This is the first chapter for my Genesis Rhapsodos story.
This is set a short time before Crisis Core.
I hope you all enjoy it.
Let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or Crisis Core. FFVII and Crisis Core belong to Square Enix. Only Tali and the story plot belong to me.


"Now arriving in Midgar, Sector 8." The conductor announced as the train slowed until it stopped completely.

"Finally..." The voice of a female murmured under her breath.

The female stood from her seat and began grabbing her luggage. One duffle bag and two suitcases.

She had straight, dark brown, almost black, hair that fell down just below her waist. Her eyes were hazel and had flicks of green and blue in them.

She scanned the almost empty train before she picked up her suit cases. The duffle bag was settled on her shoulder. She wore a black pleated skirt with black thigh highs and a quarter sleeve, v-neck red shirt. On her feet were black flats.

xXx

Within a few moments, she was sitting on the edge of the fountain in Loveless Avenue. Her suitcase and bags were placed beside her on the ground. Her brother had told her to meet him there when she got off of the train.

Curled up in her lap was a small, white kitten. She'd found the kitten on the platform, and didn't have the heart to just leave the poor thing there. So, she took her with her.

People walking by glanced at her. A couple of them even stopped in their tracks to watch her for a couple of seconds. But, she didn't even seem to notice them. She was too busy looking for her brother.

"He said he'd be here..." She muttered, placing one hand on her hip and using the other to scratch the kitten's head.

Thirty minutes went by, and he still wasn't there. She could feel herself starting to get impatient. Just how long did it take someone to get to Loveless Avenue? From what he said when she last talked to him on the phone, his apartment was close by. And the Shinra building, which was where he worked, was but maybe thirty feet in front of her. Either way, he should have already been there.

"That's it. I'm calling him." She decided, pulling her phone out of her skirt pocket and looking through her contacts until she found his number. Then she pressed TALK and put her phone up to her ear, waiting for him to answer.

Five rings later, someone finally answered his phone.

"Hello?" An over excited male voice asked.

She blinked. That wasn't her brother's voice. That wasn't even close to it. "Who are you?"

"Zack Fair at your service!" He exclaimed.

A blank expression over came her face. "Right. Can I speak to Angeal please?"

"Sure." He happily replied. Then she could hear his voice faintly, obviously talking to Angeal. "Angeal, you got a girl calling for you! You lucky dog. Why didn't you tell me you had a girlfriend?"

She had to chuckle to herself at that.

"Because I don't have one, Zack. Why were you answering my phone anyway? Hello?" A different, slightly deeper, irritated voice said.

"Angeal... Where are you?" She asked. Her tone was blank.

"Tali?" He asked slowly, as if he wasn't sure that it was her.

"Yes... You were supposed to pick me up." She replied.

There was a pause on his end. Tali resisted the urge to shake her head. Realization was probably just now dawning on him.

"I was, wasn't I? Sorry, I was training with Zack."

"It's alright..." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Where are you now?"

"Shinra."

Her head tilted to the side absently to look at the Shinra building, as she blinked in confusion. "Would they even let me in there?" She wondered, though it was more to herself than to him.

Silence came from the other end of the phone.

"Angeal?" She asked, blinking.

More silence.

Her eye twitched a little. "Angeal?!"

A muttered 'Ow' was heard, before Angeal's voice came through again. "Sorry."

"Where'd you go?" She asked, placing her free hand on her hip, even though Angeal couldn't see it.

"I was getting permission for you to be allowed in here on the SOLDIER floor. I can't leave just yet." Angeal explained to her.

"So, I'll have to go to you..." She mused, stroking her chin. "Alright, I'll see you in a bit. Bye."

"Alright."

With that, Tali hung her phone up, sliding it back into her pocket. Her gaze fell on the small white fuzz ball that was curled up on her lap. She carefully picked the kitten up and placed her on her shoulder. The kitten stretched a little, and easily sat there.

Taking one of her suitcases in each hand, she stood up. It was easy to carry the suitcases. They weren't very big. There were only clothes, plus a pair or two of shoes, in them, so they didn't weigh very much.

She looked up at the Shinra building as she walked toward it. It would be easy enough to get into the building. Now, when she got onto the SOLDIER floor... That was a different story. The ride on the elevator went fine. But, when she stepped out of it and onto the SOLDIER floor, a man dressed in purple had caught sight of her and made his way over to her.

"What are you doing here, Miss?" He asked. "Non-Shinra employees aren't allowed here."

"I have permission to be here." She responded, looking at him.

"How would you have permission to be here? You're a common girl." The man looked her over while wrinkling his nose; giving the impression that he was being snobby.

A blank expression came to her face. "Excuse me?"

"What's going on here?" A voice came from behind the man.

Both Tali and the man turned to look where the voice had come from.

Behind him stood Angeal.

"First Class Hewley! I was just telling this... Girl." He practically sneered when looking at her. "That she wasn't allowed here. She claims to have permission to be here."

Angeal eyed the man for a moment, raising his eyebrow. "That's because she does have permission to be here."

She smirked at the man. "Tali Hewley, at your service." She mock bowed to him.

He froze, just staring at her, making the connection with their last names almost immediately. "M-Miss Hewley... I-I'm sorry."

Angeal's arms crossed over his chest, a disapproving look on his face. "I'll talk to you about this later."

"Yes sir!" He nodded quickly and hurriedly scurried off somewhere else.

Tali grinned at her brother, placing her suitcases by a nearby wall, and then walked over to him. "Angeal!"

He was going to say something, but a voice cut him off. The voice of Zack Fair.

"I thought you said you didn't have a girlfriend, Angeal!"

The both of them turned to look at him, Angeal with an exasperated look on his face and Tali with curiosity.

A man with chin length, slightly layered auburn hair and blue mako eyes walked up right as Zack had spoken. He had on a long, red leather jacket that was open in the front with two black criss cross straps keeping it on his body, along with a black shirt beneath it. Adorning his legs were black pants that tucked into his black boots.

He wore an amused look on his face, resting the index finger and thumb of his right hand on his chin, with his left arm holding up his right elbow. There was a very, very light pink book held in his left hand. "You think she's his girlfriend?"

"Who else would she be, Genesis?" Zack asked, looking to Genesis with a confused look on his face.

Angeal reached up his hand and began to massage his temples, sighing. This was going to be one long day... He was already starting to get a headache.

Tali merely shook her head, biting her lip to keep from laughing.

"His sister." Genesis replied simply with a smirk.

"Sister?" Zack blinked.

"You never told him about her, Angeal?" Genesis glanced over to Angeal.

"Never crossed my mind..." Angeal muttered.

"Wait! How come you know about her and I don't?!" Zack practically whined, pouting a little.

Tali gave Angeal a look that said 'Is He Seriously Asking Such An Obvious Question'.

Angeal nodded his head lightly, sighing under his breath.

"You really have to ask that?" Genesis retorted. His eyes were not on Zack, but on the page of the book he was reading.

"Yes..." Zack tilted his head to the side. "Or I wouldn't have asked."

"Is it really that hard to piece together?" Genesis asked, his eyes lifting from the page to look at Zack.

"Piece what together?" Zack asked in return, blinking in confusion.

Genesis pursued his lips and spared a glance at Angeal. "I'm going to have to piece it together slowly for him, aren't I?"

"Apparently so." Angeal replied, rubbing his temple again with two of his fingers.

Genesis sighed and rubbed his own temple, before looking to Zack again. "Alright... Angeal and I grew up together, right?"

"Yeah." Zack nodded his head.

"And she's his sister, right?"

Once again, Zack nodded.

"What does that tell you?" Genesis asked him.

"Um..." Zack chewed on his lip as he thought. "That..."

Maybe he finally understood and would put two and two together.

"They're related?" He asked, sounding and looking confused.

Genesis, Angeal and Tali all nearly face planted into the ground right there. How could he still didn't get it?

"I think... You're just going to have to tell him flat out..." Tali's eye twitched a little. How hard was that to understand?

Genesis exhaled slowly. Was Zack really that dense? Apparently so. "Angeal and I grew up together. Tali is his sister. Which means..."

"Which means?" Zack repeated in the form of a question.

"Which means her and I grew up together as well." Genesis finished. He really hoped that Zack understood that time, because if he didn't, he had no idea how else to explain this to him.

"Oh!" Zack exclaimed, smacking the fist of one of his hands into the palm of his other.

"Yes, oh." Genesis muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"That's how you know about her!" Zack grinned triumphantly, placing his hands on his hips, turning to Tali.

"Finally he understands..." Tali murmured under her breath, before smiling at him.

"There's a cat on your shoulder!" Zack gasped, pointing at the kitten.

"You just now noticed?" Tali asked, quirking an eyebrow, tilting her head to the side.

"Yeah..." He trailed off, though he was quickly distracted when the kitten stretched and mewed. "Aw, she's cute!"

Tali stifled a laugh at his reaction to her. "She is."

"Where did the cat come from?" Angeal asked.

"I found her... On the train platform." Tali told him with shifty eyes.

"Tali..." Angeal sighed.

"I couldn't just leave her there!" Tali pouted, scratching the kitten's head. "Can I keep her, Angeal?"

"I don't know..." Angeal trailed off.

"Please!" Tali pouted even more, adding in the puppy dog eyes.

"Aw, let her keep her!" Zack started in, pouting as well.

"Pleaseeeee!" The two of them pleaded in unison.

Genesis chuckled at the sight before him, the two of them pleading and pouting at Angeal.

Angeal sighed. There was that headache of his again. "Alright, alright. You can keep her."

"Yay!" Tali giggled, throwing her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly. "Thanks, Angeal!"

"Yeah, yeah." Angeal muttered, patting her back lightly.

Tali grinned and let go of him, locking hands with Zack and bouncing around excitedly. Sure, Zack was pretty dense and had been slightly annoying. But he was amusing and he wasn't all THAT bad. She could see the two of them becoming good friends.

"What's going on here?" A slightly amused male voice asked.

Two of them turned to see who the voice came from. It wasn't Tali and Zack, because they were still bouncing in circles. They hadn't even noticed that someone had spoken. They were too caught up in their jumping.

It had come from a man with extremely long silver hair. He had the same color mako eyes that Zack, Genesis and Angeal had. He was wearing a black leather jacket that, much like Genesis's, had criss cross straps on the front, only he didn't have a shirt on under it so some of his chest showed. He wore black pants that tucked into his black leather boots.

"Hey Sephiroth..." Genesis was back to reading his book, chuckling and shaking his head at the jumping duo.

Sephiroth nodded to him, and arched an eyebrow at Tali and Zack, though it was more Tali because he'd never seen her before. His gaze shifted to Angeal. "Who is she?"

Angeal rubbed his forehead. "My sister. She's come here to live with me."

"Ah." Sephiroth nodded. "Why are they jumping like that?"

"I told her she could keep the cat." Angeal replied. Maybe it was a mistake to tell her she could keep it. She and Zack could be jumping around for hours. He already had enough of a headache as it was. But, he had a feeling that if he'd told her no, he'd only get more of one. She'd just keep asking and asking him if she could keep it until he gave in.

Sephiroth glanced back over at Tali and Zack, now noticing the poor white kitten that was holding onto Tali's shoulder for dear life. "That cat."

Angeal nodded his head. "That cat."

"Poor cat." Genesis chuckled. He was amused by it.

"Tali?" Angeal called her name.

The two of them finally stopped jumping around.

"Yessums?" Tali looked over at him, giggling. She had noticed Sephiroth, but other than that, she didn't pay attention to him.

"This is Sephiroth. Sephiroth, Tali." Angeal introduced, nodding to the man to his left.

"Hi." Tali smiled, waving with one hand and holding out the other one for him to shake. "It's nice to finally meet you. I've heard about you from Angeal in letters he writes."

Sephiroth chuckled slightly, shaking her hand once before letting it go. "Have you now?"

"Don't worry, it was all good!" Tali told him with a grin.

Sephiroth merely chuckled in response.

"Oh... Tali." Angeal said as if he had just remembered something, looking at her.

"Hmm?" Tali glanced at him.

"We should be going." Angeal told her.

"Oh, okay." Tali smiled and skipped over to Genesis. "Nice seeing you again, Genesis!" She threw her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly.

Genesis chuckled and placed his arms around her shoulders briefly, patting her back lightly. "You too, Tali."

Tali smiled once again and headed over to where she had placed her suitcases, picking one of them up.

"Can I go too?" Zack asked excitedly.

"Sure!" Tali grinned.

"Great!" Zack grinned as well, doing a couple squats before dashing over and picking up her other suitcase.

"Good luck with those two, Angeal." Genesis laughed as he headed down the hall.

"Good luck indeed." Sephiroth smirked, nodding his head, not that far behind Genesis.

Angeal groaned. Yes... This was going to be a long day indeed.