Final Fantasy VII Web Novels

For a while, Nanaki exchanged words with the poeple of the village. Then once again, he said his goodbyes and started his journey. He could have went a different way but he challenged himself to go down the same path again. He thought it was necessary to ascertain whether the reason for the fear he had felt was because of that very place. However, nothing happened.

 

Nanaki named the "something" that suddenly appeared and struck him with fear, "Gilligan". There was no meaning to the name but by giving it a name, he won't forget about it at the very least. Names were what reminded him of various matters. And so it was, Nanaki continued to raise this Gilligan as he travelled. Sometimes when he remembered about it he would think about finding out what it truely was but every time he did, he would be gripped with fear. Until he could deal with it calmly, he thought he will leave it for the time being.

 

Leaving Cosmo Canyon, Nanaki made a rough plan of his journey. First he will go west where Yuffie's hometown Wutai is and then he will travel around and see the long narrow islands to the north south. After that, he will go east. On a big island there was Rocket Town where Cid is, Barret's hometown Corel and, Tifa and Cloud's hometown Nibelheim. Then he will try going north. He's also thought about visiting the uninhabited borders as well as every nook and corner which was going to take a lot of time but, Nanaki wasn't worried about that at all. To Nanaki whose tribe has a lifespan of five hundred or even a thousand years that no human could ever have, what meaning could it have?

"Being rash is forbidden. I will be living on much longer than everyone else after all."

 

Wutai was Nanaki's destination . If it was possible, he planned to go see Yuffie. Yuffie would always come to him and treat him as if he was her pet but, Nanaki accepted it thinking it was Yuffie's way of being friendly with him.

"It's easy to understand what Yuffie's thinking," thought Nanaki. Surrounded by comrades who were older than her, Yuffie would always be challenging them. Outside of being in the same battle together, she would insist the difference in age didn't matter. Nanaki understood those feelings very well. She was probably referring to one's psychological age. However, he had very mixed feelings when it came to not understanding the fifteen or sixteen year old Yuffie's behaviour very well even though he has lived for close to fifty years but, because humans matured in a different way than he did, he just had to give up in understanding her better.

As Nanaki reached close to Wutai, he found Yuffie by coincidence. Mischievously he was planning to give her a fright and pretend she was being attacked but, looking at Yuffie from the plateau, it didn't seem like a good time for that. Her back was facing Wutai as she dragged a young boy around her age by his ankles. She's probably been doing that for a long time. A long trail was made behind the boy in the grassy field. He didn't know whether the boy was still alive but Yuffie was desparately speaking to him. Before long, Yuffie stopped. Just as Nanaki thought she was taking a break, Yuffie lifted up the boy and was somehow trying to get him on her back. However, Yuffie wasn't strong and it looked like she was having some difficulty.

"Guess it can't be helped," said Nanaki to no one in particular and headed towards Yuffie. The feeling of going to help someone who wasn't expecting any help didn't feel too bad. Nanaki quielty crept towards Yuffie who didn't notice him at all and asked:

"Need some help?"

 

Yuffie's friend was a young boy named "Yuri" who had suddenly caught an illness in Midgar. It was a horrifying illness that had a black substance running down his legs as if he was going to die. Apart from repairing the damages in Midgar's towns, the illness was a much bigger problem. Nanaki heard that it was infectious but Yuffie was in contact with Yuri as if she didn't care. He started to worry. Maybe she should have thought about that. However, while talking to her about it, he learned that Yuffie already knew that the illness was possibly infectious. What's with this carelessness? No wait, realised Nanaki. It's not carelessness. It's kindness. Yuffie—I don't know how close they are but— she couldn't just give up on her friend. His thoughts turned to hate towards Yuri. He just couldn't understand how Yuffie could be kind when she knew she could get infected. Somehow, it makes me angry. However, there was nothing Nanaki could do. It was Yuffie's friend after all. But as if to get revenge, when Yuffie talked about using materia to heal the illness, he told her bluntly there wasn't such a thing. Yuffie was angry. He was expecting that. However, he never expected the sadness he saw in her eyes. Nanaki deeply repented and regretted what he just said to her.

Soon, they reached Wutai and stayed there for several days. Yuffie began to look after the patients that were quarantined there. Nanaki would help whenever he was ordered to but usually he would just be observing the illness. He thought he should keep it within his memories too. It was part of life.

"Hey you. Is it true you can really speak?" asked one of the patients.

"That's odd. Why would Shinra create something like him? They must have made a mistake and gave him a heart. Don't you think it would have been better if they created something for humans?"