Several years ago, the war with Wutai broke loose and drafting for the military began. Clarance Rachman was conscripted and shipped straight to the frontlines. While there he remained with his arrogant, insolent attitude. Little did he know one encounter would give his life new meaning when his regiment was fighting in the hills near the rebellious city.

Clarance dove into the trench and returned fire, he hit one of the rebels straight in the stomach. The man's entrails spilled onto the long grass, looking like a dropped bowl of shark chum. Clarance grinned in satisfaction of seeing the rebel die at his hands. He stood and began strafing the grass with fire from his rifle. Suddenly the roar of a howitzer cannon sounded, if the soldier next to him had not shoved him down the shell's debris would have ripped Clarance to shreds. The man stood on his knees and under the cover of the sandbags, "What're you trying to pull kid?! Keep your head down or you'll get it shot off 'round here!"

Clarance breathed heavily and leaned on the wall of the trench, more cannons fired and dirt began spilling over them, "...thanks...who are you....anyway?"

His savior reloaded his rifle tiredly, "Lieutenant Alan Gainsborough."

Clarance saluted, "Footman First Class Clarance Rachman, sir."

"Good to meet ye' kid, try to be more careful in the future so you can go back to your family alive."

Clarance bumped his fist on the ground, remembering his parents, "I don't have any family."

"That's too bad...I just hope I can get back to Midgar alive to see my wife again,"said Alan.

After Alan had finished the sentence, another soldier near them took a bullet to the face and fell, screaming and clenching his face under his infrared goggles, blood seeped from between his fingers.

"Damn! I'll take care of him, you try and get a Gelinka to pull us out of here,"shouted the Lieutenant.

Clarance saluted and ran down the path of the trench. As he thoughtlessly dashed through the narrow zigzag, he saw way too many corpses in Shinra blue and much too little living people in Shinra blue. At the end of the trench, he prepared to climb out when a rebel flanked him from the side. Clarance struggled to turn under the rebel's weight. The attacker drew a sword and prepared to drive it into Clarance's neck. He shoved a shoulder into the rebel's gut, remembering the time he used the same attack on someone long ago. Clarance stood and gouged his rifle bayonet into the rebel's torso, he gave a sickening gurgle as he drowned in his own blood. Clarance stood there in place, he had never killed a person in close combat before. It was so much different from gunning a soldier down from long range, you began thinking about the man's life, his family, what would they imagine their son's killer to be like? He snapped back into reality and pulled his rifle away from the rebel. He climbed onto solid ground again and surveyed the vast range. The hills that surrounded Wutai seemed millions of miles away, the long grass in the area had been ripped out of the ground and cratered in many areas by artillery fire.

Alan had failed to save his comrade, he had no choice but to leave the unknown soldier's body in the trench. He flipped the man's infras over his mauled face. The sound of cannons grew louder but not as powerful. Alan peeked his head over the sandbags to see a Shinra half-tracked tank wheeling down the long grass, firing it's main gun and two anti-personnel weapons. He made sure to stay out of it's firing range and he crawled beside it. As Alan prepared to jump to the turret and get behind it, the top of the tank exploded in a gout of flame. A rebel with an Antitank rocket launcher put the tank and crew to rest. "I envy that crew, they're done with the war," thought Alan as he inched away from the scrap heap.

As Clarance lay in the newly excavated crater/foxhole. He remembered what Alan said, about returning to his wife. Clarance didn't have any goal like that, he was forced to join the military and had never really thought about what to do after the war was over. He clenched his rifle tightly and hoped that his regiment would be relieved soon. They could not hold this border for long against such horrible odds. He had seen too many friends get killed in ways that no one deserved to be killed in. Suddenly, the cloth tearing-like sound of a machine gun sounded. He looked up to see a Q-44 Gelinka Transport helicopter. Clarance cheered in relief and stood nervously. The gunfire and artillery fire was still around, and he could see the firing lines of the guerrilla rebels far off. He slipped a smoke grenade from his belt satchel and tossed it behind him as he ran for the chopper. The smoke told the pilots that there were still survivors in the mess under them, and it covered their escape. The Q-44 landed hastily and reinforcements poured out, he saw several high ranking officers come out also, standing out in their red uniforms. The yellow bandannas the relief force wore over their faces signified them as marines, the elite of the Shinra Army. That is, next to SOLDIER. Clarance threw himself into the chopper's compartment, fatigued beyond tolerable levels. A few more soldiers collapsed into the transport, Clarance hoped one was that lieutenant, Alan. The chopper lifted off and Clarance gazed out the open door down at the scene straight from hell; Corpses in civilian clothing, Wutai rebels, lay scattered around the field along with bodies in blue, Shinra soldiers.

At the military outpost near the shore, wounded soldiers were rushed out of the chopper and the others straggled out in exhaustion. Clarance had gotten a good nap on the transport dispite the rotors. He stood out in the path of exiting troops, asking if Alan made it out, "Hey! Did Alan Gainsborough get on?! Lieutenant Gainsborough!"

"That's my name what'd you want?"

Clarance sighed in relief, "I thought the rebs had got you."

Alan was using his rifle as a cane, "Almost did."

~

For the following years in the war, Clarance and Alan became friends. Clarance had always seen Alan as a role model, the father he never had. If Clarance had not listened to all the advice Alan had given to him he would have been dead long ago, his mother in Junon recieving a telegram from the Shinra Defense Department. In the last few weeks of the war, Clarance's regiment had just cleaned out a rebel base, "Damn government, they took away my leave for the month!" muttered Alan as he slogged up the muddy cliff.

"Big deal, the newspapers said the war's gonna be over in a few weeks." said the newly promoted, Corporal Rachman.

"Yeah but I promised Elmyra I'd be home on that one week. And that one week was several days ago."

Clarance sighed and stretched on the rock he was leaning on, the others were walking around the flaming debris of what was a group of rebel tents. Alan opened his mouth to say something but it never came. An accurate sniper bullet punctured his chest and went right through him. He struggled to get the breath to scream but he collapsed sickeningly instead.

"Sniper!!!!" one of the soldiers shouted, everybody took to the floor.

Clarance stared in disbelief as he saw Alan writher in pain as he bled to death.

"Medic!!! Officer wounded!!" screamed Clarance as he crawled for Alan.

When he reached his friend he could barely look at him. The bullet had gone through his upper chest and every breath he took made blood overflow from the ragged tear in his uniform,

"I.....It got my lung, tough to breath.....They can't....help..me." Gurgled Alan, over the blood.

"Damnit!! MEDIC!!!" sobbed Clarance as he fired his rifle into the trees, he heard a scream. Good, die you stinking rebs, you caused all of this, you and your godblasted materia.

The medic stumbled over Alan and began to patch the wound. He struggled as he put pressure on it but it wouldn't stop bleeding, "They punctured his lung.....I...." stuttered the medic.

"C...Clarance...give my wife..this," Alan reached into his uniform slowly and gave Clarance a bloody envelope with shaking fingers, another bullet hammered Alan in the side, he let out one rasping sigh and stopped breathing.

"...Oh god...why?" Clarance muttered, still knowing that it wouldn't help.

The sniper fired again, Clarance fell to the ground.

~

He woke up on a clean, white bed, he heard talking around him.

"It's a miracle he made it out."

"Really, two inches away from his spine."

"Will he survive here?"

"Yeah, but the war is over for him."

He stood to find himself in a medical ship's ward. The whitewashed walls and the antiseptic smell dulled his throbbing skull. Two doctors stood infront of him,

"How're you feeling?" asked one.

"He was just shot a day ago, horrible of couse! Ha!!" The other doctor had a morbid sense of humor.

Clarance looked down at his left arm in a cast. His torso under the hospital robe was swathed in bandages, "ugh...W-where am I?"

"You're on medical frigate 'Condor'. We're dropping you off in the medical barracks in Midgar."

"Th-the war...how?"

The doctor with the sense of humor laughed under his face mask, "Don't worry, most of you're regiment is doing fine. They're still in Wutai. But you were deemed too wounded to continue service in that campaign."

Clarance shut his eyes, remembering Alan, "...Lieutenant Gainsborough."

The other doctor sighed, "Sorry, you knew him?"

"Yeah...but..what does it matter?" mused Clarance.

The doctor was surprised by Clarance, "Is there anything we could-"

"Give me that envelope you've got there, it's mine and you could do me a favor by leaving me alone," snapped Clarance, the old Clarance returning.

He handed Clarance Alan's bloody letter and walked down the hall, the "funny" doctor walked off along with the other one, "Haha! Just like em'! Jerks I tell ya!"

~

The war ended while Clarance was in the medical recovery facility, spending his free time, time he wasn't in the operating room or being examined, by re-writing Alan's letter to his wife on a clean sheet of paper. At first, Clarance actually read what he wrote down, and the words were heart-wrenching, so he began to write without knowledge of what he was interpreting, heartlessly writing Alan's last words. The outcome of the war was a Shinra victory. The leader of SOLDIER had defeated the leader of the Wutai rebellion in personal combat, in exchange for amnesty, Wutai let Shinra take all their materia, the materia they could find, anyway. When Clarance was out of recovery, he decided to stay in the military and Midgar. The first thing he needed to do was inform Alan's wife of her husband's death and he requested of the War Department that he be the one to deliver the telegram, and the letter he interpreted. He found out that Alan used to live in the slums. Clarance had only heard of the slums but he had never been to the place. Once there he was sickened by the poverty and pollution under the plates of Midgar. He wore his blue uniform with his medal for being wounded in action and his other for bravery in attempting to rescue Lieutenant Gainsborough in the line of action. Despite himself, he admired the two yellow shoulder pads on his uniform, with two V's signifying him as a corporal. When he reached Alan's house he stood there in awe for a few seconds. The plate had cracked where the home was, providing light for the flower garden that stood next to the house. He gulped, the place was too happy for him, too cheerful to ruin with his horrible message. He breathed deeply and knocked lightly on the door of the home. An older woman answered the door.

"Yes?" she said simply.

Clarance gulped again, "Ma'am....Corporal Clarance Rachman. I'm afraid I have some bad news about your husband."

~

And so he told her, he felt horrible even after she thanked him for giving the telegram to her, he kept the personal letter.

"Did he suffer much when he died?" she asked Clarance, softly.

Clarance choked, "No...he was hit in the heart, he died instantly," he lied.

Elmyra shook her head, "Don't lie to me, I need to know, how did he die?"

Clarance couldn't tell her of Alan lying in the mud, blood pulsing out of his chest and bubbling out of his mouth, "Please trust me, he died without any pain."

She reached up and touched his face, "Do you swear on all that is holy to you?"

Dear god! What was holy to Clarance Rachman? "Yes."

As he turned to leave the house, a young girl came down the stairs and sat next to Elmyra at the table. She couldn't have been more than four or five years younger than Clarance. It was only when he looked at himself in a mirror in the room accidentally that he noticed how young he still was. Even though he was still 19, Clarance felt like he was losing the best years of his life. He had seen too many of the horrors of the world too soon. He quietly left the house. In the garden, he opened the letter he had kept, and promised himself to read it completely this time, his hands shook,

"My very dear Elmyra,

The indications are very strong the war may end in a few days, perhaps by the time you receive this letter! Lest I should not be able to write again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more...

I cannot say I have no misgivings about the confidence I have in the cause in which I am engaged, but my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly Shinra civilization now leans on the triumph of the Government, and how corrupt many of the politicians in our Government have become. But if the spilled blood of these soldiers in blue and crimson can help purge us of their corruption, I am perfectly willing to lay down my life and all my joys in this life to help maintain this movement.

Elmyra, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but the great Ancients could break, yet my love of Home, no matter how polluted, comes over me like a strong wind and bears me unresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to the Planet, and the Ancients, and to you that I have enjoyed them for so long. And it is sickeningly hard for me to burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when, Planet willing, we might still have lived and loved together, and maybe have children and watch them grow up to honorable adulthoods, with better opportunities than our lowly statures could have ever hoped to achieve. Honestly, I have little belief that I shall ever be able to come home, but something whispers to me, perhaps the wafted prayer of that small child, Aeris, that you wrote to me about, that I shall return to you and perhaps meet this new addition to our miniscule family, unharmed. If I do not my dear Elmyra, never forget how much I loved you, and when my last breath escapes my lungs on the battlefield, it will whisper your name. Forgive me my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have been often times!

But, oh Elmyra! If the dead can return to this earth from the Lifestream and glide unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you, in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights... always, and if there is a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your forehead, it shall be my spirit passing by. Elmyra, do not mourn me dead, think I am gone and wait for me, for we shall meet again..."

Always Yours,

Alan

He folded up the letter, and tossed it into the water.

~

Later that year, Clarance was re-instated to his brigade and regiment. Their next mission came quickly, and it was simple. Escort Shinra executive Scarlet to the town of North Corel.

~

The first thing Clarance noticed was that Corel was tiny. Not even a fraction of the size of Midgar or even Junon. As his brigade marched through the town, the few townsfolk looked out from their homes some even came out and started waving. Clarance didn't try to greet them back in fear that Sergeant Ramsay would smack him over the face. Over the years Clarance spent in the Shinra Military, his Garand rifle grew gradually lighter. Executive Scarlet stopped in front of the steps to the Corel town hall. She turned to Ramsay, "Sergeant, send two of your best troops in along with me and yourself" she said sharply, "Done."

Ramsay swiveled on his heel, "Clarance! Rand! Come with me! The rest of you wait out here!"

Clarance was suprised that he would be chosen. He and the small Private followed their commanding officer into the small cottage. Clarance stood their by the door for god-knows how many hours. Scarlet talked with all the people about Mako and other stuff, Clarance was too busy trying to stay awake under his infra goggles. He was about to doze off when the meeting ended, "-It's a sign of the times Dyne." finished the large man to the one in the bandana.

Clarance shook his head and flickered his eyelids. The bandana guy held his face in his hands. The council finally agreed to build the reactor.

~

For about four more years, Clarance's brigade was restationed in Corel as a peacekeeping force. Clarance didn't enjoy being away from the regiment so long, it gave him a sense of insecurity. Besides, Corel was one of the most boring places that he had been to. But one morning, Private Rand burst into the barracks of the brigade, waving a newspaper in one hand. "Hey hey!! Look at this! They finished the Gold Saucer last week!" he shouted.

Most of the men groaned and returned to sleep, the usual activity of their R&R days. Clarance stood and stuggled into his uniform. "The what? Silver platter or wha?!"

"The golden saucer Rachman! The big gold tree looking thing that they've been building a few miles away from here."

Clarance grunted in affirmation, "Oh yeah, the one that looks like a bean stalk. So is it any good?"

Rand ran over to Clarance's bunk, nearly jumping up and down, "That's what I want to find out! You wanna come with?"

Clarance laughed quietly, "Just like a kid. How old're you? Fourteen, Fifteen?"

Rand punched him in the arm, "I'm sixteen you freak. Why can't you remember that?"

Clarance clipped the black belt around the blue pants, "Sorry mother dearest." he said sarcasticly, "Well...considering I've got nothing to do here, and Ramsay's out trying to showoff to Scarlet. Fine i'll come."

~

The trip on the gondola was suprisingly long, Clarance could see all the way to Costa Del Sol from the window. The fog had cleared and the sun was gleaning on the window. Rand sat on the other side, he had a wide grin on his face and he wriggled his fingers in anticipation. Neither of them had found it neccicary to bring their helmets. "This is gonna be wild Mav! I heard that it's one of the biggest structures man made!"

"Bigger than the Sister Ray?" Said Clarance, defending his hometown's landmark.

"Probably, It'll probably become one of the wonders of the Planet." gasped Rand,

Clarance recalled the huge man made creations: The Plates of Midgar, The Rock carvings of Wutai, The mountain corridors of Cosmo Canyon, and the latest being Sister Ray. He snapped out of thought with the sudden appearance of cheerful music out of nowhere. "Hey we're here!"

~

As Rand paid for his ticket, he couldn't help gawking at it. He had saved his pay for three months to get a single pass. Behind him, Clarance paid for his own pass and followed him into the next room. The lobby proudly displayed it's tube transport system. "Why couldn't they just use stairs like everybody else?" grumbled Clarance,

"Stop complaining, it'll be worth it."

"Yeah sure, no big loss for me. The pay you get in three months I receive in one." replied Clarance,

"Okay then. Why don't you choose where to go first, Corporal?" said Rand sourly,

Clarance sulkingly examined the tubes. the "Battle" square caught his eye. He pointed at the hole, "Over there, that sounds interesting."

"We can finally find out whos better with a Garand huh?" Said Rand,

"It'll just be more proof i'm better." mumbled Clarance.

They both walked into the Battle square lobby and observed the area. They decided to see the museum first. Most of the things were actually replicas, Clarance could tell. Eventually, a huge man came into the room and barked laughter,

"Mwahahaha! You Shinras enjoying my museum?!"

Rand seemed to shrink even further, "Y-you're Dio right? The owner of Gold Saucer!"

The man laughed again, "Damn right kiddo! And you're..."

Rand puffed his chest, "Private First Class Rand."

"And what about you?" said Dio motioning to Clarance, "You haven't said anything."

"So?" grumbled Clarance,

"Ha! I like a man with the cut of your jib!"

"What the hell is a jib?!"

"Mwahahaha! No wonder you've gotta higher rank than skinny boy over here!"

Rand cringed,

"How'd you two boys like to try my new battle simulator! It's programmed so you can fight each other."

Rand recovered himself and clenched one fist, the other pointed at Clarance, "Let's go! I'll finally prove to you I should be the one who's the Corporal!"

Clarance yawned and shrugged, "Fine whatever you'd like."

~

Their battle was shortlived. Ramsay had called them back on a code red. When the two returned, they watched in horror as Corel burned to the ground. Clarance could recognize Shinra uniforms among the corpses. The blood in his ears roared.

"H-how did this...happen?" stuttered Rand.

"It doesn't matter! It's done! We need to find the others!" barked Clarance over the flames.

As they ran up a different route, they met with the remenants of the brigade. They all had black ash on their uniforms and burns.

"Where's Ramsay?" asked Clarance to one of the routing soldiers.

"The sergeant's dead. The reactor blew..." the soldier said in almost a whisper.

Just then, Scarlet ran down from the hill, "You, lackwits! Come with me, I found the terrorists responsible!"

Clarance halted the brigade as they spotted the two Scarlet had identified. He was about to shout halt, but Scarlet stopped him, "Fire!!! Kill them!"

Clarance was shocked, the two had not even been questioned, why fire? Nevertheless, they all fired. Clarance intentionally missed by a longshot. Scarlet fumed, "Gah! Can't you do anything right?!"

She punched Rand right in the face and he fell off the edge of the railroad track to the bottom.

Clarance stared in horror at his friend. But not wanting to be thrown either, he shut his eyes and fired off a single shot in the last area the two "terrorists" had been in. As he opened his eyes, he saw what his shot had done. One of them was about to fall off the ledge. Clarance's shot had blown off one hand off of each terrorist. The hanging one had fallen to his death. The others began whooping and cheering with joy. Clarance just stood there, staring at the one terrorist and the blood down the ledge.

"What have we become?" he muttered to himself.

~

The following years were dull, the majority of them being garrison for Midgar. MP did stand for Military/Police anyway, with lack of hostile forces against Shinra and the corporation's thirst for Imperialism quenched years ago, there wasn't much else to do. The new Sergeant of his brigade, Clarance Rachman agreed with all of this wholeheartedly, until Mako Reactor One exploded one night.

Klaxons screamed everywhere and red emergency lights flooded the chaotic halls of the local security barracks. Sergeant Rachman collapsed out of his bunk and shambled for his uniform. After pulling the infra-red goggles over his eyes, he spotted Corporal Vaden Hayet shoving into his blue jumpsuit. Clarance remembered Private Rand Pherson, who was killed in the Corel Operation. The whole brigade knew the executive, Scarlet had done it, but nobody dared tell the "higher-ups". But Clarance always had a strong hatred for that certain Shinra fat-cat. Shinra was causing him a lot of problems for a long time now...

Vanden turned to Clarance, "What now sir?"

"Form up with the rest of the team outside! We'll get to the bottom of this."

Outside, they learned from the other teams that the AVALANCHE rebels had blown up one of the Mako Reactors. One of the vigilantes was reported moving through the Sector 4 upper plate. That was Clarance's post. He arranged the team to box the rebel in a cul de sac at the end of a block.

Clarance flipped up his infras to see the AVALANCHE agent. He had blond, spiky hair and a huge-arse sword by Clarance's standards. On cue, Corporal Tanner and Private Hinvers burst out of the crates they hid under and held their rifles at port-arms at the rebel.

"FREEZE!" they bellowed in unison.

The rebel ignored them and ran again in his old direction. Tanner and Hinvers fired wildly at him. Three more from Clarance's brigade flanked him, again he eluded their bullets. The spike haired man passed a multi-story apartment, lights flickering from the reactor explosion. Clarance gave the signal and he dashed out into view with his element of the ambush. They had him surrounded.

"It's over," said Clarance as "blondie" shot glances around at the team. He had mako-eyes, Clarance noted.

"I don't have time for you guys," muttered Blondie, taking a step back.

Clarance sighed, another wasted life, "Get him!"

But before they could bayonet the stranger to death, he jumped down, over the guard rail and onto the dilapidated train that darted through the open-tunnel.

The others in the team swore and spat on the cement of the street, watching Blondie speed off into the sunset. Clarance couldn't help a small smile, such courage was rare.

~

As if that wasn't strange enough for the brigade, the very next day a second attack on a Mako reactor was announced. The AVALANCHE agents hadn't expected on Shinra's Gestapo, the Turks, to overhear their plans. A trap was set up once again.

Clarance simply gaped at the huge mech, "What did you say this thing was called?"

"Airbuster," Replied the chief engineer that made last minute checks on the robo-soldier.

Clarance took a peek around the edge of the hall, the terrorists were expected to emerge from the hall at his right, Airbuster would hover to the hall in front of Clarance and when the rebels came out, it was Clarance's part to move his men into position and trap them. Airbuster would cover the other exit. That was all he was told by the Captain.

A few minutes after Airbuster was in position, the brigade's scout ran out from the right-side hall. "They're coming, they're coming!!!"

Clarance took a peek at the terrorists. A young girl, a strangely familiar thug-like man with a prosthetic gun-arm (!) and old Blondie himself.

"Once again, into the breach," Whispered Clarance to no one in particular.

They dove out of the hall, thouroughly startling the trio. To Clarance's surprise, a helicopter back from the war days showed up behind the AVALANCHE rebels. Several of his men took questioning looks at Clarance, he just shrugged. And out came plump president Shinra himself! As the president began to gloat to the rebels, a black-haired Turk peered out of the helicopter and signalled for Clarance to leave. Clarance didn't want to argue with a Turk, especially not in front of President Shinra, so he moved his troops back into the roofed hall area. They saw Airbuster hover out and heard the helicopter speed off, most definetely with the president on it. Clarance was expecting a one way fight with the mech and AVALANCHE, but the vigilantes fought fearlessly, Clarance admired their valor, once again, an uncommon thing. Even more shocking, Blondie disabled Airbuster, then destroyed the robo-soldier with a jumping slash. Vanden made a move to intercept the victors, but Clarance blocked him, AVALANCHE deserved this victory. What he was doing was treason, but he no longer gave two bolt materias about Shinra.

Airbuster brewed up and sparked, then exploded in a ball of flame. When the flash dissapated, Blondie was hanging from a wire that protruded from the blasted hall. It was a long way down. The other two were struggling to try and help him. The hall began to bend and groan with stress. Clarance wanted to help, but if he did they would all be dead. He watched Blondie fall down to the slums and to his death. Clarance had never felt more guilty in his life as he left the two AVALANCHE rebels on that broken bridge...to die.

~

Sergeant Clarance Rachman had had enough of being pushed around by Shinra. He had seen and watched the horrible things he had to do for the corporate leeches. The burning of Corel, the forgotten war between Shinra and Wutai, and the dropping of the Sector 7 plate to name a few. Then there was the time he had personally escorted Rufus to Rocket Town. When the small plane blasted off, Rufus had almost snapped, he kept firing with his shotgun even after it was out of range, Clarance intentionally missed. And these AVALANCHE people, how they fought against all odds and somehow won, it was mind-boggling. He wanted to help them desperately, he wanted to do something significant. But the best thing he could do for them was to stay in the bowels of the corporate demon.

Clarance stared out the port window of the Gelinka down at the muddy ditch of his hometown and the glittery, hollow-shell of wielded iron and steel that towered over it. And the gun, that terrible, terrible gun.

"Hmm... Can you see yer' home from here or is there too much smog over it?" said Corporal Vanden Hayet from the chair next to Clarance's.

"You're really beginning to piss me off Hayet. Besides, I'll bet there's nothing left where it was before."

Clarance was the commander of his brigade. He had known his men for a long time, but not long enough to know who sympathized rebels. When he was drafted into the Shinra military he had to leave his infant sister Prescilla behind. The townsfolk said they'd take care of her but Clarance still wondered. There was no time to visit however, Rufus had called any available military to Junon to put surveillance on the execution of two rebels. AVALANCHE, no doubt. This was his chance to do something, anything. He couldn't possibly imagine what would happen next. The Gelinka began it's landing run onto the strip.

After they had prepared for orders, they had been split into groups. Most of them were posted outside to man the cannons for some Weapon or something. Others were armed with bazookas or manned the controls for the huge gun. Clarance himself was selected to guard the prisoners as they were led to the execution room. As he led them down, he noticed a lot of those SOLDIER guys were running back and forth, whatever this Weapon thing was, it was big. He looked behind him through the infrared goggles. The prisoners were the people he supposedly left for dead at Mako Reactor Two a few months ago. The man, he now remembered, was the one that Scarlet had unregretfully made an amputee. Clarance didn't blame him for being part of AVALANCHE. The girl was the one who stuck close to the now-dead Blondie. He didn't blame her either. Clarance ran a finger over the keys, he would do his part....for once.

They went through the press room, Scarlet was making a haughty speech to a strange looking news reporter. As they continued into the gas room, Scarlet made another speech to the girl and then left. As he planned he would, Clarance dropped the key, a little too far away than he had planned, he grit his teeth under the yellow face mask as he left. He leaned on the wall next to the door and caught his breath. Just then, an explosion rocked the room and many of the reporters ran off, Clarance followed. He saw behind him as the reporter sprayed Scarlet with a knockout gas. Good, he never liked her. What to do now, Clarance was swayed by another explosion and ran up to the computer and view room. The view wasn't pleasant at all. His jaw gaped as he watched a huge monster bore a hole in the giant gun and kill all of his friends and brigade down at the shore. As he stepped back to leave, the gun fired again and decapitated the horror. The Shinra were okay for something. As the monster collapsed into the sea, he decided to make a break for the Airship parked at the air strip. Clarance had wanted to have a meeting with his brigade to see if any wanted to join him, but then he remembered they must be all dead. As he rammed through the door onto the road, another soldier impacted on him.

"Aargh!"

"Oomph!"

He unhooked his mako pistol to shoot the person, but realized it was Vanden. "Hayet?! What the hell are you doing here?!"

Vanden pulled up his infras, "I came to get you, the others were butchered by that thing. I managed to escape!"

"How did you escape from a thing like that?"

"As the others ran away, I tripped, I thought I was done for, but instead the monster shot at the ones running away. Before it could get me though, the gun shot it's whole head off!"

Clarance pulled Vanden up, "Yeah, we can write a memoir about it later, now let's get the hell out of here to that airship."

As they ran to the elevator, they saw the big guy with the gun hand run past them, followed by a cat on top of a obese winged man or something.

"I've been thinking Sarge, don't you think we should quit Shinra or something. All they cause is trouble."

"Thinking?! I've been thinking about that for the last year, Hayet! That's why we're going to the Airship, AVALANCHE is bound to steal it and we can help them and get a ticket out of here."

They reached the Airship, as they turned to the other end, the cat and gun arm guy were standing with their backs to them. Instead of taking the risk of being blown to shreds by the gun arm one, Vanden found a ladder and they crawled in. In the Airship, they realized that the crew was just about as dissentful as them. Clarance found them spare pilot uniforms. They tried to blend in as much as possible. Vanden knew alot about fliers and excused himself to the control panel near the operations room. Clarance had almost no idea on how to fly an Airship and he was pretending to be the helmsman. Soon after, the guy from Rocket Town showed up and convinced the crew to revolt. Thankfully, the Captain took over controls and flew right up to the barrel of the gun. As Clarance watched through the main viewport, the girl had gotten his key and escaped. She jumped on. Clarance gulped and pulled on the wheel as hard as he could when the captain gave the sign to pull off. He sighed as the others cheered, he had done what he wanted to do, escape.

~

In the many months that Clarance helped AVALANCHE, he remembered his old friends, Alan Gainsborough and Rand Pherson and how much they would have loved being where he was now. He and Vanden were fighting for what they believed in now. One late night, when he was alone in the vast cockpit of the Airship, Clarance dug into his pocket and took out a small notebook and pen. He flipped on the screen light and uncapped the pen. Then, he opened the notebook and brought the pen down onto it,

"My story is a tainted one..."