Quantum Superposition

Sephiroth opened his eyes and shut them again hastily. It was much too bright out there. Natural light rather than infirmary or laboratory fluorescents, but still a bit too much for his sensitive retinas. Eyes firmly closed, the Silver General turned his attention to his other senses.

He could smell... a hint of sickly-sweet putrefaction, ozone and volcanic ash; Chaos' own peculiar combination, overlaid on Valentine's normal gunpowder, weapon oil, steel and feral femininity. That last scent in the cocktail reminded Sephiroth of the plains hunting cat he'd seen in a zoo once. Cloud was nearby, or had been: Steel, early adolescent musk, a touch of spring rain and a hint of gunpowder with a strong overlay of chocobo and greens. The blond had probably been tending to the bird non-stop since Sephiroth's treatment started, what with him being out of commission and Chaos absorbed in keeping him alive. The tent around him smelt of sweat and sickness -his own- threaded with the tang of Mako and overlaid with green soap.

As for sounds, there was the rustle of wind against the tent sides, the soft warks and encouraging murmurs coming from outside that suggested Cloud was teaching the leggy gold chocobo something and distant birdsong, all interwoven with the faint hissing of grass and swishing of leaves.

And right beside him was a slow, steady heartbeat and breathing so soft he' almost missed it. Might very well have missed it were it not for the deeply unsettling 'presence' he could feel through his Mako-enhanced life-sense. It was Chaos, and felt less disturbing than it had at the beginning of the treatment; had he grown accustomed or was it related to the procedure Chaos had used to neutralise JENOVA?

Sephiroth tensed his muscles in preparation for motion and promptly groaned and went limp. He ached everywhere, from bones to hair all the way through muscle, organs and skin. It was horribly painful but still better than how he last remembered feeling: before the black abyss in his memory he recalled feeling as though his bone marrow had been replaced with hot lead.

"Welcome back, little dragon," came the weird chorus that was Chaos' voice.

"How long?" Sephiroth rasped. He needed a drink but moving was right out at the moment. Even talking was a challenge. There was movement in the air near his face and the mouth of an open water bottle was held to his lips. He swallowed appreciatively.

"You became delirious three days in and catatonic two days later. Treatment began eleven days ago and finished two days ago; now you just need to get better and use what time remains of your holiday to adapt to your new physiology."

"New physiology?" Sephiroth repeated. 'Minor changes' had been mentioned, not a whole new body.

"The Calamity contains pieces of DNA scavenged from many other species it considered useful and Hojo added more because it suited him," Chaos explained patiently, "which, when exposed to different types of Mako, causes specific mutations to surface. Genesis and Angeal were Banora bred; the Lifestream out there favours hippogriffs as they are the most intelligent monster species. You were born and raised in Nibelheim, which favours wolves and dragons. Mostly dragon in your case, but were the little chocobo to enter SOLDIER he would likely favour wolf. Medical-grade Mako is difficult to refine, so the injections only come from four places, each of which have special and expensive refineries attached. People from those places get mainly that Mako as they are less likely to reject it, but those not from the experimental Mako outposts of Nibelheim and Banora get generic Gonoga and Midgar injections. In fact, when they are short on the special stuff everyone gets Gonaga or Midgar Mako. There really isn't anything in the Midgar area that can influence mutation: Kalm Fangs promote pack tendencies but that's it, apart from the rare Midgar Zolom which is so diluted it just promotes mild status immunity. Gonaga Mako on the other hand is much cleaner, stronger and positively reeks of Griffin, which offers solid status immunity and considerable resistance to some of the elements. With me so far?"

Sephiroth nodded, fascinated. He'd never considered it before but it made sense that, since Mako was Lifestream, what it had been before could influence how a SOLDIER developed.

"Good. Gonoaga Mako is part of why the little puppy is such an excellent SOLDIER: his body takes to it better and is naturally more attuned to its specific frequency. If he ever reaches first-class he is very likely to develop wings of his own. However, you and your three colleagues have not just had Mako native to your birthplaces, but a lot of Gonaga Mako as well. Not much Midgar Mako as that's reserved for the lower level SOLDIERs but enough of the Gonaga Mako that some of your latent dragon traits have been suppressed by griffin ones. Similarly, with Genesis and Angeal some hippogriff traits have been quashed by griffin but those two species are close enough for it not to be much of an issue. Dragons are however very different from griffins."

"So I'm a mess," the Silver General concluded hoarsely. What had Chaos just said about Zackary Fair and wings?

"Not particularly," Chaos said nonchalantly. "The changes are subtle, for the most part, and the more visually impressive ones can be hidden. Much as I am hiding my wings now."

Sephiroth hadn't noticed that he hadn't been hearing the leathery flap and swish associated with Chaos' wings. He cracked his eyes open again to check. With the summon/WEAPON hybrid blocking out most of the direct light through the tent wall it was easier to see and yes, Chaos' wings were indeed nowhere in sight.

"You have gorgeous wings, little dragon; I am quite jealous," Chaos teased with a gentle smile wildly at odds with his usual behaviour and odd-sounding choral voice. "Soft, feathered and pearly grey, very like a griffin. Shaped for predation unlike Genesis' and Angeal's wings, which are designed for strength and endurance rather than speed and manoeuvrability. They look magnificent enough that your fanclub would hunt you down and rape you if they ever saw them."

Sephiroth took some time to let this sink in but deliberately ignored the fanclub comment. "Since Angeal had no wings to be seen when he returned I assume they can be hidden?"

"Easily. Genesis' have not even emerged yet but he has them waiting for there to be a need. They are a little like a limit break that way, but can be called upon at will not just in dire straits. Angeal has tried his out and discovered that flight is far more pleasant when you are your own pilot."

"And the other changes?" Sephiroth wanted to know what 'minor' adjustments his body had thrown at him. He ached too badly to pick up the differences himself right now.

Chaos gently picked up one of Sephiroth's hands, drawing his attention to the semi-retractable, very sharp claws attached to the end of his fingers where he only remembered there being rounded nails. "Same on your feet; your boots will need to be adjusted to accommodate them as well as for the slight shift in leg musculature and spine curvature. Gloves will hide the claws on your hands just fine; count yourself lucky I was able to purge the bit that wanted to give you a tail."

Sephiroth pretended he hadn't heard that last sentence and studied his new claws, flexing his hand to see them flick from raised almost out of the way to curving in to strike. He'd almost lost an eye to griffin claws once; now he could return the favour.

"There's a knack to fighting with claws; I'll have to teach you," Chaos commented. "Oh, and one more thing..." He handed Sephiroth a mirror. The Silver General glanced at his face, then stared as the faintly ovoid pupils in his aqua eyes constricted into vertical slits. "Dragon eyes, hatchling," Chaos confirmed cheerfully, visibly amused by the look on Sephiroth's face. "and you have considerable resistance to status ailments as a bonus, not to mention a massive affinity for fire. Oh, and most middling and lower level monsters will run away from you now since you smell dragonish as well. Actual dragons may get aggressive though, so watch out for that."

Sephiroth smiled a little at hearing about his increased resistance to magic. Genesis loved fire spells; how would he react to the Silver General's newfound immunity to his favourite attacks?


A week later Sephiroth was reluctantly making his way back to Midgar with Cloud and his mother, having just left Sunshine at the chocobo farm. The Silver General's feet were now unmistakeably digitigrade like a griffin -or dragon for that matter- rather than the normal human plantigrade and his boots had had to be cannibalised so he could wear them comfortably. Most of the sole had been removed on the inside under the ball of his foot and some of the pieces had been used to give more support to his heel, while a neat crescent had had to be cut out of the actual sole so his claws could be in direct contact with the ground.

Valentine had promised him this was a temporary measure until she could get him proper replacements and removed her own sabaton-topped boots to show him that she suffered form a similar problem. The soles of her shoes ended a good way inside the metal coverings, allowing her own claws to scrape the ground and offer better grip. She explained it as having large amounts of Nibel Mako in her system mixed with Chaos-tainted Mako, which had promoted mutation in the place of the JENOVA virus. Her pale feet had rough, slightly pebbled skin and extremely long, wicked, dragon-like claws far more lethal-looking than Sephiroth's own. The nails on her fingers were blunter but no less strong, though the Chaos-gauntlet with its needle-sharp fingertips more than made up for the deficiency.

She also had practice in using the new accessories; Sephiroth secretly liked the sound of being able to scramble up cliffs and scale buildings without the necessity of traditional climbing equipment. He'd had a chance at least to try out his new wings, which had initially been awkward but swiftly evolved into wonderful and exhilarating. Perhaps he could look into taking up BASE jumping as a hobby.

Without the parachute, of course.


Sephiroth survives but is deeply changed by the process. How much of that was inevitable, I wonder? Chaos' agenda is after all to create upheaval, but at least Seph escaped having a tail...