[ I c y   0 b l i v i 0 n ] by Lady Megami The pale skin hung loosely off her fragile bones. Looking down at the crystalline ground beneath her, she closed her eyes deeply in search of her mind. Her long, graceful fingers currently smothered in dirt and other grossities lay flat on the cool, hard surface that she was supporting herself on. She could feel the whispers of a cutting breeze begin to tease her long strands of dirty milk-chocolate hair. Her eyelids pulled back again with strained effort, and she struggled to focus on the glassy floor below her skinny body. Nothing but this pain...this….aggravating pain… it would not stop gnawing mercilessly on her lungs, her already aching brain, and her poor old, unageing bones. Leave me alone… Her teeth squeaked as she grinded them together, suppressing as much pain as she could. She began to feel the familiar trickle of blood dripping down from her scalp, a result of the vain efforts she made to try and vanquish this…torture… How long had it been since she had last ate? Drank? Even been into contact with another human being? It was painful even to rack through her lost memories. Her hands balled into fists that she clenched angrily against the cold ground, squeezing her eyes shut again in fear of awakening a new eye-ache. Please…please…let…me be… No one was listening… I’m alone…I’ve always…been alone… ……but no one cares… The old, popular scientist whom everyone looked up to, admired, flirted hopefully with had gone. All that limitless beauty and sparkle, joyous laughs and imaginative expectations, all consumed by that hateful thing fallen from the Heavens, just for the sake of some unsuccessful experiment. Her once glittering, full-to-burst of joyful happiness, dark lilac eyes had become shuttered by gloom and emptiness, even the faint glow that the JENOVA cells brought to them had become somehow dull. The only relic of her old life that she kept with her was her old torn lab coat. With all the years it resembled more an old rag full of countless amounts of filth and…other things… but she preferred to keep it draped around her almost-lifeless stick of a body. Unexpectedly her whole body heaved as she expelled a dry, cracked cough, the action ripping through her delicate throat and tearing at her innards and corroded lungs. JENOVA you bitch…give me back………! How long had she been crouching pitifully in this icy sanctuary? Too long, much too long… but was there some other life she was missing, maybe? Could she really see herself once again included within groups of friends, laughing and chatting pointlessly, pretending to be perfect and happy? She shuddered unconsciously against the cold bitterness of her previously known answer. Of course not… could anyone actually forgive her, first, for voluntarily giving birth to the Planet’s near-destructor? And then who would give her a shelter? No money, no job, nothing to move on… at least not equipment-wise…inside she was just the torn shreds of the leftovers of a woman, there was no way she could ever cope with herself, let alone with other people. If she could muster enough strength she would just try to put herself into that much-desired eternal, peaceful sleep, but that bitch of an alien Goddess would always put her hopes to a grinding halt. She had no choice- she would rot till the apocalypse of time in this hidden waterfall, a waste of a human being, an empty, lifeless wreck… with no one to comfort her…no one…ever… Sephiroth… …I wonder what…you…look like…… ……Vincent told me you were dead…but I…can feel…you…… … …Vincent… “LUCRECIA!” The weak woman acknowledged the distressed call by a very slight tilt of her head. She was laying pitifully on her side, too weak to fight any longer, ready to just give away to her eternal punishment. Her hearing was muffled by her semi-conscious state, as well as her blinding head-ache that split her mind in two with pain. She felt the harsh wind cutting to her bone, her fragile skin having long been defeated in terms of protection against the cold. Alone in the swirling voids of cold emptiness...she was used to it by now… But then suddenly she was no longer alone. Quick, light footsteps broke through her muffly hearing, then she felt her weak body being swept up into a Heaven of warmness by strong arms. Her eyes still shut tiredly, she savoured this wonderful warmth, absently huddling closer to the being that radiated so much of it. The side of her exhausted, taught-skinned face rested against this person’s chest, nestled into the folds of the black shirt that covered it. “Lucrecia…” whispered a deep, husky voice right by her ear, the owner nuzzling his face into her lanky hair. The woman simply rasped something incomprehensible in return, clasping her visitor’s soft crimson cloak in her frail hands. “You’re still alive…” Unfortunately, yeah, she thought miserably, now finally recognizing the owner of that seductive baritone of a voice. She ran her tongue over her chapped lips and forced life into her rusty, forgotten vocal cords. “V…v…Vinc-cent…” she croaked, her voice a cracked whisper barely audible. She wanted to ask him a million questions, to tell him to hug her tighter, to thank him for not leaving her alone in the coldness…to just talk… but she found herself unable to, not because of her edgy voice and state, but, because of something else… He was here, finally… she was suddenly under the impression that all that agonizing time had been spent just waiting for him to arrive. She huddled closer to him, paying no heed to her bones and muscles screaming in agony, just for the sake of his steady, pounding heartbeat and his arms… Words would just have been a waste of breath, uselessly thrown into the icy air to try and breathe life into the silence. The two simply savoured each other’s precious presence, breathing in each other’s scent, listening, listening to the peaceful silence, to the crashing waterfall at the entrance of their hideout that hid them from the noisy, suffocating outer world. Lucrecia had become so numb that she hardly noticed the torrent of tears running down her pale cheeks, tracing paths of fire as they went scurrying down to her chin. I’m…no longer alone Her guardian angel lifted his gloved hand to her face and gently traced her cheekbone with his graceful fingers. He dug the tips of them into her hair, trying to suppress the tears that threatened to overwhelm him. Finally, he had found her, but for how long were they just going to stay huddled like this? Both knew that they literally could for eternity, but something told him that the young scientist cradled in his arms had other ideas…ideas that he already knew about, and that he certainly didn’t want to consider. But one look was enough to show him her desperate plea. She let him plunge his deep crimson eyes into her soulless remains of a pleading lilac gaze, hoping he would somehow understand. “Lucrecia,” Vincent started, “ There is a cure, I’m sure of it. Let me take you out of here, we’ll get you better, and then we could start over…please...” The dark gunslinger cradled his companion closer to himself, not wanting to let her slip away from him. “Don’t ask me to do this…” He knew his pleads were in vain. How many long, agonizing years had his old friend suffered up till now? Surely she would want anything but to be thrown out into the rat maze of the outside world once again, she would just want peace, that deep, everlasting peace that he was so afraid of offering to her. Lucrecia simply bowed her head and let a soft gasp escape her ravaged throat. She wanted to stay with him, of course she did, but that option was unfortunately no longer available. She found that she was unable to say anything to him, for fear of unleashing the uncontrollable sobs that were building up in her chest. Please, just understand. Vincent swallowed his emotions back with an immense effort, somehow unable to stop a single, lonesome tear to run down his cheek. He stared mutely at the top of his angel’s scraggly head, cuddling her all to himself, hoping like mad that she would change her mind. There was no way she could expect him to do this. Well of course she could. You were a stone-hearted killing machine before, remember? …A Turk. Turks kill everything that moves without remorse. Maybe that’s what she still thinks of you… …a monster… You’re still considered that way by a dying, semi-conscious woman… …monster… “No…” Vincent fought back vainly, summoning all his strength and determination to simply upholster his faithful Quicksilver from under his armpit. “Lucrecia, I’m no monster…am I?” The weak woman raised her teary-eyed gaze to his distressed ruby eyes, opening her cracked mouth to reply. “I know…you’re not...” she murmured, her voice as loud as the softening breeze that whipped up the ebony black strands of Vincent’s long rebel hair. She kept her gaze locked on his, unwavering, as she felt the cold, hard muzzle of his gun press lightly against her heart. She managed to…smile. “You…never have been…” Vincent felt his chest explode with a maelstrom of mixed, confused emotions, every little part of his soul screaming at him not to reach for the trigger, but his finger had a life of its own- it extended slowly and came to rest on the smooth steel loop that surrounded the trigger. He watched in disbelief his beloved smile like everything was alright, that smile the perfect double of the one she had shown when he had kissed her for the first time. He shut his eyes tight, breaking that unbearable gaze and blocking away that smile from his vision and mind. “I’m sorry,” he whispered into her hair, expecting her to tense in anticipation, but feeling her relax completely against him, just waiting for him to give her peace. “Lucrecia, I…” But those words had been expressed a long time ago. The expression was worn out, it didn’t mean anything to him any more. Lucrecia uttered a faint ‘mh’ meaning she understood, reaching up to caress his face just one last time. Her grateful smile remained plastered on her beautiful, now radiant face as she felt the lethal weapon press deeper into her shabby closed lab coat. The single gunshot rang in the heavy silence, shattering the comforting atmosphere as its echoes rebounded throughout the spacious chamber, hitting the humungous, glittering crystals that towered high over the pair like some age-old guardian. A single little death-seeking demonic piece of lead forcefully found its way straight into the poor woman’s vital organ- tearing mercilessly through the feeble protective tissue, it lodged itself within the pumping life-bringer, bringing all of its functions to an abrupt halt. Lucrecia slumped against her liberator with a suppressed wince of sharp pain. She felt strange- as if she was falling asleep, completely at peace with the world, her entire notion of reality slipping away from her as she silently descended into the unknown voids of oblivion. With a regretful cry, Vincent hurled his deadly weapon far away to the other side of the cavern and supported his beloved against him, feeling her already near-absent warmth begin to ebb away from her frail body. Embracing her just once more, he watched the faint, blue-streaked turquoise aura of the crystalline sanctuary float eerily around them, as if her soul had finally departed her body and was just saying one last goodbye before returning to its rightful place in the Lifestream. …I have always…always loved you…