The streets were dark in Midgar, like always, illuminated by the lights of lit up signs, headlights, and streetlights. The streets were bustling as people hurried here and there and minded their own business.

A woman knelt alone in a dark alleyway, her hands folded, her head bowed, a basket of flowers sitting beside her. A faint green pool of light sat in front of her, lighting up her face. She looked at peace.

Her peace was soon interrupted by people leaving the theater next door. But she didn't seem to mind. With a small smile spreading onto her lips, she stood, and walked out of the alleyway, into the busy crowd.

A figure walked in the darker parts of Midgar. It was the figure of a female.

The figure wore a hooded jacket, wearing the hood pulled up so it covered half of her face. A few strands of black hair hung out from beneath it. She walked through the streets, barely being noticed by anyone, to the nearby train station. She was supposed to wait for someone-a group of people-there.

The dark made it nearly impossible for anyone to notice the large sword on her back. If it where a more lit up area, it would be obvious to see, but as she was in near-pitch darkness, things where different, not to mention that people in completely covered by her jacket, with the sharp edge bumping against the back of her legs as she walked.

The train station was nearly empty, with a few members of Shirna's military police (MP) standing here and there.

The figure looked around. Was she supposed to take these guys out? She didn't know. She would wait until she was told to. If she got in trouble, she wouldn't care. Nothing like that bothered her. It never had.

"What are you here for?" one of the MPs spoke, his voice in a deep growl.

"Definitely not waiting for a train," the figure whispered the words quietly under her breath, so that he wouldn't hear her.

"Repeat that?"

"Just passing through."

"There are no trains scheduled to come through here tonight," he said, barely giving her time to finish speaking. "If you wanted to get on a train, you should have come at eight thirty."

The figure stared off into the distance, not answering.

"I'm not coming for a train," she said finally (even though it wasn't necessary the truth). "I don't have a ticket, anyway."

The MP opened his mouth to ask what she was doing there then, but he was interrupted by what sounded like the low rumble of a train on the tracks.

"What the hell?" he muttered aloud, looking at the figure again. She just smiled.

The train neared, the sound of the rumbling increasing more and more as it got closer. It slowed, but it didn't stop. The door was open.

The figure grinned. She was getting on that train.

She remembered talking on the phone earlier, when she was told that the train wasn't going to stop.

"We don't have the time," the man's voice had said through the phone. "Barrett says that we need to get to the Reactor as soon as possible. It's not stopping for the other new member, either."

"It's fine," she had said back. "I can just jump on."

And that was exactly what she was going to do. She took a few steps forward, and readied her position. she had jumped on and off of many things in her lifetime; this would be a .

"What are you doing!?" the MP bellowed, beginning to approach her. She didn't panic. She gave him one last glance, then jumped. He tried to grab the back of her jacket, but missed by a hair.

As she jumped, the hood fell off from her head, exposing her long, black hair, her entire face, and her very bright blue eyes.

She gripped the handle of the train, both of her feat hitting the train's floor. She lost her footing for a second, gripped the handle tighter, then managed to catch her balance.

Her eyes glowed faintly as she swung out of the train, letting one foot hang off the side, holding onto the handle so she didn't fall. She smiled mockingly at the MP as the train drove away. His look of angry bewilderment was the last thing she saw of him as the train turned a corner.

"Get all the way in the train, or you'll fall."

The girl turned around to face the person who spoke to her. His voice was that of the man who spoke on the phone with her just hours before. His hair was black, and pulled back by a red bandanna.

He was somewhat appealing to the eye, but not someone she would choose as a lover by appearance. Not that she'd choose anyone as a lover in general, let alone by appearance.

"That was amazing!" he exclaimed.

"Not really," the girl replied, amused that he was impressed just by her jumping onto a moving train. "It's not that hard."

"Well, yeah, not for you."

"Not for anybody," she chuckled. He rolled his eyes.

"What's your name?" he asked her, putting out his hand.

"I'm Riley," the girl replied, taking his hand, and shaking it. "You?"

"The name's Biggs. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too."

Riley smiled.

A deep voice called from the front of the train, "Get ready, we're almost there."

Biggs furrowed his brow. "What about the other member?" he wonderedl

"Was he a SOLDIER-it is a he, right?" Riley asked.

"Yeah, he was," Biggs replied, scratching the back of his head.

There was a thump, like the sound of something hitting the roof of the train. Riley understood immediately.

"I'm guessing that's the other member," she said. "SOLDIER members often jump onto the top of trains like that. Missions and stuff."

Biggs nodded. Someone else entered the compartment.

"So, that was one of the new members..." he muttered, "is the other one here?"

"She's here."

Riley looked at the man who had just entered. He was... chubby, to say the least. He, like Biggs, wore a red bandana around his head, and olive green shorts. He looked timider and more anxious that Biggs did, maybe even more cautious. Riley smiled.

"Riley, that's Wedge," Biggs introduced as the chubby man made his way over.

"Biggs," he replied, "I can introduce myself..."

"Yeah, but you didn't," Biggs answered. "So I did, for you! Riley laughed. "Nice to meet you, Wedge."

"Nice to meet you too," he replied softly.

Riley noticed as the train began to skid to a stop. She smiled to herself, and unzipped her jacket. She took it off and let it drop to the floor as she took the sword off a magnet on her back. She held it in one hand, before slipping her arms through the sleeves of her jacket, leaving it unzipped.

The clothes she wore under the jacket where all dark purple. She wore suspenders, which actually looked good with the rest of the outfit, that held the magnet on her back in place, and bore a symbol that represented a segment in Shinra.

You used to be in SOLDIER, right?" Biggs asked, looking up at Riley's bright blue eyes, then down at her indigo clothing and the symbol.

"Yeah," Riley chuckled, "1st Class. Did someone tell you? Or was it obvious?"

Riley had Mako eyes, SOLDIER's signature trait. It wasn't every day you saw someone with eyes like hers. The Mako that was infused into her blood, making her stronger, faster, and more enduring towards wounds, had changed her once green eyes to the bright blue ones she had now.

"Barrett told me," Biggs replied. "He said that both of the new members are former SOILDER."

"He was right."

Biggs tilted his head slightly.

"Wait," he said. "You were in SOILDER... but your a girl?" Riley sighed deeply.

"I was, yes," she said. "I was the only girl I saw there, too. It's like there's some law that girls can't be in SOILDER. But I still got in."

"That would mean you're pretty strong, right?"

Riley chuckled again. "I guess you could say that," she said.

SOLDIER had been Shinra's army of super-human warriors that fought to protect and achieve the companies goals. Made up of mostly men, the army was known throughout the world as the strongest group of people alive, and a lot of members were called heroes.

Riley and one of her childhood friends had wanted to become SOLDIER for as long as Riley could. They wanted to be heroes, and wanted people to know them for risking their lives for the sake of others.

Her friend wanted to be famous, and though he probably had a secondary reason behind it that he didn't realize, Riley knew that she had another reason to become a SOLDIER. Growing up, she learned what it was like to lose people you love very much. She realized that, if she became a hero, she could save people so other's wouldn't have to go through the same kind of pain.

She didn't fully understand what SOLDIER was back then, but was ready to do all she could to become a part of it.

A lot of people told her that girls couldn't become SOLDIER. Though the company never said so themselves, there was like an unspoken rule that women would not be accepted. Riley didn't give a shit. She was going to join, and no one was going to stop her.

She made it in.

She really wished that she hadn't.