Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Final Fantasy characters, locations, and references to the game are all owned by Square Enix. I have created, and only own my original character: Adriana.

WARNINGS: Swearing and domestic violence in this chapter. Also mentions of suicide and Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Very dark and may unsettle some readers. You have been warned!

Chapter 7: Demons

It was nearing the end of the day, and the sun began to set. The couple sat with their back against a huge rock, watching the sunset together. Adriana nestled herself into Angeal's muscular arms, listening to the sounds of his heartbeat. He thought she looked so beautiful and peaceful as the light breeze drifted her slightly damp wavy hair. Adriana could feel the breeze hit her sunkissed skin, tickling it. She felt content as a smile landed her face.

"Such a beautiful view, don't you think?" She asked, looking up at him.

Angeal looked down at her and smiled. "Yes, it is. But not as beautiful as you are, Adriana." He sweetly complimented in a soft voice.

Her smile widened. "Do you think I'm beautiful?"

Angeal smiled and let his fingers trail down the side of her neck and over her collarbone. "Yes. Very much so."

"Hehe, why thank you." She giggled. "Angeal, you're spoiling me with your flattering compliments."

He smiled and kissed her cheek. "Mmm. You deserve to be spoiled, baby."

Adriana smiled and placed her fingertips on his chest and traced them up and down along the line of his muscular chest before continuing to speak. His entire body shuddered when she intimately touched him like that.

"When I was a kid, my parents and I used to come here, all the time." She smiled. "And last time, my parents bought me here for a picnic, and we watched the sunset, together."

"Sounds like you came from a loving family," Angeal said.

"Yes, I did. I was very close to my parents before they... " Adriana stopped stroking his chest, but she didn't remove her hand. "Died of the Geostigma virus..." She murmured.

"I'm sorry," Angeal whispered, sincerely, rubbing her shoulder and kissing the top of her head. "Are you okay?"

Adriana sucked in a deep, shaky breath trying to hold back her tears before she glanced up at him with a small smile and said, "Yes, I'm okay. And please don't apologise; it's not your fault."

Angeal nodded and kept his strong arms around her. "It's okay, Adriana," He whispered and kissed the top of her head, again.

"Thank you, Angeal."

Adriana nuzzled her head into his shoulder, smiling as she twirled her finger around the heart shaped crystal necklace around her neck. "Before my mother died, she gave me this necklace, and I have never taken it off ever since. When I wear it, I feel like she is still with me, all the time."

Angeal smiled at her. "It's a pretty necklace - it suits you. I like it."

"Thank you. It's a little scratched up, but I think it's still in pretty good condition." She said with a smile.

"Sometimes the most beautiful things in life are the one's that aren't perfect." He said, looking at Adriana deeply in the eyes.

Adriana nodded. "I guess your right." Then she asked, "What about your family, Angeal?"

Angeal looked away from her and didn't answer her question for a couple of seconds. He started to laugh, bitterly shaking his head. "It doesn't matter." He simply stated.

Adriana watched him, slightly frowning. "I'm curious, Angeal..." She propped herself up a bit and took his hand into hers; he looked at her again while she reassured him. "I really... really like you, a lot, and I want to know everything about you. You can tell me anything. If... If you wish to? I will listen to you. Do you have any memories of your parents?"

Angeal paused and felt his own eyes narrow. His mouth was watering as he studied her. He also cared for her. He really did. Angeal was a stubborn man and never told anyone about his childhood, choosing to keep his private life just that. Something told him he could trust her with his secrets. He'd tell her the truth and see where it left them. Adriana would have been the first and last person to know about his childhood. She wanted to learn all of his secrets. The SOLDIER only hoped his confession wouldn't end in disaster.

"Well." He starts. "I grew up in a village. I was quite poor then, and my mother and I used to go to the farm and hand-pick Dumb Apples off trees to take home and eat."

Adriana giggled. "Sounds like you were quite the thief."

Angeal looked at the younger woman and slightly grinned. "I can be... Pretty cheap. But even still, I had my honour. My friend who is the village mayor's son had the largest Banora white apple tree. It was rumoured, that those apples were the most tastiest, but I could never forgive myself if I stole one from that tree. The mayor's son was my friend after all..."

"I'm sure your friend would have just let you have one, no?" She said.

He chuckled. "Honour can be quite a burden... At times, Adriana."

She laughed. "So what about your father?"

A cloud of uneasiness passed over his face but was quickly gone. "What about him?" Angeal said with narrowed eyes.

"Tell me about him. What does he do for a living?" Adriana asked. "And did your mother stay at home or did she work, too?"

"Both of my parents worked in the science department at Shinra Inc. My mum stopped working when she gave birth to me. Dad, however still continued to work as a rogue scientist..."

Adriana cocked her head in interest. "Did your father like his job."

"Yes. He put his work first before his family." He bitterly said. " My mum always told me that dad had a hard job, and sometimes he couldn't take the stress..." Angeal sighed and continued. "When I was growing up as a kid, my father used to lose his temper a lot. He had a terrible temper. Sure, my parents had their disagreements, but it got to the point where petty arguments would get blown out of the proportion."

At that moment, Angeal knew that the time had come for the truth.

Adriana watched as Angeal let out another sigh before he started to tell her about his traumatic upbringing. He glanced away from her and out to the sea.

"I used to watch my mother get beat up by my father."

Adriana gasped and couldn't believe the story that he was about to tell her. She thought about how terrible that must have been for a little boy to watch his own mother get beaten up by his father. She continued to listen.

"I remember I would listen to him, beat my mother to sleep most nights. My mother would scream and cry, and I'd know he'd have hit her. I got angrier and angrier as I watched my father violently beating her. He beat mum up so bad that you couldn't even recognise her face the next day. I wanted to kill him." Angeal went quiet for a couple of seconds then went on. "At that age, I actually thought it was normal and that many families were like this. I look back now, and when I think about it, I was in denial because I never did mention it to anyone, not even my friends. Adriana, your the first person I have ever told about this."

Angeal paused for a moment as a flash of anger surged through him when the painful and awful memories washed over him once again.

Flashback.

The pasta was cooking on the stove, and they were nearly done to al dente just the way he liked them. Gillian was anxiously watching the clock like a mad woman. She had been dreading her husband's return from work and hoped that he would be in a better mood for when he comes back. The housewife would occasionally be pulled out of her thoughts when Angeal made playful sound effects for his toy cars. Smiling, Gillian looked at her beautiful eight-year-old son happily playing in the hallway of the small two-bedroom apartment in Banora. She couldn't help but reminisce about the good times she had with her husband before the abuse began. They were once a very happily married couple, up until a couple of years ago when the accusations of cheating and abuse began. Gillian was considering a divorce, but she wished that things would go back to the way they were, but as things were getting progressively worse, she was losing any hope of that happening.

Gillian snapped out of her daze, and her heart started pounding in her chest when she heard the sound of her husband slide his key in the front door lock and turned it. The door opened. He stepped into his home and thudded the door behind him, locking it again.

"Daddy!" Angeal said, running to his father and taking the older man's larger hand.

Smiling, He gently ruffled his son's hair. "Hey, squirt. Did you have a nice day at school?"

Angeal nodded his head enthusiastically, making his father smile.

"Good to hear, pup."

After Gillian hastily placed the prepared plates of pasta on the table, she went out of the kitchen to greet her husband.

"Hollander." She said, trying to sound happy even though the feeling of fear was creeping through her veins. "How was work today, darling?"

Hollander looked blankly at his wife without responding. Gillian worried for a moment that he might not be in a good mood. She studied his face, hoping to read his mood, but couldn't read his face. It was almost as if he was wearing a mask. She could tell that he was fabricating things in his mind and felt she should do something to take his mind off that and onto more positive things. Otherwise, he might fly into a rage.

"Hollander, darling. Dinner's on the table I made your fav-"

All of a sudden, Hollander marched up and grabbed her wrist roughly, his fingers digging deeply into her skin. Gillian squealed but tried to keep quiet for the sake of Angeal. And she tried not to make her husband madder. He grabbed her and slammed her against the wall, leaning over her and breathing into her face.

Gillian knew she had it coming.

Anger swelled Hollander's eyes. "Do you think I'm fucking stupid?! What were you doing outside of the house this morning with Mr Hewley?!"

Her eyes widened. "What?!"

"You heard me!" He shouted angrily into her face. "What were you doing outside of the house this morning with him?!"

"Hollander, please-" She flinched.

"Please, what?"

"Please stop, you're hurting me." Gillian winced. "Hollander, please, don't do this in front of Angeal."

"Then tell no lies, you lying cheating bitch!"

Then Hollander slapped her harshly across the face, so harsh that her face hit the floor. Her hand reached up to her cheek. He cut her lip. Blood ran down her cheek and tears glittered her eyes. Gillian burst into tears when he roughly snatched her up and dragged her through to the kitchen by one handful of her hair.

Their poor little son just stood there, frozen, scared out of his mind as he watched the whole incident, unfold. Seeing his mother cry had him worried. Even after Hollander would beat Gillian to a pulp, she was never one to cry. So to see her like this, Angeal had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was wrong. He'd seen his dad angry before, but this was different.

How much could a boy take?

"Are you screwing him?! Well?!"

"No!" She lied.

"Bullshit!"

Then he hit her again and then shoved her, hard into the kitchen. Hollander shoved her so hard that it caused her to lose her balance and landed on the dining table. The table tipped over, sending plates and glasses crashing to the floor around the woman. Gillian lay in a heap of hot pasta and glass shards, sobs racking her body as she prayed that he would just leave her alone. He didn't. The crazed scientist grabbed hold of her hair again and pulled her up so she was standing in front of him.

"How could you betray me." He hissed as he shook her to try and make her understand. "Why, Gillian, why?!"

"I'm sorry!" She cried out in pain.

"Sorry. That's all I get?" Hollander said to her, clenching his fist as he looked at her.

"Please stop!" Gillian pleaded. "I only love you!"

"Look at you; you're a disgrace to this family." Hollander hissed, his eyes dark with madness, "You lying fat filthy whore." And punched her hard in the right side of the face, knocking her to the ground. Her hands slapped loudly as she landed onto the tiled floor. The force of the blow made her nose bleed. Gillian tried hard to focus her eyes, which were going dark. He had hit her head much harder than she thought.

Fighting to stay conscious, Gillian quickly scampered into a corner and rolled her body into a fetal position and Hollander kicked her, again, again and again. The pain shot up her spine, and she screamed in agony.

"Stupid bitch. Let's see how beautiful he thinks you are; once I'm done with you." He yelled and kicked her in the back, again.

Gillian continued to scream, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she registered her son crying and screaming for his father to stop.

"Noooo, daddy stop. Let mummy go." Angeal cried.

"Shut up, boy!" He snarled. His hands went to his belt, ripped it off the loops.

Hollander's eyes blazed with fire. "Watch and learn, my son. Women who are bad to their husbands need to learn a lesson." He stated, gripping the belt in his hand.

"Angeal... P-please, go upstairs into your room. Mummy is fine." Gillian said as calmly as she could, even though her voice was weak. Tears and blood streamed down her face with blood oozing from her lip.

"I told you to shut up." He shouted and hit her on the legs with the belt. "Shut your fucking mouth, you lying whore."

Angeal watched his mum struggle as she heaved her body jerking her head from side to side, all the while screaming. Gillian screamed until she had no breath. She would gasp for air; then she would scream again everytime he would hit her with the belt. Angeal ran and rushed to his bedroom and shut the door and huddled against it, clutching his knees to his chest. With scrunched eyes, he put his hands over his ears to try and block out the sounds of his mother screaming, praying that his father would stop beating her. The boy was only eight, but in his tiny young mind, he wished his mother wasn't bad.

Papa would stop hitting mommy if she wasn't bad, the young Angeal thought to himself.

End of flashback.

"Angeal?"

That was Adriana's voice.

Adriana looked at him concerned. "Angeal, are you ok?"

Angeal looked at Adriana and saw the sadness swirling her brown eyes. She still hadn't let go of his hand.

He shook his head. "Sorry doll, I guess I drifted off there... I'm fine." He said, to brush off the concern in her face. "Are you?"

Adriana nodded and squeezed his hand. "Yes, I'm ok."

Angeal held her hand tightly and brought it up to his lips and kissed it before letting their hands fall between them once more.

"Are you sure you're ok?" She asked.

"Yes. Don't worry it was a long time ago. I'm over it."

This time, when Adriana examined his expression, she too saw the sadness swirl in his Mako blue orbs.

"Your mother." She murmured. "Are your mum and dad still together, Angeal?"

Her quiet words and the sincerity in her brown-eyed gaze gave him the encouragement that he needed to continue to tell her. Angeal drew in a deep breath and squeezed Adriana's hand once again and then told her.

"No." He said. "My father left my mother when I was eight, and I never saw the bastard again. Ever. I guess the work and stress of his job contributed to him leaving. Soon after he left, my mum later remarried a good man, who loved us and did everything he could for us. I used to sit on my stepfather's knee and listen to him go on about dreams, pride, and honour. I remember what it was like when he died, I suffered from mild PTSD, as a result of his death. I was so distraught, so much so that I was suicidal and even wanted to end my own life..."

Adriana's hand tightened on his, but she remained silent and let him speak. Angeal shot her a look of gratitude and drew in another deep breath.

"The Buster Sword that I wield was a gift from my stepfather. This sword is a symbol of my family's dreams and honour. My parents had to borrow money to have the blade forged for me when I first joined Shinra. My stepfather worked as much as he could to pay back the debt that he owed. Eventually, he fell ill and passed away. It was a sword made of pride, honour, and dreams made from blood, sweat, and tears. I care for that sword in my father's memory, using it as little as possible to avoid it from being damaged from wear, tear and rust. And that's a real waste." Angeal shot Adriana with a small wry smile. "And you know what? It's just like what you were saying about your mother's necklace. When I carry that enormous sword with me, I feel like he's here close, watching over me." He explained.

"Is your mother still alive?" Adriana asked.

"Yes, my mother is retired and lives in Banora Village, the village where I was born. Heard of it?" He asked her.

"No, I haven't, is it nice there?"

He smiled. "Yes, it's a peaceful place to live and it's full of nature. I will take you there, and we can have a Banora white, together. They are the tastiest and sweetest apples in Midgar."

She returned the smile. "I would love to go with you Angeal."

Angeal smiled at her as he held her hand, rubbing his thumb back and forth across it. When he touched her, It gave him a warm feeling inside.

"It appears you, and I have more in common than I believed."

Adriana smiled and asked, "Oh? Why do you say that?"

"I too, have lost people in my life who I have loved and cherished."

"So you believe in love, then?" She asked.

Adriana's gaze grew warm with intensity when she asked Angeal that question. She couldn't look away.

How could they be talking about love? They only just met!

Angeal lips quirked upwards. "Yes I do believe in love, and I think I've found her." He smiled and winked at her, and she felt her heart flutter. "How about you?"

"Yes, I do. I absolutely believe in love, and I think I've found him." She too said with a smile and a wink.

Angeal reached over, touching her face once again. Adriana leant in closer to feel the rough texture of his fingertips.

Brushing a stray hair away from her cheek, he gazed into her eyes. "You're very special to me." He said. "You are my beautiful señorita."

"Thank you, my handsome knight, in shining armour." Adriana gazed into his Mako infused eyes, smiling. "Your eyes are so beautiful." She breathed out.

Angeal smirked. "You think so? Why don't you take a closer look."

Adriana leant in closer, and his head fully came down to hers. Their eyes locked for a moment before his lips crushed down to hers. Angeal plunged his fingers into her hair as the kiss deepened, going from savage to sensual.

After they finished the beach, The SOLDIER and the barmaid then went to a photo booth to take some pictures together. When Angeal sat down, he motioned for Adriana to come over and sit on his lap.

Angeal leant back a little and patted his thighs. "Come and sit on my lap, Mami."

She giggled and agreed, "Yes, Papi."

Adriana sat across his lap. She locked her arms around his neck and looked at the screen, smiling. Angeal smirked and then kissed her on the cheek. He couldn't help but think of the first time they met in the bar. After a 5 second countdown, the screen flashed, and the Booth took a photo of the pair. After taking a picture each, they walked hand in hand towards the pathway from the exit of the beach, when they were suddenly stopped by passing fans from Angeal's fan club, keepers of honour.

"I love you Angeal! Please, can you sign this for me?!" The young fangirl squealed when Angel took the pictures and signed them all with his autograph.

"Is that your girlfriend?" The crazed fangirl asked him.

"Yes." He said as he glanced at Adriana, who smiled lovingly at him.

The fans giggled like schoolgirls. "Whats her name?"

"Adriana."

"She is really pretty." Another fan commented.

Adriana smiled. "Aww, thank you,"

Signing the last autograph, Angeal took Adriana by the hand and told the fans that he had to go.

"Time to go, baby."

As they headed off, the squealing fangirls shouted. "Bye Angeal, we love you so much! Bye Adriana your so lucky to have him!"

The pair laughed as they walked towards Adriana's house with their hands linked together.

"Wow, you have some fans don't you?"

Angeal chuckled. "Sometimes they seem to know more about me than I know about myself."

When they arrived at her house, it was late in the evening. Angeal escorted her to the front door, and they faced each other. They both gazed into each other's eyes as she reached up for his cheek and caressed it with her bare fingertips. Angeal scanned her face with his piercing blue eyes as if he were memorising it.

"I had so much fun today. I haven't had this much fun in a long time," Adriana told him.

A small smirk turned up the corner of his lips. "Me too."

"I like this; I wish it could be like this all the time." She bit her bottom lip.

Angeal closed the space between them and gave Adriana another passionate kiss. As his lips touched hers, he could feel her hands travel to his chest, but she laid them on his pecs. Angeal knew that if he kept up to this any much longer, he knew he wouldn't be able to think straight.

Angeal broke the kiss for air. "So... Are you going to invite me in, so I can protect you?" He said, his voice heavy with arousal. "I want to spend more time with you."

Opening the door, Adriana turned and looked up at Angeal, smiling for a few seconds.

Angeal arched a brow. "Well?"

She took a deep breath. "Sure. I'd like that, Angeal."

A huge smirk spread across Angeal's face.

Before Adriana walked inside, Angeal wrapped his large hands around her waist, easily lifting her and she wrapped her legs tightly around his hips, cupping his face in her hands as she kissed him. The SOLDIER carried her inside as they passionately kissed each other, backheeling the front door shut.

The princess carried away by her Knight in Shining Armor and lived happily ever after... Sounds like a historical fairytale, doesn't it?

That night we confessed our feelings for each other, and I lost my virginity to Angeal. We loved each other. Very, very much. Some say I gave it up too quick. I'd say I was madly in love with the guy of my dreams. It just felt right... And of course, Angeal being the dominant man that he was, knew what he wanted, and wasn't going to take no for an answer. I guess that after my parents died, I just didn't want to be alone anymore. I had no one until he came along.

Unfortunately for me, I fell in love with the wrong guy.

Angeal had a lot in common with his father than he would admit. He hurt me so much... And said so many hurtful things to me. I didn't realise that I was going to be in the same shoes as his mother. The one that gets beat up and keeps her mouth shut.

Angeal is this your idea of honour?

To be continued...

xoxoxo

Next chapter will be the lemon to this one. I'm going to have to change the rating to an M soon...

Please, R&R and Thanks for reading! :)