I know that it's been a LONG time since I updated this story and I'm really sorry! It's been about two months now and I promise that'll never happen again. I got my drive back for Sephy, babies, and I ain't going nowhere until it's done! ;)

Chapter Seven

October 25

"Sienna, are you going to go out with us tonight?"

The woman, now in her late teens, turned her head to look back at the three others behind her. Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth; as always. She gave a smile. "What are you planning on doing?" She asked them.

"We're not exactly sure yet," Angeal admitted. "But that's the fun part! We'll figure something out along the way."

"That's…weird." Sienna told him.

"No, that's called being a teenager," Angeal corrected her. "We all still are, except Sephiroth, so he can be our chaperon."

"You've gotten dragged into this too?" The woman asked.

The silver-haired man smiled. "Why not?"

"Why not?" She mimicked him with a grin. "After all, I don't have anything else planned."

"You never do." Angeal laughed at her. "According to Sephiroth, all you do is your puzzles or paintings."

"Oh really?" Sienna shot the silver-haired man that now seemed to be very interested with the stars above.

"Well, that and your music."

"Art is art," Genesis defended. "If it brings peace with your actions then why not perform?"

Sienna gave the red-head a smile. "Thank you, Genesis. At least one of you understands." She grabbed his arm. "Come, let us be off!" As she turned she noticed, but just for a moment, the frown of Sephiroth's face.

The four of them didn't really do anything all night except walk around and talk. It was enjoyable and all wore smiles and laughed. Until they reached the theatre. Posters for the performances of 'Loveless' were being shown. Sienna could have sworn that Genesis was like a kid in a candy store. They ended up buying tickets for themselves a month or two in the future. Genesis wore a huge smile on his face for the rest of the night after that.

Genesis and Angeal left them a little while after that, leaving Sienna to walk home with Sephiroth in silence. Both of them appreciated the company of the other.

There were several thoughts traveling through her head as they continued to walk down the streets of Midgar. As things were silent, her thoughts turned to the man beside her…and why she felt she hated him so much. Why did she hate him so much? What had Sephiroth done to her that made her hate him like she did? She didn't have an answer to that question. She just knew that, ever since she laid eyes on him all those years ago, that she despised him. She hated him. But why? Sephiroth had done nothing to her. In fact, the silver-haired man did all he could to help her. He had dragged Genesis and Angeal into helping finish creating her home. Their home.

Perhaps she didn't hate Sephiroth. Perhaps it was just ShinRa that she hated and she took it out on her friend. Could that be it? But if that was true, then why didn't she act the same to Genesis and Angeal? She adored the two of them!

And then, that's when it hit her. It was what she had read that day she had awoken. What Gast had written.

January 12

Seven years. Seven years I have been working on Project S2. She will show some forms of response but nothing else. Has all my work been for nothing? Have I wasted the last seven years of my life on a worthless specimen? Sephiroth is everything that I planned S2 to be but it seems that Hojo obtained the head on this project. It burns me to say this, but I'm afraid that Project S2 is absolutely nothing…Perhaps the child from Junon wasn't strong enough to take the cells. Or perhaps the cells from Grimoire Valentine's son, Vincent, were the right ones to use…

I'm afraid that I'm just going to have to give all this work up. Hojo won this, no doubt about that. It angers me to admit it but he did. Perhaps if only Vincent hadn't disappeared. He might have been of use a bit more. Perhaps the Project just needs some more of his blood. Or maybe even more cells from…

Sienna now knew that Gast had been talking about her. That she was Project S2 but she didn't understand anything that he meant. She wanted to, but he refused to tell her anything. Sephiroth was Project S1, the one that Hojo had created. It all just made her so mad. And this Vincent character, who Gast said he took blood from for her, where was he at in all of this? Was he in on it too? And the cells at the end…she wished now that she had read even further but she would have to live on without knowing the answers to her existence.

For now.

The wind gave a little blow as they reached the steps of their home, brushing Sephiroth's hair against her bare skin. It was so soft. A smile spread across her face as an idea approached her mind. Perhaps the man beside her wasn't who she hated. It was time to find out.

"Sephiroth," She turned from the door. "Can I brush your hair?"

Sephiroth stared at her in shock. "My…hair?"

"Y-yeah."

Sephiroth stared at her for a moment, thinking to himself. What would have brought this along? Such a strange question and from her. What would make her ask that? "Why would you ask something like that?"

Her cheeks flared to a dark red. "Well…I…it…it was just a though." She turned and began to unlock the door. "Just…forget it."

As she disappeared through the door, Sephiroth raised a hand to stop her but caught himself. A small smile spread across his lips. "I would have said yes."

Later that night, Sienna couldn't get to sleep. Everything just flooded through her head, keeping the silent peace from reaching her. She was about to just get up and go outside when her phone went off. Pushing herself up and grabbing it, she pulled a frowned. GAST flittered across the screen. What would the scientist want with her this late at night?

"What is it?"

"Sienna, I need you to come up to the lab."

She frowned. "I was in the middle of sleeping." She sure as hell wasn't going to tell him that she COULDN'T sleep.

"It's really important," He told her. "It could change everything about your life as it is now."

She was silent for a moment before closing her eyes. "I'll be there soon."

~'Cause I knew you were trouble

When you walked in

So shame on me now

Flew me to places I'd never been~

"Very nice job, Gast. I'm impressed that you could keep so calm." Gast pulled the phone from his ear half-heartedly before placing it down on the table before him. "Don't worry. When she gets here, everything will go according to our plan."

"To your plan, Hojo," Gast hissed. "Not mine."

The other scientist threw his head back and gave a roaring laugh. "Yes, mine indeed."

"Daddy!" A small voice squealed out. Gast turned to the two figures that stood n the test-zone.

"Don't worry Aerith," The man called to his daughter. "You and mommy will be just fine."

"Yes, just fine," Hojo mocked him. "Really Gast, you were the last person I expected to fall for that blasted creature, let alone have a child with it."

"Ifalna is a woman, not a creature! They're more human than Sephiroth and Sienna will be. Than you will ever be, Hojo!" the other man growled.

Hojo gave another laugh. "Say what you want," he told him. "It won't hurt me. None at all. What does hurt me, though, is how your specimen connected with Jenova's cells more than mine had. Sephiroth was supposed to be perfect, fused with them right when he began to form. But her, the little brat you found on the streets, took to the cells more so. It's not fair, but my thoughts won't be left in the dark for long. I'm going to do everything that I can till I find the answers to why Sienna is better than Sephiroth!"
"Creating the two of them was a mistake, Hojo," Gast cried. "Can't you see that? We can't change what they are now, but we can stop now before something horrible happens. Sienna may have taken to Jenova's cells better than Sephiroth had, but he's stronger, much stronger than she is! Just stop it now before you can't take it back!"

"Shut up!" Hojo hissed at him. "I'll continue on until I get what I want!"

"And just what is it that you want?" The woman, Ifalna, cried from the container as she held their daughter to her tightly.

Hojo had lured Aerith and Ifalna to his lab and captured them in his testing area, luring Gast right after them in order to get to Sienna. She would come if Gast told her to. She despised Hojo more than anything and refused to do anything that he told her to, so Gast was the only way he was going to be able to get anything that he wanted from that monstrous beauty.

"What do I want?" Hojo threw his head back and gave another of his horrid laughs. "I want-"

"What the hell is going on here?" Sienna's voice cut the laughter off and they all turned to find the woman in a pair of black leather pants and a silver-gray tank top. A look of confusion was on her face but suspicion and caution could be seen in her eyes as she stopped by the door.

"Ahh, the maid of honor," Hojo smiled. "So glad you could join us, Sienna."

She glanced at the four of them again before giving a sigh. "I don't want nothing to do with you and your sex games. Let's not try this again, shall we?" She turned to leave but Hojo pressed a button on the desk in front of him, locking her in. She glanced back at him. "Do you honestly think that you can keep me locked in here?"

"Please, Sienna," Gast's voice made her look at him. Never before had she seen the scientist so…vulnerable. "Just do what he says!"

Sienna glanced at the two prisoners again and put everything together. "You twisted goon," She growled. She took a step forward but Hojo wagged a finger at her.

"Don't even think about it. I'm not a fool. One move and I'll press this button," He held up a controller in his hand with a big, red button. "And bye-bye goes mommy and child. So be a good specimen and get in the tube next to them."

Sienna stared at the tube the scientist referred to. It was the same tube she remembered bursting out of all those years ago. The very thought of being locked in there again, like some kind of animal, made her anger rise. "I refuse."

"Then I'm afraid that you've sealed the fate of Gast's loved ones." Hojo chuckled.

"Sienna! Please!" Gast had thrown himself to his knees, bowing to the woman as he begged. "I'll do anything!"

Sienna closed her eyes, fighting with herself. She didn't know what to do. What to do…what to do… ~What would Sephiroth do?~ She didn't know what they passed through her mind but she gave a sigh before lifting her head and moving past the crazed scientist and stepped into the tube. She held her eyes shut as tight as she could as she tried to imagine herself somewhere else, anywhere else but here.

Poor little darling

Sienna jumped at the woman's voice.

You shouldn't let them do this to you…to us…

~Us?~ She jumped again as a cool water began to fill the bottom of the tube, rising up her body.

You don't have to do anything, little darling. Just let us do it. We can do it all.

~But what will I do?~

Just sleep, little darling, and We'll take care of everything, right Chaos?

Sienna raised a brow as a deep, rough voice gave a 'heh'.

Let's just get this over with, Jenova.

~Heart beats fast

Colors and promises

How to be brave~

Relief flooded through Gast as Aerith and Ifalna both stood in his arms again. He felt sorry for getting Sienna in this ordeal but he would do anything to save his family. He turned his head, glaring at Hojo as the man sat at his desk, watching as the tube filed with water over the statue-like woman.

"You're insane."

Hojo chuckled. "Insane is another word for brilliance."

"Insane and stupid." His wife hissed, clutching Aerith to her.

"Daddy," Aerith whimpered, pulling on her father's hand but her parents were too wound up in their words to Hojo to realize what was scaring their daughter so much. "Daddy," Her voice was getting higher and her shaking worse. "Daddy! Daddy!"

"What is it, Aerith!?"

The child didn't say anything but everyone followed her gaze to Sienna. Gast only had a moment to look at the woman in the tube before the glass shattered. He threw himself over his daughter and felt the shards of glass penetrate his back. Cries from Hojo and his wife joined his own. Turning at the sounds of slow footsteps on the glass, Gast's eyes widened at the woman before him.

At the monster.

Sienna still held her form, but it wasn't just her's. Her eyes were no longer those, cat-like green. They were now a flaring red as her skin was turning into a grey-like color. Sprouting out of her back was a pair of tattered, leathery wings as fangs could be seen peering out from behind her lips as she gave the man a grin. The eyes and skin he recognized from Jenova, but the wings and fangs…where had they come from?

"Perfection…" Hojo's voice whispered as he looked upon the woman with large eyes. "Absolute perfection. Power. Beauty. I knew it! I knew mixing her with part of Chaos and part of the Protomateria would work. Now, if I can just get a sample-"

Sienna's smile turned to look at Hojo. "I think not, foolish old man," the voice was demented and strange; like three different voices were talking together. "In fact, we're tired of having tests being run on us. You pitiful humans. And you," Her eyes turned to Ifalna; the woman began to tremble under the powerful gaze. "How could I let you Cetra's ever defeat me? Such a sad thing. I won't face the same fate a second time!"

No one had noticed the ice that had begun to fan out across the ground beneath the broken glass. As the last worse was shouted from her throat, the ice lurched forward, a large spike impaling Ifalna through the stomach, shoving her back against the wall.

"Mommy!" Aerith cried.

"Ifalna!" Gast ran for his wife, catching her as the ice retreated from her like a snake, making her slide to the floor. "Ifalna,"

"Aww, is someone sad?" the voice asked him. "I can take care of that."

"Leave Daddy alone!" Aerith cried at the monster before her.

Sienna's eyes narrowed. "Little brats should learn their place." Her ice went to strike again but Gast moved forward, taking the blow instead.

"Daddy!"

"Aerith," Gast winced as the ice stung his chest. "Take your mother…and get out of here. Now."

"But, but Daddy,"

"I'll meet up with you guys soon, I promise."

Sienna watched for a moment as the child, and her wounded mother, escaped from the lab. She smiled again at the scientist before her. "You know that they won't get far."

Leave them alone," Gast told her. He winced again as the ice pushed further into his chest. "Please. Do what you want with me, but leave them alone."

"Your wife will die, as will you. Do you really want your daughter to be left alone? Surely not in a place like this?"

"Leave Aerith alone!"

"I'm afraid not," An evil grin spread across her face. "All of you are going to-"

The voice was cut off as Hojo slammed his fist down onto one of the buttons on his desk. They both had forgotten that the other man was there. A set of poles dropped down on either side of Sienna's body, sending a huge shock of electricity through her body. Gast watched as the Ice all receded and disappeared as Sienna's cries returned to normal. The wings faded away and her skin turned to normal. The fangs disappeared and her eyes turned back to their normal shape and color. Gast was left there, bleeding on the floor as the electricity finally came to a stop and the woman fell to her knees before leaning back against the wall, clearly knocked out.

"Perfection," Hojo mumbled to himself again, moving in closer to get a better look. "I shall have her returned to her home while I think of another way to go about testing her. It would be better if something like this didn't happen again…"

Gast coughed, blood splattering on the floor before him. "Hojo, you cannot be serious! Kill her! Kill her and Sephiroth both while you c-can!"

"Preposterous." Hojo hissed at him. He took a closer look before a grin spread across his face. "Besides, it looks like you won't be around much longer so your opinion isn't needed, Gast." He gave a little wave. "Ta-ta. Say hello to Ifalna for me, will you?"

Gast went to lunge at the other man but his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

~How can I love when I'm afraid to fall

But watching you stand alone

All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow~

"Gast is dead?" Sienna's voice was in shock; she almost dropped the fork from her hand.

"Yeah," Angeal nodded his head. "Some on apparently broke into the Inc. last night and ripped nearly everything apart in the testing area. His wife and his daughter are gone now too. We don't know where they're at."

Sienna sat back in her chair. She and Angeal had met for breakfast this morning. A moment of freedom from the constant fighting of the other two. "Good lord," She closed her eyes. "And to think that all of this happened when we were all asleep." ~Why didn't an alarm in the lab go off? SOLDIER would have all rushed in~

"You feel sorry about this?" Angeal raised a brow.

"Over that monster?" She hissed. "No. His child though…how old was she?"

"4 maybe? I'm not sure. Nothing we can do about it, though. We've been given no orders to try and find out what happened. It's like they don't even care."

"Or they already know who did it and are deciding to keep it secret," She replied. "You know how these freaks are."

"True, true," Angeal nodded his head. A grin then broke out across his face. "So, on a better note, I plan on going to see my folks next weekend. Wanna come?"

She gave him an amused look. "To meet your parents."

"Not just that. A little free time away from Midgar and our partners with their constant fighting. Just the two of us."

"Question is, are we allowed?"

"I'm surprised that you, of all people, are worried about getting permission." Angeal chuckled at her. "You don't normally ask for it. Besides, we were just upgraded into 1st Class SOLDIERs, were we not? We can do whatever the hell we want!"

Sienna gave a laugh at the look on his face. "Indeed we can." She closed her eyes for a moment. "Why not? A little change of scenery won't be so bad now, will it?"

"That's the spirit! Don't worry. If you love your little garden, then you're going to love Banora! Fresh Dumbapples this time of year are the best!"

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