Another step up the mountainside…
Another weary step and I am that much closer to the summit. The cold blisters my flesh, makes my skin crack and bleed. My nails are ragged and torn from scrambling on rocks. The black cloak around me does nothing to banish the hellish cold.
Yet I take another step.
I do not know why I walk this way, but everything in my soul cries out that I do so. I couldn't resist even if I tried. My entire existence depends on the next step, everything I am calls out that word, that word that has burnt itself into my mind.
ReunionI remember… I remember my birth. Rebirth, perhaps. I don't know. A room distorted by the glass tube that contained me. Books- a thousand, thousand books. And that word… Reunion. I remember seeing my brothers there. Seeing this tattoo for the first time, my only link to an identity.
My name is Eight. This is my story, recited to an uncaring world as I clamber over yet another obstacle on this narrow mountain path.
I remember being released from the chamber. Falling to the floor as my legs collapsed under me, weak from months or years of floating in solution. I remember my first taste of pain as my head hit the edge of a table. I remember coughing up the thick, green liquid as my lungs drew their first taste of air. I remember…
Another step.
I remember walking the town. Staggering when I could find the strength, trying to find him. I knew him, a set of memories that haunted me like a waking dream. I saw the town, this town that I wandered burning and blackened. I saw him standing there, silver hair glinting in the firelight, long and slender blade effortlessly cutting through those fools who dared to face him. I saw his eyes, green and catlike, glittering with an inner fire. I saw these things and knew that I had to find him, all along that word pounding in my skull. Reunion.
Another step.
Some of the townsfolk tried to talk to me. Their voices were hard to make out through the veil of pain that separated me from the world. They asked questions without form that were meaningless to me. With all the strength I had I gasped out that word, that hateful, glorious word. They didn't understand.
My brothers, those others that bore my curse, I saw. They too were weak, helpless. When I managed to drag myself to one of them they would gasp out that word and I would understand. It feels now like years ago.
Another step.
A stranger came into town. I felt him, even as I was huddled with pain and hunger in a building across the square. Pulling myself across the room I saw him through a window. He was tall and blonde, a huge sword strapped across his back. But his eyes! His eyes were the same as the man from my dreams! Deep blue rather than green, they also burned with an unquenchable fire. Once I saw him I knew he was one of us. I knew he followed the man from my dreams. I knew he sought the Reunion.
The stranger visited us all in turn. I envied his strength. He came to the house in which I stayed. He talked to me, asking me my purpose, my meaning. I could but gasp at him 'Reunion'.
The stranger left. Left us in our weakness. He who knew us, who was one of us, left us to die. Finally, we saw our path. We were to seek, not wait. Gathering up my fellows, I left that place. I left and never looked back.
Another step.
We knew where to go and so we walked north. Neither rain nor snow stopped us. We were attacked, starved, abused and hated; yet on we walked. When one of us fell, another would raise them to continue. We walked until the land met the sea and with all the strength we could muster, we built a crude raft from driftwood. Three of us died with the effort.
The nights grew longer and the air grew colder as we sailed, cold, thin hands propelling us inch by inch through the water. Waves crashed down upon us, carrying the weakest ones to their deaths. The rest of us clung on, refusing to die.
Another step.
We reached the far shore, the call to Reunion now painfully strong. The crudely lashed together logs crunched into the sands as we continued our long walk. The ground here was covered with snow and ice, our fingers started turning black as we journeyed. Those of us who were unlucky enough not to have stolen footwear lost toes in the bitter, bitter cold. The wind cut though our black cloaks like paper. But we walked on, the call to Reunion like a thousand fishhooks pulling us to our final destination.
Another step.
I hit my shin on yet another rock, bringing my thoughts back to the present. Looking down I can see that the new cut there seems invisible against the patchwork of wounds that cover my legs and body. I look up at the narrow mountain path in front of me. I am so close to the summit, so close to reunion, that the pain is nearly unbearable. One of us collapses in front of me, rolling slightly downhill. I barely notice his fall, passing his body like it was just another rock.
Another step.
I can see the top now. The man from my dreams is there already; arms open to the sky, almost in prayer. The air throbs with power, words whip in the wind past me. Reunion. Jenova. Mother. Each word causes me to spasm, with pain or joy I am uncertain, but I walk onwards still.
Another step.
The first of us reaches the summit and advances towards the man from my dreams. He moves like a daemon, faster than anything I though possible. His blade lashes and my brother falls into two halves, the top half falling off of the edge and spiralling down towards the ground, miles below.
Another step.
Another brother in front of me collapses, his body almost hitting mine. I stumble backwards, barely keeping myself from falling. Whatever reserves of strength I was using to lead me here are almost gone. Tears run down my bruised and battered face.
Another step.
Behind us on the trail, comes the Stranger from town. I can see his burning eyes from here.
Another step.
I smile as I reach the summit and face down the Daemon. I smile at him and his eyes lock with mine. He looks almost confused as he brings his deadly blade around in an arc that I know will secure my death.
Another step.
I'm not confused anymore. This is Reunion. This is my existence.
Another s…
This is my story.