Systems failure imminent. Disorganization of core memory crucial.

Attempting to reboot from backups.

Reboot failed. Attempting to contact external backups.

Contact made with unit V-0096. Commencing remote download and reboot.

Reboot successful. Awaiting orders.

Sephiroth tapped his fingers together as he looked at the copies of himself and Genesis.

Ridded of their armor, there was no doubt at all who they were. His double was wearing a black jumpsuit with silver shoulders that oddly mimicked his armor. The Genesis copy was wearing a dark purple jumpsuit with gold shoulders that seemed to have no relation to anything. As Sephiroth walked over Genesis looked up at him groggily, his gaze deeply hazed by the drugs Hojo had given him.

There were no tubes in the spaceships and while Hojo had wanted to get the two to his lab, Sephiroth hadn't liked that idea at all. He wanted to talk to these people, not just treat them like lab rats. Not only that, his double was unconscious and his vital signs were unstable. There were no physical marks on him and they had no idea why, but cure spells had very little effect. Sephiroth was afraid that moving him might kill him and Hojo had reluctantly agreed that it might. So instead he'd made use of an experimental drug that had been designed with Axel in mind. It was meant to suppress psionic abilities and they'd only used it on Genesis.

So far it seemed to be working quite well. Although the downside was that Genesis was barely coherent. Sephiroth glanced up at Cloud. The young SOLDIER was in the room watching the two men, prepared to sound an alarm if anything untoward happened.

"Go on break. I will take care of this for now." If it had been Angeal or Zack they might have protested. But Cloud was new to SOLDIER and wasn't about to question his superior.

"Yes sir." When the young SOLDIER was gone Sephiroth met Genesis' eyes. Was there a bit more sense in them now? He wasn't sure but he wanted to try questioning him before Hojo got around to it.

"Genesis." He deliberately made his voice as gentle as possible. The drugs had a truly peculiar effect and sometimes seemed to heighten his emotions while hampering logic and reason. Sephiroth suspected Genesis was sometimes hallucinating as well. The way he'd burst into tears when Angeal had tried to speak to him had been very odd. "Tell me about Project S." The information he would get might not be at all accurate. He had no idea where this Genesis copy was really from. On the other hand it couldn't hurt to try and maybe –

"Why? S'ancient history. And you already know." Genesis said, sounding completely out of it. Sephiroth almost felt bad for using him this way. Almost.

"I've forgotten. Can you remind me?" He kept his tone gentle while feeling a tingle of discovery. Finally, he would know something about why he was different. Genesis blinked but spoke.

"Sure… Project Sephiroth was the infesh – inwa – sticking Jenova cells into a fetus to try to make special SOLDIERS. It was dumb but we didn't know any better back then. Made you." Genesis rolled his head as he blinked heavily.

"Jenova. My mother?" Sephiroth had always been told that Jenova was his mother and his father was unknown. "What was Jenova, Genesis?" He had to know. And even if the information wasn't accurate he was dead sure this Genesis was telling him the truth as he knew it. He was far too drugged to lie.

"Not your mother. Her name… Lucrezia? I forget. A scientist. Your father was Hojo." Sephiroth felt like he'd just thrown up a bit in his mouth and suddenly prayed that everything Genesis was telling him was wrong. Hojo?!? Although that might explain a lot… "Jenova was an ancient corrupted by the dark energy. No one understood until it was too late. Dark energy makes life unstable…" Genesis started mumbling to himself about dark energy. Sephiroth was about to leave when Genesis suddenly caught his attention again. "Why do I keep seeing Angeal?" He whispered, eyes glazed. "Zack tried to save him. Why am I seeing Zack and Cloud? Are we dead?" Sephiroth hesitated then gently stroked his auburn hair. That seemed to reassure Genesis a bit.

"We're not dead. Sleep." Genesis was struggling to stay awake in the first place so it was easy for him to close his eyes and let go of his grip on reality. Sephiroth stepped out of the room and found Cloud, sending him back. He would have to investigate this. Have to find out if this was the truth of his past. And if it was… anger burned deep within him.

If it was, someone was going to pay.

Elsewhere, Hojo was fretting.

The sheer amount of the drug required to keep Genesis under was absurd. Hojo strongly suspected the nanites were busily cleaning it out every time they injected him. They'd given him and the Sephiroth clone some preliminary tests and found the nanite systems easily. They were far more advanced than what Axel possessed and there were plenty of metallic implants as well, integrated seamlessly into flesh. Hojo had checked them both for dark energy and surprisingly, Genesis was clean of it. But Sephiroth had a strong, steady beat of it. Curiously it formed a perfect sine wave and seemed stable, unlike the energy he'd detected from the real Sephiroth. That energy had been constantly spiking and fluctuating.

"Stability." He mused to himself. Was that the key? But how could stability be achieved? "Hmph." Perhaps Sephiroth was right. Perhaps they really needed to talk to these people. "…Heh." A possibility suddenly occurred to him. The phasing was mostly an escape tool and several kind of attacks could reach someone even phased. If he kept Genesis surrounded by SOLDIERS and let the drugs wear off he could question him. He was running out anyway and Rufus wouldn't be able to get a shipment in for several days.

It was a good idea and he immediately set about turning it into a reality. Soon Sephiroth, Angeal, Zack and Cloud were all ready and prepped with magic. It took perhaps an hour for the drugs to run out of the copies system but finally Genesis stirred, sitting up shakily and placing a hand to his forehead.

"What hit me?" He muttered and then grimaced. His mouth tasted unbearably foul. Genesis looked up and the first thing he saw was Sephiroth. "Seph, how drunk was I…" He trailed off as he saw Sephiroth's clothing and the ready Masamune. "Why are you dressed like that?" The ancient clothing was utterly impractical for a starship. Genesis abruptly glanced around and went pale. "Hojo!" He started to his feet with violent intent but was shoved back down by Angeal. Genesis went a bit paler, if possible. "Angeal?!? How? You died! What is going on here?"

It took some time and a very painful magical shock from Angeal, but they managed to calm Genesis down and establish what was really going on. And that was an alternate timeline. At first Hojo thought they were speaking to Genesis from the future but that was quickly ruled out when Genesis was baffled by the mentions of magic and mako. It took some additional, painful encouragement but Genesis began telling them his story. Sephiroth's eyes narrowed as he listened. Hojo hurried Genesis past certain parts with help from Zack and Cloud, who didn't know enough to be interested. If he hadn't gotten the details of Project S out of Genesis earlier he wouldn't have now and that was more than enough to make him suspect it was the truth.

The start of the story was like a twisted might have been with just enough similarities to be haunting. Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal had all started as friends just as they had here and they'd fallen to fighting. Genesis freely admitted it was mostly his fault and seemed completely at peace with it. Apparently there had been many wars and Shinra had tightened its grip on the world… and history had abruptly taken a right turn when a species from the stars arrived. They appeared to communicate telepathically and considered any race that couldn't dumb beasts. So they'd seen nothing wrong with trying to take the world for their own. With their psionic abilities they could remotely control machines as well as all the abilities Axel had shown. Combined with their high technology the world had been hopelessly outmatched… except for the three men who had been infused with dark energy and to a lesser extent, the other SOLDIERS. They had led a frantic resistance as the aliens began to reformat the world to their liking.

"Angeal died in that war." Genesis said with a faint grief. "He was dying already, really. So he decided to take as many with him as he could. He destroyed one of their main climate altering machines." That made Angeal frown. Dying already? "I had to sacrifice the dark energy in myself to make Sephiroth stable." Genesis said with a quiet pride and Sephiroth stiffened slightly. "I wasn't much use after that. Just an ordinary man, until the science teams managed to steal the secrets of our enemies." They all listened, entranced, as Genesis detailed that. The trick to the psionic powers was stolen and the secrets of the nanites unlocked. Humanity stole the powers they had been assaulted with, magnified them and took the fight back to the aliens. Stunned and finally on the defense the aliens had been driven away and humanity had taken to the stars, christening themselves Terrans. They fought a vicious war to completely eradicate that race and along the way met the T'assa and Jorta, both of whom had been victimized and were eager to help. They also met a half dozen other species who wanted to help but had little left to contribute. Eventually the race of psionics was utterly obliterated. No one missed them a bit.

"Can I skip the rest? My mouth tastes foul. And can I have some water?" Genesis didn't want to go through hundreds of years of galactic history with them. A lot of it was very interesting like the story of Gold Roger and the saga of Matthias the Cruel. But it was also pretty pointless. He was sure they didn't care. Hojo waved it away.

"I can always ask you later." He was finding this fascinating. Genesis had been born before the nanites even existed. Perhaps he would have insight on how they could replicate them. "How did you get here?"

"We stumbled over an unusually powerful wormhole." Genesis answered immediately. "Most of the vampires got away but one was caught and badly damaged. Sephiroth and I followed thinking we could tractor it out but we miscalculated. The pull was too strong and we were sucked in as well. Wormholes can take you anywhere and anywhen, if you survive the experience. So while this is a touch unexpected it's not really unprecedented." Hojo humphed and reached for the syringe. He thought that was all Genesis had to offer. But the man surprised him. "One last thing, before you inject me with that." He said pleasantly. Hojo lifted his eyebrows.

"Oh? What's that?" He couldn't imagine what else Genesis had to –

"Hojo, your birth certificate was an apology from the condom factory." Professor Hojo stared at the faint smile on Genesis face. The delivery was completely level and even and very… Genesis. "You're as useless as a Betamax recorder. I hope you choke to death on your nauseating combination of self-importance and complete amorality. I feel debased just knowing you exist. Furthermore –" Genesis shuddered as Hojo snarled and stabbed him with the needle. "Your father was a hamster and you smell like elderberries." Genesis murmured as the drug began to take effect and his eyes slid shut. Sephiroth hid a smile as Hojo glanced around at all of them furiously. For the first time he could remember, he actually admired Genesis.

Except for the elderberries part, he'd wanted to say something like that to Hojo for a very long time.

"Mush I say!" Valeria laughed as the dogs pulled them along. Roxas was grinning widely as he handled the second sled.

They were well on their way to the site of the downed spacecraft. All of them were dressed in heavy coats now and Axel was shivering almost nonstop but Valeria and Roxas seemed to be having a great time. Axel paused in his shivering to admire Roxas. He was so cute, covered in fur and with his cute cheeks reddened with the cold. Not to mention his pert little nose, which was starting to glow a bit from the harsh wind. Axel knew that he himself looked more like a clown with a bad cold than anything sexy. It was so unfair. Especially since Genesis was showing no reaction to the cold at all, good or bad. He seemed utterly indifferent as he rested, his eyelashes lightly frosted with snow as he slept. Axel vaguely wondered if he had a girl or boyfriend then decided he couldn't. Not if he was preparing to leave the planet without a backward glance.

Axel felt a faint tinge of sadness as he thought about that. They were all leaving behind everything they had known and yet, he didn't regret it. He wouldn't miss Reno much and he certainly wouldn't miss his father. Dolang was dead. His friends at school had already been lost to him forever and while he would miss Zack a little he hadn't known him or Cloud long. Axel sat up then and spoke in Roxas ear.

"Roxy, are you okay with this? Leaving everything behind?" He whispered and Roxas looked back at him with a brilliant smile.

"Axel, I'm so happy I can't tell you." Roxas laughed softly. "It's not like I really had anything here anyway. I won't miss Rufus and the friends I had back at my old school are long gone. The only ones who matter to me now are you and Valeria. And maybe Genesis too." Roxas had been surprised by how nice the SOLDIER was when you really got to know him. He could wax eloquent about LOVELESS at the drop of a hat but his enthusiasm made it interesting. "Besides, I can't wait to see all the stuff Valeria talks about." As they'd been traveling Valeria had done her best to prepare them for the hyper-advanced society they would be entering.

It sounded just amazing. Axel wondered how much of it was exaggeration but suspected it was mostly true. Valeria had told them about how the proper AI would let them interface with the great galactic net. Newfeeds and faxes would be at their fingertips as well as search engines that could find anything, from blogs to sports scores to porn. A lot of porn. In that respect Terrans had not changed at all from humanity. According to Valeria the games were the best part, though. Real virtual reality games that felt like you were actually there. Axel couldn't wait to see them. Not to mention all the things they could learn! That part was a little intimidating but Valeria said that in her universe the pace of growth had slown. She was very young to have her place as a vampire pilot and studying until you were fifty was perfectly respectable. Of course, if you didn't have some kind of job before a hundred you were starting to look like a loser.

They finally stopped to have lunch and feed the dogs. Genesis checked them over for any sign of injury before eating and cast a few small cure spells on the dogs that needed a pep up. Soon the dogs were rested and ready to go and they'd all bolted down a bit of hard bread and preserved sausage.

"This stuff is foul." Axel muttered as he chewed a chunk of the sausage. It was so heavily salted and smoked that his taste buds were preparing to rappel to safety on a line of dental floss. Valeria made a face as she ate hers.

"Sure is. But we haven't got a portable replicator so just got to make do. At least this stuff'll last." She chewed the hard biscuit with determination. Genesis just smiled and ate without complaint. SOLDIERS carried these kinds of rations so he'd experienced it many times before.

"The bugs wouldn't eat it." Axel joked but Genesis just nodded. It was nothing but the truth. Valeria finished with her biscuit and grimaced, rubbing her stomach.

"When will we get there? This stuff makes me sick. Literally I mean. Not enough cellulose." She could survive it but her digestive track was beginning to make some pointed protests and the AI was seconding them and scolding her a bit. Genesis blinked and frowned at that.

"We're within a few days. Will you be okay?" The landing site wasn't on the North pole, thankfully. It wasn't even really that far into the arctic. Valeria brightened in relief.

"That close? Excellent!" She could judge the distances to the site but not how fast the dogs were likely to travel. Although they seemed to be making excellent time. "I can't wait to go home. This place is nice but damn, I don't think I'll survive much longer if I don't find out what's happening on the new season of Infinite Jest."

"What's that?" Genesis asked as they got back on the sled. This time Valeria was handling the reins. She grinned as she set the dogs into motion and Axel and Roxas listened easily. Axel was handling the reins of their sled now.

"Oh it's awesome! It's a TV series about a guy who plays VR games all day and then he gets stuck in one…" Valeria spent some time detailing all the various scrapes and problems this guy got himself into, which were all the more hilarious because the other players could leave and he couldn't. It actually sounded like a great show. Axel smiled and glanced back, meeting Roxas' eyes. The blonde was smiling, cocooned in his furs.

They really couldn't wait to see this place. Nothing was perfect but it sounded like a lot of fun.