Chapter 1: White Feathers, Black Feathers

He was told once that wings are for miserable people, who desire freedom, but cannot have it for themselves. Back then he didn't suspect it to be so true.

"How can you even call yourself a SOLDIER?"

Angeal said something more. Zack was sure about it, but couldn't understand the words. He reached out his hand, begging his mentor to wait, but Angeal did not listen. He seemed visibly displeased… and probably was right about it.

Everything turned white, and when Zack opened his eyes again, there was blissful nothingness around him. Then… clouds appeared. And water, crystal clear and suspiciously calm.

Like he was not going to wake up ever again.

For a while Zack thought that he has died already, the stillness of his mental landscape was unbearable. After a moment, long as eternity itself, a single white feather fell from the sky. Slowly, calmingly. Right before his nose.

"Lend me those wings of yours, Angeal…"

So I can get out from this madness.

He was told once that wings are for miserable people, who desire freedom, but cannot have it for themselves. Back then he didn't suspect it to be so true.

More feathers fell from the sky, but those were dark, strangely heavy. He felt uncomfortable with so many of them around, overwhelmed by their perfect blackness.

"Zack? Hey, Zack!"

Was it another dream or someone really was calling his name? The voice sounded familiar, yet unreal, muffled, like coming from another dimension rather than through the glass.

"Zack! Can you hear me?"

Wait... what glass? So it's not a weird dream? What am I doing inside a tank?!

He quickly abandoned such stupid thoughts. It was easy to just let go, to sink into the white nothingness and drift forever in the pool of Mako. As a failed experiment, useless and disappointing, he had nothing else to do anyway, right?

It was alright to let go.

Alright except Angeal's scolding face. And except that voice – importunate, sharp, decisive. Commanding. Zack felt almost like back in the military, like nothing weird had ever happened. Like Nibelheim and Hojo had never happened…

"First class SOLDIER Zack Fair! What are you waiting for? Wake up and report!"

It was difficult to open his eyes again. Zack made it somehow, but then blinked, in deep shock, seeing the last person he expected to meet here.

Those green cat eyes were unmistakable – the way they were glowing in the underground laboratory almost made Zack shiver. The memories from the reactor were like a slap in the face. They helped the man wake up completely. A painful method, for sure, but surprisingly effective.

"Se… phirot?" - he tried to ask, almost swallowing Mako in the process. Is that really you?

His confusion was more than justified. The former legend of SOLDIER supposed to be dead for… Zack had no idea, how long actually, but… well… long. Sephiroth had been stabbed badly in the back and left to die in the JENOVA chamber, Zack had witnessed it before he fainted.

Yet the man, who once burnt Nibelheim to the ground, was standing here, in front of Zack's tank. Alive. A little paler than usual, maybe, visibly tired as well. Zack has never seen Sephiroth with under-eye bags before. Or wearing a standard SOLDIER uniform and with his long, gorgeous hair braided so tightly it could easily be hidden under the helmet.

Was that really Sephiroth? Where was his awesome coat? Where was his ridiculously long sword? And why the madman, who attacked his own men, came back to one of the Shin-Ra's shady facilities in the first place?

Zack sighed mentally. He will never know. if he stays inside the tank. His mouth moved again, forming a silent request.

It seemed that he'd been understood. The former Silver General smirked in response, something similar to satisfaction flickered in his eyes.

And then the glass shattered to pieces.

Tifa frowned and stopped working for a while, disturbed by the news. She looked accusingly at the radio, as if the poor device was to blame for all recent troubles.

Since the… incident… in her hometown, people whispered about a strange disease. Media described infected patients as unnaturally aggressive towards each other. Other sources, less legal ones, spoke of the abnormal paleness of the infected, their immunity to pain, even if their limbs were cut off, and inability to communicate.

"Shin-Ra and their dirty secrets," Tifa muttered angrily under her breath.

She knew that the company was to blame, even if some things remained uncertain after more than a year of investigation. Especially that mysterious man in black, who kept showing up in random places right before – or after – strange accidents. Something blew up, someone got killed during unexpected raids of monsters, entire villages fell ill all of a sudden… Either no one survived to tell the story or the ones responsible effectively blocked the flow of information.

Tifa frowned again, remembering all the reasons she hated the cursed corporation so much.

Luckily, there were people who cared, and they were not going to let Shin-Ra do as it pleases.

Coughing painfully on the wet floor, Zack needed a moment to focus on the surroundings. He didn't know what Sephiroth would do after freeing him, but was surprised anyway, when the man knelt near Zack and… sniffed him. Almost like a dog, searching for something.

"Hmmm."

Whatever Sephiroth wanted to find, clearly wasn't there. He quickly lost interest and walked to the other side of the laboratory. When he got there, something crashed with terrible noise. More than once.

"What are you doing?" Not a quite intelligent question in such circumstances, to be honest. Cursing his own head and useless muscles, Zack looked at the general and saw complete destruction.

"Isn't it obvious?"

Well… it was, maybe? Sephiroth was busy destroying the lab's equipment, crushing it with his bare hands. Almost like a child, frustrated to the point of bringing doom to everything within his reach.

"Ok. But why?"

"Because destroying Hojo's playground is a duty. And pleasure." The silver-haired avatar of ruin sighed in annoyance. "Bastard is lucky enough to be absent today."

Zack didn't know what to think. He couldn't find that 'scary vibe', which surrounded the former general inside the reactor. What felt strange about him back then seemed long gone. The black-haired First still wouldn't dare call such man 'sane', but all Sephiroth's madness (and hatred, not so well-hidden behind his cold stare) was directed elsewhere. At least for now.

It's not that he forgave the man. How could he, after all he's done to Tifa, Cloud and lots of innocent people? But he wasn't in a position to judge him either. At least until he finds out what's actually going on.

Zack watched in stunned silence how Sephiroth grabbed a sword – a standard SOLDIER blade – and killed Jenova-infected monsters created by Hojo. With a grimace of utter disgust on his face, he kept methodically cutting off their heads, leaving none alive.

After finishing this unpleasant task, the silver warrior walked up to the last tank. Cloud was floating inside, seemingly sleeping. His innocent face looked almost angelic.

Sephiroth broke the glass without a word and sniffed the blond trooper, like he did with Zack moments ago. An ugly grimace on his face couldn't mean anything good.

"What the…?!" Operating mostly on instinct and adrenaline, Zack rushed to the general. Somehow he managed to stop the blade on time. "Stop it, Sephiroth! I can't let you kill Cloud. Burning his home wasn't enough for you?! Why are you doing this anyway? Because he stabbed you or what?"

"Oh?" Sephiroth raised an eyebrow and gave Cloud a curious look. "So this is the one?"

"You… didn't remember?"

The fallen star of SOLDIER ignored the question and returned to examining Cloud. It seemed like Sephiroth wanted to say something, but abandoned the idea, alarmed by the noise in the corridor. He immediately proceeded towards the door, always ready to fight, just like Zack remembered.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" The spiky-haired First couldn't hold the raging emotions in check anymore. "First rampaging through Nibelheim and talking to some alien's head, now showing up out of nowhere, like nothing has ever happened! I don't even know if I should thank you or kill you, and you're acting like I'm not worth to be given the explanation!"

"Zack." Sephiroth cut off this tirade, again sounding like a commanding officer. He clearly took advantage of his companion's SOLDIER instinct. "I have no time, so focus. There's a secret passage behind that shelf." He gestured towards one of the walls. "I left a tanked motorcycle near the exit. Some guards will try to stop you, but there are also Turks who will help you. No matter what happens, do not let anyone bite you. If you really insist on taking that… Cloud… with you, you should at least gag him, just in case. Go straight back to Midgar and protect the Cetra."

"C-cetra?" The black-haired SOLDIER blinked, genuinely surprised. It was far too much info to process at once."What Cetra?"

Sephiroth winced, like after hearing a very bad joke.

"I assume it's Mako poisoning, but FOCUS, Zack! Don't waste time, go straight to Midgar and protect the Flower Girl at all cost."

With those words, he took out a strange looking gun from a holster on his belt and left, slamming the door behind him.

For a moment Zack only stood there, like a complete idiot, wondering if he has ever seen Sephiroth using a gun before. When the sounds on the corridor became violent, he finally sobered and rushed to Cloud.

"Come on, buddy. I'm not sure what's going on but…" He sighed, picking up his still unconscious friend. "Mad or not, he's right about one thing, Cloud. Let's get out of here."

Seraph was singing in his left hand, breathing fire like a six-winged dragon. In his right hand Cherub tried hard to not be left behind, emitting deathly missiles and covering its owner with protective spells.

Sephiroth smiled to himself as he cleared the wave of infected guards and lab's staff. He still missed Masamune, but his new toys proved themselves useful as well.

Seraph was his favorite one so far. This little beast, with six ornamental wings carved on its barrel, infused with the fire materia, could easily rival some of Genesis' offensive spells. Wherever the red-haired First was hiding now, he would be probably insanely jealous.

Sephiroth's little diversion inside the manor was going smoothly, but nothing could prepare him for the chaos outside. It seemed that damn Hojo repopulated the village, using only specimens injected with Jenova cells. Now, triggered by the appearance of the unexpected guest, the disease made them gather and seek prey.

"The Reunion Theory, huh?" Sephiroth muttered with disgust, heading back inside. There was no need to bother about living enemies anymore - all he had to do was to shoot several times into the crowd of growling beasts, luring them to the mansion. "You pitiful imitation of a scientist…"

Not that the rest was any better.

To proceed with his plan, Sephiroth needed to find a competent scientist – someone, who could at least get close to the level of Professor Gast. For the last few months he's been travelling from one laboratory to another. Additionally, he destroyed every single Jenova-infected creature he encountered in the way. His list of Shin-Ra experimental facilities ran thin recently, but none of the microbiologists who used to work there seemed capable enough or willing to help.

They certainly deserved miserable death that found them in the end.

So the silver-haired SOLDIER found himself in Nibelheim again, and he had mixed feelings about it. Anger was the dominant one – a barely controllable wrath at Shin-Ra, at the creature who dared to call himself 'Professor', and at the shameless impostor, who pretended to be Sephiroth's Mother.

Getting rid of Hojo would make a nice final of this trip, but there were more urgent matters. Sephiroth didn't like to be lied to. He didn't like to be fooled with, used or robbed. And his enemy happened to do to him every single thing from that list.

Trying to suppress the raising anger, the former general returned to the dungeon, where he stopped before a creepy looking door.

"I do not remember this place," he noticed dryly.

Is it really strange? Someone was literally screaming inside his head back then, so loud that Sephiroth didn't even notice the lies Hojo has been feeding him all those years…

Having no time to waste, the former general opened the door with a key, which he took from one of the dead staff members found on the first floor, and swiftly slid inside. His eyes worked as fine as ever in the darkness, so he took a quick look around... and winced, disgusted.

Sephiroth was surrounded by coffins. In different circumstances he would probably appreciate the subtle irony of this situation.

"The living dead outside, the dead dead inside. Great, just wonderful."

With a sigh, he leaned on the wall, determined to wait out the commotion outside. He made enough mess for Shin-Ra dogs to have problems with recovery after his bold raid. He will get out and finish the job in the morning, when infected creatures are less active and the spying eyes of his enemy look elsewhere.

Normally he wouldn't bother to hide - facing the danger head on seemed much more appealing to him. But for now his resources were limited, his favorite blade gone and mind forced to regularly defend itself against mental attacks. Besides, it was only a diversion to secure Zack's escape. Finding his former subordinate, although unexpected, turned out to be a big advantage. Sephiroth gained more time to focus on his current mission rather than playing the little Cetra's bodyguard.

He sighed, strangely sure that he will be forced to take this role anyway in the nearest future.

"My friend, the fates are cruel," Genesis would most likely say right now. The thought alone made the former general chuckle.

It was a sad, forced laughter, though. Because for the first time in his existence, Sephiroth felt really tired.

Maybe he should take a nap when he had a chance? Too bad that the atmosphere of this place wasn't particularly inviting… Another small chuckle escaped Sephiroth's throat at the ridiculously improper idea of resting in one of the coffins.

He sighed, hearing inhuman growling coming from above. It will be a pleasure to blow up the mansion in the morning, along with all of the degenerated creatures gathered inside. He should wait till more of them come, attracted by fresh corpses.

Sephiroth could already feel the excitement of the heat on his skin, of raging flames and smell of smoke. Burning things proved itself to be an extremely effective method of dealing with most of his problems.

Even if he needs to set Nibelheim ablaze again. Even if he needs to burn the world to reach his goal, he will.

Sooner or later traitors will pay.

Next chapter: Sin

So… I needed change and ended up experimenting again (I blame Opera Omnia).
And, of course, all characters and many motives belong to their respective owners.