Sephiroth greatly anticipated that pizza. The idea of eating such a common food that had been denied him his whole life sent a small thrill through him. It felt similar to when he decided to play the video game in defiance of Hojo, but sweeter in a way. He had no concept of games, outside of training, but food was a constant. He had listened to many colleagues expound on their favorite foods, so Sephiroth had some preconceptions regarding it. Pizza had always seemed related to friendly gatherings and warm memories – most of which were still very unfamiliar to him – and he wanted to enjoy it at this… get together.

And he was enjoying himself, frustrations with the game notwithstanding.

Once Angeal sat down, Sephiroth had Cloud wander around the house for a little, then spoke to Aeris' mother… who just seemed to be watching him. When she asked Cloud to leave tonight without telling Aeris, Sephiroth found himself surprised and turned to Genesis and Angeal.

They didn't seem to notice.

"She did know a SOLDIER before! I knew it!" Genesis grinned triumphantly.

"And said SOLDIER hurt her," Angeal muttered, as if trying to put that all together in his mind. It seemed they were too caught up in trying to figure everything out to explain it to him, and he felt a little foolish for needing to turn to them to explain every little thing, so he sighed and returned his attention to the screen.

He tried to have Cloud leave the house then, but the game wouldn't let him for some reason. So he wandered upstairs and saw Aeris, who told him Sector 6 was a little dangerous (she wasn't wrong, but as far as Sephiroth knew, Sector 5 wasn't much better) and that he needed sleep. Then she said goodnight.

The next thing they knew, more strange text came across the screen.

"Is that Cloud talking to himself?" Angeal asked.

Then they saw what Sephiroth could only assume was a flashback.

"That must be Cloud's mother," the brunet commented.

"Are all mothers… like that?"

The other two SOLDIERS looked over at Sephiroth, then they exchanged glances.

"Like what?" Angeal asked slowly.

"They… care and worry and try to do what is best for you?"

More exchanged glances. Then Genesis seemed to close down. "No. But they should."

Right. He hadn't come from a happy home like Angeal had. His parents had adopted him, but had more or less just paraded him around as their prodigy of a son, bought him whatever he'd asked for and then more or less abandoned him for the remainder of the time. Sephiroth knew how that felt at least.

He looked to Angeal.

"Yeah, they all should be like that," the brunet confirmed. "I'm sure your mother would have been too."

Somehow, that didn't help as much as he would have liked. He thanked Angeal with a nod anyway before returning to the game.

Cloud woke up on a bed in a room beside Aerith's and it looked like he was going to try and leave on his own. Sephiroth ran out of the room and a squeaking noise had Aeris come out and stop him. Then the screen faded to black and in again, with Cloud on the bed in the same room as before.

Sephiroth tried again.

Aeris stopped him again.

He frowned as the screen faded to black again.

He tried for a third time, this time going more slowly. He still made a noise and Aeris came out.

Genesis and Angeal were both snickering at this point.

Sephiroth ground his teeth a little and he tried again… and failed.

Genesis' snort sounded even louder and finally Sephiroth had had enough.

"If you think you can do better, then here," he snapped, his hand shooting past Angeal's face to come to a stop in front of the red-head.

Both of them stopped laughing at least.

Then Genesis, the smug git that he was, took the controller gracefully.

"Why, of course. My friend, your desire Is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess."

Sephiroth sat back calmly on his end of the couch. "Somehow, I doubt that."

Genesis ran out the door of the room, picking up a potion and a phoenix down that Sephiroth had missed, and… failed to leave without Aeris hearing him.

He frowned. Sephiroth couldn't help but smile smugly over at him.

It took him four more tries to walk calmly out the door and down the stairs into the empty living space below. Sephiroth wondered where Aeris' mother slept.

"See? Simple."

"It took you as many tries as it took me," Sephiroth pointed out, still a little smug.

"Even if the morrow is barren of promises Nothing shall forestall my return!" Genesis retorted.

Sephiroth just smirked.

As Aeris' mother had asked, they left, running through the little community market and onto the path outside.

Where they ran into Aeris.

"How did she get there before us?!" Genesis asked, pointing at the screen as if it had offended him.

Sephiroth had been thinking the same thing.

Just then, a buzzer went off behind them, making all three of them jump a little (even if none of them would ever admit it).

"Oh, the pizza's done!" Angeal said. "I'll be right back."

He left and the other two heard him taking something off of the rack of the oven.

"Sephiroth, do you have a metal pan or something?" Angeal asked. "Or a serving plate?"

Why would he have one of those?

"No," he responded.

Angeal huffed. "Fine, I'll figure it out. "

A couple of minutes later, he came in with three of the plates Sephiroth had never used before full of triangle slices of pizza and placed one down in front of each of their places.

"Very good!" Genesis said, grabbing a slice.

"I put what I couldn't fit in the fridge," the brunet said.

Sephiroth watched Genesis, then Angeal after he'd sat down. They both grabbed the slices with their hands and ate them, point first.

"It's a little warm," Genesis said, reaching for a drink.

"That's when it's the best," Angeal replied.

Sephiroth looked at the pile in front of him and gently reached forward.

"You'll want to take off your gloves," the larger SOLDIER said, sounding amused.

Pausing, Sephiroth did so, then brought a warm slice to his mouth and bit down.

Then he blinked and looked down at the pizza.

He sat there for several seconds.

"How do you like it?" Angeal asked, slowly.

"I have never tasted anything so… flavorful?" Sephiroth replied. Well, that wasn't entirely true, but this was definitely something else. "I am not sure what to think."

Genesis snorted. "You like it. Admit it."

Sephiroth took another bite. Yes. Yes, he liked it. "Very well, I will admit it," he said.

Angeal beamed. Genesis looked smug. Sephiroth didn't care.

He reached for a can of soda himself and found that the sweet taste, while not normally to his liking, rather went with the pizza very nicely. To think, this wouldn't have happened had he not received the game...

They sat there eating in silence for several minutes before Genesis wiped his hands on a napkin and returned to the game.

"Well, gentlemen, shall we?"

They wandered through Sector 6, running into several Hell Houses and Whole Eaters along the way. Sephiroth was glad they'd found quite a few potions and Aeris had a healing limit break, which came in immensely helpful. If only healing and such worked so easily in real life. Potions could save a life and were great to use to jump start the healing on small wounds. They were not the be all, end all that the game seemed to make them out to be.

It took a little bit of wandering (and a lot of swearing on Genesis' part) to find the right plank to walk up, but eventually they made it to the edge of Sector 6 and 7, ending up at the gates of a small playground. It still didn't seem like nearly enough space for an entire sector to Sephiroth. More game logic, he supposed.

"Here is where they part, then?" Genesis asked, sounding skeptical.

"Will she be fine on the way home indeed," Angeal said with a shake of his head, repeating Cloud's question aloud. "Both of them had problems with the monsters on the way here.

"There aren't usually that many monsters," Sephiroth pointed out. "It must be a function of the game play." After all, programs could only do so much and it would be terribly easy to write a program that would generate a monster after so many steps taken.

"You're getting the hang of this," Angeal said, smiling proudly.

The Silver General rolled his eyes and didn't dignify that with a response.

The option came up to take her home or go to sector 7. The three of them exchanged glances before Genesis chose 'Go to sector 7'.

"Why not offer to take her home?" Angeal asked.

"What would be the point?" Sephiroth asked. "She would insist on coming back with him."

Angeal frowned. "True…"

It still seemed rather pointless all around. Logically, she couldn't just follow him around or insist he follow her the entire time.

"She wants to take a break?" Genesis scoffed at the flower girl's next words.

"Well, she is unenhanced and just fought several monsters," Angeal defended.

They watched as the two ended up on top of the slide in the playground, just sitting.

Then Genesis grinned triumphantly at the next sentence, the girl asking what rank Cloud was in SOLDIER. "Ha! I knew we'd find out his rank."

Then the screen flashed white for just the barest moment.

"First class," Angeal repeated the words on the screen. All three SOLDIERS frowned and looked at each other.

"I know of no one in the firsts who fit Cloud's description," Sephiroth said slowly.

"He could have simply been made up for the game," Angeal said, although he looked troubled.

"Even if that were the case," the redhead spoke, "with the verbal framing, there's something else going on."

"You don't think he was first class?" Angeal asked.

"With the way he fights?" the red-head scoffed again.

"I agree with Genesis," Sephiroth said. "There is something more going on, and he can't be a first."

The other two nodded, one in agreement and the other in concession as they continued the game.

They were all rather annoyed when Aeris wouldn't give up her previous First-Class SOLDIER's boyfriend's name, although none of them said it aloud.

Of course, then a chocobo pulling a cart ran by with Tifa in the back and Aeris wanted to run after her.

"You know," Genesis said as he moved for Cloud to follow Aeris, "I don't think I'll ever understand women."

Sephiroth couldn't help but think that if Genesis couldn't, then he had absolutely no chance, and wasn't sure quite what to think of that.

xXx

Cloud and Aeris ended up in a… very liberal interpretation of Wall Market, and for the next hour, Genesis ran around doing odd jobs and little things to get into Don Corneo's place. Although, none of them really wanted to go in.

All three of them found it amusing (and their respect for Cloud as a person increased) when he volunteered to cross-dress instead of letting her go in alone (although, Sephiroth did ask why he didn't just break in as it shouldn't be a difficult job for even a third class SOLDIER).

After wandering around trying to figure out how to get the items they needed for Cloud's new outfit, Genesis got fed up and handed the controller to Angeal, who had (in Sephiroth's opinion) far too much fun trying to figure out where to get things and how.

They managed to get the dress and some cologne… and didn't bother to go into the Honeybee Lounge.

"I wonder if the rumors are true about President ShinRa visiting there…" Genesis mused as Cloud walked back to the clothing shop.

"Probably not a good idea to speculate," Sephiroth pointed out, although personally, he wouldn't be surprised.

"So we have cologne and a dress… and it's too bad that the graphics aren't a little better so we can see how he would actually look," Angeal said as Cloud walked out of the changing room.

Of course, then Aeris walked out in her chosen outfit.

"She didn't seem the type," Genesis muttered as the other two agreed.

"Oh, I hope she never meets Zack. I'm not sure Midgar would survive," the dark-haired man said, grinning.

Personally, Sephiroth thought it was useless to say that a fictional character and a real person shouldn't meet and didn't know why Angeal would think otherwise, but he didn't say anything.

Then they got into Don Corneo's place. It was just about as gaudy as Sephiroth would have imagined. Honestly, this whole scene made him feel… uncomfortable. The idea of going into a prostitution institution for any reason, and cross-dress to prostrate oneself before an obvious predator… What kind of man would take a new 'wife' every night? How depraved does one get?

He made a mental note to look up this 'Don Corneo' and… take care of him if the game was in any way true to life. Just in case.

And they hadn't even met the guy in the game yet. Sephiroth didn't hold high hopes that the character was anything but dirt.

They went looking for Tifa and found her in what looked like a torture basement.

Sephiroth hoped he used that for actual torture and not… other things. And how sad was that?

No, really, the first item on his list was to look this guy up. He hoped he didn't find anything… for Corneo's sake.

It was amusing to see Tifa's reaction to Cloud in a dress, though.

"You're right, Sephiroth. There have got to be other ways of getting in there," Genesis said scornfully. "They could kill the guards – I'm sure they're not difficult to take out."

"Or even just subdue," Angeal said, trying to find the less violent way. Sephiroth saw Genesis roll his eyes.

The characters continued to talk, eventually agreeing that they'd get whatever information they needed out of the Don, no matter who was chosen as his 'bride'.

It didn't take long for the 'girls' to be called before the Don… who, honestly, looked about as piggish as Sephiroth had expected. He practically oozed a lecherous air, despite the fact that he was literally only a bunch of misshapen squares on the screen.

Was it usual to want to take a weapon and thrust it through one's television screen when playing these games?

Not even Masamune, but another mass-produced weapon as such a task would be beneath her.

The Don chose Aeris.

Judging by the groan that came from Angeal, he was sure he wasn't the only one who wanted to kill a bunch of pixels.

These games were easier to become involved in than he'd initially realized.

Thankfully, Cloud eventually revealed himself and he fought the other lechers off. Although…

"Where did he get that sword all of a sudden?" Genesis yelled, pointing at the screen.

Sephiroth knew that not everyone could call a sword like he could call Masamune, and wondered exactly what the game players were thinking when they had his sword just 'appear' like that. It was… frustrating. He wished any and all other girls who had been brought to this man could call a sword out of thin air.

Then he had to remind himself that this was most likely not a real person in a real situation.

Again.

Perhaps it was time they stopped? Or took a break?

Of course, he wanted to see what happened and how badly Aeris broke Corneo… because he had little doubt she would.

Tifa came out of the other room and Angeal, being the thoughtful person he was, asked if she was alright. Then they rushed in to help Aeris.

"If that… thing is representative of what we can find under the plates, then perhaps I should go down there more often," Genesis said darkly. Sephiroth agreed as they watched the man's disgusting actions. He didn't even get anywhere with her and she somehow changed back into her original clothes (as had Tifa, although that was far more believable in the General's opinion) with a spin and then they proceeded to threaten him.

Genesis laughed vindictively. "All that awaits you is a somber morrow, No matter where the winds may blow."

"I take it back. If we ever find anyone like these girls, they'd likely make great SOLDIERS," Angeal said thoughtfully.

"If the injections took without killing them," Sephiroth replied.

Silence as the other two stared at him.

"Mood killer," Genesis muttered.

"What?" Sephiroth asked, confused.

"Never mind," Angeal said as he continued the game.

"So, Heidegger's behind something here?" Genesis asked when the man's name came up on screen.

"If it had to do with terrorists, why isn't it the Turks?" Sephiroth mused aloud.

"You think it had to do with this version of AVALANCHE?" Angeal asked.

The General nodded.

Then all three of them stared open mouthed at the next words on screen. "They're going to what?!" Angeal whispered harshly.

"My friend, do you fly away now? To a world that abhors you and I?" Genesis muttered.

"But… but they wouldn't do that! An entire plate! That has to be seventy thousand people! Easily! The President wouldn't… and this is a game…"

Sephiroth didn't respond.

The fact that Genesis didn't either spoke louder than anything they could have said otherwise.

The further they got in the game, the more Sephiroth could believe the events happening in it… and that actually worried him more than he'd like to admit.

Of course, then the entire party got dropped down a trap door.

Then ominous music began to play and President ShinRa's office came into view. At that point, the President confirmed what the Don had said while Reeve Tuesti practically begged them to not do something so damaging.

"Is Tuesti really like that, I wonder?" Angeal asked softly.

"I've met him a couple of times," Genesis put forth, "but not often enough to say yay or nay."

"I as well," Sephiroth said. "He is… competent." And that was all he knew too.

Silence fell as the President went on about how he'd blame the plate falling on AVALANCHE and then send in rescue operations…

The three SOLDIERS exchanged worried, knowing glances again, and played on.

xXx

AN: Sooooo, I've finished the remake. I was annoyed by it initially, but once I looked a couple of things up, I'm actually kind of excited to see where it goes.

If you're curious, come discuss it on my brand new discord! (Obi's Den of Geeks and Writerings) discord (period) gg /ezzFnGJ (without spaces)