Author's Note: I'm back with a new Sephiroth/Tifa story and for those of you who have read my other stories, I PROMISE Sephiroth doesn't die and isn't a total jerk! ;D This is Alternate Universe and starts during Crisis Core. It will follow the story for the most part in the first few chapters and then goes off in a completely different direction. I will warn all of you that I will try to keep Sephiroth close to his personality in Crisis Core, but he may step OOC during moments of personal reflection. It's not as dark as my last story and it will be slower moving, but that just means we get to enjoy Sephiroth a little longer! This will be a Tifa/Sephiroth romance but it will build slowly, so I hope everyone enjoys the ride!

Author's Note April 1, 2017: Hey all! My beta took it upon herself to help me tackle slight edits I've been meaning to conquer for a while with this story! I started with no beta on this and the inconsistency of that has bugged me, so thank you to Dreamseeker13 for the surprise edits :)

Disclaimer: Square Enix owns Final Fantasy VII and all its characters (damn). I just play with them every now and then! :D

The Path We Choose

Chapter 1: Letting Go of Friends

Sephiroth stared at the box in front of him. Going through Genesis' personal effects wasn't an activity he'd been looking forward to doing, putting it off for days. Realizing that ignoring said box wasn't going to make it disappear, he sighed irritably, reluctantly getting to his feet and lifted the lid. The first item Sephiroth saw drew a slight smile from him. A white, leather cover. Gold embossed lettering. He reached in, taking the book from the top of the pile and stared at it. LOVELESS. He gently stroked the cover and sighed. He couldn't remember the number of times he had desperately wanted Genesis to just shut up and stop reciting the drivel that was his favorite poem. Now? He would give almost anything to have Genesis sitting on the couch in his office spouting the words he had committed to memory, relegating the book itself to the status of a mere prop.

Nothing else in the box was noteworthy. A change of clothes he had taken to Wutai, a few orbs of materia. Still, he refused to part with any of it. It seemed so wrong to dispose of a man's belongings when he was still alive. Angeal seemed to think there was still hope for Genesis, but he had lost touch with Angeal since he too had defected with Genesis. The night at Mako Reactor 5 provided him with vital information. He had even confronted Genesis himself, though he had been evasive and cryptic. Angeal had been spotted fighting Genesis, but both men had disappeared. Zack was currently in Modeoheim searching for answers, and Sephiroth hoped he would find something that he could use to stop his friends from doing something they could never come back from.

His PHS rang, vibrating in his pocket, jolting him from his musings. "Yes?" He squeezed his eyes shut before answering curtly: "I'll be right there."

Tseng looked up when Sephiroth entered the infirmary. "General Sephiroth."

"What happened?" he asked, skipping the pleasantries.

"We found Genesis and his copies in Modeoheim," Tseng said while a nurse continued to tend to his wounds. "Lieutenant Fair confronted Genesis who was threatening Hollander and a battle ensued."

Sephiroth felt his chest constrict. "Did Genesis escape?'

Tseng shook his head. "No sir. Lieutenant Fair reported after his defeat, Genesis said if the world wanted to destroy him, he was taking it with him before falling to his death."

"Genesis is dead?" Sephiroth asked, not wanting to believe it. The unknown constriction tightened, slowing his breath for a brief moment.

"Apparently," Tseng said with a nod. "While the lieutenant was fighting Genesis, Cadet Strife and I went on to the town in hopes of finding Hollander, who had escaped Genesis while he was fighting Lieutenant Fair. When we got to the town, we were ambushed by Angeal clones. The lieutenant was forced to go on ahead of us and he found Angeal and Hollander. Angeal exchanged some heated words with Hollander and Zack before recalling some of his copies, merging with them to form one monster. Zack was forced to fight him."

Sephiroth observed the Turk, disturbed to see that even he was having an emotional reaction to what had happened. "He fought Angeal?"

Tseng nodded. "Yes sir."

"And?"

"And I think you should speak with Lieutenant Fair, Sir," Tseng said.

"Where is he?" Sephiroth asked, a pang of sadness twisting in his gut.

"I would assume he's in the slums of Sector 5," Tseng said. "There's a church there and a young woman whom the lieutenant is quite smitten with."

Sephiroth nodded. "I will find him."

Aerith watched Zack openly weep on the floor of the church and her heart broke for him. She knew no words would comfort him, so she slowly approached him and dropped to her knees behind him, wrapping her arms around him.

"Just let it all out, Zack," she whispered, feeling his body shake with his sobs.

She was startled when the door to the church opened. A tall man stood outlined by the light from outside. She tensed up when she realized it was General Sephiroth of ShinRa's SOLDIER division. She watched him uneasily while he approached them with determined steps, stopping once he was only a foot or two away from them. Her arms instinctively tightened around Zack when Sephiroth met her gaze with his.

He smiled slightly. "I'm not here to hurt you or Zack. I need to speak with him."

Zack looked up at him through tear-soaked eyes. "Seph…he's gone. I…I killed him. I killed Angeal."

Sephiroth nodded. "I know. Listen, I need you to come back with me and tell me everything."

Zack reluctantly nodded and pushed himself to his feet before turning and helping Aerith to her feet. "Thanks for being here, Aerith."

She smiled and nodded before hugging him. "I'll be here whenever you need me, Zack."

He nodded and turned to follow Sephiroth out of the church and to the waiting transport.

While Zack recounted the events that had happened between himself and Angeal, as well as the exchange between Angeal and Hollander, Sephiroth listened intently.

"It was weird, Seph," Zack said. "Professor Hollander is really losing it! He kept referring to Angeal like an experiment or something. Do you think that's why Genesis turned on him?"

"It's possible," Sephiroth mused. "Unfortunately, the science division's records are confidential. Even I have difficulty getting information from them."

"But you're Hojo's favorite," Zack said frowning.

Sephiroth lips twisted into a sneer. "I'm his favorite pin cushion, but I do not share his confidence. He didn't become the head of the science division by being a trusting sort of man and he remains tight-lipped about everything…including on what exactly he's doing to me during my regular check-ups. He'll give us nothing of any use."

"We have to do something," Zack said anxiously. "Angeal can't have died in vain."

"He won't have died in vain, Zack, I promise," Sephiroth said. "You managed to capture Hollander. Your promotion to SOLDIER, first class will be finalized in a few days when your probation ends. Angeal would have been proud of you."

Zack's gaze was drawn to Angeal's sword propped against the wall. "He told me his dreams and honor are mine now."

"He always wanted you to carry on his legacy," Sephiroth said with a small smile. "You'll do his memory proud, Zack."

"Really?" Zack asked, as he shyly rubbing the back of his neck. "You know, you're not nearly as cold as everyone says."

Sephiroth lifted an eyebrow. "Don't go spreading that around, Lieutenant."

Zack smiled and saluted. "Yes, Sir!"

Sephiroth shook his head and got to his feet. "Get some rest. Our work is far from over. Once Hollander is dealt with, we can mourn for our friend."

Sephiroth switched on the lights and slowly let his eyes wander around the living room of Genesis' apartment. He would never be so rude as to assume that Genesis was stupid enough to leave any incriminating evidence of his planned defection or reasoning behind it, but he may have left something for him…a clue perhaps as to why he was risking everything in life that he held dear and for what purpose. Now that he was…gone, all Sephiroth wanted was an answer to the question why. Why had Genesis felt so bereft that he abandoned everything he had worked so hard for? And why didn't he feel he could trust him to help him? He shook his head and closed the door behind him before moving further into the apartment.

He missed coming here for the traditional post-battle celebrations Genesis insisted on having. "In a profession such as ours, we must celebrate our lives and the gift we were granted in living through yet another battle because one day, one of us may not return," he used to say as a justification for behaving completely un-SOLDIER like. Sephiroth still smiled at the image of an inebriated Genesis stumbling around his living room, drunkenly complaining about "the man". That was how you could tell he was truly drunk. President Shinra became "the man" or on a particularly bad night, "that fat asshole who has no concept of facing one's mortality in the heat of battle".

He wandered around the apartment, as he had done countless nights before. He still didn't know what he was expecting to find since his previous, more thorough searches of the apartment had yielded no results to speak of. Instead, he found himself wandering aimlessly, stopping to look at pictures of his friend throughout various stages of his life. He wandered into the bedroom and continued to observe the trinkets and pictures the older man had chosen to surround himself with. One picture made Sephiroth stop and pick it up from the bedside table it had been sitting on. It was a candid photo Sephiroth had never seen before of him, Angeal, and Genesis. The three of them had monster blood spattered across their bodies and they were all propped up against the wall of a transport, apparently completely exhausted since all three of them appeared to be asleep. Angeal was on Sephiroth's right side and had his head tilted back with his lips slightly parted. Sephiroth himself had his head against the wall, slouching slightly with his legs stretched out in front of him and crossed at the ankles. Genesis was on his left with his legs crossed beneath him and his head was resting on Sephiroth's shoulder.

Seeing them all so close and Genesis uncaring of what rumors a photo capturing a seemingly intimate moment would cause made him remember why Angeal and Genesis were his friends. He was only moderately surprised to feel a tear trickle down his cheek and splash against the glass-covered picture.

Genesis crouched on the rooftop facing his apartment, watching Sephiroth's movements. He'd heard of Angeal's suicide…he couldn't in good conscience brand young Zack as a murderer for killing Angeal. Angeal had wanted to die since discovering Hollander's intentions to keep copying him in order to destroy ShinRa, but he couldn't bring himself to die by his own hand and forced Zack into a situation where his only choice was to kill him. Angeal had been his best friend since they were young kids. Angeal's suicide tore away another piece of his humanity. It was his fault anyway. He was the one who told Angeal the truth about them and he was the one who convinced him to abandon ShinRa and join him in his crusade against a company that turned them into monsters.

With his best friend's death so fresh in what was left of his heart, it only seemed right to seek comfort from his other friend, Sephiroth…even if it was from a distance. Judging from Sephiroth's presence in his abandoned apartment, he could see His friend had the same idea. As Genesis watched Sephiroth pick up his favorite picture and stare at it, a spark of hope began to bloom in his heart. Maybe Sephiroth did care after all. Maybe Sephiroth was the key to his survival. More research would be necessary, but Sephiroth's cells may be the answer he was searching for. There was only one way to find out. He was going to have to free Professor Hollander and that meant seeing Director Lazard.