A/N: Well, here's the next chapter.

I need feedback like I need food. R&R, you know you want to.

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII or any of it's characters. Any characters made by me, are mine.

Chapter 2: Early Mornings and Explosions

A loud crash startled Vincent from his sleep. Instantly he had his hand on Cerberus and was preparing to aim at the source of the disturbance.

"UP AND AT 'EM!" barked a familiar voice, "PT IN TEN!"

All around Vincent, bodies were groaning and rolling out of bed, hastily pulling on their uniforms. Vincent started to follow suit, before he was stopped by the boy who had disturbed him the previous day.

"You don't need your blouse for that man, just boots and utes."

Vincent grunted in response, then tossed his camouflage jacket onto his bunk. A few minutes later, he was outside in the early morning heat.

"*&%$! It's only 6 and it's already goddamn hot!" Vincent heard Barrett rumble. After a few minutes, Vincent saw Sergeant Beck march out and he led them through some stretching exercises, then a 5 mile run, and lastly a heavy upper body workout.

Soldiers around Vincent were gasping, and some, throwing up. Cloud and Barrett, Vincent noted, were one of the few who weren't doubled over. Compared to some of the troubles they had all been through, this was cake.

Don't get complacent.

Chaos, stop nagging me.

Don't give me a reason to then.

"Private Valentine!" He heard his name yelled from the front of the platoon. Vincent walked up to the sergeant that called him, giving him a curious glance.

At this the sergeant exploded, "When you walk up to me Private, you will give me the proper greeting of the day! And when I call you up, you will report to me! Do you under-fucking-stand me private!?"

"Yes Sergeant," he said quietly, which only seemed to anger the Sergeant even more.

"Now report to processing! You and the other two jackasses that showed up yesterday for-fucking-got what you were doing when you got here!" Vincent jogged away, and soon met up with Cloud and Barrett. As they entered the administration tent, the clerk did a double-take at the odd trio in front of him.

"Holy shit," he breathed, after seeing Barrett's metal 'hand'.

"We're here for processing," Cloud explained.

"Ah," The clerk said, "Well, you two," he pointed at Cloud and Barrett, "Sit there, you," this time he pointed at Vincent, "need to give me your information."

Obediently, Cloud and Barrett sat, while Vincent stood there, somewhat uncomfortable.

"Name," the clerk said.

"Vincent Valentine." He replied.

"Date of birth,"

Vincent paused, how old was he?

"October 13th, 1984."

"You're 27?"

"Yes."

"Blood type?"

"A"

"Height?"

"6' 2""

The clerk typed all of his information in, and printed it out and handed it to Vincent. "Give this to the guy behind that door, he'll get your dog tags made."

Vincent grabbed the sheet and continued on, leaving Cloud and Barrett behind. Eventually, after a few hours and a painful experience with the doctor, he was free.

Not sure of where to go, he headed back to his barracks. After entering, he found it nearly empty, save for a Lance Corporal on the bunk above his.

"Hey," said the Lance Corporal, who Vincent identified as Lance Corporal Tuschenair by the nametape on his blouse. "I'm your Fire Team Leader. I hear you just got in-country yesterday."

Vincent nodded and sat down on his bunk, really hoping for some time to be alone. However, much to his dismay, it did not seem like he was going to get a lot, for Tuschenair hopped off of his bunk and sat down next to Vincent. "Hey man, you look like you're having a bit of trouble here, I heard you get chewed out this morning after PT."

Vincent glanced as him, then closed his eyes and leaned against the wall.

His fire team leader paused, then said "Well, I found the best way to deal with being here is to write home. It's good to get things off your chest to someone who will sympathize with you," at this he hopped off Vincent's bunk, "anyways, I was told you have weapons training at 11. It's 9:51 right now, so you have a little over an hour. You can show up early if you want, I'll be there waiting."

Vincent grunted in reply, and Tuschenair left. Finally finding the degree of solitude he had wanted, Vincent sighed and contemplated his fire team leaders words.

I can't write home… The last thing Yuffie wants is to hear from me.

How do you know?

Because I'm married to her. I know that all I'm going to get in return is grief.

Chaos sighed You'll never know until you try.

Vincent felt his temper growing, I think, I would know my wife, he snarled at Chaos.

Fine, do as you please, not my fault if you fuck up, right?

Vincent frowned, What? But there was no reply from Chaos.

Ignoring his companions silence, Vincent stood up and headed outside. But, as he began to wonder just where the rifle range was, a loud explosion shook the ground. Small bits of shrapnel made puffs of dust as they landed in the sand around Vincent's feet. A warning horn sounded over the sounds of gunfire and men yelling.

Vincent glanced in the direction of the explosion, and saw a mass of men running in all directions, everywhere but the explosion. The reports of rifle fire echoed to him, and he heard the zip and crack of bullets passing by him. Calmly, Vincent walked towards the explosion, scanning the area outside of the camp for the source of the gunfire. Faintly, his eyes picked up the flashes on a far away cliff, which would explain the inaccuracy of the bullets. As he neared the site of the explosion, he noticed Cloud and Barrett, standing off to the side.

"See them?" Cloud asked as they approached Vincent. Vincent nodded, and they both looked to Barrett.

"What?" he asked, lifting his hands in the universal 'don't-look-at-me' sign.

"Could you possibly use your gun to shoot them?" Cloud's face twitched as a bullet pinged off of the blade of his sword.

"Sorry, but that's too far." Barrett shrugged again, his gun-arm forming back into a hand.

"Vincent?" Cloud asked. Vincent frowned, Cerberus was by no means a sniper rifle.

"It's a long shot," he stated, "but I suppose shooting back is better than doing nothing."

More bullets pinged off of the ground around him, and Vincent pulled out a fire Materia from a slot in his gauntlet, slid it into the main slot on Cerberus, aimed, and fired at the cliff.

A large fireball raced towards the figures, and impacted the cliff, setting the entire cliff ablaze. A group of soldiers, mostly medics, stopped short, staring wide-eyed at Vincent, Cloud, and Barrett.

"What the-" one of them exclaimed, before being pushed aside by Sergeant Beck.

"Valentine, holster that weapon and follow me." Vincent slid Cerberus back into its holster, and without a word, followed Beck back into camp. As Vincent caught up, Sergeant Beck muttered quietly "Just what the fuck was that?"

Vincent shrugged, and continued walking.

Sergeant Beck glared at him, before continuing "Well, whatever the fuck it was, our Commanding Officer saw it, so be prepared for something."

After another minute or so of walking, Vincent was led into a solid structure, unlike the tents that were scattered around the compound. With a sharp knock, the Sergeant called out "General Hennessy, I've brought Private Valentine."

"Let him in." Came a sharp voice from inside the structure.

Sergeant Beck opened the door, and pushed Vincent in, then shut the door behind him. Inside the building, which was really a large office for the General, Vincent quickly took in the details of the room. In the far right corner was a glass liquor cabinet, half-full of many multi-colored drinks, with a stack of glasses resting on the top shelf. Adorning the back wall was a multitude of pictures of what Vincent assumed to be the general's family. To his right was a small desk with an antique record player, softly playing music that Vincent identified as 'classical'. In the center of the office was a large desk, and a broad shouldered, balding man sitting behind it.

"Did you forget how to report in private?"

Vincent stared at him for a moment, before remembering what the Sergeant had screamed at him earlier that morning. "Private Valentine reporting as ordered," he stated.

"I'm going to be blunt private, what was that little display out there?"

Vincent again shrugged, staring at the general.

"Private, when I ask a question, I expect an answer."

Vincent, what the fuck are you doing?

Choas, how would you explain materia to them?

Call it magic and leave it at that.

"Private! Are you listening to me?"

Vincent snapped back to the real world, and resumed staring at the General, who pulled out three folders and laid them on the desk.

"I got the file on you and your friends. Lovely band of freaks aren't yeh?"

Vincent coughed slightly, still staring at the general.

"Alright Valentine, I'm going to lay this out. You, Private Strife, and Private Wallace all have some sort of special abilities. Wallace has a gun for a fucking hand, you can apparently shoot fireballs out of that damn revolver, and I'm still not sure what the hell Strife can do."

"He was in SOLDIER," Vincent said suddenly, which surprised the General.

"So you can talk. SOLDIER eh? Good, that'll give us something to fight back with." The general pulled out another folder, opened it, and slid it across the desk to Vincent. Frowning, Vincent picked it up and read the first page. 'Top Secret: Eyes Only' was printed in large bold letters across the top.

"We're forming a special squad, to counter the new weapons that Wutai has procured from the black market." Vincent flipped past the first few pages, and stopped when he saw some familiar schematics.

Those are Mako submersion chambers.

Are they trying to recreate the SOLDIER program?

Looks like it'll be the exact opposite of the previous war.

If they actually create SOLDIERs… this army is doomed.

No shit. Nobody but you Spikey and Wallace are prepared to deal with SOLDIERs. Especially Wutaian SOLDIERs. Last time even Sephiroth had some trouble dealing with the Samurai. I don't want to know what they would be like with amped up strength, agility, and regenerative abilities.

"- that elite squad." The general was saying. Vincent snapped his focus back to what was in front of him, and asked the general to repeat himself. The general gave him a stern look, "I said we wanted you three to be that elite squad."

Make the best of this one. You've got him in the palm of your hand, let him know it.

Will you stop telling me what to do?

"I will, on a few conditions."

The general snorted, but nodded at Vincent to continue.

"I want to go home early."

The general looked at him, "How early?"

"As soon as I'm done with this."

The general nodded, "That can be taken care of. But I know you want more than just that."

"I want out of this uniform."

The general laughed, a loud, barking laugh. "Even easier private."

"So obviously, the fact that Wutai is now using guns and explosives, not materia, and they have what is obviously Shin-Ra technology used for making SOLDIERS, means that somebody gave it to them."

"Correct."

"So is it safe to assume you want us three to find and eliminate whoever it is that's supplying them?"

The general frowned, "What made you think that?"

Vincent opened his mouth, prepared to explain his history of being in the Turks, but then stopped himself, "guessed," he lied.

"It's a mission, but not quite as stealthy. We want you to go in and destroy every piece of Shin-Ra technology that you can find. Your main objective is of course, the mako chambers."

"Any specific things we can't do?"

"Not much, use your own judgment. Now, it says you're married to a Wutaian girl. Is that correct?"

Vincent stiffened, How did they know?

Don't know, but I'd keep it under wraps that she's Godo's daughter.

"Yes it is."

"Who is she?"

Vincent glared at the general. "Does it matter?" He said, fear for his wife's safety growing inside his chest.

"Only for purposes of intel. Don't worry," he added, seeing the look on Vincent's face, "no harm is going to come to her."

"Her name is Hana," Vincent lied. If they ever found out who he was married to, Vincent would be screwed.

In a rather unpleasant fashion too, I would imagine.

Shut up, Chaos.

The general scribbled a few things on a sheet of paper, placed it into Vincent's file, closed it and placed it in a drawer in his desk. "Very well then private, you are hereby meritoriously promoted to the rank of sergeant. Congratulations." He, like Sergeant Beck the day previous, stuck out his hand. Vincent again stared at it, then looked up at the general, who shook his head slightly and sat back down. "You're dismissed," he said. With that, Vincent turned and left his office.

Outside the heat had risen, and Vincent, despite his usual stoic demeanor, found himself uncomfortable in the heat.

Try writing a letter to Yuffie. I mean it Vincent. You're concerned for her, and in battle you don't need a distraction like a concern for the issues at home. Ease your mind a bit.

Despite Vincent's earlier protests, he knew Chaos was right, and headed to his barracks to write her a letter.

Three hours later…

The sun was past its zenith, but everything was still excruciatingly hot. Vincent had changed out of his uniform, and found he felt much cooler in his regular clothes. However, they did not help him change the fact that he couldn't figure out how to write a letter to his wife. Crumpled up papers surrounded him and covered his bunk. Sighing in resignation, Vincent figured that short and sweet would probably be best, if she even read the letter before burning it.

Yuffie,

Some strange questions are being asked, especially concerning those who have any relation with Wutai. Be on your guard, as I fear this military may be as crooked as the one Shin-Ra employed.

Love,

Vincent.

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A/N: Well, this one was a bit tough to write. I wasn't exactly sure what to do with this chapter. I know that Vincent and Chaos are a lot different than they were in A Valentine Christmas, this is because I'm trying to keep Vincent more in character than last time, so a lot of his answers and reactions to people are more short and anti-social. As for the dialogue between Vincent and Chaos, Chaos is an interesting character to try to write for. On the one hand, he enjoys antagonizing and annoying Vincent to no end, but on the other he realizes that he –though he'll never admit it- has grown fond of Vincent, and ultimately tries to make sure he doesn't do something that'll get him killed. Most of the dialogue in the past two chapters has been Chaos just stating the obvious to annoy Vincent, which is why Vincent sometimes replies with just 'Shut up, Chaos.'

Anyways, R&R, please.