And now, a one shot starring the Three Firsts . . . with Cloud and Zack on the side. (Like there aren't enough fics with the five of them out there.) I wound up writing two one shots with the three of them, (technically, three) but only this one was ready to post.
It started while Sephiroth and Angeal were having lunch in Angeal's office, and wondering where Genesis had disappeared too, considering the last that they had heard, he had been sent to Reeve Tuesti to help with schematics (or something like that) and that had been a couple days ago.
"It doesn't take days to help Urban Development, does it?" Sephiroth just replied to Angeal's question with what amounted to a shrug for him.
The two did not jump when Genesis suddenly, and violently, entered the room. (And they kept insisting that whenever Genesis brought it back up.)
However, at the moment of that incident, Genesis didn't call attention to the fact that he did (not) make the two jump half out of their seats, instead dropping a file on Angeal's desk and taking the last available chair. "You might want to read that, I need ideas."
"Is this for Urban Development?" Angeal glanced at the file, then realized it was colored as a personnel file. "C. Strife?" Sephiroth started to pay more attention as Angeal opened the file, revealing a familiar looking blond. "Is this Mrs. Strife's son?"
"Yes, she mentioned her son was in Soldier, but with everything happening, I just filed it away."
"And you weren't going to mention this sooner?" Sephiroth looked at the file in almost blatant (for him, anyway) curiosity, surprising the other two.
"And what reason would I have for interest in a Third Class Soldier?" Genesis gave him a look. "I figured it was better to leave him alone."
"Was?" Angeal glanced at Genesis, wondering when he had slipped into an alternate universe. Genesis just gave him an unimpressed look, knowing where his best friend's thoughts had gone.
"While I was working with Tuesti, he mentioned the Corel Reactor had three Thirds as part of a small security team guarding it from a possible attack from Avalanche."
"They should have sent Seconds." Sephiroth muttered, Genesis gave a short nod.
"That's what I thought, apparently it 'wasn't a priority', he had the team's files, and I noticed Strife."
"So, you decided to check on Corel?" Angeal passed the file to Sephiroth.
"A good thing, too, most of the security team was killed, and Strife was a few minutes from joining them." Genesis crossed his arms. "On the upside, I got to help Lazard ream into Heidegger." Angeal chose not to comment. "But now I've got a problem. Should I continue to pretend he doesn't exist, or what?"
"You could pretend to be checking up after him." Angeal offered.
"That's something you would do, not me." Genesis huffed.
"He's got a good combat rating, pretty close to the puppy." Sephiroth noted. "Not to mention, he seems pretty skilled with materia, pretty good candidate for you to mentor." Genesis gave a soft sigh.
"Except that would cause a bunch of talk, and the last thing we need is Strife as the center of attention. We need to keep anything regarding his hometown out of Hojo's sight." Genesis pointed out. Sephiroth nodded, and then closed the file.
"Then the best thing to do would be nothing." Sephiroth glanced down at the file. Gensis just gave a slight nod, and took back the file. There was a pause, before Genesis began to smirk.
"Apologies for startling you, by the way, I never thought either of you would jump like that."
Sometime later, Genesis was once again storming into an office, this time it was Sephiroth's, and he was followed by Angeal. "I don't believe this!"
" . . ." Sephiroth looked up, half looking like he was going to use the report he was studying as a shield. "What's wrong?"
"Strife's been promoted, to second class." Angeal explained as Genesis continued to deride various people's intelligence.
"He has the ratings for it." Sephiroth remembered Strife's file.
"But not the experience, we just talked to Lazard, his hands are tied- someone higher on the command chain thought it would be ideal to promote Strife after the Corel mission." Angeal frowned. "I think he caught some unwanted attention."
"At least as a Second, Genesis would have more of an excuse to talk to him." Sephiroth pointed out.
"Yes, because I regularly talk to people that aren't you two outside of missions and paperwork." Genesis had finally calmed down to join the conversation. He ignored Angeal's look, knowing that he'd get a lecture later about some of his opinions.
" . . . What am I missing?" Sephiroth knew he wasn't the greatest at understanding other people, mandatory psychology courses aside, but he did know Angeal and Genesis well enough to know when they were worried, and when they were really worried about something.
"Sephiroth, from all accounts, it sounds like Strife's teammates, the two that died in Corel, were his only real friends- he doesn't seem to interact with others outside of missions." Angeal explained. "He's passed the psychiatric evaluation just fine, but that doesn't mean it won't catch up to him."
Sephiroth finally set the report down. Only real friends. Empathy wasn't Sephiroth's strong suit, he couldn't imagine losing either Angeal or Genesis for good (Genesis stint as a POW had been temporary, and it had never been a question to him of if they'd get him back, only when). But he had seen what loss and grief could do to people on the battlefield.
"What do you want us to do about it?" Sephiroth finally asked.
"Honestly, I have no idea, I just know something has to be done." Angeal sighed.
"Come again?" Sephiroth resisted the urge to sigh.
"It's not that surprising, I've needed your help before." Sephiroth looked at Cid Highwind, absently noting the other had paused in lighting his cigarette.
"Yeah, but you haven't really asked for it in a while." Highwind leaned back against the Hangar wall. "What's the issue?"
"What do you know about Cloud Strife?" He didn't miss the way Highwind seemed to tense at that, before relaxing.
"Not much . . ." Highwind sighed. "When I found out about the Doc, and was helping Vinnie out, I might have had a friend of mine tamper with my family tree and add the Strife's as distant cousins, so I could explain why I was calling to check in on them. Most people won't look beyond Blond and Blue eyes so it was a safe gamble." Highwind glanced to the side. "Cloud's . . . he's got an old soul, he's quiet and pretty mature for his age, but he can get pretty snarky. He's a damn good kid, stubborn as hell." There was an odd inflection in Highwind's tone, but Sephiroth couldn't make it out. "Vinnie trained him, and he knows about . . . well, pretty ! much everything. He decided to join Soldier to help us out." Highwind sighed. "Gave us all a ! scare, I tell ya, when word came about the Corel ! up. Only one of us that wasn't panicking was his mother, and she pretty much gave us the damn third degree for panicking in the first place." Highwind finally lit his cigarette. "Why do you need to know?"
" . . . How would he react if either Genesis, Angeal or myself approached him?"
"Probably be pretty ! wary of the attention. He doesn't . . . . he doesn't trust people all that easily, it takes a while for him to warm up to others, but once he does . . . he's damn loyal for life."
When Sephiroth returned to his apartments after his mission, he found Genesis asleep on the couch, and Angeal holding an ice pack to his head. "Do I want to know?"
"Not really. How was the mission?"
"The usual, I did get a chance to talk to Highwind about Strife, though- he wasn't quite as helpful as I hoped."
"Speaking of Strife- he's the Puppy's new roommate." Angeal put down the ice pack. "Zack dragged him into training today- literally."
"How'd it go?"
"Strife hid behind Zack for most of the session, he provided support when Zack needed it, usually with materia." Angeal shook his head. "He's a pragmatist when he fights, he's a good swordsman, but it doesn't stop him from using materia or cheap shots."
"Did you lecture him about that?" Angeal just frowned at him.
"I'm not that bad."
"Angeal, if I drank a shot every time you mentioned honor, I'd be tipsy every single day." Genesis muttered, having woken up at some point during the conversation.
"You're not one to talk, given the same would be true if we drank every single time you quoted Loveless." Sephiroth pointed out.
The red head's response was slightly muffled as he turned to bury his face in the cushion, but Sephiroth ignored him.
"You know, now we don't have to keep our distance from Strife." Angeal pointed out, Genesis and Sephiroth turned to look at him. "We all interact with Zack on an almost daily basis, it wouldn't be too difficult to explain why we're talking to Zack's roommate."
" . . . Good point." Genesis looked relieved.
"Why are you so obsessed with finding a reason to talk to him anyway?" Angeal finally asked the question that had been bothering him since Genesis first brought Strife to their attention.
"I'm curious to know why he joined Soldier- Vincent doesn't trust ShinRa, and yet he allows the kid to join Soldier, where he'd be way to close to Hojo." Genesis shrugged. He didn't dare mention the strange case of Déjà vu he'd had when he went in to the medical tent at the Corel Reactor and saw Strife lying so still.
Angeal shook his head, and then moved into the kitchen as a timer went off. The trio spent the rest of the evening arguing and discussing various mundane things.
And there you go . . . next one shot (or two) I post should also be Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal- and am I the only one who thinks that they should allow three character slots instead of two? It would make this so much simpler . . .