Author's Note: Ahh second chapter! It's sad how excited I am to be finished with the first! =) Thanks goes out to all of you who read the first chapter! Don't feel shy to review! As a little side note, this story takes place right after FFVII: Before Crisis...that's 6 years before the original game, if anyone was wondering about that. Not a whole lot of action going on here either...but don't worry! There's some excitement coming up soon!

Disclaimer: If you were expecting me to say something clever here...well, sorry.


:. Sheer Equality.:

Chapter Two: Out of the Ordinary

And I'll find that there is someone to believe in
And to live for something I could live for...

- - - - - - -

Despite the fact that it was the weekend, Elena woke up at 6:30 a.m. the next day. Her bleary, half-opened eyes looked out her bedside window. If the sun was ever visible from beyond the permanently hazy sky of Midgar, it would have been rising. But as usual, the morning started out as cloudy as always.

Although she had gotten plenty of sleep the previous night, Elena felt no more motivated than she had been before. Upon hearing her empty stomach complaining, she decided that breakfast might be a good idea. As she traveled downstairs to the kitchen, she settled on making an omelet.

Her idea was sounding better and better as she pulled the ingredients needed from around the room. Salt, pepper...She opened the refrigerator. Cheese, ham, milk, eggs...wait, there were no eggs. Damn.

She thought for a moment; the convenience store was only two blocks away, it couldn't hurt to walk. Running upstairs, she changed out of her pajamas and pulled on sweatpants and a t-shirt, and quickly made her way to the front door.

It was still fairly early, but that never stopped the rushing crowds and traffic on the upper plate of the city. Businessmen were sipping coffee as they ambled by, cars were pulling into the already filled streets, children were running about.

It only took five minutes for her to reach the store, and she was soon standing in line with a carton of eggs in hand. As she waited, she glanced at the man standing behind her. He had picked up a copy of that day's Midgar Inquirer and was paging through it. Seeing her fleeting look, he looked up at her and smiled kindly. Chuckling and shaking his head, he said, "I really should buy the paper more often. You stop getting the paper for a few days, and suddenly you're out of the loop. Do you understand any of this?" His expression was a little bit too probing and she noticed that his eyes involuntarily flickered to various corners of the store.

She was taken aback for a moment, since she hadn't been expecting the man to ask her anything. With an apologetic smile she replied, "No, sorry. I don't really follow news with Shinra." He looked slightly surprised at this. In the current state of things, it was pretty difficult to ignore the happenings of Shinra.

While she handed over some gil to the cashier he shrugged and folded the paper up again. "Oh well, I'll figure it out somehow."

When Elena picked up her bagged eggs and left the store, the man put the paper back on the rack and stepped out of line. He stole a quick look at the tall man with shades and a blue suit in the corner of the store, felt the gil in his pocket that hadn't been there a few minutes ago with one hand, and gave a cordial wave to him with the other on his way out.

* * * * *

With a bounce in her step, Elena traveled the distance back to her house. The bag she was holding swung with every other step she took. The crowds had thinned, but had not diminished.

As she was thinking about possible ways to entertain herself that weekend, a strange feeling overcame her. She stopped walking for a minute and tried to place what feeling it was, but couldn't identify it. In an instant, the feeling was gone and she continued.

When she had gone about half the distance to home, the feeling unexpectedly returned. She stopped again, and decided not to start walking until she could recognize it. As she mused she gazed at nearby people and buildings. That was it! It felt like someone was watching her.

Elena quickly looked in every nook, alleyway, and side road in sight. She saw no one that looked suspicious or appeared to be looking at her. She sighed and picked up her previous pace, while becoming lost in her thoughts.

After a minute, she heard rapidly approaching footsteps that seemed to be coming from nowhere. Stuck between stopping and looking around or walking faster, she deliberated for a moment and eventually did both. When her eyes scanned the immediate area, she realized that the neighborhood was unfamiliar. Where was she and how had she gotten here?

She spun around and hurried in the direction in which she came, searching for a turn she must have missed. The footsteps continued steadily. Elena broke into a full sprint, too panicked to realize that the footsteps were now traveling in the opposite direction.

Before she could register what was happening, someone in dark clothing materialized from a hidden alley in front of her and darted toward her, stepping behind her and clutching her shoulders as if she was a shield. A group of men in similar attire followed, each holding a hand gun. They stopped when they saw that the man was behind Elena, but didn't hesitate to aim their guns in her direction.

A voice spoke from behind, "You fellas wouldn't hurt a lady, would ya?" The group of armed men didn't so much as budge, keeping their guns trained on Elena and the man behind her.

Up until this point Elena had been too dazed to move a muscle. But upon hearing the man behind her speak she immediately whirled around to face him, knocking his arms off her shoulders. He was a few inches taller than she, a brunette with an unshaven face and a shady air about him. In an instant he grasped the handle of a metal briefcase that had been thrown upon the ground in his rush that looked as if it contained some type of explosive. Elena's eyes widened at the sight of it.

Before she could get more involved in the gang chase, she shoved the man out of her way and rushed as fast as she could down the street that had lead her there. She didn't look back; she tried to think as coherently as possible. Which direction would lead her home? She picked a random street and hoped for the best.

People that she passed gave her worried looks as she ran. She ran faster when she heard the sound of a distant gunshot, no doubt coming from where she had just been.

After running for an indeterminable amount of time, she caught sight of a familiar brick building that marked the corner of her street. She stopped at once to catch her breath, resting one of her hands against a telephone pole. What the hell had just happened? Events like that, although in constant existence in Midgar, never happened to her. She knew that she was lucky to be alive, lucky that the gunmen had hesitated, lucky that no one had followed her.

Her next thoughts were about the footsteps. It hit her that they only belonged to a single person, not a group of people. So if not the gang, then who...? No, stop it, she silently berated herself. Stop thinking about it. The footsteps were what had gotten her lost, and had almost gotten her killed.

Still panting, she looked down at the grocery bag that had suffered the journey with her. Untwisting the handles, she found that the eggs had broken.

* * * * *

A man waited in a concealed alleyway that was hidden in the shadows of surrounding buildings. Before long, another man sauntered into view, wearing a jovial expression.

"Damn, you almost had to help little blondie out back there," the smiling man said. He knew the other man was glaring at him through his shades.

"Almost?" He held up an empty metal briefcase. Its contents were spilled all over the concrete beneath them.

The second man bent down to get a better look in the dim light. Upon examination, he found a poorly assembled bomb with misplaced wires sticking out of it. He glanced up at his partner and laughed. "This thing has less bite than a cherry bomb. I knew those bastards weren't worth our time."

"She didn't."

The second man stood up and brushed himself off. "Well, besides dealing with petty thieves and a ditzy blonde, at least we learned something today." His partner looked at him expectantly, clearly not seeing what lessons could be learned from a wild goose chase.

"She can run." The man with shades let out a rare chuckle.


Author's Note: Poor Elena...don't you just hate it when that happens? =) So if you want to call that action, be my guest...I'm just pretty embarrassed that the whole thing had to happen because of omelets. I realized this chapter wasn't quite as long as the first, so I apologize for that. Next one's longer, I promise...There's a lot of stuff coming up soon, including an important entrance next chapter, so don't go anywhere! Reviews are nice, as always!