Zack, Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth find themselves in a strange place with a familiar face. But things start taking a turn for the worst. Nightmares come to life and haunt the poor silver-haired baby.

PLEASE READ! I needed to make this after it was posted because I forgot to put this up here, though I was half asleep when I posted this so I blame my tired mind for thinking it was already here!

There is vague sexual assault against a child mentioned at the beginning of Seph's part towards the end of the chapter. Please understand that I do not approve of sexual assault period, and if you are going to be triggered by this please just skip over until Seph starts talking about Zack saving him. It is again mentioned closer to the end in the mirage they were seeing.

If this will trigger you then please, skip over those few lines and continue reading, or just leave the story entirely. I promise, only this chapter and the next will have these themes in it, as Cloud and his family and friends are going to do everything necessary to make sure Seph never thinks about these things again and never has to worry about it again. He will still suffer from the effects of it though out the story, but he will not mention it in his parts again, or will vaguely make an off-handed comment about physical affection and things that remind people about his fucked up childhood.

Thank you for your time. Enjoy the story.

Chapter 5

Sephiroth frowned as he looked into the barn after Zack, Genesis, and Angeal. He didn't know what had happened to cause them all to look so defeated. But Zack had said later, so Seph knew he had to wait, so he sighed and started to follow them.

'Sephiroth.'

Sephiroth spun around quickly, his eyes scanning for the voice that called his name. He saw no one.

'My dearest Sephiroth.'

"Who's there?" Sephiroth asked softly, his green eyes scanning for even the slightest movements.

'My beloved Sephiroth.'

"Who are you?" Sephiroth asked again, slightly louder. Something turned his gaze towards the north. The air shimmered slightly in the distance as if something was breathing in the extremely cold weather of the Northern Continent.

'My delicate salvation.'

Sephiroth turned away from the distorted haze quickly. His gut told him it wasn't normal, that the voice it seemed to emit was not to be trusted or listened to. Something also told Sephiroth that the distortion in the air could only be seen by him, that if he told anyone about it he would be mistrusted and maybe killed. That woman Mr. Cloud called Aerith didn't trust him, if he gave the others a reason, they wouldn't trust him either.

It took a long while for sleep to find Seph that night while curled up with his new family in the barn. It was only through sheer willpower that he was able to block out the voice that was slowly getting louder and louder in his head. And even when sleep found him, Seph found himself having nightmare after nightmare after nightmare, each one a vivid reminder of the lie he had told them all, to make them not fear him, to not throw him away like everyone else but President Strife had.

The hazy distortion unseen and undetected as it covered the four sleeping chocobos.

FINAL FANTASY 7

Zack knew something was wrong as soon as he opened his eyes. For starters, he had fallen asleep as a black mako enhanced chocobo in a barn on Bill's farm for the last time before Cloud took them to his farm. Where Zack woke up, he was standing on human legs with human arms and the Buster sword on his very human back.

"Let me go!"

Zack's head snapped to attention, he knew that voice, the soft child-like edge to the voice that had captured his heart on the first day.

"Sephiroth?!" Zack called out, then blinked as he realized he wasn't the only one to call for the silver-haired boy.

Though he was the first to break out of the confusion.

"We have to go find Seph!" Zack called out. "If you can't see each other, assume we can communicate through this place without having to be close. I don't care how big this place is, we search for him until we find our missing member!"

"Yessir!" Angeal's and Genesis' voices rang out. Zack could feel through where he was that the others had started moving the same time as him.

Zack couldn't see anything until he almost ran into a door that had appeared before his eyes. Zack slid to a stop, but he wasn't fast enough and ended up slamming through the door and into the brightly lit lab behind it.

Zack had to actually stop and stare for at least a solid minute as he came to terms with what he was seeing.

Sitting at a desk before him was a black silhouette of a man who was going over picture after picture of a young body's internal organs and external wounds. Dread started forming in Zack's gut, his mind ran laps around itself trying to explain this away in any way but what he feared it was.

"Sephiroth is growing and healing exponentially faster than I ever could have thought!" The sick and twisted but also cold voice rang out from behind Zack. He knew the owner without turning around. "So young but still so much better than I could have ever hoped!"

"Hojo, this is going too far!" Came another voice from behind him, one Zack didn't recognize. Still, Zack couldn't tear his eyes away from the man who was slowly taking on more physical appearances than the black silhouette he once was.

"It's not far enough! He needs to be better! His mother demands better!"

"His mother is dead, Hojo! You killed her with this reckless behavior of yours!"

"His mother is Jenova, the last pure Ancient on Gaia! You think you have any right to tell me how to make her son better?! How to mold him into the perfect weapon for his mother to use?!"

"He isn't a weapon!"

Zack flinched as the gunshot rang out, but his gaze stayed locked on the young silver-haired boy that couldn't have reached higher then his stomach looking up to him, his cat-like green eyes filled with fear.

"The boy may not have been born from Jenova's body, but she is his true mother. And as his mother, she has the last say about what happens to him. She wants her perfect son to be the perfect weapon."

Zack didn't realize the lab had faded around him until he felt Seph collapse into his stomach, trembling with fear.

"Was I really born to just be a weapon?" came the soft and terrified voice from the small body clinging to him.

"No," Zack said firmly, his hand moving to pull Seph away so he could crouch and pick up the terrified boy. "You are so much more than what Hojo wanted from you. You are human. You are kind and loving. You will never be the perfect weapon Hojo wanted from you."

"What about my mother though?" Seph asked, curling into Zack's shoulder, his small hands clinging to Zack's shirt. "Why would she want to see me as a weapon? Doesn't she love me?"

"Your mother loves you a lot, Seph," Zack whispered softly, his hand moving to stroke through Seph's hair calmingly. "She never wanted this from you, she never wanted you to be a part of this period. Jenova isn't your mother Seph. A wonderful woman who was thrown out of your life as soon as you were born was. Hojo killed her when she tried to stop him from experimenting on you. She couldn't though, and he shot and killed her."

Seph curled closer to him sobbing in his arms.

Zack held him tighter, not risking letting the little boy out of his arms. He saw another door and he approached it slowly, ready to ease all of Seph's fears and worries in this dream world that Seph had pulled them all into.

'MY DEAREST SEPHIROTH!'Came the sudden booming voice as soon as Zack touched the handle to the door. 'YOU WILL NEVER LEAVE ME AGAIN!'

"Zack!" Seph shouted, his head looking behind Zack, his hands gripping tighter to his shirt.

Zack didn't hesitate to throw the door open and run inside, then leap over a ravine that was suddenly in his path.

'MY DEAREST BELOVED SEPHIROTH! YOU WILL NEVER LEAVE ME!' The voice boomed again, and Zack didn't stop running. He didn't recognize the land he was running through, but Zack would be damned to let whatever that thing was get close enough to hurt his little brother!

"Zack over here!"

Zack didn't stop running or slow down, no he ran faster. Angeal and Genesis were inside a door in a cliffside. He would have to jump to make it to the edge of the door, pulling him in would be Angeal and Genesis' job.

"Quicker Zack!" Genesis shouted, firing his strongest fire magic at something that was right behind Zack.

Seph screamed and curled himself closer to Zack, his grip as strong as all the muscles in his little body would allow. Zack didn't let it affect him. He used his momentum to send himself flying up and forward as he jumped, the one arm not holding Seph close to him flung out to grab Angeal's outstretched hand. The next fire hit right next to Zack's legs, just as Angeal dragged him into the doorway and out of harm's way. Genesis slammed the door shut, and before their very eyes, the doorway disappeared into nothing.

The three stared at the place the door used to be, then Genesis and Angeal threw themselves towards Zack to pull them both into a tight hug, both letting out sighs of relief.

"Don't scare us like that again, Seph," Angeal sighed out, placing a kiss to Seph's head. "You had us terrified."

Genesis sighed and pulled Seph and Zack closer to him. "When I saw that thing behind you guys I almost feared that we would lose you both. I'm so glad you're both okay."

Zack let all of them relax and just hold each other for a few more moments before he started looking around the room. It looked like the president's office at Shinra Tower, except it looked a lot more open and inviting. What used to be walls lined with photos or a table or two, was now mounted bookcases with plush navy blue chairs placed periodically before them in circles to make a little library-like spot. The large desk was still the same, but it had two more navy blue chairs sitting before it, with a beautiful black leather spinning chair that looked as simple as one could get without sacrificing comfort. Closer to the windows overlooking Midgar was what caught Zack's eyes the most and made him gasp and make everyone look over at the scene before them.

Sitting in on a large white sofa was Cloud and Seph, both looking very much like the young boys they were, except Cloud was wearing suit pants, the matching suit jacket laying in a heap on the ground, his hands running up and down Seph's almost naked body. In fact, the only thing Seph had on for clothing was his plain black boxers.

"What the hell?" Angeal whispered, his grip on the young silver-haired boy in his arms tightening.

"I don't remember this," Seph whispered, his voice so soft the other three almost didn't hear him. "Why don't I remember this?"

Zack stood up slowly, then motioned for the others to stand when the two on the sofa didn't react to him. "Why don't we find out just what exactly is going on then, shall we?"

The others nodded, and as a group, they walked right on over to the two on the sofa, except they didn't seem to realize they weren't alone anymore. As they got closer they could see everything in better detail about the boys on the sofa. Zack almost ran over to check the Seph on the sofa himself when they got close enough to see Seph's chest, arms, and legs completely covered in bandages.

"You stupid boy," came the gentle and loving voice from the Cloud on the sofa. "You shouldn't let them bully you and force you into things. You are so much stronger and better than those disgraceful bugs."

Zack felt himself pale, felt Seph cling to his hand and push against his side, and he felt fear. Pure unfiltered fear ran through him as the Cloud on the sofa slowly turned his head and looked right at Zack, making eye contact and holding it.

"Such bugs don't deserve your love," the thing that looked like Cloud said. Because Zack would never believe that Cloud, in any life, would ever have eyes that burned like fire with a voice so sweet and commanding it made even insults sound kind. "You both deserve so much more than the bugs that flock to your light. The bugs that take and take and take from you and never return anything."

Zack couldn't bring himself to look away from the thing on the sofa, he felt like his body was under some kind of control because he didn't even realize he had started moving towards the outstretched hand that the creature had outstretched for him and Seph to take.

Zack snapped out of the daze quickly though when Angeal grabbed his shoulder and dragged him back so he couldn't see the thing on the sofa, Seph being shoved in his arms a second later by Genesis.

"Who the hell are you?!" Genesis growled, his rapier out, ready to attack. "What the hell did you do to them?!"

"Insignificant bugs," Came the cold voice, the thing clearly dropping the act since its targets were no longer in its reach. "You have no right to talk back to those superior to you."

Suddenly, Angeal and Genesis were flung backwards so hard that they smashed into the wall almost thirty feet behind Zack, and by the sound of the crash, they had either smashed the wall to dust or bones had been broken. But Zack didn't have the chance to even blink before those unnaturally glowing sky blue eyes were trained back on him.

"Zack look away please!" Seph cried out, trying to force Zack's head and eyes to look away from the now fully clothed Cloud look alike.

It should have worked since Seph was stronger than him, but as Zack felt his control slipping again, he found Seph couldn't shift his head away, Seph was weaker than him.

"Such bugs don't deserve your love," the blonde man repeated, sitting back down on the sofa after straightening his clothes. "They never have and they never will."

Zack couldn't look away, he knew he had to, he had to break eye contact, had to break the control being cast over him. He had to check on his friends.

Zack had to-

The feeling of belonging, of peace, settled in over his body. As all his thoughts vanished and he felt himself drift off into his mind, the last thing he saw was the pleased expression that took over Cloud's features, his ears not hearing Seph cry out for him to fight the control, and didn't hear Genesis or Angeal shout out for him. No, the last thing he heard was the Cloud before him.

"Welcome home, my handsome hero."

FINAL FANTASY 7

Sephiroth knew as soon as he had woken from his nightmares to find himself sitting in the president's clean and tidy office, that something was horribly wrong. This office hadn't existed since before the war had started on his world, and the last time he was in this place was when his president had told him he was destined for greatness and how he would soon be forced to prove his fighting prowess in actual battle if negotiations and peace talks fell through with forces coming from the southeast.

Sephiroth could also tell that something was wrong because unlike all his other dreams of this place, President Cloud never had a solid white sofa before the windows with two black end tables on either end and if he ever did, they were never long enough to hold him laying down three times in length and width. It was still a sofa though, it wasn't built like a bed, even though it really could have been.

It was his president though that made Sephiroth really understand that this wasn't a dream or a memory, because his president had never liked wearing suits and he never had eyes that glowed as they did now. But he knew as he made eye contact with the man who was sitting behind his desk and he felt his body start to relax and fall under his president's control, that this was real, what was happening in this room was real, and that was enough for him to turn around, break the hold, and bolt for the door.

He had forgotten that his president had always been faster than him, and before he touched the door handle, Seph found himself pinned to the floor looking up at his amused president.

"Now Seph," he purred, his voice filled with so much Sephiroth didn't even want to identify, but lust was definitely one of them. "You know how I feel about you running away from me after I've summoned you."

Sephiroth said nothing, but he did slam his eyes closed. He wasn't about to fall under this man's control, not when he knew better. Closing his eyes did more harm than good though, as soon he felt as his president began running his hands over his chest and down his legs, touching everything he could, appropriate or not. Startled, Seph did the one thing he remembered Zack telling him about.

"If someone tries to make you do something you don't want to," Zack had said after setting them down for rest in the nest that night. "Or if they are touching you in a way you don't want, a solid knee to the groin would take them out long enough for you to get away. If your attacker is enhanced, scream as you attack and you take the opening to run as fast as you can. Remember this for when we find a way to get our bodies back, kay bud?"

So Seph did, he had technically got his body back. He snapped his eyes open the same time he opened his mouth and slammed his knee up.

"LET ME GO!" The look of surprise and then pain as his president collapsed to the side, holding his head and his groin, wasn't enough to stop him from running out into the nightmare realm that awaited him beyond that door.

Seph ran, he ran and ignored the nightmares and scenes he had witnessed throughout his life, he kept running until he ended up in the one room that had no way out until the memory had passed, and that's where his control and identity started falling apart, until Zack appeared, until Zack pulled him close and reassured him that everything would be fine, that he wasn't what Hojo said, he wasn't a monster.

Zack had held him close, had taken him into a new room, had started to make his way through this room until the voice boomed out and the Golden Shadow that haunted this place finally found them and started chasing him. He didn't know if he had shouted something about running, said Zack's name with fear, or if Zack just understood without looking back that something was coming to hurt him and Zack, but Zack ran. He ran and burst through the door before them, didn't even slow down, he couldn't even keep up with what was happening, all he knew was the Golden Shadow was catching up to him like it always has, like it always will.

And then Angeal and Genesis were shouting at them, holding a door open even and Zack shifted to run towards them, going even faster, and it was only because Genesis is a pyromaniac that they had gotten out of that room before the Golden Shadow caught them, Genesis slamming the door in its face.

The relief was short-lived until Zack had pointed something out to them all. The room was the president's office, and sitting on the noticeably shorter and smaller white sofa without the black end tables, was the president, his jacket on the floor, his black tank top clinging to him to show off his muscles. And laying on the sofa next to him was Sephiroth himself, younger and clearly unresponsive, in only black briefs. It was what made him lower his guard, he had never been in the room before with another Sephiroth so he thought it was a memory, but he didn't remember it.

It wasn't until the president looked at Zack directly, his fingers curling then letting the Sephiroth on the sofa disappear into nothingness that Seph realized he had made a grave mistake. He had clung to Zack, scared of the man before him, because all he could do was fear his president once he had been told by that very man the truth about how he had managed to get what he wanted. He thought Zack would be stronger, would be able to fight the president's control. How wrong he was. Zack had fallen into the trap and was still looking the president right in the eyes, and Seph struggled to remove Zack's grip on him as Zack started moving closer to the president. When Genesis and Angeal got in the way, Seph wanted to cry in relief, they could help them, they could take out the president.

Seph felt his heart shatter, felt his new family falling apart as Angeal and Genesis were thrown into the wall, and by the twisted and wrong angles of their limbs, both arms and legs were broken. Seph tried to keep Zack from looking at Cloud, tried to force his head away and down, but Seph found he couldn't move Zack's head even a hair, and he couldn't shove his face or hands in the way because of how Zack was holding him, his hands could just reach Zack's jaw.

The world stopped as Seph heard those words, the ones that said the president had won.

"Welcome home, my handsome hero."

Seph renewed his efforts to escape Zack's grip, except this time Seph was doing it to escape Zack and get over to Angeal and Genesis. He had to escape this place, had to get away so he could take care of his injured family.

"Come now, Seph," the president purred soothingly, and Seph couldn't tell if he was standing behind him or still on the sofa. "You shouldn't be bothered by the bugs. It really doesn't do our family any good when you focus on those ungrateful insects."

And then Zack was standing, holding Seph in place with an iron grip on his shoulders, and Sephiroth watched in fear as President Cloud walked past them and stalked closer to were Genesis and Angeal were still laying in pain, their eyes livid fire.

"No!" Seph cried, trying to break Zack's grip in every way he knew how only for it to get tighter. "Stop it! Leave them alone! Leave my family alone!"

"It's okay Seph," came the soft voice from above Seph. "They aren't our family, they tried to break our family. Let him take care of the pretenders."

Seph could feel his heartbreaking, shattering even as his once beloved President stomped on Angeal's back, the resounding crack and Angeal's scream sinking his broken heart further.

"Please! I'll come back to you!" Seph cried, going limp in Zack's grip. "Just please don't hurt them! They didn't do anything to you!"

The President stopped and looked back at Sephiroth, his smile going sinister as he took in Seph's broken will. "Of course you will come back to me. You belong to me."

Sephiroth looked up, hope sparking in his eyes. Did that mean he was going to let them go?

Then the man placed his foot on Angeal's head and slowly started to crush his skull. Sephiroth felt fear, was he really going to watch his family die before his eyes? Just to appease this man?

Something in Seph snapped, like a wire that finally found its place and had tightened to connect both ends, and Sephiroth shouted the first thing that came to his mind.

"CLOUD! HELP US!" And the wire vibrated as if answering the call. But it was a soft vibration, one that caused Seph to feel defeated again.

Then the pain came, the pain of someone crushing his shoulders with superhuman strength. And Seph screamed in pain, his bones grinding and slowly breaking under the grip. When he managed to open his eyes, he met the furious gaze of his president, the eyes glowing even brighter.

"That worthless bug," the President spit out, his voice filled with hate and malice. "Will never come. You belong to me. And when I'm done with these two, I will personally snap that disgusting thread and kill that worm who dared to touch you."

Then the room exploded into a blinding white light.

"You seem to have things mistaken," a voice filled with hate spit out, but Seph didn't feel fear, no he felt relief. "I'm going to kill you and take my family back."

Then the room exploded, literally this time, as the force of two powerful forces clashed and ripped the room into nothing.

When Seph opened his eyes next, he was curled in the nest located on Bill's farm in the barn, his family waking up next to him. Seph almost believed it was all a nightmare until he saw Cloud collapsed against the wall, his clothes ripped and torn as if he had just come from a fight, the barn an utter mess of a battleground.

When the natural mako enhanced baby blue eyes met his, Sephiroth felt relief, the wire-like connection singing alive and getting stronger as Seph forced himself out of the pile and to Cloud's side, eager to be closer to him and to ensure he was okay.

Cloud just collapsed to the ground and held Seph close to him, his hands clinging to the silver feathers. Seph said nothing, only pulled himself closer to Cloud. His content was ruined however when Cloud made a motion with one of his hands and then Zack's yelp was heard. Seph turned around to look at the nest, only to see Angeal and Genesis holding down a struggling Zack, Zack who's eyes were glowing unnaturally bright like his presidents did.

"You're going to explain what that was Seph," Cloud stated softly, his voice leaving no room for argument. "And you're going to tell me everything you know about breaking that man's control."

Sephiroth looked back at Cloud, the man who saved them, even if he didn't know how he had, and nodded. He would tell Cloud everything, he would tell them all everything, the entire truth this time, without holding anything back. He had a family now, one that had gotten hurt and almost killed because he hadn't trusted them with the entire truth. These people knew him, Zack had even watched as his Seph fell into insanity and he still tried to save him. They had tried to save them even when they didn't know what was happening. Sephiroth knew he could trust these people with the truth.