Warnings: Some violence, wounds and blood. Nothing too bad. Also very, very minor spoilers about Final Fantasy VII.

My notes: No pairing and no sexual content in this one. This event if made up, and is set sometime during the original Final Fantasy VII. In this story, Marlene is with them and they have acquired the Highwind, and everyone have joined the team. And Aerith is still alive as well.

It was a beautiful afternoon. It was a day when you just had to be in a good mood. Avalanche, and Marlene, had gathered on the deck of the Highwind to socialize for a bit and to enjoy the good weather. They had moved out some chair onto the deck by the railing and everyone, minus Vincent, sat there and chattered and enjoyed their break from the chase of Sephiroth.

Vincent on the other hand was lurking in the shadows, close by the door, simply listening to the happy chattering of his teammates. He was only there to begin with because Aerith and Tifa insisted, and he hated to turn down a lady. He was a man of his time, after all.

In the cool shade, leaning against the wall, Vincent started to drift off a little. He was thinking. Thinking about the battles they had fought since the mismatching group had opened his coffin about two months ago. The battles had been fairly easy, at least for a trained professional like him. He had yet to… call for any help from the residents of his body.

And he didn't want to. He wanted to stay with these people. Even if he didn't express his feeling very often, Vincent did enjoy their company, at least as long as they didn't expect him to contribute with anything. And he knew that if he ever showed them or told them about his demons, they would shun him. Turn him away. And he would be alone again. And he did not want that.

"Monsters!"

The sudden shout broke him out of his musings, and he drew his gun, Death Penalty, without a second thought. They were under attack.

The rest of the Avalanche had already drawn their weapon, getting ready for the battle. The monsters that had attacked didn't look very impressive. It was four middle sized, bird like creatures. Yuffie had grabbed Marlene and started to run for the door to get the small girl to safety during the fight when a fifth monster suddenly made its appearance. It was huge monster, easily four times as big as the smaller monsters.

And to everyone's great horror the big monster headed straight for Yuffie and Marlene with its giant claws ready to tear the two girls apart. The only reason they both survived that attack was Yuffie's fast reaction, throwing herself and Marlene to the side. They would have made it safely, if not the giant monster had chose that exact moment to flap one of its wings, which hit Yuffie and Marlene. Avalanche could only watch in horror, while busy killing off the smaller monsters that stood in their way, as Yuffie and Marlene was thrown over the railing.

"Marlene!" Barret screamed, his voice filled with terror.

The big monster seemed to consider the attack as its smaller brethren were being so easily slaughtered. It gave a shrill shriek before leaving the ship.

As Avalanche rushed to the railing, a red and black shadow blurred past them. It took them a second to comprehend that it was Vincent.

"No!" Tifa screamed as they Vincent dove over the edge of the deck. "No! Vincent!"

They all rushed to the railing, and could only watch as Vincent dove through the air, getting closer and closer to the two falling girls. He then reached then, and grabbed them, only about 100 meters or so above the ground.

A collective gasp was heard on deck as they suddenly saw a dark energy envelope Vincent, and giant bat like wings sprouted from his back. When the dark energy disappeared, they could see that his appearance was warped, and his trademark red cape was missing. Another gasp was heard as the giant wings started to beat, slowing down the fall.

However, they were so close to the ground now, and the strange creature that Vincent had turned into didn't had the time to completely stop the fall or fly them to safety. Instead the creature slowed down the fall as much as it could, and in the last second it flung the two girls into some bushes. The creature itself landed painfully onto the cliffs, the sight painful to Avalanche even from the great height of the Highwind.

"Take the ship down, quickly!" Cloud said to Cid.

And for once, the Captain didn't argue, only nodded grimly as he hurried into the cockpit. The great ship began to lower itself, and when it was about 50 meters above ground, a stepladder unrolled itself so that the group could climb down to the ground.

They climbed down in a hurry and ran the short distant over to the place where their friends had crashed. They were met with a pitiful sight. The creature had disappeared, leaving Vincent lying on the cliffs. The girls had recovered, and Yuffie had taken Vincent's head onto her lap, sitting there and just staring into space with a blank look. Marlene however had burrowed her face into Vincent's chest, sobbing heavily.

Aerith started to sob as well at the horrid sight, and Cid spat out his cigarette on the ground and threw up into some bushes.

Vincent was broken. There was no other word for it. His legs looked broken in at least ten places, and white, shattered bones could be seen through his ruined pants. The cliffs were painted with his blood. Barret hurried forward, grabbing onto Marlene. He held her, mumbling sweet nothing into her ears as he patted her over, looking for wounds. He found none, Marlene was fine. He let out a strangled sob as he hugged his daughter close. Tifa went to Yuffie, hugging her from behind.

"Yuffie, you okay there? Yuffie, sweetie?" she asked, as calmly as she could in this situation, trying to avoid looking at the dead man lying on the ground. She feared that is she did, she would scream, and she wouldn't be able to stop.

Now Cloud stepped forward as well, carefully removing Vincent's lolling head from Yuffie's lap and helping her up. Her pants were soaked with crimson. Cid had now recovered and stumbled closer to the gruesome sight.

"We need…" He said with a shaking voice. "We need to bury 'im."

"Yes." Cloud said, still holding the shaking ninja girl close. "Tifa and Barret, help Yuffie and Marlene back to the ship. The rest of us will stay and bury him."

"No." Yuffie said, letting go of Cloud. "I want to stay. He saved me. I need to say goodbye."

"I want to stay too!" Marlene said, her voice still shaking a bit as she detangled herself from Barret's embrace. "I want to read a poem for him."

The small girl felt horrible. She had feared the tall, silent man who dressed weirdly. She had avoided him, even though she could see that he meant no harm. One night, she had been reading a poem she had written herself out loud to her daddy in the kitchen, and when she was done both she and Barret noticed Vincent standing in the door staring at them with his emotionless eyes.

"Ain't she gifted, vampy?" Barret said with obvious pride in his voice.

"She is." And with that, Vincent left the kitchen door, disappearing into the shadows.

"Fuckin' creep." Barret had muttered. And Marlene couldn't help but agree silently in her mind, he was scary.

And now he was dead. He died to save her. Marlene felt tears well up in her eyes again.

But before anyone could argue about who stayed and who didn't, a weak cough was heard. All heads whipped around, taking in their surroundings. Only a small moan of pain made them turn their heads down. Blood red eyes had opened, gazing up on them with pain. Aerith recovered fastest, quickly falling to her knees next to Vincent. She activated her Cure Materia, letting the light wash over Vincent.

"God, Vincent." Cid said, his voice raspy. "How the fuck can e' be alive?"

No one answered; they were all too shocked to speak. How could he have survived such wounds, losing so much blood? After Aerith had done her job, Vincent's broken limbs whole once again, they all lapsed into silence. Suddenly Marlene threw herself at Vincent, wrapping her arms around his neck and sobbing.

"I'm so sorry, Vincent!" she sobbed. "I'm so, so sorry!"

Vincent looked uncomfortable at the hug, but endured it in silence. Barret hurried forward and carefully detached her from the man on the ground, holding her close. Cloud tried to get into leader mode once again.

"We most let Vincent rest for a bit without moving him, to let the Cure work properly." he said. "Then we will get a stretcher from the Highwind and carry him to the infirmary."

"It's okay." Vincent said in his low and smoky voice before, to everyone's big surprise, standing up. "I'm alright." he mumbled, his hand hanging low. "I'm sure you want me to leave as soon as possible."

"Leave?" Tifa said in an unbelieving voice. "Why would we want you to leave?"

"I'm a monster." Vincent said simply. "You saw me, saw what I turned into. You won't want me around anymore."

"Hey!" Cid said loudly. "Don't put words into our mouths now! We never said such things!"

"Yes, Vincent." Tifa said, more mildly than Cid, and carefully grabbed Vincent's non-claw hand and held it in both hers.

"I think an explanation is in order." Cloud simply stated. "But this is not the time for it. Let's return to the ship for now."

Everyone turned to Barret, the only one who had clearly stated that he did not want Vincent around to begin with, to see what he would say.

"I…" he began, and swallowed before continuing. "I'm sorry, Vincent." he then said, his head hanging low. "I haven't been very nice to you. And now you saved Marlene. Thank you."

Tifa smiled at Vincent, trying to meet his eyes, but he avoided her gaze.

"Let's go." she said.

The group slowly made their way back to the Highwind and climbed the stepladder. They let Vincent head of to his room to wash and get new pants, and decided to meet in the gathering room as soon as he was done. Avalanche made themselves comfortable in the gathering room while waiting for Vincent to return from his room, and Aerith made everyone tea as they huddled together in the armchairs and the sofa. They still hadn't overcome the shock, and Barret had yet to let go of his daughter. Marlene sat in his lap, her arms wrapped around his neck, and Tifa couldn't but to notice that it seemed that she were comforting him, not the other way around.

Vincent entered the room, cleaned and with non-bloody pants. He paced for a bit before settling against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. The others gazed at him with serious, but friendly eyes.

"Let me tell you a story…" he began. "A really grim, sad fairytale…"

That day Avalanche learned about Vincent's demons, and Vincent learned about true friendship.