Please note: I don't own anything belonging to FFVII. The things that belong to me are certain characters such as Cameo, Cameo's parents, and Amyra. Also, the main storyline is mine too. I do not own Midgar, and any Final Fantasy characters and settings featured in future chapters. I hope to include many characters from the FFVII series, but they will not appear during this first chapter so look forward to seeing them as we progress :)

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Chapter 1: Limbo's Hidden Path

I was ten when I first acknowledged her. I've been waiting for the time that she would acknowledge me too. Always waiting, never giving up hope. Like some obsessed fool I would stare constantly as she provided us all with food and water. She's the only one that cared about me, not personally however. It's not as if I've ever spoken to her, or been even a foot away from her. She hasn't even glanced at me, probably because all the attention she gets from the more daring people in the slums, there's no room for her to notice me. If only. If only Daddy were here then I wouldn't have to feel so alone.

My father perished to an illness when I was only four years old. I can remember how much I missed him, how I wished that he'd sing me one last song to help me sleep. My mother lived a little longer than he did. I can't remember her, not really. All I can remember is how awkward I used to feel around her. As if I could never do anything right she used to push me away. To this day I've never understood why. Why she didn't love me, like she loved Daddy, like Daddy loved me. Ever since he died, her health just became worse and worse. She simply withered away. Some lady took me away the day she died so I didn't see anything. Some men took her, I hope they were nice... It plays in my head all the time, where they took her and what they did with her.

I still live here, in the home where my parents died. I don't mind. The slums are filled with woe, bereavement, desperation and befoulment. I used to wonder why people would stay here, but it's clear to me now that you just can't walk out of Midgar. My Daddy used to tell me stories about monsters that live beyond the sector, that's why so many people stick around. It's sad. If I could leave this place then I wouldn't have to live the way I do. Maybe there's a way, maybe there's not. In a place that lacks ambition, could there be a way?

It's late morning, the smell of garbage and pollution travels in the air. I can smell it, everyday. I've never really gotten over it even with the years that I've lived here. You'd think that the smell would vanish, but it never has. It just becomes worse, developing with the bereaved, the piles of vomit from the sick, the scent of old people and the common lack of hygiene. Life's hard in the slums. I wonder if life is this bad in other Sectors.

"Oof," I uttered as I wondered what obstacle I had collided with.

As I looked in front of me I noticed a scruffy old man. "Move brat," the old man bellowed at me.

"My name is Cameo okay," I replied in one of my least satisfied tones. My day had been bad enough as it was, I'd run out of food on the third day of the week and couldn't get anymore until the fifth day had passed.

"Who cares," the old man continued with disdain as he laughed.

"Story of my life," I said bellow my breathe. It was true I thought. Nobody cares about me, the only person that would give me an ounce of respect was Amyra and my Daddy. The only people that care are the ones that aren't there.

As I thought to myself I looked down at the ground, and then at my shoes. They were worn and outgrown and I could see my toes clearly, this is on account of the countless walking I've done over the years mainly to pass time. It's hard to get a new pair of shoes without shoe makers and gil. There were holes everywhere, even the surface of my shoes had holes, which probably undermines the reason why you're supposed to wear them. They keep my feet warmer than when I'm not wearing any I guess.

I looked up at the sky above me as I considered my life, what depressed me more is that I wasn't actually looking at the sky. Just some dark plate above us all. I closed my eyes as I tried to visualise what the real sky might look like. I heard that it's blue, with white smoky things called clouds. It was hard to imagine since I've never seen one. As I continued to visualise a song played in my head.

"If only, if only the world could be ours,

Forget all the money, forget all the cars,

I'd bring you the sun, the moon and the stars,

I'd fight 'till the end, because you're worth all the scars."

"But then you forgot about me," I muttered aloud as I took a deep breath. I didn't want the grumpy old man to hear, I didn't fancy playing victim to his belittlement, not now. So I swallowed my sorry and carried on walking.

I'm here. The place I wish I never had to return to. The place where I felt most defended, but in spite of that it's the place where I feel most afraid. I stood in front of the metal shelter that I call home, a giant cylinder tin can no doubt. It was beside a big pile of rocks, a neglected tin can that my parents claimed before I was born.

I have no energy. Life today had been mentally challenging for me. I could feel the tears swell up inside my eyes as I walked into my home and sat on a frail blanket. You could barely make out the colours upon it. It was a ragged as my shoes, the clothes I wore, the slums itself. It wouldn't of made an inch of a difference if I slept on the dirt at night. But it belonged to them, my parents, so it belonged to my heart.

Sitting on my old blanket I brought my knees to my chest wrapping my meatless arms around them. At that point my neck just surrendered causing my head to strike at my knees with quite some force. My hair flailed slightly and covered practically my whole body as if making an attempt to block out my surroundings.

I wept, I wept until my eyes were sore, my nose was blocked, until my arms were soaked and my head was throbbing. Suddenly I found myself lying on the ground, slowly drifting as tears still crept from my eyes, then all of a sudden, I lay in total slumber.

"Daddy," shouted a voice from a little girl, "Daddy where are you?"

"I'm here darling, don't be afraid," a man responded.

"Why doesn't she love me?" questioned the little girl as her eyebrows frowned and her voice squeaked in sorrow.

The man sighed, and then crouched to meet the height of the little girl. "She does love you, she's just not very happy right now, that's all."

The girls expression hadn't changed, "don't I make her happy?"

"Of course you make her happy, you make me happy."

Shaking her head in disbelief she whimpered steadily, "but she won't look at me."

"Wake up and see with your heart. Just wake up."

"Wake up, wake up, wake up," what was that distant voice? It sounds so young and joyous. It makes me happy just hearing it, but where am I? "You're going to miss all the excitement,"

Suddenly I woke up rubbing my sore, tired eyes. So swollen from all the crying, it's hard to believe one could cry so much, but in this life, it's natural I guess.

"Well, are you coming?"

"Huh?" I raised my head off the ground and to my surprise there stood a small girl towering over me in my shelter. She looked no more than 7 years old, with a big grin on her face, possibly the most cheerful child in Sector 5. She wore a ragged pink dress with colours more faded than the slums atmosphere. Her light brown hair was short and scruffy, as scruffy as mine except I've never had a hair cut in my life which is why it's so long. Her bangs reach down to her big blue eyes that were peering at me with excitement. "What's all the commotion about?" I tried to act as enthusiastic as the little girl, but in all attempts you could say I most certainly failed, I looked like I had woken up after months of being comatosed after all.

The girl seemed fine with my zombified appearance as she plucked my hand almost out of nowhere and hauled me across to the opposite ends of the slums, avoiding all the home made buildings that were displayed in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Some were made from tin, others from discarded metal and rubble, but they were definitely more creative and bigger than where I lived. What could I do being so young and weak, I'm happy with my tin can considering how long it's lasted. It's just me after all, so I don't need a lot of space.

Still dragging me by the hand the little girl occasionally called out, "come on," as if she gave me a lot of options, her grasp is stronger than most that's for sure. I was reluctant to follow at first, but there was just something inside me that wanted to, whether it was down to her cheerful spirit or her determination that caused me to allow her the opportunity to almost tear my arm from its socket.

"Where are you taking me?"

"You'll see," the girl responded causing me to feel a little anxious. What 'excitement' was she talking about? Will I feel excited too?

We reached the South East ends of the Sector 5 Slums. There was a gathering of people, which brought a thought to mind that the slums were quite bare on the way. Some were in bunches discussing the occurrence, some were standing solo all gawking at the same target, and others were crowding around something or someone.

I couldn't see a lot so I stood behind one of the spectators, standing on my tiptoes to get a better glance. It was a person, but who?

"What is that girl doing?"

"Hmm?" I had only just realised that in my curious state I was grasping onto one of the observers. As I look around I notice many faces looking at me with questioning eyes. My face went a little red with all the awkwardness that began drifting through the air as one by one the individuals' turnt around to see what the other was looking at. All of a sudden almost everyones eyes were upon me. "Umm, so sorry," I uttered in a timid voice trying my best not to make eye contact. I lowered my head and backed off distancing myself from the crowd.

After I had slightly gotten over the sheer embarrassment of being in the spotlight I realised that the little girl from before had vanished, although I could hear someone similar in the background of chatter from the community, so I knew she was about. "Over there," I thought I heard her say. I looked towards the crowd feeling a bit left out, then at that moment the crowd became wider, like an earthquake emerging from the ground. I realised that everyone was dispersing leaving room for our guest to walk by them. Walk by them, why would he be walking over here? I hope I haven't caused a stir.

I prepared myself for what I was about to endure, with a selection of events in my head. Maybe it was a Shinra Troop, or maybe it's the Presidents Advisor or one of them shady people that I've seen in the area a few times either way it's probably someone of more importance than me. I didn't want to meet anyone from Shinra, they're just so intimidating. A big scary looking man came walking out from between an opening of people. I didn't want to mess with him. He was dressed like a Shinra troop, except his uniform looked better and more superior. Everything about him was huge, his hands, his face, his body was gigantic. He didn't wear any headgear like the usual Shinra Troops so I could see his short black hair, and there wasn't a lot of it. He wore no expression on his face, he just looked down at me with his dark blue eyes as he approached, moving slightly to the left to let the person behind him through.

At once my mind went blank, my heart sunk into my stomach and my skin became clammy. I didn't know what to do like an animal chased into a corner. Is this real? Am I really seeing this? Am I alive right now? It took a while for me to gain some of my senses before I concluded that this really was happening. In front of me stood a beautiful woman with glowing brown skin, her long curly dark brown hair glistened in the dense light of Sector 5, her face glowed as much as her skin itself as she smiled down at me with warmth. She was tall and slender and wore a long shimmering red dress down to here feet. She stuck out like a sore thumb out here, but that didn't bother her, nor did the moist humid air, the uneasy smell, the darkness and the misery. She was always so humble and modest, everyone had a sense of gratification everytime she arrived. At least this was something to look forward to. But for me, normally I'd lurk in the shadows, the fact that she's standing here infront of me was terrifying. I didn't know what to do, what to say, where to look. I was a frozen mess.

"Hello?" she asked. I couldn't believe my ears, she had spoken a word to me, of all people. This was like a dream without dreaming, what's going on? All I could do was stare, stare into her green-hazel eyes, I must have looked so strange to her. "Are you okay," she continued, "would you like some water? Food?" For a moment I thought I was retaliating with words, but it seemed that those weren't genuine words, they were muddled up in my mind trying to escape my mouth but they never did. I just gawked constantly at her in awe.

"Answer her girl," roared the man that escorted the celebrity. It didn't take much from him to startle me. The words in my head just popped out like they were people being pushed through a door.

"Ye, yes ma'am," I wasn't even sure what I was agreeing to, most of the questions slipped my mind as soon as I heard them, the rest never made it to the gate.

"Get her some supplies, Kei," she requested. This made me even more in love.

"Yes ma'am," grunted the guard, now known to me as Kei. He obeyed her and walked towards the supplies leaving us alone.

"She's giving me supplies," I thought, as if it was 1,000 gil.

"What's your name?" She said to me fondly.

"Yo, you can call me what you want," 'what an idiot' I thought. Why didn't I just tell her my name? I'm such a goof.

"What you want? Sorry to offend but it's not the best of name," she laughed softly.

In the embarrassment words spilled out my mouth, "Oh no, you didn't offend me ma'am. That's not my name. So sorry, how embarrassing," I was beginning to prefer it when I couldn't talk. Just tell her your name, I thought. I had to calm myself down. "C,Cameo, that's my name, sorry, wow" I said, relieved that I'd pulled through in the end. I then wowed the poor lady approximately 5 times before admitting out loud, "I wish my life was like yours…"

I noticed Kei returning with the supplies that was required then I suddenly diverted my attention back towards the lady in my precense. She looked deep into my eyes as if she was trying to put me in a trance and said, "If you have a dream, chase it, chase it until it stops running, only you can get it, nobody else can get it for you, nor can they take it from you. The only obstacle that can get in your way is you." Then, out of the blue she smiled at me and walked away into the crowd who watched her leave. It seems like they were staring at us the whole time.

"Well?" asked the man sternly as he held out the water and rations, "do you want the rations or not?"

"Sorry sir," I responded, too afraid to make him ponder anymore. He probably had better things to do than to stand there waiting and it was obvious that he thought the same. I quickly took the food, nervously bowed my head and thanked him before running off. I couldn't find myself looking back, as much as I wanted to I just couldn't, I was too overwhelmed.

I ran back to my home and sat at its opening alone. I was wondering what had just happened. I began to slowly nibble at the food that was given to me. It was just a bread roll, but it was of a decent size and was better than having zero food. I only ate quarter of it after I remembered that I hadn't any food left and I'd already eaten this morning so I saved the rest for the following day. I grasped the plastic cup of water with both hands and started to sip at it, slowly and gratefully, I wanted it to last. Since I had nothing to do I decided to go to bed early so once I'd put down the plastic cup I dragged myself across the ground onto my blanket and laid there thinking of today's events still wondering if it had even happen. This was surely the best day of my whole life.

This was the calmest I had ever felt. Amyra, my greatest idol had noticed me, she knows my name, she gave me food, she came to me. But then one word came to mind, the last thing that stuck to me for the rest of the night. It was a ray of light, but also a dark spirit with no specific meaning, but it stuck like glue,

"I wish."

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