Where do I begin?

I guess first with my name.

My name is Selene Bradford, former SOLIDER 1st class of the Shinra Electric Power Company. Nowadays I'm a bounty hunter and courier for the highest price. I go by the alias of either "Selenite Strife" or "Selenite". The last name coming from a former infantryman named Cloud Strife who died during the Nibelheim incident.

As for my military record, you can say it was decorated and rather impressive. I joined Shinra when I was 14 and started out as an infantryman and then was able to get into SOLIDER on my first try. I was a SOLIDER 3rd during the final days of the Wutai war and after Angeal Hewley was supposedly killed-in-action following the battle at Ft. Tamblin; I got promoted to 2nd. I was guess with the mysterious mass desertion they needed more SOLIDER 2nds; who knows.

Then it was after Zack Fair and Sephiroth was killed-in-action in Nibelheim that I was promoted to SOLIDER 1st class.

Also, at the time Professor Hojo the head of the Science Department stepped down as the head doctor for the SOLIDER program and was replaced by Professor Rayleigh. During that time, I volunteered to be the prototype for the second generation of SOLIDER. According to Professor Rayleigh, I was an excellent candidate for the program. This was due to my genetic makeup and my natural body constitution.

I'm guessing I was used as propaganda tool to help clean up SOLIDER's image after the Nibelheim incident and to put any rumors of the incident to rest. I didn't care at that point in my life. I simply became a mindless doll for Shinra to use and I fully admit that I killed innocents in the name of Shinra. I took any mission regardless of the danger and a lot of the SOLIDER2nds and SOLIDER 3rds thought that I had a death wish. I just simply didn't care if I lived or died. That pleased the President and Heidegger to no end; they kept saying that I was Sephiroth's successor.

It wasn't until the President's murder and my promotion as the new Director of SOLIDER; that I started my own private internal investigation into the first generation of SOLIDER. Mostly, I wanted to know what happening to all of the SOLIDER 1st classes of that generation. This is because some of the older SOLIDER 1sts from the last generation started to show signs of mental instability and body degeneration. As I continued to dig deeper, I noticed one thing that connected them altogether; the Jenova project.

From what little information that I could get ahold of; the Jenova project was a project that was used by injecting DNA from the remains of a Cetra woman into human embryos. Those remains were found in a geological stratum dating back 2000 years or more. Since the Cetra or Ancients as we call it are now extinct, they were able to commutate with the planet. With that that Shinra's goal was to artificially create a Cetra that would supposedly lead them to the so-called Promise Land. A land that was rich with mako energy and that Shinra could expand there never ending empire. Unknowingly to them, the so-called Cetra that was found in that stratum wasn't a Cetra; but an interplanetary invader that nearly wiped out the Cetra over 2000 years ago.

The Jenova project was split into two sections, Project G in which was led by the Professor Hollander. That led to the creation of Genesis Rhapsodos and Angeal Hewley. While Project S lead, led by the Professor Hojo, led to the creation of Sephiroth. Sadly, Project G was considered a failure because of the degeneration of the subjects' bodies over a period of time. Project S was considered a success and while it didn't create an artificial Cetra, it did create a super solider and could do Shinra's bidding. With the so-called success of Project S, Sephiroth was used as the prototype for the first generation of SOLIDER. Jenova cells were injected into the bodies of only SOLIDER 1st classes and further enhanced with mako.

While the first generation of SOLIDER was an overwhelming success, the program wasn't spared from trouble. With Genesis Rhapsodos' desertion and rebellion, the mass desertion of SOLIDER 3rds and 2nds and the death of Angeal Hewley (in which I would later found out died in a duel with Zack Fair) further complicated matters. But, the final nail in the coffin of the first generation was Sephiroth and Zack's supposed deaths in Nibelheim that ended the first generation. Professor Rayleigh would later state in her thesis that Jenova cells where the true cause.

It wasn't until Meteorfall that I would get the chance to learn more about Zack Fair after the Nibelheim incident. It was during Meteorfall that most of the board of directors where either missing or killed during the Sister Ray Incident.

I was imprisoned for treason at the time. This was because Palmer learned and reported about my internal investigation into SOLIDER to Heidegger. I was eventually freed by Reeve Tuesti and from him, I learned that the terrorist group AVALANCE was able to put an end to the incident and that Heidegger, Scarlet and Hojo were killed in the process.

With most of the board either dead or missing and the new President Rufus severely injured during the event. I took over the chain of command and became temporarily, the new head of Shinra. With Meteor still falling and from what was left of the science department guessed that Midgar was Meteor's main target.

Because of that, I ordered the complete evacuation of Midgar with the aid of the Turks, SOLIDER and Reeve's help.

During the evacuation and with Shinra in chaos, I was able to get complete access to all Shinra's archives with the aid of the board of directors' passcodes. Along a complete copy of all of their archives, I downloaded a list of ALL of Shinra's hidden labs and safe-houses. With all of that information, I copied it onto a data disc.

The other thing that I did was to retrieve Sephiroth's belongs that where recovered at Nibelheim. At the time of the incident; the only things that were recovered were his bloody torn clothes, a sliver colored piece of materia and his sword, broken in two. I knew that those items deserved to be buried at Nibelheim, where he died. It was the least that I could do, for a man who never knew how to live.

Once the evacuation was complete and my other affairs done; I walked away from Shinra and started a new life.

Up to this point, the information regarding Zack Fair and Nibelheim even with the former president's access was either sealed or missing, but mostly missing. That was until I went to Zack Fair's birthplace of Gongaga to meet with his family, or at least what was left of them.

With living near a ruined mako reactor most of the inhabitants developed severe cases of mako poisoning and a lot of them where fatal. Also at the time, Geostigma also whittled away at the population. I ended up meeting one of the last living relatives of the Fair family, Zack's younger sister. Upon meeting her, I told her that I was a reporter looking for information about her older brother. She told me that she hasn't seen him more than 10 years and fears that he is dead. The reason for that is the series of journals that were mailed to her from Zack. The letter that was enclosed was to give these journals to one Cloud Strife or any living relatives of the Strife family and that if he is reading this message that he mostly likely dead. Using my alias, I told Zack's sister that I was Cloud Strife's older sister and she handed me the journals.

After receiving the journals, I discovered more information regarding Nibelheim and why Hojo stepped down as the head doctor of the SOLIDER program.

The Nibelheim incident was caused by Sephiroth suffering from a complete mental break that resulted from his confrontation with Genesis (who at the time was reported to have died alongside Angeal in Modeoheim) at the reactor in Nibelheim. Zack further wrote that after the confrontation Sephiroth locked himself in the basement of one of Shinra's former labs that was in the basement of a mansion in Nibelheim; reading about the Jenova project. After learning about his personal connection to Jenova, he snapped and then burned the village to the ground. Heading towards the reactor to where his so-called mother or Jenova was stored, killing anyone who got in his way. At the reactor Zack tried to stop him, but failed. It was Cloud Strife that was able to stop him and throw his body down to the bottom of the reactor, killing him. After the battle, Shinra came along with Hojo and collected any survivors; included Cloud and Zack and started a new project. In which he wasn't to test his theory about Jenova cells returning to its original source. Also, to create a copy of Sephiroth as well since the original is now dead.

Those notes regarding Hojo's experiments after he stepped down as the head doctor of the SOLIDER program, they were never entered into Shinra's database. So I'm assuming that Hojo either had them stored offsite or in a journal somewhere. At this time, I'm still looking for that data.

Because of these events that transpired; I made a vow. That I would do everything in my power to make the truth of the SOLIDER program, the Jenova project and Meteorfall made public. So that something like this would never happed again.

But, I would need more information from Hojo and with Hojo dead that would be a problem. So I'm looking at all of the labs that he used prior to Meteorfall and that's where my story begins...

Author's Notes:

So I decided to bite the bullet and write the damn thing after all. Since my writing skills suck, I decided to write it as a soliloquy at this point. It's mostly an introduction of sorts. Also, fair warning that it's a rough draft, so expect grammar mistakes abound. Enjoy! Also you can view my work in progress on my tumblr account. Thanks!