Disclaimer: The characters of FFVII belong to Square Enix, or so I've been told. I make no such profits from this enterprise.
A/N: Sorry for being late (although an author never posts late. He/She posts precisely when he/she means to). Still fluffy, not quite plot, but we need this to move on. Thank you for your awesome reviews. You know who you are.
"Sephiorth," a quiet voice said in his ear, "it's time to get up." He rolled over with a slight groan, not really wanting to be up this early, but knowing that resistance was futile. He stretched for a good two minutes before stumbling off to the kitchen. Cass smiled at him.
"Good morning, sunshine," she said. He managed a tired smile in reply.
"Did you sleep well?" she asked, setting a bowl of cereal in front of him.
"No," he said. He had tossed and turned for a long time.
"Why not?" she asked, "Do you need an earlier bedtime?"
"I don't want to go back," he said.
"It's not forever, Sephiroth," she reminded him, "Five hours max." He started eating and made no reply. She gave a snort. "Some ball of sunshine you are," she said. She started pulling her hair back. He watched with a cross between admiration and interest. She could control her hair far better than he could. She didn't even need a mirror.
"Why do you tie it up?" he asked.
"So it doesn't get in the way," she replied, "and so people don't pull on it." Sephiroth didn't understand why someone would pull her hair. He supposed it was a good way to cause her unnecessary pain. It was a problem he hadn't really thought about with his own. It didn't deter him though. Cass knew how to fix it.
Then he remembered that he had to back to Hojo and was sullen again. He finished his cereal and trudged off to the bathroom. He heard Cass behind him and knew she had that weird smile on her face again. In his head, he called it her "Oh really" look. A glance in the bathroom mirror showed he was right.
"Brush your teeth," she directed. He did, then he slowed. Something felt wrong. He kept going, but it didn't go away. One of his teeth was definitely moving. He wasn't sure that was supposed to happen. He spat out and rinsed, but his tongue couldn't stop worrying at it.
"What's wrong?" Cass asked.
"Nothing," Sephiroth said quickly.
"Sephiroth," Cass said. He turned around slowly. "Don't lie to me. You know I don't like it."
"One of my teeth is...loose," he said.
"Oh," she said, "You've never had a loose tooth before?" He shook his head.
"It's okay," she assured him, "You're just losing your baby teeth."
"I'm not a baby," he said firmly. She laughed.
"No you are not," she said, "but you have teeth that fit in a baby's mouth. They'll fall out and bigger ones will grow in their place."
"Fall out?" he asked.
"Or you'll pull them out."
"...Did you loose your baby teeth?"
"Yep," Cass said.
"So this is normal?" Sephiroth asked.
"Yep," Cass said. Sephiroth nodded.
"Have I made all things right in the world?" she asked. He smiled and nodded again.
"Go get dressed then," she said, "Wear one of your uniforms." He made a face and she laughed at him. The uniform was just as uncomfortable as before. He found himself picking at the collar as he came back out. She appraised him one more time.
"Come here," she said. He obeyed. He felt her doing something with his hair. She pulled it back and tied it. He felt it. It felt very strange. She shrugged.
"Might as well," she said, "They would have made you do it eventually." He tugged it once experimentally and sighed. She was probably right. At least he didn't have to wrap it up like she did.
"You ready?" she asked.
"No," he replied. She snorted once.
"Neither am I," she said. He blinked at her. She held out her hand as she opened the door. He took it and they left.
Cass felt saddened as she entered the elevator again. She wished she could have had more than a weekend to let Sephiroth adjust to the change. She wished even more that she didn't have to bring him back to the man she hated most in the world. He seemed so depressed about coming back.
He clung to her hand. Clung to it. Like a drowning man. Otherwise he seemed blank and empty as ever, but Cass knew better. He was scared and uncomfortable. She sighed and kneeled down. He turned to her.
"If they let you go early," she said, "come back to the elevator. Press the button that says 20. Go to the left, around the corner and knock on the door at the end of the hall. I will be there all day."
"What if they don't?" Sephiroth asked quietly.
"Then I will come and get you," she said, "It's going to be okay." He nodded. His hand still clung to her as she rose back up. The doors opened to the labs and they stepped out. Cass led Sephiroth toward's Hojo's usual lair. He was waiting for them.
He didn't notice Sephiroth's reluctance to let go; how his fingers took their time in leaving Cass. He was too busy glaring at the person of Sephiroth's affections. She didn't notice as usual.
"Have a good day," she said lightly as Sephiroth walked toward Hojo. Hojo scoffed at her words.
"He's starting to lose teeth," she said to Hojo.
"Why tell me?" Hojo sneered.
"I thought you'd want to know," she said, "It is a step in his development." Hojo paused. Then nodded. Sephiroth followed behind him, but not before glancing at Cass. She looked sadder than usual.
Strangely enough, Sephiroth would have categorized that Monday as a good day. Hojo did do the full testing he threatened Cass with. He found nothing wrong with Sephiroth. In fact, Sephiroth was more alert than usual. Needless to say, Hojo was frustrated. He re-ran a few, unwilling to believe that a weekend with Cass hadn't been bad for Sephiroth's health. Sephiroth sat through them more calmly than usual.
Hojo had Sephiroth do some other physical tests, but they were strangely simple and painless. Hojo seemed thrilled with the results and he only had to do them once. He didn't get any bruises or cuts this time. That made Hojo even happier.
Finally Hojo said that Sephiroth could go off for his training. He ran through the motions and his trainers told him he did them well. That pleased Hojo and he argued for a long time that Sephiroth should start doing something else. It didn't sound interesting.
He ran out of things to do earlier than the time Cass was supposed to pick him up. He remembered her attempt to calm him down in the elevator and made a nervous request to Hojo.
"May I wait for Cass in her office?" he asked.
"She doesn't work here anymore," Hojo said.
"Her new office," Sephiroth corrected. Hojo paused and a disgusted look crossed his face. He took a long time to reply.
"Fine," he said and waved him off. Sephiroth hurried before Hojo changed his mind. He followed Cass directions: he went to the twentieth floor, turned left, went around the corner and to the end of the hall. He knocked.
"Come in Sephiroth," Cass called. He grinned and went inside. Cass did have a bigger and better office. All of her things from down stairs had been moved and fitted nicely. There were some new things, strange devices that Cass hadn't even finished setting up yet. He also noted a sofa in the corner. And, of course, Cass perched on her chair.
"Hello Sephiroth," Cass said.
"Hello Cass," he said.
"How was your day?"
"Normal, I guess?" Sephiroth replied.
"You guess?" Cass said, "What did you do?"
"...Nothing," Sephiroth said.
"You had to have done something," Cass said, "unless Hojo locked you in a room all day."
"...Do you want to know...everything I did today?" he asked.
"Only what you want to tell me," Cass replied.
"All of my tests came out well," he said.
"That's good," Cass said, "I bet Hojo didn't like that."
"No," Sephiroth agreed. He paused for a moment. "What did you do?"
"I've called at least three people an idiot today," she said, "All three apologized to me later. And I did some rocket science, which is always fun." Sephiroth nodded, not exactly certain of what Cass was talking about, but decided that he'd learn at some point.
"Can I sit on the sofa?" he asked.
"Of course," Cass said, "Just give me one more hour, and we'll go home." He nodded as he tested out the couch. It was very nice. Not as nice as his chair, but adequate. He watched Cass scribble something on a pad in her lap and the writing appear on a large screen in front of her. It was more of that math stuff, but the method it was written in was amusing to watch. She started drawing a picture of a large curve.
"The bookshelf is right behind you, if you're interested," Cass said. Sephiroth turned and started scanning them to find something that caught his interest.
After letting in Lazard from 2B (a big step forward, that Cass remembered his name) and a quick, but delicious dinner of leftovers, Sephiroth and Cass were settled in her living room, book in hand. They passed it back and forth, taking turns reading it to each other because Sephiroth liked to do both: read and listen. Then, Cass told Sephiroth to do his chores, which he did with unnatural relish.
When the clock read 8:30, Cass told Sephiroth to get ready for bed again. He became more subdued again, not really wanting to go back again, but was assured once again that it would not be forever. He slept more easily this night. If today was pretty good, then maybe this to and from thing wouldn't be so bad.
After a month, Sephiroth had settled into a routine. Very little changed after the first day. Hojo still did tests and he still did training, only now he was given a practice sword and was learning kata, which was boring, but more interesting than the hand-to-hand training.
Hojo struggled to keep him busy all day and succeeded half of the time. The only time he willingly gave up Sephiroth was on injection day, because only Cass could calm him down with the extended dosages.
Cass's life became more varied and chaotic, but that was just how she liked it. Rocket science one day, engineering the next, and a bit of architecture over lunch. She was mildly popular in her new position. She got more returns in her occasional greetings, though she didn't bother to dull her tongue again. Her bad reputation had followed her, but that made so many things easier. Like she never got pick-up lines at the office.
Weekends were always the best. Whole days without Hojo, tests or training. They always slept in and had a big breakfast. Sometimes, they went back to the park, sometimes they stayed inside and read, sometimes they didn't even get dressed. Once Cass had tried to teach him how to ride her bike. It had failed miserably with a skinned knee (it incensed Hojo, but the wound remained superficial) but Sephiroth was determined to try again soon.
One evening, he couldn't eat because of the nuisance in his mouth.
"Alright," Cass said, "then it's coming out." Twenty minutes later, Sephiroth finally ripped it out. It hurt, but Cass had made a good point.
"You either live with the tooth," she said, "or live with the pain. One or the other." The pain was short term, he picked that. Cass was waiting nearby with a cold, wet cloth, which he pressed against the hole triumphantly. It was puny looking once it was out of his mouth.
"It is a baby tooth," he said in awe.
"Mmm-hmm," Cass said.
"Is this going to happen with all of my teeth?" he asked.
"I'm afraid so," Cass said, "you'll just have to take them one at a time."
"But a new one will grow back," Sephiroth said as his tongue started wriggling unconsciously in the new hole.
"Yes," Cass said, "If a new one wasn't already growing, then your tooth wouldn't have been loose." That made sense. The old one came out because there wasn't room. It was thrown away unceremoniously. Hojo already stated he didn't want them and Sephiroth lost interest once it was out.
It was probably something said by Hojo that brought it on. He had a nasty habit of saying bad things about Cass when he thought no one was listening. Sephiroth learned to ignore them, but he still heard. He didn't remember exactly what was said but something along the lines of, "if it were up to me, he'd never see her again," was close enough.
He had bad dreams before. Things that made him sweaty and shaky when he woke up. Hojo was typically in them and this one was no different.
What was different was that he was nearly hyperventilating. He didn't know what to do. He usually waited until it was time to wake up or for an attendant to come check on him, but they couldn't help with this dream.
Looking up at a sneering Hojo. Being dragged away by tall shadows. Then looking over and seeing Cass outside of his cage as he was jerked away.
He slid out, needing to make sure. He crossed the hall and opened the door. There was a breathing lump in the bed. He approached to make sure it was Cass. It was. A small noise escaped him. Cass stirred.
"Seph?" Cass mumbled sleepily. She sat up. "Sephiroth...what's the matter?" One of his hands fisted in her sheets as his vision blurred.
"Why are you crying?" Cass asked, "What's the matter?" A small sob came out. Cass came closer and touched his shoulder. "Did you have a bad dream?" she whispered leaning down.
"H-h-he said...He was going to take me...a-away," Sephiroth stammered out, trying to control himself.
"Shhh," Cass hushed him, "It's okay. Nobody's going to take you away." His hands reached up to cling at Cass's arm. Cass pulled back the covers.
"Come here," she said. He climbed up and clung at Cass's neck, instinctually seeking comfort. She started rubbing his back. "It'll be okay," she hushed him, "I'm right here." He managed to quiet down to distressed gasping, but dared not let go of Cass. She kept trying to comfort him.
Eventually he did quiet down, whether Cass was able to comfort him or he distressed himself so much that he passed out again, Cass wasn't sure. She chose the former. Sephiroth wasn't one for drama really. He was pretty good at calming himself. Tonight had just been a rough scare in the middle of the night, she told herself.
He had fallen asleep clinging to her. Again. She sighed and checked the clock. Not worth it to get up. Very gently, so as not to awaken the freshly soothed Sephiroth, she laid back down and tucked him in around her.
"This better not be a common thing with you," she grumbled sleepily as Sephiroth curled up beside her, still refusing to let go.
Better warn his girlfriends that he's a clinger, she thought to herself. She didn't really mind for now. He was kind of a ball of heat any way. So long as he didn't steal the blankets.