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
- 7
- 8
- 9
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Chapter 8

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Silently crimson eyes watched the figure in dark green racing down the side of the mountain, long silver hair blowing back behind him.

His son; that concept was still a hard one to wrap around his head. Never before had he ever dreamed of having a child of his own, not when he joined the Turks at the age of 18. Pretty much those joining the Turks or the SOLDIER program were resigned to the fate of never having a family, they were away too often that it made it almost impossible to hold onto any form of relationship that wasn't with someone involved in the same department.

Lucrecia had caught him from day one in her web and would not let him go. She had been beautiful with a personality to match, so quiet but so passionate about her work. He had been drawn to her like a moth to the flame.

But just like all that fly to close to the fire he had been burned. Her fatal flaw was she suffered from a very large guilt complex, her guilt at what had happened to his father; her old mentor had driven her away from him.

They had managed to share one wonderful night together before her guilt tore her from his arms. It was not long after that she had announced she had married Hojo and was with child. A child that was going to be used as the first test subject for project "S".

He had been infuriated hearing that the sweet woman had not only married this monster but was going to subject her innocent unborn to his horrible experiments all to create a cetra. Never once did he ever stop to think of the timing of it all, he should have realized that only after a week of being "married" to him that she would be over a month along.

He had been too enraged with the whole thing to even stop and think about that. Maybe, just maybe if he had he would have fought harder for his son.

Vincent's crimson eyes darkened, Lucrecia knew. There was no way that she would not have known that was his child but still she went through with it all.

Feeling something rising up in him he quickly closed his eyes, he could not allow Chaos to break free.

"Vincent?"

Opening his eyes he saw the young blond standing bellow his perch up in one of the snow covered tree's branches. Cloud was looking up at him curiously, the edge of his board dug into the snow to keep him from slipping off downhill.

"Glad to see you are back, we were worried when you didn't respond to our calls."

Blinking Vincent reached up his gloved finger going over the device in his ear, pulling it off his ear he looked down at it seeing the switch had been shut off. 'Strange, I do not recall shutting if off.' "My apologies, I did not realize it had been shut off."

His eyes moved from the young blond seeing Sephiroth down at the end of the run shoving Zack into the snow face first, the younger first obviously having said something.

"You know already, don't you."

Startled Vincent looked back down to the little blond, it hadn't been a question. Closing his eyes he leapt down from his spot landing next to the small blond. Opening his eyes once more he regarded the young boy.

The boy though young in appearance had the eyes of someone that was far older.

"Yes, I was outside your room. I saw Genesis sneaking into Tseng's room and return a few minutes later carrying his laptop. I see you all figured it out well before even I myself did."

Cloud regarded the man in front of him, this was the first time he really got to talk to him. Being this close to him for the first time he could really see not only Sephiroth in his appearance but also in his mannerisms and speech patterns. Was a little on the freaky side to be honest.

"We did a few hours before you did, when you came out of the bathroom you turned just the right way and it was like looking at a black haired, red eyed version of him."

This boy was very aware of his surroundings and very perceptive of what was going on around him. A very faint smile crossed his face his eye regarding Cloud. "I am surprised the Turks have not tried to recruit you."

Cloud flushed slightly at that, his blue eyes going wide. "You are very perceptive of the world around you and pick up on it quickly, a strong quality they look for."

Cloud flushed an even prettier pink at this, he had never thought of having any quality the Turks would ever look for. He knew he never wanted to be a Turk, but he could respect what they did.

Seeing a red blur shoot by Cloud couldn't help but smile remembering the crimson commands reaction to the list of materia that Vincent was said to have on him. "Oh forewarning, you're probably going to have a shadow from now on."

Raising a brow at this Vincent turned back to Cloud. "A shadow?" Chuckling Cloud nodded and motioned towards Genesis as he launched off a ramp doing a perfect trick in the air.

"Tseng looked up your file while we were eating; he saw your materia list. He's a materia master, but he saw you had a more extensive list then he did. Never heard the man cuss so much when he saw you had a fully mastered Knight of the Round."

A very small smile crossed Vincent's face though it was hidden by his cloak. "Knights of the Round is a very rare summon, I only know of one other besides myself to ever posses it."

Reaching to his side Vincent pulled out Cerberus and popped a red materia from its grip. He held it out to Cloud. "Tell him, this is as a thank you for remaining with my son."

Clouds eyes seemed to bug from his head, he wasn't a materia master and couldn't tell what summon this was but he had a very, very strong idea he knew exactly what this was. Cloud looked back to Vincent wondering if he was serious about this. Seeing the look on the boys face Vincent nodded before leaping back up to his perch on the branch.

"They will no longer obey me, he will find more use of them then I myself will."

Clutching the super rare summon in his hand tightly, Cloud shifted his weight slightly and started to slide down the hill once more. Reaching up with his free hand he clicked the mic back on, his blue eyes scanning the mass of people for the familiar red jacket and auburn hair. "Genesis?" he called out over the ear piece spying the commander at the bottom of the run speaking with Angeal. Seeing the figure turn he knew he had the man's attention. "Meet me at the bottom of the run, I'll be down in a second."

He saw Angeal wave him off before going over to rescues his poor puppy that was now buried in the snow thanks to a certain general.

Picking his board up Genesis made for the bottom of the run, easily spying the blond in black racing down the hill. His brows furrowing slightly as he noticed his little blond lover was clutching something in his right hand for dear life.

Skidding to a stop at the bottom of the run Cloud fought with his binds, it was difficult to do it with only one hand. Seeing this Genesis moved over and knelt down his fingers making fast work of the bindings.

"What are you carrying?" his eyes narrowed spying a bit of brilliant red in between the black gloves. Taking a quick glance around to make sure Sephiroth was not anywhere within hearing range he gently pulled Genesis down so he could whisper in his ear. "He says, this is a thank you for remaining with his son." He gently pushed the materia into Genesis hand.

Eyes flying open Genesis quickly looked down already recognizing the familiar feel of materia in his hand. His breath hitched as Cloud released him allowing him to bring the obvious summon materia up to eye level, his heart started to pound in his chest as his blue eyes took in 12 separate colors swirling within the materia.

It was with a slack jaw and eyes wide that the rest of the group found Genesis a few minutes later. He hadn't moved from his spot in front of Cloud his eyes never once leaving the materia in his hand.

Blinking Zack moved up to Genesis and waved a hand in front of his face. "yo, Genesis.. you alive? Hello? Earth to Genesis!"

Blinking Genesis seemed to realize where he was once more and looked up seeing the group was now standing around him. "What the hell did you find that made you go comatose?" Zack was looking at the materia in his hand. "What is it?" Sephiroth had moved up to his lover's side looking at the materia curiously.

Shaking his head Genesis still had that awestruck look in his eyes. "It's a fully mastered Knights of the Round!"

"WHOA! Are you friken kidding?" Zack was staring down at it with awe, Angeal and Sephiroth both had awestruck looks on their face hearing this.

"Where did you get it?" Angeal asked gently plucking it from his friends hand, Genesis knew Angeal would not take off with it so wasn't worried.

"Vincent gave it to him, I was talking to him up on the hill and I mentioned Genesis and his reaction to the materia list Tseng found. He pulled out Cerberus popped that out of the grip and gave it to me, telling me to give it to Genesis.. that they would no longer obey him, and they would find better use with Genesis then himself."

Frowns crossed the groups face at that, Cloud hadn't thought much of it when Vincent first said it but now it seemed suspicious.

"Why would a summon suddenly stop obeying you? Specially a fully mastered one such as this Knights of the Round."

This raised more questions than they had answers.

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That night Zack found himself unable to sleep, originally he thought it had been because of the sounds of pleasure coming from the room next to theirs but that had ended several hours ago. Staring up at the ceiling he found his mind wandering once more over to what had happened over the past several days.

The group always thought of him as a hyper active child but there was a reason that he was a first class, he was very aware of his surroundings.

Things just weren't adding up in his head, the first was why had Tseng run down to the Shinra mansion? He knew it was not for the reason he gave saying they had missed dinner. No that wouldn't have warranted the Director of the Turks running down at a dead sprit from Nibelheim, there was something in that Mansion that they were not supposed to see.

It wasn't Vincent as Tseng had seemed just as surprised as they did that he was there, seemed the mansion was supposed to be completely deserted. So then he had to wonder what it was..

Then there was the mansion all on its own, they hadn't really had a chance to explore it since he and Cloud had found the coffins and in turn Vincent. Cloud had said that the mansion was used for 'research' by the Shinra Company when they put the Mako reactor here.

This was a first, he had never heard of them having labs around any of the other mako reactors. So what made this one so special?

What they knew so far was that there was a secret entrance to the dungeon's on the second floor; guarded by a door strong enough to contain Sephiroth, coffins..lots of coffins, rooms completely void of dust and Sephiroth had claimed to have found a second library.

Screw this he wasn't going to get to sleep any time soon. Pushing himself up he took a quick glance over to Angeal.

Man was fast asleep snoring gently. Zack couldn't help but smile watching his mentor and basically second father. He always snored when he was lying on his back like he was and they always made fun of him because of this.

'Though think he could have done without the stupid eye mask'

Angeal always slept with some form of covering on his eyes saying that the light from the moon would bother his sensitive eyes and keep him up at night. They used to tease him mercilessly about that when they went on missions together.

Looking closer Zack could make out the small forms of the noise canceling headphones Angeal had bought a year or so back. 'Lucky bastard, he didn't have to listen to the three stooges next door going at it for 2 hours.' What he wouldn't give for a pair of those headphones for times when they were away from their beautifully sound proof apartment.

Knowing he could jump around yelling and screaming without Angeal waking up, Zack pushed himself out of bed and started putting on the clothes he still had laying all over the floor. Pulling a light sweatshirt on that would keep him warm but still allow him the freedom of movement in a battle he grabbed his sword from its spot against the wall.

Moving over to the window he carefully opened it. Just because Angeal had those headphones on did not mean that he would not wake up if he felt something was wrong, and a sudden chill in the room would be enough to wake the honorable man up.

If he was going to do this he had to sneak out the Sephiroth express as Tseng had dubbed it. Even though then were in the sleepy town of Nibelheim the 4 Turks were still on constant watch of their hotel rooms. He had seen it last night when he had gone wandering around after Tseng had come and found them with his stolen laptop, he had been coming onto his 4 hour rotation of watching out for them.

Looking back he saw that all Angeal had done was buried himself farther into the blankets. Smiling happily he quickly tossed his sword out into the snow bellow and slowly pushed himself out the small window. He was so grateful for his training and being forced to become flexible, some of the moves he was doing to get out of the window would have hurt if he wasn't. Dangling by his finger tips from the windowsill Zack pulled himself up enough to grab hold of the window and gently pulled it back closed. He knew with it being unlocked if he got back before the others were awake he could easily slip back in the way he had Sephiroth's room the other day.

Releasing his hold he dropped silently to the snow bellow. For any other person that drop would have hurt if not broken bones, for him it barely even sent a tingle up his legs. Grabbing his sword from the snow he attached it to his back and started off towards Shinra Mansion.

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Casting a weak fire Zack knelt in front of the small fire in the hearth. The trek down the basement had been a lot longer this go around has he had run into a nasty monster down here, checking the make shift bandage around his arm he stood up a small candle now lit in his hands.

It had been easy finding the second library Sephiroth had been talking about. Moving around at the chair he sat down heavily, his body shivering slightly in the freezing air. Setting the candle in a holder on the table his eyes swept along the many papers and books laying strewn across the table, it was obvious almost all of them were hand written lab notes of some sort. Many he recognized as Hojo's clipped writing, it was amazing how his handwriting even looked like the man was mentally unstable.

Seeing a piece of paper with a very familiar name on it he reached out picking the paper up.

"Jenova project, project "S", Sephiroth born March 26, 1982." Blinking Zack looked over to a open book that was right next to the piece of paper. It looked like the book had been dropped in haste and the paper had fluttered out of it. "This was probably the book Sephiroth had just picked up when he heard me and Cloud scream."

Yeah he would admit that he had screamed like a little girl when they saw Vincent's clawed hand close the coffin lid. He could laugh at it now, remembering how he had screamed threw himself back into Cloud knocking them both into the coffin.

Pulling the book over to him he flipped it open to the front and started to read.

Project "S"

The injection of an unborn human fetus with Jenova cells, it is believed that with the injection directly into the growing fetus will result in a much more positive result then the failed result of project "G"

Project "G" under the direction of Professor Hollander, entailed the placing of Jenova cells inside the host mother, Gillian Hewley, and extracting her DNA cells to create the first specimen "Genesis" and her own natural born child "Angeal" both were discovered to be born normal and so the project was deemed a failure and the project was dropped.

Project "S" under the direction of Professor Hojo has shown much more progress and has produced a perfect specimen showing great increase Strength, mental abilities, and dexterity. The subject has been named 'Sephiroth' and will be entered into the new SOLDIER program to test out the extent of his abilities.

The green light has been given for the new SOLDIER program, through several experiments since the successful Project "S" the mixture of raw mako and Jenova cells in low doses creates a human with heightened 'super human' abilities and will from here on out be used to created SOLDIER. It was found through the experiments that a person had to possess a high mental integrity, those that showed weakened mental strength were driven insane and subcommand to mako addiction and mako poisoning.

Project "R" under the direction of Professor Hojo is still under investigation. It is believed that the injection of "S" cells into a SOLDIER will produce Sephiroth clones, imbedding them with his powers and strength without the need of raising one from infancy. Project will be tested on incoming "1st class SOLDIER"

The books slowly slipped from limp fingers hitting the table with a loud clatter. Zack's glowing blue eyes wide and unseeing as he stared at the fire in front of him.

Blinking slowly he looked down to his hands, was he really a Sephiroth clone? Looking over to the book once more he frowned, did Tseng know about this? is that why he was in such a rush to get down here..to make sure none of them found this.

Closing his eyes he took in a deep shuttering breath laying his forehead against his folded hands. He could deal with knowing he was injected with whatever this Jenova was, if these notes were right he had been injected with her cells going on 4 years now since he first joined the SOLDIER program, the only thing different about him was the increased physical abilities. He was still Zack, and always would be Zack.

No, he was now scared for his three best friends. Vincent's words came back to him, the ex Turk had been against the use of an unborn child in the experimentations, not just a bunch of unborn like he had made it sound like but one specifically, Sephiroth.

Genesis, Angeal, Sephiroth.. all of them had been the results of experiments, none of them wanted as just children. This, if they discovered the circumstances behind their birth would absolutely destroy all three of them.

"No.. They won't find out." Standing up Zack grabbed the book. Moving around the table he took one last look at the journal before throwing it into the fire.

For several minutes he stood there watching the flames devouring the pages of the book, the fire reflecting in hard eyes.

Standing back up he looked at the other books, his frown deepening. How many more of these held information of the Jenova project? He couldn't afford to allow those to remain.

Moving back over to the table he stopped seeing a book that looked different from all the others. Picking it up he noticed it was just like the others save for the almost softer more loopy hand writing on it. This book was thicker and had many pages sticking out all over the place showing pages crammed in.

Flipping it open he saw a familiar name pop up at him. "Vincent Valentine: Chaos experiment. Professor Lucrecia Crescent." Snapping the book shut he shoved it into the belt of his pants, this would be one book he would hold onto since it seemed to have the answers they needed on what exactly was going on with Vincent.

Taking one last look around at the library mind made up he didn't care if this got him kicked from the SOLDIER program and thrown in jail for the rest of his miserable life. He was going to protect his friends at all cost.

Running through the basement he made sure to cover every inch, checking every coffin to make sure there was no other 'Vincent's' hidden away in there. The labs had been at the opposite end of the basement and simply looking at them knowing what had happened here made him feel sick to his stomach.

Searching the rest of the mansion top to bottom satisfied there wasn't anything alive (any more since he just killed every monster that came after him) and anything that might be of value was removed, Zack found his way back down to the small library.

Taking a deep breath he raised his hand the bright glow of a materia could be seen under his sweat shirt. "For you my dear friends.. I will never allow anything to happen to you. Hold onto your dreams, and protect your honor as SOLDIER." Lowering his hand in one swift movement a fully mastered fireball flew from his hand striking the small alcove instantly igniting the alcohol soaked books and table. Someone needed to teach Hojo not to leave flammable materials lying around his lab.

Turning Zack quickly bolted for the stairs knowing soon enough the fire would catch the chemicals he had poured all down the hallway and into the other rooms. Rushing up the stairs he grabbed a few bottles of chemicals he had stored up there, quickly ripping the tops off he started to dump them all over the library. He knew enough about fire and how it spread that this would be enough from this point on to bring this whole cursed house down.

Dropping the bottles he bolted for the door once more. Hitting the outside snow he started kicking at it destroying any obvious foot print and making it look like several people had gone tromping through here. He knew most the standard people wouldn't even look for foot prints but the Turks that were sure to show up in the next few days to investigate with the rest of Shinra that would be the very first thing they looked for.

Really they didn't give him enough credit. Chuckling as he easily snapped the old rusted lock and threw it a little ways away and cracked the gate open shuffling out he was grateful to see that through here the road leading up and to the mountain and reactor was compacted down so foot prints were almost impossible to see.

Hearing crackling he turned around smiling as flames started to lick along the inside of the manor. Smiling brighter puppy grin back in full brightness and hopped up into the tree's and was gone.

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Climbing back up through the window Zack made quick work of ditching his clothes, they reeked of chemicals and he knew that Angeal would pick it up quickly if he didn't ditch them. Shame to, these were some of his favorite jeans.

Wrapping them up in a small bag he quickly looked over to Angeal seeing he was still dead to the world. Already back in his white T-shirt and blue flannel pants with little chocobo's on it, he quickly made his way back to the window. He only had a few minutes before people noticed the giant flames over the city sky line. Thankfully the manor was away from any trees so it would just be the house that burned.

Bare feet hitting the freezing cold snow he bit back a scream of surprise, 'cold cold cold!' hoping across the snow he ran over to one of the trash bins and threw his old clothes inside before hoping back. Bending his legs he launched up and grabbed hold of the ledge once more and pulled himself up.

Zack had barely made it back to his bed and under the covers when the bedroom door opened. Rude moved in turning on the light, he looked like he had just woken up as well and was wandering around in his boxers. Groaning Zack made a show of acting like he was waking up and rubbed his eyes. "Rude? What the hell is going on?"

"Checking to make sure you two are in here and safe, we just got word that Shinra Mansion is burning." Rude said his voice still laced with sleep.

"What?" acting surprised Zack grabbed his pillow and smacked Angeal with it.

Snorting slightly Angeal sat up pulling his mask off and headphones. "Zack, what have I told you about doing that." Angeal growled softly, seeing the light was on and a half naked Rude standing there Angeal blinked and rubbed tired eyes.

"Rude, good morning. What's going on?"

"Shinra Mansion is burning; we are making sure you are all here and safe."

"The Mansion is burning?" pushing himself out of the bed Angeal moved out into the hall. Already the Inn was abuzz with commotion; he could hear it down in the restaurant. Tseng stood at the end of the hallway his PHS pressed against his ear, he stood in nothing more than white sleeping pants his hair sticking up on one side of his head. Cissnei was standing nearby in a pair of pink pajamas and Reno was leaning against the wall next to Tseng in nothing but boxers just like Rude.

Vincent was the only one it seemed that was in his normal clothes. His cloak lay loose on his shoulders the straps undone showing he had just thrown it on, he was also missing his red band around his head.

The bedroom door down the hall opened and a head of spiky blond hair moved out into the hallway. Even though he was in a baggy shirt probably Sephiroth's by the size of it and blue sleeping pants you could make out the angry red bite marks across his shoulder and neck. He was so grateful for the headphones.

Sephiroth and Genesis emerged a few seconds later both of them just in their pants, Genesis his red flannel pants and Sephiroth dark green. "Is Shinra Mansion seriously burning?" Cloud asked rubbing sleep from his eyes, no doubt the poor boy was exhausted.

"That's what Rude told us." Moving up past Angeal Zack grabbed Cloud in his customary headlock ruffling up that already disheveled head of hair. "you need to learn to keep it down with the two boys, you'll wake the dead!"

Cloud flushed bright red but laughed trying to pull himself out of the hold Zack had on him.

Tseng snapped his phone shut with a growl and pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Shinra is sending out some more Turks to investigate what happened, we're to remain here until they arrive for questioning."

"Why do we have to be questioned? Did you not tell those fools back at Shinra that we were all in our room." Sephiroth growled, a hand absently pushing his bangs back behind one ear, his long hair in its normal night time braid.

"I did, but they still insisted on speaking with us all since we're here." Tseng glared at his phone, he really hated when the president got like this. "I made sure he knew that we had just made a stop here for a day and we were leaving tomorrow so as far as he knows we have been on the peace keeping mission we told him when we left. We simply all met up here for a day of relaxation, as far as he knows."

The boys all nodded understand the story, no doubt the pictures and video's taken at the slops today would be out on the web shortly and circulated through the various fan clubs. The whole group was all a part of each other's fan club including their own.

Sephiroth had the most fun with this; he was considered a low man in the club since he liked to start shit in the group giving out outlandish information. Just about the time they were about to get rid of him he would send them a photo of some sort that seemed like no one that wasn't very close to him could get and they would welcome him back. He did similar things in Genesis fan club, which always made Genesis laugh as they would get into wars through the group. They had done so on the drive from Costa Del Sol to the Golden Saucer, Sephiroth had been sitting in the front passenger seat next to Tseng with Genesis sitting in the very back by himself. Their fingers had been flying over their PHS keys as they were getting into a full out war about Genesis being gay and sleeping with Cloud. They were both now officially blocked from the group though wouldn't be for long as Angeal had snapped a picture of them both sitting next to each other at the Golden Saucer holding up their PHS with their nick names written out on paper and the words "we were fucking with you all!" under it.

"Get your shoes on, we're going out and see what we can save of the manor, Genesis, Cloud, Sephiroth grab your blizzards."

"Tseng can't we just let it burn, if it's been engulfed as much as Reno said there isn't going to be much left." Genesis mumbled trying to fight back a yawn.

"Your right, but I still want to go check it out and I'm not leaving you guys alone." Tseng turned and headed back to his room. "You have 2 minutes.. shoes and a jacket."

Moving back towards his room Tseng was stopped by a hand gently grabbing his arm. Stopping he looked up at their newest companion, silently with an eye code that all Turks knew he frowned slightly and followed his line of sight. Looking down he noticed snow still clinging to the hem of Zack's pants.

"There are foot prints outside his window." Vincent said softly once Zack had gone back into his room to get his boots. "They lead to a trash bin on the side of the Inn."

Tseng's frown darkened hearing this, he knew the others didn't give Zack enough credit the kid was as deviously minded as Sephiroth. Grabbing Reno as he moved he looked around quickly. "Go down to the trash that has foot prints by it and bring back anything suspicious.. be fast."

Nodding Reno took off out of the building. Moving past Vincent Tseng headed into his room gently shutting the door; Vincent had followed in behind him and was leaning against the wall arms folded over his chest.

"Why would Zack do something like this? he's not impulsive and I have never known him to be destructive."

Vincent shrugged just slightly his crimson eyes going to the door as Reno moved in, boy could be fast when he wanted to be. "Sir, look what I found sitting on top." He held up a black bag that was easily recognizable as one of the smaller ones Zack carried around.

This was looking really bad, really, really bad. Setting the bag down on the small table next to his laptop he pulled the zipper and was instantly hit with the smell of chemicals, it was so strong it was burning even his nose.

"Accelerants make the building burn fasters. Those are all chemicals that were in the lab down in the basement of the mansion." Vincent easily recognized most of them, and now had a general idea of what the boy had done.

"Do you know, what was down in that basement?" Looking up Tseng remained silent; he shifted a look to Reno clearly saying he was not privy to this specific information. "I'll make sure the boys are ready."

Turning he left the room leaving the two higher Turks alone.

Laying the chemical soaked clothes on the table Tseng slowly sunk down in the chair. "I know exactly what those boys are and that the secret to what they are is down in that manor. That is the reason the other day I ran down there, Sephiroth has always been highly unstable when it comes to his childhood and parents. If he were to find them…"

"He would destroy the world."

Tseng blinked hearing this and looked up to Vincent. "He wouldn't go that far…"

Vincent made a noise in the back of his throat and stared to walk around the room. "Lucrecia, about 3 weeks after being injected with the Jenova cells began to experience visions. They were fleeting at first but they were always painful, most the time she would collapse with them. She didn't know at first exactly what was going on but by about 5 months along she had the clearest of them all." Stopping he stared out the window his crimson eyes looking off over the tree's where he could make out the flames of the mansion. They were low showing the mansion was completely destroyed.

"I found her collapsed on the floor of the lab, she told me she saw her son already saying his name was Sephiroth. She said, he was standing in walls of flames in a long black trench coat with silver shoulder guards, in his left hand a sword longer then he was tall.. with silver hair down to his knees and eyes..eyes that were frozen in madness." He turned to look at Tseng his eyes hard as they bore into his.

"The fire was this town burning to the ground, it's villagers slaughtered by the hands of her son. He spoke of fulfilling the plan of his mother, destroying the planet. she said his family would be torn apart, puppy killing it's mentor, lover pushing him into insanity with his hurtful words, a young lover nearly killed by his hand and a best friend nearly killed.. all because he discovered the origin of his birth."

Tseng's eyes were wide in horror, he had not known that much. He had known what the Jenova project was as most Turks did, but he did not know about the visions signaling Sephiroth's insanity if he found out.

"Now that the manor is gone…"

"The only way he will discover the truth, is if Hojo tells him."

Tseng shook his head; he knew Sephiroth at this point would never believe a word out of Hojo's mouth again, so even if the nutty professor told him he was a product of a Cetra he would never believe it.

"What are you going to do about the boy?"

Standing up Tseng moved over to the clothes, picking them up he threw them into the fireplace. "I don't know what you're talking about Vincent."

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Oh for crying out loud we told you all of us were in our rooms until about 3 am when Rude came into our room and Reno went into their room." Zack jabbed his thumb at the other four occupants. The group was current sitting in the Restaurant of the Inn which was now completely full of Turks and infantry man from the Shinra army.

Tseng, Cissnei, Reno and Rude were all under their own questioning but you could tell it was going better for them since they were the eye witnesses to them being in their room. The SOLDIERs were getting the brunt of it since they all could use fire materia and all 5 had that equipped to either a bracer or their swords. Thankfully Zack had thought ahead and while Angeal was in the shower had switched out his fully mastered fire for a level 2, his mastered one was currently hidden in a bunch of his clothes deep in his suit case.

Sighing loudly Zack leaned back in his chair balancing on two legs. "I don't think any of us even know where the Shinra Mansion is, well Cloud maybe cause he grew up here. But we just got in last night; we were up on the hills since we arrived in this area."

The rest nodded, or in Sephiroth's case glared evilly at everything that dared to breathe around him. The Turks had arrived early reawakening them at the crack of dawn and not allowed Sephiroth his sugar fix, he was not a happy camper. It was now 10 am and they still were not allowing him his sugar, soon enough if they didn't allow it Masamune was gonna start cleaving heads off.

It was like watching a drug addict going through withdrawals. His hair was messy and his head was just lolling to the side, his eyes almost taking on a manic glint.

"Let us speak with Tseng and we will be right back." the Turk that Zack didn't recognize got up and headed over to where the others were. Growling Genesis kicked his feet up on one of the table, he was running around in just a pair of socks, they were all still in their night clothes. Thankfully the Inn windows had been covered and the keepers kicked out until the Turks were done.

Pulling his phone out Genesis started flipping through. "Well look at that, I don't think I have ever seen so many messages on my fan club in my life." Cloud looked up from his spot next to Zack, sharing a look the two quickly pulled out their PHS and opened up their inbox. Sure enough they had hundreds of messages all from the Red Leather fan club.

"You posted that picture didn't you Angeal." Sephiroth grumbled pulling his own PHS out of his pants pocket. "This morning yes, I figured it was going to be a long day and we would need a good pick me up."

Smirking Genesis flipped open the first one. "like OMG! Is this picture serious? Were those two arguing on the group really our Genesis and General Sephiroth? OMG!" Genesis read out the first message his voice going high and imitating no doubt what the girls voice was like at the club. Zack and Cloud burst out laughing, Angeal was flipping through his smirking and laughing even Sephiroth managed to chuckle at it.

"here we go." Angeal said having found a good one. "Are you *bleep*ing kidding me? CrimsonAngel and CrimsonKnightlover were Genesis and Sephiroth? UNBLOCK THEM NOW! How could they do that to us? Saying Genesis was gay and it was our Genesis that was the one saying it!"

Laughing Genesis sat up in his chair quickly writing out a message on his phone.

CrimsonAngel:

'What I am gay…'

All four of the others PHS's beeped with different ring tones. All four looked before busting up laughing; Cloud so hard he fell out of his chair. The Turks all looked over to them like they had gone insane.

Pulling himself back up Cloud quickly typed out a response and posted it.

CrimsonLover1:

'Great Gen..i haven't been able to clean out my phone yet.. Now you dropped this mako bomb.'

Laughing loudly again Genesis laid his head on the table. Sure enough their phones started going off like crazy as messages were being posted almost constantly. Each one screaming that they could not believe that their crimson commander was gay.

CrimsonAngel:

'Yeah you all wish I was fucking with you don't you, sorry kids this man is taken and with another man. Cloud, tuff it out I know you just hit delete all most the time."

Laying his head down on the table Cloud smirked.

CrimsonLover1:

'oh bite me ass hole.'

CrimsonAngel:

'I did all last night, haven't heard you complain once.'

Crimsonlover1:

'Oh god Genesis did you seriously just type that out?'

CrimsonsHonor:

'Gen…'

Crimsonpuppy:

'FUCK GENESIS! It's bad enough we got to listen to it don't post it!'

CrimsonKnightLover:

'…'

CrimsonAngel:

'Sephiroth..just because you haven't had any sugar yet doesn't mean you get to be a lazy ass on the phone to…'

CrimsonKnightLover:

'F…U...'

The group dissolved into absolute hysterics at this point, completely forgetting they were under questioning for the burning of the Shinra mansion.

"Who wants to bet this will be up on all our fan clubs soon enough." Angeal chuckled knowing this whole conversation would be up on all their clubs very soon.

"Oh look we have a smart one, she's figured out that was all five of us talking." Genesis chuckled; he always called the members of the Red Leather club mindless idiots. At least those in Study Group had some brains to them.

"You do realize now that they know we're gonna be spammed with letters and we're gonna have to change all our ID's." Cloud honestly found all of this funny.

Hearing a new message coming in after all the initials had calmed down the group all looked down at their phones.

CrimsonLadyLove:

'oh you boys are being naughty, perhaps I should post that picture of you all asleep in the van on the way here.. oh how about a picture of Genesis strutting around in chibi chocobo boxers.'

Genesis felt his face flush bright red at this enough to dull his hair by comparison. "Cissnei you have a picture of me in those?"

The boxers had been a gag Christmas gift from Cloud last year and he had strutted around in them the rest of the day just to be funny.

CrimsonAngel:

'How in the great goddesses name did you get that…you weren't even there….'

He heard giggling from the Turks part of the bar.

CrimsonLadyLove:

'talk to you big brother..'

CrimsonAngel:

'ANGEAL!'

CrimsonsHonor:

'LOL u mad?'

That did it, they all died laughing at that last part, smug smirk in place Angeal flipped his phone shut and sat back closing his eyes. Launching out of his seat Genesis tackled his best friend and the two started a impromptu wrestling match on the floor.

Tseng moved over still in his night clothes as well and shook his head seeing that the two boys were play fighting with each other. He had been reading the messages and well though he stayed silent on the boards most the time.

Seeing Tseng move over the boys all sat up a little more, Angeal and Genesis stopped their fight and sat on the floor watching him.

"They just finished their investigation and they can find no clear evidance on what started the fire. Everything was too badly damaged and the building collapsed into the basement destroying everything inside. They are ruling it accidental for the time being, they are suspecting kids finally just getting board and decided to torch the building since there were many foot trails leading up to the mansion and the lock was missing."

The group all nodded at this, though Zack's eyes were strangely dark and he wasn't really looking at anyone.

"We'll be leaving in 3 hours to head for Rocket town to catch a Helicopter back Costa Del Sole for a flight that leaves at 10. You can not be late." Tseng stressed that word making it quite clear to the SOLDIER men that they had to be back and dressed in time.

"In that case, I'm gonna go see my mother one last time.. see if I can convince her to move out to Midgar. I'm sure I could find her a nice place up on the Plate."

"I believe Tseng's apartment complex has a few open, they are very nice and quiet." Sephiroth hid a yawn behind his hand trying to talk through it. "It's almost all Turks so she would be well protected."

"Hmm, have to talk to her about it." Cloud had a thoughtful look on his face as he moved up to get a quick shower and get dressed.

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

He hated walking through town, it always made his skin crawl and his instincts were telling him to just run and hide.

That was on a normal day walking through Nibelheim, today..Today was a billion times worse. Almost every face that saw him was glaring at him hard, so it looked like Miss. Perfect Tifa had gone and ratted him out to her father so naturally the whole damn town knew he had blown her off yesterday on the mountain.

Thankfully no one was stupid enough to try and approach him since he currently had First Tsurugi strapped in its harness on his back. it made a big difference when the person you wanted to pick on was currently carrying around a sword as tall as most the people of this village. Walking up the street towards his house he once more saw Aaron almost waiting for him. The group was bruised and banged up but it would seem Sephiroth and the others had shown quite a bit of restraint when going against these guys.

"Strife! Where's your butt buddies?" Aaron's group all snickered though were shifting their eyes nervously.

Smirking Cloud continued to walk towards them his footsteps silent in the deep snow.

"Just to let you in on a little secret about SOLDIER, the mako doesn't just enhance our strength, it also enhances all our senses.. Including hearing." He stopped seeing the group was blocking his was. Go figure his house was only two down and they were keeping him here. He could always just do the roof thing again, but he was kind a getting tired of sneaking around on roofs on this vacation.

"Seriously guys? Are you really that brain dead?"

The group all blinked but Aaron turned rage filled eyes on him. "You fucked with Tifa, now your gonna have answer to all of us. ..hey what are you doing?"

Cloud ignoring them had pulled his sword from his harness and was currently pulling a green ball of materia out. Plucking a red summon out of his bracer he switched the two out before putting his sword back in its holster on his back.

"Sorry boys, Tseng has me on a 3 hour limit and I'm not gonna spend it fucking with you idiots." The bracer started to glow swinging his arm down he cast Slow on the boys watching as their movements became sluggish. Smirking he easily leapt over them and back on the street in front of his house. "That should wear off in about 3 minutes." Waving he headed up to his house and walked in knowing his mom would know it was him.

Snickering he moved into the house looking around. "Mom, you here?" Hearing noise in the back bedrooms he moved back towards where his mother's room was.

Moving up to the door he felt his feet freeze on threshold. His mother was sitting on the bed clutching to one of his father's old shirts crying hard. "Mom.."

Hearing a voice Mrs. Strife quickly rubbed her eyes and looked over a bright smile coming over her face. "Storm Cloud, I thought you would be over later." She laid the shirt down and moved over to her son hugging him tightly.

"Mom, what's going on?" his voice was laced with worry, the way the town was acting around him and now his mother crying. He was praying to Gaia that nothing had happened to his mother and it was simply memories that were causing her to cry.

"I'm sorry Cloud, someone tore up your fathers resting place..i was just about to head out and fix it."

Cloud's eyes darkened hearing this; someone had dared to disgrace his father's memory? Clenching his fists at his side he fought back angry tears.

"Mom.." he bit his lower lip blinking back the angry tears. "Stay here, I'll go clean it up. It's really cold out and I don't want you to get sick. Actually mom.." turning he took his mothers hands. "I want you to start packing. I want you to come out to Midgar, with me."

Her eyes widened hearing this, "But Storm Cloud, I could never afford to move out there and your father is still.."

"Mom pleases! We'll move father out if you want, I make enough money to put you up on the plate and Sephiroth mentioned that the apartment complex where Tseng lives has vacancies and it's well protected. Mom please, I don't want you staying here.. they aren't going to leave you alone."

Sighing softly she looked up into her son's eyes seeing he was sincere in this all.

"Alright Cloud, for you baby." Smiling gently she squeezed his hands.

"Take care of your father baby, I'll start packing." Leaning forward he gently kissed her cheek. "Thanks mom."

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Tseng held his PHS up to his ear once more, listening as it once more rang all the way through to voice mail.

"Is he still not answering yo?" Reno moved up behind his boss holding the last of the bags. It had been 2 ½ hours and no one had seen Cloud. They only had a short window of time before they had to start heading out for the helicopter.

"No, it has gone to voice mail once more."

"We'll go find him, he's probably at his mother's and set his phone down somewhere." Genesis rubbed his head sending his auburn hair all over the place. He was still tired and had been fucking with his fan club again.

Before Cloud had left to go see his mother they had all taken a group shot of them in their PJs sitting around the restaurant with the Turks.

He was now in a white t-shirt with a red short sleeved button up shirt with a pair of black jeans. They weren't planning on being outside so they had ditched the heavier jackets.

"Take your radios so I can contact you without having to worry about the horrible PHS reception out here."

Yawning Sephiroth nodded, his fingers absently pushing his bangs back behind his ear. Reaching into his jeans pocket he pulled out the small ear piece and clicked it on before placing it in his ear.

"We should split up take different sections of the village; it shouldn't be too hard to find him." Angeal was fighting with his ear piece he always had trouble with it.

With a short nod the group all separated heading off in different directions.

It was only a few minutes later when Genesis voice could be heard over the radio, it was very somber and quiet.

"I found him guys..Come up past Cloud's house by about a quarter mile.

The group quickly merged on Genesis, no one said a single thing as they gazed with sad eyes at the sight before them.

Cloud was kneeling in front of a shattered grave stone, his clothes, body and hair covered in splotches of dirt a small shovel lay on the ground next to him. It was obvious to them all by the markings on the shattered stones the marker had been brutally destroyed by someone.

Clouds fist were clench tightly in his lap and you could see his shoulders shaking.

Breaking away from the group Angeal silently moved over and knelt down in the turned up soil next to him not caring if he got dirty and wrapped his arms around the small boy pulling him in tightly.

Cloud visibly jumped, red puffy eyes looking up at Angeal. "It's alright, we'll help you fix this."

Kneeling down in the dirt next to his lover Sephiroth gently picked up the headstone. It didn't take a genius to know who this grave belonged to as they all knew that Cloud had lost his father to illness very early in life. He ran gentle fingers over the section of stone he held just able to make out the last name across part of it.

"What a disgusting village," Genesis snarled standing just behind Sephiroth, his blue eyes frozen over in rage. His hands were fisted at his side trembling slightly, how could anyone disgrace a person's final resting place all because their child had stood up to them.

"Mom has agreed to come to Midgar once I find her a place. I want to move dad as well, so they can still be together." Zack was kneeling behind Cloud gently rubbing his back. "We will Cloud, you think after that wonderful meal we were going to let your mom get away with staying this far away from us? We want the ability to crash her house for dinner!"

A small shaky smile crossed Clouds face, looking back he smiled gratefully at Zack. Leave it to him to make him feel better. Angeal still had his arms around him and he leaned in gratefully against the hard chest closing his eyes. He was trying with all his might to fight back the rage that was building in him, he could hear almost this soft voice in the back of his telling him to destroy everything.. burn it to the ground.

Mentally shaking himself Cloud looked back to the busted headstone, tears building up in his eyes. Setting his piece of stone down Sephiroth wrapped his arms around his lover holding onto him tightly, leaning over he gently kissed the side of his head before laying his own head on Clouds shoulder.

Clicking his PHS shut Genesis regarded the group, it always amazed him exactly how close they had all become over the years. They were an unlikely group of misfits that was for sure, never under normal circumstances would they have ever have met. Each of them from different parts of the world, if it were not for the SOLDIER program and Sephiroth he and Angeal never would have left Banora.. to this day he would probably be a land owner just like his father, watching over the town as Angeal would have become a farmer just like his father. Zack probably would have been the same, remaining in Gongaga to become a seller or farmer. Sephiroth he had no idea since Shinra was all the man had known his entire life. Cloud, well he probably would have become just a shadow in this town..nothing special and that stayed in the dark of other peoples shadows. Yet here they all were, such vastly different people with nothing in common other then the dream of being SOLDIER.

"Cloud."

Hearing his name Cloud turned in the constricting hold the three others had created so he could look at Genesis.

"Tseng is contacting his apartment complex right now to get a apartment set up for your mother, a moving company will be sent here within the next three days along with a few Turks to bring your father to his new resting place. Cissnei and Elena will remain here with your mother to make sure that no harm comes to her."

Tears started to fall from Clouds eyes at this. "Thank you Gen.."

"Now.. how about we go take care of some villagers." Zack said punching his hand into his other palm. Cloud shook his head leaning into Angeal, "Please Zack.. can we just go home.."

.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x
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