Forbidden Love
The Story of Vincent Valentine Chapter 2
Vincent of the Turks
By Leok
Planetary Year- 1898 --- 4/5 Shinra Headquarters,
Midgar
"Congratulations. You are now the cream of the crop,
the best of our best, the ultimate in Shinra's recruiting and military
organizations. You are Turks."
The man's voice was loud enough to fill the room without the
help of the microphone he held in his hands, yet he used it anyway.
Vincent flinched as the already booming voice rebounded against the room's
walls, right at his head.
The room was large and dark, lit mainly by dim bowls of fire,
mounted against the walls. Thusly, the room was constantly shifting
and flowing amid the firelight. It had surprised Vincent to see such
a large room being used for his entrance into the Turks, and had surprised
him even more to see so many people in the room.
Despite the selective, infamous nature the Turks were looked
upon with, the organization was frighteningly large. The room was occupied
by at least fifty people. These were only the newest recruits.
The Turks were usually thought of as a small group of people in dark suits,
grabbing citizens, and drafting them into SOLDIER. In reality, the
Turks were a gigantic network of spies, informants, diplomats, and undercover
agents who took out any revolutionaries who had a problem with the Shinra,
and who took in likely candidates for one of the many openings that so frequently
appeared in Shinra's corporate ladder. 'No wonder there are so many
Turks,' Vincent mused, 'Someone has to kill all those
businessmen.'
Vincent returned from his small reverie to the speaker.
"Now, we give you the Shinra military's second in command, General
Heidegger!"
The entire room shifted in surprise, and the crowd quickly
stood a little bit straighter in nervousness.
The young man, with a dark beard and a slight pot belly, walked
forward in his three piece green suit. He looked over the crowd, and
his entire frame shook with laughter. The entire room quickly echoed
his movements, creating the effect of a rock dropped into a
pond.
"Gya ha ha! So you're the new Turks, eh? Well,
let me tell you something, rookies... You listen to ME! I tell
you this, I am better than you will ever be. I am your superior, I
am your president, I am your god! Do you understand?"
"Yes sir!" The room rang with assent. Vincent grunted,
before whispering to himself, "I listen to no one."
******
Planetary Year- 1898 --- 4/7
"Group three: Marcell, Jack! Ramses, Harold! Valentine,
Vincent! Step forward!"
Vincent slinked forward from his chair in the large meeting
room. He was about to begin his first mission. Both he and the
two others who had been called up with him stood in the area they were assigned
to, being inspected by the harsh looking man in front of them, their
commander.
"I am your Squad Leader. This means, that you listen
to me!" The man's fist suddenly caught Ramses, Harold, square in the
chest. "THAT means, you look me dead in the eyes!" He walked
on. "It means, you act like a man, and no matter how scared you are,
you don't show it!" He punched Marcell, Jack, in the chest as well.
"THAT means, you don't slouch!" He walked on. "It means, you
can show defiance to an enemy, but never, EVER to me!" He threw out
his fist, ready to slam his knuckles into Vincent's ribcage for the look
of contempt he had on his face. Vincent crossed his arms in front of
his chest, which lessened the force of the blow on his ribs. The Squad
Leader's face turned purple in anger, and he swung a right hook at Vincent's
jawbone, squawking like a chocobo with it's head cut off. Vincent ducked
the blow, and stood upright, ignoring a perfect opportunity to knock the
wind out of the man.
The Squad Leader stopped, and growled. "What the hell
did you just do, son?"
"...I insulted you and embarrassed you by dodging your punches,
and decided not to push it by not knocking you out cold."
The Squad Leader paused. "Fine." He pulled out
his gun, and shot Ramses, Harold and Marcell, Jack in the head, killing
them. "You're the first rookie I haven't killed when they first came
up."
"That may have been a mistake."
"You don't say." He turned around, and called for two
new troops.
******
Planetary Year- 1898 --- 4/8 Outskirts of Gongaga
"Okay... Move out!"
Vincent and his two fellow rookie Turks bolted for the small,
mossy hill. They crouched at the top, and looked down at the small
campsite on the bottom of the hill's other side.
The Squad Leader pointed. "There. Those are the
ones. The rebels. AVALANCHE. Our job is to take 'em
out."
"I can do it from here." Vincent said
quietly.
"Say what?"
"If I had a silencer, I could pick them off if they came into
sight. No one would notice until at least half of them were
gone."
"Hmm... Are you sure?"
Vincent motioned for a silencer. He was given one, and
screwed it onto his gun. He gestured to a bird's nest in a tree about
forty feet away. He pointed his gun, and shot the nest dead
center.
"Yes."
"Go ahead. Don't try to miss on purpose."
Vincent said nothing, and aimed his gun.
******
AVALANCHE Base Camp
Vicks just didn't get it. He couldn't find half of the
others. Where were they?
Karen ran up to him, angry and out of breath. "It's a...
a sniper, sir. He's already taken out Doreen, Masa, and Chebon.
I don't know how many there are, but someone is one hell of a
shot."
Vicks growled, and loaded his rifle. "Let's see how this
sniper likes the taste of lead, eh?"
******
Vincent's hand was burning. He was holding onto his gun
with a death grip. It had taken a while for him to realize it, but
he had killed a person. Persons, actually. No less than eight
people had gotten close enough for him to take out with his hand
gun.
The Squad Leader nodded enthusiastically. "Good shots,
kid. We're done for today. Let's go home."
******
Vicks crawled out of the wreckage of the camp on one good
leg. Some idiot had decided to drop a few grenades on the camp, and
one had ignited his munitions into a smoldering bomb. Aside from himself,
there was only one survivor. A baby girl, Karen's daughter.
Jessie. Vicks took Jessie with him back home, to Cosmo Canyon.
He needed to recover, and then... Shinra would pay. AVALANCHE
would rise again.
******
Planetary Year- 1914 --- 7/2 Shinra Headquarters,
Midgar
I can't believe it. I never expected you to be promoted
to Second Class. My congratulations, Vincent.
"...Thank you, Professor."
"Quite welcome. It's just that... How did you do
it? When it comes to diplomatics, your only real talent is stopping
the conversation. As quiet as you are, it almost seems that people
can feel you coming up behind them. No matter how undercover you go,
people stay away from you. Mind you, I've never seen such a good shot
with any firearm; but..."
"I suppose they saw what the new recruits looked like, and
decided to show them who was on top of the mountain."
"Indeed. Two of them show a great deal of potential
though. Er... A Charles Reno, and a Rutford Kevins."
"That's the ones I was talking about. If Mister Reno
wasn't so good with his mouth, that open shirt and busted up jacket would
have kicked him out already. And the other one... He has the
personality of a brick. Talks about as much as one,
too."
"Indeed. But he hits as hard as one, or so the trainers
say."
"True. I called him Rutford, and he was about an inch
away from giving me a black eye in a second. He refuses to answer to
anything but Rude. Fitting nickname, I say."
"Hmm. Quite right, Mister Valentine. Now, I want
to ask you a favor."
"..."
"Volunteer yourself with those two, and go out for a bit.
I have a target which will be a great help for our research. Would
you be so kind as to help us get it?"
"Why not?"
"Excellent. Join me in my office, and I'll show you the
pictures. Her name's Ifalna."
"I'm right behind you, Professor Gast."
******
Planetary Year- 1904 --- 7/6 60° N, 30° W, somewhere above
the Gaea Mountain Range
"So... Let me get this straight. You drag our rumps
halfway across the world, to the coldest goddamn point on the Planet, to
capture a girl who Gast wants to use as a guinea pig?"
"..." Vincent said nothing. How many times did
he have to tell them?
"..."
Rude's silence made Reno even more uncomfortable than Vincent's
did. He shrugged. "Okay, okay. Just making sure.
Don't want to screw up my first field mission, that's all."
The helicopter zoomed over oceans and wastelands, through freezing
winds and small blizzards. Reno and Rude shivered in their suits.
Vincent calmly removed his midnight blue cape from his pack, and threw it
around his shoulders.
"Why do you wear that? It can't make you that warm.
It just makes you look like a freak." Reno said.
Even through the rookie's sunglasses, Vincent could feel Rude's
embarrassment at his partner's brashness.
Vincent lifted one eyebrow, and drew his gun from it's
holster. He pulled the corner of his cape around the barrel, and pointed
the gun at Reno through the cape. He pulled the trigger. Reno
flinched. The bullet harmlessly bounced off of the cape, onto the
floor.
"If it can hold a bullet, shouldn't it be able to hold the
wind and snow?"
Reno gulped, and nodded.
Vincent said nothing for the rest of the flight to the Icicle
Inn.
******
Planetary Year- 1904 --- 7/6 Icicle Inn, Gaea Mountains
The snow burst up in giant clouds as the chopper slowly lowered
itself to the ground. Three midnight blue clad gentlemen stepped out
of the chopper. The tallest one, with wild, black hair, said something
to the pilot. The chopper returned to the sky, and flew southward,
towards the wastes beyond the town. The men split up, and began walking
from home to home. A women stepped out of her cabin, and waved to the
tall one. "Over here!"
Vincent saw the women, with long brown hair. It was
her! He whistled sharply, signaling to his fellows, and began to walk
towards his target.
"I am Ifalna." she said. "I will not go with
you."
Vincent balked in surprise and anger, and was about to argue
with the woman.
"But." The woman held up her hand, to keep him from
arguing. "I will allow Professor Gast to come here. If he wishes,
I will allow him to set up his lab here, in my home."
Vincent was surprised. How had she known? He
paused. "..." Finally, he reached into his pocket, and pulled
out his PHS. (Personal Handheld -communication- System)
"Gast? It's Vincent. We have a proposition.
How would you like to take a little vacation?"
******
Professor Gast had been at the Icicle Inn for three months.
He was sending the conclusions of his research with Ifalna on a weekly
basis. Apparently, she was one of the Cetra, the race of
Planet-worshippers which had inexplicable powers which seemed to let
them control nature itself. According to legend, and Ifalna's stories,
the Cetra were wiped out by a mysterious power. According to Gast's
theories, it was in fact a plague, which actually had sentience. This
plague mutated one's body, and warped it in unusual ways. It was called
Jenova.
During the first few weeks, Gast's conclusions had been the
simple, straightforward, scientific reports he was well known for, yet as
he and Ifalna spent more and more time together, his reports began to focus
more on Ifalna, and less on the Cetra. This disturbed Vincent.
Not only did it seem that Gast was becoming less and less productive every
week, but he showed little if any signs of returning to Midgar. Gast's
assistant, Professor Hojo, was in charge of the Science and Research Program
in his absence. He and Vincent had never been friendly. Because
of this, Vincent was fairly surprised when Hojo asked him to accompany him
on a research mission, to Nibelheim.
.