Chapter 6
The early morning sunlight seeped through the holes in the adamantine roof and fell on the closed eyes of Phillona Strife. Feeling the illumination, She opened her light blue eyes. It was the same mako blue that shone in her father, Cloud Strife's eyes. She sat up on her bed and let her long shiny brown hair fall behind her. Both the hands of the small clock on the wall stood at seven.
[Sigh...late again...]
She got herself ready and opened the door and walked outside to be greeted by the early birds of Mideel who were already getting ready to toil the day out.
"The people of Mideel had all kinds of work. Hunting, woodcutting and cultivating were some of the things that were necessary to meet the everyday necessities of people. Mideel, or the village of the life stream as some people referred to it, is located in the southern part of the world in a small, fish-shaped continent. Since Mako reactors had sucked up almost all the lifestream in the eastern and the western continents, Mideel was one of the rare places where lifestream accumulations were found. The northern continent of course is the center of the life stream. After the METEOR incident, the ice had melted, revealing the earth and making it suitable for farming activities. Hence, the northern continent, showed new flora and fauna, and greenery started to flourish, making it a great tourist attraction despite the monster-populated northern crater near it.... MAN I HATE THIS CRAP!" growled young Ricardo, seated against the wall of Phillona's cottage near her door.
"Have a geography test today, eh, Ric?" Phillona said as Ricardo scratched his blonde hair. Ricardo was the son of Cid Highwind. He was smart and active, but only at things he liked. Geography was his least favorite. Mideel blossomed with youth life, and Ricardo was just one of the many teenagers that resided at the village of Mideel.
"Hi Phillona..." Ricardo said with a smile, "I have that damn crud of a test today, and well.... this stuff here...is driving me frickin' nuts..."
"Its okay, kiddo..." Phillona replied, "Just go and write what you know..."
"Say Phillona..." Ricardo said, "Where are you going, now...?"
"Heroes' garden..."
"Oh good. In that case, can you give this to dad?" he said pulling out a small but attractive rose, "I need to go to school today or else I coulda come...Oh and Marlene wanted to give you this for her dad...too"
"Sure thing darling..." she said, taking another rose from Ricardo, "By the way, where's Marlene?"
"She went to Costa de sol with that rich guy...what's his name...uh yeah...Mike..."
"Oh...ok...See you around, Ric..." Phillona said waving goodbye. She walked to the lifestream well, the sun tickling her eyes. She looked inside the well and made sure the lifestream was still at the same level.
"Hello. Beautiful..." came a voice from behind her, "Don't worry...none of those Shin-Ra morons came last night to pilfer lifestream..."
"Oh, good morning Trex...." Phillona said, smiling at the fairly-handsome 17-year old boy, "I am off to heroes' garden...how are the chocobos?"
Trex was the professional when it came to chocobos. But more than chocobos, Trex was more in to guns. He collected them and knew every detail pertaining to them. However, most of the guns he collected seldom worked. He shrugged and gave Phillona a Gysahl green, "Choco's in the stable. Give her this and she'll latch on to ya in no time."
"Thanks..." She said, "Oh...and if any of those Shin-Ra troops come and cause trouble, the materia's in the storeroom. I am not taking any with me."
"You got it..." Trex said and went away munching on an apple.
Phillona crouched near the garden and plucked a few flowers and made a small bunch with them.
[Mom used to love daffodils...]
Having got what she wanted, Phillona hurried away to the stable to take the chocobo.
************
Phillona Strife dismounted from the chocobo and gave it a Gysahl green, "You stay here, ok? I'll be back in a few minutes..."
She walked down the slope to the depressed land where the temple of the ancients had once stood. Now, a tomb was erected there. The place was filled with green grass with a fence along its rectangular margin. In the middle was a golden plate on which was engraved,
'DESPITE THE SINKING SAND,
THEY STOOD AGAINST ALL EVIL.
THEY WENT WERE NONE DARED TO STAND,
THEY MAY BE GONE, BUT THEIR MEMORIES NEVER WILL'
She knelt down on the grass before the tomb. A row of granite stones stood with the names, Cloud Strife, Tifa Strife, Cid Highwind, Red XIII, Yuffie Kisaragi and Barret Wallace.
She placed the flowers near her father's and her mother's stone and placed the roses that Marlene and Ricardo had given her near Barret and Cid's.
[And I never got to see them.... Mom, they all tell me I look beautiful, just like you and Dad, I am supposed to have your eyes...I know you and mom only from other people's memories...not from mine as a daughter...you went away.... even before I took my first step...]
****************
"Two years after the METEOR incident, as a result of the lifestream imbalance, violent earthquakes had started to rock all the continents of the world. Tectonic devices had picked up the source of the earthquakes to be the northern crater. But no one wanted to even turn his or her head towards the northern crater. Dad and the rest of his friends were the only ones who decided to take a look. After losing the highwind in the METEOR incident, they frequently used the small airship Cid had for emergencies. Using it, Dad and everyone else went to the northern crater. Marlene...Barret's daughter was 3 years old, I was a year old and Cid's wife was pregnant with Ricardo." Phillona wrote in her diary, brushing away a small tear, as the owls hooted, signifying it was mid night.
"They neared the crater when a sudden earthquake had begun. Since they were in air, they continued to move. But when the ground deep inside the crater gave way to a fissure, the lava pressurized for 2 years shot out 100 feet in the air, melting the propellers of Dad's airship. Cid tried to land the airship near the coast of the northern continent, but it took a plummet...and crashed...into the city of the ancients...the same place where Sephiroth had killed Aeris. No one survived. Not even Dad. They found the bodies a few days later...since that fateful day, there hasn't been a single earthquake...it was as if the earthquakes were just something to call dad so nature could kill him. When this happened, Marlene and I were taken to Cosmo Canyon. Buganhagen became my father. He raised me...I didn't know anything till I was ten. He wanted me to enjoy my childhood. But the truth always lands...the day when Buganhagen breathed his last, he told me everything. He smiled, seconds before he closed his eyes and told me, 'you will do great things...my girl...' and then, he gave me a phoenix pendant and died. He had taken care of Marlene and me for a decade. Ricardo was raised in rocket town and later sent to Mideel because of the City's polluted atmosphere. Marlene and I came to Mideel through friends of Buganhagen. We grew up into what we are now. We didn't have much to do. Until one day...we decided we needed to protect Mideel from the reincarnated Shin-Ra..."
Phillona's hand was aching. She had lost her old diary. So she made a new one and wrote most of the things the first one had again. The diary was the only thing on which Phillona let her feelings materialize. The true feelings of loneliness and sorrow of having no one to lean on were only on her diary. Besides that, outside she was her cheerful, bubbly self the world knew her to be. She drank a glass of water and returned to her bed and continued to write on her diary.
"After the METEOR incident, Shin-Ra had fallen and was as good as ashes. But even ashes had the reputation to give life. To start with, people were happy there was no more an evil corporation in the form of Shin-Ra. Satisfied with independent towns and cities scattered through out the world, people went on with life. But not for long, they began to feel the world was too big a place, and they felt things would surely go haywire if everyone did as they pleased. The crime rate had already reached its height. So...they decided there would be Shin-Ra the second...but this time...it would be 'for the people, of the people, by the people'...those fools didn't realize the first Shin-Ra started on the same foundation too. This time, they adopted the age-old Magitek technique to 'protect' and 'promote'. Thus, Shin-Ra was reincarnated, as a goody two-shoes organization. Shin-Ra, over the years, earned everyone's trust and confidence. They used Magitek, harnessing magic to do 'good', and received respect and admiration all over the world. They built new cities, new towns, channelised rivers, everything a citizen of the world could possibly want, they even bought the gold saucer and cut down the prices. But fruits of corruption are the fastest to blossom. Deep Under the desert region, an empire was growing. Magitek armory, weapons, and all forms of destruction personified. Shin-Ra headquarters was re-built; all information was recovered from the database of the first Shin-Ra including mako energy, harnessing the lifestream's powers. They combined mako and Magitek and soon, Makotech was born. Total madness. All this was going on underground. Shin-Ra's control over the world strengthened but resistance organizations found out the truth. They managed to free the northern continent and the southern continent from Shin-Ra, both being supreme sources for mako energy. The northern continent gave birth to it's own government, which refused to align with Shin-Ra because top officials in that government knew what was going on under Shin-Ra's rainbow skin. The mako center in the northern continent was the northern crater. As for the southern continent, there were too little people to start a government. Shin-Ra had already managed to occupy the borders of the southern continent but the mako center was Mideel. So every week, Shin-Ra troops constantly ran around Mideel, trying to infiltrate it and take control. They even tried to steal some lifestream from the well for their research purpose. So we have been protecting Mideel for the past two years. Me, Trex, Marlene and a few other people as well. We have some materia and it has been helping us so far...But Shin-Ra's getting sick of not using powerful force...they are about to reach the limit of doing anything to grab Mideel. We can't hold out much longer...we are going to need help.... from anywhere...from any world...."
Phillona closed her diary when there was a knock on her door.
"Come in, its open..."
Marlene Wallace walked in to the room, an irritated look on her face, "WOULD you BELIEVE IT? T-That TWERP!"
[Sigh...so what else is new...?]
"Lemme guess..." Phillona said smiling, "Your sweet Mike's flirting with a new girl in his town..."
"How'd you...?"
"Lets just say things have a way of repeating themselves..."
"Uh whatever..." Marlene said plopping on the chair, "Geez...that darn ship from Costa de Sol takes a whole blasted two hours..."
"That's funny, last time you said it took ONE hour..."
"Uh...Well...last time...Mike was there..."
"Time flies when you're with someone you love, huh?"
Marlene smiled, "Guess you could say that..."
[Just wish...there was someone for me too... Sometimes, when it feels like it's all over...]
Her thoughts were rudely interrupted when Trex came crashing through the door. The cool, calm and collected look that was usually there was absent. He caught his breath a little and then blurted out, "They're coming! They're coming!"
"Damn...." Marlene said, "... At midnight...?"
Phillona reached under the bed and pulled out her leather gloves, "Trex, hurry to the store room and get the materia, weapon and the armor ready. And Marlene...alert the others and meet me at the village entrance."
A couple of years ago, Phillona had gone to Nibelheim and had trained in Master Duncan's martial arts dojo. Master Duncan's father had taught Tifa and hence Phillona came to know him. She had been there for a very short time due to continued intervention by the Shin-Ra troops in Mideel, but she managed to learn quite a lot. Her fighting style was unique although she knew how to do all her mother's signature moves. She recalled all her usual fighting strategy, hurriedly putting on her gloves.
She was about to leave the door when she stopped returned to her bed. She reached under the bed and pulled out a small box and opened it. Inside it was a shiny red stone, glittering with its entire glimmer. After making sure the cure materia was well fixed to her glove, Phillona equipped the Shiva summon materia and rushed out to face the approaching threat.
****************
The early morning sunlight seeped through the holes in the adamantine roof and fell on the closed eyes of Phillona Strife. Feeling the illumination, She opened her light blue eyes. It was the same mako blue that shone in her father, Cloud Strife's eyes. She sat up on her bed and let her long shiny brown hair fall behind her. Both the hands of the small clock on the wall stood at seven.
[Sigh...late again...]
She got herself ready and opened the door and walked outside to be greeted by the early birds of Mideel who were already getting ready to toil the day out.
"The people of Mideel had all kinds of work. Hunting, woodcutting and cultivating were some of the things that were necessary to meet the everyday necessities of people. Mideel, or the village of the life stream as some people referred to it, is located in the southern part of the world in a small, fish-shaped continent. Since Mako reactors had sucked up almost all the lifestream in the eastern and the western continents, Mideel was one of the rare places where lifestream accumulations were found. The northern continent of course is the center of the life stream. After the METEOR incident, the ice had melted, revealing the earth and making it suitable for farming activities. Hence, the northern continent, showed new flora and fauna, and greenery started to flourish, making it a great tourist attraction despite the monster-populated northern crater near it.... MAN I HATE THIS CRAP!" growled young Ricardo, seated against the wall of Phillona's cottage near her door.
"Have a geography test today, eh, Ric?" Phillona said as Ricardo scratched his blonde hair. Ricardo was the son of Cid Highwind. He was smart and active, but only at things he liked. Geography was his least favorite. Mideel blossomed with youth life, and Ricardo was just one of the many teenagers that resided at the village of Mideel.
"Hi Phillona..." Ricardo said with a smile, "I have that damn crud of a test today, and well.... this stuff here...is driving me frickin' nuts..."
"Its okay, kiddo..." Phillona replied, "Just go and write what you know..."
"Say Phillona..." Ricardo said, "Where are you going, now...?"
"Heroes' garden..."
"Oh good. In that case, can you give this to dad?" he said pulling out a small but attractive rose, "I need to go to school today or else I coulda come...Oh and Marlene wanted to give you this for her dad...too"
"Sure thing darling..." she said, taking another rose from Ricardo, "By the way, where's Marlene?"
"She went to Costa de sol with that rich guy...what's his name...uh yeah...Mike..."
"Oh...ok...See you around, Ric..." Phillona said waving goodbye. She walked to the lifestream well, the sun tickling her eyes. She looked inside the well and made sure the lifestream was still at the same level.
"Hello. Beautiful..." came a voice from behind her, "Don't worry...none of those Shin-Ra morons came last night to pilfer lifestream..."
"Oh, good morning Trex...." Phillona said, smiling at the fairly-handsome 17-year old boy, "I am off to heroes' garden...how are the chocobos?"
Trex was the professional when it came to chocobos. But more than chocobos, Trex was more in to guns. He collected them and knew every detail pertaining to them. However, most of the guns he collected seldom worked. He shrugged and gave Phillona a Gysahl green, "Choco's in the stable. Give her this and she'll latch on to ya in no time."
"Thanks..." She said, "Oh...and if any of those Shin-Ra troops come and cause trouble, the materia's in the storeroom. I am not taking any with me."
"You got it..." Trex said and went away munching on an apple.
Phillona crouched near the garden and plucked a few flowers and made a small bunch with them.
[Mom used to love daffodils...]
Having got what she wanted, Phillona hurried away to the stable to take the chocobo.
************
Phillona Strife dismounted from the chocobo and gave it a Gysahl green, "You stay here, ok? I'll be back in a few minutes..."
She walked down the slope to the depressed land where the temple of the ancients had once stood. Now, a tomb was erected there. The place was filled with green grass with a fence along its rectangular margin. In the middle was a golden plate on which was engraved,
'DESPITE THE SINKING SAND,
THEY STOOD AGAINST ALL EVIL.
THEY WENT WERE NONE DARED TO STAND,
THEY MAY BE GONE, BUT THEIR MEMORIES NEVER WILL'
She knelt down on the grass before the tomb. A row of granite stones stood with the names, Cloud Strife, Tifa Strife, Cid Highwind, Red XIII, Yuffie Kisaragi and Barret Wallace.
She placed the flowers near her father's and her mother's stone and placed the roses that Marlene and Ricardo had given her near Barret and Cid's.
[And I never got to see them.... Mom, they all tell me I look beautiful, just like you and Dad, I am supposed to have your eyes...I know you and mom only from other people's memories...not from mine as a daughter...you went away.... even before I took my first step...]
****************
"Two years after the METEOR incident, as a result of the lifestream imbalance, violent earthquakes had started to rock all the continents of the world. Tectonic devices had picked up the source of the earthquakes to be the northern crater. But no one wanted to even turn his or her head towards the northern crater. Dad and the rest of his friends were the only ones who decided to take a look. After losing the highwind in the METEOR incident, they frequently used the small airship Cid had for emergencies. Using it, Dad and everyone else went to the northern crater. Marlene...Barret's daughter was 3 years old, I was a year old and Cid's wife was pregnant with Ricardo." Phillona wrote in her diary, brushing away a small tear, as the owls hooted, signifying it was mid night.
"They neared the crater when a sudden earthquake had begun. Since they were in air, they continued to move. But when the ground deep inside the crater gave way to a fissure, the lava pressurized for 2 years shot out 100 feet in the air, melting the propellers of Dad's airship. Cid tried to land the airship near the coast of the northern continent, but it took a plummet...and crashed...into the city of the ancients...the same place where Sephiroth had killed Aeris. No one survived. Not even Dad. They found the bodies a few days later...since that fateful day, there hasn't been a single earthquake...it was as if the earthquakes were just something to call dad so nature could kill him. When this happened, Marlene and I were taken to Cosmo Canyon. Buganhagen became my father. He raised me...I didn't know anything till I was ten. He wanted me to enjoy my childhood. But the truth always lands...the day when Buganhagen breathed his last, he told me everything. He smiled, seconds before he closed his eyes and told me, 'you will do great things...my girl...' and then, he gave me a phoenix pendant and died. He had taken care of Marlene and me for a decade. Ricardo was raised in rocket town and later sent to Mideel because of the City's polluted atmosphere. Marlene and I came to Mideel through friends of Buganhagen. We grew up into what we are now. We didn't have much to do. Until one day...we decided we needed to protect Mideel from the reincarnated Shin-Ra..."
Phillona's hand was aching. She had lost her old diary. So she made a new one and wrote most of the things the first one had again. The diary was the only thing on which Phillona let her feelings materialize. The true feelings of loneliness and sorrow of having no one to lean on were only on her diary. Besides that, outside she was her cheerful, bubbly self the world knew her to be. She drank a glass of water and returned to her bed and continued to write on her diary.
"After the METEOR incident, Shin-Ra had fallen and was as good as ashes. But even ashes had the reputation to give life. To start with, people were happy there was no more an evil corporation in the form of Shin-Ra. Satisfied with independent towns and cities scattered through out the world, people went on with life. But not for long, they began to feel the world was too big a place, and they felt things would surely go haywire if everyone did as they pleased. The crime rate had already reached its height. So...they decided there would be Shin-Ra the second...but this time...it would be 'for the people, of the people, by the people'...those fools didn't realize the first Shin-Ra started on the same foundation too. This time, they adopted the age-old Magitek technique to 'protect' and 'promote'. Thus, Shin-Ra was reincarnated, as a goody two-shoes organization. Shin-Ra, over the years, earned everyone's trust and confidence. They used Magitek, harnessing magic to do 'good', and received respect and admiration all over the world. They built new cities, new towns, channelised rivers, everything a citizen of the world could possibly want, they even bought the gold saucer and cut down the prices. But fruits of corruption are the fastest to blossom. Deep Under the desert region, an empire was growing. Magitek armory, weapons, and all forms of destruction personified. Shin-Ra headquarters was re-built; all information was recovered from the database of the first Shin-Ra including mako energy, harnessing the lifestream's powers. They combined mako and Magitek and soon, Makotech was born. Total madness. All this was going on underground. Shin-Ra's control over the world strengthened but resistance organizations found out the truth. They managed to free the northern continent and the southern continent from Shin-Ra, both being supreme sources for mako energy. The northern continent gave birth to it's own government, which refused to align with Shin-Ra because top officials in that government knew what was going on under Shin-Ra's rainbow skin. The mako center in the northern continent was the northern crater. As for the southern continent, there were too little people to start a government. Shin-Ra had already managed to occupy the borders of the southern continent but the mako center was Mideel. So every week, Shin-Ra troops constantly ran around Mideel, trying to infiltrate it and take control. They even tried to steal some lifestream from the well for their research purpose. So we have been protecting Mideel for the past two years. Me, Trex, Marlene and a few other people as well. We have some materia and it has been helping us so far...But Shin-Ra's getting sick of not using powerful force...they are about to reach the limit of doing anything to grab Mideel. We can't hold out much longer...we are going to need help.... from anywhere...from any world...."
Phillona closed her diary when there was a knock on her door.
"Come in, its open..."
Marlene Wallace walked in to the room, an irritated look on her face, "WOULD you BELIEVE IT? T-That TWERP!"
[Sigh...so what else is new...?]
"Lemme guess..." Phillona said smiling, "Your sweet Mike's flirting with a new girl in his town..."
"How'd you...?"
"Lets just say things have a way of repeating themselves..."
"Uh whatever..." Marlene said plopping on the chair, "Geez...that darn ship from Costa de Sol takes a whole blasted two hours..."
"That's funny, last time you said it took ONE hour..."
"Uh...Well...last time...Mike was there..."
"Time flies when you're with someone you love, huh?"
Marlene smiled, "Guess you could say that..."
[Just wish...there was someone for me too... Sometimes, when it feels like it's all over...]
Her thoughts were rudely interrupted when Trex came crashing through the door. The cool, calm and collected look that was usually there was absent. He caught his breath a little and then blurted out, "They're coming! They're coming!"
"Damn...." Marlene said, "... At midnight...?"
Phillona reached under the bed and pulled out her leather gloves, "Trex, hurry to the store room and get the materia, weapon and the armor ready. And Marlene...alert the others and meet me at the village entrance."
A couple of years ago, Phillona had gone to Nibelheim and had trained in Master Duncan's martial arts dojo. Master Duncan's father had taught Tifa and hence Phillona came to know him. She had been there for a very short time due to continued intervention by the Shin-Ra troops in Mideel, but she managed to learn quite a lot. Her fighting style was unique although she knew how to do all her mother's signature moves. She recalled all her usual fighting strategy, hurriedly putting on her gloves.
She was about to leave the door when she stopped returned to her bed. She reached under the bed and pulled out a small box and opened it. Inside it was a shiny red stone, glittering with its entire glimmer. After making sure the cure materia was well fixed to her glove, Phillona equipped the Shiva summon materia and rushed out to face the approaching threat.
****************