"Valentine," President Rufus Shinra addressed the fidgety teen. "Relax."

"My apologies, President," the dark-haired teenager responded, anxiety evident in his words. "It's just, this is my first real mission."

"You'll do fine," Rufus remarked with stoic assuredness. "You come from a prestigious bloodline, and with your remarkable Mako and Jenova infusions, you're practically invincible."

The compliments from his superior seemed to ease the teen. "Thank you, President."

Rufus nodded solemnly. "Get going now."

The teen nodded and headed off.

--

"A briefing on the mission," a nasally pewter-eyed Turk began. "There's some terrorist group threatening Shinra. We're supposed to," the man made a gesture with his hand and fist, "ka-pow. Seems pretty lame to me, but hey, a job's a job." The man flicked back a chestnut bang.

The Turk lit up a cigarette, glancing at his assigned partner curiously. "Yo, kid, the name's Salem."

The addressed teen gave an acknowledging nod. "I'm Makoto."

"Makoto, eh? You're that little bigshot, huh, kiddo?" Salem gave a hoarse chuckle. "This your first time out?" At Makoto's nod, the Turk continued. "I heard some pretty wild tales about you. That you're wicked strong, especially for your age. How old are ya, kid?"

"I'm fourteen," Makoto responded a bit forcedly.

"Jesus Christ on a cracker, buddy. And hey, you're not looking too swell…" Salem noticed the green hue his comrade seemed to be turning.

"Mm… motion sickness…" Makoto answered a bit weakly. "Sorry to let you down, but I ain't no bigshot, just some lost little kid with unnatural capabilities."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, kid," Salem said with a drag on his cigarette. "You're a top rank Shinra employee, that oughtta mean somethin'."

Makoto snorted. "Employee…" he remarked with sarcastic disdain. "I was kidnapped from my hometown when I was five. They burned my hometown, Wutai, to the ground. Shinra has been raising me for the last nine years, trying to create some super-being they can control… I'm totally helpless to them. It seems they've finally decided they could let me out for a bit…" Makoto sighed in a defeated manner.

"That's some tough shit, kid. Wanna light?" The Turk offered the teen a cigarette. "It'll help the nerves."

"Sure," Makoto accepted, taking the stick, lighting it with a mumbled, "Fire."

"You're a pretty nifty kid, Makoto," Salem said with a grin. "I got a feeling we'll get along dandy."

--

The Turk and the teenager walked along the roads of Midgar.

"The terrorist group is reportedly along Midgar somewhere." Salem gave an almost pitying sigh. "When will all these retards learn? Ya can't beat Shinra. It's damn impossible."

"You don't sound too happy about the fact," Makoto observed keenly. "Hey, Salem, why are you with Shinra?"

Salem gave a reckless grin. "The money," he answered shortly. "Got to stay alive, right? I had the skills, decided to make them useful. I don't exactly agree with Shinra, but hey, they're keepin' me alive, so I can't complain much."

"I see," Makoto whispered softly.

"Ay, so the terrorists happen to be a lot of blond kids… some others, too. This whole deal seems like a load of BS to me, but Rufus finds it awfully important, so yea. It's the big cheese's opinion that counts, eh, buck-o?"

"SHINRA!" a young blond teen yelled, running to the two Shinra employees with a sword. "You bastards are going down!" He ran towards Makoto with his sword, the raven-haired teen dodging swiftly.

"I know you," Makoto spoke abruptly.

"Huh?" the blond attacker asked, dumbfounded. He dropped his weapon to the ground.

Salem tensed as if readying to attack. Makoto held up his arm to hold off the Turk.

"Zack. Zack Strife." Makoto looked to the other teen.

"I… I can't believe it! You're…" Zack's face drained of its color, he turning to Makoto.

"Makoto Valentine," the dark-haired boy finished.

"Makoto! No effing way! Vincent and Yuffie… your parents said you died! We all thought…we all thought we lost you, Makoto!"

"Tch," Makoto remarked with annoyance. "Died? How absurd. I… I can't die. I am the spawn of Chaos. I have Lifestream in my blood. My parents knows that. It's… their fault."

"Makoto," Zack spoke with a bit of forlornness. "They really love you."

"Sure," Makoto spat. He bore slight resentment towards his parents, for they allowed him to be taken captive and agonizingly tortured, passing it off as a cheap death.

The momentary silence was shattered by Makoto's commanding voice.

"Salem," Makoto spoke, "I'm not going back."

"I understand," Salem replied a bit nervously. "But… what am I to tell Rufus?"

"I…" Makoto was at a loss. "I just… decided not to return."

"Shit, kid!" Salem answered angrily. "I'm going to get killed."

It would've been of Makoto's nature to just shrug, but he was fond of Salem.

"You have to go back?" Makoto eyed the Turk curiously.

"No duh, kid!" Salem answered. "I'm an accomplished Turk, and whether this is the kind of work I want to do or not, hell, I'm actually accomplished at something for once! This is big to me, real big, sorry, buddy."

"I understand," Makoto replied softly. "But… I'm just not going back, so you're pretty SOL when it comes to the president, I assume."

"Yea," Salem replied, chuckling a bit. "Well, bye, Makoto. You're a real nice kid, maybe we'll meet up again."

"Yea," Makoto answered quietly. "Hey, wait, so what're you gonna do about the mission?"

"Hm," Salem answered thoughtfully. "Too tough. They gotcha. Major baddies."

"Sounds great… but will they come after us?" Makoto looked to Salem worriedly.

"Most likely. Seems like you'll be pretty SOL."

Makoto chortled. "Dude, you're great. I'll miss ya, buddy."

"Ditto, kid." And with that, the nasally, chestnut-haired, pewter-eyed Turk set off, leaving Makoto to attend a reunion of sorts.

--

"Makoto! Makoto, it's really you!" a young, blonde-haired girl exclaimed, running to tackle the boy.

"Hold up sis, don't break 'im," Zack joked.

"Hmph!" The girl stuck her tongue out at her brother, hugging Makoto. She soon focused all of her attention on Makoto, giving him the biggest eyes she could muster. "Are you okay, Makoto?"

"I'm… fine, Aeris. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you." Makoto sighed.

Aeris released the boy, noticing the pause before he replied with 'fine.'

"If you say so…" Aeris cast Makoto a worried look.

"Hey ya'll, we oughtta take Makoto to the hideout," Zack said.

"Who's all there?" Makoto inquired.

"Your parents, our parents, Barret, Marlene, Red XIII, Cait Sith, Cid, Shera, their kids Veronica and Erica, and… your little sister, Yuuki," Zack replied as casually as he could.

"Sister…?" Makoto gazed at the ground, suddenly nervous to return to his loved ones. There's so much I must've missed in the last nine years…

--

The Strife teenagers led him to the Seventh Heaven hideout, Makoto following behind them tentatively.

As Makoto walked into the hideout, a pair of stormy gray eyes snapped on him, followed by a gasp.

"MAKOTO!" the woman screamed, somewhat hysterically.

Makoto looked to the woman suddenly. "Mom?"

The woman rushed to Makoto, embracing him tightly.

"Oh my god… it's… my baby," Yuffie managed between sobs. "Makoto… it's you…"

"Yea mom, it's…" Makoto found it impossible to finish the sentence. He was overwhelmed by tears. "Momma… I've missed you so much."

Yuffie's scream had lured her husband into the room, he equally as shocked to see their supposedly dead son.

"Makoto…" Vincent uttered in disbelief. He embraced his son.

The still-sniffling Yuffie studied her child. He had certainly grown over the past nine years. He towered over her by a few good inches, and he was slim and slender. He wore black, tight-fitting attire plastered with the word "SHINRA" and a matching logo. He wore a red and black cape, the back adorned with the same Shinra logo. His chin-length hair was sleek and black. His eyes were a furious glowing garnet. The tell-tale sign of high levels of Mako exposure.

"Makoto!" Yuffie yelled. "Your eyes… they're…"

"Monstrous," the boy finished. "Nine years ago… the day of the fire… I was taken by Shinra."

Yuffie's tears began anew, and Vincent shook his head disgustedly.

"I was… experimented on. I've experienced lethal doses of Mako. They injected it into my blood every day. It was… agony. I also got Jenova treatment. I was infused with ghastly amounts of Jenova cells." Makoto took on a dark look. "Of course, I was not a blank tablet. My original sin of Mako and Jenova were strengthened. Shinra is still trying to create the perfect warrior. This time though, I believe it is merely superficial. They just want to see if they can do it. It is because of their selfishness and my weakness that I am a monster."

"You're not a monster." The solemn words left the lips of the former self-accused monster.

"It's those damn Shinra that are the monsters!" Yuffie cried.

"Thank you," Makoto replied softly. "And… Shinra will most definitely be looking for me. They will not let go of such a drain of money and resources."

"We'll beat them," Yuffie said with a determined look. "We will beat the bastards that took my baby."

A young girl of maybe six entered the room. She blinked her garnet eyes and asked, "Mommy? Daddy? Who's that?"

"Yuuki…" Yuffie began gently, quickly switching moods. "This is your big brother, Makoto."


Author's Note: This story just seemed to 'happen' and I was intrigued to where it was going. The story disregards Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus, perhaps my own little sequel to the acclaimed PlayStation RPG. It's terribly incomplete and confusing to even myself at times, but hopefully its continuation will reveal more. Anyway, thank you for taking your time to read this.

Emstarry