Dirge Of Cerberus -Vincent Valentine- #5

The screen goes fuzzy as the cameras are being destroyed. Shalua types in some things that cause the security doors to close. You and Vincent start to run out the door when Reeve stops you. He hands you a bulletproof vest. "Just in case." You nod and put it on quickly and run to the main hall with Vincent. On your way there you hear Reeve on the intercom telling you to hurry, because the enemy has broken down the main gate. You get to the main hall to see WRO soldiers in combat with Deepground.

You take out your guns and waste no time shooting. “Damn, I’ve never seen so many of them before. It doesn’t seem like more are coming in, they are spreading out.”, you say. “We’ll work our way up from here.”, Orders Vincent. You nod in reply before ducking behind a pillar. It’s a complete chaos, Deepground soldiers seem to lurk in every corner. It’s hard to keep track of things.

Halfway up, Vincent is alerted by a WRO soldier. “Mr. Valentine! A sizable enemy unit is headed straight to the command center. Please, sir, you have to help the commissioner!” You and Vincent run to the command centre and reach it just as a Deepground soldier is flung out the door. You watch as Cait Sith walks out followed by the real Reeve. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine here. But the Tsviets, Azul is still on the loose” Vincent nods in understanding and walks back out of the hallway, you following close behind.

He looks over the railing and you go see what he’s looking at. You both watch as Azul goes through a door on the ground floor. You both hurry down and after him. You enter a long trail of hallways before reaching a room. You get the feeling of being followed and suddenly spin around holding your gun in front of you. Alerted, Vincent does the same. Before you stands a cloaked person who seems on a rather short side. You hear running from behind the person and Shalua appears from around the corner, stopping in her tracks as soon as she sees what’s going on.

“Very perspective of you.”, the person says while throwing the cloak off. It’s the girl you saw before. “I knew it.”, gasps Shalua. The girl looks at her. “Shelke.”, she continues, her voice turning pained. “I have no acquaintances in the WRO.”, Shelke replies. “We've both changed so much. No, you haven't changed at all. Not in ten years.” This makes Shelke gasp. You’re really confused right now. ‘How do they know each other?’ “Shelke, it's me, Shalua. I've been searching for you for so long.”, she says stepping forward.

At this, Shelke pulls out a strange weapon, like two blue beam sabers, one in each hand. “Don't take another step. It doesn't matter who I am or who you are. My current mission as a Deepground soldier is all that is relevant.” Shalua shakes her head in disbelief. “Even though ten years have passed, you're still Shelke, my only sister!” You’re shocked at this twist.

Shelke lowers her weapons and disables them in hesitation. “Ten years. Has it been that long? The day they came to take me away, I was told I had potential. But those words were nothing but a precursor to a decade of suffering. They manipulated my mind until I was a shadow of my original self. The pain, the fear. For ten years I lived in a hell far deeper than any you could imagine. But look at me, I should be 19 this year. If I don't receive my daily dose of mako, this body wouldn't last a day. However, I don't consider myself the least bit unfortunate. Except that for so long I held on to a foolish thread of hope that someday, someone would come to save me.” Shalua falls to her knees sobbing, muttering apologies.

Suddenly Reeve appears from the hallway. “It's time to put the past behind us.” Shelke turns on her weapon again, pointing them to Reeve. “Stop this!”, he shouts. “Reeve Tuesti.” “So you are Shalua's younger sister.”, he mutters. “Excellent. Now I can terminate both of you at once.”, Shelke says bitterly. Reeve shrugs it off. “Look at her. That's the price Shalua has paid fighting Shinra for the past ten years. She has given more than her arm, more than her eye. She has put her life on the line time and time again. All to find her lost sister. More than half her organs have been reconstructed. Not a day goes by when Shalua doesn't suffer the pain of a hundred souls.” You are really moved by what Shalua did. You would do the same for your brother. “But still, she...”, he gets cut off by Shelke.

“Enough. I've... I've heard enough.”, she says getting ready to fight. Vincent aims his gun at her is response. “Stop!”, yells Reeve as he shoots at a sprinkler on the ceiling, setting it off. Shelke goes to attack Shalua, but Vincent is beside her in the blink of an eye making Shelke stop her attack. “Vincent.”, says Reeve shocked. “Nami, take them out of here.” You nod and run to Shalua to help her up. Reeve slips Vincent something. “Use these.” He says. Vincent nods. Shalua panics as you take her out to the hallway. “Don't worry. The bullets will only sedate her. Let Vincent handle this.”, Reeve says.

You watch as they fight from around a corner. Shelke is pretty fast, but Vincent manages to overcome her and sedates her. As she drops to the floor, Shalua comes running and holds Shelke to her. You stay with her as Reeve and Vincent walk off to speak about what will happen next. After a minute you hear crashing from where Vincent and Reeve went. “Shalua, stay put and out of sight!”, you say before running to find the others.

When you find them you got more then what you bargained for. Azul is standing in front of you three eying Vincent. “We meet again. Answer me this. Do you know why you even exist?” Vincent just looks at him, not saying a word. You’re curious where he’s going with this. Azul smirks at Vincent. “Just as I thought, ignorant to your own destiny. Very well, I'll show you what you really are.” Vincent pulls Cerberus and shoots at Azul. The bullets don’t hit him, instead they dissolve as they hit a shield that appears around Azul. “You think that toy can penetrate my armor? Enough of the games, Vincent. Give me the Protomateria.” ‘What is he talking about? Does Vincent know? He doesn’t show it if he does.’

“Vincent, Nami, over here!”, shouts Reeve while pointing to a way out. Vincent shouts at Azul again before he grabs your arm and you all make a run for it, knowing that this is not the right time to face Azul in a fight. “You can't run!”, you hear Azul shout. You know he’s following after you. “What was he talking about Vincent?”, you ask quickly. “I wish I knew.” You see as Vincent and Reeve make a silent agreement before your pulled into a large room. Vincent picks up what looks like some sort of rocket launcher and run to take cover. Vincent shoots at Azul and the blast causes him and Reeve to fly backwards. “You shouldn't leave those things lying around.”, comments Vincent with some humor in his voice. You snicker as Reeve bursts out laughing.

Suddenly, your attention is back to Azul who is still standing but his shield seems to be gone, that’s good. The bad thing is, that he claimed the weapon Vincent had before and he’s laughing in a creepy way. “Well done. You have broken through my barrier.” Vincent narrows his eyes in frustration. “This ends here. Leave him to me.” “Please be careful Vincent.”, you say softly, though you know he heard you.

You and Reeve get out of the way. “Long has it been since I faced a worthy opponent!”, yells Azul in glee as he points the weapon to Vincent.