Final Fantasy VII: Reflections - Book 1: Descent

TWELVE

There was a soft knock on my dressing room door. It was opening night for LOVELESS, three weeks after I'd won the role. I'd thought I'd been overwhelmed then, but the Monday after the final audition, I got a call from Mr. Cole, the director, wanting me to come in that day for a photo shoot. I had hurried over, excited and more than a little curious. It wasn't every new Sarah that got an invitation like that. Cassie Raleine wasn't the poster girl despite having had the part before me.

As I had entered the theater, I had felt those butterflies rising in my stomach again. Was that what this was about? My daydreams as a little girl about LOVELESS had always featured me being on the posters that were all over Midgar, but even though I'd landed the role, I hadn't even thought about that part of it. Being the poster girl was something only given to the best of the best. Did Mr. Cole and others really think I was that good? It was almost too much to hope for.

But that's exactly what it was.

So I had gotten into costume, just as I was now. It was a sleeveless, black satin evening dress, modestly cut, the skirt hanging down to just above my knees, and a set of matching heels. After I was ready, we had begun the shoot. The photographers had taken picture after picture as I had posed one way and then another the way they'd told me. The one they ended up using—the one that's still painted above the theater and on all the play's posters and flyers—was a little tricky to pull off, but we had all agreed it was the best one.

Getting my hair to look just right was the tough part. They used an air machine set off to the side to lightly blow on it so it would look as if it had been caught in a soft breeze. It took quite a few tries to get it the way we wanted it. The background had simply come from a screen that had been set up a few feet behind me.

As for the pose itself—the one with my hand over my heart—I had kept my eyes open at first, as the photographers had suggested, looking right at the camera. But after he had taken a few shots, I had hit on the idea of closing my eyes instead, my head slightly down and to the right. Sarah was a troubled heroine, after all. And I had felt that the photo of me as her should embody that. So on impulse, I had assumed the pose I'd thought of, drawing on my memories of all I'd gone through during my days at Shinra to bring emotion to the shot and convey the kind of woman Sarah was and what she was going through.

She and I weren't all that different.

And that's how my famous poster shot came to be. It was still a bit unreal, seeing myself up there in the newly-repainted mural and on the posters inside the theater and in so many other places across town. But it was no dream this time. I'd already been spotted and recognized here and there by passersby, even signed a few autographs. It was fun, to be sure, though it still felt a bit strange to me to realize I was something of a celebrity now. Probably even more once the play hit.

"Come in!" I called.

It was Reeve. "Hello, Jessica. I just thought I'd stop by and wish you luck tonight."

"Reeve, hi!" I smiled. "Thanks!"

"You're welcome. Oh, and I brought an old friend to see you."

I blinked, curious as to who he could have meant. Then I gasped in surprise and delight as a short, familiar figure hopped into the room. It was Cait Sith, his tail twitching behind him as he skipped right over to where I was sitting in my makeup chair in front of the mirror. Before I knew it, he had jumped up into my lap.

"Cait!" I hugged him.

I hadn't seen him since leaving Shinra almost five months ago, and I had missed him and his quirky sense of humor. Through Reeve, I had been able to keep tabs on what was happening at Shinra. My father was still looking for me, and the story Shinra had been feeding to the press and public lately was that I'd been kidnapped shortly after leaving work one day. They didn't know where I was yet, but the fear of being found always lingered in the back of my mind nevertheless.