A Meeting in the Graveyard

Or

What Makes the Skeptic Believe

I never believed it. Not a word. The stories were hard to believe anyway. How could a single man save the world from ultimate destruction? And how did he manage to destroy General Sephiroth, if the rumors are true? And I find it very hard to believe that the giant meteor had been summoned by the General anyway. It was just an anomalous stray asteroid that happened to get thrown into our atmosphere, no "evil black materia" was involved there. And then there was the whole thing about the bodies- none were found! Sure, there are graves, but there are no bodies actually buried there.

I worked with the former ShinRa's Weapons Department under Miss Scarlet as a student until the meteor destroyed Midgar and ShinRa collapsed along with the death of President Rufus. Luckily, I was in Junon at the time, doing some work there. And I never believed any of the rumors spreading through the world like wildfire after that. Who had started these stories? One woman told me that the stories leaked out of former ShinRa employees after Rufus died... Nonsense. General Sephiroth had died many, many years ago while on a mission in the Nibel Mountains. He was a great man, and many were trying to taint his name with such awful stories. And there is no such thing as a Cetra! Everyone knows they are extinct, if they even existed in the first place. And of course, it just so happens that nobody ever actually knew the "hero" who saved the world... He doesn't have any living relatives. And I tell people, "that's because the story isn't true!" but they insist it is... People will believe anything.

Now, ShinRa had taught me nothing aside from usage of various types weaponry. After ShinRa collapsed, nobody really wanted to hire me, because weapons were the last things everyone was thinking about. It was all about the reconstruction of Midgar and setting up mental hospitals for those who did survive Midgar to help them cope with losing family and friends. Plus, at the time, graveyards were paying people extra to work there, with all the bodies that needed proper burials and all. And that's how I landed a job in the graveyard as a caretaker - assisting with funerals, trimming the grass, watering flowers, general maintenance and things like that.

The beginning of my story actually starts with a man I had met one rainy day. I was in the graveyard, visiting Cloud Strife's grave. And so I was looking at all these famous graves- Tifa Lockhart, Barret Wallace, Cid Highwind, RedXIII- and the list goes on. There were always these tourists visiting, claiming to have known Cid Highwind, or yelling that Yuffie is from their home-town...and on and on. This is not a tourist area! Don't these damn tourists have any respect for the other dead around here and know not to take pictures of these graves while some other people are visiting their dead mothers?! Humanity disgusts me sometimes... Really, it does.

But anyway, this one time, I was just sitting there all by myself in the light rain, staring at Cloud's grave, wondering how all these stories came to surface about this band of heroes, when I saw this strange man wearing all black, with a hood on. It was odd, because he wasn't a tourist; he was just standing at Tifa's grave, without speaking a word.

At last, I asked him if he knew Tifa Lockhart, wondering what story he would make up about knowing her.

"Yes... I loved her," He whispered, and turned to me.

I practically had a heart attack because his eyes were glowing with a blue light - looked kinda creepy through the rain - so I figured he had to be some vagrant ex-ShinRa Soldier.

"D...Did you, really?" was all I could think of to say.

"Yes," He replied softly. He kneeled down next to her grave and his black hood moved back a bit, just enough so I could see bright blonde hair that stuck up in a few places, completely unkept.

I decided to leave him in peace and walked back to the caretaker's house, to wait for the rain to stop so I could finish trimming the hedges. I watched him through the window, and he didn't move from that grave for at least half an hour, letting the rain drench his hair until it drooped in front of his face. Then at last, as the rain was stopping, he got up, stopped at each one of the graves, his lips moving a bit at each, and left.

I passed him as he was walking out of the cemetery as I was returning to the hedges.

"You forgot one," he said to me.

"Excuse me, sir? Forgot what?" I stopped and looked at him.

"You forgot someone's grave...down there." He motioned with his hand back towards Cloud and the other's graves.

"Oh, really?" I raised an eyebrow, not caring to mention that I hadn't placed the graves there.

"Yes, you forgot Aeris Gainsborough. But she died a while ago... Her grave is somewhere else anyway..." he mumbled, then turned abruptly and left.

"Wait," I called. Nobody has ever mentioned this other person before.

He turned his shining blue eyes back to me.

"Um, who are you?" I said.

"Just someone who wants to pay their respects to old friends..."

His reply puzzled me, but the very next week, at the same time, same day, he was back, sitting at Tifa's grave. It became a ritual for him every week. Sometimes I would hear him talking to her and sometimes he would just sit there in silence for an hour. Lots of times he'd bring flowers and place one on each of the graves. I started to wonder more and more about this guy. Nobody else seemed so devoted like he was.

One day, I started wondering what it was he would talk to Tifa about. And since being a graveyard caretaker is not exactly an exciting occupation, I got the notion to spy on this strange man and eavesdrop.

So, of course, following my curiosity the following week, I hid behind the hedges near Cloud's grave. After hearing all the damn tourists come in and snap their cameras away and yell about how they have an uncle's cousin's friend who knew Barret Wallace, I was almost going to quit. But then during twilight, I saw him come down to her grave again like he always does. I remained motionless and listened...

"Another week, and I'm still alive, Tifa. I wish I weren't though. I miss you so much. I know your body's not here, but what use is it explaining to people that I buried you on the Northern Continent after the Highwind crashed that fateful day - right after we killed Sephiroth. I'm not sure how I'm the only one who survived though. It must be the Jenova keeping me alive. Anyway, did I ever tell you that the Reconstruction is beginning over in Midgar? I'm glad to see that ShinRa has collapsed and that Soldier has disbanded, though the Turks still seem to hang around the city. ShinRa must have learned about how bad Mako really is because a lot of the Mako Reactors are being torn down. And -"

He stopped short and I strained to hear what had happened. I heard another man's footsteps and I peeked over the hedge to see a man in a black suit with short black hair approach the guy at Tifa's grave. I hid back behind the hedge and listened.

"Long time no see. I thought you were dead," a new voice commented.

"Reeve, I haven't heard from you in a while!" the blonde man replied.

"Same here, where've ya been?" Reeve asked, little joy in his voice.

A long pause...

"You know, these aren't the real graves. I buried all of them right after we crashed in the Northern Continent. The blast from Meteor threw the Highwind way into the mountains, but I'm sure you remember that." The blonde man said.

"Yes, I kind of do. The last thing I saw from Cait Sith 2's body was the crash itself onto the snowy mountains, but then everything goes black. Are you the only one who survived?" the new man asked.

"Yes, Tifa...practically died in my hands. There was no way I could save any of them. I managed to survive with one broken ankle and little more..." he sighed.

"I'm sorry. I wish my toy body could've been strong enough to survive the crash so I could've helped you out. Actually, I was the one who informed former ShinRa employees about you guys," Reeve motioned with his hand to all the graves, then continued, "But I didn't know you were alive, so I had them put your grave here also. Hmm...but they forgot one..." Reeve paused.

"Yeah, Aeris. She's not here. But I guess her grave is in a better place. How many people did you tell that I was dead?" the blonde asked.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I can't believe you are alive! Really, I can't! I was trying to make your story public and maybe even get it published. The story of heroes! That would really lift the people's spirits right now. There is a major depression going on because of Midgar's destruction..." Reeve said in a low voice.

"I haven't noticed..." the blonde man's voice sounded a bit distant to me.

"It's tough... Listen, where have you been since you survived the crash?" Reeve questioned.

"I don't know. Wandering around, drinking in bars, trying to forget. I just recently found this graveyard...and I was surprised to see that Tifa and my graves were here along with the others... My Jenova won't let me die anyway...but enough about me. What have you been doing since ShinRa broke up?" the blonde guy replied.

"Trying to reunite former employees so we could work more on the Reconstruction together. There are few survivors of Meteor, if any significant numbers, that we moved to Junon temporarily. We've trying to get help for those that lost family members and such..." Reeve's voice was very low now, like he was telling a secret. Then his voice brightened, "Why don't you come work with us? Get away from this depressing graveyard! I was just here for a quick visit to my old friends and now that I've run into you...! It'd be great to have you on the team again. You being an Ex-Soldier and a hero, you could tell other people your stories to lift their spirits. Tell them that Midgar was destroyed in order to save the world! I tried to keep the story with only ShinRa employees...well former employees now...but I've heard some interesting adaptations of the story being told in other towns. Kalm and Rocket Town are circulating some odd tales about how Cid had the power to turn into a dragon! It's crazy!" Reeve let out a little laugh right here. "Plus we're getting more advances in science and since you seem to be the only one left with Jenova, you would be a great aid to scientific research about it..."

"What about Lucrecia?" the blonde man countered, "She's got Jenova cells inside of her too..."

"Yes, but she hasn't resurfaced in ages... Probably very depressed over the loss of Vincent..." Reeve whispered.

Another long pause.

"So, what do you say? Want to join up on the Reconstruction Team?" Reeve asked politely.

"No, it's not for me. I don't ever want to be associated with anything related to ShinRa again," the blonde guy responded.

"Ok, Cloud, but the times are changing. You can't stay attached to the past forever! I'm incredibly sorry over the loss of our friends, but we have to move forward and use our knowledge to help others and to rebuild ShinRa and Midgar even better so something like Sephiroth, Jenova, and Mako energy will never happen again..." Reeve sounded like he was pleading.

My heart jolted. Wait a second...Did he call him Cloud? Impossible! There is no such man called Cloud! It is a fictional story, I was sure... But, Cloud Strife is dead if he ever were alive... Although, Reeve and the blonde man's conversation did sound persuading...

"No, sorry. I...I just don't want to now..." the man called Cloud answered.

"Ok, listen pal, if you ever want a job or need anything, come to me first. I'll always help you out, friend," Reeve said.

I peeked my head over the hedges and watched them shake hands before Reeve turned and left, leaving Cloud alone to his thoughts.

The conversation I had just heard was intriguing, to say the least. At first, it made me believe. But being the skeptic that I am, it just naturally didn't sound sensible about this one guy doing all this marvelous crap and saving the world with a bunch of friends.

However, I did begin to believe that there really was a Cloud Strife. Whether the stories are true or not, the man actually exists. I don't have the guts to ask him about his history and if all the rumors are factual. He still comes to the graveyard every week, visiting Tifa's grave. Once I swear I saw him cry, even though he doesn't look like the crying type, like all his tears had already been used up on a past tragedy.

Right now, as I write this, I'm looking out of the caretaker house's window down at the graves. He's there now, just standing there. I'm still not sure if I believe the whole story in its entirety, but that's how I ended up believing that Cloud Strife exists. I doubt many other people know this like I do...