The Final Fantasy

How Suttle

Even if the morrow is barren of promises,

Nothing shall forestall my return...

-Dylan Alcorn

The next morning my leaving was quick. I awoke before Denzil or Tifa had even woke up to say goodbye. Goodbyes are the last thing I needed right now. I was on my way to Midgar, a prospering city that once housed the Shinra company but was now a burnt outer shell of what used to be.

Coming back to Midgar made old memories flood back into my mind. Sepheroth, the greatest soldier member that ever lived. He was in ones words, a hero. He felt that a person was as valuable as anything else in the world. That is....until his thoughts became clouded and filled with grief and revenge. During a mission to find Genesis, Sepheroth discovered his dark past. He discovered that he was made from the cells of a calamity called Jenova who fell from the sky. Sepheroth infused in himself the idea that he was a monster, an abomination. He began to seek revenge against everyone that lied to him, making him feel like he a hero when in fact he was a resurrected demon. He became corrupted. Sepheroth was one of the members from my unit, so he too was my friend, but during one of his missions for revenge he sought me out to. To him I had not wronged him. He wanted only the location of Jenova's head, but I didn't give it to him. He felt I had betrayed him. That I was stopping him from his goal of sailing the cosmos in search of new planets. I tried to talk some sense into him but he wouldn't listen to reason. So Sepheroth attacked me. Moments later he was dead at my feet. My confrontation with him turned into my worst nightmare. I had killed my friend. But that was the past, and one of the reasons I was running.

I could finally start to see the outer edges of Midgar. From what I could tell it hadn't really changed much. The rocky outer limits around Midgar could almost hide the massive city if it wasn't for its size. Midgar was mainly known for one reason. The power it supplied that was drained from the life stream.

As I approached the cities main gates I caught sight of two guards waiting for my arrival. I shut of the engine of my Shinra-21 motorcycle, and waited for one of the guards to approach me. The taller of the two came toward me. His rugged dark hair and bright blue eyes pierced mine. The gray chest plate complimented his black under shirt that was torn in one place and went all the way to his blue trousers to his black boots. My eyes flashed back and fourth from the guards gun to his face.

“Where ya from?” he said as he stepped up to my bike.

“Ticonderoga,” I replied.

“Ticonderoga, eh, that quite a distance between Midgar and there, What brings you here?”

“I have things to attend to,” I said in return.

He leaned down a bit to meet my eye level, “Don't get smart with me boy! That's a good 300 miles from here to there and your traveling alone? Pretty suspicious if you ask me.”

“Like I said Gretchly,” I read his name card, “I have things to take care of!”

“Ehe Lintz,” he said laughing, “this guys got a mouth on him wouldn't ya say?”

The other guard clearly known as Lintz was leaning against the city wall and at Gretchly's words he looked up and smiled. Gretchly got close enough to my face so that I could smell his breath. It was foul. He leaned back up and I watched him pass by me and stroke the edge of my bike with two fingers.

“It's a shame, I bet you paid a lots money for this bike didn't you...eh...”

“Cloud,” I told him, “and yes,”

I turned back to Lintz who was now walking toward me. My body began to tense.

“Yeah, Cloud...its a shame we have to take it from you!!”