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As usual, this is told in Sephiroth's point of view, enjoy.

Reintegration

Step 03: Patience

"Look mommy, it's Sephiroth!" I knew something bad was to come when the child called out those words.

I am still standing here in the lobby of Shinra, near the entrance, not daring to go out. If I am to make amends, I can't misbehave, or give the impression that I am misbehaving. Reno hasn't shown up yet, he must be having a hard time with the documents to get me out of here, I really wish he would hurry.

"Oh, yes, it's Sephiroth, we better be careful or he'll throw a bomb at us!" The child's mother is clearly amused and I am not.

I never planted or threw bombs; I manipulated an ancient fossil that I thought was my mother and tried to cause a meteor to collide with this planet so I could use it as a vessel to travel the cosmos and... Oh, never mind. It all sounds too crazy when I think about it now. The point is the ones playing with explosives were the Turks and Avalanche, not me.

"I'll get you, villain!" The boy is hitting me with his miniature plastic buster sword.

I look at the child's mother waiting for her to call him back and scold him, but she is actually laughing. "Ma'am?"

She nods, interpreting my silent request in a completely different way from how it was meant. "Keep an eye on him then. I'll be back after I'm done shopping." She walks away, abandoning me with the little brat.

"Oni slash! Oni slash!" The boy keeps hitting me with his sword as I stand frozen in disbelief. The child's mother assumed I was some kind of child care taker employed by Shinra, who was merely dressed as Sephiroth, but I am Sephiroth.

I take a deep breath and hold down my temper. I did say I was making amends and living peacefully. I do wish to honor the reputation I used to have before the Nibelheim incident, but there are some things that I cannot overlook, "it's omnislash, not oni slash."

"Nu-uh, Sephiroth! You're just trying to trick me!" The boy continues hitting me with his plastic sword. Reno, where are you?

xoxox xox xoxox

An hour passes before the child's mother finally returns carrying several shopping bags. "Thank you for taking care of him, it's so nice of Shinra to have someone to play with the children like this."

"I can't go, mommy! I need to defeat Sephiroth!" I can't believe this; I need to get rid of this brat, without hurting him. "Oni slash!"

I pretend to fall over, I feel like an idiot, but the kid might throw a tantrum if he leaves without defeating the villain, that will give Shinra a bad image and I will get blamed for it. "I will never be a memory..."

I dramatically pretend to die and the boy cheers, running around his mother. "Did you see, mommy? Did you see? I beat Sephiroth!"

"Yes dear, I saw, you're quite the hero. Come now, let's go home." Before leaving, the woman thanks me again and gives me some gil, "your costume is really good." I assume the gil is a tip.

After the mother and child are gone, I look around to see the normal flow of people; no one cared too much about the show. They don't believe I am the real Sephiroth; I'm just a man in a villain costume. What ever happened to the legendary hero? Is that who Cloud is now? I can't help it but to feel bitter jealousy.

My PHS suddenly rings, getting me out of my thoughts. I see Reno's name on the screen and immediately answer it, "hello?"

"Where are you?"

"I'm waiting in the entrance to headquarters." Finally, I can leave!

"Why? Who are you waiting for?" Reno's questions take me by surprise.

"You," I answer simply. Has Reno not been filling up papers to get me out of here all this time?

"I thought we were going to the Seventh Heaven, I told you that, didn't I? For how long were you waiting? If you forgot where we were meeting you should have called me, or Rude." Reno is missing a very important point.

I try to illustrate the point he missed, but instead end up asking unsure, "don't you need to fill up a lot of paperwork so I can leave the Shinra building? Don't I need to be escorted by a Turk at all times?"

Laughter erupts at the other end of the line. When Reno finally regains his composure enough to speaks, he voices between muffled laughs, "I'm not your babysitter!"

I can only stare at the PHS dumbly, "what do you mean?"

"I mean I don't have to keep an eye on you, no one does. You're not going to do anything wrong, are you? You don't need babysitters or guards; you're not a kid or a prisoner. Sure you're under watch, but it's not that strict. Besides, I knew you were coming and told the other Turks, if we lose track of you, we'll call you, and if you reply, everything is fine. Just don't disappear without telling or we'll have to track you down and won't be able to clock out until we hear from you. Anyway, you can still head on over to the Seventh Heaven, the party's just getting good!"

"I've been waiting," I mutter into the PHS, "I've been waiting..." I've been waiting for nothing, while Reno, whom I thought was braving a sea of forms and questioners, was out drinking with his friends.

"Then stop waiting and get over here, if you wanted a ride you should have said so. C'mon, just walk over here or take the train; you're missing all the fun!"

I don't care how rude it was, but I hung up without saying goodbye. I feel utterly ridiculous as I walk down the streets of Edge. No one is frightened and I know I should be happy, but I'm frustrated. I better not walk too fast, because right now what I really want to do when I get to the Seventh Heaven is smash Reno's face against the counter repeatedly until they both break.

To be Continued

Disclaimer, I don't own Final Fantasy VII.