Disclaimer: Much to my regret, I still do not own any of the Final Fantasy characters used in this story, they are all part of Square Enix and I thank the heavens everyday for having SE create them. Also, I'm using these characters to fill my pages without permission from SE, please don't be mad at me!

Note: a short note about the lay-out

"regular speech"

- mental speech -

- genes speaking -

thoughts

I think that about covers it, should anything be unclear, feel free to let me know :)

Big thanks!

To -Unrequited Desires- for all the reviews :D don't worry, I'm a prety big pervert myself XD
Next, a big thanks to dragondeathqueen, you've been with me in this story from the first chapter, I really appreciate it :)
And last but definitely not least, a big thanks to The Common Wind Deity for pointing out a few things I hadn't noticed :)

Yey, I'm posting double digits ^^ I'm actually kind of proud of myself that I'm writing a complete story :) I've started writing stories before, but I couldn't get myself to finish any of them... This will be my first complete story :)

Enjoy! ^^

The Howling Vampire

Part 10: Disgust

The next morning went as usual. Everybody sat down at the kitchen table, had breakfast, made plans for the following day and they took turns in cleaning the dishes. Vincent and Nathaniel left for the Forest, as usual, and Cloud went to take care of some delivery business, leaving Skylar, Tifa and Midnight at 7th Heaven. During the last few days, there had been less Werewolves around to watch Midnight. Where there used to be 6, there were now only 4 of them keeping tabs on her movements, 5, including the wolf she'd fought weeks earlier.

"Only 4 again. You think Vincent and Nathaniel are getting closer to them?" Skylar said as he entered Midnight's room.

"Sounds like a very plausible reason."

"The rest of the gang is coming over tonight. Tifa mentioned something about a celebration of taking down Shinra or something. I think they'll be setting up some plans tonight."

Midnight only nodded. A celebration didn't immediately sound like fun to her. Especially not if Yuffie and Tifa went on a roll again.

If they make me dress up or end up decorating everything in bright colors I'll kill them.

"Skylar? Do you... do you ever dream about it?"

Skylar gave her a questioning look for a moment but it soon dawned on him that she was talking about their time in the institution.

"Sometimes. I wonder, do you really think they just gave up looking for us? I mean, they were almost certain we had genes and I'm pretty sure that us running away only confirmed their suspicions. It's just strange that we never heard anything from them anymore. We don't even know if the institution still exists."

"Do you think we should check it out?"

"It'll take a long time for us to get there on foot. We'd need some sort of airship or something... Hey! Maybe Cid can help us out? He should be around tonight and maybe he's been around the area. He might've seen something."

Midnight simply nodded and turned back to staring out the window. Over the weeks, she'd gotten very good at pinpointing the Wolves' locations, she'd even gotten as far as recognizing which of them were there based on the vibes they sent out.

Evening came soon and the whole group of AVALANCHE was present. Tifa had somehow managed to get Midnight to wear the miniskirt, button up shirt and heels. As she came down the stairs, she was immediately greeted by 2 pairs of arms wrapping themselves around her legs. She looked down and awkwardly patted the 2 children on the head, Denzel and Marlene were both happy to see her. Midnight continued her way to the large table, receiving a wolf whistle from Reno when he spotted her.

"Damn woman, you tryin' to kill us?" he said.

Midnight said nothing and just glared at him, making the look in his eyes soon turn from slight lust to fear. Vincent looked up at Midnight and had to admit he agreed with Reno. She had very attractive legs and she looked very sexy in that outfit.

- There has to be something wrong with you dude, how can you not be jumping this woman's bones right now? – Chaos screamed in frustration.

Vincent tried his hardest to push him back and ignored his statement. Yuffie was already annoyed with Midnight. She'd been visiting several times over the weeks and had always tried to befriend Midnight, but it seemed simply impossible. Yuffie hated how she was always silent and never spoke, even when somebody asked her a question she'd do her best to avoid actually saying something. But she kept her cool, somehow she even managed to keep her cool until everybody had taken a seat at the table and started talking about the upcoming festivities, erasing Midnight from Yuffie's mind. They first held a common brain storm about the party, everybody just throwing ideas back and forth until Reno came with an actual good idea.

"Yo, how about we ask Reeve to do the party at his place? He's got a huge house, there's lots of room," he said.

Slowly but surely the rest of the group started to nod their heads, with the exception of Vincent and Midnight of course, whom were trying to steer clear of the entire thing.

- Who's this Reeve guy?- she mentally asked Skylar.

- Don't worry about it, he's a friend. He leads the World Regenesis Organization, better known as WRO, an organization hoping to rebuild the Planet. –

Midnight nodded unnoticeable. She zoned out again, only faintly noticing Cloud make a phone call to Reeve and Tifa picking up a notebook. Tifa scribbled down notes as they discussed more ideas and made some decisions. Midnight was suddenly pulled out of her haze.

"Hey! Midnight! Why aren't you helping us?" Yuffie yelled across the table.

Midnight just looked at her. Why wasn't she helping them? Because everybody seemed to do just fine without her and she wasn't very interested in the party.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh! I'm so sick of you! What? Are we not good enough for you? Is that it? Just open your mouth and help us organize this party! I've had it with you not talking you-"

Yuffie's rant was suddenly cut off by Skylar who'd slammed his hands on the table and had stood up, making his chair tumble down behind him.

"Listen, Yuffie, Midnight has her reasons for her silence and it would be good for you to just mind your own business for once! You don't know anything about her or what she's been through. I like you as a friend, but I'd appreciate it if you could just show some more respect!" Skylar said in a strict tone as he sent Yuffie a burning look, throwing out all the frustration he had about her attitude.

But Yuffie wasn't done yet. Oh no, she still hadn't learned.

"No reason can be good enough for the way she acts! She's completely anti-social! She's gonna be at the party but she's not helping out with anything! And if you've had such a tough little life, why don't you tell me something about it! Huh?" she asked as she shifted her gaze to Midnight.

The look in Midnight's eyes meant murder. She slowly and carefully got up out of her seat and walked across the table to Yuffie, carefully stepping between the glasses and keeping her glare fixed on Yuffie. By the time she got to her, Yuffie had moved her chair back and Midnight stood in front of her.

"Have you ever been so disgusted with yourself that you just want to peel the skin right off you?" she hissed in a deadly voice, her face only inches away from Yuffie's, eyes burning into Yuffie's.

Yuffie softly shook her head in a scared manner.

"Well, I have little missy. And you know what? I still am," Midnight continued as she slowly pulled up the sleeve of her button up shirt, showing her scars from years of 'peeling off her skin'.

A look of horror appeared on Yuffie's face and Midnight heard a few gasps behind her. She simply ignored them and continued speaking to Yuffie.

"And when you go to bed tonight, I want you to imagine what it would be like to see the same disgusting face again every time you close your eyes. To imagine the sight and feeling of the man you hate most biting and licking places you'd never allow him to even look at as he satisfies his sickest desires on you. I want you to imagine what it would be like to hear an earsplitting scream, only to realize that it's your own and that the more sound you make, the worse it gets. You do that, and then tomorrow, I want you to come back to me, look me in the eye and tell me truthfully that you wouldn't learn to keep silent after years of that," Midnight finished in her deadly tone, her hands leaning on the arms of Yuffie's chair and her eyes still boring into the young girl's ones.

Midnight let go of Yuffie's chair and slowly made her way back to her spot, this time walking around the table. She didn't look at anybody as she sat down again and shifted her gaze to Tifa, her glare replaced by her usual emotionless look.

"So, what do we have for the party so far?" she asked as though nothing had happened, her voice once again emotionless.

"Uhm, we have a location and now we were just discussing whether we should to a theme party or just make it something a little formal," she replied after she'd regained her composure.

Midnight nodded and said: "any ideas?"

She looked around the group and in a matter of moments the group was chatting about the party again, planning away. Midnight couldn't help but notice somebody's eyes on her. She looked at Vincent and noticed his unwavering stare. His eyes were almost trying to tell her something but he kept it well hidden so she couldn't figure out what.

Oh well, guess we'll have something to talk about on the roof later.

An hour or 2 passed and they'd finally made the final decisions for the Shinra Downfall anniversary. Midnight listened intently as Tifa went over her notes one last time.

"So, the party is going to be held at Reeve's place. Decorations are going to be a bit simple, just a few pieces of fabric draped around the room to give it a bit more of a formal feel and some candles, maybe some flowers. There's gonna be dinner first, which we'll have to discuss with Reeve, then there'll be some dancing of course and some snacks left out." – Reno smiled brightly at the mention of snacks – "And last but not least the dress code will be formal. So all the guys will be wearing a tuxedo" - a groan came from all the men in the group – "and the women will be wearing a dress and heels," Tifa finished in a cheery voice.

Yuffie squealed after hearing the dress code, Midnight gave Tifa a disbelieving look.

"Don't worry about a dress, Midnight, Yuffie and I will take you shopping for one," Tifa said, a smile on her face.

A few hours later, everybody left and went to bed while Midnight went hunting and later took her place on the roof, Vincent joined her moments later. They sat next to each other in comfortable silence for a few moments.

"They violated you," Vincent broke the silence.

Midnight only nodded.

"They started with beatings, but the Boss changed his tactics when he realized they weren't getting anything out of me that way."

"How did you get there?" Vincent asked in a soft voice.

"From what I remember, my dad once volunteered for experiments or something but he never came home. About 2 months later, some men invaded our house, killed my mother and took me away. I don't know what happened to my father, I'm assuming he's dead."

Vincent looked at her as her face showed the pain that came back with her memories.

She shouldn't be hurting like this. She never did anything to deserve the things she's been through.

Vincent suddenly did something Midnight had never expected him to do. He stretched out his arm behind her and pulled her into him, giving her a sort of sideways hug. Midnight was as surprised as can be but still welcomed the sign of affection, enjoying the masculine scent and warmth that came from him. She had no idea why she was even accepting the contact, but she didn't complain. They sat like that for at least half an hour, Vincent not knowing what had compelled him into wishing to comfort her so badly and putting his arm around her as a result, and Midnight not knowing why she accepted his comfort. She'd always been somebody to take care of herself, she shied away from human contact, seeing as most of the contact she could remember was violent... Slowly but surely, Midnight felt her eyes get heavy. It became harder and harder for her to keep her eyes open and eventually she drifted off into a peaceful sleep. Vincent heard Midnight's breathing become even and carefully glanced down at her closed eyes, a soft smile tugging at the corners of his lips upon seeing her peaceful expression.

I wish I knew why I'm doing this... I don't want her to be in pain. But I have to be careful, I can't care for her... I can't take the risk of having her end up like... Lucrecia...

Much to his surprise, Chaos stayed silent in his mind. He was grateful for it, though, as he lifted Midnight's sleeping body as gently as he could and carried her into her room. He pulled the covers back and carefully placed her on her bed. He took off her shoes and softly tucked her in, still lost in his thoughts. He softly made his way to the door, taking one last glance at her as he left her room and closed the door to seek refuge in his own bed.