sour_idealist | An ignominious beginning

In a rather weak beginning to my posting career, I'm going to make my first post a background for this AMV. Again, this isn't a direct parallel to fanfiction, so don't judge it as you would that. (And, sadly, my second post is going to be for the same purpose... ah, well. It won't be a terribly common event, I promise.
Zena and Ryo are the Moogle Girl and her brother respectively, because curse it they deserve names.

Song: Are We The Waiting
Artist: Green Day
Album: American Idiot

Story/Character Roles:

Cloud:

The young, idealistic rebel, uncertain what to do or what he's getting into. All he wants is justice and freedom, but that's a great deal to ask. He is desperate for some kind of guide, and without one he'll throw
himself into any fight at all.

Sephiroth:

The leader of the rebel faction and the man who recruited Cloud; a borderline fanatic desperate for justice after the death of his wife and children. His greatest shame is the relief he feels when, on the edge of
death, he collapses into his protégée’s arms.

Tifa:

A bare acquaintance of Cloud who takes pity on him one night after he drowns his doubts in drink. She is a single mother, and she has stayed out of the rebellion for the sake of her children, but she is wondering whether
perhaps she can protect them best by fighting.

Denzel:

Tifa's son, and a potential recruit for the experiments that are so huge a part of why the government is hated. She fears for him daily, fears that he will be taken away, twisted and warped until he doesn’t even
recognize her.

Marlene:

Tifa's daughter, an idealistic and fiery little girl. She doesn't really understand, but when her Momma explains why things are going to be different now, she's the last one to whine about the necessary sacrifices.

Zena and Ryo:

The children Denzel and Marlene always saved a bit of lunch for, to give to them on the way home from school with the rest of the pack of children. That was often the most food they got in a day, so after Tifa takes
other two away with her, it's even harder for them.

Yuna:

A sheltered, flighty pop-star who, after a wrong turn on tour, sees the police beating Zena and Ryo half to death for begging. Horrified, she fights her management for the right to a charity concert. The song she writes for the children resounds a little too well for the government to approve.

Lenne:

Yuna's stronger, but still sheltered, older sister and band-mate. Unsatisfied with merely singing, she discusses it with her fiancé and chooses to publicly protest as the tanks roll out. Her death accomplishes
nothing now, but if the people do win it may lead to the sparing of the bourgeois.

Aerith:

An old friend from their childhood days whose fate Lenne didn't know until she met her in the Lifestream. She grew into a gifted herbalist who went with the army as a medic, and died in a raid on the camp when she wouldn't abandon a wounded soldier.

Zack:

The soldier who romanced Aerith as he ducked around the camp and met her over minor injuries, and the one she died trying to save; he was an innocent boy whose idealized notion of war was "a path to heroism" until the brutal savagery of the Battle at Nibel.

Rinoa:

A little sister to Zack who endeared herself so thoroughly to his fellows at the military academy that she became a permanent fixture even after he graduated, and was a favorite for boosting morale. But she was a
civilian, and always less valuable than a well-trained soldier, so when
students ravaged her and left her to die, they got away with it.

Squall:

An exemplary academy graduate, some years later, who was unique among the many who fell for Rinoa in that she fell for him too. She was the only person who made him feel like more than a machine. Her death almost
destroyed him; the manner was all the cause he needed for desertion.

Stella:

Squall's commanding officer, a young but already respected general from a noble family - but one who is tired of watching her men, mostly good men, be slaughtered in tactically useless battles purely for the sake of some ruler's pride. She can accept the costs of war, but not the costs of small-minded stupidity.

Vanille:

Stella's incongruous best friend, the rich, noble daughter of the man who runs the kingdom's harshest prison. Her shame at this is matched only by her shame at the gentleness of the guards who foil her attempts to create a diversion by threatening suicide. She rages at her father, but he is impassive. (The father isn't shown.)

Aqua:

A young girl born in that prison - best not to ask how - and raised to become part of an experimental team of magic knights. She believes in the government with everything she has until her team loses her first battle
and the dropship abandons them on the ground when it could have picked up them
all without the slightest risk. Easy disposal of failures.

Genesis:

The rich, educated and conflicted son of the nobleman in charge of the elite prototypes. The government's experiments saved his life when he was a child, although they also provided him with that eternally painful wing, but the ruling officials also turned a blind eye to the sickening behavior of his eminent father towards the young boys of the court. (Including Genesis himself).

Vincent:

A former activist and the only man who ever tried to bring the law to bear on Rhapsodos the Elder. He’s been imprisoned in the catacombs below the prison for eighteen years now, and has all but given up hope of any kind of trial.

Hope:

The fourteen-year-old son of the woman who loved Vincent, and probably still does. He doesn't know about this, though, and doesn't understand at all when his beloved big sister starts throwing everything they have away, and his father doesn't lift a finger to stop her.

Lightning:

She was three years old when she lost her real father, and her memories of him are vague enough that she has no clue whether to trust them. She doesn't find any definite answers, but the records of Vincent that she does find are more than enough to persuade her to walk away.

And Noctis? The lying Jesus of Suburbia?

He is the prince who is meant to protect his people, but he feels himself to be almost as powerless as they are, trapped in layers of tradition and bureaucracy that he cannot go against.

The Crowds:

All of them have a story like this. Or a story of insufficient food, rampant disease left untreated, or thousands upon thousands of other atrocities created by the government. The grievances of the individual don't matter. What matters is the sum of the whole: A storm of rage ready to destroy everything they live with, because they have had enough.

Whatever happens now, one era at least is over.