8 June 1990

There was a new presence in this wretched place. It wasn't new, no, it was somehow familiar, and yet, after spending nearly five years in Midgar, he couldn't help but feel it was new among the constant barrage of people and their actions that annoyed him, to say the least.

To a certain extent, he didn't care too much over his mother's prejudice against the humans. She created them, after all, and it was more than easy enough to avoid them and terrorize them remotely from Mt. Nibel.

Though now, he fully empathized with her as he had to deal with them every single waking moment.

His hands idly pulled his trench coat over his shoulders as he began his daily routine of getting dressed while he continued to get lost in thought over the new-but-not-new feelings.

For his own sake, he thought of home as little as possible. It hurt more to remember his mother, his brothers, and Cloud than it did to (nearly) forget them all.

Cloud... It couldn't be him, could it? No, he was what... Nine? Ten years old? There's no way he could possibly have moved across the sea, let alone the continent.

Sephiroth pulled his boots on and huffed.

Impossible. He was only making himself more homesick over a stupid idea. He got the rest of his gear on before leaving his quarters with Masamune by his side. The usual noise and hustle and bustle of the humans as they went about their duties reassured him somewhat. It was another plain, ordinary day. Which, in and of itself, really sucked as he stepped onto the elevator to go up to Professor Hojo's laboratory.

The dim lighting used to be so comforting to him, considering he grew up nocturnal, but, as his visits to the lab became more and more frequent, it left a bad taste in his mouth.

There was some creature in a large, circular enclosure made almost entirely out of reinforced glass. It had a strange assortment of fleshy colors and drooled uncontrollably, walking along the walls of its prison and rubbing its body against the glass as it did so. It had no lips; its teeth were constantly bared, and Sephiroth could feel the animal's stress. It grinded its teeth, making him cringe internally.

It had four legs and what looked like six fish eyes. Other than that, he had no idea what animal it even could have originally been.

The silver-haired man looked up at the railed platform where Professor Hojo stood. The scientist scribbled away on his clipboard, looking at the creature with curious disappoint.

Sephiroth walked to his left and went up the stairs to stand by Hojo's side. He took a quick peek at the professor's notes, internally rolling his eyes when he saw nothing but squiggly lines.

"And what did you hope to gain from something like this?" Sephiroth asked softly, his eyes on the creature once again.

"It was a series of tests on resistance," Hojo said curtly. He scrawled more dots and lines onto the paper. "First, I inoculated it with a serum to enhance its immune cycle and overall resistance to disease."

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes as the creature began to foam at the mouth. Its body shook violently, and it banged its head against the glass.

Hojo, too, kept his gaze on the animal, but no expression other than disappointment was on his face. "Then, I exposed it to several cancers and infections. Not all at once," he added. He looked down for a moment to write some more notes.

I'm sure more than just simple diseases were involved, Sephiroth though sourly. "I take it this was a failure, then."

"Obviously," Hojo snapped. "The only thing remotely successful about this experiment is the fact that the subject is still alive."

"What was originally in there?"

"In the containment unit? A sight hound."

Whatever the hell was suffering down there looked nothing like a dog anymore. It didn't even have fur.

Sephiroth blinked slowly and looked over at some blinking lights in the corner of the lab. He couldn't look at the poor bastard much longer.

"Enough about the subject," Hojo said, thankfully breaking Sephiroth out of his thoughts. The professor wrote down one last note and walked off towards the elevator. Wordlessly, Sephiroth followed.

"I'm going to need a blood sample," Hojo said as the elevator doors opened up to let the both of them in.

"And this is for...?"

"Your physical," Hojo stated simply. He pressed the button for the elevator to go down to one of the medical floors.

"Why so early? Physicals aren't until next month."

"You're being deployed to Wutai in a couple of weeks."

"I will not be there long. And since when do physicals involve blood samples?"

"I need to see the Mako levels in your body. You may be able to take another injection before you go."

The elevator stopped and dinged before opening its doors. Sephiroth and Hojo stepped out and into the room, the two of them making their way to a private room. Infantry men – cannon fodder for a pointless cause, as Sephiroth thought of them – joked and chatted loudly amongst themselves. Soon after noticing the legendary SOLDIER and the scientist, however, they quickly quieted down and straightened up, standing at attention.

Neither Sephiroth nor Hojo bothered to even look in their direction. They were less than nothing, and, until they made anything out of themselves, they would always be nothing.

The presence that was bothering Sephiroth earlier became much stronger all of a sudden. At first, it was a faint itch, so weak, it was almost unnoticeable. Now, it was a chill. A very, very strong chill, which he couldn't shake off and became stronger and stronger as he and Hojo walked past the cadets on their way to an examination room.

His eyes caught a glimpse of wild blond hair, and he slowed down. He looked to his right, and time seemed to stop, just for that moment.

Wide blue eyes stared back at him, as innocent as the day he had last seen them. Everything else about the boy in front of him was different, however. He seemed to have gained just a little bit of muscle, and he was definitely taller than Sephiroth had last seen him.

Time worked on a completely different scale to Sephiroth. What seemed like days or weeks to Sephiroth were often years or decades to a human. But, looking upon how the adolescent near him had changed, made Sephiroth very conscious of the passing of the years.

The memories came rushing back when he saw those eyes light up. He never forgot, and he couldn't even pretend that he had.

"Sephiroth," Cloud Strife whispered with awe.

Notes:

Started: 2018年1月18日（木）

Finished: 2018年1月19日（金）

Uploaded: 2018年1月20日（土）

And so, as of uploading this, tonight marks the 5th anniversary of this fic. It's been a long five years, huh? I'd have hoped this fic would've been completed by now, but I suppose that'll happen in its own time.

As a sort of celebration, I've both written this update and decided to do a (sort of) face reveal. w w w dot jenova-cells dot deviantart dot com /art/Birthday-726451246 (Sorry if my gross face melts your eyes, but there it is, that's the Zetran behind these ideas.)

Happy fifth birthday, my lil baby Doll. You grew up so fast.

PS: This isn't the "real" reunion; that will come later. But I hope you all enjoy this chapter. It's been a fun five years, and I hope there will be many more.