Hi guys. This is something that I've been wanting to write for awhile, so I don't how it's going to turn out exactly. But it's basically the story of FF7 (with the exceptions of a few changed up dialogues and sequences), with Zack and my OC. If it goes well, I might actually continue this to the end. IF not...then whatever. I'll at least try.
Anyways, I don't own anything here except for the story and my OC. Everything else belongs to Square Enix. Please review, like and enjoy!
Disc 1 (Midgar): Avalanche Begins
Barret, Biggs, Wedge, Jessie, and Cloud split up and ran in separate directions after the explosion of the mako reactor. Cloud cried hastily after Barret, demanding for his money. But Barret just told him to wait until they got back to their base in Sector 7 of the Slums.
Frustrated, the ex-SOLDIER first class ran up the stairs and after the rest of the Avalanche gang.
In the streets of Midgar, people ran about, frantic about the explosion that just happened. Everyone was in such a panic that nobody bothered to see a nearby young woman in a long pink dress holding a basket of flowers was accidentally knocked over by the crowd of people.
Cloud was however, was nice enough to stop and give her a hand.
He gazed at the colourful blossoms in the girl's basket, "Those are nice flowers. You don't see a lot of flowers here in Midgar."
He admired as he looked at the flower girl's basket.
The flower girl smiled brightly and quickly took out one.
"Oh do you like them? They only cost one gil," she explained.
Cloud searched his back pocket for some gil and handed it over to the flower girl. She gave him another smile.
"Thank you so much," she replied before leaving the area.
Cloud followed after her until he reached the next street and ran across the entire sector towards the train station.
In Sector 2 of Midgar, next to mako reactor 1, a young woman frantically tries to look for a way through the large panicked crowd of people.
She carried her young daughter close to her body, as she looks around for any way out of the sector. Her daughter looks to her in curiosity.
"Mama, where are we going?" She asked innocently.
The young woman looked down to her daughter and smiled, trying to stay calm.
"We're going to um...somewhere we belong, Allie dear."
She said as she ran through openings between the crowd, and avoided any contact with the nearby infantrymen who had come to inspect the explosion.
Not liking the answer she was given, Allie asked her mother again.
"And where is that?" She asked.
This time, the young woman didn't look at her daughter. Instead, she looked to the distance. There was an opening among the crowd of people. From there, she could see the exit out of this sector.
As she stared, she answered her daughter's question.
"Somewhere Allie...somewhere that mommy remembers."
Cloud jumps onto the train that just came out of the tunnel to avoid a potential confrontation with the ShinRa infantrymen he just bumped into.
Perfect timing.
He thought as he landed on the roof of the train, which then disappeared down the tunnel that leads down to the slums.
Inside the caboose of the train, the four Avalanche members stood in their own little space. They thought about what they had just done, and what had happened to that blonde haired mercenary they had just hired to help them do this job.
The young man with the bandanna, Biggs, started the conversation.
"That Cloud...do you think he made it?" He asked with some concern.
The large dark skinned man with a gun that replaced his right arm, Barret, gave him a glare and grunt.
"Heh. Why should I care? I ain't in charge of anybody that I deem not worthy of me being in charge of."
He hit the nearby crate he's leaning upon. Biggs' cousin, Jessie and the plump young man, Wedge, near her, both lower their heads and sigh.
"Cloud..." Jessie quietly mumbled.
Just then, some footsteps was heard above their heads. The next thing that happened was the door to the caboose being forced open and the blonde young man that was just being talked about somersaulted his way in.
All four people inside gasped upon sight of Cloud.
Barret however, walked over to the man and scowled at him.
"Whatcha think you're doing? Just come waltzin' in here and making a big scene."
He glared at the blonde mercenary. Cloud just shrugged his shoulders.
"Whatever. Just what I always do," he replied, clearly undeterred by Barret's method of intimidation.
Barret shook his head in annoyance at the blonde's cocky attitude. He then walked over to the door that connected the caboose to the main train before them.
Turning around to the company, he told them to hurry up as he jumped across the gap that separated the caboose from the last train cart.
One by one, each member of Avalanche took their turn and jumped into the train car in front of them.
Biggs went first and gave Cloud a smile before jumping.
"Hey. I'm glad that you're alive blondie. Hope you'll be a regular member soon."
Wedge went next, also giving a Cloud something nice to say.
"Thanks for helping us out today. Even if Barret doesn't agree, I think you're a pretty trustworthy guy." He said.
Jessie is the last one left in the caboose with Cloud. She went over the opened door of the train and immediately closed it. Then she walked up to Cloud, closely inspecting him.
"Oh Cloud, you got soot all over your face."
She took out an old rag to wipe away most of the soot and debris away from the young man's face. She put away the rag and went up to the door that exits the caboose. Then she suddenly turned around and flashed a grateful smile.
"Oh and hey Cloud...thanks for helping me back there, when I was stuck. I really appreciate it."
Cloud gave her a shrug and nod in return. Jessie accepts that and turns around, jumping to the next car.
Finally, Cloud moves on and joins the rest of his teammates in the train car in front of him.
The young woman from Sector 2 has managed to make it past the crowd of people and towards the train station just in time.
The last train was about to depart from the area and onto the next few sectors before making its way down to the slums below the large city in the sky.
She is standing near the map of the Midgar railway system, holding her sleeping daughter close to her and gently rocking her back and forth.
She brushed a few strands of her daughter's blonde hair out of her face. The colour greatly contrasted against the woman's own dark brown hair.
A thousand thoughts and questions races through her head as she gazes at her daughter's peaceful, sleeping face.
"Sigh. I'm so sorry Allie. I wish I knew more. But I'm just as new to this world as you are. I don't even know where to start," she quietly says to herself.
The young woman looks to the railway system, then to the map of the Midgar slums on the wall. She looks at the map's legend, searching for any hospitable places to stay at tonight.
She scanned across the map, "Lets see now...um...there doesn't seem to be much places down there huh?"
Looking around her, she sees a middle-aged man in a large suit reading a newspaper standing nearby. She turns to him.
"Uh, excuse me, sir?" She asked politely.
The man lowered his newspaper a bit to see the face of the young woman who just spoke to him.
"Well, hello there miss. Is there anything I can do for you?" He asked, rather flamboyantly.
The young woman nodded and looked towards the map of the slums.
"Um yes. I was um, wondering if there's any good inns nearby that costs less than...maybe 20 gil? You see, I need a place for my little girl here," she explained, gesturing to little Allie all bundled up with an oversized jacket in her arms.
The man raised an eyebrow.
"Eh? A bit young for a mother, I'll say...no offense or anything. Anyways, there aren't actually any good places to stay the night. You can sleep 'most anywhere, if you can pay for it. But I doubt you'd want your daughter anywhere near those areas."
The young woman looked a bit exasperated. Clearly, this man was more interested in just talking, than actually providing good aid.
"Alright, I get it. Can you at least tell me which places would be the most available?" She asked.
The man shook his head and rubbed his eyes, as if this conversation was starting to bore him.
He sighed, "Listen lady, I ain't wasting my time with some banged up college girl who made some bad choices in her life. But since you don't seem to be from around here, I'll tell you that your best bet is anyplace within Sector 7. That's all."
With that, the man returned to reading his newspaper as red lights suddenly started flashing. The young woman panicked as she looked around.
"What's going on?"
The man smirked, "Whoa, you really aren't from around here! This is just a security check area, don't sweat it unless you're someone who's got a large criminal record on ShinRa."
Suddenly, the lights stopped flashing and everything went back to normal. The young woman returns the man's previous smirk.
"Well, looks like I'm not a crook after all."
In a large run down wooden house in Sector 4 of the slums, a young man with spiky black hair wakes up from his long nap. The door to his bedroom open and in walked an old man healer. He went up next to the bed.
"How are you feeling today Zack?" He asked as he helped Zack get off the bed.
He held out a large black sweatshirt for Zack to put on. The young man with spiky black hair grinned from ear to ear.
"Feeling much better, thanks to you Mr. Ichus. Really."
He got up from the bed and walked to an open area in the bedroom. Letting out a soft sigh, Zack bent down to do a few squats, but immediately fell to his bottom from a shock of pain in his abdomen.
Mr. Ichus reacted quickly and caught Zack before his whole body hit the ground.
The elder man scolded the ex-SOLDIER, "What have I told you? Don't put so much pressure on your core. Wait a few weeks or even months for those wounds to heal alright? You're lucky that I've found you on my way back from Kalm. You were half-dead, young man. You had all those bullets in your chest."
Zack shudders at the memory of his final fight with the ShinRa army. He shook his head and looked to the ground, trying to forget about what happened that day.
The day he almost died...but he didn't.
He muttered under his breath, "I was so close. Midgar was right in front of me. I could've felt the freedom I was going to get. But then I let it slip out of my grip...I almost lost that day. Almost."
Zack slowly began to stand up from the ground, groaning a bit from the pain in his abdomen. Mr. Ichus quickly went over to fetch the SOLDIER first class uniform he stitched up for Zack.
The black piece of clothing almost looked perfectly perfect again. It was like as if the ShinRa army never attacked Zack in the first place!
But no matter how many stitches Mr. Ichus used to fix the uniform, it will never erase the fact that it went through hell and back. Same goes for the wearer of the uniform.
Mr. Ichus handed Zack his old clothing, "Here's your uniform. But before I give it to you, I want to ask something. Why did you come back to Midgar? You knew that you and your unconscious friend, Cloud was it? Were wanted dead by ShinRa. Yet you came home anyways. Why?"
Zack smiled as he took the uniform from Mr. Ichus and went over to the nearby stalls to change into it. He easily slipped out of his soft night clothes, borrowed from Mr. Ichus, and into his ShinRa issue SOLDIER first class uniform.
Zack closed his eyes to reflect on the events that happened to him ever since he began wearing this uniform.
He then answered Mr. Ichus's question, "Because. Because there's someone here, waiting for me."
Zack emerged from the stalls, all dressed and looking perfectly healthy. Apart from the bandages that covered his chest and stomach underneath his clothes, Zack looked like he has never been in a fight for the past couple of weeks.
"She's been waiting for four years for me to come home. And here I am."
Zack reached over to grab the sword Mr. Ichus decided to let him have after he gave up his buster sword to Cloud, when he was on the brink of death. The sword was long and beautifully curved with a strong handle to prevent any slips.
Zack wondered how on gaia did Mr. Ichus get such a sword, as he attached onto his back. Turning one last time to Mr. Ichus, he gave him a friendly grin.
"Mr. Ichus, I don't know how to say this, I mean, you saved my life. You saved me from what could've been the end of my story. But now, I'm going to have to keep on living. Yep, and facing the everyday fear of dying again. So I don't know whether to thank you, or to hit you.
But...it's because of you...that I get a second chance to make everything in my life right...so, I'll see you later. And thank you."
Zack meant it. Every single word he said.
Mr. Ichus nodded at the young man who's been living with him for about a week or so.
"You go young man, I shall give you the best of my wishes. If I believe in them that is."
At Tifa's bar, the members of the Avalanche bomb mission met together down in the underground base for a group meeting. Cloud stayed on the ground floor for a while with Tifa, the kind, strong, and beautiful bartender of Seventh Heaven and his childhood friend.
It was because of Tifa, that Cloud joined this little gang of eco-terrorists. Cloud gave the flower that he bought from the flower girl he met up on the plate to Tifa.
"Oh thank you Cloud," she gushed. "It smells wonderful, maybe I should fill the whole place with flowers."
Cloud nodded at her, glad to see a familiar face around these parts.
Tifa then encourages him to go down to the meeting with Barret and the others as she quickly cleans up the bar and washes away all the glasses and other utensils with the help of Marlene, Barret's young adoptive daughter.
Down in the basement, Cloud and Barret gets into a little tiff between Cloud's loyalties for either Avalanche or ShinRa. Actually, it wasn't a little tiff, but a rather big one. Barret nearly charged head on at Cloud. Lukcily, Biggs managed to hold the man back.
Cloud was about to storm away when Tifa suddenly comes down to cool the argument.
"Wait Cloud! Please don't go!" She cried.
"Let him go, Tifa! Looks like he still misses ShinRa!" Barret spat.
Cloud turned around to glare at the leader of Avlanche. His mako eyes shone brilliantly.
"Shut up! I don't care for ShinRa. But don't get me wrong, I don't care about Avalanche or saving the Planet for that matter! Goodbye!"
With that, Cloud went back upstairs with Tifa running right behind him. On the first floor, he was about to go out the door when Tifa stops him.
"Cloud wait! I want to tell you something. Join our fight. The Planet is dying. Slowly yeah, but surely. We can make a difference by fighting back against ShinRa!" She begged desperately.
Cloud sighed and just shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Tifa. But it just ain't my style. Now, I'm sure you'll find a better candidate than I can ever be. You don't need someone like me on the team."
Cloud turns around and attempts to leave again. But Tifa immediately stomps her foot to regain his attention and shouts after him.
"Is this how you're going to be like? Just walk out there, ignoring your childhood friend?"
That got Cloud's attention.
"How can you say something like?" He asked incredulously.
Tifa softens her tone, putting her hands behind her back.
"You forgot the promise too. Didn't you?" She asked.
Cloud shook his head.
"No, I never did. I promised to become a hero and rescue you when you're in trouble. But I can't do that, I never became one," he said.
Tifa gently reached to him, a sympathetic look on her face.
"But you got your childhood dream right? You joined SOLDIER."
She smiled warmly at him. Cloud smiled back at her. She was always so good at finding the right things to say to him.
"Yeah, you're right..." he replied.
Tifa nodded at him.
"Alright. Now go back down there and apologize to everyone for me ok? I'll finish cleaning up here."
Cloud immediately walked back down, a bit reluctantly, but he did it anyway. Tifa laughed to herself as she remembers the many times that Cloud would get into fights back when they were children at Niblheim.
"Sigh. Same old Cloud. Just different...not that it makes sense or anything."
She wiped the round table near the window with a large gray cloth. Marlene is busy behind the bar, dusting the floors and making sure all the glasses are all in the right places.
Tifa smiled at how cute Marlene looked when she tries to help do adult chores.
Suddenly, she hears the sound of a young girl crying outside of the bar and looks through the window to see the silhouette of two figures standing on the ground outside of Seventh Heaven. Concerned, Tifa puts down the cloth and walks outside to see what's going on.
"Hello? Is everything alright here?" She asked as she walked up to the source of the sound.
Standing before Tifa was a young woman who looked like she was about in her early twenties. She wore a deep magenta sleeveless kimono that goes down to her knees and has matching arm sleeves. The woman had deep brown hair tied into a messy updo with loose strands of hair framing a very attractive face, and a white headband with loose bows at either side of her head. In her arms is a crying young girl who had light blonde hair, but shared a similarity in terms of looks to the young woman.
The girl wore a light blue jumpsuit and large gray jacket. The woman rocked her gently and eventually, stopped the girl from crying altogether. Tifa stopped before the pair.
"Hello there. Is there anything I can do for you?" She asked kindly.
The young woman looked at Tifa with sad eyes.
"Oh, I'm sorry for causing a ruckus in this area. I just wanted to look for a place tonight to stay at," she explained.
Tifa smiled brightly, "Well, why don't you come with me! I mean, well, my bar isn't exactly an inn, but there's extra rooms and they're accommodating."
The young woman's face lit up.
"Oh thank you so much. And here I thought, that nobody was this kind. How much is it for the night?" She asked.
Tifa looked from the young woman to the litte girl in her arms.
"Nothing. It's for free. Don't worry about it," she assured.
Tifa assured as she led the pair into the bar, where the members of Avalanche returned to the first floor.
Barret and Cloud seemed to have gotten past their differences now, but as soon as they saw the young woman enter the bar with her sleeping daughter, they were in shock.
Tifa calmed everybody down and explained the situation to them.
"We need to be hospitable to those in need. Just please understand guys," she said.
Barret nodded in agreement.
"She has a little girl. It's completely understandable. You can stay for free."
The young woman shook her head.
"Oh no. Is there anything I can do to repay you guys? I mean if you're in a fight with anyone, I can help. My memory isn't the best right now, but I know for a fact that I'm formidable with all kinds of weaponry and hand-to-hand combat."
Barret raised a brow. He nodded and put a hand to his chin, genuinely considering that offer.
"Actually, that's not a bad idea. We'll inform you more of this later, but first thing's first. Introductions need to be said. I'm Barret Wallace, leader of Avalanche."
"Tifa Lockhart. I'm the owner of the Seventh Heaven."
"Biggs Trinity. I'm in charge of mission outlines."
"I'm his cousin, Jessie. I specialize in all sorts of technology."
"I'm just Wedge Kilo. I'm new."
"Cloud Strife. Ex-SOLDIER first class. I'm newer than Wedge."
The young woman beamed at the names of the people standing before her. This is it. This is a chance to find out about myself, with the help of others by my side.
"This here is my daughter, Allie. And me, well, I think...maybe...oh yeah. I'm Chorale."
So that's the first chapter. Like it? Hate it? If you have any suggestions, please say it. Other than that, I got a pretty good idea of where this story is heading. However, chapters will take me quite awhile to post due to me having to worry about high school and my piano lessons at the same time. But I will work on the story everyday. So next chapter won't be up until either next month or as far as the summer. And by the way for those of you who don't know how my OC's name is pronounced, it's like this: ke-ral.