Chapter One The beginning
The first cries of a baby. "Professor Sir, it's a boy!" came a voice above the din of the baby,
"Good. see that it lives."
Came the cold response from the dark haired man at the back of the room.
"Where is it's room?"
the voice was persistant but at the same time reluctant, it did not seem right to just dump it somewhere, even if it was not the prettiest of babies. Even now it's eyes which were slowly opening but not focusing as is normal of a newborn were a haunting green, glowing too brightly for a normal child. The person looked down at it for he definitely thought of it as that not as a he, with distaste, the mother lay on the table still crying, sobbing asking for her child, just once.
Permission was not granted.
"The baby will stay in this room." This then was presumably going to be the baby's room for his entire life. The darkhaired man looked impassionatly at the mother of the baby
"I suppose I should let you name it. it was our deal was it not?"
She looked up at him her eyes filled with tears still from the pain of the birth, for the baby had not been small, and from frustration at not being allowed to hold him. When she had made this agreement she had not thought about how she would feel afterwards, she had not imagined she could be struck by such love for what was meant to be a science project.
She stared up at him still for a few moments more then with her last breath stumbling over the words as she spoke,
"He is Sephiroth."
Her head fell backwards against the table and her lips curved into her last smile as her eyes as green as her sons closed for the last time. The dark haired man smirked slightly and looked down at the baby,
"You shall be my greatest achievement Sephiroth."
It was in this form that he named the child before turning and walking out, his last command to the assistant,
"For gods sake make it stop crying!"
"Yes professor."
The assistant stared down at the baby with more than distaste now, there was also a feeling of confusion, he did not know how to take care of a child, let alone a newborn baby.
Then something happened that made him stop, Sephiroth focused his eyes on the man and smiled, the man tried unsuccessfully to hide the shudder that ran through him. It was as though Sephiroth knew that he had no idea what to do, knew and was telling him he had better obey orders.
Time moved fast for the baby who grew fast both physically and mentally. Two years passed and the now toddler had learnt how to run around the room causing more havoc than anyone could have believed. Several others had replaced the original assistant and Sephiroth did not really recognise anyone as being in authority, but with that strange perceptiveness of babies and children he somehow knew he was not supposed to do certain things, and consequently strove to make sure he did.
A permanent grin was on his face though and silver hair had already started growing just below his ears, as no one bothered to try and cut it, it continued to grow.
He sometimes looked a very peculiar sight though, running around the only room he had ever known in his life climbing up shelves and the like to help increase his body strength. Lack of sunshine however meant his skin never darkened as most children's will if only slightly, giving his skin the paleness of those associated with anorexia. Really it was not a healthy environment for a child to be in, but to the relief and amazement of the various care assistants, he not only lived but seemed to thrive.
He grew at an impossible rate his impulsive commands could be heard down the corridor, sometimes, even annoying the professor who did not like to be disturbed during morning research. A common morning would often run along the lines of,
"Give me it!"
"Sephiroth I can't"
"I said give it to me. now."
Thump, there was Sephiroth banging on the floor and the lab tables. Crash, there was a jar or something else breakable hitting the floor, and so on until the command that shut up even Sephiroth
"Keep it quiet or I will send Jenova to make it shut up!"
Thus would Sephiroth quieten, there was no one scarier than Jenova, the assistants preferred to keep it that way, making up stories of what she would do if he did not obey.
By the time he was five he was accustomed to not only giving orders but obeying them as well, even if the reason was fear of the unknown.
He had lived his entire five years in that room with only one other person for company at any one time, none of them had worried overly much about him as their only orders were to keep him alive. This he seemed to be able to do for himself. Indeed it was just as well he was able to do so for the amount of times one or the other of the assistants had gone out of the room, locking the door behind them to keep him in, on the pretext of something more important to do was uncountable.
However it was on his fifth birthday that he saw the voice as he had come to call it for the first time. The man walked into the room, bowed over a little but smiling, this was the first smile Sephiroth had seen and naturally he was fascinated
"Why are your lips that funny shape?"
He demanded in his usual tone of one who was used to getting what he wanted.
The man looked down at him with disgust, his hair, which was by now, down to his shoulders was matted, in desperate need of a wash and a comb. His manners were non existent and his hands were filthy along with dirty smudges around his mouth,
"I could have sworn I told them to clean you up before I came. well there is no time now you will have to do it yourself. Move now on the double."
Sephiroth stared at this man assuming him to be just one more idiot he could push around. His voice still high pitched rang imperiously through the room
"No I don't want to."
Then found himself being picked up and flung across the room suddenly by the man who had issued the command.
"You do NOT say no to me, nor do you speak with such vulgar words as don't you say do not. Understand? Secondly you will address me as Sir or Professor Hojo always never speak to me without one of those words added."
He looked at the boy who was standing up and dusting himself off, not bothering to cry, he had already learnt that would be ignored. Instead he ran up to Hojo and kicked him on the shin as hard as he could,
"I said I Don't want to."
He emphasised the don't as best he could. Hojo simply smiled again though instead of the usual outrage. Sephiroth suddenly found himself being lifted up again, only this time he was placed on a table and strapped down with cruel metal straps that dug into his tender skin, now he was scared
"Put me down this instant."
He demanded only a trace of the fear showing through in his voice, his eyes glimmering fiercely.
Hojo slapped Sephiroth once on the face leaving a red mark that took a few seconds to fade away.
"I told you to address me now do so and mind your manners."
Sephiroth stared up at him then his usual quick mind seeing the best way out was to at least make a show of obedience spoke in a quieter voice
"Please put me down Professor Hojo."
Hojo nodded slowly
"better, but I do not choose to put you down yet. I will have you washed and prepared first."
He called to yet another man, one Sephiroth had not seen before and told him to prepare the subject. Sephiroth stared at both men with pure hatred in his eyes, he had asked hadn't he? He had even said please.
The other man emotionlessly washed his face and hands, combing his hair not caring that the pulling on the endless knots was pain beyond belief, nor that he was pulling so much of it out.
Eventually Sephiroth was ready to Hojo's satisfaction. He took out a small vial and without warning inserted it into Sephiroth on the back of his hand. Sephiroth gave a yelp of pain which was soon silenced by another resounding slap across his face.
Sephiroth glared up at Hojo tasting blood on his lip, he didn't glare for long though. Now another needle was inserted this time into his arm, a cool liquid entered his blood stream making him feel relaxed for a few moments, then the two elements raged together making him feel as if all his skin was literally on fire. He could feel the tiny hairs on his arms and legs burning off even though they were not, he screamed loudly the pain more than he ever thought imaginable.
After what seemed like hours but was really only seconds the fire stopped to be replaced by a shivering sensation. Now he would have given anything to get that fire back, his blood was ice cold and he felt for sure that he could never get warm again, his body shook against the straps in an effort to keep warm and to free himself, to no avail though. His fingers felt as though they would not be able to move so soon, although he did not know it Sephiroth was being injected with various mako in an effort to enhance his already nearly perfect immune system.
Eventually the ice calmed down and Sephiroth could feel warmth slowly coming back to him. Then he was let down and released.
These injections slowly became a part of Sephiroth's routine, he learnt that he could call his tormentor Hojo when not in the lab, when being tested though it was always professor Hojo.
After about a year Hojo gave the testing over to someone else to do, he disliked doing boring routine things himself. It was perhaps this that allowed Sephiroth to forget that Hojo had been the bad guy, it is surprising what can be forgotten when you do not truly wish to remember.
Instead Hojo took over Sephiroth's training of weapons, surprising to the members of staff since Hojo had never lifted a weapon in his life, preferring to use cold intellect when destroying someone's life.
This was however Hojo's way of insuring the child got some sunlight and also learnt how to shout and run, the room he lived in being too small for this now. He had to keep up his physical strengths.
Apart from these periods Sephiroth did not see Hojo or, apart from when food was delivered anyone else until he was nearly six. Then he was sent to lessons. Another of Hojo's experiments this, see how well he interacted with others of the human race when he had never known them. Hojo smirked to himself, he did not expect it to go well, but that was all to the good, it meant that Sephiroth would never trust anyone but him and then when.
He shook his head that was for later, he must not allow himself to run ahead with his plans too much. As he had suspected Sephiroth never quite got on with his fellow students, not knowing how to react or relate to them frustrated him and he invariably ended up complaining bitterly to Hojo during their "training session".
Months passed still the children did not accept him, in fact they seemed to take delight in tormenting the "monster" as they liked to call him. He continued to grow in ways of the sword, with him practising and Hojo continually giving him advice on how to hold it, and then, when Hojo's research had been completed, he had left nothing out when learning how to teach someone to fight.
Eventually in this way of things, Sephiroth grew to his seventh birthday.
The first cries of a baby. "Professor Sir, it's a boy!" came a voice above the din of the baby,
"Good. see that it lives."
Came the cold response from the dark haired man at the back of the room.
"Where is it's room?"
the voice was persistant but at the same time reluctant, it did not seem right to just dump it somewhere, even if it was not the prettiest of babies. Even now it's eyes which were slowly opening but not focusing as is normal of a newborn were a haunting green, glowing too brightly for a normal child. The person looked down at it for he definitely thought of it as that not as a he, with distaste, the mother lay on the table still crying, sobbing asking for her child, just once.
Permission was not granted.
"The baby will stay in this room." This then was presumably going to be the baby's room for his entire life. The darkhaired man looked impassionatly at the mother of the baby
"I suppose I should let you name it. it was our deal was it not?"
She looked up at him her eyes filled with tears still from the pain of the birth, for the baby had not been small, and from frustration at not being allowed to hold him. When she had made this agreement she had not thought about how she would feel afterwards, she had not imagined she could be struck by such love for what was meant to be a science project.
She stared up at him still for a few moments more then with her last breath stumbling over the words as she spoke,
"He is Sephiroth."
Her head fell backwards against the table and her lips curved into her last smile as her eyes as green as her sons closed for the last time. The dark haired man smirked slightly and looked down at the baby,
"You shall be my greatest achievement Sephiroth."
It was in this form that he named the child before turning and walking out, his last command to the assistant,
"For gods sake make it stop crying!"
"Yes professor."
The assistant stared down at the baby with more than distaste now, there was also a feeling of confusion, he did not know how to take care of a child, let alone a newborn baby.
Then something happened that made him stop, Sephiroth focused his eyes on the man and smiled, the man tried unsuccessfully to hide the shudder that ran through him. It was as though Sephiroth knew that he had no idea what to do, knew and was telling him he had better obey orders.
Time moved fast for the baby who grew fast both physically and mentally. Two years passed and the now toddler had learnt how to run around the room causing more havoc than anyone could have believed. Several others had replaced the original assistant and Sephiroth did not really recognise anyone as being in authority, but with that strange perceptiveness of babies and children he somehow knew he was not supposed to do certain things, and consequently strove to make sure he did.
A permanent grin was on his face though and silver hair had already started growing just below his ears, as no one bothered to try and cut it, it continued to grow.
He sometimes looked a very peculiar sight though, running around the only room he had ever known in his life climbing up shelves and the like to help increase his body strength. Lack of sunshine however meant his skin never darkened as most children's will if only slightly, giving his skin the paleness of those associated with anorexia. Really it was not a healthy environment for a child to be in, but to the relief and amazement of the various care assistants, he not only lived but seemed to thrive.
He grew at an impossible rate his impulsive commands could be heard down the corridor, sometimes, even annoying the professor who did not like to be disturbed during morning research. A common morning would often run along the lines of,
"Give me it!"
"Sephiroth I can't"
"I said give it to me. now."
Thump, there was Sephiroth banging on the floor and the lab tables. Crash, there was a jar or something else breakable hitting the floor, and so on until the command that shut up even Sephiroth
"Keep it quiet or I will send Jenova to make it shut up!"
Thus would Sephiroth quieten, there was no one scarier than Jenova, the assistants preferred to keep it that way, making up stories of what she would do if he did not obey.
By the time he was five he was accustomed to not only giving orders but obeying them as well, even if the reason was fear of the unknown.
He had lived his entire five years in that room with only one other person for company at any one time, none of them had worried overly much about him as their only orders were to keep him alive. This he seemed to be able to do for himself. Indeed it was just as well he was able to do so for the amount of times one or the other of the assistants had gone out of the room, locking the door behind them to keep him in, on the pretext of something more important to do was uncountable.
However it was on his fifth birthday that he saw the voice as he had come to call it for the first time. The man walked into the room, bowed over a little but smiling, this was the first smile Sephiroth had seen and naturally he was fascinated
"Why are your lips that funny shape?"
He demanded in his usual tone of one who was used to getting what he wanted.
The man looked down at him with disgust, his hair, which was by now, down to his shoulders was matted, in desperate need of a wash and a comb. His manners were non existent and his hands were filthy along with dirty smudges around his mouth,
"I could have sworn I told them to clean you up before I came. well there is no time now you will have to do it yourself. Move now on the double."
Sephiroth stared at this man assuming him to be just one more idiot he could push around. His voice still high pitched rang imperiously through the room
"No I don't want to."
Then found himself being picked up and flung across the room suddenly by the man who had issued the command.
"You do NOT say no to me, nor do you speak with such vulgar words as don't you say do not. Understand? Secondly you will address me as Sir or Professor Hojo always never speak to me without one of those words added."
He looked at the boy who was standing up and dusting himself off, not bothering to cry, he had already learnt that would be ignored. Instead he ran up to Hojo and kicked him on the shin as hard as he could,
"I said I Don't want to."
He emphasised the don't as best he could. Hojo simply smiled again though instead of the usual outrage. Sephiroth suddenly found himself being lifted up again, only this time he was placed on a table and strapped down with cruel metal straps that dug into his tender skin, now he was scared
"Put me down this instant."
He demanded only a trace of the fear showing through in his voice, his eyes glimmering fiercely.
Hojo slapped Sephiroth once on the face leaving a red mark that took a few seconds to fade away.
"I told you to address me now do so and mind your manners."
Sephiroth stared up at him then his usual quick mind seeing the best way out was to at least make a show of obedience spoke in a quieter voice
"Please put me down Professor Hojo."
Hojo nodded slowly
"better, but I do not choose to put you down yet. I will have you washed and prepared first."
He called to yet another man, one Sephiroth had not seen before and told him to prepare the subject. Sephiroth stared at both men with pure hatred in his eyes, he had asked hadn't he? He had even said please.
The other man emotionlessly washed his face and hands, combing his hair not caring that the pulling on the endless knots was pain beyond belief, nor that he was pulling so much of it out.
Eventually Sephiroth was ready to Hojo's satisfaction. He took out a small vial and without warning inserted it into Sephiroth on the back of his hand. Sephiroth gave a yelp of pain which was soon silenced by another resounding slap across his face.
Sephiroth glared up at Hojo tasting blood on his lip, he didn't glare for long though. Now another needle was inserted this time into his arm, a cool liquid entered his blood stream making him feel relaxed for a few moments, then the two elements raged together making him feel as if all his skin was literally on fire. He could feel the tiny hairs on his arms and legs burning off even though they were not, he screamed loudly the pain more than he ever thought imaginable.
After what seemed like hours but was really only seconds the fire stopped to be replaced by a shivering sensation. Now he would have given anything to get that fire back, his blood was ice cold and he felt for sure that he could never get warm again, his body shook against the straps in an effort to keep warm and to free himself, to no avail though. His fingers felt as though they would not be able to move so soon, although he did not know it Sephiroth was being injected with various mako in an effort to enhance his already nearly perfect immune system.
Eventually the ice calmed down and Sephiroth could feel warmth slowly coming back to him. Then he was let down and released.
These injections slowly became a part of Sephiroth's routine, he learnt that he could call his tormentor Hojo when not in the lab, when being tested though it was always professor Hojo.
After about a year Hojo gave the testing over to someone else to do, he disliked doing boring routine things himself. It was perhaps this that allowed Sephiroth to forget that Hojo had been the bad guy, it is surprising what can be forgotten when you do not truly wish to remember.
Instead Hojo took over Sephiroth's training of weapons, surprising to the members of staff since Hojo had never lifted a weapon in his life, preferring to use cold intellect when destroying someone's life.
This was however Hojo's way of insuring the child got some sunlight and also learnt how to shout and run, the room he lived in being too small for this now. He had to keep up his physical strengths.
Apart from these periods Sephiroth did not see Hojo or, apart from when food was delivered anyone else until he was nearly six. Then he was sent to lessons. Another of Hojo's experiments this, see how well he interacted with others of the human race when he had never known them. Hojo smirked to himself, he did not expect it to go well, but that was all to the good, it meant that Sephiroth would never trust anyone but him and then when.
He shook his head that was for later, he must not allow himself to run ahead with his plans too much. As he had suspected Sephiroth never quite got on with his fellow students, not knowing how to react or relate to them frustrated him and he invariably ended up complaining bitterly to Hojo during their "training session".
Months passed still the children did not accept him, in fact they seemed to take delight in tormenting the "monster" as they liked to call him. He continued to grow in ways of the sword, with him practising and Hojo continually giving him advice on how to hold it, and then, when Hojo's research had been completed, he had left nothing out when learning how to teach someone to fight.
Eventually in this way of things, Sephiroth grew to his seventh birthday.