A number of drunken soldiers danced atop a wooden table, singing on the top of their lungs and swinging their bottles of beer madly from their fingertips. A crowd cheered them on from beneath, clapping and whistling. Reis and Aeris sat at a table in the corner of the large stone cavern, looking on at the festivities. They had just thwarted the largest army in the world; the largest superpower, the controller of virtually everything. Now was the time to celebrate the hard-earned victory.

Reis buried her face in her hands.

'I can't believe it…just for our sake…they sacrificed their lives and their time…' she said, sobbing gently into her white hands, 'They deserve a better life, one away from all this strife,'

'They fought for what was necessary, Reis. Don't forget that you were the one to have that said to. Don't feel guilty at all, they would have fought on by themselves and lost if they didn't have you,'

If they didn't have me. Am I that special? Am I that different from other people? No…I think like an average person…I eat and sleep like them all…but what makes me different? My ability to turn into a dragon? I surely think not… Looking from four legs is one thing, but the exposed feeling it gives, the reduction in my ability to think…no, it is definitely not a blessing. It is a curse…and yes, a blessing if some people consider it that way. Glory and power is earned by sacrifice…and a great sacrifice I have made, through the lives of others… What is becoming of me? Am I becoming corrupted as well? Corrupted by the promises of glory and power that battle brings? No…this cannot be…I will not become corrupted…I must not dabble in the dark side…

'Are you alright, Reis?' Aeris asked, snapping Reis out of her trance, 'You seem a little tired and worn. Maybe you should rest,'

'Yes…I guess so,' she said, standing up and pushing her chair back in.

Leaving the noise-flooded room, she walked towards an opening in the rock that led outside. Staring at the sparkling stars above, she clambered over the rocks, further upwards, until she stood atop the fort.

She picked up a rock, wanting to throw away her sorrows in the rock somehow, when she discovered a bright red, perfectly round stone. Holding it up to the light, Reis could have sworn she saw something moving within. Pocketing the stone, she began to climb back down.

I'll tell Aeris about this. Maybe she knows what this is.

Finding Aeris still in the same seat, she quickly walked up to her. Placing the stone down in the middle of the table, she took a cup of water and sipped at it, peering at Aeris.

'Do you know what this is?'

'What? Oh…you found…oh my God…a huge materia?'

'Oh…so that's what it is,' Reis said, placing the stone in her dress pocket.

'Well…because it's so huge, it may have some strange powers that I haven't seen before,'

'I'll try to see what it does,'

The two of them ducked as a chair went flying; the effects of alcohol had taken away the soldiers' logical thought; it was now an all-out bar brawl. Sidling along the wall, they inched their way towards the door, dodging bits of glass and furniture. Creeping out of the room, they sneaked back to their room.

The following morning…

Reis jumped up out of bed. She had made up her mind during the night. She will not trouble Aeris any more, and nobody else for that matter. Picking up the set of metal claws given to her by the blacksmith, she tiptoed quietly out of the room, climbing the ladder as silently as it was possible. Jumping over the windowsill, she began her trip on her way to find a way out of this world.

'Where are you going, Reis? Aren't you staying with me?' a familiar voice said.

Turning around, she saw Aeris, sitting on the grass next to the window. How did she know? I had only decided this in the night…there's no way she could know for sure…this must be a coincidence…yes, a coincidence.

'Please, Reis,' she said, holding the other woman's white hands in her own, 'I need you to protect me. I don't think that you are a burden on my shoulders. And I guess the other people think the same way too,'

'No, Aeris,' she said, pushing her away gently, 'I've used too many people. Best I can do now is to find a way back to where I came from…even if it means death is the fastest way there,'

'Reis! How can you think that!' she shouted, stepping backwards in shock, 'I always thought you were a strong woman…I'm disappointed, I thought you knew better!'

She gave a hollow laugh, and continued walking away to a place she did not know where.

Aeris jogged alongside her, pleading for her to stay.

'Please reconsider, Reis. You saved the lives of those people up there. Without you, they would have perished. Don't think that you're a burden on them,'

'It does not matter what you say, I will still go on where I will,'

'Reis…please…I need you…don't forget my friends…they are to be executed…and I need you to rescue them,'

'But I will still then be a burden to your soul and conscience,' she said, 'What if I fail? What if they were killed before I return them to you? I would be guilty for their deaths, and you would be stricken with grief,'

'I would still be grieving for them anyway,' Aeris said, her voice growing hard and cold, 'It's not as though they're not going to die if we don't rescue them. Or are you afraid of the Shinra?'

'Indeed I am,' she said, in a mocking sort of tone, 'Ooh, there's a Shinra wimp, let's run away. I think not,'

'I can't believe this. Where has the Reis that I met disappeared to? Here's an empty shell of her, standing right in front of me. Sure, you have all her looks, but you cannot be truly Reis. You have lost that inner compassion, the very element of your soul that makes you unique and strong,'

Reis stopped abruptly. Turning back, she said, 'Have I really lost my compassion? Have I lost my kindness and gentleness? Well, maybe not gentleness, but have I become corrupted?'

'I must say, you have!' Aeris shouted, her face turning red. Tears flowed down her cheeks. This is not the Reis that I met, she thought.

'Then what can I do!' she roared, 'I don't want to fight any more; I don't want to see any more bloodshed. There's enough of that right now, and I don't want to be the cause of more of it,'

'You can end it now,' Aeris whispered, 'you can end it now, by using your power to end the lives of the evil leaders. It is only when we fight back against the evil we will succeed in defeating them. Not any other way. We have to resist. Or are you willing, on the account of your conscience, to place the burden of all the world's deaths and sufferings?'

'How is it my fault?' Reis said, startled by this response, 'How is it? I haven't caused all of them,'

'You're as guilty as a murderer, if you allow a death that you can prevent. There is still time to change history. There is still time to save lives. There is still time to protect the innocent. And lastly, after you have done that, you may still have time to go and do what you will!'

Reis sat down on the ground at these words. Never, has she thought, that she was evil. The stroke of darkness that runs through her soul…she had never thought it existed. Aeris' words illuminated that darkness, gaping, yawning wide in the purity of the rest of her untarnished soul.

'All right,' she said, resignedly, 'I will follow whatever you tell me to do. But after that, I will leave for my world, wherever or in whatever way I can do so,'

'Thank you so much, Reis,' Aeris said, hugging her friend, returned from darkness.

'Hey, you two,' the fort leader said, pulling along two chocobos, walking towards Reis, 'Have these. It's the least I can do to show my appreciation,'

'Thank you,'

Waving a farewell, the leader ran back towards his fort, disappearing within. Reis mounted her chocobo, and Aeris did the same. They streaked off into the distance, the yellow birds carrying them along like the wind.

At the door to sector 5…Midgar City, Midgar, in the evening…

Reis took off her dress and skirt, placing them on the back of her chocobo. Transforming into a dragon, she slipped on the metal claws, ready for a long battle ahead. Aeris pulled the chocobo away, shouting, 'I'm counting on you!' at her as she left.

Licking her lips, she drew back her claws, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the door with one keen ultramarine eye, then striking down with great force onto the hinges of the gate. In four strikes, the four hinges were removed, thrown some distance away by the power of the blow. Whipping down the door with her tail, she entered the city.

It was dark within the city, unlike the outdoors that she was used to. Lit only by lamps, the city glowed in an eerie green light, familiar in some way…

Bystanders gawked at her as she stomped her way down the streets of the busy slum, giving her a wide berth either side of the road. Shinra guards dropped their weapons in shock, their jaws wide open. What are they looking at? Haven't they seen a dragon before?

At last, she arrived at a sort of platform that appeared to take her up to the top. Reading a sign that said 'Railway Station', she began to climb the spiral structure of the rails.

After a quarter hour climb, she arrived at the top of the metal plate. A vast building sat on top of it, soaring towards the pitch-black sky, uncountable floors climbing the air towards the heavens above. They must be in there, she thought.

Smashing into the building, she caught the word 'Shinra' etched across the surface of some glass panels. So this is the Shinra headquarters…well, they're going to die…today, by my own hands, I will exact my terrible revenge…

And then a small voice spoke in her head, You're becoming more corrupted, Reis. Stop thinking like that.

'Be quiet, you,' she growled to herself, furious.

A number of Shinra guards ran towards her, inspecting the source of the commotion.

'Stop right there!' one of them said, raising a rifle.

'Very funny, you bloody idiots!' she roared, to the apparent shock of the guards. Never have they thought dragons could speak (this one is special, you all know that). Throwing herself at them, she tossed them aside before a single shot was fired. A sickening crack, followed by a heavy thud, and the guards lay on the floor, with broken necks and crushed bodies.

Ascending the staircase, she broke down the security doors on the second floor. Striking down the mechanical guardians next to the lift, she let out a fearsome roar, tossing their bodies at the corridor, crushing the guards who had come running to assist.

This is ridiculously slow. I will burn my way through.

Reis reared up, digging her rear claws into the shiny marble tiles. Gathering energy in her mouth, she possessed all the look of an enraged dragon, bloodstains spattered all over her scales.

Blasting a hole through fifty floors, Reis flew up through the sizable gap, whizzing past stunned officers and workers, occasionally striking down a guard and throwing him down the hole. Then she came to the cells.

'Cloud!' she roared, embers dropping onto the floor.

'Reis…!' he said, stunned, 'How did you get in here?'

'No time to explain,' she growled, 'We must escape,'

'I surely think not,' Rufus said, approaching behind Cloud and striking him senseless with the butt of his shotgun.

Must I fight him again? Yes…I will…to redeem my dishonour at Icicle, I will kill him now…and maybe save some people from their sufferings…

Striking madly with both claws at Rufus, she attempted with all her might to kill the villain. He parried her attacks easily, striking her claws away with his shotguns.

'That is enough,' he said lazily, deflecting another strike, 'Time for me to get serious,'

He fired both shotguns into her left claw. The metal bent at odd angles as the pellets pounded at the hard steel, rendering the claw useless for efficient destruction.

Reis, enraged, gathered her strength up far more quickly than she ever had done before; showering Rufus with a barrage of mixed ice, thunder and fire breaths, she forced him back towards the windows. Pressed against them, he could do nothing. Cowering against the glass like a coward, he fell on his knees for mercy. But that was not enough to pacify Reis' almighty rage. Picking him up with the damaged claw, she pointed at the city of Midgar with her good claw.

'See that? See that city?' she growled menacingly, glowering at Rufus, 'You will fall down there in a moment. Pray to God, for you will soon meet the everlasting sleep of death,'

'Please, spare my life, and I will give you all you want,' he pleaded, hands clasped together.

'HAH! You think that I will spare your worthless, sinful life! Enough talk, prepare to face your doom,'

Reis smashed the window with a swift strike of her claw, Cloud and the rest standing behind her, stunned, looking at Rufus pleading for his life. With one fell swing, Rufus was catapulted out of the heights…into the distance…falling down, accelerating…until he landed in the middle of a crossroad, where he was immediately lynched by a crowd of disgruntled slum-dwellers.

Spitting ice fragments down, Reis turned around to Cloud and his friends, who gaped at her, amazed.

'Come on, climb on my back, I'll take you out of here to Aeris,' she growled, irritated by the looks that she received today. I'm not special, I'm anything but special. But people think that I am. What is it about me that makes me special!

Bounding through the wide streets of upper Midgar, she dodged the bullet sprays of the Shinra Military Police, Cloud and the rest clinging on tightly for dear life as Reis made a sudden leap out of the city. Gliding along, they sailed in the air towards freedom…

A/N

Well, how was it? This is only Act 1 of this story, there are another 3 acts to follow and this one still isn't complete. I will be moving this to 'M' when the time comes for…oh, I'm not going to spoil it. But, all the same, keep your eyes open when this story vanishes from the 'T' section, because if it does, it's moved to M. Keep reading all you fans of this fanfic! Oh…wait…theres only one… :P…ah well, I hope more ppl read this.