It was with the bright
lights coming from the early sun that woke me up. For several seconds I
asked myself where I was, and then I remembered faintly what had happened
earlier. But where was I now? I had a small idea, probably outside Wutai,
but... where was Sephiroth? Had he left me here?
I did my best to stand
up, I felt so weak. I didn't know if I had waken up, or if I was still
dreaming. It seemed so real, but I knew the Wutai of today had changed.
Was I in the old Wutai?
My hand brushed against
the wall that was behind me as I slowly hoisted myself to my feet. It was
warm, the sun shone heavily over the meadows beyond the gates. Heh, I didn't
know a dream could have such sensations as heat and cold, Sephiroth had
outdone himself. Wait, what was so humourous about this?
A young girl passed
in the street, her mid-length brown hair blown away from her face as she
ran out of the village in a small blue sun dress . She stopped suddenly
as she was in the middle of a patch of pinkish flowers, no more than ten
feet away from me, and looked back at me, her deep brown eyes looked at
me as if I weren't there, but I was there.
"Where am I?" I asked,
my voice was low and cracked. I lifted my arm and reached into thin air.
She continued to look
at me, then turned around and headed back into the village. Hadn't she
seen me? But I was in front of her, she looked at me! Now I was confused
and angered.
My back hurt, but I
managed to stand up without leaning on the wall. The gate was open not
far in front of me, and so I began to walk towards it. No, wait, when was
the last time Wutai had a gate? It used to have one during the war, but
that was a long time ago. Just what was going on?
As I entered the village,
I found it much more lively than it once had. Sellers had small booths
on each side of the street, where numerous people were scattering about.
I made my way through the crowd, but something was bothering me. No one
seemed to noticed I was there!
My shoulder bumped
against an old lady, but she didn't turn around nor did she even said a
word, it was as if I weren't there, and yet I felt my shoulder bump
into her. Now I was almost scared, my walk continued and once again I made
certain that I brushed against one man's arm, but he did the exact same
thing as the lady!
I began to run towards
the Turtle's Paradise, occasionally pushing against another and finding
the same reaction as before. I felt my heart race and my palms began to
transpire. If I were to look into a mirror I would say that I look as if
I had gone insane, but what was I to do?
The crowd was behind
me, since I had entered somewhat the quieter part of Wutai. Only once or
twice a small child would pass, but they would not paid any heed to me.
Only once did I see the little girl in the blue sun dress, she kept looking
at me as if I were there. But how could she look at me when everyone else
could not? Maybe I was missing something...
A part of my hopes
died as she gasped and ran away from where she was, heading towards the
pagoda. I turned around, almost hesitantly, and I too gasped, be it in
confusion or in happiness or in horror.
Face to face with me
was Sephiroth, and he was grinning at me!
But this Sephiroth
was different from the one in my dreams, he was different from the one
in the Northern Crater and he was different from the one in Nibelheim.
There was this gleam in his eyes.
"General Sephiroth,
we have received news from Midgar." A somewhat small soldier dressed in
a blue Shinra uniform came next to Sephiroth as he saluted him. In his
right hand he held a opened letter and under his left arm lay his riffle.
"Yes?" Sephiroth asked
cooly, but he continued to look at me. We couldn't have been more than
two feet apart! But he turned his head around the face the soldier as he
unfolded the letter and began to read.
"X Day/ X Month/ X
Year,
Your mission will not commence
until we give you notice. You will receive in less than a week the full
details of the mission, but for now do some secretive observing as to what
is Wutai's plan of attack. Be certain to inform us if there is any information
that would be helpful for us. Do not bring any attention to yourselves.
A rank B SOLDIER has been sent with more soldiers. He should arrive shortly."
The soldier stopped
and looked back at Sephiroth.
"Is there any more?"
He asked, looking down at the soldier's hands, in them laying another page,
and on it a clipped on photo.
"Yes sir." He shuffled
through the pages and handed out the one with the photo. I couldn't see
it from where I stood, but I saw a grin appear on Sephiroth's usually cool
face.
He lifted the picture
off the page and looked at it for a while, then looked back onto the page.
"Hm... rank B SOLDIER... from Nibelheim..."
He stopped, then turned
away from the soldier. "And his name is Cloud Strife."
* * *