Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII, Crisis Core, Before Crisis, or any other part of FFVII.

AN: Thanks for the reviews, all.

"Talking"

Thoughts

It hadn't been hard to find an "inn" of sorts. He didn't have much money on him. Being on the run for nearly a year had a way of thinning one's wallet, and even then most of his money had come from what he'd nicked from the lab and various soldiers who were unfortunate enough to get in his way. But they were in the slums, so it wasn't exactly necessary for him to be rich. He'd managed to haggle a couple hundred gil from the weapon shop under the "inn" in exchange for the armor on the SOLDIER uniforms they'd been sporting and the few remaining items he'd stolen, so they would at least have a place to stay for a few days, depending on how well they planned to eat.

He would have already gone to Aerith's by now, if not for their situation. Cloud still wasn't in the greatest shape. If Shinra had still been after them, he might have simply tossed Cloud over his shoulder and made a run for it, only stopping by long enough to talk things out with Aerith. But since they'd probably be safe in the slums for a while, especially after Shinra's most recent failed attempt at capturing them, he was sure they could spare a few days for Cloud to recover.

I'm pretty tired myself. For now, he was going to check the few shops around the sector. Maybe they'll have something that'll help Cloud get back on his feet

The shop on the first floor of the inn definitely didn't have anything. It was mostly weapons, and he didn't have the gil for that right now. Besides, even if he had the money, the Buster Sword was all he needed, and Cloud…Well, Cloud could still barely walk on his own. He probably wouldn't be throwing people around any time soon.

So that left how many shops? Four? Three? He wasn't too familiar with any of the slums besides Sector Five, and it could be hard to tell if the buildings were "shops" or simply homes.

Oh well. Might as well go with the guess 'n check method. I'm sure they'd understand the mistake.

Poking his head through the door in the first building he saw, he quickly decided that it probably wasn't a shop. Just a bunch of people standing on boxes beating each other up. Odd. The second building had much more potential. At least it looked like a shop, with the slightly portly man sporting a large beard standing behind a counter, various bottles and boxes lined up around the walls. Stepping a little further in, he decided to speak up.

"Heya."

"Hello young fella. Lookin' to shop?"

Now we're talking. "Yeah, got a friend, might need some medicine."

"Well if yer lookin' for meds, ya came to the right place."

Grinning and scratching the back of his head, he started looking around for something that might be useful. I wonder if everyone in this sector is that friendly. They certainly weren't all like that in Sector Five.

Grabbing one of the vials, he let out a small sigh as he heard someone else enter the store. Most people these days only carried Potions and Ethers. The fact that they were designed by Shinra didn't bother him, but they couldn't be good for Cloud in his current state. He didn't need the enhanced healing effects of the Potion, and Ethers were made with small traces of Mako, to increase a person's ability to regenerate their natural Mako stores. Spirit Energy, as those studying Planet Life called it. With Cloud still suffering from the effects of Mako poisoning…"Hey, you have any of the older stuff? Y'know, the stuff without Shinra's Mako enhancers? I need something to give a friend of mine a little energy."

"I've prolly got somethin' around here. But usin' an Ether'd be faster. Ain't you in SOLDIER? I know those uniforms when I see 'em."

"Yeah, I was in SOLDIER. But after the war, me an' a buddy of mine weren't as happy about following Shinra's orders as we were before. It wasn't till just recently that we left, though." He paused as the man nodded in understanding, still looking around behind the counter. He didn't look like SOLDIER, but he might have been in Shinra's military once. If he was in the war, he'd know where Zack was coming from, even if his story wasn't completely true.

As yet another man opened the door, this time dressed in the red uniform of a captain in the Shinra Military Police division, he continued his story, hoping he wouldn't be recognized.

"Anyway, problem is, we were on the way to say hi to a friend of mine near here when my buddy had a little accident with a Mako leak. Since he's not in SOLDIER, well…I figured giving him something with Mako in it couldn't be a good idea."

Suddenly, the captain cut in. "Sorry to hear about that. A friend of mine got Mako Poisoning once. Not a pretty sight." Apparently the Slummies, the unofficial nickname for the soldiers assigned to keeping order in the slums, hadn't gotten any kind of visual identifiers on him or Cloud yet. Assuming they heard about the escapees at all. Shinra had never really given the Slummies a steady flow of accurate information.

"Yeah. Thankfully it's not too bad."

The owner had apparently found what he was looking for, as he took a second to straighten himself and put a small box on the counter. "This here's a bit old, but it should still work. Got some of the stuff back in Wutai. Not useful then, what with us having potions an' all, but I figured it mighta come in handy later. Some kinda energy pills. That'll be twenty gil."

As Zack pulled out the money, he couldn't resist asking. "Shouldn't it be more than that? I mean, bein' from Wutai and all?" Most people would charge an arm and a leg.

The Captain answered for him. "Ol' Ranny here always charges us soldiers less for medicine, and we always make sure nobody gives 'im trouble. Active or not, we soldiers gotta look out for each other around here." Zack grinned at him for that. They weren't enemies, really. Just on opposite sides. It wasn't personal. Sometimes he had to forget that they were just people, like him. Sometimes it was the only way he could fight them.

Huh? Wasn't there someone else in here? He glanced around for a moment, noting the young man in a slightly tattered green shirt looking over the potions on the wall to his left. Mid-to-late twenties, he'd guess. A little thin, slightly shaggy black hair. He seemed…Attentive. He's probably listening.

"Thanks, partner. Don't suppose either of you happen to know anybody with some work? Now that I'm out of Shinra, I'm also out of a job." Both men responded with a negative, before the man looking at the potions spoke up, slightly hesitant. "I, uh, I might know a place with a job open."

"Really?" I didn't honestly think anyone would have a job ready out here.

Biggs had been listening in on the "Ex-SOLDIER's" conversation. He was hesitant to speak up, the man was former Shinra, and he seemed to be getting along fine with Captain Reed. But that didn't really mean much. Reed was a pretty decent guy, after all. It was the big guys upstairs at Shinra that were the problem. But this could be a great chance to do something real for their cause.

"I, uh, I might know a place with a job open." The Ex-SOLDIER looked at him with a little surprise.

"Really?"

Hope I'm not makin' a mistake here. "Yeah. There's this bar here in Sector Seven. Might not pay like Shinra, but they could probably use a little more muscle."

"Somebody causin' trouble up at the Seventh Heaven?" the Captain spoke up, clearly interested. A lot of people in Sector Seven, soldiers especially, were pretty fond of the bar. It was an easy place to get away from things for a while. With the big, black "bouncer" there, not many people caused trouble up at the joint. Not only did troublemakers have to worry about Barret pummeling them into the ground, but there was also the threat of the large gun in place of his right hand.

"No, not that much. But havin' some extra muscle might put the stragglers who don't seem to get it off the idea of causing problems."

The Ex-SOLDIER looked thoughtful for a second, before answering. "I have some time before I have to get back to my buddy. Think it'll take long?" Grinning as Biggs shook his head, the man turned back to the older soldier, and former soldier, in the room. His grin was obvious in his tone.

"Well, I'll be seein' y'all around. Looks like I might have a job lined up."

Tifa Lockhart had woken up in a strangely good mood that morning. Her life in Sector Seven wasn't that bad, in fact she had it better than most, with the number of people who inhabited the bar throughout the day. Still…Things hadn't been going so great lately. Shinra had become more strict on its security policies, at least in the upper plate, so they could barely do anything to further the cause of removing Shinra from power, or at least taking the Mako Reactors offline.

Of course, the small rebel group she'd joined wasn't anywhere as threatening as the real Avalanche, but they should have been able to do something. They even had plans to take serious action, but now they were having difficulty just operating under Shinra's radar.

I'm sure Jessie will think something up. She is a genius with security. With that, she began preparing for the evening rush, wiping the various glasses and mugs down one more time. It wasn't that bad during the day, but business got crazy as the day started to end. There were customers practically lining up outside of the building, and that's when the jerks that tended to get a bit too friendly started to come out. They were never much trouble, as she and Barret could throw them out without so much as breaking a sweat, but it was still frustrating.

No respect. How many teeth will I have to knock out before they get that "no touching" actually means no touching?

Not to mention that, despite their activities as "Avalanche," she didn't like Marlene being exposed to that kind of behavior, or the violence that could come with it. Speaking of Marlene, "Sweetie?" a small face peeked over the top of the bar.

"Hm?"

"Could you go look outside and see if the others are back yet?" The girl nodded happily, clearly glad to have something to do. She was too young to help with any serious work at the bar besides adding little things to the meals or cleaning up some messes, but Tifa knew she loved to help out when she could. So as long as it didn't take her too far from her range of sight, Tifa gave her little jobs to keep her occupied.

And all of a sudden, the girl was running back into the bar, hiding behind Tifa's leg.

"What's wrong?"

"Biggs is back?" Tifa was a little worried at that. Why would she be so nervous if Biggs was just coming back? Marlene loved the little "family" that Avalanche gave her.

"Is he alright?" Marlene nodded silently. "So what's wrong?"

"He's got a strange man with him."

Ah. Got it. It must have been someone in the military. Marlene only got nervous around people she didn't know when she was either being introduced, or when they were in uniform and carrying a weapon. Weapons weren't generally allowed in the Seventh Heaven, but Shinra's toops were an exception. They almost never caused trouble, but it was a good way to deter less pleasant customers from getting too out of hand.

"I'm sure he's fine if he's with Biggs."

"He had a big sword."

Definitely a soldier then. "A lot of soldiers carry swords, sweetie. You're not usually this scared when they're around."

Releasing Tifa for a moment and responded, holding her hands up in the air and spreading them as far as she could, apparently thinking that Tifa wasn't understanding her. "No, it was a really, really, really big sword."

As the door opened, she caught a piece of what Biggs was saying to the man with the "really, really, really big sword" behind him.

"Yeah, it's a great place. You'll love it. Hey Tifa," turning his attention from the man behind him, he cheerily continued. "I brought someone who might be able to give us a hand!"

As she looked up from Marlene, now reattached to her leg, her grip on the mug she'd been holding was suddenly gone. Staring into the man's equally surprised eyes, she ignored the look of confusion on her friend's face and the sound of the glass shattering as it hit the ground, all attention on the Ex-SOLDIER in front of her.

"Zack?"

"Tifa?" He suddenly seemed to regain his composure, his face breaking into a grin. "Hey, Tifa!"

AN: Well, there ya go. Hope it was enjoyable. As usual, any reviews are appreciated.