Hey, you! Are you smiling right now?

I don't own anything, anyone or anywhere you recognise. Sapphire, along with a few others who'll crop up every now and then, are mine.

If not, you should. Smiling feels good! Even if you smile so wide for so long your cheeks start to ache. That's a happy ache, and so totally worth it.

And hey, a reason to be happy; a new chapter! I hope that's a happy occasion. I think it is!

Ahh! Big big thanks to the guest who left a review for the last chapter. What you wrote gave me butterflies! I agree that the prequel's ending wasn't satisfying (by design, c'mon I was never really gonna leave it like that!) so it's massively rewarding to see I'm not the only one who craved something more conclusive.

It's been quite challenging to write Sapphire's perspective when she's not entirely coherent, and it's taking no small amount of forward planning to establish what should happen, when it does, and perhaps most importantly, where Sapph's head is at as it happens. We of course know the timeline she invented for herself is mostly wishful thinking. I'm over the moon that her confusion is so tangible, and I hope that you'll enjoy what's to come!

Urk. Misbehaving line break. Whyyyy.

Chapter 5 - Departure

"If you need me to carry all this stuff you just bought, Aqua," Lana huffed, kicking open the front door to her house, "then maybe you're not actually ready to leave? Since you bought this stuff for leaving, y'know."

"I don't remember saying I needed you to," I retorted smugly, standing in the doorway and twisting my body side to side.

Taking a breath to speak, I narrowed my eyes as she dropped everything she carried on the kitchen counter. Pretty sure there was something breakable amongst her baggage. "You make being a caring person difficult," the woman deadpanned, as she set about putting away her perishables in the fridge. I rolled my eyes, ready to make my statement until she cut across me again, saying, "Wiggling your butt will not help you get used to it, cut it out."

Pouting, I argued, "I need to feel it out! What if I back up into a small child and poke their eye out?"

Examining me with a smirk, Lana proposed, "Then just freeze up completely, any time you see or hear a small child."

"Foolproof," I blandly remarked, before quickly drawing the two-foot-long sword from its sheath at my left hip, pointing it at her with a quirked eyebrow. She didn't react, even when I groaned loudly and fumbled to sheathe the weapon. "It just doesn't feel right! Definitely should've went with the over-the-shoulder one." I mimed drawing a sword from over my right shoulder, pointing the imaginary tip at Lana. Finally paying attention to me, she held her hands up, one still wielding a turnip. I smirked, "Not a gun, but still smart."

"It does look a lot cooler drawing over your shoulder," she agreed, though her exaggerated tone and raised eyebrows showed well enough how little she cared about the matter. Chirpy then, she shrugged and teased, "Well, should've thought of that before you bought the backpack. Seemed like a good idea at the time."

"It did," I sadly agreed, removing said backpack from my shoulders and bringing it to her in the kitchen, it being half full with some of the supplies we'd bought for my travels. I found myself glaring at the bag with loathing. "It is a good bag."

"Sure is," Lana agreed, undoing the clasps at the front. "Much bigger than any shoulder bag they had, and sturdier."

"Plus a shoulder bag would get in the way, flop about if I had to run," I added. "And they were more expensive."

"That they were."

The clinking of jars was the only sound then for a few moments, until I sighed deeply. "I hate it." The more sense it made to have this bag and just get accustomed to having a weapon at my hip, the less willing I was to concede the point.

"Well I'm not paying for a second bag, so suck it up," Lana put me in my place, and I pouted but complained no more, helping her with the shopping.

A tap on the kitchen window drew our attention. The old man stood there, the one who didn't like me. He grumbled as I cracked the window, before leaning around me to look at Lana. "You get chops?"

I followed his lead and looked as well, to see her frown, a furrow in her brow. "No, they're horrible."

"You used to like them!" he declared, as he started to shuffle away, presumably to the butchers'.

"I used to tolerate them!" Lana hollered, to my amusement.

…

The following day, with bag packed and sword disappointingly buckled at my left hip, Lana walked me to the edge of town. It was odd. I could see her watching me like a hawk from the corner of her eye, like she still expected me to topple over.

The dark-haired woman was smirking as we came to a stop by the welcome sign outside the town. "You could look sadder, Lana. I might take offense," I accosted her.

"I could," she agreed airily, "but I just have this crazy feeling that it's not the last I'll be seeing of you."

I quirked an eyebrow, deciding not to rise to the bait. She obviously thought I wasn't ready to leave. "No duh. I have to come back, and pay you back for everything you did to me."

Lana pressed her lips together. "Everything I did for you."

"Isn't that what I said?" I questioned, blinking owlishly at my carer when she shoved me. I could hear a gasp from where three kids were hiding, having followed us this far none-too-discreetly.

Lana scanned me head to toe. "You're really sure you don't want a change of clothes?"

I cooed, "You're so sweet! Trying to get me to stay an extra day?" I held my arms out wide, rocking back onto my heels. "It won't work, but I can spare a hug?"

To my surprise, Lana didn't leave me hanging; swift and slightly uncomfortable as hugs go, but it still left me feeling warm. "Stay safe, will you?" she requested, to which I gave a cheeky salute before setting off, gait long and pace fast in the pleasant morning breeze.

My brisk march from the town became a laboured hike as I ascended the first rocky incline leading to Mount Nibel, and as distraction my mind lost itself to plans.

First, I needed to get my hands on some gil, and find a reliable source of income. Thankfully, I was not completely unaccustomed to this issue. For a short time in my life I had happened to be stuck without shelter or income, so I knew the best way to making some quick cash was with a good attitude. You can always find someone who won't refuse a helping hand, because everyone has a job they'd rather not do and some are willing to pay for the pleasure of passing that task onto someone else.

That said, my options were a little… limited? A scrawny mid-teen with dirty clothes and a bright smile was a creature that most people didn't mind passing money to for odd little errands. With a few extra years under my belt, more meat on my bones and, most significantly, the appearance of a SOLDIER, odd jobs like 'buy me a few things from the shops' didn't seem like the sort of thing people would ask me for.

What would an out-of-work SOLDIER (or person with the appearance of a SOLDIER) do for money? I had thought about this for a while in the past week, and the one legitimate answer I kept returning to was… monster hunter.

Fair to say that no small part of my reasoning was because it'd be so cool to claim that I was a monster hunter. It's just a very cool job title. Besides that, I was likely to be travelling through a lot of small, perhaps disconnected towns and villages that could do with some pest control. Also no strings attached to my earnings. No necessary paperwork or qualifications. I imagined the SOLDIER eyes and uniform would help with that if there was an issue.

It fit my specifications. All I could do was hope that there was some nuisance creatures around on my travels that civilians would want rid of. So not the most solid plan, per se, but it was an idea. More important was how I was getting to Midgar, the route I was taking.

I had hesitatingly divulged to Lana that I was planning to travel to Costa del Sol. I'd gained as much as I could gain from the one book she owned with a world map in it. It was astonishingly old. Midgar wasn't even on it, for crying out loud, it just had 'village area' written in its place. It was under her advisement that I travelled to Mount Nibel, as she assured me of a short tunnel through to the other side, while going around the mountain range would add a month to my travel time.

What was more concerning was that, on the other side of the mountain, the first settlement I would come to was Shinra's own rocket launch pad area. Lana unfortunately had limited knowledge of it all, but was at least able to confirm that it was of continuing interest to Shinra and would be well funded.

That statement had initially conjured up visions of SOLDIERs swarming the place, and I was ready to strike it off without exception until she divulged it was for scientific research, not military. That nugget of information changed the status of my visit to the site from absolutely forbidden to unmissable. Scientific research was exactly the branch of Shinra I was targeting, and the possibility of my target himself residing here for some nefarious purpose put an inch in my step. No need to travel hundreds of miles and enter the belly of the beast if my target was just a stone's throw away.

If that turned out to be wishful thinking (and it really was, I had no doubt) then I would continue along my route undeterred. After a trek through the mountain and following walk to the base of operations for Shinra's Space Exploration Programme, I would bluff my way onto a ride to Costa del Sol.

From there, I'd catch a boat to Junon, and walk to Midgar. There were trains for that last stretch, but I had made the executive decision to never ride on another train. Just too prone to getting blown up, as far as I was concerned. It did mean, according to what I'd read, an extra hundred miles or more of walking. Midgar was awfully far away.

With that in mind, it was hard to have to slow my pace and stop travelling while the sun was still high in the cloudless blue sky and beating down on me. The wilderness was dominated by rocks and earthy dust, with scant few trees and thin patches of grass barely visible for miles. I decided to settle at a secluded spot against the mountain's rocky wall, several yards from what appeared to be the entrance to the tunnel. My position boasted a good view for miles around, ensuring I could spot any potential threats long before they reached me, and would hide the sun in the evening hours.

I set down the backpack full of water and supplies, and drew my sword from my hip, trying not to think about how odd it felt. Uncertain hands gripped the hilt, and experimentally waved and spun the weapon, wrist twisting and elbow flexing in conjunction, a familiar pattern that I couldn't remember being taught but remembered performing, over and over and over again. Nothing too physically exhausting, nothing overly complicated, just a simple movement that loosened limbs and warmed muscles, and acquainted a person's body with how their weapon moves under their direction.

Not complicated, not unfamiliar, but still a movement that my body was not accustomed to; with a click that was barely shy of a crack, my wrist locked and flared with pain. Mid-swing, the sword (light but still enough to pull me along with momentum) completed its movement as if nothing happened, though little more than muscle memory stopped me from dropping it and cradling my complaining wrist the instant it decided it was pushed too far.

Placing the sword on the ground after the movement was completed, I rubbed absent-mindedly at my wrist, taking note to be a bit gentler when I resumed, grateful for the injury being little more than an awkward twinge. The thought of taking extra time to reacquaint myself with using a weapon, to put myself out of action within five minutes of stopping, wouldn't have been overly encouraging to say the least. I didn't allow myself to get comfortable, performing stretches to warm myself down. Three or four hours it had been since I left Lana at Nibelheim. The walks around the neighbourhood that had started as a gruelling stagger to her gate had done wonders, it turned out.

The progress that occurred in that first week was monumental. As Lana had decided, in her unconvincing but still fairly intelligent tone, all of the foundation was there, it was just re-familiarising my inner workings with… how to work, I guess. The science behind it was lost on me, but I wasn't going to argue with the results. It seemed like only yesterday I was getting shoved into furniture and being unable to get back up.

When my wrist stopped aching, I picked up the cheap-and-cheerful weapon with a firm grip, and purposefully resumed my well-practiced technique.

The days passed quickly, despite the summer bringing the sun early and keeping it out late. Walk for four hours, train for as long as I could, and live off the snacks that I had assembled for myself in Nibelheim. I had enough for two weeks, if I ate sparingly enough. That deadline was present in my mind as the hours ticked by, even if my delay was self-imposed. When I was able to train for several minutes at a time without faltering or pausing for a breather, I challenged the air in front of me to a spar, and it put me through my paces. A more familiar foe from my childhood would be a tree, but I couldn't bring myself to revive that approach when the poor trees were so scarce and sad-looking on the rocky mountain terrain.

I had liked the lush green jungle of Mideel when I had lived there, though a bit too wild and overgrown for me to miss too terribly. This was the complete opposite end of the scale, and equally imperfect. Was there no such thing as a happy medium?

I wondered about this on my fourth lonely night, panting from exertion following a particularly unforgiving workout. The air that was my sparring partner had upped its game since yesterday.

The comparison between this landscape and that of Mideel brought about an image in my head of a different landscape, even more barren and devoid of life than here, which I had gazed at vacantly through a dirty window, rocked comfortingly as we flew over the rails at great speed—

I fell onto my back, deciding the sky was a nicer place to look, the sky just starting to darken overhead as the sun approached the horizon. Undernourished but surviving pale grass brushed and tickled every inch of exposed skin, one or two blades managing to find a particularly sensitive area underneath my arm.

Restraining giggles and the instinct to wriggle away, I set my jaw and made a game out of seeing how long I could last. The game was made easier by the fact that my whole body was aching and tired beyond belief, but I still couldn't have lasted more than two minutes before I shimmied and scratched to ease the itch and get comfortable.

As the sun set, the sky became painted with stunning pinks and purples. For the fourth time, my mind became completely emptied, save for a profound sense of admiration, and a feeling of joy and appreciation for being alive to witness something that was so much more than myself.

That was the last time I allowed myself the pleasure of witnessing the sunset. On the fifth day of my travels, I found myself on the rocky path that would take me through the foreboding Mount Nibel.

I had been so against the idea of trekking through a mountain initially. I had never even seen a mountain before the first night I sat with Lana on the patio. It seemed so unforgiving, piercing the clouds with jagged rock. It only felt more menacing the closer I got to it, with patches of mist obscuring visibility, and a closer look at how the mountain was composed; the rocks were almost spikes, huge and curved upwards, jutting out from the spire. Like something out of a horror movie. What would cause a structure to grow in such a way? Wait, did mountains even grow?

I was pretty far out my depth, and felt my stomach churn as I recognised what would be my route. I had been ascending on a well-travelled path that sloped upwards. The rise ended abruptly with a tiny plateau, with one end of a bridge tied to it.

I say tied, and honestly, it looked like it'd come loose with a breath of wind. The word rickety didn't come close to describing the rope and wooden bridge draped for… maybe a mile ahead. I gulped, swooning slightly. That was a big distance, and a long way off the ground. Oh boy.

Understanding my limits, I pivoted one-eighty degrees and eased into a crouch, head down to examine the rocky ground. I was never scared of heights before, in fact I recalled the opposite; the adrenaline rush when I had perched myself on the roof on the very tippy top of the Shinra building was probably something I should try and forget, because it was intoxicating to a pretty large degree. So I didn't really know why the exciting challenge ahead of me was suddenly so intimidating, and that in itself was upsetting, let alone the actual fear of crossing that bridge. Metaphorical and literal.

I'd have been more annoyed by the pun if I wasn't literally quaking in my SOLDIER boots, wishing my head to stop spinning.

I gave myself a few minutes, give or take, to calm down and gather the bravery I needed to continue on. After all, I was on a schedule; I couldn't dilly-dally too long or I wouldn't make it to the rocket launch pad area before I ran out of food. Even Lana's cooking was better than nothing.

Looking over my shoulder, eyes drifting to the peak of the mountain far above, my mind was made up. Swallowing my pride, I reluctantly turned to face my fear, and crawled to the first plank. Stretching, I got as far as the fourth plank before I was leaving my knees behind on the plateau, so with reluctance, I brought my left knee forward (leaving my preferred right knee as my anchor). The gentlest breath of wind felt like a gale against the planks I held with white knuckles, but eventually my right knee joined my left, and I was no longer on solid ground, teetering in mid-air.

I had never been particularly self-conscious of appearance, least of all my weight, but I had never felt heavier before than I did then. But that was okay. While I was a little heavier than I used to be - my limbs a little longer and more muscular was one example of change in my body that I had noticed - I'm sure heavier people had crossed before me. Causing strain, weakening the rope, loosening the knots…

Just why was I so scared anyway? I used to be a proud adrenaline junkie! Where did all this cowardly custardy nonsense come from, exactly? As well as that, I used to love heights, of all things. So for this to be a newly discovered phobia, it just… didn't sit right.

For the first time, a certain feeling settled over me. One which I felt I should have felt before now, and perhaps imagined that I felt it because I felt I should, but I hadn't really, not until now.

I felt violated. I had been taken against my will, forced into captivity, been dehumanised into little more than a possession, and was subjected to the idle whims of a madman with more power than I could fathom. But somehow, amongst all that, despite becoming a test subject and then perhaps a reject, I had been allowed to drift and separate myself mentally from the horror. He had changed my body into something it was never supposed to be, done things I might never know or understand, but I had thought that my own self, my personality, my character had stayed intact. But it hadn't.

I had once sat blissfully with my feet dangling over a drop countless storeys high, nothing but my weight leaning back on my hands preventing me from a grisly fall, with little thought to those consequences. And now—

Wait, had I? My anger fizzled, replaced by befuddlement, as I contemplated.

…Of course I had. I was up there all the time when I was a Cadet. No, when I was in SOLDIER, I mean. I must have. Of course I had.

I remembered one such instance, I had been sitting up there, and my tutor had come to see me. My mind had lingered on that interaction a lot, with wistful fondness. That meeting was when it first occurred to me that he might've… well, not loathed me, maybe is the best way to put it?

Why had he come to see me again? I was mystified, trying to garner the reason from the words we had exchanged, all of which I could recall with a belying clarity. He had greeted me by saying I was supposed to be on bed rest, after a treatment? While I was with Shinra? What sort of treatment?

The answer to that last question was glaringly obvious, because there was only one treatment associated with the Shinra Company that I knew of. Even without the overwhelming evidence that seemed to prove it, not least of which was the bright, almost luminous blue-green hue my unfamiliar eyes had taken on. So I must've joined SOLDIER. The evidence was overwhelming to prove so. Then why did I feel like I was convincing myself of it?

The uncertainty rekindled my bitterness towards my current situation, shuffling along with excruciating slowness, plank by plank. A new phobia was hardly worth such rage against my captor, but this uncertainty, this lack of understanding over who I was, of what I had been? That seemed justifiable. Everyone should have the right to know who and what they are.

Was I a SOLDIER, or was I…

What was the alternative? The only word that came to mind was human, and that left a bitter taste in my mouth. After all, weren't SOLDIERs still human?

Of course they were. Made a little different, sure, but SOLDIERs were still human. I was still human. My tutor, he was still human, albeit a mean and grumpy one. And there was his friend. He had been nicer, I thought. And some others, for sure.

As much as I tried to ignore it, the few fuzzy faces clad in Cadet and SOLDIER uniforms bothered me tremendously, and fuelled the fire I held against the being that had caused it all. And following the anger that burned, there was a sudden wave of calmness, like frothy waves lapping gently on a sandy beach. Suddenly I felt serene, and everything clicked into place.

I looked over my shoulder, to compare with what I had left; a fifth of the way, perhaps. This was slow progress.

My limbs relaxed, my fingers cramping as I eased them out of their straining grip. The bridge shook and juddered each time I shifted my weight, but with rational and steady moves I climbed to stand upright, allowing myself a few moments to be sure I was fine with my new method before putting my right foot onto the next plank.

Sure, there was some altitude, and the occasional gusts that rocked the bridge were a little intimidating. But I was a survivor, I had my pride, I trusted my instincts, and if something went wrong I'd recover from it as well standing upright as on my hands and knees, if not better. I was an Amell, and I was capable.

It took half the time, or even less maybe, for me to cross the remainder of the bridge. Then, without a break or any hesitation, I entered the foreboding rock tunnel and followed the path through Mount Nibel, the sun setting at my back.

…

You don't realise how much you miss the sun when you're stuck in the dark. Even when I was stuck in that tube for weeks at a time, I was never in complete darkness. The solution I was mired in was a pale green, with occasional, vividly glowing ribbons twisting through it that I had been fascinated by. Besides that, the lab I had spent my time in had always had lights on; bright harsh ones while there was activity during the day, and dim glows from emergency lights and different pieces of equipment in the room after hours.

The thick blackness from minutes into my journey through the mountain, particularly as it was the middle of the day, really threw me for a loop. I had assumed there would be some light source; an opening to the sky here and there, or something, so I was almost embarrassed to be proved so completely wrong. Embarrassed, but at least it didn't impede my journey. I supposed the gradual progression into the darkness had allowed my eyes the chance to adjust, and I had little difficulty making my way through the dark.

Oh wait. SOLDIER eyes. Oops. That was probably why.

I progressed for… well. I assumed it had been a few hours, but I came to the conclusion very early on that telling time would be almost complete guesswork in this leg of the journey. So for an unclear duration, I marched on.

A faint clicking, a noise I wasn't familiar with, put me on edge. I was grateful for the silence in the area, or the sound might have escaped my notice until I saw a monster skitter towards me from several feet ahead in the tunnel, at great speed. It was unlike any creature I'd seen before, huge and spindly with soulless red eyes gleaming in the dark and a spear for a mouth, almost as long as its own body. I drew my sword, somewhat unsure of myself, but prepared to fight a real thing, for the first time.

Man. I had never fought anything for real before—

My hesitation gave the creature an opening, and it slammed into me with surprising force, for something that appeared to be a giant insect. I tumbled backwards with the impact, giving me a fantastic view of his immensely sharp fangs on the underside of his spear-like jaw.

Before I could even think to react, those fangs descended, and two front legs came forward in a flurry, more razor-sharp claws underneath. To trap me, maybe? Or incapacitate me?

My body finally kicked into gear, and I tightly barrel-rolled to my right, dodging the worst of it; I cried out when it caught my left shoulder and upper arm, but managed to yank myself free and scramble away.

I scrambled for all of two seconds, my feet barely put beneath me before it slammed into me again, sending me sprawling forward with the monster on my back. It made more inhuman clicks and whistles, unbearably loud and close, ringing in my ears.

Suddenly realising that this was a much worse position for me, noting its limbs swiping and clawing with great speed at my upper back, my right hand finally remembered the sword it held and awkwardly waved it around. I twisted onto my left side to allow myself greater reach and aim. I wasn't able to see exactly where or when my sword connected with the creature, but I felt the resistance as a limb all but snapped under my sweeping attack, and it shrieked.

I had counted on it to retreat with the sudden attack and loss of a limb, but unexpectedly its remaining legs almost seemed to give out, ramming all of its weight onto me once again. The fangs under its spear found a new home in my right shoulder, unimpeded by the sturdy material of the SOLDIER turtleneck.

It'd be nice to be able to say I kept my cool, but it hurt a lot, and tears pooled in my eyes as I gasped in shock at the sensation. The thought of falling to my first real encounter with a monster crossed my mind.

Then I got angry. A familiar thought pattern crossed my mind, I'm a survivor, an Amell, and I am capable, and with a roar and tears streaming I twisted to let my left arm free from beneath my and the creatures weight, and thrust it up to the flat underside of its nose-spear, pushing it upwards and freeing my right shoulder from its bite.

Its left front limb was tearing frantically at my back now, urgency likely inspired by having two of its three weaponised appendages overpowered. Thankfully it was only catching threads so far. I decided that was as far as it was going to go, and with a pained roar over manipulating my aching shoulder, I swept my right arm up, sword arcing through the air and finding a home in the membrane between its head and upper body, slicing through the soft area almost two-thirds of the way through.

For a fourth and final time, the air whooshed out of my lungs as the creature collapsed on me with the entirety of its weight. Its remaining limbs jumped and jittered without any real strength, and a series of sad-sounding clicks echoed off the rock walls in the suddenly very quiet tunnel. Frozen, I watched with blurred vision as the creature's life faded, by my own hand.

When I felt able, I extracted myself from beneath my adversary, trying to move it as little as possible. Maybe it was stupid, but it didn't seem right to move or disturb it, now that it was motionless.

It took me a few moments to steady myself on my feet and regain composure. When I had, I investigated the creature, finding myself warily admiring of the power and weaponry it had on its body. It was only by sheer luck my sword had found such a soft and fleshy area, only centimetres wide, while the rest of its body was tough and protected. My desperate attack would probably have bounced off, maybe even carried out of my hand by the momentum, and I wasn't sure what my next move would have been then.

Suddenly bone-tired, I collapsed against the wall of the tunnel and sat, heaving a breath. I weighed my options. Would it travel in groups? Would the clicks it made summon its kin to this area? How many could there be? How many could I take?

When I felt so tired, would I waken in time and be able to defend myself, if they came and attacked? How could I progress when I was so tired, and would I even be able to spot one if I worked myself to exhaustion, let alone best it in combat?

Neither option was without flaws, but there were no alternatives. Stay in the tunnel to rest and risk further attack from its kin, or proceed in search for a safer place to recover and risk overexerting myself.

I hated making decisions that were more or less on the flip of a coin, so it was fortunate that I didn't have to. I had no sooner recognised my options than I had fallen asleep, head tilted awkwardly back with my backpack still on.

I woke with a start, perhaps several hours later or maybe only minutes. I saw no readily-apparent reason why I might have woken up so abruptly. My neck was paining, so rubbing it self-pityingly, I surmised I probably jerked awake from my head tilting too far in an awkward direction and tilting my body off-balance.

Gazing at the spot where the creature had once been, now completely devoid of any evidence of it ever being there, I was filled with a cocktail of emotions that I didn't really want to decipher. So I didn't. I rose, stretched my arms and legs with some satisfied noises, and marched on without ceremony, wondering how much farther I had to go.

Then there it was. A literal light at the end of the tunnel spurred me on, and though my bones were weary, my steps hastened and my stride lengthened. As I approached I recognised the light to be from a natural source, but far too faint to be sunlight. Maybe it was night time? The thought of fresh air and open space had me grinning without even realising I was. Such a shame that it didn't actually lead to the outdoors.

I wasn't sure what I had expected from the mountain trail, until now it all seemed pretty much predictable, but when the ground abruptly changed from uneven rock into flat metal, I was justifiably surprised. The dark tunnel opened into a huge, high-ceilinged room with several levels. A familiar green glow lit the room from far below. I approached the edge of the metal platform I was on at the top of the room, peering down curiously, and sure enough, rich natural pools of mako were dotted about in the ground.

It was my first time seeing raw, unprocessed mako, and I found myself oddly enchanted by the sight of it. The huge metal pipes protruding from every pool and disappearing into metal and rock had me frowning, forcing me into awareness of something I had known before but never paid much thought to. This unusual, perhaps unstable natural resource was used for light, heat, electricity, almost everything. More than that, it was part and parcel of every SOLDIER, and now, maybe me too.

Trying not to dwell on it too much, I set my mind to deciding on my method for descending into the room, because down was where I was headed. There was a staircase, or I could take one of five giant chutes lined up beside one another. Hmm…

"WHEEEEE!" I hollered as I flew down the disgusting, rusted, bumpy pipe, laughing all the way. The pipe spat me out at the very bottom of the room, the glow of the mako pools dazzling me slightly, as if I wasn't unsteady enough from the slide and abrupt landing.

Drunkenly, I staggered for a few moments, before letting myself fall back onto my rear. I wasn't too clued in about the stuff, but even I knew that falling into a giant pool of mako was something I'd be better off without doing.

Now safely sitting on the ground, unable to cause myself any trouble, I glanced around the room to see what route I was to take next. My eyes shone; two exits, both letting in rich golden light.

…Which was my exit?

I shrugged and took the one straight ahead.

…

Two sleeps later, with weariness slowing my step and resigned frustration twitching a muscle in my cheek, I trudged across the short distance to the other exit. Fifty-fifty choices could only be right half the time, after all.

When I finally reached the base of the mountain, it was to the splendid sight of the sun setting on the grassy plains, the same sight that had made me reluctant to enter the mountain in the first place. I allowed myself an early night that night, and carried on the next morning.

After a difficult and sometimes perilous journey through the mountain, I found myself with far greater resilience and energy, and a greater capacity to keep moving. With five days of rations remaining, I trained through the stunning sunsets, and only retired when it occurred to me that I was still regaining my strength. It was important to try to get a decent amount of sleep while it was dark. Despite the high rock walls (less prominent as my journey progressed away from the exit of the great mountain), the sun took its time dipping below the horizon, and rushed to rise a scant few hours later.

A few months I had spent in Shinra's basement, and a further two months holed up in Lana's spare bedroom. This was the first time in almost half a year I had really been out in the sun, and I had missed it. My once healthily tanned arms were now a scant few shades away from stark white.

I looked like a recluse. Or even worse; I looked like I was native to Midgar. Below the plate hardly got any sun, right?

I would always be grateful that, despite all that I'd suffered, I hadn't lost my sense of humour. Terrible and all that it was.

Brushing a hand over the tips of the delicate strands of grass, I supposed it and I were two peas in a pod. Unfortunate circumstances landed us somewhere detrimental to our continued survival, leaving us weakened, but we kept going on instinct alone, persevering—

I really had lost it. Grass, for Gaia's sake.

I rolled onto my hands and knees, and with arduous effort, performed push-ups until my arms almost gave way; then I leapt upright and began lunges and squats. Tired as my body was, I didn't last very long. Just enough to stop my leg jumping to burn energy. My muscles could be aching and shaky, but for the past few days, I couldn't seem to get to a level of tiredness that felt appropriate for sleeping, like I'd drank too much coffee and couldn't seem to shake the energy boost.

…The analogy didn't feel right, and not solely because I was more of a tea person. But it was better than comparing myself to grass, so I was okay with it.

The tenth and eleventh day I decided to suspend travel, because the earth ahead (with healthier-looking grass, so no more comparisons thankfully) was a plateau where it had been more akin to a canyon closer to the mountain, and I was able to see ahead what was undoubtedly my first checkpoint; the rocket site.

I was a little intimidated, if I was being totally honest. I could just about recall a period of weeks in my childhood when it was all anyone could talk about; Shinra's new Space Exploration programme. My parents had playfully argued about it, mum taking a stance of doubt over how successful it might be, exaggerated for dad who passionately claimed it as the most significant advancement there would ever be.

I was too young to appreciate what it meant. But standing here, maybe a decade after the initial announcement, the gravity of it suddenly hit me. Still several miles away in a small dip in the landscape, there was barely a speck of civilisation, a huddled ring of tiny tents appearing to surround a structure that would almost put the Shinra Headquarters to shame.

Metal scaffolding pierced the sky, spanning several stories and looking perturbingly flimsy. I supposed it would look a little more stable and reinforced close up. But far more impressive was hooked to the base of the scaffolding, perhaps five times taller than any of the buildings, a…

Well, a rocket, I assumed. I hadn't seen such a thing before. Gleaming grey, metal and cone-shaped at the top, with a trio of giant cylinders attached to the base. It wasn't something I had ever considered before, in fact I had as good as forgotten after the initial announcement that Shinra was creating something with the means of leaving our planet. But somehow, that rocket looked both frighteningly foreign and equally the only possible appearance of such a thing. Proof of what great things we people could be capable of.

I wouldn't say Shinra was in my good books at the moment (to put it mildly) but if they decided to do more of this - real, positive technological and scientific breakthroughs - and less of… everything else, then I might actually think they were a good company. Maybe I'd even want to work for them.

Such a shame then, that they do all of everything else. But wasn't this whole space travel thing a major deal? Why wasn't it front and centre of the news each week? Gaia knew the company could use the good publicity. Unless it was, or I was really out of touch. Which I probably was. Well, definitely.

I was stunned by the construction, more impressed than I could put into words. To see humanity grow and aim for greater took my breath away. And honestly, I was really happy. I had a wide smile that I was only barely aware of by the slight pain in my cheeks. I stared at the most amazing piece of engineering I had ever seen, and was filled with giddiness and childish glee, because I could be.

…it made sense in my head, I promise.

But I digress. I could see my destination ahead, so with enough rations to last another few days, I decided to see what I could manage to achieve before returning to civilisation. Lana had graciously donated me a small amount of gil along with the ridiculous amount of food and water, so if I wasn't in fighting fit form by the fourteenth day, I'd be able to get by for perhaps another week on those funds. If I could help it though, I would leave that gil untouched. It wouldn't spoil, and I was the type of sentimental sap that would want to keep it as a memento of the most generous person I had ever met. Then I could give it back to her in a little while. Plus interest.

Spurred on by the realisation that I had a lot of work to do, I started to wander the plains. Hopefully I'd find some fiends to defeat, to build my strength and assure myself of my own capability. Maybe, if I was lucky, those that I felled might drop a gil or two, or provide an item that might be of some value. Maybe I could find a nasty beast with a price on its head, and could claim some gil from that.

Sapphire Amell, the monster hunter. Ah, so cool.