FINAL FANTASY 7
Within A Child's Mind
(Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 7 and all FF7 characters are the
property of SquareSoft. Seth and other original characters belong to
me.)
(author's note: This takes place 100 Years after
the events in FF7)
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"Calm down!" the teacher told the little boy as she tried, once
again, to stick the needle into the boy's finger. "All the other
students did it. Don't you want to see what's in your blood?"
"I don't wanna be 'sperimented on!"
"I'm not experimenting on you, honey." the teacher frowned, wonderng
where the hell that had come from. "This is part of science class.
We're all learning about the stuff that's in our blood."
The boy settled down into quiet sniffling. "You won't make me a
monster?"
"I promise I won't." the teacher smiled.
The boy stuck out his finger and the teacher took a sample.
"Ouch." the boy complained.
"That wasn't so bad now, was it?"
"No." The boy admitted. Except that moment of pain, there had been no
discomfort.
The teacher smiled and ruffled the boy's hair.
****
"Your teach says you had another episode today, Seth." The boy's mom
said as he walked in. "We really must do something about your
outbursts."
"I'm sorry, mom." Seth said, glumly. "I just got scared."
"Why do you think people want to experiment on you?"
"Can I have a cookie?"
His mother nodded. "They're on the counter." she told him as he
vanished into the kitchen.
He returned with some cookies and milk a few minutes later and
plopped down onto the sofa to enjoy his afternoon munchies.
"So, why do you think people want to experiment on you?" His mother
repeated.
Seth shrugged. "Dunno. Its like I keep remembering them doing that to
me when I was a little baby. I lived in this weird lab and they did
all kinds of weird shit to me."
"Seth!"
"Sorry, mom." Seth apologized. "Anyhow, it really freaked me out."
"Well, that didn't happen to you." Mrs. Ross told her son, gently.
"You were always raised in a kind and loving home and no one ever did
experiments on you."
"Then how come I keep dreaming they did?" Seth asked.
"I don't know." his mom admitted. "But let's drop the subject. Its
time for dinner. Could you set the table for me?"
"Yes, mom."
FF7 Within A Child's Mind (part 2)
-------------------------------------------------
"Seth," his mom said, during dinner, "what's wrong?"
Seth looked up. "My history class is going to see the ruins of the old
city tomorrow." he explained.
"I didn't get any permission slip."
Seth handed a ragged piece of paper to her. "I didn't want to go, but
the teacher said I have to. She says that the stuff we see there is
going to be on a test she's giving."
Mrs. Ross signed the paper. "Why don't you want to go?"
"I don't know." Seth admitted.
"It'll be fun." Mrs. Ross smiled. "You're going to get to see all
kinds are things that haven't been seen for over a hundred years."
"How was the city destroyed?" Seth asked.
"I don't know, honey." Mrs. Ross admitted. "I think it was a fire or
something to do with the weather."
******
The comet came streaking through the solar system, while a lone
angel stood there, watching its approach without the slightest hint of
moving.
//STOP IT// his mind screamed the words that his mouth could not
vocalize.
The comet did not hit Earth. Instead, after obliterating Pluto,
Saturn, and Jupiter, it collided with the sun.
His mind reeled with horror as the sun expanded to engulf Mercury,
Venus, and finally Earth itself.
As the expanding solar furnace claimed the planet, he noticed the
angel only had one wing.
Then everything went white.
***
Seth Ian Ross woke up with a scream of horror. He sat there, panting,
looking around as if to make sure it was all still there.
His mother hurried into the room.
"Bad dream?" she asked.
"Really bad." Seth nodded.
"So tell me about the dream you had," Mrs. Ross encouraged the next
morning, during breakfast.
"There was this angel, and I think hewanted to help us, but he
couldn't because one of his wings was missing."
"Help us?"
"When the sun blew up." Seth explained.
"The sun blew up?" Mrs. Ross asked. "That must have been horrible. All
those planets like Pluto and Neptune getting burned up like that."
"I don't know what happened to Neptune, mom." Seth admitted. "I
didn't see that in the dream. and Pluto got hit by the comet."
"The comet?" Mrs. Ross asked.
"Yeah. there was this weird comet. It hit Pluto and pulverized it.
Ka*BLAMO! Then it did the same thing to Saturn. Rings and all. And
then it hit Jupiter." Seth at this point sounded like an excited
child describing a particularly gory scene from the latest popular
horror film,. "You shoulda seen it! It went right through the middle
of the planet. It was so damned awesome! Turned it into a huge
space-donut!"
"And what happened to Earth?" Mrs. Ross asked, concernedly.
"Aw, we just got toasted when the sun blew up." Seth shrugged as if
the destruction of Earth was a bit anticlimactic in comparison to the
comet bulls-eye'ing Jupiter.
The schoolbus will be here soon." Mrs. Ross told him. "You'd better
hurry. " She helped him into his coat and handed him his books and the
ragged permission slip. Have fun today at the ruins." she told him.
FF7: Within A Child's Mind (part 3)
--------------------------------------------------
"Okay, everyone," the teacher announced as they gathered in the
parking lot. "Now, remember, these ruins are very dangerous. So I
expect you all to obey all the safety rules. Okay?"
"Okay." The students responded as they.
The teacher took a head count, then everyone boarded the bus and
headed for the ruins.
"Miss Shin?" One of the students asked. "What if we find stuff there?
Can we bring it home?"
"You'll have to ask the people who are running the excavation site."
the teacher replied.
The bus arrived at the site forty-five minutes later.
"Hello, everyone." the site manager greeted them, once they were all
at the entrance to the dig. "My name is Cid. This dig has just been
unearthed fairly recently, so there's bound to be some interesting
artifacts. Now, I'm sure some of you are wondering if you get to keep
anything you find. The answer is, yes you do. "
A cheer went up from the students.
"I wouldn't cheer too much." Cid pointed out. "The ruins are only a
hundred years old, so there's not likely to be much in the way of
buried treasure."
"That's a very nice offer." Miss Shin pointed out.
"When I was a kid, I went on my first dig and I found something. I hid
it because I didn't know if it was okay to keep it. Then, I started
looking up stuff about it. That's what got me interested in history
and archaeology. They'll be more interested in history if they have a
personal link to it."
Miss Shin nodded in agreement, then brought her students inside..
As they were exploring the ruins, the students found various
artifacts. Most of these were small in nature. Jewelry, utensils, and
so on. The first few items were claimed eagerly, but as time wore on
and the novelty wore off, many items were left out of a sheer
been-there/done-that mentality.
"OH! COOL!" One of the students cried out. "Hey! Come check out what
Seth found!"
Cid and Miss Shin went over to where Seth was. The boy was kneeling on
the ground. resting upon his knees was a very long sword who's blade
bore a slight curve. The hilt was encrusted with gems
Miss Shin and Seth looked questioningly at Cid.
"Yes, he can keep it." Cid decided. "A promise is a promise after
all."
FF7: Within A Child's Mind (part 4)
---------------------------------------------------
Seth reached down to pick up his new prize. As his fingertips touched
the hilt, he felt the world flicker about him.
o/ ... ra vehem...o/ Some unseen chorus sang.
Seth flinched back and stared at the sword.
"What's wrong?" Miss Shin asked.
"It sang to me." Seth shook his head. "How come it sang to me?"
"What did it sing?" Miss Shin asked.
"You believe me?" Seth was incredulous. He had expected her to say he
was imagining it.
"Sure." Miss Shin smiled.
"Some swords are like that." Cid agreed . "Especially if the soul of
the person who finds them is that of a former owner."
"So it was mine in a former life?"
"Could be." Miss Shin nodded. "This song could be its way of saying
its happy to see you again."
Seth was afraid, but he was too excited and too curious not to try
touching the sword again. He eyed it, anxiously.
"Go ahead." Miss Shin and Cid both nodded. "We're right here. We won't
let anything bad happen."
Seth reached down and, this time, firmly gripped the blade.
o/ Estuans interis o/
o/ ira vehementi o/
o/ Estuans interis o/
o/ ira vehementi o/
o/ Sephiroth o/
o/ Sephiroth o/
o/ Estuans interis o/
o/ ira vehementi o/
o/ Estuans interis o/
o/ ira vehementi o/
o/ Sephiroth o/
o/ Sephiroth o/
o/ Sors immanis o/
o/ Et inanis o/
o/ Sors immanis o/
o/ Et inanis o/
o/ Estuans interis o/
o/ ira vehementi o/
o/ Estuans interis o/
o/ ira vehementi o/
o/ Sephiroth o/
o/ Sephiroth o/
o/ Veni, veni, venias, o/
o/ Ne me mori facias o/
o/ Veni, veni, venias, o/
o/ Ne me mori facias o/
o/ Veni, veni, venias, Gloriosa o/
o/ Ne me mori facias Generosa o/
o/ Veni, veni, venias, Gloriosa o/
o/ Ne me mori facias Generosa o/
o/ Estuans interis o/
o/ ira vehementi o/
o/ Estuans interis o/
o/ ira vehementi o/
o/ Sephiroth o/
o/ Sephiroth o/
o/ Sephiroth o/
o/ Sephiroth o/
Seth let go and sat back, looking very stunned. He'd seen the dream
he'd had the night before, and more. Much more. So much cruelty. So
much evil. And he'd seen Sephiroth's face. A face that was older, but
still one he knew. One he'd seen in the mirror every day of his life.
"I.. I'M SORRY!" he burst out, as he let go of the masamune and fled
the site in tears.
Cid went after him. "What happened?" he asked.
"I saw... I saw me. But I was a grown-up." Seth replied. "And I was
doing awful things."
"What's your name?" Cid asked.
"Seth." the boy said, sounding exasperated. "Remember?"
Cid smiled. "I meant your full name."
"Seth Ian Ross."
Cid wrote it out. Then he wrote it again, this time time replacing
the boy's middle name with its initial.
Seth I. Ross
The similarity to Sephiroth's name was almost uncanny.
"I don't have to do all those awful things if I'm this Sephiroth guy,
do I?" Seth asked.
"No." Cid replied. "I think you're here not to do them."
"Huh?" Seth asked.
"I grew up believing that if a person was bad, they kept getting sent
back to life until they were good enough to pass forever into the
lifestream.
"Do they always remember?" Seth asked.
"Not always." Cid admitted. "But sometimes they do. Seth, keep your
sword and guard it. Masamune belongs to you, now. It always has."