Professor Hojo dragged little Sephiroth throughout the halls of New Shinra Inc. Now that Sephiroth was alone with this strange man, this man whom he had known all of his life, and that other blonde man, Cloud, wasn't around, Sephiroth was silently crying. He had actually thought, that for just a few hours, he would be safe from the Professor. But of course, he was wrong. He was always wrong.

Hojo threw open the door to the laboratory, where SOLDIERs and scientists were waiting for him. Hojo gave them a cocky grin, and held up the boy by the arm, the grin growing wider as Sephiroth's feet were very far from the ground.

"Look what I've found," he said in his cold voice. "My experiment has come back to me, after all of these years."

The President of the company walked over to Hojo and examined Sephiroth, who was now furiously wiping at his tears.

"I see," the beefy man murmured, grabbing Sephiroth's pale face with his large hand. He turned his face to the left and then to the right. "He doesn't look any older than he was last I saw him."

Professor Hojo stared at President Shinra as if here were a complete idiot. The nerve of that man, even thinking he was capable of running the company. In fact, President Shinra did no such thing as 'running the company'. He sat in his chair all day while the scientists toiled away in the labs, and the SOLDIERs trained all day. The other members of staff took care of the company, not the president, and they didn't even get a raise in their salary! And yet Preside Shinra continued to act as if he were the one really in charge. Professor Hojo rolled his eyes. Typical boss-like behavior, he thought moodily.

Sephiroth bit his lip. He felt his body shivering in fear, which made him both even more fearful and upset. How was he supposed to be a world known General one day if he was cowering like a two-year-old now? He took a few deep breaths to steady himself. His chest tightened as he saw the Professor frown.

The Professor did not like it when the child hid his emotions. Especially not fear. He loved when he could make people fear him, and it was even sweeter when a mere child feared him. Children aren't supposed to know what real fear is. They were afraid of the monsters under the bed, the far back sweater in the closet that resembles a monster from a scary movie. They weren't afraid of true fear.

You're not afraid of the dark, and you're not afraid of any monsters. You don't believe the stories of the monsters that eat little children. You don't think that those stories are true. Well they are, Sephiroth. Believe me, they are. You're going to be afraid soon enough, even if you try to hide it. The fear will show through, little Sephiroth.

Sephiroth swallowed dryly. Hojo was tightening his grasp on him. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to stare into the emotionless black pits of Hojo's eyes. But there was a sparkle of emotion there. Sephiroth didn't like it. That was the only emotion he ever saw of Hojo's, that emotion that later, ended up in glee. Sephiroth's breath caught in his throat, and he thought of opening his mouth to protest. But he knew what the punishment would be, so he kept his mouth firmly shut.

"We can finally continue our experiments!" Hojo said, actually grinning. The SOLDIERs stared blankly at the Professor. Had he gone mad? Some of the scientists seemed enthused, while others, they clearly did not want to be present at the moment.

Professor Hojo threw Sephiroth to the floor. The boy skidded a few feet and lay there, very still.

"Tie him up. Get him ready for the experiments."

The SOLDIERs nodded and grabbed Sephiroth tightly by his wrists and ankles. Sephiroth didn't bother trying to struggle. He'd given up on escaping. All he could do was hope that Cloud would come back soon for him. The rope was tied and they carried the boy off.

The scent of blood was in the air, and young Sephiroth prayed that his blood wouldn't join it. They passed glass cages with suffering creatures inside, cages splattered with blood and cages where the inhabitants inside were unmoving. Sephiroth swallowed as the fear welled up inside of him.

When a human body can no longer contain an emotion, there has to be some way to express it. Tears form in the eyes to rid the body of the emotion.

"The book..." Sephiroth sniffed and bit his lip. He toughed out the long journey to the last glass cage where he was thrown inside. And then, when the guards had left, Sephiroth sat under the blindspot of the video camera. He wrapped his arms around his knees as he pulled his legs close to his chest. And he began to cry.


Author's Notes: Well...It's updated! Eheh. Review? >. Sorry it took so long!