A/N: Oh, hi. Writing is hard.

It was hard for me to imagine what Cloud must have been feeling when we finally came within view of the church. It was a structure that still existed even in his time, but now he was following two dead friends into the past… it had to be beyond surreal.

My memories of it weren't the same. I had seen the story told through a unique medium, but I hadn't lived through it. Seeing it all firsthand gave me chills sometimes, but it had to be an entirely different experience from Cloud's.

Backing out had never been an option for him. He was emotionally entrenched in this. This was his life. If things went wrong, he'd have to watch those two die all over again.

Walking alongside the blond, I also stared at Zack and Aerith's backs as we continued toward the church. Every good memory I had with them was always intertwined with an underlying feeling of pain. I didn't want to look at them like they were ghosts, but my mind kept coming back to it. The feeling would probably never stop until I managed to completely throw the future off track.

It had to be so much worse for Cloud…

Aerith and Zack had gotten him to crack a smile a few times, even laugh a little once, but as soon as they weren't looking the sadness came right back into his eyes.

We made it to the church and Aerith invited us in, letting us use some rooms in the back to change back into our uniforms. Getting out of the dress and gearing up again took a few minutes, so I used the time alone to run through my thoughts. Now that the mission was officially accomplished, a few pressing matters came rushing back to the forefront of my mind.

Angeal's running missions for Hollander. I thought of his trip to Modeoheim and his troubled mood afterward. Genesis may have stopped seeing the doctor, but Angeal… I needed to make sure he had all the facts. I couldn't afford to show my hand, so that meant I had to convince Genesis to actually talk to his goddamn friends. Easier said than done.

Rufus is in Midgar. I had no idea what was going on with the VP. He kept his affairs private. But he never showed up in Crisis Core, and I didn't like wild cards… they had a habit of mucking things up when I was trying to fix them. I didn't exactly want to get involved with the guy, but it would help to have some idea of his agenda. I mean, all it would take was something happening to Old Man Shinra and bam, Rufus would become a big problem.

Sephiroth wants to meet with Cloud. This was a huge one. I wasn't sure how I was going to pull that off, or if I even wanted to pull that off. I needed to figure out if Cloud was involved with what happened in Nibelheim before I went and threw him to the goddamn silver wolf. If Cloud couldn't keep his cool, things might go horribly wrong in a meeting between those two. But how the hell could I get Cloud to spill the beans to me? It was too early in the game for that conversation.

Sephiroth is on to me. No—no. I didn't even want to think about it, to be honest. The general sniffing me out was probably the most terrifying scenario imaginable, and I didn't know how I could possibly survive another session of questioning. I needed to find a way to get him to leave me alone. But something told me that avoiding him constantly was only going to make it worse…

Securing my belt, I let out a sigh. I really needed to get a game plan together, but now that I knew about Cloud I couldn't just run off and do my own thing. If he thought I didn't know what I was doing, he might get in the way. So what was the best thing to do? Could I afford to take my time with this? How much time did I have? That was the thing—only Cloud knew. I could only guess.

A few knocks at the door interrupted my thoughts.

"Hello? Everything all right in there?" It was Aerith.

I looked up, shoving my dress into my pack. "Yeah, I'm fine. Zipper got stuck."

She was giggling a little when I opened the door, her eyes filled with mirth. "You could've called if you needed help."

"I've been through worse," I replied with a laugh, slipping out into the hall. "Sell a lot of flowers today?"

"Mmhmm. It's always more fun when Zack comes along," Aerith said, smiling. "You look like you had fun, too."

"Probably more fun than I should've had, all things considered." I chuckled and rubbed the back of my neck.

She opened her mouth to say something else, but we were cut off by the sound of Zack's loud voice echoing down the hall. It was coming from the main chamber.

"And man, get this—a few days ago, I fell through the roof! All the way from above plate! Didn't mean to or anything, but that's some crazy aim, huh?"

We exchanged a look, and then made our way towards where the boys were. When I walked through the doorway into the main room, I immediately spotted Cloud sitting in one of the front pews. Zack was standing a little closer to the flowerbed, gesticulating wildly as he regaled his new friend with another tale.

Cloud blinked, instinctively looking up above where the hole in the roof was. I wondered if he had known about the parallels between his meeting with Aerith and Aerith's original first meeting with Zack.

I found myself staring at the Second with my eyebrows raised. Of course he would find a way to still fall an impossible distance into Aerith's flower bed… did that mean he would've just met her if I hadn't intervened early? Hmm.

Hang on, though. Hadn't Zack fallen from above plate after a fight with Angeal? No, that couldn't have happened, then… must've been something else that knocked him down. But now that my mind was on Angeal, I was starting to feel troubled again.

"Yeah, I got the idea for the flower cart back when we first met…" Zack was still telling stories, now with Aerith adding input here and there. "Speaking of which, Brittany here is the whole reason we met!"

"She had him deliver fertilizer for the flowers. Romantic, huh?" Aerith was grinning.

"What can I say, I just have a gift for matchmaking," I said with shrug.

Cloud was staring at me, eyebrows slightly raised. There was something else in his expression now—a bit of confusion. Ah. Things weren't adding up for him. So he did have some idea of how Zack and Aerith were really supposed to meet.

"What about you, rookie? Need a girlfriend?" I decided to push the envelope, winking. "Need the key to someone's locked heart? Maybe I should start a business on the side."

"Locked heart? Gimme a break, now you're gettin' sappy," Zack laughed.

Cloud wasn't laughing. For a split second he was unreadable, and I was sure he'd heard my obvious play on words—locked heart, Lockhart. The gears were turning.

Then he snorted, and the moment was over. "I'll pass. I've seen enough girls for one day."

"And guys, don't forget," I reminded him.

"How could I?" He deadpanned.

"What?" Zack looked between us incredulously while Aerith laughed. "What did you guys do over in Wall Market?"

"Well—" I started, fully intending to tell some of the story, but then my phone buzzed.

From: 45 3058 6624

Subject: No Subject

I expect you're finished by now. Seven o' clock at my office. Bring Strife. We'll call it a mission debriefing.

For a moment I stared at the message, uncomprehending, and then my blood ran cold. Good god, of course he had to make it sound like we were plotting a murder or something. It had only been a day and a half—why did he have to be so damn impatient?

"What's wrong?" Aerith leaned towards me, curious.

"Nothing," I lied, shaking my head as I saved Sephiroth's number to my contacts. Now I forced a smile. "Duty calls, though. Guess I can't tell the story until we've debriefed back at HQ."

"Aw, jeez… you're gonna get questioned on this of all missions?" Zack rolled his eyes. "Sometimes I think the Director has a weird sense of humor."

"No kidding," I said, still smiling as I tried to fend off a panic attack. "Anyway, we'd better head out. Nice seeing you guys."

"Yeah, see you!" Zack grinned, and then clapped Cloud on the back as the blond stood up. "Nice meeting you, Cloud. Looking forward to doing some missions together!"

The Third smiled. "…Yeah. Nice meeting you, too." His eyes moved over to Aerith, who had been watching him.

"Come by and visit any time you like, okay, Cloud?"

"Hey, hey! Don't tell him to crash our dates!" Zack interrupted.

"Brittany already does," Aerith pointed out, smiling mischievously.

He hung his head. "Oh, yeah. Can't a guy get some privacy?"

"It was one time!" I protested, laughing despite myself.

Meanwhile, I saw Aerith turn to smile earnestly at Cloud. He looked taken aback for a moment, but then he smiled too.

"Thanks… Aerith." His voice cracked a bit on the name. I was the only one who seemed to notice.

We turned to leave, bidding them one last farewell, and I swallowed thickly. The blond fell into a thoughtful silence as we walked away from the church.

Bittersweet, to be reunited with lost friends. He had them back, but…

Zack would never remember the mission with Cloud in Modeoheim. He would never remember what they had been through, their desperate stand against Sephiroth, fleeing Shinra, passing on his legacy.

Aerith would never remember her first brief meeting with Cloud, selling flowers in upper Midgar. She would never remember fleeing the Turks, hopping across slum rooftops with him. That night at the Golden Saucer, watching the fireworks. Smiling at him one last time in the City of the Ancients as she tried to save the Planet.

Cloud was burdened with those memories. I thought for a moment about what it would be like to go back to the beginning, to have everyone forget me. I felt for him.

But…

"Mission debriefing?" The blond finally spoke, looking over at me. "What exactly are you going to tell them?"

"Relax." I tried to smile. "I won't mention the dress."

"Seems like the sort of thing the Director would just have you write a report for," he remarked.

"Yeah, but Lazard's not the one we're meeting," I replied in a monotone.

He frowned, opening his mouth to reply, but I didn't give him the chance.

"C'mon, rookie. Let's catch the train—we can talk more when we're closer to HQ. Don't wanna be late!"

Cloud nodded, but he still looked troubled. I could sense the sudden tension in the air, and I knew my own anxiety had to be plain as day. But still he followed, not sensing the true nature of things.

He didn't know that he wasn't done meeting people from his past just yet. Old friends were one thing, but old demons…

I didn't want to do this to him. It was just going to destroy whatever trust I had built with him. But the alternative, denying Sephiroth… if I purposely ignored the general, that would just make him more suspicious. This meeting was going to happen whether I had a part in it or not.

The train ride back above plate was silent. I avoided eye contact the entire time.

"What's this about?"

At long last, we were on the SOLDIER floor. My heart was literally pounding at this point, and of course Cloud chose now to break the silence, stopping in the hallway and staring at me.

It was quarter to seven. There were a few SOLDIERs milling about, but on a Saturday night most people went out after their training exercises. The floor was pretty empty.

"Uh, Cloud…" I rubbed the back of my neck and then finally met his gaze. "Sorry. I just… don't hate me for this."

His eyes narrowed, though he was still clearly confused. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I lowered my voice to a near whisper.

"I'll tell you this now because I don't want you to freak out. You can't freak out, okay?"

"…Freak out?" Now his guard flew up; I could see it in the hardening of his expression.

"I mean, if you react the same way you did during that training exercise, he's gonna think you're an absolute nut—"

"Punctual. I'm impressed."

Every muscle in Cloud's body stiffened. His eyes were wide. I saw the fingers in his sword hand twitch and go still.

The blood drained from my face as I looked past Cloud and saw Sephiroth himself approaching; he had turned the corner from an intersecting hallway. Must've come from one of the meeting rooms.

I straightened, trying to school my expression into something that didn't look like a deer in headlights. This was bad. I had wanted to brace Cloud for this, not just throw him right in. He was really gonna hate me now.

"Wouldn't dream of being late to an appointment with you, sir," I replied in a dry tone, and was rewarded with a light smirk.

To Cloud's credit, he didn't lose his shit. He took advantage of his back still being to Sephiroth, and visibly calmed himself down. His expression became unreadable.

"… Sephiroth," he finally said, turning around.

Sephiroth's eyes slid down to Cloud, narrowing the tiniest bit. The blond had his chin up, not showing any fear—not even apprehension. I felt a surge of admiration, that he could look the general right in the eye without wavering.

"You must be Cloud," the First said slowly, giving the blond a searching stare. Then he raised his eyebrows a bit, looking back over at me. "I see your lack of decorum has been passed on to the student."

Ah. Probably should've saluted when he approached. And Cloud had just breached etiquette, most likely on purpose.

I thought about apologizing or trying to save face somehow, but then I remembered how he had scared the daylights out of me during training only to mock me afterwards. Well, screw it.

"My bad," I said, shrugging.

His eyebrows went up further. A steely edge went into his gaze, which remained focused on me.

Careful.

"Cut him some slack? He's still a newbie, y'know," I continued before I could stop myself.

Ugh. I wasn't capable of treading carefully when I was this nervous. The words just fell out and if I was pushed far enough, I'd start making really terrible jokes in an attempt to alleviate the tension.

"Hmm." Sephiroth finally broke the stare, walking slowly past us. "So he is. 'Cutting slack' seems to be all I've been doing lately."

He gave the cue to follow, and we complied. I could feel Cloud sending me sidelong glances when he wasn't glaring at the general's back. I kept my eyes trained carefully forward, though guilt ate at me.

"You're right. Everyone always talks about what a big softie you are."

"Do they." He opened the door to his office, sending me a look over his shoulder before stepping inside. "I'll have to rectify that."

I could hear the smirk in his voice. He had turned that one around on me.

We stepped into the office and I reluctantly shut the door behind me, feeling like I was locking myself in a cage with a hungry lion. This was no good; I had already dropped a bad joke and we were only a few minutes in. At this rate I was gonna dig my own grave and hop in, and Sephiroth wouldn't even have to lift a finger.

Cloud had been dead silent this whole time and that wasn't exactly helping either. Half of my anxiety was over him and whether or not he had actually been a part of what happened in Nibelheim. What would happen if Sephiroth got him busted for something?

And even if nothing terrible came of this, what was the general going to think of our mutual intense dislike of him? It wasn't exactly incriminating, but it was strange enough to warrant further investigation, wasn't it? We were on his radar, and that left me with an awful feeling in my stomach.

Sephiroth stepped up to his cluttered desk and shuffled through a few stacks of paper for a moment. "I trust the mission went well?"

"Yes," I replied, relaxing a bit. "About as well as it could've gone, given the nature of it."

"Good. Director Lazard expects a report by tomorrow evening," he said, glancing up.

"Understood," I answered with a quick nod.

"Wasn't this supposed to be a debriefing?" Cloud caught on immediately, crossing his arms with a frown.

"What that buffoon Don Corneo does in the slums is the least of my concerns. You can spare me the details." Sephiroth straightened, having found the papers he was looking for. "My apologies for deceiving you. It was merely a precaution."

Now the blond looked over at me. I winced and rubbed the back of my neck; there was definitely a note of betrayal in his expression.

"Sorry, Cloud. My hands were kind of tied on this one. He just has a few questions, it's nothing serious."

Cloud's eyes narrowed; he didn't believe me. Of course—it was never 'nothing serious' when Sephiroth was involved.

"What's this about?" He turned his gaze on Sephiroth again.

"There was an incident in your hometown shortly before you left for Midgar," the First explained. "Nibelheim. The path to the mako reactor in that region crosses through the Nibel mountain range. Most would require a guide from the village to make that kind of a trek." He gave Cloud a cold, analyzing stare. "There was a break in at the reactor. I'm sure you can understand why I would want to ensure that you aren't connected."

Cloud was completely still. I couldn't read his expression. But watching those two standing there, staring each other down, neither budging an inch… it gave me chills.

"I already had this conversation with the Turks," he finally said.

"The transcript of which, I'm sure, is in a confidential file," Sephiroth countered. He smiled, but there was no warmth to it. "The Turks do not keep me privy to all of their investigations. Indulge me, Cloud. Loose ends can be… troublesome." His gaze fell on me for the briefest of moments before returning to the blond.

"Fine." Cloud crossed his arms, eyes narrowed the slightest bit. "What do you want to know?"

"One moment." Sephiroth turned to me. "Brittany. You're dismissed."

I jumped a little, taken aback. "H-huh?"

"Your presence here is no longer needed." His face was an emotionless mask, but those eyes held the smug satisfaction of a cat cornering a mouse.

"But…" I cut short, quietly seething.

He raised his eyebrows a bit and then smirked, closing his eyes and shaking his head—almost as if to a private joke. "Protective. You'll only scare away your student if you play the domineering mother hen; mark my words. Dismissed, SOLDIER."

I glanced over at Cloud, who was still hard to read; he didn't look my way but I did see him give a very small, very curt nod.

Finally I sighed. It pained me to admit it, but Sephiroth was right. Cloud was a big boy. He was older than me, even if he didn't physically look it. He could handle himself.

"Sir," I grumbled. Then I reluctantly turned and left the room, trying my best to ignore the nagging worry that was eating away at me. Leaving those two alone in a room together…

I shook my head, forcing one foot in front of the other. They weren't in a battle setting, and the initial shock had worn off. Cloud wasn't going to be openly hostile. Worrying now wasn't going to do anyone any good. If anything was gonna happen, it would happen later. It was out of my control.

Telling myself that over and over didn't exactly rid me of anxiety. I needed a distraction.

Sighing, I made my way for one of the empty meeting rooms. Might as well type up that report for Lazard…

Genesis was cross.

He was cross, and I tried to have the decency to look apologetic, but with my face all screwed up to hold in laughter I probably just looked constipated.

I did feel sorry, though. Sort of. Here I was at his door, calling on him at eleven o' clock at night. His hair was a bit mussed, so I suspected I had woken him up. Well, that and the fact that he was in a bathrobe. A silk bathrobe. And slippers! This was the greatest thing I had ever seen.

"It is generally expected," he bit out, "that one would call ahead before simply showing up. Or does common courtesy not exist where you're from?"

I rubbed the back of my neck, the acid in his tone causing me to sober a bit and remember why I had come here. "I… um, sorry. I know it's late, I just…"

The First rolled his eyes, stepping to one side. "Come in, or people are going to talk."

I tried to keep the rush of relief I felt from showing in my expression. When I stepped inside, he shut the door behind me.

"You're the one in a bathrobe," I pointed out.

"Considering the hour, I thought it might be something important, so I wasted no time in getting to the door," he countered dryly. "Terribly sorry about the state of my appearance."

"Hm," I said, already growing distracted as I looked past him.

Genesis' apartment was so very… Genesis. The furniture looked antique, from the well-crafted kitchen table to the large mirror against one wall to the handsome bookcase nestled in the corner. He had covered up the cold metal walls and floor with a scattering of paintings and a woven area rug.

The place was clean but a bit disorganized. There were books and papers stacked around with no real rhyme or reason, lacking the obsessive perfectionism I had sensed from Sephiroth's office. I liked the bit of chaos. Somehow I got the feeling Genesis did, too.

"Are you quite finished?" He was watching me, irritated.

I turned to him and felt a little stupid. "… Nice place."

"I am truly honored that you approve." He gestured to his couch. "Do make yourself at home. I'm sure you were going to anyway."

I sat down. The couch was cushy.

Genesis heaved a sigh, staring at me for another second. "…Tea?"

I blinked at him. "If… if you're offering."

Behind me, there was the sound of him trudging into the kitchen, footsteps heavy. There was a bit of shuffling and I heard a kettle being put on the stove.

Cranky, overtired Genesis was kind of funny. I was almost forgetting all of my pent up anxiety just watching him. Almost.

A few minutes later, the First had set a teapot and two mugs on the coffee table in front of the couch. When I reached out for the pot, he slapped my hand away.

"Let it steep," he said, giving me an exasperated look.

Good lord. I held my hands up in surrender.

The First glanced over at the clock on the wall, and then back to me. A flicker of interest finally came into his eyes.

"So. Tell me why you're here."

"I wanted to talk," I said feebly.

He raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I gathered that much. You're entirely too clothed for it to be any other kind of late-night visit."

"Genesis," I growled, feeling my face heat up.

He just offered a smug look, casually leaning forward to pour tea into my mug.

"Jeez…" I raked a hand through my hair, trying to think. Then I reached forward and snatched up the mug of tea, holding on to it like a lifeline and taking comfort from the warmth.

Suddenly I had a thought, staring down at the steaming beverage. He could've slammed the door in my face, but he hadn't… he had invited me in and offered me tea. Was he actually trying to make me feel better?

Mother hen.

My lips twitched. Of course. I saw the parallel now. But Sephiroth was one to talk about scaring people away.

Sephiroth…

The amusement I felt faded immediately, and I sighed.

"Sorry," I said. "I couldn't sleep. Anxiety. You're the only one I can really talk to about all this. Sometimes it's sort of overwhelming."

The First watched me, leaning back a bit in his seat. The irritation in his expression was gone. "Then allow me to share the burden. Tell me what ails you."

My shoulders sagged; I felt a bit of relief. "It's… it's your friends, actually."

His eyebrows flew up. "Angeal and Sephiroth?"

"Have you told Angeal what you learned about Project G?" I met his gaze.

That caught him off guard. The fire returned to his eyes in an instant.

"'What I learned?' You mean that we aren't human, and his own mother was part of the experiment that spawned us? That knowledge will destroy him," Genesis hissed.

"So you'd rather keep him in the dark?" I challenged.

A flash of guilt. He paused for a moment, staring at his tea.

"… I learned what I could from Hollander," he said, closing his eyes. "I was the failure of Project G. I was imperfect, so I suffered degradation. Angeal, however…"

"Was a success," I said. "I know. He won't degrade."

"Precisely. Tell me, then—why should I cause him undue suffering? There are times when the truth can do more harm than good."

"Because not everyone has Angeal's best interests in mind," I replied. "Because you basically told Hollander to fuck off, didn't you? If you were Hollander, who would you target next?"

Genesis grew very still, watching me.

"Listen, he wanted to rebel against Shinra, didn't he?" I tried to speak slowly, calmly. "He targeted you first because you were dying and he could use a fictional cure as leverage. Now Angeal's all he has left. A rational Angeal would never defect. Hollander wants Angeal to be angry and bitter. Why not tell him the truth in one big gut punch?"

I gave him a pointed glare. "And better yet—what would hurt him worse than knowing his best friend kept it from him?"

The First clenched his hand too tightly, and the mug cracked. He swore under his breath as some of the hot liquid dripped on to him, soaking through the thin robe and burning his thigh.

He began to tidy up in an agitated fashion, throwing the broken mug into the trash.

"If he knew, he would understand—"

"Would you listen?" I scowled. "Take it from someone who practically hoards secrets for a living. There are no guarantees—once you hurt someone that badly, they might never trust you again. I almost lost my best friend because I kept things from him. And what if you never get the chance to explain yourself?"

Genesis swung to face me, eyes flashing. "What would you suggest I do, then?"

"Just tell him, Gen," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "I mean, he has you and Sephiroth—and Zack, too. He'll be okay."

"You're fixated on this for a reason," he remarked, growing quiet and still again. He walked over and returned to his seat on the couch. "What happens to Angeal in your—your game?"

I averted my gaze. "Well, he defects after you do."

"You lecture me on keeping secrets, and yet still you withhold information?" His tone was venomous. "You are trying to protect me, you hypocrite."

"Stop." I closed my eyes, clenching my fists. "If it means you'll talk to Angeal… fine. Tell me, though. Tell me you're absolutely sure you want to hear, because it's not going to be nice."

"I'm absolutely sure," he said.

My stomach flopped; he didn't know what he was getting himself into. But he couldn't adversely affect events if the timeline was no longer on track. I could afford to tell him this.

So there it was. He had asked for it.

"…You defect at the end of the Wutai War and take a group of Thirds and Seconds with you. Eventually Zack is sent to Banora with the leader of the Turks to question your parents," I explained, "only to find that you killed them."

Genesis was silent. I couldn't look at him, so I kept talking. "That was when you finally told Angeal. The town was overrun with… with copies, and Shinra attack bots. No villagers left. Except for Angeal's mom—but she ended up killing herself out of shame for participating in the experiments." I paused, mouth dry, and swallowed a bit of tea. "Zack saw Angeal standing over her body. He thought Angeal killed her. Angeal didn't correct him. Things changed after that."

A pause. The silence was suffocating, but still I soldiered on.

"You're both declared Killed In Action. Shinra sends Sephiroth to hunt you down—and when Sephiroth refuses, Zack has to go in his place. Eventually… Angeal comes to hate his existence so much that he forces Zack to fight him. To save the world from himself."

"The puppy kills him? Impossible."

"From then on, Zack wields the Buster Sword—"

"Impossible!"

I swallowed again, forcing myself to look over at him. Genesis had pressed a hand to his face, hiding his expression from me.

"You said you wanted to hear," I whispered.

"There are no dreams, no honor remains

The arrow has left the bow of the goddess."

He lowered his hand; his eyes were closed. When he opened them, they were clear. Resolute.

"You have turned us from a destructive path indeed," he told me in a hushed voice.

"We're not out of the woods yet," I replied.

"I understand." He took in a deep breath, let it out slowly. "I will speak to Angeal."

"…Okay," I said, leaning back and letting out a shaky breath of my own. I glanced up at the clock; it was past midnight. Man…

"Dare I ask… is there anything else that has been bothering you?"

I frowned. Did I really want to dredge up everything else, too? At this rate, I was gonna make him lose sleep, too.

"… Sephiroth's sort of been on my case," I admitted.

Genesis relaxed visibly, giving me his third theatrical eye roll tonight. He leaned forward to pour me more tea.

"And back we are to Sephiroth. What, pray tell, has the poster boy done now?"

"He ambushed me during one of my training sessions," I said, suddenly feeling like a child telling on a bully.

Mother hen!

My hand flew up to my mouth to hide a smile. Why was that so funny?

Genesis arched an eyebrow. "Ambushed?"

"He knew something was up with you," I explained. "He's figured out that I helped you somehow. We wouldn't exactly have been fast friends otherwise."

"Hmph." The redhead smirked. "Relax. If he were terribly concerned, he would have extracted all of the answers from you by now."

"He cut me some slack because I helped you," I said. "But I dunno how long I'm off the hook for. And he's after Cloud, too—something about a reactor break in at Nibelheim, which is Cloud's hometown."

"The plot thickens," he remarked. "My. Could Sephiroth be bored? It has been a while since his last big mission."

"Wait, what? He walks around interrogating people when he's bored?" I made a face.

Genesis chuckled. "He grows restless with downtime. He'll follow up on leads that are far from priority."

I faltered, thinking for a moment. I couldn't help but feel there was more to it, but at the same time…

"Can't he just do paperwork or something?" I grumbled.

The First waved one hand in dismissal. "That's the point, you see. He spends more time organizing the paperwork than actually doing it. I'm convinced he finds excuses to procrastinate."

"Huh." I blinked. "Sephiroth hates paperwork."

I mean, who didn't? But the fact that someone like him would procrastinate—like a college student avoiding their term paper, like me with literally everything—it made him seem a little more human.

Suddenly I shook my head, huffing. "Still doesn't fix my problem. Why can't he just let it go?"

"Goddess, girl. Had you interacted with him normally from the beginning, you would not have made yourself look so suspicious." His lip curled slightly. "I'm positive I saw you actually run the other way one day when you spotted him. And don't think I haven't noticed you're the one that has been constantly testing his simulation. In fact, I think even I'm suspicious at this point. What is it about Sephiroth? Tell me."

He's a ticking time bomb.

Ugh, I couldn't say that. I held up my hands defensively. "Okay, no. That's an entirely different thing that I do not want to get into. It's super duper complicated plot stuff."

"If you intend to try to kill him, I think I should have a right to know." Genesis' tone was calm—but the look in his eyes was one of warning.

"No!" I shook my head, a bit frantically. "Look, it's just… just in case. In case I screw something up. This is just worst-case scenario stuff, okay? I… I'm gonna try to look out for him, too."

"… Fair enough." He was letting it go, but it was obvious I had given him something to think about. "If you would like to keep him from concluding that he is a monster as well, perhaps you should stop running from him like he is a creature from your nightmares."

My eyes widened. I faltered, and then had to force a laugh. Genesis could read me like a book.

"R…Right. I guess it's getting kind of silly at this point." It didn't change the fact that Sephiroth genuinely frightened me and he was a creature from my nightmares—but I didn't want Genesis to know that.

I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was well past one in the morning now.

"Hey… Gen?"

"Hm."

"Sorry about all this… showing up so late and everything."

"There is no hate, only joy," Genesis quoted, a familiar smirk returning. "No need for apologies. I'm rather awake now. Perfect night for a spar, don't you agree?"

I gaped. Saw the evil look in his eyes.

"No."

"Yes." He made a shooing motion towards the door. "Get your sword. Training room. Ten minutes."

"Oh, come on!"

"You brought this upon yourself. You've given me entirely too much to think about before bed," he said, still shooing me. "Go."

"Fine," I huffed, turning towards the door. I reached out to open it, but at the last second my hand faltered. I realized something—something huge that he had never said a word about.

"Genesis, about your parents…"

"You're wasting time," he said, ignoring me—but I heard the sudden iciness in his tone. "Nine minutes."

"All right, I'm going," I sighed, understanding that I was fighting a losing battle.

I slipped out of his apartment and headed in the direction of my new room in the Second Class barracks to retrieve my sword. It was going to be a hell of a long night…

A/N: WHOLE LOT OF TALKING IN THIS ONE. Setting up for things. And stuff. My stories move slowly because I saturate them with the maximum amount of character interaction whOOPS. Also I may be guilty of enjoying writing daily life at Shinra.

Next time: Some real Second Class missions! Operation Stop Avoiding Sephiroth And Looking Suspicious! Also, Turks!