At one time we were enemies, friends, companions, partners, and lovers. But that was a long time ago, before all this war started. We were both over worked, stressed and guilty for the lives of those who lost theirs. We both carried an equal burden but I also carried his. He disappeared off the face of the Earth because of me.

Several years passed and we both grew distant after he returned. He wasn't the same. His smell, his smile, his rare laughter was all different. We wouldn't talk about what happened but I was dying a little inside each day. The never ending silence between us grew to become too much. I finally dropped all contact with him and everyone I was in touch with. I was 22 and still naive.

On my 25th birthday, I returned to my birthplace and where my friends were once so commonly found. I was battle worn and scars marred my once pale unmarred skin. My hair was dyed to a midnight black and cut short to frame my face. My scars were always hidden, along with the disease those at my birthplace called geostigma, but the one scar I couldn't hid was a single slash that ran through my right eye and down my cheek.

That scar was a result of a past argument with him. We both were stressed and blew up at each other. We pulled out our swords and began fighting. It was a long battle, longer than any we had before but this one was different. We were attempting to kill each other in a battle of dominance. I had injured him, not sever but just enough to weaken him, and he had injured me so I would have to use my weaker left hand to fight with. Swinging at each other, I missed his sword completely and fell against his chest. I didn't know, at the time, that I was injured but when I pushed against him and stepped back noticed that my eye won't open. I passed out after that. But that was the day I left, a long time ago.

I was hired at the Seventh Heaven Bar, which was run by one of my friends, Tifa. She was always willing to help others before herself. In the bar, she took care of two orphans, Denzel and Marlene. Tifa acted if they were a part of a family. He was never there so I was thankful for that but it didn't stop the phone calls.

After working at the bar for several months I decided that I over stayed my welcome one again. However, I remained in contact with my friends, except for him. Vincent Valentine, however, didn't have a cell phone and it wouldn't matter if he did have one because he probably won't know how to work it. The strangest part about leaving for a second time was the paranoid feeling I got whenever I thought I saw him.

Well, one day I did see him. And its to him, I owe my life to. If he had not saved me from Kadaj's gang, I'd probably be dead. Thanks to him, I still live another day dying a little inside each time I see or think about him or my guilt to the plant and the Lifestream. It's because of him, I left in search of training to protect him from me and myself. His name . . . Cloud Strife.