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Destinies Children
This is a sequel to the Utariun Forces. To fully understand the events that happen to the characters in this story. First you may have to read the Utariun Forces
"Come on, Come on, just take a few more steps to the left you bastard. That’s it, that’s it, there I have you." With that Michael shot the deer with his bow and arrow. It was about time he got something, he had been lying silently in the brushes for what seemed like ages. Waiting for something to come along. Michael walked up to the animal. "Good, it’s dead," he said. He began dragging the small deer over to the four-wheeler that Sarah and he had stolen from some old farmer one night. Once there, Michael placed the deer on the back, and rode off to the hideout that him and his sister had been staying at for the last couple of days.
It had been almost a year since their family was killed, at least Michael thought so. But it wasn’t like time meant anything to them anymore. Every day was the same, wake up in the morning in a cold sweat from the nightmares they had had that night. Michael could not shake the visions of his family being slaughtered by the group of soldiers. Every night he would dream about his family shrieking, calling out for him to help them. He would race to the house to try to help them out. But just before he got their, his home would blow up, and all would be lost again. Then he would see a group of men dressed in blue laughing at him. Michael would race to them yelling, " I am going to kill you assholes if it is the last thing I ever do." Just when he was ready to strike them though, he would wake up shaking all over. Every night he seemed to have that same dream to. Michael knew that Sarah’s nightmares were just as bad as his, though the two had never discussed it before.
Once awake, one of them would be in charge of finding food for that day. While the other would wait impatiently for their sibling to return. Sitting by yourself was pure hell. They would have to listen to the vibrant noises of the countryside, and think to themselves. "Why does everything around me have to be so damn cheery, while I am suffering so much." Michael preferred the cloudy, rainy, dreary days much more than the nice sunny days. It gave him the impression that everything around was feeling the same way he was. After their sibling returned from their hunting mission, they cooked the food and ate what they needed. The rest of the day would be spent exchanging a few words back and forth, neither one of them liked to talk much anymore. The few conversations they did have would mostly be about how much they hated that group of soldiers that killed their family.
Once about seven months earlier, a man and women noticed how Michael and Sarah were always roaming around, and did not seem to have a home. The couple offered to give Michael and Sarah food, and shelter. The children agreed mainly because Sarah was ill at the time, and needed to recover. The youngsters were huge problems though, and after only two weeks they were kicked out. Ever since then they had been trying to stay as far away from populated areas as possible. Michael arrived at the hideout and unloaded the animal.
"What took you so long?" Sarah asked in a demanding voice when she saw her brother arrive with his catch.
"What, just shut up Sarah. At least I brought something back!"
"Ya whatever. Hurry up and cook it, I’m hungry!"
Sarah gave her brother an evil glare as she passed by him on her way out of the cave. Once out, she walked to the outside edge. Sarah leaned against the wall and slid down to a seating position. There she would stay until her brother told her that their food was ready. Mike began to prepare the fire so he could begin fixing the meal.
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"General Akia, I have the report ready that you asked for."
"Yes Commander Strife, very well. So tell me your findings."
"We have spent the majority of the past year attempting to locate and destroy the remaining materia left on this planet. We have managed to locate and destroy a great portion of it we believe. During the past two months, the Utariun Forces have been sweeping the countryside searching for any materia that we may have missed. We have not been able to locate any over that time period though. It is my belief General, we have dissolved our world of this weapon. It is no longer a threat to us, and it is time for us to close the book on this mission."
"You did an excellent job with all this Commander Strife. I will take your word for it, we will end this mission as of today."
"Thank you sir," and Cloud left the Generals office.
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"Cid, hold the ladder steady while I climb up to get the area up there."
"Ok Barret, no problem," Cid said in response.
The two men were painting Cloud, Tifa, and Barrets house. It had needed to be done for quite awhile now, and Barret had finally decided to get at it. Cid had come down to visit the three for a couple weeks. They were all very thrilled to see each other again, it had been quite awhile since they had been able to visit with Cid. Cloud had been called up to Junon three days ago, but he was able to spend some time with Cid before he left. Tifa had been bugging everyone that the weather they had had over the previous year had been hard on the outside of their house, and that it needed to be repainted. She seemed to not want anything to age at all, she wanted everything to look as though it was brand new.
"Man I tell you Barret, Cloud sure picked a great time to leave didn’t he."
"I know, but don’t worry, we will get that spiky headed weasel back. When our shed there in the back needs painting, he’s going to do it all by himself."
"That’s the spirit," Cid said back to Barret.
"Hey guys, how bout coming inside and have some lemonade, you guys must be beat. Won’t you take a break for a while?"
"Sure Tifa, that sounds great. We’ll be in, in one second." Barret responded back to the young lady.
"Ok then, I’ll have it prepared when you guys come in," and Tifa walked back into the house to get the lemonade ready.
"Tifa, do we have anymore of those cookies that we bought the other day?" Barret asked Tifa after they had been inside for a while.
"No, you ate them all already. You really need to cut down on all the sweets you eat Barret."
Barret responded in a sarcastic voice. "Well let’s make a deal then. I will stop eating all this junk food, if you can go a whole week without having sex with your precious Cloud!"
Tifa thought about this for a second and then said with a smile on her face. "You win Barret, you can have all the chocolote you want. That’s to much of a sacrifice for me to make!"
"You see Cid," Barret said to his friend sitting across the table from him. " If there is one weakness Ms. Tifa Lockhart has, it is Cloud Strife. You would be hard pressed to find another lady who is as stuck on a guy, as Tifa is on Cloud."
"Ok Barret that’s enough now," she said in response. Tifa knew that every bit of it was true though. Cloud had become her whole world. She was head over heels and then some in love with her boyfriend. This past year had been so wonderful. She never dreamed that another human being could make her feel as good, as the feelings she had when Cloud was around. He was so much more open with her also. She had often remembered back to the conversation that she had with Elmyra some time earlier. About how Cloud just did not know how to love yet, and with time, and being around his friends. If his feelings were true, they would eventually come out. Tifa was amazed about how almost everything that Elmyra had told her had seemed to come true. Now Cloud was very much the romantic type. He was constantly trying to make time available for her, even with his busy schedule. Tifa especially enjoyed the late night walks that her and Cloud would often take. There was just something so romantic about being alone with the love of her life underneath the moonlight and stars. Sometimes they would talk during those walks, but other times they would just silently walk together hand in hand. It was a great feeling, like at that particular time they were the only two people in the whole world. Every now and then they would take a few blankets with them, lay them out and make love to each other all night long. They would generally wait tell Barret was away from home before they did this though. The two young lovers wanted to keep that kind of stuff secret. They knew that Barret would be shocked if he found out about some of the stuff that her and Cloud had done. He was already amazed from what he knew already, so they made sure that he did not find out about everything.
"Tifa, we’re going to head back out and finish up the painting today."
"Ok, I was hoping that we could go out to eat tonight after you guys are finished. They just opened up a brand new restaurant a mile or two from here, and I was wanting to check it out."
"That sounds great Tif, we’ll be sure to get done before dinner time," Cid said back to her.
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Sarah was sitting down by a creek that her and Mike had come across just the other day. She was wasting time here so she could get away from her brother. Mike was being a complete horses ass. "He thinks he knows everything," she thought to herself. Sarah was throwing some rocks she had found into the creek. She noticed that she was throwing them with greater and greater force the more she thought about her brother. The two had gotten into an argument yesterday when Mike saw what Sarah had brought back to eat.
"Fish, you expect me to eat fish! My God Sarah, can’t you do anything right! I bring back food that can more than satisfy our hunger, and all you bring back is fish! Sometimes I wish you would have died in that fire also! As worthless as you are it wouldn’t have mattered any! If only mom would have sent Mary out to get eggs with me, and you were the one who stayed inside! At least she might have brought back some descent food," was some of the things he said to her.
The young ten year old blonde threw her catch at him and walked out.
"Find your own damn food then!" she said to him as she walked away.
With all that she was going through, the last thing she needed was her brother to start pissing her off. Sarah could hardly remember what life was like before her family was killed. She just remembered that she was always happy back then, and she never would have gotten into an argument like that with her brother. Fits of rage were happening more frequently between the two. Up until a few months ago no matter how horrible they felt, they would always try to stick by each others side. But now the two siblings were beginning to act around each other, the way they did when coming into contact with strangers. Sarah remembered how her and Mike had acted around the couple who had offered them shelter some time ago. The two were a royal pain in the ass though, they deserved every bit of lip they received from the children. At the time though, Sarah never felt that her and Mike would ever talk that way to one another. She was not one for hoping much anymore. A part of her though, still hoped that her and Michael would always stick up for each other. And never leave one anothers side. When thinking about this she would say to herself. "Maybe that’s apart of the old Sarah that is still left in me that’s wishing that." If that was the case, she knew that Mike was the only person in the world who could bring her out. The Sarah nowadays felt nothing but utter jealousy and hatred for fun-loving commoners. Just the sight of someone with a smile on their face made her want to scream. Though the two youngsters souls were completely lost now, and no matter how much they despised the people they came in contact with. The worst either one of them had ever done was mouth-off to someone. Though Sarah had often thought to herself, how nice it would be to kill him or to kill her. Neither she, nor her brother had ever gone to that level yet. And a part of Sarah still hoped it never would. But both Sarah and her brother had often thought, that if either of them ever found out who some of those soldiers were who blew up their home. They didn’t know what they would end up doing.
Sarah noticed that she had run out of rocks to throw into the creek. So she got up, and began looking for another spot that had groups of rocks around it.
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John Moffit was sitting through a meeting being held by Captain Cecil. He along with several other commanders were told that their presence here was mandatory. The Utariun Forces were planning on setting up a new base in the Central Continent, only about 15 miles south of Corel Village. John was guessing that he was being one of the men who was going to be transferred to that area. Based on the fact that the main topic being discussed was what all they needed to do to get things up and running in the new base.
If this was the case, he was not to thrilled about being transferred. He had finally made enough money from being in the army to buy a new house. He had only been living in it for a month now, and he was not ready to leave. But he figured that transferring to the new base was the best thing to do if he wanted to continue on his course of being promoted to higher positions. Johns commanding officers seemed to be very pleased with his work. Though sometimes they said he lacked great leadership capabilities. Despite this, John was sure that if he continued to do his duties right, they would eventually promote him.
He was a key factor in the mission the Forces had been keying on over the past year, of tracking down all the materia, and destroying it. John had led five different missions for it, and that is where he had won most of his attention from his superiors. Though, since the mission was closed down three weeks ago, he was nothing more then a spokesman. Informing the media on a few of the issues of the Utariun Forces. John looked up at the clock, and saw that there was still two more hours scheduled for this meeting.
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Mike was looking around at his surroundings in the area. Night was falling and he was searching for descent places he and his sister could run to if they fell into contact with a hungry animal during the night. There were several bears and other dangerous animals in the area that would cause the children to flee for safety, if they came into contact with one. Mike scouted out a few descent spots, and walked back to the area that his sister was at.
"Sarah, we need to begin heading north tomorrow. I’m not comfortable with this area anymore, there are to many bears around."
"Fine," his sister responded back to him.
Sarah was concentrating on carving a pointed edge into a spear she was making, in an attempt to have a better hunting weapon. She did not want to use Mikes bow and arrows, she wanted to do it her own way. Sarah had been spending all week forming these spears. That is all she’d been doing since she decided to come back after the argument the two had. Mike looked at his sister while she was carving her weapon. He noticed the huge scowl on her face while she was doing this. What once was a face full of laughter and light, was now cold and dark. The little girl that everybody thought was going to grow up to be an angel, was turning into an entity of evil.
"Are you going to be working on that all night long, normal people need sleep you know?" Mike asked Sarah later on that night..
Sarah stopped her carving, and looked up at her brother. "Does it look like I’m finished here. How do you expect me to stop if I am not finished yet!"
"Fine then," he said back to her, and then turned over on his side trying to go to sleep.
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"Hey there honey," Tifa said to her boyfriend when he walked into the room.
Tifa walked over to Cloud and gave him a smooch on the lips. Cloud grinned at the girl, and began running his hand through her hair.
"What’s gotten you so excited baby, I was only gone for a few hours, helping Tim out on his farm."
Tim was one of the group’s neighbors, that they had become acquainted with.
"Oh it’s nothing Cloud. I was just thinking about how great it is when your at home, and not off being busy with the Forces, that’s all."
Cloud had been at home for two weeks now, and Tifa was enjoying every second she was able to spend with him. Cloud was trying to get his name off of some of the assignments the Utariun Forces had, in an effort to spend an extended period of time with her.
"Don’t worry Tif, the Forces are concentrating on the new base being set up near Corel. They already have all of the officers they need assigned their at this time. So I should be able to spend the next several months at home.
"That’s absolutely wonderful Cloud," Tifa said, and then gave Cloud another kiss on the lips.
"Tifa, Barret shouldn’t be back for a couple of hours. Let me finish cleaning up from the company we had last night. You go into the bedroom and get undressed, and when I’m done here we can make love."
"That’s the best news I’ve heard all day," she said back to him.
Tifa started off toward the back rooms, and began pulling off her shirt as she neared the bedroom.
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"General, things are up and running very well in Corel Base. We have ten different units set up there now, and the tests for the electronic equipment has gone as planned. The soldiers that are their are busy clearing out the area countryside. There are many wild animals that claim home to the countryside surrounding the base. So our men are busy clearing the countryside of various things that could come into the base." Captain Cecil told General Akia.
"Good Captain, it has been three long and grueling months since the final construction on the base was done and we began sending our men over. It sounds like things are going very well. I congratulate you on a job well done Captain."
"Thank you General," Captain Cecil responded back.
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John was having a good time, he enjoyed being over here in Base Corel. He had been given a lot of duties to do, and he was keeping busy. He was also thrilled to find out that he was given the chance to lead a group of men again. A majority of the soldiers that were assigned to Base Corel, were new to the Utariun Forces. John was given the task of figuring out which men were best suited where, and assigning them to different tasks. He had several units out clearing the countryside of all the dangerous wildlife that could find its way into the base, and possibly ruin some equipment. And the men who were doing that were also clearing out many of the forests that surrounded the base. John couldn’t believe how many trees there were in the area. He figured that if anyone wanted to distance themselves from the population of the world, a place like this would be it. Nobody would ever be able to find them, and they could live out their lives in solitude.
John was standing outside of Missions Hall, night was falling and it was beginning to get rather chilly. It was the first part of November, and the cold weather was beginning to set in. John decided to start back to his headquarters before it got to cold.
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Michael was beginning to feel that he and his sister had finally reached a destination where they could stay for awhile. The two had been traveling northward for the past several months. Never stopping at a certain location for any extended amount of time. Earlier Mike felt it was necessary to get out of this kind of landscape. Mainly because the location they were at, was littered with many creatures that posed a threat to the siblings. But lately, Mike and Sarah were beginning to feel at home in this terrain of hills and forests. The area in which they were at had an adequate water supply surrounding it, and it had more than enough game to sustain the two. Sarah was beginning to become a very good huntress, she was becoming very talented with the spears she had formed. Mike was noticing that she had gone on quite a growth spurt, the lost girl was very tall for her age. He realized from the seasons that had come and gone. That another one of his birthdays had come about, he was now thirteen years old. Sarah's birthday was probably approaching to, she would soon be eleven years old. The two did not celebrate these days by any means. But they welcomed them, knowing that for everyone that passed, meant that they were going to grow that much bigger and stronger. And they were going to become increasingly capable of surviving. Michael felt that this was a descent place to stop for awhile, he notified his sister of his plans.
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Mike was in his normal hunting position. Hidden in the brushes, near an animal he had tracked down, and waiting for it to get in just the right position. He had his eyes set on another small deer that he had spotted. Mike was just about ready to shoot his arrow, when he started to hear strange noises in the distance.
"What the hell is that!" He said to himself.
Mike headed off in the direction that he heard the noises to see what it might be. The longer he traveled in the direction of the noises, the more he swore they sounded like machinery. Michael neared the edge of the hill that he was on, he stopped and peered down the side. What he saw next absolutely enflamed him. The images that he just witnessed brought about feelings of hatred that even he had not encountered before. Mike began feeling his fists clinch tightly together, and his jaws began to nash against one another.
"Soldiers!" He screamed to himself while witnessing the sight.
The men that Mike was looking at, had on the exact same uniforms that the soldiers who destroyed his and Sarah’s home had on. Mike began heading back to the hideout that he and his sister were staying at, to bring Sarah to the sight.
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Sarah looked down the side of the hill with flames in her eyes. The whole time while following Mike to the sight, she was having images of crucifying each and every one of them.
"Those bastards!" She yelled to her brother after beholding the image.
Sarah had enough hatred implanted on her face at that moment to fill the world for a thousand generations. She looked over at her brother with a demons stare.
"Those soldiers Mike, those soldiers are going to pay for what they did to us!"
Mike looked at his sister but stayed silent, then peered back in the direction of the soldiers. He began looking further down the horizon, and noticed that they had a base set up some distance away.
"Mike, did you hear me. I said I am going to kill those Goddamn assholes!"
"Shut up Sarah, just shut up. Do you see there, do you see there in the distance. Look at that base. If you went down their, and attacked any of them. Even if you killed one, they would send reinforcements, and track you down in no time!"
"I don’t care Mike, I don’t care if they capture me, or how badly they may hurt me. All I care about is getting revenge."
Mike glanced at his sister again, and said in an undecided matter
"Come on, let’s go get our weapons."
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Cloud and Barret were being seated at one of the local restaurants in town. Tifa was at work at the time, and both felt like getting something to eat quickly. The waitress seated them at one of the window sections.
"I will be with you in just one second," the waitress told the two after showing them their seat.
"So, what are you going to get Cloud," Barret asked his friend.
"Oh I don’t know, I guess I will just have a burger," Cloud responded back.
"Suit yourself, but I am going to get something nice."
Cloud paused for a second without saying anything.
"Barret, I have been thinking about asking Tifa something. But, I have never been as terrified of anything in my life, as what I want to say to her."
Barret put his menu down and looked at Cloud.
What was it that you were wanting to ask her buddy.
" Well, Tifa and I have had a great relationship going for over a year now. And this past month or so, I have thought about asking her."
Cloud reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black case. He opened it in front of Barret, and his friend saw what was inside.
"Wow! That’s quite a diamond ring Cloud."
"Do you think it’s nice?"
"I think Tifa will love it buddy," Barret said to Cloud.
"Ya, but whether she likes it or not is not what I am worried about. It’s what her answer will be to the meaning of the ring, that makes me so scared. I have had this for a couple weeks now, and since then. I have been searching for the courage to give it to her."
"Cloud believe me, Tifa loves you with all her heart. I don’t think you need to worry about what her answer will be."
"You think so Barret?" Cloud asked in an excited tone.
"I’m positive Cloud."
Then the waitress came to their table to take the two mens order.
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John looked out of the window of his dormitory room.
"What a nice night it is out tonight," he said to himself.
John looked over some of his paper work that he had spread out on his desk. Then got up, and walked out his door.
He left through the main doors of the base, and decided to walk around the area for awhile. John figured that he best make the most of this night. With winter beginning to set in, there won’t be to many more nights like this. He began thinking of some of the things that needed to get done for tomorrow. His squads were almost through clearing out the countryside that was required. Now he needed his men to start concentrating on making sure the defensive weaponry was running properly. Though John did not feel that there was any rush. The Utariun Forces were not being threatened by any outside force. They were the only army on the planet, and he felt the defensive weaponry for this base was one of the last things that they should worry about. John began to come up on some thick brushes and trees, on the side of the path. He looked up at the stars, he could see almost all of them. He was able to spot a few of the constellations that were well known. John began to wonder how much life there is out there that we don’t know about yet. With all the stars in the galaxy, there has got to be some, he thought to himself. Just as John was getting caught up in this thought, he began hearing rustling noises in the brushes beside him. All of a sudden, something jumped out of the tall grass, and he suddenly felt a severe pain in his side.
"Ahh!" John yelled out.
He looked down at his side, and noticed a small spear had found its way to his flesh. John heard more rustling noises in the brushes. He searched over in that direction. He noticed that just a few feet inside the grass, lay an extremely young lad. The young boy shot up, and John noticed he had a bow and arrow pointed at him. At first he did not think that the boy with dark brown hair, was really going to fire his weapon at him. But to his horror, the lad pulled his arm back, and let loose of the arrow. John was able to duck, and the arrow narrowly missed him. But then, John heard horrendous screeching sounds coming just to the left of the boy. To his shock John saw an even younger figure run out of the brushes in his direction. A little girl with long blonde hair, raced out of the grass screeching. John braced himself, noticing that she had another spear in her hand. He timed her approach just right, and managed to trip her just when she was attempting to run her weapon through him. John looked down at his side again, and noticing that the first spear was not lodged in very deep, pulled it out. He looked over at the boy. Seeing that the lad was about ready to fire another arrow at him, ran to him as fast as he could. John punched the boy with all his might in the jaw. The boy fell back, and John stood above him to make sure he did not get up. John grabbed the bow and arrow that was lying on the ground beside him. Then he heard yelling noises again. He felt a sharp pain in his back. John realized that the little girl had gotten up, and was now trying to drive her spear into his back. John flung his arm around and caught the girl on the chest, and the girl flew to the ground. He stood in between the children, to make sure they both stayed down. The girl attempted to get back up, but then he heard the boy call out a name.
"Sarah, let’s go!" The boy yelled out.
"No Mike, I’m gonna kill him!"
"He’ll kill you first!"
For an instant it did not appear that the girl was going to listen to the lads request. But then John pointed the bow and arrow at her. It was at that moment that he noticed how haunted the little girl appeared to be. She took a step back, looked towards the boy. And with a horrible scowl on her face, headed in his direction. John kept the bow and arrow pointed, as he watched the two youngsters run off into the darkness.
John did not know what to think of the episode that just took place. But he decided that it would be much safer if he did not take anymore midnight walks.
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"Oww, Goddammit! Why the fuck did I let that prick hit me in the jaw! God, it still hurts!"
"It’s your damn fault! We could have gotten him if you weren’t such a wuss, and retreated like that!" Sarah screamed back to her brother.
"Sarah, your just plain stupid! Did you notice how badly he was beating us, we didn’t have a chance! If it wasn’t for me, you would have gotten yourself killed! How would you have liked that! Not only would those soldiers have killed Mom, Dad, and Mary! But they would have killed you also! You may not feel the same way, but I am not going to let those assholes kill another member of my family!
It had been a week since the children had had their battle with the unknown soldier. And the youngsters were still feeling the effects of their beating. The past week their had been nothing but a flood of curses, and disrespect directed toward one another. Both children were discovering a cold hard fact. The people that they so desperately wanted to get revenge on; it was becoming clear that it was impossible to at this point. The soldiers were just too strong for them. Mike was accepting this fact much better than Sarah was. Sarah still felt that they could possibly kill one, if they attacked again. Mike was not willing to find out though.
Sarah stared at Mike and said
"Well then Michael, how do you expect to defeat them then!"
Mike was silent for a second, but then spoke up.
"I don’t know, but we will find out!"
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"Captain Flannigan, our men are doing a fine job in the opening up of this base."
"Good Commander Moffit, things seem to be going exactly as scheduled. In another three weeks or so this base should be 100 percent completed. Has their been any problems while working on the base."
"No, no problems at all with my men. A very strange incident happened to me though, a little over a week ago. It was late at night, and I had decided to take a walk outside. I walked a ways away from the base, and around the area where the brushes and trees begin getting thicker. There, I was unexpectedly attacked by two very young children. The youngsters had some weapons with them. Some self made spears, and a bow and arrow set. Luckily their fighting techniques were not that sound, they did not hurt me that badly. I was able to drive them off without much incident, just a few cuts when the girl tried to use her spear.
I have no answer though Captain as to why these children would have done this. They were obviously very troubled. My guess would be that something horrible happened to them in their past."
"That’s very strange Commander Moffit. Spread the word to your men about these certain youngsters. If you, or any of your men run into any strange young children again in this area. Take them to the base, and hold them for questioning."
"Yes Captain," John responded back.
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"Man I am beat! I am just getting to old to keep up with you guys! You guys need to learn to settle down, and begin taking it slow! Or else I am going to have to order myself another lung, if I continue running around with you two!"
"Oh, is Barret tired!" Tifa said in a sarcastic voice.
"Your damn right I’m tired! You just wait tell your thirty-eight! I don’t think you will find it so funny then! We can’t all be twenty-three years old like you are Tifa!"
"Barret, go into your room if you are going to start crying!"
"I’m not going to cry a lick, all I am going to do is sleep!"
Then Barret headed off to his bedroom for the night. The three friends had just gotten back from a night of partying, and having fun. It was New Year’s Eve, and the group was out celebrating the occasion. Barret was beginning to have a little trouble exorting the amount of energy that was required to stay with his twenty- something friends. And he was beginning to let his frustrations show. Every time nowadays after the three would get back from a night on the town, Barret would be complaining about something. Cloud and Tifa did not quite understand how he could get so tired though. While they would spend most of the night dancing, Barret would just sit down at a table, and have a few drinks. Although they thought he might have a point when he told them when they got to be in their late thirties, they would not have nearly as much energy either. At this point though, they did not want to think that far ahead. They were too much in love, and having too much fun, to think about what life might be like when they are older.
"Tifa, don’t tease Barret about that," Cloud told his girlfriend. "He just gets mad because he likes us so much, and he wants to do the same things that we do."
"I know Cloud, it’s funny hearing him complain like that though, that’s all."
Cloud smiled at Tifa and gave her a kiss on the cheek, then got up and went to the kitchen. He got a drink of water, and then opened the door and stepped out onto the back patio. After a few minutes he came back inside and asked Tifa a question.
"Hey Tifa, it’s pretty nice out tonight. What do you say we take a little walk?"
"That sounds great honey."
"Ok, hold on a second, let me take care of something first."
And Cloud went off to the back room area, to take care of whatever needed to be taken care of.
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The two lovers were walking hand in hand by the lake that they often enjoyed walking along. There was a group of teenagers that were out drinking along the other side of the lake. Tifa and Cloud seemed to be oblivious though to anything else but each other.
"This is such a beautiful night Cloud. I’m so glad that we decided to take a walk tonight."
"It really is wonderful isn’t it. We don’t get very many nights like this, this time of year. It's like winter decided to take a break just for us."
Tifa appeared blown away by the comment that Cloud had just made. She stopped, turned to her boyfriend, and laid her head upon his left shoulder. There the two stayed for the next several minutes, just holding one another.
Then a few words began to flow out of Clouds mouth.
"Tifa, have I ever told you how much you mean to me?"
Tifa looked at Cloud. She tried to give a response. But found herself fumbling over the words, as she saw the way her boyfriend was looking into her eyes.
"Tifa, you are the most important thing in the world to me. And I love you with all my heart and soul."
She managed to get out a few words this time.
"Cloud, words couldn’t describe, how much I love you."
"Tifa, I just wanted to say. I want us to be together forever."
Tifa again could not come up with any words to say. With seeing how charming her boyfriend was being.
Cloud took Tifa’s hand and kissed it. He reached into the pocket of the jacket he was wearing, and pulled out a small black case. The moment that Tifa had dreamed about so many times recently, seemed to be taking place. She found herself growing faint, beginning to go weak in the knees. Cloud looked Tifa in the eyes again. Then knelt down on his right knee and.
"Tifa Lockhart, will you marry me?"
Tifa looked down at Cloud adoringly. She took a few seconds to think of just the right words to say. Then she spoke.
"Cloud, I think you already know the answer to that question."
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Michael and Sarah were about to do something that they swore they would never do again. The happenings that led them to the area in which they were now, began taking place about three months earlier. It was an extremely cold winter in the section that the two children were at. They could not find any food, or any descent wood to build a fire with. Becoming desperate, Mike and Sarah began looking for other means to stay alive.
One day, the children came across an old cabin that would provide them with a much warmer environment. Thinking that the place was abandoned, Mike and Sarah decided to call it home for the time being. The youngsters were there for the next week, able to build a fire and keep warm during their stay. But then a couple seeming to be in their thirties showed up, claiming that they were the owners of the lodge. Mike and Sarah were going to leave, not wanting to have contact with outsiders. The man and women were not about to let the children go out into the snowstorm that was taking place at the time though. Desperate to keep the youngsters inside, who were very unwilling to stay. Attempted to tell them the story of the man, that so many other youths were fascinated with. That mans name was Sephiroth.
The name of Sephiroth seemed to attract the attention of Michael. Saying that he wanted to hear how Sephiroth became so powerful. Michael listened to the story with seemingly great interest. Though Sarah just withdrew herself, and went to the window to look out. Trying to consume herself in her own thoughts until Mike decided to leave.
Mike learned about the whole story of Sephiroth. And found out that if he wanted to learn more, he needed to go to the little town of Nibelheim. After hearing this information, Mike and Sarah were out the door as quickly as possible. Leaving the couple to do what they came up to do in the first place.
So thats why three months later, in the middle of April. Mike and Sarah were entering the little town of Nibelheim.
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The Nibelheim Innkeeper was having a very slow day. "A small town like this just does not get much business." he said to himself. The Inn only had one customer staying in it at the time, and had had only three people over the past week. The Innkeeper was beginning to feel that if business did not pick up soon he might not be able to stay open. He was sitting down at his desk, thumbing through one of the magazines laid out for when guests want to relax in the lobby. All the while counting the minutes until his shift was over. Just then he heard the door open, he walked up to the registers table to see who his new customer was. He was shocked to see that it was two very young children, a boy and a girl.
"I hope these two came here to get cleaned up." The Innkeeper though when he saw the children.
The two youngsters looked as though they had not bathed in quite sometime. The patches of dirt on their faces were very noticeable. The boy looked to be a little older than his companion was. He was slim, though not skinny. The lad looked to be just entering puberty, his face was beginning to have a few breakouts. His dark brown hair was very shaggy. It did not appear that the boy put to much emphasis on having his hair look all nice and neat.
It looked as though the girl still had another year or so. Before her body would begin going through the natural process of changing into an adult. She was also a slender girl. She seemed to have long blonde hair. Though it was somewhat difficult to tell what her natural hair coloring was, due to how dirty and dusty it was.
The two children appeared to have a very distant look to them. Like they had just gone through some sort of catastrophic event. The Innkeeper had never seen a child with as much of an expressionless look on their face, as the two who were before him had. He thought that even as dirty and grimy as they are. Their appearance would improve leaps and bounds, if they could only manage to put a little smile on their face.
The two children looked to be wearing nothing but rags. Their attire seemed to be almost a hundred years old. The girl was wearing a long sleeved brown shirt, that looked more like old cloth than anything, and had matching brown pants. That also looked to be nothing more than cloth.
The boy had similar looking clothes on as the girl. Though his did not appear quite as brownish. It also appeared that the children had been wearing this same clothing for quite a while.
"May I help you with something?" The Innkeeper asked the children as they walked up to him.
"Where do we find information about Sephiroth!" The boy yelled in a very rude manner.
The Innkeeper was somewhat stunned by the way the boy asked him the question. And took a few seconds to respond.
"The old abandoned mansion over on the other side of town has all the information that you could want on Sephiroth."
The youngsters turned around and started out of the room, without giving any kind of thankful gesture. The Innkeeper realizing that the children desperately needed to clean up, asked them as they were leaving.
"Would you kids like a room to stay in for awhile, you can have it free of charge?"
"No!" The boy yelled back at him after hearing the Innkeepers offer. Then both children walked out the door.
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Mike and Sarah were entering the library section in the old mansions basement. Both children seemed stunned when they saw how many books their may possibly be on Sephiroth. Mike walked over to one of the shelves that held the libraries many books. He scanned the titles. Becoming enthralled when he discovered that many of the books were in fact about Sephiroth. Sarah decided to just sit down in one of the chairs. Though Sarah was interested in learning Sephiroths secrets. She did not feel like spending all day reading through books.
Mike spent much of the day reading through many of the books of the man that the two children were hoping to someday immulate. Just as his sister was becoming very impatient with him, on the account of sitting around so long. Mike finally spoke up.
"Sarah, I think we have found our answer!"
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The End
Author’s note: This is the second story, in the story line that I am writing. There are still many things that will take place to the characters. I hope you enjoyed Destinies Children. Again, if you did indeed enjoy it. Feel free to email me at
