Adult-FanFiction.org : Final Fantasy

Snow Day	By : Zerachiel Category: Final Fantasy VII > Yaoi - Male/Male > Cloud/Sephiroth Views: 7487 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7 in any way shape or form and there is no way in hell i am making any money off this it's purely for fun and my own enjoyment

Chapter List
- 16
- 17
- 18
Snow day: chapter 16

'Genesis' his name kept repeating over and over again in his head, images of the red head smiling, laughing, the way his left eye slightly twitched when he was getting irritated, the look of passion that would fall over his face seconds before release.

Never before had he ever felt this numb, even when Hojo injected him with numbing agents. The cold wind was tearing at him, biting through his thin silk pants and bare chest. His hair working free of its confining braid sharp stands whipping across his face.

All of this went unnoticed, unfocused mako eyes stared blankly over the city of Midgar, red torn strip of fabric held tightly in numb fingers.

"LET ME GO!"

Jerking out of his numb shock Sephiroth quickly stood, he knew that voice. Whirling around he looked up, his fogged thoughts trying desperately to catch up with what he was seeing in front of him, well more like above him.

Hovering several feet over some of the helicopters was a massive creature of pure black; glowing golden eyes looked back at him from under a red band or hard fabric. Large ripped red and black wings beat softly keeping the figure airborne. But it was what was held on the creature's arms that pulled Sephiroth into motion.

Genesis was cradled in the creature's arms, his mako blue eyes wide with horror as they stared up at the creature holding him.

"Quiet pretty one." Chaos snarled glaring at the man in his arms his feet softly touching the cement under them, his glowing eyes fixing on Sephiroth freezing him in place. "Hosts offspring retrieve your mate."

Chaos set Genesis down on the tarmac and stepped back his wings folding in against his back.

Never once allowing his eyes to leave the strange creature in front of them Sephiroth raced over to where Genesis had been set down. Falling to his knee's he wrapped his arms around his lover holding him to his chest protectively. Feeling those arms around him Genesis clutched onto Sephiroth, he was in great pain but that was nothing compared to the fear that was gripping him when he saw what had stopped his plummet towards the city bellow.

"Who are you?" Sephiroth demanded already itching to summon Masamune in case this creature proved to be dangerous.

"Chaos, WEAPON."

Both Sephiroth and Genesis eyes went huge; the later started to shake uncontrollably in his lovers arms. WEAPON; the planets own defense system, they were only rumors, legends you could say. All cadets were taught this during one of the early history courses in their training; though rare that any of them were awake long enough to catch that part. Sephiroth remembered from his classes with Hojo, the scientist was quiet fascinated with the planets WEAPON though no one knew how to call one without trying to destroy the planet.

"Chaos, the harbinger of death.." Sephiroth breathed clutching his lover tighter to his chest. He knew of Chaos, Hojo was particularly fascinated with him, saying he was the only WEAPON anything was known about.

"Only when the time for Omega arrives, hosts offspring."

"Hosts offspring, that is the second time you have referred to me as such." He felt Genesis grab hold on his shoulders. "Sephiroth…" Sephiroth tightened his hold on his lover; he didn't know what happened or why Chaos had his lover.

Chaos smirked darkly before his figure started to glow red, the large red and black spikes turned all black and fell down along chaos back in soft black waves, the gray skin of his face turning to a pale ivory, the black body becoming leather as the wings vanished. Golden eyes gave way to brilliant crimson seconds before long lashed eye lids covered them.

Panting hard Vincent slowly sunk to his knee's his hands splayed out in front of him his limbs shaking with the effort of keeping himself upright. It would seem it made no difference if he allowed chaos to take over him willingly or by force, it still hurt like hell when he left. Taking in a deep shuttering breath Vincent shakily pushed himself to his feet ignoring the pain racing through his spine with each breath he took.

Moving over to the two boys he allowed himself to collapse in front of them, reaching out he gently gasped Genesis hand. His crimson eyes looked up into startled blue, "Think…think…" Vincent shook his head trying to get his thoughts back in place; Chaos always took a lot out of him. "Think you can still take on my limit breaks?"

He watched as Genesis eyes widened and unconsciously leaned more into Sephiroth's chest. Good, his mind was no longer on why he had leapt off the building.

"That, that's your limit break?" he asked horrified, he had not realized that was Vincent that grabbed him out of mid air; he thought it was one of Hojo's newest experiments.

"One of four, Chaos as you heard is a WEAPON he is the strongest..also..the only one that can fly." Vincent's eyes drooped slightly, Chaos had taken a lot out of him he was now fighting to stay conscious. His fingers unconsciously tightened around Genesis hand careful though of the still mending skin. "Next time you decide to take sky diving lessons, make sure you bring a parachute." He managed a very small smile before darkness overtook him.

Reaching forward Sephiroth caught his father before he fell completely on his injured lover. With an almost inaudible sigh Sephiroth looked to his lover seeing that haunted beautiful blue eye watching him. "Seph…"

"Why?"

Genesis turned his eyes away; willing the tears to stay at bay. He didn't know why but it felt like his control of his emotions had been stripped away, his thoughts as of late had been so dark.

"I don't know." It was the truth, he barely remember what led him to the roof. He could remember standing on the edge looking out across the Midgar skyline thinking about everything that had happened over the past several days; remember speaking with Vincent though he did not remember what was said, another voice was over riding his own. A soft frown crossed his face and looked up at his lover, it had been a woman's voice. No..that couldn't be possible, he wasn't insane.

"What?" Sephiroth caught the look flash through his lovers eyes, there was something going on. "I don't know, I really don't Seph..this whole night is a blur."

Sephiroth's arm tightened around Genesis, leaning down he kissed him gently. "Don't leave me.." his voice was soft and waivered slightly, never before had he ever been so afraid then he had these past two weeks. 'I don't know how much more my heart can take of this..'

Closing his eyes for a moment he tried to pull his thoughts together once more, a soft sigh escaped his lips as he pulled his SOLDIER mask back into place. He was going to need a vacation by the end of this, or he was going to be grayer than he already was, he honestly knew how Tseng felt now.

Shifting slightly he laid his father down on the tarmac in front of them, he needed to get them both inside but with Genesis condition he had to be careful how he carried him, which left him needing to leave his father up here. There was no way he could do that, if someone were to come out while he was tending Genesis all hell would break loose.

Hearing the landing door open he looked under the nearest helicopter seeing familiar bright blue chocobo print pajama pants. "Zack." He called out seeing the feet turn and come running towards him.

A moment later Zack appeared around the helicopter, his normally messy spiked hair worse than normal. "Seph what happened? We've been looking all over for you guys."

"I'm still trying to figure it out, can you grab my father while I take Genesis back to the apartment." Zack nodded, his adrenaline making him slightly twitchy. When they heard the door click shut all three remaining in the room had instantly woke up, it had been pure chaos when they noticed Seph, Genesis, and Vincent were all missing. The helipad had been one of the last places they checked, well that he checked. Cloud had gone to the Turks hoping that Vincent hadn't been discovered and taken into their custody, or run off after Genesis.

It was actually two gun that had told them Genesis some time ago had been seen heading to the roof and Vincent not long afterwards followed a short time later by Sephiroth.

It would seem their fears had been founded; oh Cloud was going to kill Genesis at this point.

Kneeling down Zack gently picked the ex Turk up into his arms, he was a lot lighter than he expected. Turning back he saw Sephiroth gently picking Genesis up, making sure not to jar his back. They had no way of knowing if his back had been reinjured, though he suspected he was by the tight pinched lips as his body was jarred.

Shifting the Ex-Turk into a more comfortable position Zack silently followed Sephiroth back down to their apartment.

Oh he was going to kill him!

Cloud was pacing back and forth across their joint living room, his whole stance as rigid as a board as his bare feet stomped across the plush carpet creating a wear pattern in it.

He honestly had to wonder what the hell was going through his lovers head; they all knew it was the mako that had been causing Sephiroth to say those hurtful words. They all went through it every month, hell it had been dubbed the SOLDIER time of the month, their PMS stage as most tended to become whiny and bitchy when they got their injections.

It seemed the mako brought out the opposite side of you; for Sephiroth who was always in careful control of his anger and emotions became angry and increasingly violent. Angeal who was always calm and reserved tended to become the world's largest bitch on PMS from hell. Zack well Zack was lucky; normally being as hyperactive as he was the mako made him sleep the entire day away. Genesis always vain would strip of this clothes and go racing down the corridor laughing like a damn jackal singing some folk song from days long past. Cloud, well he turned into a foul mouth little bitch that tended the flirt with anything with two legs and hole.

'Well guess Sephiroth had some plausibility to his little rant two weeks ago.'

Each one had their injections at different times of the month thankfully so the others would be sane to keep those that just had the treatment in line. Sephiroth depending on if doctor Waco fucked with the mako was usually sedated and left to drool on his pillow. Angeal was usually thrown into his greenhouse with his hands and mouth duck taped and the door locked. Zack well he put himself to bed most the time, Genesis was usually locked in his room for his own 'safety' and Cloud just stayed in his room working on his schematics.

Hearing a door shutting Cloud turned seeing Sephiroth moving from Tseng's apartment. "They are both asleep, Genesis should be asleep till well into tomorrow." He said softly, they had all agreed that until all the emotions in the apartment were settled it would be best if Genesis was sedated. They had laid him down next to Vincent in Tseng's apartment where Vincent was living for the moment with them.

"Sephiroth what happened?" they agreed that nothing serious would be discussed until Genesis was asleep to prevent any added stress to him.

Sighing Sephiroth collapsed into his chair pinching the bridge of his nose much like Tseng did. "According to my father, Genesis tried taking sky diving lessons off the top of the building with no parachute."

Oh yeah Cloud was going to assist him in his second sky diving lesson at this point. "How did your father save him?" Angeal asked watching Sephiroth carefully, he saw the shudder run through his body. "I honestly don't know if I believe what I saw." He shook his head leaning back in his chair.

"It was this creature with ripped bat like wings and glowing gold eyes, he called himself Chaos.. dad said it was one of his limit breaks." Angeal and Cloud both stared with wide eyes, usually limit breaks were just a sudden spike in power that they applied special moves to.

"Galian Beast, Death Gigas, Hell Masker, and Chaos… three demons..one WEAPON." Blinking Sephiroth turned to where Zack was leaning up against the door frame to his apartment. Zack was facing towards the kitchen his long bangs hiding his face from view but there was no mistaking it was him who had spoken.

"Zackary, what do you know?" Angeal was watching his pupil, his suspicion starting to rise with almost every second. Vincent had not even told his own son what his limit breaks were, how would Zackary know?

"When we woke him up, remember he told us that Hojo used him for a transmutation experiment? Galian Beast, Death Gigas, and Hell Masker were the three creatures well demons placed inside him by Hojo."

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed as he watched his fellow first class. "How do you know all this? And you only mentioned three; you did not say Chaos was placed in by Hojo."

Zack shifted nervously, his head tilting towards his room. The book about the Chaos project was still in his room; while the others were down with Genesis he had read the book cover to cover. Thankfully there was no mention of the Jenova project and Sephiroth was only mentioned once shortly after his birth saying Hojo had taken him to Midgar.

"The professor that did place Chaos inside your father left their journal detailing the experiment behind in Shinra Mansion, I took it." He could feel all threes eyes on him and it was making him more nervous. He could feel Angeal's the strongest, he knew his mentor would be disappointed in him, but he would never regret his decision to protect them from the truth of what they all were.

" There were no scientific journals inside the library, those were down in the second library, which you never entered." It seemed the instantly click in all three SOLDIERs minds, Zack's darkness the day after the manor burning. His coldness towards the Turks questioning them, the glances Tseng and Vincent kept sending Zack before the Turks arrived.

Angeal watched his pupil disappointment pulling at him, he couldn't believe Zack would have done such a thing. "You were the one that burned Shinra Mansion…" he saw Zack flinch slightly.

Taking a deep breath Zack lifted his head and met the eyes of his three best friends; Angeal as he expected harbored deep disappointment in his eyes and face, Sephiroth had slipped his SOLDIER mask into place making it impossible to tell what the man was thinking, and Cloud was just staring at him.

Schooling his features Zack cocked his head at a defiant angle, his eyes hard. He would hold the information he had till his dying breath. Tseng could torture him for eternity and he would never tell the secrets buried deep in his brain.

"I did." He said simply meeting all their eyes.

"Why Zack? What did you find down there that made you burn the whole manor down?" Cloud moved up to his best friend, he could see the haunted look that would pass through his friend's eyes.

Zack turned his head away allowing his bangs once more to hide his face. "The work of a mad man that should never see the light of day again… and they won't." Turning he headed back into his room only to feel a hand grab his arm forcing him to stop.

"Zackary, what did you find down there." Turning slowly he looked at his mentor, his second father. He slowly shook his head, "What I found down there.. will die with me." Angeal could only stare in shock, this was a new side of Zack that he never knew the boy had.

Pulling his arm free of Angeal's grasp Zack moved towards his room once more. Stopping at the door frame he turned back seeing Sephiroth standing watching him as well. "And Sephiroth, to answer your question.. Chaos was your mother's project. She injected him with chaos tainted mako as a last ditch effort to save his life, so that he could protect you since she could not."

Moving into his room he gently shut the door locking it and allowed himself to slide down to the floor. He could hear Cloud and Angeal moving back towards the center of the living room, no doubt to where Sephiroth was standing.

'I'm sorry Sephiroth, maybe one day when Jenova has been destroyed I can tell you.. tell us all what we are… until then..' pushing himself up Zack moved into the disaster known as his bedroom, easily side stepping piles of papers and clothes and random items he had simply dropped on the floor. 'I need to really clean my room..sometime before I'm forty years old.'

Moving to a section of his room near his bed he pried the floor boards loose. When he first got this room he had created this hidey hole; it was in the same location of the one he had back in Gongaga. This was where he kept his most prized possessions, call him paranoid but after living in Gongaga and than the cadet barracks where theft was high he wasn't taking a chance.

Pushing some old toys aside he pulled out the old leather journal the many pages still sticking out at odd angles just like when he had found it. He had tried to organize them but no matter how hard he tried the pages just would not say straight.

Pulling the floor board back over he slowly moved out into the living room once more, he could feel their eyes on him before he even fully shut the door to his own apartment. Taking a deep breath he moved over to where Sephiroth was standing, slowly he raised his head to meet those acid green eyes.

"I'm sorry I kept this from you, but I had my reasoning..You are one of my best friends and I will protect you just as you protect us." Looking down at the journal he looked back up to Sephiroth and held it out to him. "Your mother's journal documenting Chaos."

Gently taking the journal from Zack Sephiroth looked down at the young boy silently reading what he saw flashing through those blue eyes. Reaching up he gently ran a hand over the overly spiky hair, "Thank you, I don't know how I have earned this dedication from you.. or any of you…but thank you." Even though he was beyond curious to know what had been down in that second library he would not push the answers from his friend. Whatever he had found had been enough for him to destroy all evidence of its existence to protect him.

A small smile crossed Zack's face, "Why wouldn't you deserve it? Your one of us we protect our own..even if you are a royal pain in the ass during your PMS stage." Rolling his eyes skyward Sephiroth smacked his arm playfully. "Insolent puppy," Zack stuck his tongue out at him before moving over to where Cloud was standing and preceded to puppy pounce him pulling him into an impromptu wrestling match.

Shaking his head Angeal moved over to Sephiroth, his own eyes regarding the journal in Sephiroth's hands. "I swear my puppy is bipolar." Chuckling softly Sephiroth looked to his dear friend, "no he's just a puppy, you know how horrible their attention span is."

Turning the journal over in his hand he pulled a piece of paper out that was sticking out, it had a flash of glossy color and that caught his eyes. Turning the paper over he felt his breath hitch in his chest.

It was a photograph, faded with time in spots but the image was crystal clear. It was unmistakably Nibelheim; it would seem the town was ageless since the houses looked the same as they did in this photograph.

Leaning up against one of the water tower support legs was the unmistakable figure of his father; his hair was shorter coming only to his chin. His eyes were still the unnatural red showing that was not a result of Hojo's enhancements; his features looked nearly the same as they did now though maybe slightly younger. He was donning the old dark blue uniform for the Turks, Cerberus holstered on his right thigh under the long jacket. He was leaning back with an air of boredom, arms folded over his chest and legs crossed at the ankles. His head was cocked slightly to the side his eyes looking at a beautiful woman that was leaning out around the support leg.

She was a beautiful young woman, petite with a heart shaped face, soft brown eyes and long brown hair held up with a yellow ribbon. She was smiling brightly at Vincent her eyes showing love in them as she looked at him.

Unconsciously Sephiroth reached up and ran his hands along his arched bangs; they were the same as the woman's. Sinking down into the chair he couldn't pry his eyes from the picture; for the first time in his life he was seeing his real mother.

"Is she everything you imagined?"

Pulling his eyes from the photograph Sephiroth saw Angeal, Zack and Cloud all sitting around him. Looking back down at the picture a very small smile cross his lips, "She is so much more.." she really was, his imagination as a child has been dreaming up a silver haired woman with green eyes just like him..but never was her face this warm and caring.

"She's beautiful Seph, you got a lot of your looks from her." Cloud gently lay in against his lover, noticing something through the picture he gently grabbed Sephiroth's hand and turned the paper over. In neat loopy scrawl were words written across the back of the photograph.

"White walls surround us

No light will touch your face again

Rain taps the window

As we sleep among the dead

Days go on forever

But I have not left your side

We can chase the dark together

If you go then so will I

There is nothing left of you

I can see it in your eyes

Sing the anthem of the angels

And say the last goodbye

Cold light above us

Hope fills the heart and fades away

Skin white as winter

As the sky returns to gray

Days go on forever

But I have not left your side

We can chase the dark together

If you go then so will I

There is nothing left of you

I can see it in your eyes

Sing the anthem of the angels

And say the last goodbye

I keep holding onto you

But I can't bring you back to life

Sing the anthem of the angels

And say the last goodbye

Good bye my beloved Vincent…. "

Cloud pushed his tears aside curling up more against his lover holding him tightly. Blinking back his own tears Sephiroth gently put the photograph back into the journal, unconsciously clutching it to his chest.

"She never knew dad survived.." He said softly looking down at his friends, his fingers unconsciously tightening around the faded leather. Zack shifted slightly glancing at Angeal; they had been debating on telling Sephiroth this since they discovered it.

"What?" Sephiroth asked his heart clenching seeing the shared looks. Sighing softly Angeal moved to sit next to his best friend. "Seph, there is a possibility that your mother is still alive." Sephiroth's eyes went huge hope starting to shine in them, "How?"

"When we had Tseng's laptop, Vincent's ID came back saying KIA.. when we pulled up your mothers to verify what Vincent said it only came back with MIA. Reno did a little bit of digging for us off the record; he says that about a week after you were moved to Midgar she deserted Shinra and simply vanished."

"So.. she could still be out there somewhere, alive.." clutching the book tighter to his chest he started to rock slightly; his mind unable to place one coherent thought together. With a shuttering breath he looked to his lover and friends. "Can you watch Genesis, i..i need some time to think."

"Of course." Cloud stood gently running a hand over his lovers hair, this month had honestly been turning into a walking nightmare for Seph. Smiling shakily Sephiroth stood and silently padded to his room shutting the door behind him. As he had passed by the kitchen table he had picked the land line off the table since his PHS was charging. He swore to Gaia that his PHS had a woman's soul trapped in it; it worked when it wanted to, and when it was charging was not one of them.

Moving over to his window he sat himself down on the many Wutai silk pillows between his bed and the window. Setting the book down he dialed a number into the phone he had known by heart since he was seven years old. Lifting the phone to his ear he unconsciously drew his feet under him, it was a defense mechanism he had since he was little when one of the lab assistance used to hit the pads of his feet if he dared show any sign of emotion.

It took a little longer than normal for Tseng to answer and when he did it startled Sephiroth slightly, he knew Tseng tended to get cranky when he was really tired. But this; this was a little extreme even for Tseng.

"Someone better be dead…"

Swallowing around a lump in his throat Sephiroth tried to get his vocal chords to work. "Niisan, Gen tried to kill himself. Niisan I don't know what to do anymore.."

"Sephiroth, slow down; what's going on?" Tseng's voice had changed from the low growl that was his greeting. Yeah the man did not like to be woken when he was sleep deprived.

"Tseng.. Genesis walked off the roof of the Shinra building, dad let Chaos out and saved him, Zack admitted to things and I saw my mother for the first time and she may not even be dead."

"Seph calm down, I'll be there in a minute." The phone went silent; Tseng was never one for goodbye his calls were always straightforward and to the point. Shutting off the land line Sephiroth stared down at the book before him; he didn't know if he dared to open it at this moment. Instead he turned his eyes back out to look over the towering reactors.

Back out in the living room Cloud looked up hearing the elevator activating, "sounds like someone is coming up." There was only one elevator that came up to their level, it was situated next to the main glass elevator that everyone else used to get up to the higher levels. They did it this way so anyone dared to come up after them there was only one way since the stairs were secured by electronic lock inside and out.

Angeal tilted his head to the side slightly and looked back towards Sephiroth's room. "Sounds like Sephiroth called for big brother." At this point in time it seemed like a good thing to have big brother. "I'm going to check on Genesis and Vincent, make sure Vincent's not trying to smother Genesis with his cloak again." Zack and Cloud laughed since Vincent he tried to do that shortly after dinner when Genesis was getting lippy.

"I'll let Tseng in when he gets up here." Cloud stood and headed for the door, "in that case I'm going to bed, I'll see you lot tomorrow.." he knew he wasn't going to get much sleep but Zack would try and get what little he could.

"Alright I'll sick Genesis on you in the morning if you sleep in." "phhttt!" Zack blew a raspberry waiving Cloud off. "Yeah yeah whatever chocobo."

Growling cloud hucked his pauldron at Zack, laughing Zack dodged to the side and slipped into his room. Growling darkly Cloud headed out into the hallway to wait for Tseng.

The door had just shut behind him when the elevator door opened. Cloud faltered slightly feeling heat racing up into his cheeks. 'holy mother fucking Gaia, I think I just died and went to heaven.' What is it with men in leather that made him hot under the collar.

Walking up towards the boys apartment Tseng was absently running his fingers through his hair trying to work out the knots that had formed during the drive over. "Remind me to grab a hair band the next time I drive my bike."

Blinking Cloud tore his eyes away from the leather covered chest and back up into grinning black eyes. "You were staring, yes I do own leather.. you can thank your lover for that and the bike." Well that answered his question; he should have figured Sephiroth would be the reason the Turk had a bike.

"You never mentioned a bike before." Cloud punched in the room code and followed the Turk in to the main part of the apartment. "You never asked either; I didn't mention it before I'm not really a bike person.. I tend to prefer bullet proof cars to open aired bikes. Call me paranoid but I want something to stop a bullet aimed for my head." Tseng smirked pulling his jacket off and throwing it across the couch.

"Okay so run down before I try and tackle the silver demon."

Sighing Cloud explained everything that he knew, from Genesis jumping off the building to Vincent being filled with actual real life demons including a planets WEAPON. Yeah that one went over real well with Tseng; Cloud didn't know the Turks eyes could go that wide. Explained how Zack had known all this due to stealing a diary from Shinra Manor before promptly setting it ablaze.

"We knew Zack set the manor on fire shortly after we woke you lot up." Blinking a few times Cloud looked to Zack's door, "do I dare ask how?" Tseng snorted moving to the fridge and pulled out two energy drinks; one for himself the other for the demon in the next room.

"Someone needs to teach Zack about stealth if he's going to commit a crime. He did well covering his tracks at the manor, making it appear like it was a group of kids not just one.. but he was sloppy in disposing of evidence. Vincent not only saw the foot prints leading away from Angeal and Zack's window to the trash bins but the snow still clinging to the bottom of Zack's pajama pants. Nerveless to say Reno was able to find the chemical drenched clothes easily in one of Zack's bags in the trash can."

Cloud felt his jaw drop. Smirking more Tseng popped one of the cans open and took a swig of the dark liquid. He shuddered slightly and looked at the can, "ugh.. can't see how he likes this flavor.." shuddering again he moved towards Sephiroth's room. "Oh and Zack is a horrible actor.. he needs to take lessons from Genesis.. get some sleep Cloud, I got my men watching the room entrance.. Genesis tries another Houdini act we'll catch it."

Nodding Cloud headed back towards his room knowing that the Turks would have the apartment well guarded. Shaking his head Tseng bit back a yawn that was threatening to escape and headed into the dragon's lair.

Moving into the bedroom he silently padded over to where Sephiroth sat leaning up against one of the windows. He hadn't looked over once showing he was spacing out again like he always did when he was thinking.

Smiling softly Tseng sat down from across him not even getting a twitch from the man across from him. Reaching out he gently placed a hand on his knee; instantly causing the man to jump and whip his head around.

Seeing it was only Tseng Sephiroth instantly relaxed letting out the breath he was holding. "You know I think you should quit SOLDIER and join the space program." Tseng baited, he loved baiting Sephiroth specially about going spacey. Tseng got a weak smile in response and liberated of both energy drinks, "hey, one of those is mine.. you did wake me up at O'dark thirty."

"Yeah sorry about that, just… I needed someone with me." Sephiroth absently played with the tab of the still closed energy drink, handing the other one back to Tseng.

"Cloud gave me a basic run down of what's going on, but.. I need to know from your end." He was curious to know what all was going through Sephiroth's head; this was a lot to take in.

"Did he tell you I finally saw my mother, and that my mother is the reason my father is harboring a planets WEAPON inside him."

"No he didn't mention that, but I'm familiar with the project." Pulling his eyes from the can he was playing with Sephiroth looked up at his big brother. "You do?" now he was starting to grow suspicious, did everyone but him know about his parents?

"Omega /Chaos project, under the direction of Lucrecia Crescent and Grimoire Valentine, your grandfather. I only know about it because I came across mention of it when I was looking up Vincent when I first joined the Turks. Veld used to speak so highly of Vincent; used him as a model for training us..me in particular."

"So you were curious and looked him up." Sephiroth couldn't help but grin, he knew his big brother to well. Smiling Tseng took a drink from the can, "You got me there.. yes I was curious and when I saw another hit for Valentine in the Shinra employee data base. There wasn't much, the Chaos theory was highly encrypted well beyond my knowledge at the time; but I got a little bit of info mainly pertaining to your grandfathers death and the program being shut down afterwards.

"though what I do know is stories from when I was a child back in Wutai; stories of the day the planet would die. Same stories you were taught in your history class about Omega and Chaos and the fabled weapons of the planet."

Popping his own can open Sephiroth continued to play with the tab absently, his eyes once more looking out across Midgar. "This is.. I don't know how to take any of this." setting his can down Tseng moved over so he was sitting beside Sephiroth and snaked a arm around his waist pulling him in closer. "Take time to try and sort through everything, it's a lot to take in." Reaching up he gently pushed those long silver bangs back behind an ear; the action caused Sephiroth to look over. "Talk to your father tomorrow and find out from him what happened; Genesis leave him to us, we'll figure out what happened." Nodding Sephiroth leaned up against his big brother closing his eyes.

Closing his own eyes Tseng sighed softly; the soft breathing and heart beat next to him lulling him back to sleep.

Letting his head fall back against the wall he flinched grabbing the back of his head. 'shit forgot I was wearing this damn thing!' nothing like having your rank pin jab into the back of your head. Rubbing his head Sephiroth looked around the cadet hallway, yeah he was hiding again; he honestly needed time to think and being surrounded by paperwork and noisy secretaries was not the best way to think.

That morning Hollander had arrived to check up on Genesis condition since he couldn't move out of bed, his back had re-broken in one place meaning he was bed ridden for a while longer. They also discovered what they believed to be the cause of Genesis impromptu base jumping attempt; one of the medications reacted badly with mako infused SOLDIERs. It was one of the pain medications the hospital had given him and it created an imbalance in the brain almost like being on uppers; which explained why Genesis was so overly happy most the day. As long as he had the medication in his system he was happy, when the medication wore off during the night it would imbalance the brain effectively sending him into a depression. A few SOLDIER over the years had been documented to go into suicidal depressions on that medicine.

Thankfully Hollander had prescribed one that wouldn't react badly but it would leave him for the most part pretty doped up.

For today he was pretty much alone; Cloud had been sent out on a mission to the chocobo farm to deal with some big monsters that had been attacking people in the area (they all laughed saying Lazard gave him that one cause he was being used as a lure for the chocobo eating monster, they then spent the next ten minutes being chased around the apartment by a angry chocobo). Angeal was out teaching a few 3rd class SOLDIER today, Zack was down in the slums playing clean up to a bunch of low level monsters that had decided to make a home up by wall market; and probably skirting off to go see his girlfriend in sector five. Tseng and a few of his Turks had been sent off to Icicle Inn for some top secret mission, leaving Genesis once more in Vincent's care and Sephiroth to his stuffy office piled with a shit ton of paperwork.

He had no doubt that Lazard was going to be on the warpath when he discovered Sephiroth was once more playing hooky. Snorting Sephiroth pushed himself up as the wave of Cadets came down the hallway heading in for their first class of the day; Lazard would have to find him first!

Waiting till they had passed Sephiroth fell into the back of the ranks; his newest explanation forming in his head already. Some of the instructors were sure to recognize him being his SOLDIERs and that this wasn't the first time he had done this; hopefully though they would leave him alone like they normally did. He had a lot to think about, many of it revolved around the letter he had discovered in Genesis LOVELESS book and the journal Zack had given him last night.

Throwing his small blue beaten up backpack over his shoulder he moved into the materia class and instantly moved to the back of the room. Throwing himself into the chair he sighed laying the backpack on the small desk in front of him. He allowed his eyes to rove over the backpack a small smile pulling at his features; this backpack had been given to him by Knife of the Turks many years ago. She was one of the only female Turks he actually liked, probably had something to do with the fact she was one of the few female Turks NOT trying to worm their way into Tseng's bed.

Folding his arms around the bag he laid his head down on it feeling the familiar silk fabric against his cheek. Just like yesterday he had his hair hidden though this time under the traditional cover for cadets and military; thankfully it was low enough people wouldn't really see the silver hair sticking out around the base of his skull. He couldn't get away with the sunglasses today so he had special contacts he wore that killed the glow of his eyes and gave him normal pupils.

"Hey, new cadet." Hearing a voice next to him Sephiroth sat up his green eyes looked up at a big boy flanked by two slightly smaller boys. 'ohh bullies.. how fun' sitting up a little more Sephiroth watched them, his SOLDIER mask falling into place blanking out all emotions. "Yes?" he made his voice high once more as the instructors would recognize him by voice alone.

"You're in my seat.." Sephiroth raised a single silver brow; he knew for a fact that this was the cadets' first materia class as the group he was hiding in was only in their second week of training. He had been tempted to go hide in the class that he had yesterday but they were out on a training course today. 'fuck I should have!' that would have been more fun than sitting in a materia class.

Turning his attention back to the cadet Sephiroth rolled his eyes skyward and lay back down on his bag. "I don't see your name on here, besides this is our first class how can you claim a seat when you just entered the room for the first time?" he turned his green eyes back to look at the boy, smirking slightly at the dumbfounded look on the boys face.

The big boy seemed to recover and leaned down on the desk putting hands on either side of Sephiroth's face. He leaned down so that they were practically nose to nose invading Sephiroth's personal bubble; shifting slightly Sephiroth was doing everything in his power not to put this kid through the nearest wall.

"I don't care if this is the first day of class, you will move"

"Or what?" Sephiroth snarled his eyes narrowing into a very dark and dangerous glare. "You'll hurt me? Have you already forgotten the little speech we were given last week about how SOLDIER has a zero tolerance for bullies. So I suggest if you wish to remain in Shinra you go find a new seat and remove your face from mine before I put you through the nearest wall."

Growling darkly the boy stood up, dark almost amber eyes glinting dangerously; well would have be if the boy wasn't so damn comical looking. "You have just made a very dangerous enemy." The boy hissed before slinking off to another empty chair.

"Ohh I'm so scared..see I'm shaking" Sephiroth held up a perfectly steady hand. Rolling his eyes he snickered ignoring the knife and dagger glare from the kid and laid his head back down.

"You got some guts kid, standing up to Robert like that." Lifting his head up once more he saw it was the boy directly in front of him talking to him. "Oh? We've only been here two weeks and he's already being a pain in the ass?"

The boy in front of him nodded, he wasn't bad looking probably the minimum sixteen to join Shinra with dark tan skin, bleach blond hair and bright blue eyes. Looks like he had been plucked right off the beaches of Costa del Sol, more than likely he had been a beach bum before joining Shinra.

"Yeah, he keeps bragging that his step father is second in command of accounting here at Shinra. Guess his old woman is a plate chaser, hooked up with some dude from the department of administrative research to reach the plate than ditched him for his step father."

Instantly the boy had Sephiroth's full attention, oh he had to be dreaming he really did this was to perfect. Digging into his pocket he pulled out his PHS and quickly sent a text to Tseng knowing he was still in flight towards their mission, it took more than five hours to arrive at the northern continent and he had only left two hours ago.

"How did you sneak your PHS in?" Sephiroth shut the PHS and stowed it back in his pocket and smirked winking to the kid. "Skill yo." He said adapting Reno's lazy drawl and held a hand out. "Names Seth, you?" Seth was close enough to Seph in sound that he would respond to it, he used it during the rare undercover missions he had been on with the Turks. "Nicholas, your Wutainese aren't you." Nicholas was taking in the features of the boy seeing very distinctive Wutai features in him.

Blinking Sephiroth smiled softly laying his arms back around his backpack. "Yes, half.. my father was born in Wutai but moved out here with his family when grandpa joined Shinra."

"Ah so you're from Midgar as well? I'm from the slums, managed to save up enough gil to get up to the plates to join SOLDIER."

Sephiroth looked the boy over, something was telling him this kid was almost Turk material; might have been the fact he was a slum rat just like Reno. It seemed like most the Turks were from the slums of Midgar or from war torn sections of the world. Though was strange seeing him so dark tan, must have been his blood line that made him that way naturally.

Might as well do a little bit of digging since they still had a few minutes until class was due to being. "What made you decide to join SOLDIER?" Nicholas leaned back against his desk looking thoughtful; he shrugged and slumped forward against the back of the chair still facing Sephiroth. "Couple reasons, main reason is once I become SOLDIER I'll make enough money to get my siblings out of that rat infested home my father makes us live in while he forces my mom to whore herself out for his beer and drugs… how about you?" startled at the bluntness Sephiroth sat up a little more looking over the boy, he wasn't expecting that type of answer.

"Shinra is all I have known, my grandfather and mother were scientist, my grandfather was working on a project while my mom helped build the SOLDIER program alongside Hojo. My father was a member of the department of administrative research until he was severally injured and forced to retire.. this seemed only logical since I didn't want to follow mom or dads foots steps." It was half truth and none of these boys had been here long enough to know all the lingo and who worked where.

Hearing a snort both Sephiroth and Nicholas looked across the room to where Robert was sitting with his lackeys. "Oh what did your father get a severe paper cut?" A couple people around him laughed though you could tell it was forced.

Rolling his eyes Sephiroth leaned back in his chair pulling out the journal Zack had given him last night, he didn't want to leave it sitting in the apartment. He had taped the picture of his mother and father to the front of the journal so he could see it all the time. "At least my mother didn't have to whore herself out to reach the plate."

Placing the journal back in his bag he smirked hearing the scraping of chair legs knowing the kid had probably risen to attack him. Turning slightly he smirked more seeing the enraged look on Robert's face, "Oh did I hit a sore spot?" Sephiroth taunted, oh yes he could be a real ass hole when he wanted and this little bit was a nice escape from his dark thoughts.

"You are a dead mother fucker; you better sleep with both eyes open!"

"ohh so scared.." Sephiroth laughed and turned back feeling his pant leg vibrate; reaching in he pulled out his phone smiling seeing Tseng's picture for texts popping up. Flipping it open he quickly read over the message.

Tseng:

Are you fucking serious? HAHAHA otouto have fun with him; oh if he tries to claim I am the father tell me! I need a good laugh!

Chuckling Sephiroth sent his reply and shut the PHS once more, he knew it was impossible for the kid to be Tseng's for one thing he had no Wutai features in him and he would only be ten at this point. Feeling the phone vibrating again he looked seeing another message this one from Reno.

Reno:

Dude General Hotness what the hell did you send boss man? Your niisan is laughing like a damn hyena, rolling around on the floor of the Highwind! TELL US! …. Yo

Biting back a laugh Sephiroth sent a 'ask him' response and shut the phone stowing it back in his pocket just as the instructor walked in. "What was that all about?" Nicholas asked leaning back in his chair. Leaning forward to whisper to him as the instructor had started to talk he smiled brightly. "I know the man Robert's mother cheated on to get his step father. The minute you said department of administrative research I knew who his mother was… I just sent a text to him since I'm good friends thanks to my father… he's laughing like a damn hyena right now." Laughing softly Nicholas turned back pulling out his materia book and flipped to the page the science professor told them to flip too.

Pulling his own book out Sephiroth set it up so he could behind it and pulled his PHS back out sending a quick message to Genesis hoping he was doing alright. He had barely set the phone down on the table when Genesis replied; blinking at the fact the man was awake he flipped it open.

Genesis:

Where the hell are you? Lazard's on the damn warpath looking for you. He came up to the apartment about twenty minutes ago to see if you were actually hiding in your room.

Snickering Sephiroth rolled his eyes and sent in a reply that he was hiding and Lazard was never going to find him! Oh yes he was not going to be seen on the SOLDIER floor all day if he could help it, not if the elder bastard Shinra son was out for blood. Rufus was bad enough when he was upset, he didn't want to deal with Lazard.

Yawning behind his hand Sephiroth looked down at the new message.

Genesis:

Where the hell are you hiding? An air ducted again?

Snorting Sephiroth looked around making sure no one was watching him went back to his phone. Yes he had actually hid in an air ducted all day a few years back; it was actually really fun. Reno had found him and the two had sat up in the air ducted above president Shinra's office and bull shitted most the day away; they actually had the fat man believing his office was haunted! Well that was until he called Tseng… never in your life had you seen two full grown adult men scrambling for their life so fast down the air ducts as you did when Tseng pulled the grate off where they were hiding.

Seph:

No I'm hiding down in the 2nd week cadets materia class, you are not going to fucking believe this.. do you still have the Turks ear piece from the vacation?

Genesis:

OF COURSE I DO! What kind of stupid question is that Seph..I'm not you I don't break and loose my Shinra equipment on a daily basses.

Seph:

Oh bull fucking Shit! You lose your damn glasses more often than I do! Wait.. you lose them on purpose don't you!

Genesis:

*Troll Face* U MAD?

Seph:

Fuck you Genesis…put the damn ear piece in so we can talk I'm bored!

Resisting the urge to growl Sephiroth put his PHS back in his pocket and pulled out the ear piece and slipped it into his right ear since it was facing away from all the other students and clicked it on. It was only a minute later before he heard a soft voice from the other side.

"Seph, what the hell are you doing in the cadets materia theory class?"

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm hiding! You really think I want to sit in my office and do paperwork?" Sephiroth was SOLDIER talking and keeping behind his book so people didn't think he was insane talking to himself.

He heard Genesis laughing on the other end, he sounded so much better than he had yesterday; he actually sounded like himself. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing better; I feel more in control of myself than I have the past few days. Your fathers been watching me like a hawk and I swear to the goddess I've seen his eyes flash gold a few times if I go near the windows even just to where the bookshelf is."

"That's good that means he's taken to you."

"Or that damn WEAPON he's carting around wants to eat me!"

Shaking his head Sephiroth looked up seeing the instructor walking up the row his eyes fixed right on him. "Cadet, tell me since you seem to know everything that we are speaking of can you tell me what this materia is?" the professor held out a green materia, Sephiroth resisted the urge to snort both from how simple this was to Genesis asking questions over the ear piece.

"It's a fire materia level one, synthesized materia from Shinra."

"Oh is that it? Phhhtttt least he could do was pull out a cool one, I know that damn professor has access to the good ones!"

The professor gave the cadet a strange look and walked back towards the front of the class, "that's correct…" this was a first; he had never had a 2nd week cadet actually know what the materia was down to the level and if it was natural or not just by looking at it.

"I think you impressed him." Snorting Sephiroth looked around really fast and saw Robert looking at him with a dark glare. oh yeah he needed to tell Genesis about this! turning back to facing the board he dropped his voice once more.

"Oh Gen, your gonna love this.. Remember Jillian, Tseng's ex?"

"How can I not? We saw her down on the slopes and then again here at Shinra, why?"

"Well turns out she had a son prior to going out with Tseng, he's now up on the plate with her and that bastard she was cheating with and he's four chairs over from me.. he actually tried bullying me out of my chair and he's already got a pretty nasty reputation."

Sephiroth jerked and ripped the ear piece from his ear glaring at it as Genesis started to howl with laughter. Rubbing his ear he glared at the ear piece before putting it back in, "Are you done, I think I'm deaf now.."

"Sorry Seph, so are you going to kick the boy from the program?"

"We'll see, so far he seems like the type that will be a bully all the way through.. he's riding on his step dads tails."

"AKA not SOLDIER, hell not even Military material." Genesis words were starting to get slurred; his medication must be kicking in again.

"Go to sleep Gen, I'll come up once I have managed to get my mind in order..love you."

"Love *yawn!* you too, try not to stay out too long alright; your dads worried about you."

"Tell dad I'm alright, just need time to think…I'll be back tonight I think I'm gonna hide till Lazard goes home."

There was a snort from the other side of the line "Sephiroth, you know damn well that man does not sleep! I have gone to his office at 3 am and he's still sitting there typing away… well I'm dying over here I'll see you when you get back." Sephiroth heard the connection die on the end and pulled the ear piece from his ear once more and stored it in his pocket.

Never in all his life had Sephiroth been bored to almost tears! That materia class had been absolutely painful to sit through, he almost wanted to go back and work on the damn paperwork! Shuffling out of the class room he was never so grateful for never having to go through the cadet school to become SOLDIER. Now he knew why Genesis and Angeal complained about it so much, this was fucking boring! He had actually fallen asleep half way through the class and woken up to Robert standing above him trying to take his backpack / pillow.

Walking next to Nicholas he smirked looking back seeing Robert walking with a very obvious limp. When he had attempted to pull the bag out from under his arms Sephiroth had reacted with kicking him in the shin; not hard enough to break it but hard enough to bruise the bone and get him to back off.

"Seth, you have some serious balls man.. I wouldn't be surprised if during lunch he goes running up to daddy to get you in trouble. He did that last week during orientation when a secretary did something he didn't like, I guess she was released from duty until someone higher up figured out what to do with her."

Sephiroth frowned his brain flickering through the papers on his desk. Grabbing Nicholas arm he stopped in the hallway and looked at him grinning impishly, for some reason he really liked this kid and it made him feel like a cadet not the general. "Wanna play hooky for a few minutes?"

Nicholas raised a brow in a very good imitation of Sephiroth, "Oh and what do you have in mind?"

"Oh nothing much, just piss Robert off something fiercely!" Nicholas grinned brightly and nodded shouldering his backpack. "Tell me what to do, it's a boring as hell class next I know you'll fall sleep in it to." He chided playfully, Sephiroth rolled his eyes and took off towards the exit out onto the plate.

Thankfully the class rooms for the cadets were the closest building to Shinra so they wouldn't have to run far to get to the main building. "Wait we're playing hooky in Shinra? Won't they know we're playing hooky since we're cadets?" Nicholas was staring up at the building, he had only been in here once and that was during in-processing. Sephiroth shrugged completely not worried about it, "They do not much they can do about it."

Moving into the main hall Sephiroth strode quickly towards the main elevators at the top of the entrance hall of Shinra; no one paid them any mind except a certain little Turk with brown eyes and brown curly hair.

"Cute.." Cissnei giggled as she walked past them, "I should have brought the video camera." Rolling his eyes Sephiroth blew past her; Nicholas watched her carefully, one part of orientation was to be wary of the men and women running around in black suits with zip up jackets.

"Oh who is your cute friend?" she asked moving up to Nicholas, she was pretty that was for sure, but he knew to be wary of her.

Huffing Cissnei put her hands on her hips seeing the boy was giving her a wary look. "I see they are still warning the cadets about us."

"They should be, everyone knows you lot are blood thirsty vampires that like to prey on innocent cadets." Squeaking Cissnei playfully hit Sephiroth and turned back to Nicholas, it was obvious from the way Sephiroth was acting he had found someone he liked; which for the demon of Wutai was rare. "Keep him in line, I don't know what he's up to but it can't be good.. gotta run, behave or I'll tell niisan you were being naughty while he's gone." She threw that last part at Sephiroth before heading off towards the Turk elevator.

Shaking his head Sephiroth moved up to one of the elevators and hit the button to go up. "How do you know a Turk?" Nicholas asked moving to stand next to him; he was really starting to wonder who this person was.

Sephiroth raised a brow at this and chuckled moving into the open elevator; he waited till Nicholas had followed him and the door had shut before continuing. "I told you my dad was one of them."

"Wait you said your dad was department of something or another."

Sephiroth rolled his eyes and grinned to the boy as they headed up towards the last unauthorized floor before they would have to switch to the glass elevator. "Department of Administrative research is the public name of the Turks, so yes my father was a Turk."

Nicholas raised a hand to his mouth trying so hard not to laugh. "You're kidding? Robert's mother cheated on a Turk for a guy in accounting?" Sephiroth nodded moving out of the elevator; thankfully no one bothered them as they moved over to the glass elevator. Pulling his wallet out he slid his key card fast enough that Nicholas couldn't see it. "Not just any Turk, he was commander of the Turks at that point in time…and I can tell you right now a brand new Turk makes more money in a month than the director of accounting does. So you can image how much more the commander of the Turks makes."

"Oh that is so great! He brags that his mother left him because he didn't make nearly as much as her husband." Nicholas was trying so hard not to die this was so great! Sooo much blackmail that he could use to make Robert's life hell from now on.

Following Sephiroth into the glass elevator he couldn't help but marvel at the view it offered. "wow.." he pressed his face up against the glass just staring out across Midgar for the first time, "My brother and sisters would love this.."

Hitting the number for the SOLDIER floor Sephiroth remained silent watching the young boy, he didn't know why he was doing this but there was something inside; something that he felt like when he first met Angeal and Genesis. Watching the boy he watched his body movements and the way his eyes picked up everything around him, he would have to let Tseng know about this boy he honestly looked like Turk material not SOLDIER.

Turning away from the view the young cadet looked at the highlighted number on the elevator panel. "Level 49?" he asked looking up to Sephiroth, "Is that accounting or something?"

"you'll see…" Sephiroth leaned up against the window casually his eyes watching as they climbed up towards the 49th floor, "when we get up there follow me alright." Nicholas nodded, his muscles starting to twitch with adrenalin. Shaking his head Sephiroth moved towards the doors as the elevator slowed to a stop. Nicholas felt his eyes go wide as he watched the doors open and the first thing to greet him was a giant painted SOLDIER symbol on the wall with SOLDIER written in big bold white letters bellow it.

"Come on." Sephiroth dodged out of the elevator and headed down the hallway towards where his office was. As he moved he unconsciously pulled his cover down a little farther down over his eyes and kept his head ducked so it was harder to see his face.

"Why are we on the SOLDIER floor? How the hell did you even get access to it?" Nicholas was following behind him and shook his head a grin spreading across his face as Sephiroth pulled them both into a hallway to avoid a couple chatting 3rd class SOLDIER. "Never mind, this is fucking cool!"

Oh yes this kid was turning out to be more Turk then SOLDIER, "glad you're seeing it my way." Checking to make sure the coast was clear Sephiroth dodged out and down the hall where all the offices were for the 1st class SOLDIER. Moving over to the first door he peeked in really fast seeing it was empty, so Cloud was still out on his mission or was up with Lazard.

Shutting the door he moved down to the next one and pressed his ear against it. Inside he could hear a pen moving across paper and Angeal chiding Zack for his sloppy writing. Turning back to Nicholas he held a finger up to his lips and motioned towards the room before motioning towards his office at the end of the hall. Moving back to where Nicholas was standing he leaned in close so he could whisper to him. "We have to be quiet, two SOLDIERs are in the room and SOLDIER have super sensitive hearing." Nicholas nodded understanding and the two silently crept towards the end office, because this floor was under constant surveillance and deep in the SOLDIER floor they didn't have locks on their offices. Not like anything was really kept in here that was sensitive information, the Turks kept all that down in the bat cave.

Gently pushing his door open he motioned for the cadet to enter before him, following him he gently shut the door and moved over towards his desk seeing even more paper work piled up on it. Resisting the urge to grown and bash his head into the desk he started to rifle through the folders knowing he had seen something here.

"Where are we?" Nicholas asked looking around the room, his eyes slid over the ornate stand currently housing Masamune. "We're.. We're in General Sephiroth's office?" reaching over Sephiroth clapped a hand over his mouth and drug him back behind the desk and shoved them both under it keeping a hand over his mouth.

A moment later the door opened and he heard the heavy footsteps of Angeal move into the room. Sephiroth held his breath and was happy to see Nicholas doing the same, so he wasn't completely stupid.

"Angeal?" that was Zack; Sephiroth could hear him out in the hallway probably just sticking his head out of his office.

"I thought I heard a voice here in Sephiroth's office, must have been his voice mail kicking over. Where the hell is that man? Lazard's going to have our head if we can't find him."

Zack made a noise from out in the hallway, "Who knows but can you blame the man after the shit that happened last night; I would be as far away from Shinra as I could be to clear my head." Silently Sephiroth had to give props to the puppy, he seemed to be the only one that understood that he needed time to shift through all his thoughts.. though hiding under his desk with a cadet was not exactly shifting through his troubled thoughts.

"Your right," he heard Angeal move around the room as if checking it over one last time before leaving and heading back to his puppies office.

Sephiroth kept them both under the desk until he was sure that Angeal was well back to scolding the puppy for his horrible handwriting. Sighing softly he glared at Nicholas and pulled his tall frame from under the table, "What part of super enhanced hearing don't you get." He whispered fiercely going back to digging around his own desk looking for the report he had seen.

Nicholas pulled himself out from under the desk glaring just as hard back at Sephiroth. "You didn't tell me we were breaking into General Sephiroth's office!" he whispered back making sure to keep his voice low not needing to be caught by commander Hewley. Reaching out he grabbed Sephiroth's arm and blinked feeling exactly how hard his arms were; there was some serious muscles under the sleeves of their cadet jacket.

"What the hell has gotten into you? What will happen if General Sephiroth comes in and see's two cadets rummaging around his office? Getting kicked out of Shinra is the least of our worries!" Sephiroth rolled his eyes picking up a file and flipped through it, crying triumphantly in his head Sephiroth quickly shoved the file into his beat up backpack and threw it over his shoulder. "Where is your sense of adventure?" knowing Angeal was going to be on the watch Sephiroth pulled himself up onto his desk not caring that he was knocking files over and silently pulled the loosen grate off the air ducted above his desk.

"Sense of adventure stops when I'm in danger of being turned into a human shish ka-bob on a six foot blade!" Nicholas watched Sephiroth pull himself up into the air ducted and look back down at him. "It's seven feet.." he disappeared again.

Growling Nicholas climbed gingerly onto the desk and pulled himself up into the ducted, "Oh like that makes me feel so much better." He grumbled sarcastically moving to the other side of the ducted so Sephiroth could slide the grate back into place.

"See your still alive.. Now hush." Making sure the pack was secure on his back Sephiroth started to silently crawl through the ventilation system. Grumbling Nicholas followed him trying to keep as quiet as possible; how the hell did this boy remain so quiet in these heavy ass cadet boots they were forced to wear?

What felt like hours later Sephiroth stopped looking down through an opening in the ventilation shaft, Nicholas knew they had climbed at least four floors which was interesting to say the least.

Pulling his backpack off Sephiroth pulled out the file and a sticky note pad, yes the man used sticky notes! Peeling one off he stuck it to the front of the report and quickly wrote a short message out on it and leaned over the grate.

"psst.. Katana!" moving up next to Sephiroth Nicholas looked down seeing they were right over the desk of a black haired Turk. Jumping slightly the Turk looked up, sapphire blue eyes looking up at the ventilation shaft from behind thin framed glasses.

Recognizing the voice Katana shook his head and moved to stand under the shaft opening. "I should have known.. What do you need?" shifting Sephiroth lowered the file down so that Katana could grab it. "Take a look at that for me, I believe that this falls into your jurisdiction now." Grabbing the folder Katana looked over the note before flipping it open his eyes scanning over the page very quickly.

"You were right to bring this to us, some of these papers are forged… I shall have this investigated… actually." Katana looked back up at him, he could easily see the silver demon was parading around in a cadet uniform; this might work in their favor.

"Continue as you are, report anything back to us." Ohh! Undercover mission oh yeah now he had a legit reason to be skipping out on his paper work! "Thanks Katana, I owe you lunch one of these days." He watched the native Gongagan walk off chuckling to himself.

Nicholas turned to look at Sephiroth, he should have known Robert would try and have the woman fired by any means nessicary; but it was still weird seeing this cadet knowing the bloody Turks!

"So we're not gonna get skewered by Sephiroth?"

Sephiroth snorted, "NO! Give the guy some credit.. You're thinking of Commander Rhapsodos, he's the one with the temper that will skewer you with his can opener."

Nicholas raised a brow at that never having heard that one before. "Long story don't ask…" Sephiroth started to head back to at least one of the lower floors so that he wouldn't be caught by Lazard or worse Angeal.

Hearing an obnoxious ring tone Sephiroth jumped biting his tongue to keep from yelling out. 'GOD DAMN IT ZACK! STOP CHAINGING MY FUCKING RING TONE!' oh he was going to kill a puppy when he got back to the apartment today. "Damn brat keeps changing my ring tone." Sephiroth growled seeing Nicholas laughing at him. Pulling it out he groaned seeing Lazard's picture on the front screen, "I'm not here.. I'm not answering." He hit the ignore button and stuffed it back in his pockets and resumed crawling. Nope Lazard was not going to drag his ass down by his ear again today, yesterday had been bad enough and embarrassing enough…

Hearing the ring tone again he growled and pulled the phone back out, yep Lazard once more. "If it's important he'll leave a message." That was the SOLDIER motto; if it was important you left a message. "Someone is really trying to get a hold of you aren't they." Sephiroth nodded crawling down to a vacant hallway and slowly eased the grate up, "Yeah, oh well they aren't leaving messages so it isn't important obviously." Making sure the hallway was clear Sephiroth slipped out and held out his arms to help the cadet down.

Grateful for the help Nicholas looked around seeing they were in a fairly deserted hallway. His stomach growled loudly making its presence known and reminding him he hadn't eaten at all today. Glancing down at his watch Sephiroth sighed, it was lunch time and he couldn't go without eating at least three times a day.. damn SOLDIER metabolism. He had lost a lot of weight while Genesis had been in the hospital and needed to put it back on and fast.

"Come on its lunch time, and I really don't think that we can sneak into the executive break room." Though that would have been nice, he heard horror stories about the cadet mess hall.

And now he knew those horror stories were based in fact. Throwing out the glob that was attempting to pass as food Sephiroth sat back down; besides the horrible food he was actually enjoying himself and his mind was blissfully empty of the problems he knew he would have to face.

'I should go out into town, pick up some tickets to Genesis favorite version of LOVELESS for next week just the two of us. Maybe pick up some of his favorite wine, OH! That Banora whatever it is he drinks that his parents manufacture…and he says I don't pay attention PHHHTTTTTTT.' Nicholas watched the play of emotion across Sephiroth face and smirked taking a drink of his soda. It was obvious he had a sweetheart on his mind by the looks he was giving. Glancing down he sighed; how the hell Sephiroth had managed to get fourteen cans of energy drinks and was down to the last two without going into a heart attack was beyond him! Many of the cadets around them were staring in awe as Sephiroth polished off the last two cans as if he was man dying of thirst.

"How the hell do you do that?" it was one of the smaller cadets, kind of mousy looking with light brown hair and dark brown eyes. Crunching the can Sephiroth tossed it into the trash can clear across the mess hall without even looking. "Years and years of practice.." oh he was feeling good, all nice happy and hyper! Yeah Sephiroth was on an official sugar high and he LOVED it.

"You know I think I need a few candy bars now.." standing up Sephiroth headed towards the mess hall door. He was about halfway there when he was shoved hard from behind, staging slightly having not expected it he whirled around coming face to face with Robert and his merry band of fudge packers.

"So thought you could skip out and make us all look bad, you and Jacobs here.. and then you come flouncing back in like you own the place. I guess it's time we show you exactly who is boss around here."

Sephiroth snorted hunking down slightly; oh it had been so long since he had been in just a good old fashioned brawl. He didn't know what was wrong with him today he just needed to act like a child; including all the stupid BS they got into like school yard fights, fucking being the General.. General Sephiroth was on vacation!

"Last time I checked president Shinra was boss around here, followed by Rufus Shinra." Oh he loved being an ass it was so much fun. Robert growled darkly, "I can have you removed from the program so damn fast your worthless mother will feel it."

Sephiroth's eyes darkened several shades, his lids narrowed into the patented General glare that made Wutai soldiers run for the hills. "My mother is dead." Nicholas stood up and moved to stand next to Sephiroth setting a hand on his arm in a sign of comfort. "Leave these idiots it's not worth it.."

"What a wuss, your mother probably killed herself to get away from you." Sephiroth felt like he had just been shot through the heart and it showed on his face. Robert saw this and started to laugh hard seeing he had struck a very raw nerve.

Shrugging Nicholas hand off Sephiroth took a deep breath his SOLDIER mask slamming into place, no he knew his mother hadn't killed herself because she wanted to be away from him.. not if what his father said was correct. Two could play at this game and it was time to put SOLDIER honor aside and play by Turks rules.

"My mother died helping to create the program you are trying to become a member of. She died with honor and doing something worthwhile in her life. Your mother whored herself out to reach the plate and whored herself out for money. You know how I know this? I consider the man she broke the heart of my big brother.. I was there when she left him heartbroken.. and you want to know the funny part in all this. Your mother left because he didn't make enough and your now step father made more." Sephiroth smiled bitterly his anger at what Jillian did to Tseng building up on top of the words about his beloved mother. "The man she left, was Commander of the Department of administrative Research.. you know what that departments street name is… The Turks"

Sephiroth watched in satisfaction as the boys skin started to redden in anger, oh yes he had him right where he wanted him. "Commander of the Turks is the fourth highest paid Shinra official, only three people surpass him.. President Shinra, Vice President Rufus Shinra, and at the time Director of the Turks Vedrot.. not even General Sephiroth makes more money than he does.. oh and you want to know the absolute kicker? That man is now Director of the Turks, he is the third richest man in Midgar.. and look your whore of a mother left him for some no name accountant who makes only an 8th of his paycheck."

Roberts was now as red as Genesis duster most likely from a combination of Anger and embarrassment. Just one step more and Sephiroth would get his brawl that he so desperately needed at this point. "I don't know why anyone is fucking afraid of a little bitch who hides behind his step father who is nothing more than Shinra's bitch."

"That is it! Your gonna die you little snot nosed son of a bitch!" growling Roberts launched tackling them both to the ground.

"Oh I don't think so you little bastard." Nicholas growled leaping onto Robert's back and started to punch any open spot he could find. This started an all out brawl fest between Robert's lackeys and the rest of the cadets.

Grunting Sephiroth shuffled off to the side absently rubbing his eye, he had gotten hit by a rouge kick one of the cadets had aimed at someone else. Oh he was going to have a nice shiner at least for a bit before the mako in his body kicked in and healed it. Reaching up he made sure his cover was still on his head before leaping back into the fray; he had to really watch how hard he hit, but god was he having the time of his life!

"HEY BREAK IT UP!" hearing the deep shout the cadets started to pull apart as the SOLDIERs in charge of them started to rush into the room. Grabbing onto Nicholas Sephiroth pulled them both away towards the back of the room.

Reaching a back corner he did a quick glance over; nothing seemed to be seriously injured a split lip and a black eye but that was it. "Did you have fun?" he asked grinning like an idiot. Snickering Sephiroth nodded gingerly touching the skin around his eye, had been a long time since someone managed to give him a shiner. Leaning forward slightly Sephiroth smirked seeing Robert limping as he moved from the massive pile of bodies that was rowdy cadets; he was looking around the room obviously looking for them. Spying them in the back of the group Robert glared at them darkly, so far that damn kid had shown him up at every turn. No he was going to fuck this kid up if it was the last thing he did!

"I think he's mad." Nicholas said snickering; Sephiroth couldn't agree more and nodded smirking himself.

"What's going on in here?" 'you have got to be fucking kidding me!' stiffening Sephiroth unconsciously shifted behind Nicholas as none other than Zack Fair came bounding into the room followed only seconds later by Angeal.

"I'm not here, I'm not here." Sephiroth shrunk down a little more behind Nicholas. Raising a brow Nicholas looked back at Sephiroth wondering why the hell he was hiding. "Don't tell me your worried about getting caught stealing from Sephiroth's office now." He hissed keeping his voice down remembering what he said about enhanced hearing.

"No, I don't want to be drug back up to said office!" he hissed back peeking over Nicholas shoulder seeing the Sergeants giving Angeal and Zack the run down on what they walked in on. "Wait what?" what the hell did he mean he didn't want to go back up to the office? Before he could ask any more about what the cadet meant Angeal stepped into the center of the room his very presence causing all the cadets to go ram rod stiff where they stood.

"What started this fight?" he asked to the room, his bright mako blue eyes sweeping over the rows of cadets. "They did!" Robert shouted pointing to where Sephiroth and Nicholas were standing. Growling Nicholas shook his head pointing right back at them. "Bull shit Robert you lot started it, you're all pissed off because Seth wasn't budging to you when you tried kicking him out of his seat in Materia class and has refused to let you bully him! You are the one that came after him here during chow even saying his mother killed herself to get away from him."

Angeal's eyes darkened as he looked between the two groups; Robert as he was called was glaring darkly at the other cadet while a third cadet was currently trying to hide in the collar of his jacket and pulling his cover down over his eyes.

"You and your damn cronies have been pushing people around since day one, all because your father works for Shinra."

"Enough!"

Nicholas fell silent at the dark look from Angeal, you want to talk about feeling small. Shifting back he looked to Sephiroth seeing he had an appreciative smile on his face. "Thanks.." he whispered making sure his hat was covering his eyes, oh Angeal was going to have his head for this one. 'fuck you Angeal, you always know how to ruin a good thing.'

Angeal looked over the group congregated around Robert and the two cadets that he claimed started it. "All five of you, come with me.. Zack take the back and make sure nothing starts up between them." Zack nodded happily and stood aside allowing the group of cadets though stopped as the cadet trying to hide in his jacket walked past with a very familiar blue backpack. Throwing a hand over his mouth Zack whistled and started to walk after them, he should have known after yesterday.

Sephiroth and Nicholas stayed back towards the back of the group and made sure to put distance between them and Robert. He jumped slightly when he suddenly felt arms thrown around his shoulders, looking over he was looking into the grinning face of Zack who also had his arm thrown around a shocked looking Nicholas.

"So who's your friend?" he asked softly so Angeal wouldn't hear, sighing softly Sephiroth should have figured he wouldn't get away for long; Zack was one of those that was very conscious of the world around him even if he pretended differently. "His name is Nicholas. What gave me away?" chuckling Zack plucked at the backpack on his shoulder. "You have been carting that around as long as I have known you, Genesis says it's your security blanket.."

"Genesis has a big mouth…. Shut up Fair.." Sephiroth poked Zack's nose knowing damn well he was going to say something perverted.

Nicholas looked up at them confused, he could understand Sephiroth knowing the Turks since he claimed his father was one, but how was he so comfortable with the 1st class SOLDIER's?

"Am I missing something?"

"In here." Angeal was motioning the group into one of the many classrooms that were currently empty. "Go in and sit down in one of the front rows.. Away from each other." The group all shuffled into the room, Robert still throwing dark glares over his shoulder before sitting down in one of the many chairs. "My father will hear about this.. He'll have all of your asses."

Rolling his eyes Nicholas ignored the commanding officers and sat down next to Sephiroth. "Oh give it a rest Robert; you really think threatening Commander Hewley is going to get you anywhere?"

"Not very bright now are you kid." Zack rolled his eyes throwing his arms behind his head and started to wander around the front of the class room. "Zackary.." Angeal chided his apprentice before turning back to the group in front of him.

"I want the whole story, and you will speak one at a time and to me only." Receiving nods he moved to lean up against the instructors' desk at the head of the class room. "What started it?"

"It started in Materia class this morning, Robert came in and told Seth here to move from his chair claiming it was his. Seth refused because this is our first day in the class and he got right down in Seth face and demanded he move. Well Seth refused again and used the whole 'Shinra will kick out bullies' and Robert backed off for a bit."

Angeal resisted the urge to rub his eyes; this is why he didn't want to be an instructor at the cadet school. "Cadet Seth is this true? Please look at me when you answer." Cursing slightly at his luck and Zack's snickering Sephiroth raised his head just enough to act bashful. "Yes," he said a black brow go up as Zack dissolved into a fit of laughter.

"Cadet.. Remove your cover." 'oh fuck you Angeal…'

Sighing deeply Sephiroth reached up and pulled his cover off allowing his silver hair to fall down his back. "Thanks for blowing my cover Angeal." He growled shoving his bangs back behind his ear.

"General Sephiroth!" one of the boys shouted going pale. Robert he was happy to see looked like he had just swallowed the foulest poison out there.

Looking over he saw Nicholas looking at him with massive eyes and slack jaw. "Told you, you weren't going to get stabbed.."

Angeal was rubbing his face slowly counting to ten to keep from strangling his best friend. "Sephiroth.. What in Gaia's name are you doing dressed up like a cadet again?"

Slumping down in the chair much like a sulking teenager arms cross over his chest he glared at Angeal. "I was on an undercover mission for the Turks…"

"Which we thank you for." Sitting up the group looked over. Katana moved into the room, Knife could be seen still standing in the hallway. "Robert Patterson, come with us please." Swallowing Robert stood up and quickly moved out of the room, he had unknowingly been trying to bully the General all day.

"Oh Katana, when is Tseng due back?" Sephiroth asked; stopping in the door Katana looked back as Knife led the young boy away. "Unknown, once the mission is complete."

"Alright, when he gets back can you tell him I have a possible new Turk for him." He looked over to Nicholas. Seeing the general looking at him when he said that caused his eyes to go wide and look back over to Katana.

"Oh? Well Sephiroth, so far you have never been wrong. Cadet, why don't we go talk." Flabbergasted Nicholas stood up and moved over towards the Turk, he honestly didn't know what to say about all of this.

Watching Nicholas being led away Sephiroth closed his eyes ignoring the scampering of the two other boys as Angeal told them to get.

"Sephiroth…."

Slowly opening his eyes he looked over seeing both Angeal and Zack standing next to him. "Wanna play hooky?" he asked not needing to be torn into right now.

Sighing softly Angeal set a hand on Sephiroth's shoulder, "I think I could use a nice coffee from that little stand in sector eight."

AN: whew.. long chapter but fun to write, a lot of people liked the Sephiroth running around as a cadet so I decided to have some fun with it. Sorry this took so long to get out my computer died and I am in the processes of packing since I'll be moving in a few weeks. Because of this the chapters are going to be a little slow until I get settled in. but I promise they will be up.

Also in reference to a few things. the lyrics found on the back of the picture of Sephiroth's parents is "Breaking Benjimns: Anthem of the Angels" beautiful song and fits them so well.

a cover is military term for hat, so when they speak of just a cover they are speaking a normal hat not a helmet or anything.

the "Genesis Sword is a giant can opener" was inspired by the great RegenesisX, and her FFVII fanfiction "Intelligent Conversation" you read that and you will NEVER look at Cloud and Genesis the same again.. mainly Genesis. i suggest you go over and read it, all of her works are so damn funny!
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