Hehe…prepare yourselves.

I disclaim just about everything…just in case. Characters, places, dialogue parts…all of it. And why not? It couldn't hurt.

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Angel Memories: Chapter 18

Initiate

"Stop the truck."

The driver looked away from the window for a moment and looked at me with curiosity.

"What?"

With a sigh, I placed a hand on the dashboard and pointed through the windshield and out into the darkness and torrential rain that pelted the glass.

"Stop the truck…or you'll hit it."

The driver turned his attention to the stormy scene beyond the glass. Enormous drops of rain pelted the windshield and made visibility nearly impossible. He squinted slightly, peering into the darkness. After a moment he shook his head and readjusted his glasses. He took another second to stare closely through the glass. Finally he shrugged and leaned back in his seat.

"No offense, sir, but I think you might be seeing-"

The rain halted and lightning flashed, illuminating the enormous dragon that stood in the middle of the road. It towered at nearly twenty feet and let it's thick, emerald scaled tail crash directly into our path.

"OH SHI-" The driver cursed and slammed on the brake as the front of the truck collided with the reptilian appendage. The vehicle jerked forward, sending the alarmed man careening forward. In a flash of movement, my arm shot out and caught the man by his face, preventing it from smashing into the steering wheel. I remained steadfast in my seat and quietly reached the passenger's door. As the latch came undone I heard the driver pant and pat himself all over, searching for telltale damage before realizing that there wasn't any.

The door opened and immediately I was drenched. Without a word to the now terrified driver, I stepped out into the rain and pulled Masamune, sheathe and all from its compartment on the ceiling of the vehicle. It came loose and I latched it onto my hip once again.

"A-are you going to actually fight that thing?" the driver asked in a frightened voice. Without turning, I closed the door behind me and swept saturated locks of silver from my eyes. My feet sunk several inches into the muddy road and the water began to soak into my boots.

From behind me, I heard a door open and close and two more feet hit the ground. They approached, moving easily through the muddy terrain before stopping behind my left shoulder.

"I take it the driver didn't listen?"

I nodded silently and began walking toward the towering dragon. It blinked menacingly and leaned down, stretching its neck forward and growling softly. I stepped forward again through the rain and mud, shaking Masamune loose and pulling it from its sheathe.

The sky once again exploded with lightning and Masamune's blade flashed with the reflection. The dragon caught the flaring light and reared upwards, it's two front legs leaving the ground and pawing madly at the air. It raised its face the sky and let loose an earsplitting roar that caused the displaced metal of the car behind me to quiver and screech with it.

With the ending of its cry, the dragon swiveled its neck to stare down at me with enormous beady eyes. A wide toothy grin split its face before it tore downward, fanged maw open and acid saliva streaming from the edges of its mouth. I glanced briefly at the blade in my hand and then shook my head slowly. Without a word, I reached into my pocket and removed a small marble.

"Quake 3."

My MP slipped through my fingers and made the small stone glow slightly. The dragon let loose another roar that echoed through the rain. Beneath my feet, something shuddered softly and then the mud in front of me flowed away to reveal pure stone. Enormous fangs flashed brightly, feet from my body and swiftly approaching.

And then the Earth burst upward in an enormous stone spire that ripped through the underside of the beasts jaw and shot through the skull, skewering the approaching creature in one moment. For a second, the dragon blinked in confusion before its eyes faded slightly and grew distanced and hazy. Finally, the hind legs of the beast spasmed and grew still, flopping uselessly to the ground.

I looked at the fallen beast for a moment and then sheathed Masamune. Dark grey blood oozed out of the newly formed hole in its neck, mixing and melting into the puddles of mud and rainwater that had formed on the ground. Without a word, I turned and wiped away some of the water that had been pooling around my eyes.

"You know…you wouldn't need to bother with these things if you let me drive," said the familiar voice from the truck.

"Inform the men that there wasn't any real problem." I made my way through the mud and back to the passenger's doorway, passing the hopeful man on the way. "And you can't drive, Zack."

Zack's shoulders drooped for a second and his head fell forward. "Aww…" Suddenly his head shot up and he leaned in close to stare at me through the rain. "Was that…" he began to circle around me through the mud slowly but with purpose. Like a shark, he darted in and looked me in the eye. "Was that a joke?"

"What?"

He drew back in mock horror and pointed at me with a trembling finger. "Did the great General of SOLDIER just make a joke?" He placed a hand on his chin and posed thoughtfully. "Cause it sounded like a joke to me," he said slyly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said with a sigh.

Zack raised an eyebrow and then let his arms fall to his sides, shoulder's rising in a half-shrug. He sighed and looked at me with a pained expression. "The bad thing about that is that you really don't, do you?"

What was he talking about? It didn't really matter though, if we planned to make the town by sunrise we had to get going now. "I gave you an order, Zack. Inform the men and get back in the truck, I'm not even sure why you came out here to begin with."

Zack grinned widely at me and then turned around to trudge exaggeratedly through the mud. Through the rain I heard him say, "Who knows when you'll need my backup, eh? I guess I only ended up wet though, didn't I?" What a talkative man. Quite a bother. I was about to reprimand him again to do his duty but he interrupted me. "I know, I know. 'I gave you an order.' Don't worry about it, I'm on my way. I'll see you in town, General."

The creaking of a door coupled with its slamming shut drew me to my senses again. What a bothersome man. But he did get his work done, and the men did like him. Bothersome…but useful. I shook my head, flinging drops of water to splash against the passenger's door.

After I had entered the vehicle and taken my seat again, I turned to the nervous driver. "Will the truck still run?" The jittery man glanced at me before returning his gaze to the steering wheel again. He stuttered for a moment before muttering something of an affirmative. "Well then let's go. The beast is lying across the road here. Drive around it, maybe twenty feet to the left. And be more careful next time."

Y-yes, sir."

The remainder of the rainy truck ride was quiet and tense. I could sense the driver's terror emanating from his body, made worse by his all too obvious glances in my direction. After several more hours, the rain let up and our target village came into view. It was a small, cozy looking place, much friendlier than Midgar ever could be. On the edge of the town loomed a large mansion, surrounded by a dark metal fence and an aura of something terrible.

Behind it all, the enormous mountain range exploded upward. Massive grey blue crags leapt with enthusiasm to stab at the sky above. They twisted and whirled in a vast portrait of nature vs. itself. And nestled in it, cradled by the fierce peaks, sat a single outpost of mankind. It rested, smug and secure in its little nook, unhindered by the distracted cliffs as they battled each other.

Beside me, the driver whistled a soft, impressed note. "Woo-ee…those are some big'uns, aren't they?"

His attempt to re-establish communication was met with my own disinterested silence. I had no curiosity to give these mountains, they were only obstacles to the object of the mission. We had to go and hire a guide to get us through them. I hate bringing civilians into military affairs but I had no voice in the matter, the President had made that clear.

After ten more minutes of driving, we pulled into the small town and everyone unloaded from the truck. I paid the driver his fee and then turned to survey the crew that had tagged along with me. There were five MPs, two of which had accompanied me before, and Zack, the second in command.

Why had I been assigned so many bodyguards?

I shook my head silently and turned, deciding to find the closest inn. With a flick of my wrist, Zack saluted and stepped forward, preparing to brief the men on the mission and what to do until then. As I turned the corner, I felt the stares come from all directions at once and the slow-building roar of whispers began to creep their way into my ears. For a moment, I paused and listened for Zack. He seemed to be wrapping up his speech.

"Alright guys! So we're not sure when we're moving out, we gotta wait for our tour guide, but be ready all the time. The base of operations is the local inn. Until you are called, feel free to disperse and loiter all you want. Just remember, you're representing Shinra here, so don't do anything your momma would frown at." A chorus of laughs rose up as well as some commentary about how, 'this ain't a field trip!' Zack's voice joined in the frivolity for a moment before he quieted the men down again. "I know, I know. Well that's it guys, you're dismissed," The men dispersed and I could hear their footsteps begin to approach the corner. "And welcome to Nibelheim, men!

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First of all, I'd like to apologize for the content of the chapter…I know it's not the absolutely most interesting thing ever. I had meant to go a lot further into the memory but I didn't because of two reasons.

One: I didn't want to write like…an eight page chapter.

Two: I am deathly ill right now.

I am sick, like…fever, sore throat, coughing, coughing up stuff. It's not fun. Fortunately, that didn't kick in until like Monday night and I had managed to get a headstart on the chapter over the weekend cause I was so pumped by all the reviews I got. I think I may be getting better…but who knows.

But I got the chapter out when I said I would and here it is, so all you would-be complainer?...you can say whatever you like I guess, it's a "free" country.

Oh, in response to all your worried reviews about my "brush with suicide," I think I need to explain it a little cause I was looking for sympathy back then and kinda made it sound worse than it really is. Let me relay my exact thought process. SO you can cease worrying.

"Aw man…I have nothing to do and nothing to look forward to today. But it's only six o clock in the afternoon. Should I just go to bed? Have tomorrow come quicker? Yea…I guess I'll just do that. Hmm….I wonder if things are going to get better in my life. Do I have anything to look forward to? I wish I could just go to sleep forever if I don't.

"………..

"Oh wait…that's death."

As you can see, it really did only, 'sneak in there.' I actually think it's pretty funny.

Ok…so I realized that I forgot to thank people for reviewing chapter 16. So all thank yous that will follow this sentence will apply to the people who reviewed on 16 as well. So I give thanks to Manders1953 (thanks for reviewing even though it's a technical hassle) Unita (even with work stuff) xsaturnine (glad you like Zexion…I'm afraid we won't get to see him again thanks to the actual storyline though, sorry) heartsoblivion (I don't see a purple button…could you direct me to it?) Chaos009 (I won't be returning your emails for a bit…I'm ill and can't function well) and Alphablades (I'm not sure why you didn't read Shadow Feather first…but I'm glad you're caught up now.)

So for all those of you who have played final fantasy 7 (all of you? I would think) and don't want to see my sephy getting emotionally battered again…sorry.

Hey, you know what I found out? The game store near my house is "getting a shipment" (cause KH2 is the most fickle game ever) of Kingdom hearts 2 on March 29th. Guess what else? That's my Birthday. Guess what I think. That I am the savior.

Just kidding. See you all next Friday.