Sephiroth paced back and forth alone in the holding room. He stood a good 6 feet and 2 inches in height. His silver locks had grown out past his shoulders and down to the small of his back. His green eyes now shimmed brightly with life, thanks to the Mako injections.

A couple of years ago, someone hung a picture on the wall. It was a symbolic oil painting of a war fought sometime in the world’s history. No one knew much about the world back in those days since Shinra had taken control of all of the publishing companies. The young man had seen the picture many times before but he stared at it as if it were new. Why they left it there for him to see, he’d never understand.

The door opened and he around to face his new, tranquilizer-equipped, caretakers. But this time they did not enter. A girl was shoved into the room and the door slammed shut behind her. She growled and kicked the door hard.

"Jerk!"

Sephiroth stood frozen in place. He looked the girl over carefully. Could it be? That angelic face, that wavy brown hair, those emerald green eyes....

He didn’t realize that he was holding his breath. " Aeris?"

The girl turned around and looked up at the sound of her name.

Her jaw dropped a few centimeters. Without another word, they floated into each others arms and embraced. Sephiroth felt a part of him returning and filling the empty black hole in his soul. He never felt happier.

"I've missed you so much," he whispered.

"So have I," Aeris said back softly.

"What happened that day after we were caught? Did they hurt you?"

Sephiroth sighed. “Nothing out of the usual."

Aeris turned pale. "I'm sorry."

Sephiroth only smiled. "Aw, you don't have to worry about me. It didn't hurt."

"Yeah, right." Aeris rolled her eyes.

"They didn't do anything to you, did they?" Sephiroth asked.

"No. Just starved me for a few days, that’s all," she shrugged then smiled at him. "So what you been up lately? Anything new?"

"Not really. I have a new caretaker, a nice one for a change. Her name is Sara. Sometimes she sneaks food into my room when Hojo's starves me," Sephiroth explained.

"Really?! Mine too!"

Sephiroth and Aeris caught up on the past six years of their lives. There was so much to tell, they feared that they would have to part before they could finish. Aeris’ dreams had been getting stranger over time. In it were two people fighting to the death, then suddenly a baby would appear and then she’d wake up. Neither one of them could make sense of it and shrugged it off. While Aeris was explaining another event in her life, she noticed that he kept staring at her in a peculiar manner.

She paused. "What?"

"Huh?” Sephiroth shook his head as if he had come out of a trance. “Nothing, I was just-- never mind. Continue."

Aeris arched an eyebrow. "You've grown into a strange person, Sephiroth."

"You have grown yourself. I've noticed."

Aeris smiled and rolled her eyes. The keypad outside beeped as the code was punched in. Aeris and Sephiroth looked up. Hojo opened the door and beckoned the young man out.

"Come on, Sephiroth," he said.

Sephiroth hugged Aeris again. "Bye."

"See ya later, Sephy," she told him.

Sephiroth smiled and walked out of the room past Hojo who was now mumbling to himself.

".....Cetra.......good idea....." was all Sephiroth could make out.

Hojo wiped Sephiroth's arm with a gauze. "I've decided that you can see the Cetra again."

Sephiroth's eyes widened. "Really?!....I mean, um, okay."

Hojo gave Sephiroth his injections and sat at his desk. Sephiroth just shivered a couple of times but did nothing more.

"Do you like the Cetra?" Hojo asked him.

He wished he would stop calling her that. "She's my friend. My only friend."

"So you want to be with her all the time then?”

Sephiroth nodded. “Can I?”

“No.” The scientist stood. “Same schedule as before.”

Hojo hooked the young man up to the treadmill and left the room. He wouldn’t have to worry about coming back for another few hours. Sephiroth’s stamina had grown to record heights. He was far stronger than any other teenager his age. He could really cause a lot trouble nowadays if he tried to break loose. Fortunately for the scientist, Sephiroth didn’t know his own strength and he had been somewhat afraid of Hojo since he was a small child.

He went to his office and stopped briefly at his secretary’s desk. “Patricia, call Terry up here."

"Yes Professor," Patricia picked up the phone.

Hojo went to his desk and sat down. The Ancient was old enough to mate. He sat back and thought of all the possibilities. Sephiroth was indeed attracted to Aeris. If not yet, then very soon. The boy wasn’t slow but it’d probably take some time considering he didn’t get to associate with others that much. Maybe if there were a little competition, Sephiroth would have to struggle to keep the Cetra’s attention. The pressure put on him could end up with miraculous results.

The door opened and Terry stepped inside. She walked up to Hojo’s desk and waited.

"Sephiroth will be joining the Cetra in her room everyday except for weekends at 3:00 p.m. sharp. You are to leave them alone always until six in the afternoon. Understand?" he said.

"Yes sir," she nodded.

He gestured her to leave. She turned around.

"Oh, and Terry," Hojo said.

Terry looked back.

"Stop sneaking food into the Cetra's room. And be sure to tell Sara that too."

Terry paused, nodded, and left.

Hojo turned to his computer. He pulled up a list of names on the screen. If it were up to him, he’d just simply artificially inseminate the Cetra and be done with it, but President Shinra had been keeping tabs on his work and would disagree with such a thing. He had no choice but to let the process of procreation happen naturally....But that didn’t mean he couldn’t set the mood a little bit.

Camp Site A
Mako/Jenova
Class B
Marshall Banks
Damien Carlson
Frederick Cane
Zack Ferrin*
Daniel Johnson
Frank Merrill
Mark Rice

Mako/Jenova
Class C
Jack Douglas
Cody Edwards
Gerald Johnson
Oscar Peterson
Michael Selman
Cloud Strife
Matt Vassilakos*

Hojo pulled up a status report for each person. They all seemed to be in perfect condition and old enough to be interested in the Cetra. It was hard to make a decision.

Zachary Ferrin = Superior
Progressing better than others

Cloud Strife = Poor
Injections failing to increase strength, stamina, and speed.

Hojo arched an eyebrow. A failure in the group. Allison’s son turned out to be useless after all. Another idea shot in the scientists brain. Why not let the Cetra pick her own mate. That would make the whole ordeal much better than it already was. Hojo left his office to go start the paperwork.

Sephiroth followed Hojo to a place he hadn't been before. The walls were a blinding white and there were marked doors on each side. The carpet was plush and nice. They stopped at a room with a small sign that said “Specimen B : Code A, Cetra/Aerith Gainsborough Rm. 34.”

Hojo knocked on the door. Terry opened it and stood to the side to allow Sephiroth in. She nodded silently, walked out, and shut the door behind her.

Aeris walked over to her friend and hugged him. He hugged back.

Sephiroth looked around. "This is a nice room. It's nothing like mine."

Aeris smiled and led him to her bed where they sat down.

"What's up?" Aeris asked.

"Nothing much. Hojo told me that I'll be leaving for training to be in SOLDIER soon," Sephiroth reported.

Aeris looked a little sad. "Won't you be there a long time? I heard it takes years to get through the training."

"Yeah, I asked if you could come visit me sometime. Hojo said he would think about it."

"Oh, well look on the bright side. You would be a great swordsman and you could protect me whenever I'm in trouble."

"True but I don't think I could handle not being able to see you for such a long time."

"You survived this long. Be strong, you can handle it."

Sephiroth smiled in agreement.

Three weeks later, Aeris had bad news. She didn’t want to upset Sephiroth and held off on telling him till it was nearly time to part again.

"I'm going to have to leave tomorrow," Aeris said.

"Why?"

"Because Hojo is sending me to camp for two weeks."

"Do you know why you're going?"

"Not really. I know that I'm going to come back with two other kids, like us. I just have choose which ones to take."

"Do you know where this camp is?"

"Yeah, it's on the other side of the mountain in a forest from what Terry told me."

"I wonder if I could visit."

"No. I already asked that and Hojo said that you could survive for a while without me."

Sephiroth looked a little down.

"It's alright. I'll be back before you know it."

"I guess."

"I have something for you," Aeris got up and went to her dresser.

She moved a few things around before she came back with something in her hand. She handed it to him.

"I asked Terry if she could get this for me to give to you. Hope you like it."

Sephiroth took the object and examined it. It was a gold peace sign on a black string. Sephiroth put it around his neck.

"Thanks. I love it," he said.

He took off a ring on his finger that Sara had given him and handed it to Aeris. "Here."

He slipped it on her finger. "To remember me by."

"Thanks," she said and hugged him.

There was a knock at the door.

"Aeris. Your two hours are up," came Terry's voice.

"Okay, come in," Aeris called back to her.

Terry opened the door and peeked in. "Come on Sephiroth. I'll take you back to your room."

Sephiroth gave Aeris a hug. "See you around, Aeris."

"Bye Sephy."

Sephiroth left the room with Terry. She returned with a couple of suit cases and put them on Aeris’ bed.

"Better start packing now. You'll be leaving first thing tomorrow."

Aeris looked up at Terry sharply. "I thought I would be able to see Sephiroth before I left."

"I'm sorry sweety, but Hojo’s orders are that you depart for the campsite at seven tomorrow morning."

"Ah man."

Aeris did as she was told and packed her bags. She went through the rest of the day thinking about how she was going to miss Sephiroth and what the other people at camp would be like.