In this illusion

Groose has returned home.

[Vincent normally doesn't care to remark on these things, and it's not as if he knew the real Groose too well. It's not even as if he was the type of person whose company he'd want to be in. And yet... and yet, because of the experiment prior to the last, he has just enough lingering familiarity that his leaving is bothersome.]

I wonder if perhaps... some of us were not meant to ever return to where we're from. If perhaps that's for the best.

[There are Reasons he's started to think this, but that's all he's going to say for now on the matter. For now, he's limping across town slowly, with a pair of ruined shoes and some terribly aching feet. Magical dancing really took a toll on them- he only hopes he'll find the appropriate type again.]

[Vincent mutters something quietly, but it can still be made out if you listen closely:]

Soul wrought of Terra corrupt... Omega's squire to the lofty heavens...

[There's a pause and he speaks normally after that..]

To be told that fate is set in stone... is something I cannot accept.

I wonder what purpose the Malnosso had in giving us these items from home...?

Finally, it's done. The experiments' duration... hasn't been so long before. I don't trust this alteration in their patterns.

[Despite the cold, Vincent is going off on a long walk to clear his mind of his other selves' weirdness. He'll try to avoid people but his red cape stands out pretty well against the snow. He also pauses on a bridge at some point to just... stare off pensively into the distance.]

[Vincent opens his journal with the intent to leave a message, but becomes lost in thought soon after.]

[It's taken this long to acknowledge that Lucrecia really isn't here because the universe hates Vincent. :| Actually meaning that he's been seeing signs of her presence all this time, like she's slept in her bed and has left her things around the apartment. Part of him also wanted to cling to those delusions. Despite knowing they're still the Malnosso's tricks, it's easier to believe in that than the truth.]

...gone...

[He says more along with that, but it's largely incoherent. There's definitely something in there about failure, but it'd be hard to make out. It goes silent a little longer. Then he speaks up once more.]

The more time I spend in this place, the less I understand it. I will be... away from town, for a while.

[...As if there are many places he could go. Even so. He shuts the journal swiftly after that.]