Disclaimer: Do not own Final Fantasy VII, its concepts or characters. Nor do I earn money for writing this. This disclaimer applies for all following chapters. This is a work of fiction if any of the original characters bear any resemblance to real people, it is purely coincidental.

Editing: Currently adding dates to the story to try to facilitate the reading experience but haven't fully completed the process. I make continuous minor changes to improve the story. This may mean a slight decline in quality in later chapters.

Chapter Summaries: I will gradually be adding chapter summaries. These are intended mainly fore old readers who are familiar with the story but want to review old chapters. New readers are invited to ignore them.

Chapter 1: The Ultimate Predator

[ μ ] – εуλ 0105

A consciousness flows through the Lifestream.

The souls of the redeemed and unreconciled alike shy away from it like water from oil. It forgot long ago who it once was, that it once believed it was a man, a loyal warrior who killed for his masters and stayed his hand for his friends. Even a mother's legacy is faded and all but gone. All of it forgotten through the ordeal of its death and the corrosive power of Time within the Lifestream - a power forged to purify all tainted souls, enabling them to merge with Gaia once again.

But this soul is different.

Dark and seething, it shuns everything but itself. Only one emotion permeates its existence: hatred. Hatred so black and pure it has tainted Gaia's veins. The nature of this emotion preventing it dissolvment back into the Lifestream's collective existence. It holds a single-minded purpose to reach the planet's surface, to seek out one person: A human still alive, the anchor of its self-awareness.

This human is all that the tainted soul knows of. It is a man, once its puppet, once a warrior hailed as hero but gradually forgotten as Time sucked his youth away. He is the one who fought the taint as it surfaced, who defied its will, who brought about its death. Its entire purpose is centred around this man. Its desirer; for him to hurt, to cry, to bleed, to wail, to scream, to whimper, to choke, to suffer. Yes, suffer, like no one has suffered. Like no one else can ever suffer. To suffer by its doing, to make him hate it back. Take everything away from him. His cries of grief unleashing such pleasure, fuelling its eternal fire of hate to burn hotter and consume more. This man's name is the only name it still recalls, the only name that matters. Cradled within the consciousness, bundled up in a shroud of hatred, it is protected from the corrosive power within the Lifestream. The name, Cloud, echoes throughout its existence. Every fibre of its being revolves around this man. It cares for nothing else.

Then, one day, Cloud dies.

One hundred and three years after it was first killed by this man, Cloud dies. He drops a coin and bends down to pick it up. Rights himself too quickly causing dizziness and falls over backwards. He jars his head against a doorframe, breaking his neck and dies shortly after. Once such a fall could never have killed him, but time and old wounds have taken their toll. A stupid, careless, banal, avoidable and utterly painless and pointless death.

Stunned, for the first time in over a century the tainted soul is lost in the Lifestream. Collecting itself in a desperate attempt to keep itself together, it sweeps through the Lifestream in search of Cloud's soul. It finds nothing. After a lifetime of torment Cloud seeks only forgiveness and is quick to accept Gaia's soothing embrace.

Its Cloud is gone.

What was it all for? Its one focal point has disappeared so meaninglessly. Why did it even hate Cloud? Why was this one human so important? How had it all started? A vague sense emerges from its consciousness. Mother. What was that? But even as it comes it flows away, taken by the corrosion of Time.

Time.

How much has it taken from this soul? A relentless predator constantly snapping up any morsels it could whittle away.

What presumptuousness! Though it has long forgotten what it is, it will not be preyed upon. With renewed purpose it gathers itself and latches onto Time. With a screech and a groan, the ever-flowing Lifestream grinds to a halt. All is silent. The constant hum of the planet is gone.

Experimentally it pulls, and with an ungodly noise, like machinery forced to move against itself, time flows backwards taking the Lifestream with it.

And then the consciousness feels Cloud, alive on the planet as time slips through its grasp and flows again. Hatred seething through the planet's veins - it surges towards the man. Only to watch him fall and die once again, leaving the soul at a loss, without a purpose.

How did it all start? Where had it all begun?

Turning its attention to Time, the consciousness grips it as a new purpose forms. In the silence of a frozen planet, the tainted soul purifies itself, its hatred cleanses and transforms into a defined will. This soul will not be preyed on by the Lifestream again and Time is no longer its predator. With a wrench Time flows backwards, jerking the lifestream with it and the planet screams. Uncaring for its plight, another pull keeps Time flowing backward as the driven soul reaches for its goal.

It will go to where it all started - to find the meaning it has lost.

[ μ ] – εуλ 1979 (December)

In the dead of winter, humans count the minutes for the turn of the new year. A muffled groan slips from behind a closed door as a man in a blue suit walks along the darkened corridors of a silent mansion. Red eyes flicker to the bedroom door. He is alone with his two charges in the desolate building, the rest of his fellow employees celebrating the coming year with alcohol and the strange people of Nibelheim. All of them at the Inn in the quaint mountain town, the only place that serves such beverages. Eyes, suppressing simmering emotion, flicker away and he continues his rounds.

With another groan the man in the bedroom climaxes for the second time this night. Rolling off of the woman beneath him he idly trails his hand along her belly. As the woman winds down from the haze of lovemaking, her mind wanders to an older red eyed man. Conflicting feelings soon reawaken, her guilt only growing stronger. Her troubled mind holds nothing, however, to the man's beside her. His relentless thoughts leave him no rest even in the throws of passion. His inquisitive mind races to explain the mysteries of the Cetra, of Jenova, and the qualities they have in common. The secrets and inexplicable knowledge that mako holds... All the while these musings twist and weave alongside thoughts and feelings for the woman beside him, his colleagues and superiors and their place in the Jenova project.

It is at this moment that a sperm fertilizes an egg in the woman's belly. The miracle of life occurs and the stream of life flowing through her begins to differentiate. When its call for a new life echoes through the Lifestream a certain consciousness releases its hold of Time. It flows into the egg where it gathers and settles, pushing away all other souls and claiming this life for itself. In doing so, it creates and individual like none other. This moment is unprecedented throughout Gaia's memory. Though this new life form is merely a single cell, with no faculties for complex thought or physical power, the soul within is driven by a purpose and a will capable of commanding Time itself.

Author's notes:

Reviewing policies: I love feed back of any kind so please tell me what you think, even if it isn't on the most recently updated chapter. The course of this story may be influenced by reviews. I love critical feedback so don't hesitate to share if there is something you don't like. I also appreciate simple comments on what parts you liked or disliked even if they are not detailed. It is very interesting as an author to find out what parts you react to and how you interpret things. Comments on spelling or weird words in the wrong context are much appreciated. Since I'm Dyslexic, this sort of thing slips by me easily. Bear in mind that I use UK English which is slightly different from American English.

This is my first ever fan fiction and I am quite new to fandoms. It is also the first return to creative writing that I have done in a long time so I'll be stretching old muscles. Though I have a vague idea of what people Sephiroth will meet, where and when in this story, his reactions to them aren't as of yet entirely decided. Any thoughts and ideas you share will be taken into consideration. Since the story is not defined the genre and rating are not definite and are liable to change. Any opinions you may have on future themes genres or the rating to this story will be welcomed and seriously considered.

Last but not least. This story is heavily inspired by 'On the way to a smile: case of the Lifestream', a big thank you to for TheLifestream. net's wonderful audiobook as well as all of their resources on the Final Fantasy VII story. A big thank you to the Final Fantasy wiki as well. If anyone feels inspired by this fan fiction and wish to use the concept, well don't hold back on my account.

Next chapter: Birth of Sephiroth