Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Lifestream is like a river, flowing underneath the surface of the Planet. It is, in some ways, like the blood that flows through the human body, sustaining and protecting it. It bears life and is also the place where everything returns to after death. A never-ending circle of giving and taking. Some might have used it as a source of energy once, slowly draining the planet of its power and sucking it dry until the land became infertile. But this time was long gone and the Planet began to heal slowly. The Lifestream had, once again, become a place of rest, where the souls of the dead stayed until they were ready to move on and dissolve into the stream to be born again. It was, all in all, a very peaceful place.

It was, however, also very boring. And Zack would know, because he had been in there for about three years by now. It felt even longer, but he had asked Aerith about it just recently, so there was no mistaking it that he had been dead for three years now. Maybe even four, because he wasn't sure how long he had been in here before Aerith had showed up.

Seeing Aerith again had made him happy – Zack hadn't seen his girlfriend for years, of course he was happy – and sad at the same time because she was, well, dead. The circumstances of her death made it somehow worse because her killer had been his friend once or, well, the killer looked like his friend and was somehow controlled by him. It was complicated.

But they managed to get over this, saved the world and helped Cloud a few times when he was in trouble. Being dead kinda sucked, but as long as Zack could help his friend in some way, it wasn't too bad. Even if the help was just pep talk.

The time spans between world- and Cloud-threatening situations however were way too boring, Zack couldn't even do squats to distract himself because he had no body. The former SOLDIER was, just like the rest of the Lifestream, most of the time nothing more than a stream of consciousness, he was supposed to join the Lifestream someday, after all. Aerith kept reminding him of this, because it was apparently not healthy for him to cling onto his prior life for too long.

But Zack didn't really care. He couldn't just leave Aerith and Cloud alone again, right? She would feel lonely when she wasn't busy being the Planet's nurse or the dead's therapist and Cloud might need him if he got in trouble again. Zack was, of course, proud of his friend. He knew that the young man was a capable fighter and had finally found his well-deserved happiness – the future was looking better than ever for Cloud. But Zack had the nagging suspicion that Cloud attracted trouble like some kind of human magnet. Because of that he had decided that he would continue watching over Cloud, no matter what. He couldn't let this guy enter the Lifestream to early, right?

Yes, Zack had definitely found his purpose in the Lifestream, even if it wasn't as crucial as Aerith's. It was still boring though. It was a good thing that he had at least Angeal to counter this.

Angeal was, just like Zack, not ready to join the Lifestream. His self-deprecating thinking might have stopped after his death, but opened up space for feelings of guilt. Zack had told his old mentor more than once that he didn't hold grudges over Angeal basically using him to commit suicide and that it wasn't his fault that Sephiroth had snapped or Zack had died.

Angeal tried to get over it, Zack could tell as much, but it didn't seem to work. It didn't really help either that none of them had the slightest clue what Genesis was doing right now. The two men were pretty sure that the man was still alive, if only because it was probably not possible to miss the man in the Lifestream. They just didn't know what had happened after Zack left the man in Banora. One would think that Genesis would show up once Sephiroth comes back to life and starts a world-threatening rampage, but Genesis had missed it apparently. Twice.

The other issue was, of course, Sephiroth. The man's latest death had happened about a year ago, but the negative Lifestream with Sephiroth at its core, had not become much smaller, despite Aerith's efforts to heal the souls that formed it. Angeal had made it his duty to watch over this part of the Lifestream. It was, according to Aerith, a dangerous way to spend someone's time, because the negative feelings could draw you in, but Angeal insisted on it.

Hey Angeal. What's going on? Angeal was, once again, completely focused on the black threads of the negative Lifestream when Zack visited him. The threads were calm, which was unusual. Normally, they would try to disrupt the natural flow of the Lifestream as much as possible. Even the feeling of hate and destructive rage that it radiated had diminished.

It's been like this for some time now... That's a good sign, isn't it? That Aerith's efforts are starting to pay off? Angeal's voice sounded hopeful, of course it did. Ever since Aerith had found a way to heal the spirits that made up the black mass, there was this lingering hope that she could help Sephiroth. Angeal had still hope that his old friend was somewhere in there, that a part of the man has not been completely corrupted by Jenova's influence. That there was still something that could be healed.

I don't know, man. Last time he was that calm was, when he sent out his Remnants... That didn't end too well... Zack understood Angeal's feelings, but he had actually met Sephiroth after he had gone mad and he had seen what the man had done to Cloud and, in some way, Aerith. He just wasn't sure what to think about this Sephiroth.

You're right. Angeal sighed. Maybe that sudden disruption of the Lifestream just gave him something to think about.

That sudden disruption that Angeal was referring to, was the appearance and following destruction of Omega Weapon in Midgar that had happened just recently. Aerith had told Zack, that the Weapon wasn't supposed to be summoned, unless the Planet was close to destruction. Which it wasn't. It was a good thing that the Weapon had been destroyed before doing its job too early, but it left the Cetra worried. She had vanished shortly after and Zack hasn't seen her ever since.

Zack and Angeal watched the negative Lifestream for a while in silence, until a warm light engulfed the two men, a feeling that excited Zack, because it meant that Aerith wanted to talk. And not just that, it meant that he would have a body for at least a few moments. Oh yeah!

Just as Zack had anticipated, he was suddenly standing amid a vast field of flowers. Angeal was also standing next to him, looking exactly the same as the day he had deserted Shinra. Zack was maybe a little disappointed about the lack of wings.

Angeal looked at Zack, a bit confused what just happened. He didn't talk much to Aerith and wasn't used to the little illusion that she tended to create for Zack. The younger man just grinned, pointing towards Aerith, who was suddenly standing in front of them.

“Hey Aerith”, Zack greeted her with a wide smile. The girl was just as beautiful as ever and that pink dress really suited her. “where have you been this whole time? I've been missing you, you know!”

The girl giggled, putting a silly grin on Zack's face. “It's just been an hour, you know?”, she said and sat down between the flowers, her dress tucked neatly under her knees. The two men joined her despite Zack's sudden urge to do squats. “I've been talking to Minerva.”

“Minerva?” Zack pondered why he knew this name until he remembered it. “Right, that thing I fought in the Great Cavern of Wonders.”

Another soft laugh escaped Aerith. “'That thing'... Zack, that's so disrespectful. You're lucky she kinda likes you.”

“Of course she does, who wouldn't.” Aerith giggled even more, whereas Angeal sighed quietly.

“Well, I was talking to her about Omega Weapon and Chaos and she's worried. Those two were the last layer of protection the Lifestream had left. Loosing them is dangerous, especially because Jenova is still that active.”

“Didn't the Planet create the Weapons in the first place?”, Zack argued. “It should be able to do that again, right?”

“Under normal circumstances, of course. But the Planet is weakened after loosing so much of the Lifestream and the recent incidents. Regenerating a Weapon consumes a lot of energy, it might imbalance the circulation of the Lifestream.”

“I guess, the Planet is in a dilemma, then.”, Angeal said and Aerith nodded.

“Concentrating on the regeneration of even just one Weapon means, that fewer life will be born on Gaia, maybe even for years. The flow of the Lifestream will slow down, too, perhaps making it easier for Jenova to expand her influence on it. Neglecting the Weapons however means that the Planet is helpless in case of an emergency. It's like balancing high above the ground on a slim rope without any safety measures.”

“Does the Planet really need its Weapons though?”, Zack asked, earning a thoughtful look from Aerith. “I mean... isn't the real problem that those Weapons were defeated in the first place? Doesn't that mean that they weren't strong enough to protect the Planet from everything? Why would it risk such an imbalance just to resurrect Weapons that can't do their jobs?” He was, of course, implying that the Planet would have to rely on Cloud and his friends for the time being. They were the ones who destroyed the Weapons after all. But he was sure that Aerith knew that already.

“That's right, and also the reason why the Planet considers creating new Weapons instead. It seems like Minerva's already begun making the necessary preparations.”

“So they'd rather disrupt the Lifestream than having no Weapon?”

“That's... not it.”, Aerith said, an insecure look in her eyes. “It's apparently easier to turn a willing subject into a Weapon than creating one from scratch.”

“A willing subject?”, Zack repeated slowly, watching her caressing one of the flowers. “You're not going to volunteer, right?” She stopped stroking the petals immediately.

“Of course not, I'm way too busy for that and the Planet needs a living body anyway. Using a dead person wouldn't save any energy at all.” That was relieving. Zack couldn't imagine losing Aerith again. “They have already chosen their candidate, but I don't know who it is. She only said, that the person is not ready yet.”

“Could it be Cloud?” Angeal had never actually met Cloud, not counting the one time he had knocked him out in Modeoheim. But he had heard enough from Zack and Aerith to know about the man's strength. “You said it yourself, he's strong. He even managed to defeat Sephiroth.”

“Boy, I hope not. Cloud's gone through enough of this shit already.”

Aerith shrugged, she didn't look too happy about that possibility either. “It would make sense, wouldn't it? Cloud and Sephiroth would just start clashing again the moment he enters the Lifestream. Making him a Weapon would fix this problem.”

Zack frowned. He hadn't even thought about that. He had always believed that Cloud would live a long life, maybe have a few children, and they could maybe hang out in the Lifestream after that. He never considered how Sephiroth would react to this. Why did things have to be so damn complicated?

“Speaking of Sephiroth... The negative Lifestream has stopped moving a while ago. Do you have any idea why?”

“It calmed down?” Aerith tilted her head, closing in thought. “I wonder...”

“You don't know, then?”

“No. But it might be related to the other thing I wanted to tell you about. Minerva is a bit hard to read, but it seemed like there was something else on her mind. I asked her, but she wouldn't talk about it.”, the Cetra said, her voice sounding a bit distant like she was lost in thought. “I was under the impression that the Planet has even bigger plans than creating Weapons and the fact that it won't tell me, worries me a bit, to be honest. They never keep important things from me or the other Cetra. I wonder if it involves Sephiroth or Jenova.”

“Whatever it is, I guess, we'll wait and see, then...”

Chapter Text

It was quiet and dark when Genesis woke up. He couldn't see or hear anything at all, which was strange considering that he had enhanced senses. It took a while until he remembered where he was and why he was here.

“But... we are practically family. We are like brothers. You have to help us!”, the man with the white hair, Weiss, almost screamed after all his other persuasion tactics had failed, not knowing that these words just fueled Genesis' anger even more.

Family. The former SOLDIER's eyes narrowed at the thought and he almost spat the word back into Weiss' face. They weren't his family just because some scientist had thought it would be a good idea to steal his DNA and splice it into these people's. There was no familiarity between them; if anything, all he felt towards those people was disgust. Having been forced to create mindless copies for Hollander in an attempt to get a cure for his degradation had been one thing but this... It made his skin crawl.

The black haired one, called Nero, gave Genesis a look of pure hatred. Nero had clearly realized and accepted that the former First rejected the very thought of them being brothers. Which made him useless for the pair and as such disposable. It was probably just a matter of time until Nero acted according to that. Which meant that Genesis had to get away from them fast, since he didn't have his sword or Materia. They had probably taken it to prevent any bloodshed from Genesis' side. Didn't mean that they couldn't do anything to him, though, because they were clearly armed.

“Your problems do not concern me and I refuse to get involved into your little rebellion.”, was everything Genesis said to them. He had no intention to join their little family or being anywhere close to these men.

“Really?” Weiss had forced calmness back into his voice, but he still couldn't hide his anger completely. “So it doesn't concern you that we are just trying to do the same thing as you did all those years ago? Was that also just a little rebellion? We just want to be free. Is that really so hard to understand?”/p>

Of course Genesis understood. He wouldn't want to return to Shinra even if his life depended on it and he would gladly support everybody who could see through their lies. But he had also seen enough to know, that these men, the Tsviets as they called themselves, were beasts. They were monsters in disguise, tortured and broken, countless times, over and over until only hate and cruelty remained. Yet for all their viciousness they were still caged, held back by by the chains imposed by Shinra. Breaking those chains wouldn't appease the monster, it would just give the beast the chance to spread its hate even further. This was something Genesis now understood all too well.

Other than that, Genesis had also been terribly tired. Simply talking to the two men exhausted him more than it should have. Maybe it was an after-effect of his degradation or the healing process he was going through. His body probably just needed some rest after all those years.

“You cannot change my mind, no matter how hard you try. Gain your freedom yourself or not at all.” With this Genesis had left and thankfully the two men had not followed him.

Right. I left to look for a quiet place to sleep for a bit. Genesis remembered now and started to stir before freezing in confusion. Every movement felt strange, like he was in some sort of jelly or soft, but still solid material. What is this?

The man thought about what else had happened after leaving the men. When he had found a nice place – well, as nice as some place in some humid caverns could be, but he wasn't picky anymore – he had wrapped himself into his black wing and went to sleep. Genesis was a bit surprised that he still had the extra limb even after the degradation was healed, but that explained why everything around him was dark. Black feathers right in front of his eyes. Of course. Was there anything else he had forgotten? This sleepiness be damned!

Maybe I should just stay here until the planet needs me. Angeal and Sephiroth aren't here anymore, so I'm the only one of us left who can do this.

Genesis' breath stopped for a moment. That had been his last thought right before he had drifted into slumber. He... couldn't have sealed himself in this thing, right? He didn't even carry any Materia with him, even if there was any Materia that would do such a thing. Although... he did have wings because of Hollander's experiments and some other abilities that were a result of the Jenova cells in his body. Maybe there were still other powers Genesis hadn't discovered yet?

Or maybe... No. probably not. He should not think to highly of himself. Sure, he had seen the Goddess ind the Lifestream, but the look she gave him wasn't one of approval, but rather disappointment. Genesis hadn't deserved anything special from her yet, he knew that much. He would have to change that. Maybe he could start with cooling his temper a bit. Acting a bit more dignified at times. It wasn't everyday one was given a second chance in life and a little bit restraint might help him restoring his honor as SOLDIER.

Genesis winced as a memory stirred deep inside at this thought, but he shoved it back. Now was not the time to dwell on such things. Instead he started to retract his wing carefully, because Genesis didn't know how this gooey material reacted to sudden movements. It seemed to adjust its form to any movement to envelop him perfectly, so moving was probably fine, but he couldn't be too certain about this. He had started to like his wing after all.

The jelly around Genesis was almost transparent, like milky glass. Without the wing blocking his sight, Genesis was perfectly able to see the cave he had chosen as his hiding place. Surprisingly, the cavern was brightly lit by beams of moonlight coming through a giant hole in the ceiling of the cave. Genesis couldn't remember it being there before, so something must have destroyed the ceiling while he had been asleep.

One wide beam of light managed to reach the ground of the cave and right there, on a rock in the middle of a giant puddle, lay a person who Genesis recognized almost immediately as Weiss, the white haired brother.

Weiss didn't move at all, from Genesis' current perspective was no way to tell, if he was still breathing, although the guy was probably alive. He certainly hadn't looked like somebody who died easily. That however made Genesis frown.

It was strange enough that the ceiling of the cave had given in without waking Genesis. An unconscious Weiss however implicated that there had been some kind of fight, especially since his brother didn't seem to be nearby. During the few hours they've spent together, Nero had followed Weiss around like a shadow, didn't even stop looking at him except the few times he had shot Genesis some of his glares. Taking out both brothers couldn't have been easy, so the opponent must have been strong. The broken ceiling reinforced this suspicion further.

How did Genesis even manage to sleep during... whatever the hell had happened? Was it this sphere he was in? Maybe he should be grateful that he had been in this kind of protective cocoon all this time...

Yes, maybe he should really be grateful. But not right now. Right now all he wanted was to get out of it, since the tight embrace of this... thing started to feel really uncomfortable.

Genesis raised his right hand slowly. Maybe he could just wade through it? Or concentrate on it like casting a spell?

Before Genesis did anything however, his cocoon started to pulsate, making him flinch. It started to glow in a milky light and sparks of electricity were gathering around it. The sparks vanished before the cocoon emitted a blinding light and finally exploded with a mighty shock wave, setting Genesis free.

Genesis caught his breath as he knelt on the ground. After that he was pretty sure that this cocoon was not his. It had released him completely on his own, just because he wanted out. No magic had been drained from him.

Which left the other possibility. Maybe the goddess he had seen after his fight against Zack had accepted his vow? And now... Was it time to fulfill his duty as protector of the Planet? Was that the reason why he woke up just now? The thought made Genesis' heart beat faster. This really might be the chance to prove his worth after all the pain and destruction, to restore his honor...

The former SOLDIER took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

There was no telling if this was the work of the goddess and even if it was, why he had woke up right now, after something interesting had happened right in front of him. He shouldn't jump to any conclusions. Genesis stayed put for a few seconds until his racing heartbeat had slowed down.

Genesis stood up slowly as he pondered his next move. He didn't know anything about what had happened while he was asleep, didn't even know how long he had slept. It couldn't have been that long despite the fact that he had missed a fight. That was Weiss after all and Genesis didn't feel older either. It was probably just a few days.

...maybe he should just ask the man in front of him, once he was awake? Yes, that was probably a good start.

Genesis approached the unconscious man cautiously. He didn't want to startle the man in case he woke up right in this moment. Weiss however didn't react, even when Genesis knelt down and lifted his body carefully. The man was barely breathing and cold as ice, but still alive.

The former SOLDIER looked upon the sky above them. The hole was big enough, he could fly through it and carrying another person wouldn't be a problem either. Genesis already felt way better than he had ever since his body had started to degrade. The moon was full, so spotting him would be quite easy, Genesis couldn't hear anything suspicious, so there were probably no people around. Hopefully leaving now wouldn't attract too much attention since staying in this hole was really no option.

“It is not yet time for slumber.”, Genesis said even if the other man couldn't hear him. He was aware of the irony of his situation and just couldn't help making it sound more dramatic than he would have otherwise. “We still have much to do, my brother.” He also added the last two words mockingly as he remembered their previous conversation.

This man could never be his brother, no matter what Weiss said or the genetics they shared thanks to a few scientists. The only person he could call something like this was long gone. But that didn't mean that they couldn't be of use for each other.

Genesis felt excitement growing inside of him as he spread his single wing. It seemed like an eternity since he had felt this good, without the burden of his degradation. He was finally free of it and the only thing he would have to care about at the moment was Shinra. He simply couldn't wait to regain his life after all this agony.

This excitement however died quickly when he took off and suddenly realized where he had been this whole time.

Midgar.

Genesis almost dropped Weiss' lifeless body when he saw the ruins of a once bustling city. The plates had fallen to the ground, buildings were torn apart.. The only reason he recognized Midgar in this state was, because the building of Shinra Headquarters was still looming over the debris despite missing parts of its facade.

Genesis' chest grew tight as he soared over the remains of his former home. This city had been bigger than any other settlement on this planet despite being only about thirty years old. So many people had lived and worked here. Everything was destroyed. What had happened? What could possibly destroy a city like this and how did he not notice anything while sleeping right below?

Chapter Text

The Turks tended to check on the old Shinra Headquarters and the other facilities once in a while, because there was still valuable and – in some cases – dangerous equipment left, that they haven't been able to recover as of yet. They had to know if everything was still in place and act quickly if it wasn't the case. Most of the time one, of the four visited the important places by helicopter, but Tseng had decided to walk this time. That way he wouldn't alert any remaining Deepground troops and could track them down if necessary.

Heavy silence dominated the city's ruins as always, only to be broken by falling rubble and the distant cries of monsters that roamed the ruins. Even Tseng's own steps were shockingly loud in comparison. The ground was also undisturbed, no heavy combat boots had left any prints on it and there were no other signs of battle to be seen. This part of the city seemingly hadn't seen any big fight or troops movements in a while and Tseng was reassured. That was, until the Turk noticed two rats scampering around a pile of rubble.

Rats in Midgar weren't unthinkable per se, of course. Their Mako tolerance was relatively high and they didn't live long enough to suffer severe mutations from the permanent exposure. What really struck him as odd was the fact that he saw them at all. Nowadays Midgar's rats were rarer and they tended to stay underneath the rubble where the bigger monsters couldn't reach them. Unless there was a dead animal or any other food source nearby - there had to be something of interest for them to cross his path like this.

This had piqued Tseng's interest and he climbed over the debris to check whatever had attracted the rats. He was surprised to find the corpse of a Bat Eye, already starting to dissolve into the Lifestream. A few rats fled with loud squeaks as the Turk jumped down to inspect it.

The Bat Eye had been killed with two sword slashes, one of them had only severed its left wing. The person was probably right handed, then. The second strike had probably been the killing blow, since the cut covered the monster's whole body, it ran right across the giant eyeball. It also wasn't just a long cut, the wound seemed to be quite deep, maybe too deep for somebody without Mako enhancements. A Soldier?

Tseng mentally checked all remaining Soldiers he knew about. There weren't many of them left, many had died during the Wutai-, Genesis- and Jenova War, Meteorfall and the following destruction of Midgar. They were the first ones to suffer from Geostigma and the Deepground Crisis lowered their numbers further since they had been the biggest threat to the Tsviets.

How many were left? There was this one survivor that had settled down in Costa del Sol, another one in the Icicle Area. The other few still lived in Junon. Not a single one of them was even close to Midgar or had any reason to be here and kill random monsters. There have also been a few enhanced Deepground members, but those preferred guns as far as Tseng knew. They wouldn't use a blade to kill a flying creature at the very least.

That left Cloud, but the man could easily cut monsters in half with that sword of his. Not to mention that he didn't enter Midgar unless he visited Aerith's church to tend to the flowers. No, this place was too far away from the building to be of any interest for Cloud.

There was also this other odd detail: The left wing, the severed one, was lying under the right one, as if the body had been tossed on it. There was a slim chance that the dead monster had been falling behind the pile of rocks, but right on its missing wing? No, this looked like somebody had tried to hide the body behind the debris until it dissolved. And that was very suspicious.

The corpse was already halfway gone when Tseng stood up and took a step away from it. The Shinra Company might have been finished, but many of its secrets were still buried in the remains of the city. There was the possibility that an unknown individual was trying to dig out a few of these secrets and Tseng wouldn't allow that.

He wouldn't be able to do anything on his own, though. The city was big and the Bat Eye had been killed at least one or two hours ago, the culprit was long gone by now. Tseng took out his PHS and it didn't take long until he heard Reno's voice on the other side of the line.

“Yo, boss, how's Midgar today?” Tseng chose to ignore the question.

“Reno, I need you and Rude in Sector 2, I will send you my coordinates. Take Elena with you, too, if Rufus doesn't need her assistance today. Come as fast as possible, I will tell you the details once you are here.”

***

Three days after his find in Midgar, Tseng was sitting alone in the Turks' office. He had given the other Turks the rest of the day off to recover and Rufus was working in his own office. In short, it was the perfect opportunity to think about the mysterious stranger they had been looking for the last few days.

Tseng poured himself a cup of coffee as he opened the map of Midgar on his PC in which he had marked their investigation's progress.

The Turks had searched several parts of the city, mainly in the Sectors 0 up to 3, but they hadn't managed to find any more clues about the person that roamed the empty Midgar streets. Except for another dead monster, another Bat Eye to be exact. This time they had found it in Sector 1 and it had been stabbed right through its giant eye. Once again, the stranger had tried to hide the body and there were no other signs of battle. No bullets, no marks of offensive magic. They even seemed to avoid leaving behind footprints.

Hiding the body seemed like an odd decision and it became even stranger the more Tseng thought about it. Why did they go this far? Monsters quickly joined the Lifestream after their death and after a few hours there was nothing of them left, almost as if they never existed in the first place. Midgar was an empty and hostile environment, the risk of somebody finding the bodies was very low, there was really no need to hide it even if they were persecuted by somebody. Really, anybody who was able to tolerate the Mako was safe within the city, there were no further safety measures needed.

Although... it was also strange that they had even found those two bodies, it meant that the Turks had just barely missed the person two times. What were the odds of that happening in a city like Midgar?

For a brief moment, Tseng thought that the stranger might actually follow the Turks' search patterns, but he dismissed the idea quickly. The corpses might have been hidden, but not good enough if the stranger expected anybody to look for them. Tseng also doubted that they were deliberately placed so that the Turks stumbled upon them. He had only found the first one thanks to the rats crossing his path. Nobody could plan that. As unlikely as it was, the stranger probably didn't know about the Turks' search.

Why hide it then, when it was so unnecessary? Was it just out of habit?

That would of course mean that the stranger was not one of the Soldiers that Tseng knew about, but somebody who had deserted Shinra before its downfall. There had been Soldiers that had left the company, especially during the Wutai War, and to this day nobody could tell for sure, how many men had died on the front, deserted on their own or left with Genesis. How many of these men were still alive was a completely different question.

It would have been really interesting to look at the list of deserters and missing members of SOLDIER, to see which of them had showed up after Shinra's downfall and what they were doing right now. That might help his investigation. It was too bad that Diamond Weapon had destroyed the server room of SOLDIER three years ago and nobody in the department had thought about storing back up saves at another location. Tseng would have to take a look at the remaining files from the Turks' department and see what he could restore from them.

But even if they were deserters, why would the stranger hide in the ruins of Midgar? They must have lived under a rock to miss Shinra's downfall, without any contact to the other surviving Soldiers. Those people knew that Rufus couldn't force the surviving Soldiers to work for him or punish them for abandoning the company, even if he wanted to. These men would gladly tell their fellow Soldiers that they were safe now.

Or was this person really plotting something against Shinra? Tseng zoomed in to focus on the more important parts of the map. The first corpse had been in Sector two, close to Sector 3 and not too far from the center, while the second one had been at the outer edge of Sector 1. It almost looked like the stranger had come from Edge with the Shinra Tower as his destination. But why would he go north after that? There was nothing there but the sea. No, that didn't make sense either. The stranger was probably still in Midgar, hiding from something.

The Turk let out a quiet sigh and leaned back in his chair. He had way too little evidence to support any of his theories. It was outright frustrating and yet Tseng had to admit that this search wasn't going anywhere. They were just four people with other duties than searching for a phantom in the streets of the biggest ruins on Gaia. Being exposed to that much Mako wasn't healthy either, Reno had already complained about headaches. The risk of negative effects was getting too high and he couldn't continue like that.

The Turk downed his coffee, took his PHS and dialed the familiar number of Reeve Tuesti. The two men didn't work for the same company anymore, but that didn't mean that they wouldn't work together on problems like this.

It took a few seconds, but the leader of the WRO eventually answered the phone with a slightly absent “WRO Headquarters, Tuesti speaking.”

“Am I interrupting?” Reeve answering a call like this was a safe sign that he was working on something. Probably a large pile of papers.

“Oh, Tseng!” He sounded a bit surprised and Tseng could indeed hear the rustling of paper on the other end of the line. “Not really, I was just reading through this application that I found buried under all the other papers. I'm afraid I've completely missed it during the trouble with Deepground and the current renovations... But you probably know about this, don't you?”

You probably know about this? Tseng blinked slightly baffled. Why... Oh, I see.

“One of the Soldiers has put in an application to the WRO?”

“It seems like it, a former Second Class. I hope you're not calling me because Rufus makes objections to us hiring former Soldiers?”

“No. You wouldn't listen to him anyway.” Tseng thought that he heard a light chuckle from the other man, but it might have been just his imagination. “These are good men, you would be a fool not to hire him.”

Reeve hummed approvingly. “Why are you calling, then?”

“You don't have any men in Midgar, do you?”

“Right now? No. Why do you ask?”

“Well, we've stumbled upon something interesting in Midgar and I thought, you'd want to know about it.” Tseng then told Reeve everything that they had found out about the mysterious stranger in Midgar and about his suspicions. Reeve on the other hand listened attentively, only interrupting him to ask a few quick questions.

“This is indeed interesting. A rogue Soldier in the Midgar ruins...” Tseng gave the other man a minute to let the news sink in and to let him form his own opinion on the matter. “Does Rufus have any plans with him?”

“The usual if it turns out to be a Soldier. He hasn't decided on other cases yet, it largely depends on the stranger's intentions.”

“I see. Is it okay if I tell Cloud and the others? I'm sure he will keep his eyes open once Vincent's back.”

“Of course.” Tseng wasn't very keen on involving Avalanche in this matter, but Cloud Strife and especially Vincent Valentine would be invaluable in the city's ruins. Finding this phantom with their assistance would be much easier and that's what mattered in the end.

Chapter Text

Several days after his awakening, Genesis was still roaming the empty streets of Midgar and calling him frustrated was, by all means, a massive understatement. There were just too many problems at hand not to be. Like the fact that he sill had no good sword, only the one he had found in some kind of shop that didn't really look like it could handle Soldier-strength well. Or that the only Materia he had discovered in the ruins were a Restore and a Sense Materia. They had their uses, but Genesis would have preferred something more offensive. Heck, he couldn't even use the special abilities he had gotten from the Jenova cells because the marks that they left were too special and would probably draw unwanted attention. Flying was out of question for the same reason.

And that were just the minor problems at hand. That and the fact that those flying abominations with more eye than brain wouldn't stop attacking him on sight every single time. Oh, and being ambushed by a damn house? In the middle of Midgar's ruins, completely devoid of any human life? That wasn't just annoying, it was downright insulting!

“What the hell are you even doing here?” Genesis growled as he hit the stone-like skin of the Hell House with his sword, barely leaving more than scratches. Oh, how much he had loathed fighting those things as a Third. They took way too little damage from normal swords. “There are no people around and even if there were, nobody is actually dumb enough to get fooled by you!”

That stupid thing obviously didn't care and exploded after a series of slashes, revealing its four legs, three arms and a slightly disturbing skull-like head. Goddess, he hoped that none of these nosy Turks were close enough to hear the noise it made.

With the head exposed like this, the rest was fortunately rather easy. Genesis jumped onto it and used all his strength to drive his sword deep into the thick skull, making just a few sidesteps to avoid the flailing arms of the monster. It didn't take long until it trembled and finally collapsed. Only then did the former Soldier pull out his blade, careful not to damage the blade any further than it already was.

Damn house. I wish I could have just burned you to the ground.

Genesis looked around vigilantly, scanning his surroundings for any signs of witnesses. There were no suspicious sounds or movements, so he was probably safe this time, but he decided that it was for the best to head back to his hideout. The explosion had been pretty loud and he couldn't really hide a house sized monster from Turks if they were indeed nearby.

The Turks... Genesis sighed as he left the corpse to dissolve. When the former First had seen the city in ruins, he had hoped that Shinra had fallen with it. But no, he had seen one of the black suits right on his second day, when he had set out to explore Sector 3.

It was probably coincidence, Shinra couldn't possibly know that Genesis was back in the city. But after that the former Soldier made sure to stay away from the Shinra Tower, Sector 3 and also Sector 4 for good measure. The Headquarters might contain valuable supplies, but it just wasn't worth the trouble. Turks were like cockroaches – if you saw one, there were probably more somewhere. They were equally persistent, too, so he certainly wouldn't risk anything.

And as if that wasn't bad enough already, Genesis had not only seen a Turk, but also a Soldier. And not only a Soldier, a First Class on top of that. What were the odds of that?

He had been looking around at Sector 5 when he had suddenly spotted the man heading towards the – surprisingly still standing – old church. Genesis had been too far away to recognize the man, but the black clothes and confident posture were a dead giveaway that this man meant trouble. Not wanting to risk any confrontation he had backed off quietly, careful not to alert the other man to his presence.

Which meant that Genesis now had to avoid four sectors if he wanted to minimize his chances of running into Shinra personnel. He was, of course, used to hiding by now. He had been hiding from Shinra for years. Hiding not only himself but also a comatose man was something new however. And yes, Weiss was still unresponsive.

Genesis huffed as he slipped through an opening between two giant metal plates and kicked a head-sized rock out of his way. He hadn't calmed down enough from the Hell House to think about that problem.

Thanks to the sight of the Turk and the Soldier, Genesis was now constantly on edge and had started to move Weiss' hideout every day. Unfortunately, finding good spots had proven to be rather difficult because it shouldn't be infested by rats or monsters – he certainly didn't want his patient to be eaten while he was gone – and it shouldn't be in danger of collapsing either. That wasn't a trait shared by many buildings of the devastated city, obviously.

Yet another problem was getting necessary resources like water. Most water sources turned out to be polluted by Mako, probably an aftermath of the destroyed Mako Reactors that he had noticed. It wasn't bad enough to poison somebody who was used to Mako in his blood. The pollution might not harm Weiss, but he certainly wouldn't risk any Mako induced mutations if he could avoid them, so he ignored everything with Mako in it. There was clean water, he just had to find it.

The search for those hideouts was one of the reasons why Genesis spent most of his time scouting the ruins when he wasn't sleeping or caring for the other man. But it also kept Genesis and his mind busy and he even found some supplies like the sword and Materia. The black cloak that he was wearing had also been a surprising find and he appreciated it, as his red coat wasn't the most inconspicuous attire.

When Genesis finally arrived at his hideout, he checked once again if anybody had followed him. He had taken a complex route back and hadn't heard any steps, but one couldn't be too cautious with the Turks. The only thing that he saw were a few Deenglows that were sunbathing and actually smart enough to kept a proper distance. Content with that, Genesis entered the building in which he kept Weiss hidden.

The room in which he had left the man was on the top floor of the building, the only window was boarded up, letting only a few beams of light into the room. It wasn't comfortable, but the place was safe and he would hear any visitors long before they could spot him. There Weiss was leaning against one of the walls, wrapped into another cloak that he had found.

Genesis sat down next to the unconscious Tsviet and equipped the Sense and Restore Materia that he had collected before. “Well then, let's see how you are today.”

The picture that the Sense showed was disappointing, it told him the exact same thing as last time. The man was not knocked out and didn't suffer from any of the common status effects, which meant that it was nothing that a Phoenix Down or an Esuna Spell could heal. Granted, he didn't have one of those at hand right now, but that didn't make it less of a problem.

“You don't make this easy for me, do you?” Genesis mumbled and started to cast Curaga repeatedly, fully expecting that it wouldn't change anything. He had done this so often that he couldn't even restore his Mana completely by just sleeping anymore. And yet it hadn't changed a thing until now.

Genesis wasn't an expert on the medical field, but he knew that healing magic could cure anything if given enough time. Sometimes it was a matter of strengthening the patient's body with long term treatment. Even bad cases started to get better after a few days of intense care. Weiss however didn't show any change at all, no matter how often Genesis depleted his Mana while trying to heal the man. He didn't get better, he didn't get worse. Just stayed in this half dead state.

In some way, the fact that this illness couldn't be healed reminded Genesis painfully of his own degradation. But degradation at least killed you someday and you were free to do whatever you wanted until then. Weiss was just lying around, probably only kept alive by his Mako enhancements. That might be even worse than degradation.

The former Soldier took a deep breath and cast one last Curaga before his Mana was spent once again. He dreaded checking for any changes. He didn't want to realize that he had wasted even more time and effort on a pointless task. When he finally looked at the man, the result was sobering.

He had accomplished... nothing.

That had changed absolutely nothing at all.

Wait... something had changed. Genesis stared at the bangle on his wrist where the Restore Materia started to give birth to another green orb.

He had actually managed to master his Restore. A completely unleveled Materia. Mastered in mere days. By doing basically nothing of use.

Genesis jumped on his feet, cursing furiously. He was sick of this. Sick of playing nurse, sick of fighting low-level monsters with this poor excuse of a weapon, sick of hiding from Shinra. But most of all he was sick of wasting his time like this. He should go out there and do something, do anything other than this. He had already spent years of his life in hiding because of his darn degradation, had lost everything to it and now he should do the same damn thing again because of this man?

Why?

Did this planet despise him so much? Had he been healed from degradation just to fail at anything else he did? To live as a hunted man in a destroyed city without anything left? Did he have to bow to yet another mysterious sickness that couldn't be healed? Or go out and hope that he wouldn't run into Shinra and get killed immediately?

You've only cured me because you wanted me out of the Lifestream, isn't that right?

Genesis' chest tightened at this thought and he cursed even more. He was just some kind of monster with alien cells in it. Why would the Lifestream accept something like him?

Genesis paced through the small room, ranting about everything and nothing at the same time until he couldn't resist the temptation anymore and started kicking the wall out of frustration. He regretted the violent outburst immediately, because it made a hole into it and parts of the ceiling plaster fell down. But it distracted him long enough to realize what he was doing.

Why would the Lifestream accept something like me? Genesis couldn't believe what he had thought about just now. Was that... really how he felt? He had seen the Goddess in the Lifestream and she had sent him back, sure. But that just meant that he still had to prove himself, nothing else. She wouldn't have appeared otherwise, right? Also, what was he thinking, losing his composure like this in enemy territory?

Genesis took a deep breath and slumped down at the wall, one hand subconsciously reaching for his pocket, before he remembered that the thing he was searching for wasn't there anymore. He instead buried his face into his hands and started to take deep breaths.

For a little while he just sat there, focusing on his breath while trying to ignore the fact that his whole body was shaking out of pure rage. He could feel his blood boiling with anger and it took all of his willpower not to jump up again. It was as if something deep inside of him wanted to break free and lay the world in ashes. To cause destruction until nothing remained. Genesis knew this feeling all too well, he had felt it countless times while he had been degrading, but it had never been so clear and disturbing to him.

It made him think. Had that burning rage always been a part of him? Or was it a result of his degradation? He didn't have much reason to control his anger during that time since it had been better than wallowing in self-pity. It had been a good drive for antagonizing Shinra, too. But now? He thought it was over. He didn't need it anymore, but it was still there.

Why was it still there?

Genesis' whole body tensed up and his nails started to dig into his skin, but he barely felt it. He was too absorbed into his thoughts.

Would he still have to suffer the repercussions of his degradation? Because he had forgotten how to handle his rage? Just because this hack Hollander...

Calm. Down.

Genesis relaxed his fingers again and took another deep breath to suppress the flaring rage inside of him. He shouldn't think about this man. He was dead and Genesis' degradation healed. He just needed some time to adjust to the new situation, that's all. He would learn how to deal with his feeling.

Just... focus on breathing.

The former Soldier sat there for another minute or so, concentrating on his own breath, but he didn't feel better. If anything it seemed to get worse, as if doing nothing just fueled it even more.

It was hopeless. There was just one more thing he could do to calm himself. He didn't even care anymore if anybody was nearby and could hear him – his outrage earlier would have alerted them anyway. He needed this or he would start to tear down this building.

“When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end...”

It took the entirety of Loveless, but Genesis finally started to calm down enough so he didn't feel like punching holes in walls. It would do for now, even if the rage wasn't completely gone. Still, he had to do something against this problem or an outburst like this would just happen again.

The former Soldier wrapped himself into his cloak and shifted into a position that was more comfortable. He needed some hours of sleep after this, but his mind was still racing.

Maybe he should leave the city? Walking through the ruins of Midgar wasn't the most encouraging thing to do. Genesis didn't look forward to leaving the safety of it, especially since he didn't know what had destroyed it in the first place, but it wasn't as if he could stay forever. The lack of edible food would force him out in a few days anyway. And the change might help Weiss recover from his mysterious sickness, who knew? It was worth a try, he just had to be careful.

Genesis nodded to himself. Leaving the city was probably for the best. He could leave after sunset and head towards Kalm. That town wasn't big, but the people there had never actually cared about travelers. Hopefully that hadn't changed. He could think about his next steps there, catch up on what had happened...

The man took one last look at Weiss to check if there was any change. There wasn't, of course, but Genesis really had not expected anything. He sighed and prepared himself mentally to waste even more Mana on the man when he woke up next time.

“Just you wait, I'm not giving you up that easily.”

***

Just a few days after Tseng had informed Reeve about the stranger roaming Midgar, Rufus decided to pay a – how he called it – 'courtesy visit' to the leader of the WRO with Tseng as his bodyguard. According to Rufus he just wanted to discuss a few overlapping projects of his new company and the WRO. To be fair, they did have a productive conversation about exactly that plus other inconsequential topics that wouldn't harm either organization. For somebody who knew Rufus as well as Tseng, however, it was obvious that he visited for other reasons.

Rufus and Reeve were talking about the situation in Kalm when Reeve's phone suddenly started to ring. “A call from Vincent. He's been looking into Tseng's problem in Midgar,” Reeve said surprised when looked at the display of his PHS. It couldn't have been long since he had told Vincent about the person. “May I...?”

“Of course.” A slight smirk had formed on Rufus' face, more or less confirming Tseng's suspicion. One could only wonder if the man had somehow predicted the fast success or if the perfect timing was just due to one of Rufus' lucky guesses.

“Hello Vincent,” Reeve said as he answered the call. “I have to admit that I didn't expect you to call so soon.” The other man said something on the other end of the line, but Tseng couldn't quite catch it. “A Hell House? No wonder you found him.”

Hell Houses had become quite rare after Meteorfall, but they could still be found occasionally and they were as aggressive as ever. Picking up the noise of their explosions would be easy for somebody like Vincent, even if it was quite far away. Unfortunate for the stranger, but definitely good for them.

“Tseng and Rufus are currently in my office, can you tell us what you've found out?” Vincent said something else before Reeve put the phone on speaker.

“I might have found the person that you're looking for, Tseng. Male and, judging by the way he moves, most likely enhanced. Didn't seem to be exhausted after the fight against the Hell House, but rather upset because it might have drawn attention.”

“I see.” That reinforced Tseng's suspicion that the man was hiding from somebody or something. “What can you tell me about his appearance and weapons?”

“He wears a black cloak that hides his face and clothes, but he seems to wear a red coat under it.” Tseng frowned. A red coat? That sparked unpleasant memories, but he wouldn't jump to any conclusions. “He's using a simple one-handed sword, but it's in a bad shape, I don't think it's his own. No Materia equipped as far as I can tell.” The wrinkles on the Turk's forehead grew even deeper. It was relieving that the blade wasn't red, but any capable swordsman took care of his weapon, especially if he planned to hide in monster infested ruins. Had he just picked it up in the ruins?

“Was there anything else suspicions, Vincent?” Tseng asked. “I suppose, you've followed him to his hideout?”

An affirmative grunt could be heard from the other end of the phone. “He's behaving strange, to say the least. He was quite cautious on his way back, but then started raging in his hideout. Not sure why. After that he started reciting poetry. Loveless, I think.”

Loveless. A cold shiver ran down his spine. That... How was this even possible? He knew only one person who would start quoting Loveless out of nowhere and they hadn't heard about him for years. Could he be really back? In Midgar of all places?

“Are you sure about that?”

“I haven't read or seen it in decades, but I remember enough to recognize it. Does that ring a bell?”

'Ring a bell' was barely the right expression for the memories that surfaced almost as clear as if they had happened just yesterday. His first mission with Zack Fair, Banora, the graves of his two colleagues. He could almost feel the heat of the Firaga spell on his skin. That mission in Banora had burned itself into Tseng's mind.

“...Tseng?”

The Turk shook his head to clear his mind. He needed to focus.

“I apologize, hearing this was just a surprise.”

“I just said that I vaguely remember that one of the Soldiers was obsessed by Loveless,” Rufus said, one brow raised questioning. “Had quite a following in the population. What was it again... Genesis?”

“Genesis Rhapsodos, sir,” Tseng confirmed, having regained his composure for the most part. “A former First Class, deserted during the Wutai War.”

“Oh, right. I remember. One of my father's many avoidable problems.” Just for a second, a little smirk crept on Rufus' face. It quickly vanished again in favor for a more professional expression. “I thought he was dead? For real.”

That's what we thought after he had thrown himself into a Mako Reactor. Tseng's tensed up a bit as he realized that this mirrored how Sephiroth had died the first time. He really hoped that this was just a coincidence.

“That's what we assumed after his attacks had died down. None of us or our contacts has noticed any activities that lead to believe otherwise, too.” Even the rumors of sightings from his fan club had stopped eventually. That had been... around the time that Cissnei had left, right? How many years had passed since then?

Tseng's attempts to remember were stopped immediately. “Can I assume that he was a Soldier?” Reeve asked, looking quite confused.

“You... don't remember him?” That was surprising. He could have understood if Rufus didn't know anything about the man, but Reeve? At that time he had already been Head of Urban Development. It should have been important enough to be discussed by the executive board. Surely Genesis had been one of the topics in several meetings?

“The name sounds familiar, but that's about it. Should I?”

Tseng shot a glance at Rufus who in turn looked at him, seemingly just as surprised as Tseng about the fact that Reeve knew nothing about Genesis. Rufus then leaned back into his seat, delegating the task of telling the leader of the WRO to Tseng.

For a brief moment the Turk just stared at Reeve. How could a member of the executive board not know about this? The immense repair costs all across Midgar alone should have been enough to raise his interest. The Turks had done a thorough job at covering up Genesis' actions, but they weren't that good.

“I know that you haven't been very interested in the military, but didn't the executive board talk about this?”

“They must have 'forgotten' to invite me into these meetings. Nobody wants to hear what the Head of Urban Development has to say, you know.” Judging by the tone of his voice, this had happened quite often. And now that he thought about it... Heidegger and Scarlet had always tried to keep anything related to their departments between themselves. Maybe it wasn't too far-fetched after all.

That did make things complicated though. Reeve would have cooperated without any doubt if he knew about Genesis. He would have convinced Cloud to help, too, and the problem would have been solved quickly. But with the situation like that... How much should he tell Reeve? Or better, how much could he tell him right now? It wasn't as if he remembered everything about Genesis' case. It had been years since the man had been a real problem, other missions had taken precedence and pushed the information about Genesis to the back of his mind. It would come back eventually, but it would probably take some time.

So, what did he remember... Genesis had deserted during the last phase of the Wutai War, so it must have been about... ten years ago. He also took a few Seconds and Thirds with him and used Shinra's technology to turn them into copies...

Tseng almost gasped at the thought of the copies. This wasn't good. How would Cloud react if he heard about the copies? That man had gone through hell just because Hojo had tried to turn him into a copy of Sephiroth. Genesis might not be able to control Cloud like Sephiroth had been, but Tseng didn't even want to imagine the psychological effect that this could have on Cloud. He had been stable lately, but the Turk didn't dare to make any assumptions about a man that had been broken to the point that he had even forgotten his own personality.

Also didn't Sephiroth grow a black feathered wing during his last fight against Cloud? The same kind of wing that Genesis had, too?

Tseng's stomach turned at the thought of that. He definitely couldn't tell Cloud now, he was not ready for that conversation. They didn't have time for that either, the longer they waited, the easier it would get for Genesis to vanish again. Who knew what this man was planning right now.

But was not telling Reeve – and therefore Cloud – even an option? They needed somebody that could deal with a First Class. Reno and Rude were experienced fighters in close combat, even against enhanced targets, but they would get in trouble against a fast swordsman like Genesis. That left only one option: to tell Reeve as much as he remembered, leave out a few... details and hope that the other men didn't ask too many questions.

“Genesis Rhapsodos was, as I said, one of our First Class Soldiers. He left the company a few years ago during the Wutai War with a batch of other Thirds and Seconds and started to rebel against Shinra. That later led to the desertion and death of another First Class, the disappearance of Professor Hollander and Director Lazard as well as the destruction of Banora.”

It was apparently enough to disturb the other man. “Lazard and... Banora... It was stated that Banora burned down due to a forest fire...”

“It burned to the ground, that much is true.” After being bombed in an effort to cover up the actions of Genesis. It was quite ironic that they had done the exact opposite to cover up what Sephiroth had done in Nibelheim.

“What about Lazard?”

“Lazard had funded Genesis' rebellion using the company's money. I think, he wanted to get back at my father,” Rufus said, giving Tseng more time to collect his thoughts. “He left when the involvement became apparent.”

That was another thing that worried Tseng. What had happened to Lazard afterwards? As far as he remembered, the man had simply vanished and nobody had heard anything about him ever again. It was the same with Hollander. None of the Turks knew if they were even alive.

“This is... How did I never hear about this...?” Reeve was completely aghast and Tseng was thankful for it. He wouldn't be able to deal with any deep inquiries right now.

“Let's assume it is Genesis”, the leader of the WRO asked after a few moments. “What can we expect from him?”

It took a load off Tseng's mind that Reeve seemed to be on board. “Genesis is a Materia specialist and prioritizes speed over power. He is not weak per se, but he lacks the physical strength of the average Soldier. He's probably too fast for Reno and Rude, but I doubt that Cloud would have problems against him.” At least not on a physical level. They would be okay as long as Genesis didn't use his wing.

“You're the only one who has seen him, Vincent. What do you think?” Reeve seemed to be convinced and Tseng all but prayed that the former Turk didn't say anything that changed this.

“I have one question and I want an honest answer, Tseng. Is Genesis special?” Tseng didn't answer this vague and yet telling question, but that wasn't necessary. “I see.” Vincent paused for a second, giving Reeve enough time to shoot the Turk another confused look. “Reeve, trust Tseng this time and call Cloud, we need him as soon as possible. Contact me once you're prepared and don't tell Shelke under any circumstances.” With that Vincent finished the call and left the three men dumbfounded.

Shelke? Tseng furrowed his brows in irritation. He had to admit that he was surprised by the mention of the girl. He knew that she was one of the Tsviets, the only one who had survived the raid on Midgar. But what did Vincent know about her? What made her special? Was it about the girl or about the Tsviets?

The Tsviets had been enhanced like they were Soldiers, but every one of them had possessed special abilities. What if... A horrible thought crossed the Turk's mind. What if they had gone through a special method of enhancement? One that used Genesis' cells instead of Jenova cells, just like Cloud was carrying Sephiroth's cells? The Science Department had constructed a device that allowed them to create exact copies of Genesis, who said that they had stopped there?

It made some sense to an degree. Maybe that was why they had never heard anything about those three men again? Because they had been hidden by Deepground? The Turks had never known about this division of SOLDIER, too, it would have been easy to keep the survival of Genesis a secret. And now Genesis was back because Deepground was destroyed...

Tseng had to suppress a groan. This was bad. Even worse than he had anticipated. And the more he thought about it, the worse it became. They had to do something about Genesis and they had to do it fast.

“What did he mean by 'different'?” Reeve shot him another confused and worried look. “Tseng, you have a lot to explain once we're done here.”

You have no idea...

“I will, don't worry. But you should tell Cloud, I'm calling the other Turks.” Reeve nodded and dialed a new number while Tseng took out his own PHS. He didn't have to wait long for Reno to pick it up.

“Something the matter, boss?”

“I need you and Rude immediately at the WRO, the target we were looking for might be Genesis Rhapsodos. I...”

“Whoa, shit!” Reno blurted out on the other end, eliciting another smirk from Rufus. This man enjoyed himself a bit too much to be appropriate. “I thought that prick was dead!”

“I will brief you once you're here. Elena needs to bring me the laptop from my desk and the hard drives, too.”

“Well, shit. Got it, boss.” The call was over just as quick as it begun. One could accuse Reno of many things, but he knew when to follow orders without question.

Reeve on the other hand was still on the phone when Tseng put his away. “I see... I know you don't trust them, but Vincent sounded serious about that. … Of course, thank you.”

“Can we count on him?” Tseng asked when Reeve put down his phone.

“He'll come, but he's currently on a delivery. It could take some hours until he's back in Edge. Can we wait that long?”

Tseng shook his head. “Too risky. He might escape again.” What else was there to do? They needed somebody who handled this quickly...

“What about that Second Class that you've hired?” Rufus asked, looking still more intrigued about the situation than worried. “All we need is a distraction so that Valentine and the Turks can do their job. It doesn't matter who it is as long as he can survive long enough, no?”

Tseng couldn't believe that he had not thought of that. Reeve had told him on the phone that one of the Soldiers had applied to the WRO – Tseng had even checked who it was. This would solve so many problems since the man in question even knew about the wing and what to expect.

Reeve wasn't as keen on the idea, though. “I've hired him today. For Intelligence.”

“So?” Rufus was completely unfazed by Reeve's argument.

“In his contract is a clause that prohibits me from sending him on combat missions.”

“A big mistake, if you ask me.”

“I think you should ask him anyway, he loves a good mystery”, Tseng said. “Just tell him that the target is Genesis Rhapsodos and he will accept the mission – it is Kunsel after all.”

Chapter Text

From the moment he woke up, Genesis knew that something wasn't right. It wasn't the low sun that was shining through the barred up window. He was used to waking up in the late afternoon by now. There were also no unusual sounds at first. Just the usual cries of monsters in the distance, nothing to worry about. That was, until he noticed the quiet sound of combat boots on gravel outside of the window. And it wasn't just one pair of boots either.

Genesis suppressed a curse and got back on his feet. Right when he had made plans to get out of the city... What a perfect timing! Was it the Turks with reinforcements, to come and get him already? Well, it didn't matter. He wouldn't stay long enough to find it out.

The former Soldier made sure that the black cloak hid Weiss' features properly and tossed the man's body hastily over his left shoulder. He'd rather be able to defend himself than use his wings, at least as long as he wasn't sure if they knew his identity.

Genesis sneaked out of the room after he had ensured that nothing suspicious was left behind. Thanks to the layout of the building, he would have more than enough time to leave through the exit on the roof and escape on the rooftops. He wouldn't even have to fly and they would notice nothing, since they didn't have a helicopter as far as he could tell. His unwanted visitors had not even entered the building yet when he opened the door on the roof. It was almost too easy.

Genesis had made two steps outside when he heard a monotone, deep voice right behind him.

“Don't move.”

The former Soldier stopped dead in his tracks, completely baffled by the fact that somebody was up here. Genesis was certain that he would have heard any intruders even while he had been asleep. His astonishment turned into shock, when the stranger slowly walked into his field of view – all while making barely any sound. This man's steps were about as quiet as a cat's, despite wearing shoes that looked like they were made out of gold. It was the same with one of his gloves. The other hand – the one that was pointing a handgun at Genesis' head – was covered by a normal black one.

The stranger mustered him with red eyes, that had the distinct glow of Mako inside of them. Genesis was sure that the man in front of him wasn't a Soldier, they didn't rely on guns, but he wasn't sure what else the marksman could be. Maybe a Tsviet, they seemed to be more accepting when it came to fire weapons. The look in the marksman's eyes, however, reminded Genesis more of the expression that Turks had while sizing up their targets. Maybe one of Hojo's experiments?

The red eyes lingered for a moment on the limp body over Genesis' shoulder, before they wandered back to his face. “Genesis Rhapsodos?” the man asked, although it sounded more like a fact than a question.

“Depends on who's asking,” Genesis responded, shifting his body just a bit to balance out Weiss' weight on his shoulder. The gun followed the movement immediately, always aiming right between his eyes. “You're not a Tsviet.”

“No.” The answer was just as monotone as before, but for a split second, Genesis was convinced to have seen a hint of... something in the man's eye. Maybe it was surprise. Or worry. He couldn't really tell, it was gone too fast. It was interesting, though, and sparked an idea in Genesis' head. Whatever it was, maybe he could use this to his advantage.

Genesis could now hear the screeching sound of the front door and steps inside, followed by shouting. It was absurdly loud. They were really raiding this place while he was up here. Made one wonder if they simply used this as some kind of training, while the stranger kept Genesis up here. Like he was just an unwanted squatter with a knife or something like that. He would have felt insulted if there wasn't a gun pointed at his face.

Well, the ruckus definitely meant that he had to take his leave. Time for an opening. “That's too bad,” Genesis mused while keeping a wary eye on the marksman's reaction. “And there was I hoping, that one of them would finally come and take care for poor little Weiss here.”

The quick glance at Weiss wasn't quite the dramatic reaction that Genesis had hoped for, he could admit that. But it was at least something to distract the man just for a moment and allow Genesis to cast Homing without being riddled by holes. The spell blew up almost immediately, but Genesis had already leaped aside and managed to dodge not only the direct ramifications of his spell, but also a full hit of the marksman's bullet, so that it only grazed his cheek. Another shot followed, but by then Genesis had already leaped down from the roof and to the alleyway below, where he dashed around the next corner to get out of the man's sight.

Even down on the street, it didn't take long until Genesis heard another shot behind him. The only reason why it missed was probably, because he turned into another alleyway. He didn't have to look back to know that he was being followed by the marksman.

Shit.

Genesis knew this part of the city, he had explored it just this morning. That's why he knew, that there wasn't really anywhere to hide in the direction in which he was running. There was very much debris to take cover from fire, but nothing where he could lose an pursuer. The Train Graveyard would be his best bet, but Genesis would have to make a U-Turn and that wasn't exactly a good idea when being shot at.

Another bullet hit a piece of rubble just left of him, causing Genesis to swerve right. He uttered a curse when he realized that this would lead him even further away from the Graveyard.

What else could he do? Just run?

Another shot forced him to make a sidestep and jump over a huge piece of metal. Genesis honestly started to believe that his pursuer didn't even intend to shoot him. He huffed and made a sudden swerve to his left, just to get shot at again. Genesis clicked his tongue in anger. The man was definitely testing him.

Just running wouldn't work. Weiss slowed him down more than Genesis would like to admit and the environment wouldn't stay in his advantage either. Right now, there was more than enough debris to stay out of line of fire – and he was out of it, the marksman just didn't care – but that would change, if he remembered this place correctly.

He needed a place where he could at least hide Weiss. Without him, his chance of escape would be much better. Maybe a bigger building...

Genesis turned left again when a sudden idea hit him, this time not caring about the rounds fired behind him. He cast another Homing to distract his pursuer, immediately turned right again and then left before he stood in front of a metal door. It seemed to be the backdoor to an warehouse or something like that. He had not opened it before, in fear of leaving traces, but there was no need for caution anymore. The door was open two kicks later and Genesis rushed inside the building.

The inside of the warehouse was dimly lit, the only windows were directly under the roof and either coated with dirt or covered by spiderwebs. Not even the shattered ones provided much sunlight from outside due to the webs. Aside from that, all sorts of storage shelves and boxes were standing around and prevented a quick oversight. It was a surprisingly good place to hide, even if just for a moment.

Genesis hurried through the hall and past a few of the shelves, before he stopped to put down Weiss and listen for any steps or voices. There was nothing to be heard, but he didn't trust the marksman, his sneaking skills were on another level. He could be just behind him and Genesis wouldn't know.

With Weiss taken care of, Genesis found himself confronted with another problem: how should he get out without being spotted? He now heard two, no, three people talking outside of the building, that door wasn't a possibility. Looking blindly for another exit seemed a bit risky with the marksman and two other people on his heels. The easiest solution for his problem would be blasting a hole into the wall, that was furthest away from the door, of course, but without any Fire Materia it wasn't feasible. His other spells didn't have the needed power on their own.

The voices outside were now silent and replaced by footsteps echoing inside the building – it was just one pair of feet making them. Which meant that either one person had stayed outside or there were two people with this ridiculous sneaking skill. Great.

That's when he remembered one of his finds from the day before: a grenade that might be just strong enough to create Genesis a new exit – or at least a nice little distraction. It wasn't the best idea, but sometimes compromises had to be made in life.

Now he just had to find a way to lure them away from Weiss. As much as Genesis despised the man, he was too proud to let the Tsviet fall into Shinra's hands.

“You know, we could resolve this pretty fast if you just come out, Genesis. You only have to answer us a few questions and we can negotiate about the next steps.”

The former Soldier was baffled when he heard the voice of one of the three men. It wasn't just the fact that he obviously tried to lure Genesis out of hiding, but also the fact that he remembered that voice from somewhere. It wasn't monotone enough to belong to the marksman from before, but it was definitely familiar.

The other man sounded vigilant, but still calm. There wasn't any threatening undertone in it, and yet Genesis couldn't help but feel upset by it. So they just wanted to talk, huh? After using him and his cells for experimentation and sending Soldiers to eliminate him? Who was this guy, who was foolish enough to think he would fall for it?

A perfect opportunity to to draw attention, that's what he was.

Genesis quickly sneaked past the shelves and adjusted his cloak. His pursuers were probably able to see in the dark, but the black fabric was better than nothing.

“How considerate of you,” Genesis replied after a while, making sure that the sarcasm in is voice was clearly audible. “But I'm afraid I have to decline the offer. There's nothing I'd like to discuss with Shinra.” For a moment the other voice remained silent. It seemed like he had not expected an answer.

Genesis was already past the next shelf when the other talked again. “We're not from Shinra, you know. You can trust us.”

Genesis almost laughed out loud. Did he seriously think that Genesis was this stupid? After almost being shot by somebody who was obviously Hojo's work? And the other person... He still couldn't really remember a face that fit it, but he had definitely heard the voice before.

“Don't make me laugh. I recognize your voice, you are a Soldier.” Genesis cautiously looked around, before he rushed past a gap between two big boxes. “They've sent you to slay the escaped monster, didn't they? Or maybe Hojo wants a new specimen for his experiments? New material for his Tsviets? Please, tell me if I'm right.” He felt sick just thinking about the last two possibilities. There was no way he would return to Shinra, with that being a possibility, even if it would kill him.

“I'm... not sure what you're talking about, to be honest,” the other voice replied, sounding almost believably insecure. Genesis huffed as he inspected the wall, that was now in front of him, and searched for the grenade in his pockets. The wall looked stable, but he would see if it could withstand a detonation.

“Well, it doesn't matter, what your reason is. Because I'm done with that.”

***

Vincent had to admit that Genesis was not what he had expected him to be. He wasn't as subjected to his rage as he had seemed to be, otherwise he wouldn't have ran as soon as he had gotten an opportunity. Genesis wasn't the overly cautious type, either, since he wouldn't have used that spell to distract Vincent on the roof. The fact, that Genesis had used magic was in itself a surprise, since Vincent had been certain that Genesis did not carry any Materia. He could get behind his reasoning of breaking into this warehouse – it was a good opportunity to throw off the average pursuer. But why exactly had he torn that hole in the wall?

“What the blazes...?” Cait Sith almost toppled over Vincent's shoulder, when he took a look at the crumpling wall in question. The red beret, that he was wearing for some reason, shifted even more due to the sudden movement and almost fell off the robot's head. “Didn't you say that those spells he uses aren't that strong?”

“They aren't. That was a grenade.” The spells that Genesis had used before were indeed rather weak. Nothing that he would have expected from a so called Materia expert.

“Surprising enough. He doesn't usually use this stuff,” Kunsel added, when he arrived at the scene. The Soldier who had joined Vincent together with Cait Sith leaned through the hole to look outside. “I don't see him anywhere, but he's probably heading towards the Train Graveyard. I would do that, at least. Do you think, you can follow his tracks?”

“You seem to know Genesis,” Vincent said without acknowledging the question. The small discussion between Kunsel and Genesis had not been something Vincent had planned to do, but it had been rather interesting nonetheless. “What can you tell me about him? His way of thinking in particular. There are a few points that don't make sense to me.”

The Soldier furrowed his brows and looked at him with a doubtful expression. “Do we have time for that?”

“I take the risk.”

The Soldier looked outside again, before he fully turned towards Vincent.

“Uh... there really isn't much I can tell you. Just a few things I've picked up from other people that worked with him. Let's see...” The young man stroked his chin thoughtfully. “He's pretty smart, some Seconds and Thirds had claimed that his tactical mind was actually on par with Sephiroth's. On the other hand, some people have complained that he took unnecessary risks and not really suitable for the rank that he had. Kind of a mixed bag, depending on who you asked... To be honest, he was quite divisive in everything. I think, he liked that.”

“Being divisive?”

“Yeah. I heard, he enjoyed driving people up the wall to see how they would react. He was apparently only sent to the front in Wutai because he crossed the line with Heidegger.”

“I see.” So he was intelligent and ready to take risks. Probably overconfident in his abilities. That was all that Vincent needed to know. He turned around and walked past the storage shelves, following the path that Genesis might have taken before. “What about this talk about an escaped monster? Did he refer to himself?”

The Soldier followed him after a short moment of hesitation. “Yeah, that's actually part of the reason why he left Shinra... but I'm not sure if I can tell you much about it. It's pretty strange stuff and I don't want to get on Shinra's bad side for spilling the beans.”

By themselves, Tseng's and Kunsel's statements had been meaningless, but they really started to make sense once one combined them and the report that Vincent had found in Deepground. Genesis was, without any doubt, the one person called 'G' – the so called prototype for 'S' – or Sephiroth. It also made sense that there were two results, since Professor Gast had had two assistants. The rivalry between Hojo and Hollander had been well known among the Turks. Genesis must have found out about the experiments, which caused a rift between Shinra and the Soldier.

The big question was, if Genesis would pose the same threat as Sephiroth. Vincent could not judge what the man had done after he had learned about his birth, but Tseng seemed to believe it. There also had to be a good reason why all data regarding Genesis had been destroyed, just as the report claimed. The short exchange between Kunsel and Genesis had appeased Vincent's worries somewhat, since the man had sounded a bit disgusted by the prospect of more Tsviets. But that didn't have to mean anything. Genesis being created the same way as Sephiroth would mean, that he was now the biggest aggregation of Jenova Cells. He didn't want to imagine, what damage Genesis might cause if left alone, be it intentional or not.

“What are you looking for, Vincent?” Cait Sith asked after a while.

“The second person,” Vincent responded while scanning his surroundings. “He slowed Genesis down considerably, it would be a smart decision to leave him here and return later, after throwing us off. I can't imagine any other reason to hold on to the grenade for that long.”

“So you think, he just talked to Kunsel to distract us from something?”

“Probably.”

“Who is that second person anyway?” Kunsel wanted to know. Vincent had told him and Cait Sith before, that Genesis wasn't alone, but he hadn't told him who the other person was. “Genesis isn't the caring type. I can't imagine him carrying around somebody – especially not if he's on the run.”

“It's apparently a Tsviet called Weiss. He was the leader of Deepground.”

“Good gracious!” Cait Sith exclaimed while the Soldier remained silent. The name probably didn't sound very familiar to him. “You say, Weiss is still alive, too?”

“Probably. We won't know until we've found the second person.” Vincent left it with that and shot a small Grashtrike that crept out of the shadows of a crate. Genesis took a huge gamble by leaving an unconscious person in here.

They walked past two other shelves, before he spotted a dark, motionless figure leaning against a few boxes.

“Oh dear! There really is somebody!” Cait Sith hopped from Vincent's shoulder and rushed towards the person to take a peek under his hood. The robot gasped. “This is not good, Vincent...”

Vincent also knelt down next to to the figure and took the hood off to find the face of Weiss, the leader of the Tsviets. His eyes were closed and his breath even, as if he was just sleeping. It reminded Vincent a bit of when he had found the man in Reactor 0.

The truth was, that Vincent had wondered what had happened to the Tsviet after the defeat of Omega. He had been careless, not to check if the Tsviet was still alive. That had bothered him and it was the reason why he had agreed to look for Tseng's stranger in the first place. Seeing this man again, barely breathing, but still alive, was not really a surprise, especially after the quick exchange on the roof, but it was definitely unsettling.

“Let's take him outside, then we can take care of Genesis.”

***

Rude was already expecting Kunsel when he arrived at the Train Graveyard with Weiss on his back. “It's been a while.”

“Yeah, traveling between Junon and Midgar isn't what it used to be.” The Soldier looked around, searching for a familiar shock of flaming red hair. “Where's Reno? I thought, you were supposed to stay together?”

“Went off on his own. Something about settling an outstanding score,” Rude replied as reserved as ever and Kunsel rolled his eyes in annoyance. What did they even need him for, if Reno was out for trouble anyway? “And Vincent?”

“Same. Not the score thing, he thinks that Genesis is more likely to come out, if Vincent stays out of sight.” It was hard to imagine, that Vincent would be able to stay close to Kunsel while also staying hidden from Genesis, but he had been true to his word so far, Kunsel had not spotted or heard the man ever since the two had parted ways.

“Is that... one of the Tsviets?” Rude asked when Kunsel went past him to venture further into the Graveyard.

“Yeah, that guy was apparently with Genesis.” Kunsel left it with that. He didn't know much about the Tsviets, only that they had killed some of the other Soldiers a few weeks ago.

Their organization, Deepground, had apparently been some kind of underground division of SOLDIER that nobody had really known about. It was weird, but was really just one more secret from Shinra. It didn't surprise him anymore. It did, however, make him wonder, how Genesis had come into contact with the guy on his back – he himself certainly had not even heard about somebody called 'Weiss' before and that was quite a feat. But for some reason, this guy was important enough for Genesis to carry him around, according to Vincent maybe even important enough to pick a fight with another Soldier. That's what Kunsel would have to find out.

Vincent Valentine... That was another person that had surprised Kunsel. He had never heard about this man before coming to the WRO, which was quite a feat, especially since Vincent was apparently the man, who had brought down Deepground all by himself. It was almost as if he had no history attached to him at all. It was quite intriguing. Meeting such a guy and getting to see one of Mr. Tuesti's robots up close was already worth breaching his contract. Or, well, it would be, if he managed to survive the encounter with Genesis and didn't get turned into a copy. He hoped to avoid that.

“Come on, lets go deeper inside.”

The two men ventured deeper into the Train Graveyard. Part of Kunsel was glad to be in a part of the city, that had not changed in the last years – or at least not as much as the rest of it. The Train Graveyard had always been dark and full of junk, that blocked one's view from everything more than a dozen meters away. He would be able to block out the depressing state of Midgar in here, since the howling of the wind, creaking and other eerie sounds were normal in this part of the city. They belonged here. The other part hoped, that he didn't get a heart attack from a Ghost appearing out of nowhere.

After a while, Kunsel decided that they had gone far enough. He set the Tsviet down near a lamp post, reached for his sword and told Rude to keep an eye on the man. He then checked his Materia once again: Blizzaga, Curaga, Esuna, Wall, Graviga and even a natural Seal, that he had found years ago in a Mako pool. Nothing fancy, but he hopefully wouldn't need most of them. According to Tseng, Genesis was seriously ill-equipped, so chances were, that he had nothing that protected him from Sleepel. Maybe it wasn't the most honorable thing to do, but Kunsel certainly wouldn't pick a fight with Genesis, if there was an easier way.

The Materia was also the only thing that belonged to himself, since he had not expected any combat missions. So both the broadsword and the uniform were WRO issued, albeit very similar to the ones that he had used in SOLDIER. He wouldn't complain, the attire was great for battle. Only the beret was kinda stupid and prone to fall off, but he had taken care of that. It was a bit suspicious, though, that they had one of the uniforms in the same colors that the WRO infantrymen were wearing. In his size, even. As if they had planned to send him into battle someday.

“Let's continue our little conversation from before, Genesis,” Kunsel shouted with a firmer voice than even he would have expected. He was nervous as hell, knowing that the other Soldier was lurking somewhere in the shadows of the surrounding train cars, probably just waiting for a chance to strike. “I promise, we just have a few questions.”

“Is that a good idea?” Rude's asked the question with a low voice, but Kunsel still flinched at it.

“Just trust me, okay?”

Mr. Tuesti had given him complete freedom on how to approach this mission, unless Vincent was against it, so he would do it his way. In an ideal situation, he wouldn't have to fight against Genesis at all. Kunsel had no interest in that, and this wasn't just because he would probably be outclassed, even against a degrading Genesis. Their little conversation from before had struck a nerve.

“They've sent you to slay the escaped monster, didn't they?”

It would really be much easier to see Genesis as just another monster. Approach him like one of the escaped beasts from the labs. He had done something like this more often than he could remember and obviously a lot more times than it should have happened to a company like Shinra. It would be an all too familiar situation. And yet...

“Are we... monsters?”

“Huh?” Kunsel looked up from his meal and turned his attention to Zack, who had been unusually quiet ever since his return from Banora. “Where's that coming from?”

“Genesis sees himself as one and Angeal... and... well...” The other Soldier faltered, struggling for the right words to say. After a while, he just shook his head in defeat. “Forget what I said. How was your last mission?”

Kunsel sighed at this old memory. Even after all that Genesis had done to the other Thirds and Seconds or the people of Banora, Kunsel had to admit that a part of him felt bad for the man. Sure, he should have reacted in another way, but it wasn't really his fault that Shinra's scientists had been a bunch of assholes. The fact, that Genesis had mentioned a combination of 'Hojo' and 'specimen' in one sentence made this even worse. Maybe it was dumb, but he wanted to at least try convincing Genesis to surrender peacefully.

“Ignore the Turk, he's just here to look pretty.” Kunsel ignored the disapproving grunt coming from Rude. He took a slow turn to take in his environment and try to catch every small movement or sound that didn't belong. There wasn't anything that indicated Genesis' presence other than the subtle feeling of being watched.

“Haven't heard from you in a while, most people thought that you're dead. Didn't believe it one second. You're not the type to go down quietly. I bet –“ A sudden noise caught Kunsel's attention. He quickly turned his head to the right to see nothing out of the ordinary, before looking at Rude. “Did you hear that?”

The Turk was tense. He nodded and was about to make a step towards the source of the noise, but Kunsel motioned him to stand back. Somebody had to keep an eye on the Tsviet, or Genesis might just snatch him and run for it – as strange as that sounded in Kunsel's ears.

Kunsel tightened the grip around his sword handle as he carefully approached the source of the sound, one of the train cars. It looked empty, but the strange angle in which it stood or, well, hung in front of him, made it hard to say if it really was. The Soldier braced himself, before he jumped through the open door and check it from inside.

It was empty. There was nothing else than rubble inside.

For a short moment, Kunsel felt incredibly relieved. That was, until he heard a loud thud outside, followed by an even louder clanging sound. He had fallen right into Genesis' trap.

“Shit!”

Kunsel sprinted back outside and turned to where Rude had been standing just seconds prior. It was just in time to block the blow of a sword directed at him. The attacker quickly retreated in a small jump when the two blades met, giving Kunsel just enough time for a brief glance at the man.

The Soldier's heart missed a beat when he realized that the man in front of him was not only the real Genesis, but also one, that showed not a single sign of degradation. Not a single gray hair was to be see, his eyes were just as blue as Kunsel remembered them. In front of him wasn't a Genesis weakened by degradation. This Genesis was the First Class that he could recall from Shinra. And to make it even worse, he looked really pissed off.

Kunsel now regretted agreeing to this mission. Or leaving Junon in general.

“Gene-” Kunsel began to talk, but the other man already took another swing at the Soldier, probably trying to get this over with before Vincent could interfere. Kunsel parried the hit and made a few steps back to gain more distance between him and the other. Despite the effort, Kunsel barely got the time to reach out for his Materia and cast Sleepel, but even then, the spell had no effect whatsoever. It just vanished into thin air. Kunsel's eyes widened in shock. Was Genesis wearing some kind of accessory that made him immune to Sleep? He had not seen anything at first glance.

Genesis lunged at him once again. Kunsel yanked up his sword to block the attack, but was caught off guard by the whirl that followed. He had to tighten the grip around this handle to not get disarmed by the move. Genesis snarled, but used the closer distance between them to land a kick in Kunsel's stomach. The pain that hit the Soldier was strong enough to almost force Kunsel on his knees. Now completely off balance, he barely managed to dodge the next blow of the First. Sheer luck was everything that helped him block the following swing, but the third stab managed to pass his defense and cut through his biceps.

Kunsel had heard about Genesis' speed in battle, everybody he knew had said that the only one faster than him was Sephiroth. Kunsel had expected to be in a disadvantage. But hearing about it and actually being subjected to it were two completely different things. Kunsel would have been a goner, if the fight would have lasted longer than these moments, but a shot rang through the air, right before Genesis could land another hit.

Genesis stumbled and hissed in pain, but backed off immediately. The Soldier shot a frustrated look at Vincent, who was standing on top of a train car, weapon still aimed and ready to fire. The message behind the stance was clear: Back off or you'll regret it. Every normal person would have understood it. But Genesis had never settled for being 'normal'.

A pale purple glow suddenly started to surround Genesis and he raised his free hand. Within the blink of an eye, the air was filled with a whirlwind of black feathers that completely blocked Kunsel's view for a moment.

After what felt like an eternity, Kunsel's vision cleared again, just to see, that Genesis had closed the distance between him and Vincent in the meantime. Vincent apparently had the same problem with the feathers, because he jerked his upper body to the side to avoid a stab of Genesis' sword. The sudden movement wasn't quite enough to dodge the attack. The blade cut through black fabric, but a more severe outcome could be prevented.

In a knee-jerk reaction, Vincent tried to land a sloppy punch with his armored left hand, but his opponent ducked out of the way and retaliated with a well placed kick, followed by another strike of the sword, all of that in an blink of an eye. Vincent did have the speed to keep up with Genesis, but it was painfully obvious that he wasn't used to close combat. A fact that Genesis exploited without mercy.

“Kunsel!” The Soldier jerked at Cait Sith's panicked shout of his name. He shook his head violently to get rid of the last effects of Genesis' Limit Break, before tackling Genesis into the side to get him away from the other man. It was enough to bring the man out of balance, but with a swift rolling motion, the red-haired Soldier got back on his feet. He immediately lunged in for an attack again that Kunsel blocked this time.

“Out of my way!” Genesis hissed at Kunsel, fury glowing in his eyes. The younger Soldier had to use all of his strength in order to withstand the other's pressure.

“Forget that,” Kunsel replied with clenched teeth. “Stop being an asshole for once and don't make your situation even worse than it already is.”

Genesis snarled and opened his mouth to say something, but there was something else behind Kunsel, that caught his attention. The rage in his eyes gave way for a more surprised, maybe even horrified look on the man's face. Even the pressure behind his sword lessened.

“What the...“

A sudden chill ran down Kunsel's spine. Genesis was too experienced to lower his guard that fast during battle.

“Vincent? Everything alright?” Kunsel didn't dare to look back and leave Genesis out of his sight, he had the bad feeling that something wasn't right. “Are you...”

A bloodcurdling roar right behind Kunsel made the Soldier freeze, whereas Genesis huffed an incredulous laugh.

“That's one of Hojo's experiments, indeed!”

Kunsel's heart began to race. He spun around when another howl sounded right behind of him and froze at the sight of a large beast where Vincent should be standing, a bipedal Behemoth with long white hair and something that almost looked like black armor, covering parts of the muscular body. Kunsel wouldn't have thought that this was the same man from before if not for the remnants of black pants and the red cloak on the monster's body.

The Soldier backed away from the beast that squirmed and growled like it had some kind of conflict with itself. “Wha... what's going on?”

“That's the Galian Beast” Kunsel flinched at the sound Rude's voice. This was the first time that he noticed the Turk climbing out of a large pile of scrap metal. He now also noticed Cait Sith standing at the Turk's side.

“Vincent? Are you okay?” Cait Sith came closer towards the beast, but stopped dead in its tracks, when the it suddenly let out an intimidating growl.

The Galian Beast, now standing completely still, sniffed snarling and turned its head slowly, until its eyes fell on the two Soldiers in front of him. Without any further warning, the beast lunged at the two men. Kunsel threw himself on the ground, evading the claws of the beast by a hair. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see that the target of the attack, Genesis, was hit full force and tackled to the ground, but managed to push off the beast with his legs.

“What's going on?” Kunsel shouted at Cait Sith, who was still frozen in place. The Soldier didn't know, what to expect from the situation, but figured, that he should get out of the open as long as the beast was still occupied with Genesis. He quickly crawled to where Cait Sith was standing, grabbed the robot and followed Rude behind the pile of junk from before. That made Cait Sith finally snap out of his state of shock.

“That... that's Vincent's Limit Break, the Galian Beast. But he usually doesn't act like that – his control over the monsters has gotten much better over the years. I don't know, why he –” Cait Sith suddenly fell silent. “Is it, because Chaos is gone...?”

Kunsel wanted to ask for details, but a loud bang made him flinch. He peeked over their cover to see that the Galian Beast had slammed Genesis into one of the containers not far away from them. The Soldier snarled and quickly ducked out of the way of the beast's claws, which tore through the container instead. Kunsel quickly ducked behind the metal pile again. It was probably better, not to draw attention to them, because he did not want to be on the other end of these claws.

“Can't we stop him? They will kill each other!” As if responding to Kunsel's concerns, the beast let out an angry roar. The Soldier once again glanced over to the two opponents to see a fresh, deep cut on the monster's side and Genesis retreating as fast as possible. “And don't tell me to break that fight up, because I'm not going between these two.”

“Agreed.”

“What about your Seal Materia?” Cait Sith suggested. “We could put Genesis to sleep...”

“Sleepel won't work on Genesis, I've tried!” Kunsel shuddered at the repeated sound of metal being ripped apart.

“Even if it did, we would have to distract Vincent, or I'm afraid we might kill Genesis with that,” Rude added quickly, “We prefer him alive.”

“Sleepel doesn't work on Vincent either, he has a Ribbon,” Cait Sith replied and climbed on top of the pile to have a better look at Vincent and Genesis. “I guess, we have to...” The robot froze. “What the blazes? Is... is that a black wing...?” For a moment, he stared at them in shock and confusion, but then winced and covered his eyes with his hands.

Kunsel almost didn't want to look at it, but followed the cat's example when most of the noise, save a pained roar, subsided on the other side. The Galian Beast now had a deep cut all across its chest, but didn't seem to be bothered by it – if anything, it just looked even more enraged than before. Genesis, on the other hand, seemed to be at the end of his tether and struggled to get back on his feet. He had summoned his wing at some point, but it was now completely limp, as if it was broken.

The other thing that Kunsel noticed was, that Genesis had started to emit the purple glow once again, ready to unleash one last Limit Break on his opponent. Kunsel's eyes widened, when he saw the purple crest forming right above the raging Galian Beast as the red haired Soldier slowly raised his shaking sword arm.

Kunsel had never actually seen Genesis' ultimate Limit Break, Apocalypse. Even Zack had never used it in front of him. But he had heard the stories. It didn't matter, who you had asked, everybody who had seen it in action had agreed, that you don't want to get hit by it, because there's absolutely nothing that could withstand its sheer power. Years before, Kunsel would have been thrilled to see Apocalypse in action, now the prospect of it left a bitter taste in his mouth. He bit his lower lip and pulled Cait Sith closer to his chest. It didn't matter, if he was just a robot. Seeing Vincent, his friend, out of control like this had to be bad enough, Kunsel wanted to spare him the sight of that final attack.

***

Genesis barely realized, how the beast in front of him collapsed under the force of his Apocalypse and transformed back into the marksman. Everything around him was spinning. His whole side was burning with pain and the amount of blood dripping across his fingers was no good sign after being hit by that beast's claw – the bullet from earlier was nothing in comparison.

His wing was probably the only thing that he couldn't feel anymore, although he was sure that it was still out. He had tried to retract the limb after falling hard on top of it, but it had not seemed to work. Maybe it was broken or something. Had that wing even bones inside of it?

But there was no time to lament that. Not here. Genesis clenched his teeth and made one step forward, but winced at the wave of pain caused by even that small movement. He couldn't recall feeling this much agony ever in his life, not even while degrading. He tried to make another step forward, but had to stop when his head started spinning again.

Genesis felt desperation rising inside of him. There were still one Soldier and that Turk left, the other one might have recovered by now, too. How was he supposed to get away from that? He wouldn't go back to Shinra, that much was certain. Genesis forced himself to another shaky step, not caring about the agony caused by it.

Then, all of a sudden, a blurry black shadow appeared in front of him. Genesis blinked and tried to concentrate on the figure in front of him. For a moment, his vision cleared just enough to make out a person, dressed all in black, that was kneeling down next to the unconscious marksman. Genesis froze. Not because of the person. No. It was the sword right next to him.

That sword that looked just like the Buster Sword.

For a moment, Genesis allowed himself to hope, that the person in front of him was Zack and that the other Soldier had said the truth about not belonging to Shinra. But that hope died just as fast when Genesis continued to stare at the blade. It looked too complex to be the Buster Sword, the metal was too shiny. He noticed that even with his blurred eyes. Whoever that person was, it wasn't Zack. He would never replace Angeal's sword with another weapon.

Genesis swallowed hard as the memory of the First Class in front of the Sector 5 church flashed through his mind. Could his situation get even worse than it already was? He had gambled, had tried to outsmart that marksman and to overpower that other Soldier, and he had lost both challenges miserably. There was nothing left that he could do, with a First Class even less than before. Fear kicked in as Genesis stumbled backwards, eyes always glued on the Soldier's sword.

Being so focused on the man in front of him, Genesis didn't even notice the other person approaching him from behind. He just felt the sudden explosion of pain on the back of his head before the world around him slipped into darkness.

***

Cloud had heard the sounds of combat even before he had reached the Train Graveyard. He heard the roars and howls of the Galian Beast and the screeching of metal and every one of those noises fueled his anxiety.

Cloud had thought, that Genesis was just another Soldier like they had thought before, but hearing the roar of the Galian Beast, especially as enraged as it sounded, had left him worried. Other than the Tsviets, nobody had been able to cause one of Vincent's Limit Breaks in the last three years – nobody had been strong and fast enough to make enough damage for that. Even the First Classes from three years ago probably wouldn't have been able to do so – they were too slow for that. It left him worried. Who was this Genesis that he had been able to do so?

Cloud wasted no time with the hunched over man clad in red when he finally arrived at their battle ground and saw Vincent defeated on the ground. He threw his fully assembled Fusion Sword on the ground and knelt down next to his friend while rummaging in his pockets to get a Phoenix Down.

“Vincent!”

Cloud's blood ran cold at the thought of loosing one more of his friends just because he had been a few moments too late. He held his breath, while he waited for the Down to take effect. It almost felt like an eternity, but Cloud was beyond relief when Vincent's eyes started to flutter open again.

“Cloud...?” The other man's voice was weak. He tried to get back up, but didn't have the strength to do so, yet.

“Wait a moment. I think, I have an Elixir somewhere...”

“Cloud! Vincent!” Cloud looked up to see Cait Sith hurrying towards them. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Genesis collapse after another man gave him a firm hit on the back of his head. It was probably the Soldier that Reeve had talked about.

“He will not be happy about that when he wakes up...” the man muttered with a shaken voice while he knelt down next to the unconscious man. “We should bring him back to the WRO as soon as possible.”

“Indeed,” Rude replied, his PHS already at hand. His suit looked awfully rusty, but the Turk seemed to ignore that. “I'm calling Elena to come and pick us up and then go look for Reno. You take care of Genesis and the Tsviet.” The Turk then gave a short greeting towards Cloud, turned on his heel and hasted out of sight. Cloud didn't think he had seen a person disappear that fast while still technically walking ever before.

“What's up with him...?”

The Soldier shrugged. “Dunno, he's probably just worried about that dumbass Reno.” He fell silent for a moment before he continued talking. “I'm sorry, I was pretty useless. I... thought I could handle Genesis long enough, but it seems like I've underestimated him.”

Vincent mumbled something, but was probably still too dizzy to say something coherent.

“It's okay, Vincent is tough,” Cloud replied for his friend while he carefully helped Vincent back on his feet and Cait Sith handed him an Elixir. The Soldier had sounded sincere enough and Cloud knew that Vincent wouldn't hold it against him. “Nothing that a good rest can't handle.”

Cloud then turned around towards the Soldier, who had started to lift Genesis on his back. “I'm a bit surprised, though, Genesis seems to be stronger than –“

Cloud's voice died the moment he looked up, now looking directly at Genesis for the first time since his arrival. His heart seemed to stop at the all too familiar sight of a single black wing hanging from the man's back.

“Tell me what you cherish most.”

The sole memory of Sephiroth's voice in Cloud's head sent shivers down his spine and he felt almost as if he was back on top of that one building one year ago. Clouds hand subconsciously reached at the spot where the cold steel of the Masamune had pierced him that day and clutched onto the fabric.

“Give me the pleasure of taking it away.”

Cloud winced, when for a moment even the pain seemed to return. Not just the pain from countless stabbing wounds caused by the Masamune sword, but also the one caused by the cells inside of him, that yearned for the Reunion. The same pain that had emerged whenever Cloud had tried to fight against Sephiroth's tries to control him and that he had felt again with the Geostigma.

“I will... never be a memory.”

“...Cloud?” Cloud flinched at the sound of Cait Sith's voice and the pain subsided as fast as it had come, leaving Cloud wondering if it was just his imagination. He then realized that he had been staring at Genesis this whole time, breathing like he had just finished a marathon.

“Is everything...”

“Why does he have a wing?” Cloud barked at the Soldier, not even trying to hold back the panic that was dwelling inside of him. The Soldier pulled away and turned his upper body as if to shield the unconscious Genesis from Cloud – or maybe to hide the wing from the other's eyes.

“I'm... not entirely sure,” the other man answered slowly and eyed Cloud cautiously. “I think, it's a mutation from the experiments... Tseng wanted to tell you about it once you're back.”

Cloud clenched his fist, still staring at the unconscious man in front of him. Tseng wanted to tell him once he's back? Like Shinra had told him about their expedition to the Northern Crater to retrieve Jenova's head? Or like Rufus had told him about pushing the Remnants on him?

“Cloud.” Vincent, still slightly hunched over and one hand at his wounded chest, put his free hand on Cloud's shoulder to calm him down.

Cloud snorted in anger. He was so tired of Shinra's shit. “I'm leaving, if you don't need me here. I have a few questions for Tseng.”

Chapter Text

Cloud shot a last glance at Vincent, before he stormed off. Vincent couldn't blame his friend for the harsh reaction just now, that last fight against Sephiroth one year ago was most likely still fresh in his memory. One didn't forget the pain of torture and the experience of nearly dying that easily and Vincent regretted, that there had been no good opportunity to prepare Cloud for what Genesis was. He probably wouldn't have reacted like that if he had known beforehand.

Vincent's eyes lingered for a while on the spot, where his blond friend had vanished, but then straightened himself and slowly walked towards the point where Kunsel had left Weiss earlier. The Elixir had healed his own wounds by now, but Vincent's head was still spinning. Whether it was from that final attack just now or his Limit Break... Vincent wasn't too sure about that.

“Cloud, huh?” Kunsel uttered, before he turned around to follow the other man. His voice was low enough that Vincent almost wasn't able to catch it. And yet, he wasn't the only one who had heard it.

“You know Cloud?” Cait Sith asked, as Vincent sat down on a pile of rubble. Every single muscle in his body seemed to protest against the movement.

“Oh, you heard that?” The robot nodded and looked at the Soldier with a tilted head, clearly waiting for a response to its question. “You have good ears,” Kunsel said as he put down Genesis next to Weiss, all while trying to arrange the black, bloodstained wing so that it wouldn't be in the way. The Tsviet besides him was still unconscious and Vincent had the feeling that it would stay like that.

“No... no, I wouldn't say that I know Cloud,” the Soldier replied reluctantly as he started to check Genesis' wounds. “But I knew a few guys that were stationed in Midgar when Cloud and his friends stormed the Shinra Headquarters three years ago. It isn't everyday, that a rogue First Class with a sword bigger than himself just walks in through a backdoor and frees two of Hojo's specimen. Caused quite a stir among us Soldiers.” Kunsel's voice had fallen in a nonchalant tone, but Vincent couldn't help but notice a hint of melancholy in it.

He was most likely referring to that one time when Cloud, Tifa and Barret had infiltrated the Shinra Headquarters to rescue Aerith from Hojo. Vincent had not been there at the time, but he had heard the story numerous times. Mainly from Aerith, who had found the rescue attempt quite hilarious in hindsight. Vincent didn't know if Cloud had killed Soldiers at that time, but he doubted it. People with Jenova's cells didn't die easily. That probably wasn't the source of Kunsel's melancholic tone.

“I actually wanted to meet Cloud for some time, but I guess, introductions will have to wait until things have settled down a bit.”

“Ah, don't worry. He's not a bad bloke,” Cait Sith assured him, “but the wing caught him off guard. Bad memories, you know.”

It was moments like this, that made Vincent question, if Cait Sith was really programmed for espionage. He might have his own personality, but one would think that the programming would dictate it to a certain point – programming that should stop him from being so chatty towards somebody he had met just hours before.

“I thought so... Can't blame him for that,” Kunsel replied absentmindedly and frowned at something, before casting a quick healing spell over Genesis' deepest injuries. Kunsel then raised one brow again as he checked the wound once more. Something seemed to irritate the Soldier.

“Is something wrong?” Vincent asked while he watched Kunsel's next movements attentively. Cait Sith might have become familiar with the man while traversing Midgar's ruins, but Vincent didn't have this bias. The man flashed him a brief, slightly confused look in return.

“I'm... not entirely sure. To be honest, I really don't know, what to expect,” was the only hesitant answer before Kunsel turned back to Genesis, but apparently deemed the wound acceptable for now. He then began searching Weiss and Genesis for any items.

For a while, Vincent simply watched the Soldier work in silence. He observed every single movement, carefully watching out for any suspicious action. Kunsel might not be an ally of Genesis, but he was a Soldier and therefore had Jenova's cells in his body. Which meant, that there was a slim chance, that Kunsel was open to Genesis' influence. Vincent wasn't sure, if a normal Soldier was as affected by the Reunion like Cloud and the other clones of Sephiroth, or if Genesis' control over those cells was comparable to Sephiroth's. But he remembered the Temple of the Ancients vividly enough to not take any risks by letting his guard down.

After some time, Kunsel seemed to notice his looks and glanced up at Vincent. “Do you... want to talk about it? About what just happened with your Limit Break, I mean. Cait Sith said that it wasn't normal for you.” Vincent simply answered with a silent stare, which the Soldier shrugged off. “Guess not. Who wants to talk about their problems anyway...” Kunsel muttered, before he shifted his focus back to Genesis. Cait Sith gave Vincent a pensive look, but didn't press the matter either. He knew better than that.

Vincent naturally didn't want to talk about what had happened during his Limit Break because he didn't trust Kunsel enough to have a conversation like that. He appreciated that the man didn't seem too bothered about him turning into a monster, though. But the main reason for him to remain silent was, that he frankly didn't remember it.

He knew, of course, what had happened – Genesis' wounds were like an open book to him. It didn't matter if it were the claws, fangs or even the horns, Vincent had used the Galian Beast often enough to recognize the wounds that it inflicted. If he wanted to, he could even figure out how the fight had played out, just by looking at the wounds and the state of the environment.

Vincent definitely knew what had happened. He just didn't remember. He couldn't remember the fight against Genesis, inflicting any of his injuries or how he had been knocked out. Truth be told, he couldn't remember anything that had happened after his transformation until Cloud had given him that Phoenix Down. It was... disturbing.

When Vincent changed into one of his beast forms, he always knew what he was doing. It had taken some time to get used to it, but learning about the beasts dwelling inside his body and understanding their nature had allowed him to gain a certain amount of control over them. The Galian Beast was, despite their opposing personalities, the easiest to grasp and Vincent had not had any problems with it in a long time.

But the transformation just now had felt... different. The Galian Beast had felt stronger. Harder to grasp. Unfamiliar even. Because of that, it had simply slipped out of Vincent's grip and taken complete control over his body. After that... was nothing more. Like something had covered his consciousness with a thick veil. He didn't remember much from his very first transformation into Chaos all those years ago, too, but this was probably what that had felt like. A cold shiver ran down Vincent's spine, when he remembered that feeling of helplessness that had come over him in that moment.

Vincent would have to address this problem eventually, but he would have to talk to Shelke then. There was no doubt, that something had changed after Chaos had left his body to return to the Lifestream – this had been his first Limit Break after the whole Omega and Deepground incident, he couldn't imagine any other reason for that change. If there was anybody, who knew anything about this, it would be Shelke, who had Lucrecia's knowledge about Chaos.

“What kind of Materia does he have?”

It was Cait Sith's voice that drew Vincent's attention back to the situation they were in. Kunsel had apparently started to check the Materia that were in Genesis' possession and the robot leaned closer towards the Soldier to get a better look at the glowing orbs – two green ones and a yellow one.

“That one's a Sense, barely used,” Kunsel replied as he examined the yellow orb and handed it to Cait Sith afterwards. He then turned one of the green ones between his fingers. “A mastered Restore and...” He took the other green Materia. From the looks of it, it was mastered. “another Restore. Unused.” The Soldier stared baffled at the Materia. “That's all. Where the hell did he leave all of his Materia?”

“No offensive Materia?”

Vincent was slightly surprised at this, since he knew for a fact, that Genesis had cast several spells – first on the roof and then before he had entered that warehouse. Although... he would admit that the second one had not looked like any spell Vincent knew. He had not recognized those markings around the magical orbs from anywhere else. If anything, it had resembled Energy, but Energy wasn't nearly as good at tracking its target as Genesis' spell had been.

“No. I thought so when he didn't use any magic during the fight, but it's still weird,” Kunsel replied pensively. “He always had Materia on him, especially his Fire. We Seconds used to have this joke about it being a law of nature, that Genesis always had to have one equipped. And there's also his sword...” The wrinkles on his forehead became a bit deeper deeper. “Genesis had this really fancy sword with a red blade that he always used. I can't imagine him throwing that away or even just losing it. Heck, even his coat is different, now that I think about it.”

“His coat? In what way is it different?”

According to Tseng, Genesis was wearing a red coat and he did indeed wear one. Vincent even recognized the black clothes of a First Class member of SOLDIER underneath it. It wasn't quite the same attire that Cloud had been wearing three years ago, but it was similar enough not to be coincidence.

“Yeah, the one I remember was... let's say, more practical than this one. Just a long red leather coat, without all those black straps.”

“But this is Genesis, right?” Cait Sith asked curious, “The one that Tseng thinks he is?”

“Yeah, there's no mistaking it. The only thing that could make it even clearer would be, if he had started to spout Loveless. He wouldn't shut up about that and always had –“

Kunsel suddenly fell silent and furrowed his brows even more than before, as if he had realized something strange. “Wait a second...” The Soldier started to search Genesis again, especially the pockets on the inside of the coat. After a while, he sat back, arms folded in front of his chest.

“Huh... No Materia, no Rapier and no Loveless. I guess, the laws of nature no longer apply... No wonder he was so pissed off.”

“Did you notice anything else that's strange?”

“I can't tell for sure, but I don't think that he has any accessories. So... I have no idea, why that Sleepel earlier had no effect. I don't recall him having any immunity and I'm pretty sure that would have been a hot topic in both Shinra and his fan clubs.”

Sleepel wasn't the most precise spell, but Kunsel obviously knew enough about Materia to tell the difference between a missed spell and an ineffective one. His quick examination of Genesis' Materia had showed that much. It would be really curious if Genesis really had some kind of immunity, especially since Vincent didn't remember Sephiroth being immune to Sleep.

Assuming that Genesis really didn't have a Ribbon somewhere under his coat, why would he possess such a useful ability that Sephiroth didn't? Wasn't he supposed to be a prototype of sorts? One would think that Hojo would try to replicate any kind of immunity when working on his own son.

Although... Genesis might have gained that ability during his time at Deepground, too, if Kunsel didn't know anything about it. Each of the Tsviets had possessed their own special powers as well, so it wouldn't be a surprise. The only problem was, that Genesis probably would have had to spent some time in Deepground to develop this new ability. Which wasn't plausible either, because according to the records from Deepground, the Soldier had been sleeping beneath Midgar for quite some time instead of actually joining them... It just didn't add up.

Vincent was at a loss and his thoughts continued to circle around what had happened in the last couple of hours, while Kunsel had started to write down a few things on a notebook and occasionally checking on Genesis' wounds. Cait Sith had sat down next to Vincent, where he remained still. He was most likely in a conversation with Reeve right now.

After a while of waiting for the return of the Turks – by now, Vincent had started to wonder if something had happened to Rude and Reno – Kunsel broke the silence once again with a mumbled “What the...” It caught Vincent's attention immediately.

“Is something wrong?”

“I think so...” The baffled Soldier waved Vincent to his side. Vincent's body had healed completely by now and fortunately didn't protest his movements anymore as he came closer to the man. “Do you see that? That wound here?”

Vincent knelt down next to Kunsel to take a closer look at one of Genesis' injuries, a laceration right over his brow. The first thing that he noticed was, that most of the wounds around it still looked rather new in general. Vincent assumed that Genesis' healing rate was comparable to Cloud's, which would mean, that the injuries should have at least started to heal by now – especially the shallow scrapes and scratches. But even those were barely closed, some even looked like they were still bleeding a bit. There was no way those injuries should look like that, even if he didn't have any enhancements.

What really baffled Vincent, however, was the second realization and probably the thing that Kunsel had meant before: around the laceration, there was a slight green glow. It started at the margin of the wound and spread steadily towards the center of the injury, slowly regenerating the injured flesh and skin on its way.

“That's not how a Soldier heals under normal circumstances,” Kunsel explained and Vincent knew exactly what he meant. Just like Vincent, Cloud recovered much faster from wounds than normal people, but the wound simply closed itself. It didn't look any different from the normal process. But this... The green glow was almost reminiscent of how the water in Aerith's Church had healed Geostigma.

“Something... is healing him.”

This just got stranger and stranger. Genesis was a result of the Jenova Project and posed as such a potentially lethal threat to the Planet. And yet it almost looked like something or, well, somebody was healing him from the Lifestream.

What are you doing, Aerith?

***

Wha... what did you do, Aerith?!, Zack asked Aerith shocked, while his warm presence whirled around Aerith, ready to protect her from anything coming at them. It was a really cute thought, but sadly not how things worked in the Lifestream. In here, Zack wasn't much more than a consciousness and there wasn't really anything he could do against the furious black mass that was Sephiroth's will.

Nothing... I don't know, what just happened!

That much was true. Aerith had watched the negative Lifestream over the fast few days and it had remained quite calm ever since Omega's return to the Lifestream. After so much time of just watching it, she had grown curious about how it would react, if she approached it and tried to reach a few spirits that were closer to the core.

At first, everything had seemed to be fine. There were individual spirits that radiated suspicion, but the main body had been quite indifferent to her approach. Normally, Sephiroth would have pushed her away immediately, but he seemed to be distracted by something else, so that he didn't even notice her.

So... it was fine. At first, at least.

After a moment, something inside of the black stream had started to stir and right now it was lashing out against anything that was in its reach, downright shredding a few pure threads that were flowing among the black ones.

Did you wake Sephiroth up or something? Why is it so angry all of a sudden?

The Cetra pulled away a bit further. The negative Lifestream's outrage seemed even intenser than before the incident with Omega. The anger and burning hatred that Sephiroth radiated was overwhelming, even for Aerith, so she didn't even want to imagine what Zack felt at the moment. Even after spending years in the Lifestream, he still had some of Jenova's taint attached to him, just like all those other spirits that had been exposed to her cells. It was probably only due to his willpower and lack of negative emotions that he had not joined Sephiroth's stream yet. She didn't want to risk losing him because she was too close to the negative Lifestream and Zack was pulled inside by force because of it.

I really don't know... but I doubt it was me.

Aerith didn't think that her approach could have enraged it that much. She had tried similar things before and Sephiroth had never reacted comparable to this. There had to be another reason.

The Cetra opened her mind to the other voices of the Lifestream to find out, if they had noticed something suspicious. But everything that she heard was an unintelligible jumble of voices, all talking over each other. It was useless.

I'm going to ask Minerva, if something has happened, okay? You and Angeal should get away for a bit.

Zack had asked Aerith once, what Minerva actually was. He apparently thought, that she was a Summon or maybe a Weapon of the Planet. He wasn't really wrong about this, she was bearing quite a resemblance to the both of them: Minerva was, just like a Weapon, tasked with the protection of the Lifestream, and was able to manifest a part of her on the Planet's surface, just like a Summon, although she wasn't bound to Materia and could do this at will.

But Minerva was more than a Summon or Weapon. She was, as far as Aerith could tell, the closest being to what one would call the core of the Lifestream. Her consciousness was, by far, the purest part of the Lifestream that the girl had ever seen and Minerva seemed to know everything that was going on in the Lifestream. She might even be the central will of the Planet for all that Aerith knew about her. Even the remaining Cetra of old tended to gather around Minerva and maybe it was some kind of Cetra instinct that led them here. That might be just the reason why it was always so easy for Aerith to find Minerva, no matter where she was.

Minerva, can I ask you a question?

The part of the Lifestream, that was Minerva's consciousness, welcomed Aerith with a warm feeling that reminded the Cetra of the feeling of sunshine on her skin and the gentle touch of her flowers. It was a beautiful feeling that never ceased to lift her spirits whenever she came to talk.

Of course, as always. It is about the Calamity, is it not?

Yes. It's angry about something. Do you know more about this?

Minerva remained silent for a while, her consciousness flowing calmly around Aerith's. When she began to talk again, it was in a thoughtful voice, as if she was trying to figure something out for herself.

So it really noticed... It seems like the Calamity keeps a wary eye on its children, even if they are astray.

It... noticed? And what do you mean by 'children'?

The only one that Aerith considered Jenova's child would be Sephiroth, but Angeal was technically also one of Jenova's children, wasn't he? According to Zack, those two men had been subjected to similar experiments, Sephiroth just had much more cells inside of him. But... the Remnants had called Cloud their brother, too. Which meant, that Minerva might mean anybody who carried Jenova's cells.

The beginning and the end. Anchor and Weapon. The Legacy and the Fallen. Those, who shaped this path that they are now destined to walk till the very end... May it be the one that leads to salvation instead of perdition.

Perdition? What do you mean?

Aerith felt cold fear creep into her soul – she had a bad feeling about this. It wasn't even Minerva's cryptic words that made her nervous. It was the simple fact, that it didn't even sound, like the being was talking to Aerith, but rather like she caught up in her own thoughts. Aerith really didn't know, what she was supposed to think about this.

So you don't feel it yet? How the Calamity uses ours to thrive and spread its taint in the stream of life? I suppose, that was to be expected. Despite all, you are still only a child. The Calamity... it won't yield – but neither will we.

The sudden edge in Minerva's voice almost made Aerith flinch. This wasn't the calm voice of the guardian Minerva, that silently observed the Lifestream's eternal flow like a mother watched her children – guiding them if necessary, but ultimately letting them choose their own path. No. This was the voice of the warrior Minerva. The Weapon, that would do anything in its power to protect the Lifestream – no matter the consequences.

Aerith wanted to ask about what she was talking about – Sephiroth's negative Lifestream had started to get weaker after Cloud had killed him once again. There simply weren't enough people with Geostigma left to strengthen him to the level he had been before. So what did Minerva mean when she said, that the Calamity was spreading again?

But... there was an unnerving feeling inside of her that stopped her. It might have been the overwhelming sense of determination that radiated from Minerva or maybe the tension that she suddenly felt from the other Cetra spirits nearby. Whatever it was... she just couldn't bring herself to ask.

This has lasted long enough. We will no longer accept the impurity that the Calamity has brought upon us. Soon... the time will come to purge the stream of life of the taint that dwells within and put an end to this war – once and for all.

Chapter Text

“Why does he have a wing?”

“I'm... not entirely sure. I think, it's a mutation from the experiments...”

Those lines echoed through the consciousness' mind as it was ripped away from the scene and the whole world shattered until nothing remained.

After that, the world was green.

Everything was green.

The shimmering waves that brushed the consciousness were green, just like the strange strands of light that flowed between them. It even smelled and tasted green. Or maybe it was just its twisted senses that made it think of it like that. Maybe the world wasn't as green as it thought – it didn't even know where or what it was. How was it supposed to understand anything else? All that it knew was, that it was surrounded by an endless sea of green.

For a while, the consciousness just continued to float through the green void. It had no sense of direction or any motivation to do something. Why would it? Even the scene that it had seen just moments ago was slowly fading out of its mind until it could barely remember it anymore. Something about... wings? Was that it? It didn't matter, though. There was nothing else than this green void anyway.

Green and... a voice?

Yes, there was a voice somewhere, it could hear it in its mind. Quiet and muffled due to the green blanket over its senses, but it was there. It was there and it was trying to reach out for the consciousness, it was sure of it.

The consciousness started to stir, completely captivated by the whisper. Its sole existence in this void made it the most enticing thing there could ever be, making the consciousness desperate to know, who this voice belonged to. It might be able to help it escape this void so that it would finally know, what it was.

“A month, you say? He certainly doesn't look like it.”

At first, he consciousness was surprised. This voice was suddenly much clearer than the one before – and not only that. It also wasn't just a disembodied voice anymore. No, it belonged to a woman that looked at it with curiosity in her eyes. But the surprise quickly vanished and the consciousness couldn't help, but feel intrigued by the sudden change of scenery.

The woman started to wiggle one of her index fingers in front of it. The consciousness was startled when it suddenly heard a soft cooing and two tiny hands appeared in its line of vision that tried to reach for the finger. It didn't take long, until one of them grasped the digit and another happy cooing was to be heard.

“Astounding...” the woman said in surprise and continued to move her finger carefully. The small hand didn't loosen its grip one second. “Judging from his behavior and body coordination... I'd guess that he is at least three months old. Fascinating!”

“I told you, didn't I? He's much better than Hollander's brat and much closer to an actual Ancient than his... failures could ever be.”

That male voice wasn't pleasant to the ear – it was actually quite the opposite, stinging and unbearable. It sounded like trouble and raised the consciousness' awareness immediately.

“How dare you...!” This voice snarled in anger, whereas the second one made a cackling sound. The sound of... laughter. That's what it was.

“Of course,” the female voice said reluctantly, “I'd still have to administer a few more tests. To confirm his age and compare his abilities to other children. It's obvious, that his development is more advanced than that of an ordinary child, but –”

“Nonsense,” the stinging voice interrupted her, “Which one of us is the scientist, woman? I've administered more than enough tests already. He is perfect!”

Indeed,” another deep voice agreed quite pleased, “You might be a big step closer to our goal. Hollander, it's probably for the best, if Hojo leads the Science Department from now on. The department should also focus its research on this little one here instead of the other. I have high expectations!”

The consciousness barely had any time to process what it had seen, before it was suddenly flooded by other scenes that appeared quickly and vanished just as fast. Many of them contained the man with the stinging voice. He appeared to be quite strict and the consciousness really didn't like the pleased look that tended to appear on his face – especially when the man thought, that the consciousness couldn't see him.

But even those scenes were quickly gone and replaced by others. There were, in fact, so many of them, that the consciousness had to let go the earlier ones in fear of losing its mind to the mass of information getting pressed into it. Many of the scenes were basically the same: the white room, in which the man with the obnoxious voice tended to be. The front of a large building that towered over a city in gray. But they still kept flooding in, years and years worth of experiences.

This whole overflow was so overwhelming, that it took the consciousness way too long to realize, that it wasn't just watching random scenes the green world was showing it. They were memories.

Its – no, his memories.

It were his own memories, those that the green void had taken from him. His childhood, youth and adulthood. All those years of him growing up. And about Hojo. That was the name of the man that he kept seeing in his memories.

The consciousness' apathy from before was now completely gone – he was more than eager to learn more about himself in order to fill the void inside of him. To do so, the consciousness thought hard about it and reached into the green world for other memories that had to be somewhere out there.

But... those memories were still not enough. He could feel that they were incomplete and just a part of that what was still missing. Most of them revolved around Hojo and this place, nothing else. What was it even called? He searched further, until his mind finally grasped two simple words.

Shinra. SOLDIER.

“Is that really okay? I mean... You're a First Class. I'm sure you have better things to do than following us around.”

The consciousness was thrilled, when he suddenly saw a completely new scene in front of him – two people, both dressed all in blue, were standing in front if him. They looked young, almost like children. The taller one with black hair – he was also the one who had talked just now – rubbed the side of his neck with an insecure look on his face. The other one, with hair of auburn color, just stared at the consciousness in some kind of shock.

“It's okay, we have to monitor new Thirds on their first days outside,” the consciousness heard another voice say – a bit higher than it should be, but his own, as he noticed excited. “I have nothing else to do right now and you are around my age, so I volunteered.”

Seeing those two filled the consciousness with a warm fuzzy feeling. Somewhere deep inside he knew, that he liked them and the consciousness didn't have to think for long, until he recalled their names as Angeal and Genesis.

“Nice, isn't it?”

The scene had changed again. The two boys were now older and both of them were wearing black instead of blue. Right now, it looked like Genesis was showing off a red leather coat.

“I think, you should get one, too. And don't listen to Angeal, the coat wasn't as expensive as he says. He's just being stingy again,” Genesis said and countered Angeal's eye-roll with a teasing grin.

“I appreciate the thought, but I don't think that red is my color,” the consciousness heard its own voice reply with a slightly amused tone.

“Of course not red, that's my thing. No, black suits you perfectly. It's a nice contrast to your hair.”

Yes, those memories were much more pleasant than the ones with Hojo. He enjoyed them and tried to take his time with them. Sadly, they weren't nearly as numerous as the other memories that involved bleak rooms and slaying monsters or even people, though. Which made him cherish them all the more. Because of that, the consciousness continued to search the green for more memories and indulged himself in reminiscence, until he suddenly heard a hoarse voice.

“...I think, you've overdone it this time, Professor.” The voice sounded strange, like it was very far away and behind a thick layer of glass. The consciousness decided to ignore it for now, but sadly, he wouldn't be able to do the same with the other voice.

“What?” The shrill sound almost caused pain to the consciousness. He didn't like it. At all. It sounded too familiar. “This is ridiculous, it's been the same amount as always!”

“But he shows clear signs of Mako poisoning...”

“Nonsense! The boy doesn't get Mako poisoning!”

The voices sounded much closer now, like they were just beside him and the consciousness didn't have to think long about who the second one belonged to. Hojo from the Science Department. That explained why this voice troubled him so much. Nothing good ever came from Hojo.

“Even if it isn't, there is no way he can be dispatched to Wutai like this,” the other voice replied with caution. It belonged to one of the Professor's assistants, and an especially brave one, or so it seemed. There weren't many who dared to talk like that to Hojo.

“I know that, fool!” Hojo ranted at the other man. “Anyway, he's already starting to wake up, see? Sephiroth and Mako poisoning. Don't make me laugh!”

Sephiroth.

Right. That was his name, wasn't it? The name given to him by his mother, Jenova. That was the last piece of the puzzle that he needed to patch up his mind and regain the last memories that were still missing. And with every one of them, the green world started to fade into darkness.

After that, Sephiroth slowly started to regain the sense of having a body. The faint smell of Mako reached his nose and the quiet humming of the laboratory's machinery were the first things that came back, before he carefully opened his eyes to the blinding lights above him.

“See, he's fine,” Hojo all but purred while looking down at the Soldier. “Mako poisoning... absolutely ridiculous.”

***

After that, Hojo insisted in making another batch of tests to find out, what had caused Sephiroth to 'pass out', how the scientist liked to phrase it. Sephiroth allowed it begrudgingly, but made sure that Hojo noticed his discontent with the situation. Not that it mattered to Hojo. The scientist never cared much about his patients' opinions and Sephiroth was no exception to that.

Another half an hour went by and Hojo's tests started to become too bizarre to be related to the matter, so Sephiroth simply excused himself and took his leave. He had better things to do than keeping this hack entertained and Hojo knew that, which was why the Professor didn't protest his leave. He didn't like it, of course, but it wasn't like Hojo could force Sephiroth to do something that wasn't in his contract with Shinra – especially if it was threatening his upcoming mission. It didn't matter to Hojo, though, he would still try to occupy as much of the Soldier's precious time with his useless experiments and Sephiroth wasn't sure why. Well... he had an idea, of course, but Sephiroth didn't even want to think about that possibility.

Outside of the laboratory, Sephiroth was surprised to find Angeal waiting for him. It's been a while since the two of them had had the chance to talk to each other and Sephiroth wouldn't have expected that the other First knew about his appointment at the Science Department.

“That took longer than expected,” Angeal commented with slight worry in his voice. “Wasn't that supposed to be just a routine check?”

“You know Hojo. He just couldn't resist testing something new,” Sephiroth replied with a shrug, to which Angeal furrowed his brows in response.

“That doesn't sound good. Wanna talk about it?”

A part of Sephiroth wanted to decline the offer. Hojo's treatment had given him a lot to think about and Angeal had enough to worry about, even without Sephiroth's problems that weren't even that problematic. It was probably just a waste of Angeal's time. But he hesitated to say it out loud.

This experience in the lab – whatever that might have been – had reminded Sephiroth of how much he missed spending time with his friends, even if it was just talking to one of them. These days, there weren't many occasions for the three of them to meet. Between their own missions, Angeal also had to spend time with the Third Class that he had started to mentor some time ago. And since Angeal didn't want the boy to become too full of himself, just because he knew a few Firsts, they had cut back on their meetings even more. And now, that Genesis was stationed in Wutai, it had become quite impossible.

“What about Zack? Don't you have more important things to take care of?”

“Most people would say that the great Sephiroth is quite important,” Angeal replied with a cheeky smile, “and Zack is on a mission in Sector 3, anyway. Chances are, that he will survive without me. Come on, let's go somewhere else for that.”

A few minutes later, the two men were sitting at a table in the cafeteria. The only other people around were a few Seconds that were sitting in another corner, but they were so absorbed in their own heated conversation, that Sephiroth didn't mind them that much. The video cameras were still broken from that incident with the Cactuar last week, too, which meant that their conversation would be as private as the Shinra Headquarters allowed it to be.

“So... Hojo again?” It was almost comical, how Angeal always started their conversations after a visit in the Science Department with that question.

“Hojo again,” Sephiroth replied with a shrug, completely ignoring the unasked question in Angeal's worried expression. “Is there more to say?”

“What did he do this time? Wasn't this supposed to be a routine physical before your departure to Wutai tomorrow?”

“I have no idea,” Sephiroth answered truthfully, “It seems like he tried out some kind of Mako treatment and overdosed it.”

“He overdosed...?” Angeal's expression darkened immediately. “Why does he even have to test those things on you? This can't be healthy!”

“I'm almost certain that he does that with anybody, Angeal. You just don't notice it, because you're assigned to Hollander's team.”

That wasn't even a lie. Hojo was notorious for using Soldiers as test subjects. Not only that, going up there in general was like a gamble: one could be lucky and Hojo was too busy with one of his regular specimen to even notice the visitor, or one was unlucky enough to enter it just in time for a spontaneous experiment. Most people, especially the Soldiers, were aware of that and avoided the labs if possible, but there were still enough unfortunate visitors that ended up as unsuspecting test subjects. Sephiroth had not heard any stories like that about Hollander, but that might just be, because he was technically Hojo's subordinate with less privileges. Hojo liked to keep his underlings small, so nobody knew, what Hollander would do, if given the chance.

“Still...” Angeal uttered audibly upset, “somebody should do something against that. It's not right to use Soldiers as test subjects.”

“Feel free to issue a complaint. I'm sure, President Shinra will appreciate it.”

Angeal frowned, but didn't say anything against it. It was true, after all. Hojo could get away with anything that didn't threaten either the president or the company directly, Angeal knew that well enough. Even Sephiroth, who had quite a few privileges himself due to being Shinra's 'poster boy' – as Genesis liked to call it – was powerless when it came to the scientist. Because of that, he had learned to ignore Hojo as good as possible and simply endured the occasional experiments as long as they didn't go too far. He didn't have to visit the labs that often anyway, it just wasn't worth the hassle.

“I hope, it wasn't too bad? I heard that overdosing Mako can have nasty aftereffects.”

“It's like... having your entire existence shattered. You forget everything and nothing makes sense anymore. It's... hard to describe, really.” Sephiroth heard Angeal sharply suck in some air, but to Sephiroth, even his description sounded much worse than it felt right now. He remembered the empty green world around him and his memories appeared to be fresher than before, that was about it. Looking back, the whole experience was just too unreal to judge it in any way. “To be honest, I'm more concerned about something else.”

“What could be worse than that?”

“It's not exactly worse, just... different.” Sephiroth waited for the group of Seconds to leave the cafeteria, before he dared to continue talking. He and Angeal were now the only people in the room and Sephiroth was glad about that – what he was about to tell his friend wasn't meant for other ears. “I had to revisit my memories in that lab and they felt quite familiar – I knew, that those were mine. But... there was also something else... I don't think, I've ever seen this before, and I'd definitely remember something like that happening.”

“What was it?”

Sephiroth hesitated to continue. Even to himself, that one memory was incredibly odd and confusing. Would Angeal even believe him if he told him about it?

“Sephiroth? What did you see? You know, that you can tell me everything,” Angeal said and it was kind of a relieve to hear that. Of course he could trust Angeal with that. Why did he even doubt this?

“I've seen... Genesis. At first, he was fighting against somebody who seemed to be in SOLDIER and then another man who could transform into a beast. It's... I...” Sephiroth honestly didn't know how to continue his sentence. “I've never seen Genesis like this.”

Just thinking about the scene, that he had witnessed in the labs, brought back the memory with even more force than before. What had been just a blurry image returned with more detail than even the most vivid memory. Sephiroth could almost see it in front of him again and it sent shivers down his spine for the simple fact, that it had felt so real despite being so unreal.

The Genesis, that Sephiroth had known for years now, was an extraordinary fighter, skilled with both the sword and magic. He never lost a fight to anybody other than Sephiroth or maybe Angeal – if they didn't use any Materia. A confident man, that didn't back away from any enemy and Sephiroth was convinced, that he wouldn't even back away from a serious fight against Sephiroth – something that hopefully would never be necessary.

It was a matter of fact that Sephiroth, for as long as he had known Genesis, had never seen genuine fear in this man's eyes. Not even once.

Until now, at least.

This other Genesis that he had seen in this memory... Actually, no. He refused to call it a memory. A vision, maybe, but even that name didn't fit. It sounded too definitive, like it was bound to happen. But that was impossible, the mere thought of Genesis being frightened of something was too absurd to be true.

And still... The look in this Genesis' eyes when he had seen that blond man... that Soldier... those had been the eyes of a man, who knew that this was his end. Sephiroth had seen it too often in his life to be mistaken about that. Remembering Genesis injured and horrified like that... it just felt wrong. Why would his brain show him something like that? It just didn't make any sense at all, be it Mako poisoning or not. But as wrong as this was, that wasn't the only thing that had been deeply unsettling about the scenario.

“Angeal... Genesis doesn't have anything to do with Hojo, does he?”

“Hojo?” Angeal blinked in confusion. “No, as you said, we're assigned to Hollander. Why?”

“In this... vision... Genesis had a wing. The Soldier said something about it being a mutation due to experiments.”

“Genesis... had wings?”

“No, not wings,” Sephiroth shook his head with a soft sigh. It sounded absurd even to himself. He couldn't blame Angeal if he didn't believe a thing Sephiroth said. “A single black wing on his left shoulder. I think, he could grow it at will.”

Angeal leaned back into his seat and looked at Sephiroth with doubt in his eyes. “I'm pretty sure that Genesis would burn down the labs before Hojo can even think about giving him a wing. It was probably just a hallucination due to the Mako, don't you think?”

“I really don't know. I want to believe that, but... that whole scene felt so real, as if I was standing right there... You know, I'm not superstitious, but I really can't help but wonder, if it has any meaning.”

“You fear, that Genesis might do something incredibly dumb involving Hojo, don't you?” Angeal said after a moment of silence. Sephiroth nodded reluctantly. He had not thought about the possibility before, but that would make sense, didn't it?

“You know Genesis. Far better than me.”

Angeal sighed. “And that's why I see, where you're coming from – especially after his last stunt with Heidegger. He might have been lucky this time, but Genesis definitely pushes his luck more than he should.” That was true – Genesis wouldn't even be in Wutai, if not for his tendency to aggravate people.

Officially, Shinra was still negotiating with Wutai to end the war, but the truth was more complicated than that. Occasionally battles would break out and claim the lives of not only infantrymen, but also a surprisingly high number of Soldiers. To limit the number of casualties, Genesis had 'suggested' to approach the conflict head on and send in some more Soldiers.

In theory, Genesis hadn't been wrong at the time – Shinra would have won this war a long time ago, if they decided to approach it that way, because a First Class, maybe even a good Second, could seize strategic strongholds easily in no time. Sephiroth had plenty of experience with Wutai and Genesis had studied the fighting styles and tactics of the locals, especially those of the ninjas, until he knew them in and out. Even if Shinra decided to just sent the two of them combined, it might be enough to put a quick end to this conflict. And honestly, this would be a win-win situation: Genesis would finally have his opportunity to prove himself and the company wouldn't lose more people than it already had. But Shinra's stance on the matter was clear. They didn't want the war to end – at least not like that.

The big reason to hold back SOLDIER in this war was, indeed, a strategic one. People knew, that Soldiers were powerful elite fighters, but they weren't aware of how powerful they really were. Shinra wanted to keep it that way, of course.

Even though many youths joined the army in hopes of joining SOLDIER, many more simply came because it was a job like any other. To most people, the infantry's main purpose was to maintain safety in cities and towns – SOLDIER already took care of monsters and the Wutai War was in the peace talks stage, there wasn't much else people saw infantrymen doing.

However, if people knew, that a single Soldier was strong enough to take down entire battalions or take over heavily guarded strongholds in a matter of hours, the steady influx of people willing to become infantrymen would dwindle fast. Not just because it was bad for morale, if there were so much better elite soldiers, but also because they would begin to fear Soldiers and the prospect of fighting alongside or against one. The knowledge could even cause public uproar.

Shinra couldn't allow that, of course. The company needed its infantrymen to keep up its huge security apparatus – they couldn't replace every trooper in the towns with Soldiers, even if they wanted to. Because of that, the company walked a fine line between praising its elite to attract new recruits and deter its enemies, while also hiding their full potential from ordinary people. It was difficult, but it seemed to work quite well for them.

Naturally, ending the war with a handful of Soldiers was out of question – it would threaten this delicate balance immensely. Therefore, in the eyes of the president, the lives of a few infantrymen and the occasional Soldier were a small price to pay in exchange for this balance. Sooner or later, Wutai would have to give in anyway, there was no need to speed up the process if they could afford the wait.

So... yes, from a certain point of view, Genesis had not been wrong on expressing his criticism over them prolonging the war artificially – most people in SOLDIER would agree for one reason or another. It had been a bad idea, though, to direct his criticism right at Heidegger himself, who wasn't exactly known for being understanding. It didn't help either, that Genesis' 'subtle' insults accompanying that criticism weren't quite subtle enough to go unnoticed. As a result, Genesis now was in Wutai like he wanted to, he just wasn't allowed to do anything meaningful at the front or it would infuriate Heidegger even more. Thankfully, Genesis was smart enough to realize that and obeyed this time, even though he had to be bored out of his mind right now.

“I can only –“ The sound of Angeal's PHS interrupted the Soldier. He checked the display and immediately raised one eyebrow in an unspoken question. “It's Zack, I have to answer this.”

“Of course.”

Angeal flashed Sephiroth an apologetic look, but picked up the call after that.

“Zack. Have you accomplished your mission yet?”

Sephiroth did his best, not to listen to the conversation – which wasn't the easiest thing to do, given his enhanced hearing – so he didn't catch everything that Zack said. He didn't have to anyway. Angeal's unbelieving expression in itself spoke volumes.

“A... Hungry ate your PHS... and now you're somewhere in the sewers? Why... How...? Weren't you supposed to hunt a few Raijincho?” A lengthy explanation followed, at which Angeal pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. “I see... Just... just wait where you are, okay? I'll come to you.” After that, he hung up and let out another long sigh. “How does he do this?”

“Too much energy, it seems. Combined with little focus and a short attention span.”

Angeal huffed a quiet laugh. “Just like a puppy, I know... Was it too early to recommend him for Second Class?”

“I'm barely the right one to judge him,” Sephiroth answered, “but to be fair, it seems to stem from inexperience. It's better than running into trouble just because he can.” Which would be exactly, what Angeal was used to from Genesis. Looking back at Angeal's stories about Zack so far and comparing the boy to Genesis, Sephiroth started to wonder, if Angeal needed somebody he could worry about to be content. It would explain a lot.

“Maybe...” Angeal shook his head in amused disbelieve, muttering “A Hungry ate his PHS... Do I even want to know, how he got it back?” before he looked back at Sephiroth.

“I'll be honest with you, Sephiroth... There's only one advice I can give you: talk to Genesis about your concerns. Whatever you saw... it probably means nothing, but you should get it off your chest, if it bothers you that much.” Angeal eyed Sephiroth expectantly until the other man nodded in agreement. Satisfied by that, Angeal stood up from his seat. “Good. If you excuse me, I have to rescue a stuck puppy, before a horde of Sahagins finds him. Or a giant sewer monster, I guess. You're preparing for your departure tomorrow, don't you?”

“Yes,” Sephiroth replied as he stood up, too, and the both of them walked towards the elevator. “We're leaving early in the morning, so I doubt we'll see each other again before I return from Wutai.”

It seemed like they had changed their topic just in time, because when they got there, two female Turks just arrived with the elevator. The two women gave them a polite greeting, which the Soldiers returned in the same manner before entering the elevator themselves.

“Do you want me to tell Genesis anything when I see him?” Sephiroth asked after the doors had closed. Angeal looked pensive at his friend, but eventually shook his head.

“No, you two will be returning together soon, don't you? Before the start of summer, if I remember correctly?” Sephiroth answered with a nod. It seemed like Angeal had checked his schedule once again. “That's good, we should spend some time together when you two are back. So... just say hi from me and make sure he doesn't do something that gets him into even more trouble, okay?”

Outside of the building, the two men each went their own ways – Angeal hurried to wherever Zack might be, whereas Sephiroth headed towards his apartment. Thankfully, it was a rather chilly and windy day, which meant that not many people were on the streets and Sephiroth finally had the opportunity to properly reflect on what had happened in the laboratory.

As much as Sephiroth told himself that this... scenario... had been only a meaningless hallucination caused by Mako, he also had to admit that he started to feel slightly intrigued about it. Despite all, it had been an interesting experience and maybe it wasn't even supposed to be real. It could have been just something like a dream – dreams didn't picture reality, but were the brain's attempt to process something that the dreamer didn't even have to know about consciously.

Sephiroth had to admit that he was sometimes worried about Genesis' recklessness and Hojo was definitely somebody he didn't want Genesis to mess with. So... yes, this might have been just a dream that expressed Sephiroth's subconscious fear of this scenario. This theory did sound plausible so far and seemed to be the best explanation for it. Because what else could it have been?

It certainly wasn't supposed to show Sephiroth something that was happening at the same time somewhere else. Sephiroth had not been in the Train Graveyard since SOLDIER had gotten its own VR Training Room, but he was certain that the dream had been located down there. Genesis on the other hand was in Wutai right now and Heidegger's secretary would have informed Sephiroth, if SOLDIER's schedule had changed. There would be no plausible explanation for Genesis to be in Midgar – would have to get caught by the enemy or desert Shinra to do that and Genesis was not the type for either, despite his problems with certain authorities.

Thinking about the people he had seen in it... One of them had been a Turk, now that Sephiroth thought about it. He even knew this man – his name was Rude and lately he had been Sephiroth's pilot a few times. Assuming, that the scene was just something Sephiroth's subconsciousness had created because of his worries, it was easy to see, why it would choose Rude to represent the Turks.

He had not been wearing a proper uniform, but besides Rude, there had also been this Soldier. What was his name again? The cat – whatever this might have been, Sephiroth had absolutely no idea – had shouted it once... Kunsel?

Sephiroth pondered the name, until he remembered that there was a Second with that name. Unfortunately, most Seconds and Thirds were obligated to wear their helmets at all times, so Sephiroth didn't know, how the Soldier looked like. He couldn't recall the real Soldier's voice either, so there was no telling if this person was purely made up. At least not now, but he might be able to check his file after his return.

Then there had been this man that could transform into a beast – Vincent. He was certainly remarkable enough to remember if Sephiroth had ever met the man. Unfortunately, Sephiroth didn't recall meeting somebody who looked even remotely like Vincent. Was this man only a construct of Sephiroth's imagination, then? He might represent Hojo's experiments, since Sephiroth didn't believe that a normal human being could transform into a monster... But Sephiroth didn't know anybody with that name either. Was it just a random name his brain had picked?

Honestly, not having any clues about this man frustrated Sephiroth a bit and the last man from that dream didn't make it any better.

Cloud.

He remembered the name clearly, but this man, who had been wearing black clothes similar to that of a First Class Soldier and had a sword that looked like the Buster Sword... Sephiroth really didn't know, what to do with this man. Currently, he didn't know any First with blond hair and not even a Soldier that went by that name – or, well, anybody who was called Cloud.

Also, if Kunsel represented SOLDIER in Sephiroth's dream, what was Cloud about? There was only one Turk, too, so why would there be two Soldiers? And why would the First Class come so much later than the Second? Why would a Second try to take on Genesis in the first place? Even under the assumption, that this was just a dream fabricated by Mako and his subconsciousness, this didn't make any sense.

Sephiroth let out a small sigh when he realized that he was now standing in front of his apartment. He had been so absorbed in his own thoughts that he had not even noticed entering the building and coming up here. The Soldier unlocked his door with his ID and entered his apartment.

It didn't make any sense to ponder the experience in the lab any more, did it? Even if he had the time to investigate those names, right now it wouldn't do anything useful. If anything, it would only cause him to lose sleep. Angeal was probably right when he said, that he should talk to Genesis about it – even without that dream, it was clear that Genesis couldn't continue to antagonize Shinra executives like that. It would have consequences someday.

That, however, raised another question: Was it better to bring it up before or after telling Genesis the reason for Sephiroth's early arrival in Wutai? Because this was a conversation that he certainly didn't look forward to.

Chapter Text

Early spring [ µ ] - εγλ 2000, Wutai

The moment he left the helicopter, Sephiroth was welcomed by the familiar humid air of Wutai. He quickly gave the Seconds and Thirds, that had arrived with him, the usual orders and watched them split up to different parts of the camp before he approached the tents himself.

Sephiroth had not been here for a few months, but he noticed immediately, that the SOLDIER camp had not changed the slightest since he'd been here the last time. Its position had not been moved at all and it was in a very good condition.

Some of the old Firsts in the commandment rotation tended to let the Seconds and Thirds slack off, since there wasn't much for them to do, other than patrolling the area around the army's camp to watch out for any monsters or enemies. Whenever that was the case, Sephiroth always noticed the slight disarray when he returned to duty, even if the First in question tried to establish order the day before. But right now, his didn't seem to be the case. It looked like Genesis knew exactly, how to keep the discipline up.

The sound of clanking metal in the distance seemed to confirm this further. It wasn't accompanied by any other sounds of battle, so it had to be a training session. Sephiroth followed the noise and it indeed didn't take long until he reached an open field, where the stationed Soldiers practiced their sword skills.

“Jenkins!” Sephiroth couldn't suppress a little smirk, when he heard Genesis' disgruntled voice across the field. The First was standing right next to a Third, who looked like he had shrunken despite actually being taller than his superior. “What did I tell you about your footwork? Do you want to become Foulander food again?”

“Sir! No, Sir!” the Third answered quickly and corrected his stance. Sephiroth also noticed amused, that some of the other Soldiers shifted their weight slightly as well. Probably in order not to catch Genesis' attention. Sephiroth had no doubt that Genesis had also seen the movement and that he simply chose not to comment on it.

“Good. Continue. And remember it this time.”

This was the moment when Genesis turned around and finally noticed Sephiroth observing the group from a distance. The First shot him a surprised look, but still finished his round to correct any of his subordinates' mistakes before approaching Sephiroth.

“Now who do we have here?” Genesis greeted him with the hint of a grin on his face. “I've heard the helicopter, but I wouldn't have expected you to show up, my friend. Weren't you supposed to take over once my exile is over?”

“And miss the chance to see how you train your Soldiers?” Sephiroth replied jokingly, “They seem to be doing well. Are you sure that you don't want to become a mentor? We would have new Firsts in no time.” Genesis snorted in response.

“So that I have to endure this every day like Angeal? No thank you. I ensure that they stay alive under my watch, the rest is up to them.”

“Any problems with this so far?”

“One of the Thirds was almost mauled by a Foulander pack and the medics wanted to take him back to Midgar for recovery.” Genesis huffed upset. “What a nerve! As if I couldn't use a simple healing spell!”

“He was alright, I guess?” It was an unnecessary question, really. It was commonly known, that Genesis was almost unrivaled when it came to magic. Fire magic might be his specialty, but if Genesis decided to heal something, he did it without fail.

“Of course he was!” Genesis waved his hand, as if it had been a mere trifle. “One Curaga and he was back on patrol. Other than that... there wasn't really anything else out of the ordinary.”

The two men watched the exercise for a while, until Genesis was more or less satisfied with his men. Genesis at last told them to run a few laps around camp before he and Sephiroth went to the central tent that served as their command center.

The tent was as plain as one would expect, with just chests that contained maps and other equipment, as well as several stools that were standing around the war table. Scattered on the table were maps, pens, opened books and dozens of sheets of paper, some of them wadded or ripped apart. As Sephiroth sat down, he noticed one particular piece of paper in the center that was covered with strange symbols.

“Is that a code?”

“Indeed. We got it yesterday, from one of their messengers. Thought he could sneak past us,” Genesis replied and picked up the piece of paper. The Soldier furrowed his brows as he looked at the text written on it. “We haven't been able to decode it yet, but I have a feeling that we're close.”

“May I take a look?” Sephiroth had deciphered some of Wutai's secret messages in the past and found it to be a nice challenge.

Genesis shrugged and handed the sheet at Sephiroth. “Be my guest.”

Sephiroth briefly glanced over the piece of paper, just to see, if he recognized some of the symbols. He put it back down, though, when he felt Genesis' eyes on him. They had other things to talk about, of course.

“Well, Sephiroth? What brings you here?” Genesis asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice. He knew exactly, that Shinra usually didn't send more than one First to Wutai. Especially not two third of the top three. “I guess, Heidegger didn't overthink his decision.”

“President Shinra has decided to initiate the end of the war in the near future,” Sephiroth explained, “He wants me to assess the current situation in order to decide, which measurements are needed.”

“As much as I welcome this decision... Is there a reason to send you all the way here? I could write a detailed report with the same information.”

And there it was. The reason, why Sephiroth had dreaded this conversation ever since he had heard about the President's plan.

“After your recent demonstration of...” Sephiroth thought of a word that was able to describe the incident with Heidegger precisely, but wasn't really successful at it. “disobedience... the President doesn't perceive you as reliable enough to deliver this kind of information. You are supposed to end your mission as planned and then return to Midgar.”

Genesis looked at Sephiroth with narrowed eyes, the First could almost feel his friend's indignation.

“Oh. So they toss me to the side because I'm not one of Heidegger's spineless lackeys?”

In a way, Sephiroth could understand, why Genesis was so upset by it. He was a First Class, supposed to lead his fellow Soldiers into battle. And yet he was also expected to follow the orders of a man whom he clearly didn't respect – a sentiment that Heidegger obviously returned. It had to be hard for somebody as proud as Genesis. But this was the army – he couldn't just cherry-pick his orders. As a Third and Second, Genesis had understood and – albeit begrudgingly – accepted this and Sephiroth wasn't really sure, when his friend's expectations had started to shift.

“So what about the war? I guess, that means they don't need me anymore?”

Sephiroth almost didn't want to answer that. He knew, how hard Genesis had worked for this. But it was also better, if he heard it now from Sephiroth and not somebody else.

“You're going to return to your usual routine. The one in charge of SOLDIER's operations in Wutai will be –“

“You.” Genesis glowered at Sephiroth, who nodded silently. “Of course. We can't have anyone else than Shinra's poster boy have all the glory, right?”

“Well, the people already know that I'm a special case,” Sephiroth replied slowly. The bitterness in his friend's voice surprised him, honestly. He had expected that Genesis would be in a bad mood after being condemned to inactivity for so long, but it seemed to be worse than he had thought. “I've fought in this war since I was twelve. Nobody would be surprised if I end the stalemate situation and –“

“I know, Sephiroth!”

Genesis glared at Sephiroth, anger flashing in his eyes before he took a deep breath and closed his eyes with a sigh.

“I'm sorry,” Genesis said, suddenly sounding almost tired. “I shouldn't let my frustration out on you. I'm just... quite tense lately. Being here while doing absolutely nothing... it's just getting on my nerves, I guess.”

“Don't worry about it. I know, how you feel.”

Heidegger couldn't threaten Genesis physically like he did with other subordinates, so sending Genesis to the front like this was probably the worst punishment that Heidegger could have come up with. Not only was he tempting – if not outright taunting – Genesis with the fact, that the Soldier was so close to and yet so far away from his goal of becoming a war hero. Heidegger must have also known that Genesis couldn't stand being bored, making this deployment even worse for him.

It almost made Sephiroth wonder, if Heidegger waited for any kind of mistake to get back at Genesis for his disobedience. Genesis was a strong and hardworking Soldier, making him a valuable asset for Shinra, but Heidegger was a spiteful man. If he wanted him gone...

Sephiroth froze at this thought, as it reminded him of the hallucination from the day before. Heidegger was in the best position to get rid of any Soldier he didn't want in his army. He just had to deploy him to a remote town or mission far away. It wouldn't even be that surprising if one or more Firsts were sent away, since the upcoming end of the war would free up resources – apparently, SOLDIER would even get its own director soon because of that.

Sephiroth was probably just getting paranoid because of this one hallucination, but he had to address this or it wouldn't stop bothering him.

“Genesis...” Sephiroth felt almost a bit nervous as he started to talk. Genesis wasn't in the best mood right now and it was sometimes hard to predict, how his friend would react. “Angeal and I have talked about what happened between you and Heidegger and we think that you push your luck too much lately. If you provoke the directors like that... it will have consequences.”

For a moment, Genesis just stared at him and Sephiroth nervously noticed that the look of frustration in his eyes gradually shifted to that of betrayal. His heart sank, when he realized that it might really not be the best situation to talk about this.

“It's not that we don't understand your feelings about Heidegger,” Sephiroth continued, trying to reassure Genesis that he didn't intend to reprimand him in any way, “but we're worried that someday, you won't just end up exiled from Midgar. I can't do anything to help you, if the President or one of the directors decides to –”

“Sephiroth.” Genesis interrupted Sephiroth with a calm, but low voice that almost sounded, as if he was holding something back. Whether it was anger, frustration or something entirely different, Sephiroth couldn't tell. “What do you think I am?”

“You are my friend,” Sephiroth replied truthfully, “and I'm worried that –“

“No, what do you think I am?” Genesis repeated, this time louder and with more force than before, as he rose from his chair and leaned closer towards Sephiroth, both hands firmly planted on the table – so firm, in fact, that he almost dug his nails into the wood. “Do you think that I'm a damsel in distress that needs your protection? One, that can't do anything without her hero to come and save her?”

“Of course not, I –“

“Really?” Genesis was now outright hissing at him. “Because it certainly sounds like that.”

Sephiroth looked confused at Genesis. The sudden bitterness really surprised him. Other than that, there was also something in Genesis eyes... The way he looked at Sephiroth... he almost looked... hurt. They were friends, so it was just natural for him to be worried. So why did Genesis look so hurt by it?

“Genesis, I don't –“

Genesis didn't even listen to Sephiroth anymore. Instead, he had turned around and left the tent while muttering something about killing monsters and Genesis was gone before Sephiroth could even react in his bewilderment.

Sephiroth honestly didn't understand what had happened just now. A damsel in distress? Why would he think of Genesis as something like that? Sure, Genesis wasn't as strong as himself, but really, nobody came even close to Sephiroth's strength. And he certainly had never thought, that Genesis was somebody who needed any protection until...

Until this hallucination had planted this idea into his head.

Sephiroth froze when he realized his mistake. Genesis didn't need or even want any help, he was all about challenging himself and pushing his abilities to new levels. Sephiroth knew and respected this by not offering unnecessary assistance or going easy on Genesis during their training sessions. Not only was it a sign of his respect, but also his trust in Genesis' abilities. But right now, he had unintentionally suggested, that Genesis could get in a situation in which he would need Sephiroth's help – that Sephiroth didn't trust his friend's ability to solve this problem on his own.

Sephiroth sighed. He wasn't certain if this was enough to actually hurt Genesis, since this was quite the achievement, but this was most likely the problem.

Genesis was used to being reprimanded for his recklessness by Angeal because they had known each other for so long. But Sephiroth didn't have this privilege, of course, his relationship towards Genesis was a completely different one. He couldn't and honestly didn't want to emulate Angeal in any way. It was actually quite the opposite, Sephiroth found Genesis' audacity quite refreshing.

He really just wanted his friend to reconsider his current attitude towards the higher ups that made Genesis' life harder than it had to be. That he thought about the consequences that it could bring. But he had phrased it wrong thanks to this cursed Mako induced hallucination. Absolutely brilliant.

For a moment, Sephiroth considered following Genesis outside, but he decided against it. When Genesis was like this, it was usually for the best to let him calm down and think about it first. He would return eventually and they could talk about it. Sephiroth could then explain himself and it would be fine as always. In the meantime, he would simply make himself useful by decoding this message on the table. Surely Genesis would calm down and get back soon.

He always did.

***

[ ν ] - εγλ 0010, WRO Headquarter

Cloud didn't calm down on the way to the WRO. If anything, his mood just got worse, since suddenly a few things started to make sense. Like the fact, that Tseng had sent him a mail while he had been on his way to the Train Graveyard. A mail, in which he had asked Cloud to bring the fully assembled Fusion Sword if possible. This really should have been a big red flag on the matter.

The thing about Tseng was, he never sent Cloud any mails. He didn't even call him on the phone. Whenever Rufus had a job for Cloud, it was always Reno who came in contact with Cloud. And even then, Reno always used the landline, so Tifa could pick up – he probably didn't even have the number of Cloud's private PHS, since the delivery boy made sure that only his friends knew this number. He actually had no idea, how Tseng had gotten it, but he was a Turk, who knew what kind of tricks he had up his sleeve.

As a matter of fact, Cloud couldn't remember exchanging any words with the leader of the Turks since the Temple of the Ancients. Getting a mail from him really should have been a huge red flag. But no, he had just brushed it off as a meaningless oddity. As if there was anything meaningless if one of the Turks was involved.

Cloud clenched his fists as he approached the WRO Headquarter. Seriously, if this had been a attempt to make him get rid of Genesis... Whatever the story behind that man was, Cloud would not take care of Shinra's bullshit again. He had a life that didn't revolve around this damn company!

When Cloud entered the building, he immediately noticed, that a surprisingly high number of people was still there. It was already getting late, but there were still so many people bustling about, especially infantrymen and staff members from the infirmary. It made him wonder, whether Reeve had gathered a few additional people, just in case something went horribly wrong with this mission.

Cloud chose to head directly towards Reeve's office, but froze immediately, as he heard Genesis' name coming from one of the infantrymen nearby.

“...Genesis? I thought, he died in Wutai?”

“You didn't work for Shinra, did you?”, another one asked, “That was just propaganda to cover up his desertion. But to think that he's still –“

“Mister Strife!”

Cloud almost flinched as a male voice suddenly called his name. One of the medical staff members, that had rushed past the men, came to an abrupt halt when he noticed Cloud, who recognized the man as a member or the infirmary staff. Cloud didn't remember his name, but he had met him once when he had accompanied Shelke to her daily Mako treatment and to see the condition of her sister Shalua.

“You're here to meet Mister Tuesti, aren't you?” the medic asked quickly, as he was obviously in a hurry.

“Yeah, where is he?”

“Still at heliport number two, Mister Valentine and the Turks have arrived just recently,” the man answered, pointing upwards to where the heliport in question had to be. “I can take you there, I'm supposed to meet Doctor Finley there as well.”

Cloud accepted with a nod and followed the man in silence. While they were on their way through the building, Cloud couldn't help but listen to the snippets of conversations unfolding all around him.

“...suspicious. Was he a member of Deepground?”

“...surprised that you didn't know him at all!”

“...damn. I think, my wife had a huge crush this guy. Not sure, whether I should tell her...”

It was weird, listening to all of this. It wasn't really the fact that everybody seemed to know about Genesis – rumors tended to spread fast, even in the WRO. And considering, that the Turks were involved... well, Cloud wouldn't be surprised, if Elena was still as chatty as she had been years ago.

What really bothered him, was how split the opinions were. Some, especially the younger ones, seemed to have no idea, who Genesis was, while others that knew about him, were either excited or really nervous about the news. The only shared sentiment among those was surprise to hear that the man was alive. Who the hell was that guy?

When the two men arrived at the heliport, a group of several people was already assembled in front of the Shinra helicopter. There were, of course, the four Turks: Reno was being checked on by not one, but two medics and his head was covered with bandages. He was still ranting about something involving heels, though, so his injury couldn't be too bad. Next to him were Rude and Elena. The first was simply standing there in silence, while the latter made an unsuccessful attempt at persuading Reno to stop moving while the medic was doing his work. The leader of the Turks, Tseng, had his back turned to Cloud and seemed to have a conversation with the Soldier from before, while Reeve, Vincent and Cait Sith were standing a bit to the side while looking inside of the helicopter.

“He'll probably wake up in the next two or three hours,” Cloud heard a female voice say from out of the helicopter as he approached the group. It most likely belonged to Doctor Finley, the leading physicist in the WRO. “However this works, I don't think he needs any additional treatment, either. The Tsviet on the other hand... It's probably for the best if I observe him for a while.”

“Tseng!” Cloud snarled when he was close enough, not really caring about what they were talking about. Cloud didn't have that much experience with Tsviets anyway, since he wasn't a an ideal match against enhanced gun users. Those were more Vincent's specialty, just like one-winged ex-Soldiers were apparently Cloud's. “We have to talk.”

“Of course, Cloud,” Tseng replied as he turned towards Cloud. He seemed to be as calm as ever and Cloud really couldn't tell, whether this calmness was real or just an act. The leader of the Turks had an amazing poker face for all he knew. “We'll talk about this in a second. But first... Reeve, would you mind if we take a blood sample of Genesis? We have an expert in Healen who might be able to tell us, why Genesis' wounds heal like this.”

“It's fine,” Reeve replied with a bewildered expression on his face. “Kunsel, could you take Genesis to one of our enhanced cells and keep an eye on him when Doctor Finley is done? Cait Sith will show you the way.”

“No problem.”

“Good, Cait Sith will tell me if something happens. Or just call me if he wakes up. Doctor Finley's assistants will take care of Weiss and Reno,” Reeve continued, earning a derogatory snort from Reno, “while we talk about this.”

Shortly after, Cloud, Vincent, Reeve and Tseng were sitting in a meeting room, Tseng in front of a laptop and the other three opposite to him.

“I listen,” Cloud said as he watched Tseng booting up the laptop and placing a few sheets of paper next to it. “But if I get the feeling that you try to keep anything important from me...”

“Don't worry, I have full permission to tell you everything I know,” Tseng reassured him, “But first, I have to ask you a question, Cloud. How much do you remember from your time at Shinra? Other than Nibelheim?”

“My time at Shinra?” For the first time, Cloud began to wonder, how much Tseng knew about his past. He must have heard something from Rufus and maybe Reeve – the two men were friends and Cloud knew that Tseng and Reeve sometimes met casually outside of work. Cloud honestly would have been more surprised if they hadn't talked about this story in the past. “Not much. A few blurry memories about Zack, but that's it. The only thing I remember quite clearly is the mission in Nibelheim.”

Even years later, Cloud had not been able to regain his memories from before that, not even the ones he shared with Zack. A few fragments, that was all. Whether it had been part of Hojo's experiment to wipe his memory or the aftermath of his Mako poisoning... it didn't look, like Cloud would be able to get those back. At least not by himself – he would have to rely on his Jenova cells and he certainly wouldn't trust those.

“I see. So the name Genesis Rhapsodos doesn't sound familiar? Or Angeal Hewley?”

The moment Tseng mentioned those names, Cloud could hear the buzzing noise that the Jenova cells made, whenever they tried to access somebody's memory. However, it seemed like they failed at copying anything, since it only resulted into a headache for Cloud. This failure didn't surprise Cloud in the slightest, but rather that they had been triggered at all.

Cloud wasn't sure, how the Jenova cells were working exactly, but over time he had developed a theory. He believed, that the Jenova cells were constantly looking for foreign memories that had Cloud in them, copy those fragments if needed and put them into the right perspective – or rather, the perspective they perceived as right. That would explain, why he had only regained some memories he shared with Tifa and Zack. Combine that with Zack's stories, being left in adjacent Mako pods for four years, a lot of trauma and even more manipulation from the Jenova cells and you get a construct of memories that was just stable enough to work if one didn't dig too deep.

Cloud would have been more surprised, if the cells had succeeded to copy any memories from Tseng, since that would have implied, that they had met before. And that thought was really just weird.

Didn't make the try less strange, though.

“Not in the slightest. Should they? The people in the building sounded like Genesis was a celebrity or something.”

“The people... Oh. I see.” This delayed reaction and Tseng's slight frown was more than enough to convince Cloud, that it really was Elena who had let the information slip.

“Well, he was one of our strongest Firsts and quite famous. To be frank, Genesis had two fan clubs.” Cloud had to admit that he was a bit surprised hearing about that. He didn't even know that any Soldiers other than Sephiroth had had fan clubs, but that would explain the excitement of some people in the building. And the nervous husband. “We tried our best to erase every proof Genesis ever existed, but there's only so much we can do to make people forget. But I digress, this isn't really of any importance right now.”

At this point, Tseng started to type in a few things into his laptop and the quiet clicking sounds of the keyboard filled the room.

“I should also tell you, that all official documents regarding Genesis were either stolen or destroyed years ago. And since the Science Department had the tendency to withhold information from us, there isn't much we know from them. The only reason I have any information at all is, because investigating Genesis' disappearance was my responsibility and I kept my notes – just in case I would need them again. They're not complete, but combined with the information I could gather from my colleagues and Kunsel, it's everything we have at the moment.”

“I understand that the other Turks would know something about it, but Kunsel?” Reeve asked with concern in his voice. “Did he know Genesis?”

“Not personally, as far as I know,” Tseng reassured him, “but he is well informed and almost as much Turk as he is a Soldier – it's natural for him to pick up things of interest. He's absolutely trustworthy, don't worry.”

The Turk stopped typing and frowned at one of the paper sheets next to his computer. Cloud couldn't read it from his point of view, but it looked like somebody had hastily scribbled something down. Tseng then started to scroll through something before taking out a pencil and making another note on the piece of paper. It wasn't the same handwriting, so the note had to be from somebody else.

“There seem to be a few discrepancies between my notes and the ones that Kunsel has given to me, I'm afraid, and Genesis' case is... it's quite complex. So I can't guarantee that everything I'm going to tell you is completely accurate, please bear that in mind. But feel free to ask me any questions if anything is unclear, I'll try to answer them as good as possible.”

The Turk took the notes and quickly looked through them. The silence that filled the room made Cloud impatient. He wanted to know, what was going on, but it almost seemed like Tseng was still trying to figure out some of this stuff for himself. Cloud almost groaned out of frustration when Tseng's eyes lingered a bit longer on a certain spot.

Luckily, the Turk put the notes back shortly after that and turned on the big screen next to him. A brief moment later, the monitor showed the portrait picture of a man with auburn hair, blue Mako eyes and a red leather coat. Cloud figured, that this had to be Genesis, since the hair color and the coat would fit.

“Genesis Rhapsodos,” Tseng started his explanation, “born 1980 in Banora as the only son of a wealthy land owner. Genesis joined Shinra's army at an early age and quickly rose through the ranks of SOLDIER until he went missing in 2000 together with a group of other Soldiers and was declared dead the next year. That's the official version.”

When Tseng mentioned Banora, Cloud noticed out of the corner of his eye, that Reeve tensed up for a second, but didn't interrupt Tseng. It made him wonder, if something had happened there. Cloud didn't even know, where Banora was, though. Only that the people there produced that ridiculously expensive apple juice, that had been sold in Midgar years ago. He didn't remember seeing this particular brand for quite a while, though.

“When you say official, you mean without the obvious propaganda, I guess.” The WRO staff's chatter from before had made it clear, that most of those people didn't even know about the desertion – if they knew Genesis at all. “What's the real story?”

“In reality, Genesis was apparently the first living offspring of the Jenova Project – Project G, to be precise. This branch of the Project was led by Hollander, one of Hojo's colleagues.”

Apparently. Tseng had not even begun the story and it already sounded like bad news. Cloud accepted the explanation about the Science Department being secretive – how else would Hojo have been able to keep Jenova's origin a secret from Sephiroth for so long? – but how bad did it have to be, if Tseng started his story with 'apparently'?

“And before you ask – no, Genesis is not like Sephiroth,” Tseng continued to talk. “There are parallels between them... but they are completely different. Both in origin and result.”

Well, they couldn't be that different if they both had black wings. And there was still the fact that Cloud had had one of his seizures, even though he still wasn't sure if it had been real or just his imagination.

“Contrary to Project S, that gave birth to Sephiroth, Project G didn't rely on injecting Jenova cells into the biological mother. Instead, Hollander chose to inject the cells into one of his assistants. He later extracted some of her genetic material and then mapped those genes onto children that were still in their fetal stage. Hojo once mentioned, that there had been more children like Genesis, but that he was the only child that actually survived the procedure.”

“They did this several times?”

Cloud felt sick just thinking about this. He didn't even want to ask, how many times the scientists had tried it without wasting much thought of what might eventually come out of it – especially for the children in question. For Cloud, who had not only witnessed the terrible outcome of this kind of experiment in the form of Sephiroth, but also cared for two children himself, hearing this was painful in two very different ways.

“I'm afraid so,” Tseng continued, “But even when Genesis was born, he was considered a failure due to being a completely normal child. I suppose, the scientists noticed some kind of difference when Sephiroth was born a few months later. Because of that, Project G was discontinued and Genesis was sent to foster parents in Banora, where he grew up not knowing anything about his origin. He later joined SOLDIER, where he became a First Class. He was notably better than the average First, but still far from Sephiroth's caliber.”

“That's good to hear,” Cloud commented. Having to deal with one Sephiroth was bad enough, he didn't need a second one. “I guess, he eventually learned about his origin, though. That's probably why he deserted?”

“So you've heard about the desertion, too?” That seemed to have sparked a bit of interest in the Turk. “That's nothing a lot of people should know about.” That sounded almost as if there was at least one former high ranked Shinra infantryman in the WRO. No wonder that Tseng suddenly sounded so intrigued. “Well, your assumption is right, but probably not for the reason you would expect.”

Tseng paused for a moment, seemingly thinking about how to approach the topic. When he continued, he still sounded hesitant, if not cautious.

“The Science Department didn't realize it at first, but the result of Project G was even more flawed than they initially thought. I don't know the details, but it seems like Genesis' genetic structure was unstable... after a certain point of time, his body started to degrade. As a result, he became weaker, his hair and skin lost their color with time and his wounds wouldn't heal properly anymore. I assume, that his wing started to manifest at the time, too.”

“I see. That's why you were so surprised earlier,” Reeve commented, to which Tseng replied with a nod.

“Kunsel said, that healing magic was working, albeit with a slight delay. This shouldn't happen to our knowledge. It seems like he has found something that alleviates the symptoms at least.”

“And the way he was regenerating...”

Cloud shot his friend a confused look. He was clearly out of the loop for something. It was Vincent that answered for Reeve.

“Genesis' wounds don't heal normally,” he said, “but also with a time delay and a green glow. It's almost like watching Aerith's water curing Geostigma.”

“Like Aerith's...”

Cloud remembered the moment the healing rain had cured his Geostigma clearly. The green glow and the dissolving threads of light that looked like the Lifestream itself... there were no other means of healing that looked even remotely like this. He couldn't really believe that Genesis was healed by the Lifestream if he carried Jenova's heritage inside his body, but it was Aerith they were talking about. To this day, Cloud was convinced that it had been her who Kadaj had seen before his death and who had taken him to the Lifestream. Aerith probably wouldn't hesitate to reach out for anybody in need. And if it wasn't Aerith... who else would have the same power over the Lifestream as her? It wasn't Sephiroth at the very least – Sephiroth himself had implied, that his influence was restricted to the parts of the Lifestream that were overtaken by Jenova cells.

“Last time we've seen Genesis, he didn't look nearly as healthy as he does now. I was honestly surprised to see he's still alive. His degradation should have killed him by now,“ Tseng confirmed. “Back in the day, Hollander promised Genesis to search for a cure, if he helped him get revenge on Shinra – and Hojo in particular for taking his position as head of the Science Department. The two left Shinra with a group of Seconds and Thirds and started to wage war against Shinra.”

At this point, Tseng opened another file and the picture of a middle aged, black haired man in a lab coat appeared next to Genesis'.

“Hollander's current whereabouts are unknown, but it's of great importance that we find him as well, so I'd like to ask Genesis about him. Another person I hope to find now would be their sponsor, Lazard.” Another click revealed the picture of a younger man with blonde hair and glasses, who reminded Cloud a little bit of Rufus. “He's the former director of SOLDIER. Lazard has completely vanished after we found out that he used the company's money to finance Genesis' war.”

“What happened to Genesis?” Cloud asked. “You said, he was declared a year later, but he looks pretty alive to me.”

“We've sent another First Class after him. He was supposed to either bring Genesis back or kill him. The operative reported Genesis' death after a mission in Modeoheim, but I have to admit, that the circumstances made his end ambiguous.”

“How come?”

“Genesis was severely injured after a fight against our operative, but our Soldier was determined to bring him back alive, so he didn't kill him. Instead, Genesis threw himself down the abandoned Mako reactor.” Hearing this, Cloud couldn't help but remember the first time Sephiroth had died. It sent shivers down his spine. “His injuries were grave and we haven't seen Genesis in person after that, so we assumed, that he really died that day, although he probably used his ability to fly to get to safety.”

“This First Class you were talking about,” Cloud asked, almost expecting to know the answer to it, “that was Sephiroth, I guess?”

It would have been careless to send somebody other than Shinra's strongest Soldier if Genesis had been that strong, no matter if he was weakened by degradation or not. But Tseng hesitated to give an answer.

“Sephiroth was supposed to go on this mission... but he refused to accept it.”

“He refused it? Why?” Up until now Cloud had always been under the impression, that Sephiroth had been the kind of soldier that carried out his orders without question before Nibelheim.

“This might come as a surprise to you,” Tseng answered, “but Sephiroth and Genesis were friends.”

“Sephiroth had... a friend?” Cloud repeated slowly, as if his brain was unable to grasp this information.

This was really a surprise. Cloud knew, of course, that Sephiroth had not always been the menace he now knew all too well – that he had had a life before Nibelheim. But still... Even back then, Sephiroth had not seemed like somebody who had friends. Even Zack as he remembered him had seemed more friendly than an actual friend while Sephiroth had always appeared to be relatively cold and distant towards him.

“He actually had two,” Tseng admitted reluctantly and made a few clicks on his laptop. “Genesis and Angeal Hewley, also a former First Class.”

The two pictures of Hollander and Lazard vanished to make room for two other pictures. The first one showed a man with black hair that reminded Cloud a bit of Zack's minus the spikes. The other picture showed a surprisingly normal looking Sephiroth with no madness in his eyes whatsoever. Despite the catlike eyes, he looked so... human. Knowing that this was the same person, who had almost destroyed the planet because he believed himself to be a god... It was disturbing in its own way.

“Sephiroth knew Genesis and Angeal since they had joined SOLDIER and the three of them accomplished several missions together until Genesis and Angeal became First Class Soldiers like Sephiroth. Even after that, they tended to stick together whenever possible.” Tseng shot a quick glance at the notes next to his laptop and shifted one of them a little bit, probably to have a better look at the one beneath. “We've come to the conclusion, that Genesis might not even have noticed his degradation so soon, if not for an injury from an escalated friendly fight between them.”

Cloud didn't know, what to say or even to think about this. Sephiroth had had friends? Real friends? Ones that were talking casually with him, maybe even making jokes? The thought was so unreal.

“What's Angeal's role in this? You asked me, if I know about him, so he has to be important, right?”

“Angeal is... complicated.”

There was a slight hint of a frown on Tseng's face and it somehow made Cloud really nervous. It might have been the fact that Cloud noticed this at all – it meant, that Tseng had something on his mind, that bothered him enough to neglect his poker face.

“We don't have any written records about Angeal's origin, but it is safe to say, that Angeal was also born from Project G.”

“You had three of these guys?” Cloud couldn't believe what he had heard just now. “Didn't you say earlier, that Genesis was the only one who survived Project G?”

“Well, he is the only one who survived the procedure I mentioned,” Tseng explained, “Angeal was the biological son of Gillian Hewley, the assistant whose genes were mapped onto Genesis'. Angeal is only slightly younger than Genesis, so I assume, that he was part of the same series of experiments and meant to be a comparison subject. To find out, if the natural transfer of the Jenova cells is preferable to the artificial approach or not.”

Cloud felt sick sick to his stomach again. Having been one of Hojo's test subjects himself, hearing Tseng talk about this topic like this... about failed experiments and comparison subjects... Cloud began to realize, why Tseng had not wanted to tell him anything about this. But he wanted to hear about it, now that they had the problem with Genesis at their hands.

“So what happened to Angeal?”

“Angeal's life was comparable to Genesis', both were raised in Banora. The two were, in fact, best friends and Angeal deserted shortly after Genesis. But I know for sure that Angeal is dead. There is no doubt about it, so don't worry.”

“And you're really sure about Angeal?” Cloud asked, trying to ignore the slowly growing headache from all of this. “Because you said the same about Genesis and Sephiroth doesn't really care about death either.”

“I am absolutely sure. Our Soldier operative made a mistake with Genesis, but he was young and inexperienced. He wouldn't have been mistaken about Angeal – nor would he have lied about this.” This was maybe the most confident Tseng had been since the four of them had sat down.

“You sound awfully certain about this. Why? Who was it?”

For a moment, Tseng just looked at Cloud as if he was searching for something. His expression was almost concerned and it just fueled Cloud's nervousness from before. What was it that bothered Tseng so much?

“You're already under a lot of stress,” the Turk said, “are you sure that you want to continue?”

Cloud furrowed his brows at this statement. He had a headache, sure, but he certainly didn't feel stressed. Annoyed, that Tseng tried to evade the topic, yes, but not stressed.

“Tell me.”

“Sephiroth didn't want to fight his two best friends,” Tseng continued almost cautiously after a moment of silence, seemingly hesitant to to simply answer the question, ”so he delegated his mission to the only Soldier he trusted enough to bring them back alive. A young First, just recently promoted. You should know him.”

“I... know him?” Cloud repeated bewildered. But the only First he knew was... Cloud's heart skipped a beat as the realization hit him. “You mean Zack? You sent Zack after Genesis and Angeal?”

Tseng nodded and leaned back into his chair, his eyes still firmly locked on Cloud, as if he expected something from him.

“Angeal used to be Zack's mentor. They were quite close, so Sephiroth thought, that Zack might be able to convince Angeal and by extension Genesis to return to Shinra. But he failed. Genesis threw himself down the Mako Reactor and Angeal...” The Turk paused for a second, picking his words carefully. “Angeal never shared Genesis' hostility against Shinra. At times, it even looked like he was actively working against Genesis. And yet, he didn't want to return to SOLDIER – according to Zack, he saw himself as a monster, just like Genesis did. And in the end... well... he couldn't bear living like that anymore.”

“He killed himself?” Cloud asked, but Tseng shook his head.

“You should know, that people injected with Jenova cells don't die easily. Angeal was also a proud man, who valued his honor. He couldn't kill himself.”

“Don't tell me... Zack...”

Cloud didn't even want to say it. The thought that Zack might have killed his own mentor – a man that he might have looked up to...

Cloud knew that, as a member of SOLDIER, Zack must have killed people in the past – otherwise, Cloud wouldn't even be here. But it was still hard to imagine that his cheery friend, who had looked like he couldn't even harm a fly, could do that to a man that was so close to him.

“He killed Angeal in battle, yes.” Hearing Tseng's confirmation hurt something deep inside of Cloud, even though he didn't know this man. It was almost, as if he felt Zack's pain echoing inside of himself. “Zack wouldn't have lied about something like that, so I guess, you understand, why I am so certain about Angeal's fate.”

“Yeah...” Zack had never been a liar, he knew that much at least.

Cloud shook his head in disbelieve and rubbed his aching temple. When Reeve had called him about a rogue Soldier, Cloud certainly wouldn't have expected to learn that much about Sephiroth and Zack. That was so much to digest that Cloud didn't even know where to start to process all of this. It was a honestly quite overwhelming.

“There's still something you don't want to tell us, Tseng,“ Vincent said while Cloud was still sorting his thoughts. “You wouldn't have been so adamant to find him, if Genesis was just a dying man. What is it?”

The room became dead silent as the two Turks stared at each other with none of them wanting to back down. It was like a confrontation that was decided by who averted his eyes or even blinked first, but after a moment, Tseng sighed in defeat.

“You really are as good as Veld told me.” The Turk once again shot Cloud one of his cautious glances. “There's really something and it wasn't my intention to keep this a secret. But it's not an easy topic to talk about. Do you want to hear it anyway, Cloud?”

By now, Cloud had a hammering headache. It was so bad, that he started to wonder, if this had to do with the Jenova cells trying to surface any buried memories. He didn't really want to hear even more but something told Cloud that he had to listen to that. That it was important and related to him. Why else would Tseng be so reluctant to tell them? The pain in his head couldn't become any worse, anyway.

“Out with it.”

“Genesis has one special ability,” Tseng began, choosing his words very carefully, his eyes again locked on Cloud with this vigilant look in them. “He was able to transfer his genetic traits and abilities onto Soldiers and monsters – in other words, he was able to create copies of himself.”

Cloud immediately felt several eyes falling on him the second Tseng mentioned the word 'copies'. Yet his own mind was completely blank, seemingly unable to grasp the full meaning of these words, even as they slowly started to sink in.

“Copies?” Reeve uttered appalled. “You mean like...”

“They aren't like Cloud,” Tseng replied quickly, observing Cloud's reaction – or rather, the lack thereof – attentively. “Genesis' copies took on some of his physical characteristics and had, as far as we know, little to no will of their own. But I'm afraid that Hojo might have gotten the idea for Sephiroth's copies from Hollander and Genesis.”

Cloud's blood ran could, as his brain finally started to process what had been said. And as it did, all those memories he tried to forget came back into his head. The blurry images of him in a Mako pod and of Hojo doing his experiments. The memory of Sephiroth trying to make him think, that he was little more than a puppet that had no free will – that had been created just to serve him. And, worst of all, the memory of being one of his puppets. Of begging Hojo for a number, for a purpose...

Just thinking back, Cloud started to shiver. Those memories... those were the only ones that he really wanted to forget, even though they had burned themselves deep into his brain. Cloud had to actively remind himself that he was no puppet and that he had, in fact, a will of his own. He had proven it to himself and Sephiroth and there was no way he would let himself be controlled anymore. Not by Sephiroth or anybody else.

“We can take a break, if you want to,” Tseng suggested, but Cloud shook his head, having regained at least some of his composure.

“I... I'm fine,” Cloud rasped, “What happened to those copies?”

“As time went by, they became more and more monstrous. They couldn't be reasoned with and in some cases even seemed to degrade, so we killed them, whenever we encountered one, “Tseng explained. “The last time we've actually seen a copy was about eight years ago, when they helped Hollander escape from Junon.”

“So there are none left?”

“That's likely the case. And I doubt that Genesis can create more – I'm almost certain he needs Hollander's equipment for the procedure. But as long as we don't know more about that, it's a good thing we have Genesis in custody.” Tseng's look at Cloud finally softened a bit and he averted his eyes, back onto the notes in front of him. “We simply can't afford more of his copies.”

***

“What did you do?”

Genesis looked in horror at the Third that stumbled out of Hollander's Mako tank. The Third, that looked exactly like himself.

“He has received your cells and with them part of your power,” Hollander explained with blatant pride in his voice that made Genesis' blood boil with anger.

“I know that!” Genesis snarled at the scientist. “Why does he look like me? You didn't mention that!”

The First spun around to face Hollander. He flinched, when the sudden movement stained his barely healed shoulder, causing a sudden jolt of pain rushing through his body. The First pressed his hand against his aching shoulder as if it could ease the pain.

“That's how the Jenova cells work and part of the the copying process, I'm afraid. There's nothing I can do against it, you'll have to get used to that,” the scientist replied, “Or do you want to tell me, that you want to back out of our plan? After all that Lazard and I have done to make this possible?”

Genesis stared at the disoriented man in front of him. The Third tried to stand up, but found himself unable to, as if he had no power left in his feet. The sight of this man – in a way himself – helpless like this, sent chills down his spine. Genesis didn't want to see it anymore, but he also couldn't look away as if an invisible hand was forcing his eyes onto the scene. His shoulder started to throb again, as if to remind him, why he was doing this.

As if he needed any more reminders.

“I –“

…

A loud bang and a sudden wave of pain made Genesis jolt up from his sleep. He looked around for a moment, confused about what had happened and where he was. It was a completely bleak room, where he was lying face down on the ground next to a primitive bed. Genesis' whole body also felt numb, as if he had been trampled on by a...

A Behemoth.

Genesis froze as he began to remember what had happened. The hunt and the fight. The marksman that turned into a bipedal Behemoth and the Soldiers. He silently cursed as the realization of where he was finally hit him.

This just had to be the place where he had sworn himself, never to return to – especially not as a prisoner: Shinra.

Now this was starting to make things complicated.

Chapter Text

[ ν ] - εγλ 0010, WRO Headquarter

Genesis sighed quietly as took a good look at his surroundings. There really wasn't much to see, though, since it was just a relatively small room. The only furniture in it was one bench attached to the wall that also served as a bed opposite to a heavy looking steel door. Other than that... nothing.

There was absolutely no mistaking, that this was a prison cell. Shinra style.

My friend, the fates are cruel. To betray me like this once again...

It was just his luck to end up in one of Shinra's cells after all the effort, wasn't it?

Genesis carefully moved his numb body into a more comfortable position and was relieved to see, that all of his wounds had healed during his sleep, even the deep one on his side. Heck, even the coat seemed to be as good as new, even though the black uniform underneath was absolutely shredded from the beast's claws. It really made him wish he could recall, where he got that thing from. Had he already been wearing the coat when he woke up in the Tsviet brothers' company or not? He honestly couldn't remember that, no matter how much he racked his brain.

Other than that, it was good to know, that his degradation really wouldn't be a problem anymore. He had been slightly anxious in the past days, always fearing that it was just his imagination. That he hadn't been cured and that even the slightest injury could start his suffering once again. But even his wing, albeit blood-stained, was fortunately back to normal. By now, Genesis had become so used to the additional limb, that he certainly would have felt incomplete without it. No matter, how unnatural the thing was, it was a part of him he didn't want to miss anymore.

Right now, however, it occupied so much space in this tiny room, it made Genesis feel uneasy. Not because he was claustrophobic or something like that. He had explored caves ever since he had been a little child, the thought of him being afraid of tight spaces was absolutely ridiculous. He just preferred, not to suffocate on his own feathers right now, so Genesis dismissed the wing quickly. How had he even managed to sleep on this bench for so long without falling down due to the wing?

That taken care of, Genesis decided, that he needed a plan to get out of here. He had no interest in being either Hojo's test subject or being executed after an interrogation or whatever Shinra had in mind. And considering his current situation, it had to be a good plan. Ideally one that brought him out of here before encountering any Shinra personnel. It didn't look good, though.

First of all, there were no windows. Of course there weren't. Windows, even with bars in front of them, were so easy to exploit, it would have been boring anyway. No windows also meant, no weak points on the walls either, so Genesis didn't expect himself to be able to break through them. Shinra couldn't be that ignorant to keep any Soldier in a room with thin walls.

Genesis quickly took another look around the tiny room, looking for anything interesting, but the room was depressingly bleak. There weren't even any visible vents.

The ventilation shafts had always been a glaring security issue in Shinra's building – at one point, for example, there had been a Ceasar infestation in them for about a week. Those nasty little bastards would suddenly drop out of the shafts into the meeting rooms, causing chaos all over the place. It had been both disgusting and absolutely hilarious. Or that one abomination from Hojo that had been hiding up there. The good thing about this incident was, that it at least got rid of all the Caesars.

It seemed like someone had finally – or, from Genesis' current point of view, unfortunately – acknowledged, that it was a bad idea to have such huge ventilation systems all over the place. That sadly eliminated another escape plan.

Genesis sighed once again and shook his head in disbelieve. He had to be really desperate, if he was already lamenting over the fact, that he couldn't crawl through the ventilation system. He took a deep breath, stood up and stretched his aching muscles a bit, before he checked the room once again as thoroughly as humanly possible.

However, it didn't take long for him, to come to the conclusion, that this room wouldn't help his situation at all. It probably wasn't even a proper prison cell, but a room in which they left captives for a limited time. It barely had any lighting other than some lamps that were fully integrated into the ceiling – not leaving any weak points again, somebody had really put some thought into this – the bench on which he had been lying and the not so weak looking metal door, that led outside.

So... the only way out was really that one steel door.

Genesis had not checked the door yet, because he was expecting guards outside and when he approached the thing, he indeed noticed quiet, muffled voices behind the door to his cell. He couldn't make out much of what was being said, though, which meant that the door was probably really thick. In order to test it out, Genesis gave the door a decent kick.

Well... it was sturdier than the wall in his last hideout, that much was certain.

The metal wasn't even dented by the force behind his foot, but the clanking sound silenced the two voices – one male, the other female – immediately. After a brief moment, Genesis heard something that sounded like “Already?” coming from the female. They apparently hadn't expected him to wake up so soon.

“You're not trying to kick in the door, right?” the male voice asked through the closed door. “This thing is enhanced, you know. You'd sooner break your foot than the door.”

Genesis considered himself pretty good at recognizing people by their voices only. It was an ability he had developed out of sheer necessity because of Shinra's annoying rules regarding helmets, but one that came in handy at times. Like now, for example, because now, that the male voice spoke louder, Genesis noticed, that it belonged to the Soldier from before. He even remembered his name now – Kunsel.

Ah, yes, the walking rumor mill.

He still owed him a good smack for spreading that one rumor the Silver Elite had started years ago.

Genesis frowned. To think, that he still remembered this after everything that had happened, was impressing even to him. When suffering from his degradation, he had rarely found himself doing pointless things or forgetting, why he was even doing what he was doing at the moment – just like an old man that started to become demented. Genesis had been better off than Hollander, at the very least – he had not picked a fight he couldn't possibly win. But it was still a good thing, that this was over now, this cure had really done wonders. If only it had worked like this with those angry outbursts... It would be perfect. But it seemed like one couldn't have everything.

“Don't worry, I'm still in the planning phase for my daring escape,” Genesis replied as he shifted his focus back to the present and mentally crossed the door from his list of possible escape routes. That pretty much made it impossible to escape from this cell without being let out by Shinra personnel. Dammit.

“That's... good to hear.”

Genesis could almost see the bewilderment of the man from the way he said this alone. After that, Kunsel briefly continued to talk to somebody outside, but Genesis unfortunately couldn't understand it through the door. The two people fell silent after that, meaning that he couldn't rely on them for any information or distraction. He took a deep breath and looked around the room once again.

Back to planning, I guess...

***

“Cait Sith says, that Genesis has woken up.” Tseng, Cloud, Vincent and Reeve had continued their discussion about Genesis, until Reeve suddenly spoke up. His ability to communicate with Cait Sith via telepathy never ceased to amaze Tseng, no matter, how often he witnessed it. “He seems to have calmed down compared to earlier, too. Do you want to interrogate him, now that you're already here?”

Tseng pondered the thought. It was already dark outside and he wasn't sure, how cooperative Genesis would be. It could be difficult to get anything out of him, but there were too many questions waiting to be answered for Tseng to wait. Not only out of his personal interest, but also since he had order to report back to Rufus as soon as possible.

Well, it certainly wouldn't be the first time for the Turk to hold interrogations through the night.

“I would prefer to question him now, but I doubt he'll tell me much,” Tseng replied pensively. “If anything, he'll probably try to use the opportunity to escape. I need somebody who can handle him if necessary. Vincent or Cloud would be ideal.”

Cloud had stayed completely silent while the others had talked about Genesis' potential involvement with Deepground and not once asked a question about the topic, so Tseng assumed, that Cloud was still trying to process what he had heard about Sephiroth and Zack. He had reacted visibly distressed to all of this information and still looked a bit exhausted, but fortunately not as bad as Tseng had expected him to.

It wasn't wise to force information on people with amnesia or comparable conditions, since it might trigger painful memories that could lead to a mental breakdown,if the person in question wasn't stable enough. Because of that, the Turk would have preferred to omit any nonessential details regarding Sephiroth, Zack and Angeal for the time being. Directly lying to Cloud about a topic he was asking about himself, would have been even more foolish, though. Even though Cloud had never gone through official SOLDIER training, Cloud definitely was the strongest Soldier left and having him on board would only benefit them. And with Genesis as an unknown variable, it really wasn't the time to build distrust between Shinra, the WRO and Avalanche by keeping secrets.

“Shouldn't one of the Turks be enough? They are trained to take down Soldiers, aren't they?” Cloud was audibly reluctant, something Tseng absolutely understood. They weren't allies in the traditional sense, only groups with goals, that had minimal overlap. Cloud really had no reason or obligation to help him, other than Genesis also falling under the WRO's and therefore Reeve's responsibility. “Or Kunsel?”

“Under normal circumstances, maybe. But Genesis knows every Soldier or Turk, except Elena, in the building and that he can take them down easily. You've seen Reno, if you don't believe me.”

Tseng knew by now, that Reno and Genesis had surprised each other on the Train Graveyard. Unfortunately, the Soldier had proven to have a quicker reaction and not even Reno was able to take a hit to the head with Soldier-strength without at least passing out from it. It would probably take some time, until he recovered from his concussion and Tseng honestly doubted that the next encounter would turn out different.

“Every Turk? You've fought Genesis?” Cloud asked with a raised eyebrow, reminding Tseng, that he and Cloud had never fought against each other in the past. He probably didn't even know Tseng's preferred weapon. Or that he was even trained for combat.

“I was unfortunate to get hit by one of his fire spells in the past – an experience I'd like to avoid this time.”

Cloud responded with a pensive 'Huh...' that didn't sound very convinced.

“If it's about your ties to Sephiroth... There's no need to worry, I'll make sure, not to mention anything about you. He'll just think you are an ordinary First Class Soldier until I tell him otherwise.” Cloud's black combat attire was close enough to the uniform of a First Class, that Tseng had absolutely no doubt, that this would be the case.

Cloud hesitated, but gave in eventually.

“Fine, I'll come with you,” he said with a quiet sigh, “but don't expect me to do anything else than trying to look intimidating.”

“Thank you. What about you, Vincent?”

The former Turk simply nodded. He seemed to be interested in Genesis' connection to the Tsviets in particular, but Tseng had noticed earlier, that the information about Genesis' connection to Sephiroth and his ability to create copies had met Vincent's interest as well. By now, Tseng knew about Vincent's special connection to Sephiroth – or rather, his biological mother – so he wasn't too surprised about it.

“Very well. Reeve?”

“I'm afraid, I won't be able to attend, I'll be traveling to Wutai tomorrow morning and need some sleep before that,” Reeve apologized and Tseng nodded in an understanding. As the leader of a worldwide organization, Reeve did have other obligations, of course. This travel might also be the reason, why Yuffie Kisaragi, the princess of Wutai and Reeve's top spy, wasn't around. “But in return for sending Kunsel on a combat mission, I had to promise him, that Genesis would be his responsibility. Cait Sith will keep an eye on him for me.”

Reeve didn't sound very comfortable with this, but to Tseng, it was a welcome surprise to hear, that Kunsel had literally made Genesis' case his own on his first day. Making himself such a vital part of an important investigation like this... That was certainly one way to climb the career ladder. But given Kunsel's past involvement, experiences and current status among the remaining Soldiers, it was perfect to have him on board with this.

“You won't regret it, then,” Tseng replied, “Kunsel might not be a Turk, but he certainly learned a few things from one.”

***

Genesis sighed heavily as he sat down on his bed and stared at the door in front of him. He had gone through every reasonable escape plan he could think of – which were a lot, because 'reasonable' was a very elastic term for Genesis – but he really couldn't find any other way out. The only way outside was through this door and only, if somebody let him out. Which would probably only happen on Shinra's terms. And those terms were never good for anybody other than Shinra.

He wouldn't have any allies here, that much was certain. They wouldn't allow anybody near Genesis that wasn't absolutely loyal to Shinra after how much trouble he had caused the company. So... he could as well start analyzing the people he had already seen so far and assess, if they would be any problem for him.

The first person he knew about was, of course, Kunsel. He had proven already that he wouldn't cooperate with Genesis, he would just continue this nonsense about not working for Shinra. As if Genesis would believe that after seeing him in Rude's company! On the bright side, Kunsel wasn't that strong, maybe even below average for a Second, meaning Genesis would have no problem against him even without a weapon.

The Turks would be a bit more tricky, especially with Reno and Rude as a tag team, but as long as they were on their own, Genesis would have a chance as well. Reno was ridiculously fast for somebody without enhancements, but still a tidbit too slow and not tough enough to take more than one precise hit, while Rude could take more of a beating, but was way too slow to really threaten Genesis. The two were probably still the Turks' best men for combat missions, so this would be manageable as long as Genesis kept them apart.

Then there was this marksman... Vincent, wasn't it? Kunsel had called him that, if Genesis wasn't mistaken.

Genesis grimaced, just thinking about the man. He was certain, that he would have won the fight, if not for the other man's Ribbon. That item was so rare to find, that Genesis had completely forgotten that it could block Black Flurry's curse. The man was no problem, once Genesis managed to get close enough, but the beast... That one was tough. But he would be better prepared the next time. He'd just have to make sure that the Ribbon wasn't a problem and that Vincent couldn't use his Limit Break.

For now, however, Genesis would have to absolutely avoid Vincent if possible. Not just because of his skills, but also because this man had reminded Genesis suspiciously of a Turk during their brief conversation on that roof. And not just any Turk like Reno and Rude, who were specialized on combat, no. Vincent was definitely one of the dangerous kind. One that had intellect. Genesis had too many secrets to feel even remotely comfortable in such a man's presence.

Other than that, the biggest threat was still that First Class, of course.

Genesis' last memories before collapsing in the Train Graveyard were hazy at best, but he still remembered, that the Soldier had had a sword that resembled the Buster Sword – which was an extremely bad sign for Genesis. It wasn't unthinkable, that another Soldier wielded such a sword, of course. Other than the sentimental value, the Buster Sword had not been that special. But a weapon of this size was bound to be extremely heavy. Even First Class Soldiers had to carefully consider their weapon of choice, since more weight always meant less speed – which was, ultimately, the deciding factor when facing high-level monsters like Behemoths or Dragons. If this man had decided that the increased damage was worth the speed penalty...

Shit.

This was definitely a bad sign. Genesis couldn't fight another First Class that had both power and speed to effectively wield such a weapon, especially not unarmed. Unarmed combat had never been his strong suit, he would openly admit it, and taking down another First Class quick enough before somebody else noticed, wasn't exactly easy. It would already be difficult, if the other First didn't expect it, but especially since this one totally would.

Genesis groaned and jumped on his feet to start pacing through his cell. This wait was killing him already and it didn't help, that he knew absolutely nothing about this First Class – not even, if it was the same one he had seen days before at the church. This man could be some kind of hulk for all he knew and it honestly wouldn't surprise Genesis, considering his weapon of choice. Who else in his right mind would wield a weapon this size?

***

Cloud felt miserable the whole way to the prison complex, which Reeve had prepared for his 'special cases'. His headache had subsided, but his Jenova cells were still in some kind of disarray. It felt, as if they were working through Tseng's story, trying to fit the new information into his own construct of memories. They didn't seem to modify anything, at the very least.

This feeling was a completely new experience for Cloud, though. Until now, he had never had the opportunity to learn anything about his or Zack's past from anybody other than Tifa. Aerith or Zack's parents had never really triggered the Jenova cells, probably because they hadn't recognized their memories of Zack as relevant to him. Remembering things had also felt very different when he had been in the Lifestream with Tifa. Cloud really wasn't sure, why the cells would act like this all of a sudden. Maybe it was really because of Cloud and Zack having been together in Mako pods for so long – Mako consisted partially of memories. Maybe there were some hidden memory fragments from Zack, that the Jenova cells just didn't access under normal circumstances?

After a while of walking through the now mostly empty hallways of the WRO, their little group, consisting of himself, Tseng, Vincent and Reeve, arrived at the one that led to the cells. There, Reeve motioned Kunsel and Elena, who had stayed with the Soldier, to follow him and Tseng in order to discuss their goal and strategy for the interrogation.

Cloud's swallowed hard, when it finally dawned to him, that Kunsel might have known Zack, if he had been around during this whole ideal. It also made him wonder, how many of Zack's former comrades he had met or even fought years ago. Had Kunsel been one of those guarding the Shinra Headquarters?

If Kunsel knew anything about Cloud or Zack, he didn't show it, however. The Soldier snatched the beret, that Cait Sith had been wearing this whole time, to stuff it into one of his pockets and waved Cloud and Vincent a quick salute in passing, whispering “Keep an eye on him, okay?” He then followed Reeve and Tseng along with Elena, who nodded them a quick greeting.

“He didn't cause any trouble?” Vincent asked Cait Sith, as the cat jumped from some kind of rack he had been sitting on and waddled towards them.

“No, he's been quiet. Just pacing through his cell,” Cait Sith simply whispered as an answer.

The three remained silent for a while, lost in their own thoughts, until Cloud realized that he had absolutely no idea, what to expect from Genesis and – more importantly – how to act in front of him. Tseng and Vincent had told Cloud the gist of what they knew about him, but it didn't really tell him anything about Genesis' character or his motives. He even had the feeling that Tseng had not wanted to influence Cloud's impression of the Soldier too much in any way.

“What do you think, Vincent?” Cloud whispered, so that Genesis hopefully wouldn't hear their conversation through the door of his cell. Vincent knew way more than him about Genesis, since he had been the one that had found the man.

“I'm not sure,” his friend replied just as quiet. As often, he knew what Cloud meant without having to ask. “He's not like Sephiroth, that's for sure, but I wouldn't trust him either. He seems too inconsistent, prone to mood swings – hard to predict. I'll have to listen to what he has to say, too.”

“What about earlier?” When he tried to kill you?

“I... wasn't myself,” Vincent replied, sounding strangely insecure through his usual indifference. “The Galian Beast... it had completely taken over. I can't blame him for defending his life.”

“You're probably right.”

That sounded just like Vincent. He wasn't bearing grudges with the only exception being Hojo and this was more because of what he had done to Lucretia than to Vincent himself. He didn't seem to resent Genesis for how their fight ended. Truth be told, Cloud couldn't fully blame Genesis for what had happened during their fight after hearing the full story. He himself would also try to kill a murderous bipedal Behemoth – especially if it supposedly kept him from becoming Hojo's lab rat.

The question was... was Genesis an enemy? Or a potential ally? On one hand, he did carry a lot of Jenova cells inside of him, was a former friend of Sephiroth and had used copies to wage war. That last point about the copies really bothered Cloud, even though he was certain that he had nothing to fear from Genesis. During their final battle in the Northern Crater, Cloud had definitely freed himself from any influence Sephiroth ever had to him. And since Cloud was a Sephiroth copy – a failed one, on top of that – there surely wouldn't be any problem from Genesis.

On the other hand, it seemed like Aerith was helping Genesis from the Lifestream and the target of Genesis' wrath had apparently been only Shinra – something that Cloud could relate to, at least. The people in this company were a bunch of assholes.

And to be fair... Cloud was aware that he wasn't a saint himself. He was now at peace with the fact, that neither Zack's or Aerith's death were his fault and that there wasn't much that he could have done to prevent that. Other than that, however...

It was a fact, that Cloud had been a terrorist in the past and that Avalanche's acts had had terrible consequences for many people. He personally had killed dozens of Shinra employees – people that just did their jobs to survive and care for their families. And then there was his role in Meteorfall. The Black Materia...

One could argue, that Cloud hadn't been himself at the time. That he hadn't known, what he had done when handing Sephiroth the Black Materia, because he had been so devastated about finding out who... no, what he was. That it was purely Sephiroth's and Jenova's fault for using him like that. Like a puppet. Without free will, forced to do, whatever the puppeteer wanted it to.

But Cloud knew better than that.

That time, he had been fully aware of what he had been doing. Sephiroth might have manipulated him, but he had been a willing puppet. Unlike Jenova at the Temple of the Ancients, Sephiroth had not forced Cloud to give him the Black Materia in the Northern Crater. Cloud had done this completely on his own. Driven by despair, but still out of his free will.

Despair...

There was a reason, why Sephiroth had mentioned it being his 'gift' for Cloud. Despair was a powerful emotion, it could do horrible things with people's minds, could make them do things they would have never even considered otherwise. Sephiroth knew, how to use that and Cloud understood that feeling better than most other people.

That was probably the reason, why a part of Cloud could relate to Genesis. Meteor and everything that followed... Cloud couldn't deny that his own weakness had led to this – it had made him fall into this trap of desperation. Genesis, on the other hand, had suffered from an illness with no known cure, because some scientist thought it was a good idea to play with his genes when he had not even been born. There was no way, that Genesis hadn't been absolutely devastated hearing about this. And having an illness without cure... it was also something that Cloud could relate to. This could have been Genesis' personal trap of desperation.

Their circumstances might not be the same, but Cloud had the feeling, that both him and Genesis had blood on their hands because they hadn't known, how else to deal with their despair. So in some strange, twisted way, they might not be that different.

Cloud sighed quietly. He could almost hear Cid ranting 'You're too soft, dumbass! And learn to say no, dammit!'. Maybe he was too too soft. He might just interpret too much into what Tseng had told them, but Cloud really hoped that Genesis wouldn't be an enemy. He was sick of world ending scenarios, all he wanted was some well deserved peace with his family. He didn't want to fight like this anymore – he had never wanted to.

Even as a child, Cloud had not dreamed of becoming Soldier because he enjoyed fighting. All he had wanted was to be recognized by Tifa and to be strong enough to protect her. As a mercenary, he had continued to fight, because it had been really the only thing he was good at and because Tifa had asked for his help. Then came Sephiroth...

Cloud furrowed his brows, thinking of the last four years. He had never actually fought and killed because he had wanted to, but because it had been necessary. He was good at it and proud of his skills, sure. That's why he still honed them whenever he had the time, but that didn't mean he enjoyed those fights.

And yet Cloud was here, hoping that Genesis wouldn't become the next Sephiroth or something like that. He sighed once again, thinking that he should have listened to the Cid in his head.

Cloud really should have said no.

“You alright?”

When Vincent suddenly broke their silence, Cloud wasn't sure, what he was referring to. Maybe their conversation just now or because of Cloud's earlier reaction to Genesis or to Tseng's story. It might have just been this sighing, as well. Yes, it probably was the sighing, but the answer was the same, anyway.

“Yeah... I'm fine.”

There was no use in dwelling on this. He shouldn't get too involved into this anyway, just in case that Genesis would become a problem eventually. It was most likely, that he would become Cloud's problem if the man was as nuts as Sephiroth and who knew, how Genesis would react to him being the one that killed Sephiroth. They were friends once, Cloud just couldn't believe that this information left Genesis completely cold.

He'd just avoid giving himself away as Sephiroth's killer and hope, that he wouldn't have to deal with Genesis after this. Should be easy enough, since all Cloud had to do, was keeping an eye on Genesis. He didn't even have to say anything.

A few minutes went by, but Tseng and Kunsel still returned faster than Cloud had expected them to. The Turk went straight to Genesis' cell and motioned Cloud and Vincent to come closer, whereas Kunsel knelt down next to Cait Sith and held up his hand. The cat nodded and gave him a key card that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

“Mister Rhapsodos,” Tseng said loudly, so it could be heard on the other side of the steel door. “It's been a while.” For a moment, there was only silence inside of the room, before he got an answer.

“If that isn't Tseng of the Turks,” the foreign voice replied. It sounded smooth, very pronounced and not too deep, honestly quite pleasant and – in Cloud's opinion – perfect for an actor. Maybe too pleasant, though, to the point where it became honeyed. “Want another Firaga? Sadly, I'm out of Materia.”

“At least his memory isn't too bad,” Kunsel muttered, earning himself a stern look from Tseng, to which the Soldier held up his hands in a defensive manner. “Just saying. He remembered my voice, too, and we barely talked to each other back in SOLDIER.”

“You should hope, that this isn't a bad sign for you,” Tseng replied quietly, making Kunsel frown with a pensive expression on his face, before he shrugged it off without saying anything else.

“Mister Rhapsodos, we know about your ability to cast spells without any Materia,” Tseng continued in the meantime with a calm, but firm tone. “We'd like to discuss a few things with you and I advise you, not to attack me or one of my companions once we open this door. There is no need for violence right now and you will regret resorting to it.”

The answer took a moment once again.

“This almost sounds like an invitation, you know.”

The answer was short and almost... charming in how casual it sounded. Still cutting, but without any real aggression behind it. It was a really weird mixture and Cloud was honestly impressed, how Genesis achieved it, given the situation he was in. This didn't really sound like somebody who had almost died just hours ago and woke up in a prison cell. Cloud shot a questioning look at Vincent and Cait Sith. Vincent just answered it with one of his unreadable looks, that Cloud chose to interpret as 'Don't ask me'.

Kunsel, however, sighed quietly. “He's going to throw a fire ball at us the moment we open the door, won't he?”

“It's a possibility.”

“His spells are pretty weak, nothing to worry about,” Vincent reassured them.

Vincent had told them about Genesis' special ability earlier and Cloud wondered once again, how Genesis did that. Only Cetra were able to cast spells freely, normal humans had to rely on Materia or Limit Breaks to do so. Even Sephiroth had only been able to use magic without Materia after he had fallen into the Mako Reactor in Nibelheim, as far as Cloud could tell. So... did this confirm, that Genesis had something to do with Aerith and the Lifestream? Or was it a hint at Sephiroth and Jenova being involved?

Whatever it was, Cloud had absolutely no interest in waiting an eternity in front of that door. He could take a few weak magic attacks without much of a problem if Genesis really wanted to try his luck.

“Doesn't matter. Let's get this over with,” he said and Tseng nodded, signaling Kunsel to open the steel door with the key card from Cait Sith.

Contrary to what Kunsel and Tseng had expected, Cloud wasn't greeted by a fire ball or any other spell when entering the cell. Genesis was simply sitting on the bench on the opposite wall, with his legs crossed and an almost bored look on his face. This expression, however, faded the moment, the man's blue Mako eyes fell on Cloud, making room for a more bewildered one as Genesis stared at Cloud.

Cloud returned the look, feeling the sensation of uneasiness creeping up on him. The buzzing of the Jenova cells from earlier had completely stopped minutes ago, so they were completely calm now. Almost too calm, given their reaction earlier and Cloud couldn't help but wonder, if Genesis was able feel them inside of him. Why else would he stare at Cloud with this baffled look on his face?

Fortunately, Tseng entered the room shortly after Cloud and drew Genesis' attention completely onto himself.

“I see, you've chosen not to resist this time,” Tseng said, giving Cloud the opportunity to retreat to the corner of the small room and to get out of the man's focus without appearing suspicious.

“You were considerate enough, not to tie me up, so I'll return the favor this once,” Genesis replied coolly, flicking one of his hair strands back with the hand that had already been raised the moment Cloud had entered the room. The baffled expression also seemed to have vanished in favor for a more collected one. “But I might change my mind, if you even try to handcuff me.”

“I assure you, this won't be necessary if you don't resist or try to escape,” Tseng said in a polite manner, causing Genesis to raise an eyebrow. “We would prefer a nonviolent approach as well. If you would follow me, please? This room is barely acceptable for a conversation.”

Genesis didn't react immediately, but instead let his eyes roam the room once again. Eventually, the Soldier's eyes lingered on Cloud and he was glad, that he had some practice in pretending to be a reserved, cool-headed First Class Soldier, so Cloud's nervousness didn't show. After what must have been just a second, Genesis' attention shifted back to the Turk.

“Fine,” he said with a chilly voice, “let's get this over with.”

He then stood up and followed Tseng out of the room, pointedly ignoring Cloud as he passed him. Cloud, however, froze when the other man went past him and his Jenova cells gave off a soft buzz, accompanied by the strange sensation of something invisible brushing against his skin. It sent icy chills down his spine.

W... what was that?

Cloud struggled to keep his breath in control as he turned his head towards Genesis. The man didn't look back, didn't even seem to have noticed, what had happened just now. The buzzing also stopped as soon as the man was a few steps away from Cloud. Almost as if it never had happened in the first place.

What the hell was that?

This sensation... it had been completely different from what Cloud was used to from the Jenova cells – not the usual pain from repressed memories, not the sensation of them accessing people's memories or recalling stored ones. And it had also been way softer than the feeling Cloud got from Sephiroth or Jenova.

It was confusing and troubling. Up until now, Cloud had been absolutely sure that him being a Sephiroth copy wouldn't be a problem – why would his cells react to Genesis when they had no real connection other than both having some kind of Jenova cells? Cloud wasn't one of his copies, shouldn't Genesis be just like any other Soldier to him?

But now this happened. What the hell did that mean?

Vincent appeared in front of the door, shooting Cloud a questioning look. This actually made Cloud jolt out of his thoughts and he took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves. He didn't have time to freak out about something he didn't understand right now. Cloud then shook his head, telling his friend without words that he was fine and left the cell to follow the others.

He had said, that he would watch Genesis during the interrogation and Cloud always stood by his words. This reaction was apparently something that happened when he was close to Genesis, so he'd just have to keep his distance for now and it would be fine.

***

“Mister Rhapsodos.” Genesis stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a calm and polite voice through the metal door of his cell. “It's been a while.”

Genesis recognized the voice immediately despite not having heard it in what must have been years.

“If that isn't Tseng of the Turks,” he replied and just couldn't stop himself from adding the next part: “Want another Firaga? Sadly, I'm out of Materia.”

“Mister Rhapsodos, we know about your ability to cast spells without any Materia,” Tseng continued audibly unimpressed. “We'd like to discuss a few things with you and I advise you, not to attack me or one of my companions once we open this door. There is no need for violence right now and you will regret resorting to it.”

Discuss a few things, huh?

This sounded suspiciously vague. Genesis had no doubt, that the Turks wanted to find out some things about him and his so called 'accomplices', especially Hollander. The question was, what kind of 'discussion' they had in mind and what would happen once they were satisfied. Genesis couldn't imagine it being good for him in any way, though. The damage caused by both sides was too big for any of them to give in. At worst, Shinra would use him for one of their experiments or to create more Tsviets.

I swear, if Hojo even dares to look at me... I'll melt his greasy face off, Genesis thought by himself while staring at the door, as if he could stab the Turk through the metal. He didn't care if it took ages to achieve this or if a First tried to stop him, by the Goddess, he swore that he wouldn't become one of Hojo's damn lab rats!

He couldn't say that out loud, of course. The Turks would be on their guard and that would only make his life harder than it already was. On the other hand, he couldn't just reply with something submissive as if he had given up already. The last time that Genesis had acted like an obedient, compliant Soldier, had been right before he had left Shinra for good – Lazard had needed a justification to send him back to Wutai despite Heidegger's previous orders. The Turks had bought it last time, but Tseng was the smart kind of Turk. He would look right through Genesis' ruse, if he tried it once again.

So... no need to hold back too much, I guess.

“This almost sounds like an invitation, you know,” Genesis replied, making sure that it couldn't be understood as an outright threat. It was still enough in character not to raise any suspicions, though.

“He's going to throw a fire ball at us the moment we open the door, won't he?” Kunsel asked quietly after a moment, confirming that it had worked. Maybe even a bit too well.

“It's a possibility.”

“His spells are pretty weak, nothing to worry about,” a low, flat voice added, that definitely belonged to the marksman, Vincent and Genesis couldn't help but let out an upset huff at what he had said. It was true, his spells were embarrassingly weak without any Materia equipped, but he really didn't have to rub it in like this!

“Doesn't matter. Let's get this over with,” another voice, deep and rather smooth, replied. It was a voice that Genesis hadn't heard before, but one that immediately caught his full attention. It obviously belonged to somebody, who was confident in his strength, to the point, where he didn't care about Genesis'. No question, this one belonged to a Soldier. And not just a Second, either, this was undeniably a First.

Maybe the First.

Following this, Genesis of course didn't prepare any fire spells. He would have loved to throw one of them at his captors, but didn't, simply because they expected something like this and the First probably wouldn't appreciate it. Genesis wasn't armed and really couldn't shake the bad feeling he had about this unknown First, so for now, he would refrain from provoking the Soldier. Also, because it was more or less useless, but whatever.

Instead, he sat down on his bench and made sure, that his clothes and hair was in order. A man's appearance could make a huge difference, even if said man was a prisoner and Genesis wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing him down and beaten if he could help it. Especially not a First Class that already thought, he was better than him – he certainly wouldn't tolerate this kind of delusion.

When the door opened, Genesis was already patiently waiting, sitting upright and with his legs crossed on his bench. He was about to flick one of his hair strands out of his face and opened his mouth, prepared to give a witty one liner, but froze, as he saw the man that entered his cell. There were three thoughts that immediately popped up in Genesis' head.

That's not what I expected. Why does does his hair look like the plumage of a Chocobo? But, while it was absolutely astonishing to see somebody with even crazier hair than Zack, it was another thing that really baffled Genesis.

Haven't I seen this Chocobo somewhere before?

Genesis eyed the man absolutely bewildered. He was definitely a First Class Soldier, there was the bright glow of Mako in his blue eyes and he was wearing black clothes, resembling the uniform of a First. One of his arms was covered by black cloth, but the one, that wasn't, clearly showed, that he did have the physique of a Soldier, as well. He seemed to be a bit smaller than the average Soldier, though. Not like somebody who should wield a weapon as big as himself. But this might just be another First than the one from the graveyard, too, since he currently didn't have any weapon equipped and the sword was really the only thing Genesis remembered about that man.

The baffling thing was, Genesis didn't remember somebody with this hairstyle in SOLDIER off the top of his head – which was a given, because of aforementioned helmet rules – but he definitely knew that he had seen it somewhere before. A hairstyle like this was honestly too memorable to be forgotten, so where had he seen this man before?

Unfortunately, Genesis wasn't able to take a much closer look on the First Class. The Soldier almost immediately made room for Tseng, after it was clear, that Genesis wouldn't pose a threat to the Turk.

“I see, you've chosen not to resist this time,” Tseng said as he entered the room as well. He barely looked any older than how Genesis remembered the Turk, but it seemed like he had decided to let his hair grow longer, since it was no longer tied back and was instead flowing down his shoulders.

“You were considerate enough, not to tie me up, so I'll return the favor this once,” Genesis replied coolly and remembered that his hand was still raised. He flicked back the hair strand and finally put his hand back to the other one on his knee. “But I might change my mind if you even try to handcuff me.”

“I assure you, this won't be necessary if you don't resist or try to escape,” Tseng replied, sounding really sincere about it – almost suspiciously so. Was there even such a thing as a sincere Turk? And why would he be so accommodating? There was something fishy about this. “We would prefer a nonviolent approach as well. If you would follow me, please? This room is barely acceptable for a conversation.”

Of course he didn't want the violent approach, Genesis had heard so much. Tseng preferred talking and negotiating before resorting to... uglier methods, which was something Genesis definitely preferred right now. Other than that, however, Tseng was still dangerously perceptive, it would be hard to keep certain things from him. But Tseng was still the better option, if Veld hadn't retired yet – Genesis doubted, that the head of the Turks could be killed by anything other than old age. Every Dragon would spit Veld out immediately if it was unfortunate enough to get him between its jaws. So hopefully, this old man wouldn't show up before Genesis found a way to get out of this.

Genesis glanced past the Turk, catching a glimpse of Kunsel standing in the hallway and watching him curiously, and then shot another wary look at the First, who stood silently and vigilantly at the other side of the door.

Two Soldiers, a Turk and whatever Vincent was... there was no way Genesis could take on all these people right now. This really wasn't the time to try for a daring escape. Genesis would have to play along for now.

“Fine, let's get this over with.”

Tseng nodded, motioning him to follow him outside and Genesis did as told. He ignored the First for now, only noting out of the corner of his eyes, that he was indeed a bit smaller than Genesis. Not much, but still noticeable. Unusual for a Soldier, especially a First.

Outside, Genesis immediately noticed Vincent watching him and simply walked past him, having decided to completely ignore the man's presence as well. Genesis made another few steps and froze, when his eyes fell on something highly unusual in front of him.

“What the hell is this thing?”

This thing had caught Genesis completely off guard. So much, that he didn't even , before blurting out his question as he stared at something that looked like a cat with black and white fur standing on two feet in front of him. And if that wasn't strange enough, the cat was also wearing brown shoes, white gloves, a red cape and even a crown on its head. In a way, it was really bizarre to look at.

Not as bizarre as Hojo's abominations, of course, but it was still very strange.

“This thing?” The cat surprised Genesis again, when it started to talk with the most atrocious accent he had ever heard. “That's just rude! I'm Cait Sith!”

“Cait Sith is a robot,” Kunsel explained, while the cat put its hands on its waist and looked at Genesis with a strange defiant expression on its face, confusing Genesis even more. A robot? How was a robot looking at him like this, especially when its eyes were always closed? “Haven't you already seen him on the Train Graveyard? After Vincent's transformation?”

“I was preoccupied,” Genesis muttered, still staring at the robot, wondering who had built the thing. Probably not Scarlet, it looked too much like a real animal to be one of her creations. He really didn't remember seeing this thing, probably because he preferred, not to avert his eyes from potentially lethal opponents like a man turned into a Behemoth.

“You'll have enough opportunity to get used to him,” Tseng said while throwing a quick look behind, probably towards Vincent and the First. “So please follow me now. It's not far from here.”

Genesis shook his head in disbelief, wondering about the strange situation he found himself in. He knew, that Midgar looked bad, but in what kind of shape was Shinra, if they chose to secure him with a Second, a shape shifting man and a talking robot cat?

Chapter Text

[ ν ] - εγλ 0010, WRO Headquarter

The interrogation room, that Tseng had chosen, wasn't very far away and surprisingly big with a table in the center of it and enough room for a maximum of six people to sit down. It could have been a normal conference room, if not for the obligatory mirror that spanned one side of the room.

The Turk and Kunsel were seated with their backs to the door, while Genesis was opposite to them, facing the door, so he couldn't just run for it, of course. Vincent – who Genesis chose to keep on pointedly ignoring – took the chair right next to Genesis, probably so he could intervene in case Genesis chose to attack Tseng. Interestingly, there was no woman in the room, even though Genesis was absolutely sure that he had heard a female voice outside of his cell.

The cat was sitting on the table close to Kunsel and was still absolutely baffling to look at. It didn't even move or act like a robot, which really made Genesis wonder, who the hell had made this new toy for the Turks. He could have racked his brains about the cat for quite some time, if there wouldn't have been the First Class catching his attention again. He was now leaning against the door frame to both guard the exit and to keep a wary eye on Genesis.

The still nameless First wasn't really relaxed, but definitely had the confident pose of somebody with the confidence of having the situation under control. Which was interesting, given that he not only was unarmed, but also didn't seem to have any Materia equipped – none that were visible, at least.

“I'm glad that you decided to cooperate, Mister Rhapsodos,” Tseng began the conversation politely after he had finished his preparations. It forced Genesis' attention away from the Soldier and back to the Turk.

“...implying I had a choice?” Genesis retorted, flashing a wary look back at the First Class. The fact, that he didn't know anything about this man and what to expect from him, was quite irritating, to say the least.

“You had the choice to resist. It would have been futile, but you chose not to. We appreciate it,” Tseng continued, causing Genesis to glare angrily at the man. They just had to go on about this, didn't they? “But let's not dwell on this. First of all, may I call you Genesis or do you prefer us using your surname?”

Genesis huffed. “Do as you please. I'd return the question, but... you know...” He shrugged, unable to resist the temptation to annoy the man. “Turks and surnames...”

“It's an unfortunate aspect of our job,” Tseng said and let the passive aggressiveness simply roll off his shoulders like it was nothing. “Genesis it is, then. To clear out any misconceptions, I'd like to explain your current situation before we begin. Please pay attention, because I'm not going to repeat myself.”

Tseng waited for a reaction from Genesis, who simply made a wavy hand gesture, signaling the Turk to continue. This would just be the usual talk about the consequences of his doing, how to behave during the interrogation and so on. He already knew this kind of stuff from when he had accidentally ruined Heidegger's office as a Third. It had not even been his fault that Hojo hadn't secured this Balloon properly and that the vents had been – again – big enough for it get through and all the way to Heidegger's office!

“First of all,” Tseng started, again absolutely unimpressed by Genesis' behavior, “you are not held captive by Shinra, but an organization called 'World Regenesis Organization' – WRO for short. It is led by Reeve Tuesti, you might remember him as the head of Urban Development. Our last meeting in Banora was ten years ago and the Shinra Corporation, now led by Rufus Shinra, does no longer have the authority it used to have in the past. Personally, I am still working for Shinra, but I'm currently assisting the interrogations led by the WRO, because the amount of people that still remember you outside of the Turks is, frankly, very limited.”

Genesis stared in bewilderment at the Turk. This honestly was not what he had expected. He had guessed, that some time had gone by while he had been hiding in the caves below Banora and later Midgar, but ten years? Had it really been this long? Also... Reeve Tuesti was leading an organization that was more influential than Shinra? This thought was just unreal. The head of Urban Development had been one of the less important and involved members of the board of directors. The only higher ups with even less say than Tuesti had been Palmer and the mayor. And Tseng was telling him, that this man was more influential than Shinra?

“In this session, we will ask you only a few questions to get a general overview about the situation. I will concentrate on all information regarding Shinra, while Kunsel,” Tseng continued, waving his hand towards Kunsel, “is working for the WRO and has some questions regarding the organization called Deepground.”

The mention of Deepground also surprised Genesis. The project had been absolutely secret as far as Genesis knew – Weiss had hinted at the fact that not even the Turks knew about its existence.

“As for now, neither you or your... companion are in danger of being harmed in any way,” Kunsel took over, a little bit more hesitant than Tseng. Although professional, it didn't sound like he was used to this role. “Due to recent incidents, Mister Tuesti might instead consider offering you an employment at the WRO – depending on your level of cooperation and the information you can provide us, of course. Any questions so far?”

Genesis didn't reply immediately, but instead let the information sink in and looked for any hints of a lie in both Tseng's and Kunsel's faces. They both looked sincere enough, though.

Due to recent incidents.

In itself, this little expression didn't say much, but regarding what Genesis had seen in the city... If what Tseng was saying was indeed the truth, it sounded suspiciously, like Deepground had somehow made its move without Genesis' help, but had ultimately lost to this new organization. But if they even considered recruiting Genesis after his rebellion against Shinra, this fight couldn't have been won without heavy losses on this side. They had to be absolutely desperate for new members. Not to mention, that an employment would give them the perfect opportunity to keep Genesis on a short leash. That made Genesis frown, since it was way too familiar.

Typical way of thinking for Shinra. Paid loyalty and obedience.

“You don't really expect me to believe you about this organization, do you?” Genesis asked distrustful, “When I'm in the same room as one Turk, two Soldiers and somebody who's obviously Hojo's doing? Probably also a Turk? Not to mention the other two Turks I've already seen?”

“Shinra isn't nearly as big as it used to be, it has fallen with Midgar. And you've seen the city yourself, you know that it's true,” Tseng continued, and Genesis really couldn't dispute that. “Some of the Turks are still working for Shinra, but the Soldiers don't. As I said, Kunsel here is working for the WRO. Mister Valentine and Mister Strife are freelancers.”

Mister Valentine and Mister Strife.

Genesis wondered, which one of those names belonged to Vincent and which one to the First. Vincent Valentine or Vincent Strife? The first had a better ring to it, but that didn't have to mean anything. Also, it was suspicious, how Tseng tried to downplay Shinra and the other people's connection to the company. He wasn't trying to goad Genesis into something, did he?

Either way, Genesis wasn't dumb enough to buy that.

“Oh, really? Freelancers? You tell me, that President Shinra lets his oh so precious assets simply walk away like this?” Genesis asked with a huff. “Please, I know better than that.” Shinra would rather 'recycle' his Soldiers and experiments in Deepground than letting them become 'freelancers'.

“It's true. The old president died years ago and Rufus has neither the authority, nor the intention of forcing Soldiers to work for him.” Tseng paused for a moment and eyed Genesis with light curiosity. “You should know about that, if you would have been around over the last three years. So tell me, Genesis... Is it true that you've been sleeping in the caverns below Midgar?”

All of Tseng's stories set aside, this was really an interesting question.

“You know about Deepground and this? You're surprisingly well informed, Turk,” Genesis replied in a cheeky tone. “I wonder, why? Is it because of these 'recent incidents' you talked about? Does Midgar look like this, because you couldn't keep your secret little monster nest in check?”

“It's part of the reason,” Tseng answered, but other than that, he completely disregarded Genesis' questions. Sadly, Tseng was too much of an professional to answer those without something in return. “It sounds like you weren't a member of Deepground. Is that also true?”

“Weiss wanted me to join, but I declined his... offer.” Genesis couldn't fight back a grimace as he remembered the Tsviet downright screaming at him in frustration. “I had no reason to and I prefer, not to collaborate with uncivilized savages like them if I can avoid it.”

“And yet you've been carrying around Weiss, I heard.”

“An unfortunate necessity. I won't miss his company.” Genesis shrugged. “Which reminds me... you did take care of Nero, right? I doubt, he'll abandon his beloved brother voluntarily and I don't look forward to meeting him again.” Genesis had the feeling, that Nero wouldn't be pleased to see him and Genesis really did not want to find out, what this man's special ability was. His instincts told him to stay away from Nero and Genesis absolutely trusted his them in this regard.

“Nero won't be a problem,” Tseng answered quickly. “What do you mean, when you say that you didn't have a reason to join?” the Turk added, probably alluding to the fact, that Genesis had raised his own army before.

“At this point, I had already found a cure for my degradation,” Genesis replied briefly, wanting not to dwell on this any longer than necessary. “What would I need an army for?” The copies had not been his idea anyway.

“Hollander was successful, then?”

Genesis snorted in response to that.

“Of course not. Hollander was absolutely useless,” he replied without hesitation. There was absolutely no need to hold back on this topic. “As much as I hate to agree with Hojo, it's just like he once said – Hollander couldn't even cure a cold, even if his life depended on it.” Which had been the case several times. Genesis didn't even remember, how often he had tried to motivate Hollander at sword-point. Had it worked? No. Had it been satisfying to see the scientist squirm in fear for his life? Absolutely. “I found the cure without his help – my very own Gift of the Goddess.”

Tseng hummed quietly, not turning his head even a second to look away from Genesis. He obviously didn't believe him, but this would be the Turk's problem, not his. This was the truth.

“What is this 'Gift of the Goddess'?” Tseng asked after a moment of silence.

“Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess,” Genesis answered, unable to resist the urge to grin at the man. He knew all too well, that there were more than enough people that weren't as infatuated with Loveless as himself and that some of these philistines were annoyed by his quotes. Which just made it even more tempting to use them in a situation like this. “I could explain it to you... I'd love to discuss Loveless after such a long time on my own, but I'm afraid, we would sit here for a while. Are you sure, you have the time for that?”

Tseng seemed to be one of those people that didn't value the beauty of this masterpiece, judging by the tiny hint of exasperation on his face.

“Mister Rhapsodos, I meant the cure for your degradation. Please don't try to distract me with discussions about literature...”

“I would never try something like that.” Genesis shook his head and put his right hand onto his chest in an overly dramatic manner. “You know, that I value Loveless too much to make fun of it.”

“Please answer the question.”

“As I said, it would take a while to explain,” Genesis repeated with an mocking smile on his face.

He had no intention of giving Shinra or anybody even remotely affiliated to them any information regarding the Goddess or the Lifestream and he would drag this as much as he had to. Genesis didn't lie when he said, that he could go on about this topic and the several ways of interpreting the gift. He had come up with enough theories to fill a whole book even before leaving Shinra and Genesis had had a lot of free time on his hands to think even more about it while in hiding.

“Well then...” Tseng furrowed his brows a bit, but did seem to accept his refusal to answer for now. “Have you ever heard about a woman called Aerith Gainsborough? Green eyes and brunette hair with a pink ribbon in it?”

“Aerith Gainsborough?” Genesis raised an eyebrow. What kind of question was that? “Never heard of her. Why?”

“No particular reason. So Hollander wasn't involved?” Tseng continued, avoiding the question and the previous topic again. Genesis suspected that he would dive deeper into it, once he had gone over the more basic questions. “Where is he now?”

“He's dead,” Genesis shrugged. “Do you want the details?”

“What happened?”

“He injected himself with some G cells he had left and degraded incredibly fast,” Genesis explained, making sure that he used his most dramatic tone for that. It sounded incredibly fake, but that was exactly, what Genesis needed right now. “Sadly, it must have impaired his brain as well... He thought it would be a good idea to get between a Nibelwolf and its pup... You know, how dangerous those can be, right? Never stood a chance and he didn't even realize it until it was too late.” He shook his head with a dramatic sigh, unable to fully conceal the malicious glee in his voice and the unquestionably devious smirk that appeared on his face as he remembered the incident. “Very tragic.”

“The true story, Mister Rhapsodos,” Tseng said with a stern voice, giving Genesis just the reaction he had expected.

“It is,” Genesis assured, now sounding more believable than before. Still not fully convincing, but hopefully enough for now. “I have no idea, why he thought himself to be capable of dealing with said creature. I kinda regret not having done this myself, though. He was absolutely useless.”

Most of this wasn't even a lie. Genesis might have noticed, that Hollander's judgment was already heavily clouded by degradation. He also might have reminded Hollander of the fact, that Zack's infantryman still had some pure S cells and he might have exploited Zack's protective instinct towards his friend. But how should he have actually known, that Hollander was dumb enough to fight a First Class Soldier for real? Especially since it should have been clear, that the S cells wouldn't help against the degradation?

But the Turk really didn't need to know about Zack's involvement in all of this, did he?

Silence filled the air as Tseng watched Genesis carefully. He held the stare without even blinking at the Turk. He didn't try to hide his smirk either – he knew, that he couldn't repress it, even if he tried. Genesis knew, how to keep up a farce, but he wasn't good enough at hiding his emotions to fool a Turk like Tseng. Trying it would only make him more suspicious.

“What are you trying to hide from us?” the Turk asked slowly, causing Genesis to shrug innocently.

“You mean, other than my disdain towards this hack? I could tell you so many stories about this man... Even you would be surprised.”

“This won't be necessary,” Tseng replied, and Genesis was kind of relieved, that this secret would stay one for the moment. “So Hollander is dead... what happened to Lazard?”

Genesis had to think for a moment to find the answer to that. Lazard and Genesis had barely interacted after his desertion, most of their plotting had been made through Hollander. The former director of SOLDIER had not even known their secret hideout below Banora as far as Genesis knew. A tight feeling grew in Genesis' chest, when he actually remembered Lazard's fate.

“Also dead. Degradation.”

“Degradation?” Tseng asked further and Genesis cursed this man's tenacity. He'd much rather talk about Deepground or Hollander right now. “Did you turn him into a copy as well?”

“He wasn't mine.”

“He was an Angeal copy?” Genesis simply nodded for an answer. “I see...” Tseng continued, his eyes firmly locked onto Genesis. He had never felt so judged before. “We've heard rumors about Angeal being alive after Modeoheim. So it was Lazard we've been been after?” He silently nodded again. “Why did he become a copy?” Genesis shrugged.

“I have no idea, how or when it happened.” He really didn't know, how the director had ended up like this and hopefully, this answer was enough for Tseng to finally stop these kind of questions. They had ten years to go over, for Goddess' sake, there had to be other questions than that!

“What exactly is degradation? How does it affect you and what makes you different from, say, Angeal?” This question came from Kunsel – it the first time that the wannabe Turk chimed in and it just had to be this question, didn't it? Slow and cautious, but also challenging in tone. He dared Genesis to answer this – not just by the way he said it, but also with the look he gave him. A look full of other unasked questions that Genesis dreaded to think about.

“So you want to hear about this?” Genesis responded, keeping the eye contact with a glare. “I'm afraid, this will cost you, however.”

“Cost me?”

“Everything in life has a price,” Genesis continued, “I had to tolerate Hollander and years of excruciating pain to gain this knowledge. It's also highly personal. Why would I give it away for free?”

“You'd feel better talking about this.”

Genesis snorted at this response. Feel better. Right. As if that would help.

“What do you have in mind?” Tseng took over again, also sounding awfully interested.

“What happened to Midgar?” Genesis asked and noticed a barely noticeable shift in Tseng's expression, although he couldn't read it. “Deepground was full of monsters, but they wouldn't have been able to devastate the city like this. So what happened? I'll answer your question, if you answer mine.”

Tseng folded his hands in front of him and eyed Genesis with a pensive expression. The Turk didn't remain silent for long, but just long enough for Genesis to know, that Tseng had carefully pondered his answer.

“This has multiple reasons, the main one being the fall of a meteor on Midgar.”

“A meteor,” Genesis repeated in disbelief, “falling on Midgar. Shouldn't there be a crater, then? Why is the headquarter still standing? Why do some of the reactors look like they were pierced by something big? At least think of a better story, this is insulting.”

“It's complicated,” Tseng simply replied. “The damage on the reactors was caused by a Weapon summoned by Deepground. Can you tell us something about this?”

“A Weapon?” Genesis furrowed his brows. “What Weapon?” Most people didn't even know about the existence of those creatures that the Planet used to defend itself against threats. And those who knew, mostly dismissed them as myths. Stories made up by fanatics or exaggerations of big monsters. To hear Tseng mention one, was yet another surprise.

“Omega. It was summoned by Weiss to absorb the Lifestream through the reactors.”

“Summoned by Weiss? To absorb the Lifestream?” Genesis blinked in confusion, thinking back to his conversation with the Tsviet. All that the man had wanted, was to free himself and his brother from those Restrictors. That had absolutely nothing to do with the Lifestream. But this time, the answer from Tseng had come way too quick to sound like a lie. And Genesis had to admit, that it was at least a bit more believable than the meteor story. “That's... uncharacteristic for him.”

“That's because it wasn't really Weiss.” Genesis almost jumped, when he suddenly heard Vincent's voice next to him and stared at him. He had completely forgotten that the man was there. “It's complicated.”

“I see,” Tseng continued while Genesis was still processing what he had been told. “Now that your question is answered, it's time for you to tell us more about degradation, don't you think?”

Genesis glowered at the Turk, but didn't dare to ask more questions. It would just invite Tseng to go back to his previous questions, where Genesis had refused to give the answers the Turk had wanted.

“Fine by me,” he said instead and took a deep breath to calm himself a bit. Talking about his degradation and Hollander's incompetence made it way too easy to fall into a rant he didn't need right now.

“Now where do I begin,” Genesis began after a moment of silence and was already annoyed by the topic. “This hack Hollander made so many blatant mistakes that I don't even know, where to start. But what do you expect from a man that thinks, it's a good idea to jump right into human experimentation when it's not even clear, what you're researching?” The thought alone made Genesis fume. “I guess, you know about Project G?”

“Vaguely.” Genesis rolled his eyes at this evasive answer. Did Tseng want him to tell them, what he knew about it or what?

“The goal of Project G was, to reproduce the extinct Cetra in order to get to the 'Promised Land',” Genesis began to explain. “Unfortunately, the genetic material that they used for this didn't belong to a Cetra, but an extraterrestrial being. Something they hadn't even realized until Hojo retrieved some of Professor Gast's research on that matter – years after Project G was already discontinued. Nice, isn't it? Using the genes of something you basically don't know anything about?”

For a brief moment, Genesis was distracted by a movement in the background and focused on the First. Was it just his imagination, or was the man really more tense than before?

“The offspring of Project G had absolutely no special abilities,” Genesis continued. “Why? Because the cells that they used were in a dormant state. The foreign genes from those cells fused with the host's, but didn't show any other activity or effect, unless they came into contact with Mako. Something Hollander only realized twenty years later.”

Gillian had been the prime example for this effect. She had been the first one receiving the Jenova cells and over time, they had worked themselves into her genes, but she had never shown any signs of enhancement, since she had never gotten any Mako injections.

“Now this is where things get... interesting. This extraterrestrial being, Jenova, is a shapeshifter that can both absorb foreign traits and force its own cells onto living beings to turn them into monsters. A creature like this has absolutely no use for stable cells or genes. That's why it's so easy to fit the cells' genetic information into the host's and why they start to fall apart to create new G cells as soon as those genes become active.”

“They... fall apart?”

Genesis almost wanted to laugh, when he saw Kunsel's expression. It was a disturbing thought, wasn't it? That one could slowly fall apart without being able to do anything about it.

“Indeed,” Genesis continued, “my genes and cellular structure was becoming increasingly unstable because my body kept producing and emitting G cells to create copies from my own genome. Those G cells lacked the ability to really create new copies without additional effort, but my body kept producing them constantly anyway. That's what degradation is. The most basic body functions are breaking down, because the genes needed to keep them working are either missing, or the chromosomes containing them are completely destroyed by the increasing number of gaps caused by the parts that deliberately detach themselves. And since I also lack the ability to reabsorb genetic traits – most importantly my own G cells – all this genetic information is ultimately lost. Effectively killing me slowly, just because this idiot Hollander absolutely botched me.”

No matter, what Kunsel seemed to believe, Genesis didn't feel better after telling all of this. To the contrary, describing the circumstances had filled Genesis with the strong need to punch something. Ideally something that had the face of a certain scientist on it.

“So... in a way, your ability to create copies caused your degradation?” Kunsel asked.

“Ironic, isn't it?” Genesis replied, “I created copies to find a cure for my degradation, just to speed it up by doing so.”

He probably would have degraded much slower if not for Hollander's ingenious idea to take even more irreplaceable genetic material out of him to create this army. Genesis could have kicked himself for this level of stupidity on his part. Why had he ever listened to this hack?

“What about the copies?” Tseng chimed in. He appeared to be far less disturbed than Kunsel, but he was a Turk. There was little that was able to disturb those people anyway. “They degraded as well.”

“I told you already, didn't I? Jenova has the ability to absorb genetic traits and has no use for stable cells.” Genesis said with a weak laugh. He hated this topic. Absolutely hated it. But it was better to waste time talking about this than trying to avoid the Turk's more dangerous questions.

“Just think of me as a predator and the copies my prey,” Genesis continued, when the two men didn't react. “My body is slowly dying and the G cells inside of my copies somehow know that. They know, that I need more genetic material and try to provide it by breaking down their host's – because they have to keep the original alive at all cost, even if it means killing their hosts. Because they can't survive without me. So the more my body degraded, the faster the G cells destroyed the copies', so I would be able absorb them quickly. Which I couldn't do, of course.”

The two people stared at him, Kunsel's eyes widened in barely repressed horror. The eyes of a man looking at a monster. Because that's just what Genesis was, wasn't he? A monster that was slowly consuming its completely unsuspecting prey.

“Regarding your –“ Like the professional he was, Tseng tried to resume the conversation, but Kunsel cut him off.

“Why did you agree to this?” The Soldier kept staring at Genesis with the same expression of horror in his face. No, not just horror. There was a wide range of emotions inside of his eyes. Horror, incredulity... disgust. “Those were your comrades... I've known some of them, they –“

“Do you think I wanted this?” Genesis hissed as he jumped from his chair, swatting Vincent's hand away as the man tried to keep him down and banged his fist on the table. “That I wanted all those copies? Seeing them turn into mindless slaves, one by one dying slowly, as if to show me the fate that is awaiting me? I never asked for any of this, I just followed the orders needed to survive.”

Kunsel didn't say anything in response. He just kept watching Genesis silently, his horrified expression steadily transforming into something even worse: pity. If there was anything worse than disgust, it was this damn pity and Genesis couldn't take it. He turned his head towards Tseng, who at least observed him with the same unreadable expression as before.

“That's what you wanted me to be, isn't that so?” Genesis growled, leaning closer towards the Turk. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed the First making a hesitant step forward, ready to intervene if necessary, but Tseng gestured him, that it it wasn't necessary. But even without that signal, Genesis wouldn't have cared about the First. All that mattered now, was this Turk in front of him. “A monster to do your bidding. It's too bad, I wasn't as perfect and obedient as Sephiroth.”

This, for some reason, elicited a response from Tseng. For just a moment, it sparked something in the Turk's eyes. Surprise? No... no, it was something else. But it vanished too fast for Genesis to identify.

“Sephiroth?” Tseng asked and the intended confusion sounded so fake, that it almost made Genesis lash out at him immediately. “I don't know, what you're talking about. Sephiroth has never been part of Project G.”

Genesis let out an upset huff and glared at the Turk.

“Please, do you really think, Hollander didn't tell me everything about the Jenova Project?” Genesis hissed, “That he wouldn't tell me, why he wanted his revenge on Hojo so badly he basically threw away his whole life for it?”

Tseng stared at him with a blank expression in his eyes, but it was already too late for this farce. The Turk knew exactly, what Genesis was talking about.

“I know about Project S and I also know, that Sephiroth was so full of Jenova cells, that their genes had completely and inseparably merged.” He let out a bitter laugh. “The irony... It was this overabundance of monster cells that made Sephiroth's genes too stable – too human – to even create any copies. And yet it was this human stability that made him the perfect monster without any fear of degradation.”

Genesis didn't know, how long he had spent reading Hollander's and Hojo's documents regarding the Jenova Project. How long he had just been thinking about all the implications. Probably way too long, given that there hadn't been much else he could do while waiting for Hollander to make any progress. How long he had pondered about what made Sephiroth so different from him, until he had come to this conclusion. But there was absolutely no mistaking, that his theory about Sephiroth was right and Zack and his infantryman were the obvious proof for that. Zack obviously hadn't been a copy and, according to Hojo's notes, 'specimen B' had been broken beyond recovery during those experiments. It wasn't possible to create Sephiroth copies, no matter, how much somebody raised the target's sensitivity for the cells or how skewed the ratio of S cells to Mako was. It just wasn't possible.

“Tell me, Turk. It that the reason, why you got rid of Sephiroth?” Genesis asked, glaring at Tseng as if his gaze could stab the man. “Did he finally stop being Shinra's loyal little lap dog and was of no use for Deepground? Weren't the S cells viable for their experiments down there?”

“Sephiroth died during a top secret mission years ago. We –“

“Don't take me for an idiot,” Genesis snapped at the Turk. The fact, that Tseng didn't even flinch just pissed him off even more. “Sephiroth doesn't simply die on a mission. He was way too good for that. What did you do to him?”

This was a question that had bothered Genesis ever since he had heard about Sephiroth's death. Swordsmanship, unarmed combat, magic... Sephiroth had been absolutely flawless in anything he had done. His high density of Jenova cells, combined with years of strict training and battle experience had made Sephiroth the ultimate Soldier. Nobody could even hope to defeat this man in battle, especially not if he decided to take the gloves off. This just begged the question... how and – more importantly – why had he died?

“This is not the time to –“

“Yes it is,” Genesis replied with a growl, “because I'm done with answering your questions, if you don't answer this one.”

Tseng folded his hands in front of him and eyed Genesis with a pensive expression, as if considering if and what to tell him. Genesis was about to warn him, not to try any lies when the Turk began to talk again.

“There is something I have to know, before I can answer this question,” Tseng said with distinct caution in his voice. “You already mentioned this before, but... What exactly is Jenova to you?”

The former First furrowed his brows. Was this some kind of trick question?

“What should this... thing be for me?” Genesis asked with frustrated irritation. “It's just some kind of monster out of a rock layer. A culmination of dormant cells, nothing more. You didn't try to convince me that this thing is my mother.”

“I see,” Tseng replied and shot Vincent a quick look before he continued, making Genesis frown even more. “Seven years ago, Sephiroth found out about Jenova and the Jenova Project. He believed, that Jenova was his real mother and that he was destined to rule the Planet in her stead. In his delusion, he burned down the town of Nibelheim and slaughtered the townsfolk. A member of the army eventually managed to injure him in a surprise attack and threw him down the Mako Reactor.”

Genesis needed a moment to let this information sink in.

“Sephiroth, who's all about rules and discipline? Murders a whole town for the sake of it?” Genesis blinked at the Turk. “You expect me to believe that? Really? ”

He couldn't possibly think, that Genesis would buy that? He had known this man for years, Sephiroth wasn't the type to destroy villages. He could, no problem. But why should he, unless somebody ordered him to? One couldn't even blame any kind of degradation for this, because Sephiroth simply didn't degrade. There was absolutely no way that Sephiroth –

A sudden thought crossed Genesis' mind, that made him freeze.

“Nibelheim...?” Genesis repeated slowly, his voice being little more than a whisper.

“Nibelheim, yes,” Tseng said calmly, but the words were only barely reaching Genesis' ears. “That's where both Jenova and Hojo's documents regarding the project had been hidden. It seems, like the knowledge of being a scientific experiment drove him insane.”

Nibelheim... that was this little town on the western continent, wasn't it?

Genesis' heart started to pound heavily, as he recalled his last encounter with Sephiroth. The Jenova cells had turned out to be a dead end and he had been so desperate for a cure, that Genesis had approached Sephiroth in the reactor and...

Genesis suddenly had a tight feeling in his chest. He had told him about Jenova being a monster, didn't he? And the Jenova Project?

“This can't be...”

Genesis had told Sephiroth about his legacy, because he had hoped, that Sephiroth would understand him. Had hoped, that he would finally see, what Shinra had done not only to Genesis, but also to Sephiroth as well. Because who else was able to understand a monster, if not another monster?

He had not wanted him to...

No.

Genesis violently shook his head to get rid of all those thoughts. He had to sit back down and clasp his hands to stop them from shaking. Why were they shaking?

It wasn't his fault, that Sephiroth had died.

It couldn't be his fault.

Tseng said something to Genesis, but he couldn't care less about the Turk. It was probably a lie, anyway. Lying was all that Shinra did, why would this be any different? Sephiroth didn't just burn down towns and kill innocent people. Sephiroth was better than that. He was better than him. He –

Then, a sudden realization hit Genesis.

Zack had been experimented on in Nibelheim. To make him a Sephiroth copy. After they had been on a mission together. In Nibelheim.

Suddenly, everything fell into place. All those things, that had been unclear... it all started to make a horrifying lot of sense. Hojo's experiments. How Zack and his friend had ended up as test subjects. The eerie atmosphere in Nibelheim when he had been there after the incident...

It was just like Tseng said, wasn't it? But that meant...

It was his fault that Sephiroth had died.

Just because he couldn't keep his damn mouth shut. Just like...

Just like Angeal.

It was this moment, that Genesis felt something break inside of him. The wall, that he had carefully erected in his mind to keep his guilt away where he couldn't feel it, came crashing in. That feeling hidden behind all of these other problems. That he had hoped to block out, if he just stayed busy or focused enough. It was all back in a heartbeat.

He had hoped, this feeling would just go away, if he just ignored it long enough, but now all of it flooded back into his consciousness, overwhelming him with lashings of thoughts and feelings that he didn't want, all coming back, all boiling down to the fact, that Genesis wasn't only responsible for Angeal's death, but also Sephiroth's.

He had always known about Sephiroth's desire to know more about his origin, most importantly his mother. That he was already uncertain about himself, because all that he was for Shinra was a nice looking weapon. He had also known, that Angeal's sense of pride and honor wouldn't sustain the knowledge of being what he was. That for a long time, Genesis had been the reason, why Angeal overlooked Shinra's machinations and kept pushing through, telling himself that SOLDIER was about honor when it really wasn't.

He had known all of this – had known, that the knowledge might absolutely crush them – but when it really mattered, he hadn't cared. Because he was hurt and they needed to understand. Because it was better for all of them, anyway. Wasn't that exactly what he had been telling himself all this time?

It might have been Zack that dealt the finishing blow on Angeal. It might have been Hollander and Lazard that had planned all of this. But ultimately, it had been Genesis' decision to follow through, degradation or not. And it had been his actions, that had killed his friends.

Both of his friends.

Being confronted with this realization after denying it for so long... it wasn't just breaking Genesis' heart. It was absolutely shattering it.

“I didn't want this! I...” Genesis dug his nails deep into the leather of his gloves as clutched his trembling hands even tighter – so tight, that it began to hurt. Genesis didn't care about it. He just wanted this feeling to go away as he remembered his last conversation with Sephiroth. He would have never wanted it to turn out like this. He just wanted...

“I just wanted your help...”

***

Early spring [ µ ] - εγλ 2000, Wutai

Unfortunately, Genesis didn't return to the command center over the next one or two hours and Sephiroth had to admit, that he was becoming a bit nervous because of it. He wanted to sort out this issue quickly, since their time together was too valuable to waste it with misunderstandings like this. They only had that much of it.

On the bright side, his friend's absence also gave him the needed time to translate the encoded message that Genesis' men had taken from a Wutai spy, at the very least. It wasn't really difficult once Sephiroth noticed, that the code was simply a derivative from a code that he had translated the last time he had been in Wutai. He would tell Genesis about his find once he was back, so he could learn it, just in case he needed it someday.

“Sir!”

Sephiroth looked up from his notes, when a Second suddenly stormed into the tent. Judging by his voice, he was one of the Soldiers that had arrived with Sephiroth and was more than just a bit perturbed. The man immediately had the First's full attention.

“What is it? Are we under attack?” Sephiroth asked, but the Second shook his head.

“No, Sir!” the man replied nervously. “But... Commander Rhapsodos is rallying the troops! Weren't our orders to only observe the enemy?”

“He's doing what?” Sephiroth asked a bit louder than he wanted to. He was used to Genesis' antics, but rallying the troops despite being ordered otherwise? This was too much, even by Genesis' standards. “What is he thinking?” The Second just shrugged helplessly, but Sephiroth had not expected an answer. He got back up on his feet and quickly left the tent, following the Second.

The whole camp seemed to be in turmoil. Not the bad kind of turmoil, it seemed like most of the men were rather excited, that something was happening at last. They were obviously tired of wasting their time in the middle of nowhere. Some of the more concerned Soldiers tried to approach Sephiroth, but he just signaled them, that he would take care of this.

What's gotten into you? Sephiroth cursed inwardly while he hurried after the Second across camp. It was really looking like Genesis was planning an assault with the Soldiers in camp... What was he thinking? He couldn't just act against Heidegger's, better yet, against the President's orders!

“Don't worry about it, I'm taking full responsibility for this,” Genesis assured a group of Seconds, when Sephiroth finally spotted him close to the training field and dismissed the man, that had led him here. “This has taken long enough, there's no need to waste even more time out here.” The Soldiers nodded, having noticed Sephiroth obviously and quickly went their way, whereas Genesis turned around, not surprised in the slightest to see the other First.

“Genesis, what are you doing?” Sephiroth asked, but Genesis simply walked past him. “Genesis!”

“What do you think, I'm doing?” Genesis returned the answer without slowing down, forcing Sephiroth to follow him back to the command center. “I'm preparing my men for battle. I'm their commanding officer, that's my duty.”

“Your orders are to observe the situation, nothing more,” Sephiroth said after he had closed the distance between each other again. Genesis wasn't even looking at him while he was talking. “Do you have any idea, what Heidegger will do, when –“ Genesis abruptly stopped in front of the central tent and spun around, facing Sephiroth now.

“I don't care about Heidegger!” Genesis hissed, anger glowing in his eyes. He huffed and turned back around to enter the tent with Sephiroth in tow. “I don't care, what this man says,” he continued, more reserved this time.

Genesis went towards the chests and took out a few maps to spread them on the table. Each one of them showed important strategic information regarding Wutai's bases, some of them being apparently new, since Sephiroth didn't recall those before.

“What can he do anyway? Send me to Icicle Inn?” Genesis huffed again and slammed down the last map he held in his hands. “Please, the President values being protected by his guard dogs way too much to do this.”

For just a second, Sephiroth forgot how to breathe, as the image of Genesis fighting this monster flashed back into his mind.

“We currently have enough Soldiers here to succeed in this war without looking suspicious, we just have to be smart about it,” Genesis continued, a devious smirk appearing on his face. “And really, what's the problem? The company wants to end it anyway, we're just speeding it up a bit. What kind of difference do a few months make?”

“You can't just act against Heidegger's orders!”

“Again, why not?” It seemed like Genesis put extra weight onto his words as he looked Sephiroth in the eyes. “Are you frightened, that I can't handle this? That your little damsel doesn't make it?”

There was this expression again. This time, Genesis sounded more disappointed than angry, though. Was it really so bad, that Sephiroth was worried about one of his only friends?

“Genesis, I don't think about you that way, but you have to admit, that –“

“Really?” Genesis interrupted Sephiroth again, one eyebrow perked up in a skeptical manner. “Because I can see the worry in your eyes as clear as day and it doesn't suit you.”

It doesn't... what? Sephiroth frowned at Genesis, unsure, what to think of this last sentence.

“I don't know, what makes you think that you have to protect me, but you don't. I'm not helpless against monsters, warriors or... directors.” Genesis huffed at that last word and almost spit it out, as if he was disgusted by the mere idea of being threatened by one of the directors. “There is nothing to fear and I will prove it to you.”

“Prove? There's no need to prove anything. Just leave it be,” Sephiroth insisted, but Genesis was too stubborn to listen.

“I've already made my decision and there's absolutely nothing you can do to stop me. However” Again, one of Genesis' sly smirks appeared on the First's face and Genesis raised his right hand with an open palm, as if he was offering Sephiroth something that couldn't be seen by the eye. “You're free to join me. Heidegger can't say anything, if we both conquer Wutai, no?”

Sephiroth stared at Genesis' hand, contemplating what his friend had proposed just now. His orders had been to observe and report back. He shouldn't even engage in combat, unless absolutely necessary, since the further development of the war depended on it. If they were to start an assault without the President's consent... What Genesis was suggesting, wasn't just disobedience, it came close to treason.

Which meant, that it was Sephiroth's duty to prevent it by all means. Even if it meant fighting Genesis. Given his friend's stubbornness, this would be the only way to stop him from this mistake.

The thought alone made Sephiroth swallow hard. The mere suggestion, that he might have to fight against Genesis, disturbed him. And yet he couldn't just let him go through with it, could he? For all his life, Sephiroth had been taught to always obey his superiors. Fight when you're told to fight. Kill when you're ordered to kill. He didn't know it any other way. Sephiroth really only allowed himself to act against this deep rooted instinct, whenever Hojo went too far with his experiments.

Because of that, every rational thought – every instinct – inside of him screamed, to stop Genesis from this. He should put an end to this as fast as possible.

He should, but... he couldn't.

He couldn't betray his friend like this. He would lose Genesis by doing so. Even worse, he would not only lose Genesis with this, but also Angeal. Because no matter, what Genesis did, Angeal would always stand by his side. The two of them were inseparable and if Angeal had to choose between him and Genesis, he would unquestionably pick Genesis.

What was the alternative? Help Genesis end the war prematurely and hope, that he was true about his estimate, that the directors wouldn't punish Genesis? Admittedly, he did have a point: Sephiroth has been the face of SOLDIER for years, his role in Shinra's propaganda machine was much bigger than Genesis'. If he was involved in this... the board of directors might turn a blind eye on the incident just this once.

Sephiroth really wasn't sure, how this would prove Genesis' point, then, but he certainly wasn't going to comment on this right now.

Genesis waited patiently while Sephiroth weighted his options, didn't even lower his hand again as he watched him with expectant eyes. After a while Sephiroth sighed.

He would probably regret this. Heidegger wasn't a man that tolerated disobedience, meaning that this would have consequences.

But he would regret losing his only real friends even more.

“What is your plan?” Sephiroth asked, causing another smile to appear on Genesis' face. This time, however, it was a completely honest one, that somehow managed to alleviate Sephiroth's worries a little bit.

“I hoped, you would ask that.”

Chapter Text

[ ν ] - εγλ 0010, WRO Headquarter

“I didn't want this”

“I just wanted your help.”

Those two sentences had been the last ones, Genesis had said during his interrogation, spoken so quiet, that Cloud had almost missed them. Right after that, the First Class had stopped responding to any of Tseng's or Kunsel's questions. He just sat there, his face buried in his hands and occasionally shook his head to nothing in particular. It was, as if he was so absorbed in his own mind, that he didn't even notice their presence anymore. Tseng had interrupted the interrogation for a while, but even after that Genesis' behavior had not changed at all.

To be fair, Cloud had almost expected, that the interrogation wouldn't go smoothly. Right from the beginning, Genesis had made it more than clear, that he wouldn't simply give Tseng, what he wanted and later on, it didn't get any better.

Cloud had been able to observe Genesis from his safe spot at the door and had kept his eyes on the man this whole time. Admittedly, he wasn't the best at reading people and Genesis had tried to overact it, but even Cloud had noticed, that something wasn't right with Genesis. From the very beginning, something had been seething below his surface, just waiting to explode.

To be fair, some people needed to vent from time to time and slowly dying thanks to Shinra's experiments was probably a better reason for outrage than finding out, that you're out of your favorite tea. Even in the worst case scenario, there would have been three enhanced people plus Tseng in the room, they probably would have been fine. Tseng wouldn't have let Genesis out of his cell without handcuffs, if the Turk weren't confident in his own skills. Not to mention, that Tseng had survived the Masamune and the Remnants in the past... Yeah, Tseng probably would have been fine, too.

That scenario would have been much better than what they had now. Cloud wasn't sure, why, but the sudden complete silence just felt... wrong. Genesis didn't strike Cloud as the silent type. It didn't help, that this situation reminded Cloud a bit of Sephiroth, when he had shut himself into the Shinra Mansion. Sephiroth had completely ignored all of Zack's attempts of getting him outside, too. Chances were, that Genesis didn't burn down the WRO Headquarter in seven days, talking about reuniting with his mother, but he couldn't help it. Leaving the man alone with his thoughts just made Cloud nervous.

Speaking of Sephiroth... The context of Genesis' last two sentences had made it pretty clear, that he was referring to Sephiroth's death in Nibelheim. The big question was: What did Genesis know? And why did it sound, as if he was blaming himself for something? Whatever it was, it had to weigh heavy on him, if it caused a meltdown like this. Cloud had seen the First's reaction clearly from his spot on the door. He had seen it in Genesis' eyes – the realization of something horrifying hitting him. That had not been an act. Nobody was able to fake that.

After that, Tseng had asked Cloud, if he recalled seeing Genesis in Nibelheim before Sephiroth had burned the town, but he was absolutely certain, that that wasn't the case. Cloud's memories from Nibelheim were some of the most detailed ones he had left from before Hojo's experiments. He was absolutely certain, that they were correct and more or less complete. Admittedly, the ones inside the reactor and the mansion were second hand from Zack, but they were way too vivid and detailed to be fabricated or manipulated by his Jenova cells. Genesis simply didn't fit into them, he had to refer to something else.

He had even asked Tifa, when he had called her earlier this morning, but she didn't even know about a First Class called Genesis Rhapsodos. Tseng had mentioned, that Shinra had never really promoted individual First Classes outside of Midgar, other than their loyal war hero Sephiroth. But even if they had done that, Tifa hadn't had much interest in SOLDIER until Cloud had told her about his plans to leave Nibelheim. That was after Genesis had already deserted Shinra. Her not knowing about Genesis wasn't that surprising.

So, whatever Genesis knew about Nibelheim, they didn't have a clue, what it was and he didn't tell them about it. At least not, while he was as unresponsive like that.

Other than that, Tseng didn't seem to be satisfied by the amount of information he had gotten so far in general. Cloud wouldn't go as far as to say, that the Turk looked grumpy, but there was definitely a touch of discontent in his expression. Despite that, he had left Genesis to Kunsel, while he tried to verify what little the Soldier had told them yet. That included everything about Genesis' involvement with Deepground, which meant, that they needed Shelke.

After Omega and Deepground had been defeated, Reeve had pondered for a while, what to do with Shelke, the young Tsviet that had defected to the WRO. Even though she looked like a young girl at the age of maybe nine or ten years, Shelke was apparently already nineteen – as old as Yuffie. It was only the experiments in Deepground that had caused her to be stuck in the body of a young girl.

That in itself would make it hard for her to adapt to a life outside of Deepground, but there was also the fact, that she had absolutely no idea, how to care for herself after having spent ten years in the facilities underground. Shopping, cleaning, cooking... all those little things needed in daily life had never really been important for her in Deepground, she had either never learned it or forgotten about those things, like she had forgotten her life before Deepground. All she had learned over the last years was fighting and how to use her special Synaptic Net Dive skills, meaning she had next to none basic life skills.

On top of those problems, Shelke was still heavily reliant on getting regular doses of Mako. If she didn't get those at least every other day, she was in danger of suffering from heavy withdrawal symptoms, that had the potential to kill her. Needless to say, she had to visit the WRO – or Rufus' Healen Lodge, but Cloud would barely call that an alternative – once in a while and needed somebody to keep an eye on her, while the doctors tried to slowly reduce her reliance on Mako to normal levels.

So because of that, it had been decided that Shelke would live with Cloud and Tifa for the time being – at least, until she felt ready to take care of herself. The two of them had already taken in Marlene and Denzel, so it was only a matter of rearranging bedrooms, really. It had been overdue anyway and while Marlene had been a bit bummed out, that she wouldn't share her room with Denzel anymore, she had also been absolutely thrilled to get a sister of sorts.

Due to the Tsviet living under his roof, it was easy for Cloud to call her with Tifa to the WRO, where Tseng quickly told them everything they had to know. After that, he brought them to the room next to the interrogation room, so Shelke could verify Genesis' story about Deepground wanting to recruit him and also to see, how she would react to the man. Vincent had noted, that she might have ties to Genesis, that could influence her to a degree and they wanted to make sure, that this wasn't the case.

“So this is G...” Shelke mused, as she stepped closer to the one-way mirror. On the other side, Cloud could see that Kunsel was still unsuccessful in trying to talk Genesis out of his state of silence. Cloud really didn't envy the Soldier for that job, but Tseng had assured him, that Kunsel could be quite persistent when it came to bringing people of of their shell.

“Interesting. I can feel the connection between us even through this window.” Shelke carefully touched the one-way mirror, as if to verify that it was really there. “Just like Weiss said.”

“You feel a connection?” Cloud asked and felt kinda relieved, that he didn't sense anything through that mirror. He still wasn't completely over the fact, that his Jenova cells had reacted to Genesis, even though they should have no connection at all. Knowing, that Shelke was even more sensitive to this, gave him hope, that he wasn't that messed up at the very least.

“It's faint... but I feel, that something connects us,” Shelke replied with a nod in his direction. “We Colored Tsviets had G's genes spliced into ours – to raise our inherent potential further. There is a high probability, that this is the reason for this sensation.”

“Interesting... does it feel, like you have to obey anything he says?” Tseng asked from his spot on the small table, in front of him a can of coffee. Thanks to it, the Turk was still looking quite fit after the long night.

“The procedure used to enhance Colored Tsviets like me is significantly more complicated and refined than simply injecting cells,” Shelke explained and and turned around to look at Tseng. The Turk offered her a seat as well, but the girl refused politely. “It's goal was different from just copying G's traits and abilities and therefore we don't experience the same repercussions as a copy.”

“What do you know about it?”

“Parts of the chief scientist's work were uploaded into my neural network, but I'm afraid my data is incomplete as well. Weiss was the one, who stored all data regarding Deepground's experimentation.”

As Shelke was talking, Cloud noticed, that she had fallen back into her robotic way of speaking, even though she had made quite the progress in speaking more natural over the last few days. Cloud wondered, if it was due to her talking about things connected to Deepground or because she was talking to a Turk. He wasn't sure, how much Shelke remembered from her past, she had not told them much about it yet, but it was a given, that she had not ended up in Deepground voluntarily. Cloud wouldn't be surprised, if Turks had something to do with it, though, kidnappings were part of their job description.

Cloud took another look into interrogation room, but decided to also turn towards Tseng and leaned against the cold surface of the one-way mirror. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed that Tifa was still staring through the one-way mirror. She had said that she didn't know Genesis, but it almost seemed, as if something about him was irritating her. Maybe she did remember something, now that she actually saw the man?

“I know,” Shelke continued with the same robotic tone as before, “that Deepground's research started with the birth of G and that some of their experiments were based on him. His genes were thoroughly analyzed by Deepground's chief scientist, until he knew everything about their composition and how to use them to their full potential. When splicing them into our genes, he knew, what genes to avoid due to their instability and how to stabilize the rest if needed.”

“Their instability...” Tseng mused with a slight frown, pouring himself another cup of coffee – the fifth one, if Cloud wasn't mistaken. Not that he had counted them. “Are you implying, that Deepground knew, that Genesis would start to degrade eventually?”

“Most likely. The saved reports mention suspicious gene sequences, but no consequences that might arise from them.”

“Interesting...,” Tseng muttered and wrote something down in his notebook. “But if Deepground's research was based on Genesis... why wasn't he raised in their facilities? Why give him to foster parents?”

“I'm afraid, I can't answer this question,” Shelke replied, “but the data of the chief scientist suggests, that he had requested G's and A's transfer into his facilities after basic research was concluded. Deepground's resources for further experimentation were limited and it was estimated, that free access to any Jenova hybrid would benefit their experiments greatly. He just never got permission for it.”

“'A'?” Tseng repeated with genuine curiosity in his voice. “You mean Angeal? What about Sephiroth?”

“Jenova Hybrid A's real name is not in my data, but yes, it most likely stands for Angeal,” Shelke answered with a nod. “In regards of Sephiroth... According to my data, direct research on Jenova and Hybrid S – Sephiroth – was prohibited by the Head of Shinra's Science Department. Deepground's chief scientist complained multiple times about Professor Hojo's lack of cooperativeness, but it never had any consequences. Other than that, G was considered the most valuable specimen, because his genes were already researched, although A would have sufficed as well. Deepground's chief scientist was furious, when all three hybrids were reported dead before he got the chance to study them further.”

“Interesting...” Tseng mused, whereas Cloud felt really uncomfortable right now. All this talking about experimentation was bad enough, but the implications of Shelke's words made it so much worse.

Deepground had been supposed to replace SOLDIER one day, Cloud knew that much. The Soldiers trained below Reactor 0 had been powerful warriors, but completely broken by experimentation and easy to force into submission due to some kind of strange obedience chip implanted into them. They were, not only thanks to their mainly ranged fighting style, superior to normal Soldiers and if Shinra would have deployed those forces, they could have easily crushed any resistance against them without having to bother with propaganda anymore.

Fortunately, Deepground had not been ready for use prior to Meteorfall, but the more Cloud learned about Deepground and Shinra's dirty secrets, the more he started to wonder: had President Shinra really planned to follow his old strategy until the very end – to rely on his money and the public's view to maintain his status as de facto ruler of the Planet? Or had it not only been Rufus', but also his father's vision to rule the world through fear? And was it only thanks to Jenova's coincidental interference, that he didn't live long enough to actually bring those plans into fruition?

The thought, that Deepground could have advanced those plans much faster with access to Genesis' or Sephiroth's genes made Cloud shiver. Because that was exactly what Shelke was implying. Things could have ended very differently, if Deepground's requests had not been blocked so long or if President Shinra had not found his untimely end impaled by the Masamune. It was kinda ironic, that Jenova of all things might have spared them a fate of even bigger oppression.

“So... how did Genesis end up below Midgar?” Tseng asked, drawing Cloud's attention back at the topic at hand.

“According to Weiss' orders, somebody had seen Hybrid A... Angeal had been located in Banora together with another First Class Soldier,” Shelke continued. “The President sent Weiss and Nero there to retrieve him for Deepground, but they only found Genesis instead – unconscious and mostly unarmed.”

“Banora? But Angeal died in Modeoheim...” Tseng repeated and took a pensive sip from his cup. “It must have been Lazard, then. Probably prior his death, if Genesis' information can be trusted.”

Cloud needed a moment to remember, who Lazard was – the former Director of SOLDIER and allegedly an Angeal copy. However, he was slightly confused about the fact, that somebody would mistake him for Angeal. He had seen the pictures and those two were nothing alike. Were those copies really so similar to the original, that somebody mistook him for the real one? None of Sephiroth's copies actually looked like Sephiroth – not even a bit.

“You said, that there was another First Class with Lazard... Do you know more about him?” Tseng asked with genuine curiosity.

“No, I don't have any data about the second person.”

“That's unfortunate, but it can't be helped... So, when was that?”

“A few months before we got trapped,” Shelke replied after a short pause, causing Tseng to frown and Cloud to blink in surprise.

“A few... that was shortly before Meteorfall?” Cloud chimed in, hoping that he had heard that wrong. “A few months before Sephiroth started his whole Reunion with Jenova?”

“Correct,” Shelke confirmed with a nod. “They brought Genesis back to Midgar and Weiss tried to convince him to help us overthrow the Restrictors, but he declined Weiss' offer to lead us. After that, he apparently sealed himself away in a barrier that shielded him both physically and mentally from any outside influences. I don't know, how he achieved this, but neither I nor Weiss were able to reach him via Synaptic Net Dive.”

For a moment, it was silent in the room while everybody processed. what Shelke had just revealed to them and what that meant. Or rather, what could have been, if things would have been only a bit different – and that really wasn't appealing.

Genesis had arrived in Midgar mere months before Jenova had escaped Hojo's lab in the Shinra Tower, meaning they had been maybe a few hundred meters apart. If Sephiroth had known, that his old friend – his old friend with lots of potentially manipulable Jenova cells, to be precise – was that close, or if Genesis had not sealed himself away and encountered Jenova mimicking Sephiroth by chance...

Cloud swallowed hard as he pondered the consequences. He didn't claim to know, how Genesis would have acted during the Jenova War, and frankly, he didn't want to know. Sephiroth by himself had been a menace, Cloud didn't want to imagine having to fight Sephiroth plus an ally. They and the Planet as a whole might have dodged a bullet there.

“However, this is all I have to say about Genesis,” Shelke said after a while, “I'd like to visit my sister, if you don't have any questions.”

“No, that's everything for now,” Tseng replied politely. “Thank you, Miss Rui.”

With that, Shelke took her leave. Vincent, who had silently listened to the conversation from the other side of the room, followed her quietly, leaving Tseng, Cloud and Tifa alone in the room.

“What a story...” Cloud muttered by himself. He had known, that Shinra hid dirty secrets, but they somehow managed to get even worse each time he heard more about it.

“Indeed, I wouldn't have thought that Genesis was out there for so long,” Tseng noted and folded his hands in front of him before focusing on Tifa. “Is something the matter, Miss Lockhart?” he asked her. “You've been observing Genesis this whole time. You don't remember seeing him in Nibelheim years ago, do you?”

“I... actually do remember something” Tifa replied hesitantly, not taking her eyes from Genesis for even a short moment. “Not him, but... Cloud... do you remember anything, that happened while we were waiting in front of the reactor?”

“While we were waiting...?” Cloud echoed, feeling his Jenova cells react to Tifa's question. Once the buzzing stopped, he knew exactly, what Tifa was referring to. It was, as if he had never forgotten about it. “We were attacked,” he mumbled and Tifa nodded. “Right after Sephiroth had left the reactor.”

“By Genesis?” Tseng asked frowning.

“No... I think, those were some of his copies,” Cloud explained bewildered. He had not even remembered, that Sephiroth had left the reactor without Zack, let alone the three enemies that had appeared immediately after he had vanished down the mountain trail. “Two men with red uniforms and one that looked more like a monster with a scythe and a small black wing... What happened after that? I think, I got knocked out by some kind of spell...”

“Zack came out of the reactor and defeated them,” Tifa replied and threw him a puzzled look. “Do you think, that Genesis was also in there, but left while we were distracted?”

“I... I don't know.”

Cloud swallowed hard. Those copies had not been interested in Sephiroth at all and neither had Sephiroth bothered with them. They had attacked only him and Tifa, so it could have been a distraction to prevent Shinra personnel from noticing Genesis – he was supposed to be dead. But that would mean, that Genesis had been in the reactor with Sephiroth and Zack all along. Which also meant that his memories...

Cloud didn't know what to believe anymore. He had been absolutely certain that the memories he got from Zack were right. The conversation between Zack and Sephiroth was too vivid and detailed to miss a third actor. It simply made too much sense to miss something that crucial – especially so because Zack must have believed Genesis to be dead at this point. Cloud was aware, that he could never really trust his memories thanks to his Jenova cells, but how could he miss something as big as this...? And if those memories were still wrong... which ones could he trust, then?

There were way too many unanswered questions and a part of him really wanted to go to Genesis and just ask him, what the hell this was all about. Had he really been in the reactor with Zack and Sephiroth? What exactly did he know about Project S, especially about Sephiroth copies? Who healed him from the Lifestream, if not Aerith?

Cloud had so many questions, especially regarding Nibelheim, but he couldn't just go in there. Even if Genesis weren't in his current state, how could Cloud even approach that topic?

Hey Genesis, I have some memories of the guy, who used to hunt you for Shinra, but they don't match yours regarding Nibelheim. Can you please tell me more about it? By the way, I'm the one, who killed your friend three times, because he just keeps coming back, nice to meet you!

Yeah... no. That was just asking for trouble. Tseng had been considerate enough, not to bring up Cloud's involvement into all of this and he wanted to keep it this way. He had responsibilities, a family to care for and protect. He couldn't afford making unpredictable enemies if he could help it, especially, if Reeve really considered recruiting Genesis for the WRO after this. And then there was this issue with his Jenova cells, of course...

Cloud sighed quietly. It was frustrating, but it seemed like he had to let bygones be bygones and leave this to Tseng and Reeve's men. They were the experts, so it couldn't take them that long to get Genesis to talk again. He had to snap out of that state eventually, right?

***

The medical center was quite busy when Vincent and Shelke arrived there, the complex was bustling with both medical staff and also a few members of the army – undoubtedly still a side effect of having the leader of the Tsviets in there. Even the physician from yesterday, Doctor Finley, was still around, although the male colleague colleague, that she was arguing with, looked notably less exhausted than her.

“Oh, Miss Rui and Mister Valentine,” the male doctor greeted the two when he noticed them and gave his tired coworker a stern look, as if to tell her to finally go home and get some rest. “Are you here because of your sister? Shalua's condition is still unchanged, I'm afraid, but you can go see her. Or is it for your dose of Mako?”

“For now, I'm only here for my sister, thank you,” Shelke replied and walked past the two physicians and towards Shalua's room, while Vincent stayed behind for a moment.

“You probably want to know about our other patient, I guess?” Doctor Finley asked, earning a silent nod from Vincent.

He did feel responsible for Weiss, because the WRO was only in its current position, because he had not verified Weiss' death after their fight. Of course, Vincent wouldn't kill Weiss while he was unconscious, he was above that. The WRO would take care of the man and Reeve would make sure, that Weiss atoned for his sins. However, the Tsviet had proven to be too strong and dangerous to be left alone with normal humans, which was why Vincent wanted to know, when Weiss was expected to wake up again. So that either he or Cloud could keep an eye on him.

“We've already run a few tests,” Doctor Finley explained while hurrying to a nearby table to take a clipboard from it. She quickly flicked through the pages, her tired eyes darting over the information written on them. “His vital signs are normal, they don't indicate any problems. It's his brain activity that's problematic.”

“How so?”

The male doctor snatched the clipboard from his colleague when Doctor Finley stifled a yawn and continued on her behalf.

“He's not brain dead, but the activities are odd. Not unlike a severe case of mako poisoning, but still... different. He shows absolutely no reaction to any kind of stimulus, but his condition is stable so far. I'm afraid, we can't say much more at this point, though.”

“Any idea, when he will wake up?”

“No, not really,” the doctor replied, “although I suppose, that the chance of him recovering in the near future seems rather slim – at least, if he's comparable to victims of mako poisoning. Should we keep you informed about his status?”

“Just keep Reeve up to date,” Vincent replied. It was bad enough, that everybody in the WRO seemed to know him since Deepground, he didn't need people to constantly call or text him.

The doctor gave him an understanding nod and went back to quietly arguing with Doctor Finley about her needing to go to sleep, while Vincent went to join Shelke in Shalua's room.

Until recently, Shalua had been lying unconscious in a medical capsule to recover from the brain damage, that she had suffered during her encounter with Azul. During the raid of Midgar, they had lost said capsule, but fortunately, they had been able to recover it quickly. After that, the doctors had decided that normal life support would suffice for Shalua, because her condition didn't show any improvement with the more extreme medical treatment the capsule provided and being in there for too long would do more harm than good. The room, that the WRO had provided for Shalua after that, was certainly an improvement over the capsule. It wasn't any different from one in a hospital – surprisingly nice looking for a building that had a primarily militaristic and administrative function.

When Vincent entered the room, Shelke was already sitting on a chair next to Shalua's bed, her back to the door, and watched her comatose sister. Vincent approached her silently, not wanting to disturb the young woman in this moment, but Shelke turned to look at him regardless.

“You wanted to talk to me about Chaos, didn't you, Vincent?” she asked outright and Vincent nodded.

“During my fight against Genesis, I wasn't able to control the Galian Beast anymore and it felt more powerful than before. Do you think, it has something to do with Chaos?”

“Presumably,” the girl replied and turned her head away from Vincent and back to her sister again. “You were only able to recover from Hojo's experiments and utilize your new powers because of Chaos – one can't deny, that it had much influence on you.” She paused for a moment, lowering her head in a pensive manner, before she continued to talk. “It's only a theory, but when Chaos returned to the Planet... it might be possible, that a part of it remained inside of you and was absorbed by the Galian Beast. Similar to how I absorbed part of Lucrecia Crescent's consciousness through my Synaptic Net Dives.”

Vincent let out a pensive hum. He had never thought, that the monsters inside of him could influence each other, but now that she mentioned it... His whole appearance was influenced by Chaos, why wouldn't his Limit Breaks?

“The soul of every living organism born on this planet is originally part of the Lifestream and ultimately returns to it in order to become one with the Planet again,” Shelke explained further. “This makes those souls highly compatible with each other – they are supposed to merge eventually. It is only our bodies and self-consciousness, that defines us as individuals and gives us the opportunity to shape our being, before we fully join the Lifestream again. Once that happens... it's only our memories, emotions and knowledge that remains, before the circle begins anew.”

“I heard something similar before.”

Vincent vaguely remembered, what the old man Bugenhagen had told Avalanche in Cosmo Canyon years ago. The concept of the Lifestream and its meaning for every living being wasn't common knowledge and it was probably only due to Deepground's interest in Omega and Lucrecia's studies, that Shelke knew so much about it.

“Under normal circumstances, one body can only host one consciousness, one soul – the boundaries of one's body and self-consciousness are the same. You, however, have more than one consciousness inside of you. I suspect, that over time, Chaos' consciousness has seeped into the other monsters' and vice versa, because there was no real barrier between them. And when Chaos returned together with Omega to the Lifestream, it couldn't recover all of that essence – a part of its power remained within your other Limit Breaks.”

The Tsviet paused again, giving Vincent the time to process the meaning of her words. What Shelke said sounded plausible, he knew that each of his Limit Breaks had its own distinct personality. They weren't very complex, but he could feel, that the monsters were different from him and buried deep within himself, unless they broke free in form of his Limit Breaks. The prospect of those monsters bleeding into each other – maybe even himself – wasn't appealing, though.

“I'd say, the issue isn't, that your Limit Breaks have become stronger,” Shelke continued, “but rather, that you've become weaker compared to them. Each consciousness has certainly changed, but the sudden loss of your main source of power, Chaos, has most likely caused a serious imbalance between you and them. And it is this unexpected imbalance, that made you lose control over the Galian Beast. That's my theory, at least.”

“Makes sense, I guess,” Vincent mused. “So if I get used to this change, I'll regain control over it?”

“Most likely,” Shelke answered and this time she was turning back at him again. “It is primarily your body – your boundaries. You make the rules, they have to follow. You just need to relearn, how to establish them. Monsters don't have the will power of humans, after all.”

Shelke fell silent after that and turned back to her sister. Thinking, that the conversation was over, Vincent wanted to leave her alone, before she began to speak again.

“Maybe... maybe that's also the reason, why Weiss doesn't wake up.”

“How so?”

“I don't think, that the human body and mind is capable of containing more than one soul, especially not, if they are individuals with comparable will power,” Shelke replied reluctantly. “Weiss had not only his own soul in his body, but also Hojo's consciousness and somehow managed to merge with Nero, despite their natural boundaries. Two consciousnesses, let alone three, in one body are already too much, even without Omega attempting to absorb the entire Lifestream through it. I think, that not even Weiss was able to endure so much. There is only so much the human mind can take, before it reaches its breaking point.”

Vincent wasn't sure, if he was supposed to respond to this statement or even, if she was really referring to Weiss with her last sentence. It sounded more, as is Shelke simply wanted to get this off her chest, whether Vincent actually listened to her or not. Because she had reached another breaking point years ago. One, from which she was currently trying to recover. It also made him realize, that he still had no idea, what kind of relation Shelke had to the other Tsviets. She had seemed surprised about Azul's and Weiss' betrayal, so she must have seen them as comrades at the very least. Did Weiss' current state burden her?

“What are you going to do now, Vincent?” Shelke asked, before Vincent could even decide, if he should make any response. “Are you also returning to Tifa's bar?”

Vincent shook his head. He had not planned to stay long in Edge anyway. He was used to strolling around and even though he didn't mind Cloud, Tifa or the children in their care, he preferred being alone, especially when he needed time to think. And he had a lot to think about.

“No. Tell Cloud to call me, if there's trouble.”

The girl nodded and Vincent silently took his leave. He was of no use in battle, if he didn't have at least the bare minimum of control over his Limit Breaks. Right now, Genesis seemed to be less of a problem, but Vincent definitely needed to work on his inner beasts, before Weiss woke up again. Fortunately, he could trust Cloud, Tifa and Reeve to take care of things, while he was gone.

***

Soon... the time will come to purge the stream of life of the taint that dwells within and put an end to this war – once and for all.

Minerva's words kept echoing through Aerith's mind even after she had managed to shake off the intimidation of the moment. Not only that – they had disturbed Aerith more than she wanted to admit. She wanted – no, she needed to know more about it, but Minerva outright refused to give her more information.

Time is running, but yours has yet to come.

That had been Minerva's last words, so whatever she was planning, it had to be connected to the surface, because in the Lifestream, time was a wonky concept.

Even Aerith didn't fully understand it yet, but time' didn't really 'pass' in the Lifestream, at least not like on the surface. To most spirits, it merely felt, as if there was something like time, because they were still loosely connected to the surface. Sephiroth, for example, used his hatred for Cloud as his anchor to the surface, just like he used it to keep his core being together. Zack and Angeal mainly used Sephiroth as their anchor. Aerith didn't know, what exactly would happen, if someone let go of one's anchor, or if that was even possible without becoming one with the Lifestream, it was a really strange concept. What she did know, however, was the fact, that time had absolutely no meaning to Minerva.

Minerva was already fully immersed into the Lifestream, the present and the past were equal – different words with the same meaning. To the Lifestream, both past and present were nothing more than expressions for memories, emotions and knowledge, that became part of the Lifestream, just like 'the future' was nothing more than a set of possibilities, that might come true eventually. As long as the Lifestream continued to exist, Minerva didn't care about those expressions and her only real indicator of 'time passing' was the never-ending circle of spirits being born to the surface and eventually returning to the flow of spirits around her.

So what did Minerva mean with 'Time is running'? What was going on on the surface, if it was important enough to catch Minerva's attention and to force her into a mortal's mindset regarding time? And what was Aerith's role in this, if her time 'has yet to come'?

Aerith had to know more about all of this, but – once again – Minerva refused to elaborate on what she was talking about. Eventually, Aerith gave up asking Minerva and tried to get more out of the other Cetra all around her, but even they had acted the same. Not even one had wanted to explain, what was going on.

Aerith had not always been aware, who those voices belonged to, but she had always been able to hear the voices of the Planet and the other Cetra, even as a child. Sometimes, they had been too quiet or unclear to understand or nothing more than an exchange of emotions or impressions, because they weren't able to use words anymore. But, whenever Aerith been able to hear them, they had always been glad to talk to her and not once had they ignored her questions.

Until now, at least. Admittedly, it didn't feel, as if they wanted to ignore her questions, but still. Being cut off like this hurt. A lot.

Aerith didn't know, how long she had unsuccessfully tried to talk to the other Cetra, until she suddenly felt another familiar presence – that of her mother, Ifalna. Ifalna was the one, who had told Aerith everything about Minerva, so she wasn't too surprised to find her mother so close to Minerva, although she was a bit surprised, that she had not felt her presence earlier.

Mum? Aerith immediately felt a welcoming warmth as she approached Ifalna's consciousness. It was relieving, that at least her mother didn't try to ignore her. Do you know, what's going on? Nobody want's to talk to me anymore.

They probably don't want to give away too much, Ifalna explained with noticeable caution in her voice – something that Aerith found very alarming. But Ifalna did talk to her at least. Here, we are under Minerva's protection, but you're always so close to Zack and the Calamity... If Sephiroth knew any details of her plan, he could try to sabotage it. We can't afford that.

Why? What is Minerva planning? I don't need any details, just tell me, what she means with 'purging the Lifestream'...

I don't know, Ifalna sighed, but it's probably not, what you're thinking.

Aerith hoped, that this was true, because she was absolutely certain, that Minerva wasn't able to remove Jenova's influence from corrupted spirits. Jenova's cells held onto their hosts even in death and the Lifestream was both unable and unwilling to accept any spirit tainted by that corruption. It didn't matter, if it was Sephiroth, Zack, Cloud, Angeal or any of the spirits trapped by Sephiroth's will – once the spirit was tainted by Jenova's cells, it couldn't be reversed and they would never be able to fully join the Lifestream and be reborn as they were intended to.

Sephiroth wouldn't have become that much of a problem, if Minerva knew a solution to this – she would have intervened, the moment she noticed, that something was wrong with the spirits Jenova used as hosts.

That being said, even Aerith's cure against Geostigma didn't have the power to free a person from the Jenova cells inside of them. The healing rain wasn't some kind of weapon, that destroyed Jenova's legacy. It was only a cure, that prevented the host's body from overreacting to the cells, which in return gave the people new courage in life and therefore diminished Sephiroth's influence over them. Each one of those people still held Jenova's cells, albeit in numbers that weren't enough to enhance or kill the person in question.

There weren't many options for Minerva, if she couldn't separate Jenova from her host or merge those spirits with the rest of the Lifestream – only one, given that Minerva obviously didn't want to keep the status quo.

She had to somehow expel them completely. Both Jenova and her hosts.

Just thinking about this possibility made Aerith anxious.

Could Minerva even do that? Remove spirits completely from the circle? It was an extreme and cruel measurement to rip spirits out of the Lifestream – ending their whole existence – just because they had been unfortunate enough to come into contact with Jenova and nobody deserved that – not even Sephiroth. And again, wouldn't she have done so when she had noticed Jenova the first time?

Honestly, Aerith didn't know what she would do, if Minerva really wanted to sacrifice all those spirits for the Planet – sacrifice Zack and Cloud. She felt heavy just thinking about this. She wasn't ready to let them go. Not like this.

Ifalna apparently felt her growing panic, because her consciousness touched Aerith's in a comforting way, reminding her of a gentle hug.

I'm sure, Minerva won't go that far. Even if she's able to do this... at this point, there are far too many corrupted spirits. I don't know, if the Planet would take a complete purge very well.

Then what does Minerva want to achieve?, Aerith asked. She can't just remove Jenova's influence from spirits, she would have done so ages ago, if she had this ability!

For a moment, both women remained silent. It was an uncomfortable silence, that was eventually broken by Ifalna's voice, maybe in hopes to cheer her distressed daughter up.

I don't know his purpose, but Minerva is apparently working on something called 'The Knight'.

The Knight? Aerith repeated quietly, not having heard that title before. Was it the Weapon Minerva had mentioned earlier?

His title is pretty much all I know about it. Most of us only provide the energy needed for Minerva's preparations and those, who are directly involved, are not talking either. Apparently, they can only do this exactly once and if it fails... well... Ifalna made a uncomfortable pause. When she continued to talk, there was still a certain tenseness resonating with her words. They didn't elaborate on that.

Is it... okay to tell me this? Aerith asked carefully, remembering what her mother had said earlier. That Sephiroth could try to sabotage Minerva's plans, if he knew any details. I'd like to go back, after all.

It's alright, Ifalna assured her, Just... don't expect more. Minerva shields us from the Calamity's influence, but you are out there. She can't protect your thoughts from it.

Yes, I know...

Of course, she knew. Thanks to Jenova and his direct exposure to the Lifestream, Sephiroth had somehow managed, to transcend the limits of the human mind and achieved something, that even the oldest of the Cetra couldn't do: reading the Lifestream like an open book. He knew, how to use the collective knowledge and memories of generations to his advantage, be it to gather more knowledge, influence his surroundings with magic or even to read the minds of the spirits around him, including Aerith's. Minerva was probably the only one, who was able to protect herself and apparently some parts of the Lifestream from this influence.

Sephiroth sure knows, how to cheat with his Jenova cells...

Ifalna chuckled at her, which lifted Aerith's spirits at least a bit.

Don't worry, everything will be alright, the older Cetra said with a soft voice. Minerva is more attuned to the Lifestream than all of us combined. She can predict things, that we're not even thinking about. She knows, what she's doing, you just need to have trust in her – in us.

Aerith sighed. She wanted to have trust, she really did. The voices of the Planet, the other Cetra... she trusted in them, had always trusted them for her whole life. The only time, she had refused to listen to them, had been the day they had tried to tell her, that Zack had died. She had not wanted to believe, that they were right, like a child that didn't want to listen to its parents. But even then, they had been right.

Yes, Aerith knew, that she could trust Minerva and her ancestors. She knew, that they were wise and wouldn't betray her trust. But it was so much harder to have faith, if she didn't know, what to expect – especially, if the very existence of her loved ones might be at stake. Minerva's top priority was and would always be the Lifestream. Aerith wasn't convinced, that she wouldn't go as far as to sacrifice a few spirits, if she deemed it beneficial to the Lifestream as a whole in the long run.

However, as much as this prospect scared her, it was also clear, that she didn't have another choice than to have trust. Her mother was right: Minerva was more attuned to the Lifestream than all of them combined and she did know more than Aerith could even imagine. Hearing more about her plans also wasn't worth it, if she couldn't continue her work at the negative Lifestream. After all she was the only one willing and capable to pester Sephiroth like that.

So... Aerith would have faith. Maybe not entirely in the necessity of Minerva's decisions, but in her mother's words – she would never let her down.

I'll trust you, she said and felt Ifalna's relief over it. But I guess, I'll go back then. Can't let Sephiroth think, I'm letting him off the hook that easily, right?

***

Zack and Angeal silently watched the darkened part of the Lifestream, while they were waiting for Aerith to return from Minerva once again. Zack really hoped, that these visits wouldn't become a habit, because Aerith already had enough things to worry about.

He looks kinda restless, don't you think? Zack asked Angeal, who let out a hum of agreement.

He was talking about Sephiroth's will, of course, and the surrounding corrupted spirits in extension. The negative Lifestream had calmed down from its previous angry outburst, but it was still agitated and constantly disrupting the normal flow around it by its restless, almost erratic movements. It also exuded this really weird sensation... if Zack had to describe it, he would call it a mixture of anger and... frustration? Maybe?

No, not really frustration, it was something else... But whatever it was, it was still different and a different Sephiroth was always bad news. Usually, but not exclusively, for Cloud.

Any idea, why he's like that?

No, Angeal replied slowly. It sounded, as if he was focused less on Zack than on something else, presumably Sephiroth. But... doesn't it feel to you, like it's... I don't know... calling for something?

Calling?

Zack listened carefully into the green void around him. As usual, it was filled by some kind of annoying, but weirdly harmonic, persistent humming and buzzing sound. It was one of the strangest things, that Zack had ever heard, at times sounding like a slightly unorganized orchestra of angry hornets. Zack had learned to ignore after being in the Lifestream for a while, but now that he paid attention, it seemed to be a bit louder than he remembered it. However, he doubted, that Angeal meant sound as calling. It had always been like this and probably wouldn't change.

I don't hear anything.

It's easy to miss. You don't have that many Jenova cells, maybe that's the reason... Angeal said after a while, but it didn't sound convincing.

Zack listened again, but it still wasn't any different, the only sound around him was the same old humming as usual. Nothing that Zack would identify as 'calling'.

You're feeling okay, right? Zack asked carefully. Not feeling like joining the dark side?

What? Angeal replied baffled. Don't be ridiculous. I'm fine.

If you say so, Zack said and hoped, that Angeal didn't just say it to make him feel better. However, this raised another question: if Sephiroth was calling something... what would it be, with the entire negative Lifestream under his control? Were there – besides theirs – even any Jenova cells left, that he didn't control yet?

Chapter Text

Spring [ µ ] - εγλ 2000, Wutai Village

It was quiet in the Kisaragi Residence – no, not quiet. Even 'quiet' had a certain fill to it that most people just didn't notice. It didn't live up to the complete dead silence in the building.

Gone were the sounds of people rushing down the hallways, sliding doors and the nervous whispers of its inhabitants. Even the ubiquitous muffled sounds from walls and ceiling, indicating a hidden but persistent observer, had fallen silent. Only the soft creaking of old wooden floor below Sephiroth's feet was echoing through the building as he was wandering the deserted hallway.

This complete silence was all Sephiroth needed to be certain: The Kisaragi Residence was empty – exactly as it should be.

Over two days had gone by, since the group of Soldiers under Genesis' command had arrived at the gates of Wutai's capital. The campaign beforehand had gone swimmingly, even taking their time conquering one stronghold after another, it had taken them just a few weeks to get to this point. Once there, Genesis had given its ruler a choice: surrender peacefully or suffer the consequences.

Neither of them had honestly expected Lord Kisaragi to surrender. He and his ministers were known for being superb warriors themselves and the people of Wutai valued their way of living and therefore independence more than anything – some of them even higher than their own lives. It was an inconceivable level of dedication, that no Soldier would even consider. For that reason, it had seemed unlikely for Lord Kisaragi to just give up their resistance after as much as eight years of war. Much to their surprise, however, Wutai's ruler had yielded without much hesitation – most likely to avoid more losses on their side.

Frankly, Wutai Village wouldn't have been able to withstand an attack of SOLDIER for a long anyway. The fortification of Wutai Village was lackluster at best, posing even less of a challenge for them than Wutai's outposts. Sephiroth could tell just by looking at it from the outside, that in case of a battle between Soldier and Wutai's forces, civilian casualties probably would have been unavoidable. Additionally, Shinra's side hadn't lost a single Soldier over the last weeks, while Wutai's numbers had dwindled drastically. As unyielding as Wutai was, it would have been foolish to sacrifice the last remaining forces of their army, when the outcome was more than clear.

Since this capitulation, both Sephiroth and Genesis had spent most of their time in the Kisaragi Residence, leaving the rest of town to the Seconds and Thirds. Genesis' deputy was more than capable to keep them and the village under control, while the two Firsts kept an eye on Wutai's elite to ensure smooth cooperation from Wutai's side until Shinra's official delegation arrived.

The time in the residence had been... interesting, to say the least. The two First Classes had figured out very quickly, that many of the thin walls were actually hiding secret cavities and rooms, including thin corridors connecting them. Any person, that was both quiet and agile enough, was therefore able to traverse the building quickly and completely unnoticed to unsuspecting visitors – a concerning thought, considering that Wutai's warriors were stealth specialists. It was the perfect environment for ninjas to operate in and it was mainly thanks to the Soldiers' sharp ears, that Sephiroth and Genesis noticed this as fast as they did.

Needless to say, sleeping in an environment like this had been out of the question. It didn't matter, that Lord Kisaragi had prohibited his men from harming the Soldiers in any way or form. It also didn't matter, that an assault was much more likely to kill the attacker than Sephiroth or Genesis. In a place like this, with so much hostility in the air, letting one's guard down for just a moment would inevitably encourage rash decisions, that might threaten the highly delicate truce between Wutai and Shinra. The outcome of that would be unpredictable, but most likely unnecessary bloody – and most certainly not for the Soldiers.

No. Getting a bit of sleep wasn't worth the bother to deal with that.

Fortunately for them, Soldiers did have a high tolerance for sleep deprivation. Staying concentrated after two sleepless nights wasn't a problem, although focusing became much more difficult after three days. In theory, they could go even further, but after about two weeks, the hallucinations and paranoia became too much to handle.

Thankfully, they weren't this far yet, though, and their time in Wutai was about to come to an end, anyway. There was only one thing left to do for the two Firsts, a personal request coming from Veld, the head of the Turks: They needed to ensure, that the Kisaragi Residence was guaranteed to be safe for Shinra's official delegation – or rather, for President Shinra, who had decided to come to Wutai in person. Which was exactly the reason, why Sephiroth was wandering the deserted hallways of the building – its inhabitants were outside, where they couldn't interfere with their work.

Usually, securing buildings wasn't falling into SOLDIER's remit, unless monsters or terrorists were involved. The President's safety was the Turks' responsibility and didn't allow any mistakes, especially not caused by inexperience with this kind of task. However, Veld was apparently short on personnel suited for this mission, since a few of his veteran Turks had gone missing very recently. The department was still investigating the case, but for whatever reason the men had vanished, they had left a hole, that was hard to fill, especially not by the Turks' current rookies.

The two Firsts also didn't have the experience needed to thoroughly search the residence, but they knew Wutai's way of thinking and the building's peculiarities and thanks to their enhanced senses, they would notice things, that no Turk could. That's why Veld had asked them to clear the building with one of his Turks and ensure, that nobody was in it, when President Shinra entered.

It was an unusual task, but honestly not the first time, that Sephiroth had been asked to assist the department, so Sephiroth had accepted without hesitation. It was always beneficial to be on good terms with the Turks.

When Sephiroth returned from his round to the entry area of the building, Genesis was already waiting for him, leaning against the low fence, that separated the hallway from the small indoor pond and greenery.

“I assume, your part of the building is clear?” Genesis asked as Sephiroth approached him. The other First nodded.

“It's completely empty. I didn't notice any suspicious sounds in the walls either.”

“Same. It seems like they took our threats to check all secret doors, that we could find, seriously. What a surprise.”

“What about the Turk?” Sephiroth asked, because he was admittedly still a bit bothered about the man Veld has sent them and who had accompanied Genesis while searching the building.

Sephiroth had believed to know all Turks at least by sight, but this one, a man in his late twenties or early thirties, was completely unknown to him. The man had been able to proof his identity as Turk, though, so it was probably one of the Turks, who was working mainly out of Midgar and Junon.

“Our grumpy friend has decided to pay the staff a visit,” Genesis simply replied with a shrug. “That means, we're finished here, aren't we?”

“Yes,” Sephiroth answered with another nod. “We're still supposed to meet the delegation outside, but other than that, we're finished. Veld and his men will take over from here.”

“Good. I hate doing personal protection,” Genesis muttered while trying to rub off a faint stain from the sleeve of his red coat. “Although we don't really look presentable, I'm afraid...”

Unfortunately, Genesis was right with that. Lately, it had been quite rainy in Wutai, resulting in muddy ground. The bad weather and the ensuing poor visibility had worked to their advantage, but marching through the underbrush of Wutai while being completely soaked by the pouring rain, had left its mark on their uniforms. Since their arrival, they had done their best to at least clean their clothes and boots, but there were still faint stains, that they just couldn't remove under the current circumstances. However, as much as Sephiroth would have preferred to face the President in a flawless condition, it could be worse.

“It can't be helped,” Sephiroth replied and Genesis gave up his attempts to remove the stain with a soft sigh. “You remember, what we've talked about?”

“Of course. I have the whole procedure memorized, don't worry.” Genesis flicked back a rebellious strand of red hair, looking rather unimpressed about the question and their current situation. “Have I ever disappointed in front of the President?”

Indeed, Sephiroth didn't have to remind Genesis of how to act in front of the President. Genesis might be bold, but definitely he knew, how to act according to the situation and when it was better to show respect.

However, Genesis' behavior towards President Shinra wasn't exactly, what Sephiroth was referring to. He was honestly more concerned about the fact, that Heidegger was also part of Shinra's delegation and ever since the two men's last encounter, Sephiroth wasn't quite sure, whether Genesis' judgment of appropriate behavior in front of the director was completely trustworthy. His inhibition threshold seemed to have lowered to a dangerous degree when Heidegger was involved and honestly, it was worrying Sephiroth.

Unfortunately, Sephiroth couldn't remind Genesis of this right now. The building might appear abandoned, but one could never be too careful in a hollow house full of ninjas. There could always be a pair of ears, happy to eavesdrop on a topic like this. So Sephiroth would need to have faith in Genesis' judgment and hope, that his friend refrained from provoking Heidegger in any way – be it consciously or subconsciously.

“Shall we go, then?” Sephiroth asked, one hand already at the front door.

“Of course. I have no intention of staying any longer than absolutely necessary.”

Unlike the residence itself, the plaza in front of it wasn't empty. To the contrary, the view of it sort of reminded Sephiroth of a few military parades, that he had attended in the past – a pretentious demonstration of power and unity, presented by perfectly accurate lines of Soldiers and infantrymen, standing bolt upright both around the plaza and along the street leading to town. The whole procedure was so ingrained into the men's heads, that they snapped to attention the very moment, that the two Firsts stepped out of the building – without being given any audible order, but still perfectly in sync.

However, unlike any other military parade Sephiroth had attended before, there was also a significant disruption in this otherwise perfect performance. Several men in the line up refused to move according to the others and simply stood on their positions, unmoving and completely unbothered by the adjacent soldiers.

Had those men been Shinra's troops, this lack of discipline would have been considered a disgrace, an unforgivable lack of respect. However, none of these men was one of Shinra's soldiers and interestingly, this behavior was in itself an act of unity, because they were all warriors of Wutai, that had been forced to line up with Shinra's forces. Despite being flanked by Second and Third Class Soldiers, Wutai's men refused to subject themselves to Shinra's rules, thus making a statement, that was loud and clear: Wutai's forces would obey only one man – and it most certainly wasn't President Shinra.

No. The only person, those men would follow without question was Godo Kisaragi himself, the ruler of Wutai.

Sephiroth threw a short glance at Lord Kisaragi as he descended the stairs down the entry of the residence. Just like his men, Lord Kisaragi had gotten his position on the plaza and was standing right next to the stairs leading into his residence, as if to welcome President Shinra in his home. This probably wasn't entirely against the will of Wutai's ruler, since Sephiroth had the feeling, that Lord Kisaragi still had some hopes for pending negotiations. Hopes, that, if he presented himself and the country as confident, but accommodating, Shinra would concede more rights to Wutai. He would realize soon enough, that President Shinra wasn't open to making concessions and there was nothing, that Wutai could do to change it.

The two First Class Soldiers silently replaced the two Seconds next to Lord Kisaragi, Genesis to his left and Sephiroth to his right. From there, Sephiroth had an excellent overview over the plaza and towards town. The delegation still hadn't arrived, so he used this opportunity to take a good look at potential hazards regarding Wutai's men, although it didn't take a long analysis to notice, that all of Wutai's representatives were guards. They were either Lord Kisaragi's personal guards or those guarding this place as a whole, including the residence, the pagoda and the other buildings.

Over the last days, Sephiroth had observed these men thoroughly to get an idea, what kind of people they were dealing with. What were their patterns or daily routines? How did they react to danger? Did they approach the Soldiers and if yes, how? What was their behavior towards Lord Kisaragi or other inhabitants of the building? Towards each other? If Sephiroth had even the slightest feeling, that some piece of information might be useful eventually, he kept a mental note on it, all while piecing together patterns and characteristics as a result.

Thanks to his observations, Sephiroth had been able to deduce, that the guards were loyal to a fault. The safety of the Kisaragi family was their top priority and if they needed so sacrifice anything to protect Lord Kisaragi or his daughter, they would probably do it without hesitation. Also, as long as Lord Kisaragi ordered them to stay calm, they would comply to whatever Shinra wanted of them. They didn't like it, but they would obey this order without question.

Thanks to it, the personal guards could be considered safe – predictable even, as they simply wouldn't risk to put their ruler in danger for any given reason. They were the ideal attendants for President Shinra's little demonstration of power – much better than another prominent group of warriors, that had been present over the last days, the Crescent Unit.

Admittedly, Sephiroth hadn't actually seen very much of the Crescent Unit, Wutai's elite force in both battle and espionage, over the last two days. Its present members avoided him whenever possible, since Sephiroth did have a certain reputation after years at the front. They had learned from countless lost battles, unsuccessful ambushes and failed attempts on his life, that Sephiroth was out of their league and therefore preferred to stay out of his sight. Other than that, Sephiroth was quite certain, that the Crescent Unit were, in fact, the hidden observers in the stalking the Soldiers through the building, trying to find out as much as possible about him and Genesis, hoping to get the right opportunity to strike.

The only time, that Sephiroth had actually seen one, had been right after the Soldiers' arrival, when Sephiroth had overheard an argument between one member of the Crescent Unit and Lord Kisaragi. The warrior had been firmly asking Wutai's ruler to reconsider his surrender, apparently thinking, that he and his men could still eliminate the First Classes and then the Soldiers, that were scattered in town. The man's confidence had dwindled fast after Sephiroth had interrupted the conversation – the unit member had disappeared without a word – discontent, but clearly intimidated – while Lord Kisaragi had apologized for the man's presumptuous behavior.

Thanks to the Crescent Unit avoiding him, Sephiroth had gathered next to no information about its members. It might have been even less, if not for Genesis' uncanny talent for attracting attention.

To be fair, it wasn't Genesis' fault this time. His behavior towards Lord Kisaragi and the other inhabitants was immaculate and he hadn't tried to draw attention to himself. Both Soldiers just wanted to get this over with, so that they could return to Midgar. Genesis' real problem was, that he simply didn't have Sephiroth's reputation. It was his fist time in Wutai and until Sephiroth's arrival a few weeks ago, his command had been rather passive in nature, with Genesis only intercepting a few of Wutai's messages here and there. It probably didn't help, that Genesis did look like the typical First Class Soldier, that the unit was familiar with, because the First Class quickly became a target of pent up frustration from several members of the unit.

Needless to say, Genesis had dealt with the problem swiftly, without having to resort to violence – a few barbed words were enough to signal most people, that pestering Genesis was about as wise as poking a Tonberry. There were a few encounters after that, but to Sephiroth's knowledge, the Crescent Unit had mostly learned their lesson to stay away from Genesis as well and as unfortunately as this whole affair was, it was revealing something very interesting about the Crescent Unit, that Sephiroth wouldn't have learned otherwise.

The Crescent Unit wasn't nearly as loyal as the guards.

Although... maybe it was wrong to phrase it this way. The unit was loyal and devoted, just not towards Lord Kisaragi. By tradition, the Crescent Unit didn't serve Wutai's ruling family or its people, but rather the country itself. So far, Sephiroth had thought, that this differentiation had no real meaning and that the Crescent Unit would act on orders, just like normal soldiers did. But it seemed, that this assumption wasn't entirely true, because Lord Kisaragi had clearly ordered them to leave the Soldiers alone – and yet, at least some members either ignored this order or were at least conflicted about it.

From Midgar's modern point of view, it was probably more fitting to consider the Crescent Unit religious extremists – fanatics, that were seeking to eliminate anything they considered a threat to Wutai as a whole, just to appease their so called god. As long as their goal was the same as Lord Kisaragi's – defeat Shinra's troops and drive the foreign force out of Wutai – they had served his command. But now, that Wutai was forced to negotiate, this was no longer the case and it was uncertain, what this meant for Wutai or Shinra's plans.

Thankfully, the Turks had taken care, that the Crescent Unit wasn't present at President Shinra's arrival. Right now, they were too unpredictable and to dangerous to let them anywhere near the President.

After Sephiroth and Genesis had taken their positions, it didn't take long, until President Shinra and his entourage ascended the stairs towards the plaza, their arrival already announced by rows of Soldiers and infantrymen presenting arms.

Unsurprisingly, President Shinra himself had taken the lead of his entourage. He was, as always, wearing his signature dark burgundy suit and the same expensive shoes as usual, making him look, as if this was nothing more than just a short walk between business meetings. A pleased smirk appeared on the President's face, as he took in the sight of the aligned men of Wutai and the grand pagoda in the back of Lord Kisaragi, flanked by both Sephiroth and Genesis.

This smirk was actually a very good sign for the two First Class Soldiers, because it seemed to be genuine. The President clearly liked what he saw and in the end, this was all that mattered. President Shinra was a man, that demanded obedience, sure, but he was also an opportunist. When it came to achieving his goals, the 'how' was of less importance, if he was satisfied with the result. Because of that, it might not even matter, that Wutai's conquest was finished far earlier than originally planned.

The ones responsible for President Shinra's safety were two older First Class Soldiers – Lester, whose muscular physique put even Angeal's to shame, and Richard, whose most distinguishable feature was definitely the long scar running across his face and throat – a souvenir from the time, when he had just barely survived an usually lethal attack from a Scissor. These two Soldiers weren't just intimidating in appearance, they were also well known in Wutai after having served at the front since the very beginning. Their teamwork wasn't the best, but they were still an excellent choice for President Shinra's protection. Of course, they would still be outclassed by another prominent member of the delegation: Veld, the leader of the Turks.

As usually, the old Turk to President Shinra's right gave off a certain professional coldness, mixed with the calm demeanor, that came with age and experience. The subtle shifting of his eyes was the only indicator, that he was vigilantly scanning his surroundings for any potential threats. However, both of his hands, the healthy one and the prosthetic, were hidden behind his back and no weapon was on display, making the old man seem much more harmless, than he actually was – Sephiroth had absolutely no doubt, that Veld had some Materia equipped and his weapon hidden somewhere, where it would be easily reachable. Indeed, Veld might be past his prime in terms of fighting capability, but he was an absolute expert, when it came to personal protection and probably still the best Turk Sephiroth knew. No matter, what Wutai had to offer, Veld would certainly be ready for it.

The last notable member of the delegation was, of course, Heidegger as the head of the military. Right now, the director appeared to be confident, if not even in a good mood, although Sephiroth definitely noticed a light twitch at his left eye, right at the moment, when Heidegger's eyes fell on Genesis – indicating, that the director wasn't too pleased to see the First Class Soldier. It was fine, though, the movement was so subtle, that Sephiroth was probably the only one, who could have noticed it. Heidegger also seemed to have just enough self-restraint to keep his cool in front of the President, meaning they could probably keep up a civilized facade, as long as Genesis didn't do anything provocative. Genesis only needed to stand still and do nothing for a few minutes. This couldn't be too difficult.

Thankfully, the whole encounter indeed went quite swimmingly. President Shinra and Lord Kisaragi exchanged a few more or less polite words, petty political phrases with no real meaning behind them, spoken with the sole intention to fathom the other's position in all of this. Sephiroth didn't follow the conversation in detail, since he had to keep an eye on the delegation's back, and the only time he actually had to react, was when the President mentioned Sephiroth and Genesis by name. It was something about them being 'the pride of Midgar', but Sephiroth was already used to these kind of tactics, subtle boasts intended to assert Shinra's superiority through his own strength. Due to that, he just acknowledged the praise with a humble nod before resuming his watch. Genesis probably did something similar, considering, that Heidegger's only reaction to this mention was another barely noticeable twitch of his eye.

After this rather short first conversation, Lord Kisaragi offered President Shinra entry to his residence and both Genesis and Sephiroth were dismissed from their guarding duty. They made a step back and waited for the men to vanish into the building, before their work was considered done and it was time for them to leave as well.

Sephiroth gave Genesis a subtle sign, knowing that his friend was observing him from the corner of his eyes, and the two men began walking down the path towards town. The Soldiers and infantrymen along the path were saluting once again, showing respect towards the men, who had conquered the country.

Everything, to display Shinra's grandeur and unity and to conceal any rifts, that might be suspected between individuals.

“Well? Satisfied with the outcome?” The two First Class Soldiers were already on their way towards the edge of town, where a helicopter would wait for them, when Genesis picked up a conversation. “I told you, that it wouldn't be a problem, didn't I?”

Genesis kept his voice low, careful not to draw too much attention to their conversation. After leaving the forested area between the residence and Wutai Village, they were following the main road, where an overwhelming number of Shinra infantrymen was patrolling the streets. The shouted orders ringing through the air would be more than enough to drown the Soldiers' voices to anybody, who wasn't within their close vicinity. The infantrymen themselves were too busy to bother them and the few civilians, that were on the streets naturally steered clear of the First Classes and kept their heads down in order to avoid the attention of Shinra's men.

Their conversation was as private as it could be. It was somewhat ironic, that this busy street in the heart of the enemy's territory was probably the most secure place for a conversation, that they had had in weeks – since Genesis had been sent to Wutai, to be exact.

“True,” Sephiroth admitted in a similarly low voice, “You're lucky President Shinra was satisfied by the outcome. You can't say the same about Heidegger, though.”

“Who cares about Heidegger, anyway?” Genesis asked with a shrug. “And even you have to admit, that it is quite satisfying to see him trying to keep quiet, just because he doesn't want to get on President Shinra's bad side.”

Indeed, Heidegger had been quiet for the whole duration of the conversation between President Shinra and Lord Kisaragi. A highly unusual behavior for the director, who loved boasting with his successes and also those of his subordinates. It only ever happened, when Heidegger feared negative consequences from saying something wrong in the President's presence. The director was also quick to anger, so it was most likely, that he kept quiet to minimize the risk of a fit of rage targeted at Genesis in front of the two statesmen. Even President Shinra's right hand man couldn't venture to do everything and ruining Shinra's image of perfect unity certainly wasn't something the President would tolerate.

“Don't get too used to it,” Sephiroth said to his friend. “You've had your fun, but I'm afraid, that you need to be more careful from now on.”

“Oh, don't worry about it,” Genesis replied with a wave of his hand. “I know, what I'm doing.”

“I know,” Sephiroth reassured him, not wanting to make the same mistake of upsetting Genesis twice. “And I trust your judgment, but I'm afraid, that Heidegger tolerates this kind of behavior only for so long. You might have President Shinra's approval right now, but even with that, you can't get away with everything. If we want to get away with this, I will need you to accommodate in this regard.”

Genesis didn't say anything in response and he clearly wasn't happy about the direction this conversation was heading at. But he did at least listen to Sephiroth this time.

“Think of Angeal,” Sephiroth continued trying to persuade his friend to be a bit more reasonable. “He would be devastated, if you were stationed in Icicle Inn, just because of an argument with Heidegger.”

As much as Sephiroth disliked dragging Angeal into this, Angeal was usually Genesis' soft spot. Reminding Genesis of the consequences of his actions for the other First was – most of the time – the easiest way to make Genesis acknowledge his faults. It really wasn't Sephiroth's preferred method of persuasion, but he wasn't quite sure, what else to do after his last attempt to reason with Genesis had failed so spectacularly.

Indeed, it did appear, as if Sephiroth's words had given Genesis something to think about, but not entirely as Sephiroth had expected. The other First Class let out a quiet, long drawn hum, that almost sounded like... like he doubted Sephiroth's words?

“Genesis...?” Puzzled by Genesis' reaction, Sephiroth was about to investigate the meaning of this hum, but Genesis let out an exaggerated sigh before he even had the chance to.

“Fine, I will try to go easy on Heidegger for a while,” Genesis relented. “As long as he leaves me alone, at least. I guess, I owe you as much – you did sacrifice your flawless reputation, after all.”

“As I said, it's nothing a convincing report can't fix,” Sephiroth commented quickly. As relieving as it was, that they had come to an understanding, Sephiroth didn't want Genesis to feel indebted in any way. “I should have enough breathing room to explain our reasoning. In fact, I already know exactly, how to defend the campaign. We should talk about it when we have the time.”

“Sometimes I wonder how it feels, having so much credibility...” Genesis noted with a soft chuckle. “Let's discuss your idea tomorrow, then, after we've gotten some sleep.”

The two First Classes fell silent for a moment, when a patrol came within hearing distance. The infantrymen acknowledged the Soldiers' presence with a brief salute, before heading towards the nearest building. The leader of the patrol pounded against the door, demanding entry for a search. However, Sephiroth and Genesis didn't stay to know, what exactly Shinra's troops were searching for.

“So, how long do you think, President Shinra will stay in Wutai?” Genesis asked, when they were out of hearing distance again. “To me, the old man didn't look like he was planning for a long stay.”

“President Shinra isn't interested in the negotiations,” Sephiroth agreed, “I suspect, he just wanted to see Wutai for himself and returns to Midgar as soon as possible.”

“Sounds like him.” Genesis nodded and let out a soft hum. “I guess, I better also start going through my notes tomorrow morning, then. We don't want to leave Heidegger waiting for his war reports when he returns, do we?”

For a moment, the two Soldiers fell silent again, when the rattling of a falling object caught their attention. The source was quickly found: a young boy was observing them from an alley – not too far away, but still far enough, so that he couldn't possibly hear their conversation. Their observer got spooked and ran away the moment he noticed their eyes on him, though.

“By the way...” Genesis mused, as soon as the boy was gone, “did you notice, how they got the little brat out of the house?”

Genesis used the word 'brat' quite interchangeably with 'child', so under normal circumstances, Sephiroth would have to ask, who he was referring to. But during their whole stay, there had only been one child in the residence, making the subject of his question quite clear.

“I assume, you're asking about Princess Yuffie?”

“Don't call her that,” Genesis huffed, “there's nothing princesslike about her.”

“You only say that, because she doesn't match the romanticized princesses in your books,” Sephiroth countered. The light frown, that appeared on Genesis face was enough to prove Sephiroth's assumption. “It doesn't change the fact, that she will most likely rule over Wutai after her father's death – assuming, that Wutai gets to keep its current system, of course.”

“So does Rufus with the whole world and yet I don't hear you calling him a prince,” Genesis argued unimpressed by this. “Come to think of it, my father owns the land Banora is built upon. With that logic, wouldn't that make me a prince as well?”

“You wish.” Sephiroth almost had to laugh at the thought of that. Genesis being a prince... He couldn't even imagine it. It probably wouldn't even take a day for Genesis to become bored, annoyed or both.

“I'm telling you,” Genesis continued, more offended than he should be about such a topic. “A princess should show grace and dignity. She shouldn't be running around, insulting people, make absurd vague threats or –“

“Steal other people's Materia?”

Sephiroth couldn't resist a smirk, when Genesis let out a sullen growl.

“You just had to mention that, didn't you?”

“My apologies.” Sephiroth stifled a laugh, causing Genesis to frown. “The thought of a little girl stealing your Materia of all things is just priceless.”

“Well, I'm glad, one of us is having his fun,” Genesis huffed upset. “This is serious. This brat can't just run around stealing my Materia! Also, I was about to cut two of these obstinate Crescent idiots down to size. Do you have any idea, how embarrassing this is?”

“I can imagine,” Sephiroth said in response, “although I'm afraid, that you've brought this upon yourself. Didn't we agree to be cautious around her?”

“Yes, because we didn't want to risk our delicate truce by offending people by accident,” Genesis growled, “not, because she could steal our belongings! How was I supposed to know, that she would do this?” The First snorted in exasperation. “She's eight! In what kind of twisted world are we living, if a First Class Soldier has to be wary of an eight year old?”

“Princess Yuffie might be young, but she is Lord Kisaragi's heir. I can imagine, that she has undergone extensive ninja training,” Sephiroth explained, ignoring the death glares, that Genesis threw at him. “Remember, she managed to escape her personal guardians multiple times. You should have known, that she has a few tricks up her sleeve.”

“She was also punching the air to intimidate us.” Genesis rolled his eyes in a dramatic manner and Sephiroth couldn't help but smile as Genesis reminded him of the young girl's strange attempts at intimidation. “I'm terribly sorry, that I don't take insolent brats seriously.”

“Maybe you should, if said 'brats' steal your favorite Materia.” Sephiroth stifled a laugh, when Genesis shot him a partially upset and partially annoyed glance. “My apologies,” he then continued in a more serious manner. It was tempting to ruffle Genesis' feathers just a bit more, but his friend had endured enough over the last days. “Why are you asking? You're not missing any Materia, do you?”

“Of course not,” Genesis huffed, but still checked his bangle for missing Materia – just in case. “I haven't seen the 'greatest warrior of Wutai' since then and I wondered, if you noticed something. She was following you around most of the time, didn't she?”

The princess had indeed stalked Sephiroth around the residence before appearing seemingly out of nowhere at random times and places to shout vague threats against Shinra – while trying to intimidate him and Genesis with said ultimately harmless punches in the air. She had mostly ignored Genesis, claiming she would take care of his 'minion' after taking down the 'big bad guy' Sephiroth. Thankfully, she hadn't said the minion-part in Genesis' presence. His tolerance for children was low enough without being insulted like this.

Needless to say, Sephiroth had ignored her... challenges and it had been fine, also because she had always disappeared just as fast to escape either her guardians or her teacher – only to reappear mere minutes later, but from a completely different direction. Honestly, her childish simplicity had been quite entertaining to watch, if one disregarded the diplomatic risks of her behavior.

“She was. But only until her guardians started to adapt to her patterns.”

After a while of failing to keep the girl under control and out of sight of the two Soldiers, Princess Yuffie's guardians seemed to have simply given up on trying to catch her. Instead, they had started following Sephiroth as well. The result had been a honestly bizarre situation of him being stalked through the building by multiple people, that didn't even pay off as they had expected. The girl simply shifted her attention to Genesis to avoid getting caught – which was a situation, that nobody had wished for, really.

“After that, she apparently changed target and I think, you know better than me, what followed.”

“Stupid kid...” Genesis grumbled once again. “I assume, you haven't noticed anything either, then?”

“Not at all, I'm afraid. I haven't seen her since.”

It was a mystery, how they had managed to get get out of the residence without Sephiroth noticing anything, but it was probably for the best, considering that President Shinra wasn't quite as lenient with her disrespectful behavior as Sephiroth had been.

After this, the two Soldiers walked for a while in silence. The building density had started to drop and they were robbed of the protective background noise, as there was barely any Shinra personnel on the street anymore. It didn't matter, though – they could already see a few of Shinra's helicopters in the distance. In front of the nearest one, there was also a handful of Soldiers waiting, probably the Seconds and Thirds, that would return to Midgar with them.

Sephiroth and Genesis were already close enough to the chatting group of Soldiers, when one of the Seconds made a step to the side and noticed their approach. The man raised a gloved hand with a familiar looking silver pendant attached to it and greeted the two First Classes with a casual hand wave.

“Seems like the Firsts are back, guys!” The Second Class yelled with a deep, a bit coarse voice and a cheeky grin on his face, causing some of the other Soldiers to turn around as well. “And it looks like both Genesis and the town are still in one piece, too!”

Ah... Simmons.

The pendant, that wasn't entirely in accordance with Shinra's rules, and the rather rude greeting were more than enough to identify the Second before them. He was undoubtedly Simmons, Genesis' deputy. Only he would dare to address his commanding officer in such a way.

Within SOLDIER's part of the army, there were only two distinctive commanding roles at Wutai's front. For one, there was the commanding officer, who was always the current First Class in charge – in their case, this role applied to Genesis. Sephiroth had merely been sent to Wutai as an irregular observer this time.

The second regular role was that of the deputy: a Second Class Soldier, who assisted the commander and offered advice if a second opinion was needed. He was also the person, who assumed command in case of an emergency – effectively taking on the role of a First Class for a limited amount of time. As a consequence, only the most experienced Second Classes were eligible for the role of deputy. In regards of fighting strength, some could even be considered on par with a First Class Soldier.

Lionel Simmons, Genesis' deputy, was exactly one of these Second Class Soldiers: highly skilled in battle and experienced when it came to missions of war, with the confidence to back it up. Simmons was a First Class in everything but his rank, but was unfortunately stuck in his position as Second, like many of his peers. According to his files, Simmons had been recommended for First Class on two separate occasions – by two different First Classes, about a year apart. Both times, his promotion had been rejected for reasons unspecified by his files. Sephiroth had his suspicions, though.

After the second rejection – and before the Second had been sent to Wutai quasi permanently – Simmons had spent some time stationed in Junon, where he had been assigned as supervisor for SOLDIER's fitness tests. This was, as chance would have it, also around the time, when both Genesis and Angeal had been stationed in Junon, back when they had still been part of the infantry while applying for SOLDIER.

“Simmons...” Genesis generously ignored the snickering Soldiers around Simmons, as he was addressing his deputy. “Don't tell me, you're returning with us to Midgar... Has Shinra has already found a new dumping ground for you?”

The Second let out a short, husky laugh before he replied with a crooked grin.

“Yeah, looks like I really get about with you.”

Whoever had picked Genesis' deputy, they – and especially Genesis – needed to be grateful for this person's decision. Often, Seconds in Simmons' position and age became bitter once they realized, that they were stuck in Second Class. For them, there was nothing left to strive for – no matter, what they were doing or how much they improved themselves... they would always stay Seconds. As a result, some of them started to resent the young Soldiers, that still had dreams and ambitions of becoming First Class and especially those rare cases, that actually managed to achieve this goal, like Genesis or Angeal. It was one of the reasons, why Shinra tended to send the older Soldiers to Wutai while keeping the young, ambitious ones in Midgar.

If Genesis had gotten one of these disillusioned Seconds as his deputy, he probably wouldn't have been able to convince his men to abandon their original orders. His deputy, along with several other Soldiers, would have simply ignored Genesis' proposal and probably reported the First Class to Heidegger, just to spite him. The consequences of this scenario would have been unforeseeable.

Thankfully, Simmons wasn't one of these Seconds. He had a trenchant and dark wit at times and loved reminding Genesis, that he could easily defeat him in arm wrestling. Other than that, however, Simmons was a surprisingly agreeable man and an excellent deputy, whose assistance had been very helpful to their success. It was no wonder, that he had been recommended for First two times.

This was even more relieving, if one considered, that Angeal had been worried about Simmons being Genesis' deputy since apparently, Genesis and Simmons hadn't been on very good terms back in Junon. Years later, with their roles reversed, however, this seemed to have changed. It might not look like it on first glance, but the two men did indeed share mutual respect for each other.

“You're finished, I guess?” Simmons asked after greeting Sephiroth with a more polite nod.

“Our work here is officially done,” Sephiroth confirmed as he let his eyes wander over the assembled group of Soldiers. Together, they were counting a dozen, the usual number of passengers for the helicopter model next to them. “Are we complete?”

“Yeah, but I think, our pilot is still on the phone, sir,” Simmons replied with a quick look over his shoulders. “We're leaving as soon as he's finished, though.”

“One of the Turks, I assume?”

“Yeah, but I couldn't tell you, who it is. Haven't seen this guy before, but I can't say, I'm surprised. It's been a while, since I've met one in person. What about you, guys?”

The answer of the other Soldiers was unanimous: None of the men did remember seeing this Turk before – something, that interestingly mirrored Sephiroth's experience with the Turk from the residence. It didn't have to mean anything, since the lower classes didn't often work with the Turks, but it was interesting nonetheless. He would have to wait and see, who their pilot was.

“I see. Thank you, Simmons.”

“Well, I guess, we have some time at our hands, then,” Genesis mused, as he was glancing at the cockpit, maybe even wondering about the same things as Sephiroth. “So tell me, Simmons... What is Shinra doing in town? It looks suspiciously like the army is searching for something.”

“Oh, that.” Simmons nodded, knowing exactly what Genesis was referring to. “I've heard in passing, that they have order to confiscate every Materia they can find.”

“They're confiscating Materia?” Thoughtful, Genesis caressed the Materia in his bangle. “Now this is interesting...”

“Yeah, seems like Shinra wants to minimize the risk of rebellions and renegades exacting revenge by limiting Wutai's access to magic.”

“This seems natural,” Sephiroth commented on this assumption. “In the right hands, even the most common kind of Materia like Fire, Ice or Thunder, can be a potent weapon. Rarer Materia, like Time or Transform, can have an undeniably decisive strategic value. We might be superior in power, but one should never underestimate the damage, that one determined individual can bring about.”

“Oh? So you're telling me, the great Sephiroth doesn't want to be a frog for a while?” Genesis asked cheekily, eliciting more snickering from the Seconds that weren't having their own conversations.

The Soldiers at the front were often more at ease around First Classes than those in Midgar, but with Genesis' men this seemed to be the case even more so than usual. This might be due to them being accustomed to both Genesis' and Sephiroth's constant presence and interactions – or thanks to the fact, that they were, in a way, all in the same boat, or so to speak. Most Soldiers weren't too fond of Heidegger, so going against his orders as a group might cause a certain feeling of camaraderie among the men.

“Sorry to decline,” Sephiroth just replied, calm and reserved as ever, unwilling to destroy the good mood among the Soldiers. Some of these men had already been in Wutai for way too long and over the course of the last weeks, they had worked hard under partially adverse conditions to achieve victory. Those Soldiers had earned this bit of peace and levity before returning to Midgar and whatever was awaiting them there.

“I'm shocked.” Genesis reached for his chest, dramatically shaking his head in the light of this revelation, before returning to a more serious tone. “But you're right, of course. And we're only talking about normal Materia. Let's not forget, that Wutai still has a completely different ace up its sleeve.”

Sephiroth didn't have to see the spark in Genesis' eyes, to know exactly, what his friend was referring to. For an expert on Materia like Genesis, Wutai was indeed very interesting.

“Leviathan.” This single word was enough to make Genesis smirk.

“I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed, that we didn't get to see it,” the First said. “It would have been a golden opportunity to witness such a powerful Summon in action, don't you think?”

“So close to the capital?” Sephiroth asked, “You didn't really expect them to simply use a summon against us, did you? One, that they consider their god at that?”

“Well, one can always have hopes, no?”

“Wait... Leviathan?” Simmons sounded a bit puzzled as he repeated Leviathan's name. “That's the snake-thing you see depicted everywhere in Wutai, right? That's a Summon?”

“The 'snake-thing'?” Genesis looked bewildered at his deputy. “Simmons, I'm disappointed. It's one of the more powerful Summons!” He shook his head, as if Simmons not knowing a single Summon was the worst thing he had heard today. “Honestly, I've expected more of you.”

“Yeah... sorry, I'm no bookworm like you,” the Second replied sarcastically. “So you think, that Wutai has a Summon?”

“So far, we have no proof for this assumption,” Sephiroth explained, “but the Wutai consider Leviathan to be their patron deity – their god, if you want to call it that way. It is very likely, that its Materia is kept somewhere safe.”

Genesis played the importance of this information up for drama, while in reality, there was really no reason to keep this kind of information from Simmons or any of the other Soldiers. Sephiroth also wasn't too surprised, that Simmons wasn't well-versed with Summon Materia, since Summons were a very specific topic, that most Soldiers simply didn't bother with. Not only was this kind of Materia exceptionally rare – due to their high destructive potential, SOLDIER also considered the use of a Summon in battle as inappropriate. So even if a Soldier happened to stumble upon a Summon Materia, he would be firmly encouraged to hand it over to Shinra's research or weapons department.

“As a category three Summon, Leviathan's use in battle isn't recommended,” Sephiroth continued, “but Shinra would be well-advised to secure the Materia nonetheless. It's too dangerous to leave it in unknown hands.”

“It's also the only reliable source for water based magic,” Genesis added to his explanation – now back to a more professional tone. “So you can imagine, that the Science Department would be glad to have it.”

This was an interesting thought, that hadn't even crossed Sephiroth's mind yet. Genesis had a point there, since there was indeed no known Water Materia. Shinra's scientists had been working on this front for years, but the Science Department had yet to create its own artificial version of Materia, that dealt water damage. A thorough analysis of the properties of Leviathan's Materia might be just what they needed for a breakthrough. Of course, a branch of Water Materia wouldn't be wold-shaking, but it would definitely have some strategic potential.

“So they might have a giant snake, that spits water at you?” Simmons summarized their explanations, causing Genesis to raise one eyebrow at the massive simplification of his words. “I'm up for a lot of crazy stuff, but that?” The Second shook his head and raised his hands defensively. “Thanks, but no thanks, Genesis. I'm already no fan of snakes and I think, I've had enough of water for quite some time. I really don't need to see this in action – especially not as its target. But you do you, I guess.”

“Philistine...” Genesis huffed, probably indeed upset, that his deputy didn't share his passion for Materia. “But I really wonder, what Shinra is going to do, if they do find Leviathan's Materia...”

“They definitely won't give it to you, Rhapsodos.”

The group of Soldiers turned their heads, when a unknown voice suddenly called out from the helicopter's cockpit. It belonged to their pilot, a Turk, that Sephiroth didn't recall meeting before, just like the one in the residence. It could be argued, that he might be a rookie – so new to the job, that he hadn't crossed paths with Sephiroth yet. However, this clearly wasn't the case. His posture was too confident, the tone of his voice too threatening, even in the presence of two First Classes. So he was a veteran – a veteran, that Sephiroth had never seen before.

It was puzzling thought, honestly. Sephiroth could accept not knowing one veteran Turk by sight. He wasn't as often in Junon as he was in Midgar and there were settlements he rarely visited for missions, if at all. So while it was unlikely, that he had never met a certain Turk for years, it was still possible.

But two?

“If you honestly think, that they will give Leviathan to you, then forget about it,” the Turk repeated, the man's condemning eyes completely fixated on Genesis, almost, as if Genesis was the only one present. The only one, that actually mattered. Behind his words and attitude, there was a message, that was loud and clear: Stay in line or you will regret it.

Oh... So that's how it is. Now this is interesting.

It seemed, as if sticking with Genesis had once again answered one of Sephiroth's lingering questions.

For years, Sephiroth had always wondered, who Shinra would sent, if there were any problems with First Class Soldiers. Shinra considered Soldiers as the company's property, so it was clear, that Shinra had its ways to deal with renegades. This piece of information was even part of their work contract. It just wasn't specified, how the company would enforce this. Sephiroth also had never actually met anybody, that he would consider skilled enough to eliminate even just one of his colleagues without risk – other than Sephiroth himself, of course.

Maybe the reason, why he didn't remember these two Turks, wasn't because they were stationed out of Midgar. Maybe he just wasn't supposed to see them under normal circumstances – because eventually, him knowing these men's faces might impede with their missions.

“Oh, really?” Genesis asked, his words long drawn, like he was having the same thoughts as Sephiroth – seeing the same red flag of this situation. It didn't stop him from testing his limits, though.

“Mind you, Turk, I am the only one in SOLDIER – in the whole company – that already owns a summon. Two, to be exact. I've never caused any damage with them,” Genesis continued carefully, but provocatively, his eyes firmly locked with the Turk. “I've proven to be reliable enough to keep them safe, didn't I? So what else would Shinra do, if not give it to me? Leave it to collect dust and waste such a rare Materia? Reduce it to being a mere test subject?” Genesis huffed, audibly offended by the thought. “A summoned creature is a memento. The reminder of an immensely powerful being, that once roamed this planet. It deserves better than this.”

“I don't care,” the Turk snarled, still holding eye contact without relenting even in the slightest. “If it were to Heidegger, you wouldn't have even one Summon, so don't push your luck, Rhapsodos.”

Not being used to being reprimanded like this, Genesis frowned and remained silent for a while, maybe pondering his options. After a moment of silence, the First Class just broke eye contact and redirected his attention to the other Soldiers, acting as if this exchange hadn't wounded his pride.

“We'll have to see if they find it, anyway. I doubt it, honestly,” Genesis just replied with a hint of spite in his words and the Turk seemed appeased by that.

“Are you finished, then? We don't have all day.”

“We are finished,” Sephiroth replied politely in hopes, that this would defuse the situation a bit. The Turk's harsh words had been unexpected, but it was fine. It was to be expected, that Heidegger would react in some way to what they had done and none of them had escalated the situation. The situation was still in control.

Sephiroth threw one last look at the Turk, who still kept a vigilant eye on Genesis, before he shifted his attention back to the Second in front of him. “Thank you, Simmons. Also, excellent work keeping an eye on the town.”

“I... ugh...yeah. Thanks, sir.”

Simmons wasn't exactly cowed by the exchange, but he did sound a bit more cautious than before. If it was the Turk's intention to remind the Soldiers of their position, it might have worked at least for some of them.

“I guess, it's time to leave, then,” Genesis agreed, although he was obviously disgruntled about how the conversation had ended. “Took us long enough anyway.”

Chapter Text

“They... really looked like Genesis?”

“No kidding.” The Second sitting opposite to Kunsel shook his head, sounding dead serious. “They both looked exactly like him. Hell, at first even Sephiroth seemed like he genuinely believed he had killed the real Genesis – until we took off the second one's helmet as well. 't was crazy, I tell ya...”

“The hell...”

Kunsel swallowed hard. He had hoped to get some interesting information about the recent mass disappearance once the first Soldiers returned from Wutai for their home leave. But this... no, he really hadn't expected something like this. Identical copies of a First Class trying to sabotage the operation? That was absolutely insane!

“Yeah... I thought I was trippin'...”

“I bet... And you just continued after that?”

“'course we did,” the other Second replied. “We were on a tight schedule, after all. Sephiroth only took the time to call headquarter, but I have no idea what they were talking about, since he wouldn't even tell his deputy... I only know, that both the Turks and our reinforcements arrived short after in absolute record time.”

“Things did get pretty hectic in Midgar, too,” Kunsel confirmed, with a quick nod. “Director Lazard basically sent every Second and Third who's at least eighteen and not on a longtime mission.” Personally, Kunsel was quite grateful that the director had these kind of standards and that he himself wasn't old enough to make the cut.

“Lucky you, huh? But trust me, that was nothing compared to the chaos in Wutai,” the other Second said, shaking his head. “Bringing those guys up to speed was also an absolute nightmare and honestly? It's a miracle my home leave wasn't completely axed.”

Nervous laughter followed before the Soldier took a deep breath and sank deeper into his seat, his head tilted backwards as he was staring at the ceiling above them.

“Damn...” the Second mumbled after a while of silence between them. “Whatever is going on... it can't be good. Just the fact that those two guys were enhanced... I don't like the implications – especially not when so many of our people are missing, you know?”

“Yeah...” Kunsel didn't know what else to say about that, since he did see the other's point. Hojo was priding himself on the fact, that he was the only one able to enhance people with Mako. This, plus those guys looking exactly like the missing First Class, had plenty of bad implications, even without pondering too much on it. “So... what about Genesis? Was he any different before he went missing? And what did the Turks have to say?”

“The Turks...? Well, the Turks seem to suspect that he deserted along with the other Soldiers, but –” The Soldier leaned forward again, even putting some of his weight on the one arm on the table. “I'm telling you the same thing I've told them. He did not act suspicious. Like... not at all.” The Soldier waved one of his hands like he had to put extra emphasis on what he was saying. “Okay, he might have been a bit more cautious than usual, but I figured that was because of his issues with Heidegger. I guess, you heard about that already?”

Kunsel just nodded. Even though it was supposed to be a secret, pretty much every Soldier with at least some interest in Shinra politics knew, how much Genesis and Heidegger absolutely despised each other.

“Those two guys we've surprised...” the Second continued pensively, softly tapping his fingers on the table as he spoke. “They managed to destroy a few documents – some of them were maps and plans Genesis had prepared himself. Not just this time, but also during his first stay in Wutai in spring. You wouldn't expect a guy so prepared to just leave us high and dry, would you?”

“No, not really...”

“And then there's the conquest of Fort Tamblin.” The Second sounded increasingly frustrated as he spoke on. “That operation depended completely on smooth cooperation between Genesis' and Sephiroth's groups. If I'm being honest... I think, we would have had to scrap the whole thing if Angeal and his student... what was his name?”

“Zack.”

“Right, Zack... It they hadn't filled in for Genesis on such a short notice, we would have been screwed. That would have messed up our whole schedule and delayed the operation for at least a few days, if not weeks.”

The Second again paused for a moment, obviously pondering his past experiences in Wutai while Kunsel's thoughts drifted to Zack. He should have also returned from Wutai, although Kunsel hadn't personally seen or heard of him or Angeal so far. While it was absolutely normal that Zack took mission after mission, Kunsel had honestly expected the exact opposite of that – that the other Second would visit him immediately after his arrival, just to proudly tell Kunsel about his important mission at the front with Angeal. Not hearing anything at all usually wasn't a good sign, so hopefully, nothing too bad had happened in Wutai. Maybe he should write Zack a mail later?

“Damn...” The other Second again shook his head in disbelief, pulling Kunsel out of his own thoughts again. “Now that I think about it... Genesis and Lio even discussed the best approach on Fort Tamblin just the day before they vanished. If this really is a planned mass desertion, those guys have made hell of an effort to keep it a secret from Sephiroth and the rest of us.”

The two Soldiers fell silent again, both not really knowing what to say. The situation was simply too bizarre to have a proper discussion about it. So, after a while of silence, the other Second let out a heavy sigh.

“Sorry, I'm wasting all your time, don't I?” he asked and pointed at the open notebook in front of Kunsel. “Writing reports?”

“Yeah... nothing important, though,” Kunsel quickly confirmed by showing the other the short text he had written so far. “Your stories are definitely more interesting, so I wouldn't say you've wasted my time.”

“I'm glad about that then,” the other Soldier said as he stood up from his seat to stretch his back. “But I'm going to leave you to that now. Go out for a bit before the officials cancel my leave after all. So... anyway, thanks for the updates on what I've missed. I appreciate it.”

“You're welcome,”Kunsel said in response and the other Soldier took his leave with a casual salute.

Soon, Kunsel was alone on the table next to the large window in the SOLDIER floor – that one table, that was usually occupied by groups of Seconds and Thirds, either waiting for their next mission or recovering from the last. It was a strange feeling, having the table – no, the whole SOLDIER floor – all to himself. This complete emptiness... it was truly bringing home the information he had gotten from the other Soldier just yet.

Dozens of Soldiers going missing... Enhanced saboteurs that looked exactly like a missing First Class...

“Shit.”

Even if he tried, Kunsel knew, that he wouldn't be able to concentrate on the report for Director Lazard anymore. Not after what he had heard just now. So instead, the Second tore a page out of the notebook in front of him, pushed the rest aside and pulled out his PHS. The Soldier quickly opened his phone's list of contacts and selected the third name on it – another Soldier he knew was currently in Wutai.

The Soldier impatiently tapped his fingers on the table as he waited for the person on the other side to pick up his phone. However, the only one answering was an automated voice.

“Your call has been forwarded to the voicemail of –“

Muttering a curse, Kunsel hung up and wrote the contact's name on the piece of paper in front of him. It was fine, though. The connection to Wutai was really bad and people were probably busy. He would just try again later.

After that, he called the next contact he remembered being in Wutai.

“Your call has –“

Kunsel didn't wait for the automated voice to finish before he hung up with another curse on his lips. After writing down the name, he immediately called the next one. Once again, he waited for the call to get through – hoping, that this one wouldn't go straight to voice mail.

“Your call –“

***

December [ ν ] – εуλ 0010, WRO Headquarter

“The called number is currently not available. Please try again later.“

Kunsel didn't really know what he had expected from dialing that number. Other than the automated massage itself, nothing had changed over the last ten years. Nobody would pick up the call anyway and honestly, he had better things to do than calling old numbers and staring at a wrinkly piece of paper. There was still a lot of work waiting to be finished before Mister Tuesti returned from his business trip to Wutai, after all. It wasn't even like Kunsel had made himself believe that Genesis' miraculous return from the dead had changed anything... for some reason, he had just had the urge to try one last time.

“Whatcha doing?”

Completely taken by surprise, Kunsel almost jumped from his chair when Cait Sith leaped on Kunsel's office desk to curiously inspect the piece of paper in front of him. Carelessly torn out of a notebook, it had names written all over it – some crossed out, others marked with a question mark or other notes. Most of them, however, were still just as readable as at the day he had written them down.

“Just... clearing out my contacts list,” Kunsel replied, suddenly having this tight feeling in his chest as he was scrolling back to the top – over time the first spot on his contacts list had also become the one he had written down first all those years ago. “There's a lot of numbers that I don't need anymore and those only take away space. It's... long overdue, really.” It really was overdue. And with Genesis pretty much confirming those people's fate, there was no use keeping those entries. They wouldn't come back by some kind of magic.

“Ah, of course! You'll get new ones in no time,” the robot chirped cheerfully, which actually managed to make the Soldier smile for a moment.

Cait Sith's AI was good – really good, even to the point where one barely noticed it was artificial at all, although he was absolutely terrible with subtle undertones. Cait Sith had completely missed, that this wasn't Kunsel's point, but it was fine. There were a lot of humans that were just as dense and he was right in a way, wasn't he? Since arriving at the WRO, Kunsel had already gotten new numbers – from Mister Tuesti, a few colleagues and of course the one from Emma's sister Elena. That one would be useful. And although he had unfortunately missed the opportunity to get Vincent's, Kunsel had the feeling that they would meet again eventually.

The owner of those numbers might be gone for good, but for those who survived, life went on as it always did.

“So... what's the matter, Cait Sith?” Kunsel asked as he confirmed the deletion of the fist contact. “Are you just checking in on me or is there something you'd like to talk about?”

“Ah, right,” the robot said with almost contagious cheerfulness. “Reeve just told me that he would be back from his trip soon and that he wants to see you in his office then.”

“Already?” Kunsel looked up for a moment before his eyes shifted back to his phone's display. “It was barely two days. That's fast, considering he's in Wutai.”

“He cut his stay as short as he could without offending Lord Kisaragi,” Cait Sith explained, “since he really doesn't want to stay away in a situation like this. He'll also bring Yuffie along, so better be prepared for that.”

“Yuffie?” Kunsel froze for a second and looked back at the robot. “The princess of Wutai?”

“Also your superior in a way,” Cait Sith confirmed with a nod. “Don't be surprised about her character, though. She's a brat, but somehow still the best at her job.”

“Oh... I see...?”

Kunsel had already heard about the princess of Wutai being part of the WRO and about her being involved in the fight against Deepground. Her being his boss was new, though. Mister Tuesti had never mentioned anything about a superior during the job interview, so Kunsel had always assumed that he was working directly under the head of the WRO.

Having a superior that came from Wutai – especially Wutai's highest social class – would definitely be interesting – be it one way or the other.

“I'm looking forward to meeting her,” Kunsel said truthfully. “So when will they return approximately? I'd like to finish Genesis' file before he's back.”

“At around 16 o'clock,” Cait Sith replied, tilting his head a bit, as if he wasn't quite sure about something. “But don't overwork yourself. We've gotten the gist of Genesis' background thanks to Tseng, so it's okay if we don't have everything written down immediately.”

“Thanks, but it's not a big deal. I'm used to doing this kind of work.”

“If you say so,” the robot said before turning around and jumping off Kunsel's desk again. “I'll be back later, then.”

“Yeah, see ya.”

Kunsel watched the robot leave before shifting his focus back on the phone in his hand and the list in front of him, until Kunsel had finally deleted the last contact. Honestly feeling a bit relieved that this was done, he was about to put his PHS away as his eyes fell on the very last entry of his contacts list – another entry that he just couldn't bring himself to delete yet. His eyes rested on the name for a moment before he sighed, flipped his old phone shut and stowed the device away. The old piece of paper also went back into his pocket.

Enough with this sentimentality, Kunsel thought to himself as he was pulling the folder displaying 'Genesis Rhapsodos / Project G' closer to himself. There's still a lot of work to do.

***

Spring [ µ ] - εγλ 2000

“Well, Simms... you think Bianca's still single?”

“Mike... you know, I love you, man... but keep your hands away from my sister. You've had your chance, why do you even think it works out this time? She deserves better than you.”

“Sure she does. Doesn't mean I can't try.”

Sephiroth wasn't even surprised that the Seconds and Thirds abandoned their caution shortly after takeoff and resumed their chatter from before. There was only so much a Turk could do while piloting an aircraft – even eavesdropping on their conversation was fairly impossible for a Turk due to the noise of the engine. All the Soldiers had to do was lowering their voices enough, so that they only had to worry about the two present First Classes, who at least didn't care for their private conversations – both Sephiroth and Genesis weren't exactly known for being social or chatty First Classes and therefore opted to abode to the unspoken agreement of ignoring their subordinates' chatter during transportation and off-time as long as they were left alone. It benefited both sides, because this knowledge made the Seconds and Thirds comfortable enough to relax and talk in private while their superiors enjoyed the undisturbed time of respite.

In Sephiroth's case, this meant just closing his eyes and rest for a moment, feeling oddly calmed by the familiar sounds surrounding him. The quiet chatter, combined with the sounds of the aircraft and the slow paced turning of pages coming from Genesis reading next to him... It somehow gave him a pleasantly nostalgic feeling, since it reminded Sephiroth of the times when they the three of them had been on missions together – him, Genesis and Angeal. It was a shame this didn't really happen anymore.

Despite of how calming all of this background noise was, it fortunately also allowed him to stay awake, because it was only now that Sephiroth was finally able to let his guard down, that he really began to realize, just how tired he had become. The last few days of constant vigilance seemed to have taken a greater toll on his body than Sephiroth had anticipated and had left him feeling both physically and mentally drained – a real rarity for Sephiroth, who rarely exhausted himself during missions or training. He fortunately had no responsibilities waiting for him for the rest of the day, however, so unless something unexpected happened, he could just go to sleep immediately after arrival and he was honestly looking forward to it.

The less fortunate thing was, that his exhausted state made it much more difficult for Sephiroth to ignore other people's chatter without anything else to focus on.

“So you'll be stationed in Junon, Jack? That's pretty good.”

Despite being barely more than whispering, Simmons' voice to Genesis' other side was loud and clear in Sephiroth's ears. It would probably take a while for the First Class to block the conversation from his consciousness, which meant that he was condemned to listening to the Soldiers' private conversation – whether he wanted or not.

Having enhanced hearing was sometimes not only a blessing, but also a curse.

“Yeah...” Another Soldier sighed in return. “They give me a few days to prepare, but starting next Monday, I'll be doing your old job. Not sure, how I feel about it, though...”

Sephiroth recognized the other voice without issues as that of another Second Class called Flannigan. Once in a while, he had joined the tactical discussions between Genesis and Simmons with quite interesting points, but other than that, Sephiroth didn't know much about him. He seemed to be an unusually quiet, if not timid Second, considering his experience.

“Eh, Junon isn't that bad once you get used to it,” Simmons replied with an almost audible shrug. “Although... you could use some practice in backtalk before you leave. Oh, and be careful with the recruits acting up on you – your commanding tone is literally nonexistent. If you had some of the ones I had... hoo boy, you're not prepared.”

“Don't worry, Simms,” the voice from earlier added, followed by a dull sound reminding Sephiroth of a hand hitting either somebody's back or shoulder. Probably the back. “I'm practicing with him during my breaks. Can't be at that the reactor all the time!”

A mumbled “Feck off!” was Flannigan's only comment, which raised a laugh from the other Soldiers.

“So if Jack supervises the recruits... what's your job then, Lio?” Sephiroth couldn't match a name to the fourth voice, but he was quite certain that it belonged to another Second.

“Yeah, I'm curious. What's worse than Wutai wilderness?”

“Uh... you know that one Mako Reactor in the middle of nowhere east of Junon?” Simmons asked, which the other Soldiers confirmed. “Well... take a good guess, who's supposed to look after the old thing for the next two years or so. Probably more, given my track record. I get the details later.”

Until now, Sephiroth had tried and failed to completely ignore the content of the Soldiers' chatter. This topic however actually managed to spark his interest. Shinra usually didn't withdraw both the commander and his deputy simultaneously, so frankly, Sephiroth had wondered for what important mission Shinra would need Simmons in particular. This... wasn't quite what he had expected.

“Ouch...” the other Second said in response and the compassion sounded real. “I always thought that reactors are First Class only?”

“Yeah...” one of the other voices chimed in again, “I'm pretty sure that they won't let me inside the one in Junon. Already told me that I'll only be supporting a First, although I still don't know which one. You think Bill comes back?”

“Nah, I would bet on Lester or Rick. Bill absolutely hates cities. You'd have to drag him to Junon and tie him to that thing.”

“Why did he even become a Soldier then...?”

“...because fighting dragons is cool, I guess?”

“Reminds me of the time when I was almost eaten by one because of Bill... Good times...”

“WHAT?”

“Well, I was...”

Separating the two new threads of the conversation actually caused some effort, but Sephiroth had to admit that at this point he was simply too curious to stop listening to what Simmons had to say.

“...one of them goes to the new and the other to the old Junon reactor?”

“Nope, no First. It's just me,” Simmons replied.

“Just you? Really?” another unknown voice asked puzzled. “Weird... and how is anybody supposed to guard that thing, anyway? There's no settlement there, right?”

“I guess, you've never been on patrol in the Junon Area? Well, that thing is kinda like a lighthouse,” Simmons explained, “it's embedded into a fort-like building, so you basically live inside the reactor. No other buildings needed.”

“Oh... that sounds...”

“...bad, I know.” Simmons let out a heavy sigh. “Right now, it's basically a glorified pile of junk, so let's be honest: nobody has any interest into this old thing whatsoever. The monsters down there are real pushovers, too, so sending a real First would be a huge waste of resources. And that's why I'm going to just sit there, pretending to be useful… and of course hoping that I don't go crazy – start riding one of those red lizard things or do some other weird shit like that.”

“To be honest...” Flannigan added after a short moment of silence, “I would totally come visit you from Junon, just to see you riding one of these things.”

“Hell, I'd come from Bone Village to see that kind of shit!”

“Yeah, I bet you would,” Simmons sighed as the other Soldiers burst into laughter.

“That actually makes me feel much better about my assignment in Kalm,” another Soldier chimed in with a chuckle after the group had calmed down again. This one, Sephiroth believed to be a Third Class. “Almost makes it seem like a few months of holiday. Much better than what you and Dan have to offer.”

“Oh? So what's Dan up to?” The quiet groan coming from yet another Soldier was almost swallowed by the surrounding noise of the aircraft. “Come on, it can't be worse than mine!”

“Gongaga. At least six months.”

Sephiroth rarely perceived silence as unpleasant in any way – most of the time, he even enjoyed the silence. The pause following these words however, Sephiroth would most definitely call awkward. And it stretched for way too long before Simmons spoke up again.

“Dude... I don't even know, where that is...”

From the sounds of it, the Second wasn't sure whether he should laugh or be sympathetic towards his fellow Soldier. A dilemma that not everybody was sharing.

“Sounds boring as hell,” a voice added quietly chuckling, causing the Soldier called Dan to groan yet again as if he was in physical pain just knowing the location of his next assignment.

“Tell me about it...”

“Isn't one of the Turks from there?”

“Don't ask me, I tend to stay as far away from Turks as possible...”

The Soldiers' conversation continued after that, but Sephiroth had already heard enough and finally managed to detach himself from it.

The old Junon Reactor...

Not only had Sephiroth heard of the aforementioned Mako Reactor before, he had even been there a few times himself. It was one of the older models and indeed fortified for better protection against mostly natural threats. The reactor, that had been powering both Junon and some parts of Midgar for years, had been shut down after the Underwater Reactor in Junon had been taken into operation. It simply had not been able to keep up with the continent's growing demand for energy and with its energy yield actually fast and steadily decreasing towards the end, it had not been profitable enough to keep it running. These days the reactor was completely abandoned, its only merit being its relatively central position between Junon, the Mithril Mine and the southern coast, therefore making it a decent staging post for Soldiers infrequently traveling through while they were keeping the travel and trading routes free of monsters. Other than that, there really wasn't much of greater interest at the reactor, so Simmons wasn't exaggerating in this regard.

Gongaga's reactor, on the other hand, was still producing a constant amount of energy, but it was one of the older models – high-maintenance and grossly inefficient, especially when compared to the more recent reactors designed by Director Tuesti. From an economic viewpoint, the Gongaga Reactor was hardly significant to Shinra. Its basic functions were maintained, but other than this, the company didn't really bother about the facility's fate. It must have been at least... five to ten years since a Soldier had actively guarded the Gongaga Reactor.

Both of the mentioned Mako Reactors were of little interest for Shinra, so Sephiroth was honestly surprised to hear about plans to station Soldiers in and close to these otherwise neglected reactors – even more so, considering that the reactors' protection wasn't even SOLDIER's responsibility anymore. Shinra usually preferred Scarlet's machines as guards these days – they didn't need breaks and neither were they susceptible to illness caused by the abundance of Mako in the air. They were frankly also more suited for monotonous guarding tasks than a Soldier brimming with excess energy.

Indeed, the protection of these reactors was a strange objective for these Soldiers' next assignments and under other circumstances Sephiroth might have considered this to be a first consequence of the Wutai War coming to an end – it was inevitable to reduce the number of Soldiers in Wutai, provided that the negotiations didn't fail for some reason. Those men, previously bound to the Wutai front would need to be assigned new tasks and sent to different locations eventually, because frankly, having too many Soldiers without enough work and sufficient supervision clustered in one space only led to problems.

Sephiroth could tell from experience that idling Soldiers lacking any kind of work were quick to come up with alternate activities to keep themselves busy and especially the young, impetuous Seconds could be impressively creative with their choice of such activities. They were also prone to unwittingly destructive behavior when left at their leisure for too long – like that one time, when Sephiroth had been tasked to investigate a pair of Seconds that had been curious about what would happen if one pitted a Cactuar against a Cactuer. Naturally, the two monsters had escaped their captors without actually answering this mystery – but not without wreaking havoc in the Shinra building together for hours.

There had also been an incident when a group of Soldiers had burned down half of SOLDIER's meeting room – not spots or the whole room... exactly 51 percent of the floor, walls, ceiling and furniture. A short investigation had only revealed that the Soldiers seemed to have planned experimenting with combining Fire and Ice Materia, but no information about why, how or even who had been behind it.

Why 51 percent? Why not simply ask somebody with deeper knowledge about the theory of magic? Why not use the more much more durable Training Room instead of the meeting room? And last, but definitely not least... why would they use actual, real fire to test the properties of Fire Materia? This kind of destruction was near impossible to achieve with Materia, so the must have used real flames. Truly, this was one of these incidents that still managed to perplex Sephiroth to this day and he would probably invest more of his time into solving this mystery if he could.

But he digressed.

The point was, there was a clear correlation between the amount of idling Soldiers and the amount of issues and damages caused by them. Not to mention the also increasing level of bizarreness of said issues. It simply couldn't be disregarded and with these kind of things happening in Midgar, where both Turks and First Class Soldiers were able to keep an eye on their activities, one could only imagine what might happen with a surplus in Wutai, far away from this kind of supervision. The repair costs might not be as high, but there would be much more freedom for even bigger 'experiments'. Genesis enjoyed crafting wild theories about how these people might end up bringing immeasurable destruction to Wutai's capital with just enough time at their hand and although most of them were far fetched, a few of these possibilities were actually somewhat plausible.

Of course, taking them all back to Midgar and Junon was also out of the question for obvious reasons. As large as those cities were, they could never provide enough work for the returning Soldiers and would just aggravate the situation there. SOLDIER had simply outgrown the cities' capacities. It was therefore just natural for the company to try and distribute its Soldiers as broadly and evenly as possible, so that minimal excess was created. If one of these locations was an abandoned reactor, so be it. It was unfortunate for the Soldier tasked with it, but there was nothing reprehensible about sending somebody on such a mission for an extended period of time.

No, the nature of Simmons' next assignment didn't really bother Sephiroth. What he did find odd, however, was the timing – or rather, the timing in combination with the recipient of this mission. There was always some kind of overlap between the deputies' time in Wutai. The Seconds lost their special status as soon as 'their' commander left the front, but they always stayed at least one month longer in Wutai to assure that the next First Class had all information he needed.

Had the reason for Simmons' withdrawal been a mission of high importance, Sephiroth wouldn't have minded. The number of real First Class Soldiers was rather low and there were always dangerous missions not suited for the average Second. With Simmons being on par with a First Class and the Turks taking over in Wutai, Sephiroth could imagine certain cases where withdrawing Simmons might be more beneficial than leaving him in Wutai.

However, the protection of an abandoned reactor – one that most likely didn't even contain any company secrets to boot – wasn't something Sephiroth would consider important enough to justify this step. Heidegger certainly was no stranger to misusing his subordinates – he was infamous for using infantrymen as personal assistants despite already having multiple secretaries at his disposal, and he also had the bothersome habit of viewing Sephiroth as his personal alternative to the Turks. This case, however was different, because any kind of failure in Wutai caused by a lack of manpower or crucial information would inevitably damage Heidegger's reputation with the President, which was something the director tended to avoid at all costs – now probably even more than before. Simmons was important in both regards, so it really made no sense to withdraw him now for such a trivial reason... Heidegger's personal risk was simply too high.

Sephiroth considered the possibility of it being a mistake in management, but immediately discarded it for being too unlikely. Admittedly, Heidegger's secretaries changed frequently, but Sephiroth knew from experience, that even the most inexperienced ones always made sure to double check important assignments. No sane secretary would reassign a deputy by accident or even willingly sign something this risky in fear of potential punishment.

The assignment had to come from Heidegger directly, then – which meant, that this new assignment had more benefits than risks for the director. This, however, brought up some important questions: What was Heidegger trying to achieve through this action? What was important enough to put his success in Wutai at risk?

Where was the benefit?

It obviously wasn't related to Simmons' status as deputy... the the Second would have lost this position the moment Genesis left Wutai anyway and as integral as this position was, it didn't really provide any official benefits for the Second in question. Stationing Simmons at an isolated location for a prolonged period of time instead of keeping him in Midgar permanently was instead suggesting, that Heidegger didn't want Simmons to interact with other Soldiers. Maybe even people in general, since the alternative, the Gongaga Reactor had even less SOLDIER presence than the old Junon Reactor.

This actually begged the question... was this assignment supposed to get Simmons out of the picture really a punishment aimed at Simmons? Or was it rather a quite convoluted way to get back at his commander?

This train of thought might just be an exaggeration of the situation, caused by Sephiroth's sleep deprived mind – a sign of the paranoia starting to kick in sooner than anticipated due to him not being accustomed to deviating from official orders in such an extreme fashion. However, as far fetched as it might sound... Sephiroth really couldn't say it was completely plucked out of air. Removing Simmons was actually a very effective, yet inexpensive way to impede Genesis' position within SOLDIER.

Most outsiders probably wouldn't realize it, but the role of a deputy wasn't just of strategic and militaristic value – it was also highly important for both the hierarchical and the social structure of SOLDIER's presence at the front.

For a First Class, distinguishing between individuals of the lower classes was difficult, to say the least, and if questioned, Sephiroth would openly admit that he didn't know who he was working with most of the time. While it wasn't entirely impossible to recognize another Soldier by his voice, characteristic body movements, posture and the lower part of his face that wasn't covered by the helmet, it just wasn't feasible to waste so much time and energy into memorizing these characteristics – especially at the front, where Soldiers were constantly changing posts and each commander only had months or even just weeks to do so. Even Angeal, who actively made an effort to get to know his subordinates if sent on a group assignment, was struggling with this problem.

To circumvent this issue of having to memorize all of their subordinates, commanders tended to focus on only one representative of the group as a whole – their deputies. They tended to have less of a problem with this faceless group of Soldiers due to being part of it. Genesis was certainly no exception to this, because although he did know a few of the people that stood out from the crowd, Genesis still had to rely on Simmons' input about personal strong suits and weaknesses in battle.

Additionally to that, Genesis with his rather polarizing personality also benefited quite a lot from his deputy's popularity among the other Soldiers. Even though Genesis was the undisputed leader of this group, Simmons was undeniably the essential social core holding it together. Without Simmons, the established command structure in Wutai would probably collapse, even if it was left intact otherwise.

If Heidegger knew about Genesis preferring to work alone – which he probably did, considering how often Genesis tried switching his own group assignments with Angeal – this might just be what Heidegger was aiming for: severing all potential ties Genesis might have to his fellow Soldiers remaining in Wutai.

However, if this really was Heidegger's goal... If this was what he benefited of... it had rather worrying implications, for sure. It suggested, that the director was regarding this group under Genesis' command as a serious threat to either his own position or the company as a whole.

Would Heidegger assume, that Genesis was entertaining the thought of treason? That this act of defiance was an early sign of rebellion against his authority?

It was hard to believe... well, to Sephiroth, at least. Genesis was no traitor. He wouldn't just take these Soldiers and desert Shinra's forces with his own little army. This thought was just absurd. As wayward as Genesis might be, Sephiroth knew his friend too well to consider this a valid action. Indeed, for him this was just absurd... but how would Heidegger see this?

This was just one of the many questions that had been on Sephiroth's mind ever since he had agreed to Genesis' plan of conquering Wutai. With Genesis being capable enough to lead their little army of Soldiers to success and Simmons being reasonable and assertive enough to argue against some of the more questionable strategies, Sephiroth had been able to focus more on their other issues and make sure to minimize the damages for everybody involved. He had therefore pondered the problem of Shinra seeing this action as an act of treason and had quickly come to the conclusion that Sephiroth's presence in itself should be more than enough to counteract any suspicions despite Heidegger's growing resentment against Genesis.

First of all, both the work relationship and the current distribution of roles between Sephiroth and Genesis was clearly defined. Sephiroth was, no question asked, the more experienced First Class in this situation and was therefore carrying just as much responsibility for this operation as Genesis did, despite not being the the one in command. One could even argue that he was bearing more responsibility, since Sephiroth ultimately had the final say and was expected to intervene in Genesis' doing, should he have any concerns. Also, as impressive as Genesis' skills had become over the years, they still paled in comparison to Sephiroth's. He could absolutely force Genesis back into line if necessary – even if it meant incapacitating his friend by force and assuming command for himself.

Second of all and extending on point one, Sephiroth had proven both his loyalty to the company and his unbiased, logical approach to his work countless times. He sometimes adjusted predefined plans to better suit the situation at hand and optimize the outcome, but had yet to hear a single valid complaint about this practice. In fact, he always finished his missions flawlessly and stayed professional, no matter the circumstances or people involved. If he deviated from a mission, it was always for a reason.

Point three, Sephiroth had been trained to be insusceptible to any form of influence from a very young age. It was known to Shinra that his decisions were unaffected by blackmail, bribery and any other form of manipulation and it was safe to say that this included personal favors due to the simple fact the Genesis didn't want or need those. Genesis was capable to get out of any self-made problems without issues. So there really was no justifiable reason to suspect any form of favoritism either.

And last but not least, emergency responses to hostile movements in combination with sudden failure of the communication channel between Wutai and Midgar was not unheard of. It was notoriously unstable and it wouldn't be the first time Sephiroth had been forced into making spontaneous decisions, albeit on a much smaller scale. It had never been a problem with convincing reasoning and since Sephiroth had taken the time and effort to collect evidence for those so called 'Anti-SOLDIER weapons' conveniently mentioned in one of the intercepted messages to pass it to the Turks, they should be on the safe side. The main problem might be not informing Heidegger within the first 24 hours of their decision, but it was also nothing that couldn't be fixed with a convincing report.

If Sephiroth's reputation and the years of work were worth anything, Shinra's higher-ups had to assume that Sephiroth had valid reasons to allow this apparent act of disobedience. They had to assume that Simmons had done nothing but follow orders given by Genesis, but ultimately approved by Sephiroth – just like he was supposed to as a deputy. Exiling the Second like this would be a completely unnecessary risk. Which brought him back directly to the original problem.

Could it be... could it be that Sephiroth had underestimated his own standing within the company? Or maybe Heidegger's resentment... maybe even fear of Genesis? Could it be, that they were both in bigger trouble than Sephiroth had anticipated in his earlier evaluations?

Sephiroth pondered this idea for a moment, but discarded the idea very quickly.

It made no sense.

It was true that Genesis had been accompanied by one of the Turks in the Kisaragi Residence and that he had been chastised by the other for overstepping his boundaries, but his focus had been on Genesis, not Sephiroth. According to security protocol S/0-1CSR, Heidegger would have had to inform Veld of any suspicions and the leader of the Turks certainly wouldn't have allowed Sephiroth to search the building by himself. As opposed to this, Heidegger wouldn't even bother with the protocol if he just wanted to get rid of Genesis. He would just come to an agreement with Hojo and the scientist would take care of the problem in a more discreet manner. In this case, Heidegger wouldn't have much of an incentive to take the risk of removing Simmons from the front.

But then again... separating Genesis from Simmons and his other subordinates would perfectly fit the content of protocol S/0-1CSR, wouldn't it? This emergency protocol centered around Shinra's worst case scenario... a renegade First Class Soldier... It had been first established many years ago, after the disappearance of a First Class and two Seconds back when SOLDIER had been much smaller. Sephiroth personally couldn't remember much of it, since he had been just a very young child at the time, but he did remember the older First Classes telling him that –

Why am I thinking about this?

Sephiroth had to stop himself as he noticed his thoughts drifting again. The things that had happened years ago were completely irrelevant to the problem at hand. This growing lack of focus was a clear testimony for Sephiroth's current mental state, but Sephiroth couldn't just push this mystery aside. It was bothering him too much to rest his mind and they would arrive in Midgar soon enough, anyway. Then Sephiroth would be able to allow himself to sleep properly – if he couldn't come up with a coherent conclusion until then, it would be pointless to invest more time into it anyway.

But now he needed to return to his previous train of thought: Protocol S/0-1CSR.

It was a lesser known core protocol for SOLDIER that advised two official steps to be taken to prevent renegade First Classes.

First: separation.

To minimize the loss of personnel and the threat posed by a successful desertion, all Seconds and Thirds susceptible to the First's influence had to be separated from the First Class in question and scattered as thoroughly as possible. Relocating all of the Soldiers stationed in Wutai was impossible in such a short period of time, but withdrawing Simmons was the best alternative to it Shinra could ask for. Losing the previous deputy was a small price to pay in comparison to replacing all the other Soldiers willing to follow Genesis' command. It was definitely in accordance to the protocol's content.

The second step was intensified observation, which would be covered as well. But then again... if Heidegger was doubting Genesis' loyalty, why would he exclude Sephiroth from this procedure? All bias set aside, wouldn't it make more sense the other way around? Sephiroth was still the more experienced one. Even if Heidegger knew less about the two First Classes' roles than Sephiroth had thought... Veld definitely knew them better. It was one of his duties to keep track of the First Classes and he took it seriously. It would make sense for him to berate Genesis for repeated misconduct, but not to monitor him alone for suspected thoughts of treason.

By all means... it made contradicted itself and he was going round in circles with this. Either Shinra trusted the both of them enough to wait for an official justification or the company doubted both of them. It made absolutely no sense to put all the blame on Genesis and no matter, how Sephiroth approached the issue, it continued to make no sense. It only left him with one conclusion: either, Sephiroth's paranoia was much worse than he had thought, or he was somehow missing a very crucial detail in his consideration.

But then again, did it even matter what Shinra thought? Sephiroth could confidently say that he had done everything in his power to prepare a believable story to ease any suspicions Shinra might have and Genesis had already promised to better himself in the future. So even if the Turks decided to monitor him or both of them for a while, nothing would come out of it. Veld would drop the case sooner or later and life would continue as always.

As much as this mystery bothered Sephiroth, he probably had no other choice than to set this issue aside and wait how it would develop.

Setting the issue aside...

This actually reminded Sephiroth of some other issue he had set aside some time ago. One that he had pushed far back into the back of his mind to focus on other, more pressing problems.

“...got mauled by a Behemoth about... four months ago?”

“Wait, what?”

“Didn't even try to fight it.”

The other Soldiers were still absorbed in their conversations when Sephiroth dropped his focus again. The First Class opened his eyes to see the the men looking at Simmons, some of them had removed their seat belts to lean over their backrest.

“Damn...” Simmons was the one replying audibly glum. “I noticed his depression getting worse last time he took command, but I didn't think it was this bad yet...”

With the Thirds and Seconds distracted like this, Sephiroth glanced at Genesis, who was still immersed in his book.

“Genesis.”

Sephiroth kept his voice low as he spoke to his friend – just loud enough, so that the other First Class right next to him could hear it over the sounds of the engine.

“Yes?” Genesis asked in response as he looked up from his book, tilting his head only so slightly so that he could look at Sephiroth.

“There's something I've wanted to tell you since my arrival in Wutai,” Sephiroth began to explain, which in itself already caused a wrinkle to appear on Genesis' face. “I'd like to discuss it in private once we're back in Midgar, if you don't mind.”

“Since you came to Wutai...? Why address it now, then?”

“There was never an opportunity, but I did promise Angeal that I would talk to you about it.”

Sephiroth had wanted to tell his friend about the incident in Hojo's laboratory and the hallucination, but there really had been no opportunity to do so. The front already didn't allow for much privacy and discretion on calm days, but it was more or less impossible to have an one-to-one while leading an offense. Instead, Sephiroth had just banished the memory to the back of his head, where it wouldn't hamper his attention on more pressing issues.

“Say no more, then,” Genesis replied before pausing for a little while, pensively looking at Sephiroth and probably wondering what he wanted to talk about. “How important is it?”

How important was it...? It probably wasn't, Sephiroth had been able to ignore the issue for weeks just fine. He was just very curious about Genesis' perspective on things. The two First Classes tended to have quite different perspectives on things and Genesis spent much of his free time interpreting literature – his skills in regards of deciphering the ambiguous were honestly unmatched by anyone. There was still much Sephiroth didn't understand about his hallucination's origin and it would be quite interesting to hear Genesis' opinion on it.

Sephiroth did understand that it probably wasn't ideal to discuss this in their current sleep deprived condition, though. If Sephiroth had trouble staying concentrated, he wouldn't bother Genesis with this.

“I wouldn't consider it important. It can wait until tomorrow.”

For a moment, Genesis looked at Sephiroth, as if he was studying his expression – the unspoken question about the meaning of Sephiroth's request evident on his face. However, the moment passed by and Genesis turned back to his book with a shrug.

“Fine by me. We can talk about this tomorrow, when we discuss our reports anyway.”

Somewhat satisfied by this agreement, Sephiroth left his friend to his book and made himself more comfortable again. He still had some time until arrival in Midgar and one could never know what was awaiting them in headquarters. With those mysteries dealt with as good as possible, Sephiroth better recovered as much as this situation allowed him to – physically, but especially mentally.

***

Of all the scenarios Sephiroth could have imagined to happen upon their arrival in Midgar, Angeal waiting for them at the heliport, appearing... displeased, to put it mildly, was probably the most unpleasant one. Sephiroth had of course expected a negative response coming from Angeal in regards to their early return, as it was quite safe to assume that he considered acting against orders as neither honorable nor wise – especially not wise. He also did not care for belated reports, so facing Angeal's negative reaction was unavoidable.

However, Angeal had been quite busy training his young student lately, so Sephiroth had assumed that they wouldn't see him this early. He also had not foreseen Angeal downright radiating an aura of disapproval as he was standing by the heliport, his arms crossed in front of his chest and fingers drumming on his biceps as if he was just waiting to unleash is anger upon anybody who dared stepping to close.

Their day surely was about to become even longer now.

“Angeal. It's good to see you.”

It was quite rare to see Angeal upset like this, so Sephiroth remained rather reserved as he was greeting the other First Class. He did not want to trigger anything by accident.

“Sephiroth.”

The way that Angeal was almost growling his name was confirming that the First Class was just waiting for the other Soldiers to leave and the way he said Sephiroth's name was carrying an unspoken sentence, an order even: You stay here.

As if Sephiroth could even run from Angeal's wrath. Even for him there was no escaping from Angeal's lectures and trying would just delay the inevitable. Even worse, a tactical retreat would probably even prolong it, as Sephiroth would sort of have to sacrifice Genesis to get away, which would violate Angeal's sense of honor even more. It was therefore better to save them all the time and simply wait next to Angeal while Genesis exchanged a few last words with his now former subordinates – quite obviously trying to stall for time, apparently hoping that Angeal's time was limited.

The other Soldiers didn't stay for long, though, and Sephiroth wouldn't have been too surprised if they somehow knew what was about to happen between the First Classes, given that Angeal's approval almost felt tangible to Sephiroth. Simmons definitely noticed, the Second seemed to contemplate starting a conversation with Angeal before deciding against, probably knowing that Angeal wasn't in the mood for small talk. The First Class managed to greet the leaving Soldiers with a few welcoming, albeit somewhat stiff words, but remained uncharacteristically short-spoken until they were gone.

“What were you thinking?” the First Class asked once they were finally alone, audibly suppressing much of his indignation while Genesis was strolling towards them. “Seriously, Genesis, what were you thinking?”

“It's good to see you too, my friend,” the other First Class replied, completely unfazed by Angeal's words.

“Genesis, I'm serious!” Angeal barked increasingly upset about his friend's nonchalant behavior, “You can't just just flout your orders like that! Did you even consider the consequences of your decision?”

“I don't consider this 'flouting my orders'. We've just sped it up a bit.”

“You can't just do that, Genesis! You're not the one in charge! Heidegger is and you know that!”

“Unfortunately...” Genesis replied, still as unimpressed. “But you seem to be awfully certain that this is my fault and my fault alone. This could have been a joint decision, you know.“

“I know you and I know Sephiroth,” Angeal interrupted Genesis in a tone so harsh that most people would quiver in fear. Genesis, however, didn't even flinch. “It's more than clear, whose idea this was! Do you even know what you've done?”

“Well, I know, that we have done something that was already long overdue,” Genesis continued, sounding like he was stating the obvious. “As I just said, Heidegger was just stalling anyway. Oh, but maybe you would have preferred to do it yourself, then? Maybe with your puppy?” For a moment Angeal just stared at Genesis speechlessly, giving Sephiroth some time to try and calm Angeal before this argument escalated even more.

“Angeal... let me assure you that –“

“Don't think that I've forgotten your part of this,” Angeal interrupted Sephiroth, one hand raised dismissively. “I've trusted you to make sure that Genesis would not cause problems like this!” The First took a deep breath, shaking his head in exasperation before he continued in a more composed tone. “Seriously... what am I supposed to do with you? Do you have any idea, how outraged Heidegger was when he heard about this? If Director La–“

Angeal's rant was brought to a sudden end by the soft buzzing sound of a PHS – the sound of Sephiroth's PHS, to be precise. He took a quick look at his phone and couldn't help but frown at the sight of the caller's name on the display

Science Department.

Although Sephiroth had secretly hoped that something would postpone Angeal's lecture, this certainly wasn't what he had had in mind. He had more than enough reason to feel exhausted, even without one of these calls.

Sephiroth sighed and gave his two friends an apologetic look before he answered the call.

“Yes?”

“Sephiroth, sir, we've heard that you're back in Midgar again,” a male voice, presumably belonging to one of Hojo's assistants, replied from the other side, wasting no time with pleasantries.

“Yes, I've just arrived. Is something the matter?” Sephiroth asked back, feigning ignorance as to why they would call him, even though the reason was quite obvious. Sephiroth had been able to cut his last stay in the labs short, but it was unlikely Hojo had forgotten about the incident prior to his departure to Wutai, since the scientist unfortunately never forgot anything he was interested in or ultimately had no answer for.

“Professor Hojo would like to see you immediately for a brief checkup, please. It won't take long.”

“A checkup?” Sephiroth asked. The other two First Classes frowned for different reasons – Angeal probably out of concern, since he knew about what had happened the last time he was in the labs, while Genesis looked more puzzled than anything. Sephiroth threw his friends another apologetic look before turning around and making a few steps away. “I can assure you that I feel fine. There is no need for any checkups.”

“I'm afraid that we can't trust your judgment in this,” the assistant replied, “there might be problems you aren't aware of. Professor Hojo needs to assure that your recent syncope did not negatively impact your health and that it is not a symptom of another underlying health issue.”

A syncope? So this was how Hojo wanted to frame his own incompetence? Ridiculous.

“I didn't experience any issues during my time in Wutai,” Sephiroth argued, “and I'm certain that both First Class Rhapsodos and SCD Simmons will be able to confirm this.”

“A Soldier doesn't have the medical knowledge to make reliable claims,” the man countered, unfortunately not giving in to Sephiroth's attempts of persuasion. “The professor wants to see you in person – immediately. His tight schedule doesn't allow any delays or postponements, I'm afraid.”

A part of Sephiroth dreaded seeing Hojo again so soon, but he was quite certain that there was no use protesting any further – the assistant would just reiterate the same thing over and over in fear of repercussions from Hojo and Sephiroth couldn't even blame him for this. Even if the man eventually gave in, it wasn't like Sephiroth had much of a choice but to go to the labs. He unfortunately couldn't just skip his appointments in general and especially not after the liberties taken in Wutai. If there was indeed any doubt about their loyalty towards the company, any refusal to cooperate with Hojo would just make it more difficult for both him and Genesis.

“I'll be there in a few minutes,” Sephiroth said and started walking towards the entry as he hung up the phone.

“A syncope?” Genesis quickly caught up to him, audibly disturbed by what he had heard and with a puzzled expression on his face. “You fainted? When? Why?”

“It's... just the aftereffect of one of Hojo's experiments,” Sephiroth replied reluctantly. This really wasn't how he had wanted Genesis to find out about all of this. “It wasn't too severe.”

“It was a Mako overdose! I don't think it even matters, how severe it was!” Angeal to his other side protested vehemently, the hint of a question resonating in his words.

Didn't you want to tell Genesis about this?

Of course he had. It couldn't be helped, if there had been no opportunity to do so.

“A Mako overdose? Because of an experiment?” Genesis' disturbed tone had shifted to outright upset. “Who does this man think he is?”

Sephiroth sighed inwardly as he opened the glass door that led into the building and to the lifts. He could give Genesis a lot of answers to that question, but his friend was already well aware about the bundle of complexes called Hojo. He would just repeat himself and waste their time by doing so.

“It was only temporary and I barely remember any of it,” Sephiroth assured them instead, hoping that this would be enough to resolve this situation. He just wanted to get this appointment over with as fast as possible, so that Hojo wouldn't bother him anymore. “It's not a big deal.”

Now inside the building, Sephiroth was about to call the first lift in sight before Genesis quickly positioned himself between Sephiroth and the buttons, therefore preventing Sephiroth from doing anything. Sephiroth sighed again as he lowered his already raised hand and took a step back.

“Not a big deal? You could have become a babbling vegetable!” Genesis protested. “You're a First Class Soldier, do you have any idea, how much Mako somebody would need to give one of us an overdose? That doesn't just happen!”

“Genesis, would you please step aside?” Sephiroth asked, opting to ignore Genesis' implications. It wouldn't have been the first time that Hojo tested a Soldier's physical limits through Sephiroth and it probably wouldn't be the last. As much as he hated this fact, it was Hojo they were talking about. His experiments were everything that mattered to this man. “I want to get this over with as quickly as possible.”

“No! Why do you allow him to do this?” Genesis continued, his upset turned into something more akin to... frustration, was it? “You are working harder than anybody else in this building, doing every mission they want you to without complaints. Hell, you're even acting as Shinra's full time poster boy, whether you like it or not – while also making sure everything goes well in Wutai! Don't you believe you're doing enough for this company? Without posing as Hojo's damn guinea pig?”

“I'm hardly his guinea pig,” Sephiroth replied somewhat exhausted, contemplating whether he should just take another elevator than the one Genesis was blocking. His friend was quite quick on his feet, though, so it probably wouldn't work. “You know that Hojo uses all Soldiers for his experiments. In this regard I'm no different from the rest.”

“That's not the point,” Genesis argued furiously, “and even if it were, you can't deny that this creep has more interest in you than anybody else. You are different from the rest!”

The sad thing was, Sephiroth really couldn't deny that. He often did have the feeling, that Hojo had some kind of unhealthy fixation on him. However, Sephiroth had been in Shinra's care since the day of his birth and Hojo had been his personal physician ever since. That was probably the reason for it. Hojo naturally had more opportunities to experiment on him, since the President had given order to keep him, as SOLDIER's public representative, in prime condition. That's why he was more often in the labs than the average Soldier. Sephiroth also was a well-known and especially resilient patient, so of course he would be more interesting for Hojo than most Soldiers he didn't even know the names of, let alone their medical files.

But that wasn't the point right now. The point was that he couldn't just skip one of Hojo's appointments on a whim and that he really didn't have the time to discuss this.

“Genesis, we've already talked about this – multiple times,” Sephiroth replied calmly, reminding Genesis of the many times they had discussed this topic over the years. “Hojo has the President's approval for this and I'm not in the position to do anything against this practice.”

“You're not? But you've just –“ Genesis paused in an uncharacteristic twinge of speechlessness before he let out a heavy sigh. “Is this what you wanted to talk about?” he asked, sounding almost... tired. “The thing you've mentioned earlier?”

“It's related to it.”

For a moment, Genesis continued to glare at him – a judgmental, inquiring glare, that eventually made way for a more sobered expression that, for the first time this day, gave Sephiroth an idea, just how exhausted the other First Class seemed to be.

“Fine,” Genesis said as he shook his head in defeat. “I'm not going to discuss this now. However –“ The other First Class hold up his gloved right had, the index finger raised in a demand for attention. “I'm only giving you one hour. In one hour, we're meeting in Angeal's apartment and you tell me everything that has happened. If I don't hear of you within this time frame, I promise I'll come and drag you out of the lab if I have to. You know I'll do it!”

“Of course you do,” Sephiroth replied, not sure whether he should be amused or worried about the idea of Genesis complaining at Hojo, because he could absolutely see it happen.

“My apartment?” Angeal asked, arms crossed in front of his chest.

“Of course your apartment,” Genesis said in response as if it was the most obvious decision there could be. “You're the only one who has been in Midgar those last weeks. How do you think, my apartment looks? Ugh, I bet there's spiders everywhere...”

“You do realize that I'm still mad at you, right?”

“Yes I do. And you can use this hour to yell at me as much as you want – sometimes sacrifices like this have to be made. Just let me have a shower first, everything else would verge on excessive punishment.”

“Fine, we can meet in my apartment,” Angeal agreed with a heavy sigh, causing Genesis to look back expectantly at Sephiroth.

“Are you certain about this?” Sephiroth asked. “We agreed to talk about this tomorrow.”

“Well, now we are going to talk about it in an hour. I'm not an old man who struggles to stay awake for more than just a few hours and we all know that I don't rely on beauty sleep to look this stunning, so I really don't see the problem.”

“I guess, it can be arranged, then... If you let me go now,” Sephiroth replied and the other First Class swiftly stepped aside, allowing Sephiroth to press the elevator's button at last.

“I'll take you up on that, Sephiroth.”

With those last words, both Genesis and Angeal vanished behind the closing doors of the elevator and Sephiroth was alone, mentally preparing himself for his appointment with Hojo.

One hour... Sephiroth wondered, whether this would really be enough for for the scientist. This hack usually took as much time for appointments as he wanted to, would even postpone other duties if needed. The assistant might have said something about a tight schedule, but to Hojo nothing was more important than his research, so he would even skip meetings of the executive board if President Shinra wasn't present. With President Shinra currently being in Wutai, Hojo was more or less free to make his own hours – so chances were, that this appointment would indeed take longer than an hour and Sephiroth was not looking forward to it.

However, he still had to endure it and keep it as short as possible. Not having any health problems definitely helped his cause and thankfully, Sephiroth had been able to recover at least a bit during the rest of the flight. Other than that, it was a given that Sephiroth wouldn't tell Hojo anything abut his hallucination during his last appointment. In this regard, Genesis was right: Hojo's interest in Sephiroth was already big enough, there was no need to add another point to it. It wouldn't even be necessary to let Hojo know, because if neither Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal were able to make sense of this hallucination, nobody would. Even if this hack did have some kind of answer, Sephiroth honestly didn't want to know.

He would just act normal and get this over with as fast as possible, with as little interaction as possible.

At his destination floor, Sephiroth was already expected by a nervously pacing assistant, who quickly lead the First Class to the usual examination room. There, Sephiroth was surprised to see Hojo already waiting quite impatiently for the Soldier's arrival.

“What's taking you so long?” Hojo barked as Sephiroth entered the room. “My assistant told you that I don't have all day, didn't he?”

“My apologies,” Sephiroth replied politely, pleasantly surprised that Hojo indeed seemed to be in a hurry. Sephiroth wouldn't count on it, but he might be lucky and they really were finished in less than an hour. “It takes some time to get here.”

As always, Sephiroth just sat down on the treatment couch, waiting for Hojo to begin with whatever he had planned. He decided to ignore that the old man was sizing him up, his eyes lingering for a moment on the occasional stain of mud on his clothes with obvious discontent. Sephiroth had just come from a war front and therefore certainly wouldn't stress about not meeting Hojo's unreasonable and completely uncalled-for expectations of perfection.

“Have you noticed anything unusual since your last appointment?” Hojo asked as he quickly wrapped a cuff for measuring blood pressure around Sephiroth's arm.

Was he believing that Sephiroth had low blood pressure and that's why he had 'fainted' last time? What an almost insulting assumption, especially given that Hojo had done this already right after the incident. Sephiroth wasn't one to complain about 'normal' medical analysis, though.

“Any signs of dizziness? Nausea? Memory lapses? …hallucinations, maybe?”

Admittedly, Sephiroth did feel a bit uneasy when the scientist mentioned hallucinations, but there was no way Hojo knew about Sephiroth's experiences. It was certainly nothing more than a lucky guess and thankfully, Sephiroth didn't even have to lie about not experiencing any hallucinations after the incident.

“Nothing out of the ordinary.”

The scientist let out a somewhat satisfied hum as he was waiting for the result of the measurement, obviously pleased that whatever had happened this day did not have any aftereffects.

As if Sephiroth would even willingly confide in this hack to any such things.

“Your blood pressure seems to be a bit higher than usual...” Hojo muttered with a frown after the device was finally finished.

“I haven't slept in days,” Sephiroth replied without much reluctance. “This is probably the reason.”

Hojo didn't say anything else to this, only put away the device in order to check Sephiroth's heart rate – which also returned completely normal values. He then continued with other tests, all rather basic and reminiscent of a normal physical. And again, all of these returned normal values. In the end, Hojo even too a blood sample to analyze later on and at this point Sephiroth wasn't entirely sure, whether Hojo seemed more satisfied or frustrated by this lack of health issues. It looked like a mix of both, to be honest.

“Other than a few signs of fatigue, it seems like you're as healthy as usual...” Hojo mumbled as he turned his back at Sephiroth to put away his tools. Sephiroth just remained silent, even though a part of him really wanted to know, what Hojo had even expected to find with basic tests like this. “So whatever has caused this... reaction... apparently didn't have any physical aftereffects. That's good... very good indeed... However, what about psychological ones? Did it somehow damage your psyche...?”

“I don't feel any different,” Sephiroth replied despite being quite certain that Hojo had only talked to himself and didn't actually want any input from him.

“I wonder...” Hojo mused, indeed ignoring Sephiroth's remark completely. “Does this incident have anything to do with what happened in Wutai?” The scientist turned towards Sephiroth again, his eyes focused on him with this inquisitive look that Sephiroth had come to despise over the years. “You didn't have the order to conquer the country yet, did you? It's unusual for you to do things like this...”

Sephiroth had to admit that he was surprised by this question. Hojo usually wasn't very interested in anything unrelated to his research, which was why Hojo left SOLDIER's management to Heidegger in the first place. Whatever was happening in Wutai should therefore be quite low on his list of priorities.

“I was supposed to evaluate the situation and act appropriately,” Sephiroth simply explained in a calm manner. “The situation in Wutai demanded a quick reaction from our side to avoid negative consequences. It was a well-wrought decision in response to an emergency. The incident has nothing to do with it.”

It wasn't even a lie Hojo might be able to see through. Sephiroth just left out a few unnecessary details.

“Oh? So you deemed following another First Class into battle as appropriate? Someone as impulsive as Rhapsodos even? Interesting... yes, very interesting indeed...”

Sephiroth couldn't quite classify the tone Hojo was using right now, but he didn't like it. If he had to name it, Sephiroth would probably call it 'resentful fascination'. With Hojo's fascination in itself being either troublesome or outright dangerous, one could only imagine, what consequences the resentful kind might have. Hojo using such a tone was definitely concerning.

“So tell me, what exactly was the reason, then?” Gone was the strange tone, but it was replaced with an equally unsettling one – Hojo's usual inquisitive, yet almost purring voice, exclusively reserved by things he found especially intriguing. This tone never failed to make Sephiroth uncomfortable and it was only made worse by Hojo closing much of the distance between them as he was talking. “I'm sure you can tell me if it was so well-wrought. Or maybe it was just based on a... gut feeling after all?”

When he was finished talking, Hojo had started leaning closer towards Sephiroth – he was way too close for comfort and Sephiroth's urge to distance himself grew to almost unbearable levels. But he couldn't give in and lean back, because Sephiroth knew that even just the smallest reaction from his side would prolong this session – would just feed Hojo's curiosity.

He had to stay reserved.

“We had information that Wutai was developing a secret weapon that might pose a threat to SOLDIER and therefore had to be taken care of,” Sephiroth replied, determined to keep his professional face and to at least put a verbal wall between them. “My exact reasoning will be the subject of my report. I'm certain Director Heidegger will forward a copy to you, Professor.”

“Oh, of course... I will make sure to request it,” Hojo affirmed and Sephiroth was satisfied to see that the scientist backed off again – albeit with a grin on his face, wide enough to show the scientist's canines. “However, I –“

Hojo was unable to finish whatever he wanted to say, thanks to a sudden knock on the door interrupting him. A moment later, one of Hojo's assistant cautiously opened the door, a ringing PHS in his hand.

“Professor, you've left your phone in the laboratory...”

“Is this darn thing ringing again?” Hojo snarled as he turned towards the man, making him jump. “This better isn't this fool Hollander with his ludicrous theories again or I'll throw it out of the window!”

“Uh... no... it's not Hollander this time.”

The assistant hurried closer and attempted to hand Hojo the phone, allowing Sephiroth to see the display with an single 'M' written on it for just a moment. Hojo just threw a quick glance on at the phone before letting out a dismissive snort.

“Another imbecile trying to pester me with his nonsense... Leave it ringing, he can wait a few more minutes.”

“Yes, Professor. My apologies for interrupting.” The assistant nodded reluctantly before leaving the room in a hurry, the ringing phone still in hands. With the man gone, Hojo grunted annoyed before shifting his attention back at Sephiroth.

“I'm afraid there are other things wasting my precious time, so I will have to end your appointment now,” the scientist said disgruntled, which Sephiroth was relieved to hear. “But before you go... how old are you again? Twenty?”

Sephiroth blinked at the scientist, surprised and a bit confused about the question. Hojo never really cared about his age and Sephiroth himself only knew his birthday because Genesis and Angeal had prompted him to actively ask about it some time ago.

“Nineteen,” he replied, baffled about why Hojo would want to know.

“Ah... Right... I guess, Rhapsodos would be the same age, then?”

“No, Genesis has turned twenty recently.”

“I see, I see...” Mumbling, Hojo turned his back to Sephiroth, as if he didn't even care about the Soldier's presence. “A dangerous age, the brain isn't fully developed yet... ah, yes, that might be a factor for such a lapse in judgment... Of course it is... The alternative would be laughable...”

Sephiroth resisted the urge to protest this nonsense about his brain not being fully developed as he felt his patience with the old man starting to wear thin.

“Are we finished, Professor?” he instead asked calmly. “I need to recover from my last assignment.”

“Oh... right...” the scientist muttered as he turned around again. “Well... I feel like I'm supposed to give you some kind of... advice, or so to say. That's what more experienced people usually do, right? They offer their knowledge to the young ones who don't know it any better.”

Advice? Part of Sephiroth wanted to reject this offer immediately. He had no need for any kind of advice this hack might have to offer, who was just sitting in his laboratory all day, doing his disgusting experiments. What form of 'experience' would Hojo even have over Sephiroth? They had nothing in common and even just the thought of needing advice from this... man was disgusting Sephiroth to the core.

However, as much as Sephiroth despised the idea of receiving 'advice' from Hojo, his very own experience told Sephiroth that he shouldn't act childish like this and just listen to what the scientist waned to say.

“Advice?” Sephiroth instead asked, his voice as calm as before, although he couldn't even bring himself to adding the scientist's title this time. He was done with this hack and just wanted to leave this place.

“Indeed,” Hojo replied, unbothered by the lack of honorifics. “So let me tell you... President Shinra doesn't care, what you do with your little... friends.”

Hojo put special emphasis on the very last word, as if the concept of friends – or rather, the concept of Sephiroth having friends – was something foreign and bizarre; so incredibly grotesque and senseless, that Hojo's brain couldn't grasp it. Just this tone in itself was enough to upset Sephiroth even more, but he still managed to remain quiet and reserved – determined, not to show any emotion in front of Hojo.

“However, this indifference will change quickly if your 'friendship' impedes your efficiency and loyalty,” Hojo continued. “Whether you have an explanation or not, you might want to keep decisions like the one in Wutai at a minimum. They make it look like you weigh your loyalty towards certain individuals or SOLDIER higher than the one you owe President Shinra. Those are the kind of decisions that might cost you your privileged position eventually. Although...”

The scientist paused for a moment, apparently pondering something. After a moment of silence, Hojo then let out one of his repulsive chuckles.

“Although... maybe that's the reason, isn't it? Maybe you do feel like you can live with the consequences and believe that you don't need all of this anymore? Oh, I'm sure, this would be most interesting for me...”

For a brief moment, Sephiroth couldn't do anything but stare at Hojo in disbelieve, hoping that his confusion about the scientist's choice words wasn't too apparent.

All of this?

What exactly did Hojo mean with 'all of this'? His special position in SOLDIER, along with all benefits that came to it? No, probably not. Hojo was saying a lot of nonsensical things that just came to his mind, but he was a man that didn't even want to use the word 'magic' since he found the expression to be unscientific. He wouldn't use such a broad expression if he only meant Sephiroth's beneficial position. No, if Hojo said 'all of this', he meant 'all of this'. His position, bis benefits, his duties...

Everything.

Sephiroth's mind started racing as soon as it dawned to him what Hojo was implying. Had Hojo really just suggested that Sephiroth was actually considering – or should consider? – some kind of treason against Shinra? Was it a trick to test him? A tactic to simply throw him off and see how he would react? Sephiroth needed time to think and weight the scientist's words to get behind their meaning – time he didn't have. Every moment without reply was a moment this hack could come up with ideas and possibilities that couldn't possibly be in Sephiroth's interest and he wasn't willing to play Hojo's games anyway.

“None of my actions have harmed the company in any way and I have no intention of changing this,” Sephiroth just replied coldly while carefully observing the scientist's reaction to it – a sly grin, almost amused, even. “I need to ask you to refrain from making accusations implying anything else, Professor.”

“Oh, of course,” the scientist said with another chuckle, which wasn't helping Sephiroth's bewilderment in any way. “You're too well behaved for any of that, aren't you? Don't be alarmed, it's nothing but a theoretical interest, anyway. The natural curiosity of a scientist, if you will...” Hojo then turned towards the door. “Also, you can go now. My assistants will inform you about your next appointment as always.”

After that, Hojo finally left the room, cackling quietly to himself while Sephiroth stayed behind – confused and somewhat worried about what this last part had really been about.