Chapter 2
The haze of sleep was lifting slowly; a dim light was filling my vision. The light was shining in from the entrance of my tunnel…it was strange how I'd started to refer to it as my tunnel. The idea that a person could truly own anything in that place seemed so much like pathetic optimism that I could not help but laugh to myself. With a lethargic start I pulled myself up onto two shaky legs.
My sleep had been restful; I'd slipped almost instantly into that deep dreamless place within one's mind, and yet, the memory of voices still remained in my head, like some sticky residue that you can't get out of the top of your mouth.
Emerging from my crypt, I was suddenly filled with a surge of unexpected energy as even the dim glow of the slums seemed to lift my spirits. For the first time since my awakening I realized that I was alive, and I was actually happy to be alive, even if I did plan to live out my existence for someone else. Brimming with righteous vigor I stepped out of my happy reverie in order to begin a day unmarked and unmeasured by the sun.
The first thing I needed was to find out what Shinra was and where its headquarters might be, I could play it by ear after that.
Walking around, I paid attention to the shops for the first time. There were bars and an item shop; a weapon market had taken up shop in an old abandoned RV, and one unique place which called itself a Materia Store. The word 'Materia' seemed to ring a bell somewhere in my mind, but other than that I was at a loss as to what this place might be. Curious, I walked up to the wooden door and gave it a push, it creaked all the way in, upsetting a bell someone had placed over the edge of the doorway. There was a long desk that ran from one wall to the other, the dusty walls were covered with old and ratty posters for events and people long gone and long dead, and in the back was a single entryway into a storage or workroom. Also, and this is what drew my attention, there was a small glass display case behind the front desk with several green orbs held within its once translucent, now slightly grubby embrace.
It was from the backroom that a crash could be heard, along with many muffled curses. After a moment of silence the door opened and out stumbled a young man with the tired look on his face of a person who wants to do more with their life but knows that they'll never get the chance.
"How can I help you," he said, brushing some dust off his jacket.
"I was wondering what you sold here," I replied. The man got a curious look on his face, but answered anyway.
"We sell Materia here…sir," he replied, "It says so on the sign."
"Yes…umm…" I said, "but what I was wondering was…" I suddenly realized how ridiculous I looked asking a question that was probably more absurd than my inquiry as to what city I was in.
"Never mind," I said. I racked my brain for some excuse for my bizarre behavior and could only come up with one, "I had a rough night."
The man nodded his head as the same relived look that I had seen on the boy spread over his features.
'Just another drunk,' I could practically hear him thinking.
I left the shop with what I could salvage of my dignity, and tried to find another angle with which to complete my plan.
Materia…what was Materia when the name seemed so familiar to me? It was on the tip of my tongue really, just waiting to jump out. As I walked I tried as hard as I could to break through the fog surrounding my memories, with little luck, but it was as I pulled out of my thoughts that I noticed that I was not only back in my tunnel, but tearing the mattress off the floor like I was possessed by something. Indeed, when I tried to move I found it extremely difficult, like someone…or something, was controlling me as easily as one might pull the strings on a puppet. Since it appeared that I could do little to stop myself, I gave up trying, and instead watched as my hands reached for a place beneath the mattress and peeled off a metal plate as easily as one might peel an orange. My left hand went in and came back up with a small wooden box, obviously handmade by someone who didn't know how to handmake things.
The strange presence that had possessed me for a moment now had disappeared, and I was left to gasp on the ground, clutching the poorly made package till my knuckles turned white.
It had certainly been a disconcerting experience all in all. My hands were sweaty, my limbs shaky, and my head aching. My whole body felt sort of empty with the strange presence gone, and yet, something in it had reminded me of the void like you might recognize a person from the echo of their voice. The thought made me shiver, but I swallowed my fear and slid my back into the curve of the tunnel so as to rest for a moment before opening the box that someone…perhaps I, had built.
Whatever it was that had controlled me was obviously gone, but I decided that whatever it was, I didn't want it coming back. So, as I lay in my tunnel…hmmm, I was still referring to it as MY tunnel…heaving and gasping for breath, I thought of how I might better prepare myself for such an attack in the future. However, there was still a voice in the back of my head that wanted to know why I didn't like this new presence. Whatever it was that I was holding, it had helped me find, and since Aeris had said that she'd hidden my things, I could only assume that it was mine. 'Perhaps this strange presence was only trying to help,' said the little voice, 'perhaps it was Aeris trying to help you.' It was strange enough being talked to by a ghost, truth be told I had no idea what Aeris was truly capable of, but I knew in the bottom of my heart that whatever had possessed me had nothing to do with Aeris. And of course, there was still that feeling of the void, not all around me, but inside me, like it had replaced my soul and left nothing but faint reverberations, warning me as to the nature of my puppet master's true…if not identity then at least character.
In the end I figured that there was nothing that I could do to stop such an attack, except to be vigilant and strong in the mind. I could always be vigilant, but becoming stronger in the mind would require some work, and, I joked to myself, perhaps some serious mental therapy.
I was still sitting there in the tunnel with the package still unopened, when I noticed a face peeking around the corner of the tunnel mouth. As I watched out of the corner of my eye several new stalkers showed themselves. For a moment I was preparing myself for a fight when I realized that the silent watchers were only the kids I'd seen from the other day. I could even recognize the boy that gave me directions. There were some whispered warnings not to get too close, and some jokes made at my expense that I am willing to overlook only because they were made by children who didn't know better…or that I was listening in.
I sighed, and the sound must have scared them because instantly the heads and the whispering voices disappeared and I was left alone once more. With the kids gone my attention once again focused on the box, which, with much caution, I opened.
Rolling around in the wooden case were five small round orbs, four of which were green like the ones I saw in the store, the last one was a strange blue color. It hit me then as memories came rushing in and out again in a torrent of forgotten recollections before I could I could make sense of any of them. But now I knew what Materia was, the colored orbs were Materia, these were my Materia, I could remember that much, but what they did…well, that was still a mystery as was where I might have come across these five pieces.
'The man in the Materia Store might be able to help me,' I thought to myself. Indeed, there were few enough people in the area who seemed able to do much more than drink themselves into a stupor, and I had been impressed with the young man in the store.
So, closing the box back up, I stood up and walked back out into the gloom that was Midgar. Finding the store again was not too difficult, by now I'd walked around enough that I'd gotten a feel for the Sector 5 slums.
The man seemed a little surprised to see me again, but this was still a business, and I was still a potential customer so he treated me to, if not a happy look, then at least a respectful one.
"Hello again sir," he said, "Is there anything that I can do for you?"
"Yes, actually," I replied. Not knowing what else to do I simply opened the box and let it drop onto the desk, the Materia plinking together as they rolled about in their wooden prison.
Instantly the young man's eyes lit up a little, "do you know what these Materia are?"
"Actually, I was hoping that you could tell me," I replied, "I'd lost them a while back you see and…"
The young man cut me off, "don't worry sir, just give me a sec." With that he reached underneath the desk and pulled out what at first looked like a gun. I braced myself, but it turned out to be little more than a Materia 'reader' of some sort or another. He ran the gun-like contraption over the Materia, a low whistle issuing from his lips.
He shook his head, "man, how the heck did you ever get Materia this powerful?...you fight in the war or something?" He laughed, "of course, you'd have to have fought in the war to get Materia this strong……sir…?"
It must have been the word 'war' that jogged the memories, like the word 'Materia'. Only this time the memories didn't come in and out like a tidal wave that I could discern bits and pieces of…this time I was stuck in my own mind, in my own memories…
There was an explosion over my head, dirt and sand flew in my eyes, and smoke covered the sky, blotting out the sun, turning it into a giant red glob in a sickly orange atmosphere. Machine gun fire was coming from all directions, dropping hot lead on our position like raindrops. I could see dead comrades lying around me, some riddled with bullets, others were scorched beyond recognition, and others lay bleeding from large slashes that could have only been delivered by…swords? At that moment a huge ball of fire smashed into the earthen wall to our trench, just barely missing me. It was followed up by an icy blast that left the rim of our pathetic little trench frozen solid. 'They're charging again!' shouted someone down the lines. Instantly the adrenaline was coursing through my body. With a battle cry on my lips I leapt out and away from our defenses, followed by a disheartened few. Before us the enemy were attacking. They were dressed like ninjas in black garb with a black veil covering their faces. Each had a long curved sword…a katana, if I remembered the name correctly, along with a machine gun, side arm, and a multitude of interesting and no doubt deadly bladed, and pointed, weapons stuck in their belts and tied to arms and legs. They let loose no war call, only surged foreword like a horde of the undead, silent and deadly as death itself. Yet, I'd been trained just for this; I could feel it in the very marrow of my bones. All those years spent in Battle Academy, the SOLDIER training that had weeded out the weak from the strong, and of course all the battles before this had hardened me…prepared me for just this moment, when I could show my true power.
Wutai had taken a lot of ground near the start of the war; only with Shrina was Midgar's army able to stop the advancing ninja hordes. Not only had we stopped them, but we were pushing them back. We'd driven them back all the way to the gates of their pagoda topped capital. However, they'd made us pay with blood for every step we took, and by the time we'd finally reached the city of Wutai, to say that our forces had been severely depleted would be an understatement. It would be days before reinforcements arrived, and if the enemy was allowed to break through the lines now they might have the chance of turning the whole war around…and death would be the only solace any of us would find.
Now the enemy was upon us, throwing themselves into the fray in suicidal attacks that marked either commendable bravery or pitiable stupidity…I had never decided which. The first masked face was bearing down on me, the glinting slanting eyes the only piece of evidence marking this being as a man and not some otherworldly wraith. He had his sword out, the metal shining in the light of a dying sun, but I had a sword too, and now I brought the huge blade to bear, somewhat to the surprise of my enemy…they always expected us to us our guns till the very end. The fact was that our troops overwhelmingly favored their guns in battle, a tactic that the enemy had used to their advantage by bringing every fight right to our trenches. Hundreds, even thousands of their men would die in these massed suicide attacks, but when the battle was over our own forces would always find themselves far more damaged then they'd ever expected. My huge SOLDIER 1st Class-type broadsword swung foreword, tolling off the blade of the other man like the pealing of cathedral bells. I felt myself drifting into my zone, where I was the strongest and fastest human alive…where I knew this fact with such conviction that it was very much like a physical force. The enemy was moving so very slowly before my eyes, and it was so very easy to knock aside his reprisal, only to swing around and end his suffering with a swift jab into his unprotected abdomen. The man fell to the ground, slowly gasping out his last, when a group of his friends decided to come to his aid. I had my Gravity Materia linked to my All Materia, and it was a simple thing to cast the massive black orb of pure gravitational force against the charging foes. The blow stopped them in their tracks, a few tried to heal, but they were too late to stop me from using my Contain Materia to blow them away with Flare. Suddenly a flash of light lit up in the corner of my eye with a 'pop pop pop' accompanying it. I felt darkness ready to overwhelm me as I realized I'd been hit dead on with heavy machine gun fire, but I quickly activated my Restore Materia and cast a Cure3 on myself followed up with Regen, just to keep me going in the heat of battle. I then used Break on the machine gun emplacement, leaving its gunners frozen stiff in the grip of hard cold stone. Finishing up with a strong Wall spell, I threw myself into battle once again with an utter abandon that made even the fanatical Wutai warriors step back in what might have been surprise…or perhaps respect.
In the end, though, we were horribly outnumbered, outgunned, and in most cases, outskilled. I was running desperately low on energy, to the point where I knew I wouldn't be able to cast anything more than a simple Cure spell. Many of the few remaining soldiers were dead, and now the enemy could focus on the few of us who still survived. It was then, when I was sure that I had finally met the end, and that this battle ground would be the place where I gave my life in the protection of my family and friends, that a shadow passed over the plain.
It was a man dressed in black, wielding an insanely long and wickedly-curved blade that I knew the name of only too well, Masamune. And there was only one man who could wield Masamune, Sephiroth…the great Sephiroth had come. How he ever made it to the battle so quickly I never did find out, but he saved my life as the waves of enemy soldiers hesitated and then actually drew back for fear of this man dressed in black and bearing long-handed death in his leather clad fist. While the enemy reeled and tried to turn itself around for a counter attack, I found a single Turbo Ether lying on the ground like a gift from the heavens, probably having once belonged to one of the bodies laying about around me. Drinking from it deeply, I could feel its cool rejuvenating effects taking place even as the ninja hordes turned themselves around for one last assault…one last stand against the indomitable Shinra Army. It had been in that battle that my weapon broke, shattering after being struck with a powerful Bolt3 spell. In the end we'd won though, Sephiroth's very presence enough to stir our ragged forces into a battle frenzy. By the time his troops arrived the battle was almost over, and much of the city in ruins. The leader of Wutai himself came out to present his sword to Sephiroth, our general treating this enemy commander with a surprising amount of respect. Then there was the trip home…my new sword given as a present…and the boredom…and the mission…where was it to?...funny how I couldn't seem to remember……remember what?...and then I snapped out of it…
The young man was looking a little worried as he repeated himself, "You ok sir?"
I looked up and nodded slowly, vaguely realizing that I was lying on the floor.
"Good," replied the young man, not looking at all happy.
I grappled my way back up to my feet, nearly falling over again when a searing pain rushed through my head.
"Oh yah," the young man said, pointing to my head, "you bumped that pretty good on the way down." His previous question obviously forgotten, at least for the time being, he went straight on to business. "You have here a Mastered Cure, Gravity, Contain, Barrier, and All…I mean; most SOLDIERs don't have Materia this powerful…so you must've fought in the war."
"Yah…" I replied, still a little dizzy from my fall, "I fought in the war…"
"Hmmm," said the young man as he more closely examined my Materia with a jeweler's eyeglass. "My old man fought in the war, talked about it all the time like it was some sort of badge of respect or sumthin…anyway, he quit that when he died."
Some of the memories had drifted back behind the shroud of uncertainty, but most of my vision of the battle remained intact. I could remember the almost palpable fear, the sweat, the blood, and I had to wonder to myself, why would anyone WANT to brag about something like that. I had no answer, so I turned my attention back to the shopkeeper.
"Listen," the young man said, "This Mastered All is about as rare as Materia comes. It says in my Materia Monthly Magazine that one of these can go for millions of dollars. Now," he continued, "my old man left me some gil, and I've always had a good business, so I'll offer you 1.5 million gil for that All Materia. I figure I can probably sell it in a Wall Market auction for triple that price…whadda'ya say?"
I didn't answer right away; instead I checked the young man's eyes to see if he might be cheating me in some way, but 1.5 million gil sure sounded like a fair price to me…and he certainly seemed to be sincere in his offer. So, coming to my final decision, I picked the All Materia out of the young man's hand and set it on the table.
"Its yours," I said, and watched his eyes light up. This young shopkeeper looked like he might want to do more with his life, but somehow I knew that Materia was his true passion…and the young man must have felt like I was giving him the Holy Grail or something because he briskly shook my hand, gave me my gil, and smiled for the first time as he led me out the door, thanking me all the way.
As I walked down the street I realized that I actually felt good about helping the young man…it was then that I realized that I still had no idea where the Shinra HQ was or how I was ever going to get there. I rushed back to the Materia Shop and found the young man busily scribbling out some figures on a piece of ruffled paper, the All Materia was nowhere in sight.
"Oh," started the young man, looking a little startled, "do you need anything else?"
"I was just wondering if you knew how to get to the Shinra headquarters," I said quickly, allaying his fears that I'd come back to reclaim his prize.
"Ohhh…" he laughed nervously and sighed with relief. "Yah," he said, "that's on the top plate, biggest building you ever saw, but you can't get to it anymore."
"Why?" I asked.
The young man furrowed his brow, "you aren't from around here are you?"
Clearing my throat I tried to answer truthfully, "no…no I suppose you could say that I'm not."
"Hey!" the young man exclaimed, "You're the guy from the tunnel! Aeris went there nearly every day…well it looks like you're better now, and if Aeris cared about you that much I figure you can't be a bad guy…"
He left off, realizing that I was still waiting for him to answer his original question.
He coughed and continued, "you can't get up to the top plate anymore cause the only train station we were connected to was destroyed when Sector 7 collapsed."
"Collapsed," I said, feeling confused, "wouldn't that kill a lot of people."
"Yes," nodded the young man, "it sure did…killed hundreds…probably thousands. Shinra blamed it on AVALANCHE, but you can't really trust Shinra. Not that it matters, until they reroute the train tracks we're all stuck in this hellhole whether we like it or not."
"Well," I replied, putting my hands out in front of me in my best attempt to sound hypothetical, "if someone wanted to get to this Sector 7, which way would one go?"
"Oh, you'd go off down the side road over in that direction," replied the young man pointing off through the wall of his store. "But," he went on, "the gate's completely stopped up with debris, and even if you wanted to try to get through, you'd need more than good Materia."
"Like what?" I replied.
"Like a real weapon, and some supplies, but like I said the whole ways blocked up."
The young man went back to work and I felt that it was time that I left, so, I walked out of the store and prepared to begin yet another part of my journey…the quest for a weapon. Luckily, I remembered the old RV with the advertisement for weapons, and figured that if I was going to find anything useful it would probably be in there.
It did not take me long to find the shop, its strange design alone enough to endure it to the mind of a passerby. It looked exactly the same as the other day, rundown and dirty, just like everything else in the town, and as far as I had seen, Midgar itself. Upon walking in I soon realized that the inside was as grungy and unkempt as the outside, and my confidence in finding anything of value in this place was flagging fast. The shopkeeper himself was a huge fat man with small pig-like eyes, sitting at one end of the RV's cabin surrounded by junk and scrap metal with a desk in front of him covering part of his wide girth, while crumbs and stains covered his very wide shirt. His jowls were puffy with fat, and covered in about a day's growth of gray stubble. His short tussled hair was the same color as his wanna-be beard. What must have been a business partner was sitting at the other end of the vehicle, but looking disinterested with life altogether. Given the choice, I went for the fat man.
"Excuse me," I said, "I'm looking for weapons."
"Ah," the fat man replied, stirred from his reverie by my senseless intrusion. "Of course," he went on, wiping some of the crumbs off his barrel stomach. "Everyone needs a weapon right?"
"Yes…" I said cautiously, "I suppose they might…"
"Then you'd better get one here!" exclaimed the fat man, "We've got lots of grenades…lots of grenades, just got a shipment in yesterday. And Iron Bangles too, but I see you already have one sir." I looked at my arm, and there indeed was an iron armband with several…what were they again…Materia Slots, that was it!...funny how I'd never noticed it before. I turned my attention back to the fat man.
"I need something more powerful than a handful of measly grenades," I replied.
The fat man shook his head, "no I'm sorry sir, but grenades are it…" Yet something about his body language told me that there was more than 'just grenades'.
"Come now," I said, "surely there must be something, I can pay any price you ask."
My bait almost worked, I could see the man licking his fat lips with an even fatter tongue, his little pig eyes glinting with greed. I suppose that in the end it was my shabby appearance that betrayed me; no doubt he did not think that a man dressed as I was could ever afford anything of value.
"Well…" he said, as if unable to make up his mind, "we might have something but…no…I'm sure that a man of your…caliber would not be interested in it."
"Try me," I growled as I reached across the table with lightning speed and grabbed the poor fat shopkeeper by the throat before dragging him across the table and holding him out over the open floor, his little pudgy feet kicking helplessly in midair. It was really too bad that the shopkeeper didn't know about my tenuous mental state…perhaps he might have been more careful, but now I was getting annoyed with this fat man with the piggy eyes and word games, and I intended on getting directly to the heart of the matter as quickly as possible.
"We'll try this one more time," I said as calmly as I could, "If you lie to me I will know, and then I will break your neck…understand?" He was in no position to argue, and my fingers were already digging deep into the flesh, becoming lost in the seemingly endless layers of fat. "Now," I started to ask the question again…the business partner still seemed to be in a completely different world… "Do you have anything better than grenades?" The man's face was turning blue and all he could do was nod his head, at the sign of which I dropped him onto the floor, shaking the entire RV, to huff and wheeze for breath.
He got to his feet and stumbled back over to his desk, reaching underneath the table. I prepared myself for the worst, but he was only pressing a concealed button that activated the sliding mechanism on a secret compartment hidden in the vehicle's wall.
The fat man reached inside and pulled out a long saber-like sword. It had a handguard that reached a little over half of the way down the handle, the handle itself was wrapped in a dark-blue, leather-like material. The blade was long and slightly curved like a saber, but there was also something of the Wutai blades…the katanas…in the blade as well. It was obviously a fine weapon, but I delayed reaching out for it so as to hear what the weapon shop owner had to say about it.
"This," he rasped, his throat was still sore, "is a state-of-the-art prototype weapon being developed at Shinra." He looked at me, as if seeking approval, which I gave him in the form of a nod. He accepted this and continued, "Its code name is 'Reaper', and it's forged with laser technology out of pure titanium-mithril alloy. It has two pairs of linked Materia Slots, and two separate Materia Slots. The entire sword was developed to take a huge amount of damage, and to survive in any environment. The blade has been sharpened using laser technology, can cut through four-inch thick steel like a hot knife through butter, and is guaranteed to never dull." He looked up again, obviously proud with himself for remembering all that. He continued, "I don't think that we need to get into a discussion on how I got my hands on one of these…or how I know so much about them, suffice it to say that I have my sources." I accepted this statement and decided to inquire as to the price.
"How much is it?" I asked.
The fat man laughed, "Sir, I'm sure that it's far out of your price range."
I smiled nastily and replied, "Try me."
He obviously remembered what had happened the last time I'd said that, and he backed away a few steps before clearing his throat. "105, 000 gil," he said, "and not a single gil less."
I casually reached into my pocket and counted out the amount I owed before his awestruck gaze. When I'd finished counting I tossed the gil onto the desk and snatched the sword out of his hands before he had time to blink. He was obviously very confused because he could only open his mouth, but no words came out. He looked at the gil lying on the desk, and then back at me, and then to my pocket where he'd seen all that other gil stashed. I decided to let him figure things out on his own and turned to walk away. At that moment something of the salesman inside of him crept out, and he shouted at me to wait.
"Before you go!" he said, "it comes with a free sheath." He tossed me a black leather and iron bound sheath with a strap that fit around my back. I strapped on the sheath and walked out of the shop, fitting my Materia into the slots all down the blade's handguard, and wondering where I was going to get some supplies.
The haze of sleep was lifting slowly; a dim light was filling my vision. The light was shining in from the entrance of my tunnel…it was strange how I'd started to refer to it as my tunnel. The idea that a person could truly own anything in that place seemed so much like pathetic optimism that I could not help but laugh to myself. With a lethargic start I pulled myself up onto two shaky legs.
My sleep had been restful; I'd slipped almost instantly into that deep dreamless place within one's mind, and yet, the memory of voices still remained in my head, like some sticky residue that you can't get out of the top of your mouth.
Emerging from my crypt, I was suddenly filled with a surge of unexpected energy as even the dim glow of the slums seemed to lift my spirits. For the first time since my awakening I realized that I was alive, and I was actually happy to be alive, even if I did plan to live out my existence for someone else. Brimming with righteous vigor I stepped out of my happy reverie in order to begin a day unmarked and unmeasured by the sun.
The first thing I needed was to find out what Shinra was and where its headquarters might be, I could play it by ear after that.
Walking around, I paid attention to the shops for the first time. There were bars and an item shop; a weapon market had taken up shop in an old abandoned RV, and one unique place which called itself a Materia Store. The word 'Materia' seemed to ring a bell somewhere in my mind, but other than that I was at a loss as to what this place might be. Curious, I walked up to the wooden door and gave it a push, it creaked all the way in, upsetting a bell someone had placed over the edge of the doorway. There was a long desk that ran from one wall to the other, the dusty walls were covered with old and ratty posters for events and people long gone and long dead, and in the back was a single entryway into a storage or workroom. Also, and this is what drew my attention, there was a small glass display case behind the front desk with several green orbs held within its once translucent, now slightly grubby embrace.
It was from the backroom that a crash could be heard, along with many muffled curses. After a moment of silence the door opened and out stumbled a young man with the tired look on his face of a person who wants to do more with their life but knows that they'll never get the chance.
"How can I help you," he said, brushing some dust off his jacket.
"I was wondering what you sold here," I replied. The man got a curious look on his face, but answered anyway.
"We sell Materia here…sir," he replied, "It says so on the sign."
"Yes…umm…" I said, "but what I was wondering was…" I suddenly realized how ridiculous I looked asking a question that was probably more absurd than my inquiry as to what city I was in.
"Never mind," I said. I racked my brain for some excuse for my bizarre behavior and could only come up with one, "I had a rough night."
The man nodded his head as the same relived look that I had seen on the boy spread over his features.
'Just another drunk,' I could practically hear him thinking.
I left the shop with what I could salvage of my dignity, and tried to find another angle with which to complete my plan.
Materia…what was Materia when the name seemed so familiar to me? It was on the tip of my tongue really, just waiting to jump out. As I walked I tried as hard as I could to break through the fog surrounding my memories, with little luck, but it was as I pulled out of my thoughts that I noticed that I was not only back in my tunnel, but tearing the mattress off the floor like I was possessed by something. Indeed, when I tried to move I found it extremely difficult, like someone…or something, was controlling me as easily as one might pull the strings on a puppet. Since it appeared that I could do little to stop myself, I gave up trying, and instead watched as my hands reached for a place beneath the mattress and peeled off a metal plate as easily as one might peel an orange. My left hand went in and came back up with a small wooden box, obviously handmade by someone who didn't know how to handmake things.
The strange presence that had possessed me for a moment now had disappeared, and I was left to gasp on the ground, clutching the poorly made package till my knuckles turned white.
It had certainly been a disconcerting experience all in all. My hands were sweaty, my limbs shaky, and my head aching. My whole body felt sort of empty with the strange presence gone, and yet, something in it had reminded me of the void like you might recognize a person from the echo of their voice. The thought made me shiver, but I swallowed my fear and slid my back into the curve of the tunnel so as to rest for a moment before opening the box that someone…perhaps I, had built.
Whatever it was that had controlled me was obviously gone, but I decided that whatever it was, I didn't want it coming back. So, as I lay in my tunnel…hmmm, I was still referring to it as MY tunnel…heaving and gasping for breath, I thought of how I might better prepare myself for such an attack in the future. However, there was still a voice in the back of my head that wanted to know why I didn't like this new presence. Whatever it was that I was holding, it had helped me find, and since Aeris had said that she'd hidden my things, I could only assume that it was mine. 'Perhaps this strange presence was only trying to help,' said the little voice, 'perhaps it was Aeris trying to help you.' It was strange enough being talked to by a ghost, truth be told I had no idea what Aeris was truly capable of, but I knew in the bottom of my heart that whatever had possessed me had nothing to do with Aeris. And of course, there was still that feeling of the void, not all around me, but inside me, like it had replaced my soul and left nothing but faint reverberations, warning me as to the nature of my puppet master's true…if not identity then at least character.
In the end I figured that there was nothing that I could do to stop such an attack, except to be vigilant and strong in the mind. I could always be vigilant, but becoming stronger in the mind would require some work, and, I joked to myself, perhaps some serious mental therapy.
I was still sitting there in the tunnel with the package still unopened, when I noticed a face peeking around the corner of the tunnel mouth. As I watched out of the corner of my eye several new stalkers showed themselves. For a moment I was preparing myself for a fight when I realized that the silent watchers were only the kids I'd seen from the other day. I could even recognize the boy that gave me directions. There were some whispered warnings not to get too close, and some jokes made at my expense that I am willing to overlook only because they were made by children who didn't know better…or that I was listening in.
I sighed, and the sound must have scared them because instantly the heads and the whispering voices disappeared and I was left alone once more. With the kids gone my attention once again focused on the box, which, with much caution, I opened.
Rolling around in the wooden case were five small round orbs, four of which were green like the ones I saw in the store, the last one was a strange blue color. It hit me then as memories came rushing in and out again in a torrent of forgotten recollections before I could I could make sense of any of them. But now I knew what Materia was, the colored orbs were Materia, these were my Materia, I could remember that much, but what they did…well, that was still a mystery as was where I might have come across these five pieces.
'The man in the Materia Store might be able to help me,' I thought to myself. Indeed, there were few enough people in the area who seemed able to do much more than drink themselves into a stupor, and I had been impressed with the young man in the store.
So, closing the box back up, I stood up and walked back out into the gloom that was Midgar. Finding the store again was not too difficult, by now I'd walked around enough that I'd gotten a feel for the Sector 5 slums.
The man seemed a little surprised to see me again, but this was still a business, and I was still a potential customer so he treated me to, if not a happy look, then at least a respectful one.
"Hello again sir," he said, "Is there anything that I can do for you?"
"Yes, actually," I replied. Not knowing what else to do I simply opened the box and let it drop onto the desk, the Materia plinking together as they rolled about in their wooden prison.
Instantly the young man's eyes lit up a little, "do you know what these Materia are?"
"Actually, I was hoping that you could tell me," I replied, "I'd lost them a while back you see and…"
The young man cut me off, "don't worry sir, just give me a sec." With that he reached underneath the desk and pulled out what at first looked like a gun. I braced myself, but it turned out to be little more than a Materia 'reader' of some sort or another. He ran the gun-like contraption over the Materia, a low whistle issuing from his lips.
He shook his head, "man, how the heck did you ever get Materia this powerful?...you fight in the war or something?" He laughed, "of course, you'd have to have fought in the war to get Materia this strong……sir…?"
It must have been the word 'war' that jogged the memories, like the word 'Materia'. Only this time the memories didn't come in and out like a tidal wave that I could discern bits and pieces of…this time I was stuck in my own mind, in my own memories…
There was an explosion over my head, dirt and sand flew in my eyes, and smoke covered the sky, blotting out the sun, turning it into a giant red glob in a sickly orange atmosphere. Machine gun fire was coming from all directions, dropping hot lead on our position like raindrops. I could see dead comrades lying around me, some riddled with bullets, others were scorched beyond recognition, and others lay bleeding from large slashes that could have only been delivered by…swords? At that moment a huge ball of fire smashed into the earthen wall to our trench, just barely missing me. It was followed up by an icy blast that left the rim of our pathetic little trench frozen solid. 'They're charging again!' shouted someone down the lines. Instantly the adrenaline was coursing through my body. With a battle cry on my lips I leapt out and away from our defenses, followed by a disheartened few. Before us the enemy were attacking. They were dressed like ninjas in black garb with a black veil covering their faces. Each had a long curved sword…a katana, if I remembered the name correctly, along with a machine gun, side arm, and a multitude of interesting and no doubt deadly bladed, and pointed, weapons stuck in their belts and tied to arms and legs. They let loose no war call, only surged foreword like a horde of the undead, silent and deadly as death itself. Yet, I'd been trained just for this; I could feel it in the very marrow of my bones. All those years spent in Battle Academy, the SOLDIER training that had weeded out the weak from the strong, and of course all the battles before this had hardened me…prepared me for just this moment, when I could show my true power.
Wutai had taken a lot of ground near the start of the war; only with Shrina was Midgar's army able to stop the advancing ninja hordes. Not only had we stopped them, but we were pushing them back. We'd driven them back all the way to the gates of their pagoda topped capital. However, they'd made us pay with blood for every step we took, and by the time we'd finally reached the city of Wutai, to say that our forces had been severely depleted would be an understatement. It would be days before reinforcements arrived, and if the enemy was allowed to break through the lines now they might have the chance of turning the whole war around…and death would be the only solace any of us would find.
Now the enemy was upon us, throwing themselves into the fray in suicidal attacks that marked either commendable bravery or pitiable stupidity…I had never decided which. The first masked face was bearing down on me, the glinting slanting eyes the only piece of evidence marking this being as a man and not some otherworldly wraith. He had his sword out, the metal shining in the light of a dying sun, but I had a sword too, and now I brought the huge blade to bear, somewhat to the surprise of my enemy…they always expected us to us our guns till the very end. The fact was that our troops overwhelmingly favored their guns in battle, a tactic that the enemy had used to their advantage by bringing every fight right to our trenches. Hundreds, even thousands of their men would die in these massed suicide attacks, but when the battle was over our own forces would always find themselves far more damaged then they'd ever expected. My huge SOLDIER 1st Class-type broadsword swung foreword, tolling off the blade of the other man like the pealing of cathedral bells. I felt myself drifting into my zone, where I was the strongest and fastest human alive…where I knew this fact with such conviction that it was very much like a physical force. The enemy was moving so very slowly before my eyes, and it was so very easy to knock aside his reprisal, only to swing around and end his suffering with a swift jab into his unprotected abdomen. The man fell to the ground, slowly gasping out his last, when a group of his friends decided to come to his aid. I had my Gravity Materia linked to my All Materia, and it was a simple thing to cast the massive black orb of pure gravitational force against the charging foes. The blow stopped them in their tracks, a few tried to heal, but they were too late to stop me from using my Contain Materia to blow them away with Flare. Suddenly a flash of light lit up in the corner of my eye with a 'pop pop pop' accompanying it. I felt darkness ready to overwhelm me as I realized I'd been hit dead on with heavy machine gun fire, but I quickly activated my Restore Materia and cast a Cure3 on myself followed up with Regen, just to keep me going in the heat of battle. I then used Break on the machine gun emplacement, leaving its gunners frozen stiff in the grip of hard cold stone. Finishing up with a strong Wall spell, I threw myself into battle once again with an utter abandon that made even the fanatical Wutai warriors step back in what might have been surprise…or perhaps respect.
In the end, though, we were horribly outnumbered, outgunned, and in most cases, outskilled. I was running desperately low on energy, to the point where I knew I wouldn't be able to cast anything more than a simple Cure spell. Many of the few remaining soldiers were dead, and now the enemy could focus on the few of us who still survived. It was then, when I was sure that I had finally met the end, and that this battle ground would be the place where I gave my life in the protection of my family and friends, that a shadow passed over the plain.
It was a man dressed in black, wielding an insanely long and wickedly-curved blade that I knew the name of only too well, Masamune. And there was only one man who could wield Masamune, Sephiroth…the great Sephiroth had come. How he ever made it to the battle so quickly I never did find out, but he saved my life as the waves of enemy soldiers hesitated and then actually drew back for fear of this man dressed in black and bearing long-handed death in his leather clad fist. While the enemy reeled and tried to turn itself around for a counter attack, I found a single Turbo Ether lying on the ground like a gift from the heavens, probably having once belonged to one of the bodies laying about around me. Drinking from it deeply, I could feel its cool rejuvenating effects taking place even as the ninja hordes turned themselves around for one last assault…one last stand against the indomitable Shinra Army. It had been in that battle that my weapon broke, shattering after being struck with a powerful Bolt3 spell. In the end we'd won though, Sephiroth's very presence enough to stir our ragged forces into a battle frenzy. By the time his troops arrived the battle was almost over, and much of the city in ruins. The leader of Wutai himself came out to present his sword to Sephiroth, our general treating this enemy commander with a surprising amount of respect. Then there was the trip home…my new sword given as a present…and the boredom…and the mission…where was it to?...funny how I couldn't seem to remember……remember what?...and then I snapped out of it…
The young man was looking a little worried as he repeated himself, "You ok sir?"
I looked up and nodded slowly, vaguely realizing that I was lying on the floor.
"Good," replied the young man, not looking at all happy.
I grappled my way back up to my feet, nearly falling over again when a searing pain rushed through my head.
"Oh yah," the young man said, pointing to my head, "you bumped that pretty good on the way down." His previous question obviously forgotten, at least for the time being, he went straight on to business. "You have here a Mastered Cure, Gravity, Contain, Barrier, and All…I mean; most SOLDIERs don't have Materia this powerful…so you must've fought in the war."
"Yah…" I replied, still a little dizzy from my fall, "I fought in the war…"
"Hmmm," said the young man as he more closely examined my Materia with a jeweler's eyeglass. "My old man fought in the war, talked about it all the time like it was some sort of badge of respect or sumthin…anyway, he quit that when he died."
Some of the memories had drifted back behind the shroud of uncertainty, but most of my vision of the battle remained intact. I could remember the almost palpable fear, the sweat, the blood, and I had to wonder to myself, why would anyone WANT to brag about something like that. I had no answer, so I turned my attention back to the shopkeeper.
"Listen," the young man said, "This Mastered All is about as rare as Materia comes. It says in my Materia Monthly Magazine that one of these can go for millions of dollars. Now," he continued, "my old man left me some gil, and I've always had a good business, so I'll offer you 1.5 million gil for that All Materia. I figure I can probably sell it in a Wall Market auction for triple that price…whadda'ya say?"
I didn't answer right away; instead I checked the young man's eyes to see if he might be cheating me in some way, but 1.5 million gil sure sounded like a fair price to me…and he certainly seemed to be sincere in his offer. So, coming to my final decision, I picked the All Materia out of the young man's hand and set it on the table.
"Its yours," I said, and watched his eyes light up. This young shopkeeper looked like he might want to do more with his life, but somehow I knew that Materia was his true passion…and the young man must have felt like I was giving him the Holy Grail or something because he briskly shook my hand, gave me my gil, and smiled for the first time as he led me out the door, thanking me all the way.
As I walked down the street I realized that I actually felt good about helping the young man…it was then that I realized that I still had no idea where the Shinra HQ was or how I was ever going to get there. I rushed back to the Materia Shop and found the young man busily scribbling out some figures on a piece of ruffled paper, the All Materia was nowhere in sight.
"Oh," started the young man, looking a little startled, "do you need anything else?"
"I was just wondering if you knew how to get to the Shinra headquarters," I said quickly, allaying his fears that I'd come back to reclaim his prize.
"Ohhh…" he laughed nervously and sighed with relief. "Yah," he said, "that's on the top plate, biggest building you ever saw, but you can't get to it anymore."
"Why?" I asked.
The young man furrowed his brow, "you aren't from around here are you?"
Clearing my throat I tried to answer truthfully, "no…no I suppose you could say that I'm not."
"Hey!" the young man exclaimed, "You're the guy from the tunnel! Aeris went there nearly every day…well it looks like you're better now, and if Aeris cared about you that much I figure you can't be a bad guy…"
He left off, realizing that I was still waiting for him to answer his original question.
He coughed and continued, "you can't get up to the top plate anymore cause the only train station we were connected to was destroyed when Sector 7 collapsed."
"Collapsed," I said, feeling confused, "wouldn't that kill a lot of people."
"Yes," nodded the young man, "it sure did…killed hundreds…probably thousands. Shinra blamed it on AVALANCHE, but you can't really trust Shinra. Not that it matters, until they reroute the train tracks we're all stuck in this hellhole whether we like it or not."
"Well," I replied, putting my hands out in front of me in my best attempt to sound hypothetical, "if someone wanted to get to this Sector 7, which way would one go?"
"Oh, you'd go off down the side road over in that direction," replied the young man pointing off through the wall of his store. "But," he went on, "the gate's completely stopped up with debris, and even if you wanted to try to get through, you'd need more than good Materia."
"Like what?" I replied.
"Like a real weapon, and some supplies, but like I said the whole ways blocked up."
The young man went back to work and I felt that it was time that I left, so, I walked out of the store and prepared to begin yet another part of my journey…the quest for a weapon. Luckily, I remembered the old RV with the advertisement for weapons, and figured that if I was going to find anything useful it would probably be in there.
It did not take me long to find the shop, its strange design alone enough to endure it to the mind of a passerby. It looked exactly the same as the other day, rundown and dirty, just like everything else in the town, and as far as I had seen, Midgar itself. Upon walking in I soon realized that the inside was as grungy and unkempt as the outside, and my confidence in finding anything of value in this place was flagging fast. The shopkeeper himself was a huge fat man with small pig-like eyes, sitting at one end of the RV's cabin surrounded by junk and scrap metal with a desk in front of him covering part of his wide girth, while crumbs and stains covered his very wide shirt. His jowls were puffy with fat, and covered in about a day's growth of gray stubble. His short tussled hair was the same color as his wanna-be beard. What must have been a business partner was sitting at the other end of the vehicle, but looking disinterested with life altogether. Given the choice, I went for the fat man.
"Excuse me," I said, "I'm looking for weapons."
"Ah," the fat man replied, stirred from his reverie by my senseless intrusion. "Of course," he went on, wiping some of the crumbs off his barrel stomach. "Everyone needs a weapon right?"
"Yes…" I said cautiously, "I suppose they might…"
"Then you'd better get one here!" exclaimed the fat man, "We've got lots of grenades…lots of grenades, just got a shipment in yesterday. And Iron Bangles too, but I see you already have one sir." I looked at my arm, and there indeed was an iron armband with several…what were they again…Materia Slots, that was it!...funny how I'd never noticed it before. I turned my attention back to the fat man.
"I need something more powerful than a handful of measly grenades," I replied.
The fat man shook his head, "no I'm sorry sir, but grenades are it…" Yet something about his body language told me that there was more than 'just grenades'.
"Come now," I said, "surely there must be something, I can pay any price you ask."
My bait almost worked, I could see the man licking his fat lips with an even fatter tongue, his little pig eyes glinting with greed. I suppose that in the end it was my shabby appearance that betrayed me; no doubt he did not think that a man dressed as I was could ever afford anything of value.
"Well…" he said, as if unable to make up his mind, "we might have something but…no…I'm sure that a man of your…caliber would not be interested in it."
"Try me," I growled as I reached across the table with lightning speed and grabbed the poor fat shopkeeper by the throat before dragging him across the table and holding him out over the open floor, his little pudgy feet kicking helplessly in midair. It was really too bad that the shopkeeper didn't know about my tenuous mental state…perhaps he might have been more careful, but now I was getting annoyed with this fat man with the piggy eyes and word games, and I intended on getting directly to the heart of the matter as quickly as possible.
"We'll try this one more time," I said as calmly as I could, "If you lie to me I will know, and then I will break your neck…understand?" He was in no position to argue, and my fingers were already digging deep into the flesh, becoming lost in the seemingly endless layers of fat. "Now," I started to ask the question again…the business partner still seemed to be in a completely different world… "Do you have anything better than grenades?" The man's face was turning blue and all he could do was nod his head, at the sign of which I dropped him onto the floor, shaking the entire RV, to huff and wheeze for breath.
He got to his feet and stumbled back over to his desk, reaching underneath the table. I prepared myself for the worst, but he was only pressing a concealed button that activated the sliding mechanism on a secret compartment hidden in the vehicle's wall.
The fat man reached inside and pulled out a long saber-like sword. It had a handguard that reached a little over half of the way down the handle, the handle itself was wrapped in a dark-blue, leather-like material. The blade was long and slightly curved like a saber, but there was also something of the Wutai blades…the katanas…in the blade as well. It was obviously a fine weapon, but I delayed reaching out for it so as to hear what the weapon shop owner had to say about it.
"This," he rasped, his throat was still sore, "is a state-of-the-art prototype weapon being developed at Shinra." He looked at me, as if seeking approval, which I gave him in the form of a nod. He accepted this and continued, "Its code name is 'Reaper', and it's forged with laser technology out of pure titanium-mithril alloy. It has two pairs of linked Materia Slots, and two separate Materia Slots. The entire sword was developed to take a huge amount of damage, and to survive in any environment. The blade has been sharpened using laser technology, can cut through four-inch thick steel like a hot knife through butter, and is guaranteed to never dull." He looked up again, obviously proud with himself for remembering all that. He continued, "I don't think that we need to get into a discussion on how I got my hands on one of these…or how I know so much about them, suffice it to say that I have my sources." I accepted this statement and decided to inquire as to the price.
"How much is it?" I asked.
The fat man laughed, "Sir, I'm sure that it's far out of your price range."
I smiled nastily and replied, "Try me."
He obviously remembered what had happened the last time I'd said that, and he backed away a few steps before clearing his throat. "105, 000 gil," he said, "and not a single gil less."
I casually reached into my pocket and counted out the amount I owed before his awestruck gaze. When I'd finished counting I tossed the gil onto the desk and snatched the sword out of his hands before he had time to blink. He was obviously very confused because he could only open his mouth, but no words came out. He looked at the gil lying on the desk, and then back at me, and then to my pocket where he'd seen all that other gil stashed. I decided to let him figure things out on his own and turned to walk away. At that moment something of the salesman inside of him crept out, and he shouted at me to wait.
"Before you go!" he said, "it comes with a free sheath." He tossed me a black leather and iron bound sheath with a strap that fit around my back. I strapped on the sheath and walked out of the shop, fitting my Materia into the slots all down the blade's handguard, and wondering where I was going to get some supplies.
