Okay, after taking a break over the past few days I've decided to start on the next chapter. Because finally we've entered the story line! And for those who have read the notes in the last chapter, you should all know that the battle is going to be Belle vs. Hollander!

Hope you're ready for this chapter!

Edit: Also, I changed 'Samantha' into 'Rosalyn'. That's going to be the last major change I'll make.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Final Fantasy VII Compilation. I do, however, own Isabelle and her big sister Rosalyn.

Chapter Three - Belle vs Hollander

"Behind you." Cissnei purposely alerted the 1st Class SOLDIER to her presence.

The startled expression on Zack's face when he whirled around to face her would have normally amused the Turk. But instead she felt nothing but exasperation. The chances of Zack showing up in his hometown was more than likely, but it still exasperated her when she got the reports from her colleagues that he was making his way towards Gongaga.

With the straight-forward way the SOLDIER usually did things, it was amazing he managed to stay out of ShinRa's grasp for as long as he already had. It wasn't hard to figure out his movements and eventually showing up in the village he had been born and raised in was one of his top ten predictable movements on the list.

"So predictable..." she sighed. "Couldn't you guess that your hometown would be the first place we looked?"

Zack huffed, his eyes scanning her warily as if he was expecting her presence there to be a trap. The friendly light in his eyes and the broad smiles he used to give her whenever they met up after work to hang out was gone, replaced by world weariness and distrust.

Cissnei felt a pang in her chest but ignored it. She couldn't blame the man; if what she read in the Nibel Manor was true, then her friend had every right to hate the very company he once served.

Even Cissnei, who had been loyal to ShinRa for as long as she could remember, was beginning to have her own doubts. Doubts that had started when she read the reports on what was referred to as the 'Nibelheim Incident' and only started to grow when she became more alert to the darker aspects of ShinRa after two of her friends and an infantryman they were fond of were handed over to the mad scientist.

Her growing distrust of the company was shared by her fellow Turks Alexandria and Lise (code named Shotgun and Gun respectively), who had never been quite the same since Hojo had not only taken in Zack and Cloud, but Rosalyn as well.

The shuriken wielding Turk was aware that some of the things that ShinRa did to achieve their goals were, for the lack of a better term, shady. But because of the ease and the prosperity that the company had brought countless people around the world, she continued to support them.

But now...

Now she had no idea where her loyalties lay.

With the man she loved and knew would never return that love or the very company that raised and made her the person she was today.

"Here to see your parents?" Though it was blatantly obvious that it was the only reason why Zack would even consider coming to the village, endangering not only himself and Cloud but Mr. and Mrs. Fair as well.

Though it was to be expected if he saw the ruins of what was once the Gongaga mako reactor.

News of what had happened to the Mako Reactor in Gongaga had hit the Turks hard and they had immediately rushed over to the little country village to check out the situation themselves, helping the survivors clean up the mess and retrieve the bodies as well as ensuring that Zack's parents were among the survivors.

It was hardly a consolation considering just how much damage the explosion had caused, but Mr. and Mrs. Fair had survived the ordeal. They were shaken by the events, but alive.

"Yeah, so?" Zack glare came back with renewed force, making Cissnei's heart ache even more. "What's wrong with that?"

"I see." She ignored the pain in her chest, maintaining a blank poker face. "They're alive, if that's what you came here for."

Zack's glare immediately vanished, being replaced with weary relief at the news that his parents had not gotten caught in the explosion that had taken out more than half of his hometown. He let out a sigh that Cissnei was sure he had been unaware of.

"Yeah, well..." His shoulders slumped over as he considered Cissnei's earlier words. "I guess you're right. It was pretty careless."

He paused and turned away from the Turk.

"We'll be going."

Then walked away.

Cissnei watched Zack's retreating form, her mouth going dry as she willed herself to say something, anything. She didn't want Zack to leave.

Not just yet.

"Be careful." She finally managed to get out. When Zack slowed and came to a complete halt, she added, "Security is very tight right now. Apparently... another target is in the area."

Cissnei had to word this carefully. It had been over four years since the incident at Modeoheim, but it could still and possibly was a sore subject for Zack.

Zack's glowing blue eyes, that reminded her of the bright blue sky, focused on her.

"Who?" He asked.

This was it. Might as well get it over with and hope that Zack didn't react too badly to the bomb she was about to drop on him.

"Angeal."

Cissnei braced herself for the oncoming storm of what she expected would be Zack freaking out at the fact that his mentor, who was long dead, supposedly being seen wandering around the world if the reports from both ShinRa and his fan club were anything to go by.

But to her surprise, Zack didn't react as she expected him to. No jaw-dropping followed by a demand as to where he his teacher had been last sighted, but rather a look of thoughtful contemplation.

"I see..."

Cissnei's expression twisted into one of incredulity. "'I see'?" She repeated. "He died by your hand!"

At this, Zack's body tensed and she regretted her insensitivity on the matter.

"You're not surprised?"

Zack shook his head and seeing her puzzled expression, explained.

"I think he may have helped us escape ShinRa Manor." Zack rubbed the back of his head and a rueful grin appeared on his lips. "Told me I tarnished the SOLDIER name before leaving. It was thanks to him I broke out of the tank I was dumped in and was able to get Cloud out as well."

It was Cissnei's turn to look thoughtful as she mulled over the SOLDIER's words.

"Interesting."

It was. Who was she to say that the ghost of Zack's mentor hadn't visited him and urged him to break out of the laboratory was impossible? Even if the theory sounded somewhat out there... it wasn't impossible.

And it sounded just like Angeal to come back from the dead in some form and give Zack a lecture on honor. Just like back then before everything started going wrong. Besides, Zack's theory could also be backed up by evidence.

"The sighting reports were true."

"But why would he come to a place to Gongaga?"

It didn't make sense as to why such a high ranking former SOLDIER would come to his hometown, a little village out in the country side, of all places.

The Turk chuckled. Seeing Zack's head tilted to the side, reminiscent of a puppy that had no idea what it's owner was asking it to do made her chuckle even harder. Why would Angeal come to his pupil's hometown of all places, she wondered if that was what he was thinking at the moment.

"He came here to see her." Cissnei said once her laughter died down and her expression softened. "What other reason could there be?"

Zack remained silent before shouting out a warning to his mentor, alerting him that the Turks were in the vicinity. It stung to hear him say that, but she kept her mouth about it and allowed him to yell out the warning.

"I'll give you ten minutes." She warned him. "After that..."

Cissnei gave him a stern look.

"I return to the Turks."

"Return?"

Cissnei turned away from him, avoiding his gaze.

"Right now, I'm not in the mood. I can't bring bad news to your parents."

For Zack's sake, I sincerely hoped that he wasn't sitting at his parents' place and eating apple pie. Other wise I was going to kick his butt once he came back.

...

...

...okay, it was highly unlikely he was actually sitting at the table and eating dessert with his mom and dad since he and Cloud were still on the run, but what the hell was taking him so long? We avoid every town we've come across to make it harder for ShinRa to track us down, but when we arrive at his hometown where security is likely to be tight on the account of his parents living there, he takes his sweet time?!

...

...

Smacking the back of my head against the motorcycle passenger cart, I let out a long sigh when I realize just how much of an unreasonable jerk I'm being. The solitude must be really getting to me.

Okay, calm down Belle. It's been a while since Zack saw his parents. If he wants to have a lengthy reunion with them that involves homemade dinner, pie and stories being exchanged then he can.

I just hoped he didn't forget about us. It was starting to get boring with just me and a catatonic Cloud sitting here and doing nothing. There was only so long I could hold a one-sided conversation with someone who was unable to talk back.

At the moment, I was sitting on the ground with my back towards Cloud. The only things I could do to entertain myself/distract myself from the boredom was either stare ahead, at the ground, or at the sky. Or I could draw or scribble on the ground with a stick or rock.

Or option number three: I could wander off and explore for a bit.

But that meant I would have to leave Cloud on his own, which I was still not comfortable with. Something could easily happen to him in my absence and it would be my fault as I was responsible for him whenever Zack wasn't there to babysit us. Not to mention leaving Cloud on his own now would be betraying the amount of trust Zack had placed on me.

And betraying Zack's trust struck me as being wrong. Especially considering the emotional baggage he was carrying.

"This is so boooring." I moan to Cloud for the -oops, lost count of how many times I'd whined to him about how bored I was.

I knew it was childish of me to whine, but the fact that there was nothing to do except continue talking or stare at nothing in particular was getting to me. At this point I was actually hoping that the enemy would burst onto the scene and order the arrest of fugitive First Class SOLDIER Zack Fair as well as demand that I hand over Cloud. Having ShinRa catching up with us was a bad thing, but at this point anything to break the monotone atmosphere of just waiting for Zack to get back here so we could leave was welcome.

If Cloud was able to talk or communicate in some way, I was certain that he would have long ago told me to be quiet because he couldn't hear his own thoughts over my innate chatter.

I know I would have if our positions were reversed.

And as life and karma would have it, my thoughts of breaking the monotone of waiting for a certain spiky haired SOLDIER were going to bite me in the rear. Hard.

Hearing a loud thud I looked up, expecting Zack to have finally come back only to find my jaw dropping at the sight that greeted me.

What in the world?

It wasn't Zack. Instead I found myself staring at a rather overweight man who was carrying a messenger bag of his own.

An obese man with graying hair, a graying beard and wearing a lab coat. He looked like a doctor. Or possibly, my eyes narrowed at the thought, a scientist.

And the guy wasn't alone either. Flanking him on both sides were red and black creatures carrying scythes. Whatever they were, they weren't friendly.

What puzzled me was how he and his friends had gotten so close to us without me hearing him. My senses weren't as sharp as Zack's and I wasn't exactly paying attention to my surroundings, but I was pretty confidant that I would have long heard this guy and his companions coming from a mile away.

As well as smell.

When was the last time this guy ever took a bath?

Just as I was about to pinch my nose to block out the man's ripe scent, I spotted the small, stubby black wing sticking out of his back.

...oh.

That explained how he was able to get so close to me. He flew-

Wait a minute...

Doing my best to ignore the fact that he had a wing of all things sticking out from behind him (as well as his body odor), I decided to see what I could make of him.

He looked rather sloppy in general; from his ruffled clothes, to his stance and finally his ugly looking wing. He didn't look very threatening at a mere glance, but there was something about him that had my mind kicking into high alert in seconds and me drawing my guns as I slowly stood up and addressed him.

"Can I help you with something?" I asked him warily, inserting myself between him and Cloud and making sure that my guns were well within his view; a warning that he better not try anything funny lest he wanted to get shot at.

If he did try something, I would start off with a warning round and then start aiming for the vitals.

I did not like the way he was staring at Cloud. The way he was standing, the way eyes shifted and how his gaze was unfocused told me that there was something extremely wrong up there in his head and that he wasn't completely all there.

"Can I help you?" I ask in a wary tone when he didn't say anything, instead opting to continue staring at Cloud.

"...give me the boy." He said in a raspy voice, his eyes not leaving Cloud as he answered. "...he holds the cure for the degradation."

The man started moving slowly towards Cloud and I.

I flicked the safety on my guns off immediately. There was going to be no reasoning with the man, so without thinking about it I aimed the gun that I held in my right hand and fired at him.

The bullet sliced through the air, embedding itself into the doctor/scientist's shoulder, causing the man to stumble backwards several steps and further away from the motorcycle. The monsters by his side shifted, getting ready to attack. I kept an eye on them as well as the man advancing towards us.

Most people would have been horrified at the thought that they shot someone. That wasn't the case with me. I just shot someone, but the only thing on my mind right now was that I really didn't like the way he had been staring at the comatose blond or the way he had demanded that I immediately hand him over with the implication that the crazy man was not going to take no for an answer. I didn't know what degradation was, but whatever this madman had in store for Cloud was probably not a good thing.

And Cloud had suffered enough to last him several life times if the way he was right now was an indication of anything.

"I don't think so." I said, glaring at him. "Back away or this time I won't miss."

And I wouldn't. Already I knew that I would be aiming for his heart or any other vital area of his body in the next few seconds and I would not feel anything about killing him at all.

I didn't expect him to listen to me, but I didn't expect him to summon what looked like overgrown worms either and then sic them on me.

"Augh!" My body reacted before my mind did as I threw myself to the side to avoid having my stomach ripped out by the teeth on those things when one of them got a little too close for my comfort. I also barely managed to roll away when one of those creatures stepped forward and tried to take my head off with its huge scythe.

While I managed to keep my head on and avoid being disemboweled, it was a big mistake on my part as I had just left Cloud out in the open and at the mercy of those worm things, the not-sane man and those grotesque creatures that tried to take my head off just seconds ago.

"Damn it!" When I got back on my feet again, I saw Dr. Insane was reaching for Cloud and was just seconds away from touching him. If he and his minions grabbed Cloud, they were going to take off the way he came and there would be no way for me to follow him and his cohorts.

"Keep your hands off of him!"

Rushing forward, I shot at the worms that moved forward to stop me.

My bullets only served as distractions and since my gun didn't have limitless ammo, I eventually ran out and had to shove them back in their holsters as I quickly tried to figure out another way to stop the man.

Being weaponless was not going to stop me from getting to Cloud. Stupid and suicidal since most people wouldn't pull this kind of stunt without a weapon.

But then again, most people wouldn't find themselves in my position...

I managed to move past the worms as all I had to do was kick them down and stomp on them so that they wouldn't be able to get up long enough for me to reach the blond. And while I had managed to get past the worms, I still had to face off against the scythe wielding creatures.

And those things were probably more intelligent than the worms.

Just as the thought of tackling one of them and stripping the creature of its scythe struck me so that I wouldn't be unarmed, a white blur rushed past from behind me and knocked the creatures down.

...

Talk about convenient.

As I gawked at what had just happened, the tables turned on my saviour as the very creatures he knocked down recovered and started pushing them around. And to make things even worse, the guy who was trying to kidnap Cloud joined in and body slammed the person on to the hard ground.

"Hey! Three on one isn't fair!"

Snapping out of my daze from the sudden intervention, I ran over to the nearest scythe wielding monster and kicked the legs out from underneath it, making it fall flat on his back. I then jumped on the monster, using my combat boots to smash its face in and keep it down for a few seconds.

A few precious seconds that would allow me to snatch its weapon out of its hands and then behead it.

Pushing what I just did to the back of my mind, I lunged at the man in the lab coat as he tried to attack the other person who dropped from the sky. Said person, who I now realized was a man with a white wing wearing a striped suit. That was the only observation I was able to make as I had to hack at the worms the man in the lab coat sent my way.

"Izzy! Cloud!" I heard Zack shout from behind me, his boots thudding the ground heavily as he made his way towards us.

"You're late!" I yell at him, not bothering to turn around and face him.

"I know. I'm-"

I cut him off as we didn't have the time to talk about this.

"Never mind. Help the guy with the white wing out and deal with the worms. I'm going after," I turned in the direction that the obese man had fled to, "him."

"Hollander..." Zack hissed, his own eyes narrowing at the sight of the man.

"Is that his name?"

"Yeah." Zack nodded. He frowned, then shook his head. "Don't underestimate Hollander. He may not look like much, but that doesn't mean he won't have any tricks up his sleeves."

"Got it."

And then we parted. Zack to take care of the worms and the remaining scythe monster while I went after the now christened Hollander.

"You!" He snarled when I caught up with him. For the first time, he seemed to realize that I was actually there. "You've ruined all my plans!"

"Yup!" I said. "And not at all feeling remorseful about it."

The man snarled and I lunged, swinging the scythe to slash at him.

No more holding back. No mercy. I couldn't afford to let him live as he would only come after Cloud again and again in his deluded thoughts of thinking the blond held the cure to this degradation he was suffering from.

I got him across the chest, ripping his shirt open. Before I could lunge again and bring the tip of the weapon down onto his beating heart, he inhaled and breathed out putrid, yellow-looking fumes.

"AUGH!" I dropped down on the ground to avoid the poisonous looking gas, but unfortunately, I still managed to inhale some if the sudden numbness setting into my limbs was anything to go by.

I tried to get up, but my body reacted much slower than I wanted it to and I suddenly found the hand holding onto the scythe being painfully crushed underneath the weight of a shoe. It didn't help that the owner of the shoe was anything but a light weight. Reluctantly, I forced myself to look up into the crazed face of Hollander.

I didn't think that Hollander could portray himself as being any more insane than when he had demanded Cloud. But now he was proving me wrong as his eyes rolled around in his sockets and a bubble of spit began dripping from the side of his mouth.

"I thought you looked familiar." He spoke, grinding his foot down even more into my hand. "You bare a strong resemblance to that little whore who nearly unraveled my plans in the past!"

He was heaving as he ranted.

"It's because of her that fucking failure of mine has refused to listen to me, tried to kill me even! It was her who planted those doubts in his mind that I was just using him and didn't even have the cure!"

I tried to pull my hand out from underneath his foot, but it was futile.

"Damn her! Damn her to hell! It's because of her that I'm suffering from degradation like that failure! It's because of that wench that my revenge against ShinRa has failed!"

"You sure it isn't because of your own incompetency that everything went bad?" I said, getting tired of him cursing the girl who apparently screwed with every plot this guy ever came up with and was now blaming for his current condition.

Stopping his rant, Hollander looked down at me. And then grinned.

Uh oh.

That grin did not spell good things. At least for me.

"And now I have her sister underneath my thumb."

"In your dreams!" I retorted. I may not remember Rosalyn, the woman who was supposed to be my sister, but I was beginning to resent his comments. I tried taking back my hand from him just so that I could wipe the arrogant, smug look off of Hollander's face as I connect the scythe with his heart or any of his other vital organs.

He reached into his bag and pulled out a flask that carried a vile looking liquid, his grin growing even more ominous as he light shook it above me in a taunting way. And just when I think that he's going to drop the contents of the liquid onto my face, Zack came out of nowhere and barreled into him, knocking Hollander to the side and right off of my hand, freeing me and the weapon.

But Zack wasn't finished yet. He didn't give Hollander the opportunity to recover as he rammed his huge sword right into the man's gut.

Hollander floundered, now impaled against Zack's weapon, screaming and gasping in agony.

"Duck, Zack!"

Without asking why, the SOLDIER did as I yelled. Gripping the weapon I had stolen off of one of the scientist's minions, I swung it and slashed at his throat, ripping open Hollander's jugular just as I had with his shirt earlier and ending his miserable existence once and for all.

"What was that?" I asked, my chest heaving as I struggled to keep myself standing.

Unfortunately I failed and fell onto my knees, feeling completely exhausted. I couldn't tell if it was because of the sudden adrenaline rush beginning to leave me or because of the poison I had inhaled earlier.

Thinking of Hollander breathing the stuff out from his mouth made me nauseous.

"What was what?" Zack looked genuinely confused.

"That!" I point to where Hollander's collapsed form had been just moments.

Right after I had slashed open the man's throat, a green light had begun to surround him. Or to put it more accurately, drift away from his body. The soft green light began to grow bigger and bigger until it eventually consumed him. Once it consumed him, Hollander's body vanished and the only indication he had been there was the trails of green drifting towards the sky.

"Oh. That's... that's Hollander's body returning to the Lifestream."

"What's a Lifestream?"

It was Zack's turn to look at me incredulously.

"What do you mean 'What's a Lifestream'?"

I rolled my eyes at his 'you-should-know-this-it's-common-sense' tone. "Exactly what it sounds like. What is a Lifestream? I know it has to do with life and a stream, but that's all I've got from the words by themselves."

Zack slapped his forehead, muttering underneath his breath, "I don't believe this..."

"Believe it." I told him. For some reason, I felt like I had just said some cheesy, overused line that's supposed to be used to encourage people or to be optimistic about a situation.

Zack massaged his temples, looking all for the world as if he had a major migraine.

"I'll explain it to you later. But we have to go back to Cloud and... Angeal."

I tried to force myself up, only to fall back onto the ground again. I try several more times, but each attempt left me weaker than before until finally I couldn't even lift myself up.

"Uh, help?" I turn to Zack when each attempt turned out to be futile.

"Sure." Zack walked over and pulled me up by my arm.

"Thanks."

Zack turned away and began to walk back to where Cloud is... as well as the Angeal person he mentioned.

"What's the matter?" The ex-SOLDIER asked when I didn't follow him.

"I... don't know." For some reason, my vision was blurry and my limbs felt like they were being weighed down by lead.

I was vaguely aware of the fact that I had dropped onto my knees again and that Zack had given a startled yell at my sudden collapse. Falling forward, my head hit the hard metal ground with a thud, pain exploding in my mind when it made contact with the floor.

The only thing I knew after that was darkness...

And Belle collapses after her first battle!

Urgh, I was going to have her go with Zack and talk to Lazard as well, but then I got lazy. And then I thought that the poison Hollander breathed on her might affect her, though the reaction would be delayed and the adrenaline rush that kept her moving. Belle winning her first battle seemed like it was pushing it, so I decided to have her collapse.

For now.

Don't worry... I plan on having her win her battles in the future, this is just her first one. And most people tend to not do well in the first battle. But she did pretty well... which will be explained in further chapters. Belle doing what she did in battle is hardly that of an inexperienced fighter, for sure.