Chapter 7: Reasons



Caden could feel the morning sun rising, but he couldn't force himself to rise from his sleeping bag. He was too comfortable to get up, and the heavy morning air was sure to be cold. He did not have long worry about such trivial things, however. The loud cry of a chocobo's 'wark,' which sounded as if it were coming from someplace near, resonated through his ears. Caden opened his eyes to find a chocobo standing over his head, and staring down at him. "The hell!? Why is there a chocobo standing over me!" The chocobo commenced to clamp down on Caden's long white hair with its beak. "Ow! Is every chocobo I run into gonna grab my hair!?" He stood up from the ground in a fit, as the chocobo released his hair.

"No, there's only one." Caden turned around to see Tifa standing behind the chocobo. "Sorry Caden, he followed me here."

"Should have figured it was Swift." Swift 'warked.' Caden turned to face Tifa again. "Mother, what are doing out?"

"Your father called," Tifa said somberly. "He told me that you summoned Holy, and about the reactor. I agreed to meet you here yesterday, but I was tied up in Nibelhiem."

Caden looked at his disheartened mother. "Mother, it's alright, I'm fine. I really am."

An awkward silence followed. Tifa was still worried, and Caden did not now what else to say. The silence was only broken by Marlene's call to breakfast. "HEY CADEN! BRING THE MED-KIT. YOUR FATHER'S COOKING!"

Caden began to cringe as he tried to explain to Tifa. "Uh… inside joke… …Feel like tempting fate?"

Tifa felt obligated to defend her husband's cooking, despite the fact that she felt the same. "Come on, it's not... that bad." Caden gave her a strained look. "Well… your still gonna eat it, right?"

Caden shook his head a little, unsure what to say. "…Yes…" he was finally able to mutter

"So it can't be that bad. Come on, your breakfast is getting cold," Tifa said as she began to walk towards the kitchen area.

"That would be an improvement…" Caden laughed to himself, and then followed Tifa.



Caden sat back in his camp seat and stared ahead blankly after finishing his meal. Marlene waved a hand in front of his empty gaze. "Oh no, he's been poisoned!" she said in shock.

Caden broke from his gaze and looked at the surprised crowd around him. "That… was… damn fine. …First time for everything."

Marlene pointed at Caden and shook her finger. "That's it, there's the proof! Caden's delirious! He's gotta be poisoned!"

Bowden put down his plate, and shrugged his shoulders. "You know Mar, you're really overreacting. It really wasn't that bad."

Marlene turned and gazed at Bowden in awe. "Oh no, it's spreading…"

Cloud took a plate and put it down in front of Marlene. "Come on. I know it's hard to believe, but it really isn't bad. Just try it."

"O-ok…" Marlene held her nose and closed her eyes as she slowly spooned the suspected 'poison' into her mouth, and chewed. "…Not bad."

"Oh no, she's poisoned," Caden retorted sarcastically, and jokingly handed Marlene the medkit. He tried to keep from laughing while doing this.

Marlene swatted the medkit away. "Oh shut up!" Marlene shoveled more of the concoction into her mouth. "I was starvin'."

Cloud, looking like the proud chef, pointed at the mountain. "Must be the clear mountain water." The rest of the group responded to Clouds remarks with silent stares.

"So fearless leader, what do we do now?" Marlene asked, breaking the silence.

Caden leaned on the camp table. "Well we have a week before we need to report to Nibel Aerospace Command, sooooo, I want everyone to go find your own reasons for this battle. Saying that we fight for the planet is all nice and good, but it's not the only reasons. Some of us are searching for our past, some of us are out to prove ourselves, and some of us have a fascination with things going 'boom'."

Bowden looked up from the table. "Hey! I resent that! I'm a connoisseur of finer detonations."

"Yeeeeeeeeah, same thing…" Caden said while rolling his eyes. "Anyway, we all have our reasons. I want you all to go out and find them. Hold onto them, and remember them. They will give you more strength then any weapon. It will be what keeps you sane when you're surrounded by insanity. Remember this, and we will all come out alive... So were's everyone going?"

Sephiroth leaned against a rock. "Somewhere where my memories were happier and at the same time more despairing then anywhere else on the planet."

Caden turned to Bowden. "What about you Bow?"

Bowden sat up. "Junon, so I can visit the WEAPON Siege Memorial. It's the only way I've ever known my dad. In a strange way, it's always given me strength."

Caden turned again to Marlene. "Mar?"

Marlene sat on a rock behind her. "That's a stupid question, you know."

Caden smirked as he realized the myopic nature of his question. "I know, home."

Marlene pushed some of the food on her plate around. "Yeah, I have way to much to explain to Papa."

"Maybe not all that much," Cloud said as he was packing up the camp kitchen gear.

Marlene stood up in surprise and a kind of fear. "…What do you mean?"

Cloud put down a set of nested pots. "It was shortly after Meteor fell. We came to get you in Kalm. Most everyone in the town was hiding in their homes when we came. It was dark, but you weren't scared at all. Even Barret still had a cold sweat, but you were calm, smiling. You went on talking about the 'Flower Lady' saying you would be safe, and that the Lifestream was moving. We knew then you were different. That you may be an ancient. There was no way to tell then, so we never told you. We could only… watch. Wait for you to grow older."

Marlene became disheartened by Cloud's words. "Why couldn't you tell me before? Did I really have to learn by being 'slashed' by a sword?"

"We didn't have a choice," Tifa said, trying to explain. "We didn't know how many Shinra executives and higher ups were left. We were afraid for your life."

Marlene sat down as she contemplated all that had been said. "I think I understand," she said, calmer now.

Caden looked at the still rising sun. "Well, we don't have much time left. If we're going to have time to find our motivations, we better get going soon."



It was late in the day when he arrived. There was a freshly fallen snow all around him, and all he could think of was how much he hated it. "It snowed that day to," he said to himself. He wore a hood over his head, so no one would recognize him. He walked into the small city, and towards a building off of the center of town. There were a few snowboarders standing outside the tavern a few houses away, but they paid no attention to him. He walked over to the building, and entered it. He walked to the center of the room he entered, and looked around. "Nothing's changed. Forty years, and nothing's changed"

The door opened and slammed behind him. He heard the sound of blades being drawn. "Alright, turn around! Now!" a woman ordered. The man did as he was told. "Now, take off that hood!" He again complied. The woman stepped back in disbelief as she looked at the man's face. " …I thought you died… Sephiroth, is that really you." The woman lowered her weapons.

Sephiroth looked at her and began to relax. "Malina, it's me. I'm alive."

Malina put her weapons on a table and sat in a nearby seat. "But… how? Twenty-five years ago…?"

Sephiroth shook his head. "I didn't die… I just took... a long nap..." One detail still bothered Sephiroth. "Didn't you hear about what happened twenty years ago?"

Malina stared at the floor. "I didn't believe it… never wanted too." Malina looked into Sephiroth's youthful face. Malina looked up again at Sephiroth's face. "You haven't age a day! But… how? You should look much older then me."

Sephiroth ignored the jest on his age. "…It's complicated… I don't even know were to start," Sephiroth said, not all too willing to discuss his miraculous youth.

Malina relaxed in her seat. "Well start somewhere. Some of us are getting older." Sephiroth did not respond to Malina's light hearted comment. "Still the same though; no sense of humor. Even when we were kids you didn't laugh much."

Sephiroth face stayed as serious as before. "I never had much to laugh at."

"Maybe not, but you always did find the absolute worst times to laugh," Malina laughed as she said that. She soon became melancholic as new thoughts entered her mind. "…You can't age can you? It's because of the Jenova Project isn't it?"

Sephiroth look into Malina's eyes with a sudden serge of fear. "…How did you know about the Jenova Project?" he asked, afraid to know how she knew.

Malina remained stoic. "The Jenova Project was blown wide open after Shinra collapsed. The clones, SOLDIER, and you... Not too many people paid attention to it though, and no one even talked about it after about a month. I doubt too many people even remember it."

"You remembered, though," Sephiroth said as he took the seat behind him. "…Then you know about twenty years ago… You know that…"

Malina stood up and approached Sephiroth. "I knew it wasn't you."

Sephiroth did not look up at Malina, because he could not accept her response so easily. "…How could you be so sure?" Sephiroth asked, as if trying to verbally assault himself and what he knew of he time.

Malina laid her hand on Sephiroth's shoulder. "Because it's not you…" Sephiroth smiled softly, as Malina took the seat next to him. Malina looked at Sephiroth. "That's the smile I remember. The warm smile you always had around me and…"

Sephiroth continued smile, as he laid his hand on Malina's. "Professor Gast and Ifalna. You were the closest thing I ever had to a family."

"We almost were family," Malina said as she rubbed a ring on her right hand.

Sephiroth looked at the ring, the ring he gave her before leaving for Nibelheim all those many years ago. "So you still wear it… Even after all these years."

Malina looked into Sephiroth's eyes. "I always knew you were still alive, and that you would return... someday."

Sephiroth grew somber. He had never expected to see anyone he knew in an age long passed, much less Malina. Now Sephiroth was faced with leaving her once again. "…I am leaving soon... I do not know how to say it..."

Malina looked away from Sephiroth again. "It... it's still out there… and you need to fight it."

"…Yes," Sephiroth said not lifting his head.

"Before you leave, look at the first file in the video recorder. It's encrypted, but I think you know how to get around that," Malina said as she pointed to a terminal by the front door.

Sephiroth got up and walked over to a large console. After typing in the password that Professor Gast had always used, he turned around again. "What am I watching?" Sephiroth asked as he navigated through the list of unlocked files.

"I figure you need to remember what you were fighting for," Malina said as she nodded at the console in front of Sephiroth. "Just watch."

Sephiroth did so, and a screen came to life. The scene was the house he stood in, but it was decorated as if for a party or celebration. There was a woman sitting at the table across the room from the door. "It must be from just after Professor Gast and Ifalna's wedding."

Malina slowly shook her head. "Keep watching."

Sephiroth continued to watch. The door opened and in walked Professor Gast. He held the door open as a young man walked in wearing a new SOLDIER uniform. "It's me… This must be from my graduation party."

Ifalna stood up from her seat and approached Sephiroth. "Welcome back, Sephiroth."

The young Sephiroth smiled. "Thank you. It is good to be home. I just wish I could stay long, but with the standoff with Wutai is really draining the normal forces guarding Midgar. I have to leave next week."

Professor Gast moved into the middle of the room. "Well relax while you can. You have a week to rest and celebrate. SOLDIER 1st Class. It's hard enough to achieve, but fresh out of the academy, that's something."

Sephiroth rubbed his right arm. "I just wish they did not inject me with so much Mako." Sephiroth looked around the room upon realizing someone was missing, but did not find who he was searching for. "Hey, where is Malina? She was supposed to be here, right?"

Sephiroth had hardly finished speaking when a knock was heard at the door. "That must be her," Gast said as he began to open the door. Just outside the door, a 17 year old girl stood.

Once the girl saw Sephiroth, she grappled onto Sephiroth in and embrace, nearly tackling him in the process. "Sephy!"

"Woo! Hello Malina," Sephiroth said as he regained his balance.

"Here, let me get your coat, Malina," Ifalna said as she approached Malina.

Sephiroth stopped Ifalna from taking Malina's coat. "Ifalna, I can take care of this. You need to relax for once. Besides, you have enough to worry about with Aeris." Sephiroth became concerned about the level of noise from the celebration and how it would disturb the sleeping infant downstairs. "Are you sure having a party with a baby trying to rest downstairs?"

"I wouldn't worry about her. She's like her father; can sleep through anything," Ifalna said laughing lightly. She took Malina's coat anyways, and brought it downstairs. Sephiroth did not have time to object again. "Besides, you need to rest as well. Five years, and I have seen you spent all of an hour doing something for yourself," Ifalna said from halfway down the stairs

Gast tried to show Sephiroth to a chair. "Ifalna's right, you don't relax. You never have. Today is your day to relax. "

Sephiroth bowed his head to Gast. "Thank you. Everyone, thank you. There would have been no way I would have gotten as far as I have without you."

Ifalna returned to the top of the stairs while Sephiroth was opening his heart to the everyone. "Now that you are a member of SOLDIER, you will need a reliable and powerful weapon." Ifalna held a very long bladed sword in front of her; presenting it to Sephiroth. "I'm going to be busy raising Aeris… I want you to take…" the video ended suddenly.

Sephiroth held his sword's hilt as he finished Ifalna's ancient words. "…The Masamune…" He then turned around to find Malina standing before him. "Malina, how did you about…?"

"…I have a confession to make… Professor Gast asked me to make sure you never found out the truth about Jenova… He knew it would devastate to you…" Malina responded somberly. "I stumbled on it one day… He found me and made me promise… I didn't want to see you hurt… I've known for over forty years."

Sephiroth lowered his head and closed his eyes, "I understand..., but… it may have been better had I known…" Sephiroth began to walk towards the stairs, and descended them. On the lower level, he approached a closet and opened it; its ancient contents remained untouched for 40 years. He rummaged around for a minute or so until he found what he sought, a small oak box.

Malina looked intently at the box as Sephiroth ascended the stairs once again. Sephiroth opend the box to inspect its contents, four large orbs. They all glowed with a strange but warm green light. "What is this?"

Sephiroth moved the box in order to get a better angle of light. "The four orbs are ancient materia; the first materia to be held by human hands."

Malina was in a state of disbelief. Before her were the things of legends. "…The orbs of the Light Warriors, but… that's just a legend…"

Sephiroth merely smiled at Malina as he closed the box. "No, they are quite real, but the power needed to use them is greater then anything I could ever summon… It is a power that only the ancients, the Cetra could control… It cannot stay here any longer… The next protector may need it… More importantly, he may be able to wield them." Sephiroth once again grew somber. "I need to leave again… I cannot run from it, not anymore."

Malina looked away as she realized that Sephiroth was once again departing so soon after they were reunited. "…I understand. You'll come back soon, right."

Sephiroth embraced his one time faience. "I will try, my love." With that said, Sephiroth left once again into the snow.



"It's cold here, but… then again, it's always cold here," Bowden said to himself as he looked ahead of him. The streets of Junon were almost empty. It was dusk, and most stores and taverns were already closed. That day was a solemn day in the seaside metropolis. Twenty-one years ago to the day, WEAPON attacked the city. Hundreds of SOLDIERs died that day. "Why… why did you have to die…?" Bowden asked an unseen phantom, and turned to face his mother. "Mom… what was he like?"

The middle-aged woman walking with him put her arm around him. "He was very much like you. Vibrant, bright, and brave. He never let his work interfere with his life though."

"But… he left us that day alone!" Bowden outburst angrily, but he was unsure of his own emotions at the time. It was like this every time he visited this city. Surges of sadness, anger, and fear welling up in him, but unable to escape. It was a silent torment that he could never escape.

Bowden's mother tried to keep her composure, but failed to hold her feelings as grief dripped from the cracks forming in her demeanor. "…Yes… but he did so that we would live... He left to protect his family."

Bowden could feel his own heart break and began to regret his unfounded and hastily concluded accusation. "…So he was a hero…" Bowden continued to walk forward upset with himself, but reassured that his father did not die while running from his responsibilities. He was now determined to deliver the package in his hands at any cost. "Why did it attack…?" he asked silently to himself, knowing full well what WEAPON's target was.

His mother heard him, however. "It was because of that damn reactor." Her anger and rage was easily heard in her voice. "It came because it wanted to destroy the reactor... and anything built on it's creation."

Bowden thought carefully as he tried to change the subject in a way to comfort his mother without alarming her. "Mom, you know how you always said I never applied myself?" Unfortunately, he was terrible at it.

Bowden's mother looked at him accusingly, not knowing where this conversation was going but fearing its outcome non the less. "What are you getting at, Bowden?" Bowden did not immediately answer and his mother became a little frustrated. "Bowden! What the hell are you talking abou..."

"I'm going with Caden to Midgar," Bowden abruptly said, interrupting his mother. Bowden shuttered and braced, as if he were injected with a vicious poison.

Upon Bowden's reply, his mother's frustration soon turned to grave concern. She did not turn her head, but drew in and released a deep breath. "…You're leaving on some damn fool crusade with Caden?" she asked, knowing all to well the answer was yes.

Bowden looked down somberly, "I have to… Weren't you the one who said that 'destiny has a lousy sense of humor, so it should just sit its dumb ass down and pound a drink?'"

"That's not what I meant when I said that," Bowden's mother said with light laugh. However, her mood returned to what it had been before. "…It's just that… I can't lose you the way I lost your father…"

"You won't, I promise," Bowden reassured his mother, cutting right through the mask that she so carelessly tried to hide behind. "Besides, who's gonna look after Lobo if I die? He'd go nuts without me." Bowden's quirky smile did nothing to ease his mothers concern. "Don't worry, I plan on out living Mako energy."

The two continued their sojourn in silence for the moment, but returned to conversation when they passed an old storefront. Bowden's mother reminisced about a day long gone. "That store over there used to be a tavern. That's actually where I met your father," she explained while a smile crept across her face. "He just got transferred from the Mount Coral reactor, and I just came from Gongaga. I really looked like a country girl, and he really saved me from the drunks at bar. If he wasn't there, I don't know what I would've done." Bowden's mother laughed softly to herself, and began again. "He actually came up to the bar when he saw these men swarming around me, and challenged the largest biker there to a shots contest. The guy was already drunk, but he took your father up on it. The biker took two shots then threw up in the lap of his buddy. The best part was, the biker was so inebriated, he ended up paying for our meals." She began to sigh as she finished her anecdote, looking once again ahead of her. "He protected me then and refused to do otherwise until he died. You know he loved you very much."

Bowden sighed, remembering his blind and burning accusations from before, but regained himself and continued to walk forward. "Yeah, I just forget sometimes, no matter how hard I try to remember."

Bowden's mother crossed her arm and looked at a stone pillar as they approached it from the street. The top of the pillar had twenty-four simple myrthril figures, each carrying an equally simple riffle. The gray stone shimmered in the retreating light of dusk. "It's amazing how this thing seems to bring out anything and everything," she said melancholically.

Bowden continued to walk to the pillar, and put his hand on one of the many names that were engraved on it. The name he touched read Jonah Havok. "I must be because dad's here."

Bowden's mother peered off at the sea which had so cruelly taken her husband twenty-one years before. "Yeah, he is," she said when her focus returned to the pillar. Meanwhile, Bowden removed from the package he had so dutifully carried, a wreathe of olive and oak branches. Carefully taking the braided bundle of limbs, he walked to the cliff like edge of the city. Drawing in a deep breath, Bowden took the wreathe in his one hand and heaved it into the crashing surf below. When he returned to where his mother was, they both looked up at the top of the pillar just below the figures at an inscription that read, 'To those who guard us eternally.'



"Geez, I'm already bored," Marlene groaned as she fell back on the mats that she sat on.

Caden laughed as Marlene griped about a lack of entertainment. "Didn't I warn you that I was going to train this entire time?" Caden replied as he struck a sparring bag with a long wooden staff.

Marlene sat up again, ready to explain her decision. She didn't have to, but she felt compelled to anyway. "Yeah… but I thought you'd at least train with a sword. Besides, Papa's the one who I wanted to spend time with, and he's here visiting your… um…"

Caden laughed lightly, understanding Marlene's reluctance to calling Cloud and Tifa by what he had always accepted them as. "parents still works, Mar. Just the same as when I thought I was the orphan of a veteran SOLDIER."

Marlene relinquished her original perception of Caden's situation. "I know. It's just that, with everything that has happened lately." Marlene relaxed after realizing her hesitation was unfounded. "So, why aren't we in there with them?"

Caden swung the staff from his right hand over his head and grabbed it with his left had. "Nah, it's their time to catch up… Things have been so hectic lately."

Marlene looked questioningly at Caden as he continued to strike and jab the sparring bag with skill and grace. "You mean like finding out that you're something that you never thought you were."

Caden stopped his training and turned to face Marlene. "Yeah," he said very cool and casually.

Marlene was impressed with Caden's handling of the facts of his existence. Although she was a little skeptical that he could be so care free about such a serious matter. "And yet it just rolls of your back?" she asked, not fully expecting any answer.

Caden stopped his training an turned around to where Marlene was watching him. "The circumstances in which I came into existence don't matter. What does matter is that I'm here now. You've been through enough to know that. Creation is creation. I'm alive, that's what matters. Not some rusting compressor in an out dated reactor."

Marlene looked back at Caden with even more amazement. "So when did you pick up philosophy?" Marlene asked jokingly.

"What? Is that how it came out?" Caden responded, merely to play along with Marlene's jest. Caden smiled as he tried to hold back from laughing uncontrollably, but failed. He roared with laughter. It did not help Marlene hold here composure either, as she began laughing as well. They both stopped after few seconds and caught their breathes. "This would've never happened when we were young," Caden said as he sat down staff in hand.

Marlene thought back to the days of their youth. Memories of traveling between Nibel and Coral, roaming around the fields that surrounded the Strife residence, and just being a child. Then there was Caden. "No, you were a little more occupied with the chocobos."

In his usual way, Caden felt compelled to defend his youthfulness. "Hey, if you can wrestle chocobos, then do it. Anyway, it's easier than using a chocobo lure."

Marlene merely eyed Caden conspicuously at his boasting. As was Marlene's usual way of dealing with Caden's air of pride, she decided to knock him back down to human eye level. "You mean your hair."

"Yes I mean my…! Hey!" Caden responded as soon as he realized Marlene was making a joke at his expense.

Marlene chuckled innocently, even though she was robed in guilt over the jest. "Well, if the hat fits," she said, completely removing any trace of innocence in the matter.

"Ha ha HA! Always picking on my hair," Caden sarcastically replied, but smiled afterwards knowing it was all in good fun. "But seriously, we were both really quiet kids. Except when you would start braiding my hair." The accusing eye he shot at Marlene could have cut steel.

"Well... umm.... hmm... yeah, well it's just that your hair was fun to play around with," Marlene tried to say in her defense. Her mood stiffened when she contemplated what else Caden said. "Wasn't much to talk about… at least pleasantly. We both had a rough early childhood. I mean we both knew we were adopted, but… not knowing who we really were…" Marlene's despair prevented her from finishing her thought.

"Did we really have to know our past to know ourselves?" Caden asked somewhat rhetorically, but half expecting an answer.

Marlene broke from her despair and looked at Caden. "No, I guess not." Marlene paused, realizing that it happened again. "You know you just did it again."

Caden laughed lightly and smiled. "I guess I'm on a roll." He stood up again, staff in hand, and renewed his training. "You know, you were a little terror yourself. Always starting fights."

Offended, Marlene shot a petrifying gaze at Caden. "I never started them! I just... finished them. Besides, you know that a lot of people still blamed Papa for the…" Marlene stopped as she realized Caden moot point in her time line. "Oops! Forgot it was before your time."

"No, no I get what you're talking about," Caden said, reassuring Marlene that he knew enough of the time period to feign knowledge. "Anyway, you weren't too old then yourself."

Marlene shook her head to Caden's comment. "Nope."

Caden continued, in part to show Marlene that he really did know what was going on. "Doesn't even matter anymore. If it weren't for him, North Coral would probably still be a slum. What was it, sixteen years ago? The virus that spread through out the city."

Marlene sat back against the wall as she reminisced about the harsher days. "I remember the mad dash for supplies and the murders of whole families."

"No one trusted each other, but your father brought them back together… with his usual charm," Caden said as he swung his staff into the mid-section of the sparring bag.

Marlene laughed as she thought of that scene. "Never doubt that chain gun of his. It did get everyone's attention."

Caden laughed as he continued to strike the bag. "Hey, Mar, what time is it?"

Marlene looked up at the clock on the wall. Her mood soon became that of startled chocobo, as the time was past what they had planned to leave at. "Oh shit! We've gotta go, now!" Marlene yelled as she stood up and tossed Caden his coat.

"Okay, you're definitely like Barret," Caden said as he put on his coat and scabbard. Marlene responded by grabbing his hair and pulling him out of the room. "Alright, ow! I'm sorry. Ow! Ow! Ow!"