Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Simply A Continuation ❯ Opening ( Chapter 1 )

Opening.

 

It was over, there was no doubt of this. With a final strike from a divine blade, Cloud Strife finally brought about the end of a nightmare. He stood amongst the abyss, the Lifestream flowing about him, seeming to embrace him in silent gratitude, surrounding it with his emerald hues. He looked, upward, as if teleported, he suddenly found himself catching hold of a dear childhood friend and saving them both from a terrible fate. He simply continued looking to the heavens as he spoke.

“I think we'll find here there.”

The girl that he held close nodded, a smile that held contradicting emotions curled up upon her lips. “Yes...let's go there.”

Soon they found however, that all hell was breaking loose, enacting it's wrath upon the world. With mere fortune, and help from an escape pod aboard the now obliterated Highwind, they all stood by as the battle for the planet between Holy and Meteor took place. At first, the calamity from the skies seemed victorious until a moment took place. A moment in which Cloud Strife saw the ancient open her eyes. It was then that the Lifestream churned forth, joining the fray that ravaged the city of Midgar, which was being destroyed, torn apart piece by piece. Until at last, the combined strength of the planet, and Holy cast the ultimate black magic into the heavens never to return.

Two years later...

He was alone, that is, that is how it always seemed as of late as the Fenrir roared beneath him, the forests that lined the ragged dirt road going by in a mere blur. It was dark, the daylight long having past and the night draping it's curtain over his section of the world, the only light being the moon that lent it's ghostly pale silver light upon any surface.

The city was nearing in the distance, easily seen through the silhouette of what was once an immense, powerful cannon, hundreds of feet high and nearly a mile long. What was called, the Sister Ray. And yet, now, it was nothing but a useless piece of scrap, the city was in ruin, and yet, finally after two years of staring at the devastation the citizens of Midgar were finally beginning to rebuild their home. Now all that remained of the former city was the Shin-Ra tower, a mark of fear of the days past, and the cannon itself, which was far too large to move, let alone touch for fear of weak structure. His sapphire eyes alighted his path as he continued forth, the cold crisp winds billowing through his ruffled blonde hair and numbing his ears.

At last, he felt to an extent he was heading home after a long trip to his hometown, accursed memories and all, Nibelheim. Why he went there every year....he did not know, and yet, it always seemed to draw him. Perhaps, it was his lacking of home, or he was drawn to such horror and in thus, such action to stop it, even though it was buried with in the layers of his past, and could not be undone. His life, at best, was one that was full of sorrow and anger. Having not stopped the death of an innocent girl, and always it seemed, to be there a second late, until the end, with him. Sephiroth, the man who terrified the world, not just with his name, his sword, but with the Meteor, which Cloud, and his allies, had managed to stop at the last, final moment.

And yet, it had done it's damage, not destroying the planet, but taking the lives of thousands in Midgar, something, that he would never forgive himself for. Each time, each moment he was there, he argued with himself in his head at one point or another, shouting at his mistakes, trying to gain forgiveness, but always, no matter how hard he tried, he failed. With a scream of rubber and a final, roar full of respite, he came to a sudden stop in front of a decaying church, and un-mounted the Fenrir, sheathing an immense, steel blade upon his back as he pushed the two wooden doors open solemnly, and walking inside, his stride sharp and precise as he passed between light from the stained-glass windows, to the darkness that lay between them.

After all, it was where he belonged, such a terrible figure in such a holy place, an accursed man with an accursed life, he continued forth to a flower garden that lay in it's center, despite it's missing caretaker, it had always been in good shape, perhaps, the children he had seen here had been taking care of it. To him, that did not matter as his eyes sparked with the light of the Lifestream, the sapphire glow alighting the soft yellow petals giving them an odd hue. He didn't belong here, but at the same time, he did...every time he traveled to the ruins of Midgar, he came to this place, not out of sadness, but out of anger at himself, and to pray for forgiveness from the woman that he had let die.

 

Elsewhere in the very same ruined city a ragged, dirty white cloth laid upon the final layer of wax upon a bar-top. A reflection of a halfhearted smile coming into view and as it dried it revealed a lightly tanned face as chocolate eyes stared back, the mirror image lifting a leather gloved hand to brush aside a strand of dark brown hair. The eyes seemed to shine with optimism, however, if one was to look deep a great sadness could be seen within them. After all, the eyes are the window to the soul. The woman stood up slowly removing her eyes from the reflection, scolding herself for getting distracted, closing time was nigh, and there were still customers scattered throughout, despite the fact that the last call had been shouted out a half hour ago.

Moving quickly and silently, the long black dress that covered her back seemed to flow like water as she made her way through the dispersing crowd to the front of the bar. Raising her hands and shouting at the top of her lungs, her message was made clear.

“The last call was a half hour ago. Get out of here NOW!”

The customers shuddered before one by one, seemingly single-file despite their inebriation, they disappeared into the night. Leaving the girl to finish out the final closing chores, quickly dusting off the small tables that were scattered about and tossing the rag into the sink, she placed her hands on her hips, intently studying her surroundings. Smiling lightly and nodding in approval she turned on heel instinctively tightening her gloves. Her fingertips seemed to merely brush the bolt locking system as she exited and closed the door behind her, one hand attempting to turn the doorknob and failing, insuring that the lock had fallen into place.

Turning to face darkness she frowned slightly before pulling apprehensively at her black tank top slightly as a long sigh escaped from her lips. Now, onto her other job, that was also her home, the orphanage. She was an orphan herself, but having aged beyond that she partook in the care for children who had suffered such a terrible loss as well. Driving thoughts of the children from her mind, her focus maintained upon the road ahead, whilst her remaining senses wandered her surroundings. Leaving nothing, not even a pin-drop unnoticed. The streets of Midgar at night was still a dangerous place, even more so since the fall of Shin-Ra, perhaps that was the only thing that she really missed. The extra security, unorthodox as it was.

In the distance she saw the three floor building, looking weary and forlorn, the brick having worn greatly due to harsh winds that swept through the city from time to time. And much to her dismay the children were outside, still playing amidst the darkness. She sprinted to where they had gathered at the cast iron gate, awaiting her arrival. Upon her reaching them, they were all ushered inside as she attempted to shout at them, but failed. One of the children however, Marlene, one whose father was wandering the globe fought her push and spoke aloud.

“Tif!”

Tifa blinked at her nickname being shouted from the girl and stopped, while thankfully, the others had headed to their rooms. Kneeling down and gently placing a hand upon Marlene's shoulder, she spoke, her voice softened slightly, as if in a hush.

“Marlene, is there something wrong?”

The girl's high pitched voice chirped aloud, excited and all. “I saw Cloud! It was really him! He drove by, going really fast on a motorcycle!”

Tifa blinked for a moment, her heart racing for a second, hope running on high before forcing herself to get a reality check. Cloud...She hadn't seen him in two years. Not since Meteor, he had disappeared, why, of all times, would he be here now? Marlene had probably just been seeing things. There wasn't many places he could go in the ruined city. Mentally she could only think of three places, Aerith's mother's house, the orphanage where she was living, the most likely place of all, the church. Why he would go there still puzzled her. She knew he was looking for something, but what? Her gaze softened at this thought of him possibly being in the city, before she looked back to Marlene.

“Marlene, you were probably just overtired, go to bed allright?”

“But!”

“No `Buts' just go to bed, please?”

The child groaned, aggravated, knowing she had seen who she had seen. “Fine.”

 

The church itself was silent, the only noise being the rare, occasional howl of wind passing through the decaying ruin as the ex-SOLDIER stood at the expanding flower-garden, unfazed by the chill that seemed to travel down his spine. In a sudden jerk of motion he whipped around, the cloak that draped across his arm and leg flowing with him. His cold, penetrating gaze staring at his surroundings, looking for the slightest sign of movement. His right gloved hand raising slowly to grasp the hilt of the Buster Sword, which lay sheathed upon his back. After a minute of solemn silence he considered himself to be alone as he turned his attention back to the garden.

What was he doing here? What was he trying to accomplish by coming here?

He was trying to find forgiveness, it was because of him that the disease known as Geo-Stigma was ravaging the planet, that even he had become infected. Perhaps it was because of this he would have to repent for his sins far sooner than he had anticipated. It had started upon his left arm, slowly climbing up and infecting the entire limb, it was only a matter of time until his remaining body would be engulfed. At least that was what he thought, he had a chance to survive, unlike most other people that had been killed. If the mako that ran through his veins fought back. Daily, he prayed for this to happen so he could continue to protect what little was left.

To him these days, there were only a few names that had really mattered.

Barret, Marlene, Nanaki, Vincent, Yuffie, Cid, and Tifa.

Especially Tifa, after all, Cloud had a promise that he would always keep.

He wondered if they were all angry with him, after all, he hadn't spoken to any of them in two years, he even considered the possibility that they all might hate him, who wouldn't? He had avoided them all, leaving so much behind, even to the point where he considered himself of being guilty for abandoning them. Perhaps, it was time for him to go back plead for forgiveness from them all, and lead what he could consider a normal life. He turned to stare at the garden for a moment longer, a long breath escaping from him before he turned, and exited out of the church, pushing the great wooden doors aside to stride to his motorcycle which laid impatiently in wait.

Revving the engine for a second, he made a final glance to the church.

And with that he took off into the night, becoming a white streak through the eve, the headlight cutting through the night in a great blur, traveling at a high speed before coming upon the orphanage whose only solitary light suggested the aware consciousness of one other. Cloud willing to put money on whom. The engine fell to an ominous silence with a final roar, and with that, the remaining lights lit, commotion echoing out into the night as he had unintentionally awoken the children. He had to move quick and out of politeness, at least knock.

So he swiftly un-mounted, striding quickly to the door, raising his right hand and...

 

The roar from the distance had made her frown, the nerve of some people, and even worse, it was drawing near. And from the sound of it, the entire orphanage had been awoken. Whomever it was, they were going to get a butt kicking, for sure. She tightened her gloves and strode down the stairs, ushering the children to their rooms once more and turning out the lights one by one until the roar came to a sudden stop. They had stopped here, but why? She managed to stuff an obstinate Marlene back into her room before making her way down the stair and to the front door, undoing the bolt and tearing open the door.

“Just who do you think you are?!”

“...Tifa?”

It was then that she took a moment to see who she was yelling at, and stopped.

It was him.

She opened her mouth to speak, to shout, to do anything, but was at a total loss. Marlene was right, he was here, and standing in front of her. She turned at the sound of a creak and found the entire orphanage on the staircase, staring at the newcomer. Almost immediately she gave them a stare-of-death, which, to be truthful, wasn't threatening, but enough to get them to head back to their rooms. Except for Marlene, who gave Tifa the `I told you so' glare before returning to her room. Tifa whipped around again, with awkward grace and staring at him once more, before at last speaking.

“Sorry about the kids.”

He simply shook his head, and managed a slight smile, barely visible in the evening. “Don't worry about it, after all I probably woke em' up.”

Managing a smile in return, her looks changed from a cautious optimism to concern before speaking. “Cloud...what, where did you go after Meteor, what happened?”

“I'm sorry Tifa....I...I should just go. I'm only going to cause more trouble.”

With that, he turned to leave and began to pace away from the orphanage, heading from the doorway until he was stopped, the woman running from the doorway and embracing him warmly, making him stop dead in his tracks.

“Just stay the night, I've got a spare room, and you need rest. Stay allright?”

“Fine.”

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, they all belong to Square Enix.