" I know something of being . . . Other. If you ever need to talk about it, I've been known to listen. "

" You've been kind by choice, as well — despite cruelty. And we stand — kindness is a choice we make. A path we walk together. "

" I did attack you, " Vincent responds simply, something of a smile playing at the corner of his lips.

" It would have been much easier for you to not have allowed my presence amongst you. And yet, you did. "

" You have my trust without question, " Vincent responds softly, tilting his head as he watches her. " And it did not take you long to have it. Few show kindness to monsters. "

" I was made a monster by force. I am kind by choice — in the ways that I can be. "

" A witch is simply a being who harbors magic. And I, of all people, shall not judge monsters. "

" Neither witch or monster is inherently bad. "

" Well. Are you not a great witch? "

" Earn my trust? "

That seems to be what catches his attention, brow furrowed slightly in confusion.

" I hope you haven't misunderstood — it is never my trust you've had to earn; I trust you inherently. I've sought to be a being that can be trusted. "

" I would say rumors I've heard of you are quite. . Flattering. "

" You sleep in a coffin for thirty years and people assume.. "

" Frequently. "

that Hojo could not twist him into a monster, but I have always known firsthand how well Hojo creates monsters. "

There is something speculative and keen in his eyes. " Inaction was my sin. Joining together with friends has offered me redemption. "

" For so long, I had hoped my slumber would be my atonement for sins I committed. The truth is, my slumber was cowardice. I could not face what had become of an experiment I could not stop — I could not face the monsters within. And perhaps I had hoped that the child could be loved enough by her

bullet in Hojo, like he once put a bullet in me. "

It is true that there had always been choices — it is also true that those choices had, without aid, been stripped from Sephiroth little by little — and the story is dim for them both. Half-truths and manipulations. There's no point pondering the what-ifs.

" When the time comes, I will put a

chance at redemption ... it is, perhaps, better atonement than utter inaction. "

always just below the surface, pressing at his skin, angry and close to shoving through. He'd lost control of that beast once, inadvertently attacked them — it's a tenuous balance he must remain cautious of.

" And yet, being so near to you, to people who would call me a friend, and to be given a

do. I stayed there because, in my slumber and in my nightmares, I could always remain close to her, no matter how those memories had become rotted and poisoned, decaying within me. I stayed because it was safer. You see what becomes of me when my emotions cannot be withheld. "

The beast within is