By: Mags

"I am Adrian Work, and at one time, I was a resident of the small town of Nibelheim. But that is all in the past. Nibelheim, to my knowledge, no longer exists. It all started five years ago when a nearby Mako Reactor began to fault, producing deadly mutations that stalked us in our own hometown. The creatures destroyed entire houses, and even more houses were purposely collapsed in attempt to kill them off, but to no avail. The creatures possessed an unnatural intellect, and their stamina was greater than ours was.

Finally, two months later after a greater part of the town had been destroyed, we were down to only a few houses, and a big mansion that even the creatures avoided. It was a blistering hot day, like the day before that and the day before that. It was the day that the ShinRa arrived. For all of us, we could finally relax. Despite it’s delay, the ShinRa had sent the best they had, Sephiroth, along with a 1^st Class SOLDIER named Zack, and a few ShinRa cadets. We thought that our troubles were over. How wrong we had been. Sometime between when the ShinRa arrived and when they fixed the Mako Reactor, effectively snuffing the monsters, Sephiroth went insane. I remember watching from my second story window, ducking just out of view, as Sephiroth stormed through the town killing anything that moved. He would have surely killed us all had it not been for Cloud. Cloud Strife was a local boy who lived with his mother, a kind middle-aged lady, and just a few blocks down from my house. His mother was just coming back from the General Store when Sephiroth went on his bloody rampage. He came up from behind her and ripped through her like a paper doll with that sword of his. I assume that Cloud had been watching because he ran out to his mother after Sephiroth left. I watched with a tear in my eye, as he cradled his mother’s lifeless body, not caring that his entire body was stained red with her blood, or that he was exposed and out in the open. I heard him sobbing, heard him cry out with rage, cursing the man who had ruined his life.

I watched in wonder as he ran off in the direction Sephiroth had left in. I found that my curiosity overwhelmed my better judgement and I decided to follow him. Although I knew it was a stupid move, I was lucky. If I had stayed there a minute later, I would have met the same electrical death that the rest of my family met. I followed Cloud up to the ShinRa mansion, and hid behind some thick bushes, fearing for my life, but not daring to move, lest I catch Sephiroth’s watchful eye.

As I looked on, Cloud began roaring his challenge to Sephiroth at the mansion. I didn’t expect him to get an answer, I didn’t even think that anyone even lived in the mansion anymore. However, after Cloud finished, just as he began to walk away, there was a dying scream, and the sound of shattering glass. A body fell from one of the windows on the top floor of the mansion that I recognized as belonging to that SOLDIER, Zack that had come to Nibelheim with Sephiroth. So much for his help. Apparently, Sephiroth had already taken care of him.

At this point, I was feeling really depressed. With the 1^st Class SOLDIER dispatched, I figured that there was nothing standing in Sephiroth’s way, and that he was free to slaughter the rest of us at his leisure.

But I had not counted on Cloud. Or at least not counted him among the living…

Cloud walked over to the body and examined it. He checked for a pulse, and I guess he didn’t find one because he did not try to shake him awake. Instead, he tried to pick up the SOLDIERs sword. But the SOLDIERS are enhanced with Jenova and Mako strength, an advantage Cloud did not have. And no matter how hard the determined young man tried, the sword would not budge. It looked like the end of the line for Cloud. A minute later, Sephiroth himself leaped through the broken window onto the mansion’s front lawn, the only sound that marked his arrival were the broken glass shards that he landed on. But it was enough for Cloud, who abandoned any hope of getting the sword to budge, much less actually picking it up and using it as a weapon. Call it foolishness or bravery, but Cloud marched right up to Sephiroth, who was just standing there staring at him with a puzzled look on his face. Apparently, he didn’t expect any of the townspeople to have the gall to confront him like this. But Cloud had nothing to lose a most dangerous type of adversary.

However, Cloud didn’t get more than five feet from Sephiroth before they both dropped to the ground, writhing in pain, clutching their heads. I was half hoping that someone would walk out with some sort of Sonic Pistol and subdue Sephiroth, but no such luck.

Sephiroth was the first back on his feet. He wobbled and swayed his face a mask of pain as he attempted to right himself, propping himself up on that giant sword of his. He must have begun to feel better the farther they moved from Cloud’s body, because he began to regain his balance. He kept his distance from Cloud, though, as he pondered how to get rid of him. He attempted to walk towards him, but was thrown back again, the wind knocked out of him.

Cloud, on the other hand, seemed to be in a lot worse shape. He was sprawled on the ground, white foam pouring from his mouth, taking short, sharp breaths. It looked like he was having a seizure or a heart attack, but he was too young to get those. Whatever was happening to him, though, it looked like it hurt a lot. But at least it was hurting Sephiroth, too. I prayed that whatever power Cloud was using would hold out until Sephiroth was dead, or at least immobilized.

As Sephiroth and I looked on, Cloud’s prone body began to almost seem to glow, not brightly at first, rather a pale glow. I realized that the earring that he had picked up a while back, a nice white jewel inlaid in gold, was giving off some sort of light. Soon, the light began to envelope Cloud’s entire body, until his entire body, clothes and all, were pure white to the point where there was no depth to him at all. There were no shadows or contrast. Then, the energy shot up into the air, having been incubated by Cloud’s body. Then, a powerful blast of white light was slammed into Cloud from the heavens. The blast revived Cloud, but was having an opposite affect of Sephiroth. He apparently had not expected to run into such a powerful foe in such a backwater town as Nibelheim. That’ll teach him to underestimate us.

I was rooting for Cloud as he began to get up. Although, in retrospect, I realize now that had I known how the power Cloud seemed to have acquired had changed him, I would never had rooted for him. Instead, I would have run. Run as fast as I could. As far away as I could get. Cloud was no longer Cloud at all. To this day, I don’t know what he became, but it wasn’t the Cloud I grew up with.

The first sign of this was the look on his face. He had such a good-looking face before, and a nice smile to boot. It drove the girls crazy. But now, his face looked dark and foreboding, as though some evil spirit had possessed him. His mouth was twisted into a cruel smile, and his shadows seemed to flicker like a black flame.

The second clue was his eyes. Normally, Cloud’s eyes were a vibrant blue, a very deep blue that girls seemed to be able to get lost in very quickly. But now, his eyes seemed to glow. Now, I do not mean that he had any sort of shine in his eyes. I mean that his eyes were literally glowing. It was more comparable to the eyes of a SOLDIER infused with Mako energy. Or better yet, a wild animal’s eyes at night.

However, whatever had happened to him, it was no longer having any effect on Sephiroth, who wasted no time in launching an attack at Cloud.

The next series of events are almost a blur to me, they happened so quickly. First, Cloud grabbed Sephiroth’s sword by the blade and lifted him off the ground and threw him hard into a house across the street, causing the house to collapse in on itself, and Sephiroth.

After that, there was a moment of silence. There was no wind, no sounds, as Cloud walked over to the building to make sure his foe was dead.

All of a sudden, Sephiroth shot up out of the wreckage and landed a solid hit to Cloud’s chin that would have severed a normal man’s head. But Cloud was no normal man anymore, but he still went flying.

He landed in a cloud of dust creating a small crater next to the deceased ShinRa SOLDIER. He got right up out of the crater like nothing had happened, and there was not a single scratch visible on him. At the same time, Sephiroth leaped high into the air prepared to sink his sword’s blade deep into his assailant’s chest.

But Cloud once again showed that he was not easily killed, and rolled out of the way at the last possible second. With one motion, he lifted the SOLDIER’s sword across his body as a shield, not even taking time to realize that he had done something so easily that not ten minutes ago he would have burst a blood vessel trying to do.

One of the other more prominent changes in Cloud was his attitude. Cloud was, for the most part, an average fourteen-year-old. He loved sports, hung around with lots of friends, and for the most part was just a plain goofy, outspoken kid.

Not anymore, though. Now, Cloud’s face was humorless. Although you might think that after what had happened to his mother, he wouldn’t be very happy, rather very angry. But Cloud did not seem to be angry, either. Rather, his face seemed devoid of all emotion. Like a machine, or a puppet. Acting on something or someone else’s accord. His movements were as smooth as a dancer’s, and as precise as one, too. All his movements were graceful to the point where they looked choreographed. I must admit that I was enraptured, totally oblivious to what was happening around me, or else I would have aided my townspeople in evacuating the town.

Sephiroth, too, seemed to be faring well. The matchless strength that had elevated him to celebrity status among ShinRa seemed to be his only advantage, though. He still had a human look and feel to him, not like Cloud.

Sephiroth was acting like a human, as opposed to the seemingly robotic actions of Cloud. Cloud never seemed to stop moving, tirelessly jumping all around, flailing that huge sword of his like it weighed a mere five pounds. Sephiroth was holding his own well enough, but after about an hour of striking at one another and demolishing the buildings that were still standing, as well as the surrounding countryside, Sephiroth was perspiring.

The training program to become a SOLDIER is legendary, so it did not strike me as odd that Sephiroth was in good enough shape to hold up against Cloud, but he was beginning to get noticeably slower, and tire. There was strain in his face, and a hint of fear in his eye. I could tell that he was scared, most likely because he had always been the best. And here he was, faced with a creature that could prove to be his undoing, and he was forced to fight it to the death. A very precarious position he was in, indeed.

After a little while longer, Sephiroth was conserving his strength, sticking solely to defense, only taking offensive strikes when there was a large enough opening, Surprisingly, I was beginning to feel almost what felt like pity for Sephiroth. No, wait, I take that back. It was not pity that I felt for him, rather empathy for his plight. He had fallen so far from grace in the past two hours that one couldn’t help but feel empathy for him on some level.

As time wore on, Cloud got more and more confident, leaving himself needlessly open and exposed several times. I guess that I had been wrong about Cloud acting like a robot. He apparently had still retained enough emotions to get overconfident and cocky.

As time wore on, Sephiroth seemed to be getting in worse and worse shape. He had already suffered several blows to the ribs and back; blood flowed freely from a vicious gash that ran from the center of his chest to his right flank, staining his silver locks a deep shade of red.

Cloud, however, remained relatively unscathed save a few wounds that Sephiroth had inflicted earlier on but they were not nearly as deep as his own wounds. Their battle had left Cloud’s weapon stained brownish-red with Sephiroth’s blood. Sephiroth was in pretty sorry condition and things were looking grim for him. I did not expect the fight to last more then a few more minutes.

But Sephiroth did rise to the top ranks of SOLDIER by just laying down and dying whenever he was being badly beaten and I will admit that I seriously underestimated Sephiroth’s prowess and abilities. You should know that whatever stories you may have heard about him and his fantastic and uncanny abilities, no matter how exaggerated they may seem, do not do him justice. Sephiroth’s stamina is incredible.

Sephiroth was doubled over in pain, reeling in pain; his back turned to his enemy. As Cloud rushed at him, I thought that the fight would be finished with one huge cleave of Cloud’s giant sword. But Sephiroth was not nearly as helpless as he looked at the moment. As Cloud leaped into the air and reared back the sword for the final strike, Sephiroth twisted his grasp on his own sword and without a moment’s hesitation, thrust the sword through his own stomach so that it stabbed Cloud in the heart!

Whatever pain Sephiroth was feeling Cloud was feeling tenfold. Then Sephiroth, in a sudden act of brutality, twisted the sword in his stomach so that it ground its way deeper through Cloud’s heart. Cloud screamed in agony and slumped down onto the sword, sliding down farther onto the blade of the sword.

Sephiroth’s stamina is incredible! After enduring such a long and brutal fight, he still was able to stay conscious with such a wound, deeper then any Cloud had inflicted on him.

After he was sure that Cloud was indeed dead he finally withdrew the sword from his prone body. He gave Cloud’s body a few nudges with the toe of his boot before he finally walked away, towards the tattered remains of what once had been a prosperous little town, what was now nothing more then burning piles of cinder and wooden planks.

Suddenly Cloud’s body shot up and Cloud stood in battle stance for a minute and slowly inched his towards Sephiroth, who turned around and had readied himself for another vigor-draining battle. I could practically feel Sephiroth’s relief when Cloud dropped to his knees and finally flat on his face not twenty yards from where Sephiroth stood. Sephiroth wiped the sweat from his brow and tore off the tattered remains of his trenchcoat, leaving him shirtless in the dry afternoon heat. He threw the rags to his side and continued walking away from Cloud, trepidation now in his step, he was unsure of whether he wanted to leave Cloud’s body in one piece lest he wake again. The warrior paused.

After about five minutes of standing motionless in the middle of the town’s remains he finally turned on his heel and walked back to where Cloud’s corpse lay.

But as Sephiroth approached the young man’s remains the jewel in his earring began acting up again. This time though it did not look like it was releasing energy, rather it looked like it was absorbing it. Rays of light began to bend and get sucked into the small gem. The area around his body suddenly became very dark as the gem absorbed the light around it. Sephiroth, most likely unsure of what was occurring, made a blitz attack on Cloud’s body, rushing forward as fast as he could, his powerful Masamune poised to strike. But at the same time, an incandescent white aura surrounded Cloud, instantly parrying Sephiroth’s blow. Sephiroth was thrown back by the power of the ricochet just as the jewel stopped absorbing the solar energy. That was the good news. The bad news was that it then released that stored energy in one giant dome of white light that exploded from Cloud’s body, devastating everything it touched with the force of a small nuclear explosion. Everything… including Sephiroth and including me. I was lucky enough to find a small crater to dive into and as such did not receive the brunt of the blast but was still jarred by it. Sephiroth, however, took the full brunt of it. When it had finally passed I pushed my way out from under debris that had filled the crater I had dived into to take a look around. There wasn’t much to see. Just a giant crater as far as the eye could see with the exception of the mountains to the north and the sea to the southwest. At the center of the crater lay Cloud, the only thing that hadn’t been disintegrated or blown away by the blast. I looked around but saw no sign of Sephiroth, not even his famous sword. I had assumed him for dead until suddenly there was a great explosion of fire from underneath an area of ground near Cloud. A great cloud of soil and rocks blew up and were engulfed by the flames. From the flames rose Sephiroth and I could tell he was pissed. He no longer looked so tired as before. Instead he showed fury. A fury he hadn’t even come close to matching through the course of the previous battle. The fire in his eyes made the flame that surrounded him seem diminutive by comparison. He took long strides and reached the body quickly. He took his Masamune and poised the blade directly over Cloud’s throat and reared back, preparing to decapitate his fallen assailant before he had a chance to rise or retaliate again. But before he could complete the blow Sephiroth fell. He balanced himself on his great sword but did not have the strength or the energy to complete the blow. He turned away from the body, wobbling a little. With one final look back at his grounded foe, he fled to the sky quickly flying towards the east towards the Midgar continent. As I looked on, after another half an hour or so Cloud, too, finally rose from his deceased state and fled to the sky in the opposite direction, towards the Western continent. I saw neither of them since that day, mostly due to the fact that for a better part of my years since then I was under care of ShinRa, who were trying to get out of me the details that I have just revealed to you. I do not know what exactly I told them mostly due to the fact that the narcotics they gave me to make me tell the truth dulled my senses as well as fogging my memory. I hope this was the information you were looking for."

Adrian paused, waiting for a response from his mysterious benefactor. But there was nothing but silence. The only sign that the cloaked figure that had pulled him aside earlier was even alive were the barely audible breaths that he heard being taken from behind the dark hood she wore.

Finally the silence was cut by her response. "Is that all you have to tell?" she asked.

"I gave you all that I can remember right now," he replied.

With that, she reached into her cloak and took out a wad of bills.

"Will you remember anything more if I gave you this?" she questioned.

"I am not a swindler. My memory is as good as it is going to get. Although I would not refuse the gil, you will get no more information out of me at this time," he growled.

She tossed him the wad of gil and a card. He caught it with a confused look on his face.

"For services rendered," she said dryly, answering his unspoken question. "If you remember anything else, you may contact me at the number written on the back of that card."

With that she walked off, the black cloak she wore made it seem as though the night had swallowed her alive. When at last she was out of sight Adrian sifted through the bills, a good 400 gil, and pocketed the money. It was only then that, with the aide of an alley light, he took out the business card.

"Seventh Heaven Bar and Restaurant, Sector 7 Midgar slums" he read silently. He flipped the card over and found a name and PHS number scribbled on the back in black ink.

"Call 555-5478 ask for…" he began reading, but went wide-eyed at the name he saw.

"Tifa Lockheart!" he cried aloud by accident. He took a quick look around but saw no one, and hastily ran out of the alleyway he was in back to the safety of the bright lights that permeated the night air in the Sector 3 slums.