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

AN: Well, we've arrived at Kalm. W00t! Thanks for the reviews, as per usual. It always makes me happy to see that people are enjoying the fic.

Thoughts

"…And that's when I met Barret here. After he scared out the jerks without things coming to blows, we figured we could use a bouncer like him. It didn't take me long to figure out he and the others were the ones causing trouble for Shinra, and when I offered to let them use the Seventh Heaven's emergency basement as a sort of headquarters, they let me in on things." Tifa finished her story with a smile, gladly filling Cloud in on what she'd been doing.

"So it was his idea?" Somehow, he'd thought Tifa would be the one to come up with the idea. She certainly hated Shinra enough. "Hey Barret, why do you hate Shinra so much?"

"'Cause they're screwin' up the planet! The hell else would I be doin' it for?"

There's no way that that's the only reason. "But there's more to it than that."

"Cloud, maybe you should let it go."

"What're you goin' on about now, Spiky?"

"It's just…Zack and me are fighting them because of what they did to us. I get why Tifa hates them too, and Aerith and Nanaki just seem to be along for the ride. But I don't get why you're here. The way you talk about Shinra just sounds more…personal. Like they hurt you somehow."

"…Guess you're hair ain't the only thing aroun' here that's sharp. Good at noticin' stuff, aren't ya? Yeah, I've got a grudge against 'em. Don't really wanna talk about it though."

Considering what he'd been through at Shinra's hands, he could hardly blame Barret for not wanting to explain what they'd done to him.

"Fair enough."

"Hey, look over there." Tifa pointed to the distance on their left, where two figures appeared to be struggling over something near a wagon. Judging by how the Chocobo strapped to the wagon was screeching and flailing, it probably wasn't a small argument between friends either.

"Looks like somebody might be in trouble."

"The hell are we waitin' for then, let's go!" They hardly needed Barret's suggestion. The trio shot towards the figures, and in moments were able to clearly make out some kind of Hound on top of a young man, apparently trying to wrestle a rifle from his hands.

"They're too close for a good shot!" With the way the two were fighting, Cloud didn't doubt it, especially with a weapon like Barret's. Materia wouldn't be much more accurate, and he didn't exactly feel like risking accidentally taking off the man's hands or anything, which left…

"Tifa, separate 'em!"

"On it!" As they began to close in on the two, she darted forward with a sudden burst of energy. The reddish-brown Hunting Hound eyes shot up at their approach, but it was unable to release the man and dodge away before Tifa's leg shot up into its side. The blow easily threw it to the side, its ribs audibly cracking with the force. It started to rise again, but quickly fell in a hail of bullets as Barret took the opening to finish it off.

When he was certain that the thing was dead, he turned back to the others as they attempted to calm the panicking traveler. The kid, or at least he was a kid as far as Barret was concerned, didn't look like much. He was about twenty-three, maybe twenty-four years old, average height, probably a little overweight for his age. A half-decent shot, if

"Oh-Oh man! Thank y'all so much! I thought I was a goner for a minute there! I-I don't know how to repay this!" Tifa shook her head.

"Don't worry about it. We're glad we could help."

"Ain't nothin' to thank us for."

"Hm."

"I, uh, I don't suppose y'all are headin' for Kalm?"

"Actually, that's exactly what we were planning."

"Think you'd be willin' to do a little escorting? I don't got too much money on me, but this hunk a' junk is full of stuff that my cousin uses to make his weapons. He's a smithy, y'know? I bet he'd be able to give ya something."

Tifa glanced over her shoulder to Barret, then to Cloud. "Boys?"

"No sense lettin' the guy go all alone after savin' him."

"No problems here."

"Well then, you've got yourself an escort, Mister…?"

"Ah, just call me Al."

"Al it is."

With about twenty to thirty minutes of travelling, much shorter than it would have been without a chocobo to pull the small wagon, the group was standing in the center of the entrance to Kalm near the only inn in the whole town. Absently petting the chocobo, Al looked over the small group.

"So ya want me to show you guys to the shop now, or…?"

Tifa looked over towards the inn, considering the two or three people that'd walked out in the few minutes since their arrival. "We should probably get a room or two first…"

"An' I need to call Jessie. Gotta check in on Marlene an' the goons, y'know."

"Hey Cloud, why don't you go with Al? We'll finish everything up here and keep a lookout for Zack."

I don't really have anything else that I need to do. "Sure. We'll meet back in the inn's lobby in…an hour?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Whatever you say, Spiky. I jus' wanna make my call. An' nobody forget, we're on a budget here."

After Barret and Tifa entered the inn, Cloud followed a cheery Al across the town to what was obviously the more traveler-oriented section of the town. All of the buildings along the road were obviously shops of some kind or another, and there were small stands and kiosks throughout the streets. Perhaps it wasn't as big as any market in Midgar, but he wouldn't have expected as much from a smaller town like Kalm. Al led him to a corner of the market, next to a shop labeled simply as Lino's Arms, and pulled down the door to the back of the cart, revealing about half a dozen crates.

"Think ya could gimme a hand, buddy?"

Cloud shrugged, reaching in and effortlessly lifting one of the boxes onto his shoulder. As he shifted to walk towards the shop, Al's eyes went wide and he let out a loud whoop of surprise.

"Well I'll be, you're a strong one aren't ya?"

"Hm?"

"Those things probly weight a couple hundred pounds each. Me an' my cousin usually have to carry 'em in together. Even have to get another buddy of ours to help out sometimes."

Cloud cocked his head and shuffled the box around to test its weight, but still found it far lighter than the man's claim would imply. He gave Al a little half-shrug, and mentally reminded himself to take some time to test his newfound strength out. He didn't want to accidentally hurt someone because he wasn't used to being able to pull off things like a SOLDIER, after all.

"Well c'mon in, I can at least open the door for ya." The man behind the counter inside was definitely more fit than Al, and probably a five or six years older by Cloud's estimate. There was still a clear resemblance though. They had the same green eyes, and similar brown hair, even if Al's was slightly darker. The man's surprised expression also mirrored Al's when he looked up to see someone Cloud's size hauling one of his normal shipments over his shoulder.

"You're late, Al. Who's your friend there?"

"This here's Cloud. I got attacked by a coupla hounds on the way over here, and him an' his friends saved my life. I figured ya might be able to pay 'em back for me."

The man sighed, obviously used to his cousin borrowing money to pay people back, and stuck out his hand.

"Thanks for keepin' my klutzy cousin outta trouble. The name's Kenneth Derrusian Lino, but you can call me Ken." Cloud took the offered hand, and nodded towards the crate on his shoulder.

"Where do you want this?" Ken pointed over his shoulder to a door behind the counter.

"Just put it back there by the others. Al, get out there and help me get the rest."

As the trio quickly unloaded the rest of the crates, with Cloud doing most of the actual hauling, Al filled in his cousin on exactly what had happened. And, after listening to the descriptions of the weapons that his cousin's three saviors had been using and looking over the scratched and dulled sword that the blond was carrying with him, he figured he could at least offer a free repair, or a discount on some replacements.

"So, Cloud was it? I'm afraid I don't have anything that would work with that "gun arm" that your friend has, and I don't really deal in gloved weapons, but I've got some swords and rods here that you might take a look at."

"Thanks." He pulled the sword from the magnetic "sheath" on the back of the slightly worn SOLDIER uniform, removed the materia orb, and placed it on the counter. "Think I could get anything for this?"

"Hmm, lemme see." Ken looked it over for a moment, inspecting the damage and deciding that it would be an easy fix. "It's not too badly damaged. Aside from damages, it's pretty high quality material. Wouldn't expect much less from someone wearin' one of those uniforms."

So he had recognized the SOLDIER uniform. Cloud could at least be pleased that he didn't seem interested in asking questions about it.

"Well, if you wanna sell it, I could give you about two thousand gil for it. Swords like this'd go for about three or four thousand in perfect condition, and I'd normally only buy one in this shape for about thirteen-hundred, but I figure you've earned more than regular price."

"Thanks. I'll take it. You said you had some swords?"

"Yep. Just hold on, an' I'll get a few outta the back. Hey Al, get over here and help me!" Cloud nodded an affirmative, and began glancing around the shop. The thing that drew his attention the most was a large sword on the wall above the door leading into the back, probably about the same size as Zack's Buster Sword. Considering he'd never seen the design before, even after one of his weapon-obsessed companions in Shinra's military had spent a couple years showing him every sword magazine he had, it was probably a custom job.

Hm. That's quite an…"Interesting looking sword." Ken heard the comment as they came back through the door, carrying four stacked boxes between them. The smith glanced at it before grinning at the blond and setting the boxes on the floor.

"Oh, that thing. Yeah, it's a work-in-progress. It's gonna be a set of swords that can join together as one blade and split apart real quick. I like to call that one the First Tsurugi."

"Tsurugi…That means sword, right?"

"Yep. It's my baby."

"Ken loves that thing. Spends all his free time on it. Not exactly the most original name we've ever thought up though."

"Ah, shaddup you klutz. Shoo, go away. Go grab some coffee or something." Al left with a laugh as Ken separated the boxes, opened up two of them, and held out a pair of swords to the blond. Cloud took the two and lifted them a little, testing the different weights.

"Now that one," He pointed to the thinner silver blade in Cloud's left hand. "is a real cutter. Probably the sharpest one I've got, an' it's a lot lighter than the others too."

Cloud nodded, tossing the blade in the air and catching it was ease. Neither was particularly heavy to him, but he could definitely feel the difference. It might as well have been a feather.

"The other one is what I like to call a crusher. It's not quite as sharp, but the blade's a lot heavier and a lot wider too. It'd probably be easier to take something down without killing it with that one, long as you're careful."

He gave the sword an experimental swing, and decided he'd prefer the larger, heavier weapon. Aside from the potential uses aside from simply using it to stab or cut, he'd seen a number of the lower class members of SOLDIER using them. They called the sword a "Hardedge" if he wasn't mistaken. He handed the silver blade back to Ken, and slipped the darker blade back on to the sheath.

"I'll take this one, if that's alright."

"Sure, sure. If we take the price of that outta your pay, it'll leave you with about twelve-hundred and fifty. I've also got a couple of rods here, if you want a backup or something."

"I don't know much about fighting with rods." But isn't that what Aerith carries around? "I know someone who does, though." And the one she'd been using wasn't exactly in great condition. At least, assuming that the rod he'd seen sitting on one of the pews in the church before they'd been captured was hers.

"Well, I've got two here." He put the sword back in its case, and pulled out the rods one after the other, placing them on the counter. After testing the two much as he had the swords, he automatically ruled one of them out. Despite the fact that it appeared to be the same one he'd seen before, it appeared to be made of steel, while the other appeared to be made of mythril. And mythril was easily superior, being both a lighter and stronger metal.

"How much for the mythril rod?"

"Ah, recognized that, did ya?" He paused and looked it over for a moment, then smiled. "Well, between the cost of that and the sword, you'll come out with one thousand gil left."

Isn't that a bit cheap? He voiced the opinion, and the smith just waved him off with a grin, claiming that saving that "idiot cousin" of his was more than enough to warrant some extra cash. And with their little team already low on funding, Cloud couldn't exactly complain. So, with a quick thanks and the new rod in hand and the Hardedge secure on his back, he began making his way back to the inn.

As Cloud was dealing with the smith, Barret and Tifa were dealing with their own issues in the inn. While the innkeeper had been glad to let Barret go into the back rooms for a private phone call, the middle-aged woman hadn't been quite as willing to give them three rooms. The fact that they didn't have enough on them for two rooms and the necessities that they would need didn't help.

"Are you sure you can't give us the extra room? I promise our friends will pay the gap when they get here."

"Sorry miss, but tourist season's starting, and I can't give out more than two rooms per group. Especially when they don't have the money, and when they're my last three rooms."

"Well, could you at least hold two of them for a little while?"

"I guess I could-"

"Hey Tifa, what's up?" She turned, relieved to see that Zack had arrived. Though she was a bit surprised to see that he'd apparently found a new addition to their little group since splitting up outside of Midgar. Zack reached down and ruffled the sixteen year old girl's hair, much to her obvious annoyance.

"This is Yuffie. She's a kid I met way back when."

"I'm not a kid!"

He ignored her complaints, grinning. "So…What's the deal?"

"We're fifteen gil short of getting two rooms without going over the limit. Happen to have any extra?"

He fished around in his pockets for a few seconds before pulling out a handful of coins, grumbling as he handed over the money. Just fifteen gil? Man, talk about strict pricing. I've managed to get 'em to let me stay at this kinda place for half price…Of course, I was in SOLDIER at the time. Probably had somethin' to do with it.

The innkeeper handed Tifa two small keys with one of those annoyingly fake smiles, and told her where they could find their rooms. Tifa took the directions silently, not in the mood to deal with the false-polite attitude, and asked the woman to tell Barret where to find them.

The silent walk to their rooms was broken with a comment from one Yuffie Kisaragi.

"So Jugs, how do you know SOLDIER-boy here?"

When roughly half an hour had passed, Cloud returned. After several minutes of arguing, he'd managed to convince the innkeeper that he did in fact know the group that had come in a few minutes before. And, wanting to get away from the annoying woman as quickly as possible, had found their rooms with little trouble. When no one had answered the door at the first room, he'd moved to the room next door, and promptly been answered by a very bored Zack. Apparently, regardless of his feelings for Aerith, he took no joy in listening to "girl talk" for any significant period of time, and Nanaki wasn't interested in talking at all.

So naturally, after a grateful hug from Aerith upon presenting her with the new mythril rod, they'd decided to talk about Cloud's trip to the smith while waiting for their last member.

"The First Sword? That's it?"

"Yeah. Is that bad?"

"I dunno. I just expected somethin' custom like that to have a bit more flare, y'know? Like 'Hyperion' or 'Deathbringer' or something catchy like that."

"Hm. I guess." Cloud shrugged, turning to look out the window again.

"…At least they didn't call it the warthog or anything silly like that."

"Warthog?"

"It was this new jeep thing that we were testing out in SOLDIER back in the day."

"Why 'warthog?'"

"Hey, don't look at me. I tried to tell Heidegger that it looked more like a puma, but he just wouldn't listen."

"A puma?"

"Y'know, a puma. It's like a big cat."

"Ah." Before he could say anything further, Yuffie's laughing echoed across the room, the elder two girls patiently listening to Yuffie's stories of "triumph over Shinra" with smiles on her faces. Somehow, Zack had the feeling that most of the girl's "stories" were exaggerated tales of her many failed attempts to con him out of his hard-earned materia. Or his dignity. Whichever happened to suit her most at the time.

Moments later, Barret walked in, plopped down on one of the beds with a sigh, and let out a yawn before turning to Tifa.

"Looks like the crew's okay. They left the place to that buddy of yours while they're layin' low. Y'know, the one that helped ya come up with the whole bar idea?"

"Johnny."

"Yeah, that's him."

"Good. He'll take good care of the place."

"Hey, so what're we doing here? I thought we were gonna get some materia."

"Calm down, ya little brat."

"The child does have a point, though." Nanaki spoke up for the first time since their arrival, and probably for the first time since he'd realized that scolding Yuffie wouldn't prevent her from trying to use him as a makeshift chocobo. "We did gather here for a reason."

Barret nodded, shaking his gun-arm at Cloud and Zack. "Yeah, that's right. So what's the deal with this Sephiroth guy? Why'd he go off an' kill the president? An' how do you three know 'im?"

Cloud, Tifa, and Zack exchanged a look, and Zack started.

"Well I was in SOLDIER, so I've known him for a while now. But there's not a lot to tell about those days that you can't find in books or newspapers. The real story-"

"Starts in Nibelheim." Cloud cut in, as the group turned to him.

"It all happened five years ago, in a town called Nibelheim."

AN: You might notice a small tribute to Red vs. Blue. If you haven't noticed by now, I tend to throw in little bits dedicated to various shows and games that I like here and there. Y'know, just for fun. Originally this was supposed to be out sooner, and it was also supposed to cover part of the Nibelheim Incident. But I wasn't pleased with how that was turning out, so I messed with it a little, added some extra depth, a few extra scenes between the party, etc, etc. The next chapter will cover the entire Nibelhiem Incident as it occurred in this story. It should also be out a lot sooner, considering quite a bit of it has already been written, since I originally meant to put it in this chapter. Anyway, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and I'd love to hear from you all.