Sephiroth grew far away from ShinRa that childhood saved by Vincent's bullet.
If the Turks saw any discrepancy between Valentine's report and the actual video, they found none.
An escaped specimen. The professor carelessly leaving his pistol on the table. One bullet and Hojo lie dead, his face twisted with fury – whether at such a death just before his greatest project come to fruition or simply the fact that he was to die at the hand of someone who would never be caught was a mystery none cared to solve.
Gast came two days after Hojo's death. No condolences were exchanged, theirs were a professional relationship and tears was something neither would grant the other. Instead he eyed the newly widowed Lucrecia, her belly swollen and her eyes red as she was the only person who would weep for someone like Hojo.
"I want him out. I will stay here as you wanted but I want that man out of my sight!" she all but screamed in his face.
The Turk gave no indication what his crimes were. His face was as hard as a Turk ought to be but even Gast noticed how desperate his eyes were.
Valentine was gone before the day ended. Gast liked to pretend he didn't hear the man's pleas, so heartbreaking and strange for one such as he.
Gast offered once.
"I have no desire to marry – my focus now is on my son," was her reply and they resumed work.
Nibeilheim was a quiet village.
Not even Lucrecia's screams could break the serenity of such an isolated place.
The boy was small for his age, despite the fact that his mother had been ten months pregnant but as soon as he was placed in Lucrecia's arms, she knew he was strong (and special).
Gast was not one for paternal pride but even he felt in awe of the Cetran child lying sleeping against Lucrecia's chest.
"Sephiroth. He wanted it…" and so that boy was named.
Sephiroth took all of his mother's beauty but Gast note how he had Hojo's eyes.
ShinRa started to call. Reports were falsified and Lucrecia found herself a pensioner with the company.
"You should return, a woman of your caliber-"
"I will, when the time is right. You should go back Professor, I know that there are rumours of a Cetran sighting. I would never force you to stay."
There were unspoken promises but Gast eventually left.
Years later, fate brought both Gast and Ifalna together. Though it was not Hojo who wielded the weapon but he still died at the end of a pistol. His wife's and daughter's screams would be the last thing he heard.
Sephiroth knew he was indeed very, very special. His mother told him so and since his mother was an amazing person it had to be true.
But his mother often asked him to be friends with other children.
Though he love her very much, this was one thing that he simply loathed to do.
Other children were noisy and foolish and could not understand when Sephiroth spoke of science or of the art of combat. Instead of awe and worship as befitting one such as him, he was met with taunts and jeers.
One day a pock-ridden fool dared to push him. Sephiroth broke his arm.
His beloved mother had to beg for forgiveness. His mother! She even tried to make him apologise as well, but Sephiroth hid away, angered that her mother would reduce herself so. He returned of course, once mother had made it known it wasn't his fault.
She no longer asked him to make friends and though no visitors would visit them now, Sephiroth found the new situation quite pleasing.
It was just them now, mother and he, she'd learn to be happy.
(If his mother would weep more often now, he did not thought much of it.)
It was death that brought them together.
He was that strange boy. Beautiful, some would whisper but very strange and incredibly unfriendly. Mrs. Crescent, the boy's mother kept to herself and rarely ventured out. Nobody minded though, a ShinRa employee is suspect, especially one who stayed in that spooky mansion.
So, when Mrs. Crescent appeared to offer condolences for Mrs. Lockhart's death, the room was a buzzed. It is the depth of his grief, that Mayor Lockhart simply accepted it and allowed her to stay. Mrs. Crescent remained to herself, however and simply watched the grieving crowd, her eyes unfocused. Her son wasn't there.
So focused the people were to either the grieving widow and the eccentric Mrs. Crescent that nobody noticed a group of children making their way towards Mount Nibel.
Nobody except him that is.
Sephiroth didn't even think twice was the bridge rotted away. In a graceful move, he leapt and grabbed both children in his arms before jumping back to the top of the valley softly like a seasoned Nibel Hound.
It was only when the children stopped crying and thanked him that he understood why he did what he did.
He looked at Cloud and Tifa and saw potential.
When he returned, they were met with anger and worry. Mayor Lockhart had the audacity to blame him until Tifa corrected him that it was her that placed all of their lives in danger and that it was Sephiroth who saved them.
She didn't elaborate how he did but that he did and so he was a hero.
(Sephiroth realized, as congratulations poured from, he liked being called a hero.)
"But Teef, he's a freak and he broke my arm!"
"He saved my life and you deserved that broken arm. You fought him three to one! Ganging up a person like that is…is…mean!"
"I'm not mean! He was just so bossy!"
"Don't lie to me. Cloud told me and Sephiroth confirmed the other day. That was not very nice of you of Tom. I don't want to be friends with people who bully others!"
Sephiroth watched her march away from the pock-ridden brat and his snot-nosed posse and felt something stir inside him; a feeling familiar yet foreign at the same time.
It was there, when Pock Brat huffed and went up to Cloud's little hiding place. The little blond put up a fight – but like so many fights before, he didn't even manage to land a single punch before he found himself lying face first onto the ground.
The brats were angry that Cloud 'snitched' and began pummeling him.
"Shut up – he's better than you! He's a – (PUNCH) – HERO!" Cloud spat, trying futilely to escape their grasp.
How could he walk away from that?
Sephiroth took care that he left no physical bruises on them, even as he tossed their comatose bodies into the box they found behind one of the houses.
Even though, Cloud's eyes were swollen shut, Sephiroth didn't miss the look of pure adoration on his face.
(Neither did he miss the shy, crush-like gaze he gave to Tifa when the girl came over to see them both)
In Cloud, he saw an outsider, just like him. The difference was Cloud was an incredibly shallow boy; holding others in contempt and pitifully lacked self-awareness.
Tifa, on the other hand, was what he imagined a popular child would be; beloved and surrounded by friends; a social butterfly who was just as compassionate and as kind.
Two different personalities, yet only they were filled with enough courage to cross the dangerous Mountains without once wanting to go back.
For that he suffered their presence.
Her mother quite happy with his companions.
He let her believe that they were his 'friends'.
(He let himself believe they were 'worshippers')
It was nice having people over during his birthdays; having Cloud asking him (and listening!) when he spoke of the art of combat (even better when Tifa joined them and proved quite adept at fighting herself). Of both of them having explorations around the grounds (and avoiding getting caught by their parents).
For the first time, since he was born, he felt liked and wanted and Nibelheim felt less like a dull town but a pocket of mystery waiting for the three of them to explore.
He didn't notice his mother's lack of smiles. The mysterious phone calls and the letters. Even if he did could he have stopped it?
No, he decided. His destiny was to become God and for that he must first become a Hero and to become a Hero, he had to go to ShinRa.
TBC
AN: This came out of nowhere. It started as a minor drabble (while trying to break a plot-block for Reunion but it became a two-shot that grew (the second part is also another plot-block for me, damn it). Also, as for age Sephiroth, I'm fudging his timeline and making him 12 years old here, while keeping Cloud and Tifa the age they were in canon (cause my brain can't compute with contradicting data from the FF Wikia and now I'm just aching cause MATHS)
Also, this is not BETA-ed and may undergo revision in the future.