Author's note: Just to give ya'll a heads up, this chapter is a little different from the rest! And for the sake of the story, I went back and made a slight change to Sib's age; I felt that it would allow me to be more flexible as the story itself goes on.
Chapter 7: The Start
(1992)
The time had finally come; my time limit was up.
Before I realized it, one month had come and gone as I rushed to prepare myself for the inevitable. In the end with the progress I had made, I felt that it would be enough to get me to where I needed to go. I scrounged up enough supplies, money, and even managed to boost my stamina some through a little training with magic.
It was the dead of night, early February, when I departed Banora.
Quietly, I slipped out of my bed and stopped at my nightstand. I collected up my headband and replaced it with a note, gently propping it up against the little candle. I wasn't about to leave Ale and Agatha without at least giving them some sort of explanation.
Not soon after, I exited the front door and headed to the undergrounds one last time. Upon entering, I immediately scooped up my bag and slipped the fire materia into my pocket. The hideout had served as a very useful place for keeping my plan out of sight from wandering eyes. Turning for one final time, I took in the small cavern and reminisced. I knew that this would be the last time I ever set foot in it. After I would leave, things would be different from here on out; I would be leaving the comfort zone I had come to know and take my first steps towards the inevitable, uncertain future.
With that, I turned and took my leave.
?
When Veld arrived in Banora at the start of the new year, he suspected nothing unusual to occur; he would merely be retrieving the two new additions to Shinra's grand SOLDIER project. He specifically had been called in to pick them up because of how special of a case the boys were, both Angeal Hewley and Genesis Rhapsodos. After all, they were subjects involved in that project.
Needless to say that he was surprised when a peculiar little girl made her presence known. Veld had been in Banora since the early hours of the day. When the time of departure arrived, he stood by the two boys as they said their goodbyes to their parents in the grassy field by the mayor's house. That was when she appeared.
"Hey! You guys said you weren't leaving without a goodbye!" He heard her shout. At first, Veld thought nothing of it; he was even reminded of his own daughter.
Veld continued talking to the parents for a moment longer before turning around. He found himself looking down at a girl with unruly black hair; completely normal looking from behind, maybe even a little tomboyish. The girl had been talking to the two older boys as if they were close friends. "And who is this?" Veld said, making his presence known.
He watched as the girl slowly turned her head to look at him. When the girl's eyes met his gaze, Veld was thrown off. Crimson colored eyes…just like his old partner. The girl held an uncanny resemblance to Valentine! But how? That kind of color of eyes was hard to come by on Gaia, a trait saved for barely a small handful of people.
Veld was broken out of his thoughts by Angeal. "Ah, this is one of our friends, sir." The boy said stepping forward slightly.
"I see," he replied, maintaining his calm appearance.
The girl seemed a little nervous for a moment before taking a step towards him. What she said next threw Veld for another loop: "Hello, my name is Sibyl Lasko, pleasure to meet you Mr. Veld, sir."
"So you have heard of me? Interesting," he responded.
This girl was definitely becoming more and more intriguing by the second. The way she looked was more than enough to catch his interest, but the way she was acting coupled with the fact that she knew who he was by name was alarming in his mind. It was starting to sound off many different ideas.
Veld distracted himself from his haywire mind and focused his attention on Genesis and Angeal; he didn't want to cause any suspicion. "It's time that we headed out. We need to keep on schedule."
He then turned his attention to the boys' parents as the girl ran off after the boys.
Upon dismissing the parents and bidding them a farewell, he began walking back towards the chopper before casting another glance at the girl. At that moment, her eyes were fixed on the helicopter and she looked…sad, like how a normal child would act. That helped ease Veld's thoughts, if only for a moment.
He felt the need to say something. "You'll see them again." Veld could imagine what the girl was going through; he knew what it was like to be separated from the people he cared about. His wife and daughter lived in Kalm while he was in Midgar.
The girl remained quiet for a moment before speaking up.
"Um, Mr. Veld?" She asked. He directed his gaze down at her. "Um."
"Yes?" he said back patiently.
"Sir, you're a Turk, right? How do I become one?"
That came out of nowhere.
"And why is that, young one? Why do you want to be a Turk?" He asked curiously.
"I have an idea why," she began, "I…I want to be able to work alongside my friends. And, well, I'm pretty sure I'm not cut out for SOLDIER."
"I see."
Veld then turned away for a moment to think. The girl did seem intelligent, and that alone posed a lot of potential for becoming a Turk. But…he was still left with many questions about her. Why hadn't the undercover operatives said anything? Surely she wouldn't have gone unnoticed.
The solution was simple; he would just have to do some of his own digging when he returned to his office.
"You'll have to wait a few years. And if you find that you still want to be a Turk, come to my office in Midgar and then we'll talk."
He had made his decision and with that, he made his way to the helicopter.
…
Over a month, and Veld could only come up with dead ends for his questions. Sibyl was proving to be an enigma; she had a registered I.D., but it appeared that the first few years of her life were missing. She only appeared washed up in a creek after a freak flood drowned an entire town northeast of Banora. It even seemed that she had lost some of her memories other than her name.
Veld of course looked at the records for the destroyed town, but he couldn't find the family name of Lasko among any of the former inhabitants. That only increased his own suspicions and added to a theory.
The girl had a striking resemblance towards his old Turk partner, Vincent Valentine. While Valentine was listed as deceased, Veld estimated that Sibyl was at least old enough to be related to him. But…Vincent Valentine had never really been close to anyone, and Veld certainly knew that. Maybe her appearance was simply…A coincidence?
No, there had to be something more.
A knock sounded at Veld's door and the silence in his office was disrupted. "Come in."
The door opened and a young man with black hair tied back in a short ponytail entered.
"Ah, Tseng." Veld said in recognition, looking up from his papers. "What is it that you've found?"
"The girl that you asked the undercover agent to observe, well, she's been reported as a runaway."
Veld's eyebrow rose at that; it was certainly a new development. Did Sibyl think that she was being watched, perhaps? Very perceptive for an eight year old. It seemed to give some support to his theory too.
"It is reported that she left a note, sir," Tseng continued, "Her excuse for running away apparently was to go training on her own and something about her aunt and uncle not wanting her to join the Turks." A doubtful smirk appeared on Tseng's face and it vanished as quickly as it came.
"In that case, tell the agent to return. We have no further business in Banora for now. You are dismissed."
He listened to the sound of shoes clacking against the floor and heard the door shut soon after. He returned to the paperwork on his desk.
Veld sighed. At this rate, maybe he would only be able to receive answers from Sibyl herself. For now, he would keep his suspicions quiet and stop with his theories. He wouldn't tell the two boys either; it would be best to keep them away from a distraction with their progression.
The only thing he could do now was wait.
?
The tall man had worked at the docks of Costa del Sol for as long as he could remember. Proof enough was the grey hair on his head. He had seen many things through his time working there and unloading shipments, but he had never seen something like this.
It had been an average day, like any other. He completed his morning routine and made his way down to the docks for his job. As the hours went by, everything went off without a hitch, but when he went to unload the newly caught chocobos that were sent from the area of Mideel, he had been taken back by shock. From outside their holding area, he could discern the figure of a little kid with jet-black hair among the chocobos. In fact, the kid appeared to be asleep and leaning on one as well.
His eyes widened at the sight. It was unusual; a stowaway kid had taken refuge with a bunch of wild chocobos, one of the most skittish animals he'd ever dealt with, and the chocobos didn't seem to react to her presence at all!
The man quickly left to find a supervisor, not knowing what to do, but upon returning, the chocobos finally kicked up a storm at his appearance. The kid was gone, he realized, and the shipment later came up as short of one chocobo.
His supervisor could hardly believe his story either.
(Late 1992)
If I knew that it would be this hard to find my way around the western continent, I would have stayed put in the last town I was in and found money to hire a guide.
It had been almost nine months since I had left Banora. So far, I seemed to be doing a great job of keeping myself unnoticed and I even acquired a chocobo, whom I'd fondly named Bo, to help with my journey. But also so far, I failed to convince my first target to help me.
It took me five of those months to find her, combined with bad weather, avoiding monsters and suspicious people, and keeping out of harm's way, yet when I found her, she didn't want to help me.
Despite my desperate attempts to convince her to help me, I ended up leaving empty handed. Guilt had already consumed her thoroughly enough that my words couldn't reach her ears. I left her with where I was heading next in hopes that she would change her mind.
My plan wasn't going as well as I had hoped. From there I decided to trudge on and make my way to my next destination; I had to find the Shinra Mansion. That's how I found myself where I was now: Lost in the cold and cloudy mountains somewhere around the area of Nibelheim. On top of that, my supplies were running drastically low and I certainly looked and felt worse for wear.
I also felt like I had been riding the Bo around in circles having found myself staring at a familiar boulder for the eighth time in a row.
"Ain't this a joke." I mumbled aloud.
I slightly nudged the Bo in the side to let me down. Dismounting him, I stood up as tall as I could and stretched out my aching muscles; no matter how soft and fluffy a chocobo was it still didn't prevent me from getting a saddle sore.
I looked to Bo, "I don't suppose you can magically find the way there?"
"Wark."
"Yeah, thought so." I sighed shaking my head. This was becoming a disaster. On the upside of things, I was seeing a lot more of Gaia than I had ever dreamed of.
"Can you wait here for me?" I asked the chocobo, even though he probably couldn't understand me.
"Wark."
Stretching out my arms a bit more, I walked over to the base of the tallest tree I could find near me and began to climb. I wanted to try seeing if I could see anything from above the tall masses of evergreen trees.
Climbing to the top, I felt my skin become more and more sticky with sap. I had saved tree climbing as a last resort in order to avoid feeling any more filthy than I already was. I stopped for a moment and removed the ribbon around my head and carefully tucked it into my pocket; I didn't want to lose or damage it because of the tree.
After a few moments, I reached the top. Sadly, though, I couldn't see anything else except for the vast cover of green trees and the face of grey rock. From what I could tell, I was however, near the top of one of the numerous peaks of the mountains. I continued to look out on the land, noting the position of the sun; it would be setting soon.
Then I heard something.
The tree seemed to shake underneath my hold.
"Shit," I mumbled to myself as I quickly began to descend the branches. Something was wrong, and my gut seemed to be telling me that as well. Keeping my eyes trained down at my feet, I hurried along, making sure I didn't miss a branch and slip.
I planted my feet firmly on the ground in time to see Bo with his feathers ruffled up in agitation. I hurried towards him; there was something huge nearby. No sooner had I reached him, a loud roar abruptly sounded off behind me, scaring my Chocobo.
He began to flail around for a few seconds, pulling violently away from my grasp before bolting away from me in the opposite direction.
"Bo! Come back!" I screeched desperately. He disappeared into the never ending forest of green; Bo was long gone, and he had taken most of my supplies with him.
A second later, I came to my senses and snapped my head around to see a huge, hulking dragon standing not thirty yards away from me. At that moment, it appeared that I only had one option. With that, I zipped of in the direction my chocobo went as the dragon began stomping faster after me. Whether he wanted me or Bo, I didn't know. All I knew was that if I stuck around there for another minute I'd wind up dead; I had to high tail it out of there.
"Of all the things!" I huffed out as I sprinted away. This was not good, with all of my luck I had been found by a Nibel Dragon. It was immune to fire which meant I had no chance in hell of fending it off.
Pumping my arms upward, I kept running as fast as I could despite the fact that my body was sore. I was put at an even further disadvantage by the fact that I still had the body of a little kid.
Crashing through the trees, the dragon was still right behind me and gaining on me quickly. Why couldn't it just fly away and bother somebody else? I had put myself in yet another life-endangering situation, and this time, there was no one to help me.
At that thought, I began panicking.
"Genesis! Angeal! Anyone! Help!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I continued running.
Yep. I was going to die.
"Planet, please!" I pleaded at the last second. I was going to fail and would have changed nothing.
Immediately after that, I noticed how close behind the dragon was. Alarmed, I realized too late that I had slowed down, placing me within reach of the dangerous predator. With a swipe of its limb, the dragon sent me flying forward, narrowly missing me with its claws. I felt like a ragdoll as I tumbled along the ground, barely stopping short of being knocked out against a rock face. Was it toying with me? Playing with its food?
I stared up at it in fear from the ground. I was weak and I felt my body solidify in place; my legs were refusing to move.
Then right as the dragon opened its gaping mouth to finish me off, gunshots rang out. I watched, paralyzed in shock, as a figure cloaked in crimson seemed to come out of nowhere and began fighting the dragon.
The dragon swiftly began to retaliate against the new presence, but the figure was prepared for it. The way he moved, how fast he attacked the dragon, was inhuman.
No, he was demonic.
I guess I had found him; the one I was seeking, but…how? What were the chances of this happening, that I would be saved at the last possible moment from my untimely demise? Not surprisingly, I found myself thinking that the odds were heavily against me. In fact, there was no way it should have happened at all.
I snapped out of my stupor as a final shot rang out, effectively silencing the dragon forever. I stared at the man—no, the demon—in awe as he lowered his weapon.
A gust of wind rushed through the trees, breaking the deafening silence that had ensued.
The demon turned towards me.
"C-Chaos…" I stuttered out.
How?
Why?
His glowing eyes met mine and he sneered at me coldly, "You required assistance?"
(1995)
?
The boy knew that something bad was going to happen. Thank the planet that he had followed her, but now he didn't know what to do.
What had happened played out in his mind again.
Earlier he had followed his neighbor, Tifa Lockhart, as she stubbornly made her way up to Mt. Nibel. Cloud had tried the entire way to convince her to turn back, but failed at it miserably. The only thing he concluded that he could do was try to keep the younger girl safe as she tried to find her mother, no matter how in vain her efforts were.
So he stayed by her side, keeping an eye out for any possible danger. He had done a good job at it…That is, until they reached the bridge.
Cloud didn't know that the bridge had been very loose and no sooner had Tifa set foot on it, he found himself watching in horror as the bridge gave out on one side.
Tifa let out a cry of shock as she felt the surface beneath her give way and she started to fall. A split second later, Cloud reached out to her and both of them ended up plunging to the ground below.
It had been a miracle that he was still conscious and only had a few cuts and bruises. Tifa on the other hand had not been so fortunate.
Cloud sat there cradling her head in his hands. She had been knocked out and had a deep gash above her eyebrow; it was bleeding heavily. Cloud faintly ghosted his hand over the wound; this clearly wasn't a dream.
"Tifa?! Tifa wake up, please!" He was panicking. Tifa was possibly dead or dying and he didn't know what to do. He felt at that moment that it was his fault. He felt so helpless.
"Please, somebody! Help!" He cried out in frustration, tearing at his own blonde locks. Tears began pouring from his eyes.
He then looked up back to the bridge when he caught sight of someone. A ray of hope seemed to shine down on Cloud.
"Hey!" he began shouting, waving his hands frantically through the air. "Down here, please help us!"
He watched as the person seemed to flinch at his call for help.
He continued speaking: "My friend, she's unconscious! I don't know what to do…" He blinked slowly and looked back down at Tifa as if to reassure himself that she was still there before glancing back up.
Cloud's face dropped when he realized that the figure had disappeared from sight.
He couldn't believe it; he had found hope, only to have the stranger run away from them. It only made him more frustrated. Was it only a hallucination?
"You fell from the bridge, didn't you?" A voice spoke up, startling Cloud. He looked up to see that the person from earlier only standing a few feet away from him and Tifa.
His eyes lit up as the person, a girl, came closer. He looked at her briefly; her face was hidden from his sight by a hood pulled over her face. Cloud tried taking in any other details he could, but the only other thing he could make note of was that the girl had bandages wrapped around one of her arms.
The girl's appearance up-close was starting to unnerve Cloud, though he didn't know why.
"Ah crap," the girl muttered as she searched her pockets for something. "Of all the times to not have it…" She then broke out of her quiet ranting with a start as if to realize that Cloud was still there. He looked at her with anticipation.
"Um, look," she began, "I won't be able to help you much, but I can at least take care of the wound on Ti—your friend's head."
Before he could ask what she meant, the girl knelt down and placed a glowing green hand on Tifa's forehead.
"Magic?" Cloud wondered with curiosity. He watched silently as the girl's hand hovered over the gash, slowly mending together the wound. Nobody in Nibelheim was ever lucky enough or rich enough to be able to have a materia and Cloud had certainly never been able to see magic used before.
Just as he moved his head to get a closer look at his savior, the girl abrupty stood up. "Alright, I've helped you all I can. You should hurry up and get your friend back to town; she still needs some medical attention. I'll follow you down to make sure you get back safely, but that's as far as I'll go. After that, you've never seen me, understand?" She quipped hastily.
Cloud shook his head in agreement immediately with no hesitation; his main priority was saving his friend. Looking back down at Tifa, the wound on her forehead was gone. He stood up as quickly as he could and began to hoist Tifa on his shoulder when heard the stranger groaned a little, bringing her hand up to her head underneath the hood. When she removed her hand, Cloud could see what looked like blood rubbed onto her fingertips.
"You're not hurt too, are you?" Cloud questioned carefully as he cautiously took a step towards her with Tifa still propped up against his shoulder.
"They're never going to let me hear the end of this," he discerned the stranger mumbling under her breath.
"What?" he questioned.
The girl snapped her head towards him and his blue eyes met red ones. He felt his mouth slip open slightly. "I'm fine, now hurry before it gets dark" the girl lashed out.
Cloud nearly jumped at her response. He wasn't given much time to comply as the girl began walking away.
Painfully, but slowly, he walked with Tifa's limp figure at his side down the mountain, navigating the rougher parts with some help. Eventually the girl began walking behind them as they got closer to their destination. Ever so often, Cloud turned back to see if the girl was still there. Sure enough as they made their way down the stranger stayed behind them, effectively keeping her distance.
By the time he had gotten to the outskirts of town, he turned once more to thank the mysterious girl, but she was already gone.
Cloud was starting to get a massive headache from the whole encounter: Something didn't feel right about it. He shrugged it off.
Maybe his injuries were the source of the unease.
He continued to drag himself towards town.
(1997)
"We need to leave, now."
"You're sure, Vincent?" I looked sincerely at the man who I'd come to know in the past five years. He solemnly nodded his head.
"Shinra personnel were spotted not too far from here." He replied.
"I'll go get the Doc then." I said back as I hastily made my way towards the upper level in Shinra Mansion. Climbing up the grand staircase in the old mansion, I took in the massive glass windows one last time before dashing into a side hallway. I opened a bedroom door and found myself looking at a quiet lady with long brown hair cascading down the side of her slender figure sitting at the edge of a lone bed.
"It's time Dr. Crescent." I said calmly as I took a step into the room. "Is everything in order?"
"Yes," she said flashing a slight, sad smile at me, "We can leave this place with no worries. You will be in no danger."
I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. "Good. Let's go, he's waiting downstairs."
Silently she got up from the bed she was sitting on and slung a small bag over her shoulder. We quickly made our way downstairs to the mansion foyer. I caught sight of Vincent standing at the front door. He looked to us both, with his eyes lingering a little longer on Dr. Crescent before he spoke.
"Let's move out."
It was still early in the morning as we slipped out of the mansion and took off into the surrounding woods, leaving Nibelheim well behind us.
Ever since I had come there five years ago, Vincent Valentine had made sure to hammer it into my head that using the Shinra Mansion as my place of operations was a very risky idea. I quickly learned over the following months after that that Shinra lab personnel would occasionally come and go to check on the status of the mansion, despite the fact that it had been out of use for quite some time. All three of us were used to having everything ready so as to leave at the drop of a hat in case something ever came up; all of our equipment and research was packed up and we made sure the building looked untouched.
This time however, the leave would be permanent. It was only a few days before that Both Vincent and I could feel that something was going to happen. Vincent had gone out to scope the surrounding areas and quickly determined that a huge wave of Shinra employees with lots of equipment was moving in. For what, I couldn't be sure.
The whole entire five years that I'd been there, I had made sure to steer clear of Nibelheim, especially after that time. I had accidentally run into Cloud and even Tifa too, but I managed to slip away without revealing myself. I didn't want to change things from the main story as much as I could.
As it turned out, I wasn't the only one who'd done some avoiding in those past few years. Both Vincent and Dr. Crescent had been avoiding each other, though in the most subtle ways. When she had first showed up, which was a great shock to me, both she and Vincent were at a loss of words when they had finally come face to face again.
It was awkward, but in the end they decided to work together to help me, all because of one reason: Sephiroth. In fact, I don't think I would've been able to get their help in the first place if it wasn't for that reason.
I ended up divulging them with as much knowledge I could give them within reason about what I knew was going to happen. There was some information, however, that I made sure only found its way to Vincent's ears alone; I couldn't be too sure about how Dr. Crescent would react if I told her that same information.
In the end, my plan had paid off. I had gained two individuals who I could fully trust with the knowledge I had and whom I could turn to help for if I needed it. The best part was that it would only have a minor impact on the future if I was to somehow fail.
Based off of what I had discussed with Dr. Crescent about my previous dreams with the Goddess, I had been able to set my goal: I needed to use my knowledge to prevent some of the horrific things that I knew would happen.
We continued walking through the dense woods when all of a sudden I was abruptly broken out of my thoughts when my face nearly rammed into Dr. Crescent's back.
"We are here." Vincent announced quietly.
I looked from behind Dr. Crescent, scanning the surrounding area. We had reached a crossroad. The roads seemed to carry on for a long time in the different directions, some leading through deep forest and others becoming clearer as they went on.
"I guess it's time for us to part ways then, huh?" I said with a light sense of humor. I started walking towards the road that led away from the woods before stopping for a moment. I looked back to Dr. Crescent. "You sure you don't want to come with me? I would be able to keep you out of sight and—"
"I don't deserve to see him" She said beating me to the point.
"But you're his mother!" I said in disbelief. "He ought to be able to meet you and know that you're alive!" When I first met her, Dr. Crescent at came off as a closed off, self-loathing lady; she blamed herself for a lot of things, most of which wasn't her fault. In the game, her self-loathing character annoyed me, but meeting her in person I felt...sad. She deserved more than what she was given. Deep down, I knew that she wanted to see her son again, at least once.
"I have already failed him too much to even deserve being called his mother."
"Lucrecia, don't—" Vincent began to speak to her but she brushed him aside and walked towards me.
"Here," she said handing me the bag that she brought. "It contains all the research we've done; it contains your blood work, the mako readings, and your guidelines to follow. I suggest that after you memorize it that you burn it up. Wouldn't do to have him catching on." She said the last sentence bitterly before she began walking down the road heading south.
"Hey Doc, wait! Where are you going?!" I shouted after her.
"I am returning back to the place I came from, the place I belong." She replied quietly.
The cave.
"And do not worry; your secret will be safe with me." She added
I watched sadly as her figure retreated in the distance. Even in the few years I had known her, I had been unable to change her heart. She still seemed as every bit of the depressed, mournful woman she had been in the game, no matter what I tried. I turned to look at Vincent who stood there silently watching as well. Even though he didn't show it, I could tell he was hurt by it.
"It is time I take my leave as well." He said, turning his focus down at me.
"You have the list of people that I asked you to look up?" I asked.
He nodded his head once before tapping a finger to his forehead. He would remember it, that I could definitely count on.
"Remember what I have taught you and be sure to remain out of the sight of any wandering eyes."
"You know what?" I started saying pulling my thoughts back to Dr. Crescent. "You two place too much blame on yourselves when you've done nothing wrong. Hope I can get you guys to see that one of these days."
When I turned back to look at him, Vincent had disappeared from my sight.
I sighed to myself, scratching the back of my head. "Well, I suppose that's as much of a goodbye as I'll ever get…" I was alone again. Both my teacher and my doctor had left me.
I looked at the bag in my hands and double checked its contents. Sure enough, the files were there, down to my own little book of handwritten guidelines. I also pulled out the three materia I had practiced with: My fire one, a thunder, and a cure. I shoved them in the pockets of my sleeveless hoodie and placed the book in my own bag. Searching the bag one last time, I discovered a pair of sunglasses.
I laughed at that.
Dr. Crescent had suggested at one point that they would be nifty to have. At this rate, it looked like I was going to be ripping off the style of a certain Turk. Oh well. I placed the sunglasses over my eyes before dumping the bag and its remaining contents on the road.
I held out my left hand and with the snap of my fingers, it burst into flames. I watched as the pages full of detailed data were burned into a crisp, never to reveal their secrets again. I felt no need to look at the pages again since I had already known what they said from top to bottom. Dr. Crescent had made sure of that with our meetings.
As the last of the fire died out leaving behind a pile of ash, I began walking down the road to the east. It was high time that I joined up with the Turks and finally saw some old friends of mine.
Extra
When I had made it to Midgar, I found a small hotel to stay at in the slums. After securing the room as Vincent had taught me to, I dropped my bag down onto the bed. I began to pace but stopped short in front of the only mirror in the dusty old room.
I intently gazed at my own reflection. My body had finally filled out a little and I was close to being back at my original height of 5'4". That was a relief in my eyes. During my training with Vincent it had always been hard for me to land a hit on him with the huge difference in height. I flinched a little at that memory; I had no problems with height differences, but when someone was that much taller than you...just, no.
My hair as well had been grown out a little longer while still retaining its messy tenacity. My eyes landed on the ribbon tied around my head, Genesis' gift.
I had held onto it through the past five years and managed to keep it in good condition. I made sure to avoid damaging it as much as possible.
I brought my hand up to the ribbon and adjusted its place. After that, I couldn't help but think about Angeal and Genesis. It had been forever since I last saw them. Many questions flooded my head: How were they doing? Did they know I ran away? How much has happened since they left?
I then started to laugh as an idea popped itself into my head. Genesis and Angeal didn't know that I was here in Midgar. They also probably didn't know that I would try to join the Turks. I could definitely use that to my advantage and stage an awesome comeback!
Popping off my shoes, I lay back on the bed and began to fall asleep. I would get to that eventually.
Author's note: Phew, I finally moved things ahead in the story. I actually had a bit of fun writing this chapter, trying to involve some different view points as well. I know that there are quite a few gaps in this chapter with the story including the characters and Sib's own abilities, but all will be revealed in due time! In the meantime, leave me some reviews with any comments or thoughts you might have! Kudos to all of you who have left me reviews so far!
