They held the Randall short barrel, which everyone nicknamed Ol' Randy, above their heads as they trudged through the swampy bog that was Southern Wutai in the wet season. The arduous crossing made them sitting ducks and jammed up their company issues something awful so that the rifles would not fire when they actually saw the enemy. Not crossing was not an option. Not crossing was a court-martial for deserting and meant being picked off by bullets from the trees anyway. Crossing was almost certain death at the hands of the waiting jungle.

Either way, they failed.

They held themselves with a calm dignity, but told themselves they would die. As they trudged into the slime and mud, their already heavy bags are weighed down by water and by clay. Their feet sink deeper into the river bed and the mud trapped them. Flanking the main troops, some men laid down cover fire, aiming their weapons blindly into the bush. When they reached the other side some men cried. They cried out in relief at still being alive. They cried out at the burden of still being alive as their comrades lay sleeping at the bottom of the bog.

II. Reacquaint

Zachary Fair, better known as Zack to all his friends, whistled lightheartedly as he marched toward the Materia Development Room. One hand held his phone, where he was attempting to text (unsuccessfully) to his long time friend Kunsel, while the other hand swinging loosely at his side grasped a thin manila folder with a small stack of forms. Kunsel, naturally, had all the good Shinra scuttlebutt that Zack needed to catch up on after a week-long retreat to the Midgar wastelands on a monster hunting spree (so-called mission) with Angeal who came back from the Wutai subcontinent looking incredibly worn out. Normally, Zack had an extreme allergic reaction to any form of company paperwork. However, since these forms were the paperwork that allowed him access to materia, he was not gonna complain at all, no sir!

The door to the Materia Room slid open with a compliant hiss and Zack blinked at the interesting sight. The many times he had stepped foot in this room with Angeal, this stereotypical Shinra science squint greeted him with round coke-bottom glasses that had these nerdy side shields to them to double as safety glasses, mousy brown hair that was constantly disheveled, and heavy frown lines at the corners of his mouth and on his brow from too many hours staring at a microscope. Zack didn't even know why the guy put so much time on the microscope - he studied rocks for goodness sakes!

Instead, a young blond kid who looked like he was barely of legal working age sat behind the desk, a thick textbook open in front of him as he silently mouthed words to himself, an orange highlighter in one hand, and the other pulling at his spiky blond locks. Zack hoped he was imagining it, but he could have sworn that the kid's toes barely touched the ground as he swung his feet back and forth idly and flipped the page.

"Ahem…" Zack coughed quietly when he realized that the boy was not going to acknowledge him anytime soon. "Aheeeeem….Aheeeeeeemeem…."

When Zack though he was going to finally fake cough a lung out, he was greeted with owlish blue eyes that were framed by the thick rimmed glasses the boy wore, wide with surprise on a boyish face. They stared at each other – Zack in amusement and the boy in confusion. The glasses only served to make the boy, whose lanky frame was almost swimming in his one-size-fits-all lab coat, look very awkward and gangly indeed.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I was just so absorbed in my book…can I get you anything sir..."

"Ah, I'm Zack." He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, "Sorry to, like, totally startle you. Is your dad around?"

Zack was treated to an incredulous stare. The blond opened his mouth a few times but no words came out the first three tries.

"Oh, ummm…sorry, who?" he finally sputtered.

Open mouth, insert foot. Goddammit, Zack! Way to go!

"Um, the doctor that usually works here." Zack backpedaled clumsily.

"Oh! Doctor Zalinka! He's sick today." At this the blond stood up and walked around the desk, stopping short in front the Third Class Soldier and extended a hand. Zack quickly realized that the bo- young man - had a name tag pinned to the right lab coat pocket displaying a slightly bleached out mug shot of mostly blond hair and the name STRIFE across the bottom of the picture. A tag that was given to all Shinra employees and doubled as a keycard and meal swipe. Oh. Oops.

"Um…"

Zack quickly grasped the offered and previously neglected hand, pumping it twice vigorously.

"Sorry! I'm Zack Fair, Third Class Soldier Extraordinaire!" He introduced himself with a grin, "Sorry about earlier. I was just kinda expecting the other guy so I guess I was being real rude to you, huh?"

The lab tech smiled wanly back at him. "It's alright, Mr. Fair, Sir. I'm actually kinda used to that. My name is Cloud. I am Dr. Zalinka's assistant. Since he is sick today, I'm supposed ta be in charge of the materia requests…so…um…."

Cloud has a faint backwater drawl that Zack could relate to, but feeling like he had antagonized the kid enough for one day, he refrained from commenting. Angeal must have really hammered tact in better than Zack thought possible.

"Hey! Call me Zack, man. Ah, yeah. I have the paperwork here," Zack said, offering up his folder, "Requisition Form for Class E Materia. And…oh, here." He dug out his employee identification badge, which mirror's Cloud's except that it read SOLDIER THIRD CLASS instead of SCIENCE DEPT: STUDENT next to the name and picture.

Cloud glanced through the paperwork and then shuffled back to the desk, tapping a few keys on his computer. At some prompt on the screen, he swiped Zack's ID through the card reader.

"Everything seems to be in order Mr.F- I mean, Zack." Cloud returned the badge to Zack. "Which materia would'ya like? Um…Class E allows you the basic damage materia, unmastered. That includes….Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, and Quake."

"Aw, damn! I wanted awesome ones, like Comet or something!"

That finally got a chuckle out of the blond.

"Sorry, that's what you're allowed. Maybe the higher-ups are afraid you will blow somethin' sky high?"

Zack opened his mouth to protest, but then closed it when he realized that explosions are actually kind of a plausible fear around him.

"Fine…I'll take Fire! Then I can blow shit up anyway!" Zack and Cloud shared a chuckle.

"Well, the form says you're allowed two. So…which other one?"

Zack hesitated. "Um….I actually didn't think that far, haha…. I kind of just ran here after I got the form, 'cause, I was way excited!"

"Oh," Cloud frowned little, wrinkling his brow and the bridge of his straight nose while tilting his head in a way that reminded Zack strongly of a baby chocobo. Those one that just hatched, looked really confused, and are a bit bald. Okay, maybe not that last one. "Maybe Quake?" He quickly held his hands up in a defensive gesture, as if he could physically defend against whatever reprisal Zack may have. "I don't really know much about how Soldiers would use it, but I think it could be useful…"

"How so?" Zack was honestly curious about Cloud's suggestion.

"Um, unlike the other ones, Quake is kind of like…area of effect. It'll hit everything in a small radius, so even at a low levels and without All materia attached, it can hit multiple enemies. Unless you are using it against flying monsters, or in a really urban area – please don't do that in the building- it could be really useful. Not that I know….or anything…."

Cloud's speech petered out and he looked down with an embarrassed blush.

"Whoa, hey! You know a lot!" Zack whistled appreciatively. "Yeah, I'll take that one then."

Cloud nodded. "Ja, give me a second." He walked across the room around the three strange machines that all had signs taped to them that had Dr. Zalinka's handwriting scrawled across ("Experimental! Do Not Touch! That means you!") and swiped his card through another reader. The wall swung open to a series of drawers and Cloud withdrew two round green crystals barely bigger than glass marbles. "You have slots, right?" He asked as he filled out another form on the computer, registering Zack as withdrawing the materia.

"Yep!" Zack raised an arm that had a titan bangle. Cloud handed the spheres over.

"Don't lose them!" Zack laughed.

"Thank you, my kind sir!" He slotted them lovingly into his new bracer. "Sorry, I'd love to stay and chat more, but I kinda have to run. Angeal can be a real mean taskmaster if I'm late."

Cloud nodded and returned to his seat and his large volume.

"Um…before I go, I'm dying to ask you one question."

Cloud looked at him expectantly.

"Are you from the countryside?" A nod. "Where?"

"Nibelheim." Zack laughed. Cloud frowned a little though it looked more like a childish pout.

"You?"

"Me? Gongaga!" Cloud laughed as well.

"Hey!" Zack put his hands on his hips as if in disapproval, though it seems Cloud realized he was only joking. "Are you laughing? You are, aren't you? Do you even know Gongaga?"

"No…but it sounds very country-like."

"Hmph. Well, Nibelheim too. I've never been there, but there's a make reactor right? Midgar has the most mako-"

"But everyone else has none." Cloud chorused with him. They both shared a laugh again.

"I'll see you a round, Cloudy!" Zack yelled back as he headed into the hallway. The door slide shut on Cloud's answering "Oi, don' call me that!"

Zack, in an even better mood than when the morning first started, turned the corner and almost smacked right into a wall.

"Whoa! Good morning Angeal!"

Angeal Hewley, also known as the Wall, raised an unimpressed dark brow at his protégé, also known as the Puppy.

"You are late."

Zack made a face that approximated a pleading pup and held up his left arm to show two materia slotted into his bracer. "I got materia, Angeal!"

Angeal sighed a weary sigh that he had perfected around Genesis and was using more frequently now that he had taken Zack on as an apprentice of sorts. "I dreaded the day you would get materia, and now it's here too soon. Well, what did you get?"

"Um, Fire and Quake."

"Wonderful. One to knock the building down and the other to set it on fire. I must have a chat with Dr. Zalinka for daring to let you to walk out of his lab with potential for explosions and wonton destruction of public property. What was he thinking?" Angeal asked with amused sarcasm.

"Nah, his assistant took over today. Really nice kid."

Angeal snorted softly at Zack. "Must have been very nice to let you walk away with those two. Or just doesn't know you at all."

"Hey!" Zack protested.

"Don't 'hey' me, puppy. Go run through the Midgar plains simulation before Sephiroth and Genesis get here." Zack puffed up his cheeks impetuously, but grumpily stomped into the VR room.

Ten minutes later, six o'clock on the dot, Sephiroth glided into the observation area of the VR room with Genesis beside him. Sephiroth gave Angeal a nod good morning while Genesis airily remarked, "-ut really, Sephiroth, I hardly think your cyber terrorist is necessarily targeting you. Most feared General of the Shinra Army? Perish the thought. They would probably quiver in their pajamas when they realize who they hacked."

Angeal frowned. "What's the matter?"

"Oh, good morning Angeal." Genesis twisted to lean a shoulder against the glass wall that was currently showing Zack fighting against a wild chocobo of all things, "Sephiroth was just informing me of a security breach. Someone sneaked into his office after hours and hacked into his computer. Whoever he is, the hacker covered his tracks well if the Turks still haven't figured out was what was accessed."

Angeal crossed his arms over his chest.

"Not so well that they didn't notice," Angeal commented. Turning to Sephiroth, he asked, "No leads?"

Sephiroth shook his head.

"Nothing concrete. I will find out when there is. Also, I currently have no mobile device. If you need to contact me, you will have to call my office phone." He then stopped and considered. "I believe I also have no secretary at the moment."

Genesis laughed derisively. "Well, they are hardly useful people, are they? Yet Lazard keeps on assigning you one. Each worse than the last. It's as if he's trying to tell you to get laid." Sephiroth ignored Genesis with a light furrowing of his brow.

"Veld has updated me with the current situation this morning. They have questions as to why it was my terminal in particular that was hacked."

"Well, that should be obvious, shouldn't it?" Genesis interjected, "As General, you would have the most top secret files and the highest clearance."

"While that's true," Angeal disagreed absently, as he observed Zack who was wrapping up the last monsters, "Sephiroth would only have limited access to anything in the science or even the weapons development departments. Any strategic information on the situation in Wutai is also mostly outdated when the insurgents turned to guerilla tactics and we moved most of the immediate decision making to the field."

"Unfortunately, my computer is connected directly to the Shinra central servers." Sephiroth added. "It provides access to many other departments, even if my clearance is perhaps limited. My office is also located below the sixtieth floor lockdown area."

Shinra's most three most powerful Soldiers stewed in an uneasy silence when the Zack ran out from the training room.

"Angeal, did you see that cool combo I did? Huh? Huh? I did good, right? Right?"

"It is 'I did well', Zack. And we need to work on your foot work. Very sloppy."

Elena looked around the classroom at the forty-some-odd cadets, a handful of third class Soldiers in for make-up classes, and a few Academy students that stood in rows facing a wall of targets in the thirty second floor facility. The classroom was split into two sides. On one side along the windows, rows of long desks that had black heat resistant counter tops and two chairs to a table were arranged in military precision. On the other, as far away from the windows as possible, stood a line of targets on a steel backed wall. The scorch-marked and pockmarked wall told stories of all the inept classes it had endured.

Elena snorted. It was their first lecture out of three in this series. No way they were going to get to play around with materia like that. It would be lucky if they even got to touch one. Instead, she looked around at the empty seats and selected one furthest away from the crowd milling about. The desk was already occupied by a lab tech, who had ignored the entire class and was instead staring blankly out into the gray morning sky that was Midgar's weather all the time. Thankfully, he hadn't breathed a word to her and had essentially ignored her for the past five minutes.

Aside from the students and a few guards to keep an eye on the materia storage, the floor was empty. For safety, any class scheduled was given wide berth for fear of accidents that might occur from improper materia use. They really should be given wide berth, too. Most cadets can't aim to save their own hides. Though for such a beginner class, it was hardly an issue. One would be lucky if they had the material glowing.

Their instructor gave a lecture on different types of materia. He demonstrated by casting a well-aimed fire spell at one of the targets, marking the bull's-eye with a black scorch mark. The class ohh'd and ahh'd. The blond was still paying no attention.

Then, unmastered fire materia were passed along to them from a storage crate. Instead of asking them to aim, which the instructor admitted was probably out of the range of first-timers, they were asked to be seated and small piles of kindling were set in front of them.

"The most you'll get is probably a spark right now," the instructor had said, "But try to light a fire. This is the only lesson you get on materia use until you get promoted to third class or the equivalent and is an important survival skill, too."

It was meant to show how difficult using materia is, since new recruits should not know how yet. Elena, having some experience from both trips with her father and her rivalry with her older sister, was taking this class only to fulfill one of the many training requirements that would allow her to be a probationary Turk. After all, she can't have her older sister show her up forever.

Most of the class where trained cadets, each tall and muscular. Real meat heads, Elena thought with disgust. The ability to use materia had nothing to do with physical condition, she thought with pride. Rather, it was from experience, a strong will, and even a bit of genetics. She has all three, even though she did not have as much experience as she would like. After all, stealing her sister's Cure to practice on did not go unnoticed for very long when the sister in question was a damn good Turk. …And maybe she only got a few green sparks…not even enough to heal a paper cut….

Staring at the crystalline orb in her own hand, she frowned at it, determined to get a spark and set her own pile of kindling on fire first in the class.

"Come on…come on…come on! You stupid thing!" She growled to it under her breath.

Someone chuckled next to her and she saw that his pile was already smoking.

How is that possible? He wasn't even watching the demonstration!

The nasty retort on her tongue was swallowed when she stared into the face of maybe the kindest smiles she had ever seen, even though it was a small one.

"I'm sorry. You look kind of constipated like that." The blond answered her look.

"I do not!" The blond now looked a little concerned that he had offended Elena in some way. Well, he should have realized that before he opened his big stupid mouth, Elena thought uncharitably. The other boy just smiled indulgently.

"I'm Cloud," He introduced himself, "I study mako sciences. You are…?"

"Uh, oh. Elena. And don't think you are better than me just because you can cast a bit of magic, mister!" She growled, "My father was an army general and my sister is a Turk. Don't you even think about messing with me!" Cloud raised a brow, completely immune to her speech.

"I wouldn't dream of it, promise."

"Good," Elena sniffed.

"Heya, if you don't mind me asking though," Cloud said as he fanned his little pile of straw into flames absently, "What were you thinking when you were tryin' ta focus?"

"Huh? That's easy! I keep trying to tell this thing to set on fire-" Cloud laughed. Elena thought it was a surprisingly nice laugh. It was really clear, and drew the corners of his lips up, narrowing his eyes so only parts of the blue irises showed. The brilliant blue and long lashes weren't distorted at all by his lens but the thick frames detracted from the entire image. Elena got the feeling that her bench mate didn't really laugh much at all because if he did and got rid of those hideous glasses, she was sure he would have lots of female attention instead of looking so damn awkward. Their little corner drew the attention of a few military grunts, who gave them glares and then turned back to their own materia. However, Elena still felt a little embarrassed and angry, even more so when she realized that she was actually checking this nerd out- just a little bit-a big social faux pas- so she hit Cloud none-too-gently on the arm.

"Hey! Stop laughing!"

"Ja," Cloud said wiping a tear of mirth away, "I just hope you weren't thinking at it how you talk to me. It won't like that much." This kid is weird, Elena decided, talking like a piece of stone is sentient and shit.

"Just… ask it nicely."

"Uh…" Elena pouted. She didn't want to listen to Cloud's coaching, but she also didn't want to fail at lighting it, like all the muscle brain cadets in the class. Besides…Cloud said he was in the science department. That had to mean he knows stuff like this, right? She turned to her own materia.

"Can you…please just light that stuff on fire?" She coaxed as she focused on the stone in her hand. To her surprise, the marble in her hand seemed to answer and she felt a faint surge as it warmed in her hand. A few more seconds of wheedling and her sad pile of kindling started smoking, too.

"It worked!" Her outburst drew some unhappy glances from the rest of the class, but she didn't care. "It worked!" She yelped again, and then grabbed her slender classmate in a tight hug that sent the two of them crashing and tipped over Cloud's heat safe plate that held a now burning fire.

"Hot! Hot!"

"Wah! Somebody get water!"

Revision 1.1

5/28/13