Author's note:
The dates of certain
events in this story contradict those in the game. For my sake, please pretend as if they happened at these times.
CHAPTER ONE
I've read
in the Midgar Times about how Cloud Strife and his friends saved the
world. However, not many people know the story of what actually happened. Sorry, let me amend that, everyone knows
about how Sephiroth summoned Meteor, and Aeris Gainsborough summoned Holy to
counter Meteor. I've also noticed that
almost everything from the day Cloud left Midgar with AVALANCHE is common
knowledge. However, all that is just the
end of the story; perhaps you would like to hear the beginning? Okay, here it goes.
It all began about twenty years ago
now…
The rain poured down in sheets, I'm
not sure if you have ever experienced rain like that. I mean rain where the drops are so big that they hurt your head
when they hit you. Anything outside for
more than a second was soaked. Normally
in Gongaga we just shut everything up when we see a storm coming, but this day
was special. One madman of a horseman
came through town on the road, and then several more until an entire cavalry
brigade had passed. I, just a young
boy, only about eight or so; I don't really remember my age at the time, and it
really doesn't matter to my story.
After the horsemen had passed,
several brigades of foot troops marched by on the quagmire of a road, their wet
weather gear doing hardly anything to keep out the vicious, insidious
rain. In the very rear of the column
was a general of some sort, surrounded by his bodyguards and officers.
Normally I wouldn't have paid him
any mind; after all, a war was going on…there were soldiers marching through at
least every couple of weeks. I never
paid any attention to the generals.
However, this man, this warrior, caught my attention. What got to me were his bright green eyes,
blazing in the rain; then his entire demeanor got to me. The way he sat in his saddle, high and
proud, his long silver hair, which I had never seen on anyone before, and his
long, deadly sword were all registered in my memory forever. This was a man to look up to; he was a true
leader of men.
I'm not sure what got into me then,
but I decided at that moment to do something completely unprecedented:
disregarding the rain, I darted from the shelter of my porch out into the road
and confronted the man in the black cloak.
"Can I help you?" I remember him
saying calmly after calling the column to a halt.
"How is it that you are such a
strong leader?" I replied, meekly.
I remember him chuckling, perhaps
at my arrogance or perhaps just at the absurdity of the situation. I'll never know. However he soon answered my question. "I am a member of Shinra's elite corps, SOLDIER."
"Can I join SOLDIER?" I asked.
"Tell you what," he said as he
smiled down at me. "When you turn
sixteen, you'll be old enough to join.
When you are old enough, come to Midgar and ask for me."
"Okay," I said. Then, as he started to ride off, I realized
that I didn't know his name. "Sir!" I
called out. He turned around. "What's your name?" I asked.
"My name is Sephiroth!" he called
back. Then he and his army disappeared
into the drenching rain. I ran inside
to get away from the bruising water.
"Sephiroth," I said to myself. "I know I'll be hearing that name again."
Little did I know how right I was.
Now, you're probably comparing my
story to everything you've ever heard about Sephiroth. A good leader? Hardly, you say. Kind? Not the one I know, you think to
yourself. However, you have no idea of
who he was. I guess that's the point of
my story; to show everyone that evil must come from good. Evil cannot just be created. This is a story of how Sephiroth declined
from the great man in the rain to the miserable creature that Cloud destroyed
in the Northern Crater. This is also
the story of how Cloud came to stand against Sephiroth and the part I played in
the entire situation.
As time moved forward, the war
dragged on. News of the war was heard
every day; this or other battle won, this or other battle lost. Eventually, the people of Gongaga lost interest
in the war; they had something new to talk about.
About a year after Sephiroth passed
through town, Shinra sold us a Mako Reactor, and the thing was built on the
outskirts of town. Soon everything was
powered by Mako, and the reactor was all that everyone talked about. I didn't pay attention to that; I had a hero
to worship, so I kept constant attention on the war. I am probably one of the few people still alive who can give you
a rundown of every battle fought in the war.
About five years after Sephiroth
and his army came through Gongaga, the war ended. There had been a final and cataclysmic victory at Wutai. Basically, Shinra had the advantage in both
numbers and materia. Most importantly,
to me at least, the Shinra army had Sephiroth as its commander. With such a leader, there was no way they
could have lost. People at town began
discussing what would happen now that the war was over. The two nations who had fought it were gone;
the only organization still on its feet was Shinra Incorporated. That, friends, is how Shinra came to rule
the world.
Many people do not realize how
crucial the Wutai war was. First of
all, it gave Sephiroth field experience so that he would be that much
stronger. Second, it allowed Shinra to
begin putting Mako reactors everywhere, so the Nibelheim project could go into
effect; I'll come to the significance of this detail later. Finally, it provided Shinra with the power
it would use to try to suppress those fighting Sephiroth.
I find it rather ironic that the
one thing in town that I had hardly acknowledged was the one thing that created
in me a deep hatred of Shinra. The
accident happened on a Saturday. I
remember that it was sunny and bright; it was almost a complete contrast to the
monsoon of Sephiroth's visit. The only
thing these two dates had in common was the fact that an army was marching
through town. However, since this army
was not in a rush to get to the front, and since it was a Saturday, they
decided to rest for a day. The power
needed to supply these soldiers with their electricity needs was immense.
In fact, it was too immense for the
reactor to take.
That evening, after most of the
townspeople had gone to bed, a drunken soldier went to his room after a long
night at the bar, and he turned on the light.
That was all it took. A simple
flicking of a switch. With that
seemingly insignificant switch, this soldier had inadvertently overtaxed the
reactor, and it blew up. Half the town
was incinerated, and the rest was on fire.
With a simple flick of a switch, Gongaga was crushed.
It is for this reason that I hate
the Shinra. Not for all their other
wrongdoings, I helped in a few of those.
No, it is because they did not even care about the people whom they were
sucking dry that I despise them. They
were too uncaring to maintain and upgrade our reactor. It is ridiculous that we were left with a
prototype reactor without a single bit of maintenance! They were also too uncaring to control their
soldiers, or to think about the consequences of quartering that many people in
such a small town. Finally, they were
too uncaring to provide us with help rebuilding, or to take away the wreck of
the reactor, or to build us a new one.
It was about a month after the explosion that I renewed my vow to join
SOLDIER. I decided that the only way to
change the company was to do it from the inside.
Well, friend, it's getting kind of late, and I can hear my
bed calling me. We old war horses must
keep up our rest, you know. However, if
you are interested in hearing more, come back tomorrow. I'll still be here, and I can assure you
that there is much more to tell. For
instance, how I joined SOLDIER, what I did once I joined, and, most
importantly, how Sephiroth became the one-winged angel of death.
