Every year the largest school in Midgar held a project for its 5th year students encouraging them to write a letter to someone who had inspired them. Some chose family members or sportsmen or public figures some chose friends or teachers. Most chose SOLDIERS.
Every year at least five dozen letters arrived for Sephiroth.
It was a tradition that had become well known by much of the city and unfortunately for PR reasons it was the only fan mail he wasn't allowed to ignore. He was required to sit and read every letter. Worse yet he had to respond.
Respond to every stupid gushing sixteen year old who included a ten page essay telling him how cool he was and how cool his hair was and how cool his sword was and cool it was he had fought in a war and how they wanted to grow up to be just like him.
He had to respond to the ones who used the project as an opportunity to write him a ridiculous love letter explaining explicitly why he was their soul mate and how their life wouldn't be worth living if he wasn't in it.
He had to respond to the ones begging him to come to their birthday party or graduation or to go on a date with them.
Sephiroth sighed and threw another letter into the read pile, typing the kids name into the word template he had created for this purpose and adding in a few references to things the letter had said as proof he'd read it.
A knock at the door drew his attention. Angeal smiled warmly at his friend and sat down across from him with a plate of lunch. "Thought you could use this"
"Thanks"
"Still writing your responses?"
Sephiroth just directed a pointed glare at his friend then at the heaped pie of letters still waiting to be opened.
The other man gave a sympathetic laugh. "I just finished mine". Sephiroth rolled his eyes, Angeal always finished his first. Partly because of the three Generals he received the fewest, partly because the people who wrote to him were sane and he didn't have to stop every five minutes to weep in misery and horror. He also tended to follow the same basic pattern of follow your dreams blah blah blah, truth dignity and honour blah blah blah.
Genesis usually took the longest because many of his admirers included reports of how much they loved LOVELESS and his responses contained passion filled tirades about why it was the most exceptional work of art ever produced and how that child must have exquisite taste for choosing to write to him rather than other persons who shall remain nameless.
Zack had been excited to find even he had received a few this year. He had spent at least an hour on each trying to make his responses perfect.
The printer whirred. Sephiroth added his signature to the bottom of the page that came out and shoved it into an envelope which was then tossed into his out tray.
He reached for the next letter as Angeal watched on in amusement.
The silver haired man was relieved to find this one was fairly short.
'Dear Sephiroth' It read
'I know you get a lot of these letters so I will keep this short.'
Good child.
'I just needed to say something and have waited a long time for this opportunity.' Oh joy
'Enclosed is a copy of a photograph you took with me when I was six years old. I don't expect you to remember me but I remember you.'
Nope, don't remember.
At least this kid had the sense to know he wouldn't. More than a few had sent photos he had taken with them at various events over the years and worded their letters as though he was a personal friend.
He sighed and dug around in the envelope for the photograph.
The image showed a younger version of himself crouched beside a little girl wearing a Cinderella dress. He was mildly surprised to see himself smiling, looing more relaxed than he ever was around fans these days.
'As you can no doubt see from my dress like many little girls I had a bit of a princess obsession. It was most likely this obsession which prompted my tactless younger self to inform you I thought you looked like Rapunzel.
Sephiroth snorted, a vague jolt of memory beginning to surface of a small child reaching out to grab his hair with a look of wonder, asking timidly if anyone had ever tried to climb it.
He kept reading with slightly more interest than he had started with.
'Instead of telling me to get lost as I'm sure you were tempted to, you instead laughed and joked with me that Rapunzel had a prince to rescue her from her tower whilst you were still stuck living in one.'
Did he? Despite his own surprise the scene did fee familiar. Yes, yes he had said that hadn't he?
'Then you said something that altered my view of the world. You leant down and told me you were still waiting for a brave princess to come and rescue you.'
Sephiroth blinked. It was such a simple statement. A silly joke he had made to a child years before in a moment of uncharacteristic gentleness. Although still surprised at how well his younger self had apparently handled this situation he wasn't sure what the big deal was.
'At six years old I idolised princesses.' The letter declared.
'I dreamed of being one and had a very strong view of what a princess was. Up until then hundreds of people had told me that princesses had to be beautiful, polite, kind and innocent and like any six year old I believed them.
'Dozens of story books had told me princesses were victims who were kidnaped and locked away and always needed to be rescued, I believed them too.
So I am writing this letter to say thank you. Thank you for being the first person to tell an impressionable young girl that a princess could be more than a damsel in distress.
That she could be the one to do the rescuing.
Thank you for telling her that she could be brave.
Sephiroth stared at the page.
He had done that?
He didn't even realise. He was just...talking to a little girl. Being nice.
Kids had always been so much easier to deal with than adults. Less confusing.
The child had seemed sweet, asking simple questions that were easy to answer.
How could he have made such an impression on someone without knowing?
Besides, why would anyone tell a little girl anything else?
Who was writing those story books?
His eyes glanced towards the screen of his computer where his template was sitting waiting to be filled in. His hands hovered briefly over the keyboard before shifting instead to his pen.
Angeal watched the expressions flicker over his friends face. Watched him pull a blank page from the drawer of the printer and swiftly scribble a single line of text in his neat elegant scrawl. Watched him carefully fold the page and slot it into an envelope. Unlike the other envelopes which had been thrown haphazardly into the out pile this one was placed safely to one side.
Sephiroth didn't say anything to the other man.
Angeal didn't ask.
One week later a young woman opened an envelope.
Around her dozens of other teenagers were gushing about how amazing it was that General Sephiroth had written to them, comparing their letters, all convinced that theirs had been written with a particular amount of care, most completely unconcerned that they had all basically received the same exact response.
She pulled the page out confident that it would be exactly the same as the twenty others she had already heard read out loud so far.
Her eyes widened in surprise.
There was no typed message thanking her for her letter.
No generic template.
Just one handwritten line.
'To my brave princess, I'm still waiting on that rescue.'
"Looks like he wrote the same thing to everyone" her friend sighed next to her, staring at her own letter in disappointment and ignoring the excited squeals from their classmates.
"Yeah" The girl agreed slipping her letter safely back into the envelope and storing it safely inside her bag, fighting to hide her smile. "Looks like he did"
I considered making this about Yuffie where a childhood exchange with Sephiroth inspired her to become a ninja. Thoughts?