She'd been wearing her mother's frumpy hand-me-downs since age twelve, when she'd long outgrown the childrens' section and never even got a chance at the cool kids' clothes in the teen section. She'd been pushed around by the boys, utterly banished by the girls, until at age 16 she stood at the height of an adult and the width (they sneered) of a dump truck, as alone and bewildered as a wild Diablo among ducks.

So she started lifting weights, and taking kickboxing, and discovered - if not a talent, precisely, at least an interest; two years later she was scouted, and moved to Midgar. SOLDIER training was grueling, but when she finally made Third Class and General Sephiroth himself said the way she cleaved her sword through that dragon's neck was as graceful as a swan's wing, SOLDIER Marie-Rose Cygne counted it all worth it.