Chapter 5: - The Devil's feather.

Vincent kneeled next to the alpha wolf and held her limp body in his arms. 32 years ago, he could remember Lucrecia dying in her arms and his helplessness to stop it. History was repeating itself. The alpha wolf could see his sorrow and licked his face. They didn't need words to understand each other, a bond that not many had. Vincent ran his hand through her soft fur, his throat tightening. Their time together was short and cruel reality was already tearing him away from another he cared for. And the same feeling of helplessness conquered him as the scarlet eyes of the alpha wolf slowly closed. She gathered the remnants of her strength to lift up her head and nuzzle him against his cheek. Then she was gone. Silent tears fell from Vincent's eyes, dropping onto the alpha wolf's dark fur. He gently laid her body on the ground and began to leave the scene. Tifa started to go after him but Cloud stopped her.

"I thought those wolves could help heal his past. But now…" Cloud whispered sadly to Tifa. They watched him walk away from them, picking up his war-torn cloak on the way. But as he lifted it up, a dark-grey wolf cub, the first one he had seen, hobbled out of the bushes it had been thrown in. it was limping due to a broken leg and yelped to gain Vincent's attention. He saw its broken leg but kept on walking. Cloud was about to protest but when he saw Vincent return with two pieces of bark and a piece of vine, he realised Vincent's intentions. Vincent laid the cub on its side and sandwiched the broken leg between the two pieces of bark, holding them together with the vine. He checked to see that it was firm before wrapping the cub snugly in his cloak. Holding the bundle against his chest he began to leave again.

"Vincent." Cloud called. Vincent stopped but did not turn.

"Will you come back to Avalanche again?" Cloud asked. Vincent thought. What would be the point? Avalanche wanted him dead, he was a fugitive. There was no point in continuing Avalanche anyway, ShinRa was no longer killing the planet, meteor had been destroyed a long time ago and Sephiroth stopped twice.

"I can't. Not even if I wanted to." Vincent answered coldly.

"But…"

"Do not follow me this time." And with that, he left. Cloud and Tifa remained where they were. They knew Vincent was now in more pain than when all this started. Life seemed to play an endless game of torture with him. And yet he still managed to live it out.

"He's stronger than anyone I've ever met." Tifa said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah." Cloud replied.

"You think we'll see him again?"

"I don't know?"

As they also turned to leave Cloud saw the Cerberus lying discarded on the ground.

"That's a good excuse to follow him!" He said hopefully, picking it up and throwing it in his bag, "Come on!"

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The wolf cub nestled deeper into the soft fabric of Vincent's cloak. It knew it would never see its mother again but it also knew that Vincent would be there to protect it. Vincent stared out to a warm sunset. So much had happened in just a couple of days. It almost seemed impossible to have ever happened.

"There he is!"

Vincent had been cruelly thrown out of his thoughts by a sharp stabbing pain in his stomach, thrown at such force that it pinned him against a tree. The wolf cub had flown out of his hands and landed tangled inside Vincent's cloak.

"Ya' got 'im, Cid!" Barret said as he, Cid, Yuffie, Reeve and Nanaki appeared in front of him. Vincent gripped the spear, now pierced in through his flesh, with a shaky hand. But with how weak he was right now, pulling it out was an impossible task.

"Not so tough now are ya', traitor!" Cid mocked, pushing the spear further, making Vincent wince.

"Does he really deserve to die?" Reeve asked, concern showing on his face. Cid ignored him and gave the spear a sharp jerk, smirking at Vincent's cries of pain. His fate didn't look good.

"Hey! What's that?" Yuffie asked, pointing to the moving lump that was Vincent's cloak. They all stared at it, completely stunned by the fact that a lifeless piece of ruggered cloth was moving.

"No! Stay in there! They'll kill you too!" Vincent thought but much to his dismay the wolf cub shot out of the cloak and latched onto Cid's leg. Cid yelped in surprise and tried to shake off the cub gone mad. Vincent tried again and again to pull out Cid's spear but it was thrusted too far into his gut and the very last remnants of his strength were disappearing.

"Come on Valentine, don't tell me your getting sloppy." Vincent heard Chaos's mocking voice in his mind, "You're too weak! Let me kill them."

"No! I don't need your help!" Vincent hissed at the demon.

"But look at what they're doing to your precious cub." Chaos said in a cutesy mocking voice. Vincent removed his gaze from the spear and placed it upon Cid. Barret was roughly pulling on its hind legs to pry it off Cid's leg. It finally let go but bit into Barret's arm instead.

"Stupid !&$in' thing! GET OFF!"" Barret yelled, shaking his arm furiously. The cub couldn't hold on anymore and flung off Barret's arm, sending it flying through air. It landed in the arms of a certain spiky headed man, who glared menacingly at Cid and Barret. Tifa gasped when she saw Vincent and immediately ran to help him, only to be held back by Yuffie. Vincent strength had completely disintegrated and his body could only flop forwards, unable to fall to the ground from being pinned to a tree.

"All right Chaos…you win…but don't kill anyone, just get the cub as far away as you can." Vincent spoke in his head.

"Awww, you ruin all the fun." Chaos pouted. Cloud, who had forced his way through Avalanche, was next to Vincent and was pulling out Cid's spear. Vincent fell to the ground when it was out. Cloud turned to face Avalanche and began shouting at them and telling them off. He didn't notice a pair of blood red wings sprout from Vincent's back and cover his body. He didn't notice when Vincent's form began to change and his wounds heal. He also didn't notice when a demonic black figure raised from the ground. It was only when Reeve had stopped Cloud's lecture and pointed behind him did he notice Chaos was looming over them.

"Oooooooooh……………crap!" Cloud said, dropping Cid's spear.

"GRAAAAAAGHH!" Chaos roared, flexing his wings high above his head. He snatched the wolf cub from Cloud and grabbed Vincent's cloak (knowing he'd never her the end of it if he didn't). Barret shoved Cloud out of the way and stated shooting at Chaos but the bullets bounced harmlessly off his thick leathery wings that shielded him. Taking her chance for some action, Yuffie threw her shuriken at chaos but he caught it and threw it back at her. She narrowly avoided it as it flew past her head and stuck into the tree behind her. Reeve pulled it out and tossed it harmlessly to her.

"Wait! Stop! Don't hurt him!"" Cloud begged but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Cid thrusted his spear into his gut again, this time twisting it painfully, making Chaos roar. But Chaos had more strength then Vincent did when he was stabbed and was easily able to rip it out and throw it aside along with Cid. He flexed his blood red wings once more and rose into the air. Yuffie took one last chance to throw her shuriken and succeeded in piercing it into Chaos's chest. But much to her horror, he took off with it still in his flesh.

"OI! GIVE THAT BACK, THEIF!" Yuffie demanded.

"Look who's talking." Cid mumbled to Barret, remembering how she tried to steal all of their materia.

Cloud glared at hem angrily, "You bastards!"

Avalanche was shocked.

"Cloud…?" Barret asked, "What's wr-"

"SHUT UP! Go back to the Sierra and start it immediately!"

"But Cloud…" Yuffie squeaked.

"I said SHUT UP!"

Avalanche scuttled back to the Sierra without saying a word. Except for Tifa who was trying to calm Cloud down.