Author's Note and Disclaimer: The characters in this Fanfic belong to Square(Soft)-Enix and the makers of Final Fantasy VII. The ideas are entirely my own but I'm sure others have thought of the same plots and written similar fics, but it was NOT my intention to plagiarize anyone in any way, shape, or form.

Please keep in mind that this is a fanfic. Feedback and constructive criticism is encouraged about my writing, not about my ideas. If you don't like what I put in here, don't ask me to change anything. You have the power to write about it yourself - and I don't mean by plagiarizing.

The VII timeline is a bitch, so bear with me. I'm bound to make mistakes. Please don't be a fuckin' stickler about it. This story relies heavily on the past events of Crisis Core and takes place sometime after Advent Children. I'm ignoring the Dirge of Cerberus storyline.


Prologue

Her voice was soft and gentle. Passing like a warm breeze. Sing-song and playful, like she was smiling as she was talking. The very sound of her voice was the complete opposite of everything he'd ever known.

Sephiroth.

Sephiroth…?

She called to him.

Sehhh…phiroooth…

Mother?

It was the strangest thing, being cold.

He hadn't recollected the feeling before. A chill, perhaps, but never a true, deep cold.

He shivered. Strange. Not once, in his entire life, had he experienced the discomfort of low temperatures –

Sehhh…phiroooth…

Homeostasis. It was a normal, simple, biological fact. The body will compensate as it adjusts to its external environment –

Sehhh…phiroooth…

Not those infused with Mako energy, however. Not SOLDIER. And never Sephiroth.

Sehhh…phiroooth…

Nevertheless, Nibelheim was at a high altitude. The air was thin and the cloud cover was consistent, meaning that less sunlight was allowed to breach through the atmosphere and warm the earth. The air circulation was mainly from the wind and snow blowing over the mountaintops, cooling and thinning as it passed up and over, keeping the town at an almost constant chill, even in the summertime. Typical weather for a small mountain town.

But still. He'd never felt this cold before.

Something wasn't right.

He could hear the rustle of trees…he could feel the brisk air…the smell of the earth…

Sehhh…phiroooth…

…Wasn't he in his room, at the inn?

He slowly opened his eyes, squinted and closed them at the surprisingly bright light, then opened them again, trying to focus.

The bright light was an overcast sky, which was mostly shielded by dark green leaves connected to snowy white bark from the trees nearby. He blinked.

Where…am I?

His eyes opened wider. This was most definitely not the inn.

My mission…was it not to inspect a Mako reactor? Weren't we supposed to...

Memories flashed through his mind, and he suddenly gasped in surprise as he remembered everything as if it had happened just yesterday.

Angeal! Genesis!

Project G.

The degradation.

The monster copies.

Hollander.

The Mansion.

I was just there.

Where am I?

He suddenly sprung to his feet, grabbing at Masamune, but was utterly flabbergasted at what he had found.

Masamune was missing. So were his clothes.

He was in the middle of the Sleeping Forest, naked and unarmed.