Vincent was halfway through Reeve's debriefing when he heard the noise. It was the faint sound of a rapid, panicked heart beat. His head snapped up to attention, cutting off the Commissioner mid-sentence.

"Vincent? Something wrong?" asked Reeve, his previous words trailing off to form a question. Vincent, concentrating intently on the racing pulse, didn't answer. He instead craned his neck to hear more and allowed his advanced hearing to calculate the source and its distance.

"About the distance of the shower room," Vincent murmured to himself, thinking aloud. His skin prickled, a gut feeling that something was wrong. He swiveled his crimson eyes to Reeve as the heart thumped relentlessly fast yards away. "It's Adena," he explained in his grow-like voice. "Something's wrong."

He pushed himself up from the metal wall he was leaning against before Reeve could think up a response. "Where's Yuffie?" he asked, hoping the young Wutain warrior wasn't late in delivering the clothes. Perhaps she could check on the other girl, as well.

Reeve frowned, his forehead furrowing into his heavy eyebrows. "Uh, let me see." He turned and stepped to the monitors lining the back wall and leaned over the shoulder of a nameless WRO officer. The way his aging brown eyes continuously scanned the computer screens told Vincent that Yuffie was nowhere to be seen.

"Great." He rubbed his nape with the palm of his bare hand as he sighed. "Find her, make sure she isn't tearing anything apart. I'll go…check up on Adena. Or I'll get someone to do it." He was heading out the door before Reeve responded, the metal hatch sliding shut behind him.

He rounded the corner silently, heading west to the direction of the shower room. This building was new, only a little over a year old, and he still had to get used to it. Instead of relying on his memory, he followed the sound of the increased heart beat. His footsteps made no noise on the floor as he glided down the ceramic tiles. He curved another corner-

And there was Yuffie, swallowed whole by his over-sized red cloak. His bulky gun holster hung barely on her thigh, holding his Cerberus. She pulled the scarlet material away from her face, eyes rounding at the sight of the sharpshooter. "Oh, hey, Vinnie."

He glowered at her. "You were supposed to bring the girl her clothes," he said as he came to a halt in front of her, arms laced over his chest as his face scowled.

"Oh, yeah-"

A scream cut her off, its pitch reaching a tortured, painful high. It resounded through his eardrums, piercing Vincent's sensitive hearing. It came from the direction of the shower rooms. With a smooth, swift movement, he lurched forward, arms sliding from their habitual position at his chest, and yanked the abundant cloak from around Yuffie's petite form and rushed down the hall, Yuffie scrambling behind him. He ran full speed the entire way, coming to a stop only when he burst through the stall to Adena's shower.

Water rained down on Adena as she lay in a crumpled heap beneath the running showerhead, her body slack and unconscious.

"What happened?" Vincent thought as he jutted his empty hand out and cut off the faucet, then knelt down as he draped her limp body with his cloak. The ample cloth covered her almost head to toe, its dense red a great contrast to her porcelain skin.

Behind him, Yuffie had caught up, slowing down as she neared the scene. She slipped closer quietly, hesitantly peeking over Vincent's shoulder. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Vincent replied. He slid one arm under the fallen girl's knees, the other under her back and lifted her, holding her effortlessly against his chest. He made sure to be careful not to let the cloak shift and expose her body. As he turned cautiously, he lowered his gaze to the ninja beside him, a warning glint in his eye. "Get her some clothes and meet me back in the infirmary. And put my gun away before you hurt yourself."

"Gee, Vincent," Yuffie pouted, batting her eyelashes at him with a deeply apologetic expression. "I didn't mean… I'm sorry…"

He merely shook his head and tightened his arms around Adena. A soft murmur escaped from her lips, a gentle phrase so faint even he barely heard it.

"Forgive me…"

Vincent lowered his eyes to her face, noticing how pale she looked. He didn't respond, or ask her what she meant. He just watched her face, his mind blank for a brief moment, as if time had stopped. The single sentence had entranced him somehow. He had heard it before, heard the voice, but not from her. Not from Adena…

Yuffie's hand on his forearm pulled him to attention. She was looking up at him with concern in her eyes. He shrugged her off. "Go get some towels," he rumbled. "I'll lay her down." The ninja only nodded before running off, much to his appreciation.

He pushed past the stall door, careful not to accidentally bang Adena's head on the way out. Eventually, he made his way down the hall and back into the infirmary. Passing another nameless WRO soldier, he asked him to call for Reeve. The soldier looked puzzledly at the limp body in Vincent's arms and started to question. Stoically, Vincent cut him off with a grunt and resumed walking, "Just get the Commissioner."

"Yes, sir!" The soldier saluted and darted away.

Once in the infirmary, Vincent lowered the girl to the cot, tucking his cloak protectively around her slim figure. He straightened himself gradually and tucked his hands habitually into his pocket as his crimson eyes studied her sleeping face.

"This is going so smoothly," Chaos crooned in the far corners of his mind. "You get to help the girl that passes out every ten minutes."

Vincent sighed. He didn't want to be mean, but he almost felt the same as Chaos: annoyed. Nothing was ever simple for him. No, he couldn't find a girl that simply bumped her head and had a minor concussion and would be able to remember herself in five minutes. He had to find the girl that remembered nothing and was fragile and…weak.

No, weak's not the right word, he thought. She was able to protect herself back near Nibelheim.

"With a blasting fireball that appeared from her palm. That's normal." Chaos grumbled. "What's next? Summoning Bahamut with the blink of an eye?"

Vincent lifted his hand from his pocket and pressed the tips of his fingers to his temple. You're not making this any easier.

Chaos quipped a response, but Vincent ignored it, for Reeve glided in through the infirmary door. A stern expression flickered over the Commissioners face as he strode inward. "She collapsed?"

Vincent scratched at his red bandana idly. "From what I can tell, she panicked. Her heart was racing when I was with you. Then she screamed and hit the ground. That's all I know."

"Oooh, that's four sentences you've said in a row, Vincent!" Chaos snickered in the background. "You're social shell is cracking."

Vincent shifted his weight on his feet grumpily and gloomily crossed his arms over his chest. Shut up. He refocused his attention on Reeve, who was eyeing Adena with a thoughtful gaze. "I have a bad feeling about her, Reeve."

Reeve glanced up and met his gaze. With a sigh, he agreed. "I do, as well, Vincent. But don't blame yourself for bringing her in. You were just trying to do the right thing."

"I guess."

The Commissioner adjusted the sleeves of his uniform, a nervous habit Vincent noticed. "Well, I'll have someone guarding her, keeping an eye on her. Two guards and…and Yuffie! Where is she, by the way? Did you find her?"

Vincent's eyes swiveled to the door frame. "Yes, actually. She should be coming with clothes."

Just a second later, Yuffie stepped in, a bundle of clothes stacked in her arms. She padded towards the two, extending a shirt in Vincent's direction. "I got you a shirt, Vinnie. Since yours was all wet." Vincent glanced down to his button-up top, noticing for the first time the huge wet spots covering his sleeves and his torso. He took the red t-shirt offered from Yuffie and nodded his appreciation.

He unbuttoned his own shirt as Reeve directed his focus to the Wutain girl, asking her to watch over the unconscious Adena. Vincent shouldered out of his shirt and slung the black cloth over Yuffie's shoulder. He unfolded the new one, glancing at its front before slipping it on. He frowned at its design: a pair of black fangs over the red background with the phrase "I bite" beside it.

He snatched his own shirt back from Yuffie's shoulder and replaced it with the red t-shirt. She blinked up at him innocently, flashing him an ear to ear grin before turning back to Reeve. Vincent slipped his arms through the sleeves again and buttoned his shirt back up. Adjusting the fold-down collar, he returned to the conversation.

"-just dress her and by the time you're done, the two other guards will be here," Reeve was saying. "I don't want her left alone." He turned to Vincent then, mouth open to give him orders, or suggestions, but was cut off when a soldier rushed in through the door, breathless.

"Commissioner," the soldier gasped for air. "We're surrounded."

Vincent stood alert as Reeve responded, "Surrounded? By what?"

"I-We… We don't know. We've never seen them before."

Vincent leaned subtly around the cot, leaning to glance out the window. "The entire building is surrounded by these birds," the soldier continued as Vincent's gaze dropped to the ground, several stories below. Sure enough, standing on long, scaly feet were enormous, brightly feathered birds. Vincent immediately recognized them as the birds that had attacked earlier.

"Oooh, pretty," Yuffie cooed beside Vincent, her forehead pressed against the glass. Though Vincent had to agree that the birds were faintly beautiful in their coloring, he wasn't comfortable with the numbers.

He pulled away from the window, turning to Reeve seriously. "There's thousands, Reeve. Maybe more."

The Commissioner's brow furrowed. He squeezed his way into the window space and looked down. "I don't understand, what are they here for?"

"The girl," Vincent answered, his eyes already on Adena, who still had not moved. If it weren't for her heartbeat, I would think she's dead, he thought inwardly. Aloud, he said, "They had attacked us when we left the manor."

Reeve spun to Vincent angrily. "And you didn't think to tell me?"

"They're not attacking," Yuffie stated before Vincent could respond. Her forehead was still smudging the glass, her fingertip now pressed to it as well. "Look. They're all just standing there. All chill and everything."

"They're waiting," Vincent realized.

Yuffie finally peeled her forehead from the window, glancing over her shoulder at him. "For what?"

That, he did not know.

Reeve swiveled around to his soldier. "Go, tell everyone to grab their weapons and gear up. We want to be ready if they do attack." To Yuffie, he ordered, "Dress Adena if you wouldn't mind. And be gentle, we don't know if she's responsible or not. Then come meet me in the security room." And to Vincent, he asked, "What do you think? It's probably best if -"

Outside, there was a loud screech, followed by the sound of a thousand birds taking to the air.

"Shit." The soldier had summed it up.

I was standing in the middle of a city of debris, stars shining brightly against the black blanket of the sky. My face lifted up as tiny speckles of green rained down from the explosion. My breath released in a sigh as fury and despair washed over me in massive, overwhelming waves.

On my left, he sighed. "Mother would have liked Omega, I would think." The tip of his longsword scraped at the dirt on the ground. "They had the same goal."

"And they both failed," I responded, arrogance filling my bones like air fills one's lungs. His apparition flickered away then after a fraction of a second, appeared on my right. He was mad at me, now. His eyes narrowed as he stared ahead.

"Third times a charm, I guess," he said. A breeze picked up and blew into his silver hair, pushing the locks from his face, making him look serene. "You won't fail, sister."

I was floating now. A mask wrapped over my mouth, supplying me with pure, untainted oxygen. Outside of my stasis tank, I overheard an argument. Between two fools, no doubt. How dare they wake me up?

"I don't think it worked," a female voice said with a sneer.

"Of course it did. When has his plan ever failed?" A snide, masculine one responded.

I wanted to open my eyes, to glare into the souls of those that disturbed me. But I was so tired. What was this weakness overcoming me? I should be so full of energy. Enough energy to erupt this entire laboratory into hellish flames. Instead, I merely blew bubbles from my nose. Maybe they would get the hint.

"I'm just saying she hasn't moved much. If she's supposed to be his most prized weapon, then shouldn't she be training?" Of course. These idiots couldn't tell I was trying to rest. And were they talking about me? Imbeciles.

I reached out with my mind. Shut up, I demanded with brutal authority. My thoughts did not reach them, but instead every electronic device in the room. Every monitor either blasted white noise or sparked into a small flame. The two mundanes in the room jumped to attention; I could hear their heart rate increase with alarm.

Shut up, I growled to them again. Though I was quieter this time, I still felt my thoughts reverberate throughout their mind. Successfully. Get out. Together, they scrambled for the exit.

I slipped my feet out of the thigh-length blue-striped black boots and dipped my toes into the cool water of the waves as they slapped at the shore. The clumpy sand bent under my weight. Behind me were bodies. I did not have to glance back to know they were there. I was the one that killed them. Slaughtered them, mercilessly.

I lowered the tip of my glaive into the water, ridding it of the unworthy blood, meanwhile humming a tune I did not know nor care the name of. I lifted my eyes up to the setting sun, its firey blaze reflecting off the iridescent sea. I tilted my head in wonder. Don't I shine like that, a contrast to all these fools? I shouldn't have had to been "tested" or "trained".

Behind me, the man was walking up. The one who had kept me contained in that wretched tank for far too long. I thought about killing him, but I had just cleaned my blade.

"Very good, my dear," he crooned with a smug grin. I swept my eyes to him expressionlessly. Watching him, I saw the pompous way he looked over me. As if he owned me. My eyes narrowed, my grip tightening around the hilt of my weapon. Oh what a joy it would be to stain his snow white hair with his own blood.

But I let him continue on with his haughty ways.

"I should have let you fight the beast," he continued. "Why did I wait so long to let you loose?"

Ah, I knew of the beast he was talking about. A semi-worthy opponent, indeed. I knew his name long before the mundanes had told me.

Chaos.

They were memories. I knew that almost instantly. But I didn't… I didn't like them. They were evil. I was a monster. I pushed them back to the depths of my mind, willing myself to forget again. That wasn't me. It couldn't have been me.

Could it?

I let myself slip back into the cold black oblivion of sleep. It seemed to be the only thing that would comfort me. Maybe I could sleep, and never wake up. Anything to prevent that monster from coming alive.

The monster he had shown me.

Down on the ground floor, twenty squads of WRO soldiers advanced towards the birds in flight. They raised their arms in unison, waiting for the command to fire. It was given, and a line of bullets rained down on the flock closest to them. The rounds struck home and the few lifeless birds collapsed to the ground. After a moment, the bodies disintegrated, tiny streams of green light lifting up towards the sky. And in their wake, a new line of attackers joined in with the remaining hundreds of birds.

Soldiers of a different kind, wearing black uniforms lined with blue. To a lot of the WRO members, these uniforms looked painfully familiar. The WRO glanced at each other, a realization dawning on their faces. Many of them were taken down in their moment of disbelief and terror, allowing the attacking forces to advance. Bird and man, the frontline of soldiers strode steadily closer to the WRO Headquarters.

Vincent Valentine was not happy with the situation. He was rather annoyed. He glanced over his shoulder at the sleeping girl; she was now dressed, thanks to Yuffie. She wore one of the extra female WRO uniforms they had; it was the only thing Yuffie could find. He grunted at the fact an unknown civilian was wearing a soldier's uniform. He glowered, turning his attention back to the window.

The battle was raging outside. Gunshots rang up from the ground and there was an occasional tremor from a grenade detonation. He tapped the metallic fingers of his gauntlet on his arm anxiously. He wanted to be down there, fighting along side the others. But Reeve had decided it was best the girl was watched over by the one who found her.

"I'm a better fighter than a guardian," he muttered aloud. From his view, he watched several birds diminish in the onslaught of numerous WRO soldiers. At least they were doing well. He pulled away from the glass and propped his back against the wall beside it, crimson eyes scanning the spacious, L-shaped room. As his gaze passed over the telephone bolted to the wall at the other end, it sounded off. An annoying ring with an even more annoying pitch.

Striding towards it, he plucked it off the receiver. "Vincent Valen-"

"It's Reeve," the voice said at the other end, alarmed. "Vincent, the girl cannot fall into their hands, understood? They're breaching past our front line and-"

"Who's hands?" Vincent cut him off, his adrenaline pumping through his veins. He flickered his gaze to the window, though from his position he couldn't see the ground below. But he did see smoke blending into the night sky.

"A different attacker," the Commissioner was breathing heavily on the other end. "I-I think it's- No, it can't be. But, you need to be with her. The data files you collected- I had Shelke go through them and they're- they're Deepground files. I don't have time to explain right now, but I need you to take Adena and get out." Reeve was obviously panicked, something was going horribly wrong.

"Reeve, what's happening?" Vincent demanded, his concerns growing. On the other end, the Commissioner barked orders to a distant squad. Vincent repeated his question.

"I don't know, Vincent," Reeve said with a sigh. "I'll have someone meet you on your way out-"

"Way out? I'm not leaving."

"Yes, you are," he insisted with unmistakable authority. "You are taking Adena, grabbing the files and getting out of here. When you get somewhere safe, go through the data. Perhaps they can explain some more, we didn't get to finish them. Barely had time to start them. Your mission now, Vincent, is to bring the girl and the data files to safe-"

*CRASH*

Suddenly, the window was raining down into the room. Glass shards showered over the girl, almost reaching Vincent at his side of the room. Bursting through the destroyed window, a massive bird sounded off with one, mighty screech and folded its wings to its side as it came to a perch on the windowsill.

"What was that?" Reeve's voice was minute compared to the call of the bird. Vincent let the phone drop from his grip, too preoccupied to respond. He took a threatening step forward, afterward remembering he was unarmed. His cloak, holster and weapon were sitting on the small, simple chair beside Adena's cot.

The bird was between Vincent, his weapon, and the girl.

Vincent's gaze went past the bird, zoning in on Cerberus. I can't get to it, he thought angrily. I can't get past the bird. The feathered beast surrendered a second shrill and cocked its head at him. He stopped his breathing and stood perfectly still as its unintelligent eyes settled on his body. They blinked once, twice, before it turned its attention away from him and to Adena, to the quiet, sleeping girl.

Croooo. The noise came from its throat, the feathers on its neck vibrated subtly. The bird stepped closer- barely fitting through the window frame- and dipped its massive head towards Adena. It inhaled through two rounded holes at the top of its beak, then opened its golden mouth and exhaled. A dense fog was its breath, flowing into Adena's own partially open mouth.

Move, three voices urged Vincent in unison. He obeyed, throwing himself forward while a thick black aura simultaneously engulfed him. Stepping from the other side of the purplish black orb, the new beast puffed his chest, filled his lungs with air, and with as much power he could fit into one command, he roared.

"GET AWAY."