Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters nor the game itself of FF7. However, Drana is of my own copyright so if anyone ever wishes to use her for their own story, you must get permission, first. Yeah, so…
Sephiroth Gets a Christmas Gift
A young Sephiroth sat alone in his room at Shinra Headquarters that Christmas Eve night, and with hardly a soul to share it. He loathed being alone but everyone else around him was inferior and he wanted not to waste his time with such life forms. Supremacy was a lonely road to walk, but along it did lay power, and power was what he owned, coursing through his veins.
There came a knock at his door, accompanied by a voice.
"Sephiroth? Hojo requires you in his lab," said the voice, which he immediately recognized as Tseng's. He scoffed then slid off the edge of his bed and padded to the door with the silence and fluid movement of a predatory cat. Sephiroth slowly pulled the door open and gazed up at the too young raven-haired man, and very briefly at that annoying Wutainese mark on his brow.
"…" The silver-headed boy sidestepped the darkly dressed messenger and started up the hallway for the elevator. He heard the man's semi-heavy footfalls and stopped. "I can go there by myself."
"Alright then, excuse me. I have other business."
"Hmph," Sephiroth sounded under his breath. He disliked Tseng's division of the company, Turks they were called. Nothing more than a bunch of scoundrels. Plundering and pillaging and murdering, consciences checked and left at the door. But…that was merely their job. As it would be his job in SOLDIER, once he began training in Junon.
The boy stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button for the destined floor, turned around and gazed out upon the cityscapes far below through the glass. He growled sadly.
"All those people down there. Having Christmas. Everyone, but me. I'm alone. Always alone. Mother's dead. I've no father, no brothers or sisters. And I can't leave headquarters without a stupid escort. I have no gifts waiting for me. What is there to do?" he mumbled bitterly to himself. He touched the glass ponderingly. He wanted to break it, but the last time he did that, he injured a miserable assistant who had been sharing the elevator with him. But he hardly cared. He was unhappy and his misery glowed just as bright as his Mako green-blue eyes. And seeing Hojo's weasly and hunched form would only contribute to that. His genius was laughable compared to the late Faremis Gast's.
The bell chimed and the door opened. Sephiroth strode out and turned left down the hall towards Hojo's lab with a scowl.
"Ah, there you are, Sephiroth," he heard the scientist say as he entered the laboratory. The black-haired dreg of a man stood at the specimen tube situated in the center of the chamber. "Come here, I'd like you to see something, my boy."
"…don't call me your boy," Sephiroth uttered. Hojo pushed his glasses back on his broad, pointy nose and shrugged thoughtlessly at the child's reply.
"Yes, well… I'd like to show you a new specimen I acquired recently. A strange thing. But I feel it has the air of a Cetra," he said. The boy stepped closer to the tube and looked inside. The 'it' Hojo referred to was little more than a girl…that strangely looked just like him, only her hair was a shade lighter and her eyes colored differently from one another. She stood with her nose almost pressed to the glass and gazed endlessly at Sephiroth and the scientist with the innocence of a child he so shamefully lacked. Then suddenly, she waved and smiled at him. To this he recoiled.
"Where…did you find her?" he queried.
"Someone saw this wandering around Wall Market. Almost stolen right from under us by that lech Don Corneo for his private collection. Luckily the Turks were able to persuade him into handing it over to us. There's a possibility it may have Cetra blood, pure blood, unlike the one that escaped us." Hojo stroked his blunt chin and nodded at the so-called specimen. "I will have to run many tests on this one."
"…" Tests. Sephiroth despised that word. The man enjoyed conducting his tests and experiments so much; it seemed to be an orgasmic experience each time for him. Disgusting. He shook his head in shame for Hojo.
"Is all that you wanted of me?" he asked.
"Hmm? Oh, I suppose. I did notice that this new specimen of mine resembled you to an extent," Hojo remarked.
The girl knocked on the glass to get Sephiroth's attention, fortunately successful in her endeavor. She mouthed a few words he couldn't really make out, but he was half certain one of those words was 'help.' The scientist moved between the boy and the glass tube, blotting her form from his sight.
"Alright, Sephiroth, that's all I needed you for. You can go and do…whatever it is you do." Hojo waved the boy off and turned back to his newest scientific acquisition without another word. But as always, that nasty, weasly chuckle he loved bleating so well.
"It's Christmas," he voiced lowly.
"Hmm? Oh, yes. Well, you how we lab and office types are. We've no time for holidays. They're a waste of time. Now, if you'll excuse me…"
"…I haven't even seen presents…or a tree."
"Does Midgar look like the place where you'd ever find trees? And who needs presents? Now stop pestering me with your drivel. I know you're smarter than that. Go busy yourself with something valid until someone needs you," Hojo dismissed the boy and walked off to his observation room above. Sephiroth frowned darkly. If he had Masamune, that scholary rat would have thought twice before talking to him like that. But he was tired already and departed from the lab in rank silence.
"Stupid man. You'll never reach Professor Gast's caliber, no matter how hard you try. But…why did he have to die?" Sephiroth skulked back to the elevator and boarded it. He punched the button and leant back against the glass, closing his eyes. "I've never had a Christmas since Gast was alive and that was years ago. No one cares about me. They only want to use me because I'm stronger than them all. Well, one day, I'll show them. They'll be sorry…"
"Don't be so bitter about the world," a tiny voice said. Sephiroth's eyes immediately snapped open at the sound of it.
And what he saw before him was…that girl, the one imprisoned in Hojo's lab. Dressed in the same sterile white gown. And those very same weird eyes, one green and the other blue, glowing, shimmering.
"Wh-- How did you get in here? Who are you? What are you?" the boy inquired suspiciously.
"My real name's too sacred to me to tell just anyone. But, you can call me…Drana. And what makes you think I'm not something like you?" the girl asked.
"Because you can't be. I'm different, I'm unique, I'm…"
"You're alone. It's Christmas and you haven't anyone to share it with. They're just too busy with other things, aren't they?"
"…" Sephiroth shrugged and rolled his eyes. Of course what she said was true, but he didn't want to admit it so easily. Then the girl, Drana, as she called herself, took a step towards him and lifted a pale hand in seeming entreaty.
"Can you help me? That man in the lab. I think he's going to hurt me if I stay here anymore. Can you help me?"
Sephiroth folded his arms in each other and huffed dismissively. "If I did that, then he'd hurt me and I'm tired of it. You're none of my concern anyway."
"You…don't care?"
"No."
"This place hurts you without even touching you. Your pain runs deeper than just lonely Christmases, doesn't it?" Sephiroth flinched then scoffed at the odd girl. The elevator chimed again, signaling that he'd reached his floor once more.
"Move. I'm not going to be around when they see you've escaped." He motioned in Drana's direction but she didn't even so much as budge. He frowned in annoyance and leered at her, yet she wasn't even fazed by his hard feline eyes. He thrust his hand out to take her by the shoulder. Yet, to his surprise, it fell through her slight frame like a knife through air. "What is this?"
"Please, won't you help me escape? Please…Sephiroth?" she pleaded.
Sephiroth winced at the sound of his name passing from her lips. He didn't want to be bothered, so he merely walked straight ahead, right through the incorporeal girl and treaded back to his room.
"I'll give you a gift, if it's something you want in return," Drana offered, prompting the other to slow his departure.
"You think you can bribe me?" He stopped, glancing at her still standing in the elevator. Her hopeful visage unnerved him, despite the distance he'd made between them. "…besides, Hojo would be angry if he saw me."
"You must be smart enough not to get caught. Didn't he say you were smart? So you CAN do it if you tried. Please, help me?" Sephiroth growled inaudibly. Sometimes, he wished he didn't have a heart, not just for when he was cross or hurt, but for occasions like this when someone was trying to reach it with a soft and innocent voice like hers. And that face. A vision of a child angel. That was, if angels ever existed, which he doubted there did.
"Hmm…" He deliberated briefly on Drana that so desperately required his hand in her deliverance from Hojo. It was Christmas. A holiday of togetherness and giving and family. As far as togetherness and family were cocerned, Sephiroth was alone, but as for giving… He could give her back her freedom, and in return receive a gift. Although gifts were not that important… It was the feelings one experienced that truly mattered. That was a lesson he'd learnt long ago from Professor Gast. Unconditional giving. "Let me think…"
Sephiroth sat in his room and thought about the girl trapped in Hojo's lab. Could he risk punishment from the detestable scientist for freeing her? Perhaps. She wasn't an ordinary creature, not so much like regular man and unique like Sephiroth himself. Would she really be worth it? If so, then this Christmas wouldn't seem as wasted as past others. And setting Drana free would be a refreshing break in the monotony of his life here at Shinra Headquarters.
"I could consider this more a simple diversion, as well as helping someone in the process. Killing two birds with one stone. Maybe I should do it," the boy uttered to himself. He arose from lying in his bed and paced the floor persistently. "What's the harm? I'm more than capable of tolerating Hojo's punishment if he catches me in the act. And… Perhaps, just this one time. Then I'll…"
Sephiroth stealthily returned to the floor, that floor that stunk of blood and fluids he'd rather never know, crept about the halls, keeping watch for Hojo or any of his assistants. He surveyed the lesser personnel come and go, noticing their departures become much longer until he witnessed Hojo himself take his leave from his beloved laboratory. The boy entered the lab in complete silence, spying Drana lying down in the tube as though unconscious. Doubtless, he had already performed some experiments, ones that left her spent and cringing in fearful sleep. The first few were always the most brutal.
He approached the glass and tapped on it, rousing the girl from her stupor.
She sprang up, practically smacking herself into the glass. She smiled a broad smile at Sephiroth, which if it were possible, he would've blushed.
"Don't look so happy. This building is consistently under strong surveillance by human and machine guards, so you're not home free just yet," Sephiroth noted. For a moment, Drana pouted. The other tapped on the glass impatiently. "Don't pout. That's ugly. Now, just wait a minute while I go up to the observation room."
Sephiroth ran up the ramp straight across from the specimen holding tube, around and into the observation room where the control panel was located. Fortunately, it was left unlocked; however, that also meant that someone would be making their return sooner or later. So he had to hurry. He dashed inside and went instantly to the panel, his eyes darting to and fro along the buttons, toggles, switches, monitors and keyboards. On a rare occasion, he had been spectator to Hojo at work in this room. Sephiroth sorted through his memory to try and recall which allowed access to the tube.
"Aha…" He eventually found it, over to the right, a silver toggle. This the boy flipped, hearing and watching the glass door open in a hiss and hollow whir. He darted back down to the glass chamber. Drana was exiting the tube just as he reached it, shielding her eyes against a bright, nonexistent light. "Are you alright?"
"Mnh!" The small girl leapt at Sephiroth, throwing her arms around him, hugging him tight. He shrank from such close contact and fast pried her off his body.
"Keep your hugs to yourself," Sephiroth mildly snapped. "Now come on and stick close."
"…nnhll…"
He took a second to glance back at Drana curiously. "What's the matter with your voice?"
"…haa…" Drana pointed at her throat and shook her head sadly.
"You can't talk? Do you even know how?" Sephiroth asked. She nodded then hung her head low. "Well, whatever. Just follow me."
The girl grabbed his hand and gently squeezed it, signaling him to lead the way. He started for the hallway, stepping cautiously and peering round each corner to check for wayward personnel. When he saw none, he made a mad dash for the elevator, with Drana behind him struggling to match his speed. Once in the elevator, the doors closed:
"Alright, so far, so good. Now we have to figure where we can sneak you out," Sephiroth said to her. She tugged on his sleeve, which garnered his attention partially while the elevator began its descent. "What?"
"Mnh." Drana motioned for a bulge in her white gown and extracted from it a small cedarwood box, its finish primitive and a plain white flower etched and painted onto the lid. She pushed it into Sephiroth's arms, which he took hesitantly.
"What's this? Is…this my gift?" Drana nodded eagerly, and then urged him to open it up. Thusly, still fraught with reluctance, he opened the box, whereupon, he was struck with a sound somewhat uncommon to his ears. It was a musical tinkling sound, a soft, sweet, and melodious tune that emanated from the box; and it was occupied by a tiny and crudely made angel of beige stone that rotated on a tiny altar. "This is…a music box."
"Mmm."
"…t-thank you…" Sephiroth's expression was pure bafflement by the girl's gift. The melody of varying tinkles was strangely calming, almost as though he'd heard it before in a time long since past.
The elevator suddenly stopped and the doors slid apart, revealing the floor at which they were halted. A woman stood with thick manila folders held precariously to her breast. She walked into the car and glimpsed the pair of children staring at her, but kept her eyes especially on Sephiroth.
"You're Sephiroth, aren't you? Yes, and…who's this little thing? She's so cute," the woman said. "You look so much alike. Did you just find a long lost sibling of yours?"
Neither replied to her question. She shrugged and chuckled nervously.
"Uh, anyway, can you press the button for the 62nd floor for me? Thanks."
"…" Hardly making a sound, Sephiroth jabbed his finger at the button for the 62nd floor, which happened to be another two floors down.
Silence abounded. The boy didn't dare play the music box in the company of the woman. Drana faced the glass, staring up at the dirty evening sky pockmarked with lights from the city plates.
Once at the woman's destination, and after she debarked with a nod and nervous smile, Sephiroth sighed in relief and smashed the button for a different floor.
"We can't really think of going all the way to the first floor and just walking out. For so long there's been a terrorist group, wreaking havoc on Shinra Headquarters and the Mako reactors. Sometimes they kill or steal Hojo's specimens, too, when they can. So, he likes the guards to watch out for whatever's his being stolen away," Sephiroth expounded. He punched the red stop button right in the middle of descending a floor, causing the elevator car to jerk and cease movement. He peered over at Drana, who still had her face glued to the glass. The boy was then struck with a thought. He grasped her shoulder and pulled her away. "I have an idea. If I did this, no would expect I helped you to escape and, that it was just another of my fits…"
"Hnn?" He hauled the girl completely behind him, telling her to cover her face, just in case.
"Alright." Sephiroth clenched his fist, drew his arm back, and pitched it at the glass, shattering it into dozens of great shards glittering in the night, rising into the air then falling like rain. A great gust of cold wind whipped about within the car now exposed to the elements. Drana slumped to her knees. He twisted around and towed her back to her feet, holding the girl up in his arms. "We're going to jump, alright?"
"Mnh!" Drana wilted like a flower under the merciless sun.
"Don't worry. I can…fly, I guess. So…hug me again and tighter this time," he recommended of her. She nodded and did as she was told, enfolding her little arms around his narrow waist. "Here we go, then…"
"AAH!" the girl yelped when Sephiroth sprang from the elevator, into the night, the cold air rushing past them as he soared. He knew if he went too far, then someone would likely discover the elevator before he could get back. So he dropped down some ways away from the entrance to Shinra, alighting safely on his feet and setting Drana on hers, though mindful of the shattered glass beneath her bare feet.
"There, this is as far as I can take you. Now, you're free. You can go wherever you want now…" Sephiroth murmured with downcast eyes. The girl touched his face and coerced him to raise his chin. She smiled warmly.
Thank you, Sephiroth, for helping me. Don't be so sad. Be happy.
"What? I thought you couldn't talk," the boy stated with skepticism in his voice.
I lost my voice a long time ago. But I've learned to talk with my mind. It's very hard not to scare people. They fear what they don't understand. But you, you're different. And you even helped me be free again.
"…you're welcome…"
Please take care of my gift. It has a lot of value but I thought you should have it to make you feel calm or happy. Merry Christmas, Sephiroth…
"…merry Christmas," he returned lowly. Drana leant in close and gave Sephiroth a small peck on the cheek. His eyes became wide, dazed by this, but that sense of dazzlement quickly melted away.
Well, I guess this is where we part. I really hope we see each other again. You are very special. Merry Christmas, again, and…goodbye.
Drana waved her hand energetically at the boy, then turned and fled from the scene, leaving Sephiroth alone, holding her music box in his palms. He glared down at it, opened its lid once more, and listened to the simple melody flow from its simple box.
"I forgot about the security cameras. Hojo will see what I did and punish me, so no matter how cautious I was, the same would've happened anyway. But…I don't care right now. I did something to help someone and it felt…good. No matter how cold I may turn in the future, this will stay with me for as long as it can. As will this music box… Being hurt isn't so bad, when you feel good from having done something good. Merry Christmas to me…"
The End…
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A/N: Yeah, Merry day after Christmas, y'all.