Ok everyone, this is my first fanfic like….EVER! So don't get up on my butt or anything. Except maybe in reviews….Hehehe….'shrieks with laughter' ..Anyways, enough with that. Lets see how good I am….

Disclaimer: I've been told I had to do these so…I do not own anything you see here related to Final Fantasy, that credit goes all the way to Squaresoft..not me. I only own a few of these people. If you've heard of FF7 then who know who is and isn't mine.

Chapter 1

"Put him here…." Tifa said to the three men walking inside her bar at three in the morning. She had finally just put Marlene to bed, and was about to go upstairs herself.

"Who is he? What happened?" Tifa asked as the three men put their mysterious guest on the couch.

"We don't know. We were just coming home from that mission and found him like this." Barret said as he went to the medicine cabinet, grabbing what he thought they might need.

"Yeah, we think he might've been ganged up on, but we aren't sure. We think something else got to him." Cloud explained out to them, fetching the alcohol from the side bathroom next to the kitchen.

"Like what?" Tifa asked.

"Later." Cloud said waving his hand to dismiss the subject. "Let's fix him up first, and ask questions later."

'Well this is going to be a very long night' Tifa thought. She'd been lacking sleep since they left her alone to take care of Marlene and the bar on her own. Not to mention that Cid and Yuffie weren't back from the other mission yet. 'How long has it been since I had a decent night of rest?'

Tifa took hold of the rags to wipe off the blood, while Cloud and Barret tended to his injuries. The guy flinched when Barret toughed his left side with the alcohol. Considering all the blood on the guy, none of them could guess this age.

"There must have been at least twenty men on this guy" Cloud whispered to himself aloud.

"I'm estimating more towards thirty." Vincent replies automatically. "But why would they attack him in such a fashion? And for what reason?"

"I haven't got the slightest clue. You think they got him from behind? Cloud answered.

"How did he survive such a thing?" Tifa asked, shocked. "I don't see an inch of materia on him. Not even a weapon. How could he fight off so many?"

"He had a weapon, but we have to leave it behind." Said Barret.

"What kind of weapon?"

"Just a sword. I didn't see any other weapons around that might have been his though. From all the bruises, I'm guess they hit him with some steel pipes or something…"

Tifa flinched hearing that. She'd been hit with pipes before, and knew they hurt like hell. "But why?"

"We don't know. I guess we'll just ask him whenever he wakes up. If he wakes up anyway." Vincent said.

Tifa really didn't like how Vincent always made things seem worse than they really are. She actually didn't trust him too much. But if Cloud trusted him, that was good enough for her.

Tifa went to wipe all the blood from the boy's head. Well, she guesses he was a boy. From what she saw he looked quite young. After cleaning his left side, she gently turned his head to face her, so she could reach the right side. She noticed a big gash on his face, crossing right over his right eye.

She moved to touch it, incase it was infected, but the second her fingers reached it a hand was suddenly around her wrist, making her fingers only brush against his face.

"Don't…" the boy whispered with a groan. "That hurts…"

"Whoa! Its alive!" Tifa heard a voice from behind, only to turn and see it was Marlene.

"You're supposed to be in bed. Its 3am!" Tifa snapped at her.

"Well I heard all the racket in here, so I'd figured I'd see what was going on. Not my fault you're so clumsy when you know a child is asleep in the house." Marlene said, snapping right back, matching Tifa

Barret couldn't help himself. HE BUSTED OUT LAUGHING! "Marlene," he said between breaths, "I love you sweetheart!" Wiping tears from his eyes he turned back to the boy., who had finally opened his eyes.

"You okay kid?" Cloud asked.

"I'm alright, I just need time and rest, so I can heal."

Tifa noticed with all the blood off of him, he looked nearly as cute as Cloud, and in most cases (except when Cloud fancied purple dresses and braided pigtails) that was nearly impossible.

"How in the name of Cid, are you still alive?" Barret asked, almost in shock.

"Who is Cid?" he asked

"You don't want to know." Cloud answered in reply

"Umm…okay. And as for being alive, I'm kind of like an immortal thingy. I don't understand it myself. Its blood from a race where humans who die can revive themselves. But I haven't proved it because I haven't actually tried to die yet. But I have reason to believe that I am the last one left. I don't even know if it'll work on me, because I'm only half."

"Oh ok. Well question 2. Why did about 25 guys try to kill you in the first place?" Barret asked.

"Actually it was 35, and they were the Shinra." He replied

"Why are the Shinra after you?" Cloud asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

The boy began a series of coughs. Some had blood come up as a result. "Get me a towel," he said between breaths.

Tifa ran to the bathroom and snatched a towel from the pile she'd put in there earlier that day then ran back and handed it to him.

"Thanks" he said with a smile, looking up to her. Tifa was astonished when their eyes met. She'd never seen anything like his gray eyes before.

The rest of the group waited patiently for the guy to finish his fit. Once done he asked for some water. When Tifa turned for that, then she pouted when she saw Marlene already coming with a full glass.

Marlene was only a little girl around 8 years old, but was very mature for her age. She'd been adopted from forever ago by Barret, and knows him as her father.

"Sorry" the boy said, finishing his water. "Would you mind if we talked tomorrow. I'm afraid I won't be able to talk much longer without some rest."

"Sure. We can wait until later." Cloud said. "Vincent and I will bring you to our guest room. The rest of you can go on and head for bed. We won't be long."

"By the way," the kid said before everyone headed off, "Thanks so much for you help. My name is Shade."

--Well? What do ya think? This obviously takes place quite some time after Avalanche went off to get rid of you-know-who. HEHEHEH! REVIEW PEOPLE! I NEED MOTIVATION!