Keeping the Promises

High above the city in an office that was far larger than was needed. An aging man with balding blond hair and an expensive red suit was sitting in his desk, looking over paperwork. In fact the only thing in this office was the large desk and himself. Red carpet lined the two stair cases that went down to the floor below. There were windows all around him, so he could see the city that he had built. He had long since gone through his prime and besides the fact of aging he had also begun to gain weight. His personal appearence in that aspect did not seem to bother him. He was just engrossed in his paperwork. (Profits are up 3% this quarter. Hmmm a rate hike can increase that by 2 more.) A smile came to his face, (It's so good to be...) The sound of an explosion made him look around and the sudden shudder of the building became total blackness as the power went out. President Shinra stood up in the darkness waiting. Soon the back-up generators turned on. Shinra hit some buttons on his phone, "I want someone to find out what happened...NOW!"

Cloud stood up as the smoke cleared around him. The room they all were in was badly damaged; but as Jessie said it withstood the blast. After a few moments the rest of the group had stood up. Biggs coughed, Wedge brushed himself off and Jessie quickly took out a smaller explosive from her pack. She moved over to the wall and began to set it. Cloud had moved to the back and leaned against the broken wall there. Biggs was grinning, "That should keep the planet going...at least a little longer."

Wedge looked up, "Yeah."

Barett just stared at them, but said nothing. After that Jessie stood up quickly, "Ok, Now everyone get back!"

The wall in the back quickly broke apart as the small explosive did its work. With flames licking over the top of the ceiling, Cloud dove through the wall and rolled on the ground. He quickly spun toward the burning wall to see the others come through. Cloud smiled as Wedge ran around and blew on the flames to keep them going. Barett looked at everyone, "Alright, now lets get out of here. Rendezvous at Sector Eight Station! Split up and get on the train!"

As everyone left Cloud tried to stop Barett, "H,hey!", he called out.

Barett stopped and quickly said to Cloud, "If its about your money save it 'til we're back at the hideout." Turning away he quickly ran up the stairs. After a long moment Cloud followed.

The street that was once clean of all litter was now full of burning and smoking debris. Some people were bloodied, some were more seriously injured. Remarkably, a few weren't hurt at all. The flower girl was one of those people. During the explosion she was along side of a building that was infront of the blast. She had since moved out to see what was going on. As she tried to collect herself someone bumped into her hard, knocking her and her flowers to the ground. A normal person would be mad at the rudeness of it all; but deep down inside she knew how scared that person must be, (He might just be looking for someone right now.), she thought, and she let it slide. She stooped down and picked up her flowers.

At that moment Cloud casually walked in from the left. The flower girl had seen a few others running by from that direction, one of them had a gun-arm; he looked scary to her. What caught her eye about Cloud was his glowing, blue, eyes. She had only known one other person with glowing eyes before. She approached him, "Excuse me." He looked over at her and smiled. She tried not to, but couldn't help looking right into his eyes, "What happened?"

His first reaction to her was that she was very attractive. He noticed she was looking at his eyes, a fact he had gotten used to since his mako infusion. He decided to change the subject, "Nothing...hey, listen...don't see many flowers around here."

She looked into her basket, "Oh these, do you like them, they're only a gil."

Cloud reached into his pocket and took out two bills. When he handed them to her, her green eyes lit up, "Oh thank you! Here you are!" Her smile seemed to cheer him up so he grinned back at her again. She waved at him as she walked away. He wondered, for a moment, if he would ever see her again.

After standing there amongst all that confusion Cloud decided to move on, he had a train to catch. Moving into Sector Eight square he saw a few people running around. He wondered how many of them would be without homes that night. Cloud walked down the side of the square to where an old man was. He was looking at a sign posted on the wall nearby. Cloud glanced up at it, (I wonder what is on that wall over there. Let's see..."Don't be fooled by Shinra! Mako energy doesn't last forever! Mako is the planet's lifesource! The end is in sight! Protector of the planet: AVALANCHE")

As Cloud shook his head,he left the old man where he was. Cloud moved down to the connecting alley, toward the train station. He heard someone walking up behind him, "Hey you there!" a gruff voice yelled. Cloud turned around to see two Shinra soldiers coming in his direction. Cloud thought for a moment, (Fight them.) The battle was quick, even though they were Shinra soldiers, the regular ones weren't too strong. With no war to fight the quality of the military had gone down drastically. These two men went down after a few seconds. "Hmph", Cloud said as he began to walk away. The sound of a bullet grazing the wall to his right made him turn around again. Two more soldiers had come up from his rear and began to shoot into the air. (That means more are coming.), he thought. As he turned the corner to his right three soldiers blocked him off. He unsheathed his sword and went straight for the first one. With one swift blow the surprised soldier fell to the ground. The second came up and started swinging his nightstick. Dodging the first few blows, he allowed one to graze off his shoulder protector. Then in a quick back motion he sliced the middle of the guard. As the guard fell to the ground, the third guard had fallen back hoping to be out of range for Cloud. Shooting his weapon, the bullets all missed as Cloud spun around went clean through the soldier's chest. With one final gasp he collapsed to his knees and slumped forward.

He figured that there would be soldiers coming from that direction, so he turned around and ran toward sector one. Three soldiers also came out from that side, he decided not to fight them. He backed away only to find himself surrounded by eight soldiers. One came up to him, "That's as far as you go."

Cloud was annoyed, "I don't have time to be messin' with you guys."

The first soldier motioned to the others, "Enough babbling! Grab him!"

As all eight soldiers converged on him the sound of a train grew louder. Cloud didn't even think about it. Turning around he ran for the bridge railing and jumped onto it. Underneath, a train passed by and before he could be grabbed, he dropped down to it.

Onboard Barett, Wedge, Biggs and Jessie were all in the cargo car. Wedge looked silently at the floor, "Cloud, never came."

Biggs looked up at the ceiling, "Cloud...wonder if he was killed?"

Barett was quick to respond, "No Way!"

Jessie frowned and sadly said, "Cloud..."

Biggs looked at Barett, "Say do you think Cloud's...gonna fight to the end for AVALANCHE!?"

Barett looked back at him, "The hell would I know!? Do I look like a mind reader?" Letting his anger get the better of him he slammed his fist on the crate next to him, "Hmmph! If you all weren't such screwups...."

Wedge looked at the angered man, "Hey Barett! What about our money..." Barett slammed his fist again, "Uh...nothin', sorry."

From above they heard some gunshots. They looked up for a moment; but thinking little of it the looked back down. Then a large thud from further up the train made them look up again. Some smaller thuds started, each one came closer to them. Then the cargo car's side door opened. For a moment there was silence. Barett got his gun-arm ready and the others drew their weapons. The sound of the train was the only sound for a few seconds. Then a figure swung in from the roof, this made everyone jump. Seeing it was Cloud brought a huge sigh of relief to everyone. As Cloud got to his feet he smiled and said, "Looks like I'm a little late."

Barett had gotten over his relief and now he felt really angry at the overall arrogance of the man standing before him. Moving toward Cloud he began to yell, "You damn right, you're late!! Come waltzin' in here makin' a big scene!"

Cloud shrugged his shoulders, "It's no big deal. Just what I always do."

This made Barett madder, "Shi't! Having everyone worried like that. You don't give a damn bout no one but yourself!"

Cloud's eyes perked up and he grinned, "Hmmm.....You were worried about me!"

If Barett could have, at that moment he would have punched Cloud in the jaw, "Wha!? I'm takin it outta your money, hotstuff!" He looked over at the others as he made is way toward the door to the next car. "Wake up! We're movin out! Follow me!" Then he abruptly exited.

As each member of AVALANCHE made their way to the door the all said something to Cloud. Wedge said, "Hey, Cloud! You were great back there!"

Biggs patted Cloud's back, "Heh heh....Cloud! We'll do even better next time!"

Jessie was the last to come by. Before she left, she walked to the open car door, "Be carefull I'll shut this." Slamming the door hard, she walked over to Cloud and looked at him for a second. "Oh Cloud! Your face is pitch black...", taking her sleeve she wiped the grit, that had built up from riding the top of the train off of his face. She smiled, "There you go!" As she went to the door she looked back at him, "Say, thanks for helping me there back at the reactor." Quickly she went into the other car.

Cloud stood there for a bit and then went into the next car. This one had seats like the other train they were on before had. On his left an old man was laying on the seat. "Oh...this is my house, make yourself at home.", he said matter of factly.

Cloud moved up the seats and looked at a middle aged woman reading the paper. She looked up at him, "The terrorists that bombed the number one reactor are based somewhere in the slums." She smirked, "Blowing up a reactor, they sure put some real thought into this one. They must have a real calculating leader. I wonder what they'll do next."

Barett looked over at them and quickly looked back. Still moving up the train, Barett glanced in his direction, "Stop actin' like a damn kid. Si'down and shu'up!"

Cloud decided to ignore him. He walked over to Biggs who just smiled and said, "It seems this train hasn't switched to security mode yet. I'm sure that'll change by tomorrow." He looked over at Barett, then Cloud and yawned, "That sure took its toll on me...I'm gonna sleep til we get back to the station."

Deciding to leave him alone Cloud walked over to Wedge, who was facing the window nearest to him. Looking back at Cloud he said, "Someday AVALANCHE's gonna be famous...and me too!", he paused, "Cloud! Don't ya think I have a bright future ahead of me?"

Cloud didn't want to talk, but he said, "What do you have in mind?"

Wedge took a breath and gathered his thoughts, "All my life I've felt like nothing but a sidekick. But, after joining AVALANCHE, and tryin' to save the Planet, I feel like I can do lots of things." Happily he returned his attention to the window.

Cloud looked over at Jessie, who was staring at a monitor. She smiled at him, "Hey Cloud, you wanna look at this with me?" He stepped closer, "It's a map of the Midgar Rail System. Let's look at it together. I'll explain it to you. I like this kinda stuff. Bombs and monitors...you know, flashy stuff."

He turned his attention to the screen. She looked at him, "Okay, it's about to start." The monitor began to show a picture of the city. She continued, "This is a complete model of the city of Midgar. It's about a 1/10000 scale. The top plate is about 50 meters above ground." She stopped for a moment. "A main support structure holds the plate up in the center, and there are other support structures built in each section..." She began to whisper, "The No. 1 Reactor we blew up was in the northern section." Talking regularly again, "Then there's No. 2, No. 3 all the way up to the No. 8 Reactor. The 8 Reactors provide Midgar with electricity." She frowned, "Each town used to have a name, but no one in Midgar remembers them. Instead of names, we refer to them by numbered sectors. That's the kind of place this is."

The image on the screen changed slightly and a pink light went around the center pillar. She continued with her tour, "Phew...,this is next!" She pointed to the pink dots. "Look. This is the route this train is on. The route spirals around the main support structure. We should be coming around the center area, right now. At each checkpoint, an ID sensor device is set up. It can check the identities and background on each and every passenger on the train by linking it up to the central data bank at Shinra headquarters." Begining to whisper again, "Anyone could tell that we look suspicious, so we're using fake ID's." At that moment the lights went red and the whole train flashed with color. She smiled, "Speak of the devil... That light means that we're in the ID Security Check area." She went real close to his ear, "When the lights go off, you never know what kind of creeps'll come out." The lights came back on and she moved away quickly, "...anyhow, we're almost back now. That's a relief."

Cloud stepped away from her and the monitor and looked over at Barett. He was looking through the window located behind him. "Look", he said, "you can see the surface now. This city don't have no day or night. If that plate weren't there...we could see the sky."

Cloud went over to the window and placed his hand on the sill. He looked around for a moment before saying, "A floating city...Pretty unsettling scenery."

This caught Barett off guard, "Huh? Never expect ta hear that outta someone like you. ...you jes' full of surprises" He stood up and moved over toward Biggs, "The upper world...a city on a plate...It's 'cuz of that &^#$# 'pizza', that people underneath are sufferin'!" With anger in his voice he continued, "And the city below is full of polluted air. On topa that, the Reactor keeps drainin' up all the energy."

Cloud looked at Barett and Biggs, who was now awake, "Then why doesn't everyone move onto the Plate?" Barett shook his head, "Dunno. Probably 'cuz they ain't got no money. Or, maybe...'Cuz they love their land, no matter how polluted it gets." Cloud nodded, "I know...no one lives in the slums because they want to. It's like this train. It can't run anywhere except where its rails take it."

Sector Seven Station was old but very well kept up. There were bits of metal beam, used for track repairs, lying on the cobble stone street. Just past the station all the retired train cars were left to rust away. People said that ghosts had taken over the area, so most decided to stay out of that section of the station. Many people have come and gone through the station during its many years and some even considered it a landmark to the slums. Not that that was saying much. The train came slowly to a halt and a lone guard walked over to the doors, giving the signal to open them up. He was older, and had been doing the job there at the station for most of his career. He saw people coming and going for most of his life. He had seen a lot of things, some happy and some sad. Most of the time he decided not to notice, if he was able to. A few people got off the train and then three others. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie all moved in opposite directions and tried to blend in with the croud of people that had gathered there. Barett came out next and walked down the small steps in front of him. Cloud disembarked and the doors closed behind him. Barett shook his fist, "Yo!! Get over here, all'ya!!" Biggs and the others were quick to join their leader, while Cloud took his time. Barett was impatiently tapping his foot on the ground as Cloud joined his group on the cobble stones. Barett grunted, "This mission was a success.", he looked around, "But don't get lazy now. The hard part's still to come!" He raised his hand quickly and hit it against his gun-arm. "Don't y'all be scared of that explosion! Cause the next one's gonna be bigger than that!" He moved away from the group a little, "Meet back at the hideout!! Move out!"

As Cloud watched them go he thought to himself, (I hope that's not his idea of a motivation speach). He began to jog in their direction. Right after the station the scrap metal piles began. A greenish haze also began to build up. It could have been a fog, but Cloud wasn't too sure what it was. What he did know was that it was pretty normal for Midgar and probably not good for people. The mako powered street lights made the "fog" look more mysterious. To his left Cloud saw the gate to Sector Six, there were two guards there. He decided to leave them alone. Straight ahead was the town of Sector Seven and to his right was a pillar. He decided to check the pillar out. A young man was standing by a fence which went all around the pillar, to keep people out. Cloud had no idea what the young man was doing, not that he really cared; but he decided he would go over and talk to him. The young man didn't enjoy being walked in on. He looked at Cloud and yelled, "Hey now!! Oops!! What on earth are you doing? Just butt out......geez!" He calmed down some, "Huh? You come to see it, too?". Pointing to the very top of the pillar, "There was a bombing on top. If this pillar should come down, everyone in the slums is dust...Well, there's no point in worryin' about that." He once again motioned for Cloud to look up toward the top. With a smile he said, "Hey!! Look! It's huge, ain't it? Hey...This is a strange and wonderful place. This is my place, but you can come here when you want. Bye, bro!" Waving he quickly took his leave of Cloud.

The town itself was rather small, small compared to the whole city. There were rows of houses right next to eachother and scrap metal piled up around any corner not normally walked on. The street lights were glowing green. Like the rest of the slums the air quality had a lot to be desired. Some people were standing around talking to eachother. Listening into a conversation, a woman wanted to know if he knew the latest gossip. Cloud shrugged his shoulders and turned away. "Don't care...", he said calmly.

She took offence, "Well EXCUSE me!" and quickly returned to her other conversation.

Cloud noticed an energetic little boy. "Bombs, Explosions. AVALANCHE is so cool!", he said.

Cloud decided to leave that subject alone. Making his way toward the bar, he heard some gun-shots and people being hurried out, by Barett. Cloud shook his head, (Suddle ain't he). He walked over to the big man, who looked like a sentry guarding a fort. He just grinned sheepishly, "Heh heh heh. You gonna see your little baby huh?"

Cloud looked at him with an annoyed expression on his face, "Get out of my way!"

Barett's expression changed to a serious one, "Hey jes' calm down. We can't have people suspectin' us."

Cloud stood there for a moment, (Like that's possible). Barett said, "Ok! Go on ahead."

Walking up the stairs Cloud pushed the swinging doors to 7th Heaven open and stepped inside. The bar had a homish country look, something that the whole city didn't have. There was a pinball machine and a jukebox to his right. Tables in front of him and at the bar a beautiful young woman, whom he had grown up with in the small town of Nibelheim, was doing some cleaning. She had just served Biggs and the others some drinks. Cloud smiled back when his good friend, Tifa, looked up at him. A little girl ran from behind the bar over to him and yelled "Papa!"

Cloud was surprised and he looked down at her totally confused. When she realised her mistake she turned a deep shade of red and ran to the opposite corner of the restaurant. Cloud judged her to be about four or five. She was wearing a pink dress with a yellow bow on it. From behind the counter Tifa came over to him. She was about his height and had long brown hair, tied into a poney tail at the very end. She was wearing a white top that cut off at the waste and a short black mini-skirt. Her eyes were big and brown. She looked over at the little girl, "Marlene! Aren't you going to say anything to Cloud?"

Marlene didn't even look over in his direction. Turning her attention back to Cloud she came closer to him. Cloud smiled at her again. She gave him a quick hug and said, "Welcome home Cloud. Looks like everything went well. Did you fight with Barett?" Cloud shook his head, "No"

Tifa looked surprised, "You've grown up. When you were little you used to get into fights at the drop of a hat."

During this time Cloud had taken the flowers he had bought on the plate and held them out. Tifa noticed immediatly, "Flowers? How nice...You almost never see them here in the slums." Her eyes opened wider, "But... A flower for me? Oh Cloud, you shouldn't have..."

Cloud shook his head and grinned, "No big deal."

She smiled as she accepted the gift. Putting it up to her nose she smelled it. "Thank you, Cloud. It smells wonderful. Maybe I should fill the store with flowers." She took a step back, during the discussion Marlene had come up and stood behind Tifa. Cloud looked down at her but Marlene only looked away. Tifa frowned, "Sorry Cloud, Marlene seems to be a little shy."

Cloud nodded his head, he wasn't about to force someone to talk to him. He headed for one of the back tables. As he got there he heard Barett running up the stairs. Jumping back to avoid the big man Cloud effortlessly landed in a sitting possition on the table. Marlene lit up immediatly, "Papa! You're Home!"

She jumped into his arms and he placed her on his shoulder. Tifa smiled at him, "You all right, Barett?"

He had a big grin on his face, "Great!" Looking at everyone around him, "Get in here fools!" He walked over to the pinball machine and stood right next to it. "We're startin' the meetin'!"

Hitting a hidden switch the machine lowered into a secret part of the restaurant. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie complied by dropping down to the lower level. Cloud just looked around for a moment as the pinball machine/elevator came back up.

Tifa walked behind the bar once again and motioned for him to come up there. Cloud stood up and walked over to her, "Sit down.", she said. Finding a comfortable seat he sat down and placed his hands on the counter. "How about....something to drink?"

He nodded, "Give me something hard."

She turned around toward the bottles behind her, "Just a minute. I'll make one for you." A few seconds later, after shaking and pouring, a glass with something brown in it was placed by him. He took a few sips and placed the glass back down on the counter. She smiled, "You know, I'm relieved you made it back safely."

Cloud smirked, "What's with you all of a sudden? That wasn't even a tough job."

She nodded, "I guess not...you were in SOLDIER. Better make sure you get your pay from Barett."

Downing the rest of the drink he stood up, "Don't worry. Once I get the money, I'm out of here."

He made a motion to put some gil on the bar; but she waved it off. Nodding he slowly walked away from the counter. Tifa looked at him for a second, "Cloud, are you feeling all right?"

He paused for a moment and looked back at her, "...yeah...Why?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "No reason. You just look a little tired I guess." Cloud stood there for a moment as Tifa went back to wiping down the bar. She looked up at him, "You'd better go down below." Then she returned her attention to the dirty counter.

Cloud walked over to the pinball machine and hit the switch. He felt a shudder as the floor rose up to him. The hidden room below was rather small compared to the shop. There was a large table and couches off in one corner, a big screen TV in another. Barett was using a punching bag while his daughter Marlene, who really didn't look like him at all, was cheering him on. Biggs and Wedge were just sitting back and talking to eachother. Jessie was on her computer. Since the news was on Cloud decided to listen to what they would say about the bombing. The news man looked grave as he introduced the President of Shinra Inc. President Shinra's image came on the TV. A recording of his voice stated, "Today a the NO. 1 reactor was bombed, the terrorist group AVALANCHE has claimed responsiblity for the bombing. It is expected that AVALANCHE's reign of terror will continue. But citizens of Midgar there is no need to fear, for I have immediatly mobilized SOLDIER to put an end to this problem. Thank you and good night."

(What a blowhard), Cloud thought as he looked away from the screen. Cloud shook his head, (SOLDIER, this could get complicated).

Barett stopped punching the bag, "Yo, Cloud! There's somethin' I wanna ask ya. Was there anyone from SOLDIER fighting us today?"

Quickly shaking his head Cloud said, "None. I'm positive."

Barett took another swing at his punching bag, "You sound pretty sure."

Cloud smirked and placed both of his hands on his sides, "If there was anyone from SOLDIER you wouldn't be standing here now."

This got Barett mad, "Don't go thinkin' you so bad jes cuz you was in SOLDIER."

Cloud turned away and said nothing. Barett thinking he was being ignored started to move toward Cloud. Biggs tried to hold him back and with a mighty blow Barett knocked Biggs through the air hard into the wall behind them. Everyone looked over at the now unconscious Biggs, seeing him twitch once in awhile. Barett looked back at Cloud, "Yeah, you're strong. Probably all them guys in SOLDIER are. But don't forget that your skinny ass's workin' for AVALANCHE now! Don't get no ideas 'bout hangin' on to Shinra."

Cloud glared angrily at Barett's, "Stayin' with Shinra? You asked me a question and I answered it...that's all." Walking over to the big man he stood toe to toe with him. Both men not willing to take their eyes off eachother. Both Wedge and Jessie were afraid an open brawl would start. Without blinking Cloud said, "I'm going upstairs. I want to talk about my money."

Tifa had just used the elevator to get downstairs. She saw most of the discourse between Cloud and Barett. Seeing Cloud back down brought a big sigh of relief to her. Barett, was in no mood to talk about payment. "Shucks!! ......money...".

Cloud shook his head and started toward the elevator. Tifa ran over to him, "Wait, Cloud!"

Barett waved her off, "Tifa! Let him go! Looks like he still misses the Shinra!"

Spinning toward Barett and with anger in his voice, "Shut up! I don't care about either Shinra or SOLDIER!" He took a few steps toward the pinball machine. "But don't get me wrong! I don't care about AVALANCHE or the planet for that matter!"

He was just about to leave when Tifa said, "Straighten things up with everyone for me."

Storming by her, he stepped on the machine and hit the switch once again. Returning to the bar level he paid little attention as the machine dropped back down. (Just get the money and leave. Let these guys save the planet if they want to. I doesn't matter to me.) As he was just about to go through the door Tifa called over to him, "Listen, Cloud. I'm asking you. Please join us."

Cloud shook his head as he turned to face her, "Sorry Tifa..."

This time she looked like she was pleading with him, "The planet is dying. Slowly but surely it's dying. Someone has to do something."

He lowered his eyes and took a deep breath, "So let Barett and his buddies do something about it. It's got nothin' to do with me."

Thinking quickly she used one last tactic, "So! You're really leaving!? You're just going to walk right out ignoring your childhood friend!?"

Cloud was taken back for a moment, "How could you say that!" he exclaimed.

She looked down, "......You forgot the promise, too."

A puzzled look came to his face, "Promise?" he said quietly. It wasn't quiet enough.

She moved closer to him, "So you DID forget. Remember.....Cloud it was seven years ago."

Deep inside his mind he tried to remember back seven years. At that time they were both far from Midgar, back home in Nibelheim. (That year I joined SOLDIER. So what happened back then?) A picture of the town well came to him. (The well?) Tifa tried to jog his memory, "Look, the well. Do you remember?"

He remembered the image of his younger self, smaller then, weaker. He was wearing green pants and a black tee shirt. His hair was still spikey then but it was longer. Some of it was tied into a poney tail. Winter was almost over but it had decided not to give up without a fight. The night was clear. With little light coming from the buildings the stars in the sky could be seen clearly. An occassional wind made Cloud shiver. "Yeah... back then. I thought you would never come, and I was getting a little cold."

In his mind, the bar faded around him and all he could see was that stary night seven years ago. A lifetime ago from his perspective. He was sitting alone ontop of the well waiting for her. (Shoulda known this wouldn't...) "Sorry I'm late." He turned to see Tifa, wearing a nice blue dress walk over to him. He smiled at her and she returned the favor, "You said you wanted to talk to me about something?"

She sat down next to him and eagerly waited for his response. Taking a moment to gather his thoughts he said, "Come this spring...I'm leaving this town for Midgar."

Her eyes dropped and a frown appeared on her lips, "...All boys are leaving our town." she said quickly.

He stood up and faced her, "But I'm different from all of them. I'm not just going to find a job." With sudden exclamation in his voice he said, "I want to join SOLDIER. I'm going to be the best there is, just like Sephiroth!" He began to walk behind the well to get higher on it.

Without changing her tone or expression she said, "Sephiroth...The Great Sephiroth." Thinking for a moment she looked up at Cloud, who was now on top of the well, "Isn't it hard to join SOLDIER?"

He nodded, "I probably won't be able to come back to this town for awhile." She made a gesture with her hands that he didn't quite see, "...huh?"

She dismissed the subject with another question, "Will you be in the newspaper if you do well?"

He wasn't really sure how to respond to that. He just said, "I'll try."

Thinking quickly Tifa looked up at him and said, "Hey, why don't we make a promise?" This took Cloud by surprise. "Umm, if you get really famous and I'm ever in a bind......You'll come save me, all right?"

He looked at her slightly confused, "What?"

She felt slightly embarassed, "Whenever I'm in trouble, my hero will come and rescue me. I want to at least experience that once."

This time, noticing how vulnerable she was he repeated his last statement, "What?"

With a smile on her face and some anger she yelled, "Come on--! Promise me----!"

He smiled and nodded at her, "All right...I promise." Far above a shooting star moved across the night sky of Nibelheim.

The bar came back into focus for him. Looking back at Tifa he looked down at the floor. She looked at his expression, "You remember now, don't you...our promise?"

He slowly nodded, "I'm not a hero and I'm not famous. I can't keep......the promise."

She just went on, "But you got your childhood dream, didn't you? You joined SOLDIER." With a sense of finality she said, "So come on! You've got to keep your promise......"

Before she could continue Barett climbed up from below. He had overheard most of their conversation and decided to get involved again, "Wait a sec big-time SOLDIER! A promise is a promise! Here!!"

He tossed some bills on the floor by Cloud. Picking them up he noticed that 1500 gil was in the stack. He smiled, "This is my pay? Don't make me laugh."

Tifa's face lit up, "What? Then you'll...!"

Cloud nodded, "You got the next mission lined up? I'll do it for 3000."

Barett's face turned red, "What......!?"

Tifa ran over to Barett, Whispering in his ear, "It's ok, it's ok......We're really hurting for help, right ?"

He turned to her, "Uh......ugh......That's money's for Marlene's schoolin'......" Putting his arms together with a sense of finality, "2000!"

Cloud nodded and Tifa smiled at him, "Thanks, Cloud."