Thank you all for the wonderful reviews, favs and follows. It really means a lot considering this story was created just to help kick my writing muse back into gear. I never even really thought much about uploading it, but here it is and I'm glad I've decided to keep it going. :)

Please enjoy!

Three days after Zack had been rescued the storm had passed. The two had to dig their way out of the snow cave. Zack was first to emerge and quickly raised up a hand against the blinding sun that greeted him.

"Man, talk about a sight for sore eyes. Have you ever seen the sky so blue?...Kid?"

He turned to see the boy with his back to him, staring back into the darkness of the cave. they had packed up all of their things before digging their way to freedom. The cooking pot, sleeping bag, sled and other gear was strapped to his back, but it seemed something was on his mind.

"What's wrong?" asked Zack, who tilted his head.

"It's weird," the kid started. "When I first found this place I just thought of it as shelter from the cold, but it gave me protection and made me feel safe. And then I found you and you helped make it feel like home. It just...it feels weird walking away from it - like I'm saying goodbye to my home for a second time."

Zack smirked and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Who says we're gonna walk away from it? This is our cave. We can come back here anytime we want."

the boy turned and looked at him. "R-really?"

"Sure! Here, watch this."

He walked over and unsheathed the sword that was strapped to his back. He took the sharp of the blade and carved something into the rock next to the cave's entrance. When he was done he stepped back to admire his handiwork.

"The Sheltered Cave - founded and claimed by Zack Fair and Spiky."

The boy looked at the message and arched an eye brow at Zack. "Spiky?"

"Well, you still won't tell me your real name so I'm gonna call you Spiky. Unless you changed your mind?"

The boy shook his head. It wasn't that he didn't trust Zack. He really didn't know why. It just felt like the only thing he had left to hold onto that would make the SOLDIER stick around. If he found out his name he wouldn't need to stick around anymore and would vanish like the spector the kid had first thought he was.

He had lost so much already that the fact of losing anything else terrified him, but he wasn't ready to admit that. Not to himself and certainly not to Zack.

"So, which way is Nibelheim?"

The boy turned his head to look at the dark-haired SOLDIER.

"Huh?"

Zack slung his sword against his back before letting out a sigh fo comfort, feeling much better with the sword resting in its natural place. "I know you probably don't want to go back so soon, but I need to survey the status of the town."

The boy glared at him. "Why? I told you what happened. The town was in ruins! That's all you need to know! Or...do you think I'm a liar?"

Zack blinked at him in surprise. "Whoa, kid, you're taking it the wrong way. It's not something I want to do. As a SOLDIER I have to suvey the damage. It goes into an offical report and there's tons of paperwork that follows."

"So what? The whole town gets written off and shoved into a file cabinet? Don't SOLDIERs care about anyone? It doesn't matter what happens to the destroyed lives as long as you meet your written quota?!"

"Kid, SOLDIER isn't like that, it's just...there's more to it than that."

"What, meetings? tea parties? Shinra has so much power, don't they care about the people who work for them? Or are we just pawns on a chess board!"

Zack could only stare at the kid as he unleashed his pain-filled rant. the pain on the kid's face, the unshed tears in his eyes...it nearly broke Zack's heart. He took a step towards the kid, but the blonde took a step back.

"Don't," he seethed, eyes burning with hatred.

He turned his back on the SOLDIER and pointed toward the far mountain. "Nibelheim is half a day's walk on foot."

Without another word the kid took off. Zack wanted to follow him, it drove him nuts to leave the kid on such bad terms, but it was clear the kid wanted nothing to do with him and the look in his eyes - Zack knew the kid felt betrayed. The First wanted nothing more than to run after the kid and explain how SOLDIERs really were, but he knew in his current mood the kid wouldn't listen.

Turning the other way, Zack forced himself to head towards his original mission: Nibelheim.

Several hours had passed and every step felt wrong to the SOLDIER. Every fiber of his being was screaming at him to go after the kid. He wanted to, but the kid made it perfectly clear that he didn't want to be anywhere near a SOLDIER. So with a heavy heart Zack kept moving forward. Finally he made it to the small town of Nibelheim...or, what was left of it.

Most of the buildings and houses were in ruins, including the mansion at the other end of town. All that was left was a twisted metal gate, a half-crumbled wall and a smoking, charred mess of smoke, broken glass and splintered wood.

He walked through the town and felt horrible at the damage. It was no wonder the kid didn't want to return.

"Haven't you learned your lesson yet, Bandit? There is no easy prey for you here!"

Zack turned to see a man standing several feet behind him. There were others too, women and children, but not many. About nine in all. The three women shielded the two kids and the four men took on defensive stances, keeping themselves between Zack and the women. He had to respect their stubbornness. They were just like the kid. His thoughts were forced to the back of his mind when he saw two of the men gripping metal pipes nervously.

"Er, Hello. My name is Zack Fair. I'm a SOLDIER from Midgar. Shinra received your warning, but it looks like we were too late."

Boy was that an understatement, but what else could he say? Sorry the General didn't want to come himself? Sorry Shinra didn't consider a backwater town to be top priority? Sorry the 'too-late-to-do-anything' chopper crashed? Not the best way to earn the trust of the locals.

The man that seemed to be in charge of the small group lowered his makeshift weapon and took a step forward. "You're too late SOLDIER. The monsters were too much for us. We lost so many. Our town wasn't very big, but we're all that's left. Over thirty others are dead."

Zack's heart nearly plumetted. Thirty innocent lives lost? Zack wanted to cry. "I'm sorry," was all he could say.

"It's not you're fault,...not entirely," the man replied.

Then another man spoke up. "Yeah, it's that boy's fault. If he had warned us sooner then no one would have died. Including his own mother."

Zack looked up at the man then. Boy? they couldn't mean...

"If it wasn't for that Strife boy Mr. Lockhart and young Tifa, Mason and Jennifer, Jackie, Emily and even baby Dawn, none of them would have died."

Zack's fist clenched tightly. He felt for these people, he really did, but to put all of the blame on a kid who tried to warn them made his blood boil. Now he understood what the kid meant. "That's not how I heard it. He tried to warn you days before it was too late!"

The man shook his head. "Is that what he told you? Then that means he's nice and safe in a Shinra bed while his friends and family suffer and die. He doesn't care. I knew he was always bad news. He probably left town and never looked back."

Zack glared daggers at the man, but said nothing. He didn't trust his words at that point. He knew if he tried his temper would get the better of him and he'd say something that he'd regret later. Besides, there were women and children here and they didn't need to suffer anymore then they already had. So, as much as the guy deserved a broken nose, Zack ignored him, put on the blank face of a SOLDIER and went to work recording the level of damage. After that he traveled around the village, trying to track the dragons and determine if they still posed a threat.

He found what he was looking for when he saw two sets of large footprints heading away from the village. Zack found it rather strange that the dragons would waste their time walking when they could fly. They normally stayed air-born unless they were either carrying something or hunting. That last realization struck Zack with dread and he rushed off into the trees.

Ten minutes of running at full speed and Zack was starting to hope that he had been wrong. Maybe the dragons were just tired or just to overburdened with grief to fly? Didn't that blonde kid say that the people in town had killed their eggs? That would mean that this whole tragedy was an act of revenge. The dragons probably weren't even the original monsters causing trouble.

"Speaking of which..."

Zack stopped and looked around. It was strange that he hadn't run into any monsters yet. Wasn't the area supposed to be thriving with them?

A gunshot off to the west startled Zack and as he turned he heard the high-pitch scream of a monster in pain. He knew the sound all too well and knew that was the last sound the creature would ever make. Heading off into the direction the shriek had come from he stopped again when the stench of blood hit him. He had to cover his nose. It wasn't that he wasn't used to the smell of battle, but the smell over overwhelming.

A few more steps and he came upon a ridge. Climbing up, he soon discovered the reason why. Blood was everywhere! Dripping from the trees, staining the rocks and the ground - even the boulder next to him was covered in blood. Monsters littered the ground everywhere he looked. Nibel Wolves were the only creatures he could recognize through the carnage, but there were a few other creatures too, they were just too damaged to determine their species.

A sixth sense forced Zack to look above him and he jumped to the side just as a bullet buried itself in the ground where he had been the second before. Zack looked up and saw what looked like a red cape flowing through the trees as if gliding on the wind. It gracefully landed and a person seemed to materialize out of the cloth.

The man wore a red head band that kept his messy, long black hair out of his face. One arm was encased with a shiny golden claw while the human-looking hand wielded a triple-barrel hand gun. His shoes...or boots were also gold and shiny, that wasn't the strangest thing about it and Zack couldn't help but snicker.

"What's so funny?" the man asked.

Zack busted out laughing, earning a glare from the man. "Sorry, but it's just...those shoes!"

"What about them?" It was the clear the man was clueless.

Zack shook his head. "They're so pointy, it's like you've got two lances strapped to your feet!" He doubled over and held his sides as a new wave of laughter erupted from his gut.

The man just stared at him as Zack started crying he was laughing so hard.

"You have a shallow heart."

Zack stopped laughing then, "'Scuse me?"

The man turned his back on him. "Someone who can laugh after so much despair must have a shallow heart. You aren't bothered by the suffering around you because it didn't happen to you. You either aren't smart enough to realize it or you just don't care."

Zack's good mood was gone in a flash and was replaced by anger. "Now wait a minute pal, just because I have a laugh every now and then doesn't mean that I'm insensitive." He thought back to all of the people that had died during the attack. Thirty in all, and those who remained. they were bitter and cold-hearted, but they were all that was left. The only life they knew was gone. It tore Zack's heart in two, but what else could he do to help them? He needed more man power to restore the town, but he was powerless until he got back to headquarters.

The man took a few steps into the trees and vanished. Zack hurried after him and was met with a strange sight. The trees opened up into a clearing where the rotting bodies of two dragons lay. The man stopped in front of one of the creatures' tail.

"These creatures attacked the town a few days ago. Their first target was the mansion. They burnt it to the ground. I was sleeping deep below, but I was woken from my slumber by the powerful cry of an unknown source. It was a strange feeling. A small voice. It wanted to help so badly, but it was powerless against these monsters. The plea for help was so strong I felt I had to act. I was too late to do much, but I managed to save a few of the townspeople. After that I sought out these creatures and killed them so they couldn't cause anymore pain. I looked for the source of the voice, but I couldn't find it."

Zack listened to the story. He didn't quite understand the part about sleeping deep under the mansion, but the guy was weird and a bit cold so Zack just paid attention to the details of the attack. It would go into his report later. But that voice...

"There was something else that I sensed about the voice. I sensed a great determination. It was stubborn and I felt a strong fire burning deep within the soul that was hotter than the dragon's fire. The spirit was broken, but it was as if the break was making it stronger. However..."

"However?" Zack couldn't help it. The guy could really pull you in.

"I also sensed a lot of pain and sadness. I don't know who it was that reached out to me, but they were afraid."

. . .

He didn't know where he was going. All Strife knew was that he wasn't going to join SOLDIER. After all, the person he had made the promise to was gone. He had failed her. He failed his mother and everyone else in the town. Not that he cared about them, but they were still people he knew - the only people he knew and now they were gone. Strife didn't know why he had been so mean to Zack. He hadn't intended to, but he just couldn't go back and see his worst fears confirmed. His home gone and nothing left. That fear gripped his heart and chilled him to the core more than any snowstorm ever could.

Strife kept going, not even aware of where he was. He had been so upset and so determined to get away from Zack that he had gotten himself lost. It was hard to get his bearings with everything covered in deep snow.

Without realizing it he stepped onto a frozen stream and slipped. He kept sliding and he ended up falling down a slanted waterfall that had frozen over. Strife tried to stop himself, but got his foot caught in between two rocks and it twisted his ankle until he heard it snap. He began tumbling until the slant became a sheer ten foot drop. He landed hard on the ice below.

His eyes opened slowly and he started shivering. His eyes were dazed and clouded and all he could see were his mother and the girl he had broken the promise to. They were gone and he was alone. He buried his face in his sleeve and cried.

Next Chapter: New friends, new outlooks and an unbreakable friendship is born.