Genesis never went cuckoo, so he's here while Zack is a First-Class. None of these characters belong to me.

A person around twenty-five years of age with black hair and blue eyes mixed with mako energy, wearing a first-class SOLDIER uniform walked up to another first-class SOLDIER, but this one was sixteen years old and had his black hair in spikes like a giant porcupine while doing squats.

"Zack," Angeal began to the younger SOLDIER, slight worry evident in his voice, "I'm getting a little worried about Sephiroth."

"Huh?" Zack asked as he stopped doing squats and looked up at his mentor. "What's wrong with him?" After all, something must be pretty serious to have someone worried about Sephiroth of all people.

"He has been acting strange lately."

"Doesn't he always act strange though?" No one could deny that the General didn't act normal, whether it be from his stone-cold seriousness or his wanting to be secluded from other people.

Angeal crossed his arms across his chest while tilting his head to a side slightly and closing his eyes in thought. "I meant stranger than usual. He'll disappear at random times and he'll come back with blood on his clothes, plus he sometimes clutches his head as though he has a headache and he'll tell us it's nothing."

"The blood is probably just monster or Wutai soldier blood and he's probably getting headaches from how strict and grumpy he always is. He really needs to loosen up a bit."

The older man let out a booming laugh. "Genesis and I have always been telling him that."

At that moment, a man around the same age as Angeal with short cherry-colored hair and wearing a bright red trenchcoat walked up to them with a book in his hands. "Is Angeal talking about me behind my back again?"

"No Genesis," Angeal told him, "just telling Zack about how I'm worried about Sephiroth."

"We would take him out to a bar to relax, but once he figured out about it, he'd wrestle us to the ground, plus alcohol has an effect similar to sugar on him." The red-head shuddered at the thought of an extremely hyper Sephiroth.

"Is there any point to this conversation other than to bug us?" Angeal asked him with a sigh in his voice.

"Yes," he turned to Zack, "Lazard wants you in the briefing room, porcupine head."

"Okay, and don't call me that, Dumbapplehead." Zack said with an annoyed expression on his face, then headed off to the SOLDIER briefing room where a blonde-haired man in a blue suit and glasses was waiting for him.

"Hello again, Zack." Lazard began. "You'll be going on a mission with Sephiroth to wipe out an ocean tanker that is swarming with Wutai troopers."

"No other backup, I assume?" He asked, crossing his arms against his chest.

"Sephiroth normally doesn't need backup but this is a larger than average tanker, plus we've received reports that he's been acting strange lately."

"Yeah, he's been getting headaches and disappearing randomly and he'll come back covered in blood." The auburn-haired man informed him.

"This mission is mainly for you to keep an eye on him and to tell us if anything strange happens."

"Why do I have to look after him?" Zack whined like a child.

Lazard pinched the bridge of his nose between his index finger and thumb. How can he keep forgetting how childish Zack can get sometimes? "Because he would get suspicious if we sent Angeal or Genesis."

"Fine," He said, reluctantly relenting to essentially have a front-row seat to a genocide contained within a ship. "Is that all?"

"Yes, you may leave now."

Zack left the room even as a growing sense of dread that something bad will happen filled him as he prepared to leave. Who would want to go on a mission with a carnage-obsessed, never-humorous General?