A/N: Just wanted to thank to all my new readers! I hereby present the following shout-outs:

Ardwynna Morrigu: There were many things bugging me about the whole "last of the Ancients" spiel, including the purity of Ifalna's bloodline, and who her own family was. I decided to come up with my own original answers and put them in this fic. Thanks for reading!

Guest: Thanks for reading! I understand what you mean about Sephiroth's speech being very formal. Despite the abuse he likely suffers, I would imagine he's getting nothing short of the best education a child could have, which would account for him speaking the way he does. However, he's still a kid at this point, and at precisely the right age where he might even try to "dumb" himself down to fit in with his fellow soldiers, even if he's just trying to see what happens. J

Faunalind: Thanks. I look forward to writing more of this. Wolff will be exiting the scene very soon though. However, history is about to change for him, and therefore Elmyra… ;)

JazzQueen: What's somewhat interesting is that he does seem to have the "fatherly" urge to pass his knowledge onto Sephiroth. Even in the game.

Destinykeyblade: The vents were inspired from a show I used to watch as a kid called "Ocean Girl". In one of the episodes, the kids(who were about 13-16) were easily able to crawl through them and eavesdrop on the adults. Besides…there's a reason the vents needed to be so big in my story… ;)


Chapter 4: The Decision

He had to calm down. Nobody could know what he had just learned. Nobody…

Suddenly, his mind wandered over to Ifalna…trapped in that godforsaken mako tank. He then bit his lip until he tasted blood. It would heal. That was what he was supposed to do. Sephiroth, the boy wonder…and all this time…Hojo's…

He refused to let himself think of the word.

Hojo and the president had finally left, but Sephiroth had lingered in the enclosed area, unable to move. He would have cried, except for the fact that he had promised himself long ago that he wouldn't. Never would he shed another tear on account of that sorry hack who called himself a scientist…


"Sephiroth, are you even listening to me?"

The boy snapped out of his thoughts from last night and found himself back in the small classroom. He looked up and saw the very irritated expression on his military tactics professor's face.

"What was the question?" he asked wearily.

"I asked you how your presentation on surprise attacks was coming along," the former army colonel said impatiently.

"I picked a theme," Sephiroth answered, "Since it was decided I was to keep busy patrolling here until my next assignment, I thought that it should be about security right here in the building."

His teacher looked surprised, and then pleased. "That's a very interesting idea," he praised the boy. "I look forward to seeing a rough draft at the end of the week."

Sephiroth regarded the man with an unreadable expression, and simply nodded.


"What are you doing?" Sephiroth asked later that day, as he and Wolff stood guard outside the elevator.

Aerith stood to the right of Sephiroth, her small chest puffed out, and her tiny fists clenched.

"Helping you," she replied, looking straight ahead.

Wolff shot a glance at her, and couldn't help but chuckle.

"And just what do you intend to do if some insane criminal bursts through the doors and decides to attack everyone in sight?" Sephiroth asked, fighting a smile.

"I'll bite them!" Aerith said fiercely, "That's what I did to the mean old man with the long hair who took Mama to the bad room."

Sephiroth looked down at Aerith in surprise. She had bitten Hojo? How he wished he had been there to see that!

"He tried to hit me, but Mama grabbed his arm and yelled at him even louder than before," Aerith went on.

Wolff didn't miss the flash of anger in Sephiroth's eyes.

"What did she say?" Sephiroth asked, trying to sound casual.

"Bad words," Aerith giggled.

"And yet she gets on my case if I use them…" Sephiroth muttered, somewhat annoyed.

"When is she gonna come out?" Aerith asked.

"Soon," said Sephiroth.

Wolff caught Sephiroth's eye and gave him a look, as if he were silently telling him not to give the girl false hope. Sephiroth stared back, a self-assured expression on his face. Wolff looked away, puzzled.

"Aerith!"

Miss Elliott appeared around the corner and went up to the little girl, a disapproving look on her face.

"Stop bothering the guards and stay where you're supposed to," she scolded, "You're due for your checkup in just a few minutes. Now come along!"

"No!" Aerith shouted.

"You know you have to," her caretaker droned in a no-nonsense tone.

Sephiroth grimaced. Aerith was right about the woman being boring. Just her voice was almost enough to put the young swordsman to sleep.

"I don't like checkups either, little lady," Wolff said sympathetically, "but we gotta do these things sometimes. That's how we get big and strong. Don't you wanna be big and strong like me and Seph here?"

"I don't wanna see the mean man!" Aerith protested.

"It'll be over soon," Sephiroth tried to reassure her, "Just don't talk to him unless he asks you a question. Don't give him a chance to make some stupid speech to try and show you how smart he thinks he is, otherwise he'll keep you there until he stops talking. Believe me, I know."

Aerith pouted.

"Aw, where's that smile I love?" Wolff teased her, "Go see the doctor, be good, and Seph and I will see you at dinner tonight, alright?"

"Okay…" Aerith sighed as she went to join Miss Elliott.

"Honestly!" the woman said as they disappeared around the corner, "What would your mother say if she knew you were being so disobedient?"

"She'd let me stay up to watch the 'late-nite movie'," Sephiroth could hear Aerith answer.

Wolff chuckled. "God help Elmyra if she ever had to deal with a kid like that…"


Sephiroth glanced around the small room he was in, scribbling down notes.

It was after dinner, and he had a few hours before lights-out. He was working on his assignment, and was studying all of the rooms that the vent tunnels connected to. Right now, he was in one of the labs. It was a small room, with a cage in the corner, holding a goblin that looked to be about three feet tall. Sephiroth could only guess his height, as the creature was curled up in a ball, apparently asleep.

There were several different monsters of all sizes being kept in cages and containers all over the science department. His project, and growing responsibilities in the army allowed him to have greater access to the area, and he realized that Ifalna and Aerith had it much better than most of the creatures here. They all seemed to be equally miserable, however. But here they all were, nonetheless, for one reason or another.

"Just what kind of secrets do you all hold?" Sephiroth asked the goblin rhetorically.

The creature raised his head up. "Wouldn't you like to know?" he taunted.

Sephiroth jumped, startled. "Since when do goblins know how to talk?" he exclaimed.

"Can't speak for anyone but myself," said the goblin, "which is ever since I could remember. What's it to ya? I can take you on! Put 'em up!"

He jumped up and began to swing his fists at the young soldier. Sephiroth took a closer look, realizing that the creature was wearing boxing gloves.

"Like my gloves?" the goblin quipped, "They're brand-new! Next time one of those white-coated bastards comes in, and opens the door to feed me, I'll just give 'em what-for, and I'm outta here!"

The door opened, and an intern walked inside. "Oh, hello, Sephiroth," she said in a phony, patronizing tone, "What brings you in here?"

The goblin fell silent, save for a couple of growls at Sephiroth.

"…My presentation," Sephiroth said warily, "It's on how to defend Shinra Headquarters against a surprise attack. I outline the attack scenario, and then come up with a strategy."

"Hey, that's neato!" the intern said, clearly not meaning it. Sephiroth could recognize that tone, that clearly said: "You're a dumb kid, but I'll play along and act all excited for you."

"How long has that goblin been here?" Sephiroth asked.

"Oh Boxer? A while," the intern replied, "He's supposed to be under experimental treatment that would make him sentient. We'd hoped he'd be able to talk, but so far, no good. He's smart, though. Just last week, he tried to escape by reaching through the bars and lifting the latch. We put the boxing gloves on him so he wouldn't be able to do that anymore. That was my idea. Don't they look cute?"

Sephiroth smirked at the goblin, who looked away angrily.

"Sure!" he said in a fake cheerful tone, subtly mocking the intern, "Well, too bad he can't talk. That really would be 'neato', wouldn't it?"

"You bet," the intern replied obliviously, in the same plastic tone.

"I'll let you get back to work," said Sephiroth.

He heard the woman saying something- probably goodbye- in the same voice as he slammed the door behind him.

For some reason, he couldn't help but find himself liking the goblin…Boxer. Obviously, he was smarter than the dullard who worked in that room.

Did all of Shinra's test subjects act so rebelliously? And here, he thought he and Ifalna were the only ones(although Aerith was starting to learn quickly). Clearly, he had a lot to learn about the 68th floor, despite it having been his home for so many years.

Never mind. He still had a lot of work to do tonight, and every night before he was deployed again. However, the majority of his to-do list had to wait until after lights-out.


Colonel Rock Vanheim had retired from service two years ago, and had planned to live out the remainder of his days in Costa Del Sol. However, his wife finding out about the existence of not one, but two mistresses led to a series of unfortunate events; the main one being a word he now hated: alimony. What was worse was that his ex-wife had managed to find the best lawyers to suck him dry. He was able to keep the house(as well as his mistresses), but if he ever wanted to live on those beautiful beaches and keep his women entertained, he would need to put off his retirement.

Fortunately, the opportunity to instruct young Sephiroth seemed to fall into his lap. The boy was like a sponge, absorbing everything he was taught. True, he was the creepiest child Vanheim had ever encountered, with those unnerving reptilian eyes, and his cold demeanor. His intelligence also intimidated many people from the Shinra, who would whisper that the child should never have been born…that he was a ticking time-bomb.

Vanheim had agreed…until he saw his first paycheck as an instructor. For that kind of easy money, the boy could burn the Midgar Plate to cinders if he wanted…so long as he got his money.

"Colonel!"

Vanheim turned around to see Sephiroth running to catch up to him. The boy handed him a piece of paper.

"What's this?" he asked, looking at the paper.

"A brief summary of my presentation," Sephiroth answered, his demeanor seeming overly casual and slightly…arrogant, if Vanheim was not mistaken?

"Our class is not for another hour, Sephiroth," Vanheim reminded him.

"I was hoping you might be able to read it by then and tell me what you think," Sephiroth told him.

The old man nodded. "I'm about to go on my lunch break. I'll read it very soon."

"Thank you. I'll see you in an hour," Sephiroth said as he walked away.

Vanheim watched the boy leave. Strange, but it seemed as though he was trying not to laugh…


"Seph!" Aerith exclaimed as she saw her friend walking down the hallway.

"There you are," Sephiroth remarked, smiling. "I was just about to go find you. I've got this amazing new game that I made up. What do you say? Do you want to play?"

"Sure!" Aerith said eagerly, "How do you play?"

"First…" Sephiroth said as he took the little girl's hand and led her toward his quarters, "…I'm going to show you my secret hiding place. Then, all you have to do is stay there until I get back…"


Vanheim put down his phone and sighed. No sooner did he sit down in the classroom to eat his lunch, than one of his mistresses called, begging for "quality time" over the PHS if he couldn't be there in person. The instructor had quickly gone over to the door and locked it, making sure no one would hear him talking dirty on the phone.

He glanced at the clock and groaned. She had kept him on for nearly his entire break. He had less than five minutes to read Sephiroth's paper before the boy would arrive, asking him what he thought. He took his glasses off of his shirt collar, put them on, and began to read silently:

Lone assailant, possibly terrorist…

He stopped and rolled his eyes. One assailant? What kind of weak scenario was this?

Through days of information-gathering as an undercover employee, assailant learns the ins-and-outs of the compound, learning of a master control panel on the 68th floor, that opens the gates. He releases all of the specimens, including dangerous monsters that begin to attack everyone on the floor creating a diversion before assassinating the president…

Just then, an alarm went off. Vanheim leaped out of his chair, realizing that this was a code red. A security breach.

He opened the and looked out into the hallway, seeing a small group of troopers running past him as fast as they could.

"Hello, Colonel."

Vanheim turned around to see Sephiroth standing behind him, a menacing smirk on his face.

"What the-?! Stop smiling like that and go see what's going on!" he sputtered, "What's the matter with you?! Don't you know this is a code red?!"

"Yes," Sephiroth said coolly, "I do. Didn't you read the paper I gave you?"

They heard a woman screaming and a monster hissing. The scream was suddenly cut off and became a gurgle. Vanheim turned pale as he realized what was going on.

"You actually did these things?!" he shrieked.

"And I'm afraid I have a little confession to make," said Sephiroth, "I didn't come up with a defense plan…just the attack scenario. I simply couldn't be bothered."

"Have you gone mad?!" the man exclaimed.

Sephiroth summoned Masamune, and lifted it up threateningly. The man reached for his holster.

"No, I wouldn't do that," said the young swordsman, using the flat part of the blade to fling the man's hand away, "I can slice off that arm much quicker than you can pull out your gun. Best to turn around, leave, and protect the people here from all those escaped test subjects. Just let me do what I intend to do, and I won't slice your head off. Does that sound fair to you?"

Assassinating the president…Vanheim recalled as he sped off. He knew he couldn't stop Sephiroth himself, but he could at least warn the chief…


Sephiroth stared at Ifalna for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, he pulled out the piece of paper from his pocket, and went over to the control panel. He began entering the codes, and was pleased when he heard a hissing sound from the center of the room. He looked back and saw the mako rapidly draining from the tank. When it was empty, the front hatch popped open with a mechanical groan.

Sephiroth was there in a fraction of a second, catching Ifalna as she tumbled out, soaked to the skin with the sticky green substance. Not wasting any time, Sephiroth began doing chest compressions on the woman in order to get her breathing again. Thankfully, it didn't take long before her eyes popped open and she took a deep, gasping breath.

"Where am I...?" she coughed.

"Shhh!" Sephiroth hissed, "Not so loud!"

"Sephiroth…?" she whispered as she opened her eyes.

"Can you stand up?" he asked.

"I don't know…" she said uncertainly.

Sephiroth took her arm and wrapped it around his shoulder and stood up, helping the woman to her feet. Cautiously, she took one step, and then another.

"Come on," he said when he was satisfied that she was steady enough.

"Where are we going?"

"Away," Sephiroth replied simply.

"Huh?" Ifalna stopped and stared intently at her young friend.

"Aerith is waiting in the tunnels for us right now," Sephiroth told her, "We have to hurry!"

"Sephiroth, why now?"

Sephiroth refused to look at her. "Do you want out or not?"

Ifalna peered at the boy, a concerned expression on her face. "What happened, Sephiroth?"

"We don't have time!" the boy protested as he led her toward the nearest grate. He knelt down, yanked it off, and crawled inside. "Follow me. We can talk once we're safe."

He wasn't looking forward to that at all, but he felt that Ifalna deserved some kind of explanation...eventually.


"Mama!" Aerith exclaimed as she threw her arms around her mother. "Ew- you're all sticky!"

"Shh!" Sephiroth hissed, "We still have to be quiet, okay?"

"Listen to Sephiroth," Ifalna whispered, putting her finger over her mouth to emphasize her point.

"Think of it like another new game," Sephiroth whispered to Aerith, "Just try to stay quiet as long as you can. When we win, we'll get to do something really amazing. We'll get to walk out into the sunlight."

Rather than encourage the little girl, the prospect of the sun seemed to frighten her.

"I'll also buy you something special," he added, "I promise. Do I ever break a promise?"

Aerith shook her head no.

"All right. See that grate right next to me? It leads to the stairwell. I'm going to push the grate off, and we're going to climb through the opening. Then, I'm going to carry you in my arms, because I can carry things and still not make a sound. You're going to help me by staying quiet as well. I'm going to be running really fast though, so don't be scared. I won't drop you."

Aerith nodded, determined to prove to her best friend she could play this new game.

Sephiroth turned to Ifalna, "You climb on my back and hold tightly. I've run obstacle courses carrying nearly three times my weight. The two of you shouldn't be any problem at all. Let's go."

He delivered a sharp kick to the grate, sending it flying down the stairs in front of him. The three of them crawled out and stood up.

"You know I can't let you go any further," said a voice.

Wolff ascended the stairs and stood in front of a stunned Sephiroth.

"Did we lose?" Aerith whispered to Ifalna.

"I think we did, little one," Ifalna said, blinking back tears.

"Don't make me have to fight you," Sephiroth said quietly as he summoned Masamune again.

"Do you think I can just let you go?" Wolff pointed out.

"I don't want to hurt you!" Sephiroth pleaded, "I don't care about anyone else, but if I have to hurt you, I won't forgive myself!"

"Obviously you don't care about anyone else," Wolff stated angrily, "I counted three dead bodies on the way to the staircase. And that's on the 67th floor, from where I came. I don't even want to know what those monsters that stayed on the 68th floor did!"

"Monsters?" Ifalna was confused.

"I set free all the specimens," Sephiroth explained, holding his sword defensively, "I also made them think I planned to assassinate the president so they would keep him guarded, rather than the exits."

"Sephiroth, most of those creatures were dangerous!" Ifalna protested.

"I did what I had to do!" the teenager snapped, "Wolff, get out of my way! This is the last time I'm going to tell you that!"

"I can't let you go without a fight," Wolff said, cringing. "Just…don't get carried away. We both know it has to look real…"

Suddenly, Sephiroth realized what Wolff was doing. He let out a sigh of relief.

"Let me keep my hands at least…" Wolff joked ruefully.

Sephiroth nodded. "Run, you two," he said without turning around, "Go down one set of stairs and wait for me there. I'll be there very shortly.

Ifalna grabbed Aerith's hand and quickly led her down the stairs, offering a quick prayer to the Planet.


A/N: Okay, I promise, I'm not doing this on purpose. These chapters just seem to end on cliffhangers. I'll work hard to make sure the next chapter has at least some resolution. I've got about two or three chapters before part 1 of this story ends. Part 2 will take us to the main storyline, and elaborate further on Ifalna's backstory, which plays a HUGE part.