(A/N: This is my first Final Fantasy VII fanfiction. I hope to be able to continue and finish it, right to the very end! Please enjoy and review kindly if you would like. This story is mainly focused on Cloud Strife, his beginnings and his failure to enter SOLDIER, and the people he is closest to, particually his mother, Zack, and Tifa...note many of these characters and storyline purposes aren't neccessarily cannon...please enjoy it just the same. :3)
The Seamed Heart - Prol.
The world of Gaia was a large one, that was a given. Even so, millions of people lived on this beautiful planet, busy living their own lives, and for each life, a story.
In the tiny mountain village of Nibelheim, which lay base of its own mountain range known to relative villagers as Mt. Nibel, people went about their sleepy lives without a qualm for the outside world, some even disinterested with their own daily routines.
Near the outskirts of that town was an old abandoned mansion - grey with age, and dark with mystery. One young girl stood outside its closed gates, hands grasping onto the bars, looking straight at the mansion with curiosity. Who lived in that mansion? She had been told the very first of the Shinra family used to reside in there long ago. Where were they now? Somewhere on the Eastern Continent.
The young girl continued to gaze at the mansion, her blue eyes studying every detail that could be exposed to her - she saw some of the shingles were missing and the windows had dust covered on them - it was likely no one had even dared to try to clean the place up, abandoned or not.
"They say it's haunted," a voice suddenly spoke up from behind her. Frightened, the girl whipped her head around, her golden hair flying in a sudden frenzy. Before her stood a boy about her age, a boy she had never seen before. He had very light brown hair and grey eyes that shone. His expression was alarming and serious, although the young girl had a feeling pestering inside her suggesting that he may or may not be trying to pull her leg. "We're not allowed to go inside," he continued, his small, spiked hair waving about in the afternoon winds of Nibelheim.
The girl huffed, pulling her bangs back. "I already knew that, thank you very much!" She spat at him.
"Hey! I'm only saying…" The boy walked towards her, almost smirking at her annoyed posture. "Shinra's Manor has been abandoned long before the scientists showed any interest here."
The blonde girl studied the boy who now stood beside her, her facial features beginning to relax somewhat. "I don't recall ever seeing you here before."
"You're right. My old man and I just moved in from Kalm."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. He was told that Nibelheim was the best place to reside in as a get-away retreat. Towns like Kalm are beginning to become packed!"
"Well, it's true Nibelheim is a fairly small village, but I don't know how you could make a living here." She frowned. "Farming isn't really good around here, and it's dangerous to mine in the mountains - monsters, you know?"
The young boy laughed. "I don't believe in monsters - wild animals, on the other hand…" He shook his head. "Actually, my dad and I just moved here for the sole purpose of doing just that - extermination." He winked at her, causing her to look back at the mansion as she realized she was blushing. "We can get a good start by eradicating the creatures in the caves. In a few weeks or months - depending on how many there are - we'll have the caves emptied out on Mt. Nibel, at least, and then people can begin mining-"
'You have this all planned out, don't you?" The girl interrupted quietly.
"Well…some of it, yeah. It seems like a pretty good idea to me, at least." A look of guilt spread across his face.
"Want to tell me the real reason why you and your dad moved here?"
"Business instillation," The boy replied quietly. "At least, we hope so. Another reason is climate change; my dad's health hasn't been all that great lately, so we decided to relocate here and see if he can get better or not."
"Well, I don't know what Nibelheim can offer, except for…" The girl gestured her arm out into the open. "Fog, fog, and more fog."
"Maybe the fresh air'll do him some good," The boy offered hopefully.
"Maybe."
"Do you know about the mako reactors?" The boy inquired.
"Sure - they have plans for installing one here in Nibelheim in the next couple of months. Why?"
"Electricity is nice, but this fresh air is amazing." He grinned shyly at her. "We haven't introduced ourselves to her other, have we?"
"No, we haven't," The girl replied. "I'm Sarah."
"Tobias. Tobias Strife."
In the coming month, the reactor was built on the edge of Mt. Nibel, which drew much excitement for the local townspeople. 'Once the reactor is built, our lives will become comfortable and business will prosper,' was the promise given to them, and the hope that was always whispered upon their lips. Through all of this, Sarah and Tobias became closer, brainstorming new ideas to kick off Tobias' dream of ridding Mt. Nibel of monsters. In the meantime, Tobias also began confessing the worries buried deep within his heart: The fact that his ill father was declining at an increasingly alarming rate, and the possibility that the mako reactor would do more harm than good.
"I saw it as my father and I moved here, Sarah," he had told her. "The trees are dying. Other towns with the reactor installed have said that plant life is disappearing at a faster rate as each year passes. What if the same thing happens here, in Nibelheim?"
Sarah drew quiet. "…Is this really true?" She finally asked after an uncomfortable silence stalled their conversation.
Tobias sighed. "To tell you the truth, Sarah…I don't really know. It's just that…I'm worried about Dad. For the past couple of years, he's been growing thinner and thinner, and he's wheezing so bad…well, to put it this way, it's hard to sleep through the entire night in peace anymore, for the both of us."
Sarah bit her lip, taking all of this in. "Didn't you go and see a doctor about this?" Tobias nodded. "And what did he say?"
"He said that all Dad needed was some fresh air…that's it. That's why we decided to move here to Nibelheim; we'd heard this was an isolated village surrounded by the wonders of nature." Tobias shook his head. "But with the new mako reactor installed here, who knows what will happen?"
The girl took a few minutes to gather this information. She folded her hands and looked up, as if in prayer. The least we can do is hope that Shinra can hold true to their promises, she thought to herself.
It took only a few years for the townspeople to come to full realization that the mako reactor would indeed be a bad idea. The first of many tragedies to befall on this sleepy village was the death of Tobias' father. Though the fresh air appeared to help for quite some time, the spring after the mako reactor finished construction, he became sicker and sicker until one morning Tobias found he couldn't awaken him any longer.
In grief, Tobias turned to Sarah for comfort, which she gladly gave with tenderness. For the next few years afterwards, their relationship grew stronger and stronger, whereas Nibelheim continued to exist as a remote village, virtually unheard of and therefore uncared for, though certain exceptions were made from time to time from the Shinra Company, which was growing at a rapid speed. Developments for a city were underway - at least that was what the Nibelheim residents had been told via newspaper and by traveler, so news was more often than not dated - a city that would be the capitol of the expanding Shinra empire: Midgar.
To be continued...