A blinding light seared his eyes. He couldn't focus. The pain was knifing through his mind once again. All he could see in his mind was their faces. Sneering. Smirking. Laughing at him. Calling him a thing.
But he wouldn't scream. Even at his young age, he knew the value of that sound. His cry would not be heard by these people. The bringers of his agony wouldn't hear him break. Not again.
The inner struggle of the subjects mind went unnoticed by the scientists. "Mako infusion continuing...current progress at eighty seven percent and climbing."
"Subjects pain tolerance to mako infusion has increased. Or perhaps he's just being stubborn."
"Muscle cell structure is at three times normal for a human of this age."
'Normal for a human? Am I not human?'
"Brain activity is at thirteen percent, already beyond most adult levels."
"So the process is working. Excellent. Begin taking cellular samples."
'Here it comes. I. WILL. NOT. SCREAM.' The thought repeated in his head as the needles came out of the mechanical arm above the table. The thought repeated as they came close to his skin.
"Initiate the process."
The thought was banished. The howl didn't seem like it could come from something so small. As the needles penetrated seemingly everywhere, he couldn't keep from not screaming.
"Pain tolerance has increased eleven percent. Subject has not yet lost conciousness due to pain."
The needles retracted. He gasped as the needles retracted. He felt, acutely, the small flow of warm blood from the holes.
"Nurse, give him the potion."
He felt his mouth being forced open. He tasted the bitterness of the potion and the surgical gloves of one of his tormentors. He struck back. He bit down on the fingers.
He smirked after he spit out the two digits of the nurse and licked his lips. The copperish taste of blood was on them. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to enjoy it or not. But he did enjoy her scream.
"How many times have I told you people to just pry his jaw open from the outside?!"
The other doctors tended to the nurse while the lead doctor went activated the table. His eyes locked onto the cold green eyes, glowing with Mako, of the subject. Blood stained his lips, and his silver bangs clung to his forehead. "Damn you, Sephiroth!"
Sephiroth smirked at the doctor. "Hojo wouldn't have let that happen." He braced himself for what he knew was coming. He saw it in the muscles of the doctor, the way the shoulder and arm tensed. Sephiroth laughed at him even as the doctor slugged him. After that hit, Sephiroth saw stars for a few moments, before passing out.
"Damn this boy! How can he be the way he is?"
"Doctor Anderson?"
Anderson turned to one of his colleagues, Hart. "What is it, Hart?"
"Hojo just called. He wants the results of the last three weeks sent to his room at Costa Del Sol."
"That bugger and his little vacations!" Anderson spat, "Why can't he come here and deal with this little bastard?"
Hart shrugged. "That is what happens. A department head gets all the credit, and the ones under him do all the work."
Anderson stared at Sephiroths unconcious form with hate. "This thing that Hojo brought to us...It looks like a boy, but it isn't. It's a devil."
Hart just shook his head as the guards came in to take the boy away. Anderson couldn't stand Sephiroth, and he couldn't stand Hojo. Anderson was determined to destroy Hojo's credibility.
'And myself,' Hart thought, 'I'm here cause it's my job.'
As the two of them left, "Hey, you guys!" They simultaneously sighed. Darren Roberts was one of the most annoying worms in the lab. "Did you hear?"
Anderson groaned, "If you say that Sephiroth just bite off a nurses fingers, then don't bother, we were there."
Roberts blinked a couple of times, "No...no that wasn't it. Uh...who was it?"
"Jessica...the cute blonde one," Hart replied.
"Damn it! I was going to go out with her tonight. So much for that."
Hart smirked, "Ah well, what can you do? So...what is it that you felt you had to run like an idiot to tell us?"
"Gast took off!" Anderson and Hart gazed in shock. "Yeah, it's true! He took off with that specimen, A03."
Anderson shook off his shock. "When?"
"Apparently yesterday or the day before. I heard that they just told Hojo over the phone a mere few minutes ago. He's gonna be plenty pissed, I say."
Hart whistled. 'Plenty pissed, indeed. And plenty happy on the inside.' It was no secret that Hojo despised Gast. Especially because he easily controlled Sephiroth.
"And that's not all. Rumour has it that Gast had relations with A03."
Anderson scoffed, "Bah! That is bull. Gast probably just took off because he was sick of Hojo."
"She was getting a bit bigger, ya know. Maybe Gast got her pregnant or something." Roberts looked a bit nervous.
Anderson caught the look. "Alright, Roberts, spill."
"Damn...I knew I shouldn't have pushed it. Well, you remember when I went with Gast up north? Well, the subject came with and all that. One day he sent me to get supplies and, well, I caught them in the act."
Hart looked at him quizically, "And you didn't report it?"
Roberts shrugged his shoulders, "None of my business. 'Sides, I would have to report to Hojo." They all had knowing looks on their faces. No one would want to report that to Hojo.
*
Sephiroth woke up with a slight headache. He poked the side of his face and winced. Though his healing was quick, it wasn't that quick.
He went over to the small stool and stood on it, looking into the mirror.
He stared at himself for a few minutes. His eyes had always glowed, but with the treatments he had been recieving the glow had intensified. The Mako glow.
Sephiroth drew his fingers across his face, feeling the flesh beneath. He wiped the crusted blood off his lips and spat, then looked back at the mirror. "Am I human? I'm almost six, but I'm not really a child, am I?" He stared at the reflection, begging it to answer with his eyes.
Sephiroth sighed and sat down on the bunk in his room. His prison. It was a small room, built just large enough for him now. No window, a small dresser, a bunk, a stool, and a mirror.
"I must be human. Proffessor Gast would have told me if I wasn't."
He fell back fully on the bed. He missed Proffessor Gast. He would tell him things that were on the outside of the lab. He'd give him books. He'd even play chess with Sephiroth occassionally.
Sephiroth replayed the day when Gast had come to him and told him he was leaving. Sephiroth had thought that he would be able to go along.
"No Sephiroth, I can't take you with me. I'm sorry, but they would hunt me down even quicker if I took you."
Sephiroth's small hands bunched into fists. Gast had left him here, left him with Hojo. But Sephiroth hadn't done what Gast had done to him. He didn't betray him.
Whereas others thought it was recent, Gast had truly left more than three months ago. Sephiroth had kept the ruse going, by using Gast's password occasionally where no one would notice, and telling people that Gast had talked with him or taken samples. Which is why they had been so forceful today.
"Proffessor Gast, why'd you abandon me?"
But he wouldn't scream. Even at his young age, he knew the value of that sound. His cry would not be heard by these people. The bringers of his agony wouldn't hear him break. Not again.
The inner struggle of the subjects mind went unnoticed by the scientists. "Mako infusion continuing...current progress at eighty seven percent and climbing."
"Subjects pain tolerance to mako infusion has increased. Or perhaps he's just being stubborn."
"Muscle cell structure is at three times normal for a human of this age."
'Normal for a human? Am I not human?'
"Brain activity is at thirteen percent, already beyond most adult levels."
"So the process is working. Excellent. Begin taking cellular samples."
'Here it comes. I. WILL. NOT. SCREAM.' The thought repeated in his head as the needles came out of the mechanical arm above the table. The thought repeated as they came close to his skin.
"Initiate the process."
The thought was banished. The howl didn't seem like it could come from something so small. As the needles penetrated seemingly everywhere, he couldn't keep from not screaming.
"Pain tolerance has increased eleven percent. Subject has not yet lost conciousness due to pain."
The needles retracted. He gasped as the needles retracted. He felt, acutely, the small flow of warm blood from the holes.
"Nurse, give him the potion."
He felt his mouth being forced open. He tasted the bitterness of the potion and the surgical gloves of one of his tormentors. He struck back. He bit down on the fingers.
He smirked after he spit out the two digits of the nurse and licked his lips. The copperish taste of blood was on them. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to enjoy it or not. But he did enjoy her scream.
"How many times have I told you people to just pry his jaw open from the outside?!"
The other doctors tended to the nurse while the lead doctor went activated the table. His eyes locked onto the cold green eyes, glowing with Mako, of the subject. Blood stained his lips, and his silver bangs clung to his forehead. "Damn you, Sephiroth!"
Sephiroth smirked at the doctor. "Hojo wouldn't have let that happen." He braced himself for what he knew was coming. He saw it in the muscles of the doctor, the way the shoulder and arm tensed. Sephiroth laughed at him even as the doctor slugged him. After that hit, Sephiroth saw stars for a few moments, before passing out.
"Damn this boy! How can he be the way he is?"
"Doctor Anderson?"
Anderson turned to one of his colleagues, Hart. "What is it, Hart?"
"Hojo just called. He wants the results of the last three weeks sent to his room at Costa Del Sol."
"That bugger and his little vacations!" Anderson spat, "Why can't he come here and deal with this little bastard?"
Hart shrugged. "That is what happens. A department head gets all the credit, and the ones under him do all the work."
Anderson stared at Sephiroths unconcious form with hate. "This thing that Hojo brought to us...It looks like a boy, but it isn't. It's a devil."
Hart just shook his head as the guards came in to take the boy away. Anderson couldn't stand Sephiroth, and he couldn't stand Hojo. Anderson was determined to destroy Hojo's credibility.
'And myself,' Hart thought, 'I'm here cause it's my job.'
As the two of them left, "Hey, you guys!" They simultaneously sighed. Darren Roberts was one of the most annoying worms in the lab. "Did you hear?"
Anderson groaned, "If you say that Sephiroth just bite off a nurses fingers, then don't bother, we were there."
Roberts blinked a couple of times, "No...no that wasn't it. Uh...who was it?"
"Jessica...the cute blonde one," Hart replied.
"Damn it! I was going to go out with her tonight. So much for that."
Hart smirked, "Ah well, what can you do? So...what is it that you felt you had to run like an idiot to tell us?"
"Gast took off!" Anderson and Hart gazed in shock. "Yeah, it's true! He took off with that specimen, A03."
Anderson shook off his shock. "When?"
"Apparently yesterday or the day before. I heard that they just told Hojo over the phone a mere few minutes ago. He's gonna be plenty pissed, I say."
Hart whistled. 'Plenty pissed, indeed. And plenty happy on the inside.' It was no secret that Hojo despised Gast. Especially because he easily controlled Sephiroth.
"And that's not all. Rumour has it that Gast had relations with A03."
Anderson scoffed, "Bah! That is bull. Gast probably just took off because he was sick of Hojo."
"She was getting a bit bigger, ya know. Maybe Gast got her pregnant or something." Roberts looked a bit nervous.
Anderson caught the look. "Alright, Roberts, spill."
"Damn...I knew I shouldn't have pushed it. Well, you remember when I went with Gast up north? Well, the subject came with and all that. One day he sent me to get supplies and, well, I caught them in the act."
Hart looked at him quizically, "And you didn't report it?"
Roberts shrugged his shoulders, "None of my business. 'Sides, I would have to report to Hojo." They all had knowing looks on their faces. No one would want to report that to Hojo.
*
Sephiroth woke up with a slight headache. He poked the side of his face and winced. Though his healing was quick, it wasn't that quick.
He went over to the small stool and stood on it, looking into the mirror.
He stared at himself for a few minutes. His eyes had always glowed, but with the treatments he had been recieving the glow had intensified. The Mako glow.
Sephiroth drew his fingers across his face, feeling the flesh beneath. He wiped the crusted blood off his lips and spat, then looked back at the mirror. "Am I human? I'm almost six, but I'm not really a child, am I?" He stared at the reflection, begging it to answer with his eyes.
Sephiroth sighed and sat down on the bunk in his room. His prison. It was a small room, built just large enough for him now. No window, a small dresser, a bunk, a stool, and a mirror.
"I must be human. Proffessor Gast would have told me if I wasn't."
He fell back fully on the bed. He missed Proffessor Gast. He would tell him things that were on the outside of the lab. He'd give him books. He'd even play chess with Sephiroth occassionally.
Sephiroth replayed the day when Gast had come to him and told him he was leaving. Sephiroth had thought that he would be able to go along.
"No Sephiroth, I can't take you with me. I'm sorry, but they would hunt me down even quicker if I took you."
Sephiroth's small hands bunched into fists. Gast had left him here, left him with Hojo. But Sephiroth hadn't done what Gast had done to him. He didn't betray him.
Whereas others thought it was recent, Gast had truly left more than three months ago. Sephiroth had kept the ruse going, by using Gast's password occasionally where no one would notice, and telling people that Gast had talked with him or taken samples. Which is why they had been so forceful today.
"Proffessor Gast, why'd you abandon me?"