"Once I had a love and it was a gas. Soon turned out had a heart of glass. Seemed like the real thing, only to find mucho mistrust, love's gone behind." - Heart of Glass, Blondie.

—

It all started with a potion, that perhaps wasn't correct; the more apt way to explain how Vincent Valentine first came to know of the young woman called Nelly Dawn, was by almost impaling her on his claws. He had been doing a rather great job as acting security within the Shinra Manor, mainly due to the fact that no one really came up here, the company may have rebuilt the village once it was burned down, but the manor had been all but ignored, including him as he rested within his coffin in the basement.

That was until this little group came wandering in. Sure, the keycard hadn't matched up with the one using it, but by this point Vincent was incredibly indifferent. They could poke around at the terminal, he was uncertain with what they were searching for, but then again, he didn't wholly care as long as he was left alone.

That being said, the plan to return to solitude didn't work out as he soon sensed the group had dispersed and gone exploring, especially to areas he did not give the go-ahead to go in. He hadn't lost control for a long, long time...until now, and that was how the yellow eyed female truly crossed his path, before there was a gun pointed more or less at his face and he had to move away and dodge, him climbing up the walls had the owner of the gun-arm swearing and muttering.

It wasn't like Nelly was even truly involved in trying to fight him, she was more on the periphery along with the small cat Vincent had thrown, a ninja girl, a red furred creator and girl in a pink dress. Periphery or not, still didn't mean the small group who weren't fighting him didn't also get attacks thrown their way. The little robotic cat would hop about before being scooped up and put on the shoulders of the yellow eyed girl. That's precisely when Vincent noticed they had branched off from the other group, his attack was battered away by a hail of bullets.

Eventually those which were fighting against him won out, and with pained movements Vincent receded, he was leaving them to it, his mind and body were feeling two different types of pain, and returning to solitude was the answer to this problem. Didn't mean he couldn't still hear them, even after beating him they were still hanging around, and by this point Vincent sat within his coffin, red eyes shut and half his face disappearing within the red collar of his cloak. One in particular was very loud, chatting about materia excitedly until getting shushed by someone and another asking if that's all she thought about. From the dissatisfied harrumph, Vincent was inclined to say yes.

He was fully prepared to lay back down, sleep, hope by the time he came to they had gone, but the sounds of clinking caught his ears. Shooting a look to the door, he found himself slowly frowning. He had locked the door, not wanting anymore intruders, someone didn't understand what a locked door meant and were doing it on purpose. That just caused his eyes to narrow, even more so when the door finally swung open a little, Vincent found his head tilting ever so slightly when an arm stuck itself around the door waving something.

Within the dark fingerless glove grasp was a cylindrical object, the faint glowing blue of it shone gently within the darkened space which Vincent called home. Remaining unmoving, and unspeaking, Vincent just watched as the arm progressed more, half a body appeared along with a head full of mahogany curls. "I come in peace; I swear..." Vincent just stayed as motionless as ever, just looking at the female who had just picked open the door for the sake of waving a potion his way.

If he was a little more vocal, he probably would've come out with a quip. Instead, his head slowly turned to the side, against one wall was a rather beaten-up machine which probably still dispensed potions, elixirs and such if it was given a good whack to the side. Vincent didn't know, he had no real need for such things, not really.

Her honey-coloured eyes widened as she bent more around the door, her arm sort of going limp as Vincent's eyes slid sidelong back at her. It wasn't enough of a deterrent though, she came in slowly, the door was kept open a crack and Vincent just found himself gesturing a golden gauntleted hand at it. She didn't catch his drift and slowly edged over; someone clearly didn't understand cues. He stayed seated within his coffin, watching her with hard eyes, the potion in her hands was clasped to her chest, her boots scuffed up the stairs and she knelt down and held it out to him.

Vincent just looked at her, she wasn't getting deterred by his red eyes not blinking and him just being still and silent. Instead, she just kindly smiled, her arm still held out and waved at him. She clearly wasn't dropping it, so Vincent reached up and allowed her to drop the potion into his gloved hand, his gauntleted arm remained resting against his knee.

"Nelly?! Nelly, we know you like to wander, but if you don't come back out here, we're leavin' you behind!"

That had her reacting, grimacing she shot Vincent one last look before jumping up and running off speedily, the two short swords at her sides bounced in their scabbards as she did so. Hearing the click of the door, Vincent became aware to the fact he was alone again. Turning the potion over in his hands, he found himself sighing slowly, placing it beside the coffin he listened to the quiet clink the glass made against the stonework of the floor before taking to laying down. With silence reining, he could rest and dwell over his sins in peace.

—

The thought of getting back within the Tiny Bronco wasn't exactly a pleasing prospect for the small group, Yuffie especially was already moaning about it; it was a small miracle for one that Cid hadn't actually crashed them into something, the second miracle was Yuffie having not thrown up everywhere or passed out. The poor ninja girl really did suffer tremendously with motion sickness, being seated near a window, no matter how small it was, it was still decisively big enough to look out of, not that that seemed to help her.

"At least you're not at the back!" Nelly exclaimed with a laugh, she was trying to make Yuffie feel better, but somehow the mental imagery of being at the back had Yuffie almost keeling over. With Cait in her arms, Nelly looked down at the small robotic cat as he looked back at her, he shrugged loosely. Extending her arms forwards, Nelly watched Cait's legs dangle in the air as Yuffie looked sceptically at the cat, "For emotional support!"

"Is that why you're so attached to him?" Yuffie asked curiously, it was no secret that everyone was suspicious of the cat in Nelly's hands. He was Shinra built, the same Shinra which seemed to be a constant thorn in all of their sides. It wasn't that they didn't trust Cait, just there was a level and a limit.

Nelly seemed to ignore the scepticism and chose to throw caution to the wind. He hadn't proven himself untrustworthy so far. Even Aerith got along with the robot, and she had a pretty good judge of people. "He's soft..." Nelly eventually defended herself while they all walked through the woodland path that wound away from the manor.

There was a rather chuffed noise from the cat in her hands, his little head turned and looked up at her as his ears flicked about. "Well thank you, lassie!" He even sounded chuffed as he curled his fingers into little paw gestures and brushed at his cheeks.

Yuffie scrunched her nose up and waved her hand at the pair. "I wouldn't want to ruin whatever this is." If she didn't know any better, she could quite easily accuse Nelly of playing both sides with how well she got along with the cat in her arms.

It was nothing like that, Nelly just really liked cats. When growing up, she and her sister had begged for a cat, only to forever get told no. Wedge and his cats were the nearest things to her nearly having her own, she had looked after them from time to time. The thought of them and their owner made a weight drop in her stomach, her usually bright eyes growing dim as she followed the path before them all.

"You alright there?" Cait had noticed the young woman carrying him turning rather somber. He was trying to think whether it was something Yuffie had said, or done, but he couldn't see anything overly offensive to make Nelly turn quiet.

"I was just thinking, that's all."

"A penny for your thoughts?" Cait tilted his head and wiggled out of her hands to scramble up and sit on her shoulder, truthfully, he usually just ran alongside everyone else. That's if Red, Nanaki, didn't mind giving him a ride, but being on Nelly's shoulders made him tall. Excuse him for enjoying a higher height to look upon everything. She may have only been a similar height to Tifa, but it was still tall enough to amuse Cait.

"You know my sister and I begged constantly to have a cat. I just think she'd quite like you, that's all." Nelly explained while squinting her eyes against the sun, Nibel was a sunny place, interesting no matter the reservations Cloud and Tifa had about coming back home. Nelly would probably be the same if they ever returned to Midgar. So much happened in such a short time...

Aerith, always being interested by those around her, be them friends or just people she'd likely never saw again rounded on Nelly, the bracelets on the Ancient's wrists clinked together as Aerith's green eyes looked at her curiously. "You never mentioned having a sister! Why did you keep that secret?" She couldn't hide her excitement of finding something new out about one of her friends; Aerith's childhood was isolated and lonely, and although she loved her mother, she did often think what it would've been like to have a sibling.

Nelly waved her hand in the air to try and wave the words away, Aerith even pouted a little and tilted her head as the pair stood there. Nelly hadn't realised she had even stopped walking to talk to Cait, Aerith may have noticed unlike everyone else and came back to see if they were okay. "Oh...she isn't around anymore. Another casualty of Shinra, only, I don't know where she is."

"Then how can she be a victim of theirs, hm? Don't go accusing if you don't know." Cait said and got his scruff grasped onto and got turned to look at Nelly's displeased face. He chuckled lightly and held his hands to his cheeks. Nelly leaned down and placed him against the ground, she walked on with Aerith jumping to start walking too. It was moments like this that Cait made it annoyingly clear that he wouldn't ditch some loyalty to the company.

"She worked for them, then went missing. A little suspicious that, no?" Nelly crossed her arms over her sleeveless teal coloured tunic. Her top was tucked rather neatly in a pair of shorts, a belt was looped around her waist, this held small pouches of supplies, but also had her two swords either side hanging. They'd hit against her legs ever so slightly, but it was a familiar feeling, not an annoying one.

Aerith put a finger to her chin in thought, she even looked heavily thoughtful, "It definitely sounds like a coincidence, that's for sure."

Nelly shoved her hands lividly into her pockets, her boot kicking a stone, an action to try and get angry energy out of her system. "We best catch up with everyone else. I think Cloud and Tifa will be glad to see Nibel behind us."

Their friends had seemed shellshocked and in awe over what had happened to their former home. It was a shock to see the place become a treatment centre for the men in robes. The people weren't the same here, they were less familiar, friendly, they evidently didn't want any of them present, thinking they'd unsettle the peace when they were just all passing through. Whatever made this place a home, was gone in the eyes of Cloud and Tifa, clearly.

Aerith gave a sure nod, "It was interesting to see where they lived though, when they were younger, don't you think?"

"Yeah, but I don't think it really registers as their home anymore, Aerith." Nelly said awkwardly, she could see the distant look in Tifa's eyes as she looked over her old home. Memories of good times present, sure, but also the realisation of what it was now seemingly a haunting factor.

Aerith thought over that before looking at Nelly with a curious look. "But my home will always be my home, regardless of how much it has changed."

Nelly scoffed, "That's 'cause your home was lovely, Aerith." Shaking her head, Nelly looked over a pair of robes shambling about moaning, she felt awful for them, their existence made her feel sad, not in a pitying way, but of a truly sad way that people could wind up like that. It was horrible, regardless of the fact that there was a chance that Cloud could become that. "A plate was dropped on my home; I doubt my home even survived that." Nelly shuddered at the thought, not of the possibility of her home being gone, but the people it took with it. She was aware to Cait walking between them, looking up and listening but his ears and head going downcast when this reminder was thrown out.

Aerith placed a sympathising hand on her shoulder, Nelly smiled her way and the pair lapsed into silence then as they continued walking towards the airstrip. There was no telling how long they'd even have to wait for Cid to pick them up, Nelly waved a hand in front of her face. She didn't like heat, and the sun here was rather relentless. Don't get her wrong, it wasn't on par with Cosmo Canyon, or Costa del Sol, but it was still hot. She may have a dislike for overbearing sun, but the thought of a swim was making her nod contently. Aerith caught her and looked at her strangely, "Thinking of a swim." She explained, Nelly looked forwards when Yuffie turned and pointed her way.

"We'll have to survive Cid's crappy piloting first." Her pointed finger wagged slowly; it seemed even voicing this had Yuffie looking at the ground with longing. Aerith and Nelly exchanged a look and gently laughed. "Hey! It isn't funny! I really do suffer, ya know? You shouldn't laugh at another's suffering! If you do, some karma is going to come back to you!" Yuffie said passionately while stomping a foot and pointing between them, even Cait got pointed at.

Standing to attention, Cait held his hands up. "Now hold on a minute...I didn't do anything!"

"You were thinking it! I bet you were!" Yuffie said accusingly even leaning against her knees to glare at the cat, Cait just made a small yelping sound and scampered off and away from the three females.

"As I said, you're lucky you're not at the back!" Nelly laughed and jogged past Yuffie and pointing a thumb Barrett's way.

"Hey now, are you tryin' to suggest somethin' here?" Barrett did try to look, and sound offended at the smaller female beside him smirking coyly. He was the biggest member of their group, both in the fact that he was very tall, and also a walking wall of muscle. Nelly had the opposite bench to the one Barrett sat on, but she was sort of in a corner a little, just because his long legs took up any space for hers. "Think of me, she's the one that goes to sleep on any transport! How you don't fall off a chocobo is a damn mystery."

"Are you suggesting I snore?"

"Just as much as you're suggestin' I hog all the room." Barrett placed his hand on his hip and turned to look down at the younger woman beside him. The square off was truly pathetic, mainly in part to both of them resisting grinning away, and the fact that Nelly barely reached Barrett's shoulders. By barely try not at all, he hulked over her, but she still stood there, feet planted and hands on her hips looking indignantly up at him.

"Now, now," Aerith, ever the gentle voice of reason piped up between them. "It isn't just you two back there."

"Yeah, what about me?" Nanaki looked their way, Barrett let out a thoughtful sound and rubbed a hand to his chin, trying to think of something to say, whereas Nelly leaned down and gently placed a hand atop his head. His tufts of mane got stroked through, earning a wide, what Nelly guessed was a grin, from him.

"And me!"

"Now hold on, you sit on her lap most of the time." Barrett jabbed a finger Cait's way, plus Cait was small, he took up very little room wherever he went. He just wanted to join in joking here.

"You can all join me on the bench," Nelly clapped her hands with a nod.

Barrett leaned down a little, "Be careful though, she's likely to use ya as a leanin' post to sleep on." Barrett just wanted to give Nanaki a heads up, a warning even.

"On second thoughts, maybe I am fine with the floor." His one golden yellow eye blinked slowly as he turned away and started to trot off with Cait hopping up and onto his back.

Nelly shot Barrett a look, one which he just responded to with a loud laugh. He gently patted her on the shoulder, although with the size of his hand it basically covered one shoulder and nearly reached the other. "Now you are all just acting like I talk or dribble in my sleep! Guys, that's not fair..." Nelly said while throwing her hands up and walking after her friends.

Yuffie appeared by her side, wide satisfied grin on her face. "I said karma would come back to you. And oh, oh I can revel in this, just a little." She gleefully clapped her hands together, her brown eyes growing wide and dreamy like she was literally enjoying the ribbing which came Nelly's way. It wasn't some weird divine intervention like Yuffie was clearly musing it was, it was just their friends liked to joke about.

The rest of the walk to the airstrip was rather void of anymore joking, more casual meandering topics or silence. All of them were thinking on what was going to happen when they eventually reached the Gold Saucer again, but also what was this keystone like? Moreover, why it was still there just seemed...odd. But all of them were glad to see Cid, and he likewise seemed rather happy to see them.

There were enough issues with the amount of people getting onboard last time, Cid had made it rather clear that everything would be fine, however...just as he reached the top of the stairs within the Broncho, he noticed how someone else was awaiting to board. The metallic clinking gave away who it was in an instant, considering they had just left the man alone, all looked rather shocked to see Vincent coming onboard.

Cloud had yet to sit and slowly turned to look his way, he couldn't hide the sceptical look on his face, and Vincent just looked back at him, half his face still hidden within his cloak. "You said that Sephiroth is your foe. I have a history with him, unfinished business." Vincent's explanation was brief, to the point and spoken loud enough for everyone to hear as he looked down at Cloud. It wasn't even in an intimidating way, just that there was quite a small height difference between the pair.

Cid turned in his seat, everyone else was seated apart from two. "He botherin' you? Want me to give him the boot?" Cid found himself asking, frowning a little as his eyes flicked from the black and red clad man, to what he could see of Cloud from around him. He didn't know who this stranger was, but he definitely radiated some vibe Cid wasn't too certain about.

"Try and screw us over, and you're a dead man." Cloud glanced at Cid, briefly shaking his head before looking back to the man in front of him. Vincent, like the other brief moments they had spoken, just stood still and silent, his red eyes focused on Cloud and as stoic as a statue. Cloud was being serious though, he did not know what Vincent was, or what exactly he had turned into back in the manor, it wasn't quite a fiend, but also resembled one a little; the horns, the tail, especially the claws...they had hurt him enough to back off, if Vincent tried anything funny, Cloud was certain they could do as he promised here.

As a response, Cloud got the smallest of noises from Vincent, something akin to a thoughtful hum, but it was enough for Cloud to move aside and let Vincent walk down the aisle. Cait had plopped down next to Barrett, and he just smiled as usual, "Please, take a seat!" He got a strange side eyed look from Barrett, even Nanaki on the floor waged his tail with his head slightly tilted. The only one not joining in there was Nelly, who crossed her arms and frowned at each of them in tow. Yes, she may have a little issue with transport relaxing her, and even rocking her to sleep, but she was not going to do that against the taller, silent man now beside her. Talk about awkward.

"Alright then, here we go!" Cid sounded ready to take off and be in the air again, being on land just seemed utterly alien of a concept. But there was something in his tone which sounded unsettled, the poor ship struggled enough as is, and it would be a small miracle if there weren't any issues. It wasn't like Cid didn't believe in his abilities as a pilot, but the poor Broncho wasn't used to this much weight.

Nelly leaned around the seat beside her, Cloud noticed the movement and looked slowly down at her. "Is it just me...or does he sound nervous?" She whispered, only because Yuffie was already nearly doubled over, and they had only just had lift off. Her fingers drummed loosely against Cloud's seat as Tifa turned and looked her way too. The pair were across from each other, so it wasn't like she couldn't hear what Nelly said.

Tifa looked worriedly around before looking back at Cloud, "It'll be fine." Was his rather stoic response, Nelly and Tifa exchanging a look, they both didn't exactly take his words to heart. Cid's quiet grumbling that could be heard over the thrum of the engines didn't help either.

"It's fine for you and your reflexes. If anything, you'd probably walk away if we crashed." Nelly said with a pout, her yellow eyes narrowing up at the ex-SOLDIER. She wouldn't even put it past him to walk away fine. Cloud and his abilities just made him extremely capable to adapt and counter whatever was thrown at him.

Cloud uncrossed his arms with a sigh, his mako enhanced eyes even closing, Nelly raised an eyebrow, why did he look suddenly pained, perhaps not so pained, but more fed up? Nelly just found herself frowning, she was only joking, but also it was the truth, everyone knew it. Tifa just tilted her head and even turned in her seat, placing her red gloved hands on her knees, she smiled softly Nelly's way. Behind her, Vincent seemed more than content sitting in silence, red eyes shut, and arms crossed, the majority of his face hidden within the folds of his collar again. Nanaki, Cait and even Barrett by now had grasped onto this little quiet chatter and seemed to be intrigued.

"Let's not jump to conclusions, yeah? After all, we've managed to get around fine so far." Tifa smiled, watching Nelly's hesitant expression soften. Tifa just nodded and gestured for her to sit back in her seat, not only because she was basically on the edge of the bench and it couldn't be comfortable for her, but also Cloud didn't seem to appreciate her hanging around the back of his chair.

Nelly slunk back and crossed her legs, she was aware to the fact that there was still ample space between herself and Vincent, she didn't want to intrude on personal space, that seemed a big no to the man beside her. Barrett leaned back and rested his arm across the back of the seat, looking at her he just raised an eyebrow and tilted his head, Nelly crossed her arms and just slyly nodded to the side. In return, Barrett gave a half-shrug, Nelly just winced, she had no clue if the man beside her was asleep, he looked rather unmoving, he hadn't just gone and passed away beside her, right?

Seemingly sensing some activity around him, Vincent's eyes languidly opened and looked about the small area which he found himself sat in. His eyes narrowed just as slowly as opening, Barrett and Nelly looked guiltily away from him. Giving a sigh, he shut his eyes again, he wasn't even going to question it, they were still trying to figure him out, clearly. In truth, Nelly and Barrett were just wondering if he was asleep or alive; Nelly had to give the man credit if he had gone to sleep, that was quicker than what she usually found herself drifting off. Maybe he was just sitting thinking with his eyes shut? Either way he looked rather peaceful, it was odd, Nelly didn't know the man, none of them did, but he looked slightly more at ease since the last time she saw him.

Maybe it was that manor? Nelly found herself frowning and looking up at the ceiling, what had the irritating hologram of Hojo said? Something about the manor being close to his heart, and it was where he'd done experiments...Nelly shifted in her seat, suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable, was this something that the others had put together? Her mouth downturned, it would explain just what Vincent turned into...face it, the scientist had tormented Aerith and Nanaki, keeping both in labs and the thought of whatever tests he ran on either of her friends made Nelly's stomach turn, or that was the sudden turbulence, no definitely the former. The man was vile, just simply abhorrent.

Her eyes lost their distant look as she watched Barrett suddenly pitch a little in his seat. She suddenly felt it too, having to uncross her legs and plant her boots on the floor as the Broncho tilted just a little. The gun-arm totting man looked concerned, his brown eyes flicking from Cait to Nanaki and eventually her. Cid could be seen struggling from his pilot seat, Yuffie sounded frantic in panic and that just got worse as something went bang outside.

She all but screamed, seeing as how there was smoke billowing about, her legs flailed as she jumped to bunch up on the seat, but another loud explosion caused Yuffie's panicked position to shift, and her legs stuck out and her feet planted against the metallic floor. Aerith who sat opposite was slightly more graceful with her worry, but her green eyes did look wide and around the space as her hands tried to find a purchase to hold onto somewhere. Cloud and Tifa could at least brace themselves against the chairs in front of them, but at the back it was a mission to not end up crashing into whoever sat opposite, just because of how the benches were; didn't help the explosions of the engines reverberated throughout and hit the back worse.

Barrett stuck his long legs out; he was bracing himself but also, he was trying to stop Nanaki from suddenly shuttling forwards, his long claws were attempting to dig into the metal of the floor and was struggling to do so. Cait practically gripped onto the bench where he could, even ending up having Barrett grip onto his red cape when the Broncho listed heavily to the side and his small hands lost their hold.

Nelly all but sent a hugely apologetic look to Vincent, the activity and everything that was happening had the man finally opening his eyes to look about. The last thing he expected was to have the young woman beside him suddenly get pushed along with force of Cid struggling to level the plane out; by now, Cid was purely on damage control. She did go to open her mouth to apologise, she had respectfully kept a decent distance between them on the bench, until this moment. She knew she had a bad feeling from earlier, but this was too much.

Before she could even utter an apology, her eyes widened as she went falling backwards, Barrett did go to stick his hand out to grab her, ditching Cait onto Nanaki so he could do so, only to get beaten to it by Vincent; the man could put Cloud's reflexes to shame with how his arm shot out from his cape, the golden metal of his gauntlet gripped onto the back of the bench, whereas his black gloved hand wrapped around her wrist and hauled her back.

Finding herself back in the corner she was almost falling from, Nelly was just bewildered by everything and grew more so when an arm stuck out in front of her, keeping her somewhat braced against the bench. Vincent's eyes looked sidelong at her, she'd say the gaze looked apologetic, if not a little awkward to have grabbed onto her and now touching her without warning or permission to do so. She just pressed her lips into a thin line and gave him a quick shake of the head before looking equally apologetic back at him, the downward nosedive the Broncho was now in had her reflexively reaching forwards and gripping onto his arm, her fingers coming to twist and curl into the red material of his cloak as Vincent's eyes stared onwards up the aisle, the water they were flying above moments ago was coming increasingly and dangerously closer by the moment.