[Active/Closed]

[optionalwangst]

Characters: Vincent Valentine, Sora (Auron, if he's around?)
Content: Crabs and Galerians and Unsent... oh my. Vinnie needs some patching up here.
Location: An apartment complex on 32nd Street, between Park and Madison.
Time of day: Afternoon
Warnings: Blood, broken bones, nothing too bad.

Comments

[optimistickey]

Sora knew it was stupid for him to go out in the streets alone, when the bigger crabs were going after people and making it even harder to fight them off. Perhaps it was even a little hypocritical of him, since he'd already been tough on Riku, Roxas and all of his other friends about going out alone. But after hearing that Vincent was not only alive but suffering serious injury, he'd decided to head off as soon as possible.

Very fortunately, he'd only encountered one crab along the way, and had managed to deal with it without resorting to magic. He really had to save it for curing. And while it wasn't a crab bite, it was still a friend in trouble, and Sora wasn't going to turn him down for any reason

[optionalwangst]

Alright. That had been a stupid move on his part.

Coughing hoarsely as his arm burned with pain, his legs stretched out and relaxed against the floor carefully. Of course. It was too soon to be trying to stand. He should have known that in his condition.

And a familiar voice buzzed through the room, sounding surprised, and a bit desperate.

Crimson eyes slipping shut in a mixture of exhaustion and faint amusement, he shook his head. "...m'fine. Calm down."

[optimistickey]

"You're not fine, you were stuck in a basement for months!" Sora reminded him, as if he'd somehow forgotten. At least Vincent hadn't quit being overly stoic. "Hold on, I'll fix it..."

Since he already had the Keyblade in hand, Sora went ahead and cast a cure spell. Hopefully it would be enough to take care of more of Vincent's injuries...he wasn't as bad as Marluxia when he'd been found, at least. As the sparkling leaves vanished from Vincent and a wave of exhaustion hit Sora, he realized that he would probably have to stay here until he recovered...if there were more crabs out there, he wouldn't have enough energy to sustain the Keyblade long enough to fight them off.

Or else Vincent would have to be strong enough to fight them off, which Sora very highly doubted. But there was no way Sora could do anything other than heal him (certainly couldn't carry him to a doctor) so he had no other choice.

[optionalwangst]

He'd wanted to argue that it hadn't been such a big deal - a lie, considering he'd nearly died down there, but assurance all the same - but exhaustion always won out in the end, and the younger boy had already cast the spell over him before another word could be spoken. There were a few moments of silence before the bandaged arm twitched and slid out of the sling, as if it hadn't been broken at all. Blood still stained his clothes and the floor, but the wounds covering his body shrunk gradually until they eventually disappeared entirely. The pain and stiffness melded away as well, leaving him feeling... well. Not rejuvinated exactly, but better. Magic didn't always take care of blood loss, so that was something he would need to work on himself. A couple hours of sleep, an actual cooked meal, and he'd feel better in a day or two

[optimistickey]

Sora took the moment of silence to focus on catching his breath, just leaning against the Keyblade...he was more than used to this by now, so he didn't take too much notice of it. Mostly he just wanted them both to recover enough so that they could safely leave this place and get back to friends and family. Even if many of Vincent's friends had disappeared since he was last seen.

However, he looked up again when Vincent addressed him, and cocked an eyebrow at him. After not seeing each other for months, thinking that Vincent had vanished back to his own world, and then finding him again only to discover that he had let himself get horribly injured...and the best greeting he could give him was a "hi?"

"Uhh...hi," Sora replied. Oh well, it would do.

[optionalwangst]

Small talk. Something he was never truly great at, but could manage nonetheless. But at least the younger boy wasn't piling on question after question on him, so that much was a plus, at least. He knew it would come eventually, though. It was unavoidable. Yuffie had already come to him about it, but he'd refused to tell her. She didn't need to worry more than she probably had while he'd 'vanished', and it would stay that way. Lucrecia was gone. He wasn't about to allow another close friend to get herself hurt for his sake at any cost. Sora didn't have to exhaust himself either, but he'd insisted. He wasn't a child who's hand needed to be held, and he could stand on his own two feet

[optimistickey]

Sora wasn't sure how well Vincent was feeling after the spell, but he got a good idea of it when he stood up and attempted to walk off on shaky legs. It looked like he was still having some trouble walking, let alone defending himself against monsters that could jump great distances and climb on ceilings and rip off your limbs. He couldn't let him go out yet.

Sheesh, trust it to Vincent to think that helping people out was a waste of time!

"Hey, if I'm not okay enough to go back out again, then you're definitely not going anywhere," Sora warned him. "The crabs are a lot worse now. They're faster and stronger. And if I just healed you then I'm not gonna let you go get bitten just so we can do it again!"

[optionalwangst]

Well, of course he knew about that. What did he fight endlessly for weeks on end down there? Still... the kid had a point. Couldn't force another healing spell in the same day, and he knew damn well the kid would insist, even if he said he was alright.

That's what got him into this mess, wasn't it?

Relaxing against the couch, the ex-Turk shrugged slightly with one shoulder, glancing over at the boy. "I'm fine. I don't what you're worked up about." A short pause. "I managed alone here once. It's fine."

[optimistickey]

Sora decided to dismiss the Keyblade; hopefully he'd have enough strength to summon it again once they headed back out...and hopefully none of the supercrabs would break in in the meanwhile. He didn't hear any, so it sounded like they'd be safe for the time being.

"I'm not getting worked up!" Sora insisted, crossing his arms at Vincent. "I just want to make sure that you don't do something dumb, especially after we just now find out that you've been here this whole time. I'm sure you're fine, It's just whether you're good enough right now."

[optionalwangst]

Sora's words had... surprised him, honestly. The fact that anyone even took notice that he was apparently missing, that he was missed... it wasn't anything his mind could even begin to fathom. He rested his head against the couch's cushions gently, lost in confused thought.

"I can't tell what's worse. Going home to die again, or surviving here with the knowledge that she's gone." He sighed wearly, noting the blood still staining everything. "I'm not sure if I will be fine, actually. Not... now."

[optimistickey]

He waited for Vincent to collect his thoughts, although it seemed like when he did, he was back on that depression kick. "You don't know for sure if you'll die," Sora reminded him. They had no way of confirming it one way or another right now.

There wasn't much Sora could do about Lucrecia being missing...he'd gone through similar things, after all, and all they could do was hope for them. "You're alive, right? And you're here, and you've still got friends. That's enough to keep going."

[optionalwangst]

He wasn't quite sure of that himself.

Though Hojo had made the comment of him having a nearly indestructable body. Nearly. Which meant the explosion that took out Omega may've destroyed him as well. "I also don't know if I'll live. Nobody I've spoken to does... though Lucrecia mentioned me talking to her."

He tensed at the next words spoken. "How alive am I, Sora? How am I anything like I used to be? ...I told you. Vincent died years ago. I'm what's left."

[optimistickey]

"Well if you talked to Lucrecia, obviously you survive then, right?" Even with the messed up space and time, Sora didn't see how that was any indication that Vincent would die.

Sora couldn't help rolling his eyes a little at Vincent's determination to put himself down or assume the worst of himself. "See, I know you are Vincent just because you're talking that way now, If you survived two months of being stuck in one place and fighting off crabs, I don't see why you feel like giving up now."

He'd obviously proven a will to survive, now he just needed to understand that himself.

[optionalwangst]

"She's..." He began softly, hesitating a few moments to find the best words to say. "Lucrecia... isn't among the mortal world. She's alive, but... a part of the Lifestream. If I was able to talk with her, I must have faded." It was the only reasonable explaination, even if he had spoken to her briefly while traveling with Cloud and the others those years ago. Everything was alright, she'd said. Everyone was going to be okay, and Chaos and Omega had returned to the Planet. She had been taken a few days after he had. But he never got to ask her if he truly had died then

[optimistickey]

Vincent had never described Lucrecia in quite this way before...so did that mean she was supposed to be dead in his world, like the Nobodies? Or perhaps something more like an angel. "You dunno for sure. And even if you did...you get to see her again, right?" Sora wasn't sure what was too bad about fading, as long as you weren't separated from the people you cared about.

"She probably still is, Vincent. It's not like we can control if we disappear ourselves..." If they could, then why would friends and family vanish when they still had people to look out for?

"Why don't you come back to the hotel? There's lots of people there." Even if Loz and Yazoo had vanished...it sounded like Vincent could use a little reminder that he wasn't the only person struggling here. And even if he didn't like it there, he could always find a new place later...Sora knew that Yuffie was still around, at least, and Vincent knew her. "Can't stay here, you know."

[optionalwangst]

That much had been true... it wasn't just another projection, dream, or hallucination; she really had been there. Alive. With him, like it was meant to be. He'd even developed a family of sorts... "It doesn't mean I can't miss her." He replied somberly. "I need to be a better father to Sephiroth, then... if she's gone. For her."

He stopped in his tracks at the suggestion, though he didn't look at the boy. "...are you... sure? I might not be welcomed after 'vanishing' like that."

Wasn't his fault.