Summary: She never would have imagined it would have ended like this: in a damp, dark cell, a disembodied voice that offered very little comfort and a captor that vaguely reminded her of an old friend. This wouldn't end like this, not for her.
Prologue
Good Morning World (Or How I Learned to Love the Bomb)
She ran.
And ran.
The feeling of wind on her damp skin reminded her of the laps instructed by her PE teacher in grade four, her short stubby body only taking her so far, but only in the most glorious of ways. She was free. And the sun felt glorious, warming every exposed pore, wafts of warmed linen caressing her nostrils. She had never felt so free; only when it is taken away that you know what true freedom is, when you wrestle it free, take it by force.
That was when Helena saw her: a mother putting her child in the back of her car. Helena had been running through the open backyards of what seemed to her to be homes in suburbia, but not from Midgar, where she was taken. The woman in Helena's sights caught her in the corner of her eye and quickly locked herself in her car. Helena approached frantically, tears suddenly gushing out.
"Please," Helena screamed, the palms of her hands making contact with the window of the car, "please help me!"
The woman mirrored the frenzy on Helena's face, hand searching for her phone in her purse, eyes unable to tear away from the sight before her.
"Please!" Helena cried over and over, palms turning into fists. Maybe if she cried hard enough then the fearful mother would find it in her to call the cops, someone, to save her, to save them. Images of a cool room, mechanical clicks and his echoed voice in the air vents drove her further into a frenzy. Why wasn't she listening to me? Helena asked herself. It could have been the linens she was made to wear, the large knot in her hair neither her nor her captor could comb out or maybe it was her gaunt appearance? It was clear that after so long of not seeing an ounce of sun, not feeling its grace on her own skin, her skin had sunken and retreated into a state of necrosis.
The woman's face softened suddenly and placed her phone back in her purse. She pushed open the car door, sending Helena aback and cooling the fear turned rage. "Please," the sound snaked out of Helena's mouth pitifully, exhaustion taking its toll.
"Doctor," the woman's tempered voice was like pure nitrogen on an open wound.
"I apologize for the scare," his voice so smooth, like a leather noose.
"Not at all, these things were bound to happen. But I always believed that your work is so important for the folks here. You are really doing the Planet's work." The concern on her face was genuine to Helena. Helena was torn between the need to punch her across the nose and stealing her car, and collapsing on the floor. Helena just smiled, wiping the tears from her cheek.
"She's just very confused," he began to explain but no one asked; the woman was already convinced by his "work" a long time ago.
"I hope you find solace here. The doctor is a fantastic man," the woman caressed Helena's hand in her own, gently lighting every memory aflame: was any of this real?
"Come now," he instructed her to move a pace in front of him, leading her back to the cool basement cell she had escaped all but moments ago.
The medical cart was still splayed on the ground, the one she pushed through to get through her cell door. A haunting laugh was heard through the halls, echoing in the air vents.
"Did you hurt him?" Helena asked.
"Please," the doctor scoffed. "He's just impressed you escaped at all."
He picked up the medical cart with locked compartments that Helena knew were filled with medication. He typed quickly a code and a compartment sprung open. He took a small bottle and handed her two white capsules.
"Trying to drug me, are we?" Helena took the pills skeptically from his hand but knew that whatever it was she was going to take it.
"It's a Tranquilizer. To help you sleep. You exerted yourself and his laughing will surely keep you awake."
"Of course it is," Helena lashed, dry-swallowing the capsules. She then sat on her cot, watching him make some notes before heading to the door. "Sephiroth?" She called out. "Even if I leave, I'll never to rid of you."
Sephiroth shrugged, "people call me doctor here. It might do you good to know that I'm only here to help."
Suddenly the laughter stopped. The air in the room sucked between Helena's teeth. He truly believed it, and gods be damned if she was to fight against a will as powerful as his.
Song: Self Destructor, Chevelle
A/N: More to come. I am primarily uploading the naughty bits on AO3. Many characters to be implicated. I hope you enjoy!
Also, welcome to rarepair hell. SephirothxOC is not the only relationship and, in fact, is not the main pairing.