"Lucrecia... Sephiroth is dead..." That quote got into my head during my history exam. So, when I got home, I sat down and wrote. Still not sure why. Hmph. Spoilers on the first waterfall scene, in the game, if you never went. But, yeah. Not really anything big. So. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, quotes, nor even the plot of this short piece. I honestly, don't even own the PSX copy of the game anymore. I have the Eidos PC version, for Windows 95. So, yeah. If i were making money off this, I'd have bought a copy of the game that's designed to play with a controller, and not a keyboard, to replace the copy that go stolen. And my stats were good on that file!!! I miss Kaisa... and Nigel. And Cobalt and Forest, a bit... But mostly Kaisa and Nigel. No. Mostly Nigel... (I just realized I'm ranting about my chocobos in a disclaimer. Yeah. Sorry.)

Mother's Sin - by Linker27

"Won't you please tell me? If Sephiroth is still alive?" My voice wavered, and rose steadily higher with each syllable. I needed to hear that answer. I needed to know… Five years ago, the world told me that my son had died; according to rumor, he had perished in a Mako reactor explosion. But, starting a few months ago, rumors told another story. The voices on the wind spoke of a black-garbed man with long silver hair, and his cloaked followers. And somehow, I knew that man, who was spoken of in awed whispers was my Sephiroth. He was my son. I did not know what he looked like, but the very atmosphere he was spoken of assured it. He was mine.

In the past few weeks, the desire to leave my secret cave grew stronger and stronger, until I could scarcely think of anything else. But, while the Jenova cells within me kept me alive, they did not permit me to travel about as mortals could. I was tied to the spirit energy, and only in places such as Mako springs could I even attain a semi-corporeal form. And I was barely strong enough for that. It would completely sever my ties with the human plane to leave the spring and seek out another place, perhaps closer to my son. The concept of leaving this world forever, and leaving my son, forever - that I could not bear.

When I saw him – a bit taller, a bit thinner, and quite a bit scrappier, but still the same heartsick Turk – I knew I could find my answers. I told him of my sorrow, the heartache I felt for my son, my darling boy. My Sephiroth. Vincent understood, I think, how I could come to love him. Even though it had started as merely a scientific experiment, my humanity would not let me abandon him. And the Jenova cells we shared strengthened that connection, as they gave us a similar purpose. Sephiroth was as much, or even more, Jenova's child as he was mine, and his mission was to serve her, but that didn't mean I couldn't help him to attain his goals. After all, isn't that what a mother is for?

He zoned out for a while as I spoke; probably he was reliving those days in Nibelheim. How long ago was it? Thirty years, now, about? I'm almost surprised he can remember them so well – he must, by the sheer sorrow on his face. But, then again, he was so hopelessly in love with me.

Eventually, he awoke from his daydreams, his nightmares. "Lucrecia…" he said, eyes closing in pain as he spoke. My breath caught in my throat. 'Please,' I thought. 'Please let your sorrow be over your memories. Please tell me what I want – no, what I need – to hear. He can't really be… gone, can he? No. He couldn't. I should have died bearing him, and still here I am today. Sephiroth is like me, like his mother. He can't die so easily!'

And yet, I think, as I looked as his tear-filled eyes, still as sorrow-filled as they had been nearly thirty years before, I think I knew the truth. I mouthed the words with him as he spoke, blinking back my own tears of sorrow, and my screams of rage, as well. My lips trembled with horror, and somewhere inside of me, some part of my soul snapped.

"Sephiroth is dead…"