Disclaimer: We don't own Sailor Moon (thankfully) or Final Fantasy VII (sadly).
Aurora's Note: Please no flames! This may not work, we're just trying it out! This takes place post-AC and does have some of the SHMs showing up. You'll see later. Pairings: CloudXTifa, CidXShera, VincentXLucrecia, may be more, pairings are subject to change.
Behind the Demon
Chapter 1
By Aurora M. Tepes and Niara A. Tepes
Somehow Tifa had managed to get in contact with the former members of AVALANCHE and bring them all to 7th Heaven for a three-year anniversary of defeating Sephiroth, (the first time).
Finding most of them was easy, just call their cell phones and they'd be glad to come. However, Red XIII was not as easily reached. He had found other members of his almost extinct race and brought them back to Cosmo Canyon. He was having trouble getting them all settled in.
Vincent was an entirely different story. He had a cell phone, he just didn't answer it. To make matters worse, they didn't even know where to find him. But, miraculously he answered his phone one day and agreed to the reunion.
Now the group was back together. They talked, some of them drank, most of them laughed. They even managed to make Vincent smile.
However, they were not the only ones celebrating. Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz had been given another chance at life. So, they naturally had gone to their "big brother" for support and help. Those three were happily conversing with their former enemies and playing with Marlene and Denzel. For some reason, Marlene had taken a special liking to Vincent and refused to leave any room that he was in.
Tifa and Cloud were engaged and Cid and Shera had been married for a year. The sun was beginning to set and the entire group was seated around one large table.
"So, Cid," Yuffie prodded, grinning, "what's it like being married?" Shera blushed and so did Cid.
"Well…" he said, at a loss for words. "Well, it's a lot better than I thought it'd be!" Yuffie giggled.
Kadaj gagged as Tifa and Cloud stared dreamily at each other. He kicked Cloud's leg as Cloud reached out to grab Tifa's hand.
"Hey! What was that for!" Cloud demanded angrily. Kadaj mustered up the most innocent face he could manage.
"Are you going to stop being around us once you…you know," Loz asked sheepishly. Cloud laughed.
"Is that what's bothering you three?" he said. "Just because I'm getting married doesn't mean I can't spend time with you guys!" Barret shrugged.
"Ya neva know!" he said. "I neva once saw my uncles. Neva once! I tell ya, marriage does sumthin' to ya!"
Marlene cocked her head to the side and looked up at Vincent.
"Is that why you never got married to Lucrecia?" she asked innocently. Vincent tensed but said nothing.
"Marlene, I don't think that's the best question to ask," Tifa said softly.
"The child has a right to answers," Vincent input quietly. "However, that is one that I am not ready to give."
"Hey, why don't you ever talk about your family, Vincent?" Reeve asked jovially. Vincent stood.
"I have no family," he hissed. Without another word, he left the room. The others looked at each other in silence. No one dared go after. They finished their meal as happily as they could, each with the intention of attempting to cheer their mysterious friend afterwards.
---
Hotaru Tomoe, the, technically, youngest of the Sailor Scouts, stared out the window of the temple, watching as Rei's crows hopped among the limbs of the twin cherry trees out front. Her violet eyes never strayed as she watched one of the two birds snatch up a rock that had suddenly been flung at them, the gesture causing a familiar ache in her heart. Shaking her head, she turned away from the two unknowing avians and listened to the news that Rei was breaking to the group.
"It's not like I want to go," Rei was saying, shoving strands of her long, sable hair out of her face. "It's just that, I haven't seen my cousin since before the entire Shin-Ra mess started, and now, my father calls me out of the blue to tell me that I have to go to the wedding. And it's out near the Forgotten City."
Hotaru blinked. That was where…She glanced at the faces of the others, noticing how all of them seemed a bit unsure of how to handle Rei's little bombshell, including Setsuna, the Guardian of Time. Then, she glanced back at Rei, her mind made up as to what she had to do. "When are you leaving?"
Rei looked at Hotaru in surprise, wondering what would have brought the quietest and most forlorn of the Scouts out of her shell to ask such a thing. "Three days. The wedding's in a couple of weeks, but they wanted me to try and get there early." She turned her focus back to the entire group before she continued. "And, they wanted me to bring a guest. I thought about asking one of you, but I figured that it might be a bit difficult to get off of work for such a long time."
"I can go," Hotaru admitted quietly. At the looks that everyone was now sending her, she shrugged, an indifferent expression on her face. "I don't have anything else to do and getting out of the city for a little while will do me some good."
Glancing at the three scouts who had come to be Hotaru's guardians, Rei sighed and nodded, her eyes sliding closed. "Alright. I'll call my father and let him know. You don't mind staying in a bar for the next few weeks, do you?"
"It doesn't matter to me," the Scout of Silence answered in her soft voice, the words as soothing as her touch sometimes was. "So long as you call me before we leave. I need make sure I have everything that I'm going to need and I need to tell Father that I won't be in town for a while."
Rei nodded, rising to her feet with the rest of them. "I'll call in two days to let you know the details."
---
Vincent stared out at the rainy landscape. The others had long since gone to bed. Their sincere attempts to cheer him hadn't worked all that well. He had locked himself in the room he would be occupying for the next few weeks, (Tifa had so conveniently granted him the basement).
Family…The word echoed in his mind, bringing unwanted memories to the surface of his swirling abyss of thought. Images flashed through his head. A man in a long, white lab coat hastening toward a defenseless little girl. A woman with long, raven hair laying on her deathbed. A girl no older than six with a bruised and bleeding body. The same girl, a few years older, reaching out to him, crying.
He felt her presence suddenly. It was something he hadn't felt for 33 years…and it was moving toward him. A shimmer of emotion flickered through his blood red eyes.
"So, how am I going to get out of this one?" Vincent mused. He suddenly doubled over with pain. It shot through every fiber of his body and it mounted to an intolerable level as a voice joined the mix.
"I HATE YOU!" the words echoed painfully in Vincent's mind. He flinched at their sharp inflections. The voice continued. "Why are you leaving? Why? Can't you take me with you?"
"Wait…!" he croaked out, reaching his hand to an invisible figure. "I don't want…don't want to… AAH!" Pain racked his body again and he did his best to stand.
A torrent of sights and sounds flooded Vincent's senses. Overwhelmed, he stumbled back onto the bed. As one final cry of anguish coursed through his system, he passed out.
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Aurora's note: Thanks for readin'! I should have more on my other fics soon. Sorry I don't yet. More chapters to come! Review please, (no flames)!
