Letters Home
Part 1
Shinra Electric Power Company
Shinra Mailing Service
December εуλ 0002.
Dear T. Lockhart
It is with deepest regrets we are contacting you to inform you that Infantryman Strife. C has been officially reported as MISSING IN ACTION as of November 0002.
Shinra Electric Power Company
Department of Military Affairs and Company Security
Shinra Electric Power Company
Shinra Mailing Service
December εуλ 0004
Dear T. Lockhart
Further to our correspondence of December 0002 we regretfully inform you that Infantryman Strife. C status of MISSING IN ACTION has been re-designated to that of MISSING IN ACTION PRESUMED DEAD. As such under article 2471 of the repatriation of personal items act, all remaining personal items are being returned to the designated next of kin.
Shinra Electric Power Company
Department of Military Affairs and Company Security
Its almost funny in retrospect how a system such as this had continued to work. Tifa could not help but grin wryly. She knew what had happened to Cloud, she knew the truth about the events of that terrible day in Nibelheim but it would seem as a part of Shinra's almost obsessive nature to officialise everything, someone, somewhere along the chain of command had posted Cloud as missing in action. She had no doubt that when Professor Hojo took Cloud and Zack and made them his personal test subjects he would have wanted no trace of them remaining. But it seems he didn't count on one of Shinra's many automated systems picking up on a small detail such as the status of a single Shinra infantryman.
She sat down in a corner booth in the 7th Heaven and examined the contents of this mornings post closer. The bar wasn't open yet and with Denzel and Marlene at school and Cloud working she was alone. She tried to make sense of it in her head, it was logical such a letter had never been sent to Zack's parents, members of SOLDIER probably had some kind of secret waver they signed when joining, yet Cloud, an infantryman that never truly made it to SOLDIER must have remained on some database, deep within Shinra's archives. She tried to imagine how it must have come about, no doubt the Turks or some other poor Shinra official under instruction of Hojo had flagged Zack and Cloud as MIA . Why not KIA? Killed in Action would suggest just that, there had been action, Shinra was trying to cover up anything ever happened at Nibelheim. MIA could have been due to any number of reasons, this would have legitimised their disappearance and nothing else was thought of it. Indeed, in Zack's case nothing, it would seem, had happened. Yet with Cloud, upon being made MIA a light flashed somewhere in Shinra's computer system, the automation took over, the computer must have searched the database to find his sign up papers. Within those papers would be his next of kin, the system would create an automated notice such as what she had just read. Then for two years nothing, nothing had happened. It seemed certain that MIA cases were given a period of grace, time to ascertain the truth whether the person was truly MIA or dead. Then at the end of those two years the system comes back to life, with no updates being made it assumes the person is dead and creates another notice. Again she grinned wryly.
She thought to herself, eventually someone would have realised and rectified the problem. Most likely removing any trace of Cloud from all Shinra systems, it must have been the following Meteor fall and the resulting chaos that gave this snippet of Clouds past a chance to continue to exist.
So why now? Why had this bundle of letters landed on their doorstep all these years later. She sat back into the booth and mused at the thought. Ah! It came back to her, a few weeks previous the television had been on in the background in the bar like always. The patrons, many of whom did not own their own enjoyed having it on whilst relaxing with drinks. That night in particular she remembered the news report. The remnants of Shinra under direction of the World Regenesis Organisation, as a sign of goodwill and changing attitude, had realised countless scores of men and women had died in the line of service around the time of Meteor fall and there after, there for they were using their full resources to locate information regarding loses and inform all next of kin of the status of their loved ones. The report had been met with jeers and shouts of "too little too late!" from the patrons but she thought at least Rufus was trying.
The remnants of Shinra and WRO must have retrieved the surviving databases and any remaining letters from Midgar and who knows where and set about reactivating the system. With the use of the Worldwide network they could get access to local census records, something made mandatory by the WRO after Geostigma to help distribute aid, to retrieve the most up to date addresses and re-send these letters to the designated next of kin. Most likely no one checked who these letters were actually going to personally as it would take too many working hours, simply relying on the system and getting them delivered like any other mail. Maybe even Cloud had been delivering these to some of the more far-flung locations?
She looked at the two original Shinra letters, the mailing stamps and dates confirmed what she thought, it seemed they had made their way to Nibelheim via Junon and Costa Del Sol only to be returned to sender in Midgar. It seems Shinra never informed the new occupants of Nibelheim of who the original occupants were otherwise this little issue would have been nipped in the bud years ago. They must have sat stored away, somehow surviving the near end of the world until recently when this new initiative started. But still there was one thing she did not understand.
"Why am I Clouds next of kin?" she whispered.
She moved the Shinra letters aside and looked at the stack of letters. Her stomach tied into a knot, the first one on the top of the pile was addressed to her but there were no mailing marks. She looked at the next, it was the same, it had slight water damage but there was no mailing marks, it was the same for the next and the next and next until she reached the bottom of the pile. They were all addressed to her, but none of them had been actually sent. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, looking up to the ceiling where a fan was lazily turning. She closed her eyes, moved her head back towards the table and opened them again.
She began to open the first letter.
