Adult-FanFiction.org : Final Fantasy

Snow Day	By : Zerachiel Category: Final Fantasy VII > Yaoi - Male/Male > Cloud/Sephiroth Views: 7490 -:- 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
- 3
- 4
- 5
…

Chapter 4

…

"Sephiroth, are you sure about this?" Zack asked while peering over the edge of the roof. Somehow all five of them had found themselves up on the Inn roof after being chased down here by some very pissed off parents.

Angeal was up at the top of the roof, lying down in the snow to keep watch on the main road in front of the Inn.

"Of course, I've done it hundreds of times; I opened the window just for this type of emergency." The Silver Demon was leaning over the edge of the roof, judging the best way to get down there. Sighing, Zack stood up and moved over to Cloud.

"How did we end up in this spot?" Zack whined.

Laughing softly, Cloud rested his head against Zack's arm. "Because Genesis screamed run and we all bolted."

"Oh, yeah." A bright smirk crossed Zack's face as he remembered exactly why they were now on the roof of the inn trying to break in through Sephiroth's bedroom window.

*Flashback*

"Oh, I don't think I could eat another bite." Said Zack, patted his very full stomach. Cloud had not been lying when he said his mom was a damn good cook. Pulling his boots on, a soft groan left his throat as he pulled himself up. "I think I'm just gonna go back to the Inn and sleep for a few years."

Angeal chuckled softly as he pulled his own boots on before asking, "Did we finally find something that will fill you up?"

"Mmhmm"

Cloud moved up to them, rubbing at tired eyes; he had not slept all that well the night before and he was full on good, home-made cooking that only mom could make. "Did mom give you those recipes yet?"

"She said she would have them ready by the time we were leaving and to stop back by."

"Is Sephiroth still in the bathroom?" Zack started to bounce, obviously no longer as full as he was a few minutes ago.

"What do you expect, he had five large energy drinks and twelve cups of cocoa; it is a miracle his bladder didn't explode." Said Genesis as he pulled his sun glasses on, he really hated these things, but the bright snow hurt!

"I did not drink that much." Sephiroth growled as he moved up to them, stalker look back in full affect. "Seph, we were counting."

Rolling his eyes behind his sun glasses, Sephiroth moved past them, "Come on we're burning precious day light, I need to kill something."

"Alright, alright. We're coming, Seph." Folding his arms behind his head, Zack followed behind his commander; his glasses in place.

"Thank you again Mrs. Strife, it was lovely to meet you." Angeal gently took Cloud's mother's hand. Smiling, she gently waved them off. "I expect to see some pictures of my baby soon."

"Don't worry mom, I'm sure Angeal will be more than happy to send you them." Giving his mother a final hug, Cloud waved and rushed out after the four other Firsts.

Moving up to Sephiroth, he gently wrapped his arm around his waist. Sephiroth smiled slightly and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Your mother is a very lovely woman; I see a lot of her in you." Sephiroth said quietly.

Flushing slightly Cloud looked up at him. "Thanks?" Laughing softly, Sephiroth leaned down and kissed him gently.

"Oh, don't go getting mushy on us." Sephiroth straightened back up and smirked before reaching out and grabbed Genesis.

He pulled him in and kissed him hard, muttering against his lips. "Sounds like you were jealous."

Slightly red, Genesis pushed Sephiroth's face away playfully. "Why would I be jealous?"

"HEY! Are you the brats that beat up my son?" The group froze and as one looked down the street. There was a small mob of angry parents outside where they had fought with Cloud's bullies. One of which was now standing in front of them.

"Um…" Zack began as he unfolded his arms from behind his head.

"Run!"

The call was like turning on the light switch in an abandoned house. The group of five instantly scattered, each picking a direction and running.

"Hey, get back here!"

Putting on a burst of speed, Cloud shot out from between two houses and ran up to the water tower. He had never been more thankful for his SOLDIER speed, than now.

A few seconds later, the others converged around him, many leaning against the legs of the tower. Taking a glance at each other, they all started laughing loudly as they realized what they had just done.

"'Five SOLDIER First Classes Flee From Mob of Angry Parents'; I can see that head line now." Zack panted out before dissolving once more into a fit of laughter.

*end*

"Zack, you're first."

Stiffening, Zack glared at Sephiroth's back before whining. "Why do I have to go first?"

"Because I said so, Lieutenant."

Groaning loudly, Zack moved over to the edge of the roof and looked back over. He spied the partially open window that was Sephiroth's room. He hated when Sephiroth went General on him on their off time.

"What happens if I miss or the windowsill breaks?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder at Sephiroth again.

"Would you prefer a potion or a cure?" Genesis responded, smirking.

Zack bristled at this and glared at the crimson commander. "Yeah, screw you, Gen."

"Sorry, I already have two; besides I don't think Angel would let me touch his puppy."

"Hey, leave me out of this."

Deciding he would not get out of it, Zack turned his attention back to the window. Clearing off a handhold with his foot, he took a deep breath then dropped off the edge of the roof; his fingers easily grasping the edge of the roof. Shifting his hold, he started to swing slightly before launching himself at the windowsill.

His fingers gripped onto the old wooden sill and, for the briefest of seconds, it sounded as if the ancient wood was not going to support his sudden weight. Holding his breath he waited, nothing.

'Oh, thank Gaia.' He thought before reaching up with one hand. He grabbed hold of the windowsill on the inside and reached up with the other hand pushing the window up. Grabbing the sill with his other hand, he pulled himself up.

About half way through he stopped, polish black shoes entering his field of vision. Swallowing, he slowly looked up; Mako blue eyes traveling up well pressed black pants, a pressed white dress shirt with sleeves currently rolled up and the collar undone.

"Hi, dad!" Zack smiled brightly at Tseng, who was currently sitting on the bed, arms laying loosely folded across his lap and one leg cross over the other at the knee.

"Zackary."

"Uh..."

Tseng stood and moved over to him, "Hurry up and pull yourself in." Swallowing again Zack nodded and pulled himself the rest of the way inside.

Once Zack was out of the way, Tseng leaned out the window. Arching his back so he could see up to the roof Tseng could see four sets of glowing eyes looking back down at him. "Get in here. Use the front door, not the Sephiroth express."

Pulling himself back in, Tseng shut the window with a snap and locked it before returning his attention back to Zack.

"Sit."

Zack quickly obeyed and sat on the small chair that was next to the table, he looked like a guilty puppy that just got caught peeing on the rug. Tseng sat down at the foot of the bed and once more folded his leg over the other. He absently rubbed his left arm, thirteen years later and the scars were still there; dark, raised scars. They had shrunk from what they were originally, but they were still noticeable, one reason he almost always kept his sleeves down.

Hearing heavy footsteps tromping through the corridor, Tseng laid his arms back on his lap. A moment later the door opened and four dejected looking boys walked into the room.

"Sit down."

They all followed his orders; Angeal moved over to the chair across from his puppy, Sephiroth positioned himself at the head of the bed, subconsciously drawing his feet in almost under him. This instantly caught Tseng's attention; he only did that when something was bugging him a great deal. Genesis sat down on the small sofa by the fire place next to Cloud.

"What did you do?"

A direct approach was always the best when dealing with this group; either Angeal would spill or they would all clam up, leaving the only option as the bribing of Sephiroth. However, Tseng could tell that with the way he was sitting, it wouldn't work this time.

"We put some bullies in their proper place, that's all." Genesis said straight up.

Keeping his shock hidden behind the Turk mask, Tseng looked over to Genesis. Normally he was never the one to bring forth the information. "What did they do?" He asked, maintaining his calm persona.

"They were bullying Cloud and tried to attack him when he walked away from them." Zack said, sitting forward in his seat.

"This occurred in front of Sephiroth. With his power as General, he decided to issue out appropriate punishment." Angeal continued.

"As any General is allowed." Tseng finished for Angeal. While Tseng kept his gaze on Angeal, he caught a glimpse of Sephiroth from the corner of his eyes. Sephiroth despised bullies with a passion, more than likely this was a cover for them going after Cloud's childhood bullies.

Sighing softly, he pushed an errant strand of hair back behind his ear. "If it was an attack in front of the General, then he is perfectly in line with dishing out punishment. If we get any angry villagers, I'll handle it." The mood seemed to lift a little at that, releasing the tension from the air. Smiling, Tseng continued with a final warning, "Just don't do it again, do you understand?" The five nodded, all visibly relaxing.

Happy with this response, he asked "What are your plans for the rest of the day?"

"We're gonna go up into the hills and see what we can find to hunt, I think we're all starting to get a little pent up energy." Genesis responded, as he motioned lazily with his hand while partially draped over the back of the couch.

"Alright, make sure you have your PHS on you." Tseng replied with a nod.

"Yes daddy."

Groaning, Tseng narrowed a glare at Genesis while the red head in turn simply gave him a smug smirk. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Tseng felt a massive head ache coming on. First Cloud, then Zack and now Genesis.

Standing up, Tseng moved over to the door, "I expect you all to be back by dinner. Sephiroth, may I speak to you in private."

"Yes, daddy!" came four voices from the room.

Leaning against the wall, Tseng let his head fall back with a soft, 'thunk'.

"I don't think that will help with your headache." Sephiroth said quietly, as he entered the corridor and closed the door behind him.

Hearing the familiar soft baritone, Tseng moved away from the wall and replied. "I'm hoping to eventually knock myself unconscious." He moved off towards his own room, knowing the Silver Demon would follow.

He entered the room then held the door open for Sephiroth. Once the General moved into the room, he shut the door and locked it.

"What did you need to speak to me about?" Sephiroth asked in a soft tone.

Moving over to the bed, Tseng sat down and motioned for Sephiroth to join him. Blinking in surprised, Sephiroth slowly sunk down onto the bed next to the Turk. Tseng reached out and wrapped a arm around the young man, pulling him in close while making him lay his head on his shoulder. "What is going on, Otouto?"

Blinking in shock, Sephiroth looked up at Tseng, It had been years since he had called him that. Smiling softly, Sephiroth closed his eyes. "Nothing, Oniisan."

Tseng made a noise in the back of his throat. "You're a horrible liar."

…

Pulling on a heavy jacket, Cloud sat down next to Genesis on their shared bed. Zack and Angeal had gone to their own room to get their swords and heavier winter clothes on. While the group may have a high resistance to cold, they were planning on being out for a while and even they could get hypothermia in this weather.

"Hey, Gen?" Cloud tentatively started.

"Hmm?" Genesis hummed as he looked up from his book.

"What's the deal with Tseng and Sephiroth? He seems to get away with a lot around him."

Placing his marker in the book, Genesis set it down on the bedside table. Cloud bit back a smile with a thought of 'I don't know why he needs a marker when he's got the whole damn thing memorized.'

"Their relationship is complicated." Genesis replied, a small frown crossed his face trying to think how to put this. "It's a big brother, little brother type relationship. Sephiroth has always looked up to Tseng, at least from what he has told me. Tseng always watched out for Sephiroth and is one of the loudest speaking out against him still returning to Hojo every other week. At Shinra though, he has to be a Turk first and friend second, which has been hard on Seph. However, they are still close."

Cloud thought back to the time spent so far during their vacation. He noticed more details of that time which showed Tseng and Sephiroth as close. Such as when the Turk always seemed to know when Sephiroth was crashing from his sugar high and would always have a can ready for him. He also seemed to know exactly what the General's next move was, which made a very interesting time at the Golden Saucer.

"I don't question it too much; as long as it's not sexual I don't care." Gensis finished.

Chuckling, Cloud crawled over to Genesis and leaned over him. "I'm starting to believe Sephiroth was right about you being jealous."

Fire flared up in those blue eyes causing Cloud to shiver slightly. Reaching up, Genesis wound his fingers into the hair at the back of his head. "If I was jealous, I never would have let him have you."

"You mean let me have him." Smirking, Genesis pulled him down. "Technicality." He muttered while pulling Cloud down the rest of the way, capturing those sweet lips. Cloud instantly melted against him, Genesis loved how responsive their little blond was.

"Hey, I thought we were going to hunt monsters!"

Breaking the kiss, Genesis growled and flung a pillow at the door. Zack dodged it easily and walked in, now holding Cloud's sword with his own attached to his back. Zack grinned and started to bait Genesis. "You missed, Crimson. I thought you had better aim than..," his voice was muffled by a second pillow hitting him in the face.

"You were saying, Puppy?"

Laughing, Cloud stole a quick kiss from Genesis before pushing himself up off the bed. "Thanks, man." Cloud said as he took his sword from Zack and checked it over. The Puppy had a nasty habit of playing with it and damaging it.

"Don't worry Cloud; I made sure he didn't touch it more than necessary." Flopping down on the bed, Zack pouted and crossing his arms over his chest while giving Angeal huge puppy eyes. "I wasn't going to break it! This time..."

"That's what you said the last eighteen times you have broken it."

In response to Cloud's comment, Zack reached back and smacked Genesis. "Ow, hey! Why did you hit me?"

"Because I can't hit Cloud." Zack responded with a grin.

Grabbing a pillow from the bed, Genesis started to beat Zack with it. "No fair!" Zack cried before leaping off the bed to dive behind Angeal.

"I'm not a shield Zack." Angeal said, drily.

"Yes, you are."

Deep chuckling pulled all their attention to the door way; Sephiroth passed them and headed over to where his heavier jacket was located. He looked a lot better now, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. The group shared a knowing look and smiled; Tseng really was a good guy to have around with a moody General.

Reaching into his sweat shirt pockets to make sure he did not have his wallet in them still, Sephiroth stopped when his hand wrapped around something. Confused at what else could be in his pocket, he pulled out a thin bar wrapped in foil.

He instantly looked like Christmas, his birthday, and every other holiday had all came at once. His green eyes lit up as his mouth dropped a little in awe. Turning over the candy bar, he jumped slightly and squealed.

Realizing what he had just done, he quickly clamped a hand over his mouth and looked to his friends and lovers. All four were staring back at him with slack jaws.

"What? It's a rare import from Wutai." Sephiroth said, while trying to salvage what little dignity he had left. He turned away and went back to looking for his heavy coat.

Cloud covered his mouth, his shoulders shaking hard, tears running down his face from trying so hard not to laugh out loud. Bending over, he stomped his foot on the ground as a few laughs managed to break through his hand.

Angeal, from his spot in front of Zack, started to chuckle and before long it turned into a full out laugh. This seemed to break the ice as Zack and Genesis both started to laugh hard.

"That.. that was priceless." Zack gasped out between laughs. Sephiroth absolutely deflated at that, so much for keeping what little dignity he had left.

After finally managing to collect himself, Cloud moved over to Sephiroth and wrapped his arms around him. "We're sorry, but that was so out of character for you." Leaning up on tiptoes, Cloud kissed him gently.

"Awww... so cute!"

Growling, Sephiroth moved away from Cloud and grabbed Masamune from its spot in the corner. Zack squeaked and bolted from the room with Sephiroth hot on his heels.

Pushing himself off the bed, Genesis grabbed Rapier from its position next to the bed. "Angeal."

"I know, I warned him that if he kept the teasing up Sephiroth was going to neuter him."

Shaking his head, Cloud watched the two older Firsts leave the room; he really did love these guys. There was never a dull moment when they were around.

…

"Why do I feel like we just stepped into a horror movie?"

Cloud could not agree more with Zack on this one, their small group stood in front of the rusting gates of Shinra Manor. The house looked like something straight from a horror movie, old, decrepit and falling apart from lack of maintenance; the paint on the outside was peeling in huge flecks; the shutters creaking on rusted hinges in the soft wind; a dead garden, black with weeds growing where the flowers would not.

"All we're missing is the creepy music and lightning in the background." Zack continued.

Even Sephiroth was giving the house a nervous look.

The group jump as creepy horror music suddenly blasted around them. Zack clung to Cloud, looking around for the source of the music.

"Genesis..." Sephiroth growled in warning.

Smirking, Genesis flipped his PHS shut, effectively ending the music. "Sorry, couldn't help it."

With a growl Zack puppy-pounced Genesis, sending them both into the snow. Straddling the man's waist, he started grabbing snow and dumping it on him. "Scared us half to death!" Laughing, Genesis shoved Zack off him and stood back up before brushing the snow off himself and shaking his jacket out.

"So, are we just busting in or taking the sneak approach in?"

Clutching Masamune in his left hand, Sephiroth easily leaped over the fence, landing in the snow covered garden of the mansion. "Are you a super enhanced SOLDIER or not?"

Flushing slightly, Zack really wanted to stick his tongue out at the General. "Someday you will learn, Zackary." Angeal hopped over the fence easily to land next to Sephiroth. The other three landed beside them while Zack spent the whole time glaring at Sephiroth's back, mumbling about 'perfect know it all's.

"Cloud, what do you know of this place?"

"Other than it being creepy?" Cloud said distractedly while making sure first Tsurugi was in the harness on his back. He moved up in front of the group and continued, "Just a lot of hear say. Thirty years ago it was used as a research facility for Shinra when they put in the Mako reactor. Twenty years ago they just up and abandoned it, but it is said the experiments from the time they were here are still walking around the halls. I don't know if that is true, but you can hear things in the mansion. It's also rumored to be haunted and that there is a vampire there." He finished, looking up at the mansion.

"A vampire?" Sephiroth smirked, his Mako eyes regarding the mansion. "Do you small country folk have nothing better to do?"

Laughing, Cloud looked back at him, "I was wondering myself what crack head drunk made that one up."

"Well, in the words of our Great General, come on ladies we're burning daylight!" Zack charged past them and up through the front doors of the mansion. "LEEEERRRRROOOOOYYYYY!"

Sephiroth covered his mouth as he chuckled deeply, the others also having a quiet laugh. "Leave it to him to think of that."

"Come on, let's go make sure he's still alive."

…

He really was going to cap all five of those boys by the end of this trip, he really was. Leaning against the wall Tseng had his laptop open in front of him after having returned to working on the monster report for the President. Shortly after the SOLDIERs had left, a small mob had entered the Inn, demanding the Inn Keeper to tell them where the four visitors were.

Thankfully the boys had all sneaked out a back entrance and disappeared up behind the village. Their weapons alone would have been enough to pull everyone's attention and they did not want that.

The Inn Keeper had told the head of the angry mob that they had not been seen since breakfast, but pointed to the four Turks. "They are the ones that brought them here." He said before disappearing into one of the back rooms.

'Oh lord, here came the shit storm.' Tseng thought as the mob's attention turned to him. He really wished the pain killers would kick in already, at least then he would only have a slightly less painful headache after this. Pretending not to notice the angry parents move towards them, he stole a piece of poky from Reno's box and popped it in his mouth before returning to his report.

"Hey, are you the guys watching over those four boys?"

Sighing internally, Tseng set his paper work down and looked up at the burly man standing at the front of the group. Reno, Rude and Cissnei had all stopped their work and were also looking up at the group. "Yo, boss. What's going on?" Reno asked before Tseng could respond; Tseng held up a hand, effectively silencing Reno.

"If you are referring to the incident this morning between five local boys and the four boys in question, I have already been informed of the reasoning behind the attacks and the injuries of the boys; none of which were more than a sprained ankle."

The lead man blinked upon hearing this, this was not the reaction he had been expecting. "Sprained ankle nothing, your boys nearly beat ours to death!"

Resisting the urge to rub his temples, Tseng sat up and grabbed a small pad of paper next to his computer and flipped to the second page. He calmly started his response, "According to this report, all five boys after several minutes of being run around, shoved, 'puppy pounced' and hassled, were reported to have gotten up under their own power and fled the scene. One, a Michael Jacobs age eighteen, was reported to have a slight limp to his run, favoring his right leg. This was suggested by the distribution of the weight and the speed for which he fled, a simple sprained ankle." Flipping the front page back over, he set the report down. "I hardly call that 'nearly beaten to death'." Tseng finished, hardly managing to keep the sarcasm from his voice. Stealing another poky, he stuck that in his mouth and went back to his laptop.

"How did you get all that information?" One of the mothers asked, stepping around the man.

"That's our job, yo." Reno smirked, answering for his boss.

Tseng gave him a small nodded and sat back once more. "Is there anything else?"

"What are you going to do about this? The attack was unprovoked!"

"What would you suggest I do? I am afraid that these boys are out of my jurisdiction." Laying his arms across his lap, he quietly observed the parents. He could very easily see now why Sephiroth had attacked the boys, if they were anything like their parents. His right hand twitched slightly, really wanting to wrap around the hidden pistol at his side.

"Out of your jurisdiction? You're their guardian are you not?"

Ohh, that woman would be the first to die if he decided to go postal on these people. Her voice was like dying cats digging their claws into a chalk board. Reno jabbed a finger in his ear, a pained expression on his face. Even Rude seemed to be annoyed by her voice.

"No, they all over the age of eighteen, at which point a guardian is no longer required; besides, we are simply the drivers." Cissnei answered for Tseng, a thoughtful look crossed her face. "Does Seph even have guardians?"

Rude shook his head and responded "He was a ward of Shinra until his eighteenth birthday."

"Oh, no wonder he had such free run of Shinra." She giggled and went back to her work.

Reaching down into his bag, Tseng withdrew a card and quickly scribbled something on the back and held it out. "If you wish to file a formal complaint, Lazard would be the man you need to speak with. This is his card with the report number."

Sitting back, he held the report out to Reno. "Send this directly to Director Lazard, the portable fax is hooked up in my room."

"Course boss, how do you want it marked?" Reno asked as he stood.

"Attention: Urgent," he tapped out a small beat with his foot against the table, knowing Reno would feel it.

"Course boss." He responded before moving past the now confused parents as he headed up towards their rooms.

"If that is all, I must apologize, but we're extremely busy." He said with a tone of finality to the parents before going back to his laptop Tseng now tuned them out.

He growled in his head as the mob of parents moved out of the Inn, all complaining loudly about big city tourists. Sephiroth owed him big time for this, maybe a few more cans of his energy drink would suddenly go 'missing.'

…

"Well who ever told you there were high end monsters running around this place must have been a chicken shit." Swinging his sword back onto his back, Zack looked down at the newest monster to have tried to attack them. He had no idea what it was, but in no way was it powerful.

"Hey... Where did everyone go?"

"Zack, come up here!" Came Cloud's voice from somewhere above. Looking up to the second floor, he saw Cloud waving him up. Racing up the stairs three at a time, Zack followed the foot prints in the dust along the floor to a room at the end of the hall. "What did you guys find?... Whoa, that is a big safe."

Genesis and Cloud stood in front of a massive, black safe. "Where is Seph and Angeal?"

"I saw Seph in a library down the hall, Angeal said something about a room full of plants." Genesis had an ear pressed against the safe, his fingers twisting the knob back and forth. "Ten gil says he doesn't get it."

Chuckling Cloud held out his hand. "You're on." He said as the two shook on it and stood back watching.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Genesis said sarcastically. Still with his ear pressed against the safe door, he started to draw in the dust all the while muttered to himself.

After a few minutes he moved his ear away, "I think I got it." Looking down at the figures he had drawn in the dust, he quickly started spinning the dial. "That's a long combination," Zack muttered. Giving the dial a final spin Genesis grasped the handle, pulling it down he encountered resistance. The lock had released, but it seemed the mechanisms were rusted shut. Switching his hand hold, he put a booted foot up on side of the safe and pulled with all his strength.

The handle snapped, sending the First off balance and onto his ass. Flinching, he slowly pushed himself up, "I think I broke my tail bone..." holding up the broken handle, he glared at it and growled out, "This is all your fault," before throwing it to the side. He moved back over to the safe and could see the handle had barely moved; it had just sheered right off. Grabbing Rapier from where he had laid it, Genesis shoved the blade deep into the Safe's seam of the door. Pulling on all his strength, he ripped the blade down and watched it sheer through the thick metal locks.

"Why didn't you just do that in the first place?"

"Hush."

The two boys shared a smile upon receiving a very Sephiroth answer from the man. Grabbing hold of what was left of the broken handle, Genesis pulled on the heavy door; the heavily rusted hinged squealed loudly in protest.

"Ah!" Cried both Zack and Cloud as they covered their ears. Genesis gritted his teeth, the pain from his ears traveling into his jaw. Pulling it as far open as he could, Genesis moved around and peered in side, "It's emp..." His eyes went wide and seemed to light up.

"What did you find?" The two quickly moved over to the safe. Reaching inside, Genesis pulled out a brilliant red materia.

"Whoa, a summon!" Zack exclaimed while hanging over the top of the safe door; Cloud had pushed himself under Genesis arm. "Can you tell which one it is?" he asked Genesis, since he was the materia master of the group.

Frowning slightly, Genesis rolled it around in his fingers and muttered, "I don't recognize it." Which meant it was rare.

"We'll have to wait 'til we get back to Midgar to test it out in the wasteland. I wouldn't dare test it around anything like a city or the Shinra building, even the VR room."

Summons could be uncontrollable if you did not know who they were.

Reaching into his pocket, Genesis withdrew a special case he kept all his extra materia in. Being a heavy magic user, he always kept a very large supply on his person.

"Hey, there is something else in here." Shifting on the door, Zack leaned into the safe. He wriggled around a bit before coming back out holding an old fashioned skeleton key.

Genesis gently took the key and looked it over, his brows drawn down in a frown. "Why would you lock a key up..."

"Maybe it's to a secret room." Cloud offered, looking at the key. It did not look like it would open a standard door.

"Do you think Sephiroth would know?" Zack questioned.

Rolling his eyes, Genesis moved away from the now empty safe. Tilting his head to the side slightly, a confused look crossed his face. "Do you hear that?"

Stilling, the two Firsts listened; there was the distinct sound of something heavy slamming up against something metal. "Sounds like it's coming from the library." Picking his sword up once more, Genesis headed out into the hallway.

"Can you hear that too?" Angeal called as he moved up to them from the other end of the hallway. Nodding, Genesis motioned down the hallway. "Cloud said it sounded like it was coming from the library."

"Isn't that where Seph is?" Angeal asked while pulling his sword from his back before slowly moving towards the sounds. As they got closer, the sound got louder and they could hear loud cussing with it.

Exchanging a glance, Genesis peeked around the door frame. "Sephiroth, what in Gaia's name are you doing?"

Genesis lowered his weapon and moved into the room, he noticed a huge section of the book cases was gone; revealing a heavy metal door in front of which Sephiroth was currently standing while rubbing his right shoulder. "The door is SOLDIER proof; I'm starting to believe that Shinra was doing more than research here."

"Why else have a secret room with a door strong enough to contain a SOLDIER First?" Genesis muttered darkly. Moving to the door, he noticed that even though Sephiroth had been throwing his entire weight against the door, it did not even dented.

"What do you think is behind there?" Genesis asked.

"You know, I'm getting a strange feeling we shouldn't be going down there." Cloud said softly, but with strong conviction.

Angeal looked back at the two youngest Firsts, something deep in his gut was telling him the same thing. Before he could voice his thoughts though, Genesis had produced the discovered skeleton key and shoved it into a key hole in the door.

The lock turned easily and the door swung inwards silently.

"That was creepy." Cloud stated and the others had to agree. After hearing so much creaking and groaning across the old house, to have one open silently set their nerves on edge.

Moving into the doorway, Sephiroth and Genesis both peered down into the dark, spiraling stairwell beyond, their eyes starting to glow brighter as the darkness grew thicker. Gripping Masamune tighter, Sephiroth headed down the steep wooden stairs.

Pulling First Tsurugi from its harness on his back, Cloud quickly followed him down with Genesis only steps behind him.

"Angeal, I don't like this."

"That makes two of us."

…

Cissnei watched silently as Tseng paced back and forth. "They are only a half hour late, maybe they lost track of time."

Stopping, Tseng shot her an unamused look. "Remember who we are speaking about here."

"Oh, true." Sephiroth was the king of being on time, all the time. The man was never even a second late to the time he said he would be somewhere; being tardy was completely unacceptable.

"Any luck with the GPS?" Tseng asked in a tense voice. Reno shook his head, slapping the laptop like it would fix their problem. They had all moved up to Tseng's room, as they had to start work on more sensitive matters. "There is something interfering with them, I was able to back track in time and located them."

Moving over to the laptop, Tseng leaned over Reno's shoulder. Five glowing red dots were on the monitor, one dot was slightly to the left, three dots were all together a few feet away and the final dot was a few more feet to the right of them. Assessing the situation, Tseng muttered aloud, "They are too far away to be fighting, and they are pretty stationary." After a pause, he said. "Play it."

After Reno finished punching in a couple codes, the GPS recording resumed. The dots were stationary for a few minutes, all were moving just in a central location. Suddenly, four of the dots started to move merging together and head down for the fifth dot. Reaching the fifth dot, one of the four grouped dots moved up next to the fifth. It was in this layout that the dots stayed for another few moments before the fifth dot moved to the right and simply vanished. Blinking, Tseng reached over Reno and backed the GPS recording up. Hitting play once more, he watched as the dot simply disappeared off the screen, a second later one of the others dots, which had been hanging back, moved forward and also disappeared. Shortly after that the last three disappeared.

"Give me the location."

Typing in another command the map changed to show a satellite image of the area. "Hey, isn't that the old Shinra mansion?"

"Fuck!"

Everyone blinked and turned to look at Tseng, never once had they ever heard the man cuss. Ignoring the gaze of the others, Tseng grabbed his coat and was out the door at a dead sprint. He now knew exactly why the SOLDIERs GPS had vanished; they were heading down into the basement of the mansion. He needed to get there and fast. Sephiroth could not find what was hidden down there; their very lives depended on it!

…

"Whoa! Talk about horror house vibes."

Cloud and Zack stood in a room filled with old wooden coffins.

The others had wandered off, checking out another section of the basement. "You know, I'm starting to believe that vampire story."

Cloud nodded, his eyes roaming over the shiny, wooden surfaces. "Isn't it strange, the top floors of the mansion where covered in dust, but this whole area is spotless."

Looking around, Zack nodded, "Yeah, that does seem a little odd." Turning back, he moved over to the first coffin. "Do you think there is someone in these?"

Swallowing, Cloud knelt down next to Zack. "I really hope not."

"Yeah, probably wouldn't smell too good would they."

Shaking his head, Cloud looked down at the coffin. "I don't think there is."

"Well, only one way to find out." Grabbing hold of the lid of the coffin, Zack shoved it off.

"Empty." Cloud let out the breath, he had not realized he had been holding. Not put off by a lack of decaying corpse, Zack hopped over to the next one. Stopping, he looked over towards the middle of the group, there was a coffin there that looked different from the others. "I'll get to that one in a minute." Zack made quick work of the rest of the coffins as he made his way to the middle.

All, thankfully, had been empty.

Moving over to the middle coffin, he knelt down next to it; though when he was ready to rip the lid off, his hand froze half way to the lid.

"What is it?" Cloud moved over, First Tsurugi held tightly in his hand.

"I think I hear breathing."

Blinking, Cloud knelt down next to the coffin and pressed his ear against the wood. He shot up a second later. "You're right!"

Both visibly swallow. Zack pulled his sword off his back and motioned for Cloud to move away. Backing up a few steps, Cloud held First Tsurugi out in front of him.

Giving a silent nod with his sword at the ready, Zack pushed the top of the coffin off slightly.

"The hell?"

Moving closer, Cloud saw that inside the coffin was a very healthy looking human. Long, black hair was kept away from their face with thick crimson wraps, a thick crimson cloak hid the lower half of his face.

"Wow, for being dead, he looks pretty damn good. He's still got color in his cheeks." Zack said, looking up to Cloud for a moment.

A golden clawed hand suddenly lifted from the coffin, grabbed the edge of the lid and slid it back into place.

…

Having split off from the rest of the group, Sephiroth found himself walking among shelves and shelves of books. "A second library?" He muttered, curious as the separation. This one was by far smaller and, while the one up stairs had been filled with decaying books, these all looked to be in perfect condition. "Strange."

Running his fingers along the spines as he walked, he took in the many books lining the shelves. These were not traditional books; almost none of them were labeled on the spines. Walking along, he came to a small alcove, in its center was a desk with a high back chair. Papers and books littered the desk, almost like they had been left there in a rush.

Curiosity getting the better of him, he moved up to the desk reaching down he picked up a leather bound book. Frowning slightly at lack of a title he flipped it over to open it.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!"

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

Head snapping to the side, Sephiroth dropped the book and raced out of the room. Hitting the table with a soft thump, the book fluttered opened, a piece of paper fluttering from its pages.

Jenova

Project "S"

Sephiroth, born March 26 -

…

Racing down the hall, Sephiroth felt his blood pounding in his ears. Those screams had belonged to Zack and Cloud; he never should have let them go off on their own. They might have been Firsts, but there was no telling what was down here. He had already encountered what could only be one of Hojo's experiments. While it had been easy for him to dispatch, it had been resilient and relied both on magic and physical attacks; only to transform half way through their fight to pure magic.

Skidding around a corner, Sephiroth felt something slam into him, sending him into the wall, before something hard crashed into his head.

Grabbing his head, he glared down at the red head pulling himself away.

"Have I ever said you have a hard head."

Holding onto his head which had slammed into Sephiroth's when they skidded into each other nodding, Genesis replied, "Constantly."

Oh, he was going to have a headache tonight. Pushing himself off the wall, Sephiroth ran off down the hall where he had seen Angeal burst through a door with his sword drawn. Swinging into the doorway, Sephiroth stopped dead in his tracks, mere inches from slamming into Angeal's back. Unfortunately, he was not as lucky when as a certain redhead slammed head long into his back; sending him into Angeal.

Caught off guard, Angeal stumbled forward. However, he managed to hold his balance, as well as the two behind him. "I think we need to start training in the morning if we go on vacation."

Managing to push themselves up, the two higher Firsts looked around the room. Coffins littered the floor, many had their tops shoved off.

Groaning caught their attention, over the edge of the farthest open coffin they could see a familiar pair of black cargo pants and blue jeans sticking out. First Tsurugi and Zack's sword lay a few feet away. Rushing over, Angeal gently took Zack's arm and pulled him up.

"Are you alright?" he asked while quickly checking over his student to make sure he was indeed alright.

"Yeah. I'm fine, Angeal." Zack replied shakily. Genesis pulled Cloud out of the coffin next, he had been under Zack.

"Ohh… Did anyone get the plate on that bus?" Cloud groaned as he reached back to grab his head.

"Don't move Cloud, you seem to have hit your head pretty hard." Moving behind him, Genesis set a hand gently on the back of his head, summoning up his Cure. He could see the blood starting to stain that beautiful, blond hair of his.

Sephiroth was walking around the room, looking for monsters or attackers.

"What happened?" Angeal asked, still checking his puppy over.

Instantly, both younger boys pointed to the coffin a few feet away. "Vampire!" They cried at the same time.

Sephiroth stopped dead in his tracks, his Mako eyes turning to regard the coffin the boys were pointing to. "Vampire?" Sephiroth asked, his gaze shifting to Zack.

Zack nodded, since Cloud had his kept still by Genesis, "Yeah, we were checking the coffins, you know, to see if we can find any corpses and we heard breathing in that one. So we pushed it open and there was a guy in there. Well at least I think it's a guy; they looked pretty feminine to me."

"Zack, your rambling." Angeal interrupted him.

"The thing is alive! It reached up with this gold claw for a hand and pulled the cover back over itself!"

Slowly, Sephiroth moved back over towards them. His steps were silent and calculated, Masamune raised into a striking posture.

Recognizing what the man was doing, Angeal backed himself and Zack out of possible striking range of the massive sword. Genesis was still healing Cloud because you have to take it slow with head wounds. He kept his eyes on Sephiroth; he knew what to look for in body language if the sword was about to come swinging their way.

Moving to the side of the coffin, Sephiroth placed a foot silently on the side of the lid. He raised Masamune a little higher then he shoved as hard as he could with his foot, sending the lid flying across the room. He shifted to plunge Masamune into the coffin, only to find himself staring down three gun barrels.

Instinct kicking in, Sephiroth launched himself backwards just as a round went off. Landing several feet away, he reached up and felt warm liquid running down his cheek. Pulling his hand away, he saw it covered with a thin coating of blood. The bullet had just grazed his face!

Pushing that thought back, he raised his sword once more. His eyes swept the room for whatever had attacked him. The other SOLDIERs were on their feet beside him with their swords drawn; they were all looking in one direction. Following their gaze, he found his attacker.

The man stood on the other side of the room between unopened coffins, his long, ragged, red cloak blowing around him, almost as if it had a life of its own. The cloak covered the lower half of his face, however Sephiroth could see the bright, glowing, red eyes staring back at the group from behind black hair. A very deadly three barreled hand gun was currently leveled directly at him.

"Who are you?" The man asked, his voice was deep and scratchy from misuse, "What are you doing here?" He continued as his eyes narrowed regarding them.

"We could ask you the same thing. It's not often you find someone sleeping in a coffin in an abandoned mansion." Zack said, still holding his sword out in front of him.

The man did not move or lower his gun, "I am atoning for my sins."

"By sleeping?" Zack looked to Angeal, who shrugged just slightly. His eyes never left the man in front of them.

Taking a chance, Genesis stole a glance at his lover. He noticed the blood running into his silver hair and cheek. It was a superficial wound and would heal quickly with the Mako in his body. He had quite literally dodged the bullet on that one.

"Sephiroth, are you alright?" He asked, turning back to the figure across the room.

"I'm fine; it's just a graze. It will heal." Sephiroth replied shortly.

The figure in front of them turned to regard Sephiroth, his gun lowering slightly. "Sephiroth? Lucrecia's son."

Sephiroth blinked at this and responded, "My mother's name is Jenova."

The man slowly lowered his gun, his crimson eyes still regarding Sephiroth. "Even now they tarnish her memory by giving you a false name."

Sephiroth faltered at this, his eyes going wide. "How do you know who his mother is?" Angeal asked, also slowly lowering his weapon. Genesis, still cautious of the man in front of them, slowly moved around them to Sephiroth's side and placed a hand on his shoulder.

The man's eyes softened slightly before looking to Angeal and responding, "My name is Vincent Valentine, I was a member of the Department of Administrative Affairs."

"You were a Turk." Cloud said, recognizing the name the Turks used in public.

Vincent nodded, "I was assigned as protection to Professor Hojo and Professor Lucrecia Crescent."

"Turk Vincent Valentine, you were reported killed in action twenty one years ago." Everyone whipped around, hearing the familiar voice.

Panting hard, Tseng stood in the doorway, his pistol leveled at Vincent's chest.

"Tseng?"

Vincent raised his gun once more, seeing the new threat in the room; it was easy to recognize a Turk, even if the uniform color had changed.

Slowly moving into the room, Tseng kept his gun leveled on Vincent.

"Tseng, what's going on?" Sephiroth asked, his mind foggy. He shook his head and thought, 'I think Genesis hit me harder than I initially thought.'

Still staying trained on Vincent, Tseng knelt down and did a quick glance over of the General. Seeing the site of the blood had healed, he stood back up.

"Vincent Valentine was a legend during his time in the Turks, a master materia user and a master marksman. He was registered as killed in action twenty one years ago."

"Twenty one years ago? He does not look a day over twenty five." Zack said as he attached his sword back to his back. "Gotta share your secrets, man." Vincent slowly lowered his gun once more, though kept wary eyes on the Turk still with the drawn weapon.

"My secret is I am a monster."

Taken aback by that, the group looked him over; other than his strange attire he did not look like a monster.

Seeing Tseng was protecting them, Genesis lowered his sword and gently took Sephiroth's hand. "Seph?" He questioned quietly, Sephiroth looked over to him, a mixture of emotions flashing across his eyes.

"I'm alright; I should have figured Hojo was lying to me." Sephiroth said. He gave Genesis a shaky smile and turned back to Vincent. Reaching up, Genesis gently pushed some of his bangs back away from his face. He knew Sephiroth was always a little unstable when it came to his childhood and family. However, he looked over to Vincent, this might give Sephiroth the closure he needed without the lies and ridicule from his 'father'.

"Tell me how you survived." Tseng said, even if the SOLDIERs were no longer seeing this man as a threat he was not going to take a chance.

Vincent looked over at Sephiroth before turning his eyes back to Tseng, "I was a threat to Hojo, I did not agree with his current project and using the unborn to experiment on to create super soldiers. I approached him about what he was doing and how it was harming the mothers involved. He decided I was too big of a threat."

His clawed hand subconsciously came up to his chest, where to this day the massive scar still sat from the bullet that had mortally wounded him.

"I became his newest experiment. A human with the ability to take on demonic forms; a metamorphosis experiment." Vincent continued wryly.

"Hojo declared you dead in order to keep people from looking for you." Tseng remarked.

"Yeah, that sounds like something that old greasy bastard would do."

Vincent looked over to Zack, "Hojo is still alive?"

"Unfortunately." Several voices said at once. Zack and Cloud laughed a little behind their hands. It always amused them how this motley crew was always on the same wavelength. Even Sephiroth and Genesis cracked a smile at this.

Vincent's eyes narrowed upon hearing the doctor was still alive, "Will you be seeing him again."

"I have to, every few weeks." Sephiroth growled, he really would just love to decapitate the scientist. A plan was forming in Vincent's mind; now he could take his revenge for everything that monster had done.

Tseng knew that look all too well, the man was planning on committing murder; which Tseng was actually willing to turn a blind eye on. He hated Hojo with as much passion as the rest of those in the room did, he saw what he did to Sephiroth and it made his blood boil. If he could find a way to silently kill him without it coming back to him or Sephiroth he would have.

'Hm, this might be perfect. Who is going to believe a Turk declared dead twenty one years ago is back?' Tseng thought quickly, 'If it was a gunshot that killed him, the SOLDIERs would be the last on the suspect list since most of them had never even fired a gun in their life.'

Hearing growling, Tseng finally lowered his gun and turned looked at Zack.

"Was that your stomach, Zack?" Cloud asked with a laugh.

Zack flushed a pretty color and wrapped his arms around his stomach. "Mm, I missed lunch. I'm hungry!"

"You also missed dinner, which is why I am down here."

"What? No way!"

Releasing Genesis, Sephiroth slowly moved up to Vincent. Those red eyes instantly pinned him in place when they locked with his.

"Vincent, would you please come back to the Inn with us?"

Vincent looked over the young boy, with his hair pulled up and bangs hanging down the way they were, he looked so much like his beloved Lucrecia. He could hear the silent request under his words, closing his eyes he slowly nodded.

Maybe, by telling her son the truth, he could start to atone for his sins.

…

Sephiroth pulled dejectedly at the cuffs around his wrist. He was currently handcuffed to the bed post, and not the fun kind of handcuffed.

"Tseng, if you're gonna handcuff me to the bed, at least give me Genesis so I can have some fun."

Genesis scoffed from his spot on the floor, also currently hand cuffed. Though he was attached to the small radiator in the room. Zack was handcuffed to the bedpost at the foot of the bed, opposite to Sephiroth. He was whimpering and giving Tseng huge Zack puppy eyes. Cloud was currently cuffed to the closet door, while Angeal cuffed to a light built into the wall.

"If I gave you Genesis, then this wouldn't be a punishment now would it."

"No, sir." The group mumbled.

"Well then, you five can just sit here in Time-Out for a while." Oh, he was having fun with this one; if they wanted to call him dad for the rest of the trip then he was going to treat them like naughty children.

Cloud started to giggle from his spot against the closet door. "Time-Out at age seventeen. Never saw that one coming."

Angeal chuckled from his spot standing next to the light. "I haven't been put in time out since I was six." He shook his head, still amused.

"Mom never put me in TimeOut; I would just bounce out and across the house." Zack rolled onto his stomach, smiling his normal bright smile.

"That sounds exactly like something you would do." Genesis had his eyes closed, but was smiling, "I was eight the last time I was put in time out. How about you, Seph?"

Opening his eyes, Sephiroth tugged on the cuffs again, "Two weeks ago." The group all looked over to him, so he continued, "This is Tseng's favorite form of punishment." He jerked at the cuffs, he could have very easily snapped them if he wanted, but he actually like this as much as he complained about it. Made him feel like he was just a normal person.

Hearing a door open, the group looked over to the bathroom door. Vincent walked out in only his black pants and shirt with a towel thrown over his head. The man had desperately needed a shower after sleeping for twenty one years. His head wrap and cloak lay across the chair on the other side of the room along with his gun, Cerberus.

Pulling the towel from his head, Vincent shook his long hair letting it fall back into its natural place. Cloud was watching the man, his eyes slowly widened upon seeing the man's full face for the first time. Quickly, he looked over to Genesis, who had his eyes closed. Cloud looked around rapidly before he spied a rock on the floor. Picking it up, he nailed Genesis in the side of the leg, he was trying to draw only Genesis' attention.

Feeling something hit his leg, Genesis opened his eyes and looked over to Cloud. He was about to demand why he had thrown something at him, when he caught Cloud's eyes flickering between Sephiroth and Vincent. Confused, he looked to Sephiroth and then Vincent as he turned around to speak with Tseng. Genesis' eyes shot open and almost seemed to bug out of his head. Quickly, he stretched out his foot and tapped lightly on the bed post, enough to catch Zack's attention, but not enough to catch the General's.

Zack sat up and looked to Genesis; this was common for them, if there was something to relay that they did not want someone else in the room to know. Seeing where Genesis eyes were flickering, he followed them. 'Oh, holy Gaia…' He looked over and saw that Angeal had seen the same thing.

Vincent was a black haired, red eyed version of Sephiroth.

…
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