Disclaimers: I don't own Reno or Cloud or any other characters (wish I did, don't we all? ;).) If you don't like the smuttiness, (later chapters) please just leave.

Also, some dialogs that I take are in fact from the original game. All credits go to Square Soft / Square Enix. If you're not old enough, leave as well. You have been warned.

Chapter 1: Start of a New Life.

"You're not getting away!" The guards run after us as we jump off the train.

It's hella freezing I tell ya. My name's Cloud. Cloud Strife. Never thought I would be working with AVALANCHE, but I guess I have no other choice. Gil isn't something that you can just find around these days. It's been quite a while since I've done anything for money. I quit my last job a few years ago.

"You're running a lil' slow boy, hurry up!" I don't even know who and what I'm working for. Apparently, he's my new boss.

"So what exactly are we doing?" I ask one of the others. They seem reluctant to answer me, as if we're doing something that's not to be talked about. And finally, one of them says that we're on a bombing mission. Whatever works. I just want to go home with my gil.

We creep in the mako reactor, and it takes me a while to understand what exactly I'm about to do. "Why are we blowing this reactor up?"

"I thought you work for your money," my new boss had a point. I guess I shouldn't ask. We continue to climb the stairs, and walk the walk, until we reach our destination. We have 10 minutes before the bomb detonates, and we find ourselves ambushed by a Scorpion.

" w'the hell's that?" my boss yells. I've seen them before…

"This will be your first test,, I guess you can call it." Training, because I was about to join SOLDIER, was NOT easy. I guess it was the Turks' job to teach me. "Remember, if you're in trouble, we've given you 'exit' materia, just use it, and you'll be out in no time." I didn't care about what they were saying, I just didn't want to be a loser. I wanted to win. There was no other materia except the 'wimp' materia. Fighting with a sword against a huge monster like that was not what I had expected as an 'easy' battle. I attacked it as hard as I could, but every time it would attack back with laser.

"Yo! Just a hint, you might not wanna attack it when its tail's up" A Turk turned on the speaker to tell me. Haha. Very funny. Now they think I'm an idiot. I ignored his call, and attacked it until… … I fell unconscious… That was when I met him

"Don't attack while its tail's up. It'll hurt if you do." I regained my posture and thought as I said those words expertly. Damn right. I'm an expert now. We quickly ended the battle with ease, and for my boss, he got a new gun. I never asked about his arm. Why it was the way it was. He never told me either, I guess we just left it as that.

"Let's go, we don't have a lot of time."

"Yeah." I returned. It was easy on the way out, although I did have the 10 minute timer at the back of my head. The girl who helped me out earlier introduced herself. Her name's Jesse. But right now she's stuck. Out of the goodness of my heart, or whatever they call it, I reach out to help her. She immediately turns into a shade of bright red and thanks me. Not that I was interested in her, but she isn't that bad looking.

We're going back to base to discuss our second bombing mission. And as we arrive, Tifa opens the door, and greets us into her bar --- 7th Heaven.

"How did it go?" Tifa asks us. I reply smoothly and she seems satisfied. Up to this point, I don't know why I'm still with AVALANCHE. Am I here to see Tifa…? No. That can't be. I'm here for the money, I convince myself. Or is it…

"I hate you!" I yelled out at him.

"C'mon… I'm sorry babe, I was bored… and we never do anything anymore, you know?"

I wake up next morning to find that most of them are gone. I step on the pinball-elevator and sees Tifa. She greets me with a 'good morning.' And I do the same. She asks me if I remembered what I had said before I left her… a few years ago. I can't remember, but I nod. She puts a smile on her face, and I feel a little guilty.

We are going to Sector 5, Barret tells us.

Tifa blurts out to me suddenly, "You'll protect me… right? Like you promised… right?" That stumps me, as I quickly regain the memories we had together.

"Sorry, I'm late; You said you wanted to talk to me about something?"

"Come this spring, I'm leaving for Midgar. I probably won't come back… for a while."

"All the boys are leaving…"

"But I'm different. I'm going to join SOLDIER and be like… the Great Sephiroth." I could see that she was sad.

"Promise me something Cloud. If you get famous and I'm ever in a bind… You'll come save me, all right?"

"Huh? What?"

"If I'm ever in trouble, my hero will save me. I want to experience that…" I was dumbstruck… I knew what she meant… But that was unexpected.

"Come on! Promise me!"

"Alright… I promise."

Yeah. I promise, I tell Tifa. We hop on the back railroad car, with our fake ID's. The train is fairly empty, just how I like it. I attempt to start conversation, but instead I just walk up to Tifa casually, and she points at screen and asks me to watch it with her. Nothing new. Just a digital map of Midgar. I've seen a lot of those back when I was working with you.

Just as we were discussing about where security ID checks are located on the map, the alarm goes off. The few of us try to run towards the front of the train when this bastard pickpocket me. I push him over and take back my potion. No time for fighting, the sirens were getting louder and louder. We plan our hops together and leap off the train, landing in the tunnel outside Sector 4.

We climb in together, and ahead of us are Jesse, Biggs, and Wedge, having the path all planned out. (By the way, I learned their names through Barret's scolding, you should've seen their faces!) It was just as smooth as the other reactor, and we quickly find ourselves at the core of the reactor of Sector 5. This time, no Scorpion. Boy, am I glad.

It isn't the same though… It seems all too smooth. Tifa and I are discussing what to do next, and before we can come to a conclusion, we bump into ShinRa.

"What the hell's going on?" Barret exclaims in disbelief, knowing too well that the ShinRa cannot have missed this opportunity.

"Long time no see, President." I walk up to him with indifference.

"Long time?... Oh you, I know you've been exposed to Mako with those blue eyes." I couldn't stand him any longer, especially with Barret talking more nonsense. "I'm a very busy man, I have a dinner to attend. But I've made arrangements for a playmate for you all." And there goes the President, leaving us alone with a techno-soldier, Air Buster.

We surround the machine, or rather, it just turns out that way that Tifa and Barret are on the same side, and I am stuck on the opposite. Barret and I time both our attacks to maximize our damage dealt. It doesn't take a lot of hits to take down the machine, seeing that I am from SOLDIER.

"Watch out!" Tifa yells, but it's too late. The machine explodes, and makes a hole in the bridge, where I fall.

I wake up, and find myself in a somewhat comfortable flowerbed. And this girl watches over me. "A comfy bed and a pretty girl, what more do I want?" I lie to myself, knowing exactly what I want now.

"Hello." The girl calls out. I don't reply, seeing that I'm still in shock. "You came crashing down… Are you ok?"

"Where am I?" Where could I be? I couldn't possibly be dead yet.

"You're in a Church in the Sector 5 slum."

"I… came crashing down…?"

"That's what I said."

"Are these your flowers?" She nods. "Sorry to have wre--"

"It's alright, it's not your fault. They say you can't grow flowers or grass for that matter in Midgar. But they seem to do fine in here. I love it here." She starts to talk, stopping me before I could finish. She continues to talk, and talk about her material. She claims that it's good for nothing; but I doubt it. Every materia has some use, and it depends on its user. I guess she's just not very good with materia. While she talks, she tends to her flowers; it reminds me of my mother.

"I'm leaving home mom."

"All the boys are these days… Don't get yourself hurt." She told me while working on her indoor flowers. "You're just like these flowers I have… Hard to take care of, you know? You ought to take care of yourself; I can't always be there for you." And that was all it took, and I left.

I get back to reality, and notices that she is kindly offering me flowers to which I hesitate to accept, but I do. And I thank her for it. We continue to talk and forget that we haven't introduced ourselves yet. So she was first, "I'm Aeris, the flower girl, nice to meet you."

And I reply lamely, "My name's Cloud, and me? I do a bit of everything." I see her looking over my shoulder and she says, "Do you want to be my bodyguard?"

I don't know what she meant. I turn around and I immediately feel… nauseated.

A/N: sorry it seems like I'm repeating the whole FF7 story, but that's cuz we haven't met Reno yet. Most of my story is really based on the real game, with added stuff here and there! Please Review! Thanks!