Nadia and Zack returned to Midgar ahead of schedule. She had apologized profusely to Mary, and Mary said that everything was fine, but that didn't ease Nadia's guilt. They fell back into the norm.

Nadia gazed into the eyes of one of her newest patients. "What exactly happened?"

"I was on a mission."

"Yes, I had already derived that."

"Than . . . I don't know."

"You had a seizure, but is there anything that you remember that seems to be of more importance than anything else, or even something that does not seem important."

"There was a sharp pain."

"Where?"

"I don't remember."

"With what I have to operate with, my first presumption would be that you may have a brain tumor. I am going to order a computerized axial tomography scan."

"A what?"

She arched an eyebrow. "A CAT scan."

"Oh."

She called to a nurse. It was difficult for her to mask her anger. Clearly there had been a mistake. There was no way something massive enough to give a man a seizure should have been overlooked, nor could it have developed within the course of a month. Someone had neglected to run a test the previous month. "A computerized . . . a CAT scan will be a necessity, and look up who gave him his last physical."

"I don't have to look it up. It was Hollander."

"Was it now?"

"That's why they're considering career termination. He's been messing up on all of his cases and experiments."

"I know the truth," Genesis's voice said in Nadia's head, "An experiment. That is all I am. Now they are threatening to dispose of Hollander. Without Hollander the degradation process shall take its course and I will be no more within a matter of months. Is there nothing that can save me now?"

Those words. She had heard them, but she hadn't been able to comprehend their meaning at the time. She whipped her phone out of her lab coat's pocket and punched in Genesis's number. She entered it wrong twice. Her hands were shaking, causing her to hit the wrong buttons.

Ring. Another ring. A third, a fourth, a fifth. No answer, not a human's answer. An automated voice, informing her of his inability to answer his phone at the time replied in his place.

"Genesis, this is Nadia. I know you're probably busy, and I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to you! I wasn't exactly sober when you called me, and there were other things going, but I'm here now. Don't give up hope. You can be saved and you will. Call me back. I'll be here. You aren't alone." She hung up her phone and frowned at the image that acted as her wallpaper. It was a picture of her, Angeal and Genesis in Banora. Angeal was the only one smiling. Genesis was offering Nadia an apple. The latter was just sitting there, staring at the camera.

--

Zack stared up at the night sky over sector eight. He had another mission the following day, but his current mission was to locate Nadia. She wasn't in the Shinra building. That left the rest of Midgar to be searched. He walked out into the town center and there he saw his prey, seated on the edge of the fountain staring intently at her phone which lay open in the palm of her hand. She didn't notice his presence until he was standing directly before her. Her eyes traveled from the base of his shoes to his face where they lingered intensely. "Zack."

"Hey, Harley. Are you waiting for a call or something?"

"No," she replied bitterly. "Wait . . . sorry, I shouldn't be a jerk."

"Erm, I guess it was a stupid question."

"Let's start again," she said with a smile. "Hello Zack. How are you today?"

He bobbed his head from one side to the other before replying, "Fine."

"That's good, that's good!"

"And you?"

"Do you want the truth or the answer that will get you out of this conversation quicker?"

"The truth of course! Believe it or not, I enjoy talking to you. You're not as dull as most of the others in Shinra."

"Do you think so?"

He nodded at sat beside her.

"I'm not doing so well. I'm worried about one of my friends. They won't answer my calls." She had purposely avoided using a gender specific pronoun.

"Do I know them?"

"You may know of them, but I doubt you know them personally." Fighting the temptation to smash her phone against the ground, she glanced to the right to make eye contact with Zack. "They, that friend I am worried about, they scare me so much, their actions, and their words. They aren't who they used to be." She shook her head. "No, maybe they are the same. I can't tell. During out last conversation, it was so peculiar, the things that he said. It wasn't even a conversation. Words were given, but not exchanged. They're frightened as well. Frightened of what was once unknown, and what remains so."

"They're 'frightened'?"

"You would be too, if you were in their position."

"Maybe I would."

The sky above was dark, which was only natural; it was night, after all.

"It's awfully late."

She peered up at the stars. "I suppose it is."

His eyes traveled from the sky to his companion. "Do you live far from here?"

Her face remained trained to the heavens. "A decent distance."

"Midgar can be dangerous at night, if you have to wander too far from beneath the streetlights."

"I've been out later."

"Okay, it's your decision."

"What's my decision?"

"I was going to offer to let you spend the night in the common room."

She looked at the ground than back up again. "Could I?" This was uncharacteristically accepting of her.

His eyes narrowed.

"What?"

"That wasn't the answer that I was expecting."

She removed herself from the fountain's low standing wall. "So it was an offer of civility and nothing more? I can deal with that if I must."

"No, that wasn't it! I was just surprised. I thought that I would have to put in some effort to persuade you."

"I'm in an odd mood today. I don't want to be left to my own."

He too, vacated his place and took Nadia's hand. "Well then, come on."

They entered the room and Nadia placed herself on the overstuffed couch.

"Hungry?"

"Have you lost the ability to form complete sentences?"

"Have you lost the ability to give direct answers to questions?"

"I've never answered question in an instantaneous manner. I am not hungry. Have you looked at the time? If I ate now it would be impossible for me to burn off the unnecessary calories."

"If you don't need anything, than I'll be going to be-"

"Don't leave me now. Can't you stay a while? I apologize for my neediness, but -"

Zack flopped down beside her. "What's your power?" he asked casually.

"Power?"

It was difficult to discuss something that they had silently agreed not to discuss, but he felt that it must be done. "In Midgar you told me a 'story.' You said that children of SOLDIERs supposedly would exhibit powers. Do you?"

"No. None. I believe that it's just a myth that cretins choose to believe and preach as fact to the masses. This couch is really too comfortable for its own good," she concluded with a yawn.

"Avoiding the subject?"

"No, there's nothing else to say about the matter." She slouched against him lazily. "You're going on a mission tomorrow."

"Yeah."

"That's why you wanted to see me. Are you going with Angeal?"

"No. It's a two man mission. The leader is a new first class, named Ackerly."

"Whatever the case, be careful. I don't want to have to treat you again. Although, I am now officially considered your doctor." Her eyes were half open. The threat of sleep was looming ever closer. "So, my treating you at some point is inevitable."

'She smells so good.' His mind gave a silent groan. 'She'd be so disgusted if she could hear my thoughts. My nose is bleeding again. Quick, wipe it away before she notices.' He did as his mind ordered. She was so close to him. He'd kept these urges hidden for so long. Now, they were threatening to explode. He had to do something to get his mind off of it before he did something that he would regret.

"Are you okay, Zack?" Her voice attracted his thoughts.

"I'm fine. I'm good. Everything is good. Everything is fine."

A voice foreign to the conversion prior to this point interrupted the suspicious silence that had followed Zack's asseveration. "Hey kid, talk to me over here for a moment." One of Zack's three roommates had emerged from his dorm.

Zack complied with the request, apologizing for disturbing Nadia's rest. "What?"

"If you're gonna be doing her, don't do it on our couch. I have to sit there too, you know." He had said it just low enough so that Nadia couldn't hear them.

"What!?" Zack jumped back. "Don't say that!"

"Oh, sorry, 'making love.'" He shook his head in disgust.

"I didn't mean it like that! I meant that she's . . . we're not like that, you pervert!"

"Whatever, just not on the couch." He spun on his heel and made his exit. He paused just within the frame of the door. "If you do," he said, audible to Nadia as well as the intended target, "I'll have to report you. Than your 'not-relationship' will be on file."

"It is not a relationship," Nadia scolded, "and you are no more than an idiot for thinking otherwise."

The man retreated to his room.

"Sweetie, come sit down again." She waited a moment, but no response came. "Zack, sweetie?" She turned around and looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not feeling so well."

"Is it because of what he said? Ignore him. People can never seem to understand that people of the opposite gender can stay friends, and don't have to be in a committed relationship."

"No, that's not it. I'm just tired."

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow morning, I suppose."

"Don't count on it. I have to get up really early."

"In that case, I'll talk to you when you get back."

He hesitated a moment. "Yeah, okay." He lied down on his bed, and stared in a daydream type haze. "An idiot for thinking that we're more than friends? I guess that makes me one too. Pathetic. Simply pathetic." His mind wouldn't stop buzzing. He felt ridiculous. The buzzing continued into his dreams. His dreams of whom else but Nadia. He hated his mind now.

Nadia tossed and turned on her makeshift bed. The way that Zack had left, the manner in which his words had been spoken, something wasn't right. She wanted to enter his room and demand that he tell her what was troubling him, but she denied herself this impulse. No good could come of it. There were blankets in the closet, but she did not fetch them. Where she was situated was fine for the time being.

An hour or so passed. Her eyes closed. She dreamt. Genesis was there. So was Angeal. They were in Banora as they oft were in her dreams. They sat beneath the large tree on Genesis's family's property, staring at the rushing water in a river that passed through the land. A bird flew overhead, and Nadia sang its praise.

"I wish that I could fly," she sighed merrily.

"What a dumb wish."

"Don't spit on other's dreams, Genesis," Angeal said gently. "Nadia." He turned to look at her. "Don't listen to him. Embrace your dreams."

Genesis scowled. "Whistle for the boys. Now don't be shy. Give us all a song and a reason why. Baby's got some bones and a hand-me-down. Says her heart is black, but her eyes are brown."

Angeal and Nadia glanced at each other, heads cocked to the side, completely confused with what was going on.

"Give the boys a flash and they'll love you so. Give the girl some cash because your mother said so."

Nadia sat up.

"Take her out to look at the queen and any old girl who's in between. Lay yourself down by the side of the bed. Oh, you naughty girl -"

"HELLO!" she practically screamed into the mouthpiece of her phone. "Genesis!"