"I told you kill him! Him, not let him beat on you!"

"He didn't touch me, his friggen thug- Ouch! Dammit, don't-don't touch me!"

"Look at you. You're a wreck. What happened?"

"I did kill him-I did kill him. Him and his girlfriend and a few firkin' thugs, but they didn't like that to-to much. Bartender had a gun, shot that off. A few drunken men got to me. Blade, I hate you. Shit woman! Get away from me with that!"

"Your bleeding horribly. Shut up and stop, I'm going to call a doctor. Alright?"

"D-dammit. I'm- I'm fine. I-"

"What? Look, your not fine. Come on."

"Don't tou-touch me. Hell. Fuckin' hell. Ro-rooms…"

"Rif? Don't cry, come on. Its not that horrible. Here-"

"I think I am dying, what the hell do you expect me to do."

"Shut up. Just don't cry. Your not dying. Your just in pain. Doctors on his way."

"Where are-are you-where are you going?"

"Back down there."

"Blade, don't hurt them- to bad. It was-was my fault."

"Just shut up and let me handle this."

"Iris…"

This put a pause in Blades step. Rif hadn't called her by that name often, and only in desperate times. She shook her head, trying to clear the sound of its echo. There wasn't a turning back now. They were to deep in the city, looking for the ladder up the support.

"Rif, don't try it." She hissed bitterly, peering around every corner. The street lamps flickered and died overhead, sparks shooting from wires. The light was a green color, for every light seemed to have developed a green coating over the years that this part of the city was put out of excessive use. Blade had to go out of her way to walk down some of the alleys, only to come back disappointed.

"Look, I don't want you to do something you'll regret. You're a "think before you act" type of person. You'll end up killing Strife before you realize you still have feelings for him." Rif's voice was soft, pleading her to listen to him.

She ignored him. Her boots continued to click on the dirty pavement, and inside his mind. It kept pounding in the failure he was feeling now.

"Ah ha! Finally." Blades voice broke the murky silence of the slums, and she took a sharp turn about the condor.

Rif followed her, like a scolded puppy would follow its stubborn master. "What?" He asked, voice filled with a sorrowful tone.

"Sector 4."

Rif lifted his head from his shoes. Overhead of the two people was a sigh, dirty and worn, swinging pitifully on one of its chain. The second dangled down with some deceased creatures bones strung through the links. His stomach crawled at the sight of it.

"This… is sector 4?" He asked, eyes scanning the seen.

Buildings were in blocks, side by side. A few rats ran about the mud streets. Fly's swarmed about old garbage.

"Its…The ladders in here?"

"Yeah. Was last time I was down anyways." Blade said. With that finished, she walked forward into the sector. Rif shivered and followed her, hands sunk in his pockets.

"Darling, tell me again why we couldn't just take the public lifts?"

"Rif, we were requested to take the ladder up. The man said someone was going to meet us there, with another 5 thousand of out money. We go up, kill the Hope president, and come back down the same way and we get the other half." She turned into another street, and Rif jogged after her, one eye watching a particularly fat rat. The rat seemed to have just finished filling itself, but its eyes made it look hungry for Riffter.

"Doesn't that mean we can just go up and come back down some time later and not even kill Cloud Strife?" Rif asked, hopeful.

"Yeah, but there's a catch Rif." Blade said. She stopped abruptly, sending an absent minded Rif crashing into her. Not even stumbling, Blade glared at him. "Eyes not in your head today?"

"Sorry love, mind took an extended vacation. Why'd you stop?" He looked from her eyes to the door of the building. It looked like it had been smashed at one point in time, and clumsily repaired. A giant lock was gained to it, in an attempt to keep people out.

Blade examined it, tugged at the lock, then looked at Rif after shoving her hands in her pockets. "Have the lock picks?" She asked, looking a bit upset she had forgotten her own.

Rif blinked. "Breaking in?" He reached into his jeans and pulled out a leather pouch. Handing it to her, he shook his head. "Don't see why dear."

"What did I tell you about the pet names." She said, flipping open the leather and drawing out a thin, metal, wire. Turning to the lock, she handed Rif back the pouch and began to work away at it.

"Sorry lov- Blade." He said, shaking his head.

"We are breaking in for the reason that we were paid to go and kill Strife. To get to him and the rest of our cash, we need to go up a ladder to the top of the plate. To do that, we need to get into the building and-"

"and in turn, pick the lock. I see." Rif saw something move out of the corner of his eye, and turned his head quickly. Sitting on the corner was the fat rat, glaring at him.

"Blade baby…" There was a clink as the lock and chain came lose and crashed to the ground. Mud flung itself at the woman, splattering across her face.

"What Rif?" she asked, irritated.

"Darling…can you do a favor?" his eyes followed the rat as it stalked closer.

"And that would be?"

"Shoot that thing for me…"

Authors Note: Sorry, I keep forgetting and I will go back and edit the other chapters sometime: For all of you who have no idea who Ivy vine Sky is, please go read my story "Us", which talks about Zack and Clouds childhood. For a good story, and a look at what Clouds personality may be like in this story, please, please, please, go read any and all by Riene-Strife. He's been helping me out with "Us" and this story as well, and this probably wouldn't be sitting in front of you if not for him. So, go read his stuff. Wonderful.