From the author of
An Autobiography of Vincent Valentine
Phoenix Down.
Part Mu
Sefirot
"Step out of the front door, into the fog where no one notices the contrast of white on white." (Counting Crows, 'Round Here*' off the album, 'August, and Everything After.')
It has become my life, officially. His life story.
I guess I can't go back.
He talked, all that night, and the tape recorder, fuck.
It just follows me, too.
~
Sephiroth sat at his desk, running his eyes over a stack of papers.
"I don't know." He told Katrina.
"Oh..."
"I just don't know, I'll find the money, somehow."
"Oh. Good."
"And that ring that you liked?"
"Yeah?" She asked eagerly.
"Well..." He dug his hand into his pocket. His eyes widened.
"Hold on." He stood, and walked out of the office.
He was First class SOLDIER. He was promoted last week after he successfully fought a dragon that was attacking Costa del Sol. (It was his favorite mission thus far. He stayed there another week after defeating the monster to make sure everything was, 'ok.')
On the weekends, he works at the business district of Shin-Ra's SOLDIER facility, doing paper work and filing. It earns him extra cash.
Extra cash to buy things like a golden diamond ring that he accidentally misplaced.
Katrina waited in his office, and twirled in the chair thinking of wedding bells.
He felt like a fool for misplacing it.
He checked all the pockets in his jacket and in his pants.
"Shi-shoot. God..." He cursed as he ravaged the next door office room. Nothing, no little black velvet box. Just papers.
"Oh-my-Go-" He dug his little fingertips into his shirt pocket.
There it was, without it's box.
He put it in an important place so he wouldn't forget. His shirt pocket. Moron.
"Phhhew. God. If I had lost you-" He said to the ring as he walked back into his office.
Katrina looked up and smiled. She felt herself blush.
He bent down on one knee, and looked at her into her big, brown eyes.
"Katrina." He said as he slipped the ring into her hands and clasped her finger.
"This isn't exactly the setting that I imagined, but, I can't wait, I, uhm. Uh..."
She waited.
This was the moment of her life.
"Oh, Seph," She broke when she couldn't wait any more, and the words were not coming to him.
"I love you." She wiped a tear off of her freckled face, and put her arms around his neck.
"Marry me." He stated. It wasn't a question, it was a statement of fact.
And they kissed in that little business office on the SOLDIER campus.
He choose to stay in SOLDIER a little longer, and work his way up to general. He decided that fighting and soldiering was his calling, and he was ready to make it a career, and work his way up to the top.
What else was there to life?
He took his Mako injections.
He wanted to get married, like a respectable man, have a few kids, and be a dedicated top class SOLDIER.
Shin-Ra paid top class SOLDIERS very, very well.
Katrina went back to Mideel. Her father wasn't doing well.
Sephiroth only got to see his fiancé when he was stationed out there. Or, when he traveled on the weekends and took the time off of work.
It didn't matter, he said. She was too important to him.
Then, an unexpected mission came.
He, Zack, Marty, and two others were to go to Midgar.
There was a riot in sector 7.
The under privileged were holding a rally.
"Poor against the wealthy"
"We deserve better!"
"Under plate, under class!"
"Uppers [upper plate people] vs Lowers!"
It was a riot of class. This wasn't the first time. Second class citizens fighting against the wealthy and the Shin-Ra cooperation. A band of first class SOLDIERS and a smattering of others were sent out to control the crowds and to disband the leaders.
"You know, makes me sad. I hate missions like this." Zack said as they sat in the back of the truck as they drove to Midgar from the SOLDIER's camp.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Marty added as he smoothed down his short, light red hair. "I feel sorry for the poor people. Them rallying is sort of understandable. I mean, we DO take a lot from them..."
"WE don't take anything. WE are SOLDIERS WE fight for them. Shin-Ra is to-" Sephiroth started.
"Sshh..." Zack hissed. He always worried when someone said something slandering about Shin-Ra. He have seen others been demoted for it.
"No one's here to hear you." Marty snapped and rolled his eyes.
"Shin-Ra sucks. Admit it. Everyone knows it. It's a corporation that acts like world wide government. Fuck. There IS no government, and UN is the weakest damn rebellion that I've ever seen!"
"Yeah. You guys talkin' about government?" A blonde haired blue eyed ordinary soldier butted in. He was sent along with the three First Class SOLDIERS to gain experience.
"Yeah." Zack said.
"Name's Cloud." Said the blonde soldier.
"I'm Sephiroth, that's Marty and Zack." Sephiroth offered his gloved hand. They shook, and smiled to each other politely.
They were silent for a moment.
"What was I sayin'? Oh yeah, Shin-Ra. We know it's suckin' the life out of the planet, yet we work for it?" Zack continued.
Sephiroth was starting to feel uneasy; he was planning on having a career out of SOLDIER- out of working for Shin-Ra.
"Well, they- they mean well- the Industrial Revolution wouldn't have started without the formation of the Shin-Ra Cooperation. FACT, they ARE Industry, they Are the Industrial Revolution... Damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of thing. The civilized world needs Shin-Ra. Unless there is a strong formation of independent industry, you can't dis-"
"I was never good at economics." Cloud yawned, interrupting Sephiroth's comment.
"Yeah, mean either." Added Marty as he coiled a lock of his curly red hair around his finger, then let it spring back to place.
"See, those two- those guys are SMART, no wonder they are first class, Cloud. They are just- SMART. Me, I don't know how I passed the written test to first class. I'm just lucky."
"Yeah! I don't know either, MYSTERY! Cheater." Zack snapped sarcastically with a grin.
Sephiroth looked bemused and quiet. He said nothing and just smiled to himself.
"I didn't CHEAT! I was lucky." Marty said.
"He is lucky. I've seen him in battle. He's about to get fucked in the ass, then, something happens and he lives. Like, a bolt of lighting comes out of a storm cloud and saves his sorry ass. Remember that, Marty?" Sephiroth asked and laughed.
"Yeah. I'm just lucky as hell!" He smirked, then hit Zack on the shoulder, "'Cept, not as lucky as Zack, here, Zack, hit up Aeris lately?"
"What do you mean?" Zack asked as he glanced at Cloud.
"Fucked her lately?" Marty chuckled.
"No, man, broke up with her, remember? Girl named, Tifa, now, dating her."
"Oh?" Martin asked. Sephiroth looked away.
"HUGE tits! HUGE!"
The driver of the truck was a Indian from Cosmo Canyon. He spoke little English. He was near silent the whole way, except when they neared the huge megalopolis of a city.
"Oh, god of thunder and god of mighty, Look!"
The back of the truck went silent as they all turned their heads to look out the dirty window.
Looming towers hovered and bombarded the dark sky, bright beams of light shot passed them. Helicopters busied the air. Traffic slowed them down.
The atmosphere was hazy and greenish.
The sense of the city was magical and alien.
Lights and garbage littered everything.
Midgar was like no place in the world; it is like a foreign planet.
No matter how many times he had been there, it still continued to leave Sephiroth speechless.
"Maybe it would be faster if we walked." One of the soldiers that accompanied Cloud was a woman, and she too, was nearly silent the whole way. She took off her hat and mask.
There were five soldiers in the truck, all together.
Zack and Sephiroth glanced at her.
Her skin was as black as midnight, her eyes as dark as water over a stone.
She looked back at them, and licked her thick lips.
Sephiroth swallowed, and sighed.
He thought of Katrina.
"All-right, looks like were near there. Other trucks are unloading." Zack said as he caught a glimpse of another Shin-Ra truck. "Guess we can get out and walk to sector 7. This traffic getting into Midgar is hopeless."
Everyone agreed, and they piled out of the truck.
Near wordlessly, they walked into the gates of Midgar, meeting up with a few other soldiers. They followed the noise into sector 7.
"First mission?" Sephiroth asked Cloud.
"No, but first really important one." He answered as he fastened on his mask.
Sephiroth smiled.
"Don't be nervous. I am always with you."
An Autobiography of Vincent Valentine
Phoenix Down.
Part Mu
Sefirot
"Step out of the front door, into the fog where no one notices the contrast of white on white." (Counting Crows, 'Round Here*' off the album, 'August, and Everything After.')
It has become my life, officially. His life story.
I guess I can't go back.
He talked, all that night, and the tape recorder, fuck.
It just follows me, too.
~
Sephiroth sat at his desk, running his eyes over a stack of papers.
"I don't know." He told Katrina.
"Oh..."
"I just don't know, I'll find the money, somehow."
"Oh. Good."
"And that ring that you liked?"
"Yeah?" She asked eagerly.
"Well..." He dug his hand into his pocket. His eyes widened.
"Hold on." He stood, and walked out of the office.
He was First class SOLDIER. He was promoted last week after he successfully fought a dragon that was attacking Costa del Sol. (It was his favorite mission thus far. He stayed there another week after defeating the monster to make sure everything was, 'ok.')
On the weekends, he works at the business district of Shin-Ra's SOLDIER facility, doing paper work and filing. It earns him extra cash.
Extra cash to buy things like a golden diamond ring that he accidentally misplaced.
Katrina waited in his office, and twirled in the chair thinking of wedding bells.
He felt like a fool for misplacing it.
He checked all the pockets in his jacket and in his pants.
"Shi-shoot. God..." He cursed as he ravaged the next door office room. Nothing, no little black velvet box. Just papers.
"Oh-my-Go-" He dug his little fingertips into his shirt pocket.
There it was, without it's box.
He put it in an important place so he wouldn't forget. His shirt pocket. Moron.
"Phhhew. God. If I had lost you-" He said to the ring as he walked back into his office.
Katrina looked up and smiled. She felt herself blush.
He bent down on one knee, and looked at her into her big, brown eyes.
"Katrina." He said as he slipped the ring into her hands and clasped her finger.
"This isn't exactly the setting that I imagined, but, I can't wait, I, uhm. Uh..."
She waited.
This was the moment of her life.
"Oh, Seph," She broke when she couldn't wait any more, and the words were not coming to him.
"I love you." She wiped a tear off of her freckled face, and put her arms around his neck.
"Marry me." He stated. It wasn't a question, it was a statement of fact.
And they kissed in that little business office on the SOLDIER campus.
He choose to stay in SOLDIER a little longer, and work his way up to general. He decided that fighting and soldiering was his calling, and he was ready to make it a career, and work his way up to the top.
What else was there to life?
He took his Mako injections.
He wanted to get married, like a respectable man, have a few kids, and be a dedicated top class SOLDIER.
Shin-Ra paid top class SOLDIERS very, very well.
Katrina went back to Mideel. Her father wasn't doing well.
Sephiroth only got to see his fiancé when he was stationed out there. Or, when he traveled on the weekends and took the time off of work.
It didn't matter, he said. She was too important to him.
Then, an unexpected mission came.
He, Zack, Marty, and two others were to go to Midgar.
There was a riot in sector 7.
The under privileged were holding a rally.
"Poor against the wealthy"
"We deserve better!"
"Under plate, under class!"
"Uppers [upper plate people] vs Lowers!"
It was a riot of class. This wasn't the first time. Second class citizens fighting against the wealthy and the Shin-Ra cooperation. A band of first class SOLDIERS and a smattering of others were sent out to control the crowds and to disband the leaders.
"You know, makes me sad. I hate missions like this." Zack said as they sat in the back of the truck as they drove to Midgar from the SOLDIER's camp.
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Marty added as he smoothed down his short, light red hair. "I feel sorry for the poor people. Them rallying is sort of understandable. I mean, we DO take a lot from them..."
"WE don't take anything. WE are SOLDIERS WE fight for them. Shin-Ra is to-" Sephiroth started.
"Sshh..." Zack hissed. He always worried when someone said something slandering about Shin-Ra. He have seen others been demoted for it.
"No one's here to hear you." Marty snapped and rolled his eyes.
"Shin-Ra sucks. Admit it. Everyone knows it. It's a corporation that acts like world wide government. Fuck. There IS no government, and UN is the weakest damn rebellion that I've ever seen!"
"Yeah. You guys talkin' about government?" A blonde haired blue eyed ordinary soldier butted in. He was sent along with the three First Class SOLDIERS to gain experience.
"Yeah." Zack said.
"Name's Cloud." Said the blonde soldier.
"I'm Sephiroth, that's Marty and Zack." Sephiroth offered his gloved hand. They shook, and smiled to each other politely.
They were silent for a moment.
"What was I sayin'? Oh yeah, Shin-Ra. We know it's suckin' the life out of the planet, yet we work for it?" Zack continued.
Sephiroth was starting to feel uneasy; he was planning on having a career out of SOLDIER- out of working for Shin-Ra.
"Well, they- they mean well- the Industrial Revolution wouldn't have started without the formation of the Shin-Ra Cooperation. FACT, they ARE Industry, they Are the Industrial Revolution... Damned if you do, damned if you don't kind of thing. The civilized world needs Shin-Ra. Unless there is a strong formation of independent industry, you can't dis-"
"I was never good at economics." Cloud yawned, interrupting Sephiroth's comment.
"Yeah, mean either." Added Marty as he coiled a lock of his curly red hair around his finger, then let it spring back to place.
"See, those two- those guys are SMART, no wonder they are first class, Cloud. They are just- SMART. Me, I don't know how I passed the written test to first class. I'm just lucky."
"Yeah! I don't know either, MYSTERY! Cheater." Zack snapped sarcastically with a grin.
Sephiroth looked bemused and quiet. He said nothing and just smiled to himself.
"I didn't CHEAT! I was lucky." Marty said.
"He is lucky. I've seen him in battle. He's about to get fucked in the ass, then, something happens and he lives. Like, a bolt of lighting comes out of a storm cloud and saves his sorry ass. Remember that, Marty?" Sephiroth asked and laughed.
"Yeah. I'm just lucky as hell!" He smirked, then hit Zack on the shoulder, "'Cept, not as lucky as Zack, here, Zack, hit up Aeris lately?"
"What do you mean?" Zack asked as he glanced at Cloud.
"Fucked her lately?" Marty chuckled.
"No, man, broke up with her, remember? Girl named, Tifa, now, dating her."
"Oh?" Martin asked. Sephiroth looked away.
"HUGE tits! HUGE!"
The driver of the truck was a Indian from Cosmo Canyon. He spoke little English. He was near silent the whole way, except when they neared the huge megalopolis of a city.
"Oh, god of thunder and god of mighty, Look!"
The back of the truck went silent as they all turned their heads to look out the dirty window.
Looming towers hovered and bombarded the dark sky, bright beams of light shot passed them. Helicopters busied the air. Traffic slowed them down.
The atmosphere was hazy and greenish.
The sense of the city was magical and alien.
Lights and garbage littered everything.
Midgar was like no place in the world; it is like a foreign planet.
No matter how many times he had been there, it still continued to leave Sephiroth speechless.
"Maybe it would be faster if we walked." One of the soldiers that accompanied Cloud was a woman, and she too, was nearly silent the whole way. She took off her hat and mask.
There were five soldiers in the truck, all together.
Zack and Sephiroth glanced at her.
Her skin was as black as midnight, her eyes as dark as water over a stone.
She looked back at them, and licked her thick lips.
Sephiroth swallowed, and sighed.
He thought of Katrina.
"All-right, looks like were near there. Other trucks are unloading." Zack said as he caught a glimpse of another Shin-Ra truck. "Guess we can get out and walk to sector 7. This traffic getting into Midgar is hopeless."
Everyone agreed, and they piled out of the truck.
Near wordlessly, they walked into the gates of Midgar, meeting up with a few other soldiers. They followed the noise into sector 7.
"First mission?" Sephiroth asked Cloud.
"No, but first really important one." He answered as he fastened on his mask.
Sephiroth smiled.
"Don't be nervous. I am always with you."