The Shin Ra van pulled up just outside the entrance to the small mountain town of Niebleheim. General Sephiroth stepped down surveying his surroundings as the others filed out of the van.

"Peaceful"

"Yes" said Zack. He walked up next to Sephiroth.

"Order the soldiers to patrol the town"

"Yes sir"

Sephiroth strode into the town, Zack and the others following at a distance.

"Sir we have made preparations to say in the hotel"

"Good. You will need to rest for tomorrow"

With those words Sephiroth stepped into the hotel. Zack remained a while longer. The soldiers were off in the distance carrying out their patrol.

"Yes" he said recalling his superior's words, "Peaceful"

The flames were intense. They licked at the buildings as Sephiroth's sword flashed in the hellish light, cutting down the terrified citizens.

"Sephiroth! No!" Zack screamed as he ran, stumbling out of the Shin Ra mansion. The general ignored him turning and striding along the path to the reactor.

Zack started after him, before a yell stopped him.

"Hey!"

Zack turned.

"Check the houses! There may be some people left alive!"

The martial arts teacher. Zack nodded and ran to the nearest house. He couldn't see anything except smoke and flames. No one could survive in that inferno.

Sephiroth had to be stopped.

"Mother, I'm here to see you. Please, open this door"

With those words the door to the Jenova chamber slid open.

Tifa Lockheart charged at Sephiroth with his sword.

"You killed them, you bastard!"

Sephiroth turned. As Tifa swung the sword he lifted his hand. The sword slashed smoothly away from Sephiroth. He turned his hand back towards him. Tifa now stood offering the sword to Sephiroth. Taking it he slashed sideways, cutting a deep cut across her body. Without a sound she fell back falling down the short flight of stairs. Undeterred Sephiroth turned back and entered the chamber.

As Tifa's life ebbed away, Zack entered. Barely checking her body, Zack rushed up the stairs determined to stop Sephiroth at any cost.

Summoning all his strength he delivered a brutal two handed sword blow to Sephiroth's side smashing him to the floor and spilling blood everywhere.

"You'll pay for that" Sephiroth snarled, flicking the sword up towards Zack. Zack deflected the blow slightly wincing as it cut a gouge into his right arm.

Sephiroth lurched from the chamber, his arm clamped to his side, still leaking blood. He had to finish it. Now.

Summoning what was left of his strength he raced after Sephiroth, his cut bleeding badly.

"Sephiroth!"

They were on the bridge over the mako pit now.

"Insolent fool" sneered Sephiroth, impaling Zack on his sword. "You are weak" he said as he lifted Zack's body up off the bridge.

Summoning the last of his strength, Zack took hold of the sword, wincing as it cut into his hands. He forced himself downwards.

"What? No!"

Zack gripped the sword tightly and pulled it upwards, swinging it quickly out over the mako pit. He took a final look at his superior before letting go of the sword and groaning as it was ripped from his body by Sephiroth's weight. He collapsed coughing onto the catwalk, his blood flowing freely. Sephiroth hit the pool of mako and vanished beneath its chaotic surface.

Zack couldn't move anymore. The edges of his vision began to darken.

Zangan rushed through the reactor looking for Tifa. He found Zack's bleeding body lying a few metres in front of Tifa's father's. Hurrying on, hoping, he found Tifa's body. She was alive. Barely. He could only save one of those here. He picked his best student. Patching her wounds as best he could, he picked up Tifa's unconscious body. Outside it was chaos. A Shin Ra helicopter was touching down and soldiers were everywhere. Zangan slipped away without confrontation, as Hojo began barking orders at the soldiers.

"Get anyone who's still alive! Find Sephiroth and the SOLDIER sent with him!"

The town had been wiped out, all its inhabitants killed. As the last flames were dowsed, Zack awoke still in great pain. He was locked in a glass cylinder....the surroundings looked familiar....the basement of the Shin Ra mansion. His wounds had been treated, but it was still painful to move. Zack shifted, examining his surroundings. He recognised the people.

"Hojo" he hissed.

Hojo looked up.

"Good. You have regained consciousness. Where is Sephiroth?"

"Dead. I hope"

"What! Dead? You could not have destroyed him! He was the perfect SOLDIER, the culmination of decades of research and you destroyed him! How?"

"I dropped him into the Mount Niebel reactor pit. Not even your perfect specimen could survive that" Zack sneered.

Hojo looked taken back, but rapidly regained his composure.

"Why did you kill him?"

"He destroyed this town"

"Why?"

"He discovered the truth. Here. In this library"

Hojo looked thoughtful.

"So he discovered his past...."

He turned, looking at the floor, deep in thought.

"Well. We shall require a replacement. You"

"No"

Hojo smiled evilly.

"You don't have much choice boy"

He turned to one of the assistants.

"Bring a canister of mako and specimen JNV-2019. We have work to do"

For five years Zack silently endured the tests that Hojo conducted. Now impregnated with as many Jenova cells as Sephiroth and re-subjected to the SOLDIER process, his strength was immeasurably superior to what it was before.

Hojo had long since left the continuing alteration of Zack to his assistants as he returned to Midgar.

For the last few weeks Zack had been carefully watching the routine for feeding him. He saw his chance and took it.

As the hatch to his glass cell was unlocked, he thrust his hand through grabbing the assistant around the neck, choking him. As the lifeless body slumped to the ground, he tightened his grip on the neck and used his other hand to search through the assistant's clothing for the key.

Freeing himself from his cell, he quickly found his clothes. It seemed everything from that fateful time was stored together. Sliding his sword from the shelf, he marvelled at how light it seemed now. No time to reminisce. His freedom was within sight.

As he exited the mansion he was shocked to see Niebleheim. There was no trace of the fire. It looked identical to the day he arrived. There was no time to work out what had occurred now....he had to get away.

As the town disappeared into the distance behind him, Zack considered his options. He was going to have nothing to do with the Shin Ra now. But his training as a SOLDIER was the only skill he possessed. There had to be a use for it....he could become a mercenary. But first he needed somewhere to lie low for a while. But where?

He suddenly recalled soft green eyes, and the slender figure of a girl. She had promised to wait for him before he left. But that had been five years ago. She would have found someone else by now. But, he was out of options. He could visit her at least. There was always a chance. The best place to start was her mother's. Sector 5.

It was two weeks later when Zack finally caught his first glimpse of Midgar. It had gotten worse over the time he had been imprisoned. The black wasteland now extended even further out from the gigantic two levelled city.

There were shouts behind him.

"There he is!"

He whirled to find a platoon of Shin Ra soldiers. He was outnumbered.

"Kill him" barked the commander.

Zack pulled the sword from his back as the soldiers brought up their rifles to fire. Springing he swung the sword at the nearest soldier gouging a deep cut in the soldier's body. Zack turned to cut the next as a hail of bullets cut him down. Black oblivion consumed him instantly.

Author's notes:      This is my first attempt at a serious fan fiction. I apologise now if it's really bad. The idea for this fan fiction came about as I was planning a completely twisted fan fiction (My next project).

I wanted to work out what would happen to the story by removing specific characters. I discovered that the story depended entirely on only 4 characters. Yuffie and Vincent can be eliminated easily (I apologise now to fans of either: they aren't going to turn up in this story). The 4 story essential characters are Cloud, Aeris, Tifa and Sephiroth. This story removed the character of Cloud. You'd expect this to completely screw the story up, but surprisingly it can still continue...with some interesting changes.

Legal Stuff:      Everyone belongs to Squaresoft. They own all these people. Please don't sue me guys....FFVII is my all time favourite game.