“Are you okay?” Sephiroth inquires, hearing the unusual, soft quality of his voice when he addresses you. It’s not like him to be so subdued by strangers, but since he arrived in Wutai and accidentally met you, there wasn’t much he could do to prevent you from pervading his thoughts. All he knew was that you were a local, you were his age, and he wanted to see you again.

Today, he’d saved you from a freak coeurl attack, and it was like fate had orchestrated another meeting. His heart feels strangely light, fluttery almost, as he stretches his hand to you. “Are you injured anywh—” Sephiroth recoils as you slap his hand away, giving him a look of pure, seething hatred.

Silence falls in the clearing.

Sephiroth knows, after all, that Shinra had perpetrated countless crimes against Wutai, and he knows, of course, that him being there was a way to pressure the small country. It just didn’t fully register that he was an enemy until now. Until you. Sephiroth swallows and withdraws his hand, holding his tongue from uttering an apology he doesn’t believe in. His heart clenches, and he doesn’t quite understand why either.