As I was say'n, when I went to kill Barret Wallace was when things turned bad.

I didn't tell the ShinRa suits, but I knew Barret. At least, I used to know him. But, I knew he wouldn't be very happy to see me again. That's for damn sure...

Chapter 2: Good ol' Friends

(Three weeks before the destruction of Reactor No. 1)

Sam stood in a small shop in the Sector 7 Slums checking his weapons. The materia salesman who ran the shop lay unconscious behind the counter with a large bruise on his forehead. He had gotten off easy.

Sam held his trusty revolver, a .45 Corel Double Action Army 'Peacemaker'. He swung the cylinder out and turned the gun upward so that six empty shell casings clattered to the floor.

He then removed six fresh shells from his belt and slid them into their individual chambers. Then, as he always did when he reloaded, he spun the cylinder and flicked his wrist so that the cylinder snapped back into the gun. Once the gun was loaded, he twirled it around his index finger a few times before sliding it smoothly into its holster.

Thinking about his mission, Sam couldn't help but remember the last time he had seen good old Barret Wallace.

(Corel, twenty years ago)

Fourteen year old Sam's arms were tightly held by two men.

"We ought to jus' kill you right now," one of them said angrily into his ear.

Barret and Dyne ran up, having noticed that people were gathered around Sam.

"What's go'n on here?" Barret asked quickly.

"Barret," one of the men said, hesitating before he spoke again. "...it's...it's your father...he's..."

"What happened to Dad," Barret asked, worry in his voice. "Is he ok?"

"He's dead Barret..." the other man said softly.

"No," Barret said, a look of horror on his face. "Sam did you...YOU...I'LL KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!"

Barret rushed toward Sam, who was still restrained, attempting to avenge his father's death.

(Midgar, Three weeks before the destruction of Reactor No. 1)

Yeah, he's not gonna be happy to see me, Sam thought as he walked up the steps to Tifa's 7th Heaven. Now that I think about it, I'm not too fond of see'n him again either.

Sam was just about to step in the bar when he heard footsteps behind him.

"Can we help you," a man's voice asked.

Sam turned around to see a short heavy man and an average sized man standing at the bottom of the steps. Both wore a red bandana wrapped around their forehead, the sign of AVALANCHE apparently.

Knowing they would be trouble, Sam didn't ask questions. He quickly delivered a powerful kick to the taller man's head, who instantly fell unconscious to the dirt. As Sam jumped down from the stairs, the huskier of the two men pulled a handgun from his belt, swiftly raising it to fire.

Before the man could pull the trigger, Sam grabbed his gun by the barrel, yanked it from his hands and slammed it into the side of his head. As the heavy man fell to the ground, Sam flipped his gun around to finish him.

"Biggs, Wedge..." a woman said from the top of the stairs.

Before Sam could react, the beautiful woman somersaulted over the stairs and landed next to him. She then swiftly kicked Wedge's pistol from his hand and sent a second kick to the side of his head. The kick, which was delivered with power and grace, knocked his hat from his head exposing his short black hair and his strange red eye.

Sam threw a strong punch which she effortlessly avoided. She then landed several fast but powerful punches in his face before he could even fully retract his arm. He was getting beaten senseless, but he wouldn't accept defeat until his heart stopped pumping. He watched her moves carefully as she drove them into his face and torso.

There, Sam thought as he reached up and caught her flying fist inches from his face. Then, while still holding her hand in his, he slammed his other palm into the inside of her shoulder.

POP

The brunette's shoulder was yanked out of its socket as he landed his blow. Then, with her right side wide open, Sam punched her hard in the face. As she stumbled backward, he kicked her in the gut.

Sam didn't know any fancy fighting moves, but he was strong, fast, and experienced. He had been fighting, literally fighting, for his life since he was fourteen so he couldn't be surprised by any foe.

"Sorry honey," Sam said as he pulled his revolver from his holster. "Nothin' personal."

Suddenly, Sam heard the mechanical hum of a machine gun spinning to life. He had only seconds...

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM

He quickly dove behind a nearby building as Barret opened fire with his gun arm. Wood was splintered, dust was thrown, bystanders dove for cover and Sam was struck twice in the leg.

He had managed to dive in time, but two of Barret's shells had landed in his right thigh before he had made it behind the small building. Sam could feel blood pouring from the back of his leg as he leaned up against a metal wall waiting for Barret to stop firing.

When Barret's machine gun spun to a stop, Sam bolted down the street away from the bar. He needed to treat his wounds and come back later. Sam had a Cure materia with him, but he would have to get to safety and dig the bullets out first or the magic would just close the wound over them.

He ran until he was sure that there was nobody pursuing him. Sam ran past a train station and stopped as he reached a large junkyard that was filled with train cars.

This looks like a good place to disappear for a while, Sam thought as he limped over to a rusty train car.

"Freeze," a commanding voice yelled from behind him. "Are you the man called Hades?"

Sam turned around to see three ShinRa soldiers. They all had their weapons pointed at him and looked ready to fire.

"Drop your weapon," one of the soldiers commanded. "You are under arrest for the murder of Albert Clay, Russell Walters and Barret Wallace."

Wait a second, Sam's thoughts raced as he heard the statement. Those first two murders were hours ago and the third hasn't happened yet. These soldiers must have been ordered to find and arrest me after I finished the job. When they heard the commotion over there they must've thought I killed Barret. It was all a goddamn setup!

"Drop your weapon now!" the soldier shouted.

Seeing that they meant business, Sam slowly set his revolver on the ground. As he slowly raised his hands, one of the soldiers started towards him. Sam noticed the safety on his weapon was off and he was not moving exactly towards him, but rather around behind him.

They weren't sent to arrest me, Sam realized.

Sam waited until the soldier was nearly behind him and lunged at him, quickly grabbing the soldiers weapon and pointing it away from himself. The soldier fired...

BAM BAM BAM

...but his shots went wide. Sam then threw the soldier's weapon to the ground, wrapped his arm around the soldiers neck and turned his body so that the soldier served as a human shield. The other two soldiers raised their weapons but didn't fire for fear of hitting their comrade.

Sam knew they wouldn't wait forever, so he reached to the soldiers belt with his free hand and pulled a grenade from it. He pulled the pin from the grenade with his mouth and lobbed the grenade to one of the soldier's feet. The soldiers didn't have time to react.

BOOM

As the soldier on the left was killed by the explosion, the one on the right was throw from his feet. Before he could stand up, Sam grabbed the combat knife that he kept strapped to his right leg and hurled it into the stunned soldier's left eye.

With both of the armed soldiers dead, Sam had no further use for a human shield. He grabbed the helpless soldier's head with both hands and with a firm twist...

CRACK

...his body fell limp to the ground.

Those poor bastards were sent to kill me, Sam thought. Damn those ShinRa execs. He could see the headline now...'Violent Murderer Shot In Gunfight With ShinRa Troops'. After gettin rid of some of their most powerful enemies with no link to themselves, they could play the hero and stop the evil murderer. Genius.

"Damn," Sam cursed to himself, realizing that something was missing. "I left my hat back in Sector 7."

Sam reached up and stroked his scruffy black hair back. Sighing lightly to himself, he reached down and felt his two bullet wounds. They were still bleeding. He would need to close them up soon or he might loose too much blood.

He was about to go pick up his revolver when a female arm wrapped around his throat. The silent attacker then quickly placed her hand on her other arm and pulled the grip tight around his neck. It was the woman he had fought before. She smelled nice, just like she had earlier, which was how he could tell it was her.

Damn she is quiet, Sam thought. But reckless.

Sam was reaching for his other combat knife when Barret walked into view. He was followed by three other members of AVALANCHE, all holding handguns.

"Don't try anything," Barret warned. "You'll be dead faster than you can say 'I'm a murderer piece o' shit.'"

"I don't know Barret," Sam responded. "I can say that pretty fast these days."

"You got some damn nerve," Barret said angrily. "I can't believe you'd show your face 'round here after what you done."

Barret stepped closer to Sam, getting a better look at him. His clothes were tattered, his jeans were soaked in his own blood and his right eye was...red.

"What've you done with your eye?" Barret asked.

Sam was silent for a moment and then he asked, "What've you done with your arm?"

"We'll catch up later," Barret said, obvious anger in his voice.

With that comment, Barret swung his huge gun arm.

CLANG

Sam felt cold steel slam into the side of his head and then everything went dark.

(Two hours later)

A crummy basement faded into view as Sam awoke from his forced slumber with a pounding headache. Sam looked around seeing a large television screen, a punching bag, a large table and some sort of metal track that ran up the wall. He tried to move his arms only to find that they were tied securely to the back of a wooden chair. Someone wanted him to stay for a while.

Out of nowhere, Sam heard a loud rumble as a metal platform moved down the track that extended up the wall. The platform lowered, carrying a old pinball machine and his old friend, Barret Wallace.

"Alright Sammy," Barret said in a serious voice. "Lets talk."

"Why do we need to talk," Sam said weakly. "You got a big screen TV over there. Just flip it to..."

SMACK

Sam thought his head was going to rip off. Barret had slammed his huge left fist into his skull.

"Why'd you do it," Barret asked angrily. "Why'd you kill my old man?"

"You...you waited all these years just to ask me that?" Sam replied weakly.

SMACK

A second colossal blow crashed into Sam's head. He didn't know if he could survive a third.

"I thought you was long dead," Barret shouted back at him. "If I'd thought otherwise I'da found you."

Sam rolled his eye at Barret's comment. He didn't care if he angered him at this point.

"WHY!" Barret shouted. "I WANT TO KNOW WHY!"

"I didn't," Sam said, his voice to low to be heard.

"What did you say," Barret snapped.

"I didn't do it," Sam replied.

SMACK

After Barret's third punch, Sam felt consciousness slipping away from him.

bam bam thud

He was jarred back to coherence as he heard a firefight going on upstairs.

"BARRET, GET UP HERE!" a female voice yelled.

"Stay with me Sammy boy," Barret said as he moved over by the pinball machine. "I'm not finished with you yet."

Following that comment, Barret flipped a lever on the platform and was raised out of sight by an unseen mechanism.

(Present)

We was good ol' friends once, but that was a long time ago. Who could have imagined that things would turn out like this?

Too bad things went down the way they did back in the day. Me and Barret might still be friends.

But we aint.