Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII, the characters, locations and so on and so forth. So don't sue me, okay?

Summary: They all hailed him as a hero. The youngest ever to make it to the post of General and the most brilliant. But who was the man really? From the eyes of those who knew him before the crisis.

A Word from the Author: Whoa! Thanks for the positive reviews! Nope, no more Zack. I'm only doing one person per chapter, though that may change later on after I run out of people to write. This chapter is dedicated to Rufus.

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Sephiroth: The Chronicles

Rufus.

Everyone knew Sephiroth, or they thought they did. Mister Tall, Dark and Mysterious. He was only a little older than me, but already he was General and out on the battlefield kicking ass. When I was younger, my father made him my personal tutor in the art of swordsmanship before I discovered I liked shotguns better. He performed his job grudgingly but well, just like everything he did. At first I hated him and had the impression that he disliked me tremendously, because he was always so cold and impatient, often barking out orders as though me being the President's son meant nothing to him. In his eyes, I was practically the lowliest grunt in the army, though I must admit that my atrocious sword skills did nothing to help that disparaging image. Later on I got the chance the inspect the army and discovered that he treated everyone that way. He didn't seem to care what others thought of him. Even my father got the same treatment, but with a thin veneer of respect hiding barely veiled contempt, since he was the one who decided who stayed in and who left.

There's something about him that wants to make you stay away, and not just his attitude. It's those eyes. They've seen so much that it makes you suffer in return when you look into them. I suppose that he does feel resentment of a sort for me after all, unconsciously or not. I'm practically a spoiled rich kid, and something makes me suspect his own childhood wasn't exactly sunshine and daisies. I can't really pinpoint what makes him so far away and aloof. Maybe it's because he doesn't respect the others since they haven't gone through what he has. I've heard stories. From the very first day he stepped into the academy he's attracted trouble like fleas. He's different; not just his looks. An aura that practically radiates off him. On his first day he's been teased and ostracized. His fellows never made him feel welcome, they played practical jokes on him and taunted him. They might have thought of it as a rite of passage, but he didn't think so. Once he and a student got into a duel. Sephiroth killed him in a fit of rage and the incident was quickly hushed up by my father, since Sephiroth was his prized soldier, the perfect one. I've felt shunted aside in that area, and sometimes I hate him with an intensity that shocks me when my father seems to favor him with what I should have been given as the only son. And the worst thing is, Sephiroth doesn't appreciate it. I see him staring at my father when he isn't looking with anger and bitterness, especially when Dad is praising his work in the army. I think he despises being my father's trophy, the shiny medal he can show off when he feels like it. A prize dog chained up in a cage for admirers to ooh and ah over.

It wasn't until later when my father told me about the Jenova Project that I understood why. It was the President, my father, who had funded the project and consented to human experimentation, with the General himself as the guinea pig. Now I knew the source of the darkness in Sephiroth's eyes. I felt vaguely ashamed of my father and guilt that I felt that way. But I couldn't help it. Despite my refreshing lack of morals, I still possessed a soul in there somewhere, and what had been done to Sephiroth was nothing short of betrayal. To rip a baby from his mother at his birth…it was bad enough growing up without a mother. I should know that. And handing him over to Hojo. I feel sick to my stomach just thinking about that damn egoistic, crazed little scientist. Calling him a human being would be an insult to the human race in general. He thinks he's God. The crimes he does in the name of science…he has no respect for any living things. He probably feels that animals and humans were made for the express purpose of letting him cut them up and examine them and if possible find out how to make them better.

I still have bad memories of the time I underwent my own special treatment. The Mako racing in my veins feels good, but the way it's administered is pure torture. So many potential SOLDIERs go mad after the injections and they're thrown out because they weren't strong enough to bear it. Sephiroth was stuck there half his life and had still emerged sane and alive to tell his tale. No wonder he's toughened as steel. When we complain about little things in our lives and feel so badly about it, I wonder how he feels. I would have been so bitter and condescending in his shoes. We never know how lucky we are that it's only the small matters that plague us when there's so much more pain in this world than our minds could ever have imagined.

So he's finally snapped after five long years of absence. I'm standing over my father's corpse. It's already cold and his blood is sticky to the touch. I'm trying to feel anger at my father's murderer. He killed Dad before he could tell me the words I've been longing to hear all my life. I love you. Three simple words, with the weight of the world in them. But all I can manage is sadness. I can't feel angry at Sephiroth, after how my father made him endure. Because of my father, he never had the chance to hear those three precious words either. Maybe that's why he went around the bend. In a way, my father brought his death on himself.

I'm the President now. It's such a heavy responsibility. Everyone expects me to do something about my father's murder, so I send the Turks after Sephiroth. But I know it will be no use. Sephiroth is smart and swift and deadly, and now hopelessly insane. They'll never find him unless he wants them to. I've made Hojo spill his guts about the whole Jenova Project and I'm appalled. It was worse than I thought. His words on the Reunion were the most important clue to where Sephiroth was heading. I've ordered the undercover agents in Nebelheim, the scene of the five-year-old incident, to keep an eye open for the mysterious black-clad clones and give me word on their direction.

I've found Sephiroth, but not in the way I expected. He's killed Tseng. It's a major blow, not least because Tseng has always been a loyal employee and the best Turk since Vincent Valentine. I thought it was AVALANCHE at first, but Elena has had a 'talk' with the leader and he told her the truth. He might be lying, but I'm pretty sure after my brief encounter with those bunch of tree huggers that they're honest.

Hojo's notes and my agents' reports have led me to the Northern Crater. I'm amazed as I realized that all along Sephiroth has been controlling his clones, even though he's trapped in the Lifestream. He's a smart bugger, insane or not. His eyes are closed, and I'm glad. I've never been able to look straight into his eyes. What thoughts are he thinking now? He's certainly not the capable general I once knew. Even frozen, there is a faint air of menace surrounding his still form. Then AVALANCHE stumbled upon us and Cloud docilely handed over the Black Materia and the weapon to all our deaths over to his most hated enemies. And Hojo unintentionally let slip that Cloud Strife was yet another clone. I really must have another talk with Hojo regarding that damnable project. I invited AVALANCHE along for the ride when the whole place started crashing down.

I'm in my office in Junon, and Meteor is hanging in the sky like a harbinger of doom, burning with a fiery, hellish red light that scorches the horizon. I ordered AVALANCHE executed to reassure the public. They won't help the situation anyway and I'm expending valuable manpower keeping them guarded. Unfortunately, Sapphire Weapon chose that moment to strike and they escaped in the confusion.

The Sister Ray was able to hold the beast back, and that gave me an idea. As far as anyone knew, the Weapons were still roaming about searching for threats to the Planet. I was perhaps the one of few to know what Mako truly is. Thus thinking, Midgar definitely ranks very high on their priority list. I ordered the Sister Ray dismantled and followed it to Midgar, where it was set up again. Sitting in the helicopter, I looked at Meteor, blazing like a second sun, straight out of my worst nightmares. Somehow the sight of the massive piece of rock seemed to drive everything home. This was real, not a game. There was truly a big hunk of rock from space about to fall on top of our heads. It burned brighter as we approached Midgar, and I half-fancied I could feel the heat on my skin. No doubt about it. Meteor was en route to Midgar.

No surprise there. The caster, after all, twisted and sadistic, had been tormented the most in this place, and this was the city where his worst enemies lived. Many innocents, yes, but ShinRa and its employees too. I almost marvel at the fact that, in sanity and in insanity, he still doesn't give a damn as long as he gets the job done. I glance far away, in the direction of Nibelheim, where the whole blasted story began. It's a tragedy, a long and bitter soap opera of broken hearts. But this is my city, and I'll do my damnednest to keep it that way. No silver-haired Jenova spawn is going to wrest it away from me.

No matter what.

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Author's Ending Note: And as they say, the rest is history. I deliberately skipped over a few parts that wouldn't quite fit in. I mean, this is a story about what Rufus felt about Sephiroth, right, not an entire recitation of the game from his point of view. I hope you guys enjoyed and agreed with my take on Rufus. Tried to make him spunky and with a little more feelings than he displayed in the game. As well as a touch of evil. Hopefully it worked out. Please give me positive feedback so I can improve my stories in future!

P.S. Sorry for the delay. I've just finished this story, but the blasted is down for upgrading! Argh!

28/11/04: Okay, I'm back. I actually finished this on Tuesday, but because of all the bugs I was unable to post it up until now. Happy reading.

Signing off.

Thanks to:

Cendrillo: Not just anyone can worm through Seph's tough shell. Needs to be someone super patient and super friendly. Zack's the guy.

Nebuchadnezzar: Did I spell it correctly? And thanks. Actually I had seen far too many Seph biographies on the net from his P.O.V. and I wanted to do something different. But that's a nice angle. Thanks for the names.

nutz: (frowns) At the end of the chapter, I specifically wrote that Zack was going to propose to Aeris. Now why would he do that if the story was yaoi? Besides, if you check my bio, I have a deep and unreasonable hatred of anything yaoi. But thanks for the compliment.

Dark Feruil: Yeah…I wish we could have gotten to know Zack better in the game before he kicked the bucket.

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