Author's Note: Hello and welcome to my second CYOA for Final Fantasy VII! This one, unlike its brother fic A Soldier's Story, will follow a young teen (you the reader) as the teen makes their way through Midgar's traitorous streets. Will they discover things about Shinra, SOLDIER, Avalanche, and themself that throw their entire world into a nose dive? Will they make the decision to forget their family and join the Turks? Will they show enough potential to become a First Class SOLDIER? Will they befriend the last living Cetra or sell their own soul for the sake of science? Will they find love or betrayal amongst all of the turmoil heading their way? Or will they stay solely focused on finding the cure to their brother's illness, doing whatever it takes to save his life? Or maybe, just maybe, they won't make it alone in the city long enough to be given a choice. Writing a reader insert story can be challenging, so they will refer to the reader as "Reader." Not very creative I know, but it's what I'm doing. Without further adieu, here's For a Life to Live.
Warnings: Death, use of alcohol/some drugs, attempted rape, actual rape, foul language, kidnapping, dark themes, violence, possible yuri (girlxgirl), possible hints of yaoi (boyxboy). This list could go on forever…
Things to look forward to: Pure Awesomeness.
Sincerely, Kay.
The wind whips through the city streets, blowing your hair around as you move amongst the bustling crowds of Midgar's slums. The look of poverty was clear on the child who walked through grim covered people, a brown package clasped in the small arms.
"Hey, whatcha got there yo?" It was your best friend, his vibrant red hair shining in the false light of the city. You look up, (e/c) irises wide with surprise just as a clap of thunder sounds from the sky. Involuntarily you jump a jolt of shock coursing through your body at the sound.
"Hey (Y/n)," one pudgy hand was tugging on the sleeve of your oversized jacket. "Ya okay?" With a few blinks, you smile at the boy.
"Yeah Reno, I just gotta get this to my brother." The brown paper crinkles as you hold it up for the boy to see. He makes an "o" shape with his mouth and falls into step beside you. You would never understand why it always felt safer with Reno around, or why people just seemed to part when the boy was close, but you were grateful for his friendship.
One of his hands reached up to brush a stray strand of hair behind his ear, his aquamarine eyes focused on the many people surrounding the two of you. "How's Ryder doin'?" Your eyes find their way to a group of older kids kicking around a soda can. Their faces were smudged with dirt, their cheeks were hollow, but their dull eyes held a vicious gleam.
"He's okay. He said he would get better soon because of all the people waiting for him to be well. He said he wanted to teach me to use a sword too!" You grin, remembering your brother in his SOLDIER uniform. Seeing his mako enhanced eyes glowed in the sweltering Midgar heat as he returned from a mission. His fingers strumming the busted guitar missing a string as lazed on the beaten up couch in the living room.
"Musica accipes nobis ubi verba potest nec. You know what that means (Y/n)? It's latin for 'Music takes us where words can not.' Cool right?"
"Don't let those assholes make you feel like that. If you want to be a superhero when you get older then damn it you will be! You just have to work hard (Y/n)."
"Family is all you ever really have (Y/n). And you don't have to be blood to be family." His mako eyes had peered into your (e/c) irises one hand holding your chin. "Family is anyone you're willing to live for…or die for."
Reno was tugging your hair. "Hellooooo…..Gaia to (Y/n)! Ya haven't answered me yet!" The boy was pouting at you with crossed arms.
"Huh?" You stutter out, confusion written all over your face. The redhead sighs, grabbing you and pulling you toward Sector 5.
"I said do you wanna get some flowers from Aerith? I bet Ryder would like them." The two of you jostle into several different people as Reno pulls you toward the bright eyed girl's home. You had met Aerith upon first moving to the city with your brother three years ago. At the time you didn't realize the girl would become such a beloved person in your life.
Soon, as memories of your friendship with the pretty brunette and fiery redhead resurface, you're matching Reno step for step without a care for the dirty looks the two of you are receiving.
"Hello…" you glance up from your seated position on the sidewalk, a girl around your own age stood beside you holding a small flower.
"Uhm, hi…I'm (Y/n)." You stand up to offer a hand like your big brother had taught you. The girl smiled gently, taking your hand and giving it a few shakes.
"Hello," the girl began shimmering emerald eyes peering curiously at you. "I'm Aerith." Her pale pink dress ruffled as she settled onto the concrete, looking up at you. You blinked several times before dropping back to your sitting position.
"Are you new in Midgar?" Aerith saved you from attempting to make conversation. You decided in that moment you liked this girl.
"Yeah…my big brother just moved here with me." Locks of brunette hair blew gently in the stifling air of the lower plate as the girl nodded, waiting for you to continue. "He's gonna be a SOLDIER." Aerith cringed away slightly, eyes turning to stare at the street. Your lips twisted downward as you watched the girl, wondering what you had said to upset her already.
"I'm scared of SOLDIERs…" Aerith mumbled, twirling the flower between her fingers.
You let out a sound of understanding before scooting closer. "My brother's really nice. He always protects me and everyone else and he wouldn't do anything to hurt my friends." The brunette's eyes turned to you, sparkling with trust.
"Okay…if you say so." She paused for a few moments. "Do you wanna see my garden? Your brother can come too."
You laugh loudly, running around a corner as Aerith's house came into view.
You had felt it as soon as it had happened. Someone had taken that piece of candy you had in your back pocket. Spinning on your heel, your (e/c) eyes glared at the crowd behind you. Almost instantly a head of flaming hair caught your attention, the owner trying to hasten their way through the crowd and away from you.
"Hey come back here!" You were dashing after the boy, pushing past all the grown ups and trailing just behind the boy. You caught a glimpse of aqua colored irises as the boy glanced over his shoulder.
You heard a slight gasp as he whirled back around and turned into an alleyway.
You furrow your brow, dashing into the alley behind him. "Oh no you don't!" You yell, voice etched with anger.
It was only sheer luck that the boy tripped over a bottle, giving you the opportunity to pounce on the redhead.
"Get off me yo!"
"Give me my candy!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
The boy squirmed beneath you but you held fast, knees pressing into his chest and hands clutching onto his wrists. "I found it yo!"
"You found it," You snarl out. "In MY pocket!" The boy actually smiles at this.
"I still found it." Several minutes of tense silence pass between the two of you. His eyes bore into yours serious, intense, judging, until…
The two of you burst into giggles.
"You…You looked like you were gonna kill me over some candy yo!" You laugh, climbing from atop the boy's chest before brushing the dirt from the front of his plain gray t-shirt.
"You looked like you were gonna kill ME over some candy!" You two bumped shoulders, smiling as you exited the alley.
"You new in the slums yo?" You nod, relating your story to the redhead. He laughs at some parts, like your telling him about coming from a small mountainous town and how you had never even heard of a PHS before.
"So…you seen the sky? And stars?" You nod while Reno tugs you down a side street. "What were they like?"
"Uh…" You tilt your head upward, eyes closed. "The sky is really blue, unless it rains then it's kinda gray. The stars are really bright and pretty. My brother said there was one called the North Star that always helped you find your way home."
Reno, as you learn his name is, tells you all he knows about the slums and Shinra and SOLDIER. Which you come to find isn't much. But then he says no one really knows that much about SOLDIER down here anyway, so that made you feel a little less sick.
"So whaddya miss the most?" He asks as you both sit in the park, parentless children make their ways past the two of you with grim expressions but Reno says not to mind too much. A lot of kids don't have parents or guardians he had said.
"I guess I miss," you mumbled as you bit into the skin of your thumb. "I miss the smell of the air. It used to smell really clean and fresh and good. Now…" Reno laughed wholeheartedly.
"You don't gotta explain that one."
Walking Reno back home was strange, since his home was just an old orphanage. You thought back to your brother, how he took care of everyone…
"Come have dinner with my brother and me."
"Okay...I guess."
"Here (Y/n), take these for Ryder. They're a light pink so he'll like them because they have color." Aerith gave you several small pink flowers that you had forgotten the name to.
"Okay, thanks Aerith." You wrapped the girl in a hug.
"Wait I wanna hug too!" Reno's voice piped up from beside the two of you, causing you both to giggle and open your arms for him to enter the embrace.
Your mind had been so occupied with thoughts of your brother you almost missed Aerith's melodic voice mumble against your shirt. "I love you both…the planet does too."
Huh, I never understood what that meant…until today. A wisp of a you not yet alive.
"Where have you been squirt?" Ryder's voice sounded from the couch as you entered the room. He was sprawled across the furniture, shirtless and in nothing but his navy boxer briefs. His raven hair was slick with sweat and his eyes glazed from a fever he must still be getting over. A wave of guilt hit you with such force you stumble back.
He must have needed you.
And you hadn't been there.
"Oh…" You said, walking over to sit on the floor by his upper torso. One hand slick with perspiration came to rest on the top of you head. "I was getting medicine and flowers." You held up both goods for the twenty year old to see.
"Those flowers are very pretty. Tell Aerith so…next time…you see her." His voice cracked slightly as he took the package. "Run and get some water for those kiddo." You nodded immediately, clumsily filling a glass with murky water before putting the pink lilies inside. Boot covered feet padded back into the living room, stomping a spider as you went before placing the makeshift vase on the coffee table.
"You see Reno today too?" You nod, recounting the day as you lay down on the couch beside your older brother just as you had done as a young child.
His arm wraps almost hopelessly around you, as if clutching onto a security blanket. You remember, back in your old town, an old woman had once told you that when an animal was dying it always wanted to stay as close to its owner as possible. As though its only desire was to shower the person who meant the most to them with as much love and compassion as they could while receiving the same before they passed on.
You tried to push away the feeling that your brother was doing the same.
As he drifts off into a restless sleep, your eyes land on the picture of his seventeen year old self. He held you up on his shoulders, proudly sporting his SOLDIER uniform while you beam with pride. The entire day people had come up to him, congratulating him and telling him how lucky you were to have a brother like him. You remember him saying that he was lucky to have…
Chapter 2: A brother like you.
Chapter 3: A sister like you.