Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sephiroth sat at his desk doing paperwork as the Puppy bounced in. He’s setting the pile down and glaring at him, but at the same time he knew why Zack was there. The cadets had just been ushered into the gym downstairs from registration event. An event that every year Sephiroth consumed and swamped by paperwork tried to avoid. An event that every year some poor shmuck got stuck dragging him down to, but this year they had an advantage. He actually appreciated Zack Fair, enough that he didn’t want to stab him multiple times with the Masumune.    

He did however want to hang him by some tighty whities and bounce the 2nd class until he learned some sort of lesson about manners. Preferably from the ceiling of the tallest room in ShinRa. Instead of doing any of the things he actually wants to do he sighs and straightens his coat as he gets to his feet. Sephiroth grabs the Masamune from its holder and places it across his back following Angeal’s student down to the parade grounds where the cadets will be sent after they receive their bunking assignments.    

Sephiroth was required to be there as a bodyguard for President ShinRa and to look at the potentials for his SOLDIER program. ShinRa greets them, introduces the different heads of the departments. Sephiroth vaguely glares at the President and Vice President as he is introduced. Off in the back a head of bright Chocobo colored (and possibly styled?) hair catches his eye, he steps back as the president continues and watches the chocobo colored hair. The bright cerulean eyes watching him with an old expression that makes him wonder what the small looking child attached to these eyes knows.     

Introductions were over soon enough, and Zack carefully avoided his gaze knowing he was probably irritated. The two SOLDIERs made their way back to his office through the less frequented hallways, if there was anything he hated more than presented as something to stare at it, was walking through a room and having it go silent. It took longer, but it was worth it to both of them as it kept his stress down.   

He was in the middle of resettling into his paperwork when Zack presented him with a basket full of chocolate. He raises one snowy eyebrow and he accepts the basket with a questioning glance. The Puppy shrugs, and holding a card out to him.     

You were never a memory. You were however always a painful reminder that life sucks. Have some chocolate and take that stick out of your ass.- annon.    

Four times of getting stabbed in the chest was a bit much, Masamune fucking hurts thank you very much. The count is up to 12 times being stabbed now, can we skip 13 thru 16 this time?   

Sephiroth blinks reading the card twice, he holds it up to Zack. He can’t remember ever stabbing someone four different times, let alone twelve different times. Who the hell? Zack looks as confused as he does, he looks at the chocolate in the basket. He cracks a smile as he looks at the brand, he doesn’t care that some random stranger sent him chocolate. He will eat all of it, especially when he’s having a bad day. Zack goes back out to where Angeal has set a desk for him, he’s been involuntarily promoted to Sephiroth’s secretary.   

He’s the only person that’s been able to survive a week at the job, its been an endless cycle of secretaries since Sephiroth accepted the title of General. The ladies they tried were too busy swooning over him to file any paperwork. The SOLDIERs they sent after his 20th complaint about useless secretaries were almost as bad. They had a habit of arguing with him, and he had a habit of  terrorizing them. The words on the card were rather… kind. When Sephiroth hasn’t had his coffee he’s a terror, a stick up his ass was a mild way of phrasing it.   

Zack is sadly immune to his glares and stares that would send more men running for their mothers. Angeal laughs at him and dropped off his puppy six months ago to do a job everyone seemed to want, but no one could do without pissing him off. While Zack’s desk was a mess he was able to pull whatever Sephiroth needed within a few minutes so he couldn’t complain. The 2nd class also brings him coffee and drops paperwork off to anyone that Sephiroth can’t be bothered with. It works well for both of them. Well until Zack eats his chocolate, Zack at least replaces it within a day or two unlike the last SOLDIER.    

About three hours after he receives the chocolate Zack is knocking on the door, he’s got a cadet in tow. It’s the blond that caught his attention earlier, and Zack hands him a file before looking at the blond again. He was right about the eyes, those cerulean eyes are questioning. More interestingly enough the blond doesn’t cower in his presence like most of the cadets.   

“Cadet Strife was sent here after telling off his instructor,” Zack explains eyeing the kid with a soft smile, “To be honest Sgt. Briggs was always an asshole.”   

“Oh?” Sephiroth glances through the file, there’s nothing particularly interesting in it. Cadet Strife is from Nebelheim, and he’s smaller than his fellow cadets. His record is clear, there’s not even a note about attitude. He looks up at the blond who is waiting expectantly, he sets the cadet’s file down and locks eyes with the cerulean ones.    

“Why don’t you tell us what happened,” Zack suggests taking a seat on the corner of Sephiroth’s desk. Sephiroth shoots Zack withering look, he gestures for the cadet to sit. The blond nods and starts to talk, and Sephiroth finds himself drawn in, especially at the soft smirk that appears when the cadet sees a chocolate wrapper in the trash.       

“Look you maggots, some of you are going to make it through this program, and some of you are going to nearly die trying to get in,” their drill Sgt. Briggs announces putting them through an obstacle course to gage their abilities, “Most of you will fail your first attempt, SOLDIER is looking for the elite of the elite. You’ll end up in the regular army for a year and then try again. Others of you will end up quiting entirely, and a small portion of you will make it into SOLDIER testing. That portion will then have additional testing in addition to the Cadet training you will receive for the next year.”     

Cloud had already heard this speech four times, he was careful not to be leading the way through the course. Taking his own sweet time, he made sure to make rookie mistakes as well. He had no intentions of drawing Hojo’s attention earlier than necessary like he had the first time he was brought back to life. No, his plan was to hang back catch Zack’s attention and possibly try to keep Sephiroth sane from the sidelines to start with. Too bad that’s not what his instructors wanted…     

Briggs continued his speech about how they were all going to be worthless after their first PT months. Cloud, having been training with Vincent for the last few months had enough muscle to back his mouth this time around. He wasn’t SOLDIER strong yet, that came with Mako injections which he wasn’t looking forward to, but he was strong enough to use the martial arts  that the ex-Turk taught him. He practiced sword katas, he even had a few pieces of his Fusion sword remade already, First Tsurugi was proving to be a little difficult, mostly due to the weight and funds required to make it.     

Vincent had them in the small hole he had snapped up as a home while keeping an eye on their assorted targets. Hojo was the most important of these due to all the pain he caused, Sephiroth was Cloud’s responsibility, and the assorted Turks were mostly under Vincent’s jurisdiction seeing as he was one of them. Rufus wasn’t a big concern, and Vincent was convinced that he didn’t want the world to go to shit. Chaos on the other hand was thrilled by Cloud’s constant rebirth and teased him mercilessly.    

This time however things were different, people were randomly swapping bodies with other people. Chaos helpfully supplied that Gaia wanted soul mates to know who their other half was, and that was why. So Cloud hoped that maybe his other half would be Tifa or Aerith, Chaos had laughed at him for an hour after he voiced that. He had a really… REALLY bad feeling about it.    

He was almost finished with the obstacle course when instructor Briggs called him. He scampered down the side and went to the instructor as directed.    

“Start over Cadet,” he instructed pointing back to the beginning. Cloud raised an eyebrow at him, but did as instructed, he wasn’t the first cadet to be sent back to the beginning, so he went with it. It then became clear the instructor was kicking all of the small cadets to the back of the course, he wanted them to come behind all their peers. Cloud fought off the groan that threatened to spill from his lips.     

He trudged his way back through the obstacles one more time only to be called out again. Having had enough of it he finished first and then restarted the course.    

“CADET STRIFE!” Briggs roared. Cloud stopped where he was yet again and looked down at him from the top of a rope he had just made it to the top of.    

“What is it sir?” Cloud asks eyeing him from his perch, it’s only half the height of the water tower back in Nibelheim.    

“I thought I told you to start over!” Briggs commands, the other cadets are watching. They all look a little scared for him, Cloud nods hopping down the other side with ease.    

“You did sir. I completed the course, then restarted it as instructed,” Cloud answers. He thinks he’s being fairly reasonable, as he walks up to his instructor.    

“That was not your instruction Cadet,” Briggs points out in a stern tone.    

“Sir, can I ask you a question,” Cloud asks, the Sgt. nods waiting, “who pissed in your cheerios?” The entire group of cadets starts to howl. Then Sgt. Briggs starts to scream and holler, and Cloud does the fifty laps without too much difficulty. Briggs, annoyed that he isn’t about to keel over and die sends him to the General in an attempt to scare him.   

Cloud frowns, he knows Vincent managed to get the chocolate to Sephiroth, but that he can’t help the instinctive twitch that comes with nearing the silver haired swordsman. Before sending him to the fearsome General he handed him a file, a quick glance in the file shows it’s his personnel file, and sent him on his way.   

Cloud gets stopped twice, once by a Turk when he approaches him at the elevator. A quick explanation that Briggs has sent him to see the General, and Rude escorts him to the floor where Sephiroth’s office is. Cloud sees Zack messing around with some paperwork.   

“Briggs sent a cadet,” Rude says in a deadpan as Zack looks up from his desk. Cloud takes one look at the desk and resists the urge to chuckle at the mess that only covers his desk. The rest of the outer office is immaculately clean, Zack smiles and it makes that stony part of Cloud melt a little. Zack nods, and Rude leaves him there.   

“Later Rude,” the SOLDIER comments and waves, Zack stops pretending to work and looks over Cloud with a smile. After the Turk leaves Zack looks at him, he asks “Briggs still picking on the short cadets?”   

“Yeah, he doesn’t like it when you ask who pissed in his Cheerios,” Cloud just shrugs.   

“He’s almost worse than Seph when you steal his chocolate, though I doubt anyone could be more dangerous than an uncaffeinated Sephiroth,” Zack chuckles, “someone however saved all our asses and bought Sephiroth an entire basket full of Rittersport, Lindt, Lindor, and Godiva chocolates. He’s already stashed it all in various hidey holes in his office. If you’re up for it Sephiroth should be in a decent mood, he was kinda irritated about being used as poster boy again earlier, but he’s had enough of a break we should be safe.” Cloud nods, its nice to know that Zack tries to give Sephiroth a break between things that make him irritated.    

Sephiroth hardly looks intimidating when he’s sitting at his desk, it makes him look smaller, especially with the huge piles of paperwork dwarfing his desk. Sephiroth has got his right hand tangled in his hair and is swirling a medium sized strand mindlessly as he reads something. He glances up as they enter, the hand in his hair drops down and he raises an eyebrow at them. Cloud doesn’t see any of the madness he’s gotten so used to.   

Zack has him explain the situation and Sephiroth rolls his eyes before pulling something up on his computer. There’s a quick set of keystrokes, and the General looks up at the two of them. Zack waits expectantly, as Sephiroth turns the screen towards them. There’s a profile of Sgt. Briggs pulled up, it has a note about discrimination and a recommendation that he be on clean up duty for Professor Hojo for two weeks. Cloud can’t help the small smile that pops up on his face.    

“You are excused Cadet,” Sephiroth comments as he turns the monitor back towards him, “also, thank you Cadet Strife.”   

“Sir?” Cloud questions as he reaches the door, Sephiroth looks back up from the monitor.   

“For treating me like a human being,” the General responds with a soft smile, “on your way Cadet.” Zack escorts him out and pats him on the shoulder with a huge grin.    

“Hey thanks Spike, its really hard to find people that don’t make Seph’s skin crawl. I might come grab you in the future if that’s okay?” Zack grins and Cloud can just feel the mischief rolling off him.   

“Sure?” Cloud’s not sure what Zack’s got planned, he’s also not entirely sure he wants to be involved. He does know that anything that might help keep Sephiroth sane is well worth a time investment.    

Cloud is out doing some of his extra PT just before their 11 o’clock curfew when Vincent shows up. The gunman falling into place beside him without much effort, for a while the two of them continue jogging around the park. Eventually when Cloud feels he’s done enough laps they stop and he settles into the middle for sword katas. Vincent hands him one of the fusion sword blades to practice with.   

“Sephiroth liked the chocolate,” Cloud starts doing one of the easier movements, testing the weight in his hands for a moment as he goes through the motions, “I saw one of the empty wrappers in the trash today.”   

“I am unsurprised, Lucretia also had a fondness for sweets,” Vincent says quietly, “so… how is he?”   

“I don’t really know much yet, I got sent into his office for pissing off the Sgt. today,” Cloud answers with a swing, “he didn’t seem to mind my presence. There was also a distinct lack of madness behind his eyes.” Vincent stands there with a hand to his chin, there’s a thoughtful expression to his face.   

“He may yet be saved then,” he comments, his eyes glow gold for a moment, “Chocobo head I expect you to still meet up with us when you switch.” Cloud stops mid swing to look at Chaos, the demon looks absolutely amused. That bad feeling he had keeps crawling up his skin. He parts ways with Vincent after a little while, and makes his way back to the showers. The feeling of he’s not going to like whatever is making Chaos smirk at him lingers in the back of his mind like a bad hangover. As he pulls himself into his bunk he sends a quiet prayer to all the old gods that he’s wrong about this feeling.    

Cloud almost lets go of the feeling when he wakes up, except that his vision is obstructed by hair, LONG silver hair. He groans and moves it out of the way wondering if its just some practical joke Zack’s responsible for. He looks around the room curiously, it isn’t the squad room he was assigned, and there is no one else in it. He looks down at the bed, more silver hair is on it seemingly coming from him. His eyes start to widen as he gets up and he feels mildly unsteady.   

He makes his way to the first door he sees, opening it fraction it reveals itself as a very spartan bathroom. He slowly approaches the mirror, flicking the light switch below it. There’s a soft hum as the lights come to life, and in the soft white lighting he can see Sephiroth’s face staring back at him from the mirror. He can’t help the groan that escapes his lips as stares at himself.   

“This is just ridiculous,” Cloud mutters looking for a hairbrush, he doesn’t have to comb much. Sephiroth’s hair as long and massive as it is has a mind of its own and doesn’t seem to tangle like his blond spikes do. After assuring there would not be an epic hair disaster he retreats back to Sephiroth’s room to get dressed. It feels wrong to be rooting through the other man’s belongings. He tries not to think about it as he gets dressed, after a moment Cloud’s pausing finding himself looking for the General’s keycard and PHS. The two are sitting next to the front door where Masamune is leaning unthreatening. He leaves the sword and heads for the cadet barracks.   

As soon as he reaches the main corridor he can feel the stares of the few people who are up at o’dark thirty (4:30 am). He shoots them a glare and makes his way silently to his bunk where an unsuspecting Sephiroth is probably still asleep. He’ll be up in a half hour just like Cloud normally is... probably. Its not hard to get into the room where his body is at seeing as he’s got a keycard with Sephiroth’s clearance as General and the actual keycode into the cadet barracks. When he gets there Cloud hesitates.   

He’s not sure what Sephiroth will do when he wakes up in his body, and he certainly doesn’t want to be known as the crazy fuck that lost his shit in front of the General. He checks the bangle attached to Sephiroth’s coat to see what Materia are equipped. Sure enough there is a sleep Materia and it’s even mastered, so Cloud charges the spell. He casts it in the middle of his squad’s room and starts to pack up the few belongings he has.    

After about five minutes he shoves the duffle bag over one shoulder and carefully picks up the sleeping General in his body. He leaves the barracks and pauses as he starts to notice something peculiar, the guard he passed on the way in is asleep now. Dead asleep.   

Cloud doesn’t think too much on it and continues, its when he steps out of the elevator that leads to the connecting corridor between the main ShinRa building and the general barracks that he realizes that all of the people he was annoyed at earlier are ALL asleep. He looks at the mastered sleep Materia, then at the sleeping General and shakes his head continuing to Sephiroth’s room. He momentarily panics as the keycard doesn’t work on the first swipe, or the second. Then he hears the animated chattering, it sounds like a certain SOLDIER he knows. He knocks carefully, and sure enough Zack opens Sephiroth’s door.   

“Seph, dude like where have you been? You weren’t in the office so I was getting worried,” Zack chatters.   

“I had an errand to run,” Cloud manages his best deadpan voice as he shoves the door open.  Zack looks down into his arms and looks up at him strangely.   

“Why did you go kidnap Spikey? Did he do something to piss you off?” Zack follows as he sets the sleeping General down on his own bed and leave the duffle by the door. He shuts the door quietly behind him and looks back to Zack. He’s not sure he wants to tell Zack, not until he’s at least spoken to Sephiroth about it.   

“Classified. No,” Cloud settles on trying keep his head on the matter. He’s still shaken over the fact he’s in Sephiroth’s body. He flips over the PHS and looks through the recent call logs, he needs to find whomever it is that Sephiroth reports to. There’s over a dozen incoming calls from Zack, which are labeled as Angeal’s puppy. There’s a fair amount that are labeled Hojo or the Science labs, there’s not a chance in hell he’s dealing with them. Then there’s a several incoming and outgoing calls labeled Director Lazard. Director Lazard… Director of SOLDIER if his memory from yesterday is serving him well. He dials the number, and a crisp voice answers.   

“Good morning Sephiroth, normally you wait until my second cup of coffee for these calls. Something I can help you with?” The director sounds a lot like Rufus ShinRa mixed with Vincent if he’s at all honest.   

“Yes, its urgent Director,” Cloud decides upon, “its of a personal nature, can you come to my room?” The director’s side of the line has the sounds of shuffling paperwork, then a locking desk drawer. Of course it would be the SOLDIER Director’s personal line.   

“You’ll have coffee for me?” the man asks. Cloud doesn’t know what the appropriate answer is.   

“Certainly,” Cloud can manage to make a cup of coffee. The line clicks and he looks over at Zack who’s staring at him with concern. “Zack…”  

“You called the director on Spikey, that’s just cruel,” Zack comments as Cloud walks over kitchen where he prepares the coffee, he makes enough for two. He suspects that Sephiroth will want a cup when he wakes up. Cloud sets it to percolate, and looks at the analog clock. He would normally be awake by now, why… Oh. He checks the bangle, there’s an Esuna in it as well. He’s more careful about it this time and casts the spell on his body. He doesn’t stir, but Cloud doesn’t worry about it.  

When he walks out Zack has let the Director in, and he heads straight for the kitchen. Pulling down a mug for both of them, Director Lazard is a tired looking blond man with glasses and softish expression. He reminds Cloud of Reeve, he looks over at Zack with a narrowed glance. He adds a dash of cream and stirs absentmindly as he watches the two of them curiously.  

“What?” Zack asks.  

“I need to speak to the Director Zack,” Cloud points out, Zack stares back at him, “Alone Zack.” Zack pouts and leaves after a moment. Director Lazard sits down on the couch as he leans against the wall.  

“So what was so important Sephiroth?” Lazard asks nursing his coffee.  

“Well for starters, Sephiroth is back there,” Cloud announces point back towards the bedroom, Lazard’s eyes widen and he sets the coffee down.  

Sephiroth wakes up slowly, he feels really weird. He leans up and pauses, the room is shorter than he remembers. He makes his way to the bathroom and hesitates as his right hand comes up for the switch. That is not his hand. His eyes widen as he flicks the switch, staring back at him are the bright baby blues of Cadet Strife. He looks around his brush has been moved, its got a fresh strand of hair in it.     

He’s heard the rumors of random body swaps, he’s looked into it on rare occasions, he’s almost happy its this cadet. Which begs the question, if he’s in Cadet Strife’s body where is his? He looks around the room, he can tell the Cadet woke up here, there’s small clues, nothing too obvious. There’s also a random duffle that isn’t his sitting by the door. Its his OCD that’s telling him, the only things disturbed are his closet and dresser. So the Cadet didn’t leave half naked to go looking for him. He looks down to see he’s wearing a pair of dark blue pajama bottoms. He makes his way out of his room to the kitchen for a cup of coffee only to find one waiting for him along with Director Lazard and the Cadet doing a decent impression of him.    

“Well, General I suspect we have some arrangements to make,” Lazard hums taking a sip of his coffee. Strife is leaning against the wall looking like a disinterested statue, and Lazard is staring at him, “Strife called me after he retrieved you. I’ve also gotten a call that most of the Cadet barracks have mysteriously overslept.”    

“Apologies, I didn’t think a sleep spell would have such a massive AoE,” Strife explains, “I didn’t want the General to wake up in the barracks and freak out. Well, I didn’t want to be known as the cadet that randomly freaks out.” Sephiroth takes a sip of coffee before setting it down to narrow his eyes at the Cadet in his body.   

“As much as I appreciate your attempt at being discrete, I think there’s a bigger issue to address here. How does a brand new Cadet know how to use Materia? I have no doubt my body has the MP to cast the spell, but that requires an amount of focus most cadets cannot manage until several months into training,” Sephiroth points out watching his own face, “also how did you know it was a Sleep Materia? Most people can’t tell a Curaga from a Fire spell.” Lazard is looking at the Cadet in his body strangely.   

“A family friend is an exTurk, he taught me how to identify Materia and how to use them,” Strife answers, “I can call him if you want?”   

“Please do,” Lazard suggests. Strife walks into Sephiroth’s room and he’s about to protest until he realizes he’s looking in that duffle bag that wasn’t there last night. He comes out with a beat up looking PHS, he’s dialing a number.   

“Yeah its me, gotta put you on speaker phone,” Strife comments, “Go ahead Vincent.”   

“I take it you have company that you have to explain something to?” the man identified as Vincent drawls calmly.   

“I accidentally cast a Master leveled Sleep spell wide enough to knock out the barracks, to be fair I was only aiming for that squad room,” Strife explains.   

“Cloud, Sephiroth is a General, think for a moment why he might have a Master leveled sleep spell,” the baritone so close to his own pitch responds, “so who are we explaining things to?” The cadet nods thinking about it, and Sephiroth is impressed that the cadet isn’t more freaked out.   

“General Sephiroth and the SOLDIER Director,” Sephiroth responds in Strife’s lighter Tenor. It sounds so wrong, and his teeth feel weird.   

“Director Lazard,” Lazard comments, “Cadet Strife says you are an exTurk?”   

“Vincent Valentine,” the baritone responds, “Cloud can identify and use Materia as well as any Turk I’ve worked with, you have nothing to worry about that. If you are concerned test him.” Sephiroth already knows he plans to, he can’t just leave some random kid with his full clearance and his strength without doing so.   

“See you later Vincent,” Strife says before flipping the phone shut, “I found Vincent trapped in a coffin in the abandoned manor on Mt. Nibel years ago.”   

“That certainly explains the exTurk part,” Lazard puts a hand up to his chin, “Sephiroth, I am going to put Cadet Strife as your personal aide for the time being so we can get both of you clearance. I am also going to file some paperwork that states you are on paid time off until the two of you have a plan. You have two weeks to sort this out. If I might offer some advice General?” Sephiroth looks over at Lazard who seems fairly unconcerned.   

“This has happened to you hasn’t it?” Sephiroth asks, and Lazard nods with a small grimace.   

“Yes, and I will leave their identity up to your imagination for their privacy. It took us years to get it fixed, so I suggest you two work out something in the meantime. Thank you for your quick thinking Cadet Strife, I’m sure both you and Sephiroth will need some privacy while you are dealing with this,” Lazard comments finishing his coffee, “I’ll have the keycard for Strife dropped off later today. Check in with me if you require any advice or help General.”    

As Lazard leaves Sephiroth follows behind him and locks down his quarters. Strife is eyeing him wearily, and he has a feeling there’s more to be said now that they don’t have to deal with anyone else.   

“You might want to sit down for this part Sephiroth, because I know you already suspect something’s up,” Strife answers, taking a seat in Sephiroth’s favorite chair leaving him the couch. He sits down and crosses his arms, “I learned how to use Materia here, I was actually decent at it first try, after chasing a madman around the world I got really good at it. If I take into account the fact this is the fourth or fifth time of me reliving this shit then I’ve been using Materia for almost 200 years now.”   

“Impossible,” Sephiroth says, “that’s not how time works.”   

“You tell that to Gaia. Or perhaps you want to ask Vincent who has Chaos stuffed into his head? As in the demon that ferries souls at the end of time Chaos against Omega. That was one of Hojo’s other projects, which I know just how crazy that son of a bitch is. He put me and Zack into a Mako tube for five years and experimented on us trying to recreate you,” Strife’s words continue on and on. Sephiroth finds himself horrified at the implications. They just sit there for an hour staring at each other, the cadet seems unperturbed but Sephiroth isn’t sure what to think.   

“Well, if you are going to look the part you are going to have to fight the part as well,” Sephiroth finally decides, “as soon as I’m dressed we’re heading down to the simulator where I can train you how to use Masamune without cutting off one of my legs.”   

“That means I’m teaching you my style for the buster sword as well,” Strife responds standing up, “I would like to test out of most of the Cadet courses if you don’t mind. I just needed the PT training to pass I suspect.”   

“I will be the judge of that,” Sephiroth flicks his tongue over his teeth, “your teeth are strange.”   

“I would hope so, it would be odd if my teeth were exactly like yours,” Strife responds. Sephiroth heads back to get dressed, he finds clothes that fit him waiting in the duffle for him. He puts on the cadet uniform and heads out to the main room. Strife is about to hand him his PHS when he shakes his head.   

“You’ll have to answer it, it would be odd if they called me only to hear you talking. We’ll worry about that later,” Sephiroth explains, “you need to be able to do my field duties in my absence. Once I’m sure you’ve got the style we’ll call either Zack or Angeal.”   

“That won’t be necessary, we can just call Vincent, then only he and Director Lazard will know,” Strife corrects, “anyone that witnesses me sparing with Zack, or Angeal would look suspicious anyways.” He has to concede that the cadet has a point. As they make their way down to the simulator on the 43rd floor the cadet lets off an impressive air of power. All the people that are normally staring at him turn and back away slowly, it makes Sephiroth smile a little. He opens the door and sets up the simulator, the cadet has already drawn Masamune and is giving it a few test swings with his left hand.   

“Huh, I always thought this would be more awkward,” the cadet mumbles, “I’ve seen you fight enough for a lifetime, but if you’d like to run me through some kata that would be appreciated.” It isn’t as awkward, in fact Sephiroth seems to have more trouble with it then Strife because of muscle memory. Sephiroth’s body supplies enough muscle memory to it that had he not been standing there he might have been impressed. What’s really interesting is when Strife starts teaching him how to use his style.

Chapter Text

Sephiroth seems mildly impressed, but Cloud is aware its mostly muscle memory. He actually finds it fun using the seven foot katana, he starts running with it, hopping all about as he’s seen Sephiroth do when they fight. It keeps the hair out of his face, Sephiroth is using the moment to rest seeing as he’s in his non strengthened cadet body. Sephiroth has him face off against several simulated enemies, he’s careful not to overpower his swings, he doesn’t need to break the simulator.  

“I believe you would be able to knock out Zack without too much hassle,” Sephiroth concedes, “what style do you use, or rather should I be retraining your body for?” Cloud manages to do the creepy smile that makes him twitch uncomfortably.   

“The Buster Sword is the weapon I started with, however the style is a lot more efficient than what I remember of Zack’s,” Cloud answers. Sephiroth wisely chooses a smaller two handed sword as Cloud pulls a sword about the size of the original buster sword. Sephiroth sets the simulation to spawn a bunch of enemies, and the instructions start. Cloud demonstrates some of the moves, only fighting Sephiroth’s muscle memory a little, Sephiroth actually does fairly well. It seems like its only been fifteen minutes, but its more like three hours when Sephiroth turns off the simulator.  

“This is ridiculous,” the General comments, “you were right about needing more personal training. Still I can tell you have been training because otherwise I’d be dead on my feet right now.”  

“Two hours in the morning and two hours every night until I made it to Midgar,” Cloud confirms, “as Gaia’s chosen one the only thing that saves my ass is all the consistent training.” The two of them sit there talking for a bit longer before a certain SOLDIER 2nd class comes in with his mentor.  

“Sephiroth,” the taller man greets. Cloud nods stiffening his posture a bit, its not hard to act like Sephiroth when he’s sane.  

“Angeal,” Cloud greets. He sees the look of relief on his face staring back at him, Sephiroth apparently didn’t think he could do this.  

“The puppy told me you picked up a blond cadet this morning,” Angeal looks over at Sephiroth who is visibly twitchy under the examinating look.  

“I found a brand new cadet for SOLDIER that could use Materia going into their first classes, I thought it worth while to look into their training,” Cloud answers smoothly. He knew that Sephiroth could handle that much right now.  

“Does that mean Spike is going to be mentored by you?” Zack bounces excitedly looking back and forth. Sephiroth hesitates before nodding, Cloud thinks its an excellent cover story as well.  

“Yes, Cadet Strife will be mentored by me when I am here,” Cloud answers, “maybe his presence will keep your Puppy out of trouble Angeal?” The older man laughs ruffling Zack’s hair as the smile blossoms into a grin. Zack takes Sephiroth over to the side and starts chattering away. Angeal looks to Cloud who resists the urge to smirk. Of course Sephiroth’s friends would want to battle for fun.  

“Should I call Genesis, or will you be okay holding back a bit Sephiroth?” Angeal asks pulling a training sword rather than the Buster. Cloud can’t help the smirk that crosses his face.  

“You say that like I’m a show off,” Cloud draws the Masamune, “you’ll be enough.” The battle that ensues of course wrecks the simulator, Angeal is breathing a little hard while Cloud is doing fine. Cloud has so throughly enjoyed the match its not until Sephiroth is shaking his head at the end as they head back to his room that he notices anything else.  

“You did well,” he says opening the door, “your easily held you own against Angeal, and you still did less damage to the simulator than I do when I spar with them.” Cloud snickers, so Sephiroth doesn’t hold back normally.  

“I’ll be able to handle any mission you need of me while we get my body back up to speed,” Cloud informs him, “years of training along with years of leading a team after you comes with some good experience in the field.” Sephiroth frowns, he’s more expressive as Cloud, its like he’s not hiding as much.  

“Good to know, I had an upcoming mission to clear out some monsters in Wutai,” Sephiroth says opening the door to his room, “I’m sending Zack with you.” Cloud chuckles at that, he imagines that Zack talked his ear off while Angeal and he were sparing.  

“A training mission for the Puppy?” He asks pulling off his boots. Sephiroth nods, and starts retrieving something out of a nearby cupboard, it’s sword oil and a cleaning cloth. He takes the offered materials and immediately starts into caring for the Masamune.  

“After any significant amount of use it should be looked over. I have never had a problem with Masamune since I received it, but it has managed to stretch out the life of some lesser quality blades I had before it,” Sephiroth comments. He watches Cloud care for his sword, the careful strokes and examinations, “You are very through in your work.” Which seems to be ‘I’m pleased with your work’ in Sephiroth’s native tongue.  

“I pretty much lived off first Tsurugi for years, I know how to care for a sword like its my life. Guns however, that’s Vincent’s department, he and Cerberus are something else,” Cloud says working his way across the sword gracefully, “he’ll probably worm his way back into the Turks for convince sake.”  

“He wouldn’t have to, if Tseng discovers any part of what happened and Valentine is still willing to serve he will happily accept him into the ranks and leave him to deal with us,” Sephiroth points out, “I don’t care much for the Turks, but Valentine seems to be more than tolerable.”  

“It helps that he’s your actual father not Hojo,” Cloud points out, “You should spend some time with him, I think it would help both of you heal.”  

“I’m not exactly looking for a father at this point in my life Cloud,” Sephiroth comments gesturing at his body, “I was a fully grown man. It does however lift quite a weight from my chest knowing I’m not related to Hojo, that he just claimed custody of me as a small child.” Cloud nods, and he knows that most of this will just take time. Time they now have thanks to Gaia’s strange idea of help.  

“If you need any help while I’m gone on the mission all you have to do is call and ask him. He’ll be there, no questions asked,” Cloud informs him as he finishes with Masamune letting it air dry for a few minutes. Sephiroth lets a small smile play across his face for the barest moment before it disappears.  

“I’ll consider it an option if Angeal is missing,” he responds, “I would ask one thing of you. If you happen to see Genesis over there send him back here, he’s MiA over in Wutai currently. Do not kill him, just…”  

“He’s your friend isn’t he?” Cloud asks watching the General, Sephiroth nods, “I’ll kick his ass, hogtie him, and bring him back. Would that be acceptable?”  

“Yes, all those things sound good,” Sephiroth’s smile reappears, and Cloud wonders exactly what leading to the JENOVA incident made this sane Sephiroth lose his mind.  

Zack Fair had been surprised when Sephiroth informed him he was going to be going on a trip to Wutai with him. Even more so when Director Lazard pulled him aside to give him a full debriefing. Angeal just shrugged it off saying it must be something important if both Genesis and Sephiroth were needed. Zack finds himself frowning at that. Common knowledge was that Silver General was friends with the Red General, what wasn’t so commonly known was that on Sephiroth’s side it was more like a friendly rivalry of strength and skill. In the beginning it was the same on Genesis’ as well. Until he lost several times… then it was just aggravation.  

Sephiroth put up with the Red General because he could spar with him, and together with Angeal they presented him with a challenge that most of SOLDIER couldn’t. Lately however was different. For the past three days Sephiroth had been acting odd, a little less cold and his sarcastic bite was mostly gone save for sarcastic wit. Zack believed it was Cadet Strife who treated him as just a man that caused the big changes in the Silver General, he also like to think he had a bit of a hand in it too.  

So here Zack was watching Sephiroth gaze out the window, he doesn’t look as serious as he does behind the big desk. Sephiroth is watching something, and Zack starts fiddling with his sword. This is his first big assignment, not just his first assignment with General Sephiroth.  

“You’ll do fine Zackary,” the baritone voice startles him out of his fidgeting.  

“Huh?” Zack sees Sephiroth turn his way, the blank face has a slight smile.  

“The mission report doesn’t always match ShinRa’s true objective, we are here looking for Genesis and his troops,” Sephiroth explains looking at him, “I am to bring him in, you get to deal with all the grunts.” Zack sighs, he wasn’t sure what to think, but it is good to know that Sephiroth believes in him.  

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” he responds, Sephiroth lets a small smile grace his face.  

“We’re here,” he announces, and Zack can see the way his muscles tense up. He doesn’t twitch like Zack does as their pilot, he thinks its Reno of the Turks, lands the helicopter. Sephiroth steps out as soon as the door opens, stretching out his muscles carefully before reaching for Masamune. Zack slides out, and salutes as the helicopter is gone before he can see the pilot. The Silver General looks around for a moment before striding forwards, Zack follows after him marveling how he manages to head straight for trouble.  

They find several weird looking troopers, and as Zack finishes downing them Sephiroth pulls off their helmets. He quirks a snowy eyebrow before pulling out his PHS, Zack can’t hear the person that answers.  

“We’ve got a problem,” Sephiroth’s voice is quiet, “his troops have been turned into copies of him. It reminds me of his work, but its not as polished.” He pauses and Zack can hear someone responding, but he can’t make out exactly who or what Sephiroth is talking to. “Acknowledged. Mission parameters will remain unchanged then. If anything else changes I’ll let you know.” Zack looks at him, Sephiroth frowns charging a fire Materia. He launches the spell at the troopers, and there’s nothing left when he’s done.  

“What was that about?” Zack asks, he wonders if Sephiroth will give him a straight answer.  

“Those men are the products of someone at ShinRa playing god. Messing with things they shouldn’t, they deserve to have some peace after what they went through,” Sephiroth answers, “It’s not the work of Hojo, its not polished enough.” Zack frowns now, he knew Hojo was evil.  

“So what are we going to do?” Zack asks.  

“We continue the mission, and I will need to interrogate Genesis. I find it unlikely he would be in the dark about someone making poor copies of him,” Sephiroth’s tone is flat until the part about poor copies. Genesis is a vain man, for him to know nothing would be strange, he’d also want to get to the bottom of it if he did know.  

Zack leads the way, they end up into the heart of Wutai, a place Sephiroth decimated years ago as a child general. Sephiroth bows respectfully and starts talking in well practiced Wutaian as they arrive. Godo, their leader as he introduces himself, seems highly amused at what he’s saying. Laughing hysterically at whatever the normally straightlaced General is saying. A young ninja is caught as she tries to make off with his Materia.   

“How can a Gaijin know our customs so thoroughly?” She complains wandering off.  

“She will one day be a great warrior that you will be immensely proud of Lord Godo,” Sephiroth comments, “she will also be a great pain to whomever has Materia.”  

“That she will General,” Godo laughs, “I shall send your order as requested, it shouldn’t take long to locate your ‘friend’.” Sephiroth nods and takes a seat gesturing for Zack to do the same.  

“I thought this was a secret mission?” Zack whispers as he sits cross legged while Sephiroth mimics the style the Wutaians are sitting in.  

“It is, but not from Lord Godo. His ninjas can scout the area and point us in an exact direction, then we can be out of his hair,” Sephiroth explains, “I have no intention of traipsing about this humid place if I don’t have to. Besides it gives him something to—“ Sephiroth abruptly stands up, hand on the hilt as Masamune has he heads for a door. “Zack.” It’s his commanding General voice, that one means to follow him.  

 The silver haired man walks purposefully down the halls, there’s a shriek from nearby, and he thrusts the door open with a little more force than necessary. Inside is the girl from earlier, several of the troopers, and two giant things that look like creepy living demon statues. Sephiroth doesn’t draw Masamune he darts in and scoops the girl up and out of the way. Zack watches him jump up into the top layers of the Pagoda. Zack charges in and takes out the troopers easily, but the two guardian demon statues are a different story.   

He hardly makes a dent in the first one when the second threatens to squish him from behind. Sephiroth jumps down to block its strike with Masamune, deflecting it off to the side with what looks like no effort. In the time it takes Zack to blink Sephiroth has sliced it’s head off then quartered the offending statue. He approaches the doorway, and Zack is busy dealing with the other statue so he misses whatever Sephiroth is doing outside. He joins him outside, Sephiroth watches and then raises an eyebrow as the Pagoda starts smoking before it collapses as he leaves it.  

“Not a word to Angeal,” Zack says before he groans. He can’t go anywhere without something trying to collapse on him.  

“Yuffie said they snuck in looking for the Leviathan summon. It’s not in that shrine though, it’s been lost since before the war,” Sephiroth informs him ignoring the smoldering pile of smoke and fire behind him. He pulls Masamune back out and charges another Materia. It takes Zack a moment to realize it’s a Blizzard Materia, he cast Blizzauga on the smoking pagoda before sheathing Masamune. “No sense in letting all of Wutai burn again.”  

Sephiroth finds himself fidgeting at his desk after Strife’s call, he’s about to pick up the phone when a strange man appears in his office. His ruby colored eyes lock on Sephiroth and he sits down on the far side taking in the room. Its then that Sephiroth notices him take his hand off the gun strapped to his right thigh. The actions all scream Turk, but he’s never seen a Turk with a red cape or that outfit before.  

“Are you Valentine?” He asks tilting his head in confusion.  

“Most of the time,” the man answers, his eyes flash gold and Sephiroth feels a shiver run down his spine, “I take it you trusted Cloud enough to let him go on a mission?”  

“Strife has proven capable of not making me look like an idiot, and there are missions to be completed,” Sephiroth answers watching him carefully, “I sent a SOLDIER 2nd class with him.”  

“You mean a babysitter?” Valentine leans forwards on his elbows. For such a tall man he has a very… nondescript presence. Its unsettling because it doesn’t set off his warning bells, but that aura just screams danger.  

“No, he is the one doing the babysitting. Zack is more like a puppy more than a SOLDIER,” Sephiroth comments, “what did you mean by most of the time?”  

“Sometimes Chaos is in control, other times Galian Beast. Most of the time its at my choosing, or rather prompting. Chaos however breaks free more often than the others,” Valentine answers honestly, “I came now because Chaos wanted to meet you right now.”  

“Why do you listen to the voices in your head?” Sephiroth finds himself asking before he can stop.  

“Because chocobo head he can’t stop all of us,” Valentine’s eyes are gold as he responds, and his tone is gravelly. “Strife encourages us to participate in his life with him, because otherwise Valentine will go mad.” It’s the demon Chaos talking to him, the one Strife warned him possesses the man.  

“You are Chaos,” Sephiroth states.  

“And you are Strife’s soul mate he’s been forced to kill twelve different times. Am I supposed to be impressed?” The demon asks leaning back, “Gaia isn’t sure if she hates you or pities you, and she tied her champion’s soul to yours in an attempt to keep you from destroying her again. If you attempt to destroy her again you will be killed at his hand again. Although for now it looks like Strife has the upper hand.”  

“So he’s the one I stabbed twelve times and gave me chocolate?” Sephiroth asks.  

“Yes, and he is still trying to save your miserable hide,” the possessed gunman answers with a terrifying smirk. Sephiroth can’t help but wonder just how much time Cloud’s spent in this man’s company. He acts more like this man than Sephiroth himself sometimes, but they are so close that it would probably take Sephiroth or Vincent himself to tell the difference. There’s a shrill noise that rings through the room. He answers the phone, and is surprised that the call is from Lazard.  

“We have a problem, General Hewley just left for Wutai,” the Director’s voice is tense. Sephiroth feels something in his chest tighten at that, he’s got a bad feeling about this. Like right before they were ambushed in Wutai years ago bad.  

“Get me over there, the Puppy and his chaperone are ill equipped to deal with that Director,” Sephiroth watches the expression on the Gunman’s face, the eyes are back to ruby colored.  

“I can’t do that, you’d need a Turk to take you, and last I knew you didn’t have one,”  Lazard sounds like he’s on the fence. Sephiroth puts it on speaker, and sets the phone in the cradle looking directly at Valentine.  

“We do have a Turk, a highly qualified one standing by right in front of me,” Sephiroth comments. Valentine raises an eyebrow at him, as if asking what he’s doing.  

“Unless you know something I don’t,” Valentine responds, “you only have an Ex-Turk in front of you. One that doesn’t necessary agree with Shin Ra or its policies.”  

“I’ll send Tseng your way,” the Director agrees before hanging up his phone.  

“We already discussed it, once Tseng knows you’re alive he’ll have you reinstated as a full Turk, retired or not. You would be exclusively working with Cloud and myself, seeing as I do not like the Turks or their agenda,” Sephiroth explains before grabbing Cloud’s beat up PHS. He shoots a message to him stating that the situation has changed and to apprehend both Hewley and Rhapsodos on sight, and to keep Zack alive.  

A quiet but firm knock at the outer door signals the arrival of Tseng. The Turk looks at the two of them carefully before shutting the door behind him, Valentine looks over the Wutaian man with equal parts distrust and respect before Tseng takes a seat at one of the chairs in front of Sephiroth’s desk. Sephiroth watches the whole interaction with amusement as the two Turks probably plan several ways to take each other out without moving, Valentine none to discretely pulls his three barreled pistol and checks to see that it is loaded. It surprises no one in that office that its ready to fire at the first person to cross him. Tseng is also eyeing the shiny gold gauntlet covering his other hand.  

“Director Lazard instructed me that there was something I needed to handle here in Sephiroth’s office? I thought the General was in Wutai,” Tseng looks questioningly at both of them, “You must be the cadet the General had assigned as his aide, Cadet Strife?” Sephiroth nods wearily, mostly because normal Cadets wouldn’t be suspicious of the Turks at this stage of the game.  

“Cloud Strife,” he offers a small salute, “and this is Vincent Valentine.” He gestures to Valentine who narrows his ruby eyes at Tseng. The Turk’s eyes widen at the name, and he makes his way over to Sephiroth’s desk, which Sephiroth moved aside just enough that Tseng can use his computer to look up Vincent’s name. He watches as Valentine’s Turk data starts spreading across the screen, the man was apparently a Turk legend and a ghost by the looks of it.  

The photo staring up at them from the screen was undoubtably the ruby eyed gunman, Tseng read through the reports as fast as he did before clicking on a link to a Grimore Valentine. The outfit the gunman was sporting was almost a twin to one his father had worn. Tseng, apparently satisfied with whatever he had found logged back out. He looked confused, and turned to face Vincent with an expectant look.  

“There are still whispers about you and where you disappeared to in the Turks,” Tseng says after a few minutes, “Rumor was that you got on the wrong side of Hojo and he made you disappear. Veld said they actually tried to find you for several months, but none of the ventures were successful.”  

“A rather hard thing to do when Hojo has you in a test tube,” Valentine remarks coldly, “what is it you intend to do? I will not go back to regular duty, not after what the Professor and his lackeys did to both me, and by extension my son.”  

“Your son?” Tseng raises an eyebrow, turning to look at Sephiroth who shakes his head.  

“General Sephiroth,” he offers, “Hojo shot me, experimented on me, then stole my unborn child and experimented on him.” Valentine’s eyes flash dangerously between a cold slate, crazed gold, and soul shattering ruby. Tseng frowns, and his eyes look very concerned, Sephiroth however feels he’s learned more just sitting here in the last hour than he has in the last few years.  

“If you are his biological father, who is…” Tseng looks so confused.  

“Doctor Lucretia Crescent, who attempted to save me by thrusting the ancient WEAPON Chaos into my chest,” Valentine answers, “I’ve hacked into your database, Hojo has erased Lucretia from every known part of his work so no one else would make the connection.”  

“Once a Turk always a Turk,” Tseng nods, “that wouldn’t surprise me at all, but do you have anyway to verify she existed?”  

“My father, Grimore Valentine worked with her for some time. Not only that her published thesis on the WEAPONS Omega and Chaos should still be somewhere in the database,” Valentine offers. Tseng types away, and sure enough a Thesis over fifty pages long referenced by several people pops up. The name Lucretia Crescent sited on each of them, Tseng walks around the desk and puts a hand to his chin.  

“I’ll be back in a moment,” Tseng says, leaving the two of them, as soon as the door shuts Valentine turns to him.  

“He’s calling Lazard,” Sephiroth guesses, “you’ll be reinstated, and then we  are going to Wutai to find Gaia’s champion and knock some sense into Angeal and Genesis.” Valentine doesn’t question it, he just watches his face. Tseng walks back in and turns to face Valentine. The two Turks share a stare for a moment before Tseng offers his hand to the gunman.  

“I am honored to meet you Mr. Valentine, as of this moment let me formally welcome you back into the Turks,” Tseng bows formally, “I am currently the active head of the Turks.” 

“What is it exactly you expect me to do?” Valentine asks with a raised eyebrow.  

“You’ll be working with General Sephiroth, mostly because he threatened to skewer Reno last time he came into here, and I need Rude to keep Reno in line elsewhere,” Tseng answers, “should the Professor take any further actions against you or do something you feel is against the General’s best interests please contact me. Our department has been looking for... an excuse if you will.” 

“Noted,” Valentine responds, and Tseng leaves giving a quick nod to Sephiroth. After the door to the outer office shuts, Valentine sits still waiting for something. There’s a distinct ding of the elevator, and after a moment he turns back to Sephiroth, “you and Cloud planned this didn’t you?” 

“Strife suspected, I knew it would happen if Lazard orchestrated it. Now if you don’t mind I need to gear up, we aren’t leaving Strife in Wutai alone to deal with both my friends. I begin to see why I might have lost my head the first time around,” Sephiroth responds. He pulls out the PHS, and texts Strife not to kill them, only to hold them for now. 

Zack sees Sephiroth flick open his PHS as it starts to beep, and sees the deep scowl settle in his features. That frown is usually a bad sign, he flips it closed and puts it away setting Masamune in its sheath. He wants to ask what’s wrong when Zack spots he believes are more Genesis copies. Sephiroth, seemingly more angry than he seemed to be, walks up and with a huge glare reels back and punches the trooper solidly in the nose. The next one is tossed bodily into a third trooper, and a fourth is kicked sideways into a tree head first. 

“You can deal with them,” Sephiroth growls out in a near hiss. Zack draws his sword, and almost feels bad fighting them. Especially when the one has a broken looking nose and the other looks like it has a conccusion from hitting the tree in that fashion. Sephiroth doesn’t stop to see if he takes up the challenge, and the troopers are easily dispatched after Sephiroth’s little display. He follows General Sephiroth’s trail of knocked out bodies deeper into Wutai, apparently he’s very angry, like just back from a science department appointment that went badly (which seems to be all of them with Hojo involved) angry.  

His PHS starts going off after a moment, and he calls the number back once he’s knocked out the copies properly. 

“Zack Fair,” he answers. 

“The General isn’t answering his phone, did he get my message?” Spikey’s voice sounds uneasy. 

“I would venture he got at least one of them, he’s punching his way through Genesis’s puppets right now,” Zack responds continuing to follow the trail that just got progressively more outlandish as went higher. He eventually reached a point where Sephiroth had ran out of clones and was punching the Red General in the face, repeatedly. “Did Genesis do something to further anger him by chance?” Cloud sighs on the other end saying something to a deep baritone next to him. 

“You could say that... Don’t let him kill General Rhapsodos,” Cloud instructs, “remind him that was not his orders.” Spikey hangs up on him, and he can vaguely hear the low noise of whatever Sephiroth is saying to the redhead. That is before he delivers one final punch that definitely broke his nose, then he starts hogtying the red general. 

“Do I want to know?” Zack asks watching the man throw the nearly unconscious man over his shoulder. 

“Not particularly, just know he deserved it. Did Cadet Strife call you?” Sephiroth asks flatly. 

“He said not to let you kill Genesis,” Zack informs him with a salute, “you appeared to have followed orders, but did you have to break his nose?” 

“Trust me when I say General Rhapsodos was deserving of far worse,” Sephiroth bounces him on this shoulder out of irritation, and the other General groans before Sephiroth drops him on the ground none too gently. He pulls out his PHS to call someone, the person on the other end answers almost instantly, “I have Rhapsodos in custody, he’s hogtied for pick up. Are you and Valentine on the way?” There’s chattering on the other end of the line again. Sephiroth looks to Zack then back at the Red General who starts to groan. 

“I may have broken his nose, other wise he’s mostly unharmed... besides the several punches to the face he received before I broke his nose,” Sephiroth responds flatly, “he’ll live this time. If they try deserting like this again you will not be able to bail them out, no matter how much their friendship matters to you.” He hangs up, crossing his arms and turning to Zack. 

“Genesis wasn’t the only one who decided to try and desert. Angeal also attempted to do so as well, ShinRa has sent Cadet Strife and a Turk to assist us in hunting him down,” Sephiroth finally reveals, “and if Angeal thinks lecturing me about honor in the face of desertion will change my mind... Genesis won’t be the only one with a broken nose.” They sit there and wait, Sephiroth is leaning against a tree and Zack is watching Genesis sit there like a kicked puppy. Sephiroth allowed a potion to be used on the Red General about an hour later, but the auburn haired man doesn’t dare move. He’s never seen Sephiroth stare at a person with so much... hate? 

“Sephiroth?” Angeal’s voice sounds hesitant, and Zack watches his mentor freeze as Sephiroth’s glare turns on him. He doesn’t draw Masamune, but he does lower his crossed arms. He looks ready to finish what he started earlier. Zack steps back from them and away from Genesis. 

“How dare you,” the Silver General growls, “how dare the both of you. I suggest you sit down before you join Genesis.” He gestures to the tied up Red General, and Angeal stares at him wide eyed. 

“You don’t understand,” Angeal raises his hands placatingly, but Sephiroth’s face remains etched in stone. 

“No, the ones who don’t understand are you two ignorant imbeciles,” Sephiroth growls, “do you have any idea what being told I have to hunt either of you two down does to me? Especially when I get the call from the Director that you two have deserted? Do you have any idea what losing you two means to me?” The Silver General gestures for him to sit, and this time there is no question about it being an order. 

“Sephiroth,” Angeal’s shoulders slump and he sits down placing his hands on his thighs. 

“Your judge is on their way, and you better hope your defense is good enough,” Sephiroth all but growls out. Even Zack has to gulp at the scary looking expression on the Silver General’s face.