A/N: Now, to the second chapter! =)

It was thundering. The guards were securing the gates for the night. All of the servants rushed around making sure that every exit was closed. Two small children stood in the middle of the library, one crying at the loud cracks of thunder. The brother had his arms around his little sister trying to protect her from everything that was bad in the world. A young woman with short brown hair and brown eyes came running into the library. She took her son's hand and made him run with her.

"Mommy! Where are we going?" he asked her. She didn't say anything and didn't look behind her. She just kept running. They came to one of the southern walls and she looked around everywhere. She smiled sadly when she gazed at her two children.

"I love you both," she said. She took her little girl in her arms. The little girl was her exact image. She looked down at her son. "Go down that path and keep running. No matter what, keep running south. Do not look back." She pushed him forward and smiled at him tenderly. He looked at his trembling little sister.

"What about Tifa?" he asked. His mother shook her head and looked him right in the eye.

"She'll be alright," she said. He nodded and began running. He ran until he was outside of the castle and his father's most trusted men were there to escort him to safety.

They didn't stop for weeks. They kept moving. They only stopped to fill the cars for gas. The men were exhausted by the time that they got to the Southern kingdom. The captain of the guard came forward and presented the boy. He and the other guards began talking to the officials in some foreign language. There was another boy there. He had brown hair and hazel eyes. He nodded at the boy and then smiled. That was how Sephiroth met Angeal. Genesis came next. He would be Sephiroth's training partner when they recruited together. The three of them would serve the Southern kingdom proudly.

Sephiroth never forgot, though. He never forgot the reason why he was there. He would listen for information on the central kingdom. He learned that the king was subjected to murder. There were other rumors that he had just been put into a prison beneath the castle. The queen had escaped and was looking for help anywhere. She wasn't seen though, so many assumed that she had been murdered. The princess, though, was another story. There were hundreds of rumors saying that she had been murdered in the slowest way possible. She had been tortured for the new king's enjoyment. Sephiroth turned his ears away from those rumors. He knew, somewhere in his gut, that she was alive and well. He just had to find her.

Tifa sighed as she began the five hundredth sandwich. Everything was extravagant. Just like the nobles themselves, Tifa mused to herself. She smiled and started on her five hundred first sandwich when a maid came into the room. She ran to Tifa and she was crying. Tifa wiped her hands on her apron and put them on her hips.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Then, Tifa noticed the red marks on her neck and her rumpled hair. Tifa sighed and let all of the anger out. She looked around for her assistant.

"Michael!" she yelled. He popped his head up out of one of his books. "Take over for me!"

"Kiara will kill you," one of the other cooks muttered. Tifa ignored him and brought the maid to behind her station. She took out some salve that was in her station and began applying it to the visible parts on the girl. She didn't say anything as the girl fixed her hair. It wasn't until the girl looked up at her that Tifa smiled reassuringly.

"I can't say that you will be fine right away," she said. The girl tensed up. "But you will survive. That's all you can do. Don't worry; I'll have you transferred to work down here. I'll make one of the men work as his valet." The girl wept in gratitude. "You can stay here for the rest of the day." Tifa smiled and got up. She was about to go up to administration when Kiara stepped in her way.

"Who is it now?" she asked. Tifa took a deep breath. She clenched her fists.

"The girl is only fifteen," she said. Kiara took in a sharp breath and her eyes glowed. She nodded and Tifa ran up the stairs. She went down into the library. Sephiroth saw her and she motioned him to remain seating. She went into the back, pressed a button on the wall, and went into the administration the back way. She went down a flight of stairs and opened the door. She went right to the employer's office and slammed the door open. She glared at the woman on top of the director's lap, but she scurried away.

"Rude, I have to talk to you," she said. She let him get his shirt straightened and his sunglasses back on.

"What do you want, Tifa?" he asked. Tifa took a deep breath.

"Another girl was raped," she said. "Get him a gay valet now. I don't care if he's the king or not. He doesn't deserve to live when he has raped at least three women this month alone." Rude gasped and nodded. He started dialing the phone and looked at Tifa.

"I'm sorry, Tifa," he said. She shook her head and looked at him.

"After what he did to my mother, I can't let him do it to anyone else," she said. Rude nodded and called the number. Tifa closed her eyes at the horrible memories. It was bad enough that she lived through them night after night. She didn't want to live with them during the day.

Tifa appeared in the library a little while later. She looked around and saw Sephiroth standing right in front of her path. She looked up and he frowned down at her. She sighed. Big brother needed an explanation.

"Why were you down in the secret tunnels?" he asked her. She looked at him defiantly.

"I had to take care of a problem," she said. She started to walk around him, but he got in her way. She just sighed, knowing that she would have to answer him later anyways. She took a deep, calming breath in and looked him straight in the eye.

"The guy who calls himself the king rapes the maids," she said. She tensed and looked at him more boldly. "He waits for them to get settled into their routine and then he attacks. They get comfortable with the cleaning schedule. He waits in his room deliberately. He makes sure that he's there when they come into his room. He's raped at least four women this month alone."

"How do you know about this?" Sephiroth asked with a cold gleam in his eyes. Tifa felt one tear run down her cheek. She wiped it away and looked down.

"When you left that night, he found mom and me," she said. She looked up and tears started rolling down her cheeks. "He told one of the guards to hold me while he raped her. He laughed every time she struggled. Her cries became hoarse after he had her twice. He smiled in glee when she withered and moaned. When he was done, he had her tossed out of the palace. He told me that I had to work in the kitchens. The day I became eighteen… he would do the same to me…" she cried silently. Sephiroth looked at her and mentally calculated her age. She had been five when the attack had happened and it had been fifteen long years. He started seeing red. He looked down at her, the question in his eyes. She just nodded.

"I'm going to kill him," he said. He brought her into his hug and let her cry. He kept seeing red until Angeal came up to him. He looked at Angeal and let him see Tifa. Angeal nodded gently and extended his hand to Tifa.

"My name is Angeal," he said. Tifa nodded and smiled warmly at him. Sephiroth tensed up. She put one hand on his arm and extended her hand to Angeal.

"Thank you for taking care of my brother," she said graciously. Angeal only nodded.

"Angeal," Sephiroth said. Angeal immediately looked at him. "The puppy is going to watch her like a hawk. She doesn't get out of his sight once. If she does, I'll kill him myself." Angeal didn't even ask why. He just nodded and looked at Tifa.

"We will all protect the treasure that you've been longing to see for fifteen years," he said. Tifa looked at him confused. "Your brother let the story slip one night at a very small bar. It was the tenth anniversary of the demise and he got roaring drunk. Genesis and I were the ones to carry him home. Let's just say that you two have been through a lot. We are to help you both." He smiled and bowed to her. He went to find Zack.

Tifa looked at Sephiroth. She shook her head. He only nodded.

"I don't need protection," she said. He looked at her and shook his head.

"You are getting it, whether or not you want it," he said. "I am not letting you get harmed again. That bastard is going to pay for what he did to our family." Tifa started to protest. Sephiroth held up a hand. "You are my only family left. Do not let me loose you too." She stopped and looked at him. Suddenly, her eyes grew mischievous.

"I'm not the only family here," she said and smiled. Sephiroth looked at her. "Go down to the dungeons. They're still in the east wing. Go to the last cell. Say hi to him for me." She smiled and went back to work.

Sephiroth just stood there, taking everything she had told him in. He couldn't believe that she was still here and still serving everyone after all that she had been dealt with. She was truly an extraordinary young woman. She had seen hurt and yet overcome everything. He couldn't get over the fact that she had done everything without his help. She was just like their father in so many ways. She may look like their mother, but she was most surely their father's daughter.

And then, Sephiroth made his way down to the dungeons. He took the winding tunnel at the end of the east wing hallway. He smiled as he remembered his way down the tunnel. He and his friends had played tag down here and had all gotten lost one way or another. He smiled and made his way down to the last cell. Each cell had only one window for light. There were bars on them. The doors were long steel bars that were so close to prevent anyone from getting in or out. They could be brought down by a couple of explosives. Or better yet, acids would do the trick. They were silent and fast. A good combination when working for an escape route. He heard groans of the men locked away and then heard a very familiar voice.

"I wondered how long it would take you to come see me," a very deep voice resonated from within the last cell. Sephiroth paused and became straight as an arrow. He smiled as he saw his father for the first time in fifteen years. He had longer hair and was sporting a very long beard. He also looked fairly clean in his bright orange uniform. The old man put one eyebrow up and Sephiroth actually started to sweat.

"I'm guessing she told you, then?" he asked. He correctly assessed the look on his son's face and nodded. "Believe me, that's all I have thought about for the past year, eleven months, fifteen days and four hours."

"You've been counting?" Sephiroth said. His father spat at him. He looked furious. Sephiroth felt the same way. His father, though, was having a hard time containing his rage. Instead, he looked at his son and began observing the changes from the boy he knew to the man standing in front of him. He smiled at what he saw.

"Let me guess," he said. "The coat tells me that you came from the south. There's a strip on one of the flaps, so I'm guessing that you're a general. Very nice. The southern army did you justice, I take it. They only have four occupancies for generals, and I have a feeling that three of you are here. Hm. Do you think that that was wise?"

"How did you know all of that?" he asked his father. His father barked out a laugh.

"I was once a general, boy," he said. "I served the eastern army. It was before your mother and I married." He looked beyond his son and groaned. "What good that training has done for me. In here, there's nothing to do except think and plan." Sephiroth just looked at his father and nodded.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked. His father nodded. "Why did that night happen?"

"There was a bad argument in the council," he began. "My chancellor was against a bill that would decrease the taxes on the working class. He wanted tax breaks for the nobility. I was against it. The council was too. At least, some of them were. The others were conspiring to get your mother and I off the throne. They wanted all the power of running the kingdom. They needed someone who was power hungry to do that for them. They found him. He made the plans. Very thorough, if I might give him some credit. They took over in one shallow swoop. Everything was done less than an hour. If you want to pull something off, boy, you are going to have to plan." Sephiroth nodded and looked at his father. His father gave him one word of advice. "There are lower levels to this deep castle. If I were you, I would see what was down there. It might surprise you." He motioned for Sephiroth to go against the wall. Sephiroth nodded and pushed the loose brick in. It opened a passage way that led back up to the northern wing. His father winked at him. "I'll be waiting here."

Tifa dried her tears as she went back to the kitchen. She smiled Michael stepped back. She nodded and began cooking again. She sensed another presence behind her, but continued to ignore him until he spoke up.

"Why are you working in the kitchen?" Zack asked her. She didn't even turn around to answer him.

"I have to earn a living somehow," she said. He chuckled.

"I mean, you're royalty. You should be the one sleeping in the huge bed chambers, not cleaning them," he said. Tifa rolled her eyes.

"This coming from the true prince of the southern kingdom?" she asked. He paused and then looked at her back.

"How did you know about that?" he asked her. She laughed softly and turned her body to make eye contact for one brief moment.

"Royalty recognizes royalty," she said. "That's why no one knew that you were the prince. The chancellor could never tell anyways. He is too consumed with self pride and a quest for power that he can't handle himself." She scoffed and held back unshed tears. She looked down at her station and began working at a faster pace. Every time she became sad or depressed, she would channel it into her work. It got things done and it got her out of the situation that she could never be in unless she was truly idiotic. She suppressed everything. She didn't know how to deal with all the problems that had happened to her. It wasn't a bad way, but it was still keeping everything in.

"Hey," Zack's voice broke through her thoughts. "If you need to talk, I'm here." Tifa looked back at him and he smiled a genuine smile. She broke down right then and there. She went into his arms without thinking and started crying. He held her close and smiled as she wept.

"I'm right here," he said. She let all the sadness that she had held in for fifteen long years out. She kept crying and he just held her close. Kiara had come and had nodded to him. She had taken over Tifa's station and motioned for him to go to the back of the kitchen. He had brought them into the back and he had continued holding her. He held her until it was time to serve dinner. She looked up and shook her head. He shook his and held her closer, if that was at all possible.

"What's happening to me?" she asked him. He smiled against her neck. He then began to speak and she could hear the rumble of his voice in his chest.

"My mother used to say that I would know the love of my life when I met her," he said. "She said that the love of my life would drive me crazy to distraction and make me want to protect her without even knowing why. She said that I would fall for her instantly. I guess she was right." He brought his head up and looked her right in the eyes. "I'm sorry that it took me so long to get here." Tifa looked down and started crying all over again.

"I'm sorry," she said. He just laughed and kept her safe in his arms.

A/N: Well, well, well… that was certainly a good chapter, wasn't it? I just want you to know that the guy that is the bad guy in my head is very evil. I am going to have him gone in like two chapters. Thank God that Aerith was adopted. I guess I spilled the beans on that one. Don't worry, the dinner is coming up in the next chapter. Sephiroth is not going to remain still. Not when that… guy… is in the same room. Originally, I had the intention of having Tifa just protect the girls that were violated by the man, but it didn't work out like that. She will get him back though. That is definitely going to be a page long. Thank you for reading. If you want to leave a review, the button is down there calling you to press it.

Until next time

DarkBelieverAnge