Slipping constantly through consciousness, pain was all she could feel. She felt needles going through her, something cold tracing her arms, and there were times when she could vaguely remember herself screaming, only to feel more needles and lose consciousness once more. While she slept, she was in an area that was completely black. Loren rose from the ground.

"Where…am I?"

She took a look around.

"In a place where I am your only solace from complete darkness and solitude."

She whirled to the direction of the sound.

"Who are you?"

"I am you."

"What do you mean?"

"It is exactly as it sounds. I am you, just in a different form."

She froze. 'Different form'? She thought back to Hojo. 'He made me lose consciousness. I wake up to pain only to be put to sleep again. What…oh, God…no…'

"Show yourself to me."

A slight rustle of clothing was heard in front of her and a person stepped forward. It seemed to have no set gender, as it had no breasts but did not seem manly. The person had long black hair as she did and wore a long black robe. There was something distinctly different about it, though. Its eyes were cat-like and bright yellow, and something resembling spines or spikes was visible near the hairline. As the person smiled, sharp fangs were shown. It was then noticed that the person's feet didn't touch the ground. It had sharp nails that were the color of blood.

Loren stepped forward and touched the person's chest. It was hard as rock and felt as if made of metal. The person lowered the collar of the robe and Loren could see that the person's torso and parts of the arms were indeed made of a black metal. She looked down and saw that the person's feet were clawed.

"You…are me?"

"Is that hard to believe?"

"Indeed, it is. You are not female. You are clawed, fanged, and are of metal. I do find it hard to see you as myself."

"I am you. I am summoned from the darkness inside of you and the many toxins that have been injected into your body, including the cells of Jenova."

"Jenova…toxins…darkness…it created you? You hate the fact that you were created, do you not?"

"I was meant to be here. I can feed off of you without affecting you, feed off your emotions, while you can physically become me and have my strength to add to yours. What say you; do we have a bargain?"

"I…I do not know. What if you are lying to me?"

"I could always be lying. But the decision is yours to make."

"But…if you are in me, why not just take over?"

The demon smiled.

"Unlike my dark friend Chaos, I believe in fairness. And many other things, for that matter."

Loren stared at the demon.

"You know Chaos? He is your friend? How, if you have just been created?"

The demon smiled again.

"We have been brought into one's conscience, not simply created from nothing. We do have an origin. Once we find a host, we leave that plane of existence."

Thoughts whirred through Loren's head.

"So do you know Galian Beast, Hellmasker, and Death Gigas?"

"Quite fondly."

The demon paused and looked at Loren.

"Wake up. Something is amiss."

"Do you know what?"

"Hojo is coming. If you awaken and catch him off guard, you can escape. But…something else is at work here…"

"…Alright."

Loren opened her eyes slowly and adjusted to the light above her. The sound of footsteps alerted her to Hojo's coming presence. She closed her eyes again and feigned sleep. The footsteps stopped by her side.

"Hello, my precious specimen. I hope you are comfortable on my table. Sigh, what a beautiful creature. If only I could…"

Loren felt a hand trace her bare arm. It took all the power in her body not to gag.

"But alas, I cannot. I must finish my experiment."

As she heard him turn, she opened her eyes to see that she was naked, baring her scars for all to see and, to her horror, a new array of strange dark violet markings extending all over her body, as if outlining her skeletal structure.

"Oh, I see that you are awake, my dear."

"You bastard…"

She started to rise, but found that she couldn't due to the fact that she was bound to the table.

"Trying to come after me, I see? Oh, do not worry, for I will come to you and you will feel this quite keenly."

He indicated the syringe in his hand and started for her. She struggled furiously. He paused and looked at the door as a blurred silver image knocked him to the ground. Hojo began to stand, staring in abject horror at his 'son', who promptly impaled him in the gut with Masamune.

"My…beautiful…specimen…my…son…Se…ph…i…roth…"

He fell to his knees, blood seeping from his mouth. Sephiroth, sneering, twisted the sword from side to side, causing Hojo to wrench in pain. As he removed the sword, he held it up to Hojo's face.

"I am not your son. This is only a taste of all of the pain you have caused me. You will never destroy another person's life..."

As a finish, Sephiroth chopped off his arms, and then lopped off his head. He glanced at Loren and then looked away. He remained impassive.

"Your clothes are in the corner of the room. Get dressed. You are coming with me."

With quick slices, he released her from her bonds and left the room without another word. Left to her own devices, Loren stopped to think. 'Was that just me, or was Sephiroth actually blushing a little?' She got off the table, found her clothes, put them on, discovered her sword in a hidden compartment behind a chair, and grabbed any items that she may have had. She stepped outside the room to see Sephiroth waiting right outside.

"How did you get caught by Hojo?"

"He posed as Vincent and sent a tranquilizer from afar. I had no time to recover right before he sent the dart."

"Recover from what?"

"Seeing his greasy head."

Sephiroth's lips twitched. He quickly frowned.

"You have to be more careful. I do not want you to…take my revenge away from me. You could have easily escaped and killed him yourself. I cannot afford that. I needed his death to be by my own hand."

Loren heard someone speak to her.

"He is satisfied with his little save."

'What do you mean?'

"He probably wanted to say 'I do not want you to die, or get hurt'."

'He would not say something like that. He is too cold.'

"Exactly. That is why he caught himself before saying something he would regret."

'Something he would regret…by the way, what is your name?'

"My name is Death."

'Death…?'

"I am one of the greater demons, as is Chaos. We have a certain hierarchy. There are the greater demons: Disease, Hatred, Sorrow, Destruction, Death, Chaos, and Oblivion. Oblivion is our 'leader', per se. The lesser demons go by any name given by our main leader, Asmodeus."

'…Now that I think about it, you must be pretty powerful.'

"I am third rank. My strength is formidable, but only reaches true potential when combined with another's power."

'Sephiroth…ah, I see why he would stop himself from saying such things.'

"Yes, as do I. I am surprised you are not in denial."

'No, it makes perfect sense. Why would I be in denial?'

"Because you would say he is not capable of such things."

'Sephiroth is perfectly capable. It is the way he works, after all.'

"…?"

'He does not want me dead because he needs me to betray my friends and lead them into a trap. If I die, who will make his plan work?'

There was a slight pause.

"You have a point. You make it sound so very casual, though. Betraying your friends is not such a normal thing…or is it?"

"Shut up! You do not know what you are talking about!"

Sephiroth glared at her.

"What?"

Loren averted her eyes.

"Nothing. It is nothing."

Sephiroth backed away from the wall and grabbed her by the front of the shirt.

"You lie. Tell me or it shall be the end of you."

"I have a demon inside of me, all right? I can hear the demon and telepathically converse with it. I just began arguing with it right now and my connection broke due to my anger."

Sephiroth released her and narrowed his eyes.

"So…now you are like Vincent."

"I never wanted this if that is what you are thinking."

"…I never said that, did I?"

"No, but you were thinking it."

"How would you know?"

"I can see it in your expression."

He turned away from her.

"You have not finished your job."

"I am aware of that."

"I will lead you back to them."

"Where are we?"

"A hidden lab in the basement library of the Shin-ra mansion."

Loren chuckled.

"What?"

"Hojo was quite extensive with his secrets. A secret lab inside a secret basement…he goes to great lengths."

"Yes…he does."

He led her to the end of the hall and out into the library; Loren's eyes had a little trouble adjusting to the immediate increase in light. Before she got to the door, a hand grabbed her shoulder and shoved her against the door. Sephiroth pinned her against it, one arm on either side of her. He was way to close for her comfort. His eyes pierced hers. She met his stare, but inwardly flinched at the intensity of his gaze.

"…Back…off."

He paused momentarily. Eyes narrowing, he edged closer, close enough for her to feel his breath on her neck.

"Do not fail me again…or I will kill you."

With that he stepped away from her, moved her, pushed open the door and went to the foot of the stairs where he waited for her. She took a last glance at the library and met him. They left the mansion, bought a few Tents, left the town, and were now headed to a place she could still only imagine in pixels: the Nibel Mountains. Despite her senses, she didn't notice the shocked face of Vincent Valentine hiding behind the desk, silent and staring…

A/N: Hello! Thanks for reviews, etc, etc! Heh, I actually feel proud of myself for the whole demon hierarchy thing. SephirothValentine, you rock. I barely paid attention before, but I've noticed that you have read my fic and kept reading it since day 1 despite the huge time gaps. I am honored by that fact. I thank you. It gladdens me that someone can keep reading it.

Loren: Geez, you make it seem so very important. And you make it seem like you're obsessed with SephirothValentine.

ES: It is important to me. And I am not obsessed. I am simply grateful.

Seph: She lies. I say we kill her.

L: I say we kill you and shut you up for good.

S: …She does seem like she is lying, though.

L: She is not. So leave her be.

Vin (far, far away: a little speck): Loren! Loren, where are you!

S: Grateful or not, you are acting too foolish.

ES: Even so, I am grateful. Writing is an important hobby of mine. I am my brother's editor and maybe I shall write a book of my own one of these days, like my brother, so…yes, it's very important.

Don Corneo: Are you going to be famous?

ES: I hope so…

DC: (evil sneer) ooh hoo hoo! 'She'll be rich and hot…I'll take her!' Are you free on Friday?

ES, L, and S (at the same time): Living Nightmare! Fiend Inferno! Supernova!

(DC gets fried, more fried but by the sun, and now in a thong scares away legions of gorgeous women)

DC (roasted): No…come back…my pretties!

ES: Thanks for the idea, SV. Oh, and Don…

DC: Y…yes?

ES: Whacks with frying pan, stabs with pen, and shoots with gun I am not hot, but I'm not ugly, either! Learn to revise your words, idiot! Next time, I'll chop off your , fry it, and feed it to the dogs!

DC (still crispy, but pales considerably): Okay, okay! whimper

S: Hey, I thought the frying pan, pen, and gun treatment was especially for me!

ES (threateningly glares): Don't be jealous. I'll give you the special treatment right now if I have to!

S: backs away slowly runs away

ES (smiling): Review please!

L: Yeah, what she said…sweatdrop

Vin (still far away): Loren? Lorenn!