Prologue

The barren hills tinted with red dust spread as far as eyes can see with occasional dead trees swaying in the rough winds. It had been a few months since Cloud last visited the outskirts of Midgar. Briskly, he laid down his goggles on the seat of Fenrir as he got off. The strapping had come undone from the frequent usage and as he took out the First Tsurugi from the motorbike's compartments with practiced ease, he reminded himself to visit the marketplace once he returned to Edge. After fully equipping himself, he exhaled softly to ease his nerve and slowly walked towards the place it all began.

Cloud always felt a strange reservation every time he came to the cliff - that small pang of guilt he felt upon not being able to save his friend at time of his greatest need. If he had been strong, just a little, could he have? He smiled wistfully at the thought and continued on, his heavy boots causing small wisps of dirt to rise and eventually fall to the ground as he trudged the barren wastelands. Normally, he rode straight to the place where Zack had died on Fenrir but today, he wanted to take in everything the landscape had to offer - the dry taste of the air, the familiar rocks and boulders, the markings of the tracks that he and Zack once ploughed through. He fingered the rocks creating a large shadow underneath and his eyes widened slightly as he realised that the cliff was visible from this particular landmark - this was the place he woke up all those years ago to find the air tainted with smell of gunpowder and blood, whispers of the Lifestream haunting his broken mind.

Back then, he crawled his way up to the cliffs to see the final moments of Zack as he handed Cloud his BusterSword. Cloud covered his face with this hand and let out an anguish-filled sigh while leaning onto the rocks. No matter how many times he thought back to the day, it left a gaping hole inside. It had been an year since he defeated Kadaj and his gang and Cloud as surprised at how much guilt he still felt even after Zack and Aeirth's reassurance from the strange visions he received during his fight with Sephiroth. He slowly slid down the rocks and settled for sitting down and just watching the clouds pass by while he reminisced on what little bits of memory he had left of Zack. It was not much, with all the meddling mako and Jenova cells had done to his mind, but it was enough for him to find a small peace within himself. Under the cover of the shade, he slowly closed his eyes and let the gentle breeze brush up against his face.

Vaguely, Cloud could remember falling when there was nothing but solid ground underneath with green haze burning his lungs. At first, he thought he could feel wisps of something brushing against his fingers which then expanded to his whole body along with nausea and vertigo as the earth below him gave away and he was once again, swimming inside the Lifestream. Dreading if he will survive, he frantically flailed his limbs desperately trying to find something to hold onto with no avail. After what felt like hours, he eventually curled up instead to take the burning sensation away while praying that he will be tossed out somewhere. When he could feel solid ground beneath him again, he visibly groaned as his body disobeyed every commands he was giving it. His limbs hadn't felt like dead weights for years and it was becoming increasingly difficult to simply open his eyes. Well, at least my mind seems okay... he thought as he once again, tried to check his surroundings. If Lifestream could toss him out anywhere, he did not want to be in a den of monsters.

"Ugh..." he managed to let out as he finally shifted on his spot, repeatedly curling up his fingers to get some sensation back into his hands. The world was still filled with fogs of green and he had to fumble around for a bit to finally orient himself before realising he was already upright, albeit sitting down. As the haze cleared from his groggy state, he frowned at the blatant scent of blood that pierced his senses along with numerous gunshots that could only be an army as big a platoon, if not more. A monster hunt perhaps? Had Reeve looked into one of those recently? He supposed he could have, and slowly stood up while holding onto the rock he found himself around to keep his balance and walked towards the sound of bullets. He could ask for their help or possibly give them his assistance if he could get his bearings right by the time he reached the place. After all, standing in a middle of nowhere wasn't exactly the best course of action in his mako-affected state. Stumbling as he went, he dizzily walked around the cliff to go up the slope overhead and chocked backed a gasp as he collapsed onto the clearing.

Amongst the fallen bodies of hundreds of infantrymen, slashing through a rain of bullets with a sword as big as himself, spiky raven hair caked with mud and blood, and eyes filled with pure determination...

...was Zack.

Well, I post this with absolute confidence that no one will view it (If you are, that is very welcome)

However, I will say first up this will be updated very slowly or none at all as I'm a university student with a handful of assessments and work to do. I will do my best to post it up but well, here we are.