A/N: I am truly so sorry for not updating sooner, I've been working on several stories at once and I kind of forgot to update, hopefully this makes up for it though. :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy

Genesis…

Gaia only knew how long I'd been sitting by his side, just waiting for a sign of life. Even the steady rise and fall of his chest didn't convince me. His breaths were too weak, too fragile; it was like I was looking at the shell of the man I knew rather than the actual person. In fact, it hurt less to think of him as that, a shell. From across the room I could see Sephiroth's eyes glow slightly in the dark. He hadn't done anything other than swallow a potion in an attempt to stop his wound bleeding, and I could see it was taking its toll on him.

Hesitantly, I licked my dry lips. I didn't really want to break the silence, but if Sephiroth wasn't planning on seeing someone about his injury, then I had to at least try to convince him. "Has it stopped bleeding?"

Sephiroth raised his head slightly and shook it. The look in his eyes was so desolate that I wanted to fling myself at him and hug him until he either shoved me away (which would take some doing) or smile. It meant bad news when he responded using only physical gestures.

"You should have used a stronger potion then." I tried to force my usual grin but it quickly dropped back into a frown. Sephiroth obviously didn't appreciate my attempt to lighten up the conversation; not that you could really call it a conversation, since it was so one sided. "Please Seph, talk to me!"

He sighed. "What do you want me to say, Zack? What can I say?"

"Just something, anything! I don't know, you're the one who's supposed to be good with words, not me!"

"No," he looked away, "Genesis was the one who was good with words. I never really had the skill."

That did it for me. I could deal with angry Sephiroth and I could deal with moody Sephiroth, even though both were really unpleasant to talk to at the times when they appeared. But I couldn't deal with this lifeless desolate Sephiroth. I crawled over to him, (managing a walk at this point was completely beyond me) and grabbed at the straps crossing over his chest, pulling him so he had to look me directly in the eye. "Sephiroth, listen to me! He's not dead!"

"I know he's not!" He spat back, and tried to shove me away, but the blood loss had made him weak and I could easily overpower him.

"Then stop acting like he's died! I know it hurts Seph; I've had to deal with this for a while now, so I know what it's like! I know all about the pain and the fear. It doesn't ever go away, and sometimes I wonder if I'm going to have to deal with it for the rest of my life." I let go of his straps and turned away slightly, so he wouldn't see the tears falling down my face. "I tried Seph," I said angrily. "I tried so damn hard to help him, and for a while I actually thought he was getting better. But that's was degradation does, doesn't it? It raises your hopes only to dash them again and leave you in a worse state than before."

Sephiroth put his hand over my mouth to stop me going on, and I almost choked - his hand was covered with blood. Reeling backwards, I started to scrub at my mouth and tongue with my jumper which unfortunately was also covered dirt and blood. Almost retching, I coughed and somehow managed to fall backwards with the force of it and slam my head onto one of the bedposts. "Oww…" I moaned and automatically turned to Sephiroth for sympathy, and found to both my horror and surprise that he was laughing, his hair rippling over his shoulders with the force of his amusement. "Have some sympathy," I grumbled, but felt secretly delighted. It probably wouldn't last long but it was still great to see.

Sephiroth looked up at me, his eyes still filled with mirth, and smiled weakly. "I…I'm sorry Zackary."

Damn, he was serious now; he only used my full name when he was serious. "That's okay, sir." I grinned at him and it was a real grin this time, and despite the situation we were in, I felt a lot better.

"Truly." He put his hands on my shoulders and I suddenly noticed that he was trembling slightly. "I should have asked you what was wrong before; my mistakes may have helped cause this. Forgive me…"

Even now he can't bring himself to think that the whole thing may have been his fault I thought kind of sadly. In some ways I guess he isn't as strong he as comes across as. "Hey, it's okay. Really, don't blame yourself. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine." Unlike him, I could accept that. Sadly, my reassurance didn't seem to be enough for Sephiroth. He clutched at my shoulders, seemingly unaware of the fact that he was starting to apply too much pressure.

"Zack…I'm so sorry."

I suddenly realised two things simultaneously as I looked at him. The first was that he was close to tears, and probably as close to tears as I was ever going to see him. Secondly, for a moment, I understood why he was pleading so desperately for forgiveness from me. He thought that if I forgave him, then maybe I could convince Genesis to forgive him for all his 'wrong doings'. I held back a sob with some difficulty. From his half-conscious reaction I could tell that Genesis would have no problems with forgiving Sephiroth. The fact that one of his old friends still cared enough for him to carry him to a bed was enough in his current state to win him over. At least, I hoped that would be the case. Genesis had been very temperamental in all the time I'd known him; he could flip so easily and degradation definitely wasn't helping matters at all. "Sephiroth," I lifted his chin slightly so I could look him in the eye, "it's okay."

Sephiroth gave me one last desperate look, then his eyes closed and he slumped against me, his hands falling from my shoulders and hanging loosely at his sides. I stared at him in shock for a few moments, then the full impact of what had just happened hit me and I felt like laughing and crying at the same time. "Oh my Gaia, Seph," I whispered, running my fingers gently through his hair, which was something I was never normally allowed to do. "You fainted, you actually fainted!" I grinned madly for a few seconds, and then the smile faded. "You fainted for a reason, Seph," I said slowly, "…oh hell." I quickly rolled him over onto his back and saw the blood pouring over his stomach, completely covering his clothes.

"Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell, oh hell, oh hell!" I muttered and started to drag him as well as I could across the room. "I can't deal with this right now!" I did my best to prop him up against the wall and ducked under my bed, rummaging through the piles of board games, books and a couple of old swords until I finally found what I was looking for.

With a triumphant grin I waved the small box in the air and quickly pulled it open, a small blue glowing bottle gleaming back up at me. I quickly unscrewed the lid and gently parted Sephiroth's lips and poured the potion into his mouth, tipping his head back in the hope that his natural impulse to swallow would take over. Thankfully, it did, and as I watched the bleeding quickly slowed and soon stopped all together. Just to make sure though, I pulled Sephiroth's coat off his shoulders and undid the straps crossing over his chest so I could examine the wound more closely.

For all his faults I couldn't say anything bad about Genesis's fighting ability. Although the wound wasn't deep enough to be life threatening, it was enough to weaken the person so they could be easily dispatched later when at that point death would be preferable. I sighed and ducked under my bed again until I found my first aid kit. A wound like that would need stitching, and I wasn't an expert. The stitches themselves would probably be clumsy, but it would be preferable to getting an infection. In any case, Sephiroth could always get them removed later on and replaced with better ones.

Shakily, I slowly threaded the needle, and set it aside while I disinfected the skin around the wound then the needle itself. It felt so wrong, the thought of deliberately mutilating his pale skin, but if it was going to save his life, then I was prepared to do it again and again and again.

The first stitch was surprisingly steady, but they slowly started to go wonky as I observed what I was doing. It was sickening watching the black thread pierce another's skin, to feel it slid through the pale flesh as if it were silk. I made a mental note to thank myself later for making sure the needle was sharp after I got over my revulsion, which would take some time. Somehow, I managed to grit my teeth and carry on until the wound was closed completely. When I had finished, I quickly cut off the remaining bit of thread and covered the wound with bandages, tying it as neatly as I could. "There you are buddy," I said quietly, "you're gonna be fine, I promise."

With what remained of my strength, I managed to drag him up onto the bed next to Genesis then collapsed on it myself in between them, exhaustion overriding my normal instinct of not sleeping in between two of my injured friends. I grinned as I thought of absurdity of situation and wondered how I was going to explain this to them when they woke up. If they wake up, you mean, some inner voice whispered and I felt tears start to run down my cheeks again. "Genesis," I whispered and stroked his hair gently, "Genesis, please…" I was certain that Sephiroth would wake up eventually, but Genesis…there was the possibility that he just wasn't strong enough to fight off the degradation anymore.

I buried my face in his shoulder and cried, deep broken sobs that shook my whole body with the force of them. After all this time, when I'd finally gotten him to trust me, after all we'd been through; I was going to lose him. I wanted to scream but I no longer had the energy to and I felt unconsciousness rise up and claim me. Just before I fell asleep, I felt something touch my hair and heard a low, painfully quiet voice breathe in my ear.

"Good puppy…"

A/N: Tenssioonnn~! I am so glad that this wonderful story finally updated! My week has officially been made! Anyway, always remember to drop a review! :D

A/N: I thought Sephiroth deserved some love this time; he's been though a lot recently due to Genesis