Angry, Hojo stormed his way into Sephiroth’s room, where he was anxiously waiting for him.

"Why did you do that!" Sephiroth shouted.

Hojo walked up to him and slapped him. "Don't you ever talk to me like that boy!"

Sephiroth rubbed his cheek. "Where's Aeris?"

"You won't have to worry about her again. What has she told you?" Hojo's gaze could have cut through metal.

"What did we do wrong?"

Hojo slapped him again. "I asked you a question boy. Answer me!"

Sephiroth turned boiling red with hate. He balled up his fist and spoke through clenched teeth. "Nothing."

"I know she has. Now tell me or her punishment will be worse than anything you've ever had!"

Sephiroth's eyes widened. "I don’t know what you’re talking about. She hasn't told me anything. It's the truth. Please don't hurt her."

Hojo took note of the worry in his voice.

"What do you talk about when you’re alone?"

"We just tell stories and stuff, honest."

Hojo looked away, his mind was somewhere else. "So she did lie."

"What?"

"That's none of your business."

Hojo turned and walked out of the room.

"No wait!" Sephiroth called as the door shut.

He slammed his fists against the metal and slid down to the floor. Hojo was going to hurt Aeris all because of him. There’s no telling what he would do to her now. It was all his fault but the worst part was that he’d never see her again.

For the first in a long time, Sephiroth cried.

The next morning, Hojo sent guards to Aeris’ room. They dragged her from her bed in her nightclothes and took her to the elevator. The doors opened and they went down the hall toward the laboratory. The doors opened ahead of them and a couple of guards stepped out carrying Sephiroth between them.

"Aeris!"

"Sephiroth!" Aeris called back.

Sephiroth’s jaw fell when saw the purple marks on her face. He twisted back toward the room where Hojo was standing. "What'd you do to her, freak!"

Hojo sneered and backhanded him.

"You're next, boy," he turned to the guards. "Carry on."

The guards started to drag him away. Sephiroth snatched his arms free unexpectedly and caused both men to lose their balance and trip over each other. The silver-haired boy quickly body slammed one of the guards holding Aeris. The other refused to let go. Aeris turned and tried to pull her arm free. Hojo appeared and attempted to hold Sephiroth back long enough for the other men to get to their feet.

"Hurry up and get this mad boy away from me," Hojo shouted.

Aeris bit the guard’s hand as hard as she could. The guard screamed in pain and pushed her away. Sephiroth thrust his leg backwards and kicked Hojo right in his knee. The scientist let go of him and bent over to cradle his sore limb

. Sephiroth took Aeris’ hand. "Come on.”

The two kids ran down the hall. A guard raised his gun and aimed. Hojo jumped up and knocked the weapon down.

"No, you idiot!" he cried. "Catch them. Don't let them get away!"

Aeris and Sephiroth kept running.

"This way," Sephiroth said as he opened a door.

Aeris ran in and he shut the door and locked it after her. She turned on the light and looked around. They were in a janitors closet. There was nothing more than a sink a few cleaning supplies. Sephiroth pointed to a vent in the wall next to the ceiling.

"Up there," he said.

He hoisted Aeris up to the duct. With some effort, she pulled off the cover and crawled in.

The door handle jiggled.

Aeris stretched out her arm. "Take my hand."

Sephiroth climbed onto the sink and allowed her to help pull him into the hole. The door broke open.

Sephiroth shoved Aeris ahead. "Go, go."

The guard aimed his dart gun and fire. He missed.

Sephiroth and Aeris crawled quickly through the ducts, neither one of them know where they were going. They stopped at a junction point, looked both ways, and silently decided to go right. They came to another vent and paused to look through it. "It's the meeting room. We have to go down seven floors till we can get to the stairs," Sephiroth said.

They went on, still blind to which way they had to go. Aeris stopped suddenly. Sephiroth crawled next to her to see what the hold up was. There was a very long drop in front of them. It seemed to go on forever.

"Whoa! Are you sure there isn't another way?" Aeris asked.

"Positive," He looked down the hole once more studying it. "I'll go first and you follow."

Aeris nodded nervously. Sephiroth went into the hole and dug his feet into the metal. The sweat on his palms were sticky enough to hold onto the smooth surface. He started to slowly slide down, an inch at the time. Aeris watched from above. Sephiroth stopped at the next floor where there was another turning point and crawled in.

"Come on." He called up to her.

Aeris copied Sephiroth's moves and slid down to the floor below him. By the time they got to the 61st floor, Aeris’ bare feet were sweaty and she almost fell to her death. Sephiroth grabbed her on the way down and pulled her to safety. They took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief and continued on.

They stopped at the nearest vent and peeked through the metal slits. There were three guards were standing in front of the elevator across from the stairs.

"Guess we won't be going this way," Sephiroth said, starting back the way they came.

Aeris reluctantly followed him down another floor. They peek through another vent and found themselves next to a room full of off duty Shinra employees.

"Guess were not going this way either," Aeris said, disappointed.

"No. See. The stairs are right there. All we have to do is get there before they notice us," Sephiroth said, pointing to a door.

"Are you sure we can get through without being seen?" Aeris was worried.

He looked at her and smiled. "Trust me."

Sephiroth pushed the vent open. After a quick check of the people on the floor, Sephiroth ran across the room to a shady spot in front of a door. No one noticed. He gestured for Aeris to come. Aeris was about run when the door behind Sephiroth opened.

Sephiroth turned around to face and angry scientist.

"Aeris run!" Sephiroth cried.

Hojo slapped Sephiroth and grabbed him. "Stupid boy."

Everyone looked up.

"Sephiroth!" Aeris cried.

Hojo looked up. "Get her!"

Shinra guards raced toward her. Sephiroth snatched away from Hojo and started to run to the elevator. The scientist raised his dart gun and pulled the trigger. Sephiroth collapsed just short of the closing doors. Aeris watched him fall and screamed. Before she knew it, the guards were on her and pulled her from the vent. She struggled and fought.

"Tranquilize her already," Hojo said.

"Hojo you ought to be ashamed of yourself!"

Hojo spun around and faced a mob of angry Shinra employees. He glared back at them.

"My good man these are not children, they are specimens," Hojo said calmly.

"I don't care what the hell what you call them. They're still kids. I’ve had it with you and your crack-pot experiments. I'm reporting you to President Shinra!"

"Yeah? Who do you think you are! They have a right to get away from you. I'm going to report you to President Shinra too," a woman added.

The guards carried Sephiroth and a tranquilized Aeris to the elevator. Hojo walked around the mob to join them.

"It'll take more than a couple of grunt employees to get rid of me," he said as the elevator door shut.

"I have had many complaints about you Hojo. Word has been going around that you chased around two kids and shot them with darts in the break room. Now why would people say a thing like that?" President Shinra said.

Hojo stood before the great Shinra at his desk.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but a few of my specimens escaped and I had to get them back before they left the building," Hojo said.

"Specimens? A pretty nifty word for couple of kids," Shinra said.

"Daddy, can I be a specimen?" young Rufus asked.

Shinra turned to him. "No son. And don't interrupt daddy when he is talking."

Rufus nodded. Shinra turned back to Hojo again.

"I'm truly sorry, sir. It won't happen again," Hojo said.

"See that it doesn't. I hold you in high respects Hojo and not simply because your talents serve useful to this company. You have certain privileges that many worthy others before you have never obtained. Don’t make me regret it Hojo.” The President was serious. “They’re not animals, they’re children. Get that straight. Start treating them as they should be treated.”

"As you wish sir.” Hojo said again.

The president dismissed him and he left the room.

Aeris awoke with a headache. "Where am I?"

"In your room," came Terry's voice.

She opened her eyes but couldn’t make out any object in the room. She tried to clear her vision but she couldn't raise her head. It felt like a thirty pound bowling ball.

"Lie still. You've had a busy day. You're lucky Hojo didn't punish you," Terry said.

Aeris did as she was told. She couldn't move. She recalled what happened to her....to Sephiroth.

"What happened to Sephiroth?" Aeris managed to say.

"I'm not sure. Hojo took him away. I think he was punished," Terry said sadly.

Aeris groaned. "It's my fault."

"No it isn't. You weren't responsible. He dragged you into this."

"No, he didn't force me into any of it. I wanted to go with him-- and now he's going to get in trouble because of me." Aeris buried her face in her pillow. Terry ran her hand through Aeris' hair as she sobbed quietly.

Sephiroth and Aeris were not to see each other again for several years. Hojo saw to it that they wouldn’t be outside of their rooms at the same time. When Aeris asked Hojo to allow her to see Sephiroth, she was scolded and given no food for three days. Terry was compassionate and nice enough to sneak food to her room.

Sephiroth constantly demanded to see Aeris many times a day. Each time, drawing on Hojo’s patience. The scientist tortured him and had the boy beaten with an electrical cord. After that, they starved him and made him run on the treadmill till he passed out from exhaustion.

The next five years were hard and lonely for the two youngsters. Sephiroth never stopped thinking of Aeris. He missed sharing his secrets and his stories with her. He liked it when she told him of her dreams. Aeris had something he admired but he didn't understand what it was. He wished he could see her again, even for a brief moment. It would make him very happy.

Aeris believed there would be a day when they could finally see each other again. She wanted to talk to him and see if he was alright. She constantly wondered what he was doing at that moment. Was he thinking of her? Was he being punished? Were they hurting him again? She prayed for the day that they would see each other again would come soon.