Sephiroth came outside to see the Highwind landing just outside her cavern. He inhaled deeply, and climbed aboard and walked down to the bridge, passing young Rufus who was playing with a toy on the floor, and the Turks. They all eyed him and his new attire with amazement. Sephiroth approached Hojo and Hojo glared at him over his glasses, he was reading something, but it was indistinct.
"Professor Hojo," Sephiroth started, his voice was powerful and ready. "I've decided I'm not going to be in SOLDIER, I want to stay here with Soldire."
Hojo looked at him again and nodded, "Fine. You must do as you see fit."
Sephiroth drew his eyebrows together, that wasn't like Hojo. Hojo wasn't a genius by any respect, nothing compared to Professor Gast who passed away only recently, but he wasn't stupid… he wasn't someone to underestimate. "And what's the catch?"
"There is no catch, you have free will. Please, at least join us for lunch in Wutai, then we'll bring you back here," Hojo insisted. He was being accurate, and not going to lie to Sephiroth.
Sephiroth nodded and agreed, but he hated walking away from Soldire. She watched from the ground as the Highwind disappeared over the plains and sighed deeply. She rushed by a gold chocobo over the ocean and across the mountains until she reach Nibelhiem. She entered, getting the stares of everyone who lived there. She paced past everyone, putting her sword away, so everyone would know she wasn't here to attack. She walked past a small boy named Cloud and he tugged on her sword. He had to be all of five years old.
She leaned down and he asked her where she was from and she smiled at him. "I'm from SOLDIER sweetie. When you're big enough, maybe you could join."
"Yeah!" Cloud exclaimed with a little kid voice. He was missing a few teeth, that sight made Soldire smile and laugh. She thought to herself that maybe one day she and Sephiroth could have a little boy… maybe one like Cloud.
She continued on her way, and acted with intense stealth and climbed up and then found the hidden entrance to the underground laboratory and was pleased that no one was there. She paced to the library, and opened the book one last time and in the last page she wrote "Come see mother with me my love Sephiroth…" and then closed it and placed it inside, hidden in the shelves, she knew Sephiroth would find it.
Soldire returned to her home, and she waited, almost positive she would never see Sephiroth again. Her eyes felt heavy and she let her head droop. She finally heard a noise and she opened her eyes… seeing something she had expected, but she had still advised Sephiroth to tell them… he had been right, he shouldn't have.
About three hours later, Sephiroth returned to her cavern. "Soldire! I'm home!" he said… but he was met with silence. He drew his sword and started calling loudly, "Is anyone here?"
"Sephiroth, come quick, it's Soldire!" He heard someone from Shin-Ra call. Sephiroth rushed forward, and saw Soldire lying on the ground. A member of Shin-Ra was holding her up. Sephiroth pushed the Shin-Ra worker away, taking Soldire into his arms. She was injured beyond belief. Her wounds looked like a dragon bite… or maybe sword wounds, he couldn't tell which, he was too distracted to care. Her blood was starting to coagulate under her while she was slowly bleeding to death.
Sephiroth held on to her tightly, "Soldire… who did this to you?"
Soldire spoke softly; she was hanging on to life for him, "Promise me you'll keep surviving… That you'll uphold everything I taught you…"
Sephiroth started to tear up, and he clung to her tightly, "Please don't leave me… I love you."
She reached up and touched his face and his hair, "I love you Sephiroth… please promise me…"
"I promise… only for you would I promise though," he told her honestly, his voice was breaking while he was holding her, and she was slowly slipping away from him. "Don't go… please… I can't go on without you…"
Soldire opened her eyes again and looked at him again, and slightly pulled him close to kiss him one last time, "Bear in mind, the Reunion… once that happens… we'll be together again, as one forever."
Her kiss lingered on his lips, he closed his eyes tightly to hold back his tears and he continued to hold her, and then he felt her suddenly start to grow cold and her eyes were closed, forever. He finally broke and started crying on her, holding onto her. His tears came hard and fast. He couldn't move; he didn't want to move. He just held her close, and sobbed on her.
He finally had no more tears to shed, probably ever. He looked down at his love one last time and lifted her and rested her body in the back of the cavern, where it became a tomb for her. He made their bed again, and then walked out of the cavern, holding his sword; he sealed the cavern so only he could enter it again.
Sephiroth found her gold chocobo waiting around outside with its kind and gentle face. He sighed deeply and rode it back to the Shin-Ra base in Midgar, letting it go and explaining to it that it needed to be free now. The chocobo knew what had happened and tried to tell Sephiroth what the Shin-Ra had done to his love, but Sephiroth could not understand, so the chocobo wandered off, free and able to live life.
Sephiroth looked at himself that night, back in the bed he was in all his life, he thought about how much he loved the cloths Soldire made for him. He would never wear anything else… He wouldn't let them tell him to cut his hair anymore either… he was going to wear his as long as hers… he would uphold her image, and be just as strong as her. He was going to miss her so much… he wanted to die. He had no idea how he was going to be able to be in SOLDIER now… the name reminded him of her. He seriously considered impaling himself on his sword right now he hated how he felt so much.
-11 years later-
Time had past slowly, and now Sephiroth was the top-ranking SOLDIER, and the absolute best. Highly respected to always get the job done, he struck everyone in SOLDIER as the image of Soldire. He wore his hair long, just like hers, the cloths were hand made by her… how he smiled was her smile… how he gestured, it was hers… even his fighting style… all of it he took from Soldire. He never said the word SOLDIER though, everyone noticed, almost like it was a constant reminder.
He was on a mission where he and Zack and a trainee were heading to Mt. Nibel to check the Mako Reactor.
"So you're different then the rest of the people in SOLDIER?" Zack asked.
Different? Sephiroth asked himself, and starting swinging his sword violently… he knew that was true, he was never the same… no one else had his eyes, he looked like a snake with his eyes, everyone else just obtained his eye color, he was completely different… he wanted to be alone… he left Zack that night… rushing to be in the Shin-Ra mansion basement, he thought maybe he could find out more about Jenova…
He did… he found out how he was created, tearing all the books off the shelves, searching for something, wanting some kind of answers, but he couldn't find anything… nothing that answered him directly, until he found one book… one particular book that was in Soldire's handwriting… where she told him everything.
Then he read the last page "Come see mother with me my love Sephiroth…" and it occurred to him, being with his mother meant the Reunion. She had told him that when the Reunion happened, he could be with her again. Mother meant he would be with his love again. He was so close to being with Soldire he could taste it. He was excited now, anxious and he laughed out loud in time for Zack to hear him.
Zack tried to stop him, and he pushed Zack to the side, and looked back at him and grinned maniacally, "I'm going to see mother…" and then he paced off, burning Nibelhiem as he went, he headed to Mt Nibel, and then went and spoke to mother through the door, hoping she'd grant him entrance to see her.
He could hear someone coming up behind him, probably that black haired daughter of that stupid man who tried to stop him… Tifa… wasn't that her name? Sephiroth turned to see his sword being swung toward him, he lifted it by its handle, holding Tifa up too and then grinned at her and pulled it away, swinging it hard against her and making her tumble down the stairs. Then Jenova granted him entrance. He came inside and started speaking to Jenova, readying himself… he was going to take off her head… that was all he needed to have her cells so he could join the Lifestream… and be with Soldire again…
"Sephiroth?" It was Soldire's voice, inside his head, "It was the Shin-Ra who took me from you…"
"The Shin-Ra?" Sephiroth asked.
"You were right..." she was saying, "They came in when you left with Hojo to go to lunch."
"Why didn't you fight them off?" Sephiroth asked.
"I couldn't, there were too many and I'm nothing without you." She told him honestly.
Sephiroth felt like he was tearing up, perhaps hearing her voice again did it to him, he couldn't say for sure, but now his anger raged in him. "That's why Hojo was so understanding, he sent them to kill you immediately..." He could see Soldire's face in the glass in front of him, almost like she was looking out through Jenova's eyes."I hate them… no matter what happens, I will be with you tonight, until I have my chance to summon Meteor… and I WILL find a planet for us… a home for you and me, where we can be together forever…"
Sephiroth turned his attention when Zack rushed up behind him, and they battled until Sephiroth grew bored with the fight then used all his strength to throw Zack out and against a metal pipe. Zack was unable to fight again, and he whispered to someone "Kill Sephiroth."
Sephiroth faced his mother and Soldire again, and continued to listen, until he felt a sword stab him from behind. He fell to his knees, seeing the glass holding Jenova crack and begin dripping. He whispered "You bastard" out loud, seeing the embryonic fluid Jenova was in spilling on his leather.
Cloud was behind him, and walked away from him. Sephiroth stood up in anger, and took Jenova's head, holding it under his arm, and then he advanced on Cloud, stabbing him throug the stomach and holdinghim up and over the Lifestream. "Who are you anyway?" Sephiroth asked him, grinning maniacally.
"Cloud… you took my family from me… I want it… back!" Cloud screamed, and climbed down the blade to get closer to Sephiroth. Sephiroth glared at him in wide-eyed astonishment. Cloud landed on the ground, and picked up the sword and threw Sephiroth against the wall, pulling the sword out while he threw Sephiroth.
Sephiroth looked atCloud,grinning in how impressed he was, he knew he'd face this one again, he would promise to be a worthy opponent… but for now, he would take his mother's head, and plummet himself willingly into the Lifestream.
As the Lifestream took him and he merged with Jenova's true cells, and the Lifestream itself he could feel Soldire touching him. She was waiting for him there… He knew he would only be with her until the complete Reunion would occur, Jenova's will could use his body now, he didn't care if she took it over, his soul was with Soldire again.
"You sacrificed yourself to be with me?" Soldire asked.
"Only for you," Sephiroth told her, kissing her again.
He still hated the Shin-Ra, and he hated the entire world for leaving him alone… he would come back, he knew that. Hojo was going to create clones of him, clones that would one day travel to the Promised Land… and then, Sephiroth would live again, and he would then destroy everything. He burned with his anger, he would seek revenge on the planet and on Shin-Ra. This planet, would then be his ship so he could reign supreme, and Soldire could be with him in body and spirit again.
"Only for you," Sephiroth repeated.