A/N: Obvious disclaimers first and foremost! Final Fantasy VII, its characters, and past references situations belong solely to Square-Enix. However, their brilliant characters and amazing development have graced me with the ideas for this fanfiction. I do hope you enjoy! Feel free to critique. Please do R&R, its much appreciated!

"Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockheart, Barret Wallace, Vincent Valentine, Cid Highwind, Yuffie Kisaragi, and Nanaki. The WRO, no…the world as an entirety would like to present to you, for you feats of unfathomable courage, a Medal of Divine Heroism."

Commissioner Tuesti stood before the seven heroes, dawning around each of their necks a brilliant golden medal depicting a symbol the world had come to know very well, a falling Meteor. All around them people cheered, people cried, and people gave them the greatest of praise. Meteor was over, Geostigma and the remnants had their lingering problems, and the OMEGA crisis had been diverted. Labeled the forerunners of Gaia's new future, former-AVALANCHE was to become the world's greatest hope in global restoration and betterment.

Upon each of their faces was a look of unease, most notably on Cloud's face, his usual grimace when he felt he didn't deserve praise. Yuffie on the other hand was the complete opposite. Jumping up and down, flashing the crowd a peace sign here and there and beaming a smile to all. Everyone else allowed a semblance of a smile to ride across their lips.

"However, that isn't merely all we have for you guys. I, Reeve Tuesti, wish to commit to a new WRO tradition to foster greater hope for a future. To inspire all to answer the call of these brave souls, to aid them and guide them when help seems to be everywhere but no where all at once..."

Behind Reeve, a man approached with a very decorative long sword, fully sheathed and handed it him. Unsheathing the long sword, he turned to the former AVALANCHE members.

"To your knees, heroes. I'll be knighting you." A wide grin replaced his stoic expression.

As if Cloud hadn't looked uneasy enough, now he shot glances to each of them. It was apparent none of them truly felt any of this was necessary. It just seemed so flashy, far too flashy. But that wasn't what worried them the most, it was the strings. With each commitment Commissioner Tuesti bestowed them; they knew the world would count on them fully to represent these appointed issues. It was hope and hope alone that even allowed them to trudge on. Knowing they would be bringing happiness to a world plagued by nightmares of the past.

Following Yuffie's lead, each of them dropped to a knee and received their knighting. Cloud was first, during which he closed his eyes and even as the last was knighted, his eyes remained closed. Perhaps this was a bit much for him already.

"Rise, Knights of the New Order, from this day forth you shall carry Gaia to the future and beyond. You are the peoples hope."

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CHAPTER ONE: Nightmares

"Any sign?"

Cloud was flush against a very tattered wall talking into a small microphone linked to an earpiece, readying to spring around the walls edge, hand on First Tsurugi's hilt.

"No sign so far on the first floor. Do you think maybe its hiding in the basement?"

Tifa and Cloud were in a place they would rather not have ever had to return. Not just being in Nibelheim, but being within the Shinra Mansion. For a month now mysterious deaths had plagued the area, people spoke of a "Crimson Terror" sucking their loved ones into the shadowy night itself, never to return.

Cid was stationed in the region of Nibelheim, because of its extreme closeness to Rocket Town. This particular mission didn't settle well with him, however. Rambling something about "Who gives a crap to hunt down a fucking boogieman!? Gimme a man's job!". Most had interpreted it as him just being too scared to approach the mansion. Cloud certainly wasn't one to blame him…

"I'm en route to the stairwell leading down to the research lab; you stay on the first floor. I'm going radio silence; only speak if you spot it…"

"M'k, Cloud."

Cloud gulped ever slightly, the thought of going back down where he was stored away in a tube for four years wasn't high on his "To-Do List". Finally in the second floor bedroom with the secret passage, he knocked on brick a couple of times until the dusty old passage door slid opened. It wasn't the stink of stagnant air that caused his nose to wrinkle, but the familiar smell of blood. With a heavy sigh, he began trudging down the rickety and spiraling staircase. He knew each step gave him away, but if there was a beast down here devouring people, it certainly wasn't going to run away from a squeaking board.

Once off the spiraling staircase he no longer felt it safe to not have his blade drawn. Everything seemed just as it always had been. Reaching behind him, he slowly slid First Tsurugi free of his back sheaths, keeping it at the ready as he slowly plunged himself deeper into the caves dark confides.

"Tifa, the air down here…it's heavy with blood. I'm investigating further. Standby…"

"For the record, I hate this splitting up thing." Tifa grumbled in retort.

The darkness would be a challenge for most to see in, but due to his Mako infused body he found excellent night vision was one of many perks. Midway through the tunnel, his gaze fell on the doorway where Vincent once slept, sealed away in his coffin and drowning himself in his regrets over Lucrecia. The memory felt so fresh, but a fresh memory was far less important than the smell of fresh blood.

Slowly, he approached the doorway, figuring it was good a place as any to start. Taking in a quick, yet deep breath, he gave the doorway a very steady ram with his shoulder. The door nearly flew from its hinges at the force of his strike, the back of the door slamming against the wall. This room was ridiculously organized considering how it looked when they first met Vincent years ago.

In the center of the room rested a single, very fresh looking coffin. Standing along the walls were other less stellar (as far as coffins go) looking ones forming a staggered circle. The one thing that concerned him the most was that the room smelled more strongly of blood than when he left the stairwell; somewhere in this room was its source. In a swift motion of his tongue, Cloud attempted to wet his lips, only to find his mouth had gone complete dry with anxiety. Cautiously he approached the center coffin, keeping one hand tightly on First Tsurugi's hilt; he reached out to remove the lid.

"You'll find nothing there, Cloud."

There it was, Cloud's first heart-attack and he wasn't even thirty. He would have spun around and stood in full defense if he hadn't recognized the gruff voice of Vincent. Turning to look to him, he felt a bit more relaxed already. Maybe he should have brought Tifa down here with him; it was certainly less frightening with some backup. For his sake, he would never admit that to her.

"You startled me. Did Reeve send you to assist?"

"Mm, no…so what's the story?" His response was thoughtful sounding, yet laced with his patented lack of caring.

"The townspeople keep talking about some Crimson Terror killing people at night. Long story short, Reeve sent Tifa and I to investigate."

"Where might she be, at the moment?"

"Tifa? She's searching the…"

Cloud stopped short, his eyes suspiciously studying Vincent who was walking slow circles around him as he spoke, and a single gloved hand slid along each outer wall coffin as he walked. There was something unsettling about Vincent at the moment and that was saying a lot, as in general he was a pretty unsettling guy.

"The first floor?" Vincent finished for him.

"Why are you here anyway, Vincent? If Reeve didn't send you and you don't know why Tifa and I are here…"

That feeling Cloud had of being alone with something dangerous around him, it definitely had returned. Vincent wasn't giving off the "safe" vibe anymore, something malevolent stirred in his wake. Finally he stopped pacing and tapped his fingertips rhythmically atop an outer coffin.

"I don't want this to come to blood, Cloud. You should leave and let me deal with this town as I see fit."

"Are you saying you're…the Crimson Terror? This is a joke, right?"

"No one's laughing, are they Cloud?"

Vincent was right, no one was laughing, but Cloud wished one of them was. Those blood red eyes of his stared with an intensity that Cloud hadn't seen since Sephiroth, it was a stare that made his blood boil to see on the face of his friend. In a swift motion, Cloud stood ready to attack, his eyes holding a valiant determination to counter Vincent's discomforting realization.

"Why? It doesn't make sense. We saved the world, every time there was a problem. We don't do this villain thing…we're heroes, Vincent."

"Please, spare me this dream of yours."

Clouds brows furrowed, eyes narrowing into a glare he didn't want to have to put on for Vincent. Amidst all his confusion with this situation, he was genuinely hurt at even the thought of what was about to be said.

"Puppets, Cloud. You and I know the feeling better than most. We were once puppets of Shinra, now in this "new world" full of all its hope and bullshit dreams; we are puppets to the WRO."

"No!"

"Don't ignore the words just because you don't wish to hear them. We were given this fate without a worry about what we wished, any want of normalcy our lives may have eventually found. They ended that day."

"Why…why didn't you just say something to us?" Clouds voice was strained, stuck somewhere between angry and hurt.

"My ideas wouldn't have scathed any of your minds. It was always for the peoples hope. AVALANCHE is where that all began; we've just taken shop under a different name and parade around as Knight's. Pathetic…"

"Pathetic? You believe the peoples hopes are nothing but pathetic? When did you…"

"Go wrong? Never have been wrong, never will be."

Disbelief splashed across Clouds face, finding it impossible that Vincent could believe anything he was thinking right now was a form of justice that the world deserved. His next words were growls through clenched teeth.

"You're out of your mind, Vincent."

"So, you're content with rescuing animals from sewers, working at homeless shelters, doing our monthly Speeches of Hope to update the world on our progress, with doing these mundane tasks while Jenova cells devour the planet from the inside out and rest inactive in each of our bodies?"

"Jenova cells…"

Cloud was speechless. Vincent had brought up one major point the WRO didn't seem to be working on. From the lifestream, shadow entities had continued to create themselves due to the dark lifestream; contaminated lifestream deeply enriched with Jenova cells. But this alone didn't justify Vincent's decision to go rogue.

"It doesn't matter Vincent, there still isn't any point to this."

"The collective conscious thought that is the lifestream, each day that passes it recalls its greatest threats and rebirths them from the dark lifestream. Inadvertently, but still, rebirths them. If it weren't for that, the Jenova cells would never fully leave the lifestream, correct? But wait. We have inactive Jenova cells in our body."

"Which return to the lifestream when we die…" Cloud finished; his vision distant with thought again and voice a hushed whisper.

"It's a vicious cycle. We may have won the battle, but Jenova is winning the war."

Tifa's voice piped into Clouds ear as Vincent spoke, but his thoughts were too far gone for him to report back. Nothing had been said so far that made him understand why Vincent was killing people in Nibelheim, but everything else was making sense. That's what he would just have to fish for, for now. After that was answered, then he would see where he stood with the situation.

"We'll have to focus on the bigger picture, I agree Vincent. But explain how killing people here ties into your worries regarding the dark lifestream?"

"Futility."

A puzzling look was replaced by Cloud's once thoughtfulness. In that one word, Vincent acted as though he was to understand some greater cause, to find justification in that simple word.

"It's far too late for the planet to receive assistance. After Sephiroth merged with the lifestream and we killed him, the end began. In this basement I hoped to find greater knowledge of how to bring an end to things sooner, instead of killing people quietly one by one until the towns empty. I want a surge of Jenova cells to flood into the lifestream." With little hesitation, he tenderly smirked. "Instead of a slow, painful, death…I would give Gaia mercy."

"You want…to end the world? This place, Vincent, it doesn't hold answers, just nightmares. Trust me; they will eat away everything good in you…"

"No, Hojo saw to it that Jenova ate away everything good in me, and this world's ignorance fed my hatred. Join me, Cloud. I know you have to understand deep down…"

"What are you going to tell the people who look to you as a hero, to those who see you as hope and extend a hand for help? Vincent, don't succumb to madness…"

"I…" Then he paused. "I will turn my back on them. They will ask for help, arms waving from their Jenova cell infested bodies waiting to corrupt the lifestream, waving for my help. I'll look them right in the eye and tell them…No."

With a delicate sigh, Vincent gave the coffin his hand had been resting on a shove. The lid slid from its wooden lodging and landed loudly to the cobblestone beneath their feet. Within the coffin was a peaceful looking corpse, a single bloodied dot between the eyes. As if everything Vincent said wasn't enough to bring Cloud to arms, seeing this senseless outcome of a pointblank execution was plenty.

Lunging forward, Cloud took a quick slash at Vincent, who leapt to the side and fired a quick round of shots. Reaching to a side blade, Cloud swung it and First Tsurugi to deflect the incoming bullet barrage. In his ear he heard Tifa shouting "Cloud, was that gunshots? Wha-What's going on down in there?! Please report!".

Vincent was beyond an able fighter and knew Cloud's moves inside and out. But the same went for Cloud; they had simply been around each other too much to wield any surprises. Something was wrong though, he was so much faster than Cloud remembered. All the swinging of his blade, the misses from both of their attacks, eventually lead to Vincent standing at the doorway. Behind him a very startled gasp rang out and a smirk played upon his pale lips.

"Tifa, restrain him!"

Before she could even hope to grab Vincent, let alone understand why Cloud had told her to grab their friend, he had flipped behind Tifa and kicked her into the room with Cloud. Stumbling into Cloud a bit, she turned herself about just in time to see a blur of red cape disappear to the right, followed by the sound of a few rickety and rotten stairway boards. They both knew he was too fast to catch now, but Tifa knew it wasn't too late to get some answers.

"Care to explain what that was all about?" Uncertain emotion played at her face, the exact face Cloud made when he first thought Vincent might have become an enemy.

Cloud was too busy to answer her at the moment, he'd already put his swords back in their sheaths and had his phone to his free ear.

"Reeve, call the Knight's up, we need to have an emergency meeting."

Cloud stared Tifa in the eyes as he spoke, and without any need of explanation, she knew. Slowly, her eyes trailed to the ground and as Tifa did when she worried, she bit at her bottom lip, only pulled back to reality by Cloud clicking his phone closed. Making Tifa worry was never something he could stomach well, but it seemed it was something out of his control.

"Let's go, Tifa…"