Note: I know no one asked for it, but I was about to write another OC X Vincent story, and I felt like he was cheating on Lilah. LOL! That's why I decided to make this sequel. This story takes place a few months after "The Rise of the Phoenix", so please read that one before starting with this fic, or you probably won't understand a thing!!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Final Fantasy VII characters, though I wish I'd do! Only Lilah Phoenix, Murdoch, Ives von Gorge, Paige, and Dr. Patrick Gavin are my creations.

Lilah ran as fast as she could. She was so tired, and there seemed to be no way out from there. Two sahagins stood in her way, but she slashed them right away with her swords. The underground city of Deepground was almost like a labyrinth in her eyes, and it seemed that she had passed by the same place two or three times already. Lilah laid against a wall to take a break, and cleaned her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand. Suddenly, she heard heavy footsteps coming her way. Lilah hid behind a pillar, and jump out, swords in hands, only when she heard the footsteps stop right next to her. She found herself in front of a familiar large, black, horned creature. Galian Beast stepped back immediately.

"Damn it, you scared me!" She shouted, sighed, and put her swords at her back again. The creature was surrounded by some sort of light and returned to its normal appearance.

"Are you alright? You've been here for hours." Vincent said.

"Thank God you're here… I got lost again… I'm sorry."

"Are you ready to go back?" He asked, and handed her his right hand.

"…Sure." She answered, and took his hand. Vincent led her through a series of corridors and rooms, until they reached a wide area.

"I really wanted to make it this time." She said, and let go of his hand. Vincent stopped, and turned to her. Lilah just looked away. "I don't know how I can become a good instructor for the WRO if I can't even pass the training".

"Come here." He said, and held her close. She just pressed her face against his chest. Somehow, being close to Vincent soothed her.

"It's like I can't concentrate in anything lately." She muttered.

Vincent wasn't sure of what he was supposed to do in these kinds of situations; making someone feel better was not one of his specialties. Although they have been sharing an apartment for almost four months, sometimes Lilah was a complete mystery for him. He just held her a little bit tighter. Fortunately, this was enough to calm her down.

"Let's go." He finally said, and pressed a button hidden in a wall. The room faded almost instantly, and they found themselves in a large, empty room with its wall covered in iron. It was part of the new WRO Training Facilities.

Lilah took a deep breath, and walk out of the room. Vincent followed her.

"I'm sorry, Reeve… I promise it won't happen again." She said to Reeve, who was waiting for the couple to return from the training room.

"Lilah, I think you need some time off." He said.

"What?... No! I'm fine. I think I just need to try harder…"

"Reeve is right." Vincent said, laying his hand over her shoulder. "You are not in the condition to repeat the test. At least not now."

"… But I… Ok..." She said, looking down.

"You know I think you'll be a great instructor, but I need you to be in a better condition… I don't know what's going on with you these days, but I'm concerned." Reeve explained. "You can take a week or two to rest... consider it as a holiday." Lilah just nodded, and left the place.

It was almost 10 PM. Lilah picked her bag up, and walked out of the building towards the Shadowfox. She got in, and waited for Vincent. They usually spent most part of the day in WRO headquarters, helping new soldiers in their training, or going in short missions abroad, so Reeve sent the Shadowfox almost everyday to pick them up in the apartment, and to take them home at night.

She had been trying so hard, but her nightmares have been happening more often than before; the same dream that she had had for the last twenty years was repeating almost every night. Sometimes she preferred not to sleep at all. In that way her mental state was more stable, but she was growing weaker everyday.

Lilah was sitting in the back of the truck when Vincent got in. He gave her a concerned frown, and sat next to her. Lilah just laid against him as the vehicle started moving.

The trip to Edge was silent and quiet. Once they were back in the apartment, Lilah walked directly to the bedroom. Vincent walked into the bedroom too, and found Lilah sitting in the edge of the bed, crying. He crouched in front of her, and let her hug him.

"It's not your fault, Lilah."

"I know… but I can't take it anymore… I can't think clearly… I…"

"You need some sleep."

"I can't!"

"But you have to." He said, and held her face with his hands. He cleaned her tears away, and kissed her forehead, and then her lips.

"I can try… but we both know how this is gonna end…"

Lilah took a shower, and went directly to bed. In fact, she fell asleep almost immediately. Vincent was glad she finally seemed to be resting, although it didn't last for more than a couple of hours. As it had happened almost every night, she started to shake, and breathe heavily. He woke her up before she started to scream. Lilah held onto him as soon as she woke up.

"… It's like dying every night. I even started to hear voices, and to see meaningless images. The other day I dreamt about chocobos, talking chocobos! Can you believe it?" She muttered.

"I can't take watching you suffer like this… I have to do something."

"You can't do anything to end with my nightmares, Vincent… Unless you're planning to kill me to end my suffering." She said, chuckling, even when her eyes were filled with tears again. Vincent raised his eyebrow, surprised that she could keep her strange sense of humor even in a moment like that. He shouldn't be surprised: Lilah was always like that.

"I'm serious… I think I may know a way to end this."

"I've spent the worst nights of my life for weeks, and now you tell me you know how to stop this!" She shouted, and sat in the bed.

"Please… calm down". He said with his usual and impassive voice.

"… Sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"It's OK."

"No! It's not! Look at me! I feel like I'm going to go insane at any minute."

"I think that..." He said, quite slowly, as he sat next to her. "Maybe you need to find out about your past."

"What?" She asked, quite surprised.

"Maybe you need to know who you were, where you used to live... about your family."

"You are my only family, Vincent. You, Tifa, Cloud, and the others are the only family I've ever had."

"These nightmares must mean something, Lilah. I just want to help you."

"…You may be right." She said after a couple of seconds of silence. "But it's impossible... I mean, everything happened so long ago that even if I had some relatives or friends back then, they are probably dead now."

"I think we should try." He said, and took her hand. Lilah looked at him, and smiled lightly.

"Thank you... for being here for me." She said. He gave her half a smile, but it faded away when he remembered what he had to do then. No... She had just calmed down. To give her that kind of information would only upset her again.

"I promise I'm going to help you. But, like I said earlier, you need to rest." Lilah nodded, and they got back to bed.

It seemed that Vincent's solution for her problem was already having effect, because, after a couple of long weeks, she was finally able to sleep tight. That made her awake with an unusual good mood. She wanted to start investigating immediately. Now there was no way out; he had to do it right then.

"I know you will probably get mad at me after seeing this, but I wouldn't show it to you if it wasn't extremely necessary." He said, holding a picture in his hands.

"What are you talking about?" she said, while checking on her bag, and her swords.

"I know where we have to start investigating." Vincent handed her the picture.

"What?" She looked at the picture in her hands, and her characteristic smile faded almost immediately. There she was, staring at her own picture… a picture that seemed to have been taken more than twenty years ago. "Vincent… where did you get this?"