Aftermath

thank you...it was you.

It is never explained what happened after Lucrecia's departure, but at some point in time Hojo left as well. Before doing so he sealed Vincent up in a coffin and left clues to unsealing it in his safe for whoever to find. Vincent would pass thirty years in that coffin, experiencing his 'nightmares' over and over again. He didn't mind that he was locked up or even that he was no longer fully human, accepting it as his punishment for not being able to save Lucrecia.

Finally, thirty years later, Cloud and AVALANCHE disturbed his sleep. Though initially disinterested in the group, mention of Sephiroth got his attention. Vincent asked if he could join AVALANCHE on their quest in the hope of meeting Hojo again, to which Cloud agreed. On his journey, Vincent not only found Lucrecia in her cave, but was given the chance to fight Hojo. Ultimately, he had to struggle with the dilemna of Sephiroth. Would he commit another sin and kill the son Lucrecia loved so much? He eventually came to terms with the fact that Sephiroth was doing no good to the world, and joined AVALANCHE in their final crusade against the silver-haired madman.

Afterward, he would continue to visit Lucrecia in her cave. Even after all he had been through, he still couldn't forgive himself for his "sin". Lucrecia couldn't forgive herself either, and he could often hear the ghost of her voice apologizing to him.

When the Deepground army suddenly appeared in the ruins of Midgar, Vincent was suddenly sucked into the battle. He found that he and Lucrecia were both more involved than he initially thought -- the Deepground army was after Chaos and the Protomateria housed in his body. A young girl named Shelke -- a member of the Tsviets, the Deepground elite -- was deployed to find Lucrecia's data, which would lead them to these things. When Shelke mentioned her name, Vincent was stunned to hear it after all those years.

This prompted Vincent to pay a visit to his old haunt, the Shinra Manor. It was there that he finally met up with Lucrecia again...in a way.

Although she stood before him in the library, what he saw was merely a hologram of her. He opened his arms to embrace her, only to have her walk right through him. She left him with her research on Chaos and Omega, hoping that it would help him.

As he continued to fight the menace, Lucrecia appeared before him again and again. When Rosso the Crimson stole the Protomateria, causing Vincent to lose control over Chaos, Lucrecia urged him to fight the darkness and keep his consciousness. She acted through Shelke, who had downloaded her data fragments to find the Protomateria, and aided Vincent to the end. When Shelke recovered the Protomateria and returned it to Vincent, she even had the ethereal appearance of Lucrecia.

"I finally... I finally realized my true feelings. Even if you may never understand them. Not that I mind, though."

Before he took on Omega and Weiss, Vincent was once again 'visited' by Lucrecia. She brought him to an illusionary likeness of the hill they sat upon so many years ago. There, Lucrecia asked for his forgiveness, apologizing for all the pain that she had incurred upon him, and taking responsibility for the bad decisions she made. At the end, she made a vague confession: she told Vincent that she did care for him.

Vincent reflected upon this, telling Shelke that Lucrecia had always "believed what she wanted to". Shelke suggested that he tell her that himself, holding that as his promise.

Vincent was finally rid of Chaos when he defeated Omega Weiss -- the resulting explosion purged the beast from his body, sending it back to the earth. He went missing afterwards, prompting Cloud and Yuffie to search frantically for him. In the meantime, he paid a visit to Lucrecia in her cavern, thanking her -- and smiling! Without her help, he wouldn't have survived. A tear rolled down her cheek as he departed her cave, bringing a sad but graceful ending to the story.

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