This is my first fanfic based slightly before FF7. 3 I wrote it in like, 10 minutes. o.o; I could use some nice reviews on it to let me know whether I should continue it or not. 3 Thanks! Ohs, and I don't own any Final Fantasy characters.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a slightly overcast and windy afternoon when Cloud decided he needed to visit Zacks memorial. He hadn't done so in a while. It was a sudden thought he had and just up and left like he always did, not even bothering to leave a note for Tifa. He knew she would worry, but this was something he needed to do alone. She wouldn't understand. Besides, it was his fault Zack was dead. The least he could do was visit the spot where he had died.

Cloud stood right at the edge of the cliff, memories coming back to him that he tried to forget constantly. This time, they were overpowering. All the good times flashed through his mind first, then the final moments. He was surprised he wasn't crying. he particularly remembered the 5 months after he had joined SOLDIER...

A maze. He was wandering aimlessly through somekind of really dark maze with tall steel walls, not knowing what he was looking for. Was it a way out? No. He was walking to slow for that. Was he looking for somebody? Maybe. He felt himself being subconsciously steered around corners, down other paths, until he came to a clearing. The light was so bright he was forced to shield his bright blue eyes. However he never stopped walking into that white void, hearing a gentle female voice calling for him.

"I knew you would come..." She whispered to him. He blinked a few times, trying to determine where the source of the voice was. It wasn't familiar to him, yet he was still compelled to find her.

"Cloud..." She said, forcing him to look around more, but there was nothing to see.

"Cloud..." The voice came again, slightly louder and more...masculine? "...Cloud!"

The male voice came at him like a harsh whisper, and Cloud mumbled something, opening his eyes in confusion. "Zack?...What?" He whispered back, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with gloved hands. When his eyes had adjusted to the dim moonlight bathing the room, he looked at Zack, who was standing beside his bunk and gesturing at the door.

"We have to leave. Now. This might be our only chance to get her out of here too..." He said hauling Cloud out of bed and dragging him across the room. "I have a ride whos suppose to meet us at the front."

He was explaining things way too fast for Cloud to apprehend. After all, it was quarter after 4 in the morning. "Wait..." He said, reaching for his sword and quickly strapping it to his back. After 5 months in SOLDIER, Cloud should have been used to getting a rude awakening at times like this for 'spur of the moment' desicions Rufus Shinra made. Usually though, Zack was more calm and level headed about things. Now he was nervous and edgy, expecting something to happen. Cloud didn't know why they were leaving or who they were taking with them. He was so confused.

They rounded a corner and burst throught the labratory doors, past JENOVA and to the test capsules. The very ones Zack and Cloud had been expiramented in. That place brought back bad memories of being iniciated into SOLDIER for the both of them. They stopped in front of another capsule and Zack paused a moment and turned to Cloud. "We need to get her out of here. Something just doesn't add up. I think I know whats going on, and it isn't good." All Cloud could do was blink and for the first time, he looked behind Zack to see what he was talking about. There was a woman in the capsule, who appeared to be in a coma after the first round of Mako treatment and Jenova cells. Although she resembled a human, there was definately something...different about her too.

He shook his head and glanced back at Zack. "We won't have time to get her out of here. Hoja..."

Zack interuppted. "Notice how no alarms went off when we walked in? Its all been taken care of for at least 2 hours. Thats all the time I could get us."

Cloud nodded. "Fine."

"Good. Help me lift the latches..." Zack said, going to the left side of the capsule and lifting the heavy metal latch that kept the thing air-tight. Cloud went to the other side and did the same. When the glass part fell open, there was a hiss of rushing air and and the woman fell out of the capsule face first. Zack caught her just in time and made a run for the door, Cloud followed close behind.

They both raced down the hallways and turned corners to get to the front doors of the base. It was almost scary how nobody had been alerted to what they were doing. What exactly did Zack do to the security?

The main doors were just in front of them now, and neither slowed to push them open gently. Zack slammed into the glass, shooting the door open, oddly enough causing a loud siren to go off. And just as Zack said, there was a yellow truck waiting for them right across the road. Cloud hopped in to the back of the pick up and Zack quickly passed the girl to him, then hopped in himself, hitting the cab to give the driver the signal to floor it.

As the truck took off, Cloud noticed how the other SOLDIERS had suddenly appeared after them, weaponless and awestruck.

They were in for it now...