Authors Notes: Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it. To answer the question about Vincent's mother.. well, she died of cancer when he was younger. She didn't have a role in the game, Seifer stayed away from the orphanage gang and those who attended Garden. Just an avergage woman he met in Balamb city. And about the format of the story.. I do agree that I could do a better job in that regard but so far this is working for me. Thanks for the critiques, though. I do enjoy reading what you have to say, as I'm always looking for a way to better my stories. Read and review!

Some questionable material in this chapter that deals with slight abuse and some suggestive but not discriptive scences. It's over fairly quickly, however. So I hope this doesn't stop you from reading.

Dan's POV

Walking into the dim cafeteria, I didn't notice many faces. None of them seemed all too familiar until a broken man in the far left corner caught my eye. "Vince, that you? It's 6 AM, what's the deal?" He looked up from his now cold coffee and forced a weak smile, "Girls. You know, the usual." I nodded and took a seat across from him, noticing the black around his eyes. "This is about Kit, right? Man.. Have you slept at all?" Vince chuckled and shook his head in defeat, "More or less. Two days ago I slept a good eight hours, I'll be fine for a while."

"So what did she say?" I asked, trying to pry any information out of Vince.

"Who?"

"The doctor.. I mean, it can't be all that bad."

Vince sighed deeply and shortly after took a long breath, "Kit should be alright.. but I won't be seeing that doctor again. I think she's had enough of sorceresses to be honest."

"Well.. You can't blame her, can you? They have never left a good lasting impression." I pointed out, knowing full well that his reaction would put me in my place.

"I'm leaving." Vince raised and stormed off, coffee in hand.

"That's it? No outburst? That's not like you man.. You've changed."

But he didn't turn back.

Vincent's POV

I walked into Kit's dorm only to find her deep asleep, lost to the world of dreams. Not wanting to wake her, I took a seat silently and stared down at her form. So pale and fragile.. While she slept, she was defenseless.. the facade was gone.

A fit of coughs awoke her, her arms searched around randomly.. She was searching for someone.

Searching for me.

"I'm here.. I'm here." I gently placed her onto my lap and held her close, feeling her racing heart against my chest. "Why are you so perfect?" I shook my head and laughed out in shock, "Perfect? I don't think that's true." Kit raised her head closer to mine, her mouth only inches away from mine.

"It's true.. Every time I've needed you, you've been there. It's like something out of a story book.. You know, when things seem too good to be true, they usually are."

Kit rose, pushing herself off of her bed and walking over to the mirror. She glanced at herself for a moment, frowning deeply when the person in the mirror was hardly recognizable. "I look horrible.. How can you look at me?" She whispered suddenly, looking down at the ground. "You're perfect, you deserve better. How long will it take for you to see that?"

"Bullshit." I sighed, taking her small hands in mine. "Kit, I promise to be your knight. I won't leave your side, even when you want me to go away. No matter what you may think or even see when you look at yourself, you're perfect. I wouldn't change anything about you.."

"Well.. Maybe these.." I caressed the scars along her arms and gave her a gentle smile. "Those, I could do without."

Her face became flushed and she quickly shrugged her way out of my grip. "I'm sorry, you do know that. Right? The thoughts won't leave, they're with me everyday.. But thanks to you, I want to go on.. See all the things I haven't seen. Feel all the things I haven't felt."

"Just stay by me." She smiled slightly and linked my arm into hers. "So.. I'm going to talk to Squall today."

"That isn't necessary. You shouldn't-" Vince began.

"I didn't say that it was, did I? He's being an asshole." She pulled a cigarette from her pocket and grabbed a lighter off her bedroom desk. "He isn't doing his job."

I watched as she lit the end of her smoke, her pink lips circling the other end. "You smoke? That'll kill you."

An awkward silence filled the air as she walked over to the window, opened it and grasped her hands around the molding, leaning outside.

"Although I guess that doesn't bother you."

Still a silence.

"I'll be going soon." She blew the last bit of smoke out of her mouth, throwing the cigarette out the window.

"You'll be fine alone?" I wasn't convinced, something still didn't feel right.

She cringed a bit at this, visuably weakening. "Yes. I'll be alright."

She turned to leave, heading briskly towards the door. "Come to the secret area tonight at 9, if you want."

And she knew I would.

Kit's POV

I had been waiting in my fathers office for over half an hour until he finally poked his head through the door. I was petrified but had no where else to go.. I wasn't going to let him get away with this.

"What the hell do you want?" Squall sighed, taking a seat across from me.

"Why aren't you sending them on missions? There has to be something to do! Training, anything.." I stood up and smashed my fist onto his desk. "Why are you doing this? Haven't you done enough?"

"Don't raise your voice with me." He too rose from his seat, standing closer to me than I'd ever wanted. "I'm your father, damn it, and although I'm ashamed you had better respect me. Or hasn't Vince taught you that already?"

A hard punch across the face.

..I remember falling.

"I didn't come here for this!" I didn't want to cry, I tried my best to hold them back but..

"Why isn't he here? He couldn't prevented that, right? Or are you just becoming used to it?" I could almost see the venom attached to those words, falling out of his mouth. I've seen it before.

"I don't want Vince involved. He doesn't have to know.." The tears fell and once again I gave him what he wanted. I was never good at holding them back, eventually they'd come pouring out. There was nothing I could do..

He grabbed me by the arms and yanked me to stand, only throwing me to the wall afterwards.

I think I hit my head that day.. I remember blood.

I pushed myself away from the wall, running to attack him, screaming in anger. "This isn't fair!"

"Life isn't fair." He hit me again, this time causing me to black out. I remember being kicked twice before everything became too dark and blurry to see clearly anymore.

I awoke on the floor outside his office doors, I'm not sure how many hours later.

It felt like weeks.

Vincent's POV

It was just about time to meet up with Kit again and ask her how things went with Squall. I spent all day worrying, sleep was out of the question.

I grabbed my coat and headed for the training center, hoping to find Kit there.

And she was.

Her back was to me, long dark hair blowing in the wind and smoke fading from her lips.

She finally turned to me, the serene moonlight streaming across her face and body. And I noticed something familiar, similar to the first day that we met. The bruises and cuts were back, covering her face, neck and arms.

Only this time..

She smiled.

"He did this?" I stood at the entrance in shock, frozen still, fists clinched. "It was always him? I've been so fucking stupid.."

"He said there will be a mission in a week or so.. just to train until then. I took his advice and look at what happened! Those damn T-Rexors need to be kicked out of this place, they're far too dangerous. Someone could get killed.." She laughed a little, rubbing at her cheek. "Nothing that a good potion won't fix."

"You don't have to lie to me. You know that."

Silence, again.

"Who said anything about lying? What.. you mean, you think Squall did this? You're crazy." She seemed to force the words out, some trailed off and others were hardly audible.

"Kit, let's go." I reached for her hand, trying to lead her out of the balcony.

"Why? We came here to do something, didn't we? So let's.." She forced herself on me, pushing her body roughly against mine. Her lips were cold and rested everywhere, her tongue feverishly writhed against mine. Her hands tried to slide my jacket off but I hurridly forced them away, pushing them against her chest.

"What? Me first?" Kit fumbled with her shirt, forcing it off of her freezing body and then once again lunged at me, wrapping her legs around my waist. "Make me forget.."

"Stop, damn it!" I pushed her arms away from me, holding them away this time. She looked more upset than I'd ever seen her but I couldn't say if it was because of the abuse or the fact that I turned her down.

"You don't want me?" She pouted a little and forced her arms out of my grasp.

"Don't be ridiculous." I gently plopped her onto the ground again, reaching down for her shirt and then placed it back on her. "This won't make me forget."

I scooped her up into my arms and carried her out of the training center, back into my dorm room.

"We can talk when you're ready." I sighed, grabbing an ice pack from the freezer. "And I mean, talk."