Final Fantasy VII: Lifestream - Book 1: Arrival

FOREWORD

If you're reading this, then you've no doubt heard of us, or at least of what we did. Some say that we're heroes, others call us terrorists and tell us what happened was our fault. And maybe, to a certain extent, it was. I don't think anyone who survived that day is completely without blame, however. We all took our own little piece of the world without giving any thought to how much it might cost us.

As it turned out, the price was almost too high for us to pay.

A lot of people since then have tried to understand just what the hell happened and, even more importantly, why it happened. Everyone seems to have a different version of the story, and they usually vary widely from person to person. Some of them tend to be closer to the truth than others, and some, well... to be honest, what I've seen a lot of people say or write about us and our journey is either wrong or flat-out lies.

Go to pretty much any bookstore today—in Kalm, Junon, or Wutai, for instance—and you can find shelves of books about Meteorfall and the near death of the planet, about us, Shinra, Sephiroth, planet theory, and so on. And the thing is, not one of them ever got it quite right. While I'm sure some of those authors meant well, I think most of them were just in it for the cash. And sadly, there's a hell of a lot of money to be made from selling half-truths and exaggerations and no shortage of people willing to believe every word of it.

You'd be surprised at what hot sellers so many of these books still are even now, years after the fact. People unfortunately seem to believe what they're told most of the time and only rarely ask themselves whether what they've read and heard is really true. Far too often it's not, or at least not entirely, but most people seem to be so eager to hear only what they want to hear that they don't ever stop to think about things like that. But what we think we know isn't always right.

I learned the hard way just how easy it is for us to fool ourselves into believing something's true when it isn't and how destructive it can be not just to ourselves, but to everyone around us, too. It's not a lesson you ever forget, trust me. But it's one you can learn from. The nightmare that was our journey to save the planet taught me that.

The memories of those dark days are still as clear as yesterday in my mind, which is pretty ironic considering what my state of mind was back then. The pain is still there, too. I don't think it'll ever leave, to be honest. Some wounds just go too deep. You can learn to live with them, to accept them, but they'll never really heal. When I close my eyes, I can still smell the acrid stench of processed mako, feel the oppressive heat of Nibelheim burning to the ground, and hear the terrified screams of all the innocent people caught in the crossfire.

I can see her eyes in my dreams.

But now isn't the time to worry over what I should or shouldn't have done. It doesn't do any good, trust me. You can't change the past, but you can learn from it. That's what all this is about. You came here looking for the truth, and we're going to give it to you. It won't be pretty, and it won't be pleasant. But it'll be real, I can promise you that.

It was Nanaki who first came up with the idea. I liked it, but I wasn't very sure how well this little endeavor would work out. After all, it's been several years since then, and although my own memories are still clear, I couldn't say the same for those of my friends. Time has this funny way of eroding those moments in your mind and softening the hard edges as the months and years go by. I suppose it's probably a blessing, but personally, I don't want to forget my pain. I need it. It makes me try harder to avoid repeating the mistakes that caused it in the first place.

As it turned out though, my friends all remembered that strange and terrible journey as well and as clearly as I did. Saving the world from the workings of a lunatic isn't really something you'd ever forget, especially if you had gone through all the hell we did. It's not something we really talk about all that much, but it was always with us, day after day. It sticks in the back of your mind, and as much as you try to move on, it's always in there waiting for you. Being a hero isn't fun, and it isn't easy. Pain is part of the game if you want to go that way.

Maybe that's what really brought us all together again, the chance to finally get into the open some of the regrets and fears and difficult choices that have kept all of us up late into the early hours of the morning far too many times to count. It took us the better part of a week to tell the whole story as we all sat around the great bonfire known as the Cosmo Candle, but in the end, I think the weight of my conscience eased a little. I'm sure the others felt much the same way.

The elders of Cosmo Canyon took our words, wrote them down, and crafted them into a set of thick leather-bound volumes like history books. Come to think of it, that's exactly what they are. Hundreds of years from now, the books of our journey, of our history, will still be here. The elders take exceptionally good care of their records and writings, preserving the knowledge within them for future generations. And Nanaki himself has a pretty long time yet to live, so he'll still be there to watch over everything even after the rest of us—well, most of us, anyway—are long gone. You'll understand what I mean by that later.

Each of us also had a digital voice recorder so that as we spoke, what we said could still be heard long after we were gone. Reading the books is one thing, but actually hearing us speak about what happened—listening firsthand to the people that had actually gone through it—might be even better and have even more of an impact on you all. We didn't want there to be any mistake about exactly who it was that had put this all together or about the truth behind it.

I should probably warn you that everything here is presented almost exactly the way we said it. We didn't do too much editing because we felt that, more than anything else, it had to be real no matter how rough the edges might be. Some of the things you'll find out about us in here might surprise you. Everyone knows heroes aren't supposed to be human. They aren't supposed to be just as weak and vulnerable and afraid as everyone else. Or at least that's the bullshit we've always been fed.

What you have here, what you're reading or listening to, is the truth. Plain and simple. We all took turns telling what happened, what we saw and did, and in that close circle of friends, there were no secrets. Nothing is exaggerated or made up, no matter how strange it might sometimes be. This is our story, told in our own words, seen through our own eyes. But even more importantly, it's her story as well.

I know she would appreciate it.

— Cloud Strife