And So it Begins

The stars in the sky. Always there, watching over the world, over us. They were there when we began and many will still be there after we go. Far below, in a city alley; a young woman is transfixed by the sparks of a broken electrial box. The alley was clean but wet from a recent rain. It was one of the few times she got to feel the rain. The coolness of it, the carelessness. She often wished to be like it. Regaining her attention, this young woman looked down toward the main street. She was of average height and small build, with waste length brown hair that she always had braided and tied together with a large pink bow. Her eyes were sea green and sometimes would glow, if the light hit her right. She was wearing a pink dress, which had buttons down the middle. Over that she wore a red jacket which she left open. She had two items with her: a basket of wild flowers, mostly lillies and roses, and a wooden staff, which was a few inches shorter than she was. It was relatively thin, she could easliy grip it on the thickest part and in the middle there was a green stone. This was a constant companion to her for all the hidden dangers that lurked in the city. This was her protection.

Standing straight up again, she picked up the basket and slowly began to make her way out of the damp alley. Signs for the play "Loveless" were scatterd all over the place. For some time she had been thinking of taking her mother to see it, (Maybe I'll get some tickets on my way home. I'm sure mom would like that alot.) Smiling, she came to the corner of a busy street. A car sped by and she looked both ways before beginning to cross.

In another part of the city, a far dirtier part, some guards were resting against a wall on a railroad station platform. They were both wearing red uniforms, ones normally worn by the guards who worked at the railroad. Both men were in their mid-twenties and both were tired from standing around all day; but niether would complain. (Work is work) they had to tell themselves on more than one occassion. One of the guards looked down at his watch and then he glanced over at his companion, "The next train will be here in a few minutes...better look sharp." The second guard sighed and nodded. They both straightened themselves up and walked toward the end of the platform, closest to the tracks.

Getting onboard the train wasn't difficult at all. The guards there were weak and very easy to overpower. With them disposed of a group of five settled into some seats. There were four men and one woman. Two of the men and the woman were talking about some things. He heard the over weight guy get called Wedge and the thinner one Biggs. The woman went by the name of Jessie. Not that it really mattered to him; he was here to do a job and to get paid. Those were his only two concerns, well actually three. The third was that really bulky guy sitting across from him. He was over six feet tall and on his right arm there was a shiney gun attachment, where the hand should have been. He had the look of someone who had been through alot. There was an angered expression, almost one of hatred, on his face. He wondered what had happened for the man to get that way. Everyone called him Barett and he was unquestionably the leader of this group. He knew Barett was watching his every movement.

Barett looked over at the new guy. His eyes were what scared him the most. They had a glow to them that just wasn't natural. Barett had never seen a SOLDIER before, one of the Shinra corporation's elite soldiers. He knew that the side effects of a mako infusion were the glowing eyes, enhanced strength, and increased durability. It because of these facts that Shinra had won the war against Wutai a few years back.

To Barett there wasn't much else to him besides the eyes. Sure he had a large sword; but Barett questioned the effectiveness of such a bulky weapon. The man seemed confident enough and Barett wasn't about to question him. What struck him as odd was the hair, it was blond and way too spikey. There was alot about the new guy he didn't know, a fact that he wasn't too happy about. But the man was there because of a recommendation, one Barett could not pass up. (This is your test kid...you had better work out for us...) Barett and the others felt the train begin to stop. Slowly each one stood up, they all had assignments and in order for them to succeed they would have to do them perfectly.

The guards on the platform were still unalert as the train came to a hault. The first guard didn't even move when the doors opened and Biggs jumped out. Quickly taking the guard's arm Biggs effortlessly tossed him over his shoulder; with a loud thud the guard hit the pavement hard and went unconscious. Hearing the commotion the second guard faced the attacker and began to run toward him. If he had gotten to Biggs he would have had his weapon ready, if he got there. He was surprised to see a woman jump out in front of him and place a boot right into his stomach. Falling backwards, he hit his head on the train and also blacked out.

Wedge quickly jumped off the train and looked at the scene. With both guards out of the way he smiled and motioned for Biggs and Jessie to follow him. As they went down the platform Barett jumped off the train. "C'mon newcomer...follow me!" he yelled as he waved for the SOLDIER to join him. The blond haired man did so by doing a flip with a twist, landing behind, but facing Barett. (@#%#@% show off!) Barett thought as he began running down the platform.

The blond haired man took some time to inspect the two guards and found some potions on them. (These could come in handy later on...) he thought as he began to run down the platform. Before he reached the end some new guards came running through the door. These security guards were a bit more experienced than the other two. Unsheathing his sword he slid his right foot back and bent his left knee. Using the knee for a base he lowered the handle of his sword til it touched, this was his normal fighting stance. Looking at the guards he mentally prepared for the attack. The first guard tried to hit him with a knightstick but with one quick motion had it cut in two. With an effortless swing the sword cut through the guards side. With blood covering his uniform shirt the first guard grasped at his bleeding side and fell to the ground. The second had already drawn his gun and began to fire wildly. Seeing the fear in the guards eyes made the blond haired man smile inwardly. Keeping himself moving, he heard the bullets bounce off the walls behind him. Then using his momentum he lowered himself down, sprung in and ran the guard through. The guard looked surprised as the blade passed through his back. The gun slipped out of his hand, and the SOLDIER quickly removed it. The soldier slumped into a heap on the platform, blood was pooling around him.

Without looking back or losing a step he resheathed the sword and continued toward his collegues. From their perspective they saw the security guards head in his direction. Biggs tried to head back to help but Wedge stopped him. They all leaned back against a wall and hoped he would do alright. Seeing him emerge a few minutes later unscathed made them all light up. He began walking toward them. Biggs was the first to say something, "Wow! You used to be in SOLDIER all right! ...Not everday ya find one in a group like AVALANCHE."

The mention of SOLDIER made Jessie look behind her, "SOLDIER? Aren't they the enemy? What's he doing with us in AVALANCHE?"

Biggs was quick to step in, "Hold it Jessie, he was in SOLDIER. He quit them and now is one of us.", he thought for a moment, "Didn't catch your name..."

The SOLDIER looked over at him, "...Cloud."

Biggs nodded, "Cloud eh, I'm..."

Cloud inturupted him, "I don't care what your names are. Once this jobs over...I'm outta here."

By this time Barett had come back from his quick look over of the area. Seeing them together didn't make him happy, "The hell you all doin'!? I thought I told you never to move in a group. Our target's the North Mako Reactor. We'll meet on the bridge in front of it."

Jessie quickly over-rid the door security and it opened slowly. She, Biggs and Wedge began to run down the path into the complex. Before Cloud could follow Barett stopped him, "Ex-SOLDIER huh? Don't trust ya!"

With a cold stare he turned around and he ran down the path, soon afterward Cloud did as well. The inside of the complex was pretty dirty, much like the city. The reactor hadn't been maintained well, in Cloud's oppinion; but he only had gone in one reactor before. The place also smelled terrible. The whole city of Midgar had the smell of factory smoke and mako. It was worse inside the reactor. (It's a wonder how anyone wants to live here at all.) Cloud thought, (I guess you can get used to anything if you have to) There were occassional security guards to deal with as well as monsters. He handled them very easily and made his way into the main reactor section of the complex. Barett, Biggs and Jessie were waiting.

Barett looked over at Cloud, "Yo! This your first time in a reactor?"

Cloud shook his head, "No, after all I did work for Shinra you know."

Barett smirked, "Mako is the life source of this planet...people here use it everday."

Cloud looked indifferent, "Let's just hurry."

Insulted by his lack of caring Barett yelled, "That's it! You're coming with me for now on!"

Cloud just carelessly shrugged his shoulders which made Barett madder. Biggs looked back at them, "Jessie and I have the codes for these doors." With that said he opened the first one and they all moved inside. Looking toward Biggs again he shook his head, "Just think of all the people who risked their lives...just for this code." Jessie then proceeded to open the second door.

Biggs stayed behind as Cloud, Barett and Jessie went toward an elevator at the end of the corridor. Manipulating the controls the doors slid open and the three stepped inside. Jessie looked over at Cloud, "Push that button over there.", she said.

Walking over to the wall of the freight elevator he pushed a round button and the elevator began descending into the depths of the reactor. As the elevator went down, Barett looked over at Jessie and Cloud. "Little by little the reactors'll drain out all the life and that'll be that."

Cloud shook his head and said, "It's not my problem."

This took both Jessie and Barett back. Almost yelling Barett said, "The planet's dying Cloud!"

Cloud stared at him, "All I care about is finishing this job before security and the robo-guards come."

Filled with rage Barett's hand shook. (What's this guy's problem?!) he thought. Before he could go into it further the elevator stopped.

Quickly moving outside, all three ran down a large set of stairs which went right into the very heart of the reactor. Passing through a large metal door, the smell of mako was stronger here. If one were not used to it, the smell would be almost nausiating. After climbing down some maintainence ladders Jessie remained on guard as Barett and Cloud moved deeper toward the core. Climbing down to a large catwalk they both looked down at the glowing material beneath them. It was white and green colored, steaming in parts, and all but lethal if either of them fell in. Barett shook his head slowly, (It's because of this that so many people died.) Looking ahead at the large reactor core he refocused and started toward it.

Looking up and seeing Barett go on ahead, Cloud began to follow him. Just before the core Cloud found a piece of materia on the ground. Cloud picked it up and held it for a moment. The power of the planet itself was held in each piece of materia. It enabled the owner to call upon a certain element, or just enhance the fighters abililty, in battle. Because of its range of uses materia had become quite common. Looking over at the pieces he had carefully placed in his weapon earlier, Cloud smiled at both the "Lightning" and "Ice" materia. Each was quite powerful in its own way. During his training in SOLDIER, Cloud was taught how to differentiate between one type of materia and another. Color, shape, and look were all ways to tell which was which. From the looks of it, the new piece looked like it was a "Restore" materia. He knew they would need cure spells later on so he placed it in his pack. Walking over to the core Barett was already waiting for him. He looked over at Cloud, "When we blow this place, this ain't gonna be nothing more than a hunk of junk." He handed Cloud the explosive, "Cloud you set the bomb."

Cloud glared at him, "Shouldn't you do it?"

Barett shook his head, "Jus do it! I gotta watch to make sure you don't pull nothin'!"

Shrugging his shoulders Cloud said, "Fine be my guest."

As he knelt down he felt a weird sensation throughout his whole body. A dull pain developed in his head. Nothing too strong, just enough to make him forget everything that was going on around him. He heard a voice yell, "Watch out! This isn't just a reactor!!"

Barett's voice brought him back, "....What's wrong?"

Cloud looked up at him blankly, "Huh?"

Barett looked impatiently back at him, "What's wrong, Cloud? Hurry it up!"

Cloud looked back down at the bomb. Trying to shake off what had just happend he slowly said, "...Yeah sorry".

Pushing out the hesitation he now felt, he leaned over and began attaching the explosive to the core. As soon as he activated the timer an alarm went off. (Damn! It was rigged!), he thought as he got to his feet. Barett looked around, "Head's up here they come!"

A large scorpion like machine dropped in from the floor above. It was easily twice the height of them and it looked pretty mean. The large tail had a sharp blade at the end of it; and it also had two machine guns in its two front arms. It started things off by firing its guns at both men. Quickly seperating Cloud and Barett ended up on opposite sides of eachother. Cloud dropped back and began to cast "Bolt" spells while Barett simply opened up on it with his gatling gun. Occassionally the Guard Scorpion would lauch its tail, or fire its guns at either Cloud or Barett. Both men dodged the attacks easily. Soon the machine began to change it's tactics. Moving away from them it raised it's tail. Cloud remembered reading about this machine while he still worked for Shinra. It was a confidential article which made sure to point out that the Guard Scorpion had a tail laser attack. This weapon was only used while the tail was up and it was taking damage. As Barett was about to fire on it again Cloud put his arm up to stop him, "NO! If you attack while it's tail's up. It's gonna counterattack with its laser!"

Barett looked at him strangely. Cloud had a serious expression on his face so he slowly nodded and lowered his weapon. Cloud and he used some potions to revitalize themselves. And when the Guard Scorpion's tail went back down, the two resumed their attack. It didn't take long for the machine to be too damaged to continue. With one final shudder it slumped to the ground and shut down.

Looking through the scrap quickly Cloud found a gun attachment. Barett looked at it, smiled and quickly switched the assault gun with his gatlin gun. Cloud looked at the timer. (The fight took off more time than I had wanted...only ten minutes to detonation.) He looked at Barett, "Come on let's get out of here." With out needing to be told twice both man began to scramble back toward the surface. As if sensing something wrong, the reactor monsters began to attack them more often; and now with the alarms sounding security also picked up. Each battle took more time off the clock. Cloud decided not to worry about that. (Just get back to the surface.) As they climbed the ladders they reached the platform Jessie had stayed on. Cloud noticed she was sitting on the ground tugging at her foot. He ran over to her, and helped her get her foot out, "You all right?", he asked quickly.

She looked frustrated, "My leg got stuck."

He got her to her feet. She smiled at him, "Thanks!" She began to run over to the nearby ladder.

When she was a reasonable distance up the ladder Cloud and Barett quickly followed. At the surface they waited for Jessie and Biggs to open the doors again. All four ran back to the main catwalk and took a right to where Wedge was keeping watch. He had a surprised look on his face as they all ran toward him. As they all ran for cover Barett, in his haste, accidentally tripped Jessie. She hit the ground hard and didn't move for a few seconds. Cloud knelt down and helped her to her feet. She smiled at him, just as she did before and dashed toward the enclosed corridor. He looked at his watch and bolted for the exit. As he dove by the door; the timer on the bomb hit zero.