A huge, urban expanse lay before him as he looked out the train window. His companion, a large black man with a crew cut and a machine gun mechanically attached to his arm, sat next to him, brooding.

'Probably worried about Marlene,' the spiky-haired blonde thought to himself. His other three companions sat close by, but they would get off sooner than he and his gun-armed escort would. Who was he kidding? The young man didn't need an escort. He was infused with Mako. He was once a part of SOLDIER, or at least he seemed to remember he was. His memory hadn't been what it was since that accident in his hometown at the Mako Reactor.

His thoughts drifted back to the people who had hired him, seeing as how he was now a mercenary. There was the chubby but kind young man by the name of Wedge, and the stoic, charming pretty-boy Biggs. And then there was Jessie. He liked her from the moment he laid eyes on her. She had dark red hair that looked almost brown tied back into so loose a ponytail that it looked like she slept with her hair that way. She wore a rather loose, camouflage vest with matching pants over a blue t-shirt. Why, Cloud couldn't remember. She told him once, but he forgot. Something about completing the outfit. She had the most beautiful smile. It could literally light up a room. Cloud found himself very attracted to this young lady, and she was very smitten with him too.

Then there was his other traveling buddy: Tifa Lockhart. His closest childhood friend. Or at least that's how he remembered it. She was a rare beauty. Her wild, chestnut hair cascaded down her back into a ponytail that was loosely bound by a small, tan ring. There was always a lock of it in her face. Her boots covered not only her delicate feet, but a pair of wool socks that Cloud gave her for her fifth birthday. Tifa was a bartender, and as such, she had to drag in paying customers. He noticed on more than one occasion that she was quite a well-endowed young woman, and usually wore nothing more than a skin-tight t-shirt and a black leather miniskirt. But appearances can be deceiving. Tifa was by no means the slut she made herself out to be. She was a kind, sensitive young woman who would do anything to help someone in need.

Cloud interrupted his thoughts and adjusted the metal plate on his aching shoulder.

'Why do I wear this damn thing again?' he chided himself. He fixed it, and looked out the dingy train window. The dirty town of Midgard stretched before him. It was a place corrupted by Shinra, the life force-sucking company that lived under the charade of a simple electric company. Of course, many of them probably had no idea what they were doing to the Planet. They were sucking the life out of them, hence the title 'life force-sucking company'. Never really knew what they were doing. That's why AVALANCHE was here. They were going to destroy the Mako Reactors that were the instrument of the life sucking.

Cloud was suddenly hit with a splitting headache. He had had them as long as he could remember. They were mostly a nuisance, and he had gotten used to them.

"You do know why you have them, yes?" Jessie said. Cloud whipped his head around.

'How can she read my thoughts?' Cloud thought to himself.

"It's one of the perks of being a spirit," Jessie joked. Cloud looked confused. "Yeah, I'm dead. Sorry to drop that bomb on you this way, but, as Biggs always said, I have a tendency to be blunt.

"Like I said, I'm dead. And you will be too soon, if I don't get you outta here quick. I don't know how you got here, but I know that getting you out is my ticket to hop a ride up to Heaven. And, if you're lucky, you get to go home someday."

"You mean…"

"Yes," Jessie nodded. "You can see her again in the Promised Land. Your heroic efforts have not gone completely unnoticed. But you can't go home yet. You still have a job to do. Like I said, I cut a deal with a higher power, and if I get you back in one piece, I get to go to Heaven. Come with me, if you will, and we'll take a trip back into your memory."

"But where and how far-"

He was suddenly in the place where he had said goodbye to her last. Sector 7 Slums. During President Shinra's last desperate attempt to eradicate AVALANCHE, the support beams holding up the Sector above it were destroyed and the entire sector was crushed. He and his friends tried to stop it, but to no avail. Hundreds of people were killed. It was a slum, but that doesn't justify the murders.

"Now, you remember this," Jessie said.

"Yes," Cloud swallowed. "If our base wasn't here…"

"Maybe," Jessie said. "Or maybe it wouldn't have mattered. Just be glad he knew where our base was, or he would have leveled half the city. It wasn't your fault that all those people died, including me."

Cloud looked wistfully at her. He blinked and then closed his eyes. "You always did know me the best out of everybody in AVALANCHE."

"So you know about Tifa," Cloud said off-handedly.

"Oh, honey," Jessie replied. "People in the Lifestream know everything. I've known since the moment I was killed."

"Everything huh?"

"Yeah, so I know about you and that Ancient," Jessie sighed. "It's okay, though, I'll get over it. I was always a hopeless flirt. Don't worry about me."

Cloud had been feeling guilty about that, but he had dozens of other things to feel guilt for that it had been low on the list. He supposed he suppressed it. He hadn't really thought about her before much.

"I know, I know," Jessie said. "You didn't love me, it's alright. Say it."

"You're right," Cloud said. "But if I had known you better-"

"And if Aeris wasn't in the picture."

"Yes," Cloud said. "But I might have loved you. If we had had the chance."

"I guess we'll never know now," Jessie said softly as she disappeared. "But that's one issue you'll probably never get over…"

Cloud saw a blinding flash of light.

TRIVIA

Most of this chapter is a reference to FF7, one of the greatest games ever created. But you probably already knew that.

An interesting side note: Cloud doesn't get headaches (at least none that I can remember) in Seven, but he claims to have them in Tactics.

Not many references, mostly Seven stuff. Next is Reis. Her's is a little weird so bear with me for a few more chapters and then we start the originals.