"You want me to let her join the SOLDIER program?" Director Lazard shouted at Sephiroth "You guys were missing for three hours and you came back with a kid, asking me to let them join SOLDIER! You have broken enough rules to make it so I should just fire you now!" Sephiroth merely leaned against the wall and took the verbal beating without even looking at the director. Lazard swept his hand through his hair and repositioned his glasses even though there was no need, which told Sephiroth that he was calming down "What makes you think she can even qualify?"
"She took every advantage she had," Sephiroth stated flatly "Not to mention she moved about as fast as me when I was that age."
"The point is that you're asking me to allow a girl into the program. We have never had any female SOLDIER members before."
"That is because we have never had any volunteers," Sephiroth countered "Let her join, I will take full responsibility for her and her sister. She will be my student, I will train and teach her."
"We both know you can't just . . . draft an orphan into the program Sef," The director said without looking at the soldier.
"Then get me the adoption paperwork," Sephiroth saw Lazard's eyes go wide and heard the director make several sighs as he searched for an argument.
"Fine, but if the president starts giving me trouble for this-"
"He won't," Sephiroth interrupted as he started to walk away. He left the briefing room and motioned for the sisters to follow him. Angeal and Genesis began to flank him of their own accord. Angeal opened his mouth to ask a question but Sephiroth cut him off before he could speak.
"They'll have my room and I will sleep in the barracks for now," Sephiroth stated without facing his friend.
"Well I guess that answers my other question as well," Angeal commented.
"I can't believe the director is actually allowing this," Genesis said in an insulting tone. Sephiroth made a noise similar to a growl as he shook his head.
After the long hallway they group went up one flight stairs and continued down the next hallway. Angeal and Genesis broke off when they passed their rooms. When Sephiroth and the Farron sisters passed Sephiroth's room he opened the door for them, told them how to work the bathroom fixtures, walked out of the room and bid them goodnight as he closed the door.
"This is so cool!" Serah exclaimed in an overly cheerful voice as she looked around the room for the second time.
"Lets go have a bath before bed," Claire told her sister. She had seen how Sephiroth's hair had shone and thought that was because it was clean. Claire wanted her hair to shine as well.
The Next Day
Sephiroth had come into the room, woken the sisters and gave them a bag of new clothes, which he had paid one of his fans to retrieve. He had made the fan swear to never reveal that he was going to adopt to orphans from the slums. Luckily, for Sephiroth, he had a photographic memory so he had been able to guess the girls sizes fairly accurately. Sephiroth had left the room after wishing the girls a good morning and giving them their new clothes.
Instead of ratty and torn sweat pants, sleeveless shirts, and jackets, the sisters now had brand new underwear, short sleeve shirts, jeans, and thin sweaters. For the first time since they were orphaned they had shoes that fit.
The sisters had followed Sephiroth to the cafeteria, or mess hall to the soldiers, he walked them over to a table and told them to wait while he went up. A short while later Angeal and Genesis entered the mess hall and sat at the table with the sisters. They heard the two men talking about the new recruits that were going through something called, the qualification process.
When Sephiroth returned he had a tray of food in one hand and a large yellow envelope, and pen, in the other. He put the tray down in front of the sisters and sat opposite of them, beside Genesis. The sisters each took half of what was on the tray as Sephiroth took several pages out of the envelope.
"Is that what I think it is?" Genesis asked Sephiroth.
"No one can be drafted into the SOLDIER program," Sephiroth replied without looking at Genesis "Orphan's are no exception. Only a parent or guardian can allow a child to go into the program."
"Are you actually-" Angeal began to say.
"Yep," Sephiroth cut off before turning to the girls "What is your last name?"
"Farron," Claire replied.
"F-A-R-R-O-N," Serah spelt for Sephiroth. He nodded and gave them a smile before turning back to the paper and writing.
"Wasn't Farron the name of the former head of Urban Development?" Genesis asked with a look of remembering.
"Yes, and do not go into detail," Sephiroth replied with a very threatening tone "Ever."
"So Sephiroth," Angeal said louder than he had to "You're going to teach Claire to be a soldier. But what about . . ." He starred at Serah for a second because he did not know her name "Her?" Angeal finished as he pointed at Serah.
"I am going to hire a tutor for both of them until they are ready for high school. Then I will send Serah to high school and keep tutor's for Claire," Sephiroth replied to the black haired man, emphasizing Serah's name so Angeal would know.
The conversation ended there. Angeal and Genesis went back to what they were talking about, Sephiroth went back to his paperwork, and the sisters continued to eat. Angeal stopped talking to Genesis as he pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and flipped it open.
"Sir? . . . Yes sir . . . Yes sir, we're on our way," Angeal flipped his phone closed and stood up "The director wants us Genesis. Sephiroth, good luck. You'll need it," With that, Genesis and Angeal left.
Four Months Later
Claire was beginning to feel very sick. She could feel the bile rising into her throat and had fight very hard not to stop and vomit. She felt as if she had been running laps for the last three hours, but it had only been twelve minutes. Claire wanted to show that she could complete any task given to her and she had no intention of letting the simple task of running defeat her.
"Again," Sephiroth said without looking away from the stopwatch as she raced by him.
Claire's legs were burning, her lungs refused to take in air, her heart was threatening to explode, and her stomach was pushing its contents up to her mouth. When she was half way around the track in the virtual environment, she gave up. Claire stopped running, bent and let her stomach empty itself. She felt absolutely exhausted and ready to throw up than she had in her gut. She sat on the ground and tried to get her breathing and pulse under control. She jumped slightly when something landed on her shoulders.
"To be honest," Sephiroth said calmly. Claire then realized that it was his arm on her shoulders "This wasn't a test of speed. I wanted to know how stubborn you are," He chuckled lightly at the statement "Depending on the situation, being stubborn can be good or bad," Sephiroth took out his phone and ended the simulation. He flipped it closed and checked the time "Get some rest, your tutor will be here soon."
Sephiroth helped her back to her room where Serah was doing homework that was assigned by the tutor. Claire took a shower put on casual clothes and got a drink from the fountain in the room. She pulled out her book and double checked all the questions that were assigned the previous day. Sephiroth had told her that he had requested they get a very accelerated education, because he wanted Serah to go to high school at the same age as other kids, which was only two and half years away.
In the Mess Hall
"Why did you get such an expensive tutor for them?" Genesis asked with his usual mocking tone, which he only used when he was referring to the girls.
"Yeah. You do know that you could of had Hojo teach them,"Angeal said to Sephiroth.
"That creep?" Sephiroth replied with a disgusted tone and a surprised look "I don't even like being on the same floor as him. Why would I let him near my girls?"
"He does have the best education and the highest intelligence of all the Shinra employees," Angeal argued, summing up the majority of the world by saying Shinra employees.
"I hate being around him though. He scares me because he is always looking at me the same way he looks at his specimen. If someone scares me, why would I let him go near my girls?"
"I guess you have a point there," Angeal replied with a defeated tone "But remember, he is the only one allowed to do the infusion procedure."
"Which reminds me, two days until Claire is made a third."
"If she survives the infusion," Genesis said without looking at them.
"Why would you even say that?" Sephiroth nearly shouted at his friend.
"There is the rare case Sef," Angeal pointed out "Not to mention that the process that makes us, as in all SOLDIER members, unique has never been performed on a girl before."
"She'll be fine," Sephiroth said in a aggressive tone "And maybe one day she will be better than you two. Just like me," Sephiroth said with a cocky tone and a smile.
Two Days Later, SOLDIER Medical Center
Claire looked at the giant glass tube with a nervous feeling in her gut and she took a step closer to Sephiroth unintentionally. When the scientist entered the room she saw the steel name tag on the white coat and saw that it said Prof. M. Hojo. He had long black hair that was tied back, glasses and a face that could only be described as crooked.
Hojo looked at Sephiroth with his usual look of examining a speciman and looked down at Claire. When their gazes locked Claire wanted to hide behind Sephiroth but refused to show weakness. Hojo's gaze went back to Sephiroth and Claire looked up to see a dark glare on the soldiers face.
"So how is the legend today?" Hojo asked with a smile and a cheerful tone.
"There is no need for formalities, Hojo," Sephiroth practically spat the scientists name "You know full well why we are here. Now do the procedure and call me when she wakes up," Sephiroth turned to leave but Claire grabbed his arm.
"What do you mean when I wake up?" Claire asked in a demanding tone.
"I have to put you to sleep in the tank so you don't feel the mako energy combining with your cells," Hojo answered. Sephiroth gave Claire the look that he gave her when they first met, the look that asked her to trust him. She wordlessly agreed and let go of the soldiers arm "Sephiroth remember that there is a one in six chance that she succumbs to mako poisoning."
"I know," Sephiroth replied flatly without looking back. He left the room and Claire alone with Hojo.
"Why did you call him a legend?" Claire asked. It was a question that was bugging her since Hojo greeted Sephiroth.
"Because that's what he is. He is a legend among the military. You'll know more later, now please step into the tube," Hojo said as the tube hissed and the glass lifted into the ceiling "But first please remove your clothing," Claire gave a look that said she would much rather die "If your clothes get soaked in mako, its more likely that you will succumb to the poisoning and die of over exposure."
"What will stop you from raping me after I'm asleep?" Claire argued.
"I like my job and I see no point in doing something as frivolous as going to prison," Hojo could see that there was no way he would win this argument "Fine, then take a blanket to wrap yourself in the tank," He turned to the controls of the mako tank "Just tell me when your ready."
Claire grabbed the blanket off one of the eight beds in the room and wrapped it around her self. She then stripped down underneath the blanket, with a large amount of trouble, because she did not trust the scientist or the two security cameras in opposite corners of the square room. She stepped onto the raised platform of the tank and told Hojo she was ready, he pushed a button and the glass slid downward with a hiss and thud as it locked in place. She looked at the bottom of the tube as four holes opened and something sweet smelling entered the tank. Claire felt her muscles lock in place and saw her vision go dark as she drifted to sleep and something wet touched her feet.
After three hours of watching Claire soak in refined life stream, Hojo pushed the button to start draining the mako. Once it was empty he opened the tank, walked over, tilted the girl into his arms and put her on one of the beds. He pulled a syringe with the muscle relaxant, took of the cap and injected it into her arm. Hojo unwrapped the mako soaked blanket and covered the girl with a fresh one. Hojo wheeled over a trolley, with all manner of machines meant for monitoring everything from brainwaves to a pulse, and hooked all the machines up to the girl.
After a few minutes of monitoring Claire he grabbed her pile of clothes and put it on the end of her bed. He sat down at the terminal, entered his ID and password and began to make a report on the procedure. As he sat and typed something occurred to him, Sephiroth had gone through a lot of trouble to get this girl into the SOLDIER program, which meant she was special.
Hojo stood up walked over to the girl and took out the other syringe he had in the pocket of his lab coat. He uncapped it and stood starring at the black liquid inside it for a moment. The liquid was a refined version of the blood of Sephiroth, the refining was removing all the human and Jenova cells, which left him with a pure Sephiroth gene. He poked it into Claire's left arm and pushed the plunger down until the syringe was empty.
"Now there is nothing she can't learn from you, my son."
Please review and suggest a Title. I have no clue what to call this story.
This story will continue all the way to Advent Children. The other FF13 characters will appear so here is what I want the readers to do: Suggest pairings, be they Male/Female or F/F. They will alter the plot, but for obvious reasons I can't say how.
Random fact: So far I am the only one who has posted stories with Sephiroth being one of the major characters.
