Crisis Core: The Female SOLDIER

14

"Whoa, this is some serious trouble!" Zack exclaimed once the three of them had arrived at Sector 8, seeing the numerous Genesis copies and robotic weapons terrorizing the place, civilians running away from the hostiles approaching them.

"We should split up," Sephiroth announced, and Sera and Zack nodded.

"Understood!"

The three SOLDIERs 1st Class went off in different directions, taking out any Genesis copies and robotic weapons found in the streets. Sera moved quickly, destroying every copy and machine she saw before they could harm the citizens when she saw a pair of mother and child on the floor about to be cornered by a pair of Genesis copies. She dashed their way towards them, blocking a strike about to be sent their way and turned to glance back to the frightened pair.

"Go! Get somewhere safe!" She ordered, pushing the copy back as she proceeded to take them down. The pair didn't need any more encouragement. With a quick nod from the mother, the pair hurried off down a clear path as Sera fought the copies. They were defeated quickly and as Sera looked around for any more of them on the streets, she went in the direction the pair had run off to and soon found them hiding behind the walls in the dark. The mother and child pair approached her slowly.

"Th-thank you," The mother stammered, still shaken by the encounter and Sera nodded.

"Are you both hurt anywhere?" The mother shook her head but Sera saw the child, who was a little girl, had a scraped knee, possibly having fallen while they were running, and she knelt down and cast a cure spell on the light scrape. The blood and wound soon disappeared and she smiled softly, looking at the child who was looking at Sera with astonishment when she found her knee was no longer hurting. "There, you should be able to walk now."

"Thank you, miss. Are you a SOLDIER?" At this Sera nodded, and the little girl grinned widely.

"You're so cool! You must be really strong if you're a SOLDIER! And you took down those bad guys like they were nothing! I wanna be just like you when I grow up!" The mother could only smile sheepishly at the child's outburst and Sera just stared at her in shock before she gave a small awkward smile as she stood up.

"Thank you," Sera could not say anything else other than that to the child, and she turned back to the mother. "You both should quickly get home as fast as you can. This area is safe at the moment but you should go before more appear."

The both of them nodded. "A while earlier, I saw a man dressed in red walking about in the street together with the masked people and machines," the mother spoke. "He looked like he could be the leader of those attacking the city. If you take him out, the rest might just leave."

'Genesis,' Sera's eyes narrowed at the mother's words and she nodded. "I see. Thank you for telling me."

"We will be going now," the mother spoke. "Thank you again for saving us."

"Bye, SOLDIER miss!" The little girl waved to Sera and she waved back politely as she watched them ran off, turning to a street. Sera moved forward as she searched for any of the machines or Genesis copies that could still be around.

The sight of the mother and child brought back memories of the past. Memories that she didn't want to remember and with them, questions that have been pushed to the farthest part of her mind resurfaced.

A little girl, no older than 8 years old with deep blue hair to her reaching down her neck, was wandering around deep in the forest, her clothes dirty and tattered and her face smudged with dirt and tears as she walked around aimlessly, crying.

A slight sound caught her ears and she paused her crying momentarily to see bushes rustling. A large canine beast came out from the bushes and she screamed, running away as the monster proceeded to chase after her but she soon found herself cornered at the bottom of the cliff. The monster leaped, about to tear her to shreds and the little girl closed her eyes tightly, hands over her head in a meek attempt to protect herself when a swift slice was heard along with the monster's yelp before a thud was heard.

When nothing else came forward, she opened her eyes to find herself staring at a person clad with long silver hair and clad in black, holding a sword that was now stained with the blood of the beast that laid dead on the ground.

"Filthy creatures," a deep voice was heard from the man as he muttered in distaste, cleaning his sword on the monster's hide and he turned to look at the girl, revealing a pair of green cat-like eyes.

"What are you doing here, little girl? This is no place for you to be wandering about on your own." The man spoke.

"I... I don't know. I-I can't remember anything. When I woke up, I-I was a-already h-here," the girl answered, intimidated by the man before her and she found herself crying once more, her lack of memories and what just happened earlier causing her emotions to go haywire. The man sighed, not used to dealing with children and flipped his phone open, dialing a few a numbers and brought it to his ear. A few words were exchanged between the imposing man before her and whoever was speaking at the other end before the man had hung up and was now looking back towards the girl. "Come with me. I'm to take you back to the base."

The little girl just stared at him oddly, having stopped crying when he spoke. Go with him? Where would he take her? She didn't know this man. Then again, she didn't know anyone else other than him. And this man had saved her.

The silver-haired man sighed, seeing the little girl not moving, possibly out of fright and he knelt down towards the little girl. His eyes softened slightly. "Little girl, do you want to become strong?"

"Huh?" The girl looked at him curiously, not understanding his words.

"Do you want to become strong?" The man repeated. "Strong enough to protect yourself? If you do, then come with me." The man held out a gloved hand towards her.

The little girl looked at the hand held out towards, then back at the man as she thought about his words. He asked her if she wanted to become strong, strong enough to protect herself at least. She thought back on what happened just moments ago. How she felt so frightened and helpless when the giant monster came to attack her and he took it down within a second. The man was strange, and a bit scary but he was powerful, powerful enough to take down the beast with a single swipe of his sword. If she followed him, would she be able to become just as strong? Strong as this man before her?

She made up her mind.

The little girl nodded and reached out to take his hand timidly, and the man smiled slightly. Hand in tow, both the little girl and the man began to make their way out of the forest, the man leading the way and the girl spoke up once more.

"U-um, thank you," the little girl stuttered slightly, "for saving me just now...You are...?" It just occurred to her that she didn't know this man's name at all.

"...Sephiroth...And you?"

"...Sera..."