I do not claim FF or any of it's characters. They belong to their respective owners.
Raeia dodged another bullet as she leapt to a rooftop. Behind her she could hear the SOLDIERS cursing her. Pulling the rifle she fired a couple of rounds blindly. She heard one of the SOLDIERS screams in pain. She leapt gracefully to the street below. Turning a corner Raeia ran into someone. Grunting they fell into a heap in the street. Raeia stood and looked back. The SOLDEIRS had caught up. Pulling the rifle she started firing. She ducked as a bullet buzzed by her face, leaving a stinging cut. She killed two more before something cold and hard grabbed her by the arm and yanked her into the ally just as the ground where she was standing blew up, leaving a rather deep crater in the street. She took a second to see who saved her. He was taller than she was and had unruly raven hair and red eyes. In his right hand was a large rather unwieldy looking gun and his other hand turned out to be some sort of bronze claw. Raeia nodded her thanks and picked off a few more SOLDIERS. She was somewhat stunned when he started to shoot at the SOLDIERS also. She absentmindedly noted his marksmanship and reloaded. Soon the rest fled, dragging the dead behind them. Raeia checked her rifle and put it in the holster. She looked up at the man again. "Thanks but why did you help me?" She asked. The man ignored her and started walking away. Raeia frowned. "Hey wait! Tell me your name at least!" Raeia called after him. The man paused and studied her for a second. "Vincent Valentine." He whispered, barely audible before he disappeared into the night. Raeia sighed and continued
on her way out of the city.
Chapter I
Cloud walked along the streets of Kalm, the Ultima weapon resting on his shoulder. He walked into the Final Heaven, Tifa's new bar. He sighed as he sat at the bar. "How'd it go?" Tifa asked as she gave Cloud something to drink. "Boring as usual. I stood there and listened through some big meeting." Cloud replied. "How's today's crowd?" He asked. "The normal," Tifa replied listlessly. Cloud didn't notice the change in Tifa's voice. Cloud drained his drink and walked around the end of the bar, leaning the Ultima weapon against the wall near the back. He then began to clean the glasses and wipe up any spills on the bar. The door opened and the room fell silent. Cloud and Tifa looked up to see Reno, Rude and Elena walk in. They took three barstools and ordered some vodka. Slowly the room went back to its normal low conversations. The Turks went from the ShinRa hound dogs to their own fairly successful mercenary business. Tifa gave them their drinks and served a couple more people. Reno looked over at Cloud. "Hey why don't you join us? You'd get a whole lot more business and money." Reno asked. Cloud shook his head. "I'm doing just fine by myself." Cloud replied. Tifa walked over to Reno. "Why are you so obsessed in having Cloud on your team?" She asked, looking Reno in the eyes. A slight red tinge appeared on Reno's cheeks for a split second before vanishing. "Well ya know how you guys always were a good match for us while we worked for ShinRa. It would be a nice asset for us to have him on the team." Reno replied. Tifa smiled and walked away. Elena glanced at Reno and grinned before going back to her drink. Cloud sighed and glanced at the calendar. All the living members of AVALANCHE were supposed to meet at his house for the five-year defeat of JENOVA and Sephiroth.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Cid walked into his house. "Shera! I'm home!" Cid shouted as he entered the house. A little girl ran at him shouting. "Papa! Papa! You're home!" "Kali!" Cid laughed as he picked up his five-year-old daughter and swung her around. Shera walked into the room and laughed. "Kali go wash up for dinner." Shera said. Cid set Kali down and the girl scampered of into the bathroom. "How's the rocket coming along?" Shera asked. "As well as can be with those idiots working on it." Cid replied. Shera smiled. Ever since Kali was born Cid had mellowed down a lot and if Kali was around he would use other terms. "You two are coming with me with me to Kalm?" Cid asked as he wrapped his arms around Shera. She nodded and Cid grinned.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Barret looked at the stack of papers before him and sighed. He glanced at his gun-arm and seriously considered about replacing it with a letter opener. There was a knock on the door and Barret looked up annoyed. "Yes?" he asked. The door opened and Marlene peeked in and Barret smiled. "Come in, come in." Barret said smiling. Marlene slipped in and sat on the chair opposite of Barret. "How was school?" He asked. "Do I really have to keep going to it?" She asked. "Yea." Barret replied as he scratched his name onto another paper. "Do I get to come with you when you go see Tifa?" Marlene asked. "Of course…if you keep your grades up." Barret said. Marlene looked up. "But Daaaad!" She wined. Barret looked up and smiled. "Just joking. You get to come. But you still need to keep your grades up." Barret said, Marlene smiled. Barret looked around the papers again and shook his head. Ever since he has been elected Mayor of Corel, paper work and meetings had bogged him down. Her really missed his days in AVALANCHE.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Yuffie sat on top of the pagoda. Wutui had changed a lot in the past five years. It had grown three times its old size. Yuffie has sold all of the materia that AVALANCHE didn't use. They were all mastered so it brought in a lot of gil. Wutui was still a tourist town but it had regained some of it's old pride. Yuffie has also changed. She was now 21 and Godo was teaching her how to manage Wutui. She had been given a few days off so she could go to Kalm. Yuffie looked down at her materia bag. She smiled as she remembered how she used to be and how she stole cloud's materia before. They had forgiven her after a while. She also felt some sadness when she remembered Aeris. She sighed and put the materia back into the bag and went to find Godo so she could have her afternoon lessons.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Reeves stood looking out the window. Below him Junon spread out. When Midgar was destroyed Reeves had gone to Junon. Soon he had been elected mayor. In the corner of his office the Cait Sith robot sat lifeless and gathering dust. IT had been a long time since he had helped AVALANCHE defeat JENOVA and Sephiroth. It had made him feel part of something bigger. It had made him quit ShinRa just before it crumpled. For the first time in a long time he had felt free. He sighed as he sat back down at the desk. He had a lot of paper work to do before he went to Kalm. He had decided to go in person rather than sending Cait Sith. He wanted to meet the others in person. He had already met Barret through the town meetings but he wanted to meet the others. He sat down at the computer and worked on what he wanted the stand in mayor to do while he was gone.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Nanuki stood looking over Cosmo Canyon. They next day he would leave for Kalm. On the way he would look for another of his kind. People has come to him saying that they had seen something thing that looked a lot like him but with out the scars and tattoos. He was fascinated. He thought that he was the last of his race. So he had been looking for this elusive entity every time he went out of the canyon. He hoped he would find her on this outing. Nanuki always assumed that it was a female. He shook his head and said good bye to his friends.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Raeia stood in front of the old ShinRa mansion. She had heard rumors about a monster that sleeps in the basement and remembered her mysterious helper Vincent back when she was in Junon. She shouldered her pack and pulled the hood of the cloak back up. As she entered she coughed as dust swirled around her. The floorboards creaked every time she took a step. She knew that there was a laboratory in this place some where, she just had to find it. She looked around. There was a room off to her right and a large staircase. "Lemmie see…," Raeia thought for a while but shrugged and went into the room to her left. There was a box with a few letters in it. "Locked him in the basement with a few alterations? He did this to a Turk?" Raeia muttered to herself shaking her head. She walked over to another room and found a broken grand piano. Walking through the once lush carpet she found a set of bedrooms. There was an odd-looking fireplace. Raeia set her bag down on the molded bed and looked closely at it. She finally found out what didn't make any since. There were no scorch marks from fire. It had never been used. Raeia frowned and looked closer at it. After staring at it for what seemed an eternity she noticed some door lines in the back. "Gotcha…" Raeia muttered, "Now for the opening switch. I know that there has got to be one somewhere around here." She spent the rest of the day looking for the switch. As the sun set Raeia lost her temper. "Good for nothing piece of shit." She muttered as she punched the fireplace. Her fist struck the switch and the door silently slid open. Raeia grabbed her pack and went down into the spiral stairway. "Now why do I always get the answer when I'm irrational?" She murmured to herself as she carefully made her way down the stairs. About half way down Raeia gasped and doubled over, leaning heavily against the slimy walls. Vincent cracked his eyes. He thought he heard some one in the mansion. But maybe not. He had been imagining a lot lately. Even when he had killed Hojo, the pain hadn't disappeared like he thought it would. So Vincent had returned to the coffin from which he had came. He closed his eyes again. Then he heard the familiar sound of the fireplace door opening. His eyes shot open and he removed the lid of his coffin quietly. Raeia finally got a hold of herself after a few minutes. She continued down the stairs. The hallway was dark, damp and quiet. She smiled and sighed. She loved it. 'Maybe I can get rid of this monster and keep this place for my own. Hojo would never think to look in one of the few remaining places of ShinRa.' Raeia thought. She had just passed the a door when she heard it open. Some one grabbed her from behind and pinned her arm behind her before she could do anything. "Why are you trespassing into my home?" A familiar voice asked. Before she could answer another attack hit her and Raeia's grey eyes began to turn black. "Get away from me before you get killed," She managed to say through clenched teeth. She flipped Vincent over her shoulders in a sudden surge of strength and threw him down the hall away from her. She groaned and staggered down the hall, away from Vincent. "Get away while you still can," She growled. Looking up she saw him standing there. She pulled out a vial on liquid that looked like blood. She dropped it as the demon took control of her body. She hurtled across the hall and easily pinned Vincent to the wall. He grunted and reached for the Death Penalty. Raeia grabbed it and tossed it down the hall. She bared his neck and licked her lips. Lowering her head, her fangs began to break though his pale skin. What was left of the human in Raeia pushed it's way back into control. She pushed herself away from Vincent and stumbled back to where she dropped the vial. She picked it up with shaking hands and opened it, spilling a little on her fingers. Drinking it quickly she turned to see Vincent watching her with mild curiosity. She licked the liquid off of her fingers and soon she felt the demon retreat back into it's prison. She sighed and relaxed. Picking up the vile she stopped it and put it back into her trench coat. She stood, brushed the dust off of the cloak and shouldered the pack and picked up the Death Penalty. She noticed Vincent frown when she did this and grinned. She tossed Vincent's gun to him before continuing down to the lab. Once there she started to clean out a few beakers and other equipment in a sink. She was faintly surprised that the sink still worked. She felt Vincent standing in the doorway watching her. After she had the equipment cleaned, she set it up on the table. She pulled a bunch of vials of different liquids out of her pack as well as a long dagger. She opened the vials and added them to a beaker and warmed them to a boiling temp. She waited till the liquids mixed to create a clear liquid before turning off the burner. She took the dagger and cut into her wrist. She held the bloody wound over the beaker and watched as her blood fell into the clear liquid. Sucking on her wrist till the bleeding stopped, Raeia stirred the liquid. Then she started to ladle it into the little vials that she kept in her cloak. There was a little left over when she was done and she drank it before rinsing the beaker. She turned to Vincent. "You need something?" She asked. "What happened back there?" He demanded. Raeia shrugged. "Well to put it plainly, Hojo make me into a Vampire." She said. Vincent started at the mention of Hojo. "He's alive?" He asked. Raeia nodded. "He's the one I was escaping from." Raeia said, "You know him?" Vincent didn't answer. His ruby eyes burned as he remembered Hojo. "Hey Vincent, are you okay?" She asked. Vincent looked at her. "How do you know me?" He asked. "You helped me in Junon, remember?" Vincent nodded and leaned against the wall. He looked up and asked, "Where is her?" Raeia shook her head, "I'm not sure. We were in the middle of moving when I escaped." Vincent lapsed back into thought. He didn't want AVALANCHE involved again but he knew he couldn't beat Hojo on his own, especially if Hojo had survived the last battle. He sighed. "Your coming with me to Kalm," He said. "Why?" She asked. "Because you are the last person who saw Hojo. We thought we killed him," Vincent said. "So that's where he got the scars from," Raeia mused. Vincent looked up. "Scars?" "Yeah, Hojo had a lot of scars. I mean he was ugly enough as the half-snake thing that he is. But the scars made him look absolutely hideous," Raeia said. "Come on we are leaving now," Vincent stated. Raeia looked up at him. 'If I go with him I run the risk of killing him and his friends. I can't kill any more people. But if I don't go with them, Hojo is going to stay free.' She thought. "I'm warning you now. I might end up killing you or one of your friends." She said. Vincent nodded and Raeia grabbed her bags. "You can't say that I didn't warn you…" She trailed off as she followed him, pulling the cloak closer to her. Once out of Nebilheim they caught a chocobo. They journey from Nebilheim to Costa De Sol took a day. When they arrived, they booked passage on the next ship to Junon. But they had just missed the last ship by a day. They would have to wait two days for the next ship.