He looked down at his half-chipped sword, partially out of disbelief. Oh well…the thought continually reverberated as he inspected the damage that the virtual Sephiroth had caused with his starkly life-like Masamune. So much for hoping for this month's salary income. Looks like I have to get another one. With a flash of one of his trademark smirks, Zack Fair of SOLDIER's 2nd Class division tossed the useless sword over his shoulder as if the test hadn't just happened.

But just as he made to leave the training chamber, everything was cast upside-down in less than a mere disorientating second. Almost out of benign interest and curiosity, Zack pulled himself halfway up to see the cause of this position to be his left ankle snagged by a rope. The young lad then groaned long and low as he felt the blood rushing to his head. It was as he swayed from that snagged ankle that Zack noticed a youthful girl, wearing plain casual adolescent clothing with a vest over it and a baseball cap on her head, but what he noticed the most was the way this girl seemed to be smirking at her victim with obvious amusement as she spoke, almost laughing.

"Was your head in the clouds or what?"

"Who are you and let me go!"

The spiky dark-haired teenager soon realized how idiotic he must look hanging from his foot and lost all interest in this new girl, merely demanding to be released from the mortifying predicament he was now in. The female remained unfazed, choosing to ignore his words as she studied his uniform before speaking again.

"2nd Class huh? I guess I'll be seeing you around."

The girl then produced a sharp-looking dagger from her boot and masterfully sliced horizontally above his foot, severing the thick nylon rope and dropping him to the ground in a rather undignified fashion…rather befitting of this training session, one would think. As he rubbed his head, Zack looked up from where he was sitting on the tiled floor of the training hall.

"How did you..."

His question was interrupted by something ringing loudly, drawing both sets of eyes fall unto the girl's waist, where her PHS was secured. Taking the small machine from her belt, the mystery female examined the number before deciding to flip it open.

"Speaking. Yeah, I'll be there in about an hour. What?! C'mon you know I'm bored... yeah, ok I'll see you later."

She then hung up on the speaker at the other end and turned to face this new person she had encountered during her self-made entertainment, speaking in a nonchalant way- almost as though a child just told she wasn't permitted to say out and play with a friend.

"I have to go now, nice meeting you."

"I still didn't get your name."

It was only as he finally reclaimed his footing and was standing steady on both feet that Zack realized he knew absolutely about this half-pint that had just gotten the better of him with very little effort…his intrigued him somewhat; for tactical reasons, purely!

"It's Kyra."

As she smiled whilst informing him of this trait, the lad silently admitted to himself that this new girl was pretty…and maybe even as witty as himself to pull off that rope snare…or was he just merely daydreaming yet again?

Sephiroth giving her a call just minutes before his imminent brief about his next high-profile mission had to be Shinra's way of saying it was time for daily dosage. The scientists gave up on him every time he went with her. Usually one or two will be sent to the infirmary before she could get her shot.

Once she had changed into her normal SOLDIER attire, the young woman clutched at her necklace that always remained hidden beneath her top, smiling lovingly as she speaks in a low whisper, praying.

"Please come back to me…I need you."

Kyra arrived in Hojo's lab right on time, as she did most days now, knowing what to do by a routine manner that had taken years. She loath-fully took off her leather jacket and cast it aside. After that, the apparent adolescent grabbed a fistful of her silver hair and tossed it to one side as the man she loathed to his utter core spread alcohol on her skin… and then, none too gently, injected the syringe needle deep into her flesh and forced its contents to be transferred into her body.

The silver-haired man punched in the number combination to his dormitory lock, waiting for the few seconds it took for the red light to turn blue as the door slid open to allow him entry.

His mako eyes widened noticeably as he saw Kyra smiling at him rather wickedly. Hojo must have overdone it again. He thought this bitterly, whilst nodding his head lightly. Somehow looking at her made his knees grow weak. Not out of affection, but possibly as a side-effect of fear. It was hard for him to describe the feeling no matter how many times he managed to encounter it prior to this.

"Welcome back, Sephiroth."

She greeted him civilly and then walked over towards him. After that simple line-up of words, she gave a mother's embrace, as he seemingly deserved. The revered SOLDIER responded by lightly hugging back the smaller frame.

She gently rocked him back and forth as she made cooing noises, directed at the man physically older than her.

"Don't you worry, my dear, I will guide you until little Kyra can carry out her purpose."

As this old remark harboured no safety for that of his little sister-figure, Sephiroth immediately became overly-suspicious and pulled away; keeping this person separated from him by an arm's length, with his hands heavily upon her shoulders…his voice one of grave seriousness.

"Does she know about this?"

He asked her this as his jade irises met her mirroring gaze…the chilling thing being the way it seemed to peruse him as though he were only a young child of some sort.

"Oh she's aware alright, in subconscious. And for the weak boy's sake, she pretends to act like this."

The young woman looked down at herself, disgusted at the appearance of this young girl…and then looked back up into his shimmering Mako pools.

"Make sure she trains hard, she will prove useful to me that way."

"The… weak boy?"

As this incomprehensible snippet of her words remained stuck in his head, furthering his confusion, Sephiroth questioned it- wanting to know what was meant exactly by this labelling, but all he got was a sly smile and maybe even a wry amusement to its voice.

"You know who he is once you meet him."

It had been twelve years since that monster's birth. He could remember the happening so clearly because it called him son. There were only ever two ways it revealed itself; one of them is through an injection of those alien cells, and the other… he would rather not think about it. Every single time she appeared, she sung a lullaby that was too scary for a mere child to handle.

Sephiroth knew it would take a while before the process would wear off. Most of the time her alter ego talked about traitors in ancient times, but now she discussed about punishments that would make Kyra vomit, literally. She wore a mask of dissatisfaction as Sephiroth informs her of all the traits that made Kyra so human…valuing the mere girl over his own Mother.

The only other person that knew about this fear-inducing anomaly, besides the evil scientist, was Genesis. He developed the habit of naming her Megan Falroy as other literature, besides Loveless, was now his fancy- laving its marks and inspirations upon the more sophisticated of the SOLDIERs.

At the end of the week, when Megan Falroy leaves, Kyra would be so exhausted she hardly had the strength to get out of the bed. By then, Sephiroth had come to know of the youth Kyra had snagged with her rope snare- Zack Fair, for the young man was in the process of being promoted from 2nd to revered 1st Class…

He was definitely one to keep an eye on, with his friendly smile, spiky black hair that seemed to defied gravity, and his Mako blue eyes that apparently made Kyra blush a little as she stuttered- a trait so unusual for the self-confident young woman.

"N-nice t-to meet you."

"Same here."

The ease with which he replied made the young girl blush maybe a semitone deeper, earning an interested look from her figment of an older brother. Sephiroth raised a silver eyebrow at his younger companion; she met plenty of male recruits close to her age but always remained calm and smiled in the past. Now, her cheeks were an obvious red and the odd stutter every so often alerted him that something was different this time around. Almost as though taking pity on her, the man smirked and cleared his throat, but Kyra beat him to the punch- taking Sephiroth's light cough as a jump-start.

"Oh, right. I'm 1st Class SOLDIER, Kyra the Gentle Seraph."

"What?!"

With his mouth almost hitting the floor due to shock, Zack recognized the name and then cast his eye upon the girl; studying her properly…only then did it occur to him that this was the same girl from the training hall over a week ago. At the sound of his shocked voice, the two Generals exchanged a glance and then turned to face him, with the tall silver-haired man speaking in a light, almost bemused tone.

"You... didn't know?"

"No, I didn't know…but she's a teen!"

As an indignant reply to his foolish ramblings, Kyra reclaimed some of her confidence and placed her hands poignantly on her hips, tilting her head endearingly to the side as she spoke in a fake tone that did little to hide her laughter.

"Geez, thanks Mr. Obvious."