(AN: I still own absolutely nothing created by Square Soft/Enix, Sony, Final Fantasy VII, or Crisis Core. The only thing that I own is my own character, which this story be mainly about, which the storyline itself I do not own except for any twists I plan to put in. Please R&R, and if you don't like it, just explain and I'll do my best to try and improve.)

Spirits of the Lifestream

Chapter 2: Bad Start with AVALANCHE…

Security Log: #1049

Time: 04/11/2313 11:37 P.M

In case anyone is wondering, I'm writing in this journal so I can pass time while I'm waiting for the locked up personnel to get out. Also, if I didn't really introduce myself earlier, here's my full identity, and what my current occupation in Shinra is (Though my logs should've already told you). I'm know fully as Damien Andrew Birnhart, and as for my occupation, I'm just a security guard in Shinra. But, for what I just did by setting free the prisoners, I doubt that my position will easily be removed, and will be fired on the spot. But, who am I to even care about that, when this job was rather low paying for the past while? (Okay, so it was able to prevent my bills to stack up, but other than that, I think that I could've deserved a bit of a raise from the head of the Shinra, the president…)

Okay, I think I should stop describing myself and what is currently going on, seeing that I could've sworn that I heard movement within one of the cells, the middle one to be exact. I still haven't picked up my rifle at all since I dropped it earlier, in hopes of giving me a better chance to actually live from the expected pummeling. So, I turned my head and watched as the door whooshed open (I don't understand why it does that, even though I've been working for Shinra for about six months now, and this was really my second assignment.) So anyways, the man who came out was a blonde man with blue, mako infused eyes, and seeing him in the suit he wore, he must've been a part of Shinra for a while himself. But, even though it was really dark, it wasn't like I wasn't able to see or anything, partially because my rifle's flashlight was still on and pointing in his direction on the ground.

The suit, being black with some shoulder guards and belts along the torso and pants, showed that this man used to be a SOLDIER 1st Class, and that had me believe that no wonder why he was able to make it so far. But, all my thoughts came to a halt when I saw his eyes glare into my own, and before I could do anything, he had me pinned against the wall whilst holding me up by the collar. I knew that I was dead, regardless if he was unarmed; 1st Class SOLDIERs were dangerous no matter what, but all that stopped when he put me down, and looked at the seriously damaged hallway. He just looked around and, walking down the end of the hallway, he still was unable to see a whole lot else besides me. But, no matter how a person put it, this area seemed like a battle ground, and it was actually not that long ago.

He turned back to look at me, but this time there wasn't any major signs of hostility in his eyes, but that didn't mean that he saw me as an ally. But, my guess is that he was wondering what all happened here, and before I reached into my backpack for my journal, the three doors opened up and, coming out from the closest door to the furthest one down, was a large, buff and dark-skinned man in rebellious clothing, his right arm being a robotic, artificial arm. The creature that came out with that man confused me; he seemed to be a larger than normal-sized, red furred wolf with many tattoos over his body, including a tattoo on his right front paw that said, 'XIII' on it.

From the middle door was a woman with quite a large chest, brown eyes and black hair, wearing a white tank-top and cargo shorts. On her hands were what seemed like leather gloves, and that had me thinking that she was probably a martial artist. And, the woman who came out of the third door was one with what seemed like the polar opposite of the first. She had flowing, curly light brown hair (much like my own) and green eyes, and though her chest wasn't quite as large as the first's, it could just be because she wore a long, pink and magenta colored dress. And, her appearance showed that she wasn't much of a fighter either, but seemed rather intelligent and… for some reason, she had a strange aura around her. (I learned later that she was an Ancient, more formally referred to as the Cetra.)

Anyways, the large man I was talking about earlier, well, he wasn't too happy to see me, and insisted that he'd blow me into oblivion, as his robotic arm transformed into a heavy duty machine gun. From what I could guess, and even though I was wearing a bullet-proof suit, the bullets that the gun could fire could be plenty enough to penetrate the uniform, then me, and then the uniform again. But, the blond haired man held him back, wishing to know more about what has happened here. To be honest, I would be happy to tell them what happened here, and if needed to, that I wanted to quit Shinra anyways, as soon as I find out what the president's condition is.

And then, came the question I expected, coming from the blond haired man as he turned around, speaking in a calm, cool voice, "You know what happened here, don't you? I can tell that you're covered with some blood, so I can only guess that you were involved with what happened out here. If you tell us, we'll make your life easier than it already is…" As he said that, I took notice of the large man take aim at me, the black-haired woman and the wolf-like creature get into position, though blondey didn't exactly do anything, but he did sound rather serious. Reaching back into my backpack, I pulled out the journal and held it out to him.

"It's the last entry I put in there… In case you're wondering." I spoke simply, though my voice was just a tad scitterish because I was still just a bit shaken up with what happened earlier with who I'm guessing to be Sephiroth. That man certainly did look exactly how many employees to describe him to be, SOLDIERs of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Class, Shinra troopers, and even a few of the Turks. Which reminds me, I don't think I told you about this one Turk girl who, though she does take her work a bit seriously, is still rather cute, have I? I'll be sure to talk about her later, but right now doesn't seem like the best time to talk about such thoughts.

Anyways, the blond haired man took the journal from my grasp and flipped through the pages until he came to practically the end. I watched as his eyes scanned every single word of it, and though it took a while to get to the main part of my journal, I saw his eyes stop at one part. I then watched as his eyes went back and read over the words again, to make sure with what I had written down was correct. It took him a while, but after a while, he closed the journal and handed the journal back to me, which I placed back into my backpack, sorting it through the materia which was given to me to hold on to. And, that materia was actually this group's, to tell the truth, but I'll wait until a bit later before I tell them.

But, I was quite surprised when I heard the wolf-like creature spoke, telling everyone that he'd check down the hall in case there were any more beasts they had to worry about, and watched as he made his way down the hallway. But, it wasn't long before I listened to their discussion, but too much because I didn't want them to think I was eavesdropping on them. I heard the name 'Sephiroth' be discussed about, and my guess was that, at least the blond haired man knew quite a lot about him, more than what I heard about from the employees.

It was then I heard him suggest they should head for the president's office, but if you ask me, the blond haired man seemed to be just a bit under-equipped, much like the brown haired woman. Everyone else seemed to be well-enough equipped to carry on, but I wasn't sure if they'd want to wait for them to get their equipment, especially when I know at least where it could be. "Look, if you think you're well enough prepared to carry on, go right on ahead, but if you need the rest of your equipment, I could take you to where it is." I spoke, only to get pinned against the wall again and saw the ex-SOLDIER's eyes filled with rage.

"You're only making things more difficult for yourself… But I suppose I don't have much choice…" He spoke, loosening his grip again, though the hostility in his eyes didn't fade. "Anyways, why are you helping us anyways; you're in Shinra, aren't you? Unless of course… you're beginning to think that what AVALANCHE is doing is the right way… to deal with things?" He added, and for a response, I gave a simple nod in agreement.

"It is as you say… Well, that, and the fact that I'm getting a lousy pay cheque for watching over people like you. I'm getting paid too little for too much work if you ask me, especially when watching over the prisoners and being cornered by a guy with a long katana and long, silver hair, so that's why I want to quit. You can refuse, but I'll take you to your equipment is stored; knowing those Turks, Reno and Rude, they'd probably stash it in the locker room a few floors down…" I spoke, but, like I expected, I didn't receive a single comment or anything from them, mainly because they probably don't really care of my life.

I then took notice of the black haired woman eying me, and, something tells me that I've probably seen her somewhere as well, now that I actually thought about it. I remember a similar looking woman that ran a bar in Sector Seven, called "Tifa's Seventh Heaven" or something, and was also a martial artist. I then realized that this woman was this bartender, Tifa, but why she wouldn't have attacked me the last time I went to that bar, I may never know. I was sort of there on my first assignment to check out if it was a base for AVALANCHE, and was sent there with that Turk girl I mentioned earlier. But, because we couldn't find anything suspicious there, we decided to stay there for a drink or two (I'm legally able to drink, just so you know, I'm 20 and a half.) We got to learn more about each other there, but we were kicked out after we had a few drinks, right before a suspicious group came in.

Anyways, enough about that, it was then the brown-haired woman soon said, "You know what, Cloud… Let him take you and me to the locker room, and if he does go against his word, we, though technically you, can go ahead and knock him out and whatnot…" She spoke to the ex-SOLDIER known as Cloud, before adding, "But anyways, do you also know where our materia is?" She placed a hand on her hip and looked at me, causing all the others to do the same with their own glares. Reaching back into my backpack, and taking my journals out of it, I handed it to them.

"The Turks left me with having to hold onto your materia, seeing that if they stuck it on anyone, it'd be on a low Shinra, well, technically now ex-Shinra trooper. To prove that I'm going to stick with my word, then here…" I reached into my jacket's pocket and pulled out my hand radio, and in a quick movement, I tossed it on the ground and, with a small smash, I knew that it was broken. My whole concept of doing that was that, by smashing my radio, there was no chance of me being able to call in reinforcements, which would be a good thing for them. They were silent, but whether or not they know what it was that I broke, the guessed that it must've been an addition to their favor.

"Hey, ex-Shinra- I mean, Damien. Here, catch…" I heard Cloud say, and say as he kicked my rifle, giving my little time to catch it by the barrel. Positioning it in front of my and aimed down at the ground, I gave a simple nod from him, and watched as the large man and Tifa went down the hallway the wolf-like creature went down, but I was given a warning from the man before he left all together. But, I was confused at the fact that Cloud called me by my name, but his best guess was that he read what it was that Richter said. Richter, I still can't believe that he's dead thanks to Sephiroth, and that made it one more reason for me to travel with these guys. Cloud seemed to know quite a bit about Sephiroth already, and perhaps he may explain later.

"Anyways, Damien, let's get going, and I'm not expecting you to fight any Shinra troops, but I do expect you to help fight the beasts and machines we run into along the way. Me and Aerith are equipped with lightning materia just in case we do, and would make the fighting against those pieces of scrap metal plenty much easier. But, I still don't trust you, at least not yet, until we get mine and Aerith's equipment back, then we might see, yet I can't guarantee anything." Cloud spoke, which caused me to nod and walk both him and this woman named Aerith and began to lead them down the hallway. I have no guarantee what may show up ahead, but to help AVALANCHE is my option at the moment, and when I see the president and his condition, I'm going to quit on the spot.