Guilt’s Cost: Part XXIX

Incident

Despite her age, Yokazi was quite a hostess. She prepared them all a sizable dinner and everyone sat around the table laughing at stories of Tseng and Vincent’s childhood antics. Vincent translated for Tifa, and she was thrilled to hear about Vincent’s past. Angel was also quite taken and did her best to keep Reno up on what they were talking about.

From the old woman’s tales, it was clear that Vincent had been quite a Hell raiser during his younger years. Apparently, he had a mean streak a mile wide and although he loved his little brother, there were more than a few occasions where he had to be pulled off of the boy for fear he’d kill him.

Tseng hadn’t been a completely innocent victim in those days, as he too was more than a little devilish as a child. He had usually brought on the pummelings that Vincent had given him by making the older boy’s life miserable.

The stories all ended the same though, with Vincent and Tseng having been lectured by their father and forced to make up.

Vincent remembered those long ago days and wished that they hadn’t ended. Even with the death of his own mother, his life was still good. He had come to love his stepmother and his half brother. The memory that stuck out most was that of having to walk his little brother to school everyday. Tseng would always try to escape from his brother’s watch having no interest in attending school. There were more than a few mornings when Vincent would drag Tseng very late into the classroom after having to chase him through town.

After dinner was over, Yokazi cleared the table and made her way to bed. She had two guestrooms and one went to Angel and Reno, while the other was given to Vincent and Tifa. Tseng very happily agreed to sleep in the den as it left him closer to the kitchen. He always got hungry in the night and this meant nothing but convenience to him.

Angel and Reno turned in shortly thereafter. Vincent was feeling restless and decided to give Tifa a night tour of the town.

They walked out into the cool night air. Despite the fact she had to walk rather fast to keep up with Vincent, she still caught a chill. He stopped on a high bridge that crossed the town’s small river and turned to her.

Noticing that she was cold, he pulled his cloak from his shoulders and wrapped it around her. She smiled at him, reveling in the warmth of the garment, pulling some of the fabric up to her face so she could catch his scent on it.

As Vincent stood looking at her in the moonlight, a genuine smile came to his lips. He loved her more than he ever thought possible and he got a strange feeling inside. "Tifa?"

She drew closer to him, seeing that there was something on his mind. "Yes?"

Vincent almost felt nauseous as a very important question rang through his mind. He fell to one knee, more out of nervousness than intention. He grasped her right hand with his human one.

Tifa instantly began to shake as she realized what was happening. There was no way she could possibly accept if he asked; at least not this soon after Cloud’s death. She realized that he was probably just terrified of being alone again, and would do anything to assure that never happened.

He closed his eyes and prepared to speak, but was cut off by a shout not too far away.

"Oh my God, Genji, that’s him! Holy shit, I swear that’s him!" A girl’s high-pitched voice rang out.

Vincent lost his train of thought and stood, turning to face the source of the yell. What he saw shocked him.

A huge man was barreling down upon him. Vincent reached to his side instinctively, realizing all too late that his gun had been left back at the house. He put up his arms in defense, but the man coming at him was a monster of a thing and once he got to Vincent he knocked him to the ground with one solid blow.

Tifa screamed, at a loss for what to do. "Vincent!"

Vincent struggled to his feet, dazed by the attack. He had no idea who this man was or why he was attacking. He suddenly felt the man's hand grab his neck.

"I hear you like it rough, you stupid fuck!" The man said as he easily lifted Vincent off the ground.

Vincent slashed at the man’s arms with his claw, but the heavy leather jacket the man had on made his attacks futile. He struggled to breathe.

"I’m gonna kill you for what you did to my wife!" He said as he threw Vincent to the ground.

Tifa ran to Vincent’s side, wanting to protect him from this stranger. "Vincent, get up!"

He laid there stunned, unable to move quickly. His world was spinning from having his neck crushed in the man’s grip.

"Come on, Genji!" The girl’s voice shouted out again from the darkness. "Kill him before he does to Tifa what he did to me!"

Tifa suddenly recognized the voice. "Yuffie? Where are you? Make him stop trying to kill Vincent!"

Yuffie flew from the shadows and pulled Tifa back from where Vincent still lay heaped on the ground. "Come on, Tifa. Get back so Genji can finish him off!"

Genji reached down and clutched one of Vincent’s ankles, dragging him along the ground. He pulled him up to the highest point of the bridge and tried to throw Vincent over the side.

"God Damn it, stop!" Tifa begged as she struggled against Yuffie’s grip.

Genji gave her little regard and looked back down to where Vincent was desperately trying to cling to the side of the bridge. Vincent’s cybernetic claw was dug into the masonry of the span and he searched frantically to find any sort of grip for his other hand. Genji sneered as he reached down and knocked Vincent’s metal talons away, casting Vincent down toward the water below.

Tifa tried to fight Yuffie off of her, but the young ninja was her physical equal and Tifa couldn’t escape. "Yuffie, let me go!"

"Tifa, you don’t know what kind of person Vincent is!" Yuffie said, not letting Tifa get away from her.

"Oh my God!" Tifa’s eyes went wide. "He threw Vincent off the bridge!"

Vincent fell down toward the shallow water below, knowing that it wouldn’t be deep enough to save him. In a desperate attempt at self-preservation, he closed his eyes and gave into Chaos.

The demon’s wings unfurled catching the air. Chaos already knew what he was going to do, and he kept Vincent’s body.

Genji looked down in shock as Vincent’s wings came out and he began to fly back up to where he stood. The huge man took several steps back in disbelief.

Chaos dove onto Genji, knocking him easily to the ground. He used Vincent’s metal arm to bludgeon the man into unconsciousness. Once convinced that Genji was no longer a threat, he stood up and faced Yuffie.

Chaos gave Yuffie an evil smile and started to walk over to where she was holding Tifa. "Yuffie? Is that you?"

Yuffie let go of Tifa and started to back away, but found herself cornered against the wall of a house. "Oh Tifa! Run! Vincent is a monster!"

Tifa was too much in shock to react right away, and she stood shaking in terror. "Chaos, get away from her!"

Vincent looked back over his shoulder at Tifa briefly, before turning his attention back to Yuffie. "So Yuffie, how are you?"

With eyes wide in fear Yuffie replied. "Get away from me, Vincent! Don’t make me hurt you!"

He laughed. "Now certainly you didn’t come down here and draw my attention for nothing, did you? In fact, I think you were looking for some more of what I gave you the last time we were together."

Yuffie screamed as Vincent took both her wrists into his cybernetic hand. He pressed his body against hers, smashing her against the wall. "Yuffie, don’t tell me you didn’t like it."

Tifa gasped, suddenly remembering the small device that Tseng had given her several days before. She reached into her pocket and pushed the button. "God Tseng, please help!"

Chaos took Vincent’s human hand and pawed at Yuffie’s struggling body. The demon was getting aroused recalling the time he had attacked Yuffie seven years before.

Being trapped by Vincent’s body, she could feel him become excited. The memory of the trauma she had suffered before from him forcing himself into her mouth brought Yuffie into a full panic. "Help! Tifa, get him away from me! Don’t let him hurt me again!"

Unable to ignore her friend’s plea for help, Tifa ran over to Chaos and kicked him in the side. "Leave her alone!"

Vincent smirked, unaffected by her feeble attack. "Wait your turn, bitch. There is plenty to go around."