Chapter 1 – Danger in Midgar

Getting out of the 7th Heaven, the raven haired man looked around him quietly. The same creatures that had attacked them in the bar minutes ago were roaming the streets of Midgar, scaring the innocent people and killing them without any mercy.

Taking out his gun, Vincent got ready for any kind of attack; not wanting to be took by surprise. Every single sign of life in the streets or alleys could be one of those creatures and if he wasn't careful enough, he could be caught into something he wasn't really interested in getting himself into.

Walking carefully around the city, the tall, mysterious man scanned the surroundings for any sign of the Wutai princess, Yuffie Kisaragi. He found it rather strange that she hadn't come to the reunion, and unlike what most of the people thought, he did pay attention to her. In fact, to him, Yuffie was someone he could trust, except when it came to personal material belongings. But if he ever wanted to talk, all he had to do was walk up to Yuffie. It was rare, yes, but it didn't matter.

The point was, he knew that Yuffie wouldn't miss an opportunity to meet the entire gang again, especially not after five years of not seeing each other.

Entering a dark alley, Vincent spotted something moving behind some boxes and got his gun ready. Pushing the boxes aside fiercely, he lowered his gun, noticing a little kid, shivering of fright.

Looking up to the dark man, the kid brought his knees closer to him. It showed that he had seen one of those awful creatures and probably saw someone get killed.

"What are you doing here?" asked the tall man, towering over the little shaking figure at his feet. Raising his head lightly to see the man better, the young kid took in a sharp breath before sniffing.

"M-Monsters… t-they…t-they killed my parents…" He said, tears streaming down on his flushed cheeks. The vampire's expression remained the same, emotionless. It was rare to see Vincent Valentine smile, or even have compassion in his eyes. It would sometimes happen, but it was so rare and quick that no one ever noticed.

"I see." Was the man's only answer before turning his back on the kid and continuing on his way. He didn't consider this more important than his search for his long known friend. Even if he didn't pass a lot of time with her, he still didn't want anything to happen to her. It was rare that he felt this way, but he always felt protective over her, as if she was his little sister or something like that. It was an emotion hard to explain for him, even hard to make out. He was never the kind of man to give in emotions since his long lost love, Lucrecia, had left him.

Getting out of the dark alley, the dark man scanned the surroundings carefully. Suddenly, he spotted something that didn't really inspire him good, Yuffie's pouch of materias. The materias weren't used as much as they used to, actually, they were almost forgotten by the population now, but Yuffie always had some with her.

Walking towards his discovery, he began to wonder if one of those creatures had attacked the young princess. Soon coming to a halt, the tall and cold man bent down and took hold of the small pouch that lay on the ground. Taking a closer look at it, he realized a bit of blood and frowned lightly. Knowing that he probably wouldn't find anything else, he decided to head back towards the 7th Heaven.

Reaching the door, his golden-clawed hand reached for the doorknob and turned it slowly, soon entering the bar. The rest of the gang got up in a shot, looking at him with wide eyes, hoping to hear a good new.

The gunman shook his head and handed them the pouch. Everyone suddenly became pale as they looked at the pouch. They all knew what it meant; Yuffie had been kidnapped, or worst, killed.

Vincent was keeping his emotions for himself, like usual; not wanting anyone to figure out how worried he truly was. There wasn't anything that any of them could do at the moment, and it drove them all crazy to know that one of their friends was missing, probably hurt and that it wasn't by her own will either.

Someone finally decided to speak up. Getting up from her chair, Tifa looked down and took a deep breath.

"Guys… we won't get to any solution if we're tired. We need to rest and we'll think about what to do tomorrow." Suggested the young woman. Everyone nodded, except Vincent. He remained as cool and emotionless as ever, not even looking at Tifa. The other members of AVALANCHE walked up the stairs to go to their rooms while Vincent stayed there, thinking.

It wasn't like he needed rest. He wasn't able to seriously sleep. The only 'rest' he could get was a semi-sleeping state. Technically, it would be as though he was sleeping, but he was aware of everything going on around him and his mind wouldn't leave him in peace for even a second. Besides, the constant voice of Chaos inside his head was hard to ignore.

After standing there for about ten minutes, the raven-haired man headed for the door. He wouldn't accept the fact that the others wanted to wait before doing something. To him, Yuffie was probably in grave danger, and he had to act fast before something worst happened.

When he got out of the bar, he noticed the creatures were all gone, leaving only death and fear behind them. His red eyes scanned around for a few seconds before he started to walk towards the emplacement where he found the pouch. Once there, he began to examine the place, checking around, trying to find any small clues that would lead him to the Wutai Princess.