Dear Journal

A Final Fantasy VII Fanfiction

Chapter 8

Kasumi

The night was dark, but the stars above shined beautifully for anyone who dared to look. Kasumi's school was a large campus and at this hour most people were indoors. Thus, the streets were deserted, but the street lamps did light up the sidewalks well, so anyone could see where they were going. Passing an alleyway, Kasumi heard a woman's voice pleading for help; she stopped, turned to see what was going on, and gritted her teeth in anger. In the alley, a girl about the same age as Kasumi from her looks was trapped by a man with a gun. The girl had short, brown hair that was styled in a bob and green eyes that were filled with terror; she was dressed in a black dress that went down to her calves and a pair of high heel shoes that matched. The man was taller than the girl by a good foot or so and had hair that was lime green with pink ends that was long enough to be wrapped around his neck like a scarf and still fall pass his rear.

His back was to Kasumi so she couldn't see his face, but her eyes met the woman's and she silently managed to convey to the other girl to act as if there was no one behind the man. Quietly, Kasumi snuck up behind the man, he didn't notice her at all. He was laughing and demanding that the girl in front of him give him a list of things, but he stopped as he turned around when Kasumi tapped his shoulder. His face met with Kasumi's fist and she stole the gun he was holding; he had been sent to the ground about two or three feet in the opposite direction and when he got to his feet, his victim had fled to go call campus security and the police. He watched as Kasumi dismembered his gun as if it were no more than a simple game and not a weapon. He clucked his tongue in irritation as he reached for his pocket and was surprised when Kasumi rushed him.

She saw that his face was hidden and gritted her teeth as she realized he had just pulled out a blade that was too long to be called a normal pocket knife. Fu- a hidden blade? Ran through Kasumi's mind as she dodged his first swap but his second attack cut her left arm; Kasumi dodged around as much as she could with a backpack and a duffle bag on her person and no weapon she could get to in time to help herself with how quickly this guy attacked. Just when she was beginning to wonder if that girl she had saved had called the cops, she heard the sound of sirens headed in their direction. Good girl, Kasumi thought as she let her focus leave the man in front of her for a split second, an amateurish mistake. That brief moment of distraction was all he needed, as Kasumi turned her attention back to the man he rushed forward and she jumped back but not quick enough.

Blood spattered on the concrete as Kasumi fell to her knees and held her abdomen, her face contorted into an expression of great pain. The man went to run away but didn't get far, campus security had arrived. They cuffed him and got him into one of the cars, while a few of the others tried to get Kasumi to show them her injuries. Kasumi did so after a minute or two of being talked to, before they even got her into an ambulance she knew it was no use. She knew she was dying; the blade had hit something vital and there wasn't a medical facility close enough for her to receive the necessary treatment to save her life.

"Don't worry, little lady, we'll get you to the nearest hospital as soon as possible." One of the security officers promised with a small, sad smile. Kasumi knew that it would do no good and could tell that he was hoping to ease any worries she had, but she couldn't be comforted by such words. She smiled slightly and nodded even as the black spots trying to block her vision worsened. Kasumi had lost too much blood, she knew it, and the officers were trying to take her bags from her but she kept refusing.

"Please, Miss, let us take your bags; you'll get them back, I swear." One of them promised.

"Sorry, but I'd feel better holding onto them for as long as I can." It wasn't too long after that that Kasumi was in an ambulance and on her way to a hospital. She stared up at the ceiling of the moving vehicle as black spots completely overtook her sight and she felt herself start to slip away. She thought she heard a woman calling out to her, but whether it was the lady in the ambulance or someone else she couldn't tell.

Everything was black around Kasumi, she couldn't see anything. It was like nothing was around her and yet she was standing on something. Her bags were hanging from her shoulders and the wound on her abdomen had stopped bleeding but when Kasumi looked at it she thought it would start bleeding at any moment. "Where the heck am I?" Kasumi muttered to herself as she looked around at the blackness.

"You're in Limbo," a woman's voice said from behind her. Kasumi whipped around with a small gasp and was face-to-face with a woman that had shoulder blade length golden, blond hair. The woman was dressed in white and gold; she was incased in a light so bright that it was hard to make out much else.

"Who are you? And why am I here?" Kasumi asked, although she was pretty sure she knew who this person before her was or at least that she should know.

"You're here because I've got an offer for you: a second chance at life." After blinking a few times, Kasumi noticed that they were now standing in the air above a group of celebrating people in a church, but the people didn't seem to notice the two of them. This church… so familiar, but I've never been here before…

"But why? I'm just an ordinary girl… except for the being a bodyguard for hire." The woman's response was simply a smile and a shake of her head. Kasumi turned around, looking at the celebrating people and realized she recognized several of them; she had seen them in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. One of the people she knew was a man who had spiky, blond hair and was dressed in black attire; he was playing with some kids. Is that Cloud Strife? Kasumi thought, is that Tifa? And Cid? Is that Yuffie and Vincent too? Kasumi was surprised to see all the members of AVALANCHE, all the members that had been there in the movie, and another girl that she didn't recognize at all. She was standing next to Vincent Valentine; she was dressed in black leather from head to toe. She was wearing what appeared to be a sleeveless shirt under her jacket, and was also wearing gloves, pants, boots, a choker around her neck, and goggles upon the top of her head. The woman had dark red hair and the irises of her eyes were such a light color that they appeared to be nonexistent. Kasumi turned her head back to face the woman, no the Goddess; Kasumi recognized her now. "What's the catch?" Kasumi asked with narrowed eyes.

"'Catch'?" the Goddess of Gaia asked as if she didn't understand.

"Yeah, I mean, at first glance your offer seems great – a second chance at life… Who wouldn't want that? But what do you get in exchange?" Kasumi started pacing, "I mean, I get a new life and what do you get? Me? I'm worthless; really, I doubt I could be of any use to you."

"What I get is a girl who can save lives."

Kasumi blinked twice before spinning around to face the Goddess, "Excuse me? I'm not a Hero! I -"

"You're saved many lives; those of the people you were the bodyguard of and several people who you were not being paid to protect." Gaia's Goddess said.

"But that's not everything is it?" Kasumi said, "You're not telling me all the details of this deal." Kasumi was a few feet away from the Goddess. "Tell me what I'm missing or we could be here awhile."

"A curse," the Goddess said, "You'd have to live with a curse."

"…What kind of curse?"

"You'll have to wait and see." Kasumi was pacing again.

"So, let me get this straight. You are offering me a second life, where I will have to live with a curse of some kind, and all you want in return is for me to save people?"

"Yes."

"And, you won't tell me what the curse is?"

"You will have to figure out the curse on your own." Kasumi continued to pace for a few more minutes before turning and simply watching the celebrating people in the church below them.

"Anything else I should know before I make my decision?"

The Goddess frowned, "…I'd like for you to do one other task for me." Kasumi looked over her shoulder at the once thought to be fictional Goddess and waited for her to explain. "Guide a few lost souls; children, if you will, that need someone to show them the way through their own second chances."

"So, act like Zack and Aerith or Aeris towards Cloud? But doing it while living my own life?"

"Yes."

"So… sounds like it shouldn't be much harder than what I'm used to. How do I accept this offer?" Kasumi asked.

"You just did." The Goddess, the people, the church, and all sound faded until only darkness remained. Kasumi stood there in the dark for a few minutes before she started walking, walking through the black nothingness. Kasumi could have walked for hours; all she knew was the void around her. At some point Kasumi stopped to sleep. When she awoke, she was confused; this place wasn't anywhere she knew. But then, she realized the glowing forest around her was the Sleeping Forest in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. I can't possibly be on Gaia, right? Kasumi thought as she slowly sat up. This might just be a dream… a dream within a dream, yeah, a dream… Then, Naminé, who had wormed her way out of Kasumi's duffle bag, jumped on to Kasumi's stomach; Kasumi's wound, which had been healing and had had a scab on it, was now open and bleeding.

Kasumi quickly removed her cat from her person and began looking for bandages. After tending to her wounds, Kasumi looked around at the bare trees that were always glowing; Naminé was not pleased with being ignored and made sure that her person knew this. "Okay, okay. Petting, I get it, you want petting." Kasumi muttered as she petted Naminé who started to purr. Sometime later, Kasumi had gotten up, packed up the supplies she had pulled from her bags, and she and her companion had headed off to search their surrounding and hopefully find civilization.

Kasumi's thoughts continued to try and put everything that had happened to her together. So I'm in the world of Final Fantasy VII, and I'm pretty sure that I had been watching the people of Midgar or rather Edge when I had been in the church, Aerith's Church, with the Goddess of Gaia. That means I've probably arrived after Advent Children, right? I'm pretty sure that AVALANCHE has just defeated Sephiroth and the remnants because didn't they celebrate like that at the end of the movie? But then again, how do I know that I'm not dreaming… other than the pain. I mean, I've had dreams before where I got hurt and could feel pain, but they were dreams and I knew it… but this time… I'm not so sure that it's a dream. Kasumi and Naminé stopped when they could see light, which was not produced by the trees, not too far away from them. Kasumi pulled out her journal and started a new entry.

Dear Journal,

Yeah, it's me again. Anyways, I'm pretty sure that I died, but somehow I'm alive. And that's probably the Goddess of Gaia's doing, I thought that I my meeting with her was just a dream… but I'd say that the meeting was real now that I'm actually on a world that I've only seen in Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus… I mean I'm quite sure that I had died and I'm quite sure that Minerva did say that I'd accepted her offer …but to live on Gaia? I don't remember that being part of the deal, but then again I suppose I should've thought about the possibility of her wanting me and the people I'm to be the 'guardian angel' of to be on Gaia; probably so that we have be a part of the events that are to come... speaking of events, where in the timeline of this world am I?

I mean, okay so I'm on Gaia in the Final Fantasy VII universe. This is kinda cool, not gonna deny that, but it is uber weird. I mean come on, how many people get to go to a world that any true gamer would know of? And to have the chance to actually meet the characters? Now that's seriously awesome. Yet there's no telling if I'll actually get to meet them; I'd really, really, really like to meet them. I'd like to meet the members of AVALANCHE; that'd be sweet! Yeah, I'm a video game nerd/dork; I can't help the fact that I love to play video games. I love the Final Fantasy series and a lot of other games, but anything involving Final Fantasy VII might as well be put into my all-time favorites. My favorite character from all the Final Fantasy VII stuff is Vincent Valentine; don't you dare start hating, I don't care if you like him as one of the characters or not… sure, he can be quiet and all but that could just be 'cause he doesn't have a lot to say or just because he doesn't feel the need to speak that much; besides even if he doesn't speak as much as the others in the games and movie, when Vincent does speak it has quite the impact on everyone.

A lot of my friends, mostly my female friends, go: "Are you crazy? Cloud is a thousand times cuter and cooler than Vincent!" And then, some of my other friends will retort with: "Are YOU crazy? Vincent is a MILLION times HOTTER than Cloud." Not that Vincent's looks are the whole reason for him being my favorite character, that's just what most of my friends think; I'm not the kinda gal to judge a book by its cover… usually, that's how I decide whether or not to eat something… if it has peppers in it don't bother trying to get me to eat it, I hate peppers.

Oops, got sidetracked… and I started rambling again...

Anyways, the Goddess of Gaia – Minerva – told me that she wants me to do in exchange for a second chance at life is for me to help save lives and play 'guardian angel'; that shouldn't be too hard, right? I mean, come on, I spent five years or so of my life as a bodyguard for hire; I started my freshmen year of high school (9th grade) and have continued to work as a bodyguard until the present… Dang it, I work as a bodyguard for at least six years without making any errors that got me too badly injured; Enter my third year of college and I make a very, very amateurish mistake – never, never, never let your focus slip, let your guard down – and got myself killed. Damn it all, got myself killed, got a second chance at life, no records of my existence – probably – and no way to get at the records from my past, no friends or human family – I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye - , no way to attend college here… no college means no full-filling my promise -

Kasumi stopped writing as a tear landed on the page; she stared at the page with a look of sadness, slight anger, and confusion. Tears rolled down her cheeks, falling onto the page of her journal and blurring the words in places. Naminé tried to cheer Kasumi up, but to no avail; the flood gates had opened, over ten years since a tear or sob had escaped her and the tears weren't going to stop easily now that the gate was open.

It was sometime after the tears had finally slowed that she heard the sounds of what she was sure was an aircraft; it was the kind of sound one hears as the craft is trying to land and it sounded like it was fairly close to Kasumi's and Naminé's location. Kasumi, scrubbing at her face, gathered her belonging before she and her feline companion took off towards the edge of the forest that blocked the way to the Forgotten City. When they got to the end of the trees, they found themselves looking at a large area with tents and a dig site that was far to their left and a few others that were scattered between it and one that lay some distance in front of Kasumi and Naminé; she wonder if that was Bone Village.