Pain of Memories ||Open||

[calamity]

It was dark as the lone figure entered the ruined part of Midgar where few went nowadays, there white ankle length jacket stood out against the darkness of the night while there black tank top, boots and trousers blended in with the shadows. The natural flame red of her hair was all but gone, lost to the night where little light remained, in the dark it was impossible to tell that her hair was as red as fire. Her mako coloured eyes searched the area around her as she crossed her arms over her chest. This place was familiar to her though to her knowledge she’d never been here before, she raised her gloved hand to her hair, running her fingers through the hair that hung in front of her right eye, moving it out of the way.

“So…This is Midgar,” a gentle voice left the girls lips, a smile forming upon them as she looked around again. What was the young woman’s reason for coming to Midgar? The answer to the question was unclear even to the woman herself, part of her was drawn to Midgar because she’d heard that is was where the three silver haired men had been looking Jenova’s head. For reasons unknown to her she felt sympathetic towards them, this wasn’t something that the female member of SOLDIER was used to. Everything that they’d done horrified her but yet…She wanted to protect them, evil or not. Why she didn’t know but…She shook her head, pushing these thoughts from her mind.

The young woman walked through the empty streets, silently taking in the view of Midgar. This place called to her long forgotten memories, screaming at her to remember this place, pain coursed through her head as she raised her hand to her head. She held back a scream of pain as she leaned against the wall, trying to calm herself down and stop the irritating throbbing in her head.

*Flashback*

A 14 year old girl ran through the street, looking for something of importance to her or at least a someone.

“Calamity!” A male voice called from behind the girl, causing the girl to stop and look back over her shoulder, smiling happily at the sight of her uncle standing there.

*Flashback End*

As the memory faded as did the throbbing pain. She calmed her breathing, looking down at the ground. The pain is getting worse each time and it’s lasting longer…I just want the pain to go away…. she thought to herself as she pushed herself from the wall. Her hands suddenly moved to the twins sais that were concealed at her back by the white ankle length coat she wore.

She’d heard something, a noise coming from behind her, the blade of her Sais were now pressed upon her skin as she held them tightly. She slowly turned on her heels and looked in the direction that the noise had come from but saw nothing there, her eyes narrowed slightly as she placed the sais back in their sheath, slightly uneasy now though it didn’t show in her body language. Her footsteps were silent as she moved forward, she stopped and looked around, raising a brow and crossing her over her chest as she looked around. Nothing. She glanced over her shoulder as she heard the noise again. A cat walked towards her meowing. “Hey little one,” she crouched down and scratched behind its ear. “Where’d you come from?” Calamity spoke in a gentle tone as she picked up the cat and scratched the back of its head before looking around again. She was still being watched, and it wasn’t by the cat.

[Zack Fair]

::...The Puppy...::

[/color][/u]

Your gonna be my…Living Legacy.

Zack walked along the streets which used to be sector 7 of Midgar. He was on his way to Aerith’s church, which was in the ruined part of sector 5. He didn’t worry to much about meeting anyone, for almost no one came here anymore anyway. He was coming to meet Aerith in her church, smiling though it was darn around him. He blended in with the surroundings, a tall well muscled figure wearing a black traditional 1st class SOLDIER outfit. The trademark of SOLDIER, his mako blue eyes, watched the area around him, though he didn’t think he would meet anyone, there was other things that he might run into, and because of his SOLDIER training made it so his attention didn’t wander to much.

Feet touched the ground lightly as he made his way over and through the ruins of the area, though the city was destroyed it was still laid out as it had been previously, and he knew the city well. And then suddenly something caught his eyes. A woman, from what he could see, dressed in slightly odd garb, at least for what normal women wore. His eyebrows raised as he watched her, hidden partially by rubble and blending in partially. He could see that she could feel his presence, even if she couldn’t see him.

He watched her for a few minutes as she drew out her sais. She had become uneasy, and he was just about to step out when she bent down, a cat at her feet. She seemed…well he knew he didn’t know her, but the way she carried herself and the way she acted he could understand. She must be from the military, he thought to himself. But he also knew that it had been him that she had sensed, not simply the cat. Shrugging, he decided it wouldn’t hurt anything to go out and introduce himself, although he put a hand on the handle of his sword…just for protection, as she was jumpy.

He walked out from the rubble, hand touching the handle of the large metal sword that hung from his back. A smile was up on his lips as he walked out, the hand that wasn’t attached to his sword was held out, almost to keep her from taking out her weapon before he had introduced himself. “Hello Ma’am.” He spoke in a polite, friendly tone, although his eyes were weary of what she would do once she fully saw him. He had been overconfident one to many times in his life to underestimate what she would do.

[calamity]

Her eyes moved quickly to the man though her hands didn’t move from the cat she was holding, her eyes were no longer narrowed, she could see him now and it didn’t look like he was here to fight. A soft laugh left her lips when he called her Ma’am, no-one called her ‘ma’am’ she was always Calamity or Cali to her friends. “Please call me Calamity or Cali if you wish,” her vibrant mako green eyes scanned him cautiously. Her eyes widened slightly, recognizing the uniform instantly. She knew the uniform very well, after all she was supposed to be wearing it. Calamity looked down at the cat that was meowing at her. “This isn’t your cat is it?” she asked softly, she didn’t want to be clawed at for not letting the cat get to its owner. She was in no mood to be clawed at.

“You were a member of SOLDIER once, weren’t you? 1st Class. I’m very familiar with the uniform but not with you. I don’t recognise you at all.” There weren’t as many SOLDIER as there once had been and there were even less 1st class. They all knew each other so for her to meet someone wearing the uniform that she didn’t know. Calamity tilted her head to the right slightly, she’d hinted at the fact that she was in SOLDIER but didn’t want to come out and say it. Some people weren’t as accepting as others, some asked questions that Calamity couldn’t answer.

She dropped the cat when the splitting pain in her head started again, out of instinct she raised her hand to her head. No! Not now!

*Flashback Start*

The thirteen year old Calamity knelt on her knees, tore to ribbons, a scratch ran along her right cheek where her fathers blade had caught her. She wiped the crimson elixir from her cheek with a dark look in her cerulean eyes. She slowly stood up, unarmed and took up a fighting stance, facing down her father, she wasn’t weak and she knew it, now he would too.

Her father lunged at her with his katana drawn, in one fluent motion she placed her hand before the katanas blade, feeling it go straight through her palm before she moved it to the side to direct the blade away from her before flipping herself to kick her father in the side of the head. He hit the floor hard, removing the katana from her now bleeding hand.

She was panting, blood running down her fingers, hitting the ground below her feet. She’d just proved herself a fighter.

*Flashback End*

For a second she was barely able to stand, again the pain began to fade but she had no idea for how long…This pain is getting worse…

[Zack Fair]

::...The Puppy...::

[/color][/u]

Your gonna be my…Living Legacy.

Zack watched the woman as her eyes narrowed and she laughed and told him to call her something else. “Alright Calamity, since you told me your name I suppose I should tell you mine hmm? The name is Zack, Zack Fair.” He liked people, and made friends easily, although he respected women very much. And then he noticed the eyes…mako….that was the only thing that could make eyes such a color as hers were. They were a trademark of SOLDIER, but Cloud had those eyes and he hadn’t been a member of SOLDIER, so there was various explanations. When she asked about the cat he chuckled, “No, it isn’t my cat…I don’t know who’s it is.”

When she asked about him being a member of SOLDIER he just smiled. “I used to be a 1st class, that was about 5 years ago now, back before Sephiroth went crazy…” How should he explain that, and how had she known he had been in SOLDIER? Was she with SOLDIER? That would explain the actions, the carefulness in how she moved her body and the weary look in her eyes. “Its been a long time…Hojo took me and a pal of mine for experiments when I was unconscious and when I broke out the Army chased me down…”

“That being said…are you in SOLDIER? You have to be if you knew that I was at one point…” Crossing his arms, his own mako blue eyes studied her. “And your eyes…they were infused with mako.” He said it as a statement, but then a concerned look crossed his face. She got a dizzy look on her face as she dropped the cat and put a hand to her head. He took a few steps up to her, “Calamity? Hey, are you alright?!”

He put a gloved hand on her arm as she seemed to be coming back out of it. “Are you…ok? You kind of blanked out there for a second.” He took his hand off her arm and glanced at her with his intense blue eyes. “anything I can do to help?”

[calamity]

Zack Fair, the name rang a bell, from where she didn’t know but she’d find out later. “Pleasure to meet you Zack,” she had a pleasant and soft smile that most people found welcoming. The only time she wasn’t seen as being overly friendly was when she was on a mission that required her to be serious. “Hmmm, I wonder who’s cat it is then…” Calamity looked at the cat, its eyes were similar to hers she noticed. Maybe I should just take him home with me…? Maybe the Turks would take him in? Calamity scratched behind his ear, the loud purring coming from the cat showed how much it was enjoying having its ear scratched. “Looks like I’ve made a new friend…”

So that she was where she’d heard the name, his name was in the file she’d been reading about former 1st Class. She’d wanted to know about Sephiroth. “You were mentored by Angeal and went on a mission with Sephiroth…They killed you…didn’t they…” Calamity bowed her head. “Sorry. It was in your file,” she explained. This was what SOLDIER had been reduced to, paper work and filing of all things. She’d seen many files over the last year, her file was the only one that she hadn’t seen…Apparently her file had been misplaced or lost, she wished it hadn’t. Perhaps if it hadn’t she would know more about herself rather than having to follow memories that left her with a very sore head.

“Calamity Fury, SOLDIER 1st Class.” For some unknown reason people seemed surprised when they learnt that, she knew there wasn’t many female members of SOLDIER but was it really that shocking that one had made it to 1st Class? Her memories and pain went hand in hand, she got neither without the other she’d learnt in recent years. The only time it hurt her emotionally was when she endured the pain only to learn she’d walked down a street when she was four. Those memories weren’t very helpful…

Her eyes moved to his hand but there was a look of almost surprise on her features. “I…I’ll be ok in a little bit…But thank you Zack…for actually sounding like you care…” it had been some time since anyone had actually sounded concerned for her. “When I was young my father had JENOVA cells put into my blood stream…when I was seventeen my body shut down and I went into a coma…When I woke up I had no memory of who I was…what I had done, where I’d been…nothing…My body or rather the JENOVA cells in my blood react and respond by giving me a very bad head ache that makes me feel like my head is being cracked open. It fades quickly though…” Calamity looked at him and shook her head. “Sorry…you didn’t need to know that…”

[Zack Fair]

::...The Puppy...::

[/color][/u]

Your gonna be my…Living Legacy.

He nodded when she spoke of it being a pleasure. “Yeah you to! I hadn’t expected to see anyone wandering around Midgar…"He shrugged,“Probably a stray…although how it managed to live here for so long is beyond me!” Glancing around he only saw rubble and devastation, although a few plants had fought through, such as a bit of grass, a tiny little tree here and there, but mostly it was just trashed. He grinned however, “Yeah it sure looks like you have! Maybe you could…take it home?” The cat seemed hungry for attention, so it had probably been on its own for some time.

And then she seemed to realize who he was. He cocked his head as she mentioned he had been mentored by Angeal and went on a mission with Sephiroth. “Yeah that would be me. I don’t know any other Ex 1st class SOLDIER’S that were mentored by Angeal so it must be.” When she mentioned that they had killed him he nodded, not ashamed of the fact. “Yup, after a long time of being chased I decided to face the army. I hope they mentioned that I made a great fight of it in that file!” Probably not…knowing ShinRa they had probably said only that he had been killed, “Only three army members and a Helicopter left when they gunned me down, so out of the thousands that were there I’d say that’s pretty good hm?” He shrugged, his arms crossed, “Its alright don’t worry about it. After all I’m not ashamed of the fact.”

He was impressed when she said that she was a SOLDIER 1st class. Not simply because she was a woman, although he had never seen a woman SOLDIER, let alone a 1st class, so she must be good. “I’m impressed. Although I figured you must be in some sort of military by the way you acted. Didn’t see a SOLDIER outfit though, so I wasn’t sure.”

When she snapped out of the state she had been in and looked at his hand he could see the surprised look on her face. Zack was just accustomed to helping people out, so he hadn’t thought anything of touching her arm to see if she was alright. And then she…thanked him for really caring? Glancing at her bluish green eyes he thought she must not have had the greatest life if she was thankful for him really caring. And then she explained about some of her past. It made sense that she had been injected with JENOVA cells, he saw from her oddly colored eyes that must be the case. When she apologized for telling him about it he waved it away, “don’t be sorry. I understand, and I’m sorry you had to be put through that, no one should have to go through any of that. It wasn’t Hojo by chance that did it to you was it?”

Hojo was a terror…he was glad that Cloud had said that he was dead. “Hojo took a buddy of mine and me as experiments and injected us with Jenova cells to…it created chaos on my buddy, I was lucky enough to have a strong enough body to reject the cells.” He still felt bad that she went through that. “And these head aches…they happen often?”