[COMPLETE]

[crepusculine]

Who: Vincent and Naminé
When: A few hours before dark.
Where: Clock tower.
Rating: G-PG.
Warnings: N/A.
Summary: Naminé meets up with Vincent to see if she can do something about his nightmares.

Comments

[foreswear]

And she was quite persistent, wasn't she? Not wanting to be rude (and not wanting to be the one to make such a soft face frown), he hesitantly pulled off one glove before picking the piece of bread from the basket. For some reason, Vincent always had a difficult time eating while in the presence of other people. It had never felt quite right to him - not since... well, not since before he died, which was a long - long - time ago. Sometimes, he forgot how old he actually was. It might have been because he never really felt his age, and that was more than likely due to the fact that he had spent half of his years sleeping in a locked coffin beneath the Shinra mansion.

He frowned at the memories, tearing off a small corner of the bread with his teeth and chewing, slowly, thoughtfully. Why did he always track back to that? There was no point. Yet it was always nearly impossible for him to leave the past in the past; he didn't know how many times he had mulled over those agonizing and painstaking events that had occurred decades earlier.

He looked back up to her, finally, focused in on her face as he nodded.

"You're very kind, Naminé."

[crepusculine]

She could have easily argued that point, but decided to simply accept the compliment with a smile. As she sat back, legs tucked beneath her, she pulled a piece of fruit from the basket to have for her own breakfast. All the while, she was debating what to say to him, wondering what exactly would constitute as over-stepping her bounds given that she'd only met him the night before. Of course, any and everything she wanted to say was meant to try and help somehow, but that didn't mean Vincent would take it as anything other than prying.

Her eyes lowered a moment as she took a bite of her apple, chewed it thoughtfully and swallowed. At that point, she turned it about in her fingers idly and lifted her gaze to him again.

"I think..." she started to say, trailing off, losing her thought momentarily amongst a thousand others. When she spoke again, it was the only thing that really made sense to say, rather than asking questions that she already knew the answers to after having seen so many of his memories the previous evening.

"...I think that you should let it all go."

[foreswear]

He tilted his head slightly, blinking curiously at her when she spoke. Let it all go? Well, he couldn't say he disagreed with her on that one. If he knew what was good for him, he would have let it all go before everything started spiraling out of control. Before he was desperately clinging to whatever small piece of redemption he could salvage before it slipped from him. Vincent Valentine was, in no way, a happy or satisfied man. He was caustic, usually cold and indifferent to those he did not regard as an asset to his mission, yet stubbornly independent all the same.

Before everything had lost its focus, back when he was a Turk, he hadn't been terribly happy then, either. But he had been somewhat satisfied, somewhat content, with having Lucrecia near, knowing that she cared for him, even despite her actions. He swallowed hard at the thought of her, moving one hand up to drag through dark hair.

"That would be for the best," he said quietly, after a minute of silence. "But I can't."

Truth was, he hadn't even come close to redeeming himself yet. Redeeming Lucrecia. He felt it necessary to make up for her mistakes, seeing as how he had been the one who had stood idly by as she made them. He could have done so much, and yet there had been Hojo. It was always Hojo. Always one step ahead of him. And now he was in the same world, yet again, that Vincent was in, and he refused to let him forget about his past treacheries. That man couldn't be trusted, not at all, and if he hurt anyone again...

Vincent doubted he would ever be able to forgive himself.

"Someday, maybe. But not now."

[crepusculine]

Naminé's eyes never left his face, studying him even as her seemed lost in thought. It was sad, she thought, to let one's past get the best of them. If she'd learned anything from the people she'd met there - Zack, Cloud, Aerith... - it was that holding onto memories, things that could not be changed, did nothing but drag a person down. Even herself... after all the difficulties she'd caused, lives she'd ruined... Roxas and Sora had forgiven her, and so she'd done her best to move past it.

She drew in a breath, exhaled, allowing her thoughts out with it before speaking again. "Why not now?"

[foreswear]

"It wouldn't be fair to myself or to Luc... other people. I have to make up for the wrongs I've committed in the past. Then I can focus on the present."

He leaned back against the worn cushion of the couch, ignoring the old springs that pressed hard against his shoulder. Answering the type of questions that Namine was asking him was not something he was really accustomed to doing. Usually, he'd remain silent, lift one shoulder in a shrug as his eyes trailed up to an open sky. It was different with her, though. She was no threat to him. And if she was, he didn't really particularly care enough to worry about it. After all, she had been nothing but friendly to him.

"He knew he was wrong," he murmured, mostly to himself, studying a cracked mirror that stood on the wall directly over her shoulder. "And he stole everything from me and from the people I care about. I must cease his actions permanently before I am forgiven."

[crepusculine]

"I think Lucrecia's already forgiven you, you know," Naminé said softly, taking another bite of her apple before replacing it in the basket. She shifted forward, crawling up onto the couch beside him, knees drawing up to her chest after she'd toed her sandals off to the floor.

Her head tilted to look up at him, studying his face. "And, you know... if you spend your entire life trying to make up for wrongs in the past, you're never going to get to live in the present. There's always something that people do wrong, something that could - should - be rectified."

Not that she didn't think he was right in wanting Hojo punished, but... she felt that killing him wasn't the answer. He would only come back in this place, and long after everyone else was allowed to leave, Hojo would still be there to cause problems. Sephiroth, too, she thought. Along with far too many others.

[foreswear]

If he had been surprised by the sound of Lucrecia's name coming from her mouth, the only way it showed was through the quick jerk of his head toward her. His face, however, remained rather impassive. It did make sense, after all. Whatever she had done to him last night obviously connected her to him in a way where she somehow knew the events of his past. And if it wasn't then, then he wasn't exactly sure how she knew. Though it didn't matter.

The corner of his mouth twitched suspiciously when she moved over next to him, and he shifted slightly, allowing her a little more room to make sure she wasn't uncomfortable. He didn't know her very well, granted, but he could already tell that she was, indeed, a lovely person. Very, very young - much younger than he - but he knew that from the moment he saw her. She was angelic, oddly wise for her age, but naive all the same.

Sometimes, he missed the naivete that came along with being young.

"That's very true."

Still, the one thing that bluntly separated him from Naminé was not his age or even the raw basics of his hard personality compared to her gentle and compassionate one. Vincent was still the same Turk he had been before that title had been stripped of him. He handled most situations with a violent calculation, analytical and withdrawn from the softer side of reality. Like always, whenever something stood in his way or whenever something needed to be taken care of, his first instinct was to withdraw his gun and slide a careful finger to the trigger as he aimed.

That was probably something that would never change.

[crepusculine]

Naminé looked straight ahead again, staring out over the room, studying the shadows here and there as though she still wasn't positive whether or not someone was there lurking in them. Paranoia. Perhaps that was something she would never get over.

"I also don't think you're a bad person. I think you're as human as some of the nicest people I know," was what she said next, words as honest as ever. He'd done some bad things, certainly... but that didn't make him a bad person. And didn't his mistakes, really, make him more human, according to that saying?

To err is human.

She lowered her gaze, tugging lightly at the hem of her dress. "And Hojo will get what's coming to him, whether it be from you, or one of the other people whose life he's ruined."

[foreswear]

"That's sweet of you to say so."

He briefly wondered where she had heard of Hojo, too. Had it been from when she was putting him to sleep the other night? Then again, from what he could tell, Hojo had been in purgatorium quite awhile before Vincent arrived himself. She could have definitely run into him during her time spent there.

If it was that, though, he hoped their contact had been short and quick. He also hoped that they hadn't crossed paths more than once. God only knew what that man was capable of when he set his mind to something.

Well, Vincent supposed he knew, too. He had spent a considerable number of hours lying on his lab table, after all.

"And I hope you're right. About Hojo, I mean."

[crepusculine]

"I'm right about that," she nodded, convinced of that more than anything else. Almost absently, she touched a hand to her stomach. She refused to let Hojo harm anyone again. Not Cloud, not Vincent, especially not Zack or her child. If she had to shatter every memory in his head and leave him comatose to starve and wither away, then she'd gladly do it.

Her expression had grown rather serious, and after a moment of debating, "Rufus is sending people to watch him. The Gods would be displeased if we did anything now, without any proof that he's caused trouble since being here. He's harassed Zack and I, but... he's not tried anything yet." And until he did, until they had some sort of proof, Medea and Asclepius wouldn't take kindly to finding out Hojo had been slaughtered by anyone.

[foreswear]

He stiffened at her words, slightly alarmed (but somehow not very surprised). So, Hojo had been bothering people, then? Well, it's not like he hadn't expected that, really. After all, Hojo never was one to keep to himself and his own business. Vincent supposed he could say the same about himself, but he didn't like to consider his own actions as being on the same level as the other man's.

"He's a sensible and practiced man. It'll take a lot for anyone to catch him in the act."

Tilting his head back, he sighed wearily. Couldn't people just stay dead after they had been killed? The whole idea of being reincarnated after one went to such great lengths to ensure that their life had been successfully snuffed out was mildly insulting. Besides, Vincent really hated repeating himself.

[crepusculine]

"It will happen; he'll get caught and you won't have to worry about him anymore." Naminé nodded slightly, as though wanting to confirm her own words to herself, as well as to Vincent.

She took a breath, legs slowly straightening out. "I should probably be going before I'm late to work. Rufus will get angry." And fire her. Again. But she was slowly getting used to that, and typically 'you're fired' tended to mean 'get out of here and I expect to see you here tomorrow, on time.' Naminé's nose wrinkled up slightly. She liked Rufus well enough, but... he really was frustrating sometimes.

[foreswear]

"I understand."

Slowly, he pulled himself away from the couch, scooting to the end of the cushion before eventually standing. Resisting the urge to stretch, he glanced back down at her and held out an open palm, offering her his hand to help her up.

"Do you need me to accompany you? I'll go as far as I'm able, though I get the feeling that you're quite used to the nature of this part of the, ah, city."

[crepusculine]

Naminé more than willingly took the offered hand and got to her feet, fingers curling carefully about Vincent's. There was always something that made her feel better about touching people. Safer, somehow. She couldn't remember a time when traveling with Axel or Riku where she wasn't hanging onto their hand for dear life as though they'd disappear if she didn't.

Which was exactly why she kept hold of Vincent's hand, even after she'd gotten to her feet and was staring up at him.

"I would like that, if you wouldn't mind. I can show you around a little on the way." She looked away briefly, only long enough to pick up the food basket with her free hand so as not to leave it behind for anyone else that might stumble across this place during the way.

And then she was giving the tall man's hand a gentle tug toward the door, flashing him a smile.

[foreswear]

He had been a little surprised when she didn't pull away after standing, but he didn't pull his hand from hers, either. If anything, he held it a little tighter as she tugged him toward the door, eyes scanning the dark surroundings once more as he pushed against the creaky wood to open it with his free hand. He definitely wasn't going to let any harm come to her, regardless if there was any present danger or not. She seemed to trust him (and hadn't Lucrecia?), and he most often tried to refrain from letting down those that put such faith in him.

"Careful, watch your step," he said softly as he stepped into the barren street, pulling her close to his side. "Which way?"

[crepusculine]

The blonde glanced down either way, taking but a second to regather her sense of direction. At which point, she inclined her chin to nod to their left. "That way. Two blocks down, three blocks North, another block East. Rufus' building is hard to miss."

And even that route was a little longer than necessary. Naminé would have taken a shortcut or two, but this way they would pass one of the lower level's stores, as well as a clear path to the river, slightly in the area of where Cloud (both of them) were staying in the general vicinity... That thought brought another to mind, and so as they were walking she asked, "Have you met up with any of your friends, yet?"