章 15: Even if the Morrow is Barren of Promises!
[ The Price of Freedom]
In one month's time, Sam had completely fallen to the woes of the heart. Whether or not he had known it himself, was a mystery. But the fog that had clouded his mind for so long, had vanished. As if it had been lifted off of his being by a great and mighty force.
Every day was somewhat similar, waking up, meeting that young woman by the theatre. Walking, talking, playing, living.
It was a breath of fresh air.
No fighting.
No death.
No orders.
No despair.
Just being able to live.
Sam appreciated everything Jessie had done for him. It took some slight convincing. But eventually she was able to get him to join her early enough to get a nice long look at their upcoming production.
And although, broaching the subject was still a little sore, eventually, Sam came to find the splendor of the play. Especially, when he got the chance to see how much passion and dedication Jessie put into her performance.
Every word she uttered, every breath she took, every move she made was filled with a lifetime of hard work and dedication to the craft of acting. And even though he wasn't an actor himself, Sam could feel each and every painstaking moment coming together.
Entranced, he watched as the entire cast worked hard to prepare themselves. A smile sprawled across his face.
And now finally, at the months end. It was time for all that hard work to finally be put to use.
- Opening Night at the Gold Saucer.
" Oh my god. I'm so excited!" Jessie exclaimed. She clapped her hands and jumped up and down shouting in excitement as people began to gather in the theater.
Sam put on a great big smile for Jessie, knowing how much this meant. Still, seeing her this excited about something was unnerving. Nervousness plagued him, as the feeling of butterflies floating around in the pit of his stomach grew more and more.
The reason?
Jessie's parents were going to be in attendance and that meant he'd have to meet them.
Fighting an army of trained killers, that was easy. But meeting the parents of a girl he'd grown close too... Now that seemed like a much harder mission, at least to him it did.
" Sam, aren't you excited to meet my parents?" Jessie asked.
Sam's mind was drawn back to the moment.
" Yeah." He spoke softly. " Though, I gotta admit. I'm kinda nervous. Don't think I've ever met a girl's father before." He muttered nervously.
Jessie gave a comforting pat on the shoulder. " It'll be okay. My father's real nice." She said. " It's my mother you should worry about."
Sam's shoulders went visibly slack, and his entire form hunched over. " Oh, that doesn't make me feel any better." He said.
Jessie crinkled her nose and laughed as Sam began to groan as the thought of meeting and failing to please her parents became more rampant in his head.
" Don't worry. You'll be just fine. I'm sure they're going to love you. Now, go on and get to your seat. I have to get ready." Jessie told the man.
Sam let out a sigh of relief and stood up, giving Jessie a tight and comforting hug, taking just a moment to take in the smell of her vanilla scented.
Reno glanced down at the two from his spot behind the curtains, keeping a careful eye on the both of them as he was ordered to. Sam's entire persona was completely different than anything he'd ever seen from him before. The tall, confident, loudmouth jack ass he had come to know was completely gone. As was the sad and mopping slouch with no form or technique.
" Damn... I can't believe what I'm seeing here. Never thought I'd see the day that asshole actually... Seemed normal." Reno muttered quietly. " Those Soldier boys have always been freaky. But this... This feels like a whole new level of weird. At least to me."
Reno watched as Sam and Jessie parted ways with a smile and a wave, and quickly followed the man to the seats in the crowd beyond the stage.
There they sat close but not so close that Reno could be seen, as that had become one of the many rules Sam had put in place for the man, which Reno found quite annoying since he was the one who was supposed to technically be in charge.
But Reno, decided it was fine. Especially since the last time, Reno showed up at one of these dates, Sam had gotten a little angry with him afterwards. And even forced Reno to sleep outside in the halls for the night.
" Pain in my ass, Soldier boy."
" I heard that." Sam turned around and flipped Reno off. " What'd you even come here for? I didn't think you liked anything that was sophisticated."
" You know damn well, why. And what the hell's that supposed to mean, huh? You making fun of me or something?"
Sam simply smiled in response. His cockiness showing through, just a little bit and really ticking Reno off.
" Hey, look. I'm supposed to be meeting her, parents tonight. So do me a favor, and try to tone down on the loser secret stalker bit just a little bit for me, alright?" Sam asked the man.
" Oh, fuck you." Reno cursed. " I'll do whatever I goddamn want. Ya little shit." Reno muttered.
" Thanks, Reno. Knew I could count on you."
" Why don't you go Fu-" Reno was getting ready to let loose another round of cursing, when the lights suddenly went dim.
Seeing this, Sam quickly silenced Reno with a finger and directed his attention back to the stage to witness the play in front of him. He couldn't wait to see Jessie perform after practicing for so long. He knew how much this all meant and was more than happy to witness the young woman finally achieving her dream.
Reno rolled his eyes, visibly distraught by how the Soldier in front of him was acting. Like he was some lovesick puppy dog or something.
Now, with all eyes being directed to the stage a bright spotlight shined down directly in the center of the stage.
The play was starting.
Suddenly the entirety of the drama's actors appeared on stage. Dancing together in synch, their movement matching and flowing along with the words being sung by a seemingly incorporeal voice.
" When the end of days is come, The Goddess alights from heavens above. Pon those her blessing she doth bestow true happiness. But they shall know."
Sam watched in amazement as Jessie was lowered from the ceiling into the crowd of performers. Beautiful white dress flowing as beautiful white angel wings beat carefully on her back.
" White wings." Sam muttered. A feeling of nostalgia briefly washing over him. " Angeal."
" To claim her boon, a valiant three sally forth, heroes they would be."
The three male actors portraying the heroes in the play all drew their swords, and the one in blue suddenly stabbed the one in red, killing him.
" One's life cut short, another slain. Naught but a prisoner doth remain."
Sam couldn't help but notice how similar the play reenacted the history between Genesis, Sephiroth, and Angeal. And... even himself.
Of course, this was Loveless. Sam knew the play well. Genesis ensured to recite acts from the play as often as he could. After all, it was his favorite.
Though, Sam did find himself suddenly being displeased, as he watched one of the male actors getting touchy with Jessie. Seeing her suddenly hold his head close to her chest, hugging him. It's a part of the act he kept telling himself. And though he knew it was nothing but professionals trying to do their best for the performance, a part of him just couldn't help but feeling a little jealous and bitter about other men, touching Jessie.
" Bereft of his wings, he falls from grace. Yet venerated is he in her embrace!"
However, that feeling of jealousy was quickly stifled upon seeing Jessie, in her majestic beauty, raised up high into the bright skylight.
Amazing grace. Beautiful. Majestic. Brilliant all. Sam was found at a loss for words. Sam found himself at a complete loss for words.
Music, art, love and passion!
It was a remarkable sight to behold indeed!
" Now, though the cruel world hath forsaken us all. Will our hero ne'ertheless stand tall?"
As Sam watched, unable to take his eyes off of the performance, Reno, who sat a few sats back, was suddenly pulled from the experience, by a phone call.
" What the hell?" He muttered. He checked his phone and saw it was an emergency call from Tseng. " God damnit!" He cursed quietly. He withdrew from the theater and quietly went to handle his business, leaving Sam unattended for the time being.
Sam hadn't even noticed the man leaving. He continued keeping his eyes locked closely on Jessie, and as the final act came to an end, he, along with the rest of the crowd erupted to life. Cheering and clapping as loud as they could, the attendants of the Gold Saucer delivered a proper and well-earned round of applause to the actors who all performed to the absolute best of their ability.
Sam watched as Jessie and her co-actors all gathered together at the center of the stage and bowed their heads in appreciation, for they were happy to have performed.
Though she tried to hide it, Jessie was on the verge of tears. Her happiness at finally being able to perform on one of the grandest stages in the world was a dream came true. And to have her family in the audience to see her, made it all the more special.
Afte the hall cleared out, Sam quickly made his way to the backstage area, where he was met by an elated and very emotional, Jessie Rasberry.
The brown-haired girl came sprinting in her white dress and hills and jumped right into Sam's arms with a loud cry of happiness.
" Oh my god! Oh my god! Sam, did you see me?! Did you see?!" Jessie shouted.
" Yeah, I saw. That was amazing, Jessie!" Sam exclaimed. He hugged Jessie tightly and instinctively planted a small kiss on the top of her head.
" I couldn't believe it. I was so nervous! I was... Whoa! Haha! I can't believe it!" Jessie muttered. " I... Come on. We have to go find my family. I hope they liked the show."
" Are you kidding? Jessie, you were amazing. Everyone LOVED the show. You were really amazing." Sam told the woman. He stared into her soft brown eyes with great pride. " Come on. Let's go find your people."
Jessie squealed with excitement and started tugging on Sam's arm, pulling him out towards the foyer to look for her parents.
Once again he was being pulled along. But considering this was Jessie's moment. He didn't mind it. In fact, he wanted to make sure she enjoyed every moment of it. And if that meant being pulled along, that's what he planned on doing.
Or at least.... That was his plan.
However, before the two could leave the theater, Reno came sprinting over to Sam and Jessie, stopping the both of them from going any further.
" Reno what the hell are you-"
" Look, I'm sorry to break up this cute little moment, lover boy. But times up. We need to go." Reno told the man.
Sam looked at Jessie, then at Reno like he was crazy. " I'm sorry. What are you-"
" Look man, now's not the time. We got business. Something major just happened and we're needed back at base, like yesterday."
" Reno... I don't know what happened. Frankly, I don't care. This is more important than anything Shinra has going on right now, it can-"
" It's Genesis." Reno stated bluntly. Reno threw all caution and secrecy to the wind, knowing that using the man's name would be the quickest way to get Sam's attention.
And of course, it worked.
Sam immediately froze upon hearing the name come from Reno's mouth. His eyes went wide, and his mouth hung open in shock.
" We've gotten reports of more Genesis copies attacking. Shinra is calling us, and that Fair guy back to HQ immediately." Reno explained. " It's time to go."
Sam turned to Jessie with a look of confusion on his face. He wanted to stay with her, to support her as he'd promised he would. After all this was a big night for the both of them.
But from what she had learned, Jessie knew that whatever was going on, was really important. Not just to Sam, but potentially to all of Shinra, and that included her family as well.
So, even though there was a deep and sharp pain stabbing at her heart, Jessie knew it was time to let Sam go, at least for the time being.
" Go." She said.
" Jessie, I-"
Jessie raised a hand to Sam's face and smiled as softly as she could manage. " Sam, it's alright. I understand this is important to you. I get it. Now go, okay? I promise you I'm gonna be fine. You just take care of yourself and give me a call as soon as you possibly can alright?"
Sam grabbed Jessie's hand and placed a gentle kiss on the back of it, staring deeply into her eyes. The guilt ate him to no bounds.
" I promise you, as soon as I figure things out, I'll come see you. I give you, my word. Even if the Morrow is Barren of Promises, nothing shall forestall my return."
" I believe you."
Sam slowly let Jessie's hand go, his smile slowly turning into a frown of deep sadness and pain, before turning with Reno at his side and running into the crowd of people beyond the halls.
Reno and Exodus quickly gathered their gear and boarded a helicopter to return to Midgar. It would seem that things with Genesis weren't as settled as they had initially believed.
" Damnit, Genesis.... Why now? What are you planning?"
Sam stared out the dark window of the Heli, a feeling of dread growing over him as the darkness outside continued to grow. Something bad was going to happen. And from the look of things, it was going to happen sooner than he'd like.
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