"Sephiroth!"

Sephiroth looked up from his paperwork to the disheveled redhead barging in to his office.

"I need your help!" Genesis slammed the door shut and with a quick few steps stood in front of his desk, looking down at him with knitted eyebrows.

"You remember we talked about knocking before you enter a room?" Sephiroth drolled.

Genesis took the opportunity to slam a piece of paper on his desk."Do you know what this is?" He asked sternly. Sephiroth glanced down then suppressed a sigh. "How about I enlighten you?" It was a question, but Genesis gave him no time to respond. "It's a new Loveless play that's premiering today." Sephiroth felt an oncoming headache. "Why didn't you tell me? It's been in production for three months!"

"Believe it or not, Genesis, I actually have other things to do than survey every theater in Midgar and report back to you every time you're out of town." Sephiroth said as he put down his pen. This was probably going to take longer than he expected.

"I've been back for half a day and this poster literally hit me in my face as I was walking around. They put twenty of them on every bulletin board in Midgar!"

Sephiroth knew about the play when the news about it first flooded the market, and he had dreaded this interaction with Genesis ever since he'd heard of it.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter! That's not why I'm here." Genesis waved his hand as if he could physically shove away the previous subject.

Sephiroth's brow rose. "That's not why you're here?" Calling him surprised would be an understatement.

"Well, I am here because of the new Loveless play, sure." Of course you are. "But I'm here for you specifically-"

"I'm not going. I can't. I have too much work to do so-"

"Calm down I wasn't going to ask you to come. Besides you and Angeal have no love for the finer things like art, I already knew that." Sephiroth suppressed sighed in relief. "I need to ask you a small favor." And Sephiroth definitely didn't like where this was going. "The esteemed Professor Hojo just called me to help him locate an escaped specimen. Obviously I'm busy, I tried telling him that, but he 'insisted'." Genesis air quoted. He himself knew how the Professor could be when he 'insists' on something. "So I need you to take on the mission for me. You know how it goes. It escaped the Professor's lab in sector four a few hours ago, so it couldn't have gone far."

Sephiroth furrowed his brows. "He gave you another mission so soon after your previous?" He picked up the paperstack on the corner of his desk and started rifling through. "I haven't seen a formal requisition from him… "

"Yeah, I didn't even get a written mission briefing. He just told me that I have to detain the specimen if possible, and if not, kill it. I'm pretty sure he's trying to keep the whole thing on the down low, you know how he is." Genesis huffed. "I told him it was grunt work and that I could assign a squad or even a few thirds to do it. Then he lectured me for ten minutes about the importance of his work and yadda, yadda." He explained while rolling his eyes and waving his hand around.

Sephiroth sighed as he resigned himself to a day of grunt work. "How would you even get tickets this late, haven't all the seats been sold out?"

Genesis threw him a slight condescending smirk. "Oh, please. They will find me a seat."

With that, and a flourish of his coat, he left the room as fast as he appeared.

Sephiroth considered sending someone else for a few second before deciding against and just to get the whole ordeal over with. He put down his paperwork and headed out the door with Masamune in hand.

Sephiroth came to a halt as he arrived in front of the building in Sector 4. One of Professor Hojo's 100-and-something labs located in Midgar. The entrance was surrounded by a few scientists talking to each other in hushed voices and two Soldier Thirds that'd been stationed as guards. One of the Soldiers, a man with the standard Soldier helmet on, walked over to him and gave him a salute.

"General Sephiroth, sir, we have a small, ongoing situation at the moment, so the facility is unfortunately closed until further notice."

"I'm here on behalf of Genesis."

The man paused for a moment before quickly collecting himself again. "Sorry, sir. Please follow me." The soldier lead him to the group of scientists speaking in hurried whispers. "General Sephiroth, this is Doctor Maya Novitski, head scientist in this laboratory." He said as he gestured to a middle aged woman with black hair pulled into a night ponytail on the back of her head. She regarded Sephiroth with a scrunched up face and a look of confusion.

"I thought Hojo was sending Commander Rhapsodos…?"

"Genesis appears to have prior engagements."

Maya shook her head. They were apparently set on making this harder than it had to be. "No, we cannot let this mission fall on to you, General." The people in white behind her seemed to freeze, looking at each other with furrowed brows and uncertain eyes. "This is merely tedious scut work. I'm sure you have better things to do. I'll send in a formal requisition for someone else." She said with a nod.

Normally Sephiroth would have let the matter go. Let Maya send in the formal requisition, and go back and finish up his paperwork. Maybe take a double lunch, call up Angeal to make fun of Genesis' bizarre taste in entertainment. Even though Sephiroth knew it was out of character for him, but even he liked to kick back now and again. Just relax for an afternoon with nothing to do. He could see the shifty, half panicked look in Maya's eyes. She was definitely hiding something and Sephiroth was inclined to find out exactly what.

"No. I'm already here. This won't take long." Sephiroth said assertively, not leaving room for arguments.

The Doctor let out a weak sigh. "...Ok, let me just get the Professor on the line then-" She said as she took out her PHS from her coat and started typing.

"I suggest you stop wasting both your time and my time, Doctor, and get to it." He narrowed his eyes and gave her his infamous one-hit KO glare. Familiar to anyone prone to wasting his time with trivial questions or unimportant information. Basically it's his go to look if he wants someone to shut up or leave him alone. Or in this case, both.

The Doctor paused for another moment, and Sephiroth almost thought she'd insist on calling Hojo again, before she cleared her throat and stood a bit straighter, regarding him with such a condescending look in her eyes, Sephiroth's sure she'd learned it from Hojo.

"Alright, I suppose it won't hurt. Since you're already here." She hesitated for another second as she glanced behind her to one of the other scientist that was huddled with the crowd, giving her intense looks, as if he trying to convey something. What it is, Sephiroth's not too sure of. But this mission has definitely peaked his interest.

"The subject was seen exiting the facility around 6:45 and has been spotted in the sector four slums half an hour ago."

"How did it get loose? I'm sure Hojo's had safety measure set in the lab…" Sephiroth cocked his head, wanting to get as much information on the matter as possible before he set out.

"...H- It overpowered one of the scientists on duty, and managed to slip out while the others were on break."

"Overpowered…?" Sephiroth glanced at the two soldiers awkwardly shifting in place. He didn't know what to think of that, and by the look on Dr. Maya's face, figured she wouldn't give him more information on it anyway. "What does it look like?"

"It- uh, is probably naked, I don't believe you can miss it."

Well that certainly caught Sephiroth's interest. Was he right to assume this 'subject' was a human? He raised his eyebrows a fraction of an inch, but the Doctor refused to elaborate. She only looked away and cleared her throat.

"Well, if you do find hi- it, you either bring him back here, or, if you see fit… you'll know what to do."

Sephiroth nodded, he'd already heard that part from Genesis, but figured it concerned those monsters Hojo was so fond experimenting on, not… a human. He supposed it didn't matter what kind of species it was, just why they were so adamant on keeping the subject away from Sephiroth. He'll figure it out soon enough.

Sephiroth made his way down the sector 4 slums. He got a few looks, some of fear, some of awe. Sephiroth ignored them all. He was used to this after all.

As he made his way down he made sure to ask bystanders if they'd seen anything peculiar the last hour, most of the replies were negative, but Sephiroth suspected some of them were deliberately withholding information, knowing who Sephiroth is and undoubtedly pitying the person he was looking for. It appears that this mentality ran deep into the residents of the slums. Placing them, as a people, against any outsider. As if they were protecting one of their own. Sephiroth found it as fascinating as he did vexatious.

He was about to give up on his 'friendly' approach of the citizens and try a more direct one instead, when he overheard a curious conversation.

"Mama, that girl was strange, I think she's cold!" A small child looked up at their mother, whom had her hands full with a toddler wiggling around in her grip.

"I know, honey. Mama will go check on her later if she's still there."

"But what if she gets sick?" The child was having trouble keeping up with the mother's long stride while looking up at her occasionally and also keeping his eyes on the road in front of him. "It's really cold at night! Dad said that it's warmer on top of the top plate because they get more sun, but I think-"

Sephiroth stopped listening and made his way down the street the family had emerged from, making sure to check every alleyway on the way down. He was about to turn a corner when his eyes fell on a small shape standing in front of a street vendor.

"Ya' gonna buy somethin' o' what, girlie?" The vendor seemed annoyed at the shadow he's food had acquired, but didn't seem in a rush to shoo her away. "Ya' looking a lill' lightly dressed, ya' know it'll get real cold in a few, yeah? Ah think ya' should head on home, maybe put on some shoes." He said glancing at her feet.

The vendor continued trying to persuade the woman a few more times, but when he got no reaction he just sighed and went to help some other customers.

Sephiroth stepped up behind the woman, and observed her carefully. She seemed to be wearing a cape of sorts, her blond hair brushing past her shoulders everytime she moved her head to focus on something new the vendor was selling. Sephiroth's eyes moved to her feet, and sure enough the bottom of her bare feet was caked with dirt, mud and even some blood mixed in.

Sephiroth was sure this was the subject he was looking for. She must have found a sheet to use, the bottom of which was dripping water. She probably 'borrowed' it whilst it was hanging to dry out a window or something and used it to wrap herself in. A small puddle of water had already accumulated at her feet, she occasionally tapped one foot to splash in the puddle, seemingly subconsciously.

Sephiroth stepped up beside her, ignoring how the vendor and people around him turned rigid and gave him a wide berth. The girl didn't notice and kept her eyes on the wares of the vendor. She was eyeing the mysterious grilled meat on a stick with particular intensity. She had a bit of a dazed look in her eyes, so Sephiroth concluded that is was best he left Masamune unsummoned for now.

"What is your name?" He figured information of any kind wouldn't be a loss, so he'll start to question lightly, then work his way up.

Her eyes finally tore away from the mystery meats and landed on him.

Sephiroth's breathing stopped as his eyes met endless blue, and he couldn't stop his eyebrows from furrowing in confusion. He did manage to stop his right hand from finding its way to the back of his head where he felt a slight throbbing. Sephiroth tried to ask again but couldn't find any words to say. He observed the blonde keenly to see if she had any materia equipped. Maybe she had cast confusion on him?

The blonde finally broke out of her deep daze and her eyes widened as she gazed into Sephiroth's. She took a step towards him, then another. Her feet was unsteady as she walked, and Sephiroth, fearing she'd tumble head first into the ground, reached his arm out to steady her.

"Who are you?" Sephiroth asked again this time throwing in an seemingly ineffective glare.

"Me?" Sephiroth's eyebrow quirked. Apparently he and everyone in the slums had been wrong. Although the appearance of the person in front of him was ambiguous, his voice was everything but.

"Yes, do you have a name?" Sephiroth was aware that they'd gained quite a few spectators who think they're being subtle, some of them whispering and looking disapprovingly in his direction.

"You mean- you don't know me?" The blond asked with a small, hoarse voice and cocked his head to the side giving him a look of pure confusion. "I was so sure… so sure we…"

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. "So sure we what?" He felt his heart pick up it's pace. Was he nervous? No that couldn't be it. He wasn't afraid. That was literally impossible. An irregular heartbeat was never good, he'd have to have it checked out.

"...Know each other… " He gave him one last longing look, then went back to his dazen spectating of the mystery meats.

Sephiroth stood in disbelief for a few more seconds before he pulled himself together. "Do you have a home?" This could after all simply be a confused amnesiac taking an afternoon stroll in his neighborhood.

It took a few seconds before the blond spoke up again, Sephiroth was about to ask another question when he heard a weak. "Yes, I think I do." Apparently he had been thinking about it.

This was going to be a bit harder than he first assumed.

"Where?" Sephiroth suppressed a sigh.

The blond hummed "In the mountain… it's very beautiful-" He glanced at Sephiroth and gave him a small, warm smile "Would you like to visit? I'm sure my mom woul-" He stopped in the middle of his sentence, then his face scrunched up in a grimace.

"Your mom would…?"

"I… don't know." He said, and left the matter entirely, as if it was too troublesome to even think about and, then focus on the meats again.

Sephiroth sighed, took out his wallet and placed some coins on the vendors booth. He was sure he placed a few too many, but he was in no mood to argue change. He picked up a stick of grilled meat and ignored the vendor who'd started sweating through his tick jacket. The blond's eyes were glued to the meat in his hand, he suppressed a smirked and tried moving the food left and then right, the others blue eyes followed it like a cat waiting for its prey. As he handed the food over he didn't expect the blond to take a small step back, as if afraid if he had stepped out of line by standing to close. He'd seen this kind of behaviour in new recruits he'd encountered in the Shinra halls, but rather than afraid of him, the blond seem to be afraid of the mystery meat (which is very warranted in Sephiroth's opinion.)

"Take it." Sephiroth almost flinched at how harsh his voice came out, but the blond didn't even blink as he grabbed the stick from his hand. He paused, then looked up at Sephiroth expectantly.

Neither of them spoke for a full minute. Sephiroth just observing the smaller blond, and the blond keeping his eyes on Sephiroth, unwavering. Sephiroth would commend the man had he not known that there was probably some psychological issues at play.

The blond opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, then opened it again. "Can I… eat this?"

Sephiroth paused, then blinked a few times. Definitely some psychological issues at play. "Yes you can go ahead."

Without another word the blond started to chow down on the meat. He took big, sloppy bites and chewed with his mouth open, getting food all over his face in the process. Sephiroth is sure he'd seen five year olds with better eating habits than his. When he was finished he took to licking the residue off his fingers, then he handed the, now clean, wooden stick back to Sephiroth. He stared at the stick that was handed to him for a moment, then turned to the vendor who looked like he'd suffer a heart attack any minute now.

"Do you have a napkin?" If Genesis was here he'd snort in disdain at how the vendor flinches back and then dives into his stall to find what Sephiroth requested. He handed him a small once-upon-a-time-white cloth, he supposed that'd have to do for now.

Sephiroth put his hand under the blonds chin, ignoring how the other froze in place at the touch, and started wiping away at his face. Then threw the cloth back into the vendors hands and uttered a thanks.

Sephiroth slowly turned halfway around and indicated the blond to follow him. To his surprise, the blond that'd been so good at following orders up till now, stood his ground.

"Come." He had never been good at talking to people, both Genesis and Angeal could attest to that.

The blond let out a small breath. "No, I can't." He said determinedly.

"Why not?"

"I'm waiting for… someone." Sephiroth heard the weavering in his voice, and decided he'd let this little thing play out as far as he should.

"You're waiting for me. I've come to pick you up."

The blonds blue eyes narrowed as he scrutinized Sephiroth's' face, presumably looking for something. Apparently he found it because the next moment he was all smiles as he caught up with Sephiroth.

They started walking up towards the transit to the surface and had been walking for a while when the blond suddenly stopped up, one hand caressing his stomach whilst the other held the sheet tightly around his body, his knuckles turned white.

"What's wrong?" He asked as he observed the uneasy look on the others face. Suddenly the blond turned a corner and walked into a small alleyway, for one terrifying moment Sephiroth thought the blond would run, and he'd have to cut him down. Luckily (for him) the blond only crouched down and started emptying his stomach on the ground next to a few garbage bags. He suppose mystery meats will do that to you. Sephiroth walked up to him and stood beside him has he started dry heaving. He considered patting the other's back for a moment in consolation, but decided against it, when he remembered his last reaction when he was touched.

The other finally stood up, looking to be deep in another daze. There was a bit of residue on the side of his lips. Sephiroth picked up one side of the sheet around the end and wiped his face clean. The other recovered out of his trance and gave Sephiroth a smile. Sephiroth nodded back, and they started on their way again.

Once they were above the plate the blond started slowing down his stride, he had instead occupied himself with looking at the blue sky above head. Sephiroth had a stray thought of how the blond's eyes matched the sky to a fault.

They continued walking at the slower pace. Sephiroth in the front, ever so often glancing back to see if the blond is following him and not walking into oncoming traffic or something. They were approximately a block away from their destination when the smaller man suddenly spoke up.

"Was it everything you dreamt it would be?" He glanced away from the sky and gave Sephiroth a warm, dazed smile when their eyes met. And Sephiroth couldn't help a small feeling of helplessness arize in his hearth, as if he'd forgotten something of immense importance.

He didn't answer, instead he turned around, ignored both the blond and the sudden lump in his throat and quickened his pace.

When they finally did arrive Sephiroth just wanted to deliver the 'specimen' to the Doctor, go home, and forget the meeting ever happened. Unfortunately he had no such luck, he let out a small curse in his mind at the sight of Professor Hojo waiting by the entrance of his lab together with the small entourage in white lab coats and the two Soldiers waiting for them.

Hojo's eyes narrowed when they met Sephiroth's and then narrowed further when they landed on the man behind him busy gazing at the blue sky above him.

"Come now Subject C, you've had your fun. Time to go back." Sephiroth noticed and ignored how the two soldiers froze at the Professor's name calling. Apparently not expecting the infamous 'subject' of today's disaster to be a human, and much less such a harmless looking young man as well.

"...Fun?" The man cocked his head as he focused in on the sneering Professor in front of them.

"Yes, you've caused a lot of trouble. Now, come here." Sephiroth, who was accustomed to Hojo, could feel the coldness in his voice as he spoke to the blond. He resisted a shudder, and turned to look at the young man behind him. His eyes seemed to be dimmer than before, no longer a perfect match to the oh-so blue sky above them anymore.

At this point Sephiroth just wanted to wash his hands of the whole ordeal, go home and try to deal with the lump in his throat with some warm tea, maybe get a head start on next week's paperwork.

"Go." He delivered the line with the same harsh voice as he did by the vendor, but this time the blond did flinch. He took a small step back and glanched between sephiroth, and Hojo a few times before nodding with that dazed look in his eyes. He walked over to Hojo, who immediately handed him over to Dr. Maya.

"Get him hooked up again at once, and monitor him, properly this time." Professor Hojo hissed through his teeth. He paused when his eyes landed on the blond's feet, and he scoffed in disgust. "Get him in a shower first!"

Sephiroth looked at the retreating back of the blond, he looked so small, like a child that'd been reprimanded.

The lump in Sephiroth's throat grew, and his hearth once again picked up speed, almost hurting him to the point of winching from the pain.

"I don't remember asking for you on this assignment." Sephiroth was about to give the same explanation he did the others, his eyes never leaving the small retreating back. "Well, I suppose it matters not now that you got the job done." If Sephiroth knew Hojo as well as he thinks he does (and Sephiroth believes that's a hard yes) The Professor wasn't nearly close to done with scolding him as if he was a child.

So instead Sephiroth cut him off. "Who is that? What's his name?"

"Its name is Subject C. And who he is is none of your concern." Sephiroth almost scoffed in his face.

Instead he calmed his temper and answered, "Very well." before turning his heel and leaving for Shinra and his paperwork.