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Chapter Seven

I’ll never forget the day Lucretia left; it was the saddest day of our freshman year. If anyone knew Lucretia even a little, they would know how nice and beautiful she was to everyone. Though, sadly, she earned a lot of grief because of her involvement with Shinra, and her kindness was often mistaken for deception. Vincent once told me that she was so depressed despite the constant glow on her face and sparkle in her dark blue eyes. She couldn’t be herself in that rotten gang; she had to hide herself from who she though were her friends. I can truly imagine how lonely that must have been.

Anyway, the day she left all her “friends” threw her a going away party. Everyone was invited, and to my surprise everyone showed up ( probably to evade the wrath of Shinra). That day everyone saw her for the happy, bubbly girl she was deep inside. The guests at the party realized that her kindness was real, and they felt guilty for being so cold towards her. However, everyone was selfish, and were only sad because they were losing the only person who could talk sense into Shinra. Their “get out of jail free card: was being sent away, now what were THEY going to do?

Wait…pause for a second.

Bet you are all wondering how everyone came to the conclusion that Lucretia was actually a nice person. Well, this is were we welcome the beautiful, the ugly, the biggest big mouth in the history of big mouths…Elena Clerkson. Dear, sweet, Elena had been Lucretias only girl friend, so naturally she confided in Elena and showed her what laid behind the mask. And being the good friend she was, when Elena heard that people dared thought ill of the oh holy Lucretia…she decided to take matters into her own hands. For five fuckin’ hours, Elena went up to every guest and in a loud obnoxious voice told them they were, “Oh so totally screwed,” and continued to explain why.

Rufus Shinra (yes, the egotistical asshole named his club after him) actually liked Elena’s spunk and determination (yeah right), so he asked her to join he ranks of the “turks.” This promotion had nothing to do with the fact Elena looks freakin’ hot in a skirt…which is the standard “uniform” for the females in Shinra.

Okay…back on track.

I was at this said party, a representative for Vincent who was missing at the time, as well as Cid…who I met just five minutes before arriving. We were conversing about school and his lack of friends, since he was coming from a Catholic School, when Lucretia confronted me. She had never talked to me before, hell she never even made eye contact with me before today, so I knew this had to do with Vincent. She took me behind the huge mansion, owned by Rufus Shinra no doubt, were we could be alone to discuss the matter at hand; my best friend was missing…for two weeks.

However, she never mentioned anything about Vincent’s whereabouts in that conversation we had, but I will never forget the wise words she spoke that day.

“You are so different from the guys I know,” she began, as she tossed her long brown hair over her shoulder, “Vincent as told me a lot about you. Unfortunately, he has never spoken to you about us, and how we work. I know you think we are just a bunch of thugs that bully everyone around…it didn’t start out that way. We were just friends getting together, playing games like normal kids. All kids have clubs…innocent clubs. But then…Rufus thought we were better than some petty game, that we could be a great organization like his fathers company. We had the smarts, the brute force, and a noble leader. He was my friend, so I followed him, thinking nothing drastic was going to change. I was so wrong.

“We were so young! Eleven-year-olds playing an adults game. For what though? To leave a mark on minds of our peers, who would forget about us ten years down the line anyway. They are so stupid, our classmates…they care so much about their reputation they allowed this to happened, even though it will all end as soon as we graduate. All the torture we put this kids through only ’cause they think their reputation is all that they have; they care to much about what the world thinks of them. And we did this whole for power? Greed? Acknowledgement? Are we just children crying for our parents to notice us? Yes…yes we are.”

I stood before her, stunned at her speech…not expecting such words to exit the mouth of a Shinra scientist. However, she was right.

After her speech, she left me in our secret meeting place to register what she said. It was that last time I ever saw her alive; the next day she was on her way to California to the Shinra group there.

A week later, the cops found Vincent laying half dead at the corner of her old neighborhood. We all think, that when he escaped from Hojo, he tried to look for her…only to see that her house was empty and she was gone. Vincent was never the same after that day; he became a lost soul at the age of fourteen.

I don’t think I can honestly say whether or not Vincent and Lucretia were really in love. I am not Vincent, I do not know what they did together…if they got along all right. All I know, is she had his phone number…she could have made the effort…she could have called him and told him that she was safe and he need not to worry about her. She never did, she never gave him the closure he needed to get on with his life and live like a normal teenage boy. I was very angry at her for that…until now of course.

I remember the look on Reno’s face when he told us Lucretia was dead, it was mix of fright and anger. He wasn’t telling us the whole story and probably to save his own ass. The same fear the Reno had earlier today, could be the fear Lucretia had every time she thought about calling Vincent. Hojo…

“Uhh, Cloud….you alive?”

Cid’s voice shattered my thoughts and woke me up from, what seemed like, a dream. We are in his broken down car that he insist on trying to fix up, on our way to Vincent’s broken down home.

“Uhh, yeah,” I mumble, “Just thinking.”

“Thinking about this whole Vincent this?”

No shit Sherlock….

“Yeah…I tried calling his house and their was no answer…so I can only imagine what he is doing.”

“Maybe he is sitting at home writing that angst-y poetry he loves so much and just didn’t want to talk to you or anyone,” he says as he honks his horn and begins to curse the hell out of some old people who just cut him off.

I sigh, knowing Cid was probably right about Vincent…which freaked me out because usually I am always right. Cid is stealing my brain I can tell…he needs to make up for all the brain cells he is killing with his drinking.

“Want to go over to his house then?” I offer.

“I was just thinking that buddy.” OH god, I hate it when he calls me that.

Moments later, we arrive at Vincent’s sorry excuse of a house. We exit the car, me almost breaking already broken passenger door, and walking up to an unwelcoming front door. I am about to ring the door bell like a normal human, but evidently Cid has another plan.

“You stupid vampire, open this god damn door before I break it down!” He screams, banging on the door like a beast.

“Cid…he won’t open the door if you act like a crazy person,” I sigh.

“Vincent Valentine! You fuckin’ loser, I know you are in there! Open this door!” Clearly my weak attempt to calm down the boy was in vain; he was screaming to loud to hear me anyway. I stand their, waiting for A. Cid to calm down or B. For Vincent to answer the door, and at this point neither seemed possible. I decide to take matters into my own hands, since his screaming has reached another octave in this last two seconds-people were starting to stare. I flip open my uber cool cell phone and dial Vincent’s number. Once Cid notices what I am doing, he calms down and waits for the result. We could hear the phone ring…once…twice…three times. We were about to lose hope when I heard him pick up the phone.

“If Cid wants to get my attention,” a cold voice echoes in my ear, “tell him to cease his childish behavior.”

“Are you going to let us in?” I sigh, “I don’t want the fifteen minutes I spent in Cid’s car to be in vain.”

“HEY!” he shouts, “my drivin’ ain’t that bad!”

“Well, since you did risk your life to get here….”

“You guys are making fun of me aren’t you! You are a bunch of pricks! After I hauled my ass to pick you up….”

“I will allow you two to grace me with your presence.”

Without a goodbye, which I expected from him, he hung up the phone. I laugh a little at Cid, who was looking for a cigarette to either smoke or use to inflict harm on me.

“You drive like you act; a beast,” I say coldly.

“Oh yeah,” he growls, “Well…nice hair fucktard.”

I roll my cold blue eyes at the even more frustrated Cid, as he grabbed a cigarette from his back pocket and proceeded to smoke the sweet death. Cid is such a strange character; he acts like a child but is more of a father figure to Vincent and I. From the first day I met this clown, he always tried to protect me from whatever evils followed me or Vincent around. Infact, the day he and I went to the hospital to visit Vincent (at the time Cid did not know Vinny, and visa versa), Cid quickly jumped down his throat, calling him a “reckless, hormone driven, ignorant teenager.” Vincent’s just mumbled a “Who the hell are you,” before Cid continued the verbal assault you would expect a father to give. I can give credit to Cid’s dad for his cooky behavior. Mr. Highwind is probably the most successful New York detective in a long time; solving more cases than anyone else I can think of. He is a strict, no-nonsense, stubborn as heck kind of guy- and the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Therefore, being that Vincent lacks and father figure, and my father figure is almost non-existent, mister Cid has taken it upon himself to make sure we don’t end up dead. All I can say…he has his hands full.

“My hair is better than yours; are you starting to bald?”

“Why you little punk-”

Suddenly, the half broken door slowly creeps open, making horrid cracking noises as it does. Vincent peeks his head out, crimson orbs eyeing us almost suspiciously.

“Cid…I thought I said stop acting like a child,” he said smoothly.

Cid waste no time bursting through the front door, almost knocking Vincent to the floor, and beginning a verbal assault on the poor unsuspecting boy.

“Where the hell have you been? You leave in a huff, you don’t call, you don’t explain what the hell happened. Cloud here was worried sick about you! Called me in a panic-”

“Umm…if I remember correctly, I was perfectly calm-”

“Shut the fuck up Strife,” he points at me as if trying to scold me for misbehaving or something, and returns to Vincent, “What happened? Where did you go? I demand answers now!”

“I do not respond to demands,” Vincent counters almost unnaturally cold like, which even made me raise an eyebrow,

“How can you be so calm!”

“Sorry, I am not as emotional as you, Cid, maybe you should try chilling out a bit. Would you like a soda?”

I could see the steam coming out of Cid’s ears, and whole body turning a nice tomato color from the frustration. Through gritted teeth, the walking time bomb hisses, “No, I do not want a soda, you crazy boy, I want answers!”

Vincent sighs and looks down at his cracked wooden floor, as if it suddenly became fascinating to him. I could tell he was trying to dodge our eyes, as if knowing we could see the truth he dare not speak in the red orbs. Either he was afraid to tell us, which was doubtful, or he just wanted to keep this chapter of his sad story with him to the grave. Vincent was always the secret type…but he always liked to surprise us.

“My grandmother will be home in a few minutes, come to my room and I will explain everything.”

Without waiting for us to respond (or argue) he swiftly walks pass us and into the room furthest down the hall. Cid and I exchange glances, and follow suit; this had to be important if he was going to tell us.

Vincent’s room looks like the inside of a coffin; black walls, black carpet, and a twin bed with a red comforter. There is a small window that looks out to a nice view of a dumpster, the expressway, and a suspicious black garbage bag. The room is bear, nothing but a dresses that holds his black and red clothing, and (as mentioned before) a small bed. He was dirt poor, no parents, no real use of his left arm. He never deserved the bad luck he was given; but that is the only luck he got and he accepts it willingly. He never complains about it- either from pride or stupidity.

Cid and I took a seat on his bed, as Vincent stared out the window…

“You may only tell Barrett about this,” he spoke softly. We both nodded and waited for him to continue. I could sense the internal struggle within him, whether to tell or not to tell. He came this far…no use turning back…

“Reno took me to the back of the library…

-

He was very calm, though I could sense the kind of cautiousness only a Turk would practice. Already I could tell he was going to tell me something that would end up in a worse condition than I; he already held the scars of such an encounter. You may not have noticed it, but at the corners of his eyes there are scars. Hojo was giving him a warning; “You should have been blind.” I could see him saying that.

Anyway, we stood facing each other, completely silent before he summoned up the courage to speak the first word.

“I heard a lot about you,” he said, “Rufus acts as if you are a legend. You were good at what you did; he models Rude and Elena after you.”

“What is it you have to say, Reno?” He was trying to avoid the conversation, but I was not going to allow him.

“You must be wondering why I am here? There has to be a balance of power in California and in New York-if not, everything will get out of hand. Well it did. There is no one left on the California team.”

He paused; trying to hide the sadness in his eyes-he lost someone he loved and that is why he needed to tell me what really happened.

“Tseng and Lucretia are dead.” Reno’s voice was hollow and dead, it didn’t match the seriousness of the matter. I guess I was hoping he would soften the blow a bit, being that he knew what I was feeling.

“How?”

“Hojo…shot her and made it look like a suicide…” he looked away for me, “I walked in to late. She was already dead and he was standing over her; blood over his clothing and on his glasses.” He sighed, trying to calm himself down it seemed, “I knew he was coming after her next…but I was to busy worrying about Tseng and myself that I ignored the obvious.”

“What happened to Tseng?”

“I found him the night before Lucretia’s death. He hung himself.”

“Why….why did this happen Reno?” I didn’t know how to respond to any of this; Lucretia was dead, Tseng was dead…had Hojo’s insanity reached a level so high he now committed a double murder? And why were they chosen? Lucretia, sadly, I could see…she loved me not him. However, there was no reason to kill Tseng.

“I don’t know…he just went crazy.”

“You have to give me something better than that!”

“…I don’t have anything.”

The news hit me, and I stormed out without another word…

-

“…that’s it.”

Cid and I were silent, allowing the horrible news to register. Hojo was only our age and already he was a serial killer. Imagine this kid when he gets older? He could be the most deadly killers New York has seen in a long time; he is smart, calculated, and lacks remorse. Even after it has set in, we can’t find the words to tell Vincent how sorry we are for his lost. I don’t even there are enough words in the dictionary to express our sympathizes, and using one cent words would be insulting to her and to Vincent. So, we sat in silence, letting the aura surrounding us express what words could not say.

We sit in silence for a few more minutes in silence, before Vincent kicks us out. Cid and I don’t feel offended by Vincent’s, “get the fuck out,” he was hiding his emotions pretty well up ‘til now. It is best we leave him alone to mourn completely. On my way out, he tells me he won’t be going to school for the next couple of days. I don’t much like the idea of Vincent staying home without supervision…but I don’t have a choice in the matter. He would kick my ass if I tried anything.

The car ride home was silent save for the rickety sound of Cid’s almost dead car. What could you really say in this kind of situation? Nothing. So we sat in silence, watching the cars pass us by as quickly as the memories of Lucretia. Cid felt robbed of such memories, coming in so late, so all he had were they stories Vincent would occasionally tell us and the rumors from the rest of the student body. I to was robbed, but because of my own ignorance. I never wanted to get to know her, even though Vincent pushed us to meet on several occasions. I was an idiot….maybe I still am.

Maybe I should give that red-head a chance. He seems interested in being my friend; talked to me in lab, offer me a ride home. I judge people to quickly…plus there really isn’t any reason why he would try to use me. I may have money, but not as much as Rufus or Hojo, so they wouldn’t want money from me…and I am not trying to stop whatever business they are in (even though I hate it), so they wouldn’t need to shut me up. HOWEVER, I am not going to drop my guard to much- you never know with people, one minute they are your best friend and the next they are you worse enemy. I guess, I just want to talk to someone knew for a change. Sorry…didn’t mean to trail off.

It is probably fate I had a dream about Aeries tonight. Vincent lost the love of his life around the same time I did. It was August, there was a “back to school” type party going on at some kids house. Aeries and I were invited, but I hate parties and she told me she had to go to her grandmas house. Nothing seemed weird about that day; we hung out at her house, made out for like twenty some odd minutes, did some other questionable things. At around five, she told me she had to get ready to head to her grandmas. I gave her a kiss goodbye and walked home. Then at eight, Cid calls me and tells me he is picking me up to head over to the party. Usually I would tell him to shove the party up his ass, but something told me to join him. We arrived at the party as it was hitting its peak, the whole school seemed to be there…and I was starting to regret coming.

I was making my way through the crowd or teenagers grinding each other, as if it was some kind of orgy. The music blasted Atreyu, “Right Side of the Bed,” which was odd because usually you don’t grind to metal songs. Or perhaps that was just what I thought was playing- it seemed to fit the occasion. To get away from the crowd of people, I made my way upstairs. I went from one hell to another, because the first two rooms I could hear the sex cries of some lucky girls and guys….and that is something you don’t really want to hear. However it was an omen to what was going to happen next. As I made my way down the hall I heard a familiar moan and cry, but the name at the end was not mine.

I walked up to the door, and placed my ear to it, to see if I was hearing this correctly. I was….that voice was Aeries…no doubt….but the name was…

I fly out of my bed, landing very gracefully on my ass. I hated that nightmare; this is the second time since her and I broke up. I never dreamt about real situations before this happened, but I guess walking in on your girlfriend having her brains screwed by someone who clearly isn’t you, would defiantly leave a scar. I look over at my curse clock, only to see I have to get up in ten minutes anyway. I need to get these images out of my head…I guess starting the day early wouldn’t hurt.