Author's note:

Sorry! I know… it took me ages to post this chapter! However I had a super demanding exam to study for and my precious time was consumed in those matters.

But hey, better late than never! I hope you enjoy it!

[As always, I own nothing, except for Sora, who is a product of my imagination :) ]

Chapter 1.

Television programming was hectic. There was an irritating agitation all over the channels, repeating the story over and over again, in different perspectives, according the opinion of Mr. This and Mr. That, confronting the situation with past and future events, etcetera and etcetera.

However, the truth was I did not really understand what had – really -happened right there in that reactor. The news mentioned a military riot, involving two different stories that, somehow, collided. Apparently, there had been some soldiers – those from higher ranks, to whom they called 1st class – that had rebelled, ran away and the special guard from Shinra had been pursuing them forever since, with no further news about them. There had been two of them, one named Fair and the other one named Strife. However these two had been in the reactor as well, gathered with their general – it seemed. That one – the general – had a really awkward name - Sephiroth. Ok, it's not that my own name is usual… but hey, let's admit that Sephiroth is kind of… freaky.

Well, name freakiness apart, the thing that had happened at the reactor hadn't been fully understood. The three of them had been there, there had been misunderstanding and the general – had died – according to the authorities, suicide. The other two had suffered main injuries, the lab personal from Shinra had taken them into their premises and… no news from that point.

Pfff, what a mess. Not to mention the mystification behind all those comments. What confused me the most was the fact I did not fully comprehend the timing of all those events. Anyway, now the television was showing a so-called famous psychiatrist commenting about the mental health at military premises. The man referred especially to the general's mental status and the reasons behind such deviant attitudes. Burning down the village near to the reactor, murdering and slaughtering without even thinking… going insane inside the reactor itself and then committing suicide inside it… definitely, it was crazy.

Completely nuts.

I looked avidly at the images the television offered me. There were no photographs of those involved, only a repetitive mini-movie of the places where all the action had taken place. The little village, the houses burned down, all destroyed around it… bloody ground and traces of violent death were all that those images reflected.

I sighed, not knowing what to think of all what I had heard and seen. The world was upside down. I unplugged the television in a sudden movement, already bored with the constant repetition. Honestly, T.V. channels were so tiresome sometimes, squeezing the events to a rather ridiculous level.

O.k, so the man had gone mad. Too bad for him. He had killed so many people – well that was bad, totally inhuman of him, and he ought to be hardly punished for that, but hey – he was already dead. There was nothing anyone could do about it so… why insist on it so much?

Oh, I could only imagine the amount of idiot theories the media was going to invent to justify his attitude. The general'madness; the military environment is mentally unhealthy… blah blah blah. And all this justified by psychological crap and psychiatric bullshit.

Without patience to hear anymore blabbering about the theme, I decided not to pay attention to it anymore. This was fresh news, and I was willing to bet television was going to explore the situation for a long time. Maybe for months. So, why insist and bother in understanding everything and knowing all the sordid details of the true events? Things would come out, eventually and then… the entire world would know the truth. For now, I needed peace of mind.

Besides, my apparent peaceful life had suffered an unexpected turn. My weekly vacation had been prolonged (thank you, Mr. mad-man military general for having a nervous breakdown right about now) and I was about to be relocated.

That was good. Relocation was fine. Payment was great, at Shinra. The only thing I had to do was… stick to the rules and do my job. That was fine for me. It had been more than enough to rent an apartment near Nibelheim and make my living as a normal human being.

Oh, the blessing peace of silence… and privacy. It was simply great.

Heading to the kitchen, I wondered what to prepare for lunch and dinner. I enjoyed cooking – very much – but since I was a lonely woman now, I didn't have the motivation to cook like a freaking maniac. But I always experimented and innovated, as long as I could, as long as I was capable of. Weekends were great for gastronomic try-outs.

Hum… maybe today I would try to make some pasta, with some creamy sauce, cheese and… mushrooms. Yes… definitely, it was it.

I was on my way to my so-recently-abandoned place of work around seven p.m.. It wasn't completely dark, but the sky already had that gloomy blue tone, intertwined with the intense orange glowing of the sun, about to disappear behind the horizon line. I guess that was the moment of the day they used to call "dusk". I was driving slowly, rather mechanically in that road I already knew by heart. After all, I walked this path every day for the last six months.

From the place I lived to Nibelheim was half an hour of driving. I got used to do it, and I enjoyed it. Driving was another of my passions, besides cooking.

However my mind was busy with the contents of the telephone-call my supervisor had made so early in the morning. I only hoped the place to where we all were going to be transferred was fine as this one. I only hoped it could be even more hidden from big cities than this particular place, this Reactor close to Nibelheim. The company had to inform us, at some point. I needed to know if I had to change or not. My apartment was rented, and if I was going to work to a place very far… I would have to search for a place to stay… again.

My mind wandered thought these issues, but not for too long, while the road led me to my destiny. At some point, I started to see the marks of burning all around me. Trees, houses, a total havoc around that place the news called "The Village near the reactor". There were traces of blood as well. Dry, splattered, it gave chord to our imagination.

I felt a sudden goosebump up my spine, only of imagining it. A mad man, killing people without purpose, making his way into flesh and bone, not considering he was taking innocent human souls.

My god. The human's mind is an unknown mystery, after all.

In ten minutes I was at the place where I usually parked the car in.

I left the rented vehicle that had been mine for almost seven months. I looked around and felt astonished with the silence that surrounded me.

I was exactly at the base of the reactor, near the maintenance entrance. It was my usual place of entry, daily basis. I stood, for a couple of minutes, looking at the sleeping monster in front of me. The reactor was so still, so silent. It was so weird to be here in this circumstance.

Clearing my head with a sudden movement, I breathed in and out deeply, reminding me of my mission here: Go inside, check everything's ok concerning technical matters and leave. That was it.

I remembered, once again, my supervisor words. That was it. Do what I did every day, and… leave.

Closing the car door next to me, I stepped to the entrance that was ten meters from the place I stood. I checked for the keys in my pocket, confirming I had brought them.

Relax. This is going to be just fine, Sora.

Ok, my mind was trying to put me at ease. However, I had to confess the dead silence that surrounded me was… scary as hell. I know, it was only the suggestion of recent happenings and events in that very place.

Anyway, there wasn't anything to be afraid of. The worst part had already happened, days from here. Not now. Now, things were calm. Things were quiet. There was nothing there, only a silenced machine that used to work for a lot of years… that was it.

Already inside, I let myself find the lights, that were out. My feeble, trembling hands reached the buttons I had pushed so many times, during my daily work here. In less than two seconds, the huge, mazy halls that made the bottom of that reactor were illuminated.

Quickly, I let myself go to the maintenance rooms whose location I knew by heart. My nervous footsteps were silent, however I had the sensation I was being extremely noisy. I had to check the five maintenance rooms that were placed in circle, surrounding the bottom of the reactor.

O.k, I can do this.

Yes, I was capable of doing this, my tasks weren't that difficult. Now, with my mind busy with the matters at hand, I let the fear inside me to dissipate and concentrated myself instead in checking the complex panels available in each maintenance room. From one room to another, I checked and re-checked that all the machines were shutdown, that there was no residual activity in the area of any kind and that the core reactor itself was really … dead.

In the last room – room five – we, the maintenance staff, had a private view of the reactor itself. There was a huge, thick glass that provided us a glimpse of the events inside the huge machine. Usually, there was always shiny green in the other side of that glass; but today, from that particular place, all I could see was only… pitch black.

Well, that was uncomforting. It gave me the awkward sensation someone was actually seeing me behind all that… black. Which was impossible, I knew it, but hey, a human's mind plays all kinds of tricks on you.

Trying to avert my eyes from the black glass at my left side, I directed my stare to the board at the right. Checking and re-checking, I was only capable of concluding everything was more than ok. Besides, my supervisor had been here already, he had checked things up too.

Definitely, there was nothing there to worry about.

At least, that was what I thought so.

Quickly, I aimed at the panels at my left side, right below the disturbing black the innocent glass provided. I focused in those boards as well, only to conclude everything was ok.

I breathed in and out once more, loudly, a sigh of relief. Well, I could leave now without worries, there was absolutely nothing wrong ab-

A sudden movement next to the door startled me. Reflexively, I looked in that direction, not knowing what to expect.

Did I dream of that? - My mind wondered. I was capable of swearing I had seen someone at the door. Someone that had been probably watching me since I was inside this maintenance room.

Is that even possible? But this place is closed since… - My mind tried to justify the event as rationally as possible.

No, something had to be going on. Maybe I had just imagined it. The place is suggestive, the situation, the surroundings… as well. It's just normal that I am seeing things.

Without thinking, I reached the door, closing it behind me and looking around me once more, with sharp eyes and ears. I did not hear a thing. Nothing at all… except for that disturbing stillness, that freaked me out since the very beginning of my tour around the reactor.

"Hello?" I dared, my voice shabby and weak.

No one answered. At least, I did not hear any answer. So, I tried one more time, before giving up for good.

"Anybody?"

This time, an answer came, but not in the form of a voice. From my right side, I heard the typical buzz of a light bulb failing, until disappearing… completely. I could not see a thing past maintenance room four. It was black, in the end of that hall… the same black behind that glass in the last room I had been recently.

I gazed the pitch black for a few seconds. I did not see anything. I didn't know what to do.

Should I leave? My mind asked, mainly at myself.

And then, something happened. The answer to my question came, again, however this time, it had a form, a color.

In the edges of the darkness ahead of me, I was able to discern a shape. It was feminine, that was for sure. Half hidden, the long hair seemed to have a fluid consistency, as if there was wind around her. Her face… I couldn't discern how it was, its contours. I could only guess the jaw line, the nose, part of her eyes and front. The eyes were closed. The hair was not dark, although I couldn't realize the exact color of it. It was so shadowy around her and yet, a subtle glowing all around that woman and I didn't know where it came from… this was so odd.

Her shoulders, arms and hands rested in front of her body, while her hips, along with her legs seemed to make a movement similar to levitation.

My mouth opened, bewilderment invading my core.

What is that?...

Yet again, there was no verbal answer. What I was about to see would change my life forever.

I was lost in thought, truly misplaced. I didn't know what to think about the vision my eyes were conceiving. Was it real, or not?

Abruptly, the "woman" opened one of her eyes. I could only stand and look, amazed, shocked. From her eye orbit, there was no regular, human eye… there was only light. A yellow, shiny glow, meeting my stare as intensely as a human gaze. And then, only by looking back at its shine, I knew she was looking at me. I knew she wanted my attention. I knew she wanted me… to follow her.

I felt a shiver running all over me. I was scared.

Unexpectedly, the female form moved, disappearing from my sight. I stood there for a couple of seconds more.

Where did she go?

And, without even considering what I was doing, I followed her. My legs had a mind of its own, my body ached for her stare, for her alien influence. I leaped into the darkness that seemed so frightening to me before, only to conclude there was absolutely nothing to be afraid of, in there. It was only a cape of thin air, bathed with the absence of light.

I walked around those corridors, following her presence. Occasionally, I was able to see the limits of her bright hair, as waves in the air calling for me, guiding me to… her.

Then, finally, I reached a door. The mysterious, levitating woman with the powerful stare was nowhere to be seen. I looked around, there was nothing...

That door in front of me. What was it? Where did it lead?

My hands moved, once again, grabbing the handle. With a swift movement, I opened the door. There was light inside. That door lead… to the bottom pit of the reactor. It was a huge place, surrounded with large columns and other elements I didn't know made part of the very foundation of a reactor itself. I looked up, and all I could see was… black, again.

There was a dim light across the base of that place. I looked around, stepping inside that place. It made me shiver, it was cold inside that place.

And then, my eye caught something.

Not moving, not levitating… Only laid at the floor, static, unmoving, there was someone.

A man.

I bugged my eyes at what I saw. A huge, tall man, dressed in black, with a dark coat and long hair… grey hair, lay at his right side, with his eyes closed, his hands and arms grabbing something that already seemed to disintegrate, a form of a head, partially destroyed, with a texture similar to… ash, or extremely fine sand.

He seemed to be sleeping a profound sleep, unaware of the surroundings, unaware of what had been happening lately… just like me. A sharper look at the closest surroundings made me spot a sword. Enormous, huge, just like… him. Well it did fit him, that was for sure… I was almost certain it was his.

I stood, once more, for some brief minutes, looking at this strange man resting at the foundation of the reactor, without knowing what to think.

What should I do? Where is that levitating woman of before?

And then, my mind processed the most simple, yet bizarre judgment.

Why did she guide me here?

However, this time, no answer came.

So, what do you think? Do you like it? Well I enjoyed immensely writing it so… I hope you do to! Please, read and review! Can't wait to check on your opinions :)

Next chapter… I'll post it sooner than you might think!