Hidden Identity (Book Two)-Complete

Year Five, Day Thirty-Two

Cress POV

"Good morning, dear," Mrs. Fair says kindly when I wake up the next morning. She's already up preparing breakfast. "Hope you don't mind oatmeal for breakfast, dear. Oh my! I just realized I'd forgotten to ask your name last night! How silly of me!"

"It's alright, ma'am. You can call me 'Cress'," I reply, smiling sweetly. No wonder Aerith fell in love with the boy who was raised by this nice woman.

"Cress, what a beautiful name."

"Thank you, ma'am."

I join her at the small table, noticing her husband's vacant seat as she serves me a bowl of oatmeal with pieces of fruit chopped up in it. It's very delicious. "Thank you, again, ma'am, for your hospitality."

She smiles. "Please, it was no trouble at all, dear. Now, you wanted to know about Samantha Green, correct? It is not my business to ask why, so I won't. Is there anything in particular you wanted to know?"

"Everything you can, ma'am. If it isn't too much trouble..."

"Not at all...let's see, after she moved to the city, we didn't here much for a couple years. Then, Zack, our son, wrote to us saying he'd met up with her on a joint date with his new girlfriend...Aerith I think her name was. Samantha was there with her boyfriend...I can't remember his name, dear me. I know I have the letter her somewhere."

Mrs. Fair digs around in the chest of drawers for a little bit before pulling out a stack of letters. She rummages through them before pulling out one with an, "aha! This is the one. Go on. Read it."

Thanking her again, I unfold the piece of paper and read it to myself: Dear Ma and Pa, Guess who I met last night? I went on a joint date with Aerith and a comrade of mine from work, Sephiroth. Turns out Samantha Green is dating him now! Cool, right? Running into a childhood friend here in Midgar, of all places! And guess what? She has purple hair now! She's still living with her aunt in Sector 7. Cool, right?

I stop there, unable to read anymore. Shock envelopes me. Did I read that right? Samantha...was dating Sephiroth!? That can't be right! I'd never date that son of a motherless goat! If I am Sam, that is...come to think of it, Cloud did say he changed. Maybe...maybe he wasn't always a mass-murdering lunatic...still...

"Are there any more letters from Zack about Samantha?" I ask Mrs. Fair.

"Actually, yes, there is one more. He sent us a picture and a postcard from when he went to Costa del Sol for vacation once," she says, nodding and rummaging through the stack again. She hands me a postcard of a beautiful sunny beach.

Dear Ma and Pa, my vacation is going well, I suppose. Sam and Aerith almost destroyed this awesome sand castle I made the other day. I barely managed to stop them in time.

Sephiroth has still to get in the water even once. His excuse is that he doesn't like getting wet. Sam is determined to get him to come in. She told me she was going to sit in the water for the rest of vacation until Sephiroth got in. I wonder how that'll work out.

I included some pictures we took on the fourth day of our vacay. Hope to see you both soon, Zack.

"Here are the pictures he sent with it."

The first one is of a tall young man with long, spiky black hair-this must be Zack-in black and blue swim trunks splashing water on Aerith who is wearing a cute pink one-piece; it has a scribbled caption reading 'Playing with Aerith'. The second one is of Sephiroth sitting under a large beach umbrella reading a book and drinking what looks like lemonade captioned 'The Great War Hero Needs to Learn How to Date From Books'. The third is of a dark-skinned young woman with dark purple hair seemingly scolding Zack for something captioned 'Never Steal Sam's Towel'. The last has Zack with Aerith on his shoulders standing next to Sephiroth with his arms around Sam who barely reaches his chest.

They all look so happy in that last photo. Even Sephiroth has this small smile on his face. They look like they were all very good friends. How could Sephiroth go from this kind-looking man to the lunatic I know now in just a few days, according to Cloud?

"Dear? Are you alright?" Mrs. Fair suddenly asks, pulling me back to the present. I realize that I have tears trickling from my eyes.

Drying them, I nod. "Yes, I'm alright..."

"The Greens' house still stands. Would you like to visit it?"

"Yes, please."

As she leads me through the small village, my mind wanders back to the photos. Why didn't Aerith tell me Sam's boyfriend was Sephiroth? She obviously knew. Was she worried about how I'd react?

It's clear from those photos that that Sephiroth isn't the same one as this Sephiroth. What happened in Nibelheim changed him for the worst. Still, it's kind of hard to believe he and the girl I might be were in a relationship. Does he remember at all?

We stop in front of a hut right on the outskirts of the village. An overgrown vegetable garden can be seen behind it. Slowly I step inside.

I freeze. Everything here. It's so familiar. The brick fireplace, the cot-like bed, the hammock, the animal-fur rug on the floor, the pots and pans and dried plants hanging from the ceiling, it's all...all so very familiar. I step over to the hammock and pick up a doll made of brown cloth with black yarn hair and a dress made from woven corn husks. 

"Elizabeth," I murmur. A memory pushes its way to the front of my mind: 

A bronze-skinned woman with long wavy black hair is sitting on the cot-bed, humming as she sews the doll together. I'm sitting on the floor by her feet, doodling in the dust. I think my drawing is supposed to be a person, but it looks more like a mutated fish.

"Here, Samantha, darling. Happy Birthday," the woman, who must be my mother, says, handing me the doll. "She'll keep you company all the time."

"Thanks, ma!" I cry with delight, stroking the doll's hair. "I'll name her Elizabeth! Like that princess in the story you told me last night!"

"That's a wonderful name, darling."

Elizabeth. The princess whose knight never came, so she befriended the dragon who held her captive. Together, they went about rescuing other princesses and teaching them that you can't always count on knights and princes to save you. I liked that story a lot, but I still enjoyed the stories with princesses being rescued by their knights in shining armor and living happily ever after.

Wait, I did? No, I still do! I remember! I remember this house! I remember my parents! I remember acting out these stories with Zack being my knight in shining armor! I remember...I remember my parents' death...

Again, my fingers find my three scars. They are the only injuries I suffered physically because my parents protected me. They shielded me with they're bodies and were torn to pieces. Mangled before my very eyes.

I fall to my knees, clutching Elizabeth. More and more memories keep shoving themselves into my head like impatient patrons at a restaurant. It's too much, too overwhelming for me to handle. So, I black out.