The Perfect SOLDIER
A FFVII Sephiroth x Cloud story
by Lara Yokoshima

IV. My first Ceremony

The bright party hall of the ShinRa Army academy looked gorgeous that night. The lights that projected a pale amber tone to the walls, the lustrous creamy marble floor, and the exquisitely decorated tables… everything was perfect.

Two full years have already passed since my arrival to ShinRa Army, and proudly I could say that now I was graduating with the highest honors. I achieved being one of the most outstanding students of my class, I mastered almost all type of materia and I was an expert in chocobo breeding. I had all the characteristics a good soldier must have, and the necessary to being admitted in the special SOLDIER school.

Curiously, that day of my graduation I also became 16 years old, reaching my adulthood. I was really proud of my success.

Standing next to other two classmates, we chatted calmly when Travis got closer to us with a glass of Champaign in his hand, cheering for our progresses.

“Aren’t you gonna drink Cloud?” he asked anxiously. I nodded in denial with my head, explaining later that I was not in the mood. I didn’t want to tell him in front of all that I have never tasted a glass of wine in my whole life, and that made me feel ashamed in a certain way.

We continued standing there, talking and talking until the hour of delivering diplomas and honor the students arrived. A voice announced respectfully that we had to sit in our tables to begin with the ceremony. I must say that most of the evening I searched for my idol with my eyes, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. Maybe Sephiroth wasn’t able to arrive yet, or perhaps this thing was not of real interest to him.

At last the ceremony began, a long table over the forum showed several men seated with their elegant suits, the most respectful authorities of the academy. In the middle of all of them was President ShinRa and at his right side, a young man, perhaps a bit older than me, was sitting with formality. His short blond hair, and his tremendous blue eyes had a singular resemblance with the President. The chair at the left of the President was empty; there was still one more important person missing. But the President didn’t waste more time and he stepped in front of the microphone. The lights went dimmer and a white light projector was now illuminating the forum, and so the President began his speech.

About five minutes had already passed since then President began his speech, when I noted that from the right side of the darkened forum, a tall man approached the table hastily. I could recognize it was Sephiroth, his unmistakable silver hair reflected some of the white light, reaching the empty chair and sitting rapidly. I don’t know why, but after seeing him, my anxiety increased, because now I will have the opportunity to shake his hand when I received my diploma. But I couldn’t wait for that moment at the same time.

Finally, after nearly an hour, President ShinRa finished his speech with a thank you, and we all clapped our hands in unison. Then one of the men at the table rose from his seat, walking to the microphone and started giving the diplomas. Meanwhile, I squished my hands waiting for the moment when I could hear my name; unfortunately I was one of the last students in the alphabetically ordered list.

The man began naming each one of the graduates, and they passed one by one to receive their diplomas from the officer at the left side of the table, then greeting the others in a fancy parade, until reaching the other side of the forum, returning to their seats. It followed the same way, until after several minutes I heard my name.

“Cloud Strife, graduated with honors for his excellent fulfillment in several subjects” the man on the microphone said. I got up fast, went to the table and like all graduated with honors, I received a special diploma and a medal; and then I began shaking hands, passing by the blond youngster and then by the President. I got more nervous at each step I gave, walking to the right, and I opened my hand to shake it with the one and only Sephiroth.

“Good luck” was everything he said to me, while he took my hand and smiled at me. I have never seen him smile like that before, and that simple gesture made me gulp down. I could feel his powerful hand shake mine, and I just could nod my head, without being able to say thank you. But I had to let go and pass by the other officers to salute them, and later I returned to my seat, shaking after such experience.

Already on my seat, I waited until everything finished. The last soldiers passed and just after that the President said some last words, so then we could take our dinner. That day I ate in utter silence, while my emotional friends couldn’t stop talking how exciting was to shake hands with the SOLDIER legend in our graduation day. You could say that Sephiroth was rarely seen in such ceremonies… like me.

After dinner, everything went to be like in the beginning: the graduated soldiers raised from their tables, drinking and chatting cheerfully, some of them even losing their composure. I didn’t even want to be in company of others. Like a hermit, I walked to a dark corner, leaning my body into a wall and observing the crowd. Suddenly, I saw Sephiroth again.

With a glass of Champaign between his fingers, he was speaking with other high officers in between the crowd. Dressed with a fine black suit, his half-opened coat showed a flashy vermilion shirt, without a tie and opened to the second button. It seemed he was using some kind of golden necklace, but I couldn’t see it well. With no scruples at all, I watched him for several minutes, how he moved his lips to pronounce the words, how he drank from the glass with elegance. In that moment, he directed his sight to me.

Hastily I diverted my eyes, ashamed of being discovered staring at him brazenly. I tried to simulate I was looking elsewhere, but I took a glance just in case he saw me. To my surprise, Sephiroth wasn’t there anymore. I calmed down for a moment, thinking that maybe he moved away to greet other people, and left out a sigh in relief.

“You are so lonely” someone spoke behind my back. I gave a little jump and turned around to see whom it was with my hearth extremely agitated. I was going to reclaim to that person who played me that joke, but after seeing who it was I was left speechless.

‘Sephiroth!’ my mind shouted. I was truly frightened, and to think it was my adored hero who was standing next to me. I think Sephiroth could notice my surprise, and smiling he just turned his sight to the crowd. I watched him silently with eyes wide open, wanting to say something, but not finding the exact words to do so.

“Cloud Strife, is that right?” the silver-haired man questioned.

“Y-yes, sir” I answered truly nervous.

“Graduated with honors…” he said, while I just nodded approvingly. “Not everyday we see someone as young as you get graduated with high honors” he continued, giving a little sip to his Champaign. “How old are you?”

“I just became 16 years old this day, sir”, I answered shyly.

Sephiroth laughed softly, fixating his eyes on me. “Perfect. But you don’t have to call me ‘sir’ each time you want to answer”. I nodded again rapidly, trying to not commit the same mistake. Sephiroth diverted his eyes, looking again at the crowd. Then I noticed that on his neck was that golden chain, and from it hung a trinket with the form of a weird symbol. It looked like a shield that inside had a cross with a circle at the top.

“You like it?” he asked me, and I looked down again ashamed of my little manners. I nodded softly with my head, rising later my sight to see his shining jade-colored eyes. Sephiroth smiled, and left his glass over a table near us, later taking off his necklace with both hands.

“Here you go,” he said giving me the chain, placing it over my open hand. “Consider it as a birthday gift” he finally said.

I blushed so much that I could feel my cheeks boil. I thanked him with a deep bow, not knowing what else to do or say. I didn’t want to speak, afraid of saying something stupid in front of the Great Sephiroth, and my nerves were even more notorious. But I managed to control myself. It seemed that it really didn’t matter to Sephiroth if I spoke or not. He finished his Champaign and then he made me follow him to the bar. He took two glasses, giving one of them to me. Now I felt lost. I could have denied his offer, but I didn’t have any other choice but to accept it. He cheered by just raising his glass a little and then slightly sipped the frothy liquid; I imitated Sephiroth, drinking for the first time.

A few minutes later, I began to feel a slight dizziness; my cheeks were now warm and somewhat pink. How was it possible that with only a few sips I could feel this bad? My eyelids wanted to close and I began to lose my balance. Sephiroth noted this and he quickly took my glass before I dropped it, placing it over a table.

“Do you feel all right?” he asked preoccupied, while he took me by an arm.

“Hm… no…” I said with a low voice, and placed a hand over my forehead. Sephiroth got closer, trying to keep me standing.

“I should let you rest, you look tired” he suggested while he walked me outside the party hall and far from the others.

He took a car from the parking lot, one of those prototypes that took energy from pure Mako energy, and he placed me in the passenger seat. Sephiroth got inside and started the car, driving far away from the ceremony. Honestly, I was really tired to notice where we were going. But I trusted that man that I knew as a legend, but that I barely began knowing that evening.