would scare her away. She would in turn look down at Vincent with a smile. Everything about her seemed so serene from the expression on her face to the way her hair and clothes seemed to sway by some invisible breeze.
“I’ve missed you, Vincent,” she cooed. “You look so sad.” A soft frown would cross her face. Vincent couldn’t help but take a step forward up the stairs.
“There has not been a night that I have not thought of you.” Reaching with his human hand he would try to come closer but found that his legs wouldn’t move. Startled Vincent stopped in disbelief.
“We can be together forever in bliss. No more ShiinRa, Turks, Hojo, and no more sins.” Smiling softly Lucrecia held her arms out to him. There was a pleading look in her eyes as she waited.
Springing to his feet Vincent wasted no time in trying to climb the stairs. When it seemed like he would succeed and within reach Vincent felt himself jerk to a stop. Quickly turning his sharp gaze at his legs he could see two pair of arms entangled around them. He looked horrified as he eyed what the first creature looked like. It looked human. Long black hair drenched to the core. The creature looked like a drowned victim. Its skin was a pale ashen grey color. It also looked slimy. The kimono it wore looked like it use to be pretty. Like the creature, the clothes were ragged as if it just crawled out of a river near Wutai. The face looked vaguely familiar but Vincent couldn’t place it. Still it frightened him. It would clw at him as it murmured at him, “Vincento, Vincento—Please forgive me! I have caused you pain…!” Quickly he tried to jerk away but heard hissing from his other leg. As he brought his attention to the other creature Vincent would react with trying to push it off with his claws. The second creature was even more horrifying than the first. It seemed like it might have been a woman at one point. Its body was misshapen and face contorted. Unlike the first creature it wore no clothes that would give a hint of who it may have been. The color to the skin reminded Vincent of Jenova as it too seemed feminine in strange ways. What was more concerning was what looked like a swollen belly that hung from it. As it too would claw at Vincent he would feel it press against him and for a moment he could have sworn he felt the flesh pulse as if something from within stirred.
As his eyes were wide with fright, he tried to pull away from the creatures. With them each clinging and clawing at a leg it was impossible for him to pull away. Looking up to where Lucrecia stood she was now draped in a pure white gown that seemed to flow in spite there being no wind within the manner. Desperately Vincent would reach out to the woman with his claw hand.
“Help me…!” He pleaded. And yet the look on Lucrecia’s face was all but a pitiful look pointed at Vincent.
“I cannot, love. Your hands are too stained. This is your punishment for condemning me. But I will always love you, Vincent.” Straining to smile her eyes looked sad as If she were going to shed a tear on Vincent’s behalf. As she began to rise off of the floor she softly would reach back out to him. Urgently Vincent would reach out to her desperately. Yet they were too far apart to even brush their fingertips together.
By the planet did he try. Turning to the drowned woman he managed to push her off. The woman gave a cry as she fell calling out his name in pain. Paying no mind to it he would bring his attention to the other creature. It gave a loud hiss before pulling back from the gunner. Rising to stand on its bloated legs it would reach out to Vincent quickly. As it did its fingers would stretch into tendrils of flesh while roaring. Luckily for Vincent his reaction was inhuman. Whipping his shotgun from its holster, in one swift movement he would unload into the monster. It was only out of habit from working as a Turk did his instinct would guide his aim to automatically point at the things swollen belly of the beast as he unloaded into it. The beast howled in pain as it reared back from Vincent. Trying to hold its gunshot wound it would crumble over onto the floor.
Vincent now free of his captures he would ignore them and would hurry to Lucrecia’s side up the stairs. Looking at her she had taken on more of an angelic appearance. Smiling warmly at him she held loving arms toward him. Luckily in spite she already being in the air it was a simple jump for Vincent to make. Flinging himself into her tender arms, Lucrecia would hold onto him as he murmured sweet things into his ear. Finally for once in thirty years Vincent’s heart felt light. He was truly happy. And they would rise high into the sky embraced. Pulling away just enough from Vincent to see his face, her eyes became watery as if she was going to cry, however, they were not normal tears. It became quickly noticeable that she had begun to cry tears of blood. Startled by the sight Vincent would use his human hand to try to wipe away the tear only to smear blood across Lucrecia’s cheek.
“You’ve doomed us,” she murmured in pain. Blood would start to drip from her mouth as more tears would come. Even her once pure white dress began to turn blood red.
“No, don’t say that. We can make it, I know we can…!” It seemed that in spite no matter how much he believed in his own words it wasn’t going to work.
Closing her eyes Lucrecia’s head fell back and the pair would start to fall. It was then that Vincent couldn’t help as he clung to her body like a frightened child. It wouldn’t take long for them to come crashing back down on the mansion’s stairs. As they did Vincent would hit it the hardest as for Lucrecia’s body would burst into blood like a popped water balloon.
Vincent would slowly prop himself up with tired arms to see there was no one around and he had been lying at the foot of the stairs where he had assumed he tumbled down. There were no creatures, no blood, and certainly no Lucrecia in sight. In the end it was a horrible dream that would always invade his waking hours whenever it got the chance. There he would crumble on the floor and sobbed. It wasn’t fair but it was what he deserved, he thought.
