Chapter 25

Aggressive Negotiations

"Put the civilian down, Genesis." Sephiroth's words were soft, his uninjured hand held out to the side. He saw Genesis' eyes focus on the empty hand. He would know what the gesture meant. The room might be small in comparison to the rest of the reactor, but there was plenty enough room for his weapon. "Your quarrel is with me. Not her."

"Indeed it is, my friend." Yet still, Genesis didn't release Tifa, "But she is very much a part of this. She's keeping your guard dogs at bay."

That razor edged smile was directed at Zack, who had Angeal's Buster Sword out of its harness and positioned in the scaffolding directly between the two SOLDIER Elites. Sephiroth could hear Zack's frustrated growl at the words, but the SOLDIER didn't make any other sounds.

A shield. Of course. That was another reason Sephiroth didn't like civilians.

"Perhaps you should dismiss them, hm? So we can have a private chat? Just like old times?"

"No way in hell are we leaving you alone with—"

But Zack's words were strangled in his throat as the greying red-head effortlessly heaved Tifa's limp body off the floor, holding it out over the edge of the stairs, "I would muzzle that puppy, if I were you. Angeal obviously never put him through obedience training."

"Don't you dare talk about Angeal—"

"Zack." Sephiroth's voice stopped the younger man before he could do something stupid. And he was considering something stupid—Sephiroth didn't need to read his mind to know that, "Give us some space. Go down to the entry-way."

He may not like civilians, but he wasn't about to let his former friend bloody his hands any further. Not while he could stop it.

Sound behind him. Sephiroth glanced back to see the Second Class—Kunsel—stepping forward. Sephiroth moved to the side, allowing Kunsel to pass. He'd almost forgotten about the quiet SOLDIER, which had likely been the man's intention. The brunet put his hand on Zack's shoulder and nudged him forward, nodding toward the stairs.

Good. Hopefully Kunsel's good sense would keep Zack's impulsiveness in check.

Letting out an angry breath, Zack snapped the Buster Sword into his harness and stalked down the stairs, Genesis's smirk chasing him the entire way. Kunsel kept himself between Zack and Genesis, not allowing Zack the opportunity to make a split second decision to race up and tackle the renegade. Given the way Zack kept throwing angry glares back up, it was a good precaution.

"Well?" Sephiroth said at last, letting his arm drop to his side, although he still itched to summon his weapon. Genesis still had that hostage, "Release her."

"After, our chat." Genesis smirked and hefted the unconscious girl over his shoulder—a position that did nothing for her modesty considering how short her skirt was—and gestured toward the heavy door with a dramatic flourish, "Now, step into my office."

The heavy metal door at the top of the steps. The door that called to him from across the years, those six letters burned into his mind.

A door that guarded the reactor's core, that should have been secured with countless access codes and state of the art locks (for the time), was no match for a simple shove. The door toppled backward in a ringing screech of metal on metal, causing the catwalk to shudder beneath them.

The hinges and lock had been cut. Sheared with careful precision to have minimum gap between the door and the frame. Genesis must have propped it back up, to give it the illusion of being closed, and keep whatever within a surprise. He always did have a flare for the dramatic.

Sephiroth followed warily, uncertain what the renegade SOLDIER had tucked up the sleeve of that dirty, torn red coat. Genesis had always wanted one thing. To be the best. To surpass Sephiroth, whether it be through public perception, or pure strength. It usually resulted in them tearing up the training room. That wasn't an option anymore.

Despite his mind racing through possibilities, and his nerves singing as he waited for the shoe to drop, Sephiroth instinctively scanned the new room, noting the size and contents—and froze, the nervous anticipation crashing against him like a wave, dashing him against the sharp rocks hidden beneath the surface.

He was barely conscious of the thump of Tifa's body hitting the floor, dropped like a sack of refuse near the door.

"Beautiful, isn't she?" Genesis's purr, right behind him, when had he gotten behind him? His vision almost seemed to…sharpen, narrowing intently on the queen of metal and wire on her throne. The green light from the mako below them reflected eerily off the curves of her face, nestled in the wings of steel that spread from the center platform and over the mako vat below. "You stand in the presence of the Goddess, Sephiroth. The Goddess of our Salvation."

"Ours…?"

The word sound distant. Everything was distant. Disconnected. Everything but the angel. The angel was the center of his world.

And that…was wrong.

Just as Genesis' companionable arm settling around his shoulder was wrong.

But the alarms seemed muted. Unimportant. Genesis was his old friend, wasn't he?

"She's been waiting. Imprisoned here, in this monument to ShinRa's corruption. Exploited by humans, just like you and I. Like Angeal."

Angeal.

Dead.

Dead by whose orders?

By whose hand?

"She will free us from the chains that bind us." It was unmistakably Genesis speaking, but the words seemed to resonate within Sephiroth, echoed by a voice just beyond his range of hearing. If he could just listen hard enough…what would he hear? "But first…we must free her."

His good hand gripped metal. Even his broken arm was moving, reaching for her. The screaming fire in his veins faded. Pain was nothing more than a distant thought, swept away by a rush of certainty. This wasn't wrong. It was right.

The metal effigy screamed as he tore it free, cables and wires hanging from the mass at the ceiling. Some sort of oil line ruptured, brown tears running down the shining face.

He tossed the false idol to the side, into the reservoir of mako tens of feet below. Glowing red eyes caught and held him, and would never let him go.

x-x-x

Metal crunched, deforming beneath his curled fist. Zack ignored the burn of mako as it worked to knit skin back together. He felt a little better after punching the wall, but…he shot a glance up the stair again, setting his jaw. "I'm sorry. I can't do this."

Waiting. Genesis was right there.

Other than the screech of tearing metal a few minutes ago, there hadn't been any sounds of battle…but… "I'm go—"

"Wait—"

Zack dodged Kunsel's hand this time, taking the stairs two at a time as he made his way to the upper level. He didn't quite make it half way before his boot hit something unexpected, throwing him off balance. A normal person would have tripped, but Zack automatically twisted, hands grabbing onto the open edge of the closest row of pods. He turned to glare at whatever got in his way, only to meet uncanny green eyes staring up at him from a furry face. It was some sort of cat-like creature, but Zack was sure it hadn't been there before. And what the heck would anything living be doing inside a Mako Reactor?

The thing even had the nerve to purr at him and just walk off as if it hadn't just received a reinforced combat boot to the side. What the hell was it?

"A warning."

Kunsel.

The other SOLDIER had begun his way up the stairs after Zack, but he was stopped now. Stopped and staring at the weird cat thing that couldn't actually be a cat. "Don't tell me you can talk to cats now too."

That got rid of the distant look in Kunsel's eyes, gaining him an eye-roll instead, "This isn't a joke. They are just talking. But…Sephiroth is acting…"

The brush of fur against Zack's leg, and an image overpowered the world surrounding him. The perspective was from the back and quite low to the ground—from the viewpoint of the cat, perhaps?—but Genesis' tattered coat and Sephiroth's long silver hair were immediately recognizable no matter the perspective. Genesis had one arm thrown over Sephiroth's shoulder—how was he getting away with that—and clenched in that hand was…

A materia.

Yellow Materia.

Command materia.

Glowing brightly with an activated spell. Sephiroth stepped forward, hands reaching forward, gripping some sort of metal construct before him. The materia kept glowing, even as contact broke.

The vision faded as the weird not-a-cat pulled back. Zack didn't even think about it, he ran.

x-x-x

Genesis took a step back, slipping the Manipulate materia into his bracer. Sephiroth's back was to him—completely blind to everything but the goddess in the center of the room—and he itched (oh how he itched) to slide his rapier into that red-cloth covered back. How dare he imitate Genesis' style? Not that it was doing him any favors. Capes were archaic. Sephiroth never had any sense of style, in fact Genesis should probably congratulate him on wearing something new for once.

But the song at the edge of his hearing was calming, pleased with the situation, so Genesis forced himself to find solace in the idea that he had ShinRa's shining star enthralled in his grasp rather than enact his fantasies. It wasn't that bad of a consolation prize as it was, the aloof silver general had finally been caught, and of course Genesis had been the one to bring him down.

He would happily ignore the fact that a Manipulate materia shouldn't cause such a drastic change to a human being. That every test he'd ever performed would only result in a momentary state of confusion. That he'd listened to the little nagging thought that just a moment would be enough.

Enough for what? What could the Goddess want with Sephiroth that Genesis couldn't offer her? He'd found her first.

The poisonous hatred began to creep forward again. Of course Sephiroth would be special. Why had he expected anything different?

Distant laughter, the brush of an angel against his soul. Genesis found his eyes tearing away from Sephiroth's back, and toward magnetic red eyes. The twisted, materia encrusted specimen faded away, Genesis' eyes looking past the body scarred by time and science, and seeing the Goddess of beauty and power within. Loveless embodied. Perfection.

And she smiled at him—not Sephiroth—him.

They weren't words. Genesis couldn't hear them. But he could feel them smoothing off the bite of his hatred and jealousy. Smoothing, but not stifling. No. His Goddess understood him. Hatred would never go away. Just…redirected. There was no reason to act on his hatred for Sephiroth, not when he could be so useful. Just like Hollander could still be useful despite his betrayals. Before he had needed SOLDIERs to make clones. Now he just needed bodies. Hollander had even provided him with a perfect test subject.

Angeal was wrong. We are not the monsters. Genesis decided, listening for the faint snatches of song he could barely hear. The song he'd fallen asleep to since arriving in this remote facility, soothing away the pain of his failing body and stoking the fire of his hatred. The one that Sephiroth was now learning to recognize. Soon his heart would also beat to its rhythm. They are the monsters. Every one of them. They who created us…

Boots on metal. The wild crackle of activated magic. Something heavy thudded behind him, a yelp cutting through the silence. Genesis felt his lips curl into a cruel smile, turning his back on the SOLDIER Elite and facing the door. The spell Genesis cast automatically sparked in the entry way, the translucent barrier flaring in response to the deflected impact.

…and those who let them do it.

Angeal's puppy—Angeal's killer—reeled back, dazed. Angeal's prized toothpick drawn and pointed at the floor. His arms were shaking from the recoil.

"A back attack? What happened to Angeal's precious honor?"

The question came out more venomous than Genesis intended, but he saw the boy flinch. He smirked and stretched his aching wing, ignoring the pain radiating from his shoulder.

"What did you do to Sephiroth?"

The puppy found his voice. Appropriately outraged. Although how he knew about that Genesis didn't know. He knew the boy wouldn't have been close enough to see. There was no way he'd be able to keep quiet and only say something now.

"Do? Nothing. I merely introduced him to his mother." Confusion. Genesis reveled in it. Here was something he was allowed to hate. "Do let them have their moment, it has been so long."

His rapier was a familiar weight in his hand, and it hungered for blood.

After all, a dog who turned on their master was one that deserved to be put down.

x-x-x

The magic snapped into place just in time. Kunsel let out his strangled breath as the gathered force of the fireball crashed against his wall spell. He'd barely been able to get in range before Genesis released his attack, sending Zack flying through the portal in a gout of fire and smoke. Cycling through his spells in his mind, Kunsel cast another handful of support spells in quick succession, anchoring them all on Zack since he had no desire to be anywhere near the center of this battle. Genesis had a tendency to focus on the strongest target, and whatever he'd done to Sephiroth—obviously that target was now Zack.

Barrier sparked and shattered as it absorbed the landing, Zack shot him a grateful look from where he'd crashed into the side of one of the metal pods that filled the room. He didn't have time for much more than that. Zack had to spring away or risk the follow up shot as Genesis stepped out of the inner room, drawn rapier in one hand, the other still outstretched and sparking with magic.

Why use magic at that close of a range? It nagged at him, while Genesis was considered the most skilled materia user, he wasn't a slouch with that rapier either. Why would he risk the back lash when he had his rapier already drawn?

Zack landed on the stairs and ran, Kunsel's Reflect shining briefly before it turned aside a third stream of flames, breaking against the metal ceiling in a roaring shower of sparks. Genesis sniffed in disgust and waved his hand, the barely-visible bubble of shimmering magic surrounding Zack shattering into glowing motes of light. Dispel, Kunsel realized with annoyance. Luckily it only removed the last spell cast, which was why Kunsel had saved reflect for end of the chain. It was the most visible.

Crimson rapier moved instinctually to block the attack, but then Genesis flinched back, ice spires erupting into the space between him and the oncoming SOLDIER, timed just enough to catch the Buster Sword's bulk between two giant spears of ice. Zack grunted and yanked the sword free—a low level fire spell curling in his hand to melt the edges. But that took too long. He'd been standing still. A crackle of building energy—Kunsel threw out a second Reflect before the Thunder hit, the bolt ricocheted off the protective magic, splintering into much smaller bolts that shot around the room. Kunsel was even forced to duck into the interior of one of the opened pods to dodge a bolt that had been coming his way. It crashed against the exterior, sending the metal humming dangerously—but as he'd thought they were insulated, and the electricity did little more than that. Delicate experiments would have to be protected from surges.

Range. He's staying at range. Kunsel thought furiously, He wanted to block, but didn't.

"He's injured, if you must know." Loki's purr sounded distant. And pleased. "It appears the vampire's mark hasn't quite healed."

Don't tell me! Tell Zack. Kunsel shot back, somewhat irritated at the summon. He could be out there helping, but he knew Loki. Unless Kunsel was in immediate danger he would be more likely to just find a nice quite spot to watch the proceedings. He found it entertaining.

Hmph. As if I want to touch his mind again. The sniff of dismissal was expected. Honestly it was surprising Loki had even bothered the first time. But unless Kunsel wanted to purposefully throw himself into danger, the summon wouldn't even lift a claw to help.

Even if it would force Loki's hand, that wasn't Kunsel's style. He couldn't go toe to toe with Zack. Much less one of the Elites. However he could support Zack—make his way to the upper room. Find Sephiroth. Snap him out of whatever Genesis had done. A yellow materia without a visible effect. Some sort of status based Enemy Skill? Manipulate? Most of the Command materia he knew needed to be paired with an attack or action of some kind.

And Tifa. He had to ensure she was alright. He wanted to kick himself for that. He'd been the one lecturing her on staying alert, yet they'd all been too enthralled by Hollander's fate to notice her plight.

When this is over, I need to apologize. He told himself, listening as the crashes from more bursts of magic shook the metal he was using for cover. He rooted through his inventory, going through the materia he had available in search of something useful. He'd been equipped for monster hunting, not dealing with renegade SOLDIER Elites. Zack had the strength to go against Genesis, especially injured, but that didn't mean much when he couldn't get near him.

Close… Kunsel 's hand hovered over the glowing green sphere of a Time materia. Stop and Slow had seemed to slide right off the renegade during his attack on the town, so Genesis either had an added effect slotted into his armor, or he'd stolen more than ShinRa had admitted from Weapons Development.

Items to guard against status effects…better to just assume that's the case. Kunsel decided, tucking the Time and various other green orbs back into his inventory. Except…he rolled an innocent looking green globe between his fingers. He hardly found a use for this particular one but…

They didn't necessarily have to stop Genesis. Just get Zack close. The SOLDIER was already hasted, and Genesis' reactions were fast…but…

A plan forming in his mind, Kunsel switched out two of his materia. He could cast them without slotting, but this would sheer off some of the lag. This would take some split second timing.

x-x-x

Ping.

Zack attempted to peak out from where he'd hunkered down using one of the pods for cover. The way the room was set up the only real ways to Genesis were either up the stairs—which was the most obvious and trying it would only bring another fireball down on his head—or by climbing the pods to try and flank the enemy's position, and without a distraction he would end up with a side of crispy fried Zack. Damn this was such a bad place to fight. He needed a partner—sure Kunsel was great and all, and not having to worry about recasting all his support spells whenever Genesis decided to dispel them left Zack able to pay more attention to actually dodging things—but nothing beat being able to split the enemy's attention with an extra body that could either take the hit or just barely dodge it. Kunsel was not suited for that.

Like Sephiroth. Or—

Ping!

Wait.

That wasn't just something hitting his cover.

Ping!

Zack dug through his harness, pulling out his PHS. Signal shouldn't wo—oh. Right. Short wave text messages. They all said the same thing.

Do you have any Maiden's Kiss?

Of course he did. No one from Gongaga went anywhere without one of the native pink flowers. It was far too embarrassing to have to hop home and then the teasing…

Regardless, it was a habit he hadn't seen fit to break. Why was Kunsel asking about that?

Ping!

Hold onto it.

Ping!

Rush the stairs.

Ping!

Trust me.

Zack eyed the chain of text messages, and then peeked around the edge of the pod, studying Genesis entrenched in his fortifications of magical ice.

"Giving up already? Is that how little you value the girl's life?"

Anger flared, but instead of following it, he snapped the Buster Sword into its harness—it would slow him down—and pulled out the tiny pink flower. He hoped Kunsel knew what he was doing.

Halfway up the stairs he saw Genesis smirk. Saw the lightning cackling in one hand, and the red lines of power drawing themselves across the porous metal space. The stairs. The pods—everything between Genesis and the door. It wasn't a spell Zack had seen before, but the hum in the air was one of magic and power that had his hair standing on end.

Whatever it was…Zack was right in the middle of it. It was too late to have second thoughts now.

Magic washed over him. The world exploded in a rush of head spinning color. Zack barely had a moment to notice that the glowing lines were suddenly much closer than before, and to recognize the skin crawling sensation that he'd grown up hating in the jungle surrounding Gongaga.

And then the winds came, blasting and howling, spinning the ground down and away. Zack squeezed his eyes shut and clutched the suddenly larger flower to his chest, shielding it from the wind threatening to tear it from between webbed fingers.

I'm going to get Kunsel for this. Zack-the-frog thought miserably as his much lighter body was hurled through the air, buoyed by a raging gale of winds—Aero? There weren't many wind spells. And then there was a third spell. A forth.

Zack couldn't even keep track of them anymore.

x-x-x

Kunsel dove back into the safety afforded by the pod as soon as he saw the tiny shape soar over the edge of the magic circle, arcing over and beyond the red-coated renegade. Out of danger, Kunsel hoped, he'd used a sequence of high level spells in order to disguise what he was doing and it was taking its toll on him. The red energy sparked. The world held its breath.

And everything within the magic circle exploded into columns of red lightning, the sheer amount of energy and magic sending a literal shockwave through the entire room. Mako crystals scratched his unprotected face as he was tossed against the side of the pod, leaving burning irritation in their wake.

Apocalypse. As one who studied and worked with magic often, Kunsel had run across mentions of Genesis' limit break. That much condensed magic in one place…

And he wanted to use that on the town.

Oh yes, Kunsel recognized the magic circle. He recognized the feeling of terror and foreboding that he'd felt as the red energy began to etch itself into the ground, and it had only been impeccable aim on Vincent's end that had kept Genesis from completely wiping the town off the map.

A mako reactor was built to contain energy. It would survive what wooden and stone buildings would not.

…that didn't mean it was a pleasant experience.

By the time the world stopped shaking Kunsel was woozily propping himself up against a protrusion in the inside of the pod, using it to try and convince his legs that yes, the ground was finally stationary and would remain that way for the foreseeable future. He really did have to thank ShinRa's corruption this time—while health and safety inspections were regularly shirked, the Science Department always did get the best toys, ones that would stand up to everything but perhaps a full on reactor meltdown.

If Zack had kept his head he should be finding a quiet spot to take the remedy, out of Genesis' sight. Kunsel had aimed the Aero spell over Genesis' head, toward the door.

The crunch of heavy boots against metal. Kunsel froze. Genesis would gladly ignore a mere Second class so long as he had a more appropriate target.

Kunsel had just caused him to lose his target.

"You, have been annoying."

Kunsel's hand shot to his broadsword and he lunged for the open space. The pod was great for weathering a magical bombardment, but it was a death trap at close range—

Spears of ice beat him to it, a line of thick magically reinforced ice formed right in front of the open door, trapping him inside. He started charging a fire spell as he studied the size of the ice—level 3 at least, and adjusting the spell accordingly. So many spells cast so soon after another. If he immediately blasted out, Genesis would just pick him off. If he waited for him to gloat—and Genesis would want to gloat—then he might be able to use the advantage of surprise to make a dash for it.

Through the semi-translucent ice, Kunsel could see the distorted red shape getting closer, stalking along the narrow catwalk.

"You don't know how long it took me to save that magic." The renegade hissed, "and you go and waste it. For the second time. With Sephiroth…dealt with, Fair was the only one standing in my way. He's a reckless, righteous idiot. He charged right into it. And then you did something, and now my trap is empty."

Then he stopped, just to the side of the iced over opening. Just out of the range Kunsel had been hoping for.

"I don't know what you did. I don't care what you did. You are a bug to me…but even a bug can find itself squished when the boot notices it."

"I don't have the magic to waste on you." Genesis sneered and turned away, his hand shooting out and hitting something on the side. The machinery around Kunsel hummed. The Control Panel. "At least you'll make a decent clone."

…this was originally a mako container.

Kunsel released the magic to shatter the ice, neon green liquid spilled through openings in the top and side of the man-sized pod. Kunsel made a dash through the opening, only to be thrown back inside by the waiting Genesis.

"I told you—"

The throw sent him directly under one of the overhead jets. It burned. It froze. Kunsel felt his strength being sapped, could almost hear something—

"Oh you idiot."

Genesis was cut off mid-monologue, the ice blasted away. Strong arms grabbed Kunsel and dragged him out, green. Green and gold and black hair. Kunsel should know this…

"Must I do everything…? At least I didn't have to babysit the vampire."

Kunsel was tossed to the side. Away from the mako gushing out of the broken container. Away from Genesis. Kunsel could see someone standing in front of him, seeming unconcerned by the mako pooling around his feet, clinging to leather boots. Of course he wouldn't care.

"I'm afraid I can't let you die quite yet, Kunsel. Do me a favor and try to stay sane until the vampire arrives. In fact…"

Magic settled over him, heavy and foreign. He felt himself slipping. Everything was distant. Trivial. The passive dull headache from being near so much mako was fading with the roar and chill of the more immediate problem of mako clinging to his face and neck and soaking into his uniform. Even Loki's voice sounded as if it were miles away, a whisper on the wind. He tried to lift his hand to wipe the chill from his face. It wouldn't be a good idea to leave it. So why wasn't he moving?

"Better. Now where was I…"

A sleep too deep for even dreams claimed him and Kunsel knew no more.

A/N: I still can't think of a subtitle for this one…Aggressive Negotiations? Actually, that works. Yay.

By the way, my plans for this chapter have been waylaid numerous times. I swear Kurama was supposed to pop up in this one again! Next one maybe. It depends on if it mutates again. This chapter isn't even half of what I wanted to cover in this chapter, but it just ended up getting so long... Part of why it took me a while to write and post. The other part was I ended up with my two classes overlapping for about a month. Eesh that's tough when working full time. It makes me miss Uni.

Kunsel's plan was in part because I wanted to imagine Zack-frog. I just like the frog status. I think it's going to pop up at least once in every FFVII fic I write xD

A last note: don't worry, Kunsel won't end up like Cloud. They handle mako differently. Kunsel physically doesn't handle mako well (part of why he needed…help to get into the program) but mentally he's pretty solid. Cloud physically handles it too well, but his self-esteem issues leaves him open to the mental aspects. Plus Loki knew enough to put Kunsel in a DEEP sleep. His mind won't be wandering off the way Cloud's did.

Remember to comment! They work wonders as motivation to write~