I couldn't think of a good way to end the chapter in just four pages so I decided to split it up into two parts…this isn't the end of this segment. Just so that you know.

Don't own Sephiroth or any of the places or organizations mentioned. I do own Nall though.

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Angel Memories: Chapter 10, part the first

Green Rain Memories

"There aren't many people out tonight, eh Sephiroth?" The young man, perhaps sixteen, shouldered his standard issue sword and peered out across the filthy streets. With a casual flick of the wrist, he lowered his goggles over his eyes and pressed the small button on the side of the visor. "People don't like the rain here." His nose crinkled up slightly and he added, "Not that I'd wanna be walking around in this stuff if I had a choice." He sighed softly. "I guess that's a drawback to living on the top plate, you get this kind of raid, eh Sephiroth?" He turned his face toward me, smiling jovially. "Did I get it right?" he asked. "Sephiroth. Or is it Sephirot? I'm not too good with names."

Sighing with annoyance I said, "Sephiroth."

"Sephiroth. Got it. Thanks a bunch." After a moments hesitation he said slyly, "You remember my name?"

Silently I shook my head and then walked purposefully into the downpour. The heavy rain plastered what hair escaped my helmet to my body and soaked slowly into my military uniform. My foot set down in a large green tinted puddle. The protest of my nameless companion fell on deaf ears. We were in the middle of an exam. Now was not the time to be bonding.

"It's Nall! My name is Nall!" With a quick wave of my hand I silenced him. Nall's face contorted into a look of indignant anger coupled with an annoyed sigh. Despite his silent protests, Nall lowered his blade from his shoulder, adopting the infiltration stance we had been taught at headquarters. Using my other hand, I made a small motion with it and gave the silent signal to move out.

The two of us split apart and took different sides of the street. WE stuck to the shadows, watching carefully for any signs of motion. I kept a close eye on Nall, discerning his blind spots and covering those as well. I knew that he would be doing the same thing. People didn't take this test if they were incompetent. As we neared the end of the street, we both took cover in opposite doorways, hiding ourselves carefully from sight.

There was a quiet buzz inside my helmet, slowly growing into radio white noise. The static growled loudly and then A voice broke through. Nall spoke quietly into my earpiece. "Establishing radio link. Connection established?"

I glanced swiftly around my position and what I assumed were Nall's blind spots. I could find no signs of danger so I whispered softly into my microphone, "Affirmative."

"Past this corner, how's your vision from your position?"

After taking a moment to scan the area I returned my wary gaze to my most open points and responded coolly, "82 to 85 degrees of visibility from a secure area. What's your status?"

"74 degrees visibility from secured position." He paused for a moment and then added, "Can reach a probable 87 degrees if I move out a bit although there is a minimal risk of being discovered, should I proceed?"

"Do not proceed." I spoke harshly into the microphone. "I repeat, that is a negative on any further movement. This is a stealth reconnaissance mission and any assumed risk is a deadly one."

"Understood," Nall was breathing hard and fast into his helmet. "What do you advise?"

I remained silent for several seconds as I pondered the position we were in. After calculating for a moment, I said quietly, "Switch your visor to thermal mode."

"The rain is too much to allow us to see past these corners, that won't help us to decrease the risk."

I cut him off before he could continue. "The door behind you, check it out, is there any movement or hostile activity inside?" there was a pause as Nall's helmet rustled slightly as he turned. After a moment he whispered that there was no movement from inside. "Good, break in and make your way to a top floor window. Be careful and report findings via radio once you have a secure position."

Nall let out a small gasp. "Breaking and entering? That's illegal! We can't do that!"

"It is the best discernable course of action," I said coldly. "We must take this opportunity. I will remain on ground level to offer assistance in case of combat as well as continue operations with your advice."

"But…breaking in?"

"Why do you think you were equipped with lock picking tools?" Nall fell silent at that comment and quietly mumbled in agreement.

"Watch my position; I'll need to focus on this so no alarms go off."

"Understood."

Switching my visor to thermal mode, I could just make out Nall's crouched form on the opposite side of the street. The rain made his whole figure blurry and I couldn't tell when he had laid out his tools. Quietly I scanned the area, searching for stray thermal readings but finding nothing. After several minutes, Nall's voice once again crackled into my ear.

"Ok…proceeding inside."

"I'll stay here until I get word."

"Affirmative, make no contact while I'm inside, I will speak to you first."

"Understood." Then the line went dead. For several minutes, there was no sound but that of the rain. Drops of green tinted water fell into puddles and streams that coursed down the paved street in streams and rivulets. The water was green because of the reactors and the smoke they put out. The smoke had long since formed an enormous cloud over Midgar that would never leave. When it rained, it rained water mixed with lifestream runoff. Detrimental to those unexposed to mako. Fortunately, soldiers like Nall and me each had small doses that helped us deal with the otherwise fatal condition of being caught in the rain.

The crackling of electricity buzzed once again in my ear. Nall's breathing became apparent before his words did; hard and fast, clearly upset at his current position. "Establishing radio connection."

"Affirmative, are you in a secure location?"

"As secure as I can feel in someone else's home." His words were laced delicately with both a pleading as well as an angry tone.

"Very well, what can you gather from your position?"

There was a long pause before Nall spoke again. I heard him turn from side to side, looking carefully out of whatever window he could have found in time. "This was a good idea," I heard him mutter silently. "We've got two hostile bodies positioned directly around each corner. Looks like a stake out…"

"They knew we were coming?"

"It seems that way."

I thought to myself for a moment, trying to think of an available course of action. "We should contact headquarters and relay the situation to them. We need word from them on whether we should move out anyway."

"Agreed. Should I get out of the house or stay here?"

"Stay there, I might need you on sniper status." Nall gave his affirmative and I twisted the small knob on the side of my visor, effectively changing my radio frequency to that of the Shinra Headquarters. "Sephiroth to Shinra, Sephiroth to Shinra. Do you read? I repeat, do you read?"

A gruff and tired sounding voice came into my helmet. "Yes, Sephiroth, we read, what is the problem?" Quickly I relayed the situation to the man in headquarters. He listened silently and took several seconds in silence before he spoke again. "Proceed with the mission. Change tactics from infiltration to assault, the one you were supposed to gather information on, we need him dead and this is the best opportunity we have had in a long time. Do you understand? This is not optional. Kill him. No matter what the cost. If you fail, do not come back alive."

Without hesitation, I nodded in agreement but when I tried to speak, no words came forth. I felt something rise in my throat, blocking off my vocal cords. Something inside my head felt…itchy. Fighting through the strange constriction, I confirmed the man's orders and the line was cut off. Something wet rolled down my cheek, coursing downwards and pooling on the inside of visor.

Tears? Was I crying? How odd…it must have had something to do with the being in the rain for so long. I didn't feel sad. Or rather…I did…but it didn't feel like me. The itch on the back of my head grew larger, spreading quickly. Quietly, I indulged it and scratched roughly against the cloth covering the rear of my skull. Once again, I hunkered down and flipped the frequency of my headset towards Nall.

"Nall, the situation has changed," I began. He made a slightly startled noise but listened intently. "The mission has changed from infiltration to assassination. We are to kill the man we otherwise were to gather information on. This is not optional; we are not to come back to headquarters until we have done so."

There was a long pause on Nall's side before he mumbled something unintelligible. After a moment, he spoke more clearly. "Geez…that's pretty…heavy. Alright…so…what's the plan?"

I was about to respond when another voice broke into our communication. "Come in team White Ash. This is Shinra headquarters. Do you read?" I responded with the customary question to check security and the man on the line responded correctly. "There is a small change in plan, I will direct you on your next tactic, if you do not follow this orderm you will both fail the test and never be able to take it again. Do you understand?" Both Nall and I responded with an affirmation and then listened intently to the order. "Nall will give light sniper assistance from his position while Sephiroth takes the melee combat in a frontal attack. This is the plan, we are watching so do not attempt to break this. Once Sephiroth has moved out of your range, Nall, meet up with him on the ground once you have killed all nearby agressors that you can see from your position. Try and do this silently for as long as you can. That is all."

Silence fell on the line and after a moment I spoke again. "Alright…let's go."

Slowly, I eased my way toward the corner. Taking a deep breath, I lowered the Shinra blade I had been issued for the test. Then, in a flurry of movement, I spun around the corner, spotted the guard and thrust the point of the blade through his throat. He gurgled for a moment and then grew still. I pulled the sword from his corpse and he fell in a heap at my feet.

Something exploded in my head. A searing pain coursed through and around my skull, making me dizzy and faint. Through the pain I thought I could hear someone with a voice like my own screaming "Stop it!" but I dismissed the idea quickly. Scanning the area, I spotted the other guard, dead and bleeding from a large gun shot wound in his forehead. Taking only another second I found another soldier and dashed toward him. He was fumbling with his radio, trying to contact the base when I pulled up beside him.

In a panic, he lifted the barrel of his gun and tried desperately to pull a bead on me. A flash of metal cut through the rain and hacked the gun barrel off. It flew away and clattered to the ground several feet to our left. Spinning quickly, I snaked the blade in between his ribs, cutting into a swiftly beating heart which grew still instantly. A gun shot sounded as I pulled the red coated blade from my victim's chest. Turning, I glimpsed the shape of a bullet, tearing through the falling drops of rain and making its way toward my head. I heard the body hit the floor behind me as my recent casualty fell limply to the ground.

Fiery pain lanced through my brain, causing me to clutch it in anguish fall painfully to my knees. The bullet soared over my head and smashed into the stone wall. Through the red haze of pain that had washed over my eyes, I saw the aggressor go down, spurting blood from a large bullet hole in his skull. Inside me, I could hear someone shouting with all their will, "Don't kill anymore! You don't have to do this! I won't let you!" With one last breath, my arms seized up and I fell forward, face first into a dark green puddle on the granite floor.

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Hey everybody. Look...I'm really sorry it took so long…and even now you don't even get a full chapter. I'm really sorry. Shall I explain? Ok. So, I wrote the first chapter of that FFX-2 story that I had mentioned. That took a while and I had to do it because if I didn't, it would have consumed my mind. You should take a look at it, it's pretty good. http/ me and my girlfriend of like a year and a half just broke up and I might as well play the stressed out card even though it's a fairly peaceful breakup.

Ok…so I will try as hard as I can to get the next part of this chapter out soon although I wont promise anything because I'm like…lazy. Sorry.

Thank you so much for reviewing you guys! Erm…that means for…xsaturnine, Unita and heartsoblivion. Super sorry for keeping you waiting. Think of this as a holiday present.