Well I was having a brainstorming session with darkangelguard77 and this story sort of came into fruition, it's AU and about Marluxia, he's not as flamboyant in this so sorry if you were a fan of that. The story's also pretty dark.

The graceful assassin walked the seemingly endless path on the road to the next world, he needed supplies and something to occupy his troubled mind. He'd been living the same life for the past year, ever since he left Organization XIII. Organization XIII, a sort of brotherhood of bounty hunters that took any job good or bad, some clearly preferred one side whilst others stayed neutral like Marluxia. The organization had disbanded 6 months later or so a tramp in Traverse Town told him.

Marluxia let out a sigh of relief as he came upon the welcome sign of Hollow Bastion, he'd been walking for hours without rest because he refused to use the corridors of darkness although he would not hesitate to summon his inner darkness if he needed to. Raising his head Marluxia was able to take in the full view of Hollow Bastion, it's towering castle and gloomy streets, he wondered if there would be work for him here.

Irvine Kinneas watched as squall leonhart finished locking their store in the centre of Hollow Bastion, when they first opened up an armour and weapons specialist shop Irvine was excited at the prospect of demonstrating his firearm expertise on a daily basis but now 2 years later it was the end of the day he looked forward to, whenever he and Leon would relax at the northern crater, a bar in town run by Cid a man who everyone in the city knew growing up. When the final lock clicked into place Leon turned to face his friend with a sleepy glance.

"Crater?" Leon asked.

"Crater" came the reply as both men turned and headed towards their regular haunt.

"Squall Leonhart?" an unknown voice echoed from behind them.

Leon tightly grabbed the gunblade at his hip as he turned around to face the pink haired man clad in black robes, he was holding a familiar looking flyer and looking Leon dead in the eyes.

"My flyer? So you're a bounty hunter then?" Leon asked the man

"I am" the man said with a simple nod, "tell me what you need me to do"

Leon walked towards the man to explain the situation, his friend followed cautiously behind.

Leon began the story of flyer with a stern look on his face ,"About 3 weeks ago a friend of ours, Yuffie, was out for the night at some point she went off with a guy for the rest of the night. The next day Yuffie is found unconscious in an alley by an old man putting something in his trash, she was beaten and raped"

his voice broke off for a moment as he looked at Marluxias still calm face before continuing the story,

"Anyway, we wanted to find the bastard that did this to her, that's why I put those up", Leon pointed to the flyer Marluxia brought to him, "Well, what do you think, will you take the job?

Marluxia looked at Irvine before asked him calmly, "Is there anywhere I can stay in town?"

"Um sure there's Aeriths place, that's the Gainsborough inn it's a few streets over you can't miss it, the place is covered in flowers" Irvine babbled.

"Then I'll take the job" Marluxia told Leon, "I'm Sorry about your friend"

Leon stood still with a sombre look in his face as the man in black left.

The Graceful Assassin entered the old building, lightly closing the door behind so as not to cause a loud noise, upon turning he was brought face to face with the proprietor of the inn a kind looking girl with vibrant green eyes and a single perfect flower in her smooth hazelnut hair, she was staring deep into his eyes and Marluxia couldn't help but feel a little flushed.

"Um hello?" he asked nervously

"Hi" the girl said with a childish grin which only made Marluxias widen

"Ahhhh" he stammered before clearing his throat and becoming more serious, "I would like a room please"

"Of course" the girl happily said before turning around and stepping forward, "follow me"

"Oh" she said stopping once more before facing Marluxia, "I'm Aeris or Aerith whichever you prefer my friends call me either"

Marluxia smiled a charming smile as he looked at the cheerful girl, "Marluxia" he said warmly. Aerith smiled shyly and continued the way to the vacant room.

When they finally got to the room Aerith handed Marluxia the keys.

"There sure are a lot of flowers here aren't there" he asked her

"That's my fault, I'm crazy about them everyone always says that it's stupid to care so much about flowers" Aerith replied looking down at her shoes in a melancholy gesture.

Marluxia put his left hand on Aeriths shoulder whilst holding his right up, she gazed at it as he summoned a dark orb from nothingness. Aerith began to get frightened before the darkness within the orb disappeared leaving a scarlet rose in Marluxias hand which he gave to Aerith.

"Don't let anybody tell you that" he said with a friendly smile.

Aerith held the rose in front of her face to hide the fact that she was blushing.

"Goodnight" she said quickly before skipping back to the lobby with a huge grin on her face.

Turning to enter his room Marluxia noticed the number on his door, XI.

"Typical" he said with a small chortle as he closed the door.

Marluxia arrived at The Northern crater a few hours later having decided to carry out some research into the identity of the rapist. The place was the epitome of a town pub with several wooden tables throughout and a bar stretching across the entire length of the right wall with a lone bartender. Leon and Irvine were seated at the table nearest the door both gazing differently at the 2 women at the other side of the bar standing at a table, Leon was looking specifically at the woman in blue with jet black hair, if he wanted to get her attention he wasn't doing a very good job of it as he tried his hardest to look uninterested. Irvine was the opposite, he sat like he owned the place looking invitingly at the blond woman dressed in orange who was standing talking to the woman in blue. Marluxia ignored the two men and headed towards the bar to speak to the bartender.

"Excuse me, but have you seen anybody out of the ordinary in here in the past few weeks?" Marluxia asked the blond man with goggles around his head.

"You seem pretty out of the ordinary to me pal" came the gruff reply from the barkeep.

"Excluding me" Marluxia clarified shrugging off the mans insult ,"you're Cid aren't you?"

"Sure am" Cid replied

"Please help me out, I'm trying to find out who raped the young girl in this city"

"Oh, of course, what do you need" Cid said suddenly becoming more co-operative with Marluxia.

After listing numerous possible suspects Marluxia began to lose hope in the barkeep, before Cid told him of a man who tried to pay him in foreign money before realising his mistake and paying in the correct currency. It was the only lead so far so Marluxias curiosity was peaked.

"Can you remember what he looked like?" Marluxia asked

Cid seemed angry at the pink haired man and raised his voice to him, "What you think I have time to remember every drunken lout who passes through here? All I remember was that he had a stupid haircut and a funny looking instrument"

Marluxias eyes widened in horror as he stumbled back barely mumbling a thank you to Cid, he knew the man Cid was talking about. When he regained composure he headed for the exit but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder, Leon.

"Marluxia, did Cid tell you anything useful?"

"He said that there was a guy in here with a stupid haircut and a funny looking instrument, looks like I have to go see an old friend"

After saying this The Graceful Assassin took leave from the bar knowing what he would have to do next, hunt down an old brother.

Well that was it, please review and let me know what you thought of it, the next chapter should be up soon if I get time to write it. Thanks for reading.