FINAL FANTASY 7- THE NOVEL

DISCLAIMER-- I do not own any Final Fantasy ware nor do I have any affiliations with SquareEnix.

CHAPTER ONE

Nibelheim.
A scorched land overrun with two battling armies. A once proud city now abdicates its glory to the destruction of Midgarian and Wutain forces. Platinum gunners race across the green fields in pursuit of the opponent. Military might crushes the magnificence and beauty of the Nibellian hillsides, raining heartless death on all citizens. Regular three-striper privates haul their M16s as they doubletime alongside their steel tanks. Their minds are cruel, yet manipulated. They do not see the death they deal not just to the Wutai bastards but to the helpless Nibellians caught in the crossfire; they do not see this. For their almighty president sitting fat and happy on his throne in the nuclear city of Midgar has shrouded them into a degradation that has consumed their humility. They brandish their rifles and fire with expressionless faces.
The Western forces are no different. Supreme commander Master Godo enforces the same harsh treatment on his people as does President ShinRa, his opponent. Why the two superpowers do not coincide in cooperation is answered in the very reason they are bashing their brains out on Nibelheim's fields. Hidden deep within the surrounding mountains is rumored an ancient monolith of vast resources one could only dream of. A source of income for the two giants and exactly the spark to start off a full-scale war. The citizens and military personnel on both sides were undoubtedly shocked by the unexpected proposals of war and refused to licit their approvals.
Dark and terrible times resulted from this response as both ShinRa and Godo slaughtered their own people and then belittled them for their "stupidity". Arenas were set up in the civic centers of Midgar at which bloody beheadings of countless men and women were issued. Inside the Grand Pagoda of Wutai, Godo himself ripped bodies open and hung the dead carcasses in his suites. Both powers rounded every male capable of using a gun or sword and donned him a uniform. Blue on the Midgar; orange on the West.
Jargon and manipulation immediately followed the surge of new personnel. The men were told of nothing but hate and misfortune towards the opposing side. Those who failed to acknowledge the emotions were chopped into bits and nailed to the walls above the beds over the other soldiers as a symbol to the other cadets; a foreboding symbol.
Soon the cards were set and ShinRa and Godo were prepared to duel a sudden death on the other.
All who stood their ground were to be cut down.
The winner take all.

Cloud Strife brushed away a fly from his forehead, getting a thick mixture of sweat on his palm. His uniform was damp and pressed tightly across his chest, the sweat killing him as it slowly trickled down his back. The fly returned to its nest right above his left eyebrow, and he let it be. What the hell did it matter anyway? He was dying out here. It was hot, humid, and for some reason swampy. He grew up in this wonderful city and he never remembered it being swampy...or for that matter being so damned humid. The sweat was starting to get unbearable, and he considered standing up and adjusting his clothes; however he knew that that wasn't quite the right thing to do at this present stage.
He was hiding underneath a crudely-made trench that stretched a couple of miles north to south just outside Hanover County in central Nibelheim. The samurai were very close to his and his squad's position, and snipers were most likely everywhere. A shot in the head was more drastic to him than having to endure a slow, continuous trail of sweat down his back and legs; so, he burrowed himself deeper underneath the trench.
A flashy movement occured out of the corner of his eye, and he saw Private Simms edge under cover of the trench towards his position. He stopped and turned to another private who was shivering in the mud, tears streaming from his cheeks. He crouched lower under the trench and spoke a few words with him.
Cloud sighed and laid down his M16, his palms were becoming too slick to hold it. He rubbed them on his trousers which had quite a stunning silver stripe down the seam of it. He always thought this was a neat feature to the uniform which was a rare positive connotation to the military, and he wished he could keep his uniform when he was done with the services.
That thought then transitioned into why he signed up as an elite officer for ShinRa's SOLDIER program. He was forced into the army of course- every man was. But ShinRa himself selected him as a worthy candidate for a Captain ranking- a highly acclaimed honor of SOLDIER. Only one rank was higher and Sephiroth had already acquired that position.
Sephiroth.
He looked around and saw the great Sephiroth crouched underneath the same trench, muscles tight, sword in hand- he was the only one on Midgar's side without a gun simply because he didn't need one. Cloud looked at him and smiled knowingly. There was a titan if he ever saw one. Sephiroth was a magnificent creature of insurmountable strength. He was agile, lithe. He was at the same time destructive and terrible in his killings. No creature could touch him; they could try and many did...to no avail. Yet, the queer thing about him was that he stalked his prey to the point of insanity and rarely attacked. When he did, though, one desired not to be around when that time came.
Most people wanted desperately to keep him at arms length and refused to communicate with him; however, Cloud had formed somewhat of a bond with the titan. Something which astounded people but also caused them to admire Captain Strife for his bravery. Over the years of knowing each other Sephiroth and Cloud seemed by most people to have become close friends.
The fly now was starting to annoy him more so than the antagonizing sweat. He smacked himself on the brow, and the world turned grey for a second then regained focus. The fly escaped the hand; five seconds later, it returned buzzing its wings angrily. "Shit, that hurt," he grumbled angrily and opened his canteen. A third of it was full, and he drank a morsel of that. The water siezed him by the throat as it passed his tongue. He licked his lips and grasped his gun.
As he gazed at a small hole in the trench, he saw vaguely the wishing well in the center of the streets. Suddenly, a tear flowed out of his right eye. The well brought back haunting memories of a town he once loved for its prosperousness and good-natured citizens. He wondered if the girl he met at that well, the girl he still dreamt about in his bunker, he wondered if she still remembered him. She probably did even though that was six years ago. Back when he found out he had to move to Midgar because of the military situation. He shrugged that memory off and focused instead on her. Tifa was beautiful back then, she damned well was beautiful now; and he wanted anything to see her now.
As he recalled his visit at the well, Private Simms grabbed his shoulder. Cloud almost fired off his M16.
"You son-of-a-bitch! Call my name out next time."
"Sorry, Cap'n, sir. Er, Sephiroth told me to tell you that we are about ready to make our move, sir."
A look of disbelief came over Cloud's face. He looked up and down the trench at the long line of anticipating and anxious bodies of men who seemed to be seeing their lives flashing before their eyes. "We're...Simms, do you...mean to tell me...that we are going over the edge?"
Simms nodded gravely. "Yes, sir. I am afraid the time has come. The Great Sephiroth is wondering if you are ready to attempt this."
Cloud looked toward Sephiroth, and the latter turned his head briefly and returned the gaze. Cloud turned back to the private. "Where to shall we head once our commander sounds the bell?"
Simms looked to the west, seemingly through the trench wall. "The samurai are hiding in their own crudely-made trench. Right now, they are the last remaining section of Godo's forces. More are coming, but that is at least three days from now." He took a deep breath and exhaled sharply. "Now is our time to shine, sir, if we claim central Nibelheim away from General Wataki, we win the war. There unfortunately is only one way to do this."
Cloud swallowed his saliva bitterly. "Steal their trench."
Simms nodded gravely. "We outnumber them three-to-one, sir, but..."
"Don't say that shit, private!" Cloud panted and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "If we must undergo this, then we wil fucking win this thing fair and square! Simms, tell General Sephiroth the time is ripe. That is all!"
"Yes sir!" Simms saluted and took off.
Cloud then turned to his men and called them all to him. Most were strangely excited; others looked likely to take a shit in their pants. All were eager, though, to end this battle once and for all. "All right men, the time has come. And what a time it shall be. But don't be scared or hesitant. Just think- Nibelheim is ours once we get rid of these ninjas, and the citizens held hostage in this city will be able to live! We just need to do one more thing- and that is we fight. Men of all ages of future generations to come will look back and say that this was the greatest generation of them all, that we saved a land from evil, that we are the almighty heroes!" The party cheered and smiled for the first time in months. "Whether we live or die, we will always be remembered for our bravery today! Now, let's sieze that goddamned trench!"
"Yeah!"
The men crawled hurriedly toward their positions and brandished their guns. Anxiousness melted, temptation flourishing they gazed battleready at the trench's wall before them. Cloud looked over at Sephiroth on the far side, the latter looked back and sounded the bell.

The clouds had departed that morning leaving behind an endless sea of blue. The topaz sun gleamed like a gold coin in the sea, and its radiant shafts of light enhanced the color of everything crawling on the fields. The greeness of the fields were enlightened, the brick buildings of the city were enriched, the sense of color substituting for the prescence of silence below on the ground.
Truly a day of heaven.
Not a sound stirred until the whistle blew, then the ants poured out of their mound, hungrily absorbing the color and firing their anger out on an obsolescent foe.

As the first wave of Midgarians transcended the wall, a bullet snapped the neck off of Cpl Hodgins sending his head flying back into the trench and his body following after it. Walters and Mitchell had their stomachs split in two, blood coming out of three holes in each body. They unfortunately survived the bullets and now were consumed in pain. Their voices rang sharp and clear in bloodcurdling shrieks. Five other corporals received a fatal wound at the same time- two in the groin, three in the head. The same gunner sent a .22 caliber straight into the eye of Sgt Hickum who crashed into Private Mallone. The latter was then rocketed eight times in the gut by a second gunner, and both Midgarians fell into their own blood.
Cloud ran and ran the whole way, because he knew if he stopped it was over. "Hurry, faster. Move it private! You want to live, don't you?" He shouted at his companions and winced when a bullet drilled itself through the neck of Sgt Jenners, followed by two in each eye, and another in his nose. The battered head fell off and was squashed underneath its body.
As if the bullets weren't enough a shell exploded to Cloud's left, sending him facefirst into the sludge. He knew he was a dead man. The trench was a hundred yards to his north, and he crawled as quickly as he could. Suddenly a faceless corpse landed in front of him. The body had a stump of an arm left and half of a leg. Simms found him and shouted, "They're throwing fuckin' grenades, sir!"
Another blast blew up six bodies to the high heavens. "Hurry, Cap'n!" Simms pulled him up and took off in a separate northerly direction. Three blasts went off at the same time killing twenty people and leaving eighteen surviving with stumps for arms and legs.
Two more waves of Midgarians had issued out of the trench and followed the first wave, which had already lost ninty men. They too met similar fates as the Wutains riddled them down. A dying Midgarian pulled his last energy and, seeing how close he was, threw a bomb into the trench. Four samurai died in an orange plume, their carcasses splattering the trench's walls. The dying soldier fell into the street as the carcasses exploded. Sixty of the first wave made it to the enemy trench and brandished their swords. However, the Wutains fired their guns at the opposition. Lt. Gordorff 's body went skywards as a shotgun blast ripped apart his testicles, crushed his stomach, ripped open both of his lungs and his heart, and sailed out of his mouth. His bloody body knocked over three soldiers, who were shot dead afterwards, and sailed backwards toppling over four other men until it smacked the street and spilling blood everywhere. In unison, fifteen Midgarians were riddled in firepower before finally three corporals decapitated three Wutain soldiers. Twenty other Midgarians leapt into the trench and slashed the gunners into pieces.
Cloud after wasting his ammo on six bodies, brandished his powerful Buster Sword and whirled it around the samurai all the while shouting, "Come on! Bring the fuckers down!"
The Wutains could not get their katanas out in time to stop the savage onslaught and were cut down in their own trench. The second and third wave arrived and helped finished off the Wutain first wave. As the last samurai clutched his bleeding throat, still alive even though blood was gushing out, the second and third wave of the Wutai appeared, swords raised. The battle ensued- heads lopping off, body parts flying. One of the unfortunate Midgarian to suffer a fatal blow was Simms. He swung his sword high clanging a Wutain soldier's sword, he then brought it down low and parried. Unfortunately a samurai caught him in the back. The one he was fighting with caught him in the stomach. Together both samurai ripped their swords out in unison, sending Simm's body in two pieces on the floor.
Cloud was slashed in the back, the warmness of the blood flowing everywhere. He stumbled, ducked underneath the second attack of the samurai, and plunged his sword straight into the belly of the samurai. He took it out and swung it in an arc killing two potential backstabbers.
Suddenly, all quieted in the trench as both sides stopped fighting abruptly. The only sounds were the dying shrieks of the wounded and the buzzing of flies over the corpses. Both sides looked up at Sephiroth and General Watsaki engaged in a fierce death duel. Cloud noted that Sephiroth was being coy in battling the general. He dodged all of the strikes and delivered some of his own. Both sides watched the two with nervousness and ill ease. Sharp clangs of metal drowned the moaning cries of the dying as Sephiroth uppercutted, downshifted, and brought his sword in arc. He then did a surprise whirlwind kick to the general's stomach and drove the sword into the general's sternum. The general convulsed under the pressure and coughed his blood up in large spews. Blood came out of his mouth, eyes, and nose until finally he shivered and died in the street.
The Wutain soldiers looked at the titan, towards the Midgarian soldiers, and promptly dropped their weapons.

The war was over.
Nibelheim was saved.
Yet, the soldiers fighting for Midgar lost the war as well.
Days later after the trench battle, President ShinRa guided by the Turks arrived in central Nibelheim to offer his congratulatories. Cloud knew, though, that there was something else in this midst. He had recovered from his flesh wound and was sad for the deaths of over six hundred of his men. Five hundred more had made it, but they were haggard and ill at ease. They were not at all thrilled to see their president roaming the streets of Nibelheim, nor were they thrilled that the Turks were here as well. "That only means trouble ahead, sir," a private noted to Cloud in which he agreed.
Not only was he sad of the deaths, but he was deeply sad that Tifa was not here. She had moved to Midgar to escape the hostage situation, which was a pretty smart move but Cloud was still angry. He wished she were here right now, hard to believe it was six years. Her beauty was the most precious thing he had ever seen and he wished he could see it again.
After a day of sleeping, Cloud awoke and found an ungrateful sight. Bodies of Nibellian citizens, Midgarian troops, and a few Turkish bodyguards lay in the streets; their trail of blood splattered all over the streets. It was a sight from hell- women and children brutally decapitated and hacked to pieces. He was glad Tifa wasn't here at all for her sake, but he began to wonder what the hell happened here. Sephiroth was nowhere to be seen, as was President ShinRa. The streets of Nibelheim were dark and desolate and populated only by the bodies.
"What the hell happened here?"
"Sephiroth went insane."
The voice scared Cloud, and its prescence created an ominous aura to the desolate streets. In front of him was a Turk with a silver cane topped with a shiny emerald. Reno of the Turks was by far the fiercest of his kind and equally as dangerous as Sephiroth. No one messed around with Reno or had any business to deal with him.
Cloud looked at him and felt himself chilled by Reno's cold stare. "What do you mean he went insane? What happened here last night?"
Reno studied Cloud carefully and tilted his cane back and forth on the soil. "A massive slaughter occurred last night. The president was almost killed last night as well. To no avail, though. I got John out of here safely and then turned my attention to that madman. I stared at his bloodless eyes that were burning like the brightest hellfire, and I prepared to kill the bastard right where he stood. Any other man he would've probably cut down, but he did not to me."
"Why?And why did he do this?"
"I cannot tell you why he did not kill me, but I think it has something to do with what he became irate over. You see, after the battle he disappeared from the crowd, remember?"
"Yeah. Vaguely, but yeah."
"Well, it turns out he found what ShinRa had been looking for. That resource deposit that is actually an old nuclear reactor, something ShinRa was very pleased to discover. "
Cloud then became angry. "You mean all of us died for that petty cause? Son of a bitch! You can't be- I mean- We fought because of that?!"
Reno smiled a cruel smile. "Yes, captain, that was what you were fighting over."
"Bullshit! You can't be serious."
"I am, and don't you doubt me. I don't like people who don't take me seriously. Anyway, put that aside. There's a much more crucial matter at stake."
"What?"
"They found a mutated woman in the reactor that was actually Sephiroth's mother. It is now a product of the Lifestream called Jenova."
"The hell are you talking about?"
"All the energy Midgar produces comes from this mako energy. The Lifestream is the core part of this mako energy. And apparantly an accident happened long ago that killed his mother and is now keeping her alive in some weird state."
"She's alive? But.. why did he go insane?"
Reno looked at the heavens and then back at Cloud. "Because Midgar attempted to kill her, and they were using Sephiroth as a puppet to obtain this reactor for themselves to replenish their sources. Sephiroth figured this out and went berserk. He killed all the guards there and attempted to kill the president until I and Professor Hojo saved him from the maniac. He then slaughtered allmost everybody here and took off to god knows where."
"I still don't understand."
"Well, I'm not going to be your teacher. I've got bigger fish to fry and a girl I'm trying to get."
Reno turned and walked away to his helicopter which was parked over in the fields.
"How can you think about the opposite sex at a time when there is a madman on the loose?"
Reno stopped and grabbed Cloud's collar. "You have no idea what you're getting into. Listen, you go your way and you find out these things for yourself- for I have a feeling that you'll find out eventually."
Reno let go of Cloud and walked into the fields, leaving the latter very much bewildered.