Disclaimer: I own nothing within the Final Fantasy VII Compilation and that will, unfortunately, remain true throughout the remainder of this story. I am only playing with the characters for fun, so please enjoy.

A/N: So this is the last of the new stories that has been plaguing my mind. I will probably end up focusing on whichever one has taken up most of my brain space at any given moment, but expect regular-ish updates on all of them. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

The Soldier floor was quieter than usual. The only thing that interrupted the silence was the occasional sound of a hammer, a saw, or some other implement that the workers were using to repair the damages to the hallway. The Soldiers that were seen running errands were oddly silent and some could be seen sending furtive glances to one of the doors as they passed by it. When that door opened and Genesis emerged, it seemed as if every Soldier on the floor suddenly disappeared.

If Genesis noted that fact, it didn't seem to faze him. The scowl never left his face as he headed toward the elevator. He had finally been called up to Lazard's office for the incident that had happened that morning and that fact had done nothing to improve his mood.

When he drew even with the repairs being done from his fit that morning, several things happened in a chain reaction that none of them would be able to accurately describe afterward. It started when one of the workers accidentally looked up just in time to catch the Commander's gaze. At the sight of Genesis' scowl, the man nearly wet himself. He managed to control that reaction, but he lost his grip on his hammer and it fell, almost hitting Genesis on the foot.

That would not have hurt him if it had connected, but in his current mood, the fact that the worker had been so careless had a fireball instantly in his hand. By that point, several of the workers had stopped what they were doing and were staring at the fuming man and the fire with apprehensive looks. None of them noticed the fact that Charle, the secretary for all three of the Firsts, was headed toward them from the opposite end of the hallway. She was looking down at a folder in her hands and didn't see the volatile situation in front of her.

It wasn't even a few seconds after the fire appeared that Genesis took a menacing step forward and caused several of the men to scurry backwards. One of them bumped against the scaffolding they were using to repair the ceiling and caused it to start to topple with the man that had been on top of it. Everyone's gazes were drawn by a feminine scream right before the scaffolding crashed down.

Even Genesis felt slightly remorseful when he noticed that it had fallen on top of Charle. He didn't know her well, as she was still new, but she was a woman, and he knew it was his actions that had caused her predicament. He completely ignored the man that was trying to get up after the fall and immediately started moving the broken boards aside. When he uncovered the woman, he grimaced at the sight of the blood streaking across her face from a cut near her hairline. It looked as if one of the boards had caught her there. She was unconscious.

He was still wearing a glare as he finished clearing the debris off her and picked her up. His scowl was now mostly because he felt a little remorse for causing the accident in the first place, but none of the men knew that and had no desire to confront him as he started carrying the woman away. He would never admit that he had been in the wrong anyway. The clicking of his boots on the floor as he walked away was the only sound in the hallway until after he was gone.

Cheryl had missed her bus that morning and was consequently running down the sidewalk to make it to her job on time. Anyone that saw her was amazed at how deftly she somehow managed to wind through the crowd of people on the sidewalk. Any that she passed gave her a dirty look before they continued on their way. It was obviously not the first time she had to do something similar.

It wasn't that she made a habit of being late, but she was still new to the city and had yet to become accustomed to not having her own car to get her where she needed to be. She had given it up when she moved since she had better options in the city.

She was muttering under her breath while she ran, or would have been if she had breath to speak with. Still her mouth was moving as she mentally sent out curses to the bus she had barely missed. She was so concentrated on the people she was trying to weave through that she never noticed the fact that a pot had fallen from a window nearby. None of the people near her noticed either until the sound of it crashing into the canopy above them caught their attention. Cheryl happened to be right in the middle of it when it came crashing down. Most of the people under it had been able to jump out of the way, but there were several that hadn't been as lucky. Cheryl was one of those. The last thing to race through her thoughts before she was knocked unconscious was a lament that she would be really, really late.

Charle woke with a groan and tried to sit up. The action made her head spin and she felt slightly nauseous. She quit thinking about it when a strange girl suddenly wrapped her in a hug. "Oh, thank god you're awake! I was so worried. There were five people caught by that falling canopy, but you were in the worst spot. You are the only one they ended up hospitalizing. I'm so glad you woke up though."

Charle was trying to remember how she managed to wind up in the hospital and what was going on. She vaguely recalled bringing the morning reports up to General Sephiroth when she ran into something. She suddenly remembered the scaffolding falling on her and pushed back from the girl. She looked around with a frown. The room she was in was nondescript, so it could have been an infirmary room, but that didn't explain the strange girl, or what she had been going on about. Charle gently took the girl's hands off her shoulders before she spoke up. "I apologize, but it seems you may have mistaken me for someone else. I don't know you. I did have an accident where something fell on me, but I don't believe any others were caught in it, unless one of the workers was hit as well."

The girl gave her a horrified look. "Cheryl, you're scaring me. What do you mean you don't know me?"

Charle gave the girl a confused look. I really do think you have the wrong person. My name is Charle. I have never seen you before."

Charle was surprised by the tears that suddenly sprang up in the girl's eyes, but she didn't get a chance to ask about it before the girl ran to the door and started yelling for help. It was only a few moments before a breathless nurse came running into the room. "What happened?" She stopped in shock at the sight of Charle sitting up before she turned a glare to the girl that had been calling for help. "You didn't have to panic the floor just because she woke up."

The girl had started crying in earnest by that point. Her words were broken by sobbing. "She might be awake, but she isn't alright. She doesn't even know me!"

At the girl's words, the nurse turned a concerned look to Charle. She pulled a pen out of her pocket and her voice was soft when she spoke. "I need to check a few things really quick and ask you some questions. Do you feel up to it?"

Charle frowned at her. "My head hurts slightly where the scaffolding fell on me, but otherwise I feel fine. What is going on here?"

The nurse's frown grew. "You were hit by a canopy, not scaffolding, but I can see where you might have thought that. You were brought in with several others that had been hit as well. Everyone was lucky that bruises and a couple of broken bones were the worst of it. Most of the rest have already gone home. We can discharge you as well once we make sure there are no complications."

Charle was still giving her a worried look, but she nodded. She was growing more confused by the minute, but she knew she wouldn't get answers by panicking. At her nod the nurse pulled up the pen and clicked a button. Charle was surprised to see it was a small light. She winced when the woman shined it in her eyes but did as she was told and followed it when she was asked to. The nurse then moved through several other tests, such as having her squeeze her fingers and push against her when she added pressure.

Once that was done the nurse stepped back and wrote several things down on a tablet before she turned back to Charle. "Well, all your physical tests are fine. You don't show any signs of complications. Can you tell me your name?"

Charle was still frowning when she answered. "Charle Valliere." She wanted to add more, but she didn't know where to start. Her worry and confusion grew when the nurse frowned and looked over to the girl that was still standing near the door.

When the nurse looked back, Charle could tell the woman was worried. "I'll have the doctor come and talk to you both. Stay here for now and we will get this figured out."

When the woman left, Charle turned a curious gaze to the girl that was staring at her. "Who exactly do you think I am?"

At her question the girl started crying again, but she still managed to answer. "You are my sister, Cheryl Villagran." She stepped forward and held out something that she had pulled out of her pocket.

Charle took it with a little trepidation, but her mind went into overdrive and off the deep end when she saw what she had been handed. She was looking at some sort of ID with her picture on it with the name the girl had just given her. She looked up with shock before she looked back down and closer to the picture. She noticed there were small differences that weren't noticeable at first glance, like the fact that the woman in the picture had piercings in her ears, but for the most part they could have been identical. She understood now why they thought she was someone else. She handed the card back and gave the girl a look that she hoped was comforting. "I can see why you thought I was the same person, but that isn't me. If you look closely you can see that I have never pierced my ears and my hair is a slightly different color. I'm sorry about the mix-up, but now that it's cleared, I'm sure you can find your sister."

The girl was not relieved by her reassurances. Instead she started crying again. Charle was shocked when the girl threw her arms around her and squeezed. She tried to push back, but she couldn't dislodge her. She was saved when the nurse walked back into the room with a tall male in tow. It was the male that spoke. "Hello, I'm Dr. Henderson. Miss Villagran, would you please let go for now. If your sister has lost her memories your invasion of her personal space will only traumatize her."

The girl pulled back with a sob but moved to the other side of the room at the doctor's request. When he turned back to her, she spoke before he could. "I believe there has been some sort of misunderstanding. She showed me the ID of the woman you think I am, but as I was telling her, if you look closely you see there are differences. I am not the woman you claim I am."

The doctor's look turned grim. She could tell that he was trying to be as gentle as possible when he spoke. "Ms. Villagran, I know this may be hard for you to come to grips with, but there has been no mistake. There are many ways for us to identify a person, and the ID you carried was only one of them. Your medical records are irrefutable though. I understand this will be hard for you to accept since you cannot seem to remember, but please stay calm. We are here to do everything we can to help you get back to normal."

Charle had managed to keep her panic at bay up to that point. She had worked hard to convince herself that this was all some sort of strange coincidence that left her somewhere she didn't know surrounded by strangers. With the doctor's words beating into her brain, her panic finally broke free and she couldn't stop her shaking. Her voice was barely audible above the sobs she was trying not to let out. "That's impossible. I know who I am and that is not me. I am Charle Valliere."

Cheryl woke and blinked her eyes several times. The room she was in was darkened and she was slightly disoriented. The few things that she could see reminded her of a hospital room. With that realization she remembered the fact that she had been caught in a freak accident with a canopy. She sat up and tried to get out of bed but had to sit back quickly. Her head started spinning as soon as she was upright. She noticed it was also pounding near the front. She reached up and quickly pulled her hand away when her fingers touched a bandage on her forehead.

She briefly wondered how long she had been unconscious. It couldn't have been too long, since she knew her sister would have been there within a half hour of finding out. There was no way she wouldn't be on site already if it had been longer than an hour. While those thoughts were going through her head she had managed to finally stand while supporting herself with the bed rail. She stood still long enough for her head to cooperate before she headed to the door.

When she opened it, she was shocked to find several large men in strange burgundy or blue uniforms. She couldn't recall ever seeing anything like them, but they could be hospital security. She tried to convince herself of that at least. Even though the logical side of her brain was screaming that no hospital would ever need that much security. Not to mention they were all busy doing various tasks, instead of standing on guard. There was even one that looked to be having an exam.

She was pulled from her thoughts when a woman in a white smock noticed her and came over with a smile. "I'm glad to see you up. That was a nasty bump to the head. How are you feeling?"

Cheryl had to clear her throat before she could speak. "A little dizzy and I have a killer headache, but otherwise I'm fine. Were any of the others severely injured?"

The woman patted her on the arm before she turned her and helped her back into the room. "The worker that was on the scaffolding had a twisted ankle and some bruises, but otherwise he was fine. No one else was caught in it luckily."

Cheryl allowed herself to be led back to the bed, but once she was seated, she gave the woman a confused look. "I was certain that there were at least six other people that didn't make it out from under that canopy when it fell, but I guess if it was just one then they got lucky." She paused to swallow her slight nausea. The spinning of her head was doing a number on her stomach. When she got it under control another thought struck her. "Oh man, my boss is going to be so pissed. Do you know where my phone is? If my sister isn't here, then I need to call in and let them know I won't be in until later."

The woman gave her a curious look. "It was Commander Rhapsodos that brought you in, so you don't need to worry about letting them know. I am sure that Commander Hewley and the General will understand that this was nothing you did wrong."

Cheryl froze at those words. She knew those names, but they made absolutely no sense in the current situation. She tried to keep calm as she looked the woman straight in the eyes. "Did you say Commander Rhapsodos brought me in?"

The woman gave her a sympathetic look and lowered her voice before she spoke. "I know he can be pretty intimidating, and he was angry when he brought you in, but I think part of it was him feeling guilty. I know he would never admit it, but don't let it get to you. If you can stick it out, I'm sure it will get better."

Cheryl's eyes only got wider as the woman continued to speak. She had hoped it was a joke, but the woman's sympathy was sincere. She had no idea what twilight zone she suddenly found herself in, but she did know she needed to get out. She just wished she could get her head to stop spinning so she could make a run for it. She doubted she would get far if she couldn't stay on her feet.

Her growing panic was brought to a screeching halt when a man walked into the room. He was incredibly tall, but more than that, she recognized him, or at least who he was supposed to be. She was speaking before she even realized the thought had formed. "Genesis Rhapsodos. Holy Mary mother of god. This can't be real."

The man gave her a charming smile as he walked to the bedside. "Miss Valliere, I am glad to see you awake. I must apologize for getting you caught up in that whole mess this morning. It was unfortunate, but I am sure Rayleigh will be more than capable of getting you back on your feet and back to work in no time."

Cheryl was still trying to process his whole speech when part of it snagged her attention finally. "Did you call me Miss Valliere?"

His brow drew down into a partial scowl, but he was still polite when he answered. "Of course. You may not have been with us for long, but I have no problems remembering names."

She tried to shake her head to negate his words, but that caused her head to start spinning worse. She still managed to speak. "No, my name is Cheryl Villagran."

At that point, the other two people in the room shared a confused look. It was the woman that spoke. "I would like to ask you a few questions please. I want to verify everything is actually okay."

Cheryl was beyond confused but she gave the woman a nod. "Can you tell me when you started as a secretary here?"

"I don't work at a hospital. I have been a secretary at Prompton Software for nearly a month."

Cheryl felt her panic start to rise again as they gave each other looks. The woman's gaze was worried when she spoke. "I know this is going to be hard for you to understand, but it seems as though the hit you took has scrambled your memories. Your real name is Charle Valliere and you came to work for Shinra a few weeks ago."

Cheryl started breathing fast and the woman instantly moved to support her. "It'll be alright. Take some deep breaths and calm down. I will be here to help as much as possible. Since you were injured on the job, we will take care of everything. For now, why don't you rest and we can discuss everything later.

Cheryl knew she needed to calm down, so she could deal with whatever was going on, but focusing on her breathing was the best that she could do. She was so focused that she didn't see the woman leave. She only noticed when Rayleigh returned with a syringe in hand. Her panic instantly threw her into fight or flight mode, and she was on her feet. She didn't get far as her body betrayed her and she started to fall. The man caught her before she could hit the floor. Cheryl didn't notice the look they exchanged, but the man didn't let her go. Instead he gripped her arms to her side as the woman took advantage of the moment to inject her.

Cheryl's eyes widened and her panic set in full force. Once the injection was complete, the man loosened his hold and they both helped her back into the bed. By the time she was lying down, her head had started to spin in a completely different way. She felt drunk and she could barely keep her eyes opened. She did notice the woman's sympathetic gaze, but she barely heard her speak. "I apologize for that, but we need to keep you still until we can figure out how to help you. Don't worry. We will do everything we can to get you back on your feet quickly." That was the last thing Cheryl heard before she was consumed by darkness.