Chapter Text
The nightmare would not stop playing in his head, over and over. That old man, dried blood and entrails crusted on his lab coat, cackling with mirth. Bright lights struck through his retinas, but thin metal wires forced his eyelids to remain open. Slender needles glinted in the brightness, some embedded in his skin, others clutched greedily in Professor Hojo’s wrinkled hands. He gritted his teeth and stifled the urge to cry. No one would hear him, and if they did, they’d not care enough to stop this.
But... someone did, Sephiroth reminded himself. There was still hope. After the events at Rhadore, Glenn had sworn that no more would Shinra use them. He’d managed to escape, the whole team alongside the last of the Rhadorans, had slipped away from Shinra’s oppressive command.
“You’re not a weapon. You’re not a machine. From now on, you will choose who you want to be,” the ex-SOLDIER had promised him. “We’ll have to lay low for now. But, I promise, I will never let you fall into Shinra’s hands again.
They cannot hurt you anymore.”
“I was lookin’ for ya!”
Glenn’s cheerful voice tore him from his thoughts as the ex-SOLDIER sauntered through the door with a large box in his hands. Sephiroth sighed, not quite finding the energy to force a smile.
“I’ve never managed to get it out of my head, y’know? ‘No birthdays’. It’s not surprising considering this is Shinra we’re talking about.”
“I never even knew the day,” Sephiroth said in a stoic tone, trying to hide his grievance. But nothing got past Glenn so easily. No doubt, the man was going to try to cheer him up. He always did.
“So, I was thinking,” Glenn began, leaning onto the table with a toothy grin. “If it’s all right with you, of course– we could celebrate it right now?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, I know it’s late,” he chuckled, hand on his neck. “We can do the real excitin’ stuff tomorrow. Go out in disguise, buy you some gifts, y’know, the fun stuff. But, uh, I made something for you. I know it’s been hard, so... I hope it’ll cheer you up.”
Sephiroth tilted his head. Glenn set down the box. With his enhanced senses, he could already smell what was inside, feel its warmth.
“Your favourite!” he said. “Made fresh n’ by my own toiling hands!”
A large bowl of pumpkin soup was set before him, finished with a swirl of white and peppered with small herbs and seeds. Sephiroth’s eyes brightened, pupils dilating. He smiled.
“And that’s not all! We got some sides too!”
He hauled up two large pumpkins from the box, placing them on the table. There was an odd comfort to be found in their warm orange-hued flesh, such a contrast to the cold metallic tones of the labs that Sephiroth was so used to.
“Heh, I know they’re not exactly the most normal gifts for a birthday, but we’ll–”
He was immediately cut off as Sephiroth practically sprung from his chair and wrapped his arms around him tightly, almost choking him.
“Woah!” Glenn said, silently grateful for his SOLDIER enhancements in this specific moment. With a chuckle, he returned the hug, patting the boy’s back.
“Thank you, Glenn,” Sephiroth murmured before sitting back down, smiling softly at the gifts. “No one’s... ever done something like this for me before.”
“We couldn’t let you go your whole life without a birthday celebration now, could we?” he winked, placing a spoon in the soup. “As I said– tomorrow, we’ll go get more stuff for ya, with all the others. Maybe make a pumpkin cake too!”
Sephiroth chuckled quietly, hiding his smile behind a hand. No doubt, considering none of the others were here (likely all asleep), this had been a spontaneous decision Glenn must’ve made mere hours ago at most, just to cheer him up. And it had worked.
This must be what it’s like, he thought to himself. To have a family.