Comments and constructive criticism welcomed and appreciated.
Flames get deleted. ^.^

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    FF7: J I H A D
        By Winter Weil
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        CHAPTER ONE
        The Resurrection of Hatred
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer:
    All rights to Final Fantasy VII and its characters belong to
Square Soft.  The characters of this series are used without permission
only for the purpose of entertainment.  This fanfiction is not meant
for sale or profit.
    All original characters are copyright to the author.  Don't use
these characters without contacting the author first.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Text Conventions
   /  / are character thoughts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

F F 7 : J I H A D
Chapter One

Several weeks later...

"Reeve! Back again?"

The Mayor of Junon smiled at Tifa's surprise "What, am I starting to wear
out my welcome?"

"Of course not," Tifa replied. "I just find it odd to see you twice in one
month. What brings you back here?"

Reeve settled into one of the barstools. Behind him, the evening crowd
started to pour in. Outside, dark clouds were seen on the horizon through
the windows. The sun was slowly beginning its slide behind the sea.

"Another meeting with Karri." Reeve nodded his thanks as he took the beer
Tifa offered him.

"Oh... is it... a date?"

Reeve almost choked on a mouthful of alcohol. "Heavens, no," he spluttered.
"Since our last meeting went so well, Karri scheduled another meeting to
see if she could get more money into the schools other programs." He took a
deep breath.

Tifa smiled mischievously. "Maybe she has a crush on you," she suggested.

The Mayor's ears immediately turned bright red. "Not at all! For one thing,
I'm twelve years older than her, and I am absolutely not her type!"

"Reeve you take things way too seriously. I was only kidding," Tifa
laughed.

"It wasn't very funny," he muttered into his beer mug.

Cloud made an appearance just then, looking tired and frustrated. "Celia's
throwing a fit again," he said, resting his forehead on the counter.

"Poor baby." Tifa rubbed his back. "That's what, the second time today?"

"Third."

"Mm. I'll see what I can do." The bar mistress disappeared through the door
between the shelves.

Silence reigned between the two friends for a moment, before Reeve said,
"So, I take it she's still being a terror."

"Terror my lily white ass. She's more like a pain in the-- what have we
here?"

"An unintelligible, ignorant wench, apparently," replied a familiar voice.

Reeve turned and watched as a thoroughly pissed Karri took a seat next to
him. "Why the sour puss?" he asked.

"Oh, I just got screwed over by the school again, nothing new." She scowled
fiercely at the countertop. "They assume that just because I'm young I
can't read between the lines and that I don't know dip shit about anything."

After another second of glaring, Karri replaced the frown with a more
business-like expression, and asked, "So, how was your day?"

"Just-- fine," Reeve replied slowly. /That action reminds me of someone,
but I can't remember who for the life of me.../ he thought to himself.

"Well, I'd better pick up where Tifa left off." Cloud pushed himself away
from the bar top and traveled down the length of the red wood to check on
other customers.

"Down to business, once again," Karri sighed. "Now lemme tell you my
idea..."
 

***********************************************************************

While Reeve and Karri discussed financial endeavors, Cloud managed the bar
and his headache, and Tifa managed (or tried to) her daughter, no one
noticed three suited men enter the bar and seat themselves at one of the
booths farthest in the back. Neither did they notice one of the men, a
blond, whisper something in a drunks ear, or saw him go white with fright.
None of them saw the drunk motion to his friends and leave with them in a
hurry. Slowly, in this manner, the bar emptied. Cloud, fighting a headache,
and Reeve and Karri, engrossed in conversation, failed to notice the
curious behavior until Tifa came back downstairs.

"I finally got Celia to go to sleep. Man, she really put up a fight this--"
She trailed off. "Where'd everyone go?"

"What?" Reeve asked, yanked out of his conversation. Tifa pointed behind
him. He looked. To his surprise, only four people remained: three men whose
suits looked awfully familiar, and a drunk who didn't seem to notice
everyone was gone. As the four watched, the suited men got up and headed
for the bar. As they passed, one of them tapped the drunk on his shoulder
and motioned for the door. Despite being drunk, he picked up the hint and
immediately stumbled away.

"Hello, there," one of them said smiling cheerfully. He was the tallest in
the group, with unruly blond hair and icy blue eyes that did not reflect
the smile he wore. When they reached the bar, they spread out, the blond
between Karri and Reeve, the other two on their other sides. Karri
stiffened when the blond brushed against, and kept her eyes straight ahead.

"What do you want?" Tifa asked, hostility plain in her voice.

"Oh, nothing much, my lady," the blond replied in a charming way. "Just one
little thing and we'll be gone."

"And what is that?" Cloud asked cautiously. Underneath the counter, he felt
about for his extra sword. The man noticed the movement.

"Keep your hands on the counter," he snapped. Slowly, Cloud complied and
pressed his palms flat against the bar. Something about the men's behavior
warned him not to make any rash moves.

"I repeat, what do you want?" he asked again.

The blond smiled. He placed a half-comradely, half-commanding arm around
Reeve's shoulders and replied, "Just the mayor here. So long as everyone
cooperates, no one gets hurt."

"Sure," Reeve replied before anyone could respond, "but after one thing."

"Please, elaborate."

"Who are you from?"

The blond grinned. "A fair exchange." He straightened. "Heidegger."

"I thought--" Tifa gasped.

"That he exploded with Proud Clod? No such luck," the hit man replied.
"There was one escape pod, and he got to it before Scarlet could." He
shrugged. "No big loss. Anyways..." He began to move for the door, pulling
Reeve with him. He stopped abruptly, however when something clicked.

"I don't believe you're going anywhere."

"Very smooth!" the blond laughed. "I couldn't even tell you had a gun on
you. But shooting me would only end up in getting yourself shot." At that
moment, another hit man, a brunette, drew his pistol and pressed it against
the back of her skull.

"Put it down, Karri," Reeve commanded. She ignored him, a muscle in her
cheek twitching furiously. He tried again. "Put it down."

After a second, she complied, and let the pistol dangle useless from her
index finger. The brunette plucked it away from her and removed his gun
from her skull. The blond began pulling Reeve to the doorway again.

"A pleasure doing business with you," he called out after him.

Reeve did his best to remain calm, which wasn't easy. The sudden knowledge
that Heidegger was still alive made all sorts of questions come into the
light. /Why did it take him so long to attack me? Where could he have
hidden his forces? If he has these Turks in service (I knew the suits were
familiar), what else does he have up and running? And how the hell did
Karri have a gun on her without anyone knowing?/ Too many questions and not
enough answers. Even so, all were instantly pushed aside when a strange
object was thrown through the door.

"What the hell--" the blond Turk started. He never had a chance to finish,
though, because the object began belching forth plumes of gas. Reeve and
the Turks started coughing as soon as it hit them. "Tear gas!" the shortest
Turk, raven-haired, shouted.

From outside the bar five people entered, clad in gas masks and carrying
rifles. "Stay where you are!" the one in the lead commanded.

Cloud ignored the order. He drew his Buster sword from beneath the counter
where it lay hidden and leapt over the bars counter. The safety of his
friend was the only thing on his mind as he ran recklessly into the
spreading tear gas. Tears sprung unbidden to his eyes almost immediately,
but because of his Mako-enhanced body, it didn't effect him nearly as badly
as the others.

The five strangers leveled their rifles at Cloud and began firing.
Thankfully for the warrior, the gas impaired their vision, and most bullets
didn't even come close. Knowing time was precious, he rushed the Turk who
still had his grip on Reeve. Both were doubled over in tearful agony.

Cloud caught Reeve around the waist and ripped him away from the hit man,
slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The Turk drew a gun
from his jacket, aiming for Reeve, but Cloud slashed out at the hand before
the trigger could be pulled.

A screech was ripped from the Turks throat, and he recoiled quickly from
the SOLDIER. Cloud didn't bother to see if he scored a fatal hit; he turned
to run back to the bar. Another gas bomb sailed past him and exploded with
another fog of gas.

Still at the bar, Tifa and Karri leaned against the counter, rubbing their
eyes and coughing violently. "We have to get out of here!" Tifa shouted
over the din of gunfire.

Cloud leapt over the counter again and headed for the door between the
shelves. Tifa and Karri followed hot on his heels. Behind them, the Turks
began to fire back at the strangers. As she ran up the stairs leading to
her apartments, Tifa thought she heard Karri grunt in pain behind her. But
the thought of her daughter in danger pushed the sound from her memory
quickly.

Upstairs, the sword-wielding warrior kicked open the door to his apartments
and hurried inside with his human luggage. He set the Mayor down on the
couch and began to issue orders.

"Tifa, go get Celia and her things. If you can fit some other supplies in
there, too, do it. Karri, stay here and watch Reeve. I'll get our materia
and some other stuff." The two former Avalanche members disappeared in
opposite directions.

Karri knelt slowly knelt next to Reeve, wincing as she did so, and laid a
hand on his shoulder as he tried to get the tear gas out of his system.
Downstairs, the fire fight began dying out.

Through his tears, Reeve mistook the look of pain on her face as worry and
said between coughs, "They know... what...they're doing."

"I sure hope so," the musician muttered softly in reply.

Just as the gunfire ceased completely, Cloud and Tifa reappeared in the
living room. Tifa carried a little girl, her face wet with tears and her
eyes wide with terror, and a knapsack straining at the seams. Cloud had a
larger, if possible, sword strapped to his back, and another knapsack in
about the same condition as Tifa's.

"You okay to move?" Cloud asked Reeve. With one last cough, the Mayor
nodded and got to his feet. Karri followed much slower, using the couch for
support.

"This way," Tifa directed, and led the way to a small door that opened to a
secret set of emergency stairs. Tifa went first, with Celia, followed by
Reeve, Karri, and Cloud, who took the tail, keeping a sharp eye behind
them. While they hurried through the secret passage and then back outside,
their pursuers tore through their home. Once out, they ran as swiftly and
as silently as possible to the forest's edge. No one had been posted
outside the bar as guards, so they slipped away undetected. When they had
reached the woods, Karri was lagging visibly behind.

Reeve noticed this and turned to her in concern. "Are you okay?"

She nodded and replied breathlessly, "Of course..." before abruptly
slumping to the ground. Reeve caught her instinctively.

"Guys. . ." he called out to his friends. They turned and watched as one of
Reeve's hands came away slick with blood. "...I think we have a problem..."
 

***********************************************************************
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First Written: Thursday, November 18, 1999 (6:18:53 PM)

~
Winter