"So why don't we begin with how you've been coping Mr Gainsborough, or would you prefer first name terms?"
Sephiroth's foot twitched relentlessly as he sat on the beige couch in the lime green room.
The therapist, a Doctor Timpany, sat opposite him on a soft coral arm chair.
Oriental plants were placed on the indenture of the wall where the lime green walls met the bay window, its white blinds, half shut, cast a soft glow on the room as the wintry afternoon sunlight attempted to glow through the heavy clouds and pierce the window.
"Just tell her the truth." Posie prompted, sat next to him on the sofa. No matter how many times he shook his head, she just wouldn't leave.
"Sephiroth is fine." True, Gainsborough was better than Sephiroth Hojo, but Gainsborough had been his wife's choice of surname when they married, it carried a sort of nostalgic ambience with it, and hearing it aloud often felt like sacrilege.
"Well Sephiroth, how have you been?" She softly asked.
He frowned, confused and untrusting he moved his head to the side, peering out the corners of his eyes. "Why do you ask?"
"Raising a child is tiring, let alone under these circumstances, how do you feel you've handled things?"
Sephiroth's mind progressed back three days.
…
Taking your child home (from hospital) is supposedly every parent's dream, no matter the circumstances. It's a moment viewed as a new start, a better beginning, but as Sephiroth poked and pushed his squealing daughter into the evil stroller and tried to tie her up with the straps; the future appeared bleaker than any other parent may have viewed it.
"I don't like it either!" He answered her shrieks. The straps eventually clicked together and he began steering her home, feeling he was the embodiment of conspicuousness.
Unable to walk until her feet were healed, Sephiroth vowed to throw the stroller into the Lifestream as soon as Alice could stand on her own two feet. It was a neon pink contraption designed to humiliate parent and child. It had a mind of its own, rolling into corners rather than around them, which only made parenting a greater challenge.
Alice's cries soon stopped and she became so quiet Sephiroth found himself leaning over the handles to see if she was well, either that or wriggled free when the left wheel had done that strange spin that sent the entire chair off course. But Alice was still there; well wrapped in a coat, scarf and hat, hugging Pancake and gazing at the world he steered her through.
She quietened when they entered Sector 8's milder locations; busy with people and cars.
She squinted at the low winter sun, flinched at the passing people, stared at the passing pet dogs and other children. Sephiroth then realised that she may have never seen another child before, he was both wrought with dread and curiosity when he thought of introducing her to… other children… he shook his head to dismiss the image of his house full of them during some pink-struck Cissnei planned birthday party.
Alice seemed to recognise the fountain in the plaza as a landmark of home. Springing to life a little more she leant out of her chair to observe it and reached into its misty spray while Sephiroth cursed at the stroller wheels spinning on the polished tile ground.
In his apartment building he left the stroller at the bottom of the stairs, too frustrated to deal with it any further.
"You're home!" A single voice yelled as he opened the door.
Alice screamed and dug her fingers into his shoulders.
"I said don't shout, Zack!" Angeal reprimanded.
"Did the chair-thing survive the journey?" Genesis turned a page of his book.
"Why are you all here?" Sephiroth asked, prizing Alice's claws from him as he looked for a space to set her down, choosing to sit her next to Angeal who Alice seemed to remember and quickly hid her face in his lap.
"…Because the heating's down on the right side of the building… again." Angeal nonchalantly stroked Alice's hair. "And allowing your life-risking comrades inside on such a cold day is the honourable thing to do." He stressed.
Sephiroth remained silent; he didn't feel like receiving a lecture that day. He placed the backpack full of Alice's belongings on the floor and pulled his hood down, removing the shadows from his face. "She was discharged with more than she took in." He commented, noting how full the bag was.
"Reno and Rude went to visit her," Angeal began, "they brought her a ton of soft toys, Cissnei sent clothes from Junon, Genesis took her some picture books and I gave her colouring pads and crayons."
"I gave her soft toys too." Zack mentioned, bending down so he could pull faces at Alice until she reached out, demanding a hug.
Sephiroth removed his coat as he walked to the kitchen, finding his favourite mug he readied the coffee machine.
The pocket of his coat, laid on the kitchen surface, began to leap and chime as he received a text.
Show her her ROOM!
He sighed at Cissnei's message, knowing he'd only receive another in a few minutes if he didn't inform her of Alice's response.
"Alice!" He returned to the living room, took her from Zack and walked into the newly decorated bedroom. "This is your room."
Alice looked around with a shocked expression and bright eyes. "Down!" She wriggled.
"Down what?" He stressed, walking to the bed and ready to set her on it.
"Down!"
"Say please."
She gaped up at him with large confused eyes.
"That might be a new word Sephiroth." Angeal explained, stood in the doorway to observe Alice's reaction to the room decorated in coffee, cream and lilac.
Sephiroth set her down on the bed and watched her instantly begin pulling at the stuffed cloud plushie pillow and silently fretted when she slid off the bed to crawl to the tea set spread on the round table between two chairs upon the round mat.
…
"She likes her new room and slept in it most of the night." Sephiroth told Doctor Timpany. "Perhaps not being able to walk had something to do with it?" He mumbled.
"But what about you, how have you been handling things?"
…
Soldiers, First Class or not, don't have as much time off as their fans imagine. Free time was filled with training, paperwork, consultations and public appearances whilst working as bodyguards, hit-men and watchmen. Any time off-base was mostly spent sleeping.
"What is this?" Genesis barked, stood in the hall on the Soldier floor as Sephiroth approached from the other end. Alice was sat in his arms clutching Pancake.
The Doctor had given strict instructions, no shoes until further notice; they didn't want any pressure on her stitches, so Alice's feet dangled freely and were warmly wrapped in large fleecy blue and white socks.
Her legs were bruised and swollen as the tendons healed, so Sephiroth had left them bare and dressed her in a dark blue knitted dress with a grey flouncy floral hem. He hoped it would be enough to keep her warm, she hadn't complained so he supposed it had worked.
"Have you lost your mind?"
He frowned, his stride not faltering. "What else was I to do with her?"
"It is not that hard to find a good day care!"
"If it's that easy you can do it." He passed his disgruntled friend.
"Ah! Sephiroth you're here," Lazard began as Sephiroth entered his office, he didn't look away from the computer screen, recognising Sephiroth by the sound of his heavy footfalls and leathery stride, "it's unlike you to be late –" he looked away from the monitor screen on his desk, "is this her?"
He nodded. "Alice, this is Lazard, say hello." Alice whimpered and hid her face in his pauldron.
Lazard chuckled as Sephiroth readied to scold her. "This is hardly a formal visit. I know I said I was interested in meeting her but I hardly meant this soon, not while she's still recovering."
"It's circumstantial, at least until I find an institute or sitter I consider trustworthy enough to care for her."
He frowned. "You mean you intend to bring her in everyday? You're very untrusting Sephiroth; the child will be grown before you find 'Sephiroth approved' care for her!"
He smirked. "That solves my problem then." He left Lazard to ponder his words.
"Sephiroth!" Lazard stood and called after him, annoyed as the sentence resonated in his head.
"If you have no missions for me, I'll be in the training hall. You can message my schedule to my phone."
Lazard sighed and sat back in his seat.
"Rough day already?" A hoarse voice questioned from behind the Shinra sign. A large man walked out from behind it, dressed in a green and red military suit with multiple badges of honour pinned to the front.
His dark brown beard was bushy and his eyes were stern beneath heavy dark brows.
"Heidegger? How long were you there?"
"Long enough. So, Hojo's finally given Sephiroth his little pet project. GAH HA HA HA!"
Lazard frowned. "Heidegger, if you know something –"
"I know many things." He quickly changed the subject. "Sephiroth left before he could be briefed, Shinra can't have its Union Executive become powerless because the Great Sephiroth is able to ignore him; we'd have a disobedience crisis on our hands within the week!"
"To be fair it is Saturday, there's not much of the week left."
"I'm going to talk to that boy, teach him who really runs this military." He began to leave.
Lazard cringed. "Don't get too involved Heidegger."
Heidegger dramatically held a large hand to the badges on his chest. "I am the head of Military; it is my duty to keep my SOLDIER's in their correct places."
When he left Lazard quickly sent a message to Sephiroth:
HEIDEGGER ALERT
…
When the Second-Class SOLDIER's and the cleaning crew left the Company Training Room, Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis had snuck in.
Sephiroth's phone buzzed and on the screen as he received Lazard's message. He turned his phone off; he only wanted one hour of enjoyment… even though Alice was playing with his hair.
"What was the last one?" Angeal asked as Genesis fumbled with his phone.
"The train station."
Sephiroth shook his head. "I'm in the mood for action today; find something a little more challenging."
Genesis frowned. "Why should I take orders from a man too incompetent to find adequate care for the child that shouldn't exist?"
"Shush Genesis!" Angeal hissed. "She can hear you!"
Indignantly he closed his eyes. "She should not even be in here anyway."
"And neither should we." Angeal replied.
Sephiroth smiled. "And that is why it's fun."
"I believe you're a secret exhibitionist?" Genesis continued to sulk as he searched through the map on his phone, trying to find an adequate location for the room to form around them.
"Her feet are broken Genesis, not her ears." Sephiroth adjusted Alice on his arm as she batted his long fringe.
"They broke them?" Angeal questioned.
He nodded. "Something to do with straightening the bones."
"Wutai mountain range!" Genesis exclaimed, his thumb pushing the select button. "You want action, you'll get action."
The walls melted and reformed into little squares that built up around them into tall mountains. They stood on a head carved into the rock miles above the ground, the red sunset shone over their heads. The mountain peaks were so tall they were embedded in cloud, the mountain itself was rugged with ridges, peaks and ledges waiting to be climbed.
Angeal sighed and looked at Alice. "Perhaps something on the flat would be more appropriate Genesis?"
Genesis grinned. "Sephiroth wants a challenge… The first SOLDIER to the summit is today's winner!" He leapt higher from cliff edge to cliff edge, passionately desperate to watch Sephiroth disappear into ant-size beneath him.
"This is a bad idea." Angeal sighed as Sephiroth moved his hand from Alice's back to grab the ridge before him.
He grinned. "Genesis never wins." He leapt high, landing in Genesis' footsteps.
Angeal huffed and leapt after them.
"It's easier to climb when you're not weighed down with another person, don't you find?" Genesis taunted as Sephiroth neared.
"You might actually win if your mouth didn't use up most of your energy." Sephiroth leaped higher, smiling in determination as he landed gracefully on each ledge, occasionally grabbing small ridges and jumping higher when a ledge was out of reach.
Alice yelped each time he jumped and had dug her nails into his neck, holding on tightly.
"Sephiroth stop!" Angeal called as Sephiroth's leaps became more daring, he and Genesis fought to outdo the other with bigger jumps and acrobatics. Genesis twisted here and Sephiroth spun there, Genesis back-flipped onto a mountainous ledge and Sephiroth back-flipped three times up the mountain, deaf to Angeal's calls, one more leap and he'd win!
He leapt towards a ridge and clung onto it, quickly hoisted himself in the air, curled up and flew like a spinning trapeze act before uncurling and elegantly landing on the ledge below the summit that crumbled under his feet.
"SEPHIROTH!" Angeal called as he saw him fall and grab onto a lower ridge by his fingertips, his glove torn and hand skinned having trailed down the rocky mountain front.
Sephiroth hung in mid-air, unable to hurl himself up as his stamina was compromised. "Get on my back." He ordered Alice who had her face buried in his scratched neck. Her eyes were wide as saucers; her screams had become frightened sobs he heard for the first time as her stiff body trembled on his arm.
"I am your father; do as I say!"
"Genesis! Help them!" Angeal cried.
Sephiroth looked up, next to his hand Genesis stood on the narrow crumbling ledge, smiling down at him. They didn't speak, only stared, each daring the other to react, like two cats ready to wage war. Finally, Genesis struck. His heel slammed on Sephiroth's hand and pushed him off the ledge.
"NO!" Angeal yelled as they fell passed him and he was unable to grab them.
The world melted and Sephiroth landed on the floor on his back, Alice wrapped up in his arms on his chest.
Angeal and Genesis fell from the ceiling and landed on their feet on the training room floor.
Genesis stood over him, his smile never faltered. "How lucky you are that a thousand foot drop became a mere seventeen foot." He was spun around and held up by his turtleneck.
"WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?" Angeal hollered.
Genesis nonchalantly pulled free from his hands. "Just a little friendly rivalry between brothers-in-arms."
"There was nothing friendly about it!" Angeal replied.
"Perhaps." Genesis agreed. "Perhaps it is difficult to be brothers-in-arms when one has a child-in-arms."
"You could have killed her." Sephiroth growled, ignoring how Alice's shocked silence had morphed into terrified howls as he stood. "What is wrong with you?"
"Insubordination!" A rough voice called from the doorway. From there, Heidegger sternly glared at them, they stood like three deer's in his headlights. "ATTENTION!" He hollered having expectantly awaited a formal greeting and received none.
They sprung into a line, faces as blank as possible.
"HAND SALUTE!"
Alice screeched each time Heidegger hollered and she bawled as he walked before them.
"What? No 'thank you Sir'? Not even for pulling the plug on your little tryst?"
"THANK YOU SIR!" They replied in unison, internally hoping for lenience as they felt they'd been reduced not only to Third-Class Soldier's again but bad-behaved schoolboys. It had been a long time since Heidegger had pulled rank on them.
"I am TRYING to decide whether Corporal Punishment is too good your LUDICROUS ACTIONS" he stood before Sephiroth "and YOUR INSOLENCE!"
Sephiroth tried not to sigh, with one punch he could knock this angry little man down.
"Angeal and Genesis shall publicly receive ten lashes with the sword! Alice…" His voice became maliciously gentle.
Sephiroth's pupils shrank as he tried to keep his face stoic and laid a hand on Alice's head when Heidegger stroked a lock of her hair.
"She reminds me of her mother. Do you remember when you were a child, separating you two and keeping you in separate cells for a few hours was punishment enough."
Memories flashed inside Sephiroth's head like white light, Posie, thirteen years old, reaching out for him as they were pulled in separate directions.
"Sephiroth!" She'd cried, blindly reaching out for him in Hojo's grip whilst he struggled to get out of Heidegger's grasp, a syringe strong enough to knock out a rhinoceros was stuck in his neck.
"Let go! Let go!" He'd hollered, becoming weaker as he was lifted off the floor and pulled away, hearing that terrible hoarse laugh as he was thrown in the pure white cell, the door slid closed and he, paralysed, wanted to scream and kick, but was trapped within his own body until the effects of the tranquilizer wore off. Until then he'd hear Posie in the cell nearby screeching whilst he awaited a monster of high regard to enter and take advantage of his puppet-like-state.
"It worked then, it will work again." Sephiroth snapped back to reality when Heidegger reached out to snatch Alice.
"RUN SEPHIROTH!" Posie yelled inside his head.
He swung his leg up and kicked Heidegger between the eyes. "Run." He demanded his friends when Heidegger fell to the floor.
Genesis made sure to lock the training room door behind them.
Not long later they were seated in Lazard's office; Heidegger was stood beside him, his eyes blackened and forehead bruised.
Alice nervously sat on Sephiroth's knee, pacified with a bright green apple to chew on.
"Where to begin?" Lazard began.
"I expect public punishment for the lot of them!" Heidegger barked. "And that little wretch belongs in Hojo's care!"
Alice gasped and almost choked on her bite of apple when Heidegger mentioned Hojo.
Sephiroth slammed his fist on her back until she coughed the bite up.
"Don't get the juice on you, you're allergic to apples." Posie warned, stood behind him like a benevolent ghost.
"Corporal punishment of First-Class SOLDIER's has to be discussed directly with the President who is away on business. Besides, we can't have our First Class SOLDIER's appearing weak before the men who have to trust them."
"Well that may be what you think –!"
"That's what I'm putting in my report. The President can see to it from there. But I'm suggesting a drop in salary until then."
…
"But what about you, how have you been handling things?" Dr Timpany asked.
"Fine." Sephiroth replied and heard Posie smack her forehead into her palm.