Legal Note: All aspects of Final Fantasy depicted here in is property of Square-Enix. Custom characters are property of myself, I do not lend permission for use so do not try and ask. If interested in seeing your characters represented, message me.

Chapter 3 - Falling

"Where am I? .. Everything feels so dry. .. But I was struggling underneath the swamp, and then.. I reached the surface. .. Did I fall back? .. Did I .. die?"

With a sudden retch of his head, Albel sat up in a cold sweat. His chest pounding heavily to draw breath and calm himself. Slowly his eyes scanned the room, taking in his surroundings. It was obvious where he was now, the medical bay at Shin-Ra headquarters. The rest of the group must've dragged him onto the buggy for detachment. But if that was the case, then where was the rest of the squad?

Albel looked to the bed's next to him, each of them were empty. Either the group hadn't been as injured as he was or they were--. No, that kind of thought wouldn't be let into his head. If they were killed then that would mean no one was there to drag him back.

Lost in confusion he ran his hands through the blue spiked hair on his head, desperately searching for what had happened.

()

Water.. lots of water. That's where they were, they were at the swamp west of that out of the way Chocobo Farm. The Midgar Zolom, the reports about it's unusual sudden growth. Their mission to verify it's growth and destroy it if the need arose. Then it attacked, Vasol counter-attacked. When it hit the water, the waves rushed all around the group. I went under.. but, Vasol was there. He must have-- but what of?

()

It was no use, that was the jist of his memory. He was the only one who had made it to the edge of the swamp, Vasol had dragged him back to the buggy personally. That would mean that the three of them were gone, buried beneath the waters of the swamps. They deserved a better death then that, but there was nothing that could be done for them now.

Raising his head up, Albel slipped off the edge of the hospital bed. Taking up the sleeveless turtleneck and pulling it over his head, his next priority was to report for the debriefing. Undoubtedly Vasol had already done his job of reporting the events regarding the Midgar Zolom, Albel just had to show up and report how the rest of the squad had been essentially slaughtered by a single wave from the aftereffects of Vasol's attack.

Stopping short in a hallway leading to the main conference room, Albel grabbed his forehead and began to repeatedly pinch at his brow. "Damn it Vasol, how am I supposed to explain this. That one SOLDIER first class was all that was needed to get rid of the damn snake or that it was just a fluke sideeffect that wiped out the rest of the squad sent to kill it. If they don't demote me back to third class they'll laugh me right out Shin-Ra".

Imagine the surprise when Albel pressed forward down the hallway and into the room only to be met by the entire board of directors for the Shin-Ra coroporation. While Albel was majorly unfamiliar with the bunch of them, he recognized one instantly. Rufus Shinra. The dulling orange hair was a sight not even a blind man could mess. The fact that the president was now staring straight at Albel with a grim look in his eyes was enough to even give this second class SOLDIER the chills.

Rufus leaned forward onto the table before him, his arms sliding underneath his chin in a propping position. Not a very leader like position, a sure sign that his reprimendation was coming.

"So it turns out the excursion that your squad encountered while at the swamps proved the accuracy of our report by the intelligence division. The--", Rufus stopped for a moment to shuffle through several papers infront of him as if to confirm something he was trying to recollet "ah yes, the 'Midgar Zolom'. Excellent, that's all we'll be needing soldier. Please return to your dormitory, i've no further need of your presence".

Needless to say, after his heart continued to beat Albel was in shock. That was all that was to be said? The incompetence of the other three soldiers, including himself, hadn't even been a passing through in the report. The reckless abandon of which Vasol left his fellow members didn't even come up. The snake was dead, they knew the snake was dead, that was the whole report? It was strange to say the least. Though knowing that arguing the point would likely only put himself into an undiserable position, Albel turned about and exited the conference room.

As Albel stepped within the elevator, he stared out to the far distance of the glass tube. As the partially repaired ruins of Midgar stared back at him, a smirk flooded his face. Soon falling into a maniacal cackle sounding out throughout the elevator. It was so priceless, it might have been on a shirt.

-

As Albel reached the bottom floor, his laughter had stopped. Somewhere around the fourteen floor he had ceased to find the whole thing funny. Though the thought still was etched in the back of his mind. Why was that snake so important? So the thing had grown several times it's size in a matter of days. With all the things that they had seen in the past, how was that particularly any different? Though it was pointless to dwell on it. That kind of information wouldn't find it's way into Albel's hands, if anything the science wing would get their hands on it first. Perhaps there was something that could be done about that, however.

With a soft headshake Albel exited Shin-Ra headquarters, staring down the beaten and broken path heading off into the rest of the sectors of Midgar. At least, what was left of Midgar. Even after the years that had gone by, Midgar was still majorly under repair work desperately trying to restore the city to it's once former glory. The Mako reactors which once stood high at the edge of the city were gone, with but a single reactor furnishing the city's needed power supply. That was the brilliance of the new reactor.

But that was the real question, just how did the single reactor managed to supply all of the remains of Midgar with the power needed to operate. The answer to that question was elusive, as Shin-Ra did not release that information to anyone. While it seemed somewhat curious to Albel, he realized at this point in time there'd be no reason to go and try to find out just what the big secret was. There was another thing which was at hand, something that he had to check into. Or more specifically, someone.

-

While most people lived in the slums of Midgar during these days, given the destruction of the overground and plates which held most of Midgar together. Select few had been able to remain in buildings which had either survived by their timbers or miraculously gone unscathed.

As Albel stepped through these streets with buildings on each side falling apart or already destroyed. Any who would look might not give it another glance, though for the familiar it offered interest. For as Albel reached the end of the street, a certain building came into view on the right side. While it looked as whithered and wasted as the rest of the city, a light shone in one of the shattered windows.

Albel approached it carefully, pressing the door open with the flat of his palm. Softly treading inside while his eyes darted around the room. The instant musk and stench of mold hit his nostrils. He forced through the smell and closed the door behind him. As soon as it was shut a small head popped out from behind a dresser across the room. Several clicking noises echoing against the walls and ceiling. Albel stepped closer and stopped at the other side of the desk.

The creature behind it slowly sunk away, only two glowing yellow eyes peering up at Albel. For a moment Albel only stared back until he retrieved forty gil pieces from his pocket. It was set down on the table before he stepped back and took a seat in a chair across the room.

The creature looked at him for a moment before raising up and staring at the gil pieces. Swiftly it snatched it away and seemed to stuff it into some unseen place. From here it again disappeared, shuffling through the piles of boxes in the room. Soon it popped out of one of the boxes and landed infront of Albel. Now that in was in clear view, one could see the very misshapen and ragged hat that it wore, which seemed to have a belt tied around the middle of it. It's body was formed of a blue coat with orange gloves. A bowl like form of white pants hiding what short legs it actually had. Suddenly it spoke, it's tone surprisingly full of glee.

"You came and paid Cree money, what is it you want Cree to find out or inform yous of?"

Albel leaned forward on his knees, thinking about just what he was going to actually ask.

"Well my little friend, I want to know certain reports that have been going on. What can you tell me about the changes in the monsters recently".

To this the little creature jumped and darted around the room in a crazed frenzy. It took several moments but it appeared again out of a tall stack of boxes in the corner of the room. It jumped down and shoved several papers into Albel's lap before leaping up onto the desk and falling behind.

"Cree knows things, Cree finds out that the monsters be transforming because of the planet and the peoples on it. Because the materias is being bad".

Albel looked at the papers in his lap, the most of which were damaged or elligible due to fading. Though the mention of materia caught his interest. He looked up to the creature.

"What do you mean.. the materia is being bad?"

With a soft patter the creature crawled out onto the desk and took a seat, folding his hands into his lap.

"The planet makes the spirit energy, the bad people Shin-Ras took it to make the mako. The mako made the materias. The materias is being good until the planet isn't liking the mako anymore. It's because the bad weapons!"

Albel was honestly confused. Everyone knew how materia was made, but this was the first he'd heard of the WEAPONs being involved in it. So Albel set the papers down and leaned forward as to listen better.

"Cree.. what do you mean bad weapons? What are they doing that is making the materia bad? What's going on?"

Suddenly Cree stood up very straight, his bright eyes staring around before it dove into the mass of boxes on the floor.

"Cree said too much, the bad weapons knows! Hes is coming, hes is coming!"

Albel opened his mouth to ask his question, but it was muffled out by the large scraping sounds coming from over beneath his feet. Albel launched from the chair and out the door, staring around at the abandoned streets around him. Suddenly the ground beneath him shook causing him to lose his balance.

"What the hell could be causing this? It's like the whole plate is coming down".

But little did he know of the accuracy of his thoughts. With another large scraping sound, the entire ground to be shake violently. Buildings and remains came tumbling down to the street below them. Albel watched as the very building he was just in was decimated by another lurch of the ground beneath him. From here it was hard to tell what had happened to Cree. His attention went back to the ground as the street itself began to break into sections.

"Son of a!--" There was no time to complete the sentence, no time to even realize what was happening.

The last thing that could be remembered was staring up at Shin-Ra headquarters as it grew taller and taller. The flames bursting into life as fires were created from wreckage and sparks. The deafening crunch as all life and constructions beneath the plate were smothered by the sudden weight and fall of Sector 1.

Chapter 3 - Falling; The End.

Sorry about the delay finishing this chapter. I would have had it up the other day but the power at my house went out and prevented me from finishing it. But here it is, for your enjoyment. I promise things will start coming together int he next chapter, things won't always be this cryptic. Even though it is more fun that way. For me at least.