Chapter 1

A cold breeze blew through a train station. Two guards were on duty, bored out of their minds.

The taller of the two was practicing katas. He was an older guard, being aged around 40 years old. His head was a mess of grays. He wielded a long thin blade, and expertly swung, slicing down his imaginary opponents. His eyes were a deep shade of purple and through them you could see the wisdom the man possessed.

The other was a shorter and slimmer man. The soldier was still fairly young, no older than eighteen. He was sat on a chair, playing an Ocarina. His blond locks danced in the air as he played, swaying along with the wind. His eyes were held shut as he expertly blew a masterpiece. The song was a smooth melody, one that almost seemed magical.

It was just another day on the job, and nothing interesting seemed to be happening, as usual.

"This seems like the perfect day to train!" The taller soldier remarked. "Instead of playing music, you could attempt to master that new sword technique you've been practicing, Jin."

The smaller man snorted. "Listen, I've mastered that move ages ago. I just don't wanna waste it, not without a reason, Kenji." Jin then continued to play his instrument.

Kenji glared at his partner. He was tired of having young soldiers on his team, they would always complain rather than train.

He sighed as he ran a hand through his silver locks. This job was really getting stressful, maybe a retirement was in order.

Jin suddenly stopped playing his music and gazed at the train tracks. "Hey, Kenji?" The older man responded with a snort. "Is there supposed to be a train scheduled tonight?"

Kenji looked at the tracks, confused as he saw the lights getting brighter as the train moved closer to their location. "Not that I know of. Maybe boss has a guest coming? You know how he loves those tramps."

Jin rose to his feet and gripped his blade. His eyes never left the train as it slowed to a stop. The two men stared at the door for almost an entire minute.

"We're here!" They heard a burly voice yell, causing both men to jump. They were even more surprised as they saw two figures jump off, a male and a female.

The boy was slim with swept-back brown hair and a bandana tied round his forehead. He wore an olive shirt and green three-quarter trousers, brown boots with silver fasteners round the ankle, brown gloves, and two belts: one black and one brown, the latter of which has a pouch on his left hip. He quickly reached in the pouch and fetched twin knives, whilst grinning at the older guard.

The young woman had brown eyes and medium-length brown hair tied into a ponytail. She wears a blue top with metal armor and brown gloves, and knee-length green shorts. She carried a small sword in her hand and glared at the older adversary.

"Stand down, criminals!" Kenji said firmly as he gripped his own blade. Jin silently switched into a more comfortable position, prepared to parry at a moments notice.

"How about, no!" The male criminal responded as he dashed towards his opponent, with his ally following suit.

He swung low, and was impressed at the soldiers reaction time. He quickly parried the blade and countered with a side swipe, which was easily evaded. The two continued to slice and parry, neither getting the edge.

The younger soldier wasn't fairing as well. He never trained, so it was expected for him to be sloppy. He grimaced as his arm was cut by the quick female and quickly released his blade, causing it to clatter on the cement. He was quickly kicked in the back of the head, ending his consciousness.

"Jin?" Kenji said as he turned towards his ally.

"Gotcha!" Kenji froze as he felt two blades enter his midsection. He was then kicked forward, causing him to roll onto the train tracks.

"Nice job, Wedge and Jessie!"

"Can't get my hands dirty yet…" Cloud said to himself. He jumped off the train and the saw the buff figure of Barrett in front of him.

"C'mon newcomer. Follow me," Barrett yelled as he took off running ahead of the group.

"They are so inexperienced…" Cloud thought. He ran and took the two potions off of the first guard's belt. As he ran to the next one, two guards came around the corner. The first shot at him with a machine gun, but he put his massive sword in the way. The other ran and punched him. "Pathetic" He barely felt the hit. He ran and cut the first with his sword, an instant kill. The second tried to punch him again, but he stuck out his sword and killed him quickly.

He sheathed his large blade and searched their bodies and then took their money. He continued on to the next section and saw his group standing at a door. The outgoing Biggs looked at him in awe.

"Wow! You used to be in SOLDIER, huh? …Not everyday ya find one in a group like AVALANCHE." he said with a dreamy look on his face.

Jessie scoffed. "SOLDIER? Aren't they the enemy?" She gazed Cloud suspiciously. "What's he doing with us in AVALANCHE?"

"He WAS in SOLDIER," Biggs corrected with emphasis. "But he quit and is now with us. I didn't catch your name…."

"…Cloud," Was all he said, getting annoyed with the situation. He folded his arms and looked away from the clowns.

"Cloud eh? I'm…"

"Look I don't care what your names are. Once this jobs over… I'm outta here." This apparently hurt Biggs, for he looked down in shame. Jessie folded her arms across her chest and glared at the rude soldier, whom ignored her. The leader of the group, Barrett, came running towards them. He looked angry.

"The Hell you all doin? I thought I told ya'll never travel in a group! Our target's the North Mako Reactor. We'll meet on the bridge in front of it." As if on cue Jessie opened the door and everyone proceeded through. Barrett stopped at the door and turned around. "Ex-SOLDIER, ay? Don't trust ya." He then followed his team, leaving Cloud alone. As Cloud entered he sighed at the sight. Everyone was running around like they were lost.

"Man, these people are pathetic!"He thought as he ran to the exit on the other end, which they soon followed. They saw a few guards on the bridge that they were on, but they were weak just like every other one. As they approached the next section, Barrett started talking about how important the Mako reactor was. "Look, I didn't come here for a lecture. Let's just do what we gotta do."

This obviously angered Barrett. "Alright!" he yelled whilst waving a gunned fist in the blondes face. "You're coming with me from now on!"Cloud shrugged his shoulders.

The panel in front of Biggs glew. "Code Deciphered," he said. The door opened and Jessie went to the next one.

"Code deciphered," she said as she broke the code. They ran through the door, but Cloud took a right, grabbing the Phoenix down that some rookie must have dropped. He then followed the group into an elevator. "Push that button," Jessie said trying to avoid eye contact with Cloud. He did as told and the elevator went down.

"Little by little the reactor will drain the life of the planet and that'll be that," Barrett said with a slight sad tone to his voice.

"Not my problem,"Cloud shrugged whilst studying the door.

"The Planet's dying Cloud!" Barrett yelled. Cloud looked away, not liking the tone the man was using.

"The only thing I care about is finishing this job before the security and Roboguards come." Barrett strained to keep himself from putting his machine gun hand into Cloud's face and unloosing his unlimited amount of bullets.

The rest of the ride was silent. When the elevator stopped, the trio seemed relieved to get away from one another. They ran down a lot of stairs, killing the weak Roboguards and throwing the human guards over the edge.

They got to a room full of pipes and ladders. They jumped over a pipe then onto a ladder going down. Cloud grabbed a potion off the floor and jumped on another ladder. A big machine came as if out of nowhere, but one thunder attack and it was a pile of bolts. The duo ran down some more pipes and climbed down another ladder. They ran down a hall, and found a restore materia on the ground. They approached a wheel on the wall.

"When we blow this place, ain't gonna be nothing more than a hunka junk," Barrett said smiling. "Set the bomb, Cloud."

"Shouldn't you do it?" Cloud asked, annoyed.

"You do it! I gotta watch and make sure you don't try nothing funny!"

"Fine I'll do it." Cloud sighed as he thought of the stupidity in that comment. As he stepped closer he felt a strong pain in his head. Everything became fuzzy as he heard an extremely loud ringing. Somehow a voice broke through, much louder than the sound.

"Watch out, this isn't just a reactor!"

"What's wrong?" Barrett asked as he looked quizzically at his employee.

"Huh?" Cloud said, coming out of his daze. He looked around, searching for the source of the voice. All he could see however were pipes.

"Hurry up!" Barrett yelled.

"Yea…" Cloud said. He set the bomb, and then an alarm went off. He gazed up and instinctively rolled away as he felt something coming his way.

"The fuck is that?" Barret asked as he gripped his gun arm.

A giant machine fell from the sky and landed right in front of the two. The machine was colored in red's and yellows. The machine resembled a scorpion, however it also had a torso like a human. It let out a ray of light and scanned the intruders.

"Don't know," Cloud said calmly as he withdrew his weapon, "but it looks like it wants to fight."

The machine whirred in agreement as it rushed the two. Barret jumped back as he released a volley of bullets while Cloud blocked a claw strike with his sword. The two began a battle of strength, each trying to gain an edge over their opponent.

"Look out!"

Cloud instinctively jumped away as the creatures tail implanted the spot he was standing in. He then dodged right as the beast sent a wave of energy in his direction.

Barret decided that now was the time to show why he was the boss. He cocked his gun and began to release a large wave of bullets at the machine, which each bounced off of its metal skin. He released a growl as he ran towards the creature still shooting. The machine turned to him and smacked him hard with its tail, sending him sprawling away a few feet.

"Thunder!" Cloud yelled as he released a wave of electricity at the machine. The beast froze as sparks began to fly out of it. Cloud ran to Barret's side and offered a hand, which was smacked away.

"I'm fine!" he roared as he rose to his feet. He glared at Cloud and then back towards his new enemy. "Just sit back and watch the fireworks!"

"AARGGH!" Barret ran into the scorpion, shooting and dodging its numerous attacks. The creature attempted to impale him with its tail, but he fell to his knees and slid underneath it. He continued to blast into its stomach, while the creature attempted to claw him. The brawny man came from behind and gripped the tail to heist himself up, hanging stoically as the creature shook it madly.

"Die you peice o' shit!" Barret began to release an insane amount of bullets into the tail of the creature, grinning as it fell off. He gripped and tore off the rifle tip of the tail and replaced it with his machine gun. "Tell me how this feels!" he said as he placed the barrel to the back of the machines head and blasted, resulting in an explosion of bolts and wires. The legs underneath the machine gave in and collapsed as the man casually leapt off it.

Cloud made a mental note not to get Barrett mad again. "Let's get outta here," he said as they ran toward the exit.

"Ten minutes til detonation." They took off as fast as they could, Cloud easily outrunning the larger Barret. They ran from every enemy, dodging anything that would slow their time. They climbed the first ladder, then the second.

Cloud stopped as he heard screaming. He turned towards the source and saw Jessie's leg stuck in a pipe. He ran towards her and knelt down. "Are you ok?"

The ladies face was red from both exasperation and embarrassment. "Yea, just a little stuck," she responded with a light chuckle. Cloud ignored the motion and gripped her hands, quickly pulling her from the clutches of the room. "Thanks!" Was her response. To Cloud's surprise, she jumped over him cleanly, and ran for the exit. Both men looked at each other and shrugged, following behind her. They quickly made it to the elevator and pressed the button.

"Think we're getting out?" Cloud asked with his arms folded.

"I know I'm getting out!" Barrett yelled, praying that the elevator didn't get stuck. He was breathing hard, enjoying that he finally got a moment to rest. Jessie and Biggs deciphered the door codes and ran out with their teammates following.

"Thirty seconds remaining." The group ran as fast as they could, each getting more worried by the second. Wedge opened the door and they bolted to it. Biggs almost fell over the edge in his haste, but Cloud caught him.

"Save yourself!" he yelled with tear filled eyes. He always knew that he'd be the first to go, just not this soon.

"Naw." Cloud pulled him over and fell on his backside. Biggs ran out leaving Cloud behind, giving the blonde a sympathetic look. "Aww crap!" Cloud yelled as he saw the flames approaching. He raised his forearms to cover his face from the fire, although he knew that it wouldn't help him much. He grit his teeth as he accepted his faith. Only one thought crossed his mind as he began losing consciousness.

'Sephiroth... I can't... Die here!'

XxxoxxX

sooo this is a remake of my story Soul of the Soldier. I liked where I was going with it, but I lind of left it hanging after a while so I'm back. Please review and tell me how I'm doing.