Guardian (a Vincent Valentine story)

Well, here's a little one-shot fanfic for Vincent's birthday. I actually started this over three years ago, but only finished it a little over a week ago. The basic structure was there, but I couldn't figure out how to execute it...

This is based over one day during the week between the confrontation with Hojo at the Mako Cannon and when the party headed off to confront Sephiroth at the Northern Crater. It's a bit of a mash-up between the original game's continuity and the fuller continuity of the Compilation. Hope you guys enjoy.


"Of course, you do realise Valentine that it may not even be here?"

"Shut up, daemon."

"You must also realise that makes it the thirty-sixth time today you've said that to me."

"Shut up, daemon."

"Thirty-seventh."

Vincent decided to ignore Chaos' baiting. At the moment he had more import things to concentrate on. There were a few moments of blissful silence, before…

"By Heaven above and Hell below, Valentine, don't you have enough weapons already?" Chaos sighed in irritation. Then, with a sneer audible in its voice: "Isn't the gun dear Lucrecia gave you good enough?"

Vincent's hand slipped to the Death Penalty, which was strapped to his waist. "…It has fulfilled its purpose," he replied quietly. "This…is something I need to do. To reconcile my past with my present."

Chaos fell into a brooding silence for a while, before it murmured to itself quietly enough that Vincent could only just about hear it: "Lord, what fools these mortals be." It sounded like it was quoting, but Vincent hadn't heard the phrase before. He decided against questioning the daemon. Chaos added, louder: "Do you think that this is what you must do to be able to find the path that you must walk to the future?"

"Yes," Vincent replied simply. It was, after all, a question with a simple answer.

"…Very well," Chaos said, clearly amused. "Oh, and watch out for the bat behind you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hojo!" he yelled as he pelted down the stairs. "HOJO!" There was no answer.

'Bastard must be in the lab,' Vincent thought. He rushed along the corridor, and burst open the doors to the Professors' laboratory. "Hojo! Come quickly, Lucrecia's collapsed!"

Hojo glanced up, his brow furrowed in worry. "How's Sephiroth?"

Vincent felt like he'd just unexpectedly ran into an invisible wall. 'It must be shock,' he reasoned to himself. "He's fine, but Lucrecia—"

"Fine, fine," Hojo said dismissively, relaxing. "Thank you, Valentine."

Vincent felt his hot fear becoming cold and steely rage. "What?!" he screamed.

"I…expected that something unfortunate like this manner might occur," Hojo sighed. "Truly regrettable, truly. However, she—"

Vincent growled. Hojo was about to start up the same damned mantra he'd used ever since they'd injected Lucrecia with Jenova cells. "Don't, you bastard. Don't say she knew the risks," he hissed, tears swelling up in his eyes.

Hojo looked at him blankly and shrugged. "I'm…sorry about this, Valentine. You've got a good mind. But you're also a complication." With that, Hojo drew a pistol and shot Vincent. The Turk fell from the shock of the impact, adrenaline overpowering his synapses. "I never would have thought that a paid killer would have so many morals and ethics…" he mused to himself, turning away…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bite bat fell to the floor with a shriek, lifestream and blood leaking from it in a flow of green and red. Both streams returned to the earth beneath Vincent's feet.

'At the end, all things return to their beginning,' Vincent thought to himself.

"How poetic," Chaos said. "I'd be sickened if it wasn't true." Vincent felt a wordless sigh rebound in his head. "What are we here for, anyway? I don't like this mansion any more than you. It still embarrasses us how easily one such as a mortal scientist could accidently bind us to a human."

"Later," Vincent said aloud. If anyone had confronted Vincent about his habit of answering questions no-one else heard, he would admit his own surprise at doing it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vincent came to slowly. He couldn't open his eyes. A detached part of his brain suggested he'd been drugged into this stupor. He could hear voices from a far distance.

"What have you done?!" That... that was Lucrecia's voice. Relief flooded Vincent's mind. She was... OK...

Vincent heard a grunt of annoyance close to his ear, and heard Hojo swear softly. "I merely shot him, Doctor Crescent. Nothing that hasn't happened to him a dozen times before according to his medical records. Some of those should have been far more fatal than this."

It was then it registered in Vincent's mind that he hadn't been drugged. He was dying.

"Why did you shoot him?!" Lucrecia's voice was so full of anguish Vincent felt tears run from his eyes.

"...He's still alive," Hojo said, the tension in his voice somewhat abated. "Good. The last thing I need is a dead Turk on my hands, eh? Have you ever met the boar in charge of them, Heidegger?"

"Why did you shoot him?!" Lucrecia screamed, her voice becoming a shriek at the last word.

Hojo sighed. "He... was being difficult. Ironically for a Turk, he has a strong superego. Maybe he justifies any deaths he causes as being for the greater good, do you think?"

"Out of my way!" Lucrecia said. Vincent felt breath on his face from scant inches away. "Vincent? Vincent! Please, don't! Don't die on me! Not like..." Her breath sobbed.

Hojo swore with an intensity Vincent wouldn't have thought possible. "Of course! Damn me, I've been so blind! There are Chaos samples here... as well as mako, Jenova cells... No-one has suffered any injury down here before! The contaminants in the air must be causing an abnormal reaction! Maybe some form of anaemic hypoxia...? I'll need to take samples—"

"Hojo!" Lucrecia said, cutting through the Professor's theorising. "Can we save him?"

"...Perhaps. First, we must..." If Hojo said anything more, Vincent didn't hear him. He felt a hand on his shoulder and heard a question. He nodded his answer... and was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vincent slunk around the library, checking for anything abnormal. His hand stayed momentarily at a book on the reading desk. His eyes flicked across the page.

"This must be one of the records Sephiroth read five years ago," Chaos muttered, voicing Vincent's own thoughts. The daemon sounded intrigued. "My, my, no wonder he lost his mind."

"Hmm," Vincent said and closed the book. "Not what we're looking for though."

"Isn't it?" Chaos said with sarcasm sharp in its voice. "Well, I wouldn't know that."

Vincent ignored the daemon and glanced at the shelves, to see if he could find where the book came from. As his eyes scanned the place, he noticed a mahogany box placed at his eye level.

"Huh," he muttered, more to voice his thoughts than as a question. "Who put that there?"

"The tooth fairy. Or perhaps old Saint Nick?" Vincent ignored Chaos' baiting and walked over to the shelf and retrieved the box. There was an envelope taped to the lid, with one word on it: Valentine. Vincent recognised the handwriting and his eyes narrowed.

"Hojo's? Are you sure?" Chaos asked.

"Yeah," Vincent replied and removed the envelope. He opened it and pulled out a scrap of paper.

Valentine,

Well, after writing this, I hope you have the consideration to survive. Doctor Crescent and I have done our best to make sure you do. Both in our own ways, admittedly. Anyway, she has disappeared and only I remain.

I don't know how much of the reconstruction you will recall. I hope it’s very little, as I would imagine it to be quite an unpleasant procedure to experience. However, judging by the Beast's howl when it awoke, I would hazard a guess you were conscious. My sympathies.

If you have survived, I hope you appreciate the enhancements I have made to your constitution. In case you don't, well, consider this a peace offering. I know it means a lot to you.

~Hojo​

"I must admit I'm intrigued," Chaos said. "Well, don't keep me in suspense. What is it?"

Vincent considered telling the Void-daemon what it was when the image came unbidden to his mind. A gift from his father, nothing more. However, the reaction the image solicited from Chaos made him reconsider that opinion.

A sibilant hiss filled his ears so completely he reflexively looked about him. "Hades' guardian..." Chaos muttered. "Morningstar be damned, it seems I'm not the only one enchained here."

Vincent smirked to himself, as the Hades summon sat on his wrist. He knew of the old Cetra fables from Grimoire, which was why he'd requested the materia. "I believe the similarity between the hound and this gun is in name only," he said.

Vincent flipped open the case and his features softened at what he saw. "Thank you, Hojo. You even cleaned it," he said. Vincent gently reached in and removed Cerberus, the triple-barrelled gun gleaming.

"Hello, old friend," he said, and wondered what he should now do with the Death Penalty. He carefully placed Cerberus back down and pulled the other gun from his waist. A strange aura surrounded the gun and it disappeared into a whirl of darkness. Vincent blinked in surprise.

"I'll look after that for you," Chaos said.

Vincent smiled. "Thanks," he said and picked up Cerberus, holstering it in the Death Penalty's place. Closing the box and carefully packing it in the small bag he'd brought with him, he made ready to leave.

"Have you decided, then?" Chaos asked. "Will we rejoin them for this last battle against Sephiroth?"

"I don't have anything better to do," Vincent shrugged. "You?"

Great work! Lots of good, subtle references in there, and it was interesting to see a new take on Vincent's perdicament.

Two questions though:
1) This is Vincent trying to find a reason to fight, correct? Just before the final battle?

2) Why was Hojo so... nice?

Cannon_Fodder said:

Great work! Lots of good, subtle references in there, and it was interesting to see a new take on Vincent's perdicament.

Two questions though:
1) This is Vincent trying to find a reason to fight, correct? Just before the final battle?

2) Why was Hojo so... nice?

Click to expand...

Thanks. In answer to your questions,

1) Yes, that's right. Although, it's not so much of a reason to fight, but reminding himself of why he joined the group in the first place... I think. This was one of those stories with very little conscious writing done.

2) Well, I almost wept at how they represented him in Dirge - I mean, I'm no fan of the guy, but the way the game presented him left me not trusting him to sit and play with Lego. Since I'm a fan of both Lucrecia and Vincent, I feel have to treat Hojo with a bit more respect than even the canon gives him. After all, if he was the freak the canon paints him as, why would either of them even stick him?

Alright, I see where you're coming from with Hojo. I think it's an interesting take, .

Good read!