Chapter Ten: Remembrance of Things Past
It was almost dawn over the Midgar plains, and the rays of the early morning Sun were beginning to peek up over the horizon. Cloud and his party of travelers had been walking all night, and now the city of Midgar was but a dot in the far distance. Around them they were surrounded by green rolling hills. In the very far distance the mountains were visible, but otherwise there was very little to see.
As the Sun began to rise from its nighttime slumber, Cloud could see the small village of Kalm not far from where they were. As they approached the tiny walled town, he began to remember just how small it was. There was only enough room in the village for a few shops and an inn. It was built for travelers as a midpoint between Midgar and Junon Harbor. Cloud hoped they would have a materia shop there. He was going to need more than just lightning magic if he was going to risk confronting Sephiroth.
When they arrived in the town Cloud rented an inn for the day so they could get some rest. Afterwards, he paid a visit to the town blacksmith who gave his sword a decent sharpening and sold Tifa an excellent pair of fighting gloves. Cloud insisted on purchasing Aeris a weapon as well, since she was going to need protection. She decided on a beautiful metal staff, a weapon with which she had some familiarity. Red XIII was uninterested in the weapon shop and found himself quite bored. He had no need for weapons, being that he possessed natural ones.
Next they went to the materia shop and Cloud bought several needed materia crystals. No one else really knew anything about materia so Cloud packed the crystals into a leather bag given to him by the cashier and decided to equip them later.
Finally everyone was able to settle down in the inn. They were given a sufficiently large room with two beds and a foldout cot. The inn and the room itself had a very rustic feel to them, which Tifa and Aeris enjoyed. Cloud would have felt more at home in a more modern room, but it was admittedly cozy.
Once everyone had a chance to take a shower and clean their clothes a bit, they made themselves comfortable and prepared for Cloud to do some explaining. He was not usually one to give long, drawn out stories, but he felt that he couldn't do this one any justice without telling it in detail. So he decided to start from the beginning.
"Is everyone comfortable?" He asked.
Everyone gave a slight nod. Barret was lying down on one of the beds, with Tifa sitting on the edge of the bed near his feet. Aeris had the other bed to herself, and Red XIII was sitting on his hind legs on the floor in between the two beds. Cloud was sitting in chair in front of everyone so that he could be seen and heard by all.
"The only way I can make you all understand what's going on is if I start from the beginning." He said. "A lot of the things I'm gonna say involve you, Tifa, so anytime you want to add anything just say so."
She nodded in agreement.
"Alright then. Here we go." He began. He took in a big breath, and then continued. "Tifa and I grew up in a village called Nibelheim. We were good friends when we were little, and we always tried to look out for each other."
Tifa smiled, and Cloud smiled back.
"Then when I was about eleven things changed. Tifa's mother died, and I remember she had a hard time dealing with that." He continued.
"It was the most horrible thing that ever happened to me. I didn't know what to do." She interrupted. "I remember after my father told me I ran away to the Nibel Mountains."
"Nibelheim was built right in front of the foot of the Mountains, and there was a trail in the back of town that could be taken to reach the network of bridges and ladders that led up the highest mountain." Cloud said. "The Shinra had built a Mako Reactor there that supplied power not only to Nibelheim but to a few other villages too. Tifa tried to run to the reactor but one of the bridges she was on collapsed. She was almost killed.
"Seeing that she had disappeared I went to look for her and eventually I found her badly injured near the foot of the mountain. I carried her back to town, but everyone thought that I was responsible for her injuries, especially her father."
"I tried to convince him that it wasn't your fault, Cloud." Tifa said.
"I know." He replied. "I never blamed you. But things weren't the same after that. Everyone in town stopped hanging around me. That was the same year that the Midgar-Wutai war was coming to an end. Sephiroth was the General in charge of the Shinra army, and by midyear he had lead the army to the gates of Wutai and invaded. His victory there earned him attention in every town with Shinra influence, including Nibelheim. I began hearing all sorts of stories about Sephiroth the great hero, and I began to idolize him.
"By the time I turned twelve Wutai had surrendered and the excitement about the war was beginning to die down. But I never lost my obsession with Sephiroth. I wanted to be a war hero just like him, and get away from the town that didn't pay me any attention anymore.
"As soon as I turned fourteen I knew I was old enough to join Soldier. I told Tifa I was leaving. She had started martial arts training after the accident on the bridge, and I knew she could take care of herself. I left for Midgar and began my training in Soldier.
"I was showered with diluted Mako on a regular basis, which gave me superior strength. They trained me to be the best of the best, and I pushed as hard as I could. I was quickly promoted and soon I had been given the position that I dreamed of…a chance begin a tour of duty alongside Sephiroth.
"I knew I wasn't going to be given the best of jobs because I was still green and I was low in rank, but I didn't care. I began working with Sephiroth, and we became very close. My father died when I was very young, so Sephiroth was like the father that I never had. Together we went on missions to clean up what was left after the war.
"When I was sixteen they gave me the first big mission of my career. Sephiroth and I were to return to Nibelheim to investigate mysterious sightings of mutated beasts that were believed to be in connection with the Mako Reactor there. The President had personally assigned Sephiroth the mission, and he wanted things to stay quiet just in case the mutations wound up being a result of Mako poisoning or something like that.
"Along with a few Shinra soldiers, he and I took a train into Nibelheim. Along the way we were attacked by one of the mutated beasts. It knocked the train off the tracks, killing one of our men. Sephiroth and I escaped from the train and fought the monster. I remember it looked like a gigantic snake, and it scared the hell out of me. But before I knew what was happening, Sephiroth had already cut the thing in half with his sword. He was amazing with that sword. I remember how much I admired the elegant way in which he was able to destroy any of his enemies with it.
"We had to walk the rest of the way to Nibelheim after the train was wrecked. It was down to Sephiroth, myself, and two Shinra soldiers. We entered the town expecting it to be deserted because of the mutations, but there was actually a welcome party to greet us when we got there. They led us to the mansion that had once been where visiting Shinra execs. stayed.
"Sephiroth decided that we should rest there before heading up Mt. Nibel to the reactor. They gave us really nice rooms, but since Sephiroth said I could go visit anyone I knew I decided to take a look around. He knew that I was from Nibelheim, and he had a great deal of compassion for me. I really did like him back then.
"I visited my mom first. She hadn't really changed since I'd left. She was so excited to see me, it was almost over the top. She started telling me how I should find a nice girl and settle down, but I told her I was only there for a mission. She was kind of let down, but I told her I'd spend the night in the house instead of the mansion. That made her feel a lot better, I remember.
"After that I went to your house, Tifa, but you weren't there. So I just went back to the mansion and got my stuff. Then I went back to my old house and I spent the night reminiscing with my mother.
"The next morning Sephiroth gathered everyone involved in the mission together in front of the mansion. He wasn't familiar with Nibelheim, and the only time I had even come close to the reactor was when I went after Tifa, so he told me he'd hired a guide to take us up the mountain. When we arrived at the foot of the mountain, I got to meet who the guide was."
He chuckled a little.
"The guide was Tifa." He said.
"Yeah, I remember that." Tifa said, smiling. "We were both so happy to see each other. I begged one of the Shinra guards to take a picture of Sephiroth, Cloud, and me. I probably still have that picture somewhere. Well, I would if Sector 7 still existed."
"Wow, so you guys were reunited by chance?" Aeris asked, enjoying the story very much.
"Well we probably would have seen each other anyway, since I would have looked for her again before we left." Cloud replied, then continued his story. "Tifa was a really good guide, actually. Although she was wearing this silly cowboy hat the whole time."
She laughed.
"Hey!" She said, kiddingly. "I liked that hat! Yeah I was a pretty good guide. After you left I went up there a lot to train, and I got to know it like the back of my hand."
"She must have bad luck with those damn bridges, though." Cloud said. "We were pretty far up the mountain when the bridge collapsed under us. Nobody was hurt, but we lost another soldier. Sephiroth felt terrible leaving him behind, but he didn't think we had enough time to look for him. I think it was all our weight that made the bridge collapse.
"But anyway, we had to climb up the side of the mountain to get to the top. There were a lot of ledges and caves that ran around the peak so it wasn't that hard making our way up. On the way we found a cave near the summit that had pure condensed Mako forming inside. I had never seen materia in its purest form like that, and Sephiroth said he had only seen it once before."
"It was probably the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Tifa said. "It had such a brilliant glow."
"They mine that stuff to make the materia crystals that I bought. Depending on how its refined, it can be made into various types of magic, although some really rare magic can only be made by leaving the crystal in its natural state." Cloud remarked.
"Anyway," He continued, "It didn't take us long to get to the top of the mountain. Sephiroth and I were the only ones that were going to enter the Reactor, since there was a very high degree of confidentiality to the whole mission. Tifa wanted to go in so bad, but I wouldn't let her. I told the last of our soldiers to watch her outside while Sephiroth and I went in."
"You were being so mean." Tifa said, half-serious. "I really wanted to see what was in there."
"You know I couldn't let you." Cloud replied. "Sephiroth and I were told to search the whole reactor for signs of trouble. No one was inside since it had already been evacuated. We looked all over the place, but we didn't see any monsters or anything. We kept walking forward and eventually we reached a door near the back of the reactor that read "RESTRICTED: KEEP OUT." Sephiroth managed to kick the metal door open and get us inside.
"When we got in there we saw rows upon rows of air compressed chambers, each about six feet tall and shaped a lot like an egg. They were all kept at a very low temperature, and there were tons of them. I had no idea what they were, but Sephiroth seemed to have a suspicion. He walked up to one of the chambers and wiped the frost off of the glass observation window. I remember him gasping when he saw what was inside.
"He told me to look inside, so I did as I was told. What I saw in there was very disturbing. It looked like a naked human man, but it was severely mutated. Its skin had turned to a greenish purplish scaly texture. It had grown several deformities such as spiked contortions of bone along the back and head. It looked like it was some sort of reptilian being, but by looking at the face I could tell that it had once been a person.
"Sephiroth immediately knew what was going on. He said he'd heard about something like this, but he didn't think it was true. Everyone in the Soldier program was showered with a limited amount of Mako, but Dr. Hojo had been conducting experiments with exposing humans to very high amounts of Mako in an attempt to create a super-being. Sephiroth thought that the things inside the chambers were the results of the experiment, but maybe they were escaping somehow which would explain the sightings around Nibelheim.
"He decompressed one of the chambers and let one of the beings fall out of its containment unit so he could get a better look at it. It was still alive, and decompressing the chamber brought it out of suspended animation. It started going into convulsions on the floor, and we were afraid it might be dangerous so we had to kill it. The whole thing really horrified me. I couldn't believe that the Shinra could actually be trying to take human beings and manufacture them into monsters.
"There was another door at the end of that room with a sign over it that read "JENOVA." At the time neither of us knew what that meant. All Sephiroth knew was that when he was very young and growing up under the care of the Shinra, he was told that his mother's name had been Jenova. The whole situation really disturbed him and he decided that we should head back to the mansion for the rest of the day.
"When we got back to the mansion I headed to the room that they had given me, and Sephiroth disappeared for awhile. I asked the soldier that was still with us where he'd gone, and he sad he went into the basement under ground to take a look at the library. I had no idea why he'd want to go to the library, so I went downstairs to check it out. The stairs led very far beneath the ground, and I got the impression that no one was really supposed to go down there.
"When I reached the library in the basement I found Sephiroth reading a very thick book at a desk. There were books on shelves surrounding the entire room, and he had books scattered on the floor by his feet. He looked kind of strange and I asked him if he was alright. He didn't answer at first but then he asked me if I knew what this place was. When I said no, he told me that it was where many of the scientific notes taken by Dr. Hojo had been placed for safekeeping. There were also a great deal of books dealing with ancient history.
"I got really confused, but he told me that it wasn't important. He said that he'd already read a great deal and that suddenly the whole world was making sense to him. He started babbling about the beginning of the world. I told him I was gonna go upstairs and get some sleep, which was what I did.
"He stayed down there all night and all of the next day. The soldier and I were starting to get worried about him. He was acting really strange and we didn't know why. Finally I couldn't take it anymore. I went back down to the basement to see what was going on. I found him there, but he was there only in body. His mind seemed to be elsewhere.
"He told me that it was time I learned the real history of the planet. The books that he'd read told him that the planet was originally inhabited by a race known as the Cetra, or the ones that we referred to as the Ancients. At one time they outnumbered the humans. They had special powers that allowed them to connect in some way with the very life force of the planet. The Cetra were the first to discover the magical properties of crystal materia.
"Then a being that called itself Jenova arrived on the planet. It demanded that the Cetra deliver the crystal materia to her. When the Cetra refused, Jenova unleashed a horrifying virus that was extremely deadly to the Shinra. She was extremely powerful, and there seemed to way to defeat her. There was no record of how it was done, but in some way Jenova was presumed destroyed and her remains were sealed in a tomb to keep her there for all eternity.
"The Cetra could find no way to cure the deadly virus that only affected them. Over time their numbers dwindled until only a handful were left. They left very few descendants in modern time, and those that were generally kept the fact to themselves. Sephiroth began telling me that humans had taken the world away from the Cetra when it was rightfully there's and that humans should be destroyed in retaliation.
"At that point I was beginning to get frightened at the way he was behaving, but he had more history to tell me. He said that thousands of years after Jenova had been sealed away, a young Professor Hojo found her remains in rock strata dating back to around the time that the books he knew of said she had existed. He excavated the remains, and began studying them. Over time he realized that her cells were incredibly resilient, and could be reanimated to form progeny. He began what was known as the Jenova Project. Hojo was able to successfully create a "son" to Jenova. His name was Sephiroth.
"It was at that time that I realized that Sephiroth had just been exposed to a horrifying realization of his own past. He had been created instead of born, just like the monsters we'd seen in the reactor, and the knowledge of his roll in the Jenova Project had driven him insane.
"He insisted that as the descendant of Jenova it was his right to take back the planet from the humans. I tried to calm him down, but he was no longer the Sephiroth that I had know and respected. He had lost his mind. I tried to stop him from getting out of the library, but I was no match for him. I'd always known he was strong, but I think he may have only learned his own true strength after reading about his origin. He seemed to have the strength of a million men when he pushed me out of the way.
"I followed him up the stairs as he walked slowly toward some unknown destination. He left the mansion and began heading back up Mt. Nibel. I met Tifa at the foot of the mountain. She was waiting for me to come out of the mansion, and she asked if she could come. I told her that something was wrong and she had to stay back, but she followed me anyway."
"I had to, Cloud." Tifa interrupted. "I wanted to know that you were safe."
He nodded.
"We got to the reactor at the top and we both pursued Sephiroth to the back where he and I had been before. He was standing there, staring at the sign that read "JENOVA." I told him to stop whatever it was he was trying to do, but he wouldn't listen. Tifa ran up to him to see if she could reason with him, and that was when he took out his sword and slashed her across the chest."
"That's where I got that scar from, Barret." Tifa said. He nodded. Things were starting to make sense now.
"I was horrified." Cloud continued. "The Sephiroth that I had known would never do something like that. After he did that, he pounded open the door to the room that said "JENOVA" and walked in. I went to help Tifa. She had fallen down the steps that led up the door and she was pretty badly hurt. I didn't think she was gonna make it, but she told me to go after Sephiroth before he hurt anyone else. I wrapped up the wound as best I could, and then I left her by the stairs."
"He told me he'd come back for me." Tifa said. "It was very heroic of him."
"When I ran inside the room I saw Sephiroth standing in front of this thing that looked like a metal statue of a woman. There was a sign over it that read "JENOVA" just like the one outside the door. He started talking to it like it was a person, telling it that he was going to take back what was rightfully her's.
"Then he walked right up to it and grabbed it. I finally realized that the thing was actually a metal capsule molded around Jenova's remains. She was inside it. He pulled on it as hard as he could, and he ripped the torso away from the tubes and wires that had it attached to the containment system. Blood spurted out of the tubes all over the place, but he didn't care. He laughed like a madman when he finally removed the metal encasement from the wall. He started babbling again about he and his mother would destroy those that had oppressed them. Then he turned around and walked right past me, without saying a word."
"He took the damn thing with him?" Barret asked.
Cloud nodded.
"I followed him outside, but he was way ahead of me. He must have ran down the mountain or something. I couldn't find Tifa anywhere when I left the reactor, so I just went down by myself."
"I had gone down already." Tifa mentioned. "Cloud did a good job patching my wound, and I was able to make it back to town. My martial arts instructor, Zangan, helped me clean it up a little better when I got back.
"It took me a while to get back to town. When I got there, everything had gone straight to Hell. Sephiroth had already begun his revenge against humanity. He had started fires all over the village, and people were rushing all over the place to put them out."
"I passed out from the smoke." Tifa said. "But Zangan brought me back to consciousness right when Cloud got there. I didn't really know what was gong on."
"When I got there I saw that Tifa was being taken care of so I tried to get into my house. The flames were too thick and I couldn't get in. I remember the whole night was lit by the fire, it was so thick. There was no way for me to get into the house, and I couldn't get help from anyone because they were trying to fight their own fires. My mother died in the fire that night."
Aeris could swear that she saw a tear drop from Cloud's eye as he said it, but he continued right away to keep himself from sobbing.
"As I backed away from my house I saw Sephiroth in the distance. There were a couple of men trying to escape the village, and he saw them run past him. He immediately took out his sword and killed both of them. It was the most horrific thing I had ever seen a person do, and it proved to me that the Sephiroth that I had loved was completely gone. Insanity had overtaken him. Luckily, I was able to get out of the village before it burned down to the ground, and so was Tifa."
"I escaped with Zangan." Tifa said. "He brought me here to Midgar and I opened up the Seventh Heaven bar to make some money."
"I came here after I left Nibelheim, where I found a fellow Soldier named Zack." Cloud continued. "He and I had known each other from training. He was running from the Shinra because he had broken some sort of code and was going to be court marshaled. I told him I'd stay with him for awhile until I was ready to go back to Midgar and tell them what had happened."
"A day later the Shinra found us here. They asked me what had happened at Nibelheim and I explained it to them. Professor Hojo was with them, and he was pissed off about Sephiroth and I going into the room where the mutated humans were being kept. He told me that I could not be allowed to leave and tell anyone in the outside world about what was being done by the Shinra.
"He captured Zack and I, and we were brought to a low level prison where we were kept for about a year. We were finally able to escape, and we fled to Midgar. Before we got to Midgar we were attacked by a bunch of wild monsters, and they hurt me pretty bad. Zack didn't walk away from the fight. I was able to get in and get a transport to a village called Gongaga. I stayed there for the next few years working on and off as a bodyguard before I got word of Barret's offer to hire mercenaries and I came back to Midgar."
Aeris looked really sad all of a sudden, and now Cloud could swear he saw a tear form underneath her eye.
"What's the matter?" He asked her.
"Do you remember when I told you that I had a boyfriend that was in soldier?" She asked. "I said he was First Class, just like you."
"Yeah I remember." Cloud answered.
"It was Zack. I never heard from him again after he joined Soldier. I'm kind of sad knowing that he's dead, but I guess it gives me closure. At least now I know what happened to him." She replied.
"Oh wow I'm sorry, Aeris." Cloud said. "If it's any comfort, he was a really good guy. He was an excellent Soldier and I doubt I was still be alive today if he hadn't sacrificed himself in that fight."
"It's okay, Cloud." She replied. "And yes, that does make me feel better. Thank you."
Barret looked a little stunned by everything he had just heard.
"So where did this Sephiroth dude go after he burnt down Nibelheim?" He asked.
"He was never seen or heard from afterwards, until now." Cloud replied. "I'm guessing the Shinra must have recovered the remains of Jenova that he had taken because that was the detached torso that you and I saw in the Shinra Headquarters. When Sephiroth killed everyone in the Headquarters he took the remains with him again."
"Why would he just show up now, instead of years ago after he destroyed Nibelheim?" Barret asked.
"I honestly don't know." Cloud answered. "And I don't know how to find out. All I know is that I want to find him and see him again. We might be able to find out what he's trying to accomplish if we approach him."
"I suggest that we visit my birthplace, Cosmo Canyon." Red XIII said. "My grandfather lives there. He can tell us a great deal about the planet, and I believe he can help the cause of Avalanche. He might also be able to tell us what Sephiroth is after."
"I think that sounds like a plan." Cloud said. We'll head for Cosmo Canyon, and along the way we'll see if anyone knows anything about where Sephiroth is now. We'll have to go to Junon Harbor and get a boat ride to the West Continent, because if I remember correctly Cosmo Canyon is west of here."
"Yes, you are correct." Red XIII replied. "We'll need to get a boat to reach Cosmo Canyon."
"Alright then." Cloud said. "I think for right now we should all get some rest. We'll have to walk a pretty good distance tomorrow if we want to reach Junon in a decent amount of time."
Everyone nodded, and began to settle down so they could rest. Pretty soon everyone had fallen asleep except for Cloud and Aeris. She was still laying on the bed, singing quietly to herself. Cloud was sitting in his chair examining the materia that he had bought.
"I'm sorry you had to hear about Zack and all." Cloud said. "He really was a great guy."
"It's okay, Cloud." She replied. "Trust me, I'm happier knowing. I'm just glad you made it back okay, or else you wouldn't be here with me now."
Cloud blushed a little, something he hardly ever did.
"Thanks." He said sheepishly. "Are you excited about going to Junon?"
"Yes, very much so. I've never been so far from home before, except when I was very young before my mother died." She replied.
"Elmyra told me about how she found you at the train station. Do you remember anything about your real mother?" He asked.
"Yes, but very little." She answered. "She was pretty I remember. I can still kind of picture what she looked like. Her name was Ifalna. She was an Ancient, which I inherited from her. I vaguely remember a few things about my father too. I'm pretty sure he was a scientist of some sort."
"Wow, you must have a great memory." Cloud remarked. "How old were you when Elmyra found you?"
"I was six. My mother and I had escaped from the Shinra and we fled to Midgar. I can't remember what my birthplace was like, because the Shinra took us away from it when I was a newborn, or at least that's what my mother told me. She told me that we had lived in a very snowy place, and she told me things about my father. I wish I could have known him."
"Wow, that's horrible." Cloud said. "What do the Shinra want with you? It seems like they've been after you you're entire life."
"They have been." She replied. "They want me because after my mother died I was the only Ancient left on the planet. I'm the only person with the genetic memory of how to reach the Promised Land."
"So it does exist." Cloud said, intrigued.
"Yes, but not the way the Shinra imagine it." She replied. "They imagine it to be a place with limitless supplies of Mako that they can cash in on. But that isn't the real Promised Land. It is much more than that…much deeper."
"How so?"
"It's very complicated. I don't know if I can explain it exactly."
"You don't have to if you don't want to." Cloud said. "Maybe Red XIII's grandfather can tell us."
"He might be able to." She said. "We'll have to see how much he really knows about the planet. I know more than I think I'd like to sometimes, but I have difficulty explaining it. Some of the things I know exist just as feelings, and I can't describe them with words."
Cloud nodded.
"I understand." He said. "I think maybe we should both get some rest now. We'll sleep the rest of today and tonight, and we'll wake up early tomorrow morning to set out for Junon."
"Okay." Aeris answered. "Why don't you come lay by me?"
He got up from his chair and laid down on the bed next to her. She put her head on his shoulder and snuggled up close to him. It felt nice having someone so close to him like that. She quickly fell asleep, and he began to feel sleepy himself. He felt a great degree of comfort having her there next to him, and it didn't take long for him to doze off dreaming of the day to come.
***
Cloud woke up before everyone else, and he despite his efforts not to, he woke up Aeris when he tried to get up. They got their things together and then woke up everyone else. Cloud began distributing the materia to everyone so that they would be prepared for their trip to Junon.
His sword was already equipped with a lightning materia. He added an "all" materia which he had purchased, which was a different kind of materia. It allowed the magic to be distributed across a wider range when the magic was cast so that it could be used against multiple enemies.
Next he helped Barret equip his gun-arm with the ice materia that Barret already owned. Tifa insisted on not having any materia, since she figured she'd be just fine using her martial arts skills. Cloud finally compromised with her, equipping her gloves with a "sense" materia which gave her the ability to sense the relative strength of the enemy.
Cloud was pleasantly surprised to find that the traditional hair ornament that Red XIII kept on his head could be equipped with materia. Red XIII was delighted to be given a fire materia, which fit him quite well considering the flame at the end of his tail and the color of his fur.
Finally, he equipped Aeris' staff with a cure materia. It was the only magic that she was familiar with, and she felt comfortable using it. She liked the idea that should a battle break out, she wouldn't necessarily have to kill anyone but she would have the ability to magically heal the others.
When Cloud was satisfied that they were ready for the journey, they left Kalm and set out for Junon Harbor. It was dawn when they left the inn, but before long the sun had come up and had bathed the land with its brilliant light. As they left Kalm they got closer to the ocean separating them from the west continent, and the sun reflected off the surface of the water.
It reminded Cloud of the times he'd gone to the beach with his mother before he left to join Soldier. He continued forward, with a vision firmly planted in his mind of the last time he had seen his mother. She had been smiling, and in a way the image reminded him of Aeris. When he looked at it that way, it was a pleasant thought.
It was almost dawn over the Midgar plains, and the rays of the early morning Sun were beginning to peek up over the horizon. Cloud and his party of travelers had been walking all night, and now the city of Midgar was but a dot in the far distance. Around them they were surrounded by green rolling hills. In the very far distance the mountains were visible, but otherwise there was very little to see.
As the Sun began to rise from its nighttime slumber, Cloud could see the small village of Kalm not far from where they were. As they approached the tiny walled town, he began to remember just how small it was. There was only enough room in the village for a few shops and an inn. It was built for travelers as a midpoint between Midgar and Junon Harbor. Cloud hoped they would have a materia shop there. He was going to need more than just lightning magic if he was going to risk confronting Sephiroth.
When they arrived in the town Cloud rented an inn for the day so they could get some rest. Afterwards, he paid a visit to the town blacksmith who gave his sword a decent sharpening and sold Tifa an excellent pair of fighting gloves. Cloud insisted on purchasing Aeris a weapon as well, since she was going to need protection. She decided on a beautiful metal staff, a weapon with which she had some familiarity. Red XIII was uninterested in the weapon shop and found himself quite bored. He had no need for weapons, being that he possessed natural ones.
Next they went to the materia shop and Cloud bought several needed materia crystals. No one else really knew anything about materia so Cloud packed the crystals into a leather bag given to him by the cashier and decided to equip them later.
Finally everyone was able to settle down in the inn. They were given a sufficiently large room with two beds and a foldout cot. The inn and the room itself had a very rustic feel to them, which Tifa and Aeris enjoyed. Cloud would have felt more at home in a more modern room, but it was admittedly cozy.
Once everyone had a chance to take a shower and clean their clothes a bit, they made themselves comfortable and prepared for Cloud to do some explaining. He was not usually one to give long, drawn out stories, but he felt that he couldn't do this one any justice without telling it in detail. So he decided to start from the beginning.
"Is everyone comfortable?" He asked.
Everyone gave a slight nod. Barret was lying down on one of the beds, with Tifa sitting on the edge of the bed near his feet. Aeris had the other bed to herself, and Red XIII was sitting on his hind legs on the floor in between the two beds. Cloud was sitting in chair in front of everyone so that he could be seen and heard by all.
"The only way I can make you all understand what's going on is if I start from the beginning." He said. "A lot of the things I'm gonna say involve you, Tifa, so anytime you want to add anything just say so."
She nodded in agreement.
"Alright then. Here we go." He began. He took in a big breath, and then continued. "Tifa and I grew up in a village called Nibelheim. We were good friends when we were little, and we always tried to look out for each other."
Tifa smiled, and Cloud smiled back.
"Then when I was about eleven things changed. Tifa's mother died, and I remember she had a hard time dealing with that." He continued.
"It was the most horrible thing that ever happened to me. I didn't know what to do." She interrupted. "I remember after my father told me I ran away to the Nibel Mountains."
"Nibelheim was built right in front of the foot of the Mountains, and there was a trail in the back of town that could be taken to reach the network of bridges and ladders that led up the highest mountain." Cloud said. "The Shinra had built a Mako Reactor there that supplied power not only to Nibelheim but to a few other villages too. Tifa tried to run to the reactor but one of the bridges she was on collapsed. She was almost killed.
"Seeing that she had disappeared I went to look for her and eventually I found her badly injured near the foot of the mountain. I carried her back to town, but everyone thought that I was responsible for her injuries, especially her father."
"I tried to convince him that it wasn't your fault, Cloud." Tifa said.
"I know." He replied. "I never blamed you. But things weren't the same after that. Everyone in town stopped hanging around me. That was the same year that the Midgar-Wutai war was coming to an end. Sephiroth was the General in charge of the Shinra army, and by midyear he had lead the army to the gates of Wutai and invaded. His victory there earned him attention in every town with Shinra influence, including Nibelheim. I began hearing all sorts of stories about Sephiroth the great hero, and I began to idolize him.
"By the time I turned twelve Wutai had surrendered and the excitement about the war was beginning to die down. But I never lost my obsession with Sephiroth. I wanted to be a war hero just like him, and get away from the town that didn't pay me any attention anymore.
"As soon as I turned fourteen I knew I was old enough to join Soldier. I told Tifa I was leaving. She had started martial arts training after the accident on the bridge, and I knew she could take care of herself. I left for Midgar and began my training in Soldier.
"I was showered with diluted Mako on a regular basis, which gave me superior strength. They trained me to be the best of the best, and I pushed as hard as I could. I was quickly promoted and soon I had been given the position that I dreamed of…a chance begin a tour of duty alongside Sephiroth.
"I knew I wasn't going to be given the best of jobs because I was still green and I was low in rank, but I didn't care. I began working with Sephiroth, and we became very close. My father died when I was very young, so Sephiroth was like the father that I never had. Together we went on missions to clean up what was left after the war.
"When I was sixteen they gave me the first big mission of my career. Sephiroth and I were to return to Nibelheim to investigate mysterious sightings of mutated beasts that were believed to be in connection with the Mako Reactor there. The President had personally assigned Sephiroth the mission, and he wanted things to stay quiet just in case the mutations wound up being a result of Mako poisoning or something like that.
"Along with a few Shinra soldiers, he and I took a train into Nibelheim. Along the way we were attacked by one of the mutated beasts. It knocked the train off the tracks, killing one of our men. Sephiroth and I escaped from the train and fought the monster. I remember it looked like a gigantic snake, and it scared the hell out of me. But before I knew what was happening, Sephiroth had already cut the thing in half with his sword. He was amazing with that sword. I remember how much I admired the elegant way in which he was able to destroy any of his enemies with it.
"We had to walk the rest of the way to Nibelheim after the train was wrecked. It was down to Sephiroth, myself, and two Shinra soldiers. We entered the town expecting it to be deserted because of the mutations, but there was actually a welcome party to greet us when we got there. They led us to the mansion that had once been where visiting Shinra execs. stayed.
"Sephiroth decided that we should rest there before heading up Mt. Nibel to the reactor. They gave us really nice rooms, but since Sephiroth said I could go visit anyone I knew I decided to take a look around. He knew that I was from Nibelheim, and he had a great deal of compassion for me. I really did like him back then.
"I visited my mom first. She hadn't really changed since I'd left. She was so excited to see me, it was almost over the top. She started telling me how I should find a nice girl and settle down, but I told her I was only there for a mission. She was kind of let down, but I told her I'd spend the night in the house instead of the mansion. That made her feel a lot better, I remember.
"After that I went to your house, Tifa, but you weren't there. So I just went back to the mansion and got my stuff. Then I went back to my old house and I spent the night reminiscing with my mother.
"The next morning Sephiroth gathered everyone involved in the mission together in front of the mansion. He wasn't familiar with Nibelheim, and the only time I had even come close to the reactor was when I went after Tifa, so he told me he'd hired a guide to take us up the mountain. When we arrived at the foot of the mountain, I got to meet who the guide was."
He chuckled a little.
"The guide was Tifa." He said.
"Yeah, I remember that." Tifa said, smiling. "We were both so happy to see each other. I begged one of the Shinra guards to take a picture of Sephiroth, Cloud, and me. I probably still have that picture somewhere. Well, I would if Sector 7 still existed."
"Wow, so you guys were reunited by chance?" Aeris asked, enjoying the story very much.
"Well we probably would have seen each other anyway, since I would have looked for her again before we left." Cloud replied, then continued his story. "Tifa was a really good guide, actually. Although she was wearing this silly cowboy hat the whole time."
She laughed.
"Hey!" She said, kiddingly. "I liked that hat! Yeah I was a pretty good guide. After you left I went up there a lot to train, and I got to know it like the back of my hand."
"She must have bad luck with those damn bridges, though." Cloud said. "We were pretty far up the mountain when the bridge collapsed under us. Nobody was hurt, but we lost another soldier. Sephiroth felt terrible leaving him behind, but he didn't think we had enough time to look for him. I think it was all our weight that made the bridge collapse.
"But anyway, we had to climb up the side of the mountain to get to the top. There were a lot of ledges and caves that ran around the peak so it wasn't that hard making our way up. On the way we found a cave near the summit that had pure condensed Mako forming inside. I had never seen materia in its purest form like that, and Sephiroth said he had only seen it once before."
"It was probably the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Tifa said. "It had such a brilliant glow."
"They mine that stuff to make the materia crystals that I bought. Depending on how its refined, it can be made into various types of magic, although some really rare magic can only be made by leaving the crystal in its natural state." Cloud remarked.
"Anyway," He continued, "It didn't take us long to get to the top of the mountain. Sephiroth and I were the only ones that were going to enter the Reactor, since there was a very high degree of confidentiality to the whole mission. Tifa wanted to go in so bad, but I wouldn't let her. I told the last of our soldiers to watch her outside while Sephiroth and I went in."
"You were being so mean." Tifa said, half-serious. "I really wanted to see what was in there."
"You know I couldn't let you." Cloud replied. "Sephiroth and I were told to search the whole reactor for signs of trouble. No one was inside since it had already been evacuated. We looked all over the place, but we didn't see any monsters or anything. We kept walking forward and eventually we reached a door near the back of the reactor that read "RESTRICTED: KEEP OUT." Sephiroth managed to kick the metal door open and get us inside.
"When we got in there we saw rows upon rows of air compressed chambers, each about six feet tall and shaped a lot like an egg. They were all kept at a very low temperature, and there were tons of them. I had no idea what they were, but Sephiroth seemed to have a suspicion. He walked up to one of the chambers and wiped the frost off of the glass observation window. I remember him gasping when he saw what was inside.
"He told me to look inside, so I did as I was told. What I saw in there was very disturbing. It looked like a naked human man, but it was severely mutated. Its skin had turned to a greenish purplish scaly texture. It had grown several deformities such as spiked contortions of bone along the back and head. It looked like it was some sort of reptilian being, but by looking at the face I could tell that it had once been a person.
"Sephiroth immediately knew what was going on. He said he'd heard about something like this, but he didn't think it was true. Everyone in the Soldier program was showered with a limited amount of Mako, but Dr. Hojo had been conducting experiments with exposing humans to very high amounts of Mako in an attempt to create a super-being. Sephiroth thought that the things inside the chambers were the results of the experiment, but maybe they were escaping somehow which would explain the sightings around Nibelheim.
"He decompressed one of the chambers and let one of the beings fall out of its containment unit so he could get a better look at it. It was still alive, and decompressing the chamber brought it out of suspended animation. It started going into convulsions on the floor, and we were afraid it might be dangerous so we had to kill it. The whole thing really horrified me. I couldn't believe that the Shinra could actually be trying to take human beings and manufacture them into monsters.
"There was another door at the end of that room with a sign over it that read "JENOVA." At the time neither of us knew what that meant. All Sephiroth knew was that when he was very young and growing up under the care of the Shinra, he was told that his mother's name had been Jenova. The whole situation really disturbed him and he decided that we should head back to the mansion for the rest of the day.
"When we got back to the mansion I headed to the room that they had given me, and Sephiroth disappeared for awhile. I asked the soldier that was still with us where he'd gone, and he sad he went into the basement under ground to take a look at the library. I had no idea why he'd want to go to the library, so I went downstairs to check it out. The stairs led very far beneath the ground, and I got the impression that no one was really supposed to go down there.
"When I reached the library in the basement I found Sephiroth reading a very thick book at a desk. There were books on shelves surrounding the entire room, and he had books scattered on the floor by his feet. He looked kind of strange and I asked him if he was alright. He didn't answer at first but then he asked me if I knew what this place was. When I said no, he told me that it was where many of the scientific notes taken by Dr. Hojo had been placed for safekeeping. There were also a great deal of books dealing with ancient history.
"I got really confused, but he told me that it wasn't important. He said that he'd already read a great deal and that suddenly the whole world was making sense to him. He started babbling about the beginning of the world. I told him I was gonna go upstairs and get some sleep, which was what I did.
"He stayed down there all night and all of the next day. The soldier and I were starting to get worried about him. He was acting really strange and we didn't know why. Finally I couldn't take it anymore. I went back down to the basement to see what was going on. I found him there, but he was there only in body. His mind seemed to be elsewhere.
"He told me that it was time I learned the real history of the planet. The books that he'd read told him that the planet was originally inhabited by a race known as the Cetra, or the ones that we referred to as the Ancients. At one time they outnumbered the humans. They had special powers that allowed them to connect in some way with the very life force of the planet. The Cetra were the first to discover the magical properties of crystal materia.
"Then a being that called itself Jenova arrived on the planet. It demanded that the Cetra deliver the crystal materia to her. When the Cetra refused, Jenova unleashed a horrifying virus that was extremely deadly to the Shinra. She was extremely powerful, and there seemed to way to defeat her. There was no record of how it was done, but in some way Jenova was presumed destroyed and her remains were sealed in a tomb to keep her there for all eternity.
"The Cetra could find no way to cure the deadly virus that only affected them. Over time their numbers dwindled until only a handful were left. They left very few descendants in modern time, and those that were generally kept the fact to themselves. Sephiroth began telling me that humans had taken the world away from the Cetra when it was rightfully there's and that humans should be destroyed in retaliation.
"At that point I was beginning to get frightened at the way he was behaving, but he had more history to tell me. He said that thousands of years after Jenova had been sealed away, a young Professor Hojo found her remains in rock strata dating back to around the time that the books he knew of said she had existed. He excavated the remains, and began studying them. Over time he realized that her cells were incredibly resilient, and could be reanimated to form progeny. He began what was known as the Jenova Project. Hojo was able to successfully create a "son" to Jenova. His name was Sephiroth.
"It was at that time that I realized that Sephiroth had just been exposed to a horrifying realization of his own past. He had been created instead of born, just like the monsters we'd seen in the reactor, and the knowledge of his roll in the Jenova Project had driven him insane.
"He insisted that as the descendant of Jenova it was his right to take back the planet from the humans. I tried to calm him down, but he was no longer the Sephiroth that I had know and respected. He had lost his mind. I tried to stop him from getting out of the library, but I was no match for him. I'd always known he was strong, but I think he may have only learned his own true strength after reading about his origin. He seemed to have the strength of a million men when he pushed me out of the way.
"I followed him up the stairs as he walked slowly toward some unknown destination. He left the mansion and began heading back up Mt. Nibel. I met Tifa at the foot of the mountain. She was waiting for me to come out of the mansion, and she asked if she could come. I told her that something was wrong and she had to stay back, but she followed me anyway."
"I had to, Cloud." Tifa interrupted. "I wanted to know that you were safe."
He nodded.
"We got to the reactor at the top and we both pursued Sephiroth to the back where he and I had been before. He was standing there, staring at the sign that read "JENOVA." I told him to stop whatever it was he was trying to do, but he wouldn't listen. Tifa ran up to him to see if she could reason with him, and that was when he took out his sword and slashed her across the chest."
"That's where I got that scar from, Barret." Tifa said. He nodded. Things were starting to make sense now.
"I was horrified." Cloud continued. "The Sephiroth that I had known would never do something like that. After he did that, he pounded open the door to the room that said "JENOVA" and walked in. I went to help Tifa. She had fallen down the steps that led up the door and she was pretty badly hurt. I didn't think she was gonna make it, but she told me to go after Sephiroth before he hurt anyone else. I wrapped up the wound as best I could, and then I left her by the stairs."
"He told me he'd come back for me." Tifa said. "It was very heroic of him."
"When I ran inside the room I saw Sephiroth standing in front of this thing that looked like a metal statue of a woman. There was a sign over it that read "JENOVA" just like the one outside the door. He started talking to it like it was a person, telling it that he was going to take back what was rightfully her's.
"Then he walked right up to it and grabbed it. I finally realized that the thing was actually a metal capsule molded around Jenova's remains. She was inside it. He pulled on it as hard as he could, and he ripped the torso away from the tubes and wires that had it attached to the containment system. Blood spurted out of the tubes all over the place, but he didn't care. He laughed like a madman when he finally removed the metal encasement from the wall. He started babbling again about he and his mother would destroy those that had oppressed them. Then he turned around and walked right past me, without saying a word."
"He took the damn thing with him?" Barret asked.
Cloud nodded.
"I followed him outside, but he was way ahead of me. He must have ran down the mountain or something. I couldn't find Tifa anywhere when I left the reactor, so I just went down by myself."
"I had gone down already." Tifa mentioned. "Cloud did a good job patching my wound, and I was able to make it back to town. My martial arts instructor, Zangan, helped me clean it up a little better when I got back.
"It took me a while to get back to town. When I got there, everything had gone straight to Hell. Sephiroth had already begun his revenge against humanity. He had started fires all over the village, and people were rushing all over the place to put them out."
"I passed out from the smoke." Tifa said. "But Zangan brought me back to consciousness right when Cloud got there. I didn't really know what was gong on."
"When I got there I saw that Tifa was being taken care of so I tried to get into my house. The flames were too thick and I couldn't get in. I remember the whole night was lit by the fire, it was so thick. There was no way for me to get into the house, and I couldn't get help from anyone because they were trying to fight their own fires. My mother died in the fire that night."
Aeris could swear that she saw a tear drop from Cloud's eye as he said it, but he continued right away to keep himself from sobbing.
"As I backed away from my house I saw Sephiroth in the distance. There were a couple of men trying to escape the village, and he saw them run past him. He immediately took out his sword and killed both of them. It was the most horrific thing I had ever seen a person do, and it proved to me that the Sephiroth that I had loved was completely gone. Insanity had overtaken him. Luckily, I was able to get out of the village before it burned down to the ground, and so was Tifa."
"I escaped with Zangan." Tifa said. "He brought me here to Midgar and I opened up the Seventh Heaven bar to make some money."
"I came here after I left Nibelheim, where I found a fellow Soldier named Zack." Cloud continued. "He and I had known each other from training. He was running from the Shinra because he had broken some sort of code and was going to be court marshaled. I told him I'd stay with him for awhile until I was ready to go back to Midgar and tell them what had happened."
"A day later the Shinra found us here. They asked me what had happened at Nibelheim and I explained it to them. Professor Hojo was with them, and he was pissed off about Sephiroth and I going into the room where the mutated humans were being kept. He told me that I could not be allowed to leave and tell anyone in the outside world about what was being done by the Shinra.
"He captured Zack and I, and we were brought to a low level prison where we were kept for about a year. We were finally able to escape, and we fled to Midgar. Before we got to Midgar we were attacked by a bunch of wild monsters, and they hurt me pretty bad. Zack didn't walk away from the fight. I was able to get in and get a transport to a village called Gongaga. I stayed there for the next few years working on and off as a bodyguard before I got word of Barret's offer to hire mercenaries and I came back to Midgar."
Aeris looked really sad all of a sudden, and now Cloud could swear he saw a tear form underneath her eye.
"What's the matter?" He asked her.
"Do you remember when I told you that I had a boyfriend that was in soldier?" She asked. "I said he was First Class, just like you."
"Yeah I remember." Cloud answered.
"It was Zack. I never heard from him again after he joined Soldier. I'm kind of sad knowing that he's dead, but I guess it gives me closure. At least now I know what happened to him." She replied.
"Oh wow I'm sorry, Aeris." Cloud said. "If it's any comfort, he was a really good guy. He was an excellent Soldier and I doubt I was still be alive today if he hadn't sacrificed himself in that fight."
"It's okay, Cloud." She replied. "And yes, that does make me feel better. Thank you."
Barret looked a little stunned by everything he had just heard.
"So where did this Sephiroth dude go after he burnt down Nibelheim?" He asked.
"He was never seen or heard from afterwards, until now." Cloud replied. "I'm guessing the Shinra must have recovered the remains of Jenova that he had taken because that was the detached torso that you and I saw in the Shinra Headquarters. When Sephiroth killed everyone in the Headquarters he took the remains with him again."
"Why would he just show up now, instead of years ago after he destroyed Nibelheim?" Barret asked.
"I honestly don't know." Cloud answered. "And I don't know how to find out. All I know is that I want to find him and see him again. We might be able to find out what he's trying to accomplish if we approach him."
"I suggest that we visit my birthplace, Cosmo Canyon." Red XIII said. "My grandfather lives there. He can tell us a great deal about the planet, and I believe he can help the cause of Avalanche. He might also be able to tell us what Sephiroth is after."
"I think that sounds like a plan." Cloud said. We'll head for Cosmo Canyon, and along the way we'll see if anyone knows anything about where Sephiroth is now. We'll have to go to Junon Harbor and get a boat ride to the West Continent, because if I remember correctly Cosmo Canyon is west of here."
"Yes, you are correct." Red XIII replied. "We'll need to get a boat to reach Cosmo Canyon."
"Alright then." Cloud said. "I think for right now we should all get some rest. We'll have to walk a pretty good distance tomorrow if we want to reach Junon in a decent amount of time."
Everyone nodded, and began to settle down so they could rest. Pretty soon everyone had fallen asleep except for Cloud and Aeris. She was still laying on the bed, singing quietly to herself. Cloud was sitting in his chair examining the materia that he had bought.
"I'm sorry you had to hear about Zack and all." Cloud said. "He really was a great guy."
"It's okay, Cloud." She replied. "Trust me, I'm happier knowing. I'm just glad you made it back okay, or else you wouldn't be here with me now."
Cloud blushed a little, something he hardly ever did.
"Thanks." He said sheepishly. "Are you excited about going to Junon?"
"Yes, very much so. I've never been so far from home before, except when I was very young before my mother died." She replied.
"Elmyra told me about how she found you at the train station. Do you remember anything about your real mother?" He asked.
"Yes, but very little." She answered. "She was pretty I remember. I can still kind of picture what she looked like. Her name was Ifalna. She was an Ancient, which I inherited from her. I vaguely remember a few things about my father too. I'm pretty sure he was a scientist of some sort."
"Wow, you must have a great memory." Cloud remarked. "How old were you when Elmyra found you?"
"I was six. My mother and I had escaped from the Shinra and we fled to Midgar. I can't remember what my birthplace was like, because the Shinra took us away from it when I was a newborn, or at least that's what my mother told me. She told me that we had lived in a very snowy place, and she told me things about my father. I wish I could have known him."
"Wow, that's horrible." Cloud said. "What do the Shinra want with you? It seems like they've been after you you're entire life."
"They have been." She replied. "They want me because after my mother died I was the only Ancient left on the planet. I'm the only person with the genetic memory of how to reach the Promised Land."
"So it does exist." Cloud said, intrigued.
"Yes, but not the way the Shinra imagine it." She replied. "They imagine it to be a place with limitless supplies of Mako that they can cash in on. But that isn't the real Promised Land. It is much more than that…much deeper."
"How so?"
"It's very complicated. I don't know if I can explain it exactly."
"You don't have to if you don't want to." Cloud said. "Maybe Red XIII's grandfather can tell us."
"He might be able to." She said. "We'll have to see how much he really knows about the planet. I know more than I think I'd like to sometimes, but I have difficulty explaining it. Some of the things I know exist just as feelings, and I can't describe them with words."
Cloud nodded.
"I understand." He said. "I think maybe we should both get some rest now. We'll sleep the rest of today and tonight, and we'll wake up early tomorrow morning to set out for Junon."
"Okay." Aeris answered. "Why don't you come lay by me?"
He got up from his chair and laid down on the bed next to her. She put her head on his shoulder and snuggled up close to him. It felt nice having someone so close to him like that. She quickly fell asleep, and he began to feel sleepy himself. He felt a great degree of comfort having her there next to him, and it didn't take long for him to doze off dreaming of the day to come.
***
Cloud woke up before everyone else, and he despite his efforts not to, he woke up Aeris when he tried to get up. They got their things together and then woke up everyone else. Cloud began distributing the materia to everyone so that they would be prepared for their trip to Junon.
His sword was already equipped with a lightning materia. He added an "all" materia which he had purchased, which was a different kind of materia. It allowed the magic to be distributed across a wider range when the magic was cast so that it could be used against multiple enemies.
Next he helped Barret equip his gun-arm with the ice materia that Barret already owned. Tifa insisted on not having any materia, since she figured she'd be just fine using her martial arts skills. Cloud finally compromised with her, equipping her gloves with a "sense" materia which gave her the ability to sense the relative strength of the enemy.
Cloud was pleasantly surprised to find that the traditional hair ornament that Red XIII kept on his head could be equipped with materia. Red XIII was delighted to be given a fire materia, which fit him quite well considering the flame at the end of his tail and the color of his fur.
Finally, he equipped Aeris' staff with a cure materia. It was the only magic that she was familiar with, and she felt comfortable using it. She liked the idea that should a battle break out, she wouldn't necessarily have to kill anyone but she would have the ability to magically heal the others.
When Cloud was satisfied that they were ready for the journey, they left Kalm and set out for Junon Harbor. It was dawn when they left the inn, but before long the sun had come up and had bathed the land with its brilliant light. As they left Kalm they got closer to the ocean separating them from the west continent, and the sun reflected off the surface of the water.
It reminded Cloud of the times he'd gone to the beach with his mother before he left to join Soldier. He continued forward, with a vision firmly planted in his mind of the last time he had seen his mother. She had been smiling, and in a way the image reminded him of Aeris. When he looked at it that way, it was a pleasant thought.