The streets of Nibelheim were filled with laughter and joy as the little children of the town ran home from school. As they passed the Valentine Mansion, they stopped dead in their tracks. At the gate stood two grown men. The first one was an older man who had a golden claw for his left hand. The other one was a younger man, about twenty or so, who was very well built. Both men towered above the school children, but the children didn’t stop running because they were afraid, but rather because they wanted to hear the stories these two men had to tell. It was not often that they were home, but when Vincent and Zack Valentine were home from their adventures, the kids loved to hear about them. As they raced each other for the best seats in the house, Vincent looked at his son and they both smiled.

By just looking at them, the pair didn’t look anything like a father and his son. Vincent was physically built smaller than Zack and they both had different features. Zack had brown hair with hazel eyes while Vincent had black hair and red eyes.

As Zack enthralled the kids with how he had killed a big dragon with his Masamune, Vincent’s mind wandered a bit...

"It’s funny...almost ironic that Sephiroth, this time around, is named for a person he destroyed last time..."

Vincent turned his attention back to Zack...Sephiroth... He really didn’t know which name is better, but decided on Zack.

"The old Sephiroth is dead," he thought, "so why should his old name stick?"

Looking deep into Zack’s soul, Vincent spotted Sephiroth; but instead of his Mako green eyes, they were blue, like Lucrecia’s, and his hair was jet black, like his. "Zack, your soul is radiant and beautiful, like the beauty of the snow."

Author's notes:

Alright…if you've made it this far, I thank you for taking the time to read my fic…I wrote this because I wasn't happy with Square's history. They left so much unexplained. I'm also a proponent of the whole Vincent is Sephiroth's father thing…as you may have already picked up…

In the chapter 1, I was trying to set up the two big ironies in this fic…the mention of a wedding by Cid and Vincent holding Lucrecia as an angel…obviously, Lucrecia dies, so Cid gets invited to a funeral instead of a wedding… L and Lucrecia is not so angelic as she first appears…also, I tried to show that Vincent isn't mean and cold, but that he was just indifferent to the world around him. When Cid lectures him, I was hoping to show a change in Vincent's attitude towards the people around him.

Chapter 2 was the dark chapter of the fic…a contrast to my next one which was brighter, but not less serious. I threw in the whole conversation between Cid, Shera, and Vincent at the beginning of this chapter because it seemed to me that Vincent would never willingly subject anyone to experiments because of what has happened in the past. So, Cid and Shera make him see that it is the only way left after months of not knowing.

As for my whole theory about Jenova cells, human cells, and Mako poisoning, it makes sense…for those of you out there saying, "But what about Sephiroth…" my explanation is that since he was given Jenova cells and Mako from before he was even a true embryo, a good percentage of his body must be Jenova cells. The rest of his human cells just adapted to the Jenova cells and the Mako as they were developing. That way, he is totally unaffected by the extreme Mako in his blood and that crystal he was in for 5 years. Also, Lucrecia was in the Mako cave for 30 years, which is six times more than Sephiroth's intense exposure.

At Lucrecia's funeral, the dark conversation about death is what I think would realistically happen. It seemed like Vincent's only purpose in life was finding Lucrecia and killing Hojo…so I figured that after Lucrecia passed away, Vincent would probably feel as though he has no purpose left in his life. Also, all he ever wanted was to be with Lucrecia in life, so why not in death?…people think this way all the time…it's actually quite sad…

The third chapter is what I consider the most intact part of my original draft. I always wanted to know the whole story, but Square didn't do a very good job with it… >:P so…I tried my best to explain it. Lucrecia seems like such an evil person after reading the first part of chapter three…I made her that way because realistically, I don't think anyone would go along with such a crazy experiment unless they were getting something out of it…besides, Lucrecia didn't seem like the naïve type…to me, she sounded like she knew what she was doing. You can't be a scientist and be totally naïve about how an experiment can go bad very easily. Also, would a smart scientist such as herself really be so dumb as not to know what was happening to herself and those around her? I don't think Vincent is the type to be involved with a totally naïve person. On top of it all…who could really fall for Hojo?!?!

Anyone get the petri dish metaphor?…? JSephiroth=specimen…Lucrecia=petri dish on which the specimen grew…ok…it was a bad science joke… and yes, I am a science/health profession major…

Then there's my wacky thing about bring Sephiroth back from the dead…yes, I'm also a fan of Sephiroth…and this is a story about redemption for three people who I feel were wronged by fate in such a twisted way I couldn't just let them suffer forever…true Sephiroth was evil and cruel, but there is always hope for people. My theory is a little odd…I mean, it seemed like Sephiroth dissolved right away into the Lifestream when he gets killed, but then again, is it not possible that he held on for just a little longer?…Could Lucrecia have spoken to Sephiroth and held him together about the time he was dying?… After all, Lucrecia was sick around the time Avalanche went to kill Sephiroth. That's why you didn't see her again when you return to Lucrecia's Cave to get Vincent's level 4 limit and his Death Penalty… It's just a theory…

Just when you begin to think, "Where does the title fit in with all of this?" it shows up at the end of chapter three. J

Finally…the epilogue…ok…so this is the part that is the most unchanged…so I lied earlier… This was just a nice, short, good feeling wrap-up for the story…and a way to show that it was really Sephiroth that was brought back…and yes, the last line of the story is the title…

Well, thanks for reading my rantings…I tend to go on and on…but I felt that some things needed explanations. Oh well…hope you enjoyed my fic. Comments are welcome… please email me at Bondchick@hotmail.com. And that's James Bond… you perverts…