Across the Divide and Through Valhalla

Finding Vincent

Chapter 81

Sephiroth frowned but obliged. He started looking at the higher portion of the wall, while Sherry knelt and checked the lower part as she started speaking. "You already know that Vincent was assigned here to be a bodyguard during the Project S days."

When he hissed out his remembrance, she grimaced and kept going. "You also know that was when Lucrecia married Hojo. What you don't know is that before she came to be Hojo's assistant, Lucrecia was an assistant to Grimoire Valentine, Vincent's father. He was killed when he pushed her out of the way of an accidental explosion during an experiment. So the truth is, she and Vincent weren't really strangers when they met."

She ignored the fact that Sephiroth paused, but only for a moment. She was still looking as she spoke. "She always felt guilty about Grimoire's death, but she ended up getting close to Vincent anyway. As a matter of fact, there is a lot that indicates they may have become lovers. He certainly loved her. When they got too close, she distanced herself from him and married Hojo."

Sephiroth stepped back at that point in shock. Luckily, Sherry had found a loose brick and pushed it in. She stood with a grin as the wall slid back before she turned to him. The smile slid from her face as he stared at her with wide eyes. "Are you saying the man we are going to talk to, the ex-Turk, Vincent Valentine, is my father?"

Sherry sighed and shrugged. "I honestly don't know."

He shook his head. "Why do you believe he is beside the fact that he may have been my mother's lover?"

Her eyes flicked over his face before she answered. "There are a few reasons I think it is a possibility. The timing is just one of them. None of them are concrete. The biggest one is the fact that I believe the two of you look alike."

His eyes widened. That was the last thing he had expected. Still, they were getting nowhere, and he doubted their absence would go unnoticed for much longer. "Unless you want an audience, we should go." He stepped around her. "Let me lead."

She rolled her eyes but followed him. Despite her irritation, she was thankful for his insistence when they got to the bottom and ran into several disgusting things Hojo must have left behind. Sherry tried not to gag as the things disintegrated when Sephiroth cut them down. At least they were no longer creeping around to sneak up on them later.

Sherry could see a caged light at the end of the cave-like tunnel and realized they were close to their destination. She looked around to their left and spotted the door she was looking for. "There."

Sephiroth had been focused on the lab and had nearly missed it. He frowned as he approached the door that blended into the wall. He looked back to the lab and then at Sherry. "Are you sure."

She nodded. "Yes. The other room is the lab and library. That place can rot. This is where Vincent is."

When he tried to open the door and found it locked, he had Sherry step back so he could use his strength to bust it open. He froze in the doorway when he saw the room was full of coffins. "I believe you may be wrong."

Sherry sighed and tried to push him aside. "I'm not. He's in the one that is covered in chains."

Sephiroth turned back to look at her in shock. "He is in a chained coffin? How long has he been down here? What makes you believe he is still alive?"

Sherry could feel herself getting irritated, but tried to remind herself that his questions were valid. "I'm not sure if it was Hojo that chained him up, but those chains aren't what is keeping him in there. If he wanted to, he could get out. He is... different. What that asshole did to him was even worse than what he did to you. Plus, Lucrecia's only chance at saving him pretty much made him immortal. He can't die. So yes, he is still alive, and I imagine he has been listening to us this whole time wondering if we are going to stand here yapping all day or just give up and go away."