Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or the characters within. They belong to their respective owners. I just write fiction.
Sephiroth went over to Cass's office on his own. Hojo had sent him over, but hadn't sent anyone else with him. It was inevitable that Hojo would eventually disagree with wasting one of his workers to send Sephiroth on his way. Sephiroth didn't mind. He knew the way by now and the other assistants were annoying.
He knocked on the door and opened it.
"Good morning Sephiroth," Cass said after a glance thrown back. Sephiroth stopped in his tracks.
Cass had her hair all the way down. The only sign of her attempting to tie it back was that she had pulled her bangs to the sides to let it trail down with the rest of it. His guess on it's length had been a bit off, it stretched all the way to her waist.
He made his way over to his chair, absolutely transfixed. If Cass noticed, she did not remark upon it. She writing quite vigorously in her notebook. Sephiroth couldn't stop staring.
Her hair was brown, but with it down the way it was, it was a very lovely brown to look at. When she moved her head as she wrote, small bits of light moved on it and made different shades pop up. Bits of gold, streaks of dark, and a lot of a shade that was somewhere in between. It looked very soft and shiny. Some of it spilled over her shoulder when she bent over a little. It moved like water.
Every little movement she made sent ripples down the stream of hair. Sephiroth was mesmerized by it. Cass looked over at some point and must have seen something strange about his expression.
"Is something wrong?" she asked. Sephiroth shook his head. She stood up to move closer. She often knew when something was on his mind, but Sephiroth was not impressed by that ability at the moment. Her hair was even more lovely up close.
"Are you sure?" she said, "You look like you have something on your mind." It felt like something was building up in the back of his throat. He swallowed before answering.
"Your hair is pretty," he said, hoping desperately that pretty meant what he thought it meant. Cass blinked once, then a slow smile spread across her face. It looked a little shy.
"Uh...thanks?" she said. She seemed to be at a loss for what to say. Sephiroth knew the desire behind the words he said next was there, he just didn't think they would come out.
"Can...can I...touch it?" he asked. She blinked again. She swallowed once.
"Uh...sure," she said. She sat down on the ground near him. Nervously, he reached out draw a finger down it. It was very soft and silky. When Cass continued to let him, his finger grew to two, then his entire hand. He dipped his fingers into in and let it slide through them. It was a very pleasant sensation.
Cass sat as still as she could, unsure of what exactly was happening. She was certain she was crossing some sort of boundary by letting this happen, but a quick glance behind her showed a Sephiroth who looked overjoyed. She doubted whether he would ever look like that again. She let it happen. Let the kid have his moment.
Sephiroth stopped, a little reluctantly. He wasn't aware of any rules forbidding him to touch other people's hair, but he also had never asked before. Cass looked a little uncomfortable too. He let the last few strands fall back. Cass turned around.
"Is it too early for a walk?"
Gast pondered over Sephiroth's latest request for quite some time. Then he ran into his favorite assistant and nearly doubled over laughing.
"What's so funny?" she asked.
"Nothing," Gast gasped, "you'll just never believe what Sephiroth asked to do."
"I'm shocked that he asked for anything," she said, "What's the little fella want?" Gast eyed his assistant's long mane of hair with a slight smirk.
"He wants to grow his hair out," Gast said.
"You're shitting me," Cass said. Her face paled a little. Gast started laughing again.
"Here's the best part," Gast said, "Hojo approves."
"You have got to be joking," Cass said.
"I'm not," Gast said, "Sephiroth asked Hojo if he could grow his hair out and Hojo said yes."
"Oh Good Goddess on a stick," Cass said. She looked genuinely concerned with that. "Has Hojo seen...?"
"No," Gast said, "I doubt he even cares where Sephiroth got the notion. He was probably imagining how it would look on him, once he grows up I mean."
"Now that I think about it...absolutely fabulous," Cass said, then she sighed. "If I had known this would make such an impression on him..." she trailed off, for once at a loss for what to say.
"Don't look too far into it," Gast said, "Sephiroth tends to fixate on things he hasn't seen before and...let's face it, you have the nicest hair here."
"Glad to contribute somehow," she said with heavy sarcasm. He laughed again.
"It will fade," Gast assured her, "and be proud. Sephiroth doesn't hand out compliments easily."
"I do try," she admitted, "I do try."
Cass had her hair down for a few more days, then it was back up in it's normal tightly knit style. By then the novelty had worn off for Sephiroth, but he still appreciated knowing that Cass's hair was that pretty. He felt more comfortable tossing that word around.
He liked that she let him read. Most of her books were fairly boring. He couldn't understand a lot of them. They had a lot of those lines with the mixed up numbers and letters. Cass assured him that no one expected him to understand Calculus or Trigonometry at his age, or even at all. She had a few that were easier and one large set that she called Encyclopedias. That was where the butterfly information had come from.
She let him pick what he wanted to try. At first he bounced around all of them. Then he decided for himself which ones were interesting and which were too dry or difficult to attempt.
Cass was never upset when he asked for a pronunciation or a definition. She found another book called a Dictionary that helped a little, but he liked her to answer for him. She explained it better than the dictionary and would always explain again if he didn't understand the first time.
Cass had asked for and received a notebook from Hojo. That evening Hojo had drilled Sephiroth as to what sort of books Cass let him read, but seemed satisfied with the answers Sephiroth gave. Cass told Sephiroth to go ahead and write his name in the notebook. He wrote it on the inside cover in an unsteady hand.
He glimpsed the inside of Cass's notebook. He didn't understand a single thing she had written, but he did notice that her handwriting was a lot nicer than his. He pointed that out and asked her to write his name on the front cover. She had hesitated, but did it for him in the end.
She had dug out pages with letters written large and legibly for him. She suggested he copy it until he felt comfortable writing them. They were still not as nice as Cass's, but they were getting better. Cass told him that the notebook was for practice and it wasn't necessary for him to be perfect. He liked that too.
The days were now spent with less idle sitting and Sephiroth was pleased with that. He felt less restless on the days he was with Cass. They still sat in relative silence most of the time, broken up by their walks and the occasional snack, always provided by Cass and always devoured with satisfaction. Sephiroth was satisfied with the silence. It was a productive silence after all.
Sephiroth was aware that Professors Hojo and Gast had been arguing for a long time about the injection. Sephiroth had a lot of them, but this one was apparently bigger. Gast didn't want to do it. Hojo did.
"We've never tested this amount of mako on a human safely before," Gast said, "I'm loath to attempt it."
"Sephiroth has handled even the largest of your so called enhancements with ease," Hojo replied, "He will handle my own and then some."
In the end, of course, Hojo won. Gast was very displeased with that. He continued to ask that Hojo dilute the mixture to no avail. On the day of the injection, Gast could hardly bring himself to observe what was going to happen. For the first time, Hojo was truly putting Sephiroth's life at risk. He was glad he did see it, in the end, if only because he saw a mountain bend to the wind.
Or Hojo bend to Cass.
"We will keep an eye on Sephiroth," Hojo said, "There's no need for you to be here."
"I'm certain there isn't," she said, "I'm merely assuming that Sephiroth will be recovering in my company afterwards and am offering to be his escort since you have stopped giving him any."
"Your assumption is correct," Hojo said, "but I see no use for you, especially if you're going to crowd the exam room."
"I would never presume to do that," Cass said, "I'm asking to be present, not necessarily in the room. And I do have a use. I did start in the infirmary working on the mako poisoning patients. If something should go wrong, I can help to prevent Sephiroth from succumbing to poisoning or any other side effect."
"Nothing will go wrong," Hojo said.
"In my experience, if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong," Cass said, "I'm just trying to stay one step ahead of disaster. I'd hate for Sephiroth to end up comatose because of mako poisoning." Hojo actually considered it for a moment. Cass went in for the kill.
"I just want a place in the observatory," she said, "I make no interruptions unless something does go wrong."
"Very well," Hojo said, "I'll have Gast save you a seat."
They had hooked up a lot more machines to him for this injection. The needle was a lot bigger too. Other than that, everything about today was familiar to Sephiroth. He felt no reason to be concerned. The assistants and Hojo paid more attention to the readings than to Sephiroth.
Up in the observatory, Sephiroth could see more people watching, including Professor Gast and Cass. Gast always came to these. Cass never did. They sat still and silent while everyone else whispered to each other. Cass gave him a small, surreptitious wave.
He didn't have a chance to return it as Hojo stepped in front of him, with the prepared injection.
This one burned more than the previous ones and it didn't go away. The burning started to spread everywhere. It hurt, but it wasn't the worst thing Sephiroth had felt. Hojo and the technicians where back watching the machines.
When did the lights get so bright?
Why was there something banging around his ears?
For a long time, he had to sit like that, veins on fire, eyes watering and ears pounding. He couldn't focus on anything. It all looked like one bright blur. Voices sounded loud and foreign at the same time. He was not aware of Hojo asking him anything. He probably couldn't have answered if he was.
Then his feet were touching something cold and hard. Every movement he made made the burning worse, but the cold was unbearable for some reason.
Then the pain started to fade a little. His joints felt less stiff and he could move more. He felt something slip under his arms and swoop him off the ground. He reflexively wrapped his arms around whatever had a hold of him. He was aware of a gentle swaying motion and softly speaking tones, but he didn't comprehend what was said. He closed his eyes to the bright lights.
Cass agreed with Gast that it was too soon for Sephiroth to be having a mako injection of that concentration. It was enough to put a good sized man in a coma. It was out of their hands though and they could only watch and pray that their intervention was not needed.
By some miracle she kept herself from flinching as the needle went in. Sephiroth hardly reacted at all at first. The observatory fell silent for once.
Cass knew from experience what to expect.
"Stage one of mako poisoning," she said, more to herself than anyone else, "A heightening of the senses. Aversion to bright light and loud sound. A burning sensation as the mako enters the bloodstream. Soreness, muscle spasms and cramps typically occur." They watched as Cass narrated what was happening before them.
"Stage two," she went on, "the critical stage. Possibility of loss of consciousness. If subject does not lose consciousness in five minutes, then he may be safely removed to the recovery stages. If subject loses consciousness continue on to stage three." Stay awake, Sephiroth.
"What's stage three?" someone asked behind her.
"Subject falls into a vegetative state. It is recommended to attempt to dilute the amount of mako within the subject," Cass said, "If such attempts do not work, then patient slips into stage four: death." No one said a word after that. The next five minutes, stretched on for eternity.
Sephiroth remained upright and fully conscious. He wavered just slightly and his face wore a grimace, but he remained somewhat alert. A good sign. After ten minutes, Hojo gave the all clear. Cass tried not to sprint down the stairs. Gast was right behind her. They had gotten Sephiroth on the ground, but he was unresponsive otherwise. He appeared to have trouble moving. He managed to shuffle forward anyway.
"I told you there would be no problems," Hojo said.
"He's still afflicted by mako poisoning," Cass said, "though I would allow the term side-effect for the level he reached." Hojo scoffed at her.
"I am telling you, not asking, telling you that Sephiroth will be unable to perform the most basic tasks for the rest of the day," Cass said. Hojo nodded.
"I have the information that I need," Hojo said. Cass bit back her snide remark as well as a scowl and guided Sephiroth out of the room. When he stumbled she finally gave in and picked him up. He wrapped his arms around her neck and rested his head on her shoulder for the walk over to her office.
Gast was already there waiting for them. He'd arranged the chairs to make a makeshift bed for him. Cass started to pull Sephiroth off, then stopped with a light laugh.
"He's got a hard grip," she said.
"Here, let me help," Gast said. He tried to pry Sephiroth's fingers apart. "I'm worried I might break his fingers," he said after a moment.
"Leave it," Cass said.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, let the kid rest. He deserves it."
Author's Note
Classes are steadily approaching. Once they start my updates may become less and less frequent. Just a fair warning for those of you who are enjoying this. Thanks for reviewing, those of you that have. I'll keep trying to please.