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Hello there & thank for for being interested in my story :) I feel I should mention this now, however; This fic is 6 years old and as such doesn't reflect my current writing skills. I myself have evolved as well therefore this fic is under re-construction. As such, the chapters I have not yet got around to revising may not gel properly with previous chapters. I apologise for this. Any chapter that is currently being edited will be denoted as such in the drop down menu.

Again I thank you for reading & I hope you enjoy the fic, M x

Chapter 1

The lush continent of Wutai was a beautiful place, he thought to himself. The past decade has seen it ruined, however, scarred by a petty war. If the people of this land would just accept that this way was better for them there would be no need for blood shed, no need for families to be torn apart, for their land to be razed and defiled.

But the Wutai were always stubborn, Sephiroth mused. He remembered when he first started to fight here, how the people had risen up against the foreigners that came with an offer of prosperity and progress. They weren't interested. Foolish, he thought. Despite there being a certain kind of beauty to their traditional ways, the Wutai were primitive in comparison to Shinra. They had no ambition, no drive. They were content to stagnate while the world progressed around them. Sephiroth couldn't really understand it.

The tall man sighed and folded his arms across his chest, taking in the mist filled landscape through the window he was currently standing in front of.

He was performing a routine inspection of the long established Shinra base on the Wutaian continent along with his colleague and friend Angeal Hewley,

"Just got word from Genesis; He's having a terrific time in Junon and wishes we were here…or there, I suppose" A voice cut through his thoughts.

Sephiroth snorted through his nose softly as his lips curled up at the corner, "Here or there makes no difference" He replied, shifting his focus to the reflection of Angeal in the window next to him, "I'm sure the work is equally stimulating"

"Bored, Sephiroth?" Angeal said, his tone mildly teasing but he was careful not to push his luck. Sephiroth had been awake for several days now though he knew this wasn't entirely his choice.

Sephiroth closed his eyes and grunted a soft reply,

"Why don't you try and get some sleep? The Turks aren't due for at least six hours and there's nothing left to inspect now, we've completed all our reports"

Sephiroth drew in a long breath through his nose, held it a moment as he contemplated his friends suggestion, and then exhaled softly, "Alright, if it will stop your nagging" He said finally, though the soft curl of his lips told Angeal he was still being light hearted.

Angeal watched as Sephiroth moved away towards the door and passed beyond it and out of sight. He worried about his friend, though he couldn't do much about about it. Despite being younger than himself, Sephiroth commanded a maturity far beyond his years. It made it very hard to express concern for his welfare without sounding like an annoying older brother.

Taking up Sephiroth's former position at the window Angeal thought back to when Sephiroth's problems started. To most, though, he had no problems. Sephiroth's demeanour never changed to outside eyes. He was perfectly composed at all times and kept unnecessary distractions to a minimum. To his friends Angeal and Genesis, however, it was different. Angeal had noticed some time ago that Sephiroth had started to look almost tired, worn down, though again this change was so subtle only a close friend would even notice. He wasn't sleeping as well as he used too. Minute hesitations when he spoke or answered questions betrayed a mind that was beginning to fray. Angeal shook his head; Maybe he was just pushing himself and all this would blow over. There was certainly no point in worrying about it. Sephiroth would find a way to cope. He always did.

Now in his room, Sephiroth pushed the heels of his hands into his eyes and willed his mind to stop racing. He was thinking about a million things at once, or that's how it seemed. Lately it just wouldn't stop. He remembered feeling like this when he was younger. Before he was experienced. But only before a mission. Only then would his mind buzz. Once things calmed down he did as well. But at the moment, his surroundings couldn't get any calmer. This was a routine inspection. Nothing to do except make sure everything was to the companies standards and then fill in dull paper work to confirm it. Perhaps he was just very, very bored. Things had been quiet on the Shinra - Wutai front for several months now and any skirmishes that did occur were swiftly dealt with by the seconds and thirds. So why couldn't he sleep?

Sephiroth rubbed his eyes and drew his hands down to cover his mouth. It didn't help that, some times at night, he could hear voices. or was it just one voice? He could never make them out. Indeed; the harder he listened the more it went away. It was infuriating. He honestly felt like he might be loosing his mind.

The tall soldier stood and walked the few paces between him and a simple desk that was amongst the only furniture in the small room. A bed, a chair, a lamp. A bin. That was it. Simple, cold, functional. Mismatched. As if the furnishings on the base were put together by a second hand junk store. Apparently Shinra didn't really see the point in furnishing their elite fighting force with anything other than the bare essentials. He clicked his laptop closed and removed his phone from the pocket of his coat. He had a message from Genesis but he ignored it and placed it down. He stared at his possessions a moment, again his mind wandering, before snapping out of it with a blink.

Frustrated with his lack of focus and deciding that distractions would only serve to irk him further, Sephiroth opened the drawer of his desk and went to place his things inside. First the phone, then the laptop. If they were out of sight he wouldn't be tempted. But as he slid the laptop into the drawer, it met some resistance which stopped it fitting. Clenching his jaw, Sephiroth investigated the source of the problem. The desk drawer was littered with bits and bobs that had apparently accumulated over several years, no one thinking or bothering to empty it out. Papers he threw away as they were covered in a layer of dust so they can't have been important. And he wasn't in the mood to read through them now. But it wasn't the papers that had stopped his laptop from fitting. Reaching to the back of the drawer Sephiroth drew out a bundle; Something wrapped in a white embroidered handkerchief. He unfurled the bindings; It was a necklace. Sephiroth blinked. His unfocused mind was trying to stir something up, a memory, though he couldn't quite grasp it. It eluded him like a dream might upon waking, fading into nothing to be forgotten forever. Only it was the opposite. The memory trying to manifest though something stopped it from doing so.

Sephiroth frowned and threw the thing in the bin. He was just about done by now. Fed up with his uncooperative consciousness he just wanted to rest. Brushing the dust off his gloves he removed them, followed buy his armour and coat, before laying down on his bed and closing his eyes. His mind still raced, now distracted by the necklace he'd just thrown away. What was it even doing there? Left behind by a former soldier? He found that hard to believe. But its wrappings were dusty and the metal inside tarnished by age. So it was old and had been in the drawer for some time. Sephiroth's mind kept muling these thoughts over until, finally, it began to shut down into a shallow, dream filled sleep...

...

The glass like ball was too much for the small boy to resist. It sat, tempting him from across the room. Sitting on the dark wooden table, begging to be touched, to be discovered.

The boy cast a look around before slipping from his chair and taking a careful step forwards. He stopped a moment to listen, he was sure he was alone so he crept quietly to the edge of the table where he could see the curiosity clearly. The jewel like surface gleamed at him; its teal colour matched his eyes. He looked around again. He was told not to leave his seat. He was told he'd get a thrashing if he didn't stay where he was, but it was just a quick look, it couldn't do any harm. Maybe if he was quick he could touch it; what would it feel like?

He reached up but he wasn't tall enough and he couldn't move the chair because it would make too much noise. He stood on his tip toes and stretched as far as he could. He could almost reach it!

But then the rug he was standing on slipped on the floor and took him along with it...and in a muffled thud he hit the ground. The tablecloth he had instinctively grasped to save his fall was now clutched in his hand and most of the tables' contents lay in a mess around him. Except the ball. That was now in motion and bouncing out the room with a soft 'tink...tink'. His eyes went wide, he would be in trouble for sure now but he had to stop it. He scrambled to his feet and lunged forwards but fell short of catching the ball and fell on to his knees again. He watched helplessly as it rolled towards the stairs and dropped off the first step, bouncing gently to the second, and then to the third and out of sight. He got up again and descended after it as fast as he could, the ball picking up speed and getting away from him now.

He was going to be in so much trouble. He had to catch it, he had too! The door at the front of the house was open and now the green orb had bounced outside, gathering more velocity down the gentle slope of the path and off towards the main village. His blood ran cold. If he lost it that would be the final straw, he would be punished for certain. He took off in a dead run now, heading out the door and down the path, desperate to catch the ball before anyone noticed what was happening. He was covering good ground and he dared to let some sense of relief wash over him as he closed the gap between him and the orb which had reached the bottom of the small hill that the house was built on.

In his moment of elation he failed to see a large gap in the cobblestones of the path and his ankle, failing to take the weight of his body, gave way. He yelped in pain as his whole leg buckled under him, crashing to the ground in a knee grazing skid. He put his hands out in an effort to break his fall but the momentum of his body was just too much and he tumbled to the bottom of the hill. Bruised and shaken, he looked for the small orb but it was nowhere to be seen. He began to sob. His ankle was throbbing with pain and the cuts on his hands and knees stung, grazed raw from the fall. Through his soft, hiccupping crying, he heard hurried footsteps coming towards him,

"Hey there...are you okay? Don't cry, I can get a grown up to help you" a child's voice spoke. He rubbed away the tears and looked up. A girl was kneeling down in front of him. She was wearing a dirty yellow dress and her knees were covered in grass stains. An ornate necklace, that was a bit too large for her, hung around her neck. Her long black hair was pulled up into high pigtails on the sides of her head, secured buy bands adorned with big pink bobbles and she had large, pale blue eyes.

"I'm fine. I don't need a grownup" He sniffled. The girl giggled,

"I saw you, you were chasing this...right?" and she held out the green orb, she had caught it! His eyes lit up.

"Yes! But...it's not mine. I'm in so much trouble, I wasn't meant to touch it" He hung his head in shame. The girl shuffled closer and held out the orb for him to take. He hesitated, before grasping it. It was cool! Even on a hot summers day it was cool. He ran his fingers over its surface, it was so smooth. He smiled.

"It's a pretty ball. Are your eyes made of the same thing?" the girl asked. He looked up at her and she smiled back. Reaching behind her she pulled the small bag she was wearing onto her lap. It was shaped like a teddy bear. She unzipped the bears tummy and pulled out a pink plaster,

"Plasters make smooshed knees all better, you'll see" she began to take the plastic off, but when she looked at his knee the grazes had not only stopped bleeding but looked as though they had been healing for several days.

"Oh...well you can have one anyway, just in case" He watched as she brushed the dirt off his skin gently and applied the plaster on his knee, smoothing it out until she was satisfied. He felt his cheeks warm slightly as she repeated the ritual with his other knee. All the boys he knew said pink was a silly girls colour. But there were no other boys here with him, and he didn't really mind anyway.

"There! All done. You'll get better now for sure" She smiled at him again and this time, he smiled back.

Just then a man in the town called out,

"Ah! That's my granddaddy, I have to go. You should hurry and put that ball back before someone sees you" She said, jumping to her feet and brushing her knees, taking care not to wipe off too much of the grass stains, "I hope we see each other again, maybe we can play together" She beamed, "Bye bye!" And she ran off with a wave.

He waved back and watched her until she had gone inside and out of sight. He couldn't help a smile appearing on his face but as he looked down, he saw the girls necklace lying in the dust a little way off. It must have fallen when she ran away. He got to his feet and reached forward to grasp the necklace, intending to follow after her to return it, but another voice shouted out behind him. One he knew all too well and before he could turn, his arm had been gripped with fingers of steel.

He winced as he was dragged back up the path and into the house, with a constant telling-off ringing in his ears but today he ignored it. Today he finally got to feel what materia was like. And he had met a nice person. A very nice person. He held the necklace in his left hand tightly. He could give it back tomorrow and he risked one more glance out to where the girl had ran too before the door was slammed shut behind him.

Se..ph...roth...

Sephiroth…

...

Sephiroth woke with a start, the slamming door in his dream jolting through his consciousness and ripping him out of his slumber. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. That necklace. It can't have been. Even now as he tried to recall the details of his dream they began to slip away. The girls face faded, all he could remember was the colour of her dress, her hair. The pink plaster. The necklace faded too and all he could remember was its presence, but no details. The dream had left behind a kind of loving warmth, though the more the details of the dream faded so too did the feelings it had stirred up. He sat up and ran his hand through his hair, his eyes flicking to the bin by the desk. He'd never had that dream before yet something about it was familiar. As if he HAD dreamed it many times, though the details were still fuzzy.

And that necklace…

It couldn't be. But now everything was eating at him, gnawing away at the back of his mind. The desk now seemed familiar. The contents of the bin, the dusty papers. His racing mind had ceased now thanks to the small amount of sleep he had managed but now he was just confused.

Sephiroth rose from his bed and changed back into his clothing, pulling his phone out from the drawer of the desk to check the time. It wasn't going to be long before the Turks would arrive. He had another message too;

ETA 15:30 MST.

Please prepare the cargo for transport.

LeSait.

Just the Turks sending their usual calling card, though he didn't recognise the surname this time. There were so many suits now though that it hardly surprised him. A series of knocks on his door made Sephiroth look up,

"You awake sleeping beauty?" It was Angeal, "Pack up and give us a hand with the prisoners. They keep swearing at us in Wutain and we need you to translate"

Sephiroth smirked and pocketed his phone, "You're probably best off not knowing. Mostly they will be insulting your mother" Sephiroth said through the door. Angeal laughed and left, leaving Sephiroth to finish packing. Slinging his bag over his shoulder Sephiroth paused at the door to make sure he had everything before moving to leave, his eyes passing over the bin. He stopped, now transfixed. It was stupid, HE was being stupid. But try as he might he couldn't stop thinking about the handkerchief and what it contained. The dream started to poke at the edges of his mind again and the strange warmth returned. Sephiroth shook his head, paused again…and finally strode back to the bin to pick the wrapped necklace out from among the rubbish.

Just what on Gaia was he doing.

Last edit; 27/02/2016