Chapter Text
A Tale Of Two Sephies
by Sephiroth
-PROLOGUE-
Hojo frowned at the sickly child. Small, weak and frail, it barely moved and uttered not a cry.
"Destroy it." he ordered. "It will take too much effort and money to nurse it to health. We will make a clone of the child. See to it the mother is punished for putting us through this unneccessary bother." he added, darkly. "My experiments were perfect, so this is obviously her fault."
"Yes, doctor." was the reply from his most loyal assistant.
The others shuddered, fearing that the baby might be put to death and the mother forced to watch.
One of these was a woman who had befriended the young mother. And she decided she would rather die than see such a thing occur.
Scooping up the infant, she fled from the lab.
The others began to give chase, but Hojo stopped them.
"It isn't worth the effort." he smiled. "The child will die soon enough. Let us deal with matters at hand for now. The mother is yours to do with as you please. Enjoy her while she lasts."
Weak as she was, Lucrecia was not helpless. The injections Hojo had been giving her unborn child had also affected her, too. As they circled and drew near, starting to undress even as they advanced toward her, she unleashed a ring of fire around herself, striking every man dead.
"A by-product of your pregnancy, my dear." Hojo smiled. "But it will not last forever. However, I will let you go. You've served your purpose, though you failed. Perhaps you will..."
Lucrecia turned and walked out the door.
Hojo set to work on creating the clone of the baby Lucrecia had delivered. This time it would be perfect. He would weed the imperfections out and all would go as planned.
***
The young woman ran as fast as she could, finally stopping when she reached a small town.
"What a precious little baby." A woman told her.
She looked up, apprehensive at first, then saw the woman's kindly eyes and smiled in relief, though worry still was in her expression.
"He's dying." she sighed. "I took him away from that horrible lab he was born in. I know I can't save him. But I didn't want him to die in a place as awful as that."
"Perhaps he doesn't have to die." the local woman said. "What is wrong with him? It looks like Mako poisoning, but surely..."
"It is." the first woman replied. "That bastard scientist has been injecting him with ... oh I'm sorry. I shouldn't use words like that."
"Its all right." the local woman replied. "I think bastard is a perfect word for someone who wuld do that to a baby. But come you're lucky. I'm a nurse here and I specialize in cases of Mako poisoning. I think I can help little..."
"Sephiroth." the first woman replied.
***
At the lab, Hojo smiled at the little healthy clone. "There you go, little Sephiroth." he grinned. That had been the named everyone had agreed upon, including Lucrecia, and since he was sure the other baby was dead, or soon would be, there was no reason not to give that name to this 'corrected' version.