Jessie's Story

Part 1 -- Final Mission

     Cold and dark, the bliss of unconsciousness. At least now she couldn't 
feel the pain of the many wounds suffered at the hands of the Shinra. Calmly,
she waited for the inevitable death that was approaching. She found some 
comfort in the fact that she had died protecting the home that she loved, and
the things that were important to her. However, her thoughts were interrupted
by the sensation of being raised up...up towards a light growing brighter and
brighter. Someone calling her name. "Jessie, Jessie.." She recognized the 
voices. Slowly, she opened her eyes.
     A young man with blonde hair and piercing blue-green eyes was kneeling 
beside her, and with him was a brown-haired girl. Both wore a face of 
concern. "Jessie, are you all right?" questioned the man, "Its me, Cloud."
     She coughed a few times before gathering the strength to answer. 
"Cloud...I'm glad we had...this last chance...to talk." She turned her head 
to the girl alongside him. "And you, too, Tifa."
     "Don't talk like that, Jessie..." replied Tifa, trying to sound hopeful,
"We'll get you all out of this."
     She coughed a bit more, a little blood trickling from the corner of her 
mouth. "It's too late for me...but Barrett, he is...still fighting up there, 
alone. He needs your help..." She looked into Clouds eyes as he and Tifa 
stifled tears, Cloud doing a much better job at staying serious. "Cloud..."
     "Jessie..?" was all that Cloud could say, waiting for her next words.
     "Promise me, Cloud...promise you'll protect Barret for me. And..." she 
paused, feeling her energy leaving her, "And promise that you'll do it for 
free...You'll ruin your life...if you just love gil and not someone else."
     "Jessie, I..." started Cloud, as Tifa shot him a strange glance -- one 
that he wasn't sure of its meaning. But somehow it reassured him. "I 
promise."
     Jessie smiled weakly. "Thank you...Cloud...Now go, help Barret. Don't 
worry about me. I've already done...my part for the planet. Now it's your 
turn."
     Cloud and Tifa hesitated a moment, and ran up the stairs to where the 
leader of the AVALANCHE resistance movement was firing upon a Shinra 
helicopter. As they faded out of her vision, Jessie laid her brown-haired 
head back down upon the stairway's steel plating as the pain from her wounded
shoulder and right leg became excruciating. She felt her mind racing, back to
the time of her youth...in the days before AVALANCHE. It looked like the old 
adage was coming true, as the images became so vivid and intense. She closed 
her eyes, as 27 years flooded back...

Part 2 -- Recollections

     Section number 7. It had always been her home. Only, back then, some 
people still remembered its real name...before they began the installation of
the plates overhead. Back when it was sunny, and not covered in an eternal 
shadow of blackness. The town of Rhono, suburb of Midgar...
     She was born into a small family there, the Alcotts. Her mother Maria 
and father Terry were hard workers, trying to build a future in the city for 
their children. And how could she forget her older brother Anthony, who was 
always there for her when she needed him. Oh, how she missed them now...
     And that fateful day in school when she discovered her passion for 
technology. Everyone teased her and called her a "Computer Geek", but her 
parents and teachers encouraged the hobby, citing that one day it could 
become a promising career for her. But, just as she was about to go on to a 
special training college, tragedy struck...
     Her mother and father became very ill, and she canceled her plans for 
the future to stay at home and nurse them. But no matter what she did, their 
condition continued to worsen. The local doctors told her it was a 
pollution-related disease, and that there was no known cure. Still, she tried
to find something, anything that could save them. First she lost her father 
Terry, and then her mother Maria a year later. It was now just her and 
Anthony left alone in the world...
     Her brother had found a good job with the Shinra corporation managing 
one of the factories near Reactor No.4, while Jessie continued her computer 
studies on a scholarship. Then one day, she took a dare from a friend and 
hacked into the Shinra network. It was then that she discovered the secret of
the Makoro reactors now powering the city, the source of the pollution that 
killed her parents. They were slowly killing the very life-force of the 
Planet as well. She was quick to tell this to her brother, who began to 
question Shinra's environmental safety policy from his inside position. They 
both wanted others to know the dangers. And then the "accident" happened...
     At least that's what everyone called it. But Jessie knew deep in her 
heart that Shinra set it up. A simple car crash on a major highway one 
Saturday evening, caused by drunk driving. Only thing was, Anthony never 
drank. They wanted her brother out of the way because he had gotten to close 
to the truth. If only she had been there to stop it, he might still be 
alive...
     Then the hatred. Of everything Shinra, who had taken her whole family 
away from her. She slumped into a depression, as her life seemed to have no 
meaning anymore. And then, exactly one year ago at Cosmo Canyon, she met 
them. Barret, Biggs, Wedge, Tifa...they all had gone through the same pain 
she felt at the hands of the merciless conglomerate. This united them in a 
way nothing else could. The 4 gave her back the sense of family she so 
desperately longed for, and convinced her to fight for the protection of the 
whole world. And so she vowed, being like a mother to all of them...not to 
mention computer and explosives expert. Through all of the fake IDs, train 
runs, bombings, and propaganda, she felt as if everything would have a happy 
ending after all. But now fate had taken its final turn...

Part 3 -- Farewell

     Her reverie was broken by the sound of a large explosion from above. She
strained her battered body to sit up and get a better view. What she had 
feared had happened. The pillar emergency release had been bombed by Shinra. 
The whole shaft rumbled as the foundation of the upper plate began to 
collapse. She thought of her friends, and frantically scanned for them. 
Fortunately, voices shouting from overhead calmed her. They were all right. 
And just as she had thought, Barret would probably escape down the cable wire
to Section 6. The fight against Shinra would go on after all...
     The stairway in which she lay now began creaking as a few chunks of rock
smashed into it. Jessie slowly closed her eyes and spoke aloud, her words 
barely audible amidst the chaos around her. "Mom, Dad, Anthony, Biggs, Wedge,
Barret, Tifa, Cloud...I can't help thinking...that I failed all of you...but 
at least I made a difference in this world for the...short time I was here. 
Now I can rest, knowing that...that there is still hope..." The explosions 
grew louder, nearing her position. The whole area began to shake violently, 
as the steel stairs were ripped off of their supports and tumbled down, along
with the pillar's remains. Jessie's body slid off down into the endless 
darkness below, as a last few words escaped her lips.
     "Cloud, don't forget...your promise..."

-- The End --

Epilogue -- Return to the Skies

     Calm, quiet, peaceful. This must be what the "Promised Land" was in all 
the fables. A soft green glow filled her vision, stirring her to awareness. 
Jessie felt a huge presence about her, images flooding her mind and voices 
ringing in her ears. The barrage continued until she could take no more, 
trying to let out a scream...but no sound came. Nothing but an all consuming 
void of thoughts and feelings surrounded her. Still she struggled against the
overwhelming consciousness, trying to remain intact and not be swept away. A 
familiar voice calling her, softly at first, then louder with each passing 
moment. "Jessie...Jessie..." Was that Mother? Father? Anthony? Biggs? Wedge? 
She couldn't be sure, as the ideas were drowned out almost as soon as she 
could think of them. No, it wasn't them, it was something else...
     Jessie tried to speak, but again her mouth did not seem to be working 
the way it should. However, her mind thought instinctively. "Where am I? What
is this place?"
     An answer came back to her through the mists. "You are home."
     Jessie questioned this, her conscious mind seeming the only thing that 
could function. "Home? This isn't my home, its in Midgar."
     The voice(or was it voices?) responded. "No, this is your true home, 
Jessie, with us here...we are the Lifestream."
     Jessie's mind reeled from the meaning of this statement. "Then I'm..."
     "Yes," replied the Lifestream, "you are dead, Jessie."
     She sank into a depressed state over this harsh reality. It looks like 
the tales from the Cosmo Canyon elders were true after all. "Then why am I 
here, still able to be myself? I thought people were taken into the 
Lifestream and became part of the Planet."
     "Yes, Jessie, that is true...one loses their consciousness into the 
great rivers of life energy, and becomes one with the Planet." The voices 
paused a moment before continuing. "However, sometimes an individual leaves 
the living world with a strong sense of purpose and the will to retain their 
soul even from our embrace, and cannot return to the Planet immediately."
     "Are you saying that I'm one of those people?"
     The Lifestream did not hesitate to answer. "Yes."
     Jessie thought over the possibilities of being stuck here in limbo. Not 
good, not if she can't see her family again. "Then...then I'm to stay here 
forever, between the world of the living and the dead?"
     "If you would want to, you may, but there is another option for you." 
An image slowly formed in Jessie's mind, of herself lying in a grassy field 
in an unfamiliar land. It was her, but then it was not her...as the vision 
shifted and changed between many different faces of all ages and colors. 
"There are many who would like this gift, but only few receive it. This is a 
precious second chance for those who protected the Planet in their lives to 
return to the living."
     She was shocked at this offer from the Lifestream. "I...I can go back?"
     "Yes, Jessie, you can." The voices grew very serious. "But there is one 
condition...you cannot return to the realm you once knew."
     Jessie pondered a moment. "But where can I go, if I can't be reborn into
Midgar and see my friends again?"
      "Don't trouble yourself, Jessie. You will meet them there, although 
they might not be quite the same as you remembered. Time and events pass 
differently in alternate universes."
      She thought about the offer...it seemed like the only way other than 
an eternity of loneliness. There was no real contest on this one. "I'll do
 it, but just answer me one question."
      The voices waited. "What?"
      "Will I ever be able to see my family and AVALANCHE again?"
      The Lifestream replied in a comforting tone. "Of course, Jessie. Once 
you return to the Planet after fulfilling your dreams, you will become one 
with them and us."
      Jessie breathed a sigh of relief. "Maybe I can continue life after all,
then. OK, lay it on me." She braced herself for the eminent shock to come.
      The voice receded once more into the glowing green backdrop. "Alright, 
Jessie. Good luck in your new life." Just then the voice formed into images 
of her family...Terry, Anthony, Maria, plus Biggs and Wedge...echoing "We 
will be waiting for you..."
      Jessie tried to smile as she was comforted by the hope of seeing them 
again, but soon the entire ethereal setting came crashing down on her. Like a
billion knives sticking into her, she was painfully lurched from the land of 
dreams into solid reality. A reality in which she lay face up in a field, 
body and bones aching from a long journey. As she came to, Jessie opened her 
eyes to the crystal blue heavens overhead and marveled at their beauty, as 
she steadied herself and rose to her feet.
      "The...sky," she said in awe, "it's been so long..."

************
Story by Richard Paul Gregorio a.k.a. Storen
Disclaimer: 
All FF7 characters and the city of Midgar, except for Jessie's family, are
copyright Tetsuya Nomura & Squaresoft, Ltd. and used for fan-fiction purposes
only.