(Chapter 1. Alix)

I was on the back of Clouds motorcycle, Cloud had his cell phone shoved up to his ear. I could hear the sound of Barret shouting in his message. "Whaddup, fool! It's Barret. I am the man! Oil, Cloud! I just found the biggest damn oil field you've ever seen! Survey's done so. I should be to get out there and see Marlene soon. You let her know, all right, spiky?!" cloud sighed as the message moved to Tifa's voice

"Reno called again. He says to hurry and he sounded kind of strange. Be careful, okay? Cloud… how have u been" I smiled, then lightly tapped Cloud's shoulder

"Hey! When are you gonna tell Tifa about us…"

"You'll have to be a lot more selective on what to tell her, I don't know what you're talking about" cloud said, I could tell that he was smirking just by the tone in his voice.

"You know what I'm talking about!" I shouted as Cloud made the engine roar. He pointed to his ears.

"Can't hear you" he laughed as the motorcycle took off the mini sand Doon cliff we were on. Cloud squeezed on the gas, pushing us to a high speed. I was Clouds apprentice… Alix. I had short, shoulder length black hair, and pale blue eyes that sparkled like stars at night. I was wearing a black tank top, a cameo skirt that was just a little higher above my finger tips, and knee high black combat boots. I clung to Cloud as he drove us to the Healin Lodge. I had my ear pressed against the center of his back and I listened to his slow and steady heart beat. After about ten minutes of driving he slowed to a stop. I was the first to get off, he followed

"They have people waiting for you inside Cloud, they are gonna test you." I said calmly, I smiled at him, and he smiled back. He walked up the steps and as soon as he opened the door, a red haired man ran towards him and i, Cloud stepped aside and I did a back flip over him, when my head was at his I smiled and pushed him down the steps

"Bye bye handsome" I giggled as I landed and Cloud ran in and shut the door behind us. Cloud then grabbed a big black guys arm and flipped him onto his back.

"You should have known I would be too strong for you Hon!" I shouted through the door to the red haired man.

"His name is Reno" Cloud said "and this is rude" Cloud pointed to the black guy. I looked at him and he blushed

"Hiya Rude, I'm Alix" I smiled, reaching out and touching his hand, offering to help him up. He took my hand and kissed it then slowly got up.

"I'm Rude, pleased to meet you… Rufus…" he looked to the door that he had come through and a man in a wheel chair came in slowly.

"Good. You fight like the SOLDIER you once claimed to be. You haven't lost your touch." He was covered by a blanket, or a sheet, so I couldn't see if he was smiling, or showing any emotion at all.

"Rufus Shinra? Do I feel sorry for you." Cloud whispered almost so I could hear it, I walked to Cloud and held his hand.

" The day of the explosion..." Rufus began.

" What do you want from me?" Cloud asked quickly, cutting him off.

" I managed to get out..." He started again. I knew he was content on telling his story

" Who were the guys that followed me?" Cloud yelled. His hand tightened around mine as if he wasn't supposed to say that.

"What! We were being followed!" I yelled in panic, Cloud covered my mouth softly.

" Before it collapsed..." Rufus began his broken story again, though Cloud didn't care.

"We're leaving." Cloud snapped as he pulled me back to the door.

" We need your assistance, Cloud." Rufus begged, pleading for help.

" Not interested." Cloud said reaching for the door knob.

" I acknowledge that Shin-Ra ... owes the planet a lot. It goes without saying that my company and I are the ones that put the world in the sorry state it's in. Therefore, it's our responsibility to set things right." Rufus said quietly, in an emotionless tone.

"I'm still out here!" Reno yelled from outside. He looked through the window and winked at me, trying to get me to open the door.

"As a first step, we have commenced an investigation in Sephiroth's wake." Rufus mumbled quietly.

"Yep! In the Northern Cave!" Reno shouted again. "Come on, I want to talk to the pretty girl!" I giggled at Reno's words.

" What do you think we found? Nothing. Nothing at all. You can relax. However, not all went as planned. We were interrupted by the same three who followed you -- Kadaj and his gang." Rufus continued. When we're we followed. I don't ever remember being followed, I don't remember seeing anyone ether so who followed us… who was Kadaj.

"Kadaj..." Cloud whispered as he dropped my hand, I could tell that he was hurting

" It seems he doesn't want us finishing what we started. Really, what could they be thinking?" Rufus wondered to himself

" What does that have to do with me?" Cloud asked blankly, still thinking about the name.

"You're our buddy, aren't ya? And I'm sure if u can't kill him then the girl can make him fall in love ha-ha!" Reno boomed, it was like he was inside, but still he was just outside the window

"Kadaj and his group are young and violent -- as dangerous as they come. That's why we decided that it might be in our best to hire a little muscle." Rufus explain quickly.

"To bad. I'm only a delivery boy now." Cloud said

"But Cloud…" I whispered sadly, he can't be so cold hearted

"You're all we have. Cloud, look, you're an ex-SOLDIER, aren't you?" now he was messing with Clouds emotions. Cloud grabbed my hand again.

" But I..." Cloud hesitated… like he was in pain. I tightened my grip on his hand

"Come on, Cloud, think about it. Together we could rebuild Shin-Ra!" Reno shouted as loud as he could. Cloud looked a little angry as he pulled me through the door and past Reno

"Not interested." Cloud said one last and final time

" Reno!" Rufus and Rude yelled, he cringed a little. I could tell that Cloud had more of a chance of running into Sephiroth again than he did of helping them after what they had just said.