High above all the other offices in the Shinra Building stood the largest office of them all, home to one man alone to work his duties as the President of this vast company. Of all jobs, everything wrong that happened was blamed upon him and him only, not his Angels or his Turks. The loss of the Ancient again had been his fault, but dealing with it had come easy. His son would be in Junon soon; he had seen the helicopter take off.

It wasn't as though he did not enjoy his company with his son. More or less, he had only wanted a son to take on the tradition of Shinras running Shinra, Inc. When his wife had passed away when Rufus was younger, it had meant very little to him. He had never loved the woman, because in his opinion, women were inferior to men, and always had been. Though, he must admit he had seen a several few exceptional women that fought as well (and better) than men. It was one of the choice reasons of why he had hired Lilith Saber as an Angel.

The Angels together... He had created a fine, long fighting force of powerful people to work for his company and his company only. Only the best of SOLDIERs were taken into the group, and only the most intelligent and those who could withstand a battle until they were victorious. For the longest time, Hunter Roberts had been the Angel he had looked to for all the jobs he needed to be completed, until they had come across a select few that would manage in the group.

Lilith had been a simple SOLDIER when she was recruited to the group, he recalled. She was hardly seventeen at the time, but he had seen potential in the young woman. She had excepted the job, and was now a great ally to Shinra. He had always been curious if there was more to her than the exterior she put forth, but the Angels' pasts were hidden to him and all of Shinra except for Hunter. Hunter knew every thought in their mind, every detail to their pasts, and knew exactly when one was lying or betraying Shinra.

President Shinra had been reluctant to allow Cloud Strife into the exclusive group, almost as much as he had not wanted his own son in the group. Cloud was a simple mercenary from the age of fourteen, living on the streets and stealing when necessary for his survival. The only reason why Cloud was in the group was for Hunter's reasons only. He had discovered Cloud in the streets and had brought him into Shinra. It was an odd act for Hunter to do, but as always, his actions were not questioned.

And there was the last Angel. Rufus Shinra, his own flesh and blood. Not by Rufus' choice if possible. He had wanted to be something other than the Vice-President of Shinra, but his father had never allowed it. It was Hunter's choice to allow Rufus into the Angels. The fact was, everything considering the Angels was Hunter's choice, and he had little to do with it all.

There were more things important than Angels to him. The SOLDIER unit he had put together long before the Angels was a long line of powerful men from around the Planet. Being exposed to Mako made their blood run with a fury no one ever saw in any fighter, making them almost as feared as the Angels. Although, it was the Angels that were feared most, they knew it.

"Sir," came a voice from the doorway.

"Yes?," President Shinra asked, puffing on his cigar as always.

"You'll be needed for a meeting later about the Sector 7 plate."

He nodded briefly, and waved the man from his office.

Cloud slowly paced around the room Hunter had left him in, silently thinking over the actions he had done when in the lounge downstairs. He never had liked Reno, and never would, but the current events that had been happening lately made no sense in any way to him, or anyone else for that matter. Finding Zack and that curious girl was embedded in his mind. He couldn't place it in his mind, but he had a distinct feeling he knew her from somewhere. From where, he had no idea. When he was still a teenager, an accident in a town far away had rendered his memory to nothing but images he saw.

He was still thinking about the events when there came a soft knocking at the door that soon faded. His mind was some place else and he did not bother to answer it. Whoever the person was, they were rather impatient as he heard the door open and close shut. The snap as the door shut caught his attention, and he turned to see who was there.

Complete in his navy blue uniform stood Rude, one of the best Turks there was in Shinra next to Tseng. Cloud knew him as the 'silent, sunglassed, bald', considering Rude rarely spoke unless necessary, and the only judgments he could make was about the things on the outside he had picked up on. Quietly, Rude walked toward him, hands behind his back and the only sound he made his own footsteps. Cloud began to watch with his guard up, remembering Reno was Rude's best friend, and he had just nearly beaten Reno senseless.

"What do you want?," he asked.

Rude looked up at this from the ground, his eyes behind the sunglasses watching Cloud's every move. He looked over the young man, not judging him, but only deciding something. Cloud was not worth anything to fight, but his reason of being here was not to fight but to talk some sense into Cloud's thick head. As he was best friends with Reno, he knew Cloud was good friends with Rufus and had not appreciated it when Reno had told Hunter of the Ancient.

"Nothing," he replied simply. "I was only coming to see what happened to you and Hunter."

Cloud cocked an eyebrow at this. Hunter had taken him a long way; how could Rude find him so easily? He shook his head realizing Rude must have followed them, which caused him to have his guard up even more. If Rude wanted to fight him also, he was ready to fight here, right now.

"Did you follow me?," he asked in a low tone.

"I would not have found you if I hadn't," Rude answered. "Listen... I know you're angry with Reno, but honestly, that wasn't a very good way to react to it. Reno has a very short fuse, and so do you. It wasn't too intelligent."

Cloud brushed a strand of golden blonde from his face, "You're telling me. Look, I don't really have a problem with Reno. Or you Turks. I just think he should keep his mouth shut in front of people that have no business with him. If it weren't for him, none of us would be in this scrape."

Rude did not look happy with Cloud's analogy of the events. In his opinion, Cloud was the one to blame for the fight between him and Reno. True, each had a very short fuse, but Reno would not have fought Cloud if he had not reacted like that. Rude had learned to forget things that had happened before and look ahead, except his thoughts were still on the fight. Reno had ended up in bad shape, but seeing the wounds Cloud had taken made him realize Reno was not the only one in pain now.

Cloud sighed after his last words, shoving his hands in his pockets as usual and walking toward the door. He opened it before looking back to Rude who stood motionless behind him. He wondered if the Turk would follow, and his thoughts were answered by Rude walking to the door himself. Cloud nodded shortly before leaving Rude to go to the elevator, leaving the Turk to wonder about their conversation.

Cloud himself took the long way upstairs. Each stairway was long and winding, but he remembered climbing each step for every day for two weeks when the elevators were off line. Remembering how President Shinra had taken a helicopter to his office those two weeks caused Cloud to smile slightly. The president was an intelligent man, but he was also extremely lazy from what he knew and what Rufus had told him.

He began to think of the recent orders the Turks had been given. President Shinra wanted them to drop the Sector 7 plate and blame it on AVALANCHE which was complete insanity, Cloud supposed. He had yet to receive any orders, and began to think President Shinra was not satisfied with the Angels since the incident with the Ancient a day ago. It was not his fault, nor Rufus' that the Ancient left. Reno had not even known Rufus had told her to leave, but he remembered Rufus had told her he would kidnap her one day because of his job.

The floor he stepped out into was where all the meetings were held among the Shinra executives. Both large doors were shut tightly, which was an immediate sign not to disturb them now that they were in a meeting. Knowing this, Cloud was about to leave when a cold hand fell on his shoulder. Turning around he saw Tseng, the Turks' leader with Hunter beside him. Black suits against blue was interesting, he thought.

"We have to go to this meeting." Hunter nodded to the door.

"Yes sir," Cloud replied. "I'll go."

Tseng shook his head. "You are too."

Cloud opened his mouth to speak, but Tseng pushed him into the room, Hunter following him. He looked around at the people seated in the room, swallowing a lump in his throat from either being nervous or questioning. Before he could make another move Hunter had showed him a chair to be seated in, while he took the other beside it and Tseng sat beside him. Cloud found himself by Scarlet, the one woman he could not stand the most in the world and who also had a liking for him.

"Glad you could join us," President Shinra said. "You are also among this plan. We need to decide what we are going to do with the Sector 7 Plate and AVALANCHE in the process."

"There's no reason to drop the plate," spoke up Reeve, the Head of Urban Development. Cloud knew little about Reeve, but he seemed to be the only one of Shinra that had a mind for the people rather than himself. "It will kill thousands of people living there," Reeve continued.

"So what?," asked Heidegger, the Head of Safety Development. Cloud almost hated this man as much as Rufus did. As the Head of Safety Development he had seen very little work done to protect the city and its people the entire time he was positioned at the job. "What's a few more lives in Midgar gone?," Heidegger asked. "They're only a bunch of morons."

"People are more than that," Reeve muttered under his breath.

Cloud sank lower in his chair; only slightly so that he would not look unprofessional, especially when the leader of the Angels sat beside him, his eyes watching only the table top. Hunter had always been a mystery to him, and he did not intend to learn more. As for the executives of Shinra... Each had a certain personality to them Cloud did not appreciate. By far, Reeve would be the only one that meant anything among them, and the Head of Space Development, who was not with them at the time.

"Oh relax Reeve!," Scarlet stated. "People are people, and it's just one of the plates. We're not even planning to work on the Midgar any longer."

"Then we're...," Reeve began.

"We're starting the Neo-Midgar project again," President Shinra finished. "Once the Promised Land if ours of course."

Cloud snorted softly. Promised Land... He thought it nothing but a load of lies to satisfy them while they extracted more and more Mako from the Earth. Before he could think anymore of this, the door was thrown open suddenly by a rather tall man dressed in a dark blue flight jacket and dark black pants. Around his neck was a flight scarf, and his face had a stain of grease above his eyebrow he had forgot most likely to wipe away.

The face brought a smile to Cloud's face. This man was one of the most interesting people at Shinra he had ever met, and he even worked among the high executives as the Head of Space Development. He was true to his job, only for the fact it was his dream to reach outer space one day.

"Cid Highwind," President Shinra murmured. "I wondered if you would show your face here when we called you."

"Yeah, yeah," he replied. "I was busy, okay?"

President Shinra cleared his throat and turned back to the other executives to continue speaking. Cid Highwind, the very one and only walked around the table to where Cloud sat, bringing his gloved hand on Cloud's head a messing up his outrageous hair. Cloud turned around to glare at him but Cid simply shrugged and smiled innocently, which caused a smile to appear on Cloud's face also. He could smell the rich texture of tobacco from Cid's cigarette, which seemed to always be in his mouth, no matter what time of the day or where he was. Like Rufus, Cloud thought it a revolting habit, but like always, he said little of it to them.

"Cloud, Tseng, and Hunter," the president began, catching Cloud's attention. "You are to drop the Sector 7 plate as planned. Cloud, you go on the ground with Reno, while Hunter will guide the helicopter, and Tseng, you get the Ancient. We know she lives around there. Lilith will come with you also, Hunter."

Cloud groaned softly in his mind. Dropping the plate was one thing, but with Reno it was another.

Cloud shivered slightly from the chill in the air from where he and Cid stood on the top floor of the Shinra Building, right outside of President Shinra's office. Cid was content with himself as he smoked his cigarette, seeing that it would warm him up somewhat. Cid's thoughts on life in general were far from what any other person would tell you on the subject, but to Cloud, the advice Cid gave him was the best he heard at times. When he had first come to work with Shinra, Cid had been great with telling him who to avoid, and what everyone's problems with others were. From that, he hadn't managed to make anyone completely angry with him at times.

As for Cid himself, he was a thirty-two year old ex-pilot for Shinra, Inc, that was, until he took the job as Head of Space Development. Apparently, from what Cloud knew, Cid had been disgusted with the way Space Development was handled in the hands of the ex-Head, a man named Daniel Palmer. Cloud had not known him, but Cid's idea of a run down of the man was 'a fat donut eating pig,' in his own choice words.

"Gotta drop the plate, huh?," Cid asked, letting out a long trail of gray smoke from his lips.

Cloud nodded. Doing that was not what he wanted to do to people he did not know, and people that would die because of a button he or Reno would press late tonight because of his action. Being responsible for so many deaths was not something he wanted to accounted for of all things he had done before.

"Yeah," he said slowly. "I don't want to."

"Shit, I don't want ya to either," Cid replied. "But what Shinra wants, Shinra gets for some screwed up reason. It's a load of bullshit it you ask me."

Cloud smiled at the next factor of Cid Highwind. Not only did he have a bad habit of smoking, he had an awful habit of cursing all the time. A simple question had always seemed to include at least one curse word when he answered it.

"It is," Cloud said. "But it's my job."

"Hell of a job you got," Cid remarked. "Where's Ruf anyways?"

"His father sent him to Junon because he messed up sort of on a mission," Cloud told him. "It's kind of hard to explain."

Cid shook his head. Being the son of the President of Shinra had to be hard, especially when he watched your every move with a judging eye. He did not know that sort of feeling himself. His father had been a SOLDIER, and he very rarely saw him, even after his mother passed away when he as no more than twelve or so. It was only two years later that his father died, and he had been sent to live in Midgar with a rich uncle and aunt he had never met. In all, he had not enjoyed his childhood.

"And how'd you get beat up like that?," he asked.

"Oh... yeah." Cloud's voice trailed off. "Well, I kind of got in a fight with Reno and he gave me a couple of scratches, I guess."

Cid burst into laughter. "You fought that smart ass?! Now there's the Cloud I know! How'd Reno come out?"

"Not as good."

Cid smiled. It was not that he did not like Reno, in fact he got along well with the Turk. The fact was Reno was a slacker, and he did not get along with people such as that. He had to admit though, he thought he was not a fine specimen of the human species either, but it was good to the make the most of one's life rather than to let it waste away. Even now, he stood dressed in dirty grease-stained clothes, grease on his face and his dirty blonde hair a mess, and he still knew he was ranking up there with the Shinra executives. He may not dress in expensive suits as they did, but he made just as much money and had just as much experience.

"When are you goin'?," he asked.

"Later tonight...," Cloud replied softly. "They think it'll be better tonight rather than tomorrow morning. More people will be in their homes and not near the pillar. It's still a load of crap thought, if you ask me."

Cloud watched as Cid simply nodded, throwing his cigarette to the ground and smothering it under the weight of his boot. He stared at the tips of his boots in a daze, mixed with the thought of making the pillar collapse, and the fact he hadn't slept for the longest time he could recall. Working long nights without sleep or refreshment was a usual deed for him, considering the work President Shinra had the Angels do. At times like these, he found himself wishing the Turks were sent on jobs more often than he was.

He was about to open his mouth to say something to Cid when the door to the roof of the building was opened, and silently a form walked to them. Cloud smiled in a greeting to Lilith, knowing she was probably still upset with him over the whole Don Coreno incident. He and Rufus had gotten to the Don's room before anything could have happened, but personally, Lilith had thought it the worst experience of her life, and he couldn't blame her for it.

"Cid," she said slowly. "I didn't think you would come to such a minor meeting."

"You mean a stupid meeting," Cid muttered. "Cloud and me both think this is stupid."

Lilith nodded and sat down beside Cloud on a window ledge. He moved over slightly to let her have more room, running a quick hand through his hair. Along with Rufus' habit of smoking, both of them also had a habit of running their hand through their hair. It was only a force of habit, but both managed to sneak in a hair toss every now and then. With Cloud's hairstyle, no one could blame him.

"We're heading out now," Lilith told Cloud.

"Great," he said quietly.

"What's the matter, Cloud? Getting stuck with me annoying to you?"

Cloud grimaced at Reno's first sarcastic remark. Reno had been silent the whole trip to the pillar in Sector 7, but once the two of them had left Tseng nearby Reno had been enjoying himself with teasing Cloud. Even with both feeling tired and ready to collapse then and there, they still managed to get on the other's nerves. If Cloud didn't know any better, he would have given Reno another bloody nose before they had even left the helicopter.

Sources had told them AVALANCHE would be coming from Wall Market today, and if they were lucky, the terrorists would stop once they saw the chaos the Turks and Angels would cause. Cloud did not think about what he was going to do at the pillar much, but his thoughts were more focused on seeing Zack among these people again. When they had kidnapped Barret, AVALANCHE's leader, he knew anything that happened would result with the group coming to the Shinra Building, no matter how Shinra avoided it. Terrorists or not, they had a rather intelligent group of people with them.

"Yes, Reno," Cloud said quickly. "Being with you makes me think you're annoying. Is that what you want to hear? I'm not going to fight with you, okay? That's not what I'm hear for. I've got a job, you've got a job. Think we can get along for an hour or so?"

Reno paused to think over what Cloud had said. It was very easy to tell both could not get along well with the other, but everyone had always known Angels and Turks were just like cats and dogs. If you were to put two in the same room together, complete chaos would follow. Still, this would never stop Reno from getting on Cloud's bad side.

"Not really, spike," Reno stated and walked ahead of Cloud with a smirk on his face.

Spike... Cloud thought with his eyes narrowed. By far, 'spike' was one of the worst things he had been nicknamed, and this was all thanks to his friend Cid Highwind. He had been with Shinra ever since he was a young teenager, and 'spike' was the name he had been forced to live with. He supposed everyone could have hair like his when they woke up in the morning also. Favoring the name spike was still not something he could stand for much longer.

Reno, lost in his own thoughts, was paying very little to no attention to what Cloud thought of his remarks. In all, he did not get along with Cloud, and Cloud did not get along with him. It was a very simple thing to understand, yet Hunter and Tseng had managed to force the two of them to work together on this mission. If Rufus was still in Midgar, Reno supposed that Rufus and Cloud would be the two standing here now, rather than him and Reno.

Reno did not think much of others simply because of the way he was raised. From what he let himself recall of his childhood, his father had been an abusive drunk to him and his mother and his mother nothing more than his father's tool. Though no one would even consider it true, Reno knew his father had killed his mother one night when he was completely done over with alcohol. Reno was no more than thirteen at the time, and the rest of his teenage years were spent as a living hell. If Tseng had not picked him up off the streets of Midgar when he was in his late teens, he supposed he would be dead on the sidewalks somewhere. Still, no one but he and Tseng knew about this, and he refused to talk anymore of it to anyone.

Before he could think of anything more, the sound of gunfire filled his ears from the pillar above, catching both his and Cloud's attention. He brushed a few strands of red from his face as he looked skyward to the pillar as Cloud was doing also. He could see one of the helicopters they had come in on but which one he was not sure of. Tseng had been ordered to find the Ancient, and Hunter and Lilith would be aboard the other helicopter. Quickly deciding, he ran up the staircase swiftly, followed closely by Cloud.

What awaited them was two members of AVALANCHE at the top of the pillar, battling two Shinra soldiers. From the Make seen in the black haired man's eyes, Reno knew he must have been in SOLDIER at one time or another, which would make this battle more difficult. The other was a pretty young brunette Reno would consider to hit on rather than to fight any other day. The way she gave fight to the Shinra soldiers caused him to think otherwise.

"You," she said quietly as she saw the Turk and Angel. Her eyes were watching Cloud, and only Cloud.

Cloud hesitated a moment, looking over the girl again. He knew her from somewhere, but his hazy memory did not allow him to know from where. Her eyes, looks, hair, everything.... it was all too familiar with other faces he could not make out. She was still watching him intently, and seeming to wait for him to say something.

"Who are you?," she asked.

"Tifa," Zack said in a low voice. "He's got nothing to do with you. He's nothing but a soldier for Shinra, and our enemy. They've got Barret, remember."

She shook her head. She knew she should listen to Zack, but half of her was telling her to find out who he was exactly, considering he looked so much like an old childhood friend of hers. She knew it couldn't really be him; he had been thought to be dead years ago.

"Wait...," Cloud began as she turned away. "I know you... I don't know where, or how, or when, but I know you. Do... do you recognize me?"

More than anything he wanted a straight answer from her. Anything she could tell him that might reveal some of why he thought he knew her, and maybe shed some light on his own forgotten past. From the look in her eyes, he knew she wanted to say something, but the entire situation was holding her back, as was Zack. And Zack himself... Cloud kept running into his old 'friend', for some reason or another he could also not understand. In such a short time, everything was now forgotten in a fumble of things that he couldn't place. Finding the Ancient, finding Zack, getting in fights with Reno again, Rufus being sent to Junon... It all happened too quickly, he hadn't time to think it over.

"I...," her voice trailed off. "I can't... I can't talk to you. You're the enemy. We're enemies, even if I did know you before."

Cloud spirits rose for a moment. "Before? So you do recognize me? From where? Please, you have to tell me this."

"Damn it, Cloud!," Reno spoke up. "We got a job to do!"

As Cloud would have said more to Tifa, his words were lost to the sounds of a helicopter approaching and a form jumping off of it. Cloud grimaced as he saw it was Hunter, the helicopter left to be piloted by Lilith. Hunter walked slowly to him and Reno, looking over AVALANCHE with an odd expression.

"Get on the helicopter, Cloud," he said slowly.

"What? Why...?," Cloud began.

"Do it," he said again, more firmer. "Reno and I can handle it from here. Lilith will take you to Tseng to help capture the Ancient."

His questions left unanswered yet again, he reluctantly boarded the helicopter.

Author's Quick Notes:

Welcome to Kira's first notes to Angels' Tears! I'm not going to go into the whole rundown of the whole fic right now, though. You'll have to wait until I finish this insane work. (Which will be done in say... roughly Jan. 1st, 2000. 0_o) This is a very hard challenge I've taken on, but I'm hoping to finish it all sometime soon! (Yeah, right.) I hope at least. Everyone that knows me knows I'm insane, so I don't think they find this work far from my mind. (Seriously, I don't think I'm insane. Tell them that.) If you want to know what's on my mind for this, ask me. I don't mind! Suggestions, questions, anything! Suggestions would be great. I'm hoping to add more twists. I can say I met my deadline of having Part Two done before Jan. 20th, which I'm very glad of! As of now of typing, it's 12:19 am Jan. 18th! Hey! My B-Day. Cool, huh? Well, my Internet has been cut off for the past week, which is the only reason why this is done right now! It still is as I'm typing this... Sigh...

Well! That was kinda pointless! Stay tuned for more chapters. I'm looking forward to writing more for Rufus coming up. Poor guy. I've got lots planned for him!

See ya for now!

Kira

kira_valentine@hotmail.com or strife_102@yahoo.com or if all else fails! kira_102@hotmail.com

http://www.oocities.org/TimesSquare/Hangar/5530/am2.html

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII, Rufus Shinra, Cloud Strife, and all the other names and places mentioned are owned by Squaresoft. Characters such as Hunter Roberts, Dawn, and Lilith Saber are my own creations. Please do not use this document with out consent of me, Kira. Otherwise, I hope you have enjoyed this fic so far!