So this is the biggest piece I'll be working on for this fandom and I'll try to be regular with updates. I have much more than this written out, though I keep finding myself editing and re-editing.

This is an One Little Change fic, or an OLC fic. In other words, I merely changed a couple plot elements and made a story out of what I believe would happen if you change that one thing.

There is a very specific thing I'm changing here. As such, I'm not going to list what it is. It'll be covered in the actual storyline.

Summary: One tiny little change. One little event occurring differently, but somehow managing to change everything. A classic tale told across Final Fantasy 7. Zack survives. Cloud survives. Everything's good right? Wrong. Very, very wrong indeed. Zack stumbles into Midgar barely alive and runs right into Tifa, whom decides to take the injured SOLDIER back to Seventh Heaven, hoping to get some answers for herself. To her dismay, when Zack comes to, he doesn't have them. In fact, he can't remember anything that had ever happened to him. Despite his lack of identity, Zack agrees to help AVALANCHE in their struggle versus Shinra. Along the way, the ex-SOLDIER begins to wonder just who he was before.

Despite his talents, this is not an easy journey. Zack has several people watching his every move. Friends and enemies alike. A powerful new adversary emerges, bent on his ruin. Old enemies return. And midst it all is a mysterious man who might just hold the key to all the questions Zack has unanswered. As Zack's memory slowly returns, he's forced to question just what happened the day he lost his memory. But answering these questions comes with a heavy price.

Some of the pairings: ZackXTifa, ZackXAerith, mild ZackXJessie, CloudXTifa(very angsty) CloudXAerith(milder), BiggsXJessie, some fluffy YuffieXVincent planned.

This story is planned to span all of FF7.

The sky is falling The stars are unclear
Sometimes I wonder where I belong
Please take me back when the stars all aliened and shined
I try to keep myself alive
Please don't predict my future

~Theme of Elfe, Before Crisis

Unofficial theme of A New Leaf

The eerily green lights of Midgar, coupled with the fact that the city was suspended in the air, made it seem almost like a space station. One with a nice cloud of light and air pollutants, that is.

She'd called Midgar home—well maybe not her home, but definitely a place of residence—for about four years now. Five years to date since she'd watched a mad man with demonic green eyes and beguiling silver hair burn her home—the real thing—to the ground. Five years since she began hating Shinra and what they had done to her world with every fiber of her being.

She learned to be tough. It wasn't easy to be a girl stuck in the slums. Short of peddling flesh, there wasn't much work for a twenty-year-old girl with no money and no family left over. A few of the places she had attempted to get a job at wanted her to do just that. Despite her numerous other talents, all people in the slums seemed to be interested in was open thighs and no lip. And some of them were not willing to easily take no for an answer.

But Tifa Lockheart had gotten lucky. Despite having a rough time to begin with, she wouldn't have had it any other way. After beating up a sling of would-be rapists, she'd attracted the attentions of Barret Wallace, a kind if not a bit gruff man from Correl. He offered her a place to stay and helped her lease a building by fronting some of the money, now Tifa's beloved bar. One thing led to another and soon Tifa became the newest member of AVALANCHE. She felt better for the first time since Nibelhiem. She was doing something now to get back at those corporate bustards.

But that had been then. Now she was feeling apprehensive as she paced down the sidewalk, watching glowing trains barrel past her every so often, stopping to expel a couple passengers. They completely ignored her and she them. The cool air somewhat soothed her frayed nerves. So far, AVALANCHE hadn't done as much as she would have liked. They didn't have the man power. So most of their missions were quiet, small things to throw the Mako reactors into disarray. Stealing supplies, setting free captured monsters in different buildings, poisoning food going to Shinra infantrymen…again nothing too serious.

But Barret had finally set up the first true mission that would cause any real problem for Shinra. They were going to blow up a Mako reactor.

With only five people…

And only two, Barret and Tifa herself, were any real good at fighting.

…They wouldn't even make it past the front gate. Barret knew this; Tifa was sure. But none of them could think of any better ideas. The planet was dying now. Yet this was a suicide mission. They might manage to blow this reactor. Just might. But there were hundreds of reactors worldwide. All protected and monitored by Shinra's vast army. Even with a thousand of people on their side it would be difficult. But they didn't even have a dozen. Not even half. There was no chance in Hell they could—

Tifa was distracted from her inner monologue by a painful groan. A hunched, shaded figure approached her. There was a slight limp to his walk. Glowing blue eyes glistened in the night, like horrific light bulbs. Tifa bulked away….the way those eyes glowed brought back flashes of memories. Images of a dreadful grin and silver hair sweeping around dark features. She remembered pain and blood and fire as his blade slid through her chest…

A vaguely familiar face was lit for a moment by the light, but before she could decipher this spark of recognition, the figure crumbled to the sidewalk. It took her a moment to fully get over her nerves. When she'd managed to steady herself, she cautiously strode over to the collapsed form of the SOLDIER.

Jet black hair spiked almost impossibly...the ragged uniform of a 1st class SOLDIER. She should have turned away, but something made her lean over, rolling him face up. It was soaked in blood, but Tifa knew that face. She sprung to her feet. There was no way she was ever going to trust a SOLDIER again. She wouldn't help them. Never again…not even if they'd saved her life…not even if they were helpless, bleeding, on the sidewalk, alone, at night…Damn it! Were the only two words she could think of as she slung Zack's arm over her shoulder.

Barret was going to kill her.

"Absolutely not! That Shinra vermin is not setting one foot in this place!" Barret roared. Not a surprising reaction actually. Especially when Tifa had dragged an unconcious 1st class SOLDIER back to her bar, interrupting Barret's poker game. Just because he was winning against the rest of his comrades didn't mean he was in a passive enough mood to let the enemy sleep in one of his bedrooms.

Tifa pursed her lips. "We can't leave him out here to die. That would make us no better than Shinra."

"The only good SOLDIER is one with at least 100 bullet holes in him," Barret said. Tifa raised an eyebrow before peeling back Zack's shirt. None of them could keep from gaping at the hopes dotting Zack's side. He bore so many, some fresh and some white scars on his otherwise nice body, he looked like a chunk of human-shaped Swiss cheese.

"Should I count for you?" Tifa goaded.

"Don't get smart with me missy!" Barret rumbled after shaking off the shock. "He's still not staying here."

Tifa sighed, her eyes downcast. "I know him." She glanced back up at Barret, her eyes soft. "I think…I think he saved my life."

"Nibelhiem?" Jessie asked quietly.

"Yeah…"

Barret sighed, covering his face with his good hand. "I'm sorry Tifa, but we just can't. He can't stay here. It's too risky."

Tifa glanced at Zack. She had more than one reason why she needed him here. A vision, a hazy dream which she needed an answer to. One which had haunted her since Nibelhiem. Zack was the only person who could fill in that gap in her memory. She had to know…

Tifa's face hardened. "Fine."

She slung her arm around Zack's waist, supporting him once more. Then she began to slowly drag him away.

"Where are you going?" Barret shouted after her.

"To find someone who will help me," Tifa called back over her shoulder. As she dragged him away, she could visualize the little group of rebels huddling together. Let them have their powwow.

"Gaia, Barret, we can't afford to lose her." She heard Biggs murmur.

"Just let him stay." Jessie pleaded.

"We can't. You've never met a SOLDIER. You don't know what they're like."

"Get your head out of the clouds, Barret." Wedge argued. "We don't have to let him know a thing about AVALANCHE. He might even join us if we play our cards right."

"We can't. That's final." Barret said.

The trio glanced at Barret. There was a stoic silence. Then Jessie, with a quick glance at Barret, started to walk away. The other two followed in succession.

Outnumbered and on the verge of losing his entire team, Barret glanced around wildly, as if hoping for some sort of divine help. Finding none, he called back to his team. "Alright, alright! He can stay! But he better not cause us any trouble dammit!"

Tifa smiled sweetly. "Of course not Barret. Now, would you mind helping get him up stairs?"

Barret reddened. "I ain't touching that worm bag!"

Fortunately that didn't speak for how the others felt. She had a fairly easy time getting him upstairs between four people.

First thing was first: treating Zack's injuries. Tifa and Jessie both ganged up on the large man, picking out all the bullets and scanning him for worse injuries. It seemed Zack had attempted to treat some of his own injuries with varying degrees of success. Most of them had healed fairly well, likely due to the fact that he was SOLDIER. But one of the bullets had shattered right through his right kneecap, ripping the tendons. It was amazing that he had even been upright.

Even a SOLDIER's body couldn't save him from the infection that set in on that kneecap. It was lucky Jessie's mother was a nurse; for Tifa didn't know what she would do if she tried to treat it herself. Given a bit of gauze, some sterilized tools, and several medications, Jessie was able to treat, stitch, and wrap the wound. But she said it would take time to heal. The rest of his wounds were much more easily dealt with. Jessie didn't take any chances though. She had antibacterial mixes spread on his wounds and she made sure to stitch each of his wounds. Allotted fairly decent supplies and given that Jessie had a knack for treating wounds, the fresher wounds would scar minimally. Although that knee might be a bit weak for quite some time. The boys managed to struggle Zack into some clean clothes supplied generously by Biggs.

At long last everyone else piled out of the room, leaving Tifa alone with the SOLDIER. Tifa looked down at his sleeping face, wondering just what happened that day so long ago. She remembered blood and fire. The sight of her father's mangled body. The screams and cries of villagers. Through the flames, Sephiroth's eyes glowed cruelly. His blade as it drove into her body and he flung her, like a rag doll, down the stairs. Her whispered vow of burning hatred toward Shinra. Then blanking out for a time. When she came to…a face looming over her, hair bright golden blonde and eyes blue as ice. Distorted light almost seemed to halo his head. Had she been right of mind, she might have realized whom he was. As it was, she thought she was looking at an angel.

Then he left her and she never saw him again. She'd gone to Midgar, reminded of Cloud and his oath to her. Wanting to find her secret childhood crush…that quiet, socially-awkward boy that no one seemed to like. But she hadn't seen him. She'd even gone undercover in Shinra herself for a mission, hoping to spy his spiky blonde hair. No such luck.

She was hoping Zack had answers. She'd assumed when she'd awoken that Zack had left with Shinra, leaving a hollow, fake village in place of her home. That he was still with Shinra. But seeing him with riddled bullet holes, made by Shinra standard caliber nonetheless, had slid doubts into her mind. What exactly did Shinra do to him?

She couldn't help but notice all of the differences…or rather the things that should have been different that were missing. There was something about the way his body was set, almost defensively. Even though he was completely out of it, he was tense. While stitching up his wounds, there was one moment when Zack suddenly sat up. His eyes, green and slit like a cat's, flew open and he let out a choked yell. It took the combined efforts of Tifa, Barret, Biggs, and Wedge to pin the other man back to the bed while Jessie finished. He struggled and wound up giving Biggs a bloody nose.

It was a reminder of what Zack was. Jessie said with the amount of blood he lost, it was remarkable that he wasn't dead. Yet Zack was more than alive; he was still throwing punches. That's what SOLDIERs were though. Almost inhuman in nature.

Tifa sighed, placing a hand on his head. A little warm. He'd had a low fever since he first got here, but maybe Zack just ran a little warm in general. Maybe all SOLDIERS do. How was she supposed to know? Still she obediently put a fresh cool rag on his head. His eyes shut harder, and he letting out a low groan. "Angeal…." He murmured. A name perhaps? Hadn't she heard that from…somewhere?

"What happened to you?" Tifa said. She looked at the scars pocket marking pretty much every visible and likely hidden surface on his body. There was one particular one on his cheek she recognized. An old scar…one that was present last time she saw him even. Hesitantly, she slid one finger across the whitened tissue.

All of the sudden his hand flew up to her wrist, catching it painfully. "No, don't touch him…no…NO!" He muttered. His eyes were open, but there really wasn't anyone there. She didn't pull back her hand, even though his grip somewhat stung. There was something there, despite his blank eyes, that seemed…terrified.

"Zack…it's okay. You're okay." Tifa said softly, running her free hand through his hair. He seemed to enjoy that since his grip loosened. His eyes began to drift close.

"Aerith…" She only just caught the last word before he was out cold once more.

Well, there you have it. Yes, I'm taking liberties with Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge. All three were under developed in the series. And it's forgivable that they were. It was more important to develop Cloud and co than three characters whom were going to die very early on. But we have no such problem with this story.

I wasn't a big Tifa fan when I first started working with this story. But writing this...I got a deeper understanding about just who her character might actually be. I've actually started to really love her.

Anyways, please review guys! The more reviews I get, the quicker I'll update. Somewhat of a motivational thing for me. Tell me what you think!

~Crisi