(somewhat OC(Original character) centric, AU(Alternate Universe). Main motive is 'Change the past')

Notice: This story is my first FF7 fanfic written in English, so you can find some bad grammars.

Disclaimer: Of course, I don't own the game. I have only my Stranger(The woman in black)...

italic - The Stranger's inner thoughts
- (sentence) - It's not related to story directly.

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- In my wild imagination, I killed a man..... whom I admired and respected.

To Change the Fate

Midgar, Mu-Era 1985, January.
A dark figure was walking on the street of the city. It was a mid-height woman, clad in black leather trench coat. She stopped for a while, looking up sky. Her black sunglasses reflected light of street-light.
'So dark..... this city never has night nor day.' She continued to walk somewhere as thinking something.

Shin-ra Building, 67th floor.
A boy looked to be about 7 or 8 years old, huddled up at the corner of tiny cell. He seemed to hear sounds of gunfire, sword clash, and slash from outside. Suddenly, door opened, someone stepped in. The boy huddled himself up again, and watch the intruder curiously.
"............." The Intruder was, a mid-height woman in black, who tied dark-brown hair in ponytail. She came closer to the boy with her sword. His blue-green eyes stared at her. She took off her left glove, stroking down the boy's silver hair carefully. He flinched momently, but soon stared her calmly again.
"Who are you, ma'am?' The boy asked slowly.
"I came to save you from your fate." Woman in black replied. Her voice was cold and emotionless, yet strangely familiar, at least to him.
"Fate?"
"Yeah." She nodded. Oh, Do I have to tell him? Can't I just....? She was in thought for a while, but shook her head to free from her thoughts.
"I...I saw the future." She replied with soft voice.
"Future? What future?"
"Uh, well...... It's hard to tell you." Tell him! And End it all! No....... She shook her head again.
"Er.... What's your name? You didn't tell it." The boy asked again.
"My name? It's not important. And, you don't need to tell your name. I know it already." And it's meaningless to me, for now. Your name means just 'Numbers', by now... She gazed the boy's pale face as speaking like that. Do I have to do it really? To change the fate? She shook her head violently with worried face. No.... he doesn't know anything! Please, give me some more time! I haven't decided yet!
"Something's wrong?" The boy asked curiously.
"No..... that's not... nothing." She looked up the boy again. She could see his eerie-glowing blue-green eyes through sunglasses. She held her sword tightly. Just...... just finish this off now? No, not yet....... She took a deep breath, and asked again.
"Tell me, what do you think about your future? What will you become? Have you ever thought about it?"
"I don't know. I've never thought about it....." The boy shook his head. Woman in black just watched him.
"Then, what do others say?"
"Well...... Prof. Hojo told me that I'll become great, but I can't believe his words. I........"
"Yeah......" She hesitated. Just tell him all, and finish it off? No...... I haven't decided yet!
"You see, I've been here since I was born, or at least I was an infant. I don't think I'll become great.. When will I get out of here?" She listened the boy's words. It seems he choked down his emotions. She started to talk slowly(with thoughts..).
"It won't be long: As you grow up, you'll become stronger than them. So they won't be able to make you stay here anymore. Yes, you will be the great one, everyone will admire you, until you find the 'Truth'. It's painful, and it will surely kill you, once you know about it." And, you will commit a crime against of all. Unforgiven one.
 "I saw it all. All about you. It was.... a nightmare, really terrible thing." Oh, my... I told it, finally! The boy looked at her, his eyes were full of shock and horror.
"Do not worry. What I told you is yet to come. You know, the future can be changed, if you want."
"But......... but........" Woman in black hugged the boy trembling with fear, then whispered to his ear. "Have you ever thought of death? Have you ever.... ever wished to die?" He nodded.
"When?"
"Whenever I feel sick. Professor does something to me, and it always hurts."
"So you........." She could see pain in his eyes. How much pain he will bear, and how much pain he will bring? She Just listened to him with silence.
"If I die, there will be no more pain, I thought." The boy said. She closed her eyes. So it's determined? But.... is this the best way? She opened her eyes again, and stood in front of him. The edge of her sword reflected dim light.

"Yes, you won't feel the pain anymore. And no need to afraid. I'll release you from your fate." I'll take you to the Promised Land.
 She swiped her sword. The boy was looking at her, without any sound. He didn't even scream.

The woman in black coat rushed to the laboratory. Blood was dripping from her sword. Without hesitation, she opened the door violently. A brown-haired young woman, about late 20s, sat in a large glass tube holding a baby, and a man, wearing a lab coat and tied black hair, watched them.
"HOJO!" Woman in black shouted. The man in lab coat turned to her.
"Ah, an intruder......?" Hojo tried to call guards, but she pointed her sword to his chest already.
"It's no use to call them. Now, liberate them." She said coldly, as if she ordered to him.
"An order, Ms. Intruder?"
"Ha! What else?" She held her blood-stained sword to his face. "I said, Set the two free."
"Why do I have to do it? Sorry, but I should do something with them."
"What a...... sorry but.... I won't let you do that, can't you see?" Damn, I hate mad scientists. She pressed sword-tip against Hojo's chest.
"You want to interfere with my research?" Hojo said coldly.
"Of course! I won't let you do it to them like you did it to that kid!"
"Oh, that kid. You met him?" He stared the intruder menacingly, as her sword into his flesh.
"Yeah........ poor kid. he didn't even scream. Oh, can you see? This blood on the sword is whose.." She smirked, as she said that.
"You bastard.. What did you to my specimen!?"
"'Your' specimen? DAMN YOU, HOJO! YOU FUCKING BASTARD! He was your SON! How could you treat your own son like that? Who did it to him? It was YOU! All you did was hurting him, making him a cold-blooded monster! Yeah... I saved him from his cruel fate. And now, you are the next." Her face was twisted with fury. She stepped forward slowly, made him standing against wall. Hojo tried to draw his pistol, but the woman was faster than him. With one swipe, he dropped pistol, wrapped bleeding arm. The brown-haired woman watched them, her emerald-green eyes were full of fear.
"Do not fear. I won't harm you and your daughter." Woman in black said to her calmly, still fixing her gaze on Hojo.
"Why do you want to kill me?"
"Why? To change the Fate, you must die. Yes, if you are alive, you will make another victim, like that hapless boy. I won't allow it. Also, That 'thing', which was found by Dr. Gast and you....." He tried to pick up his pistol, but even before that, her sword cut through his stomach. Hojo staggered, leaned against the wall. Blood was dripping through his fingers. The woman in black coat, looked down him now.
"Do you wonder whose fate is?"
"What..... do...... you..... say....." Her eyes, full of madness, which were hidden behind the black sunglasses, stared at him. And again, she thrusted her sword into him. This time, it was his heart.
"This Planet's Fate." She murmured, as watching dead body.

After brown-haired woman and her daughter escaped through fire escape, woman in black coat walked out of Shin-ra Building. A little later on, an explosion occurred at 67th and 68th floor. She looked at the explosion for a while, then started to walking.

????
A woman in long lab coat sat on some altar in the artifical cave hidden behind a waterfall. When someone stepped inside, she lifted her head. A dark brown-haired woman in black coat was standing in front of her.
"Who are you? You come for taking my baby?" Woman in black simply shook her head. "They took your baby long time ago."
"Then why did you come?" A mother and child..... she gazed the other woman's once beautiful face. They look so much similar..
 "To save you from your misery." She raised her sword. The other woman stood up, and stepped backward.
"W.....what are you doing?" Woman in black lowered sword, and looked into the other's eyes.
"He has your eyes."
"He.....? You saw my baby? Is he well?"
"Sort of." She replied dryly, yet friendly.
"Oh..... my baby....." Woman in lab coat sat down again, began to weep. The woman in black crouched beside her, whispered with soothing voice.
"Don't worry, and no need to fear. Your suffering will soon end. I'll take you to your son." She stood up, and raise her sword again.

Nibelheim.
The Shin-ra Masion was burning. A woman in black stood outside, staring the burning mansion. The sleeping one in the basement, was no more. She only said to him, "You don't want to live as a monster, right?" and he agreed(Yes, as she left the basement, a gunshot was heard). Well, his nightmare will be no more, either. And then, what's left? The only thing left was, 'Calamity from the sky'.
She looked down her sword. She could remember the blood. The blood of an 'innocent' child who will turn to a monster, The Unforgivable One. Hapless Boy.... She could remember the moment. That boy's head fell upon the ground, the blood tainted his silver hair, the eyes.... the eyes lost their gleam. Oh, lord.... what have I done?
It is the cause; It is the Sin. But, there's no other choice. She thought.
"I'm sorry.... do not blame me. Blame your father and his sin. Blame your.... fate." That time, she murmured in the cell, looking at the lifeless body of the boy. I'm really sorry for you and your mother. But, I won't let you threaten the Planet. As the sleeping one, he just wanted to stop his nightmare. It's not my fault.

She started to walk. To Mt. Nibel. On her way, she could see a blonde woman outside of a house, who was pregnant. That woman looked happy with her husband. The woman in black thought again, looking at them. Maybe I took away someone's chance. A chance to be a hero...... Soon, she left the village, toward the Nibel Mako Reactor.

Well, Can I change the Fate of the Planet? I sweared I'll get rid of anyone, or anything that can be threats of the Planet once, but is this the right way? With this thought, she continued to make her way.

- You can change your destiny, beyond the time....

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Author's note: The day before wrote this, a crazy thought suddenly came to my brain. 'What if someone killed some person who can play important role in the future?', like 'Terminator'. So I created a character who came to the past to kill someone, and wrote this and post it on my homepage. The next day, I re-wrote it in English, it is this fanfic.

I never mentioned characters' names(except Hojo). Can you guess it?

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Author's Additional Note:

About my OC, I didn't give her a name for some reason. She's a nameless killer from the future, a comforter-murderer. One moment she comfort the boy(you know who), next moment cut the boy's head..... And also she is a cruel slayer who can kill people without any hesitation for her purpose.(But, when she killed the boy, she couldn't decide whether or not...) However, she wasn't sure that her way is right until the end. And, about the end, I'll leave it to you.(whether she changed the future or not......)

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2003-11-12 Update

Gosh, I watched 'FF7 making movie'(from FF7 International-Perfect Guide Disc) again. I realized I wrote something wrong. The game took place Nu-Era 0007(2007). So I corrected it.