Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. All rights belong to Square-Enix.

A/N: Surprise! Since I am leaving very soon, I thought I should give you all as many chapters as I can. For those who speculate the identity of the villain… well, just wait and see if you are right :p lol. Rest assured that the action will be picking up a lot in the next chapters. Well, enjoy! And just to let you know that the italics in the beginning paragraph are flashbacks.

Notice: This is an updated version. I read the reviews saying that I made Zetrion too strong. And after looking it over I realize that I did. I never meant to make him that strong, I just got caught up in the moment lol. I made changes to have Cloud on level with Zetrion and not appear weaker to him. Sorry for the godmodding of Zetrion and please enjoy this updated version.

Final Fantasy VII: Sin's Past

Chapter 7: The Struggle Begins

The new recruits for SOLDIER stood side by side as the recruiting officer went down the line. He eyed every single recruit. Some didn't make eye contact with him. Others, the unfortunate ones, did make eye contact as he stared at them, and nearly shat their pants. Cloud was one of his victims. The blonde had left Nibelheim a few days ago, and was already starting to miss everyone, especially Tifa. If not for her, he wouldn't be in line with the other recruits. The officer passed Cloud and came to the black haired individual next to him. His hair was spiked, as was Cloud's, but was much shorter than Cloud's, just a few inches short of a military cut, and instead of going in all different directions, his hair only went up. The recruit officer stared him down as well, but this kid wouldn't break his focus off of the wall behind the officer. The officer smirked before moving on. He started making his speech about how he was now their God and how their lives would from now on be a living hell, standard military speech for the enthusiast. The black haired individual looked over at Cloud, who had lowered his head. He felt sorry for the young boy, though he had no right to call him that since they were the same age. "Crazy guys, eh? You think they do that for all the recruits?" Cloud smiled and chuckled lowly as to not get the officer's attention. "Probably. It's most likely the same routine every year." They both chuckled again before the black haired boy extended his hand to Cloud. "I'm Zetrion." Cloud took his hand and shook it. "Cloud."

Cloud raised his sword in time to block the attack, sparks letting loose from the clash of the two blades. Both men pushed with all their strength to overcome the other, even though the boss wasn't gritting his teeth. He merely smiled. Cloud now had a closer look at the man's eyes and saw that they did indeed glow a green color despite being naturally brown. That, in Cloud's experience, could mean only one thing.

"So… you've been given mako treatments, haven't you?"

The man laughed at Cloud's discovery. "Bingo. That sure didn't take you long."

The man then broke their struggle and leapt in the air before trying to bring his sword crashing onto Cloud. The blonde saw this trick happen and quickly rolled out of the way, making the man's sword miss him, but crushing the ground beneath it. He and Cloud then went at it, exchanging sword blows and blocks. They even started jumping off of the nearby houses to add speed and power to their attacks. They became blade locked in midair, somehow managing to stay afloat until they pushed off of each other, landing on their feet, and resuming the fight on the ground.

Tifa, on the other hand, didn't have it as easy to fight one opponent. She had to deal with the rest of the gang, all armed with weapons, most had guns. As soon as they got the chance, they began to shoot at her. Tifa danced for a while, avoiding as many bullets as she could before deciding to run to a nearby house for cover. She dove through the front window, rolling upon impact when she hit the wooden floor inside. She didn't have a scratch on her, despite the window being glass. She laid low for a few minutes as the gang kept shooting the house. Tifa would have to find a way to escape their fire and take them out one by one. The men kept firing, shattering the glass windows and putting holes in the outside walls. Their fire finally ceased after a few minutes, due to the fact that they were all out of clips. Silence, other than the sounds of battle from Cloud and the boss, swept over them. Suddenly, the front door opened very slowly. The men armed their guns, though it wouldn't do them much good. Soon, they were at ease when they saw the door open completely, with nothing standing in it. They thought they had finally done Tifa in.

Just then, something was launched out of a broken window. It was a frying pan that hit one gang member in the head and knocking him to the ground. Next was a pot that hit another enemy, then last were several pots and pans thrown at other enemies. Some hit them, some completely missed. While they were distracted, Tifa ran out through the front door. When one of the men noticed her finally, he was silenced by a hard punch to the jaw. He immediately hit the floor as the other men tried to pick up where he left off. Tifa blocked punches from two directions and kicked one enemy away, while grabbing the other man's arm with her free hand and throwing him over her body and straight to the dirt. When another threw a flurry of punches at her, she dodged every one of them with great ease, and caught his last punch with her bare hand. She squeezed his fist, making him scream in pain as she brought him to one knee before finishing him with a kick to the face. Four down and only seven more to go. Tifa got into a fighting stance when all of them stood in front of her. She motioned the 'bring it' sign with her hand, and they got the hint and brought the battle to her.

Cloud was knocked on his back again, but he rolled out of the way of the boss' oncoming sword. Cloud got back to his feet and tried to hack the man's head off, but the agility of this man outmatched Cloud's as he easily dodged the sword. On the rebound, Cloud then swung his sword back towards the boss' way. The boss brought up his own sword to block the attack.

"Hehe." The man chuckled. "Are you sure you're the 'hero' who killed Sephiroth?"

His taunts angered Cloud. It reminded him of when Sephiroth would use words to bring Cloud down. The proved to anger Cloud so much that he got enough strength to push the man back and swung his sword wildly, trying to hack him to pieces. The man blocked all attacks with his sword, the smile leaving his face as now he had some difficulty keeping up with Cloud. After exchanging many attacks, Cloud spun around to add momentum to his lower attack, aimed to cut the man's feet off. The man backflipped away and landed on top of a house. The two stared each other down, the man smiling once again.

Tifa ducked from an incoming kick. She then kicked the man who was now behind her and knocked him down. The next man who came after her was flipped onto his back and then knocked out cold by a chop to the neck. Getting to her feet in time, she dodged blow after blow from him until catching his hand by the wrist and kicking him in the stomach three times before positioning her leg above his neck and bringing it down with enough force to knock him out. After he hit the floor, she swung her foot around to connect the heel to the jaw of another individual, and he joined his friends in dreamland. That now left three more. Tifa ran at them high speed and delivered a flying kick to one of the man's chest. His unconscious body hit the ground hard. She then performed a side flip in front of the last two, who were an equal distance apart. Her feet latched onto one man's head, while the other was underneath her arm. She used her free fist to punch him in the face, then rotated her body to flip both of them over and onto the ground. Tifa got to her feet and looked around. All the men lied unconscious at her feet. Tifa smiled and dusted her hands and arms off.

"Who are you?" Cloud wanted to end this game.

"Ohh. You've forgotten me already?" Some would think that this man had a hint of sadness in his voice. "Hmm. That's too bad."

"What are you talking about? I've never met you before in my life!" Cloud would admit that this menace reminded him of Zack, but it clearly wasn't him. Zack was much taller, and his hair was longer as well.

"Oh really? So sure of yourself. Hehe, not at all like you were during recruiting."

Cloud's eyes went wide at the mention of that event. The event itself was very fuzzy for Cloud, seeing as how not all the memories of his "SOLDIER days" were actually his. But one thing he does recall was the day he joined with the potential recruits. He nearly shat himself from one look of the recruit officer. But everything else was still a blur. "How do you know about that?" Cloud questioned the man. "Who are you?"

"My name is Zetrion. For now, that's all I'll tell you." Zetrion armed his sword with both hands again as he leapt off the roof of the house. Cloud jumped from his position as well. Both men clashed in the air, their swords going back and forth as each strike was more powerful as the one before it. Cloud deflected Zetrion's next attack and tackled him straight down. Cloud managed to take him all the way to the ground and even further. The ground was cracked upon impact. As the dust settled, Cloud instantly jumped out of the cracked area and landed on his feet. He dusted himself off, believing he had finished off his foe. Tifa walked up next to him, her hands at her hips and an eyebrow raised. "You just love showing off, don't you?"

"At least I put him down."

Just as they were about to turn and leave, the ground started to rumble where Zetrion was. He stood to his feet, a little phased from the impact.. He dusted his arms off, next his chest. He climbed out of the area and made his way toward Cloud. "Hmm. That was impressive." He put his hand on his back. "I'll definitely be feeling that the next morning. You're certainly stronger than you look." He then gripped his sword tightly and ran at his foe. "But so am I!" He dashed towards Cloud, aiming to cut him in half. The blonde swordsman raised his sword in time to block the attack, but the force of Zetrion's strength sent them back a ways from Tifa. They continued their fight while she merely watched.

Just then, a large, dark skinned man came up behind Tifa. He tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. As she turned around, she was hit by a large fist in the stomach. Well, it actually almost hit her entire torso. She flew back from the strength of the blow, just barely managing to regain control of herself and land on her feet, though she skid back a few feet before stopping. She looked up at her attacker, and saw the large man. He clearly towered over Tifa. She wasn't afraid however. She had beaten big men before, and he was just another one to add to the list. She couldn't deny however, that the punch from the big guy had hurt. A lot. She gritted her teeth and ran at the guy. She went full force on him, throwing a combination of punches and kicks anywhere she could. He had managed to block most of the blows. He couldn't dodge because his large size decreased his speed greatly. Tifa knew this and decided to capitalize on it. She rolled underneath his legs when he tried to grab her. She then jumped in the air and delivered a spin kick to his back. The man lost balance, but quickly regained himself long enough to turn around, and regretted doing so in the process. Tifa was punching him furiously, using her Beat Rush attack which added much strength to her. The man was knocked back by her strength, and was then met by a kick to the chin.

Cloud locked blades with Zetrion again, both men pushing with all their strength. Zetrion just smiled as Cloud gritted his teeth.

"What happened to all the people here? Where are they?"

"Oh them? Well…. I killed them." Zetrion chuckled as Cloud's eyes became filled with horror.

"You… killed them? You bastard!"

Cloud broke the lock and swung his sword with all the strength he had. Zetrion parried all the attacks, not paying attention to how angry Cloud was. "They didn't deserve to die! What kind of sick freak are you!" Cloud raised his sword above his head and swung it down, aiming to cut Zetrion in half. The other swordsman raised his blade and blocked the sword. The smile from his face had disappeared, his eyes having a dark, serious tone.

"Me? Why Cloud, I'm the same as you. Just better. In fact…" He pushed Cloud's sword away and used a free hand to punch Cloud straight across the face. Cloud didn't brace himself for the impact, which caused his body to fly back and hit the ground, though not too far away from Zetrion. Cloud stumbled as he tried to prop himself up. He wiped the small trail of blood that leaked from the side of his mouth, which caused him to flinch from the pain he felt on his face.

"I'm just getting warmed up."