It has a been a while since I've played FF VII so I'm sorry if anything is wrong. If you find something tell me and I will fix it.

I do not own Final Fantasy VII.

Chapter 1

There it was. The cliff they were standing on overlooked a grand expanse that led to the great city of Midgar. Freedom was in their grasp. That's when they heard it. The sound was eerily familiar. All hope was lost when the Shinra helicopter glided above their heads. As the spiky, black haired boy turned around, he realized there would be no escape. Stretched before him were hundreds, maybe even thousands of Shinra soldiers. In a one on one fight, they were no match for a member of SOLDIER, let alone 1st Class, but there were so many of them. Zack Fair was not the type of man to succumb to demands. He was not about to go along quietly.

He gently placed the man he had been carrying against a large boulder, away from the battle that would soon commence. The blonde was barely conscience enough to realize what was happening. Cloud mustered up the strength to look up as his best friend faced his opponent. Zack had his sword out and was slashing away at the soldiers around him. Grenades were thrown, guns shot, and missiles fired, but Zack was still alive and kicking. The swarm of Shinra soldiers never ceased. When Zack defeated one, two more would take its place. Zack was determined to win or die trying. Sadly, the outcome would be the latter.

Zack fought until there was no more energy within him. A few soldiers took this opportunity to open fire. Shinra had conquered once again. After the soldiers had fawned out, Cloud crawled to his motionless friend. Zack looked awful. He had several bullet wounds in his chest and was covered in blood. Zack looked up at him with his Mako-filled eyes and used the last of his energy to pass on the Buster Sword and say "You're my living legacy. My honor...my dreams…they're yours now." As rain poured down from the sky, Cloud gazed at the sword and saw a reflection, but the reflection was not his own. The man staring back at him was Sephiroth.

Cloud awoke with a start. He didn't understand. It had been 6 months since he had been cured of his geostigma and defeated Sephiroth. Why did all of his dreams contain that monster's presence? To make matters even worse, he only dreamt of his failures. The deaths of Zack and Aerith occurred most frequently. Cloud looked around the familiar room. Everything was in its place, and Tifa was sleeping soundly to his right. He stole a glance at the clock, 2:47. There was no way he was going to get back to sleep after that nightmare. Maybe some fresh air would do some good. Careful not to wake Tifa, he headed out. He grabbed his sword out of sheer force of habit, and hopped on Fenrir.

Edge was unusually quiet this time of night. He drove around for a while, unconscious of where he was headed. He didn't even notice when the surrounding buildings disappeared, and he was traveling along an all too familiar expanse of land. Rain started to fall, and Cloud drove faster. It didn't take long before he reached the cliff. He had been coming here a lot lately. He risked a glance at his sword. His face stared back at him. "Hmm…Why did I think this time it would be different? Zack and Aerith are dead, while I still live and breathe."

"It doesn't matter how many times you return to the scene. You can't change the past." Cloud swiftly turned to see Vincent Valentine staring back at him.

"Vincent, what are you doing here?"

"Tifa called me." Vincent replied with a yawn. "She's worried about you, you know. She says you wake up nearly every night with a look of horror on your face."

"It's my problem, not hers or yours."

"When Tifa wakes me up in the wee hours of the morning to come after you, it becomes my problem."

"You talk a lot more when you're tired."

Cloud obtained a glare from Vincent. "Don't change the subject. Whatever it is, you'd better get the issue resolved any way you can. If leaving will help, I won't stop you. Do what you have to do, just leave me out of it." As quickly as he had appeared, Vincent was gone, and Cloud was left in the rain. Cloud pondered for a moment about what Vincent had said. Would going away really help him? There was only one way to find out, but where would he go? Then it hit him like lightning in a thunderstorm: The Forgotten City. It was the only place that connected both his dreams and Sephiroth. Maybe there he could find a solution to shake this uneasy feeling.

Cloud drove through the forest of white trees while approaching the calm pond until a nearby screeching sound made him halt. He dismounted Fenrir, and slowly followed the sound until he came across a strange, silver, dog-like animal with white wings. He had never seen anything like it. The animal whimpered again, and Cloud noticed that one of its wings was stuck underneath a large boulder. He cautiously approached the helpless being and freed the creature. The animal flew away immediately. Cloud noticed that one wing was smaller than the other. As the creature flew away, an object floated down from the sky. It was a piece of paper, torn out of a book. It read:

Prologue

When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end

The goddess descends from the sky

Wings of light and dark spread afar

She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting

Cloud pocketed the slip and headed towards the water's surface. It had remained black from Kadaj's filth. He stared at the surface. Something wasn't right about it. It seemed almost…alive, and there it was again. Cloud splashed the water in an attempt to be rid of the vision. Why was his face everywhere? The last time Cloud had seen Sephiroth's face this many times was when he had geostigma right before Sephiroth's return. He was cured of that deadly disease though, wasn't he? Cloud gazed at his left arm just to reassure himself. Sure enough, there wasn't a hint of the disease on the limb.

Unfortunately, his right hand and forearm where covered in it. That was impossible! His arm was perfectly fine earlier. If anything had been wrong Vincent would have said something. What could have happened between then and now to make it come back? He helped the animal, found the torn page, saw Sephiroth in the water, and….he used his arm to splash the water. Could that have been what caused it? He cautiously stuck his arm further in the water and pulled it back out. The water dripped down his arm and true enough he had even more geostigma than ever before. His entire right arm was infected with the disease.

He needed to get rid of it and fast. Cloud could already feel the familiar pain raging through his arm. Why did the church have to be so far away? He straddled Fenrir and drove as fast as possible. He had to stop a few times to let the pain subside. He drove through the forest, through Edge, and to the slums. He was almost there, but the closer he got, the more his arm hurt. Cloud had somehow managed to avoid any and all contact with another human being on the way. Relief washed over him as the broken down church came into view. He dismounted Fenrir and suddenly fell to his knees. Severe pain shot through his arm with the most force yet. He grasped his arm and visions of Sephiroth filled his head. He mustered up the strength to trudge into the church. "Shit." Cloud's face lost all color at the sight before him. The water… the only known vaccine for geostigma…was gone….