Broken Wings - Chapter Four
When she awakened, he was standing at her bedside, peering at her through the steel rails on the side of her bed.
She wasn't sure what she had expected, but she was fairly sure that it wasn't even close to the perfect, seraphic child before her. Long, silver hair fell to his waist, his bangs quite a bit shorter, framing his all too pale face. He was clad in a plain, white hospital gown that did no justice him. Stunningly deep emerald green eyes peered at her, as if he were nervous or afraid. "Hello." His voice was uniquely melodic, quite unlike any other she had heard before, but still rang with childish timidity and innocence.
"Hi," she said back, flushing red. "Are you Sephiroth?"
The boy smiled, though he still didn't come any closer. One of the rails was still obstructing her view. "Gast said you were probably listening. I'm…" he blushed, awkwardly searching for the appropriate words to say. "…Glad you're up. What's your name?"
She grimaced. "I don't really…have one."
Sephiroth tilted his head, obviously thinking this curious. "Then I'll have to find you one!"
She burrowed her head into the pillow, afraid of the color her face was turning. "Thank you, Sephiroth."
Sephiroth smiled, and finally dared to pull himself up to sit beside her. He bounced up and down and she giggled as her body rocked gently.
But without the bars hiding him from her sight, she made another startling discovery. She stopped laughing and gasped, eyes wide with this new revelation.
From Sephiroth's back sprouted a single, ebony wing. The span was easily longer than his outstretched arm; she didn't see how she could have missed it before.
Sephiroth followed her gaze. "Oh," he said, his head lowering and his eyes dimming. "You weren't expecting that, were you?"
The girl couldn't speak, couldn't hardly breathe.
Sephiroth started to slide down her bed when she regained her composure. She seized his hand, surprised at how cold it was. "No!" she cried. "It's beautiful!"
Sephiroth turned to her, surprised. "Beautiful?" He spoke the word slowly and uncertainly, like it came from a foreign language. He sidled back to her side, moving closer than he had been previously.
"Can I…?" She extended her fingers, her eyes simultaneously shining with wonder and pleading for permission.
Sephiroth unfurled his wing as far as he could, sweeping air across her. A feather fell, brushing her face and falling in her lap. Her mouth fell slightly open; it was more majestic than she ever could have imagined. "Go ahead," he said with a small smile on his perfect face. "It won't hurt me."
She reached out and skimmed her fingers across his wing, timidly at first, but soon stroking it longingly. "Can you…fly?"
"Hojo says I might, one day. He would like that. It's why he gave it to me in the first place."
"You weren't born with this?"
"No," Sephiroth said. "Just another experiment."
She raised her head to look at him, horrified. "Experiment? Did you consent to this?"
Sephiroth looked at her like she had proposed the sky was maroon. She could tell the answer, though he never specified it. "That's the way it's always been. The way it always will be."
She looked at him in shock. "This wasn't the first time either, was it?"
Sephiroth shook his head. "It's nothing, really! He says I'll be strong, that I'll be a great hero."
"But…"
She didn't get a chance to finish, because the door opened yet again.
A/N: Kind of abrupt ending, I know, but I had to save some for the next flashback. Thank you for all the reviwes and death threats, I feel very loved. Since it's still the weekend, I should be able to get another chapter up before Monday, but I can't promise anything.