Cloud stood, dressed, just outside the Science department's door. Sephiroth stood behind him, just because Hojo wasn't here didn't mean that he had suddenly started to trust Shinra's scientists. Hollander was equally as sick and twisted as Hojo had ever been.

Angeal and Sephiroth, who seemed to have slipped comfortably into to a pattern of defaulting to Cloud for leadership, were warily standing behind the blonde.

"I hate needles." The younger Sephiroth said as a shiver went down his spine.

His older counterpart just raised an eyebrow. It seemed to be one of the few things they had in common.

"What did I tell you? Transportation department." Angeal laughed a bit as the doors swished open.

"I'm not fond of needles either." Cloud said, a bit quietly.

A young woman with her brown hair in a bun and glasses on her face walked out with a clipboard. "Strife, you're up first. Follow me, you two can take a seat in the lounge." The woman said, pointing a door to the left.

"Yes, mama." They chorused together.

Cloud slipped into the lab, his Sephiroth close behind as the other two followed orders into the lounge.

"Take your shirt off and that helmet, you may remove your boots, but it isn't necessary." The woman said, looking over her clipboard.

Cloud silently did as she asked, while the woman walked around the side of a lab table.

"You are one Cloud Strife, correct?" The woman asked.

"Yes, mama." Cloud responded with a nod.

"Good, now lay down on the table." She instructed.

Cloud did as he was told again and laid out flat. The woman set her clipboard down and proceeded to restrain him.

The blonde quickly glanced at his mentor and a slight nod let him know that this was normal. With that Cloud relaxed a bit.

"Since you already have mako in your system, this will work a little different. We'll be giving you essentially boosters until your body starts to respond negatively. You'll likely be a little sick the rest of the day, but it will ensure you get the proper dosage." She explained.

"I'm going to put you to sleep now," She said, lifting a mask over his face. A bit of panic started to rise in Cloud. The lab, the restraints, the needles and now being knocked out. It was bringing back memories of a childhood he thought he'd long forgotten.

The nurse, thinking it was normal nerves, just continued anyway and Cloud's eyes flashed a bit bright from the mako in his system as Sephiroth walked over and placed a hand on Cloud's arm.

"It's alright, I'll be here." Sephiroth said soothingly.

Cloud's eyes met his guardian and he calmed for a moment, just in time for the sleeping gas to do its job.


"So this is the one that's caught everyone's attention?" Hollander said, standing over the passed out blond SOLDIER.

Sephiroth was on edge. He had relaxed a bit when he had discovered that Hojo was gone. Hollander here however could be just as bad. He was staring at Cloud, a thousand different experiments surely on his mind.

"Yes Sir." The woman said as the 4th mako booster made its way into Cloud's system. So far all of his vital signs were stable.

"I want a sample of his blood." Hollander finally said and Sephiroth's eyes narrowed.

"No, you don't" Sephiroth said as the nurse went to open the cabinet. Sephiroth placed his hand on the door. There was no way he was going to let Hollander get a sample of Cloud's blood to scrutinize.

"Sir, it won't open." The woman said, tugging on the cabinet.

"Worthless, the lot of you." Hollander snapped as he went over and tried to tug it open.

"Go call maintenance. I'll take care of the blood sample." Hollander said before turning and leaving the room.

Sephiroth glanced between the two as they made their ways out of the room. Quickly, he attempted to undo the binding on Cloud's arms. He was about finished with his last booster, so it would be safe to take him.

However, he wasn't fast enough as the woman walked back in the room, talking on the phone and examining the cabinet.

"Look, the professor told me to call you. I really don't think you'll like what happens if I have to get him on the phone." The woman had a bit of annoyance in her voice.

She was still distracted, so Sephiroth finished undoing the restraints. Getting Cloud out of here would be another story however.

His window of opportunity closed completely as Hollander walked back into the room.

"Here, now I do believe you can handle taking a simple blood sample." Hollander said, shoving the items into her hand.

As she walked over to Cloud, she looked at his opened restraints curiously. The man was clearly out however as she proceeded to take Cloud's blood. Sephiroth was unable to stop her.

When she was done, she labeled the vial and put in a metal cabinet. Sephiroth resolved to stay and remove the vial before someone else could retrieve it. If someone tried to take it before, then he would just stop them like he had with the supply cabinet.

The woman brushed a stray piece of hair out of her face before starting Cloud on another mako booster.


When Cloud awoke in the recovery room, he noticed that Angeal and Sephiroth were both still unconscious. The next thing he noticed was his Sephiroth standing against the wall looking grim. Cloud about asked him a question when the man pointed at a security camera. They had talked a bit more last night and realized communication outside of Cloud's quarters was not good. Well, at least Cloud talking to Sephiroth. If anyone saw a security feed of it, they would think Cloud was talking to himself.

Sephiroth however could still talk to Cloud. "Hollander ordered a vial of your blood to be taken during you enhancements. He's curious about you."

Cloud looked down at the blanket he had been covered in. He didn't understand. Sephiroth had told him Hojo was the problem and the man was gone.

"If he gets a chance to examine your blood, you'll be in danger. Remember, he's the scientist in charge of Genesis. He'll recognize Jenova cells for what they are. We'll talk more later. I've made several efforts to either tamper with or retrieve the vial, I can't find it however. I'm going to watch Hollander instead. I did want to be here when you woke up." Sephiroth said, moving away from the wall.

Cloud gave a small nod and Sephiroth turned and left the room.

The blonde sighed, looking around for a moment before he saw one of the nurses walk through the door.

"You're up, good." The woman glanced at the others before turning back to Cloud. "Your vitals have been good for the last hour, so you are free to go."

Cloud glanced over at Angeal and Sephiroth for a moment as the nurse removed most of the monitoring equipment. If he stayed here any longer, he was sure to have another panic attack.


If someone had half a mind to get involved in Genesis's personal business, they might have been able to point out to him that stalking another person was creepy. Especially so because your focus was on fighting him. Fortunately or just the opposite there of, the closest anyone ever got to Genesis's personal business was Hollander during the General's physical exams.

Furthermore, they might have alerted him to the fact that standing outside the labs, which Genesis hated with a passion, waiting for the blond to emerge so he could drag him off to fight somewhere after his first enhancements just wasn't healthy.

That however was exactly what he was doing. If Cloud Strife couldn't survive a fight with him now, he had no hope of ever equaling Genesis and the man would simply forget about him and move on.

As the head of blonde hair walked out from the automated doors, Genesis stepped away from the walls.

"Cloud Strife" Genesis snapped coldly.

"General Sir." Cloud turned and stood at attention.

Internally Genesis was pleased, most of the regular forces cowered when he called their name.

"Follow me." Genesis ordered and Cloud did as he was told. He pondered the reason why Genesis had come to him. It was curious surely, but also fortunate.

The man led him to a training room. Once inside, Cloud was shocked to find Ragnarok sitting in a sword stand.

"I had it retrieved from your room." Was all Genesis said.

"Sir?" Cloud looked up at Genesis, confused.

"You've shown a lot of potential since you arrived at Shinra's doorsteps. I want to see that potential for myself." Genesis said smoothly, easily covering any anticipation he felt.

Cloud took in a deep breath. This was a good thing. He had wanted to get Genesis's attention and it appeared he had it. Now he just had to keep it. Calm from the years of training under Sephiroth, Cloud walked over and picked up his sword.

When he turned to face Genesis again, the man only gave him a moment's notice before diving into the fight. That was fine with Cloud. Talking wasn't really his thing, fighting was.

Ragnarok meet Rapier and Genesis grinned.

Cloud for his part was trying to analyze flaws in his opponent. Calculating the battle, his first true test against another human. Sure, he had sparred with Sephiroth before and he had worked with his roommates, but most of his experience came from fighting monsters.

This was wholly different. Genesis, unlike Sephiroth, wasn't fighting him to teach. He was fighting him to win. That sparked something deep within Cloud that he had only felt briefly before.

Steel met steel over and over again as the two danced around the room. Both holding back, both still judging their opponent.

Cloud saw the expression of enjoyment on Genesis's face and couldn't help but return it. Taking it as a sign, the Great General continued hard, pushing Cloud to fight back and he did with a practiced strength. Genesis never dreamed this boy could come so close to matching him so soon. He had just taken his first mako injections this morning. His heart sang with the idea of what it would be like to fight him when he reached his peek.

"Come now Cloud Strife, this can't be all you have to offer, show me your strength." Genesis said between sword blows. Taunting always seemed to bring the best out of his foes.

But Cloud just grinned at him, if Genesis wanted his best, he would have it. The added mako to his system didn't affect him like many of the other new SOLDIERs. Mako had been in his blood all his life. Sephiroth had always warned him about showing off, but now here in this fight it didn't seem like that at all. He was proving himself, earning Genesis's respect.

With a burst of speed and a deep rooted strength he lifted Ragnarok over his head. For most, this would have been an opening and indeed Genesis moved to make use of it, before he could strike however, the force of Ragnarok hitting Rapier drove him to his knees.

Genesis looked up and locked eyes with Cloud, they were not far apart as Cloud strength kept him grounded. No one had ever been able to do that to him before, he did notice the blond was panting with the effort, but he realized that he too was straining to stay up right.

In that moment he realized that he had found his equal. The problem was neither one of them was willing to admit defeat. Their battle had turned from a contest of Strength to a contest of Wills.

It was broken when both of them startled at the floor cracking beneath their feet. Cloud placed Ragnarok on his back as Genesis stood and sheathed Rapier.

"Tell me where you learned to fight like that." Genesis commanded. It was a mystery he had yet to solve and the General didn't like not knowing something. There were absolutely no records.

"My guardian taught me." Was all Cloud would offer.

"Hmm, and who was your guardian?" Genesis said, taking a step closer to him.

Cloud wracked his brain, he knew that, if he said "Sephiroth", it would sound suspicious. That was also his roommate's name and not a common one. So he picked the name from a book he had like.

"Eristol." Rattled off his tongue.

Genesis's eyes narrowed a bit. "The wander of peace? Bringer of light? Come now, Cloud, why have you lied to me?"

Cloud hadn't counted on the General being a fan of fantasy literature. He had to think up something fast. He wasn't well versed in relationship of any kind, but he was sure that lying was bad.

"That was just the name he gave to me when we met. Whatever his real name may have been, I never knew." Cloud said, keeping himself calm.

"I suppose people do tend to give themselves a new name if there is something they wish to forget." Genesis said, seeming to take Cloud's word at face value. The truth was that he wasn't any better versed in the social department. Worst of all, it really told Genesis nothing.

They stayed silent a while longer. Genesis wasn't used to being in someone else's presence when that person was so quiet. Normally, people would prattle on endlessly about things he could care less about. The blond seemed content just to stand there and leave the talking to Genesis. This was a pleasant quality of Cloud Strife, but it left him wondering where to go next.

Offering to train the boy was pointless, possibly insulting, and he didn't have the time, patience or desire to take on a student either way. He didn't want Cloud to walk out that door as a simple SOLDIER either. As he thought, he glanced back over to the blond, who was still standing there straight as ever. He wanted an equal, not a subordinate, someone who could push him to be better than he already was. Someone that wasn't afraid to tell him the truth. A person he could respect.

Genesis had seen the men below him interact this way and it seemed to improve their performance. Cloud could be that person, he could see it his eyes, his stance. How did they get that way?

"Strife, what are your plans for SOLDIER? Why are you here?" Genesis finally asked. Maybe, if he knew what the boy wanted, it would make things easier for him to progress.

Cloud however stayed silent, thoughtful. How did he answer that question? The truth perhaps, he had told one lie already.

"It's all I've ever known, striving to become SOLDIER." Cloud started, as for the second part, only the partial truth was needed. "And I intend to be the best." Genesis didn't need to know that Cloud had wanted to meet him.

Genesis just looked at him. Cloud's story struck a chord deep down within him. "Bold words," Genesis finally said, shaking his head. "Especially spoken to me, but I suppose you are the closest to achieving that goal in a long time. Would it be wrong of me to wish you luck with your goal?"

"Thank you, sir." Cloud replied, still unmoving.

Genesis really didn't know what else to do, other than order Cloud to act differently. He was rather certain that wasn't a good way to proceed. Genesis knew he couldn't keep Cloud here forever. On top of that, he had a meeting with the directors in an hour about his next deployment to Wutai.

That was it, his next deployment to Wutai. He would request Cloud for the mission. He'd never tried to request personal before, one face was the same as another. Surely however, they wouldn't object, he was the General after all.

"You and I are not done, Cloud Strife. For now however, you are dismissed." Genesis finally announced before exiting the room, intent on implementing his new plan.

As Cloud stood in the gym, wondering if the interaction had gone well or not, his PHS rang.

'Sephiroth Nojima' Flashed across the caller ID and Cloud momentary wondered how Sephiroth's number had gotten in his phone.

With a sigh however he answered it."Hello."

"You alright, man? Me and Ange got back to the apartment and you weren't here. The nurse said you'd left an hour earlier." Sephiroth questioned.

"I didn't go back to the apartment, I'm in the training gym." Cloud replied.

"You're WHERE?" Sephiroth practically shouted.

"The training gym." Cloud stated again, confused at Sephiroth's reaction

He heard a muffled. "I told you he was fucking insane." before Sephiroth came back to him. "How are you even still standing? You know what? I don't even want to know."

Cloud decided that now was not the time to tell him he'd been sparring with the General. "I was going to head back soon anyway, I am a bit tired."

"A bit tired, alright Cloud... just wow. See you when you get back." Sephiroth said, then hung up as Cloud stared at his phone.


"It is highly irregular to send a green recruit straight into battle." Garamonde said, looking down at Genesis's request.

"I assure you, he's anything but a green recruit." Genesis said, crossing his arms.

"I saw his entrance exam with you." Garamonde pointed out.

"Then you know he should be fully capable of accompanying my unit." Genesis stated.

Garamonde just looked at the General, trying to evaluate why he was requesting this. Genesis never requested anything, outside of having someone removed from his unit. For the man to take an interest in someone else was a bit surprising. It could however be a good thing. It showed that his SOLDIER was actually human. The director however pondered just how far Genesis was willing to go to get what he wanted.

"I'll agree on one condition. You take the other two as well. I was thinking of sending them all anyway. In your unit, they should at least survive." Garamonde said with a small smile.

Genesis inwardly twitched. He wanted more of a chance to see Cloud in actual combat, not playing baby sitter. If he refused, Garamonde would just send the other two in his unit anyway and assign Cloud somewhere else, he knew. "Fine."

"I knew we could work something out. A pleasure doing business with you, General." The director said with a bit of a nod and Genesis left the man's office, pondering ways to make the man suffer.


Sephiroth groaned from his spot on his friend's bed. Angeal was stretched out next to him.

"I think getting hit by a tanker truck would be less painful. How did Cloud manage to head to the training room for an hour?" Sephiroth stressed.

"I don't know." Angeal said, attempting to rub his aching muscles. It only made his arms worse from the movement however. "He did have a bit of mako in his system already. Maybe that made a difference."

"I don't think the man feels pain." Sephiroth stated, not willing to move.

"I thought that was the General." Angeal said with a bit of a laugh, then instantly regretted the movement.

"Yah well, Cloud's very General like. I might even be willing to give up my one true love for him." Sephiroth said with a bit of smirk.

"One true fantasy is more like it." Angeal said, though resisted the urge to shake his head.

"It could happen." Sephiroth insisted as his PHS buzzed in sync with Angeal's

"You check it, it's probably some stupid news letter." Sephiroth insisted.

"It can wait." Angeal said, normally he was the responsible one, however, moving right now wasn't worth it.

"Now I know you feel like shit." Sephiroth replied.

They heard the door open and Cloud call "Hello?"

"In here." Sephiroth said, sounding a bit whiney.

Cloud knocked a moment on the door. Angeal said "Come in."

He slowly cracked the door open and looked down at the pair on the bed. "What happened to you two?"

"He's not serious, is he, Angeal?" Please tell me he's not serious." Sephiroth groaned. Cloud just looked confused.

"You do realize it's normal to be laid up for the rest of the day after mako injections? It's why they gave us the whole day off." Angeal said, trying to explain.

"No, I didn't." Cloud said, sounding a bit surprised. If that was the case, why had Genesis expected him to be fine? He had thought the man had been waiting for him. It couldn't have been spontaneous. His sword had been in the training room.

Cloud's phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out, looking at the message. "Seems I'm going to have to pass on Friday."

"Why?" Sephiroth tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

"I've just been deployed to Wutai. We're leaving at 0600 Saturday." Cloud replied.

"Really? You've not even been here a week! Who's your unit leader?" Sephiroth started to sit up, regretted it, then fell back down.

Cloud looked down further in the message where the details were. "General Genesis"

"No fucking way." Sephiroth said and Angeal looked startled, too. Cloud however was only vaguely surprised after the day's events. "I'd give anything to trade places with you, Cloud."

"Check your phone. If the message is right, you won't need to trade anything." Cloud replied calmly.

Sephiroth's muscles protested as he gritted his teeth, quickly moving to retrieve his phone. He'd pay for it later, but right now he had to see. As he flipped his phone open and read, his eyes went wide. "Yes!" He wanted to jump for joy, but he had to settle for falling back down on Angeal's bed. His friend had checked his phone too, verifying the deployment.

"Why would they send us to Wutai now? I mean, I could almost understand Cloud, but us? And under the General? I thought he only dealt with the elite forces." Angeal questioned.

"Don't you dare ruin this moment with reason, Angeal." Sephiroth said, closing his eyes, a grin on his face.

"Your friend is right. This could be a prank. We should check with the director." Cloud pointed out. Angeal was a little disappointed that Cloud had referred to him as Sephiroth's friend.

"Not you too. Just let me enjoy it a little while longer before my dreams are dashed, ok?" Sephiroth pleaded.

"I'll head up to Garamonde's office. I want to take a nap first." Cloud said, he truly did need a bit of a rest after the spar with Genesis.

"Go on, wonder boy." Sephiroth teased a bit before closing his eyes. Sleep sounded good.


It was 4 hours later when Cloud finally awoke to his door opening. He was up in a moment, ready to attack, before he realized that it was his Sephiroth.

"I'm sorry, Cloud." Sephiroth said as his shoulders fell. "I don't know where Hollander's hidden it, but I couldn't find the blood sample he took. At this point, we're going to have to assume he's going to find out the truth. At the very least, he'll know you have Jenova cells within you."

"What does that mean?" Cloud asked hesitantly. He was already surprisingly close to his goal with Genesis. He didn't want to abandon Shinra now and, with the way his Guardian had explained things, he didn't know if leaving would help anyway.

"For now, we'll have to watch your back now. I want to stay with you. I promise I won't interfere unless it seems you're in danger from Hollander." Sephiroth said, he knew how much his independence meant to his student.

Cloud looked thoughtful for a moment, before replying. "I can handle that, I suppose. I've got a lot to talk to you about, however."

"Are you having problems with your enhancements?" Sephiroth asked.

"No, apparently I'm doing a lot better than I should be." Cloud stated, shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" Sephiroth questioned.

"I really didn't suffer any fatigue or anything after I woke up in the recovery room. The nurse let me go and I was accosted by Genesis in the hall. He directed me to a training room. Genesis had requested someone to retrieve my sword and we ended up sparing. Only after that did I feel tired at all." Cloud explained.

Sephiroth let the information sink in a moment before replying. "It's interesting. Though I didn't know fatigue was normal. I never suffered it myself. That fact that you've caught Genesis's attention is a good sign, I suppose. How did you fair in the spar?"

"It came to a draw." Cloud stated evenly.

He knew he would hear that Cloud had done well, but the actual words made him swell with pride. "Good job."

"Thank you, but that's not all." Cloud said with a small smile at his angel's praise.

"What else transpired?" Sephiroth crossed his arms.

"I've been deployed to Wutai along with the others. We've been assigned to Genesis's unit. At least I think we have, there is the possibility it's a prank. I was actually meaning to head to the Director's office and see if it was a legitimate order." Cloud explained.

"Find out, if they are official orders, this could be advantageous. Hollander can't touch you in Wutai, especially with Genesis around. It would give us more time to prepare for him." Sephiroth said thoughtfully.

Cloud just nodded, before standing and placing his boots and belt back on, which he had removed to sleep.

"Do you want to come with me?" Cloud asked.

"No, you should be safe enough while still in the SOLDIER area. I am however going to do a bit more digging. There's something I read in the company files the other day that disturbs me." Sephiroth said. looking at this charge.

"What's that?" Cloud questioned.

"The name of the head of the Department of Administrative Research." Sephiroth said. looking pensive.

Cloud just looked confused.

"It was listed as a man by the name of Vincent Valentine. Events happened in the original timeline that led to people thinking he was dead for nearly 30 years. I didn't know it when I was still alive, but I discovered in the lifestream that he was my actual father. He tried to stop the experiments that were preformed on me, but fell into Hojo's hands because of it." Sephiroth crossed his arms.

Cloud looked almost shocked. "Your father? But then-" He cut himself off as he glanced towards where the young Sephiroth was sleeping.

"I don't know." Sephiroth said, judging Cloud's question. His younger self had obviously been adopted from what he knew.

"I'll go speak to the director " Cloud said almost quietly. He wasn't sure where else to take the conversation.

"Go on, I'll be fine. I just want to see if I can find his adoption records." Sephiroth stated. In the long run, it didn't matter. This world's version of him seemed happy and well adjusted. A life he could only ever of dreamed for. It was ironic that he idolized Genesis. This younger Sephiroth really had no idea what being the General of Shinra truly entailed. Hopefully, it would stay that way.

Silently, Cloud slipped out of the room as his roommates slept soundly.


Chapter 4 and Cloud's drawing attention from just about everyone. I also am tempted to change one of the descriptions to humor just because of young Sephiroth. Please Review-DHT