Digging up the Past

I really didn't like Edge right now. It was raining heavily and it was completely empty which was unnerving. I seen no sign of Christie or Cloud and no WRO troops... no sign of anyone in fact.

I realised I had walked some distance away form where I left Vincent and turned back, thinking he might have went off in some other direction. When I traced to where I was I found Vincent with a red haired woman in a lab coat. She looked at me and smiled a bit as she recognised me.

"Nice to see you Angevale," Shalua greeted. I nodded politely to her.

"Did Reeve send you here?" I asked. Shalua's smile faded and she shook her head.

"I'm on other business. I haven't found anyone or anything here," She stated, looking around the raining city. "The Commissioner did say that WRO troops were evacuating citizens but I've not seen any," Sighing she looked at me. "I suppose you two have been sent to help?"

"We were to help the WRO forces push back Deepground soldiers," I informed her. Shalua nodded slowly at my reply.

"I'll leave you to it then, I must deal with my own business," She told us, starting to walk away. "I'll see you two around." As she walked away she stopped to turn around at the sound of Vincent.

"Business?"

"The Commissioner tells me I'm wasting my time searching," Shalua said with a half-hearted laugh, sadness in her right eye. I remember when she was in the infirmary the day she lost her left eye. "In fact he's said that to not only me, but you and Nevina as well," That comment was directed at me. I found myself always ignoring Reeve when he said things like that. "Is she alright?" Nevina and Shalua had become good friends ever since Nevina joined after the Geostigma crisis.

"She's with Reeve heading back to Headquarters," I told her.

"What are you searching for?" Vincent asked curiously. Shalua looked down, a frown on her face.

"For my... reason to live," She was gone after that, walking away and leaving Vincent and I alone in the rain. I heard my phone ringing andanswered it, again not checking the ID.

"Hello?"

"Yo Angie, you alright?" Curiously enough it was Reno. I had no idea why he was but I suppose it was about Christie.

"I'm fine, what's going on? Are you and Christie alright?" I asked, turning away from Vincent as I spoke.

"Yeah we're fine. Listen, when Chris was evacuating people from Edge she went to the warehouses and she was attacked by someone called Rosso the Crimson," That title was similar to the one Reeve gave to Azul. Was Rosso a Tsviet? "She might still be there and Chris wanted to tell you but there's no waking her up right now. Just be careful if you go there, okay?"

"I'll be fine, and we'll keep an eye out for any trouble," I said, ready to hang up.

"Hey hey wait!" I jumped a little at his exclaimed plead for me to hang up. "Chris said that Rosso was looking for you and Vincent. Something about a Protomateria." Protomateria? That was the thing that girl in Kalm wanted from us. What was it?

"We'll be careful Reno, you and Christie take care and tell her thank you from me," I hung and looked at Vincent as I put my phone away. "There's another Tsviet in the area. We have to be careful going to the warehouses, alright?" He looked at me then turned in the direction of the warehouses. I followed him as we walked in silence. I wanted to talk to him like I did when we first met and those four years of knowing one another. I confided in him about so much, even when I was young I told him everything and when I was around Oblivion or Fina I was with Vincent.

"What did Reeve tell you about wasting your time?" Vincent suddenly asked me. I sighed and folded my arms over my chest.

"About trying to find my brother," I told him, looking at the ground. "He could be dead for all I know and I'm still trying to grasp at straws for a family that may not even be there anymore." I wanted to say that Vincent was my family, that I needed him. Such a coward am I.

"You don't give up, it's your nature not to," Vincent stated as we turned a corner, getting closer to the warehouses quickly. "You never gave up me. If you had I would probably still be in Nibelhiem." I remained quiet at that comment. He sounded so sure about what he said. I fidgeted and kept looking out for any Deepground soldiers following us.


The warehouses were filled with soldier from Deepground. Several units of them charged at us within the warehouses. Thankfully we were able to take them out but sometimes it became to much and I found myself walking slower than normal to avoid causing pain to my leg which was shot at. I tried healing it which worked well apart form the swelling. The rain wasn't letting up and I was soaked through to my skin but I did my best to ignore it as we got to the back of the warehouses.

"You know, this is the first time I've felt the rain on my skin," A woman was staring up at the sky, unblinking as rain hit her face. We stared at her and I felt a horrible pain in my stomach. "But then again I had never seen the sky until a few days ago," She turned slowly to us, a smirk on her face. "You must be Vincent Valentine, Keeper of the Protomateria, making you Angevale Rhapsodos."

"And you must be Rosso the Crimson," I deadpanned, folding my arms over my chest.

"It does not matter," Rosso remarked. "We know you have the Protomateria Vincent. We must have it to control Omega," She outstretched her arm with a threatening glare. "If you hand it and Angevale over I'll kill you quickly," I stood with a shocked expression but Vincent didn't even flinch. Rosso grimaced and lowered her hand. "So we are not one to bargain then, Valentine. I'll be sure you suffer!" Within an instant she was behind us and grabbed my by the back of my neck, throwing me into a wall. I pulled myself to my feet and saw Vincent firing at Rosso, who was dodging at surprising speeds. I pulled out my sword and ran towards her, raising my blade and tried to slash her but she noticed me and kicked me in the stomach. Vincent got closer to her and fired into her shoulder and she snarled, ramming herself into Vincent and he broke into a wall. Rosso then smirked and approached me.

"I'll make you pay for that!" I yelled, fire blazing on my hands and steam forming on my skin as rain hit it. I tried blasting fire at her which didn't even make her flinch.

"You wouldn't last a day in Deepground darling," Rosso taunted. "And here I thought the renowned Angevale Rhapsodos would be a challenge. The WRO were more difficult than you." I growled but then looked behind her and started backing away. Rosso turned around and even though I couldn't see her face I could tell she was as shocked as I.

Vincent didn't emerge from the rubble... Chaos did. The beast stood menacingly and narrowed his eyes at Rosso, his body pulsing with red energy. It started to spill out from his body and he blasted it towards Rosso and I. I curled up and crouched down to defend myself from the blast. How and... why was Chaos suddenly in control?

When I opened my eyes and stood Rosso was gone, no where to be seen. Instead of Chaos standing there it was Vincent again. He looked paler than usual and I walked towards him slowly, not sure is Chaos was still active or not. When he fell down onto his back though I ran and fell to my knees beside him.

"Vincent stay with me!" I exclaimed as he breathed heavily. He was quickly losing consciousness and I gripped his hand and squeezed it. "Vincent please you have to stay awake..." It was for my own sake... I was scared something would happen if he closed his eyes.

"Angevale, it's alright," I looked up, seeing Shalua approach us. She crouched down by me and put her hand on Vincent's neck, checking for a pulse. "He's going to be okay, he just needs to rest," I nodded slowly, pulling Vincent up and draping his body over my shoulders and back. "We'll get him back to Headquarters, you'll both be safe there."