Before you read this you should be warned that it is an "A/U" fic to the extreme. I'm of the opinion it shouldn't be counted as a fanfic, but many of the concepts and characters closely align with their FF7 counterparts(but you'll find new characters and some characters will be totally OOC) ... therefore other than names and locations you may find little to do with what you'd consider Final Fantasy 7. Then again, isn't that what an A/U fic is about? ^_^ This was begun 6 years ago, and what you read here is a culmination of 6 years of editing. Please be kind enough to leave feedback if you've read. Thanks.
DAJ The beginning
Prologue
"I'm not going." Danny Whise crossed his arms defiantly and shook his head. His calm blue eyes fixed on Tifa as if to try and block her glare. "I've backed down to you about a lot. Both Jim and I have, but this is enough! You're talking like a lunatic!"
Tifa fought back her tears. She had honestly thought Danny would agree to come with her, and Jim, too. But it seemed they were both betraying her after so many years.
"Is that right? You think I'm insane…"
"That's how you sound right now." Danny could tell she was trying not to cry, but he didn't tend to care. He'd been brought up in an uncaring environment, and to some extent, it had influenced his own emotional growth.
"This is what we wanted!" She yelled back, furious at his uncaring attitude, even though she had in truth come to expect it.
"This is what you wanted." He hadn't raised his voice yet. "I never wanted to leave Kalm … especially not on a stupid adventure like this. We're not kids anymore, Tifa. This is the real world, so why don't you join it?" Coming from his mouth this was weird. He'd heard Tifa's parents say it before, but at only sixteen, he didn't think he'd ever be saying it to his friend.
Tifa cringed at these words; they were scolding her as if they were acid, not just because Danny was imitating her parents, but because he sounded like he actually meant it. "No! You're wrong! We have to go! We have to go!"
Seeing her in hysterics, Danny brought his hand back and slapped her lightly on the face. "Wake up!"
Tifa stumbled at the hit but did not fall. She simply stared at Danny, amazed and perplexed that he had actually struck her. Lack of emotional care was one thing, but abuse was another. He wore the same emotionless mask as always, a look of contempt had entered his eyes. She couldn't hold back the tears anymore as she stood up and slapped him back, much harder. Danny rubbed his face, cursing.
"I'm leaving and I'm going to prove you wrong!" She screamed, turned away from him, and ran out of Kalm's gates, heading towards Midgcar.
"You can't do this, Tifa…" Danny sighed and turned towards Tifa's house, to inform her parents about the events, and hoping they wouldn't be too angry at him for letting her run away. It wasn't his fault … he knew that much. Neither he, nor Jim, Tifa's closest friends, had ever been able to stop her doing anything, and most of the time ended up involved somehow. This time he had finally put his foot down, but, was it the right thing to do? Of course it was … Tifa had dreams of destroying ALIEN … but why bother? They were a small government group, and Tifa's theories of conspiracy, Danny figured, were magnified and induced by the fact she believed they had murdered her father. ALIEN being a military group unfortunately only added to her suspicions. She had been like this ever since Danny could remember … they met when they were twelve, when he and Jim had been searching for the gold that they believed had to be under Kalm somewhere, and had found Tifa digging for bombs she believed ALIEN had put under Kalm. Frightened but curious, Danny and Jim listened to these stories and became entranced with Tifa's ideals and opinions. They ended up following her and wasting many days doing such things as vandalising ALIEN buildings within Kalm, of which there were few, and attacking or pestering the ALIEN executives. They never got in trouble because the police were actually on their side … nobody really trusted ALIEN, but at the same time, nobody went to the lengths Tifa did. She was an extremist, that's for sure. Where did he and Jim lie? Danny decided they leaned more towards the moderate approach than the extreme approach. This is why today he had refused to go with Tifa to Midgcar to fight ALIEN in the capital, where their main headquarters was situated.
'Perhaps one day I'll regret not going…' Danny thought dismissively, not giving it much attention, he knocked on the door to Tifa's house and tried to think of what he was going to say.