#anyhow soz for keeping this in my drafts for approximately 3986326895 years

[onewingedxngel]

Sooooo, pre!, post!, and redeemeed!Seph's reactions once meeting Lucrecia? (On one hand, I feel like she'd be relieved he's alive. But on the other, that would mean her visions were true 😔)

Ello Anon, thanks for this. 

May I just start off by saying that I was so pissed off when Vincent told Lucrecia that Sephiroth was dead. I get that it would’ve been painful for her to know the truth, but JESUS CHRIST, JUST TELL HER THE TRUTH!! I mean, she’d be in great pain, but a) I want her reaction, b) she’s part of the reason that he exists in the first place, and c) I feel like, after all the explosion of emotion she’d go through, she’d want to find him, and...

... well, yeah, I’d love to see an interaction between the two. Hopefully the Remake will give us something like that; especially if it wants to tie up all the loose ends.

Pre-Nibel Seph

This will highly depend on context.

I won’t go into what would happen if she raised him alongside Hojo and Gast, since that’s a WHOOOOOLE other question, and trust me, this is already going to be a very long answer.

WELL. If she somehow met him just before the Nibelheim Incident, maybe when he’d entered the Library, hmm... I wouldn’t say he’d be super aggressive, but he’d be angry for sure. This is the moment where he realises his life is a lie, the moment which pushes him to the realisation that he is, ultimately, nothing. Although her presence may decrease the chances of him going on his rampage, they do not entirely negate them either. I must note that I believe that Sephiroth was going to destroy the town, with or without JENOVA’s temporary influence (I refrain from saying it’s a headcanon because I do have evidence to support this idea in an upcoming post).

He’d be angry. He’s ask questions. There’s a chance he may reject her in his anger. But there’s also a chance that she may manage to... well, not calm him, but do enough to prevent the deaths of Nibelheim villagers. Though, well, certain other deaths may still be on the table. His emotions are so powerful, and he knows so little on how to handle them, that this can’t ever really go over very smoothly. Especially when you consider the fact that he was raised a weapon. Hmm... maybe a few tears may or may not be shed if she encouraged him to be more open with his emotions, somehow (difficult but not impossible)

If he’d met her beforehand, he’d obviously be very curious and excited to find out about his mother. But the moment he finds out the truth would be the moment everything falls apart (especially if she keeps it a secret from him). He’d feel so betrayed.

The best way for it to occur would be for her to get him out of Shinra, essentially setting him free from the company, and be honest from the get-go. Again, it wouldn’t be easy, but the betrayal wouldn’t be as bad as the previous scenario, and he wouldn’t be trapped alone in a basement for days on end with thoughts of rage.

Post-Nibel Seph

Death, in 90% of cases I’d say. I mean, Sephiroth is faced with one of the three main players in his creation (other two being Gast and Hojo). However, even if I think he’d most likely kill her... I don’t think she’d go instantaneously, like with President Shinra in the Remake.

The thing is, this is his biological mother. The person from which he was born. The only person in the project who seemed to oppose it because they felt a personal connection to him. He’d want to know more. 

Psychological torture is a given, because when hasn’t he done that? He’d venture through every part of her thought process, force her to confront all the guilt, force her back into all the terrible memories. But what would make this interesting is that this would be a very revealing moment for Sephiroth too, because he’d be exploring one of the things that make him so vulnerable: his creation.

One may see more raw emotions from him. While he makes her face the horrors of her past, he’d be forced to face the horrors of his creation. And then, maybe, the questions, memories, and emotions he confronts her with may take a more explicitly personal turn. This is the very thing which pushed Sephiroth to do what he does, after all.

The main reason why I say the death rate isn’t 100% is because Lucrecia is, in my opinion, the only canonical character that would love Sephiroth unconditionally. Even if she’d be completely horrified by his actions, she still wouldn’t stop loving him, and would believe that it’s all her fault (which isn’t entirely incorrect).

I could see Sephiroth getting second thoughts in the deepest depths of his subconsious mind about killing her, but then stuffing them away. He might kill her without remorse, he might kill her precisely because of these uncertain thoughts, or, in the least likely scenario, he may spare her for the time being. He’d certainly deny it, but in at least some situations, her unconditional love may come to emotionally affect him in some manner.

But don’t get me wrong, if I’m incorrect and her love is not unconditional, then he’s definitely going to kill her (I’d elaborate but this has already gone on so long).

Redeemed!Seph

Well, since Redeemed!Sephiroth, you know... actually wants redemption, and as I explained in my post here (which also has a paragraph on Redeemed!Seph’s potential responses to Hojo): he is not inclined to kill. I go into detail about exceptions and special cases there, but in the overwhelming majority of cases, he will do what he can to avoid taking the life of both man and beast (which is easy, since his superior strength means he can take care of conflict without outright killing). This means that, unlike Post-Nibel Seph, he’s not going to approach Lucrecia with plans to kill her.

He’d feel a lot of emotions, all mixing together to the point where he’d be uncertain on how to describe how he feels. He wouldn’t be super warm to her, because even if she feels remorse over what she did, he still came into existence. And, as I’ve said a lot by now (don’t blame me, I love this concept): he would NOT EXIST if it hadn’t been for the experiment. Lucrecia didn’t randomly get pregnant and decide to experiment on her own child, no, as far as I can tell, THIS WAS PLANNED BEFORE CONCEPTION. Even if this was not the case, a Sephiroth without JENOVA cells literally would not be Sephiroth, but rather, a completely different person (I’d explain this more but I want to stay focused on the initial question).

Lucrecia felt bad because it was her child, not because of the ethical implications of creating a sentient being for the sake of exploitation/weaponisation, so I don’t think Seph would be super stoked about that.

Ultimately, though... I dunno, if she had a breakdown, he wouldn’t just leave her in such a state. He’d definitely want to talk to her, ask her questions, and I can’t see him rejecting her or the maternal warmth she throws at him (though he’d be quite awkward about it). But... he’d still very much feel bitterness over the nature of his existence and challenge her over her decisions. Hell, maybe go off to find Hojo alongside her too, for the sake of closure.

Since he’s nomadic, and would still be inclined to continue his travels (kinda relevant to the whole ~redemption~ thing), he wouldn’t stop for too long to spend time with her: but if she wished to join him (and I’m sure she would), he wouldn’t stop her unless he’s doing something particularly dangerous.