Heart, Soul and Science
By
Cyberfox
Author's note: Hi. This is actually a story about Hojo but I thought that the name was a little unusual so for now he is called Sefeth. Read further and you'll know what I mean. I've always felt that Hojo was more than he seemed to be i.e. an insane madman bent on distruction. Besides, evil geniuses are made, not born. Ah well, enough rambling from my side. Read on and enjoy. P.S. Final Fantasy and all its characters belong to Squarsoft (My heroes) but the story is mine so please ask permission from me if you wanna use it anywhere. Cheers!
Chapter One
The frost covered the window like sugar coating. Bitter winds swept around the tiny cottage but the light that shone from the window symbolised nothing but warmth and security. The sound of laughter rang through the house. Marelyn Payne and her husband, Mark, watched their toddler stand up and totter on his tiny legs. He started to wobble but Marelyn came to his aid and swept him up in her arms.
"Mama," cried the boy. Mark wrapped his arms around his wife and stared at their child.
"He has your eyes," he whispered. The boy, like his mother had the golden eyes that had made Marelyn unique. Both parents had dark ebony hair and their child had inherited this attribute.
"My little Sefeth," said Marelyn softly, tickling the boy's chin. He didn't laugh, merely stared at his mother calmly, as if analysing her every move. She placed him in his crib.
"He'll be two years old tomorrow," said Mark.
"A big boy," Marelyn agreed.
"I'd better turn in. I had some research due tomorrow," said her husband and walked off. Marelyn sighed and sat down by the crib. It was difficult having an accomplished scientist for a husband. He was absent-minded and forgetful. Sefeth was turning three the next day, not two. She stood up and looked out of the window. The snowflakes outside made her shiver. Nibelheim was cold at this time of year. Turning around, she wrapped up her son and walked out of the room, remembering to switch on the hall light before she walked slowly upstairs.
Thirteen years later
Sefeth sat in the classroom, reading his books. A lock of dark, silky hair fell into his eyes. He subconsciously swept it away with his hand. It was recess but he found solace in textbooks rather than friends. His classmates were all immature and self-indulgent children who could not even pay attention in class. He could hear their laughter outside. Merry, happy laughter. How could they know what happiness was, how could their minute minds possibly comprehend it? Swirling through the words of his books, learning about the element, feeling as if he was filled with the knowledge of generations.that was true happiness. His mother was wrong. Science was not outdated mumbo jumbo designed to fool the ignorant. Science held the keys to the Universe, to life. A fly buzzed lazily through the classroom. Sefeth looked up, aggravated. Would he get no peace? He could his reflection in the window and scowled. His hair, which was long and unwashed, was tied back in a ponytail. His face was gaunt and thin as was the rest of him. He was tall and walked with a slight stoop but the scary thing was his eyes. More yellow than golden, more glassy than bright, they held a hunger. A hunger for knowledge, a hunger for intelligence. They stood out against his pale skin like headlights.
He was dragged out of his reverie by the ringing of a schoolbell. Sefeth walked over to his seat and sat down. Naturally, he sat right up in the front of the class, an unnerving sight to new teachers. He had all of his school books out and ready as he waited for the teacher to arrive.
Five minutes later the students reluctantly filed in. They filled up from the back of the class, avoiding the greasy student in the front. Nobody would sit next to him. The slimy kid. The smelly kid. The kid who never talks to anyone and never comes out at break. Rumour had it that he was an alien, that he had a disease, that his parents made him sleep in the dog kennel. Nobody talked to him unless it was to insult him. Nobody touched him unless it was to kick him or throw his books in the mud. Except one person.
"Uh.can I sit here?" asked Tey as she walked over to the desk next to his. He gave her a sullen look.
"Whatever," he grunted, his eyes turning back the open textbook on his desk. Smiling nervously, she took a seat. Sefeth knew her, or knew her type. She was pretty, kind and smart. Every boy in the school wanted to go out with her, hold her hand. Her chocolatey curls hung down her back in silky tresses and her jade coloured eyes shone with a light that was pure and whole. Her smile could light up a room. He hated her. Hated the fact that she was accepted. Hated the fact that she would never accept him. She sent him another anxious smile.
"This is Biology right?" she asked.
"No. Science," he said, despising her even more because when she had smiled he had felt his icy heart give a shiver in his chest. She clapped her hands over her mouth.
"I forgot my textbook!" she moaned just as the teacher, Mr. Fenwick, entered the room.
"Books out, homework in," he ordered. Tey pulled her homework out of a plastic file and handed it to the teacher.
"Sir, there were several mistakes on the question paper that I had to correct," said Sefeth as he handed in his work.
"I shall make a not of it. Where's your book?" asked the teacher as he looked at Tey.
"I don't have it," she answered.
"Sit with Sefeth and share then," said Mr. Fenwick briskly. They class groaned in sympathy.
"Not next to Smelly!" cried one of the students, Bane.
"He has a disease!" cried another.
"He hasn't washed his hair for a decade!" laughed a third. The class giggled loudly. Sefeth glared at Tey as she moved her seat next to his, detesting her for putting him through this embarrassment. She lowered her eyes and bit her lip not daring to meet his fierce yellow eyes.
"What's wrong?" asked Marelyn as her son stormed upstairs that afternoon.
"Nothing," he muttered and slammed the door to his bedroom. Marelyn sighed. She hated to admit it but she was scared of Sefeth, scared of her own son. She felt uncomfortable in his presence, the way she felt like a specimen in a jar made her tremble.
"I made some cookies," she called, her voice cracking.
"I don't want any!" he yelled. Marelyn felt the sob rising in her throat but held it down. Her son hated her. She knew it. The way he scowled at her and treated her like some inferior lifeform wasn't jut some teenage phase. He had been like this his entire life. He didn't call her mommy, ma or even mother. He called her Marelyn. He still called Mark Father. He didn't spend time with either of them, but languished away in his bedroom, fiddling with inventions and papers. He didn't eat nor did he sleep because often, in the early hours of the morning, Marelyn could her him tinkering away.
There was a ring at the door. Marelyn opened it and saw a young girl with brown hair and green eyes. She was wearing jeans and a violet top. Marelyn smiled at this stranger.
"Is Sefeth home?" the girl asked. Marelyn frowned.
"He is but he is not in a very good mood," she answered wearily. "You're welcome to see him if you think you're brave enough."
"I'll risk it," smiled the girl and extended her hand. "My name is Tey."
"Marelyn," the older woman answered and led Tey to Sefeth's room. She knocked. "You have a visitor," she said but she got no answer. Shrugging, she walked into the living room. Tey smiled and opened the door to Sefeth's room. She walked in. He was there, writing feverishly, his head bowed in concentration, his forehead creased in a frown.
"Sefeth?" Tey whispered, feeling that it was almost sacriligeous to disturb this creature, this scientist. He looked up and sneered at her, his lip curling into his familiar scowl.
"What do you want?" he snapped, his eyes burning. He felt vulnerable with this girl in his room, in his safe haven. She was an intruder and he wanted her out.
"I.I wanted to apologise," sai Tey, fighting the tears that pricked at her eyes. Sefeth was caught off guard and it showed. Tey could see a shocked look in his yellow eyes before he was on his guard again.
"What for?" Sefeth lied, not even sure why he was lying. She was here. She was apologising and he didn't know why.
"I em.embarrassed you in class today and I'm sorry. The other students were mean and rude and.and I didn't say thank you for lending me your textbook. I'm really very sorry," she babbled on, hoping not offend him or say the wrong thing. His eyes softened slightly and his frown relaxed a little. He didn't look scary anymore, just confused and.ashamed?
"Why are you here?" he asked softly. Tey frowned.
"I told you. I-"
"No. Why are you apoligising? People have done worse things to me. Why are you here?" he asked again. He felt lost and small. She was here apologising to him and, he realized, she hadn't done anything wrong. For the first time in his life he felt as if he was the specimetn being looked at and analysed.
"You are human. You have feelings. I want to be your friend," she continued, feeling as if she might just get out of here alive. She suddenly realised that she had said the wrong thing. The steel wall dropped back between them, Sefeth's eyes grew cold.
"I need no friends. Please leave," he said, softly but with a hint of menace in his voice. Tey nodded.
"I-I'm sorry. Of course I'll go," she whispered and backed out of the room, gently shutting the door behind her.
Sefeth stared at the door for a minute or so. He got up from the desk and lay on his bed, feeling that not even Science would soothe his soul at the moment.
"Hey! Sefeth!" someone cried the next day as he walked to school.
"What?" he snapped, certain that a harsh insult would soon be flying his way.
"Wait up!" came his reply. Shrugging, Sefeth continued walking. A hand grasped his shoulder and he started. He turned around to glare at whoever was disturbing him when he saw Tey. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were bright.
"I asked you to wait," she said. He lowered his eyes.
".Sorry. I thought that you were someone else," he muttered. She laughed.
"No need to apologise. Can I walk with you?" she asked.
"It's a free country," he mumbled and then jumbed as she linked her arm with his.
"Hey! Smelly! Who said you could walk with her?" cried a jeering voice. Sefeth shut his eyes in irritation but carried on walking. He was used to insults. Tey, however, was not. She placed her fists on her hips and waited for the attacker to catch up with them. It was Bane.
"Listen up you moron! I want to walk with Sefeth! If you could extract your head from your ass for five seconds you might realise that so please leave us alone!" she snapped. He gaze fell upon him like a whip and he shrank back.
"Why d'ya wanna hang with a loser like him?" mumbled Bane, looking anywhere but at her eyes. She growled.
"Because unlike you he can actually say three syllable words, nor does he think that the world revolves around him!" Tey snarled and marched back to Sefeth who, despite himself, was looking at her in awe.
"And I always thought you were so friendly!" he said. She laughed.
"So you actually acknowledge my existence?" she asked. He looked away. They started to continue walking.
"Nobody wants to acknowledge my existence," he muttered almost too softly to hear. Tey took hold of his hand.
"I do," she whispered. Tey studied him. They were wrong. The other children, that is. He wasn't greasy and smelly and disgusting. He was very thin and pale but that, Tey realised, was quite attractive. Even his eyes were quite beautiful once she took a closer look, not that that was possible at the moment since he was currently looking away. They burned with a passion and a fire that she felt would consume her if she let it.
"I know you do," sighed Sefeth in a soft whisper and he gazed into her eyes. He felt as if he was looking at a calm green pool of light that whispered soothingly and begged him to fall in, to let himself disappear in their depths but he held back.
"Sefeth?" asked Tey, moving closer, tilting her head upwards. Sefeth looked at her and felt a sliver of ice fall from his frozen heart.
No. I can't taint her with my poison, he frowned and turned around suddenly before running away, his feet crunching in the snow.
"Sefeth?" Tey murmured again, her hand pressed to her chest as she watched his retreating back, so dark against the pure white snow.
Author's note: Hi, this is my first fic so please tell me what you think of it.
By
Cyberfox
Author's note: Hi. This is actually a story about Hojo but I thought that the name was a little unusual so for now he is called Sefeth. Read further and you'll know what I mean. I've always felt that Hojo was more than he seemed to be i.e. an insane madman bent on distruction. Besides, evil geniuses are made, not born. Ah well, enough rambling from my side. Read on and enjoy. P.S. Final Fantasy and all its characters belong to Squarsoft (My heroes) but the story is mine so please ask permission from me if you wanna use it anywhere. Cheers!
Chapter One
The frost covered the window like sugar coating. Bitter winds swept around the tiny cottage but the light that shone from the window symbolised nothing but warmth and security. The sound of laughter rang through the house. Marelyn Payne and her husband, Mark, watched their toddler stand up and totter on his tiny legs. He started to wobble but Marelyn came to his aid and swept him up in her arms.
"Mama," cried the boy. Mark wrapped his arms around his wife and stared at their child.
"He has your eyes," he whispered. The boy, like his mother had the golden eyes that had made Marelyn unique. Both parents had dark ebony hair and their child had inherited this attribute.
"My little Sefeth," said Marelyn softly, tickling the boy's chin. He didn't laugh, merely stared at his mother calmly, as if analysing her every move. She placed him in his crib.
"He'll be two years old tomorrow," said Mark.
"A big boy," Marelyn agreed.
"I'd better turn in. I had some research due tomorrow," said her husband and walked off. Marelyn sighed and sat down by the crib. It was difficult having an accomplished scientist for a husband. He was absent-minded and forgetful. Sefeth was turning three the next day, not two. She stood up and looked out of the window. The snowflakes outside made her shiver. Nibelheim was cold at this time of year. Turning around, she wrapped up her son and walked out of the room, remembering to switch on the hall light before she walked slowly upstairs.
Thirteen years later
Sefeth sat in the classroom, reading his books. A lock of dark, silky hair fell into his eyes. He subconsciously swept it away with his hand. It was recess but he found solace in textbooks rather than friends. His classmates were all immature and self-indulgent children who could not even pay attention in class. He could hear their laughter outside. Merry, happy laughter. How could they know what happiness was, how could their minute minds possibly comprehend it? Swirling through the words of his books, learning about the element, feeling as if he was filled with the knowledge of generations.that was true happiness. His mother was wrong. Science was not outdated mumbo jumbo designed to fool the ignorant. Science held the keys to the Universe, to life. A fly buzzed lazily through the classroom. Sefeth looked up, aggravated. Would he get no peace? He could his reflection in the window and scowled. His hair, which was long and unwashed, was tied back in a ponytail. His face was gaunt and thin as was the rest of him. He was tall and walked with a slight stoop but the scary thing was his eyes. More yellow than golden, more glassy than bright, they held a hunger. A hunger for knowledge, a hunger for intelligence. They stood out against his pale skin like headlights.
He was dragged out of his reverie by the ringing of a schoolbell. Sefeth walked over to his seat and sat down. Naturally, he sat right up in the front of the class, an unnerving sight to new teachers. He had all of his school books out and ready as he waited for the teacher to arrive.
Five minutes later the students reluctantly filed in. They filled up from the back of the class, avoiding the greasy student in the front. Nobody would sit next to him. The slimy kid. The smelly kid. The kid who never talks to anyone and never comes out at break. Rumour had it that he was an alien, that he had a disease, that his parents made him sleep in the dog kennel. Nobody talked to him unless it was to insult him. Nobody touched him unless it was to kick him or throw his books in the mud. Except one person.
"Uh.can I sit here?" asked Tey as she walked over to the desk next to his. He gave her a sullen look.
"Whatever," he grunted, his eyes turning back the open textbook on his desk. Smiling nervously, she took a seat. Sefeth knew her, or knew her type. She was pretty, kind and smart. Every boy in the school wanted to go out with her, hold her hand. Her chocolatey curls hung down her back in silky tresses and her jade coloured eyes shone with a light that was pure and whole. Her smile could light up a room. He hated her. Hated the fact that she was accepted. Hated the fact that she would never accept him. She sent him another anxious smile.
"This is Biology right?" she asked.
"No. Science," he said, despising her even more because when she had smiled he had felt his icy heart give a shiver in his chest. She clapped her hands over her mouth.
"I forgot my textbook!" she moaned just as the teacher, Mr. Fenwick, entered the room.
"Books out, homework in," he ordered. Tey pulled her homework out of a plastic file and handed it to the teacher.
"Sir, there were several mistakes on the question paper that I had to correct," said Sefeth as he handed in his work.
"I shall make a not of it. Where's your book?" asked the teacher as he looked at Tey.
"I don't have it," she answered.
"Sit with Sefeth and share then," said Mr. Fenwick briskly. They class groaned in sympathy.
"Not next to Smelly!" cried one of the students, Bane.
"He has a disease!" cried another.
"He hasn't washed his hair for a decade!" laughed a third. The class giggled loudly. Sefeth glared at Tey as she moved her seat next to his, detesting her for putting him through this embarrassment. She lowered her eyes and bit her lip not daring to meet his fierce yellow eyes.
"What's wrong?" asked Marelyn as her son stormed upstairs that afternoon.
"Nothing," he muttered and slammed the door to his bedroom. Marelyn sighed. She hated to admit it but she was scared of Sefeth, scared of her own son. She felt uncomfortable in his presence, the way she felt like a specimen in a jar made her tremble.
"I made some cookies," she called, her voice cracking.
"I don't want any!" he yelled. Marelyn felt the sob rising in her throat but held it down. Her son hated her. She knew it. The way he scowled at her and treated her like some inferior lifeform wasn't jut some teenage phase. He had been like this his entire life. He didn't call her mommy, ma or even mother. He called her Marelyn. He still called Mark Father. He didn't spend time with either of them, but languished away in his bedroom, fiddling with inventions and papers. He didn't eat nor did he sleep because often, in the early hours of the morning, Marelyn could her him tinkering away.
There was a ring at the door. Marelyn opened it and saw a young girl with brown hair and green eyes. She was wearing jeans and a violet top. Marelyn smiled at this stranger.
"Is Sefeth home?" the girl asked. Marelyn frowned.
"He is but he is not in a very good mood," she answered wearily. "You're welcome to see him if you think you're brave enough."
"I'll risk it," smiled the girl and extended her hand. "My name is Tey."
"Marelyn," the older woman answered and led Tey to Sefeth's room. She knocked. "You have a visitor," she said but she got no answer. Shrugging, she walked into the living room. Tey smiled and opened the door to Sefeth's room. She walked in. He was there, writing feverishly, his head bowed in concentration, his forehead creased in a frown.
"Sefeth?" Tey whispered, feeling that it was almost sacriligeous to disturb this creature, this scientist. He looked up and sneered at her, his lip curling into his familiar scowl.
"What do you want?" he snapped, his eyes burning. He felt vulnerable with this girl in his room, in his safe haven. She was an intruder and he wanted her out.
"I.I wanted to apologise," sai Tey, fighting the tears that pricked at her eyes. Sefeth was caught off guard and it showed. Tey could see a shocked look in his yellow eyes before he was on his guard again.
"What for?" Sefeth lied, not even sure why he was lying. She was here. She was apologising and he didn't know why.
"I em.embarrassed you in class today and I'm sorry. The other students were mean and rude and.and I didn't say thank you for lending me your textbook. I'm really very sorry," she babbled on, hoping not offend him or say the wrong thing. His eyes softened slightly and his frown relaxed a little. He didn't look scary anymore, just confused and.ashamed?
"Why are you here?" he asked softly. Tey frowned.
"I told you. I-"
"No. Why are you apoligising? People have done worse things to me. Why are you here?" he asked again. He felt lost and small. She was here apologising to him and, he realized, she hadn't done anything wrong. For the first time in his life he felt as if he was the specimetn being looked at and analysed.
"You are human. You have feelings. I want to be your friend," she continued, feeling as if she might just get out of here alive. She suddenly realised that she had said the wrong thing. The steel wall dropped back between them, Sefeth's eyes grew cold.
"I need no friends. Please leave," he said, softly but with a hint of menace in his voice. Tey nodded.
"I-I'm sorry. Of course I'll go," she whispered and backed out of the room, gently shutting the door behind her.
Sefeth stared at the door for a minute or so. He got up from the desk and lay on his bed, feeling that not even Science would soothe his soul at the moment.
"Hey! Sefeth!" someone cried the next day as he walked to school.
"What?" he snapped, certain that a harsh insult would soon be flying his way.
"Wait up!" came his reply. Shrugging, Sefeth continued walking. A hand grasped his shoulder and he started. He turned around to glare at whoever was disturbing him when he saw Tey. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were bright.
"I asked you to wait," she said. He lowered his eyes.
".Sorry. I thought that you were someone else," he muttered. She laughed.
"No need to apologise. Can I walk with you?" she asked.
"It's a free country," he mumbled and then jumbed as she linked her arm with his.
"Hey! Smelly! Who said you could walk with her?" cried a jeering voice. Sefeth shut his eyes in irritation but carried on walking. He was used to insults. Tey, however, was not. She placed her fists on her hips and waited for the attacker to catch up with them. It was Bane.
"Listen up you moron! I want to walk with Sefeth! If you could extract your head from your ass for five seconds you might realise that so please leave us alone!" she snapped. He gaze fell upon him like a whip and he shrank back.
"Why d'ya wanna hang with a loser like him?" mumbled Bane, looking anywhere but at her eyes. She growled.
"Because unlike you he can actually say three syllable words, nor does he think that the world revolves around him!" Tey snarled and marched back to Sefeth who, despite himself, was looking at her in awe.
"And I always thought you were so friendly!" he said. She laughed.
"So you actually acknowledge my existence?" she asked. He looked away. They started to continue walking.
"Nobody wants to acknowledge my existence," he muttered almost too softly to hear. Tey took hold of his hand.
"I do," she whispered. Tey studied him. They were wrong. The other children, that is. He wasn't greasy and smelly and disgusting. He was very thin and pale but that, Tey realised, was quite attractive. Even his eyes were quite beautiful once she took a closer look, not that that was possible at the moment since he was currently looking away. They burned with a passion and a fire that she felt would consume her if she let it.
"I know you do," sighed Sefeth in a soft whisper and he gazed into her eyes. He felt as if he was looking at a calm green pool of light that whispered soothingly and begged him to fall in, to let himself disappear in their depths but he held back.
"Sefeth?" asked Tey, moving closer, tilting her head upwards. Sefeth looked at her and felt a sliver of ice fall from his frozen heart.
No. I can't taint her with my poison, he frowned and turned around suddenly before running away, his feet crunching in the snow.
"Sefeth?" Tey murmured again, her hand pressed to her chest as she watched his retreating back, so dark against the pure white snow.
Author's note: Hi, this is my first fic so please tell me what you think of it.