Title: Three SOLDIERs and a Lady

Author: CrisisChild

Summary: AU Angeal always considered himself to be quite responsible and honourable and his mettle is put to the test when an unexpected turn of events leaves him a father. And Genesis and Sephiroth as the unwitting uncles.

Rated: K+

Prompt: Original Crisis

Disclaimer: I do not own Crisis Core. Enough said.

Author's Note: Some of you wondered what would become of Persephone. While I can't say what would become of the Persephone in the main story, I can tell you what happens to her in the universe where every bad thing in the FFVII compilation happened, happens with her somewhere in it. This is a series and small bits and pieces that take place in the 89 Message special/Original Crisis universe. 89 Messages spans Crisis Core, the original game and all the way to Advent Children. The following ficlets are what happens a bit before the beginning of Advent Children and after Dirge of Cerberus. Warning, there's some major angst in the following ficlets. Please skip them continue with the main storyline.

Original Crisis

The Case of Marlene

Sometimes, not even Tifa had enough time for Marlene. And that meant hiring out a babysitter to keep an eye on her while the older woman worked for their bread and butter, which was silly, because Marlene was old enough to look after herself. After all, if the female brawler thought it wise to leave a four year old girl all alone to run a bar by herself, surely she could be just fine without a babysitter, right?

No matter what the small girl said, Tifa would have none of it. She explained that, back then, AVALANCH did not have the luxury of choice – that her father, Barret, had no choice, but to leave her behind as he ran off to save the world. Marlene had understood that he had important world saving work to do and still understood it now, so why couldn't she just stay in her room and play by herself? Or maybe she could help with the bar!

Things were not so simple, Tifa would say and Marlene was soon left alone with a stranger for a caretaker, who was, in fact, quite nice.

She was a teen from Kalm with very long black hair that Marlene envied. It was like a princess', all long and straight and pretty. She had a soft smile that reminded her of someone's, but Marlene had no idea whose. It was like something from a far-off dream.

"Hello, Marlene. I'm Persephone. It's very nice to meet you."

For a little while, Persephone took care of Marlene and when he came to live with everyone at Seventh Heaven, Denzel, too, when Cloud or Tifa couldn't. It was really nice, having her around, even if Marlene still insisted she was perfectly fine by herself.

But Persephone was very affectionate and nice and very helpful.

And also a little sad.

Marlene could see it in her shoulders – it was the same way Tifa looked when she was waiting for a call from Cloud or was worried about him, when he would suddenly go off without a word. He did that a lot more often now – it was hard to find him and even harder for Tifa to keep her head up high. Persephone was this way, too.

When she thought no one was looking, the older girl would glance outside her bedroom window or around the streets, as if expecting someone to call out for her. There was this quiet expression of disappointment that would display for a second, before it was covered up with a soft smile, aimed at Marlene. The little girl often wondered what those looks meant, but did not pry, because Tifa said that was rude.

But still, Marlene wondered about her sitter who she came to adore as an older sister.

An older sister who had no problems walking around rickety rafters trying to retrieve Marlene's stuffed chocobo back during one of their visits to Aerith's church. A sneaky scavenger monster had infiltrated the sanctuary and stole Marlene's doll and ran away with it. Persephone promised to get it back, going so far as to chase the offending monster all the way to the top of the church's ceiling. Dread filled the brown-haired girl's being as she watched her babysitter climb though a hole in the roof, still hot on the monster's trail. For a whole agonizing five minutes, Marlene wondered if something bad had happened.

What should she do? Should she call for help? Persephone had left her cell phone (a tattered, faded, old thing) with Marlene before rushing off to save the day, so Cloud or Tifa was one phone call away. But should she do it now? Later? Wait a bit more? Oh, just what was going on up there?

When the girl felt too anxious just doing nothing, she started to dial when the roof suddenly started falling down. Bits and pieces of old, rotted wood fell down in clumps as something large plummeted from the roof, screaming. Whatever it was had landed in the flowers, causing more than a few petals to fly up and scatter. With great alarm, Marlene realized it was Persephone who fell. Panic set in once more when it appeared that the older girl wasn't moving at all, after her fall.

Marlene actually shrieked with fright when Persephone groaned softly.

"Am I in heaven…?"

Regaining her composure, Marlene approached the dark-haired girl, kneeling next to her curled up form. "Not really. It's the flower lady's church, remember?"

Persephone nodded, and then regretted the action right away. She was seeing spots from moving her head, so the young woman decided that staying down was a good idea for the moment.

Though she was tired and obviously hurt, a chocobo doll was held up triumphantly towards Marlene as Persephone gave a weary smile.

"Here you go, angel. One chocobo."

All that trouble for a single toy. Why…?

As if sensing her thoughts, Persephone said, "A long time ago, my papa told me I should always have honour and pride in everything I did. And, well, pride's a very heavy burden to carry sometimes…but it's worth it."

Marlene didn't quite understand that those words meant, but she nodded anyways, clutching her stuffed chocobo close to herself. Her brown eyes were on Persephone, who still hadn't managed to get up yet and she could see, with practice ease, that look of distant sadness once more. Looking at her, then at the slightly mangled toy the older girl had saved; Marlene gently pressed the doll into Persephone's arms, making sure her arms were wrapped around it securely.

Persephone was puzzled by the gesture, but accepted the act of kindness, which would be the first of many in the future, between herself and her little charge.

One other time of note was when Marlene would adorn the older girl's hair with a flower plucked from the patch. She would always wear the bloom, which mysteriously kept fresh despite the passage of time. So resilient and strong, were Aerith's flowers.

The flowers underneath Persephone were resilient the day she fell through the roof, cushioning her fall enough that she only sprained her ankle and wrist. And the day that Denzel was cured of Geostigma, they had gone, leaving behind only a pool filled with the petals from the lost flowers; the flower lady's gift to everyone. However, the evidence of Persephone's descent was still clearly marked on the old roof of the old church. Perhaps, it had been starting point to everything that would go completely wrong for the young woman, who vanished from Marlene's life when she was no older than eight years old.

Short as the time they had spent together, Marlene had cherished that it, though she would not allow those memories to keep her down; but she would remember with great fondness, of the older sister she never had. That sad, sweet older girl who had a heavy weight on her shoulders…a weight that never seemed to go away, even when they met again, years later, on opposite sides of the battle field.

Sixteen years old, Marlene found the world was still a dangerous place with a threat by the name of Deepground. It was still a sad, lonely, dangerous place.

It was said that Commander Redfield had gone insane, burning down the village of Kalm in her madness. Not a single body had been found – everything had been burnt to nothing, but ashes. Marlene couldn't wrap her mind around why or how this could have happened. However it had and as she stood next to Denzel, across from Persephone she wondered for the umpteenth time, why such a kind person would do such a horrible thing.

Especially since, after all these years, Persephone's shoulders still looked like they held the weight of the world and the sadness didn't quite hide itself under the blank expression on her face.