Prologue

Dawn was approaching the people of Midgar symbolizing the beginning of a brand new day. Children were beginning to rise from there slumbers destined to for another day at school. As for Cloud, it was another day at work. Delivery requests were starting to pile up and he always wondered when he would be able to see the top of his desk again. Even the picture of Tifa, Denzel, and Marlene was unable to be seen. Of course there was always an up side to this. At least he knew that he'd always have enough money to support his "family".

Cloud awoke to the annoying chimes of his alarm clock letting him know that he had to get up for his delivery to Gongaga. He never was really fond of the place. Not that it was any kind of grudge; he just didn't want to run into Zack's parents again. He could never find the courage to tell them that their son died trying to gain freedom from the company that he so long supported, and saving Cloud as well. It never seemed right that Zack had to die in such a way, and that He was unable to save Zack or at least help him. Cloud felt that he could never repay him for his sacrifice.

Finally after lying in bed for another five minutes. Cloud decided that he should start is day. With much resistance from his tired body, he rose out of bed and headed to the shower. The instant surge of cold water made him want to yell, luckily years of harsher environments kept him from doing so. Soon the water heated up and his shower continued. Afterwards he quickly got out of the shower, dried off, and got dressed then continued on his way downstairs. Instantly the smell of Tifa's cooking hit him. He loved the smell of her cooking. It was always a pleasure to be around. No wonder the bar was always popular. He was sure that people from all over the planet would show up just for her cooking. Of course the thought of Tifa being alone with all those lecherous men didn't sit well with him, but then again Tifa could handle herself.

As Cloud made his way to the kitchen area he couldn't help but grab Tifa's attention. "Hey there sleepy. You hungry?" Tifa asked with a smile.

"Of course." He replied with a smirk as he sat at the bar. Of course it wasn't long until Marlene came running down the stairs and up to Cloud. She didn't look to happy.

"Cloud, is it true your leaving again?" Marlene asked.

"Yes, unfortunately" Cloud answered with a sigh. This didn't help the expression of Marlene's face.

"But you just got back. It's no fair! We want time with you too." Marlene wasn't too happy at all. Cloud looked back at his plate. His appetite wasn't all the potent anymore. He really never like leaving Marlene, Tifa, and Denzel but it was his job. He just wished that they would understand that. Quickly he looked up at Tifa as if to request some kind of help only to find her giving him that look which said 'You're on your own on this one pal!'. He looked back at Marlene who was just looking up at him waiting for some kind of response.

"I'm sorry Marlene, but I have a job to do. I don't expect you to understand yet what that really means but just know that I do this because I care about you and Denzel…" he paused. "…And Tifa." Now that he no longer held an appetite, Cloud got up from his seat and began his preparations for his trip. Tifa watched him go about his business, and then noticed that he didn't even touch his plate.

"Cloud!" she called to get his attention. "Don't you think eating would be a benefit for your long trip to Gongaga?" Cloud turned and looked at his plate, the food was still steaming. He knew that if he refused Tifa would be offended. So he walked over to his plate and began eating, which seemed to appease Tifa.

Soon after he began his final preparations for his trip. While he was prepping his motorcycle for the trip, a black cat, with a white right paw, that was crossing the street caught his attention. "Never seen that cat around here before." He said to himself as a turned his attention back to his bike. 'There, all set. Shouldn't take me longer than a week and a half. I'll be home before I know it.' Cloud thought as he re-entered the bar. As he stood in the entrance way he gave a quick look back at his bike as if the check for something he missed. Again he noticed a black cat, with a white right paw, crossing the street again as if to perfectly mimic its prior actions. 'What in the world' he thought. 'That couldn't have been the same cat… could it?'

He quickly shook the thought from his head and headed back inside. Immediately he was caught by the site inside the bar. There was no one there. It looked completely deserted. Finally Marlene came out from behind the bar and smiled up a cloud. "Hey Cloud, I think Denzel wants to say goodbye."

"Well, where is he?" Cloud asked.

"He's up in his room. You better go talk with him." She answered

Cloud made his way to Denzel's room. He wasn't very surprised to find him sitting on his bed with his head hung. "Denzel. Is it alright if I come in?" Cloud asked. Denzel nodded and cloud walked into the young boy's room.

"So, you're leaving again, right Cloud?" Denzel asked with a saddened voice.

"Ya." Cloud replied.

"You going to be gone long?" The young boy questioned.

"Only a week. I'll be back soon." Cloud tried to make it sound not all that bad.

"Promise?" Denzel looked up.

"Promise." Cloud agreed with a nod. Denzel seemed to have brightened up a bit. Over the short time that Tifa and him have been looking after Denzel gave Denzel the feelings of having an actual father and mother in his life. Of course he knew that Cloud and Tifa were only friends, he just couldn't help but feel that way.

With that matter having been taken care of Cloud headed back downstairs to find himself shocked. Sitting on the couch wearing her old outfit was Tifa. He hasn't seen her in her white tang top and black mini skirt in a long time. She refused to wear such an outfit after her and Cloud decided to take care of the orphans. She thought the outfit was great for business but not for children to look up to. Cloud agreed with her decision to wear more discreet clothing, but it brought back memories of their adventures together. "Hey Tifa. What's the occasion?" Cloud asked.

"Cloud I have something to tell you." She stated.

"What is it?" He asked now concerned.

"…" Tifa sighed in frustration. "I should just come out and say it. Aerith would be able to say it."

"Say what? What are you talking about?" Cloud asked.

"Cloud… I…I…" Tifa looked like she was having trouble getting herself to say what she wanted. Unfortunately something must have grabbed her attention as she stood up and walked into the other room.

"What's with everyone today?" Cloud asked himself. "Tifa what was it you wanted to…say?" Cloud tried to follow Tifa into the other room just to find that the room was empty. "What? Tifa! Where are you?" This was getting a little too weird for Cloud. He quickly exited the bar and made his way to his motorcycle. It didn't take long for him to notice that the sky had changed from its normal appearance to having digital scan lines running along it. He had never seen anything like it.

Not knowing what was going on, Cloud instinctively grabbed his trusty sword and assumed his traditional battle stance. He waited, concentrating all of his senses in order to prevent a surprise attack from any direction. But nothing could have prepared him for what was about to happen.

Chapter 1

Cloud could not believe the events that were taking place in front of him. It could only be explained as if the world was being dissolved. Trees, birds, buildings, and even people were being turned to what looked like tiny pixels. There was no stopping it. It seemed as if everything was being deleted from existence, even the bar didn't survive. "TIFA!" Cloud screamed scanning the horizon for any sign of her. There was none. "MARLENE, DENZEL!" He desperately tried to find them only to come up empty handed.

There was only one thing that Cloud could do to try and save himself, run. He didn't know where he was running; only that he had to run. He ran past trees and road signs just as they were disappearing into nothing-ness. He knew that he wasn't going to be able to run forever. He could even feel the sword on his back dissolve. 'I got to keep running. If I die, I can't save Tifa and everyone else.' He thought as he pushed himself harder. Unfortunalty for him, the ground underneath him had other ideas and disappeared into nothingness.

Cloud was finally beginning to feel all hope leave him as he plummeted into the dark abyss. Minutes turned to hours as he continued his decent deeper into nothingness. There was no light, no scent, no noise; this place was void to all his senses except touch. He could feel. He felt light. He couldn't describe it. It was as if he was floating. Cloud went to scratch the back of his head to express his confusion. What he felt almost terrified him. It was some sort of helmet. As he continued his investigation he discovered that the "helmet" was the whole way around his head. Quickly he tried to remove it. With a little bit of effort he undid all the buckles and clasps that bound the "helmet" to his head. Slowly he removed the helmet to find himself in a tube, much like the one he was confined to back in Nibelhiem. The room however was different. It was a dimly lit room which was full of computer and monitors. The room only brightened briefly do to the flashing of a red light on the wall.

I wasn't very hard to come to the conclusion that where ever he was, something had happened. Cloud decided that this would be the most opportune time to escape, using the alarm as a distraction. So he began to punch the glass repeatedly, punching harder and harder each time till finally the glass gave way and Cloud fell to the open floor. With the cool air of the building all around his body began to make him realize he was indeed naked. Quickly He searched the room in hopes of finding something to hide his nakedness only to come up with nothing. "You got to be kidding me." He said in frustration. Suddenly Cloud could hear people shuffling outside the room. He listened closely so that he might find out what was going on.

"I must check on my experiment!" came the voice of an older gentleman.

"This hallway is secured. No unauthorized personnel are allowed entrance any further. Now move along." The voice seemed to belong to a guard.

"Great, guards are covering this floor. That's going to make things more difficult." Cloud sighed. He needed to find a place to hide. Unfortunately there was nothing. The room offered no cover what so ever.

"I'm telling you, I have authorization. You see my card. I'm Professor Gast. That is my lab. Now please move so I can check on my specimen." The gentlemen, now known as Professor Gast, protested.

"Professor Gast? Isn't he dead?" Cloud was confused by what he just heard, but he still needed a place to hide. He continued his search.

"Oh! My apologize Professor, sure go right on in." The guard said.

"Shit!" Cloud's time was running out. He needed to hide NOW. It was then that he noticed a vent in the ceiling. It was his only escape.

"Thank you, have a good day." Professor Gast said as he walked into the room. It didn't take long before he noticed that Cloud was no longer in confinement or the room for that matter. Professor Gast looked around the room to make sure that Cloud wasn't in the room. Then he made his way calmly to the door opening it slightly. "Everything is alright here, you may go" he said to the guard and closed the door. "Cloud, you may come out now. Hiding in the vent isn't going to help you when we know where you are."

Cloud slowly opened the vent and hopped down to find Professor Gast handing him a scientist's outfit. Cloud took it without a word and quickly got dressed. He was surprised to find the outfit pretty comfortable.

"Now before you start asking questions, no, I'm not dead. Probably wondering how I knew. Well it's simple really. Follow me." Gast started walking to a computer. "Cloud do you know what this is?"

"A computer?" Cloud answered to find Professor Gast chuckling.

"True, very true. This is not only just a computer. It is…well how would you say it? Your life. This machine has recorded every action, every thought, every moment of your life."

"What do you mean?" Cloud Questioned.

"Well… how do I put this in understandable words? Hmmm. Well, you've been living a so called lie. You see, This has simulated a alternate existance for 24 year of your life. Events from toddeler to adult. Every battle, every victory, every defeat. For years and years, Simulating and recording. Never resting because time never stops." Gast explained.

"You mean… everything I went through in there never happened? Why? Why would you do that to someone?" Cloud asked.

"To create the ultimate SOLDIER. Cloud, you are SOLDIER. You were chosen at birth to go through this experiment started by Professor Hojo…" Gast answered.

"Hojo!!" Cloud was getting angry.

"Your anger comes as no surprise. The program was built to simulate everyone's data flawlessly. So, the Hojo in there is just like the one out here." Gast explained again.

"Everyone?" Cloud questioned.

"Indeed, Everyone. The simulation was to show what would happen if you were left in Nibelhiem to grow up. Of course "we" programmed certain events into the simulator to test your progress. We needed to see how you would react to high stress situations and I must admit it was more than we have hoped." Professor Gast praised.

"How? What about Tifa, Marlene, and Denzel? Are they, fake?" Cloud was fighting back his sorrow.

"No no no no no, they are real people." Gast reassured him.

"But how? Did they volunteer for this or…?" Cloud was more confused than ever.

"The Turks are able to get intelligence on anyone at any time with pin point accuracy. It's their job. So no worries. The world is almost as you left it. Shinra in still intact. There was no meteor, or weapon attacks. Sephiroth is still with Shinra and no there are no Jenova cells. There was no war with Wutai. Minor disagreements here or there but nothing outrageous." Gast explained.

"Were is Tifa?" Cloud asked.

"Why would it matter? She wouldn't know who you are anyways. No one knows you exist." Gast retorted. "Now, there isn't much time. In all honesty… well, were under attack as it is. The building has lost most of its power. The power loss is what made you alternate reality shut down and freeing you from that…"

"Prison?" Cloud interrupted.

"I guess you could call it that. Now, let's get you somewhere until the computer is back up and running. Then we can reinsert you into the computer to continue your training." Gast insisted.

Cloud stopped dead in his tracks and just stared at Professor Gast for a moment. "You mean you want me to go back into that thing?" Cloud asked.

"Well of course, your training isn't complete. We still need more data." Gast said non-chalantly.

"I'm not going back." Cloud protested.

"I didn't think you would be so keen on the whole idea. That why I brought this." Professor Gast turned swiftly to reveal a mako enhanced pistol. "Now Cloud, do be a good boy and come peacefully."

Cloud was at first caught off guard by this sudden turn of events. The Professor Gast he knew only from videos was a kind father and an ethical scientist. Not this monster in front of him. Cloud needed to think of some way to get that gun off of him. Cloud began searching the weapon for some kind of flaw he could calculate into some form of strategy that would aid in his escape. It wasn't long until he noticed a gigantic error that would undoubtedly cost Gast greatly; the safety was on. Using this advantage immediately, Cloud rushed at Gast. Professor Gast, in reaction to the attack, pulled the trigger only to find the gun still at peace.

"Shit!" Was the only word Gast could get out before having repeated blows landing on his face and stomach. To say the least Professor Gast was unconscious. Cloud grabbed the pistol and hid it behind his lab coat. Cloud was about to leave when suddenly he began to think back to his life in the computer. For a moment he actually wanted to go back. He had friends there, a so called family, and unknown to everyone… he was going to asked Tifa to be his wife when he got back from Gongaga. He quickly pushed that thought out of his mind, sure it had its allure but it wasn't real.

'So, if that world was made to be exactly like this one I'm going to need a key card to get down to the first floor.' Cloud thought. 'Gast should have one.'

Cloud turned back to Gast and searched him for a key card. As he suspected he had a level 30 key. This told cloud that there were at least 30 floors to this building. All he needed now was a plan to escape.