It was so silent, the ride to the capital. After he'd defeated Cloud he'd turned a skyscraper into the capital of the city, where he ruled over. We sat side by side in the back of the sleek black limo. He didn't look at me once while we drove but the tension between us was unmistakable. Finally we arrived at the skyscraper building and he stepped out, offering me a hand out. I ignored it, sliding out on my own. He closed the door behind me and escorted me inside. The building was lined with soldiers, all saluting as we walked passed. The remnants waited inside at the receptionist desk. Kadaj and Loz both smirked my way, but once more, Yazoo was unreadable. We walked passed the reception desk and got into an elevator. The doors closed and I finally turned to study him.

He was the same as I remembered. Long, silvery hair, mako blue-green eyes, tall, strong. Exactly what you might expect a warrior god to look like. He peered down at me, and I suspected he might've been doing the same-remembering. I wonder if I looked the same as before to him? Perhaps I appeared different, despite not having aged since our last meeting? Neither had he.

"Why am I here?" I asked softly. He didn't respond. "Hey, are you going to answer me?" I asked when he didn't respond. I sighed in annoyance and grabbed hold of his arm, forcing him to look down at me. I met his gaze with a frown. "Why am I here?" I repeated.

"You are here because I want you here." I scowled at that.

"That's bullshit, and you know it," I shot back angrily. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him in annoyance. He looked at me over his shoulder, and it only managed to further irritate me that he gave nothing away. "Let me go back to my friends. I'm no threat to you," I reminded him. He turned to me fully, watching me silently, studiously, before he spoke.

"A threat is not my concern, information is. You know where the rebels are." He stated flatly. I bit my lip. Due to the circumstances in my past, I'm a very good liar. I just have one weakness; I can't lie to him.

"I'm not telling you anything," I responded stubbornly. For a moment I saw one of his old, dry smiles, the ones he'd give when I was being difficult, however it was long gone before I could fully document it.

"You'll talk," Kadaj said arrogantly, folding his arms and smirking. "They all talk, eventually," He sneered. I almost wanted to hit Sephiroth and blame him for letting his remnant talk to me like that, but then I remembered he probably didn't care. It was much sadder a thought than I originally expected.

He wouldn't protect me anymore.

I hid the pain and moved towards Kadaj with a scornful look. "I may not look tough, but I can and will break your legs." I growled in annoyance.

"Enough, Cerise." Sephiroth spoke up finally. I peered at him over my shoulder boredly, meeting his gaze flatly.

"Don't say my name like you have a right to it," I murmured coldly. For the first time I saw something flicker across his eyes-but before I could grab it and hold onto it, it was gone. Seems I'd have to get quicker at reading his emotions. Sephiroth turned to Yazoo.

"Take her toHojo," My eyes widened at that.

"Are you kidding me?" I asked before I could stop myself. All eyes turned to me. "You have got to be joking right now. You're really going to hand me over to Hojo, to be experimented on?" I could not believe this was happening right now. He wouldn't...He can't...but one look from his eyes told me all I needed to know.

He is.

Yazoo gripped my upper arm tightly and started pulling me down an empty hallway and down a set of stairs. We ended up in a rather large room, but nowhere near the caliber of Shinra's labs. There was equipment, computers, everything needed for basic research. And, Hojo. Or well, I think it was Hojo. Hojo had died long ago, but I knew of the synthetic life form he had created that stored all of his knowledge and memories. The robot looked to me and giggled insanely, moving towards us. I took a step back, but Yazoo kept me in place.

"A new play thing?" He asked, giddy. I gulped.

"Run experiments as you will. Do not injure her." He warned. The robot nodded testily and motioned towards the examination table. Yazoo pushed me towards the table and I had no other choice but to sit down. He pulled a pair of cuffs off of a table, and cuffed one wrist to the table. Yazoo then left.

I twitched occasionally in fear as the robot mumbled to itself, moving around the lab. "What is that?" I asked as he approached me, syringe in hand. He grinned maniacally.

"A concentrated shot of Mako." He informed me. I smiled dryly.

"Did Sephiroth not tell you? Mako doesn't alter-ow!" I shrieked suddenly as he poked the needle into my arm and injected the mako into my skin.

"When you were first created you were fully human, but your mother consumed large quantities of the lifestream in order to save your life-a foolish idea-but one that astoundingly worked. The lifestream not only managed to save your life but enhance your physical condition. You aged quicker, healed faster, and you didn't need the normal nutrients to survive. Instead, your body only required one thing to continue existing; mako. Without it, it would be the same as denying someone else water or food. Your entire existence is based on the fact that you were altered by mako." He finished his little speech. I huffed in annoyance as he moved away once more, gathering more items.

"I already know the story," I grumbled. "And even though that's true, it doesn't change the fact that mako only sustains me now-it doesn't change me." I pointed out.

"Now that-I believe to be false." He responded, still rummaging through several different items. "Your body grew a resistance to the lifestream-and then it required it to sustain it-but I don't believe it has stopped changing you. When did you stop aging?" He asked. I shifted uncomfortably. So they knew about that?

"I was about twenty-two," I admitted. He nodded and muttered to himself for several minutes.

"By that time You had consumed large quantities of the lifestream, correct? I believe that the lifestream has affected your growth rate vastly. At first, it excelled your birth rate, but it mellowed down after leaving the womb. Still, you required mako to continue existing, and so you continually consumed it day after day. However outside of the womb the mako changed in how it affected you, it reacted differently. Although I haven't yet established why, I do believe that when your body stopped accepting the mako and started requiring it, most of the mako went to keeping you alive instead of accelerating your growth. Still, small amounts of the lifestream you consumed went to altering the state of your body. What age did you learn you could speed up the process of materia creation?" He asked.

"I was five." I admitted.

"Marvellous," He muttered, and went back to rambling to himself. Finally he turned to me, another syringe in hand. This time the liquid was red and I instantly didn't like it.

"Your body has fused with the lifestream, little by little. It was required to live and now it is altering your genetic makeup. Truly astounding!" He was in awe and I had to refrain from scowling and hitting him. Why did scientists have to be so creepy?

"You have proof of your theory," I pointed out. "There's no proof that my body didn't just immediately change the second the mako was ingested." His eyes gleamed.

"You have no proof that it isn't." Okay, I guess he got me there. He moved closer, uncapping the needle on the syringe.

"What is that?' I asked nervously.

"Human blood." He admitted flatly. He looked into my eyes.

"That...could kill me!" I sputtered, moving away. He smirked.

"I doubt it." He responded, ignoring my panic and moving closer. "I believe your body has a high adaptability due to the intake of Mako." He moved closer and I inched as far away as I could.

"I will kick you." I warned, feeling much like that of a cornered animal. His grin was malicious and he moved forward, avoiding my kick and inserting the needle into my vein. The blood flowed into my bloodstream and I gulped. At first, nothing. And then the state of my body gradually changed. My heart started to beat faster, I started sweating, and I was burning up within minutes. He placed a metal arm on my forehead and pulled back, looking at it. He tisked.

"104.5" He tisked.

"What's happening?" I asked, laying back on the table to stop the building nausea.

"Either you're going into Acute immune hemolytic shock or the mako is reacting with the blood and attempting to expel it from the body. Both painful, only one you can die from." He said, voice full of pleasantry.

"What!" I screeched. I then gasped as pain started to jab at my body, mostly coming from the arm he'd injected the blood into me through. It felt like my insides were boiling and bubbling, burning away through my skin. I let out a blood-curdling scream, writhing on the table in pain. "It burns!" I shrieked, clawing and clutching at the table. Looking over at Hojo, he was busily writing away in a notebook. If I wasn't in so much pain I'd tear him apart! On cue the clones walked in, each with a varying degree of emotion on their face. Kadaj smiled sadistically, watching with earnest at my pain. Yazoo looked completely indifferent, though I noticed his eyes watched me carefully. Loz actually looked like he was about to cry, and seemed to move forward to help me, but Kadaj put an arm out.

"What are you doing Loz?" Kadaj hissed at his brother maliciously. Loz looked conflicted, looking between his brother and myself. Despite the terrible pain running through my veins, I couldn't help but grin and give a short, pained laugh. All three sets of eyes turned to me questioningly. I laughed again. I winced, letting out another scream and then looked to them to answer.

"Your big brother was my protector." I answered. Loz's eyes widened, Yazoo and Kadaj's narrowed. I smirked painfully in response and then laid back down, breathing heavily as I tried to fight through the pain.

"Enough, brother. We have things to do." That was Yazoo. Silence, and when I looked over once more the three brothers were gone. Good, let me suffer in peace.

The pain didn't settle for two long hours. When it finally did, Hojo robot was still there, scribbling away furiously in his notebook. I sat up, dry heaving a couple of times before finally settling down.

"You're alive." He said, once he noticed me. I glared furiously at him, holding my hand out palm towards him. Red energy built up in my palm and shot out towards him. The blunt of the masamune blocked it just in time, the blast bouncing off and hitting into a wall behind me. I glared heavily at Sephiroth as he approached.

"I thought I told you not to injure her." He calmly told Hojo. He giggled maniacally and went back to his notes. He turned to me. "Come with me." He ordered. I silently stood up, refusing to show weakness. He lead me out of the labs and up two flights of stairs. He stopped in front of a simple wood door and pushed it open. I looked inside. It was a simple bedroom with a twin bed with white sheets and pillows, an oak dresser, and two bedside tables. "You can stay here," Was all he said, and then he turned to leave.

"Stop," I ordered with a commanding tone of voice; it was my 'no shit' voice, that even Rufus Shinra himself couldn't help but listen to. Sephiroth stopped, but didn't turn around to face me. "Do you have any idea what you've put me through? What you've put everyone through? Do you even care? I know you used to. You used to hate yourself for what you did to me, for what you did to Elys. And yet, here we are. You sent me to the one person I was most afraid of, and for what?" I yelled, tears building in my eyes. He didn't say anything. I clenched my fists and punched the wall to my left.

"To save your life." I froze. Did he really just say that? No, I had to have misheard him.

"What?" I asked. He turned to face me, face calm but his eyes told me everything; he was being completely honest with me.

"I spent a lot of time in the lifestream. There's no way you should survive the amount of Mako surging inside of you." He answered.

"I'm a rare case, my bodies adapted-"

"Yes, you've adapted." He interrupted. "but Mako is still toxic to you." He answered. I scrunched my brows in confusion and shook my head.

"I don't...understand what you're getting at." I admitted. He took hold of my arm, flipping it over to show my veins. Purple-blue veins, the lifestream running through them as we speak.

"I'm not the only one with a god inside of my head, am I?" He murmured. My eyes widened in shock and I looked up at him. He stared down at me levelly and nodded, pulling away, having proved his point. He turned away once more. "Our fates were sealed the second we were created. You and I are born enemies. Despite that, I do not want to kill you. I do not want you to die, Cerise." With that, he was gone. I collapsed on the floor of the room, staring at my hands, trembling. Was he telling the truth?

"Minerva. Minerva, is he telling me the truth?" I whispered. There was silence for a moment, before she appeared, this time as the face of Aerith. She kneeled down in front of me and took my hands. Our eyes though, they were the same. Bright pink.

"From the second you were born, you have been living on borrowed time. I gave you life for a purpose, Cerise. The lifestream has given you time, but it is running out." She murmured. I pulled away from her.

"I don't understand, I thought...I thought my body had adapted to the mako." I responded, looking to her for help. She shook her head.

"Human bodies were not meant to contain so much power. The lifestream runs thickly through your veins. It keeps you alive, but it is also slowly killing you. This is not something I am capable of stopping. Your body will one day become a part of the lifestream." She disappeared. I hugged my arms around myself, trying to ease the tremors wracking my body. How could this be?

Shorter chapter than normal, but I really wanted to get it out for you guys. Plus, lots of important info in this chapter. Next chapter will be a past chapter, but I'm not sure if it will be a lighter chapter or if I'll keep up the storyline with the darker content. Let me know what you think! As it is a past chapter I have more freedom with which chapter to post, but I'll need to know soon! Thanks for reading and if you enjoyed please review and follow!