Okay, starting this chapter just the day after I finished Chapter Three. Probably because I am really excited to write the first part of this chapter. Which I'm sure will have many of Aerith's fans after my hide. Though I'm pretty sure that anti-Clerith fans will like it.

So anyways, guess I should start. Unfortunately, not much happens in this chapter but some issues get cleared up. I promise that there will be action in the next few chapters to make up for it!

Note: In case you haven't realized it, I've changed a few things. Like Belle's age is pushed up a year and her sister's name is Rosalyn now instead of Samantha, since Rosalyn seemed to suit her better. But that's all.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Final Fantasy VII Compilation. I do, however, own the characters Isabelle 'Belle' Maxwell as well as Rosalyn aka Rose.

Chapter Four - Anger

When Cloud and Barret started arguing, I left the group so that I wouldn't be the one who had to deal with breaking them up and to just get some peace and quiet to myself.

Something that was hard to come by these days considering how our group seemed to grow with each passing day.

Unfortunately, I didn't realize that I had been followed.

Not until that person spoke.

"...Belle?"

My body automatically tensed at the sound of her voice coming from behind me. I turned slowly, forcing my body to relax as I faced the person who had addressed me by my nickname, feeling a tinge of annoyance as I did so. I had kindly asked everyone in the group not to refer to me by the shortened version of my name, but Cloud as usual ignored my requests and called me 'Belle' anyways, much to my ire.

And now the Flower Girl seemed to think she could use my nickname too.

She was the last person I wanted using my nickname.

"Isabelle." I said flatly. The woman in question looked at me, confusion and hurt all over her green eyes as I rolled my own eyes and clarified what I meant. "Call me Isabelle. I don't like being referred to by my nickname."

"But Cloud calls you that."

"Cloud doesn't get that I don't like being called that. And I don't let him get away with it scotfree either, so don't think he's some kind of exception." In fact, I've smacked him on the head fifteen times over the whole issue and he still calls me by that infuriating shortened version of my name.

"Oh..." She said, putting her hands behind her back and looking at the ground. She looked like a little girl who had just been caught doing something she shouldn't have and was now getting chewed out by a parent.

Clad in an ankle length pink dress with only a short-sleeved red jacket worn on top, Aerith Gainsborough personified the terms girly-girl and ladylike. This was emphasized even more by her long brown hair being pulled back into a plait and held in place by a pink ribbon.

"What do you want?" I asked, keeping my voice neutral. I didn't need to snap at her. It was obvious to everyone by now that, for some reason, I did not like Aerith Gainsborough and avoided her whenever I could to avoid blow ups and awkward situations.

Which amused me somewhat since it wasn't dislike that fueled my animosity towards Aerith, but rather anger.

Yeah. I was angry at the upbeat, cheerful flower girl who most people found hard to hate.

And yes there is a different between not liking someone and being angry at them. Even though I didn't completely hate or dislike her, I didn't like her all that much either.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you?" Aerith asked, a tone of hesitancy in her voice. "Alone?"

I raised an eyebrow at the hesitancy. This was new. In the short time we've been in the other person's presence, Aerith has almost always remained her chirpy upbeat self -even when I shot her down coldly during the few interactions we had with each other.

Also, when we usually spoke to each other, it was when the others were around. If just to make the atmosphere somewhat less tense between the two of us and that I didn't send Aerith flying with one of my fists, though I would never go that far.

'No,' was my immediate thought but I hesitated when I saw the pleading look in her green eyes. She desperately wanted to talk to me about something and for a moment I saw glowing blue instead of Aerith's characteristic emerald green. I blinked and found myself staring at green again.

"Fine," I finally sighed. Only because I knew that my conscience would nag at me for days if I coldly told her to go away.

Aerith was not my favorite person at all, but I knew where to draw the line. Draw the line as in I don't send her off somewhere to get killed on purpose. I couldn't allow my personal feelings to get in the way things, so I tended to fall back on my professional persona. The persona that did all the planning and dictated what everyone would do. The professional side that spoke with a monotone voice, but was also fair in making decisions and the reasoning behind said decisions.

Seeing the look of relief that spread on her face made me cringe a little. Did I really act like that much of a cold-hearted bitch towards her that my not showing any form of antagonism towards her made Aerith feel relieved?

"Okay!" Aerith bounced back to her normal self for a moment before her demeanor sobered and she looked serious. "B- Isabelle. I wanted to talk to you about Cloud."

I felt my body stiffen a second time. She had better not be trying to get information about him off of me again...!

Aerith must have interpreted whatever expression I had on my face correctly because she was quickly raising her hands in front of her in a placating fashion. "Oh! I'm not asking any questions about Cloud!"

"Then what is you want to talk about?" My voice was as flat as I could make it to squash out any form of emotion -the main ones being anger and annoyance.

"I..." She bit her lip. For a minute, I thought she had lost her nerve to tell me what she had wanted to say in the first place when she spoke again. "I thought that I would tell you that I was going to stop pursuing Cloud."

Huh?

I stared at her in complete and utter disbelief.

Why exactly was she telling me this? Wouldn't it have been better to tell Tifa? It was the the bartender/fighter who would have been happier with the news. It was obvious to anyone who was really looking that Aerith's flirting with her childhood friend really bothered her, though she didn't really say anything about it since she and Aerith were good friends as well.

Though me, Nanaki, Barret and Cait Sith were the only ones who saw this.

"Uh... what?" I said intelligently once my brain had at least managed to partially digest what she had just dropped on me.

Aerith didn't say anything right away. She looked down at her hands for several seconds before before looking back up at me.

I couldn't help but blink at the expression on her face. She was smiling, but it was a sad smile and she looked so much older than her actual age -which was twenty-two I think.

"Cloud reminds me of my first boyfriend." She said. "I guess... that's why I wanted to get to know him better. But that's all over with now."

I forced myself not to react to her words. I knew exactly who Aerith's boyfriend was.

He was the very person I owed my life to.

Except that I now would never be able to repay all he had done for me.

Because he was dead.

Aerith's boyfriend was former 1st Class SOLDIER Zack Fair.

A true hero.

He had found me knocked unconsciousness in the middle of the road with no idea how I got there in the first place and had recognized me as being Rosalyn's sister. He had taken me in, even though he was already weighed down with looking after Cloud on top of having the very company he had once worked for tracking him down.

I had seen the devastation on his face when he had read Aerith's letter, the one that the canine like Angeal clone was carrying in its mouth, stating that the letter in his hands would be the last one she would ever write to him and that she was moving on from him and his memory.

Zack took the letter about as well as anyone in his position would.

And in the end it got him killed.

It also had the unintended effect of breaking Cloud out of his mako induced catatonia just in time to witness Zack's death and to have the legacy of a hero being passed down on to him. Which had traumatized and broken Cloud so much that his memories were a mess and that the memory of his best friend who had died so that he could live was completely wiped from his mind.

It wasn't Aerith dumping Zack that pissed me off. I was not so narrow-minded to think that after four years of no contact and not knowing what had happened to him that she had no right to dump him and that she had to continue to wait until she was old and grey. In fact, she had every right to do so and most females would agree that Aerith did the right thing.

I could handle Aerith wanting to let go of Zack.

What I couldn't forgive her for was what she had said during the beginning of her flirtations with Cloud, that day when we were at the sector six park.

How she had said that her relationship with Zack was 'nothing serious' when I knew that Aerith had meant practically the world to him. Hearing Aerith say those words was like a slap to the face; like Zack's death had been in complete and utter vain.

That his trying to see her even with ShinRa hunting him down had been for nothing.

I knew that it was stupid, irrational and unfair of me to think that, but whenever I thought back to that day... I could only feel nothing but resentment towards the Flower Girl.

Because that particular memory was always followed by Zack dying in the rain, of Cloud screaming at the sky in agony and grief, my own anger towards myself at being unable to do a thing as the light in the former SOLDIER's eyes faded...

How many times did I find myself wanting to scream at her what had happened to Zack? That he didn't just up and leave her for some other girl? That he had been on the fucking run for months while trying to keep two other people and himself safe? That it was inadvertently her fault he had forgone caution and fucking died because ShinRa had sicced a goddamned army on him and riddled him with bullets? That he had bled to death on a freakin' cliff and that his last thoughts had been about her?

But I always held my tongue when all I wanted to do was yell at her.

Zack would have never forgiven me if I told her how he had died and why and it ended up haunting her for the rest of her life.

As much as I hated that Aerith had so easily brushed the SOLDIER's memory aside, I hated disappointing Zack in any way as well, even if he was no longer around to be disappointed in me.

I could also never forgive myself for, no matter how much I disliked them, breaking someone. Because I know that telling Aerith about Zack would devastate her.

And the last thing I wanted to do was deal with a grieving girlfriend (well ex-girlfriend) who blamed herself for something she inadvertently caused. Which wasn't fair of me to say, but it was... true.

Not to mention that Zack wouldn't have wanted his death hanging over her like a dark cloud.

"...What." I said when my brain rebooted again. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "Okay, so the only reason you were interested in Cloud is because he reminded you of someone?"

I mentally compared Zack to Cloud and came up with nothing. Zack was confident in his skills, but he wasn't arrogant about it.

Cloud, on the other hand, needed a good punch to the head three times a day to keep his ego in check. And two smacks upside to tell him to watch the attitude too.

So yeah, I wasn't seeing the connection.

And I didn't see what both Aerith and Tifa saw in him either. He was handsome, I'll give him that, but his cockiness and I-am-so-much-better-than-you-because-I'm-enhanced attitude was a major turn off in my opinion.

Yet somehow I managed to put up with him.

"...isn't that kind of unfair to Cloud?" I finally say. "No one should have to play second fiddle to anyone; especially to an ex."

I mean, I know I would hate it if someone saw me as another person's replacement.

Aerith tensed. I saw her hands tremble and mentally smacked myself for my insensitivity, even if it wasn't intentional.

"I..." She stopped, not sure what to say and I saw her eyes water a little.

I cringed. Shit. My words had sounded harsher than I originally intended.

I shook my head. "Never mind. If you don't want to answer the question, you don't have to. It was insensitive of me to say so."

As an after thought, I added, "Um, sorry."

Aerith nodded and left. Rather quickly, I might add.

For ten minutes I had some time to myself. Time that I used to mentally smack and berate myself. While I hadn't been my usual cold self towards Aerith, I knew that had to be one of our worst conversations yet.

After those ten minutes were up, my solace was interrupted by the thuds of footfalls.

"Okay, what do you want?" I didn't bother turning around since I was already sitting on the ground and staring at nothing in particular. No need to strain my neck on them when I already knew who it was.

Tifa and Aerith's footsteps were lighter (and I highly doubted that Aerith would be back so soon to talk to me), you could easily hear Barret from a mile away, Yuffie tried to be sneaky but you could also hear her since stealth wasn't exactly in her vocabulary, Nanaki's pads hitting the ground were soft foot falls and Cait Sith often announced his presence in a loud booming voice.

So that left only one person.

Cloud.

The blond in question snorted and immediately took a seat next to me. "Nice to see you too."

I didn't bother replying. Silence settled between us until he broke it again.

"I'm guessing Aerith told you?"

"She did." I nodded.

"How did that go?"

I glared at him and then rolled my eyes. "I didn't bite her head off, if that's what you're hinting at. Contrary to belief, I don't make it my life's mission to make Aerith's life miserable."

"I know. But everyone knows that you don't really like her."

"I'm angry at Aerith; there's a difference." I retorted, folding my arms across my chest. "Trust me, you'd be able to tell."

Cloud chuckled and I punched his arm in place of an automatic response.

"Ow!"

"You deserved it." I didn't even bother hiding the grin on my face. "Anyways, would you happen to know why Aerith suddenly decided to come up and talk to me about..."

I made a chopping gesture.

"...breaking things off with you?"

"I might have asked her if she was really interested in who I was... or if she saw someone else in me. Like her first boyfriend."

I winced. Cloud knew about Zack. He may have not remembered his best friend, but I told him about Zack over and over again until he finally believed me that yes, the 1st Class SOLDIER had indeed existed.

Though to his credit, I had practically been in tears at the time. He probably just said that to get me to stop crying; he told me he hated it when girls cried and I was no exception, even if all I did was nag at him. I don't think he really believed me until he met Aerith.

"Is that it?" I asked, knowing that there was more to the story than that. "Hope you were tactful about the whole thing."

Cloud and tact weren't close friends, if you got what I mean.

"...I also said that it's best we didn't go any further if that's what it really was." He sighed, ignoring my last sentence. "And that I didn't appreciate being someone else's replacement. You were right when you said that she wasn't really looking... at me."

I stayed silent for a bit. There was no need to say that Cloud had been some sort of rebound from Zack.

"I hope you were nice about it at least."

He snorted. "Of course I was. Despite your contrary beliefs, I'm not a jerk." He paused. "Most of the time."

"Thank god." The sarcasm in my voice was very hard to miss.

Cloud hit me on the shoulder for that.

"Well... things are going to be awkward for a while." I sighed, not looking forward to the next few days.

I knew that it was rude to stare but I couldn't help it!

"Is this sort of thing normal?" I finally asked.

"The one-winged angel thing going on?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, that."

"Erm..." Zack rubbed the back of his spiky head, unsure of how to answer that.

He looked at the man with wearing the suit, now identified as Lazard, who chuckled in response.

"No. It isn't exactly 'normal' as you put it."

It was night time and me, Zack, Cloud and apparently now Lazard were miles away from Gongaga, camping out in the open and far away from any of ShinRa's troops according to the newest member of our group. Zack lay Cloud close to the fire, but not close enough to accidentally catch on fire while the rest of us crowded around it.

Having wings proved to be very useful as Lazard could report anything he saw from above, which was why we could risk the camp fire right now.

When I finally woke up from that weird dream, it was to Zack and the one-winged man chatting about something. At the time I had a headache that threatened to split my skull, so I stayed still and quiet for a bit and listened into their conversation since I had nothing else to do. I wasn't exactly sure what they were talking about, but I heard a 'Genesis' being mentioned a lot. From how they conversed I got the feeling that Zack and Lazard (whose name I didn't know at the time) were old acquaintances.

I would have continued listening in on the conversation but Zack caught on to me faking sleep so I had no choice but to force myself up.

Apparently Hollander's poison finally took effect, which was why I had collapsed back in Gongaga. Zack had given me an antidote to fight off the poison, but my body still felt somewhat numb.

As soon as the headache was gone and I had convinced Zack that I was perfectly fine, Zack introduced the guy with impeccable timing as Lazard Deusericus, the former executive who had headed SOLDIER and gave those in the program their missions.

Well until he started funding the great SOLDIER rebellion and was eventually outed for his role in the whole thing.

And now he was an Angeal clone, dying from degradation. The same degradation that Hollander had been ranting about until I slashed open his throat.

Degradation, apparently, was the deterioration of the body due to Jenova cells. Subjects suffering from the deterioration maintained any injuries they suffered when the illness set in; meaning that while the wound could be closed to prevent blood loss, it wouldn't fully heal and the person in question would be a lot of pain. The person would also rapidly age and they took on a less than healthy parlor.

If the physical symptoms weren't bad enough alone, how they affected the person's mentality made it even worse and downright nasty. The deterioration part didn't just affect the person's body but their mind as well.

It hacked at the person's mental stability and emotional control. Restraint in particular towards anger was what was affected the most.

They didn't need to tell me that degradation's symptoms equaled a raving lunatic.

I nearly felt sorry for Hollander. Nearly.

"So who is this 'Genesis' you keep mentioning?" I asked Lazard when he finished his explanation of what degradation was and all it entailed. "His name pops up a lot in the explanation, but you never explained who he was."

Lazard turned to face Zack, who suddenly seemed really interested in the campfire.

"You didn't tell her who Genesis was?"

"...no."

And by the look of his face, Zack wasn't going to tell me who Genesis was any time soon. Lazard sighed, knowing that it would be left to him to do all the talking.

"Genesis Rhapsodos was one of my best SOLDIERs. In fact, he was the Commander of SOLDIER until," Lazard let out a long sigh, "he led the mass desertion, taking most of the men with him."

"You helped him." Zack pitched in helpfully.

"Indeed." Lazard nodded without missing a beat. "It was I who funded Hollander and Genesis's plan of gaining vengeance on ShinRa."

"So... a description of him?"

Genesis Rhapsodos was easily identified by the colour red. He wore a red leather jacket that practically touched the ground. It was coupled with a black ShinRa SOLDIER first uniform.

He had medium length auburn hair (that was white now thanks to degradation) and the same glowing eyes that characterized ShinRa's genetically enhanced trademark SOLDIERs.

He also had a pierced ear, but that wasn't really an important detail.

Personality wise, Genesis, before everything went to hell was extremely overbearing. Overbearing with the flair for the dramatics much to everyone's exasperation and horror. He reveled in the attention and admiration that resulted from being one of ShinRa's top warriors but despite how he preened in public and maintained a good public image, he tended to keep to himself and only truly opened up to his friends.

His friends being Angeal.

Sephiroth.

And then finally Rosalyn and Zack.

My eyebrow quirked at the last two names.

"Rosalyn was friends with him?"

While I didn't remember the woman who is supposed to be my sister, I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't intrigued by what kind of life she had led and who she had been associated with.

The sides of Lazard's lips twitched. "Yes. Though not at first. The amount of damage they caused whenever they got into... disagreements was staggering. It was so bad that I believe that President ShinRa ordered them to get along or else. He also stated that all of SOLDIER would suffer if something wasn't done."

Zack snorted. "Oh, yeah. I remember that. That's when Angeal and Sephiroth teamed up and locked them in the training room and refused to let them out until they learned to get along with each other." Zack then broke out into a grin. "It took them weeks to fix up the training room, but at least they came to a truce and were pretty good friends after that! Hell me, 'Geal and Seph were counting the days till they started dating!"

"They were that close?" I asked, beginning to get why Lazard was exasperated that Zack had told me nothing about the Crimson Commander. If he was that close to Rosalyn...

Zack's grin immediately vanished, replaced by a pained expression.

"Yeah. They were."

Feeling that I had treaded on to something that I shouldn't have I switched topics.

"What was Rosalyn like?"

I didn't think that Lazard could look even more exasperated than he already was but at that moment he proved me wrong.

"Zack, did you even tell her anything?"

"Other than the fact that ShinRa is the bane of all evil and has monopoly on practically the entire world? Nope." I answer.

Lazard glared at Zack who found the fire suddenly interesting again.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt to tell..."

Rosalyn Maxwell, like Zack and the Big Three, had been a 1st Class SOLDIER. Not only was she the first woman who had made the program, but she had quickly rose among the ranks within a year, much to the jealousy of many of the other SOLDIERs who thought that she hadn't earn her position through skill but rather special treatment.

"Sexists, much?"

"Unfortunately. Many of my men challenged her, trying to prove that she didn't deserve to be a SOLDIER."

"Did she kick their asses?"

"Every time."

Beautiful, strong and the only woman within a throng of men? It was hard not to notice Rosalyn Maxwell and it wasn't long before she gained a fanclub, consisting of both guys who drooled over her and of girls who admired her strength.

"She had a fan club?"

"Most of the 1st Class SOLDIERs did."

"Ugh."

But that had been a while ago. Last anyone had ever heard of her, she had died in the Nibelheim incident. Not only that, but...

Zack's head snapped up, his eyes filled with anger and his expression displayed outrage.

"What do you mean ShinRa reported her as the one who killed me and Sephiroth?!"

"I know that wasn't what happened Zack." Lazard said smoothly. "But that's what ShinRa reported. Though I didn't believe them, especially considering that you're right in front of me when you're supposed to be dead. However, I am curious to know what really happened."

"You mean, you don't know?"

"I'm afraid not. Genesis' recollections on what happened were not very... reliable."

"Wait? Genesis was there?!" Zack exclaimed.

"Yes." Lazard nodded and then winced. "He... did not take the news of Rosalyn's 'death' very well. In fact, it made his already fragile mentality even worse. But Genesis was very adamant that it was not Rosalyn who set Nibelheim ablaze."

"He's right. It wasn't." Zack's eyes hardened. "It was Sephiroth. He was the one who burned down Nibelheim and killed everyone."

And I'm finally done! Whoo... I wrote this in record time. Can't believe how inspired I was to get this out.

So I'm sure you guys have noticed a few things?

Like what's Dream!Belle's problem? And wow, Genesis wasn't at the reactor that day to drive Sephiroth over the edge, though he still managed to go over it anyways.

Don't want to spoil any thing, but I'll leave you this interesting tidbit: Zack is going to confront Genesis in the next chapter and we finally get to the famous cliff scene!

Whoot! Finally!

Okay, just so you know, the whole first part of the chapter? It is not Aerith bashing, though I'll admit I had fun writing it. Depending on who you are, you'll either like it or hate it. I repeat, the purpose of that particular dream won't come to light for a long time. But I assure you that it will make sense later on.

And don't forget to review! Reviews are love!