Chapter Text
Taking a stroll through Gongaga, Vincent mused on how unpredictable his life had become. When he’d agreed to travel with the others to finally force himself to confront Sephiroth, he hadn’t expected to be traveling between the continents, doing a variety of odd jobs. Vincent was finding himself spending quite a lot of time lurking in the shadows and keeping to himself, waiting for the others to finish their business. Their pilot Cid had tried to strike up some conversation a few times, but Vincent’s unwillingness to keep a conversation going meant he was left alone more often now. He was still getting accustomed to being out in the world, amongst other people after so long.
Walking through the jungle was practically overstimulating. He was surrounded by a cacophony, an abundance of beasts and fiends living in the forest. His spontaneous excursion had turned out to be worth it. He’d sensed some pull on Cloud related to Queen’s Blood and had had a bad feeling about it. Luckily he’d been there to rescue Cloud from the malevolent entity. Job done, he was now heading back to Cid and the Tiny Bronco. Thankfully the dock at Gongaga was small, with only a few people around.
The first buildings came into sight and Vincent suddenly realized he’d let down his guard too much. There was a loud bang followed by a burst of pain in his chest. Staring down at his chest in shock, Vincent saw a hole there, gushing blood. He let out a shallow gasp. There was a second gunshot, and he fell forward: the second bullet had gone through his leg.
A violent shudder ran through his body. Vincent squeezed his eyes shut, trying to breathe normally. He lurched forward on the ground as he felt his inner companions jostling inside of him. “No,” he ground out, hugging himself tightly. His body jerked, beyond his control. He was too close to civilians to risk it. Hearing the click of the third shot, he launched himself out of the way with a snarl, the bullet grazing his right arm.
Instinct took over, a need to flee before things got out of control. Vincent suddenly occupied much less space, zipping through the air like a wraith, only concerned with finding a quiet and safe space to hide. He slipped through a crevice into a small pocket inside a rock formation. Once safe, he returned to his usual form, laying on his back, bleeding from his wounds. Shifting even a little caused him to wince.
With a sigh, Vincent crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes. Sleep would be his best option. Slowing everything down, calming his inner turmoil. When he was healed, he would leave, check in with Cid. But now he slipped into peaceful unconsciousness.
***
“We lost track of him, sir!” the young, blonde Turk reported.
“Hmph, well that’s to be expected,” Hojo replied, tapping his steepled fingers together. He was going to be enacting his plan after all. The corner of his mouth drew up into a smirk at the thought of it. “I will be sending in backup. Stand down until the specimen leaves an opening. You won’t miss it.”
Hojo ended the call, returning his attention to his video feeds. One feed showed a helicopter taking off, enroute to Gongaga. The other showed just a patch of bloody grass. Hojo had to admit, it had been satisfying to see Valentine in pain again after all this time.
It had been a surprise to see that man outside the confines of Shinra Manor. An unpleasant surprise. He was a rather permanent loose end, but one that hadn’t previously been a problem worth worrying about. Valentine just had to choose an inconvenient time to try to go out into the world again. The Reunion was nearly upon them, Hojo was sure of it. Would his untimely emergence throw a wrench into things? Hojo thought it unlikely due to the man’s general ignorance, but the chance wasn’t zero.
So after seeing his abandoned experiment again, Hojo had decided to try to tempt him back to his removed existence. Why not see if he could create a scenario that would cause the band of adventurers to reject Valentine, or, more likely, scare the man back into his coffin? Even if Hojo's ploy failed, it would still be entertaining. He could spare a bit of time for this; apotheosis was close, but not quite imminent.
Hojo checked the ETA for the helicopter before checking in on the general state of his labs down in the Shinra Manor basement. He’d made a mental list of what he would need to carry out his plan. He was also preparing himself for his own travel. He would have to leave shortly after the asset was secured to ensure he got there first. A shiver ran through him: it’d been a long time since he’d anticipated an experiment quite as much as this.
***
Vincent jolted awake. Something was wrong. He could sense imminent danger nearby even before he heard the first screams. He once again became practically formless, leaving his hiding spot and speeding off towards the source of distress. However long it had been, his wounds hadn't fully healed yet, but they were mostly closed.
As he got closer, he could hear Cid cursing up a storm in the distance in addition to the panicked screaming of others. When he reached the buildings that made up the dock area, Vincent tracked down the nearest source of frightened screams, noticing a trail that must have been left by some sort of monster.
Turning a corner, he saw some large, humanoid monster that had giant quills on its back. Some poor, hapless human was sprawled a few yards away on the ground in front of it, struggling to get back to their feet. Vincent drew his gun, but before he could properly take aim the monster turned, back facing its prey. As it tensed up, Vincent made a split second decision and launched himself between monster and human, shielding the human with his body, his back to the monster just in time for those giant quills to be launched into him. Vincent let out a pained grunt as he became a pin cushion, the person that he'd protected staring up at him with wide eyes from their place on the ground.
“Get to safety,” Vincent said, trying to keep the pain from his voice. Even beyond the pain of being pierced by dozens of quills there was a burning sensation building up in his veins. Poison of some kind.
The human struggled to their feet as Vincent whirled around, bringing his gun up to aim at the monster, firing a shot at its chest. Hopefully he could draw its attention and keep it from going after anyone else. It seemed to work, the monster snarling in pain as it launched itself at him. Vincent dodged, but was caught off guard by how close it came to hitting him. His muscles seemed to be stiffening, worsening his reflexes.
Vincent unloaded more shots into the beast as it whirled back around. Despite almost all of them hitting, they didn't seem to be slowing it down at all. Vincent jumped out of the way of one of its attacks once more, but this time the beast whipped its spiked tail, launching more spikes at him. He raised his arm to protect his face, the spikes embedding themselves into his arm. His muscles spasmed from the sudden pain and the poison taking effect, causing him to drop his gun with a curse.
The beast saw its opportunity and pounced on him. Desperate, he caught hold of the beast’s neck with his gauntlet, able to keep it at arm’s length solely due to his unnatural strength. They were caught in a stalemate for a brief moment before Vincent could feel more and more of his body locking up as the poison overtook him. As he faltered, the beast slammed him back into the ground. The spikes in his back were pushed even further in, almost completely piercing through the front of his chest now. Coughing up blood, his vision started fading. It seemed there was no avoiding it…
“Vincent!” Cid cried out. Although he couldn’t see him, Vincent could tell that Cid wasn’t close by, but still closer than Vincent would’ve liked considering the circumstances.
“Stay back!” Vincent yelled, practically growling. “I can handle this myself!” He could only hope Cid took him seriously. He couldn’t do an argument right now.
The beast was snapping at his face, specks of saliva hitting his cheeks. The arm that was keeping its teeth at bay trembled before giving out. Eyes closed, Vincent felt the adrenaline coursing through his veins, the desire to put the beast in its place, to have it at his mercy overtaking his thoughts. As sharp teeth clamped down on his neck, Vincent gave in.
A new but familiar pain joined the others as Vincent’s body began twisting and breaking, the transformation violent as always. Rage welled up within him, tightly kept in check due to all of his practice. There was just one target for his rage. Letting out a roar, Galian Beast surged forward, shoving the other monster off.
Vincent distantly registered Cid exclaiming “Holy shit!” He dreaded the conversation they were going to have to have later, when he could actually talk again. For now, he was busy snarling at the beast he had to kill.
Feeling cramped, Vincent advanced on the monster, swiping at it with his claws, driving it away from the buildings and people and back towards the clearing he’d come from. He only managed to get a glancing blow, barely drawing blood, but he did achieve his goal of loading it into following him and changing the site of their battle.
They exchanged blows, the other monster annoyingly sturdy and refusing to go down even after sizable chunks of its flesh were gouged out by claws, and the fireballs Galian hurled at it hardly seemed to faze it. Thankfully its poison was much less effective against Vincent’s new form. Neither had the clear upper hand for a few minutes as they tested each other. Neither was able to land a critical blow. Frustration grew as Galian was not instantly besting this rival. He grew reckless; it was pointless to be concerned with avoiding hits, they hardly did any damage to him. The only thing that mattered was ripping and tearing into the flesh before him. It'd been so long…
Galian tackled the other beast to the ground, receiving a wound to his abdomen in exchange. With a slam, he pinned the squirming beast down, sinking his claws all the way into its shoulders, refusing to be shaken off. Completely driven by instinct, he bit down on its neck firmly before tearing out its throat. Warm blood splashed on his face, into his mouth, and he relished it. Taking the creature’s life, feasting on it. Soon it grew still beneath him, its blood no longer gushing out as fast. His body hummed with energy, elation from the kill and satisfaction from his victory overtaking him. He lapped at the neck wound a bit more before drawing himself away from the fresh corpse.
He started pacing about on all fours, searching for more prey to keep chasing this high. He let out a low grumble of contentment even as he used his senses to find his next victim. Humans were the closest things, although they seemed like they would be a disappointment compared to the fight he’d just had. Turning back the other way, he could sense more monsters off in the distance.
No, he shouldn’t go so far away. He’d won, hadn’t he? He could stop now. But why? He let out a huff of frustration. Didn’t he feel alive now? For the first time in years? Warring against the inhibition that kept him from pursuing his wants, he instead went back to the corpse. He began ripping open its abdomen, tearing away until he found the livers and kidneys, still somewhat warm. Even dead, it still gave him some small satisfaction, bathing in viscera. If this was all he was getting…
“Vince?” a hesitant voice called out. “Is that- are you…?”
He froze, awareness coming back to him at full force. He was done. He’d won. He had to change back now. It was no longer a suggestion at the back of his mind. Galian bared its fangs, but knew when it had lost, returning back to the dark corners of Vincent’s mind.
There was once again the painful shifting of his form, this time to a certain tightness, feeling uncomfortable in his own skin initially as always. A bone deep tiredness overtook him, combined with full body aches: his wounds may have been healed, but there was a residual aftermath from them and the poison. He was on his hands and knees, struggling to stand upright as he watched Cid coming towards him. His trembling arms betrayed him, still too weak to push himself up or to try to wipe the blood from his face.
At the thought of it, his tongue darted out and licked up some of the blood. He had to struggle not to gag on the foul taste. He could feel Galian’s phantom amusement at one last chance to act out as Vincent attempted to pull himself back together. Shame welled up within him. The only member of their party who had not seen him transform before had just witnessed him losing to instinct, and now here he was being a total mess with no easy way to escape. Unable to even try to wipe the gore away from his face, he hunched over further, trying to hide it.
“Hey Vince, are you al-”
A sharp pin prick pulled him out of his self-loathing as new danger presented itself. Glancing down at his right arm, Vincent found a giant tranquilizer dart stuck in it. Adrenaline began to course through him as he recognized the specific type. The sudden spike of energy was not enough as he began to succumb to the powerful sedative. He fumbled, trying once again to stand only to fall back on his ass. All Vincent could find the energy to do was to stare at Cid’s shocked face, eyelids growing heavy to where even that was a challenge for him.
There was a second pinprick. Vincent found himself swallowed by oblivion.