Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ I Know What Lies Beneath the Snowfields ❯ Chapter 10 ( Chapter 10 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

"I Know What's Beneath the Snow Fields"
Chapter 10



The fresh, clean water hed literally revived Aeris' mind. She stepped out
of the bathroom, clothed in a warm dress, and took a deep breath of air.
Her whole body seemed rejuvenated; the water hed washed away all her
worries down the drain.

She flapped her towel twice, then wrapped it around her shoulders. Her
long brown hair fell in wet, loose coils all around her head. Pushing a
strand of hair out of her face, she wondered where everyone was.

The clear sound of the TV in the living room instantly caught her
attention. After some hesitation, she wandered down the hall, and turned
nervously into the living room.

Everyone was there. Cloud, with both hands in his pockets, followed the
words of the TV very carefully. Tifa stood near him; she was completely
absorbed as well.

Vincent, on the other hand, sat gloomily on the couch, paying no heed to
the troublesome television. He had washed his dirty face and changed his
tattered clothes while Aeris had been bathing. She could see him bent over
his damaged arm with grave interest, but could not guess what he was doing.

The TV suddenly blared out some incoherent jabber as it flashed a few
times. Vincent squeezed his eyes in annoyance, but managed to control
himself in time.

"Cloud!" he ordered with restraint, "Turn that down! I can't concentrate!"

"Oh, sorry man," apologized Cloud, "Hey, Aeris! Sit down! Sit down!
Something BIG just happened!"

Indeed, both Cloud and Tifa seemed excitedly glued to the TV. Tifa
occasionally gasped in surprise, but Cloud hushed her to listen.

Sitting next to Vincent, Aeris' eyes wandered to his metallic arm. Much to
her horror, she noticed the top cover of his arm propped open, displaying
all sorts of coloured wires, circuits, and other strange "gadgets" inside.

Vincent fumbled in a small tool box near his feet, pulling out a pair of
pliers. He dug them deep into his arm, twisted them around, then ruthlessly
yanked a sparkling wire out of his claw. He flung it away contemptuously.

With a muffled curse, Vincent picked up a slender black pin from the tool
box, and began fiddling inside his metallic arm. His face expressed deep
solemnity mixed with vexation. Yet he continued to repair his arm,
oblivious to the bothersome television.

He glanced askance at Aeris, who gave an involintairy start on meeting his
bloody-red eyes. However, Vincent instantly reverted his attention on his
arm again, taking no more notice of her.

"Oh!" exclaimed Tifa loudly, "Here it comes!"

Aeris shifted her eys to the television, still not understanding the cause
of all the excitement. A young woman appeared on the screen with a slightly
nervous face.

"And now for breaking news," began the announcer importantly, "A most
violent explosion ripped through the former ShinRa headquarters. It occured
in Sector 1 of Midgar, at around 6:30 this evening."

Aeris nearly fell off the couch in alarm. She stared incredulously as
images of the devestated building flickered across the screen. Her head
suddenly darted back to Vincent, but he seemed more interested in shoving a
fuse inside his arm. He did not even raise his eyes to look.

"The whole friggin' building's blown apart!" commented Cloud amazedly,
"Look! Even the base is wiped out!"

"That must've been one Hell of an explosion!" added Tifa in awe.

"The police at first believed this was a terrorist attack," resumed the
young announcer, "however, many people are reporting they heard heavy
gunshots shortly before the explosion. Now police believe that a fight
between two rival street gangs caused the explosion."

Aeris sat perfectly still, not daring to lift her eyes. Vincent gracefully
twisted a wire around his fingers, and began hooking it inside his arm,
scarecly paying attention to the disturbing news.

The announcer explained that a pipe in the upper wall had accidently been
blasted away, causing the entire wall to collapse. However, this pipe also
served as some gasket full of an extrermly reactive, pungent gas.

"Police add that this gas reacted with the air, and caused the explosion
and fire," she concluded.

Tifa and Cloud exchanged more brief comments about the incident before the
announcer continued.

"Police have anxiously searched the entire blast site for survivors, even
under the wall debris. They assure everyone that, luckily, nobody was
present when the actual explosion occured."

Vincent's hand stopped abruptly, as struck by lightning. Aeris looked
apprehensively at the screen, then at Vincent's face. He stared blankly at
the television, obviously not believing his ears: he was *sure* Davoren had
perished under the wall.

"Yeesh!" said Cloud in disgust, "These gangsters are getting pretty
nasty..not to mention dangerous!"

He began flicking through the other channels in search of some comedy
show. Tifa suddenly remembered the dinner, and skipped out of the room to
set the table.

Aeris still gazed at Vincent, her heart growing sick with worry. He sat
broodingly over his metallic arm for a minute, completely lost in thought,
but quickly resumed repairing his arm. He said nothing.

"'ShinRa Headquarters'?" remarked Cloud, turning to Vincent, "say, isn't
that near the place where you got into a fight?"

"Yes," answered Vincent mechanically.

"Well, it's a good thing Vincent found you, Aeris," smiled Cloud at the
girl, "You could've wandered into that dangerous place without even knowing
it!"

She fidgetted uncomfortably, muttering a faint "yes" in reply.

"I wanted to go look for you too," he continued, "but Tifa said I'd be
better off fixing the door she busted."

Aeris nodded her head slowly to acknowledge his kindness.

"So, how's your arm, Vincent?" Cloud asked light-heartedly.

"I can move my thumb and index finger now," replied Vincent dryly. Though
he obviously had no interest in talking to Cloud, he twitched his two iron
fingers to show his success.

"Hey, you're a pretty good mechanic!" praised Cloud, "Wait..I thought you
were a gunsmith."

"I am."

"Then how do you know what all those little gizmos and diddly-bops do?"

"Well, obviously," Vincent answered sarcastiaclly, "I'd know how to handle
and repair my own arm, Cloud. It *is* a part of my body, after all."

"You any good with motorbikes? See, mine got busted last week, and I.."

Vincent glared menacingly at him, as though he would murder him on the
spot if he continued to annoy him. Cloud, perceiving that his friend wasn't
in his best mood, wisely decided to retreat.

"Um..right," he laughed nervously, "I'd better go..help Tifa..Yeah!"

Cloud scurried out of the living room. Vincent and Aeris were left alone.

The two were very silent. Aeris stared vacantly at Vincent's metallic arm
as he resumed the repairs. He pulled out damaged wires, fiddled with
control mechanisms, tested the movement of his fingers, yet would not look
at anything else except his battered claw.

Digging a slender, thin file into his arm, he began to carefully pick at
some device embedded inside. Suddenly, a wild spark zapped his meddling
hand, angry at the rude intrusion. Vincent jerked his hand away in pain,
and flung the file to the ground.

"Ah..shit..," he growled in an undertone. He licked his burnt fingers with
obvious impatience.

"Here, let me help you," suggested Aeris kindly. She picked up the
foresaken file, then placed it back in his hand.

Vincent gazed at her for a full minute with a most thoughtful, serious
expression on his face. Though she grew increasingly uncomfortable under
his scrutinizing eyes, Aeris refused to shrink away from him as before.

"How..how are you now?" she inquired softly, looking directly into his
eyes to show her courage.

"I'm fine," he replied, "..and you?"

"Much better."

His musing eyes lingered on her for another moment before he restarted the
tedious repairs. An uneasy silence fell on them again.

Aeris glanced quickly all around her, then suddenly reached for Vincent's
hand, which froze solid at her warm touch.

"Tell me," she whispered beseachingly, "what that man said back
there..about that 'Turk' bit. Was it..true?"

Vincent's whole face darkened mournfully as she pressed his hand for an
honest reply. After a brief silence, he reluctantly closed his eyes, and
took a deep breath, preparing himself for a long explanation.

"Do you know that place we were at today?" he began solemnly.

"The 'ShinRa Headquarters'?"

He nodded his head, then continued, "ShinRa used to be an extremely
powerful company, controlled by a president. This president had this
'special task force', bodyguards called 'the Turks'."

"And you..?"

"Yes. I was a Turk in shinRa."

The statement sounded very blunt, if not emotionless, to Aeris, as if to
say "so what if it's true?". She stole another glance at the door, then
drew his hand near her body, looking intently into his face. Vincent did
not pull his hand away, but persistantly held onto the slender file, and
would not return her anxious gaze.

"What about that man..Davoren?" she asked nervously. The very recollection
of his face filled her heart with unimaginable dread.

"Oh, him," Vincent muttered, "He was the leader of the Turks when I joined
ShinRa."

"He was..a friend of yours?"

"In a way, yes. He was..but.."

He suddenly shifted his keen eyes to her, speaking in an extremely subdued
voice.


"Davoren died, or at least I thought he had died, a long time ago. I..I
shot him in the head..with a gun."

Aeris stared blankly at his face for a long time, trying to grasp his
strange meaning. Vincent turned his head away slowly, and plunged into
silent, moody meditation.

"But..how?!" she wondered, interrupting his thoughts, "If you're so sure
he died, then how could he.."

"I don't know Aeris, but what worries me is that..this Davoren..he hasn't
aged at all, even though it's been thirty-one years since I last saw him."

Aeris fixed her green eyes on his face to make sure she didn't miss a
single syllable, even though she hardly understood any of his "confusing
riddles". Vincent twiddled with the file as he narrowed his eyed in
profound contemplation.

"his hair and his eye colour have changed dramatically, I'll grant him
that," he murmurred to himself, "but his face, Aeris, his actual face
hasn't even changed a wrinkle. it's exactly as young as it was thirty-one

years ago."

He focused his eyes on his half-fixed arm, twirling the hapless tool
between his fingers all the time. The girl squirmed nervously next to him.
She could not think of any answer; his musings simply made no sense to her.

"I have only one explanation," Vincent concluded "he must've underwent
the same experiment I did."

Vincent knitted his brows, then attacked his metallic arm with the file,
as if stabbing some invisible enemy. He vigorously resumed repairing it,
preferring to wallow privately in his own thoughts, but a gentle touch on
his arm halted him again.

"What..what experiment?" whispered Aeris. she stared anxiously into his
face, with her hand clinging to his arm.

"When I worked in ShinRa, there was this professor in the science
department, named Hojo," he explained patiently, "I didn't exactly
understand his reasons, but Hojo performed some experiment on my
body..'corporal alterations', shall we say."

"Is that how you got.."

"My claw?" he said, finishing her hesitant sentence, "Heh, believe me,
this arm is the *best* thing I got out of the experiment."

He suddenly shifted his whole body towards her, and stared feverishly into
her wondering eyes. Aeris would've moved back, except that she was already
cornered at the end of the sofa.

"But, it's been thirty-one years since I underwent that experiment,
Aeris," he muttered mysteriously.

aeris blinked in confusion, but dared not take her eyes off him for a
second. She tightened the towel around her shoulders to stop shaking; his
strange tone frightened her beyond anything else she had experienced that
day.

"How..is that possible?" she faltered, "I don't understand.."

"The experiment inhibitted all the growth factors in my body, and
readjusted their chemical balance to adapt to the new, varios alterations,"
Vincent answered automatically, as if reciting some lesson.

Aeris stared at him with a most confused, distressed look troubling her
beautiful face. She hadn't understood a single word he had said.

"What does..that mean?" she stammered.

"It means I stopped aging thirty-one years ago, just like Davoren."

Aeris sat upright, thus bringing her face very close to his. She
frantically studied every feature of his pale face, finally resting on his
gleaming, ruby-red eyes. neither uttered a word.

"But..your face!" she forced out in disbelief, "You don't.."

"It's just an illusion, Aeris," he whispered softly, "This face, this
body, it's all an illusion."

Yes, Vincent, he reflected sarcastically, you're nothing but a monster in
human form. An illusion to fool eveyone..

They stared at each other for a few seconds until Aeris finally turned her
head away from him, completely overwhelmed with her emotions. Vincent, who
still face her, cast his eyes down. Different thoughts crammed his mind all
at once and rudely pushed each other to the side; he could not settle on
any particular one.

"then..is Davoren working for Hojo?" Aeris asked weakly. Her heart felt
sick with worry, "Is Hojo the same professor who's after me?"

"I don't know about that either, Aeris.."

She grew extremely silent.

"Hojo..injected himself with some bio-chemical mutagen that completely
chenged his body," Vincent continued deliberately, "We killed him a year
ago, but I wouldn't be surprised if somehow managed to survive."

He noticed her hands tremble under the towel. Though he looked intently at
her again, Aeris seemed to stare at something visible to her alone.

"And if he's really after you," he finished, "then he'll stop at nothing
to get you."

The sentence was passed, and her fate sealed. Davoren had somehow survived
the explosion, she knew, and would undoubtedly find her again. Then what?
He'd just drag her away..back to the Professor.

I don't want to go back there, her mind cried in disgust, I don't want
to!! I don't want to!!

So many foreboding feeling, emotions, and thoughts bombarded the poor
girl's head from all directions. Her eyes constantly shot from one end of
the room th the other, expecting to find both Davoren and the Professor
hiding in some obscure corner. The deathly stillness only annoyed her
further.

Vincent looked significantly at the troubled girl, yet she did not seem to
notice his presence anymore; her fears had entirely engrossed her. He
slowly drew his arm around her and leaned her body against himself.
Although Aeris submissively nestled her head against his shoulder, she
shook with sickening agitation.

His arm enveloped her securil, as though it would protect her from the
eyes of the hateful Professor.

But even Vincent knew he could not totally shield her from that invisible
creature. It seemed to lurk in every shadow, ready to pounce on her at the
mention of its mane. Wherever she turned, it laughed silently at her
pathetic helplessness. It simply revelled in her misery.

Vincent knew every emotion Aeris felt at that moment only too well: how
many times had himself trudged through them, over a period of thirty years?

Yet it pained him to the girl suffer from the same agonising fears, and
even more that he could not erase any of them.

"Aeris! Vincent!" called Tifa from the kitchen, "Dinnertime!!"

Aeris instantly pulled herself away from Vincent, hesitating to look uo at
him for a few seconds. But soon, a warm smile crept to her lips, and she
found herself giggling softly as she turned to Vincent.

"Heh heh..are you sure we shouldn't tell them about any of this?" she
whispered slyly.

"I don't want to get either of them involved," he answered with a calm
voice, "It would only complicate matters."

Aeris nodded her head understandingly, then bounced onto her feet
vigorously. She stood infront of him, her entire face beaming with delight.
Vincent was quite surprised: he hadn't expected to be so successful at
comforting her.

But, in truth, he done so much more to Aeris. He didn't know that when he
had embraced her, he had embraced her fears and sadness as well.

And as long as he remained by her side, that burden did not feel so heavy
on her heart anymore.

"Vincent," aeris smiled kindly," I..I owe you more than my life..after all
that happened today.Thank you"

He gazed directly into her face, but before he could open his mouth, Tifa
poked her head through the door.

"Hey, you two!" she cried playfully, "Better come 'n get your share!
Before Cloud gobbles it aii up!"

"Ha ha!" shouted Cloud from the hallway, "Very funny!"

"Alright, alright! I'm coming," laughed Aeris, skipping out of the living
room.

"You too, Mr. Valentine!" demanded Tifa. She yanked him to his feet, "I
cooked this stuff for YOU, and you're gonna eat it!"

So with that final order, Tifa dragged the unresisting Vincent out of the
room, barely giving him time to close the top cover of his metallic arm.