Disclaimer: I own nothing FFVII.

A/N: Oh boy. First off, while I left this open to be expanded on, I never actually thought I would. So this was a surprise. But I got to thinking how post ACC!Cloud would handle Genesis' particular brand of insanity.

Secondly, as you may or may not know, I cycle through fandoms. When I'm in a fandom, I'm in that fandom only. But as I run out of stories I haven't yet read or my interest is caught by something else, I move on. I eventually come back, but while I'm in other fandoms, my interest in my current stories in the fandoms I'm not reading wanes. That's why there's such a huge gap between updates sometimes. I'm still trying to talk myself back into the HP fandom, but Rowling kinda ruined it for me, so I'm having a hard time. Nevertheless, I will finish this story as well as Time to Change. It's just gonna take time.

Thirdly, if anybody wants to take a stab at what happened between Genesis and Cloud during the trip to and from Nibelheim, I'd be interested in seeing it. I'm not going to write that set of scenes. So a big THANK YOU for the reviews this story got and the interest in continuing it.


Take Me Back

Chapter Two: The Menace

Three weeks after leaving Midgar, Cloud returned, almost storming into Sephiroth's apartment. He ignored the three men gathered there as he put his fusion sword against the wall. His clothes were filthy with dirt and what appeared to be bits of monster and something else that was soaking nearly the length of Cloud's right side. His harness followed his sword before he continued his not-stomping into the bathroom. Less than a minute later and the three SOLDIERs heard the shower come on.

Blinking wide violet eyes, Zack turned to his mentor. "What do you think that's all about?" he asked.

"I don't know," Angeal murmured. But he resolved to find out from his friend, for if Cloud was back, so was Genesis. If Cloud was in need of a shower, though, then Genesis certainly must be, too. And Genesis was notorious for taking long showers.

Sephiroth, however, wore a slight smirk. As if he had an idea behind Cloud's behavior. And perhaps he did. Cloud was, after all, Sephiroth's friend. Of a sort. Ah well. They'd find out eventually, he was sure.


Cloud felt immeasurably better after his shower. The world was fresher and brighter, and he entered the living room in higher spirits that only lifted more when he saw who was there. More importantly, who wasn't! Running his fingers through his wet spikes, he settled into the only open seat available; sharing the couch with Sephiroth. He leaned forward a bit, resting his forehead in his palms. He could feel the eyes on him and inhaled a deep, calming breath. Without lifting his head, he turned it slightly to glare into green eyes.

"You're a sadist," he said. Mobile lips twitched into a half smile as Cloud stared balefully at the man. "How you put up with that lunatic all the time is beyond me!"

Angeal started, a frown on his face. "Genesis is a bit eccentric, yes-"

"Eccentric? You think he's eccentric?" Cloud asked in disbelief. "If I have to hear one more verse from that book he carries around like a security blanket, I'm going to set it on fire. After I slice it to pieces..." he trailed off, grumbling. Casting his gaze sideways once more, he saw Sephiroth was having a hard time keeping his mirth to himself. "Don't think I won't stab you if you laugh," he muttered, causing the older man to lose his battle and let his laughter roll out.

"I don't see what you're complaining about, Cloud. You only had to deal with it for three weeks, after all," the Silver General said, still chuckling slightly. "Did you get everything you needed done?"

Cloud sighed and finally sat back. "Yeah. She's been taken care of and all the false leads were gone through. Commander Quotes-a-lot sorted them out into printed and journaled, then we dug into them and got rid of the blatant lies, discussed the dubious ones until we determined which were fake and what was real, and set the entire manor ablaze." The blond turned a queer look upon the other men. "Your friend is a pyromaniac, did you know? He had far too much fun with it. On the bright side, I made a new old acquaintance before we torched the place."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Vincent. I wasn't going to leave him in there with what we were doing to it, after all," he said, glancing up with a groan as the door opened and Genesis entered the apartment. "Does everyone just wander in here like they live here?" Cloud asked his ex-nemesis.

"Oh, like you're a bucket of sunshine to be around!" the redhead exclaimed. "Now budge over so I can sit," he demanded, garnering raised eyebrows, one blond and one silver. It was amusing to Cloud to note that neither he nor Sephiroth were inclined to make room for him. Possibly because neither were inclined to sit so close to the other. Possibly because both were inclined to antagonize Genesis. Perhaps both reasons existed. With an unexpected shove, however, Cloud went sailing sideways, his head landing on a leather clad thigh. Scrambling up, he grudgingly scooted over to the center of the couch as Genesis had already squeezed himself into the opening Cloud's tipped body gave him.

"We hear you enjoyed burning the place down," Sephiroth said, ignoring the blond's red face. "And that you made a new friend."

"A friend?" Genesis inquired.

"He wasn't there for that bit," Cloud said. "He was in the library most of the time while I was getting the rest handled."

"I see. Can we expect a visit from him?" the general inquired.

"Doubtful. He's after Hojo, and we don't factor into that."

"He may need access..." Sephiroth left the suggestion open.

Cloud nodded, resolving to make the silver haired menace explain all the double talking and vague references for his friends. "He may, but he was a Turk, after all. I'm sure he can get where he needs to go. I've offered to help him take Hojo out when he makes his move, though. You're welcome to join us."

Sephiroth wore a contemplative expression while the two dark haired SOLDIERs wore varying degrees of horror and disgust at the open and easy discussion of taking someone's life. Genesis just looked bored. The general nodded once, a short, jerky motion that endeared him just a tiny bit to Cloud. Hojo had wronged all three of them, and they all deserved to be there for his death.

"As for your secondary mission, did you get the information we need to save them?"

The blond swordsman looked nearly defeated for just a moment. "No. Jenova wouldn't have helped them. Your cells might, but I'd rather not introduce more mutated cells into them unless we have to. The only thing I can think of is what did away with the 'Stigma, but she's not levelled enough to have acquired Great Gospel yet. Taking her out to level up would be the best bet, but we've got to get the Turks off her, first." Cloud had talked about this a bit with Genesis while they were traveling. He'd explained that what Hollander had done to him – and Angeal, apparently, but Cloud hadn't known that until Genesis had told him – would cause his cells to begin degrading, eventually killing him if he wasn't cured. Then he dropped his bombshell: They didn't actually have a cure. Yet. He'd said that was what the older man would be searching the books and notes for. Cloud wasn't very optimistic about it, but it was worth a shot.

"According to Cloud, Tseng is – was? – friends with this girl, so perhaps explaining that we're also trying to keep her safe from Hojo's clutches would make him more amenable to assisting us?" the redhead suggested.

"It's well worth a try," was the reply. Angeal and Zack were hopelessly confused and frustrated, but nobody wanted to tell them something that would hurt them. Cloud knew just how devastated Zack would be if he were to lose Angeal, and the other two were worried about what Angeal would do if he knew. Sephiroth found it amazing that the fiery-tempered man hadn't flown off alone again. Perhaps, since at least two others knew of his condition, he wasn't so gung ho about figuring it all out alone? Whatever the case, he was grateful that his long time friend hadn't abandoned them to figure it out on his own. No matter what they said about the silver man, Genesis was just as private. And more prone to keeping others out of the loop when it concerned him.

He worried about his friends, now more than before since he now knew what was at stake. Of the five men in the room, not one of them wasn't damaged horribly in the Before. Three dead, one not knowing who he was and having his memories still missing or fragmented, the last losing all sense of self as he was taken over by an insane alien.

"Hey! Are you gonna tell us what's going on or are you going to keep talking around us like we're idiots?" Zack demanded, looking utterly peeved and very definitely out of patience.

Cloud and Genesis both looked to Sephiroth, though the redhead only knew a part of the story. Sephiroth sighed and idly wished for the days when he was being hunted to be killed. At least then he didn't have to walk this delicate line.


After the two were filled in on what they had deemed would be called Genesis' condition so as not to unduly worry the darker men, conversation turned to how to explain Cloud's presence in ShinRa. With his enhancements, he would never make it out of the science department after his physical, so joining SOLDIER was out of the question until Hojo could be removed. But what other reason for being in the building and living with Sephiroth?

"Perhaps Lazard could make an exception on the physical?" Zack suggested.

Angeal shook his head. "No. The physical is required so that the medical team has a baseline if anything really bad happens."

"I could just go back to being a mercenary," Cloud offered. "Get a place off the ShinRa compound."

"No, that wouldn't work. The waiting list to get something on the plate is years long, and you can't live below the plate if you expect to be able to remain in contact with us. ShinRa wouldn't allow their precious general to associate with slum trash," was Genesis' contribution.

Cloud sighed. "I could move to Kalm, I suppose."

"No."

The blond eyed Sephiroth. "Well, do you have anything other than a no to offer? A reason behind it maybe? Or perhaps a solution?"

Sephiroth did have a solution, actually. He just wasn't certain how well the blond would take it. But it solved all the problems they'd identified so far. The mako enhancements could be partially explained by that, and partially by saying he fell into mako in Mideel. His S-cells could also be accounted for in this way, and it would keep him in Sephiroth's apartment. Now to explain his thoughts to his would-be friend. Colleague? Co-conspirator? At any rate, he just knew the blond was going to explode at this. Perhaps a private discussion would be better...


End Note: Let me know what you think of it! Sorry it's more dialogue than anything. It's a balance that I'm still trying to master. Thanks for reading!

Also, this takes place pre-DoC, so they believe Genesis to have died since they don't know about Deepground.

Word Count: 1763

13 June 2012