Admire the Man

Disclaimer: Ah do nah own.

A/N: Merry Christmas. Here's my gift. I like Sephiroth even if he is a son of a bitch.

Glorioso General before twenty-five. Strongest warrior in ShinRa. Best of SOLDIER. Demon of Wutai. Nightmare. Destroyer. Calamity. Jenova's son. Great.

Sephiroth.

It's hard to not admire the man. Cloud at least thinks it's impossible. Cid kind of agrees with the kid - even if they're all slightly perterbed by the thought - and he'd bet his firstborn Vincent, Reeve, and Nanaki do too. Barret and Tifa he'd only bet a beer on. Yuffie wouldn't admit it if her life depended on it, and Aeris can't exactly be asked anymore. Rufus and the Turks still look at him with no small amount of awe.

He deserves awe for what he's done, no matter the destructiveness of it. Even if he's hellbent on destroying everything worthwhile he's an amazing figure. Larger than life.

Look at his history, what the man has lived through. Whatever he set his mind to the General seemed to accomplish with flying colors. He manages to continually surpass everyone's expectations, however high or low those might be.

What so many ShinRa soldiers died trying to accomplish in Wutai Sephiroth did nearly single-handedly. When some spent years trying to climb the ranks, learn the techniques, discover the winning stradegies he did it almost overnight. What AVALANCHE spent years trying to accomplish he did in a few weeks. A decision to commit himself was all it took for Wutai and ShinRa to fall by his hand.

Those are not easy feats. Wutai was a country of warrior tradition, of the art of combat. Proud, stubborn, harsh Wutai did not fall without a fight. ShinRa might've been corrupt and cruel but it too was nothing if not tenacious. Ruler of most of the world despite it's bloated buerocracy and amazing incompetence, ShinRa clung to life and power with the grip of a boa constrictor. Both ultimately destroyed by one man. Only one man was fit to do it.

Only he could pull off the long hair and bondage gear uniform without becoming a comedy skit. Only he can wield the ridiculously oversized Masamune effectively and make it look effortless.

He brought the Planet to it's knees. Almost farther.

All he needed was his own will and his weapon. His choice and Masamune the deadliest things in his arsenal.

Who else has even come close to what Sephiroth accomplished? No one. Ask any member of AVALANCHE, ask Rufus or even Reno. They'll say Sephiroth has zeal and drive. He has strength and cunning. He's amazing in battle. A tough opponent.

Not even death could hold him forever, he's come back from even that. Twice.

It's impossible to not admire the man, to look on his accomplishments in awe. This was a man who did. Survived. Planned down to the letter. Efficent and effective. He holds priceless skills the members of AVALANCHE trained hard to learn.

If Zack were asked he'd say any guy who survived a childhood in the labs under Hojo was harder to kill and more enterprising than a cockroach and Seph couldn't do anything in moderation.

But it's also impossible to like what he had become.

Arrogant, self-righteous, and hypocritical he is, prattling on about how 'Humans stole the Planet and killed the Cetra' the turns around to do the same in retaliation. A man who delights in petty cruelty, continually pulling his 'Puppet's' strings, but never pushing too far where the toy would break. Looking down on every being but himself in a truly childish manner.

Forgetting those loyal to him, striking even his friend Zack and his men who would've followed him against ShinRa if he led them. Too selfish to think outside his own hurts and wants, to take others into consideration even when it costs himself nothing.

It would be so easy to blame Jenova for all his failings, to push the faults on to something else and ignore how the shining figure of Sephiroth is flawed. In his weaker moments Cloud would like to believe it. Zack - he knows better but he still wishes - sometimes desperately clings to the thought. But if they're honest they know their General's will. If he fell, he chose to fall.

Zack has tried to blame the labs for it, blame Hojo. He's been there, he knows it hurts. The labs steal a man's life and dreams. Sephiroth has merely become the incarnation of Hojo's laboratory, stealing them from whoever he can reach.

Those who knew him will wonder sometimes, what could he have done if he'd put his will elsewhere? It's that thought which stings the worst. If he'd put all that energy and all that drive and intellegence to constructive use, perhaps starvation and poverty would be nonexistant. Perhaps all the injustices of ShinRa could've been set right.

Perhaps the Army could've had less paperwork. Or Scarlet be convinced red wasn't her color.

If he could bring the Planet to it's knees, come back from the dead twice, what could he not do?

A great man. Even AVALANCHE, his most stalwart foe, agrees. Sephiroth was great, had earned the title completely. He did what no one before him had ever done. And they hope no one after ever tries to duplicate the son of a bitch.