BARRIERS

Disclaimer: This HAS Dirge of Cerberus spoilers in it! So read with caution….

First of all, this is my first fanfic of the Final Fantasy craze. Second, this is probably completely out of character, and third, never, and I repeat, NEVER stay up all night and day for three days playing Dirge of Cerberus just so you can beat it before you have to go back to work. By the way, for those who haven't got it or beat it, the ending is REALLY worth it, at least if my theories about the end are correct anyway.

I do not own this great franchise. It is owned by Square Enix. If I did however, I would make a live action FFVII film and have Johnny Depp be Vincent. He would make a GOOD Vincent.

Word of warning: While writing this, (and not my other fics which I SHOULD be doing) I let my lovely Squall action figure take a ride on Cloud's bike. BIG MISTAKE. Cloud…well…lets just say that Squall needs a claw thing like Vincent now… or keep his arm in his coat like Auron does. I should have NEVER taken them all out of their boxes………………..

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Dark. Mysterious. Brooding. Troubled.

These were all words to describe the enigmatic Vincent Valentine. The vampire like human Cloud and the others had met just four years ago still had so many secrets that were kept hidden in that red material wrapped head of his. Through the years they had found out the horrors of what was done to their friend and what had kept him sane throughout the years. Unfortunately, it seemed, when they found something out, Vincent would silently slip through them and disappear, only to be seen when something new threatened their home.

This is what happened when they beat Sephiroth and again with the remnants of the One-Winged Angel two years after that. It wasn't until a year ago however, that they learned a good chunk of Vincent's torment, when Omega, one of the last two WEAPONs, was prematurely released. Vincent, using Chaos, the other WEAPON, had successfully defeated the fake Omega and the damage Sephiroth had done to the planet when he was alive had begun to repair itself. This time however, Vincent stayed around.

Tifa had maybe thought that it was the same reason Cloud hung around more often now, that Vincent had let go of his past and strove for the future. Shelke, the former member of DeepGround, the ones that called forth Omega, thought maybe he stuck around to see if she would be okay, after all, they both talked frequently to each other and after finding out that Vincent hardly spoke to anyone, much less an hour long conversation, she considered herself lucky. She even kept joking that Vincent even CALLED her on one occasion. The team had all laughed at this little remark, until Vincent piped in that her statement wasn't true.

Tifa was about to go into lecture mode on needing to be more considerate to others feelings when Vincent interrupted her saying he indeed called her, but had called her TWICE, she just never answered the second time. The fits of laughter increased this time after everyone had stood there silently for a few seconds registering that THE Vincent Valentine had made a joke.

And of course Cloud had to speak up, telling about the time they had to DRAG Vincent to the phone store to get a phone, all the while him telling them that he didn't want one because they would keep calling him, and the fact that now Vincent's phone looked like it had been on Pimp My Phone. Vincent even began chuckling at himself, remembering all the things everyone was saying and how these minute things were slowly bringing him back to humanity that he had lost twenty some odd years ago.

Vincent looked at his friends with his now brown eyes. They had gone back to their natural color when Chaos exited out of his body. Because of it, his skin had also taken on a more fleshy hue. He even looked more human now. He looked down for a minute and sighed. His way of dressing, however, needed work now. His outfit, while being cool for battle, wasn't cool for everyday life.

He had started thinking about this the day after seeing Lucrecia for the last time. The planet was at peace, he wasn't being reclusive anymore, and leather was REALLY hot for this time of year, not to mention the fact that he took his style from his father, Grimore Valentine, or the fact that it had been more than twenty years since he had been conscious last. The outfit, the new outfit that was more modern, laid in his room Tifa and Cloud gave him at the bar. It had been a week since he went out and bought it, but he was too nervous to change. It was all because of the damn claw on his left hand.

His flexed it gently, hearing the metal clink. He stood cursing silently at the person that led him to this fate of wearing the heavy thing, wishing they were dead, but he couldn't kill that person. After all…he… After a few minutes of flexing and cursing, he leaned up. "I'm going to my room for a while. I'll be down later." he said and walked up the stairs. A wash of concern hit the faces of the people in the room. "Did we say something to hurt his feelings?" Shelke asked softly. She was still not very used to dealing with other people. "He probably has a lot of things on his mind. We did bring up some things about his past." Cloud looked up the stairs. "If he's not back in ten minutes, we'll come up to him. He need to socialize mo'." Barrett grinned.

Well the pants and shoes were on, as well as the shirt that wasn't buttoned up yet. Vincent had decided to keep his old Turk look and go with a suit as his new outfit. He chose black pants so he wouldn't give everyone a shock that he was actually wearing some other color other than black and red. His shirt was white and he had decided to leave the jacket off. He had also brushed his hair and taken the headband off and so, to keep his hair out of his eyes, had tied it back with a ponytail, still letting his long bangs drape around his face. Vincent sighed and sat looking at the claw. It was the only thing in his way of actually looking normal.

Vincent shook his head scolding himself for acting like an idiot. He wasn't thinking about his past anymore and his mistakes he had made were forgiven. This claw was part of that package that needed to vanish from his new life. Besides, the claw might rip the shirt. Reaching for the buckles, he quickly removed them and took the claw off….just as everyone decided to barge into Vincent's room.

Cloud, as well as the others, didn't know what to be more shocked of. The fact Vincent was in normal clothes or that his golden claw was laying beside his leg, with his VERY human and intact left arm sitting on said leg. Vincent looked up. "What?" "You…your arm…it's human…it's THERE!" Yuffie screeched. Vincent chuckled. "Why shouldn't it be there?" "Uh, we thought that it was maybe something Hojo did…" Cloud looked into Vincent's eyes, trying to spot that familiar look Vincent got when they mentioned Hojo. It never appeared however.

Vincent began laughing hysterically, making everyone jump. "No it wasn't Hojo. I…God, now I feel stupid…I actually did this." The team looked at him with very confused looks. Vincent turned his arm around so they could see it better. There were slash marks covering the parts where the claw had been protecting. "Vincent, I'm so sorry! We shouldn't have…" Tifa began. "No Tifa, it's okay. I actually did this to myself." Seeing the many scars, Yuffie squeaked as she tried not to cry. "Why?" Vincent flexed his hand. "Well, this is a reminder of the first battle I fought and lost."

He leaned in to the group and whispered, "Never shove your hand in barbed wire. It really hurts." "WHAT?" the group asked in unison, shocked this was the reason of the scars. "Yeah, it really hurts. Especially when you're just standing there bleeding and your father tells you that you'll live and mother really hates blood stains on the carpet and to move three inches off of it so there won't be a huge mess, then realizing there's a LOT of blood coming out of the wound and that if I die, then mother would kill him, and he's panicking and accidentally runs into the wall, knocking himself out and having to drag your father, while your arm is still bleeding to the nearest hospital and having like twelve stitches in your arm and hand and then mother coming in the hospital room yelling at why my father wasn't watching me and chasing him down with his IV." Vincent started laughing again. "I can't believe I just told you that."

"Why DID you shove your hand in barbed wire anyway?" Cloud had regained his composure very quickly. "What four year old wouldn't shove their hand anywhere for ten gil? "It was for a bet!" Yuffie screamed. "You were only four!" Tifa announced, shocked. "Did'ja get the gil?" Cait Sith looked up at him. Vincent smiled. "After the wounds had healed, I couldn't look at my arm without laughing hysterically, thinking about my mother chasing my father. I usually kept it covered with clothes but when Hojo did his experiments and I changed into one of my beast forms, the wounds could still be seen on my body and I would immediately change back, laughing. That's when I decided to hide the wounds with the claw."

Everyone stared at the claw. "So, Hojo didn't amputate your arm and attach a metal claw in its place or graft the claw directly on your skin or force you to wear it because it kept part of you alive?" Yuffie squeaked. Vincent shook his head. "Nope, none of the above. Just because I didn't want to laugh my ass off. Well, I'm going to go out shopping for some things. Anyone want to join me?" Vincent said as he stood up and buttoned his shirt. When no one moved, Vincent shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well." he said as he walked out.

Dark. Mysterious. Brooding. Troubled.

These were all words to describe the enigmatic Vincent Valentine. And now, you could add one more word to the list. He was quite the comedian.

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Well, how was it?

Vincent: You really think Johnny Depp could play me?

Yes. I mean did you even watch the damn game I played for three days straight!

Vincent: No. I was too busy DYING because you would keep FORGETTING to equip the damn Phoenix Down on me.

Oh. Right. I'm so sorry.

Vincent: And don't say that line. I heard it enough in the game.

O.O I'M SORRY!

Vincent: Whatever. Oh and you people reading this….review…or I will unleash Chaos on you.

You don't have Chaos anymore.

Vincent:…………..ARMAGEDDON!

AHHHHHHHHHHHH