The Corel City Research Institute of Materia Phenomenon was a proud and respectable school. Shortened to CRI, it was established in year 0121, after the First Calamity and disappearance of the Planet's voice. Well, at least it was told by the strange witch-like heathens that declared magic wasn't just a means to an end and a science that must be studied by the top intellectual minds of the time.
Really, it was just a bunch of fancy words that boiled down to 'We are trying to figure out magic and how to make it work for us.' The land, wracked by Calamity and disaster, had been thrown a bit into chaos until it started being split up under different leaders who were basically a glorified mafia. These in turn, practically established nations, and everything went back to normal.
But back to the CRI. Said scientists were day and night performing experiments on the magic that permeated the world and its inhabitants, in as many different forms as there were grains of sand on the beach. Materia, in particular, was a concern for them, as it represented the purest form of magic, but with the militant nations around them all vying for different weapons against these abilities, they had their hands full.
Which is how, in year 0122, they unearthed a creature named Jenova. Test after test revealed nothing of her origins, but it did confirm one curious fact: she could consume and destroy the magic from any source of life. In simple terms, they had found what they were looking for.
A scientist, by the name of Claudia Strife, was less than pleased with the messing around with strange creatures. Something seemed off about this 'Jenova', and since she was pregnant, Claudia wanted as few risks as possible.
A month or so later, she gave birth to a beautiful yellow-haired baby boy whom she loved dearly. His name was Cloud and he was a very happy and sleepy child for the first few months of his life. That was until Claudia noticed something very odd about her dear son. Sometimes he would stare off into space and grasp at things that weren't there. This happened with greater and greater frequency before she gave up and asked her then boyfriend about it, bringing the boy into the lab.
"These tests can't be right! Not only does it show he has not affinity with materia, but he has no existing soul magic either. Every human, even non-spellcasters have some!" He exclaimed, looking at the baby who was too busy sleeping in his mother's arms.
Claudia was frankly, terrified. Not just for her son's life, but for the unnatural gleam she saw in scientists' eyes. Something was very long. Unfortunately, due to her innately trusting nature-and faith in her supposed boyfriend-she didn't realize it fully until Cloud was about the age of two.
Scientists weren't supposed to be greedy. They were supposed to seek out answers to help the progress of the future, but these ones…these ones and CRI were willing to use a two year old boy to further the research into weaponized magic. And Claudia wasn't going to stand for it.
She did what had to be done and got the hell out of there, wondering why things had gone so wrong. Maybe it was time to look for a new job.
Besides, she thought, as she drove off in a stolen truck, maybe some things were just not meant to be unearthed.