"She hasn't eaten in days, she won't talk and she won't report to her superiors, which have them very worried. Can I get your assurance that you will take responsibility for her well being?"

The platoon manager took her glasses off as she looked Sephiroth dead in the eyes.

"Yes ma'am. I will take care of her and relieve her of her duties. I'm sorry things turned out this way."

The woman pinched her brow as she turned back to her computer. She was obviously very annoyed with this. She brushed back her long black bang behind her ear and started running searches in her computer of the rest of the SOLDIER platoons.

"It's bad enough that we lost our marksman trainer, but now we lost our hand-to-hand specialist as well. Finding replacements for them won't be easy."

Sephiroth only stood ridged and made a slight noise of discomfort. He didn't like to hear that his only friends were so replaceable.

"I want a report filed in with the Department of Public Safety every seven days no later than 2100 hours. You will file the report on the condition of SOLDIER First Class Bianca. Failure to do so will result in a forfeiture of pay for the week and extra duty. Is that understood?"

Sephiroth nodded, feeling a bit numb in his toes.

The woman turned to him again and handed him a file with a ShinRa seal in red, covering the flap.

"Seeing as your current partner is missing in action and presumed dead…"

Sephiroth cleared his throat in protest to that statement. Above all, that was the last thing he wanted to admit to.

"…you are being reassigned to 7th Detachment Mechanics Platoon. Your new partner is SOLDIER First Class Zack. He is new to the field, but capable and shows a lot of promise. Train and treat him well."

Sephiroth let a small smile escape his lips when she turned back to her computer. His plan was working after all.

"This platoon also has squaddies and regular army soldiers, no officers so civilian clothing is authorized as a uniform as long as its combat capable and non-offensive. Your first mission is to act as escort for the platoons mechanics in Costa del Sol. I've sent you and Zack and e-mail with further information. You're dismissed."

Sephiroth saluted and turned towards the door. He was stopped moments before he closed it behind him.

"Don't worry Sephiroth. We'll find him. I promise."

Sephiroth didn't say anything, but closed the door behind him and started walking down the hall. He wore a look on his face now, one that deterred fan-boys and fame seekers from interacting with him. He was no better off than Sandy was. To Sephiroth, Daniel was his only friend, the only one who knew what he went through. To lose him so suddenly was something that he couldn't accept. He was SOLDIER, he was the elite of the elite, although he was not as famous as Sephiroth was, he knew that their strength was nearly matched. They suffered so much together, yet now it was as if he floated away, back into the life stream to never be heard from again.

It was dusk now back at Midgar, although the sun almost never shown through the dense clouds of pollution that rolled over the grand city, today was a pleasant exception. Along the streets of the top plate, couples were leaning over the railing, children were all taking advantage of the daylight, playing games with each other.

They know nothing! Weak fools can't comprehend the disaster that lies just beyond these walls of cement and steel. Weak and pathetic…

Sephiroth stopped and stared at the sunset, holding a hand to his head.

"What am I thinking?"

He only shook it off and returned to the soldier barracks. The airship Gelnika would be arriving soon to take them back home.

Sandy tossed and turned on the bed, rolling away from the window with her pillow clenched to her chest. The tears hadn't stopped since they arrived to report to higher command. She had only been there a week, but refused to see anyone, not even her family. For her, comfort only came in small doses when she would cry herself to sleep, and not have to face the reality that she lost the man who she saw as her future husband. Sephiroth would leave a tray of food, three times a day in her room. She would take drinks of the water, maybe a nibble here and there of the shortbreads or vegetables, but nothing more of an insect's portion. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get that image of Daniel out of her head, seconds before the explosion. The look on his face and the look in his eyes always stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Stupid…"

She whispered to herself while sitting up and grabbing the pack of cigarettes on her bed stand. She opened the window and let the warm air of Midgar flow through her hair while she lit one of the sticks up. It seems now that the only breaks from crying she has are when she stops to smoke.

She was immovable in this state, not even acknowledging the presence of anyone. Not even Sephiroth when he gently rapped at the iron door, then opened it. He looked at the many cigarette butts in the ashtray next to her bed and saw her smoking again, knowing full well that he was there.

"You know smoking in the barracks is prohibited."

Sandy only took a puff and blew the smoke out the window.

"So fire me…"

Sephiroth sighed. He hated these situations. He had absolutely no idea how to handle women. He was never interested and quite frankly didn't even want to understand how their minds work.

"Gelnika will be arriving soon. I'll take you home, and watch after you for a few weeks until I have to fly to Costa del Sol on a mission."

"I'm not going."

Sephiroth was getting slightly annoyed. Come hell or high water, she was getting on that plane.

"Sandy, this isn't easy for me either. Headmaster Takami said she would look into this personally."

Quite unexpectedly, this drew Sandy's attention. When she turned her head and Sephiroth saw her face, she was taken aback. She was a mess.

"Of corse she would, she's been after him for quite some time now. I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to cut in our relationship, taking advantage of us like this. She could fly to where ever he is and feed him any type of bullshit story she wanted."

Sandy dug her face into her knees, which were clenched to her chest now.

"He's gullible. He would believe anything she told him."

Sephiroth shook his head as he emptied the ashtray in the waste basket.

"No. I don't think so. He's in love with you Sandy, he won't be deterred so easily. So please get ready. I don't want to have to force you."

Sephiroth knew that it was harsh, but if he didn't move things along, they would miss their flight.

Half expecting Sandy to throw a punch, Sephiroth started packing her belongings in her duffel bag. Much to his surprise, she only blew out her last drag of smoke, and flicked the cigarette butt out the window. She climbed from the bed and staggered a bit. The only times she would get up and walk were when she needed to use the restroom. Sephiroth watched her relearn how to walk in a matter of seconds, and then followed her out of the barracks room, closing the door with a loud clang.

The rest of the walk was rather quiet. Sandy was always the talkative one, but for the first time since Sephiroth knew her, she didn't say a word. She didn't even salute the officers she passed by, nor did she return the salutes of those below her rank. She was in emotional turmoil, and nothing short of Daniel's return would ever bring the smile back to her face.

The two boarded the plane on the landing strip and strapped themselves in. The military plane was reserved, so they were the only two in the cargo hold other than the crew. He wanted it that way, feeling it necessary to give Sandy her space and his too. He still wasn't sure of how he felt about all this. He only had a plan in mind, a goal to reach and he was determined to obtain that goal.

"Sephy…" Sandy stated coldly, "you think he's really dead?"

She spoke with a cracked voice, obviously fighting back tears.

Sephiroth looked down, feeling a single tear form on his face as well.

"No. Someone like him doesn't die so easily."

Sandy smile slightly and sank back into her seat. It was an empty smile, one that seemed to go against all for what she appeared to be.

"You still have hope then. I'm glad one of us does."

Sephiroth just folded his arms as the plane started taking off. He would never admit, but he was beginning to lose hope himself.

The newspaper reports said that the crash landed in the Nibel mountain range, in a remote region that is virtually inaccessible to the rest of the world. Airships cannot fly directly above there for the high winds near the peaks, the snow and tremors make land travel deadly. While a small team did travel there and recover the remains of the airship, only Daniel's seashell hairpin was found, not Daniel himself. This lead people to think that he was killed in the final explosion, or at the very least from the fall. Despite all odds, Sephiroth knew he was alive. Daniel was just as tough as he was, and nearly as strong. Something like that can't kill a SOLDIER, so why is everyone assuming that he died? Did he mean so little to the company? Was he so insignificant as to just replace him? No, Sephiroth wouldn't allow it. He couldn't. There was no replacement for his partner, his friend.

He thought back on several things, childhood memories that they made together when they were little. Sephiroth didn't have much of a childhood outside of being the SOLDIER prototype and a laboratory experiment of Hojo's. His only shreds of happiness were found with Daniel and Sandy. Together, the three had accomplished great feats during the war.

Ah the war. Nothing bonds two friends as deeply as being war buddies. Before, they were just partners, but when they hit the field, matching the enemy of the known world, they stood side by side and seemed to be unnaturally coordinated. In the words of one of the field commanders, 'It's as if you two share the same thoughts. You move as two people, but you act like a single will.' Sephiroth always remembered that. The two were so intone with each other that at times they would finish each other's sentences. It got to be a problem so Sephiroth decided not to talk as much anymore.

"Sephy, if he really died, I don't know what I'll do. I feel empty without him, I feel cold, helpless, and weak. I feel frail and crushed at the same time."

Sandy looked at Sephiroth with tears in her eyes. He could tell that this was not some idle joke or empty promise made out of heart break. What she was about to say, came from the very core of her being.

"Sephy, I'll die without him."

Sephiroth sighed and reached for her hand, which trembled in her lap. His black leather gloves rubbed over her fingers as she clenched back.

"I won't let that happen."