Greeting readers! This story is a little something that has been floating around in my head for a very long while. I began writing it a long time ago under the title "I Work Alone" but, reading over it in recent months made me cringe at the bad writing and the Mary-Sue personality antics.

So I've decided to rewrite it with a little more finery :)

Each chapter in this story will be inspired by, and named after; a Bullet For My Valentine song of some variety. At the beginning of each story I will list a specific timeframe of the song that was particularly attuned to making me really "feel" the story, along with lyrics from the song that are relative or tied into it in some way.

I will be posting links to the song entitled in the chapter, I really suggest listening to them while reading the chapter, for full effect of the story.

I will be working very hard on this story, so reviews and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism are most welcome.

Flames however; will be used to cook my breakfast.

I very much hope you enjoy it.

Bullet For My Valentine Song: Intro

Instrumental Inspirational: The whole song is instrumental ;P

Link to song: www . youtube .com/watch?v=ivLIvuaZbIY (minus the spaces)


Wutai was beautiful in the spring. The cherry blossom trees would reach full bloom, the waters were clear and pristine and the best thing of all about spring in Wutai, was that everyone's families came to visit in the beautiful weather; siblings, cousins, estranged relatives and grandchildren. Oh there were so many more children running around Wutai during the blossom season.

Three of these particular children were siblings; offspring to the second-in-line heir of Wutai. They spent most of their years living in Cosmo Canyon, growing up around the history and study of the Planet's wonders. They would spend the entire three months of spring in Wutai, the land of their ancestors, to be with their grandparents.

Their favourite thing about visiting Wutai was their grandfather's stories. While he may have been serious, strict and reputedly an amazing fighter in his day; he never lacked memories of his years as a warrior. Every year in the spring time he would tell these stories to his grandchildren.

These three children varied in age, the youngest being Kurosu at 6 years old. He had tanned olive skin like that of his mother; a native of Cosmo Canyon. His hair was an incredibly dark shade of brown, blending gently with several sun kissed mocha streaks throughout its layers. It was cut scruffy, just brushing his cheekbones in a loose mop of waves. His eyes were a gentle, rustic brown; almost the colour of dried blood.

Being the youngest of the siblings, he was prone to being overly adoring of his older siblings and was never far from them. He carried a stuffed Moogle with him everywhere he went, affectionately named Kupo.

The eldest child was Anzho, the sincere and mature girl of 15. She took after their father with her grey eyes and sleek, black hair. Her flesh was as pale as the snow that fell in Wutai's winter months and her demeanour nature was just as cool and calm.

Like her father, she was already training in the arts of the Shuriken; a tradition taught from the teenage years among the Wutainese. She was very much like her grandfather in the sense that she took a calculating, sensible approach to everything she did. It was all about logic for Anzho.

Then…there was Raiga. The middle child who enjoyed playing jokes and making others laugh. Being only 11 years of age she had a lot of growing up to do later in her life; but her good heart was never mistaken. Straight, rust brown locks cover her scalp in a dense, chin length bob and her blood-coloured eyes were as intense as liquid rubies. It was a running joke in the family, that she had inherited the bubbly personality from her grandmother.

These three sibling were currently sitting outside their family's estate, enjoying the brisk weather as they watched the cherry blossoms floating through the wind. Raiga was sitting on the porch steps, twining Anzho's silken waist length hair into an intricate braid. A pile of soft branched cherry flowers sat next to Raiga on the porch which she was using to decorate Anzho's hair. Kurosu was lying on his stomach next to the flower pile, every so often picking up a twig and pulling the petals off one by one. Kupo was rested next to his shoulder, a vacant smile stitched onto its face.

Both girls wore traditional Wutainese kimonos, with intricate patterns and festive obis around the waist. Kurosu's garment was a simple Wutainese training robe with a length of cloth belted at the waist.

"Hey Anny-chan?" he murmured, watching his sister have her hair braided.

Anzho turned her head slightly in response to her brother. "Yes?'

"Do you think that Oji-chan's stories are really about him?"

She smiled knowingly. "Of course Kuro. Haven't you noticed that Oji is so much like the man he tells us he was? He's quiet and doesn't like to show people how he feels! And he's a silly, grumpy scrooge."

"I didn't know I was thought of so highly." Came a heavy baritone voice from behind them.

Kurosu squeaked in surprise, and Raiga snorted at her siblings being "busted" but Anzho just sat calmly and smiled. "Of course Oji-chan. It's because of all those things we love you. Even if you are a scrooge."

A deep, rare chuckle rumbled up their grandfather's throat as he looked down at his family. "Well, now. That's a relief to hear. So why the doubt in my stories, Kurosu? Not losing faith in me are you?"

The little boy's eyes widened in shock. "No Grandpa! I just…It's just that…How come we've never seen you turn into the scary man you and Oba-chan talk about in all your stories? The man you said looks like a monster."

"It's a demon, Kuro." Anzho corrected, "And it's name is Chaos."

A smile crossed his face. "Well it seems like you do remember my stories, Anzho."

She nodded in response, the calm look never leaving her eyes. "Absolutely. You have, after all, been telling me these tales since before I was Kurosu's age. But he's right Grandpa. You've never shown us the demon."

"That's because Chaos doesn't live inside me anymore." He stated simply. What none of the children except Anzho noticed, was that their grandfather's eyes darkened at that comment. As if remembering something that hurt him to think about. Closing his eyes he sighed and sat down on the porch steps, next to his grandchildren.

"I've avoided telling you all this story because I thought it was too grown up for you…but it sounds like you all want to hear about why I don't turn into Chaos anymore. Am I right?"

All three nodded. They were huddled around their Oji-chan, waiting eagerly to hear the tale.

"What happened Oji?" Raiga exclaimed, shuffling closer on her bottom.

Vincent Valentine took a deep breathe before he spoke again. It had been a long time since he'd dug up these memories; they were buried so deeply in his heart that there were times he himself nearly forgot.

No…that's a lie my friend. I would never forget what you did for me.

"I'm going to tell you a very special story. It's about people who helped me when I was in a very dark place. I was very troubled, and had it not been for certain circumstances I don't think I would be here telling you this story today. It was a time when I was much less open, when I didn't let anybody in. But there were people who helped me. They were good people who helped set into play a chain of events that got rid of Chaos that lived inside me."

"You mean Avalanche?" Anzho questioned, her face confused. "But I've heard this story lots of times."

Vincent shook his head. "No Anzho. While Avalanche has helped me a great deal, they had very little to do with this. No, in this story I was helped in particular by one person. Someone who helped me even when they were hurting inside themself, just like I was."

"Who was it Oji?" Kurosu gushed, clutching his Moogle closer.

A distant smile crossed his wrinkled face as he spoke the name for the first time in years. The memory of it still felt so fresh.

"Her name was Tai Lochier."


Tat, tat, tat. The metallic sound of buckles bumping against leather as footsteps thudded on the cobblestone echoed on the walls around. The sound of the heavy boots almost drowned out the gentle, metal tinkling but in the silence, both managed to be audible.

Heavy, haggard breathes escaped chapped lips, and dusty coloured hair flew wildly behind the figure. The enemy was unaware of her presence, but that could change any second; she needed to be fast. Reaching her lithe fingers into the pouch on her left hip, she nimbly fished out a flip-top Zippo, lighting it quickly to check it worked. Her sharp green eyes darted around the street in lookout for any foes, and her ears strained for any sign of alarm.

She could hear guns firing up ahead, just over a group of tall buildings. That only meant one of two things; either the WRO had been spotted, or Deepground was attacking civilians and she sincerely hoped it was the former. Reaching down as she ran she pulled a stick of dynamite from the straps on her boot, used her teeth to tear the plastic cap off the end of the fuse and ran faster. She scanned the buildings for something to climb. She needed a vantage point, and being on the ground was not going to work.

"Ah-ha!" she exclaimed, spotting a rusty ladder to the side of an alley. Swinging her full weight onto its metal bars, she felt it creak under her mass; but she had no time to find a safer route. One hand over the other, one foot at a time; she needed to be up there! Never in her life had she climbed so fast, and just before she could swing her leg over the ladder onto the flat rooftop, it gave an almighty metallic screech and collapsed. As it clanged deafeningly onto the ground below, she hung perilously with her hands clutching the railing around the roof.

"Shit…" she gasped, looking down at what could have quite possibly been her death. Heaving herself up onto the roof, she turned away from the sight and gasped in surprise as she was met with the sight of several Deepground Soldiers, as well as several of the four-legged variety.

"Hostile! Soldiers! Fire at will!" came the command from one of the men.

In the split second it took them to raise their weapons, she had snapped her lighter to life, ignited the fuse on the explosive in her hand and was hurling it into the middle of the faction. A vengeful smirk slid onto her face as they were startled by the speed of her movements. As the fuse burned out, Tai swung herself onto the railing, using it as a brace to push herself off, just as the dynamite set off a massive explosion behind her.

She flailed through the air as she sailed onto the roof of the next building, landing in a graceless heap as she skidded across the concrete. Small scraps of metal and cement rained around her as she sat up. She had several bleeding cuts across her arm and the small scrape on her forehead stung like acid, but she was otherwise unharmed.

She could not say the same for her Deepground assailants.

"Such a pity…" she mused sadly, "Good waste of dynamite."

Snorting at her own vengeful humour, she turned her attention to the battle going on just several streets away from her. She needed to find out whether civilian lives were in danger, or the WRO had blown their cover. Moving with all the haste she could muster she flew over the rooftops, stumbling several times when she overestimated her jumping capabilities. Closer, closer; she was almost on top of the location of the gunshots. Then, just as she landed on the last building-

"Rio! No!" a scream came from the junction she was racing too.

Sliding to a stop at the edge of the building, she discovered the area crawling with various Deepground Soldiers of several kinds. The WRO was nowhere to be seen. They hadn't arrived yet. However she had been lucky; having been staying in Kalm overnight before she planned to travel onward to Junon. That was when Deepground had attacked, and she had been stuck trying to figure out what was going on while the WRO made haste from Edge.

"Shit!" she hissed again, spotting a small girl being dragged away by a Beast Soldier. The mother was sobbing at the end of the alley, just below where she stood. Steeling herself for a jump that was most certainly going to make her ankles ache for the next week, she leapt from the wall and combat rolled onto the cobblestone ground in front of the woman. The Beast Soldier was dragging the small child towards what looked like a containment unit, throwing the sobbing girl in before it closed behind her.

"Hey! Fido! Over here boy!" she screeched, charging out of the alleyway and into the small town square. The creature was slowly making its way over to her, and she could hear other Deepground Soldiers making their approach.

"My name is Tai, and I'll be your explosives tech today." She pulled her handgun from the holster on the back of her belt, never once taking her eyes of the circling beast. "Please keep your hands and feet attached to your body at all times. Failure to do this will cause me to laugh at your misfortune." The animal creature charged at her in a violent, frighteningly fast manner, and Tai cocked her gun at the same alarming speed, "Thank you for your attention…"

BANG!

"…and have a nice afterlife."

The Beast Soldier dropped like a rock, just as Tai heard a gun being cocked and loaded. Spinning on her heel she spotted the Deepground assailant in the window of a building, fired off a few rounds to his head and repeated this method for the three other soldiers scattered around the square.

With the immediate danger taken care of, Tai quickly made her way over to the containment box, trying to lift the door with no success. She took a few steps back, aimed and then proceeded to shoot roughly 7 or 8 rounds at the lock system. Once this was accomplished, the door lifted much easier and the little girl came stumbling out in tears. She looked up at Tai in shock and disbelief, to which she just gestured her head towards the girl's sobbing, oblivious mother.

"Your Mom's waiting for you kid, better get going." She stated, a gentle smirk on her features.

The little girl nodded with tears in her eyes. "Th-thank you!"

Suddenly there was the sound of metallic boots thumping quickly on the cobblestone nearby. After once more cocking her handgun, Tai raised it ready and pressed her back against the wall, waiting for whoever it was to show their face. She edged her nose around the corner, keeping as out of range as possible.

The less of you there is to hit, the less chance you have of being hit.

The memory of that advice sat comfortably in the back of her head. She was ready, whoever they were.

"Waiting for someone?" came a dark, baritone voice from behind her.

A gasp escaped her lips as she turned and found herself staring down three gun barrels that were all trained on her. Holding this deadly weapon was a man of considerable height dressed in a red cloak and wearing the most burning expression she'd ever seen.

"Whoa, whoa! What the hell are you doing?" she hissed, whipping her gun up into a counteroffensive position at his chest. "You shoot, I shoot. Don't mess with me, Tsviet!"

"What?" the demonic looking man narrowed his eyes at her, appearing confused by her accusation. "Who are you?"

Tai's gaze narrowed and she pressed her gun further into his chest. "I was just about to ask you the same question, Skeletor! Where are the rest of them?"

"The rest of who?" he sounded annoyed now.

"Don't play dumb with me! The rest of the Tsviets, ass wipe!"

"I think you're mistaken. I've got no idea what you're-"

Before the man in red could finish his sentence, the deafening whir of a helicopter was heard and sure enough there was a massive war craft hovering over the main courtyard. Before he could react to her, Tai had ducked underneath him with lightning speed and bolted for the direction the helicopter was heading in to land.

Unbeknownst to her, the man in the red cape was following behind, also wanting to determine the threat of the helicopter and its forces.

Coming up to the courtyard, Tai froze at the sight of the Deepground Dragonfly lowering soldiers to the ground. They charged forward with their weapons ready, their helmets hiding all traces of emotion and identifiable faces. Slowly bending down, she withdrew three sticks of dynamite from her boot and slipped her lighter out of her belt pouch. In a flash she tore the plastic off the fuses, lit all the explosive sticks at the same time and hurled them at the Deepground hoard with a furious cry.

It took only seconds for the soldiers to start firing in response, paying no heed to the explosives that had just been thrown at them. One soldier in particular charged forwards without a trace of fear. In horror, Tai raised her gun to retaliate and fired.

Nothing happened.

A feeling of horrible dread filled the pit of her stomach. Her gun was empty.

"Fuck!" she screeched, then flipped the weapon in her hand to use as a club, waiting for the solider to reach her.

BANG!

There was a ringing shot that went off in the night, and the soldier fell to the ground; his momentum causing the dead body to roll to a stop at her feet. She turned in shock to see the red-cloaked man holding his gun at the ready as he stood beside her.

"What-?" she choked, "You're not with Deepgrou-?"

Before she could finish her statement, the dynamite detonated. Smoke, stone and fire filled the area before it started to clear. Nothing was left. Tai's explosives, if not flashy, were at least efficient. With the threat eliminated she turned to face the man.

"You-you shot Deepground Soliders! Why?"

"Who are you?" he rumbled, completely ignoring her line of questioning. "Why are you here."

"I'm from the WRO you dumbass! If you're on our side, then why just come barging into the scene without warning? I could have killed you!"

The dark haired man's eyes narrowed in sarcastic amusement. "Somehow I doubt that."

Tai's eyes flashed and she turned to him in a wild fury, her dusty blonde hair flying into a knotted mass from the wind. She pulled the magazine from her gun, reloaded it and slid it back into the holster at her back. "What's that supposed to mean? I could kick your ass you fucking Skeletor! I could've-"

"Duck!" he yelled, barrelling into her and knocking them behind a white supply crate. As he did so, a rain of bullets showered around them, some thudding into the other side of the box they were hiding behind. Peeking over the box, Tai saw the previously absent Dragonfly aircraft hovering dangerously low to the ground, looking for them.

"Shit! We can't fight that thing! I'm almost out of ammo! We need to take cover!" she yelled over the helicopters rotating blades. Raising her hand to the front of her shirt, she unclipped one of the grenades on the strap across her chest.
"What are you doing?" snapped the raven haired man, his eyes widening in surprise.

Tai subtly pointed to their right, at a doorway that was about 2 and a half metres away. It wasn't far, but the Dragonfly would easily lock on to them if they ran for it. This was when Tai caught his gaze and raised the grenade to show him her plan.

A diversion.

Biting the pin between her teeth, she ripped it from the device and hurled it with all her might. True to her form, it landed right in front of the Dragonfly before exploding in superior style. She grabbed his gauntleted hand and took off towards the doorway.

"Now! Come on! Move!" she screamed. Her diversion had given them the window of only a second or two, and then the Dragonfly opened fire. Bullets rained behind them at their feet. Using a burst of superior speed, the man in red overtook her and shouldered the door open, collapsing to the ground inside. Tai threw herself through the air and into the open doorway, kicking it shut quickly with her foot before the bullets could be angled inside the doorframe.

The Dragonfly could be heard outside for a few minutes, obviously waiting for them to return to the battlefield. But after it found no trace of entrance or anyway to access them, it was heard flying away over the building. Tai exhaled heavily, feeling the cool dusty floorboards against the back of her arms.

"You never answered my question." She suddenly stated, hauling herself to her feet and leaning against the wall. "If you're not with Deepground, who are you? And why exactly are you here."

"Vincent Valentine. I'm here because of a favour to a comrade."

Her gaze narrowed in suspicion, not entirely sure what to make of his answer. "A friend? Who?"

"Reeve."

"Reeve? Reeve Tuesti? You don't look like WRO." Tai was standing opposite Vincent, her left hand twitching in anticipation; just waiting for a sign that she needed her gun. It was now that the danger was over that he was able to take in her appearance. Her hair was a dirty blonde, with short layers around her face and fierce, murky green eyes; a suspicious scowl marring her lips. Her attire radiated an aura of military aspect, with dark beige cargo shorts, a sleeveless black turtleneck and a pair of scuffed brown leather boots that stopped at her knees. A leather sash of grenades was slung around her chest; one or two of the clip slots empty from use of the weapons. A leather belt was slung loosely on her hips, bearing a small hip bag on the left side where she obviously kept her lighter, matches and other items that needed to be accessed quickly. At the back was a holster for her gun, the handle pointing to her left. All evidence pointed to her being a left handed fighter, which was an unusual trait to have, given that her left arm bore a metallic brace frame; indicating a certain weakness in the arm.

"I'm not. I was in Kalm when the attack happened. Reeve said he needed my assistance, and from what lack of ability I've seen in your skills; I'd say he was right."

Her eyes widened in sudden shock at his insult, before narrowing once more. She whipped her hand behind her and clipped the gun out of her holster. "Why you ignorant mother fu-!"

A loud thump resounded a floor above them, causing both of them to turn their attention to the situation at hand. A click was heard; Vincent loaded Cerberus as Tai topped up her Beretta and clicked the magazine back into place. Raising it into a ready position, she turned to Vincent as she made her way down the corridor.

"I've got Deepground Soldiers to kill. Don't get in my way."