I leave the room to escape the suffocating atmosphere of Reeve's sorrow. Such a sensitive guy. Pulling the folder out from my shirt, I open it back up, sitting back against the wall. Where was I...? I flip to the page I was almost to on in the van.

November 27, 1987

Today is the first day of the subject's testing. And to think she volunteered in place of my own wife! My sister in law never was a smart one. Today we'll just give her a taste of the testing I have planned. I wish only to see how much it is possible to strengthen a human before they die from over exposure to the elements used for power boosting. Maybe she will regret her decision, but that is not my problem. We shall see how it all goes.

I frown at the scrawled handwriting, obviously Hojo's. Don't care about this stuff in the beginning. How about... There?

May 3, 1988

Today the subject resisted my shock. Impressive, for the states she's in. Sadly, reviving her constantly is getting quite expensive. I have tried my water and lightning methods on Valentine, but nothing seems to affect him now that he's dead... Too bad. The subject seems extremely resilient since the mako purging treatment and has fought back on more than one occasion now. I don't think she can remember her son since the memory scramble, though all of the others have returned. The president has refused the Deepground treatment in my subjects, but it's a secret organization down here, isn't it? It's only for the experiment. I say it shall be done!

June 1, 1988

The treatment worked! I can't believe it! The subject is five times as strong as the average human, though still extremely thin. If she would eat, my results and date might be more accurate... No matter. Today, I caught Dr. Crescent injecting Valentine with the Chaos gene to preserve his life. I always knew she had that experimenter in her! Now, not only will the man live forever, he will live forever with the misery of four demons speaking in his head and once and taking over his body- genius! I wonder... There's a legend of a demon named Shadow in the depths of Hell, her power so immense that she's stronger than Satan himself. I'll just need a control group for the experiment and then... I have it! I'll have to make a separate section for the demon I plan bless Miss Violet with.

I look to the right to see a tab with Shadow scrawled on the paper. Hesitantly, I flip over to the page, reading the story with sudden interest.

The Legend of Shadow

There was once a girl from a town named Luck Stop who was abused horribly by her father and his friends. She'd lock herself away in her room when he invited them over just to avoid getting hurt. Afterwards, her father would drunkenly beat her until she hid away. That girl's name was Alicia.

Alicia had had enough one day and performed a Satanic ritual called the Black Sacrament that required several items to perform: a human skeleton, human flesh, a puddle of blood, a human heart, a Bible, a knife, and a special poem recited to summon the devil, all taking place in a circle of lit candles. The girl got the materials somehow and locked her door, sitting in the circle and lighting every candle carefully. Then she laid out the items carefully and performed the Black Sacrament as well as she remembered how to do through books.

"Sweet Father, sweet Father, send your power unto me, for the sins if the unworthy can only be punished through your demonic greatness. Bless me through the blood of my enemies and grant me the strength of your soul. Your child pleads for freedom from this world; take me as your own and release me of this burden."

She said that more than a dozen times, stabbing the heart as she was supposed to, until the room filled with pitch black smoke and the candles blew out. Her bedroom glowed red as the devil himself stood there, no horns or pitchfork or tail. Just a tall man in black, sharp armor of obsidian, highlighted by streaks of red hot volcanic rock. His skin was ashen gray, red paint highlighting across his forehead and his face, drawing a pattern she didn't quite understand.

"You summoned me?" Alicia nodded in response to the extremely deep, powerful voice. "Where is your sacrifice?"

"Sacrifice?"

"How dare you summon me without an offering! Who do you think I am, the baker?!"

"Sir," she begged. "I swear to be your servant for life if you could just be rid of the nuisances in my life. My father, he beats me. His friends and cousins, they all do too. They pretend I am their maid and slave. They tried to kill me just last week. Please."

"My child," Satan smirked, laying armored hand her head. "Killing is my own pleasure. You will not be my servant, but for freeing me, I will grant you the and strength of the underworld. You will be raised as my daughter. Loss of life will no longer be a problem for you."

"Thank you," Alicia smiled. The Devil opened her bedroom window and climbed onto the roof, pulling the girl up with him. He then summoned the flames of Hell to burn the town, people screaming and yelling for mercy, for their families, and for their friends. Neither the demon nor the girl moved to help them.

Years later, Alicia was no longer the Alicia humans once knew. She was the Princess of the Underworld, the daughter of Satan himself. But she no longer craved to be spoiled by her adopted father. She had been storing all her power for this, and she did not wish to remain a princess for all eternity. She had been raised to kill, taught that murder got you what you wanted. She tried to kill him, tried to take the title of Queen, only to be defeated by hidden power her father had. She ran, stealing the strength and magic of the kingdom as she fled her father's wrath. The demons soon became to know her as Shadow. She used the power she had absorbed to upgrade her strength, living in hiding for centuries.

The sound of footsteps breaks me away from reading, my hands quickly tucking the folder away and grabbing my machine gun. I hurry toward the sound of the steps, nearly crashing into the person before pressing the barrel's end to their temple, their sword tip deftly pushing on my throat. I glare into their blue eyes, a silent challenge. Then my heart stops, theirs too, I think. He's the first to drop his weapon, stepping back and I set mine down carefully afterward.

"... You're dead," we say at the same time. The man exhales shakily and pushes his hair back out of his face with his thick arms, scarred skin unfamiliar yet familiar at the same time. There's no way... I'm going crazy.

No, you're not.

"Why... How?!" I demand. He just stares at the floor with a shocked look, eyes moving all over as he tries to sort his thoughts. "You were dead, Hojo killed you!"

"No," he shakes his head, arm dropping down beside his brown clothing, so close to the Deepground uniform, only not. "I... I faked the whole thing."

"What?" My voice is barely over a whisper now. He sighs and scratches the back of his neck.

"Yeah. I was too scared to tell you what kind of crap I'd been getting into, so I called up Hojo and... Gods, I'm sorry, Vi."

"But I..." My head suddenly throbs, my vision wavering with that familiar dark light surrounding me. No..

Let me shred him to bits!

Shadow, please!

She breaks through so easily, it scares me. I don't have any control... Rosso took the... Oh no. Shadow smirks as the man backs off, summoning Nightmare.

"Violet..?"

Get down!

What?

I use nearly every ounce of energy trapping her back inside, gasping for air from all fours.

"What... What was that?" He asks hesitantly.

"Hojo," I spit the name like poison. "I... It's a long story."

"He told me... That you'd killed yourself," he frowns, shoving his blade into his sheathe. "Oh #&%- it!" He pulls me into his body, my hands tightly bring him closer. He's alive... David, you survived? "The past thirty six years have been terrible without you," he murmurs by my ear, his six foot three height towering over me. Suddenly, I hear a click and yank back, turning quickly to see Vincent with his gun aimed at us.

"Vincent, relax, it's just..."

"Harper..?" Vincent blinks, stunned. David grins.

"Hello to you too, Vincent Valentine. Geeze, you guys both look undead."

"That's not entirely inaccurate..." I grimace. David looks down at me with his head tilted.

"That's cool, I guess. My fiance's a zombie, no biggie!" I send a quick glance to Vincent, who's eyes narrow slightly at David's words. Crap.

"Um... David?"

"Cmon, I can take you back to Deepground, you can meet Weiss, and then you could.." Vincent steps forward, pulling me back by my forearm, Cerberus aimed at David.

"We work for the WRO," his deep voice says calmly. David's excitement drops.

"What?" His piercing blue eyes shift to me. "Violet?"

"Sorry," I mumble, looking down at my boots. "Wait, Azul... He said something about Lionheart. Is that..?"

"Me? Yeah," he nods with a sigh. "I didn't think you'd actually... I don't... Gah!" He throws his hands in the air. "I can't talk."

"... Vincent? Do you think you could, uh.." Vincent scowls at me and holsters his gun.

"I'm not leaving you with him."

"Why? You think I'm going to Deepground? I'm not, don't worry."

"Well then it shouldn't matter, should it?"

"You suck," I roll my eyes. "Look, David, we aren't... I can't... Why are you with them?" Why can't I just tell him?

"It wasn't a bad organization at first," he sighs. "We just wanted stronger SOLDIER recruits for the war. Then Hojo got more control, and nothing turned out... Great. There weren't so many soldiers until three years ago, when the experiments started to pick up." He looks up at me, eyes showing his true age despite his body still being twenty five. "Violet, he used to come down just to tell me how he was torturing you and what he was doing... I couldn't take it anymore and told him just to kill you, I would take your place."

"So that's why he let me go all of a sudden," I piece it together, arms crossing loosely. He nods and turns around to study the destruction his group caused. My heart skips a beat. He took what was in store for me.. "You let him..?"

"Yeah. Let me tell you, I can't believe you survived that crap." He turns back to look at us. His eyes move over to Vincent. "You been taking care of her?" Vincent glances at me before looking at him and shrugging slightly.

"Of course you have," I elbow him. Then I add, "Sorta."

"That's better than nothing," David gives a weak chuckle and ruffles my hair gently.

"Wait, so are you a Tsviet?" I tilt my head. He nods.

"Yeah, but the most normal one. Azul's a giant beast or something, Rosso can practically teleport, not to mention her fangs and claws, Shelke can get into virtual realities and absorb other people's memories. Then there's Nero and his brother Weiss..." He shudders, the movement barely visible. "I really shouldn't be telling you any of this, they'll target you..."

"They already are," Vincent crosses his arms.

"What?" He frowns. Then his blue eyes widen. "Wait... The Protomateria and the Pure Soul... You two have them?"

"Apparently we had them," I roll my eyes. "Of course, neither of us knew until Rosso clawed our chests open."

"But.." David frowns, hands tugging at his brunette hair again. "That means... Where's Shelke?"

"Lionheart," comes the girl's monotone voice. David swivels around quickly, a relieved smile lighting up his features. "You don't have to worry about me so much."

"Of course I do," he laughs, stepping toward her. She suddenly draws her lightsaber things, eyes flashing orange.

"Weiss ordered my termination. You're here to kill me, aren't you?" David doesn't answer, just sighs and looks down at his boots. "What Weiss wants, you must do. Is that correct?"

"Yeah, but..." She suddenly runs at him, weapons slashing. His sword is out, blocking the blows, body moving to flip out of the way of her attacks with speed and strength I never saw him possess before. But never once does he make move to hurt her. Vincent's hand moves to Cerberus, but I grab his arm and pull it back, shaking my head when he looks at me. "Shelke, what are you doing?" He demands as she swings around to slash at him.

"I must live out my life for my sister," she replies blandly, annoyed by his quick blocking.

"I'm not going to kill you," he pants out after ducking under a swing and rolling to his feet. Hooooooot... Wait, what am I saying?!

"What?" Shelke stops.

"I'm not gonna kill you," he sheathes his sword. "It wouldn't be right."

"But Weiss will kill you when you get back."

"I'm not going back."

"Huh?" I frown. He turns around to look at me.

"Shelke knows I've been wanting to leave forever. There was never a chance without danger of me or her dying. Too many innocent people dying, too many bad things I've done.." He shakes his head. "I need something besides murder and mako to keep me alive."

"So you're joining us," Vincent states deeply. David exhales heavily.

"I... Don't know. It's not that I don't want to, it's that I don't want Weiss to get pissed off and try to bomb the WRO or something."

"He is much too calm and wise," Shelke puts her weapon away. "He would not..."

"Vincent, Violet! You guys better get out here!" Yuffie's voice echoes over the intercom.

"Who's that?" David frowns.

"An ally from Avalanche," I respond quickly, tugging on Vincent's arm to make him come with me. David looks at Shelke, and she follows, the man not far behind. We get outside, on top of a roof. Yuffie and Reeve are standing there, the ninja girl waving her arms over her head.

"Cid! Hey! Over here!" The Shera swigs around a mountain quickly and slowly starts dropping. "Wow!" Yuffie gushes, the wind pulling at everyone's clothing and hair. "Cmon guys!" She slowly starts climbing on. Vincent looks at Shelke and she nods, hurrying after him. I glance at David and see his hesitation. I don't blame him. He's got to leave the world he knew behind forever and face nearly certain death, or stay and be the enemy to his (ex) fiancé and past friend. I suddenly remember something.

"David, Josh is up there waiting to see you. Cid gave him a job on that ship."

"Our Josh?" He eyes light up. "He's gotta be in his mid thirties by now!"

"He is," I laugh, pulling him behind me. Once on board, he looks around in pure amazement. I drag him to the cockpit, where Cid abandons the wheel and steps forward to greet us.

"Hey! Vin and Vi! Long time!"

"Captain!"

"Oh! Sorry 'bout that! As much as I'd like to sit down and reminisce about old times, you'll have to take a rain check. Why don't you have a look around my bird and see what you think?"

"Sure thing, old man," I salute and he narrows his eyes at me playfully.

"Watch it kid!"

"Still older than you!" I call over my shoulder as I hop down the main controllers, easily picking out my grown child. "Josh!" He turns around and smiles, waving.

"Hey Mom. See you finally came to visit." David suddenly stops walking, just studying the guy with his bright eyes. "Want me to show you what Cid's done with this thing?"

"Why not?" I shrug, accepting his hug.

"Back to work, Joshua!" Cid yells.

"Don't hurt the family reunion!" I shout back at him. The pilot laughs and goes back to... Piloting. "But first, I'd like you to meet this guy that you don't remember."

"What the..?" Josh stops, looking David. Geeze, it's like someone put in mirror in front of them... "Who... Are you like my brother or something?"

"He's you're father," I whisper.

"Hey," David gives him a weak smile. Joshua's eyes light up and he hugs his father tightly.

"You're supposed to be dead!"

"I know."

I smile at them as they rapidly catch up, talking a million miles an hour to each other. Cid raises and eyebrow at me when I turn around and my legs carry me back toward the captain.

"That's David."

"... The guy who's supposed to be dead? Yer fiancé or whatever?"

"Yeah," I nod. He frowns.

"What about Vince?"

"What about him?"

"You're not gonna leave him, are you?"

"No," I sigh. "I'm not. I just don't know how to tell Dave. Besides, I still don't know if Vincent even wants this."

"Hm," he hums, watching the two men talk. "Well, give him 'til his third day and after that, move on, I guess. His loss."

"Part of me doesn't want to," I huff, wishing things hadn't gotten so complicated all of a sudden. "But then Josh is going to expect us to be together or something and Vincent..."

"Vi, Josh ain't a kid. He knows what's goin' on, he's a smart guy. Just make up your mind and go with it."

"Since when do you care," I yawn, knocking my shoulder into his. Well, almost. He's still short. He rolls his eyes and grins.

"Y'all are like my bunch a kids, I gotta make sure the boys don't hurt ya."

"Aw, thanks Papa Cid," I tease. He huffs and turns the ship the slightest bit.

"I set myself up for that one, but don't go thinkin' I don't mind."

"Aw, I thought you loved your new name," I smile. His glare is enough for me to finally back off, me wandering around to explore the ship.

"Miss Crescent!" Someone calls. I turn to see a familiar face on board and wave. It's Williams (I never learned his first name), the chubby guy who was always in the board room and showed me and Vincent to our quarters on the Highwind. "Would you like a tour of the ship?"

"No thanks," I shake my head. "But do you know where Vincent went?"

"Mr. Valentine went through here just a few minutes ago," he points to an automatic door just a couple feet away.

"Thanks," I nod, hurrying to catch up to him. It's almost the end of the third day... The halls never seem to end, staircases leading up to the higher part of the Shera where several WRO members are working and keeping watch. Around another corner I go and see that familiar red and cape and long black hair. "Vince!" I huff. He looks behind him at me boredly before turning back around to look out the window again. "I was looking all over for you."

"Shouldn't you be with Harper?" I frown and step up to his side, watching the sun get lower on the horizon, a bright orange ball of fire and energy.

"Why would I?"

"He is your fiancé," he says back, voice calm but a hint of bitterness is still there.

"Vincent, you know I let him go years ago. He's... Not my fiancé anymore. I gave him up for something better." He shakes his head.

"A human would be better for you than anything."

"But a demon would be no good for him."

"True." His crimson eyes seem to glow in the sunset, a golden light cast across his face. When his eyelids slide down, content in the warmth of the sun, the shadows from his lashes stretch down his pale cheeks. I tear my eyes away and take a deep breath, my heart suddenly pounding. I can't do this anymore... My teeth dig into the side of my cheek. David or Vincent? Does he honestly think I have to choose? But he's still with Lucrecia in his head... He loves her, not me. Right?

Are you alright?

I shake my head, stepping back slowly, backing away from the man accidentally fell for. My life's a train wreck, all because of him? No... It's not his fault. It's mine. It has to be. His eyes open when he hears my footsteps moving backward, away from him. His head turns, a frown upon his lips, confusion obvious in his features. I can't breathe. I don't know when I started running, desperate to get away from the dangerous being I could harm even more, who could hurt me back just as easily.

Calm down for just a moment and...

I can't.

A hand around my arm stops me, my limbs instantly trying to rip away from the restraining hold. Both of my arms are quickly held in his gloved hands, head moving down and trying to make eye contact.

"Let go." I whisper. The only things I want to do are run and scream as long and loud as possible. It hurts too much to stay still and silent.

"Are you alright?" Vincent asks, ignoring my demand. Suddenly, I seem to find the strength Rufus Shinra spoke of, the power Rosso teased me about. I wretch my arms free, one powerful kick sending him into the wall farther away and me stumbling back into the wall next to me, my back colliding with the solid metal and sliding down until I'm sitting, face buried in my knees as I shakily try to catch my breath. I still can't.

I don't get these attacks because I'm scared to die or of getting hurt. I get them because of him, because I'm scared of being alone again, only wishing for human contact, even if they're hurting me. I'm scared that if I tell him he'll avoid me for the rest of time because I know he doesn't feel the same. I don't want Shadow to lose it and kill him. I don't want to say the bitter things I do about my sister and chase him off. I feel like I'm underwater, trying so hard not to drown. I don't know what David will say, even though I'd dreamed of what he'd say or do if he'd been 'there' and 'that' time. I know that if I told them both how I really felt, I'd be alone again, wishing I had the strength to put that gun to my head again.

I hear a shuffle and a swish, footsteps coming close to me again. I can feel him crouched by my side, unaware of why I'm breaking down like this. I was always the stronger one, refusing to let anything daunt me and responding only with anger, mainly through my short fuse. I never looked back or regretted anything, I didn't blame myself or shut people out.

When you get down to my center, I'm a big ball of emotions that have been stuffed down for decades because I was so focused on being strong, on being someone people could rely on all the time. It isn't healthy, it's like a time bomb, bound to blow up any minute. Right now that ball is bursting at the seams, trying to keep it all down so he doesn't have to see me this way, but I don't have anymore strength to hold up my walls. I don't know how much longer I can hide this...

I think I'm beginning to calm down when Vincent makes an unexpected move and holds me gently against him, arms firmly wrapped around me. I tense up, struggling to fight everything away at once.

You need to stop trying to be some awesome person and just be yourself. They'll be here for you. At least you have that. I never did.

I thought you didn't want me to kn...

You already do, it doesn't matter anymore. Your silly emotional pain is burning my toes.

"Relax," he murmurs, and I do, letting my head drop against his warm chest, my hands resting against leather clothing. I can feel them crumbling and falling, walls melting to their deaths as tears that have been held back for too long spill over. One of his hands rubs some circular pattern in my back, the other gently holding my head to keep me there. I don't get it. Gods, he probably thinks I'm one of those girls now.

"Sorry," I sniff, trying to draw back. He shakes his head and pushes me back down.

"There is nothing to apologize for. You have done nothing wrong."

"I got your shirt all wet," I force a small laugh, pushing past his hand to wipe the wetness away from the leather. He sighs and pushes my hand off his shirt, brushing the tears from my cheeks.

"I don't mind," he shakes his head, his voice careful. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," I nod. He frowns.

"Did Shadow do something then?"

"No, I... It's stupid. Don't worry about it." He hums and kisses my forehead gently, lips skimming over the skin. His blood red eyes lock on mine, studying my warming face.

"You're beautiful," he mumbles, me blinking at his random words. He himself seems to be embarrassed that he let the words slip, face growing red. I smile and lay my ear over his heart.

"Vincent, I..." My voice stops. I can't. After a moment of silence, he speaks.

"You what?"

"Nevermind," I peck his cheek. "It's nothing."

MORE DRAMA... WHAT CAN I SAY, VIOLET IS THE DRAMA QUEEN. IT'S NICE TO HAVE A LITTLE BREAK FROM THE DIRGE OF CERBERUS LINE FOR JUST ONE CHAPTER. OBVIOUSLY SOME OF IT WAS PART OF THE GAME THOUGH... OH WELL.

PAPA CID, OUT!