Sephiroth was sitting calmly on his couch, when the knock came at his door. He sat his cup of tea down and opened the door to reveal Lazard and Tseng.

"Where is Strife?" Lazard asked as he walked in the door.

"In my bedroom at the moment, resting." Sephiroth sad calmly as he shut the door behind Tseng.

"With the seriousness of the situation, I'm going to have to take a full statement from you and from him." Tseng said.

"You can get your statement from me. He's still recovering at the moment." Sephiroth said, "When he wakes, you can speak with him."

Tseng looked to Lazard.

"We can take your statement first, but we need to speak to him as soon as possible. After that, I'll give him all the time off he needs." Lazard said firmly. Dealing with Sephiroth, especially after he had just confessed to killing Hojo, was tricky.

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed, but he didn't argue.

"How did you discover that Strife had been taken by Hojo?" Tseng asked, starting the interrogation.

"When I arrived back from the mission to Banora, I came to check on him. He took Genesis's leaving hard and I had been watching out for him. I found him missing, tried to contact him and couldn't. I called Fair, who I had left in charge of Cloud, and he informed me that Cloud had left, intending to talk to Lazard."

"That was why you called me, looking for Strife?" Lazard inquired. Tseng shot him a look, you never lead a witness.

"That's exactly why. I was concerned, Hojo has had an unhealthy eye on the boy from the day he became Genesis's apprentice." Sephiroth relayed.

"I spoke with his mentor about that once or twice." Lazard said and Tseng looked at him again.

"Did it occur to you that he might have left to find Genesis?" Tseng said and Sephiroth's eyes narrowed.

"The thought hasn't crossed his mind. No, I knew he was still in the building." Sephiroth said.

"How did you find him? The lab that Hojo was found in isn't even in the building's blue prints. No one else seems to be aware of its existence." Tseng questioned. Sephiroth didn't fully believe him. It was the Turk's business to know things like this after all.

"I investigated the labs, but found Hojo and Cloud absent, so I went into his office. I found the passage and it led me to Cloud. Hojo had him strapped to the table, attempting to dissect him while he was still conscious." Sephiroth stated more calmly than he felt.

"And you couldn't find a way to get Strife out of that situation without killing Hojo?" Tseng questioned.

Sephiroth's anger flared again. "I'm not going to continue this song and dance now that the man is dead. Hojo was a sick twisted man who's been running experiments on me since I was a child. The fact that he did this while in Shinra's service disturbs me to my very core. If he had lived, he would have continued on unpunished and Cloud would have ended up back in the bowels of his labs at some point.

So no, I did not know away other than killing the man to save Cloud and myself from the situation we've been in. Don't begin to lie to me and say that, if I'd let someone know, they would have done something about it. I know full well your department knew all about what was going on and so did the President himself." Sephiroth snapped. Now that Hojo was dead, it felt like something had shifted in his mind.

Lazard was nearly stunned, though he was able to control his facial features.

Tseng however just asked his next question. "Should we consider you a threat to the company?"

"If I was going turn my back like Genesis and Angeal, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you. While there are parts of Shinra I find cancerous, I have no interest in going into hiding. I warn you, anyone threatens me or Cloud or even Fair over any of this and you'll wish I had left when I killed Hojo." Sephiroth said sternly.

"I believe we are done here." Tseng said, standing, "Director, send Strife to me when he wakes." Lazard gave the man a nod and Tseng stepped out of Sephiroth's apartment.

Sephiroth looked back to Lazard. "Genesis told me what was going on before he left. I imagine you're not nearly as distressed about the Professor's death as you appear."

Lazard gave Sephiroth a calculating look before answering. "I was working with the commander. You're right, this company is cancerous. We were trying to clean it out."

"You're not still working with him?" Sephiroth asked, he had hoped that Lazard knew more then he let on.

"No, I was just as confused when he left as anyone else." Lazard replied.

"Well, with Hojo dead, I'm not sure what is left to do, but I will offer my assistance." Sephiroth said.

"At the moment, not much. There will still be fall out, but hopefully it can be contained." Lazard replied. He had hoped to find an ally in Sephiroth when he came up here and couldn't be more pleased with the outcome.

"I do have one request." Sephiroth said, looking at Lazard.

"What is that?" Lazard replied.

"Since Genesis is listed as AWOL, I want you to assign Cloud to me. He can't refuse missions on his own and I don't want people like Tseng thinking he needs to be the one to track Genesis down." Sephiroth pointed out.

Lazard nodded, reevaluating the man in front of him. All of his interactions with Sephiroth before this point had been purely professional. He had never seen him care about anyone else's well being before and now today he had not only killed in Cloud's name, but was further trying to protect him. Even gods have weak spots, it seemed.

"I don't personally see a problem with that. I'll take care of it when I get back to my office. Things are probably going to heat up in the next few days, so I need to get it done as soon as possible." Lazard said, standing.

"As soon as possible is good." Sephiroth said, leading the man to the door.

Angeal listened to the line ring and ring and ring before it just hung up, not even a chance to leave a message. Angeal looked at the phone and threw it. If Lazard wasn't answering this special line, then it had probably been a bad idea that he had called it.

Genesis at least seemed to be warming up, but he was still paler then he should be and Angeal didn't want to risk staying here for long. They weren't far from the lab and Angeal didn't want to risk running into Hollander's copies.

"You just need to hang in there, Gen, Cloud's waiting for you." Angeal said as the snow continued to fall.

Lazard made his way back down to his office, sitting down at his desk, he sighed. Things were going odd...neither good or bad, really. Hojo was gone, but not in a way he could control. And then there was Rufus to deal with. The fact that he hadn't heard from his half brother unnerved him more than it should.

It was a poorly kept secret that Angeal and Genesis had defected. There was no way Rufus hadn't heard and now, coupled with Hojo's death, the man would be demanding answers. Admitting that he was in fact not in complete control of his most powerful men could be damaging.

He opened his desk door to take some pain killers and stopped. The phone he had taken with him on 'vacation' to Costa del Sol was flashing. Genesis.

Quickly he flipped the phone open and there was a missed call from about 30 minutes ago, but no message. Maybe now he would finally get some answers, quickly he redialed Genesis's number, only for the phone to go straight to voicemail.

"Damnit." Lazard cursed. He would just have to try again later or hope Genesis tried to contact him again.

Shaking his head, he pulled up Cloud Strife's file, changing his mentorship from Genesis to Sephiroth and putting him on temporary leave.

As the sunset Angeal knew that they would need shelter. He didn't like it, but his only option was to leave an unconscious Genesis alone and either look for some place to camp out during the night or find something to make a shelter. Slowly he lifted Genesis's head and wrapped up the man's coat, which was now dry, and used it to support his friend's head. The cold was biting, but Angeal would survive for now.

He headed towards the mountains first, hoping to find a cave. The wind blew and Angeal shivered. The temperature was dropping now that the sun was disappearing over the horizon. He knew that he needed to hurry.

Finally he spotted a cave entrance and breathed a sigh of relief. He stuck his head in for a moment and saw that it went back further then he could see. It would suit them for the evening.

Quickly making his way back to Genesis, he was happy to see that the fire was still going. Hurriedly he put it out and destroyed what could prove that they had been here. Swiftly, he bent down and lifted Genesis, being mindful of the man's wing.

"Cloud." Genesis groaned out and Angeal felt his guilt wash across him again. Genesis would be with Cloud right now if it hadn't been for him.

Carrying Genesis back to the cave, Angeal made up his mind. In the morning he would go back to Hollander's lab and force the man to tell him the truth and he knew just how he would do it.

Angeal sat around the small fire he had managed to get restarted in the cave. Genesis was resting up against the cave wall and was starting to come around a bit. Angeal sighed slightly in relief. He feared Genesis would be out for days. Hopefully, by morning Genesis would be awake and they could move on together. After Angeal got his answers, that was.

As he looked up though, his eyes went wide. He barely had enough time to dodge as a large creature leapt out of the shadows at him. How foolish he had been to assume that the cave was unoccupied. He was just so tired and desperate.

He scrambled for his sword and raised it just in time to block the creature's teeth. He rolled to the side, making sure to keep the cat like creature away from Genesis.

The fire flickered and the creature that attacked him appeared to be a mutated snow leopard. Its tail was unnaturally long and whip like and its eyes shone with mako. Its fangs looked like they belonged on a saber tooth tiger.

It roared at him and leapt again as he arched his sword up and managed to cut a gash across the creature's torso. It landed and growled. Blood dripping, it only stalled a moment before it launched itself back at Angeal.

Back on the defensive, Angeal held his ground as the thing crashed into his sword. Before he could bring his sword back at it however, he found himself flat on his back. It had used its long tail to trip him. It went to swipe at him with its claws and Angeal closed his eyes, knowing he would not be able to block.

The hit never came as a wave of heat flew over his face and the creature went crashing into the wall of the cave, dead.

Angeal looked behind him, Genesis was sitting up, gripping Rapier with his hand extended.

"Genesis!" Angeal cried, but the man just collapsed back down.

Forgetting about the snow leopard, he scrambled over to Genesis, dropping his sword in the process. "Genesis, are you alright, Gen, please talk me." Angeal pleaded.

Finally Genesis opened his eyes back up. "Angeal." Genesis said, though his voice was a bit hoarse.

"Don't worry about me." Angeal said quickly.

"I assume since I'm not back in the lab-" Genesis said before he let out a cough.

"Shush, just rest." Angeal said.

"He lied to us, to you, Ang." Genesis finally said slowly.

"I know and I'll get us out of here, I promise." Angeal said, "Now rest."

"Cloud." Genesis said again before his eyes closed shut.

"We'll get back to Cloud." Angeal promised.

Sephiroth spent the night on his couch. He didn't mind, it was comfortable and he had spent many a night camped out on the ground. Cloud was still asleep when Sephiroth woke in the morning and the silver swordsman was glad that Tseng had changed his mind about waking Cloud.

He dialed the cafeteria and had another plate of pastries sent up, trying to remember what Cloud had eaten that first day.

When he was done, he turned to see Cloud, still in his boxers, stumbling out of the bedroom.

"How are you feeling, Cloud?" Sephiroth asked softly.

Cloud just clutched his chest. "I can still feel it."

"I'm sorry, I should have known. I shouldn't have left." Sephiroth said, looking at Cloud.

"I didn't even suspect." Cloud said, "He came after me, angry that I had missed my shot. I was more annoyed than anything. I only knew something was wrong when I went to leave and passed out. I knew he was interested in me. I knew the horrible things he had done."

"He'll never be able to do that to anyone ever again." Sephiroth insisted, walking over to Cloud.

"You mean?" Cloud looked up at Sephiroth, a bit shocked.

"He's dead. Seeing him standing over you with the scalpel." Sephiroth shook his head. "I knew if he was allowed to live, he would just try again."

Cloud was shocked. All the pain and torture Sephiroth had suffered at Hojo's hands and it was Cloud's suffering that had caused Sephiroth to snap."I don't know what to say."

"There isn't anything to say." Sephiroth said softly, brushing a bit of Cloud's hair out of his face. "I've spoken to Lazard, you're in my care as of last night. No one can touch you now. "

Cloud just looked away, he was officially no longer Genesis's student? It stung a bit, but he knew why Sephiroth had done it. "Genesis." Cloud whispered.

"Don't think about him, Cloud." Sephiroth said, lifting the blonde's head to look at him. "I doubt he's thinking of you. I wanted to warn you, but I knew you wouldn't believe me. Genesis is a user. Once he's got what he wants, he tosses things away."

Cloud just about cried, he was a 16 year old 2nd Class SOLDIER who couldn't control his emotions. No wonder Genesis left him behind. "He... he said he loved me. There has to be a reason." Cloud pleaded.

"He's told countless others the same thing and he doesn't even remember their names." Sephiroth said, knowing it was true. "He's out there somewhere, working towards his own agenda and he hasn't even bother to try and contact you. If he wanted to, he would have found away. You need to forget about him Cloud. Don't torture yourself."

"I can't just forget about him." Cloud said, wrapping his arms around himself.

Sephiroth just tentatively pulled Cloud into his arms. "You don't have to do it right now like a switch. Just...try and move on. There are people here to help you."

Cloud looked up at Sephiroth and relaxed a bit. "You're probably the best friend I've ever had."

"I told you, I'd be here for you Cloud and I meant it." Sephiroth said softly. Soon Cloud would see that he could be more than just a friend.

Cloud sat awkwardly in Lazard's office. The owner of the office was sitting at his desk and Tseng stood beside him. Sephiroth stood behind Cloud.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Lazard asked casually.

"I'll admit, Sir, I'm still at little worked up. But the cure Sephiroth cast on me seems to have taken care of most of the physical wounds at least." Cloud said calmly.

"When we're done here, I'd like you to go down to the infirmary for an examination, just to make sure that we didn't miss something. Hojo did have you for quite some time." Lazard said and Tseng remained silent.

"Yes, sir." Cloud said a little hesitant, he didn't relish the idea of letting someone else near him so soon. Sephiroth stiffened a bit, but didn't speak.

"Cloud Strife." Tseng said and Cloud's head shot up to look at him.

"I need your full statement regarding yesterday's events." Tseng said calmly.

"I was on my way down here to speak with Director Lazard about recent events." Cloud couldn't bring himself to say Genesis's names. "I was accosted by Professor Hojo in the hall, who seemed irritated that I had missed my scheduled injections for the month. I followed him down to the labs and didn't notice anything wrong until I tried to leave and blacked out.

I awoke several hours later in a part of the lab I had never seen before and in incredible pain. I don't know how long it had been between when I awoke and when Sephiroth found me, but I was certain that I was going to die." Cloud said, shaking a bit.

"You received injections once a month from Hojo, SOLDIER?" Tseng asked a bit confused. He knew a lot about the SOLDIER program and had never heard of such a thing.

"Yes, sir, he said it had to do with the amount of mako in my blood." Cloud said, trying to calm himself a bit.

"Any idea what it was?" Tseng questioned.

"No, sir." Cloud answered.

"So you let this scientist, who you say you have never trusted, just inject you with a random substance?" Tseng said, looking at Cloud like he was foolish.

"With all due respect, Turk." Sephiroth said in an intimidating voice. "I had to take the same shot from him my entire life. Asking Hojo questions always ended in a brick wall and was accompanied by some kind of punishment."

Tseng eyed Sephiroth before dropping that line of questioning. Cloud shot Sephiroth a thankful glance.

"Either way we'll have to figure out what he's been injecting you with. It's not worth the risk just to let it go." Lazard said.

"I'll have the technicians cataloging his labs search for the relevant files." Tseng acknowledged.

"Is there anything you else you need from Strife?" Sephiroth asked.

"Not at this time. If I have any further questions, I will contact him." Tseng replied.

"Let's go, Cloud." Sephiroth said and the blonde quickly obeyed. He wanted to forget that Hojo had ever existed.

"You know, I was thinking." Zack started, getting Aerith's attention. He had a lot of down time lately and had chosen to spend it with the flower girl he had met rather than taking on random missions.

"I thought that was dangerous for you." She giggled while tending to her flowers.

Zack just pouted at her and she giggled some more. "Fine, I won't tell you my awesome idea." Zack said, folding his arms.

"I'm sorry." She said with a smile before standing and dusting herself off. "What is your awesome idea?" She put her hands behind her back and leaned over towards him expectantly.

"You've got all these wonderful flowers, but they're hidden away here in the church. They've done a pretty good job cheering me up. I bet you could bring smiles to everyone in Midgar if you sold them." Zack said with a grin.

"Sell them?" She said curiously.

"Yep! I bet people would pay a lot for flowers here in Midgar, you really just don't see them. If nothing else, seeing them would bring a smile to people's faces. Best case scenario you have a wallet full of gil and Midgar is full of flowers."

Aerith just smiled. "A wallet full gil and Midgar is full of flowers. I think I like that idea."

"See, told you it was awesome!" Zack said, grinning right back at the flower girl.

"But how do I get them around so I can sell them?" Aerith said, looking around.

"I know! I'll make you something." Zack said, snapping his fingers.

"You're too nice to me, how am I ever going to repay you?" She said, moving so her dress swayed a bit.

"I know!" Zack said with a devilish grin. "How about you go out on a date with me?"

"A date?" She said and for a moment Zack was afraid that he'd said the wrong thing. He really liked Aerith, though. She was the only thing that could get his mind of Angeal...

"If you don't want to, that's fine." He said defensively. "I'd build you something anyway, just because I want to."

She just smiled back at him, "A date would be lovely, Mr. SOLDIER."

Zack felt lighter than air. Finally a beautiful, nice girl wanted something to do with him. Everything else in the world didn't matter to him in that moment.

Angeal barely slept, trying to watch for something else to either enter the cave or emerge from the back of it. He would be alright though, it wasn't the first time his body had been forced to operate on little sleep.

Genesis still hadn't stirred since late last evening, but his breathing was even and his body temperature had returned to normal. The fire was dying down a bit and Angeal had a decision to make.

He didn't want to leave Genesis alone, he was still recovering from his escape and the appearance of his wing. The first day after Angeal's own wing emerged, he had spent in the care of Professor Hollander and heavily medicated. Genesis had no such luxury. Angeal didn't want to wake Genesis either, rest was what the man currently needed more than anything, but if Angeal did leave, then Genesis would be defenseless.

On the other hand, if Angeal did wake Genesis to let him know he was going, Genesis would likely demand to come along. Not smart in his current state, mentally or physically.

Finally deciding that the cave was safer for Genesis than the lab, Angeal stood. He made a quick sweep back into the cave, (Something he should have done last night.) and found it empty. It must have been the snow leopard's lair.

Angeal bent and covered Genesis with his red coat a bit more before standing and exiting the cave.

It wasn't hard for him to find the entrance back into the labs, they really hadn't gotten more than a mile away in the snowstorm.

When he entered, he found Hollander standing there talking with a copy.

"There you are! Where have you been?" Hollander said, before tacking on "I was worried about you."

"I went to find Genesis." Angeal said smoothly.

"I take it that you weren't successful." Hollander said, turning his full attention to Angeal.

"No." Angeal said, shaking his head.

"You're a horrible liar." Hollander said, stepping back a bit as the copy stepped between the two of them.

"I should have paid more attention to you, I guess." Angeal said before drawing his sword.

"Restrain him!" Hollander demanded as the copy moved to attack Angeal.

It however wasn't much of a fight. The copies, it seemed, where not stronger than their original host. This one didn't even posses a 10th of Genesis's true strength.

"Now." Angeal said smoothly, pointing his sword at Hollander. "You are going to tell me exactly what is going on and how to fix this."

Hollander just laughed. "Foolish boy, there isn't a cure."

Angeal just moved closer before grabbing Hollander's arm. "Then you're going to find one."

Hollander just screamed and wrenched away from Angeal. "You idiot, do you even know what you did?"

Angeal just looked to Hollander before the man spoke again. "You've infected me, you fool, now who's going to cure you?"

Angeal looked at his hand, then back to Hollander. "Well, I suppose it's more motivation for you now, isn't it?"

Hollander just cursed.

End of chapter 25! Things are moving along smoothly and I know the scenes with Zack and Aerith played out a bit differently, but hey not everything can be the same right?

Please leave a review -DHT