Chapter 5

"You taught him Sin Harvest?!"

"No! I didn't have the time to! And I thought I was the only one powerful enough to cast it!"

"Then how did he cast it?!"

"I don't know! I think the kid has some ability to copy Limit Breaks...it may have something to do with his hidden left eye..."

"I don't give a flying fuck about the kid's goddamn left eye!"

"You should because Alpha saved your fucking life you blonde bastard!"

"Calm down you two! The poor guy can probably hear you arguing!"

And he could, too.

Alpha lay awake in bed, listening to the voices from down below. Yuffie sat in a chair beside his bed, sitting asleep in the middle of sharpening her giant shuriken, which lay on the ground at her feet. Cloud and Sephiroth had been arguing for hours now, the blonde slowly beginning to weaken under the pounding will of his elder. It wasn't long before an agreement was made and Sephiroth's thundering footsteps could be heard as he stomped up the stairs.

The teen flinched as a door to a nearby room opened and was slammed shut. The sound didn't wake Yuffie, though, and Alpha was grateful the girl slept on. Sighing to himself, the android mustered his courage and silently got out of bed, creeping in bare feet out of his room and into the hall of the second floor of the inn.

"Going to see Sephiroth?" a dark voice asked behind him.

Turning quickly, Alpha sighed a bit with relief, seeing Vincent. The clawed-man had shed his blood red cloak and bandana, his black hair falling around his shoulders in messy locks that seemed to blend in with his black outfit. Not answering, Alpha meekly nodded his head, seeing his sister, Beta, in Vincent's cold face.

"I'd wait a bit if I were you," Vincent told him. "He was arguing pretty badly with Cloud and needs to calm down some before facing any of the others."

"W-what were they arguing about?" questioned Alpha.

Vincent hesitated a moment, as if wording his answer in his mind before replying. "Many things, little one. Sephiroth had made a promise to Cloud a long time ago, and just recently he broke that promise and Cloud doubts Sephiroth's intentions are good. He doesn't sense it though..."

"Sense what? Why wouldn't Cloud trust Sephiroth?" asked the android.

The man shook his head, placing his normal hand on Alpha's head. "Don't worry about it. Just do me a favor, alright?"

Alpha smiled, hearing the kind tone in the man's voice. "Sure! What's your favor?"

"Take care of Sephiroth for me..." Vincent answered. "He may be my son, but I can only teach him so much...and now he's going through so many changes. You are the closest to him now, Alpha." He sighed, removing his hand. "He seemed to have calmed down...I'll leave you now." That said, the clawed man left Alpha's side.

Sighing once more to himself, Alpha continued towards Sephiroth's room and paused outside the door. Gathering his courage and dismissing his fears, Alpha silently tested to see if the door was unlocked. Finding it so, he let himself into the room, swallowed in pure darkness. It took only a moment for his eyes to adjust to the blackness of the room, and soon saw Sephiroth's outline sitting shirtless on the bed. He sat on his knees, slouched over a bit as if weeping invisible tears. His hair was strung around him and his single wing hung limply beside him as if all life in it had gone.

Sephiroth's aquamarine eyes pierced Alpha as the man slowly looked up, the android feeling the air leave his lungs in a gasp. A burning anger raged like a fiery Hell behind the once gentle cat eyes of the dark angel. Alpha saw his muscles twitch as if he were about to pounce, yet the man restrained himself and his anger, either seeing the fear in the teen's single eye or feeling it radiate from Alpha's aura. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes a moment, as if tossing aside all emotion and thought like a rag doll. Finally he again looked up at Alpha, only now his eyes were as cold and emotionless as they had been when they first met.

"Alpha?" he asked, squinting in curiosity and confusion. "What are you doing here? I thought you were asleep..."

"I...I heard you and Cloud arguing..." answered Alpha in a tiny voice Sephiroth almost couldn't hear. "It kept me up..." His voice returned to normal. "S-Sephiroth? Can...Can I ask you something?"

The man shrugged, pulling his hair back and over his shoulder to put into a loose braid. "Ask away," he replied, the life in his wing returning as it stretched and folded up behind him.

"Are...Are you...happy?"

His look of confusion melted into one of deep thought. At first he didn't answer, his hands frozen in mid-twist as his teal eyes stared into the ground as if just looking at the floor would make holes appear in the thick wood. "No..." Sephiroth said at last, looking up at Alpha. "I'm not...I've never been truly happy in my life..."

Alpha sat down beside his friend. "What about me? I've seen you smile because of me...Don't I make you happy?"

Again the man hesitated before speaking, only now his eyes were closed in thought. "I've never known happiness..." he said, "so I don't know if it is happiness or another emotion I feel in your presence. I remember once that I may have been happy...but it was so long ago..." He held a hand over his eyes, blocking out the world around him. "I can barely hold on to the memory...and sometimes I feel that it changes every time I try to think of it..."

"Tell me about it..." Alpha begged. "Maybe it'll make you feel better."

"No!" Sephiroth looked up at Alpha quickly, his aquamarine eyes blazing in the darkness. "No..." This time the word came out softer, like a breeze on a calm day. "I'd rather not...Talking about happiness and sadness...it only makes me feel the sadness and pain more powerfully than the happiness and joy." He shook his head. "You wouldn't understand, Alpha...You were given the chance to have happiness in your times of experimentation, like Cloud...I was created for the sole purpose of killing and destroying..."

Alpha's hand struck true and quick, leaving a burning tingle on Sephiroth's right cheek. As he recovered with shock in his eyes, he saw a swelling sadness overflow in the teen's eye as crystal tears fell from his face. Dear God...Sephiroth thought. What have I done? "Baka!" Alpha finally shouted at Sephiroth. "Baka engeru! The only reason I was created was for that same reason! Hojo wanted a killing machine far more destructive and powerful than the great Sephiroth...A machine that could imitate the Limit Breaks of those he touched...And instead he got me! A failure!" Alpha's body convulsed as he sobbed, falling to his knees beside Sephiroth's bed.

Between sobs, Alpha continued his assault on Sephiroth's mind and soul. "No one cared...Everyone hated me...Even Beta...she wants to kill me...Only Delta cared...and what happens to him? He vanishes!" He hugged himself, rocking back and forth as he cried. "When I tried to die, you found me...You helped me! I thought you cared...but you hurt me...in my heart you hurt me!" His sobs became more violent. "I want to die! Damn it I want to die!"

Saying nothing, Sephiroth slid like a shadow off the bed and sat on his knees in front of Alpha. In the only way he knew how, he showed his affection for the android by holding the teen close. He ignored the tears that fell on his shoulders or the sounds of Alpha's sobs deafening his ears, locking Alpha in a warm embrace that seemed to be what the teen had wanted and needed. His dark wing wrapped around the android's body, warming them both in a black blanket of feathers.

"Shh...Don't cry..." Sephiroth whispered to the calming android, unsure if his words were heard or not. "Don't cry...Don't die on me, please...You're the only person I've ever cared for...shh...don't cry."

In his arms, he felt Alpha slip into sleep, the teen's head resting over Sephiroth's heart. There was no sound of a beating life in his chest though, and to Alpha, the area over the man's heart was colder than the rest of his skin. As he drifted into slumber, he felt his body being lifted as Sephiroth picked up the android and gently carried him to his room.

"Night...Sephy..." Alpha mumbled. "Sleep...sweet..."

"Good-night little one...Sleep sweet..."