Cloud Strife

I've had to face a lot of unpleasant truths on my journey. Truths that almost broke me. Well, more than almost, but I've recovered as well as I could, considering the circumstances. I lived a lie for so long, it's hard to break myself of it. I know who I really am, but the vestiges of what I thought I was still exist. There's a part of me that still thinks that it was in SOLDIER, especially considering the skills I retained as a fighter. Or maybe I had that power in me the whole time.

To be honest, there have been times where I have taken lies that were brutal as the truth, but the truth occasionally was just as bad. I mean, what Hojo said and what was the truth…they both meant that I was living a lie in some way. At least Hojo's words weren't the truth and in some way they were more brutal than the truth, but in other ways, not as much. So, I'm not sure which is worse: the lie or the truth. But I think, in the end, that finding out the truth helped me more than being lied to.

Muse: Cloud Strife
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Word Count: 198
Prompt: Unpleasant Truth
Disclaimer: I don't own Cloud Strife, the people he knows, or the world he lives in. Square-enix owns him instead.

I'm tired of people obsessing over things, me included. I obsessed over tracking down Sephiroth after he left a trail of blood in Shinra Headquarters. Sephiroth obsessed over his 'mother' and becoming a god so she and him could destroy the world.

There was Shinra's obsession with power and money, which was so bad that they'd suck the life-blood of the planet and use it for energy. They did many other things in the course of that pursuit that destroyed lives, towns, and dreams. Barrett lost his arm, Tifa and I lost our hometown and family, Aeris…she lost her life, Cid – his dream of space flight, Yuffie's nation lost its pride, and well, Vincent…I don't know what he lost other than it probably was Shinra's fault too. Red doesn't say much either.

Obsession is an ugly thing. I don't want anything to do with it anymore.

Muse: Cloud Strife
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Word Count: 146
Prompt: Obsession
Disclaimer: I don't own Cloud Strife, the people he knows, or the world he lives in. Square-enix owns him instead.

*a young man with blond, spiky hair comes walking in and looks around*

Hey.

Name's Cloud Strife and I guess who I am is a complicated affair. See, even I'm not sure of who I am other than that I was from Nibelheim and I went to Midgar to become part of SOLDIER, but I didn't make it and everything else is foggy. Really, it is. Oh and Tifa was my neighbor. That I know.

I am getting better, but I don't think I'll ever be completely the same as before.