The Valentines

Vincent's boots crunched the already shattered glass that littered Hojo's old lab. The single glass cylinder was where he and the others first met Nanaki, or Red as he was known then. The proud cat didn't even deign to give them his proper name at the time. He remember the fear on Cloud's face when he saw Aerith in the cage with the fierce looking lion. Really, how exactly were they supposed to mate? It was just another of the mad scientist's half baked ideas. Gast was a real genius. He would never had made all those suffer that Hojo did. Lucrecia and he may even have had a chance.

He shook his head vigorously. He needed to focus, now was not the time to reminisce. He had work to do. Vincent walked past the tank and headed through the nearest door. Following Greasy's instructions he and his crew made it to the deepest levels of labs. Most of the lights were busted, only a couple were flickering on. Two cells filled with scrawny, malnourished people and even a rather feral looking lion belonging to Nanaki's kind, could be seen in the dim light. Vincent went to the nearest cell first and aimed his gun at the lock.

"Please don't do that." Vincent faced the voice. A thin man with dark hair, dressed sharply, stepped from the dark and into the light. He removed his hands from his pockets to reveal two handguns. Dark shadows moved forward as several men positioned themselves around this new guy. "That cargos very precious to my boss."

"Whom do you work for?"

"That's really not important for you to know, seeing as how you'll soon be dead."

"Perhaps."

Vincent lunged at the man, who smiled and brought his guns up. The thin man shot at Vincent and moved to the right. Vincent ducked under and moved through the opposing men as they rushed his team, of which he'd only brought seven along. Vincent shot at Thin who dogged and rushed towards Vincent bringing them barely half an arms length apart.

Thin shot, but Vincent pushed Thin's gun aside with his own. A golden claw rushed at Thin's face and was blocked by the other handgun. Shots rang out as the two tried to get a good shot, but both were experts in their field and were able to dodge or use their guns to thwart the others aim. Bits of metal flew as bullets grazed the cells. One on Thin's men screamed out as a halo of bullets ripped through his back.

Vincent moved left and lashed out with Cerberus. Thin went to block. Vincent brought his claw around and crushed the handgun. Thin tried to bash Vincent in the head with the twisted metal. He managed to get a glancing blow, which temporarily dazed Vincent. Vincent moved back a little out of the way and brought his golden appendage up in front of his face for protection. Thin brought the twin gun around and fired again. The gun clicked but nothing happened. Thin cursed and backed away into the shadows. With a growl Vincent followed him into the darkness. He lashed out with his claw and struck the man in the face causing blood to splatter across Vincent's own. He reached out and grabbed the guy roughly by his collar while grabbing his remaining gun and tossing it away.

The Valentines quickly dispatched of the rest of Thin's men. Just as the last dropped to the ground, Vincent emerged with Thin in tow. He threw him to the ground. Just then one of the cell doors burst open. Orange fur streaked past. Thin let out a horrendous scream that quickly turned into a wet guttural gurgle. The huge cat from the one of the cells was latched to the man's throat. He shook his head and tore away. Blood clumped the fur around his mouth and dripped from his open maul.

He faced Vincent with dark eyes, "Thank you for the feast. I was quite hungry." Vincent turned away from the creature and aimed his gun at the second cage. He fired once and the lock exploded. Him and his men helped the people get out of the labs and escorted them to the nearest hospital, using a small amount from the case of gil to pay their expenses. Only the orange lion-like creature took off alone.

Bidding his team to return for the night, Vincent headed towards Upper Midgar. His cell began vibrating. He had a message waiting. He flipped the phone opened and listened to it. "Vincent Valentine. You should hurry to Seventh Heaven. There has been an incident." His brows knit together and he quickened his pace. When he rounded the corner on the correct street, a lithe form came running towards him. Vincent let the young ninja catch her breath before he asked her what was so urgent.

"Shelk…"

"The children are gone. Cid's been beat up. They have him in the hospital now."

"Who did this?"

"We don't know. Cid was unconscious."

"Where are Cloud and Tifa?"

"Cloud's at the hospital. Tifa is inside with Barret."

They walked inside where they could clearly hear Barret cussing and yelling. Vincent put his claw in front of his face blocking a glass and causing it to shatter. He brought his claw down. Tifa yelped, "Barret! Look what you did!" She grabbed a towel and pulled Vincent toward the sink. "There's blood all over your face."

Vincent brought his hand to his face, "This?" He pulled wet fingers away. "No, there was a…skirmish not long ago. I have not had a chance to clean up yet."

She made a face as she wiped at the blood. "Vincent, what you do…It's not safe. Those are bad people you go against. One day, you might not be fast enough."

"Tifa, I have good people watching my back."

"Do you? They're dangerous people too, what if they turn on you."

He pulled away and growled out, "We're family Tifa. After all we've gone through as a group, I had hoped you all would understand what its like, what happens when you've faced death together." He turned away. Tifa went to put her hand on his shoulder, but let it drop. "I wonder how Cid is doing?"

"Who cares?" Barrett made a fist, "He should be sufferin' for not protecting Marlene."

Yuffie and Tifa both reprimanded him, but it was Vincents comment that sent him into a bigger rage. "As I recall, you couldn't protect her either."

He stomped angrily, "WHAT!!" More stomping and swearing.

Tifa waved her arms dramatically, "Please! Calm down. Vincent, that was mean. You know we had to do what we were doing. We did our best, its not Barrett's fault what happened."

Vincent huffed, clearly thinking differently. None of those people would have been hurt if they hadn't been bull-headed. "I'm going to see Cid." He swung his cape around and walked heavily out the door.

-VV-

Vincent stepped quietly into Cid's room. Cloud was reclining in a chair. He looked up as Vincent entered. They nodded and Vincent leaned against a corner, arms crossed. An hour or so later Cid began to stir. He opened his non-bandaged eye and looked around. Cuss words stumbled from his mouth. Vincent began to get déjà vu.

"The Cloud? The brats?"

"They're gone."

"#&$ man, I'm sorry, I should have tried harder."

"Its not your fault."

"$!right, it's Vin's."

Both their eye's widened and they looked at each other. Vincent's stomach dropped. "Highwind, what do you mean?"

"While those little…coulda sworn one of them said something bought teachin' you Valentines to mind your own shit."

Vincent scowled. "The Giant? Cargo maybe?"

Cloud narrowed his eyes, "What cargo?"

Vincent pushed away from the wall and started for the door, "I have to go." Cloud tried to follow. "No, I have to stop this now. Be careful, I don't know what will happen." He left quickly.

Cid grumbled, "Always thought he was in over his head. Now the crazy loon's gone and dragged us into this mess with him."

"I hope he's careful."

"Yah, me too."

-VV-

Fixed version of chapter four.