The FF7 Experience: (Chapter 2: Chocobo Eater! WTF?)

I’m 3 months in now. I’ve been making progress, however small. When I leave, I stick close to Kalm. Mostly, I run into Kalm Fangs in numbers of 1 or 2. I was almost killed when I tried for 3, so when there are that many, I book it back to Kalm. I don’t know how to explain it, but the monsters never enter the town.

I still swing my weapon around rather unprofessionally. I haven’t had to kick a wolf in the nuts or gouge their eyes in a while, so there is improvement, even if only a little. My newer and MUCH better weapon has helped out too. With the money I’ve gathered from all my battles, I bought some new materia. I equipped the ‘Earth’ and ‘Sense’ materia to my armlet. Sense isn’t quite like in the game. It doesn’t show my a number for their HP or anything. However, I’ll get a mental image of their form and different body parts will be colored based on the damage they’ve received. So if the back legs were a dark red, they’re pretty fucked up. I’ll also be able to ‘sense’ any elemental weaknesses. It’s damn useful, but how long you keep the image is based on my ability to concentrate. I can only see it for like a second, and sometimes it’s not even enough time to get a full understanding of their condition.

I can focus a lot better now. There are still times when my magic fails me, but for the most part, I can rely on it.

I’ve been saving up money too. I’m thinking before I go to Midgar, I’ll buy some materia and bring it over to give to AVALANCHE. Maybe they’ll like me then? I know it’s childish.

I’ve been racking my brain trying to think of just how to join up with them. I’m a kid, and it would look bad if I just walked into Tifa’s bar and said “I wanna join AVALANCHE.”

I hear the sound of a motor revving. At the moment, I am a little bit further away from Kalm then usual. The monster I’m fighting at the moment is called ‘Hell Ride’. I’ve fought a few before, but they were a lot harder then the wolves. My poison doesn’t affect them because they are machines, and I was dumb enough to try fighting it without lightning Materia. It moves to quickly to nail it with earth, either.

With a final rev, the motor cycle comes tearing towards me. I jump and roll off to the side clumsily and spring back to my feet, looking around in all directions.

Shadow Replication!” I cry out. Once my copy appears next to me, I formulate a plan. I need to fuck up the thing’s tires. It nods to me in understanding.

The cycle comes charging towards me once more. I move off to the side and swipe at it’s tires, but it moved by so quickly that all I hit was air.

3 months, and I am only level 3. I suspect Walter played around with the experience system a bit. I noticed that I had to work a lot harder to get to level 3 then I did to reach level 2. So the difficulty in advancing has been heavily altered as well. To put it in perspective, I reached level 2 in 6 days. I reached level 3 in a little over a month. And now, almost 2 months later, I haven’t reached level 4. Wondering how levels work? When I train, I can become stronger. But only so much until my growth slows down considerably. Then I need to gain a level before I can start growing normally again. Basically, the higher your level, the more growth you can achieve. Obviously, hey?

The Hell Ride comes towards me once more, but this tie it’s picked up it’s speed and is swerving in different directions, seemingly random. Based on it’s movement, It won’t just be a matter of rolling off to the side this time. I can’t predict which angle it will attack from. I crouch slightly and focus my eyes on it, trying not to lose concentration. Then, thinking it was coming from 2 o’clock, I prepare to move, but it changes course at the last second.

Shit!” I curse.

4 sounds followed. The first was the sound of impact. The cycle hit me almost head on, though it seemed to slow considerably before the hit. The second was the sound of metal grinding. The third was a popping sound made by my clone being destroyed. It seems it managed to hit the thing before it hit me. The last was me rolling backwards on the ground from the hit I took.

Uhh….” I mumble.

I rise to my feet and look forward. The cycle is still alive, but the bottom half of it was seriously damaged. The metal near the tires is torn to shit and chunks of metal and rubber are scattered around.

Not wanting to risk getting close, and now that it was immobile, I focused on my earth materia and watched as the ground beneath the metal monster exploded. Pieces of earth tore it to pieces until it was nothing but a heap of metal. I walked towards it’s remains and picked up the small pile of gil coins and the eye drops. Why a motor cycle was carrying money and eye drops was beyond me, but I’ve seen enough of this sort of thing by now to ignore it. I head back towards Kalm to rest again.

I don’t actually have a home in Kalm. My routine this entire 3 months has been pretty much the same. In the morning, I have breakfast and a soda at the bar. I’m a regular there, even though I am a minor. I go out and fight until I can’t anymore. I make my way back to town and rest for some of the day (or the entire day depending on how tired I am), then I will either go out and fight more, or train in the field.

I swing my scythe around, I run around the outer part of Kalm, I lift heavy things. Nothing all that complicated. Probably not that useful either. The running has helped my endurance though. Did I mention my limit break yet? My level 1 starter limit is ‘Spiral Cut’. The same limit that Tidus had in FF10. I’m not sure how I know how to do those graceful flips before the strike. I did come up with a theory. I think that a limit break brings out some kind of special battle instinct from the user. In that moment, I do know how to flip and deliver a well aimed strike. I used it outside the town. I saved my limit once to show Glen when I trained, too. He thought it was cool. He says I’m impressive for someone at my age.

I’ve got to know Glen a bit better. He’s a cool guy, though I don’t see him often. He helped me out again this time I almost died. In the 3 months, there were a few times that I was seriously messed up and had to rest for a few days. But this one time, I almost died. I ran into 3 Kalm Fangs, and had just fought 2 before then. I was overconfident and thought I would take them on. Then, I made another big screw up. I made two shadow replications. Let’s look at it like this: I had 100 energy at the start of the day. I used about 40 on the first 2 Kalm Fangs. Shadow Replication splits my energy in half. So, 60/230/215. I had 15 of my energy. I killed one Fang with Poison, my two clones got the other one, but then the last one gave me problems. I was close to passing out and only managed to kill it before the thing killed me itself. I was bloody all over and could only crawl. If just one more fang had come, I would have been murdered on the spot. I didn’t even make it all the way to Kalm. Glen saw me in the distance from the town’s entrance and came out to get me with a few others. They cleaned me up, gave me some potions, and bandaged my wounds. One of the guy’s wife even sewed my clothes back together for me.

I don’t know why they did all this for me. I’ve seriously reduces the amount of monsters near the town, I know. I’m the only one that actually goes out looking for monsters near Kalm to kill. And, with my routine, I think I’ve become a part of this place. I’ve even grown attachment to it. I’ll probably be sad when I leave for Midgar. But if I live through that, I’ll be back here again when I hear Cloud’s story.

I enter the inn like I always do after a hunt. The inn keeper welcomes me, like she always does, and I sleep, like I always do. It’s my routine. Tomorrow, I want to do something different. I haven’t gone to the Choboco ranch yet. I’ve been wondering if the Choco/Mog summon materia is there? When it was there in the game, you had to talk to a chocobo and say something like..’Wark’. Don’t ask me how this works, but it does. I’m not sure if they’ll be there or not. Having materia like that would definitely help, though.

At the moment, I only have 4 pieces of materia equipped. I can equip 6 if need be but don’t. Materia makes me weak, like it does to a character in the game. With each piece equipped, I feel my weapon become a little bit heavier. Not because the materia weighs a lot, but because it lowers my strength in exchange for granting me it’s power. And with each piece of Materia I equip, I find I run just a little bit slower. Once again, because the materia weakens me.

Am I talking too much? I think it’s time for sleep. Yes. I close my eyes and relax my muscles, and before long I am asleep.

In the morning, I notice Glen in the bar. I approach the bartender and get my usual breakfast meal of bacon and eggs with OJ to drink, before directing my attention to the older man.

Hey, Glen.” I greet.

Hm? Hey there, boy.” He still calls me that… “Goin out again today?”

I nod, “Yeah. I’m going to the chocobo ranch today. I haven’t been there before.”

He smiles and puts his hand on my shoulder, shaking me slightly. “What a coincidence. I have to drop off a package there. Why don’t we both go?”

Coincidence? I’ll say. It’s almost as if someone knew I was going there and didn’t have enough faith in me to let me go it alone. I blame Walter.

This wasn’t a bad thing, I guess. Glen was a cool guy and he used to be a Shinra soldier a while back. He doesn’t have materia or anything, but he’s got a semi-automatic and he can use it well enough.

Sure, Glen. I’d be glad to have you with me.” I agree.

After breakfast, we met by the town entrance. He had a mythril bangle on his arm and his machine gun ready at his side. We nod, acknowledging each other, and set off.

The fields are quiet today. It’s a good thing, in my opinion. The monsters near the ranch aren’t that much stronger then the ones near Kalm, but it’s a ways away and I want to conserve energy.

So, Grant.” Glen says.

Hm?”

What are your plans for the future? I don’t think it’s ever come up before. It’s great having you around to take care of the monsters near the town and all, but surely you have more planned then that…right?” his voice sounded a bit uncertain when he spoke. My guess was he thought his question might offend me. It didn’t though. I’d be an idiot to plan spending the rest of my days killing monsters on the outskirts of Kalm.

In a little under 9 months, I’m going to Midgar.” I answer.

His expression darkens slightly. “Why would you want to go there?”

I shrug, “It’s hard to explain. But I feel that I really should be there. There’s a lot of danger there, I’m sure. Especially in the slums, that’s why I need to be strong.”

You’re leaving Kalm to live in the Midgar slums?” he asks incredulously.

Yeah.” I reply blankly.

Glen shakes his head just like that time when we first met 3 months ago.

You’re a good kid, Grant. You are. But you have bad judgment.” He then exhales loudly, “That’s no way to live. There are hoodlums. There is pollution. There are the Shinra. There are rebel factions. You’re a tough kid, but going there is asking for trouble.”

I can’t help but feel annoyed. He makes good points, but he doesn’t know the things I do. He doesn’t understand my purpose in going there. I’m not about to tell him either. I think it’s his lack of faith that bothers me the most. There are children that live there. I’ve seen kids in the game living there. Although I’ve also never seen a kid in FF7 try and take on any chickens that kamikaze or hounds with a tentacle sticking out of their head.

I know it’s dangerous. That’s why I need to be stronger.”

I’m still too weak, I know. I doubt Kalm Fangs would be able to lay a claw or fang on Cloud with the way fighting here works. I do think a lot of him, I know.

Even if you could get stronger, the question is still ‘why’.” Glen shot back. I could hear his voice elevating. Glen was a cool guy but when we got into an argument, I really disliked him. Although, this was a good time killer I suppose.

You mentioned the Shinra. You dislike them?” I ask. I was trying to divert the direction of the conversation.

Damn right I do. They’re nothing but greedy bastards.” He says through gritted teeth.

I cast a glance his way before looking ahead again. “If you hate them that much, why don’t you join a rebel group?” I said half-jokingly. At this time, I wasn’t sure how big AVALANCHE was or anything, so I left them out of this conversation.

They’re wrong too. Fighting violence with violence. Their ways bother me.”

A pacifist, huh? It’s just a guess, but I’d say Glen did some bad things as a Shinra soldier. Now he hates any violence against other human beings.

Against a group like Shinra, there is little else to do. Pen and paper will do nothing. The law is useless against them. Words will change nothing. That is why action is needed. Even if it’s immoral, it’s the only way. A wrong to fix a wrong isn’t half as bad in this situation. That doesn’t mean they’re free from blame, but look at intent. Rebel factions fight to rid the world of one seriously messed up corporation.” I say.

The end justifies the means, then?” Glen says dryly.

Nope.” I reply, “Look, this is a complicated issue. We don’t have the time to look at all sides and viewpoints. All anyone can do is do what they think is right and face any consequences in the process.”

I hear Glen laugh. Not at me, more of a happy laugh.

We’ll agree to disagree on this then. But if you change your mind…about rebel groups or Midgar or…whatever. You’ll always be welcome in Kalm.” Glen says as he ruffles my hair with his hand.

You talk like I’m leaving today.” I smile.

A sudden cry catches out attention. Finally, monsters. Two ostrich looking things. I believe they were called ‘Levricon’. Their legs are a long and pale grey color and they have blackened feathers. Their beaks look damn sharp. In addition to scratching and kicking with it’s legs, it also tended to use ‘flaming peck’. I don’t know if it actually has any fire involved, but it’s something to avoid.

I reach for my weapon and get into a rather loose stance. I still have no style of any kind and have no techniques with my weapon other then standard slashes. Mt speed and strength have come a long way, though.

Glen reaches for his gun and immediately opens fire. A barrage of bullets head towards the birds. The first is mowed down instantly while the second leapt high into the air. It landed at Glen’s side and kicked him back off his feet. I charged forward with my weapon and swung it diagonally, aiming for it’s neck. Before it can connect, I feel myself being burned by scalding water. I cry out in pain as I move back.

In the ground, I see a little brown monster that resembles a squirrel. Those were called ‘Mu’. They can use ‘Hot Springs’ which is basically really hot water.

By now, Glen is back on his feet and aiming his weapon.

Grant, get down!” he shouts at me. I don’t think twice. I dive out of his line of fire and watch as he tears through the second bird in no time at all.

He’s killing them so easily with his gun. Maybe I should start using one? No. I’ll stick to the scythe and make myself good no matter what.

Seeing more water coming my way, I quickly roll out of the way and focus my magic.

Quake!” I shout, aiming at the Mu.

Sure enough, the explosion made short work of the little bastard. Since he was already sticking out of the ground, he couldn’t jump away from the attack and going deeper underground wouldn’t have helped.

Glen tosses me the money and I place it in my pouch. 230 gil. Not bad.

Since we ran into THOSE monsters, that meant we were close. I could see the ranch not far off.

What are you dropping off, by the way?” I ask Glen.

Medicine for one of their chocobo.” He answers.

Ah.”

We enter the ranch, and the first thing I notice was the lack of chocobo in the pen. That meant I wouldn’t be getting the summon materia now. I sigh and walk towards Choco Bill and Glen. They both look rather troubled.

What’s up?” I interrupt.

Glen turns to me with a frown, “They have another problem. Not only is one of their chocobo sick, there’s been a monster eating wild chobobo in this area.”

Now I had to frown. “Monster? Is it the Midgar Zolom?”

No.” Bill shakes his head, “I’m not sure what it is. It’s a large blue scaled beast. It’s arms are massive and long. That’s how I would describe it. I saw it attack a chocobo before going off into a forest near here.”

My eyes widened. Chocobo Eater? It was a boss from Final Fantasy 10. I remember it had an insane amount of attack power when I fought it. Why was it here in Final Fantasy 7?

I put it here.” I hear Walter’s voice in my head.

What the fuck!” Billy and Glen stare at me blankly. “Um…I mean…what the fuck? That’s terrible. A monster attacking chocobo like that.”

Nice cover. Any how, you haven’t fought a boss yet and they are always good for experience. Given your location, I wasn’t sure how to bring a boss in. Then I thought of the Chobobo eater.” Walter says to me in my mind.

While experience is a good thing, I have to wonder what makes Walter think that Glen and I could possibly take on that thing.

Don’t worry. I’ve weakened it considerably. I forgot to mention, I can add in things from other games. It’ll still be very difficult, but it’s do-able. But…if you aren’t interested, you could just ignore it.”

Ignore it? Yeah, fuck that. I need experience and I’m not gonna let that thing keep eating chocobo. I mean, I love the yellow birds.

Alright, Bill!” I suddenly shout, “Sell me some potions so I can go and kick that thing’s ass! You said it lived in the forest near here. The one north?”

Bill is silent for a moment. He looks at me with disbelief. “Uh…yeeeaaah. Yeah. It’s north. But I don’t think you should bother yourself with this, son. I saw that thing. It’s a monster.”

Obviously. My hope was that if I said I was going, Glen would go ‘Not without me, you aren’t!’. I didn’t want to outright ask him to risk his life with me.

You’re crazy, boy.” Glen smirks, “But I guess that’s one of the reasons I like you, huh? I’ll help you out.” Oh yeah. So predictable. But I really do owe him.

Well there we go, we have an adventure now. I noticed two magic orbs in the armlet Glen was wearing. I just had to ask.

What materia are you wearing? Is one fire?” I remembered the Chocobo Eater’s dislike for fire.

Yeah. Fire and Heal.” Glen replied.

Good stuff. I get the feeling fire will help.” I say with a smile.

And so we set off. If we pull this off, I get the feeling we should go back to the stables. I get the feeling Bill will give us something for our troubles. I have no idea what, exactly. But it’s in the RPG rulebook. Doing stuff for someone means getting a reward.

As we exited the farm area, we ran into two Kalm Fangs which were mowed down by Glen, the former Shinra soldier. After which, he said he needed to return to Kalm for more ammo. Watching him kill fangs so easily was assuring since we were about to be fighting one tough mofo. It was also discomforting to know that for all my trouble in these last 3 months, a single middle aged Ex-Shinra soldier was showing me up. Granted, all he was doing was pointing and shooting. But still, I’ve never gone through enemies that quickly.

We entered Kalm and Glen restocked. I decided to buy my own Fire materia as well. After this battle, I probably wouldn’t use it again, but I could always give it someone from AVALANCHE later on.

We left and made out way to the forest. Only a single Fang bothered us on the way, and to help Glen conserve ammo, I took care of it. One well placed Earth did the trick.

The farm is about an hour from Kalm. The forest is about 40 from Kalm. It was surprising how little trouble we met today. Maybe the Chocobo Eater has been scaring the shit out of the monsters around here? Could be the others got discouraged after seeing Glen blast through them. Not that I’m complaining.

As we entered the forest, we made sure to keep our eyes open for a blue scaly mass of monsterness. It wasn’t that hard to spot either. We were in luck too, the bastard was sleeping. It leaned against a tree. It was heavy enough to make the tree slant from the ground. It’s snoring was loud, almost rumbling. This thing was only twice my height, but what bothered me the most were the size of it’s arms. If it stretched it’s arms out, the total length would be twice it’s height. They were fucking massive, and getting hit by those things really didn’t appeal to me.

Glen…” I whispered. “We can probably only get one free hit in. I say we nail it with fir and then try and keep our distance and nail it with magic and bullets.”

Glen nodded and we got in position. One of us on each of it’s sides.

Fire.” We both chanted, aiming for the monsters head. The moment we spoke, it’s eyes opened, and just I time to get burned by the searing flames.

It rose to it’s feet and began flailing it’s arms about angrily damaging trees and knocking a few over I the process. Seeing this display of power was quite unnerving, but it was too late to run now.

Shadow Replication!” I shouted.

My image blurred into existence next to me and took stance. I realized the move cost a lot of energy, but this was something I needed to end as quickly as possible. Glen, myself, and my copy began blasting it with fire from all directions. It roared I pain before choosing to attack one of us. Fortunately, it targeted the clone. I made the clone move closer thinking that would make the Chocobo Eater target it instead of us. My clone tried to dodge, but with a fast and wide swing of it’s arm, my clone popped away in smoke.

A few more blazes ensued before Glen opened fire with his gun. He probably ran out of MP. I had enough left for a few spells, so I used the last of my magic on fire spells. The monsters speed had noticeably dropped, suggesting it was injured. I’d hope so after all the fire we sent it’s way.

I reached into my pouch and drank my only Ether to restore my MP. Glen was the thing’s target now. The hail of bullets did little good against the monsters thick and scalely hide.

Aim for it’s eyes!’ I shouted, remembering the time I eye gouged a Kalm Fang. The eyes are the most sensitive part on that thing’s body. Hell, on most things bodies. It may have sounded dirty, but it was a monster and it’s scales were to damn strong.

Glen changed his target, aiming for the eyes. But, the thing apparently had some intelligence. It closed it’s eyes and relied on the sounds of the movements we were making. Since it’s swing was so wide, if it continued to swing in the general direction of our footsteps, he would hit sooner or later. Damn that thing for understanding me.

The Chocobo Eater barely missed Glen with it’s last swing. Glen was frantically running away while turning to fire from time to time.

Fire!” I chanted, aiming for the thing’s back. It hit dead on and it roared once again. Something it had been doing a lot in this fight, and yet it still went on. This thing had a lot of stamina.

It continued to chase Glen, it’s next swing would hit for sure. I focused my energy into the ground and used the Quake spell. It wouldn’t kill it, but the targeted area at it’s feet made it lose it’s balance and knock it onto it’s back.

Attack now! Push it back!” I shouted, quoting what Auron said in FF10 when this happened. Goodness, I hope I sounded cool saying that.

Glen put another clip into his gun and opened fire again. I charged in with my scythe. Before making contact, I felt a cold wind about me.

Shit!” I shouted.

In FF10, although the thing would be weakened while down, it would attack with ice magic.

I grunted in pain as I felt the right side of my body burn from the cold and my right arm go numb. I dropped my scythe to the ground momentarily and attempted picking it up with my left hand. One handing the scythe with my bad hand wasn’t a possibility. I left it on the ground and moved back, trying to assess the situation better.

Sense!” I shouted.

The image appeared to me, even if only for a few seconds. It’s entire body was a dark red. That meant it was almost dying. And while Glen’s bullets weren’t doing a lot, they were doing SOMETHING at least. Then I felt it.

Glen, get back! I’m gonna use my limit!”

I picked up the scythe with my left hand. It was heavy and hard to hold, so I prayed to something or other that the boost my limit gave me would be enough to pull this off. It would be severely weakened by my inability to use both hands when I swing down, but it might be enough.

Spiral Cut!”

I felt the red energy surround me, my adrenaline rose, and my strength increased for the time being. I flipped about, moving towards the monster. I realize the first few flips in the move were unnecessary, but it’s how the overdrive went, so whatever. With the final flip into the air, I brought the scythe down with all my might.

After the hit, the monster struggled about before disappearing into pyre flies. Pyre flies? I didn’t understand how that worked. At least, not here.

They aren’t actually pyre flies. I just thought a boss should have a fancy way of dying.” Walter answered for me.

Oh. That explained it, I guess.

I drop the scythe and breath heavily. Walter approaches me with that worried expression he always has after I’ve just gotten beat up. He’s uninjured, though probably tired fro the fight. It’s lucky that none of us were hit physically. I cringe to think of how that would have ended.

Grant, you okay!” Glen shouts in my face.

“…Yeah. Can you carry my scythe for me? My right side is numb and my left arm hurts from pulling that little maneuver off.”

Not to sound like a complainer or anything, but it WAS really painful. And I’ll let you in on a secret. I’ve cried before, after fights. I know I shouldn’t, but there were times where it hurt so bad that I just cried. Call me a pansy if you want…but right now was starting to feel like one of those times. As the adrenaline faded, the pain became more and more noticeable.

Good news, I leveled up. How do I know? It was something I could feel. Like…I just knew. So, I was now level 4. Oh, and I’m about to pass out too. I’ve been bitten, ran over, and clawed at. I’ve had steaming hot water scald me a bit, and I’ve been kicked. I’ve never had half of my body nailed with an ice spell before.

Gl…en…” I stutter out before I make my way to the ground.

Oh shit! Hang on, I’ll bring you back to Kalm!” were the last words I hear before I completely lost consciousness.

I woke up in my usual room at the inn. I was naked and wrapped in a shit load of blankets. Embarrassing, for sure. I groan and notice the clothed hung over the chair to my right. Cleaned and sewed and everything. I’ve been wearing the same clothes this entire time, you know. I have a pair of shorts and a T-shirt that I keep in my room at the Inn for when I’m washing my clothes, but that’s it.

I stand up and unwrap myself from the blanket cocoon before getting dressed. As I make my way downstairs, the in keeper looks relieved.

Oh! You’re okay now, Grant?”

Yeah. I’m fine, Rose. How long was I out for?”

Hm. A few days. Glen brought you back and we looked after you.” She answered.

I heard my stomach grumble. A few days? That was a long time, to me. I missed out on training and stuff, so I’d need to work a lot harder today.

Thanks a bunch. I’m gonna go get some breakfast at the bar.” I say, waving my hand as I leave.

As I walk, I notice a few of the townspeople cast looks of relief in my direction. When I played FF7 in my world, I ignored NPC’s. Here, they actually care about me. Here, they are actual people that can care for others. I smile and continue on.

When I enter the bar, I notice Glen sitting at a table nursing a drink in his hand. It doesn’t look like he’s been here long, however. I order my food at the front and exchange pleasantries with the bartender before sitting down with Glen.

Hey.”

Hey.” He says back, “Feeling better?”

I smile, “Better then before.”

He chuckles and shakes his drink lightly in his hands, “That’s good.”

There is a moment of silence in the air before he continues to speak.

So I’ve been thinking. You probably would manage just fine in Midgar. You have a ways to go, but with the way you’re growing, you’ll be okay when you leave in 8 months.”

Thanks.” I reply.

Uh huh. I just don’t like the idea of you being around some of the people there. You’ll lose your child like innocence fast.” I wouldn’t say that I had such a thing, but he was the old dude, so he could be right. “Watch out for the Shinra. I…did some bad things while I was with them.”

Bad things…?” I state. I let the question hang in the air. If he wants to take it, he will. If not, I’m fine with that too.

Ever heard of North Corel?” he says with sadness in his voice.

Right when he said it, I knew. “The mining town.” I said.

That’s what it used to be. Now the people have to salvage through metal and garbage to make ends meat.” Glen said, looking down.

I thought it would be best to get this over with and assure Glen that I don’t care about his involvement with that.

Yes. Shinra soldiers burned the town down. I forget the specifics. You had a part in that?” I ask. I already know the answer, though.

He nods shamefully. “I did.”

I cross my arms in thought. “Well…” I start, “No one is a saint. Even some of the best people out there have things to atone for. Not that I’m religious or anything.” I pause for a moment and then continue. “You quit, though. You acknowledge that you have committed a wrong. And you know, you’ve saved my life a number of times. I’d say you’re doing well in repenting.” I finished. I don’t know why I used all these religious terms. Maybe I liked them? I certainly wasn’t a believer of anything.

I could see Glen’s eyes appear glassy. “You…are a good kid.” He said, patting my shoulder. “…You’re like a son to me, boy.”

I was a bit startled by this revelation. Certainly, we had become close in a short amount of time. I’d thought about my family a number of times out here. I did miss them of course. But I also knew that if I made it through this all, I’d see them anyways. It would be like no time had passed at all. Out here, I have been feeling a bit lonely. There was an absence of something. I had no friends, though I knew the town well. I think somewhere, I told myself that feelings of belonging or the sense of family would be reserved for the main FF7 characters. But, being here and knowing Glen, he felt like family. I’m sure of that. Once I leave in 8 months, I doubt I’ll see him much. Maybe a few times here and there during the journey if we’re in Kalm, but that’s it. And when all was said and done, I’d be back in my world. Even so, I didn’t care. Yes, Glen IS family to me here. And I’ll miss him when I leave.