Author's Beginning Note Thingy: I hate and love school. On the plus side, it gives me TONS of great fanfic ideas. On the downside, it gives me NO time to actually write any of them... so I'm currently depriving myself of precious sleep to bring you this. XD

First allow me to say that the idea of doing an AU fic of this kind was inspired by the author Zarla, and specifically her story 'Dragon Wing and Demon Claw'. Go check it out, if you like.

Secondly, I am now giving any and all credit for the reality this fic takes place in, and the majority of the plotline to the author of the online manga, Shades of Grey, accessible at 'http: -/ - /- shadesofgrey. rydia. net'. Just take out the spaces and the hyphens (stupid screening). Thank you very much, Rone, for this wonderful inspiration. It just fit FF7 characters so well.

If you know the manga already, or take time to read it (which you should), you'll probably see some key differences that I throw in, to keep this interesting, and not plagiarism. Mine will also, somewhat obviously, end sooner than hers... I know from experience how much time drawing beautiful pictures like hers takes, as well as how long writing a good story takes, and she combines the two arts to give us 2-to-4 new pages a week. This is nothing short of a godly feat, and she should be commended for it. But as I am easily distracted from homework, and only have to focus on making my words pretty, not my pictures, I will probably draw this story to a close long before I know how the real one ends, so there are virtually no spoilers at all. XD Yay!

Last thing... because summaries are too short:

Warnings: Possible Rape/Lemons, Tifa Bashing, Violence, Character Death, and if you're sensitive about religious content and the very very necessary amount of screwing I do with it, leave now and never come back.

That done... let the fic begin!

---

Zachary stood, half-hidden in his immaculate white robes, behind the drab grey rock. The nightmarish formations jutted out in all directions from the dust-encrusted, rubble-strewn ground. Isolated in the middle of a wine-dark sea, and silhouetted against a flaming sky lay the island that was the Land of Sunset.

This is where he stood, crouching beside one of the jagged rocks, sword in hand, wings furled carefully at his sides, clumpy raven hair was thrown and tossed about behind him in the bitter hot winds. He stood waiting, waiting for the sight of his prey.

It wasn't guaranteed he'd find one: a demon here in this precise moment, at this precise time, after all only one angel, and one fallen could ever be allowed to fight in this arena at the same time... so the chances of a battle were small, the chances of success even smaller.

But it was his luck, or perhaps even misfortune, that out of the blazing fires of the sky plummeted the twisted, grotesque form that his eyes were so accustomed to searching out. A grin pierced his stoic expression, and his grip tightened around the hilt of his weapon.

Landing with a dull, yet somehow graceful thump on the soft ground, it kicked up a cloud of dust and dirt around itself, momentarily obscuring the shape. When the haze settled, Zachary saw the hunched frame of the demon before him:

Silvery wings, stretched out to their full, had a thin leathery film flapping between them in the wind. They seemed to sparkle with an ethereal, otherworldly, unholy, he thought, light. The wings met at their base with a pale body, skin and shape reminiscent almost of a human's, but it couldn't be, of course... because in some places that skin gave way to iron-grey fur. A bushy tail curled around human legs, thighs marked with blue crescent moons, but as the legs descended into furry pawed feet with fierce black talons, much alike those that sprouted out of its human hands.

The creature stood there in silence for a moment, hunched low, as if prowling, and observing the landscape before it. It was then that some of its hair bristled, and it turned slowly around, now aware of being watched.

Zachary then got a clear view of its front... a forked tongue darted out of a wolflike face, that same matching grey-hue, save for a smattering of gold in its forelock. The same blue crescents marked one on each cheek, and on the forehead. Sky blue eyes locked onto his lavender.

He gave a nervous swallow. He'd never once fought, or even so much as seen something this big and ferocious looking. But... he needed a distraction anyway, he realized, after finding that even now his thoughts were slipping away into events recently past. He shook his head to clear it, idly wondering why the demon hadn't attacked him in the moment of weakness. Yes... he agreed, while charging, sword raised, ...I need a distraction.

The battle was nigh on endless, and he thought he would die of weariness before the demon even landed the first blow... because it hadn't yet. He soon began to realize that, for all it's looks, it wasn't a big fighter... and he was easily besting it, in small ways. A trip up for it there meant a nick of his blade against its skin here. Dark stains began seeping over its body, and as time wore on the beast visibly slowed.

Its fatal mistake was an attempted retreat. Turning tail, literally, the demon fled... or tried to. Zachary brought his blade instinctively down, catching the thing in the back of the ankle, and almost severing its foot.

The creature howled with agony, and fell, bellyflopped onto the soft soil, eyes screwed shut with pain, teeth bared. It vainly flapped its wings to try and lift itself off the ground, but Zachary was on that too, and as he tore one of the fragile webbings with the side of his blade, it was already too late.

With a bittersweet smile of triumph, he squared himself, standing ominously over the wounded and whimpering creature, and brought up his sword...

...with all his might he thrust it down, and pierced the wolf's lower back, into his stomach at the front, an audible crack signaling that he'd snapped the spine.

Another howl of pain, rage, and defeat, and the thing's eyes dimmed... at last, the fur began to fade... The tall, intimidating shape shrunk slowly to that of a normal human, and he lay there, bloody, battered, and unclothed, pale skin burning and bloodied in the firelight of the endless sunset. Clumpy blonde hair fell limply into sky blue eyes as a youthful boy looked hopelessly up into the face of his murderer. "Z-Zack...?"

Zachary's eyes went wide. Only two people called him that. His sister, and...

"Isaac...!" ...his newly fallen friend.

The boy coughed, a vile mixture of blood and saliva splattering out onto the floor below him. The sword in his back was immediately removed, only leaving a hole, a fresh flow of blood, and a strangled cry of pain left to the boy as his tear-filled eyes rolled shut in death.

"Isaac, no!" the angel cried, falling to his knees beside the man, turning him carefully over in his arms so that the limp neck allowed his head to loll back. One more raspy breath was drawn in through the cracked lips. The eyes did not open as he choked: "I... have to... tell him..."

And the body went cold.

---

Authors Ending Note Thingy: Whoo! I hope you liked it. Sorry for switching up the names for you, too... just following the rules of the world. If I use it, I have to abide by it. Well, one of them is a bit easier than the other right now. I promise I'll do my best to make it obvious who all the people are. If not... drop me a question in a review, I'll be glad to answer. I'm not trying to keep their FF7 IDs a secret. XD