A small hand closed itself around the branch of bush, slowly moving the twigs out of the way. The shrub quivered violently as the boy hiding behind it shivered with fear. His veins were creaks of ice water, breath the mists hanging over that cold stream, and terrified eyes the moon shining a cold blue down onto the slowly moving water.

The boy sucked in air, taking it in in large gasping rasps. He had been running and running for a very long time, and now there was no place left to run. Nowhere to hide.

The only thing he could see beyond the small bush he called a hiding spot was the dirty gravel illuminated by the stars on this moonless night. And against the moonless backdrop stood dark figures of men, ShinRa soldiers, marching in their straight line, coming for him.

"Brother," the boy whimpered, brushing away a few tears now building up, "where are you?" But his brother was nowhere to be found. This five year old boy was left alone to hide, not knowing what was going on. Not knowing why he was being hunted. Not knowing why he was going to die.

Three gunshots rallied into the night air, disrupting the heavy silence of night. The boy uttered a small cry, and quickly shoved a fist in his mouth to stifle the sound, eyes wide with fright. The damage was already done.

"Over there!" He heard somebody close by snap. The boy slowly began to shuffle backwards on the ground, whimpering and breathing heavier than before, tears dribbling to his shirt. His hands moved backward, propelling his scrambling body away from the guards and gunfire.

Just then , two firm and powerful hands reached into the bush and lifted him upwards with ease. The child issued a long and petrified wail like a stuck pig.

"Lem'me go!" He screamed, kicking widely, "Put me down! Please!" He pleaded, banging on the tall man's back with his tiny hands. "Please put me down! Please! Jac-"

"Jacob! Jacob! Come play with me Jacob!" Kes, a bright eyed and stringy haired seven-year-old girl, tugged at the sleeve of her desired playmate. Jacob grinned and felt slightly sheepish, not at all in the mood to play piggy back when so tired worn down.

"I can't," He said in apologetic tones, trying to keep the pout off of her lips. He had a hard time saying 'no' to the pout of death as Marlene called it. Jacob had a soft spot for kids, but for now he'd have to put the guilt aside and continue on with his washing of dishes.

"But Jakey!" She whined, stamping her pocket sized foot on the ground and furthering her tugging. A few other children gathered around, interestedly watching.

"Come on Jakey!" A small six-year-old boy joined in. "You can stop a few minutes!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Agreed another, her voice rising up excitedly. "Only a few minutes? Please?"

"Please? Pretty please?" Kes whined on. Jacob felt slightly lost as for what to do next. He didn't want to say no and hurt their feelings, but if he didn't get these dishes done pronto, he'd have to answer to a higher authority, be it Tifa, or worse, Barret.

"I can't-" he tried again, but was overwhelmed by the tug and pull of small fists on his shirt sleeve.

"But Jakey!"

"Please!"

"Sorry," came a soft voice from the doorway. A few small heads turned around to look at who spoke. "Jakey is busy with chores." It was Marlene, she smiled at the kids extending a hand outward to them. "Come on, let him be."

"B-but he hasn't played all day! It's not fair he can't play!" Kes argued to Marlene in her squeaky voice.

"He can play later, but right now he's busy." She said as fairly and gently as possible, her smile warm and soft, dimples digging into each cheek.

"B-but-"

Marlene shakes her head. "No buts. I don't like to put my foot down, but I'm going to have to. Now come on." A few kids look forlornly at their enslaved comrade whose hands awkwardly were going back to the pot he had been cleaning.

"We'll save you soon Jakey!" Kes hissed in a voice she was sure could not be heard across the room.

"See you later." Jacob said to the flock of disappointed orphans. Marlene made sure each one of the little tadpoles were out before turning to talk to Jacob.

"You want to become a missionary, but you can't even say no to a bunch of kids?" She laughs a little bit, hand coming up to cover her grinning mouth.

"Yeah, well, you try tackling all of them at once." Jacob defended himself, taking a dry rag to the wet pot as he did so.

"I just did." She points out. Marlene was fourteen years old, black haired, and shy by nature. She was the adopted daughter of Barret Wallace, leader of the group AVALANCHE. Her face was still rounded with a little bit of childhood, but slowly it began to fade. Her hands were folded over a crisp blue dress, new. She was a magnet for all the children in Seventh Heaven, their orphanage, and a role model for many. She too had grown up under Tifa's care, just like them.

Jacob Hunt was sixteen and an aspiring missionary and peace bringer for a local church. While his dream to become a missionary was still pending, he busied himself with helping Tifa take care of the orphans in the city. His own parents lived on the other side of the city, proud of their only son and his dreams. Jacob had brown hair, short and a little uneven in places. His clothes, at least around the orphanage, were a little baggy, ragged, and well suited for rough housing around. Jacob had been with the orphanage for years now, five or more.

"Besides," Marlene continued, sitting herself down on a stool by a counter, "it's about time you learned to stick up for yourself."

"And you're telling me this...?" Jacob raised an eyebrow at her over his shoulder. Marlene sighed.

"If you want to work with Cloud in saving the Clones, you need to at least be able to say no and mean it." The girl had a point. This time it was Jacob's turn to sigh.

"I know, I know." He muttered, tossing the moist rag to a corner of the sink. He turned to face Marlene, folding his arms over his chest. "I just-"

"It's okay," she said gently, "I know. We all do. We understand, but you have to get over yourself sometime." Her voice dropped low, to a gentle and soothing tone. Jacob didn't feel at all calmed by this, only a little more agitated and put out. He shakes his head slowly, thinking, fading off to some remote area of his mind . "You look tired." Ms. Wallace observes. Jacob starts, blinking and coming around.

"Do I?" He says, a little dazed. Marlene nods. The boy swallows and gropes behind him for the towel, wanting to continue with the chores. "Didn't sleep well." He shortly says before she has a chance to pry.

"No?" Her voice takes a note of concern. "Why?" The dreaded question.

"Just-" Jacob searches for a word sufficient enough to please her, and yet not enough to give anything much away. "dreams." He finally pushes out.

"Oh." She says in an understanding way. Jacob knew she knew what he was talking about, and was slightly relieved by it. That meant he wouldn't need to relive it anymore than he already had to. "You know," she starts up again, a little brighter, "those dreams can't be all that bad. Can they? I mean, there's at least some good in having them."

"You crazy?" Jacob laughs a little. Marlene shrugs, her sudden brightness fading away. There was nothing more said on the matter of dreams.

Just then the door swung wide and both speakers looked up to greet Denzel who was about Marlene's age, although, nobody knew for sure.

"Hey," he said in his slightly shy and awkward voice, fidgeting a little.

"Hey yourself." Marlene smiled over at him. He grinned, a little relieved, face relaxing.

Denzel had been left without parents after the meteor nearly hit Midgar years before, and since then had been under Marlene's care. They were friends, but more like brother and sister. Marlene had become his surrogate mother and sibling much the same way that Tifa had helped to take care of Marlene in her childhood. Even still, Denzel could not seem to fill that empty place where his family once was, and some part of him still seemed closed off. It showed up in his interaction with others, shy and uncertain as though he thought they too would leave him. Only Marlene seemed to know how to make him breath easy, a gift Jacob admired in her.

Denzel's eyes were a soft brown, rather glazed and distant most of the time. His hair was short, brown, and a little wavy. He too was shedding his child's body for a more grown up one, but something about him still seemed so young even as his features matured.

"Hey, Jacob," he said, turning his attention to the older boy.

"Yeah?" Jacob said with a nod in Denzel's direction.

"Tifa, she, um, needs you to go into town." He slowly pulled out a note from a pant pocket, carefully unfolding it. Denzel walked to Jacob and handed him the note. It was immediately sodden with water as Jacob's hands touched it.

"Damn"muttered Jacob and wiped his hands on his pants before attempting to take the note again. Denzel stood awkwardly beside Jacob, curious as to what Jacob had to do in town, but too shy to say or do anything about it. Marlene smiles, trying to offer some encouragement into the timid boy. Denzel slowly grins back, eyes brightening.

"What does it say?" He inquires, so bold as to actually lean around to look over Jacob's shoulder and read. Jacob shakes his head.

"Nothing interesting," he muttered with a sigh, "just have'ta go pick up a few things for Cloud's return is all."

"Oh," Denzel says, disappointed.

"But when I do get an adventure, " Jacob offers up, "you'll be the first to know. 'kay?" Denzel's face lights and he nods.

"Alright, promise?"

"Sure, I mean, yeah, I promise." Jacob folds the shopping list over a few times, and he shuts off the running tap water.

"Going now?" Marlene walks a little closer, crossing her arms. "You still have other things to do." Jacob shrugs.

"Yeah, I have other chores, but when you work here, you always have things to do."

"True enough."

"Hey Jacob," Denzel pipes up.

"Hm?" Jacob looks to Denzel who is slipping on a pair of gloves.

"I can take over this for you."

"Y-you sure?" Jacob stammers, a little confused. "I can do it when I get back, I mean, you got things to do too." Denzel shakes his head.

"No, I'm all done." It was a lie, Jacob knew, but he didn't try to talk Denzel out of it any further. There was something in Denzel's face, a sort of satisfaction and sense of duty, that Jacob did not want to disturb. The boy, it seemed, wanted to help Jacob, and by doing that, Denzel felt he belonged. It wasn't Jacob's right to tell him no and ruin that feeling.

"Thanks." Jacob smiles in appreciation and turns to leave the room, heading out into the hall.

"Jakey!" I was Kes and her band of playmates. "You free now Jakey?"

"Sorry Kes," Jacob ruffled her hair as he walked past her, "got another job to do."

"Awwww," she whined.

"Sorry, I promise to play with you guys later, but now I need to get some things." Jacob took some money from under a potted plant and stuffed the gil into his pockets. "See you!" He waved and departed.

"Here," Jacob dug out the small shopping list and pointed to an item on the paper for the clerk to see. "this one, not that one."

"Oh!" The clerk nodded and grinned. "Strange order. Not many people get that anymore. Very expensive." Jacob said nothing as the man behind the weapon shop counter ducked off to get something for Cloud's Buster sword. Jacob wasn't sure what it was exactly; he had never seen it before. But every time Cloud came back from one of his missions, Tifa always sent Jacob to pick it up, but never told him what it was.

"Here," the man put the wrapped up whatever into Jacobs waiting hands after receiving the right amount of gil. "Take care of this. Do not drop it." He cautioned. Jacob irritably nodded, fed up with all this shopping.

As the agitated teenager made to leave, he stopped suddenly, seeing who were by the door, standing just outside. Two ShinRa soldiers stood outside, talking, sending glances into the room as though wanting to enter.

"What do I do?" Jacob thought frantically, panic rising. "What do I say?"

"Need something else?" The stingy clerk asked, noticing how Jacob was just standing there stupidly in the middle of his store. "Forgot something?"

"No." Jacob answered shortly, shaking his head. Staying in there would cause more suspicion than leaving. Careful to leave without drawing to much attention to himself, Jacob stepped out into Midgar.

"Hey, you!" Barked a soldier almost immediately. Jacob's insides clenched and unclenched as the guard grabbed his soldier, keeping him from making a dash for it.

"Yes?" Jacob swung around to face the two beady eyed and suspicious looking men. "What is it? I got'ta be heading home fast."

"With those?" The man who grabbed Jacob jabbed a finger into the package and snickered a little. "We saw you coming out of that Seventh Heaven orphan home just now," he began smugly. Swallowing hard, the boy tried to look innocent, but knew he was doing a terrible job of it.

"Y-you sure it was me?" He stammered. The guard laughed.

"We are sure!" The other snapped. "And we know Cloud Strife hangs out there. Him and his friends."

Jacob shrugged and glanced nervously over his shoulder as though begging for somebody to save him.

"You know anything about a Mr. Cloud Strife? He's wanted you know." The smug one said slyly. "Nice fat reward on his head from the president of ShinRa. Could make a boy like you very wealthy."

"N-no sir. I don't know anything about him. I just do a few chores here and there for them is all. Don't even know his name." Jacob's voice paused for breath many times as he said this, face growing redder, words rising upward. He was a terrible liar.

"You sure about that?" The other said, glowering into Jacob's pale and petrified face.

"Y-yeah. Can I go?" His voice was antsy and he took a step back.

"No-good kid. Get!" The ShinRa man laughed and pushed Jacob away as though swatting a fly. Jacob obliged without further word to either of the men, heart hammering. Had they all been found out?

"I need Tifa-" he thought desperately and ran back to Seventh Heaven.