The metal grate of a sewer-hole-cover was lifted and tossed aside as Sephiroth emerged from the tunnel into the cold winter-morning air. "Ahh..." he sighed to himself, almost smiling. "This is much better..." He sat on the edge of the hole, looking around the train graveyard. For a moment, he felt the burning-cold presence of spirits in the graveyard, but the aura of the dark angel warded them away, for even the dead feared Sephiroth. A whispering breeze blew by, lifting his hair from his shoulders. Sighing once more, he reached down and helped Alpha out of the sewer, sitting across from him on the edge of the hole.
"I...want to thank you...for helping me..." Alpha muttered in a soft voice Sephiroth almost didn't hear. "You're...the only one I feel I can fully trust..."
"Don't worry about it little one," the dark angel replied, his face darkened with deep thought. He stood from his spot and glanced around, his head tilted to the side a bit as if he were listening for something. "They've already passed by here and are heading towards Sector 7..." He could hear the shouts in the distance, and the many destroyed train-cars looked as if they had been searched through and torn even more apart.
Alpha didn't look up at him. "What did you mean earlier...that we were brothers? You resemble Delta a lot...but you're not him..."
Sephiroth glanced over his shoulder at the android. "Didn't Hojo or Gast tell you? I am an experiment as well...That's how I got my wing...from the experiments Hojo performed when I was young..."
The teen was watching the dark angel with ever-growing curiosity. "H-How young were you?"
His cold aquamarine eyes were locked on Alpha's. "I was not yet even born...still in my mother's womb...when the experiments began..."
A look of sudden regret struck Alpha's face, the man's words piercing the android's heart. He couldn't turn away from Sephiroth's eyes, seeing pain and sadness buried behind the dark anger and hatred. Finally Alpha gained enough strength to speak. "I-I'm sorry...I...It wasn't my place to ask...Forgive me..." He quickly turned away from Sephiroth's gaze, his silver eye staring down into the dark tunnel.
He heard the dark angel come up behind him and place a hand on the teen's shoulder. "Its okay...You didn't know. And not that many really do." The man gently patted Alpha's head, ruffling his hair a bit. "Lets go, little one, before any of those SOLDIERs decide to backtrack for a second look."
Nodding his head, the teen stood and began following Sephiroth, a pace behind the man. "Where are we going anyways?"
"Shinra is obviously planning something big," the dark angel stated. "And if that's the case...I'm going to need some help defeating them."
"I can fight," Alpha spoke up quickly. "I know I may not look like much...but I have these abilities. Really, I can fight!"
The man stopped walking and looked over his shoulder at Alpha. "Can you now?" he asked with a dark tone in his voice. "And with what weapon?"
Alpha paused as he began searching his person for something. He let out a triumphant laugh, pulling an object from within a hidden sheath in each of his boots. A pair of sais rested in his hands, their handles a shining silver material as the two prongs and blade appeared to be of platinum. On the butt-end of the sais were two orbs of white cat's-eye embedded into the metal. "I use sais," he stated.
Sephiroth turned to fully look over the android. "Show me."
"What?" Alpha asked, somewhat startled and very afraid.
Not replying, Sephiroth drew a black-handled dagger from somewhere in the darkness of his cloak and lunged at Alpha. His body responded before Alpha could think, blocking the attack with one sai and bringing the other to slash at Sephiroth's face. The man dodged slowly, but quick enough for Alpha to miss, the dark angel having lowered his fighting skills temporarily to the standards of a normal SOLDIER or Shinra officer.
The battle was a long one, neither making any contact with the other. It was as if they were dancing with blades, trading lunges and blocks in a sort of choreographed waltz. Letting out a shout, Alpha's attacks became fiercer, pushing Sephiroth back and pinning him to an overturned railroad-car. With a quick flick of the blade, Alpha disarmed Sephiroth, making the angel's dagger fly back behind them and the android held his sais to the man's exposed throat.
"I told you I can fight..." the android muttered darkly, not letting back.
"You think you won," Sephiroth replied in the same tone, his emotionless eyes piercing Alpha's. "Look down." Doing as told, Alpha saw a second dagger in the man's hand, the blade tapping the android's leg near his groin. "If you had slit my throat, we would have waltzed together into Hell."
Alpha released his prisoner, slipping the two sais into his boot-sheaths. "I don't get it...where did you get the second dagger from?"
Going to the fallen blade, Sephiroth replaced the two daggers into a pair of hidden sheaths near the small of his back under his cloak. "Do you really want to know how many hidden weapons I carry in case I run out of options?" Sephiroth asked. "Normally a SOLDIER carries his sword and a dagger. I carry more than just that." He turned to Alpha and gave him a rare warm smile. "But that was a pretty good fight though. A nice morning exercise."
"Really?" Alpha's face lit up.
Again Sephiroth ruffled Alpha's hair. "Yeah. Now lets get going...Any SOLDIER can sense a battle like that from miles away. They'll be here in a matter of minutes if we don't hurry."
Sighing to himself, Alpha dashed after him as the two left the train graveyard.
***
"So he can fight after all..." Hojo muttered, scanning through the latest reports and data from Gast. He looked up at the woman in the shadows, Beta nowhere to be seen. "At least the little runt hasn't shut-down his combat files like he has almost everything else."
"The only reason little Alpha fought was because Sephiroth made him," sighed the woman. "You ought to thank my puppet, dear professor. If it hadn't have been for Sephiroth, Alpha may just have lost his fighting skills." She smiled to herself. "Little Alpha may be more useful than we thought."
"What do you mean?" the scientist adjusted his glasses a bit. "Are you saying there's something Gast's reports are missing?"
"Think about it, sweet Hojo," the woman's voice spoke. "Alpha has hidden away many of his memories and information. If Sephiroth can make him remember how to fight, then perhaps my favorite toy will make him remember other things. Such as how to unlock his true potential. I can feel the android's power growing slowly within him...He's more like his mother than he thinks."
A look of distrust crossed the scientist's face. "What are you planning?"
"Me?" the voice asked innocently. "I have nothing planned! I'm merely stating that my cells in little Alpha are still very active and dominant over the others. With a flick of my wrist, I can order Alpha to eliminate Sephiroth and make him think he did it with his own free will."
"But you won't..." stated Hojo. "You have plans for both 00-13 and Sephiroth?"
"As a matter of fact...I do..." The woman stood, still encased in shadows. "Go to Gast and continue to draw data from Alpha's signal. I want to know where they are now and where they are going, do you understand?" Her voice now held a tone of venom, as if something suddenly bothered her. Hojo bowed to her and left. As soon as the man left the room, Beta appeared, her face cold and emotionless. "What news do you have?" the woman asked, the venom still dripping from her voice and leaving a taste of acid in the air.
Beta kneeled. "He fights well..."
"I know that!" spat the woman harshly. A slender hand placed itself on Beta's hand. "Tell me how Alpha...feels about his companion. Tell me if Alpha...knows about the power he now holds from the touch of the one-winged angel."
"Alpha is becoming aware of a strange emotion that was not programmed into him now filling his heart," Beta spoke, her eerie eyes staring at the floor. "It is hard for me to say what this emotion is. It is like a mixture of many emotions blended into one, though that sounds highly illogical and impossible. As for his power, he knows that he holds the power of the angel's strongest attack within him. Alpha almost used it in his battle against Sephiroth, but stopped himself before he did."
A dark laugh cackled from the shadows as the woman sat back down. "Perfect! As long as he knows he has the ability..." She sighed, a sudden thought coming to her. "And about my puppet, my dear one-winged angel, what of him? Does he trust the android? Is he protecting Alpha, shielding him, and, forgive the pun, taking the android in under his wing?"
"Yes," answered Beta. "As a matter of fact, Sephiroth feels a great deal of responsibility for Alpha's safety and is risking his very life to protect Alpha. I am unsure, but I believe Sephiroth is feeling a bit of love for Alpha, the way Delta did."
"Whatever did happen to Delta anyway?" asked the woman curiously.
"I do not know..."
