Drabbles and Whatnot

Vincent Valentine X Kurai: Dying Candle in the Darkness

"This will only take a second," said the scary man in the white coat as he picked up a glass tube thing with a needle on the end. I hated those. They hurt and held weird liquids that make strange things happen to my body. The last time they did this to me, they also stuck me in a big tank filled with something called "mako." When they took me out, I had fangs like the wild dogs they showed me in pictures. And the one before that made me really really strong.

"No!" I screamed and struggled against the leather straps that held my arms and legs down on the table. "I don't like this! Needles hurt!" The worn leather started to rip as I continued to thrash about on the metal lab table.

"Selfish brat," he growled and reached out to slam my head back down onto the table. "Do you not understand how much better things would be if you would just cooperate? You will be a human bomb detector when we're through. Think of how many people you could save!" With one final tug, the straps on my left arm came free. That was all the freedom I needed to sink my sharp canines into the flesh between his thumb and index finger. He recoiled and cursed. The glass needle thing dropped out of his hand and shattered on the ground. While he was busy fumbling with the glass and weird liquid, I snapped the other straps and hopped off the table.

"I don't want to save people," I yelled. "I want to be a normal human!"

"Why you- ack!" He cried as I shoved him into the rolling cart with knives and more needles. While he was distracted with that, I bolted for the door and threw it open. "SOMEONE GRAB HER!"

I shrieked and took off into the dark caves. Yelling and stomping soon followed. The deeper I sprinted into the seemingly abandoned passages, the louder the stomping became. If I stopped now, they'd catch me and drag me back.

The open cave passageways didn't hide me very well and scary lizards jumped out of nowhere, but that didn't stop me. I continued to charge across platforms and up and down short flights of stairs.

The last open room had a few wooden doors set into the walls. The one closest to me was locked. So was the next one. I could understand every word and hear every footfall at that point. Thankfully the last one was unlocked. That changed as soon as I was inside. My chest heaved and my legs gave out, so I just accepted exhaustion and lay on the cool floor.

"Safe for now..." I whispered and examined the little room from my spot on the ground. All there was to see was dust and four coffins. Loud yelling and stampeding came from outside the door. I picked a coffin at random and crawled into it. There was a body inside but I didn't care, I just wanted this all to end.

"What are you doing in here?" A deep and rough voice echoed beside me. I jumped and hit my head on the lid of the coffin.

"I'm sorry mister, I was hiding from my mommy and daddy and the men with knives and needles," I whimpered. "Please don't hurt me."

He was silent. I thought for sure he was going to toss me out. But then something cold and kinda pointy pushed me closer to the man in the coffin beside me. I panicked and and tried to escape. Cold pointy things are bad, I wanted out.

"Hush, child," he said in a surprisingly gentle tone. "They won't find you here." The cold pointy thing covered my whole side and felt kinda like a claw. I turned and pressed my back into the man's side so I could figure out what this claw thing was. I held it in both of my hands and tried to make out its shape in the darkness.

"What is this?" I whispered and looked in the direction I thought his face would be.

"My hand," he replied. Deep red eyes stared into mine.

"Oh," I looked back down at his hand. Maybe he's like me and was poked with needles and stuck in mako tanks.

"Thank you for saving me, mister," I smiled and hugged his arm.

"Vincent," he grunted. "It's Vincent."

I sat up and rubbed my eyes.

'Again?'

"Kurai," Vincent's voice called through the dark.

"Sorry," I whispered. "Just a dream. I'm fine." A long silence stretched on. Then I felt I his forehead touch mine, the equivalent to a comforting hug.

"If you say so. Go back to sleep." I nodded and lay back down.

I could see his gauntlet glinting next to me in what little light there was in the pitch black darkness. And I'm suddenly a little eight-year-old girl, hiding in his coffin, escaping the experiments for as long as I can. Holding onto that little gleam of hope. The belief that one day, I'd escape for good. My dying candle in the dark that refuses to give up.

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Valentine's day drabble~

Vincent belongs to Square Enix