AN: OMG! I've made it to the Sixth Chapter - Are Dreams Really Reality? Yes, this is a third person view from an instance in which occured in Raine's past in dream form, since I haven't explained much about her past besides the fact that she lived in Hallow Bastion with her father, brother, and mother. So, this is the younger Raine. Don't be surprised. Just to let you know. Thank you.

Raine: Shadow-chan doesn't own anything that Squaresoft created.

Me: Oh yeah...is it me, or have we been forgetting the disclaimers?

Raine: Yeah. So I did you a favor and reminded you. Or rather...did it for you.

Me: Thanks, Rainy-chan.

Raine: Yeah, whatever.

'Papa, look, look what I can do!' A small, girlish voice chirped for her father's attention, and the busy man raised his eyes from the paper's scattered about the desk area.

'I'm watching, don't worry, Raine.'

'Did you see?'She inquired, one hand resting on a petite hip.

'Yes, I saw. Your getting quite good at magic now...I say, you are taking after me quite well, in a good sense. Then again...my strength isn't particularly highlighted in physical combat...pray tell, child, where are you learning it all from?'

'Hehe, Mr. Sephiroth is teaching me a lot. He says...'The voice switched to a girlish imitation of a deep, masculine voice. ''Your not going to get any stronger if you keep training in magic alone. You must apply yourself at all costs to any training I spare time to do with you.' He's so serious all the time, like you, Papa.'

'Sephiroth has his own reasons for being serious.'Ansem replied, unfazed. He flicked the end of his completely white hair out of his face as the child scowled up at him, waiting for an explanation.

'Why?' She demanded, both hands going to rest on her hips. 'Why can't everyone be happy with what they have? How come they always want more, and can't settle for the amount they've got?'

'Raine...'Ansem looked down at his daughter with a small sigh. She had become even more restless as of late, the cause he didn't know. He thought when children grew older, they grew wiser - not started to go insane. 'I don't know everything, little love. If I did I wouldn't be sitting here trying to find out something I haven't had any leads on for your treatment.'

'...I don't like the treatments. It makes my chest hurt.'Raine finally said after a moment, still pondering her own questions. Ansem wheeled his chair to face her and lifted her up into his arms, settling her on his lap. 'Sometimes I don't know when the pain will stop...and then once it does, it only starts again. How come I have to be the one who goes through this, Papa? How come my heart can't be pure, like everyone else's? How come I have to be different?'

'Your no different,'Ansem argued, his eyes burning with a strange light of anger as he thought about it. 'You are a special girl with special abilities that no one else has...don't you ever say that you're different from everyone - your just the same on the outside, even though you may be a bit different on the inside. And really, my child, no one's heart is truly pure - everyone holds darkness within it, no matter how unaware they are of it.'

'Really? Do you promise?' She sounded hopeful, and the man smiled, his eyes changing into a gentler matter.

'Really. I promise.'Ansem paused slightly and gazed down at her. 'I was going to save these until Mierie came to the castle for her next visit, but I'll give you yours now.'

'What is it?' The child watched him curiously as he pulled out a small white box wrapped in a black satin ribbon, offering it to her. Raine took it, holding it in her small hands, before he chuckled slightly.

'Well, go on, open it.'

Raine looked up at him with a grin, then pulled off the ribbon tied neatly around the small thing, placing it aside. Ansem looked on with a smile as she uncovered the box, and watched as her mouth spread into a happy smile. The 'thing' inside was a small silver necklace. The charm on it was shaped into a small, flat heart, though there was a thin vial placed in the center of the heart, shaped like a circle. Inside that small vial glowed a brilliant white substance, and delighted, Raine looked up at him.

'Is that what you did with the Orichalcum that Mierie, Haze and I found?'Breathed the little girl, obviously happy that she had something so beautiful to wear.

'Yes, little love,'Ansem smiled at her, saying his petname for her affectionately. Raine held the charm in her palm, gazing down at it happily. 'And I heard a legend about that substance you found, after reading through the library to find out information.'

'Oh yeah?'

'Yes. They say that Orichalcum is a pure, untainted thing...untainted by darkness, hate, and the evils of this world. Even in the darkest of places, it will glow to soothe your heart - it will glow with the light. So...whenever you must draw back - look to the pendant...'

'Oh, cool...I'm going to go show Mr. Sephiroth!'

Her crimson eyes glowing, Ansem relaxed as his child engulfed him in a hug, wrapping one arm around her waist and then settling her down on her feet. Excited, she ran off towards the General's quarters, and her father watched her go from the doorway. How she looked like Olivia. No doubt the little girl he knew was maturing. He could tell by the way she thought - her sentences were more defined, articulately and carefully pronounced - as if she ever made a mistake, he would be ashamed of her. He could never be ashamed of someone who had accomplished so much in such a little amount of time. Her ventures with the violin were enough to set his own heart - however tainted with the mysterious force they called the darkness it was - buzzing with pride.

Little feet padded through the halls of Hallow Bastion quickly, taking the nearest shortcuts to the chambers of the dark one-winged angel. Pausing before the door, she raised a hand to knock, knowing that he didn't like it very much when people intruded in his privacy without knocking first. 'Get out and knock,' was what he had said when she had gotten in without permission from him. She'd felt ashamed of herself and hung her head, before knocking on the door and asking for permission to enter his room that time. Rapping her knuckles against the wooden door, she listened for the familiar voice which always said-

'Open the door and identify yourself.'

And with that, she twisted the doorknob, pushing open the door and standing in the doorway.

'It's Raine, sir.'

He always seemed to be debating over whether he should let her in or not - like a game. Raine loved to play games with Sephiroth - he could always think up new ones, and they'd usually be testing out a skill that she'd either just learned or needed practice on.

'What does this Raine learn?'

'Raine learns combative skills from the teacher, as well as magical and defensive skills, sir.'Raine was used to saying this by now - after all, he WAS her teacher. He always was quizzing her. Luckily enough she had a good memory of what he said.

'And...?'There was a laughing note to his voice. He'd caught her.

'Uhm...that's all?'

'Wrong. She also learns skills that will help shape her mind for the future. Enter.'

The girl ran into the room, looking up as she caught sight of the General. Tall and muscular, yet clad in black, the man was seated in a chair by a bookcase. A faintly glowing candle cast shadows on his handsome face, though it didn't take a candle to reveal the brightened green of his eyes. Silver tresses, however, were highlighted by the almost golden glow that the candle cast on him - the high bangs that framed his face and the platinum hair that swept down his back like a strange sort of cape. The thing, however, that always caught her attention was the graceful, completely black wing that came from his left shoulder. She always loved to look at it, and Sephiroth, always watching, would often let her touch it (the most contact she could actually get to without having to fight with him) with her fingers.

Padding over to him, she looked up at him with a bright smile. The general gave her a look that clearly said, 'Well?', and she opened her hand, letting the bright charm's rays caress his face in a bathing light.

'Look what my Papa made from the Orichalcum that we found on that day.'

Sephiroth reached out, and without any further ado, plucked the charm out of her palm. The glowing material inside shifted into a cloudy, almost water-like visage. The General held up the silver necklace, looking into the thin vial as the liquid clouds shifted under his gaze. Intriguing. He nodded once slowly, then placed it back in her small hands, looking down to meet the fierce red eyes of the child he'd come to admire. She was everything, in a sense, that could possibly mean anything in this world to him - a friend, perhaps, as she called it. Friends...the General had no end to his wondering about the small child that had smiled up at him and called him 'Sephy'.

Raine gave a toothy grin, and he couldn't suppress the small smile he gave back to her. That made her grin even wider, and she clasped her hands closed, making the room dark again.

'That is a very nice thing of your father to do.'Sephiroth said in his deep and even voice, and Raine nodded furiously.

'Yeah, I know! I didn't know Papa could reduce rocks to liquid...'The child looked confused for a moment. 'Teacher, how do you make rocks into liquid?'

'I don't know. I assume that your Father had used some sort of incantation to do so - he IS the great mage Ansem that everyone speaks of in such respectful terms. Yet if he didn't, perhaps he melted the rock, and it then became a liquid.' Sephiroth looked down at the child as she pondered his assumptions of her famous father, one hand clasped over the charm, the other drawn to her lips in a half-curled fist. Her eyes were lowered to the ground, brow slightly creased in thought. 'Then again, these are only assumptions of my own...what do you think?'

'I think Papa might have gotten it from inside the rock, or melted it and cast one of his spells on it so that it wouldn't solidify. But I don't really know what he did with it...if I did, I'd be as smart as you.' Sephiroth let his lips curve into a small smile. She held him in high regards, this child - a mutual respect, while she looked to him as one would look to their mentor, and he looked to her as one would look to a colleague. The child was very smart for her age - he didn't see why not.

'I see what you mean. Melting or getting the liquid out of the stone is also a very good idea...I'm surprised that I didn't think it up myself.'

'Hehe...I'm smart.'

'Yes, you are. Pity you don't use your intellect for things that actually matter...like remembering what I say.'

'I do listen...maybe I zoned out on that...'

'You call that listening?'

'Hey!'

'I'd like to ask you a question now, if you'll listen.'

'I AM listening.'

'Mmmhnn. Why did you come in here, besides to show me that necklace? I know there's something behind it...your face says it, and your aura is a bit strange.'

'Well...'

'Well, what?'

'I've been having those dreams again...you know, the ones I told you about last time.'

'Sit and tell me.'

Perhaps the only thing little Raine wouldn't tell her father about was the dreams that kept plaguing her every night. It was strange, really, how she confided in him - perhaps he was such a good listener that she just had to tell him, or perhaps she might have seen something in him that he himself didn't even know about. A listener's soul? He really didn't know about this one. Her feelings were a mystery to him.

'It's...the one about my mother,'Raine seemed hesitant and a bit sad at the thought. Sephiroth had seen her when her mother had been sick - crying, not sleeping, not eating, if only to save the poor, dying woman's soul. He pitied the child. 'Except it's different this time.'

'How different is it?'

'I guess I'm high up somewhere in the castle...and I can see her, like last time. She's smiling and waving for me to come over to her, but every time I take a step forward, she gets farther and farther away. Once I look down...I'm not going anywhere, I just stay at this spot near the edge, and I can still see her face. She looked scared for a moment...then I fell into something black that I couldn't get out of...I kept hearing voices, and I kept calling for people that I knew, but no one answered. I woke up after that...I didn't want to know what happened next.'

He was quiet. Very quiet. The child's face was masked in shadows, so he couldn't see the emotions flitting across her face, or rather, the tears. Raine cleared her throat and then turned away from him, rubbing at her eyes. Sephiroth only thought. The basis of the dream was strange. Going no where, and falling...did that mean that innocent little Raine would be in trouble soon? He didn't know about this one either. Her dreams...just like her feelings, were partially masked in mystery to him. The extent of them always changed, and she always came up with new ones. Her mind worked strange tricks and taunted her daily, even though she didn't realize it... Sephiroth leaned forward, allowing his face to hit the full light of the candle, letting the shadows pass from his face, and reached out to touch her shoulder.

She turned around at the soft nudge of his fingers against her bicep, biting her lower lip and trying, as he could see, very hard not to cry. Not long ago he had told her that tears were a sign of weakness - when he was training with her and had knocked her against the wall. His eyes softened slightly and that small smile curved over his lips, before he plucked her off of the ground, standing up and holding the child in the crook of one arm. Raine looked up at him in astonishment, the tears slipping down her cheeks as she reached up hastily to wipe them away.

'I...I'm sorry, teacher...'

Sephiroth silenced her with a look that clearly said, 'Silence.'. Feeling a strange feeling well up in the pit of his stomach, the General gazed down at her impassively, watching as she broke out into more tears - tears that he himself had never had the chance to cry - didn't know how to cry. Impulsively, he shifted her up into some sort of embrace, and for the first time heard a soft sound come from the child in his arms - a desperate, heartbroken cry. Green eyes widened marginally as Raine's arms came around his neck in a tight hug, widened as she buried her face in his chest and wept until she couldn't weep anymore.

All that time he stood there numbly, waiting for the shaking sobs to subside, for her to stop crying. He didn't know how to comfort her. He could only stand there with the child in his arms, waiting silently, black wing flexing around him in a protective barrier, guarding the tender moment between the two of them from the world. Raine sniffled into his chest, hands tightly clutching at his jacket. She raised her face, meeting his eyes, lower lip still quivering from the tears that she had cried. Tilting his head to the side, Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and sighed inwardly.

'Are you all right?'His question was simple, though it brought a soft glowing red to her cheeks, and she hastily nodded, blushing as the feathers of his wings brushed against her cheek. 'That was unexpected.'

'I...I know...forgive me.'

'There's nothing for me to forgive. And there's nothing for you to be sorry about. I have told you not to cry from physical pain - I have never said that you couldn't from emotional.'

She sniffed again, and Sephiroth sat down in chair, balancing her on a knee. Raine bit her lower lip to stop it from quivering, and he smiled softly, feeling at ease with the girl - strange, he never actually felt 'at ease'. Feeling at ease wasn't something he usually felt - he was always on guard. Yet now...he was relaxed. Raine jumped down from his lap after he let her go, and she bowed, hands clasped in front of her, before speeding off to the unknown places in which she usually dwelt.

Sephiroth chuckled slightly.

Kids.

AN: Look at that! What a cool and long chapter! Sorry if Sephiroth is a little OOC - I had to bend him a little to the role of her teacher and her comforter. Besides...it's cute that Sephy has an admirer...hahaha.

Raine: Remind me to put scorpions in your bed tomorrow night...

Sephiroth: ... (Smirks) I've taught you well.

Me: Your both mean! (Cries and hides behind Ansem)

Ansem: (Sweatdrops) Erm...

Raine: Whatever, I'm gonna go find Haze...maybe he's found Mie...

Me: Oh yeah! More on her in later chapters, because Mierie is a rockin' character...