Eyes opened into darkness. A body sat in it’s own personal hell, trapped within it’s own confines. Five hundred years. Five hundred years had those warped red eyes laid closed. Five hundred years since they had shut and cut themselves off from light. And twenty years since Meteor and Holy had changed the world. Thoughts absently made their way into this darkness. Thoughts of the days after the Holy struck. How the world was changing. How the continents were breaking apart and changing. How the final three WEAPONs were wreaking havoc on the world. How they were destroying towns and leveling forests, slaughtering thousands and reforming the world for their long dead creators. Those eyes recalled the last few faithful days. Aboard the Highwind Airship.

***

“$@%!, the $@%$in’ Gyrodestabilizer is %@$!in’ gone to %$!@in’ hell with the $@*$ing piece of %*@$) %#(%in’ Airship!”

Cid Highwind staged across the bridge from the piece of wall he’d just pried open as the Highwind’s deck slanted at a near forty five degree angle. The rest of the party, Cloud, Tifa, Barrett, Vincent, Nanaki, and Yuffie, were currently in the pit on the right side of the bridge, desperately clinging to the railings. Cid looked at a console as the pilots hung on for dear life.

“OH #@$%!! THE %*@$IN’ PIECE OF %^*@%in’ %@+$ WEAPON IS TURNIN’ AROUND!”

Cid hunched over his console and yelled at one of the pilots, who he referred to as his “flunkies”, his voice was angry, irritated, and most of all loud enough to make the stoic Vincent wince. “FIRE THE %@$%IN’ MISSILES AT THAT PIECE OF %$@$ WEAPON MOTHER%$@$ER!”

The Airship turned as a pilot violently wrenched the wheel, everyone wincing as the extreme inertia slammed them into nearby objects. Out the front bridge window, everyone could now see the giant object flying right towards them - Ultimate WEAPON.

“BLAST THAT PIECE OF %$@* THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!”

As Cid screamed again, the pilot, who was now very nervous, not to mention scared, pulled a lever. The entire Highwind shuddered as dozens of Missiles shot from the speeding airship and accelerated towards the encroaching WEAPON. And dozens of explosions pockmarked the surface of the WEAPON, smothering it’s form in the violent blasts as the missiles detonated.

“HAHA! WE GOT THAT PIECE OF %@*$!”

Cid whooped and pumped his fist up and down. A pilot gulped and gently spoke aloud in a meek voice. “Uh…Captain….we’re in deep shit..” Cid looked up, just in time to see the WEAPON - still alive - growing in the front window. Growing at an inhumanly fast speed.

Cid screamed in anger, a tinge of fear lacing his voice.

“OH SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Ultimate Weapon hit the Highwind, the creature’s bulk smashing through the right side of the mighty ship and tearing off the right afterburner, along with tearing a hole in the side of the ship. Thankfully, the roar of the high altitude’s air against the gash in the ship prevented everyone from hearing what was coming out of Cid’s mouth.

The Highwind span out of control, turning in hardly graceful spirals and circles as it descended from altitude. Cid was violently spinning the wheel to try and save his most prized possession. Finally, several seconds later, he gave up and turned to the party. “WE’RE GOIN’ DOWN! GET THE %@#$ OFF THE DAMN AIRSHIP! NOW!”

Cloud stayed behind with Tifa as the other four scrambled towards the exit to the deck. Ever since the incident at the crater, Cid had decided to attach the Tiny Bronco up there, now that it was repaired, as a sort of escape pod.

“Cid..” Cloud’s voice was level, as Tifa spoke directly after him. Her voice was urging “Come on…” Her eyes showed her pleading. Cid turned from them and kept yelling. “GET THE %@$! OFF! THIS IS MY @%$$IN’ AIRSHIP AND I’M GONNA %@$@IN’ SAVE IT!!”

On deck, Cloud and Tifa dashed into the air to see Vincent, Nanaki, and Barrett on the Tiny Bronco. Yuffie was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s Yuffie?!!!?” Cloud yelled above the roaring wind. Barrett shrugged. “Hell if I know! She went off chasing some material she dropped!!” Just like her…Cloud thought as he hoped aboard the smaller plane. Below him he could see the neon green puddle that used to be Mideel. And it was growing. And Yuffie was nowhere to be seen.

“Damn it!” shouted Barrett as Vincent settled into the Bronco’s cockpit. Below them, Mideel was growing faster and faster. And still no Yuffie - Or Cid for that matter. And then suddenly a blast of fire rocked the Highwind. Everyone’s eyes turned and they saw Ultimate Weapon diving through the low clouds towards the dying airship. Then they realized the Highwind was falling away from them. The impact of the shot had knocked the Bronco away from the ship!

Vincent, ever vigilant, instantly piloted the Bronco down towards the falling airship as the others held on for dear life. As they neared the deck, Yuffie trounced happily up the stairs to the deck, triumphantly holding a Purple Materia. Only then did she notice what had happened.

And then the Highwind slammed into the lifestream pool that had once been Mideel.

Everyone aboard the hovering Bronco was silent for a long moment. A tear even pooled at the corner of Tifa’s eye. Then a massive figure appeared beneath the diminutive Bronco as Ultimate WEAPON leveled with the tiny craft. And it opened it’s mouth and cast the vaunted Shadow Flare.

***

Those eyes remembered with perfect and vivid detail those last minutes as his friends had crashed, and the following confrontation with the WEAPON. It remembered as the Flare overtook the Bronco. And that had been Five Hundred Years ago. Slowly, the figure stirred as it’s eyes blinked. And the blackness encasing it slowly gave way to a slash of light.

Vincent Valentine sat up in his coffin as he pushed the lid aside.

***

"Remind me again how I got talked into this?"

"It was this or the Garden Festival Setup."

"Oh, right."

Flames flickered and danced across stone surfaces, casting shadows upon walls from overhangs and stalagtites formed over hundreds of years. Cast into the light were three figures, fire casting silohuettes upon them as they moved.

"Jeez, Squall...Why the hell are we down here again?"

The voice muttered a bit as a sigh came from another man. A head shook in the darkness as a mane of messy brown hair frayed around as the head turned slightly, looking across the half a foot void between the two. Flickering light casted revelations upon the fleshy tissue of a scar marring a handsome face. "How many times do I have to tell you, Zell...We're investigating leads given to us by the Obel Lake creature..." "We're frickin five hundred metres underground, Squall! I mean, damn, I'd rather be back at the Garden in my dorm with Bri-" There was a shuffling of feet and a slight breez marking the movement of a limb. A light thump and then a shuffling of feet and then a momentary silence. "Thanks, Irvine."

"Ow...Jerk..." A mutter came as a gloved hand ran it's way through spiky blonde hair. The first man turned to reveal a face with an ornate black tattoo adorning it, and a man with his face concealed by a cowboy hat behind that. Tarnished brown hair trickled from beneath the hat like a sporadic rain as they continued onwards. The first set of footfalls momentarily stopped, as did the third. The second continued on and there was another sound of flesh impacting. "Damnit, Squall...Tell us when you're going to stop! It's hard enough to see without your head blocking the torch." "I could tell." "Oh, shut up, Irvine...Now what is it, Squall?"

"There's someone else down here."

***

Bodies...Warm bodies. Moving...

Someone...People...Other people were alive... Shock was momentarily precedent in the twisted mind. Shock quashed by the cold effeciency of the mind that it had been prevelent in. Alas that shock was replaced by another emotion...Curiosity. Who...? More importantly, when...? However...Another...Another?

He could sense something else. It was not here in body, but in spirit. He hissed, a sound only he could pick up. A sign of aggression. What..was this...He could feel it drawing closer to him. And yet he could still see or hear nothing. It was still coming closer...A hand of flesh closed around the cold steel of a carbine, a soft clicking signalling the loading of a shell. This is not right...This thing...It's evil...Moreso than Hojo...

He felt a wind draw across his back and he span with a fluttering of a red cape, a loud bang contrasted even more by the silence flashing with a momentary spark of a muzzle flash. He frowned as his bullets hit nothing. Another wind on his back. Another shot. Another miss...

And then he felt pain. Horrible, horrible pain. Starting at the base of his spine and working it's way up. His cold, unliving hand twitched as he lost control of his body...Vincent's eyes widened...No...kill me...Don't subject me to a torture of existence that is not mine...

Red eyes narrowed in question as words that were not his came from his lips. Soft words that he would not even know he had spoken if he had not the gift of enhanced senses...Words that made him question when and where he was...

"All SeeDs must die...!"

With newfound grace, almost feline in it's look, Vincent stood up, and with a flutter of a scarlet cloak, moved off down the corridor away from his coffin.

***

"What do you mean, there's someone else down here?!"

"There's someone else down here." Squall repeated again in the same eeriely stoic tone of voice. Zell made anoise that was a cross between a moan and a sigh as he began throwing punches at the air. "Stop that, Zell." muttered Irvine as he laid the barrel of Exeter across Zell's left wrist, which immediately hushed the blonde-haired martial artist. Another moan/sigh later and the trio was once again moving off down the hall, this time with Irvine holding the Exeter out, braced over his arm. Squall's eyes were narrowed as they darted across the flickering darkness that bordered the circle around his torch.

His gloved hand suddenly shot up in a clenched fist as he reached a T intersection in the corridor. This time, Zell managed to stop himself and not run right into Squall. "What is it...?" breathed Irvine softly as he slowly slid a round into the opened breech of Exeter, closing the breech with a loud 'click'. "Close..." murmured Squall as he peeked his head around the corner. All the Lionhearted teen could see was the corridor that stretched out into darkness...Nothing. Was he being paranoid...? Am I paranoid...? Maybe creeping around down here has got me uppity...Maybe I want to live again to see Rinoa...Maybe... He blinked again as he saw a flicker of something moving in the darkness ahead. He stifled a yell and dropped his torch as the wooden stick suddenly crystallized with glacial energy, the blizzard spell stifling the flame instantly and plunging them into darkness. He could hear Zell's yelling and Irvine's choice muttering as his hands grabbed the Lionheart from it's place at his side, the blade giving off it's own soft blue glow as the blade was drawn from it's sheath...He could see nothing as the blue shadows danced across his face. Nothing at all...His eyes narrowed even further as he mentally began flicking over all possible mental situations...

Zell, however, wasn't being as patient. While Irvine was standing behind Squall with the Exeter pointed down the corridor, Zell was moving around them and quickly stepping down the raw-stone portal. His heart was racing with adrenaline as his eyes danced across the darkness before him, desperately searching for any trace of a living being. He took a swing at the air in range, only to have his eyes widen in astonishment as he felt his fist brush across something. In the distant blue glow from Squall's blade he managed to see a fluttering piece of scarlet fabric before he turned in a rush to follow it's movement.

What the hell...His mind raced as he darted down the hall in the direction in which he thought the fabric had moved. In his haste and eagerness to engage this mysterious intruder he failed to notice the calls of "Zell!" and the light from Lionheart fading. He could see his goal, though. A flicker of some golden glow in the distance, a few scant meters from him. A grin spread across his face as he quickened his pace to a run, only to slam right into a stone wall. With a curse he stepped back, extending his arms to feel around and locate the turn in the corridor. Finding it, about two feet to the left, he managed to catch another flutter of the scarlet cloak.

Damn...Elusive little ba..

Meanwhile, Squall and Irvine were uttering curses as they desperately casted Fire spells in an attempt to relight the torch and go off after Zell before the fool got himself killed. With a grunt and a hiss of pain, the torch sprung to life in time for Squall to see Irvine yanking his hand away and shaking it, fading embers jumping from his glove. "Atleast you didn't burn your hat." Squall said matter of factly as he leaped to his feet, waving the torch around as he darted off after Zell, hearing Irvine sigh and mutter as the gunman's heavy footfalls echoed behind him.

***

Smile...

Vincent stifled a laugh as he saw his prey stumbling around in the darkness, running into the wall. He darted forwards just far enough to give the yellow-haired dolt a tantalizing glimpse of his cloak before he darted back down the corridor, into the depths of the old Mansion's basement. He laughed inside his mind as he suddenly turned, his desire to annihilate the "SeeD"s suddenly revitalized and forced to the paramount of his mind.

He drew his tongue across his lips, feeling a small pinprick as a hole appeared in his lip, the wonderful scent and taste of blood wafting into his being.

Drip...

...Drip...

.......Drip....

He felt the small trickle of blood moving down his chin and flowing over his lip, down his chin and hitting the floor. He pursed his lips inward as he saw the fool continuing on his course towards him. That...idiot. He was going to die, and he didn't even seem to know...A smile spread across Vincent's lips as he flexed his claw thoughtfully, watching the meters close between him, finding amusement in the fact he could see perfectly and this other condemned man couldn't even see.

All...SeeDs...must....DIE

The command rocketed into his mind and Vincent lept into motion.

***

Zell nearly hit another wall, feeling the cold and jagged rock against his bare arm he steered himself away from it, desperately searching for a sign of the scarlet fabric as he heard the closing footsteps of Squall and Irvine. This is gonna be sweet...Knock this sucker out and then go back and party with Brianna...man, she looks sexy in pigtails...

He smirked in the darkness as he threw another punch at nothing, blinking as he saw a flicker of light in the distance. What was that...? Something had reflected off a metallic surface. And it appeared the reflection was coming closer. Zell grinned wider as he mentally went over all the moves he was going to perform on this sucker. He smiled and lept forwards, throwing a viscious kick that would have decapitated a normal man...Only to feel his foot pass through thin air. He landed with a mutter and stood up, his eyes darting around. It was then he felt something curling around his chest.

***

Squall and Irvine slid around the corner just in time to see a mysterious hooded stranger draw a wicked looking metallic claw across Zell's throat, metal pointed fingers carving into their friend's skin, red ichor pooring from the wounds as he released Zell, the teen's face already fading from color as he dropped to his knees, and then to the floor, face first, into a steadily growing pool of blood.

Squall's eyes widened as Irvine reflexively fired a cartridge down the hall at the mysterious cloaked figure, only to blink in amazement as he vanished in a flutter of scarlet.