Guest: Bwahhahaha, I laughed so hard when I read that comment because I had already written this chapter, and my friend went 'BABAM! HOW DO YA LIKE THEM GREENS!?' While I was just plain old confused trying to figure out what she meant by that. (She told me that she was referencing the greens that Chocobos like to eat.)

RandomAsRainbows: I do, I just haven't been using it, so I don't have any excuses really. I've been truing to bribe my friends into beta reading though. And thanks for pointing all that out for me.


Sephiroth entertained himself with the idea of dangling his blade over the egde of Shinra tower's roof- except having the fat man himself dangling on it by the mid of his stomach. He cast a glance to Genesis who wasn't even bothering to pay attention to the meeting as he read LOVELESS, and even Angeal was starting to look bored.

Sephiroth wasn't even sure why he had to attend to the meeting- though a few days ago he'd been bothered by something... unusual.

It was a field of flowers and ice- albiet it was hazy, and the image kept quivering the closer he tried to bring himself to it, but he paused upon seeing two people.

The blonde reaper was sitting on the edge of the ice, diping his feet into the water where colorful fsih nibbled on his feet and a young woman clad in nothing but pink coral clinging to her dark skin; he couldn't hear the converstaion, but just as quick as he saw them they had disappeared the shrill ringing of his alarm clock in his ears.

Sephiroth had never been woken by his alarm clock before.

Usually he woke around the first light of dawn, only to shut off the clock ten minuets later when he was already dressed and prepared for a long day of work.

It was a pleasant change.

Thought feelings of content were disappearing as the meeting dragged on and he almost groaned when the president's video chat system vibrated. "I told you not to call me unless it was important!" The president snapped, glowering down at a shaking Corneo.

"It is important!" He wailed, making a few of the executives- and Genesis- cringe. "Its hell down here I tell you!" He jumped and whimpered when gunshots echoed in the background. "First they stole everything! Then they ruin all my drugs! And now all my men and whores I rebelling! Do something!"

"Oh, so we're just whores now?" A woman's voice snapped, and Corneo spun around with his hands raised.

"Lana darling... Don't do this..."

"You heard him girls- get him!" Corneo yelped, dashing away with more than a dozen if skimpy clad bee girls despite Sephiroth's bemusement at witnessing such an event the video feed disappeared, revealing the red face of the President seething in anger.

The device beeped once more and a man came into view- he wore a black leather coat with a fur edge, a worn leather gas mask over the lower half of his face and his a googles glowing blue. "Ah... Interesting." The distorted voice mused.

"Who are you!?" The fat man roared, glowering down at the screen.

"... Hm... I'm not sure I'm obligated to answer that but... You're welcome to call me Strife."

Strife? What kind of name was that.

"I'm the next clan head of the Ling yakuza clan- criminals, cretin, scum. You may call me that as well, if you'd prefer." The man continued. "Or the descendent of Skylar the Fourth... I suppose that makes my Skylar the Sixth..." He mused, and almost every face sitting at the executive table paled.

"I-impossoble!" Heidegger stuttered, "the entire royal family was murdered before The End!"

Genesis's head snapped up at that, suddenly just as intrigued as Sephiroth and Angeal were when the words left his mouth.

"They were... But would this be enough proof?" He raised a hand, and between his fingers was a ring; the metal wolf's lips were curled back into a snarl, lifeless eyes glowing up at nothing and everything in particular. "I see that it is." The man chuckled coldly. "This is a warning lady and gentlemen," Scarlet turned a shade palar at being so pointedly addressed, "stand in my way and you will suffer. I promise you that." And the transition ended.

"T-t-that's ridiculous... He couldn't p-p-posibly be a descendent..." Palmer started, but his voice quickly cracked and trailed off.

"I admit; I'm horribly confused. " Director Lazard spoke up, Reeve Tusei, nodding in agreement.

"The End;" Genesis starred, staring out the window thoughtfully, "was the worst global massacre that occurred forty years ago, starting with the murder of Skylar the Fourth, othwise known as the great king who united the world."Genesis sneered. "Though of course this was erased from records by yours truly."

"Watch your tongue Rhapsodos!" Shinra barked, though the nervous sweat he had and his trembling hands ruined the effect.

"Though there is more," Genesis smirked, "the king's court were put on trial before The Judges, who deemed that the court had been driven to insanity by a two thousand year old disease, and executed them for their transgressions and abuse of what is know today as mako."

"I still don't understand how all of this is relevant." Reeve sighed, rubbing his temples with a frown.

"The King's subjects were highly religious." Heidegger began shakily. "They had warriors who could lift moving mountains through a process similar to the way SOLDIERS are created, and valued natural mako and believed that abusing it was worth..." He swallowed thickly. "Death."

No wondered they feared this man.

Sephiroth smiled, pondering the strength of those warriors, wondering if they could even best him... "It'd be my esteem pleasure to engage this man in combat."

"That is if I don't find him first." Genesis grinned, eyes glinting challengingly.

"Didn't you say they had something similar to SOLDIER?" Lazard inquired curiously, lifting an eyebrow as Sephiroth's blood pounded in anticipation.

"Yes," Scarlet managed. "Documents describe it of an initiation process in the army recovered around the area of the Nibel mountain range; they would swim to the bottom of lakes where condensed mako would lie at the bottom, then they would swim up and have pure unaltered mako in their blood." She shuddered. "Demons in human skin that would ride into battle on the backs of monsters... giant machines that could destroy an entire town..."

"I wasn't aware mako had a density property." Angeal mused- the door opened and in walked the bastard child of the devil himself.

"Not necessarily," Hojo crackled, pushing his round glasses up on his nose. "After quite some time- usually a billion or two years mako's density will increase tenfold, and in another billion or so years- become a soild." He snicker. "I theorize this was how the land land we stand on formed- however it no longer holds any mako, obviously. Now what spurred this conversation?" He pattered past the three SOLDIERs, walking over to the end of the table with his usual slouch.

Nobody dared answered.

"From my understanding," Reeve cleared his throat. "A yakuza claimed to be the descendent of King Skylar The Fourth."

The reaction was almost immediate; Hojo stiffened, pressed his lips into a firm line and remained silent.

"P-professor, we aren't in any danger are we?" Shinra stuttered, attempting to hide his worry.

"How embarrassing." Hojo muttered, looking up to the fat pig and grinning; "unfortunately, you'll a die a horrible death." He paused thoughtfully. "Most of you- the specimen's abundance in humanity may factor into weather or not you'll die, so I suggest you act carefully." Hojo crackled.

"Specimen?" Lazard blinked, looking uneasy.

"Yes," the damned man laughed once more, "a 'failed experiment', you could say; but he seems to be the only successful one. "He mused.

"What is the meaning of this!?" Heidegger snapped, beads of sweat dripping down into his beard.

"I may have dabbled on some useless citizens as a threat to Skylar the City," Hojo snickered, and Sephiroth's gut writhed in disgust. "Including his son, who was injected with Sephiroth's cells... Thanks to that imbecile of a step father... Though they bothboth- father and son- already had Jenova cells when they were in the fetus..."

What?

"You did what?" Reeve balked, his face paling considerably.

"You heard me," Hojo rolled his eyes in annoyance, "though the others had bouts of incoherent ramblings about 'repenting' during certain periods, but otherwise they went on with their pitiful lives Specimen C remained unaffected, and S-cells dormant. I had labeled him as a failure." He laughed. "How ironic."

Sephiroth scowled, wondering why this man had even been brought into existence and resiting the temptation to draw masamune and end his miserable existence quickly. Ignoring the accusations pointed at Hojo by the ones fearing their lives, Sephiroth spun on his heel, leather coat swishing behind him as he stormed away, resisting the elementary urge to clench his fist and shout.

"Sephiroth," He heard Angeal call. "Don't do anything rash."

"Rash?" He snapped bitterly, funding around to see both of his friends- Angeal with a frown of concern, and Genesis with a small smirk playing on his lips- he laughed humorlessly and continued; "Me? The perfect specimen? Never."

"My friend, the fates are cruel/There are no dreams, no honor remains." Genesis quoted. "We're all monsters here."

They fell silent at that, allowing the truth to soak in so they could go back to playing diligent, obedient SOLDIERs to be used and discarded.

It was a sad and bitter truth.


Cloud sighed, sending an apologetic glance through his mask the bartender seemed to pick up on and wave him off as his boys let out a loud cheer, drunkenly hugging each other and trying to figure out if a fire extinguisher or a beer keg hurt more when it was slammed into your head.

He really hadn't wanted to go out with them- but they insisted because he was a 'workaholic' but the only reason his pen was glued to his hand was because everyone else refused to do their job! And to add to the fact it was nearly the early hours in the morning, and they had been going at it for hours.

"Lighten up kid!" Xing laughed, lifting his mask a little to sip on his sake. It was a god given miracle the man wasn't slurring and falling drunk on his ass yet."We're celebrating our new companionship!"

Cloud sent a glance to the former AVALANCHE members and the large man Barret who kept sending suspicious glares his way and a promising wave with his gun arm, making Cloud wish the man didn't want to shoot him ninety nine point eight of the time. "Yeah, my impending funeral service." He grumbled, running a hand over his hood.

"Chill, Barret's a cool guy." Xing snorted, shaking his head; "aren't you just thankful we smoothed everything over with Dyne and those Correl guys?"

"Well... The coal should help them back up on their feet... Dyne messages me saying a few oil rigs struck deep too." He mused. "Though I'm more concerned about Shelly's brother in Costa Del Sol. He's... Eccentric. And her son- I hear he's a turk."

"Boss, you're supposed to be drinking!" Choco beamed, giving him a playful shove. "Enough about work! Even Vincent is sitting back for once!"

"You heard her Big Boss!" Shelly teased, pinching his arm. "And don't you worry about my boys, they'll behave."

The blonde leaned back, sending another glance to Barret who was yelling at Vincent for being 'so damn creepy' and decided that maybe he could indulge in a drink or two as the bartender slid a glass of whiskey over to him.

Cloud took a quick chug, then cringed when the usual warmth when he sipped on liquor didn't appear. "I... Don't think I can get drunk." He said after his fortieth drink. Of course no one was listening, because Xing had gone off the flirt with a group of women, Choco was happily singing some provocative pop song on stage with Shelly who encouraged cheers by dancing some contemporary style Cloud didn't know well enough to care.

"What's up with that spikey haired kid anyway?" He heard Barret sighed, and Cloud perked up, thanking his enhanced hearing could pick up on he and Vincent's hushed conversation. "Is he really that guy who took on forty men with out drawing a sword?"

"I had doubt as well when I first met him." Vincent admitted. "But he's talented; I presumed it was his surrogate family that taught him."

"Well... I guess I can't argue, Cause little Marlene is safe, but he's barely older than her. And those damn Shinra bastards probably wouldn't even think twice about tearing him apart."

Cloud heard Vincent's deep chuckled, and he felt his hear warm at his next words; "certainly; but I have faith in Cloud to take care of himself as he does others. All we can offer is help when we can."

"Huh... You're one of those cool types too... Messing up my style." There was a pause. "Hey! You spikey haired bastard! I'm talking to you!"

Cloud turned, innocently smiling as if he hadn't been eavesdropping and made his way over to the table the two sat at. "Yes?"

Barret scowled looking as if he wanted nothing more to put holes in his torso, but said instead. "I guess you're okay. And... Thanks and all for helping me out." He grumbled. "And we're still taking down Shinra right!?"

"That was the agreement." Cloud nodded, sitting down. Elfe- the leader of the other AVALANCHE would probably be pissed that Barret defected with half her members when he promised a 'nonviolent', no mass killing solution to shutting down Shinra. But Cloud wasn't completely sure Barret would be up to the task of campaigning against the company yet. "You're up to the task?"

He rubbed the back of his head, nodding; "I ain't much for politics, but we had an agreement."

"The people will like that," Cloud assured, "its about time that someone gave it to them straight."

"You're damn right about that," Barret grinned visibly relaxing. "I just hope I don't snap on those greedy bastards taking advantage of the planet."

Cloud frowned at that, knowing that wasn't the real reason Barret had joined AVALANCHE. "Its alright, you can say that you're still pissed about Shirna burning the original Correl. I'm not exactly a saint either."

Vincent chuckled. "The public seems to think otherwise."

"Are you Strife?" A brunette inquired, a few other girls smiling at him from behind her.

"Yes?"

She leaned forward, and her hair feel into his vision as he felt her pull away the bottom half of his mask and place a delicate kiss on his cheek. "I'm Lana, we have to thank you for taking over the Honey Bee Inn."

"Its been so much better since Corneo left!" Another exclaimed, stepping forward to kiss him on the same cheek, cashing Cloud's blush to turn a deeper shade of pink.

"O-o-oh, it-ts no t-trouble." He stuttered, once they all gave him kisses and his face burned a deep red.

They gave him flirty waves, some giggling as they walked away, and Barret howled with laughter. "I guess you're still a kid after all." He murmured, leaving Cloud frowning and wondering what was it about him that made everyone call him a kid.


The_Yakuza_Ling_Fans_Chairwoman

Officially the Ling Clan posses more than 98% of territory in the Midgar slums, 59% of drug trafficting has been reduced, and the clan has extended across the continent to Correl in an effort to help the town recover from a fire witnesses and townspeople say that the Shinra infantry and Scarlet- head of the weapons department- caused themselves.

Don Corneo went missing last night, and has been found this morning at Shinra headquarters, nude, and gagged he was quickly arrested for various crimes, and rumors state that Cornel even associated with President Shinra, but these have not been confirmed.

In other news, The Honey Bee Inn now is under yakuza management, and the Honey Bee's all state that their 'Big Boss' is a shy sweetheart, andand the establishment is to see a few changes in the near future, but promise that visits will be even more eventful. Speculation claimed that there is going to be an open bar and dance club opening, but no one has disclosed any details.

Strife and his company were spotted celebrating, and members state that half of AVALANCHE defected, and Barret Wallace- Correl's representative- has released a video statement regarding his partnership with the yakuza clan and the people of Correl have successful managed to strike oil- the fabled liquid resource rumored to be twice as potent as mako, and Coal mining as resumed in the town. Video link here.

Also Choco and Shell were present and happily demonstrating their musical talents, unfortunately no quality video feed was recovered because the crowd was so loud, but you can view photos taken by fans here.

The current Ling Clan leader recently closed a deal with a weapon's company, with new designs reloading, firing, and aiming firearms have never been easier, since I myself was invited to come and test the prototypes. Video link here.

Sephiroth looked up the screen to look up at Genesis, who had managed to worm his way out of Sephiroth's iron grip and open a tab leading to the webpage and sighing; "why are you showing me this?"

"Keep reading!" He hissed, ignoring the disapproving frown Angeal gave him as he stood behind Sephiroth. Reluctantly, he looked down at the third post and stiffened when he saw the pictures of the slums, infantry uniformed soldier's on the ground.

This morning the Shinra military moved into the slums, and the clan engaged them in battle with the help of the new AVALANCHE, various videos, photos, and eye witnesses report the average number of each soldier defeated. (Remarkably, none were killed, or died from wounds, and no members of the clan or AVALANCHE were injured fataly.)

Strife: 247-285

The Current Clan Head: 194

Shell: 190-196

Choco: 120-130

The Theif: 80-100

Barret Wallace: 140-160

They crippled an entire battalion of soldiers? Sephiroth let out a breath, barely able to contain his excitement as he turned to Genesis who smirked down at him. "Who do you suppose will defeat the man first? You, the hero? Or will I triumph and take the title?"

"You can have the title," He sneered, standing abruptly, causing his chair to roll back until it hit the glass window in his office. "But I will defeat him."

Angeal shook his head, a small smile on his lips, "well I might as well try a hand at it myself."

Both Sephiroth and Genesis sent him startled a look.

"What?" Angeal smile grew wider- playful. "I'd get rusty if I just let you two have all the fun, however cheep I may be."

Genesis rolled his eyes, and Sephiroth allowed himself to smile. "I'll get to him first- and he will fall by my blade."

"So you say." The red head huffed.

"Good luck to you both then."

"Unfortunately, none of you won't be fighting anybody." The there turned to face Lazard who stepped into the office holding three forms. "I'm afraid Zack beat you all to it."

"What?" Angeal's eyes went wide, and he looked genuinely horrified at the idea, while Sephiroth pondered where he had heard that name before.

"Your student?" Genesis scoffed, visibly irritated at the prospect of someone getting to the man- Strife before he did.

"Yeah," Angeal's frown deepened, "the puppy."

Now Sephiroth remembered, Angeal had mentioned it over dinner, suggested that they both get students and to both their surprise Genesis was odly contemplative about the suggestion and mentioned something about a cadet who caught his eye.

"Don't worry," Lazard offered a reassuring glance, "I'm sure Zack will be fine, it's only a scouting mission."

"That's not what I'm worried about." Angeal sighed, "I'm worried because..."


Zack was in a good mood.

And a good meant that he was all for beating up some yakuza chumps without a second thought, despite Lazard's warning.

"Hey, did ya guys hear?" A gangster in a strange bunny mask inquired to the others who wore similar clothing to their respective yakuza boss. "The Big Boss might've found another yakuza boss this morning- heard from Benny that she's a pretty girl too."

"M'hm." Another nodded. "heard she used to a flower girl, and friend's with Choco. I think I heard him say he'd go meet her later today."

"A flow'r girl for a yakuza boss?" Zack almost snickered at the way the man pronounced yakuza.

"Don't take the chick lightly, I heard she's better than the Big Boss with materia."

"What!? But the boss is a natural!"

"That's what I said- but Big Boss said somthin' about the girl being special, turns out she is too; she grows flowers in the sector five church."

"Real flowers in the slums? Yeah right."

Curious, Zack made his way over to the sector with some unhelpful directions from the local people the building was worn down, a hole in it's massive wooden roof and some stained glass shattered in it's ornate window frame. Striding through the slightly ajar doors the flowers- white and yellow petals nestled in a hole in the floor, beams of sunlight streaming through the broken roof and making the church feel much warmer.

Humbled, Zack took careful steps over the dusty floorboards that creaked underneath his boots, sitting down in one of the pews, ignoring the squeak the rotton wood gave in protest.

"Hello."

He nearly jumped put of his seat, napping his head back to stare at a woman who wore a cream colored fox mask with flowers braided into her long brown hair. "Hi." He smiled, watching her cautiously as she sat down next to him with a flower basket on her arm. "Uh... Hi."

Was this the new boss they were talking about, Zack wondered as she delicately tied a few flowers together with a ribbon offering it to him. "Would you like some flowers?"

"Uh sure..." He paused. "Aren't you going to charge me?"

"Why would I do that?" Green eyes observed him through the slits of the mask curiously.

"Well..." He trailed off, glancing about the large room. "Flowers are really rare in Midgar, they could go for a lot of Gil!" Zack exclaimed, grinning wider. "You could be a millionaire! Live above the plate even!"

"I'm not so sure about that." She giggled. "It sounds so silly."

"Silly?" He repeated, raising an eyebrow. What was silly about being rich?

"Yes," she nodded. "I'm really happy down here." She admitted. "I've never really needed money."

"Oh." Was all he could say- sure the slums were probably getting better because of reconstruction, but was it really all that great?

"And," she turned to him once more, and Zack could tell she was smiling. "All my family is down here. It'd be sad if I would have to leave them."

"Family huh..." He wouldn't be too sure about that, since he himself had left Gongaga without a second thought and left SOLDIER, and haven't even thought to send a letter to them even after he got into SOLDIER.

"You'd like them... One Gil. How does that sound?"

"Huh?"

"The flowers." She giggled. "One Gil for each flower."

"Oh!" Zack fumbled his hands into his pockets for his wallet. "You could go way more than one Gil- hey! My wallet was stolen!"

She threw her head back in laughter, a nice bell like noise that was more soothing than Angeal's soft humming when he was in an abnormally good mood. "Hmm... I'll guess you'll have to pay me back with a date then."

"Really?" He blinked. "I mean- Alright! A date it is!" He laughed, resting his hands behind his head and leaning back.

He'd have to find his wallet later.

One wild goose chase, puppy nicknames, and a pink ribbon later Zack was left trying to figure out what he was supposed to do as the sun began to set- Oh! Right! He was supposed to be giving a report about the yakuza clan, but if they just wanted information why didn't they just go to the fan page like Kunsel and he did? So, bouquet in hand, he made his way back up the plate using the stairs and smiled despite the slight ache in his legs, stepping out of the elevator onto the forty ninth floor.

"Zack!"

"Angeal, man! Where were you this morning!?" Zack grinned, flashing the man his famous grin and displaying the flowers like a trophy.

The man paused mid step, his eyes wide in surprise. "Are those... Flowers?"

"Yep!" He grinned wider, admiring the bright petals. "My wallet and PHS got stolen, so I spent a few hours chasing around this little punk called Miller, named a bar, and got a date with a yakuza boss."

Angeal's eyebrows shot up, and his mouth parted slightly. "You're... Dating a yakuza boss..." Oops. "Did I say yakuza boss- I meant Flower Girl, I better go report to Lazard now, so bye!"

"Zack!" He heard Angeal call after him, but the raven haired SOLDIER was already rounding the corner of the long hallway. Sighing,

Angeal shook his head, recalling that he had meant to tell Zack he sent Sephiroth- oh well, it couldn't hurt since Zack came back fine he thought as he flipped open his PHS and selected the number on speed dial. "Zack," he began once there was a beep, but before he could continue he heard Sephiroth's smooth voice on the other end; "I'm going to castrate his corpse and dance on his dimsemebered carcass..."

"Uh... Sorry, I think I have the wrong number." He pulled the phone away, glancing at the screen- nope, it was defiantly Sephiroth's number... And he couldn't imagine Sephiroth without his phone because the man clung to that candy game more than Zack did- and Zack could usually be found playing that game when he wasn't bored and did too many squats. "Sephiroth?"

"My apologies... I forgot myself for a moment."

Props to whatever caused that, he thought, wondering if the Fangirls had ambushed him again. "What happened?"

"That irksome yakuza happened." He hissed. "He mocked me! He was even worse than Genesis's jeers!"

"What did he say?" No he really was curious- not even Genesis could make Sephiroth loose his cool, the only occasion being when Genesis managed to close Sephiroth's PHS when he was in the middle of beating his high score on that ridiculous app, even Angeal barely survived the experience.

"First, he began by stating..." And as Sephiroth walked through all what The King had said he couldn't hold back his laughter. "You find humor in what he said?" The man snapped.

"No... Its just... Seph, he wasn't insulting you- he was flirting with you." Sometimes he started questioning if Sephiroth was really one of the smartest individuals on the planet.

"Come again?"

"Aha, well I always thought 'midnight baseball' would be pretty obvious, but he sounded pretty frustrated when you didn't get 'humping bunnies in the sheets' part." He chuckled.

"Oh..." There was the sound of something shifting. "Does that mean Genesis was also flirting with me?" He inquired distractedly.

"If he were, I'm sure he'd come up with something more romantic than 'stabbing both your eyes out' and 'setting your pompous poster boy ass on fire'."

"Touché." Another pause. "He told me something..."

"What?"

"...the reaper's name..."

Angeal nearly stumbled, thinking back to the time Sephiroth collapsed from exhaustion for a week, then woke up looking more refreshed than ever and rambling about how he had to learn 'Death's' name. Genesis had actually been the one who told Angeal the man wasn't delirious and admitted to 'feeling' another presence lingering around him. He knew something happened, but he never actually believed that Sephiroth actually met someone.

"Its a lovely name..."

"Sephiroth."

"Hn?"

"... Nevermind, just get back here soon."


~Bonus~

Unknown: Hai~

CS00477-B: who is this?

Unknown: your future wife

CS00477-B: uh...

Unknown: so what should the name of our child be?

CS00477-B: uh... I'm going to block you now.

Cloud shuddered, sticking his third phone into the sink of the garbage disposal where he munched on crispy bacon strips. "Not the way I wanted to start my morning." He grumbled.


AN: I actually didn't really like this chapter. Probably because of Genesis; I can never quite get him or Angeal right, and Sephiroth is a walking complex of complexes...

Anyways, I was checking out my poll and so far all you so far want;

Fantasy; 4.19%

2 Utopian/Dystopian; 4.19%

3 Romance; 3.14%

4 Humor; 2.9%

5 Friendship; 2. 9%

6 (Psychological/Body) Horror 1.4%

7 Adventure 1.4%

8 Hurt/Comfort; 1.4%

9 Suspense; 1.4%

10 Historical; 1.4%

11 Medical; 1.4%

And I know that vote for Medical was my friend's, so so far its just Fantasy and Utopian/Dystopian- obviously I could do all of them, but at least I'm not doing Horror. Actually, its kind of funny because I did write a rated M story in the horror genre; I just never posted it.