Three days passed without major incident. (Well, if one didn't consider Genesis' awakening and subsequent immediate sedation a major incident. All those who'd had the pleasure of witnessing Genesis' first-class temper tantrum would privately agree that the incident had been worth the title, though they would never admit so in front of the man himself.) Three days passed with little to no action whatsoever. To point, three days passed, and Sephiroth still had yet to awaken.

Zack and Vincent, led by Cloud and Tifa, had taken Sephiroth deep into the mountain's caverns in search of a mako pool large enough to accommodate him. It was a quiet journey; despite Sephiroth's erratic and entirely callous behaviour towards all of them over the couple of days they'd been in Nibelheim, he'd managed to earn himself at least a miniscule spot in each of their hearts.

"He's a complete fucking asshole, but he's stupid charismatic," Cloud had grumbled, summing up the entire party's feelings quite succinctly.

Almost as much as he wanted his best friend to get better, Zack needed to hear answers from his commanding officer. Whatever it was to have brought Sephiroth to his knees, it had to have been big, and Zack couldn't understand why Sephiroth would go at it alone. He was grateful when Cloud and Tifa's idea proved fruitful as they found a massive mako pool in one of the caverns. As per Sephiroth's hastily muttered instructions, they lowered him into the shallowest part of the pool that still covered his entire body, and waited.

Reno and Rude stayed behind at the inn. After all, Genesis Rhapsodos was still considered Shinra enemy No. 1, and someone had maintain a sense of professionalism on this mission.

Within a few hours, the cave companions decided, by group investigation and mutual agreement, that Sephiroth's body had done all the mako-assisted healing it could, and that it made no sense continuing to freeze their asses off down there on behalf of what would most likely be an entirely ungrateful bastard when he awoke. So they hauled him out and trucked it back to the inn, the fallen darkness making perfect cover for their potentially alarming activities. And then the waiting game began.

.

Of course, the dreary monotony of sitting at Sephiroth's bedside, changing the guard every few hours, wildly speculating as to what the fuck had even occurred over the past couple days, and generally being on pins and needles at the clusterfuck that would await them all back at HQ was broken up that one time Genesis woke up from sedation and decided that another bitchfit was in order.

"I demand to see him," Genesis had said, stomping his foot with his arms folded across his chest.

"No," said basically everyone else.

Genesis had stared each of them down with eyes so venomous it was a wonder anyone was still left alive to answer his subsequent question. "Why. Not?"

"Um…you defected from Shinra," Zack noted. "As of right now, half the people in this room have standing orders to capture or kill you on sight."

"You're also batfuck crazy," Cloud helpfully pointed out.

"Turks hate SOLDIER on principle," Reno shrugged.

"Security risk," Rude said quietly.

"I don't like your manners," Ms. Strife stated.

"I don't like you," said Tifa.

Genesis whirled on her. "You don't even know me, you insignificant little brat," he seethed.

Tifa made a face. "Cloud and Zack don't like you, and they fucking work with you, so neither do I," she said, shoving a finger in his face. "Besides, you've been bitchy the entire time you've been conscious for no reason whatsoever. Who pissed in your cereal?" Everyone gave a murmur of assent at that one.

Genesis had looked as though he were about to deck the teenage girl with every ounce of SOLDIER strength he possessed, but instead pounced on the only other occupant of the room who hadn't yet spoken. "And what about you, Dracula," he hissed. "What say you?"

Vincent raised an eyebrow. "I was present when Sephiroth found you at the reactor," he said calmly, "and while I'm sure there would be no lost love from anyone here, I believe Sephiroth is highly likely to murder the shit out of you if yours is the first face he sees when he awakens. It is for your own safety that I would insist you refrain from entering his room."

At this, Genesis paused, the concern for his safety rather unexpected from the strange, mysterious man whom he was sure he'd never met before. He'd thought that perhaps he'd made a new ally.

"I also happen to find you an insufferable cunt," Vincent continued, "and don't particularly see myself going out of my way to grant any of your demands."

Or nah.

Vincent's comment tipped Genesis over the precarious edge on which he'd been teetering, and he issued a low snarl. Before any of the highly trained super-soldiers in the room could react, however, there was a muted thump, a look of sheer surprise, and Genesis slid gracelessly to the floor. For a moment, all was still.

"Damn," Reno whistled, staring at Ms. Strife and her trusty skillet as she stood, chest heaving, over Genesis' inert body, "y'all should start training women in SOLDIER, yo."

Ms. Strife gave him a gracious smile. "Thank you, dear, but really, I was simply inspired," she said, casting a distasteful glance at the Red General.

No one disagreed with her sentiment.

Anyway, three days passed.

At some point, Sephiroth regained consciousness. He had no idea himself how much time had passed since he'd gone down in the town square, but he knew he had to have been dead-ass unconscious for the duration, which was a feat in and of itself. He also knew there was only one ungodly noise that could drag him from such depths. It took him a couple tries to force his vocal chords to work, but eventually he managed to rasp out a meager, "Zack?"

He was met with only the persistent sound of Zack's sonorous snoring, so Sephiroth tried again, only louder.

"Zackary?"

Still nothing.

With a soft sigh, Sephiroth resorted to the one thing he knew would wake the man up without fail. Taking in a deep breath, he barked, "Lieutenant General First Class Fair, attention!"

Like someone had slapped him across the face (it wasn't that far down Sephiroth's list of options), Zack shot to his feet and affected a salute. "Yes, sir, I'm up, sir," he shouted, even before any situational awareness settled into his brain. As his eyes quickly scanned the room, the alert expression faded into confusion. "Wait, what?"

"You sleep like a goddamn corpse," Sephiroth mumbled, drawing Zack's attention. "Why couldn't you have achieved that earlier?" It would have made his plans a hell of a lot easier, that was for damn sure.

Sephiroth's sass seemed to penetrate the remainder of Zack's persisting sleep-fog. He scrubbed at his eyes and shot towards the edge of the bed, startling Sephiroth when he jostled the entire thing in his excitement. "Seph! Holy Ifrit, you're awake," he shouted, unheeding of the fact that his mouth was centimetres away from Sephiroth's ear.

With a groan, Sephiroth asked, "How long have I been out?" Knowing Zack and his easily excitable self, he could have been out for merely half an hour.

"Around three days now," was Zack's reply. Fuck. "Gaia, we were actually getting worried." Uncharacteristic lines wrinkled Zack's face as it took on a more serious mien.

"We?"

Zack nodded. "Me, the Turks, Vampire Dude, even Ms. Strife and Tifa," he listed, counting on his fingers.

Fucking' A. Even the Turks had been worried about him? He silently cursed his weakness out in his head, damning each and every second he'd been unconscious.

"And Cloud?" Even as the cadet's name passed his lips, Sephiroth realized his slip-up, and added a new round of cussing to his rampant self-berating.

Unfortunately for him, Zack chose that very moment to become a sentient, rational being and recognize Sephiroth's mistake. Both of his eyebrows flew to the ceiling. "Oh, so it's 'Cloud', now, huh," Zack said slyly, lips quirking.

Sephiroth's wings gave an irritable twitch, betraying the emotions he would have rather kept hidden. "Where is he?" he blandly asked instead, directing his eyes anywhere but at Zack's face.

Zack, thank Gaia, chose to be merciful. "He's at his mother's," he said without a hint of teasing. "It's around dinner time. Are you hungry?"

Sephiroth closed his eyes softly. He was, but there were more pressing matters at hand. If Zack could be serious, so could he. "In a short while," Sephiroth said. "I imagine you wish to have an extensive conversation with me concerning the past week's events."

"Seph..." Zack pulled away from the bedside and resumed his seat in the armchair, though he pulled it a bit closer to where Sephiroth lay. "I don't even know where to start."

"'What the fuck happened' is a pretty decent place," Sephiroth commented dryly.

That single comment was all it took to break the seal. Zack stood up swiftly, dragging his hands thought his hair. "But shit, Seph," he swore, his voice heavy with sorrow, "I thought we were friends. Nevermind that—I'm your lieutenant. You can tell me anything, you know that. Especially where military matters are concerned."

Sephiroth shook his head. "Not this one, Zack," he said somberly. "Informing anyone of the situation prematurely would have gravely jeopardized not only your safety, but the safety of all SOLDIERs." And Cloud, he thought.

"If it was big enough to compromise all of SOLDIER," Zack argued, "then we could have organized an operat—"

"It was me, Zack," Sephiroth interrupted with a heavy sigh. "I was the threat."

Silence fell over the room as Zack tried to process Sephiroth's statement. "I don't understand," he finally said.

Sephiroth shifted on the bed, trying to put himself in a more comfortable position. "In case you haven't noticed," he started, "I'm not normal."

Zack snorted. "Understatement of the year," he muttered. Then he threw an apologetic glance at his superior officer. "Sorry, I didn't mean that," he said.

Sephiroth shrugged. "Never apologize for honesty," he said. "You already know I was raised in the labs, and that I've been receiving mako injections since I was very young. What you don't know is that mako isn't the only thing with which they conduct experiments down there.

"I am the..." Sephiroth took a moment of heavy silence, in which he mentally prepared himself for sharing the process of his creation with someone other than his maker. "I am the product of in-utero mako injections that included genetic material from an ancient alien species. The Cetra called it Heaven's Calamity. We call it Jenova," he finally said.

Zack looked shocked. "An...alien?"

"Her sole purpose is to destroy planets," Sephiroth continued. "She is a parasitic, mutative organism. Once her cells are injected into the body, they facilitate a reciprocal genetic exchange. Her cells are not only able to mutate the host, but are capable of reporting information concerning the host's genetic structure back to Jenova's consciousness."

Zack closed his eyes. "That's just a little bit too scientific for me," he said. "Can you give me a simple version of the parts that are relevant to the situation?"

Sephiroth nodded. "Long story short, Shinra researchers discovered that organisms injected with her cells gained extraordinary power, but were also subject to an array of medical issues, including schizotypal behaviour and physical degradation," he said.

"Genesis," Zack said, making the connection at once. "And Angeal..."

"Unstable experiments," Sephiroth said monotonously. "Angeal, Genesis, and I were all experimented upon with Jenova cells starting no later than infancy, and continuing up until now. I was the most successful of us three. My body, unlike theirs, has fully stabilized the Jenova element and is most synchronous with the entity."

Zack sat down heavily. "Something about this seems wrong," he said slowly. "Jenova is meant to destroy planets. The three most powerful men on this planet are running around chock full of her cells. Two of them—well, just one now—went AWOL. Are you saying that—"

"A few months ago, I discovered Hojo's true intentions regarding myself and all of SOLDIER. He created me to usher in the destruction of the planet, in hopes that he might reign as god. He created me as a vessel for Jenova's will," Sephiroth confirmed.

Zack's jaw dropped. "Seph, that's absolutely fucking insane," he said.

Sephiroth scoffed. "You're telling me," he said derisively. "Imagine how I felt with my nightmares started becoming daytime hallucinations, and I started hearing voices." He would never admit it, but when it had first started occurring, nothing in his life up until that point had terrified Sephiroth so thoroughly.

"So," Zack said carefully, "all that stuff, like, 'I'm gonna go burn down Nibelheim' and shit, you actually were crazy?"

Sephiroth leveled a glare at Zack. "Do you really think me so weak as to submit to some psychopathic murdering alien's demands just like that?" he asked.

"I mean, look at Genesis."

Point taken. "No, Zack, I never actually went 'crazy'," Sephiroth said. "If my behaviour seemed wildly irrational at times, it was only to keep Hojo from discerning my true intentions too soon."

"Oh," Zack said. "Then why now, all of a sudden? If you had it all figured out months ago, why not do something then?"

"Preparations needed to be made," Sephiroth said. "Research, resources—this was the kind of situation where you only have one chance to get it right. I needed to be sure I had a plan that would work before proceeding. I had to make sure the wrong people didn't find out what I was up to. I had Tseng to help cover my tracks, but that was it. Then the whole clusterfuck with Hewley and Rhapsodos happened, and I had to add them to my to-do list. Then..." Sephiroth's voice trailed off into silence.

"Then?" Zack prompted after a few moments of silence.

"Then he tried to touch my fucking cadets," Sephiroth growled.

It was no secret that Sephiroth was fiercely overprotective of those among the ranks of SOLDIER proper; they were his troops specifically, the closest thing to family he would ever have. But it was a little known fact, known only to the other generals, in fact, that he was just as defensive regarding the hopeful cadets enrolled in the SOLDIER track. Some would say his concern was born out of a place of kinship, having been forced through an entirely unforgiving training regimen prior to his induction into SOLDIER himself. Those who knew better would say that Sephiroth refused to allow anyone to inflict torture upon those cadets that didn't meet his explicit standards. And as for Hojo...well, everyone knew that Sephiroth had made it his life mission to cockblock Hojo at every possible opportunity.

In any case, Hojo making a pass at SOLDIER cadets was fated to end up badly. Zack winced. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Sephiroth closed his eyes. "Hojo has been trying to recreate the phenomenon that is my existence since I was born," he said. "That much is a given. However, once I learned of specific plans of his to accomplish this through the involuntary and illegal detention of a particular SOLDIER and cadet, I no longer had the luxury of waiting for an opportune moment, and was forced to take action immediately."

Zack's blood ran cold. "Which SOLDIER and cadet?" he asked, fearing the worst.

"Lieutenant General Zackary Fair, SOLDIER 1st Class, and Officer Cadet Cloud Strife, SOLDIER Training," Sephiroth reluctantly said.

"What—what was he going to do?" Zack asked.

"It would have been agonizing torture far beyond anything even you are capable of handling, much less the cadet," Sephiroth said softly after a few moments. "You need not know the details."

"Tell me," Zack demanded, his voice hard.

"I have already experienced enough of Hojo's horrors firsthand," Sephiroth answered sharply, his wings ruffling angrily. "If you truly call yourself my friend, you will cease attempting to make me relive them once more."

Zack was struck by the vehemence behind Sephiroth's voice. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, ashamed that he hadn't considered things from Sephiroth's perspective.

Sephiroth only huffed lightly and settled his wings again. "I tried my best to keep you safe," he said, "but certain things were out of my control. I failed Strife out of SOLDIER, but I had no grounds to stop your promo—"

Zack's mood did a 180. "Wait, you intentionally failed Spiky?"

"Of course," Sephiroth said. "Allowing Strife to enter the SOLDIER program would have been equivalent to performing the experiments on him myself."

"How did you get away with that?!"

Sephiroth raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Because I'm the fucking general, that's how," he said. "You know the three of us have final deciding power over who's in and who's out of SOLDIER at any point and time, and with Rhapsodos and Hewley both MIA, the results of the SOLDIER exam fell to my discretion. Besides, the little shit's, like, one third the size of the second smallest kid in his class. It wasn't like anyone would question me."

Zack gave a low whistle. "He's gonna murder you when he finds out," he said.

"Oh, 'cause you're gonna be a dick and tell him?"

"No, you are," Zack said. "For being such an asshole to him all this time."

Sephiroth rolled his eyes so hard, he saw Jenova floating around in the back of his skull. "Zack," he said pointedly, "you've seen me be an asshole. I've been downright civil to the little cockbite."

Zack snorted. "Yeah, right," he muttered. "Why'd you try to block my promotion? Were you just on an asshole streak or something?"

"Hojo starts putting the Jenova strain in your mako when you hit 1st. It's how I was able to control you before when you were deliberately disobeying orders."

Zack's eyebrows shot up. "You can control us?"

"Well, not me specifically. Jenova can control her cells, and by extension, those hosting her cells."

"But you're not Jenova..."

"I am now," Sephiroth said with a shrug.

Zack waited for further explanation, maybe even that weird little smirk that he'd come to recognize as Sephiroth's way of joking, but when nothing was forthcoming, his eyes widened. "You have got to be shitting me, Sephiroth," he said incredulously. "What the fuck did you do?"

"It was the most efficient manner in which to both eliminate the Jenova threat and ensure the future safety of all SOLDIERs," he said simply. "I absorbed her consciousness into my body, providing her with a more than sufficient host organism, in exchange for her promise never to exercise her powers outside of my will."

"You rationalized with the psychopathic murdering alien," Zack deadpanned.

"I didn't rationalize, I negotiated," Sephiroth said. "It was a business deal that she had the option of refusing, if she was willing to forfeit her existence. She was not." Sephiroth couldn't help but smirk at the slight kick he felt at the back of his mind.

"It really does take crazy to fight crazy," Zack said, shaking his head. "So, you're possessed now?"

"That's a crude way of putting it, I suppose," Sephiroth agreed.

Zack was contemplative for a minute, and then slapped his hands against his thighs. "Word, but if your head does a 360, I'm out," he said.

Sephiroth chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Ifrit. I feel like I've been hit with an airship of information," Zack said, dragging a hand through his hair. "I don't know what I should process first."

"How about the fact that you should be kissing my lily white ass right now, 'cause if I wasn't so awesome and intelligent, and not to mention handsome, you'd all be burning your way to the Lifestream right about last week," Sephiroth said.

Zack gave out a wild round of laughter, clutching at his stomach.

"I'm incredibly serious, though," Sephiroth said mildly. "You have no idea how bad this all could have been."

"If you were so intent on protecting us," Zack said, his laughter quieting, "then why'd you bring us with you, knowing we'd just try and stop you?"

"If I'm trying to protect you, why wouldn't I bring you with me?" Sephiroth countered. It was general knowledge across the planet that right beside Sephiroth was both the safest and most dangerous place to be in the world, depending on whether or not he was on your side.

"What if you failed?" Zack questioned.

"Disregarding the ludicrous suggestion that I would fail," Sephiroth said, "the point was to keep you far from Hojo while I fucked up his plans. I had always intended on taking you with me, but I hadn't counted on the two of you being such pains in my fucking ass."

Zack smirked. "How close were you really to sending us to North Crater?"

"I had already drafted an email to Tseng informing him of the slight change in plans before I had the idea to Sleep you," Sephiroth said.

Zack laughed. This was a record for him. "But really, Seph, what if you failed?"

"I don't think you quite understand, Zack," Sephiroth said. "There was no option for failure on this mission. It was simply a spectrum of best and worst case scenarios in the process of completing the objective."

Zack rolled his eyes. Anything to say he can't fail, he thought. "Then what was the worst case scenario?"

"The Jenova specimen and myself would be destroyed, and Nibelheim would be wiped off the map," Sephiroth stated plainly.

"Seph! That's—"

"Not failure, because the mission objective was to protect yourself, the cadet, and SOLDIER, as well as neutralize the Jenova specimen, all at whatever cost necessary, up to and including my own life," Sephiroth interjected coolly.

Zack gave a heavy sigh. "Damn, Genesis is right," he said. "You always have to be the hero, don't you."

"If you're having trouble deciding on an appropriate thank you gift," Sephiroth said, "I prefer white chocolate, red wine, and blondes with big tits."

Zack snorted. "You sure you don't mean 'big, blue eyes'?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I dunno, you tell me," Zack said, glancing briefly into Sephiroth's eyes before casually looking away.

"It means nothing to me," Sephiroth said slowly, eyes narrowed.

"Oh," Zack said. "Then—nah, nevermind."

"Nevermind what?"

"It's nothing, I was just a little mistaken."

"About what?

"Nothing."

"Zack, you had better tell me right now."

"Or what, you'll Jenova me again?"

"Too soon, Zack. Way too soon," Sephiroth said bitterly. "Do you think I enjoyed having to do that? Especially since it was the result of repeatedly ignored orders?"

"I guess not," he admitted. "You gotta admit, though, it's a kinda cool trick to have."

"We'll see how cool you think it is," Sephiroth mumbled.

"What was that?"

"I said, go fucking tell the little shit I said to come here, damnit," Sephiroth said more loudly.

Zack raised an eyebrow and stood up. "Well. You can go tell him yourself, with that attitude," he said, walking towards the door.

"Fuck you, Zack," Sephiroth shouted at his lieutenant's retreating back.

A/N: So, turns out I might actually be crazy. Like, break with reality crazy. But it's okay, because now I feel better than I have in a while. And it also means that since I'm rejecting reality as much as possible, I'm gonna try to write more. So here you go. I finished this up drunk, so if you find errors, point 'em out and such. Of course, the shitty writing in general is not a notable error, as I caveat emptor'd that shit way back in day. Thanks! And sorry for doing that whole MIA for months thing again...it's sort of a thing.