Disclaimer: we all know I don't own anything from FF7. No characters. No locations. No vehicles. No Chocobo.All I own is myself, and I'm not even sure about that one.

Oh well, at least this story's mine. See, I can see the silver lining to every Cloud... :-p

Sorry, couldn't help that one :-p

Don't upset the Lifestream... I want to share the fun too. Wait for meeeeeeeeeee!

Part 1: Yuki to Chi

North, where everything had started, and where everything had seemingly ended.

Pure white snow swirled about him, while the freezing wind blew his messy hair every which way. The Northern Crater lay just before him, shrouded, apparently inaccessible, a landmark that gave the impression that no one had trespassed upon its virgin snows for untold millennia…

Well, just as with most first impressions, that was not completely the truth. In fact, the Crater had been an abandoned area until recently, when AVALANCHE had come round to confront Sephiroth and put an end to his evil, and now him… and the helicopter hovering right ahead.

The Turks.

Vincent frowned. What were they doing here? What were they trying to do? If he remembered right, Shin-Ra had fallen, now that it was leaderless. So what was their business here?

So many questions rose in Vincent's mind, most of them finding no viable answers, except for two very interesting –and worrying- possibilities: Sephiroth… or JENOVA.

Just then, the helicopter started its decent in the heart of the Crater. The same instinct that had been pushing him on now urged him to go there, as quickly as possible, and Vincent ran up the snow-covered slope without asking himself why he was feeling such urgency.

He was already half-way up when he heard faint but distinct gunshots.

The voice in his head was screaming out in pure horror now, giving Vincent the distinct feeling that something terrible had just happened, apart from the obvious fact that some fighting was going on. Vincent briefly frowned, wondering where those impressions were coming from… to whom they belonged to. But not right now. Right now, there was something that he had to stop, a terrible thing that was not supposed to happen.

He jumped up to a rocky ledge, Cerberus at the ready, almost at the very top of the crater and was about to jump in and intervene when he heard voices crying out.

More gunshots, followed by a heavy silence. A faint motor noise could be heard, and Vincent hid himself behind an outcropping.

And then, the copter just rose from the Crater gracefully and presented its flank clearly to Vincent for a second before it went away in the mists surrounding the area. The Shin-Ra logo. So it was the Turks.

"Hnm"

Vincent followed its progression until it was entirely out of sight, then he jumped into the dark hole that was the Crater, flipping, bouncing and jumping from one narrow crumbling ledge to another, swiftly and silently.

He was a dark shadow moving among shadows, his pale face and dull gold armour pieces the only indications of his presence. His crimson cape, now tattered at the edges, flew out behind him, softly flapping with the rush of air as he descended further and further in the bowels of the site of JENOVA's arrival... almost like a pair of some kind of demonic wings.

Demon. That was probably what his real nature was. Vincent Valentine had long ago abandoned any illusion of still being a man. He had seen too much, sinned too much. But that is a story for another time.

Right now, he had to hide. His keen hearing had picked up the sound of people talking, and the conversation did not appear to be pleasant.

A handy outcropping –in fact, the only one near enough to the scene to be of any use- lent him the refuge he was seeking, and he crouched down in the darkness to eavesdrop.

"…eavesdropping, listening to a conversation not meant for my ears.. it seems that 'once a Turk, always a Turk' is true then, Veld…"

The piercing scream from a woman tore the air, followed by the deep voice of a man, jolted Vincent from his musings and he concentrated on the scene unfolding beneath him. Familiar voices. Tseng? Elena?

And a couple more, that he could not identify, male, one of them sounding quite young. The voices rose, followed by more screaming.

And then, everything clicked in Vincent's mind. The Turks were being tortured by the unknown men!

They seemed to want some kind of information from the Turks, but the latter seemed to be incapable of or unwilling to cooperate. By experience, Vincent knew that this was not going to work. His brow furrowed. Members of the Turks, or more officially, of the Investigation Division of the General Affairs Department, were trained to withstand interrogation sessions; the pain was nothing compared to the value of keeping the secrets of Shin-Ra safe. That rule went beyond professional pride; it was the reason of their very existence within the company.

But he could not go and save them. Not quite yet. The interrogators, in their excitement and frustration were letting drop some very interesting and crucial pieces of information. In a rather random way, true, but the more he listened, the more he understood.

The implications of what he was hearing were devastating… Vincent's mind whirled as he compiled all that he had gleaned. He was once again awoken from his thoughts by the sudden declaration of the young torturer's voice.

He was going to end it. Time to act then.

Taking the Cerberus from its holster, Vincent jumped from his hiding place, firing shots at the men holding the Turks captive. The three men yelled, momentarily taken by surprise by this crimson wraith appearing from nowhere.

Vincent softly landed next to the prostrate forms of the two Turks and silently sent thanks that there were only two of them. Sliding Cerberus back in its holster and lifting the unmoving bodies, he jumped up from whence he came, all in one swift motion, as his unknown opponents started to retaliate with firearms.

Vincent flew through the air, a blur of crimson, indistinguishable in form, higher and higher up. His three enemies were pursuing him, but they were just a bit too slow, a bit too late.

Soon, he was a safe distance away from them, the two forms in his arms barely breathing. Where to now?

And the voice whispered :

...Ajit...

Vincent headed south.

Author's Notes:

'Yuki to Chi' means Snow and Blood. The previous title for this chapter was 'North' but I think that this is more appropriate.