Five Years Ago:

Tifa had finally made her way up the mountain, the route practically engraved into her mind like a message carved in stone. Above some of the smaller lifeless hills, she could see the ghostly green glow sending forth from the Mako Reactor. She had gone all this way and there still weren't any signs of her father.

"Father? Father, where are you?" she called, quickening her pace into a run at the sight of the looming reactor. Her long brown hair flailed behind her as she ran. After passing the final hill, she became unsure of what she saw. Whether it was the shock or the disbelief, she didn't know. Her body felt like lead with every step she took, but she willed herself to move on. Protruding from the ground was their "hero's" sword, practically buried beneath the earth. It was drenched in fresh blood, and the body of her father lay before the sword.

"Father!" she ran to his side and fell to her knees in agony and her arms gently cradling her father's head upon her lap. "Hang in their father." There were tears brimming from her red- brown eyes. When she blinked, her eyes let forth a surge of salty droplets. Her father groaned, her only kin left in this world, now he was being taken from her. He lifted his hand high as if to stroke her tear- stained face, but he could only reach so far in his current state. She grasped his hand tightly, afraid that if she let go he would do the same and in turn drift out of life. "Father!" her tears fell freely. She felt utterly pathetic, but she had every right to cry, right?''

"Tifa…" he barely managed to whisper. His voice was hoarse and strained; his mind was slipping to and fro of conciseness. "Run, hurry." He desperately urged her to escape from the madman's wrath, but Tifa could not give up hope.

"Hang in their father." She cried, but his hand fell from hers, no longer able to hold on with the meager strength that had now left him. She held him in her arms, refusing to let go. If she let go, then he would let go and die. Her judgment had become clouded with disbelief and rage. She had never felt so much rage before in her life. She held him a bit longer, just in case, was what her mind said. But he had already let go and it was time for her to do so as well.

When she finally rose from the ground, her eyes were shadowed and her lips were pursed real tight. "It was Sephiroth," she muttered seemingly stupefied. She staggered towards the madman's long sword: the Masamune. "Sephiroth did this to you, didn't he?" She already knew the answer, but she could bear to face it. He was their hero and now he was their executioner.

"Sephiroth, SOLDIER, Shin- Ra, Mako Reactor…" she yanked the Masamune from the ground in which it stood and sliced at the air in anger. Her brow was knit tightly and her shoulders were trembling badly. She voiced her anger and shouted her rage. "I hate them all!"

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The silver- haired general made his way up the metal steps towards the core of the Mako Reactor. His boots clanked against the stairway, his footsteps echoing in the empty dome of the reactor. He passed experiments similar to himself, only unsuccessful ones that had met their demise earlier than intended. Large egg- shaped pods held those who had been warped by Shin- Ra's inhuman experimentation.

He was once a hero, but now he had become bitter and resentful to the company of monsters who had made him. He had found out about the Jenova Project hidden among the shelves in the Shin- Ra mansions basement library. He had learned of the Cetra and that he too was part of the ancient race. His mother was supposed to be ruler of this planet, using it as a vessel in order to find the Promised Land. Yet she failed, and it was all do to the traitors who call themselves humans.

In the central core of the reactor was his mother. She was a very patient creature to have waited so long for her chosen. He truly admired her. Sephiroth slowly and calmly made his way towards the core. He was excited to meet his mother, after all these years…

"Mother. I've come for you." He reached over and touched the siding of the door. There was a mixture of glowing colors between the radiance of Mako, to the glowing warning lights the color of blood. Behind him, the great general heard rapid footsteps of a person charging for an attack. After years of training and battle, it was hard not to recognize the sound. He could tell it was female because of the quickness in her steps and the feather lightweight to them.

"Sephiroth!" he heard the woman cry. "How dare you kill my father and everyone in the village!" she swung his own blade like an axe towards him. When the general turned around to stop her wasted effort he saw who it was: the guide from the village. He grabbed the blade with gloved fingers and lifted the sword high in the air with Tifa still dangling on the handle. He smiled at her with predator- like eyes while she defiantly glared back with red- brown ones.

In one swift motion he flipped the sword and sliced out at her. Tifa's eyes widened in pain and fear… Was she going to die? She rolled down the metal stairway like a ball down a slope, hitting the ground floor hard when the sudden stop jolted her out of her senses. He body was twisted in an awkward position from the tumble and looked like a broken figurine. She moaned in agony, fearing that Sephiroth would slowly descend the stairway to finish the job, but he never came, he only continued towards the central interior for his mother.

"In spite of promising me that… you would come whenever I'm in a pinch…" she whispered reminiscing of older days and past junctures; merely memories of a knight to come and save her… An image of the water tower in the center of town, a starry night when the celestial body shone just for them, there was a meeting between herself and a friend, who wanted to be her knight in shining armor. "Cloud…"

She had sat back to back with the spiky haired blonde, staring into the never- ending sky above. How the clusters of stars radiated with such ferocity that night, almost symbolic of the bond that was their promise…

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You know the drill…