Alive again

A/N: if anyones interested this chapter was slightly influenced by Evanescence, i was listening to Snow white queen for most of yesterday.

Disclaimer: what's the point you know i don't own

Rufus almost yelped in surprise as Reno was carried into his office by Rude closely followed by Elena and a rather pale Tseng. "What happened to him?" he asked, he was worried in spite of himself.

Rude and Elena exchanged looks "we don't know" Elena said after a while "but" she glanced back at Tseng who stepped forward.

"He was bitten by Chaos Sir, a demon inhabiting the body of Vincent Valentine"

"I see" Rufus cast Tseng a disapproving gaze "why didn't you return here after you had recovered enough to leave?"

"With all due respect Sir, it would have been impolite to leave their hospitality too early" he looked down slightly "and they needed me" he added quietly.

Thankfully Rufus didn't hear his last comment as he was examining Reno "is it poisonous?"

"Chaos said his fangs were, but he may have been lying"

"And why would he do that?" Rufus turned back to Tseng who shifted uncomfortably "surely he would have preferred it if Reno had died"

"I'm still here guys" Reno moaned then looked woozily at Tseng "why are you here Tseng? They need you back there…Kadaj…" his eyes slid shut and he lay limply in Rude's arms.

Tseng moved forward towards him then decided against it "Chaos wanted Reno out of the bar, he considered it his territory and Reno was invading that territory"

"Then why didn't he bite you? Surely you're invading his territory as well"

Tseng considered it, he remembered Chaos telling him and the Remnants about Sephiroth's and Vincent's family connection. Did that mean since he helped Sephiroth he was considered family? He didn't know if that was bad thing.

"Well?" Rufus was still looking at him expectantly.

Tseng shook his head sadly and turned away from him "I don't know" he said quietly "I really don't know anymore, everything used to be so easy but now" he looked back at Rufus "there was always good and bad, right and wrong. But those two have become so hazy to me. On one side there's the Turks trying to capture Sephiroth and the others to perform tests and experiments on them to see why they've come back. And on the other side there's the inhabitants of 7th Heaven, a broken and twisted family trying to live a normal life" he laughed sadly "I don't know what side I'm on anymore"

"Tseng" Elena gently touched his arm "does that mean you're leaving?"

"No, I just can't help you capture them" he moved his arm away from her and looked straight at Rufus "you have to stop this; it's not doing any good"

"We need to know Tseng"

"Why? So you can go into the Lifestream yourself?" Tseng strode over to Rude and took Reno from his arms "I'm going to get him some help"

"Where from?" Rufus spat as Tseng supported the half conscious Turk.

Tseng looked back "who better to help him than the one who bit him" he said simply then helped Reno out the door.

"I have to admit, his wing developed better than I thought it would" Genesis remarked conversationally, watching as Sephiroth gently straightened out delicate limb and examined it carefully. "Considering what you did to yours" he glanced at Sephiroth's back and rested his hand on his left shoulder blade.

Sephiroth froze then shuddered as Genesis ran his hand down his back. "Stop" he growled and shifted away from him.

"There's no point in bottling up bad memories Sephiroth" he leaned closer to him "you never did tell me the real reason for why you only have one wing" he breathed then leaned his head on Sephiroth's shoulder. The sudden want for comfort alarmed him slightly.

Sephiroth relaxed, it would do no good to get angry with Genesis now, it would wake up Kadaj for one thing, and this was one of the few times Genesis acting agreeable, it would be a shame to spoil the moment. "I was in the Lifestream when my other wing developed; it was very painful since I didn't have anyone there. Zack helped me with my right one but no one was there for me the second time. Jenova made me think at first that they were beautiful, wings fitting for a future god"

Genesis snorted slightly then hid his face in Sephiroth's hair "go on" he muttered

"She gave me a lot of time to myself, to form our next plan she always said, I can't help but think she was testing me. To see if I would follow her every suggestion, and I did…for a while anyway" his face twisted into a bitter sneer "it was her fatal mistake. I was starting growing uneasy about the wings, I was thinking more and more about what you had said, that I was a monster. I came to the conclusion that my wings proved it and just as I was due to return, I cut one off"

Genesis couldn't help it; his own wing shot out of his back and he trembled uncontrollably "you…cut it off?" he whimpered "oh Seph"

"I thought it was a fitting punishment for all I put you through" Sephiroth said smoothly "and for all that I had done, even now I can't say I regret my actions though they cost me dearly"

"How?"

"I cut it off using a combination of magic and my own strength" he shivered slightly remembering what he had done to himself. "Wings grow back Genesis and I wanted to make sure mine never did" he smiled bitterly "and I almost killed myself in the process" he waved a hand as Genesis opened his mouth "yes I know you can't die in the Lifestream, I mean I weakened myself to a point that I would have preferred to die for the magic I used erased some of my genetic structure, I can't tell you how long it took me to recover as time in the Lifestream is different than it is on Gaia. But when I did I knew my wing would never grow back"

"But….how could you?" Genesis's voice shook with a mixture of horror and guilt

"I felt guilty and when you're half mad, guilt can make you do some crazy things" he smirked slightly "the only good thing about that incident was that when I recovered Jenova couldn't take control of me anymore, I had become too much like my old self for her to control"

"Seph…I never knew"

Sephiroth felt a twinge of sympathy, even though Genesis had been through the hell of degradation he couldn't imagine cutting off his own wing. He felt Genesis shaking and gently embraced him, trying to soothe his tremors.

"It's my fault you did that" Genesis choked and his wing wrapped clumsily around Sephiroth returning his embrace "you did that because of me, if I hadn't been so" words failed him and he buried his face in Sephiroth's shoulder.

"I was to blame as well" Sephiroth murmured and gently stroked Genesis's wing "I shouldn't have been so cruel to you, if I had accepted the apple you gave me maybe none of this would have happened"

Genesis couldn't say anything else, so Sephiroth sat there silently comforting the red head until he fell asleep. Then he laid him next to Kadaj and watched over both of them.

i'll leave it up to you to decide how he managed to to survire but this is Sephiroth we're talking about. i might write a proper story about it sometime

until next time :D