If I owned FFVII I'd be getting paid. Do try not to rip my ideas off, though, because that makes me alternately sad and very, very angry. Thanks!

An idea that's been floating around in my head for a while and turned out decent on paper. (Which seems to be an accurate description for everything that comes out of my head, actually XD) It was originally going to be a long(ish) oneshot, but I eventually just decided to put it up as I finished with it. Because I know if I stick to that original plan, it'll never get posted.

Due to its shortness I was going to revise it further, and actually sat around in bed thinking "Aw man, I know how to make that part way better"-- but naturally I forgot all this the moment I fell asleep. Bleh.

Do enjoy it anyway! Gratuitously long author's notes end here.

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Mako pools. How Sephiroth hated them.

In Midgar's wastelands, one could occasionally find a mako pool lying around, often hidden completely from sight. Unlike what its name suggested, the pools were filled with perfectly normal water, the only difference being that in a mako pool the water was saturated with mako from the Lifestream. Merely standing next to a pool would drain one's energy, and those who fell in came out with severe mako poisoning-- unable to speak, unable to remember why they were there in the first place.

In Sephiroth's opinion, this was sacrilege. He was not looking forward to the "afterlife"; souls were assimilated into the Lifestream, stripped of their individuality. That was hardly what he would call peace. One's memories were the single greatest determinant of one's identity, and Sephiroth refused to part with them. To him, mako pools were Hell on earth and he stayed well away from them. Everyone stayed well away from them. Who in their right mind wouldn't?

For a long time afterwards, Sephiroth could not clearly remember much of the one time he'd been forced to make an exception to this general rule. He, Angeal and Genesis were teenagers, that much he knew. But the other details, such as where exactly they were, why they were there, why Genesis wasn't there, and how Angeal had fallen in were lost to him. He could recall only the horror and gripping fear at the realization, and the underlying panic. Mako poisoning was the very last disease Sephiroth wanted to be caught with, and a swim in a mako pool would definitely earn him a case of it.

But Angeal had already gone under. Angeal was down there, and if Sephiroth didn't dive in and get him right now his friend's memories and possibly his life were forfeit. It should have been an easy decision to make. But what would happen to Sephiroth, he'd wondered? It was possible that he would not even be able to find Angeal in the water, swirling with mako. What would he do then? They'd both be lost, drowned or stripped of consciousness completely, and then what? Genesis, what would he do? Would he end up telling Gillian of her son's fate while he was still dealing with it himself? Sephiroth could barely stand the thought.

Something Sephiroth overheard the redhead telling a younger soldier swam into his mind.

Scared, nervous? Do it before you think.

Which was absolutely ridiculous. It was not possible to do something without thinking about it first. It was not wise to try something without thinking, either, besides that which had become second nature by way of training. And it was too late, Sephiroth was already thinking about it. Do it before you think? That wasn't something Sephiroth could do. His mind just didn't work that way.

Of course, with each precious second ticking away fast and a precious life on the line, the teenage Sephiroth decided to try. Forcing every thought away and taking a deep breath, he jumped in.

The experience must have lived up to his expectations, as his next memory was of breaking the surface with Angeal in tow. The life-absorbing water had done its work; he was exhausted, his mind was blank, and Angeal was unconscious. At least Sephiroth could feel the older soldier's breath on his neck. He splashed his way to the edge of the pool and heaved his friend onto solid ground, moving to lift his legs out of the water completely. The water level was half a foot below the ground, and somehow this task felt much more difficult than it should have. With Angeal safe, Sephiroth reached up to pull himself out.

But the strength he'd used to save Angeal was gone. His waterlogged clothes weighed him down, his arms felt like lead, and he could've sworn there was something more than just gravity sucking him down into the deadly liquid. Like a heavy weight, dragging down his consciousness. He couldn't move.

The last thing he remembered was letting go of the edge and plunging into the water, and darkness.