*****

"So, you hoping to get into SOLDIER?" The kid with the wild yellow hair glanced up at his interrogator.

"Yeah...how `bout you?" He evaluated the person. Black hair done to look like a hedgehog or something, blue eyes, and a friendly grin. Perhaps this guy was actually trying to be nice.

"Unh-huh. I'm gonna be First Class! ... I think you're supposed to say that or something...everybody expects it on this thing..."

`This thing' was a large bus, full of anxious young men and women eager to prove their worth and become part of Shin-Ra's elite fighting force. Many of the hopefuls were busily reading Heidegger's Guide to Hand-To-Hand Combat.

"So...what's yer name?" The kid with the black hair looked at him again.

"Cloud...and you?"

"Zack. Nice ta meet ya." Zack held out his hand. Cloud solemnly shook it. Seeing the expression on Cloud's face as he did so, Zack broke down into helpless giggling.

"Wha...what do ya look so damn serious for? Jeez, you'd think that you were shaking Sephiroth's hand, fer God's sake..." Zack soon settled down.

"So, where are you from?"

"Nibelheim."

"I'm from Gongaga...it's not as nice as Nibelheim. I was there once. Is there a reason why there's a truck in the gates?"

"I really don't know. It's been there as long as I can remember...it's the only truck in town. The people use Chocobos there...when were you there?" I'm starting to like this guy...

"A few years ago. Dad managed to save up enough from his job at the Reactor to buy us a vacation. All he did was complain about how expensive it was. It was fun though. We got to go to Rocket Town and see the spaceship. It was supposed to take off and fly to another Planet or something but it just went up a bit and then went back down. Then it started to fall over."

"Wow. Did it hit anyone?"

"Nah. One of those support things kept it from hitting the ground. I think it's still like that."

"Wonder why they didn't try and fix it or anything..."

Zack nodded. "Dad said that the President was spending the money on other stuff. Some guy who lived there was really pissed about it. I saw him run up and whack this fat guy in a suit right on the nose. Funniest thing I ever saw. The fat guy went `Oof!' and then started bouncing around going `Hey-hey!'. It was weird."

Cloud absently looked out the window. "Hey, look! We're almost at Midgar!" All the others on the bus took notice of this and started staring at the impressive city.

"Hey, look, there's Shin-Ra Tower...and there's all the Mako Reactors and stuff..." Zack had his nose plastered to the scratched plastic window. He sneezed. "Gods! What's that smell?" Cloud sniffed the air experimentally.

"That's the smell of pure liquid Mako. You get that a lot back home because the Nibel Mountains are Mako-rich. But...it smells like...I don't know, smog, I guess."

Zack looked at Cloud with respect. "You lived with that stench every day? Wow. I'm impressed."

"Hunh. You get used to it. There are things that smell worse than Mako. Once this dragon came to the village and took a huge -" Cloud was interrupted by the bus coming to an abrupt halt. They were near the parade ground in front of Shin-Ra Tower. Lights slid up and down its shiny surface. The turquoise glow from the eight Mako reactors gave the sky an unhealthy pallor. To most of the citizens of Midgar, it was just a building where the President lived.

To Cloud, it looked like a castle out of a fairy tale, full of hope and dreams.

"Holy crap! Look! Hey, he's right over there!" Zack stood up and was waving at someone on the parade square.

"Who're you looking at?"

"It's Sephiroth!!"

At the mention of the legendary warrior's name, all the boys on the bus leaned over to view the General of Shin-Ra's massive military branch.

He was tall. He was dark. He was handsome. But he also had an air of superiority, as though it was an insult to him that you were on the same continent as him. His long silver hair billowed in a faint breeze that seemed to have been created for this exact moment. His glowing green eyes were visible even at this distance. His black trenchcoat flickered about his legs, clinging to his knee-high boots.

The sun came out for a moment, glinted off the long, deadly, and coldly beautiful blade slung as his side. His hair was transformed into a glittering curtain of starlight.

Sephiroth. The man who would train them and lead them into battle. No behind-the-battle-lines General, he was renowned for ignoring the danger posed by his enemies and would dash into the fray, his sword darkened by the blood of his luckless opponents, trailing a thin stream of gore behind it as he prepared for another slash.

Sephiroth. The man who was always talked about in the newspapers, who was the subject of whispered rumor. Tales that his mother was an alien, words that President Shin-Ra was his father. He had been born in a test tube, it was said, and had begun training with the enormous Masamune at the age of eight, and had killed his first man at the tender age of five with his bare hands.

All this and more was whispered in rumor, but there was never evidence to back it up. Shin-Ra never bothered trying to suppress the rumors. Perhaps it was because the truth was more terrifying than fiction. Nobody would ever be sure of the truth of these matters but for Sephiroth's creators...

The doors of the bus opened and disgorged its youthful contents. Would-be warriors spilled onto the concrete surface of the square, hauling behind large cases of clothes and other articles.

A tall, fat man in a green suit waddled into view. He had short black hair and a full beard that was smooth and glossy, reaching down to the middle of his enormous paunch. His golden epaulets sparked in the sunlight. A huge array of military honours adorned the breast of his jacket. A long, ugly scar ran across his face, narrowly missing his right eye. He stepped to what was essentially the front of these new recruits, hauled himself up to his full height, and bellowed, "FALL INTO LINE, YOU WORTHLESS SCUM!!"

The newcomers scurried into some semblance of order, standing as straight as they could, dropping luggage in their haste to appear presentable.

"That's better! Now, you worm-ridden lot have been SPECIALLY chosen by the commanders of SOLDIER to join that fighting force's elite ranks! From this day on, you are no longer ordinary human beings! You will be subjected to the most horrible of treatments to turn you into vicious, fearless killing machines! You will give UTMOST respect to your commanding officers, and most of all, to me, the President, and THAT MAN over THERE!" `THAT MAN over THERE' was, apparently, Sephiroth. The large man continued at the recruits.

"I am Heidegger, and I am in charge of SOLDIER, the Turks, and, regrettably, you filthy lot! However, with time, I will-"

Heidegger was interrupted mid-rant when Sephiroth sauntered over, a look of annoyance on the angelic face. He picked up the pace as he got closer, and, running a gloved hand through his hair, stopped in front of Heidegger, whom he proceeded to chastise.

"Heidegger! What are you doing?"

"Ah, Sephiroth sir! Look, our new recruits are in! Miserable, lot, I'm afraid, but I think I can do something with them."

"No. You won't. In fact, the President himself has ordered that I'm to take care of this batch. Go back to your office, Heidegger. You're beginning to annoy me."

Heidegger opened his mouth to protest, but evidently thought better of it. He elected to take the fastest route out of the parade square, looking back every few steps, as if to ensure that the General wasn't trailing him. He quickly disappeared.

Sephiroth watched the man leave, wearing a sardonic grin all the while. Heidegger was far too pompous for his liking, and he took every chance he had to pull rank on him. Brushing a strand of hair from his eyes, he looked over his new charges.

"Hi. I'm Sephiroth. Some of you may have heard of me from the news, and I can tell you that most of the things people say about me aren't true. Most of them...For instance, my eyes really are this color and it's not from contacts or Mako. Once you've had your Mako treatments, yours will be like that too, but they'll be the same color as your eyes now. It's just that they'll be more...well, luminous. It's good for seeing things in the dark. Second, this is actually my real hair. I've wondered about it too. And yes, it does grow like this naturally. No gel, no hairspray. Observe." Sephiroth grabbed one of his bangs and twisted it around his finger, shook it a few times, and let go. It sprung back into place with a barely audible boing.

"Third, what they say about my sword is true. If you touch it, you die. Nobody's figured that part out yet. I strongly recommend you not try it for yourself. Now, I'm supposed to get to know you all, so I'll start with..." He looked the band of youngsters over. "I know, everyone hates this part, so I'll be quick, because I have to. It's in the rules. I'll start with...you," pointing at Cloud.

"What's your name?"

"Ummm...Cloud Strife, sir..." Cloud swallowed nervously.

"And where are you from, Cloud?"

"From...Nibelheim, sir." Mentally, Cloud swore. He could feel his stomach turning flip-flops.

"That's a nice place...it smells sort of bad, of course, but -" Sephiroth was interrupted when Cloud lost control of his stomach, doubled over, and spewed his lunch onto Sephiroth's boots, which had formerly been polished to a mirror-like sheen. The boy turned red, then white, and stared at what his treacherous stomach had done to him. He would be kicked out, he would be banished, he would be executed for soiling Sephiroth's boots...any minute now, Sephiroth was going to draw his sword and decapitate him or run him through! He would let out an insane laugh as Cloud's blood stained the parade square...

"Ha ha ha!" Cloud tensed. Here it comes now...He heard a thump in front of him. The sheath for the gigantic sword falling to the ground, perhaps.

After waiting for about ten seconds, Cloud dared to look up, and saw that Sephiroth was on his back, giggling hysterically. The recruits looked on uneasily. The General gained control of himself and stood back up, occasionally emitting another peal of laughter. He finally settled down, and squatted in front of the still-hunched Cloud, and lifted up the boy's head.

"Are you okay?"

"Uhhh...sorry sir! Motion sickness! Not my fault! I -"

"Don't worry about it. They're just boots. I know how it is. A long, bumpy bus ride, combined with the thrill of meeting the great Sephiroth. It's okay. Nothing bad will happed to you. New boots can be obtained!" Sephiroth helped Cloud to his feet.

"Yes...sir..."

"Cheer up! I'll show you to the Medical, and we'll see if they have anything to help this motion sickness of yours, alright?"

*****

The chamber was invisible in the near darkness, and she could only see what she had seen for decades: the walls of her capsule and a few tubes, illuminated by the soft glow of the monitoring instruments and the cool blue radiance of the sustaining fluid. She knew every scratch in the glass in front of her, every screen, knew what times the fluid would be changed and when they would come for new studies or more samples. With a sudden jolt, she realised that she enjoyed being in the `captivity' of the humans. Enjoyed! The thought amazed her. That she, Jenova, the most powerful being on the Planet, should enjoy being under the dominion of petty, puny things!

She settled down, and ran through her plans once again. She had long ago come up with a delightful stratagem that involved Sephiroth slaying his creators and coming to free her, when she and him would engage in an orgy of killing and corruption, Sephiroth ending the lives of the humans, Jenova using her magic and horrific abilities to re-animate the dead and infect them with her being. She savoured the knowledge of what that last Cetra's expression would be when Jenova revealed herself in her true form, and felt the hideous draining of her mind and soul into nothingness.

Abruptly, she wondered if there were any more of her kind among the stars and Planets, bending their life-forms to their wills and spreading the race. Was she the only one? Was she some sort of anomaly? A dark, cold wire of loneliness twisted through her psyche. Surely, she was not the only one...otherwise, there would have been no way she would have come along. Still, vague thoughts lurked on the edges of her consciousness. How did she come along? Had she had...parents? If so, what had happened to them? What were the ways of her people? Were they social, or did they abandon their mates and children? Did they even have mates and children? Did they have any kind of culture or society?

Such questions could not be solved at the moment, and were self-destructive, anyway. She removed herself from that line of thought and directed here will towards Sephiroth. When she had to leave his mind, for any reason, he soon reverted to his natural personality and nature, and she knew that such changes would draw unwanted notice.

Sephiroth had reverted to his normal state, so she re-applied her dominance and his good nature went dormant again. Normally she did checks every day, but she had been busy with her inner thoughts, and lost track of time. She felt the subconscious loneliness he had been feeling subside at her touch.

She rode, unnoticed, in Sephiroth's mind, looking out of his eyes, hearing with his ears, and feeling what he touched.