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

VII. My first mission

It was 6 in the morning when I arrived at the designed reunion point. We had planned to leave at 0610 hours, but it seemed that a small delay had occurred. When I arrived, two other soldiers where already there, uniformed with their marine blue army clothes and their rifles just like me, and we just waited for the superior SOLDIER arrival, meaning Sephiroth. I certainly couldn’t wait when he arrived, so he could see me standing there with big deception in my eyes.

I looked at my watch. It was 6:23 AM and no trace of Sephiroth whatsoever. Another 10 minutes passed and finally, I could discern in the horizon an all terrain vehicle that was getting closer, lifting some dust with its wheels. It parked right beside the truck that we would use as a transport to get to Nibelheim; then the driver’s door opened. A SOLDIER first class got off the vehicle, not Sephiroth, but still he looked extremely familiar to me. He walked towards me, smiling a little.

“Well, well… I never thought I would find you here” the young black haired man said, carrying a huge ‘buster’ sword behind his back. Now I remembered him… he was that SOLDIER that I once found in the building’s corridor when I first arrived to the army, the one who helped me find my room. I smiled, raising my hand to greet him.

“Hi Zack” I answered, almost emotionless. Vigorous, Zack stroked my hand; he looked pretty excited about his first important mission like he later commented with me. And the best of all, he said, was that the Great Sephiroth was going to be our leader. I almost could see how his blue eyes, injected with Mako energy and Jenova cells, glowing because of so much happiness.

I later heard how the passenger door of the all terrain car open and then gets closed. I turned my head to see that character, the one that once was my most idolized hero get off the vehicle, but now I sincerely didn’t know what to think of him. Wearing that impressive black cloak, black leather pants and his precious Masamune –that long 6 feet sword, Sephiroth hurried himself to get into the back of the truck; he told us all to get in, while he designated one of the low class soldiers to be the driver.

He didn’t do or said anything when he saw me there, standing and with my helmet off so he could see me. Yes, he looked at me, but not a single greeting came out of his mouth, or the less sign that he knew me showed in his face. I frowned, and got in the truck with the others. Inside, I set myself up at the left side of the truck, sitting over a wood box, probably empty. The other soldier sat at the far end, while Sephiroth accommodated himself at the right side over some boxes, and Zack was left in the middle, sitting on the floor.

The truck started its machine and we began moving slowly. We departed from the military camp, passing by several sectors of Migdar city while we went down to the lower level of the same. Exiting by the great doors of the city, we began our trip to the west to cross to the other continent, where my old home were. I put on my helmet, trying to relax in presence of the one that was my lover for one single night.

Most of the travel time, I didn’t say a single word, just like Sephiroth did. Zack on the other hand was truly excited. He couldn’t stop going from here to there inside the truck, really anxious. I just got sick from just looking at him; in fact, I had this aversion to long rocky trips by car and didn’t feel very well.

“Are you ok?” Zack asked me. I motioned my hand so he could know I was enough stable, without responding with my voice or else I was sure I could throw up in that instant. “It’s al right… I would never know, I never suffered of motion sickness,” he said almost in a mocking tone. “Why don’t you take off your helmet? You should feel better if you do” he suggested while walking away from me. I nodded, and then took off my helmet and breathing deeply with my lungs, feeling a lot better.

“Hey” I could hear Sephiroth’s voice speaking to the young SOLDIER first class standing in the middle of the truck. “Settle down” he continued with a calm voice, trying to stop the restless Zack.

“They gave me some new material” Zack responded smiling and really agitated to Sephiroth’s words. “I can’t wait to use it”.

“Just like a kid” the other man smiled a bit. Zack smiled nervously, stroking his disarranged and long black hair with his hand.

‘Just like a kid’. That phrase repeated in my mind. How to forget it, when that was exactly what he told me when I was totally naked and vulnerable in front of him? I gritted my teeth with strength, the memories of that night came back to me, but I didn’t want to remember. They were still too painful, and the rain that began to fall that afternoon made me feel more melancholy.

They talked some more, discussing the mission that had been assigned to us. It seemed that the reactor at Mt. Nibel was having a malfunction, and was producing monsters in great quantities due to the reactions of the over concentrated Mako energy inside the reactor. The truth is that I didn’t care, it was just going and neutralizing the problem and after that, speak with Sephiroth seriously. While I was thinking how to approach him when he arrived to Nibelheim, something crashed our truck.

“Sir!” the driver shouts to Sephiroth. “Something crashed with our truck!”

“Looks like we found our monster” Sephiroth answered patiently, while he lifted his body and got off the truck. Zack followed him from behind, being the only ones being SOLDIER first class it was their duty to protect the weak. I, of course, included myself into that pathetic group.

I just took a look outside to see what’s going on, but the rain blurred my vision a little bit. How should I describe the way Sephiroth fought with that huge green dragon? It was almost as if Sephiroth was some kind of beast, showing it with his unreal strength, almost divine, and those sword strikes, so precise and lethal that distinguish him from other regular soldiers. Zack couldn’t even stand against the wrath of the dragon, and the monster defeated him with a single blow of his sharp head, making him fall unconsciously into the muddy ground.

Moments later, Sephiroth claimed his victory against the dragon, just like the stories the elders of my town used to tell in nights of full moon. The strong SOLDIER picked Zack up from the ground, carrying him and taking him up to the truck, while the driver lifted the heavy sword that still was lying on the mud. A phoenix down applied by the silver haired man made the young SOLDIER recover consciousness, which slowly opened his eyes and received a cure spell from the materia that Sephiroth carried with him.

We continued our trip, until we finally reached Nibelheim. In all the time left to arrive, Sephiroth couldn’t apart his sight from Zack, worrying to such extreme that it looked like he was a caring father, looking after his son’s health. I couldn’t be jealous, it was impossible, I now hated Sephiroth. At least that’s what I thought.

The town looked peaceful, as always, and in the two years I was away it seemed that it hasn’t changed at all. Nobody knew I was from this place… nobody except him. We got off the truck and stayed at the entrance of Nibelheim, observing it for a moment. ‘Tifa?’ I remembered her name with mi mind. The girl that I tried to persuade to like me, but that I failed to. I didn’t want her to look at me as a looser, so I put on my helmet again. She stared to us, and I could notice how her lovely face sadden, standing up later and running to go away from us.

“How does it feel?”

Sephiroth’s manly voice reached my ears. I doubted if he was speaking to me, perhaps I heard wrong, or maybe I was just daydreaming. I made a sound with my throat, interrogating Sephiroth’s question.

“How does it feel? It’s been a long time since you visited your hometown, right?” he turned around to watch me with his jade colored eyes, staring at me deeply. Now I was sure he was speaking to me, but wasn’t a moment later when he didn’t even showed any signals of knowing me? My heart began to palpitate with strength, like that time when he spoke to me the first time on my graduation day.

I nodded with my head softly, but I didn’t want to answer. Honestly, I didn’t know exactly how it felt coming back to my hometown after so many years. I half closed my eyes, but then I hear Sephiroth speak again.

“I wouldn’t know how it feels…” he pronounced this words in a low tone. “I’ve never had a hometown”.

His words caused great impact in me. The Great Sephiroth depressed? No, impossible. He that had everything, and what he didn’t have he could have it whenever he wanted. Now, he tried to tell me that he yearned for a place where he could feel comfortable, welcomed by his relatives, like somehow I felt in that moment. His relatives… could Sephiroth have any?

“What about your parents?” I asked when Sephiroth began walking to the nearest and only hotel in town.

“My parents…?” he replied puzzled.

“Yeah, your parents” I repeated.

“Well, my mother was Jenova. She died just after she gave birth to me. And my father…”

Sephiroth lowered his head and stopped talking. Suddenly, a laugh came from his mouth little by little, making itself louder, madder, raising his face to the sky like if he was laughing at his very own existence.

“What does it matter?” he later said, controlling his laugh. I stayed really quiet, not wanting to provoke him more. Sephiroth started walking again, and he directed himself to the hotel near the entrance of Nibelheim. The other soldiers, including Zack, stood still on their places before the strange reaction of the silver haired SOLDIER. Then we followed him to the hotel.

“We will stay here tonight, so we can begin our investigation tomorrow morning,” Sephiroth ordered at the entrance of the hotel. We stood still for a while, but then he continued. “By the way…” he directed to me once again, “you can go visit your relatives while you can” he finished the sentence with a smile over his lips. He entered the hotel, and just in that moment, a boy from the near house came out hastily with his photographic camera. “That was Sephiroth, isn’t he?” he asked rapidly. I nodded with my head. “I would love to take a picture of him with a monster!’ he said truly excited while I just stared at him. I told him to go inside his house; it was dangerous hanging outside because of the situation. Disappointed, he returned home, not without insulting me in a low voice before my ‘grumpy’ behavior.

Just like Sephiroth told me, I went to my house, but I feared crossing the door. I wanted to knock first, but my cowardice wouldn’t let me. But I reunited my strength, and went inside. My mother hadn’t changed that much, but she on the contrary, let me know I had changed perhaps too much. I stayed for just a few moments, and then I let her know I had to go again. I walked through the town, with my helmet on, so nobody could recognize me. I didn’t want anyone to know that Cloud Strife came back without turning into a SOLDIER second-class, not even third class.

Minutes later, I returned to the hotel. The man at the reception told me that ShinRa had already reserved the entire hotel for its soldiers, and that they were waiting upstairs. I went up the stairs, playing with the key to my room that was given to me at the reception, and in front of the windows that showed Mt. Nibel was Sephiroth, staring into the horizon. He turned to see me seriously, while I got near him. It was the perfect moment to ask for some explanations from that night events. I armed myself with courage, and with decision I got closer to Sephiroth.

“You should go get some rest, tomorrow we will have an early departure,” he said in a cold way, returning his eyes to the mountains.

“I’m not tired,” I instinctively answered to the question. ‘Moron, you should have complained first!’ my mind screamed trying to correct the mistake.

“Fine, then don’t expect me to wake you up tomorrow” Sephiroth said without moving his eyes from the landscape.

Now I was furious. That he wouldn’t wake me up in the morning? Just like that night, when he didn’t wake me up to say goodbye, or at least let me know that I should leave… what kind of idiot he thought I was? I hated myself for not telling him those words in that moment. I retired with my fists closed tight, feeling useless.