Light from Darkness
The Final Fantasy VII Chronicles

Chapter 1- "The Protectors of the Planet"

As the blue-uniformed man stepped out from the doorway, to an accompanying long dark green sidewalk, he next moved to a sealed metal doorway, where the other three people had gathered, along with a fourth.. A pudgy man attired in a yellow shirt with a brown strap running along the front, diagonally.. He additionally wore brown pants, and red shoes.
The man with the giant sword approached the group, while the pudgy man glanced about nervously. Having noted no response from him, the yellow-haired one moved over to another man, who had been wearing a dark green, sleeveless shirt, revealing of rather muscular arms.. He also was possessing of black pants, with a red bandana around the forehead. Unlike the pudgy man, he had appeared willing to take on any attackers. Upon seeing the yellow-haired man's approach, he had turned partially in his stance, fixating an even stare at his direction. "Wow! You used to be in SOLDIER all right.. Not everyday ya find one in a group like AVALANCHE, eh?"
A young woman, who seemed rather busy trying to open the sealed door, glanced up from her assigned task, and over at the two men. The saboteur had short, dark orangish hair, simplistically attired in a dark blue shirt with an armored breast plate over it, green pants, brown boots, and red gloves with the fingers cut out. At a glance, the ex-SOLDIER could discern her appearance to be of the token smart one within the group.. but one who was clearly well prepared for any battles that awaited. "SOLDIER? Aren't they the enemy? What's he doing with us in AVALANCHE, Biggs?"
The muscled man, Biggs, had turned in her direction, with a touch of annoyance. "Hold it, Jessie. He WAS in SOLDIER. He quit them, and he's now one of us." He again half-spun back to the yellow-haired man, curiously.. "..Didn't catch your name."
"..Cloud." "Cloud, eh? I'm.." Cloud abruptly took on an annoyed visage, as he returned the introduction with a cold stare. "I don't care what your names are. Once this job's over.. I'm outta here." Just as abruptly, the dark-skinned man with the gun-arm dashed up to the group from a (previous) distance, anger vivid in his expression and accompanied tone of voice.
"The hell you all 'doin?! I thought I told you to never move in a group! Our target's the Mako Reactor to the north! We'll meet on the bridge in front of it." Suddenly, the door emitted a loud 'snap', as it slid open with an electronic whirr, as if on cue. Jessie, Biggs, and the pudgy man wasted no time in moving through it. However, the large man meanwhile stepped over to Cloud, subsequently..and rather easily.. obstructing his path. "Ex-SOLDIER, huh? I don't trust ya! But we need all the help we can get, so you'll do. C'mon!"

With that note, he had also ran off. Cloud eventually followed, though he paused, in the action of casting a cerulean-hued stare to the..unusual sight above. A green tower with a foreignly-crafted symbol was visible to the observer, arisen into the dark, polluted sky. A brief shake of his head slightly taken, before he pursued the others. Cloud eventually saw Biggs paused before him, glancing to the left, then the right, at a break-off point in the sidewalk. He hesitated briefly, before he had moved off to the right.
Cloud quirked a brow in a curious display, before he opposingly ran to the left.. bearing witness to the sight of two uniformed guards throwing a switch, which incited the bright yellow flashing of an above monitor, and several unseen others, of a rather simple message: "Intruder. Intruder. Warning." Cloud wasted no time his response, that of charging the two distracted guards from behind. An instant later, both had been struck down by the mercenary's massive weapon before they even realized they had been torn in half.
"Just great. Now they know we're here.. Only a matter of time before the Robo-Guards show up..", he thought to himself. Of course, there was no time to dwell on that, so he spun about, hurriedly following Biggs down the other path... Straight into the dual obstacles of a blue-uniformed rifle guard, and his accompanying 'partner'.. a growling, knelt panther, who seemed ready to pounce upon a moment's notice.
"Stop right there! Or I'll shoo-".. The guard, in mid-sentence, felt his expression turn pale under his helmet with the observance of Cloud's withdrawal of the large sword. "..Never mind.. Carry on.." The soldier's firearm was dropped to the ground, forgotten by the hastily retreating man.. he wasn't paid half the rate taking on that kind of intruder demanded.
The panther, knowing not the concept of a paycheck, uncaringly charged at Cloud, and leapt onto him, mouth parted to allow the razor-edged teeth contained within to be made known.. which violently clamped themselves into the thinly clothed flesh of the target's shoulder. Cloud released out a low growl of pain, particularly of anger.. driving trivial thoughts back while he returned his sword to the sheath along his back, instead crossing his arms before his chest, muttering in a low chant. The accompaning swirl of emerald aura about his figure would likely serve as the primary source of alarm.
An instant thereafter, a magical bolt struck down from the sky, as if summoned by its master, which served to incinerate the panther in a brief, painful instant. Cloud shook his head, forgetful of the incident, before he continued down the path. A short time later, Cloud finally came to its end, and through the attached, open doorway.
On the other side, a long bridge became visible, as well as the AVALANCHE members that were running along it. Cloud pursued after them,only to stop at an intersection, where Biggs, Jessie, and the gun-arm man opted to head off to the right, leaving the pudgy man to move forward, using his rounded frame as an apt means of blocking a doorway just ahead.
Cloud walked over to him, out of a light curiousity. "Too scared to come along?" The man shook his head, and angrily responded. "Of course not! I'm making sure that no one tries to seal off our escape! Just go blow up the reactor! The mighty Wedge has everything under control!"
The self-proclaimed ex-SOLDIER had to utilize a great deal of self-control to keep from bursting out in laughter at this statement. Unknowing of this, Wedge glanced to the huge tower, which the other part of the bridge had lead into. "Geez, We're really gonna blow this huge furnace up? That'll be something to see!"
Cloud shook his head in well-clouded annoyance, and moved back the way he came, to take the other part of the bridge, and enter the towering complex. He soon found himself appraising the sight of the two guards and the hover-bot blocking the way before him, brow arched in mock wonder.
"How many of you are there, anyway? Never mind.. I don't have time for you." With that said, he begun to chant in a different series of phrases than what had been first utilized, though the subsequent green aura appearing about his presence was unchanged. Huge shards of ice were abruptly generated within the innards of the magic-user's victims, incited to stab outward, which swiftly rended them apart from the inside. The threat dealt with, he continued down the bridge and entered the awaiting doorway.

*********

As he finally found himself within the attached chamber, he glanced around at the dark mechanical surroundings, then moved up a stairway, to where the others seemed to be waiitng for Jessie to disable another sealed door. The dark-skinned man shifted to a sidelong stance in Cloud's direction, offering an uprisen wave, deep voice accompaning with an inquireful tone. "Yo! This your first time in a reactor?"
Cloud paused, returning the stare as if insulted.. which he hardly was. "No. After all, I did work for Shinra, y'know." The other man appaered to ignore Cloud's comment, and continue talking. "The planet's full of Mako energy. People here use it every day. It's the life blood of the planet. But Shinra keeps sucking the blood out with these weird machines."
"I'm not here for a lecture. Let's just hurry."
"That's it! You're comin' with me from now on!" With that, the large man had moved to Cloud, keeping a noticably close presence, even though it was rather clear that the mercenary was despising of the idea. Taking the lead.. or allowed it, as Cloud would prefer it considered.. the man lead them over to Jessie, whose posture was calmly leaned against a metal drum. She turned to the duo, releasing a light giggle. "Don't worry, Biggs and I got the code for this door. It'll be open any second now." She leaned conspiritorially closer, and whispered softly to the colder of the two. "And don't mind Barret.. He's obsessed with this stuff."
Right at that moment, the knelt Biggs had called out "Code deciphered!" excitedly, the door opened before them a moment after. They all entered as beckoned, only to be met with another sealed door, which Jessie had gotten right to work on. Biggs hesitated, casting his stare to the cold metal that served as their footing, commenting in a meloncholy tone. "Think how many of our people risked their lives.. Just for this code.."
Careless of this, Cloud just ignored the comment, and made for the door. Eventually, Jessie had seemingly deciphered the code for the metal door, seeign as how it slid open before her. Jessie, Cloud, and Barret continued ahead, leaving Biggs behind to guard the area, while the trio entered an elevator which laid just ahead.
Jessie soon pointed to a yellow button on a wall. "Cloud, push that button over there!" Cloud silently moved over, doing as instructed. The elevator responsively vibrated a bit, then responded with a slow descent, into the depths of the Mako Reactor.
On the way down, Barret glanced to Cloud, withthe spoken beginning of what the latter person already saw coming.. lecture time. "Little by little, the reactor'll drain out all the life.. And that'll be that." Cloud's response was a small, uncaring shrug. "So what? It's not my problem." Barret growled to this, a powerful fisted blow collided against a wall. "The planet's DYIN', Cloud!"
Cloud only lightly shook his head. "The only thing I care about is finishing this job before security and the RoboGuards show up." Barret, resigned, stared away.. unseen fist shaken angrily. The leader stayed silent the rest of the way down. It took the resounding 'ding' of the arrived elevator to break the silence, mechanical entryway slid open immediately thereafter
In the wake of this, the trio swiftly exited the descended vehicle, and were plunged directly into the heart of the mechanical nightmare.