"Before I was born, my mother Lucrecia was subjected to many procedures and hardships as part of a 'great experiment'. She was injected with toxic makou and alien Jenova cells. She was forced to endure what innocent animals did during darker times in science. She was chained down during the procedures, lest she act violently as a result of the injections. In the true spirit of science, the man who committed these transgressions against her was none other than her husband, one Professor Hojo. Every time she cried out for him to stop, he would only record in his notes, 'Woman expresses pain-behaviors. Take appropriate precautions.' This woman would die giving birth to me, and Hojo would record her death with a single, brief sentence in the experiment notes: 'Woman dies, specimen is born, healthy.' To Hojo, I was both his greatest scientific project and his only son; I was the most valuable thing in the world to him, professionally and personally. Thus, he was trapped between two roles, something he found great difficulty in reconciling.

"I was born in these very rooms," Sephiroth gestured around him to the Shinra basement, "and I was kept in this mansion for approximately five years; I don't remember exactly how long – what few records left behind are incredibly messy."

Dr. Van Braun could not help but look around, and then shiver at the thought of being stuck in these rooms. It wasn't anything in particular other than that they were so plain, even with the books. Without books, the rooms would be fairly ordinary. With laboratory equipment, the rooms could have been something out of a horror science-fiction movie or something like that. He could barely imagine it. They were small rooms. It must have been very tight and cramped.

"Yes, they were really that bad, Dr. Van Braun. Why not put your thoughts in the story as well? It was assist in the telling of my narrative." The stunned Dr. Van Braun only nodded.

"And there was Professor Gast, the true mastermind behind the Jenova project. He conceived its beginnings while Hojo took it to its extremes. Professor Gast was a relief and escape from my terrible childhood, in spite of his true feelings for me. He disappeared from my life when I was about six years old. I will elaborate on the usual sequence of events and my despicable circumstances so you better understand." The tall man began to pace as he spoke, gesturing from time to time.

"One day, Hojo was performing one of his routine procedures on my naked body, pinned down by unyielding leather straps. He always began by using a tranquilizer to immobilize me, and then injected cells from the alien creature, Jenova. In spite of the excruciating pain he knew I went through every time, he never used anaesthetics; every time, he would write, 'Specimen shows signs of pain.' Then, after maybe five minutes, he would inject makou into my bloodstream. And although he regarded me as his son, he would hold a scientist's professionalism, an air of sterile apathy, whenever I shivered and cried. Each moment was agonizing, and the throbbing pain would spread all through me in pulses that felt like they went on forever. Some parts of my body would suddenly feel foreign to me, and then the sensation of burning makou would overlap it, and then those parts would become numb. My vision would fade and I would lose all perception of my surroundings for long periods of time. And whenever I woke, I would feel as though my heart exploded, sending blood rushing all throughout my body, as if my blood had been stagnate during the whole of my unconsciousness."

"Because of these procedures, I would flinch every time I saw any liquid other than water, a sharp object, something green, or anything that might be involved in part of Hojo's projects. I would tense at the approach of people, and lived under the continual dread of the possibility that I might never wake up after one of Hojo's routine procedures."

"During this period of my life, I did not speak. I understood what people around me were saying, why they were speaking, but I couldn't grasp why I should participate. Neither Professor Gast nor Hojo wanted me to talk anyway, from first appearances. Hojo blindly in spite of all evidence suggesting otherwise that I was a genius, discounting my refusal to speak entirely. Professor Gast, however, simply didn't care.

"Whenever I woke up from the injections of Jenova cells and makou therapy, Hojo would be sitting next to me with a pad of paper, sometimes scribbling furiously and other times watching me, calm and concerned – but ultimately from a distance. He would murmur to himself, 'I'll take good care of you. One day you will thank me for this. Do you understand? You'll be better than everyone else. You'll be what I wanted to be. You'll be what everyone wants to be, do you understand?'

"Upon finishing recording what steps had been taken in the procedure, my responses to the injections, and so on, he would cross the room and run his fingers nimbly over a keypad just beside the door and the straps would swiftly pull away from me with an unexpected gentleness. Hojo always made his exit barely a moment after that. After he left through the doorway, a large, powerful adamantium-reinforced door would fall between us. While I knew that he believed the pain he was causing me then would later be outweighed by some good delivered on me at a later date, I never understood how he reconciled the suffering he witnessed me endure. Perhaps his skills as a scientist, the ability to detach himself from the world and truly investigate, to act as the most sophisticated sort of tool for the Shinra government, was unparalleled – but this is mere speculation, I will never know.

"Now, given my current reputation, one might suspect that the door was intended to protect Hojo from me, its true purpose was to keep me in the laboratory and not expose me to the outside world for fear that I might become contaminated. With the door closed, I simply sat, waited, would never cry, for I had learned long ago that no one would come.

"Much later, after maybe an hour had passed, Dr. Gast would come into the room, making sure the door was closed and locked behind him. He would hold me, trying to weigh me. At first, I was incredibly afraid of him, so I would try to scurry away as fast as I could, but when he finally held me, I would go limp and submit after much initial despair. At first, during these meetings, I would tense up, and then slowly relax, like a threatened animal in a death grip, waiting for the ideal moment to strike out and either kill or flee.

"Over time, I slowly began to enjoy his company a little, but I still remained reserved and wary. Note, however, he was still a Shinra scientist – he was given the duty to inject me with makou and Jenova cells from time to time, but he did so carefully – he approached me as a 'fellow human' instead of specimen. Afterwards, he comforted me as best as he could, although he was as cautious as I. Perhaps he believed that social contact was essential for even demihuman development, I don't know." Sephiroth smirked. "He cared about me – or at least, he tried to." Sephiroth paused, and then continued.

"Later on, when I gained access to Shinra records, I learned that before becoming a scientist, he was a renowned medical doctor. Also, I found a small note that remarked about his wonderful beside manner, as they call it. In short, he was very charismatic and could put anyone to ease. However, he could just as easily have advocated someone's death or suffering it was resulted in the betterment of either himself or Shinra. Perhaps that is how he rose through the ranks in the Shinra science department so quickly – he could put up a better façade than most politicians.

"In the end, he was afraid of me. My best guess is he treated me as kindly as he did because he hoped that I wouldn't turn on him like an angry hound. After all, my experience was similar to an animal being repeatedly beaten and then let loose in a small area; trauma can cause many kinds of wild and unpredictable effects. However, regardless of his motives, if he were alive now, I would visit death onto him; like Hojo, he was responsible for my existence, and creatures such as I should not exist.

"Now that I have completed speaking about Professor Hojo and Professor Gast, I ought to cover a few more details. Very early on, Hojo recognized that even though I was extremely young, I was incredibly strong and dangerous. Thus, he implanted a device in the base of my neck that sent electrical shocks through my body, just in case. Hojo always kept a remote-control ready-at-hand that he could use to activate the device in dire circumstances.

"The formative years of my childhood were heavily isolated, as you can easily see. My interpersonal contact was limited to Gast, Hojo, and on the rare occasion, a small few lab technicians who were only present to fix broken equipment, and only while under the supervision of Hojo. Out that limited selection of people, Hojo was the only one that ever truly understood what I was. But then, Gast would accuse Hojo of being unethical in his scientific approach, ignoring the most basic of my human-needs, human interaction. However, as I have said before, I am not human.

"Hojo was careful and protective of me, perhaps too protective – he did not want anyone to see me besides him, even Gast. Hojo wanted me all to himself. According to him, I was his project, not to be tainted by Dr. Gast's greed – I was his success, not Gast's. I was Hojo's life, and I was all he ever had.

"I listened to people talk. It was a game of sounds to me. Because of the Jenova cells, it is possible for me to learn a language in less than two weeks, even if I am exposed to it for only a brief period of time each day. What's most interesting about this is that I can acquire the correct grammar of a target language and a wealthy vocabulary without being exposed to anymore than the basics of the target language.

"One day, when Dr. Gast was asking me questions without expecting any response as he usually did. He asked me in frustration, 'Why don't you ever even try to talk?'

"I replied, 'I only talk when I want to.' He stared at me for some moments in amazement, and hastily began jotting down notes on his pad of paper.

"My speaking must have renewed Professor Gast's interest in the project because he immediately increased the amount of time he spent with me: he stayed in the basement for hours, asking me questions, performing tests to determine the level of my visual and auditory senses, and before long, he ran tests to investigate into the potential for all my senses. Yet, I never left this basement, the only place I knew.

"Hojo was furious that Gast was communicating with me, for running independent studies, and, more importantly, trying to steal his project. 'He's a human being,' Gast would say angrily, 'how can you treat him like this? You must interact with him; language is essential to human cognitive development – surely you know that! I know you do, you have to demonstrate your understanding of higher psychological principles prior to being allowed to conduct any human experiments!'

"Hojo, I pictured, would scowl and furrow his brow until his face was nothing but wrinkles from stress, worry, and discontentment. 'Is he really that human? Stay awa from my project, Gast, or I'll make you into another Valentine...' Gast never knew I overheard these things with my preternatural hearing, nor did Hojo. But, both had..."

Dr. Van Braun seemed dazed, almost asleep, but not quite snoring beneath the sound of Sephiroth's story, but somehow, the silver-haired ex-general managed to notice, even though the doctor was certain Sephiroth was speaking with his eyes closed this whole time. He grabbed Dr. Van Braun by the shoulders, picked him up effortlessly, and shoved him against nearby bookshelf. It happened unbelievably fast. "Holy shit!" Dr. Van Braun was jarred awake.

"I'm sorry my life's story has such a soporific effect." Sephiroth grinned with just a hint of annoyance. He let Dr. Van Braun go, whom fell to the ground, and hit his head against a shelf and let out some sort of a yelp of pain. He rubbed the back of his head.

"No, never!" Dr. Van Braun insisted, "it's just that..."

Sephiroth interrupted and said, "I know, you've had a long journey here, and it's late, so you're tired..."

"How did you..." Dr. Van Braun was interrupted once more, and was again curious about Sephiroth's mysterious talents.

"It's another one of my secrets. If you stay awake and listen, maybe you could learn a bit about it," he said in a slightly irritated voice. He switched tones entirely, putting himself into what he said. "Perhaps I should tell you about the three days that changed my life: in three days, my life was wholly transformed, and they remain forever distinct to me. Up until those days, if you cannot tell already, things tend to blur together into a messy haze of pain and instinct.

"Hojo and Gast were there as well as a highly attractive woman." Sephiroth leaned his head backwards and seemed to recall her image in his mind. "She had soft green eyes that burned their way into your spirit. A small nose, fair skin, and a small, sweet mouth that was fretted with worry but nonetheless smiled often. She was well-formed, with long chestnut brown strands of hair that fell low, past the small of her back. Her hair was never tied nor braided, yet it always seemed to fall neatly into place. She was a mysterious woman. Her name was Ilfana." He paused for a brief moment and then continued, now pacing as he spoke, but always focusing on Dr. Van Braun as much as he was his story.

"None of how she had looked mattered to me then, nor does it now. Her visage was magnetic to people not only because she was beautiful, but because she had a bright aura of charisma."

Sephiroth paused and then looked at Dr. Van Braun and gave him a grin. "I'm glad you came. Your timing was absolutely perfect."