and they called it...

P A P E R M A D N E S S

v 5.0 | 3:41 AM

This story or short novel (I can't figure out which it is) belongs to me and my creative mind. However, most of the characters, names, and places mentioned all belong to their respective companies, so don't yell at me for copyright infringements! If it offends you in any manner, sorry, and if it doesn't, then don't complain. Remember, things in Italics represent what a person is thinking, or the telling of past events.

Enjoy...
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Authors Notes: I'll try and be brief. I made the actual land distances between cities and continents much larger as to make it SEEM realistic. Whereas you could go from Corel to Nibelheim in a minute or two on foot or by buggy or chocobo or airship, it would take a two weeks in the story. Also in terms of combat, don't try and convert my battles to be like the game, I don't even bother with stats, a person can live through an Omnislash if I want them to. No command materia here, everyone has their starting weapons instead of the ultimate ones, and the buggy and tiny bronco are here, but not the submarine.

Final Fantasy: A Lasting Impression: Part 1

Introduction: The Aftermath of Meteor

The city of Midgar stood tall, proud, and majestic during the times before the age of meteor, now it was reduced to a city of scrap. Almost every house, store, and building on all eight plates were destroyed, and the sectors below suffered far worse than the upper plates. All the homes in every sector were crushed under the fallen plates, only sectors 2 and 3 were undamaged because the plates fell at angles and were still held up, by what no one knew. The Shinra capital building was ruined, the walls and glass all stripped off and the majority of the upper floors were missing. The cannon Sister Ray was gone, only the supports in sector eight were left as well as the barrel resting in the city, and also in the open fields outside. In the wreckage of the cannon, the manual control station was relatively intact, only it was covered in rock and metal. Some of the metal began shifting around, and a pale green hand pushed a large metal plate off its body, revealing a man in a blood stained labcoat.

Hmph, to think that I was defeated by a failure, how embarrassing for the leading scientist in the world. Even my son was defeated by him, how is it that a failure can accomplish all this? I must get to my labs in Nibelheim and carry out more experiments to see where I went wrong...maybe to see if I can even create another like him...or bring him back...heh heh heh...

The scientist stood up and brushed the dirt off his coat, and he leapt off the wreckage and walked to the outside world, heading along the coast for Junon Harbor, and ultimately, Nibelheim. He looked up as he heard a distant roar, and he saw the faint image of a flying plane with gray smoke trailing behind it flying overhead to the coast.

*****

"Tifa," Cloud whispered, "Did you see what I saw out there, in front of Meteor, before it disappeared?"

"Yes, I saw an image of Aires looking at us all, smiling."

"Even in death, she never stopped smiling...Aires."

Cloud put his hands on the glass, and he lowered his head in sadness. Tifa stepped next to him and put her hands on his shoulder and Cloud stood in place.

"Well, now it is time for us to part ways and go home." Red XIII spoke up.

"Yes," Tifa said aloud, "...home."

*****

Cloud and everyone else all agreed to leave for their homes and to separately try to help rebuild the world into what it was before Meteor. Barret, right away, demanded to go to Kalm Town to get his daughter Marlene, and Cid did that with no complaints. He flew over the town, and Barret had to parachute to earth, the emergency plane could not lift off after it landed. He searched out Marlene, and had a tearful reunion with his frightened daughter. Barret decided to move back to North Corel and help rebuild his lost hometown. He crossed the plains to the Midgar ruins, and he tracked the coast until he reached Junon Harbor, where he caught a ride across in a cargo ship. From there he traveled through the mountains of Corel, and eventually crossed the bridge into the camp boundaries. The populace of North Corel all reluctantly accepted him into the town, and Barret spend the next few days telling his story of his life: working as AVALANCHE, opposing Shinra, and fighting Sephiroth to the end. The people all rejoiced when Barret finished, and they all forgave him for his past errors and again had him as a member of the population. Barret led many trips to the Corel Reactor, defeating the guards and helping to disassemble the reactor for building material. After many months of work, the city of North Corel was again alive, and producing the coal now used as power. Barret felt at home as the city was again dirty with the black coal of the Corel Mountains, and the city has been ever expanding with the rise in attendance in the Gold Saucer.

Red XIII was dropped off in the Red mountains of Cosmo Canyon at the observatory. He told his story of the final battle to everyone, and also the knowledge he gained of Materia, Lifestream, and of the planet, Jenova, and the ancients. The people all listened well, and afterwards made Red XIII, now preferring his original name Nanaki, an honorary Elder of the Canyon. Bugenhagen returned from his travels, and he still retains his position as an observer of the planets. Both Nanaki and Bugenhagen act as the Canyon leading elders, and the knowledge of the planet took new turns for the better. Since then, the planet has been much quieter.

Yuffie was sent to her village of Wutai, but she was thoroughly searched for any materia she might have smuggled off the plane beforehand. She left for home, mad at the loss of the materia she stole from the others, but happy at being much stronger than she was before. Her father kept his promise of the traditions of leadership, and he gave up his seat as leader to Yuffie. Surprising as it seemed, she has been doing a good job at Leading the people of Wutai, even though she didn't want to urbanize it and made it back into a quiet, backwater village. However, she mysteriously disappeared after a few years as leader, and everyone knew that she was back to her old Materia plundering tricks.

Cait Sith the machine returned to the Gold Saucer, taking up its old job as a fortuneteller, now as a simple doll. Reeve left the Cait Sith Machine alone, satisfied that it was serving a good purpose besides fighting. He was leading the homeless people of Midgar to refurbishing the surviving sectors into homes for them all, good homes. Shinra that survived tried desperately to put Reeve back into power with Shinra, but he refused to be the leader of the company that started the entire crisis for the planet.

Vincent went back to Niblelheim and took residence in the Shinra Mansion. He went to his coffin in the basement and was satisfied to sleep his pains away, pains of seeing Lucrecia again, alive.

Cid was the last man off the emergency plane, crashing it into the ground next to Rocket Town. He used the machinery of his ruined Tiny Bronco and the Gold Saucer Buggy to haul it to his house, and he has been working to rebuild it back into the Airship it was before it was ravaged by Holy. Shera was still waiting for him, and Cid was thoroughly amazed at her being so loyal to an arrogant pilot. Cid began acting polite around her by not swearing or demanding anything; she finally seemed more of a woman than a failure to him. The two have even gotten beyond each other's attitudes and seem almost like lovers, though they both deny it.

Cloud and Tifa both insisted that they be dropped off in Costa de Sol, and they used their collected money to buy the executive Shinra beach house. Cloud used his portion of the money to refurbish and expand the basement into a bedroom, living room, and bathroom. He also added in many pictures of him, Tifa and everyone else during their times at the Gold Saucer before and after the crisis was over. Tifa used her money to alter the upper floor of the Beach house into her old bar, duplicating it measure for measure as her 7th Heaven bar in sector 7. Being right next to the docks and the entrance of the city, her bar has been doing wonderful business, providing the best in drinks and entertainment. The two live together, both trying to live out thier normal lives like they wished to. Cloud decided to forever remain peaceful, and has put his Buster Sword into the basement vault vowing never to use it again. Cloud, being the most odd of all the heroes, finally had his memories straightened out after months of counseling by the Mideel doctors and has lived a normal life since then. He even proposed to Tifa and the two are currently engaged and plan to marry within the year. Only recently through trips to the doctors in Costa De Sol did Tifa discover that she was pregnant, shocking Cloud and Tifa as well as everyone else.

Shinra was still around, but the current battles left it with one assassinated president, another president dead by a WEAPON, both generals now corpses in their anti-WEAPON armor, and the space program manager missing. Only Reeve remained as the last member of Shinra's committee left alive, and he had no intentions of rejoining a dead corporation. Many members of the Shinra military police simply left the force and went back home, while many more tried to hold up Shinra as long as possible. After many months, the company collapsed and was divided up into shipping industry, commercial transport, and as workers in any city that needed them. Soon Shinra became a rumor, something left to the winds of time. The last project taken up by Shinra was a complete opposite to its original goals, the complete removal of all Mako reactors and replacing them with steam or coal power stations. After that work was done, the only thing left of Shinra was their capital building standing in the center of the Midgar ruins as a reminder of their folly and as a historical landmark. However, Junon harbor still was around, but now acts as the premier shipping yard in the world.

Life around the world seemed to settle back to its once normal routines, but as most people say, it might only be a calm before another storm...

Chapter 1: The Dead Rise

"At first, I was planning to create another Sephiroth with everything about him the exact same. However, I was motivated not to let him become a total war-raging maniac like the first one did. I instead decided to gather many teachers and scientists to teach him things like etiquette and social graces, things that would TRULY let him live as a normal human. With those things it would be that much easier to find and kill the Failure and his friends." -Hojo, day 56

Deep within the basement of the Shinra Mansion, there were many, many rooms and laboratories filled with all the equipment to secretly develop the soldiers of SOLDIER. Scientists once worked there in secret, but after the development and release of the greatest of all SOLDIERs, Sephiroth, and the destruction of Nibelheim, it was common knowledge of the labs. Only one man and scientist ever occupied that mansion afterwards, the head scientist Hojo and a mysterious man known as Vincent. Vincent spent his years sleeping his pains away, still anguishing over the loss of his precious Lucrecia, Sephiroth's mother. Hojo worked there for a while afterwards, but once Sephiroth was supposedly killed, he left and continued his experimentation elsewhere. However, the equipment in the mansion labs were never removed or toyed with, most of it even worked as well as it did seven years ago. Hojo was pleased with this, very pleased indeed.

Ah, now won't this be a surprise to the failure and his friends. Did they honestly think that I wouldn't anticipate my son's death? HA! I was coming so close to cloning Sephiroth, I might even admit that the failure was as close to a perfect clone as I hoped they all would be, but now I know where I went wrong. Silly of me to believe that cloning the DNA was enough, I have to completely duplicate the procedure to make another Sephiroth!

Hojo walked over to a large cabinet and opened the door, a wall of vapor flooding out of the compartment to settle on the floor. He searched out samples of his body and samples of Lucrecia's body.

Simply put together my sperm and her egg and we will again have another Sephiroth, one who will lead me to the source of Jenova's controlling power. I can hardly wait for it!

Hojo gathered his and Lucrecia's samples and put them into a small vat, filled with nutrients and proper ingredients to insure a healthy, powerful child. He sealed the container and let nature do its work, continuing to feed in occasional injections of Lifestream fluid to help guide his development. Once the fetus developed large enough, Hojo tempted fate and injected it with small amounts of Jenova's cells, letting them put in the proper influences to his body. After a while, Hojo began sensing things from the unborn fetus, feelings and sensations he couldn't possibly understand. He once again began recording everything he was doing, writing entire papers on those feelings he got, calling them 'the closest you ever get to hearing Jenova itself'.

After the standard nine months passed by, Hojo decided to remove the infant from the chamber and let it experience life outside a liquid environment. Hojo was shocked, almost to the point of dropping the infant, to see that the infant was not a boy, but a girl.

Wh-what!? A female? I specifically manipulated those genes to have a boy, not a girl! Oh well, the experiment can continue just as well with either, perhaps this may be an unwanted benefit...

Hojo brought down a nanny to care for the child and many other scientists once from Shinra to help in the nurturing of the girl; Hojo had little idea as how to raise a child. The girl was showing signs of Jenova influence very early in her life, from exceptional motor control to increased strength, intelligence, and activity. Once the girl, whom Hojo named Seraph, came of one year old, she could talk as well as any five-year-old child. She could be very confusing, muttering baby words at one time, while asking logical questions that shocked many if not all the scientists the next. Hojo was very proud of Seraph, after comparing the data between her and Sephiroth she was doing much better than he was at her age. Hojo was becoming very aware that she would be with him and the other scientists for sixteen years, enough time to fully develop her skills and personality. He and the other scientists agreed to keep a group journal on her life, one that included content from all the staff.

Day 730: Seraph is doing incredibly well for a two-year-old, she has been very active and very curious about everything surrounding her. She asks questions that seem to come from the mouths of young teenagers at a tour of some museum, I have trouble keeping up with her at times. She already trains herself constantly, running around the mansion hallways at every spare second of time she has. Her education is going smoothly, she just got introduced into early algebra and geometric classes with the teachers, and she is progressing slowly but surely. Everything about her seems perfect for the nature of this project, only her eyes make me think about what is really running through her mind. Those eyes are almost colorless, silver marbles and almost catlike slits for pupils, she can scare anyone here with her harsh, angry stares.

-Scientist Merle

Day 2007: Seraph is five and one half years old today, and she is progressing well. My physical combat training gets harder every day, she seems to double her stamina every time her class begins. At five she could do almost anything better than me, faster push-ups, more squats with weights, anything. The weapons master has trained her to fight with a variety of weapons including swords as a primary, staffs, lances, bows, guns, explosive cannons, there is nothing she isn't willing to try to master. She even wanted to use the unusual materia, but he has expressed his hatred of such an 'artificial means to get ahead'. I believe that with her using Materia the world wouldn't be able to stop her, even Hojo agrees with me. - Scientist Eckol

Day 4194: Seraph has been enrolled in a social grace class with many other students here in the mansion. The teacher is very strict, from what Seraph has been telling me, and accepts only the utmost perfection from her pupils. It is nice to have Seraph talking and interacting with other children her own age; it will do her good in the long run. She even seems to have her eye set on some young lad in the class, I wonder if she may even have a boyfriend once she leaves us.

-Scientist Evely

Day 5840: Seraph has finally reached the age of sixteen, and we all have agreed to release her to society in Kolodia, once known as Midgar. Kolodia has become a new focus of the world, the city reaching out and up into the sky with the tallest buildings yet seen. The best technology, businesses, and people all live in the sprawling apartments that reach for the heavens. There are probably tens of thousands of people living there, so sneaking her in will not be a problem. I have already provided her a place to live and money to start her off, no doubt she can get a job easily enough in the Materia foundation. One she is free and living as a normal person, she has been instructed to find out and kill the Failure and all his friends so they cannot stop my plans. Once they are gone, she can find the two legendary Materia and use them to draw the Lifestream back to the surface for my greatest experiment. If all goes according to my plans, she may even bring HIM back from the Lifestream; I can feel his presence in it along with Jenova's power. -Head Scientist Hojo

The day finally came to wish Seraph a successful mission, and everyone whom she considered family sent her off. Seraph was boarded onto an airship, one using steam power and lighter than air gases to suspend it in the air. The massive form of the gas blimp was impressive, considering the seats were inside a tiny compartment suspended from the bottom holding up to fifty people at once. This special means of travel was meant only for those who could afford it, the ticket cost several thousand gil per part of the trip, and Seraph was amused by the giant balloon ship. Everyone waved her off as the blimp rose up from the newly revitalized city of North Corel and floated over the mountains and towards the sea.

*****

"Do you have any job openings here, mister?" A young, white haired girl asked.

The old man at the desk in the lobby of Materia Foundation looked her up and down. She looked to be in her late teens, dressed in gray cargo pants, white shirt and black vest, and she had her long, blue-white hair behind her in a long ponytail.

"Do you have any experience in Materia studies and handling, miss?"

"Yeah," the girl replied as she fished out a piece of paper from her pocket, "Right here."

The man looked it over, reading that the girl had three years experience as a Materia scholar and also experience in medical uses of Materia. He looked at her, and back at the paper, confused as to how a young girl had that kind of work experience.

"How old are ya, Ms. Escali?"

"I'm sixteen, mister, was working in the libraries since I was twelve reading on Materia."

"Well, please step into the third office to my left, marked Dr. Tamra for a short interview, miss. If you get a position, it'll be good to get some young blood in here again. Good luck, Ms. Escali."

The girl smiled at him, "Please, call me Seraph," she said as she walked into the office for her interview.

Chapter 2: Street Level

"Seraph just informed me of her getting a job at the Materia Foundation, and she is working as an office secretary. I hope that she can get a position in the Materia handling department, I have a plan to get her some of the Materia they study, and I need the access codes to get her in. I found a willing thief who is ready to get in, steal the proper Materia, and give them to me, for a healthy sum of course. I must keep an eye on her though, her carefree attitude and her history of Materia thievery makes me question her loyalty to my mission."

- Hojo, day 6091

Seraph was pleased with her success at getting a job and getting along with people of all kinds, especially that she could draw in any man's attention with her good looks. She was close to six feet tall, with semi-large eyes, fair complexion and thin body, all things that made her look beautiful to everyone. Although her looks did get her many glances by some...disturbed looking people and some jealous looks from other women, she ignored them. She was, so far, fitting in well with the people of Kolodia, even the poor in the scrap district.

The nighttime air was growing cold with the slight winds coursing through the streets between the tall buildings of Kolodia. Seraph was looking around the city for any shops, restaurants, or bars that were open and looked appealing to her. One bar located in an alleyway seemed to be nice, decorated with many pictures and emblazoned with a sing that read 'The Materia Keeper'. Seraph felt thirsty, so a drink was in order for her. She entered the bar, and was confronted with a semi-dark room filled with drifting smoke and colorful lights. There were tables put in all corners and walls of the rooms, and the bar was filled with people drinking while watching some event on a television set.

"Good evening, miss." A waiter by the door spoke, "do you need a barstool or table?"

Seraph thought for a second, "A table please," she decided.

"Excellent, right this way, miss."

The waiter led Seraph through a maze of tables and seated her at a small table by a large, antiquated music box. She sat down and the waiter presenter her with a menu of drinks available.

"I'll have...a Mako Deluxe."

"Very good miss, one moment as I get your drink for you." The waiter replied.

The man walked away, leaving Seraph alone at her table. She looked around at the collection of people present in the bar, poor people off the streets and rich business owners were together in the bar, people off all ages and races too.

This bar must be a popular stop for anyone to drink. I might yet find at least one of my targets here, or at least some idea as to where he lives or works.

Seraph was taken out of her daydream when the waiter came back with a large glass, filled with a light green liquid and a lemon slice on the cup edge. Seraph sipped the drink, and she sputtered as the drink burned its way down her throat and into her stomach, which grumbled in return. She took another sip, and this time noticed the lemony tinge and bubbly texture to the drink. After figuring out the drink must be very alcoholic, she decided to nurse the drink through the evening as she watched the people in the bar come and leave. Soon some person came into the bar and began playing a song on the grand piano in a raised corner of the bar, which the bar tenants listened to with great attention. The song player was a woman, who was playing a somber tune on the keyboard instrument while singing to the rhythm of the song.

"There once was a city full of life

way back in a happier time,

but the city fell to war and strife

thats why I am singing this rhyme,

mourning a city that was lost and found.

"Times change, and a company then grew

offering the people new things.

It was a lie, the people did rue

the day of change that new people bring,

morning a city that was lost and found.

Seraph listened with effort, the sounds of the woman's voice having a near hypnotic effect on her mind and body. The song was very sad, telling the story of Midgar before Shinra, and the piano notes echoed the spirits of a funeral dirge. The people of the bar had ceased all their activities and listened to the woman's words, everyone seemingly amazed by the flawless mixture of music and song.

"Shinra, the company of false words

turned the city into a slum,

kept their freedom in cages, like birds,

they cried to the heavens, "judgement come!"

Mourning a city that was lost and found.

"Soon there rose a new revolution,

fighting to defend the planet.

AVALANCHE, with a new solution,

could not be broke, just like granite,

mourning a city that was lost and found.

Everyone in the bar was completely silent, utterly absorbed by the story of their lives being played before them. The spirits of the people present all rose with the climax, and fell with the tragic events told, all following the flow of the music and words. Their expressions changing as they're inner emotions came to surface in the storm of the woman's voice, singing clear, strong, and powerful.

"Shinra was defeated, peace returned,

the people began to rejoice!

AVALANCHE left, the warriors learned

that they left people only one choice,

to mourn a city that was lost and found..."

The woman ceased her song, and the entire bar stood silent, still engulfed in the last echoes of the song. One man, the bartender, stood and began applauding and cheering her amazing talent, and soon the entire bar joined him. The woman stood from the piano and bowed, pulling even more applause from the people. Seraph watched her for a while, simply amazed that a simple song could bring the people so close and manipulate their emotions so easily. Seraph had never heard such a song before, she only heard the dull, repetitive sounds of Hojo and his violin during the late hours of the night. Seraph turned her chair back to face her table, and saw a man sitting at her table watching the song woman at the bar. She inhaled deeply, surprised at the sight of a man suddenly appearing at her table. Though she thought she was quiet in her moment of surprise, the man clearly heard her and turned to face Seraph.

"Oh, sorry if I spooked you, I tried to get a better seat to hear Regina's 'Elegy to Midgar' better, that song can really make you feel alive again. I'll go now miss, sorry again."

"No...no problem at all, sir."

The man walked away from her table and disappeared into the crowds of people in the barroom. Seraph thought long and hard about that man, he looked so very familiar to her.

Lets see, he had on a deep blue shirt and tan pants, had light-brown hair up in small natural spikes on his head and hanging in his face. He looked to be six foot tall at least, and had a slight build and frozen blue-silver eyes with glasses. That almost looks like Cloud Strife, the Failure, but he had some physical attributes to Tifa Lockheart as well. Perhaps he is their son? If I only knew where to find him again...wait...

Seraph stood up and took a long draught of the Mako Deluxe, which caused her body and mind to surge around making her slightly dizzy. She called in a waiter, and the man presented her with the bill. She paid the forty gil for the drink, and asked the waiter when this Regina would play her 'Elegy to Midgar' again. The waiter said that she played every night, and that she always played at the same time with different songs. Seraph smiled, she knew that she would find that man again, the child of Cloud and Tifa, and she could hopefully gain the location of Cloud's home.

Back at her apartment in the middle class district, Seraph began going over the plans for dealing with Cloud. She guessed that he would be armed with his Buster sword at least, or maybe some other strong weaponry or he even may have some experienced or mastered Materia with him. Seraph pulled out her solution to Cloud's massive sword, a 36' inch katana made of the nearly indestructible metal mythril. Seraph admired her reflection in the polished blue metal, and she put the blade back in its scabbard for another day. She opened up a small, leather pouch and took hold of her Materia collection. After many days of searching and costly bartering, she only came up with a restore and fire Materia, both still in their lower classes. Although she was created to be the ultimate soldier, she still had trouble finding any large amounts of monsters to fight against. She only had fight time in the mountains nearby, where monsters still lived. Seraph was busy thinking about how to master her Materia when someone knocked on her door. She stood up and seized her sword, then walked to her door and looked out the small peephole to see who it was. At the door was a middle-aged woman dressed in loose fitting black clothing, holding a piece of scrap paper and waiting silently at the door.

"Who is it?" Seraph said through the door.

"I come with a message from Hojo." The woman replied.

Seraph opened the door and let the woman in, and she came in with a large suitcase and also had what looked like a large paper fan at her side. Seraph closed the door and faced the woman, who was holding a letter to her. Seraph took the letter and read it.

"Seraph, I have written you this message because of the risk of telling you this over the phone system. The woman who gave you this letter is a ninja-thief named Yuffie, you know her from the Failure's collection of allies. Do not, I repeat, do not kill her, I have hired her services to steal Materia from the place where you work. If you remember, seven years ago a man named Bugenhagen gave the foundation the four huge Materia found in the reactors of Shinra. These huge Materia are powerful indeed, they are capable of giving the owners of a complete mastered Materia set a powerful Materia orb. This orb, called a master Materia, gives the owner the use off all magic of that certain set. Yuffie has been hired to steal the four huge Materia, but she needs the access codes of the research labs they are in to get them safely. Try your best to get a position in that field in your job, and once you do so, contact her at the 'Dragon's Tear' bar in the lower end of the commercial district. Once you are in possession of the huge Materia, come back to Nibelheim, I have been sending men out to buy as much Materia as possible and to get them mastered through combat before you arrive.

Good luck and goodbye, Hojo

Seraph looked up from the letter, and saw that the woman was gone, her window opened to the moderate winds outside.

She is good, to escape from here without my noticing. If she was a member of Cloud's group of fighters, then this may be more of a challenge than I thought.

Seraph put the note on her desk, and she began doing extra work she brought home from her workplace in the last minutes of the day.

Chapter 3: Security Detail

"It came to my attention while Seraph was training that she wasn't as aggressive as I planned. Every time we brought in some monster off the mountains, she would always let the creature put in the first hit, then proceed to mercifully kill it, quickly. I don't know if she is afraid of fighting them, for all I know she may be so strong as to let the monsters hit her just to feel their strength. From what I DO know, once provoked into attacking, there is little anyone can do to stop her from killing her target." -Hojo, day 2513

Seraph was thoroughly disappointed in her plans to find that boy again, even though she knew he liked hearing Regina the singer, he never came to that bar. She constantly scanned the evening crowds and never caught sight of his hair or eyes, even if she sat at the same table and waited for hours. She was beginning to get frustrated when she got some news about a shipment out from her workplace.

The day was just beginning, business in the offices was quiet and slow, the people all under little stress over the projects in the building. However, there was a lot of stress following the security details of the transport of the large Materia shipment to a sister corporation in Junon Harbor. After multiple tests in the labs of the foundation, the shipment of Materia going to Junon was to be loaded onto a number of cargo vessels and transported to businesses all over the world. Even one of the huge Materia, the one that was tinted green, was getting sent away to Rocket Town for further research by the scientist there. The shipment was all going to happen three days from now, and was being sent in by Airship, all heavily guarded by ex-Shinra military police. Seraph knew all of this, she was busy processing this into the files and computer terminals in the Foundation. During her lunch break, she made her way to the lower end of the commercial district five minutes away by foot, and looked around for the bar Yuffie was supposed to be in. After some time, she found it nestled between a arcade and a flower shop. Seraph walked in and saw a small, very common looking bar with stools surrounding a central bar and television sets in all corners of the room showing sports, but mostly Chocobo races from the Gold Saucer. The bar was barely occupied, only a few people sitting at a table watching the races and placing bets with each other. Seraph looked at the worker in the bar, who was cleaning glasses and putting them on racks, it was Yuffie!

"I'll have a cold drink." Seraph said as she walked to a barstool.

"Right away, ms." Yuffie said back.

"I have some information for you, ms. Yuffie," Seraph continued, "The Materia Foundation is currently preparing to move out a large shipment of Materia to Junon Harbor in three days, they are taking the green huge Materia with them. That would be a good opportunity to steal it from them."

"But there are risks," Yuffie said as she gave Seraph her drink, "how will security be?"

"Nothing an esteemed ninja of Wutai can't handle, especially their once glorious leader in war's daughter. They will be using ex-Shinra military police for the most part, maybe even a few ex-SOLDIER will be around the huge Materia itself."

"No problem then, consider the green huge Materia yours, ms. Escali."

Seraph drank the cold water down quickly, and paid the five gil it cost and left the Dragon's Tear. She made her way back to the Foundation just as her lunch break ended, and for the remainder of the day worked happily and diligently at her job.

*****

During the daytime the Foundation looked like any other building, but at night the entire structure was lit up with lights all over the walls, windows, and roof. Tonight, though, was a special event, the roof was glowing with many more lights, and a massive Airship like the original Highwind was hovering overhead, illuminated by the lights below. On the roof, the ground was covered in crates all being handled by machine cranes or by forklifts off the Airship. People were all directing the boxes into the cargo hold of the Airship, the boxes all containing many powerful and experimental Materia inside their padded walls. Present with the handlers and machines were soldiers in uniform, all holding their standard rifles at attention. One crate was exceptionally larger than the others, and it was being guarded by three ex-members of SOLDIER. On a roof on a slightly higher building nearby, a figure shrouded in complete black with a facemask looked at the activities on the Foundation roof through binoculars.

Yuffie put the binoculars on the ground and brought out a compact hookshot cable. She aimed at the wall of the foundation twenty feet from the roof edge, and she fired a cable connecting the two buildings. Yuffie secured the other end of the cable onto the roof with another cable gun, and she lowered herself to hang on the cable. Hand over hand, she slowly crossed the distance to the foundation roof. Once there, she began climbing up the wall with specialty climbing claws until she reached the edge of the roof. Yuffie gathered three small balls and tossed them into the group of ex-SOLDIERs at the large crate, the balls exploded into white smoke, covering the crate and half to roof. Yuffie pulled herself on the roof as the soldiers all began running into the clouds to find their intruder. Yuffie dashed to the huge Materia crate, and she brought out her four point shuriken and unfolded it from its compact form on her back. She threw it with all her strength, and it decapitated one SOLDIER and crashed into the crate, burying itself in the wood. Yuffie got to the crate, and wit the help of a fire Materia, burned the wood into cinders and saw the huge Materia inside a container. She grabbed the container and got the huge Materia out of it and into a body hugging backpack before the guards got to her. She threw down even more of the smoke balls, adding to the dissipating cloud of white dust, got her shuriken, and leapt off the roof. Yuffie got another cable gun, and used it to punch the cable into the wall of the foundation building, using the cable to break her fall. She then let the rest of the cable lower her to the closest window, which she broke into and ran for the emergency stairs to the street level. She rushed through the main entrance, shoving the few guards down and out of her way as she dashed for the main entrance. Just as she was about to reach the doors, a fiery pain shot through her shoulder and threw her down and through the glass door. Yuffie immediately stood and opened up her shuriken, but came to face the barrel of a large, mean looking handgun.

"Heh heh. Looks like you managed to get past all the guards up there, but not a single thief ever escape from me. Just hand over the bag with the Materia and I won't shoot you again."

Yuffie looked at the young boy, she saw the same look of foolishness and overconfidence in his eyes like hers were at his age. He could be easily fooled. She slowly raised her arms up and undid the straps to her backpack, and she held it with one arm to give it to him. The guard reached forwards to get the bag, but Yuffie dropped it and gripped the boy's wrist and pulled him to her body, delivering a brutal punch to his gut. The man dropped his gun and gripped his stomach, watching with tear-filled eyes as Yuffie got the bag and sprinted out into the streets. The boy stood and got his gun, then, ignoring the pain, began running after her in the darkness, shooting his gun wildly at her distant form. Suddenly an explosion lifted him off the ground and catapulted him into a lightpost, knocking all the wind out of him. The boy looked at the thief as she held the pack casually, toying with a grenade in her other hand before darkness fell over his vision.

*****

"So you got it? Didn't have any trouble at all?" Seraph asked Yuffie in her apartment.

"No, it was easier than cutting cake, only one spiky-haired kid posed any difficulty."

"Huh?" Seraph whispered.

Spiky-haired punk, she doesn't mean...

"Yuffie, was that boy about my age with brown hair and blue-silver eyes?"

"Huh? Yeah, that was him, do you know him?"

"Yeah, saw him in a bar, I think he may lead me to my mission target. Here, Hojo sent me this payment for you once you got here with the huge Materia, Hojo has the rest back in Nibelheim in the Shinra Mansion basement. Once I get a position in the handling fields, he will call you up to retrieve the other three. This case has 10,000 gil, Hojo has the other fifteen. Once you get the other three you'll get another seventy-five when you get them to Hojo, until then, glad to do business with you."

"Yes." Yuffie replied as she took the case, "glad to do business with you."

Yuffie walked out the door of Seraph's apartment smiling ear to ear. She reached into a pouch of hers and pulled out a number of Materia orbs, presents from the raid from the Foundation.

*****

Seraph looked at the flyer posted all over her workplace and at her office door. It was a notice of the raid of the huge Materia, a reward for any information on the thief, and a list of the things stolen. At the bottom, there was a note about one guard who got minor injuries after a grenade explosion from the thief caught him and broke three of his ribs. Seraph gasped as she saw the picture of the boy with blue-silver eyes lying on the ground outside the building. She then read his name and his condition at the Kolodia Hospital.

So, his name is Cleric Strife. Just as I thought, he is the child of Cloud and Tifa. How all I have to do is win the boy's trust and find his parent's home, and my mission can finally commence...

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