Disclaimer: I get sick of disclaimers as much as you do so I’m going to do mine in haiku.

I own nothing here

If I did the game would suck

Then there’d be no fics

Square Enix owns all

Me too, through FF online

Please don’t sue my ass

Pairings: Hell, I don’t know…But I’m definitely femmeslashing Tifa…(Femmeslash Everything) And yes; I did rip of the EA games slogan. As the license plates in GTASA say, ‘EA SUCKS'! Hehehehe; I said 'as'!

Warnings: Err, I might suck? The gang includes a couple of characters it really shouldn’t, but no OC’s (I think) and an unnaturally gay Cloud. No skirts. Will include girl on girl, guy on guy and girl on guy/guy on girl (probably both) and probably some swearing, if I can get around the firewall, and maybe even some smut. Yay! Oh and a big warning to everyone. This fic will contain a plot! -horror- -dies-

Nice disclaimer, huh? I know I’m a poet. I cannot control it. I wind ‘em up and knock ‘em down so fast slow-mo can’t show it. Yeah. I pwned you.

Hi. Welcome to my strange and insane mind. The exits are located here, here, here, and here. The toilet is over there somewhere. I don’t know. I lost it.

Anyway, I got to thinking one day (this day in fact, when I wrote this), “What would happen if I seriously messed up the world of Final Fantasy VII (Roman Numerals ROCK!) by reversing the unholy hell out of just about everyone’s roles?” and I said to myself, “What are you asking me for? I’M YOU! If you don’t know then I don’t!” so I replied, saddened, “But I really want to know!” then the angry me said, “Well write it then, you little purple bastard. Yeesh.” and I said, “Hey, why didn’t I think of that?” and then my brain exploded from trying to figure out how that statement could possibly work. And I died.

You know what? Because I’m me, this is a shoujo-ai fic. Rejoice. It will probably have shounen-ai and, err, hetero-ai in it too, because I rule and I’m someone everyone should enjoy. Also, seeing as this is an AU, you CAN’T point out anything about homosexuality or certain relationships or attitudes or events not being possible according the game. Yeah. PWNED! STFU! (The new phrase from ‘I can’t believe it’s not n00bish’)

Enjoy the show. It’s available in Widescreen Digital. If you watched Dragon Ball Z the joke below would be almost funny, almost, aside from the fact it isn’t.

(The Instant Transition!)

The Sector Three slums were cold, crowded and depressing. At least, that was the only side of these slums she had seen since arriving there ten minutes ago. The other slums at least had a feel of…something to them…this part just felt empty. If she cared enough to talk to one of the many people on the streets maybe she would get a different story but, guess what? She didn’t. Where the hell was this damn place anyway?

“Hey, you, the princess with the big sword.” an adolescent boy behind her called to her. She stopped, turning her head with a cold look in her eyes. Judging from the group hanging around with him, sitting on the front porch of a house, he seemed to be part of a gang of some sort, but really, in the slums, who wasn’t? She wasn’t in the mood to deal with a bunch of punk kids who wanted some action so, if they pushed, the only thing they’d get was a sword shoved in places a sword should never go. “You lookin’ for LANDSLIDE?” he asked and received a short nod in reply. He casually pointed to the left.

She nodded again instead of thanking him and walked off to the left. She didn’t like to speak much and simple gestures tended to do enough when you’re carrying a gratuitously oversized sword on your back. Most people she met were shocked she could even lift it, a pretty girl like her, and many of the people who had tried out for SOLDIER with her years ago actually couldn’t, or at least they struggled to. It was almost still comical to remember.

It turned out the boy was telling the truth. In front of her was a rather sleazy looking bar, but then again everything in the slums appeared sleazy, which she recognised as the right one by glancing upwards at the flashing yellow sign naming it the ‘Third Base’, with several of the letters burnt out. She rolled her eyes at the pun, though she’d heard worse. Midgar was just one giant sexual innuendo, it seemed.

The sound of breaking glass inside caught her attention and it was soon followed by everyone clearing out. A man, who appeared to be insane, stood in the doorway waving the broken bottle around at everyone in the vicinity. “Consider this our early closing.” he was about to walk back inside when he spotted the Ex-SOLDIER in the sorry excuse for a street. He lowered the bottle in his hands and tossed it into the dumpster nearby. “You must be the new chick. Come on in; everyone else is waiting for you.”

With that he went back inside to ‘everyone else’. She groaned in annoyance, looking down at the ground. How come she always ended up working for total psychos? Hell, she was only doing this for Cloud out of guilt and her empty pockets. He begged and pleaded for her to join until she simply agreed to shut him up. Hmm, at least these guys offered to pay well. That helped. Keeping that in mind for motivation, she walked up the steps and into the Third Base.

She stepped in and all heads, four of them, including a particularly spiky one, turned her way. She stared back, unreadably. It was a few moments before Cloud leapt over the counter and engulfed her in a hug, which she didn’t return. It wasn’t really her thing. “You came!” he shouted, releasing his death grip on her. She casually dusted herself off. He looked her up and down, shaking his head. “I would say you’re the same ol’ Tifa but clearly you’re not. You’ve grown so much!”

And she undoubtedly had. Her body, that of a mature adult female, was lean and muscular from her time in SOLDIER, heck probably just from wielding the sword. She didn’t appear to have much body fat at all but she still appeared perfectly healthy. Her eyes, dark brown though they were, had the eerie glow to them that was trademark of their deliberate Mako exposure, clearly visible beneath the shadows of her long, kind of messy dark hair and fringe. She came up to Cloud’s shoulder in height but she’d never been especially tall. Her clothes included a fairly tight, red/brown leather jacket, a white tank-top and long dark brown/black (it depended on the light) pants; a tomboy as always.

Cloud had changed as well since she knew him, or maybe it was just her perception of him. She didn’t remember him being quite this, well, gay. Really, everything from his face to his voice was strikingly effeminate for a guy but in undertones not blatant, flaming, stereotypical ways. He wore long, loose, light blue pants and a purple T-shirt that had long white sleeves coming out from beneath it. Plus he also had a red bandana around his neck and wore black gloves on his hands with holes for his fingers. Zangan hadn’t been lying about training him, it seemed; they wore the same gloves with his sign on them. She could remember that day perfectly, down to every last detail, but I digress.

“You don’t hear of many girls in SOLDIER.” said a woman in a darkened corner, sitting on a chair/stool/thing with her feet on the table. Well, either it was a girl or a guy who, by some miracle, was even more effeminate than Cloud. She wore a cowboy hat, you see, and it covered what features of her face were visible through the shadows. There was this mystique about her that she supposed was intentional but it had little effect on her.

Remembering that Tifa was unfamiliar with the people of LANDSLIDE, the spiky blonde leant towards her to fill her in a little. “That’s Jessie; she pays your salary so try not to pick a fight with her.” he indicated the other two with a nod. “The bottle-wielding one is Biggs and that’s Wedge. They’re both alright but Jessie can get a bit…carried away with whatever she’s feeling…” she nodded to show she understood, or at least that she could hear him, and he straightened up.

Jessie stood up, walking slowly over towards her, and the mercenary took the opportunity to analyse her temporary leader’s appearance. Her forearms were concealed by long, metal plated gloves, which suggested either close-range fighting or serious carpal disfigurement, whereas her torso was covered by nothing but a glorified bra, yellow, and suspenders, grey. Her pants were frayed, grey jeans that had some sort of weird, huge symbol on her right leg in crimson. Passing the choker on her neck, Tifa could finally see her face. She was younger than she expected her leader to be, or looked it, and quite attractive but there was an eye-patch covering her left eye. She didn’t want to know. Her medium length red-brown hair was held in a pony-tail, aside from the few locks that made up her fringe.

She did not stop until she was standing directly in front of the mercenary, leaving barely any space between them. It was clear her intention was to try and intimidate her, assert her dominance, or at the very least to make sure she deserved a place on the team in courage. It was a test, if you will. A few moments of staring each other down later, she smirked and extended her hand. “Welcome to LANDSLIDE; protectors of the planet, warriors for the world.”

Alliteration; how cute. “…” was all she said in response, ignoring the offered hand and walking past the girl to get a better look at the place. She could hear what were their names err Biggs and Wedge or something talking about nothing not far away as she passed but didn’t care enough to go over to them or listen with any kind of interest, feigned or otherwise.

Lowering her hand and watching the new girl for a few moments, she turned back to Cloud with a raised eyebrow. “Is she a mute or does she just need me to beat some &$!# manners into her? Because I’m more than happy to oblige.” remarked Jessie, simply getting a shrug in response from the blonde. She shook her head; he had better have been right about her. “Alright guys, into the meeting room!”

The three boys jumped to attention and hurried over to the ‘out of order’ vending machine, which once activated moved loudly underneath the floor, revealing a hidden area. The leader gave her a quick look before jumping through the new hole herself and Tifa soon followed, after rolling her eyes. They didn’t even need a secret room what with psychos like Biggs to keep everyone far away from hearing their evil plans.

She blinked, feeling a little impressed, when she glanced at this little hideout. The room was in a far better state than the rest of the bar was; far better than just about anything you’d see in the slums. Maybe these guys were more organised than she first assumed. Cloud was beating the hell out of a punching bag in the corner, Wedge was watching the news on a giant TV screen, Jessie was fiddling with something on a desk and Biggs appeared to be stretching. What were they called here for anyway?

“Alright, listen up!” the leader called to them all from her chair. Everyone stopped what they were doing immediately, creating an almost creepy silence. “We’re going on a mission tonight.” Cloud and Biggs hi-fived each other in the back and cheered, apparently excited at the news. “Wedge, change the channel to AV1, please.” he did just that and the muted news program was replaced by the contents of her computer screen; a digital model of Midgar.

What do you know? They had some skills. Finally, she was working for someone who actually had a clue, or so it seemed. The map of Midgar reminded her of the one on the train only this one was more detailed and probably not about to tell her how to get to the next showing of Loveless on time tomorrow.

Jessie typed away on her keyboard for a moment and the model began to move and light up in certain areas. “Our target is the number six reactor, the red dot. The security will be at it’s lowest from around 11:30 pm onwards. In the time it’ll take for them to call in reinforcements, the reactor will be little more than a smoking pile of melted metal.” a yellow dot began to move up the central structure and towards the red one, probably representing them. Meanwhile some numbers began to tick away in the corner. “If we board the 10:54 train we should be able to make it there in time but it has to be that one. The next train doesn’t come for an hour.”

The screen zoomed in on the model and the red dot became a relatively detailed close up of the targeted reactor. The numbers on the screen slowed down and four different coloured dots appeared on the map, starting to move towards the building. How did a group of nobodies like this get enough information to pull this off, anyway? Man, you never know what goes down in the slums these days.

“How long it will take us to get in and to the core is a variable but it shouldn’t matter.” she continued as the four dots made it inside the building. “Cloud, you’re going to have to sit this one out, I’m sorry.” he huffed, crossed his arms and looked down at the floor. “Wedge will guard the exit while the three of us go in.” the little dots split up as she said this. “Biggs and I know the codes to get us past these security doors. Biggs will guard the elevator while we go in.” the map became a lot less detailed and more two-dimensional after this but hey, it was something. “This bomb should give us ten minutes to get out again, which will be easier than getting in. Be prepared to fight your way out, soldier.” Tifa nodded in understanding. “Until then, go about your own business. Meet back here by 9:30, alright?”

(SCENE)

“It’s been seven years, hasn’t it?” asked Cloud, sitting with his childhood friend in the empty bar not long after the meeting. Tifa nodded; that sounded about right. He took a sip from his drink and set it down again. “I missed you, you know? Whenever I heard anything about a group from SOLDIER in the news I kept wondering if you had anything to do with it. You were my hero.” he admitted, honestly, but still got no reaction. What did he expect her to say? ‘Make love to me, Cloud’? She wasn’t good with emotional crap.

She continued cleaning her sword, choosing to ignore everything he just said for the good of mankind everywhere. “You aren’t going on the mission?” she wondered why they would hold back a trained fighter in a situation where they could use all the help available. He didn’t remind her of the scrawny little boy she left back in Nibelheim; he looked like he could hold his own quite well, in fact, despite the aforementioned femininity. If he truly was as girlish as he seemed then that only made him all the more dangerous. Hair pulling, eye scratching, biting and all around cat-fighting can take down even the strongest fighters when mastered.

His eyes widened slightly. “You can talk!” he shook his head and snapped out of it, glad he finally got a word out of her. Up until that point she’d been acting like a wall with attitude. “Yeah, they need someone to watch the bar, considering the amount of thieves around here. It just so happens that I’m the cook and bartender here, so if I stay we can still make a profit.” he shrugged but it was obvious from his tone that he wanted to go. Call a waaaaambulance; who cares?

“…” she checked her watch but it was only nine o’clock. She still had to sit through another half hour of boredom. If she continued polishing her sword she’d rub a hole in it soon so she sheathed it. Cloud looked at her expectantly but she said nothing.

He sighed and shook his head. While they were off saving the planet he’d think of something good to say to her, like a speech that would move her enough to turn her back into the girl he remembered from his childhood. If not then he might at least get her to say something other than ‘…’ for a few minutes. That would be progress. “Good luck on your mission tonight.” he said, opening the door to the bar and going behind the counter. People started coming in to drink within a matter of moments. It was almost comical.

Tifa? She just said, “…” and stole Cloud’s abandoned drink.

(Later!)

They jumped off the train at the upper Sector Six station and rushed towards the reactor through the barely illuminated darkness. It was a couple of blocks away, clearly visible over the tops of all the tall buildings the plate was famed for. The street lamps lit them each in turn for an instant and then they vanished again. The upper-world was all grey, dark and lifeless. It certainly looked like the sort of place that drained life out of everything around it.

There were a couple of guards stationed outside the entrance to the reactor’s grounds, a small door for a stairwell, but the two girls got rid of them easily. Jessie’s weapons were a pair of knife-like daggers, which meant her guess of close-combat was spot on indeed. Up the flights of stairs and they were outside the number six reactor. Midgar was nothing but a bunch of empty numbers; no wonder everything felt so cold and empty here. It reminded her of Mt. Nibel. There was a huge wall surrounding it and a large iron gate barring their path. Biggs and Wedge went around the side of the wall, probably to get any guards, while the leader got to work on the controls, trying to open the gates.

“What’s an Ex-SOLDIER like you doing with a group like us, anyway?” she asked with a slight note of laughter in her voice. It didn’t sound as though she expected an answer from her which proved this girl learned fast, at least. “You do realise that they’re the enemy, right?”

She shook her head, not exactly thrilled at the prospect of getting into politics with these hippies at any stage, even less a time like this. “I quit that long ago. I’m a mercenary now. You pay me; that means I’m loyal to you. Sorry I don’t have a CG model to help your pretty little head understand this.” said Tifa blankly. If they weren’t keen on her help then why the hell did they hire her in the first place, freakin’ schizos?

“Hmm, that helps.” she muttered with a smirk as she got the huge gates to open for them. Biggs and Wedge were back from their patrol immediately, running through to the reactor before either of them did. Jessie stood up and turned back to her, smirk still in place. “I don’t trust you one bit, though. I’ve got my eye on you and it’s not watching your back, soldier.”

The leader ran after her fellow gang members and Tifa followed behind with her hand ready to draw her sword from her back at any moment. “Whatever.” she mumbled, passing under what appeared to be a broken security door. Or maybe it was working and they’d inadvertently woken up the robo-guards. Aiming to alert the world to their presence or not, it was always best to exclude those from the list. They could be nasty.

A couple of guards appeared to pop-up from out of nowhere, I mean seriously; you would assume the others got rid of them but whatever. “Hold it!” yelled one of the MPs in her way. No, not magic points; it stands for Midnight Patrol or something. She never asked about it when she had the chance. “You’re not going anywhere.” Tifa didn’t share his views on this situation however and drew her ‘Oh my god that’s a big &(#$’ sword, charging at the guards.

PWNAGE!-

And with that, she was inside. “Warning! Warning! Enemy Sighted!” a group of little flying robot things, which she assumed were prototypes for what would later become an efficient replacement for guards, equipped with fire materia were attacking and losing to Jessie by the time she reached the bridge outside the reactor itself. Great; they were probably already communicating to the Shinra Building, either that or bigger and better forms of electronic security inside the reactor were waking up. Regardless, the damn things were all destroyed within moments. “You rebel scum!” one of them ‘said’ as it was destroyed.

Wedge broke away from the group and went to guard their exit-to-be while the remaining three turned right towards the main structure. Mako Reactors in Midgar were a lot bigger than the one in Nibelheim, by far. They were also much better protected. This was where the security doors were, right? Jessie stopped there while Biggs got to work on the first door. “Is this your first time inside a reactor, soldier?” she asked as the mercenary stood next to her.

She shook her head, though she knew she couldn’t see her from where she stood. “No. I did work for Shinra, after all.” Tifa said quietly, getting a nod from the redhead in response. There was a strange chiming sound and the doors opened, the three intruders running through the door instantly. For all they knew, the doors could close on them after so many seconds and it would cost them time to open them again. But they stayed open more than long enough.

“Mako energy is the planet’s life-force,” began the leader as she got to work on the second door and Tifa rolled her eyes; she hated speeches, “People here use it like they breathe.” the door opened like the first one and the newcomer just gave her a look that said ‘why the hell are you telling me this?’ when she turned around. “It’s these damn machines that keep sucking the blood out! Why do you think Midgar is like it is!” Jessie practically yelled at her, not fond of the girl’s attitude towards something as important of this.

“Whatever.” she shrugged indifferently and walked towards the elevator. “Quit talking about it; let’s do this already.” it looked like she was about to get an earful but, before the one-eyed girl could start, a group of laser guns rose up through the floor and cut her off. They were fair game, being stationary and all, so they didn’t even get a shot in on the intruders.

“You’re coming with me from now on.” said Jessie, grabbing Tifa by her jacket on her way to the elevator. The former SOLDIER struck out with one arm, knocking the other girl’s away, and kicked the elevator doors open when the button didn’t work. “Bitch.” she shook her head and smirked, following her in. “Push that button over there.” and the shorter woman did just that, leaning against the lift’s far side in a bored way. “Little by little,” she heard a groan, “The reactors’ll drain out all the life and there won’t be anything left.”

She shrugged, holding her sword at her side. “It’s not my problem.” why were people always trying to make her care about stuff? “I just want to finish this job and get my money, alright?” she heard the presumably older woman chuckle quietly. “What’s the punch line?”

“Damn, you really don’t give a shit, do you?” Tifa rolled her eyes and, luckily for her, the elevator doors opened a second later. Jessie sighed as she exited. “It’s people like you that are screwing this planet over.” they continued down in silence, taking out several poor defences on the way. One would think security was meant to be it’s tightest at night but apparently not. “This way to the core.” she said, turning right at the bottom of the stairs and running to the door over there. The floor turned into a narrow metal pathway on the other side and they came to the first of several ladders. “Need me to carry you, soldier?”

Tifa gave the least sincere laugh she could muster and turned it into a powerful glare, which only made the other woman laugh in return. Then it was just a short walk and climb to the reactor core below. If there was one thing that really separated the reactors here from Nibelheim it was the cores. They were nothing alike. It was definitely a relief. However, something was way off. There had to be something guarding this reactor. “It’s quiet…” said the mercenary, approaching the core and drawing her sword, “…Too quiet.”

“I agree. Here; you set the bomb.” Jessie handed her the explosive in question. It was only a small bomb but, connected to something as delicate as a combustible energy source such as these, even a pipe bomb made in ten minutes could blow this place sky high.

Her eyes narrowed in confusion and mild suspicion. Wasn’t she supposed to be the technical genius around here? “Shouldn’t you do the honours? I thought you’d be looking forward to it.”

“Nope,” the leader shook her head, “I can’t be sure you won’t try to pull something.” she folded her arms and smirked, leaning back on one foot. “They did teach you how to set bombs in SOLDIER, didn’t they, or did that go above your, quote, pretty little head?” Tifa glared at the woman but controlled her temper and set the bomb in place. She couldn’t wait until her contract with LANDSLIDE expired, then she’d show the redhead who was really the boss around here. Or better yet, when the mission was done, she would kick her ass regardless of whether she intended on staying or leaving. That way everyone was happy.

A siren went off, disrupting the formerly complete silence of an instant ago, causing both girls to jump back startled and increasing their chances of heart failure later in life. They stood side by side as a light appeared in the doorway on the other side of the bridge, near where they’d come down, and it was headed for them. An orange, rectangular object on wheels came hurtling towards them at top speed, stopping a few metres away. In their confusion, they didn’t even think to attack it in that state. It used this time to sprout it’s legs and tail. They were huge. Seriously, it made no sense how they could fit in it’s body like that. ‘Pfft, leave it up to Shinra to make it happen just in time to kill me.’

She raised her weapon and adjusted her position to more of a ready stance. Giant freaky scorpion robot or not, it was going down! “Wait,” Jessie stopped her before she could attack with fierce, charismatic bravado and a shower of pwnage, getting an ‘are you blind?’ look of boundless rage in reply, “I have something special saved for times like this.”

“Me too.” hell anyone with half a brain would keep a few spare cards tucked up their sleeves in case of an emergency. Was this really the time to be arguing about anything and maintaining a petty, meaningless rivalry? The monster lurched forward, as if to attack, but Tifa saw it coming and bolted it to make it think twice. “And that isn’t what I’m talking about.”

They exchanged glances and a mutual understanding was reached, finally, without the need for any words to be spoken. LIMIT BREAK! Jessie pulled some small, spherical gadgets out of her pocket and threw them at the robot, each one exploding on impact with more force than one would have expected from objects so small. When the smoke cleared, the mercenary charged at their still functional enemy, leapt in the air with her sword raised and brought it crashing down over it’s, err, head/body/other. But it wasn’t over just yet. It’s tail went up slowly and it began to convulse.

“What the hell?” the one-eyed warrior asked no one in particular, knowing the raised tail had to be a bad thing but not sure exactly how. It was pure luck she even noticed it’s laser charging up in time but getting her warning out was a sheer miracle. “It’s got a gun!” she yelled, diving out of the way as the monstrosity fired it’s tail laser at them both. Tifa managed to dodge it as well but the ray practically followed her and left a decent gash on the side of her stomach.

Stereotypical robotic noises echoed throughout the area when the machine started to walk towards them again, attempting to skewer the girls with it’s pincers. The leader ran underneath the monster, which was more interested in the mercenary than her, and slashed away at it from underneath while the brunette sliced one of it’s pincers clean off. Where the hell was she? She’d lost sight of her when the laser fired. It didn’t take her long to find her again. “Get out from under there!”

Holding back her ego and a clever insult that would probably have flown over the girl’s head anyway, she did as asked. Once she was almost safely out of harm’s way, Tifa cast bolt on the robot and it collapsed, it’s systems shutting down for good. She ran over to the bomb quickly and flipped the switch. They had ten minutes to get out of there. She took off, knowing that Jessie could follow after her fine and she did. In fact, they were in equal first place almost straight away. “Nice work. Let’s blow this popsicle stand!”

(And They DID!)

‘Great, why is it always me?’ the mercenary asked herself, ducking to avoid getting shot by the many MPs who had followed her. She turned around, standing strong, and drew her really big sword. ‘If they want a fight then damn it I’ll give them one!’

There were at least eight on her at once but hey, she was a former SOLDIER first class for crying out loud and these were just regular guards. They held their weapons at the ready but before they could even shout, “FREEZE!” she cast ice on them, taking down one and stunning the others. She charged, swiping horizontally at the first several, kicking one that tried to wallop her from behind, lunging at another and finishing with a few diagonal slices. One of the soldiers groaned and, realising his mistake, tried to crawl away from her. “Please don’t kill me!” he begged, but she had no intention of committing such a cowardly act to begin with.

Checking her watch, she growled as she figured she’d already missed the train. She kicked the curb, hoping it wouldn’t come out of her pay, and headed towards the station anyway. The sound of guns cocking stopped her. More of them? She turned and saw another eight of them, some kneeling, all ready to shoot. “That’s as far as you go!” a train whistle interrupted the scene. It sounded like it was directly below them. That was lucky, huh?

“I don’t have time for this. I’ve got a train to catch.” Tifa winked and ran towards the edge of the bridge. The train was indeed right under them and, thankfully, it hadn’t picked up to a dangerous speed yet. She jumped off the bridge and landed in a crouching position on the train, grabbing onto an available part of the train for safety. With that, the train disappeared into a tunnel and she had made it out yet again, like she always did; with style.

The guards just stared in dumb shock at the tunnel, with question marks floating above their heads that couldn’t be answered. Only one of the MPs still had his wits about him. “We didn’t see anything, okay?” the others just nodded and walked away, whistling.

She couldn’t stay on top of the carriage like this for long. If the train made a sharp turn she was a page in the history books. But how was she meant to get i--“AGH!” the train hit a bump of some sort and shook enough make her fall. Luckily, she still had a hold on that decorative groove-thing in the train. Now she had to get in. She kicked the door in front of her, hoping to get someone’s attention, and kicked three more times when they didn’t open it immediately. ‘Do I have to do everything myself!’ she used her foot to slide the door open and swung in theatrically to land, by some strange coincidence, in front of the rest of LANDSLIDE. She stood up and casually dusted herself off. “Sorry I’m late; the traffic here’s terrible.”

Jessie laughed and shook her head. “You’re good. You’re damn good.” she pulled the brim of her hat down to cover her eyes and stood up. “This mission was a success, and successful people like us shouldn’t be riding in the cargo area!” moving over to the door, she indicated for the others to follow her. “Wake up! We’re moving out. Come on.”

(Back At Their Base, the Third Base!)

“You did it!” cried Cloud when the team returned home, hugging Jessie excitedly and moving to do the same to the others until their emphatic glares stopped him in his tracks. He extended his gloved hand instead. “Congratulations! It’s already all over the news. We’ve caused a media landslide!” he chuckled and scratched the back of his head, realising the bad joke too late. “I didn’t mean to say that, honestly, but you get me.”

“Alright, calm down guys. Don’t get lazy on me just because we pulled off this one. It’s going to be a lot harder to follow up now. The hardest part is still to come.” their leader reminded them, taking a seat at the larger table in the corner and putting her feet up on the table.

Cloud pouted. “Way to kill the mood, Jess. You’re no fun.” he half jumped, half slid over the counter and pulled out a couple of drinks, all alcoholic of course. “I say we get wasted off our faces and forget everything that happened in the last several weeks!” Biggs and Wedge cheered in agreement. The three boys joined their leader at the table while Tifa just stood there with a raised eyebrow. And to think, for a while there she actually thought they might be the tiniest bit professional. Meh, at least they weren’t angst-filled and expecting her to listen to their issues.

“Hey, what’s the matter with you?” asked the leader, presumably talking to her. “Show some (&$# manners and drink with us! Consider this your initiation into the crew.” the brunette shrugged and sat down with them. She wasn’t completely anti-social, just predominantly. “That’s the spirit. Have a beer.” she tossed one across the table and the mercenary caught it.

“Thanks, but you’d better not be charging me for this because chances are I’ll end up drinking you all under the table one after the other in the same night.” the ‘terrorists’ all chuckled and, from the way they regarded her, it seemed she was accepted as a part of them. Well, she only would be for as long as they could pay her but they didn’t need to have the moment ruined just yet. They weren’t that bad, she supposed, for a bunch of freakin’ hippies.

“You’re okay.” said the one-eyed redhead, titling her beer bottle towards her and then taking a drink from it. They started to talk amongst themselves, almost like nothing had happened and as though they most certainly hadn’t caused serious damage to Sectors 5 and 6 as recently as an hour ago. Honestly, the destruction suited Midgar’s theme of emptiness and that feel of a glorified graveyard it had going for it. It was an improvement.

“So, Tifa…” Cloud, who was sitting next to the Ex-SOLDIER, began, feeling a little more confident about speaking with her now that she had at least apparently lightened up since the mission. He didn’t have anything particular in mind; he just wanted to catch up with his childhood friend for now. She waited for him to talk. “Did you fight with Jessie?” it sounded like the sort of thing she would do. Even when they were little she wasn’t the type to back down from confrontations, though they had usually been with boys. In a slightly chivalrous manner she tended to either leave girls alone or help them with the guy teasing them, but after being with Shinra for so long this might have changed, especially with someone like their leader as the possible target.

“I wish.” she said with a slight roll of her eyes and a smirk. “I swear, the moment I get the opportunity I’m going to bust her up, and I won’t need my Buster Sword to do it.” the blonde had to hold back a laugh and did. “So,” she shrugged, unsure of what to say but feeling like she should start some sort of conversation, “How’ve you been these past few years?” he was her childhood friend, after all. She didn’t really want to upset him.

He smiled at her and shrugged. “After you left I was going to come here and look for a job, like all the other boys in our town did. I ran into a travelling Martial Artist named Zangan in Junon though and pretty soon became one of his prized students.” he held up his gloves at this point. “I dreamed of joining SOLDIER one day, like you, but…” he trailed off, looked away and put his hands down again. “When I saw how much damage Shinra had done to the old Junon and to Midgar, how they oppressed people and killed everything they touched I knew I couldn’t; I couldn’t stand for that.” the blonde brightened up again. “That was when I met these guys and I’ve been working here ever since.” he took up his glass and drank from it. “How about you; what happened after you left town?”

“I don’t know. Nothing much.” she summarised, not feeling a need to go through any of it. He just stared at her expectantly, his eyes daring her to a duel of wills and she knew he wasn’t going to let this go anytime soon. The last thing she needed was Cloud with a grudge. “I mean it; I joined SOLDIER, I caught the end of Wutai, I went around putting down resistance against the Shinra and decided to quit. What did you think happened?” she knew that was all the information he had already logically assumed and thus didn’t reveal any news.

There was disappointment in his eyes when he turned back to his drink. “Nevermind.” he murmured. She blinked. What do you know? He did give up that easily, which was something of a relief, mind you. She too continued to drink and they spent the rest of their conversation in total silence.

(An Hour Later!)

And she still didn’t have any money. Adding this on top of her constantly less-than-favourable mood came to an emotional sum of incredibly irritated. “Jessie!” Tifa all but shouted as she descended on the platform to the hidden room. The girl in question was down there typing away on her computer, doing hell knows what with it. Heck, if she worked long enough she could probably create a tangible universe using that thing. She didn’t look up at the intrusion. “Where the hell is my money!” she asked, slamming a fist down on the table. “In case you’ve forgotten, I’m not one of your little gang; I don’t work for free.”

“Hold your chocobos, will you? I’m busy right now, soldier.” the leader still had yet to show any form of acknowledgement to her presence, aside from talking obviously, and continued to type away with an expression of deep concentration. “You’ll just have to wait a few minutes and then we can talk.” this only infuriated the mercenary more. As far as she was concerned, the moment she got her money she was leaving. “Why are you still here?”

She clenched her fist, trying to ignore the urge to grab her sword and split that &#! computer in half. Her knuckles turned white within seconds and she practically stormed out of the room, I say practically because she was above such princess-like displays of drama. She needed to get out of here and clear her head. Oh, she’d be back for her money, but that would be the last time LANDSLIDE saw her ever again. “Tifa, wait!”

Fantastic; it was Cloud. Exactly what she needed right now, cough, sarcasm, cough. She half groaned, half growled, letting her head fall back in frustration, and turned around to see what he wanted, or better yet to frighten him away with her scary eyes. The latter didn’t work, unfortunately for her.

He didn’t ignore the look she gave him; it fuelled his intentions more so. “How can you walk away from your best friend like this? What about your promise!” he asked, tears forming in his eyes that would never be released at the thought of losing Tifa again. They had been the best of friends in their childhood and, frankly, he wanted to have that back. A ‘!’ sign appeared above her head and he looked down. “You don’t remember, do you? That night on the well, when you told me you were leaving, you promised me something.”

She calmed down and nodded. Now that he brought it up, she did remember it quite clearly. “I promised I wouldn’t forget about you or where I came from.” her voice was softer now than it had been for a while; gentler, almost a whisper. “I promised I wouldn’t change; that I’d always fight from my heart.” she saw a smile brighten up the blonde’s features, hopeful that he might have reached her. She tightened her fists and looked away.

“Hey, hold it, soldier.” said another voice joining them in the room. Jessie climbed up through the hole connecting the two rooms and pulled herself to her feet. “A promise is a promise, isn’t it?” for a moment, the pair from Nibelheim thought she was referring to their conversation, had she overheard it, but that was not the case. “Here,” she tossed a pouch of gil over to the mercenary, who caught it easily, “Is what I owe you.” she crossed her arms and smirked. “You’d better not be thinking of leaving us so soon.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” she mumbled dryly, examining the contents of the pouch. There was roughly three thousand gil inside. For someone without a reputation such as her, this was very good money for a single mission. Seeing as she would end up spending most of it on equipment and materia for fighting anyway it did make sense they give her a little extra, should they consider re-hiring her, so she took it as a sign they wanted her semi-permanent employment. Well, at least that would keep Cloud happy. “You got the next mission lined up,” she began, pocketing her pay, “I’ll do it for the same amount.”

“Easy there, soldier; don’t get ahead of yourself.” the leader adjusted her hat and leant back slightly. “It depends on how good a job you do and what kind of mission we’re talking about.” she smirked and turned side-on, pointing at her loosely. “I’m not paying you three thousand to stop by the corner store, alright, slackers.” with that she jumped back into the secret room, leaving a slightly awkward Tifa and a very happy Cloud behind.

She scratched the back of her head, trying to come up with the most rational, cold explanation possible. “…It’s good money…” he made an ‘mmhm’ noise in response that gave the impression he didn’t quite believe her. “…” whatever; it mattered little to the mercenary. She decided to go pick a couple of fights in the surrounding area before martial law set in. Old habits die hard, after all and chances were there’d be SOLDIER first class on the street by dawn, something she did not particularly want to deal with considering Shinra’s advances in recent years. She remembered how much damage one could do.

With that in mind she set off into the empty streets, most people too afraid to come out of their houses in case they turned out to be the next targets for terrorism. Fools. She saw the gang of boys from yesterday hanging around outside a different house this time. They stared at her with almost animalistic eyes. One of them gave her a thumb up. She nodded, continuing on her way and playing clueless. For some people out there, the downfall of Shinra might be their only chance of survival…

(To Be Continued!)

Author’s Note: I warn you, I will take forever to update and even longer to finish this fanfic. The more you review, however, the more encouragement and confidence I have in whether I should update or not. If you don’t, how will I know I’m not wasting my time and shouldn’t just be doing my schoolwork? How will I know if I’m a good or bad author? Please review; I’m very weak and petty and I need endearment. Or I’ll die.