Life is beautiful

Okay, so I came up with this idea while reading fan fiction on here. I know a lot of you despise OC's, but I don't care enough to stop writing and posting this. xD Besides, this character I use in role plays, but changed up a bit. I thought it might be interesting story…Anyways onto the disclaimer and summary stuff 8D. Oh, and please no flames... Constructive criticism is okay, I want to better my writing.

Summary: When a SOLIDER fails her mission and is left with a case of amnesia, Zack is the only one free to actually remind her of who she was. However, this would be a lot easier if Zack had known who she was before the incident. Either way, Zack's determined to successfully complete this mission-even if it does drive him insane.

Pairings:Mainly going to be ZackxOC, but slight ZackxAerith and one sided CloudxOC.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII, or the characters or anything along with it. The only thing I own is my character, which came from my own demented mind. Don't sue my ass. : D

There's nothing like a trail of blood to find your way back home.

It was night when she was rushed into the medical ward of the ShinRa building. She had been suffering from head trauma, a dark bruise on her forehead over her left temple and eyebrow, her cheeks were bruised.

She was unconscious and when she woke up she had no idea where she was. None what so ever and that scared her. When a nurse in white walked in carrying a clipboard that contained information on her condition, the ravenette shot up blood red eyes narrowing, "Where the hell am I?"

The nurse regarded her with a raised eyebrow. "You're in the medical ward of the SOLDIER building. How are you feeling?" The young woman on the hospital bed looked at her, a look of confusion on her face.

"What's SOLDIER? What happened to me?" She asked, trying to hide the distress in her voice. The nurse blinked, and set the clipboard down.

"You were jumped suddenly. That's all we know. Sephiroth's waiting to talk to you." At the name, the woman looked even more confused if possible. "Who's Sephiroth?"

The nurse picked up the clipboard and began walking out of the room. "I'll be right back, I need to speak to your doctor immediately." The brunette nurse hadn't been expecting that the woman had no recollection of anything. A case of amnesia? The doctor hadn't even predicted that as a possibility. "Doctor…it's about Miss Tessiel…" She trailed off, having earned the doctors attention whom was busy stitching up a new recruits arm from a gash he had earned during a normal training session. "Yes, what is it?"

"She seems to have a case of amnesia." She stated, watching him stop working and stand up. "How can this be possible? The trauma to her head shouldn't have caused such a reaction…" He trailed off in deep thought, adjusting his glasses. The nurse shrugged, "Perhaps its post traumatic stress, you know a lot of the soldiers suffer from it at times." He nodded thoughtfully, "I suppose you're right. We'll have to inform Sephiroth immediately. He won't be pleased about this. Please finish stitching up this young man so I can further inspect Miss Tessiel."

The nurse nodded only once, and the doctor had disappeared into the soldier's room. "Good afternoon Miss Tessiel…" He said entering and examining her documents again. She looked in at him slightly unnerved. "Tessiel?" She asked, head tilting curiously. He nodded, "Your last name."

"Oh." She responded, biting her lip awkwardly. Sitting down, he crossed a leg. "Shadow, what do you remember about…well…anything?"

"Anything? Well, now that you mention it, I remember my name. Simple math, spelling, that stuff. Other then that. Nothing. I don't know what I do or what this place is…" She replied tilting her head to look at the ceiling in a bored manner. He sighed, "This is an unusual side effect. Your head injury shouldn't have caused this." At his words, she just seemed to acknowledge the pain above her temple, touching the purple bruise lightly.

The doctor stood up and moved to leave, and Shadow raised her eyebrow. "Where are you going?" She asked, more out of boredom then actual curiosity. The doctor turned very slight to answer her, "To inform your boss of your immediate condition." She sighed a bit and lay back against the bed to continue to stare at the ceiling.

"What do you mean amnesia?"Sephiroth growled into the phone, aware that the doctor was probably shaking on the other end of the phone. He had been expecting a call on how Shadow was doing, but when the doctor said she couldn't remember anything about what had happened, much less her own name the general just lost a bit of patience. "I'm pretty sure it's just that she's repressing it, in other words a case of post traumatic stress. She'll remember everything eventually." Sephiroth let out a small sigh, and muttered a thanks before hanging up the phone.

What was he going to do? He had no time to baby-sit the second class recruit. Not a lot of his underlings did either. Shuffling through his underlings and what they were doing mentally, like he would with his paperwork, he realized that the best way to handle this was just to let Zack re-educate the woman on everything she needed to know about SOLDIER. Plus, she might actually move up to first class working along Zack. He knew Zack was a mentor towards the one kid with the weird blond hair that reminded him of a chocobo, but it would probably do that kid good to learn to socialize a bit more as well.

"Zack, were you listening?" Sephiroth asked sounding annoyed, rubbing his temples seeing as a rather powerful headache was coming on. Zack looked up with his light blue eyes. "Huh? Oh yeah. Some chick lost her memory and you want me to re-educate her about ShinRa and SOLDIER. I got you." Sephiroth rolled his eyes and held in a small groan. "She's not just a chick. She's a second class who was on a mission of utmost importance. It's extremely important for her to remember what happened on that mission and to report back. We could be talking about saving lives here Zack." He said slowly, as if trying to get it through his head.

Zack smirked a bit and stood up. "So this is what has your panties in a twist. Don't worry Sephiroth, I'll make sure she has her memory back within a week." Sephiroth shot him a half-glare, and rolled his eyes. "You do realize how short a week is, correct?" Zack nodded calmly, and waved his hand as if to ignore that little detail. "Yeah, but it won't be that hard will it?" He seemed to ask himself more then Sephiroth.

Sephiroth was slightly amused by how Zack was acting. But then again Zack always did like to play the role as the knight in shining armor coming to the rescue of the damsel in distress. He chuckled a bit at the thought, knowing fully well that Shadow wouldn't allow such a thing and smirked up at him. Zack gave Sephiroth a look and raised an eyebrow. "What do you know that I don't?" Sephiroth tilted his head and his lips twitched upward slightly trying to look innocent but failing rather significantly. "The more appropriate question is, what do I not know?"

Zack's newest mission was starting today. He was going to call it, Operation MEMORY. He had been informed on the woman he would be watching until she remembered how ShinRa and SOLDIER operated. He was also told upon arrival where to find the woman in the medical ward. She was staring out the window, and didn't notice him come in. It gave him time to observe his newest project.

Said project had long black hair. She looked younger then him, around Cloud's age maybe. He quirked an eyebrow, leaning against the frame of the door. He wasn't sure if he was waiting to be noticed, or simply was intrigued by this woman.

There wasn't anything strange about her. Until she turned to him and their eyes met. Crimson. It nearly caused him to jump back in surprise. However a small "Ooh!" Escaped his lips, causing the girl to tilt her head and shift backwards in the bed in an attempt to hide. What was bothering him is why her eyes were crimson, despite being a SOLDIER. Mako injections and exposure did normally change one's eye color - but he had never seen anyone with that color eyes. Perhaps it was because of her gender? There weren't many female SOLDIERS running about ShinRa, mainly due to the health risks. Not to mention, from what he had heard mako didn't necessarily mix well with female physiology.

"Are you going to stare at me all day or do you actually have a reason to be here?" She asked suddenly, on the defensive. Zack grinned, and sauntered in, dragging a chair next to her bed. "If you want, I can stare at your pretty face all day." He purred, earning a harsh glare that made him want to giggle. He could tell she was still weak from pain medication, but was trying to summon up strength to smack him or at least chase him out of the room. He found it completely amusing.

However, he really shouldn't play with the poor thing. She had amnesia, as Sephiroth and the doctor had told him. She didn't remember anything important. Like what it was to be a SOLDIER. "My names Zack Fair, I was assigned to help you remember the goings on of SOLDIER and to accompany you on your future missions until you return to the status you once held." He said, quoting Sephiroth.

"What? I don't need help. I'm perfectly fine. See?" She said, moving out of the bed, and standing up and beginning to walk around. "I'm in perfect condition! I just-" She was cut off as she tripped over a cord that was attached to the bed. Zack, being the quick thing he was, stood and caught her in his arms. He smirked down at her. "Are you always this clumsy or is it because I'm around?"

It was then she did something he didn't expect of the small female. She punched him right in the cheek! "Ow! What was that for?" He howled, letting go after moving her back to the bed. "For being an annoying ass!" Zack's arms crossed, lips forming into a pout. Was he annoying? No, Okay well, he had been playing with her a bit. He guessed he deserved that…kind of.

Her arms were crossed, and she refused to look at him. Oh, he didn't deserve that! Pouting slightly, he lowered his head to her eye level, moving his face in front of hers so she was more or less forced to look at him. He grinned as she glared. "Awh, is it that hard to look at me? Surely I'm not that ugly!" She mumbled something incoherent and shifted to look away again.

Zack rolled his eyes and leaned back into the chair. "Whenever you're ready, I'll take you back to your apartment."

"You know where it is? Stalker…" She commented dryly, Zack giving her a grin. "Oh yeah, I even set up cameras in your shower!" Shadow paled a bit, and Zack snickered, obviously amused by the reaction.

"Whatever, I'm ready." She said, standing up and flicking some ravenette strands of hair over her shoulder. Zack grinned, nodding as he led her out of the room and out of the medical ward. "Do you remember which it is?" He asked, glancing back at her curiously. Shadows mouth opened to respond, but closed and she frowned. "I…I don't remember." She whispered finally, looking up at him weakly. He smiled widely, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders pulling her body against his comfortingly. "Don't worry! I found out from Sephiroth which one it is!"

Shadow looked up at him, and frowned slightly but said nothing. He continued to look down, guiding her through the many halls of ShinRa. She didn't seem to recognize anything yet. Maybe this would be harder then he thought. How was he actually supposed to do this while taking care of Cloud all the time? Geeze, this was like babysitting…

"You took this job thinking it would be easy?" Shadow asked suddenly, crimson eyes on him. Zack jumped slightly under her intense gaze. "Did you just read my mind or something?!" Her eyes moved away from his and chuckled a bit. "No, you're face is extremely readable. You wear your emotions on your sleeves." Zack pouted, letting out a huff as he reached the door that was hers. She was second class, so she had her own room. Grunts usually shared barracks and such. It was more or less a reward.

He dug a gloved hand into his pocket and began fishing around for her keys. "Crap, where the hell did I put them?!" He nearly shouted as he dug in his pockets. "Did you lose my keys?" Shadow asked to him with a frown. "Uhh…no! I just misplaced them!" He replied with a sheepish grin.

Omnomnoms! : D That's the first chapter people. I had to have that random cliff-hanger because...well the next chapters going to get interesting, I hope. xD

Read, review and favorite. ; D