Serena came to fetch Sephiroth late several nights later.

"Come, Sephiroth," she called to him, holding her hand out lazilly for him to hold.

"Where are we going?" he asked, not accepting her hand. He could walk up the stairs well enough by himself, and it wasn't like she wanted to hold his hand anyway.

"Professor Hojo wants to see you," Serena answered.

Sephiroth kicked at nothing in particular. It was always Hojo, why did he bother to ask?

When Serena had gotten Sephiroth to the hallway by Hojo's office, a nervous looking scientist in a white lab coat with a pile of papers skiddered towards them and snatched Sephiroth's hand.

"Serena, what are you doing?" the scientist demanded. "You were to bring Sephiroth straight to the labs! Do you ever listen to orders?"

"I'm sorry, Dr. Stephens," Serena stammered. "But I was sure the order was to bring him-"

"Fah!" he interrupted, pushing past her. "Just get out of here before I report your incompetence!"

Serena nodded, and Dr. Stephens dragged Sephiroth down the hall and around to the back area where the lab was. He opened the door and tossed Sephiroth into a chair.

"Wait right there," Dr. Stephens ordered, pushing a lock of his blonde hair out of his face. "Don't move from that spot or touch anything! Professor Hojo will be up in a few minutes, he's running a bit late." Stephens studied Sephiroth for a few moments, then turned and left the lab.

Sephiroth was lost in thought. What did Hojo want now? Why couldn't he just leave him alone? He wondered what tricks the mad scientist had up his sleeeve for today. Ha, ha. Mad Scientist. That fit Hojo perfectly.

Suddenly Sephiroth heard a muffled sound. It sounded like... someone crying?

Sephiroth stood and carefully followed the direction the crying seemed to be coming from. It led him to a large, glass cylinder shape holding cell, where an older woman was crouched on the ground crying.

Sephiroth didn't know what to do, so he merely stared at her for long moments until she turned to look up him She stood up and peered at him through the glass.

"Hello," she said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "What's your name?"

"Sephiroth."

The woman gasped. Sephiroth? That would mean he was the one... poor Lucrecia's son. Lucrecia who had so naively allowed her body and her unborn child to be used in the sadistic cluthes of that dastardly Hojo...

Finally the woman eased her face into a smile, seeing how Sephiroth stared at her expectantly. "Hi. What are you doing here, Sephiroth?"

"Professor Hojo wants me."

The woman's face darkened. Of course Hojo wanted him. What horrible things did that man do to that poor undeserving little boy? "What does he want with a sweet little boy like you?"

"He always gives me shots and performs all these experiments that hurt," Sephiroth answered. He shrugged as if it were all part of a meaningless norm. The woman shook her head.

"My name's Ifalna," she told him.

The name sounded familiar to Sephiroth, but he couldn't remember where he heard it. "What are you doing in there, Ifalna?" he asked. "And why were you crying?"

Ifalna smiled. noticing how perceptive Sephiroth seemed to be... as if he were years older than his outward appearance could gauge. "Hojo wants to perform experiments on me too," she answered. "I'm crying because he separated me and my little baby girl."

"Baby girl?" Sephiroth repeated, as if he didn't believe her. "Where is she?"

"Over there," Ifalna pointed a few feet away to where she had seen Hojo set up the incubator with Aeris in it.

Sephiroth eyed Ifalna suspeciously before crossing over to the incubator. He'd never seen a baby before, in fact he very rarely caught glimse of any other children at all. Bracing his pale hands on the edge of the incubator, Sephiroth peered in at the tiny, beautiful little girl. She had bright, emerald green eyes and whisps of light brown hair. Sephiroth studied her for a few moments, taking in all the delicate qualities of her features. The baby smiled and let out a content gurgling sound, and giggled. She reached up as if to touch Sephiroth, and caught a strand of his hair in hand.

"Impressive" he said, and Ifalna raised an eyebrow at his choice of such a grown up word. Turning back to Ifalna, Sephiroth asked, "What's her name?"

"Aeris," Ifalna replied.

"Aeris..." Sephiroth repeated.

"Sephiroth, do you like this place?" Ifalna asked, pressing her hands against the glass of her cell.

"No," he answered. "Hojo is always hurting me with his experiments, and if I'm not with him, they lock me in my room. Whenever I do something they don't like, they beat me. I never get to play with the other children, there's nothing fun her. I don't have any toys, the food they serve is disgusting and the help around her are rough and mean. My caretaker is boring and sometimes they stick me with Tseng, or Veld, who always smells like cigarettes."

Although he spoke of childish, menial things, his voice was laced with a bitterness and resentment that should have only been evident in the voice of an angry adult. It broke Ifalna's heart.

"Would you like to leave with me?" Ifalna asked. "I could take you and Aeris and raise you as my son." Ifalna had been planning her escape since she arrived, and the thought of leaving a poor, innocent child like Sephiroth in this place was unbearable to her.

Sephiroth was overjoyed. He never knew his real parents. Someone named Jenova had been his mother, but she died giving birth to him. No one knew of his father... at least this was what Hojo told him. Maybe it was all a lie? Before Gast left, he told him he would have to tell him the truth one day...but now he would never find out.

"How are you going to get out?" he asked her.

"Raise that little bar on the side of the cell," Ifalna told him. "It will open it. Then we can get Aeris and sneak out through that back emergency exit. I know where it will take us, I snuck out of there with my husband the last time I escaped."

Sephiroth nodded and did as he was told. He helped Ifalna stand, because she was incredibly weak.

He led her over to the incubator and carefully pulled Aeris out. Ifalna immediately grabbed the child and cradled her.

Footsteps.

"Come, Sephiroth," she said. "They're coming. We don't have much time."

They raced toward the back door of the lab. Sephiroth was still in the doorway helping Ifalna ease down onto the fire escape. "Come on," she said to him. "They'll catch us if we don't-" "Sephiroth!"

Sephiroth turned around to see Dr. Stephens by the doorway. Two guards with rifles raced up behind him.

"Go," Sephiroth told Ifalna. "Hurry, Hojo's coming, he'll catch you."

"Aren't you going to come?" Ifalna said softly. She held her hand out to him

"It's too late," Sephiroth answered her. "Please, take Aeris and get safe."

"Sephiroth!" Stephens called again. "What are you doing by the door? Get away from there!"

Sephiroth turned to Stephens, then back at Ifalna. "Bye," he said to her. "Bye Aeris."

"I'm so sorry, Sephiroth," Ifalna said as she descended the fire escape. Tears were coming out of her eyes. She didn't want to leave this poor child with Hojo, but she had to do what was best for Aeris.

"It's okay," Sephiroth whispered. "Just hurry."

"Sephiroth!" Stephens hollared again. This time he stormed towards him.

Sephiroth waved a final goodbye to Ifalna, even though she was far enough down the fire escape in the darkness that she couldn't see him. He quickly closed the door just as Stephens clasped his hand on his shoulder.

"What were you doing?" Stephens asked. "You are not to touch that door. What did you think you were doing?"

"I..." Sephiroth stuttered.

Stephens suddenly glanced around the room and suddenly noticed that both C-1 and C-2s' holding cells were empty. After the shock settled in, he turned to Sephiroth and glared daggars at the poor boy.

"This was all your doing, wasn't it?" he accused. "You let them out, didn't you?"

"N-no..."

Dr. Stephens slapped Sephiroth hard across the face. "Don't say a word!" He yelled. "Not one word!" He turned to the guards. "Escort Sephiroth to his room immediately and lock him there without food or drink until I can speak to Professor Hojo about this." He turned back to Sephiroth. "HE will decide what is to become of you."

The guards nodded and grabbed Sephiroth by his shoulders back to his room. Dr. Stephens raced to the nearest phone to report to Hojo.

****** "WHAT?" "Yes, sir," Stephen breathed. "They are both gone."

"Both of the Cetra are gone?!?" Hojo was screaming. "How did this happen?? How did they get out?"

"I beileve it has something to do with Code 1."

"Sephiroth?!?" Hojo hollered. "What does Sephiroth have to do with this?"

"I beileve he freed them, Professor."

"You left Sephiroth alone in there? What were you thinking?" "I didn't think he was clever enough to talk to c-1, let alone try releasing her. I beileve he was trying to escape with them."

"Incompetence!" Hojo screamed. He banged the phone's receiver on the table top several times in a blind fit of rage before finally calming and placing it back to his ear.

"Professor?"

"Ha, ha, ha," Hojo laughed. "Ifalna will not survive a day outside of this lab after the treatments she's been given. And who knows what will become of Aeris? Ha, ha, ha."

"Professor?"

"If I cannot have them, no one shall. They will die."

"Okay..."

"Ha, ha... have Sephiroth sent to my office immediately."

"Yes, sir."

******

"Sephiroth?" Serena poked her head into Sephiroth's room. "Professor Hojo wants to see you right away." Here it comes, Sephiroth thought. Who knows what Hojo's going to do to you this time.

This time, Sephiroth did take her hand as she walked him up to Hojo's office. When it came time for him enter, he almost didn't let go.

"Don't worry," she said as reassuringly as she could. "He isn't going to hurt you."

If you only knew, Sephiroth though as he entered the office.

Three guards were standing against the left wall, rifles trained on him in hand. Hojo was sitting behind his desk, his elbows on the surface with his hands crossed and his chin resting atop them. Behind his glasses he wore an almost sadistic sneer that was barely covering the anger he felt. Sephiroth sat in the chair in front of Hojo's desk and looked straight at the floor.

"Well, well, well, If it isn't Moses himself," Hojo mused. "Driving his people out of slavery, hmm?"

Sephiroth knew that whenever Hojo was bitterly sarcastic like that, it meant that he was extremely angry and a terrible punishment would follow. Sephiroth continued to stare at the rug. Such pretty designs...

"Sephiroth," Hojo began as calmly as he could. "You let two of my most important experiments out the door today. Why? Why have you done this?"

"Ifalna was hurting," Sephiroth answered. "And she was crying for her baby..."

Hojo stood and slammed both palms on the desk, startling Sephiroth and the guards alike. "What's wrong with you? You have ruined what could have been my greatest accomplishment ever! You have ruined all my hard work, everything! Because of you, I have been set back years in research! Did you know those two were of special blood, Sephiroth? They were Ancients!"

"No, sir, I'm sor-"

Hojo leaned foward and slapped Sephiroth so hard he fell out of his chair onto the floor. Hojo raced around the desk and stood over Sephiroth, grabbing him by his silver pony tail and shaking him.

"You may have very well ruined my career!" Hojo snarled. "And you will pay!" Hojo slapped Sephiroth once again, leaving him still unable to stand. Hojo backed away from where Sephiroth lay on the ground, then turned to the three guards.

"You know what to do."

Serena couldn't believe what she heard from outside the door. She wasn't supposed to be standing there, even Hojo had sent his secretary, Marika, away while he spoke to Sephiroth. But she sat there in the small waiting room outside his office, afraid to leave. She was afraid something like this would happen, but she didn't dare go inside and try to stop him. All she heard after Hojo's crazed shouts was crashing sounds, stomping, banging, the screaming of a scared little boy and the sadistic laughter of an evil man looming in the background.

Serena shook her head as she left the waiting area and went into the hallway. Sephiroth wasn't the sweetest child she'd ever met, and she did admit that he at times frightened her... but surely he didn't deserve to be punished like this. No child did. Disgusted, she decided she would have to leave... but not before letting the President hear about this.

****** Hojo's phone rang the next afternoon.

"Yes?" he answered.

"Professor," his secretary Marika came on. "The President is on line one. He says its urgent."

"Very well," Hojo sighed. He was not pleased. He had lost two Cetra, the last on the Planet as far as he knew, and now the President was going to bother him.

"Professor?" President Shin-Ra's voice came.

"Yes, sir?" Hojo said contemptuously.

"Hojo, I received a report about three guards beating Sephiroth to a pulp last night under YOUR command. Is this true? Where do you get treating what may be this company's most valuable asset like that!"

"I assure you sir, It was all a misunderstanding. You see, Sephiroth let the two Cetra's I was holding escape. I punished him, of course, but not in the way you're-"

"Listen to me, Hojo," the President barked. "I don't care if let the whole county jail escape! He's just a kid, for crying out loud. And an important one at that. I provide those guards for your protection. If you abuse your power over them, you won't have them at all!"

"I'm sorry, sir. I was only discipling the child."

"That is not discipline, Hojo! I saw Sephiroth this morning. His face was bruised like he had been beaten with the butt end of a rifle! He mouth was blown up like a balloon!"

"I'm sorry, sir. The guards must have gotten out of hand. I will reprimand them accordingly. And I can assure you, this won't happen again."

"It had better not," the President warned. "Or else you may be very sorry when Sephiroth grows older and comes after you!"

Hojo tried to fake a laugh. "Anything else, sir?"

"That will be all, Professor."

Hojo slammed the receiver down. So what if the President knew? He would never do anything, Professor Hojo is the best scientist he's got. Hojo leaned back in his chair. It was definantly Sephiroth's caretaker, Serena that opened her mouth. Hojo knew she had been standing behind that door the entire time listening.

Well, she would just have to be dealt with.

• Chapter 3