I'M BACK! *confetti* As those of you following me on Twitter, Facebook, or AIM may know, I've been dealing with personal issues lately that have greatly delayed my writing. I would apologize, but I'd rather make you wait than force out some crappy writing that no one's going to enjoy anyway. In any case, thanks to those who have been patient.

Went back and re-read what I'd already written to make sure I wasn't wandering too far off-track... OH MY GOD TYPOS I'M SO SORRY! T^T Hopefully at some point I'll get the energy and drive to go back and fix them, but for now I'll just weep in the corner and give thanks that you have all been gracious enough to overlook them.

That said, this two-part chapter has some of my favorite scenes thus far, both in terms of writing and content. Also, apologies in advance if the pacing is a bit rushed in places. It is a massively long chapter, so much so that I finally gave in and split it. Here's the first half, the second isn't too far from being done, so it will hopefully not be much longer. :D

Zack peered cautiously into Genesis' apartment as the door slid open. It was still very early and he didn't want to risk waking the red haired soldier, were he not up yet. He grinned brightly as he entered and flopped down onto the couch beside Haine as the teen was pulling on his boots. "Morning!" he said as cheerfully and loudly as he dared.

Haine looked up happily. "You don't have to hold it in, he's not here," he said, zipping his second boot and leaning back on the couch. "Lazard called him up to his office a little bit ago. What are you doing here?"

Zack snorted. "Well, hello to you too. Sheesh. I don't see you hardly at all in almost two months and this is the greeting I get?"

Haine laughed. "Hey, you know I'm happy to see you. I just don't want you to get in trouble." He scooted over on the couch to lean against Zack as the larger boy wrapped both arms around him in a familiar and comfortable embrace.

"Nah, I was told I had the day off for some reason and I just wanted to spend some time with you before you had to scurry off to your classes. How is that going, by the way?" he asked, contentedly nuzzling into soft white hair with a quiet hum.

"Fine. Been really busy with studying and reports and stuff. Y'know..." he began, looking aside. "I don't have to go today. I've only missed one day so far. And Angeal told me I could relax a little." He turned to face Zack, still nestled securely in the larger boy's arms. "Would be nice to spend some time with you," he finished quietly.

"Aw, you're just saying that. I bet you've been so busy you haven't even had a chance to think about me at all," Zack teased, though Haine could clearly feel thrum of happiness he was exuding.

"No. That's not true," the small youth said, finding himself lost once more in vibrant blue. "That's not true at all. I've thought about you a lot. I've... really missed you," he murmured.

Zack's arms tightened around Haine and his body tensed as the smaller teen looked up to him. "I've missed you, too," he breathed.

Zack's face was so close to his own, his eyes and smile so warm and inviting that Haine couldn't resist leaning in to nearly brush his lips against the young soldier's.

They both jumped and sat back, looking to the door as it slid open and Genesis barreled into the room, closely followed by Angeal. Oblivious to anything he might have walked into, the redhead made his way around the couch to faceplant into Haine's lap and cling to his midsection.

"Gen? What's wrong?" Haine asked, his concern for the elder soldier immediately eradicating any malcontent he may have felt for being interrupted. He looked to Angeal, noticing the folders he was carrying. "What's going on?"

"Are you guys being shipped out?" Zack asked, worriedly.

Genesis looked up at Haine and shook his head. "No. No, it's not bad. It's just... Haine... we've got your file."

The small teen looked again to the manila folders resting in Angeal's strong hands. "My file?" He could tell as he looked down into Genesis' face that the news would be grim, at best. And, judging from the way Zack's arms wound their way around him once more, he guessed that he was letting his trepidation show.

Haine smiled bravely and resisted the urge to lean down and press his lips against the redhead's-despite the fact that they could both use the comfort. There had been a sort of unspoken agreement between them that as long as Zack and Angeal continued to hide their relationship, so would they. Perhaps it was a bit childish, but it had become a test of wills that no one seemed able to back down from. "Tell me everything."

Genesis smiled proudly at Haine's determination. "Well, we don't have all the answers yet, but it's a start. Do you want me to tell you what we found out or would you rather just read it for yourself?"

Haine pondered for a moment. "I think... I want to hear it from you. I don't know if I want it all at once," he answered softly as his gaze once again flicked to the folders.

"Okay," Genesis began. He shifted to a more comfortable position on the floor between Haine's knees and rested his forearms on the youth's thighs. "Well, for starters, you're from a small town up north called Modeoheim."

Haine nodded, absorbing the tiny tidbit of information. "Modeoheim..." he repeated slowly, his eyebrows drawing together. "I don't understand, we didn't learn about anywhere called that in class."

Angeal sat down gingerly on the unoccupied cushion beside Haine. "About ten years ago, the mako research that the town had been built to run hit a dead end and the town followed suit shortly after. You and your family were in the process of leaving with everyone else when you were taken," he explained as gently as he could.

"My family? My parents?"

Genesis nodded. "Yes. Your parents. And..." he hesitated for a moment. "Your sister."

Haine's eyes went wide. "I... have a sister?"

Genesis was unable to hold back his flinch at the hopeful awe that filled Haine's face. "Haine... there's no easy way to say this-"

"She's dead," Haine finished, his surprise and happiness ebbing. "Einstürzen killed her, too, didn't she?"

Angeal and Genesis shared an uncomfortable glance before the large man decided to try and help the redhead. "Yes and no," he said softly, holding out one of the folders.

Haine took the folder warily and opened it. As his eyes found the small picture clipped to the papers within, the folder dropped to his lap and he buried his face in his hands, a small, strangled noise escaping his throat.

Zack immediately curled protectively around Haine as he leaned in to look at the papers in his lap. The picture didn't hold much meaning for him, the soft blue-green eyes framed by long blonde hair being completely unfamiliar, but as his eyes read through the words on the page, his breath caught in his throat. He made a similar choked sound and buried his face in soft white as he held Haine close and rocked him gently.

Haine turned into Zack's embrace, trying in vain to silence his memories as they came rushing back.

"What happened to everyone? Nobody will answer me."

Haine's body jerked as the echo of an old, familiar, soft, sweet voice filled his mind's ear.

"When I get really afraid... everything goes black. And when I come to again, everything's red."

Distantly, Haine could feel Genesis reaching up to hold him tight and press warm lips to his neck, but it might as well have been in another lifetime for as much as it helped.

"I'm sick of the black and the red."

Haine's fingernails dug into his scalp, his eyes going wide but still unseeing.

"I'm scared... big brother."

"Lilly..." Haine whimpered, his voice cracking.

A third pair of arms wound their way around Haine and the overwhelming crush of Angeal's presence finally broke through the torturous agony of his flashbacks. Reality began to bleed back in, leaving his body feeling numb and tingly.

Seeing that Haine was through the worst of it, Genesis angrily punched Angeal in the arm. "What were you thinking just showing him like that? That was about as delicate and gentle as a pregnant behemoth falling over!"

"I'm sorry," Angeal said, flooding with guilt. He looked down, beginning to draw away. "On my honor, I swear, if I had known it would be so-"

Haine shook his head. "It's... it's okay. I'm glad you got it over with quickly," he said, pulling Angeal's arm more tightly around himself to keep the large man from leaving. "I just... I wasn't expecting... I never thought that she... She really was..." A strange sort of smile crept across his face as he slowly reached down to pluck Lilly's picture from the paperclip holding it to the folder. "It is okay. Because... I remember her. I knew her. Even if I didn't know it. I know now. And I won't forget again." Haine pulled the small, faded photo close to his chest as he looked to Genesis. "Can I..."

Genesis nodded. "Of course. You can keep it."

"Wait," Zack said quietly, his brows drawing together as he looked to Angeal. "You said 'ten years ago' before, when you were talking about Modeoheim. It couldn't really have been that long ago, could it?" he asked, his question almost as much a plea.

"It's true," Genesis answered for him. "Einstürzen took the first batch of kids, including Haine, eleven years ago."

Haine seemed relatively unsurprised, but Genesis noted with a small, wry smirk that Zack looked every bit as sucker-punched as he had felt upon hearing it himself. The dark haired youth stared wide-eyed into space, his mind obviously churning and it wasn't until Haine made a small noise that he realized just how tightly he'd been clinging to him. Zack loosened his grip, but the hollow look in his eyes refused to fade.

"Eleven years plus... I don't remember. How old am I now?" Haine asked curiously.

Genesis smiled warmly. "As of today, you are nineteen years old."

"Nineteen?" Zack yelped.

"As of today?" Haine asked, raising a brow at the redhead's odd wording.

Genesis laughed. "Yep. Haine, today is your birthday."

Haine blinked. "My birthday? So, what does that mean?"

"It means we celebrate!" Genesis exclaimed. "And to do that, we're all going to Costa Del Sol!"

"All? Can Seph and Cloud come, too?" Haine asked hopefully, finally starting to get excited.

Genesis laughed. "I don't care if we have to tie them up and stow them in the storage compartment, if you want them to come, they're coming." Genesis stood, groaning inwardly at the aching in his legs from kneeling for so long, and extended his hands to Haine. "C'mon. Let's go pack." He turned his attention to Zack and Angeal. "You guys, too. I wanna be in the air in half an hour."

"I'll go get Cloud and Seph," Zack mumbled distractedly as he headed for the door.

Zack ran a hand through his hair as he traipsed through the hallway to the classroom he knew Cloud and Haine had their first period of the day in. He didn't know why, but he couldn't help but feel that things had somehow changed. It was so much so suddenly and, while Haine seemed to be taking it all in stride, Zack wasn't really sure that he could do the same. And the thought that Haine was three years older than him...

He nearly walked past his destination and Zack shook himself to clear his head before he opened the door and stepped into the classroom.

Seeing a SOLDIER-even a second class one-enter the room set the students to whispering amongst themselves until Instructor Razuvious silenced them. Usually, Zack would have taken a minute to enjoy the attention of those in the room, but today he was in no mood. Not to mention that he was on a mission. He spotted Cloud and gave him a small nod before turning to the instructor.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I need Cloud to come with me. For a... family emergency," he finished solemnly at Razuvious' inquisitive gaze.

Without even waiting for confirmation from the instructor, Cloud jumped up and began shoveling his books and papers into his pack before hustling over to follow Zack out the door.

Once out into the hallway and far enough from the classroom to not be heard, Cloud began firing frantic questions at Zack. "Is it Haine? Is something wrong? What happened? Why isn't he in class today? Is he hurt? Where are we going?"

Zack couldn't help the tiny smirk that lifted the corner of his lips. "We're going to get Sephiroth and I don't want to say anything until we're there," he said firmly.

Cloud stayed quiet, but picked up his pace substantially as he led the way to Sephiroth's office. After all, he already knew how to get there.

Sephiroth looked up from his desk in surprise as Cloud burst anxiously through his door, followed by an unusually unreadable Zack. He looked back and forth between them as they came to a stop directly in front of his desk. "Cloud? Zack? What's going on?"

"I don't know. Haine wasn't in class this morning, then Zack came and got me, said it was a 'family emergency', but won't say what happened!" Cloud very nearly shouted.

"Relax, both of you. Geez, I'd hope that you know me better than to think I'd keep something bad from you," Zack said, mock pouting. When both sets of eyes remained steadfastly trained on him with an impatient glare, he laughed and gave in. "Alright, alright. Apparently Lazard finally came through in getting Haine's info." He hesitated just a moment longer to let the anticipation build. "Today is his birthday," he finished, grinning at the relief that flooded both their faces.

"That's it? Nothing bad? Then why did you pull me out of class?"

"Because we're all going to Costa Del Sol to celebrate! And we're staying overnight, so go pack your beach and sleep stuff and meet us on the roof in twenty minutes," he said exuberantly.

Sephiroth, however, hesitated. "Zack, I have to wor-" he began, but was cut off as Cloud grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of his chair and headed for the door with the larger man in tow.

"Okay, see you guys in twenty minutes!" Cloud shouted back to Zack as he disappeared out the door with a wave, heedless of Sephiroth's continued protests.

Zack stood scratching his head for a moment before shrugging it off and following them out to pack his own things.

The trip back to the apartment he shared with Angeal went quickly with Zack's mind so busy that he barely even remembered the walk. Entering the apartment, Zack smiled at the faint sounds of Angeal packing in the room at the end of the hall and he turned into his own room with a renewed sense of excitement.

He retrieved the well-worn duffel bag from the shelf in his closet and tossed it onto the bed before turning back to survey the piles of clutter in the room. "Packing time," he hummed to himself. Cracking his knuckles with a grin, he began to rummage through the mess.

"I don't own any swim attire, Cloud," Sephiroth explained to the youth currently pawing through his drawers.

"Don't tell me you just wear that," Cloud said, motioning to the silver haired man's leather garb. "Or maybe you just go naked," he mused. "Doesn't matter, we'll just pick something up for you when we get there."

Sephiroth opened his mouth to argue, but a pair of socks bounced off the side of his head, stopping him.

"No. Don't you even. This is Haine's birthday, and I'm not going to let you spoil it because you've got some irrational, pathological fear of being laughed at!" Cloud scolded. "When we get to Costa, I'm going to pick out swim trunks for you and you're going to wear them. Now, behave or I'll be sure to pick the most gaudy, floral-printed ones I can find!"

Sephiroth stared wide-eyed at the blond teen, knowing full well that an excited Cloud was nigh unstoppable. "It's not irrational," he grumbled under his breath, but offered no further protest as the blond continued to toss clothing and toiletries into their bags.

It didn't take long for Zack to finish his packing. Why did no one ever believe him when he said that his mess was organized? He could still hear shuffling sounds emanating from the other bedroom, so he dropped his bag by the door and went back to check on Angeal's progress.

Zack peered into the room, raising an eyebrow in confusion at all the packed cardboard boxes that now lay open around the room. "Um, Angeal, you do know we're not actually moving to Costa, right?" he asked.

Angeal sat back on his haunches in front of the box he'd just been rummaging through. "I knew I should have labeled these better."

Zack looked around, nudging a box with the tip of his boot. "What is all this?"

"My old clothes, equipment, basically anything I don't use anymore."

"Then why are you keeping it? Why not get rid of all this junk?"

"Because it's not junk. You never know when it might come in handy again. Like my swim trunks—Aha!" he said, pulling a faded, dark blue pair of swim trunks from the bottom of a box. "See, these are perfectly fine. If I had gotten rid of them, I'd now be needing to replace a perfectly good swim suit."

Zack eyed the dark fabric warily. "Looks too small to me."

Angeal rolled his eyes as he stood to put the final item into his bag. "I'm sure it's perfectly fine, Zack. Perhaps if you weren't so wasteful, you'd be able to afford more of the things you like."

"Look who's talking about waste! We're late now because of all the time you wasted finding your stupid old trunks!"

Angeal simply chuckled as he hefted his bag onto his shoulder and began pushing Zack out the door. "Less talking more marching, soldier. Let's move out!"

Sephiroth glanced sidelong at Cloud as the teen trotted excitedly beside him on their way to the elevators, each carrying their respective overnight bags. A light smile turned up the corners of his mouth. It wasn't often that he got to see Cloud looking so carefree and happy. It was quite contagious.

The blond suddenly let out a victorious 'ha!' and took off running toward the elevators where Sephiroth could see a familiar, leather-clad form waiting patiently. The silver-haired general's soft smile spread into a wide grin as the pale teen was caught off guard by the enthusiastic blond's 'surprise birthday hug tackle'. Sephiroth had his doubts that such a tradition actually existed, but he wasn't going to spoil their fun.

"Fancy meeting you here," Sephiroth said lightly, leaning down to also give Haine a much more sedate embrace as he reached them.

"Where's Gen?" Cloud asked Haine as he watched Sephiroth press the button to call the elevator.

Haine quirked an eyebrow at Sephiroth's action, resisting the urge to comment. "He went ahead. Said he had some stuff to arrange and that he'd meet us up there."

The doors opened and they all stepped inside. "So~? C'mon, how old are you?" Cloud nudged, taking a wide stance and tightly gripping the handrail as he pressed himself back into a corner.

"Zack didn't tell you? I kinda figured he would," Haine said, slightly surprised.

"Nope. Hel, we barely managed to get him to spill that it was your birthday at all!"

"He did seem somewhat distracted," Sephiroth offered.

A ding resounded through the elevator and the doors slid open. Haine hummed to himself as they all filed out, somewhat disappointed by Zack's reaction—or lack thereof. "Well, according to the old files that Lazard managed to dig up, I'm nineteen," he finally answered.

Sephiroth stopped walking and turned to Haine, studying his face with wide eyes. "Nineteen?" he echoed, an ache settling in at the base of his ribcage.

"That's awesome!" Cloud crowed, oblivious to Sephiroth's distress and clearly more relaxed now that they were back on unmoving ground.

"It is?" both Haine and Sephiroth asked, feeling somewhat lost.

"Well," Cloud began, leaning in conspiratorially with a grin. "I bet it's a load offa Gen's mind," he finished with a leer.

Sephiroth snorted a soft laugh and a smirk crept onto Haine's face. "Yea, I suppose it is."

Zack and Angeal exited the building out onto the helicopter landing pad. They quickly spotted the others, most of whom had gathered beside one of the helicopters with Reno. Genesis, meanwhile, was off to one side, speaking with someone that Zack did not recognize. The pair made their way to the others, Reno giving a small wave as his greeting.

"Hey man, you takin' us today?" Zack asked, waving back.

Reno snorted unhappily. "I wish. Haven't had a day of vacation in years, yo," he grumbled, crossing his arms. "I'm just here to make sure your pilot doesn't have any trouble getting my baby in the air."

"So, who's our pilot?" Zack asked, looking around the mostly empty landing pad. He smiled at Genesis as the eldest soldier finished his conversation and began making his way over the them.

"Sorry about that. Let's get going, shall we?" Genesis said briskly as he strode past them on his way to the chopper. The redheaded first opened the door to the cab and hopped in, grabbing the headset and positioning it on his head before turning back to the now-confused group. After being stared at for a moment, he pulled the headset off again. "You guys coming or what?"

"You're our pilot? Whoa! When did you get to learn how to fly a helicopter? When can I?" Zack nearly shouted, bouncing in place with excitement.

Genesis smirked broadly. "It's a funny story-"

"One that we won't be sharing," Angeal cut in firmly, giving the redhead a just-because-you-were-a-screw-up-and-wanted-to-get-kicked-out-of-SOLDIER-doesn't-mean-that-they-are-and-I-won't-have-you-corrupting-them look.

Genesis merely rolled his eyes before grinning at the others with a wink that said 'I'll tell you later.' He motioned to Haine. "Hop in the other side, be my copilot."

"Seriously?" he asked before running around to the other door and climbing in.

"You hurt my chopper, I'll pound your ass," Reno half-teased Genesis as the rest of the group boarded the cabin.

"Mmm, don't tempt me," Genesis purred before closing the door and beginning to prepare for takeoff.

In the cabin, Zack took the seat closest to the open door of the cockpit and leaned forward, straining to see and hear what Genesis was explaining to Haine. It all seemed very complicated and Genesis was going through things very quickly. Zack was lost in less than a minute, but he continued to watch and listen until the redhead turned around and waved at him before sliding the door between them closed. Zack sat back in his seat, closing his eyes and just enjoying the sound and feel of the chopper coming to life. Minutes later, they were in the air.

As the flight went on, Zack began to feel progressively more uncomfortable in an unfamiliar way that he couldn't quite place. Wanting to distract himself from the growing discomfort, he opened his eyes to look around.

Angeal and Sephiroth were conversing quietly, though the latter was somewhat distracted by the blond leaning heavily against him. The small teen was looking far less excited than previously and decidedly more green.

"You doin' okay over there?" Zack asked as the Cloud's slightly unfocused eyes met his own..

Cloud nodded, though it seemed a bit forced. "Motion sickness," he explained quickly between shallow breaths.

Zack watched Angeal reach into a small compartment and pull out a few flat paper bags. He handed them to Sephiroth who passed one to Cloud. "Man, that's rough," the spiky haired teen said sympathetically. "One of the guys I got teamed up with a lot when I was infantry got motion sick real bad. I mean, anywhere we went. Didn't matter if it was by truck, chopper, boat... you name it. He even got sick on a chocobo once! I guess it was all the bobbing and swaying," he concluded with a shrug.

"Zack..." Angeal warned. "I don't think this is really-"

"Now, me?" Zack babbled on, patting his stomach. "Steady as a rock. Doesn't matter. Could be good weather, could be bad weather. We could go up, we could go down, we could go back, we could go forward, we could go side to side-"

Cloud suddenly lurched forward, emptying to contents of his stomach into the
small bag he held to his face.

"Zack!" Angeal admonished, giving Sephiroth an apologetic look as the silver haired man did his best to comfort the sick boy.

"What? What'd I do?" Zack asked innocently, making big, sad puppy eyes at his mentor.

Notes:

Chapter 19 will pick up at the beach and finish out the birthday shenanigans!

Note: While I have tried to keep as much intact as possible, I have really pulled away from DOGS canon at this point. Mainly in the relationships between characters and the overall scale of things. In that sense (and in my opinion), this isn't actually a true crossover, but rather a 'fusion' or 'hybrid' of sorts. Apologies for any potential confusion. ^.^

Only one reference in this bit:

Zack making Cloud sick on the flight: Independence Day! One of the most amazing movies of all time, for the simple fact that even after all these years, it's still amazing. Also has a kickass pre-battle speech. :3

P.S.: FFnet's forced linebreaks still suck balls. Just sayin'... But since so many readers are still finding my stuff here, I'll be hanging around until the end. I still urge people to migrate to Ao3 to find all the awesome authors who've already been banished or fled, but I'm not rushing anywhere just yet.