As they rounded the corner, far out of Yuffie and Aerith's eyesight, Tifa dropped Sephiroth's arm and began to pace.
"I sense you are upset with your friends." Jerking her head to look at him, at the incredulous assumption, Tifa shook her head.
"No, not mad. Just," she looked upwards towards the line of megalithic buildings, the ShinRa building glittering in the morning sunlight, at the center. Her rapid breathing smoothed out as she calmed down. "They are right. We don't know each other. I know you're some magic being that lives in a bottle, what do you even do in there? Do you have a harem of women in there with you, obviously you love to eat and you know that Genesis guy? So I assume you both know each other and, you killed a dragon." Tifa waved her hand out nearly taking out a passerby, "You killed a dragon! Cloud has trouble doing that, which attracted the attention of his older brothers, who mind you run ShinRa security. Reno is my friend and all, but the guy has done some things, and Tseng," she shivered. The Turks where the boogie men of ShinRa, the literal Gods of Midgar City, where world-renowned and strictly loyal to the middle son Rufus while the eldest had been developing a new department in the security sector called SOLIDER. Tseng was the pinnacle of perfection in assassinations and was never without Rufus.
Sephiroth leaned down, smiling at Tifa. "Do you wish to know more about me?"
It was a punch to the gut, one which Tifa faked a recovery with a shake of her head, "No." For a second Tifa caught the slight disappointment which left her wondering why he wanted these wishes to be granted so quickly, why would he want to return to the bottle? Not wanting to simply get her wishes fulfilled, Tifa rocked on the heels of her boots, folding her hands behind her back and leaned towards him as well. "I want you to tell me. How did you end up in there, everything about you? Where you human once?"
Tifa's eyes dropped to the jinni's lips, the slight upturn at the corner raised gooseflesh on her arms and neck. "As human as I am now." With her heart pounding like the hooves of horses, a blush the spread crossed Tifa's cheeks, her ears warm while she struggled to swallow a lump that had formed in her throat.
Sephiroth pulled away, intrigued by the redness as it spread under his gaze. "So, you were ever human at all." Gazing into the street a bus passed by with an image of Genesis on the side. "What about him?"
"As human as you," Sephiroth glanced at the bus, "but his flair for the dramatic arts seems to have simply grown."
"He has always been an actor?"
"No, he was a Prince, but he has always been what humans nowadays call a 'drama queen'." Regarding Sephiroth quizzically, Tifa lifted a single brow. To anyone passing by, Sephiroth appeared to be looking at the traffic, the bus as it drove down the road, the throngs of walkers, bike messengers and taxis or the animals they passed as they walked. But up close with only the difference of their height between them, Tifa could make out the faint creases at the corners of his eyes and the way they softened as he spoke about Genesis. The Genesis who could recite the Epic of the Three Hero's, who liked to wax poetically about everything, even a simple carrot seed was a form of art to him. It was the fondness Sephiroth spoke with that Tifa found him to be utterly enchanting beyond his innate magic and striking good looks.
As silence took over, the pair found them sitting along one of the multitudes of jogging paths in Midgar's Tonberry Park, a lush forest filled with the tiny hermit like animals. "So, you were friends?"
"In a sense of the word. We had a certain fondness for each other. "
"That's not what it sounds like." Tifa brushed her hair behind her ear, "Cloud and I grew up together until he was fifteen and moved to Midgar after his mother died."
"I don't feel that way about Genesis as you do for Cloud."
"No, no, I wasn't insinuating-wait. Did you just try to make a joke?" Flicking the tip of his nose with his thumb, Sephiroth looked away, ears pulling back slightly as he hid a small grin. "That was surprisingly funny. Well, if it's not Genesis, then who?"
"Tefyreth." Rufus looked up from the documents that spread over his desk to Reno. "Just who is she?"
"From the ancient text, we find that she was a human priestess who practiced the Cetrian religion. They worked as family units, to spread the good word of the Cetra and all things about the Planet." Slouching into one of the two white chairs that sat before Rufus black oak desk the Turk fiddled with the tail of his tie, "there were two, actually that end up in this version of the Three Heroes. Eris and Tefyreth journeyed to the Capital city of Banora, also called Banora to spread the good word. There they met the four Princes'. The youngest became a devout religious fanatic converting to become a Cetra and wondered the world yadda yadda. The Second oldest Price to become a devout follower of the Cetra, but unlike the other Prince's he moved literal worlds to catch this Tefyreth's eye. In the end, he disappeared from the annals of history, Tefyreth died a virgin and the other two Princes disappeared as well. The Kingdom of Banora was engulfed in flames and now we are left with some Podunk hick town on the island where this Kingdom used to be." Leaning back in his chair, Rufus folded his hands, resting them on his stomach.
"And, Reno, what do you have to say for this Kingdom of Banora."
The redheads' brows rose and he smiled, "never thought you'd ask Boss. There were four Princes- Genesis, Angeal, Sephiroth and Angeal's youngest brother Zachariah. The legend is true of Zachariah did become a devout religious fanatic, well not so much about the religion. Angeal was born in Banora; his mother was the first wife of the Kaiser of Gongaga, also now a Podunk town. Gongaga was a large fortress that subsisted off the graces of the Kaiser's second wives familial connections to a race of jinn called marids, they lived cohesively. While it was rare, Angeal was adopted by the Kaisern after his mother's death and raised in Gongaga along with his younger brother." Reno glanced at Rufus, a wisp of electricity dancing between his fingers as he told his tale. The spark formed a young man's silhouette than a taller figure which ignored the younger one as it ran around him. "When Zachariah turned sixteen, the Kaiser sent his youngest son to Banora, but the eldest insisted on going as well. It was his home and as a Prince, Angeal had made friends with the young Prince of Banora – Genesis. Angeal spent most of his time with his childhood friend and it was often said there was more to their relationship than met the eye. Zachariah spent most of his years in Banora studying; he was the Kaiser's true heir."
"What about Sephiroth?"
"Yeah, him." Reno scoffed putting his feet up on the desk much to Rufus's annoyance. "What is there not to say about him? He and Genesis ever got along as Genesis and Angeal. He was an outsider in Banora as well as his own home."
"Where was that?"
"The Duchy of Nibelheim, a small Kingdom as the base of the Nibel Mountains ruled by both human and jinn. Although he outranked even his father on the royal pedestal because of his mother, it was his father's rank he would take in the kingdom, which was nothing more than a Lordship. Nibelheim had two ruling families. The humans who ruled in a Principality under your own Great Ancestor Raulas and the jinni tribe called the Jenovaians. They were the intermix of the titanious Marids and the fiery Ifritarian. The Jenovaians where very powerful and their powers grew to the point they could command the stars to fall. Once a year during the spring and Winter solstice the jinn would come down and grant wishes to the humans after all even nowadays Nibelheim is still a harsh place to live. So they did this to ease the suffering of the pathetic humans."
Reno smirked, "but it was during one of these spring celebrations that the Chieftains daughter caught the eye of the Kingdom's best Knight. He was not from Nibelheim, he was an outsider from a city far away sent to escort a horrible prince who only wanted to control the jinni's magic." Reo shrugged his smirk dropping. "I heard she was a beautiful woman, and the knight loved her and she loved him. The Prince killed the Knight and told the Princess he had left to return home to his wife. Heartbroken and pregnant the Princess agreed to marry the Prince to absolve her son from any disgrace he would receive. By this time the Princess had become queen, but due to their marriage occurring after her ascent he was only a Prince. The stories say her name was Lucrecia; others call her Jenova after her tribe. No one knows for certain, but they say her bound form still lingers in this realm, unable to pass on mourning both her Knight and son."
Rufus looked over the illusion Reno had conjured of a mother rocking her child in her arms. "So she sent him to Banora?"
"No, he was kidnapped and smuggled into Banora by the Knight. The queen had become unstable the last few years of the boy's life he had been shut away by his step farther. Ultimately the other jinn bound her for their own safety. Reo shrugged.
"If he was dead, how was he still alive?" Rufus waved a hand in the air, "this is a really nice tale but it tells me nothing about how some guy with an inconceivable amount of power managed to wreak a Battle Arena and chop a dragon into bits."
"You may want to ask him yourself." Reno swung his legs off the desk and stood. "I'm sure he can tell you more about this Tefyreth and how Tifa Lockhart came to be in possession of the jinni's bottle. My knowledge ends at the Absconding of the Lost Prince." Turning away, Reno stretched flexing with each twist. "Think to ask Tseng won't get you any further. He's just going to tell you 'get back to work Reno', then storm away." Reno shrugged, "but then, he may give you more than what you're asking for."
Bug-eyed, Rufus cleared his throat hoping the blush that spread crossed his face would go away. "Reno."
Turning his head to look over his shoulder, Reo smiled, "Yeah Boss?"
"This Knight, what is his name?"
"Vincent Valentine."
"Dr. Valentine, the Professor of Ancient Civilizations at Midgar University? Yuffie took his class last year, failed miserably."
The whoosh of the door sliding closed signaled Reno's departure. Left alone in his office Rufus gazed down at his desk phone then the cell phone that he freed from his inner pocket. Thumbs flying over the bottom screen Rufus pressed send and waited for the Turk to answer.
'Get the car ready.' Five dots appeared on the screen.
'Yes, sir.' Rufus stood from his desk pulling his jacket off the back of his chair and shrugging it on. As he left his office, workers moved from his path their heads turning down as Tseng stepped off the elevator. "If I may sir, where will we be going?"
"Midgar University."
Professor Valentine, I'd take his class and fail just like Yuffie did. I really will never accept Hojo as Sephiroth's father.