Forgotten Memories
Chapter 1
By FallenAngelOfSalvation
As the morning sun shone brightly through the drawn drapes in the kitchen of the small cottage just outside of the Haian Mountain path, one could smell the scent of healthy flowers bedded neatly in the front garden below the window, and the clean crisp air blew a gentle breeze, making the flowers sway gently in the breeze. The resident of that house, a lonely young woman could be found out in the backyard hanging out her laundry, her raven hair swaying in the gentle breeze around her.
The young girl's name is Selena, and she has lived there for the past five years, still waiting for a single letter from an old friend she knew long ago. He promised her that he would write to her all the time, but still, no letter. Not a single one for five years. She still holds hope for the man she nearly fell in love with, because they were so close all those years ago and when he got the job opportunity of a lifetime, he made a promise that he swore on his life to keep.
Selena held the empty laundry basket against her side with one hand and with the other she brushed a strand of her dark hair behind an ear, and she heaved a sigh before turning to go back inside. One thing she wasn't expecting in her own property, by far, was a group of soldiers with rifles in her face, and that was exactly what she met when she turned. She gasped and dropped her laundry basket on the ground, bringing her hands to her mouth to hold in a scream.
When her eyes met with the dark man in the lead, memories began to flood into her mind, making her tremble in fear and confusion. Three men in blue uniform stood around one dark man with guns pointed directly in her face.
A young, vibrant face of a boy flashed through her mind, his goofy smile, and silver bangs in his face, hanging over his mysterious aquamarine eyes. The man in front of her was the exact same picture, but the face had more age lines, and in place of that charming, goofy smile and those bright eyes was a stern, emotionless glower. Dark aquamarine eyes piercing her own ocean blue ones, he looked down at her like an insect, a trouble insect in fact.
"General." One of the soldiers sounded. The man held out a gloved hand, signalling them to lower their weapons, they did just that and Selena lowered her hands, her mouth frozen halfway open. The General took one step forward and Selena took one step back, slipping over a large rock behind her and tore the end of her white dress as she fell to the ground, bottom first. Selena scrambled backwards and the General followed, reaching down suddenly to her level and grabbing her arms. She tried to scream, but nothing came out but a scratchy cry. The General grabbed her arms and pulled her up to her feet and Selena struggled out of his grip.
"General." One of the soldiers sounded once again. The General once again raised his hand and the soldier hushed. His dark eyes seemed to puncture her very soul and she felt as if he were reading her mind. He stepped closer and opened his mouth to speak.
"Silence soldier!" the General barked. The soldier snapped his mouth shut and lowered his head in shame. Selena looked frantically between everyone and then looked back at the General, she opened her mouth to speak but he beat her to it.
"What is your name?" he asked, folding his arms across his armoured chest. Selena looked almost hurt at that question and she was about to question him when she chose to answer instead, he didn't look too friendly and they all had weapons.
"Selena," she gulped before replying, in case her voice refused to work for her. The General's features froze as his eyes bore into her, and then suddenly his nose wrinkled slightly, as if he were trying to remember something. But he brought a hand up to his face and scratched his nose, then flicking his silver bangs out from in front of his eyes. Then suddenly he held out his left hand.
"Sephiroth," he stated. A soldier behind him coughed, someone else cleared his throat and Selena looked at his left hand. Suddenly Sephiroth realised what he had done and replaced his left hand with his right hand, then cleared his throat. Selena chose not to touch it anyway and he pulled his hand back. Sephiroth was then about to say something else but Selena interrupted.
"Don't you remember me?" she suddenly asked out of the blue. Sephiroth's eyes looked once again as if he were searching his memories for any sign of her, but failed and shook his head firmly.
"No,"
"Oh, maybe I have the wrong person, it has been five years," she shrugged and looked towards the ground. Sephiroth suddenly cleared his throat and said in a businesslike tone.
"We have come in need of your services, Selena, and we are hoping that you will accept," he told her. It didn't sound like he was asking her, but telling her.
"I haven't done a tour in years," Selena replied shakily.
"We will pay you a lot, Selena," he said. Selena shook her head and tried to smile, but her fear stopped her.
"Haven't you heard about what happened last time?" she asked, looking directly up into his eyes with a solemn look. "I lost my leg and three fingers, and much, much more…"
She held up her right hand with the thumb, forefinger and pinkie made of what looked like scrap metal, it had patches of bronze, silver and all kinds of dirty metal one could find anywhere.
"Much more…" Sephiroth's voice drifted as he repeated what she said.
"My best friend for four years was lost up there, and never heard from again," Selena closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "After the attack we fell down below to the lower level, and she was trapped above, where the pack made their home..."
"No further, please Selena. Don't feel you have to do this if you don't want to," Sephiroth said.
"But General," a soldier sounded, and Sephiroth turned to glare at him, he shrunk back and stayed silent. Selena stepped forward on a limp and reached out for the abandoned laundry basket, she bent down with a struggle and picked it up. She started to limp towards the house and stopped at the door, hand on the doorknob.
"We must leave at dawn, you're all welcome to bed here tonight," she said before entering the small cottage. The soldiers all looked towards Sephiroth for an order. He nodded his head and started towards the house, with his soldiers in tow.
Dinner that night was wonderful. Sephiroth couldn't remember the last time he had a warm, home cooked meal, if at all. The potato and onion soup along with a fresh loaf of bread could satisfy any hungry belly, well for years on a strict protein diet for his training, it was a 5 star reward.
Sephiroth and the three soldiers all sat around a small, round dining table as they ate a dinner that Selena had prepared for them. Sephiroth noticed that in the middle of the table sat a small pot of pink roses, fresh, real aromatic rose; Sephiroth noted that they were everywhere in the house as soon as he walked in. Selena had stayed in the kitchen throughout the meal, and only came out to clear the dishes, receiving 'thank you's' before she disappeared back into the kitchen.
After a few minutes of dishes clattering, Selena came back into the dining room untying her apron and placing it on a side table for the time being.
"If you follow me, I will show you to the spare room," she said calmly, gesturing a hand towards the staircase before moving forward. The three soldiers all looked towards their general, and he nodded approval, so they started to follow.
Halfway up the stairs, one of the smaller soldiers cleared their throat. Selena paused at the top of the staircase, turning to look at the SOLDIER, now only noticing that one of the soldiers was a young girl, also the one whom cleared her throat to gain attention.
"Uh…I'd like to apologise on behalf of my comrades miss, for our abrupt entrance before, it's precautionary to—"
"I understand, I used to be in SOLDIER when I was younger too," Selena interrupted. Her statement earning her surprised glances from the three young soldiers, and when she looked over to Sephiroth, he was just standing there with his arms folded looking at her with an unreadable expression, seemingly not bothered or shocked by the news. She then turned again towards the hallway and motioned towards the first door on the left.
"I only have one spare bed, I suppose you all brought your own sleeping materials," Selena stated, looking to each of her four guests, with two of the soldiers nodding in confirmation. As the three soldiers started to the door, she stopped the young girl, who shot her a shocked glance. "The bathroom is down the hall on the right, feel free to use my shampoo and soap."
The girl's face lit up with her brown eyes sparkling and she smiled, extending her slender, tanned hand. "Thank you, Selena. My name's Sara."
Selena took her hand and shook it tenderly, and returned the smile. The three soldiers filed into the room and to Selena's surprise, Sephiroth extended his hand once again to her. She took it gratefully, feeling the familiar warmth with a sting of foreign touch.
"Thank you, Selena, for helping us," the words came out his mouth strained, as if they were rare to be uttered by the general. Selena thought to say, 'did I have a choice?' but decided against it for it might have sounded too cold. She tried to put on her best smile and replied.
"You're welcome,"
Sephiroth withdrew his hand, Selena's heart sank at the motion, and he disappeared into the other room. With a sigh and fighting back tears, Selena treaded sloppily back down the stairs and back into the kitchen to finished tidying up.
As Selena hobbled her way back into the kitchen she heard a small thud behind her. She swiftly turned on her heels to look towards the stairs and saw Sara approaching her. Selena smiled at the crooked smirk Sara had on her face, her short brown bangs embracing her forehead and cheeks like vines.
"Sara," Selena greeted.
"Hey," she greeted excitedly. She ran a hand through her hair, boyishly, "um, I don't mean to intrude, I know it's not SOLDIER like, but this is my first mission outside of Junon!"
Selena's mind quickly flashed with memories of Junon, the military base of SOLDIER, so many happy memories of her youth, swiftly washed away with a blink of an eye.
"Oh well, how are you enjoying it?" Selena asked.
"Well, it's good to get away from those guys!" she laughed. "I've been surrounded by men for over 2 years! I finally have another woman to talk to!"
Selena chuckled. "I know the feeling. You don't have any other women at your base?"
Sara shook her head and took a seat in a nearby chair, Selena did the same. "None as good as me, I'm 2nd class SOLDIER. All the other women aren't that good. But I trained very hard so I could meet Sephiroth!"
Selena felt a pang of jealousy swarm through her veins, but ignored it for the time being.
"He's gorgeous, and the best in SOLDIER!" she went on, her upbeat tone cheering Selena although she should be feeling jealousy. "But he's such a sauerkraut. He never smiles, or laughs. I don't think he's even interested in women!"
That last part was whispered and Selena laughed outwardly, the first time in years. Gosh, this girl is wonderful, she thought. Selena rested her chin in her right hand and looked at Sara adoringly, waiting for her to continue. Sara had the most contagious smile on her face, and she talked to Selena as if they were best friends, which made Selena smile even more.
"Hey…I have a question," Sara's tone went serious now, and Selena's smile faded to that of curiosity. "Did you used to know Sephiroth when you were in SOLDIER? That must've been a while ago, when you were my age. What was he like? Was he different? Why doesn't he remember you?"
Selena chuckled again, and had a solemn look on her face. She sighed and dropped her hand, looking away. "Please don't say a word if I tell you…"
"Aw, gosh! I never talk to him anyway; I'm just a grunt to him!" Sara exclaimed, giggling at her joke. Selena smiled briefly, and then it disappeared.
"We were best friends," Sara gasped. "And I know exactly why he doesn't remember me. It's the Mako. He didn't get along with the other boys; they were all too immature and childish. He just wanted to be alone, except for when I came along."
Sara had her head in her hands, listening intently, with awe and envy apparent in her eyes.
"We were both in the same classes, rank, and quarters." Selena continued. "I don't know about you, but when I was there everyone shared quarters with everyone. The girl's didn't have the privacy they needed, except for showers of course."
Sara nodded, in agreement. "Yea, it's still the same."
Selena smiled. "He was excellent in every skill; he had a never ending supply of stamina, strength and brains. He only became general at the age of 16. We only knew each other for two years until he had to leave. A couple of months after he left, I was lonely, depressed, and my performance dwindled, knowing I'll probably never see him again. I dropped out of SOLDIER, before getting discharged and sent home."
Sara looked up at Selena sympathetically, and reached out her hand to touch hers and muttered. "I'm so sorry."
"It's okay," Selena chirped, wiping an apparent tear from one of her eyes and trying to brush off the horrible feeling inside of her. "I just can't believe I'm seeing him again, but as a different person."
Sara nodded, pretending to understand, but really not, and then out the blue, she asked. "Did you love him?"
Selena shot her an accusing look. "Oh, no, I-I…um…" her eyes darting from Sara to the wall and then downwards. "I think so…"
Sara squealed in excitement and shot up out of her seat. "Oooh that's wonderful! I love lurrrve! Haha…why don't you tell him the truth?"
Selena looked up, surprised, and then she faked a laugh. "Oh, gosh, no, I couldn't do that. He won't believe me; he'll probably think I'm making it up!"
"I guess," Sara shrugged her shoulders, then rising, brushing off her blue uniform for no apparent reason and grinning toothily. "Well, I'm going to go have that heavenly shower you said I could have."
"Knock yourself out," Selena replied, and then quickly added, "not literally."
Sara laughed and then turned to bolt up the stairs, leaving Selena to her newfound misery. Sara had struck a long lost nerve in her; she had the exact personality as her deceased friend, Greta. The sad thought made a tear escape her eye and trickle down her cheek.
Sephiroth sat on the lone bed in the spare room, as the two other soldiers, Nick and Dean, lay on their respective sleeping bags talking softly. Sephiroth had his boots removed, and was sitting cross legged on the bed, looking down, brows furrowed and trying to remember something. Selena had asked him if he remembered her, but why? He didn't remember her from anywhere; he didn't even recognise her face at all.
Sephiroth's memories were sort of a bit blurry, and year by year they become more faded. Maybe they were in SOLDIER together and were friends? He tried to think whether they could have been classmates, or maybe roommates, or maybe he should just ask her. 'No, that would be silly,' he thought, 'I'm not like that. Maybe I'll forget her again after this ordeal is over.'
That thought struck a chord somewhere deep inside. 'Forget her again?' Sephiroth shook his head and lay down on the bed, hitting the pillow with a soft poof. 'Did I even know her? Or is she just some obsessed, crazy, lonely woman?'
Sephiroth rolled over, trying to dismiss the thoughts before they made him feel anything more, he already made himself feel awful for thinking such things. The strange feelings were making him feel sad, something that he hasn't felt in years. Sephiroth sighed and closed his eyes, trying to let sleep overcome him.