Chapter 14

The sweetest moments of his past, the past of a man name Strife was when he was with a girl called Jennifer and opened his heart to the world. Never in his life he thought such a world existed.

After deciding not to leave Nibelhelm, Strife started to learn how to live a normal life like everyone else with Jennifer guiding him. He learnt how to talk fluently, socialize with other people, working like a normal person in the blacksmith shop with a steady income…For the first time in his life, he felt peace and quiet, and warmness and care.

With the duty of keeping Jenova from waking up, he took up a job as an excavator in the mountains of Nibelhelm. Everyday he will go to the mountains as a worker there and make sure the other worker doesn’t accidentally stumble into the place where Jenova rests. He would create some excuse, to stop people from digging towards that direction. The excuse was simple. Just say no mako there and people will believe it. These people are here for mako. Anything else isn’t important.

After a day’s work, every evening he will come back with the other workers back to the small remote town and back to their families. Every evening when he came home, Jennifer will be waiting for him with dinner and the two will spend the whole evening together. Though not married yet, in the eyes of everybody in Nibelhelm, they are. No other couple are as happy as they are. This continues for a month, a year, two year, until…

The day come. The day that ruined his peaceful life and made him running around the world, being pursued by soldiers. That day…

It was another evening when Strife was walking back to Nibelhelm with his fellow workers, waiting to see Jennifer once again. It was like every other day except from far, the town was exceptionally quiet. Strife, starting to get suspicious of the situation, acted like nothing was happening and walked back until when they were in the town, they saw nobody around.

The workers looked around and felt a grave feeling, like something bad is going to happen. The town was like a ghost town and the only sound that was heard was the sound of the wind blowing into the windows, making a haunting sound. This is bad, real bad.

“What in the world…”

A fellow worker called out but no reply. Strife looked around and saw movement inside house. He shouted out and immediately, a laughing voice was heard.

“As I expected, your senses are still excellent, even after all these years!”

Following that laughter, a fat round man with a pathetic smirk on his face walked out from one of the house. Within seconds, all the doors of the house open and blue uniform soldiers holding machineguns with towns people in their arms stormed out. Apparently, the entire town was taken hostage by this army.

The workers that are with Strife were shocked to see this and they hadn’t the slightest idea what to do. Strife, on the other hand, seem very calm, as if he expect this, or saw this coming.

“President Shinra…”

That’s right. This fat round man with the pathetic smirk is none other than the greedy president of the wealthy Shinra empire. This president really take the time to ‘visit’ him in this remote small town.

“My, my, how had you changed! You can speak! Also, never in my life I expected you to have emotions, feelings! Hojo told me that you were incapable of that.”

Strife stared at President Shinra with a mean look. Hojo. That name really bring back memories.

“And woo hoo! Who is this? Your lover?”

President Shinra teased and a soldier walked out of the door behind him, with Jennifer in his arms. Jennifer, a girl that never even dreamed of violence, was trembling, afraid but still trying to keep her tears from flowing. Strife saw this and he feared the worst.

“Well, well, your emotions include love as well! Or wait, is it lust?”

Strife keep his calm even though President Shinra teased with him again and again. From everyone’s view, he looked like he was just standing there, but in his head, he was targeting each and every target he can kill. He was preparing to solve this through violence.

“What do you want?”

Strife asked. President Shinra smiled and looked at Strife in the eyes.

“I want you to join our army. In return, I will release your honey and the rest of the town folks. What do you say?”

Strife stared at the President Shinra and he meddle with something behind his back.

“Join your army? I am only a person. You already have an entire battalion here.”

President Shinra heard and laughed again. After laughing for a while he resumed. A serious look appeared on President Shinra’s face.

“We both know that you are more powerful than a whole battalion and I would do whatever to get hold of you.”

Strife listened and his arms are ready to flex at any moment.

“You have magic power, excellent close combat skills, and even…”

Strife was waiting for this moment. President Shinra is too busy talking.

“Assassination skills using blades like you are doing right now! Think you can trick me!”

Strife was shocked to hear this. President Shinra was like reading through his mind.

“You know damn well that I can surely kill you with one blade.”

Strife threatened to kill President Shinra. President Shinra laughed again.

“You think I wasn’t prepared for this?! If you kill me, don’t think you can see these town folks alive! Even if you can target and kill every soldier here at the same time, I have soldiers with kids miles away and they will kill them if they received a signal that I am dead.”

Strife listened to President Shinra and hesitated his attack. He knew that President Shinra must be prepared and would do anything to get him. There is not much option. Go with it or regret for his entire life.

“I don’t like waiting…”

President Shinra said and pointed a gun straight at Jennifer’s face. Strife bit his teeth and was forced to follow President Shinra’s threat.

“Damn you…”

“I take that as a yes.”

President Shinra said and then smiled. Strife somehow felt like he just sold his soul to the devil.

“Half of you, stay here. Shoot everybody on my signal.”

President Shinra ordered his soldiers. This man is really careful. He will hold the town folks even after Strife will be leaving soon.

“Godo! Here I come you (@#&@$()!!!”

President Shinra shouted with joy into the sky. The war with Wutai had taken it’s first step.

It was a brutal war. A very brutal one. It spanned for years and years and many people died in the process. This war is no other than the war that broke out between the gigantic company Shinra Inc and the powerful country Wutai.

In this war, many soldiers are pulled together to form powerful armies. The Shinra have powerful weapons that make use of hi-tech equipment such as machineguns, mako powered cannons, advanced machineries and a handful of other weapons. On the other hand, the Wutai army is packed with powerful spiritual fighter that can cast powerful offensive and defensive spells, along with their determination and skills that make them stronger than any other army. A war between these two sides can only mean a lot of death and a lot of loss. Both of them are equally powerful, but the Shinra army had something hidden, a weapon that no one knew existed…

Strife. That’s Shinra’s most powerful weapon. Strife.

Strife supposedly joined one of the most elite assassination and espionage organisation ever formed called the Turks, but nobody ever saw him before or ever heard of him. He is the most powerful weapon that was never known. The one that only act under the direct order from President Shinra.

When Strife first joined the Shinra army, he thought it would be an easy job. All he had to do is infiltrate Godo’s base and assassinate Godo without him even knowing it. By doing this the war would had ended very soon. But President Shinra didn’t want so, he wanted to make more profit out of the war. Shinra Inc, as a weapons manufacturer at first, gained a fortune from sales of arms and technological advantages out of the war. President Shinra didn’t want the war to end quickly. He wanted it to be long, painful, profitable…

With the lives of his fellow Nibelhelm townspeople in his hand, he can do nothing but to follow orders from President Shinra. Though he was very clear that during the war, more people died, he couldn’t bear to fight President Shinra’s order, as President Shinra always threaten Strife with the lives of the people in Nibelhelm. Soldiers are stationed in Nibelhelm. With just a call, the entire town can be massacred.

The war spanned for 16 long years before President Shinra ordered Strife to carry out damaging operations. Before this, Strife was never called for a mission. At the end of the war, President Shinra felt that it was finally enough, and then orders are given to assassinate top generals of the Wutai army, but not Lord Godo. Strife carried those orders very efficiently, hit the enemy without them knowing, and then leave no trace, scaring the hell out of the soldiers in Wutai. Following with a few sabotages and damaging “accidents” that cripple the Wutai army, Lord Godo finally given up on fighting, as he fear for the worst and the unknown. And thus, the war ended and the Shinra soldiers cried in joy, ready to travel back home. Strife was given freedom too, and he too headed back to Nibelhelm, but…this is just the start of his nightmare. The ordeal of the war was nothing.

From the north of the Wutai continent, Strife travelled south alone to a pickup point where ships came by and pick up soldiers from Wutai back to the other continents. The journey was long, but compared to the war that lasted 16 years, it was nothing. He longed for the day that he would return to Nibelhelm. He longed the day that he would once again feel Jenn in his arms. It was only a few days away. Just only a few days…

One night, he came by a bridge that spanned across a huge canyon. From there, he could see the shore. He could see ships there With joy, he ran faster towards the end of the bridge. He was filled with joy. In just hours, he will be on his way back home…

He heard footsteps nearby. Very light footsteps. Capable only by very a skilled fighter. Strife stopped on his spot. He spoke.

“The great Sephiroth, I assume?”

The person behind him got a shock and couldn’t believe what he just heard. But in a short while the person got his calm and then replied with a cold tone.

“You, are you the one that assassinated those top general and sabotaged those installations?”

Sephiroth asked loudly. The man just kept quiet. He continued walking towards the end of the bridge.

“Hey! Answer me!”

Sephiroth shouted out again but the man just kept walking. Sephiroth shouted again.

“Then it must be you. Only a very skilled fighter wouldn’t tremble at the sight of me, needless to say ignoring me.”

Sephiroth finished and the man stopped. Sephiroth was right. In the army, Sephiroth was President Shinra’s most powerful fighter and everyone including President Shinra feared him. This man have to be something to have the guts to ignore him.

“What do you want? Someone is waiting for me.”

“A challenge. That what I wanted. A challenge.”

Sephiroth answered and pulled out his long sword. Strife kept quiet and just stood there. Then, he started to murmur.

“If that’s what you want…”

“Let’s get over with this.”

Before Sephiroth even realized, Strife had already pulled out 6 small blades and flung them like missiles at Sephiroth. Sephiroth, not expecting those attacks, couldn’t evade in time and got cut by some of the blades. Before Sephiroth could even regain his concentration, Strife was already in front of him, with two short blades, starting to slash at Sephiroth again and again. Sephiroth got a few blow at first, but then quickly recovered from it and blocked a few attacks with his sword. Sephiroth then instantly counter attack a few times.

Strife, blocked Sephiroth’s sword with one blade, and then light glowed from his other hand. In just a split second, Strife placed his hand in front of Sephiroth’s chest and then a bright green light exploded in front of Sephiroth. Sephiroth was knocked off balance and flew backwards a few yards, shaking the bridge like an earthquake. That was a highly concentrated Ultima spell in close range. If that wasn’t Sephiroth, the victim would have been blasted into ashes.

“No…this can’t be…I am the best…”

Strife stood high over Sephiroth and looked down at Sephiroth. Sephiroth looked so pathetic, not like the person the soldiers idolized. He was way more powerful than Sephiroth. Sephiroth was almost like nothing to him.

Strife moved on and continued towards the end of the bridge. Sephiroth, with all his strength and might, pushed himself up, and walked towards Strife. He hunch, walked like a crippled, slowly approaching Strife, and then cried out.

“It’s…not…over yet…”

Strife, tired of Sephiroth’s attitude, turned back and approached Sephiroth. He lifted his arm and was about to punch Sephiroth and send him flying away. His arms went straight right down when at that time, he felt a strange feeling. He arms punched down without strength, then his body start to numb, slowly going to his legs and head. He felt a terrible headache he never felt before. He grabbed his head and then he couldn’t feel his body. He started to wobble.

Sephiroth stared in horror seeing the way Strife reacted. He had no idea what happened. All he know is that something strange is happening.

“You…you…Jenn….”

Strife mumbled. Sephiroth wanted to assist but feared something bad would happened. He tried to make out what Strife was saying.

“Jenn…Jenn…ova???”

Sephiroth was shocked to hear that word. Jenova? What was that? He heard Professor Gast talking about it before. But what actually is it?

“Argghhh!!!”

Strife lost his balance and then he wobble even more. He then started to drift to the side of the bridge and then he just flung himself over the bridge, into the dark canyon below. Sephiroth tried to catch him but he wasn’t fast enough. He just stared as the image of Strife gets dimmer, and dimmer into the canyon, until nothing was seen.

Sephiroth got the scare of his life. He just collapse onto the bridge, shocked to see what happen. Jenova…that word…what it has to do with professor Gast, and this man? What makes the man react this way? Was it him? He has the power to make someone react like Strife?

Sephiroth, this moment realized that he was no ordinary person like Professor Gast told him. Soon, he will reveal the truth of what he is, what he is capable of , and what is his life’s purpose.