CHAPTER 2

The shhhhh-ink! of the sword sliding back into it's sheath behind him caused him to flinch on the ground. He looked behind him at the figure, the spitting image of death itself.

The general approached him, walking down th trail of blood, a red carpet boasting to the greatest extent his infamous ability to strike pain and fear upon every being he came in contact with.

He turned back over on his stomach, wincing in the dizzying pain as he pulled himself on his elbows, knowing it was hopeless but knowing even more that he didn't want to feel that blade against his body again.

The general's shadow fell over him, and he clenched his fingers around the grass, a gesture proving to be useless as well. The grass ripped up in his fists as the general lifted him from the ground by the back of his collar, turning him around so he could see the smirk on his face.

His fists loosened, and the blades of grass whipped around the two of them.

"You've got...masamune," he snarled weakly through clenched and bloody teeth. "What else...do you want?"

The general tilted his head and chuckled, sending a rapid series of chills over his suspended figure.

"What I want?" The general placed the sharp edge of masamune against his cheek, his green eyes following the slow trickle of blood down the sword momentarily before carelessly making their way back up to the eyes of the same catlike mystique.

"What I want is hardly important. It's what...Mother wants that truly matters."

"Absurd!" He struggled against the grip that had somehow moved from his collar to his neck. "Listen to me—You're acting like a complete imbecile! Mother doesn't love you, she doesn't love any of us!"

The general closed his eyes and gave him a relaxed shrug. "I figured you would say something like that."

"She used us to get to you, and she used you to get rid of us! Mother wants us all dead!"

The blade was lowered to his neck. He grabbed hold of the general's wrist and looked him in the eye, pleading with him to come to his senses.

"Sephiroth!"

The general's eyes snapped up to his face, a demonic smile reflecting off of masamune as Sephiroth observed the fear on his face.

"You ignorant bastard!" he shouted, getting hardly more than a blink from Sephiroth, who refused to react towards such inaccurate accusations. "Don't you understand?"

"Don't you?"

"Sephiroth—big brother, please—"

"Like I said before," he interrupted. A large, black wing emerged from his back as he spoke. "It's what Mother wants...that truly matters."