Note: I'm thinking of redoing the first two chapters. What do you guys think? And ya, I know that Nibelheim Inn is dinky, but pretend it has more rooms, mmkay? Also, I THINK this fanfic is cursed. D| Inono. I didn't have a nightmare, but I had a dream where I kept "waking up", so I didn't know what was real and what was a dream. Same kind of concept as Vincent's without the scary stuff, right? What's real and what's a dream? My nightmare after updating chapter 3 was my at-the-time-girlfriend breaking up with me. Coincidence? Also, look for the clue here as to why Sephiroth is doing…whatever he's doing.

Chapter 5: Inn

"I'd like a room, please."

"Yes, yes…and your name, sir…?"

"Vincent. Vincent Valentine."

The clerk lowered his book and raised an eyebrow at the sight of Vincent's attire. "Yeh know, it's a bit too earleh for Hallo'een," he said to Vincent. There was a pause before Vincent spoke. "I'd like a room, please," he reiterated to the clerk. The clerk rolled his eyes and got out a ringed binder. He opened it and started writing down something. "Vincent…Valentine…right? How many nights?" The clerk looked up at Vincent. The brooding man was calculating the days and nights in his head. "…two." The clerk went back to his binder, writing something in it before closing it. He held out his hand.

"200 gil."

Vincent reached in the sack at his belt. Luckily for him, he had more than enough and pulled out the exact amount. He dropped the gil into the clerk's hands and the clerk tossed him a key before going back to his chair. "Upstairs, down da hall. Second t' last room. Don' cause no trouble, ya hear?" Vincent caught the key, muttering a thank you to the clerk before going up the stairs. On the way upstairs, he heard the sound of children laughing.

"Tag, you're it! Better come catch me!"

Halfway up the stairs, a little girl whizzed past Vincent. He heard the clerk shout something and the girl laughed. When Vincent reached the top of the stairs and rounded the corner, a boy bumped into him.

"Oof! Sorry, sir!" The boy bowed and went off. "Sister, wait up!" For a moment, Vincent became puzzled as to why the boy didn't scream or get scared of his appearance. Then he remembered that the boy was probably too focused on his sister that he didn't notice him. "Sigh…" Vincent continued to walk, ignoring the strange looks the other people in the hallway threw at him. He reached the second to last door at the end of the hallway and opened it, his nostrils filling with a fresh, clean, almost flowery scent as he stepped in. He closed and locked the door behind him. Hopefully now that there were other people nearby, he can distinguish between reality and nightmares. It didn't take too long for Vincent to decide what to do first; and it wasn't to sleep.

The "nightmare" he had left him feeling very filthy, particularly in his mouth and on his genitals. He could still feel the rotten, wrinkly, bony texture of the hands groping his groin and the squirming ma-

He didn't want to think about it.

He just didn't.

Vincent discarded his clothes, boots, and headband at the foot of the bed. He entered the bathroom and started running a hot shower. Thinking twice, he took the gun with him into the bathroom. He put the lid over the toilet and placed his gun there, away from the water, yet near enough for him to swipe and use should he fall into a nightmare again. He could also use his claw, but he preferred instant death. Checking to make sure everything was in the right place, Vincent stepped into the shower, wincing as the hot water scorched his pale skin. He wanted this, though; he wanted the memories of those events to be gone. Taking a deep breath, Vincent tried to forget it all. He tried to focus on something other than those memories – the water, the white tiles of the bathroom, the drain; anything. He focused on them so hard that his senses were momentarily heightened. The sounds of simple splashes became crashes, and the squeaking of his feet against the floor was like the trills of a violin that wasn't tuned. These sounds were harsh, but it was better than sitting alone and recounting the memories one by one. Amidst the sounds, Vincent could hear a mother next door scolding her children about running around in the inn. He thought nothing of it; only adding that noise to his cacophonous sonata. He would forget about it all here...he would alleviate his pain in this burning water.

After standing for an hour in the shower and filling the bathroom with steam, Vincent started to notice that the hot water was slowly growing colder. He sighed and reached out for the shampoo located on the top shelf…

…and immediately whipped around with the gun in his hand, pointing at the other figure present in the shower with him.

"You just sensed me?" The figure's body was covered with the steam, but Vincent knew who it was.

"What do you want?" Vincent asked, his gun still pointed at the figure. In the steam, he could see the figure's head move down, as if scrutinizing his body. Even though he was naked, Vincent stayed strong under the other's gaze. "Answer me."

"…I didn't know you bathed with your claw on. I guess that's one mystery down out of millions more."

Vincent ignored the comment. "Are you part of my nightmare? My reality?" He could see the other getting closer to him. There was a click as Vincent loaded his gun. "I don't think you want to shoot me," Sephiroth stated, coming into view. Vincent could see that he was also naked, but he didn't question why. First he needed to find out whether or not that this was a dream.

"Why not?"

Sephiroth moved, waving a hand on the wall behind him. An image of a mother and the two children Vincent saw earlier appeared. Vincent's first reaction was to cover his body with the shower curtains, but then he realized that Sephiroth was showing him something that was going on in the other room right now. The mother was playing a board game with the children. She laughed momentarily as the girl blew a raspberry at the boy and the boy glared back, but laughed after. Vincent's eyes lingered on the family a second longer before addressing Sephiroth. "…This is a nightmare," he simple stated in reply, shuffling his feet to try to get Sephiroth to stand in another position. The silver-haired man failed to move. "Do you want to take that chance?" Sephiroth asked, moving his arm back to his side to let the image disappear. Vincent was silent as he began to move out of the bath tub; an attempt to shoot Sephiroth at a different angle. Sephiroth moved his arm again to reveal the boy chasing the girl and the mother scolding them somewhere from the other room. Vincent stopped.

"…Sephiroth, what do you want?"

"Finish your bath."

"What do you want?!"

"Are you going to finish your bath, or do I have to force you to?"

"…"

Vincent grunted. "...going to leave anytime soon?" he asked. He got no physical answer from the other man. "Of course," he thought to himself, rolling his eyes as he went back into the bath tub. The shower was still running, and it was cold now. Vincent concentrated on blocking out Sephiroth as he continued to wash himself. He was trying to take control of this dream – if it was a dream – as he did in the past, before he was plagued with nightmares. It had to be a dream, right? Right now, Sephiroth wasn't doing anything that made this dream seem like a nightma-

Rub, rub.

"Interesting…"

"…Sephiroth…"

GROPE.

"!!! Son of a-!!!"

"…This isn't as big as mine, but it'll do-"

WHACK.

If he couldn't shoot him, he'd beat the living daylights out of him with the barrel of his gun or rip him to shreds with his claw. Sephiroth rubbed his head and Vincent growled, his face a light shade of red from being touched there. The shower curtain was around his waist and his gun was above his head.

"OUT."

"But-"

"OUT."

With a shove and the slam of a door, Vincent managed to kick Sephiroth out; out of the bathroom, anyways. Vincent continued his cold bath in silence. This was a dream. The great Sephiroth didn't have Masamune on hand, and he wasn't fighting back physically. Also, Sephiroth should be stronger strength-wise than him. This had to be a dream; it couldn't be anything else.

The running water stopped with the squeak of a knob turning. Shivering, Vincent stepped out of the shower and dried himself with a towel. He wrapped the towel around the lower half of his body after drying his hair and opened the door, his gun gripped firmly in hand. He glanced around the room and saw that Sephiroth was nowhere to be found. His eyes were drawn to his clothes. He had just piled them onto the ground near the bed, but now they were on top of the bed and folded neatly. "He must be watching somewhere," Vincent thought to himself as he laid his gun on the dresser and let his towel fall to the ground. Sephiroth had seen him naked anyway, and he wasn't going to walk around with just a towel wrapped around his waist. He slipped on his undergarments first, then his pants, top, and headband. He didn't put on his cape. Instead, he laid it on a nearby chair, with his boots and socks nearby. He sighed and plopped onto the bed, pondering about what just happened. He shifted positions several times on the bed to get comfortable. When he moved onto his side, he felt weight on the other side of the bed, and pointed his gun at Sephiroth. A quick peek backwards revealed that Sephiroth was laying down next to him, and he had his gun at his jaw. Perfect. Sephiroth didn't seem to move or protest to this action, and Vincent wasn't surprised. "…You don't belong here. Even if you are my nightmare; my dream…you don't belong here." Vincent pressed the gun into Sephiroth's jaw. "Now…tell me why you're here." The two men exchanged a lasting silence before Sephiroth spoke.

"If you want to know…I've…always…wondered about you, Vincent. Ever since I first laid my eyes upon yo-"

"Bullshit."

"What?"

"If you've 'always wondered about me', you would've approached me much, much earlier. That would've been the most logical thing to do if you 'wondered about me', don't you think?"

"…"

"Out with it."

"…You know a bullet won't kill me."

Vincent turned his head to get a full view of Sephiroth. The look on the man's face was of a serious nature now; something that Vincent should've been expecting, but hadn't. "Tell me." Vincent demanded. "Tell me or I'll shoot." He tried not to sound desperate. He really wanted to know why Sephiroth was here. Why was Sephiroth in his dreams? Why him? Why him? Vincent was so confused.

"You can't shoot me." Sephiroth stated, putting a hand on the gun. "Watch me," Vincent replied, squeezing the trigger. Suddenly, his whole body froze. Sephiroth looked expectantly at him. Vincent couldn't move his finger. His hands and arms were frozen in place, no matter what he did to try to shoot him.

Why?

Why couldn't he shoot him?

He had the will, but his body just wasn't moving.

"Stupid…STUPID DREAM…STUPID NIGHTMARE…"

Vincent was now convinced more than ever that this was a dream; no, a nightmare. If he couldn't do anything, then it was a nightmare. Vincent's bangs covered his eyes as he lowered his gun and placed it on the dresser. He tried to bring his claw up to attack him, but he couldn't move that as well. No matter what he did, he couldn't bring harm to the other, and he found himself in a mix of frustration and confusion. Even though he told himself over and over that it was a nightmare, why was this happening? All of this was tiring him out. He found himself growing exhausted, which was an unusual, but common element in all the nightmares he had experienced.

Sephiroth eyed Vincent. Vincent could tell that he was studying him again, and he could also tell that Sephiroth knew that he was tired. The silver-haired man sat up and placed a hand on Vincent's head, pushing him softly onto the bed. Vincent protested, his body movements sluggish.

"Sleep…I'll make them go away."

Make what go away? Vincent found himself losing all resistance and drifting off to sleep, though he didn't know why. He didn't trust Sephiroth at all, yet here he was, about to go to sleep…

The last thing he saw before he blacked out was an onslaught of monsters and Sephiroth facing them single-handedly with Masamune in hand.