Sorry for the wait. enjoy

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Vincent raised an eyebrow as the young woman in front of him stood paralysed with fear. The piercing scream had stopped and guards had been called to the infirmary.

At the moment, the small room was rather crowded and Vincent's own demon, Chaos was slowly getting pissed off. How long could the once great hero pacify the age old demon?

The young SeeD leader had been pulled out of his bed by Vincent and was currently being held hostage. The impressive Death Penalty nuzzle was resting near the brunette's temple.

Is this how I must live now? Like a common thug? Taking hostages and making threats on children's lives? he resisted the urge to push the child away in disgust.

His thoughts went briefly to Cid Highwind. The blonde had out right refused to kill the last group of young warriors that has the idea of saving the planet. Cid had been banished, along with his child to the cold. Sentenced to die as a mortal.

He cleared his mind, dragging up the past would do more harm than good. No one could change the past…yet here he was, trying to do exactly that.

The guards…barley older than Yuffie stood, shifting from foot to foot, trying to figure out the best plan of attack. If they failed, they all knew that they would witness the new painting of the walls with the brains of the now hostage Squall.

"I suggest you all step back or I'll do something you'll all regret," Vincent stated calmly, he held Squall a little tighter as he felt him squirm.

Squall's grey eyes focused on the gun, noticing intricate carvings of demons and angels battling down the side of the barrel. That gun was most definably one of a kind.

"Nice gun." Squall stated, "Make it yourself?"

Squall felt a snort of laughter down his neck, "No. you're remarkably calm about being held hostage."

"SeeD rule one, Don't piss in your pants when a gun is being pointed in your face," Squall answered, hoping somehow to distract the gun wielder into placing his guard down.

Vincent smiled, "Tell me, when exactly do you think I'm going to put my guard down long enough for those children to kick my ass?"

The SeeD leader closed his eyes as the gun was pressed against his head, his heart thundered in his chest. If the worst did happen, would he even hear the click? Would his life flash before his eyes?

The young woman finally found her voice and rather shakily spoke, "Look, whatever you want, you can have it. Just let him go."

Once again, Squall felt the warm breath down his neck. It rushed out in a tired sigh. The tightness of the grip loosened slightly but not enough to back an escape.

"What I want you cannot give," Vincent offered.

Can you redeem my friends? Can you undo the past and change the future so that we succeed? Vincent stared into the blue eyes of the girl.

"He's here to kill us," Squall managed, "So…ah…Quistis, could you call the guards off?"

The young woman looked like Squall had told her that he dressed up like a fairy and was going to grant her three wishes, "Squall?! Are you insane?"

Vincent's eyes shot to the blonde girl in front of him, did he say Quistis? As in Quistis Highwind? Surely not. The pilot would never be stupid enough to allow the girl to stay in the garden with that name. Not when Yuffie was one of the most powerful people in the Garden at the time.

"Highwind?" Vincent whispered, he felt Squall still at the mention of the name, trying to suss out what that name meant.

"Perhaps you can give me what I want after all child," Vincent pushed Squall forward, keeping a tight grip on him at the same time.

He kept the Death Penalty trained on the SeeD, "Quistis?"

The reply was spat out with all the hate she could muster, "What?"

"Come with me and the boy," he took a slow measured step towards her.

Instinctively, the young woman stepped back. Her hand went to her hip, readying to get her weapon.

"Please," Vincent rolled his eyes mentally, "Do you want Squall to live or not?"

Squall saw the battle in Quistis's eyes, knowing full well that she would do as his capture told. It was just waiting to see how long it would take her to do it.

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Nowhere but everywhere

Tifa Lockheart stood silently at the large crystal in front of her, a sad smile forming on her flawless features. She despised what she had become but, over the years, she had learned to live with it.

The room she stood in was cold, never heating no matter how hard they tried. It preserved the crystal perfectly, never allowing it to shatter or crack. It gave it an icy green colour.

She could and did stand in front of it for hours, allowing it to absorb her and take her away from what she had become. It allowed her to go home…back to where she belonged, back to who she used to be.

Unfortunately, it could do the opposite. It could show her what she was becoming, what she had done, those she had killed.

Try as they all might deny it, they were addicted to the crystal. They were possessive.

"Staring at that again Tifa?" Cloud's voice cut through the air.

Tears welled at the back of her throat, "I can't help it."

Cloud ignored the impulse to look at it, trying to avoid looking at his own reflection. He gazed into the dark eyes of his friend, seeing how much pain it caused her.

"It's making you tired and upset. You don't have to look at it," Cloud wrapped her in an embrace, trying to sooth away any doubts that had formed, "What we are doing is for the planet."

"It's hard," Tifa rested her head on his shoulder, "Cloud…just what if Cid was right? What if by doing this, we're making things worse?"

She felt him tense at the name, it wasn't like she had retold the story of Sephiroth and how he assassinated Aeris.

"We're not," he responded through clenched teeth, "We're doing this for the planet. If we don't then…well, we've been through this before. Bad things will happen."

"Like what?" Tifa pulled away from him, gazing into his always amazing blue eyes, "Cloud…killing adults is a whole lot different from taking the lives of children. Tell me why the hell we are doing this?! We saved the planet god knows how long ago!"

Cloud's eyes hardened, losing any trance of what little humanity he had. He turned away from her, the room suddenly becoming colder than what it should have been.

"…we didn't save it. How could we have? We allowed Jenova to destroy the planet," Cloud spat, "The only way we can save it is by changing the past and evening the playing fields. Killing those who create them."

She watched as Cloud stormed out of the icy cold room, thankful for the solitude he was giving her. Her hand rested barely centimetres away from the crystal, feeling the faint pulses it gave off.

An image started to appear in it's perfect form. She knew the place and time. She could even pick out the people in the scene. The day Cid had questioned Cloud in front of the group gathered, not once bothering to hold the disrespect from his voice.

Cid had been beaten a few hours short of that meeting and thrown out of the group for speaking his mind. Tifa had never been so ill in her life as she watched Cloud and Barret toss the near lifeless form of the pilot into the portal.

Vincent hadn't spoken to Cloud for the rest of the month, merely muttering unflattering terms and degrading the Strife family heritage. Now, the pair had a strenuous relationship, verbal assaults not uncommon.

A soft spoken voice broke through her thoughts and the image in the precious stone was lost.

"Tif? Ahhhh…Cloud says that it's time for the assault on that Garden thingy," Reeve's ever soft voice sounded apologetic, "You ready?"

"Reeve?" Tifa whispered in the same softness, "Do you think the planet can forgive us for killing these kids?"

A long silence entered before Reeve spoke, "The question is, Can we forgive ourselves? I know for a fact that I can't."