AN: That's right. I updated. Don't forget to review!

I frown down at the papers in front of me with disdain. Vincent and Cloud had agreed that it would make our search easier if I wrote down any details I remembered about the organization. So far it was slow going….

I remembered next to nothing when it came to locations, uniforms, and names. But to be fair I was pretty preoccupied trying to keep sane…

Cid, Barret, and Cloud in the meantime decided to meet up with Reeve at the WRO in hopes of finding some old Shinra file on DeX. Leaveing only Vincent, Yuffie, the kids, and Tifa with me. Nanaki had gone back to Cosmo Canyon to see if there were any files there.

"Maybe you should take a break?" I look up at Tifa as she watches me with concern.

I knew that out of all of them Tifa felt the worst for how I was treated by both DeX and our friends when they found out. She had been particularly mad at Vincent and had yelled at him when she thought I couldn't hear….

***Flashback***

Tifa shoved Vincent hard in the chest causing him to stumble back and glance at her questioningly.

"How could you Vincent?" She had said angrily, her hands tightly balled in fists as Vincent listened silently.

"What right at all do you have to judge her? You of all people should have understood!"

"I feared she could have been a threat t-"

"Bullshit!" Tifa interrupted angrily, pointing an angry finger as I watched silently from around the corner.

"It was never any of your business! Who knows what damage you've done by pushing her like you did…" Tifa rubs her hands over her face in distress, and Vincent reached out a hand as though to comfort her, but his face was torn.

"I-" He began, but Tifa just shook her head sadly.

"Forget it Vincent, just forget it."

***End Flashback***

I nod to Tifa mutely and push away from the papers. Walking wearily up the stairs I don't notice Yuffie until I feel her small arms wrap me into a hug. I tense and Yuffie releases me and looks at me sadly.

"Don't worry about the others Shard. You're my friend, I'll watch your back." She says in an uncharitilisticly serious tone, and I feel my heart melt for the hyper ninja.

"Thank you Yuffie." I say with a watery smile before heading off to my room, praying Vincent wouldn't be there.

It wasn't that I disliked Vincent, I understood why he did what he did, I just didn't want to see the suspicion in his eyes.

I peek in around the door frame and find the room empty and hurriedly climb up onto the roof via the hatch in my ceiling. The late afternoon sun beats down upon my face and I sigh, spreading my arms out as if in an embrace.

The sound of a throat being cleared causes me to snap back to attention, and my eyes land on Vincent who is sitting on the ledge of the roof. His gaze burns into me as I make my way over to him.

"What are you doing up here?" I ask, sitting down next to him on the ledge, but still leaving about a foot of space between us.

"….." He doesn't say anything, instead he turns his gaze back to the sky.

I fix my eyes upon the sky as well, spending my time watching the sky slowly darken with my silent companion.

"I'm not upset with you." I say breaking the silence, Vincent doesn't give any sigh to be listening so I continue.

"I accepted a long while ago that my presence would always be viewed with fear, you acted exactly within my expectations." At this Vincent turns to face me, his eyes hard.

"That is exactly why I should be sorry. I myself have no right to pass judgment." We sit looking at each other for a long while, as though trying to gain footing in each others gazes, before Vincent abruptly stands, and disappears with a flare of his cape.

"Stop hurting me!" I cry out. My twelve year old body shaking from the strain of the mako being injected into my veins by one scientist as another slices into my skin with a scalpel. I pull against the metal bindings holding me to the surgical table fruitlessly, and the scientist with the scalpel rolls his eyes at my struggling as he brushes away a strand of blond hair leaving a bloody streak on his face.

"Stop squirming! You should be thankful to us! Once the experiments are completed you'll be stronger than before." He says in annoyance, and I note that if I had met him anywhere else his voice would probably sound kind.

I let out a shriek as yet another vial of mako is pumped into my veins and my mind is fuzzy from the pain. Was that vial the…7th?...Or maybe the 12th...

I can't think anymore as the surgical light switches on and I turn to see the smiling face of Doctor Jin. The other two scientists immediately snap to attention at the appearance of their superior.

"What's its status?" Jin asks, snatching a clipboard off of the table at my side. His large round glasses glare in the bright light causing me to squint.

The other scientists ramble a large number of surgical and scientific terms I don't understand and I shudder from the cold and burn of mako in my veins. This doesn't escape Jin's notice.

"Oh, is my little specimen cold?" He asks in a sugary sweet voice, and being the naïve 12 year old I am, I nod a yes, hoping for some kind of reprieve from my torment. Jin grins evilly.

"Some fire materia injections should fix that…"

~Dream end~

A gasp escapes my throat as I wake up, and I hurriedly scan my surroundings. Finding nothing but the darkness of my room and Vincent's empty bed, I relax slightly. I don't want to have anyone see me like this.

I run a hand through my sweaty bangs before pulling my legs up to my chest. Small quivers still ran through my body and I couldn't help but look around the room more than once, expecting Jin to materialize out of the shadows.

For the rest of the night I simply sit on my bed and silently cry.

AN: Yeah it's been a while since I updated but honestly I have been busy with collage and stuff. So was this chapter any good? Send me a review.