Urbanite Lost: Prologue/Anonymous Text
...
[There isn't any taking it back, though Reeve wishes there was. She ought to know better than to take anything for granted in this place. It's too easy, getting used to one's cage, letting one's guard down. Everything is too easy, right up until it becomes unbearable.
Wishes aren't something Reeve indulges in very often. Goals, aspirations-- those are different, less fantastical animals. But she had wanted to know, about her city, her mother, her world, and so she did wish. Because in her heart, she was hopeful-- even though her mind was uneasy.
Anyway, she had never really fancied herself the sort to have a tattoo. So she had wished.
I need to know, what's happening in my city, Midgar-- are things under control? Is everyone all right? Has any time passed since I left?
Her answer had been something like a vision before waking, half-recalled-- or a poorly edited film, looping back on itself. Afterwards, there had been a kind of bleak incomprehension.
What could they mean, these voices, faces, images from another world?
...
...(a recorded voice, the President) "...today the No.1 Reactor was bombed. The terrorist group AVALANCHE has claimed responsibility for the bombing.
It is expected that AVALANCHE will continue its reign of terror. But citizens of Midgar.... there is no need to fear. I have immediately mobilized SOLDIER to protect our citizenry against this senseless violence. Thank you and good night."
...(a board meeting, herself standing, giving a report-- she looks tired, worn)
"We have the damage estimates for Sector 7.
Considering those factories we already set up and all the investments, the damage is estimated at approximately 10 Billion gil."
The estimated cost to rebuild Sector 7 is--"
(the President interrupts to say) "We're not rebuilding." (she watches as a kind of dull surprise registers on her own face.)
...(a sound, like a train crash and the breathless roar of demolition and the clanging of tuneless bells and a storm underwater and hard, distant laughter all at once. There is the familiar slouch and shrug of Reno's shoulders-- and the Sector 7 plate is breaking, is falling through the air and (we're not rebuilding) and there is nothing but dust (so much dust) and screaming. It's like the end of the world.)
...(a familiar hallway, a familiar office and she sees him seated at his desk, but there is blood here (so much blood) and the President is pinned to the top of his heavy desk like a beetle to a card-- by a long, bright sword. Beyond the door, the hallway is eerily silent.)
A voice she does not recognize is speaking, words falling through the hush and settling in her mind like coins at the bottom of a well.
"No human could've done this."
... (a question he's never asked before, sounding more like the leader of a gang of thugs than the President of Shinra, of Gaia, of Everything.)
"What's the problem, Reeve? You want out?"
...
It's been a few days since Reeve's wish was granted. She can't seem to process these things that aren't proper memories. What are they, lies? Partial truths? Possible futures? Even though the Reno she knows in the Garden is not the Reno she witnessed dropping the plate on the residential area beneath Sector 7, she can't seem to shake the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. All those lives-- she can't understand.
There is only one sword like the one pinning the President to his desk in her dreams. What does it mean? She isn't sure she wants to understand. "No human could have done this." But then how could it be the General?
But of all things, it's the question addressed to herself that frightens her most.
"What's the problem, Reeve? You want out?"
Not wanting to discuss the incident of the wish outright, and dizzy from turning it over in her own head, Reeve decides to take it to the people. Anonymously, of course.]
...
[anonymous text] (printed in a firm, clear hand)
What if you had made a wish for knowledge of your home, but found out something you didn't want to know at all? How would you handle the burden of this knowledge?
[There isn't any taking it back, though Reeve wishes there was. She ought to know better than to take anything for granted in this place. It's too easy, getting used to one's cage, letting one's guard down. Everything is too easy, right up until it becomes unbearable.
Wishes aren't something Reeve indulges in very often. Goals, aspirations-- those are different, less fantastical animals. But she had wanted to know, about her city, her mother, her world, and so she did wish. Because in her heart, she was hopeful-- even though her mind was uneasy.
Anyway, she had never really fancied herself the sort to have a tattoo. So she had wished.
I need to know, what's happening in my city, Midgar-- are things under control? Is everyone all right? Has any time passed since I left?
Her answer had been something like a vision before waking, half-recalled-- or a poorly edited film, looping back on itself. Afterwards, there had been a kind of bleak incomprehension.
What could they mean, these voices, faces, images from another world?
...
...(a recorded voice, the President) "...today the No.1 Reactor was bombed. The terrorist group AVALANCHE has claimed responsibility for the bombing.
It is expected that AVALANCHE will continue its reign of terror. But citizens of Midgar.... there is no need to fear. I have immediately mobilized SOLDIER to protect our citizenry against this senseless violence. Thank you and good night."
...(a board meeting, herself standing, giving a report-- she looks tired, worn)
"We have the damage estimates for Sector 7.
Considering those factories we already set up and all the investments, the damage is estimated at approximately 10 Billion gil."
The estimated cost to rebuild Sector 7 is--"
(the President interrupts to say) "We're not rebuilding." (she watches as a kind of dull surprise registers on her own face.)
...(a sound, like a train crash and the breathless roar of demolition and the clanging of tuneless bells and a storm underwater and hard, distant laughter all at once. There is the familiar slouch and shrug of Reno's shoulders-- and the Sector 7 plate is breaking, is falling through the air and (we're not rebuilding) and there is nothing but dust (so much dust) and screaming. It's like the end of the world.)
...(a familiar hallway, a familiar office and she sees him seated at his desk, but there is blood here (so much blood) and the President is pinned to the top of his heavy desk like a beetle to a card-- by a long, bright sword. Beyond the door, the hallway is eerily silent.)
A voice she does not recognize is speaking, words falling through the hush and settling in her mind like coins at the bottom of a well.
"No human could've done this."
... (a question he's never asked before, sounding more like the leader of a gang of thugs than the President of Shinra, of Gaia, of Everything.)
"What's the problem, Reeve? You want out?"
...
It's been a few days since Reeve's wish was granted. She can't seem to process these things that aren't proper memories. What are they, lies? Partial truths? Possible futures? Even though the Reno she knows in the Garden is not the Reno she witnessed dropping the plate on the residential area beneath Sector 7, she can't seem to shake the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. All those lives-- she can't understand.
There is only one sword like the one pinning the President to his desk in her dreams. What does it mean? She isn't sure she wants to understand. "No human could have done this." But then how could it be the General?
But of all things, it's the question addressed to herself that frightens her most.
"What's the problem, Reeve? You want out?"
Not wanting to discuss the incident of the wish outright, and dizzy from turning it over in her own head, Reeve decides to take it to the people. Anonymously, of course.]
...
[anonymous text] (printed in a firm, clear hand)
What if you had made a wish for knowledge of your home, but found out something you didn't want to know at all? How would you handle the burden of this knowledge?