Shade
by TwinEnigma
Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, nor do I make profit from this fanwork. This is done for fun and skills building.
Warnings: Spoilers for Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core.
4.
It's the noise of people searching the junk that next draws him into waking. He can hear the dogs panting, the low hissing squawks from radios and knows instinctively that the ShinRa have come for him. He thinks, perhaps, there was a time before where he'd have been glad to see them, but now he doesn't want to be anywhere near them. ShinRa had done something to him, he remembers that much – something horrible.
He clamps down on the urge to retch as a memory of drowning in green light comes to mind unbidden. No, he cannot go back to them.
Quietly, he moves further back into the pipe, hiding behind the decaying garbage and discarded junk, and tries to make himself as small as possible. He stays still, resisting the urge to hold his breath as he listens to the footsteps of the infantrymen walking on top of the pipe above. Instead, he tries to focus on watching them through the many small rusted holes in the pipe. There don't seem to be that many of them. Hopefully, the rain has washed away enough of his scent and soon they'd be gone.
He rests his head on his arms and waits. Sometimes, they pass close enough that he can hear, but if they know his name, they don't use it. Instead, they mention a project – the "S" project, a name that sends a shiver of dim, horrifying recognition down his spine – and that they'd know who they were looking for as soon as they saw him.
It is only then he realizes that he doesn't even know what he looks like.
He wraps his head and body in rags anyway.