Disclaimer: I don't own Sephiroth or Vincent. I own the plot. Though the idea was given to my by KuroSakura-Chan. This is my birthday present to her!

The Realm of Hypnos

By: Avina Garamond

Sephiroth sat on the stool on stage, his audience cheering wildly.

"Alright. I have a question for all of you," Sephiroth said quietly. An audience of over a thousand stilled.

"Who came here, not believing I could hypnotize?" he asked. A slew of hands came up.

"Who is still not convinced I can hypnotize?" Sephiroth asked. Many hands went down.

"Who of you are so courageous as to come up here, and be hypnotized themselves?" Sephiroth asked. Many more hands went down. Sephiroth chuckled darkly to himself.

"I will hypnotize you and make you do whatever the audience wants you to do." A few more hands went down, but the last ones were stubborn.

"You," Sephiroth picked randomly. A tall, thin man stood up. He had long black hair and ruby red eyes.

"What's your name?" Sephiroth asked.

"Vincent Valentine," the man replied, a frown on his face.

"Why don't you believe that I can hypnotize?" Sephiroth asked. Vincent scoffed.

"Hypnosis is not possible. And the people you hypnotized are paid - they could perfectly well be paid to act."

"Then why don't you come up here, Vincent?" Sephiroth offered. Vincent moved through the rows and walked up towards the stage.

"The stairs are over there," Sephiroth said. Vincent found them and walked out on stage.

"Sit down, please." Sephiroth motioned to the empty chair, where Vincent sat, head high and tensed. Sephiroth gave him a piece of paper and pen.

"Sign please. Its so you wouldn't sue me if I do something that's you don't approve of." Vincent shrugged and signed it. Sephiroth lifted his pendulum. The small disk was made of black stone and was held in the loop of a thin cord. Sephiroth set the momentum of the stone.

"Alright, look at the stone, and only at the stone. Follow its movements only." Vincent looked at it. It was constantly, slowly, spinning in the loop. The stone was not without imperfections, and Vincent watched the imperfections go from the right of the cord, to the bottom of the disk, to the left of the cord, to the right... to the bottom... to the left...

"When it stops moving, you will hypnotized. You will obey my words. You will not be able to control your limbs, but you will be able to realize what you are doing, and you will remember everything." The pendulum slowed.

It stopped.

"Rise," Sephiroth said. Vincent rose. The expression on his face was obviously not convinced. He would have risen anyway after all.

"Face the audience," Sephiroth said. Vincent faced them. Sephiroth looked mischievously at the audience.

"What would you like him to do?" he asked. The audience all screamed commands.

"I think I heard 'dance,' is that right?" Sephiroth asked. Half of the audience laughed, the other half started screaming "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Sephiroth wasn't surprised that most of them were female. Vincent was actually a very attractive man.

"Alright. Dance, Vincent." Vincent wanted to sneer and say something sarcastic like "Go fuck yourselves," but... nothing came out. Instead, his limbs started moving on their own accord. He was... dancing? No! That couldn't be right. Vincent in vain tried to tell his legs and arms to stop.

"Sexier!" the female audience cheered. Sephiroth gave them a smirk.

"Dance sexier, Vincent," he said softly. Vincent's mind was horrified. Sexier?! But his body started contorting into seductive poses as he danced.

"Strip!" the female audience went wild.

"Take your shirt off Vincent..." Sephiroth said. Vincent wanted to scream as his arms started lifting his shirt up. Please no more!

"Alright, I think the women had enough fun tonight. Men?" Sephiroth asked. The men whooped.

"Show us your size!" they yelled. Vincent blushed. Men. Always wanted to embarrass their own. Sephiroth relayed the order and Vincent felt his hands on his pants and he pulled them down and then his boxers followed. Of course, having it lay limp was not a good way to measure size... Vincent paled and blushed alternatively as the blood obeyed Sephiroth's command and went down. The men laughed, but mostly at his flushing face. They could appreciate the size. The women looked utterly gleeful.

"Alright, that's enough," Sephiroth told the audience. "Put your clothes back on, Vincent." Vincent was relieved when he was allowed the small modesty of clothing. He pulled them on, though not as quickly as he wanted to.

"Face me, Vincent," Sephiroth said. Vincent faced him. Sephiroth raised his pendulum and swung it from side to side. Vincent, instantly mesmerized again looked at it intently.

"Wake up, Vincent," Sephiroth said softly. Vincent suddenly got the feeling back in his limbs. He stood there, trembling. He was ashamed, humiliated, angry, and almost in tears. His mind couldn't take it.

He fainted. A few stage hands picked him up and carried him offstage.

"Thanks for coming! Hope you enjoyed the show!" Sephiroth called into the audience. He waved and left the stage. The audience started dispersing themselves.

Sephiroth went to his room and looked at himself in the mirror. Well... the show was certainly interesting, and now he had a little problem of his own to take care of... He looked at Vincent's unconscious form and smirked, twirling the pendulum with eager fingers...

End...

Happy Birthday, Kuro.

Best wishes and plenty of joy and good health and good fortune to you for many years to come. X3

Avina Garamond