She was leaning expectantly towards him with her hands behind her back, her round eyes fixed on his face. Despite himself, Sephiroth looked away. As if satisfied, she spun round on her heel, her braid slapping against her back as she turned it to him.

"Mmmmm…" Aeris wrung her hands behind her back, looking up. Sephiroth frowned.

"You were going to ask me something?" His tone was bored, but imploring.
"Uh-huh."

He waited.

"… Well?"
"Oh, I don't know," she sighed. "It's stupid."
"Yes, I had expected as much…"
"Hey!"

She rounded on him, looking reproachful. He sighed and folded his arms over his chest.

"Let me know when you're finished hemming and hawing."
"Some things are tough to ask!"
"What, are you working up the courage to ask me about the length of my hair?"
"No, but you could tell me about that in the meantime."

He snorted and tossed his head to throw his hair from his eyes. When he looked back at her, he thought he caught her peering with renewed interest at the shock of silver that fell down his back, but she looked away as soon as she realized he saw her.

"Okay." She took a steadying breath. "You have to promise to answer this question."
"… Because that worked so well for you before."
"… " She frowned, wringing her hands. "I… I want you to tell me about Professor Gast."

He unfolded his arms. It seemed an eternity before they fell into place at to his sides, and when he finally spoke, his expression had soured.

"Don't play games with me," he commanded.
"… What?"
"Why would you ask that?"
"I—"
"Are you expecting me to 'open up,' suddenly? Tell you some personal, touching story about Nibelheim or the Jenova Project?"
"No, I—"
"There's nothing to be said."
"That's not it!" she cried, punctuating her sentence with a tiny sigh of frustration. They each took a moment to frown at each other before she continued.
"It's not some… some tactic. I just want to know because…"
"Because you're a meddlesome girl who doesn't know how to leave well enough alone?"
"Because Professor Gast was my father."

She wouldn't have thought it possible if she wasn't witnessing it herself, but his already baleful expression darkened.

"… That's not funny."
"Huh?"
"I told you," he snarled, "No games."
"It's not," she protested, raising her voice.
"Then what is it?" he hissed, lowering his.
"Just shut up for a minute! Not everything is about you!" Her hands balled into fists, Aeris glared at him. His expression remained as stony as ever, and though he looked straight at her, he made no indication of having even seen the look she gave him. Pressing a hand to her temple, she sighed.

"He's my father, and I never got a chance to meet him, but you did, and so I wanted to know if you could tell me… what he was like?"

She held her hands together again, appearing quite apprehensive, and he felt his stomach twist upon realizing that she was telling the truth. With a weary sigh, he seated himself and looked stubbornly away.

"He was a great man. A genius. A—"
"Stop it." He looked at her searchingly. "You're trying to be nice. It isn't like you."
"Are you insulting me?"
"No. …Maybe. I didn't think you'd take it as an insult."

He snorted. She smiled.

"Then, he was a liar. A traitor. An obsessive, short-sighted coward who wanted acclaim without responsibility. He turned and ran when he couldn't face the consequences of his actions, and I'm certain he got himself killed over it. If you're his daughter, I wouldn't doubt that the only reason you were ever conceived was for his own ends."

"Mmm." She sounded nonplussed by his tirade. "I thought it might be something like that."

"… What do you mean by that?"

"Well… I've heard about the Jenova Project." Her hands clasped behind her back and she paced through the flowers while she spoke, her voice calm and even. "Actually, I think that was the first time I heard his name in connection to anything he'd really done. I just knew that a man named Gast was my dad, and that he was a scientist. That's all anyone told me, when I was small.

"But, when I heard about what he did, I wondered… 'What kind of person could do that?' It seemed a lot like… what I went through. To be honest, I kind of blamed him." She paused, pensive. "I never told any of my friends who my father was. I guess I was ashamed."

Her eyes wandered from the flowers in front of her to some spot off in the distance. Sephiroth canted his head towards her back, his brow unknitting itself. After a moment, he lowered his head again, this time flicking his cool eyes over the grass that had crept in around his feet.

"As a man," he began quietly, pulling her from her reverie, "He was patient and kind. It was never his intention to hurt… regardless of how much he did."

She turned to him, her lips slightly parted in an expression of shock and confusion. They came together slowly, turning upwards into a smile, her eyes softening as it happened. Again, he crossed his arms.

"Patient and kind… More or less than I am?" She giggled and he looked immediately exasperated. "Well, I guess my mom must have seen something in him. And besides," she mused, "nobody's all bad."

"To be honest, I used to think he was my father."
"Really?"
"When I was younger."
"Oh."
"In a way, I guess he was. But, my 'real' father is probably just a numbered sample… only Hojo would know for sure, I suppose."

It was Sephiroth's turn to stare off into space, and so he barely noticed the way Aeris' eyes darted nervously at the mention of the other professor.

"Yes, I suppose you're right."

Author's Note: Wow, I didn't mean to leave it so long without an update, but school sort of ate my life... Well, rest assured, I have no plans to abandon this story. I know this chapter is short, but... well, I guess all I can say is that I think it's as long as it needs to be. I edited some of the older chapters according to some of the suggestions, though I've probably missed a few things here and there. Anyway, thank you all for your feedback, I hope you continue to enjoy, and I'll try to be a bit more prompt about the next few updates.