Chapter 3
***Flashback***
Twenty years ago, I used to live in the grand city, know as Midgar. But now when you go over to look at it, it’s nothing but a pile of rumble. However, back then that town was known to be “The City of Life!” People from all over the world would come to find work and eventually live there, as they would they would bring their families with them. The streets would be bustling with vehicles , people laughed as they talked about their daily lives, work was plentiful, the money was good, and everyday was a new experience in the city of Midgar. Yes…it truly was a perfect place to live, if you set your mind to it, you’d eventually had reached you goal.
I too started living in Midgar, soon after I was accepted by the Shinra Company to come work for them. Ever since I was a young boy, my father was a greatest sword smith in our town; he was the only sword smith in town. But the villagers adored him for his artistic abilities and praised him for it. I soon started learning from my father and too became the greatest sword smith in town. A few years later a woman named Scarlet came into our little town and saw how special my talents were in making swords. She stared at me with potential in her eyes and asked me if I could work for her under the Shinra Weapon’s Department. Of course back then, working for Shinra was a big opportunity for many small town folk and so without further a due I accepted her offer and began to pack up my things and set sail for Midgar.
For the next seven years, I spend my days working as sword smith in Midgar. It was a beautiful life for me, my job was wonderful, I’ve lived in nice house that the Shinra Company manage to paid for me, I’ve got married and had a son, the gil was overflowing for me, and life couldn’t get any better. In all my life as living as small town boy…I’ve never thought for one moment in all my days that I could ever live a life like this. Everything was truly perfect for me and my family. If there was anything that I’ve ever wanted Shinra would come and take care of it for me. Just as long I was making swords for them, there was nothing to worry about.
But soon all of that would change when a mysterious young man came into my shop one day and ask me to make a sword for him.
“You want me to make you a sword?” I’d asked him
He nods his head gently
“Yes…it is required that I have a new sword immediately!”
“Required…?” I said in puzzlement but then it finally hit me “Wait are you saying that…”
“Yes!” he says hastily “I’m a Shinra SOLDIER…that has now become a First Class Officer,”
Shock flows through my body, my eyes cannot believe what they are seeing, this young man who looks no more in his early twenties, has already ranked up to be high class officer and at quit a young age. It was truthfully remarkable to see him reached that rank which toke other years to achieve. It was really impressive but also odd.
“A First Classed Officer!” I said astonishingly to the young man “That’s really incredible! I didn’t think anybody could become that high rank at the age you’re in,”
The young man gently put a hand to his chest and giggled softly.
“Heh, heh, well…I’m pretty surprise myself, I didn’t think they would go and actually give me the position, but…apparently they do if you have the right potential, heh, heh.”
I’ve laugh along with him, it was sort of funny that Shinra can go and make anyone a first class officer, but it was also peculiar. Why would Shinra set off to make this young man an officer anyway? But now when I’ve sort of think about it, the Shinra Company was sort of a strange corporation. There will be times when I enter the Shinra building for medical exams that I was required for every six months to come in for a vaccine shot. When I asked the doctor what the shots were for, he’d told me that they were injections to keep me healthy from any viral diseases that I might catch and could spread to other members of the Shinra Corporation.
“Well…what could I’ve possible catch that could be so harmful to the other members of the company?” I’ve asked the doctor
The doctor just smile to me and gave me a simple answer.
“It’s for health reason,” he said to me “For your safety and the well beings of others,”
I only sighed and let the doctor inject me with the shot that had a strange green liquid inside. I didn’t bother to ask the doctor again what the real purpose of the injection was use for, only that after I was giving the shot did I feel somewhat different. My reflects were getting better, I could ran more faster than any man in the city, my five sense where much more superior than any dog that I’ve had growing up, and I’ve notice that sometime I would get bad temper for something that wasn’t even shocking. I’ve only look away from these problems and continue my life like any normal man would have. It would only be years from now that I found out what the injections were truly were used for.
Before Midgar was destroyed, I met an ex-scientist that used to work for the laboratory that was inside the Shinra building, from what he’d told me, the vaccines that were given to patience, were actually cells gain by an unknown life form and were being injected to the unaware client. He also said that the reason why the consumer were being introduce to this injection was to create the ultimate human being, with this power Shinra could become the most superior industry corporation to ever to be built. The ex-scientist said to me that anyone who was working under the Shinra Company was vital to take the vaccine, especial the Shinra SOLDIERS. As soon as I’ve heard this my whole body went numb. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, it was impossible to believe. The whole time that I thought I was getting the flu shot, turned out to be an experiment for someone’s sick twisted mind. Rage ran through me, anger and hate was all that I could feel for Shinra at that time, even now do I still feel ill hearted about that despicable company. Shinra was supposed to be a corporation that gave people hope and prosperity, but instead it ended up betraying the people and embezzled their hard working ship. But I’ve was already long gone out of Midgar, before I’ve heard about this. The real trouble of my disgrace began when I was chosen to create a sword for that silver haired young man.
He came to me soon after he was made topped rank in SOLDIER and had heard from Scarlet that I was a best sword smith in Shinra. It was required for all the topped ranking officers to have their very own customize weapon and I was chosen to make a sword for this young man.
After our little chat the young man and I quickly got back to business. He’d browse around the shop looking at all the different types of weapons that I had hanging on the wall. His eyes gazed from guns, to spears, bows and arrows, axes, and swords. He’d hummed to himself thinking of what he should get, but couldn’t decide what he’d wanted.
“So…what is it that you’re looking for?” I said to him, which quickly snapped him out of his thoughts.
He slowly turns to me and gently tilted his head and put a finger to his lips.
“Well…to tell you the truth…I’m not sure…” he’s said unsurely “This is the first time that I had to decide something that was real complicated for me, heh, heh,” he’d laughed and smile to me.
“When I first entered SOLDIER,” he said “My weapon was already hand picked and given to me from the start of my training. But I would have never would have thought that the moment you’ve become a first class soldier, that you would have to decide and chose your own weapon. It’s…really difficult for me…I…actually don’t know what to pick!”
I only smile at him and walk towards him.
“Let me help you,” I said kindly to him “It’s…really all about how well your fighting style is,”
“Fighting style…?” he said curiously and looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes,” I said to him “All these weapons in this shop are designed to arm you in your own special combat abilities,”
The look of confusion was present on the young man’s face and couldn’t understand to what I was saying. So I broke it down easily for him so he could comprehend better.
“For instance…” I said to him walking over to some guns that were hanging on the wall and toke down pistol. “If you’re quick and swift in your fighting abilities, a gun would be the perfect weapon for you in immediate combat,”
The young man’s eyes start to grow wide and I could see from looking at them, that he was starting to get what I was saying.
“But if your attacks are silent and devious,” I said, putting the pistol back on the wall and walking over to some bows and arrows and pick one out with shinny wooden handle. “The bow and arrows would be the perfect bludgeon for stealth warfare. There easy to use and your enemies will never know that your right behind until it’s too late,”
“Ohhhh….,” said the silver haired young man when he finally understood what I was saying. “I get it now,”
I grinned at the young man and put the bow and arrows back on the wall. He strode down the other side of the shop and gazing at some swords that hung from the wall which glisten in the sunlight. The silver haired man looked at the blades with interest in his eyes and hummed to himself in satisfaction. I saw him staring at the swords before him and knew what he’d wanted.
He toke down one of the swords and looked at it. The sword that he toke down was slightly curve and diagonally cut at the tip. Amazement filled his face as he could see his reflection shimmering into the sword’s blade. Then with quick swift to his side, the young man suddenly turns around and begins to swing the steel around and moves in a graceful dance. Happiness fills the young man’s eyes as he slashes the sword around. Then after a few minutes of an elegant sword dance, the young man impedes and turns towards me.
“What a magnificence sword!” he said to me “What kind of blade is it?”
I stepped towards him and told him the sword name
“Its called a Masamune Sword, they’re mostly made in Wutai. But luckily for me I was able to go over there and learn how to make one from a master sword smith,”
The young man continue on gazing at the sword, detailing every brilliant structure and designed on the blade.
“A…masa…mune…huh…? What a marvelous sword!” he said in amazement “It’s much more lighter and slimmer then the other sword I had to use,”
“You mean the buster sword?” I said to him
“Yes,” He nodded still staring at the sword “The buster swords were more heavier and a lot thicker than this sword,”
“Yes, I know what you mean,” I said to him “I’ve helped create those swords and those thing aren’t like lifting a box of feathers, they can really put a strain on your lower back if your not careful or not properly train to hold them,”
“Yes,” he said agreeing with me “I’ve saw a lot of the soldiers hurting themselves, due to the weight of the sword. They would sometimes ended up in the hospital due to back pains. But this sword…it’s different. The light weight really makes it easier to handle and I love how the blade gently glides in the wind. Yes…this truly is the perfect weapon,”
The young man raises up the sword above and watches as the blade glistens in the sunlight. He then lowers the blade and turns towards me and smiles. I smiled back and the two of us knew what he really wanted.
“This…is it!” the young man said happily “This is the weapon I desire,”
I smile and nod my head
“Alrighty then, excellent choice my friend, that sword you be a good weapon for you in combat,”
The young man smiles and turns his body toward me and starts walking. He gently gives me the sword and looks at me in the eyes with a question on his face.
“Ummm…” he saids in uncertainty “Do you think…that maybe you could make the blade…a little bit longer…?
My eyes start to get wide as the look of confusion was on my face.
“Umm…longer…?” I said to him with a raised eyebrow
“Yes,” he said “I would like the sword to be double in size, if…that’s not too much trouble,”
Confusion runs through and then I begin to wonder why he wanted the blade to more extended in length. It was a bizarre request, but the young man seems that he really wanted the sword this way.
“If it’s not a bother…” I said to him unsure “May I ask why you would like the blade to be that long?”
The young man smiles at me and was more than happy to explain.
“Well…when I was training to be a Shinra SOLDIER, we trainees were privileged to use a rifle and a sword. The sword was the weapon that I like the best; it was easy to use and good for direct, straight forwards attacks. The rifle was also a good weapon to use; it would help you fight people from a long distance away without being seen by the enemy. I guess…during all that time of being a SOLDIER, my fighting style would always be a straight forward attack with some long distance fighting techniques in it. To put it simpler I prefer expansion attacks with a little bit of swiftness to it,”
“Ohhh…ookkaayy,” I said to him as I began to understand what he wanted “Sooo…. expansion and quick?”
“Yes…” he said
“Alright,” I said rubbing my head “I’ll…see…what I can do,”
“Thank you,” said the silver haired young man “I really appreciate this, when will it be ready?”
“Well…” I said looking at the sword he gave me “It’s gonna need extra steel and the handle need to be a lot more thicker to support the long blade…I…say…it’ll be ready with in a month,”
“Alright,” he said to me “I’ll be back at the end of the month to pick up the masamune,”
A blissful smile appeared a pond the young man’s face and he coolly walked out of my shop. As soon as he left I quickly went downstairs to the basement of my shop to and rapidly went to work on the sword.
