Edited: 8-30-15

Chapter 4: All Because of A Book

Back home, I was never one to be a thief.

Come to think of it, I probably could've been labeled a goody-two-shoes by most of the people I met.

I was known as that one girl on the hockey team, the one who played for the symphony, the one who didn't talk as much as the rest. I wasn't known in any other crazy way. I never bothered to lie to most people; never went out to any college parties to get hammered; never argued against my parents; always said please and thank you; et cetera.

I always minded my own business and stuck to my own schedule like clockwork, finishing up my homework on time and studying diligently.

One could even say that I was a boring person, though I didn't consider myself one.

It wasn't because I was a stickler for rules or anything. No, it was simply because I didn't care to deal much with other people; I actually considered it to be a part of the lazy aspect of my personality. It was because of that that I garnered a lot of respect from my parents, my friends, and even my professors. Heck, me and my brother even got along and he was almost the complete opposite of what I was.

How did I pass most of my time?

When I wasn't practicing with the team or playing the cello, I simply stuck to whatever it was that I loved doing; reading, cooking, and anything outside of hockey and symphony that practically involved staying away from other people.

"You need to get out and socialize more." My mother always chided.

Needless to say that that changed when I got thrown out of my own familiar surroundings.

...

"What is that?" Angeal questioned suspiciously, peering down at me.

"Oh, this?" I asked holding up the object in question. "It's Genesis' book." I said casually.

A few more days had gone by before I had decided to focus on a new target; I wanted to get my hands on Genesis' poetry book. I originally tried finding the book for it in Banora, but with no such luck. Genesis was the only one who owned a book with the Loveless poem in it and I highly doubted he would lend it to me.

I needed to read that poem at least once so that I could see if it held any answers or clues as to what I should be doing. After all, it was mentioned in the vision I had so it had to contain at least some answers.

The best thing though was the fact that I had just found it sitting on top of his desk in the underground one late afternoon with Genesis nowhere in sight. That's how I found myself sitting outside the schoolhouse the next day reading it before Angeal approached me.

Angeal's blue eyes widened as a shocked expression appeared on his face.

"Hold on, where's your sense of dignity?" Angeal said looking down at me with a frown slowly forming on his face. I looked at him curiously. What was he implying?

He continued, "You don't just take things—."

"Look Angeal, I'm gonna stop you right there." I closed the book and stood up. "Save that speech for someone else, like Genesis or, I don't know, a future student of yours." I hinted. I did not want to listen to an early version of Angeal's honor speech. "And I didn't steal it, you know. It was sitting on his desk and I just happened to pick it up." I said waving the book in his face.

"He was looking for it this morning." He paused. "Actually, he still is. I think you should return it as soon as possible, you don't know how much he loves that book." Angeal replied quietly.

I'm pretty sure I did have an idea though.

"Can I at least finish reading this one poem?" I questioned. "It took me forever to find it." I had in fact finally found the loveless poem mixed into the book a few seconds before Angeal walked over. It took forever to find because there wasn't a table of contents. That and I didn't have proper lighting to find it last night at home.

"Which one?" Angeal questioned bending over my shoulder. Seeing what page I was on he groaned.

"Loveless? Oh, not you too." He muttered.

"What?" I snapped back, "I only want to see what it's about!"

Angeal threw his hands up in defeat. "Sorry, didn't mean to offend you, geeze. And just so you know I don't think it won't take long for G to narrow down where the book went."

"I guess that means I should go somewhere he wouldn't easily find me then. Thanks for the tip, Angeal!" I said with a huge grin on my face.

"Wai—you know what, never mind. You're on your own for now. I've got to get going, my father is taking me with him to Mideel." Angeal knew he wouldn't be able to persuade me to return the book anytime soon. He turned and started walking away.

"Angeal, you need to work on your persuasive skills!" I taunted jokingly behind him. He still was a little different from his older self, I still hadn't gotten used to it. Genesis on the other hand, judging by the panicked look on Angeal's face, was still a crazy Loveless fan.

Taking my eyes off of Angeal, I turned back to the situation at hand. I needed all the time I could get to analyze the poem. "Now, where to hide?" I wondered out loud looking around. Slowly my eyes settled on a group of kids from school; they were making their way closer to the apple fields like they usually did after class.

"Perfect!" I decided. Genesis knew me well enough that he'd never think to look for me with the other kids. I started off towards them.

...

December weather in Banora was nice. Instead of the suffocating humidity that normally clouded the air, it was replaced by a pleasant, soft breeze. The air itself was now warm instead of hot, and it was very...relaxing. I actually found myself enjoying it and ignored how strange the weather actually was on Gaia; it wasn't snowy or cold like it was back home.

That was probably one of the main reasons I was still outside.

Well, aside from hiding from Genesis while I read his book.

I had followed my classmates across and out of the small town into the fields that were lined with countless apple trees and tall green grass underfoot. In the distance, the field was bordered by lush looking forest of palm trees that rustled with the wind.

It looked peaceful enough, but as soon as I set foot into the fields I started getting this strange feeling. I shook it off thinking that I was nervousness from being around the other children; they always looked at me as if I was diseased and that bothered me a lot. Normally being around little children came easy to me compared to being with people my own age, but here it was the opposite.

After only a few minutes, the small group found there way to the edge of the field without noticing me tailing behind them in the shade of the dumbapple trees. At first I was a bit surprised at how far off the drifted into the fields. The kids were actually only a few feet away from the woods which should've been something they'd be warned away from; I knew that because Ale always told me to stay away from the woods because of the risk of monsters. That and it was common sense, but then again, little kids didn't have that.

'Fine by me' I shrugged.

Looking around, I found the perfect spot to hide away. I quietly made my way over to a regular tree and mounted myself on the lower branch. As soon as I positioned myself up higher, I analyzed my surroundings; from where I sat, I had a good view of the field which could easily allow me to see if Genesis was approaching.

With that in mind and after doing one last scan of the area, I removed the book from my bag and stuck my nose in the book and began reading.

"When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end

The goddess descends from the sky

Wings of light and dark spread afar

She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting

Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess

We seek it thus, and take to the sky

Ripples form on the water's surface

The wandering soul knows no rest."

I lifted my eyes away from the book to take a break.

I was starting to remember it now. It was a poem about three friends and their journey to finding something called the gift of the Goddess. That was what Genesis had tried to recreate; he wanted to find the gift of the goddess that way to solve his degradation and ended up causing a domino effect which would eventually lead to the start of the Final Fantasy 7 game.

I closed the book and thought for a moment more.

Why had I heard this in my dream?

How was it even relevant?

I sighed and jumped down from the branch. I didn't feel like reading the poem anymore; it was obviously a dead end and it was giving me too many questions to add to my already indefinitely long list. That's what I got for being a bookworm, I ended up reading too much into one thing and wasted my time without finding anything useful.

Tucking the book into my small bag, I stretched out my back, hearing loud crackling in the process. I sent a glance over at the other kids; they hadn't noticed my presence yet and were still playing among themselves. That was good. They didn't need to run off and tell anyone where I was, especially Genesis. I still needed time to think of my next move.

Sitting around in Banora obviously wasn't helping me.

I decided that the first thing to do would be to return the book; it was pretty fragile looking and I didn't want to be responsible if anything happened to it.

The sun was still hanging high in the sky when I began walking back the way I came. That was when I felt the strange feeling from earlier; this knotted feeling in the pit of my stomach as if someone was watching me. I sent another glance back behind me towards the kids. No one was looking, everything seemed normal. Just as I turned to head back into town, however, something caught my eye.

Turning my head sharply towards the edge of the woods, I saw something-something huge.

Stopping, I gawked in disbelief; I couldn't believe what I was seeing. A green mass of writhing tentacles, and it was making its way towards my classmates.

It looked like... a malboro!

"Shit!" I cursed.

My mind began racing; the situation was bad and the kids that I had followed were now in harms way.

What would happen to them?

What could I do?

I began looking back and forth frantically trying to figure out the best course of action. They were standing there still unaware of the danger. I had the option of trying to find someone to help, but I knew that I wouldn't be fast enough; I knew that those kids would be doomed if I ran away. Making a split decision, I bolted through the field towards them. Even though I didn't know them well enough, I wasn't about to stand by and let something horrible happen; not when I could prevent it.

The grass chaffed against the exposed skin on my legs as I charged down towards the wood line.

"Hey! Get out of here, hurry!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, waving my arms frantically at the kids. They turned to me and looked at me strangely. Within seconds I made it to them, which surprised me because I was never much of a runner before. One of the older kids stepped forward looking down at me suspiciously.

"Why should we, kid?" he asked rudely.

Did they really not see it?

I wanted to roll my eyes at the moment but decided it wasn't the time or place for it.

"That's why!" I shouted pointing towards the woods.

All of them mindlessly turned and looked where I was pointing. The malboro finally emerged from the trees and was now out in the open; it had to be at least ten feet tall, and that to a little kid was massive.

One of the younger children let out a small squeak from their mouth. That caused me to refocus my attention, drawing my gaze back on the older boy. He and the others stood perfectly still as if petrified.

With that small noise, however, the malboro's attention was drawn and it turned its eyeless face in our direction.

"Don't just stand there, move!" I commanded.

Breaking out of their stupor, the kids began panicking and running; they didn't seem to think of it odd to follow the commands of a strange little girl they avoided like the plague at the moment, especially not when a hulking monster was heading their way. I was about to flee with them when I realized that some of the younger kids were rooted in place with fear.

There was no time left.

The malboro was now only a few feet away from them.

Not thinking twice, I ran towards the monster and shouted at it.

"Hey, over here!"

In the back of my mind, I needed to draw the monster away from the younger kids; I realized that they weren't going to move any time soon.

"Come on ya dumb mass of tentacles!"I shouted again, but the malboro didn't seem interested in me. Why was that? With no other options left, that was when I stooped over and picked up a rock beside me, hurling it at the malboro's head.

Big mistake.

As if finally realizing my presence, the malboro snapped its attention in my direction, letting loose an ear splitting howl as the rock landed back on the ground. Judging by the way it was moving, I had provoked it into a frenzy. The malboro started rapidly making its way over to me, having forgotten of other motionless kids. In the blink of an eye, I quickly realized that I was definitely able to see its razor sharp teeth now.

"Crap! It was only a rock!" I shouted in a slight panic.

It was too late to take it back though; the stone had already been thrown.

I looked around and thinking quickly, I darted into the woods as fast as my legs would allow with the malboro tailing hot on my heels. I would have a better chance at getting away from a frenzied monster if I had cover; the malboro after all was about the size of a small shed which would slow it down when moving through the trees.

"Gotta think!" I ordered myself hastily pushing my hair out of my face as my feet pattered against the exposed ground; my surroundings had changed and in no time flat I had darted further into the woods and away from the apple field.

I began weaving in between the trees, trying to shake the malboro but with no such luck. Wherever I turned, it followed, most likely relying on scent and hearing to guide it. I was small and quick, but that wouldn't be enough to shake it, especially when I felt like my feet were thundering against the ground. I had no more options left and I couldn't think of a way out of this situation.

I had no weapons, no armor, nothing.

My scrawny little kid body would snap like a twig in an instant if the malboro launched one attack at me. The only thing I could do was keep running and pray to the goddess that I would shake it or it would get bored and stop.

"If only I had my materia!" I scolded myself as I ducked underneath a low branch.

'Malboros are weak to fire, right?'

With that thought, I felt a familiar sensation. My right arm seemed to tingle with warmth like it had when I held the materia.

'What…'

Before I could do anything else, I realized my hair had found its way back into my face and I tripped over a root. Dropping my bag in the process, I sprang straight back up and hurled myself out of the way with only seconds to spare as the malboro let out a bad breath attack.

I watched in fear for a few seconds as a green smog cascaded out of the monster's mouth, quickly spilling to the ground and wrapping around the trees. Poison, and lots of it, spread in the area I was just in, that was how I knew I had got lucky with that move.

There was no way for me to be able to defend myself against a physical attack other than dodging, and even then I wasn't fast enough to keep dodging forever.

The malboro was about to attack again and I backed up. I found myself bumping against a tree. I was cornered now. Looking to my sides, the malboro would've been able to cut me off.

Was this how I would die?

I still felt my hand tingling. With nothing else to do, I closed my eyes and without thinking, I held out my hand and shouted the first word that came to my mind: "Fire!"

The first thing I felt was warmth.

Simultaneously opening my eyes back up, I watched small flames erupt into being on the malboro.

It backed off, letting off another inhuman howl. Not wasting anytime to comprehend what happened I took the opening and ran for it, ducking for cover behind some thicker trees. Not a split second later, another voice rang out: "Fire!"

I watched as more fire burst into life. The malboro emitted a painful howl as an even greater flame spawned to replace the last one. Realizing that another person had shown up, the malboro began to retreat. It was outnumbered, that or it lost interest.

I watched its figure retreat deeper into the woods as I bent over, sighing in relief. My heart was still pounding through my chest as I struggled to calm myself down.

I had no idea what had just happened.

The main thing that I was pretty sure of was that I had conjured the flames. There was no doubt about it; that warm tingly feeling in my arm.

But someone else had also come to my rescue.

Being reminded that I wasn't alone anymore, I raised my head up from the ground to look for my rescuer. I quickly spotted Genesis as he emerged from behind the trees. In his hand he was twirling around a materia-my materia.

I stood up straight, but before I could say anything to him, Genesis beat me to the punch.

"What were you thinking!" He shouted.

"I—" I began to say, but Genesis silenced me with his hand. He glared at and that was when I realized how red his face had become. Involuntarily, I found myself shrinking back at his expression; he was definitely angry right now. With the look in his eyes, I almost forgot that he was still a kid and for a second I thought I saw the real Genesis in front of me-the one that drove Sephiroth into madness.

"Do you know how stupid this was?! You could have been killed!" He continued.

"I..." I mumbled out again trying to find words to say.

Genesis was...concerned for me?

Shaking my head, I finally spoke. "I saw it coming towards them. I didn't want the other kids to get hurt."

I lowered my head to the ground, looking away from him; I finally realized how stupid I had acted. I could have easily been killed and then I would've never gotten home and the world would still be thrown into turmoil.

Genesis sighed.

I looked up to see him rubbing his forehead in frustration. "Look, leave the hero work to someone else, ok?" he said in a lighter tone.

"Ok" I replied tilting my head down. My hair fell into my face again and I began fiddling with the lose strands, attempting to tuck them out of the way.

After a moment of silence, Genesis spoke up.

"Here"

I glanced up through my messy hair to see him holding out a long red ribbon and raised an eyebrow in confusion.

He looked at my expression and rolled his eyes.

"Maybe if you used this to get the hair out of your face you'd run into trouble less often." He said sarcastically.

My face flushed red in embarrassment; he was right. I was always pushing my hair out of my face and I almost died because of it today; there was no way I would refuse such a gift.

I tentatively reached out, taking the soft ribbon in my hands; the material it was woven with was thick and textured, ensuring that it wouldn't easily slip. Pushing my hair aside, I secured the ribbon around my head, fashioning it like a hairband with the ends hanging a little past my shoulder.

Sure enough, my vision was clearer.

I blinked and looked around, admiring the difference that it made; I never realized just how much my hair had been in my face. I finally looked back at Genesis and smiled.

"Thank you." I said sincerely.

At that moment, I probably started to realize...how much I came to see Genesis as my friend.

Not only him, but Angeal as well.

"Hey," I then asked breaking away from my thoughts, "how did you know where to find me?"

"It wasn't too hard considering the trail of wreckage and screaming kids you left in your wake." He sneered.

"Well, you're welcome," I muttered back in sarcasm.

"Now that that's over with, have you seen by book?" Genesis questioned.

Crap.

I had dropped my bag when the malboro unleashed its breath attack.

Turning around, I ran past Genesis and back over to my bag were it lay on the ground. It looked a little ruffled up, but intact. Grabbing the straps, I then realized how brittle the bag felt. That was when worry started to form in my stomach.

Not hesitating, I flipped open the bag and pushed aside the other books and items in search of the aged, old poetry book. My heart dropped when I finally found it; carefully scooping it up, I brought it out of the back only to see pages fall out from it.

Gathering them up, I quickly realized that the pages that had fallen out were those of Loveless. Much to my dismay, only a small bit of it was readable: "The arrow has left the bow of the Goddess"

It seemed that the bad breath attack had taken its toll on the old book, causing the ink to fade drastically and it's pages to wither.

I reluctantly turned around and held it out in front of me, watching as Genesis' face went blank.

"Um, Genesis?" I said with uncertainty.

"It's fine." He said in a low voice. He reached out and took the destroyed book from my hands, almost cradling it in his own.

"I—"

"Let's get back to town. Your aunt and uncle are probably worried." Genesis interrupted.

Not waiting for my response, he immediately turned to walk back the way he came.

Looking at how he reacted, obviously it wasn't fine. I felt really horrible; I had been nothing but a bother to Genesis, had blackmailed him, and even intruded in his hideout. Now I could add that I taken something precious to him and destroyed it in the process to my long list of grievances against him. Sure, we argued sometimes, but he did save my sorry hide twice.

I owed him a lot.

And I would make it up to him, somehow.

Picking up my bag, I quietly followed Genesis out of the woods and back to Banora. Not one word was spoken the entire time.

...

Night had fallen and I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling. Earlier I had received one of the worst scoldings I'd ever had. Agatha was furious at me and was even crying while Ale just had a scowl etched in his face. Apparently word got around fast about the incident when the little kids started running back from the field.

I got up and walked over to the small mirror on the wall and pulled up a stool. I looked at the ribbon in my hair and couldn't help but think about the entire day.

I had created such a big mess, all because of one little book.

Genesis probably hated me for it.

Then again, what would have happened if I hadn't been there? Would those other kids have died?

And...

What would've happened to me if Genesis didn't find me?

I shuddered a little, already knowing what the answer to that question was. Being put in danger had opened up my eyes; I needed to get stronger, otherwise there was no way that I could face off against Jenova and come out victorious.

The only thing that helped keep me alive today was…Magic?

I blinked at that thought. I got of the stool and studied my hand; How was it that I had been able to do that earlier?

It didn't make sense.

I clenched my hand into a fist and glanced at a small candlestick on my nightstand. I reached over and placed it in the middle of the stone floor of my room. Raising my hand, I focused on the wick of the candle. Taking a deep breath in and out, I steadied myself as warmth seemed to spread into my hand again.

"Fire" I whispered.

In response to my words, the candlestick seemed to spontaneously ignite into a ball of flame.

I shrank back.

"No way" I uttered out in disbelief staring at the once unlit candle. I then realized something else; the candle was fully engulfed in a huge flame and burning the floor. Without thinking I snatched it up and threw it in a little wash basin, extinguishing it.

I looked at my hand; it didn't get burned at all.

All of the times that I had played Final Fantasy 7, I had never once heard of a character being able to use magic without a materia. And yet, here I was standing in the middle of the room, able to set a candle on fire with only a single word. Not only that, but the flame didn't even bother me one bit.

What exactly did that mean for me?

No...

What exactly was I?

Turning my head back towards the mirror, a green glint caught my eye; a glint that was much the same as the one that caused me to fall into the stream. Immediately I noticed my eyes and recoiled: Their crimson color had become more of a dark green. I watched them for a while as they seemed return back to their normal color.

What did this mean?

I groaned, rubbing my forehead.

With all that had happened today, I was ready to call it quits. The day had gotten far too complicated for my tastes and I just needed sleep.

Trudging over to the side of my bed, I threw myself down onto the sheets and didn't bother taking off the crimson ribbon that now sat on the top of my head.

Extra:

(Flashback)

As soon as Sibyl left the factory, Angeal went down the tunnel to the hideout to find Genesis.

"Hey, did you say anything to Sib?" He asked; Angeal had been rather confused at how she had acted. Rather than giving him one of her normal, energetic greetings, she merely nodded her head instead. It was out of character for the girl.

"No, not at all" Genesis replied still at his desk reading his book. "The brat left on her own accord."

"She seemed kind of sad." Angeal replied thoughtfully as he leaned against the wall near the entrance.

"And what do you suggest we do about it? I don't know about you, but I'm not great with little kids, especially one that acts like her." Genesis stated before snapping his book shut, placing it in his coat pocket. He turned to look at Angeal, waiting for him to answer.

"How about getting her a gift?" Angeal asked. Genesis just stared back with a skeptical look on his face. Angeal continued, "How about a ribbon? I'm pretty sure that all girls like those."

"You mean I should buy it."

"Well, I don't have that much gil…" Angeal said sheepishly.

"Fine. It is annoying how her hair keeps going in her face. It's a mess."

"Don't let her hear you saying that, she might get really mad." Angeal laughed.

Genesis just rolled his eyes and smirked. "Want to spar?"

"Sure."

"Hey, your dad's taking you to get you your sword soon, right?"

"Yeah, we're leaving next week to go to Mideel. I don't even know how we could afford it, but father insisted on it as being a gift for entering SOLDIER."

"We only have, what now, a month or two left before we leave, right?" Genesis said.

Angeal nodded. "I wonder how Sib will react when we tell her."

"Hmph" Genesis chuckled.

"What?" Angeal responded.

His friend said nothing in response.

"Have you ever considered that we're the only friends she's got?" Angeal pointed out.

Genesis stopped at that.

Sibyl was an unusual girl and as such it wasn't hard for Genesis and Angeal to realize just how much of an outcast she was to other children her own age. She was practically drawn to them, and even started acting comfortable around the two, letting them get to know her better. What they had quickly come to realize was that behind the façade of a little girl was someone who was undeniably mature beyond her years.

It was probably one of the few reasons Genesis himself had come to be accepting of her; he never had a fondness for any other kids in the town...well, except for Angeal of course. Sure he had argued with her on and off, but perhaps he had come to think of her as a friend.

"I suppose you're right." He responded.

...

Author's note: well, here is the next chapter. I apologize if it's a little crappy and rushed in some areas, but it should be okay over all. I even decided to include a little extra at the end for fun. As usual, feel free to leave a review.

Author's note 8-30-15: I finally went back to this chapter and added more to it. I didn't realize how lacking it was in some detail and decided to add more to better flesh out Sib's character. I'm making slow progress with reediting these chapters, but it has to be done.