Disclaimer: I don't own anything...I WISH I did..but I dont...

Note: Ok, this starts out like exactly like the game...but a few things change and end up altering what happens. Since I'm a lazy ass, I won't continue without reviews.

The rusty train screeched to a hault at the station in front of the North Reactor. The five unknown members on the train waited anxiously for the doors to open. They each headed out hastily as a small gust of wind flooded the compartment when the door rushed open. Naturally, there were guards waiting at the train exit. No one was allowed in the reactors without authorization. In which case, this group did not have. The first member off the train was a younger male, no older than 23, he jumped off the train and surprised the first guard, throwing him to the group and thieving his weapon. There was one other guard who turned to the situation just in time to get kicked in the face by a young women who had hurled her leg towards his face with impressive force. Three other men followed them off the train before it sped off.

The leader of the group, who's name was Barret was tall, had dark skin and was quite the intimidating man. An accident not too long ago had taken his right arm and it was now replaced with a fully functional machine gun. He was the leader of Avalanche, a rebel group who opposed Shin-Ra. Shin-Ra was a powerful company who took from the planet's energy, Mako energy and used it around the world for power. In doing so, they were killing the planet. They had all ready taken over the city of Midgar, which their headquarters were located. Anyone who worked at Shin-Ra lived up top the city. Anyone who didn't, or opposed them, lived in the slums and would never see the light of day, as that part of the city was covered with eight large, metal plates that covered everything.

"C'mon newcomer, follow me." Barret motioned to a smaller man. He couldn't be no older than 20, 21. He was quiet. Not shy, just quiet. He wore a dark, navy blue, sleevless zip-up sweater that clung to his well formed body. On his left arm he had a dark grey piece of shoulder armor. His pants were black and hung loosely off his lower body. He wore black combat boots and gloves as well. He hair was a light shade of blonde and pieces of it hung in his face, while others stuck upwards in various directions. His eyes were strange...not in a bad way. They were bright blue, but they had a green shine. They were entrancing, but they weren't always like that. He held a look that could almost be defined as anger...although he wasn't angry. It didn't take a genius to see that he was also very good looking. From his eyes, to his nose, down to his lips, and with a few faint freckles on his cheeks, he was indeed extemely gorgeous...which was almost a shame because he wasn't very social. Her preferred to keep to himself.

The blonde ran off to catch up with Barret who had led them all into an alleyway and out the other end again. Apparently it was his shortcut towards the reactor, but it had led them straight into two more guards. This was getting ridiculous. The young blonde pulled out a large silver sword from the sheath on his back and somehow managed to swing it with utmost persision. It was clearly almost the same height as him and had to be atleast a foot and a half in width. With the two guards gone in less then 10 seconds, the small group continued onward. Biggs, one of the other members turned to the new guy as they ran, "You used to be in SOLDIER didn't you I can tell. It's not every day you find one in a group like Avalanche."

This caused the young woman, Jessie to turn from in front of them, "Whoa whoa whoa, SOLDIER? Aren't they the enemy?" She questioned, glaring at the man behind her. Yes, it was true, SOLDIER was an elite army force that worked for Shin-Ra. Doing their dirty work, running "errands" of different kinds...disposing of people who opposed.

"What is he doing with us in Avalanche?" Jessie demanded. The group had stopped running now, except for Barret who was in front. Biggs put his hand up in denfence, "He WAS in SOLDIER Jessie. He's not anymore. Now he's with us. I didn't catch your name either." Biggs turned to the new guy.

"...Cloud." He replied, almost under his breath. Although he only spoke when he needed to, which made him sound all the more mysterious and attractive none-the less when he talked.

Biggs raised an eyebrow at him, "Cloud eh? Well I'm-I don't care what your names are." Cloud interupted, shaking his head, "Once this job's over, I'm outta here." He really had no cause to be there, he didn't care what Shin-Ra was doing, he just needed money.

Barret had finally noticed that the others hadn't followed and stopped dead in his tracks. "The hell ya's doin! Would you hurry we gotta get to the reactor!" He hollered, arms in the air.

"I guess we've been chit chatting for long enough." Wedge said and ran off to catch up with Barret. Cloud sighed and followed Biggs and Jessie to the foot of the Bridge where Barret was wating.

"Ex-SOLDIER huh?" Barret mused while crossing his arms. "I don't trust ya." He said, eyeing the man in front of him.

As almost as fast as he brought it up, Barret dismissed the topic. "Alirght, let's get going!"

As the others took off, Cloud looked up to get a better view of the large reactor that they were undoubtibly about to completely destory. A small thought wormed its way into his head, was this REALLY such a good idea? Deciding to ignore the thought, Cloud shook his head and disregarded it from his mind. He soon caught up with the others.

Cloud watched as Wedge ran to the left of the metal pathway, "I'll secure our escape passage. You concentrate on the mission Cloud." He reminded him. "Geez are we really gonna blow this huge furnace up? This will really be somthing to see!" Wedge continued, pressing an abundance of buttons. He seemed to know what he was doing. Barret had led everyone up a staircase and to a large metal door. He turned to Cloud, "This your first time in a reactor?"

"No...after all, I did work for Shin-Ra."

"The planet is full of Mako energy, people here use it everyday."

Cloud just shrugged...he really didn't care all that much.

Barret grumbled, didn't he care about their planet? "It's the life blood of this planet. But Shinra keeps suckin' the blood out with these weird machines."

Cloud sighed and eyed Barret, he was getting resless, he wanted this done, and done now. "I'm not here for a lecture. Let's just do it."

As much as Barret wasn't enjoying the lack of emotion that this guy was emitting, he wanted this done as much and quick as he did. "Alright, you come with me from now on." He ordered.

"Hey!" Jessie interupted, "Biggs and I got the code for the door, here." She moved to the side of Barret and typed in the code on the panel of the door. A loud click assured them that the code had worked and the huge door had come open.

They headed into a small metal room when they were confronted with two more doors.

"You know, a lot of our people risked their lives for these codes." Biggs informed Cloud as they headed through the last door. They were now in a large room with tons of computers and panels. To the left of the room there was a lift. "Hey Cloud, push that button over there." Jessie pointed to a blue button on the wall beside the lift. Cloud walked over to it and hit the button. He was startled when the lift doors opened up. "Everyone on." Barret ordered.

"Little by little the reactors'll drain out all the life. Then that'll be that." he pointed out.

"...that's not my problem."

Barret angrily walked up to Cloud and stuck his face in his, "The planet is dying!"

"The only thing I care about is finishing this job before security, and the Roboguards come." Cloud finished as the lift doors opened. They all stepped out and Barret hopped on the ladder across from the lift. Everyone follwed him upward to the next level of the reactor.

"Biggs, Wedge, Jessie, you guys stay here and cover us. We'll go on ahead. C'mon" Barret signalled for Cloud to follow him. He led them up a long narrow staircase and up another, and through two large doors. "This is the core room." Barret said as they walked down a metal boardwalk that led to the core of the reactor.

"When we blow this place, it ain't gonna be nothin more than a hunk of junk. Cloud, you set the bomb." Barret demanded.

Cloud looked at him, confused. "Shouldn't you do it?"

Barret waved his arms, "Just do it! I gotta stand watch and make sure you don't pull nothin."

Cloud sighed and rolled his eyes, what the hell? might as well do it and get outta here. "Fine, I'll do it." He knelt down on the floor and began to hook up the bomb. Training in SOLDIER really helped with this kinda thing...why the hell did he ever join them anyways...Then it happened. The screeching. A high pitched whine making Cloud's eardrums go crazy. He covered his ears and dropped down to the ground. '...watch out...this isn't just a reactor!' That voice...where did it come from? It wasn't Barret. The screeching! it was almost unbarable! Then, it stopped.

"Cloud hurry up!" He heard Barret call to him.

"Huh?"

"What's wrong Cloud? Hurry it up!"

Cloud blinked a few times to clear his head, "...yeah sorry." He appologized and continued working on the bomb. When he finished connecting it to the core, he set the timer and stood up. "There." He sighed. "Now let's get outta here."

Cloud stood up and motioned for Barret to follow him, when a loud siren echoed throughout the entire reactor. Cloud looked up and sighed, "...give me a break..." Apparently the attachment of the bomb to the core sent off the alarm, and there was gonna be something alot bigger than a few guards to answer it. They could feel it already beneath the walkway. It rumbled, making the walkway shake. Out of a nearby door which had most likely been sealed before the alarm came the guard. A huge machine. It looked like a giant scorpion.

"Awww shit." Barret took a fighting stance and aimed his machine gun arm and the huge guard and started shooting like crazy. Cloud had followed suit, but didn't attack. He just watched as Barret attempted to tackle the huge machine. While he was fighting, Cloud noticed something; every time Barret would try to attack, it detected a threat and countered. When it needed to recharge, it raised it's tail and the central computer part of it was vulnerable, and it couldn't attack.

"Barret!" Cloud called to him, "Keep attacking it until it's tail goes up, but watch out because it always counters, so keep moving! Then, when it's tail goes up, aim for the top! We'll get it easier that way!" Barret wasn't quite sure what was going on, but it seemed like Cloud did know, so he nodded in approval. They both continued to attack the large scorpion, dodging it's attacks in the process, when finally, the tail went up.

"See! There!" Cloud motioned to the top of the scorpion that was previously covered by the tail. Barret took aim and attacked. Cloud couldn't reach, so he took his sword and jabbed it into the scorpions side and used it to swing himself to the top. Once on top, he grabbed his sword from out of the machine and wobbled his way over to where Barret was firing. Cloud signalled for him to stop firing so he wouldn't hit him. He then took his sword and with all the force he had, Cloud stabbed the vulnerable part of the robot. Sparks flew everywhere and the scorpion began to shake. Cloud twisted the sword deeper into the piece of machinery until it began to smoke.

"Cloud! hurry up, the timer only says ten minutes left! We gotta get outta here!"

Cloud yanked his sword out and jumped down off the robot. The two men ran passed it and out the door. They scampered down the two flights of stairs to where they left the others. They were gone by now, once they heard the alarm. All were gone except Jessie, who was lying stuck under a pile of metal poles.

"Cloud skidded himself to a stop and told Barret to keep going. "You alright?" He asked frantically.

"My leg is stuck! One of the guards hit me and it got stuck underneath these poles!" Cloud searched his head anxiously for a solution. He pulled out his sword from his sheath and pried it under the large metal pole. He then pressed down on the handle, causing the pole to lift. Jessie pulled out her leg and Cloud dropped the pole.

"Thanks."

Cloud nodded as the two headed off down the ladder and through the pair of doors where the others were waiting.

"Jessie!" Wedge ran up to her. "There you are, we thought you left!"

"We need the other code! You have it" Biggs reminded her.

"Oh yeah!" She headed to the door and quickly typed in the code. The door opened and they all left.

The group raced hastily down the street. Only two minutes left and they were running as fast as their legs would carry them down the streets of the dirty city.

"We ain't gonna make it to anywhere completely safe, we have to hid behind something now!" Barret called behind him to the others. Barret quickly made a sharp turn into an alleyway a long way aways from the reactor. They all hid underneath some boxes. It wasn't long before the massive explosion sent ringing through their ears and wind passed their faces.. A small shockwave passed over them but the boxes helped to protect them.

The explosion passed and Barret stood up, "Everybody alright?"

The others nodded as they were all present and unharmed. " ok good, now we need to split up. More than likely SOLDIERs will be lookin for the guys who did this. Everyone rendezvous at the Sector 8 station! Split up and get on the train!" Everyone nodded and was on their way.

Barret was getting ready to head off when he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Cloud.

"H, Hey."

Barret sighed, "If it's about your money, wait til we get back." And he was off.

Cloud found himself walking down a local street in the sector 7 slums. He was laying low, acting calm. He didn't want anyone from Shin-Ra to suspect him. Speaking of which, a group of guards were maing their way towards him, running down the almost empty street. He watched as one of the soldiers accidentally knocked over a girl.

"e-excuse me? What happened." She asked one of the passing soldiers while she pulled herself up.

The soldier stopped and turned, "You'd better get out of here."

"Really? I don't know what's going on but, alright."

The guards had passed and the young woman continued walking. Cloud walked up behind her. She stopped and turned to face him.

You would think she would be somewhat nervous that a strange man had approached her in the the streets of the slums, but no. She just stood there, an innocent smile plastered on her face.

"...you don't see many flowers around here." He mentioned, eyeing the basket in her hand which held a few bright pink flowers.

"Oh, these? You like them, they're only one gil each." She offered, her voice light and cheery.

A small grin played on Clouds lips. It was quite rare that he ever smiled, he usually had no reason to, but this girl unnoticably sent cheery vibes though him just by loooking at him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out all the gil he had, which was about 17 or so and handed them to her. She looked up at him,

"I...I don't have any change for you."

"That's ok."

"You want 17 flowers?"

"No. Just this one." Cloud reached his hand into the basket and twidled one flower in between his fingers. The girl smiled at him before he turned and left.

Cloud walked down the road, making his way into sector 8 to meet up with the others. He fiddled around with the flower in his hand, making sure not to ruin it. He continued down the street, oblivious to how many people had already found out about the reactor, when he heard a voice,

"Hey! you there!"

He turned. "...fucking guards..." he whispered to himself.

Two soldiers had followed him. It was obvious they were suspicious of him. They knew what he had done. 'alright no problem there's only two I can handle this.' Cloud told himself.

As they began to advance twards him, 5 more soldiers appeared from around the corner. Now he was completely cornered, and according to the shrill whistle in the air, he was going to miss his train.

'wait, that's it, the train. Cloud cocked his head to the side and looked over the bridge to the left of him to see the train speeding by.

He grinned, "I really don't have tme to play around with you guys." He said aloud before diving off the bridge.

Wedge slumped down in his seat in the last corridor of the train. "Cloud...never came."

Biggs had his arms on his knees and his head down. He looked up, "Do you think...maybe he was killed."

Barret growled and stood up. "no way! He wouldn't go and die on us!"

Jessie ignored their unpleasant conversation and slouched in her seat, a sad look on her face.

"Say..." Biggs stood up, "Doy uo think Cloud will want to stay with us? You know, join Avalanche?"

"How the hell would I know? I'm not a mind reader!" Barret snapped and kicked a nearby cargo box. "...Maybe if you all weren't such screw ups..." It was clear to the others he didn't mean what he had said. He was upset and they knew that.

They all sat, in complete silence. Not saying anything. thump

Wedge sat up and sighed, "Barret, will you stop kicking that box."

Barret looked over to him, "Huh? I didn't kick the box..."

"Then what..." Thump

Now they all sat up. Jessie looked around to where the thumping was coming from. She slowly walked over to the end of the corridor, near to where the door leading to the outside of the train was. She carefully pressed her ear up against the cold metal and listened.

thump

thump

The group waited anxiously for nothing in particular. Jessie's ear was still pressed firmly against the wall. Without warning, the door beside Jessie burst open. "Ahhhh!" She shrieked and jumped off the wall, falling back into her seat.

Cloud got a grip on the edge of the train's roof and swung himself into the caboose, landing with a thud on his toes.

"Cloud!" Biggs and Wedge both yelled in unision with delight.

Jessie sighed. "...Cloud, thank god..."

Cloud pain no attention to their glee and brushed himself off. Barret pushed his way through Biggs and Wdge and stepped up to Cloud. He looked up. "Looks like I'm a little late..." Barret grumbled.

"You're damn right you're late! Come waltzin in here, makin a big scene-"

"I wasn't making a big scene." Cloud tried to intrude but Barret just kept going...

"Havin' everyone worried like that. You don't give a damn 'bout no one but yourself!"

"Hmmm...you were worried about me?" Cloud mused and shot Barret a challenging grin.

"Wha? That's comin' outta your share, hot shot!" Barret fumed. "That's it, we're leaving." He turned and headed into the other corridor. Biggs and Wedge followed, along with some pats on the back for Cloud. Jessie walked up to him. "Careful." She said, eyeing the open door, "I'll shut this." She reached over and closed the door, making the caboose utterly quiet. She looked down. "Um...thanks for helping me...in the reactor." And with that, she was gone too.

"Last train out of Sector 8 Station.

Last stop is Sector 7, Train Graveyard.

Expected time of arrival is 12:23AM, Midgar Standard Time" The voice on the train's intercom announced.

By the time Cloud had entered the other car, the others had already gotten comfortable on the lush red seats. He strode over to a seat away from the others and sat down. He stretched himself out and leant back againt the back of him seat. Cloud's eyes wandered around the car. It was late now, past 10 anyways. There were about three other people on the train besides the five of them.

There was one man who looked like he was fast asleep on account of his head was absently moving back and forth with the motion of the train. One guy was lying down, spread across three seats, minding his own business. Then there was one other man who was sitting directly across from Cloud, reading a newspaper.

Cloud removed his arms from behind his head and rested them on his knees and intertwining his fingers together while sitting up. He leant his head forward and squinted his eyes. There was something on the newpaper that man was reading. The guy noticed that Cloud was trying to get a glance of his paper and took his nose out of it.

"You see the headlines in the Shinra Times? The terrorists that bombed the No. 1 Reactor are based somewhere in the slums. ...Blowing up a Reactor... they sure put some thought into this one. They must have a real calculating leader. I wonder what they'll do next?"

Before Cloud could say anything back, Barret interupted. " Stop actin' like a damn kid. Siddown and shu'up!"

Cloud glared at him, "I AM sitting down."

"Well then Shut up." Cloud rolled his eyes and went back to resting in his seat.

"Hey...I just noticed that the trains haven't switched to security mode yet?" Biggs pointed out. "You'd think they would have tightened security after what happened. I'm sure it'll change tomorrow." He suggested. "Well, that sure took its toll on me, I'm gonna sleep the rest of the way there." He finished with a yawn.

"Someday, Avalanche, and all of us are gonna be famous." Wedge mused, flinging his arms behind his head and closing his eyes.

Most of the train ride after that was nothing but silence except for the faint sound of the quiet man sitting across from Cloud, turning the pages of his newspaper. After awhile, even that stopped after he had finsihed reading and placed the paper down on the red seat beside his lap. Cloud had been slouched in his seat for about 15 minutes now. His gloved hands were intertwinded behind his head, tangled in his mop of blonde hair. His cerulean eyes were shut tight. One leg was sprawled out limply and the other was stretched out in the middle af the car, taking up half the aisle. The rest of the group was pretty much silent. No other noise was able to be heard other than the quiet humming of the train. It wasn't long before the utter silence was broken by an annoying red alarm sounding and flashing in the train.

"That's the ID check." Jessie leaned over and whispered to Cloud. He kept his eyes shut. He was way to tired to be awaken by some stupid ID thingie or whatever it was.

"It lets the security computer in the train access background information on you and your name you know stuff like that. Don't worry though, we have fake ID's"

Cloud nodded slightly to let her know that he was paying attention.

The alarm was on for about thirty seconds before it died down and the red light stopped flashing, leaving the whole car in complete darkness.

"Hey Cloud, c'mere." Barret poked him awake and led him over to the window. Cloud rubbed his eyes and peered out the window.

"Look... you can see the surface now. This city don't have no day or night. If that plate weren't there... we could see the sky." Barret pointed out to the top of one of 8 large metal plates that covered Midgar. It was a rarity that someone living in the slums of Midgar would ever see the light of day. Getting out was one thing but being able to make the money to be able to get out was another. Most of the city lived in the dift covered slums. They were covered with gabarge, or wrecked towns. The towns used to have names...now they were just known as sectors. It didn't help that the slums weren't the safest place either. Crime was a regular and there was nothing no one could do about it. The only authority that showed their awful faces below the hovering cityscape were the Shin-Ra soldiers, coming down to check on things every now and then. Most of the time they didn't even care about petty crimes and theiveries. Everyone knew that SOLDIER was not your friend.

"hmpf...a floating city...pretty unsettling scenery..." Cloud spoke softy as he eyed outside the window.

Barret turned to him, "Huh? Never expected ta hear that outta someone like you. ...You jus' full of surprises." He got up and began to pace around the train angrily. By now the lights had turned back on. "The upper world...it's a city on a plate...its cause of that!" He furiously pointed out the window to the dark, metal clouds that engulfed the slums, "That's why people underneath are suffering."

Cloud removed himself from the window and sighed before he headed back to where he was sitting. He looked at Barret, "Why doesn't everyone just move up onto the plates?"

Barret stoped walking and returned Cloud's gaze. Then, he looked puzzled. "Dunno. Probably 'cause they ain't got no money. Or, maybe... 'Cause they love their land, no matter how polluted it gets."

Cloud looked down at his lap. "I know... no one lives in the slums because they want to. It's like this train. It can't run anywhere except where its rails take it."

Almost nearing it's destination, the train began to spiral down a large, rock column attached to the sector 7 plate. It began to grow weary and dark as they burrowed deeper and deeper into the slums. Cloud could already smell the sick air burning his nose. He had forgotten how bad it was.

It was almost 1:00 a.m. when the Train docked at the Sector 7 Station. The small group proceeded out of the train, following another small huddle of passengers. Barret was first off. Immidiately, he headed away from the strangers and near a lampost just left of the train.

"Hey! everyone! over here!" He waved his massive gatling arm in the air. The others followed to where he was standing. As they advanced closer Barret began to make frequent hand signals for them to hurry up. Once they were under the illuminating light of the lampost, Barret brought everyone in for a quiet huddle.

"Alright this mission was a success. But don't get lazy now. The hard part's still to come! Don't y'all be scared of that explosion! Cause the next one's gonna be bigger than that!" He warned. "Ok, everyone meet back at the hideout!"

Cloud watched as Biggs, Wedge and Jessie headed off. Instead he stayed and looked around. It was clear that this station used to be alot bigger. There was a complete field, dead with trains left in ruins. Destoryed when the city had been taken over. There were no lights across the train graveyard and the silece was beginning to creep him out, so he shifted his gaze up towards the large pillar that was that main support of the entire Sector 7 Plate. 'If we knock down anymore reactors, will that maybe cause the pillars to collapse? How many people and towns would be turned to dust if it did happen...'

"Yo! Cloud! Over here!" Barret interupted his thoughts and waved him over.

The whole trip back to the hideout, Barret had went over tomorrows plan in full detail. He was really anxious about this wasn't he? Cloud had only been paying attention half the time. He had his ind on other things...like what the upper part of the city thought about all this? What happened after the explosion? Maybe Blowing up another reactor so soon wasn't such a good idea since they didn't know the full details of what happened with the first one. The whole idea seemed very irrational.

"Ah whatever, I'll tell ya tomorrow." Cloud heard Barret through his deep thought. They had arrived at he hideout. They were in a very small town. The main dirt road had about 6 or 7 public buildings. Each were made either out of wood, or various sheets of metal. It didn't get much more glamousous than that. Cloud and Barret made their way into the town. Barret, being the "one in charge", the "leader" and the "authority" starting shooting up the place with his massive arm. His internsions were not to harm anyone, only to announce that he was back, and that he had succeeded. Several people were started by the sudden gunfire and screamed and ran off.

Out of an old wooden two story building came a young woman. She had headr the shooting and immidenately responded.

"Barret!" She walked over to him and placed her hands on her hips. "It's late! People are trying to sleep! What are you DOING?"

Cloud, wanting nothing to do with this, snuck passed the two of them and silently padded up the old creaky wooden stairs at the foot of the bar. He opend the door and headed in.

Cloud decided to take a seat on one of the stools at the old bar. His boots made loud clanking noises as he made his way over. He sat down on the school with a loud squeak, when a woman tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to face her.

"Did you hear?" She asked.

"No, what?"

"There's a news update. They say that there was a terrorist explosion up above, and that this time it was a Mako Reactor! You know what this means?"

He shook his head.

" Ya see, I keep on top of these things, an' if ya ask me... if you knock out Midgar's power, then all of its computers and signals are going to be knocked out, too. Financially there must've been about a billion gil worth of damage. An' that ain't all! A lotta innocent people got killed, too! If the explosion had been in the middle of the night, that woulda been one thing. At least the people coulda gone in their sleep. This Mako explosion has really sent Midgar into a fit."

So there had been a lot of casualties. Cloud didn't think there would have been that much, after the alarm went off, SOLDIER's were trained to vacate the premises. 'Oh well." he thought, there as nothing no one could do now...

"PAPA!" Cloud almost jumped right out of his seat when he heard a high pitched squeal coming from the door on the right side of the bar that had just opened. He watched as a little brown haired girl ran over to him. Apparently she thought that when he entered this late at night, he must've been her dad coming home. She realized that she was mistaken however, when she backed up away from him.

At the moment, the girl form outside that had previusly been scolding Barret had walked in. At once, the little girl ran over to her and hid behind her legs.

"Marlene...aren't you going to say anything to Cloud?" She asked her and the glanced at Cloud.

Yes, she and Cloud knew each other. Her name was Tifa. Tifa was the bartender and the owner of Seventh Heaven. She had recently joined up with Avalanche, although she had already known Barret for a few years. She was young, around 20. She had long chesnut hair, a good figure thanks to her fighting practice, and deep brown eyes. She was good looking, which made a bar somewhat hard to manage. There was atleast one drunk guy hitting on her each night, but there was nothing she couldn't handle on her own.

"So...Did you fight with Barret?" She questioned, knowing the answer already.

Cloud and Tifa had known each other since they were young. When Cloud left to join SOLDIER at 14, they had rarely talked after that and grew apart.

"A little bit."

" should have known. He's always pushing people around, and you've always been in fights ever since you were little."

Tifa shifted her gaze down to Cloud's pocket where a light shade of pink was showing. She recognized it instantly. "A flower. You don't see many of thse around here." She said, surprised.

Oh, he had forgot he had that. Cloud reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out the flower. He could see Marlene still hiding behind Tifa. He stood up, causing the stool to grind against the woden floors. Cloud slowly walked over to Tifa and stopped. She didn't know exactly what he was doing, was the flower for her? He didn't change the expression on his neutral face. Instead, he bent down and held out the flower to Marlene. Marlene still didn't move. Hmmm...he must've been more intimidating than he thought. He offered her a small grin.

She cautiously came out from behind Tifa and slowly reached her hand out to take the flower. She still had a shy look plastered on her young face. Marlene lifted the flower up to her nose and sniffed it, then gave Cloud a small smile before returning back behind Tifa and lightly gripped her short, black skirt.

Cloud stood up and looked around. He could see Biggs, Wedge and Jessie were already in the back of the bar and they had already started drinking and were quickly becoming intoxicated. He didn't want to stay here. He felt like he didn't belong there. Not with the avalanche group...not with Tifa.

"I shoud go." He spoke quietly. Tifa didn't say anything as he turned and headed toward the door. Cloud reached for the rusty handle, when he cursed Barret for barging in at that very moment.

Marlene's face instantly lit up. An ear to ear smile appeared on her face. "PAPA!" She darted away from behind Tifa and hurled herself into Barret's arms. He then lifted her up so she was sitting on his massive should. "Welcome home papa."

Barret grinned. "I missed ya!- Hey, where did you get that?" He asked, eyeing the small pink flower that she gripped in her tiny hands. Marlene looked down at the flower and answered quietly, "Cloud gave it to me."

Barret looked at Cloud who was leaning against the wall directly beside the door with his arms crossed over his chest. "oh..." he mused. "Did you thank him?"

Marlene looked up slowly, "Thank you Cloud." She replied in a shy voice.

"Alright! Is everyone here?" Barret looked around to see if everyone was present and accounted for. A few of the guys were slightly tipsy, but other than that. Everyone was there. "Ok, everyone downstairs! We're startin' the meeting!" He announced. Cluod watched from his tiny spot on the wall as Barret placed Marlene down and headed toward a small lift near the door to the irght of the bar that Marlene had been in before she had come out and mistaken Cloud for Barret. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie fumbled off their seats and wobbled over to the lift where they joined Barret. As they all stood in the lift, it creaked with all the weight that was placed on it. Barret pushed one of the buttons inside and closed the door. A humming noise was emitted when the button was pushed but it soon faded as the lift travelled down to the basement of the bar.

There was no one left in the small bar now. Just Cloud who remained up against the wall, and Tifa who was back to washing mugs. Marlene had headed off into the room near the lift and the only noise that broke the room's silence was the hard rock music that was quietly being played on an old stereo behind the bar.

Tifa ran her damp rag along a shiny clean mug and placed it beneath the counter. As she lifted her head up, she realized that Cloud was still there. Hadn't he gone with the others. Figures...he was always stubborn like that. She made eye contact with him, but his face remained the same.

'why does he always look so angry? What is with him? Oh well, can't say I complain. He still looks good like that...' She thought to herself.

Tifa broke their gaze and put another glass away. Before she looked up again she spoke to him. "Sit down." Cloud blinked. He was a little taken back by her authoritive tone. She looked up and into his eyes again. As much as he hated it when people bossed him around, they both knew he wasn't going to walk away. He unfolded his arms and let them drop to his sides. He sighed and headed over to the bar to take a seat.

"How about something to drink?" Tifa offered, crossing her arms and leaning over the bar.

Cloud looked over to the side and mumbled something incoherently.

"huh?"

"...sure." He said again, slightly louder. He turned his head away from the side and looked at her. "Something hard."

She smiled at him and stood up straight. "Alright, hold on." She ducked underneather the bar and the clinging together of bottles could be heard. Within 15 seconds, she rose up and placed a small glass on the counter. Cloud picked up the small glass and swirled it around in his hand before taking a large gulp, leaving about half of his drink left.

"You know, I'm glad you made it back safely."

Cloud placed his drink down and eyed her, almost suspicously. "What's with you all of a sudden? The job wasn't even that tough." He questioned before gulping down the last half of his drink.

Tifa shook her head. 'Wow, was that the first full sentence he's spoken all night?' she mused to herself. "Nevermind. And don't forget to collect your pay from Barret." She reminded him.

"Don't worry." He pushed his glass over to her so she could wash it, "Once I get that, I'm outta here." Cloud stood up and turned towards the lift. "Cloud?" He turned back around. "Yeah?"

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah...why?"

'There he goes again...speaking all dark and quiet...what is with him? He sure has changed.'

Tifa sighed. "I dunno you look tired or something. You better go down below and get some rest." She recommended.

Cloud nodded and headed for the lift.

Cloud opeend the small wooden door that led into the basement room of the bar. He looked around and saw everyone sitting around on the couches and chairs. This had to be one of the comfortable looking rooms he'd seen in this sector for a long time. The walls were of wooden columns filled with posters and pictures and other small things. There were three couches near the centre of the room on a large carpet that formed an almost square. The last side of the square was replaced with a tv. There was a small bar at the the back of the room, and to the left of that there was an open door that led to a bedroom. Finally, on the right side of the room, which was directly across from where Cloud was standing, there was a small bathroom.

Cloud walked silently on the carpeted floors and took a seat next to Wdge on one of the couches.

"Hey!" He greeted him. "The next mission will be to blow up the Sector 5 Reactor. Cloud, you're great! Don't you ever get nervous? Or are you like, impervious to feelings?" Wedge questioned.

Cloud ignored his last comment, there was going to be another mission that he was to be a part of? Geez...he better be getting lots of money for this...

His thoughts were distracted by Biggs turning up the tv. Cloud focused his attention on the report.

"today the No 1 Reactor was bombed. The terrorist group AVALANCHE has claimed responsibility for the bombing. It is expected that AVALANCHE will continue its reign of terror. But citizens of Midgar, there is no need to fear. I have immediately mobilized SOLDIER to protect our citizenry against this senseless violence. Thank you and goodnight."

Cloud recognized the man on tv. That was the president of Shin-Ra. "Yo, Cloud! There's somethin' I wanna ask ya. Was there anyone from SOLDIER fighting us today?" Barret questioned him from across the room. Cloud cocked his head all the way around behind the couch and caught sight of Barret. He stood up and walked over to him. "Anyone from SOLDIER?" He questioned with a slight tone of humor in his voice that was quite noticable. "None I'm positive." He answered.

Barret eyed him, "You sound pretty sure."

Cloud nodded, "If there was anyone from SOLDIER you wouldn't be standing here now."

Barret was taken back by the comment and put a disgusted look on his face. "Don't be thinkin' you so bad jus' cuz you was in SOLDIER."

Cloud didn;t say anything. Barret could think what he want because he really didn;t care about his ego right now.

"Yeah, you're strong. Probably all them in SOLDIER are. But don't forget that your skinny ass's working' for AVALANCHE now! Don't get no ideas 'bout hangin' on to Shinra." Barret warned.

Cloud's eyes widened for a moment, but then took focus again. "Staying with Shin-Ra? You asked me a question, and I answered it." He said coldly. Cloud stepped closer to Barret and kept his tone of voice, "I;m going upstairs. I want to talk about my money." He headed back over to the lift, but when he reached it, Tifa had just come down, and had apparently heard the whole thing.

"Wait, Cloud" She tried to stop him as he brushed passed her.

"Ah let him go! Looks like he still misses his Shin-Ra." Barret taunted.

Cloud stopped and tunred his head back to Barret, "I don't miss Shin-Ra, and I don;t miss SOLDIER." He turned back around and got onto the lift, "But don;t get me wrong, I don't care about AVALANCHE or the Planet for that matter." He finished, hitting the button to activate the lift.

This was stupid why should he have to stay with these people? All they did was bad mouth him. Ridicule him for what he USED to be. He couldn't take much more. Cloud decided he was just going to get out of there, stay in a room for the night and get his money in the morning and then have nothing to do with any of them again... maybe even Tifa.

Cloud was just about to open the door to the bar when the unmistakable rumble of the lift was heard. He sighed and dropped his head. 'just leave me alone.' he begged to himself.

The lift stopped and the floor stopped shaking. "Cloud, wait." It was Tifa. Of course it was Tifa. Who else would come up here and try to stop him? He took his hand of the knob of the door and turned to face her. She approached him. "Listen Cloud. I'm asking you. Please join us."

He almost wanted to laugh. No way could he spend more than two minutes in a room alone with Barret from the way he was acting. Being polite, he just shook his head. "Sorry Tifa..."

Her expression immediately changed from neutral to pained. She looked like she was about to cry. Why was it such a big deal?

"The Planet is dying. Slowly but surely, it's dying. Someone has to do something."

He shrugged, "So, let Barret and his buddies do something about it. It's not my problem." With that, Cloud turned his back to Tifa and grabbed the door handle, but before he could open it, she had stepped in his way and leaned up against the door. Preventing him from opening it.

He let out a frustrated sigh and glared at her, leting her know he was getting very annoyed with this and hoping she'd just let him go.

"So what? You just going walk right out, ignoring your childhood friend!"

Cloud let his hand drop for the doorknob. The glare he had been sending Tifa immidiately faded off his normally stoic features.

"What?"

Tifa bit her lip. "...You forgot the promise too."

Cloud quickly tried to search his mind. What was she talking about? Was she trying to fool him? Ah god, he had nothing."

"Promise?" He nervously asked.

She lowered her head and slumped up against the door. "So...you did forget."

"Remember...it was seven years ago."

Cloud looked up and closed his eyes. She better not have been doing this to make him feel guilty...

Aww geez, there it was...now he remembered. It was nightime. The sky, it was so clear...the stars were so perfectly visible. They were at the old well. "I remember now." He said quietly.

"I thought you would never come." He told her. "I was getting cold."

"Sorry I'm late." She walked through the long, lush green grass and hopped up on the well and took a seat beside Cloud.

"You said you wanted to tell me something?"

Cloud lowered his head, "Uh yeah...come this spring, I'm leaving town for Midgar."

"All the boys are elaving." Tifa said dully.

Cloud hopped up of the well and looked up, "Yeah...but I;m not going just to get a job." He looked towards her, "I'm going to join SOLDIER."

A look of shock spread over her face, but she let him continue.

"I wanna be the best the is, just like Sephiroth."

"The Great Sephiroth?"

He nodded.

"But, isn't it really hard to join SOLDIER? Don't you have to be in great shape, be strong, know how to use weapons?" She questioned as he made his way to the top of the well once and again and sat down beside her.

"Yeah." Apparently he though nothing of it. "I'll probably be gone for a while."

She started to giggle, this kid had never used ANY weapon in his entire life and he certainly wasn't that strong or in shape, he was one fo the most skroniest looking kids she'd ever laid eyes on.

"What?"

"nothing, hey will you be in the newpapers?" She asked. Alot of famous members of SOLDIER were in the papers, namely Sephiorth.

Cloud shrugged, "I'll try."

"Hey," Tifa turned and shifted herself so she was facing Cloud more, "Let's make a promise."

Cloud narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"If you um...If you ever become famous...and I;m in a bind, you'll...come save me." She blushed slightly.

"What?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "If I'm ever in trouble, my hero will come and rescue me. I want to experience that at least once."

He stared blankly at her.

"Come on! Just promise me!" She laughed.

"Alright, alright! I promise." Cloud began to laugh along with her.

"Good."

"Now do you remember?"

Cloud dropped his head and shook it slowly. "I'm not a hero, and I'm not famous. I can't keep that promise."

Tifa removed herself from the door and looked at him. Remembering what he had been like back then showed her how much he had really changed. He wasn't as happy and energetic as he used to be. Judging from the massive swored sheathed to his back, he now knew how to use a weapon, and he definately, definately wasn't skrony anymore. All the training he had went through had certainly filled him out. She could see it in his arms, which were compeltely bare, and the way his shirt clung to his torso somewhat exposed him, but only slightly.

Cloud ran a hand through his hair in confusion.

"Please?" Tifa begged.

No, no he couldn't stay, he didn't WANT to stay. He turned to leave.

"Wait a sec big time Soldier!"

Cloud sighed inwardly. Of course Barret would show up just as he was about to leave...again!

"A promise is a promise!" He spat as he headed away from the lft and tossed Cloud a small bag.

Cloud reached out with both hands and caught it. He opened the bag a peered inside. Cloud lifted his head with a skeptical look plastered on his face.

"This is my pay? Don't make me laugh"

"Hey!" Barret countered, but Cloud interupted him,

"If you have the next mission lined up, I'll do it for 3000." He said.

"WHAT!" Barret yelled, outraged.

"Barret, " Tifa turned to him and whispered, "We're really hurting for help."

Barret sighed. "But that money is for Marlene's schoolin" Barret looked around and sighed. He turned to Cloud, "2000!" and with that, he headed back downstairs without another word.

"Thanks Cloud." Tifa smiled at him. "We should be heading to bed, it's getting late."

Tifa and Cloud had reached downstairs to find that all the lights but a tiny lamp were shut off and everyone was already asleep. Marlene was upstairs in her own room, Barret had headed off in to the bedroom away from the rec room and Biggs, Wdge and Jessie had taken up the couches.

Tifa had headed off into the bathroom, so Cloud decided to take a seat on a nice soft chair. He sighed a sigh of relief as soon as he hit the soft cushion. It had been all day since he had gotten to rest. Cloud tilted his head back and contemplated on sleeping in that chair for the night, but quickly decided against it because if he woke up he knew he'd never get back to sleep. It was the floor for him. But where were the stupid blankets. Cloud decided he'd wait till Tifa returned to ask where they were. He reluctantly stood up and stretched his arms. He then romoved his sheath and placed it up againts a nearby wall and took off his belts and threw them on the ground, being careful not to make too much noise. Placing one heel over the other, he kicked off his boots and put them beside the chair. He could faintly hear Tifa roaming around in the bathroom, doing whatever with herself. He was getting restless and wanted to go to sleep and he wished she'd hurry up.

Cloud sat right back down in the chair and slid down so he was completely slumped over. Taking notice that it wasn't the coolest place in the building, Cloud unzipped his vest and slid it off. Standing back up, he walked over to where he laid his sheath and belts and tossed his vest down. Suddenly he heard the door handle to the bathroom jingle and Cloud turned around to see Tifa walking out. She didn;t really notice he was there at first because she just started walking across the room, until she spoke up. "Sorry I took so long, I didn't want to, " She stopped when she looked up at him.

Cloud looked around..."What...?" He was beginning to feel nervous with her staring at him.

Tifa blnked and shook her head, "I, uh nothing, nothing. Do you want a blanket?"

Cloud raised an eyebrow at her. "...sure" He said, grabbing the blanket she tossed at him from a nearby closet. Tifa dug into the closet and began throwing out more blankets and pillows for them to sleep on. Cloud moved into the centre of the room and pushed the table to the side to make froom for him and Tifa to sleep. He then grabbed a few of the blankets and placed them neatly on the ground as a padding to keep them from having to sleep on the hard floor. Tifa kept tossing out pillows and Cloud put them down so that they were leaning on the couches. He picked up the rest of the blankets and put a few overtop for comforters. Tifa finished tossing out all the blankets and closet the closet door slowly as to not make it squeak and wake up the others. She walked over to the makeshift bed and sat down, lifting up a few blankets and crawled underneath them.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" SHe looked up at Cloud and asked.

"...Yeah, I guess so." Cloud knelt down and grabbed one of the blankets and got underneath it. Man it felt good to actually lay on something soft. He immideatly shut his eyes.

"Cloud...?" His eyes lazily opened again. He turned to face Tifa beside him, "Yeah?"

"Thanks for staying." She whispered.

Cloud just nodded and shifted around so he was laying on his back and placed his arms behind his head.

"Goodnight Cloud." Tifa said and closed her eyes.

"...Night Tifa..." He mumbled back before instantly drifting off to sleep.

His body felt too weak to move. He wanted to stay like that forever. He wasn't asleep, but his eyes were definately staying shut. So comfy...

"Cloud!"

'...fuck'

He groaned in annoyance.

"Get up, you too Tifa."

Tifa streatched her arms and opened her eyes. "What time is it Barret?"

"10, hurry up now."

"K..." Tifa sat up and rubbed the back of her neck. She looked around drowzily and saw Cloud, on his stomach, face in his pillow, one arm under the pillow and one arm over it. He was breathing heavily and his blankets had fallen so they were at the hem of his pants.

Tifa stretched her hand and placed it on Cloud's bare back and nudged him slightly.

"...Cloud"

"...uhhhh..." She heard him mumble into the pillow.

"Wake up."

"I'm up..." He still didn't move.

"Cloud!" Tifa shouted, ruffling his hair. He said something incoherent and lifted his head up. Tifa held in a laugh. His face was nothing but sleepy, his vibrant blonde hair was all over the place and his eyes were drooping heavily.

"Get much sleep?" she asked.

Cloud ran a hand over his face and through his hair, "Yeah...it wouldn't hurt to have more though."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Tifa agreed while stratching her arms over her head.

"Now get up." she grabbed the blankets from atop Cloud and herself and threw them in the nearby closet. Cloud sighed. 'Great...now I'm cold...oh well I still have these blankets...and my pillows.' he thought to himself before plopping right back down on the floor again.

Not long after, Tifa came back by again and fiercely ripped the blankets from underneath Cloud.

He moaned is annoyance and clutched his pillows as hard as he could.

"Give me those..."

"No."

Tifa sighed and grabbed for the pillows. Cloud wouldn't budge.

"god you are so stubborn!" She threw up her hands in defeat and walked off to find some more clothes.

Cloud finally found the strength to get up about 20 minutes later. No one was in the basement. The lights were turned off, except for one small one in the corner. Cloud picked up his pillows and threw them in the closet. He then walked over to the nearby wall where he had placed his belongings. Sitting down, he grabbed his socks and boots and pulled them on. Feeling a yawn creep up on him, Cloud stretched his body and reached over and scratched his back as he finished yawning. He stood up and picked up his shirt and flung it over his shoulder. Then, reached down to grab the cold handle of his broadsword and put it over his other shoulder and proceeded to the lift.

" Bout' fuckin time you got yerself up! Ya lazy ass!" Cloud was greeted by an aggrivated Barret.

"Yeah yeah, you got a shower here anywhere?"

Barret grumbled. No matter how much he yelled at him, he knew he wouldn't care. "Over there..." he pointed to a room beside Marlene's bedroom.

Cloud strode over to the bathroom and into the shower.

20 minutes later, Cloud came out of the bathroom with a small towel in his hand, attempting to dry his hair, which was resting in all kinds of different places atop his head.

"Alright," Barret started, "We're gonna get the Sector 5 reactor this time."

Cloud sat down at the bar bside Tifa and listened to what Barret had to say...for once.

"I'm going this time." she told Cloud.

"No one's stopping you..." he added.

Tifa frowned at the comment, she didn't know why, maybe she wanted Cloud to have objected to it...

"Alright!" Barret got their attention once again, "We headin out now! Everyone meet at the train station now!"

'Alirght fine, let's all go to the trainstation, no one's eaten or anything...' Cloud thought to himself, annoyed.

Everyone grabbed their belongings and headed out of the bar. Tifa headed behind the counter to grab the "Closed" sign. She picked it up and brought it to the door and placed it on the small hook.

"Marlene," Barret turned to the small girl who was sitting on a barstood witha deck of cards playing solitare with herself, "you keep the doors and windows locked and tell everyone who phones that we're closed today. Don't mess around underneath the bar and either stay in your room or downstairs. Oh and don't go gettin to drunk now." he joked. Marelene laughed, "Don't worry Papa, I'll be good."

Cloud was the first one to head out the door. Being eager to finish this job and get food at the same time, he broke away from the rest of the group.

"HEY?" Barret called after him. Cloud turned his heals ad faced Barret, a few feet away from him,

"where you goin?"

"Don't worry," Cloud crossed his arms, "I'll be at the train station, I'm just going ahead, Im hungry. Im going to get somthing to eat"

"I'll come with you." Tifa stepped forward and offered. Cloud shook his head, "I wanna be alone for a while..."

Tifa's head sunk, "Ok...If you want."

Cloud nodded and turned back towards the exit of the sector.

Walking along the dirt path, he tried to clear his head, and just relax, but he was thinking of to many things. He didn't even know why. Being alone really let him see things that he never saw before. When he had arrived in the slums with Barret and the others the night before, he kept his mind on how annoying and aggitating Barret was being, but now that he stopped to look around, Cloud noticed why Barret was doing all this. The whole sector looked like a landfill. Broken parts, and garbage everywhere. The smell was terrible, like something constantly rotting. There was no single structure that had been properly built or maintained. Children had no where to play. There were barely any schools, and everyone was making just enough money to survive. Well, half the people anyway. The homeless rested up against, the broken down concrete walls. Covered in dust and filth and barely clothed. Cloud realized he probabaly shouldn't have dismissed Barret's caring of the planet so absent mindedly. Now that he really got a chance to see why he was doing it, Cloud suddenly became eager to blow this next reactor up and teach ShinRa a lesson. Not to mention he hated them in the first place.

Nearing the end of the small sector, Cloud headed into a small building with a sign over it tha read "Jim's" he figured it must have some sort of food in it, so he trotted up the stairs and opened the creaky wooden door. Inside smelled good, unlike the rest of the sector. It smelled like food...and booze, but compared to outside, it smelled like heaven.

Walking over the bar and sitting down, Cloud looked around. The resturaunt was dull and dark. There were quite a few people in there. He guessed no one had anything else to do. A moment later, a bald man behind the bar came and took his order.

About a half an hour later, Cloud emerged from the resturaunt. He squinted his eyes as he took his first step outside. Despite there being no sunlight, the artificial lights that illuminated the sectors were still bright compared to the carkness he had gotten acustomed to in the building.

Food sure had tasted good. He hadn't eaten for almost a day. He would've gladly eaten more but decided it was time to get to the station before the train left.

As he headed out of the sector and into the crossway which led to the station, Cloud sighed, and once again found himself looking around. Not a single vehicle or paved road existed underneath the top of midgar. Which led him to think, why did the people here trust ShinRa so much, if they were forced to live in this hellhole? Didn't the people have any common snese or think for themselves. Well, he couldn;t blame them, he relied on them once too, and he cursed himself for being so ignorant. Heading East to the old Station entrance which was crumbling apart. You could barely read the stone sign anymore and it appeared as though it would fall on top of your head when you walked under it.

The rest of the group was piled in the front of the docking station, waiting for Cloud so they could get on the train. Cloud entered the rundown station and headed over them.

Barret noticed him first, "You the last one here."

Cloud nodded, "Yeah , I can see that, thanks." Barret shot him another one of his 'annoyed' looks that we becoming quite frequent.

"...Alright..." he grumbled, "here's the plan..."