Disclaimer: I don't OWN anything YOU RECOGNIZE.

AN/ Review if you want, sort of SephTi and a different take of time traveling.

Sympathy

"Hey there, little bro, what're you doing here?"

The first thing Sephiroth registered about the girl that greeted him was her large bust, then only did he raise his head higher to see who had spoken. Kind reddish eyes on a pretty face, skin snowy pale sorta like his. He didn't answer her query, merely tucked his leg closer and rested his head on his crossed arms, silently wishing her to leave him alone.

"You're new, right? No, wait, you must be the one the Professor said was going to train us, his child?" Again, he didn't answer but this time, the older girl was more persistent. "Nice to meet you, Sephiroth, my name's Tifa Lockhart. Hey, you spend your whole life with the mad man right? So this might not meant anything anymore now but..." she shrugged. "Welcome to hell, brother."

Sephiroth instantly understood what she meant: the experiments conducted on them. Sephiroth had been born for such treatment but this older children had been abducted to be guinea pigs, he knew because after whatever experiment was performed successfully on them (if the experiment failed, well, too bad for the kids involved), it'd be tried out on him except that it was either in a larger dose or more painful of a method.

He'd seen a few kids die in experiment, turned into monsters, nearly unrecognizable. In a sick way, Hojo cared enough to not try that on him first but on someone other unfortunate kid. Sephiroth didn't mind much, didn't feel sympathy because he already had a lot on his plate.

They were the unfortunate ones, why should he feel sympathy for them?

He deserved to live too.

"Hey," the girl, Tifa crouched before him, eyes kind—rare for him to see in anyone else, especially eyes of the kids here whom were already eyeing him like he was some sort of prey. "You okay?"

When she leaned down, only did he notice the ugly bloody yet-to-close gash on her collarbone; she was the one injured and she was asking him his well-being? Was she nuts? He thought it was form of trick but he saw the genuine concern in her wine eyes, ill concealed—did she even bother hiding it?

"Why do you even care?"

"Why do I care?" echoed Tifa incredulously, her eyes wide with disbelief, ignoring the sounds of metal clanking as the metal bars to their prison were threw open; the grating sound nearly drowned out her next words. "You - you're just a kid, you shouldn't even be here! I asked because I cared, you idiot!"

She was an odd one, from concern to angry; Sephiroth couldn't understand Tifa.

Partner

Time passed into a blur, Hojo kept Sephiroth locked up with the other kids—all belonging to other different scientists—to assess their growth; apparently, the kids also had Jenova cells imbued into their body and he wanted to see their progress and stats. The Professor was rather disappointed to find some of the older children to be faster and stronger and smarter than Sephiroth.

The training for the silver-haired boy was even more gruesome.

But Tifa was there, with her chatters and mothering and concerns and guide—she taught him everything he needed to know to survive, to rely on his instincts in this place where children sneaked up on one another and slit the other's throat.

Survival, it was all that mattered to them, they didn't care who they killed just they cared about their own life.

Sephiroth wondered what was life without humanity; but he didn't know much about humanity either so he couldn't complain. But he did treasure his life, he wouldn't have slept peacefully if it wasn't for Tifa.

She was his partner, she said so she'd always look out for him.

Origin

There wasn't much to chat about Sephiroth's past other than the fact Hojo was his father (regretfully) and that he had no mother and he was subjected to experiments ever since he was a child.

But Tifa's life was interesting.

The older girl said she had memories that weren't hers, said she'd seen places and things and people she had never seen before. She knew so much more than Sephiroth. In the records, Sephiroth had read once, she was a young mountain girl from Nilbeheim and had never set foot outside her village.

But she knew so many other places, he wondered what her origin was.

Tifa, jokingly said that she might be a time-traveler or maybe she was reincarnated with memories from her past life.

"You know what's funny Seph? In one of those memories, I saw an older you and we were enemies, I had to kill you, talk about hilarious, right, partner?"

She grinned teasingly, elbowing Sephiroth. "Stupid right, there's no way we're enemies."

Sephiroth refrained from remarking that if she was so sure, why there was that uncertainty and dread in her eyes.

Sacrifice

Hours, days, weeks, months and years blend into one and breezed past Sephiroth as he grew stronger and stronger, at a pleasing rate to Hojo.

"If I keep this up, I might be leaving soon," Sephiroth remarked casually as he settled himself beside Tifa. Once he'd hit puberty - earlier than most boys - he had grown taller than her. Just a little more, and he'd tower over her and she won't be so smug about teasing him anymore will she.

"How soon?"

"Hojo said tomorrow."

"Oh, wanna spar one last time?"

"Sure," He didn't see any harm in that. It was a parting fight with his best friend, and only friend - though he admit that she meant more to him than he'd ever admit.

Nightmares

When Tifa first told him of her experience in being lucid in her dreams, he couldn't imagine such a thing and he certainly didn't believe her. She said she was experiencing things from someone else's point of view, someone she didn't know.

He experienced it later when he hit puberty. He saw things through another person's eyes, or so Tifa said, she also deduced it might be a side effect from Jenova cells within them and that they should ignored them.

Sephiroth knew, Tifa knew what those dreams, those nightmares represented.

But while Tifa wasn't ready to admit it, he was ready to admit it, he knew what it was. The ashen skies, the bloodied ground, if that was the inevitable future of Gaia, he wouldn't have wanted to admit it out loud either.

But what was worse, he was the one who brought the world's end, he knew this and accepted it; it was about time Tifa did too.

They were no longer children, no longer dreamers who held onto hope of a bright and free future. They were grown ups now, if Tifa was a time traveler there had to be reason why she was back wouldn't she? And she should've known all along, as he'd learned; the looks and reasons why she even got close to him in the first place.

To circumvent world's end, what else.

Reason

"Why?"

It was a simple query, nothing hilarious but she laughed anyway, blood trickling down her lips past her chin. And he was reminded of a time when he was young and helpless and Tifa - brave, strong, beautiful - Tifa protected him, fought battles back to back with him, stuck by his side even though she had foreknowledge of the future and that he might turn out to be a raving lunatic in the future.

"I loved you, you know" - his heart throbbed, painfully even as she grin weakly. He hadn't believe in her, but she had done the unexpected, pull back from a deadly blow and had spared his life - him, the life of Gaia's downfall, why - but he hadn't believed she would, he'd swung blindly to save his own life and now...

"Why." More forceful but she just smiled.

"Because you realized that there's a better use for your strength than being a monster."

End