The Veldt
By Gohan 28
Introduction: This is my second fic, and my second Final Fantasy 3 (6) fic. It's about the awesomest character in the game, Gau! The 13 year old boy had a screwed up past, we all know that, but what no one knows the gruesome details. So I wrote this. It takes place when he's 34, 20 years after Kefka's defeat, and he's become civilized and now looks back at his tortured childhood. Without a mother, without a father, without foster parents...
For Liz, who inspired me to continue writing on this wonderful game.
When I look back 20 years ago, I see the most desperate struggle mankind has ever faced, and those who fought with me agree. All those who lived through it would agree. Ten others and I fought a battle that changed the destiny of the world. I was only 14. I was a wild boy. I lived in the wild, on the Veldt. I was raised by the monsters, in my eyes I was a monster. I remember when I first met Sabin and Cyan, the two men who changed the course of my life. It was a year before the fateful battle, and I was living a carefree life. Sabin gave me some food, and I tagged along. They were amazed at my ability to do whatever the monsters did, they found me to be a worthy companion. I was with them as the world was destroyed. I returned to the Veldt and continued my life from before. But there was something different this time. This time, I realized I had friends and worried for them. I couldn't go back to living carefree, I also had a sense of urgency in my heart. The world was ruled by a madman, and he would destroy the world...
I don't remember what happened to cause my living on the Veldt, but people who were around do. I was born, but my mother died in the birth. My... my father went crazy and threw me out, leaving me at the mercy of any hungry creature desiring a free meal. He was convinced I was a monster myself... I met him again 14 years later, in the World of Ruin... He was still insane, he kept ranting about us fixing something, he didn't remember me.
I was lucky I was found by Leafers rather then a Behemoth. The Leafers were, at the time, gentle creatures. They didn't attack travelers. I was raised by them until I was eleven. They stared acting weird then. Dangerous. I left and was alone to fend for myself. I had learned to survive from the Leafers, something that came in handy. I had sharp teeth and amazing acrobatic skills. My survival was not hard. But it was empty when any living thing ran away from me or attacked, unlike before. The gentle creatures started acting weird two years before I met Sabin, around the time Magitek began searching for Espers. The destructive force known as "magic." I learned to use magic from the Espers, along with everyone else. We used it to defeat Kefka.
The two years that I lived without anything I lived in the Cave on the Veldt. I ate the few plants that grew there, it sheltered me from the cold and rain. I remember how I joined Sabin, him giving me the dried meat. I felt like I owed him, I gave him the shiny thing, which later I learned was an aqualung, to him, and we traveled by water route. I remember meeting Terra, Locke, Edgar, and the others. I remember watching Terra, Locke, Edgar, and Celes in a final battle with Kefka while Relm, Sabin, Cyan, Shadow, Setzer, Mog and I took care of the statues and his flunkies. I remember his final scream as he was struck by The Atma Weapon and Terra finished him with one final cast of Ultima. The tower was destroyed. Peace returned to the World of Ruin.
Still, after 20 years, people are rebuilding the towns, their lives, pasts lost. I got together with Relm, we were married six years ago. We have a kid, and I, believe it or not, became a scholar. We moved into my father's old house on the Veldt, he died a year after Kefka. He remembered me in the end, and I find myself missing him, wanting to make up for the time his memory of me was missing. I still wish I had been raised by him, more often wondering what it would be like if I had been rather then wishing. But you never know, if I had, I may not have met with Sabin, who I still stay in contact with. I may not have been part of the battle to save the world. They may have lost. And I know I wouldn't have learned. I wouldn't have learned any of the lessons the Veldt had to teach.
I'm working on lengthening this fic. It's a bit too short for me.