[Voice]

[thenightmarebegins]

A chance to return...

[A pause, along with the sound of water rushing behind him. Vincent has been coming to the Battle Dome ever since that announcement to go to the simulation of the place he wants to truly return to.]

I cannot help but still wonder what price will be paid for such a chance... and whether it's worth the potential risk.

[Not to himself, of course, but to the people and worlds involved.]

I suppose only time will tell for certain.

Comments

[thenightmarebegins]

If it does destroy all worlds somehow... it's not as if we'll have much to complain about anyway.

[See, he can see a bright side! ...Kind of. Vincent pauses a moment, almost hesitant to ask, but...]

...Would you choose a new life, on another world?

[gardeningaia]

Vincent, that's terrible. You're terrible. [ Said much more lightly than the words themselves would suggest, because she assumes he's joking.

In his own, weird Vincent way. (It's still a terrible joke.) ]

...I keep helping, don't I?

[thenightmarebegins]

My apologies.

[...Vincent's idea of jokes are more than a bit terrible.]

You have helped, more than anyone... but it should still be your own decision.

[gardeningaia]

[ There's a small little sigh, both at his apology and what he says after that. ]

It is. ...If I ran away, I'd always wonder what happened to everyone.

[thenightmarebegins]

I understand. You know best where you belong...

[Even if still seems a difficult choice to have to make- protecting friends or having a new life.]

[gardeningaia]

[ It is a hard choice--even if helps a bit knowing it won't be that great of a life if she'd always fret over what she'd left behind, it's still a new life. And she wants that. But it's not right. ]

Hey... you're staying, right? [ Let's change the subject a bit and focus on Vincent instead. ]

[thenightmarebegins]

I'll be returning to our world for the experiment... and ultimately I would choose that.

[Unless some things could be changed, otherwise he wouldn't choose anything else but home.]

[gardeningaia]

Mm. ...That means, you'll be showing someone around? [ The volunteers were going to partner up for this, right? Color her curious. ]

[thenightmarebegins]

I suppose I'll have no choice in that.

[He just wants to have a quiet moment in his cave, though he knows that given the nature of the experiment... someone has to come.]

[gardeningaia]

Oh? ...Oh, I get it. I thought you wanted to bring a friend back with you, but it's really that you're homesick. [ Good to see Aerith's blunt as ever, right? She means it nicely, honest. She'd think of doing the same if it...was an option. ]

[thenightmarebegins]

[Thanks for the bluntness. Really. He sighs a little, but he does realize it's meant in the best way. He supposes.]

I've been here for a long time... there's nothing wrong in wanting to revisit the familiar.

[gardeningaia]

Not one bit. It's something we all do.

[thenightmarebegins]

A shame it won't last very long...

[gardeningaia]

What'll you do with the time? I hope you get to see some of our friends.

[thenightmarebegins]

I'll see who I can, time permitting. [He actually does mean that, he wouldn't mind seeing them after it's been so long for most.] I also plan to return to... the waterfall.

[gardeningaia]

...What waterfall? [ she's not from that time, so she doesn't really know what he's referring to, though she can guess easily it's important. ]

[thenightmarebegins]

[Right, and nor has he mentioned it here, he realizes.]

The cave behind the waterfall is where Lucrecia has been... frozen in crystal.

[gardeningaia]

Ah...

But, won't that make you sad? [ VINCENT BB SHE WILL NEVER GET YOU. THEY THINK TOO DIFFERENTLY. ]

[thenightmarebegins]

[Yes, they really are total opposites in that regard.]

Yet all I have here... are memories. That cave gives me something more.

[gardeningaia]

[ Something tangible...like her mom's materia, or the ribbon from Zack. ]

I get it a little, but--just don't make yourself too sad! You should get to see someone, too. Or call someone. Didn't Cloud give you a PHS?

[ okay she is a little behind the tech times here. but the point stands. ]

[thenightmarebegins]

[Yes. Some people keep mementos, he keeps... himself holed away in a cave staring at the frozen figure. It takes all kinds, really.]

...I had a phone before I left.

[That he purchased, recently and grudgingly. He sounds more annoyed than anything at even having such a device, but that could have something to do with Yuffie somehow already having the number. Sigh.]

[gardeningaia]

Okay. I expect you to use it. [ THIS IS A THING, NOW.

Except not, really, since the experiment's getting hijacked. ]

[thenightmarebegins]

I don't have it here.

[Thankfully he's ready with that excuse, at least.]

[gardeningaia]

At all? ...But that means you left it back where you're going, right?

[ Aerith

and learning to take "no" for an answer... ]

[thenightmarebegins]

I assume it would be there.

[He will keep the thing turned off. Or 'forget' to charge it.]