Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus. If I did, there would be a little more of Cloud, even though Vincent's my fave character of all time.

By the way, this is kind of a clash of the Final Fantasy: Advent Children and Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, so it doesn't really have a setting. I know right now the story starts off in a small wooded area and it's located outside of Midgar. (I'm making it to where there's wooded areas around the town because I thought it wouldn't be very good to start off at Midgar.) Sorry about the confusion, but since it's my story, it will be done this way! LOL

Finally, Aedyn is my character. I'll put more of a description of her in the next chapter, so if you want a second chapter, send me 5 positive comments and I'll put one up as soon as possible. Now that all that's done and over with, enjoy!

the first night

"What are you doing out here by yourself, Vincent?" Tifa asked the man in the red cape. She'd noticed that ever since the arguement he had with Cloud that they weren't speaking to each other. No one else knew what the two men were arguing about, but Tifa had told everyone to leave the matter alone.

"None of your business," Vincent replied coldly. "I do not need to explain myself to anyone."

Tifa sighed. "I just hate to see you out here all alone," she implied. "Isn't there something I can do?"

"You could leave me alone," he answered. "I do not wish to speak with anyone right now." With that, he walked further away from the group.

Tifa watched him walk away for a moment, then turned and made her way back to the area the others were sitting.

Vincent stopped under a tree the second he heard the other go away. "What's happening?" he whispered to himself. "One minute we're joking around and the next we've practically wished each other dead. What did I do wrong?"

A shrill scream brought him out of his thoughts. Vincent ran toward the direction the scream had come from. At that moment, Vincent noticed that he was the only one going to check out the situation. He came to a conclusion: either he was the only one to hear it, or he was the only one that had cared about what he had heard.

"Is she going to die?" a voice asked another as Vincent approached.

"Where did she come from?" another inquired.

"Did she fall from the sky?" a third questioned.

Vincent glanced up at the sky and saw a body falling. He didn't know what was going on, but he noticed something that no one else had mentioned: the figure had wings.

"Move out of the way!" Vincent instructed the people. A path cleared for him and he stood where the body was going to fall. Moments later, there was the figure in his arms.

"Is she all right?" someone wondered.

"Go back home," Vincent growled. "She'll be just fine. It's all over. Get out of here." With that, he ran back to the makeshift camp where the others were.

"Can you hear me?" Vincent asked, hoping the girl would wake up. He wasn't entirely sure whether she was really okay or not, but he didn't want the weight of her death on his shoulders.

"Has she woken up yet?" Yuffie questioned the gunman, finally entering the room after waiting in the hallway for the past ten minutes. She was worried that Vincent hadn't left the room since he brought the unconscious girl there, which wasn't really like him.

"Not yet," Vincent replied. "I'm not leaving her alone until she does."

"What's so special about her?" Yuffie wondered aloud.

"Just look at her and tell me why you think she's special, Yuffie." There was a ferocious growl in his tone that told Yuffie that she'd better reconsider the question she'd just asked.

Yuffie stiffened and glanced at the girl. She observed the other and finally noticed the wings. "Wh-what are those?!"

"Do you have any idea of what this could mean?" Vincent questioned, sounding as though he had an idea forming in his head.

"W-well, there's a possiblilty that I know of off the top of my head, but there hasn't been a reported case of that in . . . I don't know, probably centuries. There's no way that that could be the explanation about her wings."

"If you have any further doubt, take a look at her left arm," Vincent told the ninja woman. "There's markings of some sort on the inner part of her arm."

Yuffie took hold of the left arm and studied the markings. "Is this supposed to be a code or something? I can't tell what it could possibly be. I know it can't be a language; I don't recognize it as a language."

"Unless it's one of the dead languages," Vincent pointed out.

"But who would use a dead language to mark someone?"

"The Angels would."

Yuffie stiffened at the mention of the Angels. According to legend, there were two main types of Angels. There were the Angels of Light and the Angel of Darkness. There were different positions one Angel could be, but they were usually traced back to either one of the two main factions.

"What do you suppose this one could be?" Yuffie wondered, wanting to know Vincent's feelings about the situation.

"We can make our guesses when she wakes up," the gunman answered. "I don't wish for my thoughts to be fixed on something when we haven't seen her awake."

Yuffie sighed, going to the other end of the room. She didn't want to be next to the girl when she woke up, but she didn't want to leave Vincent by himself. She slumped to the floor against the wall, closing her eyes momentarily.

Vincent lightly gasped when he heard the girl moan. Her head moved so that she was facing him, and her eyes slightly tightened. A few seconds later, her eyes fluttered open and glanced around the room, taking in the surroundings.

"She's awake," Vincent told Yuffie. He glanced back at her, smiling a little behind the part of his cape that hid his face. "What's your name?" he asked the girl.

She looked at him for a brief moment, seeming not able to comprehend what he was asking her. She appeared disoriented, not able to realize the situation.

"Can you hear me?" Vincent questioned.

The girl seemed to understand that question, for she nodded while still looking at him. "Wh-where a-am I?" she asked, her voice tired and barely above a whisper.

"Don't get yourself worked up," Yuffie said, going over to the girl. "You should get some more rest."

"Do you remember what happened to you?" Vincent interrogated.

She shook her head.

"Do you remember where you came from?"

Again, she shook her head.

"Do you remember your name?" Vincent asked, exasperated. He hoped she would at least remember that detail about herself.

She nodded. "M-my name is Aedyn," she managed, eyes already closing from the overwhelming exhaustion threatening to swallow her up.

"Get some rest, Aedyn," Vincent ordered soothingly. "I'll watch over you."

Aedyn smiled at the sound of his promise, eyes mostly closed. She felt safe with him, even though she barely knew him. She finally welcomed the darkness and fell asleep.