Chapter 38: Encounter

Vincent ran around the sewers, sighing at his incompetence and life in general. "I can't let chaos get a hold of me." He thought about Lucrecia and the twins, wanting to find their mother who is missing and at least try to reconnect with them.

"Purpose, huh? I wonder if my sins could still be redeemed." Vincent blamed himself for everything that has happened for a second, thinking of what if situations. But he quickly remembered Shinra and Hojo's role in it all.

"I promise, Hojo, Shinra… You will fall, not now, not soon, but you will." Vincent clenched his fists and his burning desire for vengeance rose through his guilt. As he made his way through the sewers, he found Shinra soldiers and hid.

"Quickly, we must go and locate the targets. The other one is injured, they can't go too far." Vincent heard them talk and clicked his tongue. "Wait, did they say targets? Who are they targeting?" He thought that he was the one that they were looking for.

"Not my problem, I should go." Vincent dismissed the idea of going after them to see who were the targets. "Probably just some Avalanche members anyway." Vincent continued his way to his escape route. He has no love for Avalanche, they were just a group to make money off of and gain information about Shinra and the twins.

There was only so much a single person could do, Avalanche was there and it was convenient for Vincent to use them. He didn't care if the planet was being dried up now, he will end Shinra later anyways.

As the pragmatic man went on his way, he suddenly heard crying. And it was a child. "A kid? Who the hell puts their kid in the sewers…" Vincent was about to ignore it, but he sighed and thought that he wasn't such a dick that will leave a child in the dangerous sewers where monsters might lurk.

Vincent went to the source of the crying quickly and found a brunette kid that had blood on her. Vincent frowned heavily and checked if she was injured in any way. "Hey, kid. What the hell happened here?" He shook Aerith to make her sober up.

"Mister! Please save my mom! The bad guys got her!" Aerith shouted out with tears in her eyes and Vincent went wide eyed. "A mother and daughter being chased by Shinra? There must be something special about you guys."

They then heard gunshots at the other side of the wall and a thud, everything went silent after that. Vincent quickly smashed the wall and the scene he witnessed made his anger rise through the roof. Brandishing Cerberus, Vincent made quick work of the soldiers with his gun.

"Hey! Stay with me!" Vincent went to Ifalna who was starting to lose consciousness. Even her augmentations with Minerva cells couldn't help her now. Receiving grievous wounds yet again. Her body starting to fail due to the amount of damage she received.

"Mom! Mom! Please! Don't leave me! Dad is already gone, not you too!" Aerith revealed that she knew that Gast has died, feeling his soul return to the lifestream back in the past. She just didn't want to give more worries to her mother.

"So you knew… Aerith. Stranger, please… Take her to Wutai… Find, Ramiel and Alexandra." Ifalna reached out to Vincent and pleaded with her life. Vincent was shocked as they knew the twins, making him invested in them immediately.

"No! Mom!" Aerith screamed, feeling her mother begin to return to the lifestream. "Aerith, my baby girl… Live happily, mom won't be able to see you grow." Ifalna gave a sad smile to her and Vincent furrowed his brows, only able to watch and not do anything.

Ifalna was about to close her eyes, but white light suddenly and Ifalna's wounds started to regenerate, visible to the naked eye. The Materia on Aerith's pendant glowed, it was the curaga that Ramiel overloaded with Mako. Aerith's desire to see her mother live activated it.

Vincent was pleasantly surprised and Ifalna's hitching breaths started to calm down. "Mom!" Aerith hugged her tightly and was crying in happiness. "Oh dear… Ramiel saved me once again, how can that child have such terrifying foresight?" Ifalna was baffled and thought that he gave Aerith the Materia years ago for this exact scenario. But she shrugged and just put it as a coincidence.

"You, what's your name? And why are you being chased by Shinra?" Vincent raised a brow and his curiosity was killing him. "Ahhh, thank you for helping us. I'm Ifalna, the last pure Cetra. I believe that explains a lot, how about you?" Ifalna was thankful to him.

"I am Vincent, that's all I am. Now, let's go. More soldiers are definitely going to be here." Vincent carried Aerith and helped Ifalna stand up. But he was once again surprised when Ifalna followed him without much trouble.

"I heard you say names, Ramiel and Alexandra… What's your connection with them?" Vincent was anxious to hear more about them. "The twins helped us, even when they were as small as Aerith. Me and Gast were cornered at Icicle inn in the north. But Ramiel and Alexandra broke us out of there and brought us to Nibelheim."

Ifalna reminisced and gave a small smile, the twins were really a big part of their life now and hid them from Shinra. But Hojo managed to regain his wits and took Gast with him. "I… I see, are they good kids?" Vincent's heart started beating faster, imagining them as natural killing machines that have been brainwashed by Shinra.

"Ramiel-nii and Alex-nee are the best! They even give us gifts regularly and they are the coolest!" Aerith replied instead, surprising Vincent. He could already infer that Hojo didn't manage to sink in his fangs into them.

"Are they?" Vincent gave a rare smile, hearing more about his children. They quickly made their way to the exit and went to sector 5 of the slums.

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Thanks for reading everyone, anyways. Ciao.