Hello, readers! ^_^ For those of you who are wondering, yes, I still plan on continuing Welcome to Twilight, but for now I needed a small break and decided to try something different. If you don't know anything about Crisis Core, FF7, Advent Children, or Dirge of Cerberus, then you may wish to look them up at some point during this fic. XD This starts out 35 years before the events of FF7.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Final Fantasy VII. I do own Mayla though. ;D

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Mayla awoke from her forced sleep with a cry, tears welling up in her eyes from the pain. Although heavily drugged- presumably with sedatives and what she guessed to be feeble attempts at painkillers- a good portion of her back felt like it was on fire. She attempted to turn to see just what had been done to her, but even the smallest movement of her neck and torso sent another sharp stab of pain down her back, causing her to let out a small gasp and immediately halt her feeble attempt. Her long ebony locks of hair fell about her pale face as she hung her head in defeat, tears of pain streaming down from her golden eyes. This was just another day in Hojo's lab.

After a few minutes of silent tears, the young girl lifted her head up slowly and turned it about just enough to see the room she was in. She was lying on a bed in a small white room that held a few computers and monitoring equipment, several of which were currently attached to her. She had been laid on her stomach to let her back heal from whatever they did to her, to which she was grateful. With as much as it hurt right now she couldn't imagine how it would have felt had she been laying on it. Satisfied with having seen the room, she laid her head carefully back down on her pillow and decided to enjoy the peace while it lasted, even if her back still felt like it was on fire.

It didn't last very long. "Ah, you're awake!" a nurse exclaimed in mild surprise as she entered the room. She walked briskly over to the machines next to Mayla's bedside, quickly scanning over the data presented. "Well, you seem to be recovering quite well from the surgery. Can you move them yet?"

"Move what?" the teen replied groggily, still very much under the effect of whatever sedatives had been given her. It didn't even register to her tired mind yet that "them" could possibly be a source of concern to her.

"Ah, don't worry dear. I'll go get Dr. Hojo so that he can check over the results for himself."

Mayla groaned into her pillow as the nurse walked away. He was the last person that she wanted to see right now. He was creepy as hell, had a hole where his heart should be, and usually just ended up causing her pain every time she saw him. Like whatever they did to her back for example. She figured it had to be fairly major, for Hojo had been "prepping" her with special injections and stuff for a while now. Fun times. Rather makes you miss just being an orphan on the street really. At least then all I had to worry about was finding my next meal…

Mayla's parents had died in a car accident back when she was eight, leaving her to fend for herself on the streets. When she was about twelve, Hojo found her and offered to take her to a nice safe place where she would always be guaranteed a meal. She didn't realize that the scientist had simply been looking for a new research specimen for his twisted experiments until it was much too late. It had taken a good part of the past four years since him to break her spirit, but by this point she was mostly tamed. Mostly.

"Ah, splendid, it's still alive!" the familiar nasally voice of Hojo said as he entered the room. Yeah, that was a comforting thing to hear. He walked up next to her, looking her over and writing down notes on a pad of paper while Mayla just lay there silent and still. After writing for about half a minute, he reached out with one hand and pulled up none to gently on something that was attached to her back. She let out a cry of both surprise and pain that was muffled by her pillow, but Hojo simply continued his examination as if he hadn't heard a thing. By the time he had finished his physical examination, Mayla had counted four objects attached to her back from the surgery. What they were however she still had no clue. What she wouldn't give for a mirror right now…

"Try moving them," Hojo ordered, his gaze cold but expectant.

"Can I ask what exactly I'm supposed to be moving?" Mayla replied, a sarcastic edge to her question.

"Just do it," the scientist snapped back, not in the mood to deal with his specimen's attitude at the moment. She'd probably suffer for that later.

Mayla silenced herself in defeat and decided to do as he said. After a moment's concentration she was able to move whatever was on her back about an inch before stopping due to the sharp pain it caused. It seemed that they still needed a lot more time to heal, whatever they were.

Hojo jotted down a few more notes before leaving the room without another word. A few minutes after the nurse from before returned. "Can I get you anything dear?" she asked kindly, knowing that the poor girl must be in a lot of pain right now.

"Yeah," Mayla replied right away. "Could I get a mirror?"

The nurse nodded, pulling one out of a nearby drawer and handing it to her. The ebony-haired teen gave the nurse a silent thanks as she accepted the mirror from her and held it up to see what was on her back. She nearly let out a scream at what she saw.

Grafted into her back were two sets of very large butterfly wings.

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Review please and let me know what you think! ^_^