|| First Strike ||

[hisdreamsmyfate.livejournal.com]

Whoa, okay! This is... ah. Not quite where I wanted to end up, to be honest. In fact, this doesn't look like the Lifestream at all. If I didn't know any better, I'd say I popped up on a spaceship or somethin'!

Imagine that.

Me.

In space.

[He pauses, slowly looking into the camera with bright blue eyes.]

...oh, don't even tell me!

Comments

[optimistickey.livejournal.com]

Preeeetty weird. Stuff that we can't explain keeps happening...

No. I'm...not sure where he is now...

[hisdreamsmyfate.livejournal.com]

Mind if I get a few examples before I just start bustin' down doors in another minute?

C'mon, kid, you said you knew him. Where'd you see him last? He's sick, he shouldn't be left alone too long.

[optimistickey.livejournal.com]

All these weird things showed up around Halloween...there was this green stuff that made people grow large, scarecrows that kept following people around, and some people turned invisible! And before that, a bunch of us ended up playing this game in a huge temple.

[Sora looks worried...he hopes this isn't bad news to a friend. Apparently Cloud had a lot more of them than he talked about.] He wasn't sick...the last I saw him, he was fighting Sephiroth. He almost beat him, and then he and Sephiroth disappeared into this light.

1/2

[hisdreamsmyfate.livejournal.com]

Hallow... een? Wait, hang on, what do you do for Halloween, anyway? I've heard of it.

--fighting Sephiroth? We already beat 'im! Or, ah... actually he did, but what you do mean they 'disappeared into the light'?

2/2

[hisdreamsmyfate.livejournal.com]

[Suddenly, a look of concern and worry passes his face.]


...is Cloud still alive?

[optimistickey.livejournal.com]

Well, usually you dress up as something scary, and then go trick-or-treating for candy! And you have fun by getting scared by things, too.

[Shoot, he seems really worried...except Sora doesn't exactly know what happened to him.] I think so. Aerith seemed to think he would be, anyway. Cloud's not the kind to go down that easy!

[hisdreamsmyfate.livejournal.com]

Yeaaaah, I kinda don't think goin' around dressed as monsters would go over well on my world just yet. Just sayin'.

--hold on, you know Aerith, too? And she knows Cloud? An'...

...

Ah, whatever. As long as he's okay, that's all I care about.

[optimistickey.livejournal.com]

Why not? It's just for pretend.

Yeah, Aerith and Cloud are both from Hollow Bastion. Or...I guess Radiant Garden, now.

[hisdreamsmyfate.livejournal.com]

It's a lot to go over about, kiddo.

...

...uh.

[Staring. And staring. And staring.]





Homie say what now.

[optimistickey.livejournal.com]

Can't be that much.

[Sora stares back, and raises an eyebrow at him.] ...What?

[hisdreamsmyfate.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, kid, why're you doin' this to me.

Okay.

So ShinRa had this awesome idea to start takin' in regular people an' makin' them into these really big, macho enhanced warriors, right? We're known as SOLDIER, which is--or was, an elite group within the company, sent on missions that normal human beings wouldn't be able to accomplish, even in groups. A lot of people saw us all as heroes, but some... kinda get the wrong impression with so much altercating goin' on.

Sometimes, this can go pretty badly, and mako does have a tendency to... um. Mutate, sometimes. An' from the time I left at, monsters were a huge problem everywhere. The problem was leadin' back to SOLDIERs, since we're altered USING the mako, an' people tried avoiding monsters as much as possible. ShinRa itself was pretty headstrong about things, an' anything they deemed a threat, it was eliminated.

So I don't think the idea of dressin' up as monsters, or celebrating 'em, would be the best of ideas. You followin' me?

--by the way, Aerith's from Midgar an' Cloud's from Nibelheim. I've never even heard of those other places.

[optimistickey.livejournal.com]

[Sora listens through all that, frowning a bit.] Maybe so, but it still seems like people should be able to tell the difference between real monsters and fake ones. Part of facing down real monsters is standing up to that fear, after all.

Huh? Neither of them ever even mentioned those worlds. Aerith told me that she and Leon and everyone else grew up in Radiant Garden. I don't think she'd lie about that...

[hisdreamsmyfate.livejournal.com]

It's a sad world we live in, unfortunately, an' you gotta do what you can to make it better, y'know?

Yeah, no, I get you, but...

What the heck is goin' on here?

[optimistickey.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's that sad...but I agree we should try to make it better.

I dunno...it'd seem like Cloud or Aerith would've mentioned another friend. ...Well, maybe not Cloud. It's tough to get him to talk sometimes.

Thread jack.

[beforethemoon]

If he knows Cloud and Aerith, I would have seen this guy around my school.

And, well, I haven't...

[optimistickey.livejournal.com]

If he...oh yeah, I guess they would've been in school when you were...

[Sora makes a funny face. Now that's a weird thought.]

[beforethemoon]

What's that face for, Sora?

[optimistickey.livejournal.com]

[Sora tries to wipe that look off his face.]

Uhh...it's nothing!

[beforethemoon]

Nothing?

[optimistickey.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Just...thinking.

[hisdreamsmyfate.livejournal.com]

[SORA WHY ARE YOU MAKING THINGS SO SAD FOR HIM.]

They never even talked about me...?

[optimistickey.livejournal.com]

[BECAUSE ALTERNATE UNIVERSES ARE SAD?!]

Not that I remember...

[hisdreamsmyfate.livejournal.com]

[YOUR WORLD ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE SAD. IT'S FUGGIN' DISNEY.]

Okay, something's gotta be wrong when Aerith doesn't even mention me!

[optimistickey.livejournal.com]

Yeah...Aerith's definitely not the kind to do something like that.

Did you end up on another world when Radiant Garden fell?

[hisdreamsmyfate.livejournal.com]

But I don't even remember Radiant Garden... I just remember growin' up in Gongaga with my mom and dad.