Disclaimer: All characters belong to their respective owners at Square Enix. The author makes no profit or monetary gain from this work. Though it would be nice.

A/N: In my head this was longer and more dramatic. Thanks for all the reviews so far. They've helped me continue on. More are always welcome.

The days passed easily. Sephiroth was content when he was with Cass. She continued to teach him her silent language and they could now have short conversations. He asked most of the questions since he didn't know as much. It never ceased to amaze him that something like this could exist. It was almost better than rain. Almost.

No matter how busy she appeared to be Cass would always stop for Sephiroth, whether it be to walk or merely to talk with him. Despite her insistence otherwise, Cass did seem to know everything and nothing was really restricted as far as he had asked. Only once did Cass tell Sephiroth she could not tell him something. She had told him he'd better ask Hojo for that information.

He'd asked what his date of birth was.

Hojo had told him: The 28th of March. Sephiroth didn't know what to do with that sort of answer. He'd gone to Cass with a different version.

"What is your date of birth?" he asked.

"I was born on March 28th," she replied. He looked up at her.

"Hojo said mine was on the 28th of March," Sephiroth said. She smiled again.

"We share the same birthday then," she said.

"What does that mean?" Sephiroth asked.

"It means that on the 28th day of the month of March you will be six and I shall be twenty-one," she said. Still fifteen years apart, Sephiroth noted, but was satisfied with that sort of answer.

They did the big injections regularly now. Gast still didn't like them. Reluctantly, Hojo now asked Cass to be present for them. Sephiroth's ability to handle them was growing, but very slowly. He recovered faster each time, but still needed someone to watch him afterwords. Cass did it best and Sephiroth was obviously calmer when she was present.

After the injection, Sephiroth always found himself snuggled in the big black sweater. He asked Cass why she had it, when it was so old and obviously didn't fit.

"The cuddle factor," she replied, "there isn't another article of clothing in the world that's half as comfortable as that thing." He didn't disagree and burrowed further inside.

Sephiroth let the days bleed into a contented flow. He didn't know what happy was or what it felt like, or he would have called his emotion that. Only Hojo broke up the warm feeling, but only briefly.

But like many other things, it seemed to come to an end.

"Were you followed?"

"Why pick such a place to meet?"

"Were. You. Followed."

"No. Why so secretive? Why are you searching the alley? What did you call me here for?"

"I don't want anyone else to hear this, that's why. Are you certain that no one followed you?"

"Positive. I doubled back at least eight times. What is this about Cass?"

"...I found her."

"You...she's real? She's alive and well?"

"No, I talked to her ghost. Yes she's alive."

"You found her?"

"I talked to her."

"You really found her? From that equation, you found the last Cetra?"

"Her name is Ifalna, and yes, I found her from that equation."

"How? No...don't tell me. Is there any proof of this?"

"It's been reduced to ashes. All that's left is locked deep inside my head."

"...If Hojo found out-"

"That's why the secrecy. If you did your job right, no one but the two of us know."

"Why tell me then?"

"You don't want to meet her?"

"She agreed to this?"

"She agreed to meet with me and a friend of mine. I didn't tell her who you were. I'm not good at this negotiation stuff. I just do the math."

"What happens if she agrees?"

"You leave ShinRa. Duh."

"What about you?"

"What about me? This is what you've been looking for Gast. I lost track of what my dream was a long time ago."

"What about Sephiroth?"

"I don't know. I honestly don't know."

It hit Sephiroth suddenly, the news that Professor Gast was leaving. It hurt to breathe knowing that he was leaving. Hojo would be put in a stronger, much darker thought hit him.

If Gast was leaving, then Cass...

He didn't know how he got away from the current technician. Perhaps he had been let go on purpose. He didn't care. All he could think of was how his throat got tight as he thought of Cass leaving too. He wove his way to the familiar office. He barged in without knocking.

"Sephiroth!" Cass said. She was packing some things up. No...

"Professor Gast is leaving," Sephiroth choked out.

"Yes," she said, "Professor Gast is leaving." Something hot and wet spilled over his cheeks. He didn't bother to find out what they were.

"I don't want you to go," he said.

"Sephiroth..." Cass said. He bowed his head against her as more hot liquid fell.

"Please don't go," he said. A hand fell on his head.

"Sephiroth," Cass said, "I'm not leaving." He looked up. "Professor Gast has wanted to leave for a long time," she said, "he hired me to see if I would make a good replacement. I'm not leaving." Sephiroth looked at her in disbelief.

"You aren't leaving?" he said.

"No," Cass said, "I'm staying." He bowed his head again and started heaving deep breaths of relief. Cass was staying. She was staying. She was here.

He felt himself being picked up, something that was always unpleasant unless it was after a difficult injection, but he allowed it. She sat down and cradled him and he let her, because it felt good. Better than the sweater. She ran gentle fingers through his growing hair and it felt nice. He felt his own hands reach around her shoulders. He stayed up on her lap for a long time, just making sure she was there.

"Cass...why?"

"I can't leave. Not now."

"I would take you on."

"I know, but...I was offered a job. High pay. Under Hojo, but still somewhat separate."

"You're working for Hojo?"

"Technically I'm an outside contractor on speed-dial. I have the opportunity to turn down work if I so choose, but there's such an overload that it won't matter much anyway. It would look suspicious if I turned down a lucrative offer. They might suspect."

"...I'm worried for you."

"Don't be. I knew there was a chance I would get caught while doing it. Now that it's done, I'll take this to my grave."

"Will you look after Sephiroth?"

"Of course I will."

"You stayed for him too, didn't you?"

"He came into my office today. He started crying."

"He cried?"

"He begged me not to go. If I hadn't already said yes, I would have after that. I just can't leave him with that madman."

"He adores you. You know that."

"I know. I have to get him out of there."

"How are you planning on doing that. ShinRa has invested far too much into him to let him go now."

"I have to at least get him out of that lab, away from Hojo for good."

"How were you planning on doing that?"

"I don't know, but I have to try. ...I guess this is goodbye then."

"I'm really going to miss you."

"Ifalna will distract you. I never told you anything. I don't know what you are planning on doing."

"I will always be grateful for that."

Hojo was put in charge of the Science Department. Cass laid low. She was good at that, flying under the radar. Hojo remembered all of her past transgressions, but they were ignored after the Decimal Incident.

Hojo started more experiments on other human subjects. Mostly the effects that mako had on them. Cass had interrupted one particular experiment with one oh-so-important detail.

"Your decimal is off by three points," she said. Hojo started a tirade on how only the professionals could have a say in his laboratory and that she should mind her own business.

"That's fine, but don't come crawling back to me when you blow up your laboratory," she said and walked away.

Hojo blew up his laboratory. Rather spectacularly. He didn't apologize, but Cass did manage to sneak in a comment on how she was unable to bribe her way into getting a doctorate. There was a tense understanding between the two at that point. Hojo had accepted Cass's genius, reluctantly, but nonetheless.

There was no order that Cass needed to watch Sephiroth anymore. He spent all of his free time with her anyway. She had more to work on and he was more reluctant to interrupt her anymore, but she still made time for him. Her equation had fallen to the wayside, but sometimes she scribbled in her notebooks and Sephiroth knew that she still thought about it.

They had longer conversations now, both vocally and silently. Cass was patient with him, gentle yet quick to correct. Sephiroth asked her all about it.

"Why did you want to talk to the woman?" he asked, "the one who couldn't hear?"

"She was nice to me," Cass said.

"Was she your friend?" Sephiroth asked.

"She was more than that," Cass replied.

"Who was she?" Sephiroth asked.

"Her name was Aurore," Cass said, "We lived together for a long time. Long before I met you." Cass didn't really like to talk about herself that much and Sephiroth was fine with that. She didn't ask him about how he felt and he didn't want her to. He let her do the same.

On rare occasions, when the testing had been particularly brutal, he came up to Cass and crawled back into her lap. He never said anything. He didn't need to. He just needed the contact. He needed to know that not everything was harsh and cold. He needed to know that someone wouldn't be afraid of him after what he'd done. He'd felt it once and needed to feel it again, like the rain.