Disclaimer: Ashenair is my only creation. All else belongs to Square-Enix.

Warning: The rating is not a suggestion. Graphic violence, language, disturbing content etc. This will get dark, folks.

Chapter 1. One Kind

Sephiroth.

A silver-haired god. The mako-infused demon. It doesn't matter, both are the same. We are the same. Unnatural. Ethereal. Monsters…

I am the second, born out of the eggs retrieved from Lucrecia's corpse and brought to life by Hojo in his lab. My existence was hidden from my brother, and his from me. For a long time, I thought I was unique. Only much later did I learn the secret truth.

I was not the only one.

I knew about Jenova. Hojo was not about to repeat past mistakes. I was called Ashenair. My ghostly appearance and silver hair lent me my name and made others wary. As a child, I quickly developed a strength that matched that of my adult captors. After breaking several bones while resisting countless painful injections, they implanted a port from which blood could be taken painlessly. I quickly found out that other things could be injected back in to my body this way. I fought back with all the strength I possessed; I was only 8 years old. Several of the laboratory researchers were killed, many more were hospitalized. Their blood gave my hair a reddish tinge that I refused to wash out for weeks. I had made my point.

Afterwards, Hojo explained in considerable detail what he was giving me; that it would be painful but would ultimately make me into the perfect weapon. What child knows to ask, "How will I be used?"

I was drunk on Jenova's power, and I grew stronger still. As a youth, I was given free reign of the lab and the surrounding barracks, through which I stalked with impunity. Hojo knew I could no longer be safely contained, and went to work on a solution that would keep me in line. In the meantime, he had but one rule – do not kill Shinra staff. After breaking that rule a few too many times, I was given Wutai prisoners to satisfy my killer's instinct. I relished the fear I saw in their eyes. I was created with a thirst for violence.

Hojo continued his experiments, to which I grudgingly surrendered. I was subjected to countless tests, many of which would have killed any SOLDIER. I survived, and thrived. Jenova's cells were too strong.

From an early age, I was schooled in the art of war. The sight of death had no hold on me. On the contrary, I took pleasure in it. As my abilities grew, I was promoted to SOLDIER training. Before entering the ranks, each new recruit had to prove he could wield materia. I was permitted by Hojo to watch the first few attempts from a nearby containment facility. Some barely survived. Others were consumed by whatever materia they chose, unable to withstand the powerful magic that coursed through their young bodies. A very few were able to control it, to weakly channel that energy into something greater than themselves. These few made it to SOLDIER.

"Your turn." Hojo's eyes glittered with anticipation. His eagerness had grown tiresome; I brusquely left him and headed for the start of the line.

A hush fell over the new recruits. I could hear them commenting on my long silver hair, and snickering to each other at my appearance. Hatred flared inside; I had had enough of being made an object of ridicule and fascination. A strange heat grew within my chest, and as I glared at those closest to me, the heat boiled up and out towards them. What happened next was nothing short of astonishing.

Several recruits were incinerated on the spot. Their bodies left nothing but tatters of blackened ash and a few smoldering bones as the only evidence of their existence. Others sustained lethal burns, and died later in hospital in screaming agony. I frowned. I had not yet reached the materia platform.

Hojo could not have been more pleased. He ran out of the nearest building, breathless.

"What materia was used?"

"None, Sir. None from this table, at least." The examiners were more than frightened; it was clear they wanted to get as far away from me as possible.

"Excellent. Come with me, Ash. You passed the test."

I was SOLDIER. At the unheard of age of 12, I had joined the ranks of the most powerful army on the Planet.