Chapter One: Prayers for Nemo

I Dwell in a lonely house I know
That vanished many a summer ago,
And left no trace but the cellar walls,
And a cellar in which the daylight falls.

-Robert Frost 'Ghost House'

Emptiness.

An absolute lack of conscienceless that exemplified the belief of ignorance as bliss.

Though the delightful oblivion never lasted for long.

His senses erupted into a kaleidoscopic cascade of agony, a ruthless tidal into every fiber of his being. From toes to scalp to fingertips it was as if his body had been turned against him. He was unable to control the contortions, in fact he was only vaguely aware he was bent back and his limbs were writhing even as his nails dug into his palm from tightened fists. He'd been beaten, stabbed, burned, had limbs broken or shattered and nothing of that seemed to match the unchanged torment curling through mind and body.

Time was a concept outside of the mammoth fever boiling the blood. Years, weeks, perhaps only days had passed in the time that the torture was ripping through his tissue. It was impossible to know for certain, but it felt like lifetimes.

Given the hoarseness of his voice from the screaming, it had likely been nearly a day.

The screaming at least was something he'd grown very familiar with. It hadn't had any sense he could make out but it was definitely there, it was likely it was the only sound that could exist in this awful existence.

Regardless of any sort of why or how he'd come to be here, he'd long sense began to pray that anything would bring it to an end, by whatever means were needed.

On the rare moments when the physical pain decreased just enough for a grasp on reasonable thought he was certain that he was in some form of personal hell. Being punished for the sins he had committed in her name.

Not that it had only been her...he had never been a good person.

The legions he'd murdered long before she'd leeches her way into his psyche, all mindlessly following the orders of a man he knew to be insane. The way in which his own mastery of killing had made his shoulders straighten with pride. The same ego that had allowed him to fall so easily into the control of a creature claiming to be the mother he longed for.

...but it wasn't a completely untrue statement to claim he had indeed become her spawn, had willingly traded his soul and committed countless atrocities to become the adopted child of a monster.

Jenova.

It was bizzare the way in which a name had once filled him with hope, excitement, even edges of happiness and perhaps love. Now that name only inspired madness, anger and revulsion. It hadn't only played him, he had been a puppet that tied on his own strings and handed them over.

In the end it had betrayed him.

After Cloud defeated him the second time, cast his consciousness from Kadaj's weaker body Jenova had released her control and left him in this constant turn of torment. There were rare moments when he slept, likely the only thing that left him capable of contemplating the malicious existence he'd possessed previous to his current confinement. Even the hope of death was nearly beyond him, but a true monster didn't deserve even the comfort of nothing.

ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo

It was chilly. The late autumn was a time that had a edge to the beauty of the changing leaves, especially in Nibelheim with the village on the edge of the mountain. In a few weeks the leaves wouldn't still be on the trees at all and the snow would start to trickle down from the peaks to the lower areas as winter crept onto the land.

Tifa pulled the jacket closer around her chest and ignored the frigid breeze reddening her cheeks. She wanted to watch the stars, to be able to remember her life before everything had changed. When she was young and full of dreams, when the entire world wasn't as horribly complicated as everything had turned out.

She would leave soon for the reactor...it'd been five years sense the day her father had died but she had brought him flowers every year and she wouldn't miss it now. It was a trip she didn't really enjoy but it seemed wrong to not honor him. She brought her mother flowers every year as well, though it didn't involve her climbing to the reactor.

Things still weren't easy day to day. Most of their group that had defeated Sephiroth and the group working with Kadaj were still busy dealing with some issue or another between the Shinra company still vying for control of the world and the monsters that still seemed to roam much more freely than they had in the days when she was young.

Cloud was off helping Yuffie in Wutai because of issues that they'd specifically been having over the last year. The growing monster problem seemed much worse in their country than it was around this area. Vincent was off doing whatever it was he did, she hadn't seen him sense the last time they'd gotten together at 7th Heaven in Edge. Barret was working with a group trying to fight Shinra's control of power, eternally the Avalanche member. Cid was back in Rocket Town working on inventions to try to keep away the monsters from community's. Red thirteen last she'd heard was still living in Cosmo Canyon keeping the ideals of his grandfather alive and well.

She rarely had a chance to get out of the bar, she wasn't sure she liked it when the day ended and she had time to think. Thinking just seemed to lead her in circles...much as it was threatening to do now with the memories of Cloud and herself, the nights they spent watching the stars here.

Pushing her hair back away from her face she let out a small sigh that misted in the cool weather before fading away, that was a option that had passed her a long time ago. She had mostly let go of the idea that waiting for Cloud would ever amount to anything but the slightest edges of hope still had her spending her days wiping counters and tables.

Instead of dwelling on the argument that took up much of her brains free thoughts she hopped down from the tower and headed to get the flowers she wanted to deliver to the reactor. Movement was lovely, it kept her from being quite so distracted by the heartache still lingering in her chest. A nod to the local inn-keep as she headed away, the family was friendly to her and while they had attempted to discourage her from such a dangerous trip they'd finally given up on it and didn't say anything as she gathered the tiny offering.

Even though she'd only been inside a short moment the blast of cold upon her return outside made her regret not wearing a sweater beneath the jacket. The temperature would only drop as the night moved on. She had pants on instead of her usual skirt given the chill, though her shirt wasn't different than usual beneath the leather jacket. She did have gloves on as well as a small scarf, though it wasn't actually covering her face it was helping to keep the breeze from invading through her collar.

The path was one she was intimately familiar with, even though it had been a full year between visits she likely could have walked it blindfolded. The jutting rocks were a little frightening for some but they only inspired in her a sort of familiar sadness. Better or worse, this place would always be her home, and regardless of the variety of memories or the feelings they inspired, she couldn't just forget something that had been such a part of her life.

Getting there went surprisingly smoothly, she had to deal with a couple of small monsters native to the area but nothing compared to the way the mountains used to be. Normally she at least had to avoid either a lone monster or a group but she didn't even see any beyond the couple tiny ones that had attacked her.

She'd suffered a minor scratch when they first jumped out but her training had thankfully stayed pretty clear of rust given the slight altercations with creatures she'd faced over time, even in the last year Edge had possessed it's fair share of issues.

The almost total lack of even animals on the mountain at the time of evening was bizarre, while she probably could have slowed down to enjoy the views more it seemed foolish to abuse having such good luck; at least until after she'd had a chance to pay homage at the small memorial to her father.

It was nice to have a climb, it had been a little while sense she'd been in an area with steep paths, glad that the winter snows hadn't begun to make the trip more dangerous. Rounding the corner she paused to consider the slightly rusting reactor.

The stone that served as her father's grave was near the bottom of the steps and had lost the flowers she'd brought last year, taken likely by one of the gusts that swept the mountains at this elevation. Though that was the least of her concern, there was a light coming from the slightly ajar door of the reactor, it was suppose to have been turned off ages ago. The fact that there was any sort of power active inside made her nervous and also angry that someone was playing with things they needed to just leave alone.

She settled the flowers on the grave with a small frown creasing her brow.

"Sorry dad." She whispered glancing at the stone and back to the reactor. "I guess I don't have much of a chance to talk yet. I gotta figure out what's going on here."

Leaving the flowers at the stone she walked for the reactor, pulling her gloves tighter as she walked up the steps and glanced around from the small opening.

Not seeing anyone she opened the door and coughed at the smell coming from inside. The things they had been created had died once the power had been turned off, one of the pods had been punctured and it was a god-awful reek coming from that part of the room.

Readjusting the scarf to go over her mouth and nose she did a quick scan to make sure no one was anywhere else and headed slowly up the steps leading to the room that had once housed Jenova.

Each step was more nerve wracking than the last and as she got closer to the top her hairs seemed to stand more on end and her spine seemed to tingle. Though she knew that the body of Jenova had been moved long before she'd even been here during the trip to save the planet she couldn't help but feel nervous. Why would someone be here now?

The only answers that made sense all had bad aspirations behind them. Once she reached a point that she could see the room clearly she couldn't help the intake of breath that passed her lips.

Where there was once a tube that held Jenova she was met with the sight of Sephiroth thrashing inside a gentle blue liquid in what was obviously some sort of testing facility that had been added in recent years. Though his eyes were pressed shut, there was the expression of extreme agony on his features, his mouth was screaming beneath the half mask there for his breathing though she couldn't hear him from where she was standing. He wasn't wearing anything, but it wasn't exactly awkward as he was thrashing so much the bubbles from the movement made it impossible to make out exact pieces of anatomy that would be considered inappropriate.

His long hair was also making it difficult to see but his was a face she would never be capable of forgetting, it shocked and disgusted her to see him alive. There were wire connected to his head but they seemed capable of moving with his thrashing enough that none had detached themselves. No one else was in the room which was nice considering she would have alerted them to her presence with the gasp, but she was at a loss as to how she could possibly deal with the situation.

Her first urge was to kill him, but she couldn't quite know if it would matter, they had killed him before hadn't they? He kept coming back. Now someone else was keeping him here for some horrible purpose and she'd just happened to stumble across.

Pausing to look at the computers she frowned slightly at a list of names and numbers.

"Memory removal - 8.54% - Slow"

"Mental control access - 1.07% - Extreme Difficulty"

"Physical regeneration - 100% - Complete"

"Physical health - 55% - Incomplete - Unstable"

"Physical restraints - 100% - Full"

Other than the ones at full, the others seemed as if they were likely to steadily rise by the short descriptions after them. Whoever it was, apparently knew him well enough to do all of this. It was disconcerting to say the least, but it seemed better to not let some unknown power take control of him.

She chewed her lip and tugged out her phone. "No signal, of course."

Not that Cloud or anyone could rush to the rescue, even if she did contact someone the closest would probably be Red and he was still half a week's travel away. Risking letting whatever or whoever it was that was running this experiment returning wasn't something she was willing to do.

Part of her still wanted to kill him, to take the vengance she couldn't years ago, but the continued flailing and the tormented lines in his face made her hold that action. If she killed him now she wouldn't be any better than he was. Hatred or otherwise, there was little option other than to take her with him. If the charts were right and his health was actually unstable, taking him out of the machine might risk his life anyway, but that was a risk that was acceptable for her. Leaving him here, wasn't an option as far as she was concerned, she needed to take him and figure out what the rest of the group had to say.

After fiddling for a bit with the various screens and reading the dozens of labels she found the emergency override for the tube system holding him. She took a deep breath first and hit the button.

It was faster than she would have guessed, the water was drained in a matter of seconds and the tube lifted, dropping the still sopping wet naked Sephiroth to the ground where several of the smaller wires that had been attached to his scalp came out, some with lovely parting gifts of hair and scalp.

Tifa couldn't help but smirk just a bit when the meter for his physical regeneration dropped a percent before they all went to saying 'No Access'. She dug through things before finally finding some basic clothing, they were a bit small for the taller man but she did her best not to stare as she dressed him and then fought to get several lab coats over his body that were in a nearby locker.

She didn't have much time but he likely wouldn't survive if she had to take him out there in the weather with him still so wet with no clothing at all. As it was, she had to hope no one would show up while she was carrying him. She wouldn't be capable of carrying him while fighting.

She grit her teeth with a half-grunt as she picked him up. She managed with effort to get his head rolling over her right shoulder and his arms high enough over her back that she could carry him. His legs would still be dragging the ground but she wasn't too concerned with his comfort.

"I can't believe I'm doing this...I'm so sorry dad." She thought as she headed back down and out into the chilly evening air. The sun would be fully set soon, she at least needed to get across the bridge before she'd be without light. "I'll have to come back later. Please don't hate me for saving him...it's not for his sake..."

"Maybe it's all just a horrible dream." She thought as she moved as fast as she could without losing balance across the long bridge. Memories of falling to her doom still came to the surface of her mind whenever she walked it. "I'll wake up and need to come give flowers to dad and Sephiroth won't be there. He shouldn't be here...I don't even get how he came back last time. Jerk."

She paused at the other end of the bridge, eyeing the impossibly long fall, hard to believe she'd survived it twice now...fighting with the urge to toss him off and be done with it.

"Kill me, please." She jumped so much she nearly dropped him off without meaning too. After she heard him speaking, it was almost a whisper his voice was so hoarse, she'd dropped him off her back and jumped away as if expecting to fight him. He seemed impossibly different than the man that had come to their city, than the man that had tried to murder the planet.

He wasn't even conscious, he was muttering subconsciously about something.

"Good job of being paranoid." She chided herself as she bent down to start picking him back up. He was still muttering and his head was twitching a little but he was very much not conscious. "He's so weak, even if his body only has a couple scars on the skull, he's so much skinner than he was before. This really could just be a bizarre nightmare, it's hard to take any of this in..."

He was shivering though. The cold was already getting to him and she still had a good walk before she'd get back to the village. She didn't have time to debate if she'd wake up and give up drinking in case it was all true. It was good he seemed to have lost a lot of weight, even some of his muscles seemed less defined than before, if he had been at his full body weight though carrying him might have not been possible at all.

"I'm gonna regret not dropping him." She muttered to herself as she headed off the mountain path, it was easier going downhill than when they reached more level ground. "Of course, my luck would be that he'd be perfectly fine, most others that fall down that gorge seem to come out of it all right, and he already escaped death a handful of times." Though I wouldn't have minded the possible injury it could have inflicted.

She was doing her best to focus on just getting back to the inn and getting more help from the keeper, this late there shouldn't be any villagers awake to see her returning with him and if she was lucky she could get him tied up before he fully regained consciousness. Then she could send out word to everyone to meet at Cosmo Canyon. It was all very clean and precise for a plan, likely a dozen things would occur to mess it up.

"Oh my goodness." The man running the inn seemed as if he'd been preparing to go to bed, the lights were lower in the main room and he was dressed in nightclothes reading a book near one of the lamps. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Tifa half-lied, physically at least she was near perfect...mentally she was completely confused. "Can you help me get up upstairs?"

"Of course!" The man laid his book down and rushed to pick up the legs. The steps were far easier than she'd expected once she had an extra pair of shoulders to help with the awkwardness of the weight. "What happened up there? I thought you were going to visit your father's grave."

"I did too." Tifa answered honestly, sitting down and rubbing her right shoulder where his head had been the whole trip down the mountain. Her entire body was sore lugging that weight. "I found him up in the mountains near the old reactor."

She couldn't bring herself to tell the entire truth.

"Oh my god, that's...isn't it?" The man faded off as he stared at Sephiroth's limp form on the bed, at least he hadn't continued muttering.

"Just a resemblance I'm sure." Tifa lied again, she wasn't that bad at it after years of following Cloud around. "Could I get some blankets and hot water as well as some towels. This might be a lot to ask but you seem as if you are about the same general size, could I ask you for an extra set of clothes too, I took some things from the old reactor for him but none of them really seem to fit."

"Of course Miss. I'll try to hurry back with everything." The innkeeper immediately agreed, looking both shocked and concerned himself.

"Oh and don't say anything to anyone." Tifa added. "I know he looks sort of like...yeah...but we should wait until he wakes up to see what he says."

"Right." The man nodded again as he headed out the door and she heard him moving back down the stairs. She meanwhile looked back to Sephiroth and frowned again, muttering to herself. "What the hell am I doing?"

End Chapter

Always wanted to do a Sephiroth someone pairing and Tifa seemed like a difficult choice to pull off considering he killed her dad and burned down her village and tried to kill her and all.

-Nera

Hope I get some reviews so I know if folks like this at all or aren't really interested.