CHAPTER 1

"Looks like rain..."

Two MPs and a Shinra Command Officer stood watch about a mile outside of the city of Midgar. From here, the city did not look particularly grand. Large masses of junk and debris surrounded the capital city of the Shinra Empire, but not so much as one's view was obscured from the slums which cowered under the gigantic plate above them.

Still, the ritzy upper city and the monolithic Shinra headquarters were more likely to catch ones eyes and divert their attention from the trashy, dilapidated towns beneath. Forget the emerald-colored Mako energy being extracted in the eight reactors surrounding the city, and the city lights which blinked and faded in almost-hypnotic patterns. Forget the skylights and neon signs which could be seen from as far away as the township of Kalm. It's just that people did not want to see the slums. They'd rather ignore its presence and forget how many people suffered there on a daily basis.

Still, the first MP's intuition about the rain was confirmed just by glancing upwards. Large, dark clouds stretched as far as the eye could see... though this sight was not uncommon recently. For some reason, the immediate area around Midgar was always dark. The land had been charred black, and now, over the last several weeks, black clouds had surrounded the city almost non-stop. It was almost as if nature was trying to warn the citizens and their rulers that bad tidings were afoot.

"Don't worry about it," The crimson-clad commander spoke plainly. "We have supplies to last us for days, including rain-gear. Besides, that's what the weather-man's been saying all week, but we haven't seen a drop yet."

"Uhm, sir..?" The second MP started, "Why are we out here again?"

"What, you weren't told?" The commander questioned. He scanned the MP with critical, dark brown eyes.

"N-no sir... I dunno about him..." The MP said, pointing at the first, "But I was just told to meet you here."

"Same here," the first replied before the commander could say anything.

"Hmph. That's not like Colonel Heidegger. Oh well. You deserve to know the truth..." The commander said as he scanned the area. They were near a cliff, hiding behind a large rock. Fog was setting in, and seeing any further than several meters was difficult at best. The commander continued: "According to intel, two renegade SOLDIERS are heading this way. We've been ordered to stop them from entering the city."

"Two SOLDIERS?" The first MP asked, "How do we know they're renegades?"

"Well..." The commander began to reply, "I'm not sure. But they recently escaped interrogation or something... I'm not sure on the details myself." As the commander said this, he pondered the likelihood of a cover-up. What he was not about to tell his two subordinates was that their query had apparently escaped from Nibelhiem, where General Sephiroth had died several years ago.

Sephiroth had taken several troops and another SOLDIER there to investigate a malfunctioning...

...reactor...

Wait a second... The commander started thinking to himself, There was only one other SOLDIER on that mission...Maybe I'm wrong about this...

The second MP piped up; "Hmm, SOLDIERS. Great, yeah, let me fetch my Knights of the Round materia out of my sock..."

His sarcasm was not appreciated, but the commander did not reprimand the troop. He himself almost felt the same way.

"Well don't worry," The commander assured his trope, "There are several patrols all going on around here. If we find them, we'll have back-up. And by the same token, if someone else finds them, they can count on us!" The commander added that last part to pep up his men, and it worked.

"Yessir!" The troops replied eagerly in unison.

And so they waited. The sun began to go down, as evidenced by the golden glow peeking out beneath the looming clouds, far in the distance. That's when the Second MP saw something...

"Sir..." he whispered, "Over there..." He pointed out into the fog.

About 100 yards away, a large shadow moved slowly and quietly. It seemed to be dragging something...

"Is that them?" The first MP asked.

The commander did not reply... Instead, he searched his crimson uniform for a pair of infra-red binoculars. He found them, and put them to his eyes...

Sure enough, the Mako-eyes were a dead give-away. It came from both the two men, and as luck would have it, one of them looked as though he was out of commission!

The MPs raised their guns to fire, but the commander put up his hand. "Not yet!" he said in a hushed whisper. He pressed a button on his radio repeatedly, in some strange pattern the two MPs couldn't decipher. It made little noise, so neither MP knew what doing so would accomplish. Still, he was the commander, so he had to of known what he was doing.

After a moment, the commander held a listening device close to his ear, and after a few more moments, put it away. He nodded at his men. "Okay..." he said, drawing his long-sword, "ATTACK!"

The three men rushed at their targets. One of whom had a large maim of spiked-back, ink-black hair. The other one -who was being dragged and looked semi lifeless- had relatively short, blond spiky hair. The first one also had a VERY large blade... at least 3/4ths of his 5'11" height, and nearly a foot wide. This intimidated the troops a little, but they still fired off nonetheless.

The first SOLDIER heard the men coming, and ducked the shots. He placed his comatose companion down on the ground, unsheathed his Buster Sword and charged at the small battalion. The troops fired more shots, but the mysterious SOLDIER deftly blocked the bullets with his gigantic blade. He then put it to its intended offensive use, cutting down the troops with ease once he got into range.

The commander looked blankly at the SOLDIER as he cut through the men like so much warm butter. He was utterly shocked--which made the pain far more bearable as he became the renegade SOLDIER's next target, doomed for death. He didn't want to die, but that choice was instantly taken away from him. In his last moment of consciousness, he was glad it was quick...*

Zack shook the excess blood off of his blade. He jogged back over to his companion Cloud and went to pick him up again...

More shots fired out...

*DIVE!*

Zack found his own body out of his control for a moment as he arched over, and his legs quickly extended. He had somehow managed to propel himself out of the way, without even thinking about it. He was unable to comprehend this strange phenomenon as an attack dog ran up, and attempted to make Zack's arm its next meal; but the young SOLDIER swiped at the canine, almost sure he had killed it. He rolled and got back up.

More shots came again: this group was just like the last, and Zack finished them off in much the same manner as his previous opponents.

After it was over, Zack shook his head. Something... someone had just gotten inside of his head.. his body. However, this bizarre intervention seemed to of saved his life. Zack was suddenly chilled to the bone, and he did not know why. It was if the very fabric of nature had been torn asunder, and it was all his fault.

However, the feeling of gloom and dread passed, as suddenly he heard a voice:

"...ugh... ow.."

Zack turned his head. His friend, Cloud, had begun to move of his own accord, and was trying to speak!

"Cloud... CLOUD!" Zack cried out with joy. However, his near-comatose friend did little else besides struggle to move.

Zack picked the young man back up, just as he felt a drop of cold hit his head. "Huh..." was the most eloquent way to communicate his observation. It was beginning to rain. It came down rather lightly at first, but Zack could tell it was going to get worse. Zack looked at Cloud, "Well, this's great," he said sarcastically, yet still with a grin.

Cloud grunted in response.

"Whaddya mean, 'it could be worse'? I mean, yeah, you're right, but still, quit bein' such a pessimist!" Zack replied as he pulled Cloud up. Cloud tried desperately to move of his own accord, but his body failed to accommodate him.

Zack's nagging doubts returned at full force in an instant of tranquility: What happened there? he wondered. He still could not shake the feeling that now there was something very, very wrong, as if he should be dead now. If this were true, would the universe stop at anything to make sure his death came to pass, no matter what? Would that set things right, or had the damage been done and now no amount of compensation could reverse the damage dealt to all of space and time?

Zack paid this uncharacteristic fit of paranoia and theoretical nonsense no heed, and continued dragging Cloud through the now increasingly vigorous rainstorm...