Would it be safe to bet mako had played its role in Hojo's experiment on Vincent's body? Probably. Maybe that explains the way the gunman's eyes are. Or it could have been the other byproduct of the Lifestream. The natural, terrible darkness of life's sins and terror and fear.
He could have... asked? This seems to startle Vincent, causing his eyes to crease in a manner of confusion. Though with Sephiroth's condition, it's possible the words are nonsensical because the teenager's mental state is diminished. ...For now it is not worth remarking for fear of sounding as though he were mocking Sephiroth's plight. He might wonder about it... and later understand it to his chagrin.
But no one said the aftermath was going to be easy for the gunman. He wasn't even deluding himself.
"..." For a second, Vincent's gaze trails after the rolling Esuna sphere. 'Hold on to them.' Like this was going to be a temporary thing. Back on Gaia maybe Sephiroth had come to believe that. Scientists would repair him, send him back out even if he was shot to death. It was not something he would put past Hojo to try. But here? At least he could give the boy a peaceful burial. Burn the body. Salt the ashes. Leave nothing behind. And pray if there's a Lifestream here, his essence doesn't persist.
It is the locket that Vincent finally chooses to move for the sake of. He doesn't know what it is or what's in it that's so important to Sephiroth, but the teenager's effort to hold it up and hold onto it so it doesn't hit the ground as the materia had is worthy of noting.
If it's a trap, which Vincent hesitated to consider for a moment, he chooses to take the bait. The viper's strike reminds him of a presence near the collapsed boy. Thus as he reaches for the locket, it is for more than the right being occupied with his gun that he uses his left hand. The fangs clash with the brass plates harmlessly while the locket is claimed and safely cupped.
Familiars are... common here. And Vincent could, even if he had already mentioned the black chocobo, have easily claimed it was just another beast shape granted by the Fox. It would have made a lot of sense if he had kept it hidden.
"As far as I know, I'm unique." It won't be denied. "Not unlike yourself."
A product of the scientists of Gaia who chose to play with the natural order to try and create a superior being.
Vincent begins to stand again. A study of his gun is made; something he had made sure was already loaded, but... habit. But to check the clip would mean needing to empty his left and he intends to do just that, a brief, cursory look at the half open...
The dim light is enough. Painfully enough. Would Sephiroth be cognizant enough to recognize how Vincent doesn't just still, he freezes? And then opens the locket further. He shouldn't have.
He really shouldn't have. Vincent's gaze snaps up to focus on the dying(?) teen.
"Where did you get this?!" Emotion, something he feels but so rarely openly expressed on a raw level, fills his question.
There had only been the one, final trap, and Vincent, garbed as he was, was frustratingly well protected versus vipers. Especially with an Esuna rolling around. It hadn't been meant for him, but the unprotected behemoth, likely to have died in the cave with the teen who'd spent time digging them out, wrapping them up and taking them with him. Now, out of energy and out of strength, Sephiroth has no further tricks planned. Those required effort.
Even the huff of a faint, wheezing laugh takes effort. Unique. He isn't - he's just one of the prototypes. There would be others, many others. Hundreds. He'd say so if he felt capable of it, but that was sliding away. Even now, even all of THIS, it wouldn't kill him, but a couple more shots this close, this unlikely to miss would see to that anyway. He better focus while he can. Remember. It feels like..
Like a vast, suffocating weight, pain bleeding into numbness, his (not fear, he'd been trained out of fear--) anxiousness melting away to calm by degrees even as the ringing in his ears grows louder; he knows what that is at least. Reflexively, the sound of movement draws his attention, gaze a bit unfocused, the gun noted and dismissed. It shouldn't hurt much, one clean shot. The way the Turk freezes is unexpected, but the lack of focus grows visibly worse as Vincent demands where he got it from.
What a stupid question. He got it from an annoying unethical asshole that passed as his caregiver.
But if he wanted to answer, it fails. As does his ability to cling to wakefulness. There'll be no answers to that question, not aloud.
It feels exactly like passing out, routine and ordinary. He'll be disappointed when he wakes up later.
As upset as Vincent clearly gotten, the locket is still held with a cradled, protective care that would ensure it came to no harm. He is not angry at Sephiroth. Angry at... anyone? No, this is shock, distress over the stunning belonging that the teen cared so much for as to hand it over to his potential killer with such care.
It was impossible for Sephiroth to have known him that this was a trap. But wasn't it also supposed to be impossible that he had known her? Rather than a response to his question, all Vincent receives is a wheezed huff that might have been amusement and... silence.
And he only has himself to blame for this.
In the end it... really shouldn't matter. Ultimately, Sephiroth had always been her son. Vincent had been well aware of that fact, just as he knew the reason he'd decided to do this was about inescapable truths and personal reasons both.
It... was inescapable, right? But he could almost hear her voice, gentle and teasing like it was before.
"...Lucrecia."
Vincent raises his firearm, aims and fires. Gunshots ring out and the cavern fills with flashes of light. Once the echoes fade, the floor has stopped moving. At least enough that Vincent feels safe to pick up the Esuna. It's melded to the gun which is then holstered before he strides to the unconscious SOLDIER. The cloak is removed once again, supplies taken out. He doesn't expect to stabilize Sephiroth; there's too much internal damage. But what he can do is tourniquets, wing bindings and then wrapping the whole of the youth into the scarlet cloak.
He knows he has only a little bit of time before something comes to investigate the sound of the gunshots in the night so he's swift. The wrapped body is lifted as easily as a feather.
If anything lurks in way, they may have to be surprised at the red and black blur that bursts from the opening of the troll cave and nearly straight up, intent on spring-boarding his way to a dubiously safer ledge. Later he will cross the mountain to the other side where Agrona rests on the talons of a chocobo.
He may not know what he's doing right now or exactly why he didn't kill Sephiroth as a final mercy.
Vincent does know why. He isn't permitting himself the opportunity to think about it right now.
But it's not just the selfishness of wanting to find the answer of why Sephiroth had a locket with Lucrecia's picture in it. He... isn't sure he deserves to learn the answer. Vincent is saving the teen because of the creeping, consuming thought that he has made a terrible mistake. Nothing will erase it any more than most of his sins. But he can at least leave the boy his life.
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timeasmymeasure
cw addon: human experimentation
Date: 2024-05-02 10:34 pm (UTC)He could have... asked? This seems to startle Vincent, causing his eyes to crease in a manner of confusion. Though with Sephiroth's condition, it's possible the words are nonsensical because the teenager's mental state is diminished. ...For now it is not worth remarking for fear of sounding as though he were mocking Sephiroth's plight. He might wonder about it... and later understand it to his chagrin.
But no one said the aftermath was going to be easy for the gunman. He wasn't even deluding himself.
"..." For a second, Vincent's gaze trails after the rolling Esuna sphere. 'Hold on to them.' Like this was going to be a temporary thing. Back on Gaia maybe Sephiroth had come to believe that. Scientists would repair him, send him back out even if he was shot to death. It was not something he would put past Hojo to try. But here? At least he could give the boy a peaceful burial. Burn the body. Salt the ashes. Leave nothing behind. And pray if there's a Lifestream here, his essence doesn't persist.
It is the locket that Vincent finally chooses to move for the sake of. He doesn't know what it is or what's in it that's so important to Sephiroth, but the teenager's effort to hold it up and hold onto it so it doesn't hit the ground as the materia had is worthy of noting.
If it's a trap, which Vincent hesitated to consider for a moment, he chooses to take the bait. The viper's strike reminds him of a presence near the collapsed boy. Thus as he reaches for the locket, it is for more than the right being occupied with his gun that he uses his left hand. The fangs clash with the brass plates harmlessly while the locket is claimed and safely cupped.
Familiars are... common here. And Vincent could, even if he had already mentioned the black chocobo, have easily claimed it was just another beast shape granted by the Fox. It would have made a lot of sense if he had kept it hidden.
"As far as I know, I'm unique." It won't be denied. "Not unlike yourself."
A product of the scientists of Gaia who chose to play with the natural order to try and create a superior being.
Vincent begins to stand again. A study of his gun is made; something he had made sure was already loaded, but... habit. But to check the clip would mean needing to empty his left and he intends to do just that, a brief, cursory look at the half open...
The dim light is enough. Painfully enough. Would Sephiroth be cognizant enough to recognize how Vincent doesn't just still, he freezes? And then opens the locket further. He shouldn't have.
He really shouldn't have. Vincent's gaze snaps up to focus on the dying(?) teen.
"Where did you get this?!" Emotion, something he feels but so rarely openly expressed on a raw level, fills his question.
no subject
Date: 2024-05-02 10:55 pm (UTC)Even the huff of a faint, wheezing laugh takes effort. Unique. He isn't - he's just one of the prototypes. There would be others, many others. Hundreds. He'd say so if he felt capable of it, but that was sliding away. Even now, even all of THIS, it wouldn't kill him, but a couple more shots this close, this unlikely to miss would see to that anyway. He better focus while he can. Remember. It feels like..
Like a vast, suffocating weight, pain bleeding into numbness, his (not fear, he'd been trained out of fear--) anxiousness melting away to calm by degrees even as the ringing in his ears grows louder; he knows what that is at least. Reflexively, the sound of movement draws his attention, gaze a bit unfocused, the gun noted and dismissed. It shouldn't hurt much, one clean shot. The way the Turk freezes is unexpected, but the lack of focus grows visibly worse as Vincent demands where he got it from.
What a stupid question. He got it from an annoying unethical asshole that passed as his caregiver.
But if he wanted to answer, it fails. As does his ability to cling to wakefulness. There'll be no answers to that question, not aloud.
It feels exactly like passing out, routine and ordinary. He'll be disappointed when he wakes up later.
no subject
Date: 2024-05-03 12:13 am (UTC)It was impossible for Sephiroth to have known him that this was a trap. But wasn't it also supposed to be impossible that he had known her? Rather than a response to his question, all Vincent receives is a wheezed huff that might have been amusement and... silence.
And he only has himself to blame for this.
In the end it... really shouldn't matter. Ultimately, Sephiroth had always been her son. Vincent had been well aware of that fact, just as he knew the reason he'd decided to do this was about inescapable truths and personal reasons both.
It... was inescapable, right? But he could almost hear her voice, gentle and teasing like it was before.
"...Lucrecia."
Vincent raises his firearm, aims and fires. Gunshots ring out and the cavern fills with flashes of light. Once the echoes fade, the floor has stopped moving. At least enough that Vincent feels safe to pick up the Esuna. It's melded to the gun which is then holstered before he strides to the unconscious SOLDIER. The cloak is removed once again, supplies taken out. He doesn't expect to stabilize Sephiroth; there's too much internal damage. But what he can do is tourniquets, wing bindings and then wrapping the whole of the youth into the scarlet cloak.
He knows he has only a little bit of time before something comes to investigate the sound of the gunshots in the night so he's swift. The wrapped body is lifted as easily as a feather.
If anything lurks in way, they may have to be surprised at the red and black blur that bursts from the opening of the troll cave and nearly straight up, intent on spring-boarding his way to a dubiously safer ledge. Later he will cross the mountain to the other side where Agrona rests on the talons of a chocobo.
He may not know what he's doing right now or exactly why he didn't kill Sephiroth as a final mercy.
Vincent does know why. He isn't permitting himself the opportunity to think about it right now.
But it's not just the selfishness of wanting to find the answer of why Sephiroth had a locket with Lucrecia's picture in it. He... isn't sure he deserves to learn the answer. Vincent is saving the teen because of the creeping, consuming thought that he has made a terrible mistake. Nothing will erase it any more than most of his sins. But he can at least leave the boy his life.