Final Fantasy: The Commando Project

The girl turned to look over her shoulder up at him, smiling. Her skin glowed in the light of the moon shining down on the well where they both sat. The night around then was completely silent, only the occasional sound of cicadas could be heard. All around them, the village was asleep, the windows gaping black all of them. It would have seemed threatening, scary, if they both hadn't known well how safe and happy their village was. It was both their cradle, a place they had known all their lives, and the dangers their young minds did know lay beyond its sleepy windows and softly turning windmills.

"Let's make a promise." she said. "If you become famous and I'm ever in a bind, will you come and save me then?" she asked, so merrily, so carelessly. She was completely serious, completely confident that he'd be able to. The boy found himself unable to answer for a while. In the end, however, he could smile back at her.

"Okay." he said and the girl smiled even wider. Scooting over to him, she raised one hand and extended her pinky.

"Promise?" she said and the boy happily did so, hooking his pinky onto hers.

"I promise." he said, smiling wholeheartedly at his childhood friend.

"I'm sorry mister Strife." the clerk, a withered, lifeless man of the kind you couldn't envision anywhere else but behind his desk, said as he took off his glasses. He looked with a gaze of trained apologeticness at the young man sitting on the other side of his desk. The office they sat in was, with its stark white walls and complete lack of decorations, a bleak place, befitting the paper-pusher. "Your test scores, while impressive, are not sufficient to qualify you for the Soldier program." the young man blinked where, feeling the cold spread in his guts as the realization quickly turned to despair.

"What... what do you mean?" he asked, slowly shaking his head. It seemed impossible for him that such could be the case. The young man knew he had gone through the tests to the utmost of his abilities, done all he could. It could not be so, he could not have failed!

"To qualify for Soldier, one must have scored ninety-five or better in all tests." the man said, clasping his hands on his metal desk as he mechanically rattled off the facts as they were. "Sadly, you fell under this score on four occasions. Not by much, but still. Therefore, you are not qualified."

"Wait... you don't understand." the young man said now, standing up, "I have to qualify for this! I can't have failed, I mustn't have!" there was a tone of desperation in his voice. If the clerk was moved by this he did not show it, merely speaking up again.

"I'm sorry mister Strife, but you did." he said, adding a tone of finality. Mercilessly, he destroyed the young man's dreams. "However." he added quickly, "That doesn't need to be the end for your career. There is another option." The young man had sunken down in his chair now, shaking where he sat.

"Wha... what option?" he asked after a while, burying his face in his hands from desperation.

"Shinra has recently started another project," the clerk told him, "Commando, an elite task force meant to supplement and assist Soldier and Turk operations. The project started just a few weeks ago and the demands are only marginally less stringent. You qualify with good margins for this program, and if it is successful it might very well replace Soldier in the future." The clerk dug around in his drawers now and eventually procured a folder from it. Handing it over to the young man, he smiled at him, a dry smile lacking any warmth and which was given for appearances' sake. "Your scores are still top class, it would be a shame to let such talent go to waste, Shinra would gladly have you."

The young man accepted the folder, staring listlessly at the stark, militaristic design of it and the picture of three men with firearms on the front. With a sigh, he opened it and began to read.

"A...ahahahahaha!" the silver-haired, tall Soldier laughed maniacally as he time and time again parried his fellow Soldier's sword even as it moved like a blur. "It all makes sense now! Mother, I'm coming for you!" he screamed as the two Soldiers danced across the lower floor of the mansion, gusts of wind whipping up from their movements and making the flames and embers all around them dance furiously. He seemed only barely aware of the fact that there was a man with a giant sword only inches from him, who moved at supernatural speeds trying to defeat him. The dozen, heavily armed, black-clothed troopers standing several meters away, at the entrance to the large, burning mansion, helplessly followed the two with their guns.

"I can't get a clear shot on him!" one of them hissed, a bead of sweat running down his face

"Sir, what do we do?" another man asked, calm yet tense like a bowstring. The sergeant standing at the centre of the group helplessly followed the fight with his eyes. The silver haired man leaped away now, landing on the railing of the upper level of the mansion. The black-haired man was just about to follow when the sergeant yelled.

"Zack!" he screamed, "Manoeuvre Three-four!" the Soldier glanced back at him, understanding and nodding before he too leaped through the air. As he flew through the air the sergeant made a hand sign all of his men instantly changed magazines, exchanging the ones they had for others. Zack swung the blade he carried now and sent it spinning towards his silver-haired opponent, who deflected it almost contemptibly. When Zack came within range, the man gracefully stabbed his long blade into him, three feet of steel burying itself in Zack's gut in one instant. Zack didn't go down however, he only tore to the side, snarling as he grabbed hold of the blade and pushing his opponent against the wall. Helplessly falling to the floor, he nevertheless managed to grip his feet and in the very same instant he had done that a deafening roar broke out from the troopers by the entrance. Their muzzles exploded with light as a stream of bullets shot out against the silver-haired madman, who was unable to move. He screamed in fury at the shock bullets hit him, arcs of lighting beginning to leap over his body for every bullet that hit him.

"Keep on firing!" the sergeant screamed over the roar of automatic fire "Bullets, flashbangs, materia, bring, him, down!" Magazines was emptied and exchanged for fresh such, shock grenades sent flying through the air and detonating right by the silver-haired man, blasts of magic coloured the air and chaos raged inside the burning mansion. The troopers kept up their barrage of fire for over five minutes when they finally ran out of shock bullets. As the smoke cleared, their target became visible, hanging over the railing limply.

"Restrain Sephiroth!" Cloud commanded, taking off his helmet to reveal a blonde, blue-eyed face. "Let's get the hell out of here!" he commanded, the Commando squad obeying instantly. As the mansion fell apart around them, devastated by the intense fight and Sephiroth's madness, the Commandos carried the two Soldiers out just before it came crashing down, Cloud personally holding Zack.

"Five minutes!" the pilot said and Cloud snapped out of his reverie. Looking up, he found himself looking out over the giant city of Midgar that lay beneath them like a carpet of lights. Yellow, red, green, blue and many other colours were visible. It was a fantastic show of light, from the Shinra tower rising high in the distance behind them and the Mako reactors going in a circle around it. Currently he sat inside a black helicopter flying at high altitude towards one of said reactors. The passenger compartment of the heli was occupied by nine people all in all with him included.

Seven of them were clothed like him,wearing black Shinra Peacekeeper uniforms and combat boots. Heavy kevlar and metal armours covered their bodies, balaclavas covered their heads and helmets with attached multi-spectrum goggles covered their eyes. Pockets lined their clothes along with tool belts, grenades, magazines and other tools filling them. On their backs sword handles stuck up from their sheaths and on the sides of their hips pistol holsters sat. Finally, across their laps heavy, powerful assault rifles lay.

The last man, however, was a bit more unorthodox. He wore an uniform much like theirs, only deep blue and instead of armour and weapons he simply held a giant cleaver sword, as big as him and one foot wide. This man was also the only one whose features could be seen. He had a handsome, open face and spiky black hair combed backwards. His bare arms were muscular, almost brutally so, and showed how he could use the giant sword.

"Bad dream Cloud?!" the swordsman asked with a grin, yelling so he could be heard over the roar of the rotors of the heavy helicopter.

"Memories Zack!" Cloud answered, cracking his neck somewhat. "Niebelheim!" he clarified after a second. Zack flinched a bit at this.

"Yeah, that was the latest time you were in a Mako reactor wasn't it?!" he asked. "Don't worry, we won't have any rouge Soldiers against us this time!"

"We'll have fanatical eco-terrorists!" Cloud answered, looking towards the reactor in the distance. The glowing, green smoke rose slowly from it, almost lazily, a tranquillity to it. It belay what was happening there however. Ten minutes ago the alarm had sounded for him and the rest of Commando, Shinra's elite military force. Avalanche had infiltrated one of the Mako reactors, probably aiming to blowing it up. Within three minutes of the alarm sounding two fire teams led by him had been on the way towards the reactor. To think Heidegger had protested the President's orders to secretly install a secret second security system in all reactors, one that was connected to Commando at all times. He probably looked like a complete tit now. Cloud hoped so, he despised his immediate superior.

"Ain't that a good thing!?" Zack grinned, "You won't have to feel bad when killing them!"

"I don't usually do!" Cloud answered, "It's a job, not a hobby."

"Sixty seconds!" the pilot warned them, Cloud checking his gear one last time. Everything was in place.

"You all know the plan but let's take it one more time." he said over the comm system installed into their helmets. "Alpha team will lock down the elevator, cut the power and make their way down the shaft. Beta team go via the air ducts and rappel down right in front of the main enemy force. If they want to blow the reactor they'll go for the central systems, we trap them on the walkway there. Got it!?" he raised his voice somewhat now, the men answering as one.

"We got you sir!" they answered loudly, in perfect synchronization and with great gusto. Zack grinning.

"So where do I go?" he asked teasingly.

"Wherever you want to," Cloud said dryly. "Don't you do that anyhow?"

"Man that's harsh." Zack said, faux-wincing. Cloud did not dignify it with an answer and the helicopter started to slow down. Eventually it came to a halt above the Mako reactor where the sides of it opened. The walls slid away as ropes fell down from the cranes sitting above the gateways out into the sky. The men moved rapidly, grabbing hold of the ropes and rappelling down from the helicopter down to the Mako reactor. Silently and swiftly they descended. All but Zack, who in a show of his superhuman physique simply leaped down to land with a cat's grace. Cloud was one of the two last men down, the others already having spread out with weapons raised and eyes down the sights as they secured the area. Swiftly and silently they moved, with expert skill evident in every move. Cloud's weapon was raised the instant he hit the ground up, turning his spectral goggles on. His mode of vision changed rapidly from video feed to, in succession, night, electro-magnetic, heat and magic vision. In the end the images came together to produce a composite image of the world around him, complete with a HUD showing his ammunition, his vitals and similar things

"Two men down, by the train station." one of his men said, Cloud looking towards the train station to verify. True enough, two guards lay unmoving on the concrete tiles of the train-station. Making a single gesture, he began to move across the pitch-black roof towards the lit up train station up ahead with one of the fireteams following him. Making another sign, he sent the other team to move towards the exhaust vents and rappel down from there. Cloud leaped down first of all down from the roof, coming out of the shadows like a wraith spawning from the darkness. His men as well as Zack followed equally silently, securing the platform and checking the men's vitals. To Cloud's relief they were both alive. Avalanche had only knocked them out.

"Leave them." he said, they were safe here, as safe as could be really. Medical teams would be on station soon to revive them. Instead, Cloud led his team into the building, Zack right with them. The wide, winding passages of the Mako reactor were silent, empty. Too silent. It gave the whole place a frightening atmosphere, almost an unholy such. Cloud chose to not acknowledge that however, instead he and his team reached the elevator lobby quickly. Stopping by the corner of the entrance to the lobby, he glanced around the corner to see two of the Avalanche terrorists, wearing their trademark brown uniforms. They seemed to be guarding the elevator. There seemed only to be two so there was no need to employ any special tactics. Instead, Cloud stepped around the corner, gun raised, and squeezed away two bursts in rapid succession. The specialized shock rounds hit the terrorists and sent electric shocks through their bodies. With choked cries both of them collapsed, the squad moving up to the elevator and restraining them within seconds.

The technician of his team moved up to the elevator control panel and with his knife he cut it away to start working on the wires. Within moments the elevator was out of order and the doors limply slid open, having lost their electricity. Cloud was the first down the shaft, grabbing hold of the steel wires and sliding down it silently. The cold air rushed past him as he slid down at high speed. Despite being a powerplant there was not one iota of waste heat in the generator, making it cold, almost freezing. The elevator had stopped at the bottom and the Commandos landed silently on it, standing in the darkness with only minute amounts of light coming from the grill in the roof of the elevator itself. Breaking down through the roof and into the inside of the elevator, they got the door open. At the end of the walkway another terrorist stood, guarding a maintenance tunnel. A quick burst of fire, fired the instant the doors slid open, took him down before he even realized they were there. As the man fell down as well they proceeded out onto the walkways of the interior of the generator.

"He was guarding the side entrance." one of the Commandos said as they advanced, scanning for any other hostiles.

"Escape route." Cloud noted. "Jam the door."

"Yes sir." the man hurried up to the door, putting his hand against it and using a burst of his fire materia to melt the metal of the door frame and door together. The group proceeded deeper into the facility, down long staircases and maintenance ladders. In the end, they came to an overhang high above the central generator. Standing on the support beams, they could see the main group of terrorists moving across the walkway below them. If they had thought themselves cramped before, that was no risk now. The chamber was almost overwhelming in size, reaching a hundred meters into the air and even more so below them. A yellow mist stood inside the chamber, illuminated by countless powerful lights. It was clear as day inside, giving them a good idea of just how deep the abyss below the metal grating that served as walkway was.

"Beta team, are you in position?" Cloud said into his comm device as he and his team readied their grappling hooks.

"Affirmative." the voice of Beta team's leader said, "We're right above them." Cloud looked up, seeing a series of small squares forming on his HUD around a group of figures up in the dark.

"Drop flashbangs." he said, "Alpha team, descend!" Cloud and his team leaped off the support beam along with Zack, the latter needing no rappelling equipment to descend safely. They all landed with heavy thuds and instantly dashed forwards across the walkway, seeing how how the figures further ahead turned to face them in shock. However, they also saw the small, black grenades that fell from above down towards them. Shutting their video and sound feed off to protect themselves, they were spared the deafening crack of the flashbangs as they hit all around the terrorists and when the feed turned back on Beta team was rappelling down at top speed from above, landing right in front of them seconds later. The trap was sprung and the terrorists cornered.

"It's over!" Cloud roared, his gun raised and aimed for the terrorists. "You have nowhere to run! Get down on the ground, hands above your heads! Do it now or we will shoot!" Seven terrorists all in all, five of them in uniforms. The two others were a bit more exotic however. First was a giant of a man, black skinned and massively built, with a large gun instead of one hand. He was dressed in a heavy combat vest, cargo pants and boots. The other was standing with her back to the giant so he could only see parts of her. She wore tight black hotpants, boots and a white top and her long hair flowed behind her. What he noticed the most was the gloves however, steel plated combat gloves.

These two could mean trouble, that much he could tell. People who could afford their own style when going into combat like this and even come out of them as these people had done would be good, good enough that their raw power made them juggernauts. He was grateful for Zack's backing now, the man coming up behind him and cracking his neck.

"You heard the man people." he said, balancing his sword on his shoulders. His usual cockiness was in full effect and Cloud could tell the black giant got pissed off. "Or wait, don't." Zack added, grinning wolfishly. "That will be much more fun." the menace in his words rolled off him in waves, powerful enough to paralyse. The black man seemed about to burst a vein sneering at them. Yet, then the sneer turned to a grin.

"Fuck you!" he roared, lifting his gun and unleashing a barrage of bullets against Zack. The Soldier leaped backwards, eye wide as he raised his sword to parry the barrage. He was nevertheless forced backwards and Cloud acted instinctively as did the rest of his men. Yet, before they could, another instinct kicked in. Cloud gazed skywards and screamed.

"Take cover!" he yelled, rolling backwards just in time to avoid a swarm of throwing stars which came flying from the sky, too many of his men not managing to duck in time and ending up hit by several of them each. Cloud first now saw what it was. A young girl, seemingly a few years younger than him, stood on the support beams high above them. She wore clothes similar to the other girl, only different colours and she also had a headband holding her short hair in place. And of course there was also the giant shuriken she held in one hand. What more, she was currently flipping them off. Zack had noticed her too and one quick glance between him and Cloud said all that needed to be said.

Cloud raised his assault rifle and emptied the clip in seconds towards the big man. If he had hoped it'd have an effect he was disappointed however. The bullets all bounced off, equal parts due to his armour and the flashes of magic appearing over his skin where the bullets struck. Still, they did their job. The man stopped his barrage, leaving Zack free, and as Cloud leaped to his feet via a quick spin the Soldier leaped, shooting off into the air, sword raised, as he jumped from support beam to support beam. He headed directly for the young girl, whose eyes widened right before she shot out of the way of Zack's sword as it cleanly cut apart the support beam where she had been standing.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty." Zack grinned up on the beams as he twirled his sword around, walking towards the girl, who only grinned in return, right before she seemed to almost blur out of existence, appearing behind Zack with her leg swinging to sweep his out from under him. Zack vaulted out of the way however and a furious combat broke out up on the support beams, incredible acrobatics and stunning feats of swordsmanship being displayed.

Down on the walkway, things were uglier, half Cloud's team was down and the other disarmed. The men still standing had taken out their swords however and attacked. For naught, it seemed, as the other woman whose face Cloud still hadn't seen, took them all on, showing herself to be no slouch in acrobatic fighting either, being much more brutal and direct. That left Cloud and the massive gunner. Moving at high speed across the walkway in a semi-circle, Cloud dodged the man's barrage, having to move at top speed to even stay out of the fire. The man was brutal!

A thought flashed by for a split second that they needed to report these people. If Avalanche had fighters like these that was bad news. Still running, he came to a stop at the edge of the platform and only barely managed to erect a magical barrier in front of him. The man's bullets bounced off harmlessly now. He didn't stay there, instead activating another materia. The world seemed to slow down for him and he threw himself out of cover, moving too fast for the man to be able to follow. The terrorist still kept the arm mounted minigun on him but the bullets missed only just, leaving him with room to get in inside the man's guard. It surprised him when a fist came flying at his face, the man was no amateur up close either, but Cloud used the fact that both the man's arms were forwards. In a feat of immense grace, he pushed himself upwards, actually using the man's body for leverage. His knee bit into the man's face, sending him falling backwards and Cloud spinning through the sky. Twisting, he ended up with his body right above the terrorist's and with one last materia activation he switched gravity and momentum around, sending himself flying, elbow first, downwards and into the man's solar plexus with his full weight behind the blow.

The giant cried out in pain, either his endurance nor materia able to deal with that blow and Cloud was on his feet instantly. The other terrorists stared at him after he had downed their apparent leader in shock, a mistake that cost them fatally. Cloud was upon them in a second, taking them all on unarmed. A palm strike disarmed the first and he stepped around her with a spin, the ridge of his hand impacting with her neck just as his foot flew up to kick another of them in the cheek. Dodging, he avoided a spray of gunfire and swept the legs out from under the third. Moving in behind the man to block the others' line of sight, he drove the still airborne terrorist into his two friends with a dual palm strike. With all of them bar the that woman with the metal gloves down, he turned around towards the central generator, pulling out his pistol as he did so in one fluid motion. He came face to face with a grim sight. Each of his surviving men were down and the woman was coming at him at top speed. Not fast enough though and he was just about to pull the trigger when he, for the first time, got a good look on her face. When he did, he froze.

That face, those brown eyes, those eyebrows, that nose. Cloud found himself unable to move, unable to think, unable to accept what he was seeing. As the woman came at him, slamming the pistol out of his hand and sent him flying into the air with a series of brutally powerful punches that dug into his guts, he could only repeat the same trail of thought over and over again. It was Tifa... his childhood friend... the girl for which he had tried to become a Soldier. Yet it couldn't be, she was in Niebelheim still, living happily with her family. Yet it was her... but it couldn't be. Cloud did not even register that he had been thrown off the platform and now pummelled through the air, down towards his death.

It was first after Zack's hand caught his and the resulting powerful jerk as he came to a stop that he snapped back into reality. Looking around, he realized that he was almost a hundred metres below the walkway, Zack currently holding onto a long chain with one hand and him with the other.

"Got you!" Zack yelled. Cloud looking around in shock. What had happened? Tifa!? Cloud looked up, he could see high above how the Avalanche terrorists fled, running towards the exit carrying their wounded comrades. Zack swore when he saw it and looked down on Cloud. "Come on, move damn it!" he yelled, throwing Cloud up towards one of the support beams. Cloud could only barely catch it and his trek back up to the generator was unsteady at best. When they came back to the walkway, over a minute later, the terrorists were long gone and Cloud collapsed onto the walkway, leaving only Zack standing. The captain just sat there, his mind refusing to work again. Even later, when the mop-up crews arrived, he still couldn't think. All that repeated in his head was one question.

Why was Tifa here?

Hours later, Cloud found himself sitting in his private room inside the towering Shinra skyscraper in the middle of Midgar. His mind was still a jumbled mess. Sitting on his bunk with his back against the wall, he kept his head between his hands. The cold light of the fluorescent lamp above his head shone down, relentlessly, on his wretched form, and his window was a sole square of light almost unnoticeable amongst the giant lights illuminating the Shinra building

Ever since he had entered Commando he had prided himself on being orderly, his room was a perfect example of this. The books in the bookshelf stood lined up alphabetically, the desk was perfectly clean and the pencils in the penholder were sharpened immaculately, the three flowers in the window were groomed and watered an not a speck of dust could be seen anywhere. An orderly mind in an orderly environment was how he he liked to think of it. Yet now, all the order and symmetry in the world couldn't help him deal with the mess inside of his mind.

After getting back from the reactor things had only gotten worse for Cloud. Heidegger, head of the Public Safety Division under which Commando stood, had chewed him out for a good thirty minutes, the large man had roared himself hoarse with rage, telling him in thorough detail what he thought of their grand failure in apprehending the terrorists. While the reactor was still intact the missed opportunity to capture the terrorists was a disaster, it meant that the next time they would be more wary, Commando had revealed itself and failed to accomplish what it was meant to do. Cloud had been inches away from being transferred to a research station on the northern continent for the fiasco.

Even worse, his men had been badly wounded, while none of them would die it would, at least, take them weeks to get back into service. The shame of having his men maimed like that made his soul burn. The worst part, however, had been Zack. The man had cornered Cloud directly after he had left Heidegger's office and asked him straight out what had happened.

"I don't buy that she got the drop on you." he had said frankly. "I saw it, she was far enough away from you that you would have been able to fire that gun easily. What happened?" he had been calm but Cloud knew he was angry. The man, his mentor in many ways, was the last of Shinra's Soldier, the project to create supers oldiers that had ended in a fiasco and been replaced by Commando, less powerful yet more numerous solders. Zack had supported the project wholeheartedly and was like an older brother to all of Commando, considering them all his little brothers. His reproach burned in Cloud. He hadn't been able to answer and had left without a word. Now dawn was approaching and Cloud still hadn't been able to sleep, so tormented he was by what he had seen.

Tifa... why was she with Avalanche? They were terrorists, eco-anarchists who ascribed to a crazy idea about how the Mako reactors "sucked the very life out of the earth" and who would gladly plunge the world into chaos and a dark age to get rid of them. Fanatics motivated by blind religious gospel about some pre-human civilization who had left this world to them to keep. It was an absurd dogma brought about by simple technophobia and resentment of Shinra's position and wealth. He could not believe that Tifa had bought into that nonsense. Yet, she had been there, he had seen that clear as day.

What was he going to do? Cloud couldn't see a way to deal with this. What more, bit by bit another question came up for him. What had he even been doing thus far? He had left his home village to become a Soldier, yet failed in this. He should have returned home, admitted his failure and the shame that came with it, yet he hadn't. He had clung to Commando, hoping that it was good enough...

Good enough for what? He had already gone home once, It was several years ago now, during one of his first missions with Commando. He had been sergeant back then, having been promoted right out of boot camp, and accompanied Zack and Sephiroth, the most legendary of all Soldiers, on the latter's last mission. The mission had been kind of a minor deal, investigate a possible leak in the local reactor, yet to Cloud it had been a nightmare. He had come face to face with Tifa again back then, yet he had hidden it. The helmet had stayed on throughout the mission and he had pretended to be someone else.

When Sephiroth had snapped on that mission and disaster only barely been avoided, he had been all too happy to leave. Dealing with the finest Soldier ever going insane had been a relief comparing to staying there. They had won, Sephiroth had been restrained, taken back to Midgar and now rotted away in prison according to what he had heard. Cloud had earned a commendation for his part in stopping the man and Zack had become his closest and perhaps only true friend. Yet, all that had meant little for him. He still wasn't a Soldier and he hadn't even managed to talk to Tifa. He had thrown himself into his work back then, becoming captain over all of Commando and one of Shinra's top security assets. Yet why?

What did it all matter? The reason he was here was now a terrorist... or was she? Why was he here? Why had he accomplished all this? Cowardice, inability to accept his failure and even to tell Tifa about it... was that what had driven him? He was nothing... a broken wretch living only by running away from his failure, having forgotten why he had set out in the first place. His fingers clenched now, balling his hands into fists as he stared listlessly at the floor.

What was he going to do? How could he go back to work after this? It all was black to Cloud, black and barren. Everything he had accomplished became ashes before him, his aspirations and goals had turned upside down and he was further away from them than he ever had been, feeling like he'd be unable to ever approach them again.

He didn't notice when the door opened, too engrossed in his despair. It was first when someone sat down on the office chair by the desk that he looked up. Zack sat there, sitting with his stomach against the backrest and with his arms folded on top of it. The face of Shinra's single remaining Soldier was severe. Despite their differences, Zack being the sole survivor of the old Soldier project and Cloud the prodigy of the new Commando project, they were close friends. After the fiasco that the Soldier project had been Zack was now a memento of a bygone age. He remained where he was simply because with Shinra closing down the project, he was irreplaceable. While he still was headstrong and followed his own code of honour which he refused to compromise, he was too useful, too valuable, to do away with. His existence was a net profit for Shinra even though he couldn't be totally controlled. From Zack's corner it was their friendship that kept him there, Cloud and Zack were like brothers and whenever Captain Strife was deployed, so was Soldier first class Zack. They were, as it was, Shinra's heaviest hitters and had been that ever since they took down the legendary Sephiroth together. The trials by fire they had gone through had forged them together even tighter, making them true brothers in arms.

"You look like shit." Zack said, leaning his head on his folded arms. "You ready to talk about what happened?" he continued, Cloud looking away. He didn't say anything and after a while Zack sighed before spinning around and opening one of the lockers below the desk. Reaching in behind the dossiers there, he fished out a pair of bottles that stood hidden in there. He uncorked them in his own way, simply with his hands, and held out one to Cloud. "Take it." he said. "You need it."

Cloud only stared at the bottle for a while before he eventually got up and sat down on the bed proper at least before he accepted it. Zack raised the other bottle, clinking it against Cloud's before he took a swig. Cloud didn't move at first, only looked at the bottle. No matter how many times he had said no Zack had insisted he kept the bottles there. It was good beer, finest brewery in the world apparently. At the moment he didn't care. Taking a swig of it himself, he felt the strong taste, and when he lowered the bottle he for the first time in hours could speak.

"I... I don't know." he said hoarsely. "I don't get it... how... but I saw it... What the hell have I been doing up until now?" He put one hand to his forehead. "Everything suddenly feels pointless... I've been wasting my time for all these years..." he was close to tears as it was, his eyes bloodshot and his voice hoarse.

"Did you know that girl?" Zack asked now, carefully, gently. For a while things were silent now. It took time for Cloud to find the words.

"I thought I did..." Cloud answered eventually. "She's the reason I came to Midgar, the reason I try to make the world a safer place... But I failed... and I couldn't..." Cloud buried his face in his folded arms now. He was too enveloped by the shock and despair to be able to act.

"Hey, hey." Zack got off the chair and sat down next to Cloud. Taking hold of Cloud's arm, he pushed Cloud's cheek up. "You know what..." he said, "come with me. I've got something that will help.

"What, a time machine?" Cloud asked, chuckling unsteadily

"Better." Zack said with a small grin. "I promise, come with me now." he got to his feet and half pulled up, half helped Cloud to his feet. Too tired to protest, the Commando captain followed his friend out of the room, down the elevator and out of the Shinra building. Taking one of the trams, the two headed for the lower levels of Midgar, to sector 5.

Inside the abandoned, dilapidated church the light streamed down through the large hole in the roof, shining directly on a part of the floor where the boards had been torn away to reveal the black soil beneath. In this soil a verdant, beautiful bed of flowers grew, their vitality and vibrancy standing in stark contrast to the barren, ruined building around them. The windows were in many cases broken, the benches were scattered all over the place and piles of dust, dirt or even ceiling lay here and there. It was an abandoned place, a dead place, yet in the middle of it all this fertile patch of almost teeming life could be seen. It was currently tended to by a young girl, who knelt in front of the patch, rummaging through it for dead leaves and such things as she hummed to herself.

The girl was young, in her late teens, and wore a pink dress along with a red jacket. Her brown hair was put up in a long braid that was held together with a red band. At the moment her green eyes were completely focused on the flowers, her petite hands dancing across them with practised ease. After a while she noticed something though. Looking back towards the entrance of the church, she could hear something outside. A smile spread over her face now, a mischievous one, and she got up from the flowerbed, skipping over to the door to hide beside it. She knew well that nobody came here, nobody except for her... and him of course.

The doors opened now, creaking as they did so, and the girl almost giggled. Footsteps could be heard now as someone came into the church, the girl sneaking around the now open door.

"Surprise!" she yelled, throwing herself at the newly arrived person.

Now, usually this ended up as a surprise hug or a playful tussle. What it usually didn't end up with was her being thrown flying through the air like a wet rag and landing flat on her back. It also didn't usually include a fist flying down towards her face. In fact, that usually never happened and the novelty of the situation was underlined by her giving up a surprised shriek just before the fist was stopped mid air by another hand clasping around the wrist of the first one, making a slap echo through the church.

First now the girl could take stock of what happened, her heart pounding as she did so. The man who had thrown her wasn't the one he had been expecting. This guy was a few years younger, perhaps her age, with spiky blonde hair and blue eyes that currently were wide open. His fist was also a few inches from her face. It had been stopped though, a gloved hand had clasped itself around it and stopped it firmly. This hand belonged to a more muscular arm which in turn belonged to a much more familiar person with black hair and a body more stocky and muscular than this first guy, the one with the fist in her face.

The blonde stepped back now, slipping out of Zack's grasp as he recoiled away from her. Meanwhile, Zack knelt by her now, reaching out a hand to her.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly, getting that cute little wrinkle on his brow he could get at times.

"Yeah, I'm fine." the girl answered, still a bit frightened by the whole thing. "Umh... sorry I suppose." she said now, grinning sheepishly as she was helped to her feet. She had been told once that usually it was a bad idea to surprise troopers, of whatever kind. Oh well, now she had first-hand experience of it at least "Who's your friend?" she asked as she looked towards him. The guy had recoiled a good five feet away, standing there and looking like an ashamed puppy.

"Oh planet." Zack said with a sigh. "Right." he continued, clapping his hands. "Cloud, this is Aerith," he said, "Aerith, this is Cloud, he works for Shinra, just like me." A workmate huh? Kinda weird, usually Zack kept Shinra's people away from this place, with a stick if he needed. He could be so overprotective at times. This guy looked pretty harmless though, at the moment he looked even miserable. Gee, he must feel embarrassed right now.

"Pleasure to meet you mister Cloud." she said, curtsying with a smile. Oh well, no harm, no foul, right? She'd have to ask him what exact grip that had been by the way. If she could learn it it'd be a fun trick.

"I'm very sorry Miss." Cloud said, bowing to her. "I was startled."

"It's okay." she assured him. "I'm still here, alive and kicking." she raised her hands to show that she indeed was alive.

"I told you you know." Zack murmured to him Aerith rolled her eyes at this.

"Yes, yes, I know." she said, "Do not startle military people, for they are twitchy and easily riled to fights." she mimicked him. "Either way, can I help you with something?" Zack smiled at her.

"Give me a minute." he said, walking up to Cloud. The younger man followed Zack with his eyes and the black-haired man showed him deeper into the church. "Here it is." he told Cloud. "This place is my temple... whenever I'm down this place can always cheer me up. Take your time here, it's strange, but this place does wonders for any funk, trust me." he patted Cloud on the shoulder and Cloud looked around.

"There is something about it..." he said after a while. Sitting down on one of the church benches, he leaned forwards onto his knees, looking at the flowers.

"Take your time." Zack said again, sneaking away from him and up to Aerith. Putting up a finger to his lips, he hushed quietly and pointed at the door outside. Aerith got the hint and followed him outside. They closed the door, as silently as they could, and when it was shut Zack gave up a massive sigh.

"Sorry about that sweetie." he said, smiling wryly as he wrapped his arms around her waist, Aerith returning the embrace by wrapping hers around his neck. Exchanging a kiss with her big, lovable hunk of a boyfriend, Aerith then glanced at the doors. She was still curious about the blonde.

"So, who is your friend?" she asked, leaning her head to the side and smiling coquettishly, "Please tell me?" she added, Zack chuckling now. It was a sad chuckle though and his face became a bit sullen. He took her arm and swung her around, holding her back against his chest.

"He's a captain of Commando." he said. "They're a new Shinra project, meant to replace Soldier."

"So why the funk." Aerith said, nuzzling herself in against him.

"Girl troubles." Zack said. "He joined up due to some girl, I don't know the details."

"Really?" Aerith asked. Wow, what a story... there still were guys like that? Oh well, she still had Zack and no amount of baby blue puppy eyes could replace him. "So.. she left him?" she asked, it seemed like the first option but also the dumbest. Why would you leave a guy like that? Unless he was secretly a mean drunk or something.

"We were on a mission yesterday." Zack said, "Can't tell you the details," of course not, he never could, "But we ran into her there it seems." now Aerith raised her eyebrow

"Oh?" she said, Zack nodding.

"She was on the other side." he added.

"...Owie." Aerith flinched at this. Whoo-whee she could understand that bringing him into a funk. He looked like a sincere guy, the kind that would wait for his girl obediently for years if asked to. She couldn't imagine how much he had to hurt now.

"Yeah..." Zack sighed. "It honestly freaks me out." he said, "The guy's an iceberg usually, cool as a cucumber and professional as can be. But he got totally ruined by this... you don't mind I showed him this place?" he asked now, "I needed to help him somehow."

"Well..." Aerith pursed her lips. "Make it up to me and I'll see what I can do." she spun around in his arms now, coming face to face with him and winking. Zack grinned now.

"I can work with that" he said before he pulled her closer, capturing her lips in another kiss. Aerith squealed now, kissing him back as she did.

Meanwhile, Cloud sat inside the church, looking on the flowerbed and contemplating the recent events. Whatever it was, this place brought him serenity, confidence. Nothing had changed, but there was something else in him now, a feeling that whatever would happen, he could handle it. His accomplishments, for whatever reason he had achieved them still meant something. It almost felt like he really could pick himself up from all this, that his life hadn't ended. Perhaps there was a point to everything after all. The healing effects of this place were strange, yet Cloud was in no place to question it.

Therefore, it became all the more aggravating when it all fell apart. Arguing could be heard outside and Cloud looked up just in time to see the doors be slammed open and Aerith storm in. The girl looked back as she walked, angrily snarling at someone. Cloud stood up now, seeing to his surprise the people following her. First came Zack, but the second person was much more unexpected.

It was one of president Shinra's special agents, the so called Turks. What more, it was Tseng, the leader of them. The man was tall, broad shouldered and had long black hair combed backwards. In the middle of his forehead a black mark sat and as always he wore his suit. To see the man here was a surprise to say the least. Cloud knew for a fact that Tseng only went out into the field if the mission was important enough that failure was absolutely not an option. Yet all of a sudden he was here, in the slums of Midgar.

"I've told you a thousand times!" Aerith snapped as she stormed into the church, "I'm not going anywhere so you can just..."

"I beg you to reconsider!" Tseng said now, pleading with the girl, "Miss Gainsborough, we have strong reasons to believe you might be targeted! We don't know by who or when but there is a genuine threat to you!"

"Oh what?" Aerith sneered, "From anything more than you and your asshole president?!" she asked, walking up to the flower bed. She turned her eyes forward now, coming face to face with Cloud. "Oh." she said now, stopping. The anger ran off her and she got a shocked, shamed look on her face. "S-sorry." she said, realizing what she had stomped in on.

"Please." Tseng said, coming up to her. "What have we ever done to earn this antipathy from...?" Tseng stopped as well when he saw Cloud.

"Is there a problem here sir?" Cloud asked, feeling a seething anger grow inside him. The serenity he had won was ripped apart and the rush of unease and anxiety that came to him made him want to lash out. As it was Tseng was closest at hand, Turk or not. Tseng quickly saluted him however, unknowing of Cloud's sudden anger.

"Sir." he said. Technically, they were equals. The Captain of the Security Department's special task force Commando and the Director of the General Affairs Department's Investigative Sector stood on equal footing rank-wise. In Shinra that usually meant a relatively casual attitude . With the salute just given Tseng was by corporate standards the very definition of polite. Cloud found himself returning the salute despite himself. "And sadly, yes there is." he admitted. "I take it you have made Miss Gainsborough's acquaintance?" he asked.

"Only just now." Cloud said, staying calm despite the sudden surge of antipathy for the man. "What is the problem?" he asked again, watching him with a deceptively calm gaze. Aerith had put some distance between her and Tseng, Zack having come up to her now, trying to calm her down.

"We have reason to believe that miss Gainsborough might be targeted." Tseng said, "Someone has been digging up documents on her. They have broken into census officers, hacked databases. Whoever they are, they're powerful and blunt about it."

"Why?" Cloud asked. "She's a girl living in the slums who grows flowers. Why would anyone target her?" Tseng glanced at Aerith now, eventually looking back at Cloud.

"Technically, this information is on a need to know basis only but I see no reason not to tell you." Tseng began. "She..."

"Oh no you don't!" Aerith snapped, walking up to Tseng and putting a raised finger in his face. "That's got nothing to do with any of this and you know it!"

"I beg to differ miss Gainsborough.." Tseng said, unperturbed. "She..."

"I think you heard her." Zack said now, cutting Tseng off as he walked up to the man locking glares with him. The two black-haired men towered in front of each other, Aerith being but a small slip of a girl between them. "Get out of here, Turk!" Zack added with a growl. Tseng did not waver and met the man's burning glare with an ice cold one of his own. The intensity only built and Cloud could feel that soon it would end in a fight. Yet, right before it exploded, Tseng backed down. The man sighed once again, looking away.

"You are playing a dangerous game mister Fair." he told Zack. There was no threat to his words, only a solemn remark. "We want the same thing, yet you seem intent on making the president reconsider your position."

"Same thing my ass," Zack said. "There's some things the boss won't touch. He'll have to get that, like everyone else does." the man folded his arms and Aerith grabbed onto one of them, blowing Tseng a raspberry in the process. The Turk shook his head.

"I hope you will not have to regret it," he said. "Very well then. Good afternoon miss Gainsborough. Good luck with your flowers." Aerith merely flipped him off and Tseng departed. Cloud looked around now, bitterly thinking that whatever serenity he had gained here was already lost. With a bitter chuckle, he walked past Zack and Aerith both, leaving the church without a word to either of them. Zack called out for him but Cloud didn't even look back. The anger turned more and more into simple restlessness in him. He caught up with Tseng outside.

"Are you heading to the tower?" he asked, Tseng raising an eyebrow.

"I am." he said, "Would you care for a lift?" Cloud nodded and they both walked up to Tseng's vehicle, a sleek, shining black and powerful car that looked out of place in the slums. Cloud noticed dryly the several small time crooks that lay unconscious around the vehicle, having been launched several meters away by the anti-theft system of the vehicle. Getting in, Cloud fastened his seatbelt as Tseng ignited the car and swerved away from the church, towards the roads leading to the higher levels of Midgar.

"As I was saying of miss Gainsborough." he began as they sped along the highway, Cloud raising a hand.

"As you said, need to know basis only" he said as he looked out of the window. "I don't care what or who she is. I don't need to."

"As you wish." Tseng said respectfully. "But if I may... As I understand it there was an altercation at one of the Mako reactors last night, Commando and Avalanche clashed."

"Yes." Cloud said edgily. Tseng was silent for a second before he continued.

"It is merely an offer." he said, "But if you wish, I could look into the Midgar cell of Avalanche. I will not say anything more, what the rumour mill says is best left ignored. Yet... if you wish, the offer stands."

"Twelve bloody hours and the Turks already have collected enough data to make informed guesses." Cloud said, not able to keep all the spite out of his voice. Usually he was impressed by and even valued his colleagues' ability to gather information. Now he hated it. "What's your angle?"

"The continued well-being of Shinra's key assets." Tseng said. "Also..." he added eventually, "miss Gainsborough must not be harmed. Without going into details, losing her would be devastating for not only Shinra, but quite possibly the world. However she's adamant in refusing our protection. You, as her boyfriend's closest friend, could possibly convince her to accept our help."

"Politics." Cloud scoffed still looking out of the window.

"Indeed." Tseng said, "Sadly, some times we all must seek the back entrance to achieve our goals."

"Deal..." Cloud said after a while. The sight of Tifa in the Mako reactor would not leave him alone. What more, Tseng had offered to help him. He couldn't pass this up, he had to know. Why? Why was Tifa with the terrorists? The question burned in him, his own life and decisions irrelevant at the moment. He glanced at Tseng, who met his eyes and respectfully nodded. "But I can only try."

"That is all I ask mister Strife." Tseng told him, "You will have all available information on Avalanche's Midgar cell within forty-eight hours."

"Hmh..." Cloud muttered. Now the journey proceeded in silence, Cloud looking out of the window on the city that rushed past. In daylight Midgar seemed so ugly... a giant behemoth of black metal lying under a dark sky. Like a cancerous lump on the plains, sucking the life out of them and with an inside that would only look even worse. Damn he needed to do something to get his mind off this.

When they arrived at the Shinra headquarters Cloud got out and left Tseng with only a quick hand wave to the man for thanks. He headed directly for the elevators and the third level. Levels three to thirteen were all belonging to Shinra's first and foremost martial force, the Peacekeepers. Where Soldier were singular super soldiers who never had been more numerous than a few dozen and Commando consisted of all in all one hundred men at the moment, the Peacekeepers numbered in the hundreds of thousands. They were the foremost armed force in the world, technologically and tactically superior to all other forces there were and with first rate training. They were the heavy lifters, the body of Shinra's military. If Commando and Soldier were the spearhead, the peacekeepers were the rest of the spear as well as the man holding it.

The man manning the front desk saluted Cloud when he came out of the elevator. Commando and the Peacekeepers had quite a bit of a professional rivalry going on, the latter considering the former glory hounds who got all the credit and the former seeing the latter as simple grunts. The rivalry was mainly constructive however, something Cloud was glad for as he returned the salute.

"Are the training rooms occupied?" he asked.

"Yes sir." the desk jockey said. "Fifth security company are scheduled for close quarters training today."

"Perfect." Cloud said, walking past the man. "Thank you." he added as an afterthought.

Walking through the stark white corridors, Cloud heard his boots pound against the floor with resounding clacks. It wasn't without a certain feeling of confidence that he walked here. There was something about this building, a sense of power, dignity and pride, that comforted him. Even down here, the pride and strength of Shinra was evident and it comforted him, at least somewhat. Opening the doors to the large training hall, Cloud walked in without even slowing down. Inside the large, easily several hundred square meters large and windowless training hall, fifth company were fully occupied with close quarter training. Standing in twos all across the mat-covered floor, they were tearing and beating on each other as they sought to throw their sparring partners to the floor. The training officer stood only a few metres from the entrance and Cloud came up to him first thing he did. Looking to the side, the grizzled man noticed him now.

"Atten-shun!" the man yelled instantly, the sparring troopers across the hallway stopping their sparring and all turning to him to salute. Cloud saluted back, starting to feel a bit hopeful. "We're honoured by you presence sir." the man said."What can fifth security do for you?"

"I'm looking for sparring partners." Cloud said frankly. "Do you have any volunteers? They can work together if they want to."

"Do we have any volunteers?!" the training officer roared now, all the men inside raising their hands almost in synchronisation. A chance to take on and defeat a Commando officer was a juicy prospect indeed. Cloud smiled at himself. Good. One company meant two hundred and fifty men... at the moment his eventual prestige did not matter one rat's ass to him and he took off his boots and stepped out onto the mat. Cracking his knuckles he looked at the training officer.

"When you please." he said, the man nodding.

"Fight!" the man commanded and the Shinra peacekeepers launched themselves at him, Cloud narrowing his eyes and throwing himself to meet them.

When Zack came back to the Shinra tower the first thing he did was to ask at the front desk for Cloud's whereabouts. The Soldier scoured the lower levels of the tower, asking every person he could get hold of about his friend's location. He flew back and forth throughout the ground floor, asking everyone he could get hold of, from receptionist to the security guards to the janitor. None had seen him however and it wasn't until he reached the third floor that someone could help him.

"Yes sir." the desk jockey told him. "Captain Strife came here about an hour ago, he went to the training rooms." Zack got a cold feeling in his gut at this and hurried past the man, throwing a "thanks!" to him as he ran down the corridor. Worry gnawed in him, after his friend had stormed out of the church Zack had been almost consumed with concern. It had been all he could do to get Aerith home before he had stormed away, heading for the Shinra tower by the next train. People stepped aside when he came running. In his rush, he almost knocked over a young secretary as he ran down the hallway, looking back and yelling a quick "sorry!" after her.

When he got into the training room, he was treated to a macabre sight. Across the mat-covered floor dozens of Shinra peacekeepers lay unconscious, several others either sitting by or leaning against the walls, not one of them seemed unharmed. White-and-red dressed medical teams had entered the room, tending to the men, and just as Zack came in a pair of troopers were carried past him on stretchers. Zack stared at the sight, realizing first after a while that he could see Cloud's blonde head over by one of the drinking fountains that stood along one side of the room. Hurrying up to his friend, Zack saw when he got closer how mauled he looked.

He was beaten and bruised, Zack able to spot half a dozen scrapes and bruises merely on the side of his face that was visible from where he stood. Leaning over the drinking fountain with his arms supporting him, Cloud panted as he splashed water on his face. His clothes were torn and a small stream of blood came from his mouth. Looking up at Zack, Cloud wiped the blood from his busted lip.

"Yes?" he asked, meeting Zack's gaze with one of his eyes swollen shut. Zack found himself unable to answer at first. His friend looked like he had been run over by a damn truck!

"So..." Zack began, not knowing quite what to say. "Do you feel better?" he asked eventually, Cloud nodding.

"Pain and exhaustion does wonders." he said, taking a towel from the hangers on the wall and wiping his face "Do you want to get something to eat?" he continued.

"Sure." Zack said at once, able to tell that his friend was struggling with his depression. He wasn't going to rub it in. Better to have him focused on something else. "Want some materia on that?" he asked, holding up his hand with the soft, yellowish-green glow of healing magic around it.

"No." Cloud said, heading for the exit, Zack falling in beside him. When they passed the training officer Cloud saluted him. "Tell the men they did well. Shinra needs men like them."

"Yes sir!" the man said, returning the salute. Zack raised an eyebrow at this as they headed out of the training room, past another column of medical personnel coming into the room with stretchers, and walked down the hall the other way. Zack glanced at Cloud now, a bit taken aback by his words.

"Shinra needs men like that?" he asked incredulously as they passed by a a pair of clerks, damage assessment accountants it seemed. "You sounded like a propaganda poster back there."

"Not that strange." Cloud said at they reached one of the elevators. Thankfully, someone just had come to their floor and they could get into an elevator instantly. Pushing the button for one of the higher floors, where one of the canteens would be, Cloud elaborated. "It's true isn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose." Zack said as the elevator began to move, the curved glass wall giving them a view over the rooftops of Midgar as the elevator rose. "But I've never heard you talk like that before. You told me once you didn't like the whole bombastic propaganda-schtick. What gives?" Cloud looked out across Midgar, seeing how the elevator rose higher and higher over the rooftops. He leaned forwards, putting his hand against the glass surface.

"Shinra made me who I am." he said after a while, when they had gotten almost ten floors up. "Without them, I'd be nobody. I used to be a simple village kid who got into fights all the time. Now I'm here... I owe them everything." Zack could see how Cloud's hands clenched, his fingers pushing against the surface of the glass as if they wanted to dig into it.

"Cloud..." Zack began, not liking what he was hearing.

"Is it strange?" Cloud asked, turning to look at Zack through his bruises. "That I want to give back to them after all they gave me?" he looked desperate. Zack felt something cold in his guts, it was like listening to Cloud pleading for his life.

"Of course not." he said, starting to pat Cloud on the back but stopped when his friend winced. "Oh shit, sorry." he winced as well, realizing Cloud had to be covered in bruises on the back as well. "But Cloud... think about what that entails, that's all I'm saying. I just... I'd hate to see you do something you'll regret for the rest of your life." A dry, derisive laughter came from Cloud now, the young man's head slumping forwards.

"That seems to be par for the course for me." he said, still chuckling humourlessly. Zack gritted his teeth in equal parts anxiety and frustration. The elevator came to a stop now and Cloud pushed away from the glass, walking out of the elevator with Zack right behind him. A pair of managers recoiled in shock when the Commando Captain and the Soldier First Class came out of the elevator, the former looking like he had been run over by a rampaging herd of oxen. Cloud drew even more wide eyed gazes when he stepped into the large canteen with its shiny floor and metal tables and took a tray from the holder. "Wutai Barbecue, please." he told the chef behind the counter, snapping the man out of his shock-induced stupor. The man hurriedly obliged and handed Cloud a plate of the steaming, spicy food. Zack ordered the same and soon they were both seated by the windows. They ate in silence for a while. Cloud wincing now and then. Zack thought that the cuts inside his mouth couldn't possibly react well to the extremely spicy Wutai cuisine.

"Can I ask you something?" Cloud asked after a while, not showing any real signs of being in the pain he had to be in. Zack only got more and more worried about his friend.

"What?" he asked, determined to keep it cool. Cloud needed him right now.

"When Aerith gets kidnapped, will you go AWOL?" Zack almost dropped his fork now. The tone in Cloud's voice was as relaxed as it could be, but the subject was everything but.

"Oh for the sake of..." Zack felt anger boiling up inside him now. As much as Cloud was his friend, this topic never made him happy. "I dunno what Tseng told you but..." he began, narrowing his eyes in anger.

"He told me nothing," Cloud cut him off, folding his hands in front of him with the fork dangling from his fingers. "I don't care what she is, that was on a need to know basis only. Tseng's many things Zack, but a liar is not one of those things. And if she is kidnapped? What then? You obviously love her, enough to defy Shinra, and if she is kidnapped, what happens then? You'll run off trying to save her no matter what and Shinra will be forced to declare you rogue. If you do, Commando will be on your case. I'd rather not have to kill you." he finished, turning back to his food.

"What's wrong with you!?" Zack asked now. "Look, don't take out your issues on me, I'm trying to help you!"

"Does it vex your divine majesty to have to actually think about the consequences of your actions?" Cloud asked sarcastically, narrowing his eyes and hissing. "Half of Shinra is bending over backwards to please you, and you stick your nose high enough in the air you'll break your neck soon."

"Don't!" Zack snarled. "You're upset, I get it. But you don't stick your nose in something you don't know anything about. What happens to Aerith is none of your business, so butt out!"

"Right." Cloud said, seemingly having calmed down. "So sorry for trying to do my damn job!" he screamed now, standing up and with one shove tearing the table between them away. The steel table went flying through the room and flew into another, empty, table with a loud crash. "You make me sick!" He screamed, shoving up his finger in front of Zack's wide-eyed face; the Soldier was too shocked to speak. "What the hells is this job to you?! To me it's all I have! If I have to I'll kill her..." Cloud ran his hand through his hair in desperation, looking around wide eyed before he turned back to Zack. "I'll kill her because it's my duty! While you think of this as a hobby and run off to make out with your slum girlfriend whenever you can! You even bring me along to rub her in my face!"

"For the love of... calm down Cloud!" Zack hissed, the entire canteen was staring at them now. What the hells was wrong with his friend?!

"No!" Cloud roared, "I drag your obsolete ass along with me on my missions, watch you merrily skip around at your leisure and do whatever you please! While I have to sacrifice everything I hold dear you're so stuck up you're not even accepting the help thrown at your feet to protect what matters to you! You are pathetic!" With that, Cloud turned on his heel and stormed away, shoving an office worker that got in his way to the floor as he exited. Left in his seat was Zack. His lunch currently lay in a heap on the floor along with the plate, tray and even table. In shock, he stared after his friend, understanding first now how deeply troubled the guy was. Zack groaned now, leaning forwards and burying his face in his hands. That bastard Tseng... it had to be him. Zack, however, couldn't even get worked up about whether or not Tseng had messed around with Cloud's head. The weariness that sat in now drained him too much. Cloud snapping like that... This was too much... not Cloud, if this was what it cost then it wasn't worth it any more.

Squeezing off yet another bullet that hit the target right in the middle and tore it in two, Cloud wondered the hell he was doing. Several hours had passed since his explosion in the canteen and he had currently hidden at the shooting range, knowing full well Zack wouldn't look for him here. Right now he didn't want to have to meet Zack, he didn't know how he'd be able to look him in the eyes.

How could he say those things? He had acted as if Zack had taken him to that church to flaunt his girlfriend in front of him instead of showing him one of his deeply held secrets hoping it could help him. Like his dear friend was an irritating liability during missions rather than the valuable asset and support he actually was. With the clip now emptied, Cloud ejected it and leaned on the small bench in front of him. He was alone in the dedicated shooting range Commando had to themselves, with targets for everything from handguns to sniper rifles.

"Tifa..." he asked to himself, "Why?" the thick earmuffs he wore and the sound of gunfire along the range meant he could barely hear what he said himself. He began to load another clip into his weapon, sliding it slowly into the heavy Commando pistol he had been firing. Commando had their own range of weapons, all of them heavy calibre weapons only they could use. The handgun, a "Vanquisher" as the model was called, was powerful enough to take out a car with one shot. Normal troopers could never use these things.

Cloud couldn't accept the idea that Tifa was a terrorist. He thought back on life back home in the village, how they had grown up as neighbours and playmates. Working though those old memories, he remembered how Tifa's mother had died when Tifa was... what was it? About eight years old? Yeah... that was it. Tifa had been broken up for a long time, the whole thing had culminating in she and him trying to traverse mount Nibel. Tifa had gotten the idea that if she got across that mountain she could meet her mother again, having misunderstood an old idiom about the mountains.

She had nearly died, Cloud unable to reach her in time when she fell off a cliff, even tumbling after her. What more, when the adults had found them her father had assumed that it was his idea, slapping him across the face and forbidding him from ever seeing Tifa again. The shame and frustration had made Cloud isolate himself. Eventually he had gotten into more and more fights, his feelings of weakness had made him desperate to become stronger and the results had for many years not been pretty.

He could have remained there, becoming the village troublemaker and a petty criminal, but hearing of Sephiroth and Soldier had given him a sense of purpose, a goal to strive for. Out of a sense of obligation to Tifa, the only friend he had by the time he left, he had sworn to get into Soldier and whenever she was in trouble he'd come and save her. Despite her father's demands, Tifa had remained a friend for him, and Cloud couldn't have done anything else but to swear the oath. Even after all that had happened she still saw him as a friend and she was his closest, indeed only friend back then.

And now she was a terrorist...

Cloud put down the gun, gritting his teeth as he leaned on the bench. He couldn't stand the thought, yet in the end it was clear to him. As much as he had his gratitude and debt to Tifa, the one he had to Shinra was ten times as big. They had made him what he was, raised him to a position as one of their key employees. He wasn't weak anymore, he was strong, and it was thanks to Shinra. They were the ones who kept the world going in spite of people like Avalanche wanting to plunge it into darkness. Only yesterday he had stopped an attempt by them to bomb the Mako generator, an attack that would have cost how many lives? With all that coming together... Cloud had his duty, to stop Avalanche and serve Shinra and the people whose lives depended on the company.

Even if that meant that Tifa would become his enemy.

Even if that meant that the next time they met she would die.