A Tale Of Two Sephies

by "Sephiroth"

Sephiroth@map.com

(Disclaimer: FF7 and all characters within are products of SquareSoft.)

by "Sephiroth"

-PROLOGUE-

Hojo frowned at the sickly child. Small, weak and frail, it barely moved and uttered not a cry.

"Destroy it." he ordered. "It will take too much effort and money to nurse it to health. We will make a clone of the child. See to it the mother is punished for putting us through this unneccessary bother." he added, darkly. "My experiments were perfect, so this is obviously her fault."

"Yes, doctor." was the reply from his most loyal assistant.

The others shuddered, fearing that the baby might be put to death and the mother forced to watch.

One of these was a woman who had befriended the young mother. And she decided she would rather die than see such a thing occur.

Scooping up the infant, she fled from the lab.

The others began to give chase, but Hojo stopped them.

"It isn't worth the effort." he smiled. "The child will die soon enough. Let us deal with matters at hand for now. The mother is yours to do with as you please. Enjoy her while she lasts."

Weak as she was, Lucrecia was not helpless. The injections Hojo had been giving her unborn child had also affected her, too. As they circled and drew near, starting to undress even as they advanced toward her, she unleashed a ring of fire around herself, striking every man dead.

"A by-product of your pregnancy, my dear." Hojo smiled. "But it will not last forever. However, I will let you go. You've served your purpose, though you failed. Perhaps you will..."

Lucrecia turned and walked out the door.

Hojo set to work on creating the clone of the baby Lucrecia had delivered. This time it would be perfect. He would weed the imperfections out and all would go as planned.

,center>***

The young woman ran as fast as she could, finally stopping when she reached a small town.

"What a precious little baby." A woman told her.

She looked up, apprehensive at first, then saw the woman's kindly eyes and smiled in relief, though worry still was in her expression.

"He's dying." she sighed. "I took him away from that horrible lab he was born in. I know I can't save him. But I didn't want him to die in a place as awful as that."

"Perhaps he doesn't have to die." the local woman said. "What is wrong with him? It looks like Mako poisoning, but surely..."

"It is." the first woman replied. "That bastard scientist has been injecting him with ... oh I'm sorry. I shouldn't use words like that."

"Its all right." the local woman replied. "I think bastard is a perfect word for someone who wuld do that to a baby. But come you're lucky. I'm a nurse here and I specialize in cases of Mako poisoning. I think I can help little..."

"Sephiroth." the first woman replied.

***

At the lab, Hojo smiled at the little healthy clone. "There you go, little Sephiroth." he grinned. That had been the named everyone had agreed upon, including Lucrecia, and since he was sure the other baby was dead, or soon would be, there was no reason not to give that name to this 'corrected' version.

(Chapter 1)

In the great city of Midgar the newest members of SOLDIER were proudly graduating from the military training academy that Shinra had put them through. President Shinra was there, overseeing the graduation. Most of the graduates had regulation length hair, short, and neatly kept. But one, the one graduating at the top of the class, had long silver hair that fell down to his waist. They'd given up trying to cut it after he'd put several of the academy barbers into the infirmiry

"He's going to be a problem." one of them had predicted.

"We just have to channel that energy into more productive uses." one of the drill sargeants had argued in Sephiroth's defense. "He's a great fighter. But his skills must be honed."

Now, four years later, it seemed that the drill sargeant's faith had not been mislain. Sephiroth had been a fine student and was now graduating with high honors.

As with many military graduations, a beautiful sword was the prize awarded to the top member of the class. Sephiroth knelt to accept the sword. This one, however, was much longer than the ones given before it.

"I had it made especially for you." the drill sargeant told him. "Of all my students, you are the best and I wanted to give you something that was as special and unique as you are."

Sephiroth gave a thanking nod, then rose. "I am grateful." he said. "And in honor of your thoughtfulness, I shall give this sword a name. And I shall name it Masumane."

~~~~

At the same time in the city of Nibelheim, a ceremony of a more intimate nature was underway.

Sephiroth stood at the altar, his heart racing as he bent to kiss the young woman who had just become his bride.

"I love you." he whispered, gently, to her.

Irene looked up at her husband and smiled. "And I love you." she whispered back.

Then, while the woman who'd raised him and the nurse who had saved watched with her teenaged son, Cloud, sitting at her side watched with pride, Sephiroth lifted Irene's chin, and placed a kiss upon her lips. Their first kiss as husband and wife.

Sephiroth had met the young woman a few years earlier, when he'd just started working at the pet store, which he was now manager of, the former manager having retired just two months earlier. He'd helped her to pick out a puppy, there still were some animals in the city back then. They had enjoyed walking the puppy together and getting that opportunity to talk. And both of them had been greatly saddened a year later when the animal, mutated into a killer by the new mako plant, had to be destroyed. They talked about other things to alleviate their sadness and found that their love of animals was not all they had in common. Others had noticed the pair growing closer as time went on, and their engagement had no been a surprise to anyone.

Sephiroth was a well-loved and respected member of the community, and all the talk up to the very day of the wedding, had been about how wonderful it was that such a fine young man was getting married.

The ceremony itself had been private, with just the families and a few close friends invited. But the reception was open to all, and the only person who did not come was a man who was sick in the hospital and dying of mako poisoning. Even Mrs. Strife hadn't been able to save him.

Sephiroth and Irene told their parents to apologize to their guests and that they'd be late. They wanted to see the ailing man first since he would not be able to attend and they had to work around visitting hours.

***

Sephiroth and Irene walked into the hospital and asked to see the man. They were brought to his room by a nurse who shook the man, gently. "Mr. Valentine," she said, quietly, "you have visitors."

Sephiroth and Irene walked in and the nurse departed.

"Sephiroth..." Vincent whispered. He would be dead soon, he was glad. He would join the woman he loved, the woman who'd given birth to Sephiroth all those years ago. He couldn't remember much that had happened. He'd lived with mako poisoning for a great many years. But it was catching up with him at last. Soon, he would pass into the lifestream. But before he did that, he had to warn the young couple. "Sephiroth... he whispered, "beware of Sephiroth..." and then he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep that he would not awaken from for many years.

(part 2)

After the graduating classes departed, Sephiroth, stood alone, for a moment, upon the parade ground. He blinked, as if hearing a far off voice, then looked up, as if in response to the unheard call.

He moved to join Hojo, the man who'd raised him for as long as he could remember. There'd been another man. A doctor named Gast, who had been a tutor when he'd been a little boy. But Gast had died when he was very small, and he now barely remembered him.

Hojo gave an approving nod. "Your mother, Jenova, would have been proud." he said. "But come, we have much to do at home."

Sephiroth followed with no reaction or comment.

***

Sephiroth and Irene arrived at the reception hall. They joined the others in the festivities, though their own happiness was marred slightly by Vincent's coma and his warning to Sephiroth, which troubled the young groom.

They never let the others know they were troubled, however. Vincent had no relatves, so there was no reason to announce his coma and sadden the guests. They knew Vincent would not want it that way.

The other guests knew. There was some talk about Vincent's condition and finally Sephiroth told the others what had happened, leaving out Vincent's mysterious warning.

There was some talk of cutting the reception short, but in the end they decided that this would not be fair to Vincent, as it would lay the blame for the shortened reception upon him in a way.

When it was finally over, the young couple were flown to Corel where they boarded the gondola for the Gold Saucer.

(part 3)

"Okay, troops! Let's move out!" Sephiroth called to the other members of SOLDIER. "Come on! Double quick!"

They lined up promptly. There was something about the way Sephiroth said it that commanded their immediate response.

"Ahem!"

Sephiroth turned and saluted the man standing now in front of him. "General Amani." he said.

"We'll discuss this later." Amani said, with a firm smile. With firm emphasis he added "Lieutenant Sephiroth."

"Sir, yes, sir." Sephiroth saluted.

"Take your place in line, Lieutenant."

Sephiroth went to stand by one of the other soldiers.

"As you are no doubt well-aware," Amani notified his troops, "The war, which we hoped would be ending soon, has flared up again. We will be heading off to brave great dangers. Many will not come back. But we must go on. We must. For Shinra! We must not fail!"

No one seemed too impressed with the 'For Shinra' part of the speech except for the ever-loyal Sephiroth.

"We must triumph! For Shinra!" he tried again. Again only Sephiroth cheered.

"For Shinra?"

Nope. Nothing. Sephiroth had fallen silent. Not out of embarrassment, but because his last two enthusiastic cheers had left him a little hoarse.

"For Money?" Amani tried desperately. He wanted a cheer at any cost at this point.

They shook their heads, glaring. Did he think they were mercenaries?

"For SOLDIER?"

Another shake of most of the heads. Sephiroth would've, but he was still hoarse and managed only a faint but loyal whisper of "For Soldier."

"Nice to see I have a least one loyal SOLDIER." Amani nodded his approval at Sephiroth. "Okay," he said to the others. "Not for Shinra, Money, or SOLDIER. Then?" he looked at Sephiroth for a moment, then turned to the others. "For Sephiroth?" he hazarded.

"For Sephiroth!" the others cheered.

*****

Irene Masumane was getting a little concerned. For five minutes, she had tried everything she could think of to get her little son, Vincent, to eat his dinner. And for five minutes he had grumpily refused it.

Sephiroth believed that he had chosen the last name and the name of his son completely out of the blue. But the truth was that there was a faint psychic connection between himself and the SOLDIER Sephiroth who lived, for the most part, in Midgar. He never paid any attention to war stories. He prefered, instead, to do the crossword and read the comics to little Vincent.

"Please, Vinnie?" Irene pleaded. "For me?"

The boy remained as tightlipped as before, shaking his head.

"For daddy?" Irene asked.

The fourteen month old baby boy leaned forward and ate some of his food.

(part 4)

Sephiroth looked out the window of the Shinra Corporation's main building. "So," he said, "its now officially war." It had been a year since the death of his commanding officer. The man had died saving his life and Sephiroth was determined to make the man proud of him. "General," he said to the empty room, "I don't know what you would've done. But that is all past me now. What I must do is lead the troops as best as I can and hope that my leadership will be a tribute to all you've taught me." There was only silence in response, which was expected.

A knock followed the silence and he turned toward the door. "Enter."

A SOLDIER walked in carrying some papers. "This is the new draft list." the man informed him, after the proper exchange of salutes was out of the way.

"This should go to the recruitment center, SOLDIER." Sephiroth pointed out, sternly.

"Yes, sir." the SOLDIER nodded. "But there was something I thought you should see."

Sephiroth took the papers and ran them over, showing less and less interest. He was about to hand them back and give the SOLDIER a lecture when one of the names caught his eye:

Masumane, Sephiroth

Sephiroth blinked. What the hell was going on here? Who was this person and what the hell were they doing with *his* name? And for this insolent fellow to actually chose the name of Sephiroth's beloved sword as his own last name. It was too much. "Make *sure* this Masumane person comes under my command." he said. "If there's going to be another Sephiroth running around, I want to keep a close eye on him."

*****

"Can't you dodge?" Irene asked Sephiroth as they stood upon the platform at the train station. "I mean, you've got a family to think about."

"That's why I can't." Sephiroth told her. "Irene, I love you, and I want to stay home with you and Vincent, but if all good men don't go out and fight this war, then we'll be defeated and all the good things we have will be lost forever."

"If all good men didn't go off to fight, there would be no war." Little Vincent pointed out.

"If every child convinced every military officer of that simultaenously and the war stopped because everyone stayed home, that would be great." Sephiroth said, giving his son a kiss on the forehead and ruffling the boy's hair. "But that won't happen, so we must fight to preserve what we so dearly cherish." He looked at Irene and saw the worry in her eyes. "I will come home," he told her as he picked up his duffle bag. "I promise."

The train pulled to a stop alongside him. "All aboard!" the conductor called.

Sephiroth paid his fare and stepped onto a train that would take him, though he did not know it, to the strangest meeting of his life.

(part 5)

"Sir," Sephiroth's aide said, briskly, as he walked into the Lieutenant's office.

Sephiroth had been offered a General's rank when his commanding officer had died. But, even though he accepted responsibility for the troops, he turned the rank down. "I want to earn it by my own deeds. Not through the death of others." inwardly he had smiled at the paradox of this statement.

"Have you come to admire my beautiful face or to tell me something important?" Sephiroth asked with a voice tinged with both amusement and slight irritation.

"Sorry, sir. Sir, the new recruits are here, sir."

"Good. You are dismissed." Sephiroth waved the man off and waited a moment. Then he went downstairs to meet the new troops.

They were all in formation, dressed in their uniforms and looking smart. Nothing seemed particularly interesting or special about any of them.

"Attention!" he bellowed in that style that only person in charge of military forces ever bellow in, "I will not accept or tolerate anyone doing any less than he or she is capable of. That does not mean I expect you to be as good as me. It means I expect you to be as good as..."

He was cut off by the sound of a late-comer running into the barracks.

"Sorry I'm late!" Sephiroth Masumane panted as he rushed in, style in civilian attire and looking bedraggled. "The train broke down five miles out of town. I had to..." he stopped in mid sentence.

Lieutenant Sephiroth was also silent, despite having been about to chew the man out for tardiness.

They circled each other, examining every visible part of each other.

"Twins?" Sephiroth Masumane wondered. "Strange that I was never told. And why, if we're twins, would we both have the same name? Its not very original."

"You aren't twins."

The two Sephiroths turned to see a man standing there. He was wearing A lab coat and a long greasy ponytail.

"Professor Hojo." Lieutenant Sephiroth told the man. "Make this fast."

"Mr. Masumane was born first. But he was born sickly." Hojo told them. "Your father had lost the woman he loved and he could not bear to see his son die, too. So he cloned you, then had a nurse take your dying body out to hide it so he could pretend the clone was ..."

"ENOUGH!" Lieutenant Sephiroth snarled. "You!" he added, turning to Sephiroth Masumane, "Get into uniform and get back here doublequick!"

"Yes, sir!" Sephiroth Masumane said, saluting his younger brother, as he had taken to thinking of him, and darting off into the nearest area where he could change his clothes.

(conclusion)

General Sephiroth looked over at the small group who currently made up his team. Lt. Sephiroth Masumane, a young man named Zack, and 'groupie' named Cloud Strife, who wore the uniform, though Sephiroth never recalled having trained the young man.

"Its a simple job." He told them. "We repair the reactor, kill a few monsters and go home."

"Why can't they get an exterminator and a repairman?" Zack asked. "We're SOLDIERs. We've got better things to do."

"Well said!" Cloud agreed.

"......" Lt. Sephiroth Masumane sighed.

"Cheer up." Cloud told him. "Just think, we're almost home."

"Hooray." Lt. Sephiroth Masumane cheered emptily. He did miss his wife and son.

"Isn't your family in Nibelheim?"

"No." Lt. Sephiroth Masumane shook his head. "I had them move to Rocket City after the increase in monsters sightings."

They disembarked the train and headed toward the reactor. They were in the middle of the bridge when a rather large and hideous creature lunged at them, intending to knock them off.

Both Sephiroths moved into action instantly, making swift work of the monster.

As it plummeted to its death, it tore the supports of the fragile bridge, causing the team to plunge downward.

***

Cloud woke and found both Sephiroths missing. Making sure the others were okay, he decided to head to the reactor. He wondered why General Sephiroth hadn't tried to wake them. Or perhaps he had and then had decided to carry on with his mission before returning to help them."

They got to the reactor and saw a monster lying on the ground, slashed to pieces. One of the two Sephiroths was lying near it, also badly slashed. "He's gone... Shinra Mansion." the wounded Sephiroth choked, a gurgling sound in his throat.

"Easy now." Zack said. He looked closely, then frowned. "Its the General." he told the others. "Lt. Masumane must've done this, but why. General did he say anything?"

"He said something about knowing he was an experiment. He was told as a child ... He" the General was having trouble speaking now.

"You've said enough." Cloud reassured him. "We'll find him and get to the bottom of this. Zack, the city isn't far. Take the General and see to it that he gets proper medical treatment. I'm going to the Shinra Mansion to see if I can find out what's going on with Lt. Masumane."

-OWARI-

(author's note: The events that take place from here on are the same as from the game. Also note that General Sephiroth was in the hospital at Nibelheim when the fire broke out and so he was killed. It was Lt. Sephiroth Masumane who went insane and became the one from the game.)