Blood & Sympathy (FFVII: Vincent x OC)

Ch80 - Hunt

"Three weeks ago, our crew left for Midgar."

"However, the group's whereabouts still remain unknown.
Tonight, for the first time, we bring you the final transmission received before all contact was lost."

Normally he wouldn't be paying much attention at a rusty, old TV that rested in front of him. It was the only source of light in the room, except for maybe whatever came from the window. Finding a place to stay for the night during a festival, was tricky. Shinra had finally launched the network after three years without it, and sure everybody was more than happy to celebrate that.

He couldn't help but remember. He remembered that night so long ago, that Jocasta had dragged him out in a Festival like this, back in Nibelheim. Things were so much brighter back then, even though Lucrecia had just broken his heart in the vilest way. But things were still brighter. Jocasta had tried so hard to make things a little more bearable. If it weren't for her, he would've sunk deeper and sooner in the depression that now still lingered at the deepest parts of his thoughts.

He remembered Jocasta grabbing his hand while they walked towards the Festival in Nibelheim. She had gotten them ice cream. He almost smiled as he remembered. She had made them climb at the top of a house's roof and they had their ice cream there. She liked the countryside, she had told him. She liked the greenery and the cool night breeze as it would brush on her skin.

He remembered her drinking. Even after two years after her fiancé's death, she just kept drinking and he'd hate it, but he wasn't able to stop her. It would be undignified. Not to mention that she'd refuse. He was familiar with her stubbornness. He and Lucrecia would just spend all the time that they had together, and Jocasta would just lock herself in her room and study and drink and sink into her work. He knew that working was all that kept her mind from the pain. The pain.

She must have been in pain now. The thought hurt. It hurt. He wanted to find her. He wanted to save her. If Deepground was conducting human experiments, then they were experimenting on her. They were hurting her, and it had been a year, and he couldn't help thinking of what they must be doing to her now. What they must have been doing to her for an entire year. He couldn't help remembering how many nights he'd find her crying against her pillow because of the nightmares.

He felt like part of him was lost and he didn't know what to do. It drove him insane not knowing where she was. Not knowing whether there was a chance to find her or not.

"For the past years, this door has remained sealed. However, that seal is about to be broken. There are no records of this place, located deep beneath the Shinra Building. Another of the Company's secrets revealed recently. According to investigative reports, there is evidence that thousands of people were once transported here. If rumours of the Shinra Company conducting human experiments are true, then this may be where those nefarious deeds were carried out..."

That was indeed why Reeve had asked him to meet. Maybe they had figured something out. Maybe they had finally found Deepground. Vincent stared out of the window on his side. The loud noise of people celebrating having fun. The loud banging of fireworks as they burst colourfully in the dark night sky. The moon was full. He could very much feel it from the way that his beasts were growling for release. It made his head ache.

And then he felt something. A sudden swift in the air. Something was coming. Deadly and fast. The instincts of his demon kicked fast, he turned his head at a loud bomb that fell in the middle of the Festival. It spread fire and destruction. Vincent stood up and looked down at the burning City and the panicked people that ran all around.